Dormant cell detection method and communication apparatus

Abstract

The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communications. Provided are a dormant cell detection method and a communication apparatus, which can trigger a management service consumer to execute the detection for dormant cells so as to realize dormant cell management, thereby improving the reliability of dormant cell detection. The method comprises: a first management device receiving first indication information from a second management device and sending a first report to the second management device, wherein the first indication information is configured to indicate the activation of detection for a dormant cell; and the first report is configured to indicate the detected dormant cell.

Description

Sleeping cell detection method and communication device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on March 29, 2024, with application number 202410385453.4 and application name “Sleeping Cell Detection Method and Communication Device”, 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 communications, and in particular to a sleeping cell detection method and a communication device. Background Art

[0003] In mobile communication systems, when a hidden software or hardware fault occurs in a cell's base station, and no equipment alarms are present, resulting in abnormal cell service, the cell is often referred to as a "sleeping cell." If a sleeping cell is not promptly detected and reported to the maintenance and monitoring platform to trigger recovery attempts, it can lead to widespread call drops and reduced cell capacity.

[0004] A common way to detect sleeping cells is to passively collect the performance indicators of the cells and determine whether the performance indicators are within the normal range. If the performance indicators are within the normal range, the cell is considered to be a non-sleeping cell. Otherwise, the cell is considered to be a sleeping cell, and the detection results need to be reported to the maintenance and monitoring platform so that the maintenance and monitoring platform can maintain the sleeping cells. Among them, the performance indicators of the cells include key performance indicators (KPIs) related to user access, such as the duration of no traffic in the cell or the access success rate in the radio resource control (RRC) phase. The system sets the KPI threshold under normal conditions through adaptive or pre-configuration. When the actual KPI of the cell is less than the threshold, the cell is considered to be in a dormant state. Otherwise, the cell is considered to be in a non-sleeping state.

[0005] During the aforementioned detection process, the base station typically proactively determines whether a cell is a sleeping cell based on a KPI threshold and reports the detection results. However, in a management service architecture, if the management service producer also uses the aforementioned KPI threshold-based detection method, it is unclear how to provide management service consumers with management service-related management services related to sleeping cell detection. Consequently, it is unclear how to implement sleeping cell detection between management service producers and management service consumers. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The embodiments of the present application provide a sleeping cell detection method and a communication device, which can realize the detection and management of sleeping cells between a management service producer and a management service consumer, thereby improving the reliability of sleeping cell detection.

[0007] To achieve the above objectives, this application adopts the following technical solutions:

[0008] In a first aspect, a sleeping cell detection method is provided. The method can be executed by a first management device, or by a component of the first management device, such as a processor, chip, or chip system of the first management device, or by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the first management device. The following is an example of the method being executed by the first management device. The method includes: the first management device receives first indication information from the second management device, and the first indication information is used to indicate the start of detection of sleeping cells. The first management device sends a first report to the second management device, and the first report is used to indicate the detected sleeping cells.

[0009] Based on this method, the first management device, as a management service producer, can trigger the detection of sleeping cells according to the first indication information sent by the second management device, as a management service consumer, and report the first report to the second management device to indicate the detection status of the sleeping cells, thereby providing management services to the second management device, so that the second management device manages the detected sleeping cells according to the first report, thereby improving the reliability of detection.

[0010] In a possible design scheme, the first report may include a detection result, and the detection result may include at least one of the following: cell information of the sleeping cell, and a detection rule type used when detecting that the cell is a sleeping cell.

[0011] In one possible design, the method described in the first aspect may further include: the first management device receiving a first policy from the second management device, the first policy being used to determine whether a cell is a sleeping cell. Thus, the first management device may determine whether a cell is a sleeping cell based on the detection policy issued by the second management device.

[0012] In one possible design, the first policy may include a detection rule type, a detection threshold, and a detection time period.

[0013] In one possible design, the detection rule types may include at least one of the following: MSG1 failure detection, MSG3 failure detection, random access channel (RACH) access failure detection, or radio resource control (RRC) access failure detection. Thus, by developing detection rules based on detecting abnormalities in the random access and RRC connection procedures of a terminal device within each cell, detection accuracy can be improved.

[0014] In one possible design, the detection threshold may include at least one of the following: a MSG1 threshold, an MSG3 threshold, a RACH access failure threshold, or an RRC access failure threshold. The RACH access failure threshold may include an MSG1 threshold and an MSG3 threshold, and the RRC access failure threshold may include an MSG3 threshold and an MSG5 threshold. Different MSG messages may have different corresponding thresholds based on different detection rule types.

[0015] In one possible design, the method described in the first aspect may further include: the first management device receiving first information from the second management device, where the first information is used to indicate a detection range of a sleeping cell. Thus, the detection range for the first management device to perform sleeping cell detection may be configured by the second management device.

[0016] In one possible design, the method described in the first aspect may further include: the first management device receiving second indication information from the second management device, where the first indication information is used to indicate initiation of recovery of the sleeping cell. Thus, the first management device can not only trigger detection of the sleeping cell, but also perform recovery processing on the detected sleeping cell, restoring the sleeping cell to a normal cell, allowing users within the cell to access normally.

[0017] In a possible design scheme, the method described in the first aspect may further include: the first management device receives a second strategy from the second management device, where the second strategy is used to restore the sleeping cell to a normal cell.

[0018] In one possible design scheme, the second strategy may include at least one of the following: cell resource reset, base station hardware reset, or neighboring cell compensation.

[0019] In one possible design scheme, cell resource reset may include at least one of the following: cell restart, configuration rollback, or software rollback; base station hardware reset may include at least one of the following: radio frequency remote unit RRU restart, baseband restart, or master control restart; neighboring cell compensation may include at least one of the following: neighboring cell tilt angle increase, neighboring cell power increase, or migration of user configuration to a neighboring cell.

[0020] In one possible design scheme, the first report is also used to indicate whether the sleeping cell is restored to a normal cell.

[0021] In one possible design, the first report may further include a recovery result, which may include whether the sleeping cell is restored to a normal cell and a strategy used to restore the sleeping cell to a normal cell.

[0022] In a second aspect, a sleeping cell detection method is provided. The method can be executed by a second management device, or by a component of the second management device, such as a processor, chip, or chip system of the second management device, or by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the second management device. The following is an example of the method being executed by the second management device. The method includes: the second management device sends a first indication message to the first management device, the first indication message is used to indicate the start of sleeping cell detection. The second management device receives a first report from the first management device, the first report is used to indicate the detected sleeping cell.

[0023] In a possible design scheme, the first report may include a detection result, and the detection result may include at least one of the following: cell information of the sleeping cell, and a detection rule type used when detecting that the cell is a sleeping cell.

[0024] In a possible design scheme, the method described in the second aspect may further include: the second management device sends a first policy to the first management device, where the first policy is used to determine whether the cell is a sleeping cell.

[0025] In one possible design, the first policy may include a detection rule type, a detection threshold, and a detection time period.

[0026] In one possible design, the detection rule types may include at least one of the following: failure detection of MSG1, failure detection of MSG3, failure detection of random access channel RACH access failure, or failure detection of radio resource control RRC access failure.

[0027] In one possible design, the detection threshold may include at least one of the following: a threshold for MSG1, a threshold for MSG3, a threshold for RACH access failure, or a threshold for RRC access failure.

[0028] In a possible design scheme, the method described in the second aspect may further include: the second management device sends first information to the first management device, where the first information is used to indicate a detection range of the sleeping cell.

[0029] In a possible design scheme, the method described in the second aspect may further include: the second management device sends second indication information to the first management device, where the first indication information is used to instruct to start recovery of the sleeping cell.

[0030] In a possible design scheme, the method described in the second aspect may further include: the second management device sends a second policy to the first management device, where the second policy is used to restore the sleeping cell to a normal cell.

[0031] In one possible design scheme, the second strategy may include at least one of the following: cell resource reset, base station hardware reset, or neighboring cell compensation.

[0032] In one possible design scheme, cell resource reset may include at least one of the following: cell restart, configuration rollback, or software rollback; base station hardware reset may include at least one of the following: radio frequency remote unit RRU restart, baseband restart, or master control restart; neighboring cell compensation may include at least one of the following: neighboring cell tilt angle increase, neighboring cell power increase, or migration of user configuration to a neighboring cell.

[0033] In one possible design scheme, the first report is also used to indicate whether the sleeping cell is restored to a normal cell.

[0034] In one possible design, the first report may further include a recovery result, which may include whether the sleeping cell is restored to a normal cell and a strategy used to restore the sleeping cell to a normal cell.

[0035] Among them, the technical effects of the method described in the second aspect can refer to the relevant description of the technical effects of the method described in the first aspect above, and will not be elaborated on here.

[0036] In a third aspect, a communication device is provided for implementing the various methods described above. The communication device may be the first management device described in the first aspect, or a device comprising the first management device, or a device included in the first management device, such as a chip. The communication device includes corresponding modules, units, or means for implementing the method described in the first aspect, and the modules, units, or means may be implemented by hardware, software, or by executing corresponding software implementations through hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above functions.

[0037] In some possible designs, the communication device includes: a processing module and a transceiver module. The transceiver module is configured to receive first indication information from a second management device, the first indication information being used to instruct the initiation of detection of sleeping cells. The processing module is configured to control the transceiver module to send a first report to the second management device, the first report being used to indicate a detected sleeping cell. For a more detailed description of the communication device, reference may be made to the description of the relevant method in the first aspect.

[0038] In one possible design solution, the transceiver module may include a receiving module and a sending module, wherein the sending module is used to implement the sending function of the communication device described in the third aspect, and the receiving module is used to implement the receiving function of the communication device described in the third aspect.

[0039] In one possible design solution, the communication device described in the third aspect may further include a storage module, wherein the storage module stores a program or instruction. When the processing module executes the program or instruction, the communication device described in the third aspect can execute the method described in the first aspect.

[0040] In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided for implementing the various methods described above. The communication device may be the second management device described in the second aspect, or a device comprising the second management device, or a device included in the second management device, such as a chip. The communication device includes corresponding modules, units, or means for implementing the method described in the second aspect, and the modules, units, or means may be implemented by hardware, software, or by executing corresponding software implementations through hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above functions.

[0041] In some possible designs, the communication device includes: a processing module and a transceiver module. The processing module is configured to control the transceiver module to send first indication information to a first management device, the first indication information being used to instruct the initiation of sleeping cell detection. The transceiver module is configured to receive a first report from the first management device, the first report being used to indicate a detected sleeping cell. For a more detailed description of the communication device, reference can be made to the description of the relevant method in the second aspect.

[0042] In one possible design solution, the transceiver module may include a receiving module and a sending module, wherein the sending module is used to implement the sending function of the communication device described in the fourth aspect, and the receiving module is used to implement the receiving function of the communication device described in the fourth aspect.

[0043] In one possible design solution, the communication device described in the fourth aspect may further include a storage module, wherein the storage module stores a program or instruction. When the processing module executes the program or instruction, the communication device described in the fourth aspect can execute the method described in the second aspect.

[0044] In one possible design solution, the communication device described in the fourth aspect may further include a storage module, wherein the storage module stores a program or instruction. When the processing module executes the program or instruction, the communication device described in the fourth aspect can execute the method described in the second aspect.

[0045] In a fifth aspect, a communication device (for example, the communication device may be a chip or a chip system) is provided. The communication device includes: a processor configured to implement the functions involved in any of the above aspects.

[0046] In one possible design, the communication device may further include a memory for storing necessary program instructions and data. A processor is coupled to the memory, and the processor is configured to execute the computer program or instructions stored in the memory, causing the communication device to perform the method described in any possible implementation of the first or second aspect.

[0047] In one possible design solution, the communication device described in the fifth aspect may further include a transceiver. The transceiver may be a transceiver circuit or an interface circuit. The transceiver may be used for the communication device described in the fifth aspect to communicate with other communication devices.

[0048] In one possible design, the processor can be integrated with the memory.

[0049] In some possible designs, when the device is a chip system, it can be composed of a chip or include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0050] In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, which includes a processor and an interface circuit, the interface circuit being used to receive signals from other communication devices outside the communication device and transmit them to the processor or send signals from the processor to other communication devices outside the communication device, and the processor being used to implement the method described in any possible implementation method of the first aspect or the second aspect through a logic circuit or executing code instructions.

[0051] It can be understood that when the communication device provided in either the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect is a chip, the above-mentioned sending action / function can be understood as output, and the above-mentioned receiving action / function can be understood as input.

[0052] In a seventh aspect, a communication chip is provided, in which instructions are stored. When the chip is run on a communication device, the method described in either the first aspect or the second aspect is implemented.

[0053] In an eighth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer-readable storage medium is run on a communication device, the communication device can execute the method described in any one of the first or second aspects above.

[0054] In a ninth aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, including computer program code, which enables the communication device to execute the method described in any one of the first or second aspects above when the computer program code is run on the communication device.

[0055] In a tenth aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising: a first management device for implementing the method described in the first aspect above, and a second management device for implementing the method described in the second aspect above. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0056] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0057] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a management function entity applicable to a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0058] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a service-oriented management architecture applicable to a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0059] FIG4 is a schematic flow chart of a sleeping cell detection method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0060] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of an access process between a terminal device and an access network device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0061] FIG6 is a flow chart of another sleeping cell detection method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0062] FIG7 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0063] FIG8 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0064] The embodiments of the present application will present various aspects, embodiments, or features around a system that may include multiple devices, components, modules, etc. It should be understood and appreciated that each system may include additional devices, components, modules, etc., and / or may not include all of the devices, components, modules, etc. discussed in conjunction with the figures. Furthermore, combinations of these solutions may also be used.

[0065] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as second-generation (2G) mobile communication systems, such as global system for mobile communication (GSM), third-generation (3G) mobile communication systems, such as universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), fourth-generation (4G) mobile communication systems, such as long-term evolution (LTE) systems, fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication systems, such as new radio (NR) systems, and future communication systems, such as sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication systems.

[0066] For ease of understanding, the technical terms involved in the embodiments of this application are first introduced below.

[0067] Sleeping cell (Sleeping cell, SLC): The cell status is normal, and there are no related equipment-side alarms, but the terminal devices under the cell coverage cannot access the service normally. For example, the terminal devices at the center or edge of the cell cannot establish an RRC connection. At this time, the base station corresponding to the cell may have a system implicit fault (IF), causing the cell to fail. Although the cell status is normal, the terminal device cannot access and provide services. This cell is called a sleeping cell. The sleeping cell can also be called a dormant cell, a failed cell, etc., without limitation. Among them, the system implicit fault (IF) refers to a hardware or software failure mode generated by the equipment, and the mode is beyond the scope of the system's detection, alarm, or self-healing (SH) capabilities, and the system does not reflect any abnormal information to the outside.

[0068] In LTE and NR systems, sleeping cell detection has always been an issue that requires research. Software bugs or hardware failures cannot be completely avoided in the system. Currently, the following are possible causes of sleeping cells:

[0069] (1) Cell or sector failure caused by physical channel failure: This is caused by problems with the common channel or physical channel, such as access failure caused by abnormalities in the uplink random access channel (RACH).

[0070] (2) Failure of the entire cell or sector due to software or hardware: For example, cell link failure caused by hardware failure (such as remote radio unit (RRU) failure, baseband board failure, common public radio interface (CPRI) interface failure, feeder failure, etc.).

[0071] When the above problems occur, if the sleeping cell cannot be detected in time and the alarm cannot be presented to the maintenance and monitoring platform in a timely manner, the following problems will occur:

[0072] (1) User call drops: After a cell fails, users within the cell coverage will experience call drops, and users in neighboring areas will also experience handover failures when switching to the sleeping cell.

[0073] (2) Capacity reduction: After a cell fails, the sleeping cell may no longer provide services to users, so the cell capacity will be reduced or even zero.

[0074] At present, a common way to detect sleeping cells is to passively collect the performance indicators of the cells and determine whether the performance indicators are within the normal range. If the performance indicators are within the normal range, the cell is considered to be a non-sleeping cell. Otherwise, the cell is considered to be a sleeping cell, and the detection results need to be reported to the maintenance and monitoring platform so that the maintenance and monitoring platform can maintain the sleeping cells. Among them, the performance indicators of the cell include KPIs related to user access, such as the duration of no traffic in the cell, the access success rate in the RACH or RRC stage, etc. The system sets the KPI threshold under normal conditions through adaptive or pre-configuration. When the actual KPI of the cell is less than the threshold, the cell is considered to be in a dormant state. Otherwise, the cell is considered to be in a non-sleeping state.

[0075] In the aforementioned detection process, the base station typically proactively determines whether a cell is a sleeping cell based on a KPI threshold and reports the detection results. However, in a management service architecture, if the management service producer also uses the aforementioned KPI threshold-based detection method, it is unclear how to provide management service consumers with management service-related management services related to sleeping cell detection. Therefore, it is unclear how to implement sleeping cell detection between management service producers and management service consumers.

[0076] To this end, an embodiment of the present application provides a sleeping cell detection method, which can implement sleeping cell detection and management between a management service producer and a management service consumer.

[0077] In order to better understand the embodiments of the present application, the following explanations are made before introducing the embodiments of the present application.

[0078] First, in the embodiments of the present application, "used to indicate" can include being used for direct indication and being used for indirect indication. When describing a certain "indication information" as being used to indicate A, it can include the indication information directly indicating A or indirectly indicating A, and does not necessarily mean that the indication information carries A.

[0079] The information indicated by the indication information is called the information to be indicated. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the information to be indicated, such as but not limited to, directly indicating the information to be indicated, such as the information to be indicated itself or the index of the information to be indicated. The information to be indicated can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, wherein there is an association between the other information and the information to be indicated. It is also possible to indicate only a part of the information to be indicated, while the other parts of the information to be indicated are known or agreed in advance. For example, it is also possible to use the arrangement order of each piece of information agreed in advance (such as specified in the protocol) to achieve the indication of specific information, thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent. At the same time, it is also possible to identify the common parts of each piece of information and indicate them uniformly to reduce the indication overhead caused by indicating the same information separately.

[0080] In addition, the specific indication method can also be various existing indication methods, such as but not limited to the above-mentioned indication methods and various combinations thereof. The specific details of the various indication methods can be referred to the prior art and will not be repeated herein. As can be seen from the above, for example, when it is necessary to indicate multiple information of the same type, there may be a situation where the indication methods for different information are different. In the specific implementation process, the required indication method can be selected according to specific needs. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the selected indication method. In this way, the indication method involved in the embodiment of the present application should be understood to cover various methods that can enable the party to be indicated to obtain the information to be indicated.

[0081] The information to be indicated can be sent as a whole, or divided into multiple sub-information and sent separately, and the sending period and / or sending time of these sub-information can be the same or different. The specific sending method is not limited in this application. Among them, the sending period and / or sending time of these sub-information can be predefined, for example, predefined according to the protocol, or configured by the transmitting device by sending configuration information to the receiving device. Among them, the configuration information can be, for example, but not limited to, including one or a combination of at least two of RRC signaling, media access control (MAC) layer signaling and physical layer signaling, or through a service management interface (such as a northbound interface). Among them, MAC layer signaling, for example, includes MAC-control element (CE); physical (PHY) layer signaling, for example, includes downlink control information (DCI).

[0082] Second, in the embodiments of the present application, the first, second, and various numerical numbers are merely distinctions for ease of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. For example, different indication information is distinguished. For another example, the first indication information and the second indication information are merely for distinguishing different indication information and do not limit their order. Those skilled in the art will understand that words such as "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity and execution order, and words such as "first" and "second" do not necessarily limit them to be different.

[0083] Third, in the embodiments of the present application, descriptions such as "when...", "in the case of...", "if" and "if" all mean that the device (such as a terminal device or an access network device) will make corresponding processing under certain objective circumstances. It does not limit the time, and does not require the device (such as a terminal device or an access network device) to have a judgment action when implementing it, nor does it mean that there are other limitations.

[0084] At the same time, in the embodiments of this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of this application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than 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 to facilitate understanding.

[0085] Finally, the network architecture and business scenarios described in the embodiments of this application are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application. Ordinary technicians in this field can know that with the evolution of network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0086] Please refer to Figure 1, which is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system used in an embodiment of the present application. As an example, as shown in Figure 1, the communication system includes: a first management device and a second management device. The first management device can provide management services to the second management device, and the first management device and the second management device can communicate directly or indirectly, without limitation.

[0087] The first management device, as a management service (MnS) producer (MnS Producer), can be used to detect sleeping cells, restore sleeping cells to normal cells, report detection results, report restoration results, and so on.

[0088] The second management device serves as a management service consumer (MnS Consumer), and is used to issue a sleeping cell detection switch, a sleeping cell detection strategy, a sleeping cell recovery switch, and a sleeping cell recovery strategy, and maintain the sleeping cell according to the detection results and recovery results.

[0089] In some scenarios, the first management device may be a device corresponding to an operator, and the second management device may be a device corresponding to a manufacturer that has signed a contract with the operator.

[0090] In this embodiment of the present application, the second management device sends first instruction information to the first management device, instructing it to start detecting sleeping cells, thereby triggering the first management device to perform sleeping cell detection. The second management device can then maintain and manage the sleeping cells based on the detection results reported by the first management device. Thus, the second management device can manage the first management device's execution of sleeping cell detection.

[0091] In some embodiments, the first management device and the second management device may be management entities defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as the management function (MnF) shown in FIG2 , whose externally visible behavior and interface are defined as a management service (MnS). In a service-based management architecture, the MnF acts as a management service producer (MnS Producer) or a management service consumer (MnS Consumer). As a management service producer, the MnF may produce management services that have multiple management service consumers. As a management service consumer, the MnF may consume multiple management services from one or more management service producers.

[0092] Furthermore, an embodiment of the present application also provides a schematic diagram of a service-oriented management architecture applicable to the communication system shown in Figure 1. As shown in Figure 3, the service-oriented management architecture includes a business support system (BSS), a cross-domain management function (CD-MnF), a domain management function (D-MnF), and a network element. Among them, the interface between the CD-MnF and the D-MnF can be called a northbound interface, the interface between the D-MnF and the network element can be called a southbound interface, the CD-MnF can be the above-mentioned second management device, and the D-MnF can be the above-mentioned first management device.

[0093] It should be understood that the cross-domain management functional unit can be a node such as the northbound management system (NMS), MnS Producer, MnS Consumer, etc., and the domain management functional unit can be a node such as the element management system (EMS), MAE, MnS Producer, MnS Consumer, etc.

[0094] If the management service is a management service provided by a cross-domain management functional unit, the cross-domain management functional unit is the management service producer, and the business support system is the management service consumer.

[0095] If the management service is a management service provided by a domain management functional unit, the domain management functional unit is the management service producer, and the cross-domain management functional unit is the management service consumer.

[0096] When the management service is a management service provided by a network element, the network element is the management service producer and the domain management functional unit is the management service consumer.

[0097] Business support systems (BSSs) are oriented towards communications services and provide functions and management services such as billing, settlement, accounting, customer service, sales, network monitoring, communications service lifecycle management, and business intent translation. BSSs can be either carrier operations systems or vertical industry operations systems (OT systems).

[0098] The cross-domain management function unit, also known as the network management function unit (NMF), can be a network management entity such as a network management system (NMS) or a network function management service consumer (NFMS_C). The cross-domain management function unit provides one or more of the following management functions or services: network lifecycle management, network deployment, network fault management, network performance management, network configuration management, network assurance, network optimization, and translation of service producer's network intent (intent from communication service provider, Intent-CSP).

[0099] Among them, the network referred to in the above-mentioned management function or management service may include one or more network elements or subnetworks, or a network slice. That is to say, the network management function unit may be a network slice management function unit (NSMF), or a cross-domain management data analytical function unit (MDAF), or a cross-domain self-organization network function (SON Function) or a cross-domain intent driven management service (MnS).

[0100] Optionally, in certain deployment scenarios, the cross-domain management functional unit can also provide sub-network lifecycle management, sub-network deployment, sub-network fault management, sub-network performance management, sub-network configuration management, sub-network assurance, sub-network optimization functions, sub-network service producer network intent (Intent-CSP) or sub-network service consumer network intent (Intent from communication service consumer, Intent-CSC) translation, etc. The sub-network here consists of multiple small sub-networks, which can be network slicing sub-networks.

[0101] The domain management function (Domain-MnF) can also be called a sub-network management function (NMF) or a network element management function. For example, the domain management function can be a network element management entity such as a wireless automation engine (MAE), an element management system (EMS), or a network function management service provider (NFMS_P).

[0102] The domain management functional unit provides one or more of the following functions or management services: lifecycle management of sub-networks or network elements, deployment of sub-networks or network elements, fault management of sub-networks or network elements, performance management of sub-networks or network elements, assurance of sub-networks or network elements, optimization of sub-networks or network elements, and translation of intents from network operators (Intent-NOPs) for sub-networks or network elements. A sub-network here includes one or more network elements. A sub-network may also include sub-networks, i.e., one or more sub-networks form a larger sub-network.

[0103] Optionally, the subnetwork here can also be a network slice subnetwork. The domain management system can be a network slice subnet management function unit (NSSMF), a domain management data analytical function unit (Domain MDAF), a domain self-organization network function (SON Function), a domain intent management function unit Intent Driven MnS, etc.

[0104] The domain management functional units can be classified as follows:

[0105] Based on network type, they can be divided into: radio access network domain management function (RAN-Domain-MnF), core network domain management function (CN-Domain-MnF), transport network domain management function (TN-Domain-MnF), etc. It should be noted that the domain management function unit can also be a domain network management system that can manage one or more of the access network, core network, or transport network.

[0106] According to administrative region classification, it can be divided into: domain management functional units of a certain region, such as Shanghai domain management functional unit, Beijing domain management functional unit, etc.

[0107] Network elements are entities that provide network services, including core network elements and access network equipment. Core network elements include: access and mobility management function (AMF), session management function (SMF), policy control function (PCF), network data analytical function (NWDAF), network repository function (NRF), and gateways. Access network elements include: base stations (such as gNBs and eNBs), central unit control plane (CUCP), central unit (CU), distributed unit (DU), and central unit user plane (CUUP).

[0108] Among them, the network element can provide one or more of the following management functions or management services: network element lifecycle management, network element deployment, network element fault management, network element performance management, network element assurance, network element optimization function and network element intent translation, etc.

[0109] It should be understood that the names of nodes, modules, devices or network elements in different scenarios or architectures or systems, as well as the names of communication interfaces between nodes, modules, devices or network elements are given as examples in the embodiments of the present application, and the possibility of name changes in future communication systems, scenarios or architectures is not excluded.

[0110] The sleeping cell detection method provided in the embodiment of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 4 to FIG. 6 .

[0111] For example, FIG4 is a flow chart of a sleeping cell detection method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The sleeping cell detection method is illustrated by taking the communication between the first management device and the second management device shown in FIG1 as an example. Of course, the subject that executes the action of the first management device in the method can also be a device / module in the first management device, such as a chip, processor, processing unit, etc. in the first management device; the subject that executes the action of the second management device in the method can also be a device / module in the second management device, such as a chip, processor, processing unit, etc. in the second management device, and the embodiment of the present application does not make specific limitations on this.

[0112] As shown in FIG4 , the sleeping cell detection method includes:

[0113] S401: A second management device sends first indication information to a first management device. Correspondingly, the first management device receives the first indication information from the second management device.

[0114] Among them, the first indication information is used to indicate the start of detection of sleeping cells, which can be considered as the enabling information of sleeping cell detection. Exemplarily, the first indication information can be indicated by 1 bit, and the bit value of 1 can be used to indicate the start of detection of sleeping cells, or the bit value of 0 can be used to indicate the start of detection of sleeping cells, and there is no limitation on this. It should be understood that when the bit value is 1 and is used to indicate the start of detection, the bit value of 0 can be used to indicate the stop of detection of sleeping cells or the non-start of detection of sleeping cells; when the bit value of 0 is used to indicate the start of detection, the bit value of 1 can be used to indicate the stop of detection of sleeping cells or the non-start of detection of sleeping cells, or true or false can be used to indicate on and off.

[0115] In one possible design, the first indication information may be information used to trigger the activation of the sleeping cell detection capability of the first management device or access network device. At this time, it can be considered that the first management device or access network device enables the sleeping cell detection function according to the first indication information and can start detecting sleeping cells.

[0116] In some embodiments, the first indication information may be used to instruct the first management device to enable detection of sleeping cells. That is, the second management device triggers the first management device to initiate detection of sleeping cells by sending the first indication information, which is equivalent to enabling the sleeping cell detection function of the first management device.

[0117] In this embodiment, after receiving the first indication information, the first management device can start the detection of the cell, determine which cells are sleeping cells, and generate a detection result based on the judgment result. The detection result may include the cell information of the sleeping cell, and / or the detection rule type used to detect the cell as a sleeping cell. Among them, the cell information of the sleeping cell can be a cell identifier, such as the physical cell identifier (PCI) of the cell, or the global cell identifier (CGI); the detection rule type used to detect the cell as a sleeping cell is used to indicate the detection rule or detection strategy used to determine that the cell is a sleeping cell.

[0118] In other embodiments, the first indication information may be used to instruct an access network device to enable detection of sleeping cells, or to instruct a first management device to trigger an access network device to initiate detection of sleeping cells. In other words, after receiving the first indication information, the first management device may send indication information to the access network device it manages, instructing the access network device to enable detection of sleeping cells, thereby triggering the access network device to initiate detection of sleeping cells, which is equivalent to enabling the sleeping cell detection function of the access network device.

[0119] In the case where the first indication information is used to instruct the access network device to start detection of the sleeping cell, the indication information used to instruct the access network device to start detection of the sleeping cell can be the first indication information. At this time, it can be considered that the first indication information is forwarded by the first management device to the access network device.

[0120] In this embodiment, the first management device may have jurisdiction over multiple access network devices and may trigger each access network device or some of the access network devices under its jurisdiction to initiate the sleeping cell detection function. Accordingly, upon receiving the indication information, the access network device may initiate detection of the corresponding cell, determine which cells in the jurisdiction are sleeping cells, obtain a detection result based on the determination result, and send the detection result to the first management device in the form of a first report, which is then aggregated and forwarded or directly forwarded to the second management device. The specific description of the detection result can be found in the above-mentioned related description and is not repeated here.

[0121] As can be seen from the above, the first indication information can trigger the first management device or access network device to enable the sleeping cell detection function or capability.

[0122] In another possible design, the first indication information may be information used to instruct the first management device or access network device to start sleeping cell detection for cells in a specific area. At this time, the first indication information may include a detection range for sleeping cell detection. It can be considered that the first management device or access network device already has the sleeping cell detection capability, but it is necessary to start the detection of sleeping cells based on the first indication information.

[0123] In one possible design, the detection rules or detection strategies used by the first management device or access network device to detect sleeping cells may be configured and issued by the second management device.

[0124] In this design, one possible implementation method is that the second management device can send a first policy to the first management device, and the first management device accordingly receives the first policy from the second management device. The first policy is used to determine whether a cell is a sleeping cell, that is, to determine whether there are sleeping cells among the detected cells. The first policy can also be referred to as a detection policy, which is not limited to this. Thus, the first management device can determine which cells among the currently detected cells are sleeping cells based on the first policy.

[0125] In some embodiments, the second management device may not send the first indication information to the first management device, and the first management device may trigger the detection of the sleeping cell according to the first policy sent by the second management device. Similar to the above, the first management device triggering the detection of the sleeping cell according to the first policy includes two scenarios: the first management device locally starts the detection of the sleeping cell according to the first policy, and triggers the access network device to start the detection of the sleeping cell according to the first policy. At this time, the first policy can also be used to indicate the start of the first management device or the access network device to detect the sleeping cell.

[0126] It should be understood that, when the access network device performs sleeping cell detection, the first policy may be forwarded to the access network device by the first management device.

[0127] The first policy may include a detection rule type, a detection threshold, and a detection time period.

[0128] The detection rule type is a detection method for detecting whether a cell is a sleeping cell. The detection rule type may include at least one of the following: failure detection of message (MSG) MSG1, failure detection of MSG3, failure detection of RACH access failure, or failure detection of RRC access failure.

[0129] Among them, the failure detection of MSG1, that is, the failure detection of random access request (Random Access Preamble), refers to judging whether the cell is a sleeping cell based on the reception status of MSG1 in the cell, such as detecting whether the access network device receives MSG1 sent by a terminal device in a cell within the detection time period, and judging whether the cell is a sleeping cell based on the number of MSG1 received within the detection time period.

[0130] MSG3 failure detection, also known as RRC Connection Request failure detection, refers to determining whether a cell is a sleeping cell based on the reception of MSG3 in the cell. For example, within a detection period, it detects whether the access network device receives MSG3 sent by a terminal device in a cell, and determines whether the cell is a sleeping cell based on the number of MSG3s received within the detection period.

[0131] Failure detection of RACH access failure refers to judging whether a cell is a sleeping cell based on the reception of MSG1 and the sending of MSG2, i.e., Random Access Response, in the cell. For example, the number of MSG1 received and the response and number of MSG2 within the detection time period are used to determine the number of RRC connections initiated by terminal devices in the cell, i.e., MSG3, so as to judge whether the cell is a sleeping cell.

[0132] When a terminal device accesses a cell, as shown in Figure 5, after receiving MSG1, the access network device will definitely send back MSG3 to the terminal device. If the current cell becomes a dormant cell due to a hidden fault in the access network device, the access network device cannot determine whether it successfully sent the generated MSG2. However, the number of MSG3s received from the terminal device can be used to determine whether the access network device is sending MSG2 normally within the cell. Therefore, RACH access failure detection can determine whether the cell is a dormant cell based on the reception status of MSG1 and MSG2 within the cell.

[0133] Failure detection of RRC access failure refers to judging whether a cell is a sleeping cell based on the RRC connection completion status of the terminal equipment in the cell. For example, the number of MSG3 received and the number of MSG4 sent, i.e., RRC Connection Setup, within the detection time period is used to determine the number of MSG5 sent by the terminal equipment in the cell, i.e., RRC Connection Setup Complete, so as to judge whether the cell is a sleeping cell.

[0134] During the process of establishing a connection between a terminal device and a cell, as shown in Figure 5, similar to the failure detection for RACH access failure described above, after receiving MSG3, the access network device will definitely feedback MSG4 to the terminal device. If the current cell becomes a sleeping cell due to a hidden failure in the access network device, it is impossible to know whether the access network device successfully sent the generated MSG4. However, the number of MSG5s received from the terminal device can be used to determine whether the access network device is normally sending MSG3 in the cell. Therefore, failure detection for RACH access failure can determine whether the cell is a sleeping cell based on the reception status of MSG3 and MSG5 in the cell.

[0135] In the embodiment of the present application, the detection rule type configured by the second management device can be any one of the above, or a combination of two or more of the above detection rule types, such as failure detection of MSG1 + failure detection of MSG3, which is not limited to this.

[0136] It should be understood that when the first management device initiates the detection of sleeping cells, when performing the sleeping cell detection using the above-mentioned detection rule type, the cell detection data used by the first management device to determine which cells are sleeping cells (such as the number of MSG1 and the number of MSG3 mentioned above) can be reported by the access network equipment under its jurisdiction.

[0137] The detection threshold is a judgment threshold set for the detection parameters involved in the above-mentioned detection rule type. The detection threshold may include at least one of the following: an MSG1 threshold, an MSG3 threshold, a RACH access failure threshold, or an RRC access failure threshold. In some possible implementations, the detection threshold may be determined by the second management device based on historical cell data or by other means, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

[0138] When the detection rule type is failure detection of MSG1, its detection threshold can be the threshold of MSG1, wherein the threshold of MSG1 can be set to a first threshold, at which point the first threshold is usually 0, that is, the access network device has not received MSG1 sent from a terminal device in a certain cell for a long time, and it can be preliminarily considered that the cell is a sleeping cell. Optionally, since the failure to receive MSG1 from a terminal device in a certain cell for a long time may be due to the fact that no terminal device in the cell itself initiated random access during the time period, in order to avoid misjudgment, when the detection rule type is failure detection of MSG1, the first management device can further determine whether the cell is a sleeping cell by combining the detection of internal faults in the manufacturer's customized software and hardware.

[0139] At this time, the sleeping cell may be a cell that meets the following conditions: the number of MSG1s in the cell within the detection time period is the first threshold (0). Optionally, when the sleeping cell meets the above conditions, it can be further judged based on whether there is a manufacturer-customized software or hardware internal fault.

[0140] When the detection rule type is failure detection of MSG3, its detection threshold can be the threshold of MSG3, wherein the threshold of MSG3 can be set to the second threshold, at which point the second threshold is usually 0, that is, the access network device has not received MSG3 sent from a terminal device in a certain cell for a long time, and it can be preliminarily considered that the cell is a sleeping cell. Similar to the failure detection of MSG1 mentioned above, since MSG3 has not been received from a terminal device in a certain cell for a long time, it may be because no terminal device in the cell itself initiated an RRC connection request during this time period. In order to avoid misjudgment, the first management device can also combine the detection of internal faults in the manufacturer's customized software and hardware to further determine whether the cell is a sleeping cell.

[0141] At this time, the sleeping cell may be a cell that meets the following conditions: the number of MSG3s in the cell within the detection time period is the second threshold (0) and there is a manufacturer-defined software or hardware internal fault.

[0142] When the detection rule type is failure detection of RACH access failure, since the failure detection of RACH access failure is performed by detecting the reception conditions of MSG1 and MSG3, the threshold of RACH access failure may include a threshold of MSG1 and a threshold of MSG3. The threshold of MSG1 may be set to a third threshold, and the threshold of MSG3 may be set to a fourth threshold. In this case, the third threshold is usually not 0 and is represented by X1, and the fourth threshold is usually 0.

[0143] Among them, the third threshold value can be obtained by the second management device by customizing the rule algorithm, taking into account the situation where the number of MSG1 decreases due to normal no-traffic scenarios, the situation where the number of MSG1 increases due to typical failure modes unique to air interface wireless signals (such as interference, false alarms and other special scenarios). For example, the second management device can first adaptively learn (such as using sigma / boxplot analysis methods) a larger threshold value as the initial third threshold value based on the KPI characteristics of no traffic due to failures and no traffic due to real no users, which can eliminate false detections in real no-user scenarios. Furthermore, the second management device can optimize the initial third threshold value in combination with the customized algorithm for typical failure modes unique to air interface wireless signals to obtain the third threshold value finally used.

[0144] At this time, the sleeping cell may be a cell that meets the following conditions: within the detection time period, the number of MSG1 in the cell is greater than the third threshold and the number of MSG3 is the fourth threshold (0).

[0145] When the detection rule type is failure detection of RRC access failure, since the failure detection of RRC access failure is performed by detecting the reception status of MSG3 and MSG5, the threshold of RRC access failure may include the threshold of MSG3 and the threshold of MSG5. The threshold of MSG3 may be set to the fifth threshold, and the threshold of MSG5 may be set to the sixth threshold. In this case, the fifth threshold is usually not 0, represented by X2, and the sixth threshold is usually 0. The fifth threshold may also be obtained by adaptive learning by the second management device based on historical data of the cell (such as historical traffic data and historical fault data), for example, by analyzing and calculating the historical data of the cell using a sigma / boxplot analysis method to determine the fifth threshold.

[0146] At this time, the sleeping cell may be a cell that meets the following conditions: the number of MSG3 in the cell is greater than the fifth threshold and the number of MSG5 is the sixth threshold (0) within the detection period.

[0147] It should be understood that when the detection rule types include at least two of the above, the configured detection threshold also includes the detection thresholds corresponding to the at least two detection rule types. Exemplarily, the detection rule types include the four detection rule types mentioned above, then the detection thresholds may include the first to sixth thresholds mentioned above, and the sleeping cell may be a cell that meets at least one of the following conditions: the number of MSG1s in the cell is 0 during the detection time period, the number of MSG1s is greater than X1 and the number of MSG3s is 0, the number of MSG3s is 0, or the number of MSG3s is greater than X2 and the number of MSG5s is 0, which can be expressed as {MSG1=0, MSG1>X1&MSG3=0, MSG3>X3&MSG5=0}.

[0148] The detection period is a configured time range for performing sleeping cell detection based on the detection rule type and detection threshold. Sleeping cell detection ceases at the end of the detection period. The detection period can be configured as a start time + duration, such as a timer. Thus, the first management device or access network device can begin detecting cells based on the detection period and complete sleeping cell detection within the detection period.

[0149] In an embodiment of the present application, in addition to the above three types of information, the first strategy may also include other information, such as the effective duration of the detection threshold, which is used to indicate the effective time during which the currently configured detection threshold can be used. After the threshold exceeds the effective duration, the first management device or the access network device may wait for the second management device to send the threshold for the next update, or the first management device or the access network device may adaptively adjust the updated threshold. There is no limitation on this.

[0150] In the above design, the second management device can configure a set of detection strategies for each cell. For example, the first strategy can include detection strategies corresponding to different cells, or all cells can share a set of detection strategies. The detection strategies include detection thresholds, detection rules, and detection time periods, and there is no limitation on this.

[0151] Optionally, the first policy and the first indication information may be sent together, such as being carried in the same message or signaling, or may be sent separately, which is not limited.

[0152] In another possible design, the first policy may be locally configured by the first management device or the access network device, or adaptively configured by the first management device or the access network device as instructed by the second management device. For example, the first management device may configure a detection policy for each cell based on the cell's historical data, such as historical traffic data or historical fault data. The specific implementation process can be found in the description of the second management device configuring the first policy, which is not further described.

[0153] Under this design, the first management device or access network device may also configure a set of detection strategies for each cell, or all cells may share a set of detection strategies, and there is no limitation on this.

[0154] In addition, the detection range of the sleeping cell detection performed by the first management device or access network device may also be locally configured or pre-configured by the first management device or access network device. For example, the detection range may be the coverage range of the network managed by the first management device or access network device.

[0155] In addition, the detection range for performing sleeping cell detection may also be configured and issued by the second management device. In one possible implementation, the second management device may send a first message to the first management device, and accordingly, the first management device receives the first message from the second management device, wherein the first information is used to indicate the detection range of the sleeping cell. Exemplarily, the first information may include the identifier of the cell to be detected and the identifier of the access network device corresponding to the cell to be detected, both of which may be represented in the form of an identifier list, such as an identifier list of the cell to be detected and an identifier list of the access network device, or the first information may include the physical location (such as longitude and latitude) or relative position of the range to be detected, such as a geographical area surrounded by several coordinates, or may be represented in other ways such as center coordinates + radius, without limitation. Thus, the first management device can determine the detection range for performing sleeping cell detection based on the first information, and trigger sleeping cell detection within the detection range.

[0156] Therefore, the first management device or the access network device triggered by the first management device can perform sleeping cell detection on the cell based on the above strategy or information, thereby obtaining the detection result and sending the detection result to the second management device in the form of a first report.

[0157] S402: The first management device sends a first report to the second management device. Correspondingly, the second management device receives the first report from the first management device.

[0158] The first report may be used to report the detected sleeping cells.

[0159] In one possible implementation, the first report may include a detection result, which may include at least one of the following: cell information of the sleeping cell and a detection rule type used to detect the sleeping cell. The cell information for the sleeping cell may be a cell identifier detected as a sleeping cell, and the detection rule type used to detect the cell as a sleeping cell refers to the detection rule type used to detect the cell as a sleeping cell. For example, a cell with a cell identifier of identity (ID) 1 is detected as a sleeping cell based on failure detection of MSG1, and the detection result includes detection information related to the cell {ID1, failure detection of MSG1}.

[0160] It should be understood that in addition to the above information, the detection results may also include other information related to sleeping cell detection, such as the time when the cell is detected as a sleeping cell, sleeping cell recovery suggestions, etc., which are not limited to this. Among them, the time when the cell is detected as a sleeping cell refers to the time when the cell is finally determined to be a sleeping cell. The sleeping cell recovery suggestion refers to a strategic suggestion on how to restore the sleeping cell to a normal cell. The sleeping cell recovery suggestion may include the following three types: a recovery suggestion for cell resource reset, a recovery suggestion for hardware reset of the access network device, and a recovery suggestion for neighboring cell compensation. Among them, the recovery suggestion for cell resource reset may include at least one of the following: a suggestion to execute cell restart, such as a suggestion to trigger the access network device to reactivate the sleeping cell (such as releasing all baseband and radio frequency related resources at the wireless cell level and reapplying for the cell activation process), a suggestion to execute configuration rollback, such as a suggestion to trigger the parameter values ​​of the wireless, transmission, and device-related configurations on the access network device side, all of which are rolled back to the configuration state at a historical time point when a certain business KPI was normal, or a suggestion for software rollback, such as a suggestion to roll back the software to the software version before the upgrade for a problem scenario after the upgrade.

[0161] The recovery suggestion of the hardware reset of the access network device may include at least one of the following: recommending to restart the RRU, recommending to restart the baseband, or recommending to restart the main control, for example, recommending to trigger the access network device to restart the RRU to restore the sleeping cell.

[0162] The recovery suggestion for neighboring cell compensation may include at least one of the following: recommending adjustment of the tilt angle of the neighboring cell of the sleeping cell, recommending adjustment of the transmission power of the neighboring cell of the sleeping cell, or recommending migration of the user configuration in the sleeping cell to the neighboring cell. For example, it is recommended to adjust the tilt angle value of the neighboring cell 1 of the sleeping cell to 20° to restore the sleeping cell to a normal cell, or it is recommended to adjust the power value of the neighboring cell 2 of the sleeping cell to 70 kilowatts to restore the sleeping cell to a normal cell. In this case, the sleeping cell recovery suggestion may include an identifier or an identifier list for restoring the neighboring cell of the sleeping cell. It should be understood that the neighboring cell that can compensate the sleeping cell is usually a cell that the user can access normally (normal cell).

[0163] Optionally, the second management device may restore the sleeping cell to a normal cell with reference to the received sleeping cell restoration suggestion instruction.

[0164] When the first management device or access network device has the ability to recover sleeping cells, the first report can also be used to indicate whether the sleeping cell has been restored to a normal cell, that is, the first report can also be used to report the recovery status of the detected sleeping cell, such as whether the sleeping cell recovery is successful or the sleeping cell recovery fails.

[0165] In some embodiments, the sleeping cell recovery capability of the first management device or access network device can be locally triggered to be turned on without the need for a second management device to trigger it, such as turning on the recovery capability when a sleeping cell is detected, or turning on the recovery capability when starting sleeping cell detection, and there is no limitation on this.

[0166] In some embodiments, the sleeping cell recovery capability or function of the first management device or access network device may also be triggered to be enabled by the second management device. In one possible design, the second management device may send a second indication message to the first management device, and the first management device may receive the second indication message from the second management device. The second indication message is used to indicate the activation of the sleeping cell recovery.

[0167] Similar to the first indication information, the second indication information can be used to instruct the first management device to enable recovery of the sleeping cell, or can be used to instruct the first management device to trigger the access network device to enable recovery of the sleeping cell, or can be used to instruct the access network device to enable recovery of the sleeping cell. In other words, the second indication information can enable the sleeping cell recovery function of the first management device or access network device. When the first management device or access network device detects a sleeping cell, it performs recovery processing on the sleeping cell and restores the sleeping cell to a normal cell.

[0168] Exemplarily, the second indication information can be indicated by 1 bit, and a bit value of 1 can be used to indicate the start of recovery of the sleeping cell, or a bit value of 1 can be used to indicate the start of recovery of the sleeping cell, without limitation. It should be understood that when the bit value is 1 and is used to indicate the start of recovery, a bit value of 0 can be used to indicate the stop of recovery of the sleeping cell or the non-start of recovery of the sleeping cell; when the bit value is 0 and is used to indicate the start of recovery, a bit value of 1 can be used to indicate the stop of recovery of the sleeping cell or the non-start of recovery of the sleeping cell.

[0169] Optionally, the second indication information and the first indication information may be carried in the same information, message or signaling and sent, or may be sent separately, which is not limited.

[0170] Regarding the strategy of how the first management device or access network device restores the sleeping cell to a normal cell, in some embodiments, the strategy of how to restore the sleeping cell to a normal cell can be locally configured by the first management device or access network device. For example, the first management device or access network device can formulate a recovery strategy based on historical fault data analysis. At this time, the first management device or access network device can automatically trigger the recovery of the sleeping cell based on the locally configured recovery strategy.

[0171] In other embodiments, the strategy for restoring a dormant cell to a normal cell may also be configured and issued by a second management device. In one possible design, the second management device may send a second strategy to the first management device, and the first management device, in turn, receives the second strategy from the second management device. The second strategy is used to restore a dormant cell to a normal cell. The second strategy may also be referred to as a recovery strategy or a self-healing strategy, without limitation.

[0172] Therefore, the first management device may restore the detected sleeping cell according to the second policy, or the access network device may restore the detected sleeping cell according to the second policy forwarded by the first management device.

[0173] In some embodiments, the second management device may not send the second indication information to the first management device, and the first management device may trigger the recovery of the sleeping cell according to the second policy sent by the second management device. Similar to the above, the first management device triggering the recovery of the sleeping cell according to the second policy includes two scenarios: the first management device locally starts the recovery of the sleeping cell according to the second policy, and triggers the access network device to start the recovery of the sleeping cell according to the second policy. At this time, the second policy can also be used to instruct the first management device or access network device to restore the sleeping cell to a normal cell.

[0174] Among them, the second strategy may include at least one of the following: cell resource reset, hardware reset of access network equipment, or neighbor compensation. Optionally, when the second strategy includes multiple items mentioned above, priorities may be set between the strategies, such as the order of priority: cell resource reset > hardware reset of access network equipment > neighbor compensation, so that the first management device or access network device can perform the sleeping cell recovery process in order of priority from high to low, and after the sleeping cell is restored to a normal cell, subsequent recovery strategies with lower priorities may no longer be executed. In some embodiments, if the cell resource reset, hardware reset of access network equipment, and neighbor compensation are all executed but the sleeping cell has not yet been restored to a normal cell, the recovery process for the sleeping cell may be terminated.

[0175] Cell resource reset may include at least one of the following: cell restart, configuration rollback, or software rollback. Cell restart may refer to the cell management module of the access network device reactivating the cell (e.g., releasing all baseband and radio frequency resources at the wireless cell level and reapplying for the cell activation process). Configuration rollback may refer to rolling back all radio, transmission, and device-related configuration parameter values ​​on the access network device side to the configuration state at a historical point in time when service KPIs were normal. Software rollback may refer to rolling back the software to the pre-upgrade version in the event of a problem after an upgrade.

[0176] Optionally, when the cell resource reset includes the above-mentioned multiple reset strategies, priorities can also be set between the reset strategies, such as the priority order is cell restart > configuration rollback > software rollback, so that the first management device or access network device can perform sleeping cell recovery processing in order from high to low priority.

[0177] The hardware reset of the access network device may include at least one of the following: RRU restart, baseband restart, or master control restart. Similar to the above, optionally, when the hardware reset of the access network device includes the above-mentioned multiple hardware reset strategies, priorities may also be set between the hardware reset strategies, such as the priority order of RRU restart > baseband restart > master control restart. Thus, the first management device or the access network device may perform the sleeping cell recovery process in descending order of priority.

[0178] Neighboring cell compensation may refer to covering the sleeping cell through the neighboring cells of the sleeping cell or providing connection services to users in the sleeping cell. Neighboring cell compensation may include at least one of the following: neighboring cell tilt angle increase, neighboring cell power increase, or migrating user configuration to the neighboring cell. Among them, the neighboring cell tilt angle increase and neighboring cell power increase are to enable the coverage of the neighboring cell to be extended to the sleeping cell, and migrating user configuration to the neighboring cell is to transfer the configuration of the user in the sleeping cell to the neighboring cell so that the user can quickly access the neighboring cell. Similarly, optionally, in the case where neighboring cell compensation includes the above-mentioned multiple compensation strategies, priorities can also be set between the compensation strategies, such as the priority order of neighboring cell tilt angle increase > neighboring cell power increase > migrating user configuration to the neighboring cell, thereby the first management device or access network device can perform sleeping cell recovery processing in order of priority from high to low.

[0179] In some embodiments, when the first management device or access network device performs sleeping cell recovery based on the above-mentioned first strategy, the first management device or access network device may confirm with the second management device whether sleeping cell recovery can be performed. After the second management device confirms, the first management device or access network device may perform sleeping cell recovery based on the above-mentioned first strategy.

[0180] Exemplarily, the first management device or access network device may send a third indication message to the second management device, and accordingly, the second management device receives the third indication message from the first management device or access network device. The third indication message is used to instruct the second management device to confirm whether the first management device or access network device can perform sleep cell recovery. Optionally, the third indication message may include the strategy used by the first management device or access network device to perform sleep cell recovery. Further, the second management device may send a fourth indication message to the first management device or access network device, and accordingly, the first management device or access network device receives the fourth indication message from the second management device. The fourth indication message is used to instruct the second management device to confirm that the first management device or access network device performs sleep cell recovery. Thus, the first management device or access network device can perform sleep cell recovery according to the fourth indication message to restore the sleep cell to a normal cell.

[0181] Based on the above recovery process, the first report may also include a recovery result, which includes whether the sleeping cell has been restored to a normal cell and the policy used to restore the sleeping cell to a normal cell. For example, if the cell restart recovery policy is applied to the sleeping cell with ID 1 and the sleeping cell is restored to a normal cell, the recovery result may include the cell recovery information {ID 1, cell restart, recovery successful}.

[0182] Therefore, the second management device can manage and process alarms for the sleeping cell according to the first report.

[0183] Based on the sleeping cell detection method shown in Figure 4, the first management device, as a management service producer, can trigger the detection of sleeping cells based on the first indication information sent by the second management device, as a management service consumer, and report the first report to the second management device to indicate the detection status of the sleeping cell, so that the second management device can manage the detected sleeping cell according to the first report, thereby improving the reliability of the detection.

[0184] It should be understood that the recovery in the embodiment of the present application can also be called self-healing, such as the recovery strategy can be called a self-healing strategy, which is different from the above-mentioned second strategy and is not limited to this.

[0185] The sleeping cell detection method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below with reference to specific scenarios.

[0186] For example, taking the first management device as an EMS and the second management device as an NMS as an example, FIG6 is a flowchart of a sleeping cell detection method provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG6 , the sleeping cell detection method includes:

[0187] S601: The NMS sends sleeping cell switch information, sleeping cell policy information, and sleeping cell detection range information to the EMS. Correspondingly, the EMS receives the sleeping cell switch information, sleeping cell detection policy information, and sleeping cell detection range information from the NMS.

[0188] Among them, the sleeping cell switch information includes detection switch information and self-healing switch information. The detection switch information is used to indicate the start of sleeping cell detection, corresponding to the above-mentioned first indication information. The self-healing switch information is used to indicate the start of sleeping cell recovery, corresponding to the above-mentioned second indication information. The sleeping cell policy information includes detection policy information and self-healing policy information. The detection policy information corresponds to the above-mentioned first policy, and the self-healing policy information corresponds to the above-mentioned second policy. The sleeping cell detection range information includes a list of identifications of detected cells, corresponding to the above-mentioned first information. For specific descriptions, please refer to the relevant descriptions in the above-mentioned embodiments.

[0189] Exemplarily, during the transmission process, different information can be indicated by different fields or element information (IE), the detection switch information is indicated by the detection switch (DetectSwitch) field, the self-healing switch information is indicated by the self-healing switch (RecoverySwitch) field, and the sleeping cell policy information is indicated by the sleeping cell policy (SleepingCellPolicy) field. The SleepingCellPolicy field includes a sleeping cell detection policy (SleepingCellDetectPolicy) field for indicating the detection policy information, and a sleeping cell self-healing policy (SleepingCellRecoveryPolicy) field for indicating the self-healing policy information. The sleeping cell detection range information is indicated by the cell identification (CellID) field. If the cell ID to be detected is 0 to 255, the transmission format is as follows:

[0190] Among them, the SleepingCellDetectPolicy field includes a detection policy (DetectPolicy) field for indicating the detection rule type, a detection threshold (DetectThreshold) field for indicating the detection threshold, and a detection time (DetectTime) field for indicating the detection time. The DetectPolicy field can indicate different types of detection rules, such as the failure detection of MSG1 is indicated by the Msg1Abnormal field, the failure detection of RACH access failure is indicated by the RachPhaseAbnormal field, the failure detection of MSG3 is indicated by the Msg3Abnormal field, and the failure detection of RRC access failure is indicated by the RrcPhaseAbnormal field. The SleepingCellRecoveryPolicy field includes fields for indicating different types of self-healing policies, such as the Resource Reset (ResourceReset) field, the ResetRRU (ResetRRU) field, and the Neighbor Cell Compensation (NbrCellCompensat) field.

[0191] As a result, the EMS triggers detection and self-healing of the sleeping cell, obtains the detection results and self-healing results, and reports them to the NMS.

[0192] S602: The EMS sends a first report to the NMS. Correspondingly, the NMS receives the first report from the EMS.

[0193] Among them, the first report includes detection results and self-healing results. The detection results may include one or more of the following: a list of cell identifiers of sleeping cells, the type of detection rules used, or the detection time, etc. The self-healing results may include one or more of the following: a list of cell identifiers of sleeping cells that have been self-healed, whether the self-healing of the sleeping cells is successful (i.e., the self-healing status or recovery status of the sleeping cells), or the self-healing strategy used, etc. For specific descriptions, please refer to the relevant descriptions of the first report above, which will not be elaborated on.

[0194] When the EMS triggers the gNB to perform self-healing of a sleeping cell, after determining the self-healing strategy to use, the EMS may confirm with the NMS whether to perform self-healing and whether the NMS can accept the impact of self-healing, as self-healing may affect the KPIs of other cells or areas. In this case, the sleeping cell detection method may also include the following steps:

[0195] S603: The EMS sends self-healing request indication information to the NMS. Correspondingly, the NMS receives the self-healing request indication information from the EMS.

[0196] The self-healing request indication information is used to instruct the NMS to confirm whether the EMS can perform self-healing. Optionally, the self-healing request indication information can be sent within a defined or newly defined message. For example, the self-healing request indication information can be sent within a newly defined self-healing event confirmation request message to request the NMS to confirm whether to perform self-healing. Optionally, the self-healing request indication information can also include information such as the specific self-healing strategy adopted and the impact of self-healing on the surrounding area, which is not limited to this.

[0197] It should be understood that the self-healing request indication information corresponds to the third indication information mentioned above.

[0198] When the self-healing strategy used is neighbor cell compensation, the gNB needs to calculate how much the neighbor cell tilt angle is adjusted, how much the neighbor cell power is adjusted, or in which direction the adjustment is made to cover the sleeping cell. This is performed by the centralized-self-organizing networks (C-SON) module or entity in the EMS. At this time, the self-healing request indication information may include parameter information for specific adjustment of the neighbor cell compensation. For example, the self-healing request indication information may include a self-healing strategy of raising the neighbor cell tilt angle and adjusting the tilt angle to 20°, which is used to instruct the NMS to confirm the adjustment of the neighbor cell tilt angle to 20° to restore the sleeping cell to a normal cell.

[0199] S604: The NMS sends self-healing indication information to the EMS. Correspondingly, the EMS receives the self-healing indication information from the NMS.

[0200] After receiving the self-healing indication information, the NMS may confirm whether the EMS performs self-healing. If it is confirmed that the EMS can perform self-healing, the NMS sends the self-healing indication information to the EMS to instruct it to confirm that the EMS can perform self-healing.

[0201] Optionally, the self-healing indication information may be carried in a defined or newly defined message and sent. For example, the self-healing indication information may be carried in a newly defined self-healing event confirmation message (NbrCompInfo_Confirm) and sent.

[0202] It should be understood that the self-healing indication information corresponds to the fourth indication information mentioned above.

[0203] S605: The EMS sends a self-healing action instruction to the gNB. In response, the gNB receives the self-healing action instruction from the EMS.

[0204] After receiving confirmation from the NMS, the EMS can send specific self-healing action instructions to the gNB performing self-healing, such as a cell reset man-machine language (MML) command, a board reset MML command, an MML command to adjust the neighboring cell tilt value (e.g., 20°), or an MML command to adjust the neighboring cell power value. The gNB can then perform the corresponding self-healing action according to the corresponding self-healing action instruction, restoring the dormant cell to a normal cell state, allowing users in the dormant cell to access the cell normally.

[0205] It should be understood that S605 can be a product implementation and is not standardized, and the present embodiment does not limit this. In addition, the present embodiment does not limit the names of the above information, messages, etc.

[0206] It should be understood that when the EMS performs detection and self-healing of sleeping cells, it can receive detection data from the gNB for detection and judgment, and trigger the gNB to perform self-healing of sleeping cells. In addition, the EMS can also trigger the gNB to detect and self-heal the sleeping cells, that is, the gNB performs detection and self-healing of sleeping cells. At this time, the EMS can send the above information to the gNB or the EMS selects part of the above information (such as selecting part of the strategy) and sends it to the gNB, so that the gNB reports the detection and self-healing results to the EMS, so that the EMS can generate a first report based on the reported detection and self-healing results and report it to the NMS.

[0207] The following describes in detail the detection effect achieved by the sleeping cell detection provided in the embodiments of the present application with reference to specific examples.

[0208] For example, as shown in Table 1 below, the detection rule using the prior art is to determine whether a cell is a sleeping cell based on the fact that the cell has no traffic for a preset period of time, that is, a cell without traffic for a long time is a sleeping cell. The detection rule for the sleeping cell provided in the embodiment of the present application is {MSG1=0, MSG1>X1&MSG3=0, MSG3>X3&MSG5=0}, that is, covering the entire process of terminal device access to perform sleeping cell judgment, where X1 and X2 can be set static threshold values ​​or adaptively obtained cell-level personalized threshold values. The accuracy rate is a re-detection of historical cases, and the false detection rate is a detection of situations where normal cells in the existing network are mistakenly detected as sleeping. Compared with the two, the accuracy rate of sleeping cell detection achieved by the detection rule provided in the embodiment of the present application is higher than the accuracy rate achieved by the detection rule with no traffic for a long time, and the false detection rate is lower than the false detection rate achieved by the detection rule with no traffic for a long time.

[0209] Table 1

[0210] In each of the above embodiments, the methods and / or steps implemented by the first management device may also be implemented by components that can be used for the first management device (e.g., a processor, a chip, a chip system, a circuit, a logic module, or software); the methods and / or steps implemented by the second management device may also be implemented by components that can be used for the first management device (e.g., a processor, a chip, a chip system, a circuit, a logic module, or software).

[0211] The above mainly introduces the solution provided by this application. Accordingly, this application also provides a communication device, which is used to implement the various methods in the above method embodiments. The communication device can be the first management device in the above method embodiments, or a device including the first management device, or a component that can be used for the first management device, such as a chip or a chip system. Alternatively, the communication device can be the second management device in the above method embodiments, or a device including the second management device, or a component that can be used for the second management device, such as a chip or a chip system.

[0212] In some embodiments, in order to implement the above functions, the communication device includes hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. Those skilled in the art should easily appreciate that, in combination with the units and algorithm steps of the various examples described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of this application.

[0213] The embodiment of the present application can divide the functional modules of the communication device according to the above method embodiment. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic and is only a logical functional division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods.

[0214] Taking the communication device as the first management device or the second management device in the above method embodiment as an example, Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 7, the communication device 700 includes: a processing module 701 and a transceiver module 702. The processing module 701 is used to perform the processing functions of the first management device or the second management device in the above method embodiment. The transceiver module 702 is used to perform the transceiver functions of the first management device or the second management device in the above method embodiment.

[0215] Among them, all relevant contents of each step involved in the above method embodiment can be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module and will not be repeated here.

[0216] Since the communication device 700 provided in this embodiment can execute the above method, the technical effects that can be obtained can refer to the above method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0217] In one possible design solution, in the embodiment of the present application, the transceiver module 702 may include a receiving module and a sending module (not shown in FIG7 ), wherein the sending module and the receiving module are used to implement the sending function and the receiving function of the communication device 700 , respectively.

[0218] In one possible design, communication device 700 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 7 ) storing a program or instruction. When processing module 701 executes the program or instruction, communication device 700 may perform the functions of the first management device or the second management device in the method shown in FIG. 4 .

[0219] In some embodiments, the processing module 701 involved in the communication device 700 can be implemented by a processor or a processor-related circuit component, which can be a processor or a processing unit; the transceiver module 702 can be implemented by a transceiver or a transceiver-related circuit component, which can be a transceiver or a transceiver unit.

[0220] For example, FIG8 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device may be the first management device or the second management device in the above-mentioned method embodiment, or it may be a chip (system) or other parts or components that can be set in the first management device or the second management device. As shown in FIG8 , the communication device 800 may include a processor 801. In one possible design scheme, the communication device 800 may further include a memory 802 and / or a transceiver 803. The processor 801 is coupled to the memory 802 and the transceiver 803, such as by being connected via a communication bus.

[0221] The following is a detailed introduction to the various components of the communication device 800 in conjunction with FIG8 :

[0222] The processor 801 is the control center of the communication device 800 and can be a single processor or a collective term for multiple processing elements. For example, the processor 801 includes one or more central processing units (CPUs), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the embodiments of the present application, such as one or more microprocessors (digital signal processors, DSPs) or one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

[0223] In one possible design, the processor 801 may execute various functions of the communication device 800 by running or executing software programs stored in the memory 802 and calling data stored in the memory 802 .

[0224] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the processor 801 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 shown in FIG8 .

[0225] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication device 800 may also include multiple processors, such as the processor 801 and the processor 804 shown in Figure 8. Each of these processors may be a single-core processor or a multi-core processor. The processor here may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and / or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

[0226] The memory 802 is used to store the software program for executing the solution of the present application, and the execution is controlled by the processor 801. The specific implementation method can refer to the above method embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0227] In one possible design, the memory 802 can be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, an optical disc storage (including a compact disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, Blu-ray disc, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto. The memory 802 can be integrated with the processor 801 or exist independently and be coupled to the processor 801 through an interface circuit (not shown in FIG8 ) of the communication device 800. This embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit this.

[0228] Transceiver 803 is used for communication with other communication devices. For example, if communication device 800 is a terminal device, transceiver 803 can be used to communicate with an access network device or another terminal device. For another example, if communication device 800 is a network device, transceiver 803 can be used to communicate with a terminal device or another network device.

[0229] In one possible design, transceiver 803 may include a receiver and a transmitter (not separately shown in FIG8 ), wherein the receiver is used to implement a receiving function, and the transmitter is used to implement a sending function.

[0230] In one possible design scheme, the transceiver 803 can be integrated with the processor 801, or it can exist independently and be coupled to the processor 801 through the interface circuit of the communication device 800 (not shown in Figure 8). This embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit this.

[0231] It should be noted that the structure of the communication device 800 shown in FIG8 does not constitute a limitation on the communication device. An actual communication device may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine certain components, or arrange the components differently.

[0232] In addition, the technical effects of the communication device 800 can refer to the technical effects of the methods described in the above method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0233] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium on which a computer program or instruction is stored. When the computer program or instruction is executed by a computer, the functions of the above-mentioned method embodiment are realized.

[0234] The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product, which implements the functions of the above method embodiments when executed by a computer.

[0235] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using a software program, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions according to the embodiments of the present application are generated. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more media integrated therein. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (eg, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (eg, a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (eg, a solid state disk (SSD)).

[0236] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0237] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0238] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the units is merely a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0239] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of these units may be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0240] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0241] If the functions are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application can essentially or in other words, the part that contributes to or the part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, server, or access network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a ROM, a random access memory RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

[0242] Although the present application is described herein in conjunction with various embodiments, in the process of implementing the claimed application, those skilled in the art may understand and implement other variations of the disclosed embodiments by reviewing the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other components or steps, and "a" or "an" does not exclude multiple situations. A single processor or other unit may implement several functions listed in the claims. Certain measures are recorded in different dependent claims, but this does not mean that these measures cannot be combined to produce good results.

[0243] Although the present application has been described with reference to specific features and embodiments thereof, it is apparent that various modifications and combinations may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present application. Accordingly, this specification and the drawings are merely illustrative of the present application as defined by the appended claims and are deemed to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations or equivalents within the scope of the present application. Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various modifications and variations to the present application without departing from the scope of the present application. Thus, the present application is intended to include such modifications and variations as fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A sleeping cell detection method, characterized in that: The method comprises: The first management device receives first indication information from the second management device, where the first indication information is used to instruct to start detection of a sleeping cell; The first management device sends a first report to the second management device, where the first report is used to indicate the detected sleeping cell.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first report includes a detection result, and the detection result includes at least one of the following: cell information of the sleeping cell and a detection rule type used to detect the cell.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The method further comprises: The first management device receives a first policy from the second management device, where the first policy is used to determine whether a cell is a sleeping cell.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The first policy includes a detection rule type, a detection threshold, and a detection time period.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The detection rule type includes at least one of the following: failure detection of MSG1, failure detection of MSG3, failure detection of random access channel RACH access failure, or failure detection of radio resource control RRC access failure.

6. The method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that The detection threshold includes at least one of the following: a threshold of MSG1, a threshold of MSG3, a threshold of RACH access failure, or a threshold of RRC access failure.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that The method further comprises: The first management device receives first information from the second management device, where the first information is used to indicate a detection range of the sleeping cell.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that The method further comprises: The first management device receives second indication information from the second management device, where the first indication information is used to instruct to start recovery of the sleeping cell.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that The method further comprises: The first management device receives a second policy from the second management device, where the second policy is used to restore the sleeping cell to a normal cell.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The second strategy includes at least one of the following: cell resource reset, base station hardware reset, or neighboring cell compensation.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The cell resource reset includes at least one of the following: cell restart, configuration rollback, or software rollback; The base station hardware reset includes at least one of the following: a remote radio unit (RRU) restart, a baseband restart, or a master control restart; The neighboring cell compensation includes at least one of the following: raising the neighboring cell tilt angle, raising the neighboring cell power, or migrating the user configuration to the neighboring cell.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that The first report is further used to indicate whether the sleeping cell is restored to a normal cell.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that The first report further includes a restoration result, where the restoration result includes a result of whether the sleeping cell is restored to a normal cell and a strategy used to restore the sleeping cell to a normal cell.

14. A sleeping cell detection method, characterized in that: The method comprises: The second management device sends first indication information to the first management device, where the first indication information is used to instruct to enable sleeping cell detection; The second management device receives a first report from the first management device, where the first report is used to indicate a detected sleeping cell.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The first report includes a detection result, and the detection result includes at least one of the following: cell information of the sleeping cell, and a detection rule type used when detecting that the cell is a sleeping cell.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that The method further comprises: The second management device sends a first policy to the first management device, where the first policy is used to determine whether a cell is a sleeping cell.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that The first policy includes a detection rule type, a detection threshold, and a detection time period.

18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that The detection rule type includes at least one of the following: failure detection of MSG1, failure detection of MSG3, failure detection of random access channel RACH access failure, or failure detection of radio resource control RRC access failure.

19. The method according to claim 17 or 18, characterized in that The detection threshold includes at least one of the following: a threshold of MSG1, a threshold of MSG3, a threshold of RACH access failure, or a threshold of RRC access failure.

20. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 19, characterized in that The method further comprises: The second management device sends first information to the first management device, where the first information is used to indicate a detection range of the sleeping cell.

21. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 20, characterized in that The method further comprises: The second management device sends second indication information to the first management device, where the first indication information is used to instruct to start recovery of the sleeping cell.

22. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 21, characterized in that The method further comprises: The second management device sends a second policy to the first management device, where the second policy is used to restore the sleeping cell to a normal cell.

23. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that The second strategy includes at least one of the following: cell resource reset, base station hardware reset, or neighboring cell compensation.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein The cell resource reset includes at least one of the following: cell restart, configuration rollback, or software rollback; The base station hardware reset includes at least one of the following: a remote radio unit (RRU) restart, a baseband restart, or a master control restart; The neighboring cell compensation includes at least one of the following: raising the neighboring cell tilt angle, raising the neighboring cell power, or migrating the user configuration to the neighboring cell.

25. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 24, characterized in that The first report is further used to indicate whether the sleeping cell is restored to a normal cell.

26. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 25, characterized in that The first report further includes a restoration result, where the restoration result includes a result of whether the sleeping cell is restored to a normal cell and a strategy used to restore the sleeping cell to a normal cell.

27. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a module for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, or comprises a module for executing the method according to any one of claims 14 to 26.

28. A communication device, characterized in that: include: processor; The processor is configured to execute a computer program or instruction so that the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13 is implemented, or so that the method according to any one of claims 14 to 26 is implemented.

29. A communication system, characterized in that: include: A first management device for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, and a second management device for executing the method according to any one of claims 14 to 26.

30. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed by the communication device, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13 or claims 14 to 26 is implemented.

31. A computer program product, characterized in that The device comprises a computer program code, and when the computer program code is run on a communication device, the communication device implements the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13 or claims 14 to 26.

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