Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and apparatus, relating to the technical field of communications, and capable of improving measurement flexibility, thereby reducing measurement redundancy, and reducing measurement overhead when a terminal performs synchronization signal block (SSB) measurement. The method comprises: acquiring first indication information corresponding to a terminal and used for indicating a plurality of SSBs, wherein the plurality of SSBs include a first SSB corresponding to position information of the terminal, and at least one second SSB, the first SSB corresponds to a first area, the second SSB corresponds to a second area, and the second area is adjacent to the first area; on the basis of the first SSB and the at least one second SSB, determining at least one third SSB to be measured and measurement time information corresponding to said at least one third SSB; measuring said at least one third SSB within the measurement time information corresponding to said at least one third SSB to obtain a measurement result; and sending the measurement result.

Description

Communication method and apparatus

[0001] The present application claims priority from the Chinese patent application No. 202410867943.8 filed on June 29, 2024, and entitled "Communication method and apparatus", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, in particular to a communication method and apparatus. BACKGROUND

[0003] In a communication system, a network device can send synchronization signal block (SSB) configuration information to a terminal, and the terminal performs SSB measurement according to the received SSB configuration information.

[0004] Among them, the network device can enable the terminal to perform SSB measurement through the reference signal resource configuration based on SSB measurement timing configuration (SMTC).

[0005] However, the SSB measurement configuration based on SMTC is not flexible enough, which can cause excessive measurement redundancy of the terminal and increase the measurement overhead of the terminal. SUMMARY

[0006] The present application provides a communication method and apparatus, which can improve the flexibility of measurement, reduce the measurement redundancy and reduce the measurement overhead when the terminal performs SSB measurement.

[0007] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be applied to a terminal side, for example, a terminal or a communication module in the terminal, or a circuit or chip (such as a Modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a system on chip (SoC) chip or a system in package (SIP) chip containing a Modem core) responsible for communication functions in the terminal. Taking the case where the method is applied to a terminal, the method comprises: obtaining first indication information corresponding to the terminal and used to indicate a plurality of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs); wherein the plurality of SSBs include a first SSB corresponding to location information of the terminal and at least one second SSB; the first SSB corresponds to a first area; the second SSB corresponds to a second area adjacent to the first area; determining, according to the first SSB and the at least one second SSB, at least one third SSB to be measured and measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB; measuring the at least one third SSB within the measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB to obtain a measurement result; and transmitting the measurement result.

[0008] Based on the first aspect, when the network side configures SSB measurement for the terminal, the network side can issue terminal-level SSB measurement configuration to the terminal instead of broadcasting cell-level or beam-level SMTC configuration. That is, the network side can indicate a limited number of deterministic SSBs (i.e., the first SSB corresponding to the location information of the terminal and the second SSB corresponding to the second area adjacent to the first area) around the terminal according to the location information of the terminal, thereby improving the flexibility of SSB measurement configuration and reducing signaling overhead. When the terminal performs SSB measurement, the terminal can determine at least one third SSB to be measured and measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB from the first SSB and the at least one second SSB according to actual communication needs of the terminal, thereby improving the flexibility and accuracy of SSB measurement, reducing measurement redundancy, reducing measurement overhead, and reducing the measurement power consumption of the terminal.

[0009] In a possible design, the first indication information is used to indicate one or more of the following: measurement configuration information of the plurality of SSBs, coverage range information of the areas corresponding to the plurality of SSBs, or position sequence information of the plurality of SSBs; wherein the position sequence information is used to indicate a geographical position relationship between the coverage ranges of the areas corresponding to the plurality of SSBs.

[0010] In a possible design, the first indication information includes one or more of the following: index information of the first SSB, coverage range information of a region corresponding to the first SSB, measurement time information corresponding to the first SSB, index information of the second SSB, coverage range information of a region corresponding to the second SSB, measurement time information corresponding to the second SSB, or position sequence information of the at least one second SSB; and the position sequence information is used to indicate a geographical position relationship between coverage ranges of the at least one second SSB.

[0011] Based on the above two possible designs, multiple possible designs are provided for the design of the first indication information.

[0012] In a possible design, the first indication information corresponding to the terminal is acquired by: sending position information of the terminal; and acquiring the first indication information corresponding to the terminal; and the first indication information is determined according to the position information of the terminal.

[0013] Based on the possible design, the terminal sends its own position information to the network side device, so that the network side device can more accurately determine a limited number of deterministic SSBs to be measured (i.e., the first SSB corresponding to the position information of the terminal and the second SSB corresponding to the second region adjacent to the first SSB) around the terminal, thereby improving the flexibility and accuracy of SSB measurement configuration.

[0014] In a possible design, the first indication information corresponding to the terminal is acquired by: receiving first radio resource control (RRC) signaling; and the first RRC signaling includes the first indication information; or receiving first non-access stratum (NAS) signaling; and the first NAS signaling includes the first indication information.

[0015] Based on the possible design, the network side device can deliver the terminal-level first indication information to the terminal through RRC signaling or NAS signaling when the terminal is in a connected state.

[0016] In a possible design, the at least one third SSB to be measured and measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB are determined according to the first SSB and the at least one second SSB, by: determining the measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB according to the measurement time information of the first SSB and a transmission period of the SSB.

[0017] Based on the possible design, the terminal can determine the measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB according to the measurement time information of the first SSB and the transmission period of the SSB, to reduce measurement redundancy and measurement overhead.

[0018] In a possible design, the second indication information is transmitted when the terminal moves from the first area to the second area; the second indication information is used to indicate that the first indication information is updated; and the updated first indication information is acquired.

[0019] Based on this possible design, the network-side device delivers the terminal-level SSB measurement configuration to the terminal through the first indication information, the terminal can not acquire the SSB measurement configuration based on the system message, the terminal can identify the change of the measurement configuration caused by the terminal movement and update in time, and thus the inaccuracy of the mobility management caused by the SSB measurement deviation is avoided.

[0020] In a possible design, the second indication information is transmitted, including: transmitting a random access request; the random access request includes the second indication information, and the second indication information is a preamble related to updating the first indication information; or transmitting second RRC signaling; the second RRC signaling includes the second indication information; or transmitting second NAS signaling; the second NAS signaling includes the second indication information.

[0021] Based on this possible design, the terminal can request to update the first indication information through the random access request, or the RRC signaling, or the NAS signaling when the terminal is in the connected state.

[0022] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be applied to a network side, for example, a network-side device or a communication module in the network-side device, or a circuit or chip (for example, a Modem chip, also known as a baseband chip, or a SoC chip or SIP chip containing a Modem core) responsible for a communication function in the network-side device. Taking the case where the method is applied to the network-side device, the method includes: acquiring location information of a terminal; transmitting, to the terminal, first indication information corresponding to the location information of the terminal and used to indicate a plurality of SSBs according to the location information; and receiving a measurement result from the terminal; the plurality of SSBs include a first SSB corresponding to the location information of the terminal and at least one second SSB; the first SSB corresponds to a first area, and the second SSB corresponds to a second area adjacent to the first area; the measurement result is determined according to at least one third SSB, and the at least one third SSB is determined according to the first SSB and the at least one second SSB.

[0023] Based on the second aspect, when the network side configures the SSB measurement for the terminal, the network side can send the terminal the terminal-level SSB measurement configuration instead of the cell-level or beam-level SMTC configuration, that is, the network side can indicate to the terminal a limited number of SSBs (i.e., the first SSB corresponding to the location information of the terminal and the second SSB corresponding to the second region adjacent to the first SSB) around the terminal to be measured according to the location information of the terminal, thereby improving the flexibility of the SSB measurement configuration and reducing the signaling overhead. When the terminal performs the SSB measurement, the terminal can determine at least one third SSB to be measured and the measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB from the first SSB and the at least one second SSB according to the actual communication requirement of the terminal, thereby improving the flexibility and accuracy of the SSB measurement and reducing the measurement redundancy, the measurement overhead, and the measurement power consumption of the terminal.

[0024] In a possible design, the network side device can be a core network device or a network device with a base station function. The network device can be a device arranged on the ground or a non-ground device such as a satellite or a drone.

[0025] In a possible design, the first indication information is used to indicate one or more of the following: measurement configuration information of the plurality of SSBs, coverage range information of the regions corresponding to the plurality of SSBs, or position sequence information of the plurality of SSBs. The position sequence information is used to indicate the geographical position relationship between the coverage ranges of the regions corresponding to the plurality of SSBs.

[0026] In a possible design, the first indication information includes one or more of the following: index information of the first SSB, coverage range information of the region corresponding to the first SSB, measurement time information corresponding to the first SSB, index information of the second SSB, coverage range information of the region corresponding to the second SSB, measurement time information corresponding to the second SSB, or position sequence information of the at least one second SSB. The position sequence information is used to indicate the geographical position relationship between the coverage ranges of the regions corresponding to the at least one second SSB.

[0027] Based on the above two possible designs, a plurality of possible designs are provided for the design of the first indication information.

[0028] In a possible design, the sending of the first indication information corresponding to the terminal to the terminal includes: sending first radio resource control (RRC) signaling to the terminal. The first RRC signaling includes the first indication information. Alternatively, first non-access stratum (NAS) signaling is sent to the terminal. The first NAS signaling includes the first indication information.

[0029] Based on this possible design, the network side device can send the terminal the terminal-level first indication information to the terminal through RRC signaling or NAS signaling when the terminal is in a connected state.

[0030] In a possible design, the second indication information is received from the terminal; and the updated first indication information is sent to the terminal according to the location information of the terminal.

[0031] Based on the possible design, the network-side device sends the terminal-level SSB measurement configuration to the terminal through the first indication information, so that the terminal can not acquire the SSB measurement configuration based on system information, and the flexibility of the SSB measurement configuration can be improved. In addition, the terminal can update the first indication information based on the possible design, so that the terminal can identify the change of the measurement configuration caused by the satellite or the terminal movement and update in time, and the inaccuracy of the mobility management caused by the SSB measurement deviation can be avoided.

[0032] In a possible design, the second indication information is received from the terminal, including: receiving a random access request from the terminal; the random access request includes the second indication information, and the second indication information is a preamble related to updating the first indication information; or receiving second RRC signaling from the terminal; the second RRC signaling includes the second indication information; or receiving second NAS signaling from the terminal; the second NAS signaling includes the second indication information.

[0033] Based on the possible design, the terminal can request to update the first indication information through the random access request, or the RRC signaling, or the NAS signaling when in the connected state.

[0034] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, which can be applied to the terminal in the first aspect to implement the functions performed by the terminal. The communication apparatus can be the terminal, a chip or a chip system or a system on chip, etc. The communication apparatus can perform the functions of the terminal through hardware, or perform the functions through corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions. For example, a transceiver module and a processing module. The transceiver module can perform the following transceiving operations independently, or in cooperation with the processing module. Similarly, the processing module can perform the following processing operations independently, or in cooperation with the transceiver module. No limitation is imposed.

[0035] Exemplarily, the transceiver module can be configured to acquire first indication information corresponding to the terminal and used for indicating a plurality of SSBs; the plurality of SSBs include a first SSB corresponding to the location information of the terminal and at least one second SSB; the first SSB corresponds to a first area, and the second SSB corresponds to a second area adjacent to the first area; the processing module can be configured to determine, according to the first SSB and the at least one second SSB, at least one third SSB to be measured and measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB; the processing module can be further configured to measure the at least one third SSB within the measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB to obtain a measurement result; and the transceiver module can be further configured to send the measurement result.

[0036] Optionally, the transceiver module and the processing module of the communication apparatus in the third aspect can also perform the corresponding functions in any possible design of the first aspect, and the specific implementation can be referred to the detailed description in the method examples, and the beneficial effects can also be referred to the foregoing related content.

[0037] In the fourth aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication apparatus, which can be applied to the network-side device in the second aspect to implement the functions performed by the network-side device. The communication apparatus can be the network-side device, a chip or a chip system or a system on chip, etc. of the network-side device. The communication apparatus can perform the functions of the network-side device through hardware or perform the functions through corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions. For example, a transceiver module and a processing module. The transceiver module can perform the following transceiving operations independently or in cooperation with the processing module. Similarly, the processing module can perform the following processing operations independently or in cooperation with the transceiver module.

[0038] Exemplarily, the transceiver module can be configured to acquire the location information of the terminal, send, to the terminal, first indication information corresponding to the location information of the terminal and used for indicating a plurality of SSBs according to the location information, and receive a measurement result from the terminal. The plurality of SSBs include a first SSB corresponding to the location information of the terminal and at least one second SSB; the first SSB corresponds to a first area, and the second SSB corresponds to a second area adjacent to the first area; the measurement result is determined according to at least one third SSB, and the at least one third SSB is determined according to the first SSB and the at least one second SSB.

[0039] Optionally, the transceiver module and the processing module of the communication apparatus in the fourth aspect can also perform the corresponding functions in any possible design of the second aspect, and the specific implementation can be referred to the detailed description in the method examples, and the beneficial effects can also be referred to the foregoing related content.

[0040] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, comprising one or more processors; and the one or more processors are configured to execute computer programs or instructions, and when the one or more processors execute the computer programs or instructions, the communication method according to any one of the first aspect to the second aspect is performed.

[0041] In a possible design, the communication apparatus further comprises one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, and the one or more memories are configured to store the computer programs or instructions. In a possible implementation, the memory is located outside the communication apparatus. In another possible implementation, the memory is located inside the communication apparatus. In an embodiment of the present application, the processor and the memory can also be integrated into one device, that is, the processor and the memory can also be integrated together. In a possible implementation, the communication apparatus further comprises a transceiver, and the transceiver is configured to receive information and / or send information.

[0042] In a possible design, the communication apparatus further comprises one or more communication interfaces coupled to the one or more processors, and the one or more communication interfaces are configured to communicate with other modules outside the communication apparatus.

[0043] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, comprising an interface circuit and a logic circuit; the interface circuit is configured to input and / or output information; and the logic circuit is configured to perform the communication method according to any one of the first aspect to the second aspect, process and / or generate information according to the information.

[0044] In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer readable storage medium, which stores computer programs or instructions, and when the computer programs or instructions are executed on a computer, the communication method according to any one of the first aspect to the second aspect is performed.

[0045] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product comprising computer instructions, and when the computer instructions are executed on a computer, the communication method according to any one of the first aspect to the second aspect is performed.

[0046] In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program, and when the computer program is executed on a computer, the communication method according to any one of the first aspect to the second aspect is performed.

[0047] In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip, comprising: a processor, the processor being coupled with a memory, the memory being configured to store programs or instructions, when the programs or instructions are executed by the processor, causing the communication method in any one of the first aspect to the second aspect to be executed.

[0048] The technical effects brought by any one of the fifth aspect to the tenth aspect can be referred to the technical effects brought by any one of the first aspect to the second aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0049] In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which can comprise a communication apparatus for executing the communication method in the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect, and a communication apparatus for executing the communication method in the second aspect or any possible design of the second aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0050] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of an NTN network according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0051] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a transmission mode of an SSB beam according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0052] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a satellite coverage range according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0053] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an arrangement pattern of an SSB according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0054] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a mobility management according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0055] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a measurement time window according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0056] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a measurement time window according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0057] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0058] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of an NTN communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0059] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of an NTN communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0060] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of an NTN communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0061] FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0062] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a random access procedure according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0063] FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of a mapping relationship between a region and an SSB according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0064] FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of an SSB according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0065] FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of a region according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0066] FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0067] FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0068] FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0069] Before the embodiments of the present application are described, technical terms related to the embodiments of the present application are described.

[0070] Non-terrestrial network (NTN): refers to a network that uses radio frequency resources on platforms such as satellite platforms (including low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, middle earth orbit (MEO) satellites, geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellites), unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms, or high altitude platform stations (HAPS) to provide communication services. Compared with a ground cellular network (such as a 5th generation (5G) new radio (NR) communication system), an NTN network has characteristics such as wider coverage, higher path loss, larger delay, faster speed, and lower cost. As a supplement and extension of a ground network, an NTN can achieve the purpose of seamless coverage in a wide area that cannot be achieved by a wired telephone network and a ground mobile communication network, and effectively solve the problem of Internet access in areas where communication infrastructure is scarce. For example, when a large number of satellites are arranged in LEO, through reasonable constellation construction, seamless coverage of the ground can be achieved, and the round-trip transmission delay between data on the satellite and the ground terminal can also be greatly reduced to tens of milliseconds compared with GEO satellites. With the use of high-frequency bands, multi-point beams, and frequency reuse technologies, the communication capabilities of satellites have been significantly improved, while the unit wideband cost has been reduced, so as to meet the demand for high information rate services. Compared with a ground 5G network and submarine optical fiber cables and other communication infrastructure, an NTN also has a significant cost advantage. Modern small satellites have low development and manufacturing costs, and software-defined technology can further extend the on-orbit satellite service life.

[0071] For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the application scenarios of an NTN network include one or more of the following: broadband access in remote areas (such as home broadband access, rural education, broadcast television, etc.), broadband access in large transportation (such as aircraft, high-speed rail, and ocean vessels, etc.), temporary network applications (such as emergency rescue, temporary bandwidth demand, scientific exploration, etc.), government and enterprise private networks (such as remote area expansion, vertical management network, etc.), telecommunications enterprise backbone interconnection (such as remote sites, temporary site construction, etc.), Internet of Things (such as disaster monitoring, unattended areas, etc.), and the like.

[0072] Satellite synchronization signal block (SSB) broadcast beams: A communication system needs to rely on a number of different direction broadcast beams to issue SSBs to users for terminal synchronization in the initial access stage. Compared with ground networks, the coverage area is wider, the transmission loss is larger, and the moving speed is faster, which are the significant characteristics of NTN networks. Unlike the ground system, which defines a maximum of 8 SSBs in the frequency range 1 (FR1) or a maximum of 64 SSBs in FR2 corresponding to the broadcast beams that can cover the service range of a single network device, the number of broadcast beams required by NTN networks can reach hundreds or even thousands. Taking a NTN network with an orbit height of 600 km as an example, the service range of a single satellite can reach hundreds of thousands of square kilometers. In order to overcome the path loss caused by the transmission distance and ensure the quality of communication services, satellites generally use large-scale antenna arrays to provide higher array gain, but at the same time, the main lobe of the beam is narrower. For example, the coverage radius of a 3 dB beam width is only a few dozen kilometers, and the coverage area is about a few hundred square kilometers, so using narrow beams to complete seamless coverage of the service range of a single satellite requires thousands of beams. Further, even if the beam is processed to a certain extent, in order to ensure the gain level, hundreds of beams (such as 256 beams) are also needed to achieve coverage.

[0073] For example, 8 SSBs can be sent in the first 2 ms of every 20 ms, and the overall sending mode of 256 SSB beams can be as shown in FIG. 2, wherein the 256 SSB beams can be divided into 32 groups, 8 SSBs for one group, and one group lasts for 20 ms, so a total of 640 ms, in each group, only the first 2 ms contains SSBs, and the remaining 18 ms sends normal data.

[0074] Considering that satellites fly in orbits and maintain a certain specific relative relationship between orbits, as shown in FIG. 3, when each satellite covers a rectangular area, seamless coverage of the overall constellation can be ensured. In addition, terminals can perform beam management and mobility management within the satellite service time. Taking the above rectangular coverage as an example, assuming that the satellite corresponds to 256 SSB beams, the service range of the satellite can be evenly divided into 256 areas, and each SSB beam covers a corresponding area, and the arrangement pattern of the SSBs can be as shown in FIG. 4. According to a certain arrangement pattern, the position of the area actually covered by the satellite SSB beam on the ground can be referred to as an SSB coverage pattern.

[0075] Beam management and mobility management: In a communication system, the movement of a terminal can cause the terminal to select and switch between different beams or cells of one network device, or between different network devices. Especially in an NTN system, because the satellite moves very fast, the terminal will frequently select and switch between multiple beams or multiple satellites, so beam management and mobility management are particularly important.

[0076] When the terminal is in a non-connected state (such as an IDLE state / INACTIVE state), movement can cause the terminal to reselect between beams or cells; when the terminal is in a connected state, movement can cause the terminal to switch between beams or cells. Beam reselection and switching are dependent on beam management, while cell reselection and switching-related state determination are dependent on mobility management.

[0077] Beam management generally includes a pairing process between beams, and the terminal obtains the beam direction for data transmission, signal reception, link recovery, and other related processes through beam management. In a communication system, there are mainly two types of reference signals for beam management: SSB and channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS). The embodiments of the present application mainly aim at SSB-based beam management.

[0078] Mobility management mainly refers to the measurement process related to radio resource management (RRM), and the mobility signaling process triggered based on the measurement results. In mobility management, the network device or network side can issue an RRM measurement task to the terminal, including two basic measurement configurations: ① Measurement object: specifies the frequency band to be measured, the form of the reference signal, and the time domain position of the reference signal to be measured, etc. ② Measurement reporting: specifies the conditions for triggering measurement, and the way to report the measurement results, etc. If the center frequencies of the SSBs of the two measurement cells are the same during RRM measurement, and the subcarrier spacing is also the same, the measurement between the two cells is called intra-frequency measurement, otherwise it is called inter-frequency measurement. Like beam management, in a communication system, the reference signals that can be used for RRM measurement also have SSB and CSI-RS, and the embodiments of the present application mainly aim at SSB-based mobility management.

[0079] SSB-based measurement timing configuration (SMTC): For SSB-based mobility management, since SSBs are not continuous in time domain in most cases, the terminal does not need to search and measure SSBs continuously in time domain when making measurements, but only needs to operate within the time window in which the SSBs can be locked. Therefore, the communication protocol introduces the concept of SMTC in the measurement configuration issued by the network side. SMTC is configured at intervals according to a certain period in time domain (such as a minimum period of 5 ms and a maximum period of 160 ms), and its measurement window remains a fixed duration (such as a minimum of 1 ms and a maximum of 5 ms). From the perspective of measurement, the terminal will only search and measure SSBs within the measurement window of SMTC, and consider that SSBs outside SMTC do not exist. The network side will configure an SMTC for each SSB measurement frequency point. For intra-frequency measurement, multiple SSBs that need to be measured by multiple cells are included in this SMTC, which is issued to the terminal by the network side of the serving cell. In addition, the network side can also configure another SMTC with a shorter period for individual cells on the SSB frequency point, but the measurement window of the two SMTCs needs to remain consistent in time.

[0080] Specifically, in the 5G NR communication system, the network device or network side mainly enables the terminal to perform SSB measurement in the non-connected state and the connected state through the reference signal resource configuration and the SMTC configuration. Among them, the reference signal resource configuration is used for beam management, and the SMTC configuration is used for mobility management. In the beam management, for the terminal in the non-connected state, the SSB resource to be measured is indicated by the signaling parameter "ssb-PositionsInBurst" in the system information block 1 (SIB1) (by default, the terminal measures all SSBs in a period), and for the terminal in the connected state, the SSB index to be measured can be indicated by the measurement resource configuration in the radio resource control (RRC) signaling. In the mobility management, as shown in FIG. 5, the SMTC configuration of the terminal in the non-connected state is mainly configured in "intraFreqCellReselectionInfo" of SIB2 and "InterFreqCarrierFreqInfo" of SIB4, and the SIB2 / SIB4 can be configured in a cell level or a region level and is issued by the network side through broadcast; the SMTC configuration of the terminal in the connected state is mainly configured in the measurement object "MeasObjectNR" in the RRC signaling, and the RRC signaling can be configured in a user level, that is, the parameters configured for each user are different. The terminal can obtain the SSB measurement configuration of the serving cell and the adjacent cell according to the received SMTC configuration, and select the optimal SSB to initiate an access request or report a measurement result to the network device.

[0081] Based on the above description of SMTC, the NR protocol defines four kinds of SMTC, namely SMTC1-4.

[0082] Wherein, SMTC1 is defined as a main measurement configuration, including 3 parameters, which are periodicity, offset and duration respectively. Wherein, the periodicity specifies the frequency of the terminal measuring SSB. The offset specifies the starting time position of the terminal measuring SSB, so that the measurement starting time position = measurement period starting frame number time position + offset time, and the maximum does not exceed the configured period. The duration controls the length of the time window of the terminal measuring SSB. SMTC2 mainly includes a cell list (such as a physical cell identifier list (PCI-list)) and a period. Compared with SMTC1, SMTC2 only measures SSB for some specific cells, and the period is generally shorter than SMTC1, but the same offset and duration are multiplexed with SMTC1. SMTC3, compared with SMTC1 and SMTC2, not only separately configures the period, offset, duration and cell list, but also specifies the SSB index to be measured, but is generally used in integrated access and backhaul (IAB) scenarios.

[0083] In the NTN system, the SSB beam of the satellite is more, which will greatly lengthen the SSB search and measurement time of the terminal in beam management and mobility management. In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, because the distances from the serving satellite and the adjacent satellite to the terminal are different, the time delays of the SSBs transmitted by the serving satellite and the adjacent satellite to the terminal are also different. If the same offset configuration is adopted, the SSB of the adjacent satellite may not be measured within the configured duration, resulting in measurement failure. Based on this, in view of the different time delays of different satellites, SMTC4 configuration is added, that is, in order to ensure the feasibility of the SSB measurement of the adjacent satellite, a longer measurement window time can be configured for the adjacent satellite through SMTC4.

[0084] Wherein, SMTC4 contains a cell list and an offset, and for each cell list, a kind of offset can be configured, and at most 3 cell lists are allowed. Compared with SMTC1, the network side generally calculates the arrival time delay of different satellites according to the positions of the satellites and the terminal, and configures the corresponding satellite cell list and offset in SMTC4, so that the SSB of the adjacent satellite can be detected by the terminal at the corresponding time position. As for the period and the duration, SMTC4 shares them with SMTC1. In addition, the NR protocol also configures the parameter ssb-ToMeasure on the basis of the SMTC window, which further reduces the number of SSBs to be measured by specifying the SSB index to be measured.

[0085] Among the four SMTC configurations above, for the NTN scenario, due to the large number of SSB beams of the satellite, and the segmented transmission of the SSB beams as shown in FIG. 2, in order to ensure that the SSB to be measured by the terminal can be included in the configured SMTC window, the values of the period, offset and duration of the SMTC can be extended. However, the extended SMTC window will cause excessive measurement redundancy of the terminal for a long time, and the measurement overhead will be significantly increased.

[0086] For example, as shown in FIG. 2, taking 256 SSBs corresponding to a satellite as an example, the scanning period of the 256 SSBs is 640 ms, and the SSBs are transmitted in segments, with a maximum of 8 SSBs transmitted every 20 ms. The SSBs to be measured by the terminal can span multiple different 20 ms. In order to ensure that the terminal can completely measure all SSBs, the network side needs to configure a very long measurement time for the terminal, which will cause excessive measurement redundancy of the terminal and increase the measurement overhead of the terminal.

[0087] To solve the above technical problems, when the network side configures the SMTC window for the terminal, multiple offsets can be configured in the window to support the terminal to start multiple measurement windows at different starting points, i.e., using intermittently started short windows for SSB measurement, thereby reducing measurement redundancy and reducing measurement overhead.

[0088] Specifically, the network side can increase multiple offset values in SMTC4 by the following methods:

[0089] By configuring 3 offsets starting at 0 ms, 40 ms and 80 ms, and the duration being 2 ms, the measurement time window configuration as shown in FIG. 7 can be achieved, so that the terminal can measure the required multiple segment SSBs within 0-2 ms, 40-42 ms and 80-82 ms, saving the measurement overhead of extending the length of the measurement time window to ensure measurement. Compared with configuring only one offset (such as 0 ms) and extending the duration to 82 ms, the measurement overhead of the terminal can be reduced on the basis of enabling the terminal to measure the required SSBs.

[0090] However, in the above scheme, for the terminal in the connected state, when the network side issues the SMTC, the terminal needs to measure using the intermittently started short window as indicated by the SMTC, which means that the terminal needs to frequently switch between measurement and sleep, and the power consumption overhead is large.

[0091] In addition, for a terminal in an idle state, since the network side does not have the location information of the terminal, the network side cannot accurately instruct, the network side can perform beam-level configuration for each SSB beam, broadcast the measurement configuration corresponding to each SSB beam, but this will cause the signaling overhead to be too large in the system message to be broadcast, exceeding the allowed capacity. Alternatively, the network side can configure the offset as the upper and lower limits in all beam sets, and configure according to the maximum, so as to ensure that all terminals have the required SSBs within the configured measurement time window, but a large amount of redundant measurement will occur, causing large measurement overhead of the terminal.

[0092] In summary, how to reduce the measurement power consumption of the terminal, reduce the measurement redundancy, and reduce the measurement overhead when the terminal performs SSB measurement has become a technical problem to be solved.

[0093] To solve the above technical problems, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, in which the terminal can obtain first indication information corresponding to the terminal and used for indicating a plurality of SSBs; the plurality of SSBs can include a first SSB corresponding to the location information of the terminal and at least one second SSB; the first SSB corresponds to a first area, and the second SSB corresponds to a second area adjacent to the first area; the terminal can determine at least one third SSB to be measured and measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB according to the first SSB and the at least one second SSB; perform measurement on the at least one third SSB within the measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB to obtain a measurement result; and transmit the measurement result.

[0094] In the embodiments of the present application, when the network side configures SSB measurement for the terminal, the network side can issue terminal-level SSB measurement configuration to the terminal instead of broadcasting cell-level or beam-level SMTC configuration, that is, the network side can indicate a limited number of deterministic SSBs to be measured (i.e., the first SSB corresponding to the location information of the terminal and the second SSB corresponding to the second area adjacent to the first area) around the terminal according to the location information of the terminal, improve the flexibility of SSB measurement configuration, and reduce signaling overhead. When the terminal performs SSB measurement, the terminal can determine at least one third SSB to be measured and measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB from the first SSB and the at least one second SSB according to the actual communication demand of the terminal, improve the flexibility and accuracy of SSB measurement, reduce measurement redundancy, reduce measurement overhead, and reduce the measurement power consumption of the terminal.

[0095] The embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0096] The communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application can be used in any communication system, which can be a third generation partnership project (3GPP) communication system, for example, a long term evolution (LTE) system, or a 5G communication system, a system with mixed networking of LTE and 5G, an NR system, an NR vehicle to everything (V2X) system, a device-to-device (D2D) communication system, a machine to machine (M2M) communication system, an internet of things (IoT), a narrow band-internet of things (NB-IoT) system, an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) system, an ultra-reliable and low-latency communication (URLLC) system, an enhanced machine-type communication (eMTC) system, and various types of future communication systems, or an NTN system (such as a satellite communication system), a non-3GPP communication system, etc., without limitation.

[0097] The communication system provided by the embodiments of the present application is described below taking FIG. 8 as an example.

[0098] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application, as shown in FIG. 8, the communication system can include a terminal, a network device, and a core network device.

[0099] The terminal in FIG. 8 can be a device with wireless transceiving function or a chip or chip system that can be provided in the device, can allow a user to access a network, and is a device used to provide voice and / or data connectivity for a user, and can be located within the beam / cell coverage range of the network device and be provided with communication services by the network device. The terminal can also be referred to as a user equipment (UE), a subscriber unit, a terminal device, or a mobile station (MS) or a mobile terminal (MT), etc. The terminal can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld, wearable, or vehicle-mounted; can be deployed on water (such as ships, etc.); or can be deployed in the air (such as airplanes, balloons, etc.), without limitation.

[0100] Exemplarily, the terminal can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, or a computer with wireless transceiver function. The terminal can also be a user station, a mobile station, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile terminal, a user terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, a user device, a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device, a processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal in Internet of Things, a household appliance, a virtual reality (VR) terminal, an augmented reality (AR) terminal, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in unmanned driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical treatment, a wireless terminal in smart grid, a wireless terminal in smart city, a wireless terminal in smart home, a road side unit (RSU), a vehicle with vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication capability, a smart connected vehicle, a drone with unmanned aerial vehicle to unmanned aerial vehicle (U2U) communication capability, a terminal in future network, or a terminal in future evolved public land mobile network (PLMN), etc., without limitation.

[0101] In the figure 8, the network device can be any device deployed in an access network and capable of wireless communication with a terminal, can also be a chip or chip system that can be arranged in the above device, can also be a logic node or a logic module or a function implemented in software, and is mainly responsible for functions such as wireless physical control function, resource scheduling, wireless resource management, quality of service management, data compression and encryption, wireless access control, and mobility management. Specifically, the network device can be a device supporting wired access or a device supporting wireless access.

[0102] The network devices can support a network of the same technology or a network of different technologies. The network devices can include one or more co-sited or non-co-sited transmission reception points (TRPs). The network devices can be of the same type or of different types. The base stations can communicate with the terminals directly or through a relay station. The terminals can communicate with multiple base stations supporting different technologies, for example, the terminals can communicate with a base station supporting an LTE network and a base station supporting a 5G network, and can support dual connectivity with the base station supporting the LTE network and the base station supporting the 5G network.

[0103] For example, a network device can be composed of one or more access network (AN) / radio access network (RAN) nodes. The AN / RAN node can be various forms of base stations, such as a satellite base station, a gNB, a TRP, an eNB, a radio network controller (RNC), a NodeB, a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a home base station (such as a home eNB or home NodeB, HNB), a macro base station, a micro base station, a pico base station, a femto base station, a relay station, a balloon station, a drone station, a wireless backhaul node, a base band unit (BBU), or a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) access point (AP), etc. It can be understood that the network device can be a device arranged on the ground or a non-ground device (such as a satellite, a drone, a high-altitude communication device, etc.). In addition, in a communication system using different radio access technologies, the name of the network device with the function of the base station can be different, which is not limited in the present application.

[0104] In another example, the network device can include a BBU and a remote radio unit (RRU). The BBU and the RRU can be placed in different places, for example, the RRU is pulled away and placed in a high traffic area, and the BBU is placed in a central machine room. The BBU and the RRU can also be placed in the same machine room. The BBU and the RRU can also be different components under one rack.

[0105] In another example, the network device can also be a device including a centralized unit (CU) node, or including a distributed unit (DU) node, or including a CU node and a DU node. For example, the network device can be divided into a CU and a DU from a logical function perspective, functions of part protocol layers are centrally controlled in the CU, and the rest or all protocol layers are distributed in the DU and controlled by the CU. The CU and the DU can be separately arranged, or can be included in the same network element, such as a BBU. Further, the centralized unit CU can also be divided into a control plane (CU-CP) and a user plane (CU-UP).

[0106] In another example, the network device can also be a device including a radio unit (RU), or including a CU, a DU and an RU. The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, such as an RRU, an active antenna processing unit (AAU) or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0107] It can be understood that the CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU can also have different names in different systems, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in an open radio access network (O-RAN) system, the CU can also be referred to as an O-CU (open CU), the DU can also be referred to as an O-DU, the CU-CP can also be referred to as an O-CU-CP, the CU-UP can also be referred to as an O-CU-UP, and the RU can also be referred to as an O-RU. For the convenience of description, the CU, the CU-CP, the CU-UP, the DU and the RU are taken as examples for description in this application. Any one of the CU (or the CU-CP, the CU-UP), the DU and the RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0108] In the figure 8, the core network device can be used to send data of a terminal sent by the network device to a data network. Specifically, the core network device can be used to implement user registration, access control, mobility management, session management, user security authentication, charging and other services. The core network device can be composed of one or more functional units. For example, the core network device can be divided into control plane and data plane functional entities. The control plane functional entity can include a mobility management network element, a session management network element, etc., and the data plane functional entity can include a user plane network element, etc.

[0109] The mobility management network element is mainly responsible for signaling processing, for example: access control, mobility management, attachment and detachment, gateway selection and other functions. In the case of providing services for a session in the terminal, the mobility management network element can provide storage resources for the control plane of the session to store session identifiers, session management network element identifiers associated with the session identifiers, and the like. The session management network element mainly completes the session management functions such as Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation of the terminal, user plane network element selection, charging and Quality of Service (QoS) policy control. The user plane network element mainly performs specific data forwarding of the user plane, and generates a bill based on traffic conditions. At the same time, it also functions as a data plane anchor.

[0110] Optionally, the core network device can also include a policy control network element, a network exposure network element, and the like. The policy control network element is used for policy management of charging policies and QoS policies. The network exposure network element is used to expose the services and capabilities of the 3GPP network functions to the application function network element, and at the same time, the application function network element can also provide information to the 3GPP network functions.

[0111] Based on the above description of the communication system, for example, taking the above communication system as an NTN communication system, the NTN communication system can include a transparent forwarding scenario based on satellite communication and a regenerative mode scenario based on satellite communication.

[0112] For example, as shown in FIG. 9, for the transparent forwarding scenario based on satellite communication, the terminal can communicate with the ground base station and the core network device through the satellite and the NTN gateway. In this scenario, the satellite mainly plays a role of frequency conversion and forwarding, which is equivalent to an analog radio frequency repeater. Specifically, the satellite can copy the NR Uu wireless interface signal from the feeder link (the link between the NTN gateway and the satellite) to the service link (the link between the satellite and the terminal), and vice versa. The satellite wireless interface transmission on the feeder link is the NR Uu interface signal, and the satellite does not terminate the NR Uu interface signal, but copies the signal to the service link. The NTN gateway can support all necessary functions for forwarding all NR Uu interface signals. Different satellites can be connected to the same ground base station.

[0113] In another example, for a regenerative mode scenario based on satellite communication, the terminal can communicate with the ground network based on the satellite and the NTN gateway. In this scenario, the satellite can have part or all of the processing functions of the base station. As shown in FIG. 10, the satellite can act as a base station and communicate with the core network device on the ground through the NTN gateway, or as shown in FIG. 11, the satellite can include a DU and communicate with the CU and the core network device set on the ground through the NTN gateway. The satellite can implement regeneration of signals received from the ground, i.e., the satellite can transmit NR Uu wireless interface signals between the terminal and the satellite on the service link, and transmit satellite wireless interface signals between the NTN gateway and the satellite on the feeder link. The satellite wireless interface signals transmitted by the satellite are transmitted to the ground network by the NTN gateway.

[0114] It should be noted that the terminal, network device and core network device in the embodiments of the present application can be one or more chips, or SOC, etc. FIGS. 8-11 are only exemplary drawings, and the number of devices included is not limited. The names of the devices in FIGS. 8-11 and the names of the links are not limited, and in addition to the names shown in FIGS. 8-11, the devices and links can also be named by other names, which are not limited.

[0115] The communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to FIG. 12 in combination with any one of the communication systems shown in FIGS. 8-11.

[0116] It can be understood that the processing performed by a single execution subject (terminal, or network device, or core network device) shown in the embodiments of the present application can also be divided into processing performed by multiple execution subjects, which can be logically and / or physically separated, which is not limited. In addition, the names of the messages exchanged between the devices in the embodiments of the present application or the names of the parameters in the messages are only examples, and other names can also be used in specific implementations, which are not limited. The actions and terms involved in the embodiments of the present application can be mutually referenced, which are not limited.

[0117] FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 12, the method can include the following steps:

[0118] In step 1201, the network side device obtains the location information of the terminal.

[0119] The network side device can be a core network device or a network device with base station functions. The network device can be a device set on the ground or a non-ground device such as a satellite or a drone, which is not limited.

[0120] For example, the network side device can obtain the location information of the terminal according to any one of the following two possible designs:

[0121] In the first possible design, taking a network device as an example, the network device can obtain the location information of the terminal based on a positioning procedure, or the terminal can actively report the location information of the terminal to the network device.

[0122] The positioning procedure of the terminal can be triggered by the network device or the core network device. For example, the network device can send a positioning request to the terminal to request the terminal to report the location information of the terminal. Alternatively, the core network device can send a positioning request to the terminal through the network device to request the terminal to report the location information of the terminal. When the terminal reports the location information of the terminal, the terminal can directly report the location information of the terminal, or report a measurement result of a reference signal sent by the network device. The network device can determine the location information of the terminal based on the measurement result, or the core network device can determine the location information of the terminal based on the measurement result reported by the terminal and send the location information of the terminal to the network device. Alternatively, the network device can measure the reference signal sent by the terminal and determine the location information of the terminal based on the measurement result. The specific positioning procedure can refer to the related description in the communication protocol, and will not be described here.

[0123] For example, the network device can send a “coarseLocationRequest” information element to the terminal to request the terminal to report the location information of the terminal after the terminal establishes an RRC connection with the network device. The terminal can carry the location information of the terminal in a “coarseLocationInfo” information element and send the location information of the terminal to the network device.

[0124] Wherein, the terminal can establish RRC connection with the network device through the random access procedure in the manner as described in FIG. 13: after performing cell search, the terminal acquires downlink synchronization with the cell, acquires the SSB and the remaining minimum system information (RMSI) broadcast by the network device, decodes the physical broadcast channel (PBCH) content through detecting one SSB resource block, acquires timing information, and the terminal can also acquire the information of CORESET 0 according to the content in the master information block (MIB) broadcast by the network device, further acquires the location information of SIB 1, and acquires the random access channel (RACH) configuration information, the uplink and downlink initial bandwidth part (BWP) configuration, the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) configuration information and other information through decoding the SIB 1 information. Further, the terminal can send the physical random access channel (PRACH) through Msg1 on the corresponding RACH resource, and the network device acquires the SSB index and the corresponding beam ID after receiving the PRACH, and then the network device can send the random access response (RAR) message to the terminal through Msg2. After receiving the RAR message, the terminal can report its own identification information to the network device through Msg3 to initiate the RRC establishment request, and then the network device can send Msg4 to the terminal to respond to the RRC establishment. After successfully decoding the Msg4, the terminal can send an acknowledge (ACK) frame to the network device as the response of the Msg4.

[0125] In the second possible design, taking the network-side device as the core network device for example, the core network device can acquire the location information of the terminal based on the positioning procedure, or the terminal can also actively report its own location information to the core network device.

[0126] Wherein, similar to the first possible design described above, the terminal or the network device can send the location information of the terminal to the core network device, or the core network device can also determine the location information of the terminal based on the positioning procedure.

[0127] Step 1202, the network-side device sends the first indication information corresponding to the terminal to the terminal according to the location information of the terminal; correspondingly, the terminal receives the first indication information corresponding to the terminal from the network-side device.

[0128] The first indication information can be used to indicate a plurality of SSBs, which can include a first SSB corresponding to the location information of the terminal and at least one second SSB. The first SSB corresponds to a first area, and the second SSB corresponds to a second area adjacent to the first area. The first area can be understood as an area where the location information of the terminal is located.

[0129] The area can be a geographical area or range, an administrative area or range, or a wave position. The wave position refers to the coverage range of the satellite beam on the ground, or is described as the projection range of the beam on the ground. The satellite can move or adjust the weight of the antenna so that the satellite sends the beam to different directions, corresponding to different coverage ranges.

[0130] With the deployment of a large number of satellites, in order to improve the effectiveness and simplicity of satellite beam management, the ground operation and control center can divide the overall ground range covered by the satellite into a plurality of areas with fixed sizes, each area corresponding to a wave position, and all areas are assigned non-repeating numbers. The size of each area can be set to be the same as the coverage size of the SSB beam, which is convenient for periodic scanning by the satellite. The specific location and number of each area can be pre-stored in the satellite, the terminal, or the ground network device, or periodically issued by the ground operation and control center or the core network device. Within a period of time, a satellite will cover the same number of ground areas as the SSB beam, so there is a one-to-one mapping relationship between the SSB index and the ground area number. The mapping relationship can be maintained by the ground operation and control center and sent to one or more of the satellite, the terminal, the ground network device, and the core network device.

[0131] For example, as shown in FIG. 14, taking the numbers of the areas on the ground as 0-1023 as an example, assuming that the satellite corresponds to 256 SSB beams with indexes 0-255, the 256 SSB beams can correspond to the 256 areas on the ground one by one.

[0132] Optionally, the coverage range information of the area can be beam coverage range information or wave position coverage range information, and the beam coverage range information can include one or more of the following: scanning order of the spatial coverage range of a plurality of beams, coverage geographical area of the spatial coverage range of a plurality of beams, spatial filtering parameters of the spatial coverage range of a plurality of beams, shape information of the spatial coverage range of a plurality of beams.

[0133] Alternatively, the beam coverage range information can also include one or more of the following: coverage radius or coverage diameter of a beam in a plurality of beams, center point and / or beam center angle of a beam in a plurality of beams, coverage angle information of a beam in a plurality of beams.

[0134] For example, as shown in (b) of FIG. 15, the beam coverage information can include one or more of the following: a radius R, position information C(x, y) of a beam center point, where x represents longitude and y represents latitude.

[0135] The coverage angle information can include one or more of the following: a beam coverage angle of a beam projected on the ground, a beam coverage angle of a beam projected to a reference plane at a predetermined height, a beam angle or beam width angle of a beam when the beam is emitted from the network device.

[0136] Alternatively, the beam coverage information can also include parameters related to a beam scanning pattern of the plurality of beams. The parameters related to the beam scanning pattern can include one or more of the following: shape information of the plurality of beams, a number of long-side beams of a rectangular coverage area of the plurality of beams, a number of short-side beams of the rectangular coverage area, a number of beams per circle in the case of a circular scanning beam scanning pattern, a number of beams of a square side length in the case of a square scanning beam scanning pattern, position information of a starting number beam, a scanning manner of the plurality of beams, a coverage radius or coverage diameter of a beam in the plurality of beams.

[0137] The description of the beam coverage range information is similar to the description of the beam coverage information above, and is not repeated here.

[0138] Specifically, the network side device can determine, based on a mapping relationship between the areas and the SSB beams, a first SSB corresponding to the position information of the terminal and at least one second SSB corresponding to at least one second area adjacent to the first area according to the position information of the terminal.

[0139] For example, as shown in (a) of FIG. 15, taking the first SSB corresponding to the first area where the terminal is located, i.e., SSB17, as an example, the network side device can determine the SSBs corresponding to the second areas adjacent to the first area as the at least one second SSB, i.e., the at least one second SSB can include SSB2, SSB18, SSB34, SSB1, SSB33, SSB0, SSB16, and SSB32.

[0140] In a first possible design, the plurality of SSBs indicated by the first indication information sent by the network side device to the terminal can be all SSBs corresponding to the network side device. When the terminal receives the first indication information, the terminal can determine the first SSB and the at least one second SSB corresponding to the terminal from the plurality of SSBs indicated by the first indication information.

[0141] For example, when the network-side device indicates the multiple SSBs to the terminal through the first indication information, the information of the first SSB corresponding to the terminal can be the first information in the information of the multiple SSBs. In this way, when the terminal receives the first indication information, the terminal can determine the SSB corresponding to the first information as the first SSB. Furthermore, the terminal can determine the at least one second SSB according to the coverage range information of the area corresponding to the first SSB and the coverage range information of the areas corresponding to the other SSBs. Alternatively, the terminal can determine the at least one second SSB according to the position sequence information of the multiple SSBs, and the position sequence information of the multiple SSBs can be used to indicate the geographical position relationship between the coverage ranges of the areas corresponding to the multiple SSBs.

[0142] The coverage range information of the area corresponding to the SSB (or the geographical position relationship between the multiple SSBs) can be pre-configured in the terminal, or can be sent by the network-side device to the terminal. For example, the network-side device can send the coverage range information of the area corresponding to the SSB (or the geographical position relationship between the multiple SSBs) to the terminal through the first indication information, or can send the coverage range information of the area corresponding to the SSB (or the geographical position relationship between the multiple SSBs) to the terminal through other information, which is not limited.

[0143] In another example, when the network-side device indicates the multiple SSBs to the terminal through the first indication information, the information of the first SSB corresponding to the terminal and the information of the at least one second SSB can be the first n information of the multiple SSBs. In this way, when the terminal receives the first indication information, the terminal can determine the SSB corresponding to the first information as the first SSB, and determine the SSBs corresponding to the second to nth information as the at least one second SSB.

[0144] In a second possible design, the multiple SSBs indicated by the first indication information sent by the network-side device to the terminal based on the location information of the terminal can only include the first SSB and the at least one second SSB, so as to reduce the signaling overhead and the processing complexity of the terminal.

[0145] Based on the above two possible designs, optionally, the first indication information can be used to indicate one or more of the following: the measurement configuration information of the multiple SSBs, the coverage range information of the areas corresponding to the multiple SSBs, or the position sequence information of the multiple SSBs.

[0146] The position sequence information of the plurality of SSBs can be used to indicate the geographical position relationship between the coverage ranges of the areas corresponding to the plurality of SSBs. By carrying the position sequence information in the first indication information, the terminal can determine the specific coverage range of the areas corresponding to the plurality of SSBs indicated by the first indication information. For example, as shown in (a) of FIG. 15, taking the plurality of SSBs as a first SSB and at least one second SSB, and the position sequence information indicating that the sequence from left to right and from top to bottom is an example, the network side device can indicate the plurality of SSBs to the terminal in the following order: SSB2, SSB18, SSB34, SSB1, SSB17, SSB33, SSB0, SSB16, SSB32. After receiving the first indication information, the terminal can determine that SSB17 corresponds to a first area in which the terminal is located, and SSB2, SSB18, SSB34, SSB1, SSB33, SSB0, SSB16, and SSB32 correspond to eight second areas adjacent to the first area in the order from left to right and from top to bottom.

[0147] For example, taking the plurality of SSBs as a first SSB and at least one second SSB, the first indication information can include one or more of the following: index information of the first SSB, coverage range information of the area corresponding to the first SSB, measurement time information corresponding to the first SSB, index information of the second SSB, coverage range information of the area corresponding to the second SSB, measurement time information corresponding to the second SSB, or position sequence information of the at least one second SSB.

[0148] The measurement time information can include measurement time, measurement period, or information that can be used to indicate measurement time, such as measurement time offset.

[0149] The position sequence information of the at least one second SSB can be used to indicate the geographical position relationship between the coverage ranges of the areas corresponding to the at least one second SSB. By carrying the position sequence information of the at least one second SSB in the first indication information, the terminal can determine the beam / beam position corresponding to the at least one second SSB respectively indicated by the first indication information (or the specific coverage range of the area corresponding to the at least one second SSB respectively).

[0150] Based on the above description of the first indication information, the network side device can send the terminal-level first indication information to the terminal when the terminal is in a connected state.

[0151] In the first possible design, taking the network side device as a network device, the network device can carry the first indication information in the RRC signaling (such as the first RRC signaling) and send it to the terminal.

[0152] The network device can send the first indication information to the terminal through newly added RRC signaling, or the network device can send the first indication information to the terminal through RRC reconfiguration signaling, without limitation.

[0153] For example, the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal through newly added RRC signaling. The RRC signaling can include the following content:

[0154] The SSB pattern represents the first indication information, the SSB index represents the index of the SSB indicated by the first indication information, the first index is the index of the SSB corresponding to the location information of the terminal, and the index of the at least one second SSB can be given in order from left to right and from top to bottom. For example, the SSB index corresponding to the location information of the terminal is SSB17, and the index of the at least one second SSB in order is SSB2, SSB18, SSB34, SSB1, SSB33, SSB0, SSB16, and SSB32. The coverageinfo represents the coverage range information of the area corresponding to each SSB. Through the first indication information, the terminal can uniquely determine all SSBs to be measured (including the first SSB and the at least one second SSB) and the corresponding accurate positions.

[0155] In another example, different from the above, the network device can send the first indication information to the terminal through the following RRC signaling, that is, the network device can indicate the first SSB and the at least one second SSB in the form of (SSB index, coverage range information) in order: SSBpattern::=SEQUENCE{ SSBindex,coverageinfo SSB-Index,CoverageInfo}

[0156] In the second possible design, taking the core network device as an example, the core network device can carry the first indication information in non-access layer (NAS) signaling (such as first NAS signaling) and send it to the terminal.

[0157] The NAS signaling can be transmitted from the core network device to the network device through a container, and then transmitted from the network device to the terminal. Optionally, the core network device can carry the NAS signaling including the first indication information in a downlink information transmission (DLInformationTransfer) message and send it to the terminal.

[0158] It can be understood that, different from the network side device sending the first indication information to the terminal to indicate that the first SSB and the at least one second SSB are different according to the preconfigured mapping relationship between the area and the SSB, the terminal can also determine the first SSB and the at least one second SSB according to the preconfigured mapping relationship between the area and the SSB beam.

[0159] In step 1203, the terminal determines at least one third SSB to be measured and measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB according to the first SSB and the at least one second SSB.

[0160] The third SSB is one of the first SSB and the at least one second SSB.

[0161] Specifically, the terminal can determine at least one third SSB to be measured from the first SSB and the at least one second SSB according to actual communication needs of the terminal.

[0162] For example, when the terminal does not move, the terminal can take the first SSB as the third SSB to be measured. Optionally, the terminal can also select one or more second SSBs from the second SSBs as the third SSB to be measured, so as to prepare for cell switching or beam switching by measuring the one or more second SSBs when the signal quality is poor.

[0163] In another example, when the terminal moves, the terminal can take the first SSB as the third SSB to be measured, and the terminal can also determine one or more second SSBs to be measured according to the moving track of the terminal and the coverage range information of the areas corresponding to the second SSBs, so as to prepare for cell switching or beam switching.

[0164] For example, taking the SSB corresponding to the first area where the terminal is located, i.e., SSB17, as an example, the at least one second SSB can include SSB2, SSB18, SSB34, SSB1, SSB33, SSB0, SSB16, and SSB32. Assuming that the terminal determines that it is currently moving to the coverage range corresponding to SSB18 according to the moving track of the terminal, the terminal can take SSB18 as the third SSB to be measured.

[0165] After determining the third SSB to be measured, the terminal can also determine the measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB according to the measurement time information of the first SSB and the transmission period of the SSB.

[0166] The measurement time information can include a measurement period, a measurement bias, a measurement duration, etc., and is not limited.

[0167] For example, if the transmission period of the SSB is 8 SSBs transmitted in the first 2 ms of every 20 ms as shown in FIG. 2, the terminal can determine the measurement time information corresponding to the third SSB to be measured according to the measurement time information of the first SSB and the transmission period of the SSB as shown in FIG. 2.

[0168] Optionally, the measurement period of the third SSB can be a multiple of the default SSB measurement period.

[0169] In step 1204, the terminal measures at least one third SSB in the measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB to obtain a measurement result.

[0170] In step 1205, the terminal sends the measurement result to the network side device; correspondingly, the network side device receives the measurement result from the terminal.

[0171] The terminal reports the measurement result to the network side device, which can assist the network side device in beam switching. The terminal can enable subsequent processes such as cell reselection and cell switching according to the measurement result.

[0172] Specifically, after the terminal reports the measurement result to the network side device, if the current optimal SSB of the terminal is replaced, the network side device can subsequently determine the scheduling beam of the terminal based on the updated optimal SSB; or if the terminal measures the SSB signal quality of the neighbor star to be better, the terminal can subsequently perform cell reselection or cell switching process according to the measured optimal neighbor star SSB. Further, the initial access process of the neighbor star can be started according to the optimal SSB of the neighbor star, and random access is not limited.

[0173] Based on the method shown in FIG. 12, when the network side configures the SSB measurement for the terminal, the network side can send the terminal-level SSB measurement configuration to the terminal instead of broadcasting the cell-level or beam-level SMTC configuration, i.e., the network side can indicate to the terminal a limited number of deterministic SSBs to be measured around the terminal (i.e., the first SSB corresponding to the first area where the terminal is located and the second SSB corresponding to the second area adjacent to the first area) according to the first area where the terminal is located, thereby improving the flexibility of the SSB measurement configuration and reducing the signaling overhead. When the terminal performs SSB measurement, the terminal can determine at least one third SSB to be measured and the measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB according to the actual communication needs of the terminal, thereby improving the flexibility and accuracy of the SSB measurement, reducing the measurement redundancy, reducing the measurement overhead, and reducing the measurement power consumption of the terminal.

[0174] Based on the method shown in FIG. 12, to prevent the index of the SSB to be measured by the terminal from frequently changing with the movement of the satellite, the above method can be applied to a scenario of a ground fixed area, that is, a SSB coverage pattern design scheme based on a ground area, in which the mapping relationship between the ground fixed area number and the SSB index is always unchanged.

[0175] Specifically, according to the upper limit N of the number of SSB indexes, each SSB index can be repeatedly mapped according to certain criteria, and the mapping principles are as follows: adjacent areas should not be mapped to the same SSB index; the center point distance of two areas mapped to the same SSB index should be as far as possible; and according to the coverage range and shape of a single satellite, the SSB indexes on the coverage area should be as different as possible.

[0176] For example, taking a single satellite corresponding to 256 SSBs as an example, all ground areas can be one-to-one mapped with the 256 SSBs. When the coverage range of a single satellite is approximately rectangular, 256 mutually adjacent areas corresponding to SSB0-255 can form a matrix substantially consistent with the satellite coverage range. Further, taking such a rectangle as an SSB coverage pattern unit, repeated mapping and configuration are performed on all ground areas to obtain the area diagram shown in FIG. 16, thereby ensuring that the SSB indexes of adjacent areas are different, and at a certain moment, each satellite can cover 256 areas with different SSB indexes.

[0177] From the perspective of the terminal, since the mapping relationship between the ground area and the SSB index remains unchanged, for a quasi-stationary terminal, when its geographical position does not change or changes by no more than 1 area size range, the SSB index to be measured also remains unchanged. Therefore, the network side device can only issue the first indication information once for such a quasi-stationary terminal, thereby saving signaling overhead.

[0178] In addition, for the foregoing manner in which the terminal determines the SSB measurement configuration based on the cell-level or beam-level SMTC configuration of the system message broadcast by the network side device, after receiving the system message containing the SSB measurement configuration once, the terminal generally will not update the system message again, unless the network side device initiates paging to the terminal using the paging resource and instructs the terminal to receive the system message again. Considering the movement of the satellite or the terminal, the SSB corresponding to the position of the terminal at different moments can be different, and the corresponding measurement window and the SSB index to be measured and other parameters are also different. If the terminal follows the original SSB measurement configuration, it will cause deviation in measuring the SSB, thereby causing inaccurate mobility judgment, for example, cell reselection error leading to failure to camp.

[0179] Based on this, the method shown in FIG. 12 can be used. The network-side device sends the terminal-level SSB measurement configuration to the terminal through the first indication information. The terminal can not acquire the SSB measurement configuration based on the system message. In addition, the terminal can update the first indication information in the following manner, so that the terminal can timely perceive the change of the measurement configuration caused by the terminal movement and update in time, avoiding the inaccuracy of the mobility management caused by the SSB measurement deviation.

[0180] When the terminal moves from the first area to the second area, the terminal can send the second indication information to the network-side device. The second indication information is used to indicate the update of the first indication information. The network-side device sends the updated first indication information to the terminal according to the received second indication information.

[0181] In the first example, the terminal can determine whether it moves from the first area to the second area according to the distance between the current location of the terminal and the center point of the first area and the center point of the second area. For example, when the distance between the terminal and the center point of the first area is greater than the distance between the terminal and the center point of the second area, it can be considered that the terminal moves from the first area to the second area, and the second indication information can be sent to the network-side device.

[0182] In the second example, the terminal can determine whether it moves from the first area to the second area according to the distance between the current location of the terminal and the center point of the first area. For example, when the distance between the terminal and the center point of the first area is greater than or equal to a preset threshold, it can be considered that the terminal moves from the first area to the second area, and the second indication information can be sent to the network-side device.

[0183] The preset threshold can be the maximum or minimum value of the center point of the area and the edge position of the area. The preset threshold can be determined by the terminal itself or indicated by the network-side device.

[0184] Optionally, the network-side device can carry the preset threshold in one or more of the following signaling to indicate to the terminal: system message (such as SIB1, SIB19), RRC signaling, NAS signaling, etc., without limitation.

[0185] In the third example, the terminal can determine whether it moves out of the coverage range of the first area according to the coverage range information of the first area. If it moves out of the coverage range of the first area, it can be considered that the terminal moves from the first area to the second area, and the second indication information can be sent to the network-side device.

[0186] In a fourth example, the terminal can determine the signal quality corresponding to each SSB according to the measurement result, and when the SSB with the strongest signal quality changes from the first SSB to another SSB, it can be considered that the terminal has moved from the first area to the second area, and the terminal can send second indication information to the network side device.

[0187] The strength of the signal quality can be represented by one or more of the following parameters: reference signal receiving power (RSRP), reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ), signal noise ratio (SNR), signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), reference signal strength indication (RSSI), etc., without limitation.

[0188] Based on the above description of the second indication information, the terminal can send the second indication information to the network side device when it is in a connected state.

[0189] In a first possible design, taking the network side device as an example, the terminal can carry the second indication information in a random access request to send to the network device.

[0190] The second indication information can be a preamble related to updating the first indication information.

[0191] Specifically, the second indication information can be assigned a specified preamble, and the terminal can carry the specified preamble in a random access request to request the network device to issue updated first indication information. After receiving the random access request, the network device can send Msg2 to respond to the terminal. When the RAPID in Msg2 is consistent with the preamble index sent by the terminal, it is considered that the network device has received the request of the terminal. Then the network device can send the updated first indication information to the terminal through RRC signaling.

[0192] In a second possible design, taking the network side device as an example, the terminal can carry the second indication information in RRC signaling (such as second RRC signaling) to send to the network device.

[0193] For example, the terminal can add an element "ondemandSSBpattern" in the RRC signaling, and set its value to 0 or 1 to indicate to the network device that the terminal needs to obtain the updated first indication information.

[0194] The third possible design, taking the network-side device as an example of a core network device, the terminal can carry the second indication information in a NAS signaling (such as a second NAS signaling) to the core network device.

[0195] For example, the terminal can report the second indication information by using an ULInformationTransfer message to transmit a NAS signaling, where a DedicatedNAS-Message information element is used to transmit UE-specific NAS layer information to the core network device, and the terminal can place the second indication information in the information element. When the core network device receives the second indication information placed in the DedicatedNAS-Message information element, the core network device can send the updated first indication information to the terminal through a DLInformationTransfer message.

[0196] Based on the above description of the method for obtaining the updated first indication information, when the terminal is in the non-connected state, if the terminal determines that it needs to obtain the updated first indication information according to the foregoing description, the terminal can first restore itself to the connected state, and then send the second indication information to the network-side device to obtain the updated first indication information.

[0197] When the terminal obtains the updated first indication information, the terminal can refer to the foregoing steps 1203 to 1205, determine at least one third SSB to be measured and measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB according to the updated first indication information, perform measurement on the at least one third SSB within the measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB, obtain a measurement result, and send the measurement result to the network-side device.

[0198] It should be noted that each embodiment of the present application can be implemented independently or in combination, and is not limited. If there is no special description and no logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions provided in different embodiments of the present application are consistent and can be mutually referenced. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationship.

[0199] It can be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the execution subject can execute part or all of the steps in the embodiments of the present application, and these steps or operations are only examples, and the embodiments of the present application can also execute other operations or variations of various operations. In addition, each step can be executed in a different order as presented in the embodiments of the present application, and it is possible that not all operations in the embodiments of the present application are executed.

[0200] It can be understood that, in order to implement the above functions, each device comprises a hardware structure and / or a software module for executing the respective functions. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that, in combination with the algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed in the present text, the present application can be realized in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a certain function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the present application.

[0201] The embodiments of the present application can divide the functional modules of each device according to the above method examples. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated module can be realized in the form of hardware or software functional module. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative, and is only a logical functional division. Actual implementation can have another division manner.

[0202] In the case of dividing each functional module according to each function, FIG. 17 shows a communication apparatus 170 which can execute the actions performed by the terminal, or the network device, or the core network device in the above-mentioned methods shown in FIGS. 12 to 16. All related contents of each step involved in the above-mentioned method embodiments can be referred to the function description of the corresponding functional module, and the technical effects that can be obtained can be referred to the above-mentioned method embodiments, which will not be described here again.

[0203] The communication apparatus 170 can include a transceiver module 1701 and a processing module 1702. For example, the communication apparatus 170 can be a communication device, or a chip or other combination device or component applied in the communication device and having the above-mentioned communication apparatus functions. When the communication apparatus 170 is a communication device, the transceiver module 1701 can be a transceiver, which can include an antenna and a radio frequency circuit, etc. The processing module 1702 can be a processor (or processing circuit), for example, a baseband processor, which can include one or more CPUs. When the communication apparatus 170 is a component having the above-mentioned communication apparatus functions, the transceiver module 1701 can be a radio frequency unit. The processing module 1702 can be a processor (or processing circuit), for example, a baseband processor. When the communication apparatus 170 is a chip system, the transceiver module 1701 can be an input / output interface of a chip (for example, a baseband chip). The processing module 1702 can be a processor (or processing circuit) of the chip system, which can include one or more central processing units. It should be understood that the transceiver module 1701 in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by a transceiver or a transceiver-related circuit component. The processing module 1702 can be implemented by a processor or a processor-related circuit component (or processing circuit).

[0204] For example, the transceiver module 1701 can be configured to perform all the transceiver operations performed by the communication apparatus in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 12-16, and / or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein. The processing module 1702 can be configured to perform all the operations performed by the communication apparatus in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 12-16, other than the transceiver operations, and / or other processes for supporting the techniques described herein.

[0205] As another implementation manner, the transceiver module 1701 in FIG. 17 can be replaced by a transceiver which can integrate the functions of the transceiver module 1701. The processing module 1702 can be replaced by a processor which can integrate the functions of the processing module 1702. Further, the communication apparatus 170 shown in FIG. 17 can further include a memory.

[0206] Alternatively, when the processing module 1702 is replaced by a processor and the transceiver module 1701 is replaced by a transceiver, the communication apparatus 170 involved in the embodiments of the present application can also be the communication apparatus 180 shown in FIG. 18. The processor can be a logic circuit 1801, and the transceiver can be an interface circuit 1802. Further, the communication apparatus 180 shown in FIG. 18 can further include a memory 1803.

[0207] The embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device 1900, as shown in FIG. 19. The communication device 1900 can be a dual connectivity device or a chip or system on chip in the dual connectivity device, or a core network device or a chip or system on chip in the core network device. As shown in FIG. 19, the communication device 1900 includes a processor 1901, a transceiver 1902 and a communication line 1903.

[0208] Further, the communication device 1900 can further include a memory 1904. The processor 1901, the memory 1904 and the transceiver 1902 can be connected through the communication line 1903.

[0209] The processor 1901 can be a central processing unit (CPU), a general processor network processor (NP), a digital signal processing (DSP), a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a programmable logic device (PLD) or any combination thereof. The processor 1901 can also be other devices with processing functions, such as a circuit, a device or a software module, which are not limited herein.

[0210] The transceiver 1902 is configured to communicate with other devices or other communication networks. The other communication network can be an Ethernet, a radio access network (RAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN) and the like. The transceiver 1902 can be a module, a circuit, a transceiver or any device capable of communication.

[0211] The communication line 1903 is configured to transmit information between components included in the communication device 1900.

[0212] The memory 1904 is configured to store instructions. The instructions can be a computer program.

[0213] The memory 1904 may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device capable of storing static information and / or instructions; it may also be a random access memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device capable of storing information and / or instructions; it may also be an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compressed optical discs, laser discs, optical discs, digital universal optical discs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, etc., without limitation.

[0214] It should be noted that the memory 1904 can exist independently of the processor 1901, or it can be integrated with the processor 1901. The memory 1904 can be used to store instructions, program code, or some data, etc. The memory 1904 can be located inside or outside the communication device 1900, without limitation. The processor 1901 is used to execute the instructions stored in the memory 1904 to implement the communication method provided in the following embodiments of this application.

[0215] In one example, processor 1901 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 in Figure 19.

[0216] As an optional implementation, the communication device 1900 may include multiple processors, for example, in addition to processor 1901 in FIG19, it may also include processor 1907.

[0217] As an optional implementation, the communication device 1900 also includes an output device 1905 and an input device 1906. For example, the input device 1906 is a device such as a keyboard, mouse, microphone, or joystick, and the output device 1905 is a device such as a display screen or speaker.

[0218] It should be noted that the communication device 1900 may be a desktop computer, a portable computer, a web server, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wireless terminal, an embedded device, a chip system, or a device with a similar structure to that shown in Figure 19. Furthermore, the composition shown in Figure 19 does not constitute a limitation on the communication device. In addition to the components shown in Figure 19, the communication device may include more or fewer components than shown, or combine certain components, or have different component arrangements.

[0219] In the embodiments of the present application, the chip system can be composed of a chip, or can include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0220] The embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product, which, when executed by a computer, can realize the functions of any of the above method embodiments.

[0221] The embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program, which, when executed by a computer, can realize the functions of any of the above method embodiments.

[0222] The embodiments of the present application further provide a computer readable storage medium. All or part of the flow of the above method embodiments can be instructed by a computer program to relevant hardware to complete, and the program can be stored in the above computer readable storage medium. When the program is executed, the program can include the flow of each of the above method embodiments. The computer readable storage medium can be an internal storage unit of the terminal (including a data sending terminal and / or a data receiving terminal) of any of the preceding embodiments, for example, a hard disk or a memory of the terminal. The computer readable storage medium can also be an external storage device of the terminal, for example, a plug-in hard disk, a smart media card (SMC), a secure digital (SD) card, a flash card, etc. Further, the computer readable storage medium can include both the internal storage unit and the external storage device of the terminal. The computer readable storage medium is used to store the computer program and other programs and data required by the terminal. The computer readable storage medium can also be used to temporarily store data that has been output or will be output.

[0223] It should be noted that the terms "first" and "second" and the like in the specification of the present application, claims, and drawings are used to distinguish different objects, and are not used to describe a specific order. "First", "second" are only for description purposes, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of indicated technical features. Therefore, the features defined with "first", "second" can explicitly or implicitly include one or more features. In the description of the embodiments, unless otherwise stated, the meaning of "a plurality of" is two or more.

[0224] In addition, the terms "include" and "have" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, product, or device that includes a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but can optionally include steps or units not listed, or can optionally include other steps or units inherent to the process, method, product, or device.

[0225] It should be understood that in the present application, "at least one" means one or more. "Multiple" means two or more. "At least two" means two or three and more. "And / or" is used to describe the relationship between the associated objects, which means that there can be three relationships. For example, "A and / or B" can mean that there are three cases: only A, only B, and A and B exist at the same time, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally represents an "or" relationship between the associated objects. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions means any combination of these items, including any combination of single or multiple items. For example, at least one of a, b or c can mean: a, b, c, "a and b", "a and c", "b and c", or "a and b and c", where a, b, and c can be single or multiple. "When" and "if" both mean that under certain objective circumstances, the corresponding processing will be done, not limited to time, and does not require a judgment action when implemented, nor does it mean that there are other limitations.

[0226] In the embodiments of the present application, the words "exemplary" or "for example" are used to mean serving as an example or illustration. Any embodiment or design presented as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of the present application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments or design solutions. Rather, the use of "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present concepts in a concrete manner, which facilitates understanding.

[0227] In the present application, "sending information to (a terminal)" can be understood as the destination of the information being the terminal. It can include direct or indirect sending of information to the terminal. "Receiving information from (a terminal)" can be understood as the source of the information being the terminal, which can include direct or indirect receiving of information from the terminal. The information between the source and the destination of the information sending can be processed as necessary, such as format change, etc., but the destination can understand the valid information from the source.

[0228] Through the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that for the convenience and brevity of description, only the above division of functional modules is taken as an example. In actual application, the above functions can be completed by different functional modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the device is divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the functions described above.

[0229] In several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method can be implemented by other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, for example, the division of the modules or units is merely a logical function division, and actual implementation can have another division manner, for example, a plurality of units or components can be combined or integrated into another apparatus, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between the units or components shown or discussed can be indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, apparatuses or units, and can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0230] The units described as separate components can or can not be physically separated, and the components shown as units can be one physical unit or a plurality of physical units, that is, can be located in one place or can be distributed to a plurality of different places. Part or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the embodiment scheme.

[0231] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit can be physically present separately, or two or more units can be integrated in one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional unit.

[0232] The integrated unit, if realized in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, can be stored in a readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical scheme of the embodiment of the present application can be embodied in the form of a software product in essence or all or part of the technical scheme. The software product is stored in a storage medium and includes a plurality of instructions for causing an apparatus (which can be a single-chip microcomputer, a chip, etc.) or a processor to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The foregoing storage medium includes a U disk, a mobile hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk or an optical disk and various program code storage media.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, include: Obtain first indication information corresponding to the terminal; wherein, the first indication information is used to indicate multiple synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), the multiple SSBs include a first SSB corresponding to the terminal's location information, and at least one second SSB; the first SSB corresponds to a first region, the second SSB corresponds to a second region, and the second region is adjacent to the first region; Based on the first SSB and the at least one second SSB, determine at least one third SSB to be measured, and the measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB; Within the measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB, the at least one third SSB is measured to obtain the measurement result; Send the measurement results.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first indication information is used to indicate one or more of the following: measurement configuration information of the plurality of SSBs, coverage information of the area corresponding to the plurality of SSBs, or location order information of the plurality of SSBs; The location order information is used to indicate the geographical location relationship between the coverage areas of the multiple SSBs.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The first indication information includes one or more of the following: index information of the first SSB, coverage information of the area corresponding to the first SSB, measurement time information corresponding to the first SSB, index information of the second SSB, coverage information of the area corresponding to the second SSB, measurement time information corresponding to the second SSB, or position order information of the at least one second SSB. The location order information is used to indicate the geographical location relationship between the coverage areas of the at least one second SSB.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, The acquisition of the first indication information corresponding to the terminal includes: Send the location information of the terminal; Obtain the first indication information corresponding to the terminal; wherein the first indication information is determined based on the location information of the terminal.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, The acquisition of the first indication information corresponding to the terminal includes: Receive a first Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling message; wherein the first RRC signaling message includes the first indication information; or Receive first non-access stratum (NAS) signaling; wherein the first NAS signaling includes the first indication information.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that, The step of determining at least one third SSB to be measured, and the measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB, based on the first SSB and the at least one second SSB, includes: Based on the measurement time information of the first SSB and the transmission period of the SSB, the measurement time information corresponding to the at least one third SSB is determined.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that, The method further includes: When the terminal moves from the first area to the second area, it sends a second indication message; wherein the second indication message is used to indicate the updating of the first indication message; Get the updated first instruction information.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, The sending of the second instruction information includes: Send a random access request; wherein the random access request includes the second indication information, the second indication information being a preamble related to updating the first indication information; or Send a second RRC signaling message; wherein the second RRC signaling message includes the second indication information; or Send a second NAS signaling message; wherein the second NAS signaling message includes the second indication information.

9. A communication method, characterized in that, include: Obtain the terminal's location information; Based on the location information, a first indication information corresponding to the location information of the terminal is sent to the terminal; wherein, the first indication information is used to indicate a plurality of synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), the plurality of SSBs including a first SSB corresponding to the location information of the terminal and at least one second SSB; the first SSB corresponds to a first region, the second SSB corresponds to a second region, and the second region is adjacent to the first region; Receive measurement results from the terminal; wherein the measurement results are determined based on at least one third SSB, and the at least one third SSB is determined based on the first SSB and the at least one second SSB.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that, The first indication information is used to indicate one or more of the following: measurement configuration information of the plurality of SSBs, coverage information of the area corresponding to the plurality of SSBs, or location order information of the plurality of SSBs; The location order information is used to indicate the geographical location relationship between the coverage areas of the multiple SSBs.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that, The first indication information includes one or more of the following: index information of the first SSB, coverage information of the area corresponding to the first SSB, measurement time information corresponding to the first SSB, index information of the second SSB, coverage information of the area corresponding to the second SSB, measurement time information corresponding to the second SSB, or position order information of the at least one second SSB. The location order information is used to indicate the geographical location relationship between the coverage areas of the at least one second SSB.

12. The method according to any one of claims 9-11, characterized in that, The step of sending the first indication information corresponding to the location information of the terminal to the terminal includes: Send a first Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling message to the terminal; wherein the first RRC signaling message includes the first indication information; or Send a first non-access stratum (NAS) signaling message to the terminal; wherein the first NAS signaling message includes the first indication information.

13. The method according to any one of claims 9-12, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive second indication information from the terminal; wherein the second indication information is used to indicate updating the first indication information; Based on the location information of the terminal, an updated first instruction message is sent to the terminal.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that, The receipt of the second indication information from the terminal includes: Receive a random access request from the terminal; wherein the random access request includes the second indication information, the second indication information being a preamble related to updating the first indication information; or Receive a second RRC signaling from the terminal; wherein the second RRC signaling includes the second indication information; or Receive a second NAS signaling from the terminal; wherein the second NAS signaling includes the second indication information.

15. A communication device, characterized in that, It includes a module for performing the method as described in any one of claims 1-8, or includes a module for performing the method as described in any one of claims 9-14.

16. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions or programs that, when executed on a computer, cause the communication method as described in any one of claims 1-8 to be executed, or cause the communication method as described in any one of claims 9-14 to be executed.

17. A computer program product, characterized in that, The computer program product includes computer instructions; when some or all of the computer instructions are executed on a computer, they cause the communication method as described in any one of claims 1-8 to be executed, or cause the communication method as described in any one of claims 9-14 to be executed.

Images