Network management method and communication apparatus

Abstract

The embodiments of the present application relate to the technical field of communications. Disclosed are a network management method and a communication apparatus, which can reduce the connection recovery time delay of terminal devices in non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). The method can be applied to discontinuous coverage scenarios. The method comprises: when a connection with a first network device has been established and it is determined, on the basis of cell coverage information of the first network device, that the terminal device meets a preset condition, sending request information to the first network device, the preset condition being used for indicating that the terminal device is about to enter a coverage blind spot, and the request information being used for requesting to enter an inactive state; and receiving response information from the first network device, the response information being used for indicating that the terminal device is allowed to enter an inactive state. The embodiments of the present application are used for mobility management measurement processes of terminal devices.

Description

Network management method and communication device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on January 10, 2024, with application number 202410045776.9 and application name “A Network Management Method and Communication Device”, 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 network management method and a communication device. Background Art

[0003] Non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) include nodes such as satellite networks, high-altitude platforms and drones. They have the characteristics of global coverage, long-distance transmission, flexible networking, easy deployment and no geographical restrictions.

[0004] For cell handover / reselection, the near-far effect is less pronounced in NTNs, meaning the signal quality difference between the cell center and the cell edge is minimal. Therefore, handover / reselection triggered solely by signal quality is inefficient. Therefore, NTNs incorporate time- and location-assisted handover / reselection enhancement technologies. For example, mobility management in NTNs can be implemented based on time, terminal device location information, ephemeris information, and a combination of time / location information and signal quality. Currently, handover / reselection for terminal devices in NTNs can typically be performed in continuous coverage scenarios, where there are no coverage blind spots. However, in the early stages of constellation coverage, due to the small number of satellite nodes, NTNs may experience coverage blind spots in both time and space, known as discontinuous coverage. When a terminal device is in a coverage blind spot in a discontinuous coverage scenario, cell handover / reselection will fail, resulting in significant latency in restoring the terminal's connection.

[0005] Summary of the Invention

[0006] The embodiments of the present application provide a network management method and a communication device, which can reduce the connection recovery delay of terminal devices in an NTN.

[0007] In a first aspect, a network management method is provided, which can be applied to a non-continuous coverage scenario. Optionally, the execution subject of the method can be a terminal device, or a component or device applied to the terminal device (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the terminal device. The method includes: establishing a connection with a first network device, and determining that the terminal device meets a preset condition based on the cell coverage information of the first network device, sending a request message to the first network device, the preset condition is used to indicate that the terminal device is about to enter a coverage blind spot, and the request message is used to request to enter an inactive state; receiving a response message from the first network device, the response message is used to indicate that the terminal device is allowed to enter an inactive state.

[0008] This application can be applied to a transparent satellite architecture. The first network device can be a transparent satellite or a transparent satellite. The terminal device can be a mobile terminal or a small aperture terminal. When this method is applied to a discontinuous coverage scenario, it can be understood that there is a coverage blind spot between the cell coverage of the first network device and the cell coverage of a neighboring satellite, i.e., the second network device.

[0009] In a discontinuous coverage scenario, when a terminal device establishes a connection with a first network device, it is equivalent to determining that it needs to enter an inactive state in advance based on the cell coverage information of the first network device. The terminal device can enter an inactive state in advance before entering a coverage blind spot. In this way, the terminal device can predict that the terminal device itself is about to enter a coverage blind spot of the network based on preset conditions. In the NTN scenario, as the second network device, that is, the next neighboring satellite, moves, when the terminal device is in an inactive state, if the terminal device is within the coverage range of the next neighboring satellite, considering that in a transparent satellite architecture, the network side (such as gNB) stores the context information of the terminal device, even if there is a coverage (blind spot) interruption, the terminal device can still quickly restore the connection with the second network device, that is, the neighboring satellite, after the coverage interruption. Compared with the problem of long connection recovery delay caused by the terminal device being disconnected when entering a coverage blind spot and needing to execute the process of entering a connected state from an idle state to establish a connection with the next transparent transmission satellite, this application is in an inactive state when in a coverage blind spot, and thus restores the connection from an inactive state. This application can reduce the connection recovery delay of the network device under the transparent transmission satellite in the non-continuous coverage scenario.

[0010] In one possible design, the cell coverage information includes the service time period during which the first network device serves the terminal device. Specifically, the terminal device can determine whether to transition from a connected state to an inactive state based on the service time period of the first network device in the current serving cell. This allows the terminal device to maintain an active state even in a coverage blind spot. Because the network side (e.g., the gNB) stores the terminal device's context information, the terminal device can quickly restore its connection with the second network device when the second network device arrives and covers the terminal device.

[0011] In one possible design, when a connection is established with the first network device and it is determined based on the cell coverage information of the first network device that the terminal device meets the preset conditions, sending a request message to the first network device includes: when a connection is established with the first network device and it is determined based on the service time period, the cache information of the terminal device and the business information that the terminal device meets the preset conditions, sending a request message to the first network device. This is equivalent to the terminal device not only being able to determine whether the preset conditions for entering the inactive state are met based on the service time period, but also being able to determine whether to enter the inactive state based on whether the terminal device's own cache is sufficient to transmit the remaining data corresponding to the business information. In this way, it is beneficial for the terminal device to enter the inactive state in advance, rather than causing the connection to be interrupted when entering a coverage blind spot, thereby reducing the connection recovery delay of the terminal device.

[0012] In one possible design, the preset conditions include: the time point at which the first network device begins serving the terminal device reaches the first moment in the service time period, where the first moment is before the end of the service time period; and / or the remaining service duration of the first network device serving the terminal device is less than the duration for the remaining data to be transmitted of the service information indicated by the cache information. This allows the terminal device to enter the inactive state in advance when in the connected state, thereby avoiding the situation where the terminal device is in the idle state due to a lack of signal in a coverage blind spot.

[0013] In one possible design, the cell coverage information includes a reference position within the cell coverage range of the first network device and at least one distance threshold relative to the reference position; wherein different distance thresholds correspond to different directions. This method of determining whether the cell coverage information meets the preset conditions through the distance threshold is similar to determining whether the cell coverage information meets the preset conditions through the service time period. The distance threshold is equivalent to if the distance between the position of the terminal device and the reference position reaches the distance threshold, the terminal device is about to leave the cell coverage range of the first network device, and it is determined that it needs to enter the inactive state in advance to reduce the connection recovery delay between the terminal device and the next network device. Moreover, the design of this distance threshold can also adapt to different cell coverage topologies and shapes.

[0014] In one possible design, the preset condition includes: a distance between the terminal device and the reference location in a first direction is equal to a distance threshold corresponding to the first direction. That is, when the distance between the terminal device and the reference location reaches the distance threshold, the terminal device requests to the first network device to enter an inactive state.

[0015] In one possible design, the cell coverage information includes a reference position within the cell coverage of the first network device and at least one angle threshold relative to the reference position; wherein different angle thresholds correspond to different directions. This method of determining whether the cell coverage information meets the preset conditions through the angle threshold is similar to determining whether the cell coverage information meets the preset conditions through the service time period. The angle threshold is equivalent to if the angle formed by the position of the terminal device and the reference position on the first network device reaches the angle threshold, the terminal device is about to leave the cell coverage of the first network device, and it is determined that it needs to enter the inactive state in advance to reduce the connection recovery delay between the terminal device and the next network device. Moreover, the design of this angle threshold can also adapt to different cell coverages.

[0016] In one possible design, the preset condition includes: an angle between the first network device's position and the terminal device's position, and an angle threshold between the first network device's position and the reference position in the first direction, in the same direction. Specifically, when the angle between the terminal device's position and the reference position in the first network device reaches the angle threshold, the terminal device requests the first network device to enter an inactive state.

[0017] In one possible design, the response information includes a wireless network temporary identifier assigned to the terminal device and the effective time period of the wireless network temporary identifier. The wireless network temporary identifier can be an inactive radio network temporary identifier (I-RNTI). The I-RNTI is carried in the terminal device identifier in the paging message sent by the network side and is used to wake up the terminal device in the inactive state. The effective time can be understood as when the effective time of the I-RNTI arrives, the terminal device can establish a connection with the second network device covering the terminal device, that is, enter the process from the inactive state to the connected state.

[0018] In one possible design, the response information may also include the cell coverage information of the second network device. The cell coverage information of the second network device can refer to the implementation of the cell coverage information of the first network device.

[0019] In one possible design, the method further includes: upon reaching the start time of the effective time period, executing a process for restoring the connected state to access the second network device. This can be understood as the case where upon reaching the start time of the effective time period, the terminal device enters the cell coverage of the second network device and may switch from the inactive state to the connected state. Furthermore, if the network side, such as the gNB, still stores the terminal device's context information, the terminal device can quickly establish a connection with the second network device.

[0020] In one possible design, the effective time period is used to instruct the terminal device not to perform cell measurements before the start time of the effective time period when the terminal device enters the inactive state. In this way, when the terminal device is in the inactive state in a coverage blind area, invalid cell blind searches and other processes can be avoided, avoiding additional measurement overhead and also saving energy for the terminal device.

[0021] In a second aspect, a network management method is provided, which can be applied to non-continuous coverage scenarios. Optionally, the execution subject of the method can be a first network device, or a component or device (such as a processor, chip, or chip system, etc.) applied to the first network device, or a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the first network device. The method includes: when establishing a connection with a terminal device, receiving a request message from the terminal device when the terminal device is about to enter a coverage blind spot, the request message is used to request to enter an inactive state; and sending a response message to the terminal device, the response message is used to indicate that the terminal device is allowed to enter an inactive state.

[0022] The beneficial effects of the second aspect can be found in the description of the first aspect.

[0023] In one possible design, the response information includes the wireless network temporary identifier allocated to the terminal device and the effective time period of the wireless network temporary identifier.

[0024] In one possible design, the effective time period is used to instruct the terminal device not to perform cell measurement before the start time of the effective time period arrives when entering an inactive state.

[0025] In one possible design, before sending a response message to the terminal device, the method also includes: sending first information to at least one target network device, the first information including context information of the terminal device, and at least one of the terminal device location information and service time period information of at least one network device; sending a switching request to the core network, the switching request being used to request to establish a connection between the core network and at least one target network device before the start time of the service time period indicated by the service time period information arrives.

[0026] This design is applicable to regenerated star architectures in discontinuous coverage scenarios, where the network device is a regenerated star. When both the first network device and the target network device are regenerated stars, they possess some or all of the functionality of a base station (for example, the regenerated star can be a full gNB or gNB-DU), can store the context information of the terminal device, and establish a connection with the core network when the terminal device's context information is stored. The target network device can be understood as a neighboring satellite of the first network device. In this way, when the target network device receives the context information and location information of the terminal device, it can establish a connection with the core network and the terminal device, thereby reducing the connection recovery delay of the terminal device in the regenerated star architecture.

[0027] In this scenario, for one of at least one target network device, the method includes: receiving first information sent by the first network device, the first information including context information of the terminal device, as well as at least one of location information of the terminal device and service time period information of at least one network device. The above design is equivalent to the source network device of the terminal device sending a handover request to the core network, or it can be equivalent to the target network device, upon receiving the first information, establishing a connection with the core network before the start time of the service time period indicated by the service time period information arrives.

[0028] In a third aspect, a network management method is provided. Optionally, the execution subject of the method can be a first network device, or a component or device (such as a processor, chip, or chip system, etc.) applied to the first network device, or a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the first network device. The method includes: when it is determined that the terminal type of the accessed terminal device is a mechanical small aperture terminal, sending the location information of the terminal device to the target network device, the location information of the terminal device is used to request information for assisting the terminal device in performing mobility management measurements; receiving configuration information of a non-cell defined synchronization signal block (NCD-SSB) from the target network device, the configuration information of the NCD-SSB is determined based on the location information of the terminal device; and sending the configuration information of the NCD-SSB to the terminal device.

[0029] This is because the current cell measurements in mobility management are all based on the cell defined synchronization signal block (CD-SSB), or in other words, cell switching / reselection are all based on CD-SSB, and CD-SSB can be used for mobility management. NCD-SSB is used for wireless resource management, and NCD-SSB is not used for cell switching / reselection processes, or in other words, NCD-SSB is not used for mobility management. However, CD-SSB is dynamically changeable, and CD-SSB only occupies specific time-frequency domain resources (for example, the maximum period is 160ms). For mechanical VSAT terminals, due to the long beam alignment and measurement time, if mobility management is based on CD-SSB, the mobile interruption time perceived by the terminal side will increase, and the effectiveness of mobility management will be low. Therefore, in this application, the first network device sends the configuration information of NCD-SSB to the target network device to assist the mechanical small aperture terminal in performing mobility management measurements. Since the time domain density of NCD-SSB is low and is not restricted by the existing SSB pattern, the scheduling is more flexible, which can improve the effectiveness of the mechanical small aperture terminal in performing mobility management.

[0030] In one possible design, before sending the location information of the terminal device to the target network device, the method also includes: receiving a terminal type and location information of the terminal device from the terminal device; wherein the terminal type is a mechanical small aperture terminal; and the location information includes a reference position of the terminal device, a position in a global satellite navigation system, a wave position number, or at least one of a beam number.

[0031] In one possible design, the NCD-SSB configuration information includes at least one of the following information: NCD-SSB frequency information, NCD-SSB polarization information, NCD-SSB time domain distribution information, NCD-SSB valid time period information, or NCD-SSB reference location information. In this way, when the mechanical small-aperture terminal is within the cell coverage of the first network device, it can know in advance the NCD-SSB configuration information configured for the next target network device to be accessed, thereby performing mobility management based on the NCD-SSB configuration information, thereby improving the effectiveness of the mobility management measurement of the small-aperture terminal.

[0032] In one possible design, the NCD-SSB validity period information is used to instruct the terminal device to begin mobility management measurements on the target network device at the start time of the validity period indicated by the validity period information, according to the NCD-SSB configuration information. In this way, the small-aperture terminal can use NCD-SSB to perform cell measurements when the start time of the validity period configured by the NCD-SSB configuration information arrives, avoiding the problem of using CD-SSB for mobility management, which results in longer mobility interruption time perceived by the terminal side and lower mobility management effectiveness.

[0033] In a fourth aspect, a network management method is provided, which is applied to a non-continuous coverage scenario. Optionally, the execution subject of the method may be a terminal device, or a component or device applied to the terminal device (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the terminal device. The method includes: sending the terminal type of the terminal device and the location information of the terminal device to the network device, where the terminal type is a mechanical small-aperture terminal; receiving configuration information of a non-cell-defined synchronization signal block NCD-SSB from the network device, where the configuration information of the NCD-SSB is determined according to the location information of the terminal device when the network device determines that the terminal type of the terminal device is a mechanical small-aperture terminal, and the configuration information of the NCD-SSB is used to assist the terminal device in performing mobility management measurements.

[0034] The beneficial effects of the fourth aspect can be found in the description of the third aspect.

[0035] In a fifth aspect, a network management method is provided, which is applied to a non-continuous coverage scenario. Optionally, the execution subject of the method can be a target network device, or a component or device (such as a processor, chip, or chip system, etc.) applied to the target network device, or a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the target network device. The method includes: receiving location information of a terminal device sent by a first network device, where the terminal type is a mechanical small aperture terminal, and the location information of the terminal device is used to request information for assisting the terminal device in performing mobility management measurements; sending configuration information of a non-cell defined synchronization signal block NCD-SSB to the first network device, where the configuration information of the NCD-SSB is determined based on the location information of the terminal device.

[0036] The beneficial effects of the fifth aspect can be found in the description of the third aspect.

[0037] In the fourth and fifth aspects:

[0038] In one possible design, the location information includes at least one of a reference location of the terminal device, a location in a global satellite navigation system, a wave position (ie, a geographic area) number, or a beam number.

[0039] In one possible design, the configuration information of NCD-SSB includes at least one of the following information: frequency information of NCD-SSB, polarization information of NCD-SSB, time domain distribution information of NCD-SSB, valid time period information of NCD-SSB, or reference position information of NCD-SSB.

[0040] In one possible design, the valid time period information of the NCD-SSB is used to instruct the terminal device to perform mobility management measurements on the target network device starting at the start time of the valid time period indicated by the valid time period information according to the configuration information of the NCD-SSB.

[0041] In the sixth aspect, a communication device can be applied to a non-continuous coverage scenario, and the communication device includes: a sending unit, for establishing a connection with a first network device, and determining that the terminal device meets a preset condition based on the cell coverage information of the first network device, and sending a request message to the first network device, the preset condition is used to indicate that the terminal device is about to enter a coverage blind spot, and the request message is used to request to enter an inactive state; a receiving unit, for receiving a response message from the first network device, the response message is used to indicate that the terminal device is allowed to enter an inactive state.

[0042] In one possible design, the cell coverage information includes a service time period during which the first network device serves the terminal device.

[0043] In one possible design, the sending unit is used to send request information to the first network device when a connection is established with the first network device and it is determined that the terminal device meets preset conditions based on the service time period, cache information of the terminal device, and business information.

[0044] In one possible design, the preset conditions include: the time point when the first network device serves the terminal device reaches the first moment in the service time period, and the first moment is the moment before the end moment of the service time period; and / or, the remaining service duration of the first network device serving the terminal device is less than the duration for the remaining data to be transmitted of the business information indicated by the cache information to be transmitted.

[0045] In one possible design, the cell coverage information includes a reference position within the cell coverage of the first network device and at least one distance threshold relative to the reference position; wherein different distance thresholds correspond to different directions.

[0046] In one possible design, the preset condition includes: a distance between the position of the terminal device and the reference position in a first direction is the same as a distance threshold corresponding to the first direction.

[0047] In one possible design, the cell coverage information includes a reference position within the cell coverage of the first network device and at least one angle threshold relative to the reference position; wherein different angle thresholds correspond to different directions.

[0048] In one possible design, the preset condition includes: an angle between the position of the first network device and the position of the terminal device and an angle between the position of the first network device and the reference position in the first direction are the same as an angle threshold in the first direction.

[0049] In one possible design, the response information includes the wireless network temporary identifier allocated to the terminal device and the effective time period of the wireless network temporary identifier.

[0050] In one possible design, a processing unit is also included, which is used to execute a process of restoring the connection state when the starting time of the effective time period is reached to access the second network device.

[0051] In one possible design, the effective time period is used to instruct the terminal device not to perform cell measurement before the start time of the effective time period arrives when entering an inactive state.

[0052] In the seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, which can be applied to a non-continuous coverage scenario, and the communication device includes: a receiving unit, which is used to receive a request information from the terminal device when a connection is established with the terminal device when the terminal device is about to enter a coverage blind spot, and the request information is used to request to enter an inactive state; a sending unit, which is used to send a response information to the terminal device, and the response information is used to indicate that the terminal device is allowed to enter an inactive state.

[0053] In one possible design, the response information includes the wireless network temporary identifier allocated to the terminal device and the effective time period of the wireless network temporary identifier.

[0054] In one possible design, the effective time period is used to instruct the terminal device not to perform cell measurement before the start time of the effective time period arrives when entering an inactive state.

[0055] In one possible design, the sending unit is also used to send first information to at least one target network device, the first information including context information of the terminal device, and at least one of the terminal device location information and service time period information of at least one network device; and send a switching request to the core network, the switching request being used to request to establish a connection between the core network and at least one target network device before the start time of the service time period indicated by the service time period information arrives.

[0056] In an eighth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising at least one processor connected to a memory, and the at least one processor is used to read and execute a program stored in the memory so that the communication device executes a method as any possible design in the first to fifth aspects.

[0057] In the ninth aspect, a communication system includes a first communication device and a second communication device; the first communication device is used to execute the method as described in the first aspect and any possible design of the first aspect, and / or, to execute the method as described in the fourth aspect and any possible design of the fourth aspect; the second communication device is used to execute the method as described in the second aspect and any possible design of the second aspect, and / or, to execute the method as described in the third aspect and any possible design of the third aspect.

[0058] In one possible design, the communication system also includes a third communication device, and the third communication device is used to execute the method described in the fifth aspect and any possible design of the fifth aspect.

[0059] In a tenth aspect, a chip is provided, wherein the chip stores computer execution instructions, and when the computer execution instructions are executed, the method described in any possible design of the first to fifth aspects is executed.

[0060] In the eleventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, in which computer instructions are stored. When the computer instructions are executed on a communication device, the communication device executes the method described in any possible design of the first to fifth aspects.

[0061] In a twelfth aspect, a computer program product is provided, comprising computer instructions, which, when executed on a communication device, cause the communication device to execute a method as described in any possible design of the first to fifth aspects. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0062] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the distribution of communication time windows of a satellite network in a scenario of discontinuous coverage in the initial stage of constellation coverage provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0063] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a non-staring satellite communication system and a staring satellite communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0064] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a satellite communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0065] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of a handover process of a terrestrial network provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0066] FIG5 is a flow chart of a network management method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0067] FIG6 is a flow chart of a network management method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0068] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of a mobility management scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0069] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of a cell coverage information indication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0070] FIG9 is a flow chart of a network management method in a regenerated satellite (non-transparent transmission satellite) scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0071] FIG10 is a schematic diagram of network management in a regenerated star scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0072] FIG11 is a schematic diagram of frequency domain resources of a terrestrial network CD-SSB and NCD-SSB provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0073] FIG12 is a flow chart of a network management method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0074] FIG13 is a schematic diagram of a mobility management information interaction scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0075] FIG14 is a flow chart of a network management method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0076] FIG15 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0077] FIG16 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0078] For ease of understanding, some examples of concepts related to the embodiments of the present application are provided for reference as follows.

[0079] Non-terrestrial networks (NTNs): These include nodes such as satellite networks, high-altitude platforms, and drones. They offer significant advantages, including global coverage, long-distance transmission, flexible networking, easy deployment, and freedom from geographical constraints. They are widely used in a variety of fields, including maritime communications, positioning and navigation, disaster relief, scientific experiments, video broadcasting, and Earth observation. NTNs leverage the strengths of terrestrial 5th-generation (5G) networks and satellite networks to form a seamless, integrated global communications network covering land, sea, air, space, and space, meeting the diverse service needs of users everywhere.

[0080] Discontinuous Coverage: As a key component of the NTN, next-generation satellite networks are generally characterized by ultra-dense and heterogeneous networks. First, the scale of satellite networks has grown from 66 satellites in the Iridium constellation to 720 in the OneNet constellation, and ultimately to the Starlink ultra-dense low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation of over 12,000. Second, satellite networks exhibit heterogeneous characteristics, evolving from traditional single-layer communication networks to multi-layer communication networks. The functionality of communication satellite networks is also becoming increasingly complex and diverse, gradually becoming compatible with and supporting functions such as navigation augmentation, Earth observation, and multi-dimensional on-orbit information processing. It is worth noting that in the early stages of constellation coverage, due to the small number of satellite nodes, the satellite network may have coverage blind spots in time and space, i.e., discontinuous coverage. Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the distribution of communication time windows in a satellite network in a discontinuous coverage scenario in the early stages of constellation coverage. The horizontal axis represents time (time domain) and the vertical axis represents space (frequency domain). The time domain resources in the shaded part shown in Figure 1 are the communication time windows of the terminal devices connected to the satellite under the satellite network. However, during the interval between the shaded parts, the terminal devices are not covered by the satellite network, and there is a coverage blind spot, so the terminal devices cannot communicate.

[0081] Satellite beam working mode: Taking satellite communication as an example, according to the working mode of the payload (such as the beam), it can generally be divided into staring (earth-fixed or quasi-earth fixed) and non-staring (earth-moving) satellite communication systems. As shown in (a) of Figure 2, a schematic diagram of a non-staring satellite communication system, during a period of time, for example, a period of time including time T1, T2 and T3, the beam coverage range of the same satellite 201 moves with the satellite 201, and the coverage area at time T1 is 202, the coverage area at time T2 is 203, and the coverage area at time T3 is 204. As shown in (b) of Figure 2, a schematic diagram of a staring satellite communication system, during a period of time, for example, a period of time including time T1, T2 and T3, the same satellite 205 can make the beam approximately cover the same area 206 on the ground by dynamically adjusting the beam pointing. The embodiment of the present application can be used for staring satellite communication systems, and can also be applied to non-staring satellite communication systems.

[0082] Cell defined synchronization signal block (CD-SSB): carries the associated control resource set (CRE), namely the configuration information of CORESET 0 and the configuration information of the monitoring opportunity of Type 0-PDCCH common search space (CSS). Measurements related to cell selection and cell reselection are all based on CD-SSB.

[0083] Non-cell defined synchronization signal block (NCD-SSB): Unlike CD-SSB, NCD-SSB does not carry the associated control resource set (CRES), namely, the configuration information for CORESET 0 and the monitoring timing configuration information for Type 0 PDCCH CSS. NCD-SSB is primarily used for local cell radio resource management and supports signal measurement for users not within the initial bandwidth part (initial BWP).

[0084] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application. In the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified, " / " means or, for example, A / B can mean A or B; "and / or" in this article is merely a description of the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist, for example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. In addition, in the description of the embodiments of the present application, "multiple" means two or more than two.

[0085] In the following, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood to indicate or imply relative importance or implicitly specify the number of the technical features indicated. Therefore, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of this embodiment, unless otherwise specified, "plurality" means two or more.

[0086] The embodiments of the present application can be used in satellite communication systems, high altitude platform station (HAPS) communications, drones and other non-terrestrial network (NTN) systems, for example, integrated communication and navigation (IcaN) systems, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) and ultra-dense low-orbit satellite communication systems. Satellite communication systems can be integrated with traditional mobile communication systems. For example, the mobile communication system can be a fourth generation (4G) communication system (for example, a long term evolution (LTE) system), a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, a fifth generation (5G) communication system (for example, a new radio (NR) system), and future mobile communication systems.

[0087] The satellite communication system includes user equipment (UE) and network equipment. The user equipment may also be referred to as a user terminal, terminal equipment or mobile station, etc. The network equipment may include one or more satellites and ground station equipment, and the ground station equipment may also be referred to as core network equipment. The satellite may be a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite, a non-geostationary earth orbit (NGEO) satellite, etc. Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a satellite communication system 30 given in an embodiment of the present application. The network equipment in the satellite communication system 30 may include satellite 301, satellite 302, satellite 303 and ground station equipment 304, and the user equipment may include terminal equipment 305 to 310. Each satellite can provide communication services, navigation services, positioning services, etc. to the terminal equipment through multiple beams (the beam foot print shown in the example of Figure 3). The satellite in this scenario may be a LEO satellite, and satellite 303 may be connected to the ground station equipment 304. The satellite uses multiple beams to cover the service area, and different beams can communicate through one or more of time division, frequency division and space division. Satellites communicate wirelessly with terminal devices via broadcast communication signals and navigation signals, and can communicate wirelessly with ground station equipment 304. Satellites can also communicate between satellites via inter-satellite links. The satellites mentioned in the embodiments of this application can be satellite base stations, or can include orbital receivers or repeaters for relaying information, or can be network-side equipment carried onboard satellites.

[0088] Satellite communication system 30 may include a transparent satellite architecture and a non-transparent satellite architecture. Transparent transmission, also known as bent-pipe forwarding transmission, means that the signal only undergoes frequency conversion and signal amplification on the satellite, and the satellite is transparent to the signal. Non-transparent transmission, also known as regenerative (on-board access / processing) transmission, means that the satellite has some or all base station functions. For example, satellites 301 and 302 in Figure 3 have non-transparent satellite architectures, while satellite 303 has a transparent satellite architecture. In addition, satellites can operate in earth-fixed, quasi-earth-fixed, or earth-moving modes.

[0089] The terminal devices in the embodiments of the present application include various handheld devices, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, computing devices or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem with wireless communication functions, and may specifically refer to user equipment (UE), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device. The terminal device may also be a satellite phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a wireless data card, a wireless modem, a machine type communication device, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device or a wearable device, a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self-driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical, a wireless terminal in a smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in a smart city, a wireless terminal in a smart home, a terminal device in a 5G network or a future communication network, etc.

[0090] In satellite communication system 30, typical terminal types include handheld terminals, very small aperture terminals (VSATs) (e.g., 310 in FIG. 3 ), and other types of terminals. VSATs are further categorized as electronic VSATs and mechanical VSATs. Mechanical VSATs require mechanical rotation to adjust beam direction.

[0091] The ground station equipment is, for example, equipment in the core network (CN) of an existing mobile communication architecture (such as the 3GPP access architecture of a 5G network) or equipment in the core network of a future mobile communication architecture. As a bearer network, the core network provides an interface to the data network, and provides communication connection, authentication, management, policy control, and data service carrying for user equipment (UE). Among them, the CN may further include: access and mobility management function (AMF), session management function (SMF), authentication server function (AUSF), policy control node (PCF), user plane function (UPF) and other network elements. Among them, the AMF network element is used to manage the access and mobility of the UE, and is mainly responsible for UE authentication, UE mobility management, UE paging and other functions.

[0092] The network device in the embodiment of the present application may also include an evolved node B (eNB), a baseband unit (BBU), an access point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (WIFI) system, a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, a transmission point (TP) or a transmission reception point (TRP), etc. The network device may also be a gNB or TRP or TP in a 5G system, or one or a group of antenna panels (including multiple antenna panels) of a base station in a 5G system. In addition, the network device may also be a network node constituting a gNB or TP, such as a BBU, or a distributed unit (DU), etc. Alternatively, the network device may also be a device-to-device (D2D) communication system, a machine-to-machine (M2M) communication system, an Internet of Things (IoT), an Internet of Vehicles communication system, or a device that undertakes network-side functions in other communication systems.

[0093] In the mobility management method of NR or NTN, mobility management mainly includes cell switching, cell reselection, registration update and tracking area update. Taking cell switching as an example, Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a switching process of a terrestrial network. Taking the terminal device as UE as an example, it mainly includes the following processes.

[0094] 401. Cell handover measurement. Typically, the network sends measurement configurations corresponding to multiple cells (including serving cells and neighboring cells) to the UE. The UE measures the signal quality of the multiple cells, such as reference signal received power (RSRP) and / or reference signal received quality (RSRQ), according to the measurement configurations.

[0095] 402. Measurement result reporting. The UE reports the measurement results to the network (source network device). The reporting method can be periodic reporting or event-triggered reporting. In event-triggered reporting, the reporting conditions are usually configured as serving cell signal quality less than threshold 1 and / or neighbor cell signal quality greater than threshold 2.

[0096] 403. Handover decision: The source network (source network device) selects a suitable neighboring cell based on the reported result and exchanges user handover-related context information, admission control, and reserved resources with the neighboring cell.

[0097] 404. Handover execution: The UE receives handover-related control information from the serving cell and completes the access process in the new cell.

[0098] During handover, the UE requires a dedicated random access preamble, which differs from the contention-based random access preamble used during initial access. Furthermore, the time domain period of the random access channel (RACH) during handover supports configurations such as 10 / 20 / 40 / 80 / 160ms, the same as the RACH period configuration used during initial access.

[0099] For cell reselection / handover, the network typically broadcasts parameters related to neighboring cells, such as measurement configurations, to the UE. The UEFI compares its own measurements (such as RSRP and RSRQ) with parameters sent by the network (such as the reselection threshold), selects a target neighboring cell that meets the requirements, and autonomously reselects to the target neighboring cell. It is worth noting that the near-far effect is not significant in NTNs, meaning that the signal quality difference between the cell center and the cell edge is not significant. Relying solely on signal quality to trigger cell handover / reselection is inefficient. Therefore, NR / NTN considers time- and location-assisted cell handover / reselection enhancement technologies, such as those based on time / timers, UE location information (e.g., the UE's distance from the reference location of the source cell is greater than threshold 1, and the reference distance to the target cell is less than threshold 2), and a combination of timers / location and signal quality to achieve mobility management in NTN networks.

[0100] However, current NR / NTN cell handover / reselection systems are typically designed for continuous coverage scenarios using handheld devices or electronic VSATs. In discontinuous coverage scenarios, as shown in Figure 1, the terminal device is not covered by the satellite network during the intervals between the shaded areas, creating coverage blind spots. Terminal devices cannot communicate in these blind spots, leading to cell handover / reselection failures. Furthermore, as the current serving satellite moves away from the coverage blind spot, the terminal device does not know when it will be within the coverage of the next target satellite. Consequently, the terminal device will continue to perform blind searches, resulting in ineffective cell searches and significant measurement overhead.

[0101] In particular, for mechanical VSAT terminals, since the beam pointing needs to be adjusted through mechanical rotation, the beam alignment and measurement time during the cell selection / reselection / handover process cannot be ignored in satellite communications, especially LEO satellite communications scenarios. It can usually reach minutes, which makes it more likely to cause cell handover / reselection failure.

[0102] Therefore, an embodiment of the present application provides a network management method, which can be applied to non-continuous coverage scenarios. In this method, when a terminal device establishes a connection with a source network device, if it is determined based on the cell coverage information of the source network device that it needs to enter an inactive state in advance, the terminal device can enter an inactive state in advance before entering the coverage blind spot. When the terminal device is in an inactive state, the terminal device can ignore / not perform relevant cell measurements in the inactive state. In this way, it is equivalent to the terminal device being able to predict that the device itself is about to enter the coverage blind spot of the network, and the terminal device can not perform a blind cell search when it is in the coverage blind spot, thereby reducing the measurement overhead of the terminal device. In the NTN scenario, when the network device can be a satellite, for example, in the case of a transparent satellite, as the next satellite moves, when the terminal device is in an inactive state, if the terminal device is within the coverage range of the next satellite, considering that the network side stores the context information of the terminal device, the terminal device can also achieve rapid connection recovery with the next satellite after coverage interruption, thereby reducing the connection recovery delay in the transparent satellite scenario.

[0103] Based on the above introduction, the embodiments of the present application are introduced below.

[0104] FIG5 is a flow chart of a network management method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method is applicable to non-continuous coverage scenarios and includes the following process.

[0105] 501. After establishing a connection with a first network device and determining that the terminal device meets a preset condition based on the cell coverage information of the first network device, the terminal device sends a request message to the first network device. The preset condition is used to indicate that the terminal device is about to enter a coverage blind spot, and the request message is used to request to enter an inactive state.

[0106] Correspondingly, when the first network device establishes a connection with the terminal device, the first network device receives request information from the terminal device, where the request information is used to request to enter an inactive state.

[0107] In some embodiments, in the NTN, the terminal device may be a mobile terminal for satellite communication, or a VSAT. The first network device may be a transparent satellite in a transparent satellite architecture.

[0108] Generally, in NR / NTN, there are three RRC states for terminal devices: RRC idle state (RRC_IDLE), RRC inactive state (RRC_INACTIVE) and RRC connected state (RRC_CONNECTED). The inactive state in this application refers to the RRC inactive state here. The inactive state is introduced considering that NR / NTN requires millisecond-level delay. The RRC connection state, that is, the connection state, represents whether a connection has been established between the terminal device and the access network, and between the access network and the core network for the terminal device. The terminal device can transmit data at any time. This state does not require an establishment delay, so the delay is the shortest. The inactive state can also be called the deactivated state, which means that no connection has been established between the terminal device and the access network, while a connection has been established between the access network and the core network for the terminal device. Once there is data that needs to be sent to the terminal device, the network device on the access network side can send a paging call. When the terminal device receives the paging call, it can quickly establish a connection with the access network device. For example, the connection can be quickly restored within 10ms, and the terminal device switches from the inactive state to the connected state. The idle state indicates that there is no connection between the terminal device and the access network, or between the access network and the core network. If data is sent to the terminal device, or if the terminal device needs to send data, the terminal device must switch from the idle state to the connected state, and the latency is typically greater than 100ms.

[0109] In some embodiments, the cell coverage information includes the service time period during which the first network device serves the terminal device. That is, the terminal device can determine whether the terminal device meets the preset conditions for entering an inactive state based on the service time period during which the first network device serves the terminal device. Alternatively, if the preset conditions are used to determine whether the terminal device is about to enter a coverage blind spot, the determination of whether the terminal device is about to enter a coverage blind spot can be performed. For example, if it is determined based on the service time period that the first network device is about to end its service for the terminal device, the preset conditions for entering an inactive state are determined to be met.

[0110] In some embodiments, when a connection is established with the first network device and it is determined based on the cell coverage information of the first network device that the terminal device meets the preset conditions, sending request information to the first network device includes: when a connection is established with the first network device and it is determined based on the service time period, the cache information of the terminal device, and the business information that the terminal device meets at least one sub-condition of the preset conditions, sending request information to the first network device.

[0111] The service information may be understood as the type of service that the terminal device is currently transmitting data in. The cache information may be the amount of data remaining to be transmitted in the cache of the terminal device for the service that is currently transmitting data.

[0112] In some embodiments, the preset conditions include: the time point when the first network device serves the terminal device reaches the first moment in the service time period, and the first moment is the moment before the end time of the service time period; and / or, the remaining service time of the first network device serving the terminal device is less than the time for the remaining data to be transmitted of the business information indicated by the cache information to be transmitted.

[0113] This is equivalent to requesting the first network device to enter an inactive state when the remaining service time of the first network device for the terminal is insufficient to transmit the remaining data in the cache, or when the terminal device is about to lose the service of the first network device.

[0114] 502. The terminal device receives response information from the first network device, where the response information is used to indicate that the terminal device is allowed to enter an inactive state.

[0115] In response, the first network device sends a response message to the terminal device, indicating that the terminal device is allowed to enter the inactive state. Upon receiving the response message, the terminal device enters the inactive state. In the inactive state, although the terminal device is not connected to a network device, such as a transparent satellite, the ground station (equivalent to the gNB) still stores the terminal device's context information.

[0116] In some embodiments, the response information includes a wireless network temporary identifier assigned to the terminal device and the effective time of the wireless network temporary identifier. For example, the wireless network temporary identifier is an inactive radio network temporary identifier (I-RNTI). Usually, the I-RNTI is carried in the UE identifier in the paging message sent by the network side and is used to wake up the inactive UE. The effective time can be understood as when the effective time of the I-RNTI arrives, the terminal device can establish a connection with the second network device covering the terminal device, that is, enter the process from the inactive state to the connected state.

[0117] In this way, the terminal device can know in advance that it is about to enter a coverage blind spot, and before entering the coverage blind spot, it can request to enter the inactive state in advance from the serving satellite. Since the ground station (equivalent to the gNB) still stores the context information of the terminal device in the inactive state, when the terminal device enters the coverage area of ​​the next satellite again, the terminal device can still be paged by the next satellite to enter the connected state. The terminal device can also quickly restore the connection with the next satellite after the coverage is interrupted, reducing the connection recovery delay in the transparent satellite scenario. Moreover, in the inactive state, considering that the terminal device is in a coverage blind spot, the terminal device does not need to perform cell measurements related to the inactive state, which can also significantly reduce the measurement overhead of the terminal device in the absence of network coverage and avoid additional measurement overhead.

[0118] Based on the embodiment of Figure 5, Figure 6 is a flow chart of a network management method provided in an embodiment of the present application, which includes the following process.

[0119] 601. A terminal device establishes a connection with a first network device.

[0120] For example, FIG7 shows a schematic diagram of a mobility management scenario. When the first network device is a satellite 701, a terminal device can access satellite 701 through cell search and selection, random access, RRC connection establishment, and initial context establishment. After accessing satellite 701, if satellite 701 is a transparent transmission satellite in a transparent transmission architecture, the terminal device can communicate data with a ground station via satellite 701.

[0121] 602. The terminal device determines whether the terminal device meets a preset condition, where the preset condition indicates that the terminal device is about to enter a coverage blind spot. If the terminal device meets the preset condition, step 603 is executed. If the terminal device does not meet the preset condition, no request information is sent.

[0122] In some embodiments, the terminal device may determine whether the terminal device meets the preset condition based on the service time period of the first network device, the cache information and the service information of the terminal device as described in step 501 .

[0123] For example, referring to Figure 7 , when the first network device is a satellite 701 and the terminal device is a VSAT 702, during the time period when satellite 701 provides service to VSAT 702, VSAT 702 is within the coverage area 703 of satellite 701. The service time period of satellite 701 can be determined based on the satellite ephemeris information of satellite 701. Assume that the service time period during which satellite 701 provides service to VSAT 702 is from T1 to T2, where T1 is the start time of satellite 701 providing service to VSAT 702 and T2 is the end time of satellite 701 providing service to VSAT 702. In this case, the conditions in the preset conditions may include, for example, condition 1): the time point at which satellite 701 provides service to VSAT 702 reaches the first time T3 in the service time period T1 to T2, where T3 is before the end time T2 of the service time period T1 to T2. This means that when VSAT 702 is about to lose service from satellite 701, it must enter an inactive state in advance. Condition 2): The remaining service time of satellite 701 serving VSAT 702 is less than the time required to transmit the remaining data of the service information to be transmitted indicated in the buffer information. That is, if the remaining service time of satellite 1 serving VSAT 702 is insufficient to transmit the remaining data of the service information to be transmitted in the buffer, VSAT 702 must enter the inactive state in advance.

[0124] In some embodiments, when a terminal device determines whether the terminal device meets a preset condition based on cell coverage information of a first network device, the cell coverage information includes a reference location within the cell coverage of the first network device and at least one distance threshold relative to the reference location. Where the at least one distance threshold is multiple distance thresholds, different distance thresholds correspond to different directions. In this case, the preset condition may include: the distance between the terminal device's location and the reference location in a first direction is the same as the distance threshold corresponding to the first direction.

[0125] Exemplarily, when VSAT 702 is within the coverage of satellite 701, the terminal device can receive, via satellite 701, a reference position within the cell coverage range and at least one distance threshold relative to the reference position, provided by satellite 701. FIG8 is a schematic diagram of a cell coverage information indication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. The coverage of satellite 701 includes a reference position A, and within a first direction X, there exists a distance threshold 2 relative to the reference position A, and in a second direction Y, there exists a distance threshold 1 relative to the reference position A. If the distance between the position of VSAT 702 and the reference position A in the first direction X is the same as the distance threshold 2 corresponding to the first direction X, VSAT 702 determines that VSAT 702 meets the preset condition at this time. Alternatively, if the distance between the position of VSAT 702 and the reference position A in the second direction Y is the same as the distance threshold 1 corresponding to the second direction Y, VSAT 702 determines that VSAT 702 meets the preset condition at this time. Alternatively, it is also possible that the distance between the position of VSAT 702 and the reference position A in the first direction X is the same as the distance threshold 2 corresponding to the first direction X, and the distance between the position of VSAT 702 and the reference position A in the second direction Y is the same as the distance threshold 1 corresponding to the second direction Y. VSAT 702 will of course determine that the preset conditions are met at this time and needs to request satellite 701 to enter the inactive state.

[0126] In some embodiments, when a terminal device determines whether a preset condition is met based on the cell coverage information of a first network device, the cell coverage information includes a reference location within the cell coverage of the first network device and at least one angle threshold relative to the reference location. Where the at least one angle threshold is multiple angle thresholds, different angle thresholds correspond to different directions. In this case, the preset condition includes: the angle between the first network device's position and the terminal device's position, and the angle between the first network device's position and the reference location in a first direction are the same as the angle threshold in the first direction.

[0127] Exemplarily, when VSAT 702 is within the coverage area of ​​satellite 701, the terminal device can receive, via satellite 701, a reference position within the cell coverage area and at least one angle threshold relative to the reference position. Referring to FIG8 , the coverage area of ​​satellite 701 includes a reference position A, and an angle threshold 2 relative to reference position A exists in a first direction X, and an angle threshold 1 relative to reference position A exists in a second direction Y. If the angle α between the position of satellite 701 and the position of VSAT 702 in the first direction X and the angle threshold 2 in the first direction X are the same, VSAT 702 determines that VSAT 702 meets the preset condition. Alternatively, if the angle β between the position of satellite 701 and the position of VSAT 702 in the second direction Y and the angle threshold 1 in the second direction Y are the same, VSAT 702 determines that VSAT 702 meets the preset condition. Alternatively, it is also possible that the angle α between the position of satellite 701 and the position of VSAT 702 in the first direction X is the same as the angle threshold 2 in the first direction X, and the angle β between the position of satellite 701 and the reference position A in the second direction Y is the same as the angle threshold 1 in the second direction Y. VSAT 702 will of course determine that the preset conditions are met at this time and needs to request satellite 701 to enter the inactive state.

[0128] It should be understood that the settings of distance threshold 1, distance threshold 2, angle threshold 1, and angle threshold 2 are related to the cell coverage information and / or satellite ephemeris information of VSAT 702. When the distance between VSAT 702 and reference location A in a certain direction is equal to or close to the distance threshold corresponding to that direction, it can be considered that VSAT 702 is about to leave the coverage area of ​​satellite 701 and enter a coverage blind spot, and a request to satellite 701 to enter an inactive state must be made in advance. In other words, when the angle between VSAT 702 and reference location A in a certain direction is equal to or close to the angle threshold corresponding to that direction, it can be considered that VSAT 702 is about to leave the coverage area of ​​satellite 701 and enter a coverage blind spot, and a request to satellite 701 to enter an inactive state must be made in advance.

[0129] Moreover, the present application can also adapt to different cell coverages by designing a distance threshold or an angle threshold, that is, when the cell coverages of the satellites are different, different distance thresholds or angle thresholds can be designed according to the different cell coverages.

[0130] 603. The terminal device sends a request message to the first network device, where the request message is used to request the terminal device to enter an inactive state.

[0131] Correspondingly, the first network device receives the request information from the terminal device.

[0132] In some embodiments, the request information is an RRC inactive request information.

[0133] Exemplarily, VSAT 702 may send a request message to satellite 701 at a third time T3, or VSAT 702 may send a request message to satellite 701 when it is determined that the remaining service time of satellite 701 serving VSAT 702 is less than the time for the remaining data to be transmitted of the business information indicated by the cache information to be transmitted.

[0134] Alternatively, when VSAT 702 determines that the distance between the position of VSAT 702 and the reference position A in the first direction X is the same as the distance threshold 2 corresponding to the first direction X, or determines that the distance between the position of VSAT 702 and the reference position A in the second direction Y is the same as the distance threshold 1 corresponding to the second direction Y, or determines that the angle α between the position of satellite 701 and the position of VSAT 702 and the position of satellite 701 and the reference position A in the first direction X is the same as the angle threshold 2 in the first direction X, or determines that the angle β between the position of satellite 701 and the position of VSAT 702 and the position of satellite 701 and the reference position A in the second direction Y is the same as the angle threshold 1 in the second direction Y, VSAT 702 sends request information to satellite 701.

[0135] 604. The first network device sends a response message to the terminal device. The response message includes the wireless network temporary identifier allocated to the terminal device, the effective time period of the wireless network temporary identifier, and the coverage information of the second network device.

[0136] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives response information from the first network device.

[0137] In some embodiments, the response information is RRC inactive response information,

[0138] In some embodiments, the radio network temporary identifier is an I-RNTI. Typically, when a terminal device requests to enter a connected state from an inactive state, the I-RNTI may be included in the message requesting the connection. This I-RNTI is used to activate the terminal device's context information stored in an access network device, such as a gNB. Alternatively, when the terminal device receives a paging message from any network device containing the I-RNTI, it is used to wake up the inactive terminal device and initiate a connection recovery process.

[0139] In some embodiments, the effective time period may be determined by the first network device, such as satellite 701, referring to FIG7 , based on information such as the ephemeris information of a neighboring satellite (e.g., satellite 704) configured by the ground station. That is, each satellite may receive information related to multiple neighboring satellites from the ground station.

[0140] In some embodiments, the effective time period is used to instruct the terminal device not to perform cell measurements before the start time of the effective time period when entering the inactive state. That is, when VSAT 702 enters the inactive state, it can ignore the cell measurements related to the RRC inactive state. In this way, in a non-continuous coverage scenario, if the coverage ranges of adjacent satellites do not overlap, that is, if there is a coverage blind spot, if VSAT 702 is in the coverage blind spot in the inactive state, for example, the coverage blind spot between satellite 701 and neighboring satellite 704 is blind spot 705 in Figure 7, VSAT 702 can avoid performing invalid cell blind search processes, thereby avoiding additional measurement overhead and saving energy for VSAT 702.

[0141] In some embodiments, the second network device is a neighboring device of the first network device. For example, the second network device is satellite 704 shown in FIG7 . The coverage information of the second network device includes, for example, the cell distribution and beam distribution of satellite 704. When VSAT 702 performs a connection recovery process with satellite 704, VSAT 702 can access satellite 704 based on information such as the cell distribution and beam distribution of satellite 704.

[0142] 605. The terminal device enters an inactive state.

[0143] For example, if the I-RNTI valid period is T4 to T5, considering that the service period of satellite 701 is T1 to T2, the period when VSAT 702 is in the active state can be understood as T2 to T4. During the period T2 to T4, VSAT 702 does not perform cell measurements related to the RRC inactive state.

[0144] 606. When the start time of the effective time period is reached, the terminal device or the second network device executes a process of restoring the connection state so that the terminal device can access the second network device.

[0145] In some embodiments, when both the first network device and the second network device are transparent transmission satellites, the first network device and the second network device transmit signals transparently, which is equivalent to the response information sent by the first network device coming from the ground station, and the ground station knows the effective time of the I-RNTI. Therefore, the ground station may perform paging through the second network device when it knows the starting moment of the effective time, and the terminal device executes the process of restoring the connection state with the second network device when receiving the paging message. Alternatively, the terminal device may execute the process of restoring the connection state with the second network device when it determines the starting moment of the effective time period.

[0146] Exemplarily, the effective time period of the I-RNTI is from time T4 to T5. Referring to the example of FIG7 , VSAT 702 can complete steps 601 to 604 with VSAT 702 during time period T1 to T2. During time period T2 to T4, VSAT 702 is in an inactive state. As satellite 704 moves, when VSAT 702 is within the coverage area of ​​satellite 704 and at the start time T4 of the effective time period T4 to T5, VSAT 702 can autonomously perform a fast connection resume, i.e., execute a connection state recovery process, to access satellite 704, i.e., quickly enter the RRC connected state from the RRC inactive state, and continue data transmission. Alternatively, at the starting time T4 or when time T4 is about to arrive, the satellite 704 performs paging, that is, sends a paging message. When the paging message of the satellite 704 received by the VSAT 702 carries the I-RNTI, the process of restoring the connection state can be executed to access the satellite 704, that is, quickly enter the RRC connection state from the RRC inactive state.

[0147] Considering that in the satellite transparent transmission architecture, when VSAT 702 is in an inactive state, the ground station (gNB) also stores the context information of VSAT 702. When VSAT 702 wants to restore the connection state, it does not need to establish the NG interface from the ground station to the core network side and the context and authentication of VSAT 702. Therefore, the VSAT 702 can quickly restore the connection.

[0148] Similarly, if there is discontinuous coverage between satellite 704 and satellite 706, VSAT 702 can also determine whether to request satellite 704 to enter an inactive state based on the cell coverage information of satellite 704, so as to remain in an inactive state in a coverage blind spot 707 between the coverage areas of satellite 704 and satellite 706. A fast recovery connection is triggered at the start of the service time period of satellite 706 to connect to satellite 706.

[0149] In this way, the present application takes into account the storage of the context information of the terminal device on the network side. The terminal device is in an inactive state in the coverage blind area, which can achieve rapid connection recovery with the next satellite after coverage interruption occurs in the coverage blind area, thereby reducing the connection recovery delay in the transparent satellite scenario.

[0150] In some embodiments, as shown in FIG9 , a flow chart of a network management method in a regenerated satellite (non-transparent satellite) scenario provided by the present application is provided. The process is similar to the process in the transparent satellite scenario provided in FIG6 , except that, considering that in the regenerated satellite scenario, the satellite has some or all of the base station functions, when the terminal device is about to enter the inactive state, if the source network side receives a request message for entering the inactive state sent by the terminal device, the source network side needs to exchange the context information and location information of the terminal device to at least one target network side, so that the UE terminal device can establish a connection with at least one target network side when it needs to restore the connected state.

[0151] Therefore, in the regenerating star scenario, before step 604, the following steps are also included:

[0152] 607. The first network device sends first information to at least one target network device, where the first information includes context information of the terminal device, location information of the terminal device, and at least one of service time period information of the at least one network device. Then, step 608 or step 609 is executed.

[0153] Correspondingly, at least one target network device (second network device) receives the first information sent by the first network device.

[0154] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of network management in a regenerated satellite scenario. The first network device is satellite 1001, and the at least one target network device includes satellite 1002. The cell coverage of satellite 1001 and the cell coverage of satellite 1002 are discontinuous, with a coverage blind spot 1005. When satellite 1001 receives a request message from VSAT 702 requesting to enter an inactive state, satellite 1001 may send first information to satellite 1002. The first information may include context information and location information of VSAT 702, or may include context information of VSAT 702 and service time period information of satellite 1002. Alternatively, the first information may include context information and location information of VSAT 702, and service time period information of satellite 1002.

[0155] The at least one target network device may be determined by satellite 1001 based on coverage information of multiple neighboring satellites. For example, satellite 1001 may select a satellite that can provide services to VSAT 702 at the nearest moment as satellite 1002 based on coverage information of multiple neighboring satellites.

[0156] In some embodiments, the location information of the terminal device may be the GNSS location of the terminal device, or an identifier of the geographical area (i.e., wave position) where the terminal device is located. For example, the location information of the VSAT 702 may be the GNSS location of the VSAT 702, or an identifier of the geographical area (i.e., wave position) where the VSAT 702 is located.

[0157] In some embodiments, in at least one target network device, in a scenario where the target network device is a regenerated satellite, the service time period corresponding to each target network device may be calculated and determined by the first network device based on the ephemeris information of the target network device and the location information of the terminal device. For example, satellite 1001 may calculate and determine the service time period based on the ephemeris information of satellite 1002 and the location information of VSAT 702. For example, satellite 1001 may determine that the service time period of satellite 1002 is T6 to T7 based on the ephemeris information of satellite 1002 and the location information of VSAT 702, including the start time T6 and the end time T7 of the service time period.

[0158] 608. The first network device sends a handover request to the core network, where the handover request is used to request to establish a connection between the core network and at least one target network device before the start time of the service time period indicated by the service time period information arrives.

[0159] For example, referring to Figure 10 , satellite 1001 can send a handover request to core network 1004 via NTN gateway 1003. The handover request is used to request that a connection be established between core network 1004 and satellite 1002 before the start time T6 of service time period T6-T7. In other words, before VSAT 702 is inactive, i.e., during time period T1-T2, the communication path is: VSAT 702-satellite 1001-NTN gateway 1003-core network. During service time period T6-T7, the communication path needs to be updated to: VSAT 702-satellite 1002-NTN gateway 1003-core network.

[0160] In some embodiments, the switching request is an early path switch request (early path switch request), and may also be other request names, which are not limited in this application.

[0161] In this way, in a regenerative satellite scenario with discontinuous coverage, given that satellites also possess some or all of the functions of a base station, if the target network device, such as satellite 1002, stores the context information of VSAT 702, and satellite 1001 sends a handover request to the core network, satellite 1002 can establish a connection between the core network 1004 and satellite 1002 in advance of service time period T6-T7. When VSAT 702 arrives within satellite 1002's coverage area at time T6, VSAT 702 can quickly recover from an inactive state to a connected state and resume data transmission. However, the recovery process for VSAT 702 does not require the connection establishment process between satellite 1002 and core network 1004, as satellite 1002 and core network 1004 have already established a connection before time T6. This reduces the latency in establishing the connection between satellite 1002 and core network 1004.

[0162] 609. At least one target network device (second network device) sends a handover request to the core network, where the handover request is used to request to establish a connection between the core network and the at least one target network device before the start time of the service time period indicated by the service time period information arrives.

[0163] The implementation method of step 609 is similar to that of step 608, except that when satellite 1002 receives the first information sent by satellite 1001, satellite 1002 can send a switching request to the core network, such as sending an early path switching request, requesting to establish a connection from satellite 1002 to the core network before time T6 arrives.

[0164] Similar to step 608, this is also to reduce the time delay for the satellite 1002 and the core network 1004 to establish a connection before time T6 when the VSAT 702 needs to recover to the connected state.

[0165] The present application also provides an embodiment of a network management method. This embodiment takes into account the fact that, as described above, CD-SSB and NCD-SSB are defined to assist in cell measurement. CD-SSB can carry configuration information for CORESET 0 and configuration information for the listening timing of the common search space. Measurements related to cell selection and cell reselection are all based on CD-SSB. However, NCD-SSB does not carry configuration information for CORESET 0 or configuration information for the listening timing of the common search space. NCD-SSB is primarily used for radio resource management of the cell and supports signal measurement of users not within the initial BWP.

[0166] For example, as shown in FIG11, there is a diagram of frequency domain resources of CD-SSB and NCD-SSB in a terrestrial network. Among them, SSB1 and SSB3 are CD-SSB, and SSB2 and SSB4 are NCD-SSB. SSB3 supports signal measurement of users on the initial BWP. It is worth noting that CD-SSB and NCD-SSB are currently based on frequency division multiplexing, that is, CD-SSB and NCD-SSB are configured in different frequency domains and BWPs. In addition, if the initial access terminal device initially receives the NCD-SSB signal, the terminal device can determine the position of CD-SSB in the frequency domain based on the k_SSB carried in the NCD-SSB. Among them, k_SSB corresponds to the SSB subcarrier offset (ssb-SubcarrierOffset) in the master information block (MIB) message.

[0167] It can be seen that currently, cell measurements in mobility management are all performed based on CD-SSB. In other words, cell handover / reselection are all performed based on CD-SSB, and CD-SSB can be used for mobility management. NCD-SSB, on the other hand, is used for radio resource management and is not used for processes such as cell handover / reselection. In other words, NCD-SSB is not used for mobility management. However, CD-SSB is dynamically variable and only occupies specific time-frequency domain resources. For mechanical VSAT terminals, due to the long beam alignment and measurement time, if mobility management is performed based on CD-SSB, the mobile interruption time perceived by the terminal will increase, and the effectiveness of mobility management will be reduced.

[0168] Therefore, FIG12 is a flow chart of a network management method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method can be used for a mechanical VSAT terminal, and the method includes the following process.

[0169] 121. When it is determined that the terminal type of the accessed terminal device is a mechanical small aperture terminal, the first network device sends location information of the terminal device to the target network device, where the location information of the terminal device is used to request information for assisting the terminal device in performing mobility management measurements.

[0170] Correspondingly, the target network device receives the location information of the terminal device sent from the first network device. The terminal type and location information of the terminal device may be reported by the terminal device to the first network device when the terminal device accesses the first network device.

[0171] In some embodiments, the location information of the terminal device includes at least one of a reference location of the terminal device, a location in a global satellite navigation system GNSS, a wave position number, or a beam number.

[0172] The reference location can be the reference location of the terminal device relative to the reference point issued by the first network device of the current serving cell. The beam number, or geographic area number, is another form of location information. The beam number can be the index of the transmit and receive beams of the terminal device and the first network device. These can be used to reflect the current location information of the terminal device.

[0173] For example, FIG13 is a schematic diagram of a mobility management information interaction scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application. The first network device is a satellite 1301. When a mechanical VSAT 1302 accesses satellite 1301, the mechanical VSAT 1302 can report its location information to satellite 1301. In this case, considering that the beam alignment and measurement time of the mechanical VSAT 1302 is relatively long, satellite 1301 sends the location information of the mechanical VSAT 1302 to a neighboring satellite, namely satellite 1303, to request satellite 1303 to send information for assisting the mechanical VSAT 1302 in performing mobility management measurements. In this way, when the mechanical VSAT 1302 is within the cell coverage of satellite 1303, it can perform mobility management measurements based on the mobility management measurement information provided by satellite 1303.

[0174] 122. The first network device receives NCD-SSB configuration information from the target network device, where the NCD-SSB configuration information is determined based on the location information of the terminal device.

[0175] Accordingly, the target network device sends NCD-SSB configuration information to the first network device.

[0176] In some embodiments, the configuration information of NCD-SSB includes at least one of the following information: frequency information of NCD-SSB, polarization information of NCD-SSB, time domain distribution (pattern) information of NCD-SSB, valid time period information of NCD-SSB or reference position information of NCD-SSB, measurement configuration information of NCD-SSB, i.e., SMTC (SSB based Measurement Timing Configuration) information (such as SMTC period, offset, starting position, duration, etc.) and measurement gap associated with NCD-SSB (i.e., measurement GAP configuration).

[0177] In some embodiments, the valid time period information of the NCD-SSB is used to instruct the terminal device to perform mobility management measurements on the target network device starting at the start time of the valid time period indicated by the valid time period information according to the configuration information of the NCD-SSB.

[0178] For example, referring to FIG13 , the target network device may be a neighboring satellite of satellite 1301, namely, satellite 1303. Satellite 1301 and satellite 1303 may be satellites in a continuous coverage scenario. When satellite 1303 discovers that the type of terminal to be accessed is a mechanical VSAT, satellite 1303 takes into account that the beam alignment and measurement time of the mechanical VSAT terminal is long. If mobility management is performed based on CD-SSB, the mobile interruption time perceived by the terminal side will be increased, and the effectiveness of mobility management will be low. Therefore, satellite 1303 may send NCD-SSB configuration information to satellite 1301 to assist mechanical VSAT 1302 in performing mobility management measurements. Since NCD-SSB has a low time domain density and is not restricted by the existing SSB pattern, scheduling is more flexible, which can improve the effectiveness of mobility management for mechanical VSAT 1302.

[0179] 123. The first network device sends NCD-SSB configuration information to the terminal device.

[0180] For example, when the mechanical VSAT 1302 receives the configuration information of the NCD-SSB configured by the satellite 1303 in advance within the coverage of the satellite 1301, if as the satellite moves, when the mechanical VSAT 1302 is within the coverage of the satellite 1303, it can perform mobility management measurements according to the configuration information of the NCD-SSB configured by the satellite 1303, that is, perform cell switching / reselection and other processes.

[0181] FIG14 is a flow chart of a network management method provided in an embodiment of the present application, which includes the following process.

[0182] 141. The terminal device sends the terminal type and location information of the terminal device to the first network device, where the terminal type is a mechanical small aperture terminal.

[0183] Correspondingly, the first network device receives the terminal type and the location information of the terminal device from the terminal device.

[0184] In some embodiments, as can be seen from the above, when the terminal device is a mechanical VSAT, considering that for a mechanical VSAT terminal, due to the long beam alignment and measurement time, if mobility management is performed based on CD-SSB, the mobile interruption time perceived by the terminal side will increase, and the effectiveness of mobility management will be low. Therefore, in this application, when the terminal device is a mechanical VSAT, the network side may be requested to send NCD-SSB configuration information for mobility management measurement. This is because the time domain density of NCD-SSB is low and is not restricted by the existing SSB pattern, and the scheduling is more flexible. Therefore, the terminal device may send the terminal type and the location information of the terminal device to the first network device corresponding to the current service cell, so that the first network device may request the network device in the neighboring area to send NCD-SSB configuration information for mobility management measurement, such as for cell reselection or cell switching.

[0185] 13 , the mechanical VSAT 1302 may report its terminal type and location information to the satellite 1301 upon initial access to the satellite 1301. Alternatively, the mechanical VSAT 1302 may report its terminal type and location information to the satellite 1301 upon event triggering.

[0186] 142. The first network device sends a request message to the target network device, where the request message is used to request information for assisting the terminal device in performing mobility management measurement, and the request message includes location information of the terminal device.

[0187] In some embodiments, the first network device sends an NCD-SSB request message to the target network device, requesting information for assisting the terminal device in performing mobility management measurements.

[0188] For example, when satellite 1301 finds that the terminal type is a mechanical VSAT, it may request the neighboring satellite, ie, satellite 1303, to send NCD-SSB configuration information in advance.

[0189] 143. The target network device sends a response message to the first network device, where the response message includes NCD-SSB configuration information, where the NCD-SSB configuration information is determined based on the location information of the terminal device.

[0190] For example, in the NCD-SSB configuration information transmitted by satellite 1303, the NCD-SSB time domain distribution information may include the NCD-SSB period, duration, and time offset. The time offset may be an offset relative to the time domain information of the CD-SSB. If the valid time period indicated by the NCD-SSB valid time period information is, for example, T8 to T9, then at time T8, VSAT 1302 may measure the cell under satellite 1303 based on the NCD-SSB configuration information to perform mobility management measurements such as cell handover / reselection.

[0191] 144. The first network device sends NCD-SSB configuration information and mobility management measurement gap to the terminal device.

[0192] In some embodiments, the measurement gap can be used to provide a terminal device with a reserved time for inter-frequency measurement. For example, when VSAT 1302 performs cell measurement, if inter-frequency measurement is required, the inter-frequency measurement can be performed according to the measurement gap.

[0193] 145. The terminal device performs mobility management measurements on the target network device according to the configuration information of the NCD-SSB and the measurement gap.

[0194] In this way, when the terminal device is within the coverage of the target network device, it can directly perform mobility management measurements based on the pre-configured NCD-SSB configuration information and measurement gaps.

[0195] In some embodiments, handheld VSATs and electronic VSATs may use CD-SSB for cell measurement, while mechanical VSATs may use NCD-SSB for cell measurement. That is, different types of terminals may use different types of SSB for cell measurement, so that different SSBs are suitable for different terminal types.

[0196] In some embodiments, the NCD-SSB pattern may not be subject to the same restrictions as the CD-SSB pattern (period, duration, time offset, etc.). This allows a mechanical VSAT to perform long-duration mobility management measurements and utilize NCD-SSB at a different frequency from CD-SSB to avoid interference between the two.

[0197] It is understood that, in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the base station and the terminal include hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. Those skilled in the art should readily appreciate that, in conjunction with the units and method steps of the various examples described in the embodiments disclosed in this application, this application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in hardware or in a computer software-driven hardware manner depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0198] Figures 15 and 16 are schematic diagrams of the structures of possible communication devices provided in the embodiments of the present application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of the terminal or base station in the above-mentioned method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects possessed by the above-mentioned method embodiments. In the embodiments of the present application, the communication device can be a terminal device 305-310 as shown in Figure 3, or a network device 301-303 as shown in Figure 3, or a module (such as a chip) applied to a terminal device or a network device.

[0199] As shown in Figure 15, the communication device 150 includes a processing unit 1510 and a transceiver unit 1520. The communication device 150 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device or the first network device in the method embodiments shown in Figures 5, 6, 9, 12 and 14 above.

[0200] When the communication device 150 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 5: the processing unit 1510 is configured to determine whether the terminal device meets a preset condition based on the cell coverage information of the first network device, the preset condition being used to indicate that the terminal device is about to enter a coverage blind spot; and, upon receiving a response message, enter an inactive state. The transceiver unit 1520 can be configured to request information from the first network device to enter the inactive state, and to receive a response message from the first network device.

[0201] When the communication device 150 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 6 or Figure 9: the processing unit 1510 is used to determine whether the terminal device meets the preset conditions for entering the inactive state; enter the inactive state; when the starting time of the effective time period is reached, execute the process of restoring the connection state so that the terminal device can access the second network device; the transceiver unit 1520 can be used to send a request message to the first network device, the request message is used to request to enter the inactive state, and receive a response message, the response message includes the wireless network temporary identifier allocated to the terminal device and the effective time, and the coverage information of the second network device.

[0202] When the communication device 150 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in FIG12 , the transceiver unit 1520 may be used to receive NCD-SSB configuration information. The processing unit 1510 may be used to perform mobility management measurements within the coverage of the next target network device to be accessed based on the NCD-SSB configuration information.

[0203] When the communication device 150 is used to implement the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 14: the transceiver unit 1520 can be used to send the terminal type and location information of the terminal device to the first network device of the current service cell, where the terminal type is a mechanical small aperture terminal; receive the NCD-SSB configuration information and the measurement gap for mobility management sent by the first network device; the processing unit 1510 is used to perform mobility management measurements on the target network device based on the NCD-SSB configuration information and the measurement gap.

[0204] When the communication device 150 is used to implement the function of the first network device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 5: the transceiver unit 1520 can be used to receive request information sent by the terminal device, the request information is used to request to enter the inactive state; and send response information to the terminal device, the response information is used to indicate that the terminal device is allowed to enter the inactive state.

[0205] When the communication device 150 is used to implement the functions of the first network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG6 : the processing unit 1510 is configured to establish a connection with the terminal device; upon reaching the start time of the effective time period of the wireless network temporary identifier, trigger the execution of a process for restoring the connection state so that the terminal device can access the second network device. The transceiver unit 1520 can be configured to receive a request message sent by the terminal device, the request message being used to request entry into the active state; and send a response message to the terminal device, the response message including the wireless network temporary identifier assigned to the terminal device, the effective time period of the wireless network temporary identifier, and coverage information of the second network device.

[0206] When the communication device 150 is used to implement the function of the first network device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 9: the processing unit 1510 is used to establish a connection with the terminal device; when the starting time of the effective time period of the wireless network temporary identifier is reached, the process of restoring the connection state is triggered so that the terminal device can access the second network device. The transceiver unit 1520 can be used to receive a request message sent by the terminal device, the request message is used to request to enter the activation state; send first information to the second network device, the first information includes the context information of the terminal device, and at least one of the terminal device location information and the service time period information of at least one network device; send a handover request to the core network, the handover request is used to request to establish a connection between the core network and at least one target network device before the start time of the service time period indicated by the service time period information arrives; and send a response message to the terminal device, the response message includes the wireless network temporary identifier assigned to the terminal device, the effective time period of the wireless network temporary identifier, and the coverage information of the second network device.

[0207] When the communication device 150 is used to implement the functions of the first network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG12 : the transceiver unit 1520 can be used to, upon determining that the terminal type of the accessed terminal device is a mechanical small aperture terminal, send the terminal device's location information to the target network device, where the terminal device's location information is used to request information used to assist the terminal device in performing mobility management measurements; receive NCD-SSB configuration information from the target network device, where the NCD-SSB configuration information is determined based on the terminal device's location information; and send the NCD-SSB configuration information to the terminal device. The processing unit 1510 can be used to determine that the terminal type of the terminal device is a mechanical small aperture terminal.

[0208] When the communication device 150 is used to implement the functions of the first network device in the method embodiment shown in FIG14 : the transceiver unit 1520 can be used to receive the terminal type and location information of the terminal device, where the terminal type is a mechanical small aperture terminal; send a request message to the target network device, where the request message is used to request information for assisting the terminal device in performing mobility management measurements, where the request message includes the location information of the terminal device; receive a response message sent by the target network device, where the response message includes NCD-SSB configuration information, where the NCD-SSB configuration information is determined based on the location information of the terminal device; and send the NCD-SSB configuration information and a mobility management measurement gap to the terminal device. The processing unit 1501 can be used to determine that the terminal type of the terminal device is a mechanical small aperture terminal.

[0209] When the communication device 150 is used to implement the function of the second network device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 6: the transceiver unit 1520 can be used to receive an access request from the terminal device or send a paging message to the terminal device; the processing unit 1510 is used to execute the access recovery process with the terminal device.

[0210] When the communication device 150 is used to implement the function of the second network device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 9: the transceiver unit 1520 can be used to receive first information from the first network device, the first information including context information of the terminal device, and at least one of the terminal device location information and service time period information of at least one network device; send a switching request to the core network, the switching request is used to request to establish a connection between the core network and at least one target network device before the start time of the service time period indicated by the service time period information arrives; the processing unit 1510 can be used to execute the connection process between the second network device and the core network; the process of the terminal device accessing the second network device.

[0211] When the communication device 150 is used to implement the function of the target network device in the method embodiment shown in Figure 12 or Figure 14: the transceiver unit 1520 can be used to receive the location information of the terminal device sent from the first network device, and the location information of the terminal device is used to request information for assisting the terminal device in performing mobility management measurements; send NCD-SSB configuration information to the first network device, and the NCD-SSB configuration information is determined based on the location information of the terminal device; the processing unit 1501 can be used to determine the NCD-SSB configuration information based on the location information of the terminal device.

[0212] For a more detailed description of the above-mentioned processing unit 1510 and the transceiver unit 1520, please refer to the relevant description in the method embodiment shown in Figure 5, Figure 6, Figure 9, Figure 12 or Figure 14.

[0213] As shown in Figure 16, communication device 160 includes a processor 1610 and a transceiver 1620. Processor 1610 and transceiver 1620 are coupled to each other. It will be appreciated that transceiver 1620 may be an interface circuit or an input / output interface. Optionally, communication device 160 may also include a memory 1630 for storing instructions executed by processor 1610, input data required by processor 1610 to execute instructions, or data generated by processor 1610 after executing instructions.

[0214] When the communication device 160 is used to implement the method shown in Figure 5, Figure 6, Figure 9, Figure 12 or Figure 14, the processor 1610 is used to implement the functions of the above-mentioned processing unit 1510, and the transceiver 1620 is used to implement the functions of the above-mentioned transceiver unit 1520.

[0215] When the above-mentioned communication device is a chip applied to a terminal device, the terminal chip implements the functions of the terminal device in the above-mentioned method embodiment. When the terminal chip receives information from the network device, it can be understood that the information is first received by other modules in the terminal device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the terminal chip by these modules. When the terminal chip sends information to the network device, it can be understood that the information is first sent to other modules in the terminal device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the network device by these modules.

[0216] When the communication device is a chip used in a network device, the network device chip implements the functions of the first network device / second network device / target network device in the above method embodiment. When the network device chip receives information from the terminal device, it can be understood that the information is first received by other modules in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the network device chip by these modules. When the network device chip sends information to the terminal device, it can be understood that the information is sent to other modules in the network device (such as a radio frequency module or antenna) and then sent to the terminal device by these modules.

[0217] In this application, when entity A sends information to entity B, it can be done directly from A to B or indirectly through another entity. Similarly, when entity B receives information from entity A, it can be done directly from entity B or indirectly through another entity. Entities A and B herein can be RAN nodes or terminals, or modules within a RAN node or terminal. The sending and receiving of information can be information exchange between a RAN node and a terminal, for example, between a base station and a terminal; the sending and receiving of information can also be information exchange between two RAN nodes, for example, between a CU and a DU; the sending and receiving of information can also be information exchange between different modules within a device, for example, between a terminal chip and other modules in the terminal, or between a base station chip and other modules within the base station.

[0218] It is understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), or may be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0219] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in hardware or in software instructions that can be executed by a processor. The software instructions can be composed of corresponding software modules, and the software modules can be stored in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, registers, hard disk, mobile hard disk, CD-ROM or any other form of storage medium well known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. The storage medium can also be an integral part of the processor. The processor and storage medium can be located in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC can be located in a base station or a terminal. The processor and storage medium can also exist in a base station or a terminal as discrete components.

[0220] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are performed in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user device, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer program or instructions may be transferred from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape; an optical medium, such as a digital video disk; or a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive. The computer-readable storage medium may be a volatile or nonvolatile storage medium, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile types of storage media.

[0221] In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or logically conflicting, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced to each other, and the technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships. In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and "more" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. In the textual description of the present application, the character " / " generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship. "Including at least one of A, B and C" can mean: including A; including B; including C; including A and B; including A and C; including B and C; including A, B and C.

[0222] It is understood that the various numbers used in the embodiments of this application are merely for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. The order of the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not necessarily imply a specific order of execution; the order of execution of the processes should be determined by their functions and inherent logic.

Claims

1. A network management method, characterized in that, The method includes: When establishing a connection with a first network device and determining that the terminal device meets a preset condition based on the cell coverage information of the first network device, sending a request message to the first network device, where the preset condition is used to indicate that the terminal device is about to enter a coverage blind area, and the request message is used to request to enter the inactive state; Receiving a response message from the first network device, where the response message is used to indicate that the terminal device is allowed to enter the inactive state.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The cell coverage information includes the service time period during which the first network device serves the terminal device.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, When establishing a connection with a first network device and determining that the terminal device meets a preset condition based on the cell coverage information of the first network device, sending a request message to the first network device includes: When establishing a connection with the first network device and determining that the terminal device meets the preset condition based on the service time period, the buffer information, and the service information of the terminal device, sending the request message to the first network device.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The preset condition includes: The time point when the first network device serves the terminal device reaches the first moment in the service time period, where the first moment is a moment before the end moment of the service time period; And / or, The remaining service duration during which the first network device serves the terminal device is less than the duration required to transmit the remaining data to be transmitted of the service information indicated by the buffer information.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The cell coverage information includes a reference position within the cell coverage of the first network device and at least one distance threshold relative to the reference position; Among them, different distance thresholds correspond to different directions.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein The preset condition includes: The distance between the position of the terminal device and the reference position in a first direction is the same as the distance threshold corresponding to the first direction.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The cell coverage information includes a reference position within the cell coverage of the first network device and at least one angle threshold relative to the reference position; Among them, different angle thresholds correspond to different directions.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein The preset condition includes: The angle formed by the position of the first network device to the position of the terminal device and the angle formed by the position of the first network device to the reference position in a first direction is the same as the angle threshold in the first direction.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1-8, characterized in that, The response message includes a radio network temporary identifier assigned to the terminal device and the effective time period of the radio network temporary identifier.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein The method further includes: When reaching the start moment of the effective time period, performing a process of restoring the connected state to access a second network device.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that, The effective time period is used to indicate that when the terminal device enters the inactive state, it does not perform cell measurement before the start time of the effective time period.

12. A network management method, characterized in that, The method includes: When establishing a connection with a terminal device, receiving a request message from the terminal device when it is about to enter a coverage blind area, where the request message is used to request to enter the inactive state; Sending a response message to the terminal device, where the response message is used to indicate that the terminal device is allowed to enter the inactive state.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein The response information includes a radio network temporary identifier allocated to the terminal device and a valid time period of the radio network temporary identifier.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein The valid time period is used to indicate that when the terminal device enters the inactive state, it does not perform cell measurement before the start time of the valid time period arrives.

15. The method according to any one of claims 12-14, characterized in that, Before sending the response information to the terminal device, the method further includes: Sending first information to at least one target network device, where the first information includes context information of the terminal device, and at least one of the terminal device location information and the service time period information of the at least one network device; Sending a handover request to the core network, where the handover request is used to request to establish a connection between the core network and the at least one target network device before the start time of the service time period indicated by the service time period information arrives.

16. A network management method, characterized in that, The method includes: When determining that the terminal type of the accessed terminal device is a mechanical small-aperture terminal, sending the location information of the terminal device to the target network device, where the location information of the terminal device is used to request information for assisting the terminal device in performing mobility management measurement; Receiving configuration information of a non-cell-defined synchronization signal block NCD-SSB from the target network device, where the configuration information of the NCD-SSB is determined according to the location information of the terminal device; Sending the configuration information of the NCD-SSB to the terminal device.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein Before sending the location information of the terminal device to the target network device, the method further includes: Receiving the terminal type of the terminal device and the location information of the terminal device; Wherein, the terminal type is the mechanical small-aperture terminal; the location information includes at least one of a reference location of the terminal device, a location in a global satellite navigation system, a wave position number, or a beam number.

18. The method according to claim 16 or 17, characterized in that The configuration information of the NCD-SSB includes at least one of the following information: frequency point information of the NCD-SSB, polarization information of the NCD-SSB, time domain distribution information of the NCD-SSB, valid time period information of the NCD-SSB, or reference location information of the NCD-SSB.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that The valid time period information of the NCD-SSB is used to indicate that the terminal device starts to perform mobility management measurement on the target network device according to the configuration information of the NCD-SSB at the start time of the valid time period indicated by the valid time period information.

20. A network management method, characterized in that, The method includes: Sending the terminal type of the terminal device and the location information of the terminal device to the network device, where the terminal type is a mechanical small-aperture terminal; Receive the configuration information of the non-cell-defined synchronization signal block (NCD-SSB) from the network device. The configuration information of the NCD-SSB is determined according to the location information of the terminal device when the network device determines that the terminal type of the terminal device is the mechanical small-aperture terminal. The configuration information of the NCD-SSB is used to assist the terminal device in performing mobility management measurements.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the configuration information of the NCD-SSB includes at least one of the following information: the frequency point information of the NCD-SSB, the polarization information of the NCD-SSB, the time-domain distribution information of the NCD-SSB, the effective time period information of the NCD-SSB, or the reference location information of the NCD-SSB.

22. A network management method, characterized in that, The method includes: Receive the location information of the terminal device sent by the first network device. The terminal type is a mechanical small-aperture terminal, and the location information of the terminal device is used to request information for assisting the terminal device in performing mobility management measurements; Send the configuration information of the non-cell-defined synchronization signal block (NCD-SSB) to the first network device. The configuration information of the NCD-SSB is determined according to the location information of the terminal device.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the location information includes at least one of the reference location of the terminal device, the location in the global satellite navigation system, the wave position number, or the beam number.

24. The method according to claim 22 or 23, wherein the configuration information of the NCD-SSB includes at least one of the following information: the frequency point information of the NCD-SSB, the polarization information of the NCD-SSB, the time-domain distribution information of the NCD-SSB, the effective time period information of the NCD-SSB, or the reference location information of the NCD-SSB.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein the effective time period information of the NCD-SSB is used to instruct the terminal device to perform mobility management measurements on the target network device starting from the start time of the effective time period indicated by the effective time period information according to the configuration information of the NCD-SSB.

26. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes: A sending unit, configured to send request information to the first network device when establishing a connection with the first network device and determining that the terminal device meets a preset condition based on the cell coverage information of the first network device. The preset condition is used to indicate that the terminal device is about to enter a coverage blind area, and the request information is used to request to enter the inactive state; A receiving unit, configured to receive response information from the first network device. The response information is used to indicate that the terminal device is allowed to enter the inactive state.

27. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes: A receiving unit, configured to receive request information from the terminal device when establishing a connection with the terminal device. The request information is sent when the terminal device is about to enter a coverage blind area and is used to request to enter the inactive state. A sending unit, configured to send a response message to the terminal device, where the response message is used to indicate that the terminal device is allowed to enter the inactive state.

28. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes at least one processor, and the at least one processor is connected to a memory. The at least one processor is configured to read and execute a program stored in the memory, so that the communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 1-25.

29. A communication system, characterized in that, It includes a first communication device and a second communication device. The first communication device is configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 1-11 or 20-21, and the second communication device is configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 12-15, 16-19 or 22-25.

30. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, Computer instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium. When the computer instructions run on the communication device, the communication device is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 1-25.

31. A chip, characterized in that, The chip stores computer execution instructions. When the computer execution instructions are run, the method according to any one of claims 1-25 is executed.

Images