CN118509895A

CN118509895A - Measurement method and communication device

Info

Publication number: CN118509895A
Application number: CN202310151834.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 谢曦; 常俊仁; 李秉肇; 白欣
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2023-02-14
Filing date: 2023-02-14
Publication date: 2024-08-16
Also published as: WO2024169415A1

Abstract

The application provides a measuring method and a communication device, which are applied to the technical field of communication. The terminal equipment can determine a first candidate beam set corresponding to a first neighbor cell according to the first beam of the serving cell and the beam information of the first neighbor cell; and further measuring at least one beam in the first set of candidate beams. Wherein the total number of beams included in the first set of candidate beams is smaller than the total number of beams included in the first neighbor cell. The application can reduce the cost of beam measurement and maintenance of the terminal equipment on the adjacent cells.

Description

Measurement method and communication device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a measurement method and a communication device.

Background

Non-terrestrial network (non-TERRESTRIAL NETWORK, NTN) communication is less affected by geographical conditions and has strong coverage, and can be widely applied to various scenes. For example, when a satellite is taken as an example, a natural disaster (earthquake, debris flow, etc.) occurs, communication facilities (such as ground base stations) built on the ground are easily damaged, and normal communication cannot be performed, the terminal equipment can still perform data transmission through satellite communication. In addition, in some areas unfavorable for erecting ground base stations, such as ocean, desert, high mountain and other areas, the terminal equipment can acquire good communication efficiency through satellites.

Since the coverage area of an NTN cell is typically large and the coverage area of one beam is limited, the number of beams that need to be deployed in one NTN cell may be large. In a scenario where the number of beams in a cell is large, how to perform beam measurement and beam management becomes a problem worthy of study.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a measuring method and a measuring device, which can reduce the cost of beam measurement and maintenance of a terminal device on a neighboring cell.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a measurement method, where a terminal device determines a first candidate beam set corresponding to a first neighboring cell according to a first beam of a serving cell and beam information of the first neighboring cell; and measuring at least one beam in the first set of candidate beams. Wherein the total number of beams included in the first set of candidate beams is smaller than the total number of beams included in the first neighbor cell.

In the design, the beam measurement range of the neighbor cell is reduced by combining the beam of the service cell, so that the measurement and maintenance cost of the terminal equipment can be reduced, and the measurement power consumption of the terminal equipment is reduced.

In one possible design, the beam information includes one or more of the following: the method comprises the steps of identifying offset information of the wave beam, indicating information of the wave beam number in a first candidate wave beam set and the wave beam number in a first adjacent cell. Based on the beam information, the first candidate beam set can be determined quickly, and further the beam measurement efficiency is improved.

In one possible design, the beam information of the first neighboring cell includes I sets of beam information, the first candidate beam set is a union of I sub-candidate beam sets, and I is a positive integer; the determining, according to the first beam of the serving cell and the beam information of the first neighboring cell, a first candidate beam set corresponding to the first neighboring cell includes: determining an ith sub-candidate beam set in the I sub-candidate beam sets according to the first beam of the serving cell and the ith group of beam information in the I group of beam information; wherein I is a positive integer, I is more than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to I. In the design, the method supports the determination of the candidate beam set to be measured by using one or more sets of beam information, is flexible, can realize diversified beam measurement ranges, and is beneficial to adapting to different communication scenes.

In one possible design, the ith set of beam information includes one or more of the following: the beam identification offset of the ith sub-candidate beam set relative to the first beam, the indication information of the number of beams in the ith sub-candidate beam set, the number of beams in the first neighbor. Based on the beam information, the ith sub candidate beam set can be quickly determined, and further the beam measurement efficiency is improved. Alternatively, the beams included in the i-th sub candidate beam set may be understood with reference to examples 1 to 3 below.

Example 1, the identification of the start beam of the i-th sub-candidate beam set is (bi+m _i)mod N_i, the identification of the end beam of the i-th sub-candidate beam set is [ (bi+m _i)mod N_i+K_i]mod N_i ], wherein BI is the identification of the first beam, M _i is the beam identification offset of the i-th sub-candidate beam set relative to the first beam, K _i is the indication information of the number of beams in the i-th sub-candidate beam set, N _i is the total number of beams in the first neighbor, M _i,K_i,N_i is an integer, mod is a modulo operator in this example 1, the total number of beams included in the i-th sub-candidate beam set is K _i +1, and K _i +1 identification consecutive beams are included in the i-th sub-candidate beam set.

Example 2, the identification of the start beam of the i-th sub-candidate beam set is [ (bi+m _i)mod N_i-K_i]mod N_i), the identification of the end beam of the i-th sub-candidate beam set is (bi+m _i)mod N_i), where BI is the identification of the first beam, M _i is the beam identification offset of the i-th sub-candidate beam set relative to the first beam, K _i is the indication of the number of beams in the i-th sub-candidate beam set, N _i is the total number of beams in the first neighbor, M _i,K_i,N_i is an integer, mod is the modulo operator in this example 2, the total number of beams included in the i-th sub-candidate beam set is K _i +1, and K _i +1 identified continuous beams are included in the i-th sub-candidate beam set.

Example 3, the identification of the start beam of the i-th sub-candidate beam set is [ (bi+m _i)mod N_i-K_i]mod N_i), the identification of the end beam of the i-th sub-candidate beam set is [ (bi+m _i)mod N_i+K_i]mod N_i), wherein BI is the identification of the first beam, M _i is the beam identification offset of the i-th sub-candidate beam set relative to the first beam, K _i is the indication information of the number of beams in the i-th sub-candidate beam set, N _i is the total number of beams in the first neighbor, M _i,K_i,N_i is an integer, mod is a modulo operator.

As can be seen from the above examples, when I is 1, the first candidate beam set includes K _i +1 or 2*K _i +1 identified consecutive beams. When I is greater than 1, a beam identifying a discontinuity may be included in the first set of candidate beams. That is, the embodiment of the application can realize the measurement of the continuous wave beams and/or discontinuous wave beams in the adjacent cells, is flexible and can adapt to various measurement requirements.

In one possible design, the first beam is a serving beam of the terminal device in the serving cell, or the signal quality of the first beam is greater than or equal to a first signal quality threshold. Based on such design, the determined first candidate beam set may include the service beam or the best beam in the first neighboring cell, which is helpful for the terminal device to confirm the accurate first candidate beam set, thereby improving the performance of beam measurement and maintenance of the terminal device.

In one possible design, a target beam is determined in the first candidate beam set, the target beam being a serving beam after the terminal device has changed to the first neighbor cell, or a signal quality of the target beam being greater than or equal to a second signal quality threshold. The design can reduce the time delay of the terminal equipment for confirming the optimal beam/service beam in the first adjacent cell, is beneficial to improving the rate of the terminal equipment for completing the switching or the cell selection/reselection, and reduces the interruption caused by the switching or the cell selection/reselection, thereby improving the user experience and the performance.

In one possible design, the terminal device may receive first indication information from the serving cell, where the first indication information indicates at least one of the I sets of beam information of the first neighbor cell, and I is a positive integer. In such a design, the network configures the beam measurement range of the neighboring cell to the terminal device by indicating the beam information of the first neighboring cell, so that the signaling overhead of the beam measurement range can be reduced.

In one possible design, the terminal device may also determine at least one set of beam information in the I sets of beam information of the first neighboring cell according to coverage information of at least one beam in the first neighboring cell, where I is a positive integer. In the design, the terminal equipment can automatically combine the coverage information of the wave beams in the adjacent cells, so that the wave beams for measurement and maintenance can be quickly decided, and the signaling cost of the wave beam information transmitted by the network can be reduced.

In one possible design, the terminal device may measure one beam of the first set of candidate beams within a measurement time window associated with the one beam; wherein the measurement time windows associated with different beams in the beam set are the same or different. Corresponding to the reduction of the beam measurement range of the adjacent cell, the number of measurement time windows or the number of measurement beams in the measurement time windows can be reduced, so that the time for the terminal equipment to execute measurement can be saved, and the measurement overhead and the power consumption of the terminal equipment can be reduced.

In one possible design, the serving cell may be a cell in a non-terrestrial network NTN, and the terminal device may receive a system information block SIB1 of the serving cell and access the serving cell according to the SIB 1. The SIB1 includes access configuration information for a terminal device to access the serving cell, where the access configuration information includes one or more of the following: the method comprises the steps of providing epoch time information of a service cell, effective duration information of uplink synchronization auxiliary information of the service cell, cell scheduling information of the service cell, timing advance information of the service cell, satellite polarization information of the service cell and satellite ephemeris information of the service cell. In the design, the access configuration information of the service cell is sent in advance through the SIB1, so that the time delay of the terminal equipment for acquiring the access configuration information can be reduced, the access time delay can be further reduced, and the success rate of access and the user experience degree are improved.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a measurement method, where a terminal device determines, according to a first beam of a serving cell and beam information of a first neighboring cell, a first candidate beam set corresponding to the first neighboring cell. If the serving cell moves and the terminal equipment does not move out of the first area, the terminal equipment can measure at least one beam in the first candidate beam set; or if the service cell moves, the terminal equipment determines a second candidate beam set corresponding to the first neighbor cell according to the second beam of the service cell and the beam information of the first neighbor cell; and measuring at least one beam in the second set of candidate beams. Wherein the total number of beams included in the first candidate beam set is smaller than the total number of beams included in the first neighbor cell, and the total number of beams included in the second candidate beam set is smaller than the total number of beams included in the first neighbor cell.

The design can be applied to the scene that the service cell is a ground mobile NTN cell, and is matched with the updating of the service beam or the optimal beam in the service cell, so that the beam set to be measured in the adjacent cell is updated in time, and the accuracy of beam measurement can be ensured.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a measurement method, where a network device sends beam information of a first neighboring cell, where the beam information of the first neighboring cell is used to determine a first candidate beam set to be measured corresponding to the first neighboring cell, and a total number of beams included in the first candidate beam set is smaller than a total number of beams included in the first neighboring cell.

In such a design, the network indirectly configures the beam measurement range of the neighboring cell to the terminal device by indicating the beam information of the first neighboring cell, so that the signaling overhead of the beam measurement range can be reduced.

In one possible design, the beam information includes one or more of the following: the method comprises the steps of identifying offset information of the wave beam, indicating information of the wave beam number in a first candidate wave beam set and the wave beam number in a first adjacent cell.

In one possible design, the beam information of the first neighbor cell includes I sets of beam information, and the first candidate beam set is a union of I sub-candidate beam sets; the method comprises the steps that an ith group of beam information in the I group of beam information is used for determining an ith sub-candidate beam set in the I sub-candidate beam sets; i is a positive integer, I is more than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to I.

In one possible design, the ith set of beam information includes one or more of the following: the beam identification offset of the i-th sub-candidate beam set relative to the first beam, the indication information of the number of beams in the i-th sub-candidate beam set, the number of beams in the first neighbor. Alternatively, the beams included in the i-th sub candidate beam set may be understood with reference to examples 1 to 3 below.

Example 1, the identification of the start beam of the i-th sub-candidate beam set is (bi+m _i)mod N_i, the identification of the end beam of the i-th sub-candidate beam set is [ (bi+m _i)mod N_i+K_i]mod N_i ], wherein BI is the identification of the first beam, M _i is the beam identification offset of the i-th sub-candidate beam set relative to the first beam, K _i is the indication information of the number of beams in the i-th sub-candidate beam set, N _i is the total number of beams in the first neighbor, M _i,K_i,N_i is an integer, and mod is a modulo operator.

Example 2, the identification of the start beam of the i-th sub-candidate beam set is [ (bi+m _i)mod N_i-K_i]mod N_i), the identification of the end beam of the i-th sub-candidate beam set is (bi+m _i)mod N_i): where BI is the identification of the first beam, M _i is the beam identification offset of the i-th sub-candidate beam set relative to the first beam, K _i is the indication of the number of beams in the i-th sub-candidate beam set, N _i is the total number of beams in the first neighbor, M _i,K_i,N_i is an integer, and mod is the modulo operator.

Example 3, the identification of the start beam of the i-th sub-candidate beam set is [ (bi+m _i)mod N_i-K_i]mod N_i), the identification of the end beam of the i-th sub-candidate beam set is [ (bi+m _i)mod N_i+K_i]mod N_i), where BI is the identification of the first beam, M _i is the beam identification offset of the i-th sub-candidate beam set relative to the first beam, K _i is the indication information of the number of beams in the i-th sub-candidate beam set, N _i is the total number of beams in the first neighbor, M _i,K_i,N_i is an integer, and mod is a modulo operator.

In one possible design, the first beam is a serving beam of the terminal device in a serving cell, or the signal quality of the first beam is greater than or equal to a first signal quality threshold.

In one possible design, the network device may further receive a beam measurement result from at least one terminal device, and determine the beam information of the first neighbor cell according to the beam measurement result of the at least one terminal device. Wherein the beam measurement result of one terminal device of the at least one terminal device indicates that the one terminal device measures the measurement result of the beam in the at least one neighbor cell. In the design, the network supports the beam measurement results of the adjacent cells combined with the plurality of terminal equipment to determine the beam information of the adjacent cells, thereby being beneficial to improving the accuracy of the beam information and being convenient for updating and maintaining the beam information by the network.

In one possible design, the network device may further send a system information block SIB1 of the serving cell, where the SIB1 includes access configuration information for the terminal device to access the serving cell, where the access configuration information includes one or more of the following: the method comprises the steps of providing epoch time information of a service cell, effective duration information of uplink synchronization auxiliary information of the service cell, cell scheduling information of the service cell, timing advance information of the service cell, satellite polarization information of the service cell and satellite ephemeris information of the service cell.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an access method, where a terminal device receives SIB1 from a first NTN cell of a network device, and accesses the first cell according to the SIB 1. Wherein, the SIB1 includes access configuration information of a first NTN cell, where the access configuration information includes one or more of the following: the method comprises the steps of carrying out time information of an epoch of a first NTN cell, effective duration information of uplink synchronous auxiliary information of the first NTN cell, cell scheduling information of the first NTN cell, timing advance information of the first NTN cell, satellite polarization information of the first NTN cell and satellite ephemeris information of the first NTN cell. Alternatively, the first NTN cell may also be understood as a serving cell to be accessed by the terminal device.

In the design, the access configuration information of the NTN cell to be accessed is sent in advance through the SIB1, so that the time delay of the terminal equipment for acquiring the access configuration information can be reduced, the access time delay can be further reduced, and the success rate of access and the user experience degree are improved.

Alternatively, the foregoing access configuration information of the first NTN cell may be alternatively described as local area information of the first NTN cell, where the local area information includes one or more of the following: the method comprises the steps of epoch time information of a local area, effective duration information of uplink synchronous auxiliary information of the local area, cell scheduling information of the local area, timing advance information of the local area, satellite polarization information of the local area and satellite ephemeris information of the local area. The "home zone" herein refers to the first NTN cell.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an access method, where a network device sends SIB1 of a first NTN cell to a terminal device, where the SIB1 includes access configuration information of the first NTN cell, and the access configuration information includes one or more of the following: the method comprises the steps of carrying out time information of an epoch of a first NTN cell, effective duration information of uplink synchronous auxiliary information of the first NTN cell, cell scheduling information of the first NTN cell, timing advance information of the first NTN cell, satellite polarization information of the first NTN cell and satellite ephemeris information of the first NTN cell. Alternatively, the first NTN cell may also be understood as an NTN cell, or serving cell, to which the terminal device is to be connected.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus may be a terminal device, or may be an apparatus, a module, a chip, or the like in the terminal device, or may be an apparatus that can be used in a matching manner with the terminal device. In one design, the communication device may include modules corresponding to the methods/operations/steps/actions described in the first aspect, where the modules may be hardware circuits, software, or a combination of hardware circuits and software. In one design, the communication device may include a processing module and a communication module.

The processing module is used for determining a first candidate beam set corresponding to a first neighbor cell according to the first beam of the serving cell and the beam information of the first neighbor cell; and measuring at least one beam in the first set of candidate beams. Wherein the total number of beams included in the first set of candidate beams is smaller than the total number of beams included in the first neighbor cell.

In one possible design, the beam information of the first neighboring cell includes I sets of beam information, the first candidate beam set is a union of I sub-candidate beam sets, and I is a positive integer; the determining, according to the first beam of the serving cell and the beam information of the first neighboring cell, a first candidate beam set corresponding to the first neighboring cell includes: determining an ith sub-candidate beam set in the I sub-candidate beam sets according to the first beam of the serving cell and the ith group of beam information in the I group of beam information; wherein I is a positive integer, I is more than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to I.

In one possible design, the ith set of beam information includes one or more of the following: the beam identification offset of the ith sub-candidate beam set relative to the first beam, the indication information of the number of beams in the ith sub-candidate beam set, the number of beams in the first neighbor. Based on the beam information, the ith sub candidate beam set can be quickly determined, and further the beam measurement efficiency is improved. Optionally, the beams included in the ith sub-candidate beam set may be understood with reference to examples 1 to 3 described in the first aspect, which is not described in detail in the embodiments of the present application.

In one possible design, the first beam is a serving beam of the terminal device in the serving cell, or the signal quality of the first beam is greater than or equal to a first signal quality threshold.

In one possible design, a target beam is determined in the first candidate beam set, the target beam being a serving beam after the terminal device has changed to the first neighbor cell, or a signal quality of the target beam being greater than or equal to a second signal quality threshold.

In one possible design, the communication module is configured to receive first indication information from the serving cell, where the first indication information indicates at least one set of beam information in the I sets of beam information of the first neighboring cell, and I is a positive integer.

In one possible design, the processing module is further configured to determine at least one set of beam information in the I sets of beam information of the first neighboring cell according to coverage information of at least one beam in the first neighboring cell, where I is a positive integer.

In one possible design, the processing module is further configured to measure one beam of the first set of candidate beams within a measurement time window associated with the one beam; wherein the measurement time windows associated with different beams in the beam set are the same or different.

Before the design is implemented, the terminal equipment needs to access the serving cell. In one possible design, the serving cell is a cell in a non-terrestrial network NTN. The communication module is also used for receiving a system information block SIB1 of the service cell; and the processing module is also used for accessing the service cell according to the SIB 1. The SIB1 includes access configuration information for a terminal device to access the serving cell, where the access configuration information includes one or more of the following: the method comprises the steps of providing epoch time information of a service cell, effective duration information of uplink synchronization auxiliary information of the service cell, cell scheduling information of the service cell, timing advance information of the service cell, satellite polarization information of the service cell and satellite ephemeris information of the service cell. In the design, the access configuration information of the service cell is sent in advance through the SIB1, so that the time delay of the terminal equipment for acquiring the access configuration information can be reduced, the access time delay can be further reduced, and the success rate of access and the user experience degree are improved.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus may be a terminal device, or may be an apparatus, a module, a chip, or the like in the terminal device, or may be an apparatus that can be used in a matching manner with the terminal device. In one design, the communication device may include modules corresponding to the methods/operations/steps/actions described in the second aspect, where the modules may be hardware circuits, software, or a combination of hardware circuits and software. In one design, the communication device may include a processing module and a communication module.

And the processing module is used for determining a first candidate beam set corresponding to the first neighbor cell according to the first beam of the serving cell and the beam information of the first neighbor cell. If the serving cell moves and the terminal equipment does not move out of the first area, the processing module is further configured to measure at least one beam in the first candidate beam set; or if the service cell moves, the processing module is further configured to determine a second candidate beam set corresponding to the first neighboring cell according to beam information of a second beam of the service cell and beam information of the first neighboring cell; and measuring at least one beam in the second set of candidate beams.

Wherein the total number of beams included in the first candidate beam set is smaller than the total number of beams included in the first neighbor cell, and the total number of beams included in the second candidate beam set is smaller than the total number of beams included in the first neighbor cell.

Some possible designs may be understood with reference to the description in the sixth aspect, and this will not be repeated in the embodiments of the present application. For example, the communication module may be configured to receive first indication information from a serving cell, where the first indication information indicates at least one set of beam information in the I sets of beam information of the first neighbor cell, and I is a positive integer.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus may be a network device, or may be an apparatus, a module, a chip, or the like in a network device, or may be an apparatus that can be used in a matching manner with a network device. In one design, the communication device may include modules corresponding to the methods/operations/steps/actions described in the third aspect, where the modules may be hardware circuits, software, or a combination of hardware circuits and software. In one design, the communication device may include a processing module and a communication module.

And the processing module is used for determining the beam information of the first adjacent cell.

The communication module is used for sending the beam information of the first adjacent cell, wherein the beam information of the first adjacent cell is used for determining a first candidate beam set to be measured corresponding to the first adjacent cell, and the total number of beams included in the first candidate beam set is smaller than the total number of beams included in the first adjacent cell.

In one possible design, the communication module is further configured to receive beam measurements from at least one terminal device; and the processing module is further used for determining the beam information of the first neighbor cell according to the beam measurement result of the at least one terminal device. Wherein the beam measurement result of one terminal device of the at least one terminal device indicates that the one terminal device measures the measurement result of the beam in the at least one neighbor cell. In the design, the network supports the beam measurement results of the adjacent cells combined with the plurality of terminal equipment to determine the beam information of the adjacent cells, thereby being beneficial to improving the accuracy of the beam information and being convenient for updating and maintaining the beam information by the network.

In one possible design, the communication module is further configured to send a system information block SIB1 of a serving cell, where the SIB1 includes access configuration information for a terminal device to access the serving cell, where the access configuration information includes one or more of the following: the method comprises the steps of providing epoch time information of a service cell, effective duration information of uplink synchronization auxiliary information of the service cell, cell scheduling information of the service cell, timing advance information of the service cell, satellite polarization information of the service cell and satellite ephemeris information of the service cell.

Other possible designs may be understood with reference to the description in the third aspect, and this will not be repeated in the embodiments of the present application.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an access method, where the communication device may be a terminal device, or may be a device, a module, a chip, or the like in the terminal device, or may be a device that can be used in a matching manner with the terminal device. In one design, the communication device may include modules corresponding to the methods/operations/steps/actions described in the fifth aspect, where the modules may be hardware circuits, software, or a combination of hardware circuits and software. In one design, the communication device may include a processing module and a communication module.

A communication module for receiving SIB1 from a first NTN cell of a network device.

And the processing module is used for accessing the first cell according to the SIB 1. Wherein, the SIB1 includes access configuration information of a first NTN cell, where the access configuration information includes one or more of the following: the method comprises the steps of carrying out time information of an epoch of a first NTN cell, effective duration information of uplink synchronous auxiliary information of the first NTN cell, cell scheduling information of the first NTN cell, timing advance information of the first NTN cell, satellite polarization information of the first NTN cell and satellite ephemeris information of the first NTN cell. Alternatively, the first NTN cell may also be understood as a serving cell to be accessed by the terminal device.

In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus may be a network device, or may be an apparatus, a module, a chip, or the like in a network device, or may be an apparatus that can be used in a matching manner with a network device. In one design, the communication device may include modules corresponding to the methods/operations/steps/actions described in the fifth aspect, where the modules may be hardware circuits, software, or a combination of hardware circuits and software. In one design, the communication device may include a processing module and a communication module.

And the processing module is used for determining SIB1 of the first NTN cell.

A communication module, configured to send SIB1 of a first NTN cell to a terminal device, where the SIB1 includes access configuration information of the first NTN cell, and the access configuration information includes one or more of the following: the method comprises the steps of carrying out time information of an epoch of a first NTN cell, effective duration information of uplink synchronous auxiliary information of the first NTN cell, cell scheduling information of the first NTN cell, timing advance information of the first NTN cell, satellite polarization information of the first NTN cell and satellite ephemeris information of the first NTN cell. Alternatively, the first NTN cell may also be understood as a serving cell to be accessed by the terminal device.

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, including a processor, configured to implement the method described in any one of the first to fifth aspects. A processor is coupled to a memory for storing instructions and data, which processor, when executing instructions stored in the memory, may implement the method described in any of the first to fifth aspects. Optionally, the communication device may further include a memory; the communication apparatus may also include a communication interface for the communication apparatus to communicate with other devices, which may be, for example, a transceiver, circuit, bus, module, pin, or other type of communication interface.

In a twelfth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication system comprising a communication device as described in the sixth or seventh aspect; and a communication device as described in the eighth aspect; or comprises a communication device as described in the ninth aspect; and a communication device as described in the tenth aspect.

In a thirteenth aspect, embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method provided in any one of the first to fifth aspects above.

In a fourteenth aspect, embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method provided in any one of the first to fifth aspects above.

In a fifteenth aspect, embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a computer program or instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method provided in any one of the first to fifth aspects above.

In a sixteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip for reading a computer program stored in a memory, performing the method provided in any of the first to fifth aspects, or comprising circuitry for performing the method provided in any of the first to fifth aspects.

In a seventeenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip system, where the chip system includes a processor, and the processor is configured to support the apparatus to implement the method provided in any one of the first to fifth aspects. In one possible design, the system-on-chip further includes a memory for storing programs and data necessary for the device. The chip system may be formed of a chip or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

Effects of the solutions provided in any of the above second aspect to seventeenth aspect, reference may be made to the corresponding description in the first aspect.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a land network communication system;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an NTN communication system architecture;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a 5G satellite communication system;

FIG. 4A is a schematic diagram of a transparent architecture;

FIG. 4B is a schematic diagram of a regeneration architecture;

fig. 5A is a schematic coverage diagram of a terrestrial quasi-stationary NTN cell;

Fig. 5B is a schematic coverage diagram of a terrestrial mobile NTN cell;

FIG. 6A is a schematic diagram of beamforming;

Fig. 6B is one of schematic diagrams of beam distribution patterns in a cell;

Fig. 6C is one of schematic diagrams of beam distribution patterns in a cell;

FIG. 6D is a schematic diagram of a measurement time window for beam measurement;

FIG. 7 is a schematic flow chart of a measurement method according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 8 is one of the schematic diagrams of the inter-cell relay coverage;

Fig. 9 is one of the schematic diagrams of the inter-cell successor coverage;

FIG. 10 is a schematic flow chart of a measurement method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic flow chart of an access method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of a system information sending manner according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application more apparent, the embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Embodiments of the present application refer to at least one (item), indicating one (item) or more (items), as follows. Plural (items) means two (items) or more than two (items). "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: 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. In addition, it should be understood that although the terms first, second, etc. may be used in describing various objects in embodiments of the application, these objects should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one object from another.

The terms "comprising" and "having" and any variations thereof, as used in the following description of embodiments of the application, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not limited to only those listed but may optionally include other steps or elements not listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. It should be noted that, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "such as" are used to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any method or design described herein as "exemplary" or "such as" in embodiments of the application should not be construed as preferred or advantageous over other methods or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "such as" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete fashion.

The technology provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication systems, such as satellite communication systems, high altitude platform (high altitude platform station, HAPS) communication systems, unmanned aerial vehicle and other non-ground network (non-TERRESTRIAL NETWORK, NTN) systems; such as communication, navigation integration (INTEGRATED COMMUNICATION AND NAVIGATION, icaN) systems, global navigation satellite systems (global navigation SATELLITE SYSTEM, GNSS), ultra-dense low-orbit satellite communication systems, and the like. The communication system applied by the embodiment of the application can be integrated with a ground communication system. For example: the terrestrial communication system may be a fourth generation (4th generation,4G) communication system (e.g., long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system), a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (worldwide interoperability for microwave access, wiMAX) communication system, a fifth generation (5th generation,5G) communication system (e.g., new radio, NR) system), and future mobile communication systems such as 6G communication system, etc.

One network element in a communication system may send signals to or receive signals from another network element. Wherein the signal may comprise information, signaling, data, or the like. The network element may also be replaced by an entity, a network entity, a device, a communication module, a node, a communication node, or the like, which is described by taking the network element as an example in the embodiment of the present application.

For example, the terrestrial communication system may comprise at least one terminal device and at least one network device. The network device may send a downstream signal to the terminal device, and/or the terminal device may send an upstream signal to the network device as will be appreciated, if the communication system includes a plurality of terminal devices, the plurality of terminal devices may also signal each other, that is, the transmitting network element of the signal and the receiving network element of the signal may be terminal devices.

Fig. 1 shows an architecture of a mobile communication system. Communication system 100 may include network device 110 and terminal devices 101-106. It should be understood that more or fewer network devices or terminal devices may be included in the communication system 100. The network device or terminal device may be hardware, or may be functionally divided software, or a combination of both. In addition, the terminal devices 104 to 106 may also constitute a communication system, for example, the terminal device 105 may transmit downlink data to the terminal device 104 or the terminal device 106. The network device and the terminal device may communicate with each other through other devices or network elements. The network device 110 may transmit downlink data to the terminal devices 101 to 106, or may receive uplink data transmitted from the terminal devices 101 to 106. Of course, the terminal devices 101 to 106 may transmit uplink data to the network device 110, or may receive downlink data transmitted from the network device 110.

The network device 110 is a node in a radio access network (radio access network, RAN), which may also be referred to as a base station, or as a RAN node (or device). Currently, some examples of access network devices 101 are: an evolved Node B (eNB), a radio network controller (radio network controller, RNC), a Node B (Node B, NB), a base station controller (base station controller, BSC), a base transceiver station (base transceiver station, BTS), a home base station (e.g., home evolved NodeB, or home Node B, HNB), a baseband unit (BBU), an Access Point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (WIFI) system, a wireless relay Node, a wireless backhaul Node, a transmission point (transmission point, TP), or a transmission reception point (transmission reception point, TRP), a satellite, an unmanned aerial vehicle, or the like. The network device may also be a base station (gNB) or TRP or TP in a 5G system, or one or a group of antenna panels (including multiple antenna panels) of a base station in a 5G system. The network device may also be a network node constituting the gNB or TP, such as a BBU, or a Distributed Unit (DU), etc. Or the network device may also be a device-to-device (D2D) communication system, a machine-to-machine (machine to machine, M2M) communication system, an internet of things (Internet of Things, ioT), an internet of things communication system, or a device in other communication systems that assumes network-side functionality. Network device 110 may also be a network device in a future possible communication system. The embodiment of the application does not limit the specific technology and the specific equipment form adopted by the network equipment.

The terminal apparatuses 101 to 106 may be referred to as User Equipment (UE), mobile Station (MS), mobile Terminal (MT), access terminal, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, user equipment, or the like, and may be an apparatus for providing voice or data connectivity to a user, or an internet of things apparatus. For example, the terminal apparatuses 101 to 106 include a handheld apparatus having a wireless communication function, an in-vehicle apparatus, and the like. Currently, the terminal devices 101 to 106 may be: a mobile phone), a tablet, a laptop, a palmtop, a mobile internet device (mobile INTERNET DEVICE, MID), a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch, a smart bracelet, a pedometer, etc.), a vehicle-mounted device (e.g., an automobile, a bicycle, an electric car, an airplane, a ship, a train, a high-speed rail, etc.), a Virtual Reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) device, a wireless terminal in an industrial control (industrial control), a smart home device (e.g., a refrigerator, a television, an air conditioner, an electric meter, etc.), a smart robot, a workshop device, a wireless terminal in an unmanned (SELF DRIVING), a wireless terminal in a teleoperation (remote medical surgery), a wireless terminal in a smart grid (SMART GRID), a wireless terminal in a transportation security (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in a smart city (SMART CITY), or a wireless terminal in a smart home (smart home), a flying device (e.g., a smart robot, a hot balloon, an unmanned aerial vehicle, etc. The terminal apparatuses 101 to 106 may be other apparatuses having a terminal function, and for example, the terminal apparatuses 101 to 106 may be apparatuses functioning as a terminal function in D2D communication.

Embodiments of the present application may be exemplified using a non-terrestrial network (non-TERRESTRIAL NETWORK, NTN) communication system based on a description of the architecture of the terrestrial communication system shown in fig. 1. The NTN comprises nodes such as a satellite network, a high-altitude platform, an unmanned aerial vehicle and the like, has the remarkable advantages of global coverage, long-distance transmission, flexible networking, convenient deployment, no limitation of geographical conditions and the like, and has been widely applied to a plurality of fields such as offshore communication, positioning navigation, danger and disaster relief, scientific experiments, video broadcasting, earth observation and the like. The ground 5G network and the satellite network are mutually fused to make up for the advantages and the disadvantages, and jointly form a global sea, land, air, day and ground integrated comprehensive communication network which meets the ubiquitous multiple service demands of users.

In the embodiment of the present application, the NTN communication is exemplified by satellite communication, or the NTN communication system is exemplified by satellite system. As shown in fig. 2, the NTN communication system includes a satellite 201 and a terminal device 202. The explanation of the terminal device 202 may be referred to the above description of the terminal devices 101 to 106. Satellite 201 may also be referred to as a high-altitude platform, high-altitude aircraft, or satellite base station. From the perspective of contacting the NTN communication system with a terrestrial network communication system, satellite 201 may be considered one or more network devices in the terrestrial network communication system architecture. Satellite 201 provides communication services to terminal device 202, and satellite 201 may also be connected to core network devices. The satellite 201 may also have the structure and function described above with reference to the network device 110. The manner of communication between satellite 201 and terminal device 202 may also be as described above with reference to fig. 1. And will not be described in detail herein. The scheme in the embodiment of the present application may also be applied to the ground communication network directly or after being slightly modified by a method that can be conceived by those skilled in the art, and will not be described herein.

Examples of some satellites include: low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites with orbit heights of 500 kilometers (km) to 2000km; a medium orbit (medium earth orbit, MEO) satellite with an orbit height of 2000 km-20000 km; high orbit (HIGH EARTH orbit, HEO) satellite, orbit height is greater than 20000km, and is elliptical orbit; synchronous orbit (geostationary earth orbit, GEO) satellites, orbit height 35800km; non-stationary orbit (non-geostationary earth orbit, NGEO) satellites.

Taking 5G as an example, a 5G satellite communication system architecture is shown in fig. 3. The ground terminal equipment is connected with the network through a 5G new air interface, and the 5G base station is deployed on a satellite and is connected with a core network on the ground through a wireless link. Meanwhile, a wireless link exists between satellites, so that signaling interaction and user data transmission between base stations are completed. The description of the devices and interfaces in fig. 3 is as follows:

and 5G core network, user access control, mobility management, session management, user safety authentication, charging and other services. It is composed of several functional units, and can be divided into control plane and data plane functional entities. An access and mobility management unit (AMF) responsible for user access management, security authentication, and mobility management. The user plane Unit (UPF) is responsible for managing functions such as transmission of user plane data, traffic statistics, etc.

And the ground station is responsible for forwarding signaling and service data between the satellite base station and the 5G core network.

And 5G, new air interface, namely a wireless link between the terminal and the base station.

Xn interface is an interface between 5G base station and base station, and is mainly used for signaling interaction such as switching.

And NG interface, interface between 5G base station and 5G core network, mainly interacting signaling such as NAS of core network and service data of user.

Examples of some of these ground station devices are as follows: devices in a Core Network (CN) of an existing mobile communication architecture (e.g., a 3GPP access architecture of a 5G network) or devices in a core network of a future mobile communication architecture. The core network serves as an interface for the bearer network to provide communication connection, authentication, management, policy control, and bearer completion for data traffic for the User Equipment (UE). Wherein the CN may further comprise: an access and mobility management network element (ACCESS AND mobility management function, AMF), a session management network element (session management function, SMF), an authentication server network element (authentication server function, AUSF), a policy control node (policy control function, PCF), a user plane function network element (user plane function, UPF), and so on. The AMF network element is used for managing access and mobility of the UE and is mainly responsible for the functions of UE authentication, UE mobility management, UE paging and the like.

In terms of on-board processing capability, the satellite communication system includes a transparent architecture (TRANSPARENT PAYLOAD) and a regenerative architecture (REGENERATIVE PAYLOAD). Wherein, transparent transmission can be called transparent transmission or bent pipe transmission, and regeneration can be called non-transparent transmission.

In fig. 4A, a transparent architecture is shown, where a base station is located on the ground, a satellite is connected to the base station through a gateway (gateway) on the ground, signals between a terminal device and the base station are transmitted through the satellite, and a data processing function is still located at the base station, that is, the satellite is only responsible for signal forwarding and has no data processing capability. The link between the satellite and the terminal device is a service link (SERVICE LINK) and the link between the satellite and the base station on the ground is called a feeder link (FEEDER LINK).

In a regenerative architecture, as illustrated in fig. 4B, the satellite has some or all of the base station functions, and the satellite can perform data processing. The complete base station is located on the satellite, or the DU of the base station is located on the satellite. The link between the satellite and the terminal device is a service link (SERVICE LINK).

In addition, in an NTN network, a network device may manage one or more NTN cells (cells) through which to communicate with a terminal device. The embodiment of the application relates to the coverage area of an NTN cell, wherein the coverage area of the NTN cell refers to the area covered by the NTN cell on the ground and can be called as the coverage area of the NTN cell for short. According to the movement of NTN cells in a ground coverage area, NTN cells can be classified into the following three categories:

the first type is ground stationary (earth-fixed), where the coverage area of the NTN-like cell is fixed to a certain area on the ground, i.e. continuous fixed point coverage. For example, the NTN cell provided by GEO satellites is this type.

The second type is quasi-stationary (quad-earth-fixed) on the ground, where the coverage area of the NTN-like cell is fixed to one area on the ground for a period of time, and then is replaced by another area on the ground, i.e. a period of time for a fixed coverage. For example, LEO satellites and MEO satellites may provide this type of NTN cell. As illustrated in fig. 5A, cell 1 covers area 1 on the ground at times t1 to t2, and then cell 1 is replaced with area 2 on the ground at time t3.

The third category is the ground-mobile type (earth-moving), where the coverage area of the NTN cell slides on the ground. For example, LEO satellites and MEO satellites may provide this type of NTN cell. As illustrated in fig. 5B, cell 1 covers area 1 on the ground at time t1, slides over area 2 on the ground at time t2, and slides over area 3 on the ground at time t 3.

The network equipment in the terrestrial communication system and the satellite in the NTN communication system are collectively regarded as network equipment. The means for implementing the functionality of the network device may be the network device; or may be a device, such as a system-on-a-chip, capable of supporting the network device to perform this function, which may be installed in the network device. In the following, the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present application will be described by taking a network device as an example as a device for implementing a function of the network device.

In the embodiment of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal device may be the terminal device; or means, such as a chip system, a hardware circuit, a software module, or a combination of hardware and software modules, capable of supporting the terminal device to perform the function, which means may be installed in the terminal device or used in cooperation with the terminal device. In the embodiment of the application, the chip system can be composed of chips, and can also comprise chips and other discrete devices. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal device is taken as an example of the terminal device, so as to describe the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application.

The embodiment of the application relates to beam measurement of NTN cells, and technical terms in the application are described in the following for facilitating understanding of the embodiment of the application.

(1) Beam (beam)

In 5G NR, beamforming (beamforming) technology is introduced, and a network device uses several beams to sequentially and time-division scan (beam sweeping) different partial areas in a cell to achieve complete coverage of one cell. One beam corresponds to a unique identification (beam index), i.e. the identification of the different beams is different. Different beams correspond to different transmission directions. As illustrated in fig. 6A, taking an example that 8 beams are included in a cell, the network device sends a reference signal through the direction 1 at the time t1 to form a beam 0, or may also be described as that the network device transmits beam 0 to the direction 1 at the time t 1; the network device transmits a reference signal through direction 2 to form beam 1 at time t2, or may also be described as the network device transmitting beam 1 toward direction 2 at time t 2. Similarly, full cell coverage can be formed based on 8 beams, i.e., 8 beams are included in the cell.

The reference signal may be a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel block (synchronization signal/PBCH block, SSB) or a channel state information reference signal (CHANNEL STATE information-REFERENCE SIGNAL, CSI-RS).

(2) Beam distribution pattern for NTN cells

The beam distribution pattern of the NTN cell, also called beam deployment pattern, refers to the arrangement pattern or rule of beams in the NTN cell. For example, how the beams in one cell are distributed to form the coverage of the current cell, or how the beams of one cell are distributed to achieve the area that the cell provides coverage. From a beam perspective, the beam distribution pattern of the NTN cell may indicate the coverage of the beam in the first cell.

In the embodiment of the present application, the coverage area of a certain beam in a cell may refer to the area covered by the beam on the ground, which is simply referred to as the coverage area of the beam. It will be appreciated that the coverage area of all beams in a cell is encompassed by the coverage area of that cell, and that the coverage area of a portion(s) of the beams in a cell may also be described as a sub-area within the coverage area of the cell.

In one possible implementation, the beams in the NTN cells are arranged in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction based on the order of the beam identities, thereby forming a coverage area of one NTN cell. As shown in fig. 6B, the beams in cell 1 and cell 2 are arranged in a counterclockwise order, with the beam identifications being from small to large, and form a cyclic arrangement, e.g., the last beam of beam 7 in cell 1 is beam 6 and the next beam of beam 7 is beam 0.

In another possible implementation, the beams in the NTN are arranged in a certain direction based on the order of the sizes of the beam identities, thereby forming the coverage of one NTN cell. As shown in fig. 6C, the beams in the cell 1 are arranged along the bottom of the short side of a rectangular area according to the order from the small to the large, and each column is arranged with a new column from the bottom of the short side after a plurality of beams are arranged along the short side to reach the top. The beams in the cell 2 are arranged along the bottom end of the short side of a rectangular area according to the sequence from the small mark to the large mark, after each column is provided with a plurality of beams on the short side, a new column is arranged from the top end of the short side, namely, the difference value between the beam marks of two adjacent columns on the top end of the short side is 1 (for example, mark 4 and mark 5), and the beam marks of the three adjacent columns form a Z-shaped sequence. The beams in the cell 3 are arranged along the left end of the long side in a rectangular area according to the sequence from the small mark to the large mark, and after a plurality of beams are arranged on the long side to reach the right end, a new row is arranged from the left end. Alternatively, the aforementioned certain direction may be a satellite scanning direction, which may also be understood as a direction of satellite motion. In this case, the satellite scanning direction corresponding to the cell 1 shown in fig. 6C is a direction from the bottom end to the top end of the short side, and the satellite scanning direction corresponding to the cell 3 is a direction from the left end to the right end of the long side.

For NTN cells of the terrestrial quasi-stationary or terrestrial mobile type, part of the beams in different NTN cells may cover the same area of the terrestrial in time. Wherein the identities of the partial beams covering the same area in different NTN cells may be the same or different. In the case where the number of partial beams is plural, the difference in the identification of partial beams can also be classified as non-identical and non-identical. Taking the foregoing example of partial beam 1, fig. 6B illustrates that beam 4 in cell 2 and beam 0 in cell 1 may cover the same area at different times. Taking the example that the partial beam includes a plurality of beams, fig. 6C illustrates that the partial beam {0,1,5,6,10,11} in the cell 1 and the partial beam {0,1,8,9,10,11} in the cell 2 may cover the same sub-area at different times, and {0,1,5,6,10,11} in the cell 1 is not exactly the same as {0,1,8,9,10,11} in the cell 2.

(3) Status of terminal equipment

The states of the terminal device are classified into an RRC IDLE state (rrc_idle), an RRC INACTIVE state (rrc_inactive), and an RRC CONNECTED state (rrc_connected).

The RRC idle state may also be simply referred to as an idle state, and when the terminal device is in the RRC idle state, the terminal device does not retain information such as radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC), context (context), and the like. The RRC context is a parameter for establishing communication between the terminal device and the network device. The RRC context may include a security context, capability information of the terminal device, and the like. Meanwhile, the terminal equipment does not establish connection with the core network equipment. Typically, a terminal device in RRC idle state only periodically wakes up to receive paging messages.

The RRC inactive state may also be simply referred to as an inactive state. When the terminal device is in the RRC inactive state, an RRC context is maintained between the terminal device and the network device. Meanwhile, the terminal equipment also establishes connection with the core network equipment, namely the core network equipment is in a core network connection state (CN_CONNECTED). At this time, the process of switching to the connected state for data reception is relatively fast, and no additional core network signaling overhead is generated. In addition, the terminal device in the RRC inactive state may also enter the sleep state. Therefore, the RRC inactive state can meet the requirements of reducing connection delay, signaling overhead, and power consumption.

The RRC connected state may also be simply referred to as a connected state. When the terminal device is in the RRC connected state, the terminal device has established an RRC context. Parameters required for establishing communication between the terminal device and the network device are acquired by both communication parties. The network device allocates a cell radio network temporary identity (cell radio network temporary identifier, C-RNTI) for the accessed terminal device. Meanwhile, the terminal equipment also establishes connection with the core network equipment.

(4) Beam measurement

The terminal device measures a plurality of beams (for example, SSB or CSI-RS) of a cell, so as to obtain a measurement result of a beam level, and further derive a cell level measurement result of the cell by using the measurement result of the beam level. For example, in the cell illustrated in fig. 6A, the terminal device measures the quality of each beam in beams 0 to 7 and averages the quality of these 8 beams to obtain a result, which can be the cell-level quality of the cell.

In addition, the terminal device may also determine, according to the measurement result of the beams in the cell, the beam with the best signal quality or the signal quality meeting the preset requirement, where the determined beam may also be simply referred to as the best beam, and the number of the best beams may be one or more. The best beam may be used as a service beam for the terminal device, and the number of service beams may be one or more. The service beam of the terminal device is used for receiving downlink information (such as downlink control information and downlink data) or signals sent by the cell. It will be appreciated that the network device may be aware of the best beam and/or the serving beam of the terminal device in the connected state, e.g. the network device may determine the best beam and/or the serving beam of the terminal device based on the signal quality in the beam measurements reported by the terminal device. While the terminal device in idle or inactive state may maintain the best beam and/or the service beam by itself, the network device does not perceive the best beam and/or the service beam of the terminal device.

Beam measurements may be used for mobility management of the terminal device. Mobility management refers to that when the signal quality of the serving cell (SERVING CELL) of the terminal equipment declines to a certain extent, the terminal equipment can change the serving cell of the terminal equipment through handover, cell selection or reselection, i.e. a neighbor cell with better communication quality is selected as a new serving cell, so as to ensure that the communication link between the terminal equipment and the network is not interrupted. It can be understood that, for a terminal device in a connected state, a serving cell of the terminal device is a cell in which a network device to which the terminal device accesses provides services for the terminal device, and a neighboring cell of the terminal device refers to a cell in which the terminal device does not currently establish a link. The terminal device may change the serving cell of the terminal device by handover. For the terminal equipment in an idle state or a non-activated state, the service cell of the terminal equipment can be understood as a cell where the terminal equipment currently resides, and can be an initial residence cell where the terminal equipment is selected based on the cell, or a residence cell where the terminal equipment is reselected based on the cell; the neighbor cell of a terminal device refers to a cell in which the terminal device is not currently camping. Alternatively, the foregoing neighbor cell may also be referred to as a non-serving cell.

In mobility management, the terminal device needs to perform radio resource management (radio resource management, RRM) measurements, i.e. to monitor the communication quality of the serving cell and/or the neighbor cell of the terminal device. For example, the terminal device may monitor the communication quality of the serving cell based on the measurement result of the beam of the serving cell, and the terminal device may monitor the communication quality of the neighbor cell based on the measurement result of the beam of the neighbor cell. Optionally, the terminal device may decide whether to perform handover, cell selection or reselection according to the communication quality of the serving cell and/or the neighboring cell.

The beam measurement of the neighboring cell can be divided into common frequency measurement (intra-frequency measurement) and inter-frequency measurement (inter-frequency measurement) according to the relationship between the frequency point of the neighboring cell and the frequency point of the serving cell. In addition, according to the system of the network devices of the neighboring cell and the serving cell, the beam measurement of the neighboring cell can be further divided into: intra-system measurements (intra-RAT measurement) and inter-system measurements (inter-RAT measurement). An example of an intra-system measurement is as follows: the service cell and the neighbor cell are both cells under the 5G base station; furthermore, the same frequency measurement and different frequency measurement described above are typically in intra-system measurements (intra-RAT measurement). An example of a heterogeneous system measurement is that the serving cell may be a cell under a 5G base station and the neighbor cell may be a cell under a 2G, 3G, 4G (e.g. LTE) base station. The method provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to scenes of same-frequency measurement, different-frequency measurement, intra-system measurement or different-system measurement.

Beam measurements on neighbor cells can be further classified into SSB-based measurements and CSI-RS-based measurements according to the reference signal types of the frequency points. The beam measurement of the terminal equipment in the connection state to the adjacent cell can be based on SSB or CSI-RS; while the beam measurements of the neighbor by the idle/inactive state terminal devices are SSB based. Therefore, in combination with the above-mentioned classification method of the reference signal types, beam measurement of the neighboring cells can be further specifically classified into: common frequency measurement based on SSB, inter-frequency measurement based on SSB, common frequency measurement based on CSI-RS, inter-system measurement, and the like.

Wherein, the same frequency measurement and different frequency measurement based on SSB can be understood by referring to the following contents: if the center frequency of the SSB of a certain measurement frequency point is the same as the center frequency of the SSB of the service cell, and the subcarrier spacing (subcarrier spacing, SCS) of the SSB of the certain measurement frequency point is the same as the SCS of the SSB of the service cell, the beam measurement of the neighbor cell on the frequency point is the same-frequency measurement; if the SSB of a certain measurement frequency point is different from the SSB of a serving cell in central frequency and/or SCS, beam measurement of a neighboring cell on the frequency point is different frequency measurement.

The same-frequency measurement and different-frequency measurement based on CSI-RS can be understood with reference to the following: if the center frequency of the CSI-RS of a certain measurement frequency point is the same as that of the CSI-RS of the service cell, and the SCS and Cyclic Prefix (CP) types of the CSI-RS of the certain measurement frequency point and the CSI-RS of the service cell are the same, the beam measurement of the adjacent cell on the frequency point is the same-frequency measurement; otherwise, when at least one of the center frequency, SCS and CP types of the two are different, the beam measurement of the adjacent cell on the frequency point is different frequency measurement.

In beam measurement, the network device may send a measurement configuration to the terminal device, where the measurement configuration may include a measurement object (measurement object), such as a reference signal (SSB/CSI-RS) on a certain frequency point, and a measurement time window configuration corresponding to the frequency point; measurement reporting configuration (reporting configuration), such as reporting rules and/or reporting formats of measurement results; a measurement identity (measurement identities) for the network device to distinguish between measurement objects; a measurement interval (measurement gap), in which the terminal device does not transmit and receive information, and only performs measurement on the measurement object; the measurement quantity configuration (quantity configuration) comprises, for example, a measurement filter configuration.

For example, for the case where the reference signal is SSB, the measurement time window configuration may refer to the measurement time configuration of SSB (SSB measurement timing configuration, SMTC). SMTC is a periodic measurement time window, the network device may configure the length of each measurement time window and the interval between two adjacent measurement time windows, which may also be referred to as an STMC time window or SMTC occasion (occalasion). The terminal device measures the corresponding frequency point within one or more SMTC time windows without measuring the frequency point outside the one or more SMTC time windows. Optionally, each SMTC time window is used for beam measurement of a specific beam identity, i.e. the terminal device only measures the beam corresponding to that STMC time window within one SMTC time window. As illustrated in fig. 6D, SMTC time window 1 is used to measure beams 0-7 corresponding to SSB, SMTC time window 2 is used to measure beams 8-15, … … corresponding to SSB, and SMTC time window x is used to measure beams k1-k8 corresponding to SSB. In fig. 6D, ssb#0 represents a beam with a symbol 0 corresponding to SSB, ssb#8 represents a beam with a symbol 8 corresponding to SSB, and so on, the embodiment of the present application will not be described again.

Currently, in a terrestrial network system, the maximum number of SSB corresponding beams in a cell is related to the frequency of SSB and SCS, the system of the cell, and the like. For example, in the frequency range 1 (frequency range 1, fr 1), the maximum number of beams corresponding to SSBs in one cell may be 8. As another example, in the frequency range 2 (frequency range 2, fr 2), the maximum number of beams corresponding to SSBs in one cell may be 64. The terminal device typically decides whether to perform a cell handover, cell selection or reselection based on the measurement results of measurements on all beams of the neighbor cell. In NTN systems, the number of beams in an NTN cell is determined based on the coverage requirements of the satellite and the beam capabilities of the satellite. For example, coverage area of one NTN cell is typically required to reach several hundred thousand square kilometers, but the diameter of one beam is limited (e.g., the diameter of the beam is 50-60 km), so the number of beams to be deployed in one NTN cell is far greater than the number of beams in one terrestrial cell, e.g., the number of beams in an NTN cell may be 128, 256, 512, etc.

For a scenario where the number of beams in the NTN cell is large, the transmission period of the beams will be greatly increased. Taking SSB as an example, assuming that the number of beams corresponding to SSBs in one NTN cell is 256, a total of 32 20ms are required to transmit 256 SSBs in a mode of transmitting 8 SSBs every 20ms, i.e., the transmission period of SSBs will reach 32×20=640 ms. In this case, if more beams are required to be measured by the terminal device along the beam measurement method for measuring all beams in the neighbor cell in the terrestrial network system, the beam measurement and maintenance costs of the terminal device for the NTN cell will be correspondingly increased. In this way, on one hand, the measurement power consumption of the terminal device is increased, and on the other hand, the time delay of the terminal device for confirming the optimal beam/service beam is also increased, so that the efficiency of the terminal device for completing the switching or cell selection/reselection is lower, and even the operations of data receiving and transmitting, residence or access of the subsequent terminal device are affected, and the experience of the user is poor.

Based on the above-mentioned problems, the embodiments of the present application provide a beam measurement scheme for a neighboring cell in NTN, which combines with a beam in a current serving cell of a terminal device to reduce a beam measurement range of the neighboring cell, so as to reduce measurement and maintenance costs of the terminal device and reduce measurement power consumption of the terminal device.

For example, according to the correspondence between the identity of the beam and the beam coverage in the NTN cell, the following calculation formula may be designed: [ (beam index+M) mod N.+ -. K ] mod N for determining the range of beam measurements in the neighborhood. Wherein the beam index indicates an identification of one beam in a serving cell of the terminal device, which may also be abbreviated as BI. M indicates the beam identification offset of the adjacent area beam relative to the beam indicated by BI, and the value of M is an integer, such as a negative integer, 0 or a positive integer; k may be used to determine the number of beams to be measured in the neighborhood, K being an integer, such as a negative integer, 0 or a positive integer; n is the total number of beams included in the neighbor cell or alternatively described as: n is the number of beams in the neighbor cell, and N is a positive integer. mod represents a modulo operator, and the introduction of mod can ensure that the calculated beam mark is within the range of N beam marks in the neighbor cell, for example, the value of (beam index+M) is not greater than N, and certainly, the value of (beam index+M) is not greater than N by limiting the value range of M in the implementation process, namely (beam index+M) mod N can be alternatively described as (beam index+M), which is not limited by the embodiment of the application. In addition, (beam index+M) may be replaced with (beam index-M), and the following description will be given by taking (beam index+M) as an example in the embodiment of the present application.

Substituting M, K, N sets of values into the calculation formula can determine a set of beams to be measured, the identities of which are continuous. And substituting the multiple groups of M, K, N values into the calculation formula respectively to determine multiple groups of beams to be measured, wherein the multiple groups of beams to be measured comprise part beams for identifying continuous parts and part beams for identifying discontinuous parts.

By way of example, the set of values of beam index and M, N, K are brought into the calculation formula, the identities of the start beam and the end beam in the set of beams to be measured can be directly obtained, the total number of beams included in the set of beams to be measured is 2×k+1, and all beams in the set of beams to be measured can be derived. For example, substituting a set of values {0,2,128} with beam index of 0, M, N, K into [ (beam index+m) mod n±k ] mod N, to obtain the identification of the initial beam of the set of beams to be measured as [ (beam index+m) mod N-K ] mod n=126, the identification of the final beam as [ (beam index+m) +k ] mod n=2, and the number of beams as 2×k+1=5, i.e., the identification of the beams of the set of beams to be measured includes {126,127,0,1,2}.

Alternatively, the operator "±" before K may be extended to three possibilities "-", "+" and "±".

For the case that the operator before K is "-", the beam index and a group of values of M, N, K are brought into the calculation formula [ (beam index+M) mod N-K ] mod N, so that the identification of the initial beam in a group of beams to be measured can be directly obtained. The number of beams in the set of beams to be measured is k+1, the identities of the beams in the set of beams to be measured are continuous, and the identity of the last beam in the set of beams to be measured is (beam index+m) mod N. For example, when the beam index is 0, M, N, K takes a set of values {0,2,128}, the identification of the start beam is [ (beam index+m) -K ] mod n=126, the identification of the end beam is (beam index+m) mod n=0, and the number of beams is k+1=3, that is, the identification of the set of beams to be measured includes {126,127,0}.

For the case that the operator before K is "+", a set of values of the beam index and M, N, K are brought into the calculation formula [ (beam index+M) mod N-K ] mod N, so that the identification of the last beam in a set of beams to be measured can be directly obtained, the number of beams in the set of beams to be measured is K+1, the identifications of the beams in the set of beams to be measured are continuous, and the identification of the initial beam in the set of beams to be measured is (beam index+M) mod N. For example, when the beam index is 0, M, N, K is a set of values {0,2,128}, the identification of the start beam is (beam index+m) mod n=0, the identification of the end beam is [ (beam index+m) +k ] mod n=2, and the number of beams is k+1=3, that is, the identification of the beams in the set of beams to be measured includes {0,1,2}.

In one possible design, M, K, N is information about the granularity of the cell, that is, the value of M, K, N in the above calculation formula relates to the neighbor cell. The M, K, N corresponding to one neighbor includes one or more sets of values, and the M, K, N corresponding to different neighbors may be the same or different. Taking the example that the neighbor cell comprises a cell 2 and a cell 3, the multiple groups of values of M/K/N corresponding to the cell 2 comprise 0/2/128 and 5/4/128, and the group of values of M/K/N corresponding to the cell 3 is 1/2/256.

In another possible design, M, K, N is information about the granularity of the cell-combined beam, that is, one or more sets of values of M, K, N in the above calculation have an association relationship with the neighbor cell and the beam index. Among the multiple sets of values of M, K, N corresponding to one neighbor cell, at least one of the multiple sets of values of each beam association M, K, N in the serving cell. The values of M, K, N corresponding to different beams associated with the same neighbor in the serving cell may be the same or different. For example, taking a serving cell as a cell 1, the neighboring cell includes a cell 2 and a cell 3 as examples, a set of values of M, K, N corresponding to a beam 0-associated cell 2 in the cell 1 is 0/2/128, and a set of values of M, K, N corresponding to a beam 0-associated cell 3 in the cell 1 is 1/2/1256; the set of M, K, N values for beam 1 associated cell 2 in cell 1 is 1/4/128 and the set of M, K, N values for beam 1 associated cell 3 in cell 1 is 0/2/1256. As another example, the multiple sets of values for M, K, N corresponding to beam 0 associated cell 2 in cell 1 include 0/2/128 and 5/4/128.

The application scenario of the above calculation formula is illustrated below.

Scene one: the network device may instruct the terminal device to measure partial beams in the neighbor cell based on the above calculation. For example, the network device may indicate M, K, N one or more sets of values to the terminal device for the partial beam for which the terminal device measurement is desired. And the terminal equipment can determine the beam measurement range in the adjacent cell by taking one or more groups of M, K, N values.

Illustratively, if the network device expects the identification of the partial beams measured by the terminal device to be continuous, the network device indicates M, K, N a set of values. If the network device expects the identification of the partial beams measured by the terminal device to not be consecutive, the network device indicates M, K, N sets of values.

Scene II: configuring the terminal device with beam distribution pattern information of the neighbor cell in a predefined or network device-directed manner, wherein the beam distribution pattern information may indicate one or more of the following: coverage of at least one beam in the neighbor cell, total number of beams in the neighbor cell, coverage of the neighbor cell, arrangement information (e.g., clockwise, counterclockwise, arrangement direction of satellite scanning, etc.) of the beams in the neighbor cell. The terminal device may determine M, K, N one or more sets of values according to the beam distribution pattern information, that is, the terminal device may determine the beam measurement range of the neighboring cell by itself.

Illustratively, if the terminal device wishes to measure successive partial beams identified in the neighborhood, the terminal device may determine M, K, N a set of values; or if the terminal device wishes to measure a portion of beams in the vicinity that identify a discontinuity, the terminal device may determine M, K, N sets of values.

In addition, the terminal device may also determine M, K, N a specific value according to the coverage area of at least one beam in the neighboring cell.

Scene three, can combine scene one and scene two to use together, for example, terminal device can obtain one or more sets of values of M, K, N that the network device instructs, and additionally confirm one or more sets of values of M, K, N according to beam distribution pattern information of the neighboring cell.

Scene four: for any set of values M, K, N, the network device may determine a partial beam that the terminal device is expected to measure, and configure M, K, N the terminal device with a partial value of information, and the terminal device may determine, according to beam distribution pattern information of the neighboring cell, a value of remaining information in M, K, N that is not indicated by the network device.

Optionally, the terminal device may further determine one or more sets of values of the partial information in M, K, N according to the beam distribution mode information of the neighboring cell after obtaining one or more sets of values of the partial information in M, K, N indicated by the network device.

Based on the design of the calculation formula, the beam measurement range of the terminal equipment to the adjacent cell can be reduced, the beam measurement cost is reduced, and meanwhile, the signaling cost of the network equipment for indicating the beam measurement range is reduced.

For implementation convenience, the following will describe in detail an example in which the terminal device measures a part of beams in the first neighboring cell. It may be understood that the number of the neighboring cells of the terminal device may be one or more, and when the number of the neighboring cells of the terminal device is plural, beam information of any one of the plural neighboring cells may be understood with reference to beam information of the first neighboring cell, which is described below as an example in the embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 7 illustrates a measurement method, which mainly includes the following procedures.

S701, the terminal device obtains beam information of the first neighboring cell.

The method comprises the steps that beam information of a first adjacent cell is used for determining a first candidate beam set corresponding to the first adjacent cell, the first candidate beam set comprises beams to be measured in the first adjacent cell, and the total number of the beams in the first candidate beam set is smaller than the total number of the beams in the first adjacent cell. Alternatively, the beam information of the first neighbor cell may also be described as beam coverage information of the first neighbor cell. The design corresponding to the foregoing calculation formula, it can be understood that: the beam information of the first neighbor cell may include one or more of the following: the beam identification offset information (M), the indication information (K) of the number of beams in the first set of candidate beams, the number of beams in the first neighbor cell (N). Wherein the number of beams in the first candidate beam set refers to the total number of beams comprised in the first candidate beam set and the number of beams in the first neighbor cell refers to the total number of beams comprised in the first neighbor cell.

In an alternative implementation, the terminal device may receive beam information from a first neighbor cell of the serving cell. For example, the network device sends beam information of the first neighbor cell to the terminal device through the serving cell.

For the terminal device in the connected state, the network device may send the beam information of the first neighbor cell to the terminal device through dedicated signaling (e.g., RRC signaling). For example, when the beam information of the first neighboring cell is information of cell granularity, the beam information of the first neighboring cell sent by the network device may include one or more sets of beam information corresponding to the first neighboring cell. For another example, when the beam information of the first neighbor cell is information of cell-combined beam granularity, the beam information of the first neighbor cell transmitted by the network device may include one or more sets of beam information associated with at least one beam in a serving cell of the terminal device. Wherein the at least one beam may comprise only the best beam or the serving beam of the terminal device; or at least one beam comprises all beams in the serving cell.

For terminal devices in idle or inactive states, the network device may send beam information of the first neighbor cell to the terminal device through broadcast signaling. For example, when the beam information of the first neighboring cell is information of cell granularity, the network device may send the same broadcast signaling in a direction corresponding to each beam in the serving cell, where the same broadcast signaling includes one or more sets of beam information corresponding to the first neighboring cell. For another example, when the beam information of the first neighboring cell is information of cell-combined beam granularity, the network device may send one or more sets of beam information corresponding to the first neighboring cell associated with one beam in the serving cell in a direction corresponding to the beam, where the beam information transmitted in the directions corresponding to different beams are the same or different.

Alternatively, the network device may determine the beam information of the first neighbor cell according to a beam distribution pattern in the cell deployed by the operator.

Or alternatively, the network device may determine a correspondence between beam coverage areas in a plurality of cells according to beam measurement results of the plurality of cells reported by at least one terminal device. And then the network equipment determines the beam information of the first adjacent cell according to the corresponding relation between the beam coverage areas in the cells. Wherein at least one terminal device may be a quasi-stationary UE, the quasi-stationary UE conforming to one or more of: the size of the movable range in a certain time period is not larger than a set area size threshold value; the moving speed is not greater than a set speed threshold; the distance moved over a period of time is not greater than the set distance threshold. The at least one terminal device may include the terminal device described in S701, or may not include the terminal device described in S701. The plurality of cells may include a serving cell and a first neighbor cell of the terminal device described in S701. In this way, the workload of manual or operation deployment planning can be reduced, and in addition, the beam information can be updated in time conveniently, for example, the network can determine the latest beam coverage relation among a plurality of cells at any time based on the beam measurement result reported by the UE, so as to provide accurate beam information for the UE.

As shown in fig. 8, taking an example that the active range of a quasi-stationary UE in a certain period (e.g. t 1-t 3) is in the sub-area 1, the network device may determine the beam in each cell for covering the sub-area 1 according to the beam measurement results reported by the UE in the cell 1, the cell 2 and the cell 3, so as to obtain the corresponding relationship between the beam coverage of each cell. For example, at time t1, the beam measurement result reported by the UE in cell 1 indicates that the signal quality of beam 0 in cell 1 is optimal. At time t2, the beam measurement result reported by the UE in cell 2 indicates that the signal quality of beam 0 in cell 2 is optimal, and the signal quality of { beam 6, beam 7, beam 1, beam 2} in cell 2 is above the set signal quality threshold. At time t3, the beam measurement result reported by the UE in cell 3 indicates that the signal quality of beam 4 in cell 3 is optimal, and the signal quality of { beam 2, beam 3, beam 5, beam 6} in cell 3 is above the set signal quality threshold. When the cell 1 is a serving cell of the terminal device and the cells 2 and 3 are neighbors of the terminal device, the network device may determine that the beam to be measured in the cell 1 associated with the cell 2 of the beam 0 includes { beam 6, beam 7, beam 0, beam 1, beam 2}, and further the network device may configure the terminal device with the beam information of the cell 2 associated with the beam 0 in the cell 1, for example, M/K/N is 0/2/8. Similarly, the network device may determine that the beam to be measured in the cell 1 with the beam 0 associated with the cell 3 includes { beam 2, beam 3, beam 4, beam 5, beam 6}, and the network device may configure the terminal device with the beam information of the cell 3 with the beam 0 associated with the cell 1, e.g., M/K/N is 4/2/8.

In another alternative implementation, the terminal device may determine the beam information of the first neighboring cell according to the beam distribution pattern information of the first neighboring cell. For example, the implementation is described in the second scenario, and the description of this embodiment of the present application is omitted.

In addition, the terminal device may combine the two foregoing implementations to obtain the beam information of the first neighboring cell. The following description will take an example in which the beam information of the first neighbor cell includes a set of beam information.

In one possible combination: for beam identity offset information (M) in a set of beam information, M may be indicated to the terminal device by the network device; or when the network device does not indicate M to the terminal device, the terminal device may consider M to be 0; or when the network device does not indicate M to the terminal device, the terminal device may determine that M is a first default value, where the first default value may be predefined or pre-negotiated by the network device and the terminal device; or when the network equipment does not indicate M to the terminal equipment, the terminal equipment determines the value of M according to the beam distribution mode information of the first adjacent cell. For indication information (K) of the number of beams included in the set of beam information, K may be indicated by the network device to the terminal device; or when the network device does not indicate K to the terminal device, the terminal device can consider K to be 0; or when the network device does not indicate K to the terminal device, the terminal device may determine that K is a second default value, where the second default value may be predefined or pre-negotiated between the network device and the terminal device; or when the network equipment does not indicate K to the terminal equipment, the terminal equipment determines the value of K according to the beam distribution mode information of the first adjacent cell; or when the network device does not indicate K to the terminal device, the terminal device may also determine the value of K according to factors such as its beam measurement and maintenance capability (for example, the number of beams supporting measurement and maintenance), communication quality, and the like. For the number of beams (N) in the first neighbor cell included in the set of beam information, N may be indicated to the terminal device by the network device; or when the network device does not indicate N to the terminal device, the terminal device may consider that the number of beams in the first neighboring cell is the same as the number of beams in the serving cell, or the terminal device may determine that the number of beams in the first neighboring cell is a predefined default value; or when the network equipment does not indicate N to the terminal equipment, the terminal equipment determines the value of N according to the beam distribution mode information of the first adjacent cell.

In another possible combination, in the case that the beam information of the first beam includes multiple sets of beam information, the network device may indicate part of the multiple sets of beam information, and the terminal device determines at least one set of beam information that is not indicated by the network device in the multiple sets of beam information according to the beam distribution mode information of the first neighbor cell.

S702, the terminal equipment determines a first candidate beam set corresponding to a first neighbor cell according to the first beam of the serving cell and beam information of the first neighbor cell.

Optionally, the first beam is a serving beam of the terminal device in a serving cell. It will be appreciated that when the number of serving beams of the terminal device is plural, the first beam may be one of the plurality of serving beams of the terminal device. Or the signal quality of the first beam is greater than or equal to the first signal quality threshold, the first beam may also be referred to as the best beam for the terminal device in the serving cell. It will be appreciated that when the number of best beams of the terminal device is a plurality, the first beam may be one of the plurality of best beams of the terminal device.

The beam information of the first neighbor cell includes I-group beam information, and the first candidate beam set is a union of the I-group sub-candidate beam sets. The terminal device may determine an I-th sub-candidate beam set from the I-th set of beam information in the I-th set of beam information. Wherein I is a positive integer, I is a positive integer from 1 to I, i.e. I is more than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to I. It will be appreciated that in the case where I is equal to 1, the first candidate beam set is the union of the 1-group sub-candidate beam sets, alternatively described as the first candidate beam set being the 1-group sub-candidate beam set; or in case I is equal to 1, the concept of a sub-candidate beam set may be considered to be absent, the beam information of the first neighbor cell includes 1 set of beam information, and the terminal device may determine the first candidate beam set according to the first beam and the 1 set of beam information.

The design corresponding to the above-described calculation formula and the description in S701 can be understood as follows: the group I beam information is information of cell granularity, and has an association relation with the first neighbor cell, namely the group I beam information is contained in the beam information of the first neighbor cell; or the I group of beam information is information of cell combined beam granularity, and the I group of beam information has an association relation with the first neighbor cell and the first beam, namely the I group of beam information is beam information which has an association relation with the first beam in the beam information of the first neighbor cell. The terminal device may receive first information from a serving cell, the first information indicating at least one of the I sets of beam information; the terminal device may further determine at least one of the I sets of beam information according to beam distribution pattern information of the first neighbor cell (e.g., coverage of at least one beam in the first neighbor cell).

The I-th set of beam information in the I-th set of beam information may include one or more of the following: the number of beams in the first neighbor (e.g., the relationship between N _i).K_i and the number of beams in the i < th > sub-candidate beam set satisfies K _i +1 or 2K _i +1; alternatively, the number of beams in the i < th > sub-candidate beam set may be the number of beams in the i < th > sub-candidate beam set.

Example 1, the identification of the start beam of the i-th sub-candidate beam set is (bi+m _i)mod N_i, the identification of the end beam of the i-th sub-candidate beam set is [ (bi+m _i)mod N_i+K_i]mod N_i. The number of beams in the i-th sub-candidate beam set is K _i +1, the identification of all beams in the i-th sub-candidate beam set is continuous. As illustrated in fig. 8, cell 1 is a serving cell, and cell 2 is a first neighbor. Assuming that the first beam is the serving beam of the terminal device, the first beam is beam 0,I =1 in cell 1, the terminal device obtains 1 set of beam information as M ₁＝0,K₁＝2,N₁ =8.1 sub-candidate beam sets, that is, the first beam in the first candidate beam set is beam 0 in the first neighbor, the end beam is beam 2 in the first neighbor, and the number of beams in the first candidate beam set is k+1=3, the first candidate beam set is { beam 0, beam 1, beam 2}.

Example 2, the identification of the start beam of the i-th sub-candidate set is [ (bi+m _i)mod N_i-K_i]mod N_i), the identification of the end beam of the i-th sub-candidate set is (bi+m _i)mod N_i) the identification of the end beam of the i-th sub-candidate set is K _i +1, the identification of all beams in the i-th sub-candidate set is continuous as shown in fig. 6C, cell 1 is a serving cell, cell 2 is a first neighbor, assuming that the first beam is a terminal device serving beam, the first beam is a beam 6 in cell 1 (serving cell), i=2, the terminal device obtains 2 sets of beam information, the 1-th set of beam information is M ₁＝2,K₁＝2,N₁ =128, the start beam of the 1-th sub-candidate set is a beam 6 in the first neighbor, the end beam is a beam 8 in the first neighbor, the number of beams in the 1-th sub-candidate set is K ₁ +1=3, the 1-th sub-candidate set is a { beam 6, 7,8 is a beam 2 in the first set of candidates 2=2, the first set of candidates 2=2 is a set of candidates 8, the first set of candidates 2 is a number of candidates 8 in the first neighbor, and the 1-th set of candidates is a number of candidates 2 is a number of candidates 8 in the first neighbor.

Example 3, the identification of the start beam of the i-th sub-candidate beam set is [ (bi+m _i)mod N_i-K_i]mod N_i), the identification of the end beam of the i-th sub-candidate beam set is [ (bi+m _i)mod N_i+K_i]mod N_i ] the number of beams in the i-th sub-candidate beam set is 2*K _i +1, the identification of all beams in the i-th sub-candidate beam set is continuous as illustrated in fig. 6C, cell 1 is the serving cell, cell 2 is the first neighbor, assuming that the first beam is the serving beam of the terminal device, the first beam is beam 6 in cell 1 (serving cell), i=2, the terminal device obtains 2 sets of beam information, the 1-th set of beam information is M ₁＝2,K₁＝1,N₁ =128, the start beam in the 1-th sub-candidate beam set is beam 7 in the first neighbor, the end beam is beam 9 in the first neighbor, the number of beams in the 1-th sub-candidate beam set is 2*K ₁ +1=3, the 1-th sub-candidate beam set is { beam 7, beam 8, beam 9}. 2 sets of beam information is M ₂＝-5,K₂＝1,N₂ =128, the 2 sets of beams are 2 sets of beams 2 = 2, the first set of candidates 2 is 2, the number of candidates 2 is 2 sets of candidates 2 in the first neighbor, and 2 sets of candidates are 2.

Alternatively, the (bi+m _i)mod N_i) described in the above example may also be understood as a reference beam in the first neighbor, which reference beam and the first beam may cover the same area of the ground in a time-sharing manner when the first beam is the serving beam or the best beam of the terminal device in the serving cell, e.g., the terminal device is located in the first area, the coverage of the first beam includes the first area, the reference beam is contained in the first candidate beam set measured by the terminal equipment, so that the terminal equipment can be helped to quickly determine the service beam or the best beam in the first adjacent cell, the efficiency and the accuracy of switching or cell reselection of the terminal equipment can be improved, the communication performance is further improved, and the user experience is improved.

S703, the terminal device measures the beams in the first candidate beam set.

Optionally, the terminal device may measure one beam in the measurement time window associated with one beam in the first candidate beam set; wherein the measurement time windows associated with different beams in the first candidate beam set are the same or different. As illustrated in fig. 6D, the terminal device may measure the corresponding SSB beam within the SMTC time window. It can be appreciated that, since the total number of beams included in the first candidate beam set is smaller than the total number of beams included in the first neighboring cell, the number of SMTC time windows or the number of measurement beams within the SMTC time windows can be reduced when the first candidate beam set is measured, so that the time for the terminal device to perform measurement is saved, and the measurement overhead and power consumption of the terminal device are reduced.

For example, assuming that the first candidate beam set determined by the terminal device is { beam 3, beam 4, beam 5}, the terminal device may perform measurements only in SMTC time window 1, such as ssb#3, ssb#4, and ssb#5. For another example, assuming that the first candidate beam set determined by the terminal device is { beam 6, beam 7, beam 8, beam 9}, the UE may perform measurements in SMTC time window 1 and SMTC time window 2, such as measurements on ssb#6, ssb#7, and ssb#8, and ssb#9.

Optionally, for the terminal device in the connected state, the terminal device may further perform the following step S704:

And S704, the terminal equipment sends the beam measurement result corresponding to the first candidate beam set to the network equipment.

Optionally, the beam measurement results corresponding to the first candidate beam set may include measurement results of all or part of the beams in the first candidate beam set. For example, the terminal may only transmit measurements of beams in the first set of candidate beams having a quality above a certain threshold.

It will be appreciated that S704 is illustrated in fig. 7 as a dashed line as an optional step.

Optionally, the network device may update a correspondence between a coverage area of a beam in the serving cell and a coverage area of a beam in the at least one neighboring cell according to a beam measurement result corresponding to the first candidate beam set of the at least one neighboring cell, so as to update beam information of the first neighboring cell.

Optionally, the terminal device may further perform the following step S705:

s705, the terminal device determines a target beam in the first candidate beam set.

Alternatively, the terminal device may determine the target beam according to the measurement results of the beams in the first candidate beam set. The target beam is a service beam after the terminal equipment is replaced to the first adjacent cell; or the signal quality of the target beam is greater than or equal to the second signal quality threshold, the target beam may also be referred to as the best beam in the first neighbor. Where "change" may refer to handover, cell selection or cell reselection. Alternatively, the number of target beams may be one or more. The second signal quality threshold may be the same as or different from the first signal quality threshold, which is not limited by the embodiment of the present application.

In one possible implementation, the serving cell and the neighboring cell (e.g., the first neighboring cell) described above are NTN cells with quasi-stationary ground, and the terminal device is continuously located in the first area for a certain period of time, for example, the terminal device is inactive or the active range is not greater than the first area. In the case that the first beam is a serving beam/an optimal beam of the terminal device in the serving cell, after the terminal device is changed to the first neighboring cell, the first candidate beam set corresponding to the first neighboring cell may include a beam covering the first area in place of the aforementioned first beam.

As illustrated in fig. 8, it is assumed that the terminal device is located in a sub-area1 (sub-area 1) of a geographical area1 (area 1) for a certain time (e.g. including t 1-t 3). At time t1, the cell 1 covers a geographic area1, a serving cell of the terminal equipment is the cell 1, and the neighbor cells comprise a cell 2 and a cell 3. The terminal device determines, based on the serving beam/best beam in cell 1, that the first candidate beam set corresponding to cell 2 is { beam 6, beam 7, beam 0, beam 1, beam 2}, and the first candidate beam set corresponding to cell 3 is { beam 3, beam 4, beam 5}. At time t2, cell 2 covers geographic area1, and when the terminal device reselects to cell 2, the service beam or the best beam in cell 2 is preferentially determined from the first candidate beam set { beam 6, beam 7, beam 0, beam 1, beam 2} corresponding to cell 2. At time t3, cell 3 covers geographic area1, and when the ue reselects to cell 3, the serving beam or the best beam in cell 3 is preferentially determined from the first candidate beam set { beam 3, beam 4, beam 5} corresponding to cell 3.

In addition, in a case where the number of neighboring cells of the terminal device is plural, for example, in the above example, the neighboring cell may include cell 2 and cell 3 with respect to the serving cell of the terminal device, and the terminal device may determine, based on the first beam in the serving cell, a first candidate beam set corresponding to each of the plural neighboring cells (e.g., cell 2, cell 3). It will be appreciated that when the terminal device changes from cell 1 to cell 2, cell 2 becomes the new serving cell for the terminal device and cell 3 remains the neighbor of the terminal device. In this case, the terminal device may make measurements according to its first candidate beam set for cell 3, which was determined at cell 1; or the terminal device may also re-determine the first candidate beam set of cell 3 by collecting the beams in cell 2, and further measure the beams in the re-determined first candidate beam set of cell 3. The embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

In another possible implementation, the serving cell and the neighboring cell (e.g., the first neighboring cell) described above are NTN cells of the terrestrial mobile type, and the terminal device is continuously located in the first area for a certain period of time, for example, the terminal device is inactive or the active range is not greater than the aforementioned first area. In the case that the first beam is a serving beam/an optimal beam of the terminal device in the serving cell, after the terminal device is changed to the first neighboring cell, the first candidate beam set corresponding to the first neighboring cell may include a beam that replaces the aforementioned first beam and first covers the first area.

As illustrated in fig. 9, it is assumed that the terminal device is located in a sub-area1 (sub-area 1) of a geographical area1 (area 1) for a certain time (e.g. including t 1-t 3). At time t1, the cell 1 covers a geographic area1, a serving cell of the terminal equipment is the cell 1, and the neighbor cells comprise a cell 2, a cell 3 and a cell 4. Taking the example that the first beam (e.g. the serving beam or the best beam) in the cell 1 is the beam 0, the terminal device may determine that the first candidate beam set corresponding to the cell 2 is { beam 7, beam 0, beam 1}, and the first candidate beam sets corresponding to the cell 3 and the cell 4 are { beam 3, beam 4, beam 5}.

Since the coverage of cell 1 slides on the ground, the serving or best beam of the terminal equipment in cell 1 is gradually changed from beam 0 to beam 5 and then to beam 3 even though the UE is always located in sub-area 1.

When the coverage of cell 2 is slid into the range of geographic area 1, if the UE determines to reselect to cell 2, the UE may prioritize the first serving or best beam used in cell 2 among the first candidate beam set { beam 7, beam 0, beam 1} corresponding to cell 2. As in the case of cell 1 described above, the serving beam or the best beam of the subsequent terminal equipment in cell 2 will likely change as the coverage of cell 2 slides.

Similarly, when the coverage of cell 3 or cell 4 is slid into the range of geographic area 1, if the UE determines to reselect to cell 3 or cell 4, the UE may preferentially determine the serving or best beam first used in cell 3 or cell 4 from the first candidate beam set { beam 3, beam 4, beam 5} corresponding to cell 3 or cell 4. As in the case of cell 1 described above, the serving or best beam in cell 3 or cell 4 will likely change for subsequent terminal devices as the coverage of cell 3 or cell 4 slides.

The method provided by the embodiment of the application can accurately determine the beam to be measured in the first adjacent cell by combining the beam information of the service cell and the first adjacent cell, avoid the terminal equipment from measuring the uncorrelated beam, reduce the beam measurement and maintenance cost of the terminal equipment and reduce the measurement power consumption of the terminal equipment; and the terminal equipment can more accurately and rapidly determine the service beam or the optimal beam in the first neighbor cell based on the first candidate beam set, thereby being beneficial to the terminal equipment to complete switching or cell selection/reselection more rapidly so as to carry out subsequent operations such as data transmission, residence or access. The design can reduce the interruption caused by switching or cell selection/reselection, thereby improving the user experience and performance.

Considering that the coverage of the NTN cell of the terrestrial mobile type slides on the ground, the service beam or the best beam of the terminal equipment in the service cell may be changed within a certain time even if the terminal equipment remains stationary. Based on this, the embodiment of the present application further provides a measurement method, which may be applied to a scenario in which a serving cell and/or a neighbor cell is an NTN cell, and the method is illustrated in fig. 10, and mainly includes the following procedures.

S1001, the terminal equipment obtains beam information of a first adjacent cell.

This step may be understood with reference to the description in S701, and this will not be described in detail in the embodiment of the present application.

S1002, the terminal equipment determines a first candidate beam set corresponding to a first adjacent cell according to the first beam and the beam information of the first adjacent cell.

Optionally, the first beam is a serving beam or an optimal beam of the terminal device. This step can be understood with reference to the description in S702, and this will not be described in detail in the embodiment of the present application.

As illustrated in fig. 9, the serving cell of the terminal device is cell 1, and the neighbor cells of the terminal device include cell 2, cell 3, and cell 4. Taking the example that the first beam is beam 0 in cell 1, the terminal device may determine that the first candidate beam set corresponding to cell 2 is { beam 7, beam 0, beam 1}, and the first candidate beam sets corresponding to cell 3 and cell 4 are { beam 3, beam 4, beam 5}. It is assumed that the coverage of cell 1 slides on the ground so that the serving or best beam of the terminal device is changed from beam 0 to beam 5 and then to beam 3.

In one possible design, the terminal device may update the first candidate beam set corresponding to the neighboring cell (e.g., cell 2, cell 3, and cell 4) according to the replaced service beam or the best beam, to obtain the second candidate beam set corresponding to the neighboring cell. After the terminal device has performed S1002, steps S1003 and S1004 are further performed, and optionally, the terminal device may further perform S1005 after S1004 is performed. The design is matched with the updating of the service beam or the optimal beam in the service cell, and the beam set to be measured in the adjacent cell is updated in time, so that the accuracy of beam measurement can be ensured.

In another possible design, if the terminal device remains stationary or active within the first area, e.g. the coverage of cell 1 is denoted as area 1, the terminal device is always located in sub-area 1 in area 1. The terminal device may not need to update the corresponding first candidate beam set of the neighbor cells (cell 2, cell 3, cell 4). After the terminal device has performed S1002, step S1006 is further performed, and optionally, the terminal device may further perform S1007 after performing S1006. Such a design may reduce unnecessary beam set determination operations and measurement overhead for the terminal device.

S1003, the terminal equipment determines a second candidate beam set corresponding to the first neighbor cell according to the second beam and the beam information of the first neighbor cell.

The second beam refers to the changed service beam or the best beam in the service cell. When the beam information of the first neighbor cell is information of cell granularity, the beam information of the first neighbor cell described in S1003 and S1001 may be the same. When the beam information of the first neighboring cell is information of cell-combined beam granularity, the beam information of the first neighboring cell described in S1001 refers to the beam information of the first neighboring cell associated with the first beam; the beam information of the first neighbor cell described in S1002 refers to the beam information of the first neighbor cell to which the second beam is associated.

For example, taking the example that the second beam is the beam 5 in the cell 1, the terminal device may determine that the second candidate beam set corresponding to the cell 2 is { beam 2, beam 5, beam 6}, and the second candidate beam sets corresponding to the cell 3 and the cell 4 are { beam 1, beam 2, beam 6}.

S1004, the terminal equipment measures the beams in the second candidate beam set corresponding to the first neighbor cell.

S1005, the terminal device determines a target beam in the second candidate beam set.

For example, corresponding to the description in S1003, the terminal device may determine the serving beam or the best beam after the terminal device is changed to cell 2 in { beam 2, beam 5, beam 6} in cell 2. The terminal device may determine the serving or best beam after the terminal device has changed to cell 3 or cell 4 in { beam 1, beam 2, beam 6} in cell 3 or cell 4.

S1006, the terminal equipment measures the beams in the first candidate beam set corresponding to the first neighbor cell.

S1007, the terminal device determines a target beam in the first candidate beam set.

For example, corresponding to the description in S1002, the terminal device may determine the serving beam or the best beam after the terminal device is changed to cell 2 in { beam 7, beam 0, beam 1} in cell 2. The terminal device may determine the serving or best beam after the terminal device has changed to cell 3 or cell 4 at beam 3, beam 4, beam 5 in cell 3 or cell 4.

In addition, the application also provides an access method of the NTN cell. For example, the access method may be applied to the scenario of accessing the serving cell by the terminal device in the foregoing embodiment, or may also be applied to the scenario of accessing the NTN by other terminal devices.

For ease of understanding, the system information (system information, SI) involved in the access method will be described in detail first. SI is a message sent by a network device, which contains information required for terminal device initialization and some related information to implement other functions or features. SI is classified into Minimum System Information (MSI) and Other System Information (OSI).

Wherein the MSI consists of a master information block (master information block, MIB) and a system information block 1 (system information block, SIB 1). SIB1 may also be referred to as remaining minimum system information (REMAINING MINIMUM SI, RMSI). The terminal device will periodically broadcast the MIB on a broadcast channel (broadcast channel, BCH). The terminal device may periodically broadcast SIB1 on a downlink shared channel (DL-SCH) or send SIB1 to the terminal device in a connected state by means of dedicated signaling.

OSI is composed of other SIBs, for example, SIB2 to SIB 21. The network device will periodically broadcast other SIBs on the DL-SCH; or the network device may broadcast other SIBs on the DL-SCH on an on-demand (on-demand) basis, e.g., when a terminal device in an idle state or inactive state requests some other SIB, the network broadcasts the other SIB, otherwise the other SIB is not transmitted; or the network device may send other SIBs to the terminal device in the connected state through dedicated signaling.

In addition, the network device may send scheduling information of system information in SIB1, where the scheduling information is used for the terminal device to determine the sending time of other SIBs except SIB1, i.e. after receiving SIB1, the terminal device may obtain other SIBs according to the scheduling information of the system information. The specific mechanism is as follows: one or more other SIBs may constitute a system information message (SI MESSAGE), and the transmission periods of the other SIBs contained in a strip SI MESSAGE are the same, all being the transmission period of the strip SI MESSAGE. The transmission periods of the different SI MESSAGE may be the same or different. In general, the basic flow of acquiring system information by a terminal device in an idle state or inactive state is: the terminal equipment firstly acquires the MIB, acquires SIB1 according to the scheduling information in the MIB, and acquires other SIBs according to the scheduling information in the SIB 1.

Fig. 11 illustrates an NTN cell access method, which mainly includes the following steps.

S1101, the network device sends the SSB and MIB of the first NTN cell.

Accordingly, the terminal device receives the SSB and MIB of the first NTN cell sent by the network device. The first NTN cell may also be understood as a serving cell to be accessed by the terminal device.

Optionally, the terminal device may first measure the beam corresponding to the SSB based on the STMC time window according to the measurement method in the foregoing embodiment, and determine the serving beam or the best beam in the first NTN cell; further, the terminal device receives the MIB through the serving beam or the best beam in the first NTN cell.

S1102, the network device sends SIB1 of the first NTN cell.

Accordingly, the terminal device may receive SIB1 according to the scheduling information contained in the MIB. The SIB1 may include local area information of the first NTN cell. It may be understood that SIB1 in the embodiment of the present application refers to a name of a message including the local area information of the first NTN cell to be accessed, and SIB1 may alternatively be described as another name, which is not limited by the embodiment of the present application.

The local area information of the first NTN cell is used for the terminal device to access the first NTN cell, and may also be referred to as access configuration information of the terminal device to access the first NTN cell. The local area information or access configuration information of the first NTN cell may include one or more of the following:

(1) Epoch time information (epochTime) of the local area;

(2) Effective duration information (ntn-UlSyncValidityDuration) of the uplink synchronization auxiliary information of the local area;

(3) The cell scheduling information of the local area includes, for example, a cell-specific scheduling offset (cellSpecificKoffset), which is a scheduling offset (kmac) used in a scenario where uplink and downlink frame timing on the network device side are not aligned;

(4) The timing advance information of the local area includes, for example, one or more of the following: a universal timing advance (ta-Common), a drift rate of the universal timing advance (ta-CommonDrift), a fluctuation of the drift rate of the universal timing advance (ta-CommonDriftVariant), a timing advance Report control indication (ta-Report);

(5) Satellite polarization information of the region, such as downlink polarization information (ntn-PolarizationDL), and uplink polarization information (ntn-PolarizationUL).

(6) Satellite ephemeris information (ephemerisInfo) of the local area, such as position and velocity information of the satellite, or orbit parameter information of the satellite, etc.

It is understood that the present region in (1) to (6) above refers to the first NTN cell to be accessed by the terminal device, that is, the first NTN cell described in S1102.

Alternatively, the network device may repeatedly send SIB1. For example, as shown in fig. 12, taking SCS as 30kHz, one system frame (SYSTEM FRAME, SFN) contains 20 slots (slots), and the duration of each slot is 0.5ms, which is shown as an example: the network device transmits 8 SSBs, i.e., SSBs 0 to SSB7, on the 1 st to 4 th slots of the frame SFN #0 having the system frame number 0. The network equipment respectively transmits SIB1 in the corresponding directions of SSB0 to SSB3 in the 17 th to 20 th time slots of SFN # 0; the network equipment respectively transmits SIB1 in the corresponding directions of SSB4 to SSB7 in the 1 st to 4 th time slots of SFN # 1; and the network equipment repeatedly transmits SIB1 in the directions corresponding to SSB0 to SSB7 in the 5 th to 12 th time slots respectively. By such design, coverage performance of SIB1 can be improved. On one hand, the terminal equipment is guaranteed to normally receive SIB1, and then other operations, such as paging monitoring, access and the like, are guaranteed to be normally carried out in a cell at the follow-up time of the terminal equipment. On the other hand, after the quality of the communication link is improved, the RRC message of SIB1 will have a larger margin, and more information can be put in, which is not limited by the embodiment of the present application.

Alternatively, the network device may also "segment" the SIB1, or it may also be understood that the number of SIB 1S transmitted by the network device described in S1102 is one or more. Wherein the meaning of "segmented" transmission can be understood with reference to the following: one SIB1 message is divided into a plurality of SIB1 messages or the content of SIB1 is divided into a plurality of parts. For example, the content of SIB1 is divided into SIB1-1 (or SIB 1) and SIB1-2 (or SIB1bis, etc.), SIB1-1 may be transmitted first and SIB1-2 may be transmitted later.

Optionally, the above access method may further include the following step S1103. S1103 is illustrated in fig. 11 as a broken line as an optional step.

S1103, the network device sends SIB19 of the first NTN cell.

Wherein the SIB19 of the first NTN cell includes information that is not related to accessing the first NTN cell (i.e., the serving cell), e.g., the SIB19 includes neighbor cell information and/or measurement related parameters of cell reselection.

Illustratively, the neighbor information may include one or more of the following: neighbor frequency point information (CARRIERFREQ), such as the frequency point number of the neighbor frequency point, which may be an absolute radio channel number (absolute radio frequency channel number, ARFCN); neighbor cell identification information, such as physical cell identification (PHYSICAL CELL IDENTITY, PCI) of the neighbor cell; epoch time information (epochTime) of the neighboring cell; effective duration information (ntn-UlSyncValidityDuration) of the uplink synchronization auxiliary information of the neighboring cell; scheduling information of the neighbor cell, such as a specific scheduling offset (cellSpecificKoffset) of the neighbor cell; timing advance information of neighbor cells, such as general timing advance (ta-Common), drift rate of general timing advance (ta-CommonDrift), fluctuation of drift rate of general timing advance (ta-CommonDriftVariant), timing advance Report control indication (ta-Report); satellite polarization information of neighboring cells, such as downlink polarization information (ntn-PolarizationDL), uplink polarization information (ntn-PolarizationUL); satellite ephemeris information (ephemerisInfo) of the neighboring cell, such as position and velocity information of the satellite, or orbit parameter information of the satellite, etc.

The measurement related parameters of the cell reselection may include one or more of the following: the serving cell's out-of-Service time information (t-Service), such as the time at which the serving cell is out of Service from the current area; reference point information (referenceLocation) within the serving cell, the reference point information being used for performing measurements of cell reselection based on the location control terminal device; a distance threshold (DISTANCETHRESH) for controlling the measurement of cell reselection by the terminal device based on location.

Alternatively, the location where the network device transmits SIB19 may be other than SSB and SIB 1. For example, in the example of fig. 12, the network device may transmit SIBs 19 in the directions corresponding to SSB0 to SSB7 in 13 th to 20 th slots of SFN #1, respectively. In addition, the network device may also transmit SIB19 at any position in the 5 th to 16 th slots of sfn#0.

Alternatively, the network device may send SIB19 through a single one SI MESSAGE, i.e., one OSI in one SI MESSAGE contains only SIB 19; or SIB19 may also be combined with other SIBs to form a strip SI MESSAGE, e.g., SIB19 and SIB2 are included in a strip SI MESSAGE.

Further optionally, if the capacity of SIB1 described in S1102 allows, SIB1 or "segmentation" of SIB1 may also include neighbor cell information and/or measurement related parameters of cell reselection described in S1103, and the like. Illustratively, SIB1 (or some "segment" of SIB1 (e.g., SIB 1-2)) may contain both home region information and neighbor region information of neighbor region 1/2; the SIB19 contains neighbor information of neighbor 3/4/5/6.

S1104, the terminal device initiates random access to the first NTN cell.

For example, the terminal device may initiate random access to the first NTN cell using the access related information according to the received MIB and SIB 1.

Wherein the access related information may include one or more of the following: the local area information or access configuration information of the NTN cell described in S1102; random access configuration parameters, such as random access preamble (preamble) configuration, random access time-frequency resource configuration, etc.; system parameters of the first NTN cell, such as a system frame number, a subcarrier spacing, configuration of downlink channels and/or uplink channels, and the like.

It is further understood that the execution sequence of S1103 and S1104 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. For example, S1103 may be executed before S1104 or after S1104.

According to the access method provided by the embodiment of the application, the local area information of the NTN cell to be accessed is contained in the SIB1 and indicated to the terminal equipment, so that the terminal equipment can acquire all parameters required by accessing the NTN cell in advance, SIB19 is not required to be acquired based on scheduling of the SIB1, the time delay of the terminal equipment for acquiring the relevant parameters of the NTN cell access is reduced, the access time delay is further reduced, and the success rate and the user experience of the access are improved. Secondly, the mode of putting the information related to the NTN access into the SIB1 can be realized by only enhancing the RRC message encoding and decoding of the SIB1 and the SIB19, the transmission and the reception of the system information still multiplex the existing flow, the other aspects of the change are not involved, the realization mode is simple, the influence on terminal equipment and network equipment is small, and the implementation is facilitated. In addition, after the local area information related to NTN access is shifted out of SIB19, SIB19 will have a larger margin, for example, in the case where the total size of RRC messages of SIB19 is limited, after a part of information is shifted out, more neighbor area information or more other information may be put in SIB19, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

It will be appreciated that in the above embodiments, the terminal device and/or the network device may perform some or all of the steps in the embodiments. These steps or operations are merely examples, and embodiments of the present application may perform other operations or variations of the various operations. Furthermore, the various steps may be performed in a different order than presented in the various embodiments, and it is possible that not all of the operations in the embodiments of the application may be performed. The sequence number of each step does not mean the sequence of execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not be limited in any way to the implementation process of the embodiment of the present application.

Based on the same concept, referring to fig. 13, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus 1300, the communication apparatus 1300 including a processing module 1301 and a communication module 1302. The communication device 1300 may be a terminal device, or may be a communication device applied to or matched with a terminal device, and capable of implementing a method executed by the terminal device; alternatively, the communication apparatus 1300 may be a network device, or may be a communication apparatus applied to or used in cooperation with a network device, and capable of implementing a method executed on the network device side.

The communication module may also be referred to as a transceiver module, a transceiver, or a transceiver device. A processing module may also be called a processor, a processing board, a processing unit, a processing device, or the like. Optionally, the communication module is configured to perform the sending operation and the receiving operation on the terminal device side or the network device side in the above method, where a device for implementing a receiving function in the communication module may be regarded as a receiving unit, and a device for implementing a sending function in the communication module may be regarded as a sending unit, that is, the communication module includes the receiving unit and the sending unit.

When the communication apparatus 1300 is applied to a terminal device, the processing module 1301 may be used to implement the processing function of the terminal device in the examples illustrated in fig. 7, 10 or 11, and the communication module 1302 may be used to implement the transceiving function of the terminal device in the examples illustrated in fig. 7, 10 or 11. Or the communication device may be understood with reference to the description and possible designs of the sixth, seventh and ninth aspects of the summary.

When the communication apparatus 1300 is applied to a network device, the processing module 1301 may be configured to implement the processing function of the network device in the example illustrated in fig. 7, 10 or 11, and the communication module 1302 may be configured to implement the transceiving function of the network device in the example illustrated in fig. 7, 10 or 11. Or the communication device may be understood with reference to the description of the eighth aspect and the tenth aspect of the invention and the possible designs.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the foregoing communication module and/or the processing module may be implemented by a virtual module, for example, the processing module may be implemented by a software functional unit or a virtual device, and the communication module may be implemented by a software functional unit or a virtual device. Or the processing module or the communication module may be implemented by an entity device, for example, if the device is implemented by a chip/chip circuit, the communication module may be an input/output circuit and/or a communication interface, and perform an input operation (corresponding to the foregoing receiving operation) and an output operation (corresponding to the foregoing sending operation); the processing module is an integrated processor or microprocessor or integrated circuit.

The division of the modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematically only one logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation, and in addition, each functional module in each example of the embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processor, or may exist separately and physically, or two or more modules may be integrated in one module. The integrated modules may be implemented in hardware or in software functional modules.

Based on the same technical concept, the embodiment of the present application also provides a communication apparatus 1400. For example, the communication device 1400 may be a chip or a system-on-chip. Alternatively, the chip system in the embodiment of the present application may be formed by a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices.

The communications apparatus 1400 can be employed to implement the functionality of any of the network elements of the communications system described in the preceding examples. The communication device 1400 may include at least one processor 1410. In the alternative, the processor 1410 may be coupled to a memory, which may be located within the apparatus, or the memory may be integral to the processor, or the memory may be located external to the apparatus. For example, the communication device 1400 may also include at least one memory 1420. Memory 1420 stores computer programs, computer programs or instructions and/or data necessary to implement any of the examples described above; the processor 1410 may execute a computer program stored in the memory 1420 to perform the method in any of the examples described above.

Communication apparatus 1400 may also include a communication interface 1430, through which communication apparatus 1400 may communicate with other devices. By way of example, communication interface 1430 may be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module, pin, or other type of communication interface. When the communication device 1400 is a chip-type device or circuit, the communication interface 1430 in the communication device 1400 may be an input/output circuit, and may input information (or called receiving information) and output information (or called transmitting information), and the processor may be an integrated processor or a microprocessor or an integrated circuit or a logic circuit, and the processor may determine the output information according to the input information.

The coupling in the embodiments of the present application is an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units, or modules, which may be in electrical, mechanical, or other forms for information interaction between the devices, units, or modules. Processor 1410 may operate in conjunction with memory 1420 and communication interface 1430. The specific connection medium between the processor 1410, the memory 1420, and the communication interface 1430 is not limited in this embodiment.

Optionally, referring to fig. 14, the processor 1410, the memory 1420, and the communication interface 1430 are connected to each other by a bus 1440. Bus 1440 may be a peripheral component interconnect standard (PERIPHERAL COMPONENT INTERCONNECT, PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (extended industry standard architecture, EISA) bus, or the like. The buses may be divided into address buses, data buses, control buses, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in fig. 14, but not only one bus or one type of bus.

In the embodiment of the present application, the processor may be a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component, and may implement or execute the methods, steps and logic blocks disclosed in the embodiments of the present application. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor or the like. The steps of a method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be embodied directly in a hardware processor for execution, or in a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor for execution.

In the embodiment of the present application, the memory may be a nonvolatile memory, such as a hard disk (HARD DISK DRIVE, HDD) or a solid-state disk (SSD), or may be a volatile memory (RAM). The memory is any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited to such. The memory in embodiments of the present application may also be circuitry or any other device capable of performing memory functions for storing program instructions and/or data.

In one possible implementation, the communication apparatus 1400 may be applied to a network device, and the specific communication apparatus 1400 may be a network device, or may be an apparatus capable of supporting a network device to implement a function of a network device in any of the foregoing examples. Memory 1420 stores computer programs (or instructions) and/or data that implement the functions of the network device in any of the examples described above. The processor 1410 may execute a computer program stored by the memory 1420 to perform the method performed by the network device in any of the examples described above. Applied to a network device, the communication interface in the communication apparatus 1400 may be used to interact with a terminal device, send information to the terminal device, or receive information from the terminal device.

In another possible implementation manner, the communication apparatus 1400 may be applied to a terminal device, and the specific communication apparatus 1400 may be a terminal device, or may be an apparatus capable of supporting a terminal device to implement a function of a terminal device in any of the foregoing examples. Memory 1420 stores computer programs (or instructions) and/or data that implement the functions of the terminal device in any of the examples described above. The processor 1410 may execute a computer program stored in the memory 1420 to perform the method performed by the terminal device in any of the above examples. Applied to a terminal device, the communication interface in the communication apparatus 1400 may be used to interact with a network device, send information to the network device, or receive information from the network device.

Since the communication apparatus 1400 provided in this example is applicable to a network device, the method performed by the network device described above is completed, or to a terminal device, the method performed by the terminal device is completed. Therefore, reference may be made to the above method examples for the technical effects that can be obtained, and they will not be described herein.

Based on the above examples, embodiments of the present application provide a communication system including a network device and a terminal device, where the network device and the terminal device may implement the method provided in the examples shown in fig. 7, 9 or 10.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the application can be realized completely or partially by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions in accordance with embodiments of the present application are produced in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a terminal device, or other programmable apparatus. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (digital subscriber line, DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). Computer readable storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer or data storage devices, such as servers, data centers, etc. that contain an integration of one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., digital video disc (digital video disc, DVD)), or a semiconductor medium, etc.

In the embodiments of the present application, the examples may refer to each other without logical contradiction, for example, methods and/or terms between method embodiments may refer to each other, for example, functions and/or terms between apparatus examples and method examples may refer to each other.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the embodiments of the present application without departing from the scope of the embodiments of the application. Thus, the embodiments of the present application are intended to include such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the embodiments of the application as claimed and the equivalents thereof.

Claims

1. A method of measurement, comprising:

determining a first candidate beam set corresponding to a first neighbor cell according to beam information of the first beam and the first neighbor cell of a serving cell, wherein the total number of beams included in the first candidate beam set is smaller than the total number of beams included in the first neighbor cell;

At least one beam of the first set of candidate beams is measured.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the beam information comprises one or more of: the method comprises the steps of identifying offset information of the wave beam, indicating information of the wave beam number in a first candidate wave beam set and the wave beam number in a first adjacent cell.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the beam information of the first neighbor cell comprises I sets of beam information, the first candidate beam set being a union of I sub-candidate beam sets, I being a positive integer;

the determining, according to the first beam of the serving cell and the beam information of the first neighboring cell, a first candidate beam set corresponding to the first neighboring cell includes:

Determining an ith sub-candidate beam set in the I sub-candidate beam sets according to the first beam of the serving cell and the ith group of beam information in the I group of beam information; wherein I is a positive integer, I is more than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to I.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the ith set of beam information includes one or more of: the beam identification offset of the ith sub-candidate beam set relative to the first beam, the indication information of the number of beams in the ith sub-candidate beam set, the number of beams in the first neighbor.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the identification of the start beam of the i th set of sub-candidate beams is (bi+m _i)mod N_i, and the identification of the end beam of the i th set of sub-candidate beams is [ (bi+m _i)mod N_i+K_i]mod N_i);

Wherein BI is an identification of the first beam, M _i is a beam identification offset of the i-th sub-candidate beam set relative to the first beam, K _i is indication information of the number of beams in the i-th sub-candidate beam set, and N _i is a total number of beams in the first neighbor cell; m _i,K_i,N_i is an integer; mod is the modulo operator.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the identification of the start beam of the i th set of sub-candidate beams is [ (bi+m _i)mod N_i-K_i]mod N_i), and the identification of the end beam of the i th set of sub-candidate beams is (bi+m _i)mod N_i;

7. The method of claim 4, wherein,

The identification of the start beam of the ith sub-candidate beam set is [ (bi+m _i)mod N_i-K_i]mod N_i), and the identification of the end beam of the ith sub-candidate beam set is [ (bi+m _i)mod N_i+K_i]mod N_i);

8. The method according to any of claims 1-7, wherein the first beam is a serving beam of the terminal device in the serving cell or a signal quality of the first beam is greater than or equal to a first signal quality threshold.

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

And determining a target beam in the first candidate beam set, wherein the target beam is a service beam after the terminal equipment is replaced to the first adjacent cell, or the signal quality of the target beam is greater than or equal to a second signal quality threshold.

10. The method of any one of claims 1-9, further comprising:

And receiving first indication information from the service cell, wherein the first indication information indicates at least one group of beam information in I groups of beam information of the first neighbor cell, and I is a positive integer.

11. The method of any one of claims 1-10, further comprising:

And determining at least one group of beam information in the I group of beam information of the first neighbor cell according to the coverage area information of at least one beam in the first neighbor cell, wherein I is a positive integer.

12. The method according to any of claims 1-11, wherein said measuring the terminal beams of the first set of candidate beams comprises:

Measuring one beam in the first candidate beam set within a measurement time window associated with the one beam; wherein the measurement time windows associated with different beams in the beam set are the same or different.

13. The method according to any of claims 1-12, wherein the serving cell is a cell in a non-terrestrial network, NTN, further comprising:

Receiving a system information block SIB1 of the service cell, wherein the SIB1 comprises access configuration information for terminal equipment to access the service cell, and the access configuration information comprises one or more of the following: the method comprises the steps of providing epoch time information of a service cell, effective duration information of uplink synchronization auxiliary information of the service cell, cell scheduling information of the service cell, timing advance information of the service cell, satellite polarization information of the service cell and satellite ephemeris information of the service cell.

14. A method of measurement, comprising:

And transmitting the beam information of a first neighbor cell, wherein the beam information of the first neighbor cell is used for determining a first candidate beam set to be measured corresponding to the first neighbor cell, and the total number of beams included in the first candidate beam set is smaller than the total number of beams included in the first neighbor cell.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the beam information comprises one or more of: the method comprises the steps of identifying offset information of the wave beam, indicating information of the wave beam number in a first candidate wave beam set and the wave beam number in a first adjacent cell.

16. The method of claim 14 or 15, wherein the beam information of the first neighbor cell comprises I sets of beam information, the first candidate beam set being a union of I sub-candidate beam sets; the method comprises the steps that an ith group of beam information in the I group of beam information is used for determining an ith sub-candidate beam set in the I sub-candidate beam sets; i is a positive integer, I is more than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to I.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the ith set of beam information includes one or more of: the beam identification offset of the i-th sub-candidate beam set relative to the first beam, the indication information of the number of beams in the i-th sub-candidate beam set, the number of beams in the first neighbor.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the identification of the start beam of the i th set of sub-candidate beams is (bi+m _i)mod N_i, and the identification of the end beam of the i th set of sub-candidate beams is [ (bi+m _i)mod N_i+K_i]mod N_i);

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the identification of the start beam of the i th set of sub-candidate beams is [ (bi+m _i)mod N_i-K_i]mod N_i), and the identification of the end beam of the i th set of sub-candidate beams is (bi+m _i)mod N_i;

20. The method of claim 17, wherein,

21. The method according to any of claims 14-20, wherein the first beam is a serving beam of a terminal device in a serving cell or the signal quality of the first beam is greater than or equal to a first signal quality threshold.

22. The method of any one of claims 14-21, further comprising:

Receiving beam measurement results from at least one terminal device, wherein the beam measurement results of one terminal device in the at least one terminal device indicate the measurement results of the beam in at least one neighbor cell measured by the one terminal device;

and determining the beam information of the first neighbor cell according to the beam measurement result of the at least one terminal device.

23. The method of any one of claims 14-22, further comprising:

Transmitting a system information block SIB1 of a service cell, wherein the SIB1 comprises access configuration information for terminal equipment to access the service cell, and the access configuration information comprises one or more of the following: the method comprises the steps of providing epoch time information of a service cell, effective duration information of uplink synchronization auxiliary information of the service cell, cell scheduling information of the service cell, timing advance information of the service cell, satellite polarization information of the service cell and satellite ephemeris information of the service cell.

24. A communication device for implementing the method of any one of claims 1-13 or for implementing the method of any one of claims 14-23.

25. A communication device, comprising:

A processor coupled to a memory for invoking computer program instructions stored in the memory to perform the method of any of claims 1-13 or to perform the method of any of claims 14-23.

26. A computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any of claims 1-13 or to perform the method of any of claims 14-23.

27. A computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 13 or to perform the method of any one of claims 14 to 23.