WO2025208507A1 - Communication method, communication device, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided in the present disclosure are a communication method and device, and a storage medium. The method is executed by a terminal. The method comprises: acquiring first information, wherein the first information is an inference result outputted by a first model, and the inference result comprises the degree of proximity between a predicted measurement value and a true value of a first cell and/or a first beam; and on the basis of the first information, determining whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam. Thus, the present disclosure can reduce the measurement amount (e.g., reducing the types of measurements and/or reducing the number of measurements) while improving the accuracy of the measurements.

Description

Communication method, communication device and storage medium Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method, communication equipment, and storage medium.

Background Art

In the field of communications technology, artificial intelligence (AI) models can be used for prediction and inference. However, the reliability of AI prediction and inference results is low, which can lead to the network scheduling incorrect resources or switching to the wrong cell, resulting in degraded system performance.

Summary of the Invention

The present disclosure provides a communication method, a communication device, and a storage medium.

According to a first aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, a communication method is proposed, which is executed by a terminal. The method includes: obtaining first information, where the first information is an inference result output by a first model, and the inference result includes a degree of closeness between a predicted measurement value of the first cell and/or the first beam and a true value; based on the first information, determining whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam.

In the above method, the first model can be used to infer the first cell and/or the first beam, which can improve the accuracy of the measurement; by determining whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam based on the first information, for example, when the first information indicates that the predicted measurement value is close to the actual value, the first cell and/or the first beam may not be measured, and the measurement amount can be reduced (for example, reducing the types of measurements and/or reducing the number of measurements).

According to the second aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, a terminal is proposed, comprising a processing module, for: obtaining first information, the first information being an inference result output by a first model, the inference result including a degree of closeness between a predicted measurement value of the first cell and/or the first beam and a true value; and determining whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam based on the first information.

According to the third aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, a communication device is proposed, which includes: one or more processors; wherein the one or more processors are used to call instructions so that the communication device executes a method as described in any one of the first aspects of the present disclosure, or is used to execute a method as described in any one of the second aspects of the present disclosure.

According to a fourth aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, a storage medium is proposed, which stores instructions. When the instructions are executed on a communication device, the communication device executes the method of the first aspect.

According to a fifth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a computer program product is proposed, characterized in that it includes a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, it implements any one of the methods in the embodiments of the first aspect of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and/or additional aspects and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent and readily understood from the following description of the embodiments in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of some communication systems provided by embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG2 is an interactive diagram of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

3a-3c are flowcharts of some communication methods provided by embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG4 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG5a is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG5 b is a schematic structural diagram of a chip provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a communication method, a communication device, a communication system, and a storage medium.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure proposes a communication method, which is executed by a terminal, and includes: obtaining first information, first The information is the inference result output by the first model, and the inference result includes the degree of proximity between the predicted measurement value of the first cell and/or the first beam and the true value; based on the first information, determine whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam.

In the above embodiments, the first model can be used to infer the first cell and/or the first beam, which can reduce the amount of measurements (for example, reducing the types of measurements and/or reducing the number of measurements). By determining whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam based on the first information, the accuracy of the measurement can be improved.

In combination with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, determining whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam based on the first information includes: determining to skip measuring the first cell and/or the first beam when the first information does not meet the first condition.

In the above embodiment, the first information can be used to determine whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam. For example, if the first information does not meet the first condition, the measurement of the first cell and/or the first beam can be skipped, which can reduce the measurement amount (for example, reduce the types of measurements and/or reduce the number of measurements) while improving the accuracy of the measurement.

In combination with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the method also includes: sending second information to the network device, the second information including a predicted measurement value and a first indication, the first indication being used to indicate that the predicted measurement value is obtained by reasoning with the first model, and/or the first indication being used to indicate the first information.

For example, the first indication may indicate that the predicted measurement value is obtained by inference, or may indicate the degree of proximity between the predicted measurement value and the true value. For example, when the degree of proximity between the predicted measurement value and the true value (i.e., the first information) is high (or satisfies certain conditions), it means that there is no need to measure the cell or beam again. The terminal may send the predicted measurement value, the indication that the predicted measurement value is obtained by inference, and/or the degree of proximity between the predicted measurement value and the true value to the network device.

For example, "the first indication is used to indicate the first information" may mean: the terminal can carry the value of the first information in the first indication and send it to the network device; or, the first indication is the first information, which means that the terminal can send the first information directly to the network device.

In the above embodiment, the reporting of the predicted measurement value can be achieved.

In combination with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, determining whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam based on the first information includes: when the first information satisfies the first condition, determining to measure the first cell and/or the first beam to obtain an actual measurement result.

In the above embodiment, whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam can be determined by the first information. For example, if the first information does not meet the first condition, the measurement of the first cell and/or the first beam can be skipped, which can reduce the measurement amount (for example, reduce the types of measurements and/or reduce the number of measurements) while improving the accuracy of the measurement.

In combination with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the method further includes: sending third information to the network device, the third information including the actual measurement result and a second indication, the second indication being used to indicate that the actual measurement result is obtained through measurement.

In the above embodiment, the measurement results can be reported.

In combination with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the method also includes: determining fourth information according to instructions of the network device or protocol agreement, the fourth information is related to the first condition, and the first condition is used to assist the terminal in determining whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam based on the first information.

In the above embodiment, whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam can be determined by determining the fourth information.

In combination with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the fourth information corresponding to different cells and/or beams is different.

In the above embodiment, the corresponding fourth information can be determined by cell or beam.

In combination with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the inference result also includes at least one of the following: a predicted measurement value; an identifier of the cell and/or beam with the largest predicted measurement value.

In the above embodiment, the predicted measurement value and the identifier of the cell and/or beam with the maximum predicted measurement value may be obtained through the first model.

In combination with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the predicted measurement value is obtained by the terminal through reasoning by a first model deployed in the terminal, or the predicted measurement value is obtained by the terminal from the network device and is obtained by the network device through reasoning by the first model deployed in the network device.

In the above-described embodiments, predicted measurement values may be obtained.

In combination with some embodiments of the first aspect, in some embodiments, the first information includes any one of the following: confidence; accuracy; possibility.

In the above-described embodiment, the first information may be determined.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure proposes a terminal, comprising a processing module, for: obtaining first information, the first information being an inference result output by a first model, the inference result including a degree of closeness between a predicted measurement value of a first cell and/or a first beam and a true value; information, and determines whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure proposes a communication device, comprising: one or more processors; wherein the one or more processors are used to call instructions to enable the communication device to execute any one of the methods in the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure proposes a communication system, which includes: a terminal and a network device; wherein the terminal is configured to execute the method described in the first aspect and the optional implementation of the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure proposes a storage medium, wherein the computer storage medium stores computer-executable instructions; after the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor, the method described in the first aspect and the optional implementation of the first aspect can be executed.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure proposes a computer program product, characterized in that it includes a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, it implements any one of the methods in the embodiments of the first aspect of the present disclosure.

It is understandable that the above-mentioned terminals, network devices, communication devices, communication systems, and storage media are all used to execute the methods proposed in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Therefore, the beneficial effects that can be achieved can refer to the beneficial effects in the corresponding methods and will not be repeated here.

The present disclosure provides a communication method, communication device, communication system, and storage medium. In some embodiments, the terms "communication method," "information processing method," and "communication method" are interchangeable; the terms "terminal," "network device," and "communication device" are interchangeable; and the terms "information processing system" and "communication system" are interchangeable.

The embodiments of the present disclosure are not exhaustive and are merely illustrative of some embodiments, and are not intended to be a specific limitation on the scope of protection of the present disclosure. In the absence of contradiction, each step in a certain embodiment can be implemented as an independent embodiment, and the steps can be arbitrarily combined. For example, a solution after removing some steps in a certain embodiment can also be implemented as an independent embodiment, and the order of the steps in a certain embodiment can be arbitrarily exchanged. In addition, the optional implementation methods in a certain embodiment can be arbitrarily combined; in addition, the embodiments can be arbitrarily combined. For example, some or all steps of different embodiments can be arbitrarily combined, and a certain embodiment can be arbitrarily combined with the optional implementation methods of other embodiments.

In each embodiment of the present disclosure, unless otherwise specified or provided for by logic, the terms and/or descriptions between the embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form a new embodiment based on their inherent logical relationships.

The terms used in the embodiments of the present disclosure are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the present disclosure.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, unless otherwise specified, elements expressed in the singular, such as "a", "an", "the", "above", "said", "the", "the", etc., may mean "one and only one", or "one or more", "at least one", etc. For example, when using articles such as "a", "an", "the" in English in translation, the noun following the article may be understood as a singular expression or a plural expression.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, “plurality” refers to two or more.

In some embodiments, the terms “at least one of,” “at least one of,” “at least one of,” “one or more,” “a plurality of,” “multiple,” etc. may be used interchangeably.

In the embodiments of the present disclosure, descriptions such as “at least one of A, B, C…”, “A and/or B and/or C…”, etc. include the situation where any one of A, B, C… exists alone, and also include any combination of any multiple of A, B, C…, and each situation can exist alone; for example, “at least one of A, B, C” includes the situation where A exists alone, B exists alone, C exists alone, the combination of A and B, the combination of A and C, the combination of B and C, and the combination of A, B, and C; for example, A and/or B includes the situation where A exists alone, B exists alone, and the combination of A and B.

In some embodiments, descriptions such as "in one case A, in another case B," or "in response to one case A, in response to another case B," may include the following technical solutions depending on the situation: executing A independently of B (in some embodiments, A); executing B independently of A (in some embodiments, B); selectively executing A and B (in some embodiments, selecting between A and B); and executing both A and B (in some embodiments, A and B). The same applies when there are more branches, such as A, B, and C.

The prefixes such as "first" and "second" in the embodiments of the present disclosure are only used to distinguish different description objects and do not constitute any restriction on the position, order, priority, quantity or content of the description objects. For the statement of the description object, please refer to the description in the context of the claims or embodiments, and no unnecessary restriction should be constituted due to the use of prefixes. For example, if the description object is a "field", the ordinal number before the "field" in the "first field" and the "second field" does not limit the position or order between the "fields". "First" and "second" do not limit whether the "fields" they modify are in the same message, nor do they limit the order of the "first field" and the "second field". For another example, if the description object is a "level", the ordinal number before the "level" in the "first level" and the "second level" does not limit the priority between the "levels". For another example, the number of description objects is not limited by the ordinal number and can be one or more. Taking "first device" as an example, the number of "devices" can be one or more. In addition, the objects modified by different prefixes can be the same or different. For example, if the description object is "device", then "the first device" and "the second device" can be the same device or different devices, and their types can be the same or different. For another example, if the description object is "information", then "the first information" and "the second information" can be the same information. The content of the information may be the same or different.

In some embodiments, “including A,” “comprising A,” “used to indicate A,” and “carrying A” can be interpreted as directly carrying A or indirectly indicating A.

In some embodiments, terms such as "in response to...", "in response to determining...", "in the case of...", "at the time of...", "when...", "if...", "if...", etc. can be used interchangeably.

In some embodiments, terms such as "greater than", "greater than or equal to", "not less than", "more than", "more than or equal to", "not less than", "higher than", "higher than or equal to", "not less than", and "above" can be replaced with each other, and terms such as "less than", "less than or equal to", "not greater than", "less than", "less than or equal to", "not more than", "lower than", "lower than or equal to", "not higher than", and "below" can be replaced with each other.

In some embodiments, devices, etc. can be interpreted as physical or virtual, and their names are not limited to the names recorded in the embodiments. Terms such as "device", "equipment", "device", "circuit", "network element", "node", "function", "unit", "section", "system", "network", "chip", "chip system", "entity", and "subject" can be used interchangeably.

In some embodiments, the terms “access network device (AN device)”, “radio access network device (RAN device)”, “base station (BS)”, “radio base station”, “fixed station”, “node”, “access point”, “transmission point (TP)”, “reception point (RP)”, “transmission/reception point (TRP)”, “panel”, “antenna panel”, “antenna array”, “cell”, “macro cell”, “small cell”, “femto cell”, “pico cell”, “sector”, “cell group”, “carrier”, “component carrier”, “bandwidth part (BWP)” and the like may be used interchangeably.

In some embodiments, the terms "terminal", "terminal device", "user equipment (UE)", "user terminal" "mobile station (MS)", "mobile terminal (MT)", subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, client, etc. can be used interchangeably.

In some embodiments, the access network device, the core network device, or the network device can be replaced by a terminal. For example, the various embodiments of the present disclosure can also be applied to a structure in which the communication between the access network device, the core network device, or the network device and the terminal is replaced by communication between multiple terminals (for example, it can also be called device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), etc.). In this case, it can also be set as a structure in which the terminal has all or part of the functions of the access network device. In addition, language such as "uplink" and "downlink" can also be replaced by language corresponding to communication between terminals (for example, "side"). For example, uplink channels, downlink channels, etc. can be replaced by side channels, and uplinks, downlinks, etc. can be replaced by side links.

In some embodiments, the terminal may be replaced by an access network device, a core network device, or a network device. In this case, the access network device, the core network device, or the network device may have a structure that has all or part of the functions of the terminal.

In some embodiments, the names of information, etc. are not limited to the names described in the embodiments, and terms such as "information", "message", "signal", "signaling", "report", "configuration", "indication", "instruction", "command", "channel", "parameter", "domain", "field", "symbol", "symbol", "codeword", "codebook", "codeword", "codepoint", "bit", "data", "program", and "chip" can be used interchangeably.

In some embodiments, terms such as "uplink", "uplink", "physical uplink" can be interchangeable with each other, and terms such as "downlink", "downlink", "physical downlink" can be interchangeable with each other, and terms such as "side", "sidelink", "side communication", "sidelink communication", "direct connection", "direct link", "direct communication", "direct link communication" can be interchangeable with each other.

In some embodiments, the terms "downlink control information (DCI)", "downlink (DL) assignment", "DL DCI", "uplink (UL) grant", "UL DCI" and the like may be used interchangeably.

In some embodiments, the terms "physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)", "DL data", etc. can be used interchangeably, and the terms "physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)", "UL data", etc. can be used interchangeably.

In some embodiments, the terms "radio", "wireless", "radio access network (RAN)", "access network (AN)", "RAN-based" and the like may be used interchangeably.

In some embodiments, terms such as "synchronization signal (SS)", "synchronization signal block (SSB)", "reference signal (RS)", "pilot", and "pilot signal" can be used interchangeably.

In some embodiments, terms such as "moment", "time point", "time", and "time position" can be replaced with each other, and terms such as "duration", "period", "time window", "window", and "time" can be replaced with each other.

In some embodiments, "obtain", "get", "obtain", "receive", "transmit", "bidirectional transmission", "send and/or receive" can be interchangeable, and can be interpreted as receiving from other entities, obtaining from a protocol, obtaining by self-processing, autonomous implementation, etc.

In some embodiments, terms such as "send", "transmit", "report", "download", "transmit", "bidirectional transmission", "send and/or receive" can be used interchangeably.

In some embodiments, "predetermined" and "preset" can be interpreted as pre-specified in a protocol, etc., or can be interpreted as a pre-set action performed by a device, etc.

In some embodiments, determining may be interpreted as judging, calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, searching, looking up, searching, inquiry, ascertaining, receiving, transmitting, inputting, outputting, accessing, resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, comparing, “assuming,” “expecting,” “considering,” broadcasting, notifying, communicating, forwarding, configuring, reconfiguring, allocating, mapping, assigning, and the like, but is not limited thereto.

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

In some embodiments, "network" can be interpreted as devices included in the network (eg, access network equipment, core network equipment, etc.).

In some embodiments, "not expecting to receive" can be interpreted as not receiving on time domain resources and/or frequency domain resources, or as not performing subsequent processing on the data after receiving it; "not expecting to send" can be interpreted as not sending, or as sending but not expecting the recipient to respond to the content sent.

In some embodiments, obtaining data, information, etc. may comply with the laws and regulations of the country where the data is obtained.

In some embodiments, data, information, etc. may be obtained after obtaining the user's consent. In order to solve the above problems, the present disclosure proposes a communication method, a communication device, a communication system, and a storage medium.

FIG1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an architecture of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG1 , a communication system 100 may include a terminal 101 and a network device 102 .

For example, an AI model can be deployed on the terminal proposed in the present disclosure to perform inference on the cell or beam to obtain the inference result, that is, the first information.

For example, an AI model can be deployed on the network device proposed in the present disclosure to perform inference on cells or beams to obtain inference results, i.e., first information.

In the above embodiment, the terminal can obtain the first information. For example, the terminal can obtain the first information from an AI model deployed on the terminal, or can also obtain the first information from an AI model deployed on a network device.

In some embodiments, the terminal includes, for example, a mobile phone, a wearable device, an Internet of Things device, a car with communication capabilities, a smart car, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver capabilities, a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal device in industrial control, a wireless terminal device in self-driving, a wireless terminal device in remote medical surgery, a wireless terminal device in a smart grid, a wireless terminal device in transportation safety, a wireless terminal device in a smart city, and a wireless terminal device in a smart city. At least one of a wireless terminal device in a smart home, but not limited to this.

In some embodiments, the access network device is, for example, a node or device that accesses a terminal to a wireless network. The access network device may include an evolved Node B (eNB), a next generation evolved Node B (ng-eNB), a next generation Node B (gNB), a node B (NB), a home node B (HNB), a home evolved node B (HeNB), a wireless backhaul device, a radio network controller (RNC), a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a base band unit (BBU), a mobile switching center, a base station in a 6G communication system, an open base station (Open RAN), a cloud base station (Cloud RAN), a base station in other communication systems, and at least one of an access node in a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system, but is not limited thereto.

In some embodiments, the technical solution of the present disclosure may be applicable to the Open RAN architecture. In this case, the interfaces between or within the access network devices involved in the embodiments of the present disclosure may become internal interfaces of Open RAN, and the processes and information interactions between these internal interfaces may be implemented through software or programs.

In some embodiments, the access network device may be composed of a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU), where the CU may also be called a control unit. The CU-DU structure may be used to split the protocol layers of the access network device, with some functions of the protocol layers centrally controlled by the CU, and the remaining functions of some or all of the protocol layers distributed in the DU, which is centrally controlled by the CU, but is not limited to this.

In some embodiments, a core network device may be a single device including one or more network elements, or may be multiple devices or device groups, each including all or part of one or more network elements. A network element may be virtual or physical. The core network may include, for example, at least one of an Evolved Packet Core (EPC), a 5G Core Network (5GCN), or a Next Generation Core (NGC).

In some embodiments, the above-mentioned one or more network elements may include AMF, UPF, MME, etc., and may also include other network elements, such as Policy Control Function (PCF), Application Function (AF), Network Application Function (NAF), Authentication and Key management for Applications Anchor Function (AAnF), Bootstrapping Server Functionality (BSF), Session Management Function (SMF), etc.

It can be understood that the communication system described in the embodiment of the present disclosure is for the purpose of more clearly illustrating the technical solution of the embodiment of the present disclosure, and does not constitute a limitation on the technical solution proposed in the embodiment of the present disclosure. Ordinary technicians in this field can know that with the evolution of the system architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solution proposed in the embodiment of the present disclosure is also applicable to similar technical problems.

The following embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to the communication system 100 shown in Figure 1, or a portion thereof, but are not limited thereto. The entities shown in Figure 1 are illustrative only. The communication system may include all or part of the entities shown in Figure 1, or may include other entities outside of Figure 1. The number and form of the entities may be arbitrary. The connection relationship between the entities is illustrative only. The entities may be connected or disconnected, and the connection may be in any manner, including direct or indirect, wired or wireless.

The embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), LTE-Beyond (LTE-B), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, the fourth generation mobile communication system (4G), the fifth generation mobile communication system (5G), 5G new radio (NR), future radio access (FRA), new radio access technology (RAT), new radio (NR), new radio access (NX), future generation radio access (FRA), and other technologies. The following systems may be used for communication: IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20 (Ultra-WideBand), Bluetooth, PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network), D2D (Device-to-Device), M2M (Machine-to-Machine), IoT (Internet of Things), V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything), other communication methods, and next-generation systems based on these systems. Furthermore, multiple systems may be combined (for example, a combination of LTE or LTE-A with 5G).

Machine learning algorithms are one of the most important implementation methods of artificial intelligence technology. Machine learning can obtain models through a large amount of training data, and through the models, events can be predicted. In many fields, the models trained by machine learning can obtain very accurate prediction results. fruit.

For example, wireless communication networks can use AI for prediction and inference to improve system performance. Training AI models requires collecting large amounts of data, and different application scenarios require different data. These applications can include mobile communication system processes such as beam management, CSI reporting, CSI compression, positioning, handover, mobility management, and radio resource management.

During beam management, the terminal can use AI models to reduce the number of measured beams. The terminal or base station can then use AI reasoning to determine the optimal beam. Beam prediction includes spatial and time-domain beam prediction. In spatial beam prediction, the terminal can measure a small number of beams and use these measurements to predict the measurement results of other beams. In time-domain beam prediction, the terminal can use historical beam measurements to predict future beam measurement results.

During mobility, a terminal can predict cell measurement results, target cells for handover, or mobility events. Predicting future cell measurement results is called time-domain prediction. Alternatively, predicting measurement results for unmeasured cells is called spatial-domain prediction. Mobility events include measurement reporting condition satisfaction, handover failure, cell dwell time, and radio link failure.

The inference results output by AI can correspond to an indicator, which indicates the degree of certainty of AI that the inference results are consistent with the true value. This indicator can be confidence, accuracy, or probability.

However, when the terminal uses AI to reduce measurements, and the credibility of the AI-inferred measurement results is low, if the terminal continues to use the AI-inferred results to report measurements, it may cause the network to schedule incorrect resources or switch to the wrong cell, resulting in degraded system performance.

To address the above issues, the present disclosure proposes a communication method that can avoid system performance degradation caused by low AI reasoning credibility.

The specific content of this method is as follows.

FIG2 is an interactive diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG2 , the embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a communication method for a communication system 100, which may include a terminal 101 and a network device 102. The method includes:

Step 2101: The terminal obtains first information.

In some embodiments, the predicted measurement value is obtained by the terminal through reasoning by a first model deployed in the terminal, or the predicted measurement value is obtained by the terminal from the network device and is obtained by the network device through reasoning by the first model deployed in the network device.

In other words, the first model can be deployed on a terminal or on a network device.

In some embodiments, the terminal can obtain first information from the first model, and the first information can be an inference result output by the first model. For example, the first model can be an AI model, and the first model can be used to predict the first cell and/or the first beam.

In the above embodiment, the inference result includes the degree of closeness between the predicted measurement value of the first cell and/or the first beam and the true value, that is, the first model can determine the degree of closeness between the predicted measurement value and the true value after obtaining the predicted measurement value of the first cell and/or the first beam.

In some embodiments, the inference result further includes at least one of the following: a predicted measurement value; an identifier of the cell and/or beam with the largest predicted measurement value.

In other words, the model can predict the first cell to obtain a predicted measurement value, such as the predicted cell's reference signal received power, reference signal received quality, signal to interference plus noise ratio, etc.; the terminal can use the first model to obtain the beam identifier or cell identifier with the strongest predicted signal, such as the predicted cell's reference signal received power, and determine the cell with the highest reference signal received power based on the predicted value, etc.

In some embodiments, the first information may be at least one of confidence, accuracy, and probability, and is used to indicate the degree of consistency between the predicted value determined by the model and the true value.

Step 2102: The terminal sends second information to the network device.

Second information is sent to the network device, where the second information includes a predicted measurement value and a first indication, where the first indication is used to indicate that the predicted measurement value is obtained by reasoning with the first model, and/or the first indication is used to indicate the first information.

In other words, the terminal can report the second information to the network device, and can report the prediction result and the first indication, that is, it can not only report the predicted measurement value to the network device, but also report to the network device the predicted measurement value obtained by reasoning with the first model.

For example, the first indication may indicate that the predicted measurement value is obtained by inference, or may indicate the degree of proximity between the predicted measurement value and the true value. For example, when the degree of proximity between the predicted measurement value and the true value (i.e., the first information) is high (or satisfies certain conditions), it means that there is no need to measure the cell or beam again. The terminal may send the predicted measurement value, the indication that the predicted measurement value is obtained by inference, and/or the degree of proximity between the predicted measurement value and the true value to the network device.

For example, "the first indication is used to indicate the first information" may mean: the terminal can carry the value of the first information in the first indication and send it to the network device; or, the first indication is the first information, which means that the terminal can send the first information directly to the network device.

In some embodiments, this step is optional, and the terminal may not report the second information.

Step 2103: The terminal determines the fourth information.

In some embodiments, fourth information can be determined based on instructions from a network device or a protocol agreement, where the fourth information is related to the first condition, and the first condition is used to assist the terminal in determining whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam based on the first information.

In some embodiments, the fourth information may be any one of the first threshold and the first level.

In other words, the first threshold may be configured by the network or specified by the protocol; the first level may be configured by the network or specified by the protocol.

In some embodiments, optionally, the first threshold may be a similarity threshold between the predicted measurement value and the actual value, and the first level may be a similarity level between the predicted measurement value and the actual value.

In some embodiments, the fourth information corresponding to different cells and/or beams is different, that is, the corresponding fourth information can be determined based on the identification of the cell and/or beam.

In some embodiments, the specific value of the first threshold can be determined based on actual conditions, and this disclosure does not limit this.

In some embodiments, the specific level of the first level can be determined according to actual conditions, and this disclosure does not limit this.

In step 2104 , the terminal determines whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam.

In some embodiments, whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam may be determined based on the first information.

In some embodiments, if the first information does not satisfy the first condition, it can be determined to skip measuring the first cell and/or the first beam.

In some embodiments, the fourth information is related to the first condition, as follows.

In some embodiments, optionally, the first condition may be that the first information is less than or equal to a first threshold, that is, when the similarity between the predicted measurement value obtained by the first model and the actual value is less than or equal to the first threshold, it is determined that the first information satisfies the first condition.

In other words, when the first information does not meet the first condition, that is, the similarity between the predicted measurement value obtained by the first model and the actual value is greater than the first threshold, it means that the predicted measurement value is relatively accurate and does not need to be measured again. At this time, the predicted measurement value can be directly used for reporting, and it can be determined to skip measuring the first cell and/or the first beam.

In some embodiments, when the first information satisfies the first condition, it is determined to measure the first cell and/or the first beam to obtain an actual measurement result.

In other words, when the similarity between the predicted measurement value obtained by the first model and the actual value is less than or equal to the first threshold, it is considered that the predicted measurement value is significantly different from the actual value and the prediction result is inaccurate. At this time, the first cell and/or the first beam can be measured to obtain the actual measurement value for reporting.

In some embodiments, optionally, the first condition may also be that the similarity level between the predicted measurement value obtained by the first model and the actual value is lower than or equal to the first level. For example, the similarity level between the predicted measurement value and the actual value can be divided into high level, medium level and low level, and the first level is set to high level. Then, when the similarity level between the predicted measurement value and the actual value is lower than or equal to the first level, it is considered that the predicted measurement value is greatly different from the actual value, and the prediction result is inaccurate. At this time, the first cell and/or the first beam can be measured to obtain the actual measurement value for reporting.

In the above embodiment, when the first condition is not met, that is, the similarity level between the predicted measurement value and the actual value is higher than the first level, the predicted measurement value is considered to be relatively accurate and no further measurement is required. In this case, the predicted measurement value can be directly used for reporting, and it can be determined that measurement of the first cell and/or the first beam can be skipped. This can reduce the amount of measurements. For example, the measurement amount can include the type of measurement and/or the number of measurements.

In some embodiments, the first condition can be any one of the above two conditions. For example, the first condition can be determined by determining the fourth information. For example, when the fourth information is determined to be the first threshold, the first condition can be that the first information is less than or equal to the first threshold; when the fourth information is determined to be the first level, the first condition can be determined to be that the similarity level between the predicted measurement value obtained by the first model and the actual value is lower than or equal to the first level.

In step 2105 , the terminal determines to measure the first cell and/or the first beam to obtain actual measurement results.

In some embodiments, when the first information satisfies the first condition, it can be determined to measure the first cell and/or the first beam to obtain an actual measurement result.

Step 2106: The terminal sends third information to the network device.

In some embodiments, the terminal may send third information to the network device, the third information including the actual measurement result and the second indication. The second indicator is used to indicate that the actual measurement result is obtained through measurement.

In other words, when determining that the predicted measurement value differs significantly from the actual value, the terminal may measure the first cell and/or the first beam to obtain an actual measurement result, and report the actual measurement result to the network device. In addition, the terminal may notify the network device through a second indication that the actual measurement result is obtained through measurement.

In some embodiments, this step is optional, and the terminal may not report the third information.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, step 2102 is executed after step 2101, and the execution order with other steps is not limited.

In some embodiments, step 2103 is performed before step 2104, and the execution order with other steps is not limited.

The method involved in the embodiments of the present disclosure may include at least one of steps 2101 to 2106. For example, step 2104 can be implemented as an independent embodiment, steps 2101+2102+2103+2104+2105+2106 can be implemented as an independent embodiment, steps 2101+2102+2103+2104+2105 can be implemented as an independent embodiment, 2101+2102+2103+2104 can be implemented as an independent embodiment, 2101+2103+2104 can be implemented as an independent embodiment, and 2101+2104 can be implemented as an independent embodiment, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

Figure 3a is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 3a, the embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a communication method for a terminal, the method comprising:

Step 3101: Obtain first information.

The optional implementation of step 3101 can refer to the optional implementation of step 2101 in Figure 2 and other related parts in the embodiment involved in Figure 2, which will not be repeated here.

In some embodiments, the terminal 101 receives the first information sent by the network device 102, but is not limited thereto and may also receive the first information sent by other entities.

In some embodiments, terminal 101 obtains first information specified by a protocol.

In some embodiments, terminal 101 obtains the first information from upper layer(s).

In some embodiments, the terminal 101 performs processing to obtain the first information.

Step 3102: Send second information to the network device.

The optional implementation of step 3102 can refer to the optional implementation of step 2102 in Figure 2 and other related parts in the embodiment involved in Figure 2, which will not be repeated here.

In some embodiments, the network device may receive the second information.

In some embodiments, the terminal may send the second information to the network device, but is not limited thereto. The terminal may send the second information to other entities.

In some embodiments, this step is optional, and the terminal may not report the second information.

Step 3103: Determine the fourth information.

The optional implementation of step 3103 can refer to the optional implementation of step 2103 in Figure 2 and other related parts in the embodiment involved in Figure 2, which will not be repeated here.

Step 3104: Determine whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam.

The optional implementation of step 3104 can refer to the optional implementation of step 2104 in Figure 2 and other related parts in the embodiment involved in Figure 2, which will not be repeated here.

Step 3105: Determine to measure the first cell and/or the first beam to obtain actual measurement results.

The optional implementation of step 3105 can refer to the optional implementation of step 2105 in Figure 2 and other related parts in the embodiment involved in Figure 2, which will not be repeated here.

In some embodiments, this step is optional, and the terminal may not measure the first cell and/or the first beam.

Step 3106: Send the third information to the network device.

The optional implementation of step 3106 can refer to the optional implementation of step 2106 in Figure 2 and other related parts in the embodiment involved in Figure 2, which will not be repeated here.

In some embodiments, the network device may receive third information.

In some embodiments, the terminal may send the third information to the network device, but is not limited thereto. The terminal may send the third information to other entities.

In some embodiments, this step is optional, and the terminal may not report the third information.

FIG3b is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG3b, the present disclosure embodiment relates to a communication method. Method, used in a terminal, the method comprising:

Step 3201: Obtain first information.

Optional implementations of step 3201 can be found in step 2101 of FIG. 2 , optional implementations of step 3101 of FIG. 3 a , and other related parts in the embodiments involved in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 a , which will not be described in detail here.

Step 3202: Determine the fourth information.

Optional implementations of step 3202 can be found in step 2103 of FIG. 2 , optional implementations of step 3103 of FIG. 3 a , and other related parts in the embodiments involved in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 a , which will not be described in detail here.

Step 3203: Determine whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam.

Optional implementations of step 3203 can be found in step 2104 of FIG. 2 , optional implementations of step 3104 of FIG. 3 a , and other related parts in the embodiments involved in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 a , which will not be described in detail here.

Figure 3c is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 3c, the embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a communication method for a terminal, the method comprising:

Step 3301: Obtain first information.

The optional implementation of step 3201 can be found in step 2101 of Figure 2, step 3101 of Figure 3a, the optional implementation of step 3201 of Figure 3b, and other related parts in the embodiments involved in Figures 2, 3a, and 3b, which will not be repeated here.

Step 3302: Determine whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam.

The optional implementation of step 3302 can refer to the optional implementation of step 2104 in Figure 2, step 3104 in Figure 3a, step 3203 in Figure 3b, and other related parts in the embodiments involved in Figures 2, 3a, and 3b, which will not be repeated here.

The following is an exemplary introduction to the above method.

The method shown in the embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a method for controlling measurement, and the specific content of the method is as follows.

1. The terminal obtains the indicator corresponding to the inferred measurement result and determines whether to perform the measurement.

As an embodiment, the reasoning result output by the AI may correspond to an indicator, which indicates the degree of certainty of the AI that the reasoning result is consistent with the true value. This indicator may be confidence, accuracy, or probability.

As an example, the terminal can use AI reasoning to obtain measurement results of other beams or cells based on the measurement results of some beams or cells. The measurement results can be Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), or Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR), etc.

As an embodiment, the terminal may use AI reasoning to obtain the beam identifier or cell identifier with the strongest signal.

2. Based on 1, if the indicator corresponding to the AI inference result is higher than the first threshold, the terminal does not measure the beam or cell corresponding to the inference result.

As an embodiment, the result of AI reasoning may be the measurement result of a beam or cell, or the ID of the strongest cell or beam.

3. Based on 2, the terminal reports the AI reasoning result and the first indication to the network, where the first indication can be one of the following:

Indicates that the measurement result is obtained through AI reasoning;

Indicators corresponding to the results of AI reasoning.

4. Based on 1, if the indicator corresponding to the AI inference result is lower than the second threshold, the terminal measures the beam or cell corresponding to the inference result and obtains the measurement result.

5. Based on 4, the terminal reports the measurement result of the measured beam or cell and the second indication to the network, where the second indication is used to indicate that the measurement result is obtained through measurement.

6. Based on 1-5, the first threshold and the second threshold can be configured by the network or specified by the protocol.

7. Based on 6, multiple sets of first thresholds and second thresholds can be configured, and each set of thresholds corresponds to a beam or cell.

In summary, the solution in this example can obtain inference results through the AI model, reduce the amount of measurements (for example, reduce the types of measurements and/or reduce the number of measurements), and determine whether to measure the beam or cell by the indicators corresponding to the inference-based measurement results. This can improve the accuracy of beam and cell predictions and avoid system performance degradation due to low AI reasoning credibility.

FIG4 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the terminal 101 proposed in an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG4, the terminal 101 includes: a processing module 4101, which is used to: obtain first information, the first information being the inference result output by the first model, the inference result including the degree of proximity between the predicted measurement value of the first cell and/or the first beam and the true value; based on the first information, determine whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam; optionally, the above processing module 4101 is used to: obtain first information, the first information being the inference result output by the first model, the inference result including the degree of proximity between the predicted measurement value of the first cell and/or the first beam and the true value; determine whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam based on the first information; optionally, The processing module is used to execute at least one of the steps related to the processing performed by the terminal 101 in any of the above methods (such as step 2101, step 2103, step 2104, step 2105, etc., but not limited to these), which will not be repeated here.

In some embodiments, the terminal 101 further includes a transceiver module for sending the second information to the network device.

In some embodiments, the transceiver module is further configured to send third information to the network device.

As shown in Figure 5a, the communication device 5100 includes one or more processors 5101. The processor 5101 can be a general-purpose processor or a dedicated processor, for example, a baseband processor or a central processing unit. The baseband processor can be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processing unit can be used to control the communication device (such as a base station, baseband chip, terminal device, terminal device chip, DU or CU, etc.), execute programs, and process program data. The processor 5101 is used to call instructions to enable the communication device 5100 to perform any of the above methods.

In some embodiments, the communication device 5100 further includes one or more memories 5102 for storing instructions. Optionally, all or part of the memories 5102 may be located outside the communication device 5100.

In some embodiments, the communication device 5100 further includes one or more transceivers 5103. When the communication device 5100 includes one or more transceivers 5103, the communication steps such as sending and receiving in the above method are performed by the transceiver 5103, and the other steps are performed by the processor 5101.

In some embodiments, a transceiver may include a receiver and a transmitter, which may be separate or integrated. Optionally, the terms transceiver, transceiver unit, transceiver, and transceiver circuit may be used interchangeably; the terms transmitter, transmitting unit, transmitter, and transmitting circuit may be used interchangeably; and the terms receiver, receiving unit, receiver, and receiving circuit may be used interchangeably.

Optionally, the communication device 5100 further includes one or more interface circuits 5104, which are connected to the memory 5102. The interface circuits 5104 may be configured to receive signals from the memory 5102 or other devices, and may be configured to send signals to the memory 5102 or other devices. For example, the interface circuits 5104 may read instructions stored in the memory 5102 and send the instructions to the processor 5101.

The communication device 5100 described in the above embodiments may be a network device or a terminal, but the scope of the communication device 5100 described in the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and the structure of the communication device 5100 may not be limited by FIG. 5a. The communication device may be an independent device or may be part of a larger device. For example, the communication device may be: 1) an independent integrated circuit IC, or a chip, or a chip system or subsystem; (2) a collection of one or more ICs, optionally, the above IC collection may also include a storage component for storing data or programs; (3) an ASIC, such as a modem; (4) a module that can be embedded in other devices; (5) a receiver, a terminal device, an intelligent terminal device, a cellular phone, a wireless device, a handheld device, a mobile unit, an in-vehicle device, a network device, a cloud device, an artificial intelligence device, etc.; (6) others, etc.

FIG5b is a schematic diagram of the structure of a chip 5200 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. If the communication device 5100 can be a chip or a chip system, reference can be made to the schematic diagram of the structure of the chip 5200 shown in FIG5b , but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

The chip 5200 includes one or more processors 5201 , and the processor 5201 is used to call instructions so that the chip 5200 executes any of the above methods.

In some embodiments, chip 5200 further includes one or more interface circuits 5202, which are connected to memory 5203. Interface circuits 5202 can be used to receive signals from memory 5203 or other devices, and can be used to send signals to memory 5203 or other devices. For example, interface circuit 5202 can read instructions stored in memory 5203 and send the instructions to processor 5201. Optionally, the terms interface circuit, interface, transceiver pin, and transceiver are interchangeable.

In some embodiments, the chip 5200 further includes one or more memories 5203 for storing instructions. Alternatively, all or part of the memories 5203 may be located outside the chip 5200.

The present disclosure also proposes a storage medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed on the communication device 5100, causes the communication device 5100 to execute any of the above methods. Optionally, the storage medium is an electronic storage medium. Optionally, the storage medium is a computer-readable storage medium, but is not limited thereto and may also be a storage medium readable by other devices. Optionally, the storage medium may be a non-transitory storage medium, but is not limited thereto and may also be a transient storage medium.

The present disclosure also provides a program product, which, when executed by the communication device 5100, enables the communication device 5100 to perform any of the above methods. Optionally, the program product is a computer program product.

The present disclosure also proposes a computer program, which, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to perform any one of the above methods.

In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs. When the computer program is loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present disclosure is generated in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer program may be stored in a computer program store. A computer-readable storage medium, or a computer-readable storage medium is transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer program can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a high-density digital video disc (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a solid state disk (SSD)).

The correspondences shown in the tables of the present disclosure can be configured or predefined. The values of the information in each table are merely examples and can be configured to other values, which are not limited by the present disclosure. When configuring the correspondences between information and parameters, it is not necessarily required to configure all the correspondences shown in each table. For example, in the tables of the present disclosure, the correspondences shown in certain rows may not be configured. For another example, appropriate deformation adjustments can be made based on the above tables, such as splitting, merging, etc. The names of the parameters shown in the titles of the above tables may also adopt other names that can be understood by the communication device, and the values or representations of the parameters may also adopt other values or representations that can be understood by the communication device. When implementing the above tables, other data structures may also be used, such as arrays, queues, containers, stacks, linear lists, pointers, linked lists, trees, graphs, structures, classes, heaps, hash tables or hash tables, etc.

The predefined in the present disclosure may be understood as defined, predefined, stored, pre-stored, pre-negotiated, pre-configured, solidified, or pre-burned.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professionals and technicians can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this disclosure.

Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present disclosure, but the scope of protection of the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this disclosure should be included in the scope of protection of the present disclosure. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present disclosure should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims (13)

A communication method, characterized in that the method is executed by a terminal, and the method includes: Acquire first information, where the first information is an inference result output by the first model, the inference result including a degree of proximity between a predicted measurement value of the first cell and/or the first beam and an actual value; Based on the first information, determine whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam based on the first information includes: If the first information does not meet a first condition, determine to skip measuring the first cell and/or the first beam. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises: Second information is sent to the network device, where the second information includes the predicted measurement value and a first indication, where the first indication is used to indicate that the predicted measurement value is obtained by reasoning through the first model, and/or the first indication is used to indicate the first information. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein determining whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam based on the first information includes: When the first information satisfies a first condition, it is determined to measure the first cell and/or the first beam to obtain an actual measurement result. The method according to claim 4, further comprising: Sending third information to the network device, where the third information includes the actual measurement result and a second indication, where the second indication is used to indicate that the actual measurement result is obtained through measurement. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising: According to the instructions of the network device or the protocol agreement, the fourth information is determined, where the fourth information is related to the first condition, and the first condition is used to assist the terminal in determining whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam based on the first information. The method according to claim 6 is characterized in that the fourth information corresponding to different cells and/or beams is different. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the inference result further includes at least one of the following: said predicted measurement value; The identifier of the cell and/or beam with the maximum predicted measurement value. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8 is characterized in that the predicted measurement value is obtained by the terminal through reasoning by a first model deployed in the terminal, or the predicted measurement value is obtained by the terminal from a network device and by the network device through reasoning by a first model deployed in the network device. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the first information includes any one of the following: confidence level; Accuracy; possibility. A terminal, comprising a processing module configured to: Acquire first information, where the first information is an inference result output by the first model, the inference result including a degree of proximity between a predicted measurement value of the first cell and/or the first beam and an actual value; Based on the first information, determine whether to measure the first cell and/or the first beam. A communication device, comprising: a transceiver; a memory; and a processor, connected to the transceiver and the memory, respectively, configured to control the transceiver's wireless signal reception and transmission by executing computer-executable instructions on the memory, and capable of implementing the method described in any one of claims 1 to 10. A computer storage medium, wherein the computer storage medium stores computer-executable instructions; after the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10 can be implemented.