CN114095875B

CN114095875B - Transmission area processing method for Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS)

Info

Publication number: CN114095875B
Application number: CN202010859310.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张大钧; 彦楠
Original assignee: Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co Ltd
Current assignee: Datang Mobile Communications Equipment Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-08-24
Filing date: 2020-08-24
Publication date: 2023-05-23
Anticipated expiration: 2040-08-24
Also published as: CN114095875A; WO2022042139A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of wireless communication, and discloses a transmission area processing method of a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS), wherein the method applied to a network device side comprises the following steps: acquiring relevant information of at least one User Equipment (UE), wherein the at least one UE is the UE which is intended to receive a preset MBMS service in the same cell, and the relevant information comprises the number of the UE and/or the network topology structure of the cell in which the UE is located; next, an edge region of a transmission region for transmitting the MBMS service, which is a region where the UE actually performs data transmission exists, is determined based on the related information of at least one UE based on a predetermined policy, and the edge region is a region adjacent to the transmission region and capable of performing data transmission. The 5G RAN target node can flexibly execute the configuration of the edge area aiming at certain specific MBMS services, and ensure the service continuity of user equipment receiving group call services in an idle state.

Description

Transmission area processing method for Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS)

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of wireless communication, in particular to a transmission area processing method of a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS).

Background

The existing 4G MBMS (Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service ) technology allows MBMS receiving UEs (User Equipment) to receive MBSFN (Multimedia Broadcast Single Frequency Network ) transmission in idle state, but the transmission technology is not implemented in 5G network, if the conventional SC-PTM (Single Cell Point to Multipoint, single cell point-to-multipoint) technology is adopted in 5G network, service interruption occurs when some UEs receiving MBMS service in idle state move across cells, and interruption delay is large.

Disclosure of Invention

The purpose of the embodiments of the present application is to at least solve one of the above technical drawbacks, and specifically propose the following technical solutions:

in one aspect, a method for processing a transmission area of a multimedia broadcast multicast service MBMS service is provided, which is applied to a network device, and includes:

acquiring relevant information of at least one User Equipment (UE), wherein the at least one UE is the UE which is intended to receive a preset MBMS service in the same cell, and the relevant information comprises the number of the UE and/or the network topology structure of the cell in which the UE is located;

based on a predetermined policy, an edge region of a transmission region for transmitting the MBMS service, which is a region where the UE actually performs data transmission exists, is determined according to related information of at least one UE, and the edge region is a region adjacent to the transmission region and capable of performing data transmission.

In one aspect, a method for processing a transmission area of a multimedia broadcast multicast service MBMS service is provided, which is applied to a user equipment UE, and includes:

receiving first indication information sent by network equipment in a broadcasting way, wherein the first indication information comprises an MBMS service list, the MBMS service list comprises at least one MBMS service, the first indication information is used for indicating the MBMS service currently positioned in an edge area in the MBMS service list, the edge area is an edge area of a transmission area used for transmitting the MBMS service, the transmission area is an area where UE (user equipment) for actually transmitting data exists, and the edge area is an area adjacent to the transmission area and capable of transmitting data;

and sending MBMS service information to the network equipment so that the network equipment determines an edge area, wherein the MBMS service information is used for indicating the MBMS service which is currently intended to be received by the UE.

In one aspect, a network device is provided, including:

the system comprises an acquisition module, a processing module and a processing module, wherein the acquisition module is used for acquiring related information of at least one User Equipment (UE), wherein the at least one UE is the UE which is intended to receive a preset MBMS service in the same cell, and the related information comprises the number of the UE and/or the network topology structure of the cell in which the UE is located;

and the determining module is used for determining an edge area of a transmission area for transmitting the MBMS service according to the related information of at least one UE based on a preset strategy, wherein the transmission area is an area where the UE actually performs data transmission exists, and the edge area is an area adjacent to the transmission area and capable of performing data transmission.

In one aspect, a user equipment is provided, including:

the receiving module is used for receiving first indication information broadcast and sent by the network equipment, wherein the first indication information comprises an MBMS service list, the MBMS service list comprises at least one MBMS service, the first indication information is used for indicating the MBMS service currently positioned in an edge area in the MBMS service list, the edge area is an edge area of a transmission area used for transmitting the MBMS service, the transmission area is an area where UE actually performs data transmission exists, and the edge area is an area adjacent to the transmission area and capable of performing data transmission;

and the sending module is used for sending MBMS service information to the network equipment so as to be used for determining an edge area by the network equipment, wherein the MBMS service information is used for indicating the MBMS service which is currently intended to be received by the UE.

In one aspect, an electronic device is provided that includes a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, the processor implementing the method described above when executing the program.

In one aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided, on which a computer program is stored which, when executed by a processor, implements the method described above.

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the invention, the 5G RAN target node can flexibly execute the configuration of the edge area aiming at certain specific MBMS services according to the acquired quantity of the UE and/or the related information such as the network topology structure of the cell where the UE is located based on the preset strategy, so that the user equipment receiving the group call service in an idle state is ensured, and when the inter-cell movement occurs, the interruption time delay of MBMS data can be reduced as much as possible while the continuity of service reception is maintained.

Additional aspects and advantages of embodiments of the application will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the application.

Drawings

The foregoing and/or additional aspects and advantages of embodiments of the present application will become apparent and readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a flow chart of a method for processing a transmission area of an MBMS service according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a transmission area of an MBMS service according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method for processing a transmission area of an MBMS service according to another embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 5 is a schematic basic structure of a user equipment according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic basic structure of a network device according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a user equipment according to another embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to another embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present application are described in detail below, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein the same or similar reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar functions throughout. The embodiments described below by referring to the drawings are exemplary only for the purpose of illustrating the present application and are not to be construed as limiting the present application.

As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", "the" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless expressly stated otherwise, as understood by those skilled in the art. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

In the embodiment of the application, the term "and/or" describes the association relationship of the association objects, which means that three relationships may exist, for example, a and/or B may be represented: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship. The term "plurality" in the embodiments of the present application means two or more, and other adjectives are similar thereto.

As a New generation Radio access technology network, there is also a need for multicast/broadcast services. In a specific implementation process, the inventor of the application finds that: in order to make the architecture of the 5G multicast technology more concise and efficient, only the support of the conventional SC-PTM transmission technology is considered in the 5G RAN (Radio Access Network) node, for the group call service, if the UE is allowed to receive in Idle state, when the UE performs the cell-crossing movement, service interruption will likely occur, and the interruption will cause too long interruption time due to a plurality of signaling messages. Therefore, a new service transmission area management mechanism needs to be introduced to improve transmission performance, reduce interruption delay of MBMS service, and the like.

For the purposes of making the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application more clear, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are only some embodiments, but not all embodiments of the present application. All other embodiments, which can be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without undue burden from the present disclosure, are within the scope of the present disclosure.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can be suitable for various systems, in particular to a 5G system. For example, suitable systems may be global system for mobile communications (global system of mobile communication, GSM), code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA), wideband code division multiple access (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, WCDMA) universal packet Radio service (general packet Radio service, GPRS), long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE), LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD), LTE time division duplex (time division duplex, TDD), long term evolution-advanced (long term evolution advanced, LTE-a), universal mobile system (universal mobile telecommunication system, UMTS), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (worldwide interoperability for microwave access, wiMAX), 5G New air interface (New Radio, NR), and the like. User equipment and network equipment are included in each of these various systems. Core network parts such as evolved packet system (Evloved Packet System, EPS), 5G system (5 GS) etc. may also be included in the system.

Wherein fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a wireless communication system exemplarily shown, as shown in fig. 1, the wireless communication system may include: a number of user devices 110 and a number of network devices 120.

The user equipment 110 may communicate with one or more core networks via a radio access network (Radio Access Network, RAN). User device 110 may be a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to a user, a handheld device with wireless connectivity, or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, etc. The names of User equipments may also be different in different systems, e.g. in a 5G system, a User Equipment may be referred to as a wireless User Equipment (UE). The wireless user equipment may communicate with one or more Core Networks (CNs) via a radio access Network (Radio Access Network, RAN), which may be mobile user equipment such as mobile telephones (or "cellular" telephones) and computers with mobile user equipment, for example, portable, pocket, hand-held, computer-built-in or vehicle-mounted mobile devices that exchange voice and/or data with the radio access Network. Such as personal communication services (Personal Communication Service, PCS) phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (Session Initiated Protocol, SIP) phones, wireless local loop (Wireless Local Loop, WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (Personal Digital Assistant, PDAs), and the like. The wireless user device may also be referred to as a system, subscriber unit (subscriber unit), subscriber station (subscriber station), mobile station (mobile), remote station (remote station), access point (access point), remote user device (remote terminal), access user equipment (access terminal), user terminal, user agent (user agent), user device (user device), and the embodiments of the present application are not limited.

The network device 120 may be a base station that may include a plurality of cells that serve terminals. A base station may also be called an access point, or may be a device in an access network that communicates over the air-interface, through one or more sectors, with wireless user devices, or other names, depending on the particular application. The network device may be operable to exchange received air frames with internet protocol (Internet Protocol, IP) packets as a router between the wireless user device and the rest of the access network, which may include an Internet Protocol (IP) communication network. The network device may also coordinate attribute management for the air interface. For example, the network device according to the embodiments of the present application may be a network device (Base Transceiver Station, BTS) in a global system for mobile communications (Global System for Mobile communications, GSM) or code division multiple access (Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA), a network device (NodeB) in a wideband code division multiple access (Wide-band Code Division Multiple Access, WCDMA), an evolved network device (evolutional Node B, eNB or e-NodeB) in a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, a 5G base station (gNB) in a 5G network architecture (next generation system), a home evolved base station (Home evolved Node B, heNB), a relay node (relay node), a home base station (femto), a pico base station (pico), and the like. In some network structures, the network device may include a Centralized Unit (CU) node and a Distributed Unit (DU) node, which may also be geographically separated.

Multiple-input Multiple-output (Multi Input Multi Output, MIMO) transmissions, which may be Single-User MIMO (SU-MIMO) or Multiple-User MIMO (MU-MIMO), may each be made between network device 120 and User device 110 using one or more antennas. The MIMO transmission may be 2D-MIMO, 3D-MIMO, FD-MIMO, or massive-MIMO, or may be diversity transmission, precoding transmission, beamforming transmission, or the like, depending on the form and number of the root antenna combinations.

In addition, the above wireless communication system may further include a network management device 130. A plurality of network devices 120 are respectively connected to the network management device 130. The network management device 130 may be a core network device in a wireless communication system, for example, the network management device 130 may be a mobility management entity (Mobility Management Entity, MME) in an evolved packet core network (Evolved Packet Core, EPC). Of course, the network management device may be other core network devices, which are not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

An embodiment of the present application provides a method for processing a transmission area of an MBMS service, where the method is applied to a wireless communication system shown in fig. 1 and is performed by a network device 120 in fig. 1, as shown in fig. 2, and the method includes:

Step S210, obtaining relevant information of at least one User Equipment (UE), wherein the at least one UE is the UE which is in the same cell and is intended to receive a preset MBMS service, and the relevant information comprises the number of the UE and/or the network topology structure of the cell in which the UE is located; step S220, determining an edge region of a transmission region for transmitting the MBMS service according to the related information of at least one UE based on a predetermined policy, the transmission region being a region where the UE actually performs data transmission is present, the edge region being a region adjacent to the transmission region and capable of performing data transmission.

The network device may determine, according to a certain policy (i.e. the above-mentioned predetermined policy), based on statistical information (i.e. the above-mentioned related information) of UEs from receiving a predetermined MBMS service, for example, whether the obtained number of UEs interested in receiving (i.e. intended to receive) the predetermined MBMS service in some cells, such as whether the number is greater than 0 or equal to 0 or a non-zero value, and whether the number of UEs exceeds a certain threshold, etc., and, for example, whether the obtained network topology of some cells, etc., belong to a normal receiving area of the MBMS service (i.e. a transmission area for transmitting the MBMS service), or are located in an edge area (i.e. an edge area) of the normal receiving area of the MBMS service.

The transmission area may be one cell or multiple cells covered by one network device, or may be multiple cells covered by multiple network devices, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. In general, there are UEs in the transmission area that are actually present (such as UEs residing therein), and the UEs that are actually present are UEs that actually receive data or transmit data, i.e., there are (or reside in) the transmission area that are actually in need of transmitting data. The edge area is an area that is provided for ensuring service continuity when the UE moves across small areas, is adjacent to the transmission area, and is capable of data transmission, that is, the edge area can normally transmit and receive data, and generally, there is no UE residing therein in the edge area.

In one example, the predetermined policy described above may be an operator configured RRM (Radio Resource Management ) policy.

The following describes the method of the embodiment of the present application in detail:

in one possible implementation, the network device maintains transmission of the predetermined MBMS service with the at least one UE in the transmission region and/or the edge region.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes:

and broadcasting and sending first indication information to at least one UE, wherein the first indication information comprises an MBMS service list, the MBMS service list comprises at least one MBMS service, and the first indication information is used for indicating the MBMS service currently positioned in an edge area in the MBMS service list.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes:

receiving service information of MBMS service which is transmitted by at least one UE and is currently intended to be received;

and updating a transmission area for transmitting the MBMS service and/or an edge area of the transmission area of the MBMS service according to the preset strategy and the service information.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes:

and sending second indication information to at least one UE, wherein the second indication information comprises an MBMS service list, the MBMS service list comprises at least one MBMS service, and the second indication information is used for indicating the at least one UE to send the MBMS service which the UE intends to receive to the network equipment.

In one possible implementation, the second indication information further includes a transmission period, and the second indication is used to instruct at least one UE to periodically transmit, to the network device, the MBMS service that it intends to receive according to the transmission period.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes:

and receiving the MBMS which is periodically transmitted by at least one UE and is intended to be received, and updating the edge area of the transmission area for transmitting the MBMS according to the received MBMS which is periodically transmitted by at least one UE and is intended to be received.

In one possible implementation manner, after updating the edge area of the transmission area used for transmitting the MBMS service, the method further includes:

and sending third indication information to at least one UE, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the updated edge region.

The following describes the possible implementation manner specifically:

the edge region may consist of a series of logical cells or a series of transceiver units, such as a series of TRPs (Transport and Receive Point, transmission and reception points). Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a transmission area (i.e., a normal reception area) and an edge area for transmitting an MBMS service.

In the edge area, the network device and the user equipment at least keep transmitting the predetermined MBMS service, for example, transmitting in a transmission mode such as SC-PTM or MC-PTM (Multiple Cell Point to Multipoint, multi-cell point-to-multi-point) or MBSFN. Wherein, since the network equipment and the user equipment normally keep the transmission of the preset MBMS service in the transmission area for transmitting the MBMS service, the network equipment can keep the transmission of the preset MBMS service with each UE in the transmission area for transmitting the MBMS service and/or the edge area of the transmission area.

In the area outside the edge area, there is no transmission for the predetermined MBMS service, i.e., in the transmission area for transmitting the MBMS service and/or in other areas outside the edge area of the transmission area, the network device does not perform transmission of the predetermined MBMS service with the respective UEs.

On the logical cell or the transceiver unit, the network device (also referred to as a network entity) may display a message indicating that the UE is in an edge region, for example in a system message or in an MCCH (Multicast Control Channel ) message. For example, the network entity (such as the gNB, the gNB-CU (Centralized Unit), other RAN node, etc.) carries indication information (denoted as first indication information) in a system message (such as an MBMS specific SIB (System Information Block, system information block), an MCCH message, etc.) of the corresponding cell, where the indication information is composed of one MBMS service list, and the indication information is used to indicate that the corresponding MBMS service in the MBMS service list is in an edge area in the own cell, that is, the indication information is used to indicate the MBMS service currently in the edge area in the MBMS service list. Correspondingly, each UE receives the indication information (i.e. the first indication information) sent by the network device in a broadcast manner, and then, each UE may actively trigger a location update procedure for a predetermined MBMS service according to the indication information, specifically, each UE may report the MBMS service that is currently interested in being received through an RRC (Radio Resource Control ) message.

In one example, the network device may receive the service information of the MBMS service currently intended to be received sent by each UE, and update a transmission area for transmitting the MBMS service and/or an edge area of the transmission area of the MBMS service according to a predetermined policy and the received service information of the MBMS service currently intended to be received by each UE, for example, incorporate a logical cell and/or a transmitting/receiving unit currently located in the edge area into a normal receiving area, and further expand the edge area, for example.

The network device (e.g., gNB-CU, other RAN node, etc.) may carry indication information (denoted as second indication information) in a system message (e.g., MBMS specific SIB, MCCH message) of the corresponding cell, where the indication information may consist of an MBMS service list, where the indication information is used to indicate that each UE interested in the corresponding MBMS service needs to statistically report in the cell, e.g., report the MBMS service that each UE is interested in (i.e., intends to receive), i.e., the second indication information is used to indicate that each UE sends the MBMS service that it intends to receive to the network device.

The network device may configure a reporting period (denoted as a transmission period) of each UE interested in the corresponding MBMS service, that is, allow the network device to configure a period in which the UE interested in the reporting is measured. The second indication information is equivalent to a transmission period, and at this time, each UE may periodically report the MBMS service of interest to itself, i.e. the second indication is used to indicate that each UE periodically transmits, to the network device, the MBMS service that it intends to receive according to the transmission period. Correspondingly, the network equipment receives the MBMS service which is periodically transmitted by the UE and is intended to be received.

After receiving the MBMS service that each UE periodically transmits and intends to receive, the network device may update the edge area of the transmission area for transmitting the MBMS service according to the received MBMS service that each UE periodically transmits and intends to receive, for example, incorporate the logical cell and/or the transmitting and receiving unit currently located in the edge area into the normal receiving area, and further, for example, enlarge the edge area, and so on.

After updating the edge region of the transmission region for transmitting the MBMS service, the network device may broadcast explicit indication information (denoted as third indication information) for indicating the updated edge region to each UE, i.e., notifying each UE of the updated edge region, in the new edge region (i.e., the updated edge region). Equivalently, the network device sends third indication information to each UE, where the third indication information is used to indicate the updated edge region.

Still another embodiment of the present application provides a method for processing a transmission area of an MBMS service, where the method is applied to a wireless communication system shown in fig. 1 and is performed by a user equipment 110 in fig. 1, as shown in fig. 4, and the method includes:

step S410, receiving first indication information sent by a network device in a broadcasting way, wherein the first indication information comprises an MBMS service list, the MBMS service list comprises at least one MBMS service, the first indication information is used for indicating the MBMS service currently positioned in an edge area in the MBMS service list, the edge area is an edge area of a transmission area for transmitting the MBMS service, the transmission area is an area where UE actually transmitting data exists, and the edge area is an area adjacent to the transmission area and capable of transmitting data; step S420, MBMS service information is sent to the network device, so that the network device determines an edge area, where the MBMS service information is used to indicate an MBMS service that the UE currently intends to receive.

The UE receives indication information (i.e., first indication information) broadcasted by the network device, where the indication information is composed of an MBMS service list, and the indication information is used to indicate that a corresponding MBMS service in the MBMS service list is in an edge area in the cell. Then, the UE may actively trigger a location update procedure for a predetermined MBMS service according to the indication information, and specifically, the UE may report the MBMS service currently interested in being received to the network device, so that the network device determines, according to the MBMS service currently interested in being received and reported by the UE, an edge area of a transmission area for transmitting the MBMS service.

in one possible implementation, before sending the MBMS service information to the network device, the method includes:

The UE establishes Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with the cell where the UE is currently located;

transmitting MBMS service information to a network device, comprising:

and sending an RRC message to the network equipment, wherein the RRC message comprises the MBMS service information.

transmitting MBMS service information to a network device, comprising:

and sending a non-access stratum (NAS) message to the network equipment, wherein the NAS message comprises the MBMS service information.

In one possible implementation, the first indication information further includes a transmission period;

transmitting MBMS service information to a network device, comprising:

and according to the transmission period, the MBMS information is periodically transmitted to the network equipment.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes:

and receiving second indication information sent by the network equipment, wherein the second indication information is used for indicating the updated edge area.

In one possible implementation, in the transmission area and/or the edge area, the UE keeps transmitting a predetermined MBMS service with the network device.

If a UE in idle or in-active state is receiving a certain MBMS service in a certain cell through a multicast channel (such as MRB), when the UE moves to a new logical cell or within a range of a receiving and transmitting unit, continuing to perform a receiving operation of a predetermined MBMS service in a conventional manner; when the UE receives indication information (denoted as first indication information) sent by broadcast from the network device, and the indication information indicates that the UE is in an edge region of some MBMS service, the UE will initiate a location update procedure. The location update flow is as follows:

The UE establishes RRC connection with the current cell, and then reports the currently interested MBMS list through RRC message; the RRC message may be a newly defined RRC message, such as MBMS counting report (MBMS count report), or may be a reuse of an existing RRC message, such as UE assistance information (UE assistance information).

Optionally, the UE establishes an RRC connection with the current cell, and then reports an MBMS service list of current interest through a NAS (Non-Access Stratum) message; then AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function ) transmits the MBMS service list of current interest of the UE to corresponding NG-RAN node through signaling flow of NG interface; the NAS message may be a UE associated message reusing the NG interface, such as a UE context setup message, or the like, or a newly defined MBMS related message, such as MBMS session update or MBMS information notification, or the like. The NG interface is a generic term for a communication protocol between the 5G base station and the core network.

Correspondingly, the network device decides to change the transmission area of the corresponding MBMS service according to the predetermined policy and the above information, for example: the logic cell currently in the edge area is brought into the normal receiving area, and the edge area is further enlarged, wherein the edge area is brought into the transmission area (namely the normal receiving area), so that the transmission area can be dynamically adjusted, the flexibility of setting the transmission area is improved, and meanwhile, the continuity of the MBMS service of the UE is ensured because the UE is mobile.

The network device may then broadcast explicit indication information, etc., in the new edge region (i.e., updated edge region).

The method at the UE side and the network device side are specifically described below with reference to specific possible embodiments:

example 1: procedure for updating position (service) by idle state UE

Step B1: a UE in the idle or in-active state is receiving an MBMS service in a cell via a multicast channel (e.g., MRB).

Step B2: when the UE moves to a new logic cell or is in the range of a receiving and transmitting unit, the receiving operation of the specific MBMS service is continued in a conventional manner.

Step B3: when the UE receives broadcast information from the network device indicating that the UE is in an edge region of certain MBMS services, the UE will decide to initiate a location update procedure.

Step B4: the UE establishes RRC connection with the current cell, and then reports the currently interested MBMS list through RRC message; the RRC message may be a newly defined RRC message, such as MBMS counting report, or may be a reuse of an existing RRC message, such as UE assistance information.

Step b4_1: optionally, the UE establishes RRC connection with the current cell, and then reports the currently interested MBMS list through NAS information; then AMF transmits the MBMS list of the UE to the corresponding NG-RAN node through the signaling flow of NG interface; the NAS message may be a UE associated message reusing the NG interface, such as a UE context setup message, or define a new MBMS related message, such as: MBMS session update or MBMS information notification, etc.

Step B5: the network device decides to change the transmission area of the corresponding MBMS service according to the predetermined policy and the above information, for example: the logical cell currently in the edge area is brought into the normal reception area and the edge area is further enlarged. The network device may then broadcast explicit indication information etc. to the UE in the new edge region. Since the transmission area is an area of the UE having actual transmission data, and the edge area is an area of the UE adjacent to the transmission area and having no actual transmission data, when the UE moves to the edge area, the UE having actual transmission data is equivalent to the UE having actual transmission data in the edge area, and the definition of the edge area is not satisfied at this time, but the definition of the transmission area is satisfied, therefore, the edge area of the UE having actual transmission data needs to be incorporated into the transmission area to obtain a new transmission area, and at the same time, the new edge area can be divided again in an adjacent area of the new transmission area, thereby realizing flexibility of setting the transmission area and the edge area.

Example 2: network setting MBMS service edge area

Step C1: network entities (i.e., network devices), such as: the gNB or the gNB-CU, or other RAN node, etc., determines whether the cells belong to the normal MBMS reception area or the edge area of the normal MBMS reception area according to a predetermined policy, and some statistics and measurement information (e.g., whether the number of UEs interested in receiving the predetermined MBMS service in some cells is greater than 0 or a non-zero value, etc.), and the network topology of the cells (e.g., whether there is an adjacency relationship).

Step C2: the network entity carries indication information in a system message (such as an MBMS specific SIB or an MCCH message) of a corresponding cell, where the indication information is composed of an MBMS service list and is used to indicate that the corresponding MBMS service is in an edge area of the cell.

Step C3: the network entity broadcasts the system information to allow the idle state UE to receive.

Step C4: if necessary, the network entity updates the corresponding system message to change the edge area of some MBMS services.

Example 3: network equipment performs service statistics

Step D1: the network entity (for example, gNB or gNB-CU, or other RAN node) carries indication information in a system message (for example, MBMS specific SIB, or MCCH message) of the corresponding cell, wherein the indication information consists of an MBMS service list for indicating that the UE interested in the corresponding MBMS service needs to be statistically reported in the cell. Optionally, the network entity is allowed to configure the reporting period of the UE measurement reporting of interest.

Step D2: the UE reports the MBMS service of interest. Optionally, the UE periodically reports the MBMS service of interest to itself.

Step D3: the network entity counts measurement report information from the UE for subsequent related operations of MBMS, such as updating a transmission area and/or an edge area of the transmission area for transmitting the MBMS service.

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to another embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 5, the apparatus 500 may include an obtaining module 501 and a determining module 502, where:

an obtaining module 501, configured to obtain relevant information of at least one UE, where the at least one UE is a UE in the same cell that is intended to receive a predetermined MBMS service, and the relevant information includes the number of UEs and/or a network topology structure of a cell in which the UE is located;

a determining module 502, configured to determine, based on a predetermined policy and according to related information of at least one UE, an edge area of a transmission area for transmitting the MBMS service, where the transmission area is an area where a UE actually performs data transmission is present, and the edge area is an area adjacent to the transmission area and capable of performing data transmission.

In one possible implementation, the apparatus further includes a first transmitting module;

the first sending module is used for broadcasting and sending first indication information to at least one UE, the first indication information comprises an MBMS service list, the MBMS service list comprises at least one MBMS service, and the first indication information is used for indicating the MBMS service currently located in the edge area in the MBMS service list.

In one possible implementation, the apparatus further includes a first processing module, the first processing module configured to:

In one possible implementation, the apparatus further includes a second transmitting module;

and the second sending module is used for sending second indicating information to at least one UE, wherein the second indicating information comprises an MBMS service list, the MBMS service list comprises at least one MBMS service, and the second indicating information is used for indicating the at least one UE to send the MBMS service which is intended to be received to the network equipment.

In one possible implementation, the apparatus further includes a second processing module;

and the second processing module is used for receiving the MBMS which is periodically transmitted by at least one UE and is intended to be received, and updating the edge area of the transmission area for transmitting the MBMS according to the received MBMS which is periodically transmitted by at least one UE and is intended to be received.

In one possible implementation manner, the device further comprises a third sending module;

and the third sending module is used for sending third indication information to at least one UE, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the updated edge area.

The device provided by the embodiment of the invention enables the 5G RAN target node to flexibly execute the configuration of the edge area aiming at certain specific MBMS services according to the acquired quantity of the UE and/or the related information such as the network topology structure of the cell where the UE is located based on the preset strategy, thereby ensuring that the user equipment receiving the group call service in an idle state can reduce the interruption time delay of the MBMS data as much as possible while maintaining the service receiving continuity when the user equipment moves across cells.

It should be noted that, this embodiment is an apparatus item embodiment corresponding to the above-mentioned method item embodiment on the network device side, and this embodiment may be implemented in cooperation with the above-mentioned method item embodiment on the network device side. The related technical details mentioned in the above-mentioned method item embodiment on the network device side are still valid in this embodiment, and in order to reduce repetition, they are not repeated here. Accordingly, the related technical details mentioned in the present embodiment may also be applied to the above-mentioned method item embodiment on the network device side.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a ue according to another embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 6, the apparatus 600 may include a receiving module 601 and a sending module 602, where:

a receiving module 601, configured to receive first indication information sent by a network device in a broadcast manner, where the first indication information includes an MBMS service list, where the MBMS service list includes at least one MBMS service, the first indication information is used to indicate an MBMS service currently located in an edge area in the MBMS service list, the edge area is an edge area of a transmission area for transmitting the MBMS service, the transmission area is an area where UEs actually perform data transmission exist, and the edge area is an area adjacent to the transmission area and capable of performing data transmission;

a sending module 602, configured to send MBMS service information to the network device, where the MBMS service information is used to indicate an MBMS service currently intended for reception by the UE, for the network device to determine an edge area.

In one possible implementation, the apparatus further includes a first setup module;

a first establishing module, configured to establish a radio resource control RRC connection with a cell in which the UE is currently located;

the sending module is specifically configured to send an RRC message to the network device, where the RRC message includes MBMS service information.

In one possible implementation, the apparatus further includes a second setup module;

the second building module is used for building Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection between the UE and the cell where the UE is currently located;

the sending module is specifically configured to send a non-access stratum NAS message to a network device, where the NAS message includes MBMS service information.

the sending module is specifically configured to periodically send MBMS service information to the network device according to the sending period.

In one possible implementation, the receiving module is further configured to receive second indication information sent by the network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate the updated edge region.

It should be noted that, this embodiment is an apparatus item embodiment corresponding to the above-mentioned method item embodiment on the user equipment side, and this embodiment may be implemented in cooperation with the above-mentioned method item embodiment on the user equipment side. The related technical details mentioned in the above-mentioned method item embodiment on the user equipment side are still valid in this embodiment, and in order to reduce repetition, they are not repeated here. Accordingly, the related technical details mentioned in the present embodiment may also be applied to the above-mentioned method item embodiment on the user equipment side.

Another embodiment of the present application provides a user equipment, as shown in fig. 7, comprising a processor 700, a memory 720, a user interface 730, and a transceiver 710. Wherein the transceiver 710 is configured to receive and transmit data under the control of the processor 700.

In fig. 7, a bus architecture may comprise any number of interconnected buses and bridges, with various circuits of the one or more processors, as represented by processor 700, and the memory, as represented by memory 720, being chained together. The bus architecture may also link together various other circuits such as peripheral devices, voltage regulators, power management circuits, etc., which are well known in the art and, therefore, will not be described further herein. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 710 may be a number of elements, i.e., including a transmitter and a receiver, providing a means for communicating with various other apparatus over transmission media, including wireless channels, wired channels, optical cables, etc. The user interface 730 may also be an interface capable of interfacing with an inscribed desired device for a different user device, including but not limited to a keypad, display, speaker, microphone, joystick, etc.

The processor 700 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 720 may store data used by the processor 700 in performing operations.

Alternatively, the processor 700 may be a CPU (central processing unit), ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit ), FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array, field programmable gate array) or CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device ), and the processor may also employ a multi-core architecture.

The processor is configured to execute any of the methods provided in the embodiments of the present application by invoking a computer program stored in a memory in accordance with the obtained executable instructions. The processor and the memory may also be physically separate.

The memory 720 is used for storing application program codes for executing the present application and is controlled to be executed by the processor 701. Processor 700 is operative to execute application code stored in memory 720 to implement the actions of the network device provided in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 5.

Another embodiment of the present application provides a user equipment, as shown in fig. 8, comprising a processor 800, a memory 820, and a transceiver 810. Wherein the transceiver 810 is used to receive and transmit data under the control of the processor 800.

Wherein in fig. 8, a bus architecture may comprise any number of interconnected buses and bridges, and in particular, one or more processors represented by processor 800 and various circuits of memory represented by memory 820, linked together. The bus architecture may also link together various other circuits such as peripheral devices, voltage regulators, power management circuits, etc., which are well known in the art and, therefore, will not be described further herein. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 810 may be a number of elements, i.e., including a transmitter and a receiver, providing a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium, including wireless channels, wired channels, optical cables, etc. The processor 800 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, the memory 820 may store data used by the processor 800 in performing operations, and the processor 800 may be configured to execute the data stored in the memory 820 to implement the actions of the user device provided by the embodiment shown in fig. 6.

The processor 800 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), a Field programmable gate array (Field-Programmable Gate Array, FPGA) or a complex programmable logic device (Complex Programmable Logic Device, CPLD), or it may employ a multi-core architecture.

Yet another embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product or computer program comprising computer instructions stored in a computer readable storage medium. The computer instructions are read by a processor of a computer device from a computer readable storage medium, and executed by the processor, to cause the computer device to perform the method provided in various alternative implementations of the user device aspect or the network device aspect described above, i.e. the computer readable storage medium provided in the embodiments of the present application is applicable to any of the embodiments of the method described above. Among other things, processor-readable storage media can be any available medium or data storage device that can be accessed by a processor, including but not limited to magnetic storage (e.g., floppy disks, hard disks, tapes, magneto-optical disks (MOs), etc.), optical storage (e.g., CD, DVD, BD, HVD, etc.), and semiconductor storage (e.g., ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, nonvolatile storage (NAND FLASH), solid State Disk (SSD)), etc.

It should be understood that, although the steps in the flowcharts of the figures are shown in order as indicated by the arrows, these steps are not necessarily performed in order as indicated by the arrows. The steps are not strictly limited in order and may be performed in other orders, unless explicitly stated herein. Moreover, at least some of the steps in the flowcharts of the figures may include a plurality of sub-steps or stages that are not necessarily performed at the same time, but may be performed at different times, the order of their execution not necessarily being sequential, but may be performed in turn or alternately with other steps or at least a portion of the other steps or stages.

The foregoing is only a partial embodiment of the present application, and it should be noted that, for a person skilled in the art, several improvements and modifications can be made without departing from the principle of the present application, and these improvements and modifications should also be considered as the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. The method for processing the transmission area of the MBMS is characterized by being applied to network equipment and comprising the following steps:

acquiring relevant information of at least one User Equipment (UE), wherein the at least one UE is the UE which is in the same cell and is intended to receive a preset MBMS service, and the relevant information comprises the number of the UE and/or the network topology structure of the cell in which the UE is located;

and determining an edge area of a transmission area for transmitting the MBMS service according to the related information of the at least one UE based on a preset strategy, wherein the transmission area is an area where the UE actually performs data transmission exists, and the edge area is an area which is adjacent to the transmission area and can perform data transmission.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein in the transmission area and/or the edge area, the network device keeps transmitting the predetermined MBMS service with the at least one UE.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the method further comprises:

and broadcasting and sending first indication information to the at least one UE, wherein the first indication information comprises an MBMS service list, the MBMS service list comprises at least one MBMS service, and the first indication information is used for indicating the MBMS service currently positioned in the edge area in the MBMS service list.

4. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that the method further comprises:

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the method further comprises:

receiving service information of the MBMS service which is transmitted by the at least one UE and is currently intended to be received;

and updating the transmission area for transmitting the MBMS and/or the edge area of the transmission area of the MBMS according to the preset strategy and the service information.

6. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that the method further comprises:

7. A method according to claim 3, characterized in that the method further comprises:

8. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

9. The method according to any one of claims 1-8, further comprising:

and sending second indication information to the at least one UE, wherein the second indication information comprises an MBMS service list, the MBMS service list comprises at least one MBMS service, and the second indication information is used for indicating the at least one UE to send the MBMS service which the at least one UE intends to receive to the network equipment.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the second indication information further comprises a transmission period, and wherein the second indication is used to instruct the at least one UE to periodically transmit the MBMS service for which reception is intended to the network device according to the transmission period.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises:

and receiving the MBMS which is periodically transmitted by the at least one UE and is intended to be received, and updating the edge area of the transmission area for transmitting the MBMS according to the received MBMS which is periodically transmitted by the at least one UE and is intended to be received.

12. The method according to any one of claims 5-8, further comprising, after updating an edge region of a transmission region for transmitting the MBMS service:

and sending third indication information to the at least one UE, wherein the third indication information is used for indicating the updated edge region.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising, after updating an edge region of a transmission region for transmitting the MBMS service:

14. The method for processing the transmission area of the MBMS service is characterized by being applied to User Equipment (UE) and comprising the following steps:

receiving first indication information sent by network equipment in a broadcasting way, wherein the first indication information comprises an MBMS service list, the MBMS service list comprises at least one MBMS service, the first indication information is used for indicating an MBMS service currently positioned in an edge area in the MBMS service list, the edge area is an edge area of a transmission area used for transmitting the MBMS service, the transmission area is an area where UE actually performs data transmission exists, and the edge area is an area adjacent to the transmission area and capable of performing data transmission;

and sending MBMS service information to the network equipment so that the network equipment determines the edge area, wherein the MBMS service information is used for indicating the MBMS service which the UE currently intends to receive.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising, prior to said transmitting MBMS service information to said network device:

the sending the MBMS service information to the network device includes:

And sending an RRC message to the network equipment, wherein the RRC message comprises the MBMS information.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising, prior to said transmitting MBMS service information to said network device:

the sending the MBMS service information to the network device includes:

17. The method according to any of claims 14-16, wherein the first indication information further comprises a transmission period;

the sending the MBMS service information to the network device includes:

and according to the sending period, the MBMS information is sent to the network equipment periodically.

18. The method according to any one of claims 14-16, further comprising:

19. The method according to any of claims 14-16, wherein the UE keeps transmitting a predetermined MBMS service with the network device in the transmission area and/or the edge area.

20. A network device, comprising:

the system comprises an acquisition module, a processing module and a processing module, wherein the acquisition module is used for acquiring related information of at least one User Equipment (UE), the at least one UE is the UE which is intended to receive a preset MBMS service in the same cell, and the related information comprises the number of the UE and/or the network topology structure of the cell in which the UE is located;

and the determining module is used for determining an edge area of a transmission area for transmitting the MBMS service according to the related information of the at least one UE based on a preset strategy, wherein the transmission area is an area where the UE actually performs data transmission exists, and the edge area is an area which is adjacent to the transmission area and can perform data transmission.

21. A user device, comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive first indication information sent by a network device in a broadcast manner, where the first indication information includes an MBMS service list, where the MBMS service list includes at least one MBMS service, and the first indication information is used to indicate an MBMS service currently located in an edge area in the MBMS service list, where the edge area is an edge area of a transmission area for transmitting the MBMS service, where the transmission area is an area where UEs actually perform data transmission exist, and where the edge area is an area adjacent to the transmission area and capable of performing data transmission;

And the sending module is used for sending MBMS service information to the network equipment so that the network equipment determines the edge area, wherein the MBMS service information is used for indicating the MBMS service which the UE currently intends to receive.

22. An electronic device comprising a memory, a processor and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the processor implements the method of any one of claims 1-19 when the program is executed by the processor.

23. A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer readable storage medium has stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the method of any of claims 1-19.