RRC Network Slice Signaling for Low-Overhead Cell Selection
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The existing 5G network slice concept in 3GPP cannot adapt to the communication requirements of terminal devices, leading to inefficiencies in network slice selection and increased power consumption due to repeated requests for network slice information.
Innovation Solution
Broadcasting and sending RRC messages with network slice information to terminal devices, allowing proactive identification and reduction of broadcast overheads and power consumption by exchanging network slice identifiers between access network devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the terminal device requests network slice information from each access network device it encounters, then it can obtain accurate network slice information for each cell, but it increases power consumption and causes communication interruptions
Solution Approach 1:
The access network device proactively sends network slice information to the terminal device before the terminal device needs to use it. This preliminary action eliminates the need for the terminal device to repeatedly request information from each access network device, thereby reducing power consumption while ensuring the terminal device has the necessary network slice information available.
2Reliability
If the access network device sends network slice information in every broadcast message, then the terminal device always has up-to-date information, but it increases broadcast overhead
Solution Approach 1:
The network slice information is extracted from the broadcast message and sent separately to the terminal device. This allows the broadcast message to remain concise while the terminal device receives the necessary network slice information through a dedicated signaling mechanism, thereby reducing broadcast overhead while maintaining information freshness.
3Loss of time
If the terminal device stores network slice information for each TA area, then it can quickly access information without repeated requests, but it increases device memory requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The terminal device stores a mapping relationship between access network device identifiers and network slice information that is universally applicable across multiple TA areas. This universal mapping allows the terminal device to quickly retrieve network slice information for any access network device without storing separate information for each TA area, thereby reducing memory requirements while maintaining fast access.
Data Source
AI summary
This application provides a communication method and a communication apparatus, to send, to a terminal device by using an RRC message, information about at least one first network slice corresponding to a first identifier. The method includes: A first access network device broadcasts a first identifier, where the first identifier identifies information about a first access network slice; and the first access network device sends a radio resource control RRC message to a terminal device, where the RRC message includes information about at least one first network slice corresponding to the first identifier.