Cross-radio access technology cell management method and communication apparatus

Abstract

The present application provides a cross-radio access technology (RAT) cell management method and a communication apparatus. The method comprises: receiving MAC CE signaling in a first cell of a first RAT; and on the basis of the MAC CE signaling, managing at least one second cell of a second RAT. By using underlying (i.e., MAC layer) signaling to perform cross-RAT cell management, the solution can reduce the time delay and the power consumption compared with using RRC signaling to perform cross-RAT cell management, thereby improving the user experience.

Description

A cell management method and communication device across wireless access technologies

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China on January 31, 2024, with application number 202410157244.4 and invention name "A cell management method and communication device across wireless access technologies", the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0003] The present application relates to the field of wireless communication technology, and in particular to a cell management method and communication device across wireless access technologies. Background Art

[0004] In the dual connectivity (DC) technology of multiple radio access technologies (RAT), the addition of a secondary network device is initiated by the primary network device. The primary network device informs the secondary network device of the necessary information so that the secondary network device can provide network resources for the terminal device. The primary network device also sends a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfiguration signaling to the terminal device, so that the terminal device adds the secondary network device based on the signaling.

[0005] After adding the secondary network device, the cell of the secondary network device can be controlled through the RRC signaling of the primary network device. However, this method has high latency and power consumption, and how to reduce latency and power consumption remains to be solved. Summary of the Invention

[0006] Embodiments of the present application provide a cell management method and a communication device across wireless access technologies to reduce latency and power consumption.

[0007] In a first aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, which can be performed by a terminal device or a module (such as a chip) in the terminal device. The method includes: receiving a medium access control element (MAC CE) signaling in a first cell of a first RAT; and managing at least one second cell of a second RAT based on the MAC CE signaling.

[0008] The above solution uses bottom layer (ie MAC layer) signaling to manage cross-RAT cells. Compared with using RRC signaling to manage cross-RAT cells, it can reduce latency and power consumption, thereby helping to improve user experience.

[0009] In a possible implementation method, the managing the at least one second cell of the second RAT according to the MAC CE signaling includes: activating or deactivating the at least one second cell of the second RAT according to the MAC CE signaling.

[0010] In one possible implementation method, the MAC subheader of the MAC CE signaling includes a first field, and the first field includes a logical channel identifier (LCID) field; when the LCID field is a first value, the LCID field indicates activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT.

[0011] The above solution can save signaling overhead by extending the meaning of the fields of the existing MAC CE signaling without adding new MAC CE signaling.

[0012] In one possible implementation method, the MAC subheader of the MAC CE signaling includes a second field, and the second field includes an LCID field and an enhanced logical channel identifier (eLCID) field; when the LCID field is a first value and the eLCID field is a second value, the LCID field and the eLCID field indicate activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT.

[0013] The above solution can save signaling overhead by extending the meaning of the fields of the existing MAC CE signaling without adding new MAC CE signaling.

[0014] In a possible implementation method, the MAC CE signaling includes a third field, and the third field indicates activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT, where the second cell is a primary or secondary cell.

[0015] The above solution can save signaling overhead by extending the meaning of the fields of the existing MAC CE signaling without adding new MAC CE signaling.

[0016] In one possible implementation method, the third field includes N bits, where N is a positive integer, and the N bits indicate activation or deactivation of N primary and secondary cells of the second RAT, and the N bits correspond one-to-one to the N primary and secondary cells.

[0017] In a second aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, which can be performed by a network device or a module (e.g., a chip) in the network device. The method includes: determining MAC CE signaling, the MAC CE signaling indicating management of at least one second cell of a second RAT; and sending the MAC CE signaling in a first cell of a first RAT.

[0018] The above solution uses bottom layer (ie MAC layer) signaling to manage cross-RAT cells. Compared with using RRC signaling to manage cross-RAT cells, it can reduce latency and power consumption, thereby helping to improve user experience.

[0019] In one possible implementation method, the MAC CE signaling indicates activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT.

[0020] In one possible implementation method, the MAC subheader of the MAC CE signaling includes a first field, and the first field includes an LCID field; when the LCID field is a first value, the LCID field indicates activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT.

[0021] The above solution can save signaling overhead by extending the meaning of the fields of the existing MAC CE signaling without adding new MAC CE signaling.

[0022] In one possible implementation method, the MAC subheader of the MAC CE signaling includes a second field, and the second field includes an LCID field and an eLCID field; when the LCID field is a first value and the eLCID field is a second value, the LCID field and the eLCID field indicate activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT.

[0023] The above solution can save signaling overhead by extending the meaning of the fields of the existing MAC CE signaling without adding new MAC CE signaling.

[0024] In a possible implementation method, the MAC CE signaling includes a third field, and the third field indicates activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT, where the second cell is a primary or secondary cell.

[0025] The above solution can save signaling overhead by extending the meaning of the fields of the existing MAC CE signaling without adding new MAC CE signaling.

[0026] In one possible implementation method, the third field includes N bits, where N is a positive integer, and the N bits indicate activation or deactivation of N primary and secondary cells of the second RAT, and the N bits correspond one-to-one to the N primary and secondary cells.

[0027] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be performed by a terminal device or a module (such as a chip) in the terminal device. The method includes: receiving physical (PHY) layer signaling in a first cell of a first RAT, the PHY layer signaling including scheduling information, the scheduling information being used to perform physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) scheduling and / or physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling for at least one second cell of a second RAT; and obtaining the scheduling information according to the PHY layer signaling.

[0028] Alternatively, it can be understood that the scheduling information is used to perform uplink carrier PUSCH scheduling and / or downlink carrier PDSCH scheduling on at least one second cell of the second RAT.

[0029] The above solution uses bottom layer (ie, PHY layer) signaling to perform cross-RAT cell scheduling. Compared with using RRC signaling to perform cross-RAT cell scheduling, it can reduce latency and power consumption, thereby helping to improve user experience.

[0030] In a possible implementation method, the PHY layer signaling is downlink control information (DCI) signaling of the first RAT, and the DCI signaling includes the scheduling information.

[0031] In a possible implementation method, the PHY layer signaling is DCI signaling of the first RAT, and the DCI signaling is scrambled by a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) of the second RAT.

[0032] In a possible implementation method, the PHY layer signaling is DCI signaling of the first RAT, the DCI signaling of the first RAT includes DCI signaling of the second RAT, and the DCI signaling of the second RAT includes the scheduling information.

[0033] In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication method that can be performed by a network device or a module (e.g., a chip) in the network device. The method includes: determining PHY layer signaling, the PHY layer signaling including scheduling information, the scheduling information being used to perform PUSCH scheduling and / or PDSCH scheduling on at least one second cell of a second RAT; and sending the PHY layer signaling in a first cell of a first RAT.

[0034] The above solution uses bottom layer (ie, PHY layer) signaling to perform cross-RAT cell scheduling. Compared with using RRC signaling to perform cross-RAT cell scheduling, it can reduce latency and power consumption, thereby helping to improve user experience.

[0035] In a possible implementation method, the PHY layer signaling is DCI signaling of the first RAT, and the DCI signaling includes the scheduling information.

[0036] In a possible implementation method, the PHY layer signaling is DCI signaling of the first RAT, and the DCI signaling is scrambled by the RNTI of the second RAT.

[0037] In a possible implementation method, the PHY layer signaling is DCI signaling of the first RAT, the DCI signaling of the first RAT includes DCI signaling of the second RAT, and the DCI signaling of the second RAT includes the scheduling information.

[0038] In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication method that can be performed by a terminal device or a module (such as a chip) in the terminal device. The method includes: determining PHY layer signaling, the PHY layer signaling indicating PHY layer information, the PHY layer information corresponding to at least one second cell of a second RAT; and sending the PHY layer signaling in a first cell of a first RAT.

[0039] The above solution uses bottom layer (ie, PHY layer) signaling to send information across RATs. Compared with using RRC signaling to send information across RATs, it can reduce latency and power consumption, thereby helping to improve user experience.

[0040] In a possible implementation method, the PHY layer signaling is uplink control information (UCI) signaling of the first RAT, and the UCI signaling of the first RAT indicates the PHY layer information.

[0041] In one possible implementation method, the PHY layer information includes one or more of the following information: a scheduling request, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement (ACK), a HARQ negative acknowledgement (NACK), or a channel state information (CSI).

[0042] In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, which can be performed by a network device or a module (e.g., a chip) in the network device. The method includes: receiving PHY layer signaling in a first cell of a first RAT, the PHY layer signaling indicating PHY layer information, the PHY layer information corresponding to at least one second cell of a second RAT; and obtaining the PHY layer information based on the PHY layer signaling.

[0043] The above solution uses bottom layer (ie, PHY layer) signaling to send information across RATs. Compared with using RRC signaling to send information across RATs, it can reduce latency and power consumption, thereby helping to improve user experience.

[0044] In a possible implementation method, the PHY layer signaling is UCI signaling of the first RAT, and the UCI signaling of the first RAT indicates the PHY layer information.

[0045] In a possible implementation method, the PHY layer information includes one or more of the following information: scheduling request, HARQ ACK, HARQ NACK or CSI.

[0046] In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which can be a terminal device or a module (such as a chip) in the terminal device. The device has the function of implementing any implementation method of the first aspect, the third aspect, or the fifth aspect above. The function can be implemented by hardware or by executing corresponding software implementation by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0047] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may be a network device or a module (such as a chip) in a network device. The device has the function of implementing any implementation method of the second, fourth, or sixth aspects above. The function can be implemented by hardware or by executing corresponding software implementations through hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0048] In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device comprising a unit or means for executing each step of any implementation method in the above-mentioned first to sixth aspects.

[0049] In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, comprising a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the processor is configured to communicate with other devices via the interface circuit and execute any of the implementation methods described in aspects 1 to 6 above. The processor comprises one or more.

[0050] Optionally, the communication device may further include a memory for storing computer instructions, the memory being coupled to a processor, and the processor executing the computer instructions stored in the memory so that the device executes any implementation method in the above-mentioned first to sixth aspects.

[0051] In the eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are run by a communication device, any implementation method in the above-mentioned first to sixth aspects is executed.

[0052] In the twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores instructions, which, when run on a communication device, enables any implementation method in the above-mentioned first aspect to be executed.

[0053] In the thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip system, comprising: a processor for executing any implementation method in the above-mentioned first to sixth aspects. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0054] FIG1( a ) is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system used in an embodiment of the present application;

[0055] Figure 1(b) shows a schematic diagram of a network device;

[0056] Figure 2 is an example diagram of MCG and SCG;

[0057] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of multi-RAT DC in NSA networking;

[0058] 4 to 6 are flow charts of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0059] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0060] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0061] Figure 1(a) is a schematic diagram of the architecture of the communication system used in the embodiment of the present application. The communication system 1000 shown in Figure 1(a) includes a wireless access network 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system 1000 also includes the Internet 300. The wireless access network 100 may include at least one network device (such as 110a and 110b in Figure 1(a)), and may also include at least one terminal device (such as 120a-120j in Figure 1(a)). The terminal device is connected to the network device wirelessly, and the network device is connected to the core network wirelessly or wired. The core network device and the network device can be independent and different physical devices, or the functions of the core network device and the logical functions of the network device can be integrated into the same physical device, or the functions of some core network devices and some network devices can be integrated into one physical device. Terminal devices and terminal devices, as well as network devices and network devices, can be connected to each other by wire or wirelessly. FIG1( a ) is only a schematic diagram. The communication system may further include other network devices, such as wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices, which are not shown in FIG1( a ).

[0062] A network device is an access device that a terminal device uses to access a communication system via a wired or wireless method. A network device may be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB) in a fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system, a next generation base station in a sixth generation (6G) mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system; it may also be a module or unit that performs some of the functions of a base station, for example, a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), or a radio unit (RU). A network device may be a macro base station (such as 110a in FIG1(a)), a micro base station or an indoor station (such as 110b in FIG1(a)), a relay node or a donor node, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the network device.

[0063] A terminal device is a device with wireless transceiver capabilities that can send signals to or receive signals from a network device. Terminal devices include but are not limited to terminal devices, terminals, user equipment (UE), mobile stations, mobile terminals, etc. Terminal devices can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, etc. The terminal device can specifically be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver capabilities, wearable device, vehicle, aircraft, ship, robot, robotic arm, smart home device, etc. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal device.

[0064] Network devices and terminal devices can be fixed or mobile. They can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; on water; and on aircraft, balloons, and satellites. The embodiments of this application do not limit the application scenarios of network devices and terminal devices.

[0065] The roles of network devices and terminal devices can be relative. For example, the helicopter or drone 120i in Figure 1(a) can be configured as a mobile network device. For terminal devices 120j that access the wireless access network 100 via 120i, terminal device 120i is a network device. However, for network device 110a, 120i is a terminal device, meaning that communication between 110a and 120i occurs via a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, communication between 110a and 120i can also occur via an interface protocol between network devices. In this case, relative to 110a, 120i is also a network device. Therefore, both network devices and terminal devices can be collectively referred to as communication devices. 110a and 110b in Figure 1(a) can be referred to as communication devices with network device functionality, and 120a-120j in Figure 1(a) can be referred to as communication devices with terminal device functionality.

[0066] Network devices and terminal devices, network devices and network devices, and terminal devices and terminal devices can communicate through authorized spectrum, unauthorized spectrum, or both; can communicate through spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), spectrum above 6 GHz, or spectrum below 6 GHz and spectrum above 6 GHz simultaneously. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communications.

[0067] In the embodiments of the present application, the functions of the network device may also be performed by a module (such as a chip) in the network device, or by a control subsystem that includes the network device functions. The control subsystem that includes the network device functions here may be a control center in the above-mentioned application scenarios such as smart grid, industrial control, smart transportation, and smart city. The functions of the terminal device may also be performed by a module (such as a chip or a modem) in the terminal device, or by a device that includes the terminal device functions.

[0068] In this application, a network device sends downlink signals or downlink information to a terminal device, and the downlink information is carried on a downlink channel. A terminal device sends uplink signals or uplink information to a network device, and the uplink information is carried on an uplink channel. To communicate with a network device, a terminal device needs to establish a wireless connection with a cell controlled by the network device. The cell with which a terminal device has established a wireless connection is called the serving cell of the terminal device.

[0069] Figure 1(b) shows a schematic diagram of a network device. As shown in Figure 1(b), the network device includes one or more CUs, one or more DUs, and one or more RUs. For clarity, Figure 1(b) shows only one CU, DU, and RU. The CU is connected to the core network and one or more DUs. Optionally, the CU may have some of the core network's functionality. The CU may include a CU-control plane (CP) and a CU-user plane (UP).

[0070] The CU and DU can be configured according to the protocol layer functions of the wireless network they implement: for example, the CU is configured to implement the functions of the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer and the protocol layers above it (such as the RRC layer and / or the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, etc.); the DU is configured to implement the functions of the protocol layers below the PDCP layer (such as the radio link control (RLC) layer, the medium access control (MAC) layer, and / or the PHY layer, etc.). For another example, the CU is configured to implement the functions of the protocol layers above the PDCP layer (such as the RRC layer and / or the SDAP layer), and the DU is configured to implement the functions of the PDCP layer and the protocol layers below it (such as the RLC layer, the MAC layer, and / or the PHY layer, etc.).

[0071] The above configuration of CU and DU is only an example, and the functions of CU and DU can also be configured as needed. For example, the CU or DU can be configured to have the functions of more protocol layers, or the CU or DU can be configured to have partial processing functions of the protocol layer. For example, some functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layers above the RLC layer are set in the CU, and the remaining functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layers below the RLC layer are set in the DU. For another example, the functions of the CU or DU can be divided according to the service type or other system requirements, such as by delay, and the functions whose processing time needs to meet the smaller delay requirement are set in the DU, and the functions that do not need to meet the delay requirement are set in the CU.

[0072] The DU and RU can work together to implement the functions of the PHY layer. A DU can be connected to one or more RUs. The functions of the DU and RU can be configured in various ways according to the design. For example, the DU is configured to implement the baseband function, and the RU is configured to implement the mid-RF function. For another example, the DU is configured to implement the high-layer functions in the PHY layer, and the RU is configured to implement the low-layer functions in the PHY layer or to implement the low-layer functions and the RF functions. The high-layer functions in the physical layer may include a part of the functions of the physical layer, which is closer to the MAC layer, and the low-layer functions in the physical layer may include another part of the functions of the physical layer, which is closer to the mid-RF side.

[0073] The CU and DU may be set separately, or may be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU may be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU) or a remote radio head (RRH). In different systems, CU, DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in an open radio access network (ORAN) system, CU may also be referred to as O-CU (open CU), DU may also be referred to as O-DU, and RU may also be referred to as O-RU. Any of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0074] For the convenience of explanation, in the embodiments of the present application, UE and base station are respectively used as an example of terminal equipment and network equipment for explanation, so UE and base station appearing anywhere in the future can be replaced by terminal equipment and network equipment respectively.

[0075] With the development of mobile communication systems, the quality of service they can provide is increasingly higher. To maintain the long-term competitive advantage of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and further improve the system's spectrum efficiency and user throughput, carrier aggregation (CA) has been introduced. Carrier aggregation allows a user equipment (UE) to simultaneously use carriers from multiple cells for uplink and downlink communications, thereby supporting high-speed data transmission. Among these multiple cells, one is the primary cell (PCell), and the others are secondary cells (SCells).

[0076] Carrier aggregation is divided into intra-base station cell aggregation and inter-base station cell aggregation. Intra-base station cell aggregation means that for a UE, the aggregated service cells all belong to the same base station. Inter-base station cell aggregation, also known as DC, refers to supporting carrier aggregation of multiple cells under two base stations, thereby bringing better user experience to users. For the UE, one of the base stations is the main base station and the other base stations are secondary base stations. DC introduces the concepts of master cell group (MCG) and secondary cell group (SCG). Figure 2 is an example diagram of MCG and SCG. Among them, MCG includes a group of service cells associated with the main base station, MCG includes a primary cell (PCell) and one or more secondary cells (SCell) that may exist. SCG includes a group of service cells associated with the secondary base station, SCG includes a primary secondary cell (PSCell) and one or more SCells that may exist.

[0077] From a broader perspective, 5G networking is divided into two main modes: non-standalone (NSA) and standalone (SA). NSA connects 5G base stations to 4G base stations and provides services to UEs via the 4G core network. SA builds a new 5G core network, with 5G base stations directly using the 5G core network to provide services to UEs.

[0078] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of multi-RAT DC under NSA networking. Among them, the RAT adopted by the primary base station is the first RAT, and the RAT adopted by the secondary base station is the second RAT. For example, the first RAT is a 4G RAT, and the second RAT is a 5G RAT, also known as new radio (NR); or, the first RAT is NR, and the second RAT is a sixth generation (6G) RAT; or, the first RAT is a 6G RAT, and the second RAT is a seventh generation (7G) RAT; or, the first RAT is NR, and the second RAT is a 4G RAT; or, the first RAT is a 6G RAT, and the second RAT is NR; or, the first RAT is a 7G RAT, and the second RAT is a 6G RAT. This application does not limit the first RAT and the second RAT.

[0079] Currently, in multi-RAT DC technology, the addition of a secondary base station is initiated by the primary base station. The primary base station informs the secondary base station of the necessary information so that the secondary base station can provide network resources for the UE. The primary base station also sends RRC connection reconfiguration signaling to the UE, so that the UE adds the secondary base station based on the signaling. After the secondary base station is added, the cell of the secondary base station can be controlled through the RRC signaling of the primary base station. However, the MAC layers of the primary base station and the secondary base station are independent of each other, and the PHY layers of the primary base station and the secondary base station are also independent of each other. That is, the cell of the secondary base station cannot be controlled through the MAC layer of the primary base station, nor can the cell of the secondary base station be controlled through the PHY layer of the primary base station. This results in an increase in the management delay of the primary base station for the secondary base station and an increase in power consumption. Among them, controlling the cell of the secondary base station can be understood as controlling the uplink and / or downlink carrier of the cell of the secondary base station.

[0080] To solve this problem, this application provides corresponding embodiments, which are described in detail below.

[0081] Figure 4 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method is executed by a base station or a module (such as a chip) of the base station, and a UE or a module (such as a chip) of the UE. The following description uses the base station and the UE as an example to illustrate the method.

[0082] The method comprises the following steps:

[0083] Step 401: The base station determines MAC CE signaling.

[0084] Exemplarily, the base station may be the master base station in the example of FIG3 .

[0085] The MAC CE signaling is MAC layer signaling of the first RAT. The MAC CE signaling indicates management of at least one second cell of the second RAT. Exemplarily, the MAC CE signaling is specifically used to indicate activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT. That is, the aforementioned "management" may refer to "activation or deactivation." Of course, this application does not limit the specific type of management, and other types of management may also be used in actual applications.

[0086] In one implementation method, the primary base station receives MAC layer information of the second RAT from the secondary base station, where the MAC layer information indicates management of at least one second cell of the second RAT, and then the primary base station determines MAC CE signaling of the first RAT based on the MAC layer information.

[0087] In one implementation method, the MAC subheader of the MAC CE signaling includes a first field, the first field including an LCID field, and when the LCID field has a first value, the LCID field indicates activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT. Exemplarily, when the value of the LCID field is 35 or 36, the LCID field indicates activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT.

[0088] In one implementation method, the MAC subheader of the MAC CE signaling includes a second field, the second field including an LCID field and an eLCID field. When the LCID field has a first value and the eLCID field has a second value, the LCID field and the eLCID field indicate activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT. Exemplarily, the value of the LCID field is 34, and the value of the eLCID field is 216. The LCID field and the eLCID field indicate activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT.

[0089] In another implementation method, the MAC CE signaling includes a third field, which may be a field in a message body within the MAC CE signaling, and the message body is used to carry data. The third field is used to indicate activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT, wherein the second cell may be a primary or secondary cell or a secondary cell. That is, the MAC CE signaling is used to indicate activation or deactivation of at least one primary or secondary cell of the second RAT. Exemplarily, the third field includes N bits, where N is a positive integer, and the N bits indicate activation or deactivation of N primary or secondary cells of the second RAT, and the N bits correspond one-to-one to the N primary or secondary cells. For example, for any one of the N bits, if the bit takes a value of a, the bit indicates activation of the primary or secondary cell corresponding to the bit; if the bit takes a value of b, the bit indicates deactivation of the primary or secondary cell corresponding to the bit, where a is 0 and b is 1, or a is 1 and b is 0.

[0090] Step 402: The base station sends MAC CE signaling in the first cell of the first RAT. Correspondingly, the UE receives the MAC CE signaling in the first cell of the first RAT.

[0091] Exemplarily, the base station may send the MAC CE signaling in a unicast, multicast or broadcast manner.

[0092] The base station sends the MAC CE signaling in the first cell of the first RAT, which can also be called the base station sending the MAC CE signaling in the first carrier of the first RAT, where the first carrier is the carrier of the first cell.

[0093] Step 403: The UE manages at least one second cell of the second RAT according to the MAC CE signaling.

[0094] For example, the UE activates at least one second cell of the second RAT or deactivates at least one second cell of the second RAT according to the MAC CE signaling, wherein the second cell may be a primary or secondary cell of a secondary base station.

[0095] The above solution uses bottom layer (ie MAC layer) signaling to manage cross-RAT cells. Compared with using RRC signaling to manage cross-RAT cells, it can reduce latency and power consumption, thereby helping to improve user experience.

[0096] Figure 5 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method is executed by a base station or a module (such as a chip) of the base station, and a UE or a module (such as a chip) of the UE. The following description uses the base station and the UE as an example to illustrate the method.

[0097] The method comprises the following steps:

[0098] Step 501: The base station determines PHY layer signaling.

[0099] Exemplarily, the base station may be the master base station in the example of FIG3 .

[0100] The PHY layer signaling is PHY layer signaling of the first RAT. The PHY layer signaling includes scheduling information, where the scheduling information is used to perform PUSCH scheduling and / or PDSCH scheduling for at least one second cell of the second RAT. Alternatively, the scheduling information is used to perform uplink carrier PUSCH scheduling and / or downlink carrier PDSCH scheduling for at least one second cell of the second RAT.

[0101] The second cell here may be a primary or secondary cell of a secondary base station.

[0102] In one implementation method, the primary base station receives scheduling information of the second RAT from the secondary base station, and then the primary base station determines PHY layer signaling of the first RAT according to the scheduling information.

[0103] The following introduces three different implementation methods of PHY layer signaling.

[0104] In implementation method 1, the PHY layer signaling is the DCI signaling of the first RAT, and the DCI signaling includes scheduling information.

[0105] For the first implementation method, a new DCI format of the first RAT may be defined, and DCI signaling in the new DCI format of the first RAT may be used to schedule scheduling information of the second RAT.

[0106] In implementation method 2, the PHY layer signaling is the DCI signaling of the first RAT or the second RAT, the DCI signaling is scrambled by the RNTI of the second RAT, and the DCI signaling includes scheduling information.

[0107] For the second implementation method, a new RNTI (ie, the RNTI of the second RAT) is used to scramble the DCI signaling of the first RAT or the second RAT. For example, if the DCI signaling uses the DCI format of the second RAT, the DCI format of the second RAT is, for example, DCI format1_5.

[0108] In implementation method 3, the PHY layer signaling is the DCI signaling of the first RAT, the DCI signaling of the first RAT includes the DCI signaling of the second RAT, and the DCI signaling of the second RAT includes scheduling information.

[0109] For the third implementation method, the DCI signaling of the second RAT is carried in the DCI signaling of the first RAT. The UE first parses the DCI signaling of the first RAT, obtains the DCI signaling of the second RAT, and parses the DCI signaling of the second RAT, and obtains scheduling information according to the DCI signaling of the second RAT.

[0110] Exemplarily, the DCI format of the DCI signaling of the first RAT may be an existing DCI format or a newly defined DCI format.

[0111] Step 502: The base station sends PHY layer signaling in the first cell of the first RAT. Correspondingly, the UE receives the PHY layer signaling in the first cell of the first RAT.

[0112] Exemplarily, the base station may send the PHY layer signaling in a unicast, multicast or broadcast manner.

[0113] The base station sends the PHY layer signaling in the first cell of the first RAT, which can also be called the base station sending the PHY layer signaling in the first carrier of the first RAT, where the first carrier is the carrier of the first cell.

[0114] Step 503: The UE obtains scheduling information according to the PHY layer signaling.

[0115] For example, the UE obtains scheduling information according to PHY layer signaling, and performs PUSCH transmission and / or PDSCH transmission according to the scheduling information.

[0116] The above solution uses bottom layer (ie, PHY layer) signaling to perform cross-RAT cell scheduling. Compared with using RRC signaling to perform cross-RAT cell scheduling, it can reduce latency and power consumption, thereby helping to improve user experience.

[0117] Figure 6 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method is executed by a base station or a module (such as a chip) of the base station, and a UE or a module (such as a chip) of the UE. The following description uses the base station and UE as an example to illustrate the method.

[0118] The method comprises the following steps:

[0119] Step 601: The UE determines PHY layer signaling.

[0120] The PHY layer signaling is PHY layer signaling of the first RAT. The PHY layer signaling indicates PHY layer information of the second RAT, and the PHY layer information of the second RAT corresponds to at least one second cell of the second RAT. The second cell may be a cell of a secondary base station (such as a primary secondary cell or a secondary cell).

[0121] Exemplarily, the PHY layer signaling is UCI signaling of the first RAT, and the UCI signaling of the first RAT indicates PHY layer information of the second RAT.

[0122] In one implementation, the format of the UCI may be a newly added format. Based on this, PHY layer information of the second RAT may be added to the UCI corresponding to the newly added format. The PHY layer information may include, for example, at least one of the following: a scheduling request of the second RAT, a HARQ acknowledgment (ACK) of the second RAT, a HARQ negative acknowledgement (NACK) of the second RAT, or CSI of the second RAT. The CSI may include at least one of a channel quality indicator, a precoding matrix indicator, a rank indicator, a layer indicator, or a channel state information reference signal resource indicator.

[0123] In another implementation method, the format of the UCI may be an existing format. Based on this, the PHY layer information of the second RAT may be additionally added to the UCI corresponding to the existing format, and the PHY layer information of the second RAT may be added after the PHY layer information of the first RAT contained in the UCI. That is, the UCI contains the PHY layer information of the first RAT and the PHY layer information of the second RAT. The PHY layer information of the first RAT includes at least one of the following information: a scheduling request of the first RAT, a HARQ ACK of the first RAT, a HARQ NACK of the first RAT, or a CSI of the first RAT. The PHY layer information of the second RAT includes at least one of the following information: a scheduling request of the second RAT, a HARQ ACK of the second RAT, a HARQ NACK of the second RAT, or a CSI of the second RAT.

[0124] Step 602: The UE sends PHY layer signaling in the first cell of the first RAT. Correspondingly, the base station receives the PHY layer signaling in the first cell of the first RAT.

[0125] Exemplarily, the base station may be the master base station in the example of FIG3 .

[0126] The UE sends PHY layer signaling in the first cell of the first RAT, which can also be understood as the UE sending PHY layer signaling in the first carrier of the first cell of the first RAT.

[0127] Step 603: The base station obtains PHY layer information according to the PHY layer signaling.

[0128] Exemplarily, when the base station is a primary base station, after the primary base station obtains the PHY layer information, it may send the PHY layer information to the secondary base station.

[0129] The above solution uses bottom layer (ie, PHY layer) signaling to send information across RATs. Compared with using RRC signaling to send information across RATs, it can reduce latency and power consumption, thereby helping to improve user experience.

[0130] It should be noted that the method embodiments of Figures 4, 5, and 6 above can be implemented separately or in combination with each other, such as a method embodiment of Figure 4 combined with a method embodiment of Figure 6, or a method embodiment of Figure 5 combined with a method embodiment of Figure 6, and so on.

[0131] It is understood that in order to implement the functions in the above embodiments, the UE or base station includes 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 herein, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in hardware or in a manner driven by computer software depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0132] Figures 7 and 8 are schematic diagrams of the structures of possible communication devices provided in embodiments of the present application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of the UE 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 UE or a base station, or can also be a module (such as a chip) applied to the UE or base station.

[0133] The communication device 700 shown in Figure 7 includes a processing unit 710 and a transceiver unit 720. The communication device 700 is used to implement the functions of the UE or the base station in the above method embodiment.

[0134] When the communication device 700 is used to implement the functions of the UE in the method embodiment of Figure 4 above, the transceiver unit 720 is used to receive MAC CE signaling in a first cell of the first RAT; the processing unit 710 is used to manage at least one second cell of the second RAT according to the MAC CE signaling.

[0135] In a possible implementation method, the processing unit 710 is configured to manage at least one second cell of the second RAT according to the MAC CE signaling, specifically including: activating or deactivating at least one second cell of the second RAT according to the MAC CE signaling.

[0136] In one possible implementation method, the MAC subheader of the MAC CE signaling includes a first field, and the first field includes an LCID field; when the LCID field is a first value, the LCID field indicates activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT.

[0137] In one possible implementation method, the MAC subheader of the MAC CE signaling includes a second field, and the second field includes an LCID field and an eLCID field; when the LCID field is a first value and the eLCID field is a second value, the LCID field and the eLCID field indicate activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT.

[0138] In a possible implementation method, the MAC CE signaling includes a third field, and the third field indicates activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT, where the second cell is a primary or secondary cell.

[0139] In one possible implementation method, the third field includes N bits, where N is a positive integer, and the N bits indicate activation or deactivation of N primary and secondary cells of the second RAT, and the N bits correspond one-to-one to the N primary and secondary cells.

[0140] When the communication device 700 is used to implement the function of the base station in the method embodiment of Figure 4 above, the processing unit 710 is used to determine MAC CE signaling, where the MAC CE signaling indicates management of at least one second cell of the second RAT; and the transceiver unit 720 is used to send the MAC CE signaling to the first cell of the first RAT.

[0141] In one possible implementation method, the MAC CE signaling indicates activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT.

[0142] In one possible implementation method, the MAC subheader of the MAC CE signaling includes a first field, and the first field includes an LCID field; when the LCID field is a first value, the LCID field indicates activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT.

[0143] In one possible implementation method, the MAC subheader of the MAC CE signaling includes a second field, and the second field includes an LCID field and an eLCID field; when the LCID field is a first value and the eLCID field is a second value, the LCID field and the eLCID field indicate activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT.

[0144] In a possible implementation method, the MAC CE signaling includes a third field, and the third field indicates activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT, where the second cell is a primary or secondary cell.

[0145] In one possible implementation method, the third field includes N bits, where N is a positive integer, and the N bits indicate activation or deactivation of N primary and secondary cells of the second RAT, and the N bits correspond one-to-one to the N primary and secondary cells.

[0146] When the communication device 700 is used to implement the functions of the UE in the method embodiment of Figure 5 above, the transceiver unit 720 is used to receive PHY layer signaling in a first cell of a first RAT, where the PHY layer signaling includes scheduling information, and the scheduling information is used to perform PUSCH scheduling and / or PDSCH scheduling on at least one second cell of a second RAT; and the processing unit 710 is used to obtain the scheduling information according to the PHY layer signaling.

[0147] In a possible implementation method, the PHY layer signaling is DCI signaling of the first RAT, and the DCI signaling includes the scheduling information.

[0148] In a possible implementation method, the PHY layer signaling is DCI signaling of the first RAT, and the DCI signaling is scrambled by the RNTI of the second RAT.

[0149] In a possible implementation method, the PHY layer signaling is DCI signaling of the first RAT, the DCI signaling of the first RAT includes DCI signaling of the second RAT, and the DCI signaling of the second RAT includes the scheduling information.

[0150] When the communication device 700 is used to implement the functions of the base station in the method embodiment of Figure 5 above, the processing unit 710 is used to determine PHY layer signaling, where the PHY layer signaling includes scheduling information, and the scheduling information is used to perform PUSCH scheduling and / or PDSCH scheduling on at least one second cell of the second RAT; the transceiver unit 720 is used to send the PHY layer signaling to the first cell of the first RAT.

[0151] In a possible implementation method, the PHY layer signaling is DCI signaling of the first RAT, and the DCI signaling includes scheduling information.

[0152] In a possible implementation method, the PHY layer signaling is DCI signaling of the first RAT, and the DCI signaling is scrambled by the RNTI of the second RAT.

[0153] In a possible implementation method, the PHY layer signaling is DCI signaling of the first RAT, the DCI signaling of the first RAT includes DCI signaling of the second RAT, and the DCI signaling of the second RAT includes scheduling information.

[0154] When the communication device 700 is used to implement the functions of the UE in the method embodiment of Figure 6 above, the processing unit 710 is used to determine PHY layer signaling, where the PHY layer signaling indicates PHY layer information, and the PHY layer information corresponds to at least one second cell of the second RAT; the transceiver unit 720 is used to send the PHY layer signaling in the first cell of the first RAT.

[0155] In a possible implementation method, the PHY layer signaling is UCI signaling of the first RAT, and the UCI signaling of the first RAT indicates the PHY layer information.

[0156] In a possible implementation method, the PHY layer information includes one or more of the following information: scheduling request, HARQ ACK, HARQ NACK or CSI.

[0157] When the communication device 700 is used to implement the function of the base station in the method embodiment of Figure 6 above, the transceiver unit 720 is used to receive PHY layer signaling in a first cell of the first RAT, where the PHY layer signaling indicates PHY layer information, and the PHY layer information corresponds to at least one second cell of the second RAT; the processing unit 710 is used to obtain the PHY layer information based on the PHY layer signaling.

[0158] In a possible implementation method, the PHY layer signaling is UCI signaling of the first RAT, and the UCI signaling of the first RAT indicates the PHY layer information.

[0159] In a possible implementation method, the PHY layer information includes one or more of the following information: scheduling request, HARQ ACK, HARQ NACK or CSI.

[0160] For a more detailed description of the processing unit 710 and the transceiver unit 720, reference can be made to the relevant description in the above method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

[0161] The communication device 800 shown in FIG8 includes a processor 810 and an interface circuit 820. The processor 810 and the interface circuit 820 are coupled to each other. It is understood that the interface circuit 820 may be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Optionally, the communication device 800 may further include a memory 830 for storing instructions executed by the processor 810, or storing input data required by the processor 810 to execute instructions, or storing data generated after the processor 810 executes instructions.

[0162] When the communication device 800 is used to implement the above method embodiment, the processor 810 is used to implement the functions of the above processing unit 710 , and the interface circuit 820 is used to implement the functions of the above transceiver unit 720 .

[0163] 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.

[0164] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by hardware or by a processor executing software instructions. 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 disks, mobile hard disks, compact disc read-only memory (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. Of course, 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 UE or a base station. Of course, the processor and storage medium can also exist as discrete components in an access network device or a terminal.

[0165] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. A computer program refers to a set of instructions that instruct an electronic computer or other device with message processing capabilities to perform each step of the action, usually written in a certain programming language and running on a certain target architecture. When the computer program or instruction is loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is executed in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network or other programmable device. The computer program or instruction can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer program or instruction can be transmitted from one website, computer, server or data center to another website, computer, server or data center by wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium can 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, a hard disk, or a 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 non-volatile storage medium, or may include both volatile and non-volatile types of storage media.

[0166] In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or there is a logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationships.

[0167] In this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "more" means two or more. "And / or" describes the relationship between related 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, where A and B can be singular or plural. In the text description of this application, the character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next related objects are in an "or" relationship; in the formulas of this application, the character " / " indicates that the previous and next related objects are in a "division" relationship.

[0168] 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 cell management method across wireless access technologies, characterized in that: include: Receiving media access control element (MAC CE) signaling in a first cell of a first radio access technology (RAT); At least one second cell of the second RAT is managed according to the MAC CE signaling.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The managing, according to the MAC CE signaling, at least one second cell of the second RAT includes: At least one second cell of the second RAT is activated or deactivated according to the MAC CE signaling.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein The MAC subheader of the MAC CE signaling includes a first field, and the first field includes a logical channel identifier LCID field; When the LCID field is a first value, the LCID field indicates activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein The MAC subheader of the MAC CE signaling includes a second field, and the second field includes an LCID field and an enhanced logical channel identifier eLCID field; When the LCID field is a first value and the eLCID field is a second value, the LCID field and the eLCID field indicate activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that The MAC CE signaling includes a third field, where the third field indicates activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT, where the second cell is a primary or secondary cell.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein The third field includes N bits, where N is a positive integer, and the N bits indicate activation or deactivation of N primary and secondary cells of the second RAT, and the N bits correspond one-to-one to the N primary and secondary cells.

7. A cell management method across wireless access technologies, characterized in that: include: Determining a media access control element MAC CE signaling, where the MAC CE signaling indicates management of at least one second cell of the second radio access technology RAT; The MAC CE signaling is sent in a first cell of a first RAT.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein The MAC CE signaling instructs activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein The MAC subheader of the MAC CE signaling includes a first field, and the first field includes a logical channel identifier LCID field; When the LCID field is a first value, the LCID field indicates activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein The MAC subheader of the MAC CE signaling includes a second field, and the second field includes an LCID field and an enhanced logical channel identifier eLCID field; When the LCID field is a first value and the eLCID field is a second value, the LCID field and the eLCID field indicate activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT.

11. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 10, characterized in that The MAC CE signaling includes a third field, where the third field indicates activation or deactivation of at least one second cell of the second RAT, where the second cell is a primary or secondary cell.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein The third field includes N bits, where N is a positive integer, and the N bits indicate activation or deactivation of N primary and secondary cells of the second RAT, and the N bits correspond one-to-one to the N primary and secondary cells.

13. A communication device, characterized in that: The device comprises a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the processor is configured to communicate with other devices via the interface circuit and execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6 or the method according to any one of claims 7 to 12.

14. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product comprises instructions, which, when executed on a processor, cause the processor to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6 or the method according to any one of claims 7 to 12.

15. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The storage medium stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed by the communication device, the method described in any one of claims 1 to 6 or the method described in any one of claims 7 to 12 is implemented.

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