Candidate configuration processing method and apparatus, communication device, and readable storage medium

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of communications, and discloses a candidate configuration processing method and apparatus, a communication device, and a readable storage medium. The candidate configuration processing method in embodiments of the present application comprises: a first node sends first signaling to a second node, wherein the first signaling is used for at least one of the following: adding candidate configuration information, updating candidate configuration information, and releasing candidate configuration information; the first node is a source node, and the second node is a candidate node; or the first node is a candidate node, and the second node is a source node.

Description

Candidate configuration processing method, device, communication device and readable storage medium

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202410400919.3 filed on April 3, 2024, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] The present application belongs to the field of communication technology, and specifically relates to a candidate configuration processing method, apparatus, communication equipment, and readable storage medium. Background Art

[0004] In related technologies, for continuous cell changes, such as continuous Layer 1 / Layer 2 triggered mobility (LTM) or continuous conditional primary / secondary cell addition / change (CPAC), the addition / deletion of a candidate cell or the update of certain configurations often affects other candidate configurations. In this case, how to handle candidate configurations is an urgent problem. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The embodiments of the present application provide a candidate configuration processing method, apparatus, communication device, and readable storage medium, which can solve the problem of how to process candidate configurations.

[0006] In a first aspect, a method for processing a candidate configuration is provided, which is performed by a first node and includes:

[0007] The first node sends a first signaling to the second node, where the first signaling is used for at least one of the following: adding candidate configuration information, updating candidate configuration information, and releasing candidate configuration information;

[0008] The first node is a source node, and the second node is a candidate node; or the first node is a candidate node, and the second node is a source node.

[0009] In a second aspect, a candidate configuration processing method is provided, which is performed by a second node. The method includes:

[0010] The second node receives a first signaling from the first node, where the first signaling is used for at least one of the following: adding candidate configuration information, updating candidate configuration information, and releasing candidate configuration information;

[0011] The first node is a source node, and the second node is a candidate node; or the first node is a candidate node, and the second node is a source node.

[0012] In a third aspect, a candidate configuration processing device is provided, comprising:

[0013] A first sending module, configured for the first node to send a first signaling to the second node, where the first signaling is used for at least one of the following: adding candidate configuration information, updating candidate configuration information, and releasing candidate configuration information;

[0014] The first node is a source node, and the second node is a candidate node; or the first node is a candidate node, and the second node is a source node.

[0015] In a fourth aspect, a candidate configuration processing device is provided, comprising:

[0016] A fifth receiving module, configured for the second node to receive a first signaling from the first node, where the first signaling is used for at least one of the following: adding candidate configuration information, updating candidate configuration information, and releasing candidate configuration information;

[0017] The first node is a source node, and the second node is a candidate node; or the first node is a candidate node, and the second node is a source node.

[0018] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, which includes a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores programs or instructions that can be run on the processor, and when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the steps of the method described in the first aspect are implemented, or the steps of the method described in the second aspect are implemented.

[0019] In a sixth aspect, a readable storage medium is provided, on which a program or instruction is stored. When the program or instruction is executed by a processor, the steps of the method described in the first aspect are implemented, or the steps of the method described in the second aspect are implemented.

[0020] In the seventh aspect, a wireless communication system is provided, including: a terminal, a source node and a candidate node, the source node or the candidate node can be used to execute the steps of the method described in the first aspect, and the source node or the candidate node can be used to execute the steps of the method described in the second aspect.

[0021] In an eighth aspect, a chip is provided, comprising a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is used to run a program or instruction to implement the steps of the method described in the first aspect, or to implement the steps of the method described in the second aspect.

[0022] In the ninth aspect, a computer program / program product is provided, which is stored in a storage medium and is executed by at least one processor to implement the steps of the method described in the first aspect, or to implement the steps of the method described in the second aspect.

[0023] In a tenth aspect, a first node such as a source node or a candidate node is provided, which is configured to implement the steps of the method described in the first aspect.

[0024] In an eleventh aspect, a second node such as a source node or a candidate node is provided, which is configured to implement the steps of the method described in the second aspect.

[0025] Through the solution in the embodiment of the present application, the source node or the candidate node can trigger the addition, update or release of the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node by sending the first signaling, thereby realizing the processing of the candidate configuration. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] FIG1 is a block diagram of a wireless communication system to which embodiments of the present application may be applied;

[0027] FIG2 is a flowchart of a candidate configuration processing method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0028] FIG3A is a schematic diagram of an inter-CU LTM candidate configuration processing process triggered by a source node in an embodiment of the present application;

[0029] FIG3B is a schematic diagram of the intra-CU / intra-DU LTM candidate configuration processing process triggered by a source node in an embodiment of the present application;

[0030] FIG3C is a schematic diagram of the intra-CU / inter-DU LTM candidate configuration processing process triggered by a source node in an embodiment of the present application;

[0031] FIG4A is a schematic diagram of an inter-CU LTM candidate configuration processing process triggered by a candidate node in an embodiment of the present application;

[0032] FIG4B is a schematic diagram of the intra-CU / intra-DU LTM candidate configuration processing process triggered by a candidate node in an embodiment of the present application;

[0033] FIG4C is a schematic diagram of the intra-CU / inter-DU LTM candidate configuration processing process triggered by a candidate node in an embodiment of the present application;

[0034] FIG5 is a flowchart of another candidate configuration processing method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0035] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a candidate configuration processing device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0036] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another candidate configuration processing device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0037] FIG8 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0038] FIG9 is a schematic structural diagram of a network-side device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] The following will be combined with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of this application to clearly describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application. Obviously, the embodiments described are part of the embodiments of this application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in this application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0040] The terms "first", "second", etc. in this application are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the terms used in this way are interchangeable where appropriate, so that the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein, and the objects distinguished by "first" and "second" are generally of the same type, and do not limit the number of objects, for example, the first object can be one or more. In addition, "or" in this application represents at least one of the connected objects. For example, "A or B" covers three options, namely, Option 1: including A but not including B; Option 2: including B but not including A; Option 3: including both A and B. The character " / " generally indicates that the objects associated before and after are in an "or" relationship.

[0041] The term "indication" in this application can be either a direct indication (or explicit indication) or an indirect indication (or implicit indication). A direct indication can be understood as the sender explicitly informing the receiver of specific information, the operation to be performed, or the requested result, etc. in the instruction sent; an indirect indication can be understood as the receiver determining the corresponding information based on the instruction sent by the sender, or making a judgment and determining the operation to be performed or the requested result, etc. based on the judgment result.

[0042] It is worth noting that the technology described in the embodiments of the present application is not limited to the Long Term Evolution (LTE) / LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) system, but can also be used in other wireless communication systems, such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) or other systems. The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application are often used interchangeably, and the technology described can be used for the systems and radio technologies mentioned above, as well as for other systems and radio technologies. The following description describes a New Radio (NR) system for illustrative purposes, and NR terminology is used in most of the following description, but these technologies can also be applied to systems other than NR systems, such as 6th generation (6G) systems. th Generation, 6G) communication system.

[0043] FIG1 is a block diagram of a wireless communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application. The wireless communication system includes a terminal 11 and a network-side device 12. The terminal 11 may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer (Tablet Personal Computer), a laptop computer (Laptop Computer), a notebook computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld computer, a netbook, an ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), a mobile internet device (MID), an augmented reality (AR), a virtual reality (VR) device, a robot, a wearable device (Wearable Device), an aircraft (Flight Vehicle), a vehicle-mounted device (VUE), a ship-mounted device, a pedestrian user equipment (PUE), a smart home (home appliances with wireless communication capabilities, such as refrigerators, televisions, washing machines, or furniture), a game console, a personal computer (PC), an ATM, or a self-service machine, or other terminal-side devices. Wearable devices include: smart watches, smart bracelets, smart headphones, smart glasses, smart jewelry (smart bracelets, smart bracelets, smart rings, smart necklaces, smart anklets, smart anklets, etc.), smart wristbands, smart clothing, etc. Among them, the vehicle-mounted device can also be called a vehicle-mounted terminal, a vehicle-mounted controller, a vehicle-mounted module, a vehicle-mounted component, a vehicle-mounted chip or a vehicle-mounted unit, etc. It should be noted that the specific type of the terminal 11 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. The network side device 12 may include an access network device or a core network device, wherein the access network device may also be called a radio access network (Radio Access Network, RAN) device, a radio access network function or a radio access network unit. The access network device may include a base station, a wireless local area network (Wireless Local Area Network, WLAN) access point (Access Point, AP) or a wireless fidelity (Wireless Fidelity, WiFi) node, etc.Among them, the base station can be referred to as Node B (NB), Evolved Node B (eNB), the next generation Node B (gNB), New Radio Node B (NR Node B), access point, Relay Base Station (RBS), Serving Base Station (SBS), Base Transceiver Station (BTS), radio base station, radio transceiver, Basic Service Set (BSS), Extended Service Set (ESS), Home Node B (HNB), Home evolved Node B (home evolved Node B), Transmission Reception Point (TRP) or other appropriate terms in the relevant field. As long as the same technical effect is achieved, the base station is not limited to specific technical vocabulary. It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, only the base station in the NR system is used as an example for introduction, and the specific type of the base station is not limited.

[0044] In order to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the following contents are first described.

[0045] For Layer 1 / Layer 2 triggered mobility LTM, the serving base station can determine the target cell based on the terminal's Layer 1 measurement results and use the Medium Access Control Control Element (MAC CE) to trigger the terminal to switch the primary cell or primary and secondary cells (or: primary cell group or secondary cell group) to the target cell (or target cell group). During the LTM process, the network-side equipment will prepare multiple candidate cells in advance and send the configuration information of the candidate cells to the terminal through Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. When the terminal changes the cell, the configuration information of the candidate cells saved by the terminal will not be actively released.

[0046] The candidate configuration processing method, apparatus, communication device, and readable storage medium provided in the embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to some embodiments and their application scenarios in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0047] Please refer to FIG. 2 , which is a flowchart of a candidate configuration processing method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method is executed by the first node. As shown in FIG. 2 , the method includes the following steps:

[0048] Step 21: The first node sends a first signaling to the second node, where the first signaling is used for at least one of the following: adding candidate configuration information, updating candidate configuration information, and releasing candidate configuration information.

[0049] In the embodiment of the present application, the first node is a source node (e.g., a source node), and the second node is a candidate node (e.g., a candidate node); or, the first node is a candidate node, and the second node is a source node. In other words, the source node may send a first signaling to the candidate node to trigger the addition, update, or release of candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node; or the candidate node may send a first signaling to the source node to trigger the addition, update, or release of candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node.

[0050] The source node may be understood as the node corresponding to the serving cell in the continuous cell change, that is, the node currently serving the terminal. The candidate node may be understood as the candidate node corresponding to the candidate configuration of the continuous cell change, that is, the node to which the candidate configuration of the continuous cell change is allocated to the terminal during the preparation process of the continuous cell change.

[0051] Through the solution in the embodiment of the present application, the source node or the candidate node can trigger the addition, update or release of the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node by sending the first signaling, thereby realizing the processing of the candidate configuration.

[0052] Optionally, the first signaling may include one or more of the following information:

[0053] 1) A first cause, used to indicate that the first signaling is used to update candidate configuration information;

[0054] 2) A second reason, used to indicate that the first signaling is used to release candidate configuration information;

[0055] 3) A third reason is used to indicate that the first signaling is used to update the random access channel (RACH) resource information related to the Early RACH of the candidate node;

[0056] 4) The interface identifier of the terminal of the source node, which is used to indicate the identity of the terminal, that is, to indicate the terminal identity to the corresponding candidate node;

[0057] 5) an interface identifier of a terminal of a target candidate node, used to indicate an update of candidate configuration information of a terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node;

[0058] 6) Candidate configuration identifier, used to indicate updating, adding or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate configuration identifier;

[0059] 7) Candidate cell identity, used to indicate updating, adding or releasing candidate configuration information associated with the candidate cell identity.

[0060] It should be noted that the target candidate node represents the node corresponding to the candidate cell in which the candidate configuration change occurs, rather than the node corresponding to the target cell in the case of cell switching or cell change. In an embodiment of the present application, the source node represents the node corresponding to the source cell in the case of cell switching or cell change, the target node represents the node corresponding to the target cell in the case of cell switching or cell change, and the target candidate node represents the node corresponding to the candidate cell in which the candidate configuration change occurs.

[0061] Optionally, the interface identifier of the terminal at the source node may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: an Xn interface identifier of the terminal assigned by the source access network node (Source NG-RAN node UE XnAP ID reference), an F1 interface identifier of the terminal in the base station centralized unit gNB-CU (gNB-CU UE F1AP ID), and a terminal identifier on the F1 interface of the base station distributed unit gNB-DU (gNB-DU UE F1AP ID). The gNB-CU UE F1AP ID can uniquely identify a terminal on the F1 interface within the gNB-CU. In this way, when the candidate node receives the interface identifier of the terminal at the source node, it can determine for which terminal the candidate configuration update is intended.

[0062] For example, for continuous cell changes between centralized units (CUs) (i.e., inter-CUs), such as continuous LTMs, the interface identifier of the terminal at the source node can be used to indicate the terminal identifier of the Xn interface between NG-RAN nodes, such as Source NG-RAN node UE XnAP ID reference; or, for continuous cell changes within a centralized unit (CU) (i.e., intra-CUs), such as continuous LTMs, the interface identifier of the terminal at the source node can include the gNB-DU UE F1AP ID (i.e., the F1 interface identifier of the terminal of the gNB-CU) and the gNB-DU UE F1AP ID (i.e., the terminal identifier on the F1 interface of the gNB-DU).

[0063] Optionally, the source node in an embodiment of the present application may send notification signaling to a candidate node associated with candidate configuration information of continuous cell changes (such as continuous LTM) during or after executing a cell change, and the notification signaling is used to notify the candidate node to update the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node to the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node.

[0064] Optionally, the notification signaling may include at least one of the following: an interface identifier of a terminal of the target candidate node, a candidate configuration identifier associated with the target cell, and a target cell identifier.

[0065] In an optional embodiment, the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node is the terminal identifier of the terminal at the source node. If the terminal is configured with LTM candidate configuration information, after each cell switching is completed (i.e., switching from the source node to the target node), the source node or the target node needs to send a notification signaling to all candidate nodes associated with the LTM candidate configuration information. The notification signaling is used to notify the candidate node to update the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node (i.e., the interface identifier of the terminal at the source node) to the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node (i.e., the interface identifier of the terminal at the target node).

[0066] Optionally, the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node may include at least one of the following: the Xn interface identifier of the terminal assigned by the target candidate access network node, the gNB-CU UE F1AP ID, and the gNB-DU UE F1AP ID.

[0067] Optionally, the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is obtained by the source node based on the first mapping relationship and the target candidate cell configuration identifier or the target candidate cell identifier, the source node is changed by the first candidate node, and the first mapping relationship is obtained when the initial source node sends the interface identifiers of the terminals of all candidate nodes and the mapping relationship between them and the candidate configuration identifier or the candidate cell identifier to all candidate nodes during the preparation process of the continuous cell change. That is, during the preparation process of the continuous cell change, the initial source node (i.e., the initial source node, such as the node that performs LTM or other continuous cell change preparations) sends the interface identifiers of the terminals of all candidate nodes and the mapping relationship between them and the candidate configuration identifier or the candidate cell identifier to all candidate nodes, and when a candidate node (such as the first candidate node) is changed to the source node, the source node (such as the changed first candidate node) obtains the interface identifier of the terminal of the target node based on the acquired mapping relationship and the target cell configuration identifier or the target cell identifier. For a candidate node to change to a source node, it may mean that during a continuous cell change process, the terminal performs a cell change and changes to a cell under the candidate node, so the candidate node becomes a service node. In this application, the service node is referred to as a source node; the first candidate node changes to a source node, that is, the source node is changed from the first candidate node, wherein: after the change, the source node determines the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node based on the mapping relationship obtained when it is a candidate node.

[0068] Optionally, the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is obtained by the source node based on a second mapping relationship and a target candidate cell configuration identifier or a target candidate cell identifier, the source node is changed by the target node, and the second mapping relationship is received by the target node from the source node corresponding to the target node during or after each cell switching process, and the second mapping relationship is a mapping relationship between the interface identifiers of the terminals of all candidate nodes and the candidate configuration identifier or the candidate cell identifier. That is to say, during or after each cell switching process, the source node sends the interface identifiers of the terminals of all candidate nodes and their mapping relationship with the candidate configuration identifier to the target candidate node, and when this target candidate node is changed to the source node, the source node (changed by the target candidate node) obtains the interface identifier of the terminal of the target node based on the acquired mapping relationship and the target cell configuration identifier or the target cell identifier.

[0069] Optionally, when the first node is a source node and the second node is a candidate node, that is, when the source node triggers the addition, update, or release of candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node, the first signaling may include one or more of the following information:

[0070] 8) First indication information, used to indicate that the first signaling is candidate configuration information for configuring continuous cell changes; the continuous cell changes may be, for example, continuous LTM or continuous CPAC;

[0071] 9) A fourth cause is used to indicate that the first signaling is used to update layer 1 (Layer 1, L1) measurement resource configuration information;

[0072] 10) First configuration information, the first configuration information includes at least one of the following: reference configuration information, L1 measurement resource configuration information, and first Early RACH configuration information; the first configuration information has an impact on continuous cell changes.

[0073] Optionally, in the case where the first configuration information includes reference configuration information, it is because the source node updates the reference configuration information, and therefore it is necessary to trigger the candidate node to update the candidate configuration information.

[0074] Optionally, the L1 measurement resource configuration information included in the first configuration information is, for example, LTM channel state information resource configuration information, i.e., LTM CSI resource configuration information. In this case, because the source node updates the LTM CSI resource configuration information, it is necessary to trigger other candidate nodes to update their candidate configuration information. If the first signaling includes a fourth cause, the L1 measurement resource configuration information may appear only if the fourth cause is configured, and the first configuration information includes the L1 measurement resource configuration information.

[0075] Optionally, the L1 measurement resource configuration information included in the first configuration information may include at least one of the following:

[0076] candidate configuration identifier;

[0077] Candidate beam identifier.

[0078] Optionally, in the case where the first configuration information includes first Early RACH configuration information, this is because the source node (for example, for inter-CU LTM) updates, adds, or releases Early RACH resources reserved for the terminal. If the first signaling includes a third cause, the first Early RACH configuration information may appear only when the third cause is configured, and the first configuration information includes the first Early RACH configuration information.

[0079] Optionally, the first Early RACH configuration information may include but is not limited to at least one of the following:

[0080] Updated RACH configuration information;

[0081] Release indication information, used to indicate that the source node has released the Early RACH-related RACH resources allocated to it;

[0082] Add indication information, used to indicate that the source node has added RACH resources related to the Early RACH allocated to it;

[0083] A first identifier, used to identify a candidate node for which RACH configuration information has been updated. Optionally, the first identifier may include at least one of the following: a gNB-CU ID, a gNB-DU ID, a group identifier, a candidate configuration identifier, or a candidate cell identifier.

[0084] Updated RACH resource information.

[0085] Optionally, the updated RACH resource information includes preamble resource information, where the preamble resource information is used to indicate that the third node has released or added preamble resources related to the Early RACH configured for it, and the third node is a node for which RACH configuration information has been updated.

[0086] In an optional embodiment, when a source node triggers the addition, update, or release of candidate configuration information associated with a candidate node, the first signaling sent by the source node to the candidate node may include one or more of the above 1) to 10). After receiving the first signaling, the candidate node may or may not delete the candidate configuration information indicated by the first signaling.

[0087] For example, the Early RACH resource allocation method can be: 1) Node 1 selects several other candidate nodes, such as nodes 2, 3, 4, and 5, and node 1 allocates a RACH resource pool to node 2. Similarly, node 1 also allocates a RACH resource pool to nodes 3, 4, and 5 respectively; the resource pools between these nodes are dedicated, that is, the resource pool allocated by node 1 to node 2 can only be used by node 2 and cannot be allocated to other nodes or terminals; 2) Taking node 2 as an example, when the UE under node 2 wants to perform Early RACH to node 1, node 2 will indicate the resources in the corresponding RACH resource pool to the UE, and the UE uses this indicated RACH resource to perform Early RACH to node 1. The meaning of Early RACH is that before the UE switches / changes to a cell, it performs RACH to the cell in order to achieve uplink synchronization with the cell in advance.

[0088] Optionally, when the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, that is, when the candidate node triggers the addition, update, or release of candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node, the first signaling may include one or more of the following information:

[0089] 11) Second Early RACH configuration information;

[0090] 12) Updated candidate configuration information;

[0091] 13) Second configuration information, where the second configuration information includes other configuration information affecting continuous cell changes except the second Early RACH configuration information.

[0092] Optionally, in the case where the first signaling includes second Early RACH configuration information, it is because the candidate node updates, releases, or adds Early RACH resources reserved for the terminal. The second Early RACH configuration information may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following:

[0093] Identifiers of other candidate nodes associated with the RACH resources of the candidate node, other than the candidate node; optionally, the identifiers of the other candidate nodes may include at least one of the following: a gNB-CU ID, a gNB-DU ID, a group ID, a candidate configuration ID, and a candidate cell ID; based on the above example, when the candidate node sending the first signaling is node 1, the other candidate nodes are nodes 2, 3, 4, and 5;

[0094] Second indication information, used to instruct to release or update Early RACH configuration information;

[0095] Updated RACH configuration information;

[0096] Updated RACH resource information.

[0097] In an optional embodiment, when the candidate node triggers the addition, update or release of candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node, the first signaling sent by the candidate node to the source node may include one or more of the above 1) to 7) and 11) to 13).

[0098] The following describes the embodiments of the present application in detail for the two triggering modes.

[0099] Trigger method 1

[0100] In this triggering mode, the source node triggers the addition, update or release of candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node, that is, the source node sends a first signaling to the candidate node.

[0101] Optionally, when the source node sends the first signaling to the candidate node, for continuous cell changes of inter-CU (such as continuous LTM), the source node is the source base station (source gNB) or the master node (Master Node, MN) (this is the case of cell changes in the secondary cell group SCG); for continuous cell changes of intra-CU (such as continuous LTM), because the candidate configurations share one gNB-CU, the source node refers to the gNB-CU.

[0102] Optionally, if the source node updates the reference configuration information, the source node may send the first signaling to all candidate nodes associated with the candidate configuration of the terminal in parallel.

[0103] Optionally, if the source node updates the L1 measurement resource configuration information of the continuous cell change, such as LTM CSI resource configuration information, the source node may send the first signaling to all candidate nodes associated with the candidate configuration of the terminal in parallel.

[0104] Optionally, if the source node updates, adds or releases the Early RACH resources reserved for the corresponding terminal, the source node may send the first signaling in parallel to the candidate nodes associated with the Early RACH resources or all candidate nodes associated with the candidate configuration of the terminal.

[0105] Optionally, when the source node sends the first signaling to the candidate node, the source node may receive a first response signaling sent by the candidate node, where the first response signaling carries updated candidate configuration information corresponding to the candidate cell.

[0106] Optionally, for continuous cell changes such as inter-CU LTM or S-CPAC, the first signaling can be any one of the following signaling: LTM update request (such as LTM MODIFICATION REQUEST), handover request (such as HANDOVER REQUEST), SN update request (such as SN Modification Request), LTM release request (such as LTM RELEASE REQUEST), SN release request (such as SN Release Request), etc.; the first response signaling can be LTM update request confirmation (such as LTM MODIFICATION REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE), handover request confirmation (such as HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE), SN update request confirmation (such as SN Modification Request Acknowledge), LTM release request confirmation (such as LTM RELEASE REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE), SN release request confirmation (such as SN Release Request Acknowledge), etc.

[0107] Optionally, for continuous cell changes such as intra-CU / intra-DU LTM, the first signaling may be any one of the following signalings: a terminal context update request (such as UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST), a terminal context release command (such as UE CONTEXT RELEASE COMMAND), etc.; the first response signaling may be any one of the following signalings: a terminal context update response (such as UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION RESPONSE), a terminal context release completion (such as UE CONTECT RELEASE COMPLETE), etc.

[0108] Optionally, for continuous cell changes such as intra-CU / intra-DU LTM, the first signaling may be any one of the following signalings: UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST, terminal context establishment request (such as UE CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST), UE CONTEXT RELEASE COMMAND, etc.; the first response signaling may be UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION RESPONSE, terminal context establishment response (such as UE CONTEXT SETUP RESPONSE) or UE CONTEXT RELEASE COMPLETE), etc.

[0109] Optionally, if the source node has released or added a candidate cell, that is, released or added a candidate cell, the candidate configuration processing method in this embodiment may further include:

[0110] The source node updates first candidate configuration information of continuous cell changes;

[0111] The source node sends a second signaling to all candidate nodes associated with the candidate configuration of the terminal, where the second signaling is used to notify the update of the candidate configuration information, that is, to notify all candidate nodes associated with the candidate configuration of the terminal to update the candidate configuration information; for example, the source node may send the second signaling to all candidate nodes associated with the candidate configuration of the terminal in parallel;

[0112] The source node receives a second response signaling sent by the candidate node (ie, the candidate node that has received the second signaling), where the second response signaling includes updated candidate configuration information.

[0113] Optionally, if the source node does not release or add a candidate cell, there is no need to execute the above-mentioned process related to the second signaling.

[0114] Optionally, the first candidate configuration information includes L1 measurement resource configuration information, such as CSI resource configuration information.

[0115] Optionally, the second signaling may include one or more of the following information:

[0116] third indication information, used to indicate that the second signaling is candidate configuration information related to configuring continuous cell changes (such as continuous LTM or continuous CPAC);

[0117] A fifth reason is used to indicate that the second signaling is used to update, add, or release candidate configuration information;

[0118] The interface identifier of the terminal of the source node is used to indicate the identity of the terminal; the relevant content of the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node can be found in the above explanation of the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node, which will not be repeated here;

[0119] The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is used to indicate that the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is updated; the relevant content of the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node can be found in the above explanation of the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node, which will not be repeated here;

[0120] The first candidate configuration information, for example, includes L1 measurement resource configuration information for continuous cell changes;

[0121] The second identifier includes at least one of the following: an identifier of an updated candidate cell (i.e., an identifier of a candidate cell in which a candidate configuration update has occurred), and identification information of all valid candidate cells of the terminal, wherein the identifier of the candidate cell includes at least one of a candidate configuration identifier associated with the candidate cell, a physical cell identifier of the candidate cell, and frequency information of the candidate cell.

[0122] Optionally, the updated candidate configuration information includes updated candidate configuration information of consecutive cell changes, and the updated candidate configuration information of consecutive cell changes includes at least one of the following:

[0123] Updated L1 measurement reporting configuration information for consecutive cell changes (such as consecutive LTM or consecutive CPAC, etc.);

[0124] Updated conditions: Execution conditions for continuous cell changes.

[0125] It should be pointed out that, during the process of continuous cell changes, the configuration update of a candidate cell may affect the terminal context of other candidate nodes. For example, if a candidate cell in a continuous LTM releases the Early RACH resource, then other associated candidate nodes need to delete the Early RACH resource. The addition or deletion of a candidate cell will affect the LTM L1 measurement reporting configuration information of other candidate cells or affect the execution conditions of the conditional continuous cell change. Therefore, the present application proposes a two-step process for processing candidate configurations: in the first step, a candidate configuration information of the terminal is updated, released or added, as described above, by the source node sending the first signaling; in the second step, the source node triggers the candidate configuration processing flow of other candidate nodes associated with the candidate configuration processed in the first step, as described above, by sending the second signaling. In this way, it can be ensured that when a candidate configuration is updated, released or added, the other affected candidate configurations are also updated accordingly, thereby ensuring that the candidate base station and the terminal can apply the correct candidate configuration and that the cell change is correctly executed.

[0126] Optionally, if the candidate node receives the first signaling or the second signaling sent by the source node, but the candidate node has not configured the candidate configuration information for the terminal corresponding to the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node contained therein, or the candidate configuration information is configured for the terminal (i.e., the terminal corresponding to the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node) but the candidate configuration identifier or the target cell identifier indicated in the first signaling or the second signaling is not the configured candidate cell, the candidate node will reject this update process.

[0127] Optionally, for continuous cell changes such as inter-CU LTM or S-CPAC, the second signaling may be any one of the following signalings: LTM MODIFICATION REQUEST, HANDOVER REQUEST, SN Modification Request, etc.; the second response signaling may be any one of the following signalings: LTM MODIFICATION REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE, HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE, SN Modification Request Acknowledge, etc. For intra-CU LTM, the second signaling may be UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST, and the second response signaling may be UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION RESPONSE.

[0128] Optionally, after receiving the updated candidate configuration information sent by the candidate node, the source node can send an RRC configuration (such as RRCReconfiguration) message to the corresponding terminal, which carries the updated candidate configuration information, and receive an RRC configuration completion (such as RRCReconfigurationComplete) message sent by the terminal.

[0129] For example, as shown in FIG3A , when the source node triggers the addition, update, or release of candidate configuration information associated with a candidate node, the inter-CU LTM candidate configuration processing process may include:

[0130] Step 301: The source node sends a first signaling to the candidate node #1, such as an LTM update request / switching request. The information carried in the first signaling can be found in the above embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0131] Step 302: The source node receives a first response signaling sent by candidate node #1, such as LTM update request confirmation / handover request confirmation, where the first response signaling carries updated candidate configuration information of the corresponding candidate cell.

[0132] Step 303: If the source node releases or adds a candidate cell, the source node updates the first candidate configuration information of the continuous cell change, and sends a second signaling, such as an LTM update request / switching request, to all candidate nodes associated with the candidate configuration of the terminal (such as candidate node #2, candidate node #3, etc.). The information carried in the second signaling can be referred to the above embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0133] Step 304: The source node receives a second response signaling sent by a candidate node (such as candidate node #2, candidate node #3, etc.), such as an LTM update request confirmation / handover request confirmation;

[0134] Step 305: The source node sends an RRC reconfiguration message (such as RRCReconfiguration) to the terminal, which carries the updated candidate configuration information;

[0135] Step 306: The source node receives an RRC reconfiguration completion (eg, RRCReconfigurationComplete) message sent by the terminal.

[0136] For example, as shown in FIG3B , when the source node triggers the addition, update, or release of candidate configuration information associated with a candidate node, the intra-CU / intra-DU LTM candidate configuration processing process may include:

[0137] Step 311: The gNB-CU (i.e., source node) sends a first signaling message to the gNB-DU (i.e., candidate node), such as a terminal context update request / terminal context release command. The information carried in the first signaling message can be found in the above embodiments and is not repeated here.

[0138] Step 312: The gNB-CU receives the first response signaling from the gNB-DU, such as Terminal Context Update Response / Terminal Context Release Complete, which carries the updated candidate configuration information of the corresponding candidate cell.

[0139] Step 313: If the gNB-CU releases or adds a candidate cell, the gNB-CU updates the first candidate configuration information for the continuous cell change and sends a second signaling to the gNB-DU, such as a terminal context update request. The information carried in the second signaling is as described in the above embodiments and is not repeated here.

[0140] Step 314: The gNB-CU receives the second response signaling sent by the gNB-DU, such as a terminal context update response. The information carried in the second response signaling is as described in the above embodiment and is not repeated here.

[0141] Step 315: The gNB-CU sends a downlink RRC message transmission (i.e., DL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER, such as RRCReconfiguration) to the gNB-DU.

[0142] Step 316: The gNB-DU sends an RRCReconfiguration message to the terminal, which carries the updated candidate configuration information.

[0143] Step 317: The gNB-DU receives the RRCReconfigurationComplete message sent by the terminal.

[0144] Step 318: The gNB-CU receives the uplink RRC message transmission (i.e., UL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER, such as RRCReconfigurationComplete) sent by the gNB-DU.

[0145] For example, as shown in FIG3C , when the source node triggers the addition, update, or release of candidate configuration information associated with a candidate node, the intra-CU / inter-DU LTM candidate configuration processing process may include:

[0146] Step 321: The gNB-CU (i.e., source node) sends a first signaling message, such as a terminal context establishment request / terminal context release command, to candidate gNB-DU#1 (i.e., candidate node). The information carried in the first signaling message can be found in the above embodiments and is not repeated here.

[0147] Step 322: The gNB-CU receives the first response signaling from candidate gNB-DU#1, such as Terminal Context Setup Response / Terminal Context Release Complete, which carries the updated candidate configuration information for the corresponding candidate cell.

[0148] Step 323: If the gNB-CU releases or adds a candidate cell, the gNB-CU updates the first candidate configuration information for the continuous cell change and sends a second signaling, such as a Terminal Context Update Request, to the source gNB-DU and candidate gNB-DU#n. The information carried in the second signaling is as described in the above embodiments and is not repeated here.

[0149] Step 324: The gNB-CU receives the second response signaling sent by the source gNB-DU and candidate gNB-DU#n, such as the Terminal Context Update Response. The information carried in the second response signaling is as described in the above embodiment and is not repeated here.

[0150] Step 325: The gNB-CU sends a downlink RRC message transfer (i.e., DL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER, such as RRCReconfiguration) to the source gNB-DU.

[0151] Step 326: The source gNB-DU sends an RRCReconfiguration message to the terminal, which carries the updated candidate configuration information.

[0152] Step 327: The source gNB-DU receives the RRCReconfigurationComplete message sent by the terminal.

[0153] Step 328: The source gNB-DU sends an uplink RRC message transmission (i.e., UL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER, such as RRCReconfigurationComplete) to the gNB-CU.

[0154] Trigger method 2

[0155] In this second triggering mode, the candidate node triggers the addition, update or release of the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node, that is, the candidate node sends the first signaling to the source node.

[0156] Optionally, when the candidate node sends the first signaling to the source node, for continuous cell changes of inter-CU (such as continuous LTM), the source node is the source base station (source gNB) or MN (this is the case for SCG cell changes); for continuous cell changes of intra-CU (such as continuous LTM), because the candidate configurations share one gNB-CU, the source node refers to the gNB-CU.

[0157] Optionally, for continuous cell changes such as inter-CU LTM, the first signaling can be any one of the following signaling: LTM update request (such as LTM MODIFICATION REQUIRED), LTM cancellation (such as LTM CANCLE), LTM release request (such as LTM Release Required), SN update request (such as SN Modification Required), SN release request (such as SN Release Required), etc.

[0158] Optionally, for continuous cell changes such as intra-CU LTM, the first signaling may be UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUIRED, UE CONTEXT RELEASE REQUEST, etc. In addition, the first signaling may also be LTM MODIFICATION REQUIRED or other signaling indicating an update.

[0159] Optionally, when the candidate node sends the first signaling to the source node, after sending the first signaling, the candidate configuration processing method in this embodiment may further include:

[0160] The candidate node receives a third signaling sent by the source node, where the third signaling is used to request an update of candidate configuration information of continuous cell changes (such as continuous LTMs, etc.);

[0161] The candidate node sends a third response signaling to the source node, where the third response signaling includes updated candidate configuration information.

[0162] Optionally, the third signaling includes at least one of the following:

[0163] Fourth indication information, used to indicate that the third signaling is candidate configuration information related to configuring continuous cell changes (such as continuous LTM, etc.);

[0164] A sixth reason is used to indicate that the third signaling is used to update candidate configuration information;

[0165] The interface identifier of the terminal of the source node is used to indicate the identity of the terminal; the relevant content of the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node can be found in the above explanation of the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node, which will not be repeated here;

[0166] The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is used to indicate that the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is updated; the relevant content of the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node can be found in the above explanation of the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node, which will not be repeated here;

[0167] A candidate configuration identifier, used to indicate updating or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate configuration identifier;

[0168] The candidate cell identifier is used to indicate updating or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate cell identifier.

[0169] In an optional embodiment, for continuous cell changes such as inter-CU LTM, after receiving the first signaling sent by the candidate node, the source node may send a third signaling to the candidate node to request an update of the candidate configuration information of the continuous cell change (such as continuous LTM, etc.); thereafter, receive a third response signaling sent by the candidate node, which includes the updated candidate configuration information, to implement the candidate configuration update of the candidate node.

[0170] In an optional embodiment, for continuous cell changes such as inter-CU LTM, the third signaling may be LTM MODIFICATION REQUEST or HANDOVER REQUEST, and the third response signaling may be LTM MODIFICATION REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE or HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE.

[0171] Optionally, after the candidate node sends the first signaling to the source node, the candidate configuration processing method in this embodiment may further include:

[0172] The candidate node receives a first response signaling sent by the source node, where the first response signaling is used to indicate that the source node has received the updated candidate configuration information sent by the candidate node.

[0173] In an optional embodiment, for continuous cell changes such as inter-CU LTM, the first response signaling may be any one of the following signalings: LTM MODIFICATION CONFIRM, LTM RELEASE CONFIRM, SN Modification Confirm, SN Release Confirm. For continuous cell changes such as intra-CU LTM, the first response signaling may be UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION CONFIRM, etc.

[0174] Optionally, if the candidate node (i.e., the candidate node that sends the first signaling) has released or added a candidate cell, that is, the candidate cell is released or added, the candidate configuration processing method in this embodiment may further include:

[0175] The candidate node receives a fourth signaling sent by the source node; the fourth signaling is sent by the source node after updating the second candidate configuration information of the continuous cell change, and the fourth signaling is used to notify the update of the candidate configuration information; for example, the source node may send the fourth signaling to all candidate nodes associated with the candidate configuration of the terminal in parallel;

[0176] The candidate node sends a fourth response signaling to the source node, where the fourth response signaling includes updated candidate configuration information.

[0177] Optionally, the second candidate configuration information includes: L1 measurement resource configuration information, such as CSI resource configuration information.

[0178] Optionally, the updated candidate configuration information includes updated candidate configuration information of consecutive cell changes, and the updated candidate configuration information of consecutive cell changes includes at least one of the following:

[0179] Updated L1 measurement reporting configuration information for continuous cell changes such as continuous LTM or continuous CPAC;

[0180] Updated conditions: Execution conditions for continuous cell changes.

[0181] Optionally, the fourth signaling may include one or more of the following information:

[0182] Fifth indication information, used to indicate that the fourth signaling is candidate configuration information related to configuring continuous cell changes (such as continuous LTM or continuous CPAC, etc.);

[0183] A seventh reason is used to indicate that the fourth signaling is used to update, add or release candidate configuration information;

[0184] The interface identifier of the terminal of the source node is used to indicate the identity of the terminal; the relevant content of the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node can be found in the above explanation of the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node, which will not be repeated here;

[0185] The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is used to indicate that the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is updated; the relevant content of the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node can be found in the above explanation of the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node, which will not be repeated here;

[0186] The second candidate configuration information, for example, includes L1 measurement resource configuration information for continuous cell changes;

[0187] The third identifier includes at least one of the following: an identifier of an updated candidate cell (i.e., an identifier of a candidate cell in which a candidate configuration update has occurred), and identification information of all valid candidate cells of the terminal, wherein the identifier of the candidate cell includes at least one of a candidate configuration identifier associated with the candidate cell, a physical cell identifier of the candidate cell, and frequency information of the candidate cell.

[0188] It should be pointed out that, during the process of continuous cell changes, the configuration update of a candidate cell may affect the terminal context of other candidate nodes. For example, if a candidate cell in a continuous LTM releases the Early RACH resource, then other associated candidate nodes need to delete the Early RACH resource. The addition or deletion of a candidate cell will affect the LTM L1 measurement reporting configuration information of other candidate cells or the execution conditions of the conditional continuous cell change. Therefore, the present application proposes a two-step process for processing candidate configurations: in the first step, a candidate configuration information of the terminal is updated, released or added, as described above, by the candidate node sending the first signaling; in the second step, the source node triggers the candidate configuration processing flow of other candidate nodes associated with the candidate configuration processed in the first step, as described above, by sending the fourth signaling. In this way, it can be ensured that when a candidate configuration is updated, released or added, the other affected candidate configurations are also updated accordingly, thereby ensuring that the candidate base station and the terminal can apply the correct candidate configuration and that the cell change is correctly executed.

[0189] Optionally, if the candidate node (i.e., the candidate node that sends the first signaling) updates, adds, or releases the Early RACH resources reserved for other candidate nodes, the source node can first determine the target candidate node based on the identifiers of other candidate nodes associated with the RACH resources included in the second Early RACH configuration information in the first signaling; then, send a fifth signaling to the target candidate node, the fifth signaling is used to notify the update of the candidate configuration information, and receive a fifth response signaling sent by the target candidate node, the fifth response signaling includes sixth indication information, and the sixth indication information is used to indicate that the fifth signaling has been received and the update has been completed. In this way, it can be ensured that the target candidate node completes the update of the corresponding candidate configuration, thereby ensuring that the candidate base station and terminal can apply the correct candidate configuration and ensuring that the cell change is correctly executed.

[0190] It is understandable that if the candidate node (ie, the candidate node that sends the first signaling) does not update, add, or release the Early RACH resources reserved for the terminal, the source node does not need to execute the above process related to the target candidate node.

[0191] Optionally, the fifth signaling may include one or more of the following information:

[0192] Seventh indication information, where the seventh indication information is used to indicate that the fifth signaling is used to update candidate configuration information related to continuous cell changes (such as continuous LTM or continuous CPAC);

[0193] An eighth reason is used to indicate that the fifth signaling is used to update RACH resource information related to Early RACH of the candidate node;

[0194] The interface identifier of the terminal of the source node is used to indicate the identity of the terminal; the relevant content of the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node can be found in the above explanation of the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node, which will not be repeated here;

[0195] The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is used to indicate that the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is updated; the relevant content of the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node can be found in the above explanation of the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node, which will not be repeated here;

[0196] Third Early RACH configuration information.

[0197] Optionally, the third Early RACH configuration information may include at least one of the following:

[0198] Updated RACH configuration information;

[0199] Release indication information, used to indicate that the candidate node has released the RACH resources allocated to it;

[0200] Adding indication information, used to indicate that the candidate node has added the RACH resources allocated to it;

[0201] A fourth identifier, used to identify the candidate node for which the RACH configuration information has been updated; for example, the fourth identifier may include at least one of the following: a gNB-CU ID, a gNB-DU ID, a group identifier, a candidate configuration identifier, or a candidate cell identifier;

[0202] Updated RACH resource information; for example, this updated RACH resource information includes preamble resource information, and the preamble resource information is used to indicate that the fourth node has released or added the preamble resources related to the Early RACH configured for it, and the fourth node is the node that has updated the RACH configuration information. It should be noted that if the target candidate node receives the fifth signaling sent by the source node, but the target candidate node has not configured the candidate configuration information for the terminal corresponding to the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node contained therein, or the terminal (i.e., the terminal corresponding to the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node) is configured with candidate configuration information but the candidate configuration identifier or target cell identifier indicated in the first signaling or the fifth signaling is not a configured candidate cell, then the target candidate node will reject this update process.

[0203] Optionally, for continuous cell changes such as inter-CU LTM, the fifth signaling may be any one of the following signalings: LTM MODIFICATION REQUEST, HANDOVER REQUEST, SN Modification Request, etc.; the fifth response signaling may be any one of the following signalings: LTM MODIFICATION REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE, HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE, SN Modification Request Acknowledge, etc. For continuous cell changes such as intra-CU LTM, the fifth signaling may be UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST, and the fifth response signaling may be UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION RESPONSE.

[0204] Optionally, after receiving the updated candidate configuration information sent by the candidate node, the source node can send an RRC configuration (such as RRCReconfiguration) message to the corresponding terminal, which carries the updated candidate configuration information, and receive an RRC configuration completion (such as RRCReconfigurationComplete) message sent by the terminal.

[0205] For example, as shown in FIG4A , when a candidate node triggers the addition, update, or release of candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node, the inter-CU LTM candidate configuration processing process may include:

[0206] Step 401: Candidate node #1 sends a first signaling to the source node, such as an LTM update request / LTM cancellation. The information carried in the first signaling can be found in the above embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0207] Step 402: Optionally, the source node sends a first response signaling to candidate node #1, such as an LTM update confirmation (e.g., LTM MODIFICATION CONFIRM), to indicate that the source node has received the updated candidate configuration information sent by candidate node #1.

[0208] Step 403a: Optionally, candidate node #1 receives a third signaling sent by the source node, such as an LTM update request / handover request, for requesting to update candidate configuration information for continuous cell changes;

[0209] Step 403b: Optionally, candidate node #1 sends a third response signaling to the source node, such as LTM update request confirmation / handover request confirmation, which includes the updated candidate configuration information;

[0210] It should be noted that if the first signaling is LTM MODIFICATION REQUIRED, LTM Release Required, SN Modification Required, SN Release Required, or other signaling indicating update, step 402 is executed, or steps 403a and 403b are executed.

[0211] Step 404: If candidate node #1 releases or adds a candidate cell, the source node updates the second candidate configuration information of the continuous cell change, and sends a fourth signaling, such as an LTM update request / switching request, to all candidate nodes associated with the candidate configuration of the terminal (such as candidate node #2, candidate node #3, etc.). The information carried in the fourth signaling can be found in the above embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0212] Step 405: The source node receives a fourth response signaling sent by a candidate node (such as candidate node #2, candidate node #3, etc.), such as an LTM update request confirmation / handover request confirmation, which includes updated candidate configuration information;

[0213] Step 406: The source node sends an RRC reconfiguration message (such as RRCReconfiguration) to the terminal, which carries the updated candidate configuration information;

[0214] Step 407: The source node receives an RRC reconfiguration completion (eg, RRCReconfigurationComplete) message sent by the terminal.

[0215] For example, as shown in FIG4B , when a candidate node triggers the addition, update, or release of candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node, the intra-CU / intra-DU LTM candidate configuration processing process may include:

[0216] Step 411: The gNB-DU (i.e., candidate node) sends a first signaling message to the gNB-CU (i.e., source node), such as a terminal context update request / terminal context release request. The information carried in the first signaling message can be found in the above embodiments and is not repeated here.

[0217] Step 412: The gNB-CU sends a first response signaling to the gNB-DU, such as a Terminal Context Update Confirmation, which carries confirmation information confirming receipt of the first signaling.

[0218] Step 413: If the gNB-DU releases or adds a candidate cell, the gNB-CU updates the second candidate configuration information for the continuous cell change and sends a fourth signaling to the gNB-DU, such as a terminal context update request. The information carried in the fourth signaling is as described in the above embodiments and is not repeated here.

[0219] Step 414: The gNB-CU receives the fourth response signaling sent by the gNB-DU, such as a terminal context update response. The information carried in the fourth response signaling can be found in the above embodiments and is not repeated here.

[0220] Step 415: The gNB-CU sends a downlink RRC message transmission (i.e., DL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER, such as RRCReconfiguration) to the gNB-DU.

[0221] Step 416: The source node sends an RRCReconfiguration message to the terminal, which carries the updated candidate configuration information.

[0222] Step 417: The source node receives the RRCReconfigurationComplete message sent by the terminal.

[0223] Step 418: The gNB-CU receives the uplink RRC message transmission (i.e., UL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER, such as RRCReconfigurationComplete) sent by the gNB-DU.

[0224] For example, as shown in FIG4C , when a candidate node triggers the addition, update, or release of candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node, the intra-CU / inter-DU LTM candidate configuration processing process may include:

[0225] Step 321: Candidate gNB-DU#1 (i.e., candidate node) sends a first signaling message, such as a terminal context update request / terminal context release request, to the gNB-CU (i.e., source node). The information carried in the first signaling message can be found in the above embodiments and is not repeated here.

[0226] Step 322: The gNB-CU sends a first response signaling, such as a Terminal Context Update Confirmation, to candidate gNB-DU#1, which contains confirmation information for the first signaling.

[0227] Step 423: If the gNB-DU releases or adds a candidate cell, the gNB-CU updates the second candidate configuration information for the continuous cell change and sends a fourth signaling, such as a Terminal Context Update Request, to the source gNB-DU and candidate gNB-DU#n. The information carried in the fourth signaling can be found in the above embodiments and is not repeated here.

[0228] Step 424: The gNB-CU receives the fourth response signaling sent by the source gNB-DU and candidate gNB-DU#n, such as the terminal context update response. The information carried in the fourth response signaling is as described in the above embodiment and is not repeated here.

[0229] Step 425: The gNB-CU sends a downlink RRC message transfer (i.e., DL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER, such as RRCReconfiguration) to the source gNB-DU.

[0230] Step 426: The source gNB-DU sends an RRCReconfiguration message to the terminal, which carries the updated candidate configuration information.

[0231] Step 427: The source gNB-DU receives the RRCReconfigurationComplete message sent by the terminal.

[0232] Step 428: The source gNB-DU sends an uplink RRC message transmission (i.e., UL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER, such as RRCReconfigurationComplete) to the gNB-CU.

[0233] Please refer to FIG5 , which is a flowchart of a candidate configuration processing method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method is executed by the second node. As shown in FIG5 , the method includes the following steps:

[0234] Step 51: The second node receives first signaling from the first node, where the first signaling is used for at least one of the following: adding candidate configuration information, updating candidate configuration information, and releasing candidate configuration information.

[0235] In the embodiment of the present application, the first node is a source node and the second node is a candidate node; or, the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node. In other words, the source node may send a first signaling to the candidate node to trigger the addition, update, or release of candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node; or the candidate node may send a first signaling to the source node to trigger the addition, update, or release of candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node.

[0236] Through the solution in the embodiment of the present application, the source node or the candidate node can trigger the addition, update or release of the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node, thereby realizing the processing of the candidate configuration.

[0237] Optionally, the first signaling may include one or more of the following information:

[0238] 1) A first cause, used to indicate that the first signaling is used to update candidate configuration information;

[0239] 2) A second reason, used to indicate that the first signaling is used to release candidate configuration information;

[0240] 3) A third reason is used to indicate that the first signaling is used to update RACH resource information related to the Early RACH of the candidate node;

[0241] 4) The interface identifier of the terminal of the source node, which is used to indicate the identity of the terminal, that is, to indicate the terminal identity to the corresponding candidate node;

[0242] 5) an interface identifier of a terminal of a target candidate node, used to indicate an update of candidate configuration information of a terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node;

[0243] 6) Candidate configuration identifier, used to indicate updating, adding or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate configuration identifier;

[0244] 7) Candidate cell identity, used to indicate updating, adding or releasing candidate configuration information associated with the candidate cell identity.

[0245] It should be noted that the target candidate node represents the node corresponding to the candidate cell of the candidate configuration change, rather than the node corresponding to the target cell in the event of a cell handover or cell change. In an embodiment of the present application, the source node represents the node corresponding to the source cell in the event of a cell handover or cell change, the target node represents the node corresponding to the target cell in the event of a cell handover or cell change, and the target candidate node represents the node corresponding to the candidate cell in the event of a candidate configuration change.

[0246] Optionally, the interface identifier of the terminal at the source node may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: an Xn interface identifier of the terminal assigned by the source access network node (Source NG-RAN node UE XnAP ID reference), an F1 interface identifier of the terminal in the base station centralized unit gNB-CU (gNB-CU UE F1AP ID), and a terminal identifier on the F1 interface of the base station distributed unit gNB-DU (gNB-DU UE F1AP ID). The gNB-CU UE F1AP ID can uniquely identify a terminal on the F1 interface within the gNB-CU. In this way, when the candidate node receives the interface identifier of the terminal at the source node, it can determine for which terminal the candidate configuration update is intended.

[0247] For example, for continuous inter-CU cell changes such as continuous LTM, the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node can be used to indicate the terminal identifier of the Xn interface between the NG-RAN nodes, such as Source NG-RAN node UE XnAP ID reference; or, for continuous intra-CU cell changes such as continuous LTM, the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node can include gNB-DU UE F1AP ID (i.e., the F1 interface identifier of the terminal of the gNB-CU) and gNB-DU UE F1AP ID (i.e., the terminal identifier on the F1 interface of the gNB-DU).

[0248] Optionally, the source node in an embodiment of the present application may send notification signaling to a candidate node associated with candidate configuration information of continuous cell changes (such as continuous LTM), and the notification signaling is used to notify the candidate node to update the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node to the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node.

[0249] Optionally, the notification signaling may include at least one of the following: an interface identifier of a terminal of the target candidate node, a candidate configuration identifier associated with the target cell, and a target cell identifier.

[0250] In an optional embodiment, the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node is the terminal identifier of the terminal at the source node. If the terminal is configured with LTM candidate configuration information, after each cell switching is completed (i.e., switching from the source node to the target node), the source node or the target node needs to send a notification signaling to all candidate nodes associated with the LTM candidate configuration information. The notification signaling is used to notify the candidate node to update the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node (i.e., the interface identifier of the terminal at the source node) to the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node (i.e., the interface identifier of the terminal at the target node).

[0251] Optionally, the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node may include at least one of the following: the Xn interface identifier of the terminal assigned by the target candidate access network node, the gNB-CU UE F1AP ID, and the gNB-DU UE F1AP ID.

[0252] Optionally, the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is obtained by the source node based on a first mapping relationship and a target candidate cell configuration identifier or a target candidate cell identifier, and the source node is changed by the first candidate node. The first mapping relationship is obtained when the initial source node sends the interface identifiers of the terminals of all candidate nodes and their mapping relationship with the candidate configuration identifier or the candidate cell identifier to all candidate nodes during the preparation process for the continuous cell change. That is to say, during the preparation process for the continuous cell change, the initial source node (i.e., the initial source node, such as the node that has performed LTM or other continuous cell change preparations) sends the interface identifiers of the terminals of all candidate nodes and their mapping relationship with the candidate configuration identifier or the candidate cell identifier to all candidate nodes, and when the candidate node becomes the source node, the source node at this time obtains the interface identifier of the terminal of the target node based on the mapping relationship and the target cell configuration identifier or the target cell identifier.

[0253] Optionally, the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is obtained by the source node based on a second mapping relationship and a target candidate cell configuration identifier or a target candidate cell identifier. The source node is changed by the target node. The second mapping relationship is received by the target node from the source node corresponding to the target node during or after each cell switching process. The second mapping relationship is a mapping relationship between the interface identifiers of the terminals of all candidate nodes and the candidate configuration identifier or the candidate cell identifier. That is to say, during or after each cell switching process, the source node sends the interface identifiers of the terminals of all candidate nodes and their mapping relationship with the candidate configuration identifier to the target candidate node, and when this target candidate node becomes the source node, the source node at this time obtains the interface identifier of the terminal of the target node based on the mapping relationship and the target cell configuration identifier or the target cell identifier.

[0254] Optionally, when the first node is a source node and the second node is a candidate node, that is, when the source node triggers the addition, update, or release of candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node, the first signaling may include one or more of the following information:

[0255] 8) First indication information, used to indicate that the first signaling is candidate configuration information for configuring continuous cell changes; the continuous cell changes may be, for example, continuous LTM or continuous CPAC;

[0256] 9) A fourth cause is used to indicate that the first signaling is used to update L1 measurement resource configuration information;

[0257] 10) First configuration information, the first configuration information includes at least one of the following: reference configuration information, L1 measurement resource configuration information, and first Early RACH configuration information; the first configuration information has an impact on continuous cell changes.

[0258] Optionally, in the case where the first configuration information includes reference configuration information, it is because the source node updates the reference configuration information, and therefore it is necessary to trigger the candidate node to update the candidate configuration information.

[0259] Optionally, the L1 measurement resource configuration information included in the first configuration information is, for example, LTM CSI resource configuration information. In this case, because the source node updates the LTM CSI resource configuration information, it is necessary to trigger other candidate nodes to update their candidate configuration information. The L1 measurement resource configuration information may appear only when the fourth cause is configured, that is, if the fourth cause exists, the first configuration information includes the L1 measurement resource configuration information.

[0260] Optionally, the L1 measurement resource configuration information included in the first configuration information may include at least one of the following:

[0261] candidate configuration identifier;

[0262] Candidate beam identifier.

[0263] Optionally, in the case where the first configuration information includes first Early RACH configuration information, it is because the source node (for example, for inter-CU LTM) updates, adds, or releases Early RACH resources reserved for the terminal. The first Early RACH configuration information may appear only when the third cause is configured, that is, if the third cause exists, the first configuration information includes the first Early RACH configuration information.

[0264] Optionally, the first Early RACH configuration information may include but is not limited to at least one of the following:

[0265] Updated RACH configuration information;

[0266] Release indication information, used to indicate that the source node has released the Early RACH-related RACH resources allocated to it;

[0267] Add indication information, used to indicate that the source node has added RACH resources related to the Early RACH allocated to it;

[0268] A first identifier, used to identify a candidate node for which RACH configuration information has been updated. Optionally, the first identifier may include at least one of the following: a gNB-CU ID, a gNB-DU ID, a group identifier, a candidate configuration identifier, or a candidate cell identifier.

[0269] Updated RACH resource information; for example, the new RACH resource information includes preamble resource information, the preamble resource information is used to indicate that the third node has released or added the preamble resources associated with the Early RACH configured for it, and the third node is a node that has updated the RACH configuration information.

[0270] In an optional embodiment, when the source node triggers the addition, update, or release of candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node, the first signaling received by the candidate node from the source node may include one or more of the above 1) to 10). After receiving the first signaling, the candidate node may or may not delete the candidate configuration information indicated by the first signaling.

[0271] Optionally, when the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, that is, when the candidate node triggers the addition, update, or release of candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node, the first signaling may include one or more of the following information:

[0272] 11) Second Early RACH configuration information;

[0273] 12) Updated candidate configuration information;

[0274] 13) Second configuration information, where the second configuration information includes other configuration information affecting continuous cell changes except the second Early RACH configuration information.

[0275] Optionally, in the case where the first signaling includes second Early RACH configuration information, it is because the candidate node updates, releases, or adds Early RACH resources reserved for the terminal. The second Early RACH configuration information may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following:

[0276] Identifiers of other candidate nodes associated with the RACH resources of the candidate node, other than the candidate node; optionally, the identifiers of the other candidate nodes may include at least one of the following: a gNB-CU ID, a gNB-DU ID, a group ID, a candidate configuration ID, or a candidate cell ID;

[0277] Second indication information, used to instruct to release or update Early RACH configuration information;

[0278] Updated RACH configuration information;

[0279] Updated RACH resource information.

[0280] In an optional embodiment, when the candidate node triggers the addition, update or release of candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node, the first signaling received by the source node from the candidate node may include one or more of the above 1) to 7) and 11) to 13).

[0281] The following describes the embodiments of the present application in detail for the two triggering modes.

[0282] Trigger method 1

[0283] In this triggering mode, the source node triggers the addition, update or release of candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node, that is, the source node sends a first signaling to the candidate node.

[0284] Optionally, when the source node sends the first signaling to the candidate node, if the source node has released or added a candidate cell, that is, released or added a candidate cell, the candidate configuration processing method in this embodiment may further include:

[0285] The candidate node receives a second signaling sent by the source node; the second signaling is sent by the source node after updating the first candidate configuration information of the continuous cell change, and the second signaling is used to notify the update of the candidate configuration information; for example, the source node may send the second signaling to all candidate nodes associated with the candidate configuration of the terminal in parallel;

[0286] The candidate node sends a second response signaling to the source node, where the second response signaling includes updated candidate configuration information.

[0287] Optionally, the first candidate configuration information includes L1 measurement resource configuration information, such as CSI resource configuration information.

[0288] Optionally, the second signaling may include one or more of the following information:

[0289] third indication information, used to indicate that the second signaling is candidate configuration information related to configuring continuous cell changes (such as continuous LTM or continuous CPAC);

[0290] A fifth reason is used to indicate that the second signaling is used to update, add, or release candidate configuration information;

[0291] The interface identifier of the terminal of the source node is used to indicate the identity of the terminal; the relevant content of the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node can be found in the above explanation of the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node, which will not be repeated here;

[0292] The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is used to indicate that the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is updated; the relevant content of the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node can be found in the above explanation of the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node, which will not be repeated here;

[0293] The first candidate configuration information, for example, includes L1 measurement resource configuration information for continuous cell changes;

[0294] The second identifier includes at least one of the following: an identifier of an updated candidate cell (i.e., an identifier of a candidate cell in which a candidate configuration update has occurred), and identification information of all valid candidate cells of the terminal, wherein the identifier of the candidate cell includes at least one of a candidate configuration identifier associated with the candidate cell, a physical cell identifier of the candidate cell, and frequency information of the candidate cell.

[0295] Optionally, the updated candidate configuration information includes updated candidate configuration information of consecutive cell changes, and the updated candidate configuration information of consecutive cell changes includes at least one of the following:

[0296] Updated L1 measurement reporting configuration information for consecutive cell changes (such as consecutive LTM or consecutive CPAC, etc.);

[0297] Updated conditions: Execution conditions for continuous cell changes.

[0298] In this way, it can be ensured that when a candidate configuration is updated, released or added, other affected candidate configurations are also updated accordingly, thereby ensuring that the candidate base stations and terminals can apply the correct candidate configuration and ensure that the cell change is correctly executed.

[0299] Optionally, if the candidate node receives the first signaling or the second signaling sent by the source node, but the candidate node has not configured the candidate configuration information for the terminal corresponding to the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node contained therein, or the candidate configuration information is configured for the terminal (i.e., the terminal corresponding to the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node) but the candidate configuration identifier or the target cell identifier indicated in the first signaling or the second signaling is not the configured candidate cell, the candidate node will reject this update process.

[0300] Optionally, the candidate node may refuse to update, release, or add candidate configuration information if a first condition is met; the first condition includes at least one of the following:

[0301] The candidate node receives the first signaling or the second signaling, but the candidate node does not have the candidate configuration information configured for the terminal corresponding to the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node contained in the first signaling or the second signaling;

[0302] Candidate configuration information has been configured for the terminal, but the candidate configuration identifier included in the first signaling or the second signaling does not correspond to the configured candidate cell;

[0303] Candidate configuration information has been configured for the terminal, but the target cell identifier included in the first signaling or the second signaling does not correspond to the configured candidate cell.

[0304] It should be noted that, in this triggering mode, the optional forms of the first signaling, the second signaling and the second response signaling can be referred to the above embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0305] Trigger method 2

[0306] In this second triggering mode, the candidate node triggers the addition, update or release of the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate node, that is, the candidate node sends the first signaling to the source node.

[0307] Optionally, when the candidate node sends the first signaling to the source node, after sending the first signaling, the candidate configuration processing method in this embodiment may further include:

[0308] The source node sends a third signaling to the candidate node, where the third signaling is used to request an update of candidate configuration information of continuous cell changes (such as continuous LTMs, etc.);

[0309] The source node receives a third response signaling sent by the candidate node, where the third response signaling includes updated candidate configuration information.

[0310] Optionally, the third signaling includes at least one of the following:

[0311] Fourth indication information, used to indicate that the third signaling is candidate configuration information related to configuring continuous cell changes (such as continuous LTM, etc.);

[0312] A sixth reason is used to indicate that the third signaling is used to update candidate configuration information;

[0313] The interface identifier of the terminal of the source node is used to indicate the identity of the terminal; the relevant content of the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node can be found in the above explanation of the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node, which will not be repeated here;

[0314] The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is used to indicate that the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is updated; the relevant content of the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node can be found in the above explanation of the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node, which will not be repeated here;

[0315] A candidate configuration identifier, used to indicate updating or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate configuration identifier;

[0316] The candidate cell identifier is used to indicate updating or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate cell identifier.

[0317] Optionally, after the candidate node sends the first signaling to the source node, the candidate configuration processing method in this embodiment may further include:

[0318] The source node sends a first response signaling to the candidate node, where the first response signaling is used to indicate that the source node has received the updated candidate configuration information sent by the candidate node.

[0319] Optionally, after the candidate node sends the first signaling to the source node, if the candidate node has released or added a candidate cell, the candidate configuration processing method in this embodiment may further include:

[0320] The source node updates second candidate configuration information of the continuous cell change;

[0321] The source node sends a fourth signaling to all candidate nodes associated with the candidate configuration information of the terminal, where the fourth signaling is used to notify the update of the candidate configuration information; for example, the source node may send the fourth signaling to all candidate nodes associated with the candidate configuration of the terminal in parallel;

[0322] The source node receives a fourth response signaling sent by the candidate node, where the fourth response signaling includes updated candidate configuration information.

[0323] Optionally, the second candidate configuration information includes: L1 measurement resource configuration information, such as CSI resource configuration information.

[0324] Optionally, the updated candidate configuration information includes updated candidate configuration information of consecutive cell changes, and the updated candidate configuration information of consecutive cell changes includes at least one of the following:

[0325] Updated L1 measurement reporting configuration information for continuous cell changes (such as continuous LTM or continuous CPAC, etc.);

[0326] Updated conditions: Execution conditions for continuous cell changes.

[0327] Optionally, the fourth signaling may include one or more of the following information:

[0328] Fifth indication information, used to indicate that the fourth signaling is candidate configuration information related to configuring continuous cell changes (such as continuous LTM or continuous CPAC, etc.);

[0329] A seventh reason is used to indicate that the fourth signaling is used to update, add or release candidate configuration information;

[0330] The interface identifier of the terminal of the source node is used to indicate the identity of the terminal; the relevant content of the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node can be found in the above explanation of the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node, which will not be repeated here;

[0331] The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is used to indicate that the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is updated; the relevant content of the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node can be found in the above explanation of the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node, which will not be repeated here;

[0332] The second candidate configuration information, for example, includes L1 measurement resource configuration information for continuous cell changes;

[0333] The third identifier includes at least one of the following: an identifier of an updated candidate cell (i.e., an identifier of a candidate cell in which a candidate configuration update has occurred), and identification information of all valid candidate cells of the terminal, wherein the identifier of the candidate cell includes at least one of a candidate configuration identifier associated with the candidate cell, a physical cell identifier of the candidate cell, and frequency information of the candidate cell.

[0334] In this way, it can be ensured that when a candidate configuration is updated, released or added, other affected candidate configurations are also updated accordingly, thereby ensuring that the candidate base stations and terminals can apply the correct candidate configuration and ensure that the cell change is correctly executed.

[0335] Optionally, after the candidate node sends the first signaling to the source node, if the candidate node has updated, added, or released the Early RACH resources reserved for the terminal, the candidate configuration processing method in this embodiment may further include:

[0336] The source node determines the target candidate node according to the identifiers of other candidate nodes associated with the RACH resource included in the second Early RACH configuration information in the first signaling;

[0337] The source node sends a fifth signaling to the target candidate node, where the fifth signaling is used to notify the target candidate node of updating candidate configuration information;

[0338] The source node receives a fifth response signaling sent by the target candidate node, where the fifth response signaling includes sixth indication information, and the sixth indication information is used to indicate that the fifth signaling has been received and the update has been completed.

[0339] Optionally, the fifth signaling may include one or more of the following information:

[0340] Seventh indication information, where the seventh indication information is used to indicate that the fifth signaling is used to update candidate configuration information related to continuous cell changes (such as continuous LTM or continuous CPAC);

[0341] An eighth reason is used to indicate that the fifth signaling is used to update RACH resource information related to Early RACH of the candidate node;

[0342] The interface identifier of the terminal of the source node is used to indicate the identity of the terminal; the relevant content of the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node can be found in the above explanation of the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node, which will not be repeated here;

[0343] The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is used to indicate that the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is updated; the relevant content of the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node can be found in the above explanation of the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node, which will not be repeated here;

[0344] Third Early RACH configuration information.

[0345] Optionally, the third Early RACH configuration information may include at least one of the following:

[0346] Updated RACH configuration information;

[0347] Release indication information, used to indicate that the candidate node has released the RACH resources allocated to it;

[0348] Adding indication information, used to indicate that the candidate node has added the RACH resources allocated to it;

[0349] A fourth identifier, used to identify the candidate node for which the RACH configuration information has been updated; for example, the fourth identifier may include at least one of the following: a gNB-CU ID, a gNB-DU ID, a group identifier, a candidate configuration identifier, or a candidate cell identifier;

[0350] Updated RACH resource information; for example, the updated RACH resource information includes preamble resource information, the preamble resource information is used to indicate that the fourth node has released or added the preamble resources associated with the Early RACH configured for it, and the fourth node is a node that has updated the RACH configuration information.

[0351] It should be pointed out that, under this triggering mode, the optional forms of the first signaling, the fourth signaling, the fourth response signaling, the fifth signaling and the fifth response signaling, etc. can be referred to the above embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0352] The candidate configuration processing method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be executed by a candidate configuration processing device. In the embodiment of the present application, the candidate configuration processing device performing the candidate configuration processing method is taken as an example to illustrate the candidate configuration processing device provided in the embodiment of the present application.

[0353] Please refer to FIG6 , which is a schematic diagram of the structure of a candidate configuration processing device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The device is applied to a first node. As shown in FIG6 , the candidate configuration processing device 60 includes:

[0354] A first sending module 61 is configured for a first node to send a first signaling to a second node, where the first signaling is used for at least one of the following: adding candidate configuration information, updating candidate configuration information, and releasing candidate configuration information;

[0355] The first node is a source node, and the second node is a candidate node; or the first node is a candidate node, and the second node is a source node.

[0356] Optionally, the first signaling includes one or more of the following information:

[0357] A first cause, used to indicate that the first signaling is used to update candidate configuration information;

[0358] A second reason is used to indicate that the first signaling is used to release candidate configuration information;

[0359] A third reason is used to indicate that the first signaling is used to update RACH resource information related to an Early RACH of a candidate node;

[0360] An interface identifier of a terminal of a source node, used to indicate the identity of the terminal;

[0361] The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node, used to indicate updating the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node;

[0362] A candidate configuration identifier, used to indicate updating, adding, or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate configuration identifier;

[0363] The candidate cell identifier is used to indicate updating, adding or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate cell identifier.

[0364] Optionally, when the first node is a source node and the second node is a candidate node, the first signaling includes one or more of the following information:

[0365] first indication information, used to indicate that the first signaling is candidate configuration information for configuring continuous cell changes;

[0366] A fourth reason is used to indicate that the first signaling is used to update L1 measurement resource configuration information;

[0367] First configuration information, where the first configuration information includes at least one of the following: reference configuration information, L1 measurement resource configuration information, and first Early RACH configuration information.

[0368] Optionally, the L1 measurement resource configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0369] candidate configuration identifier;

[0370] Candidate beam identifier.

[0371] Optionally, the first Early RACH configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0372] Updated RACH configuration information;

[0373] Release indication information, used to indicate that the source node has released the Early RACH-related RACH resources allocated to it;

[0374] Add indication information, used to indicate that the source node has added RACH resources related to the Early RACH allocated to it;

[0375] A first identifier, used to identify a candidate node for which RACH configuration information has been updated;

[0376] Updated RACH resource information.

[0377] Optionally, the first identifier includes at least one of the following: a base station centralized unit identifier gNB-CU ID, a base station distributed unit identifier gNB-DU ID, a group identifier, a candidate configuration identifier, and a candidate cell identifier;

[0378] Alternatively, the updated RACH resource information includes preamble resource information, where the preamble resource information is used to indicate that the third node has released or added preamble resources related to the Early RACH configured for it, and the third node is a node for which RACH configuration information has been updated.

[0379] Optionally, when the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, the first signaling includes one or more of the following information:

[0380] Second Early RACH configuration information;

[0381] Updated candidate configuration information;

[0382] Second configuration information, where the second configuration information includes other configuration information affecting continuous cell changes except the second Early RACH configuration information.

[0383] Optionally, the second Early RACH configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0384] Identifications of other candidate nodes associated with the RACH resources of the candidate node, except the candidate node;

[0385] Second indication information, used to instruct to release or update Early RACH configuration information;

[0386] Updated RACH configuration information;

[0387] Updated RACH resource information.

[0388] Optionally, the identifiers of the other candidate nodes include at least one of the following: gNB-CU ID, gNB-DU ID, group identifier, candidate configuration identifier, and candidate cell identifier.

[0389] Optionally, the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node includes at least one of the following: the Xn interface identifier of the terminal allocated by the source access network node Source NG-RAN node UE XnAP ID reference, the F1 interface identifier gNB-CU UE F1AP ID of the terminal of the base station centralized unit gNB-CU, and the terminal identifier gNB-DU UE F1AP ID on the F1 interface of the base station distributed unit gNB-DU;

[0390] Alternatively, the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node includes at least one of the following: the Xn interface identifier of the terminal assigned by the target candidate access network node, the gNB-CU UE F1AP ID, and the gNB-DU UE F1AP ID.

[0391] Optionally, the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is obtained by the source node according to the first mapping relationship and the target candidate cell configuration identifier or the target candidate cell identifier, the source node is changed by the first candidate node, and the first mapping relationship is obtained when the initial source node sends the interface identifiers of the terminals of all candidate nodes and the mapping relationship between the interface identifiers and the candidate configuration identifier or the candidate cell identifier to all candidate nodes during preparation for continuous cell changes of the first candidate node;

[0392] Alternatively, the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is obtained by the source node based on the second mapping relationship and the target candidate cell configuration identifier or the target candidate cell identifier. The source node is changed by the target node. The second mapping relationship is received by the target node from the source node corresponding to the target node during or after each cell switching process. The second mapping relationship is the mapping relationship between the interface identifier of the terminal of all candidate nodes and the candidate configuration identifier or the candidate cell identifier.

[0393] Optionally, the candidate configuration processing device 60 further includes:

[0394] The second sending module is used for the source node to send notification signaling to the candidate node associated with the candidate configuration information of the continuous cell change, wherein the notification signaling is used to notify the candidate node to update the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node to the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node.

[0395] Optionally, the notification signaling includes at least one of the following: an interface identifier of a terminal of the target candidate node, a candidate configuration identifier associated with the target cell, and a target cell identifier.

[0396] Optionally, when the first node is a source node and the second node is a candidate node, the candidate configuration processing device 60 further includes:

[0397] a first updating module, configured to update first candidate configuration information of continuous cell changes when the source node has released or added a candidate cell;

[0398] A third sending module is configured to send a second signaling to all candidate nodes associated with the candidate configuration of the terminal, where the second signaling is used to notify the update of the candidate configuration information;

[0399] The first receiving module is configured to receive a second response signaling sent by the candidate node, where the second response signaling includes updated candidate configuration information.

[0400] Optionally, the first candidate configuration information includes: L1 measurement resource configuration information;

[0401] Alternatively, the updated candidate configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0402] Updated L1 measurement reporting configuration information for consecutive cell changes;

[0403] Updated conditions: Execution conditions for continuous cell changes.

[0404] Optionally, the second signaling includes one or more of the following information:

[0405] third indication information, used to indicate that the second signaling is candidate configuration information for configuring continuous cell change;

[0406] A fifth reason is used to indicate that the second signaling is used to update, add, or release candidate configuration information;

[0407] An interface identifier of a terminal of a source node, used to indicate the identity of the terminal;

[0408] The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node, used to indicate updating the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node;

[0409] the first candidate configuration information;

[0410] The second identifier includes at least one of the following: the identifier of the updated candidate cell, the identification information of all valid candidate cells of the terminal, the identifier of the candidate cell includes at least one of the candidate configuration identifier associated with the candidate cell, the physical cell identifier of the candidate cell, and the frequency information of the candidate cell.

[0411] Optionally, when the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, the candidate configuration processing device 60 further includes:

[0412] A second receiving module is configured to receive a third signaling sent by the source node, where the third signaling is used to request an update of candidate configuration information for continuous cell changes;

[0413] The fourth sending module is configured to send a third response signaling to the source node, where the third response signaling includes updated candidate configuration information.

[0414] Optionally, the third signaling includes at least one of the following:

[0415] fourth indication information, used to indicate that the third signaling is candidate configuration information for configuring continuous cell changes;

[0416] A sixth reason is used to indicate that the third signaling is used to update candidate configuration information;

[0417] An interface identifier of a terminal of a source node, used to indicate the identity of the terminal;

[0418] The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node, used to indicate updating the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node;

[0419] A candidate configuration identifier, used to indicate updating or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate configuration identifier;

[0420] The candidate cell identifier is used to indicate updating or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate cell identifier.

[0421] Optionally, when the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, the candidate configuration processing device 60 further includes:

[0422] The third receiving module is configured to receive a first response signaling sent by the source node, where the first response signaling is used to indicate that the source node has received the updated candidate configuration information sent by the candidate node.

[0423] Optionally, when the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, the candidate configuration processing device 60 further includes:

[0424] a fourth receiving module, configured to receive a fourth signaling sent by the source node when the candidate node has released or added a candidate cell; wherein the fourth signaling is sent by the source node after updating the second candidate configuration information of the continuous cell change, and the fourth signaling is used to notify the update of the candidate configuration information;

[0425] The fifth sending module is configured to send a fourth response signaling to the source node, where the fourth response signaling includes updated candidate configuration information.

[0426] Optionally, the second candidate configuration information includes: L1 measurement resource configuration information;

[0427] Alternatively, the updated candidate configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0428] Updated L1 measurement reporting configuration information for consecutive cell changes;

[0429] Updated conditions: Execution conditions for continuous cell changes.

[0430] Optionally, the fourth signaling includes one or more of the following information:

[0431] fifth indication information, used to indicate that the fourth signaling is candidate configuration information for configuring continuous cell change;

[0432] A seventh reason is used to indicate that the fourth signaling is used to update, add or release candidate configuration information;

[0433] An interface identifier of a terminal of a source node, used to indicate the identity of the terminal;

[0434] The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node, used to indicate updating the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node;

[0435] the second candidate configuration information;

[0436] The third identifier includes at least one of the following: an updated candidate cell identifier, identification information of all valid candidate cells of the terminal, and the candidate cell identifier includes at least one of a candidate configuration identifier associated with the candidate cell, a physical cell identifier of the candidate cell, and frequency information of the candidate cell.

[0437] The candidate configuration processing device 60 provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement each process implemented by the method embodiment of Figure 1 and achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be described here.

[0438] Please refer to FIG. 7 , which is a schematic diagram of the structure of a candidate configuration processing device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The device is applied to the second node. As shown in FIG. 7 , the candidate configuration processing device 70 includes:

[0439] A fifth receiving module 71 is configured for the second node to receive a first signaling from the first node, where the first signaling is used for at least one of the following: adding candidate configuration information, updating candidate configuration information, and releasing candidate configuration information;

[0440] The first node is a source node, and the second node is a candidate node; or the first node is a candidate node, and the second node is a source node.

[0441] Optionally, the first signaling includes one or more of the following information:

[0442] A first cause, used to indicate that the first signaling is used to update candidate configuration information;

[0443] A second reason is used to indicate that the first signaling is used to release candidate configuration information;

[0444] a third reason, used to indicate that the first signaling is used to update RACH resource information related to Early RACH of the candidate node;

[0445] An interface identifier of a terminal of a source node, used to indicate the identity of the terminal;

[0446] The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node, used to indicate updating the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node;

[0447] A candidate configuration identifier, used to indicate updating, adding, or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate configuration identifier;

[0448] The candidate cell identifier is used to indicate updating, adding or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate cell identifier.

[0449] Optionally, when the first node is a source node and the second node is a candidate node, the first signaling includes one or more of the following information:

[0450] first indication information, used to indicate that the first signaling is candidate configuration information for configuring continuous cell changes;

[0451] A fourth reason is used to indicate that the first signaling is used to update L1 measurement resource configuration information;

[0452] First configuration information, where the first configuration information includes at least one of the following: reference configuration information, L1 measurement resource configuration information, and first Early RACH configuration information.

[0453] Optionally, the first Early RACH configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0454] Updated RACH configuration information;

[0455] Release indication information, used to indicate that the source node has released the Early RACH-related RACH resources allocated to it;

[0456] Add indication information, used to indicate that the source node has added RACH resources related to the Early RACH allocated to it;

[0457] A first identifier, used to identify a candidate node for which RACH configuration information has been updated;

[0458] Updated RACH resource information.

[0459] Optionally, when the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, the first signaling includes one or more of the following information:

[0460] Second Early RACH configuration information;

[0461] Updated candidate configuration information;

[0462] Second configuration information, where the second configuration information includes other configuration information affecting continuous cell changes except the second Early RACH configuration information.

[0463] Optionally, the second Early RACH configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0464] Identifications of other candidate nodes associated with the RACH resources of the candidate node, except the candidate node;

[0465] Second indication information, used to instruct to release or update Early RACH configuration information;

[0466] Updated RACH configuration information;

[0467] Updated RACH resource information.

[0468] Optionally, the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node includes at least one of the following: Source NG-RAN node UE XnAP ID reference gNB-CU UE F1AP ID, gNB-DU UE F1AP ID;

[0469] Alternatively, the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node includes at least one of the following: the Xn interface identifier of the terminal allocated by the target access network node, the gNB-CU UE F1AP ID, and the gNB-DU UE F1AP ID.

[0470] Optionally, the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is obtained by the source node according to the first mapping relationship and the target candidate cell configuration identifier or the target candidate cell identifier, the source node is changed by the first candidate node, and the first mapping relationship is obtained when the initial source node sends the interface identifiers of the terminals of all candidate nodes and the first mapping relationship between the interface identifiers and the candidate configuration identifier or the candidate cell identifier to all candidate nodes during preparation for continuous cell changes of the first candidate node;

[0471] Alternatively, the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is obtained by the source node based on the second mapping relationship and the target candidate cell configuration identifier or the target candidate cell identifier. The source node is changed by the target node. The second mapping relationship is received by the target node from the source node corresponding to the target node during or after each cell switching process. The second mapping relationship is the mapping relationship between the interface identifier of the terminal of all candidate nodes and the candidate configuration identifier or the candidate cell identifier.

[0472] Optionally, when the first node is a source node and the second node is a candidate node, the candidate node deletes or does not delete the candidate configuration information indicated by the first signaling.

[0473] Optionally, when the first node is a source node and the second node is a candidate node, the candidate configuration processing device 70 further includes:

[0474] a sixth receiving module, configured to receive second signaling sent by the source node when the source node has released or added a candidate cell; wherein the second signaling is sent by the source node after updating the first candidate configuration information of the continuous cell change, and the second signaling is used to notify the update of the candidate configuration information;

[0475] A sixth sending module is configured to send a second response signaling to the source node, where the second response signaling includes updated candidate configuration information.

[0476] Optionally, the first candidate configuration information includes: L1 measurement resource configuration information;

[0477] Alternatively, the updated candidate configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0478] Updated L1 measurement reporting configuration information for consecutive cell changes;

[0479] Updated conditions: Execution conditions for continuous cell changes.

[0480] Optionally, the second signaling includes one or more of the following information:

[0481] third indication information, used to indicate that the second signaling is candidate configuration information for configuring continuous cell change;

[0482] A fifth reason is used to indicate that the second signaling is used to update, add, or release candidate configuration information;

[0483] An interface identifier of a terminal of a source node, used to indicate the identity of the terminal;

[0484] The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node, used to indicate updating the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node;

[0485] the first candidate configuration information;

[0486] The second identifier includes at least one of the following: the identifier of the updated candidate cell, the identification information of all valid candidate cells of the terminal, and the identifier of the candidate cell includes at least one of the configuration identifier of the candidate cell, the physical cell identifier of the candidate cell, and the frequency information of the candidate cell.

[0487] Optionally, the candidate configuration processing device 70 further includes:

[0488] A processing module is configured to, when a first condition is met, cause the candidate node to refuse to update, release, or add candidate configuration information; wherein the first condition includes at least one of the following:

[0489] The candidate node receives the first signaling or the second signaling, but the candidate node does not have the candidate configuration information configured for the terminal corresponding to the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node contained in the first signaling or the second signaling;

[0490] Candidate configuration information has been configured for the terminal, but the candidate configuration identifier included in the first signaling or the second signaling does not correspond to the configured candidate cell;

[0491] Candidate configuration information has been configured for the terminal, but the target cell identifier included in the first signaling or the second signaling does not correspond to the configured candidate cell.

[0492] Optionally, when the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, the candidate configuration processing device 70 further includes:

[0493] a seventh sending module, configured to send a third signaling to the candidate node, wherein the third signaling is used to request an update of candidate configuration information of a continuous cell change;

[0494] The seventh receiving module is configured to receive a third response signaling sent by the candidate node, where the third response signaling includes updated candidate configuration information.

[0495] Optionally, the third signaling includes at least one of the following:

[0496] fourth indication information, used to indicate that the third signaling is candidate configuration information for configuring continuous cell changes;

[0497] A sixth reason is used to indicate that the third signaling is used to update candidate configuration information;

[0498] An interface identifier of a terminal of a source node, used to indicate the identity of the terminal;

[0499] The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node, used to indicate updating the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node;

[0500] A candidate configuration identifier, used to indicate updating or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate configuration identifier;

[0501] The candidate cell identifier is used to indicate updating or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate cell identifier.

[0502] Optionally, when the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, the candidate configuration processing device 70 further includes:

[0503] An eighth sending module is configured to enable the source node to send a first response signaling to the candidate node, where the first response signaling is used to indicate that the source node has received the updated candidate configuration information sent by the candidate node.

[0504] Optionally, when the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, the candidate configuration processing device 70 further includes:

[0505] a second updating module, configured to update second candidate configuration information of continuous cell changes when the candidate node has released or added a candidate cell;

[0506] a ninth sending module, configured to send a fourth signaling to all candidate nodes associated with the candidate configuration information of the terminal, where the fourth signaling is used to notify the update of the candidate configuration information;

[0507] An eighth receiving module is configured to receive a fourth response signaling sent by the candidate node, where the fourth response signaling includes updated candidate configuration information.

[0508] Optionally, the second candidate configuration information includes: L1 measurement resource configuration information;

[0509] Alternatively, the updated candidate configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0510] Updated L1 measurement reporting configuration information for consecutive cell changes;

[0511] Updated conditions: Execution conditions for continuous cell changes.

[0512] Optionally, the fourth signaling includes one or more of the following information:

[0513] fifth indication information, used to indicate that the fourth signaling is candidate configuration information for configuring continuous cell change;

[0514] A seventh reason is used to indicate that the fourth signaling is used to update, add or release candidate configuration information;

[0515] An interface identifier of a terminal of a source node, used to indicate the identity of the terminal;

[0516] The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node, used to indicate updating the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node;

[0517] the second candidate configuration information;

[0518] The third identifier includes at least one of the following: an updated candidate cell identifier, identification information of all valid candidate cells of the terminal, and the candidate cell identifier includes at least one of a candidate configuration identifier associated with the candidate cell, a physical cell identifier of the candidate cell, and frequency information of the candidate cell.

[0519] Optionally, when the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, the candidate configuration processing device 70 further includes:

[0520] a determination module, configured to determine a target candidate node according to identifiers of other candidate nodes associated with the RACH resources included in the second Early RACH configuration information in the first signaling when the candidate node has updated, added, or released the Early RACH resources reserved for the terminal;

[0521] a tenth sending module, configured to send a fifth signaling to the target candidate node, wherein the fifth signaling is used to notify the update of candidate configuration information;

[0522] A ninth receiving module is configured to receive a fifth response signaling sent by the target candidate node, where the fifth response signaling includes sixth indication information, and the sixth indication information is configured to indicate that the fifth signaling has been received and the update has been completed.

[0523] Optionally, the fifth signaling includes one or more of the following information:

[0524] seventh indication information, where the seventh indication information is used to indicate that the fifth signaling is used to update candidate configuration information related to continuous cell changes;

[0525] An eighth reason is used to indicate that the fifth signaling is used to update RACH resource information related to Early RACH of the candidate node;

[0526] An interface identifier of a terminal of a source node, used to indicate the identity of the terminal;

[0527] The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node, used to indicate updating the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node;

[0528] Third Early RACH configuration information.

[0529] Optionally, the third Early RACH configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0530] Updated RACH configuration information;

[0531] Release indication information, used to indicate that the candidate node has released the RACH resources allocated to it;

[0532] Adding indication information, used to indicate that the candidate node has added the RACH resources allocated to it;

[0533] A fourth identifier, used to identify the candidate node whose RACH configuration information has been updated;

[0534] Updated RACH resource information.

[0535] Optionally, the fourth identifier includes at least one of the following: a gNB-CU ID, a gNB-DU ID, a group identifier, a candidate configuration identifier, and a candidate cell identifier;

[0536] Alternatively, the updated RACH resource information includes preamble resource information, where the preamble resource information is used to indicate that the fourth node has released or added preamble resources configured for it, and the fourth node is a node for which RACH configuration information has been updated.

[0537] The candidate configuration processing device 70 provided in the embodiment of the present application can implement each process implemented in the method embodiment of Figure 5 and achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be described here.

[0538] As shown in Figure 8, an embodiment of the present application also provides a communication device 80, including a processor 81 and a memory 82, and the memory 82 stores a program or instruction that can be run on the processor 81. When the program or instruction is executed by the processor 81, the various steps of the candidate configuration processing method embodiment shown in Figure 1 or Figure 5 above are implemented, and the same technical effect can be achieved. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0539] An embodiment of the present application also provides a network-side device, including a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is used to run a program or instruction to implement the steps of the method embodiment shown in Figure 1 or Figure 5, and can achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0540] Specifically, embodiments of the present application also provide a network-side device. As shown in Figure 9, the network-side device 90 includes an antenna 91, a radio frequency device 92, a baseband device 93, a processor 94, and a memory 95. Antenna 91 is connected to radio frequency device 92. In the uplink direction, radio frequency device 92 receives information via antenna 91 and sends the received information to baseband device 93 for processing. In the downlink direction, baseband device 93 processes the information to be transmitted and sends it to radio frequency device 92. Radio frequency device 92 processes the received information and then sends it through antenna 91.

[0541] The method executed by the network-side device in the above embodiment may be implemented in the baseband device 93 , which includes a baseband processor.

[0542] The baseband device 93 may include, for example, at least one baseband board, on which multiple chips are arranged, as shown in Figure 9, one of the chips is, for example, a baseband processor, which is connected to the memory 95 through a bus interface to call the program in the memory 95 and execute the network device operations shown in the above method embodiment.

[0543] The network side device may further include a network interface 96, which is, for example, a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI).

[0544] Specifically, the network side device 90 of the embodiment of the present application also includes: instructions or programs stored in the memory 95 and can be run on the processor 94. The processor 94 calls the instructions or programs in the memory 95 to execute the methods executed by each module shown in Figure 7 and achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0545] An embodiment of the present application also provides a readable storage medium, on which a program or instruction is stored. When the program or instruction is executed by a processor, the various processes of the above-mentioned candidate configuration processing method embodiment are implemented, and the same technical effect can be achieved. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0546] The processor is the processor in the terminal described in the above embodiment. The readable storage medium includes a computer-readable storage medium, such as a computer read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk. In some examples, the readable storage medium may be a non-transitory readable storage medium.

[0547] An embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, which includes a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is used to run programs or instructions to implement the various processes of the above-mentioned candidate configuration processing method embodiment, and can achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0548] It should be understood that the chip mentioned in the embodiments of the present application can also be called a system-level chip, a system chip, a chip system or a system-on-chip chip, etc.

[0549] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program / program product, which is stored in a storage medium. The computer program / program product is executed by at least one processor to implement the various processes of the above-mentioned candidate configuration processing method embodiment and can achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

[0550] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, including: a terminal, a source node, and a candidate node, wherein the source node can be used to execute the steps of the candidate configuration processing method described in Figure 1 or Figure 5 above, and the candidate node can be used to execute the steps of the candidate configuration processing method described in Figure 1 or Figure 5 above.

[0551] It should be noted that, in this article, the terms "comprise", "include" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device comprising a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also includes other elements that are not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, an element defined by the sentence "comprises a..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device comprising the element. In addition, it should be pointed out that the scope of the methods and devices in the embodiments of the present application is not limited to performing functions in the order shown or discussed, and may also include performing functions in a substantially simultaneous manner or in the opposite order according to the functions involved. For example, the described method may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may also be added, omitted or combined. In addition, the features described with reference to certain examples may be combined in other examples.

[0552] Through the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the above-mentioned embodiment methods can be implemented by means of a computer software product plus a necessary general-purpose hardware platform, or of course, by hardware. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium (such as ROM, RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk, etc.) and includes a number of instructions for enabling a terminal or network-side device to execute the methods described in each embodiment of the present application.

[0553] The embodiments of the present application are described above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, but the present application is not limited to the above-mentioned specific implementation methods. The above-mentioned specific implementation methods are merely illustrative and not restrictive. Under the guidance of this application, ordinary technicians in this field can also make many forms of implementation methods without departing from the purpose of this application and the scope of protection of the claims. These implementation methods are all within the protection of this application.

Claims

1. A method for processing candidate configurations, comprising: The first node sends a first signaling to the second node, where the first signaling is used for at least one of the following: adding candidate configuration information, updating candidate configuration information, and releasing candidate configuration information; The first node is a source node, and the second node is a candidate node; or the first node is a candidate node, and the second node is a source node.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The first signaling includes one or more of the following information: A first cause, used to indicate that the first signaling is used to update candidate configuration information; A second reason is used to indicate that the first signaling is used to release candidate configuration information; A third reason is used to indicate that the first signaling is used to update random access channel (RACH) resource information related to an Early RACH of a candidate node; An interface identifier of a terminal of a source node, used to indicate the identity of the terminal; The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is used to indicate that the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is updated; A candidate configuration identifier, used to indicate updating, adding, or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate configuration identifier; The candidate cell identifier is used to indicate updating, adding or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate cell identifier.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: When the first node is a source node and the second node is a candidate node, the first signaling includes one or more of the following information: first indication information, used to indicate that the first signaling is candidate configuration information for configuring continuous cell changes; A fourth reason is used to indicate that the first signaling is used to update layer 1 L1 measurement resource configuration information; First configuration information, where the first configuration information includes at least one of the following: reference configuration information, L1 measurement resource configuration information, and first Early RACH configuration information.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein: The L1 measurement resource configuration information includes at least one of the following: candidate configuration identifier; Candidate beam identifier.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein The first Early RACH configuration information includes at least one of the following: Updated RACH configuration information; Release indication information, used to indicate that the source node has released the Early RACH-related RACH resources allocated to it; Add indication information, used to indicate that the source node has added RACH resources related to the Early RACH allocated to it; A first identifier, used to identify a candidate node for which RACH configuration information has been updated; Updated RACH resource information.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein: The first identifier includes at least one of the following: a base station centralized unit identifier (gNB-CU ID), a base station distributed unit identifier (gNB-DU ID), a group identifier, a candidate configuration identifier, and a candidate cell identifier; or, The updated RACH resource information includes preamble resource information, where the preamble resource information is used to indicate that the third node has released or added the preamble resources related to the Early RACH configured for it, and the third node is a node for which the RACH configuration information has been updated.

7. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: When the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, the first signaling includes one or more of the following information: Second Early RACH configuration information; Updated candidate configuration information; Second configuration information, where the second configuration information includes other configuration information affecting continuous cell changes except the second Early RACH configuration information.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein: The second Early RACH configuration information includes at least one of the following: Identifications of other candidate nodes associated with the RACH resources of the candidate node, except the candidate node; Second indication information, used to instruct to release or update Early RACH configuration information; Updated RACH configuration information; Updated RACH resource information.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein The identifiers of the other candidate nodes include at least one of the following: a gNB-CU ID, a gNB-DU ID, a group ID, a candidate configuration ID, and a candidate cell ID.

10. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The interface identifier of the terminal of the source node includes at least one of the following: the Xn interface identifier of the terminal assigned by the source access network node (Source NG-RAN node UE XnAP ID reference), the F1 interface identifier of the terminal of the base station centralized unit gNB-CU (gNB-CU UE F1AP ID), and the terminal identifier on the F1 interface of the base station distributed unit gNB-DU (gNB-DU UE F1AP ID); or, The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node includes at least one of the following: the Xn interface identifier of the terminal assigned by the target candidate access network node, the gNB-CU UE F1AP ID, and the gNB-DU UE F1AP ID.

11. The method according to claim 2 or 10, wherein: The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is obtained by the source node according to the first mapping relationship and the target candidate cell configuration identifier or the target candidate cell identifier, the source node is changed by the first candidate node, and the first mapping relationship is obtained when the initial source node sends the interface identifiers of the terminals of all candidate nodes and the mapping relationship between the interface identifiers and the candidate configuration identifiers or the candidate cell identifiers to all candidate nodes during the preparation process of the first candidate node for continuous cell changes; or, The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is obtained by the source node based on the second mapping relationship and the target candidate cell configuration identifier or the target candidate cell identifier. The source node is changed by the target node. The second mapping relationship is received by the target node from the source node corresponding to the target node during or after each cell switching process. The second mapping relationship is the mapping relationship between the interface identifier of the terminal of all candidate nodes and the candidate configuration identifier or the candidate cell identifier.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein: The method further comprises: The source node sends notification signaling to a candidate node associated with candidate configuration information of a continuous cell change, where the notification signaling is used to notify the candidate node to update the interface identifier of the terminal of the source node to the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein: The notification signaling includes at least one of the following: an interface identifier of a terminal of a target candidate node, a candidate configuration identifier associated with a target cell, and a target cell identifier.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein: When the first node is a source node and the second node is a candidate node, if the source node has released or added a candidate cell, the method further includes: The source node updates first candidate configuration information of continuous cell changes; The source node sends a second signaling to all candidate nodes associated with the candidate configuration of the terminal, where the second signaling is used to notify update of candidate configuration information; The source node receives a second response signaling sent by the candidate node, where the second response signaling includes updated candidate configuration information.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein The first candidate configuration information includes: L1 measurement resource configuration information; or, The updated candidate configuration information includes at least one of the following: Updated L1 measurement reporting configuration information for consecutive cell changes; Updated conditions: Execution conditions for continuous cell changes.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, wherein: The second signaling includes one or more of the following information: third indication information, used to indicate that the second signaling is candidate configuration information for configuring continuous cell change; A fifth reason is used to indicate that the second signaling is used to update, add, or release candidate configuration information; An interface identifier of a terminal of a source node, used to indicate the identity of the terminal; The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is used to indicate that the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is updated; the first candidate configuration information; The second identifier includes at least one of the following: the identifier of the updated candidate cell, the identification information of all valid candidate cells of the terminal, the identifier of the candidate cell includes at least one of the candidate configuration identifier associated with the candidate cell, the physical cell identifier of the candidate cell, and the frequency information of the candidate cell.

17. The method according to any one of claims 1, 2 or 7 to 10, wherein When the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, the method further includes: The candidate node receives a third signaling sent by the source node, where the third signaling is used to request an update of candidate configuration information for continuous cell changes; The candidate node sends a third response signaling to the source node, where the third response signaling includes updated candidate configuration information.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein The third signaling includes at least one of the following: fourth indication information, used to indicate that the third signaling is candidate configuration information for configuring continuous cell changes; A sixth reason is used to indicate that the third signaling is used to update candidate configuration information; An interface identifier of a terminal of a source node, used to indicate the identity of the terminal; The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is used to indicate that the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is updated; A candidate configuration identifier, used to indicate updating or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate configuration identifier; The candidate cell identifier is used to indicate updating or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate cell identifier.

19. The method according to any one of claims 1, 2 or 7 to 10, wherein When the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, the method further includes: The candidate node receives a first response signaling sent by the source node, where the first response signaling is used to indicate that the source node has received the updated candidate configuration information sent by the candidate node.

20. The method according to any one of claims 1, 2 or 7 to 10, wherein When the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, if the candidate node has released or added a candidate cell, the method further includes: The candidate node receives a fourth signaling sent by the source node; wherein the fourth signaling is sent by the source node after updating the second candidate configuration information of the continuous cell change, and the fourth signaling is used to notify the update of the candidate configuration information; The candidate node sends a fourth response signaling to the source node, where the fourth response signaling includes updated candidate configuration information.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein The second candidate configuration information includes: L1 measurement resource configuration information; or, The updated candidate configuration information includes at least one of the following: Updated L1 measurement reporting configuration information for consecutive cell changes; Updated conditions: Execution conditions for continuous cell changes.

22. The method according to claim 20 or 21, wherein The fourth signaling includes one or more of the following information: fifth indication information, used to indicate that the fourth signaling is candidate configuration information for configuring continuous cell change; A seventh reason is used to indicate that the fourth signaling is used to update, add or release candidate configuration information; An interface identifier of a terminal of a source node, used to indicate the identity of the terminal; The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is used to indicate that the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is updated; the second candidate configuration information; The third identifier includes at least one of the following: an updated candidate cell identifier, identification information of all valid candidate cells of the terminal, and the candidate cell identifier includes at least one of a candidate configuration identifier associated with the candidate cell, a physical cell identifier of the candidate cell, and frequency information of the candidate cell.

23. A method for processing a candidate configuration, comprising: The second node receives a first signaling from the first node, where the first signaling is used for at least one of the following: adding candidate configuration information, updating candidate configuration information, and releasing candidate configuration information; The first node is a source node, and the second node is a candidate node; or the first node is a candidate node, and the second node is a source node.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein The first signaling includes one or more of the following information: A first cause, used to indicate that the first signaling is used to update candidate configuration information; A second reason is used to indicate that the first signaling is used to release candidate configuration information; a third reason, used to indicate that the first signaling is used to update RACH resource information related to Early RACH of the candidate node; An interface identifier of a terminal of a source node, used to indicate the identity of the terminal; The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is used to indicate that the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is updated; A candidate configuration identifier, used to indicate updating, adding, or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate configuration identifier; The candidate cell identifier is used to indicate updating, adding or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate cell identifier.

25. The method according to claim 23 or 24, wherein When the first node is a source node and the second node is a candidate node, the first signaling includes one or more of the following information: first indication information, used to indicate that the first signaling is candidate configuration information for configuring continuous cell changes; A fourth reason is used to indicate that the first signaling is used to update L1 measurement resource configuration information; First configuration information, where the first configuration information includes at least one of the following: reference configuration information, L1 measurement resource configuration information, and first Early RACH configuration information.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein The first Early RACH configuration information includes at least one of the following: Updated RACH configuration information; Release indication information, used to indicate that the source node has released the Early RACH-related RACH resources allocated to it; Add indication information, used to indicate that the source node has added RACH resources related to the Early RACH allocated to it; A first identifier, used to identify a candidate node for which RACH configuration information has been updated; Updated RACH resource information.

27. The method according to claim 23 or 24, wherein When the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, the first signaling includes one or more of the following information: Second Early RACH configuration information; Updated candidate configuration information; Second configuration information, where the second configuration information includes other configuration information affecting continuous cell changes except the second Early RACH configuration information.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein The second Early RACH configuration information includes at least one of the following: Identifications of other candidate nodes associated with the RACH resources of the candidate node, except the candidate node; Second indication information, used to instruct to release or update Early RACH configuration information; Updated RACH configuration information; Updated RACH resource information.

29. The method according to claim 24, wherein The interface identifier of the terminal of the source node includes at least one of the following: Source NG-RAN node UE XnAP ID reference gNB-CU UE F1AP ID, gNB-DU UE F1AP ID; or, The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node includes at least one of the following: the Xn interface identifier of the terminal assigned by the target access network node, the gNB-CU UE F1AP ID, and the gNB-DU UE F1AP ID.

30. The method according to claim 24 or 29, wherein The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is obtained by the source node according to the first mapping relationship and the target candidate cell configuration identifier or the target candidate cell identifier, the source node is changed by the first candidate node, and the first mapping relationship is obtained when the initial source node sends the interface identifiers of the terminals of all candidate nodes and the first mapping relationship between the interface identifiers and the candidate configuration identifiers or the candidate cell identifiers to all candidate nodes during preparation for continuous cell changes of the first candidate node; or, The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is obtained by the source node based on the second mapping relationship and the target candidate cell configuration identifier or the target candidate cell identifier. The source node is changed by the target node. The second mapping relationship is received by the target node from the source node corresponding to the target node during or after each cell switching process. The second mapping relationship is the mapping relationship between the interface identifier of the terminal of all candidate nodes and the candidate configuration identifier or the candidate cell identifier.

31. The method according to any one of claims 23 to 30, wherein When the first node is a source node and the second node is a candidate node, the method further includes: The candidate node deletes or does not delete the candidate configuration information indicated by the first signaling.

32. The method according to any one of claims 23 to 30, wherein: When the first node is a source node and the second node is a candidate node, if the source node has released or added a candidate cell, the method further includes: The candidate node receives a second signaling sent by the source node; wherein the second signaling is sent by the source node after updating the first candidate configuration information of the continuous cell change, and the second signaling is used to notify the update of the candidate configuration information; The candidate node sends a second response signaling to the source node, where the second response signaling includes updated candidate configuration information.

33. The method according to claim 32, wherein The first candidate configuration information includes: L1 measurement resource configuration information; or, The updated candidate configuration information includes at least one of the following: Updated L1 measurement reporting configuration information for consecutive cell changes; Updated conditions: Execution conditions for continuous cell changes.

34. The method according to claim 32 or 33, wherein The second signaling includes one or more of the following information: third indication information, used to indicate that the second signaling is candidate configuration information for configuring continuous cell change; A fifth reason is used to indicate that the second signaling is used to update, add, or release candidate configuration information; An interface identifier of a terminal of a source node, used to indicate the identity of the terminal; The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is used to indicate that the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is updated; the first candidate configuration information; The second identifier includes at least one of the following: the identifier of the updated candidate cell, the identification information of all valid candidate cells of the terminal, and the identifier of the candidate cell includes at least one of the configuration identifier of the candidate cell, the physical cell identifier of the candidate cell, and the frequency information of the candidate cell.

35. The method according to any one of claims 32 to 34, wherein The method further comprises: The candidate node refuses to update, release or add candidate configuration information when the first condition is met; The first condition includes at least one of the following: The candidate node receives the first signaling or the second signaling, but the candidate node does not have the candidate configuration information configured for the terminal corresponding to the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node contained in the first signaling or the second signaling; Candidate configuration information has been configured for the terminal, but the candidate configuration identifier included in the first signaling or the second signaling does not correspond to the configured candidate cell; Candidate configuration information has been configured for the terminal, but the target cell identifier included in the first signaling or the second signaling does not correspond to the configured candidate cell.

36. The method of claim 23, 24, 27 or 28, wherein When the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, the method further includes: The source node sends a third signaling to the candidate node, where the third signaling is used to request an update of candidate configuration information of a continuous cell change; The source node receives a third response signaling sent by the candidate node, where the third response signaling includes updated candidate configuration information.

37. The method according to claim 36, wherein The third signaling includes at least one of the following: fourth indication information, used to indicate that the third signaling is candidate configuration information for configuring continuous cell changes; A sixth reason is used to indicate that the third signaling is used to update candidate configuration information; An interface identifier of a terminal of a source node, used to indicate the identity of the terminal; The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is used to indicate that the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is updated; A candidate configuration identifier, used to indicate updating or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate configuration identifier; The candidate cell identifier is used to indicate updating or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate cell identifier.

38. The method of claim 23, 24, 27 or 28, wherein When the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, the method further includes: The source node sends a first response signaling to the candidate node, where the first response signaling is used to indicate that the source node has received the updated candidate configuration information sent by the candidate node.

39. The method of claim 23, 24, 27 or 28, wherein When the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, if the candidate node has released or added a candidate cell, the method further includes: The source node updates second candidate configuration information of the continuous cell change; The source node sends a fourth signaling to all candidate nodes associated with the candidate configuration information of the terminal, where the fourth signaling is used to notify the update of the candidate configuration information; The source node receives a fourth response signaling sent by the candidate node, where the fourth response signaling includes updated candidate configuration information.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein The second candidate configuration information includes: L1 measurement resource configuration information; or, The updated candidate configuration information includes at least one of the following: Updated L1 measurement reporting configuration information for consecutive cell changes; Updated conditions: Execution conditions for continuous cell changes.

41. The method according to claim 39 or 40, wherein The fourth signaling includes one or more of the following information: fifth indication information, used to indicate that the fourth signaling is candidate configuration information for configuring continuous cell change; A seventh reason is used to indicate that the fourth signaling is used to update, add or release candidate configuration information; An interface identifier of a terminal of a source node, used to indicate the identity of the terminal; The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is used to indicate that the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is updated; the second candidate configuration information; The third identifier includes at least one of the following: an updated candidate cell identifier, identification information of all valid candidate cells of the terminal, and the candidate cell identifier includes at least one of a candidate configuration identifier associated with the candidate cell, a physical cell identifier of the candidate cell, and frequency information of the candidate cell.

42. The method of claim 23, 24, 27 or 28, wherein: When the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, if the candidate node has updated, added, or released Early RACH resources reserved for the terminal, the method further includes: The source node determines the target candidate node according to the identifiers of other candidate nodes associated with the RACH resource included in the second Early RACH configuration information in the first signaling; The source node sends a fifth signaling to the target candidate node, where the fifth signaling is used to notify the target candidate node of updating candidate configuration information; The source node receives a fifth response signaling sent by the target candidate node, where the fifth response signaling includes sixth indication information, and the sixth indication information is used to indicate that the fifth signaling has been received and the update has been completed.

43. The method according to claim 42, wherein The fifth signaling includes one or more of the following information: seventh indication information, where the seventh indication information is used to indicate that the fifth signaling is used to update candidate configuration information related to continuous cell changes; An eighth reason is used to indicate that the fifth signaling is used to update RACH resource information related to Early RACH of the candidate node; An interface identifier of a terminal of a source node, used to indicate the identity of the terminal; The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is used to indicate that the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is updated; Third Early RACH configuration information.

44. The method according to claim 43, wherein The third Early RACH configuration information includes at least one of the following: Updated RACH configuration information; Release indication information, used to indicate that the candidate node has released the RACH resources allocated to it; Adding indication information, used to indicate that the candidate node has added the RACH resources allocated to it; A fourth identifier, used to identify the candidate node whose RACH configuration information has been updated; Updated RACH resource information.

45. The method of claim 44, wherein: The fourth identifier includes at least one of the following: a gNB-CU ID, a gNB-DU ID, a group identifier, a candidate configuration identifier, and a candidate cell identifier; or, The updated RACH resource information includes preamble resource information, where the preamble resource information is used to indicate that the fourth node has released or added preamble resources configured for it, and the fourth node is a node for which RACH configuration information has been updated.

46. ​​A candidate configuration processing apparatus, comprising: A first sending module, configured for the first node to send a first signaling to the second node, where the first signaling is used for at least one of the following: adding candidate configuration information, updating candidate configuration information, and releasing candidate configuration information; The first node is a source node, and the second node is a candidate node; or the first node is a candidate node, and the second node is a source node.

47. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein: The first signaling includes one or more of the following information: A first cause, used to indicate that the first signaling is used to update candidate configuration information; A second reason is used to indicate that the first signaling is used to release candidate configuration information; A third reason is used to indicate that the first signaling is used to update random access channel (RACH) resource information related to an Early RACH of a candidate node; An interface identifier of a terminal of a source node, used to indicate the identity of the terminal; The interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is used to indicate that the candidate configuration information of the terminal associated with the interface identifier of the terminal of the target candidate node is updated; A candidate configuration identifier, used to indicate updating, adding, or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate configuration identifier; The candidate cell identifier is used to indicate updating, adding or releasing the candidate configuration information associated with the candidate cell identifier.

48. The apparatus according to claim 46 or 47, wherein When the first node is a source node and the second node is a candidate node, the apparatus further includes: a first updating module, configured to update first candidate configuration information of continuous cell changes when the source node has released or added a candidate cell; A third sending module is configured to send a second signaling to all candidate nodes associated with the candidate configuration of the terminal, where the second signaling is used to notify the update of the candidate configuration information; The first receiving module is configured to receive a second response signaling sent by the candidate node, where the second response signaling includes updated candidate configuration information.

49. The apparatus according to claim 46 or 47, wherein When the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, the apparatus further includes: A second receiving module is configured to receive a third signaling sent by the source node, where the third signaling is used to request an update of candidate configuration information for continuous cell changes; The fourth sending module is configured to send a third response signaling to the source node, where the third response signaling includes updated candidate configuration information.

50. A candidate configuration processing device, comprising: A fifth receiving module, configured for the second node to receive a first signaling from the first node, where the first signaling is used for at least one of the following: adding candidate configuration information, updating candidate configuration information, and releasing candidate configuration information; The first node is a source node, and the second node is a candidate node; or the first node is a candidate node, and the second node is a source node.

51. The apparatus of claim 50, wherein: When the first node is a candidate node and the second node is a source node, the apparatus further includes: a determination module, configured to determine a target candidate node according to identifiers of other candidate nodes associated with the RACH resources included in the second Early RACH configuration information in the first signaling when the candidate node has updated, added, or released the Early RACH resources reserved for the terminal; a tenth sending module, configured to send a fifth signaling to the target candidate node, wherein the fifth signaling is used to notify the target candidate node of updating the candidate configuration information; A ninth receiving module is configured to receive a fifth response signaling sent by the target candidate node, where the fifth response signaling includes sixth indication information, and the sixth indication information is configured to indicate that the fifth signaling has been received and the update has been completed.

52. A communication device comprising a processor and a memory, wherein the memory stores programs or instructions that can be run on the processor, and when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the steps of the candidate configuration processing method as described in any one of claims 1 to 22 are implemented, or the steps of the candidate configuration processing method as described in any one of claims 23 to 45 are implemented.

53. A readable storage medium storing a program or instruction, wherein the program or instruction, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the candidate configuration processing method according to any one of claims 1 to 22, or implements the steps of the candidate configuration processing method according to any one of claims 23 to 45.

Images