Location update method and device, and chip system and storage medium

Abstract

Provided in the embodiments of the present application are a location update method and device, and a chip system and a storage medium. The method comprises: in a scenario where a location update procedure fails due to the fact that an RRC connection is not established, upon recognizing that a preset condition is met, actively turning off a third timer, and re-initiating the location update procedure, such that service abnormalities of a user equipment caused by prolonged waiting of the user equipment can be prevented. In this way, a user equipment experiencing a location update procedure abnormality is quickly restored to normal while imposing little to no additional burden on a network side, such that the user equipment can normally receive paging.

Description

Location updating method, device, chip system and storage medium

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on December 19, 2023, with application number 202311763939.9 and invention name “Location Update Method, Device, Chip System and Storage Medium”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a location updating method, device, chip system, and storage medium. Background Art

[0003] In mobile communications, the network needs to identify and track the location of user equipment (UE) and manage its mobility based on this location information. Therefore, when the UE's location changes, it must notify the network through appropriate procedures to update its location. Otherwise, the network will not be able to obtain the correct UE location, resulting in paging failures.

[0004] However, during the current location update process, some anomalies may cause the UE's location update request to not reach the network, resulting in a location update request failure. Alternatively, the UE's location update request may not be responded to by the network. Based on current communication standards, in such cases, the UE will start a timer and wait for the timer to expire before initiating another location update request. This can cause the UE to be unable to perform services within the timer's set time, impacting user experience.

[0005] Summary of the Invention

[0006] In order to solve the above technical problems, the embodiments of the present application provide a location update method, device, chip system and storage medium, which aim to quickly restore a user device with an abnormal location update process to normal so that the user device can receive paging normally.

[0007] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for location update. The method is applied to a user equipment, comprising: triggering a location update process and starting a first timer and a second timer when the user equipment changes from a first cell in which it resides to a second cell in which it resides; wherein the current radio resource control (RRC) state of the user equipment is an idle state, the duration corresponding to the second timer is greater than the duration corresponding to the first timer, the duration corresponding to the first timer is the duration for establishing an RRC connection between the user equipment and the core network through random access, the duration corresponding to the second timer is the duration for performing a location update process, and the location update process is implemented based on the RRC connection; within the duration corresponding to the first timer, if the RRC connection is not successfully established, when the first timer times out, the second timer is turned off and a third timer is started; wherein the duration corresponding to the third timer is the duration during which the user equipment cannot perform the location update process since the second timer is turned off; within the duration corresponding to the third timer, if it is identified that a preset condition is met, the third timer is turned off in advance, the location update process is re-triggered, and the first timer and the second timer are started.

[0008] Among them, user devices include mobile phones, smart watches, etc.

[0009] The network standards corresponding to the first cell and the second cell may be the same or different.

[0010] Among them, the network standard can be 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, and one or more future network standards.

[0011] The first timer is a timer corresponding to the RRC establishment process, such as T300.

[0012] The second timer and the third timer are related to the network standard of the second cell.

[0013] Exemplarily, when the second cell is a cell of a 4G network, the second timer is, for example, T3430, and the third timer is, for example, T3411.

[0014] Exemplarily, when the second cell is a cell of a 5G network, the second timer is, for example, T3510, and the third timer is, for example, T3511.

[0015] According to the standard protocol, the original intention of starting the third timer is to prevent the user equipment from frequently initiating the location update process (including sending a location update request to the network side) to the network side (i.e., the network side device), thereby increasing the burden on the network side, and even the network side may think that the network is under attack. However, in the case where the RRC connection is not established, and the location update request is not sent to the network side at all, resulting in an abnormal location update process, the network side is actually unaware that the location update has occurred. Therefore, there is no need for the user equipment to wait for the third timer to time out before re-initiating the location update process. Therefore, in this aspect, within the duration corresponding to the third timer, if the user equipment recognizes that the preset conditions are met, it can actively close the third timer in advance and re-initiate the location update process, thereby avoiding the user equipment from waiting for a long time, resulting in abnormal user equipment services.

[0016] Thus, without substantially increasing the burden on the network side, the user equipment with abnormal location update process can be quickly restored to normal, so that the user equipment can normally receive paging.

[0017] According to the first aspect, within the duration corresponding to the third timer, when it is identified that the preset conditions are met, the third timer is turned off in advance, including: within the duration corresponding to the third timer, when it is identified that the signal quality of the second cell has improved, or the user equipment resides in the third cell, the third timer is turned off in advance.

[0018] If the RRC connection is not established and the location update request has not reached the network side, the user equipment does not need to wait for the third timer to expire before initiating the location update process. Therefore, in this scenario, when the user equipment detects that the signal quality of the currently camped cell has improved or accessed a new cell, it can directly re-trigger the location update process, thereby avoiding long waiting times and causing user equipment service anomalies.

[0019] According to the first aspect, or any implementation of the first aspect above, the method also includes: when the RRC connection is not successfully established, resulting in the failure of the location update process, the location update process triggered this time is not accumulated into the total number of triggers corresponding to the location update process.

[0020] Therefore, when the RRC connection is not established, resulting in the failure of the location update process, such as in the scenario where the corresponding location update request is not sent to the network side, the user equipment does not accumulate the location update process triggered this time into the total number of triggers corresponding to the location update process, thereby avoiding the total number of triggers quickly reaching the preset number of triggers specified in the standard protocol, and then starting the fourth timer, resulting in the user equipment being unable to perform the location update process within the time length corresponding to the fourth timer, making the user equipment unable to return to normal for a long time, and thus causing the user equipment to be unable to receive paging normally.

[0021] That is, based on the implementation method provided in this aspect, it is possible to achieve the situation where basically no burden is imposed on the network and no rejection is caused by the network.

[0022] According to the first aspect, or any implementation of the first aspect above, the method also includes: if the preset conditions are not identified to be met within the time period corresponding to the third timer, after the third timer times out, the location update process is re-triggered and the first timer and the second timer are started.

[0023] Therefore, if the preset condition is not recognized to be met within the duration corresponding to the third timer, the location update process can be re-triggered after the third timer expires in accordance with the provisions of the current standard protocol to ensure that the location update process can proceed normally.

[0024] According to the first aspect, or any implementation method of the first aspect above, in the process of re-triggering the location update process, the method also includes: when the RRC connection is successfully established and the re-triggered location update process fails, the location update process triggered this time is accumulated into the total number of triggers corresponding to the location update process; when the total number of triggers is greater than the preset number of triggers, the fourth timer is started, and the duration corresponding to the fourth timer is greater than the duration corresponding to the first timer, the second timer, and the third timer respectively; wherein, within the duration corresponding to the fourth timer, the user equipment cannot perform the location update process.

[0025] Therefore, if the RRC connection is not established, resulting in the failure of the location update process, such as in the scenario where the corresponding location update request is not sent to the network side, the user equipment does not accumulate the location update process triggered this time into the total number of triggers corresponding to the location update process. For the case where the RRC connection is successfully established, but the location update process still fails, that is, the corresponding request is actually sent out, the number of times is accumulated, thereby preventing the total number of triggers from quickly reaching the preset number of triggers specified in the standard protocol, and then starting the fourth timer, resulting in the user equipment being unable to perform the location update process within the duration corresponding to the fourth timer, making it impossible for the user equipment to return to normal for a long time, and further causing the user equipment to be unable to receive paging normally.

[0026] According to the first aspect, or any implementation of the first aspect above, the network standards corresponding to the first cell and the second cell are different; or, the network standards corresponding to the first cell and the second cell are the same.

[0027] Exemplarily, the network standards of the first cell and the second cell may be 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, and any future network standards.

[0028] Exemplarily, the first cell may be any one of 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, and future network standards, and the network standard of the second cell may be any one of the network standards except the first cell.

[0029] According to the first aspect, or any implementation method of the above first aspect, when the network standard corresponding to the second cell is a 4G network, the location update process is implemented through the tracking area update TAU, the first timer is the T300 timer, the second timer is the T3430 timer, and the third timer is the T3411 timer.

[0030] According to the first aspect, or any implementation method of the first aspect above, when the network standard corresponding to the second cell is a 5G network, the location update process is implemented through a registration process of the mobile registration update MRU type, the first timer is the T300 timer, the second timer is the T3510 timer, and the third timer is the T3511 timer.

[0031] According to the first aspect, or any implementation method of the first aspect above, when the network standard corresponding to the second cell is a 4G network, the fourth timer is a T3402 timer; or, when the network standard corresponding to the second cell is a 5G network, the fourth timer is a T3502 timer.

[0032] According to the first aspect, or any implementation of the first aspect above, identifying that a preset condition is satisfied includes: identifying that the preset condition is satisfied when the user equipment is in fast motion.

[0033] Among them, fast-moving scenes include scenes that occur when riding on high-speed trains, airplanes and other means of transportation.

[0034] When a user device is in a fast-moving scenario, the cell in which the user device is located changes rapidly. Therefore, if there is a problem in the original cell that causes the location update process to fail, the new cell may not have the same problem. Therefore, in this scenario, instead of waiting for the third timer to expire before re-initiating the location update process as required by the protocol, the third timer is directly turned off when a cell change is identified, and the location update process is triggered. This allows the user device to quickly return to normal, thereby ensuring normal paging.

[0035] According to the first aspect, or any implementation method of the first aspect above, when the user equipment changes from the first cell where it resides to the second cell where it resides, the location update process is triggered, including: when the user equipment redirects from the first cell where it resides to the second cell, the location update process is triggered; or, when the user equipment reselects from the first cell where it resides to the second cell, the location update process is triggered.

[0036] In a second aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a user equipment. The user equipment includes: a memory and a processor, the memory and the processor being coupled; the memory storing program instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the user equipment to execute instructions of the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0037] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable medium for storing a computer program, wherein the computer program includes instructions for executing the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0038] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program comprising instructions for executing the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0039] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip system, the chip system including a processor. The processor is configured to support a terminal device in implementing instructions of the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0040] According to a fifth aspect, the processor includes a modem.

[0041] Accordingly, the processor is used to support the user equipment in implementing the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect, and the instructions specifically include:

[0042] The modem is used to support the user equipment in implementing instructions of the method in the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

[0043] The fifth aspect and any implementation of the fifth aspect correspond to the first aspect and any implementation of the first aspect, respectively. The technical effects corresponding to the fifth aspect and any implementation of the fifth aspect can be referred to the technical effects corresponding to the first aspect and any implementation of the first aspect, and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0044] FIG1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a scenario in which a UE location change triggers a location update process;

[0045] 2A and 2B are schematic diagrams illustrating a process of performing location update between a user equipment and a network side in a 4G network;

[0046] FIG3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process of illustratively showing a location update failure leading to service interruption in a 4G network;

[0047] FIG4 is a schematic flow chart illustrating a location update method for a 4G network according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] FIG5 is a flow chart illustrating another method for updating a location in a 4G network according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0049] 6A and 6B are schematic diagrams illustrating a process of performing location update between a user equipment and a network side in a 5G network;

[0050] FIG7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a process of exemplarily illustrating a location update failure leading to service interruption in a 5G network;

[0051] FIG8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a flow chart of a location update method for a 5G network provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0052] FIG9 is a schematic diagram illustrating a flow chart of a location updating method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0053] FIG10 is a schematic diagram showing the hardware structure of an electronic device applicable to the location update method provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0054] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of this application to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application. Obviously, the embodiments described are part of the embodiments of this application, not all of them. Based on the embodiments in this application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative efforts are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0055] The term "and / or" in this article is merely a description of the association relationship between associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone.

[0056] In the description and claims of the embodiments of this application, the terms "first" and "second" are used to distinguish different objects, rather than to describe a specific order of objects. For example, the terms "first target object" and "second target object" are used to distinguish different objects, rather than to describe a specific order of objects.

[0057] 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 interpreted 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.

[0058] In the description of the embodiments of this application, unless otherwise specified, "multiple" means two or more. For example, "multiple processing units" means two or more processing units; "multiple systems" means two or more systems.

[0059] Based on the above premise, the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application is described below.

[0060] Specifically, the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present application is to address the problem that occurs when the UE's location changes and the network side is notified through the location update process to perform a location update.

[0061] Exemplarily, a scenario in which a UE triggers a location update process may be shown in FIG1 . Exemplarily, when the UE's initial position is the first position shown in FIG1 , the base station corresponding to the cell in which it resides may be base station A. As the UE moves, its position moves from the first position to the second position shown in FIG1 . When the base station of the cell corresponding to the second position is base station B, the UE needs to go through the location update process and notify the corresponding core network through base station B to perform a location update, so that when the UE resides in the cell corresponding to base station B, the core network can send a paging message or an invite request to the UE through base station B.

[0062] It should be understood that the above description is merely an example listed for a better understanding of the technical solution of this embodiment, and is not intended to be the sole limitation on this embodiment.

[0063] It should be noted that due to different network standards, the location update procedures used by the UE are different. For 2G and 3G networks, the UE can notify the core network corresponding to the 2G and 3G networks to update its location through the Location Area Update (LAU) method; for the Long Term Evolution (LTE) network (4G network), the UE can notify the core network corresponding to the LTE network to update its location through the Tracking Area Update (TAU) method; for the New Radio (NR) network (5G network), the UE can achieve this through a registration procedure with the Type being Mobility Registration Update (MRU).

[0064] According to existing standard protocols, when a UE in these network systems reselects a cell due to mobility, the location update process may include several steps such as cell reselection, random access, location update, and resource release.

[0065] In order to better illustrate the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application, the location update process performed by the UE and the network side is described below using the LTE network and the NR network as examples.

[0066] Understandably, the Mobility Management Entity (MME) is a key control node in the 3GPP LTE network. It is responsible for the positioning and paging of UEs in idle mode (RRC_IDLE). Therefore, in the LTE network scenario, the UE performs the location update process with the MME.

[0067] In addition, it is also understandable that the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), as a 5G network unit, has functions similar to the MME of the LTE network, and is mainly responsible for functions including registration management, connection management, access management, mobility management, etc. Therefore, in the NR network standard scenario, the UE performs the location update process with the AMF.

[0068] 2A and 2B , which exemplify a schematic diagram of a location update process performed by a UE and an MME under an LTE network standard.

[0069] As shown in FIG2A and FIG2B , when the UE notifies the MME to perform location update through TAU, the UE may initiate a TRACKING AREA UPDATE REQUEST (TAU request) to the MME and start the T3430 timer when initiating the TAU request.

[0070] After receiving the TAU request sent by the UE, the MME will feedback a TRACKING AREA UPDATE ACCEPT message (TAU accept message) to the UE, as shown in Figure 2A, or feedback a TRACKING AREA UPDATE REJECT message (TAU reject message) to the UE, as shown in Figure 2B.

[0071] Accordingly, when the UE receives the TAU accept message or the TAU reject message sent by the MME, the T3430 timer will be turned off, as shown in FIG2A and FIG2B .

[0072] It should be noted that, in some possible implementations, shutting down the timer may also be described as stopping the timer.

[0073] In addition, it should be noted that when the MME issues a TAU Accept message, the MME typically allocates a Globally Unique Temporary UE Identity (GUTI) to the UE. When the MME allocates a GUTI to the UE, the MME adds the GUTI to the TAU Accept message when sending it to the UE and starts the T3450 timer when sending the TAU Accept message to the UE, as shown in Figure 2A.

[0074] Accordingly, when the UE receives a TAU Accept message carrying the GUTI within the duration corresponding to the T3430 timer, it will not only stop the T3430 timer but also send a TRACKING AREA UPDATE COMPLETE message to the MME, as shown in Figure 2A.

[0075] Accordingly, if the MME receives the TRACKING AREA UPDATE COMPLETE message from the UE within the T3450 timer duration, it will stop the T3450 timer. This completes the location update. Conversely, if the UE does not receive the TAU Accept message from the MME within the T3430 timer duration, and / or the MME does not receive the TRACKING AREA UPDATE COMPLETE message from the UE within the T3450 timer duration, the location update process will be considered a failure.

[0076] 2B , for example, in the case where the MME issues a TAU reject message, since the MME will not process the TAU request sent by the UE, it will not allocate a GUTI for the UE. Therefore, when sending the TAU reject message to the UE, there is no need to start the T3450 timer.

[0077] Accordingly, if the UE receives a TAU Reject message from the MME within the T3430 timer, it does not need to send a TRACKING AREA UPDATE COMPLETE message to the MME and can simply stop the T3430 timer. This completes the location update. Conversely, if the UE does not receive a TAU Reject message from the MME within the T3430 timer, it considers the location update process to have failed.

[0078] If the UE has not received a response from the MME to the TAU request within the duration corresponding to the T3430 timer (such as the TAU acceptance message shown in Figure 2A, or the TAU rejection message shown in Figure 2B), or if the UE has not sent the TAU request at all within the duration corresponding to the T3430 timer due to other reasons (that is, the TAU failure), the T3411 timer will be started in accordance with the provisions of the standard protocol corresponding to the LTE network. The TAU process can only be triggered again after the T3411 timer expires, that is, the UE can send a TAU request to the MME again.

[0079] However, according to the T3411 timer in the standard protocol, the duration of the T3411 timer is 10 seconds. Therefore, if a TAU fails and the T3411 timer is started, the UE will experience at least 10 seconds of service interruption. For ease of understanding, the following is an explanation with reference to Figure 3.

[0080] Referring to Figure 3, for example, the cell where the UE initially resides in the NR network, such as Cell D, is taken as an example. In some possible cases, when the signal quality of Cell D deteriorates (such as the UE is far away from Cell D), Cell D can notify the UE to switch cells, or reselect, or redirect. Among them, the switching and redirection to which cell is guided by the network, that is, the network side can send an instruction to the UE to switch or redirect to a certain cell. The decision of which cell to reselect is made by the UE itself based on many factors such as the currently detected cell signal distribution and the configuration of the priority between neighboring cells.

[0081] The following is a detailed introduction to switching, reselection and redirection.

[0082] (1) Switch

[0083] It means that when the RRC is in the connected state (RRC_CONNECTED), the service is changed from one cell to another.

[0084] Switching can generally be divided into same-frequency switching, different-frequency switching, and different-system switching.

[0085] Among them, intra-frequency handover means that the target cell (the cell to be switched to) and the current serving cell (the cell currently staying) use the same RF carrier frequency. Inter-frequency handover means that the target cell and the current serving cell use different RF carrier frequencies. In these two handover scenarios, the target cell and the current serving cell belong to the same communication system. For example, when the Cell D where the UE is currently staying is an NR system, the cell to be switched to also needs to be an NR system. Conversely, if the Cell D where the UE is currently staying is an LTE system, the cell to be switched to needs to be an LTE system.

[0086] Among them, inter-system handover refers to handover between different systems, such as handover from NR system to LTE system, or from LTE system to NR system.

[0087] (2) Reselection (also described as random access)

[0088] It means reselecting from one cell to another when the RRC is in the idle state (RRC_IDLE).

[0089] It is understandable that when the RRC is in the idle state, the UE and the network side are not performing any data or voice services, that is, the reselection does not involve the switching of services.

[0090] (3) Redirection

[0091] Redirection, like handover, is performed based on the RRC being in a connected state, but redirection cannot carry over previously executed services.

[0092] Continuing to refer to FIG. 3 , for example, this embodiment takes the case where the signal quality of Cell D deteriorates and the UE switches from Cell D to Cell A of the LTE network by redirection or reselection as an example.

[0093] Continuing to refer to FIG. 3 , illustratively, after the UE successfully camps on Cell A, the TAU process is triggered, ie, the network side is notified of the current location so that the network side can page the UE in the correct area or initiate an invite request to the UE.

[0094] Understandably, the TAU request sent by the UE to the network side needs to be implemented based on the RRC connection between the UE and the network side. Therefore, after the UE resides in Cell A, when the TAU process is triggered, the RRC establishment process will be triggered, and the RRC establishment process needs to be implemented through the random access process.

[0095] In addition, it should be noted that according to the provisions of the standard protocol, when the UE sends an RRC Connection Request to the currently camped cell, such as Cell A, it needs to start the T300 timer. According to the provisions of the standard collaboration, when the UE sends a TAU request to the network side, it needs to start the T3430 timer.

[0096] Based on this, after the UE successfully camps on Cell A, when the TAU procedure is triggered, the RRC establishment procedure is also triggered, and then the random access procedure is triggered. Since both the TAU procedure and the RRC establishment procedure are triggered, the UE will start the T300 timer and the T3430 timer at the same time, as shown in Figure 3.

[0097] The duration of the T300 timer is 1 second, and the duration of the T3430 timer is 15 seconds.

[0098] It should be noted that the random access procedure mentioned in this embodiment may also be called a random access process.

[0099] The random access process is the process from when the UE sends a random access preamble and attempts to access the network to when a basic signaling connection is established with the network. There are two types of random access processes in LTE networks: contention-based random access (contention-based random access) and non-contention-based random access (non-contention-based random access).

[0100] Typically, when a random access procedure is triggered, the UE will first initiate a contention-based random access procedure, in which the UE randomly selects a random access preamble signature (preamble code) to prepare for the subsequent contention resolution procedure.

[0101] In addition, it should be noted that the contention-based random access process generally includes four steps. These four steps can be implemented through the four messages msg1, msg2, msg3, and msg4. The UE randomly selects a preamble code to initiate msg1; after the base station receives msg1 from the UE, the base station's medium access control (MAC) layer organizes and generates a random access response (i.e., msg2); after receiving msg2, the UE performs the first scheduled transmission (i.e., msg3); after receiving msg3, the base station sends a contention resolution message (i.e., msg4) to the UE.

[0102] For other implementation details of the random access process, please refer to the standard protocol and will not be repeated here.

[0103] Thus, random access can be completed through the above msg1 to msg4, that is, an RRC connection can be established between the UE and Cell A. In this way, a TAU process can be performed based on the RRC connection, as shown in Figures 2A and 2B.

[0104] For example, in another possible implementation, the messages sent by the UE when interacting with the network side in the TAU process can also be considered as those in the random access process. That is, in this implementation, the random access process can also include msg5 and msg6.

[0105] Among them, msg5 is a location update request sent by the UE to the base station after receiving msg4 sent by the base station. msg5 may include the UE's location information and an identifier for indicating the system type.

[0106] Specifically in an LTE network, msg5 is, for example, a TAU request sent by a UE, as shown in Figures 2A and 2B . Specifically in an NR network, msg5 is, for example, a REGISTRATION REQUEST with an MRU type sent by a UE, as shown in Figures 6A and 6B . For the specific implementation in an NR network, please refer to the following embodiments and will not be described in detail here.

[0107] Among them, msg6 is a location update confirmation message sent by the base station to the UE. msg6 may include the identity information of the base station and an identifier for indicating the system type.

[0108] Specifically in an LTE network, msg6 is, for example, a TAU acceptance message sent by the base station, as shown in FIG2A . Specifically in an NR network, msg6 is, for example, a REGISTRATION ACCEPT message sent by the base station, as shown in FIG6A . For the specific implementation in an NR network, please refer to the following embodiments and will not be described in detail here.

[0109] It should be understood that the above description is merely an example for better understanding the technical solution of this embodiment and is not intended to be the sole limitation of this embodiment. In actual applications, the random access procedure may further include msg7. msg7 is a random access rejection message sent by the base station to the UE. msg7 may include the rejection reason and an identifier indicating the system type.

[0110] Continuing to refer to FIG. 3 , illustratively, after the UE sends msg1 to the base station corresponding to Cell A, if it does not receive msg2 generated by the base station in response to msg1 within a specified time, it will resend msg1 to the base station.

[0111] According to the standard protocol, if the random access step fails, the T3430 timer will be treated as a timeout, that is, the T3411 timer will be started. Therefore, if the UE fails to complete random access and establish an RRC connection within the duration (1s) corresponding to the T300 timer, even if the T3430 timer has not timed out, the UE will actively stop the T3430 timer and start the T3411 timer, as shown in Figure 3.

[0112] According to the standard protocol, after the UE starts the T3411 timer, it cannot initiate the TAU procedure within the time specified by the T3411 timer, which is 10 seconds. Therefore, even if the UE reselects a cell due to movement, such as successfully camping on Cell B, or reselects a cell due to movement and camping on Cell C, the TAU procedure will not be reinitiated before the T3411 timer expires. The UE will only reinitiate the TAU procedure after the T3411 timer expires, as shown in Figure 3.

[0113] Understandably, since the UE has not yet established an RRC connection with Cell C, when the UE re-initiates the TAU process after the T3411 timer expires, the RRC process will also be triggered and the T300 timer and T3430 timer will be started (not shown in FIG3 ).

[0114] Since the RRC connection needs to be achieved through a random access process, the UE will perform a random access process with Cell C after re-initiating the TAU process.

[0115] Accordingly, after the UE and Cell C complete random access, an RRC connection between the two will be established, and the RRC establishment process will also be completed.

[0116] FIG3 takes the example where the random access procedure triggered when the UE re-initiates the TAU procedure after T3411 times out and the UE establishes an RRC connection with Cell C successfully.

[0117] Continuing to refer to FIG. 3 , illustratively, after the UE establishes an RRC connection with Cell C, the UE can process the TAU process with the LTE core network through the base station corresponding to Cell C, that is, execute the interaction shown in FIG. 2A or FIG. 2B , which will not be repeated here.

[0118] Figure 3 takes the successful re-initiated TAU process as an example. In this case, if the core network initiates an operation to search for the UE, when the RRC state of the UE is not the connected state, the core network can use the location information reported by the UE to initiate paging to the Cell C where the UE resides, thereby interacting with the UE.

[0119] Exemplarily, if the RRC state of the UE is connected, the core network may directly initiate an invite request.

[0120] Accordingly, after receiving the paging message from the core network, the UE can respond to the paging message. After receiving the invite request from the core network, the UE can respond to the invite message.

[0121] However, after the UE starts the T3411 timer, the core network may initiate paging to the UE within these 10 seconds. However, since the TAU process fails after the UE resides in Cell A, the network side does not know that the UE is currently residing in Cell A and still believes that the UE is residing in Cell D. Therefore, the NR core network will send paging to all base stations corresponding to the TACs recorded in the Tracking Area Code List (TAC List) and the UEs connected to these base stations, as shown in Figure 3. However, at this time, the UE is no longer residing in Cell D, so the paging message cannot reach the UE. This results in service interruption for the UE within these 10 seconds.

[0122] According to the standard protocol, if the TAU procedure fails more than five times, the UE must start the T3402 timer and specify that the UE cannot initiate the TAU procedure again before the T3402 timer expires. This prevents the UE from frequently sending TAU requests to the network, avoiding signaling storms and reducing pressure on the network. However, if the UE cannot initiate the TAU procedure within the 12 minutes (minutes, minutes) of the T3402 timer, it will seriously affect the UE's services.

[0123] However, in scenarios where the UE is moving rapidly, such as on a moving high-speed train, airplane, or other means of transportation, the cell where the UE resides changes rapidly. If there is a problem in the original cell, there may not be a problem in the new cell, and there is a high probability that there is no problem.

[0124] Therefore, the current location update processing logic is obviously not well suited for UEs in fast-moving scenarios. In view of this, an embodiment of the present application provides a location update method for fast-moving UEs in an LTE network.

[0125] Referring to Figure 4, for example, the UE initially resides in Cell D of the NR network, and after the signal quality of Cell D deteriorates, the UE switches from Cell D to Cell A of the LTE network by redirection or reselection.

[0126] Continuing to refer to FIG. 4 , illustratively, after the UE successfully resides in Cell A, when the TAU process is triggered, the RRC establishment process is triggered together, and then the random access process is triggered, and the T300 timer and the T3430 timer are started at the same time.

[0127] Continuing with Figure 4 , this embodiment still uses the example of a case where random access fails within the timer corresponding to the T300 timer, resulting in no RRC connection being established between the UE and Cell A. In this scenario, the UE actively disables the T3430 timer and starts the T3411 timer according to the T3430 timer expiration processing rules.

[0128] Continuing to refer to Figure 4, for example, specifically to the location update method provided in an embodiment of the present application, when the T3411 timer is started due to a failure in random access resulting in a failure to establish an RRC connection, within the timing time corresponding to the T3411 timer, the UE will detect whether the conditions for re-initiating the TAU process are currently met.

[0129] It should be noted that, since the location update method provided in the embodiment of the present application is for scenarios where the UE moves rapidly, in such scenarios, the cell where the UE resides may change rapidly as the location moves, and the signal quality of the original cell where the UE resides may also improve due to the rapid movement of the location. Therefore, in one possible implementation, the conditions for re-initiating the TAU process in the embodiment of the present application may, for example, be a change in the signal quality of the original cell where the UE currently resides, such as a signal quality exceeding a certain threshold, such as an increase of 100 dBm. Another example may be a change in the cell where the UE resides, such as a change from the currently residing Cell A to Cell B or Cell C.

[0130] It should be understood that the above description is merely an example listed for a better understanding of the technical solution of this embodiment, and is not intended to be the sole limitation on this embodiment.

[0131] Continuing to refer to Figure 4, illustratively, in the location update method provided in the embodiment of the present application, when the UE determines that the conditions for re-initiating the TAU process are currently met, it can actively turn off the T3411 timer and immediately re-initiate the TAU process (currently according to the 4G standard protocol, the UE will not actively turn off the T3411 timer, and can only re-initiate the TAU process after the T3411 timer expires. 5G networks or other networks are similar to this).

[0132] For ease of description, this embodiment takes the case where the cell where the UE resides changes from Cell A to Cell C as an example.

[0133] If the UE still fails after re-initiating the TAU procedure, it can restart the T3411 timer. After starting the T3411 timer, whether to wait for the T3411 timer to expire before re-initiating the TAU procedure, or to immediately stop the T3411 timer and re-initiate the TAU procedure after recognizing that the signal quality of the current cell has improved or the cell has changed, can be determined based on the reason for starting the T3411 timer.

[0134] For example, in one possible implementation, if the re-initiated TAU process is still due to random access failure and the RRC connection is not established, that is, the TAU request is not sent to the network side at all, the T3411 timer can be immediately stopped and the TAU process can be re-initiated after recognizing that the signal quality of the currently camped cell has improved or the camped cell has changed. Conversely, if the TAU process has reached the network side but failed due to other reasons, it can be initiated after the T3411 timer expires, avoiding frequent TAU ​​requests to the network side and causing pressure on the network.

[0135] Because UEs travel large distances in a short period of time in fast-moving scenarios, such as on high-speed trains and airplanes, the time it takes for the UE's cell to change from Cell A to Cell C may be very short, not even reaching 10 seconds. Therefore, with this setting, when the UE recognizes that the signal quality of the currently resident cell has improved or that the resident cell has changed, it immediately turns off the T3411 timer (turns off the T3411 timer in advance before the T3411 timer expires) and re-initiates the TAU process. In this way, the UE does not need to wait for the T3411 timer to expire, that is, wait for 10 seconds before re-initiating the TAU process, thereby shortening the time the UE's services are interrupted and ensuring that paging and invite requests can reach the UE normally.

[0136] In addition, in the scenario where random access fails and the RRC connection is not established at all, since the TAU request does not reach the network side at all (the TAU request fails to be sent through the RRC connection), the T3411 timer is immediately closed when the above-mentioned conditions for re-initiating the TAU process are met, and the TAU process is re-initiated, which does not add any burden to the network side.

[0137] As can be seen from the above description, according to the provisions of the standard protocol, if the number of TAU process failures exceeds 5 times, the UE needs to start the T3402 timer, and it is stipulated that before the T3402 timer times out (12 minutes), the UE cannot initiate the TAU process again. However, based on the location update method provided in the embodiment of the present application, in one possible implementation, if the reason for the failure of the TAU process is a random access failure, resulting in an unsuccessful RRC establishment, the number of TAUs may not be accumulated, and the TAU process may be initiated again when the above-mentioned conditions for re-initiating the TAU process are met, as shown in Figure 5.

[0138] Continuing with Figure 5 , for example, if the TAU procedure still fails after the RRC connection is successfully established, the TAU number of attempts may be accumulated according to the standard protocol. If the accumulated TAU number does not exceed the preset number, the TAU procedure may be reinitiated. Conversely, if the accumulated TAU number exceeds the preset number, the T3402 timer is started. The TAU procedure is not reinitiated until the T3402 timer expires, as shown in Figure 5 .

[0139] Therefore, in scenarios where the RRC connection is not established, resulting in no TAU request being sent to the network, the number of TAU procedures for this reason is not accumulated, thereby preventing the five opportunities specified in the standard protocol from being wasted and the T3402 timer from being activated. In scenarios where the RRC connection is successfully established, the number of failed TAU procedures is accumulated, that is, only the number of TAU requests that are actually sent is accumulated. This allows for timely location updates without significantly increasing the burden on the network, avoiding long-term service interruptions and allowing the user equipment to recover and receive paging calls in a timely manner.

[0140] In addition, it should be noted that the TAU process in the embodiment of the present application can be understood as the complete interaction between the UE and the MME shown in Figures 2A and 2B. The TAU request is the request sent by the UE to the MME when the TAU process is triggered.

[0141] 6A and 6B , which exemplify a schematic diagram of a location update process between a UE and an AMF under an NR network standard.

[0142] As shown in Figures 6A and 6B, when the UE notifies the AMF to update its location through a registration process with Type MRU (subsequently expressed as: MRU process), it can initiate a REGISTRATION REQUEST with Type MRU to the AMF (subsequently expressed as: MRU request. The MRU request is a step in the MRU process) and start the T3510 timer when initiating the MRU request.

[0143] After receiving the MRU request sent by the UE, the AMF will feedback a REGISTRATION ACCEPT message to the UE, as shown in Figure 6A, or feedback a REGISTRATION REJECT message to the UE, as shown in Figure 6B.

[0144] Accordingly, when the UE receives the registration accept message or registration reject message sent by the AMF, the T3510 timer will be turned off, as shown in Figures 6A and 6B.

[0145] It should be noted that when the AMF issues a Registration Accept message, the AMF will also allocate a GUTI to the UE. When the AMF allocates a GUTI to the UE, the AMF will add the GUTI to the Registration Accept message when sending it to the UE and start the T3550 timer when sending the Registration Accept message to the UE, as shown in Figure 6A.

[0146] Accordingly, when the UE receives a registration accept message carrying the GUTI within the duration corresponding to the T3510 timer, in addition to stopping the T3510 timer, it also sends a REGISTRATION COMPLETE message to the AMF, as shown in Figure 6A.

[0147] Accordingly, when the AMF receives the REGISTRATION COMPLETE message from the UE within the duration of the T3550 timer, it will stop the T3550 timer. In this way, a location update is completed. Conversely, if the UE does not receive the REGISTRATION ACCEPT message from the AMF within the duration of the T3510 timer, and / or the AMF does not receive the REGISTRATION COMPLETE message from the UE within the duration of the T3550 timer, the location update process will be considered to have failed.

[0148] Continuing to refer to Figure 6B, for example, in the case where the AMF makes a registration reject message, because the AMF does not process the MRU request sent by the UE, it will not allocate a GUTI for the UE. Therefore, when sending a registration reject message to the UE, there is no need to start the T3550 timer.

[0149] Accordingly, if the UE receives a Registration Reject message from the AMF within the T3510 timer, it does not need to send a REGISTRATION COMPLETE message to the AMF and can simply stop the T3510 timer. This completes the location update. Conversely, if the UE does not receive a Registration Reject message from the AMF within the T3510 timer, it will consider the location update process to have failed.

[0150] If the UE has not received a response from the AMF to the MRU request within the duration corresponding to the T3510 timer (such as the registration acceptance message shown in Figure 6A, or the registration rejection message shown in Figure 6B), or if the UE does not send the MRU request at all within the duration corresponding to the T3510 timer due to other reasons (i.e., MRU failure), the T3511 timer will be started in accordance with the standard protocol corresponding to the NR network. The MRU process can only be triggered again after the T3511 timer expires, that is, the UE can send the MRU request to the AMF again.

[0151] However, according to the T3511 timer in the standard protocol, the duration of the T3511 timer is 10 seconds. Therefore, if the MRU fails and the T3511 timer is started, the UE will experience at least 10 seconds of service interruption. For ease of understanding, the following is an explanation with reference to Figure 7.

[0152] 7 , for example, the UE initially resides in a cell of the LTE network, such as Cell H. In some possible cases, when the signal quality of Cell H deteriorates (e.g., the UE moves away from Cell H), Cell H may notify the UE to perform cell handover, reselection, or redirection.

[0153] For the description of switching, reselection and redirection, please refer to the above embodiment section and will not be repeated here.

[0154] Continuing to refer to FIG. 7 , for example, this embodiment takes the case where, after the signal quality of Cell H deteriorates, the UE switches from Cell H to Cell E of the NR network by redirection or reselection as an example.

[0155] Continuing to refer to FIG. 7 , illustratively, after the UE successfully camps on Cell E, the MRU process is triggered, ie, the network side is notified of the current location so that the network side can page the UE in the correct area or initiate an invite request to the UE.

[0156] Understandably, the MRU request sent by the UE to the network, like the TAU request type in the LTE network, also requires the RRC connection between the UE and the network. Therefore, after the UE resides in Cell E and triggers the MRU process, it will trigger the RRC establishment process, which is implemented through the random access process.

[0157] Based on this, after the UE successfully camps on Cell E, when the MRU process is triggered, the RRC establishment process is also triggered, and then the random access process is triggered. Since both the MRU process and the RRC establishment process are triggered, the UE will start the T300 timer and the T3510 timer at the same time, as shown in Figure 7.

[0158] The T300 timer corresponds to 1 second, and the T3510 timer corresponds to 15 seconds.

[0159] Regarding the random access process between the UE and the base station corresponding to the currently residing Cell E in the NR network, the steps are the same as those in the LTE network. For specific implementation details, please refer to the description of the random access process in the embodiment shown in Figure 4, which will not be repeated here.

[0160] Continuing to refer to FIG. 7 , illustratively, after the UE sends msg1 to the base station corresponding to Cell E, if it does not receive msg2 generated by the base station in response to msg1 within a specified time, it will resend msg1 to the base station.

[0161] According to the standard protocol, if the random access step fails, the T3510 timer will be treated as a timeout, that is, the T3511 timer will be started. Therefore, if the UE does not complete random access and establish an RRC connection within the duration (1s) corresponding to the T300 timer, even if the T3510 timer has not timed out, the UE will actively stop the T3510 timer and start the T3511 timer, as shown in Figure 7.

[0162] According to the standard protocol, after the UE starts the T3511 timer, it cannot initiate the MRU process within the time specified by the T3511 timer, which is 10 seconds. Therefore, even if the UE reselects a cell due to movement, such as successfully camping on Cell F, or reselects again and camps on Cell G due to movement, the MRU process will not be reinitiated before the T3511 timer expires. The UE will only reinitiate the MRU process after the T3511 timer expires, as shown in Figure 7.

[0163] Understandably, since the UE has not yet established an RRC connection with Cell G, when the UE re-initiates the MRU process after the T3511 timer expires, the RRC process will also be triggered and the T300 timer and T3510 timer will be started (not shown in FIG7 ).

[0164] Since the RRC connection needs to be achieved through a random access process, the UE will perform a random access process with Cell G after re-initiating the MRU process.

[0165] Accordingly, after the UE and Cell G complete random access, an RRC connection between the two will be established, and the RRC establishment process will also be completed.

[0166] FIG7 takes the example where the random access procedure triggered when the UE re-initiates the MRU procedure after T3511 times out and the UE establishes an RRC connection with Cell G successfully.

[0167] Continuing to refer to Figure 7, illustratively, after the UE establishes an RRC connection with Cell G, the UE can process the MRU process with the core network of NR through the base station corresponding to Cell G, that is, execute the interaction shown in Figure 6A or Figure 6B, which will not be repeated here.

[0168] Figure 7 takes the successful re-initiated MRU process as an example. In this case, if the core network initiates an operation to search for the UE, when the RRC state of the UE is not in the connected state, the core network can use the location information reported by the UE to initiate paging to the Cell G where the UE resides, thereby interacting with the UE.

[0169] Exemplarily, if the RRC state of the UE is connected, the core network may directly initiate an invite request.

[0170] Accordingly, after receiving the paging message from the core network, the UE can respond to the paging message. After receiving the invite request from the core network, the UE can respond to the invite message.

[0171] Then, after the UE starts the T3511 timer, the core network may initiate paging to the UE within these 10 seconds. However, since the MRU process fails after the UE resides in Cell E, the network side does not know that the UE is currently residing in Cell E and still believes that the UE is residing in Cell H. Therefore, the LTE core network sends paging to all base stations corresponding to the TACs recorded in the Tracking Area Code List (TAC List) and the UEs connected to these base stations, as shown in Figure 7. However, at this time, the UE is no longer residing in Cell H, so the paging message cannot reach the UE. This results in service interruption for the UE within these 10 seconds.

[0172] According to the standard protocol, if the MRU process fails more than five times, the UE must start the T3502 timer and stipulate that the UE cannot initiate the MRU process again before the T3502 timer expires. This can prevent the UE from frequently sending MRU requests to the network, avoiding signaling storms and reducing network pressure. However, the 12-minute duration of the T3502 timer will seriously affect the UE's services.

[0173] However, in scenarios where the UE is moving rapidly, such as on a moving high-speed train, airplane, or other means of transportation, the cell where the UE resides changes rapidly. If there is a problem in the original cell, there may not be a problem in the new cell, and there is a high probability that there is no problem.

[0174] Therefore, the current location update processing logic is obviously not well suited for UEs in fast-moving scenarios. In view of this, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for location update of fast-moving UEs in an NR network.

[0175] Referring to FIG8 , for example, it is still taken that the UE initially resides in Cell H of the LTE network, and after the signal quality of Cell H deteriorates, the UE reselects or redirects from Cell H to Cell E of the NR network.

[0176] Continuing to refer to FIG. 8 , illustratively, after the UE successfully resides in Cell E, when the MRU process is triggered, the RRC establishment process is triggered together, and then the random access process is triggered, and the T300 timer and the T3510 timer are started at the same time.

[0177] Continuing with FIG8 , this embodiment still takes the example of a case where random access fails within the timer corresponding to the T300 timer, resulting in no RRC connection being established between the UE and Cell E. In this scenario, the UE actively disables the T3510 timer and starts the T3511 timer according to the T3510 timer expiration processing rule.

[0178] Continuing to refer to Figure 8, for example, specifically to the location update method provided in the embodiment of the present application, when the T3511 timer is started due to a failure in random access resulting in a failure to establish an RRC connection, within the timing time corresponding to the T3511 timer, the UE will detect whether the conditions for re-initiating the MRU process are currently met.

[0179] It should be noted that, since the location update method provided in the embodiment of the present application is aimed at the scenario where the UE moves rapidly, in this scenario, as the location moves, the cell where the UE resides may change rapidly, and the signal quality of the original cell where the UE resides may also improve due to the rapid movement of the location. Therefore, in one possible implementation method, the conditions for re-initiating the MRU process mentioned in the embodiment of the present application may be, for example, a change in the signal quality of the original cell where the UE currently resides, such as a signal quality exceeding a certain threshold, such as an increase of 100 dBm. Another example may be that the cell where the UE resides has changed, such as changing from the currently residing Cell E to Cell F or Cell G.

[0180] It should be understood that the above description is merely an example listed for a better understanding of the technical solution of this embodiment, and is not intended to be the sole limitation on this embodiment.

[0181] Continuing to refer to Figure 8, illustratively, in the location update method provided in an embodiment of the present application, when the UE determines that the conditions for re-initiating the MRU process are currently met, it can actively turn off the T3511 timer and immediately re-initiate the MRU process (currently according to the 5G standard protocol, the UE will not actively turn off the T3511 timer, and can only re-initiate the MRU process after the T3511 timer expires. 4G networks or other networks are similar to this).

[0182] For ease of description, this embodiment takes the case where the cell where the UE resides changes from Cell E to Cell G as an example.

[0183] If the UE still fails after re-initiating the MRU process, the T3511 timer can be restarted. After starting the T3511 timer, whether to wait for the T3511 timer to expire before re-initiating the MRU process, or to immediately stop the T3511 timer and re-initiate the MRU process after recognizing that the signal quality of the currently resident cell has improved or the resident cell has changed, can be determined based on the reason for starting the T3511 timer.

[0184] For example, in one possible implementation, if the re-initiated MRU process is still due to the failure of random access and the failure to establish an RRC connection, that is, the MRU request is not sent to the network side at all, the T3511 timer can be immediately turned off and the MRU process can be re-initiated after recognizing that the signal quality of the currently resident cell has improved or the resident cell has changed. Conversely, if the MRU process has reached the network side but failed for other reasons, it can be initiated only after the T3511 timer times out, avoiding frequent initiation of MRU requests to the network side and causing pressure on the network.

[0185] Because the UE moves a large distance in a short period of time in a fast-moving scenario, such as on a high-speed train, airplane or other means of transportation, the time it takes for the UE to change from Cell E to Cell G may be very short, not even 10 seconds. Therefore, through this setting, when the UE recognizes that the signal quality of the current cell it is staying in has improved, or that the cell it is staying in has changed, it immediately turns off the T3511 timer (turns off the T3511 timer in advance before the T3511 timer times out) and re-initiates the MRU process. In this way, the UE does not need to wait for the T3511 timer to time out, that is, wait for 10 seconds before re-initiating the MRU process, thereby shortening the time the UE's service is interrupted and ensuring that paging and invite requests can reach the UE normally.

[0186] In addition, in the scenario where random access fails and the RRC connection is not established at all, since the MRU request does not reach the network side at all (the MRU request cannot be sent through the RRC connection), when the above-mentioned conditions for re-initiating the MRU process are met, the T3511 timer is immediately closed and the MRU process is re-initiated, which does not add any burden to the network side.

[0187] As can be seen from the above description, according to the provisions of the standard protocol, if the number of MRU process failures exceeds 5 times, the UE needs to start the T3502 timer, and it is stipulated that before the T3502 timer times out (12 minutes), the UE cannot initiate the MRU process again. However, based on the location update method provided in the embodiment of the present application, in one possible implementation, if the reason for the failure of the MRU process is the failure of random access, resulting in the failure of RRC establishment, the number of MRUs may not be accumulated, and the MRU process may be initiated again when the above-mentioned conditions for re-initiating the MRU process are met.

[0188] In addition, it should be noted that in order to avoid adding pressure to the network side, if the MRU process still fails after the RRC connection is successfully established, the MRU number can be accumulated according to the provisions of the standard protocol. If the accumulated MRU number does not exceed the preset number, the MRU process will be re-initiated. Conversely, if the accumulated MRU number exceeds the preset number, the T3502 timer will be started, and the MRU process will be initiated again after the T3502 timer expires.

[0189] Therefore, in the scenario where the RRC connection is not established, resulting in the MRU request not being sent to the network side at all, by not accumulating the number of MRU procedures for this reason, it is possible to prevent the five opportunities specified in the standard protocol from being wasted and the T3502 timer from being started. In the scenario where the RRC connection is successfully established, the number of failed MRU procedures is accumulated, that is, the number of MRU requests that are actually sent is accumulated. This allows for timely location updates without adding much burden to the network side, avoiding long-term service interruptions and allowing the user equipment to return to normal in a timely manner and receive paging.

[0190] It should be understood that the above description of the location update method provided in the embodiment of the present application only takes the LTE (4G) network and the NR (5G) network as examples. In actual applications, the method is also applicable to the second-generation mobile phone communication technology specification (2-Generation Wireless Telephone Technology, 2G) network and the third-generation mobile phone communication technology specification (3-Generation Wireless Telephone Technology, 3G) network. Among them, when the location update occurs in the 2G network or the 3G network, it can be implemented through the Location Area Update (LAU) process.

[0191] In addition, it should be understood that in actual applications, this method can be applied not only between different communication networks, such as switching from a cell of an NR network to a cell of an LTE network, or from a cell of an LTE network to a cell of an NR network, but also between the same communication networks. For example, reselecting from a cell of an LTE network to a cell of an LTE network, or reselecting from a cell of an NR network to a cell of an NR network.

[0192] It should be noted that, in the process of reselecting a cell in the same communication network, it is necessary to perform location update based on the location update method provided in the embodiment of the present application under specific circumstances.

[0193] For example, in the scenario of reselecting a cell in the LTE network (residing in a cell in the LTE network before reselection and residing in another cell in the LTE network after reselection), the TAU process needs to be triggered only when the tracking area code (TAC) of the reselected cell is not in the original TAC list (TAC List), and then the location update is performed based on the location update method provided in the embodiment of the present application.

[0194] For example, in the scenario of reselecting a cell in the NR network (residing in a cell in the NR network before reselection and residing in another cell in the NR network after reselection), the MRU process needs to be triggered only when the tracking area code (TAC) of the reselected cell is not in the original TAC list (TAC List), and then the location update is performed based on the location update method provided in the embodiment of the present application.

[0195] In addition, it should be understood that with the subsequent development of communication technology, in the future next-generation communication technology, such as 6G, if based on standard protocols, the location update process performed by user equipment in these networks also includes cell reselection, random access, location update, resource release and other steps, then the location update method provided in the embodiment of the present application is also applicable.

[0196] Specifically, a location update method for a fast-moving UE in different networks may be as shown in FIG9 , specifically including:

[0197] S101: A user equipment triggers a location update procedure by redirecting or reselecting from a first cell where it resides, and starts a first timer and a second timer.

[0198] Among them, user devices, such as mobile phones, smart watches, tablet computers, etc., are not listed here one by one, and this application does not impose any restrictions on them.

[0199] The network standards corresponding to the first cell and the second cell may be the same or different.

[0200] Among them, network standards may include, for example, 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, and future next-generation communication networks such as 6G.

[0201] For example, in a scenario where the first cell and the second cell correspond to the same network standard, the first cell and the second cell may be any one of the network standards listed above.

[0202] For example, in a scenario where the network standards corresponding to the first cell and the second cell are different, the first cell can be any one of the network standards listed above, and the second cell can be a network other than the network standard corresponding to the first cell among the network standards listed above.

[0203] It should be understood that the above description is merely an example listed for a better understanding of the technical solution of this embodiment, and is not intended to be the sole limitation on this embodiment.

[0204] The first timer is a T300 timer that needs to be started when establishing an RRC connection.

[0205] Exemplarily, when the second cell in which the user equipment is currently camped is a cell of an LTE network, such as Cell A, or Cell B, or Cell C in the above embodiment, the second timer is a T3430 timer. When the second cell is a cell of an NR network, such as Cell E, or Cell F, or Cell G in the above embodiment, the second timer is a T3510 timer.

[0206] S102: If the RRC connection is not successfully established within the duration corresponding to the first timer, when the first timer times out, the second timer is stopped and the third timer is started.

[0207] In which, when the second cell in which the user equipment is currently camped is a cell of the LTE network, such as Cell A, Cell B, or Cell C in the above embodiment, the third timer is a T3411 timer. When the second cell is a cell of the NR network, such as Cell E, Cell F, or Cell G in the above embodiment, the second timer is a T3511 timer.

[0208] S103: Within the duration corresponding to the third timer, if it is identified that a preset condition is met, the third timer is closed in advance, the location update process is re-triggered, and the first timer and the second timer are started.

[0209] The situation where the preset conditions are met is, for example, the signal quality of the original cell mentioned in the above embodiment becomes better, or the cell changes.

[0210] From the description of the above embodiments applicable to LTE networks and NR networks, it can be seen that the location update process is different for different network standards.

[0211] Exemplarily, when the network standard corresponding to the second cell is an LTE network, the location update process is implemented through a tracking area update TAU.

[0212] For example, the first cell is Cell D mentioned in the above embodiment, and the second cell can be Cell A, Cell B, or Cell C mentioned in the above embodiment. In this scenario, the location update process, for example, in the embodiment shown in Figure 4 or Figure 5, the TAU process is initiated for the first time when the UE resides in Cell A, and the re-triggered location update process is a TAU process initiated after the T3411 timer is actively turned off when the re-initiation condition is met.

[0213] For example, when the network standard corresponding to the second cell is an NR network, the location update process is implemented through a registration process with Type as MRU.

[0214] For example, the first cell is Cell H mentioned in the above embodiment, and the second cell can be Cell E, Cell F, or Cell G mentioned in the above embodiment. In this scenario, the location update process, for example, in the embodiment shown in FIG8 , the MRU process is initiated for the first time when the UE resides in Cell A, and the re-triggered location update process is an MRU process initiated after the T3511 timer is actively turned off when the re-initiation condition is met.

[0215] S104: If the preset condition is not met within the duration corresponding to the third timer, when the third timer times out, the location update process is re-triggered and the first timer and the second timer are started.

[0216] For example, taking the first cell as Cell D in the above embodiment, the second cell may be Cell A, Cell B, or Cell C in the above embodiment. In this scenario, the third location procedure is a TAU procedure initiated after T3411 times out.

[0217] Therefore, by setting a setting in which, in the scenario where the location update process fails due to an unestablished RRC connection, the third timer is proactively stopped upon identifying that a preset condition is met, and the location update process is reinitiated, the user equipment is prevented from waiting for a long time, which could lead to abnormal user equipment services. In this way, without substantially increasing the burden on the network side, the user equipment experiencing a location update process abnormality can be quickly restored to normal, allowing the user equipment to receive paging calls normally.

[0218] In addition, in some possible implementations, it can be configured that if the RRC connection is not successfully established, resulting in the failure of the location update process, the location update process triggered this time is not accumulated in the total number of triggers corresponding to the location update process. If the RRC connection is successfully established and the re-triggered location update process fails, the location update process triggered this time is accumulated in the total number of triggers corresponding to the location update process; if the total number of triggers is greater than the preset number of triggers, a fourth timer is started, and the duration corresponding to the fourth timer is greater than the durations corresponding to the first timer, the second timer, and the third timer, respectively.

[0219] Among them, in the LTE network, the fourth timer is T3402; in the NR network, the fourth timer is T3502.

[0220] Therefore, if the RRC connection is not established, resulting in the failure of the location update process, such as in the scenario where the corresponding location update request is not sent to the network side, the user equipment does not accumulate the location update process triggered this time into the total number of triggers corresponding to the location update process. For the case where the RRC connection is successfully established, but the location update process still fails, that is, the corresponding request is actually sent out, the number of times is accumulated, thereby preventing the total number of triggers from quickly reaching the preset number of triggers specified in the standard protocol, and then starting the fourth timer, resulting in the user equipment being unable to perform the location update process within the duration corresponding to the fourth timer, making it impossible for the user equipment to return to normal for a long time, and thus causing the user equipment to be unable to receive paging normally.

[0221] That is, based on the implementation method provided in this aspect, it is possible to basically not bring any burden to the network and not be rejected by the network.

[0222] For details not fully described in this embodiment, please refer to the description of the above embodiments for LTE networks and NR networks, and will not be repeated here.

[0223] In addition, it should be noted that in some possible implementations, the location update method provided in the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to cell switching, that is, the scenario where the RRC state is in a connected state and switches from one cell to another.

[0224] Understandably, since handover means changing from one cell to another in the RRC connected state (RRC_CONNECTED), when the UE switches from the currently resident cell (such as the first cell) to the target serving cell (such as the second cell) by handover, due to the existence of the RRC connection, when the location update process is triggered, such as the TAU process in the LTE network or the MRU process in the NR network, there is no need to perform the RRC establishment process, and only the random access process and the location update process are performed.

[0225] Taking cell switching in an LTE network as an example, after the UE changes the cell it resides in, when the random access process and TAU process are triggered, the first timer started is specifically the T304 timer, and the second timer is still the T3430 timer.

[0226] In addition, it should be noted that if random access fails, cell handover will also fail, and the UE will trigger a Radio Link Failure (RLF) process. In the RLF process, the cell will be reselected first, and then the RRC re-establishment process will be initiated. If the RRC re-establishment process fails due to reasons such as random access, the UE will start the T3411 timer. This leads to the problem that when the redirection or reselection method resides in the second cell in the above embodiment, the RRC connection fails due to reasons such as random access, and then the T3411 timer is started, resulting in the UE being unable to perform services for at least 10 seconds.

[0227] Therefore, in one possible implementation, when the UE changes the cell in which it resides by switching, when the RRC re-establishment process fails due to random access or other reasons, and the T3411 timer is started, the location update method provided in the above embodiment can also be used to enable the UE that meets the conditions for re-initiating the TAU process to actively turn off the T3411 timer and immediately initiate the TAU process to restore the UE's service as soon as possible.

[0228] In addition, it should be understood that the above is a description of the location update method for cell switching based on the scenario of the LTE network. The same is true for the NR network. According to the existing standard, the timer corresponding to the NR network is started during the handover process. After the RRC re-establishment process fails due to reasons such as random access, the T3511 timer is started. The specific implementation details can be found in the above embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0229] In order to better understand the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application, taking the user device as a mobile phone as an example, based on the hardware structure of the mobile phone, the hardware involved in implementing the location update method provided in the embodiments of the present application is explained.

[0230] 10 , which exemplarily shows the hardware structure of a mobile phone 100 .

[0231] As shown in Figure 10, the mobile phone 100 may include: a processor 110, an external memory interface 120, an internal memory 121, a universal serial bus (USB) interface 130, a charging management module 140, a power management module 141, a battery 142, an antenna 1, an antenna 2, a mobile communication module 150, a wireless communication module 160, an audio module 170, a speaker 170A, a receiver 170B, a microphone 170C, an earphone interface 170D, a sensor module 180, a button 190, a motor 191, an indicator 192, a camera 193, a display screen 194, and a subscriber identification module (SIM) card interface 195, etc.

[0232] Antenna 1 and antenna 2 are used to transmit and receive electromagnetic wave signals. Each antenna in mobile phone 100 can be used to cover a single or multiple communication frequency bands. Different antennas can also be reused to improve antenna utilization. For example, antenna 1 can be reused as a diversity antenna for a wireless local area network. In other embodiments, the antennas can be used in conjunction with a tuning switch.

[0233] Specifically in each embodiment of the present application, the interaction between the network side (such as the MME of the 4G network, or the AMF of the 5G network, or the core network under other network standards) and the UE of mobile phone 100, such as the TRACKING AREA UPDATE REQUEST, REGISTRATION REQUEST of Type MRU, TRACKING AREA UPDATE COMPLETE, REGISTRATION COMPLETE, messages / instructions in the RRC process, messages / instructions in the random access process, and TRACKING AREA UPDATE ACCEPT, TRACKING AREA UPDATE REJECT, REGISTRATION ACCEPT, REGISTRATION REJECT, etc. sent by the network side to the UE, can be implemented through antenna 1 or antenna 2.

[0234] Among them, the mobile communication module 150 can provide solutions for wireless communications including 2G / 3G / 4G / 5G applied on the mobile phone 100. The mobile communication module 150 may include at least one filter, a switch, a power amplifier, a low noise amplifier (LNA), etc. The wireless communication module 160 can provide solutions for wireless communications including wireless local area networks (WLAN) (such as wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) networks), Bluetooth (BT), global navigation satellite system (GNSS), frequency modulation (FM), near field communication technology (NFC), infrared technology (IR), etc. applied on the mobile phone 100.

[0235] For example, in some implementations, the antenna 1 of the mobile phone 100 may be coupled to the mobile communication module 150, and the antenna 2 may be coupled to the wireless communication module 160. This allows the mobile phone 100 to communicate with the network and other devices via mobile communication technology or wireless communication technology.

[0236] In addition, it should be noted that, in some implementations, the processor 110 may include one or more processing units, for example: the processor 110 may include an application processor (AP), a modem processor (Modem, also known as a baseband processor), a graphics processor (GPU), an image signal processor (ISP), a controller, a memory, a video codec, a digital signal processor (DSP), a neural-network processing unit (NPU), etc.

[0237] It is understandable that, in a specific implementation, different processing units may be independent devices or integrated into one or more processors.

[0238] It should be noted that, in practical applications, mobile phone 100 can implement the technical solutions provided by various embodiments of this application through two processing units, AP 110A and modem 110B. For example, AP 110A can determine the location change of the user device, then invoke the corresponding driver in the kernel layer of the user device, handing over the location update process to the modem. The modem can then interact with the network according to the processing logic involved in the location update methods provided by various embodiments of this application. Specific implementation details can be found in the above embodiments and will not be further elaborated here.

[0239] Furthermore, it is also understandable that the controller, a processing unit included in the processor 110, can be the nerve center and command center of the mobile phone 100. In practical applications, the controller can generate operation control signals based on instruction opcodes and timing signals to complete the control of instruction fetching and execution.

[0240] The wireless communication function of the mobile phone 100 can be implemented through the antenna 1, the antenna 2, the mobile communication module 150, the wireless communication module 160, the modem processor, etc.

[0241] This concludes the introduction to the hardware structure of mobile phone 100. It should be understood that the mobile phone 100 shown in FIG10 is merely an example. In a specific implementation, mobile phone 100 may have more or fewer components than shown, may combine two or more components, or may have a different component configuration. The various components shown in FIG10 may be implemented in hardware, including one or more signal processing and / or application-specific integrated circuits, software, or a combination of hardware and software.

[0242] In addition, it should be understood that in order to implement the above functions, the user equipment includes hardware and / or software modules that perform the corresponding functions. In combination with the 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 a hardware or computer software driven hardware manner depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application in combination with the embodiments, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of this application.

[0243] In addition, it should be noted that the location update method provided by the above embodiments implemented by the user equipment in the actual application scenario can also be performed by a chip system included in the user equipment. Based on this, an embodiment of the present application also provides a chip system, which may include a processor. The chip system can be coupled to a memory so that the chip system calls the computer program stored in the memory when it is running to implement the steps performed by the above user equipment. Among them, the processor in the chip system can be an application processor (such as AP 110A in Figure 10) or a non-application processor (such as Modem 110B in Figure 10).

[0244] In addition, an embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores computer instructions. When the computer instructions are executed on a user device, the user device executes the above-mentioned related method steps to implement the location update method in the above-mentioned embodiment.

[0245] In addition, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product. When the computer program product is run on a user device, the user device executes the above-mentioned related steps to implement the location update method in the above-mentioned embodiment.

[0246] In addition, it can be seen from the above description that the user equipment, computer-readable storage medium, computer program product or chip provided in the embodiments of the present application are all used to execute the corresponding methods provided above. Therefore, the beneficial effects that can be achieved can refer to the beneficial effects in the corresponding methods provided above, and will not be repeated here.

[0247] As described above, the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, rather than to limit them. Although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the above embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the above embodiments, or make equivalent replacements for some of the technical features therein. However, these modifications or replacements do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

Claims

1. A location updating method, characterized in that: Applied to user equipment, the method comprises: In a case where the user equipment changes from camping in a first cell to camping in a second cell, triggering a location update process, and starting a first timer and a second timer; wherein the current radio resource control RRC state of the user equipment is an idle state, the duration corresponding to the second timer is greater than the duration corresponding to the first timer, the duration corresponding to the first timer is the duration for establishing an RRC connection between the user equipment and a core network through random access, and the duration corresponding to the second timer is the duration for performing the location update process, and the location update process is implemented based on the RRC connection; If the RRC connection is not successfully established within the duration corresponding to the first timer, when the first timer times out, the second timer is turned off and a third timer is started; wherein the duration corresponding to the third timer is the duration during which the user equipment cannot perform the location update process from the time when the second timer is turned off; Within the duration corresponding to the third timer, when it is identified that the preset condition is met, the third timer is closed in advance, the location update process is re-triggered, and the first timer and the second timer are started.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The step of closing the third timer in advance when a preset condition is identified to be met within the duration corresponding to the third timer includes: Within the duration corresponding to the third timer, when it is identified that the signal quality of the second cell improves, or the user equipment resides in the third cell, the third timer is closed in advance.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The method further comprises: In the case where the RRC connection is not successfully established, resulting in the failure of the location update process, the location update process triggered this time is not accumulated into the total number of triggering times corresponding to the location update process.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The method further comprises: If the preset condition is not identified to be met within the duration corresponding to the third timer, the location update process is re-triggered after the third timer times out, and the first timer and the second timer are started.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: In the process of re-triggering the location update procedure, the method further includes: In the case where the RRC connection is successfully established and the re-triggered location update process fails, the location update process triggered this time is accumulated into the total number of triggers corresponding to the location update process; When the total number of triggers is greater than the preset number of triggers, a fourth timer is started, and the duration corresponding to the fourth timer is greater than the durations corresponding to the first timer, the second timer, and the third timer respectively; Wherein, within the duration corresponding to the fourth timer, the user equipment cannot perform the location update process.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: The network standards corresponding to the first cell and the second cell are different; or, The network standards corresponding to the first cell and the second cell are the same.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: When the network standard corresponding to the second cell is a 4G network, the location update process is implemented through a tracking area update TAU, the first timer is a T300 timer, the second timer is a T3430 timer, and the third timer is a T3411 timer.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: When the network standard corresponding to the second cell is a 5G network, the location update process is implemented through a registration process of mobile registration update MRU type, the first timer is a T300 timer, the second timer is a T3510 timer, and the third timer is a T3511 timer.

9. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 8, characterized in that: When the network standard corresponding to the second cell is a 4G network, the fourth timer is a T3402 timer; or, When the network standard corresponding to the second cell is a 5G network, the fourth timer is a T3502 timer.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that: The identification that a preset condition is met includes: When the user equipment is in fast movement, it is identified that the preset condition is met.

11. A user equipment, characterized in that: The user equipment comprises: a memory and a processor, wherein the memory and the processor are coupled; the memory stores program instructions, and when the program instructions are executed by the processor, the user equipment executes the location updating method as described in any one of claims 1 to 10.

12. A chip system, characterized in that: The chip system includes a processor, and the processor is used to support the user equipment to implement the location update method as described in any one of claims 1 to 10.

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