CN110267301A - A terminal capability acquisition method in a dual connection system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a terminal capability acquisition method in a dual connection system. When a user terminal needs to perform intra-system inter-frequency switching, the first main base station judges whether the target frequency point is in the frequency band combination of the current user terminal capability information, and if not, or If the frequency band combination capability information corresponding to the target frequency point is not found, the user terminal capability message is obtained to obtain the corresponding frequency band combination capability information, and the frequency band combination capability information corresponding to the target frequency point obtained from the measurement report or newly obtained is attached to the previous user terminal capability information. In the terminal capability information, it is brought to the second master base station in the handover request, and the second master base station will send the reconfiguration message to the first master base station according to whether to configure the different system measurement or configure the different system secondary cell; the user terminal passes the reconfiguration The message is connected to the second primary base station and to the secondary cell, and a dual connection is established. The method can enable the target base station to quickly obtain the frequency band combination without increasing the handover delay, has strong operability, and is simple and effective to implement.

Description

A terminal capability acquisition method in a dual connection system

technical field

The present invention relates to the field of communication technology, in particular to a method for acquiring terminal capabilities in a dual connection system.

Background technique

With the development of electronic technology, a new generation of communication technology is constantly emerging. For operators, communication equipment based on the old generation of communication technology covers a wide range. It will take a certain amount of time for the new generation of communication equipment to gradually replace the old equipment. Therefore, In this process, there will be situations where old and new equipment provide services at the same time. In order to maximize the utilization rate of old and new equipment at the same time and improve user experience, a dual connection technology is invented and used in which the old equipment is used as the coverage layer and the new equipment is used as the capacity layer. For example, in the latest 5G technology evolution process, the 3GPP organization proposed a variety of 4/5G dual-connection network architectures, which are called NonStandAlone networking (NSA networking). The NSA networking solution is based on the tightly coupled architecture of LTE and NR. The 3/3A/3X architecture is also known as the EN-DC architecture and is widely accepted by operators. In this architecture, the LTE base station (4G) serves as the primary base station and the network signaling anchor point to connect to the core network through the S1 interface to provide complete network coverage, and the NR base station (5G) serves as the secondary base station to provide high-speed data services and communicate with user equipment. Signaling is transmitted between LTE base stations or SRB3. After the terminal accesses the LTE cell, the LTE base station decides to initiate dual connectivity and select a dual connectivity target NR cell according to network configuration, terminal service conditions, terminal EN-DC capability, and NR neighbor cell measurement.

In a dual connectivity network, a terminal configured with dual connectivity needs to have the ability to send and receive data on both the LTE network and the NR network at the same time. Therefore, the LTE base station serving as the main base station needs to obtain the dual connectivity combination of the LTE frequency band and the NR frequency band supported by the terminal in order to determine whether to The NR supplementary cell can be configured for the terminal and which frequency band the NR supplementary cell is configured for the terminal. Since there may be many combinations of all LTE frequency bands and NR frequency bands supported by the terminal, if all of them are acquired at one time, it will have a great impact on the uplink channel, affecting network performance and user experience. ) carries the LTE frequency band and NR frequency band that need to be queried. After the terminal receives it, it only judges the frequency band combination in the terminal capability acquisition message, and carries the LTE frequency band and NR frequency band in the terminal capability acquisition message in the terminal capability response message (UECapabilityInformation) The intersection of all combinations and all combinations of LTE frequency bands and NR frequency bands supported by the terminal, the LTE base station saves the received terminal capability information. That is to say, when the terminal accesses the network, the terminal capability frequency band combination obtained by the base station is not a complete set of terminal capability frequency band combinations.

When the terminal performs inter-frequency handover between LTE base stations, according to the 3GPP protocol, the handover source LTE base station can bring the terminal capability to the target LTE base station in the handover request. However, since the frequency band combination in the capability information is not the complete set of frequency band combinations supported by the terminal, the terminal capability carried in the handover request may not include the frequency band combination of the target LTE cell and its secondary NR cell. At this time, the target LTE base station cannot determine whether to configure the NR secondary cell for the terminal based on the capability of the terminal.

Contents of the invention

In view of the problems existing in the above-mentioned prior art, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a terminal capability acquisition method in a dual connectivity system, which enables a target base station to quickly acquire a frequency band combination without increasing handover delay.

In order to achieve the above tasks, the present invention adopts the following technical solutions:

A method for acquiring terminal capabilities in a dual connectivity system, wherein the dual connectivity system includes a first primary base station, a second primary base station, and a user terminal; the method includes the following steps:

Step 1, when the user terminal accesses the network, it receives a user terminal capability query message that needs to report the dual connection frequency band combination sent by the first master base station, and locally saves the list of the main network frequency bands therein;

Step 2, when the user terminal reports the A3/A4/A5 measurement report for mobility, it is judged that if the inter-frequency frequency point involved in the measurement report is not in the previously saved main network frequency band list, the user terminal capability information is attached to the measurement report, The user terminal capability information includes, but is not limited to, the combined capability information of the frequency band where the inter-frequency frequency point corresponding to the measurement report supported by the user terminal is located and all secondary network frequency bands;

Step 3, the first master base station receives the measurement report of the user terminal, and judges that if intra-system inter-frequency handover is required, it is judged whether the target frequency point is in the frequency band combination of the current user terminal capability information; if not, it is determined from the measurement report Find the frequency band combination capability information corresponding to the target frequency point; if the frequency band combination capability information corresponding to the target frequency point is not found in the measurement report, immediately initiate the user terminal capability query process for the combination of the frequency band and the secondary network frequency band corresponding to the target cell, Obtain user terminal capability information to obtain corresponding frequency band combination capability information;

Step 4, the first master base station adds the frequency band combination capability information corresponding to the target frequency point obtained from the measurement report or the new user terminal capability message to the previous user terminal capability information, and then adds the new user terminal capability information brought to the second master base station in the handover request;

The second master base station receives the handover request, and judges whether it is necessary to configure different system measurements for the user terminal in order to increase the secondary cell according to the user terminal capability information in the handover request and the primary and secondary frequency band combination information, or directly according to the primary and secondary frequency band combination information , configure the user terminal with a different-system secondary cell whose neighbor cell relationship is the same coverage, and generate a reconfiguration message code stream for all generated measurements and secondary cell configurations, and send it to the first master base station in the handover response; the handover here includes but Not limited to S1 and X2 switching;

Step 5, the first master base station receives the handover response, sends the reconfiguration message to the user terminal, the user terminal accesses the second master base station, directly accesses the secondary cell according to the configuration of the second master base station, establishes a dual connection, and continues For high-traffic services, or report the measurement report corresponding to the secondary cell according to the measurement configuration, quickly establish dual connections for high-traffic services.

Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following technical characteristics:

1. The method of the present invention enables the target base station to quickly obtain the frequency band combination;

2. The process of the present invention has little influence on the existing handover process, and will not increase the handover delay;

3. The present invention has strong operability and simple and effective implementation;

4. The present invention makes full use of the existing process, so that the handover target base station can quickly configure the auxiliary cell, reduce the handover interruption delay of the service on the auxiliary cell, and improve user experience.

Description of drawings

Figure 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an EN-DC dual connection network;

Fig. 2 is the overall schematic diagram of the method of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a network architecture diagram in Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a schematic flow chart of Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

Detailed ways

The dual connectivity system described in this solution includes a master base station (first master base station), a target master base station (second master base station), and a user terminal.

Example 1

Network architecture description: Base station 1 supports dual connectivity as the main LTE base station. The service frequency of serving cell 2 belongs to frequency band 3, and there is a different-frequency adjacent cell 4. The service frequency of this adjacent cell belongs to frequency band 5; The NR neighbor cell 6 of the standby secondary cell of the different system has a service frequency of frequency band 7; cell 4 has a different frequency neighbor cell 8, its service frequency belongs to frequency band 9, and has the same NR neighbor cell 6 as cell 2; 8. There is NR zone 10 as a backup secondary cell for different systems, and its service frequency belongs to frequency band 11; terminal A supports all EN-DC dual connectivity combinations of LTE frequency bands 3, 5, and 9 and NR frequency bands 7 and 11. The architecture diagram of this embodiment is shown in Figure 3.

The flow chart of this embodiment is shown in accompanying drawing 4, and flow process is as follows:

1. Terminal A starts up and accesses serving cell 2. During the access process, cell 2 sends a Eutra-nr capability query message with frequency bands 3, 5, and 7 to the terminal according to the frequency band of this cell and the frequency band of the neighboring cell. Terminal A saves the query information. The main frequency bands are 3 and 5, and reply the terminal capability information message with the combination of 3/7 and 5/7.

2. The serving cell 2 configures the inter-frequency A3 measurement event and the inter-system B1 measurement event according to the terminal capability information returned by the terminal A. The terminal receives the signal from the NR cell 6 and judges that the signal strength reaches the B1 event standard, and reports the band cell to the serving cell 2. 6 Informational B1 Incident Measurement Report.

3. The serving cell 2 receives the B1 event measurement report, and configures the secondary cell 6 for the terminal A according to the service condition of the terminal A, and the terminal A establishes a dual connection.

4. Terminal A sends the inter-frequency A3 measurement event of cell 4 to cell 2 during the movement process, and judges that the frequency band 5 where cell 4 is located has been saved locally, and does not carry the dual connectivity capability corresponding to frequency band 5.

5. The serving cell 2 instructs the terminal A to switch to the cell 4, and the cell 4 configures the A3 measurement of the frequency band 9 for the terminal according to the frequency band of the neighboring cell. At the same time, the dual connectivity secondary cell of terminal A remains cell 6, which remains unchanged.

6. Terminal A detects that the signal of cell 8 on frequency band 9 meets the A3 measurement standard, sends an A3 measurement report with cell 8 to cell 4, and at the same time judges that frequency band 9 is not included in the locally saved frequency band list, so the frequency band is included in the measurement report Combined 9/7, 9/11 terminal capability information.

7. Cell 4 receives the A3 event, initiates inter-frequency X2 handover from terminal A to cell 8, and carries terminal capability information of frequency band combinations 9/7 and 9/11 in the handover request.

8. Cell 8 receives the handover request and judges that the terminal supports the frequency band 9/11 combination. According to the adjacent relationship between this cell and NR covering the adjacent cell 10 and the local dual connectivity strategy, directly configure the dual connectivity of the secondary cell 10 for terminal A. , the terminal 10 is handed over to the cell 8, and at the same time the secondary cell is handed over to the cell 10, the service on the secondary cell continues, and the user does not experience service interruption.

Example 2

Network architecture description: Base station 1 supports dual connectivity as the main LTE base station. The service frequency of serving cell 2 belongs to frequency band 3, and there is a different-frequency adjacent cell 4. The service frequency of this adjacent cell belongs to frequency band 5; The NR neighbor cell 6 of the standby secondary cell of the different system has a service frequency of frequency band 7; cell 4 has a different frequency neighbor cell 8, its service frequency belongs to frequency band 9, and has the same NR neighbor cell 6 as cell 2; In 4, the secondary NR frequency bands 12 and 13 corresponding to the inter-frequency adjacent cell 8 are configured or obtained; cell 8 has NR areas 10 and 11 as inter-system backup secondary cells, and their service frequencies belong to frequency bands 12 and 13 respectively; terminal A All EN-DC dual connectivity combinations for LTE bands 3, 5, 9 and NR bands 7, 12, 13 are supported.

The flow process of this embodiment is as follows:

1. Terminal A starts up and accesses serving cell 2. During the access process, cell 2 sends Eutra-nr capability query messages with frequency bands 3, 5, and 7 to the terminal according to the frequency bands of this cell and the frequency bands of neighboring cells. Terminal A does not support this The content of the solution, the frequency band 3 and 5 information is not maintained, and the terminal capability information message with the combination of 3/7 and 5/7 is replied.

2. The serving cell 2 configures the inter-frequency A3 measurement event and the inter-system B1 measurement event according to the terminal capability information returned by the terminal A; the terminal receives the signal from the NR cell 6 and judges that the signal strength reaches the B1 event standard, and reports the band cell to the serving cell 2 6 Informational B1 Incident Measurement Report.

3. The serving cell 2 receives the B1 event measurement report, and configures the secondary cell 6 for the terminal A according to the service condition of the terminal A, and the terminal A establishes a dual connection.

4. Terminal A sends the inter-frequency A3 measurement event of cell 4 to cell 2 during the movement process, serving cell 2 instructs terminal A to switch to cell 4, and cell 4 configures A3 measurement of frequency band 9 for the terminal according to the adjacent cell frequency band. At the same time, the dual connectivity secondary cell of terminal A remains cell 6, which remains unchanged.

5. Terminal A detects that the signal of cell 8 on frequency band 9 meets the A3 measurement standard, and sends an A3 measurement report with cell 8 to cell 4. At the same time, because it does not support the content in this solution, the frequency band combination 9/ 7, 9/11 Terminal Capability Information.

6. Cell 4 receives the A3 event, decides to initiate inter-frequency X2 handover from terminal A to cell 8, and judges that the current terminal capability does not carry the EN-DC frequency band combination capability information of frequency band 9 where cell 8 is located. According to the adjacent cell 8 Secondary NR frequency band information, and send a terminal capability query message with a combination of frequency bands 9/12 and 9/13 to terminal A.

7. Terminal A replies with a terminal capability message with a combination of frequency bands 9/12 and 9/13, and the base station where cell 4 is located sends a handover request to the base station where cell 8 is located, and carries the terminal with frequency band combination 9/12 and 9/13 in the handover request capability information.

8. Cell 8 receives the handover request and judges that the terminal supports the combination of frequency band 9/12. According to the adjacent relationship between this cell and NR covering neighboring cells 10 and 11 and the local dual connection strategy, carry the configuration frequency band for terminal A in the handover response 12 and 13 B1 measurements.

9. Cell 4 sends the terminal a handover command with B1 measurement of frequency bands 12 and 13. Terminal 10 switches to cell 8 and reports the B1 measurement report of NR neighboring cell 10. Cell 8 configures NR cell 10 as the secondary cell of terminal A. Continue to carry out high-traffic services on the secondary cell, and users do not experience service interruption, but only slight service delay.

Claims (1)

1. A method for acquiring terminal capabilities in a dual connectivity system, wherein the dual connectivity system includes a first primary base station, a second primary base station, and a user terminal; the method includes the following steps: Step 1, when the user terminal accesses the network, it receives a user terminal capability query message that needs to report the dual connection frequency band combination sent by the first master base station, and locally saves the list of the main network frequency bands therein; Step 2. When the user terminal reports the measurement report, it is judged that if the inter-frequency frequency point involved in the measurement report is not in the previously saved main network frequency band list, the user terminal capability information is attached to the measurement report. The user terminal capability information includes but is not limited to user The combined capability information of the frequency band of the inter-frequency point corresponding to the measurement report supported by the terminal and all secondary network frequency bands; Step 3, the first master base station receives the measurement report of the user terminal, and judges that if intra-system inter-frequency handover is required, it is judged whether the target frequency point is in the frequency band combination of the current user terminal capability information; if not, it is determined from the measurement report Find the frequency band combination capability information corresponding to the target frequency point; if the frequency band combination capability information corresponding to the target frequency point is not found in the measurement report, immediately initiate the user terminal capability query process for the combination of the frequency band and the secondary network frequency band corresponding to the target cell, Obtain user terminal capability information to obtain corresponding frequency band combination capability information; Step 4, the first master base station adds the frequency band combination capability information corresponding to the target frequency point obtained from the measurement report or the new user terminal capability message to the previous user terminal capability information, and then adds the new user terminal capability information brought to the second master base station in the handover request; The second master base station receives the handover request, and judges whether it is necessary to configure different system measurements for the user terminal in order to increase the secondary cell according to the user terminal capability information in the handover request and the primary and secondary frequency band combination information, or directly according to the primary and secondary frequency band combination information , configure the user terminal with a different-system secondary cell whose neighbor cell relationship is the same coverage, and generate a reconfiguration message code stream for all generated measurements and secondary cell configurations, and send it to the first master base station in the handover response; Step 5, the first master base station receives the handover response, sends the reconfiguration message to the user terminal, the user terminal accesses the second master base station, directly accesses the secondary cell according to the configuration of the second master base station, establishes a dual connection, and continues For high-traffic services, or report the measurement report corresponding to the secondary cell according to the measurement configuration, quickly establish dual connections for high-traffic services.