Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

The present application provides a communication method and apparatus. In the process of a network side (such as an access network side or a core network side) paging a UE, if the network side determines that the current paging state satisfies an alarm triggering policy, an access network device sends an alarm message to the UE, wherein the alarm message is used to indicate that the UE is being paged. The UE reachability is improved.

Description

Communication method and device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on February 23, 2024, with application number 202410205602.4 and invention name “Communication Method and 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 communication method and device. Background Art

[0003] When the terminal is placed in a pocket, bag, vehicle, or other space, or in the presence of clutter loss, the terminal may be in an unfavorable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) environment. In this environment, the terminal may not be able to receive paging messages sent by the network, that is, the paging arrival rate is low. Summary of the Invention

[0004] In view of this, the present application provides a communication method and apparatus to solve at least some of the above problems. The disclosed technical solutions are as follows:

[0005] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, applied to a core network device, comprising: sending alarm-related information related to a UE to at least one access network device, wherein the alarm-related information is used to cause the at least one access network device to send an alarm message to the UE when it is determined that paging of the UE has failed. This solution allows the access network device to send an alarm message to the UE when paging of the UE has failed, thereby improving the reachability of the UE.

[0006] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the alarm-related information includes an alarm command, and the alarm command is used to instruct the access network device to send an alarm message. For example, when the core network device decides that an alarm message needs to be sent to the UE, the core network device can send an alarm command to the access network device, and the access network device responds to the alarm command and sends an alarm message to the UE. In this solution, the core network can make a decision by comprehensively considering the information reported by all wireless access network devices in the area where the UE is located, avoiding false alarms caused by measuring whether the alarm triggering strategy is met based solely on the paging information of one access network device (for example, UE paging failure due to a failure of the access network device itself), thereby reducing the false alarm rate.

[0007] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the alarm command is sent by the core network device after determining that the UE paging fails. For example, when the core network device determines that the UE paging fails, it sends an alarm command to the access network device, which is used to trigger the access network device to send an alarm message to the UE.

[0008] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the alarm-related information further includes an alarm reporting condition, which is used to trigger the access network device to send a UE non-response indication to the core network device. The alarm reporting condition includes at least one of the following: a paging count greater than a first threshold, and no response from the UE within a first preset time period. In this way, whether to trigger the alarm process can be determined based on information reported by multiple access network devices in the same area, thereby reducing the false alarm rate.

[0009] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, sending alarm-related information to at least one access network device within the area where the UE is located includes: when a core network device determines that paging for the UE satisfies a first alarm triggering policy, sending an alarm command to at least one access network device within the area where the UE is located. Thus, when the core network device determines that the current paging status for the UE satisfies the first alarm triggering policy, the alarm command is sent to at least one access network device within the area where the UE is located. In this way, multiple access network devices within the area can send alarm messages to the UE, thereby improving the success rate of the UE receiving the alarm message.

[0010] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the first alarm triggering strategy includes at least one of the following: the total number of paging times is greater than or equal to the second threshold, the number of paging attempts is greater than or equal to the third threshold, no response is received from the UE within the second preset time period, the paging attempt area is unreachable, the maximum number of transmissions, the total number of paging times is the sum of the number of paging times of all access network devices in the area where the UE is located, and the maximum number of transmissions is used to limit the number of times an alarm message is sent to the UE. It can be seen that when the core network side detects that the current paging status meets the conditions in the first alarm triggering strategy, it triggers the access network device to send an alarm message to the UE. In this way, it can decide whether to trigger the alarm process based on the information reported by multiple access network devices in the same area, thereby reducing the false alarm rate.

[0011] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the alarm-related information further includes a maximum number of transmissions, which is used to limit the number of times the alarm message is sent to the UE. This can reduce interference with other access network devices in the same area and save network resources.

[0012] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the first alarm triggering strategy further includes determining that the paging cause is voice service or important paging. This reduces signaling overhead. Furthermore, this solution triggers the alarm process only for voice or important paging, and does not initiate alarms for paging of other service types. Consequently, other UEs within the cell will not receive such alarms, thereby reducing the number of times other UEs receive alarm messages, thereby lowering the probability of false alarms.

[0013] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the alarm-related information further includes power information, where the power information includes a specified transmit power, a transmit power level, or a transmit power increase step size. Thus, after the core network device sends the alarm-related information to the access network device, the access network device can increase the transmit power for sending the alarm message based on the power information, thereby improving the success rate of the UE receiving the alarm message.

[0014] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the alarm-related information includes a second alarm triggering strategy, and the second alarm triggering strategy is used to enable the access network device to decide whether to send an alarm message to the UE. The second alarm triggering strategy includes at least one of the following: the number of paging times is greater than or equal to a fourth threshold, no reply is received from the UE within a third preset time period, and the number of paging attempts is greater than or equal to the expected number of paging attempts. In another scenario, the core network device can send the alarm triggering strategy to the access network device, so that the access network device decides whether to trigger the alarm process based on the strategy. In this way, the workload on the core network can be reduced, and at the same time, the number of information interactions between the access network device and the core network device can be reduced, thereby improving the efficiency of sending alarm messages.

[0015] In a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the second alarm triggering strategy further includes that the paging cause is voice service or important paging.

[0016] In a second aspect, the present application further provides a communication method, applied to an access network device, comprising: receiving alarm-related information sent by a core network device, and sending an alarm message to a UE, wherein the alarm-related information is used to cause at least one access network device to send an alarm message to the UE when it is determined that the UE has failed to paging. This solution can cause the access network device to send an alarm message to the UE when the UE has failed to paging, indicating that the UE has been paged, thereby improving the UE's reachability.

[0017] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the alarm-related information includes an alarm command; the access network device sends an alarm message to the UE based on the alarm command sent by the core network device.

[0018] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the alarm-related information further includes an alarm reporting condition, and the alarm reporting condition includes at least one of the following: the number of paging times is greater than a first threshold, and no response is received from the UE within a first preset time period.

[0019] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, after determining that the alarm reporting conditions are met, the access network device sends a UE non-response indication to the core network device. The UE non-response indication includes at least one of the following: UE non-response and number of paging attempts. In this way, the core network device can comprehensively consider the information reported by each access network device to determine whether to trigger the alarm process, avoiding false alarms caused by determining whether the alarm triggering policy is met based solely on the paging information of a single access network device, thereby reducing the false alarm rate.

[0020] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the alarm-related information includes an alarm triggering strategy, where the alarm triggering strategy includes at least one of the following: a paging number greater than a second threshold, no response from the UE is received within a second preset time period, and a paging attempt number greater than or equal to an expected number of paging attempts minus one. The expected number of paging attempts herein is an existing parameter of the core network device. That is, reusing the existing parameter to trigger the alarm process reduces the workload and complexity of configuring new parameters.

[0021] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the alarm-related information further includes a maximum number of transmissions, where the maximum number of transmissions is used to limit the number of times the alarm message is sent to the UE.

[0022] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, receiving alarm-related information sent by a core network device and sending an alarm message to a UE includes: when the access network device determines that an alarm triggering policy is satisfied, sending the alarm message.

[0023] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the process of determining whether the alarm triggering strategy is satisfied includes: determining the number of paging messages sent to the UE and no reply received from the UE, the number of paging times is greater than or equal to a paging number threshold; and / or, the time from the start of paging the UE reaches a second preset time without receiving a reply from the UE; and / or, receiving the number of paging attempts sent by the core network device, the number of paging attempts is greater than or equal to the expected number of paging attempts minus one (expected number of paging attempts - 1).

[0024] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, sending the warning message to the UE includes: adjusting the transmit power based on the power information, and sending the warning message using the adjusted transmit power.

[0025] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the power information includes a specified transmit power, a transmit power level, or a transmit power increase step.

[0026] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the transmit power is adjusted based on the power information, and an alarm message is sent using the adjusted transmit power, including: sending an alarm message using a specified transmit power; or sending an alarm message using a transmit power corresponding to a transmit power level; or gradually enhancing the transmit power according to a power increase step until the enhanced transmit power reaches a maximum set power, or the number of times the transmit power is enhanced reaches a maximum set number, or a reply from the UE is received.

[0027] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, sending the warning message to the UE includes sending the warning message at a preset location. In this way, the warning message is sent at the preset location so that the UE listens to the warning message at the preset location.

[0028] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the preset position includes a reference position and an offset; the reference position is determined by the starting position of the first paging frame in a paging call, and the offset is the offset from the reference position to the start frame of the first listening opportunity in the alarm time slot; or, the reference position is determined by the ending position of the last paging frame in a paging call, and the offset is the offset from the reference position to the end frame of the first listening opportunity in the alarm time slot; or, the reference position is determined by the position of the system information block SIB1, and the offset is the offset from the reference position to the alarm time slot. This method of determining the location for sending an alarm message by using a reference position and an offset improves resource utilization by monitoring the alarm message according to the agreed location.

[0029] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the preset position is a preset fixed time domain position, a fixed frequency domain position, or a fixed code domain position.

[0030] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, before sending the warning message to the UE, the method further includes: sending warning configuration information to the UE.

[0031] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the alarm configuration information includes: a listening position related configuration and a UE related index, the listening position related configuration is used to indicate the position where the UE listens to the alarm message, and the UE related index is used to indicate the UE that receives the alarm configuration information. In this way, the UE listens to the alarm message according to the listening position set in the listening position related configuration, avoiding always

[0032] In a possible implementation of the second aspect, the UE-related index includes at least one of the following: an inactive radio network temporary identifier (I-RNTI), a preconfigured UE index, a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), and an area index. The UE-related index indicates a recipient of the alarm configuration information.

[0033] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the monitoring location-related configuration is sent through a system message, or the monitoring location-related configuration is sent through a first dedicated signaling; and the UE-related index is sent through a second dedicated signaling.

[0034] On the third aspect, the present application also provides a communication method applied to a user device, the method comprising: receiving an alarm message sent by an access network device, the alarm message being sent by the access network device when the network side device determines that the paging of the UE fails, and the network side device includes an access network device or a core network device.

[0035] In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the method further includes: monitoring an alarm message at a preset location.

[0036] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, monitoring the warning message at a preset location includes: monitoring the warning message when detecting that the signal quality of the serving cell is less than a preset threshold; or monitoring the warning message when detecting periodic occurrences of radio access network notification area update failures or routing area update failures. Thus, the warning message is monitored at the configured monitoring location only after the current state is detected to meet the conditions, thereby reducing UE power consumption.

[0037] In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the method further includes: receiving alarm configuration information sent by the access network device, where the alarm configuration information includes monitoring location-related configuration and UE-related index.

[0038] In a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the method further includes: sending first information to an access network device or a core network device, where the first information is used to indicate that the UE can receive an alarm message.

[0039] In a possible implementation of the third aspect, after receiving the alarm information sent by the access network device, the method also includes at least one of the following: initiating a request to the network side device to restore the connection state; indicating to the upper layer that the alarm message has been received, the upper layer triggering application feedback, and the application feedback includes at least one of the following vibration and display information.

[0040] In a fourth aspect, the present application also provides a network side device, comprising a memory and one or more processors; the memory is used to store program code; the processor is used to run the program code, so that the electronic device implements the communication method as described in any one of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0041] In the fifth aspect, the present application also provides a user device, the electronic device includes: a memory and one or more processors; the memory is used to store program code; the processor is used to run the program code, so that the electronic device implements any communication method as in the third aspect.

[0042] In the sixth aspect, the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon. When the instructions are executed on a network-side device, the network-side device executes a communication method as described in any one of the first or second aspects; when the instructions are executed on a user device, the user device executes a communication method as described in any one of the third aspects.

[0043] In the seventh aspect, the present application also provides a chip, comprising: at least one processor and an interface, the interface being used to receive code instructions and transmit them to at least one processor; at least one processor runs the code instructions to implement the communication method of any one of the first aspect or the second aspect.

[0044] In the eighth aspect, the present application also provides a chip, comprising: at least one processor and an interface, the interface being used to receive code instructions and transmit them to at least one processor; at least one processor runs the code instructions to implement any communication method of the third aspect.

[0045] In the ninth aspect, the present application also provides a computer program product having an execution program stored thereon. When the computer program product is run on an electronic device, the electronic device implements the communication method of any one of the first aspect, any one of the second aspect, or any one of the third aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0046] FIG1 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] FIG2 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] FIG3 is a flowchart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0049] The terms "first", "second" and "third" in the specification, claims and drawings of this application are used to distinguish different objects rather than to limit a specific order.

[0050] In the embodiments of this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of this application should not be interpreted as being preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete manner.

[0051] The communication method provided in this application can be applied to various communication systems, for example, fifth generation (5G) or new radio (NR) systems, long term evolution (LTE) systems, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, LTE time division duplex (TDD) systems, etc. The solution can also be applied to future communication systems, such as sixth generation (6G) mobile communication systems. The solution can also be applied to device to device (D2D) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine to machine (M2M) communication, machine type communication (MTC), and Internet of Things (IoT) communication systems or other communication systems.

[0052] The communication method provided in the present application may be used in a terrestrial network (TN) communication system or a non-terrestrial network (NTN) communication system.

[0053] Please refer to Figure 1, which shows a schematic diagram of a communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application.

[0054] As shown in Figure 1, the communication system includes at least one user equipment (UE) 101 (e.g., a mobile phone), at least one radio access network device 102 or 103 (e.g., a base station), and at least one core network device 104. In the communication system, UE 101 can send uplink data to radio access network device 102 or 103, and radio access network device 102 or 103 can send uplink data from UE 101 to the core network device. Furthermore, core network device 104 can send downlink data to radio access network device 102 or 103, and further, radio access network device 102 or 103 can send downlink data to UE 101.

[0055] In the embodiments of the present application, the user equipment (UE) may be a device that provides voice or data connectivity to a user. The user equipment may be referred to as terminal equipment, mobile station, subscriber unit, user station, mobile station, mobile terminal (MT), remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, or user device. The terminal may be a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a tablet computer, etc. With the development of wireless communication technology, any device that can access a wireless communication network, communicate with a wireless network side, or communicate with other objects through a wireless network may be a terminal in the embodiments of the present application. For example, terminals and cars in intelligent transportation, household appliances in smart homes, power meter reading instruments, voltage monitoring instruments, environmental monitoring instruments in smart grids, video surveillance instruments in intelligent security networks, cash registers, etc. The terminal may be static or mobile, and this application does not limit the type of the terminal. In addition, the terminal device may also be a terminal device in an Internet of Things (IoT) system.

[0056] The access network (AN) device in the embodiments of the present application may be a device on the access network side used to support terminal access to the communication system, or may be provided in a chip of the device. The access network device can manage wireless resources, provide access services for user equipment, and then complete the forwarding of control signals and user equipment data between the user equipment and the core network. The access network device may be a radio access network (RAN) device. The access network device may be an evolved Node B (eNB), a base transceiver station (BTS), a home base station (e.g., home evolved Node B, or home NodeB, HNB), a baseband unit (BBU), an access point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (WIFI) system, a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, a transmission and reception point (TRP or transmission point, TP), etc. Alternatively, it may be a gNB or transmission point (TRP or TP) in a 5G system, or one or a group of antenna panels (including multiple antenna panels) in a base station in a 5G system, or a network node constituting a gNB or transmission point, such as a BBU or a distributed unit (DU), or it may be a node or unit with corresponding functions in a future 6G system, which is not limited here.

[0057] In a satellite communication scenario, a wireless access network device may also be referred to as a wireless satellite access network site (or wireless satellite access network device, wireless satellite access network), a satellite access network site (or satellite access network device, satellite access network), or a satellite network site (or satellite network device, satellite network), which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. Satellite access networks can be deployed in a variety of ways. For example, the same PLMN may have both a terrestrial 3GPP access network and a satellite 3GPP access network, and the two access networks may have independent interfaces with the core network. For example, different core networks may share the same satellite access network, and the shared satellite access network may include available PLMNs in the broadcast system information. For example, the terrestrial access network and the satellite access network are independent, that is, the terrestrial access network and the satellite access network correspond to independent PLMNs. For example, the satellite in the sky is only responsible for signal transmission and does not have the function of accessing the network. In this scenario, the satellite access network may also be referred to as a satellite backhaul. In the above-mentioned non-satellite backhaul scenario, the satellite may include all or part of the access network functions, which is not limited in the present application. When all base station functions are integrated on the satellite, satellite access network equipment can be understood as equipment that performs some of the base station's functions on the satellite. All access network signaling and data processing is performed on the satellite. When some base station functions are integrated on the satellite and some on the ground, satellite access network equipment can be understood as equipment that performs some of the base station's functions on the satellite and some of the base station's functions on the ground. Access network signaling and data processing is performed partially on the satellite and partially on the ground. In satellite backhaul scenarios, satellite access network equipment can be understood as a base station on the ground. All access network signaling and data processing is performed on the ground, with the satellite transparently transmitting signaling and data between the terminal device and the satellite access network.

[0058] The core network (CN) device in the embodiment of the present application can be connected to one or more access network devices and can provide one or more functions of session management, access authentication, Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and data transmission for terminals in the communication system. For example, the core network device can be a mobile management entity (MME) or a serving gateway (SGW) in a 4G system, an access and mobility management function (AMF) network element or a user plane function (UPF) network element in a 5G system, or a network node with similar functions in a future 6G system, which is not limited here. The core network device can also be referred to as a core network element.

[0059] As mentioned above, when the UE is in an environment with an unfavorable SNR, it may happen that the UE cannot receive the paging message sent by the network side, that is, the UE cannot enter the connected state in time, and eventually the UE misses the paging message, that is, the UE cannot receive the paging message in time.

[0060] Paging is the process initiated by the network to locate a UE. When the network needs to send signaling or data to the UE, but the UE is not in a connected state, the network cannot directly send data to the UE. The purpose of paging is to notify the UE that the network has signaling or data to send to it. Upon receiving a paging message, the UE proactively initiates an action to establish a connection with the network, placing the UE in a connected state. This allows the UE to send and receive signaling or data with the network.

[0061] In order to solve the problem of UE missing a paging message, the present application proposes a communication method. For example, in the communication system shown in FIG1 , the communication method may include the following steps:

[0062] S1: The core network device sends a paging message to the wireless access network device.

[0063] The UE is currently in a non-connected state (for example, the UE is in an idle state or a deactivated state), and the network side has downlink data that needs to be sent to the UE. In this case, the core network device 104 sends a paging message to the wireless access network device 102 or 103. Here, the core network device 104 sends a paging message through the wireless access network device 102 as an example for explanation.

[0064] S2. The radio access network device sends a paging message to the UE.

[0065] S3: The core network device sends alarm-related information to the wireless access network device.

[0066] The alarm related information here may include an alarm triggering strategy, or an alarm reporting condition, or an alarm command, which will be described in detail in subsequent embodiments.

[0067] S4: The radio access network device sends a warning message to the UE.

[0068] When a network device (such as a wireless access network device or a core network device) determines that the alarm triggering policy is met, the wireless access network device sends an alarm message (also called a notification message, enhanced paging message, robust paging message, robust paging notification, robust notification message, paging alarm message, forced paging message, etc.) to the UE. The alarm message is used to indicate that the UE is paging.

[0069] After receiving the warning message, the UE can reconnect with the network side, such as initiating at least one of: initiating Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection recovery or RRC access or service request, etc., indicating to the upper layer application of the UE that the warning / notification message has been received, and the application layer triggers ringing or screen display, inviting the user to move to an environment with better SNR, thereby improving the UE reachability.

[0070] In some embodiments, the communication method provided herein may allow a radio access network device to decide whether to send a warning message to a UE. This method may be applied to a communication system comprising one or more network nodes (e.g., a communication network comprising one or more radio access network devices), and performed by one or more network nodes in the communication system (e.g., the network node last served by the UE).

[0071] As shown in FIG2 , the communication method provided in this embodiment may include the following steps:

[0072] S101: UE sends first information to a first radio access network device.

[0073] The first information here is used to indicate that the UE can receive messages related to alerts.

[0074] In some embodiments, the UE may include the first information in a registration request message sent to a first radio access network device (e.g., a gNB in ​​a 5G system). Alternatively, the UE may send the first information via dedicated signaling, such as an RRC message or a non-access stratum (NAS) message.

[0075] In addition, the first information reported by the UE may also include power information, such as the power that the UE can receive. If the paging message sent by the network side to the UE cannot be delivered to the UE, the warning message sent by the network side may also not be delivered to the UE. To improve the arrival rate of the warning message, the network side can increase the transmission power, for example, the network side can increase the transmission power based on the power information reported by the UE.

[0076] S102: The first radio access network device sends alarm configuration information to the UE.

[0077] In some embodiments, the alarm configuration information may be specified by a protocol or pre-configured in the wireless access network device.

[0078] In some embodiments, the alarm configuration information may include at least one of the following: configuration of an alarm message monitoring location and a UE-related index. The UE-related index is used to identify a UE that receives the alarm configuration information.

[0079] In some embodiments, the warning configuration information is sent to the UE via a system message, dedicated signaling, or a broadcast message. For example, the dedicated signaling may be an RRC release message or an RRC release message with a suspended configuration.

[0080] In the scenario where dedicated signaling is used to send the warning configuration information, the configuration of the warning message monitoring location can be carried in the RRC signaling. Alternatively, the UE-related index can be carried in the non-access stratum NAS signaling.

[0081] The alert message listening location configuration tells the UE the specific location to listen for alert messages. For example, the listening location can include a reference point and an offset, which will be discussed in detail later. This reduces the UE's power consumption when it listens to an alert message at that location without having to parse the message for information about other locations.

[0082] The UE-related index may include any of the following: an inactive-radio network temporary identifier (I-RNTI), a cell-radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), or a UE index assigned by a higher layer (such as a core network device).

[0083] All UEs residing in the same cell can receive messages sent by the network side. Each UE can determine whether the message is sent to itself based on the UE index carried in the message. Specifically, it can compare whether the UE index in the message is consistent with its own index. If the UE index is consistent, it indicates that the message is sent to itself. If the UE index is inconsistent, it indicates that the message is not sent to itself and the message is discarded.

[0084] In this embodiment, the radio access network device sends the alarm configuration information to the UE after receiving the first information reported by the UE. In other embodiments of the present application, the alarm configuration information may be sent to the UE after sending the paging message. The present application does not limit the timing of sending the alarm configuration information. The alarm configuration information only needs to be sent before the radio access network device sends the alarm message to the UE.

[0085] S103: The first radio access network device reports first information to the core network device.

[0086] After receiving the first information reported by the UE, the first radio access network device continues to report the first information to the core network device, so that the core network side determines whether the UE supports receiving warning messages based on the first information.

[0087] S104: The core network device sends an alarm triggering policy to the wireless access network device.

[0088] Exemplarily, relevant policies for alarm messages, ie, alarm triggering policies (or alarm triggering conditions or alarm triggering events), may be specified in the protocol and / or determined by the core network device.

[0089] In some embodiments, the alarm triggering policy may include at least one of the following: the number of paging calls is greater than or equal to a set threshold (or referred to as a fourth threshold), and no response is received from the UE within a preset time period (or referred to as a third preset time period). The set threshold and preset time period may be configured by the network or specified in a protocol.

[0090] In this embodiment of the present application, the number of paging times refers to the number of times the first radio access network device (such as a base station) sends a paging message to the UE. Therefore, the number of paging times is the number of times the UE is paged, as counted from the base station perspective. Upon receiving a paging message from the core network, the access network may initiate multiple paging calls, and each paging call initiated by the access network is counted in the number of paging calls.

[0091] Failure to receive a response from the UE within the preset duration means that no response has been received from the UE within the preset duration since the start of paging. The response can be a service request message or message 3 (Mg3), where Mg3 can specifically be: RRCSetupRequest, RRCReestablishmentRequest, RRCResumeRequest, etc.

[0092] In some embodiments, an alarm timer maintained by the access network side device can be set. The alarm timer starts timing when the access network side initiates paging. If the timing times out, the alarm process is triggered. If a reply from the UE is received during the timing process, the timing is stopped.

[0093] In one scenario, the alarm triggering strategy only includes the number of paging times being greater than or equal to a set threshold. In this scenario, the first wireless access network device counts the number of times a paging message is sent to the UE (i.e., the number of paging times). If the number of paging times is greater than the set threshold, it is determined that the alarm triggering strategy is met, and the alarm process is triggered, i.e., an alarm message is sent to the UE.

[0094] In another scenario, the alarm triggering strategy only includes not receiving a response from the UE within a preset time period. In this scenario, when the first radio access network device detects that the alarm timer has timed out, an alarm process is triggered.

[0095] In another scenario, the alarm triggering strategy includes the number of paging times being greater than or equal to a set threshold and no response from the UE being received within a preset time period. In this scenario, when the first wireless access network device detects that the number of paging times of the UE exceeds the set threshold and the alarm timer expires, the alarm process is triggered.

[0096] In some embodiments, the alarm triggering strategy may also include a paging reason, for example, an indication that the paging is related to a voice service or is an important paging (e.g., paging from numbers such as 110, 119, 120, etc.) or other high-priority paging. In this scenario, the access network side only measures whether the alarm triggering strategy is met in the case of voice or important paging, and only needs to solve the problem of low arrival rate of high-priority paging. In this way, the signaling overhead can be reduced. In addition, the scheme only triggers the alarm process for voice paging or important paging, and does not initiate an alarm for paging of other service types, so that other UEs in the cell will not receive such alarms, thereby reducing the number of times other UEs receive alarm messages, that is, reducing the probability of false alarms. In addition, the paging reason can be specified in the protocol, or directly written into the configuration of the wireless access network device, and this application does not limit this.

[0097] In some embodiments, a maximum number of transmissions can also be set. The maximum number of transmissions refers to the maximum number of times the access network side can send an alarm message when paging fails for the same UE. For example, if the maximum number of transmissions is 3 times, the access network side will send an alarm message to the UE at most 3 times for paging failures for the same UE. Configuring the maximum number of transmissions can reduce interference to other access network devices in the same area, while also saving network resources. The maximum number of transmissions can be specified in the protocol (such as the access network side can configure the maximum number of transmissions according to the protocol), or determined by the core network device and sent to the access network device.

[0098] S105: The core network device sends a paging message to the first radio access network device, and starts a first timer or determines a paging message sending frequency.

[0099] The timing duration of the first timer is the time interval for the core network side to re-initiate paging for the UE. For example, in the NR system, the first timer can be a T3513 timer.

[0100] The paging message sending frequency may refer to the time interval between two consecutive paging messages sent by the core network side to the same UE, such as 10 ms.

[0101] The paging message may include paging, paging reason, etc.

[0102] In some embodiments, the alarm triggering policy and the paging message can be sent to the access network side separately. For example, after the core network side receives the first information of the UE reported by the access network side, the alarm triggering policy is sent to the access network side.

[0103] In other embodiments, the alarm triggering policy and the paging message can be sent to the access network side synchronously. For example, the alarm triggering policy can be carried in the paging message, or the alarm triggering policy and the paging message can be sent to the access network side synchronously as two messages.

[0104] This application does not restrict the timing of the core network device sending the alarm trigger strategy.

[0105] S106: The first radio access network device sends a paging message to the UE.

[0106] After receiving the paging message sent by the core network device and parsing to obtain corresponding UE information and specific matters, the first radio access network device sends the paging message to the UE.

[0107] S107: The first radio access network device detects whether the current paging state satisfies the alarm triggering policy. If yes, execute S108; if not, continue to monitor whether the alarm triggering policy is satisfied.

[0108] In one application scenario, an alarm is triggered only for paging reasons related to voice services or important paging. In this scenario, after the access network side determines that the paging message sent by the core network contains an indication that the paging reason is related to voice services or is an important paging, it will then measure whether other alarm triggering policies are met, such as whether the number of pagings exceeds a set threshold and / or whether the alarm timer has timed out. In addition, it may also include whether the number of alarms reaches the maximum number of transmissions. If all the alarm triggering policies configured in the alarm triggering policy are met, an alarm message is sent to the UE.

[0109] In some embodiments, the core network side is configured with an expected number of paging attempts. Configuring this parameter can avoid paging the UE all the time, thereby saving network resources. In this scenario, the access network side can directly use the expected number of paging attempts and the current number of paging attempts returned by the core network to trigger the alarm process, that is, the access network side sends an alarm message to the UE after detecting that the current number of paging attempts is greater than or equal to (expected number of paging attempts - 1). For example, the expected number of paging attempts configured on the core network side is 5 times. The core network device can send the current number of paging attempts to the access network side (such as this paging is the 4th paging attempt). The access network side determines that this paging attempt is equal to (expected number of paging attempts - 1) to trigger the alarm process. In addition, the core network device needs to send indication information to the access network side in advance to instruct the access network side to trigger the alarm process based on the expected number of paging attempts. In this way, when the access network side determines that the current number of paging attempts is greater than or equal to (expected number of paging attempts - 1), the alarm process is triggered. For example, the core network device may send the indication information and the configured expected number of attempts to the access network in advance, or may carry the indication information in a paging message and send it to the access network. There is no restriction on this. The core network device may carry the current number of paging attempts each time it sends a paging message. Of course, the core network device may also send the current number of paging attempts to the access network after a certain number of paging attempts is reached. For example, if the expected number of paging attempts is 5, the current number of paging attempts may be carried in the paging message during the third or fourth paging attempt.

[0110] S108: The first radio access network device sends a warning message to the UE.

[0111] The wireless access network device can send an alarm message at an agreed location, which can be specified by the protocol or configured by the core network side. This application does not limit the location for sending the alarm message.

[0112] The warning message may include a UE-related index or a warning index. The warning index is used to identify the warning message. After the UE parses the warning index, it can determine the specific content of the warning message based on the mapping relationship between the warning index and the warning message content.

[0113] In some embodiments, after receiving the warning message, the UE directly initiates RRC connection recovery or RRC access or service request according to the processing logic. Optionally, the UE can use the warning message as a reason to initiate RRC connection recovery or RRC access or service request.

[0114] In other embodiments, after the UE (i.e., the modem in the UE) receives the alarm message sent by the access network side, it can indicate to the upper application layer (i.e., the application in the UE) that the alarm message has been received. Optionally, after receiving the indication, the application triggers the UE to feedback the alarm message to the user, such as vibration, and / or, screen display or playback of the alarm message, so that the user is informed of the alarm message in a timely manner.

[0115] In some embodiments, the warning message may include relevant information inviting the user to move to an environment with better SNR, such as the UE displays text information to the user inviting the user to move to an environment with better SNR.

[0116] S109: The first radio access network device reports an indication of an alarm being initiated to the core network device.

[0117] After the access network side sends the warning message to the UE, it reports the indication information that the warning message has been sent to the core network side.

[0118] As mentioned before, in response to this paging failure, the access network side can send multiple alarm messages to the UE. In this scenario, the access network side can immediately report the indication information of the sent alarm message to the core network side after sending the alarm message to the UE for the first time, or it can report the indication information of the initiated alarm to the core network side after sending the alarm message for the last time. There is no limit on the timing of the base station reporting the indication of the initiated alarm to the core network equipment.

[0119] S110 , after receiving the indication that an alarm has been initiated, the core network device resets the timer to wait for a response from the UE.

[0120] In some embodiments, after the core network side receives the indication of an alarm being initiated reported by the access network side, it can pause the first timer to avoid erroneous operation due to the timeout of the first timer. Thereafter, the first timer can be restarted, that is, the first timer is paused and reset to start again; if a response from the UE (a service request sent by the UE, or Mg3) is received after the first timer times out, S111 can be continued; if a response from the UE is received before the first timer times out, the timer is stopped.

[0121] Alternatively, in other embodiments, after the core network receives an indication from the access network that a warning message has been sent to the UE, it pauses the first timer and starts a new timer. After the new timer expires, S111 is executed. If no response is received from the UE before the new timer expires, S111 is continued. If a response is received from the UE before the new timer expires, the timer is stopped.

[0122] S111 , the core network device sends a paging instruction to other wireless access network devices in the same area.

[0123] The areas here may include a radio access network notification area (RAN-based notification area, RNA), a tracking area (TA), a registration notification area (registration notification area), a cell list, one or more TAs (multiple TAs are configured for the same satellite in the NTN network), the last serving cell, the last serving satellite, etc.

[0124] In some embodiments, the paging indication is only used to instruct the access network side to page the UE. In this case, if the core network side does not receive a response from the UE within a certain period of time (for example, the core network side sends a paging but does not receive a response from the UE or does not receive a response from the UE after one or more pagings within a certain period of time), then other wireless access network devices in the same area are notified to page the UE together.

[0125] In other embodiments, the paging indication includes indication information (e.g., an alert command) instructing the access network to initiate an alert to the UE. Upon receiving the indication, other radio access network devices in the area send an alert message to the UE. By utilizing multiple radio access network devices in the same area to page the UE or send an alert message together, the reachability of the UE can be improved.

[0126] In some embodiments, the access network side may increase the transmit power for sending the warning message, thereby increasing the probability that the UE successfully receives the warning message, that is, increasing the reachability of the UE. For example, the access network side may increase the transmit power based on the power information, such as the power information may include a specified transmit power, a transmit power increase step, a transmit power level, etc. The power information may be specified in the protocol, or indicated by the core network side, or determined by the access network side (such as determined based on the receivable power reported by the UE), or obtained by the access network side based on implementation logic. For example, the receivable power information of the UE may be reported to the network side, such as the access network side or the core network side, through auxiliary information.

[0127] In a possible implementation, the power information is a specific transmit power, and the access network side uses the specific transmit power to send a warning message to the UE.

[0128] In another possible implementation, the power information is a transmit power increase step size, and the access network determines the transmit power for sending the alarm message based on the number of paging calls and the transmit power increase step size. For example, when the alarm triggering strategy is met, the access network increases the transmit power increase step size based on the original transmit power (or first transmit power) to obtain a second transmit power, and sends the alarm message at the second transmit power. If the alarm message sent this time does not receive a reply (i.e., the access network does not receive a reply from the UE), the access network increases the transmit power increase step size based on the second transmit power to obtain a third transmit power, and sends the alarm message at the third transmit power until a reply is received from the UE, or the set maximum number of transmissions is reached, or the maximum set power is reached.

[0129] In another possible implementation, the power information is a transmit power level. When the access network side determines that an alarm message needs to be sent to the UE, the access network CEI uses the power corresponding to the transmit power level to send the alarm message to the UE.

[0130] Figure 2 illustrates a specific implementation. In practice, the required steps can be determined by the actual application scenario. In other words, not all steps in Figure 2 are required. For example, within the same area, the alarm configuration information only needs to be sent once to the UE, not with every paging request. Similarly, the alarm triggering policy only needs to be sent once, not executed with every paging request.

[0131] In the communication method provided in this embodiment, when UE paging fails, the access network side determines whether the current paging status meets the alarm triggering policy. If so, the access network side sends an alarm message to the UE. Furthermore, if the core network side does not receive a response from the UE, it instructs other radio access network devices in the same area to jointly initiate an alarm or paging for the UE, thereby improving the UE's reachability.

[0132] Furthermore, in this method, the access network only assesses whether the alarm triggering policy is met for voice or important paging, thereby reducing signaling overhead. Furthermore, this solution triggers the alarm process only for voice or important paging, and does not initiate alarms for paging services of other types. This prevents other UEs in the cell from receiving such alarms, reducing the number of times other UEs receive alarm messages and, in other words, the probability of false alarms. Furthermore, this solution can also increase the base station's transmit power for sending alarm messages, thereby improving UE reachability.

[0133] In other embodiments, the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application can be used by the core network side device to decide whether to send a warning message to the UE. This embodiment can be applied to a scenario including multiple cells or satellite cells.

[0134] As shown in FIG3 , the communication method provided in this embodiment may include the following steps:

[0135] S201: UE reports first information to a core network device through a radio access network device.

[0136] In some embodiments, the UE reports the first information to the access network side (the first and second radio access network devices as shown in FIG3 ), and the access network side then reports the first information to the core network side device.

[0137] In other embodiments, the UE may directly report the first information to the core network side.

[0138] In an exemplary embodiment, the UE may carry the first information when sending a registration request message to the access network side.

[0139] S202: The core network device sends alarm configuration information to at least one radio access network device in the same area.

[0140] In some embodiments, the area may include any of the following: a tracking area (TA), a registration notification area, a cell list, one or more TAs (multiple TAs are configured for the same satellite in the NTN network), the last serving cell, the last serving access network node, etc.

[0141] This example uses the example of a region including first and second radio access network devices. For example, the core network device sends alarm configuration information to each of the first and second radio access network devices. In actual applications, the region may include more radio access network devices, and the core network device sends alarm configuration information to each radio access network device within the region. This application does not impose any restrictions on the number of base stations within the region.

[0142] The alarm configuration information may include at least one of the following: configuration of the alarm message monitoring location and a UE-related index. The UE-related index may be any one of an I-RNTI, a UE index, a group index, and an area index (where the area index corresponds to a preconfigured / predefined area). The alarm configuration information here is the same as the alarm configuration information in S102 and is not further described here.

[0143] In some embodiments, the core network device may send alarm configuration information to the access network side through a system message, or send the alarm configuration information through dedicated signaling, or send the alarm configuration information through broadcasting. This application does not limit the method of sending the alarm configuration information.

[0144] S203: The radio access network device sends alarm configuration information to the UE.

[0145] The specific implementation process of this step is the same as that described in S102 in FIG. 2 , and will not be repeated here.

[0146] S204: The core network device sends alarm reporting conditions to each access network device in the same area.

[0147] The alarm reporting condition here refers to the condition under which the access network side reports the UE non-response indication to the core network side.

[0148] The UE non-response indication may include information such as UE unreachable, number of paging times, whether it is the last serving cell or satellite, etc.

[0149] The alarm reporting conditions may include at least one of the following: the number of paging times is greater than or equal to a set threshold (or called a first threshold), and no response is received from the UE within a set time period (or called a first preset time period).

[0150] The number of paging times refers to the number of times the current access network device has paged the UE. For example, each time the first wireless access network device receives a paging message from the core network, it can send multiple paging messages to the UE, for example, three times. If the core network sends a paging message to the first wireless access network device once, the number of paging times for the first wireless access network device is three. This description uses the first wireless access network device as an example; other wireless access network devices in the area perform the same process and are not further described here.

[0151] Failure to receive a response from the UE within a set time (such as 2s) means that the access network device has not received any response from the UE (such as a service request or Mg3 message sent by the UE) after the set time has elapsed since the start of paging the UE.

[0152] In some embodiments, the access network device can maintain a timer, which starts counting when sending a paging message to the UE. If a reply from the UE is received during the timing process, the timer will be stopped; if no reply from the UE is received until the timeout, a UE non-response indication will be sent to the core network side.

[0153] S205: The core network device sends a paging message to one or more access network devices in the same area and starts an alarm timer.

[0154] The paging message may include paging, paging reason, etc.

[0155] In this embodiment, an alarm timer is used to determine whether the condition of not receiving a response from the UE within a preset time period is met. In other embodiments of the present application, it can also be determined directly based on the time information of sending the paging message and the time interval of the paging message whether the condition of not receiving a response from the UE within the preset time period is met.

[0156] S206: The first radio access network device sends a paging message to the UE.

[0157] After receiving the paging message from the core network side, the wireless access network device can send multiple paging messages to the UE.

[0158] S207: The first radio access network device determines whether the alarm reporting condition is met; if yes, execute S208; if not, continue to detect whether the alarm reporting condition is met.

[0159] For example, in an embodiment of the present application, if the access network device determines that the number of times the device sends a paging message to the UE reaches a set threshold, and / or determines that the device has not received a reply from the UE within a set time from the start of sending the paging message to the UE, it is determined that the alarm reporting conditions are met.

[0160] S208: The first radio access network device sends a UE non-response indication to the core network side.

[0161] S209: The second radio access network device sends a paging message to the UE.

[0162] S210: The second radio access network device determines whether the alarm reporting condition is met; if yes, execute S211; if not, continue to detect whether the alarm reporting condition is met.

[0163] S211: The second radio access network device sends a UE non-response indication to the core network side.

[0164] The process of S209 to S211 is the same as the process shown in S206 to S208, and will not be repeated here.

[0165] S212, the core network device determines whether the current state meets the alarm triggering policy; if yes, executes S213; if not, continues to detect whether the alarm triggering policy is met.

[0166] The alarm triggering strategy (also called alarm triggering condition or alarm triggering event) is the condition for triggering the alarm process on the core network side, that is, the process of triggering the sending of an alarm message to the UE when it is detected that the current state meets the preset conditions.

[0167] The alarm triggering strategy may be specified in the protocol or determined by the core network device.

[0168] In some embodiments, the alarm triggering strategy may include at least one of the following: the total number of paging times (i.e., the sum of the number of paging times of multiple base stations) exceeds a set threshold (or called a second threshold), the number of paging attempts (i.e., the number of paging attempts) exceeds a set threshold (or called a third threshold), no response is received from the UE within a preset time period (or called a second preset time period), and the paging attempt area is unreachable.

[0169] In some embodiments, the threshold value of the number of paging attempts can be a number newly configured or defined on the core network side, or it can be an existing parameter on the core network side (such as the expected number of paging attempts - 1). The expected number of paging attempts can be carried in the paging message and sent to the access network side. The expected number of paging attempts was originally used to limit the number of times the core network side pages the UE, avoiding the core network side from paging the UE all the time, thereby saving network resources; in an embodiment of the present application, (expected number of paging attempts - 1) can also be used as the threshold value of the number of paging attempts in the alarm triggering strategy. The core network side decides whether to trigger the alarm process based on the expected number of paging attempts. For example, the expected number of paging attempts configured on the core network side is 5 times. When the number of paging attempts counted by the core network side is greater than or equal to 4 times, the alarm process is triggered, that is, an alarm command is sent to the access network side.

[0170] In this embodiment of the present application, the number of paging attempts is the number of paging messages sent by the core network device to the access network to page the UE. The number of paging attempts is the number of times the UE is paged, calculated from the perspective of the core network device. During the process of paging a UE, the core network device may send paging messages to multiple access network devices in the same area, and this process is counted as one paging. Therefore, the number of paging attempts is typically less than the number of paging attempts.

[0171] The area may include at least one of a tracking area (TA), a registration notification area (TA), a cell list, one or more TAs (multiple TAs are configured for the same satellite in an NTN network), a last serving cell, and a last serving satellite. Unreachable paging attempt area means that the UE is not paged in any of the above areas, or paging of the UE in any of the above areas fails.

[0172] The alarm timer is maintained by the core network equipment. It starts when the core network triggers a paging process for a UE. If a reply is received from the UE during the timer, the timer stops. If no reply is received from the UE before the timer expires, the alarm process is triggered. The alarm timer duration can be set according to actual needs, such as 5 seconds.

[0173] In an exemplary embodiment, the alarm triggering policy may further include whether the paging cause is voice service or important paging. Thus, when the core network side determines that it is voice paging or important paging, it will measure whether the alarm triggering policy is met.

[0174] S213: The core network device sends an alarm command to at least one wireless access network device in the area.

[0175] After the core network determines that the current state meets the alarm triggering policy, it sends an alarm command to one or more access network devices in the area where the UE is located. The alarm command is used to instruct the access network device to send an alarm message to the UE.

[0176] In some embodiments, the alarm command may further include an instruction for the access network device to increase the transmit power. For example, the instruction may include at least one of the following information: a specified transmit power, a transmit power increase step size (a power step size increased for each paging failure), a transmit power level, etc. The radio access network device increases the transmit power based on the instruction, thereby improving the UE reachability. For a specific implementation of increasing the transmit power of the radio access network, reference may be made to the relevant content at S111 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 , and will not be repeated here.

[0177] S214: At least one radio access network device sends a warning message to the UE.

[0178] After receiving the warning command sent by the core network side, the access network device in the area where the UE is located sends a warning message to the UE. For the processing flow after the UE receives the warning message, please refer to the relevant content of S108 and will not be repeated here.

[0179] In some embodiments, a maximum number of transmissions may be set. For example, the maximum number of times a warning message may be sent to the same UE may be three. This maximum number of transmissions may be specified by the protocol, or determined by the core network device and sent to the access network device. After receiving the warning command sent by the core network device, the access network device may repeatedly send the warning message to the UE multiple times. Each time the warning message is sent, it is determined whether the maximum number of transmissions is exceeded. If the maximum number of transmissions is exceeded, the warning message is no longer sent to the UE.

[0180] The communication method provided in this embodiment enables the core network device to decide whether to send an alert message to the UE. This allows the core network device to make a comprehensive decision based on information reported by all radio access network devices within the UE's area. This method is applicable to scenarios where the communication system includes multiple cells or multiple satellite cells. This avoids false alerts caused by determining whether the alert triggering policy is satisfied based solely on the paging information of a single radio access network device, thereby reducing the false alert rate. Furthermore, this solution can control multiple base stations within the same area to send alert messages to the UE, improving the alert message arrival rate.

[0181] Furthermore, in this method, the core network only assesses whether the alarm triggering policy is met for voice or important paging, thereby reducing signaling overhead. Furthermore, this solution triggers the alarm process only for voice or important paging, and does not initiate alarms for paging services of other types. This prevents other UEs in the cell from receiving such alarms, thereby reducing the number of times other UEs receive alarm messages and the probability of false alarms. Furthermore, this solution can also increase the base station's transmit power for sending alarm messages, thereby improving UE reachability.

[0182] The following describes the configuration information related to the alarm message monitoring location:

[0183] The configuration of the warning message monitoring position is used to inform the UE of the specific position to monitor whether there is a warning message in the received message. The monitoring position may include a reference point and an offset.

[0184] In one possible implementation, the reference point may be a reference frame determined by the starting position of the first paging frame (PF) in a paging session, and the offset is the offset from the reference point to the start frame of the first PDCCH monitoring occasion (mo) of the alarm timeslot. A paging occasion (PO) is a specific subframe in which the P-RNTI is sent on the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to indicate the corresponding paging message on the PCH. A PF is a radio frame that may contain one or more paging occasions.

[0185] This way, only the relevant UE needs to receive or not receive subsequent paging messages, reducing energy consumption on the UE side. For example, if the listening location contains an alert message, the relevant UE does not need to listen for subsequent paging messages for a certain period of time. Alternatively, if the listening location does not contain an alert message, the relevant UE needs to listen for subsequent paging messages. Furthermore, with this implementation, the network only needs to send the alert message at the listening location, eliminating the need to send subsequent paging messages. It can wait for a period of time before sending a paging message, thus reducing power consumption on the network side.

[0186] In another possible implementation, the reference point can be the reference frame determined by the end position of the last PF in a paging call, and the offset is the offset from the reference point to the end frame of the first PDCCH MO in the alert timeslot. In this implementation, the network can send an alert message based on the results of the previous paging round, reducing paging latency and allowing alert messages to be sent at multiple subsequent relevant locations.

[0187] In another possible implementation, a location for monitoring warning messages may be predefined, i.e., a predefined location. The predefined location may include a reference point (or referred to as a reference location) and an offset. For example, the reference point may be the location of a system message, such as the location of a system information block (SIB1) as the reference point, and the offset may be preconfigured or predefined. SIB1 is information specifically used to control and manage the LTE system.

[0188] In another possible implementation, a fixed time domain, frequency domain, and code domain position may be set. For example, the alarm message may be sent at the location of a guard band.

[0189] In addition, the triggering condition for the UE to start monitoring the warning message (or called monitoring triggering condition) may include any of the following:

[0190] If the serving cell signal is less than a certain threshold, it starts listening for warning messages at a pre-configured listening location;

[0191] If RAN-based Notification Area Update (RNAU) failure or Routing Area Update (RAU) failure occurs periodically, monitoring starts at a pre-configured location.

[0192] It can be seen that after the monitoring trigger condition is set, the UE monitors the alarm message at the configured monitoring location only after it detects that the current state meets the condition, thereby reducing the power consumption of the UE.

[0193] If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this embodiment, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) or a processor to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program code, such as flash memory, mobile hard disk, read-only memory, random access memory, magnetic disk or optical disk.

[0194] The above is only a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited to this. Any changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included in the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: Applied to core network equipment, the method includes: Sending alarm related information related to the UE to at least one access network device, where the alarm related information is used by the at least one access network device to send an alarm message to the UE when it is determined that the paging of the UE fails.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The alarm related information includes an alarm command, and the alarm command is used to instruct the access network device to send the alarm message.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The alarm command is sent by the core network device after determining that the UE paging fails.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that The alarm-related information also includes an alarm reporting condition, which is used to trigger the access network device to send a UE non-response indication to the core network device. The alarm reporting condition includes at least one of the following: the number of paging times is greater than a first threshold, and no response is received from the UE within a first preset time period.

5. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that: The sending of alarm related information to at least one access network device in the area where the UE is located includes: When the core network device determines that the paging of the UE satisfies the first alarm triggering policy, the core network device sends the alarm command to at least one access network device in the area where the UE is located.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that The first alarm triggering strategy includes at least one of the following: the total number of paging times is greater than or equal to the second threshold, the number of paging attempts is greater than or equal to the third threshold, no response is received from the UE within the second preset time period, the paging attempt area is unreachable, and the maximum number of transmissions. The total number of paging times is the sum of the number of paging times of all access network devices in the area where the UE is located, and the maximum number of transmissions is used to limit the number of times an alarm message is sent to the UE.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The warning related information also includes a maximum number of transmissions, where the maximum number of transmissions is used to limit the number of times a warning message is sent to the UE.

8. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The first alarm triggering strategy also includes that the paging reason is voice service or important paging.

9. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The alarm related information further includes power information, and the power information includes a specified transmit power, a transmit power level, or a transmit power increase step.

10. The method according to claim 1 or 7, characterized in that The alarm-related information includes a second alarm triggering strategy, which is used to enable the access network device to decide whether to send an alarm message to the UE. The second alarm triggering strategy includes at least one of the following: the number of paging times is greater than or equal to a fourth threshold, no reply is received from the UE within a third preset time period, and the number of paging attempts is greater than or equal to the expected number of paging attempts.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The second alarm triggering strategy also includes that the paging reason is voice service or important paging.

12. A communication method, characterized in that: Applied to access network equipment, the method includes: Receive the alarm related information sent by the core network device, and send an alarm message to the UE, wherein the alarm related information is used by at least one access network device to send the alarm message to the UE when it is determined that the UE paging fails.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The alarm related information includes an alarm command; The access network device sends an alarm message to the UE based on the alarm command sent by the core network device.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that The alarm related information also includes an alarm reporting condition, and the alarm reporting condition includes at least one of the following: the number of paging times is greater than a first threshold, and no response is received from the UE within a first preset time period.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that After determining that the alarm reporting condition is met, the access network device sends a UE non-response indication to the core network device, where the UE non-response indication includes at least one of the following: UE non-response and paging times.

16. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The alarm related information includes an alarm triggering strategy, which includes at least one of the following: the number of paging attempts is greater than a second threshold, no response is received from the UE within a second preset time period, and the number of paging attempts is greater than or equal to the expected number of paging attempts minus one.

17. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 16, characterized in that: The warning related information also includes a maximum number of transmissions, where the maximum number of transmissions is used to limit the number of times a warning message is sent to the UE.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that The receiving alarm related information sent by the core network device and sending an alarm message to the UE includes: the access network device sending the alarm message when determining that the alarm triggering policy is satisfied.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that The process of determining whether the alarm triggering strategy is satisfied includes: Determining a number of paging messages sent to the UE and for which no reply is received from the UE, the number of paging messages being greater than or equal to the paging number threshold; and / or, No response is received from the UE from the start of paging the UE to the second preset time period; and / or, Receive a number of paging attempts sent by the core network device, where the number of paging attempts is greater than or equal to the expected number of paging attempts minus one.

20. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 19, characterized in that: The sending of the warning message to the UE includes: adjusting the transmit power based on the power information, and sending the warning message using the adjusted transmit power.

21. The method according to claim 20, characterized in that The power information includes a specified transmit power, a transmit power level, or a transmit power increase step size.

22. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that The adjusting the transmit power based on the power information and sending the warning message using the adjusted transmit power includes: sending the warning message using the designated transmit power; or, Sending the warning message using the transmit power corresponding to the transmit power level; or, The transmit power is gradually increased according to the power increase step size until the increased transmit power reaches the maximum set power, or the number of times the transmit power is increased reaches the maximum set number, or a response from the UE is received.

23. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 22, characterized in that The sending of the warning message to the UE includes: sending the warning message at a preset location.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein The preset position includes a reference position and an offset; The reference position is a reference position determined by the starting position of the first paging frame in a paging, and the offset is an offset from the reference position to the start frame of the first listening opportunity of the alarm timeslot; or, The reference position is a reference position determined by the end position of the last paging frame in a paging, and the offset is an offset from the reference position to the end frame of the first listening opportunity of the alarm timeslot; or, The reference position is a reference position determined by the position of the system information block SIB1, and the offset is an offset from the reference position to the warning time slot.

25. The method according to claim 23, characterized in that The preset position is a preset fixed time domain position, a fixed frequency domain position or a fixed code domain position.

26. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 25, characterized in that Before sending the warning message to the UE, the method further includes: sending warning configuration information to the UE.

27. The method according to claim 26, characterized in that The alarm configuration information includes: a monitoring location-related configuration and a UE-related index, wherein the monitoring location-related configuration is used to indicate a location where the UE monitors the alarm message, and the UE-related index is used to indicate a UE that receives the alarm configuration information.

28. The method according to claim 27, characterized in that The UE-related index includes at least one of the following: an inactive radio network temporary identifier I-RNTI, a pre-configured UE index, a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI, and an area index.

29. The method according to claim 27 or 28, characterized in that The monitoring location-related configuration is sent through a system message, or the monitoring location-related configuration is sent through a first dedicated signaling; and the UE-related index is sent through a second dedicated signaling.

30. A communication method, characterized in that: Applied to user equipment, the method includes: Receive an alarm message sent by an access network device, where the alarm message is sent by the access network device when the network side device determines that paging of the UE fails. The network side device includes the access network device or the core network device.

31. The method according to claim 30, wherein The method further includes: monitoring the warning message at a preset location.

32. The method according to claim 31, characterized in that The monitoring the warning message at a preset location includes: When detecting that the signal quality of the serving cell is less than a preset threshold, monitoring the warning message; or, When it is detected that the radio access network notification area update failure or the routing area update failure occurs periodically, the alarm message is monitored.

33. The method according to claim 31 or 32, characterized in that The method further includes: receiving alarm configuration information sent by the access network device, where the alarm configuration information includes monitoring location-related configuration and UE-related index.

34. The method according to any one of claims 30 to 33, wherein: The method further includes: sending first information to an access network device or a core network device, where the first information is used to indicate that the UE can receive an alert message.

35. The method according to claim 30, wherein After receiving the alarm information sent by the access network device, the method further includes at least one of the following: Initiate a request to the network side device to restore the connection state; Indicates to the upper layer that an alarm message has been received, and the upper layer triggers application feedback, wherein the application feedback includes at least one of the following: vibration and display information.

36. A network side device, characterized in that: The electronic device comprises a memory and one or more processors; the memory is used to store program code; the processor is used to run the program code, so that the electronic device implements the communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 29, or the communication method according to any one of claims 30 to 35.

37. A user equipment, characterized in that The electronic device includes: a memory and one or more processors; the memory is used to store program code; the processor is used to run the program code, so that the electronic device implements the communication method according to any one of claims 30 to 35.

38. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that Instructions are stored thereon, and when the instructions are run on a network side device, the network side device executes the communication method as described in any one of claims 1 to 29; when the instructions are run on a user device, the user device executes the communication method as described in any one of claims 30 to 35.

39. A chip, characterized in that: include: at least one processor and an interface, wherein the interface is configured to receive code instructions and transmit the code instructions to the at least one processor; The at least one processor runs the code instructions to implement the communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 29.

40. A chip, characterized in that: include: at least one processor and an interface, wherein the interface is configured to receive code instructions and transmit the code instructions to the at least one processor; The at least one processor runs the code instructions to implement the communication method according to any one of claims 30 to 35.

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