Communication method, electronic apparatus, and computer program product

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a communication method, an electronic apparatus, and a computer program product. An AIoT reader sends a first instruction corresponding to an AIoT terminal device to the AIoT terminal device, wherein the first instruction carries an instruction for paging and / or inventorying the AIoT terminal device. The AIoT reader receives access information of the AIoT terminal device, and sends an identifier of the AIoT terminal device and / or an identifier of the AIoT reader to an association relationship maintenance node.

Description

Communication method, electronic device and computer program product

[0001] Cross-reference to related applications

[0002] The present application is based on Chinese Patent Application No. CN202411059029.7 entitled “Communication method, electronic device and computer program product” filed on August 2, 2024, and claims priority to the same, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the field of communication, in particular to a communication method, an electronic device and a computer program product. BACKGROUND

[0004] Internet of Things (IoT) technology has been widely used around the world. The reduction in size, complexity and power consumption of IoT devices is crucial to user experience and the development of the industry chain. Due to factors such as use environment and maintenance cost, some IoT devices in some scenarios (such as low-cost electronic tags, etc.) cannot replace the battery, cannot be charged in time, etc. Therefore, it is necessary to study a device that does not require a power supply, i.e., a passive IoT device. Such a device has no energy storage function or only a small amount of energy storage function, and initiates a service by utilizing energy in the environment (such as radio waves, light, motion, heat, etc.) to drive the device, thereby achieving low-cost, low-power and efficient wireless communication. When initiating a service, such a device is generally triggered by the network side to initiate a service, and at the same time provides energy to the terminal. The terminal feeds back uplink information after receiving the energy and service instruction, i.e., Ambient Internet of Things (AIoT).

[0005] In related technologies, the data transmission process of AIoT still has the problems of low accuracy and low resource utilization. SUMMARY

[0006] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication method, an electronic device and a computer program product to at least solve the problems of low accuracy and low resource utilization of the data transmission process of AIoT in related technologies.

[0007] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a communication method is provided, including: an Ambient Internet of Things (AIoT) reader sending a first instruction corresponding to an AIoT terminal device to the AIoT terminal device, wherein the first instruction carries an indication for paging and / or inventorying the AIoT terminal device; the AIoT reader receiving access information of the AIoT terminal device, and sending an AIoT terminal device identifier and / or an AIoT reader identifier to an association relationship maintenance node.

[0008] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a communication method is provided, comprising: a base station sending a first message to an ambient Internet of Things (AIoT) reader, the first message being used to instruct the AIoT reader to stop data transmission and reception and Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurement of a New Radio (NR) air interface, wherein the AIoT reader is a User Equipment (UE).

[0009] According to still another embodiment of the present disclosure, an electronic device is also provided, comprising a memory and a processor, the memory having stored therein a computer program, and the processor being configured to execute the computer program to perform the steps in any of the above method embodiments. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0010] FIG. 1 is a hardware structure block diagram of a computer terminal of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0011] FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0012] FIG. 3 is another flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0013] FIG. 4 is still another flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0014] FIG. 5 is yet another flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0015] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and in conjunction with embodiments.

[0016] It should be noted that the terms “first”, “second”, and the like in the specification and claims of the present disclosure and the above-described drawings are used to distinguish similar objects, and do not necessarily have to describe a specific order or sequence.

[0017] In the related art, in the case of a base station as an AIoT reader, the AIoT reader is directly connected with an AIoT core network (such as an AIoT controller or an AIoT management function entity). In the case of a New Radio User Equipment (NR UE) as an AIoT reader, the AIoT reader is connected with the AIoT core network through an NR base station.

[0018] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, solutions are proposed for the access process of an Ambient Internet of Things (AIoT), especially the problems involved in the wireless access process of the AIoT.

[0019] The methods and embodiments provided in this disclosure can be executed in a mobile terminal, a computer terminal, or a similar computing device. Taking a computer terminal as an example, FIG1 is a hardware structure block diagram of a computer terminal for the communication method of this disclosure. As shown in FIG1, the computer terminal may include one or more (only one is shown in FIG1) processors 102 (processors 102 may include, but are not limited to, processing devices such as microprocessors MCUs or programmable logic devices FPGAs) and a memory 104 for storing data. The computer terminal may also include a transmission device 106 for communication functions and an input / output device 108. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the structure shown in FIG1 is only illustrative and does not limit the structure of the computer terminal. For example, the computer terminal may also include more or fewer components than shown in FIG1, or have a different configuration than shown in FIG1.

[0020] The memory 104 can be used to store computer programs, such as application software programs and modules, like the computer program corresponding to the communication method in this embodiment. The processor 102 executes various functional applications and data processing by running the computer program stored in the memory 104, thus implementing the above-described method. The memory 104 may include high-speed random access memory and non-volatile memory, such as one or more magnetic storage devices, flash memory, or other non-volatile solid-state memory. In some instances, the memory 104 may further include memory remotely located relative to the processor 102, and these remote memories can be connected to a computer terminal via a network. Examples of such networks include, but are not limited to, the Internet, corporate intranets, local area networks, mobile communication networks, and combinations thereof.

[0021] The transmission device 106 is used to receive or send data via a network. Specific examples of the network described above may include a wireless network provided by a communication provider for the computer terminal. In one example, the transmission device 106 includes a Network Interface Controller (NIC), which can connect to other network devices via a base station to communicate with the Internet. In another example, the transmission device 106 may be a Radio Frequency (RF) module, used for wireless communication with the Internet.

[0022] This disclosure provides a communication method. Figure 2 is a flowchart of the communication method according to this disclosure. As shown in Figure 2, the process includes the following steps:

[0023] In step S202, the AIoT reader sends a first instruction corresponding to the AIoT terminal device to the AIoT terminal device, wherein the first instruction carries an instruction for paging and / or inventorying the AIoT terminal device.

[0024] In this embodiment of the disclosure, considering that the AIoT terminal device may move, and the UE acting as the AIoT reader may also move, the association between the AIoT terminal device and the AIoT reader may change. In order to discover the updated association between the AIoT terminal device and the AIoT reader, the following operation can be performed: when the AIoT reader sends a paging and / or inventory command to the AIoT terminal device, it also carries the identification information of the AIoT reader.

[0025] In one exemplary embodiment, the new AIoT terminal device includes at least one of the following: a new AIoT terminal device that moves into the coverage area of ​​the AIoT reader; or a new AIoT terminal device that accesses the AIoT network.

[0026] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the new AIoT terminal device includes: an AIoT terminal device that has moved to the coverage area of ​​the AIoT reader (e.g., the identification information of the AIoT reader stored in the AIoT terminal device is different from the identification information of the AIoT reader in the received paging and / or inventory command) or an AIoT terminal device that has newly accessed the AIoT network (e.g., the AIoT terminal device does not store the identification information of the AIoT reader).

[0027] In one exemplary embodiment, the first instruction carries an AIoT reader identifier, but does not carry an AIoT terminal device identifier and / or an AIoT terminal device group identifier, meaning that the first instruction is not targeted at a specific AIoT terminal device or AIoT terminal device group.

[0028] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the paging and / or inventory command for a new AIoT terminal device has at least one of the following characteristics: it does not carry an AIoT terminal device identifier or an AIoT terminal device group identifier, carries an instruction for paging and / or inventory of a new AIoT terminal device, or carries identification information of an AIoT reader.

[0029] In one exemplary embodiment, the AIoT reader receives access information from an AIoT terminal device, including: the AIoT reader receiving a non-access stratum identifier from a new AIoT terminal device.

[0030] In one exemplary embodiment, the association maintenance node includes at least one of the following: AIoT core network; application server; base station; AIoT management network element.

[0031] In this disclosed embodiment, it should be noted that the AIoT core network is the core network of the environmental Internet of Things (AIoT) system. Correspondingly, in the case where the NR UE acts as an AIoT reader, the core networks of the NR base station and the NR communication system are also involved.

[0032] In one exemplary embodiment, the AIoT reader sends a first instruction to the AIoT terminal device, including: the AIoT reader sending the first instruction to the AIoT terminal device according to a preset period.

[0033] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the preset period is at least one of the following: a standard predefined period, a period received from the AIoT core network, a period received from the application server, or a period designed by the AIoT reader itself; or the period of the AIoT core network.

[0034] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the AIoT reader can periodically send paging and / or inventory commands to newly entered AIoT terminal devices within its coverage area.

[0035] In step S204, the AIoT reader receives the access information of the AIoT terminal device and sends the AIoT terminal device identifier and / or the AIoT reader identifier to the association maintenance node.

[0036] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the aforementioned AIoT terminal device identifier is the AIoT terminal device identifier of a new AIoT terminal device.

[0037] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when an AIoT terminal device receives a paging and / or inventory command for a newly entered AIoT reader coverage area, if it finds that the identification information of the AIoT reader stored in its device is different from the identification information of the AIoT reader in the received paging and / or inventory command, or if it does not store the identification information of the AIoT reader, it responds to the paging and / or inventory command, triggers a random access procedure, reports its non-access stratum identifier, and triggers the AIoT reader to send the non-access stratum identifier of the AIoT terminal device and / or the identifier of the currently used AIoT reader to the core network or application layer.

[0038] In one exemplary embodiment, the method further includes: the AIoT reader detecting uplink information of the AIoT terminal device; and, if uplink information is detected and the uplink information carries an AIoT terminal device identifier, the AIoT reader sending the AIoT terminal device identifier and / or the AIoT reader identifier to the association maintenance node.

[0039] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the AIoT reader can initiate detection of uplink information (such as Msg3 or Msg A) of AIoT terminal devices. As long as uplink information of a certain AIoT terminal device is detected and carries the non-access stratum identification information of the AIoT terminal device, the AIoT reader will report the identification information of the AIoT terminal device and the identification information of the AIoT reader to the AIoT core network or application server.

[0040] In one exemplary embodiment, the method further includes: multiple AIoT readers sending their AIoT reader identifiers and corresponding detected AIoT terminal device identifiers to an association maintenance node, so that the association maintenance node establishes an association between the AIoT terminal device and the multiple AIoT readers.

[0041] In one exemplary embodiment, the method further includes: the AIoT reader sending the energy information and / or signal strength information of the detected uplink information of the AIoT terminal device to the association maintenance node.

[0042] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the AIoT reader also reports the energy information and / or signal strength of the detected uplink information to the core network or application server, so that the core network or application server can maintain (add or delete) the association between the AIoT terminal device and multiple AIoT readers.

[0043] In one exemplary embodiment, the method further includes: the AIoT reader calculating the distance between the AIoT terminal device and the AIoT reader based on the energy information and / or signal strength information of the detected uplink information of the AIoT terminal device, or calculating the new azimuth angle of the AIoT terminal device relative to the AIoT reader; and the AIoT reader sending the distance and / or azimuth angle and / or Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) to the association maintenance node.

[0044] In one exemplary embodiment, the method further includes: the AIoT reader sending downlink commands with different transmission powers to the AIoT terminal device; determining the distance between the AIoT reader and the AIoT terminal device based on the power strength of the downlink commands and the AIoT terminal device responding to the downlink commands; and the AIoT reader sending its transmission power level, the non-access stratum identifier of the AIoT terminal device, and / or the association relationship between the AIoT reader and the AIoT terminal device to the association relationship maintenance node; wherein the transmission power of the downlink commands is provided by the AIoT core network, or by the application server, or determined by the AIoT reader.

[0045] In one exemplary embodiment, the method further includes: the AIoT reader calculating and obtaining the AIoT reader identifier of the AIoT reader that meets a preset distance threshold with the AIoT terminal device based on the uplink information of the detected AIoT terminal device; and the AIoT reader sending the AIoT terminal device identifier and / or the AIoT reader identifier of the AIoT reader that meets the preset distance threshold to the association relationship maintenance node.

[0046] In one exemplary embodiment, after the AIoT reader calculates and obtains the AIoT reader identifier of the AIoT reader that meets the preset distance threshold with the AIoT terminal device, the method further includes: the AIoT reader establishing an AIoT reader set based on the AIoT readers that meet the preset distance threshold, and sending the AIoT terminal device identifier and / or the AIoT reader set identifier of the AIoT reader set to the association relationship maintenance node.

[0047] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when the AIoT reader receives uplink information (such as Msg3 or Msg A) from the AIoT terminal device, it estimates or calculates the AIoT readers near the location of the AIoT terminal device, and reports the identification information of the AIoT readers near the location of the AIoT terminal device and the non-access stratum identification information of the AIoT terminal device to the core network or application server, so that the core network or application server can maintain the association relationship between the AIoT terminal device and multiple AIoT readers.

[0048] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the AIoT reader near the location of the AIoT terminal device is an AIoT reader whose distance value or detected signal strength value (such as RSRP) from the AIoT terminal device meets a preset threshold. The preset threshold is determined according to the actual situation and is not limited here.

[0049] In one exemplary embodiment, the method further includes: when the AIoT reader belongs to the AIoT reader set and the AIoT reader is initially powered on, configured, or reconfigured, the AIoT reader sends its own address information, AIoT reader identifier, and / or the corresponding AIoT reader set identifier to the association maintenance node.

[0050] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when the AIoT reader is initially powered on, or during parameter configuration or reconfiguration, the AIoT reader is configured to send its address, identifier, and / or the identifier of the AIoT reader set (or the AIoT reader region) to which it belongs to to the core network or application server. This is so that the core network or application server can maintain the correspondence between the AIoT reader set (or the AIoT reader region) and the AIoT reader, so that the paging, command, or inventory instructions of the AIoT terminal devices in the set can be sent to all AIoT readers in the AIoT reader set (or AIoT reader region).

[0051] In one exemplary embodiment, the AIoT reader set identifier is carried in the inventory instruction received by the AIoT reader from the core network.

[0052] In one exemplary embodiment, multiple AIoT readers in an AIoT reader set are configured with the same identifier.

[0053] In this embodiment of the disclosure, multiple AIoT readers can form an AIoT reader set, and the AIoT reader set has an AIoT reader set identifier. When multiple AIoT readers belong to the same area, the multiple AIoT readers belong to an AIoT reader area, and the AIoT reader area has an AIoT reader area identifier.

[0054] In one exemplary embodiment, the method further includes: when the AIoT reader is a user equipment (UE) and the UE undergoes cell handover, the association maintenance node receives an update instruction from the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) and updates the correspondence between the AIoT reader and the AIoT terminal device based on the update instruction.

[0055] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when the UE acts as an AIoT reader, if the UE in connection mode undergoes cell handover, the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) notifies the AIoT core network or application server to update the mapping relationship between the AIoT reader and the AIoT terminal device. For example, if the UE moves to a new cell, the AIoT core network or application server deletes the mapping relationship between the UE as a reader and the AIoT terminal device.

[0056] In one exemplary embodiment, it further includes: a process and messages for the AIoT reader to exchange AIoT reader-level information with the AIoT core network, wherein the AIoT reader-level information exchange process includes one of the following: a connection establishment process between the AIoT reader and the AIoT core network; a configuration update process; an AIoT reader activation / deactivation related process; and an AIoT reader status information reporting process.

[0057] In one exemplary embodiment, the AIoT reader sends a connection interaction message to the core network, wherein the connection interaction message includes one of the following: connection establishment information; connection reconfiguration information; activation-related information; status reporting information.

[0058] In this embodiment of the disclosure, for the AIoT communication process, an interface protocol (e.g., Reader Application Protocol (R-AP)) needs to be defined between the AIoT reader and the AIoT core network (e.g., the AIoT controller) to exchange information at the AIoT reader level and at the AIoT terminal device level or AIoT terminal device group level. The R-AP content includes at least the aforementioned connection interaction process and its corresponding connection establishment information.

[0059] In one exemplary embodiment, the connection establishment process includes at least one of the following: the AIoT reader sends a connection establishment request to the AIoT core network; the AIoT core network sends a connection establishment response or connection establishment failure to the AIoT reader. Wherein: the connection establishment request (i.e., the aforementioned connection establishment information) includes at least one of the following: the AIoT reader identifier; the AIoT reader's collective identifier; the AIoT reader's area identifier; the AIoT reader's physical address; and the core network's physical address.

[0060] In one exemplary embodiment, the connection configuration update process includes at least one of the following: the AIoT reader sends an AIoT reader configuration update request to the AIoT core network; the AIoT core network sends an AIoT reader configuration update response or an AIoT reader configuration update failure indication to the AIoT reader; the AIoT core network sends an AIoT core network configuration update request to the AIoT reader; and the AIoT reader sends an AIoT core network configuration update response or an AIoT core network configuration update failure indication to the AIoT core network. The AIoT reader configuration update request (i.e., the aforementioned connection reconfiguration information) includes at least one of the following: a new AIoT reader identifier; a new AIoT reader set identifier; a new AIoT reader region identifier; and a new AIoT reader physical address. The AIoT core network configuration update request includes at least one of the following: a new AIoT reader identifier; a new AIoT reader set identifier; a new AIoT reader region identifier; a new AIoT reader physical address; and a new core network physical address.

[0061] In an exemplary embodiment, the AIoT reader activation / deactivation related process includes at least one of the following: the AIoT reader sends an AIoT reader activation / deactivation request to the AIoT core network; the AIoT core network sends an AIoT reader activation / deactivation response to the AIoT reader; the AIoT core network sends an AIoT reader activation / deactivation request to the AIoT reader; the AIoT reader sends an AIoT reader activation / deactivation response to the AIoT core network; the AIoT reader activation / deactivation request (i.e., the above-mentioned activation-related information) includes at least one of the following: an activation indication for a Reader Application Protocol (R-AP) link; a deactivation indication for an R-AP link; an activation indication for an R-AP downlink; a deactivation indication for an R-AP downlink; and a deletion indication for an R-AP link.

[0062] In one exemplary embodiment, the AIoT reader status information reporting process includes at least one of the following: the AIoT reader sends AIoT reader status information to the AIoT core network. The AIoT reader status information (i.e., the aforementioned status reporting information) includes at least one of the following: whether the AIoT reader is in an available state; whether the AIoT reader is in a signaling / data receiving state.

[0063] In one exemplary embodiment, the method further includes: the AIoT reader receiving a second instruction from the core network, wherein the second instruction includes one of the following: a paging or inventory command; an application layer command; a read command; a write command; a command that requires feedback of application layer data; a command that requires application layer confirmation; and an AIoT terminal device deactivation command.

[0064] In this embodiment of the disclosure, for the AIoT communication process, an interface protocol R-AP needs to be defined between the AIoT reader and the core network (e.g., the AIoT controller) to exchange information at the AIoT reader level and at the AIoT terminal device level or AIoT terminal device group level. The R-AP content includes at least the aforementioned second instruction and the content of the second instruction.

[0065] In one exemplary embodiment, the paging or inventory command includes at least one of the following: an AIoT reader identifier; a set identifier of an AIoT reader; a region identifier of an AIoT reader; an AIoT terminal device identifier; multiple AIoT terminal device identifiers; a collective identifier of an AIoT terminal device; a collective identifier of multiple AIoT terminal devices; a paging type indicator; and an inventory type indicator.

[0066] In one exemplary embodiment, the read command includes at least one of the following: an AIoT reader identifier; a set identifier of an AIoT reader; a region identifier of an AIoT reader; an AIoT terminal device identifier; a group identifier of an AIoT terminal device; multiple AIoT terminal device identifiers; and a group identifier of multiple AIoT terminal devices.

[0067] In one exemplary embodiment, after the AIoT reader receives a read command from the core network, the method further includes: the AIoT reader sending read command feedback information to the core network, wherein the read command feedback information includes at least one of the following: an AIoT terminal device identifier and the corresponding read application layer data; multiple AIoT terminal device identifiers and the corresponding read application layer data. The application layer data may also be user data.

[0068] In one exemplary embodiment, the write command includes at least one of the following: an AIoT reader identifier; a set identifier for AIoT readers; a region identifier for AIoT readers; an AIoT terminal device identifier and corresponding application layer data to be written; an AIoT terminal device group identifier and corresponding application layer data to be written; identifiers of multiple AIoT terminal devices and corresponding application layer data to be written; and identifiers of multiple AIoT terminal device groups and corresponding application layer data to be written. The application layer data may also be user data.

[0069] In one exemplary embodiment, after the AIoT reader receives a write command from the core network, the method further includes: the AIoT reader sending write command feedback information to the core network, wherein the write command feedback information includes at least one of the following: an AIoT terminal device identifier; multiple AIoT terminal device identifiers; and indication information indicating whether the write command was successfully executed.

[0070] In one exemplary embodiment, the AIoT terminal device deactivation command includes at least one of the following: an AIoT terminal device identifier; multiple AIoT terminal device identifiers; an AIoT terminal device group identifier; multiple AIoT terminal device group identifiers; a permanent deactivation indication; a temporary deactivation indication; and a deactivation indication.

[0071] In one exemplary embodiment, after the AIoT reader receives an AIoT terminal device deactivation command from the core network, the method further includes: the AIoT reader sending a deactivation information response to the core network, wherein the deactivation information response includes at least one of the following: an AIoT terminal device identifier; multiple AIoT terminal device identifiers; and indication information indicating whether the AIoT terminal device deactivation command was successfully executed.

[0072] This disclosure also provides a communication method. Figure 3 is another flowchart of the communication method according to this disclosure, as shown in Figure 3, which includes the following steps:

[0073] In step S302, the AIoT terminal device receives a first instruction from the AIoT reader, wherein the first instruction carries an instruction for paging and / or inventorying the AIoT terminal device.

[0074] In one exemplary embodiment, the AIoT terminal device includes at least one of the following: an AIoT terminal device that has recently moved into the coverage area of ​​the AIoT reader; or an AIoT terminal device that has recently accessed the AIoT network.

[0075] In one exemplary embodiment, the first instruction carries an AIoT reader identifier, but does not carry an AIoT terminal device identifier and / or an AIoT terminal device group identifier, meaning that the first instruction is not targeted at a specific AIoT terminal device or AIoT terminal device group.

[0076] In one exemplary embodiment, the AIoT reader receives access information from the AIoT terminal device, including: the AIoT reader receiving a non-access stratum identifier from the AIoT terminal device.

[0077] In one exemplary embodiment, the association maintenance node includes at least one of the following: AIoT core network; application server; base station; AIoT management network element.

[0078] In step S304, the AIoT terminal device sends access information to the AIoT reader, so that the AIoT reader sends the AIoT terminal device identifier and / or the AIoT reader identifier to the association maintenance node.

[0079] According to the above embodiments, the entity executing the communication method of this disclosure can be an AIoT reader or an AIoT terminal device. In actual implementation, it can also be a module, platform, system, etc., set in or independent of the AIoT reader and / or AIoT terminal device.

[0080] This disclosure provides a communication method in which an AIoT reader sends a first instruction corresponding to an AIoT terminal device to the AIoT terminal device. The first instruction carries an indication for paging and / or inventorying the AIoT terminal device. The AIoT reader receives the access information of the AIoT terminal device and sends the AIoT terminal device identifier and / or the AIoT reader identifier to an association maintenance node. This solves the problems of low accuracy and low resource utilization in the AIoT data transmission process in related technologies, achieving the effect of improving the accuracy and resource utilization of AIoT data transmission.

[0081] This disclosure also provides a communication method. Figure 4 is another flowchart of the communication method according to this disclosure. As shown in Figure 4, it includes the following steps:

[0082] In step S402, the base station sends a first message to the UE, which instructs the UE to stop NR air interface data transmission and / or Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurement, wherein the UE also acts as an AIoT reader.

[0083] In one exemplary embodiment, the method further includes: the base station sending a first status indication to the core network, wherein the first status indication is used to indicate that the core network has entered a high-latency communication state.

[0084] In this embodiment, after the base station sends AIoT signaling and / or user data to the UE, it simultaneously sends a connection release message to transfer the UE to the RRC_IDLE state, RRC_INACTIVE state, or a new state, stopping the UE from performing NR air interface data transmission and / or radio resource management (RRM) measurements. At the same time, it sends a message to the core network to switch to a high-latency communication state, such as sending downlink signaling / data transmission prohibition indication and / or prohibition timer to the core network, to prevent the core network from sending the UE's downlink data to the base station when the UE is used as an AIoT reader for AIoT communication and the NR air interface becomes unreachable.

[0085] In one exemplary embodiment, the type of the first state indication includes at least one of the following: downlink signaling transmission prohibition indication; downlink data transmission prohibition indication; and timer duration for prohibiting downlink signaling and / or data transmission.

[0086] In an exemplary embodiment, the base station sends a first message to the UE, including: the base station instructing the UE to enter a connected state and a discontinuous reception (DRX off) state; the base station sends first indication information to the UE, the first indication information being used to indicate the start time and duration of the UE entering the DRX off state (a state in which the UE does not perform NR air interface transmission and reception, such as not performing PDCCH monitoring, etc.), the time-domain sequence of the DRX off state, the time-domain mode of the DRX off state, or the duration of a timer indicating that the UE's NR air interface is unreachable; wherein, the first message includes the first indication information.

[0087] Simultaneously, the UE, acting as an AIoT reader, configures the time-domain location, time-domain sequence, and / or DRX on timing for downlink signaling or downlink access indication monitoring of the AIoT terminal device. Specifically, the time-domain location, time-domain sequence, and / or DRX on timing configured by the AIoT reader for downlink signaling or downlink access indication monitoring of the AIoT terminal device can be one of the following: the DRX off timing configured by the base station for the UE, or a subset of the DRX off timing configured by the base station for the UE.

[0088] In an exemplary embodiment, the start time of the DRX off state (the state in which the UE does not perform NR air interface transmission and reception) includes at least one of the following: time domain information specified by the base station; time information carried in the downlink signaling of the core network.

[0089] In one exemplary embodiment, the time-domain mode of the DRX off state can be configured via Cell Discontinuous Transmission (Cell DTX) and / or Cell DRX parameters. If Cell DTX and / or Cell DRX parameters are configured, NR air interface reception and / or transmission can only occur during the cell DTX / DRX active period (or when the cell DTX-DRX-on DurationTimer is running). Reception and / or transmission between the AIoT reader and AIoT terminal devices can only occur during the cell DTX / DRX inactive period (or when the cell DTX-DRX-on DurationTimer is not running).

[0090] In this embodiment, when the base station sends AIoT signaling and / or data to the UE, and the UE remains in a connected state, the UE enters a special discontinuous reception DRX off state (a state in which the UE does not perform NR air interface transmission and reception). This is equivalent to a special connected state DRX configuration: the base station configures a timer or NR air interface unreachable timer for the start time and duration of DRX off (the state in which the UE does not perform NR air interface transmission and reception). Furthermore, the base station can also send a transition to a high-latency communication state to the core network, for example, by sending downlink signaling / data transmission prohibition indication and / or prohibition timer to the core network, to prevent the core network from sending downlink data of the UE to the base station when the UE is used as an AIoT reader for AIoT communication and the NR air interface becomes unreachable.

[0091] In an exemplary embodiment, the base station sends a first message to the UE, including: the base station instructing the UE to enter a connection state and a data transmission interval (Guard Access Period, GAP) state, that is, the base station sends second indication information to the UE, the second indication information being used to indicate the start time and duration of the UE's NR air interface data transmission interval (GAP) state; wherein, the first message includes the second indication information.

[0092] In this embodiment, when the base station sends AIoT signaling and / or data to the UE, the UE remains in a connected state and enters the NR interface receive and / or transmit GAP state, which is equivalent to a special measurement GAP configuration: the base station configures a start timer and duration timer for the NR interface receive and / or transmit GAP for the UE. The start timer can be time-domain information of [SFN, subframe] specified by the base station, where [SFN, subframe] can be indicated by [referenceSFN, timeOffset], and / or implicitly indicated by the downlink signaling transmission timing. After receiving the start timer and duration timer of the NR interface receive and / or transmit GAP configuration, the UE starts the timer at the start time of the NR interface receive and / or transmit GAP configuration. Before the timer expires, the UE enters the NR receive and / or transmit GAP state and performs AIoT air interface communication.

[0093] Simultaneously, the UE, acting as an AIoT reader, configures the downlink signaling or downlink access indication monitoring time-domain location and time-domain sequence for AIoT terminal devices. Specifically, the time-domain location for the AIoT reader to configure downlink signaling or downlink access indication monitoring for AIoT terminal devices can be one of the following: the timing of NR interface reception and / or transmission of GAP configured by the base station for the UE, or a subset of the timing of NR interface reception and / or transmission of GAP configured by the base station for the UE.

[0094] In an exemplary embodiment, the base station sends a first message to the UE, including: the base station sends a first configuration signaling to the UE, the first configuration signaling being used to configure timing modes for the UE's NR air interface and AIoT air interface to control the timing of data transmission and reception of the NR air interface and AIoT air interface.

[0095] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the base station can define the time period during which data can be transmitted and received via the NR wireless interface and the time period during which data cannot be transmitted and received via the NR wireless interface, or define the time period during which data can be transmitted and received via the AIoT wireless interface.

[0096] In one exemplary embodiment, the method further includes: the base station adjusting the timing pattern via Medium Access Control (MAC) or Downlink Control Information (DCI).

[0097] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the base station can also dynamically adjust the timing mode of the NR wireless interface and the AIoT wireless interface through Medium Access Control (MAC) or Downlink Control Information (DCI). For example, when there is a large amount of data to be transmitted on the AIoT wireless interface, the NR wireless interface is shortened while the AIoT wireless interface is lengthened; when there is a small amount of data to be transmitted on the AIoT wireless interface, the NR wireless interface is lengthened while the AIoT wireless interface is shortened.

[0098] In one exemplary embodiment, before the base station sends the first message to the AIoT reader, the method further includes: the base station receiving AIoT signaling and / or data from the core network, or AIoT auxiliary information accompanying a NAS PDU containing AIoT signaling and / or data. The NAS PDU auxiliary information includes at least one of the following: the NAS PDU carries an indication of AIoT signaling and / or data; the NAS PDU carries specific information about the AIoT signaling and / or data, such as: paging or inventory indication, command indication, read command indication, write command indication, AIoT terminal device deactivation command, and the number of AIoT terminal devices.

[0099] In one exemplary embodiment, before the base station sends a first message to the AIoT reader, the method further includes: the base station receiving an NR air interface scheduling deactivation request or an AIoT air interface transmission request from the UE, the UE also acting as an AIoT reader.

[0100] In an exemplary embodiment, the NR air interface scheduling deactivation request or AIoT air interface transmission request is sent in at least one of the following ways: via dedicated resource indication; via uplink control information (UCI) indication; via media access control element (MAC CE) indication; via user assistance information (UAI) indication; via radio resource control (RRC) message indication.

[0101] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the aforementioned NR air interface scheduling deactivation request or AIoT air interface transmission request can be indicated by dedicated resources (e.g., PRACH dedicated resources for scheduling deactivation; dedicated scheduling deactivation indication similar to dedicated SR), or UCI indication, or MAC CE indication, or sent via UAI or transmitted via RRC message.

[0102] In one exemplary embodiment, after the base station receives an NR air interface scheduling deactivation request or an AIoT air interface transmission request from the UE, the method further includes: the base station sending an NR air interface scheduling deactivation indication rejection or an AIoT air interface transmission rejection indication to the UE. The UE also functions as an AIoT reader.

[0103] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the NR air interface scheduling deactivation request or AIoT air interface transmission request includes information for the base station to determine AIoT air interface resource requirements. This information includes at least one of the following: paging or inventory indication, command indication, read command indication, write command indication, AIoT terminal device deactivation command, number of AIoT terminal devices, and AIoT air interface resource requirement information. The AIoT air interface resource requirement information includes at least one of the following: the time domain length required for AIoT air interface transmission, the number of frequency domains required for AIoT air interface transmission, AIoT air interface resource quantity information, and related information that can be used to calculate the quantity of AIoT air interface resources.

[0104] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the UE sends an NR air interface scheduling deactivation request or an AIoT air interface transmission request to the NR base station. However, if the base station determines that AIoT air interface communication is not allowed due to reasons such as radio resource conflicts, radio interference considerations, or the UE carrying low-latency services, the base station will not respond to the NR air interface scheduling deactivation request or the AIoT air interface transmission request, or the base station will send an NR air interface scheduling deactivation rejection or an AIoT air interface transmission rejection indication to the UE.

[0105] In one exemplary embodiment, the method further includes: when a UE in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE state, which can act as an AIoT reader, needs to send a paging or inventory command to an AIoT terminal device (e.g., the AIoT reader periodically sends a paging or inventory command to the AIoT terminal device), the UE first sends an RRC connection establishment or RRC connection recovery request to the base station, triggering the UE to enter the RRC connection state; then, the UE sends an NR air interface scheduling deactivation request or an AIoT air interface transmission request to the base station, triggering the base station to indicate the first state to the core network and reserve air interface resources for the UE that can be used for AIoT communication. The RRC connection establishment or RRC connection recovery request carries a reason value or indication for AIoT communication, so that the base station can reserve air interface resources for AIoT communication for the UE (e.g., quickly reserve AIoT resources for the UE and quickly release the RRC connection, allowing the UE to access the RRC-IDLE or RRC-Inactive state). In one embodiment, reserving air interface resources for AIoT communication for the UE can be configured as described above, or it can be configured through an RRC connection release message.

[0106] In one exemplary embodiment, the base station further includes: sending frequency domain information and / or time domain information to the UE via a broadcast message, an RRC reconfiguration message, or an RRC release message, indicating that the UE will not receive and / or transmit NR service data (or the UE can act as an AIoT reader to receive and / or transmit data with AIoT terminal devices); the frequency domain information includes a center frequency and a frequency domain bandwidth; the time domain information can be characterized in one of the following ways:

[0107] In this embodiment of the disclosure, time-domain information can be indicated by a time-domain validity sequence, such as a System Frame Number Valid Bitmap (SFN). The UE only performs communication when the SFN is invalid, and communication between the AIoT reader and the AIoT terminal device only occurs when the SFN is invalid.

[0108] In this embodiment, time-domain information can be characterized by the discontinuous reception period (DRX cycle) of the NR air interface, and / or the on-duration timer and / or the wake-up start offset. For example, when [(SFN×10)+subframe number]modulo(DRX cycle)=(DRX-StartOffset), the UE starts the on-duration timer; the UE can only communicate with the AIoT terminal device as an AIoT reader during the period when the on-duration timer is not running. Alternatively, time-domain information can be characterized by the DRX cycle, on-duration timer, and startOffset of the AIoT air interface. For example, when [(SFN×10)+subframe number]modulo(DRX cycle)=(DRX-StartOffset), the AIoT reader starts the on-duration timer; the UE can only communicate with the AIoT terminal device during the period when the on-duration timer is running. Wherein, SFN stands for System Frame Number, subframe number represents the subframe number, and modulo represents the modulo operation.

[0109] In this embodiment of the disclosure, time-domain information can be configured using Cell DTX and / or Cell DRX parameters. If Cell DTX and / or Cell DRX parameters are configured in the broadcast, the reception and / or transmission between the AIoT reader and the AIoT terminal device can only occur during the cell DTX / DRX non-active period (when cellDTX-DRX-onDurationTimer is not running).

[0110] In an exemplary embodiment, when a UE in the RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE state communicates with an AIoT terminal device as an AIoT reader, how it receives paging messages can be an implementation behavior of the UE. For example, by indicating the access timing of the AIoT terminal device, the AIoT reader and the AIoT terminal device can be prevented from receiving and / or sending data during the NR paging timing.

[0111] In one exemplary embodiment, the method further includes: the base station configuring a first threshold for the wireless quality at which the UE can act as an AIoT reader, so that if the wireless quality is less than the first threshold, the UE deactivates or releases the AIoT link between the AIoT reader corresponding to the UE as an AIoT reader and the AIoT core network.

[0112] In one exemplary embodiment, the method further includes: the base station configuring a second threshold for the amount of wireless quality change in which the UE can act as an AIoT reader, so that if the amount of wireless quality change is greater than the second threshold, the UE deactivates or releases the AIoT link between the AIoT reader corresponding to the UE as an AIoT reader and the AIoT core network.

[0113] In one exemplary embodiment, the method further includes: the base station acquiring the capability information of the UE and the capability information of the base station; if the capability information acquired by the base station does not support the AIoT reader, the base station sending an AIoT prohibition signaling to the core network and / or the AIoT reader; or, if the capability information acquired by the base station does not support AIoT transmission, the base station sending an AIoT prohibition signaling to the core network.

[0114] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when the base station decides that a certain UE cannot be used as an AIoT reader based on factors such as wireless quality and network load, the base station sends an AIoT downlink signaling / data transmission prohibition indication through dedicated signaling, or an AIoT link deactivation indication to the core network and / or the UE used as an AIoT reader, so as to prevent the core network from sending the UE's AIoT signaling / data to the base station or directly sending AIoT signaling / data to the UE.

[0115] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when factors such as changes in the base station's network load or its own capabilities determine that it does not support AIoT-related features (e.g., functions to avoid interference enhancement between the NR air interface and the AIoT air interface), the base station notifies the core network of the AIoT non-support indication through NGAP public signaling, thereby preventing the core network from sending AIoT signaling / data to the UEs it serves through the base station or directly sending AIoT signaling / data to the UEs served by the base station.

[0116] In one exemplary embodiment, the AIoT prohibition signaling includes at least one of the following: downlink signaling transmission prohibition indication signaling; downlink data transmission prohibition indication signaling; AIoT link deactivation indication signaling; and AIoT transmission not supported indication signaling.

[0117] This disclosure also provides a communication method. Figure 5 is another flowchart of the communication method according to this disclosure. As shown in Figure 5, the method includes the following steps:

[0118] In step S502, the UE receives a first message from the base station, which instructs the UE to stop NR air interface data transmission and / or RRM measurement, wherein the UE also acts as an AIoT reader.

[0119] According to the above embodiments, the entity executing the communication method of this disclosure can be a UE or a base station. In actual implementation, it can also be a module, platform, system, etc., set up or independent of the UE and / or base station.

[0120] Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the methods according to the above embodiments can be implemented by means of software plus necessary general-purpose hardware platforms. Of course, they can also be implemented by hardware, but in many cases the former is a better implementation method. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this disclosure, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium (such as ROM / RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk), and includes several instructions to cause a terminal device (which may be a mobile phone, computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute the methods described in the various embodiments of this disclosure.

[0121] This embodiment also provides a communication device for implementing the above embodiments and preferred embodiments; details already described will not be repeated. As used below, the term "module" can refer to a combination of software and / or hardware that performs a predetermined function. Although the device described in the following embodiments is preferably implemented in software, hardware implementation, or a combination of software and hardware, is also possible and contemplated.

[0122] The communication device provided in this embodiment can be installed in an AIoT reader, including: a first sending module and a first receiving module. The first sending module is configured to send a first instruction corresponding to a new AIoT terminal device to the AIoT terminal device, wherein the first instruction carries an AIoT reader identifier. The first receiving module is configured to receive access information of the new AIoT terminal device and send the AIoT terminal device identifier and / or the AIoT reader identifier to the association maintenance node.

[0123] The communication device provided in this embodiment can be installed in a base station and includes: a second transmitting module configured to send a first message to an AIoT reader, the first message being used to instruct the AIoT reader to stop data transmission and reception on the new radio NR air interface and radio resource management (RRM) measurement, wherein the AIoT reader is a user equipment (UE).

[0124] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the communication device may further include different modules, and the naming and functional division of the modules may be selected in different ways according to the actual situation, without specific limitations.

[0125] It should be noted that the above modules can be implemented by software or hardware. For the latter, they can be implemented in the following ways, but are not limited to: all the above modules are located in the same processor; or, the above modules are located in different processors in any combination.

[0126] Embodiments of this disclosure also provide a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program configured to perform the steps in any of the above method embodiments when executed.

[0127] In one exemplary embodiment, the aforementioned computer-readable storage medium may include, but is not limited to, various media capable of storing computer programs, such as a USB flash drive, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), portable hard disk, magnetic disk, or optical disk.

[0128] Embodiments of this disclosure also provide an electronic device including a memory and a processor, the memory storing a computer program and the processor being configured to run the computer program to perform the steps in any of the above method embodiments.

[0129] In one exemplary embodiment, the electronic device may further include a transmission device and an input / output device, wherein the transmission device is connected to the processor and the input / output device is connected to the processor.

[0130] This disclosure also provides a computer program product, including a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the steps in any of the above method embodiments.

[0131] In one exemplary embodiment, the computer program product described above includes a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the methods described in various embodiments of this disclosure.

[0132] Specific examples in this embodiment can be found in the examples described in the above embodiments and exemplary implementations, and will not be repeated here.

[0133] It is obvious to those skilled in the art that the modules or steps of this disclosure described above can be implemented using general-purpose computing devices. They can be centralized on a single computing device or distributed across a network of multiple computing devices. They can be implemented using computer-executable program code, and thus can be stored in a storage device for execution by a computing device. In some cases, the steps shown or described can be performed in a different order than those presented herein, or they can be fabricated as separate integrated circuit modules, or multiple modules or steps can be fabricated as a single integrated circuit module. Thus, this disclosure is not limited to any particular combination of hardware and software.

[0134] To enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions disclosed herein, the following description is provided in conjunction with different embodiments.

[0135] Example 1

[0136] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the maintenance of the association between AIoT readers and AIoT terminal devices during the AIoT access process is described.

[0137] Because AIoT networks are wide area networks, there are many AIoT readers and AIoT terminal devices within the same network. When an application server or core network needs to send a paging, read / write, or inventory command to a specific AIoT terminal device, if it knows which AIoT reader(s) the AIoT terminal device is within its coverage area, it can send the paging, inventory, or read / write command to the AIoT terminal device in a targeted manner, thereby triggering the paging, inventory, or read / write command for the AIoT terminal device.

[0138] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the association maintenance node includes at least one of the following: an AIoT core network; an application server; a base station; and an AIoT management network element. For example, when the AIoT reader is a UE, the node used to establish and maintain the association between the AIoT reader and the AIoT terminal device can also be a base station.

[0139] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the method for the association maintenance node to obtain the coverage area of ​​which AIoT reader(s) the AIoT terminal device is located includes: (1) carrying it along the way; (2) inventorying new AIoT terminal devices; and (3) discovering the adjacency relationship between the AIoT terminal device and the AIoT reader(s).

[0140] (1) Carry it with you on the way:

[0141] In this embodiment, after the AIoT terminal device responds to paging, inventory, and / or transmits data to higher layers, the AIoT reader sends the non-access stratum identifier of the AIoT terminal device and the identifier of the currently used AIoT reader to the core network or application layer. This is used by the core network or application layer (i.e., the application server) to maintain the association between the non-access stratum identifier and the currently used AIoT reader, for subsequent paging, inventory, and / or command transmission to the AIoT terminal device. When the UE acts as the AIoT reader, the AIoT reader identifier can be a User Equipment Identity (UE ID), such as a Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI), a 5G-S Short Term Mobile Subscriber Identity (5G-S-TMSI), a Radio Network Temporary Identifier of UE in RRC_INACTIVE (I-RNTI), or an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), etc.

[0142] (2) Inventory of new AIoT terminal devices:

[0143] In this embodiment of the disclosure, considering that the AIoT terminal device may move, and the UE acting as the AIoT reader may also move, the association between the AIoT terminal device and the AIoT reader may change. To discover the updated association between the AIoT terminal device and the AIoT reader, the following operation can be performed: when the AIoT reader sends a paging and / or inventory command to the AIoT terminal device, it also carries the identification information of the AIoT reader. When the AIoT terminal device receives the paging and / or inventory command, it stores the identification information of the AIoT reader.

[0144] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the AIoT reader can periodically send paging and / or inventory commands for newly entered AIoT terminal devices within its coverage area. The paging and / or inventory command for a new AIoT terminal device has at least one of the following characteristics: it does not carry an AIoT terminal device identifier or an AIoT terminal device group identifier; it carries an indication for paging and / or inventorying the new AIoT terminal device; or it carries the identification information of the AIoT reader. The new AIoT terminal device includes: an AIoT terminal device that has recently moved into the coverage area of ​​the AIoT reader (e.g., the identification information of the AIoT reader stored is different from the identification information of the AIoT reader in the received paging and / or inventory command) or an AIoT terminal device that has recently accessed the AIoT network (e.g., it does not store the identification information of the AIoT reader).

[0145] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when an AIoT terminal device receives a paging and / or inventory command for a newly entered AIoT reader coverage area, if it finds that the identification information of the AIoT reader stored in its device is different from the identification information of the AIoT reader in the received paging and / or inventory command, or if it does not store the identification information of the AIoT reader, it responds to the paging and / or inventory command, triggers a random access procedure, reports its non-access stratum identifier, and triggers the AIoT reader to send the non-access stratum identifier of the AIoT terminal device and the identifier of the currently used AIoT reader to the core network or application layer.

[0146] (3) Discovery of adjacency relationships between AIoT terminal devices and AIoT readers:

[0147] In certain scenarios disclosed in this embodiment, the AIoT terminal device may be located at the intersection of multiple AIoT readers, or the AIoT terminal device may frequently move between multiple AIoT readers. In such cases, if the application server or core network sends paging, command, or inventory instructions to the AIoT terminal device only through the AIoT reader most recently used by the AIoT terminal device, it may frequently fail. In such scenarios, the application server or core network simultaneously sends paging, command, or inventory instructions to the AIoT terminal device through multiple AIoT readers, and the AIoT terminal device can respond through any one or more of these AIoT readers. The association between the AIoT terminal device and multiple AIoT readers can be discovered through one of the following methods:

[0148] A) An AIoT reader can detect uplink information (such as Msg3 or Msg A) from AIoT terminal devices. Once uplink information from an AIoT terminal device is detected and carries its non-access stratum identification information, the AIoT reader reports the AIoT terminal device's identification information and / or its own identification information to the AIoT core network or application server, regardless of whether the uplink information was triggered by a paging or inventory check by the AIoT reader itself. The core network or application server merges or combines the association information between the AIoT terminal devices and the multiple AIoT readers reported by multiple AIoT readers to generate the association relationships between the AIoT terminal devices and the multiple AIoT readers.

[0149] In some embodiments, the AIoT reader also reports the energy information and / or signal strength of the detected uplink information to the core network or application server, so that the core network or application server can maintain (add or delete) the association between the AIoT terminal devices and the multiple AIoT readers.

[0150] B) When the AIoT reader receives uplink information (such as Msg3 or Msg A) from the AIoT terminal device, it estimates or calculates the distance between the AIoT terminal device and the AIoT reader and / or the azimuth angle of the AIoT terminal device relative to the AIoT reader based on the detected energy information and / or signal strength. The distance and / or azimuth angle and / or reference signal received power (RSRP) are then reported to the core network or application server for the core network or application server to maintain (add or delete) the association relationship between the AIoT terminal device and multiple AIoT readers.

[0151] C) When an AIoT reader receives uplink information (such as Msg3 or Msg A) from an AIoT terminal device, it estimates or calculates the AIoT readers near the location of the AIoT terminal device and reports the AIoT readers near the location of the AIoT terminal device, along with their identification information and the non-access stratum identification information of the AIoT terminal device, to the core network or application server. This information is used by the core network or application server to maintain the association relationship between the AIoT terminal device and multiple AIoT readers. When an AIoT terminal device has the association relationship described above with multiple AIoT readers: multiple AIoT readers may be defined as an AIoT reader set or an AIoT reader region; when sending information from multiple AIoT readers, the corresponding AIoT reader set (or AIoT reader region) identifier is also sent simultaneously.

[0152] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the AIoT reader near the location of the AIoT terminal device is an AIoT reader whose distance from the AIoT terminal device meets a preset distance threshold. The preset distance threshold is determined according to the actual situation and is not limited here.

[0153] D) The AIoT reader is configured with the identifier of the AIoT reader set or the AIoT reader region to which it belongs.

[0154] In this embodiment of the disclosure, multiple AIoT readers can form an AIoT reader set, and the AIoT reader set has an AIoT reader set identifier. When multiple AIoT readers belong to the same area, the multiple AIoT readers belong to an AIoT reader area, and the AIoT reader area has an AIoT reader area identifier.

[0155] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when the AIoT reader is initially powered on, or during parameter configuration or reconfiguration, the AIoT reader is configured to send its address, identifier, and / or the identifier of the AIoT reader set (or the AIoT reader region) to which it belongs to to the core network or application server. This is so that the core network or application server can maintain the correspondence between the AIoT reader set (or the AIoT reader region) and the AIoT reader, so that paging, commands, or inventory instructions can be sent to all AIoT reader regions of the AIoT reader set (or AIoT reader region) in the future.

[0156] When an AIoT reader receives uplink information (such as Msg3 or Msg A) from an AIoT terminal device, it reports the identifier of the AIoT terminal device and the identifier of the AIoT reader set (or AIoT reader area) to the core network or application server. This information is used by the core network or application server to maintain the association between the AIoT terminal device and the AIoT reader set (or AIoT reader area). When the core network or application server sends a paging, command, or inventory instruction to an AIoT terminal device, it directly sends the paging, command, or inventory instruction to all AIoT readers included in the AIoT reader set (or AIoT reader area).

[0157] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the core network or application server may include the identifier of the AIoT reader set (or AIoT reader area) in a paging, command, or inventory instruction and send it to the base station (when the UE is an AIoT reader) and / or the AIoT reader.

[0158] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the identifiers of multiple AIoT readers can also be set to the same value.

[0159] In one embodiment, all AIoT readers within an AIoT reader set or area are configured with the same AIoT reader identifier. This allows the AIoT terminal device, core network, and / or application server to perceive multiple AIoT readers as a single entity. When the core network and / or application server page or inventory a terminal device under one of the AIoT readers, they always send page or inventory commands to multiple AIoT readers simultaneously. The AIoT terminal device remains reachable to the core network and / or application server as it moves between multiple AIoT readers; for example, the AIoT terminal device can always be paged or inventoryed. In this embodiment, the multiple AIoT readers are analogous to multiple beams within a cell in an NR system.

[0160] E) Method 1 for updating the association between AIoT terminal devices and multiple AIoT readers by the core network or application server:

[0161] In this embodiment, after the core network or application server receives the association information between the AIoT terminal device and multiple AIoT readers reported by the AIoT reader, it merges and stores this information with the already stored association information between the AIoT terminal device and multiple AIoT readers, and simultaneously records the time point at which the newly received association information between the AIoT terminal device and multiple AIoT readers is reported. If the stored association information between the AIoT terminal device and a certain AIoT reader is not used for a long time (e.g., the AIoT terminal device does not respond to the AIoT reader's paging, command, or inventory instruction), the association information between the AIoT terminal device and the AIoT reader is deleted.

[0162] F) Method 2 for updating the association between AIoT terminal devices and multiple AIoT readers by the core network or application server:

[0163] In this embodiment, after the core network or application server receives the association information between the AIoT terminal device and multiple AIoT readers reported by the AIoT reader, it merges and stores this information with the already stored association information between the AIoT terminal device and multiple AIoT readers, and simultaneously starts a counter with an initial value of 0. Whenever the AIoT terminal device performs a service operation through the AIoT reader (e.g., the AIoT terminal device responds to a paging, command, or inventory instruction from the AIoT reader), the counter is incremented by 1. Through the above steps, the AIoT terminal device can calculate the proportion of service operations performed through each AIoT reader; when the proportion of service operations performed by the AIoT terminal device through a certain AIoT reader is less than a certain threshold (or is 0), the association between the AIoT terminal device and the AIoT reader is deleted.

[0164] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when the UE acts as an AIoT reader, if the UE in connection mode undergoes cell handover, the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) notifies the AIoT controller and / or application layer to update the mapping relationship between the AIoT reader and the AIoT terminal device. For example, if the UE moves to a new cell, the AIoT controller and / or application layer deletes the mapping relationship between the UE as a reader and the AIoT terminal device.

[0165] In this embodiment, the AIoT reader sends downlink commands with different transmit powers. Based on the power intensity of the downlink commands and the AIoT terminal devices responding to them, the distance between the AIoT reader and the AIoT terminal devices is determined. The reader then sends the transmit power level of the AIoT reader, the non-access stratum identifier of the AIoT terminal device, and / or the association relationship between the AIoT reader and the AIoT terminal device to the association relationship maintenance node. The transmit power of the downlink commands is provided by the AIoT core network, by the application server, or determined by the AIoT reader.

[0166] In this embodiment, when the association between an AIoT terminal device and an AIoT reader is maintained by the application server, the AIoT core network needs to forward the AIoT terminal device identifier, AIoT reader information identifier, and / or the identifier of an AIoT reader set (or AIoT reader area) and their association relationship sent by the AIoT reader to the application server. When the application server needs to send a paging, command, or inventory instruction to a specific AIoT terminal device, it needs to send the AIoT terminal device identifier, AIoT reader information identifier, and / or the identifier of an AIoT reader set (or AIoT reader area) to the core network. When the association between an AIoT terminal device and an AIoT reader is maintained by the core network, when the application server needs to send a paging, command, or inventory instruction to a specific AIoT terminal device, it sends the AIoT terminal device identifier to the core network, which then determines which AIoT readers and / or AIoT reader sets (or AIoT reader areas) to send the paging, command, or inventory instruction to.

[0167] In this embodiment, where only the core network or AIoT management network element maintains the association between AIoT terminal devices and AIoT readers, the AIoT terminal devices do not store AIoT reader information. When the AIoT reader transmits inventory result information to the core network or AIoT management network element, it carries the AIoT terminal device identifier, AIoT reader identifier, cell identifier, and / or UE non-access stratum identifier (network ID, etc.). For UEs supporting AIoT inventory capabilities, after the UE accesses the network, it reports its support for AIoT inventory capabilities to the first core network element. The first core network element then transmits the UE ID and its cell ID information to the core network AIoT management network element. When the UE undergoes cell handover, the second core network element or the UE's base station transmits the AIoT inventory capability information to the core network AIoT management network element.

[0168] Example 2

[0169] In this embodiment, the case of an NR UE acting as an AIoT reader is described. When an NR UE acts as an AIoT reader, it is necessary to avoid wireless interference between the NR air interface (the interface between the NR UE and the NR base station) and the AIoT air interface (the interface between the AIoT terminal device and the AIoT reader). Methods to avoid wireless interference include: (1) avoiding simultaneous transmission and reception between the NR air interface and the AIoT air interface, such as using time-division multiplexing between the NR air interface and the AIoT air interface. (2) deactivating the AIoT reader function when the wireless conditions of the NR UE are poor.

[0170] (1) Avoid simultaneous transmission and reception between NR air interface and AIoT air interface:

[0171] In this embodiment of the disclosure, for scenarios where the NR base station can sense AIoT signaling and / or data, for example, AIoT signaling and / or data can be transmitted via dedicated AIoT signaling, via a Non-Access Stratum Protocol Data Unit (NAS PDU) specifically carrying AIoT signaling and / or data, via AIoT signaling and / or data via NAS PDU accompanied by AIoT auxiliary information, or via R-AP signaling, etc., control plane schemes. The NAS PDU auxiliary information includes at least one of the following: the NAS PDU carries an indication of AIoT signaling and / or data; the NAS PDU carries specific information about the AIoT signaling and / or data, such as: paging or inventory indication, command indication, read command indication, write command indication, AIoT terminal device deactivation command, and the number of AIoT terminal devices.

[0172] Method 1: After the base station sends AIoT signaling and / or user data to the UE, it simultaneously sends a release message to transfer the UE to the RRC_IDLE state, RRC_INACTIVE state, or a new state, stopping the UE from performing NR air interface data transmission and reception and Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurements; at the same time, it sends a message to the core network to switch to a high-latency communication state, such as sending downlink signaling / data transmission prohibition indication and / or prohibition timer to the core network, to prevent the core network from sending the UE's downlink data to the base station when the UE is used as an AIoT reader for AIoT communication and the NR air interface becomes unreachable.

[0173] Method 2: When or after the base station sends AIoT signaling and / or data to the UE, if the UE is still in connected state, the UE enters a special discontinuous reception DRX off state, which is equivalent to a special connected state DRX configuration: the base station configures a timer or NR air interface unreachable timer for the start time and duration of DRX off for the UE. Additionally, the base station can also send a transition to high-latency communication state to the core network, such as sending downlink signaling / data transmission prohibition indication and / or prohibition timer to the core network, to prevent the core network from sending downlink data of the UE to the base station when the UE is used as an AIoT reader for AIoT communication and the NR air interface becomes unreachable.

[0174] The start time can be the time-domain information of [SFN, subframe] specified by the base station. [SFN, subframe] can be indicated by [referenceSFN, timeOffset], and / or implicitly indicated by the downlink signaling transmission timing. After receiving the start time and duration timer for DRX off, the UE starts the timer at the start time of DRX off. Before the timer expires, NR air interface operation is stopped, and AIoT air interface communication is performed (the UE communicates with AIoT terminal devices as an AIoT reader). NR air interface operation can include Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) monitoring operations; Control Channel Grant (CG) transmission operations; Semi-Persistent Scheduling (SPS) reception operations; and NR connection mode operations such as radio measurement. After the timer expires, the UE resumes NR air interface operation, such as monitoring the PDCCH and performing radio measurements. Before the timer expires, if the UE completes AIoT communication, it can send a Sounding Reference Signal (SR) or a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) to the base station and resume normal connected-state NR air interface operation, such as monitoring the PDCCH and performing wireless measurements.

[0175] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the time-domain mode of the DRX off state can also be configured via Cell DTX and / or Cell DRX parameters. If Cell DTX and / or Cell DRX parameters are configured, NR air interface reception and / or transmission can only occur during the cell DTX / DRX Active Period (when cellDTX-DRX-onDurationTimer is running); reception and / or transmission between the AIoT reader and the AIoT terminal device can only occur during the cell DTX / DRX non-active Period (when cellDTX-DRX-onDurationTimer is not running).

[0176] Method 3: When or after the base station sends AIoT signaling and / or data to the UE, while the UE remains in connected state, the UE enters a special measurement GAP state, equivalent to a special measurement GAP configuration: the base station configures a timer for the start time and duration of the measurement GAP for the UE. The start time can be time-domain information of [SFN, subframe] specified by the base station, where [SFN, subframe] can be indicated by [referenceSFN, timeOffset], and / or implicitly indicated by the timing of downlink signaling transmission. After receiving the start time and duration timer of the measurement GAP configuration, the UE starts the timer at the start time of the measurement GAP configuration. Before the timer expires, the UE enters the NR air interface measurement GAP state and performs AIoT air interface communication.

[0177] The UE entering the NR air interface measurement GAP state includes the following: In the measurement GAP state, the UE only performs measurement-related operations, without transmitting Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) feedback, Scheduling Request (SR), Channel State Information (CSI), SRS reports, PDCCH monitoring, CG transmission, or SPS reception. After the timer expires, the UE resumes NR air interface operations, such as monitoring the PDCCH, transmitting HARQ feedback, transmitting the Scheduling Request (SR), transmitting the Channel State Information (CSI), reporting the SRS, transmitting the CG, and receiving the SPS. Before the timer expires, if the UE completes AIoT communication, it can send an SR or PRACH to the base station and resume normal connected NR air interface operations, such as monitoring the PDCCH.

[0178] Method 4: The base station configures the timing mode of the NR radio interface and AIoT radio interface for the UE via SIB or dedicated signaling.

[0179] For example, base stations can define the time periods during which data can be transmitted and received via the NR wireless interface and the time periods during which data cannot be transmitted and received via the NR wireless interface, or they can define the time periods during which data can be transmitted and received via the AIoT wireless interface.

[0180] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the timing mode can be defined by the effective bit sequence of the wireless frame, or configured by the periodic DRX method of the NR interface. The configuration via the periodic DRX method of the NR interface includes the following: NR wireless interface data transmission and reception are performed during the NR DRX active period, and AIoT wireless interface data transmission and reception are performed during the NR DRX non-active period.

[0181] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the base station can also dynamically adjust the timing mode of the NR wireless interface and the AIoT wireless interface through Medium Access Control (MAC) or Downlink Control Information (DCI). For example, when the AIoT wireless interface transmits a large amount of data, the NR wireless interface is shortened while the AIoT wireless interface is lengthened; when the AIoT wireless interface transmits a small amount of data, the NR wireless interface is lengthened while the AIoT wireless interface is shortened.

[0182] In this embodiment of the disclosure, for scenarios where the NR base station is unaware of AIoT signaling and / or data: for example, AIoT signaling and / or data are transmitted through user plane schemes such as General Packet Radio Service Tunneling Protocol User Plane (GTP-U) data, IP data, or HTTP data, or transmitted in a way that the content is not visible to the base station, such as NAS PDU.

[0183] When a UE receives AIoT signaling and / or user data from higher layers (application layer and / or non-access layer) and wishes to perform AIoT air interface operations, the UE sends an NR air interface scheduling deactivation request or an AIoT air interface transmission request to the NR base station. The above requests can be indicated through dedicated resources (e.g., dedicated PRACH resources for scheduling deactivation; dedicated scheduling deactivation indications similar to dedicated SRs), or UCI support, or MAC CE indication, or sent through user auxiliary messages or RRC messages.

[0184] In this embodiment, when a UE receives AIoT signaling and / or data from higher layers (application layer and / or non-access layer) and wishes to perform AIoT air interface operations, the UE sends an NR air interface scheduling deactivation request or an AIoT air interface transmission request to the NR base station. However, due to reasons such as radio resource conflicts, radio interference considerations, or the UE carrying low-latency services, the base station determines that AIoT air interface communication is not allowed. In this case, the base station does not respond to the NR air interface scheduling deactivation request or the AIoT air interface transmission request, or the base station sends an NR air interface scheduling deactivation rejection or an AIoT air interface transmission rejection indication to the UE. In such cases, if the UE does not receive a response to the NR air interface scheduling deactivation request or the AIoT air interface transmission request, or if the UE receives an NR air interface scheduling deactivation rejection or an AIoT air interface transmission rejection indication, it notifies the core network or the AIoT controller to activate the AIoT downlink via R-AP signaling to prevent the core network from sending further AIoT signaling / data to the UE. Alternatively, the base station may send an AIoT deactivation indication or an AIoT downlink signaling / data transmission prohibition indication and / or a prohibition timer to the core network or AIoT controller to prevent the core network from sending further AIoT signaling / data to the UE.

[0185] In this embodiment, when a UE in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE state, which can act as an AIoT reader, needs to send a paging or inventory command to an AIoT terminal device (e.g., the AIoT reader periodically sends a paging or inventory command to the AIoT terminal device), the UE first sends an RRC connection establishment or RRC connection recovery request to the base station, triggering the UE to enter the RRC connection state. Then, the UE sends an NR air interface scheduling deactivation request or an AIoT air interface transmission request to the base station, triggering the base station to indicate the first state to the core network and reserve air interface resources for the UE that can be used for AIoT communication. Specifically, the RRC connection establishment or RRC connection recovery request carries a reason value or indication for AIoT communication, so that the base station can reserve air interface resources for AIoT communication for the UE (e.g., quickly reserve AIoT resources for the UE and quickly release the RRC connection, allowing the UE to access the RRC-IDLE or RRC-Inactive state). The reserved air interface resources for AIoT communication can be configured via an RRC reconfiguration message as described above, or via an RRC connection release message.

[0186] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the base station further includes: sending frequency domain information and / or time domain information to the UE via a broadcast message, an RRC reconfiguration message, or an RRC release message, indicating that the UE will not receive and / or transmit NR service data (or the UE can act as an AIoT reader to receive and / or transmit data with AIoT terminal devices); the frequency domain information includes a center frequency and a frequency domain bandwidth; the time domain information can be characterized in one of the following ways:

[0187] 1) Time-domain information can be indicated by a time-domain validity sequence, such as SFNValidBitmap. The UE only performs communication between the AIoT reader and the AIoT terminal device when the SFN is invalid.

[0188] 2) Time-domain information can be represented by the DRX cycle, on-duration timer, and startOffset of the NR air interface. For example, when [(SFN×10)+subframe number]modulo(DRX cycle)=(DRX-StartOffset), the UE starts the on-duration timer; the UE can only communicate with AIoT terminal devices as an AIoT reader when the on-duration timer is not running. Alternatively, it can be represented by the DRX cycle, on-duration timer, and startOffset of the AIoT air interface. For example, when [(SFN×10)+subframe number]modulo(DRX cycle)=(DRX-StartOffset), the AIoT reader starts the on-duration timer; the UE can only communicate with AIoT terminal devices when the on-duration timer is running.

[0189] 3) Time-domain information can be configured via Cell DTX and / or Cell DRX parameters. If Cell DTX and / or Cell DRX parameters are configured in the broadcast, the AIoT reader can only receive and / or transmit data to the AIoT terminal device during the cell DTX / DRX non-active period (when cellDTX-DRX-onDurationTimer is not running).

[0190] In an exemplary embodiment, when a UE in the RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE state communicates with an AIoT terminal device as an AIoT reader, how it receives paging messages can be an implementation behavior of the UE. For example, by indicating the access timing of the AIoT terminal device, the AIoT reader and the AIoT terminal device can be prevented from receiving and / or sending data during the NR paging timing.

[0191] (2) When the wireless conditions of the NR UE are poor, the method to deactivate the AIoT reader function is as follows:

[0192] In this embodiment, the base station configures a minimum quality threshold for the UE to function as an AIoT reader, such as an RSRP threshold. The minimum quality threshold is the first threshold for the wireless quality of the AIoT reader in the above embodiment. When the wireless quality of the UE is below the threshold (e.g., the RSRP measured by the UE is below the RSRP threshold), the base station or core network (AIoT controller) is notified via R-AP public signaling to either activate or release the AIoT link for the UE as an AIoT reader. When the wireless quality of the UE is above the minimum quality threshold and the sum of an RSRP offset value, the base station or core network (AIoT controller) is notified via R-AP public signaling to either activate or establish the AIoT link for the UE as an AIoT reader. The case where the wireless quality is above the minimum quality threshold and the sum of an RSRP offset value includes situations where the RSRP measured by the UE is above the sum of the RSRP threshold and RSRPOffsset.

[0193] In this embodiment, the base station configures the UE with a minimum quality threshold (e.g., RSRP threshold) for its ability to function as an AIoT reader. When the radio quality of the UE is below the minimum quality threshold (e.g., the RSRP measured by the UE is below the RSRP threshold), the UE reports an event or indication to the base station. Upon receiving the event or indication, the base station sends an AIoT downlink signaling / data transmission prohibition indication and an AIoT link deactivation indication to the core network to prevent the core network from sending the UE's AIoT signaling / data to the base station. When the radio quality of the UE is above the minimum quality threshold and the sum of an RSRP offset value (e.g., the RSRP measured by the UE is above the sum of the RSRP threshold and RSRPOffsset), the UE reports an event or indication to the base station. Upon receiving the event or indication, the base station sends an AIoT downlink signaling / data transmission allow indication or an AIoT link activation indication to the core network so that the core network can send the UE's AIoT signaling / data to the base station.

[0194] In this embodiment, the base station configures a mobility threshold for the UE to act as an AIoT reader, such as an RSRP change threshold. The mobility threshold is the second threshold for the amount of radio quality change of the AIoT reader in the above embodiment. When the radio quality change of the UE is below the mobility threshold (e.g., the RSRP change measured by the UE is below the RSRP change threshold), the base station or core network (AIoT controller) is notified via R-AP public signaling to either activate or release the AIoT link for the UE as an AIoT reader. When the radio quality change of the UE is above the threshold, the base station or core network (AIoT controller) is notified via R-AP public signaling to either activate or establish the AIoT link for the UE as an AIoT reader. The RSRP change is similar to the NR UE measurement and transmission decision condition for low UE mobility or UE stationary status.

[0195] In this embodiment, when a base station decides that a UE cannot act as an AIoT reader based on factors such as wireless quality and network load, the base station sends an AIoT downlink signaling / data transmission prohibition indication, or an AIoT link deactivation indication, to the core network and / or the UE acting as an AIoT reader via dedicated signaling, to prevent the core network from sending the UE's AIoT signaling / data to the base station or directly sending AIoT signaling / data to the UE. When the base station decides that a UE with AIoT capabilities can act as an AIoT reader, but AIoT downlink signaling / data transmission is prohibited or the AIoT link is deactivated, it sends an AIoT downlink signaling / data transmission allow indication, or an AIoT link activation indication, to the core network, so that the core network can send the UE's AIoT signaling / data to the base station or directly send AIoT signaling / data to the UE.

[0196] In this embodiment, when a base station decides not to support AIoT-related features (e.g., to avoid enhanced interference between the NR air interface and the AIoT air interface) due to factors such as changes in network load or its own capabilities, the base station notifies the core network of an AIoT non-support indication via NGAP public signaling. This prevents the core network from sending AIoT signaling / data to the UEs it serves or directly to the UEs served by the base station through the base station. Conversely, when a base station decides to support AIoT-related features (e.g., to avoid enhanced interference between the NR air interface and the AIoT air interface), the base station notifies the core network of an AIoT support indication via NGAP public signaling, so that the core network can send AIoT signaling / data to the UEs it serves or directly to the UEs served by the base station through the base station.

[0197] Example 3

[0198] In this embodiment of the disclosure, for the AIoT communication process, an interface protocol (Reader Application Protocol, R-AP) needs to be defined between the AIoT reader and the core network (e.g., the AIoT controller) to exchange information at the AIoT reader level and at the AIoT terminal device level or AIoT terminal device group level. The R-AP content is as follows:

[0199] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the AIoT reader sends a connection interaction message to the core network, wherein the connection interaction message includes one of the following: connection establishment information; connection reconfiguration information; activation-related information; status reporting information.

[0200] 1) Connection establishment information: used to indicate the connection establishment process between the AIoT reader and the core network, which includes at least one of the following: AIoT reader identifier, AIoT reader group identifier, AIoT reader area identifier, AIoT reader physical address, and core network physical address.

[0201] 2) Connection reconfiguration information: This is used to indicate the connection reconfiguration process between the AIoT reader and the core network, and includes at least one of the following updates: AIoT reader identifier, AIoT reader group identifier, AIoT reader area identifier, AIoT reader physical address, and core network physical address.

[0202] 3) The connection release process between the AIoT reader and the core network;

[0203] 4) Activation-related information: used to indicate the connection activation / deactivation process between the AIoT reader and the core network, including at least one of the following: activation / deactivation indication of the R-AP link, activation / deactivation indication of the R-AP downlink.

[0204] 5) Status reporting information: Used to instruct the AIoT reader to report its status to the core network. It includes at least one of the following: whether the AIoT reader is currently available, and whether it can receive AIoT signaling / data from the core network or application layer (e.g., when the NR UE acts as an AIoT reader, the AIoT reader cannot receive data sent by the core network and / or application server when communicating with AIoT terminal devices).

[0205] In this embodiment of the disclosure, the AIoT reader receives a second instruction from the core network, wherein the second instruction includes one of the following: a paging or inventory command; an application layer command; a read command; a write command; a command that requires feedback of application layer data; a command that requires application layer confirmation; or an AIoT terminal device deactivation command.

[0206] 1) A paging or inventory command, which includes at least one of the following information: AIoT reader identifier, AIoT reader group identifier, AIoT reader area identifier, one or more AIoT terminal device identifiers, one or more AIoT terminal device group identifiers, and a paging or inventory type indication (e.g., an inventory triggered by the business layer needs to report application layer data and / or status information; an inventory triggered by the management layer only needs to determine which AIoT terminal device group is within the coverage area of ​​which AIoT reader(s)).

[0207] 2) The Read command includes at least one of the following: AIoT reader identifier, AIoT reader group identifier, AIoT reader region identifier, AIoT terminal device identifier, and AIoT terminal device group identifier. The application layer data may also be user data.

[0208] 3) In this embodiment of the disclosure, after the AIoT reader receives the read command from the core network, the AIoT reader sends read command feedback information to the core network.

[0209] The read command feedback (Read Acknowledge) includes at least one of the following information: the AIoT terminal device identifier and the corresponding read application layer data. The AIoT terminal device identifier and the corresponding read application layer data can be one or more, for example, appearing in the form of a list. Each item in the list contains at least one set of information: the AIoT terminal device identifier and the read application layer data. The read application layer data is provided in NAS or encrypted form, and its content is transparent to the AIoT reader. The application layer data can also be user data.

[0210] 4) Write command, which includes at least one of the following: AIoT reader identifier, AIoT reader group identifier, AIoT reader area identifier, AIoT terminal device identifier and corresponding written application layer data, or AIoT terminal device group identifier and corresponding written application layer data. The AIoT terminal device (group) identifier and corresponding written application layer data can be one or more, for example, appearing in the form of a list. Each item in the list contains at least one set of information: the AIoT terminal device (group) identifier and corresponding written application layer data. The written application layer data is provided in NAS or encrypted form, and its content is transparent to the AIoT reader. The application layer data can also be user data.

[0211] 5) In this embodiment of the disclosure, after the AIoT reader receives the write command from the core network, the AIoT reader sends write command feedback information to the core network.

[0212] Write command feedback (Write Acknowledge) includes at least one of the following: one or more AIoT terminal device identifiers, and an indication of whether the write operation was successful.

[0213] 6) AIoT terminal device kill command, which includes at least one of the following: one or more AIoT terminal device identifiers, one or more AIoT terminal device group identifiers, permanent kill instruction, temporary kill instruction or deactivation instruction (in the temporary kill state or deactivation state: the AIoT terminal device only responds to specific instructions, such as only responding to instructions within a specified time period, and / or only responding to kill instructions, etc.).

[0214] 7) In this embodiment of the disclosure, after the AIoT reader receives the AIoT terminal device deactivation command from the core network, the AIoT reader sends a deactivation information response to the core network.

[0215] The IoT terminal device deactivation command response (Kill Acknowledgement) includes at least one of the following: one or more AIoT terminal device identifiers, and an indication of whether the deactivation operation was successful.

[0216] In the embodiments of this disclosure, the above multiple commands can be defined as a single message, or multiple commands can be defined as a single message (e.g., Read and Write define a single command message). For example, the above multiple commands can be defined as the second instruction in the above embodiments, and different meanings can be indicated by different information elements in the message.

[0217] In this embodiment of the disclosure, when the AIoT reader receives one of the above R-AP commands, such as: application layer commands; read commands, write commands; commands that require feedback of application layer data, commands that require application layer confirmation; or AIoT terminal device kill commands, it can first trigger a paging or inventory instruction for the AIoT terminal devices (group), and then send the instruction to the AIoT terminal devices (group) in MsgB or Msg4 during the random access process; or it can include the instruction in the paging or inventory instruction and send it to the AIoT terminal devices (group); or it can send the instruction directly to the AIoT terminal devices (group).

[0218] The above description is merely a preferred embodiment of this disclosure and is not intended to limit this disclosure. Various modifications and variations can be made to this disclosure by those skilled in the art. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the principles of this disclosure should be included within the scope of protection of this disclosure.

Claims

1. A communication method, comprising: The environmental IoT AIoT reader sends a first instruction to the corresponding AIoT terminal device, wherein the first instruction carries an instruction for paging and / or inventorying the AIoT terminal device; The AIoT reader receives the access information of the AIoT terminal device and sends the AIoT terminal device identifier and / or the AIoT reader identifier to the association maintenance node.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The AIoT terminal device includes at least one of the following: The newly moved AIoT terminal device is within the coverage area of ​​the AIoT reader; The newly connected AIoT terminal device.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein, The first instruction carries an AIoT reader identifier, but does not carry an AIoT terminal device identifier and / or an AIoT terminal device group identifier.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The AIoT reader receives access information from the AIoT terminal device, including: The AIoT reader receives a non-access stratum identifier from the AIoT terminal device.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in, The association maintenance node includes at least one of the following: AIoT core network; application server; base station; AIoT management network element.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The AIoT reader sends a first instruction to the AIoT terminal device, including: The AIoT reader sends the first instruction to the AIoT terminal device at a preset cycle.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: The AIoT reader detects the uplink information of the AIoT terminal device; If the uplink information is detected and the uplink information carries the AIoT terminal device identifier, the AIoT reader will send the AIoT terminal device identifier and the AIoT reader identifier to the association maintenance node.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising: Multiple AIoT readers send their AIoT reader identifiers and the corresponding detected AIoT terminal device identifiers to the association maintenance node, so that the association maintenance node can establish an association between the AIoT terminal device and the multiple AIoT readers.

9. The method according to claim 7, further comprising: The AIoT reader sends the energy information and / or signal strength information of the detected uplink information of the AIoT terminal device to the association maintenance node.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: The AIoT reader calculates the distance between the AIoT terminal device and the AIoT reader based on the energy information and / or signal strength information of the detected uplink information of the AIoT terminal device, or calculates the azimuth angle of the AIoT terminal device relative to the AIoT reader. The AIoT reader sends the distance and / or the azimuth angle and / or the reference signal received power (RSRP) to the association maintenance node.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: The AIoT reader sends downlink commands with different transmission powers to the AIoT terminal device. Based on the power intensity of the downlink commands and the AIoT terminal device that responds to the downlink commands, the distance between the AIoT reader and the AIoT terminal device is determined. The AIoT reader sends the AIoT reader’s transmit power level, the non-access stratum identifier of the AIoT terminal device, and / or the association relationship between the AIoT reader and the AIoT terminal device to the association relationship maintenance node; The transmission power of the downlink command is provided by the AIoT core network, or by the application server, or determined by the AIoT reader.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: The AIoT reader calculates and obtains the AIoT reader identifier of the AIoT reader that meets a preset distance threshold with the AIoT terminal device based on the detected uplink information of the AIoT terminal device; The AIoT reader sends the AIoT terminal device identifier and the AIoT reader identifier of the AIoT reader that meets the preset distance threshold to the association maintenance node.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein, After the AIoT reader calculates and obtains the AIoT reader identifier that meets a preset distance threshold with the AIoT terminal device, the method further includes: The AIoT reader establishes an AIoT reader set based on the AIoT readers that meet the preset distance threshold, and sends the AIoT reader set identifier of the AIoT reader set to the association maintenance node.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising: When the AIoT reader belongs to the AIoT reader set and the AIoT reader is initially powered on, configured, or reconfigured, the AIoT reader sends its own address information, the AIoT reader identifier, and the corresponding AIoT reader set identifier to the association maintenance node.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein, The AIoT reader set identifier is carried in the inventory instruction received by the AIoT reader from the core network.

16. The method according to claim 13, wherein, Multiple AIoT readers in the AIoT reader set are configured with the same identifier.

17. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: When the AIoT reader is a user equipment (UE) and the UE undergoes cell handover, the association maintenance node receives an update instruction from the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) and updates the correspondence between the AIoT reader and the AIoT terminal device based on the update instruction.

18. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: The AIoT reader sends connection interaction messages to the core network, wherein the connection interaction messages include one of the following: connection establishment information; connection reconfiguration information; activation-related information; status reporting information.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein, The connection establishment information includes at least one of the following: The AIoT reader identifier; the collective identifier of the AIoT reader; the regional identifier of the AIoT reader; the physical address of the AIoT reader; the physical address of the core network.

20. The method according to claim 18, wherein, The connection reconfiguration information includes at least one of the following: The AIoT reader identifier; the AIoT reader set identifier; the AIoT reader region identifier; the AIoT reader physical address; the core network physical address.

21. The method according to claim 18, wherein, The activation-related information includes at least one of the following: Reader interface protocol R-AP link activation indication; R-AP link deactivation indication; R-AP downlink activation indication; R-AP downlink deactivation indication.

22. The method according to claim 18, wherein, The status reporting information includes at least one of the following: Whether the AIoT reader is in an available state; whether the AIoT reader is in a signaling / data receiving state.

23. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: The AIoT reader receives a second instruction from the core network, wherein the second instruction includes one of the following: a paging or inventory command; an application layer command; a read command; a write command; a command that requires feedback of application layer data; a command that requires application layer confirmation; or an AIoT terminal device deactivation command.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein, The paging or inventory command includes at least one of the following: The AIoT reader identifier; the AIoT reader set identifier; the AIoT reader region identifier; one AIoT terminal device identifier; multiple AIoT terminal device identifiers; one AIoT terminal device collective identifier; multiple AIoT terminal device set identifiers; search type indicator; inventory type indicator.

25. The method according to claim 23, wherein, The read command includes at least one of the following: The AIoT reader identifier; the AIoT reader set identifier; the AIoT reader region identifier; one AIoT terminal device identifier; one AIoT terminal device group identifier; multiple AIoT terminal device identifiers; multiple AIoT terminal device group identifiers.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein, After the AIoT reader receives the read command from the core network, the method further includes: The AIoT reader sends read command feedback information to the core network, wherein the read command feedback information includes at least one of the following: an AIoT terminal device identifier and the corresponding application layer data to be read; or multiple AIoT terminal device identifiers and the corresponding application layer data to be read.

27. The method according to claim 23, wherein, The write command includes at least one of the following: The AIoT reader identifier; the AIoT reader set identifier; the AIoT reader region identifier; one AIoT terminal device identifier and corresponding written application layer data; multiple AIoT terminal device identifiers and corresponding written application layer data; one AIoT terminal device group identifier and corresponding written application layer data; multiple AIoT terminal devices group identifiers and corresponding written application layer data.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein, After the AIoT reader receives the write command from the core network, the method further includes: The AIoT reader sends write command feedback information to the core network, wherein the write command feedback information includes at least one of the following: an AIoT terminal device identifier; multiple AIoT terminal device identifiers; or an indication of whether the write command was successfully executed.

29. The method according to claim 23, wherein, The AIoT terminal device deactivation command includes at least one of the following: One AIoT terminal device identifier; multiple AIoT terminal device identifiers; one AIoT terminal device group identifier; multiple AIoT terminal device group identifiers; permanent inactivation indicator; temporary inactivation indicator; deactivation indicator.

30. The method according to claim 29, wherein, After the AIoT reader receives the deactivation command from the AIoT terminal device in the core network, the method further includes: The AIoT reader sends an inactivation information response to the core network, wherein the inactivation information response includes at least one of the following: an AIoT terminal device identifier; multiple AIoT terminal device identifiers; or an indication of whether the AIoT terminal device inactivation command was successfully executed.

31. A communication method, comprising: The base station sends a first message to the user equipment (UE), which instructs the UE to stop data transmission and reception on the new radio NR air interface and / or radio resource management (RRM) measurements, wherein the UE also acts as an environmental Internet of Things (AIoT) reader.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising: The base station sends a first status indication to the core network, wherein the first status indication is used to indicate that the core network enters a high-latency communication state.

33. The method according to claim 31, wherein, The type of the first status indication includes at least one of the following: Downlink signaling prohibition instruction; Downlink data transmission prohibited indication; The duration of the timer that prohibits downlink signaling and / or data transmission.

34. The method according to claim 31, wherein, The base station sends a first message to the UE, including: The base station sends a first indication message to the UE, indicating that the UE enters a connected state and a discontinuous reception DRX off state. The first indication message is also set to indicate the start time and duration of the DRX off state of the UE, or the duration of a timer indicating that the UE's NR air interface is unreachable. The first message includes the first indication information.

35. The method according to claim 34, wherein, The start time of the DRX off state includes at least one of the following: The time-domain information specified by the base station; The time information carried in the downlink signaling of the core network.

36. The method according to claim 31, wherein, The base station sends a first message to the UE, including: The base station sends a second indication message to the UE to configure the UE to enter a connection state and a data transmission interval GAP state. The second indication message is also used to indicate the start time and duration of the data transmission interval GAP state of the UE. The first message includes the second instruction information.

37. The method according to claim 31, wherein, The base station sends a first message to the UE, including: The base station sends a first configuration signaling to the UE. The first configuration signaling is used to configure timing modes for the UE's NR air interface and AIoT air interface to control the data transmission and reception of the NR air interface and the AIoT air interface to be performed at different times.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising: The base station adjusts the timing mode through Medium Access Control (MAC) or Downlink Control Information (DCI).

39. The method according to claim 31, wherein, Before the base station sends the first message to the UE, the method further includes: The base station receives an NR air interface scheduling deactivation request or an AIoT air interface transmission request from the UE.

40. The method according to claim 39, wherein, The determination method for the NR air interface scheduling deactivation request or AIoT air interface transmission request includes at least one of the following: Determined based on dedicated resource indications; Determined based on uplink control information (UCI); Determined based on the Media Access Control element MAC CE indication; Determined based on UE auxiliary information; Determined based on Radio Resource Control (RRC) messages.

41. The method according to claim 39, wherein, After the base station receives an NR air interface scheduling deactivation request or an AIoT air interface transmission request from the UE, the method further includes: The base station sends an NR air interface scheduling deactivation indication rejection or an AIoT air interface transmission rejection indication to the UE.

42. The method of claim 31, further comprising: The base station configures a first threshold for the wireless quality of the UE, so that when the wireless quality is less than the first threshold, the UE can deactivate or release the AIoT link between the AIoT reader and the AIoT core network corresponding to the AIoT reader.

43. The method of claim 31, further comprising: The base station configures a second threshold for the wireless quality change of the UE, so that when the wireless quality change is less than the second threshold, the UE deactivates or releases the AIoT link between the AIoT reader and the AIoT core network corresponding to the AIoT reader.

44. The method of claim 31, further comprising: The base station acquires the capability information of the UE and the capability information of the base station; If the base station obtains capability information for the UE that does not support the AIoT reader, the base station sends an AIoT prohibition signaling to the core network and / or the AIoT reader; Alternatively, if the base station obtains capability information indicating that it does not support AIoT transmission, the base station may send an AIoT prohibition signaling to the core network.

45. The method according to claim 44, wherein, The AIoT prohibition signaling includes at least one of the following: Downlink signaling transmission prohibition indication signaling; Downlink data transmission prohibition indication signaling; AIoT link deactivation indication signaling; AIoT transmission does not support instruction signaling.

46. ​​An electronic device comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the processor, when executing the computer program, implements the method of any one of claims 1 to 45.

47. A computer program product comprising a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the method of any one of claims 1 to 45.

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