WO2023208137A1 - Cell handover method, network device, and terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application provide a cell handover method, a network device, and a terminal. The cell handover method may comprise: when conditional handover is performed, a second network device receives ephemeris information of a first satellite cell within a first period of time sent by a first network device; and determining a second period of time from the first period of time, and then sending ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the second period of time to a terminal, so that the terminal executes an access operation of the first satellite cell on the basis of the ephemeris information. In view of the situation that the second period of time determined by the terminal may comprise time that the terminal subsequently performs conditional handover, the terminal can subsequently execute the access operation of the first satellite cell on the basis of the obtained ephemeris information within the second period of time, so that satellite cell handover can be well achieved, and thus the success rate of satellite cell handover is improved to a certain extent.

Description

Cell handover method, network equipment and terminal

This disclosure claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on April 29, 2022, with application number 202210467492. This disclosure is ongoing.

Technical field

The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a cell switching method, network equipment and terminals.

Background technique

When performing satellite cell handover, the satellite cell handover is usually performed in a normal handover manner. However, because the base station to which the terminal belongs will only negotiate with the base station to which the terminal needs to switch after determining that the signal strength of the terminal is poor, and the negotiation process takes a long time; if the signal strength of the terminal is even worse during the negotiation time period, Then the terminal cannot receive the handover command, causing the satellite cell handover to fail.

Therefore, how to better implement satellite cell handover to improve the success rate of satellite cell handover is an issue that needs to be solved urgently by those skilled in the art.

Contents of the invention

The embodiments of the present application provide a cell switching method, network equipment and terminal, which can better realize satellite cell switching, thereby improving the success rate of satellite cell switching to a certain extent.

In the first aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a cell switching method. The cell switching method may include:

Receive ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within a first time period sent by a first network device; wherein the first network device is a network device to which the first satellite cell belongs.

A second time period is determined from the first time period.

Send the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period to the terminal; wherein the ephemeris information in the second time period is used by the terminal to perform the third operation based on the ephemeris information. Access operation of a satellite cell.

In a possible implementation, before receiving the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period sent by the first network device, the method further includes:

Send an ephemeris request to the first network device; wherein the ephemeris request includes target ephemeris update information, and the target ephemeris update information is used by the first network device to generate information within the first time period. ephemeris information.

In a possible implementation, determining the second time period from the first time period includes:

Based on the preset time period, determine the intersection time period of the preset time period and the first time period;

The intersection time period is determined as the second time period.

In a possible implementation, the ephemeris information in the second time period includes first ephemeris information and second ephemeris information, and the first ephemeris information and the second ephemeris information are There is an overlap in the valid times; wherein, before sending the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period to the terminal, the method further includes:

Any moment within the overlapping time is determined as the ephemeris update time that generates the overlapping first ephemeris information and second ephemeris information.

Among the first ephemeris information and the second ephemeris information, the ephemeris information with the earlier effective time is determined as the ephemeris information in the time period before the ephemeris update time, and the effective time is later The ephemeris information is determined as the ephemeris information in the time period after the ephemeris update time.

In a possible implementation, the ephemeris information in the second time period includes third ephemeris information and fourth ephemeris information, and the third ephemeris information and the fourth ephemeris information are There is overlap in the effective time, and the method also includes:

Among the third ephemeris information and the fourth ephemeris information, the ephemeris information that is available at the ephemeris update time of the second network device and has the latest effective end time is determined as the ephemeris information within the second time period. Ephemeris information.

or,

Among the third ephemeris information and the fourth ephemeris information, the ephemeris information available at the ephemeris update time of the second network device and available after the ephemeris update time is determined as the Ephemeris information in the second time period.

In the second aspect, embodiments of the present application also provide a cell switching method. The cell switching method may include:

Receive ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the second time period sent by the second network device.

When the conditional handover is determined, the access operation of the first satellite cell is performed according to the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period.

In a possible implementation, the number of ephemeris information in the second time period includes at least two, and the valid times of the at least two ephemeris information overlap; wherein, according to the first Within two time periods, the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell is used to perform the access operation of the first satellite cell, including:

The access operation of the first satellite cell is performed based on the ephemeris information with the longest remaining validity period among the at least two ephemeris information.

In a possible implementation, performing the access operation of the first satellite cell according to the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period includes:

If the time when the determination condition is switched does not reach the starting time of the second time period, wait until the starting time of the second time period is reached; according to the ephemeris information corresponding to the starting time Execute the access operation of the first satellite cell.

or,

If the time when the determined condition is switched is after the end time of the second time period, wait until new ephemeris information is obtained; and execute the first satellite cell according to the new ephemeris information. access operation.

In a possible implementation, performing the access operation of the first satellite cell according to the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period includes:

If the remaining valid time of the ephemeris information is less than the preset time, wait until new ephemeris information is obtained; and perform the access operation of the first satellite cell according to the new ephemeris information.

In a third aspect, embodiments of the present application also provide a cell switching method. The cell switching method may include:

Obtain the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period.

Send ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period to the second network device, where the ephemeris information is used to perform an access operation of the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information.

In a possible implementation, the obtaining the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period includes:

Receive an ephemeris request sent by the second network device; wherein the ephemeris request includes target ephemeris update information. The ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the first time period is generated based on the target ephemeris update information.

In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a second network device. The second network device may include:

The receiving unit is configured to receive the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period sent by the first network device; wherein the first network device is the network device to which the first satellite cell belongs.

A determining unit configured to determine a second time period from the first time period.

A sending unit configured to send the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period to the terminal; wherein the ephemeris information in the second time period is used by the terminal based on the ephemeris The information performs the access operation of the first satellite cell.

In a possible implementation, the sending unit is further configured to send an ephemeris request to the first network device; wherein the ephemeris request includes target ephemeris update information, and the target ephemeris update The information is used by the first network device to generate ephemeris information within the first time period.

In a possible implementation, the determining unit is specifically configured to determine an intersection time period of the preset time period and the first time period based on a preset time period; determine the intersection time period as the second time period.

In a possible implementation, the ephemeris information in the second time period includes first ephemeris information and second ephemeris information, and the first ephemeris information and the second ephemeris information are There is overlap in the valid times, and the device further includes a first processing unit.

The first processing unit is configured to determine any moment within the overlapping period as the ephemeris update time that generates the overlapping first ephemeris information and the second ephemeris information; Among the ephemeris information and the second ephemeris information, the ephemeris information with the earlier effective time is determined as the ephemeris information in the time period before the ephemeris update time, and the ephemeris information with the later effective time is determined as Ephemeris information in the time period after the ephemeris update time.

In a possible implementation, the ephemeris information in the second time period includes third ephemeris information and fourth ephemeris information, and the third ephemeris information and the fourth ephemeris information are There is an overlap in the valid times, and the device further includes a second processing unit.

The second processing unit is configured to determine the ephemeris information that is available at the ephemeris update time of the second network device and has the latest effective end time among the third ephemeris information and the fourth ephemeris information. is the ephemeris information within the second time period. or,

Among the third ephemeris information and the fourth ephemeris information, the ephemeris information available at the ephemeris update time of the second network device and available after the ephemeris update time is determined as the Ephemeris information in the second time period.

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a terminal, which may include:

The receiving unit is configured to receive the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the second time period sent by the second network device.

A processing unit configured to perform an access operation of the first satellite cell according to the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period when conditional handover is determined.

In a possible implementation, the number of ephemeris information in the second time period includes at least two, and the valid times of the at least two ephemeris information overlap.

The processing unit is specifically configured to perform the access operation of the first satellite cell according to the ephemeris information with the longest remaining validity period among the at least two ephemeris information.

In a possible implementation, the processing unit is specifically configured to wait until the second time is reached if the time when the determined condition is switched does not reach the starting time of the second time period. The starting time of the segment; perform the access operation of the first satellite cell according to the ephemeris information corresponding to the starting time.

or,

If the time when the determined condition is switched is after the end time of the second time period, wait until new ephemeris information is obtained; and execute the first satellite cell according to the new ephemeris information. access operation.

In a possible implementation, the processing unit is specifically configured to wait until new ephemeris information is obtained; and according to the new ephemeris information, if the remaining valid time period is less than a preset time period, Perform the access operation of the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information.

In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a first network device. The first network device may include:

The acquisition unit is used to acquire the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period.

A sending unit configured to send ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period to the second network device, where the ephemeris information is used to perform access of the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information. Enter operation.

In a possible implementation, the acquisition unit is specifically configured to receive an ephemeris request sent by the second network device; wherein the ephemeris request includes target ephemeris update information; and based on the target The ephemeris update information generates ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period.

In a seventh aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a chip, which may include: a memory and a processor;

The memory is used to store computer programs;

The processor is configured to, when the computer program is executed, implement the cell switching method as described in any possible implementation of the first aspect; or, implement the cell switching method as described in any possible implementation of the second aspect. The cell switching method; or, implement the cell switching method as described in any one of the above claims 9-12.

In an eighth aspect, embodiments of the present application also provide a chip module, including: a memory and a processor;

The memory is used to store computer programs;

The processor is configured to, when the computer program is executed, implement the cell switching method as described in any possible implementation of the first aspect; or, implement the cell switching method as described in any possible implementation of the second aspect. A cell switching method; or, implement a cell switching method as described in any possible implementation of the third aspect.

In a ninth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide an electronic device, which may include a processor and a memory; wherein,

The memory is used to store computer programs;

The processor is configured to read the computer program stored in the memory, and execute the cell switching method described in any possible implementation of the first aspect according to the computer program in the memory; or, execute the above-mentioned third aspect. The cell switching method described in any possible implementation of the second aspect, or the cell switching method described in any possible implementation of the third aspect.

In a tenth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a computer-readable storage medium. Computer-executable instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium. When the processor executes the computer-executable instructions, the above-mentioned first aspect is implemented. The cell switching method described in any possible implementation manner; or, the cell switching method described in any possible implementation manner of the above-mentioned second aspect; or, the cell switching method described in any possible implementation manner of the above-mentioned third aspect. The cell switching method described in the method.

In an eleventh aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product, including a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the cell switching method described in any of the possible implementations of the first aspect. ; Or, implement the cell switching method as described in any possible implementation of the second aspect; or implement the cell switching method as described in any possible implementation of the third aspect.

It can be seen that the embodiments of the present application provide a cell switching method, network equipment and terminal. When performing conditional switching, the second network equipment receives the signal of the first satellite cell within the first time period sent by the first network equipment. Ephemeris information; and determine the second time period from the first time period, and then send the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period to the terminal, so that the terminal performs access to the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information. Enter operation. Since the second time period determined by the terminal may include the time when the terminal subsequently performs conditional handover, the terminal can subsequently perform the access operation of the first satellite cell based on the obtained ephemeris information within the second time period. This can Satellite cell handover is better realized, thereby improving the success rate of satellite cell handover to a certain extent.

Description of the drawings

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a cell handover scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 2 is a schematic flow chart of a cell switching method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a first time period provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of ephemeris information within an intersection time period provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of another ephemeris information within the intersection time period provided by the embodiment of the present application;

Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of de-overlapping processing of ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of another method of de-overlapping the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period provided by the embodiment of the present application;

Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of neighboring cells of a serving cell provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of ephemeris information in the second time period obtained by a terminal provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of ephemeris information in the second time period obtained by another terminal provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a second network device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a first network device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 15 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been shown through the above-mentioned drawings and will be described in more detail below. These drawings and written description are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosed concepts in any way, but rather to illustrate the concepts of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art with reference to the specific embodiments.

Detailed ways

Exemplary embodiments will be described in detail herein, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the drawings, the same numbers in different drawings refer to the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The implementations described in the following exemplary embodiments do not represent all implementations consistent with the present disclosure. Rather, they are merely related to the rights as attached Examples of apparatus and methods consistent with certain aspects of the present disclosure are detailed in the claims.

In the embodiment of the present invention, "at least one" refers to one or more, and "multiple" refers to two or more. "And/or" describes the relationship between associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships, for example, A and/or B, which can mean: A alone exists, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. In the text description of the present invention, the character "/" generally indicates that the related objects are in an "or" relationship.

The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of this application can be applied in cell handover scenarios, especially in conditional handover scenarios involving satellite cells. At present, when performing satellite cell handover, the satellite cell handover is usually performed in a normal handover manner. However, because the base station to which the terminal belongs will only negotiate with the base station to which the terminal needs to switch after determining that the signal strength of the terminal is poor, and the negotiation process takes a long time; if the signal strength of the terminal is even worse during the negotiation time period, Then the terminal cannot receive the handover command, causing the satellite cell handover to fail.

In order to solve the above problems, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) introduced the concept of conditional switching. In the conditional handover process, before the terminal's signal strength deteriorates, the base station to which the terminal belongs first negotiates with the target base station to which the terminal subsequently switches the target satellite cell to obtain the public configuration information of the target satellite cell, including ephemeris information, etc. Then the public configuration information of the target satellite cell is sent to the terminal, so that the terminal switches when conditions are met and accesses the target satellite cell on its own based on the obtained public configuration information.

It is not difficult to see that using the conditional handover method, the base station to which the terminal belongs sends the public configuration information of the target satellite cell to the terminal before the terminal's signal strength deteriorates. Although it can effectively solve the long negotiation process that exists in the above-mentioned ordinary handover, question. However, since there is usually a long time interval between the time when the terminal obtains the public configuration information and the time when the terminal actually accesses the target satellite cell, some information in the public configuration information, such as ephemeris information, has changed, which will cause the terminal to based on the previously obtained information. The received ephemeris information cannot accurately calculate the sending time of the random access preamble, making it impossible to access the target satellite cell.

In order to better implement satellite cell handover and thereby improve the success rate of satellite cell handover to a certain extent, considering that each satellite cell usually covers the same area in a fixed time sequence, for example, after the satellite to which the terminal belongs to satellite cell A leaves, , the satellite to which satellite cell B belongs moves over the area, then the area where the terminal is located will continue to be covered by satellite cell B. In this case, most terminals in the area will periodically switch from the satellite cell A to which they currently belong. to satellite cell B. Since the satellite to which satellite cell B belongs can know the time when it moves over the area, in order to ensure the successful handover of the terminal, the base station to which satellite cell B belongs can send the ephemeris information of satellite cell B in the future time period to satellite cell A. The future time period is determined based on the movement of the satellite to which satellite cell B belongs. In this way, the base station to which satellite cell A belongs can send the ephemeris of satellite cell B to the terminal before the terminal's signal strength deteriorates. information; correspondingly, the terminal can calculate the sending time of the random access preamble based on the obtained ephemeris information of satellite cell B, thereby performing the access operation of satellite cell B, which can better realize the terminal's satellite cell handover. , thereby improving the success rate of satellite cell handover to a certain extent.

Based on this, in the embodiment of the present application, in order to better implement satellite cell handover and improve the success rate of satellite cell handover, the base station to which the terminal belongs can obtain the ephemeris information of the target satellite cell in a future time period from the target base station in advance. ; And before the signal strength of the terminal deteriorates, the ephemeris information of the target satellite cell in the future time period is sent to the terminal. In view of the fact that the future time period may include the time when the terminal performs subsequent conditional handover, so that when the subsequent terminal performs conditional handover, it can Based on the previously obtained ephemeris information of the target satellite cell in the future time period, calculate the sending time of the random access preamble to perform the access operation of the target satellite cell. This can better realize the terminal's satellite cell handover, thus The success rate of satellite cell handover is improved to a certain extent.

It should be noted that only when the target base station is a satellite base station and the target satellite cell for handover is a satellite cell, the ephemeris information of the target satellite cell is provided to the base station to which the terminal belongs. Furthermore, the ephemeris information of the target satellite cell is provided only when the target base station is a certain type of satellite base station, such as a low-orbit satellite. For high-orbit satellites, since the ephemeris information of high-orbit satellites usually does not change frequently, if the interval between condition switching times is short, there is no need to provide ephemeris information, and the ephemeris information obtained previously can be continued. Can.

For example, please refer to Figure 1. Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a cell handover scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application. The cell handover scenario may include a terminal, network equipment to which the satellite cell of the terminal subsequently performs conditional handover belongs, and the terminal. The network device to which it belongs. In the following description, the satellite cell where the terminal is currently located can be recorded as the serving cell, the satellite cell to which the terminal subsequently performs conditional handover is recorded as the first satellite cell, and the network device to which the first satellite cell belongs is recorded as the first network device. The terminal The network device to which it belongs is recorded as the second network device.

In order to better realize the terminal's satellite cell handover, the second network device can first obtain the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in a future time period from the first network device. Taking the future time period as the T1-T2 time period as an example , considering that the T1-T2 time period may include the time when the terminal subsequently performs conditional handover, so that when the terminal subsequently performs conditional handover, it can perform access to the first satellite cell based on the previously obtained ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the future time period. In the operation, there is no need to obtain the ephemeris information at the conditional handover moment through broadcasting. This not only can better realize the satellite cell handover of the terminal, but also improves the success rate of satellite cell handover to a certain extent; it also improves the efficiency of the satellite cell. switching efficiency.

In this embodiment of the present application, for a terminal in the idle state, the serving cell is the cell where the terminal resides; for the terminal in the connected state, the serving cell is the cell with which the terminal transmits data. Therefore, if the first network device sends the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the future time period to the second network device through wired transmission, the first satellite cell is a neighboring cell of the serving cell. For the convenience of description, the following will be The description continues with the first satellite cell.

Among them, 1) The terminal, also known as terminal equipment and user equipment, is a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to users. It may also be some kind of smart device with networking functions, such as a wireless connection function. Handheld devices, vehicle-mounted devices, smart air conditioners, smart cars, etc. Common terminal devices include, for example, mobile phones, tablets, laptops, PDAs, mobile internet devices (MID), and wearable devices. Wearable devices include, for example, smart watches, smart bracelets, and pedometers. Devices etc.

2) Network equipment, also known as Radio Access Network (RAN) equipment, is a type of equipment that connects terminal equipment to a wireless network. It includes network equipment in various communication standards, such as but not limited to : Base station, evolved Node B (eNB), radio network controller (RNC), Node B (Node B, NB), network equipment controller (Base Station Controller, BSC), network equipment Transceiver station (Base Transceiver Station, BTS), home network equipment (for example, Home evolved NodeB, or Home Node B, HNB), baseband unit (Base Band Unit, BBU), etc.

Among them, network equipment includes network equipment of various frequency standards, including but not limited to: low-frequency network equipment and high-frequency network equipment.

Based on the above technical concept, embodiments of the present application provide a cell switching method. Below, the cell switching method provided by the present application will be described in detail through specific embodiments. It can be understood that the following specific embodiments can be combined with each other, and the same or similar concepts or processes may not be described again in some embodiments.

Figure 2 is a schematic flowchart of a cell switching method provided by an embodiment of the present application. The cell switching method can be executed by software and/or hardware devices. For example, the hardware device can be a cell switching device. For an example, see Figure 2 As shown, the cell switching method may include:

S201. The first network device obtains the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period.

Wherein, the first satellite cell is a neighboring cell of the terminal's serving cell, and the first network device is a network device to which the first satellite cell belongs.

For example, the first time period may be a future time period after the time when the first network device currently performs the acquisition operation of the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell, and the setting of the first time period is the same as that of the satellite corresponding to the first satellite cell. Related to sports situations.

For example, within the first time period, the number of ephemeris information of the first satellite cell may be one or multiple, and may be set according to actual needs. It can be understood that each piece of ephemeris information has a corresponding effective time period, and within the effective time period, the ephemeris information is valid ephemeris information.

For example, when the first network device obtains the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the first time period, it may also obtain the ephemeris information of other satellite cells it maintains. For example, assuming that the first network device maintains three satellite cells A, B, and C, and the second network device instructs the terminal to switch to satellite cell B under subsequent conditions, the first network device can only obtain the ephemeris information of satellite cell B, and send the ephemeris information of satellite cell B to the second network device; it is also possible to obtain the ephemeris information of the three satellite cells A, B, and C at the same time, and send the ephemeris information of the three satellite cells A, B, and C Send it to the second network device; you can also obtain the ephemeris information of multiple satellite cells including satellite cell B, for example, obtain the ephemeris information of two satellite cells A and B, and combine the ephemeris information of the two satellite cells A and B. The ephemeris information is sent to the second network device, and can be set according to actual needs. Here, the embodiments of this application do not impose specific limitations.

For example, when the first network device obtains the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the first time period, the following three possible situations may be included:

In a possible situation, the first network device can independently generate the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period, thereby obtaining the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell.

In another possible situation, the first network device may first receive an ephemeris request sent by the second network device; wherein the ephemeris request includes target ephemeris update information; correspondingly, the first network device receives the target ephemeris update information. After the ephemeris update information is generated, the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the first time period is generated based on the target ephemeris update information, so that the first network device can generate the first ephemeris information in the first time period in a targeted manner according to actual needs. Ephemeris information of satellite cells, thus improving the accuracy of ephemeris information. The target ephemeris update information can be understood as the update information of the ephemeris information expected by the second network device. For example, the update information may be the time when the ephemeris information is updated, or it may be description information of the time when the ephemeris information is updated, etc.

In another possible situation, the first network device may first receive the conditional handover request sent by the second network device, and generate the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period after the current time according to the conditional handover request. . For example, the conditional handover request may include the time period predicted by the second network device for the terminal to subsequently perform conditional handover. For example, the format of the time period may be (T1, T2), that is, the earliest possible occurrence time of conditional handover is T1 and the latest time. The occurrence time is T2; it can also be (T1, Duration), that is, the earliest possible occurrence time of conditional switching is T1, and the latest occurrence time is T1+Duration; correspondingly, the first network device can be targeted according to this time period. The ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the time period can be generated locally. Of course, the ephemeris information of a larger time period including the time period can also be generated. The details can be set according to actual needs.

It can be understood that when the above-mentioned first network device obtains the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the first time period, the embodiment of the present application only uses the above three possible situations as examples to illustrate, but it does not represent that the present application The embodiment is limited to Here it is.

After the first network device obtains the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period, it can send the obtained ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period to the second network device, that is, execute S202 below:

S202. The first network device sends the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period to the second network device.

Wherein, the ephemeris information is used to perform the access operation of the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information.

For example, when the first network device sends the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period to the second network device, it needs to also indicate the first time period. For example, see Figure 3, which is a schematic diagram of a first time period provided by an embodiment of the present application. Assuming that the first time period is the time period from T1 to T2, the first network device indicates that the In the first time period, you can directly indicate T1 time and T2 time; you can also indicate T1 time, and then indicate the time length from T1 time to T2 time; you can also directly indicate T2 time, and then indicate the time length from T1 time to T2 time. The specific settings can be made according to actual needs.

For example, in the embodiment of the present application, when indicating the absolute time of T1 time or T2 time, at least three possible ways may be included. In one possible way, the absolute time of Global Positioning System (GPS) time can be used to indicate the absolute time of T1 time or T2 time; in another possible way, the first satellite cell can be used The "radio frame number + subframe number" method indicates the absolute time of T1 time or T2 time; in another possible method, the "radio frame number + subframe number" method of the serving cell where the terminal is located can be used The absolute time indicating T1 moment or T2 moment can be set according to actual needs. Here, the embodiment of the present application only takes these three possible ways as examples to illustrate, but it does not mean that the embodiment of the present application is limited to this. .

Since the ephemeris information is only valid within a period of time, when the validity time of the ephemeris information is less than the above-mentioned first time period, it means that the number of ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the first time period is at least two. For this In this case, when sending the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the first time period, the first time period can be divided into several small segments, and the ephemeris information corresponding to each small segment is indicated respectively. For example, when indicating the ephemeris information corresponding to each short period of time respectively, this can be achieved by indicating the valid time of the ephemeris information of each short period of time.

As an example, see Figure 3. It is assumed that in the time period between time T1 and time T2, there are three pieces of ephemeris information in the first satellite cell, namely ephemeris information 1, ephemeris information 2 and ephemeris information 3. . When indicating the valid time of ephemeris information for each short period of time, the first network device may directly indicate the dividing points of multiple periods of time in a possible manner, such as the difference between ephemeris information 1 and ephemeris information 2 in Figure 3. Conversion time; in another possible way, the length of the time period can be used to indicate, for example, "Starting from T1 time, ephemeris information 1 is valid, and its valid time is XXXms; ephemeris information 2 is valid for XXXms-YYYms, the valid time of ephemeris information 3 is YYYms-ZZZms, which can be set according to actual needs. Here, the embodiment of this application only uses these two methods as examples to illustrate, but it does not represent the embodiment of this application. That's all.

For example, when the first network device indicates the conversion moment between ephemeris information 1 and ephemeris information 2, it may also include at least three possible ways. In one possible way, the absolute time GPS time can be used to indicate the conversion time of ephemeris information 1 and ephemeris information 2; in another possible way, the "radio frame number" of the first satellite cell can be used. + subframe number" method to indicate the conversion time between ephemeris information 1 and ephemeris information 2; in another possible method, the method of "radio frame number + subframe number" of the serving cell where the terminal is located can be used to indicate The conversion time between ephemeris information 1 and ephemeris information 2 can be set according to actual needs. Here, the embodiment of the present application only takes these three possible ways as examples to illustrate, but it does not mean that the embodiment of the present application only Limited to this.

It can be understood that the first network device adopts the absolute GPS time method; or the first satellite cell’s “no When indicating the conversion time between ephemeris information 1 and ephemeris information 2 to the second network device in the "line frame number + subframe number" method, the second network device can continue to use the absolute time GPS time method; or the first satellite cell The method of "radio frame number + subframe number" indicates to the terminal the conversion time of ephemeris information 1 and ephemeris information 2, or the absolute time GPS time; or the "radio frame number + subframe number" of the first satellite cell It is the "radio frame number + subframe number" method of the serving cell where the terminal is located, and then uses the "radio frame number + subframe number" method of the serving cell to indicate the conversion time between ephemeris information 1 and ephemeris information 2. Specifically It can be set according to actual needs, and there are no specific limitations in the embodiments of this application.

For example, when the second network device converts the absolute GPS time into the "radio frame number + subframe number" of the serving cell, the second network device needs to have a GPS clock to convert the absolute GPS time into the "radio frame number" of the serving cell. number + subframe number", this conversion operation belongs to the internal implementation of the second network device. When the second network device converts the "radio frame number + subframe number" of the first satellite cell into the "radio frame number + subframe number" of the serving cell where the terminal is located, the second network device needs to know the serving cell and the first satellite The difference between the frame number and the subframe number of the cell at the same time, and based on the difference between the frame number and the subframe number of the serving cell and the first satellite cell at the same time, the "radio frame number + subframe number" of the first satellite cell Frame number" is converted into the "radio frame number + subframe number" of the serving cell where the terminal is located.

It should be noted that if the first satellite cell learns the difference between the frame number and subframe number of the serving cell and the first satellite cell at the same time, it can directly use the difference between the frame number and subframe number of the serving cell and the first satellite cell at the same time. The difference between the numbers is to convert the "radio frame number + subframe number" of the first satellite cell into the "radio frame number + subframe number" of the serving cell where the terminal is located, and use the "radio frame number + subframe number" of the serving cell. Subframe number" indicates the second network device. In this case, the second network device does not need to perform conversion.

Through the above description, when the first network device sends the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the first time period to the second network device, if the number of ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the first time period is at least two , then by respectively indicating the ephemeris information and the valid time of the ephemeris information corresponding to each small segment, the terminal can subsequently perform the access operation of the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information and the valid time of the ephemeris information, so that it can be better The terminal's satellite cell handover is realized efficiently, which improves the success rate of satellite cell handover to a certain extent.

The first network device sends the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the first time period to the second network device. Correspondingly, after the second network device receives the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the first time period, You can execute the following S203:

S203. The second network device determines the second time period from the first time period.

The second time period can be understood as a time period during which the second network device needs to provide the terminal with ephemeris information of the first satellite cell.

For example, when the second network device determines the second time period from the first time period, it may include at least two possible methods as follows:

In a possible implementation, the second network device can directly determine the first time period as the second time period, that is, it does not filter the first time period corresponding to the ephemeris information it receives from the first network device. .

In another possible implementation, the second network device may determine the intersection time period of the preset time period and the first time period based on the preset time period; and determine the intersection time period as the second time period. The preset time period can be understood as the time period predicted by the second network device for the terminal to subsequently perform conditional handover.

For example, please refer to Figure 4. Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of ephemeris information within an intersection time period provided by an embodiment of the present application. It is assumed that the second network device receives the T3-T4 time period provided by the first network device. According to the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell, the predicted time period for the terminal to subsequently perform conditional handover is the T1-T2 time period. The T1-T2 time period can be recorded as the preset time period. It can be seen that the T1-T2 time period The intersection time period between segment and T3-T4 time period is T1-T2 time period, and determine the T1-T2 time period as the second time period, so that the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period can be sent to the terminal more accurately without sending the T3-T1 time period and T2- Ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the T4 time period, thereby saving transmission resources. Of course, if the waste of transmission resources is not considered, the second network device can also directly determine the T3-T4 time period as the second time period, that is, the previous possible implementation method, which can be set according to actual needs.

It should be noted that, for the terminal, whether the second network device directly uses the T3-T4 time period as the second time period, sends the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the T3-T4 time period to the terminal, or by The T3-T4 time period is filtered, and the intersection time period T1-T2 time period is used as the second time period, and the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the T1-T2 time period is sent to the terminal. When the terminal subsequently performs condition switching, It is necessary to determine the ephemeris information of the conditional switching time based on the received ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period, and perform the access operation of the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information of the conditional switching time.

The above-mentioned figure 4 describes the preset time period predicted by the second network device, which is a subset of the time period corresponding to the ephemeris information provided by the first network device to the second network device. In this case, no matter what the terminal subsequently If the condition is switched at any time within the T1-T2 time period, the ephemeris information at the time of the condition switching can be accurately obtained. But in addition, there is also a situation where the time period corresponding to the ephemeris information provided by the first network device may not completely cover the time period of the terminal's conditional switching. In this case, the terminal performs switching when the conditional switching is met. When switching conditions, you can try to choose the moment corresponding to the ephemeris information that has been obtained to switch. For example, please refer to Figure 5. Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of ephemeris information within another intersection time period provided by an embodiment of the present application. The preset time period predicted by the second network device is no longer the first network device. The ephemeris information provided corresponds to a subset of the time periods, but some of the time periods overlap. When the terminal determines that the "conditional switching time" shown in Figure 5 satisfies the switching conditions and prepares to switch, and finds that there is currently no available ephemeris information, the terminal can wait for a period of time, wait until T3, and then use the T3 obtained previously The access operation of the first satellite cell is performed based on the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell at the time. For example, the length of the waiting time can be configured through dedicated RRC signaling, and can be set according to actual needs. Here, the embodiments of this application do not impose specific limitations. In addition, when the terminal prepares for conditional handover, if it finds that there is currently no available ephemeris information, it can also read the broadcast message of the first satellite cell to obtain the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell through the broadcast message, and use the first satellite cell to Perform the access operation of the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information.

For example, after determining the second time period from the first time period, the second network device can directly send the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period to the terminal; or it can also send the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period to the terminal. When the valid time of the ephemeris information of the satellite cells overlaps, the overlapping ephemeris information is de-overlapped to obtain the ephemeris information without overlap, and the ephemeris information without overlap in the second time period is obtained. Ephemeris information is sent to the terminal. Of course, if the valid time of the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period overlaps, it is also possible to directly send the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period without performing overlapping processing. For the terminal, you can set it according to actual needs.

For example, when performing de-overlapping processing on overlapping ephemeris information in the second time period, it is assumed that the ephemeris information in the second time period includes the first ephemeris information and the second ephemeris information, and the first ephemeris information If the valid times of the ephemeris information and the second ephemeris information overlap, then any moment within the overlap time can be determined as the ephemeris update time of the overlapping first ephemeris information and second ephemeris information; And among the first ephemeris information and the second ephemeris information, the ephemeris information with the earlier effective time is determined as the ephemeris information in the time period before the ephemeris update time, and the ephemeris information with the later effective time is determined It is the ephemeris information in the time period after the ephemeris update time. For example, the ephemeris update time may be the conversion moment of the first ephemeris information and the second ephemeris information within the overlapping time period.

For example, see Figure 6. Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of de-overlapping ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period provided by an embodiment of the present application. The second time shown in Figure 6 The time period T3-T4 is the first time period T3-T4 provided by the first network device. Assume that the ephemeris information 2 and ephemeris information 3 of the first satellite cell in the second time period T3-T4, and the valid time of ephemeris information 2 and ephemeris information 3 overlap, and the overlapping time period is T5 -T6 time period, that is, in the T5-T6 time period, ephemeris information 2 and ephemeris information 3 are both valid ephemeris information. When de-overlapping the ephemeris information 2 and ephemeris information 3 that have overlapping valid times, any moment in the T5-T6 time period can be determined as the overlapping ephemeris information 2 and ephemeris information. 3, assuming that the conversion time is the T7 time in the T5-T6 time period, then after the de-overlap processing, the ephemeris information 2 is determined as the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the T3-T7 time period, and the ephemeris information is The ephemeris information 3 is determined as the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the T7-T4 time period, and the non-overlapping ephemeris information 2 and ephemeris information 3 of the first satellite cell in the T3-T4 time period, and their respective The effective time is sent to the terminal, so that when the terminal subsequently performs conditional handover, it can directly perform the access operation of the first satellite cell based on the non-overlapping ephemeris information without having to select the ephemeris information for the overlapping time period, so that in The access efficiency of the first satellite cell is improved to a certain extent.

For example, please refer to Figure 7. Figure 7 is another schematic diagram of de-overlapping the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period provided by the embodiment of the present application. The third figure shown in Figure 7 The second time period T1-T2 is a subset of the first time period T3-T4 provided by the first network device. Assume that the ephemeris information 2 and ephemeris information 3 of the first satellite cell in the second time period T3-T4, and the valid time of ephemeris information 2 and ephemeris information 3 overlap, the overlapping time period is T5- In the T6 time period, that is, in the T5-T6 time period, both ephemeris information 2 and ephemeris information 3 are valid ephemeris information. When de-overlapping the ephemeris information 2 and ephemeris information 3 that have overlapping valid times, any moment in the T5-T6 time period can be determined as the overlapping ephemeris information 2 and ephemeris information. 3, assuming that the conversion time is the T7 time in the T5-T6 time period, then after the de-overlap processing, the ephemeris information 2 is determined as the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the T3-T7 time period, and the ephemeris information is The ephemeris information 3 is determined as the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the T7-T4 time period, and the non-overlapping ephemeris information 2 and ephemeris information 3 of the first satellite cell in the T3-T4 time period, and their respective The effective time is sent to the terminal, so that when the terminal subsequently performs conditional handover, it can directly perform the access operation of the first satellite cell based on the non-overlapping ephemeris information without having to select the ephemeris information for the overlapping time period, so that in The access efficiency of the first satellite cell is improved to a certain extent.

For example, after the second network device determines the second time period from the first time period, in addition to the above-mentioned de-overlap processing of overlapping ephemeris information, it also includes the ephemeris update time of the second network device. , filtering the ephemeris information. Below, the ephemeris update time of the second network device and filtering the ephemeris information will be described in detail.

For example, filtering the ephemeris information according to the ephemeris update time of the second network device can be adapted to the scenario where the second network device broadcasts the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell through a broadcast message. The advantage of this is that the second network device can broadcast the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell to each terminal waiting for conditional handover through a single broadcast message, without having to send the first satellite to each terminal waiting for conditional handover one by one. The ephemeris information of the cell is improved, thereby improving the transmission efficiency of ephemeris information and saving transmission resources.

It can be understood that since the movement of the Non-Terrestrial Access Network (NTN) cell depends on the movement trajectory of the satellite, and the movement trajectory of the satellite is known in advance, the second network device broadcasts the For the ephemeris information of satellite cells, for the serving cell where each terminal is located, only a part of the ephemeris information corresponding to the neighboring cells of the serving cell is broadcast, and there is no need to broadcast the ephemeris corresponding to all neighboring cells of the serving cell. information. It should be noted that in this embodiment of the present application, the neighboring cells of the serving cell may be recorded as the first satellite cell. For example, see Figure 8. Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of neighboring cells of a serving cell provided by an embodiment of the present application. Assume that the current serving cell of the terminal is cell A, which is represented by a line composed of two angled straight lines. Combining the movement trajectory of the satellite, it can be seen that the subsequent cell covering the terminal may be cell G or cell F. Therefore, the second network device only needs to broadcast the ephemeris information of cell G and cell F.

Similar to serving cell A, cell G and cell F also have their own ephemeris information, and their respective ephemeris information also has a valid time. Therefore, the second network device also needs to regularly obtain the respective ephemeris information of cell G and cell F. After that, the respective ephemeris information of cell G and cell F can be broadcast through broadcast messages.

For example, when filtering the ephemeris information according to the ephemeris update time of the second network device to obtain the ephemeris information, it is assumed that the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell includes the third ephemeris information and the fourth ephemeris information. , and the valid times of the third ephemeris information and the fourth ephemeris information overlap, then the third ephemeris information and the fourth ephemeris information can be added to the second ephemeris information according to the ephemeris update time of the second network device. The ephemeris update time of the network device is available, and the ephemeris information with the latest effective end time is determined as the ephemeris information in the second time period; or, among the third ephemeris information and the fourth ephemeris information, in the second The ephemeris update time of the network device is available, and the ephemeris information available after the ephemeris update time is determined as the ephemeris information in the second time period.

The ephemeris update time can be understood as the effective time of the ephemeris information in the system broadcast message among the ephemeris information sent by the second network device to the terminal.

For example, as shown in Figure 7, assume that the serving cell where the terminal is located is cell A, the first satellite cell is cell G, and the valid time of the ephemeris information of serving cell A is the T1-T1" time period, the second network device The received ephemeris information of the first satellite cell G in the second time period, that is, the T1-T4' time period, includes ephemeris information 1, ephemeris information 2, ephemeris information 3 and ephemeris information 4, where, ephemeris information The valid time of information 1 is the T1-T1' time period, the valid time of ephemeris information 2 is the T2-T2' time period, the valid time of ephemeris information 3 is the T3-T3' time period, the valid time of ephemeris information 1 is the T4-T4' time period. For example, see Figure 9. Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period provided by an embodiment of the present application. It can be seen that the The valid times of the four ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the two time periods overlap. As shown in Figure 9, according to the ephemeris update time of the second network device, the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period is calculated. When filtering historical information, there are at least two possible processing methods as follows:

In a possible processing method, according to the ephemeris update time of the second network device, among the four ephemeris information, the ephemeris information that is available at the ephemeris update time of the second network device and has the latest effective end time can be used. The information is determined to be ephemeris information within the second time period.

For example, assuming that the second network device updates its ephemeris information at any time in the T1-T2 time period, the ephemeris information 1 with a valid time of the T1-T1' time period can be determined as the ephemeris information in the second time period. Ephemeris information; assuming that the second network device updates its ephemeris information at any time in the T2-T3 time period, the ephemeris information 2 with a valid time of T2-T2' time period can be determined as the ephemeris information in the second time period. Ephemeris information; assuming that the second network device updates its ephemeris information at any time in the T3-T4 time period, the ephemeris information 3 with a valid time of the T3-T3' time period can be determined as the ephemeris information in the second time period. calendar information.

In another possible processing method, according to the ephemeris update time of the second network device, among the four ephemeris information, the ephemeris information is available at the ephemeris update time of the second network device and the ephemeris information is available after the ephemeris update time. The ephemeris information is determined as the ephemeris information in the second time period.

For example, assuming that the second network device updates its ephemeris information at any time in the T1-T2 time period, the valid time can be the ephemeris information 1 of the T1-T1' time period and the ephemeris information of the T2-T2' time period. The ephemeris information 2, the ephemeris information 3 of the T3-T3' time period, and the ephemeris information 4 of the T4-T4' time period are determined as the ephemeris information in the second time period; assuming that the second network device is in the T2-T3 time period If its ephemeris information is updated at any time during the period, the ephemeris information 2 of the T2-T2' time period, the ephemeris information 3 of the T3-T3' time period and the ephemeris information 4 of the T4-T4' time period can be determined as Ephemeris information in the second time period; assuming that the second network device updates its ephemeris information at any time in the T3-T4 time period, the ephemeris information 3 in the T3-T3' time period and T4-T4' The ephemeris information 4 of the time period is determined as the ephemeris information in the second time period, so that the ephemeris information in the second time period is screened out according to the ephemeris update time of the second network device.

After determining the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period, the second network device may send the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period to the terminal. For example, when the second network device sends the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period to the terminal, assuming that the second network device receives the ephemeris information expressed in "non-delta mode" from the first network device is For example, when sending ephemeris information to the terminal, considering that the transmission between network devices is wired transmission, the transmission cost is low, while the transmission between the network device and the terminal is wireless transmission, the transmission cost is high. Therefore, the terminal belongs to Before sending ephemeris information to the terminal, the network can first convert the ephemeris information expressed in "non-delta mode" into ephemeris information expressed in "delta mode", and then send the ephemeris information expressed in "delta mode" to terminal. It can be understood that in this case, if the transmission cost is not considered, the second network device can also directly send the ephemeris information expressed in "non-delta mode" to the terminal.

For example, as shown in Figure 6, assuming that the second network device receives ephemeris information 2 and ephemeris information 3 expressed in "non-delta mode" from the first network device, the second network device may use "non-delta mode". The ephemeris information 2 and ephemeris information 3 expressed in "delta mode" are converted into ephemeris information 2 and ephemeris information 3 expressed in "delta mode". For example, assuming that ephemeris information 2 is represented by {parameter 1, parameter 2, parameter 3}, then ephemeris information 3 can be represented as {delta1, delta2, delta3}, indicating that the specific value of ephemeris information 3 is {parameter 1+ delta1, parameter 2+delta2, parameter 3+delta3}. It can be seen that this representation superimposes delta on the basis of ephemeris information 2 to generate specific information of ephemeris information 3. In the actual application process, delta can also be superimposed on the ephemeris information 3 to generate specific information of the ephemeris information 2. The specific information can be set according to actual needs. Here, the embodiment of the present application does not impose specific restrictions.

It can be understood that the above is just an example of the second network device converting the acquired ephemeris information expressed in "non-delta mode" into ephemeris information expressed in "delta mode" and sending it to the terminal. Of course, the second The second network device can also convert the obtained ephemeris information expressed in "delta mode" into ephemeris information expressed in "non-delta mode" and send it to the terminal. The specific settings can be set according to actual needs.

S204. The second network device sends the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the second time period to the terminal.

The ephemeris information in the second time period is used by the terminal to perform an access operation of the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information.

For example, when sending the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell to the terminal, the second network device may broadcast the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell through a broadcast message, so that the terminal can obtain the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell; also The ephemeris information of the first satellite cell can be sent to the terminal in the form of a conditional switching indication, so that the terminal can obtain the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell. The details can be set according to actual needs.

For example, the conditional handover indication can be carried in dedicated Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling and sent to the terminal, or can be sent to the terminal independently of dedicated RRC signaling. The specific settings can be set according to actual needs.

It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, the reason why the broadcast message can be used to broadcast the second time period, The ephemeris information of a satellite cell is taken into consideration: the conditional switching behavior of terminals in the satellite cell is usually caused by the movement of the satellite, rather than the movement of the terminal itself. Therefore, there are usually a large number of terminals performing satellite cell operations in the same time period. Handover, in this case, broadcasting the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell through a broadcast message can avoid the waste of resources caused by notifying each terminal one by one, thereby saving communication resources.

S205. When determining the conditional handover, the terminal performs the access operation of the first satellite cell according to the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period.

For example, during the second time period, the number of ephemeris information of the first satellite cell may be one or multiple, and may be set according to actual needs.

For example, in one scenario, if the number of ephemeris information of the first satellite cell is at least two in the second time period, and the validity time of the at least two ephemeris information overlaps, the terminal determines the ephemeris information according to the second time period. Within the time period, when performing the access operation of the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell, the ephemeris information with the longest remaining validity period can be determined based on at least two pieces of ephemeris information, and the ephemeris information can be determined based on the remaining validity period. The ephemeris information with the longest duration performs the access operation of the first satellite cell. In this way, the validity of the ephemeris information can be better ensured based on the ephemeris information with the longest remaining validity period, so that the terminal's satellite cell handover can be better realized, and the success rate of the satellite cell handover is improved to a certain extent.

For example, as shown in Figure 7, it is assumed that the second time period of the ephemeris information provided by the second network device to the terminal is the T1-T2 time period, and the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the T1-T2 time period includes Ephemeris information 2 and ephemeris information 3, and the validity time of ephemeris information 2 and ephemeris information 3 overlap, when the terminal determines condition switching at time T7, because the remaining validity time of ephemeris information 3 is longer than that of ephemeris information If the remaining valid time of 2 is 2, then the access operation of the first satellite cell is performed according to the ephemeris information 3.

For example, in one scenario, it is assumed that the second time period of the ephemeris information provided by the second network device to the terminal cannot fully cover the time period of the terminal condition switching. In this case, the terminal switches according to the second time period. When performing the access operation of the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information, if the time when it is determined that the condition switching has not reached the starting time of the first time period, wait until the starting time of the first time period is reached; and according to Perform the access operation of the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information corresponding to the starting time; or, if the time when the conditional switching is determined is after the end time of the first time period, wait until new ephemeris information is obtained; And perform the access operation of the first satellite cell according to the new ephemeris information. In this way, by waiting to obtain effective ephemeris information, satellite cell handover can be performed better based on the effective ephemeris information, thereby improving the success rate of satellite cell handover to a certain extent.

For example, please refer to Figure 10. Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of ephemeris information in the second time period obtained by a terminal according to an embodiment of the present application. The second network device provides the second ephemeris information for the terminal. The time period is the T3-T2 time period, and the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the T3-T2 time period includes ephemeris information 2 and ephemeris information 3, and when the terminal determines the conditional switching at the conditional switching moment, it discovers the conditional switching The time has not reached the starting time T3 of the T3-T2 time period, indicating that the ephemeris information obtained by the terminal from the second network device this time has not yet taken effect, and then waits until the starting time T3 of the T3-T4 time period is reached; and The access operation of the first satellite cell is performed according to the ephemeris information 2 corresponding to the starting time T3, thereby improving the success rate of satellite cell handover to a certain extent.

Also shown in Figure 10, the second time period of the ephemeris information provided by the second network device to the terminal is the T3-T2 time period, and the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the T3-T2 time period includes ephemeris information 2 and ephemeris information 3, and when the terminal determines conditional switching at time T4, it finds that time T4 is after the end time T2 of the T3-T2 time period, indicating that the ephemeris information obtained by the terminal from the second network device this time has expired, then Wait until new ephemeris information is obtained; and perform the access operation of the first satellite cell based on the new ephemeris information, thereby improving the satellite cell handover efficiency to a certain extent. Exchange success rate.

For example, in one scenario, it is assumed that when the terminal determines the conditional switch, it finds that the remaining valid time of the obtained ephemeris information is less than the preset time, indicating that the ephemeris information may not be enough to support the terminal to complete the conditional switch. In this scenario, the terminal can wait until new ephemeris information is obtained; and perform an access operation to the first satellite cell based on the new ephemeris information. In this way, by waiting to obtain effective ephemeris information, satellite cell handover can be performed better based on the effective ephemeris information, thereby improving the success rate of satellite cell handover. The value of the preset duration may be configured by the first network device, or may be set according to the protocol. In addition, for contention random access and non-competition random access, the value of the preset duration can be the same or different, and can be set according to actual needs.

For example, please refer to Figure 11. Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of ephemeris information in the second time period obtained by another terminal provided by an embodiment of the present application. The second network device provides the third ephemeris information for the terminal. The second time period is the T1-T2 time period, and the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the T1-T2 time period includes ephemeris information 2. The terminal determines the conditional switching at the conditional switching moment shown in Figure 11. In view of the ephemeris information 2 The valid time ends at T2, and its remaining valid time is less than the preset time, indicating that the ephemeris information 2 may not be enough to support the terminal to complete conditional switching. In this scenario, the terminal can wait until it obtains a new ephemeris information; and perform the access operation of the first satellite cell according to the new ephemeris information.

When determining the conditional handover, the terminal performs the access operation of the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information. If the random access attempt is unsuccessful and the terminal attempts random access again, before sending the random access preamble, When using the preamble, it is necessary to determine whether the ephemeris information obtained previously is valid; if it is valid, continue to use the ephemeris information obtained previously to perform the access operation of the first satellite cell and try random access again; on the contrary, If it is invalid, new ephemeris information needs to be obtained again, and the new ephemeris information needs to be used to perform the access operation of the first satellite cell.

It can be seen that in the embodiment of the present application, when performing conditional handover, the second network device receives the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the first time period sent by the first network device; and obtains the ephemeris information from the first time period. Determine the second time period, and then send the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the second time period to the terminal, so that the terminal performs an access operation of the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information. Since the second time period determined by the terminal may include the time when the terminal subsequently performs conditional handover, the terminal can subsequently perform the access operation of the first satellite cell based on the obtained ephemeris information within the second time period. This can Satellite cell handover is better realized, thereby improving the success rate of satellite cell handover to a certain extent.

Figure 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a second network device 120 provided by an embodiment of the present application. For an example, please refer to Figure 12. The second network device 120 may include:

The receiving unit 1201 is configured to receive the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period sent by the first network device; wherein the first network device is the network device to which the first satellite cell belongs.

Determining unit 1202 is used to determine a second time period from the first time period.

The sending unit 1203 is configured to send the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period to the terminal; wherein the ephemeris information in the second time period is used by the terminal to perform access to the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information. operate.

Optionally, the sending unit 1203 is also configured to send an ephemeris request to the first network device; wherein the ephemeris request includes target ephemeris update information, and the target ephemeris update information is used by the first network device to generate the first time period. ephemeris information within.

Optionally, the determining unit 1202 is specifically configured to determine the intersection time period of the preset time period and the first time period based on the preset time period; and determine the intersection time period as the second time period.

Optionally, the ephemeris information in the second time period includes first ephemeris information and second ephemeris information, and the first ephemeris information The validity time of the information and the second ephemeris information overlap, and the device further includes a first processing unit.

The first processing unit is used to determine any moment within the overlapping time as the ephemeris update time to generate the overlapping first ephemeris information and second ephemeris information; to combine the first ephemeris information and the second ephemeris information , the ephemeris information with the earlier effective time is determined as the ephemeris information in the time period before the ephemeris update time, and the ephemeris information with the later effective time is determined as the ephemeris information in the time period after the ephemeris update time. information.

Optionally, the ephemeris information in the second time period includes third ephemeris information and fourth ephemeris information, and the validity time of the third ephemeris information and the fourth ephemeris information overlaps, and the device also includes a second ephemeris information. processing unit.

The second processing unit is configured to determine, among the third ephemeris information and the fourth ephemeris information, the ephemeris information that is available at the ephemeris update time of the second network device 120 and has the latest effective end time as the second time period. ephemeris information within; or, among the third ephemeris information and the fourth ephemeris information, the ephemeris information that is available at the ephemeris update time of the second network device 120 and is available after the ephemeris update time is determined as the third ephemeris information. Ephemeris information within two time periods.

The second network device 120 provided by the embodiment of the present application can perform the technical solution of the cell switching method on the second network device 120 side in any of the above embodiments. Its implementation principle and beneficial effects are the same as the cell switching method on the second network device 120 side. The implementation principles and beneficial effects of the method are similar. Please refer to the implementation principles and beneficial effects of the cell switching method on the second network device 120 side, which will not be described again here.

Figure 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal 130 provided by an embodiment of the present application. For an example, please refer to Figure 13. The terminal 130 may include:

The receiving unit 1301 is configured to receive the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the second time period sent by the second network device.

The processing unit 1302 is configured to perform an access operation of the first satellite cell according to the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period when conditional handover is determined.

Optionally, the number of ephemeris information in the second time period includes at least two, and the valid times of at least two pieces of ephemeris information overlap.

The processing unit 1302 is specifically configured to perform the access operation of the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information with the longest remaining validity period among the at least two pieces of ephemeris information.

Optionally, the processing unit 1302 is specifically configured to wait until the starting time of the second time period is reached if the time when it is determined that the condition is switched has not reached the starting time of the second time period; according to the corresponding starting time Perform the access operation of the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information; or, if it is determined that the time when the condition is switched is after the end time of the second time period, wait until new ephemeris information is obtained; and based on the new ephemeris information Perform the access operation of the first satellite cell based on the historical information.

Optionally, the processing unit 1302 is specifically configured to wait until the new ephemeris information is obtained if the remaining valid time period of the ephemeris information is less than the preset time period; and perform the operation of the first satellite cell according to the new ephemeris information. access operation.

The terminal 130 provided by the embodiment of the present application can implement the technical solution of the cell switching method on the terminal 130 side in any of the above embodiments. Its implementation principle and beneficial effects are similar to those of the cell switching method on the terminal 130 side. Please refer to the implementation principle and beneficial effects of the cell switching method on the terminal 130 side, which will not be described again here.

Figure 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a first network device 140 provided by an embodiment of the present application. For an example, please refer to Figure 14. The first network device 140 may include:

The acquisition unit 1401 is used to acquire the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period.

The sending unit 1402 is configured to send the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period to the second network device, The ephemeris information is used to perform an access operation of the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information.

Optionally, the acquisition unit 1401 is specifically configured to receive an ephemeris request sent by the second network device; wherein the ephemeris request includes target ephemeris update information; and generate the first time period based on the target ephemeris update information. Ephemeris information of a satellite cell.

The first network device 140 provided in the embodiment of the present application can execute the technical solution of the cell switching method on the first network device side in any of the above embodiments. Its implementation principle and beneficial effects are the same as those of the cell switching method on the first network device side. The implementation principles and beneficial effects are similar. Please refer to the implementation principles and beneficial effects of the cell switching method on the first network device side, which will not be described again here.

Embodiments of the present application provide a chip, which may include: a memory and a processor; the memory is used to store computer programs.

The processor is used to implement the cell switching method as described in the above embodiments when the computer program is executed. Its implementation principle and beneficial effects are similar to those of the cell switching method. Please refer to Implementation of the Cell Switching Method The principles and beneficial effects will not be described again here.

An embodiment of the present application also provides a chip module. The chip module may include: a memory and a processor; the memory is used to store computer programs.

The processor is used to implement the cell switching method as described in the above embodiments when the computer program is executed. Its implementation principle and beneficial effects are similar to those of the cell switching method. Please refer to Implementation of the Cell Switching Method The principles and beneficial effects will not be described again here.

Figure 15 is a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device 150 provided by an embodiment of the present application. For an example, please refer to Figure 15. The electronic device 150 may include a processor 1501 and a memory 1502; wherein,

The memory 1502 is used to store computer programs.

The processor 1501 is configured to read the computer program stored in the memory 1502, and execute the technical solution of the cell switching method in any of the above embodiments according to the computer program in the memory 1502.

Optionally, the memory 1502 can be independent or integrated with the processor 1501. When the memory 1502 is a device independent of the processor 1501, the electronic device 150 may also include a bus for connecting the memory 1502 and the processor 1501.

Optionally, this embodiment also includes: a communication interface, which can be connected to the processor 1501 through a bus. The processor 1501 can control the communication interface to implement the above-mentioned acquisition and sending functions of the electronic device 150 .

The electronic device 150 shown in the embodiment of the present application can implement the technical solution of the cell switching method in any of the above embodiments. Its implementation principle and beneficial effects are similar to those of the cell switching method. Please refer to the cell switching method. The implementation principles and beneficial effects will not be described in detail here.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium. Computer-executable instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium. When the processor executes the computer-executed instructions, the technology of the cell switching method in any of the above embodiments is implemented. The scheme, its implementation principle and beneficial effects are similar to those of the cell handover method. Please refer to the implementation principle and beneficial effects of the cell handover method, which will not be described again here.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product, including a computer program. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the technical solution for implementing the cell switching method in any of the above embodiments is provided. Its implementation principle and beneficial effects are the same as those of the cell switching method. The implementation principles and beneficial effects are similar. Please refer to the implementation principles and beneficial effects of the cell handover method, which will not be described again here.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only illustrative. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or can be integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored, or not implemented. On the other hand, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between each other shown or discussed may be through some interfaces, and the indirect coupling or communication connection of the devices or units may be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place, or they may be distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment. In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated into one processing unit, each unit can exist physically alone, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit. The above integrated unit can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of hardware plus software functional units.

The above integrated modules implemented in the form of software function modules can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. The above-mentioned software function modules are stored in a storage medium and include a number of instructions to cause a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) or a processor (English: processor) to execute the methods of various embodiments of the present application. Some steps.

It should be understood that the above-mentioned processor may be a central processing unit (English: Central Processing Unit, referred to as: CPU), or other general-purpose processor, digital signal processor (English: Digital Signal Processor, referred to as: DSP), special-purpose processor Integrated circuit (English: Application Specific Integrated Circuit, abbreviation: ASIC), etc. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor, etc. The steps of the method disclosed in conjunction with the invention can be directly embodied and executed by a hardware processor, or executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor.

The memory may include high-speed RAM memory, and may also include non-volatile storage NVM, such as at least one disk memory, which may also be a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The bus can be an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, etc. The bus can be divided into address bus, data bus, control bus, etc. For ease of presentation, the bus in the drawings of this application is not limited to only one bus or one type of bus.

The above computer-readable storage medium can be implemented by any type of volatile or non-volatile storage device or their combination, such as static random access memory (SRAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) , erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), read-only memory (ROM), magnetic memory, flash memory, magnetic disk or optical disk. Storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer.

Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solution of the present application, but not to limit it; although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that: The technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments can still be modified, or some or all of the technical features can be equivalently replaced; and these modifications or substitutions do not deviate from the essence of the corresponding technical solutions from the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application. scope.

Claims (19)

A cell switching method, characterized by including: Receive ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period sent by the first network device; wherein the first network device is the network device to which the first satellite cell belongs; determining a second time period from the first time period; Send the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period to the terminal; wherein the ephemeris information in the second time period is used by the terminal to perform the third operation based on the ephemeris information. Access operation of a satellite cell. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that before receiving the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period sent by the first network device, the method further includes: Send an ephemeris request to the first network device; wherein the ephemeris request includes target ephemeris update information, and the target ephemeris update information is used by the first network device to generate information within the first time period. ephemeris information. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that determining the second time period from the first time period includes: Based on the preset time period, determine the intersection time period of the preset time period and the first time period; The intersection time period is determined as the second time period. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the ephemeris information in the second time period includes first ephemeris information and second ephemeris information, and the first ephemeris information and the The valid time of the second ephemeris information overlaps; Wherein, before sending the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period to the terminal, the method further includes: Determine any moment within the overlapping time as the ephemeris update time that generates the overlapping first ephemeris information and second ephemeris information; Among the first ephemeris information and the second ephemeris information, the ephemeris information with the earlier effective time is determined as the ephemeris information in the time period before the ephemeris update time, and the effective time is later The ephemeris information is determined as the ephemeris information in the time period after the ephemeris update time. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the ephemeris information in the second time period includes third ephemeris information and fourth ephemeris information, and the third ephemeris information and the The valid time of the fourth ephemeris information overlaps, and the method further includes: Among the third ephemeris information and the fourth ephemeris information, the ephemeris information that is available at the ephemeris update time of the second network device and has the latest effective end time is determined as the ephemeris information within the second time period. Ephemeris information; or, Among the third ephemeris information and the fourth ephemeris information, the ephemeris information available at the ephemeris update time of the second network device and available after the ephemeris update time is determined as the Ephemeris information in the second time period. A cell switching method, characterized by including: Receive the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the second time period sent by the second network device; When the conditional handover is determined, the access operation of the first satellite cell is performed according to the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period. The method according to claim 6, wherein the number of ephemeris information in the second time period includes at least two, and the valid time of the at least two ephemeris information overlaps; Wherein, performing the access operation of the first satellite cell according to the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period includes: The access operation of the first satellite cell is performed based on the ephemeris information with the longest remaining validity period among the at least two ephemeris information. The method according to claim 6, wherein performing the access operation of the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period includes: If the time when the determination condition is switched does not reach the starting time of the second time period, wait until the starting time of the second time period is reached; according to the ephemeris information corresponding to the starting time Perform the access operation of the first satellite cell; or, If the time when the determined condition is switched is after the end time of the second time period, wait until new ephemeris information is obtained; and execute the first satellite cell according to the new ephemeris information. access operation. The method according to claim 6, wherein performing the access operation of the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period includes: If the remaining valid time of the ephemeris information is less than the preset time, wait until new ephemeris information is obtained; and perform the access operation of the first satellite cell according to the new ephemeris information. A cell switching method, characterized by including: Obtain the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period; Send ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period to the second network device, where the ephemeris information is used to perform an access operation of the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that said obtaining the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period includes: Receive an ephemeris request sent by the second network device; wherein the ephemeris request includes target ephemeris update information; The ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the first time period is generated based on the target ephemeris update information. A second network device, characterized by including: A receiving unit configured to receive the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period sent by the first network device; wherein the first network device is the network device to which the first satellite cell belongs; a determining unit configured to determine a second time period from the first time period; A sending unit configured to send the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period to the terminal; wherein the ephemeris information in the second time period is used by the terminal based on the ephemeris The information performs the access operation of the first satellite cell. A terminal, characterized by including: A receiving unit configured to receive the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the second time period sent by the second network device; A processing unit configured to perform an access operation of the first satellite cell according to the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell in the second time period when conditional handover is determined. A first network device, characterized by including: The acquisition unit is used to acquire the ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period; A sending unit configured to send ephemeris information of the first satellite cell within the first time period to the second network device, where the ephemeris information is used to perform access of the first satellite cell based on the ephemeris information. Enter operation. A chip is characterized by including: a memory and a processor; The memory is used to store computer programs; The processor is configured to implement the cell switching method as described in any one of the above claims 1-5 when the computer program is executed; or, implement the cell switching method as described in any one of the above claims 6-9. Handover method; or, implement the cell handover method as described in any one of the above claims 10-11. A chip module is characterized by including: a memory and a processor; The memory is used to store computer programs; The processor is configured to implement the method described in any one of the above claims 1-5 when the computer program is executed. Cell switching method; or, implement the cell switching method as described in any one of the above claims 6-9; or, implement the cell switching method as described in any one of the above claims 10-11. An electronic device, characterized by including a processor and a memory; wherein, The memory is used to store computer programs; The processor is configured to read the computer program stored in the memory, and execute the cell switching method according to any one of the above claims 1-5 according to the computer program in the memory; or, execute the above claim 6 -9 The cell switching method described in any one of claims 10-11, or performing the cell switching method described in any one of claims 10-11. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that computer-executable instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium. When the processor executes the computer-executable instructions, the implementation of any one of the above claims 1-5 is achieved. or implement the cell switching method as described in any one of the above claims 6-9; or implement the cell switching method as described in any one of the above claims 10-11. A computer program product, including a computer program, characterized in that, when executed by a processor, the computer program implements the cell switching method as described in any one of claims 1-5; or, implements the cell switching method as claimed in claim 6 The cell switching method as described in any one of -9; or, the cell switching method as described in any one of the above claims 10-11 is implemented.