Communication methods, terminals, access network devices, system and storage medium

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to communication methods, terminals, access network devices, a system, and a storage medium. A method comprises: a terminal sending first information to an access network device, the first information being used for indicating security key information used by a first cell, and the first cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal. Therefore, keys of the network side and the terminal side are consistent, so as to avoid the problem of access failure caused by key mismatch when the terminal accesses a cell, thus ensuring the stability of communication systems.

Description

Communication method, terminal, access network device, system and storage medium TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of communication, and particularly relates to a communication method, a terminal, an access network device, a system and a storage medium. BACKGROUND

[0002] In a communication system adopting a DC (Dual Connectivity) architecture, two cell groups are included, a MCG (Master Cell Group) corresponding to a MN (Master Node) at the network side, and a SCG (Secondary Cell Group) corresponding to a SN (Secondary Node) at the network side. The MCG includes one PCell (Primary Cell) and one or more SCells (Secondary Cells). The SCG includes one PSCell (Primary Secondary Cell) and one or more SCells. The PCell and the PSCell can be collectively referred to as sPCell (Special Cell).

[0003] SUMMARY

[0004] To overcome the technical problem of access failure caused by key step matching in the prior art, the present disclosure provides a communication method, a terminal, an access network device, a system and a storage medium.

[0005] According to a first aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, a communication method is provided, executed by a terminal, and the method comprises:

[0006] sending first information to an access network device, the first information being used to indicate security key information used by a first cell, the first cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal.

[0007] According to a second aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, a communication method is provided, executed by a network device, and the method comprises:

[0008] receiving first information sent by a terminal, the first information being used to indicate security key information used by a first cell, the first cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal.

[0009] According to a third aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, a terminal is provided, comprising:

[0010] The transceiver module is configured to send, to the access network device, first information used to indicate security key information used by a first cell, the first cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal.

[0011] According to a fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, an access network device is provided, comprising:

[0012] The transceiver module is configured to receive first information sent by the terminal, the first information being used to indicate security key information used by a first cell, the first cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal.

[0013] According to a fifth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a terminal is provided, comprising:

[0014] One or more processors;

[0015] The terminal is configured to perform the communication method according to any one of the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0016] According to a sixth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, an access network device is provided, comprising:

[0017] One or more processors;

[0018] The access network device is configured to perform the communication method according to any one of the second aspect of the present disclosure.

[0019] According to a seventh aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a communication system is provided, comprising a terminal and an access network device;

[0020] The terminal is configured to send, to the access network device, first information used to indicate security key information used by a first cell, the first cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal; and the access network device is configured to receive the first information sent by the terminal, the first information being used to indicate security key information used by the first cell, the first cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal.

[0021] According to an eighth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a storage medium is provided, the storage medium storing instructions, when the instructions run on a communication device, causing the communication device to perform the communication method according to any one of the first aspect of the present disclosure, or causing the communication device to perform the communication method according to any one of the second aspect of the present disclosure.

[0022] According to a ninth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a computer program product is provided, including a computer program and / or instructions, which, when executed by a communication device, implement the communication method according to any one of the first aspect of the present disclosure, or which, when executed by a communication device, implement the communication method according to any one of the second aspect of the present disclosure.

[0023] With the above technical solutions, the following beneficial technical effects can be achieved at least:

[0024] The terminal sends first information to the access network device, where the first information is used to indicate security key information used by a first cell, and the first cell is a cell to be accessed by the terminal. Thus, the key on the network side is consistent with the key on the terminal side, avoiding the problem of access failure due to key mismatch when the terminal accesses the cell, and ensuring the stability of the communication system. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0025] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the following describes the drawings required for the embodiments, and the following drawings are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, and do not specifically limit the protection scope of the present disclosure.

[0026] FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0027] FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram of a DC architecture according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0028] FIG. 1C is a schematic diagram of an NR-DC architecture according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0029] FIG. 1D is a flowchart of a different inter-gNB mobility handover according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0030] FIG. 1E is a schematic diagram of LTM cell handover signaling according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0031] FIG. 1F is a flowchart of an LTM execution process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0032] FIG. 1G is a schematic diagram of a key update process of the MN in the handover process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0033] FIG. 2A is an interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0034] FIG. 2B is an interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0035] FIG. 2C is an interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0036] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0037] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0038] FIG. 5 is an interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0039] FIG. 6 is a structural diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0040] FIG. 7 is a structural diagram of an access network device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0041] FIG. 8 is a structural diagram of a communication device 8100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0042] FIG. 9 is a structural diagram of a chip 8200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0043] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication method, a terminal, an access network device, a system and a storage medium.

[0044] In a first aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication method, performed by a terminal, the method comprising:

[0045] sending, to an access network device, first information, the first information being used to indicate security key information used by a first cell, the first cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal.

[0046] In some embodiments combining the first aspect, in some embodiments, the sending, to the access network device, the first information comprises:

[0047] receiving second information sent by the access network device, the sending, to the access network device, the first information, the second information being used to indicate that the terminal accesses the first cell.

[0048] In some embodiments combining the first aspect, in some embodiments, the second information comprises at least one of:

[0049] handover signaling information;

[0050] LTM cell handover signaling information;

[0051] third information, the third information being used to trigger a primary secondary cell change or addition.

[0052] In some embodiments combining the first aspect, in some embodiments, the second information is carried by at least one of: a radio resource control (RRC) information, a medium access control (MAC) information, and a physical layer (PHY) information.

[0053] In some embodiments of the first aspect, the sending the first information to the access network device comprises:

[0054] receiving request information sent by the access network device, and sending the first information to the access network device.

[0055] In some embodiments of the first aspect, the sending the first information to the access network device comprises:

[0056] In a case where a mobility procedure of the terminal is determined to be triggered based on a trigger condition, sending the first information to the access network device.

[0057] In some embodiments of the first aspect, the first information comprises at least one of:

[0058] an identifier of the terminal;

[0059] a service node identifier corresponding to a second cell, the second cell being a serving cell of the terminal;

[0060] a target node identifier corresponding to the first cell;

[0061] a first cell identifier;

[0062] security key information corresponding to the first cell;

[0063] security key information;

[0064] a node identifier corresponding to a candidate cell;

[0065] a candidate cell identifier;

[0066] a candidate configuration identifier;

[0067] a mobility configuration type.

[0068] In some embodiments of the first aspect, the method further comprises:

[0069] receiving fourth information sent by the access network device, the fourth information being used to indicate mobility configuration information of a candidate cell corresponding to the terminal;

[0070] determining the first cell according to the fourth information.

[0071] In some embodiments of the first aspect, the fourth information comprises at least one of: master cell group configuration information, master cell group configuration information, primary secondary cell configuration information, and primary secondary cell group configuration information.

[0072] In some embodiments of the first aspect, before determining the first cell according to the fourth information, the method further includes:

[0073] receiving signaling information sent by the access network device, wherein the signaling information is used to trigger the mobility procedure of the terminal.

[0074] In some embodiments of the first aspect, determining the first cell according to the fourth information includes:

[0075] determining the first cell that satisfies a mobility execution condition from the candidate cells corresponding to the fourth information.

[0076] In some embodiments of the first aspect, the mobility execution condition includes at least one of:

[0077] measurement event A3;

[0078] measurement event A4;

[0079] measurement event A5;

[0080] a triggering event corresponding to a cell-level measurement result based on physical layer L1 measurement;

[0081] a triggering event based on beam-level measurement results of network layer L3 measurement.

[0082] In some embodiments of the first aspect, the fourth information includes next-hop chaining counter parameter NCC information, and the NCC information includes at least one of:

[0083] an NCC value;

[0084] an NCC value list including a plurality of NCC values, the NCC value list corresponding to a plurality of candidate cells under the same network device;

[0085] initial NCC information;

[0086] NH next-hop parameter information corresponding to the NCC information.

[0087] In some embodiments of the first aspect, sending the first information to the access network device includes:

[0088] sending the first information to an access network device of a second cell, the second cell being a serving cell of the terminal.

[0089] In some embodiments of the first aspect, the access network device of the second cell is the same as or different from the access network device of the first cell.

[0090] In some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the access network device of the second cell is different from the access network device of the first cell.

[0091] The access network device of the second cell is connected with the access network device of the first cell through an Xn interface; or,

[0092] The access network device of the second cell communicates with the access network device of the first cell through a core network node.

[0093] In some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the sending the first information to the access network device of the second cell comprises:

[0094] In response to accessing the second cell, sending the first information to the second cell.

[0095] In some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the first information is carried by RRC information, and the first information comprises at least one of the following: terminal leaving information, terminal assistance information, and terminal response information.

[0096] In some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the first information comprises at least one of the following:

[0097] A node identifier corresponding to the second cell;

[0098] A cell identifier of the second cell;

[0099] Fifth information, the fifth information is used to indicate whether a mobility process in the terminal is triggered.

[0100] In some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the sending the first information to the access network device comprises:

[0101] In some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the sending the first information to the access network device comprises:

[0102] In some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the first information is carried by MAC information or PHY information.

[0103] In some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the sending the first information to the access network device of the first cell comprises:

[0104] In some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the sending the first information to the access network device of the first cell comprises:

[0105] In some embodiments combined with the first aspect, in some embodiments, the sending, to the access network device, the first information in the process that the terminal accesses the first cell comprises:

[0106] In the process that the terminal initiates random access, the first information is sent to the access network device.

[0107] In some embodiments combined with the first aspect, in some embodiments, the sending, to the access network device, the first information in the process that the terminal accesses the first cell comprises:

[0108] The first information is sent to the access network device before RRC reconfiguration completion information is sent to the access network device.

[0109] In some embodiments combined with the first aspect, in some embodiments, the sending, to the access network device, the first information in the process that the terminal accesses the first cell comprises:

[0110] After the access network device corresponding to the source cell of the terminal is disconnected, the first information is sent to the access network device of the first cell.

[0111] In some embodiments combined with the first aspect, in some embodiments, the first information is carried by random access information, and the random access information comprises Msg1 or Msg3.

[0112] In some embodiments combined with the first aspect, in some embodiments, the first information comprises a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), and the first information is carried by a medium access control layer control element (MAC CE) information.

[0113] In some embodiments combined with the first aspect, in some embodiments, the first information comprises at least one of the following:

[0114] An NCC value;

[0115] An NCC identifier;

[0116] An identifier of an NCC value, the identifier of the NCC value being used to indicate an identifier of an NCC value in an NCC value list;

[0117] Sixth information used to indicate that an NCC corresponding to the first cell is unchanged;

[0118] Seventh information used to indicate that an NCC corresponding to the first cell is incremented by X, and the X is a positive integer;

[0119] NH information;

[0120] A K corresponding to the first cellgNB or

[0121] security key algorithm information;

[0122] eighth information, the eighth information being used for indicating that the first cell generates initial K AMF ;

[0123] ninth information, the ninth information being used for indicating that the first cell generates initial K AMF from K gNB .

[0124] With reference to some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the first cell is a primary secondary cell (PSCell), and the first information comprises at least one of the following:

[0125] a value corresponding to the security key (SK) counter;

[0126] a first identifier of the SK counter;

[0127] a second identifier of the SK counter, the second identifier information being used for indicating an identifier of the SK counter in a list of SK counters;

[0128] tenth information, the tenth information being used for indicating that the value of the SK counter is unchanged;

[0129] eleventh information, the eleventh information being used for indicating that the SK counter corresponding to the first cell is incremented by X, the X being a positive integer;

[0130] K SN corresponding to the first cell;

[0131] security key algorithm information.

[0132] In a second aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication method, performed by an access network device, the method comprising:

[0133] receiving first information sent by a terminal, the first information being used for indicating security key information used by a first cell, the first cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal.

[0134] With reference to some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, the method further comprises:

[0135] sending, to the terminal, second information, the second information being used for indicating that the terminal accesses the first cell.

[0136] With reference to some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, the second information comprises at least one of the following:

[0137] handover signaling information;

[0138] LTM cell handover signaling information;

[0139] Third information, the third information is used for triggering primary secondary cell change or addition.

[0140] In some embodiments combined with the second aspect, in some embodiments, the second information is carried by at least one of the following: radio resource control protocol RRC information, medium access control MAC information, and physical layer PHY information.

[0141] In some embodiments combined with the second aspect, in some embodiments, the method further includes:

[0142] Sending request information to the terminal, the request information being used to instruct the terminal to send the first information to the network device.

[0143] In some embodiments combined with the second aspect, in some embodiments, the first information includes at least one of the following:

[0144] An identifier of the terminal;

[0145] A service node identifier corresponding to a second cell, the second cell being a service cell of the terminal;

[0146] A target node identifier corresponding to the first cell;

[0147] A first cell identifier;

[0148] Security key information corresponding to the first cell;

[0149] Security key information;

[0150] A node identifier corresponding to a candidate cell;

[0151] A candidate cell identifier;

[0152] A candidate configuration identifier;

[0153] A mobility configuration type.

[0154] In some embodiments combined with the second aspect, in some embodiments, the method further includes:

[0155] Sending fourth information to the terminal, the fourth information being used to instruct the terminal of mobility configuration information of a corresponding candidate cell.

[0156] In some embodiments combined with the second aspect, in some embodiments, the fourth information includes at least one of the following: primary cell configuration information, primary cell group configuration information, primary secondary cell configuration information, and primary secondary cell group configuration information.

[0157] In some embodiments of the second aspect, before sending the fourth information to the terminal, the method further includes:

[0158] sending signaling information to the terminal.

[0159] In some embodiments of the second aspect, the fourth information includes NCC information, and the NCC information includes at least one of:

[0160] an NCC value;

[0161] an NCC value list including a plurality of NCC values, the NCC value list corresponding to a plurality of candidate cells under a same network device;

[0162] initial NCC information;

[0163] NH information corresponding to the NCC information.

[0164] In some embodiments of the second aspect, the access network device of the second cell is the same as or different from the access network device of the first cell.

[0165] In some embodiments of the second aspect, the access network device of the second cell is the same as or different from the access network device of the first cell.

[0166] In some embodiments of the second aspect, the access network device of the second cell is different from the access network device of the first cell, and the method further includes:

[0167] sending the first information to the access network device of the first cell through an Xn interface; or,

[0168] sending the first information to the access network device of the first cell through a core network node.

[0169] In some embodiments of the second aspect, the first information includes at least one of:

[0170] a node identifier corresponding to the second cell;

[0171] a cell identifier of the second cell;

[0172] fifth information used to indicate whether a mobility procedure in the terminal is triggered.

[0173] In some embodiments of the second aspect, the method further includes:

[0174] According to the first information, security key information of a target node is generated, the target node being a network node corresponding to the first cell;

[0175] The security key information is sent to the target node.

[0176] With reference to some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, the method further comprises:

[0177] According to the first information, third information is sent to a serving node or a core network node, the third information being used to instruct the serving node to feed back security key information of the terminal to the access network device, or the third information being used to instruct the core network node to feed back security key information of the terminal to the access network device.

[0178] With reference to some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, the access network device is an access network device of the first cell.

[0179] With reference to some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, the method further comprises:

[0180] It is determined that first NCC information corresponding to the first information does not match second NCC information corresponding to the first cell;

[0181] According to the first NCC information, security key information of the first cell is determined.

[0182] With reference to some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, the first information is carried by MAC information or PHY information.

[0183] With reference to some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, the first information comprises at least one of the following:

[0184] NCC value;

[0185] NCC identifier;

[0186] Identifier of NCC value, the identifier of NCC value being used to indicate an identifier of NCC value in a list of NCC values;

[0187] Sixth information, the sixth information being used to indicate that NCC corresponding to the first cell is unchanged;

[0188] Seventh information, the seventh information being used to indicate that NCC corresponding to the first cell is incremented by X, the X being a positive integer;

[0189] NH information;

[0190] K corresponding to the first cell gNB or

[0191] security key algorithm information;

[0192] eighth information, the eighth information being used for indicating that K AMF ;

[0193] ninth information, the ninth information being used for indicating that the first cell generates initial K AMF from K gNB .

[0194] In some embodiments of the second aspect, in some embodiments, the first cell is a primary secondary cell (PSCell), and the first information includes at least one of the following:

[0195] a value corresponding to the security key (SK) counter;

[0196] a first identifier of the SK counter;

[0197] a second identifier of the SK counter, the second identifier information being used for indicating an identifier of the SK counter in a list of SK counters;

[0198] tenth information, the tenth information being used for indicating that the value of the SK counter is unchanged;

[0199] eleventh information, the eleventh information being used for indicating that the SK counter corresponding to the first cell is incremented by X, the X being a positive integer;

[0200] K SN corresponding to the first cell;

[0201] security key algorithm information.

[0202] In a third aspect, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a terminal, including:

[0203] a transceiver configured to send first information to an access network device, the first information being used for indicating security key information used by a first cell, the first cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal.

[0204] In a fourth aspect, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide an access network device, including:

[0205] a transceiver configured to receive first information sent by a terminal, the first information being used for indicating security key information used by a first cell, the first cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal.

[0206] In a fifth aspect, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a terminal, including:

[0207] one or more processors;

[0208] The terminal is configured to perform the communication method according to any one of the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0209] In a sixth aspect, an access network device is provided, comprising:

[0210] one or more processors;

[0211] The access network device is configured to perform the communication method according to any one of the second aspect of the present disclosure.

[0212] In a seventh aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising a terminal and a network device;

[0213] The terminal is configured to send first information to the access network device, the first information being used to indicate security key information used by a first cell, the first cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal; and the access network device is configured to receive the first information sent by the terminal, the first information being used to indicate security key information used by the first cell, the first cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal.

[0214] In an eighth aspect, a storage medium is provided, the storage medium storing instructions, when the instructions are executed on a communication device, causing the communication device to perform the communication method according to any one of the first aspect of the present disclosure, or causing the communication device to perform the communication method according to any one of the second aspect of the present disclosure.

[0215] In a ninth aspect, a computer program product is provided, comprising a computer program and / or instructions, when the computer program and / or instructions are executed on a communication device, realizing the communication method according to any one of the first aspect of the present disclosure, or realizing the communication method according to any one of the second aspect of the present disclosure.

[0216] In a tenth aspect, a chip or chip system is provided. The chip or chip system comprises a processing circuit configured to perform the method described in the optional implementation of the first aspect and / or the second aspect.

[0217] In the above manner, the terminal sends first information to the access network device, the first information being used to indicate security key information used by a first cell, the first cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal. Thus, the keys on the network side and the terminal side are consistent, avoiding the problem of access failure due to key mismatch when the terminal accesses the cell, and ensuring the stability of the communication system.

[0218] It can be understood that the terminal, the access network device, the communication system, the storage medium, the program product, the computer program, the chip or the chip system are used to execute the method proposed in the embodiments of the disclosure. Therefore, the beneficial effects achieved can refer to the beneficial effects in the corresponding method, which will not be repeated here.

[0219] The embodiments of the disclosure propose a communication method, a terminal, an access network device, a system and a storage medium. In some embodiments, the terms of information processing method, communication method, and the like can be replaced with each other, the terms of information processing device, communication device, and the like can be replaced with each other, and the terms of information processing system, communication system, and the like can be replaced with each other.

[0220] The embodiments of the disclosure are not exhaustive, but only illustrate some embodiments, and are not specific limitations on the protection scope of the disclosure. In the case of no contradiction, each step in an embodiment can be implemented as an independent embodiment, and the steps can be combined arbitrarily, for example, the scheme after removing some steps in an embodiment can also be implemented as an independent embodiment, and the order of the steps in an embodiment can be exchanged arbitrarily, in addition, the optional implementation manners in an embodiment can be combined arbitrarily; in addition, the embodiments can be combined arbitrarily, for example, the steps of different embodiments or part or all of the steps of different embodiments can be combined arbitrarily, and an embodiment can be combined with the optional implementation manners of other embodiments.

[0221] In each embodiment of the disclosure, the terms and / or descriptions between the embodiments are consistent if there is no special description and logical conflict, and can be referred to each other, and the technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form a new embodiment according to the logical relationship between them.

[0222] The terms used in the embodiments of the disclosure are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments, and not as a limitation on the disclosure.

[0223] In the embodiments of the disclosure, unless otherwise specified, the elements expressed in singular form, such as "one", "one", "the", "above", "said", "preceding", "this" and the like, can represent "one and only one", or "one or more", "at least one" and the like. For example, in the case of using articles such as "a", "an", "the" and the like in English, the noun after the article can be understood as singular expression, or can be understood as plural expression.

[0224] In the embodiments of the disclosure, "a plurality of" means two or more.

[0225] In some embodiments, the terms "at least one of," "one or more of," "a plurality of," "multiple," and the like can be used interchangeably.

[0226] In some embodiments, the recitations "at least one of A, B," "A and / or B," "in one case A, in another case B," "in response to a case A, in response to a case B," and the like can include the following technical solutions according to the case: in some embodiments A (A is executed regardless of B); in some embodiments B (B is executed regardless of A); in some embodiments, A and B are selectively executed (A and B are selectively executed); in some embodiments, A and B (A and B are executed). When there are more branches such as A, B, C, and the like, the above is similar.

[0227] In some embodiments, the recitations "A or B" and the like can include the following technical solutions according to the case: in some embodiments A (A is executed regardless of B); in some embodiments B (B is executed regardless of A); in some embodiments, A and B are selectively executed (A and B are selectively executed). When there are more branches such as A, B, C, and the like, the above is similar.

[0228] The prefix words "first", "second", and the like in the embodiments of the present disclosure are merely used to distinguish different description objects, and do not constitute a limitation on the position, order, priority, quantity, or content of the description objects. The description of the description objects should refer to the description in the context of the claims or embodiments, and should not constitute an additional limitation because of the use of the prefix words. For example, the description objects are "fields", and the ordinal words before "fields" in "first field" and "second field" do not limit the position or order between "fields", and "first" and "second" do not limit whether the "fields" modified thereby are in the same message or not, nor limit the order of "first field" and "second field". For another example, the description objects are "levels", and the ordinal words before "levels" in "first level" and "second level" do not limit the priority between "levels". For another example, the quantity of the description objects is not limited by the ordinal words, and can be one or more. For example, "first device", wherein the quantity of "devices" can be one or more. In addition, the objects modified by different prefix words can be the same or different, for example, the description objects are "devices", and "first device" and "second device" can be the same device or different devices, and the types thereof can be the same or different; for another example, the description objects are "information", and "first information" and "second information" can be the same information or different information, and the content thereof can be the same or different.

[0229] In some embodiments, "comprising", "including", "to indicate", "carrying", can be interpreted as directly carrying A, or indirectly indicating A.

[0230] In some embodiments, the terms "in response to", "in response to determining", "in the case of", "when", "when", "if", "if" and the like can be replaced with each other.

[0231] In some embodiments, the terms "greater than", "greater than or equal to", "not less than", "more than", "more than or equal to", "not less than", "higher than", "higher than or equal to", "not less than", "above" and the like can be replaced with each other, and the terms "less than", "less than or equal to", "not greater than", "less than", "less than or equal to", "not more than", "lower than", "lower than or equal to", "not higher than", "below" and the like can be replaced with each other.

[0232] In some embodiments, the apparatus and device can be interpreted as physical or virtual, and its name is not limited to the name recorded in the embodiments, and in some cases can also be understood as "equipment", "device", "circuit", "network element", "node", "function", "unit", "section", "system", "network", "chip", "chip system", "entity", "subject" and the like.

[0233] In some embodiments, "network" can be interpreted as an apparatus contained in the network, such as an access network device, a core network device, and the like.

[0234] In some embodiments, an “access network device (AN device)” can also be referred to as a “radio access network device (RAN device),” a “base station (BS),” a “radio base station,” a “fixed station,” and in some embodiments can also be understood as a “node,” an “access point,” a “transmission point (TP),” a “reception point (RP),” a “transmission / reception point (TRP),” a “panel,” an “antenna panel,” an “antenna array,” a “cell,” a “macro cell,” a “small cell,” a “femto cell,” a “pico cell,” a “sector,” a “cell group,” a “serving cell,” a “carrier,” a “component carrier,” a “bandwidth part (BWP),” and the like.

[0235] In some embodiments, a "terminal" or "terminal device" can be referred to as a "user equipment (UE)", a "user terminal", a "mobile station (MS)", a "mobile terminal (MT)", a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communication device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, and / or the like.

[0236] In some embodiments, data, information and / or the like can be obtained in compliance with laws and regulations of a country where the data, information and / or the like is obtained.

[0237] In some embodiments, data, information and / or the like can be obtained after obtaining consent of a user.

[0238] In addition, each element, each row, or each column in a table of embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented as an independent embodiment, and a combination of any element, any row, or any column can also be implemented as an independent embodiment.

[0239] FIG. 1A is an architecture diagram of a communication system, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1A, the communication system 100 includes a terminal 101 and an access network device 102.

[0240] In some embodiments, the terminal 101 includes at least one of a mobile phone, a wearable device, an Internet of Things device, a communication-capable automobile, a smart automobile, a tablet (Pad), a wireless transceiver-equipped computer, a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal device in industrial control, a wireless terminal device in self-driving, a wireless terminal device in remote medical surgery, a wireless terminal device in a smart grid, a wireless terminal device in transportation safety, a wireless terminal device in a smart city, a wireless terminal device in a smart home, and the like, but is not limited thereto.

[0241] In some embodiments, the access network device 102 is at least one of a node or a device that accesses a terminal to a wireless network, and can include an evolved NodeB (eNB) in a 5G communication system, a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), a next generation NodeB (gNB), a node B (NB), a home node B (HNB), a home evolved node B (HeNB), a wireless backhaul device, a radio network controller (RNC), a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a base band unit (BBU), a mobile switching center, a base station in a 6G communication system, an Open RAN, a Cloud RAN, a base station in other communication systems, an access node in a Wi-Fi system, and the like, but is not limited thereto.

[0242] In some embodiments, the technical solutions of the present disclosure can be applied to an Open RAN architecture, in which case, the interfaces between or within the access network devices involved in the embodiments of the present disclosure can become internal interfaces of the Open RAN, and the processes and information interactions between these internal interfaces can be implemented through software or programs.

[0243] In some embodiments, the access network device can be composed of a central unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU), where the CU can also be referred to as a control unit. The CU-DU structure can split the protocol layers of the access network device, with some protocol layer functions being centrally controlled by the CU and the remaining protocol layer functions being distributed in the DUs, which are centrally controlled by the CU, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0244] It can be understood that the communication system described in the embodiments of the present disclosure is for more clearly illustrating the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure, and does not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions proposed in the embodiments of the present disclosure. It can be known by those skilled in the art that, as the system architecture evolves and new service scenarios appear, the technical solutions proposed in the embodiments of the present disclosure are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0245] The following embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to the communication system 100 shown in FIG. 1 or part of the subjects, but are not limited thereto. The subjects shown in FIG. 1 are exemplary, and the communication system can include all or part of the subjects in FIG. 1, or other subjects other than FIG. 1. The number and form of each subject is arbitrary, each subject can be physical or virtual, the connection relationship between each subject is exemplary, each subject can not be connected or can be connected, the connection can be in any way, can be direct connection or indirect connection, can be wired connection or wireless connection.

[0246] Embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), LTE-Beyond (LTE-B), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, 4th generation mobile communication system (4G), 5th generation mobile communication system (5G), 5G new radio (NR), Future Radio Access (FRA), New-Radio Access Technology (RAT), New Radio (NR), New radio access (NX), Future generation radio access (FX), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM (registered trademark)), CDMA2000, Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.20, Ultra-WideBand (UWB), Bluetooth (Bluetooth (registered trademark)), Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) network, Device-to-Device (D2D) system, Machine to Machine (M2M) system, Internet of Things (IoT) system, Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X), system using other communication methods, next-generation system expanded based thereon, and the like. Further, a plurality of systems can be applied in combination (for example, combination of LTE or LTE-A and 5G, and the like).

[0247] FIG. 1B is a schematic diagram illustrating a DC architecture according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1B, a cell for initiating initial access is included in the MCG, which is a PCell. Among them, the PCell is the most important cell in the cell corresponding to the MCG. The PCell under the MCG and the SCell under the MCG are jointly included through CA (carrier aggregation). The primary cell in the MCG is the PCell, and the secondary cell is the SCell; the primary and secondary cells in the SCG are PSCells, and the secondary cells are SCells. In an example, during communication transmission, most control signaling is only sent on the PCell and the PSCell, and therefore, the sPCell is defined in the protocol, which includes the PCell and the PSCell.

[0248] FIG. 1C is a schematic diagram illustrating an NR-DC architecture according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1C, in the NG-RAN (Next Generation Radio Access Network / 5G Radio Access Network), NR (New Radio)-NR DC (NR-DC dual connectivity) is supported. Based on the NR-DC architecture, a UE (User Equipment) can be connected to a primary gNB acting as an MN and another secondary gNB acting as an SN. Among them, the primary gNB is connected to the 5GC (5G Core) through the NG interface, the primary gNB and the secondary gNB are connected through the Xn interface, and the secondary gNB can also be connected to the 5GC through the NG-U interface. In addition, the NR-DC architecture can also be used for UE to access a single gNB, which can simultaneously act as an MN and an SN, and simultaneously configure an MCG and an SCG.

[0249] FIG. 1D is a flow diagram illustrating a different inter-gNB mobility handover according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1D, the mobility handover procedure includes: 1, the source gNB initiates the mobility handover, and sends a handover request to the target gNB through the Xn interface; 2, the target gNB performs access control and provides a new RRC configuration as part of the handover request acknowledgement information, and sends the handover request acknowledgement information to the source gNB; 3, the source gNB provides the RRC configuration to the UE by forwarding the RRC (Radio Resource Control) reconfiguration message received in the handover request acknowledgement information. The RRC reconfiguration message includes at least a cell ID and all information required for accessing the target cell, so that the UE can access the target cell without reading the system information. For example, in the random access scenarios based on contention-based random access and non-contention-based random access, all information required for the UE to access the target cell is included in the RRC reconfiguration message, and the access information of the target cell can include beam-specific information; 4, the UE moves the current connection to the target gNB based on the RRC configuration, and feeds back the RRC reconfiguration completion information to the target gNB. For example, based on the above handover procedure, after completing the RRC handover in the UE, the UE can send user data to the target gNB in the case of obtaining authorization.

[0250] In some embodiments, in the NR-based communication architecture, an indication information can be carried in the handover signaling when performing mobility handover, which is used to indicate the target TA (Timing Advance). The TA can be 0, or the TA is the same as that of the source cell.

[0251] In some embodiments, the network side can provide one or more candidate configurations for the UE, wherein one candidate configuration can include one or more cells. The network side can subsequently control the UE to change among the multiple candidate configurations through L1 signaling (e.g., DCI (Downlink Control Information) or L2 signaling (MAC CE), for example, the UE can be switched from cell-1 to cell-2 based on the L1 signaling. The control signaling can be referred to as cell change control signaling. For example, the cell switching procedure can be referred to as a network-triggered LTM (L1 / L2-triggered Mobility) procedure.

[0252] In some embodiments, the LTM is a procedure of network-based L1 measurement result triggered PCell / PSCell cell change by MAC CE, which can be accompanied by the change of MCG and / or SCG in the UE. The gNB receives the L1 measurement report from the UE, and according to the measurement report, issues a cell change signaling by MAC CE to switch the serving cell of the UE. In the cell change signaling, an LTM candidate cell configuration is indicated, which is previously provided to the UE by the gNB through RRC signaling. The UE accesses the target cell indicated by the received cell change signaling, and the LTM-based cell change can be used to reduce the latency in the mobility handover process in the UE. The LTM candidate cell configuration is added, modified and released by the network side through RRC signaling.

[0253] FIG. 1E is a schematic diagram of an LTM cell change signaling according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1E, in some embodiments, the LTM procedure in the communication system supports subsequent LTM, which enables a subsequent LTM cell change procedure between candidate cells without the need for network-side reconfiguration of RRC. That is, after the UE performs a mobility operation, the UE does not delete the LTM configuration information, and the LTM configuration information can continue to be used without RRC reconfiguration and update, and the subsequent LTM procedure can be triggered based on the LTM configuration information.

[0254] In some embodiments, the LTM configuration information can support gNB-DU intra- movement, gNB-CU intra-movement and gNB-DU inter-movement communication scenarios. The LTM supports intra-frequency and inter-frequency movement communication scenarios, including inter-frequency cell movement to a non-current serving cell. For example, the following cases are supported: PCell change in non-CA and non-DC scenarios; PCell change in CA scenarios; MCG-PCell change and SCG-PSCell change in dual connectivity scenarios, and handover cases without MN participation. For example, SN intra-PSCell change does not support simultaneous change of PCell and PSCell LTM configuration information.

[0255] In some embodiments, the LTM procedure can be supported in the communication system in intra-DU, inter-DU and intra-CU, but can be extended to support inter-CU LTM procedure in subsequent communication systems. For example, in the inter-CU-LTM procedure for SCG-PSCell change, the MN can participate in the coordination of the configuration information between different CU candidate PSCells.

[0256] In some embodiments, the LTM configures the LTM configuration information through LTM-Config, wherein the LTM configuration information can include at least one of the following: LTM reference configuration information; one or more candidate cell configurations (addition, modification and deletion of candidate cell configurations through a candidate cell to be released list, a candidate cell addition list); LTM-CSI (Channel State Information) resource configuration information.

[0257] Among them, the candidate cell configuration can be configured through LTM-Candidate signaling, which includes at least one of the following: candidate configuration identification; candidate cell identification; candidate configuration (represented by RRC reconfiguration information).

[0258] The LTM candidate configuration is the configuration part of the RRC reconfiguration information associated with the candidate cell, for example, for LTM or subsequent CPAC. The subsequent configuration can be a complete candidate configuration, or a delta configuration relative to the reference configuration.

[0259] The LTM reference configuration is the configuration information provided by the network to the UE, which is the same as a set of configured non-complete candidate configurations within the same cell group.

[0260] FIG. 1F is a flow diagram illustrating an LTM execution process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1F, the subsequent LTM is completed by repeating the early synchronization, LTM cell switching execution and LTM cell switching completion steps, and after each LTM cell switching completion, other LTM candidate configurations are not released. The general procedure of the air interface is applicable to the SCG-LTM process.

[0261] The steps of the LTM execution procedure include: 1. UE sends measurement reporting information to gNB, and gNB determines to configure LTM according to the measurement reporting information and starts LTM preparation; 2. gNB sends RRC reconfiguration information to UE, and the RRC reconfiguration information includes LTM candidate configuration information; 3. UE stores the LTM candidate configuration information and sends RRC reconfiguration completion information to gNB; 4a. UE performs DL synchronization with the candidate cell before receiving the cell switching signaling; 4b. When UE-based TA measurement is configured, UE obtains the TA value of the candidate cell by measurement. Before receiving the cell switching command specified in clause 9.2.6, the UE performs early TA acquisition on the candidate cell according to the network side requirements. This is done through the CFRA (Contention Free Random Access) procedure triggered by the PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel) command of the source cell, and then the UE sends a preamble to the specified candidate cell. In order to minimize the data interruption of the source cell due to sending CFRA to the candidate cell, the UE does not receive the random access response of the network when obtaining the TA value, but indicates the TA value of the candidate cell in the cell switching command. The UE does not maintain the TA timer of the candidate cell, but relies on the network implementation to ensure the validity of the TA; 5. UE performs L1 measurement on the configured candidate cell and sends L1 measurement result report to gNB, wherein if the RRC reconfiguration is applicable, the UE performs L1 measurement; 6. gNB decides to perform cell switching from the current serving cell to the target cell, and sends MAC CE signaling triggering cell switching containing the candidate configuration index of the target cell, and the UE switches to the target cell based on the MAC CE signaling and applies the configuration information indicated by the candidate configuration index; 7. If the UE does not have the valid TA of the target cell specified by the protocol, the UE performs the random access procedure on the target cell; 8. UE completes the LTM cell switching process by sending the RRC reconfiguration completion message to the target cell. If the UE performs the RA (Random Access) procedure in step 7, the UE considers that the LTM cell switching process is completed when the random access procedure is successfully completed. For the LTM procedure without RACH (Random Access CHannel), the UE considers that the LTM cell switching process is completed when the UE determines that the network has successfully received the first UL (Up-Link) data.

[0262] For example, using the LTM candidate configuration information provided in step 2 above, the LTM switching process of steps 4-8 can be performed multiple times to complete subsequent LTM switching. Among them, the above LTM execution process can be applied to intra-gNB-DU LTM and inter-gNB-DU LTM process.

[0263] In some embodiments, the UE in the communication system can perform a mobility switching process based on preconfigured condition information on the network side and a preconfigured cell corresponding to the preconfigured condition information. When the UE meets the preconfigured condition (for example, a specific measurement event), the UE switches the current serving cell to the preconfigured candidate cell. Among them, the condition-triggered mobility process includes: CHO (Conditional Handover, conditional handover), CPA (Conditional PSCell Addition, conditional primary secondary cell addition), CPC (Conditional PSCell Change, conditional primary secondary cell change), etc.; The UE can also change the configuration of the characteristic cell according to the network side indication after meeting the preconfigured condition, for example, changing the PCell configuration of the UE from candidate cell configuration-1 to candidate cell configuration-2. For example, the condition-triggered mobility process also includes Conditional-LTM (condition-triggered LTM process), wherein the condition-triggered LTM can be used for MCG switching and SCG switching.

[0264] In some embodiments, the network side specifies support for inter-CU first layer / second layer triggered mobile LTM process. For example, when DC is not configured, the scenario where the CU acts as MN is preferred; When DC is configured, the LTM process of inter-CU can be configured in MN or SN, but cannot be configured in both, in this case, as a secondary priority, support the case where the CU acts as SN and MN unchanged; As a secondary priority, support the case where the CU acts as MN and SN unchanged or SN has been released. According to the protocol information, specify the support for subsequent LTM mobility procedures to avoid RRC configuration between cell switches, and need to coordinate with SA3 in terms of security key processing. Specify the support for conditional LTM process, specify the UE evaluation condition for triggering LTM process, and aim to support conditional LTM, including subsequent LTM parameters, and prefer intra-CU LTM process.

[0265] Figure 1G is a schematic diagram illustrating a Key update procedure for MN in a handover procedure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 1G, in Xn handover procedure, if the source gNB / ng-eNB has unused (NH (the Next Hop parameter), NCC (the Next Hop Chaining Counter parameter)) pair, vertical key derivation should be performed, the source gNB / ng-eNB shall compute KNG-RAN from the target PCI (Physical Cell Identifier), its frequency ARFCN-DL / EARFCN-DL. If it is horizontal key derivation, it is from the currently active KgNB, if it is vertical key derivation, it is from NH. Next, the source gNB / ng-eNB shall forward the (KNG-RAN*, NCC) pair to the target gNB / ng-eNB. The target gNB / ng-eNB shall use the received KNG-RAN* directly as KgNB to be used with the UE. The target gNB / ng-eNB shall associate the NCC value received from the source gNB / ng-eNB with KgNB. The target gNB / ng-eNB shall include the received NCC in the prepared HO (Hand Over) command message, which will be sent back to the source gNB / ng-eNB in a transparent container and forwarded by the source gNB / ng-eNB to the UE.

[0266] In some embodiments, the UE behavior is the same regardless of whether the handover is within gNB-CU, ng-eNB, Xn or N2, but during handover within gNB-CU, the UE can retain the same key according to the indication of gNB. The UE behavior is also the same in the conditional handover case specified in TS 38.300

[0052] , i.e. the UE shall use the parameters of the selected target cell in the KNG-RAN* derivation.

[0267] In some embodiments, if the UE receives the NCC value in the HO command message from the target ng-eNB / gNB through the source ng-eNB / gNB is equal to the NCC value associated with the current active KgNB / KeNB, the UE shall compute KNG-RAN* from the current active KgNB / KeNB and the target PCI and its frequency ARFCN-DL / EARFCN-DL using the functions defined in A.11 and A.12.

[0268] In some embodiments, if the NCC value received by the UE is different from the NCC associated with the current active KgNB / KeNB, the UE shall first iterate the locally saved NH parameters by calculating the function defined in A.10 and increasing the NCC value until it matches the NCC value received from the source ng-eNB / gNB through the HO command message. When the NCC value matches, the UE shall calculate KNG-RAN* according to the synchronized NH parameters and the target PCI and its frequency ARFCN-DL / EARFCN-DL using the functions defined in A.11 and A.12. For example, when the UE communicates with the target gNB, KNG-RAN* shall be used as KgNB, and when the UE communicates with the target ng-eNB, KNG-RAN* shall be used as KeNB.

[0269] In some embodiments, inter-gNB LTM procedures are not involved in Rel-18 LTM, so there is no need to update KgNB during the cell handover procedure supporting Rel-18 LTM, because the serving gNB does not change, and the original KgNB can be used between different candidate cells. Therefore, in the candidate configuration of Rel-18 MCG LTM, gNB Key update signaling is not included to indicate the primary key update. However, in Rel-19 inter-gNB LTM, if the processing scheme of the Key in Rel-18 MCG LTM is continued to be used, it will cause the UE to use the same security key before and after performing inter-gNB LTM, which will cause a security key reuse problem.

[0270] In some embodiments, the security scheme focuses on the inter-gNB LTM procedure for MCG in non-DC. Multiple schemes are included:

[0271] Scheme 1: Provide security information using new information in MAC CE. Whether the UE uses horizontal key derivation or vertical key derivation depends on the configuration information in the MAC CE to indicate; Scheme 1A: The LTM cell handover command MAC CE contains the NCC value used when the inter-CU LTM procedure is performed; Scheme 1B: The UE pre-configures a list of NCC values in the encryption and integrity protection RRC message, and the index of the NCC value in the list is contained in the LTM cell handover command MAC CE;

[0272] Scheme 2: Similar to Rel-18 S-CPAC key update mechanism, UE pre-configures the list of NCC values per CU from source gNB using RRC signaling. Participating gNBs are expected to be aware of the list and how UE applies the list during LTM cell handover; Scheme 2A: UE selects the first unused NCC value for target CU when performing inter-CU LTM procedure; Scheme 2B: As an alternative to selecting the next unused NCC value (e.g. as in Scheme 2A), if LTM cell handover is between the same two CUs, then horizontal key derivation is used in this scheme;

[0273] Scheme 3: After performing inter-CU LTM cell handover, participating gNBs will update to new K-gNB* for next inter-CU LTM cell handover. UE and CN are aware of how UE will use the next NCC value. For example, UE determines by itself to use the following NCC value when performing inter-CU LTM later. CN (via RRC signaling indication from source gNB) pre-configures UE with a list of NCC values, and UE selects the first unused NCC value as the next NCC value;

[0274] Scheme 4: After performing inter-CU LTM cell handover each time, UE will obtain the NCC value via RRC signaling for UE to use for key derivation when performing inter-CU LTM cell handover next time.

[0275] In some embodiments, in the schemes 2 and 3 described in the above embodiments, the network side and the UE select a suitable NCC based on a predefined criterion, and find a corresponding NH to generate a key of a target cell. This is used when performing inter-CU LTM cell switching. For example, the network side and the UE can select a corresponding NCC based on a preconfigured NCC value list according to a predefined criterion, determine a corresponding NH to generate a related key, or the network side and the UE increase the NCC or keep the NCC unchanged according to a predefined criterion. However, considering the application scenario of supporting subsequent LTM after inter-CU LTM, frequent switching between each candidate cell is required, and inter-CU LTM and intra-CU LTM can be configured to the UE at the same time, the UE can support CHO, and the switching configuration of normal switching and LTM is configured at the same time. Therefore, in some specific scenarios, the NCC selected by the UE and the network side may have synchronization errors, so that the keys of the UE and the network side do not match, causing the access process of the UE to fail. Therefore, a method for avoiding key mismatch is proposed in the embodiment, so that the keys of the network side and the UE can be aligned in the inter-CU subsequent LTM cell switching process, thereby effectively avoiding the access process failure of the UE when accessing the LTM candidate cell due to key mismatch.

[0276] FIG. 2A is an interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2A, the embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a communication method, and the method comprises:

[0277] In step S2101, the access network device 102 sends mobility configuration information to the terminal 101.

[0278] For example, the access network device 102 preconfigures the mobility configuration information corresponding to the candidate cell to the terminal 101, so that the terminal 101 determines the target cell corresponding to the next mobility from the candidate cell according to the mobility configuration information. The mobility configuration information can include mobility parameters, measurement report configuration, bearer configuration, RRC configuration, etc., and is used to indicate the configuration corresponding to the mobility of the terminal in the wireless access network, and instruct the terminal to perform the mobility process. For example, the access network device 102 is the source gNB currently serving the terminal 101.

[0279] In some embodiments, the mobility configuration information includes at least one of the following: master cell configuration information, master cell group configuration information, primary secondary cell configuration information, and secondary cell group configuration information.

[0280] In some embodiments, the terminal receives the mobility configuration information.

[0281] In some embodiments, the terminal can determine the target cell from the multiple candidate cells or multiple candidate cell groups according to the signaling information and the mobility configuration information sent by the access network device.

[0282] In some embodiments, the terminal can determine the configuration information corresponding to the cell (target cell) to be accessed from the multiple candidate configurations according to the signaling information and the mobility configuration information sent by the access network device.

[0283] In some embodiments, the signaling information is used to instruct the terminal to perform cell switching in the multiple candidate cells or multiple candidate cell groups, and determine the target cell of the next mobility procedure from the multiple candidate cells or multiple candidate cell groups according to the mobility configuration information.

[0284] In some embodiments, the mobility configuration information can also be used to instruct the terminal to change the current service configuration of the terminal to the candidate configuration when the trigger condition configured by the network or agreed by the protocol is met, for example, the mobility procedure triggered by the condition in the terminal, and the terminal determines that the measurement result corresponding to the first candidate cell meets the mobility switching condition according to the measurement event indicated by the mobility configuration information. The mobility procedure of the terminal is triggered. Examples, wherein the candidate configuration can also be referred to as candidate cell configuration, candidate cell group configuration, etc.

[0285] In some embodiments, the cell switching condition includes at least one of the following:

[0286] Measurement event A3;

[0287] Measurement event A4;

[0288] Measurement event A5;

[0289] Trigger event corresponding to the cell level measurement result based on physical layer L1 measurement;

[0290] Trigger event of beam level measurement result based on network layer L3 measurement.

[0291] In some embodiments, the terminal changes the current service configuration of the terminal to the candidate cell configuration when the cell switching condition configured by the network or agreed by the protocol is met. The cell switching condition includes at least one of the following: measurement event A3, measurement event A4, measurement event A5, trigger event corresponding to the cell level measurement result based on L1 measurement, and trigger event of beam level measurement result based on network layer L3 measurement.

[0292] Among them, the measurement event A3 is usually triggered when the signal quality of the serving cell is lower than a certain threshold, indicating that the terminal needs to switch to a cell with a stronger signal. The measurement event A4 is triggered when the signal quality of the serving cell is lower than a certain threshold and the signal quality of the adjacent cell is higher than that of the serving cell, which usually means that the terminal should switch to the adjacent cell with better signal. The measurement event A5 is triggered when the signal quality of the serving cell is lower than a certain threshold, and the terminal detects that the signal quality of one or more adjacent cells is higher than that of the serving cell, but the signal quality of these adjacent cells does not exceed a certain threshold. This may mean that the terminal needs to choose between several cells with similar signal quality. The trigger event corresponding to the L1 measurement result is: the measurement data of the first layer (physical layer) is used to make the decision event of cell selection and handover. The trigger event corresponding to the L3 measurement result is: the measurement data of the third layer (network layer) is used to make the decision event of cell selection and handover.

[0293] For example, the mobility in the terminal can include conditional trigger-based mobility and / or network signaling trigger-based mobility. For example, any one or more of LTM, CHO, CPAC, Handover, PSCell change, PSCell addition, conditional LTM, and the like.

[0294] Among them, the mobility configuration information can be used to support subsequent mobility, that is, the mobility configuration information can be used to perform subsequent execution of corresponding mobility, or the mobility configuration can support continuous mobility in the terminal.

[0295] For example, in the process of the access network device initially configuring the LTM for the terminal, the mobility configuration information is sent to the terminal, and the mobility configuration information is the LTM initial configuration. The LTM initial configuration is the cell configuration information used by the terminal in the cell handover process. The LTM initial configuration information can be used for any one or more of handover decision support, adjacent cell relationship management, handover parameter configuration, load balancing, security and privacy protection, and the like in the terminal. In the LTM initial configuration stage in the embodiment, the access network device sends the LTM initial configuration to the terminal, and the terminal can perform subsequent mobility process based on the LTM initial configuration.

[0296] In some embodiments, the mobility configuration information includes NCC information, and the NCC information includes at least one of:

[0297] one or more NCC values;

[0298] one or more NCC value lists, each NCC value list including a plurality of NCC values, and the NCC value list corresponding to a plurality of candidate cells under the same access network device;

[0299] Initial NCC information.

[0300] In some embodiments, the key configuration information includes NCC information, which is used to determine the key information in the terminal and the target cell in the mobility procedure. The access network device can pre-configure one or more NCC values for the terminal, and the terminal can select a suitable NCC from the one or more NCC values based on a predetermined criterion, and determine a new key according to the suitable NCC. The new key can be used to encrypt and decrypt the interaction data between the terminal and the target cell after the terminal accesses the target cell, and to perform integrity protection. The NCC information includes a list of NCC values corresponding to a candidate cell set under the same access network device, and the candidate cell set includes a plurality of candidate cells.

[0301] In some embodiments, the network side can pre-configure a plurality of NCC values for the terminal, and the plurality of NCC values can be indicated to the terminal in the form of an NCC value list. The network side can configure one or more NCC value lists for the terminal, and each NCC value list corresponds to a cell set. The candidate cells in the same set correspond to the same network node, that is, the candidate cells in the same set are the cells under the same candidate gNB. In the subsequent mobility procedure, the terminal can select a suitable NCC from the NCC value list based on a predefined criterion, and determine a new key according to the selected NCC for the encryption and decryption of the target cell data and the integrity protection.

[0302] In some embodiments, the access network device configures initial NCC information for the terminal. The initial NCC can be the NCC corresponding to the current serving cell, or the NCC corresponding to other cells. The UE can update the initial NCC based on a predefined criterion in the subsequent mobility procedure, and determine a new key based on the updated NCC for the encryption and decryption of the target cell data and the integrity protection. AMF Generate NH corresponding to different NCC values, and the key K of the corresponding cell (or node) gNB In the subsequent mobility procedure, the terminal can update the initial NCC based on a predefined criterion, and determine a new key based on the updated NCC for the encryption and decryption of the target cell data and the integrity protection. Alternatively, in the subsequent mobility procedure, the terminal can obtain the NCC based on the configuration of the network side, and determine a new key based on the NCC obtained from the network side for the encryption and decryption of the target cell data and the integrity protection. Alternatively, in the subsequent mobility procedure, the terminal can determine the NCC to be used from the NCC value list pre-configured by the network side based on a predefined criterion, and determine a new key based on the NCC for the encryption and decryption of the target cell data and the integrity protection.

[0303] In some embodiments, the access network device 102 sends the key configuration information to the candidate cells.

[0304] In some embodiments, the key configuration information comprises NCC information, the NCC information comprises at least one of:

[0305] a key, e.g., K gNB ;

[0306] NH

[0307] an NCC value

[0308] an NCC value list, the NCC value list comprises a plurality of NCC values, the NCC value list corresponds to a plurality of candidate cells under the same access network device

[0309] initial NCC information

[0310] NH information corresponding to the NCC information

[0311] a key corresponding to the NCC information, e.g., KgNB

[0312] In an example, the access network device sends the key configuration information to one or more candidate cells corresponding to the terminal, and the key configuration information is used in the candidate cell to determine the key information of the candidate cell based on the key configuration information when the terminal accesses the candidate cell. Thus, the key information of the terminal and the target cell is matched, and the encrypted interaction between the terminal and the target cell is ensured.

[0313] In some embodiments, the candidate cell obtains the NCC value list corresponding to the terminal and the NH or key corresponding to each NCC value. When the candidate cell obtains the NH, the candidate cell can generate the corresponding key information based on the NH and the PCI and DL frequency. The candidate cell can obtain the above information through the initial source cell or through the AMF network element. The candidate cell can determine the NCC corresponding to the terminal in the candidate cell based on the way the terminal determines the NCC in the above embodiments when the terminal accesses the candidate cell, that is, the candidate cell and the terminal determine the NCC to be used in the candidate cell when the terminal accesses the candidate cell based on the same way.

[0314] After the candidate cell obtains the NH or key information corresponding to each NCC information in the NCC list corresponding to the terminal, the candidate cell can generate the corresponding key or use the corresponding key based on any one or more of the NH, PCI, and DL frequency information. The candidate cell can obtain the LTM initial configuration through the source cell corresponding to the terminal or through the AMF network element. The candidate cell can determine the NCC information corresponding to the candidate cell by referring to the scheme for determining the NCC based on the LTM initial configuration in the terminal when the terminal accesses, so as to realize the key matching between the terminal and the candidate cell.

[0315] At step S2102, the terminal 101 sends first information to the access network device 102 of the second cell.

[0316] In some embodiments, the access network device 102 receives the first information.

[0317] In some embodiments, the first information is used to indicate security key information used by the first cell. The first cell is a cell to which the terminal performs a mobility procedure and accesses, i.e., the target cell of the terminal. The second cell is a current serving cell of the terminal.

[0318] In some embodiments, the target cell is any one or more of the candidate cells corresponding to the candidate configuration of the mobility.

[0319] The first information is security key information used by the terminal in the target cell when accessing the target cell. The security key information is used for data interaction between the terminal and the target cell, and the interaction data is encrypted by the security key information to improve data security during data interaction between the terminal and the target cell. The security key information can be NCC (Next Hop Chaining Counter parameter), and the NCC and K gNB The NCC is used to perform key derivation when a new security context is established between the terminal and the access network device corresponding to the target cell or when a connection is established. The new K gNB , so as to realize security key update of the target cell.

[0320] For example, in the process of performing LTM (Layer 1 / Layer 2 Triggered Mobility) cell switching, the terminal needs to report the security key information used in the target cell to the access network device to realize key matching on the terminal side and the network side, so as to ensure that the terminal can successfully access the target cell.

[0321] The LTM cell switching process can include at least one of the following switching scenarios: intra-DC (Distributed Unit) switching, intra-CU (Central Unit) switching, inter-DU switching, Inter-CU (inter-base station) LTM, conditional LTM, and the like. In the LTM cell switching process, the terminal sends first information to the access network device before leaving the current serving cell corresponding to the access network device. The serving cell corresponding to the access network device can forward the first information sent by the terminal to the target cell through inter-node interaction or through core network interaction.

[0322] In some embodiments, the first information is not limited in name, for example, it is "security key information", "NCC configuration information", "access cell key information", "mobility key information", and the like.

[0323] In some embodiments, the step S2102 includes:

[0324] The terminal determines to access the second cell and sends the first information to the access network device 102 of the second cell.

[0325] For example, after the terminal accesses the current serving cell, the terminal sends the first information to the serving cell, and the first information is security key information corresponding to the target cell for the next mobility of the terminal. The access network device corresponding to the serving cell sends the security key information to the access network device corresponding to the target cell. For example, the access network device corresponding to the serving cell can send the security key information to the access network device corresponding to the target cell based on the DC architecture.

[0326] In some embodiments, the terminal determines the NCC for the target cell of the next mobility. Since the preconfigured key information can be configured separately for each candidate cell or node corresponding to the candidate cell, the terminal needs to provide security key information of the cell accessed by the network node for the next mobility for each candidate cell or node corresponding to the candidate cell.

[0327] The preconfigured key information in the terminal is configured separately for each candidate cell or node corresponding to the candidate cell. In order to avoid disorder of the key information of the terminal and the network side and to avoid mismatch of the key information of the terminal and the network side in the process of the next mobility of the terminal, the terminal needs to provide security key information of the target cell or the node corresponding to the target cell accessed for the next mobility for each candidate cell or node corresponding to the candidate cell.

[0328] In some embodiments, the step S2102 includes:

[0329] The terminal receives the second information sent by the access network device and sends the first information to the access network device of the second cell.

[0330] In some embodiments, the second information is used to instruct the terminal to access the target cell.

[0331] In an example, the next mobility access procedure in the terminal is triggered by the second information sent by the access network device, and the access network device determines the current network communication environment of the terminal based on the relevant parameters reported by the terminal. When it is determined that the terminal meets the mobility access condition, the access network device sends the second information to the terminal to trigger the next mobility access procedure in the terminal.

[0332] In some embodiments, the second information is carried by at least one of the following: RRC information, MAC information, and PHY information.

[0333] In an example, the access network device can carry the second information in the RRC information, the MAC information, or the PHY information during the process of sending the RRC information, the MAC information, or the PHY information to the terminal, so as to instruct the terminal to trigger the next mobility access procedure.

[0334] In some embodiments, the step S2102 includes:

[0335] The terminal determines that the next mobility procedure of the terminal is triggered based on the triggering condition, and sends the first information to the serving cell.

[0336] In an example, the next mobility access procedure in the terminal is a condition-triggered mobility, and the terminal is configured with a mobility execution condition of a candidate cell. When a target cell in the candidate cell is determined as a cell triggering the next mobility access, it is determined that the next mobility procedure of the terminal is triggered, and the terminal sends the first information to the serving cell.

[0337] In some embodiments, the second information includes at least one of the following:

[0338] Handover signaling information;

[0339] LTM cell handover signaling information; for example, the LTM cell handover signaling information is LTM Cell Switch Command (MAC CE). In one specific example, the structure of this MAC CE can be as shown in FIG. 10.

[0340] Third information, the third information is used to trigger a primary secondary cell handover or addition.

[0341] The second information can be handover signaling information, LTM cell handover signaling, and third information. The handover signaling information is used to instruct the terminal to trigger a mobility procedure; the LTM cell handover signaling; the third information is used to trigger a PSCell change message, including a PSCell addition message, a PSCell deletion message, a PSCell handover message, and the like.

[0342] In some embodiments, the first information includes at least one of the following:

[0343] Security key information;

[0344] A node identifier corresponding to the candidate cell;

[0345] A candidate cell identifier;

[0346] A candidate configuration identifier;

[0347] A mobility configuration type.

[0348] The terminal sends, to the serving cell, security key information corresponding to the target cell of the mobility through the first information. The first information can include: security key information, a node identifier corresponding to the candidate cell, a candidate cell identifier (for example, a physical cell identifier (PCI), a cell global identity (CGI), and the like), a candidate configuration identifier, and a mobility configuration type (for example, LTM, conditional handover (CHO), conditional PSCell addition / change (CPAC), and the like).

[0349] In some embodiments, the first information includes security key information, and the security key information includes at least one of the following:

[0350] A next hop chaining calculator (NCC) value;

[0351] An NCC identifier;

[0352] An identifier of the NCC value, the identifier of the NCC value being used to indicate an identifier of the NCC value in a list of NCC values;

[0353] Sixth information, the sixth information being used to indicate that an NCC corresponding to the target cell is unchanged;

[0354] Seventh information, the seventh information being used to indicate that an NCC corresponding to the target cell is incremented by X, X being a positive integer;

[0355] Next hop parameter (NH) information;

[0356] K corresponding to the target cell gNB or

[0357] Security key algorithm information;

[0358] The eighth information, the eighth information is used to indicate K AMF ;

[0359] The ninth information is used to instruct the target cell according to K. AMF Generate initial K gNB .

[0360] In some embodiments, the target cell is a PSCell, and the first information includes at least one of the following:

[0361] The value corresponding to the security key SK counter;

[0362] The first identifier of the SK counter;

[0363] The second identifier of the SK counter is used to indicate the identifier of the SK counter in the SK counter list;

[0364] The tenth message indicates that the value of the SK counter remains unchanged.

[0365] The eleventh information is used to indicate that the SK counter corresponding to the target cell increments by X, where X is a positive integer.

[0366] K corresponding to the target cell SN ;

[0367] Security key algorithm information.

[0368] In some embodiments, the first information may be carried by RRC information, and the first information includes at least one of the following: terminal departure information, terminal assistance information, and terminal response information.

[0369] For example, when transmitting RRC information, the terminal carries first information, which may be terminal departure information, terminal assistance information, and terminal response information, etc., which are exchanged between the terminal and the access network equipment during the mobility process.

[0370] For example, the first information can be sent to the serving cell via RRC information, MAC information, and PHY information.

[0371] In some embodiments, step S2102 above includes:

[0372] Upon receiving the request information from the access network device, the terminal sends the first information to the serving cell.

[0373] The terminal can send first information to the serving cell based on the request information sent by the access network device, wherein the request information can include identification information of one or more potential candidate cells or one or more candidate configuration identifiers. When the terminal receives the request information and carries the potential candidate cell as the target cell of the next mobility switching in the reply message corresponding to the request information, the target cell corresponds to security key information. At this time, the first information can be the reply information corresponding to the request information.

[0374] In some embodiments, when the terminal sends the first information to the serving cell based on the request information, the first information can include at least one of the following:

[0375] An identification of the terminal;

[0376] A service node identification corresponding to the serving cell;

[0377] A target node identification corresponding to the target cell;

[0378] An identification of the target cell;

[0379] A candidate configuration identification;

[0380] A mobility configuration type;

[0381] Security key information corresponding to the target cell.

[0382] In an example, the first information in this embodiment is the reply information corresponding to the request information sent by the access network device, and the first information can include at least one of the following: UE identification, service node identification, target node identification, target cell identification, candidate configuration identification, mobility configuration type, and security key information corresponding to the target cell. The access network device forwards the received first information to the access network device corresponding to the target cell.

[0383] In some embodiments, the terminal can send the first information to the serving cell through RRC information, MAC information, and PHY information. For example, the terminal sends the first information to the serving cell through RRC information, which can be terminal leaving information, terminal assistance information, and terminal reply information.

[0384] In step S2103, the access network device 102 of the second cell sends the first information to the access network device of the first cell.

[0385] In an example, the second cell is a current serving cell of the terminal, and the first cell is a target cell to be accessed by the terminal. The access network device of the serving cell is different from the access network device of the target cell. When the access network device 102 of the serving cell determines that the access network device 102 can be connected to the access network device of the target cell through an Xn interface, the first information can be sent to the access network device of the target cell through Xn information.

[0386] In some embodiments, the access network device of the first cell receives the first information.

[0387] In some embodiments, the access network device of the first cell sends response information to the access network device 102 of the second cell.

[0388] In an example, the response information is used to respond to the first information sent by the access network device 102.

[0389] In some embodiments, when the serving cell receives the first information sent by the UE, the serving cell can forward the security key information corresponding to the target cell in the first information to the corresponding target cell in a direct or indirect manner, or the serving cell forwards the security key information to the network node where the target cell is located. The key information can include at least one of the following: terminal identifier, service node identifier, target node identifier, target cell identifier, security key information corresponding to the target cell (or target node).

[0390] In some embodiments, when it is determined that there is an Xn connection between the node where the serving cell is located and the node where the target cell is located, the service node can forward the information related to the target node in the first information to the target node through Xn information. In an example, the target node can send response information to respond to the received related information.

[0391] In some embodiments, the serving cell can also forward the second information to the core network node (for example, the AMF network element). The core network node forwards the information related to the target node in the second information to the target node through NG information. In an example, the target node can send response information to respond to the received related information. Optionally, the core network node can also forward the response information to the service node.

[0392] In some embodiments, the method for the UE to match the key of the target cell includes at least one of the following cases:

[0393] The protected uplink message sent by the UE can arrive at the target cell before the target cell receives the security key information. In this scenario, the target cell determines the corresponding key according to the pre-defined criteria for selecting NCC information;

[0394] After the target cell directly or indirectly receives the NCC information sent by the UE, it needs to check whether the NCC value corresponding to the selected key is consistent with the value corresponding to the received NCC information, to determine whether there is a key mismatch. In the case of key mismatch, after the target cell directly or indirectly receives the NCC information sent by the UE, it selects a suitable key according to the received NCC value to perform subsequent data services;

[0395] After the service node receives the key-related information sent by the UE, the service node generates the key information of the target node based on the information sent by the UE, and sends it to the target node; for example, the UE sends NCC information to the service node, the service node determines NH based on the NCC information, generates Then sends to the target node, and the target node uses as the K gNB corresponding to the terminal accessing the target node.

[0396] After the core network node receives the key-related information sent by the UE, the core node generates the key information of the target node based on the information sent by the UE, and sends it to the target node; for example, the core network node determines NH based on the NCC information, generates Then sends to the target node, and the target node uses as the K gNB corresponding to the terminal accessing the target node. GNB

[0397] After the target node receives the key-related information sent by the UE, it can request the service node or the core network node to provide the key information corresponding to the UE accessing the target cell. The target node can send part of the key-related information received by the UE, such as NCC information, to the service node or the core network node, and then the service node or the core network node provides the key information corresponding to the UE accessing the target cell according to the scheme described in the above embodiments.

[0398] In the above manner, the key alignment between the network side and the terminal side is realized, so as to avoid the failure of the mobility process caused by the key mismatch when the terminal accesses the LTM candidate cell, and ensure the communication performance in the mobility process.

[0399] ​In some embodiments, the names of information and the like are not limited to the names described in the embodiments, and terms such as "information", "message", "signal", "signaling", "report", "configuration", "indication", "instruction", "command", "channel", "parameter", "field", "symbol", "codebook", "codeword", "codepoint", "bit", "data", "program", "chip", and the like can be replaced with each other.

[0400] In some embodiments, terms such as "codebook", "codeword", and "precoding matrix" can be replaced with each other. For example, a codebook can be a collection of one or more codewords / precoding matrices.

[0401] In some embodiments, terms such as "uplink", "uplink", "physical uplink", and the like can be replaced with each other, terms such as "downlink", "downlink", "physical downlink", and the like can be replaced with each other, and terms such as "side", "sidelink", "sidelink communication", "sidelink communication", "direct connection", "direct connection link", "direct connection", "direct connection link communication", and the like can be replaced with each other.

[0402] In some embodiments, terms such as "downlink control information (DCI)", "downlink (DL) assignment", "DL DCI", "uplink (UL) grant", "UL DCI", and the like can be replaced with each other.

[0403] In some embodiments, terms such as "physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)", "DL data", and the like can be replaced with each other, and terms such as "physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)", "UL data", and the like can be replaced with each other.

[0404] In some embodiments, the terms “radio,” “wireless,” “radio access network” (RAN), “access network” (AN), “RAN-based,” and the like can be replaced with each other.

[0405] In some embodiments, the terms “search space,” “search space set,” “search space configuration,” “search space set configuration,” “control resource set” (CORESET), “CORESET configuration,” and the like can be replaced with each other.

[0406] In some embodiments, the terms “synchronization signal” (SS), “synchronization signal block” (SSB), “reference signal” (RS), “pilot,” “pilot signal,” and the like can be replaced with each other.

[0407] In some embodiments, the terms “time instant,” “time point,” “time,” “time location,” and the like can be replaced with each other, and the terms “time duration,” “time period,” “time window,” “window,” “time,” and the like can be replaced with each other.

[0408] In some embodiments, the terms “component carrier” (CC), “cell,” “frequency carrier,” “carrier frequency,” and the like can be replaced with each other.

[0409] In some embodiments, the terms “resource block” (RB), “physical resource block” (PRB), “sub-carrier group” (SCG), “resource element group” (REG), “PRB pair,” “RB pair,” “resource element” (RE), “sub-carrier,” and the like can be replaced with each other.

[0410] In some embodiments, the terms “wireless access scheme,” “waveform,” and the like can be replaced with each other.

[0411] In some embodiments, the terms “precoding,” “precoder,” “weight,” “precoding weight,” “quasi-co-location (QCL),” “transmission configuration indication (TCI) state,” “spatial relation,” “spatial domain filter,” “transmission power,” “phase rotation,” “antenna port,” “antenna port group,” “layer,” “the number of layers,” “rank,” “resource,” “resource set,” “resource group,” “beam,” “beam width,” “beam angular degree,” “antenna,” “antenna element,” “panel,” and the like can be replaced with each other.

[0412] In some embodiments, the terms “frame,” “radio frame,” “subframe,” “slot,” “sub-slot,” “mini-slot,” “symbol,” “symbol,” “transmission time interval (TTI),” and the like can be replaced with each other.

[0413] In some embodiments, the terms “acquire,” “obtain,” “get,” “receive,” “transmit,” “bidirectional transmission,” “transmit and / or receive,” and the like can be replaced with each other, which can be interpreted as receiving from other subjects, acquiring from protocols, acquiring from higher layers, obtaining by oneself, implementing autonomously, and the like.

[0414] In some embodiments, the terms “sending”, “transmitting”, “reporting”, “issuing”, “transferring”, “bidirectional transferring”, “sending and / or receiving” and the like can be replaced by each other.

[0415] In some embodiments, the terms “certain”, “preseted”, “preset”, “set”, “indicated”, “certain”, “arbitrary”, “first” and the like can be replaced by each other, “certain A”, “preset A”, “preset A”, “set A”, “indicated A”, “certain A”, “arbitrary A”, “first A” can be interpreted as A specified in advance in a protocol or the like, A obtained by setting, configuration or indication, or A specific, certain, arbitrary or first, but not limited thereto.

[0416] In some embodiments, the determination or judgment can be made by a value represented by 1 bit (0 or 1), or by a true or false value (Boolean value) represented by true or false, or by comparison of numerical values (for example, comparison with a predetermined value), but not limited thereto.

[0417] In some embodiments, “not expecting to receive” can be interpreted as not receiving on the time domain resource and / or frequency domain resource, or as not performing subsequent processing on the data or the like after receiving the data or the like; “not expecting to send” can be interpreted as not sending, or as sending but not expecting the receiving party to respond to the content of the sending.

[0418] The communication method related to the embodiments of the present disclosure can include at least one of steps S2101-S2103. For example, step S2103 can be implemented as an independent embodiment, steps S2101+S2102 can be implemented as an independent embodiment, steps S2101+S2103 can be implemented as an independent embodiment, steps S2102+S2103 can be implemented as an independent embodiment, but not limited thereto.

[0419] In some embodiments, the execution order of steps S2101, S2102 and S2103 is not limited or can be executed simultaneously.

[0420] In some embodiments, steps S2101 and S2103 are optional, and one or more of these steps can be omitted or replaced in different embodiments.

[0421] In some embodiments, steps S2101, S2102 and S2103 are optional, and one or more of these steps can be omitted or replaced in different embodiments.

[0422] In some embodiments, reference can be made to the other optional implementations described before or after the description of Figure 2A.

[0423] Figure 2B is an interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 2B, the embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a communication method, and the method comprises:

[0424] In step S2201, the access network device 102 sends mobility configuration information to the terminal 101.

[0425] In an example, the access network device 102 is a service gNB corresponding to the terminal.

[0426] Optional implementations of step S2201 can be found in the optional implementations of step S2101 of Figure 2A, and other related parts in the embodiments related to Figure 2A, which will not be described here.

[0427] In step S2202, the terminal 101 sends first information to the core network node through the access network device 102 based on NAS information.

[0428] In some embodiments, step S2202 comprises:

[0429] The terminal sends the first information to the core network node in response to receiving the request information sent by the network device.

[0430] In an example, the terminal can send the first information to the core network node based on the request information sent by the network side. The core network node sends the request information to the terminal through the network device. After receiving the request information sent by the core network node, the terminal sends the first information to the core network node through NAS information.

[0431] In some embodiments, the request information comprises an identifier of a candidate cell or a candidate configuration identifier.

[0432] In an example, the terminal can send the first information to the core network node based on the request sent by the core network node. In response to receiving the request information, the terminal includes the security key information of the potential candidate cell as the target cell for the next mobility switching in the reply information.

[0433] In an example, in the present embodiment, there is no Xn connection between the network device corresponding to the serving cell and the network device corresponding to the target cell. Therefore, the network device corresponding to the serving cell needs to send the first information to the network device corresponding to the target cell through the core network. The core network node can be an AMF network element.

[0434] In some embodiments, the first information comprises at least one of:

[0435] Security key information;

[0436] a node identity corresponding to the candidate cell;

[0437] a cell identity of the candidate cell;

[0438] a candidate configuration identity;

[0439] a mobility configuration type;

[0440] a node identity corresponding to the serving cell;

[0441] a cell identity of the serving cell

[0442] a fourth information, the fourth information being used to indicate whether a cell mobility in the terminal is triggered.

[0443] In some embodiments, the mobility is triggered includes:

[0444] sending, by a network device corresponding to the serving cell, a trigger information to the terminal to trigger a mobility handover procedure in the terminal;

[0445] triggering, by the terminal, the mobility handover procedure based on a condition, triggering the mobility handover procedure in the terminal when the terminal satisfies a mobility handover condition corresponding to the candidate cell, or triggering the mobility handover procedure in the terminal when the candidate cell is determined as a trigger cell or a selected cell.

[0446] In some embodiments, the first information includes NAS information, and the NAS information is carried by RRC information. For example, the terminal sends NCC information to an AMF network element through the NAS information. The AMF network element sends the first information to the target cell through an NG interface.

[0447] In some embodiments, the terminal sends security key information corresponding to a target cell of the mobility to a core network node through the first information. The first information includes at least one of:

[0448] security key information;

[0449] a node identity corresponding to the candidate cell;

[0450] a cell identity of the candidate cell, such as PCI, CGI;

[0451] a candidate configuration identity;

[0452] the mobility configured by the network side includes a plurality of candidate configurations, and each candidate configuration corresponds to an identity;

[0453] a mobility configuration type, such as LTM, CHO, CPAC, etc.

[0454] a node identity corresponding to the serving cell;

[0455] a service cell identity, e.g. PCI, CGI;

[0456] an indication information, indicating whether the mobility has been triggered.

[0457] In some embodiments, the mobility being triggered includes any one or more of the following cases: the mobility in the terminal is triggered when the terminal receives the first information sent by the network side (the serving cell); for the mobility triggered based on the condition, the mobility execution condition corresponding to the candidate cell is met or the candidate cell is determined as the triggering cell or the selected cell.

[0458] In some embodiments, the first information is a NAS message, which can be carried in the RRC message sent by the terminal to the serving cell.

[0459] In some embodiments, the terminal can send the first information to the core network node based on the request of the core network node, and in response to receiving the request message, the request message can contain the identity (or candidate configuration identity) of one or more potential candidate cells, and the terminal includes these potential candidate cells as the security key information corresponding to the target cell for the next handover in the reply message.

[0460] In some embodiments, when the core network node receives the first information sent by the terminal, the core network node forwards the security key information corresponding to the target cell contained in the first information to the corresponding target cell (the node where the corresponding target cell is located), and the information contains any one or more of the following information: terminal identity; service node identity, target node identity, target cell identity, security key information corresponding to the target cell (or target node), indication information, indicating whether the mobility has been triggered.

[0461] Step S2203, the core network node sends the first information to the access network device of the first cell.

[0462] For example, the first cell is the cell to be accessed by the terminal, that is, the first cell is the target cell of the terminal. The core network node determines the network node corresponding to the target cell according to the target cell indicated in the first information, and forwards the security key information corresponding to the target cell contained in the first information to the corresponding target cell according to the communication connection between the core network node and the network node.

[0463] In some embodiments, the method for UE to match the key with the target cell includes at least one of the following cases:

[0464] The protected uplink message sent by the UE can arrive at the target cell before the target cell receives the security key information. In this scenario, the target cell selects the corresponding key according to the pre-defined criterion to determine the NCC information.

[0465] After the target cell directly or indirectly receives the NCC information sent by the UE, it is necessary to check whether the NCC value corresponding to the selected key is consistent with the value corresponding to the received NCC information, to determine whether there is a key mismatch. In the case of key mismatch, after the target cell directly or indirectly receives the NCC information sent by the UE, it selects a suitable key according to the received NCC value, and performs subsequent data service;

[0466] After the service node receives the key-related information sent by the UE, the service node generates the key information of the target node based on the information sent by the UE, and sends it to the target node; for example, the UE sends the NCC information to the service node, the service node determines NH based on the NCC information, generates Then sends to the target node, and the target node uses as the K corresponding to the terminal accessing the target node gNB ;

[0467] After the core network node receives the key-related information sent by the UE, the core node generates the key information of the target node based on the information sent by the UE, and sends it to the target node; for example, the core network node determines NH based on the NCC information, generates Then sends to the target node, and the target node uses as the K corresponding to the terminal accessing the target node gNB ; the core network node determines NH based on the NCC information, and then sends the pair of {NH, NCC} to the target node, and the target node uses NH as the K corresponding to the terminal accessing the target node gNB ;

[0468] After the target node receives the key-related information sent by the UE, it can request the service node or the core network node to provide the key information corresponding to the UE accessing the target cell, and the target node can send part of the key-related information received by the UE, such as NCC information, to the service node or the core network node, and then the service node or the core network node provides the key information corresponding to the UE accessing the target cell according to the scheme described in the above embodiments.

[0469] The communication method related to the embodiments of the present disclosure can include at least one of steps S2201-S2203. For example, step S2203 can be implemented as an independent embodiment, steps S2201+S2203 can be implemented as an independent embodiment, steps S2202+S2203 can be implemented as an independent embodiment, but not limited thereto.

[0470] In some embodiments, the step S2201 and the step S2202 can be performed in an exchanged order or simultaneously.

[0471] In some embodiments, the step S2201, the step S2202 and the step S2203 can be performed in an exchanged order or simultaneously.

[0472] In some embodiments, the step S2201 and the step S2202 are optional, and one or more of the steps can be omitted or replaced in different embodiments.

[0473] In some embodiments, the step S2101, the step S2102 and the step S2103 are optional, and one or more of the steps can be omitted or replaced in different embodiments.

[0474] In some embodiments, other optional implementations can be referred to the description before or after the description of FIG. 2B.

[0475] FIG. 2C is an interaction diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2C, the embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a communication method, and the method comprises:

[0476] In the step S2301, the access network device sends mobility configuration information to the terminal 101.

[0477] In an example, the access network device is a source gNB corresponding to the terminal.

[0478] The optional implementation of the step S2301 can be referred to the optional implementation of the step S2101 of FIG. 2A and other associated parts in the embodiments related to FIG. 2A, which will not be described herein.

[0479] In the step S2302, the terminal 101 sends first information to the access network device 102 of the first cell.

[0480] In an example, in the present embodiment, the first cell is a cell to be accessed by the terminal, i.e., the first cell is a target cell of the terminal, and the access network device 102 of the first cell is an access network device to be accessed by the terminal. In the process of accessing the target cell by the terminal, the terminal sends security key information corresponding to the target cell to the access network device 102 corresponding to the target cell.

[0481] In some embodiments, the first information comprises at least one of the following:

[0482] Security key information;

[0483] Candidate cell identifier;

[0484] Candidate configuration identifier;

[0485] Mobility configuration type.

[0486] The terminal sends, to the target cell, the security key information corresponding to the target cell through the first information. The first information can include: security key information, node identifier corresponding to the candidate cell, candidate cell identifier (for example, PCI (Physical Cell Identifier), CGI (Cell Global Identity), and the like), candidate configuration identifier, and mobility configuration type (for example, LTM, CHO (Conditional Handover), CPAC (Conditional PSCell Addition / Change), and the like).

[0487] In some embodiments, the first information is carried through MAC information or PHY information.

[0488] In some embodiments, the first information can be carried through RRC information.

[0489] In some embodiments, the step S2303 includes:

[0490] The terminal receives the second information sent by the access network device 102 and sends the first information to the first cell.

[0491] For example, in the embodiment, the first cell is a cell to be accessed by the terminal, that is, the first cell is a target cell, and the access network device 102 is a network device corresponding to the first cell.

[0492] In some embodiments, the second information is used to instruct the terminal to access the target cell.

[0493] For example, the next mobility access process in the terminal is triggered by the second information sent by the access network device. The access network device determines the current network communication environment of the terminal based on the related parameters reported by the terminal, and determines that the terminal satisfies the mobility access condition, and sends the second information to the terminal to trigger the next mobility access process in the terminal.

[0494] In some embodiments, the step S2303 includes:

[0495] The terminal determines that the next mobility process of the terminal is triggered based on the trigger condition, and sends the first information to the serving cell.

[0496] In an example, the next mobility access procedure in the terminal is a conditional trigger-based mobility, the terminal is configured with a mobility execution condition of a candidate cell, when a target cell in the candidate cell is determined as a cell triggering the next mobility access, it is determined that the next mobility procedure of the terminal is triggered, and the first information is sent to the serving cell.

[0497] In some embodiments, the step S2303 comprises:

[0498] In the process of the terminal accessing the target cell, the terminal sends the first information to the target cell.

[0499] In an example, in the process of the terminal accessing the target cell, the first information is sent to the target cell, so that the terminal and the target cell match the key. In an example, the process of the terminal accessing the target cell can include any one or more of the following: a signal synchronization process, a beam selection process, a random access process, a process of sending an access request, etc.

[0500] In some embodiments, the step S2303 comprises:

[0501] In the process of the terminal initiating random access, the terminal sends the first information to the target cell.

[0502] In an example, in the process of the terminal initiating random access in the embodiment, the terminal sends the first information to the target cell.

[0503] In some embodiments, the first information is carried in message 1 (Msg1) or message 3 (Msg3).

[0504] In an example, the terminal sends the first information to the target cell in the process of initiating random access to the access network device corresponding to the target cell, and the first information can be carried in Msg1 or Msg3 in the random access process.

[0505] In some embodiments, the step S2303 comprises:

[0506] The terminal sends MAC CE information to the target cell, and the MAC CE information includes a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) and the first information.

[0507] In an example, a new MAC CE information can be set in the terminal, and the MAC CE information is used to send the first information to the target cell. For example, the MAC CE information including the first information can be contained in the same MAC PDU (Protocol Data Unit) information as the RRC reconfiguration completion information, and the first information is sent to the target cell through the MAC PDU information.

[0508] In some embodiments, the step S2303 comprises:

[0509] Before the terminal sends the RRC reconfiguration complete information to the target cell, in order to avoid access failure between the terminal and the target cell, the terminal needs to send the first information to the target cell in advance.

[0510] For example, the terminal sends the first information to the target cell before sending the RRC reconfiguration complete information to the target cell.

[0511] In some embodiments, the step S2303 comprises:

[0512] After the source cell corresponding to the terminal is disconnected, the first information is sent to the target cell.

[0513] For example, after the terminal is disconnected with the source cell, in order to avoid communication interruption in the terminal, the terminal needs to initiate a mobility procedure to the target cell, and send the first information to the target cell.

[0514] In some embodiments, the first information comprises at least one of:

[0515] Next hop chaining calculator parameter NCC value;

[0516] NCC identifier;

[0517] NCC value identifier, the NCC value identifier is used to indicate the identifier of the NCC value in the NCC value list;

[0518] Sixth information, the sixth information is used to indicate that the NCC corresponding to the target cell is unchanged;

[0519] Seventh information, the seventh information is used to indicate that the NCC corresponding to the target cell is incremented by X, X is a positive integer;

[0520] Next hop parameter NH information;

[0521] K corresponding to the target cell gNB Or

[0522] Security key algorithm information;

[0523] Eighth information, the eighth information is used to indicate that the K AMF corresponding to the target cell is K AMM .

[0524] Ninth information, the ninth information is used to indicate that the target cell generates initial K gNB according to K AMM .

[0525] In some embodiments, the target cell is a PSCell, and the first information comprises at least one of:

[0526] a value corresponding to the security key SK counter;

[0527] a first identifier of the SK counter;

[0528] a second identifier of the SK counter, the second identifier being used to indicate an identifier of the SK counter in the SK counter list;

[0529] tenth information, the tenth information being used to indicate that the value of the SK counter is unchanged;

[0530] eleventh information, the eleventh information being used to indicate that the SK counter corresponding to the target cell is incremented by X, X being a positive integer;

[0531] K SN ;

[0532] security key algorithm information.

[0533] In some embodiments, the method for the UE to match the key with the target cell includes at least one of the following:

[0534] The protected uplink message sent by the UE can arrive at the target cell before the target cell receives the security key information. In this scenario, the target cell selects the NCC information according to the predefined criteria to determine the corresponding key;

[0535] After the target cell directly or indirectly receives the NCC information sent by the UE, it needs to check whether the NCC value corresponding to the selected key is consistent with the value corresponding to the received NCC information, to determine whether there is a key mismatch. In the case of key mismatch, after the target cell directly or indirectly receives the NCC information sent by the UE, it selects the appropriate key according to the received NCC value for subsequent data services;

[0536] After the serving node receives the key-related information sent by the UE, the serving node generates the key information of the target node based on the information sent by the UE, and sends it to the target node; for example, the UE sends the NCC information to the serving node, the serving node determines NH based on the NCC information, and generates Then sends to the target node, which uses as the K gNB ;

[0537] After the core network node receives the key-related information sent by the UE, the core node generates the key information of the target node based on the information sent by the UE, and sends it to the target node; for example, the core network node determines NH based on the NCC information, and generates Then sends to the target node, which uses Ktargetnode as the terminal accesses the target node gNB ; the core network node determines NH based on the NCC information, and then sends the {NH, NCC} pair to the target node, and the target node uses NH as Ktargetnode corresponding to the terminal accessing the target node gNB ;

[0538] After the target node receives the key-related information sent by the UE, the target node can request the serving node or the core network node to provide the UE access corresponding key information for the target cell. The target node can send part of the key-related information sent by the UE, such as the NCC information, to the serving node or the core network node, and then the serving node or the core network node provides the UE access corresponding key information for the target cell according to the scheme described in the above embodiments.

[0539] The communication method related to the embodiments of the present disclosure can include at least one of steps S2301-S2303. For example, step S2301 can be implemented as an independent embodiment, step S2302 can be implemented as an independent embodiment, step S2303 can be implemented as an independent embodiment, steps S2302+S2303 can be implemented as an independent embodiment, steps S2301+S2303 can be implemented as an independent embodiment, but not limited thereto.

[0540] In some embodiments, the execution order of steps S2301, S2302, and S2303 is not limited or can be executed simultaneously.

[0541] In some embodiments, steps S2301 and S2302 can be exchanged in order or executed simultaneously, and steps S2301 and S2302 can be exchanged in order or executed simultaneously.

[0542] In some embodiments, steps S2301 and S2302 are optional, and one or more of these steps can be omitted or replaced in different embodiments.

[0543] In some embodiments, steps S2301, S2302, and S2303 are optional, and one or more of these steps can be omitted or replaced in different embodiments.

[0544] In some embodiments, other optional implementations described before or after the description corresponding to FIG. 2C can be referred to.

[0545] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3, the embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a communication method performed by a terminal, and the above method includes:

[0546] Step S3101: sending first information to the access network device.

[0547] In some embodiments, the first information is used to indicate security key information used by the target cell, the target cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal.

[0548] The optional implementation of step S3101 can refer to the optional implementation of step S2103 in FIG. 2A and other associated parts in the embodiments involved in FIG. 2A, which will not be repeated here.

[0549] The optional implementation of step S3101 can refer to the optional implementation of step S2203 in FIG. 2B and other associated parts in the embodiments involved in FIG. 2B, which will not be repeated here.

[0550] The optional implementation of step S3101 can refer to the optional implementation of step S2303 in FIG. 2C and other associated parts in the embodiments involved in FIG. 2C, which will not be repeated here.

[0551] In some embodiments, the above step S3101 comprises:

[0552] receiving second information sent by the access network device, sending the first information to the access network device, and the second information being used to indicate that the terminal accesses the first cell.

[0553] In some embodiments, the second information comprises at least one of the following:

[0554] handover signaling information;

[0555] LTM cell handover signaling information;

[0556] third information, the third information being used to trigger primary secondary cell change or addition.

[0557] In some embodiments, the second information is carried through at least one of the following: radio resource control (RRC) information, medium access control (MAC) information, and physical layer (PHY) information.

[0558] In some embodiments, the above step S3101 comprises:

[0559] receiving request information sent by the access network device, and sending the first information to the access network device.

[0560] In some embodiments, the above step S3101 comprises:

[0561] In a case where a process of determining the mobility of the terminal based on a triggering condition is triggered, the first information is sent to the access network device.

[0562] In some embodiments, the first information comprises at least one of the following:

[0563] an identity of the terminal;

[0564] a service node identity corresponding to the second cell, the second cell being a serving cell of the terminal;

[0565] a target node identity corresponding to the first cell;

[0566] a first cell identity;

[0567] security key information corresponding to the first cell;

[0568] security key information;

[0569] a node identity corresponding to the candidate cell;

[0570] a candidate cell identity;

[0571] a candidate configuration identity;

[0572] a mobility configuration type.

[0573] In some embodiments, the method further includes:

[0574] receiving fourth information sent by the access network device, the fourth information being used to indicate mobility configuration information of the terminal corresponding to the candidate cell;

[0575] determining the first cell according to the fourth information.

[0576] In some embodiments, the fourth information includes at least one of the following: master cell configuration information, master cell group configuration information, primary secondary cell configuration information, primary secondary cell group configuration information.

[0577] In some embodiments, before determining the first cell according to the fourth information, the method further includes:

[0578] receiving signaling information sent by the access network device.

[0579] In some embodiments, the step of “determining the first cell according to the fourth information” includes:

[0580] determining the first cell satisfying a mobility execution condition from the candidate cell corresponding to the fourth information.

[0581] In some embodiments, the mobility execution condition includes at least one of the following:

[0582] measurement event A3;

[0583] measurement event A4;

[0584] measurement event A5;

[0585] a trigger event corresponding to a cell-level measurement result based on a physical layer L1 measurement.

[0586] A triggering event of a beam level measurement result based on a network layer L3 measurement.

[0587] In some embodiments, the fourth information includes next hop chaining counter parameter NCC information, the NCC information includes at least one of:

[0588] an NCC value;

[0589] an NCC value list, the NCC value list includes a plurality of NCC values, and the NCC value list corresponds to a plurality of candidate cells under a same network device;

[0590] initial NCC information;

[0591] NH next hop parameter information corresponding to the NCC information.

[0592] In some embodiments, the step S3101 includes:

[0593] sending the first information to an access network device of a second cell, the second cell being a serving cell of the terminal.

[0594] In some embodiments, the access network device of the second cell is the same as or different from the access network device of the first cell.

[0595] In some embodiments, the access network device of the second cell is different from the access network device of the first cell;

[0596] the access network device of the second cell and the access network device of the first cell are connected through an Xn interface; or

[0597] the access network device of the second cell and the access network device of the first cell communicate through a core network node.

[0598] In some embodiments, the sending of the first information to the access network device of the second cell includes:

[0599] sending the first information to the access network device of the second cell in response to accessing the second cell.

[0600] In some embodiments, the first information is carried through RRC information, and the first information includes at least one of: terminal leaving information, terminal assistance information, and terminal response information.

[0601] In some embodiments, the first information includes at least one of:

[0602] a node identifier corresponding to the second cell;

[0603] a cell identifier of the second cell

[0604] The fifth information is used to indicate whether a mobility procedure in the terminal is triggered.

[0605] In some embodiments, the first information is sent to the access network device, comprising:

[0606] The first information is sent to the access network device by the first cell.

[0607] In some embodiments, the first information is carried by MAC information or PHY information.

[0608] In some embodiments, the first information is sent to the access network device by the first cell, comprising:

[0609] The first information is sent to the access network device in the process that the terminal accesses the first cell.

[0610] In some embodiments, the above-mentioned step "the first information is sent to the access network device in the process that the terminal accesses the first cell" comprises:

[0611] The first information is sent to the access network device in the process that the terminal initiates random access.

[0612] In some embodiments, the above-mentioned step "the first information is sent to the access network device in the process that the terminal accesses the first cell" comprises:

[0613] The first information is sent to the access network device before sending RRC reconfiguration completion information to the access network device.

[0614] In some embodiments, the first information is sent to the first cell in the process that the terminal accesses the first cell, comprising:

[0615] The first information is sent to the access network device of the first cell after the access network device corresponding to the source cell of the terminal is disconnected.

[0616] In some embodiments, the first information is carried by random access information, and the random access information comprises Msg1 or Msg3.

[0617] In some embodiments, the first information comprises a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), and the first information is carried by media access control layer control element (MAC CE) information.

[0618] In some embodiments, the first information comprises at least one of the following:

[0619] An NCC value;

[0620] An NCC identifier;

[0621] An identifier of an NCC value, the identifier of the NCC value being used to indicate an identifier of the NCC value in an NCC value list.

[0622] sixth information, the sixth information being used for indicating that the NCC corresponding to the first cell is unchanged;

[0623] seventh information, the seventh information being used for indicating that the NCC corresponding to the first cell is incremented by X, X being a positive integer;

[0624] NH information;

[0625] K gNB or

[0626] security key algorithm information;

[0627] eighth information, the eighth information being used for indicating that the K AMF ;

[0628] ninth information, the ninth information being used for indicating that the first cell generates the initial K AMF according to the K gNB .

[0629] In some embodiments, the first cell is a primary secondary cell (PSCell), and the first information comprises at least one of the following:

[0630] a value corresponding to a security key (SK) counter;

[0631] a first identifier of the SK counter;

[0632] a second identifier of the SK counter, the second identifier information being used for indicating an identifier of the SK counter in a SK counter list;

[0633] tenth information, the tenth information being used for indicating that the value of the SK counter is unchanged;

[0634] eleventh information, the eleventh information being used for indicating that the SK counter corresponding to the first cell is incremented by X, X being a positive integer;

[0635] K SN ;

[0636] security key algorithm information.

[0637] In some embodiments, other optional implementations described before or after the description corresponding to FIG. 3 can be referred to.

[0638] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, the embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a communication method, which is performed by an access network device, and the above method comprises:

[0639] S4101, receiving first information sent by a terminal.

[0640] In some embodiments, the first information is used to indicate security key information used by the target cell, the target cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal.

[0641] The optional implementation of step S4101 can refer to the optional implementation of step S2104 in FIG. 2A and other associated parts in the embodiments involved in FIG. 2A, which will not be repeated here.

[0642] The optional implementation of step S4101 can refer to the optional implementation of step S2204 in FIG. 2B and other associated parts in the embodiments involved in FIG. 2B, which will not be repeated here.

[0643] The optional implementation of step S4101 can refer to the optional implementation of step S2304 in FIG. 2C and other associated parts in the embodiments involved in FIG. 2C, which will not be repeated here.

[0644] In some embodiments, the method further includes:

[0645] sending, to the terminal, second information, the second information being used to indicate the terminal to access the first cell.

[0646] In some embodiments, the second information includes at least one of:

[0647] handover signaling information;

[0648] LTM cell handover signaling information;

[0649] third information, the third information being used to trigger a primary secondary cell change or addition.

[0650] In some embodiments, the second information is carried through at least one of: radio resource control (RRC) information, medium access control (MAC) information, and physical layer (PHY) information.

[0651] In some embodiments, the method further includes:

[0652] sending, to the terminal, request information, the request information being used to indicate the terminal to send the first information to the network device.

[0653] In some embodiments, the first information includes at least one of:

[0654] an identifier of the terminal;

[0655] a service node identifier corresponding to the second cell, the second cell being a serving cell of the terminal;

[0656] a target node identifier corresponding to the first cell;

[0657] a first cell identifier;

[0658] security key information corresponding to the first cell;

[0659] security key information;

[0660] a node identity corresponding to the candidate cell;

[0661] a candidate cell identity;

[0662] a candidate configuration identity;

[0663] a mobility configuration type.

[0664] In some embodiments, the method further includes:

[0665] sending, to the terminal, fourth information, the fourth information being used to indicate the mobility configuration information of the candidate cell corresponding to the terminal;

[0666] In some embodiments, the fourth information includes at least one of the following: primary cell configuration information, primary cell group configuration information, primary secondary cell configuration information, primary secondary cell group configuration information.

[0667] In some embodiments, before sending the fourth information to the terminal, the method further includes:

[0668] sending, to the terminal, signaling information.

[0669] In some embodiments, the fourth information includes NCC information, and the NCC information includes at least one of the following:

[0670] an NCC value;

[0671] an NCC value list, the NCC value list including a plurality of NCC values, and the NCC value list corresponding to a plurality of candidate cells under a same network device;

[0672] initial NCC information;

[0673] NH information corresponding to the NCC information.

[0674] In some embodiments, the access network device of the second cell is an access network device of the terminal.

[0675] In some embodiments, the access network device of the second cell is the same as or different from the access network device of the first cell.

[0676] In some embodiments, the access network device of the second cell is different from the access network device of the first cell, and the method further includes:

[0677] sending, to the access network device of the first cell, the first information through an Xn interface; or

[0678] sending, to the access network device of the first cell, the first information through a core network node.

[0679] In some embodiments, the first information comprises at least one of:

[0680] a node identity corresponding to the second cell;

[0681] a cell identity of the second cell

[0682] fifth information, the fifth information being used to indicate whether a mobility procedure in the terminal is triggered.

[0683] In some embodiments, the method further comprises:

[0684] generating, according to the first information, security key information of a target node, the target node being a network node corresponding to the first cell;

[0685] sending the security key information to the target node.

[0686] In some embodiments, the method further comprises:

[0687] sending, according to the first information, third information to the serving node or the core network node, the third information being used to indicate that the serving node feeds back the security key information of the terminal to the access network device, or the third information being used to indicate that the core network node feeds back the security key information of the terminal to the access network device.

[0688] In some embodiments, the access network device is an access network device of the first cell.

[0689] In some embodiments, the method further comprises:

[0690] determining that first NCC information corresponding to the first information does not match second NCC information corresponding to the first cell;

[0691] determining, according to the first NCC information, security key information of the first cell.

[0692] In some embodiments, the first information is carried by MAC information or PHY information.

[0693] In some embodiments, the first information comprises at least one of:

[0694] an NCC value;

[0695] an NCC identity;

[0696] an identity of an NCC value, the identity of the NCC value being used to indicate an identity of the NCC value in an NCC value list;

[0697] sixth information, the sixth information being used to indicate that an NCC corresponding to the first cell is unchanged;

[0698] seventh information, the seventh information being used to indicate that the NCC corresponding to the first cell is incremented by X, X being a positive integer;

[0699] NH information;

[0700] the first cell corresponds to K gNB or

[0701] security key algorithm information;

[0702] eighth information, the eighth information being used for indicating that K AMF ;

[0703] ninth information, the ninth information being used for indicating that the first cell generates initial K AMF according to K gNB .

[0704] In some embodiments, the first cell is a primary secondary cell (PSCell), and the first information includes at least one of the following:

[0705] a value corresponding to a security key (SK) counter;

[0706] a first identifier of the SK counter;

[0707] a second identifier of the SK counter, the second identifier information being used for indicating an identifier of the SK counter in a SK counter list;

[0708] tenth information, the tenth information being used for indicating that a value of the SK counter is unchanged;

[0709] eleventh information, the eleventh information being used for indicating that the SK counter corresponding to the first cell is incremented by X, X being a positive integer;

[0710] the first cell corresponds to K

[0711] security key algorithm information.

[0712] In some embodiments, other optional implementations described before or after the description corresponding to FIG. 3 can be referred to.

[0713] FIG. 5 is an interaction schematic diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 5, the embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a communication method, and the above method includes:

[0714] In step S5101, a network side configures mobility configuration information for a UE.

[0715] In some embodiments, the network side provides one or more candidate configurations (for example, candidate configurations provided by an RRC reconfiguration message) to a terminal side, wherein the candidate configurations can include cell (or cell group) configurations. For example, the cell (or cell group) configurations can be primary cell (or primary cell group) configurations and / or primary secondary cell (or secondary cell group) configurations.

[0716] In some embodiments, the use of the candidate configuration can include that the network side can subsequently control the terminal to change the multiple candidate cells (or candidate cell groups) through signaling; the terminal changes the configuration to the candidate cell (or candidate cell group) configuration when the trigger condition configured by the network or the protocol is met, for example, the terminal changes the service cell (or service cell group) configuration to the corresponding candidate cell (or candidate cell group) when the measurement event A3 or A4 or A5 event is met. The trigger condition includes but is not limited to any one or more of the following events: a trigger event corresponding to a cell-level measurement result based on L3 measurement, and / or a trigger event based on a beam-level measurement result based on L1 measurement.

[0717] Step S5102, when performing LTM initial configuration, the network side configures NCC information for subsequent mobility for UE and candidate cell.

[0718] In some embodiments, the network side pre-configures multiple NCC values for the UE, which can be represented by an NCC value list; the network side can configure one NCC value list for the UE or the network side can configure multiple value lists for the UE, each NCC value list corresponds to a cell set, and the candidate cells in the same set are cells under the same candidate gNB. In the subsequent mobility process, the UE can select a suitable NCC based on the pre-defined criteria in the NCC value list, and determine a new key based on the selected NCC for the encryption and decryption of the target cell data and the integrity protection.

[0719] In some embodiments, the network side configures an initial NCC for the UE, which can or can not be the NCC corresponding to the current service cell. The UE can update the initial NCC based on the pre-defined criteria in the subsequent mobility process, and determine a new key based on the updated NCC for the encryption and decryption of the target cell data and the integrity protection. AMF Generate NH corresponding to different NCC values and the key K of the corresponding cell (or node) gNB In the subsequent mobility process, the UE can update the initial NCC based on the pre-defined criteria, and determine a new key based on the updated NCC for the encryption and decryption of the target cell data and the integrity protection.

[0720] In some embodiments, the candidate cell obtains the NCC value list corresponding to the UE and the NH or the key corresponding to each NCC; if the NH is obtained, the candidate cell can generate the corresponding key based on the NH and the PCI, the DL frequency. The candidate cell can obtain the above information through the initial source cell, or can obtain the above information through the AMF. The candidate cell can determine the NCC based on the scheme for determining the NCC of the UE in the above embodiments when the UE accesses.

[0721] Step S5103, the UE sends the NCC information used by the UE to access the target cell to the service cell before leaving the current service cell.

[0722] In some embodiments, the UE sends the NCC information to the serving cell, and the serving cell forwards the NCC information sent by the UE to the target cell through inter-node interaction or interaction with the core network.

[0723] In some embodiments, when the UE accesses the current serving cell, the UE sends the security key information (NCC) corresponding to the target cell of next mobility to the network.

[0724] In some embodiments, the UE determines the security key information (NCC) for the target cell of next mobility. Since the pre-configured key information can be configured for each candidate cell or the node corresponding to the candidate cell, the UE needs to provide the security key information corresponding to the cell of the node for next mobility access for each candidate cell or the node corresponding to the candidate cell.

[0725] In some embodiments, when the UE receives the first information sent by the network side (serving cell), the UE sends the security key information (NCC) corresponding to the target cell to the network, wherein the first information is used to trigger the UE to access the target cell by the network side.

[0726] In some embodiments, the first information can be RRC, MAC, PHY message, for example, handover command, LTM cell handover signaling, message for triggering PSCell change or addition, etc.

[0727] In some embodiments, the UE sends the security key information corresponding to the target cell of mobility to the serving cell through the second information, wherein the second information includes at least one of the following:

[0728] Security key information;

[0729] Node identifier corresponding to the candidate cell;

[0730] Candidate cell identifier, such as PCI; CGI;

[0731] Candidate configuration identifier;

[0732] Mobility configuration type, such as LTM, CHO, CPAC, etc.

[0733] In some embodiments, the second information can be sent to the serving cell through RRC information, MAC information, and PHY information.

[0734] For example, the RRC message can be UE leave information; UE assistance information; UE information reply.

[0735] In some embodiments, the UE can send the second information to the serving cell based on a network side request, in response to receiving a request message from the network side, the request message can contain the identification (or candidate configuration identification) of one or more potential candidate cells, the UE includes the potential candidate cells in the reply message as the target cells corresponding to the security key information for the next handover when receiving the request message.

[0736] In some embodiments, when the serving cell receives the second information sent by the UE, the serving cell can forward the security key information corresponding to the target cell in the second information to the corresponding target cell (the node where the corresponding target cell is located) through a direct or indirect scheme, the information contains any one or more of the following information: UE identification, service node identification, target node identification, target cell identification, security key information corresponding to the target cell (or target node).

[0737] In some embodiments, in response to the existence of Xn connection between the node where the serving cell is located and the node where the target cell is located, the service node can forward the information related to the target node in the second information to the target node through the Xn message, and the target node can send a reply message in response to receiving the related information.

[0738] In some embodiments, the serving cell forwards the NCC information sent by the UE to the target cell through inter-node interaction or interaction with the core network.

[0739] For example, determine the interaction between the serving cell and the node corresponding to the target cell, or the interaction with the core network, and forward the NCC information to the target cell.

[0740] In some embodiments, the method for the UE to match the key with the target cell includes at least one of the following cases:

[0741] The protected uplink message sent by the UE can arrive at the target cell before the target cell receives the security key information. In this scenario, the target cell selects the NCC information to determine the corresponding key according to the predefined criteria;

[0742] After the target cell directly or indirectly receives the NCC information sent by the UE, it needs to check whether the NCC value corresponding to the selected key is consistent with the value corresponding to the received NCC information, and judge whether there is a key mismatch. In the case of key mismatch, the target cell selects the appropriate key according to the received NCC value after directly or indirectly receiving the NCC information sent by the UE, and performs subsequent data service;

[0743] The service node generates the key information of the target node based on the information sent by the UE after receiving the key-related information sent by the UE, and sends the key information to the target node; for example, the UE sends NCC information to the service node, the service node determines NH based on the NCC information, and generates Then, the service node sends to the target node, and the target node uses as the K gNB corresponding to the terminal accessing the target node; the core network node determines NH based on the NCC information, and then sends the {NH, NCC} pair to the target node, and the target node uses NH as the K gNB corresponding to the terminal accessing the target node. gNB ;

[0744] The core network node generates the key information of the target node based on the information sent by the UE after receiving the key-related information sent by the UE, and sends the key information to the target node; for example, the core network node determines NH based on the NCC information, and generates Then, the core network node sends to the target node, and the target node uses as the K gNB corresponding to the terminal accessing the target node; the core network node determines NH based on the NCC information, and then sends the {NH, NCC} pair to the target node, and the target node uses NH as the K gNB corresponding to the terminal accessing the target node. gNB ;

[0745] The target node can request the service node or the core network node to provide the key information corresponding to the UE accessing the target cell after receiving the key-related information sent by the UE. The target node can send part of the key-related information received by the UE, such as NCC information, to the service node or the core network node, and then the service node or the core network node provides the key information corresponding to the UE accessing the target cell according to the scheme described in the above embodiments.

[0746] In step S5104, the UE sends NCC information to the core network node through a NAS message.

[0747] In some embodiments, the UE 6 sends the security key information corresponding to the target cell of mobility to the core network node through the third information.

[0748] For example, the third information includes at least one of the following:

[0749] Security key information;

[0750] Node identifier corresponding to the candidate cell;

[0751] Candidate cell identifier, such as PCI; CGI;

[0752] Candidate configuration identifier;

[0753] Mobility configuration type, such as LTM, CHO, CPAC, etc.

[0754] a node identity corresponding to the serving cell;

[0755] a serving cell identity, e.g. PCI, CGI;

[0756] an indication information indicating whether the mobility has been triggered, wherein the mobility is triggered includes any one or more of the following: when the UE receives the first information sent by the network side (serving cell); for the mobility triggered based on the condition, when the UE satisfies the mobility execution condition corresponding to the candidate cell or the candidate cell is determined as the triggering cell or the selected cell.

[0757] In some embodiments, the third information is a NAS message. For example, the NAS message can be carried in the RRC message sent by the UE to the serving cell.

[0758] In some embodiments, the UE can send the third information to the AMF based on the network side request, in response to receiving the request message, the request message can contain the identity (or candidate configuration identity) of one or more potential candidate cells, and the UE includes the potential candidate cells as the security key information corresponding to the target cell for the next handover in the reply message.

[0759] In some embodiments, the core network node sends the NCC information to the target cell through the NG interface.

[0760] In some embodiments, when the core network node receives the third information sent by the UE, the core network node forwards the security key information corresponding to the target cell in the third information to the corresponding target cell (the node where the corresponding target cell is located), and the information includes any one or more of the following: UE identity; service node identity, target node identity, target cell identity, security key information corresponding to the target cell (or target node), indication information indicating whether the mobility has been triggered.

[0761] In some embodiments, the serving cell can forward the second information to the core network node (e.g. AMF), and the core network node forwards the information related to the target node in the second information to the target node through the NG message. Optionally, the target node can send a reply message in response to receiving the related information. Optionally, the core network node can also forward the reply message to the service node.

[0762] Step S5105, after accessing the target cell, the UE sends the NCC information to be used in the target cell to the target cell.

[0763] For example, the UE sends the NCC information to be used in the target cell to the target cell through the MAC layer message in the process of accessing the target cell.

[0764] In some embodiments, the procedure of the UE accessing the target cell comprises a procedure in which the UE initiates random access.

[0765] In some embodiments, the procedure of the UE accessing the target cell can comprise a procedure before the UE sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message to the target cell.

[0766] In some embodiments, the procedure of the UE accessing the target cell can refer to a procedure after the UE disconnects from the source cell.

[0767] In some embodiments, the security key information corresponding to the target cell comprises at least one of the following:

[0768] an NCC value;

[0769] an identifier corresponding to the NCC;

[0770] a sequence number of the NCC value in a list of NCC values;

[0771] the indication information indicates that the NCC is unchanged;

[0772] the indication information indicates that the NCC is incremented by one (or the NCC is incremented);

[0773] the indication information indicates that the NCC is incremented by X (or the NCC is incremented by X), where X is configured by the network or specified by a protocol;

[0774] NH information;

[0775] a K gNB (or ) corresponding to the target cell;

[0776] a security algorithm: an encryption / decryption algorithm or an integrity protection algorithm;

[0777] the indication information is used to indicate that the K AMF is updated (or the indication information is used to indicate that the K AMF is unchanged)

[0778] the indication information is used to indicate that the K AMF is unchanged but a new initial K gNB needs to be generated, and optionally, the NCC is set to 0 by default at this time.

[0779] In some embodiments, the security key information is used for mobility of the PSCell, and the security key information comprises at least one of the following:

[0780] a value corresponding to a security key SK counter;

[0781] a first identifier of the SK counter;

[0782] The second identifier of the SK counter is used to indicate the identifier of the SK counter in the SK counter list;

[0783] The tenth message indicates that the value of the SK counter remains unchanged.

[0784] The eleventh information is used to indicate that the SK counter corresponding to the target cell increments by X, where X is a positive integer.

[0785] K corresponding to the target cell SN ;

[0786] Security key algorithm information.

[0787] In some embodiments, the UE sends the security key information corresponding to the target cell of mobility to the target cell (target node) through the fourth information.

[0788] In some embodiments, the fourth information includes at least one of the following:

[0789] Security key information;

[0790] Candidate cell identifiers, such as PCI; CGI;

[0791] Candidate configuration identifier;

[0792] Mobility configuration types, such as LTM, CHO, CPAC, etc.

[0793] In some embodiments, the fourth message is a MAC message or a PHY message.

[0794] In some embodiments, when the UE receives the first information sent by the network side (serving cell), the UE initiates the process of accessing the target cell and can send the fourth information to the target cell in any one or more of the following ways.

[0795] In some embodiments, the UE initiates random access in the target cell, and the UE carries fourth information in Msg1.

[0796] In some embodiments, the UE carries fourth information in Msg3.

[0797] In some embodiments, the UE may include the fourth information in the MAC CE used to transmit the C-RNTI, and may send the fourth information and the C-RNTI together to the target cell.

[0798] In some embodiments, the UE may define a new MAC CE for sending fourth information. For example, the MAC CE containing the fourth information may be included in the same MAC PDU as the RRC reconfiguration complete message and sent to the target cell.

[0799] The embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a device for implementing any of the above methods, for example, a device comprising units or modules for implementing the steps performed by the terminal in any of the above methods. For another example, another device is provided, comprising units or modules for implementing the steps performed by the network equipment (such as an access network device, a core network function node, a core network device, etc.) in any of the above methods.

[0800] It should be understood that the division of each unit or module in the above device is only a logical function division, and all or part of the units or modules can be integrated into one physical entity or physically separated in actual implementation. In addition, the units or modules in the device can be implemented in the form of processor invoking software: for example, the device comprises a processor connected with a memory, the memory stores instructions, and the processor invokes the instructions stored in the memory to implement any of the above methods or to implement the functions of each unit or module of the device, wherein the processor is a general processor such as a central processing unit (CPU) or a microprocessor, and the memory is a memory in the device or a memory outside the device. Alternatively, the units or modules in the device can be implemented in the form of hardware circuit, and the functions of part or all of the units or modules can be implemented by the design of the hardware circuit, and the hardware circuit can be understood as one or more processors; for example, in one implementation, the hardware circuit is an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and the functions of part or all of the units or modules are implemented by the design of the logical relationship between the elements in the circuit; for another example, in another implementation, the hardware circuit is a programmable logic device (PLD), and taking a field programmable gate array (FPGA) as an example, it can include a large number of logic gate circuits, and the connection relationship between the logic gate circuits is configured by a configuration file, so as to implement the functions of part or all of the units or modules. All units or modules of the above device can be implemented in the form of processor invoking software, or all units or modules can be implemented in the form of hardware circuit, or part of the units or modules are implemented in the form of processor invoking software, and the remaining part is implemented in the form of hardware circuit.

[0801] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the processor is a circuit with signal processing capability. In one implementation, the processor can be a circuit with instruction reading and running capability, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, a graphics processing unit (GPU) (which can be understood as a microprocessor), a digital signal processor (DSP), and the like. In another implementation, the processor can implement certain functions through a logical relationship of a hardware circuit, and the logical relationship of the hardware circuit is fixed or can be reconfigured. For example, the processor is a hardware circuit implemented by an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a programmable logic device (PLD), such as an FPGA. In the reconfigurable hardware circuit, the processor loads a configuration document to implement the configuration of the hardware circuit. It can be understood that the processor loads instructions to implement the functions of the above part or all units or modules. In addition, the hardware circuit can also be designed for artificial intelligence, which can be understood as an ASIC, such as a neural network processing unit (NPU), a tensor processing unit (TPU), a deep learning processing unit (DPU), and the like.

[0802] FIG. 6 is a structural schematic diagram of a terminal according to the embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 6, the terminal 6100 can include a transceiver module 6101. In some embodiments, the transceiver module 6101 is configured to send first information to an access network device, where the first information is used to indicate security key information used by a first cell, and the first cell is a cell to be accessed by the terminal. Optionally, the transceiver module 6101 is configured to perform at least one of the determination and / or acquisition and / or the like communication steps performed by the terminal 101 in any of the above methods, which will not be described herein.

[0803] In some embodiments, the transceiver module can include a receiving module and a sending module, which can be separate or integrated together. Optionally, the sending module can be replaced by a transmitter. The receiving module can be replaced by a receiver.

[0804] FIG. 7 is a structural schematic diagram of an access network device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 7, the access network device 7100 can include a transceiver module 7101. In some embodiments, the transceiver module 7101 described above is configured to receive first information sent by a terminal, the first information being used to indicate security key information used by a first cell, the first cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal. Optionally, the transceiver module 7101 described above is configured to perform at least one of the determining and / or obtaining communication steps performed by the access network device 102 in any of the above methods, which will not be described herein.

[0805] In some embodiments, the transceiver module can include a receiving module and a sending module, which can be separate or integrated together. Optionally, the sending module can be replaced by a transmitter. The receiving module can be replaced by a receiver.

[0806] FIG. 8 is a structural schematic diagram of a communication device 8100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The communication device 8100 can be a network device (for example, an access network device, a core network device, etc.), a terminal (for example, a user equipment, etc.), a chip, a chip system, or a processor supporting the network device to implement any of the above methods, or a chip, a chip system, or a processor supporting the terminal to implement any of the above methods. The communication device 8100 can be used to implement the methods described in the above method embodiments, which can be referred to the descriptions in the above method embodiments.

[0807] As shown in FIG. 8, the communication device 8100 includes one or more third processors 8101. The third processor 8101 can be a general-purpose processor or a special-purpose processor, for example, a baseband processor or a central processing unit. The baseband processor can be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processing unit can be used to control the communication device (for example, a base station, a baseband chip, a terminal device, a terminal device chip, a DU or a CU, etc.), execute programs, and process data of the programs. Optionally, the communication device 8100 is configured to perform any of the above methods. Optionally, the one or more third processors 8101 are configured to invoke instructions to cause the communication device 8100 to perform any of the above methods.

[0808] In some embodiments, the communication device 8100 further includes one or more third transceivers 8102. When the communication device 8100 includes one or more third transceivers 8102, the third transceiver 8102 performs at least one of the communication steps of sending and / or receiving in the above-described methods, and the third processor 8101 performs at least one of the other steps. In optional embodiments, a transceiver can include a receiver and / or a transmitter, which can be separate or integrated together. Optionally, the terms transceiver, transceiving unit, transceiver, transceiving circuit, interface circuit, interface, and the like can be replaced with each other, the terms transmitter, transmitting unit, transmitter, transmitting circuit, and the like can be replaced with each other, and the terms receiver, receiving unit, receiver, receiving circuit, and the like can be replaced with each other.

[0809] In some embodiments, the communication device 8100 further includes one or more third memories 8103 for storing data. Optionally, all or part of the third memory 8103 can also be outside the communication device 8100. In optional embodiments, the communication device 8100 can include one or more first interface circuits 8104. Optionally, the first interface circuit 8104 is connected to the third memory 8103, and the first interface circuit 8104 can be used to receive data from the third memory 8103 or other devices, and can be used to send data to the third processor 8101 or other devices. For example, the first interface circuit 8104 can read the data stored in the third memory 8103 and send the data to the third processor 8101.

[0810] The communication device 8100 described in the above embodiments can be a network device or a terminal, but the scope of the communication device 8100 described in the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and the structure of the communication device 8100 can not be limited by Figure 8. The communication device can be a standalone device or can be part of a larger device. For example, the communication device can be: 1) a standalone integrated circuit (IC), or a chip, or a chip system or subsystem; (2) a set of one or more ICs, which can optionally include storage components for storing data, programs; (3) an ASIC, such as a modem; (4) a module that can be embedded in other devices; (5) a receiver, a terminal device, a smart terminal device, a cellular phone, a wireless device, a handset, a mobile unit, a vehicle-mounted device, a network device, a cloud device, an artificial intelligence device, and the like; (6) others, and the like.

[0811] Figure 9 is a structural schematic diagram of a chip 8200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For the case where the communication device 8100 is a chip or a chip system, reference can be made to the structural schematic diagram of the chip 8200 shown in Figure 9, but not limited thereto.

[0812] The chip 8200 includes one or more fourth processors 8201. The chip 8200 is configured to perform any of the above methods.

[0813] In some embodiments, the chip 8200 further includes one or more second interface circuits 8202. Optionally, the terms interface circuit, interface, transceiver pin, etc. can replace each other. In some embodiments, the chip 8200 further includes one or more fourth memories 8203 configured to store data. Optionally, all or part of the fourth memory 8203 can be outside the chip 8200. Optionally, the second interface circuit 8202 is connected with the fourth memory 8203, the second interface circuit 8202 can be configured to receive data from the fourth memory 8203 or other devices, and the second interface circuit 8202 can be configured to send data to the fourth memory 8203 or other devices. For example, the second interface circuit 8202 can read the data stored in the fourth memory 8203 and send the data to the fourth processor 8201.

[0814] In some embodiments, the second interface circuit 8202 performs at least one of the communication steps such as sending and / or receiving in the above methods. The second interface circuit 8202 performs the communication steps such as sending and / or receiving in the above methods, for example, means that the second interface circuit 8202 performs data interaction between the fourth processor 8201, the chip 8200, the fourth memory 8203 or the transceiver device. In some embodiments, the fourth processor 8201 performs at least one of the other steps.

[0815] The modules and / or devices described in each of the embodiments of the virtual device, the physical device, the chip, etc. can be combined or separated according to the situation. Optionally, part or all of the steps can also be performed by multiple modules and / or devices in cooperation, which is not limited here.

[0816] The disclosure also proposes a storage medium, and the above storage medium stores instructions, when the instructions run on the communication device 8100, the communication device 8100 performs any of the above methods. Optionally, the above storage medium is an electronic storage medium. Optionally, the above storage medium is a computer readable storage medium, but is not limited to this, it can also be a storage medium readable by other devices. Optionally, the above storage medium can be a non-transitory storage medium, but is not limited to this, it can also be a transitory storage medium.

[0817] The disclosure also proposes a program product, and the above program product is executed by the communication device 8100, so that the communication device 8100 performs any of the above methods. Optionally, the above program product is a computer program product.

[0818] The disclosure also proposes a computer program, when it runs on a computer, it makes the computer perform any of the above methods.

Claims

A communication method characterized by comprising: The method is performed by a terminal, and the method comprises: sending, to an access network device, first information, the first information being used for indicating security key information used by a first cell, the first cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal. The method of claim 1, wherein The sending, to the access network device, of the first information comprises: receiving second information sent by the access network device, the sending, to the access network device, of the first information being based on the second information, the second information being used for indicating that the terminal accesses the first cell. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The second information comprises at least one of: handover signaling information; LTM cell handover signaling information; third information, the third information being used for triggering a primary secondary cell change or addition. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that The second information is carried by at least one of: radio resource control (RRC) information, medium access control (MAC) information, and physical layer (PHY) information. The method of claim 1, wherein The sending, to the access network device, of the first information comprises: receiving request information sent by the access network device, the sending, to the access network device, of the first information being based on the request information. The method of claim 1, wherein The sending, to the access network device, of the first information comprises: in a case where a mobility procedure of the terminal is determined to be triggered based on a triggering condition, sending, to the access network device, the first information. The method according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that The first information comprises at least one of: an identifier of the terminal; a service node identifier corresponding to a second cell, the second cell being a serving cell of the terminal; a target node identifier corresponding to the first cell; a first cell identifier; security key information corresponding to the first cell; security key information; a node identifier corresponding to a candidate cell; a candidate cell identifier; a candidate configuration identifier; a mobility configuration type. The method according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that The method further comprises: receiving fourth information sent by the access network device, the fourth information being used for indicating mobility configuration information of a candidate cell corresponding to the terminal; and determining the first cell according to the fourth information. The method of claim 8, wherein The fourth information comprises at least one of: master cell configuration information, master cell group configuration information, primary secondary cell configuration information, and primary secondary cell group configuration information. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that Before the determining of the first cell according to the fourth information, the method further comprises: receiving signaling information sent by the access network device. The method according to any one of claims 8-10, characterized in that The determining of the first cell according to the fourth information comprises: determining the first cell that satisfies a mobility execution condition from candidate cells corresponding to the fourth information. The method of claim 11, wherein The mobility execution condition comprises at least one of: measurement event A3; measurement event A4; measurement event A5; a triggering event corresponding to a cell-level measurement result based on physical layer (L1) measurement; a triggering event of a beam-level measurement result based on network layer (L3) measurement. The method of claim 12, wherein The fourth information comprises next hop chaining counter (NCC) information, and the NCC information comprises at least one of: an NCC value; an NCC value list comprising a plurality of NCC values, the NCC value list corresponding to a plurality of candidate cells under a same network device; initial NCC information; and NH next hop parameter information corresponding to the NCC information. The method according to any one of claims 1-13, characterized in that The sending, to the access network device, of the first information comprises: sending the first information to an access network device of a second cell, the second cell being a serving cell of the terminal. The method of claim 14, wherein The access network device of the second cell is the same as or different from the access network device of the first cell. The method of claim 15, wherein The access network device of the second cell is different from the access network device of the first cell. The access network device of the second cell is connected with the access network device of the first cell through an Xn interface; or The access network device of the second cell communicates with the access network device of the first cell through a core network node. The method according to any one of claims 14-16, characterized in that The sending of the first information to the access network device of the second cell comprises: In response to accessing the second cell, the first information is sent to the access network device of the second cell. The method of claim 17, wherein The first information is carried by RRC information, and the first information comprises at least one of the following: terminal leaving information, terminal assistance information, and terminal response information. The method of claim 18, wherein The first information comprises at least one of the following: A node identifier corresponding to the second cell; A cell identifier of the second cell; Fifth information, the fifth information is used to indicate whether a mobility process in the terminal is triggered. The method according to any one of claims 1-13, characterized in that The sending of the first information to the access network device comprises: The first information is sent to the access network device by the first cell. The method of claim 20, wherein The first information is carried by MAC information or PHY information. The method of claim 20, wherein The sending of the first information to the access network device by the first cell comprises: In the process of accessing the first cell by the terminal, the first information is sent to the access network device. The method of claim 22, wherein The sending of the first information to the access network device in the process of accessing the first cell by the terminal comprises: In the process of initiating random access by the terminal, the first information is sent to the access network device. The method of claim 22, wherein The sending of the first information to the access network device in the process of accessing the first cell by the terminal comprises: Before sending RRC reconfiguration completion information to the access network device, the first information is sent to the access network device. The method of claim 22, wherein The sending of the first information to the first cell in the process of accessing the first cell by the terminal comprises: After disconnecting from the access network device of a source cell corresponding to the terminal, the first information is sent to the access network device of the first cell. The method according to any one of claims 22-25, characterized in that The first information is carried by random access information, and the random access information comprises Msg1 or Msg3. The method according to any one of claims 22-25, characterized in that The first information comprises a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), and the first information is carried by media access control layer control element (MAC CE) information. The method according to any one of claims 1-27, characterized in that The first information comprises at least one of the following: An NCC value; An NCC identifier; An identifier of an NCC value, the identifier of the NCC value being used to indicate an identifier of the NCC value in an NCC value list; Sixth information, the sixth information being used to indicate that an NCC corresponding to the first cell is unchanged; Seventh information, the seventh information being used to indicate that the NCC corresponding to the first cell is incremented by X, the X being a positive integer; NH information; The first cell corresponds to K gNB or K NG-RAN* ; Security key algorithm information; an eighth information, the eighth information being used for indicating K AMF ; a ninth information, the ninth information being used for indicating that the first cell is to determine the K AMF generating an initial K gNB . The method according to any one of claims 1-27, characterized in that The first cell is a primary secondary cell (PSCell), and the first information comprises at least one of the following: A value corresponding to the security key SK counter; A first identifier of the SK counter; A second identifier of the SK counter, the second identifier being used to indicate an identity of the SK counter in a list of SK counters; Tenth information used to indicate that the value of the SK counter is unchanged; Eleventh information used to indicate that the SK counter corresponding to the first cell is incremented by X, where X is a positive integer; The first cell corresponds to K SN ; Security key algorithm information. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method is performed by an access network device, and the method comprises: Receiving first information sent by a terminal, the first information being used to indicate security key information used by a first cell, the first cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal. The method of claim 30, wherein The method further comprises: Sending second information to the terminal, the second information being used to indicate that the terminal accesses the first cell. The method of claim 31, wherein The second information comprises at least one of the following: Handover signaling information; LTM cell handover signaling information; Third information used to trigger a primary secondary cell change or addition. The method according to claim 31 or 32, characterized in that The second information is carried by at least one of the following: radio resource control (RRC) information, medium access control (MAC) information, and physical layer (PHY) information. The method of claim 30, wherein The method further comprises: Sending request information to the terminal, the request information being used to instruct the terminal to send the first information to the network device. The method according to any one of claims 30-34, characterized in that The first information comprises at least one of the following: An identity of the terminal; A service node identity corresponding to a second cell, the second cell being a serving cell of the terminal; A target node identity corresponding to the first cell; A first cell identity; Security key information corresponding to the first cell; Security key information; A node identity corresponding to a candidate cell; A candidate cell identity; A candidate configuration identity; A mobility configuration type. The method according to any one of claims 30-35, characterized in that The method further comprises: Sending fourth information to the terminal, the fourth information being used to indicate mobility configuration information of a candidate cell corresponding to the terminal. The method of claim 36, wherein The fourth information comprises at least one of the following: primary cell configuration information, primary cell group configuration information, primary secondary cell configuration information, and primary secondary cell group configuration information. The method according to claim 36 or 37, characterized in that Before sending the fourth information to the terminal, the method further comprises: Sending signaling information to the terminal. The method according to any one of claims 36-38, characterized in that The fourth information comprises NCC information, and the NCC information comprises at least one of the following: An NCC value; An NCC value list comprising a plurality of NCC values, the NCC value list corresponding to a plurality of candidate cells under a same network device; Initial NCC information; NH information corresponding to the NCC information. The method according to any one of claims 30-39, characterized in that The access network device is an access network device of a second cell, and the second cell is a serving cell of the terminal. The method of claim 40, wherein The access network device of the second cell is the same as or different from the access network device of the first cell. The method of claim 41, wherein When the access network device of the second cell is different from the access network device of the first cell, the method further comprises: Sending the first information to the access network device of the first cell through an Xn interface; or Sending the first information to the access network device of the first cell through a core network node. The method according to any one of claims 40-42, characterized in that The first information comprises at least one of the following: A node identity corresponding to the second cell; a cell identity of the second cell; fifth information used to indicate whether a mobility procedure in the terminal is triggered. The method of claim 40, wherein The method further includes: generating security key information of a target node according to the first information, the target node being a network node corresponding to the first cell; sending the security key information to the target node. The method further includes: The method of claim 30, wherein sending third information to a serving node or a core network node according to the first information, the third information being used to indicate that the serving node feeds back security key information of the terminal to the access network device, or the third information being used to indicate that the core network node feeds back security key information of the terminal to the access network device. The access network device is an access network device of the first cell. The method according to any one of claims 30-39, characterized in that The method further includes: The method of claim 46, wherein determining that first NCC information corresponding to the first information does not match second NCC information corresponding to the first cell; determining security key information of the first cell according to the first NCC information. The first information is carried by MAC information or PHY information. The method according to claim 46 or 47, characterized in that The first information includes at least one of the following: The method of any one of claims 30-48, wherein an NCC value; an NCC identity; an identity of an NCC value, the identity of the NCC value being used to indicate an identity of the NCC value in a list of NCC values; sixth information used to indicate that an NCC corresponding to the first cell is unchanged; seventh information used to indicate that the NCC corresponding to the first cell is incremented by X, the X being a positive integer; NH information; security key algorithm information; The first cell corresponds to K gNB or K NG-RAN* ; The first cell is a primary secondary cell PSCell, and the first information includes at least one of the following: an eighth information, the eighth information being used for indicating K AMF ; a ninth information, the ninth information being used for indicating that the first cell is to determine the K AMF generating an initial K gNB . The method of any one of claims 30-48, wherein a value of a security key SK counter; a first identity of the SK counter; a second identity of the SK counter, the second identity information being used to indicate an identity of the SK counter in a list of SK counters; tenth information used to indicate that the value of the SK counter is unchanged; eleventh information used to indicate that the SK counter corresponding to the first cell is incremented by X, the X being a positive integer; security key algorithm information. The first cell corresponds to K SN ; comprise: A terminal, characterized by comprising: a transceiver module configured to send first information to an access network device, the first information being used to indicate security key information used by a first cell, the first cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal. comprise: An access network device, characterized in that a transceiver module configured to receive first information sent by a terminal, the first information being used to indicate security key information used by a first cell, the first cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal. comprise: A terminal, characterized by comprising: one or more processors; The terminal is configured to perform the communication method in any one of claims 1-29. comprise: An access network device, characterized in that, one or more processors; The access network device is configured to perform the communication method in any one of claims 30-50. comprise a terminal and a network device; A communication system characterized by ​ The terminal is configured to send first information to the access network device, the first information being used to indicate security key information used by a first cell, the first cell being a cell to be accessed by the terminal. A storage medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising: The instructions, when executed on the communication device, cause the communication device to perform the communication method of any of claims 1-29, or cause the communication device to perform the communication method of any of claims 30-50. A computer program product comprising computer programs and / or instructions, characterized in that, The computer program and / or instructions, when executed on the communication device, implement the communication method of any of claims 1-29, or the computer program and / or instructions, when executed on the communication device, implement the communication method of any of claims 30-50.

Images