Communication method and apparatus, and storage medium

Abstract

Provided in the embodiments of the present application are a communication method and apparatus, and a storage medium. The method comprises: a network device sending to a terminal device information indicating a region or beam where the terminal device executes measurement, and / or cell re-selection, and / or a handover, such that on the basis of a region where the terminal device is located, and the information of the region or beam where the terminal device executes measurement, and / or cell re-selection, and / or a handover, the terminal device can determine whether the terminal device needs to execute measurement, and / or cell re-selection, and / or a handover in different regions.

Description

Communication method, device and storage medium

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on March 5, 2024, with application number 202410253272.6 and application name “Communication Method, Device and Storage Medium”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communication technologies, and in particular to a communication method, device, and storage medium. Background Art

[0003] At present, the terminal equipment in the communication system involves operations such as cell reselection measurement, cell reselection and / or switching, as well as operations involving beam measurement within the cell, in order to ensure the terminal equipment's quality monitoring of the cell and support the mobility of the terminal equipment within the cell. However, when the terminal equipment is located in a satellite communication system, the area served by the satellite of the satellite communication system is much larger than the area served by the ground base station of the ground communication system, and in the satellite communication system, as the position of the satellite continues to move, the area served by the satellite is also constantly moving. Therefore, the above-mentioned characteristics of the satellite communication system will make it more difficult for the terminal equipment to perform operations such as cell reselection measurement, cell reselection and / or switching, and beam measurement, and there are problems such as low accuracy of cell reselection measurement, cell reselection and / or switching, and high beam measurement overhead of the terminal equipment.

[0004] Therefore, how to better support terminal equipment in performing cell reselection measurement, cell reselection and / or switching, and / or beam measurement of terminal equipment is an issue that needs to be solved urgently. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, apparatus, and storage medium that can better support a terminal device in performing cell reselection measurement, cell reselection and / or switching, and / or beam measurement of the terminal device.

[0006] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be performed by a first device, which can be a terminal device or a component within the terminal device (such as a chip or chip system). The following description takes the terminal device performing the method as an example.

[0007] The method includes: the terminal device receives first information, the first information is used to instruct the terminal device to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching, the information is information corresponding to the area of ​​the service cell of the terminal device or the beam of the service cell; the terminal device determines whether to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching based on the first information.

[0008] According to the above scheme, the terminal device can determine the information corresponding to the area in which it is located by providing different instructions for the terminal device to perform measurements, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching for different areas within the service cell, and judge whether to start cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection and / or switching based on the information, thereby improving the problem of low accuracy of the terminal device in judging whether to perform measurements, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching due to the irregularity of the service cell edge. For cell reselection measurement, this method can ensure that the terminal device starts measurement on the adjacent cell only when it reaches the coverage edge of the service cell or the coverage of the adjacent cell is close, avoiding the terminal device from measuring adjacent cells that are not around, reducing unnecessary measurement overhead of the terminal device; on the other hand, it can ensure that the terminal device can promptly start measurement on the adjacent cell when the coverage of the adjacent cell is close, so as to promptly support the judgment of subsequent cell reselection and ensure mobility performance. For cell reselection and / or switching, it is ensured that the terminal device only considers reselecting / switching to the adjacent cell when it is within the coverage of the adjacent cell, so as to avoid the terminal device performing reselection / switching too early and causing reselection / switching failure; on the other hand, it can ensure that when the terminal device is away from the coverage of the serving cell and has reached the coverage of the adjacent cell, it can perform reselection / switching in time to change to a suitable cell, thereby ensuring mobility performance.

[0009] Optionally, the first information includes a distance threshold; determining whether to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching based on the first information includes: determining whether to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching based on the distance threshold.

[0010] Optionally, determining whether to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching based on the distance threshold includes: if the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the serving cell is greater than or equal to the distance threshold, determining that the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching; or, if the difference between the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the serving cell and the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the adjacent cell is greater than or equal to the distance threshold, determining that the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching.

[0011] Optionally, the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between the first area or the first beam and the distance threshold, the first area is a partial area within the service cell, and the first beam is the beam of the service cell.

[0012] Optionally, the information corresponding to the beam of the serving cell is information corresponding to the beam set of the serving cell, and the beam set includes one or more beams.

[0013] Optionally, the beam set is a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block burst set SSB burst.

[0014] Optionally, the first information is used to indicate a distance threshold corresponding to a second beam of the serving cell; and receiving the first information includes: receiving the first information through the second beam.

[0015] Optionally, the distance threshold includes a first distance threshold for triggering measurement, and / or a second distance threshold for performing cell reselection, and / or a third distance threshold for performing handover.

[0016] According to the above solution, by assigning different distance thresholds to different areas within the serving cell, the terminal device can determine the distance threshold corresponding to the area in which it is located, and use this distance threshold to determine whether to initiate cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection and / or handover. By assigning different distance thresholds to different areas, the problem of a single distance threshold affecting the accuracy of terminal device judgment due to irregular serving cell edges is improved.

[0017] Optionally, the first information includes information about the second area or the third beam of the execution measurement of the serving cell, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover;

[0018] The determining whether the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching based on the first information includes: if the terminal device is located in the second area or the third beam, determining that the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching.

[0019] Optionally, if the first information includes information of the second area, the information of the second area includes an identifier of the second area; or, if the first information includes information of the third beam, the information of the third beam includes an identifier of the third beam.

[0020] Optionally, the first information includes a bitmap, and a bit in the bitmap corresponds to a beam of the service cell; if the value of the bit in the beam bitmap is a first value, the beam corresponding to the bit is the third beam; if the value of the bit in the beam bitmap is a second value, the beam corresponding to the bit is not the third beam.

[0021] Optionally, the first information is used to indicate whether the fourth beam in the service cell is the third beam; the receiving of the first information includes: receiving the first information through the fourth beam.

[0022] According to the above solution, a terminal device obtains information about the second area or third beam within the serving cell for performing measurements and / or cell reselection and / or handover. This allows the terminal device to determine, based on the area or beam in which it is located, whether the area or beam is the second area or third beam for which measurements and / or cell reselection and / or handover should be performed. If so, the terminal device performs cell reselection measurements and / or cell reselection and / or handover. This improves the problem of low terminal device judgment accuracy caused by irregular serving cell edges.

[0023] Optionally, the service cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell.

[0024] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be executed by a second device, which can be a network device or a component within the network device (such as a chip or chip system). The following description takes the network device executing the method as an example.

[0025] The method includes: the network device sends first information, the first information is used to instruct the terminal device to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching information, and the information is information corresponding to the area of ​​the service cell of the terminal device or the beam of the service cell.

[0026] The beneficial effects of this solution are the same as those of the corresponding method in the first aspect and will not be repeated here.

[0027] Optionally, the first information includes a distance threshold, and the distance threshold is used to determine whether to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover.

[0028] Optionally, if the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the serving cell is greater than or equal to the distance threshold, it is determined that the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover. Alternatively, if the difference between the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the serving cell and the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the adjacent cell is greater than or equal to the distance threshold, it is determined that the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover.

[0029] Optionally, the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between the first area or the first beam and the distance threshold, the first area is a partial area within the service cell, and the first beam is the beam of the service cell.

[0030] Optionally, the information corresponding to the beam of the serving cell is information corresponding to the beam set of the serving cell, and the beam set includes one or more beams.

[0031] Optionally, the beam set is a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block burst set SSB burst.

[0032] Optionally, the first information is used to indicate a distance threshold corresponding to a second beam of the serving cell; and sending the first information includes: sending the first information through the second beam.

[0033] Optionally, the distance threshold includes a first distance threshold for triggering measurement, and / or a second distance threshold for performing cell reselection, and / or a third distance threshold for performing handover.

[0034] The beneficial effects of the above scheme are the same as those of the corresponding method in the first aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0035] Optionally, the first information includes information about the second area or the third beam of the execution measurement of the serving cell, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching.

[0036] Optionally, if the first information includes information of the second area, the information of the second area includes an identifier of the second area; or, if the first information includes information of the third beam, the information of the third beam includes an identifier of the third beam.

[0037] Optionally, the first information includes a bitmap, and a bit in the bitmap corresponds to a beam of the service cell; if the value of the bit in the beam bitmap is a first value, the beam corresponding to the bit is the third beam; if the value of the bit in the beam bitmap is a second value, the beam corresponding to the bit is not the third beam.

[0038] Optionally, the first information is used to indicate whether the fourth beam in the service cell is the third beam; sending the first information includes: sending the first information through the fourth beam.

[0039] The beneficial effects of the above scheme are the same as those of the corresponding method in the first aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0040] Optionally, the service cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell.

[0041] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be executed by a first device, which can be a terminal device or a component inside the terminal device (such as a chip or chip system). The following description takes the terminal device executing the method as an example.

[0042] The method includes: the terminal device receives second information, where the second information is used to indicate beam arrangement information of a service cell of the terminal device.

[0043] Optionally, the method further includes: the terminal device performing measurement according to the beam arrangement information.

[0044] The method provided above sends the beam arrangement information within the service cell to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can determine the beam that needs to be measured subsequently based on the fifth beam it is in and the beam arrangement information, thereby narrowing the beam range of the terminal device for measurement, reducing redundant measurements, and reducing unnecessary measurement power consumption of the terminal device.

[0045] Optionally, the beam arrangement information includes at least one of the following: an ordering rule of the beams of the serving cell, and width information of a beam set of the beams of the serving cell.

[0046] Optionally, the sorting rule of the beams of the serving cell includes an ascending sorting rule of the beam identifiers, or a descending sorting rule.

[0047] Optionally, the width information of the beam set includes the number of columns occupied by the beams in the beam set, or the number of rows occupied by the beams in the beam set.

[0048] Optionally, the measurement according to the beam arrangement information includes: the terminal device determines the sixth beam based on the fifth beam where the terminal device is located and the beam arrangement information; the terminal device measures the fifth beam and / or the sixth beam.

[0049] Optionally, the sixth beam is an adjacent beam to the fifth beam, or the sixth beam is a beam in a beam set adjacent to the fifth beam.

[0050] Optionally, the beam set is a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block burst set SSB burst.

[0051] Optionally, the service cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell.

[0052] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be performed by a second device, which can be a network device or a component within the network device (such as a chip or chip system). The following description takes the network device performing the method as an example.

[0053] The method includes: the network device sends second information, and the second information is used to indicate the beam arrangement information of the service cell of the terminal device.

[0054] The beneficial effects of the method provided above are the same as those of the corresponding method in the third aspect and will not be repeated here.

[0055] Optionally, the beam arrangement information includes at least one of the following: an ordering rule of the beams of the serving cell, and width information of a beam set of the beams of the serving cell.

[0056] Optionally, the sorting rule of the beams of the serving cell includes an ascending sorting rule of the beam identifiers, or a descending sorting rule.

[0057] Optionally, the width information of the beam set includes the number of columns occupied by the beams in the beam set, or the number of rows occupied by the beams in the beam set.

[0058] Optionally, the beam set is a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block burst set SSB burst.

[0059] Optionally, the service cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell.

[0060] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, comprising a module for executing a method as described in any one of the first aspects.

[0061] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device comprising a module for executing a method as described in any one of the second aspects.

[0062] In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device comprising a module for executing a method as described in any one of the third aspects.

[0063] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device comprising a module for executing a method as described in any one of the fourth aspects.

[0064] In the ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application proposes a communication device, which includes: a processor, and the processor is used to implement a method as described in any one of the first aspect, or any one of the second aspect, or any one of the third aspect, or any one of the fourth aspect.

[0065] Optionally, the communication device also includes: a memory; the processor is coupled to the memory; the memory stores computer-executable instructions; the processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory to implement a method as described in any one of the first aspect, or any one of the second aspect, or any one of the third aspect, or any one of the fourth aspect.

[0066] Optionally, the communication device further includes: a transceiver; the processor is coupled to the transceiver; and the transceiver communicates and interacts with an external device.

[0067] In the tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip having a computer program stored thereon, which, when the computer program is executed by the chip, implements a method as described in any one of the first aspect, or any one of the second aspect, or any one of the third aspect, or any one of the fourth aspect.

[0068] In the eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a computer program. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the method as described in any one of the first aspect, or any one of the second aspect, or any one of the third aspect, or any one of the fourth aspect is implemented.

[0069] In the twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program. When the computer program is run, the method as described in any one of the first aspect, any one of the second aspect, any one of the third aspect, or any one of the fourth aspect is implemented.

[0070] In a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, comprising a first apparatus and a second apparatus, wherein the first apparatus is the aforementioned terminal device, and the second apparatus is the aforementioned network device. The first apparatus can implement the method described in any one of the first aspect or any one of the third aspect, and the second apparatus can implement the method described in any one of the second aspect or any one of the fourth aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0071] FIG1 is a communication system used in an embodiment of the present application;

[0072] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of a transparent transmission architecture provided by this application;

[0073] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of a regeneration architecture provided by the present application;

[0074] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of a terrestrial quasi-stationary NTN cell scenario provided by the present application;

[0075] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of a terrestrial mobile NTN cell scenario provided by the present application;

[0076] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of a cell reselection measurement and cell reselection / handover scenario provided by the present application;

[0077] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of a beam of an NTN cell provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0078] FIG8 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0079] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of a region division provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0080] FIG10 is a flow chart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0081] FIG11 is a schematic diagram of a bitmap provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0082] FIG12 is a flow chart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0083] FIG13 is a flow chart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0084] FIG14 is a schematic structural diagram of a beam arrangement provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0085] FIG15 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0086] FIG16 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0087] FIG17 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0088] FIG18 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0089] FIG19 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0090] To facilitate a clear description of the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, the words "exemplary" or "for example" are used in the embodiments of this application to indicate examples, illustrations, or explanations. Any embodiment or design described in this application as "exemplary" or "for example" 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.

[0091] In the embodiments of the present application, "at least one" refers to one or more, and "more" refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: the existence of A alone, the existence of A and B at the same time, and the existence of B alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following items" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0092] It should be noted that the "at..." in the embodiments of the present application can be the instant when a certain situation occurs, or it can be a period of time after the situation occurs, and the embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit this. In addition, the display interface provided in the embodiments of the present application is only an example, and the display interface can also include more or less content.

[0093] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: long term evolution (LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (TDD), universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), world-wide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, fifth generation (5G) system or new radio (NR), new systems that may appear in the future, etc.

[0094] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, a communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application is first described in detail.

[0095] Figure 1 shows a communication system used in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 1 , the communication system is a non-terrestrial network (NTN) architecture, and includes network equipment and terminal equipment.

[0096] The network device and the terminal device can communicate via a wireless link. When the network device acts as a transmitting end, the terminal device can act as a receiving end; when the network device acts as a receiving end, the terminal device can act as a transmitting end. The embodiments of this application do not limit the number of network devices and terminal devices included in the communication system. Furthermore, it should be understood that Figure 1 is merely a schematic diagram, and the communication system may also include other network devices, which are not limited in this application and are not shown in Figure 1.

[0097] The terminal device in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as: user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication equipment, user agent or user device, etc.

[0098] The terminal device may be a device that provides voice / data connectivity to users, such as a handheld device or vehicle-mounted device with wireless connection function. At present, some examples of terminal devices include: mobile phones, tablet computers, laptop computers, PDAs, mobile internet devices (MIDs), wearable devices, virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self-driving, wireless terminals in remote medical surgery, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, cellular phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDAs), handheld devices with wireless communication capabilities, computing devices or other processing devices connected to wireless modems, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, terminal devices in 5G networks or future evolved public land mobile communication networks (PLMNs). The present application does not limit the terminal equipment in the network (PLMN), etc.

[0099] By way of example and not limitation, in this application, a terminal device may be a terminal device in an Internet of Things (IoT) system. The IoT is an important component of the future development of information technology. Its main technical feature is connecting objects to the Internet through communication technologies, thereby realizing an intelligent network that interconnects humans and machines, and things and things. For example, the terminal device in the embodiments of this application may be a wearable device. Wearable devices, also known as wearable smart devices, are a general term for wearable devices that apply wearable technology to intelligently design and develop wearable devices, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. Wearable devices are portable devices that can be worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothing or accessories. Wearable devices are not just hardware devices; they can also achieve powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Broadly speaking, wearable smart devices include those that are fully functional, large in size, and can achieve full or partial functions independently of smartphones, such as smart watches or smart glasses, as well as those that focus on a specific application function and require cooperation with other devices such as smartphones, such as various smart bracelets and smart jewelry for vital sign monitoring.

[0100] As an example and not a limitation, in an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also be a terminal device in a machine type communication (MTC). In addition, the terminal device may also be an on-board module, on-board module, on-board component, on-board chip or on-board unit built into the vehicle as one or more components or units, and the vehicle may implement the method provided in the present application through the built-in on-board module, on-board module, on-board component, on-board chip or on-board unit. Therefore, the embodiment of the present application may also be applied to the Internet of Vehicles, such as vehicle to everything (V2X), long term evolution-vehicle (LTE-V), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) technology, etc.

[0101] The network devices involved in this application may be devices that communicate with terminal devices, such as radio access network (RAN) devices. Radio access network devices may be base stations, evolved NodeBs (eNodeBs), transmission reception points (TRPs), transmission nodes (TPs), next-generation base stations (gNBs) in fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication systems, next-generation base stations in sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication systems, base stations in future mobile communication systems, or access nodes in WiFi systems; they may also be modules or units that perform some of the functions of a base station, such as a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), or a radio unit (RU). The CU here implements the functions of the radio resource control protocol and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) of the base station, and can also implement the functions of the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP); the DU implements the functions of the radio link control layer and medium access control (MAC) layer of the base station, and can also implement some or all of the physical layer functions. For detailed descriptions of the above-mentioned protocol layers, please refer to the relevant technical specifications of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The CU and DU can be set separately, or they can be included in the same network element, such as the baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH). In different systems, CU, DU, or RU may have different names, but those skilled in the art will understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, CU may also be called open CU (open-CU, O-CU), DU may also be called open DU (open-DU, O-DU), and RU may also be called open RU (open-RU, O-RU).Any of the CU (or CU control plane (CU control plane, CU-CP), CU user plane (CU user plane, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0102] The aforementioned NTN is a general term for networks involving flying objects, including satellite communication networks, high-altitude platform stations (HAPS), and air-to-ground networks. NTN's application scenarios primarily include areas with poor land coverage, maritime communications, public safety needs, inter-aircraft communications, and railways, aiming to provide users with mobile broadband services.

[0103] In the NTN scenario, when the network device is a base station, the network device involved in this application can be a base station under a transparent transmission architecture or a base station under a regeneration architecture.

[0104] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of a transparent transmission architecture provided by this application. As shown in Figure 2, when the network device is a base station under the transparent transmission architecture, the satellite is only responsible for signal forwarding and has no data processing capabilities. The base station is located on the ground, and the satellite is connected to the base station through a ground gateway. The signal between the terminal device and the base station is transmitted via the satellite, and the data processing function is still located at the base station. At this time, the link between the satellite and the terminal device is called a service link, and the link between the satellite and the base station is called a feeder link.

[0105] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of a regenerative architecture provided by this application. As shown in Figure 3, when the network device is a base station under the regenerative architecture, the satellite has all or part of the functions of the base station, that is, the satellite can process data. Specifically, it is divided into two forms: the complete base station is located on the satellite and the distributed unit (DU) of the base station is located on the satellite. At this time, the link between the satellite / base station and the terminal device is called a service link. The satellite mentioned here can be a low-orbit satellite (Low Earth Orbiting, LEO), a medium-orbit satellite (Medium Earth Orbiting, MEO) and a geostationary earth orbit satellite (Geostationary Earth Orbiting, GEO), etc.

[0106] Network equipment provides services for cells, and terminal devices communicate with cells through transmission resources allocated by the network equipment (for example, frequency domain resources, or spectrum resources). The cell can belong to a macro base station (for example, a macro eNB or macro gNB), or to a base station corresponding to a small cell. Small cells here can include: metro cells, micro cells, pico cells, femto cells, etc. These small cells have the characteristics of small coverage and low transmission power, and are suitable for providing high-speed data transmission services.

[0107] The NTN cells involved in this application can be earth-fixed, quasi-earth-fixed, or earth-moving NTN cells. Among them, the NTN cells provided by GEO satellites are earth-fixed NTN cells, that is, the coverage area of ​​the NTN cell is fixed to a certain area on the ground. LEO satellites and MEO satellites can provide earth-quasi-stationary NTN cells, that is, the coverage area of ​​the NTN cell is fixed to a certain area on the ground for a period of time, and will be changed to another area on the ground after a period of time. Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of an earth-quasi-stationary NTN cell provided by this application. As shown in Figure 4, the coverage area of ​​the satellite at time 1 (t1) and time 2 (t2) is area 1, and the coverage area at time 3 (t3) is area 2. LEO satellites and MEO satellites can also provide earth-moving NTN cells, that is, the coverage area of ​​the NTN cell slides on the ground. Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of a scenario of an earth-moving NTN cell provided by this application. As shown in FIG5 , the coverage area of ​​the satellite at time 1 ( t1 ), time 2 ( t2 ), and time 3 ( t3 ) slides with time.

[0108] When a terminal device is in a serving cell, it needs to select the best serving cell through cell reselection measurement, cell reselection or switching operations to optimize the wireless connection performance of the terminal device, improve network coverage and capacity, and reduce the power consumption and delay of the terminal device.

[0109] Among them, the cell reselection measurement is the process of measuring the cell (such as the serving cell, the adjacent cell) by the terminal device in the Radio Resource Control Idle (RRC Idle) state (hereinafter referred to as the idle state) or the Radio Resource Control inactive (RRC inactive) state (hereinafter referred to as the inactive state). The terminal device can evaluate the signal quality of different cells. During the measurement process, the terminal device will consider various factors, such as the reference signal received power (RSRP) of the cell, the reference signal received quality (RSRQ), the position of the terminal device in the serving cell, the distance between the terminal device and the serving cell and / or the adjacent cell, etc. Among them, the adjacent cell can also be called a neighboring cell, or a neighboring cell.

[0110] Cell reselection is the process by which a terminal device selects a serving cell in idle or inactive state. Based on measurement results, when a neighboring cell meets certain reselection conditions, the terminal device will select that cell to camp on.

[0111] Handover is the process of changing the serving cell of a terminal device in the RRC connected state (hereinafter referred to as the connected state). When a neighboring cell of a terminal device meets certain handover conditions, the network device can handover the terminal device to the neighboring cell, or the terminal device can handover to the neighboring cell on its own.

[0112] In the context of beamforming technology, the aforementioned measurement may be a terminal device measuring several beams of a cell, such as measuring the synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block (SS / Physical Broadcast Channel Block, SSB) or the channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), to obtain beam-level measurement results, and using the beam-level measurement results to derive the cell-level measurement results of the cell. For example, the terminal device measures the quality of each beam in the cell and averages the qualities of these beams to obtain the cell-level quality of the cell.

[0113] In addition, based on the measured results of each beam, the terminal device determines one or more beams with the best quality for receiving downlink information or signals sent by the cell. Such beams may be referred to as optimal beams or serving beams. It should be understood that the optimal beam / serving beam may also be determined by other means or based on other conditions, and this application does not limit this.

[0114] For cell reselection measurements in NTN scenarios, a terminal device can control whether to measure neighboring cells based on certain conditions. This allows the terminal device to initiate measurements only when necessary, avoiding unnecessary measurement operations that waste UE power. Currently, a terminal device can control whether to initiate cell reselection measurements based on cell signal quality and distance. For example, the network can configure both quality and distance thresholds. Based on the quality thresholds, the terminal device evaluates whether the distance between its location and the NTN cell's reference point (e.g., the sub-satellite point of the NTN cell's satellite) meets the distance threshold to determine whether to initiate cell reselection measurements. Alternatively, the terminal device can control whether to initiate cell reselection measurements based solely on distance. Similarly, for cell reselection and handover in NTN scenarios, the terminal device can control reselection or handover to a neighboring cell based on conditions similar to those described above. The sub-satellite point of the satellite mentioned above can refer to the point on the Earth's surface where the satellite's projection is located, i.e., the intersection of the line connecting the satellite's instantaneous position and the Earth's center with the Earth's surface.

[0115] Exemplarily, for the distance factor, the terminal device may determine whether to initiate cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection in the following manner:

[0116] Method 1: If the difference between the distance between the terminal device and the serving cell reference point and the distance between the terminal device and the neighboring cell reference point is greater than or equal to the distance threshold, cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection is initiated. Otherwise, cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection is not initiated.

[0117] Mode 2: If the distance between the terminal device and the serving cell reference point is greater than or equal to the distance threshold, cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection is initiated. Otherwise, cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection is not initiated.

[0118] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of a cell reselection measurement and cell reselection / switching scenario provided by the present application. As shown in Figure 6, through the above two methods, it is determined whether the terminal device meets the preset distance threshold, that is, the relative position of the terminal device and the NTN cell is determined. When the terminal device is located in the central area of ​​the NTN cell where it is located (that is, the area obtained according to the distance threshold), the cell reselection measurement is not started; when the terminal device is located in the edge area of ​​the NTN cell where it is located, the cell reselection measurement is started. Accordingly, when the cell is reselected / switched, it can also be determined which target cell to reselect / switched to based on the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the NTN service cell, and / or the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the NTN adjacent cell.

[0119] Based on coverage requirements and planning, when an NTN satellite covers a certain area, the boundary of its coverage may be an irregular boundary. For example, FIG7 is a schematic diagram of the beam of an NTN cell provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG7 , the satellite coverage area is a rectangle, and each number in FIG7 represents a beam. The boundary of the rectangle covered by the NTN cell may be irregular, for example, the beams at the long side and / or short side of the rectangle are not aligned. In this case, when the terminal device is in different areas of the boundary, the distance from the satellite of the serving cell and the satellite of the adjacent cell is also different. For example, the terminal device located in beam #88 and the terminal device located in beam #96 in FIG7 are both at the edge of the NTN cell, but the distance between the two and the reference point differs by about the size of a beam.

[0120] However, in the current method for determining whether to start or stop cell reselection measurements, and / or cell reselection, the distance threshold used in the distance factor is a unified distance threshold. The irregularity of the boundary of the coverage area of ​​the NTN cell in Figure 7 will cause the use of this unified distance threshold to affect the accuracy of the terminal device's judgment, resulting in the problem of misjudgment. For example, continuing to refer to Figure 7, assuming that the distance between the terminal device located in beam #88 and the satellite sub-satellite point of the NTN cell is d1, and the distance between the terminal device located in beam #96 and the satellite sub-satellite point of the NTN cell is d2, then the difference between d1 and d2 is approximately the size of a beam. If the same distance threshold is used to determine whether d1 and d2 are greater than the threshold, the following two situations may occur:

[0121] Case 1: d1 does not meet the distance condition but d2 does, causing the terminal device located in beam #88 to mistakenly judge that it is not located at the edge of the cell. As a result, the terminal device may start adjacent cell measurement or reselection too late, causing the terminal device to lose the serving cell in which it resides, affecting mobility performance.

[0122] Case 2: Both d1 and d2 meet the distance condition, but the terminal device located in beam #94 also meets the distance condition. As a result, the terminal device located in beam #94 determines that it is at the cell edge in advance and starts adjacent cell measurement or reselection before actually reaching the cell edge, resulting in unnecessary measurement power consumption overhead for the terminal device, or premature reselection and residence in an inappropriate cell.

[0123] Therefore, the current method may affect the accuracy of operations such as cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection initiated by the terminal device, resulting in unnecessary power consumption and affecting mobility performance.

[0124] Therefore, the present application provides a communication method, which enables a terminal device to determine the distance threshold corresponding to the area in which it is located by corresponding different distance thresholds to different areas within the service cell, and judge whether to initiate cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection and / or switching based on the distance threshold. By corresponding different distance thresholds to different areas, the problem of a single distance threshold affecting the accuracy of terminal device judgment caused by the irregular edge of the service cell is improved, thereby improving the accuracy of operations such as the terminal device initiating cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection and / or switching, reducing unnecessary power consumption overhead, and improving mobility performance.

[0125] The communication method of the present application is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments shown in the present application are based on the execution subject being a terminal device or a network device. The specific form and quantity of each device shown are only examples and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation of the method provided in the present application.

[0126] The terminal device in the embodiments of the present application can be the terminal device itself, or it can be replaced by a chip, chip system or processor that supports the terminal device to implement the data transmission method, or it can be replaced by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the terminal device functions. The network device in the embodiments of the present application can be the network device itself, or it can be replaced by a chip, chip system or processor that supports the network device to implement the data transmission method, or it can be replaced by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the network device functions. This application does not impose specific restrictions on this.

[0127] FIG8 is a flow chart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG8 , the method may include:

[0128] S801. The terminal device receives first information.

[0129] The first information is used to instruct the terminal device to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching, and the information is information corresponding to the area of ​​the service cell of the terminal device or the beam of the service cell. The service cell can be, for example, an NTN cell or a terrestrial service cell.

[0130] When the terminal device is located in the edge area of ​​the service cell, the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching. The measurement can be the cell reselection measurement mentioned above, the cell reselection is the behavior of reselecting a new service cell to reside in when the terminal device is in an idle state, and the switching is the behavior of switching to another service cell when the terminal device is in a connected state. The edge area of ​​the service cell mentioned here can be, for example, the beam #0, beam #8, beam #16 and other areas in Figure 7 above. The definition of the edge area can be set according to actual needs, and this application does not impose any restrictions on this.

[0131] The first information may directly indicate the edge area of ​​the service cell or the beam located at the edge of the service cell in the service cell, or may indirectly indicate the edge area of ​​the service cell or the beam located at the edge of the service cell in the service cell.

[0132] In one possible implementation, the first information may indicate a correspondence between a first area of ​​the serving cell and a distance threshold, where the first area is a partial area within the serving cell, or the first information may indicate a correspondence between a first beam of the serving cell and a distance threshold, where the first beam is a beam within the serving cell. For example, the first information may indicate a correspondence between at least two areas and distance thresholds, where the two distance thresholds correspond to different areas or beams within the serving cell. Any area may be the first area, or any multiple areas may be the first area; any beam may be the first beam, or any multiple beams may be the first beam. Taking areas as an example, for example, area 1 corresponds to distance threshold 1, area 2 corresponds to distance threshold 2, area 3 corresponds to distance threshold 3, and so on. For another example, area 1 and area 3 correspond to distance threshold 1, and area 2 corresponds to distance threshold 2, and so on. The first area may be an area located at the edge of the serving cell, and the first beam may be a beam located at the edge of the serving cell. Based on the distance threshold and this correspondence, it can be determined whether the terminal device performs measurement and / or cell reselection and / or handover.

[0133] In another possible implementation, the first information may indicate that at least one area within the service cell is the second area, or may indicate that at least one beam within the service cell is the third beam. Through the first information, it can be determined whether the terminal device is located in the second area or the third beam. If the terminal device is in the second area, the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching. Alternatively, if the terminal device is in the third beam, the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching. Optionally, the second area may be, for example, an edge area of ​​the service cell, or the third beam may be, for example, an edge beam in the beam of the service cell.

[0134] Optionally, the area of ​​the service cell can be divided according to actual needs. For example, the coverage range of the service cell can be divided into one or more areas according to factors such as geographical conditions and fixed area size. Alternatively, the area of ​​the service cell can be divided according to the beams within the service cell, for example, one beam is one area. Alternatively, the area of ​​the service cell can be divided according to the beam set of the beams within the service cell, for example, one beam set is one area. The beam set can be an SSB burst set, or one or more beams can be divided into a beam set according to actual needs, etc., and this application does not impose any restrictions.

[0135] Optionally, the terminal device may receive the first information from a network device, or may receive the first information from other devices. In the following embodiments, the terminal device receiving the first information from the network device is used as an example for description.

[0136] S802. The terminal device determines whether to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover based on the first information.

[0137] The terminal device determines whether to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover based on the information that the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover indicated by the first information. For example, the terminal device may determine whether the terminal device is located in an edge area of ​​a serving cell based on the information that the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover indicated by the first information. If the terminal device is located in an edge area of ​​a serving cell, the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover; or, if the terminal device is not located in an edge area of ​​a serving cell, the terminal device does not perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover.

[0138] When the first information indicates the distance threshold of the serving cell, the terminal device may determine whether the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover based on the distance from the reference point of the serving cell and the distance threshold corresponding to the area where the terminal device is located. For example, the terminal device may determine whether the terminal device is located in the edge area of ​​the serving cell based on the distance from the reference point of the serving cell and the distance threshold corresponding to the area where the terminal device is located, and determine whether to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover based on whether it is located in the edge area of ​​the serving cell. Alternatively, the terminal device may determine whether the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover based on the distance from the reference point of the serving cell, the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the adjacent cell, and the distance threshold corresponding to the area where the terminal device is located. For example, the terminal device may determine whether the terminal device is located in the edge area of ​​the serving cell based on the distance from the reference point of the serving cell, the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the adjacent cell, and the distance threshold corresponding to the area where the terminal device is located, and determine whether to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover based on whether it is located in the edge area of ​​the serving cell. The reference point may be the sub-satellite point of the cell's satellite (referred to as the cell sub-satellite point), or any other arbitrary location as a reference point, which is not limited in this application.

[0139] For example, if the distance between the terminal device and the sub-satellite point of the serving cell is greater than or equal to a distance threshold corresponding to the area where the terminal device is located, it indicates that the terminal device is located in the edge area of ​​the serving cell and measurement needs to be performed.

[0140] Alternatively, if the difference between the distance between the terminal device and the sub-satellite point of the serving cell and the distance between the terminal device and the sub-satellite point of the adjacent cell is greater than or equal to the distance threshold corresponding to the area where the terminal device is located, it indicates that the terminal device is located in the edge area of ​​the serving cell and measurement needs to be performed.

[0141] Alternatively, if the distance between the terminal device and the sub-satellite point of the adjacent cell is less than or equal to the distance threshold corresponding to the area where the terminal device is located, it indicates that the terminal device is located close to the adjacent cell and may need to reselect or switch to the adjacent cell subsequently. Therefore, measurement needs to be performed to provide a basis for subsequent cell reselection or switching.

[0142] For example, if the distance between the terminal device and the sub-satellite point of the adjacent cell is less than or equal to the distance threshold corresponding to the area where the terminal device is located, it indicates that the distance between the terminal device and the adjacent cell is relatively close, and the terminal device can reselect or switch to the adjacent cell.

[0143] Alternatively, if the difference between the distance between the terminal device and the sub-satellite point of the serving cell and the distance between the terminal device and the sub-satellite point of the adjacent cell is greater than or equal to the distance threshold corresponding to the area where the terminal device is located, the terminal device can reselect the cell or switch to the adjacent cell.

[0144] The method provided in the embodiment of the present application enables the terminal device to determine the distance threshold corresponding to the area in which it is located, and judge whether to start cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection and / or switching based on the distance threshold by corresponding different distance thresholds to different areas in the service cell. By corresponding different distance thresholds to different areas, the problem of a single distance threshold affecting the accuracy of terminal device judgment caused by the irregular edge of the service cell is improved. For cell reselection measurement, it can ensure that the terminal device starts measurement of the adjacent cell only when it reaches the coverage edge of the service cell or the coverage of the adjacent cell is close, avoiding the terminal device from measuring the adjacent cell that is not around, reducing unnecessary measurement overhead of the terminal device; on the other hand, it can ensure that the terminal device can start measurement of the adjacent cell in a timely manner when the coverage of the adjacent cell is close, so as to timely support the judgment of subsequent cell reselection and ensure mobility performance. For cell reselection and / or switching, it is ensured that the terminal device only considers reselecting / switching to the adjacent cell when it is within the coverage of the adjacent cell, so as to avoid the terminal device performing reselection / switching too early and causing reselection / switching failure; on the other hand, it can ensure that when the terminal device is away from the coverage of the serving cell and has reached the coverage of the adjacent cell, it can perform reselection / switching in time to change to a suitable cell, thereby ensuring mobility performance.

[0145] Below, taking the first information including the distance threshold as an example, several areas corresponding to the distance threshold provided in the embodiments of the present application are introduced.

[0146] Method 1: There is a corresponding relationship between the distance threshold and the area of ​​the serving cell.

[0147] The area of ​​the serving cell may be predefined or sent by the network device to the terminal device. For example, the network device sends relevant information about the area of ​​the serving cell to the terminal device, and the terminal device determines the area of ​​the serving cell based on the relevant information. The area of ​​the serving cell may be divided based on one or more of factors such as geographical features (e.g., geographical location, topography, landform, administrative region, etc.), demographic features (e.g., population density), network service requirements, and network resources.

[0148] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of an area division provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 9, the service cell includes at least area 1, area 2, and area 3. In this case, the first information may include distance thresholds corresponding to each area. For example, area 1 corresponds to distance threshold 1, area 2 corresponds to distance threshold 2, and area 3 corresponds to distance threshold 3. Alternatively, area 1 and area 3 correspond to distance threshold 1, and area 2 corresponds to distance threshold 2. Alternatively, area 1 corresponds to distance threshold 1, and area 2 and area 3 correspond to distance threshold 2, etc. The distance threshold can be used by the terminal device to determine whether to perform cell reselection measurement, cell reselection, and switching.

[0149] Optionally, the distance threshold may also correspond to an operation to be performed by the terminal device. For example, the distance threshold includes a first distance threshold for triggering measurement, and / or a second distance threshold for performing cell reselection, and / or a third distance threshold for performing handover. Exemplarily, distance threshold 1 corresponding to area 1 includes at least one of the first distance threshold for triggering measurement, the second distance threshold for performing cell reselection, and the third distance threshold for performing handover.

[0150] In one possible implementation, the area included in the serving cell may be the result of dividing all areas in the serving cell, that is, the sum of all areas is the coverage area of ​​the serving cell. The area included in the serving cell may also be the result of dividing part of the areas in the serving cell, that is, the sum of all areas is smaller than the coverage area of ​​the serving cell.

[0151] Optionally, the distance threshold included in the first information may be a distance threshold corresponding to each of the above-mentioned areas, or may be a distance threshold corresponding to each of some areas. For example, the distance threshold included in the first information may be a distance threshold corresponding to each of the edge areas within the serving cell. When the terminal device is located in the edge area, the distance threshold can be used to determine whether to perform cell reselection measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover.

[0152] For method 1, after obtaining the distance threshold information provided by the network device, the terminal device can determine the distance threshold corresponding to the area in which the terminal device is located, and determine whether to perform cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection and / or handover based on the distance threshold. The terminal device can determine the area in which it is located based on its own positioning information (e.g., Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning) and regional division.

[0153] Method 2: There is a corresponding relationship between the distance threshold and the beam of the serving cell.

[0154] Each beam corresponds to its own distance threshold, and the distance thresholds corresponding to different beams may be the same or different.

[0155] Continuing with Figure 7 , beam #0 within the serving cell may correspond to distance threshold 1, beam #8 may correspond to distance threshold 2, and beam #24 may correspond to distance threshold 3. As shown in Figure 7 , beam #16 has the same or similar edges as beam #0, so the distance threshold corresponding to beam #16 may also be distance threshold 1, or distance threshold 4, which is different from distance threshold 1, and so on. These distance thresholds can be used to determine whether a terminal device should perform cell reselection measurements, cell reselection, or handover.

[0156] Optionally, the distance threshold may also correspond to an operation to be performed by the terminal device. For example, the distance threshold includes a first distance threshold for triggering measurement, and / or a second distance threshold for performing cell reselection, and / or a third distance threshold for performing handover. Exemplarily, distance threshold 1 corresponding to beam #0 includes at least one of the first distance threshold for triggering measurement, the second distance threshold for performing cell reselection, and the third distance threshold for performing handover.

[0157] Optionally, the distance threshold included in the first information may be a distance threshold corresponding to each of all the above beams, or may be a distance threshold corresponding to each of some beams. For example, the distance threshold included in the first information may be a distance threshold corresponding to a beam in an edge area within a serving cell. When a terminal device is located in an edge area, the distance threshold may be used to determine whether to perform cell reselection measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover.

[0158] For method 2, after obtaining the distance threshold information provided by the network device, the terminal device can determine the distance threshold corresponding to the serving beam (or optimal beam) in which the terminal device is located, and determine whether to perform cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection and / or handover based on the distance threshold. The serving beam can be determined by the terminal device through beam quality measurement or other means. For example, the terminal device can use a beam whose beam quality measured within the cell is greater than or equal to a preset quality threshold as the serving beam.

[0159] Method 3: There is a corresponding relationship between the distance threshold and the beam set of the serving cell.

[0160] Each beam set corresponds to its own distance threshold. The distance thresholds corresponding to different beams can be the same or different. The beam set can be divided based on actual needs. When the reference signal of the beam is SSB, the beam set can also be SSB burst.

[0161] For example, with continued reference to FIG7 , beams #0 to #7 within the serving cell may constitute one beam set, beams #8 to #15 may constitute another beam set, and so on. Alternatively, beams #0, #8, #16, #24, and so on within the serving cell may constitute one beam set. Furthermore, beams #0, #9, and #26 within the serving cell may constitute one beam set (i.e., a beam set defined according to actual needs).

[0162] Taking the example of a beam set represented by a column in Figure 7, the beam set corresponding to beams #0 through #7 within the serving cell can correspond to a distance threshold of 1, and the beam set corresponding to beams #8 through #15 can correspond to a distance threshold of 2. Optionally, for at least two beam sets with similar edges, their corresponding distance thresholds can be the same or different. This distance threshold can be used to determine whether a terminal device should perform cell reselection measurements, cell reselection, or handover.

[0163] Optionally, the distance threshold may also correspond to an operation to be performed by the terminal device. For example, the distance threshold includes a first distance threshold for triggering measurement, and / or a second distance threshold for performing cell reselection, and / or a third distance threshold for performing handover. Exemplarily, distance threshold 1 corresponding to beam set 1 includes at least one of the first distance threshold for triggering measurement, the second distance threshold for performing cell reselection, and the third distance threshold for performing handover.

[0164] Optionally, the distance threshold included in the first information may be a distance threshold corresponding to all the above-mentioned beam sets, or may be a distance threshold corresponding to some beam sets.

[0165] For method 3, after the terminal device obtains the distance threshold information provided by the network device, it can determine the distance threshold corresponding to the beam set based on the beam set where the service beam (or optimal beam) where the terminal device is located is located, and determine whether to perform cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection and / or switching based on the distance threshold.

[0166] In the case of methods 1 to 3 above, when the first information is sent by the network device to the terminal device through broadcast signaling, the network device can send the correspondence between all areas / beams / beam sets in the service cell and the distance threshold to the terminal device, or can send the correspondence between some areas / beams / beam sets and the distance threshold to the terminal device.

[0167] When the first information is sent by the network device to the terminal device through a beam, the first information is used to indicate the distance threshold corresponding to the second beam of the service cell, and the network device sends the first information to the terminal device through the first beam. The second beam can be any beam in the service cell. For example, when the first information includes the correspondence between the first area and the distance threshold, the beams in the first area can all send the correspondence between the first area and the distance threshold (that is, the beams in the first area are all second beams). For another example, when the first information includes the correspondence between the beam and the distance threshold, the second beams can all send the correspondence between the second beam and the distance threshold. For another example, when the first information includes the correspondence between the beam set and the distance threshold, the beams in the beam set can all send the correspondence between the beam set and the distance threshold (that is, the beams in the beam set are all second beams).

[0168] For example, another process of an embodiment of the present application is described below. FIG10 is a flow chart of another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG10 , the method may include:

[0169] S1001. A network device sends first information to a terminal device.

[0170] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information sent by the network device.

[0171] Among them, the first information includes a distance threshold. The way in which the network device sends the first information to the terminal device can be that the network device sends the correspondence between all areas / beams / beam sets in the service cell and the distance threshold to the terminal device through broadcast signaling, or the network device sends the distance threshold corresponding to the beam to the terminal device through a beam, which will not be repeated here.

[0172] S1002. The terminal device determines a distance threshold for performing cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection and / or switching based on the first information.

[0173] The terminal device determines the distance threshold corresponding to the area, beam, or beam set based on the distance threshold indicated by the first information, the area where the terminal device is located, the serving beam / optimal beam of the terminal device, or the beam set where the serving beam is located, and determines whether to perform cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection and / or handover based on the distance threshold. The content here can refer to the content of methods 1 to 3 above and will not be repeated here.

[0174] S1003. When the terminal device meets the distance threshold for performing cell reselection measurement, the terminal device performs cell reselection measurement.

[0175] The method for determining whether the terminal device meets the distance threshold for performing cell reselection measurement can refer to the method in which the terminal device determines to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching based on the first information in the aforementioned step S802. For example, if the distance between the terminal device and the sub-satellite point of the serving cell is greater than or equal to the distance threshold corresponding to the area where the terminal device is located, it indicates that the terminal device is located in the edge area of ​​the serving cell and needs to perform cell reselection measurement. Alternatively, if the difference between the distance between the terminal device and the sub-satellite point of the serving cell and the distance between the terminal device and the sub-satellite point of the adjacent cell is greater than or equal to the distance threshold corresponding to the area where the terminal device is located, it indicates that the terminal device is located in the edge area of ​​the serving cell and needs to perform cell reselection measurement. I will not go into details here.

[0176] S1004. The terminal device uses the distance threshold for determining the target cell for cell reselection / handover to determine the target cell for cell reselection / handover.

[0177] This method can be implemented by a method similar to that described in the aforementioned step S1003. For example, if the distance between the terminal device and the sub-satellite point of the adjacent cell is less than or equal to the distance threshold corresponding to the area where the terminal device is located, it indicates that the distance between the terminal device and the adjacent cell is relatively close, and the terminal device can reselect or switch to the adjacent cell. Alternatively, if the difference between the distance between the terminal device and the sub-satellite point of the serving cell and the distance between the terminal device and the sub-satellite point of the adjacent cell is greater than or equal to the distance threshold corresponding to the area where the terminal device is located, the terminal device can reselect or switch to the adjacent cell.

[0178] The distance threshold used for cell reselection / handover may be the same as or different from the distance threshold used in determining whether to perform cell reselection measurement in the aforementioned step S1003 .

[0179] In a possible implementation, the method may further include the following steps:

[0180] S1005. When the coverage of the serving cell changes, the network device updates the distance threshold information.

[0181] The distance threshold may be updated according to the coverage of the serving cell. For example, if the coverage shape of the serving cell changes, or the edge beam within the serving cell changes, the network device may update the distance threshold.

[0182] The network device may update the distance threshold information by using system information. For example, within a system information modification period (SI modification period), the terminal device is notified through a system information modification indication (SI change notification) that the system information or specifically the distance threshold information will change (for example, the correspondence between the area and the distance threshold changes, or the mapping relationship between the beam and the distance threshold changes, or the mapping relationship between the beam set and the distance threshold changes, etc.), and then the updated system information / distance threshold information is sent within the next system information modification period.

[0183] It should be understood that the process of the distance threshold information is not limited to the order of steps S1001 to S1004, and the network device can update the distance threshold information at any time when there is a need to update the distance threshold information.

[0184] The method provided in the embodiment of the present application provides different distance thresholds for different areas in the service cell, and allows the terminal device to adapt to use different distance thresholds according to the boundary conditions of the cell to control whether the terminal device starts cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection and / or switching, so as to accurately judge whether the terminal device is located in the edge area of ​​the service cell according to the actual coverage of the service cell, and then reasonably control the terminal device to perform cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection and / or switching. For cell reselection measurement, it can ensure that the terminal device starts measurement of the adjacent cell only when it reaches the edge of the service cell coverage or the adjacent cell coverage is close, avoiding the terminal device from measuring the adjacent cell that is not around, reducing unnecessary measurement overhead of the terminal device; on the other hand, it can ensure that the terminal device can promptly start measurement of the adjacent cell when the adjacent cell coverage is close, so as to timely support the judgment of subsequent cell reselection and ensure mobility performance. For cell reselection and / or switching, it is ensured that the terminal device only considers reselection / switching to the adjacent cell when it is within the coverage of the adjacent cell, so as to avoid the terminal device performing reselection / switching too early and causing reselection / switching failure; on the other hand, it can ensure that when the terminal device is away from the coverage of the serving cell and has reached the coverage of the adjacent cell, it can perform reselection / switching in time to change to a suitable resident cell, thereby ensuring mobility performance.

[0185] Below, the method provided in an embodiment of the present application is introduced by taking the information of the second area or the third beam including performing cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection and / or switching in the first information as an example.

[0186] Method 4: The information of the second area includes an identifier of the second area.

[0187] The second area is an area where the terminal device needs to perform cell reselection measurements, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover. That is, if the terminal device is located in the second area, it is determined that the terminal device needs to perform cell reselection measurements, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover. For example, the area may be an edge area of ​​the serving cell. Therefore, the information of the second area may also be referred to as edge area information.

[0188] In this implementation, the information of the second area may include an identifier of the second area. For example, continuing with the example of FIG. 9 , the first information may include identifiers of areas located at the edge of the serving cell, such as area 1, area 2, and area 3.

[0189] In method 4, the terminal device can determine whether its location is within the second area based on its location and the identifier of the second area. If the terminal device is within the second area, it indicates that the terminal device is located in the second area where cell reselection measurement, cell reselection, and / or handover need to be performed.

[0190] Optionally, the area for performing cell reselection measurement, the area for performing cell reselection, and the area for performing handover may be the same or different. Therefore, the third beams corresponding to the area for performing cell reselection measurement, the area for performing cell reselection, and the area for performing handover, respectively, may be the same or different.

[0191] Method 5: The information of the third beam includes an identifier of the third beam.

[0192] Among them, the third beam is the beam on which the terminal device needs to perform cell reselection measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching, that is, if the terminal device is in this beam (that is, the beam is the serving beam / optimal beam of the terminal device, and the method for determining the serving beam / optimal beam can be based on beam quality or other conditions, which will not be described in detail later), it is determined that the terminal device needs to perform cell reselection measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching. For example, the third beam can be an edge beam of the serving cell.

[0193] In this implementation, the third beam information includes an identifier of the third beam. The third beam may be, for example, one beam or multiple beams, depending on the number of edge beams of the serving cell. In this case, the third beam information may also be referred to as edge beam information (i.e., information about a beam located at the edge of the serving cell within the serving cell).

[0194] Exemplarily, continuing with the example of FIG. 7 , the first information may include identifiers of beams such as beam #0, beam #8, beam #16, and beam #24 located at the edge of the service cell.

[0195] In method 5, the terminal device can determine whether the beam it is in is the third beam based on the beam it is in and the identifier of the third beam. If the beam the terminal device is in is the third beam, it indicates that the terminal device is located in an area where cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection and / or handover are required.

[0196] Optionally, the area for performing cell reselection measurement, the area for performing cell reselection, and the area for performing handover may be the same or different. Therefore, the third beams corresponding to the area for performing cell reselection measurement, the area for performing cell reselection, and the area for performing handover, respectively, may be the same or different.

[0197] Method 6: The first information includes a bitmap.

[0198] Wherein, a bit in the bitmap corresponds to a beam of the serving cell. If the value of the bit in the bitmap is the first value, the beam corresponding to the bit is the third beam; if the value of the bit in the beam bitmap is the second value, the beam corresponding to the bit is not the third beam.

[0199] For example, FIG11 is a schematic diagram of a bitmap provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG11 , the number of bits in the bitmap can be the same as the number of beams in the serving cell, and one bit in the bitmap corresponds to a beam of the serving cell. If the bit value in the bitmap is a first value (the first value is, for example, 1, that is, the bit value corresponding to edge beams such as beam #0, beam #8, beam #16, and beam #24 in FIG11 is 1), then the beam corresponding to the bit is the third beam; if the bit value in the bitmap is a second value (for example, 0), then the beam corresponding to the bit is not the third beam.

[0200] In method 6, the terminal device can determine whether the beam it is in is the third beam based on the beam it is in and the value of the bit in the bitmap. If the beam the terminal device is in is the third beam, it indicates that the terminal device needs to perform cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection and / or handover.

[0201] Optionally, the area for performing cell reselection measurement, the area for performing cell reselection, and the area for performing handover may be the same or different. Therefore, the bitmap used to determine whether to perform cell reselection measurement, the bitmap used to determine whether to perform cell reselection, and the bitmap used to determine whether to perform handover may be the same or different. For example, different bitmaps may correspond to different operations (e.g., cell reselection measurement, cell reselection, handover, etc.).

[0202] In the case of the above-mentioned methods 4 to 6, the first information may be information about the second area or the third beam included in the service cell, which is sent by the network device to the terminal device through broadcast signaling (eg, system information).

[0203] Optionally, the network device may also send information to the terminal device via a beam indicating whether the beam is the third beam. For example, the first information is used to indicate whether the fourth beam in the service cell is the third beam, wherein the fourth beam is the beam where the terminal device is located, that is, the beam where the terminal device receives the first information from the network device. The first information transmitted via the fourth beam may indicate whether the fourth beam is the third beam. For example, the first information may indicate whether it is the third beam by indicating different values, or indicate whether it is the third beam by whether there is indication information, etc. Exemplarily, the first information sent via beam #0 contains indication information. If the indication information takes the value A, it indicates that beam #0 is the third beam. If the indication information takes the value B, it indicates that beam #0 is not the third beam. Alternatively, if the first information sent via beam #0 contains indication information, it indicates that beam #0 is the third beam. If it does not contain indication information, it indicates that beam #0 is not the third beam.

[0204] For example, the complete process of the embodiment of the present application is illustrated below. FIG12 is a flow chart of another communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG12, the method may include:

[0205] S1201. The network device sends first information to the terminal device.

[0206] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information sent by the network device.

[0207] The first information includes information about the second area or the third beam for performing cell reselection measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching. The way in which the network device sends the first information to the terminal device may be that the network device sends information about the second area or the third beam included in the serving cell to the terminal device through broadcast signaling (for example, system information). Alternatively, the network device may send information about whether the beam is the third beam to the terminal device through a beam, which will not be repeated here.

[0208] S1202. The terminal device determines a second area or a third beam for performing cell reselection measurement and / or cell reselection and / or switching based on the first information.

[0209] The terminal device determines the second area of ​​the serving cell (i.e., the area at the edge of the serving cell) based on the identifier of the second area in the first information. Alternatively, the terminal device determines the third beam of the serving cell (i.e., the beam at the edge of the serving cell) based on the identifier of the third beam in the first information, or the bitmap.

[0210] S1203: When the terminal device is located in the second area or the third beam for performing cell reselection measurement, the terminal device performs cell reselection measurement.

[0211] The terminal device determines whether the location of the terminal device belongs to the second area based on the second area indicated by the first information and the location of the terminal device. If yes, the terminal device performs cell reselection measurement.

[0212] Alternatively, the terminal device determines whether the terminal device is located in the third beam based on the third beam indicated by the first information and the beam the terminal device is located in. If the terminal device is located in the third beam (i.e., the area where the cell reselection measurement is performed), the terminal device performs the cell reselection measurement.

[0213] S1204: When the terminal device is located in the second area or the third beam where a target cell for cell reselection / handover needs to be determined, the terminal device determines the target cell for cell reselection / handover.

[0214] The terminal device determines whether the location of the terminal device belongs to the second area based on the second area for determining the target cell for cell reselection / handover indicated by the first information and the location of the terminal device. If so, the terminal device determines the target cell for cell reselection / handover.

[0215] Alternatively, the terminal device determines whether the terminal device is located in the third beam based on the third beam for determining the target cell for cell reselection / handover indicated by the first information and the beam in which the terminal device is located. If the terminal device is located in the third beam (i.e., the area where cell reselection / handover is performed), the terminal device determines the target cell for cell reselection / handover.

[0216] Optionally, the second area or the third beam for determining the target cell for cell reselection / handover may be the same as or different from the second area or the third beam for performing cell reselection measurement.

[0217] In a possible implementation, the method may further include the following steps:

[0218] S1205. When the coverage of the serving cell changes, the network device updates the beam information.

[0219] The beam information can be updated based on the coverage of the serving cell. For example, if the edge beam in the serving cell changes, the network device can update the beam information.

[0220] The network device may update the beam information using system information. For example, during a system information modification period (SI modification period), the terminal device may be notified of a change in system information or specifically beam information through an SI change notification, and the updated system information / beam information may be subsequently sent during the next system information modification period.

[0221] It should be understood that the process of the beam information is not limited to the order of steps S1201 to S1204, and the network device can update the beam information at any time when there is a need to update the beam information.

[0222] The method provided in the embodiment of the present application sends the areas where cell reselection measurements, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching are performed in the service cell to the terminal device, and the terminal device determines whether it is located in these areas to accurately judge whether the terminal device is located in the edge area of ​​the service cell, and then reasonably controls the start and stop of the terminal device to perform cell reselection measurements and / or cell reselection and / or switching. For cell reselection measurements, it can ensure that the terminal device starts measurement of adjacent cells only when it reaches the edge of the service cell coverage or the coverage of the adjacent cell is close, avoiding the terminal device from measuring adjacent cells that are not around, reducing unnecessary measurement overhead of the terminal device; on the other hand, it can ensure that the terminal device can start measurement of the adjacent cell in time when the coverage of the adjacent cell is close, so as to timely support the judgment of subsequent cell reselection and ensure mobility performance. For cell reselection and / or switching, it is ensured that the terminal device only considers reselection / switching to the adjacent cell when it is within the coverage of the adjacent cell, so as to avoid the terminal device performing reselection / switching too early and causing reselection / switching failure; on the other hand, it can ensure that when the terminal device is away from the coverage of the serving cell and has reached the coverage of the adjacent cell, it can perform reselection / switching in time to change to a suitable resident cell, thereby ensuring mobility performance.

[0223] Furthermore, in an NTN system, terminal devices must measure the optimal beam and adjacent beams around them to ensure quality monitoring of the NTN cell and support mobility within the serving cell. Currently, this is accomplished by measuring as many beams within the NTN cell as possible and determining adjacent beams based on the beam quality measured (i.e., the higher the beam quality, the closer the beam is to the terminal device).

[0224] However, using this method to perform beam measurements to support terminal device mobility within the serving cell results in excessive redundant measurements. For example, a terminal device measures as many beams as possible within an NTN cell, some of which are not adjacent to the terminal device. Given that NTN cell coverage may reach hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, the number of beams within an NTN cell far exceeds the number of beams within a terrestrial cell. Consequently, excessive redundant measurements incur significant measurement overhead for terminal devices, impacting their power consumption.

[0225] Therefore, the present application provides a communication method, which sends the beam arrangement information of the service cell to the terminal device, so that the terminal device determines the adjacent beam of the terminal device according to the area in which it is located and the beam arrangement information, and measures the adjacent beam, thereby reducing the redundant measurement behavior of the terminal device and reducing the measurement overhead and power consumption.

[0226] FIG13 is a flow chart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG13 , the method may include:

[0227] S1301. The terminal device receives second information.

[0228] The second information is used to indicate beam arrangement information of a serving cell of the terminal device. The serving cell may be an NTN cell or a terrestrial serving cell. The second information may be sent by a network device to the terminal device or by another device to the terminal device.

[0229] In a possible implementation, the beam arrangement information is a beam arrangement diagram within the serving cell, for example, the beam arrangement diagram shown in FIG7 .

[0230] In another possible implementation, the beam arrangement information includes at least one of an ordering rule of the beams of the serving cell and width information of a beam set of the beams of the serving cell, wherein the beam set may be an SSB burst or a beam set defined according to actual needs.

[0231] In this implementation, the ordering rule for the beams of the serving cell can be an ascending order of beam identifiers, or a descending order. Continuing with FIG. 7 , taking the ascending order of beam identifiers as an example, the ascending order of beam identifiers is arranged in ascending order from bottom to top and from left to right. Alternatively, taking north as the top, the ascending order of beam identifiers is arranged in ascending order from south to north and from west to east.

[0232] The width information of the beam set of the beam of the serving cell may be the number of columns occupied by the beams in the beam set, or the number of rows occupied by the beams in the beam set. Continuing to refer to FIG. 7 , taking the width information as the number of columns occupied by the beams in the beam set as an example, the width information of the beam set is 1. FIG. 14 is a structural diagram of a beam arrangement provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 14 , beams #0 to #7 are one beam set, beams #8 to #15 are the second beam set, and so on. Taking the width information as the number of columns occupied by the beams in the beam set as an example, the width information of the beam set is 2.

[0233] Optionally, the second information may include only the ordering rules for the beams of the serving cell, or only the width information of the beam set of the beams of the serving cell. In this case, the other information not included may be predefined. Alternatively, the second information may include both the ordering rules for the beams of the serving cell and the width information of the beam set of the beams of the serving cell.

[0234] S1302. The terminal device performs measurement according to the beam arrangement information.

[0235] The terminal device can determine the sixth beam based on the fifth beam it is in and the beam arrangement information. The fifth beam is the serving beam of the terminal device (i.e., the beam in which the terminal device is located), and the sixth beam is the adjacent beam of the terminal device. For example, using Figure 7 as an example, if the beam in which the terminal device is located is beam #27, beam #35 adjacent to beam #27 can be used as the sixth beam.

[0236] Optionally, the terminal device may use the fifth beam and / or the sixth beam as beams to be measured to measure the beams to be measured. For example, the terminal device may only measure the sixth beam to prepare for subsequent switching to the sixth beam for measurement. Alternatively, when measuring the sixth beam, the terminal device continues to measure the fifth beam to ensure that the currently used beam is a better choice. If the measurement result of the sixth beam is better than the measurement result of the fifth beam, it switches to the sixth beam to work. Similarly, the terminal device may also use the beams in the beam set in which the fifth beam is located as part of the beam to be measured, which will not be repeated here.

[0237] Optionally, the sixth beam in the embodiments of the present application can be an adjacent beam to the fifth beam. For example, when the fifth beam is beam #27 in Figure 7 , beam #35 is the sixth beam. Alternatively, beam #35, beam #43, and beam #44 can all be adjacent to beam #27. The range of adjacent beams can be set based on actual needs and is not limited in this application. For another example, referring to Figure 14 , if the fifth beam is beam #27, the sixth beam can also be beam #30 in the same beam set.

[0238] Optionally, the sixth beam in the embodiment of the present application may also be a beam in a beam set adjacent to the fifth beam. For example, when the fifth beam is beam #27 in Figure 7 , the sixth beam may be a beam in the beam set consisting of beams #32 to #39, or may also include a beam in the beam set consisting of beams #40 to #47. The range of the adjacent beam set can be set according to actual needs (i.e., it can be the next adjacent beam set, the next two adjacent beam sets, etc.), and this application does not impose any restrictions on this.

[0239] The method provided in the embodiment of the present application sends the beam arrangement information within the service cell to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can determine the beam that needs to be measured subsequently based on the fifth beam in which it is located and the beam arrangement information, thereby narrowing the beam range for measurement by the terminal device, reducing redundant measurements, and reducing unnecessary measurement power consumption of the terminal device.

[0240] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device and / or the network device can perform some or all of the steps in each embodiment. These steps or operations are merely examples, and the embodiments of the present application can also perform other operations or variations of various operations. In addition, the various steps can be performed in the different orders presented in the various embodiments, and it is possible that not all operations in the embodiments of the present application are to be performed. Moreover, the size of the sequence number of each step does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

[0241] Figure 15 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. It is understood that this communication device can implement the operations or steps of the corresponding terminal devices in the aforementioned method embodiments. The communication device can be a terminal device or a component configurable in a terminal device, such as a chip or chip module. As shown in Figure 15, the communication device may include: a receiving module 1501 and a processing module 1502.

[0242] Receiving module 1501 is used to receive first information, which is used to instruct the terminal device to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching information, and the information is information corresponding to the area of ​​the service cell of the terminal device or the beam of the service cell.

[0243] The processing module 1502 is configured to determine whether to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover according to the first information.

[0244] Optionally, the first information includes a distance threshold. The processing module 1502 is specifically configured to determine whether to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover according to the distance threshold.

[0245] Optionally, processing module 1502 is specifically configured to determine that the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover if the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the serving cell is greater than or equal to the distance threshold. Alternatively, if the difference between the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the serving cell and the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the adjacent cell is greater than or equal to the distance threshold, determine that the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover.

[0246] Optionally, the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between the first area or the first beam and the distance threshold, the first area is a partial area within the service cell, and the first beam is the beam of the service cell.

[0247] Optionally, the information corresponding to the beam of the serving cell is information corresponding to the beam set of the serving cell, and the beam set includes one or more beams.

[0248] Optionally, the beam set is a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block burst set SSB burst.

[0249] Optionally, the first information is used to indicate a distance threshold corresponding to a second beam of the serving cell. The receiving module 1501 is specifically configured to receive the first information through the second beam.

[0250] Optionally, the distance threshold includes a first distance threshold for triggering measurement, and / or a second distance threshold for performing cell reselection, and / or a third distance threshold for performing handover.

[0251] Optionally, the first information includes information about a second area or a third beam of the serving cell for performing measurement, cell reselection, and / or handover. Processing module 1502 is specifically configured to determine that the terminal device performs measurement, cell reselection, and / or handover if the terminal device is located in the second area or the third beam.

[0252] Optionally, if the first information includes information about the second area, the information about the second area includes an identifier of the second area. Alternatively, if the first information includes information about the third beam, the information about the third beam includes an identifier of the third beam.

[0253] Optionally, the first information includes a bitmap, wherein a bit in the bitmap corresponds to a beam of the serving cell. If the value of the bit in the beam bitmap is a first value, the beam corresponding to the bit is the third beam. If the value of the bit in the beam bitmap is a second value, the beam corresponding to the bit is not the third beam.

[0254] Optionally, the first information is used to indicate whether the fourth beam in the serving cell is the third beam. The receiving module 1501 is specifically configured to receive the first information through the fourth beam.

[0255] Optionally, the service cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell.

[0256] The communication device provided in this embodiment can execute the actions of the terminal device in the aforementioned method embodiment. Its implementation principle and technical effects are similar and will not be repeated here.

[0257] Figure 16 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. It is understood that the communication device can implement the operations or steps of the corresponding network devices in the aforementioned method embodiments. The communication device can be a network device or a component configurable in a network device, such as a chip or chip module. As shown in Figure 16, the communication device can include: a sending module 1601.

[0258] The sending module 1601 is used to send the first information, which is used to instruct the terminal device to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching information. The information is information corresponding to the area of ​​the service cell of the terminal device or the beam of the service cell.

[0259] Optionally, the first information includes a distance threshold, and the distance threshold is used to determine whether to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover.

[0260] Optionally, if the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the serving cell is greater than or equal to the distance threshold, it is determined that the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover. Alternatively, if the difference between the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the serving cell and the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the adjacent cell is greater than or equal to the distance threshold, it is determined that the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover.

[0261] Optionally, the first information is used to indicate the correspondence between the first area or the first beam and the distance threshold, the first area is a partial area within the service cell, and the first beam is the beam of the service cell.

[0262] Optionally, the information corresponding to the beam of the serving cell is information corresponding to the beam set of the serving cell, and the beam set includes one or more beams.

[0263] Optionally, the beam set is a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block burst set SSB burst.

[0264] Optionally, the first information is used to indicate a distance threshold corresponding to a second beam of the serving cell. The sending module 1601 is specifically configured to send the first information via the second beam.

[0265] Optionally, the distance threshold includes a first distance threshold for triggering measurement, and / or a second distance threshold for performing cell reselection, and / or a third distance threshold for performing handover.

[0266] Optionally, the first information includes information about the second area or the third beam for performing measurements of the serving cell, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching.

[0267] Optionally, if the first information includes information about the second area, the information about the second area includes an identifier of the second area. Alternatively, if the first information includes information about the third beam, the information about the third beam includes an identifier of the third beam.

[0268] Optionally, the first information includes a bitmap, wherein a bit in the bitmap corresponds to a beam of the serving cell. If the value of the bit in the beam bitmap is a first value, the beam corresponding to the bit is the third beam. If the value of the bit in the beam bitmap is a second value, the beam corresponding to the bit is not the third beam.

[0269] Optionally, the first information is used to indicate whether the fourth beam in the serving cell is the third beam. The sending module 1601 is specifically configured to send the first information through the fourth beam.

[0270] Optionally, the service cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell.

[0271] The communication device provided in this embodiment can execute the actions of the network device in the aforementioned method embodiment. Its implementation principles and technical effects are similar and will not be described in detail here.

[0272] Figure 17 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. It is understood that the communication device can implement the operations or steps corresponding to the terminal devices in each of the aforementioned method embodiments. The communication device can be a terminal device or a component configurable in a terminal device, such as a chip or chip module. As shown in Figure 17, the communication device may include: a receiving module 1701. In one possible implementation, it also includes a processing module 1702.

[0273] The receiving module 1701 is used to receive second information, where the second information is used to indicate beam arrangement information of a service cell of a terminal device.

[0274] Optionally, the processing module 1702 is configured to perform measurement according to the beam arrangement information.

[0275] Optionally, the beam arrangement information includes at least one of the following: an ordering rule of the beams of the service cell, and width information of the beam set of the beams of the service cell.

[0276] Optionally, the sorting rule of the beams of the service cell includes an ascending sorting rule of the beam identifiers, or a descending sorting rule.

[0277] Optionally, the width information of the beam set includes the number of columns occupied by the beams in the beam set, or the number of rows occupied by the beams in the beam set.

[0278] Optionally, the processing module 1702 is specifically configured to determine a sixth beam according to the fifth beam where the terminal device is located and the beam arrangement information, and measure the fifth beam and / or the sixth beam.

[0279] Optionally, the sixth beam is an adjacent beam to the fifth beam, or the sixth beam is a beam in a beam set adjacent to the fifth beam.

[0280] Optionally, the beam set is a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block burst set SSB burst.

[0281] Optionally, the service cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell.

[0282] The communication device provided in this embodiment can execute the actions of the terminal device in the aforementioned method embodiment. Its implementation principle and technical effects are similar and will not be repeated here.

[0283] Figure 18 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. It is understood that the communication device can implement the operations or steps of the corresponding network devices in the aforementioned method embodiments. The communication device can be a network device or a component configurable in a network device, such as a chip or chip module. As shown in Figure 18, the communication device can include: a sending module 1801.

[0284] The sending module 1801 is used to send second information, where the second information is used to indicate the beam arrangement information of the service cell of the terminal device.

[0285] Optionally, the beam arrangement information includes at least one of the following: an ordering rule of the beams of the service cell, and width information of the beam set of the beams of the service cell.

[0286] Optionally, the sorting rule of the beams of the service cell includes an ascending sorting rule of the beam identifiers, or a descending sorting rule.

[0287] Optionally, the width information of the beam set includes the number of columns occupied by the beams in the beam set, or the number of rows occupied by the beams in the beam set.

[0288] Optionally, the beam set is a synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block burst set SSB burst.

[0289] Optionally, the service cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell.

[0290] The communication device provided in this embodiment can execute the actions of the network device in the aforementioned method embodiment. Its implementation principles and technical effects are similar and will not be described in detail here.

[0291] Optionally, the above-mentioned communication device may also include at least one storage module, which may include data and / or instructions. Other modules in the communication device (such as a receiving module, a sending module, a processing module, etc.) can read the data and / or instructions in the storage module to implement the corresponding method.

[0292] It should be noted that it should be understood that in each of the above embodiments, the sending module can be a transmitter when actually implemented, and the receiving module can be a receiver when actually implemented, or the sending module and the receiving module can be implemented through a transceiver, or the sending module and the receiving module can be implemented through a communication port. The processing module can be implemented in the form of software called by a processing element; it can also be implemented in the form of hardware. For example, the processing module can be at least one separately established processing element, or it can be integrated into a chip of the above-mentioned device for implementation. In addition, it can also be stored in the memory of the above-mentioned device in the form of program code, and called by a processing element of the above-mentioned device to perform the functions of the above-mentioned processing module. In addition, all or part of these modules can be integrated together, or they can be implemented independently. The processing element mentioned here can be an integrated circuit with signal processing capabilities. During implementation, each step of the above method or each of the above modules can be completed by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in the processor element or instructions in the form of software.

[0293] For example, the above modules may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, such as one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), one or more microprocessors (digital signal processors (DSPs), or one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). For another example, when a module is implemented by a processing element calling a program code, the processing element may be a general-purpose processor, such as a central processing unit (CPU) or other processor that can call a program code. For another example, these modules may be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

[0294] Figure 19 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 19, the communication device 1900 may include: at least one processor 1901. The processor 1901 is configured to implement the method executed by the aforementioned terminal device or network device.

[0295] Optionally, the communication device 1900 may further include a memory 1902. The processor 1901 is coupled to the memory 1902. The memory 1902 is configured to store instructions, and the processor 1901 is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory 1902.

[0296] Optionally, the communication device 1900 may further include a transceiver 1903. The processor 1901, transceiver 1903, and memory 1902 communicate with each other via an internal connection path. The memory 1902 is used to store instructions, and the processor 1901 is used to execute the instructions stored in the memory 1902 to control the transceiver 1903 to send and / or receive instruction information.

[0297] The communication device may be, for example, the aforementioned network device or the aforementioned terminal device.

[0298] It should be understood that the communication device may correspond to the terminal device in the above-mentioned method embodiment or the network device in the above-mentioned method embodiment. It may be used to execute the various steps and / or processes performed by the terminal device or the network device in the above-mentioned method embodiment. Optionally, the memory 1902 may include a read-only memory and a random access memory, and provide instructions and data to the processor 1901. A portion of the memory 1902 may also include a non-volatile random access memory. The memory 1902 may be a separate device or integrated into the processor 1901. The processor 1901 may be used to execute instructions stored in the memory 1902, and when the processor 1901 executes the instructions stored in the memory, the processor 1901 is used to execute the various steps and / or processes of the above-mentioned method embodiment.

[0299] The transceiver 1903 may include a transmitter and a receiver. The transceiver 1903 may further include an antenna, which may be one or more. The processor 1901, memory 1902, and transceiver 1903 may be integrated on different chips. For example, the processor 1901 and memory 1902 may be integrated in a baseband chip, and the transceiver 1903 may be integrated in a radio frequency chip. The processor 1901, memory 1902, and transceiver 1903 may also be integrated on the same chip. This application does not limit this.

[0300] Optionally, the communication device is a component configured in a terminal device or a network device, such as a chip, a chip system, etc.

[0301] The transceiver 1903 may also be a communication interface, such as an input interface and / or output interface, circuit, etc. The transceiver 1903, the processor 1901 and the memory 1902 may be integrated into the same chip, such as a baseband chip.

[0302] It should be understood that the above-mentioned communication device may be one or more chips. For example, the communication device may be a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a system on chip (SoC), a central processor unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), a digital signal processor (DSP), a microcontroller unit (MCU), a programmable logic device (PLD), or other integrated chips.

[0303] During implementation, each step of the above method can be completed by an integrated logic circuit of the hardware in the processor or by instructions in the form of software. The steps of the method disclosed in conjunction with the embodiments of the present application can be directly embodied as being executed by a hardware processor, or can be executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor. The software module can be located in a storage medium mature in the art such as a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory or an electrically erasable programmable memory, a register, etc. The storage medium is located in the memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory and completes the steps of the above method in conjunction with its hardware. To avoid repetition, it will not be described in detail here.

[0304] It should be noted that the processor in the embodiments of the present application can be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. During implementation, each step of the above method embodiment can be completed by an integrated logic circuit of the hardware in the processor or by instructions in the form of software. The above processor can be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component. The various methods, steps, and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented or executed. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or the processor can also be any conventional processor. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application can be directly embodied as being executed by a hardware decoding processor, or can be executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module can be located in a storage medium mature in the art, such as random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, or electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, etc. The storage medium is located in the memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory and completes the steps of the above method in combination with its hardware.

[0305] It is understood that the memory in the embodiments of the present application may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct RAM bus RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0306] The present application also provides a communication system, comprising a first device and a second device, wherein the first device is a terminal device in the aforementioned embodiment, and the second device is a network device in the aforementioned embodiment. The first device can implement the method performed by the terminal device in the aforementioned embodiment, and the second device can implement the method performed by the network device in the aforementioned embodiment.

[0307] The present application also provides a chip having a computer program stored thereon. When the computer program is executed by the chip, the method in the above embodiment is implemented.

[0308] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which may include: a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a disk or an optical disk, and other media that can store program codes. Specifically, the computer-readable storage medium stores program instructions, and when the program instructions are executed, the method in the above embodiment is implemented.

[0309] The present application also provides a computer program product, the program product including execution instructions, the execution instructions stored in a readable storage medium. At least one processor of a communication device can read the execution instructions from the readable storage medium, and at least one processor executes the execution instructions so that the communication device implements the communication methods provided in the various embodiments described above.

[0310] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, rather than to limit them. Although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or make equivalent replacements for some or all of the technical features therein. These modifications or replacements do not deviate the essence of the corresponding technical solutions from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: include: receiving first information, where the first information is used to instruct a terminal device to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover, the information being information corresponding to an area of ​​a serving cell or a beam of a serving cell of the terminal device; Determine whether to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover according to the first information.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first information includes a distance threshold; The determining, based on the first information, whether to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover includes: Whether to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover is determined according to the distance threshold.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The determining whether to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover according to the distance threshold includes: If the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the serving cell is greater than or equal to the distance threshold, determining that the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover; or, If the difference between the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the serving cell and the distance between the terminal device and the reference point of the adjacent cell is greater than or equal to the distance threshold, it is determined that the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that The first information is used to indicate the correspondence between the first area or the first beam and the distance threshold, the first area is a partial area within the serving cell, and the first beam is the beam of the serving cell.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that The information corresponding to the beam of the serving cell is the information corresponding to the beam set of the serving cell, and the beam set includes one or more beams.

6. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 5, characterized in that: The first information is used to indicate a distance threshold corresponding to the second beam of the serving cell; The receiving of the first information includes: The first information is received through the second beam.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first information includes information of a second area or a third beam for performing measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover of the serving cell; The determining, based on the first information, whether the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover includes: If the terminal device is located in the second area or the third beam, it is determined that the terminal device performs measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that If the first information includes information of the second area, the information of the second area includes an identifier of the second area; Alternatively, if the first information includes information of the third beam, the information of the third beam includes an identifier of the third beam.

9. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that The first information includes a bitmap, where one bit in the bitmap corresponds to one beam of the serving cell; If the value of a bit in the beam bitmap is the first value, the beam corresponding to the bit is the third beam; If the value of the bit in the beam bitmap is the second value, the beam corresponding to the bit is not the third beam.

10. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that: The first information is used to indicate whether the fourth beam in the serving cell is the third beam; The receiving of the first information includes: The first information is received through the fourth beam.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that The serving cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell.

12. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Send first information, where the first information is used to instruct the terminal device to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or switching information, and the information is information corresponding to the area of ​​the service cell of the terminal device or the beam of the service cell.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The first information includes a distance threshold, and the distance threshold is used to determine whether to perform measurement, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that The first information is used to indicate the correspondence between the first area or the first beam and the distance threshold, the first area is a partial area within the serving cell, and the first beam is the beam of the serving cell.

15. The method according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that The first information is used to indicate a distance threshold corresponding to the second beam of the serving cell; The sending of the first information includes: The first information is transmitted through the second beam.

16. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that The first information includes information of a second area or a third beam for performing measurement of the serving cell, and / or cell reselection, and / or handover.

17. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Receive second information, where the second information is used to indicate beam arrangement information of a service cell of the terminal device.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that Also includes: Measurement is performed according to the beam arrangement information.

19. The method according to claim 17 or 18, characterized in that The beam arrangement information includes at least one of the following: an ordering rule of the beams of the serving cell, and width information of a beam set of the beams of the serving cell.

20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that The sorting rule of the beams of the serving cell includes an ascending sorting rule of the beam identifiers, or a descending sorting rule.

21. The method according to claim 19 or 20, characterized in that The width information of the beam set includes the number of columns occupied by the beams in the beam set, or the number of rows occupied by the beams in the beam set.

22. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 21, characterized in that The measuring according to the beam arrangement information includes: determining a sixth beam according to the fifth beam in which the terminal device is located and the beam arrangement information; Measurement is performed on the fifth beam and / or the sixth beam.

23. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that The sixth beam is a beam adjacent to the fifth beam, or the sixth beam is a beam in a beam set adjacent to the fifth beam.

24. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 23, characterized in that: The serving cell is a non-terrestrial network NTN cell.

25. A communication method, characterized in that: include: Send second information, where the second information is used to indicate beam arrangement information of a service cell of the terminal device.

26. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that The beam arrangement information includes at least one of the following: an ordering rule of the beams of the serving cell, and width information of a beam set of the beams of the serving cell.

27. The method according to claim 26, characterized in that The sorting rule of the beams of the serving cell includes an ascending sorting rule of the beam identifiers, or a descending sorting rule.

28. The method according to claim 26 or 27, characterized in that The width information of the beam set includes the number of columns occupied by the beams in the beam set, or the number of rows occupied by the beams in the beam set.

29. A communication device, characterized in that: Comprising means for performing the method of any one of claims 1-28.

30. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that Used to store a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 28.

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