Configuration method, communication system, terminal, base station, storage medium, and program product

Abstract

The embodiments of the present application relate to the technical field of communications. Provided are a configuration method, a communication system, a terminal, a base station, a storage medium, and a program product. In the method, a first LTM configuration received by a terminal comprises one or more candidate configurations and one or more first reference configurations, wherein any one first reference configuration provides a shared configuration for the one or more candidate configurations. That is, in first LTM configuration information, repeated configuration information among configuration information of different candidate cells is used as the first reference configurations, and individualized portions of the different candidate cells are used as the candidate configurations. In this way, it is not necessary to repeatedly send repeated configuration information of a plurality of candidate cells, thereby reducing the volume of repeatedly sent data and also reducing signaling overheads.

Description

Configuration methods, communication systems, terminals, base stations, storage media, and software products

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese patent application filed on July 9, 2024, with application number 202410920915.8 and entitled "Configuration Method, Communication System, Terminal, Base Station, Storage Medium and Program Product", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] This application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a configuration method, communication system, terminal, base station, storage medium, and program product. Background Technology

[0003] Terminal mobility performance is one of the key indicators of 5G NR user experience. Terminal mobility performance can be understood as the performance of ensuring the continuity and quality of terminal communication when the terminal switches from the current cell to the target cell.

[0004] When a terminal performs a cell handover, it needs to perform cell reconfiguration. Cell reconfiguration refers to the base station configuring candidate cells for the terminal via RRC signaling, so that the terminal can switch from the current cell to the target cell based on the pre-configured information of the candidate cells. The cell reconfiguration process can cause data transmission interruption and significant signaling overhead. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This application provides a configuration method, communication system, terminal, base station, storage medium, and program product, aiming to solve the technical problem of high signaling overhead in cell reconfiguration.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, this application adopts the following technical solution:

[0007] In a first aspect, a configuration method is provided for a terminal, the method comprising: receiving first LTM configuration information, the first LTM configuration information including at least one first reference configuration and at least one candidate configuration, wherein one of the first reference configurations provides a configuration shared by some of the candidate configurations in the at least one candidate configuration.

[0008] In this embodiment, the first LTM configuration received by the terminal includes one or more candidate configurations and one or more first reference configurations. Each first reference configuration provides a shared configuration for one or more candidate configurations. That is, in the first LTM configuration information, duplicate configuration information from different candidate cells is used as the first reference configuration, and the personalized parts of different candidate cells are used as candidate configurations. This eliminates the need to repeatedly send duplicate configuration information from multiple candidate cells, reducing the amount of data sent repeatedly and lowering signaling overhead.

[0009] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, second LTM configuration information is determined based on at least one first reference configuration and / or at least one candidate configuration. The second LTM configuration information is the configuration applied when the terminal changes to the target cell. The second LTM configuration information includes the complete configurations of one or more candidate cells.

[0010] In some cases, the candidate configuration of a candidate cell is a complete configuration. In this case, the terminal can determine the complete configuration of the candidate cell based solely on the candidate configuration.

[0011] In other cases, the candidate configuration of a candidate cell is empty, meaning that the configuration information of the candidate cell consists entirely of the first reference configuration. In this case, the terminal determines the complete configuration of the candidate cell based solely on the candidate configuration or the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate cell.

[0012] It should be noted that, in the embodiments of this application, the correspondence between the candidate configuration and the first reference configuration can be represented by associating the candidate cell ID with the first reference configuration index, and by associating the candidate cell ID with the candidate configuration index.

[0013] In the embodiments of this application, the candidate configurations mentioned all refer to the candidate configurations of a certain candidate cell.

[0014] In other cases, the candidate configuration of a candidate cell is not a complete configuration. In this case, the candidate configuration can refer to the index of the first reference configuration. In this way, the terminal can combine the candidate configuration with the first reference configuration corresponding to the index to obtain the complete configuration of the candidate cell.

[0015] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the first LTM configuration information further includes a correspondence between at least one first reference configuration and at least one candidate configuration.

[0016] In this embodiment of the application, the first LTM configuration information includes multiple first reference configurations and multiple candidate configurations. For any one first reference configuration, it is necessary to specify one or more candidate configurations corresponding to it. Similarly, for any candidate configuration, it is also necessary to determine its corresponding first reference configuration.

[0017] In this application's embodiments, the correspondence can be represented in several ways: First, the first reference configuration includes a candidate configuration index. Second, the candidate configuration includes an index of the first reference configuration. Third, the candidate configuration index and the candidate cell ID are associated, and the candidate cell ID and the first reference configuration index are associated. This application does not limit the representation of the above correspondence.

[0018] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the first reference configuration includes a candidate configuration index of the candidate configuration corresponding to the first reference configuration.

[0019] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the candidate configuration includes a reference configuration index of a first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration.

[0020] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the candidate configuration includes a candidate configuration index, and the first LTM configuration information includes the correspondence between the candidate configuration index and the first reference configuration.

[0021] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the first LTM configuration information includes a first reference configuration and a corresponding reference configuration index, and the first LTM configuration information includes the correspondence between the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration and the candidate configuration.

[0022] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the candidate configuration includes a candidate configuration index, the first reference configuration includes a reference configuration index, and the first LTM configuration information includes the correspondence between the candidate configuration index and the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration.

[0023] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the method further includes: determining a first reference configuration corresponding to each candidate configuration based on the correspondence; and determining second LTM configuration information based on the candidate configuration and / or the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration.

[0024] In this embodiment of the application, for each candidate configuration, complete configuration information of the candidate cell is determined based on the candidate configuration and / or the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration. The complete configuration information of multiple candidate cells constitutes the second LTM configuration information. The process of determining the complete configuration information of the candidate cells can be referred to the above-disclosed content.

[0025] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the first LTM configuration information and / or candidate configuration further includes first indication information, which indicates at least one of the following: the candidate configuration is a complete configuration; the candidate configuration is not a complete configuration; the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration; or the first reference configuration is not used by the candidate configuration.

[0026] In this embodiment, a candidate configuration is a complete configuration, meaning that the candidate configuration can independently constitute the complete configuration of the corresponding candidate cell. A candidate configuration is not a complete configuration, meaning that the candidate configuration needs to be combined with the first reference configuration to constitute the complete configuration of the corresponding candidate cell.

[0027] Similarly, if the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration, it means that the terminal needs to combine the candidate configuration and the first reference configuration when determining the complete configuration of the candidate cell. If the first reference configuration is not used by the candidate configuration, it means that the terminal does not need the first reference configuration when determining the complete configuration of the candidate cell.

[0028] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the first reference configuration includes a higher-level reference configuration and / or a lower-level reference configuration.

[0029] In this embodiment, the high-level reference configuration is generated by the CU. The low-level reference configuration is provided by the DU. The first reference configuration may include only the high-level configuration, only the low-level configuration, or both.

[0030] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the method further includes: determining second LTM configuration information based on the higher-level reference configuration and / or lower-level reference configuration in the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration and the candidate configuration.

[0031] In this embodiment of the application, when determining the complete configuration of a candidate cell, it is possible that only the upper layer of the first reference configuration (i.e., the upper layer reference configuration) is used, or only the lower layer of the first reference configuration (i.e., the lower layer reference configuration) is used, or both the upper layer reference configuration and the lower layer reference configuration are used. The specific choice can be determined in conjunction with the first indication information.

[0032] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the candidate configurations include high-level candidate configurations and / or low-level candidate configurations.

[0033] In this embodiment of the application, the high-level candidate configuration is provided by the candidate CU, and the low-level candidate configuration is provided by the candidate DU.

[0034] In practical applications, candidate CUs can determine higher-level candidate configurations based on higher-level reference configurations, and candidate DUs can determine lower-level candidate configurations based on lower-level reference configurations. The implementation details can be found in the examples section.

[0035] In one possible implementation of the first aspect, the first indication information indicates at least one of the following: the higher-level candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is a complete configuration or not a complete configuration; the lower-level candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is a complete configuration or not a complete configuration; the higher-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration or is not used by the candidate configuration; the lower-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration or is not used by the candidate configuration.

[0036] Among them, when the first indication information indicates that the higher-layer candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is a complete configuration, the lower-layer candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is not a complete configuration, the higher-layer reference configuration of the first reference configuration is not used by the candidate configuration, or the lower-layer reference configuration of the first reference configuration is configured by the candidate, it means that the terminal can determine the complete configuration of the candidate cell based on the higher-layer candidate configuration, the lower-layer candidate configuration, and the lower-layer reference configuration of the first reference configuration.

[0037] When the first indication information indicates that the lower-level candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is a complete configuration, or the higher-level candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is not a complete configuration, the higher-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration, or the lower-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration is not used by the candidate configuration, it means that the terminal can determine the complete configuration of the candidate cell based on the lower-level candidate configuration, the higher-level candidate configuration, and the higher-level reference configuration of the terminal.

[0038] Secondly, a configuration method is provided for a source CU. The method includes sending first LTM configuration information to a terminal. The first LTM configuration information includes at least one first reference configuration and at least one candidate configuration. One of the first reference configurations provides a configuration shared by some of the candidate configurations in the at least one candidate configuration.

[0039] In this embodiment of the application, the duplicate configuration information in the configuration information of different candidate cells is used as the first reference configuration, and the personalized part of different candidate cells is used as the candidate configuration. In this way, the duplicate configuration information of multiple candidate cells does not need to be sent repeatedly, which reduces the amount of data sent repeatedly and reduces signaling overhead.

[0040] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the method further includes: sending a first request message to at least one candidate CU, the first request message being used to request configuration information of the candidate cell; receiving a first reply message, the first reply message indicating at least one candidate configuration and / or a first reference configuration corresponding to at least one candidate configuration, the first reply message being used to determine first LTM configuration information.

[0041] In this embodiment, the source CU triggers a first request message to request the candidate CU to provide the candidate configurations and / or the first reference configurations corresponding to the candidate configurations for each candidate cell under the candidate CU. In other words, the first reference configuration and candidate configurations are provided by the candidate CU corresponding to the candidate cell, which makes the first reference configuration and candidate configurations more reasonable and reduces signaling overhead.

[0042] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the first response message further includes a correspondence between at least one first reference configuration and at least one candidate configuration.

[0043] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the first LTM configuration information further includes one of the following: the reference configuration index corresponding to the first reference configuration; the correspondence between the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration and the candidate configuration; the candidate configuration index corresponding to the candidate configuration; the correspondence between the candidate configuration index and the first reference configuration; and the correspondence between the candidate configuration index and the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration.

[0044] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the first reference configuration includes one of the following: a reference configuration index; and a candidate configuration index of the candidate configuration corresponding to the first reference configuration.

[0045] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the candidate configuration includes one of the following: a candidate configuration index; a reference configuration index of a first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration; and first indication information.

[0046] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the first indication information indicates at least one of the following: the candidate configuration is a complete configuration; the candidate configuration is not a complete configuration; the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration; or the first reference configuration is not used by the candidate configuration.

[0047] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the first request message carries at least one second reference configuration, which is a reference configuration for preparing LTM for candidate CUs.

[0048] In this embodiment, the source CU provides a second reference configuration for the candidate CU to determine whether to use it. If the candidate configuration is used, the second reference configuration is determined to be the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration. On the other hand, the candidate CU does not need to send the first reference configuration in the first reply message; it only needs to clarify the correspondence between the candidate configuration and the first reference configuration, which reduces the amount of data in the interaction process and lowers system overhead.

[0049] The second reference configuration can be singular, meaning all candidate CUs share a single second reference configuration. This approach is clearly unreasonable because different candidate CUs have different types, different communication states, etc., and a single second reference configuration cannot adequately match all candidate CUs.

[0050] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, there are multiple second reference configurations, and the first request message also carries at least one second reference configuration and / or a correspondence between at least one second reference configuration and at least one candidate CU.

[0051] In this embodiment, there are multiple second reference configurations, which allows different candidate CUs to use the most suitable second reference configuration. It should be noted that in this embodiment, the source CU assigns a unique second reference configuration to each candidate CU through this correspondence, which helps the candidate CU quickly determine the candidate configuration.

[0052] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, before sending the first request message to at least one candidate CU, the method further includes: sending a second request message to at least one candidate CU, the second request message being a request for a third reference configuration.

[0053] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the method further includes: receiving a third reference configuration, the third reference configuration being used to determine the second reference configuration.

[0054] In this embodiment, the source CU generates a second reference configuration based on the third reference configuration provided by the candidate CU. In other words, the second reference configuration takes into account the information of the candidate CU. Therefore, the setting of the second reference configuration is more reasonable and helps each candidate CU to use the corresponding second reference configuration.

[0055] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the first request message carries multiple second reference configurations and an index of each second reference configuration.

[0056] In this embodiment, the source CU provides multiple second reference configurations for each candidate CU, without specifying a corresponding configuration for each candidate CU. In this case, the candidate CU can autonomously select a second reference configuration based on its own unlimited resource management information. This allows each candidate CU to choose the most suitable second reference configuration, reducing the amount of candidate configuration data and thus lowering signaling overhead.

[0057] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the first reply message includes a first index, and the second reference configuration corresponding to the first index is the first reference configuration.

[0058] In this embodiment of the application, a first index is used to indicate a first reference configuration so that the terminal can identify the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration when determining the complete configuration.

[0059] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the second reference configuration includes a higher-level reference configuration and / or a lower-level reference configuration.

[0060] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the first reference configuration is the higher-level reference configuration and / or the lower-level reference configuration in the second reference configuration corresponding to the candidate CU.

[0061] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the candidate configurations include high-level candidate configurations and / or low-level candidate configurations.

[0062] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the first indication information indicates at least one of the following: the higher-level candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is a complete configuration or not a complete configuration; the lower-level candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is a complete configuration or not a complete configuration; the higher-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration or is not used by the candidate configuration; the lower-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration or is not used by the candidate configuration.

[0063] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the method further includes: sending a third request message to multiple source DUs controlled by the source CU, the third request message requesting the multiple source DUs to report an underlying reference configuration, the underlying reference configuration reported by the multiple source DUs being used to determine a second reference configuration.

[0064] In this embodiment, the second reference configuration is obtained by the source CU through interaction with the source DU. The source DU provides the lower-level reference configuration, and the source CU provides the higher-level reference configuration. The source CU combines the two to obtain the second reference configuration.

[0065] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the first request message carries enabling information, which is used to request a first reference configuration for the candidate cell.

[0066] In this embodiment of the application, the source CU does not need to provide a second reference configuration. The candidate CU directly responds to the enable information to determine the first reference configuration of multiple candidate cells under the candidate CU, and the candidate CU will also determine the candidate configuration.

[0067] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the first request message further carries an index configured for at least one candidate CU, the index corresponding to the candidate CU being the index of the first reference configuration carried in the first reply message sent by the candidate CU.

[0068] In this embodiment of the application, for ease of differentiation, the source CU can configure an index for different candidate CUs, and the index is used to identify the first reference configuration determined by the candidate CU.

[0069] In one possible implementation of the second aspect, the first request message also carries a candidate configuration index configured for at least one candidate cell, the candidate configuration index being used to identify the candidate configuration.

[0070] In this embodiment of the application, the source CU can pre-set a candidate configuration index for the candidate configuration of the candidate CU to identify different candidate configurations.

[0071] Thirdly, a configuration method is provided for a candidate CU, the method comprising: receiving a first request message sent by a source CU, the first request message being used to request configuration information of the candidate cell; sending a first reply message to the source CU, the first reply message indicating at least one candidate configuration and / or a first reference configuration corresponding to at least one candidate configuration, the first reply message being used to determine first LTM configuration information.

[0072] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the first response message includes one of the following information: a correspondence between at least one first reference configuration and at least one candidate configuration; a reference configuration index corresponding to the first reference configuration; a correspondence between the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration and the candidate configuration; a candidate configuration index corresponding to the candidate configuration; a correspondence between the candidate configuration index and the first reference configuration; a correspondence between the candidate configuration index and the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration; and first indication information.

[0073] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the first reference configuration includes one of the following: a reference configuration index; and a candidate configuration index of the candidate configuration corresponding to the first reference configuration.

[0074] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the candidate configuration includes one of the following: a candidate configuration index; a reference configuration index of the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration; and first indication information.

[0075] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the first indication information indicates at least one of the following: the candidate configuration is a complete configuration; the candidate configuration is not a complete configuration; the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration; or the first reference configuration is not used by the candidate configuration.

[0076] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the first request message carries at least one second reference configuration, which is a reference configuration for LTM preparation determined by the source CU.

[0077] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, there are multiple second reference configurations, and the first request message also carries at least one second reference configuration and / or a correspondence between at least one second reference configuration and at least one candidate CU.

[0078] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, before receiving the first request message sent by the source CU, the method further includes: receiving a second request message, the second request message being a request for a third reference configuration.

[0079] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the method further includes: sending a third reference configuration, which is used to determine the second reference configuration.

[0080] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the first request message carries multiple second reference configurations and an index of each second reference configuration.

[0081] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the first reply message includes a first index, and the second reference configuration corresponding to the first index is the first reference configuration.

[0082] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the first response message carries first indication information, which indicates at least one of the following: the candidate configuration is a complete configuration; the candidate configuration is not a complete configuration; the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration; or the first reference configuration is not used by the candidate configuration.

[0083] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the second reference configuration includes a high-level reference configuration and a low-level reference configuration.

[0084] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, before sending the first reply message to the source CU, the method further includes: sending a lower-level reference configuration in a second reference configuration to a plurality of candidate DUs controlled by the candidate CU; receiving lower-level candidate configurations reported by the plurality of candidate DUs; providing a higher-level candidate configuration based on the higher-level reference configuration in the second reference configuration; and determining at least one candidate configuration based on the lower-level candidate configuration and the higher-level candidate configuration.

[0085] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the candidate configurations include a high-level reference configuration and a low-level reference configuration.

[0086] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the first indication information indicates at least one of the following: the higher-level candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is a complete configuration or not a complete configuration; the lower-level candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is a complete configuration or not a complete configuration; the higher-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration or is not used by the candidate configuration; the lower-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration or is not used by the candidate configuration.

[0087] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the first request message carries enabling information, which is used to request the first reference configuration of the candidate cell.

[0088] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the first request message further carries an index configured for at least one candidate CU, the index corresponding to the candidate CU being the index of the first reference configuration carried in the first reply message sent by the candidate CU.

[0089] In one possible implementation of the third aspect, the first request message also carries a candidate configuration index configured for at least one candidate cell, the candidate configuration index being used to identify the candidate configuration.

[0090] Fourthly, a communication system is provided, comprising a terminal, a source CU, and at least one candidate CU, wherein the source CU is configured to perform the steps of the method described in any one of the second aspects above; the at least one candidate CU is configured to perform the steps of the method described in any one of the third aspects above; and the terminal is configured to perform the steps of the method described in any one of the first aspects above.

[0091] Fifthly, a terminal is provided, including a processor and a memory, the memory being used to store program instructions, and the processor being used to invoke the program instructions to execute the method described in any one of the first aspects above.

[0092] In a sixth aspect, a base station is provided, including a processor and a memory, the memory being used to store program instructions, the processor being used to invoke the program instructions to execute the method described in any one of the second aspects above, or the processor being used to invoke the program instructions to execute the method described in any one of the third aspects above.

[0093] In a seventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, the storage medium storing a computer program or instructions that, when executed, implement the steps of the method described in any one of the first aspects, or the steps of the method described in any one of the second aspects, or the steps of the method described in any one of the third aspects.

[0094] Eighthly, a computer program product including instructions is provided, which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the steps of the method described in any one of the first aspects, or the steps of the method described in any one of the second aspects, or the steps of the method described in any one of the third aspects.

[0095] Based on the implementation methods provided in the above aspects, this application can be further combined to provide more implementation methods. The technical effects obtained by the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth aspects are similar to the technical effects obtained by the corresponding technical means in the first aspect, and will not be repeated here. Attached Figure Description

[0096] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0097] Figure 2 shows a schematic interactive diagram of a configuration method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0098] Figure 3 shows a schematic interactive diagram of another configuration method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0099] Figure 4 shows a schematic interactive diagram of another configuration method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0100] Figure 5 shows a flowchart of a configuration method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0101] Figure 6 shows a flowchart of a configuration method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0102] Figure 7 shows a flowchart of a configuration method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0103] Figure 8 shows a structural block diagram of a configuration device;

[0104] Figure 9 shows a schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal;

[0105] Figure 10 shows a schematic diagram of a base station structure. Detailed Implementation

[0106] The technical solutions in this application will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0107] To facilitate a clear description of the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application, the terms "first" and "second" are used in the embodiments of this application to distinguish identical or similar items with essentially the same function and purpose. For example, "first chip" and "second chip" are used only to distinguish different chips and do not limit their order. Those skilled in the art will understand that the terms "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity or execution order, and the terms "first" and "second" do not necessarily imply that they are different.

[0108] It should be noted that, in the embodiments of this application, the terms "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design scheme described as "exemplary" or "for example" in this application should not be construed as being more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments or design schemes. Specifically, the use of terms such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a specific manner.

[0109] In this application embodiment, "at least one" refers to one or more, and "more than one" refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A alone, A and B simultaneously, or B alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0110] The technical solutions of this application embodiment can be applied to various communication systems, such as: Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD), Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), 5th Generation (5G) mobile communication system, or New Radio (NR). Among these, the 5G mobile communication system can be either non-standalone (NSA) or standalone (SA).

[0111] The technical solutions provided in this application can also be applied to machine-type communication (MTC), long-term evolution machine (LTEM) technology, device-to-device (D2D) networks, machine-to-machine (M2M) networks, Internet of Things (IoT) networks, or other networks. Among these, IoT networks may include, for example, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) networks. The communication methods in V2X systems are collectively referred to as vehicle-to-other-device (V2X), where X can represent anything. For example, V2X may include vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication, vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) communication, or vehicle-to-network (V2N) communication, etc.

[0112] The technical solutions provided in this application can also be applied to future communication systems, such as sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication systems. This application does not limit this application.

[0113] In the embodiments of this application, the terminal may also be referred to as user equipment (UE), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wired communication device, user agent, or user device. The terminal can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearables, smart transportation, smart cities, etc. The terminal can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver capabilities, wearable device, vehicle, drone, helicopter, airplane, ship, robot, robotic arm, smart home device, etc. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology or device form used in the terminal.

[0114] A terminal can be a device that provides voice / data connectivity to a user, such as a handheld device or in-vehicle device with wireless connectivity. Currently, some examples of terminals include: mobile phones, tablets, computers with wireless transceiver capabilities (such as laptops and PDAs), mobile internet devices (MIDs), virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self-driving cars, wireless terminals in remote medical care, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes (e.g., home appliances such as televisions, smart boxes, game consoles), cellular phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, and personal digital assistants (PDAs). PDA (Power Assistant), handheld devices with wireless communication capabilities, computing devices or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, in-vehicle devices, wearable devices, terminals in 5G networks or terminals in future public land mobile networks (PLMNs), etc.

[0115] Wearable devices, also known as wearable smart devices, are a general term for devices that utilize wearable technology to intelligently design and develop everyday wearables, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. Wearable devices are portable devices worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothing or accessories. Wearable devices are not merely hardware devices; they achieve powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Broadly defined, wearable smart devices include those with comprehensive functions, large sizes, and the ability to perform complete or partial functions without relying on a smartphone, such as smartwatches or smart glasses. They also include devices focused on a specific application function that require the use of other devices, such as smart bracelets and smart jewelry for vital sign monitoring.

[0116] Furthermore, a terminal can also be a terminal in an Internet of Things (IoT) system. IoT is an important component of future information technology development. Its main technical characteristic is connecting objects to networks via communication technologies, thereby realizing an intelligent network that enables human-machine interaction and machine-to-machine interaction. IoT technology can achieve massive connectivity, deep coverage, and low terminal power consumption through technologies such as narrowband (NB).

[0117] In this embodiment of the application, the terminal may also be a vehicle or a complete vehicle, which can communicate through the Internet of Vehicles, or it may be a component located inside the vehicle (e.g., placed inside the vehicle or installed inside the vehicle), namely an on-board terminal, on-board module or on-board unit (OBU).

[0118] In addition, the terminal may also include sensors such as smart printers, train detectors, and gas stations. Its main functions include collecting data (for some terminals), receiving control information and downlink data from the base station, and sending electromagnetic waves to transmit uplink data to the base station.

[0119] In this application, the network device is an entity on the network side used to transmit or receive signals. For example, the network device can be an evolved Node B (eNB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next-generation Node B (gNB) in an NR system, a base station in other future mobile communication systems, or an access node in a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system. It can also be a gNB in ​​a 5G system, such as NR, or a transmission reception point (TRP or TP), or a base station in a next-generation 6G communication system. This application does not limit the specific technology or device form used in the network device.

[0120] The network device provided in this application embodiment can be composed of a central unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU), which can be connected via an F1 interface. The CU includes a radio resource control (RRC) layer and a PDCP layer, while the DU includes an RLC layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, and a physical layer (PHY). This CU-DU separation structure allows the protocol layers of a network device, such as a base station, to be separated. Some protocol layer functions are centrally controlled by the CU, while the remaining partial or complete protocol layer functions are distributed in the DU, which is then centrally controlled by the CU.

[0121] It is understood that the communication system described in the embodiments of this application is for the purpose of more clearly illustrating the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, and does not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application. As those skilled in the art will know, with the evolution of system architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0122] The following are definitions of technical terms that may appear in the embodiments of this application. The terminology used in the implementation section of this application is only used to explain specific embodiments of this application and is not intended to limit this application.

[0123] (1) Cell, Source Cell, Target Cell, Candidate Cell

[0124] A base station can be configured, deployed, or controlled at least one cell.

[0125] In handover scenarios, the cell the terminal accesses before handover is called the source cell, and the cell the terminal accesses after handover is called the target cell. The source cell and target cell may be cells configured by the same base station, or they may be cells configured by different base stations. For example, one example is that the source cell is cell 11 configured by base station 1, and the target cell is cell 12 configured by base station 1. Another example is that the source cell is cell 11 configured by base station 1, and the target cell is cell 21 configured by base station 2. For example, in a CU-DU separated architecture, the base station includes a CU and a DU. One example is that the source cell is cell 11 configured by DU1, and the target cell is cell 12 configured by DU1. Another example is that the source cell is cell 11 configured by DU1, and the target cell is cell 21 configured by DU2. DU1 and DU2 may belong to the same CU, or they may belong to different CUs.

[0126] Candidate cells are also called handover candidate cells, target candidate cells, or candidate target cells; the names are not limited in this application embodiment. In some handover methods, such as L1 / L2-triggered mobility (LTM) management described later, the base station can configure at least one candidate cell for the terminal. In these handover methods, the target cell is one of at least one candidate cell.

[0127] (2) Source base station, target base station, candidate base station

[0128] In handover scenarios, the base station on which the terminal communicates before the handover is called the source base station, and the base station on which the terminal communicates after the handover is called the target base station. The base station corresponding to the candidate cell that the terminal may hand over to is called the candidate base station.

[0129] In some handover methods, such as L1 / L2-triggered mobility management (described later), the source base station communicates with at least one candidate base station to negotiate at least one candidate cell to be configured for the terminal. In these handover methods, the cell configured by the candidate base station is a candidate cell, and the target base station is one of the at least one candidate base station.

[0130] The source base station and the target base station can be the same or different.

[0131] When the source base station and the target base station are the same, it is called an intra-base station handover. For example, if both the source and target base stations are base station 1, the source cell is cell 11 configured for base station 1, and the target cell is cell 12 configured for base station 1, this handover is an intra-base station handover. Another example is a base station consisting of a CU and a DU. If both the source and target base stations are DU1, the source cell is cell 11 configured for DU1, and the target cell is cell 12 configured for DU1, this handover is an intra-DU handover. Yet another example is a secondary base station, where both the source and target base stations are secondary base station 1, the source cell is cell 11 configured for secondary base station 1, and the target cell is cell 12 configured for secondary base station 1, this handover is an intra-secondary base station handover.

[0132] When the source base station and the target base station are different, it is called an inter-base station handover or a handover between different base stations. For example, if the source base station is base station 1, the source cell is cell 11 configured for base station 1, the target base station is base station 2, and the target cell is cell 21 configured for base station 2, this handover is an inter-base station handover. Another example is a base station including CU and DU. If the source base station is DU1, the source cell is cell 11 configured for DU1, the target base station is DU2, and the target cell is cell 21 configured for DU2, this handover is an inter-DU handover. DU1 and DU2 may belong to the same CU or different CUs. Yet another example is a secondary base station, the source base station is secondary base station 1, the source cell is cell 11 configured for secondary base station 1, the target base station is secondary base station 2, and the target cell is cell 21 configured for secondary base station 2, this handover is an inter-secondary base station handover.

[0133] (3) Handover / Cell Change

[0134] In wireless communication systems, when a terminal moves from one cell to another, or due to network issues, traffic load adjustments, equipment failures, or other reasons, the terminal may leave the source cell and connect to the target cell to ensure the continuity of communication between the terminal and the network. This process is called "handover" or "cell change".

[0135] One possible implementation is that the switching can be controlled through layer 3, i.e., the RRC layer, and the switching process can be as follows:

[0136] 1. The terminal performs measurements according to the measurement configuration and reports the measurement to the source base station; the measurement configuration and report can be L3 measurement configuration and report, which can be configured by the source base station.

[0137] 2. The source base station (e.g., the source CU) determines L1 / L2 to trigger a mobility configuration decision (or handover preparation decision).

[0138] The source CU determines whether to perform L1 / L2 triggered mobility and identifies candidate cells for L1 / L2 triggered mobility. The source CU may refer to the measurement reports reported by the terminal and / or its own handover algorithm when determining the configuration decision or candidate cells.

[0139] 3. The source CU can obtain the configuration information of one or more candidate cells and send RRC signaling to the terminal, which includes L1 / L2 triggered mobility pre-configuration information. The L1 / L2 triggered mobility pre-configuration information includes the configuration information of one or more candidate cells.

[0140] Optionally, when the cell deployed by the source base station is also a candidate cell, the RRC signaling may also include configuration information of the cell deployed by the source base station.

[0141] 4. After receiving the RRC signaling, the terminal sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the source CU.

[0142] The RRC reconfiguration completion message is used to confirm the RRC signaling sent by the source CU in step 3.

[0143] Currently, cell handover is triggered by L3 measurement and RRC signaling. Whether it is inter-CU mobility or intra-CU or intra-DU mobility, a complete cell reconfiguration is required for the terminal, resulting in data transmission interruption and large signaling overhead. The performance impact caused by frequent handover is particularly serious.

[0144] In step 3, for example, the configuration information of candidate cell 1 includes configuration parameters A, B, and C, and the configuration information of candidate cell 2 includes configuration parameters B, C, and E. The configuration information of each candidate cell can be independently contained in an information element (IE) and sent to the terminal independently. Clearly, the two IEs received by the terminal contain duplicate information, such as configuration parameters B and C. This duplicate information consumes signaling resources and increases signaling overhead.

[0145] Especially when there are many candidate cells or a lot of duplicate configuration information, duplicate information in RRC signaling will consume more signaling resources and increase the system load.

[0146] To address this issue, the R18 mobility enhancement project provides a separate reference configuration and candidate configurations. This reference configuration offers a common configuration for all candidate configurations. Upon receiving the reference configuration and candidate configurations, the terminal generates complete configuration information based on them. When the terminal performs cell handover, it can apply this complete configuration information for the handover process. However, the R18 mobility enhancement project does not address how to configure the reference configuration.

[0147] This application provides a configuration method that includes first LTM configuration information, which comprises multiple reference configurations and multiple candidate configurations. One of the reference configurations provides a shared configuration for a subset of the candidate configurations. This avoids retransmission of duplicate configuration information for multiple candidate cells, reducing the amount of duplicate data and lowering signaling overhead.

[0148] The network architecture applicable to the embodiments of this application is described below with examples.

[0149] Please refer to Figure 1, which is a schematic diagram of a network architecture provided in an embodiment of this application. As shown in Figure 1, the network architecture may include a terminal 101, a base station 102, and a core network 103. The terminal 101 can be wirelessly connected to the base station 102 and can access the core network 103 through the base station 102. The terminal 101 can be fixed in location or movable.

[0150] In this embodiment of the application, base station 102 includes source base station 1021 and at least one candidate base station 1022.

[0151] In this embodiment, both the source base station 1021 and the candidate base station 1022 adopt a CU-DU separation structure. The CU of the source base station is the source CU in this embodiment, and the DU controlled by the source CU is the source DU in this embodiment. The source CU can centrally control at least one source DU. The CU of the candidate base station 1022 is the candidate CU in this embodiment, and the DU controlled by the candidate CU is the candidate DU in this embodiment. The candidate CU can centrally control at least one candidate DU.

[0152] In this embodiment, terminal 101 accesses the source cell configured by source base station 1021 before handover and accesses the target cell configured by target base station after handover. During the handover preparation phase, source base station 1021 configures the terminal with first LTM configuration information provided in this embodiment, which includes configuration information for one or more candidate cells. After determining the target cell from the candidate cells, terminal 101 accesses the target cell based on its configuration information. The specific implementation process is described below.

[0153] It should be noted that the number and type of base stations, terminals, and core networks included in the network architecture shown in Figure 1 are merely examples, and the embodiments of this application are not limited thereto. For example, it may also include more or fewer terminals communicating with base stations, and for example, it may also include more or fewer core networks communicating with base stations. For the sake of simplicity, they are not described one by one in the figures. Furthermore, although base stations, terminals, and core networks are shown in the network architecture shown in Figure 1, this application scenario is not limited to including base stations, terminals, and core networks. For example, it may also include devices for carrying virtualized network functions, etc. These are obvious to those skilled in the art and will not be described in detail here.

[0154] The configuration method provided in the embodiments of this application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0155] Please refer to Figure 2, which shows a schematic interactive diagram of a configuration method 200 provided in an embodiment of this application. Each step of the method will now be described in detail.

[0156] In the embodiments of this application, the terminal and the source CU serve as the execution subjects of method 200, and method 200 is described here. As an example and not a limitation, the execution subject of method 200 may also be a chip or circuit corresponding to the terminal and the source CU.

[0157] In step 201, the source CU sends the first LTM configuration information to the terminal.

[0158] The first LTM configuration information includes at least one first reference configuration and at least one candidate configuration, wherein one of the first reference configurations provides a configuration shared by some of the candidate configurations in the at least one candidate configuration.

[0159] In this embodiment of the application, the source CU can obtain the candidate configuration of the candidate cell and / or the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration. Then, the source CU integrates the candidate configurations of multiple candidate cells and / or the first reference configurations corresponding to the candidate configurations to obtain the first LTM configuration information.

[0160] The candidate configuration and / or the corresponding first reference configuration combination can obtain the complete configuration information of the candidate cell. The complete configuration information of the candidate cell may include the resources and / or execution conditions reserved for the terminal in the candidate cell.

[0161] Optionally, the source CU can obtain the candidate configuration of the candidate cell and / or the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration through one or more candidate CUs.

[0162] In this embodiment of the application, a first reference configuration can provide a shared configuration for candidate configurations of one or more candidate cells. Specifically, one candidate configuration corresponds to one first reference configuration.

[0163] In step 202, the terminal determines the second LTM configuration information based on the first LTM configuration information.

[0164] It should be noted that, in this embodiment, the terminal may trigger step 202 upon receiving the first LTM configuration information, or the terminal may simply store the first LTM configuration information after receiving it, and then trigger step 202 when the second LTM configuration information is needed. This application does not limit either of these methods.

[0165] In one implementation, after receiving the first LTM configuration information, the terminal can send a configuration complete confirmation message to the source CU, corresponding to step 201 above.

[0166] In this embodiment, the terminal can determine the second LTM configuration information based on the candidate configuration and / or the first reference configuration. The second LTM configuration information is the configuration applied when the terminal changes to the target cell.

[0167] Specifically, for each candidate cell, the terminal can obtain the candidate configuration and / or first reference configuration of the candidate cell from the first LTM configuration information, and then combine them to form the complete configuration information of the candidate cell. The complete configuration information of multiple candidate cells constitutes the second LTM configuration information.

[0168] Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the first LTM configuration information includes a correspondence between at least one first reference configuration and at least one candidate configuration. The terminal can combine the candidate configuration and / or the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration according to the correspondence to obtain the second LTM configuration information.

[0169] The correspondence between at least one first reference configuration and at least one candidate configuration can be represented in several ways:

[0170] First, the first reference configuration includes the candidate configuration index of the candidate configuration corresponding to the first reference configuration.

[0171] The candidate configuration includes a candidate configuration index, and the first reference configuration includes a specific field, which is used to carry the candidate configuration index of the candidate configuration corresponding to the first reference configuration.

[0172] For example, the first reference configuration corresponds to three candidate configurations, and the candidate configuration indices of these three candidate configurations are represented as #1, #3, and #4, respectively. Therefore, the first reference configuration will contain "#1, #3, and #4".

[0173] Accordingly, the terminal can determine which candidate configurations correspond to the first reference configuration through the candidate configuration index carried in the first reference configuration, and then combine the first reference configuration with the candidate configurations corresponding to the candidate configuration indexes to form complete configuration information. For example, the first reference configuration is combined with candidate configuration #1, candidate configuration #3, and candidate configuration #4 respectively to obtain three complete configuration information.

[0174] Second, the candidate configuration includes the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration.

[0175] The first reference configuration includes a reference configuration index, and the candidate configuration includes a specific field, which is used to carry the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration.

[0176] For example, if the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration is *3, then the candidate configuration will contain "*3".

[0177] Correspondingly, the terminal can determine the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration through the reference configuration index carried in the candidate configuration, and combine the first reference configuration with the candidate configuration to form complete configuration information.

[0178] It should be noted that in some cases, the candidate configuration itself can constitute an independent and complete configuration information for the candidate cell. In this case, the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration may not exist or may be empty.

[0179] Third, the first LTM configuration information includes the correspondence between the candidate configuration index and the first reference configuration.

[0180] The candidate configuration includes a candidate configuration index. The correspondence between the candidate configuration index and the first reference configuration is represented by a configuration table, as shown in Table 1.

[0181] Table 1

[0182] Accordingly, the terminal can determine the candidate configurations (#1, #3, #4) corresponding to the first reference configuration through Table 1, and then combine the first reference configuration with the candidate configurations corresponding to the candidate configuration indices to form complete configuration information. For example, the first reference configuration is combined with candidate configuration #1, candidate configuration #3, and candidate configuration #4 respectively to obtain three complete configuration information.

[0183] Fourth, the first LTM configuration information includes the correspondence between the candidate configuration and the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration.

[0184] The first reference configuration includes a reference configuration index. The correspondence between the candidate configuration and the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration is represented by a configuration table, as shown in Table 2.

[0185] Table 2

[0186] Accordingly, the terminal can determine the reference configuration index (*3) corresponding to the candidate configuration through Table 2, and then determine the first reference configuration based on the reference configuration index (*3), and combine the first reference configuration *3 with the candidate configuration to form complete configuration information.

[0187] Fifth, the first LTM configuration information includes the correspondence between the candidate configuration index and the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration.

[0188] For example, the candidate configuration includes a candidate configuration index, and the first reference configuration includes a reference configuration index. The correspondence between the candidate configuration index and the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration is represented by a configuration table, as shown in Table 3:

[0189] Table 3

[0190] Accordingly, the terminal can determine the candidate configuration indices (#2, #5, #6) corresponding to the reference configuration index (*2) through Table 3. Then, it combines the first reference configuration corresponding to the reference configuration index (*2) with the candidate configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration index #2 to form complete configuration information. It also combines the first reference configuration corresponding to the reference configuration index (*2) with the candidate configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration index #5 to form complete configuration information. Finally, it combines the first reference configuration corresponding to the reference configuration index (*2) with the candidate configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration index #6 to form complete configuration information.

[0191] It should be noted that when the terminal combines the candidate configuration with the first reference configuration, if the candidate configuration contains the same configuration item as the first reference configuration, but the parameter values ​​of the two are different, the parameter value of the configuration item in the candidate configuration shall prevail, and the parameter value of the configuration item in the candidate configuration can replace the parameter value of the configuration item in the first reference configuration.

[0192] In this embodiment of the application, the first LTM configuration information may further include first indication information. The first indication information indicates at least one of the following:

[0193] The candidate configuration is the complete configuration.

[0194] The candidate configuration is not the complete configuration.

[0195] The first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration.

[0196] The first reference configuration was not used by the candidate configurations.

[0197] Specifically, if the first indication information indicates that the candidate configuration is a complete configuration or that the first reference configuration is not used by the candidate configuration, it means that the candidate configuration does not have a corresponding first reference configuration, or it can be understood as the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration being empty. In this case, the terminal can directly determine the complete configuration information based on the candidate configuration.

[0198] If the first indication information indicates that the candidate configuration is not a complete configuration or the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration, it means that the candidate configuration cannot constitute complete configuration information. In this case, the terminal can combine the candidate configuration and the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration to obtain a complete configuration.

[0199] In some cases, the candidate configuration may be empty. That is, for some candidate cells, the candidate configuration does not include any substantive content. In this case, the terminal determines the second LTM configuration information based on the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration.

[0200] In one implementation, the first LTM configuration information includes the correspondence between the first indication information and the candidate configuration index of the candidate configuration. This correspondence can be represented by a configuration table, as shown in Table 4.

[0201] Table 4

[0202] Note: First indication information A indicates that the candidate configuration is a complete configuration or that the first reference configuration is not used by the candidate configuration; first indication information B indicates that the candidate configuration is not a complete configuration or that the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration.

[0203] Based on Table 4 and its annotations, the terminal can determine that the candidate configurations (#2, #5, #6) are complete configurations. In other words, the terminal can determine the complete configuration information of the candidate cell based on candidate configuration #2 (or candidate configuration #5, or candidate configuration #6).

[0204] The terminal can also determine from Table 4 that candidate configurations (#1, #3, #4) are not complete configurations. That is, the terminal needs to combine candidate configuration #1 with its corresponding first reference configuration to form complete configuration information. The first reference configuration corresponding to candidate configuration #1 can be determined with reference to the disclosed content above, and will not be elaborated here. The terminal can process candidate configurations #3 and #4 in the same way, and will not be elaborated here either.

[0205] It should be noted that Table 4 is only an exemplary example and does not represent all implementations of the solution in this application, nor does it constitute a limitation on the embodiments of this application.

[0206] In another implementation, the candidate configuration in the first LTM configuration information includes first indication information. This can be understood as the candidate configuration containing a specific field that carries the first indication information. The first indication information included in the candidate configuration is only used to indicate whether the candidate configuration is a complete configuration or whether a first reference configuration is used.

[0207] Based on the above embodiments, in this application embodiment, the first reference configuration includes a higher-layer reference configuration and / or a lower-layer reference configuration. The terminal can determine the complete configuration information of the candidate cell based on the candidate configuration and the higher-layer and / or lower-layer reference configuration of the first reference configuration.

[0208] Optionally, in this embodiment, the candidate configuration includes a higher-level candidate configuration and / or a lower-level candidate configuration. The terminal can determine the complete configuration information of the candidate cell based on the higher-level candidate configuration and / or lower-level candidate configuration, as well as the higher-level reference configuration and / or lower-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration.

[0209] Based on this, in the embodiments of this application, the first indication information included in the first LTM configuration information may also indicate at least one of the following:

[0210] The higher-level candidate configuration is either a complete configuration or not.

[0211] The underlying candidate configuration may or may not be a complete configuration.

[0212] The higher-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration is either used by the candidate configuration or not used by the candidate configuration.

[0213] The underlying reference configuration of the first reference configuration is either used by the candidate configuration or not used by the candidate configuration.

[0214] Wherein, when the first indication information indicates that the high-layer candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is a complete configuration (or the high-layer reference configuration of the first reference configuration is not used by the candidate configuration), the high-layer candidate configuration does not need to be combined with the high-layer reference configuration of the first reference configuration, and the high-layer candidate configuration can independently constitute the high-layer configuration information in the complete configuration information of the candidate cell.

[0215] In this scenario, the terminal can determine the complete configuration information of the candidate cell based on the higher-layer candidate configuration and the lower-layer candidate configuration. Alternatively, the terminal can also determine the complete configuration information of the candidate cell based on the higher-layer candidate configuration, the lower-layer candidate configuration, and the lower-layer reference configuration in the first reference configuration.

[0216] When the first indication information indicates that the higher-layer candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is not a complete configuration (or the higher-layer reference configuration of the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration), the higher-layer candidate configuration needs to be combined with the higher-layer reference configuration of the first reference configuration to form the higher-layer configuration information in the complete configuration information of the candidate cell.

[0217] In this scenario, the terminal can determine the complete configuration information of the candidate cell based on the higher-layer candidate configuration, the higher-layer reference configuration of the first reference configuration, and the lower-layer candidate configuration. Alternatively, the terminal can determine the complete configuration information of the candidate cell based on the higher-layer candidate configuration, the higher-layer reference configuration of the first reference configuration, the lower-layer candidate configuration, and the lower-layer reference configuration of the first reference configuration.

[0218] When the first indication information indicates that the underlying candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is a complete configuration (or the underlying reference configuration of the first reference configuration is not used by the candidate configuration), the underlying candidate configuration does not need to be combined with the underlying reference configuration of the first reference configuration, and the underlying candidate configuration can independently constitute the configuration information of the underlying part of the complete configuration information of the candidate cell.

[0219] In this scenario, the terminal can determine the complete configuration information of the candidate cell based on the lower-level candidate configuration and the higher-level candidate configuration. Alternatively, the terminal can also determine the complete configuration information of the candidate cell based on the lower-level candidate configuration, the higher-level candidate configuration, and the higher-level reference configuration in the first reference configuration.

[0220] When the first indication information indicates that the underlying candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is not a complete configuration (or the underlying reference configuration of the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration), the underlying candidate configuration needs to be combined with the underlying reference configuration of the first reference configuration to form the configuration information of the underlying part of the complete configuration information of the candidate cell.

[0221] In this scenario, the terminal can determine the complete configuration information of the candidate cell based on the underlying candidate configuration, the underlying reference configuration in the first reference configuration, and the higher-layer candidate configuration. Alternatively, the terminal can determine the complete configuration information of the candidate cell based on the underlying candidate configuration, the underlying reference configuration in the first reference configuration, the higher-layer candidate configuration, and the higher-layer reference configuration in the first reference configuration.

[0222] Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the first indication information may also simultaneously indicate that the higher-level candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is a complete configuration, and the lower-level candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is a complete configuration.

[0223] Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the first indication information may also simultaneously indicate that the higher-level candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is a complete configuration, and the lower-level candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is not a complete configuration.

[0224] Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the first indication information may also simultaneously indicate that the higher-level candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is not a complete configuration, and the lower-level candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is a complete configuration.

[0225] Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the first indication information may also simultaneously indicate that the higher-level candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is not a complete configuration, and the lower-level candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is not a complete configuration.

[0226] This application does not exhaustively list the specific instructions for the first instruction information.

[0227] Based on the above embodiments, in this application embodiment, the configuration information (candidate configuration and / or first reference configuration) of the candidate cell also includes execution conditions, such as local handover / activation conditions based on L1 measurements. In this case, when the corresponding conditions are met, the terminal can autonomously activate the corresponding candidate cell and perform cell handover. It can then use L1 / L2 commands to instruct the base station corresponding to the target cell. Alternatively, the source CU can determine the cell load based on the L1 measurement results reported by the terminal, then select a pre-configured candidate cell and trigger the terminal to perform cell handover.

[0228] In this embodiment, the first LTM configuration received by the terminal includes one or more candidate configurations and one or more first reference configurations. Each first reference configuration provides a shared configuration for one or more candidate configurations. That is, in the first LTM configuration information, the first reference configuration provides a shared configuration for the candidate configurations of each candidate cell, and uses the personalized parts of different candidate cells as candidate configurations. This eliminates the need for repeated transmission of shared configurations for multiple candidate cells, reducing the amount of duplicated data and lowering signaling overhead.

[0229] Please refer to Figure 3, which shows a schematic interactive diagram of another configuration method 300 provided in an embodiment of this application. Each step of the method will be described in detail below.

[0230] In the embodiments of this application, the terminal, source CU, and candidate CU serve as the execution subjects of method 300, and method 300 is described here. As an example and not a limitation, the execution subject of method 300 may also be a chip or circuit corresponding to the terminal, source CU, and candidate CU.

[0231] In step 301, the source CU sends a first request message to the candidate CU.

[0232] There can be one or more candidate CUs, and the source CU can send a first request message to each candidate CU individually. Alternatively, the source CU can send a single first request message, which carries the message fields corresponding to each candidate CU.

[0233] In this embodiment, the candidate CU can be determined by the source CU based on its own algorithm. For example, the candidate CU can be another base station located within a preset area of ​​the source CU. Alternatively, the candidate CU can be determined by the source CU based on the signal measurement report reported by the terminal.

[0234] In this embodiment of the application, the candidate cell under the candidate CU is the candidate cell of the terminal, that is, the cell that may be accessed.

[0235] Optionally, the source CU can send a first request message, and each different candidate CU can receive the first request message and obtain its corresponding message field from it.

[0236] Optionally, in this embodiment, the first request message is multiple messages. The source CU sends a first request message independently to each candidate CU, thereby triggering the candidate CU to report the configuration information of multiple candidate cells under the candidate CU. In this embodiment, the configuration information of the candidate cells includes candidate configurations and a first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configurations. The first reference configuration can be understood as a common configuration for the candidate configurations of different candidate cells.

[0237] Optionally, the first request message may be a field from a terminal context establishment request message or a switch request message, or it may be a separately sent message. Correspondingly, the first response message may be a field from a terminal context establishment request confirmation message or a switch request confirmation message, or it may be a separate message.

[0238] In step 302, the candidate CU responds to the first request message to determine the configuration information of multiple candidate cells under the candidate CU.

[0239] In step 303, the candidate CU sends a first reply message to the source CU.

[0240] In this embodiment of the application, each candidate CU sends a first reply message to the source CU. The first reply message includes the candidate configuration of the candidate cell under the candidate CU, the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration, or the index of the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration, or first indication information for indicating whether the candidate configuration uses the first reference configuration.

[0241] In this embodiment of the application, after receiving the first request message sent by the source CU, the candidate CU can parse the first request message to obtain the fields or information required by the candidate CU. These fields or information may be, for example, fields or information corresponding to enable information, or fields or information corresponding to the second reference configuration. Details regarding the enable information and the second reference configuration are described below.

[0242] In this embodiment of the application, the first reply message is a plurality of messages. Each first reply message carries the candidate configuration of the candidate cell under the candidate CU that sent the first reply message and the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration, or the index of the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration, or the first indication information used to indicate whether the candidate configuration uses the first reference configuration.

[0243] In one implementation, the first request message sent by the source CU to the candidate CU can be understood as a trigger message, used to trigger each candidate CU to determine the configuration information of multiple candidate cells under each candidate CU. Optionally, in the embodiments of this application, the configuration information of the candidate cells can be represented as candidate configuration and / or first reference configuration.

[0244] Optionally, the first request message carries enabling information, which can be a specific field or a specific bit. The enabling information can be an enabling indication or enabling signaling, such as an LTM indication. After receiving the enabling information, the candidate CU can report the first reference configuration of multiple candidate cells under the candidate CU to the source CU.

[0245] In this scenario, the candidate CU can respond to the enable information by sending the candidate configuration and / or first reference configuration of the candidate cell to the source CU. The first reference configuration determined by the candidate CU is a configuration shared by the candidate configurations of candidate cells under that candidate CU. The first reference configurations sent by different candidate CUs are unrelated and identical.

[0246] Optionally, the process of the candidate CU determining the candidate configuration and the first reference configuration can be, for example, by the candidate CU autonomously determining the candidate configuration and the first reference configuration based on its own algorithm.

[0247] Optionally, the process of a candidate CU determining candidate configurations and a first reference configuration can be as follows: The candidate CU can send instructions to multiple candidate DUs under its control. Each candidate DU, in response to the received instructions, determines the lower-level configuration information of the candidate cell configured by the candidate DU and reports the lower-level configuration information to the candidate CU. The candidate CU then supplements the higher-level configuration information. Based on this, the candidate CU can combine the higher-level configuration information and the lower-level configuration information of each candidate cell to obtain the primary configuration information of each candidate cell. For example, the primary configuration information includes multiple configuration parameters. The candidate CU can select at least one configuration parameter with a high overlap rate from the primary configuration information of each candidate cell to generate a first reference configuration. Then, for each candidate cell, the portion of the primary configuration information of the candidate cell excluding the first reference configuration constitutes the candidate configuration of the candidate cell. Each candidate configuration corresponds to the first reference configuration.

[0248] In this embodiment, when a candidate CU sends a first reply message to a source CU, it sends the candidate configurations for each candidate cell independently and only sends the first reference configuration shared by all candidate configurations once. It should be noted that, in this embodiment, after receiving the first reply message, the source CU assumes that the multiple candidate configurations sent by the candidate CU correspond to the first reference configuration.

[0249] Optionally, in another implementation, the first request message carries enabling information and an index configured for each candidate CU. Correspondingly, the first reference configuration in the first response message sent by the candidate CU includes the index corresponding to that candidate CU, which is the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration. In this embodiment, the index corresponding to the candidate CU can be, for example, the ID of the candidate CU, or a number set by the source CU for the candidate CU.

[0250] Optionally, in another implementation, the first request message further carries a candidate configuration index configured for at least one candidate cell, the candidate configuration index being used to identify the candidate configuration. Correspondingly, the candidate configuration in the first response message sent by the candidate CU includes the index of the candidate cell corresponding to that candidate configuration, which is the candidate configuration index. In this embodiment, the index corresponding to the candidate cell is, for example, a number set by the source CU for each candidate cell.

[0251] Alternatively, in another implementation, the first request message carries enable information, an index configured for each candidate CU, and a candidate configuration index configured for at least one candidate cell. Correspondingly, the first response message sent by the candidate CU includes a configuration table containing candidate configuration indices and reference configuration indices.

[0252] For example, the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration is *2, and the candidate configuration indices are #2, #5, and #6, respectively. The configuration table can be as shown in Table 5:

[0253] Table 5

[0254] It should be noted that Table 5 is merely an illustrative example and is not intended to limit the scope of this application.

[0255] It should be noted that, in the embodiments of this application, the first reference configuration determined by the candidate CU can be a configuration shared by the candidate configurations of some candidate cells under the candidate CU, rather than a configuration shared by the candidate configurations of all candidate cells under the candidate CU. For example, there are 3 candidate cells under the candidate CU, where the candidate configuration 1 of candidate cell 1 and the candidate configuration 2 of candidate cell 2 share the first reference configuration, while the candidate configuration 3 of candidate cell 3 is a complete configuration and does not require the first reference configuration to provide a shared configuration.

[0256] Optionally, the candidate CU can group candidate cells and determine a first reference configuration for the candidate configurations of candidate cells within a group. A correspondence between the first reference configuration and candidate configurations is then established. In this case, the candidate CU can provide one or more first reference configurations, which can be distinguished by index numbers or identifiers.

[0257] Based on the above embodiments, as exemplified above, candidate configuration 2 and candidate configuration 3 need to share the first reference configuration, while candidate configuration 3 is a complete configuration and does not need to share the first reference configuration. That is to say, the correspondence between different candidate configurations and the first reference configuration is different. In order to facilitate the terminal to distinguish the configuration status of different candidate configurations, in this embodiment of the application, the first reply message further includes first indication information, wherein the first indication information indicates at least one of the following situations:

[0258] The candidate configuration is the complete configuration.

[0259] The candidate configuration is not the complete configuration.

[0260] The first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration.

[0261] The first reference configuration was not used by the candidate configurations.

[0262] For example, for candidate configuration 1 (or candidate configuration 2), the first indication information indicates that the candidate configuration is an incomplete configuration or indicates that the first reference configuration is used by candidate configuration 1 (or candidate configuration 2). For candidate configuration 3, the first indication information indicates that the candidate configuration is a complete configuration or indicates that the first reference configuration is not used by the candidate configuration.

[0263] The process by which the terminal determines the complete configuration information of the candidate cell based on the first instruction information can be referred to the previous description and will not be repeated here.

[0264] Optionally, in this embodiment, the candidate configuration includes a high-level candidate configuration and / or a low-level candidate configuration. The first reference configuration includes a high-level reference configuration and / or a low-level reference configuration. The high-level candidate configuration and the high-level reference configuration may be provided by a candidate CU, and the low-level candidate configuration and the low-level reference configuration may be provided by a candidate DU.

[0265] In this embodiment of the application, the first indication information indicates at least one of the following:

[0266] The higher-level candidate configuration is either a complete configuration or not.

[0267] The underlying candidate configuration may or may not be a complete configuration.

[0268] The higher-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration is either used by the candidate configuration or not used by the candidate configuration.

[0269] The underlying reference configuration of the first reference configuration is either used by the candidate configuration or not used by the candidate configuration.

[0270] In this embodiment, the candidate CU has already determined the first indication information corresponding to the candidate configuration when sending the first reply message to the source CU. The source CU does not modify the first reply message, but can directly forward the first reply message as the first LTM configuration information to the terminal. The terminal's response process to the first LTM configuration information can be referred to the content disclosed in the foregoing embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0271] In another implementation, the first request message sent by the source CU to the candidate CU carries at least one second reference configuration, which is a reference configuration used by the candidate CU to prepare LTM. After receiving the second reference configuration, the candidate CU can refer to it to determine the candidate configuration of the candidate cell under the candidate CU and the corresponding first reference configuration. The second reference configuration is described in detail below:

[0272] Optionally, the second reference configuration can be determined independently of the source CU.

[0273] It should be noted that, generally speaking, the source CU can independently determine the high-level configuration. In other words, in this case, the second reference configuration may only contain the high-level reference configuration.

[0274] Optionally, the second reference configuration may be determined by the source CU based on the third reference configuration reported by the candidate CU. This is described below.

[0275] Optionally, the second reference configuration can be determined through the interaction between the source CU and multiple source DUs it controls.

[0276] In this embodiment, a source CU can send a third request message to multiple source DUs under its control, and the multiple source DUs respond to the third request message by reporting the underlying reference configuration. The source CU can then determine a second reference configuration based on the received multiple underlying reference configurations. In this embodiment, the underlying reference configuration can be determined by the source DU based on the current communication status of its multiple cells, or it can be determined by the source DU based on its own algorithm.

[0277] In this embodiment of the application, the process of the source CU determining the second reference configuration based on the received multiple underlying reference configurations may include: after obtaining the underlying reference configuration, the source CU determines the second reference configuration based only on the underlying reference configuration. In this case, the second reference configuration may only contain the underlying reference configuration.

[0278] In this embodiment of the application, the process of the source CU determining the second reference configuration based on the received multiple lower-level reference configurations may further include: after obtaining the lower-level reference configuration, the source CU may supplement the higher-level reference configuration to obtain a second reference configuration that includes the higher-level reference configuration and the lower-level reference configuration.

[0279] Therefore, in the embodiments of this application, the second reference configuration may include a higher-level reference configuration and / or a lower-level reference configuration.

[0280] In this embodiment, the source CU can set a different second reference configuration for each candidate CU. Alternatively, the source CU can configure the same second reference configuration for all candidate CUs. Or, the source CU can configure the same second reference configuration for one or more candidate CUs within a group. Different second reference configurations can be set for candidate CUs in different groups. Candidate CUs corresponding to the same supplier, the same type, or within a certain distance range can be considered as being in the same group. There are also various other ways to divide candidate CUs within a group, which are not exhaustively listed in this embodiment.

[0281] In one implementation, the source CU sends a first request message to each candidate CU. The first request message carries a second reference configuration, which is specifically set by the source CU for that candidate CU.

[0282] Alternatively, the source CU can send a first request message to all candidate CUs. The first request message carries fields corresponding to each candidate CU, where the fields corresponding to each candidate CU contain the second reference configuration set by the source CU for each candidate CU.

[0283] It should be noted that the second reference configurations corresponding to different candidate CUs may be the same or different.

[0284] In this embodiment, after receiving the second reference configuration, the candidate CU determines the second reference configuration as the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration of the candidate cell under the candidate CU. Accordingly, the first reply message sent by the candidate CU to the source CU includes the candidate configuration of the candidate cell and first indication information. The first indication information indicates whether the candidate configuration is a complete configuration or indicates whether the first reference configuration (second reference configuration) specified by the source CU for the candidate CU is used by the candidate configuration.

[0285] In another implementation, the source CU sends a first request message to each candidate CU, the first request message carrying multiple second reference configurations. Each candidate CU can choose the second reference configuration it needs from these multiple second reference configurations as the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration of its candidate cell.

[0286] Optionally, each candidate CU can determine the second reference configuration to be used based on the current communication status of the candidate cell.

[0287] Optionally, the first request message carries multiple second reference configurations and an index for each second reference configuration. The index of the second reference configuration is used to distinguish each second reference configuration. In this way, each candidate CU identifies the second reference configuration to be used through the index. Accordingly, after selecting the second reference configuration to be used, the candidate CU determines the selected second reference configuration as the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration of its own candidate cell, and includes a first index in the first reply message. The first index is the index of the selected second reference configuration. The first index is used by the terminal to determine the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration of the candidate cell.

[0288] It should be noted that different candidate CUs may choose the same second reference configuration as the first reference configuration corresponding to their own candidate cell configuration.

[0289] In another implementation, the source CU sends a first request message to each candidate CU. This first request message carries multiple second reference configurations and the correspondence between these second reference configurations and each candidate CU. In this implementation, the source CU specifies a corresponding second reference configuration for each candidate CU. For example, this correspondence might be that second reference configuration A corresponds to candidate CU1 and candidate CU2, and second reference configuration B corresponds to candidate CU3 and candidate CU4.

[0290] The correspondence between multiple second reference configurations and each candidate CU can be implicitly represented.

[0291] Optionally, the first request message carries the indexes configured by the source CU for each candidate CU, wherein the second reference configuration contains the indexes of the candidate CUs corresponding to the second reference configuration. For example, the second reference configuration A includes the indexes of candidate CU1 and candidate CU2.

[0292] Optionally, the first request message carries a candidate configuration index for at least one candidate cell configured by the source CU, and the candidate configuration index is used to identify the candidate configuration. The second reference configuration includes the candidate configuration index of the candidate configuration corresponding to the second reference configuration. For example, the second reference configuration A includes candidate configuration indices #2, #5, and #6.

[0293] The correspondence between multiple second reference configurations and each candidate CU can be explicitly represented.

[0294] Optionally, the first request message carries a configuration table, in which the reference configuration index of the second reference configuration and the index of the candidate CU or the candidate configuration index are included. The second reference configuration includes the reference configuration index.

[0295] It should be noted that in the embodiments of this application, different candidate CUs may correspond to the same second reference configuration.

[0296] In this embodiment of the application, after receiving the first request message, the candidate CU can determine the second reference configuration corresponding to itself by using the index of the candidate CU corresponding to the second reference configuration contained in the second reference configuration, or by using the candidate configuration index of the candidate configuration corresponding to the second reference configuration contained in the second reference configuration, or by using the configuration table, and determine the second reference configuration as the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration of its own candidate cell.

[0297] In this embodiment of the application, after determining the first reference configuration, the candidate CU can determine the candidate configuration of the candidate cell and whether to use the first reference configuration, or determine the candidate configuration of the candidate cell and whether the candidate configuration is a complete configuration.

[0298] Optionally, in this embodiment, after determining the first reference configuration, the candidate CU can determine the primary configuration information of the candidate cell based on the current communication status of the candidate cell. The primary configuration information includes multiple configuration parameters. Finally, the candidate CU determines the candidate configuration of the candidate cell based on the first reference configuration and the primary configuration information of the candidate cell.

[0299] For example, the first reference configuration includes configuration parameters 1-10, and the primary configuration information of the candidate cell includes configuration parameters 1, 3, 5, 7, and 12-14. In this case, the candidate CU can determine the primary configuration information of the candidate cell as the candidate configuration of the candidate cell, and determine that the candidate configuration does not use the first reference configuration.

[0300] It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the application, the first reply message carries first indication information. The first indication information indicates at least one of the following:

[0301] The candidate configuration is the complete configuration.

[0302] The candidate configuration is an incomplete configuration.

[0303] The second reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration.

[0304] The second reference configuration was not used by the candidate configuration.

[0305] The explanation of the first instruction information and the application of the first instruction information by the terminal can be found in the previously disclosed content, and will not be repeated here.

[0306] For example, the first reference configuration includes configuration parameters 1-10, and the primary configuration information of the candidate cell includes configuration parameters 1-14. In this case, the candidate CU can determine configuration parameters 11-14 as the candidate configuration of the candidate cell, and determine that the candidate configuration uses the first reference configuration, which can be indicated by the first indication information.

[0307] For example, the first reference configuration includes configuration parameters 1-10, and the primary configuration information of the candidate cell includes configuration parameters 1-14. However, the parameter values ​​of configuration parameters 1-3 in the primary configuration information are different from the parameter values ​​of configuration parameters 1-3 in the first reference configuration. In this case, the candidate CU can be determined as the candidate configuration of the candidate cell by combining configuration parameters 1-3 and configuration parameters 11-14 in the primary configuration information, and it is determined that the candidate configuration uses the first reference configuration. This can be specifically indicated by the first indication information. When the terminal combines the complete configuration information of the candidate cell, it will replace the configuration parameters 1-3 in the first reference configuration with the configuration parameters 1-3 in the candidate configuration.

[0308] Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the candidate CU can send the first reference configuration to multiple candidate DUs controlled by the candidate CU. Each candidate DU determines the primary configuration information of the candidate cell based on the current communication status of the candidate cell, and then determines the candidate configuration of the candidate cell by combining the first reference configuration and the primary configuration information.

[0309] It should be noted that a candidate CU can select candidate DUs from among the multiple DUs it controls based on its own decision-making algorithm. In other words, a candidate CU can select only a subset of the DUs it controls as candidate DUs.

[0310] As can be seen from the above disclosure, in the embodiments of this application, the second reference configuration includes a high-level reference configuration and / or a low-level reference configuration, wherein the first reference configuration is composed of the high-level reference configuration and / or the low-level reference configuration in the second reference configuration.

[0311] Based on this, in this embodiment, the candidate CU can send the lower-level reference configuration in the first reference configuration to the candidate DU. The candidate DU determines the lower-level candidate configuration of the candidate cell and whether to use the lower-level reference configuration in the first reference configuration based on the lower-level reference configuration. Then, the candidate CU can determine the higher-level candidate configuration and whether to use the higher-level reference configuration in the first reference configuration based on the higher-level reference configuration. Finally, the candidate CU combines the higher-level candidate configuration with the lower-level candidate configuration obtained from the candidate DU to obtain the candidate configuration of the candidate cell and generates first indication information. The first indication information indicates whether to use the lower-level reference configuration in the first reference configuration and whether to use the higher-level reference configuration in the first reference configuration.

[0312] In this embodiment of the application, the first reply message carries first indication information. The first indication information indicates at least one of the following:

[0313] The higher-level candidate configuration is either a complete configuration or not.

[0314] The underlying candidate configuration may or may not be a complete configuration.

[0315] The higher-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration is either used by the candidate configuration or not used by the candidate configuration.

[0316] The underlying reference configuration of the first reference configuration is either used by the candidate configuration or not used by the candidate configuration.

[0317] The explanation of the first instruction information and the application of the first instruction information by the terminal can be found in the previously disclosed content, and will not be repeated here.

[0318] In this embodiment of the application, after determining the candidate configuration of the candidate cell and the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration, the candidate CU can reply to the source CU with a first reply message.

[0319] Optionally, the first response message may also include the correspondence between the candidate configurations of the candidate cells and the first reference configurations, which can be represented in the following ways:

[0320] In the first approach, the first reference configuration includes the candidate configuration index of the candidate configuration corresponding to the first reference configuration. The first reference configuration may contain one or more candidate configuration indices.

[0321] The second approach involves a candidate configuration including a reference configuration index of the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration. Generally, a candidate configuration contains an index of a first reference configuration.

[0322] The third approach involves the first response message including the correspondence between the candidate configuration index and the first reference configuration.

[0323] The fourth approach involves the first response message including the correspondence between the candidate configuration and the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration.

[0324] The fifth approach involves the first response message including the correspondence between the candidate configuration index and the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration.

[0325] The five representation methods can be found in the content disclosed in the foregoing embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0326] In step 304, the source CU determines the first LTM configuration information based on the first reply message.

[0327] In step 305, the source CU sends the first LTM configuration information to the terminal.

[0328] In this embodiment, the source CU can receive a first response message from one or more candidate CUs and integrate the one or more first response messages to form first LTM configuration information. The first LTM configuration information includes at least one first reference configuration and at least one candidate configuration, wherein one of the at least one first reference configurations provides a configuration shared by some of the candidate configurations in the at least one candidate configuration.

[0329] In this embodiment of the application, the source CU will not perform any operations such as adding, deleting, modifying or querying on the candidate configuration, first reference configuration or indication content of the first reference configuration sent by the candidate CU.

[0330] The source CU can identify the first indication information carried in the first reply message to determine whether the candidate configuration uses the second reference configuration. Then, it sends the second reference configuration used by the candidate configuration to the terminal, while it does not send the second reference configuration not used by the candidate configuration to the terminal, so as to avoid bringing unnecessary information to the terminal and reduce signaling overhead.

[0331] In this embodiment of the application, the first LTM configuration information includes at least one first reference configuration and at least one candidate configuration, and one of the first reference configurations provides a configuration shared by some of the candidate configurations in the at least one candidate configuration.

[0332] Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, the source CU can send the first LTM configuration information via RRC signaling.

[0333] In this embodiment, the source CU can obtain candidate configurations of multiple candidate cells and corresponding first reference configurations based on the first reply messages received from each candidate CU. The candidate configurations of candidate cells under different candidate CUs can correspond to the same first reference configuration.

[0334] In step 306, the terminal determines the second LTM configuration information based on the first LTM configuration information.

[0335] The details of how the terminal determines the second LTM configuration information are as disclosed in the aforementioned embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0336] In this embodiment, the terminal can measure and evaluate each candidate cell. When the conditions of a candidate cell are met, the terminal can execute conditional LTM to attempt to access the candidate cell and autonomously trigger the cell handover process. After the terminal successfully accesses the candidate cell, the terminal and the source CU need to clear the configuration information of the remaining candidate cells and release the resources reserved for the terminal in the remaining candidate cells to avoid resource occupation and waste.

[0337] In this embodiment of the application, during the handover preparation phase, candidate configurations and corresponding first reference configurations are configured for candidate cells. Multiple candidate configurations correspond to one first reference configuration. This way, the duplicate parts of the configuration information of each candidate cell do not need to be sent multiple times, thereby reducing signaling overhead.

[0338] Following on from the previous section, in this embodiment, the second reference configuration can be determined by the source CU based on the third reference configuration reported by the candidate CU. Please refer to Figure 4, which shows a schematic interactive diagram of another configuration method 400 provided in this embodiment. Each step of this method will be described in detail below.

[0339] In step 401, the source CU sends a second request message to the candidate CU.

[0340] In step 402, the candidate CU sends a third reference configuration to the source CU.

[0341] In step 403, the source CU determines the second reference configuration based on the third reference configuration.

[0342] In this embodiment of the application, before the source CU sends the first request message to the candidate CU, the source CU may send a second request message to one or more candidate CUs. The second request message is used to request a third reference configuration, which is reported by the candidate CU.

[0343] Optionally, after receiving the second request message, the candidate CU can independently determine the third reference configuration based on its own algorithm and report it.

[0344] Optionally, after receiving the second request message, the candidate CU can obtain the underlying reference configuration by interacting with multiple candidate DUs controlled by the candidate CU. Then, the candidate CU supplements the higher-level reference configuration and finally determines the third reference configuration based on the underlying reference configuration and the higher-level reference configuration.

[0345] In this embodiment of the application, after receiving the third reference configuration reported by each candidate CU, the source CU can determine the second reference configuration based on the third reference configuration.

[0346] In one implementation, the source CU can select at least one of the third reference configurations with a high overlap rate from different candidate CUs to generate a second reference configuration.

[0347] In another implementation, the source CU can select the portion with the highest overlap rate of the third reference configurations reported by the candidate CUs within a group as the second reference configuration corresponding to the candidate CUs within that group.

[0348] For example, the source CU receives the third reference configurations reported by M candidate CUs, takes the intersection of the third reference configurations reported by the candidate CUs in a group, and uses the intersection part as the second reference configuration to obtain N second reference configurations, where 1≤N≤M.

[0349] In some embodiments of this application, the second request message may carry the terminal's current communication status information, which may include at least one of the following: the terminal's identifier, the currently connected cell identifier, the terminal's connection status, network service quality parameters, and measurement results.

[0350] In step 404, the source CU sends a first request message to the candidate CU, the first request message including a second reference configuration.

[0351] In step 405, the candidate CU sends a first reply message to the source CU.

[0352] In step 406, the source CU determines the first LTM configuration information based on the first reply message.

[0353] In step 407, the source CU sends the first LTM configuration information to the terminal.

[0354] It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the application, the source CU needs to integrate the first reply message.

[0355] If the first indication information indicates that the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration, the first LTM configuration information sent by the source CU to the terminal includes the first reference configuration.

[0356] If the first indication information indicates that the first reference configuration is not used by the candidate configuration, then the first LTM configuration information sent by the source CU to the terminal does not include the first reference configuration.

[0357] Furthermore, if the first indication information indicates that the higher-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration, then the first LTM configuration information sent by the source CU to the terminal may only contain the higher-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration.

[0358] If the first indication information indicates that the higher-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration is not used by the candidate configuration, then the first LTM configuration information sent by the source CU to the terminal may not include the higher-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration.

[0359] If the first indication information indicates that the underlying reference configuration of the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration, then the first LTM configuration information sent by the source CU to the terminal may only contain the underlying reference configuration of the first reference configuration.

[0360] If the first indication information indicates that the underlying reference configuration of the first reference configuration is not used by the candidate configuration, then the first LTM configuration information sent by the source CU to the terminal may not include the underlying reference configuration of the first reference configuration.

[0361] In step 408, the terminal determines the second LTM configuration information based on the first LTM configuration information.

[0362] Compared to the aforementioned disclosed method for determining the second reference configuration, the second reference configuration provided in this application takes into account information from the candidate CU side. Therefore, the setting of the second reference configuration is more reasonable and helps each candidate CU to use the second reference configuration.

[0363] It should be noted that, in the embodiments of this application, the multiple candidate cells under the candidate CU can be all or some of the cells under the candidate CU.

[0364] For example, a candidate CU selects a candidate cell from multiple cells under the candidate CU based on its own resource configuration and usage, and determines the configuration information of the candidate cell.

[0365] For example, the source CU can recommend candidate cells to the candidate CU. During the handover preparation phase, the source CU selects suitable candidate cells and their corresponding candidate base stations for the terminal based on the L3 measurement results and radio resource management information sent by the terminal. The candidate CU can decide whether to accept the candidate cells recommended by the source CU based on its own resource configuration and usage, and generate corresponding configuration information for the accepted candidate cells. The candidate CU can then send the candidate cell list and the generated candidate cell configuration information to the source CU.

[0366] It should be noted that among the multiple cells configured by the source DU controlled by the source CU, some can also be considered as candidate cells. In this case, the source CU is considered as a candidate CU, and the source DU is considered as a candidate DU.

[0367] The embodiments of this application will be described below with reference to examples.

[0368] Please refer to Figure 5, which shows a flowchart of a configuration method provided in an embodiment of this application. In this method, a second reference configuration is generated from the source CU, and the method includes the following steps:

[0369] Step 501: The source CU and source DU interact to obtain the underlying reference configuration, supplement the higher-level reference configuration, and obtain the second reference configuration. The first request message is generated based on the second reference configuration.

[0370] Step 502: The source CU sends a first request message to the candidate CU.

[0371] In this embodiment of the application, there are multiple second reference configurations.

[0372] The second reference configuration includes a high-level reference configuration and a low-level reference configuration.

[0373] The first request message indicates the index of the candidate CU or candidate cell corresponding to each second reference configuration. One second reference configuration can correspond to the index of one or more candidate CUs. The candidate CU can quickly determine its corresponding second reference configuration through the first request message.

[0374] Step 503: The candidate CU sends the underlying reference configuration in the second reference configuration to the candidate DU.

[0375] Step 504: The candidate CU receives the underlying candidate configuration reported by the candidate DU.

[0376] Step 505: The candidate CU supplements the high-level candidate configuration according to the high-level reference configuration in the second reference configuration, and determines the candidate configuration corresponding to each candidate cell according to the high-level candidate configuration and the low-level candidate configuration.

[0377] Step 506: The candidate CU sends the first reply message to the source CU.

[0378] In this embodiment of the application, the candidate CU configures primary configuration information for each candidate cell based on radio resource management information, and determines the candidate configuration of the candidate cell and the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration by combining the second reference configuration and the primary configuration information.

[0379] The first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration can be indicated by first indication information. The first indication information indicates at least one of the following:

[0380] The candidate configuration is the complete configuration;

[0381] The candidate configuration is not the complete configuration;

[0382] The first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration;

[0383] The first reference configuration was not used by the candidate configurations.

[0384] In this embodiment of the application, the first reply message includes the first instruction information.

[0385] Each candidate configuration has a corresponding first indication information. The source CU determines whether to send a second reference configuration (i.e., the first reference configuration used by the candidate configuration) to the terminal based on multiple first indication information. In other words, the candidate CU will send the reference configuration that the terminal may use to the terminal.

[0386] For example, if a candidate configuration corresponds to a first indication message indicating that the candidate configuration is an incomplete configuration, or indicating that a first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration, then the source CU sends the first reference configuration that is used to the terminal.

[0387] If the first indication information corresponding to all candidate configurations indicates that the candidate configuration is a complete configuration, or the first reference configuration is not used by the candidate configuration, then the source CU will not send the second reference configuration.

[0388] It should be noted that, due to the varying resource usage of different candidate cells, it is possible that among multiple candidate cells under the same candidate CU, some candidate cells may use the second reference configuration corresponding to the candidate CU in their candidate configuration. In this case, the candidate configuration has a corresponding first reference configuration. Conversely, other candidate cells may not use the second reference configuration corresponding to the candidate CU in their candidate configuration. In this case, the candidate configuration does not have a corresponding first reference configuration.

[0389] It is understandable that not every candidate configuration has a corresponding first reference configuration.

[0390] In this embodiment of the application, when the first reference configuration is a candidate configuration, the candidate CU will determine the second reference configuration corresponding to the candidate CU as the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration.

[0391] When the first reference configuration is not used by the candidate configuration, the candidate CU can set the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration to empty.

[0392] In this embodiment, the candidate configuration includes a higher-level candidate configuration and a lower-level candidate configuration. The lower-level candidate configuration is provided by the candidate DU controlled by the candidate CU. The candidate DU determines the lower-level candidate configuration of the candidate cell based on the infinite resource management information of the candidate cell.

[0393] In this embodiment of the application, the first indication information may specifically indicate:

[0394] The higher-level candidate configuration is either a complete configuration or not;

[0395] The underlying candidate configuration may or may not be a complete configuration;

[0396] The higher-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration is either used by the candidate configuration or not used by the candidate configuration;

[0397] The underlying reference configuration of the first reference configuration is either used by the candidate configuration or not used by the candidate configuration.

[0398] Step 507: The source CU generates the first LTM configuration information based on the received first reply message.

[0399] Step 508: The source CU sends the first LTM configuration information to the terminal.

[0400] In this embodiment of the application, each candidate CU sends a first reply message, and the source CU obtains multiple candidate configurations and the first reference configurations corresponding to the candidate configurations from multiple first reply messages.

[0401] In this embodiment, the source CU includes the first reference configuration (i.e., some or all of the second reference configuration) corresponding to each candidate configuration in an IE. The source CU may also include the candidate configuration of a candidate cell in an IE to generate the first LTM configuration information.

[0402] Step 509: The terminal determines the second LTM configuration information based on the first LTM configuration information.

[0403] The second LTM configuration information is the configuration information required by the terminal when accessing the target cell. The second LTM configuration information includes the complete configuration of the candidate cell.

[0404] In this embodiment of the application, the complete configuration of the candidate cell is obtained by combining the candidate configuration of the candidate cell and / or the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration.

[0405] In this embodiment of the application, the candidate configuration includes first indication information, and the terminal determines how to combine the candidate cells to obtain the complete configuration based on the first indication information.

[0406] For example, if the first indication information indicates that the high-level candidate configuration of the candidate configuration is a complete configuration and the low-level candidate configuration is not a complete configuration, then the terminal will combine the low-level candidate configuration of the candidate configuration, the low-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration, and the low-level candidate configuration of the candidate configuration.

[0407] In this embodiment, the source CU generates a second reference configuration and sends it to the candidate CU for reference, which makes the process of the candidate configuration determined by the candidate CU and the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration simpler, less complex, and with less signaling overhead.

[0408] Please refer to Figure 6, which shows a flowchart of a configuration method provided in an embodiment of this application. In this method, the source CU generates a second reference configuration based on information provided by a candidate CU. The method includes the following steps:

[0409] Step 601: The source CU sends a second request message to the candidate CU.

[0410] In this embodiment of the application, the second request message is a reference configuration request, which is used to trigger the candidate CU to provide a request for a third reference configuration.

[0411] Step 602: The candidate CU sends the third reference configuration to the source CU.

[0412] In this embodiment of the application, the third reference configuration per CU generated by each candidate CU is sent to the source CU.

[0413] Step 603: The source CU generates a second reference configuration based on the third reference configuration, and generates a first request message based on the second reference configuration.

[0414] In this embodiment, the source CU understands the third reference configuration provided by the candidate CU, and then determines the second reference configuration based on the third reference configuration. That is, the second reference configuration takes into account information from the candidate CU side. Based on this, the source CU can determine the second reference configuration for the candidate CU based on various factors such as the candidate CU's current communication status, whether the candidate CU is from the same manufacturer, and whether it is within a preset range. Therefore, the second reference configuration is more reasonable.

[0415] Step 604: The source CU sends a first request message to the candidate CU.

[0416] Step 605: The candidate CU sends the underlying reference configuration in the second reference configuration to the candidate DU.

[0417] Step 606: The candidate CU receives the underlying candidate configuration reported by the candidate DU.

[0418] Step 607: The candidate CU supplements the high-level candidate configuration according to the high-level reference configuration in the second reference configuration, and determines the candidate configuration corresponding to each candidate cell according to the high-level candidate configuration and the low-level candidate configuration.

[0419] In this embodiment, the candidate DU can also report to the candidate CU whether the underlying candidate configuration uses the underlying reference configuration. Additionally, when supplementing higher-level candidate configurations, the candidate CU can also determine whether the higher-level candidate configuration uses the higher-level reference configuration.

[0420] The first reply message carries first indication information. When the underlying candidate configuration uses the underlying reference configuration, the first indication information indicates that the underlying reference configuration of the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration.

[0421] When a high-level candidate configuration uses a high-level reference configuration, the first indication information indicates that the high-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration.

[0422] When the lower-level candidate configuration uses the lower-level reference configuration and the higher-level candidate configuration uses the higher-level reference configuration, the first indication information indicates that the first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration.

[0423] When the lower-level candidate configuration does not use the lower-level reference configuration and the higher-level candidate configuration does not use the higher-level reference configuration, the first indication information indicates that the first reference configuration is not used by the candidate configuration.

[0424] Step 608: The candidate CU sends a first reply message to the source CU.

[0425] The first response message includes the candidate configuration for each candidate cell, the index of the first reference configuration used by the candidate configuration, or an indication of whether the candidate configuration uses the first reference configuration.

[0426] The first reference configuration refers to the second reference configuration corresponding to the candidate CU.

[0427] In this embodiment of the application, the candidate CU determines the first reply message based on the candidate configuration of the determined candidate cell and the first indication information, and sends it to the source CU.

[0428] Step 609: The source CU determines the first LTM configuration information based on the first reply message.

[0429] The first LTM configuration information includes at least one candidate configuration and at least one first reference configuration, wherein the first reference configuration corresponds to the candidate configuration.

[0430] Step 610: The source CU sends the first LTM configuration information to the terminal.

[0431] In this embodiment, the first LTM configuration information includes at least one candidate configuration and a first reference configuration corresponding to each candidate configuration. Alternatively, the first LTM configuration information includes candidate configurations, a first reference configuration, and an index of the first reference configuration. The candidate configurations include the index of the first reference configuration.

[0432] Step 611: The terminal determines the second LTM configuration information based on the first LTM configuration information.

[0433] In this embodiment, the terminal stores the received first LTM configuration information. If the candidate configuration is not a complete configuration, the candidate configuration is combined with the corresponding first reference configuration into a complete configuration and applied, based on the first reference configuration index contained in the candidate configuration or the incomplete configuration indication contained in the candidate configuration.

[0434] Please refer to Figure 7, which shows a flowchart of a configuration method provided in an embodiment of this application. In this method, a second reference configuration is generated from a candidate CU. The method includes the following steps:

[0435] Step 701: The source CU sends a first request message to the candidate CU, the first request message carrying enable information.

[0436] Optionally, the first request message may also include an index configured for the candidate CU. The index corresponding to the candidate CU is the index of the first reference configuration carried in the first reply message sent by the candidate CU.

[0437] Optionally, the first request message may also include a candidate configuration index configured for the candidate cell. The candidate configuration index is used to distinguish the candidate configurations of different candidate cells under the candidate CU.

[0438] Step 702: The candidate CU sends a first reply message to the source CU.

[0439] In this embodiment of the application, each candidate CU sends a first reply message to the source CU.

[0440] In one implementation, the first response message includes a candidate configuration, a first reference configuration, and an index of the first reference configuration. The candidate configuration may include the index of the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration.

[0441] It should be noted that the candidate configuration and the first reference configuration sent by the same candidate CU can be assumed to have a corresponding relationship by the source CU.

[0442] In another implementation, the first response message includes a candidate configuration, a candidate configuration index, and a first reference configuration. The candidate configuration index may be included within the candidate configuration.

[0443] In this embodiment, the candidate CU does not determine a correspondence between the candidate configuration and the first reference configuration. Instead, the source CU assumes that the candidate configuration sent by the same candidate CU corresponds to the first reference configuration. Based on this, in this embodiment, the source CU can configure an index for the first reference configuration reported by the candidate CU, and then the source CU can associate the candidate configuration index with the index of the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration to determine the correspondence between the candidate configuration and the first reference configuration.

[0444] In this embodiment of the application, the candidate CU can add an incomplete configuration indication to the candidate configuration. Alternatively, the candidate CU can add an index of a first reference configuration to the candidate configuration.

[0445] Step 703: The source CU determines the first LTM configuration information based on the first reply message.

[0446] Step 704: The source CU sends the first LTM configuration information to the terminal.

[0447] The source CU can obtain the correspondence between the candidate configuration and the first reference configuration based on the first reply message.

[0448] For example, if candidate configurations 1-3 all come from candidate CU1, then the second reference configuration given by candidate CU1 is the first reference configuration that candidates 1-3 all correspond to.

[0449] In this embodiment of the application, the first LTM configuration information is determined based on multiple first response messages. The first LTM configuration information includes at least one candidate configuration and / or at least one first reference configuration. The first reference configuration provides a configuration shared by one or more candidate configurations.

[0450] The first LTM configuration information may also include the correspondence between candidate cells and the first reference configuration, which can be represented by associating the candidate cell ID and the first reference configuration index.

[0451] The first LTM configuration information also includes the correspondence between candidate cells and candidate configurations, which can be represented by associating the candidate cell ID and the candidate configuration index.

[0452] In this embodiment of the application, when the candidate CU only reports the candidate configuration, the candidate configuration index and the first reference configuration, the source CU needs to set the first reference configuration index for the first reference configuration. The first LTM configuration information carries the candidate configuration, the candidate configuration index, the first reference configuration, the first reference configuration index, and the association relationship between the candidate cell ID, the candidate configuration index and the first reference configuration index.

[0453] Step 705: The terminal saves the first LTM configuration information.

[0454] In this embodiment of the application, the terminal can combine the candidate configuration of each candidate cell with the first reference configuration according to the correspondence between each candidate cell and the first reference configuration to obtain the complete configuration of the candidate cell and apply it.

[0455] In this embodiment of the application, the terminal can read the index of the first reference configuration in the candidate configuration, combine the candidate configuration with the first reference configuration corresponding to the index, obtain the complete configuration of the candidate cell, and apply it.

[0456] It is understood that although the steps in the above flowcharts are shown sequentially according to the arrows, these steps are not necessarily executed in the order indicated by the arrows. Unless explicitly stated in this embodiment, there is no strict order restriction on the execution of these steps, and they can be executed in other orders. Moreover, at least some steps in the above flowcharts may include multiple steps or multiple stages. These steps or stages are not necessarily completed at the same time, but can be executed at different times. The execution order of these steps or stages is not necessarily sequential, but can be performed alternately or in turn with other steps or at least some of the steps or stages in other steps.

[0457] The configuration method provided by the embodiments of this application has been described above with reference to Figures 1 to 7. The apparatus for performing the above method provided by the embodiments of this application is described below.

[0458] Figures 8 to 10 are schematic diagrams of possible configuration devices provided in the embodiments of this application. These configuration devices can be used to implement the functions of the terminal, source CU, or candidate CU in the above method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects of the above method embodiments. In the embodiments of this application, the configuration device can be the terminal, source CU, or candidate CU as shown in Figure 2 or Figure 3, or it can be a module (such as a chip) applied to the terminal, source CU, or candidate CU.

[0459] Figure 8 shows a structural block diagram of a configuration device. This configuration device can be the execution device in the embodiments of this application, or a chip or chip system within the execution device. The configuration device includes a transceiver unit 801 and a processing unit 802.

[0460] When the configuration device 800 is used to implement the functions of the terminal in the method embodiment shown in FIG2 or FIG3: the transceiver unit 801 is used to receive first LTM configuration information, the first LTM configuration information including at least one first reference configuration and at least one candidate configuration, wherein one of the at least one first reference configuration provides a configuration shared by some of the candidate configurations in the at least one candidate configuration. The processing unit 802 is used to determine second LTM configuration information based on at least one first reference configuration and / or at least one candidate configuration, the second LTM configuration information being the configuration applied when the terminal changes to the target cell.

[0461] When the configuration device 800 is used to implement the function of the source CU in the method embodiment shown in FIG2 or FIG3: the transceiver unit 801 is used to send first LTM configuration information to the terminal. The first LTM configuration information includes at least one first reference configuration and at least one candidate configuration. One of the first reference configurations provides a configuration shared by some of the candidate configurations in the at least one candidate configuration. The processing unit 802 is used to perform other processing steps.

[0462] When the configuration device 800 is used to implement the function of the candidate CU in the method embodiment shown in FIG2 or FIG3: the transceiver unit 801 is used to receive a first request message sent by the source CU, the first request message being used to request configuration information of the candidate cell; and to send a first reply message to the source CU, the first reply message indicating at least one candidate configuration and / or a first reference configuration corresponding to at least one candidate configuration, the first reply message being used to determine the first LTM configuration information. The processing unit 802 is used to perform other processing steps.

[0463] A more detailed description of the transceiver unit 801 and the processing unit 802 can be obtained directly from the relevant descriptions in the method embodiments shown in Figure 2 or Figure 3, and will not be repeated here.

[0464] When the aforementioned configuration device is a chip applied to a terminal or base station, the chip implements the functions of the terminal or base station in the above method embodiments. The chip can receive information from other modules (such as radio frequency modules or antennas) in the terminal or base station; or, the chip can send information to other modules (such as radio frequency modules or antennas) in the terminal or base station.

[0465] Figure 9 illustrates a schematic diagram of a terminal structure, wherein the terminal 900 includes a processor 910 and a communication interface 920. The processor 910 and the communication interface 920 are coupled together. It is understood that the communication interface 920 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. The communication interface 920 is used to receive signals from other terminals or base stations outside the terminal and transmit them to the processor 910, or to send signals from the processor 910 to other terminals or base stations outside the terminal.

[0466] Optionally, the terminal 900 may also include a memory 930 for storing instructions executed by the processor 910, or storing input data required by the processor 910 to execute instructions, or storing data generated after the processor 910 executes instructions.

[0467] When the terminal 900 is used to implement the method shown in FIG2 or FIG3, the processor 910 is used to execute the function of the processing unit 802, and the communication interface 920 is used to execute the function of the transceiver unit 801.

[0468] Figure 10 shows a schematic diagram of a base station structure. The base station includes a CU and a DU. The base station 1000 includes a processor 1010 and a communication interface 1020. The processor 1010 and the communication interface 1020 are coupled to each other. It is understood that the communication interface 1020 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface. The communication interface 1020 is used to receive signals from other terminals or base stations outside the base station and transmit them to the processor 1010, or to send signals from the processor 1010 to other terminals or base stations outside the base station.

[0469] Optionally, the base station 1000 may also include a memory 1030 for storing instructions executed by the processor 1010, or storing input data required by the processor 1010 to run instructions, or storing data generated after the processor 1010 runs instructions.

[0470] When the base station 1000 is used to implement the method shown in FIG2 or FIG3, the processor 1010 is used to execute the function of the processing unit 802, and the communication interface 1020 is used to execute the function of the transceiver unit 801.

[0471] This application also provides a communication system comprising a terminal, a source CU, and at least one candidate CU, wherein the terminal, the source CU, and at least one candidate CU are respectively used to implement the steps of the method shown in FIG2 or FIG3 above.

[0472] This application also provides a computer program product, comprising: computer program code, which, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method shown in Figure 2 or Figure 3 above. Wherein, when the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on the computer, all or part of the flow or function according to the embodiments of this application is generated. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can store or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. For example, available media may include magnetic media (e.g., floppy disks, hard disks, or magnetic tapes), optical media (e.g., digital versatile discs (DVDs)), or semiconductor media (e.g., solid-state disks (SSDs)).

[0473] This application provides a chip. The chip includes a processor, which is used to call a computer program in memory to execute the technical solutions in the above embodiments. Its implementation principle and technical effects are similar to those in the related embodiments described above, and will not be repeated here.

[0474] This application also provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, the computer program including program instructions, which, when executed by a processor, implement the methods described above. The methods described in the above embodiments can be implemented wholly or partially by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functionality can be stored as one or more instructions or code on or transmitted over the computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium can include computer storage media and communication media, and can also include any medium capable of transferring a computer program from one place to another. The storage medium can be any target medium accessible by a computer.

[0475] As one possible design, computer-readable media may include compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), RAM, ROM, EEPROM, or other optical disc storage; computer-readable media may include disk storage or other disk storage devices. Furthermore, any connecting cable may also be appropriately referred to as computer-readable media. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of media. As used herein, disks and optical discs include optical discs (CD), laser discs, optical discs, DVDs, floppy disks, and Blu-ray discs, where disks typically reproduce data magnetically, while optical discs optically reproduce data using lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0476] This application describes embodiments with reference to flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of this application. It should be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and / or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processing unit of a general-purpose computer, special-purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processing unit of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in one or more blocks of the flowchart illustrations and / or one or more blocks of the block diagrams.

[0477] The above specific embodiments further illustrate the purpose, technical solution and beneficial effects of this application. It should be understood that the above are only specific embodiments of this application and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of this application. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made on the basis of the technical solution of this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application.

Claims

1. A configuration method, characterized in that, Applied to a terminal, the method includes: Receive first LTM configuration information, the first LTM configuration information including at least one first reference configuration and at least one candidate configuration, wherein one of the at least one first reference configurations provides a configuration shared by some of the candidate configurations in the at least one candidate configuration.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method further includes: A second LTM configuration information is determined based on the at least one first reference configuration and / or the at least one candidate configuration, wherein the second LTM configuration information is the configuration applied when the terminal changes to the target cell.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The first LTM configuration information also includes the correspondence between the at least one first reference configuration and the at least one candidate configuration.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that, The first reference configuration includes a candidate configuration index of the candidate configuration corresponding to the first reference configuration.

5. The method according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that, The candidate configuration includes a reference configuration index of a first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration.

6. The method according to any one of claims 3-5, characterized in that, The candidate configuration includes a candidate configuration index, and the first LTM configuration information includes the correspondence between the candidate configuration index and the first reference configuration.

7. The method according to any one of claims 3-5, characterized in that, The first reference configuration includes a reference configuration index, and the first LTM configuration information includes the correspondence between the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration and the candidate configuration.

8. The method according to any one of claims 3-5, characterized in that, The candidate configuration includes a candidate configuration index, the first reference configuration includes a reference configuration index, and the first LTM configuration information includes the correspondence between the candidate configuration index and the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration.

9. The method according to any one of claims 3-8, characterized in that, The method further includes: The second LTM configuration information is determined based on the candidate configuration and / or the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1-9, characterized in that, The candidate configuration further includes first indication information, which indicates at least one of the following: The candidate configuration is the complete configuration; The candidate configuration is not the complete configuration; The first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration; The first reference configuration was not used by the candidate configurations.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1-10, characterized in that, The first reference configuration includes a higher-level reference configuration and / or a lower-level reference configuration.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that, The method further includes: The second LTM configuration information is determined based on the high-level reference configuration and / or low-level reference configuration in the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration, as well as the candidate configuration.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1-12, characterized in that, The candidate configurations include high-level candidate configurations and / or low-level candidate configurations.

14. The method according to any one of claims 10-13, characterized in that, The first indication information indicates at least one of the following: The higher-level candidate configuration is either a complete configuration or not; The underlying candidate configuration may or may not be a complete configuration; The higher-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration is either used by the candidate configuration or not used by the candidate configuration; The underlying reference configuration of the first reference configuration is either used by the candidate configuration or not used by the candidate configuration.

15. A configuration method, characterized in that, Applied to a source CU, the method includes: Send first LTM configuration information to the terminal. The first LTM configuration information includes at least one first reference configuration and at least one candidate configuration. One of the first reference configurations provides a configuration shared by some of the candidate configurations in the at least one candidate configuration.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that, The method further includes: Send a first request message to at least one candidate CU, the first request message being used to request configuration information of the candidate cell; A first response message is received, which indicates at least one candidate configuration and / or at least one first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration. The first response message is used to determine the first LTM configuration information.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that, The first response message also includes the correspondence between the at least one first reference configuration and the at least one candidate configuration.

18. The method according to any one of claims 15-17, characterized in that, The first LTM configuration information also includes one of the following: The reference configuration index corresponding to the first reference configuration; The correspondence between the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration and the candidate configuration; The candidate configuration index corresponding to the candidate configuration; The correspondence between the candidate configuration index and the first reference configuration; The correspondence between the candidate configuration index and the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration.

19. The method according to any one of claims 15-18, characterized in that, The first reference configuration includes one of the following: Refer to the configuration index; The candidate configuration index of the candidate configuration corresponding to the first reference configuration.

20. The method according to any one of claims 15-19, characterized in that, The candidate configuration includes one of the following: Candidate configuration index; The reference configuration index of the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration; First instruction information.

21. The method according to claim 20, characterized in that, The first indication information indicates at least one of the following: The candidate configuration is the complete configuration; The candidate configuration is not the complete configuration; The first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration; The first reference configuration was not used by the candidate configurations.

22. The method according to any one of claims 16-21, characterized in that, The first request message carries at least one second reference configuration, which is a reference configuration for candidate CU to prepare LTM.

23. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that, The first request message also carries at least one second reference configuration and / or a correspondence between at least one second reference configuration and the at least one candidate CU.

24. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that, Before sending the first request message to at least one candidate CU, the method further includes: A second request message is sent to the at least one candidate CU, the second request message being a request for a third reference configuration.

25. The method according to claim 24, characterized in that, The method further includes: A third reference configuration is received, which is used to determine the second reference configuration.

26. The method according to any one of claims 16-25, characterized in that, The first request message carries multiple second reference configurations and an index of each second reference configuration.

27. The method according to claim 26, characterized in that, The first response message includes a first index, and the second reference configuration corresponding to the first index is the first reference configuration.

28. The method according to any one of claims 20-27, characterized in that, The second reference configuration includes a higher-level reference configuration and / or a lower-level reference configuration.

29. The method according to claim 28, characterized in that, The first reference configuration is the higher-level reference configuration and / or the lower-level reference configuration in the second reference configuration corresponding to the candidate CU.

30. The method according to claim 28 or 29, characterized in that, The candidate configurations include high-level candidate configurations and / or low-level candidate configurations.

31. The method according to claim 30, characterized in that, The first indication information indicates at least one of the following: The higher-level candidate configuration is either a complete configuration or not; The underlying candidate configuration may or may not be a complete configuration; The higher-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration is either used by the candidate configuration or not used by the candidate configuration; The underlying reference configuration of the first reference configuration is either used by the candidate configuration or not used by the candidate configuration.

32. The method according to any one of claims 28-31, characterized in that, The method further includes: A third request message is sent to multiple source DUs controlled by the source CU. The third request message requests the multiple source DUs to report the underlying reference configuration. The underlying reference configuration reported by the multiple source DUs is used to determine the second reference configuration.

33. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that, The first request message carries enable information, which is used to request the configuration information of the candidate cell.

34. The method according to claim 33, characterized in that, The first request message also carries an index configured for the at least one candidate CU, wherein the index corresponding to the candidate CU is the index of the first reference configuration carried in the first reply message sent by the candidate CU.

35. The method according to claim 33 or 34, characterized in that, The first request message also carries a candidate configuration index configured for the at least one candidate cell, the candidate configuration index being used to identify the candidate configuration.

36. A configuration method, characterized in that, Applied to candidate CUs, the method includes: Receive a first request message sent by the source CU, the first request message being used to request the configuration information of the candidate cell; A first response message is sent to the source CU, the first response message indicating at least one candidate configuration and / or at least one first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration, the first response message being used to determine the first LTM configuration information.

37. The method according to claim 36, characterized in that, The first reply message includes one of the following: A correspondence between at least one first reference configuration and at least one candidate configuration; The reference configuration index corresponding to the first reference configuration; The correspondence between the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration and the candidate configuration; The candidate configuration index corresponding to the candidate configuration; The correspondence between the candidate configuration index and the first reference configuration; The correspondence between the candidate configuration index and the reference configuration index of the first reference configuration; First instruction information.

38. The method according to claim 36 or 37, characterized in that, The first reference configuration includes one of the following: Refer to the configuration index; The candidate configuration index of the candidate configuration corresponding to the first reference configuration.

39. The method according to any one of claims 36-38, characterized in that, The candidate configuration includes one of the following: Candidate configuration index; The reference configuration index of the first reference configuration corresponding to the candidate configuration; First instruction information.

40. The method according to claim 39, characterized in that, The first indication information indicates at least one of the following: The candidate configuration is the complete configuration; The candidate configuration is not the complete configuration; The first reference configuration is used by the candidate configuration; The first reference configuration was not used by the candidate configurations.

41. The method according to any one of claims 36-40, characterized in that, The first request message carries at least one second reference configuration, which is a reference configuration for candidate CU to prepare LTM.

42. The method according to claim 41, characterized in that, The first request message also carries at least one second reference configuration and / or a correspondence between at least one second reference configuration and the at least one candidate CU.

43. The method according to claim 36, characterized in that, Before receiving the first request message sent by the source CU, the method further includes: Receive a second request message, which requests a third reference configuration.

44. The method according to claim 43, characterized in that, The method further includes: A third reference configuration is sent, which is used to determine the second reference configuration.

45. The method according to any one of claims 36-44, characterized in that, The first request message carries multiple second reference configurations and an index of each second reference configuration.

46. ​​The method according to any one of claims 39-45, characterized in that, The second reference configuration includes a high-level reference configuration and a low-level reference configuration.

47. The method according to claim 46, characterized in that, Before sending the first reply message to the source CU, the method further includes: Send the underlying reference configuration in the second reference configuration to the multiple candidate DUs controlled by the candidate CU; Receive the underlying candidate configurations reported by the multiple candidate DUs; Provide high-level candidate configurations based on the high-level reference configurations in the second reference configuration; The at least one candidate configuration is determined based on the lower-level candidate configuration and the higher-level candidate configuration.

48. The method according to claim 47, characterized in that, The candidate configurations include high-level reference configurations and low-level reference configurations.

49. The method according to claim 48, characterized in that, The first indication information indicates at least one of the following: The higher-level candidate configuration is either a complete configuration or not; The underlying candidate configuration may or may not be a complete configuration; The higher-level reference configuration of the first reference configuration is either used by the candidate configuration or not used by the candidate configuration; The underlying reference configuration of the first reference configuration is either used by the candidate configuration or not used by the candidate configuration.

50. The method according to claim 36, characterized in that, The first request message carries enable information, which is used to request the configuration information of the candidate cell.

51. The method according to claim 50, characterized in that, The first request message also carries an index configured for the at least one candidate CU, wherein the index corresponding to the candidate CU is the index of the first reference configuration carried in the first reply message sent by the candidate CU.

52. The method according to claim 50 or 51, characterized in that, The first request message also carries a candidate configuration index configured for the at least one candidate cell, the candidate configuration index being used to identify the candidate configuration.

53. A communication system, characterized in that, It includes a terminal, a source CU, and at least one candidate CU, wherein the source CU is used to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 15 to 35; The at least one candidate CU is used to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 36 to 52; The terminal is used to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 14.

54. A terminal, characterized in that, It includes a processor and a memory, the memory being used to store program instructions, and the processor being used to invoke the program instructions to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 14.

55. A base station, characterized in that, The method includes a processor and a memory, the memory being used to store program instructions, and the processor being used to invoke the program instructions to perform the method of any one of claims 15 to 35, or the processor being used to invoke the program instructions to perform the method of any one of claims 36 to 52.

56. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The storage medium stores a computer program or instructions that, when executed, implement the steps of the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 14, or the steps of the method as described in any one of claims 15 to 35, or the steps of the method as described in any one of claims 36 to 52.

57. A computer program product comprising instructions, characterized in that, When it is run on a computer, it causes the computer to perform the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, or the steps of the method according to any one of claims 15 to 35, or the steps of the method according to any one of claims 36 to 52.

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