Patent Application
20230388882
The present disclosure relates to wireless communication technology, and in particular, to devices and methods for exchanging context related to a secondary cell group (SCG) between base stations and between base stations and user equipments (UE).
To meet the demand for wireless data traffic having increased since deployment of 4th generation (4G) communication systems, efforts have been made to develop an improved 5G or pre-5G communication system. Therefore, the 5G or pre-5G communication system is also called a ‘beyond 4G network’ or a ‘post LTE system’.
The 5G communication system is considered to be implemented in higher frequency (mmWave) bands, e.g., 60 GHz bands, so as to accomplish higher data rates. To decrease propagation loss of the radio waves and increase the transmission distance, the beamforming, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, an analog beam forming, large scale antenna techniques are discussed in 5G communication systems.
In addition, in 5G communication systems, development for system network improvement is under way based on advanced small cells, cloud radio access networks (RANs), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, moving network, cooperative communication, coordinated multi-points (CoMP), reception-end interference cancellation and the like.
In the 5G system, hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as an advanced coding modulation (ACM), and filter bank multi carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as an advanced access technology have been developed.
Wireless communication is one of the most successful innovations in modern history. Recently, the number of subscribers to wireless communication services has exceeded 5 billion, and it continues to grow rapidly. Due to the increasing popularity of smart phones and other mobile data devices (for example, tablet computers, notebook computers, netbooks, e-book readers and machine-type devices) in consumers and enterprises, a demand for wireless data services is growing rapidly. In order to meet the rapid growth of mobile data services and support new applications and deployments, it is essential to improve the efficiency and coverage of wireless interfaces.
The present disclosure provides nodes, user equipment and methods for exchanging context related to a secondary cell group (SCG) between base stations and between base stations and user equipments.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a first node in a wireless communication system. The method includes transmitting a first message to a second node, wherein the first message includes configuration information related to activation/deactivation of a secondary cell group (SCG).
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a second node in a wireless communication system. The method includes receiving a first message from a first node, wherein the first message includes configuration information related to activation/deactivation of a secondary cell group (SCG).
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, in the case that the first message is related to configuration of activation/deactivation of the SCG, the first message may include at least one of the following information: configuration information related to data transmission and information related to activity status detection time.
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the configuration information related to data transmission may include at least one of the following information: first threshold information, first time length information, and first applicable information.
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first applicable information may include at least one of the following information: identification information a user equipment, identification information of a protocol data unit (PDU) session, identification information of a quality of service (QoS) flow and identification information of a data radio bearer (DRB).
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the information related to activity status detection time may include at least one of the following information: second time length information and second applicable information.
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the second applicable information may include at least one of the following information: identification information of a user equipment, identification information of a protocol data unit (PDU) session, identification information of a quality of service (QoS) flow and identification information of a data radio bearer (DRB).
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, in the case that the first message is related to detection of activation/deactivation of the SCG, the first message may include at least one of the following information: information related to activity status detection result and indication information for data transmission.
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the information related to activity status detection result may include at least one of the following information: activity status indication information, third time length information and third applicable information.
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the third applicable information may include at least one of the following information: identification information of a user equipment, identification information of a protocol data unit (PDU) session, identification information of a quality of service (QoS) flow and identification information of a data radio bearer (DRB).
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the indication information for data transmission may include at least one of the following information: indication information for data arrival and fourth applicable information.
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the fourth applicable information may include at least one of the following information: identification information of a user equipment, identification information of a protocol data unit (PDU) session, identification information of a quality of service (QoS) flow and identification information of a data radio bearer (DRB).
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, in the case that the first message is related to notification of activation/deactivation of the SCG, the first message includes at least one of the following information: control information related to activity status and notification information related to activity status.
The method of the first node according to the embodiment of the present disclosure may further include: receiving a second message from the second node.
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first node is a master node and the second node is a secondary node; or the first node is a secondary node, and the second node is a master node; or the first node is a control plane portion of a central unit of a base station, and the second node is a user plane portion of the central unit of the base station; or the first node is a user plane portion of a central unit of a base station, and the second node is a control plane portion of the central unit of the base station; or the first node is a central unit of a base station or a control plane portion of the central unit of the base station, and the second node is a distributed unit of the base station; or the first node is a distributed unit of a base station, and the second node is a central unit of the base station or a control plane portion of the central unit of the base station; or the first node is a distributed unit of a base station, and the second node is a user plane portion of a central unit of the base station; or the first node is a user plane portion of a central unit of a base station, and the second node is a distributed unit of the base station.
The method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure may further include: transmitting a third message to the user equipment, wherein the third message includes information related to configuration of the data transmission of the user equipment on the SCG.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a third node in a wireless communication system. The method includes transmitting a fourth message to a user equipment, wherein the fourth message includes information related to configuration of activation/deactivation of the secondary cell group (SCG) of the user equipment.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a user equipment in a wireless communication system. The method includes receiving a fourth message from a third node, wherein the fourth message includes information related to a configuration of activation/deactivation of a secondary cell group (SCG) of the user equipment.
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the fourth message may include at least one of the following information: configuration information related to SCG status, configuration information related to data transmission, and information related to SCG activity status detection time.
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the configuration information related to data transmission may include at least one of the following information: second threshold information, fourth time length information and fifth applicable information.
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the fifth applicable information may include at least one of the following information: identification information of a user equipment, identification information of a protocol data unit (PDU) session, identification information of a quality of service (QoS) flow and identification information of a data radio bearer (DRB).
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the information related to SCG activity status detection time may include at least one of the following information: fifth time length information and sixth applicable information.
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the sixth applicable information may include at least one of the following information: identification information of a user equipment, identification information of a protocol data unit (PDU) session, identification information of a quality of service (QoS) flow and identification information of a data radio bearer (DRB).
The method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure may further include: receiving a fifth message from the user equipment, wherein the fifth message includes information related to notifying the status of the SCG.
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the fifth message may include at least one of the following information: indication information for requiring a SCG to transmit data, and indication information for not requiring a SCG to transmit data.
The method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure may further include: detecting the activity status of the SCG by the user equipment.
The method of the user equipment according to the embodiment of the present disclosure may further include: transmitting a fifth message to the third node, wherein the fifth message includes information related to notifying the status of the SCG.
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the fifth message may include at least one of the following information: indication information for requiring a SCG to transmit data, and indication information for not requiring a SCG to transmit data.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a fourth node in a wireless communication system. The method includes: transmitting a sixth message to a fifth node, wherein the sixth message includes information related to configuring data transmission of the fifth node.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a fifth node in a wireless communication system. The method includes: receiving a sixth message from a fourth node, wherein the sixth message includes information related to configuring data transmission of the fifth node, and the fifth node determines the transmission of user data according to the sixth message.
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the sixth message may include at least one of the following information: identification information of a user equipment, information related to radio bearer, information of dual active protocol stack (DAPS) radio bearers, information of non-DAPS radio bearers and fourth indication information for data transmission.
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the information related to radio bearer may include at least one of the following information: identification information of a radio bearer, indication information for DAPS configuration and first indication information for data transmission.
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the information of DAPS radio bearers may include at least one of the following information: identification information of radio bearers and second indication information for data transmission.
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the information of non-DAPS radio bearers may include at least one of the following information: identification information of radio bearers and third indication information for data transmission.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a first node in a wireless communication system. The method includes: during the handover procedure, generating a request message including information related to data transmission for one or more radio bearers; and transmitting, to a second node, the request message, wherein the first node is a node b central unit and the second node is a node b distributed unit.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a second node in a wireless communication system. The method includes: during the handover procedure, receiving, from a first node, a request message including information related to data transmission for one or more radio bearers; and determining the data transmission based on the request message, wherein the first node is a node b central unit and the second node is a node b distributed unit.
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the information related to the data transmission for the one or more radio bearers includes one or more data radio bearers (DRBs) identifications (IDs).
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the information related to the data transmission for the one or more radio bearers further includes indication information for the data transmission.
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the indication information for the data transmission indicates to stop the data transmission for the one or more radio bearers not subject to a handover.
In the method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first node and the second node are included in a source base station.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first node in a wireless communication system. The first node includes: memory; a transceiver; and at least one processor connected to the memory and the transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: during the handover procedure, generate a request message including information related to data transmission for one or more radio bearers; and control the transceiver to transmit, to a second node, the request message, wherein the first node is a node b central unit and the second node is a node b distributed unit.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second node in a wireless communication system. The second node includes: a memory; a transceiver; and at least one processor connected to the memory and the transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: during the handover procedure, control the transceiver to receive, from a first node, a request message including information related to data transmission for one or more radio bearers; and determine the data transmission based on the request message, wherein the first node is a node b central unit and the second node is a node b distributed unit.
According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electronic device including: a memory for storing a computer program; and a controller configured to execute the computer program to implement the method according to the present disclosure. The electronic device may be a node or a user equipment.
For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure and its advantages, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals represent like parts:
The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The text and drawings are provided as examples only to help understanding of the present disclosure. They should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure in any way. Although certain embodiments and examples have been provided, based on the content disclosed herein, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that the embodiments and examples shown can be changed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.
In the Long Term Evolution (LTE) and New Radio NR (New Radio) access networks, in order to increase the throughput of user equipments, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has designed a dual-connectivity (DC) technology, as shown in
In addition, in order to avoid interruption of data transmission of the user equipment during a handover process, 3GPP has proposed a dual active protocol stack handover mechanism (a DAPS handover: Dual Active Protocol Stack handover). In this handover mechanism, during the handover process, the user equipment may maintain communication with a source base station until the network side notifies the user equipment to release the communication with the source base station. During the DAPS handover process, in the conventional technology, the network side either maintains all data transmission with the user equipment or stops all data transmission with the user equipment. However, in some cases, the user equipment does not need to maintain all data transmission with the source base station, but only maintains partial data transmission, which helps to save the resources of the source base station, and ensures that partial data transmission is not interrupted during the handover process.
A problem to be solved by the present disclosure is how to reduce the power consumption of a user equipment after the user equipment has established a dual-connectivity. In the conventional technology, the user equipment may be configured with Discontinuous Reception (DRX) on the SCG, so that the user equipment may periodically start the detection of resource scheduling (such as detection of physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs)). If no data is scheduled for a certain period of time, then the user equipment may sleep for a period of time, thereby power of the user equipment may be saved. However, the problem with this method is that the user equipment still needs to start detections of resource scheduling every certain period of time, and this type of detections will result in considerable power consumption by the user equipment. When there is no user data needed to be transmitted, the user equipment still consumes power. Therefore, the present disclosure intends to further reduce the power consumption of the user equipment, that is, when a user equipment has no data transmission for a period of time, it may be considered to deactivate the SCG of the user equipment, thereby further reduce the power consumption of the user equipment.
Another problem to be solved by the present disclosure is how to control the transmission of user data when the user equipment performs a DAPS handover, so as to ensure that partial data transmission is not interrupted during the handover process.
In general, the present disclosure includes three aspects:
User equipment (UE) 201 is a terminal device for receiving data. Next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) 202 is a radio access network, which includes a base station (a gNB or an eNB connected to 5G core network 5GC, the eNB connected to is also called a ng-eNB) that provides UE with interfaces to access the radio network. An access control and mobility management function entity (AMF) 203 is responsible for managing mobility context and security information of the UE. A user plane function entity (UPF) 204 mainly provides functions of user plane. A session management function entity (SMF) 205 is responsible for session management. A data network (DN) 206 includes for example, services of operators, access of Internet, and services of third-parties, etc.
In the NR system, in order to support network functions virtualization, more efficient resource management and scheduling, the base station (gNB) that provides the radio network interface with the user equipment (UE) may be further divided into a gNB central unit (gNB-CU) and a gNB distributed unit (gNB-DU) (referred to as a CU and a DU in the present disclosure), as shown in
The message names involved in the present disclosure are only examples, and other message names may also be used.
The “first”, “second”, etc. included in the message names and/or entity names of the present disclosure are only examples of messages and/or entities, are only used to distinguish one message and/or entity from another message and/or entity, and are irrelevant to the execution order.
In the present disclosure, detailed descriptions of steps irrelevant to the present disclosure are omitted.
The present disclosure involves the following exemplary procedures:
The procedure may include the following steps, as shown in
Step 1-1: A first node transmits a first message to a second node. The first message includes configuration information related to SCG activation/deactivation, such as configurations of activation/deactivation of SCG, SCG status detection and/or SCG status notification. In one implementation, the first message may be a first configuration request message, which includes at least one of the following information:
In one embodiment, if the above “first applicable information” is not included in the configuration information related to data transmission, the above “first threshold information” and/or “first time length information” are user-level information, which are applicable to the data for one user equipment.
In one embodiment, if the above “second applicable information” is not included in the information related to activity status detection time, the above “second time length information” is user-level information, and is applicable to the data for one user equipment.
In one embodiment, if the above “third applicable information” is not included in the information related to activity status detection result, the above “activity status indication information” and/or “third time length information” are user-level information, and are applicable to the data for one user equipment.
In one embodiment, if the above “fourth applicable information” is not included in the indication information for data transmission, the above “indication information for data arrival” is user-level information, and is applicable to the data for one user equipment.
Step 1-2: Optionally, the second node transmits a second message to the first node. In one implementation, the second message may be a first response message, and the first response message may be a response message or an acknowledge message to the first message. In one implementation, the first response message may be a first configuration response message. Further, the second message may also include configuration information of the SCG, the function of which is to configure the SCG (such as the indication information for activating the SCG, the indication information for deactivating the SCG).
In the above example procedure shown in
Although the names of related messages are given in conjunction with the types of nodes, those skilled in the art should understand that the above names of messages are only examples, and other names of messages may be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.
For the convenience of understanding, according to the above example procedure 1, the present disclosure further includes the following possible embodiments.
Embodiment 1: The activity status of the SCG is detected by a distributed unit of a base station. The activity status of the SCG is determined by a central unit of the base station or a control plane portion of the central unit of the base station. In one embodiment, the base station may be a secondary base station.
As shown in FIG. 5, the embodiment 1 may include the following procedures:
Detection procedure, which is used to detect the activity status of SCG/node, including:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Notification procedure, the function of which is to notify the activity status of the SCG/node, may include the following steps (whether each step is executed or not is not restricted, and the execution order of various steps is not restricted):
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Step 1-2-2: When the base station is a secondary base station, the procedure further includes transmitting a third notification message to a master base station (or a central unit of the master base station, or a control plane portion of the central unit of the master base station) by the central unit of the base station (or the control plane portion of the central unit of the base station), the function of the message is to notify the status of the node/SCG. This message includes at least one of the following information:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Step 1-2-3: The central unit of the base station (or the control plane portion of the central unit of the base station) transmits a fourth notification message to the distributed unit of the base station. The function of this message is to notify the status of the SCG/node. This message includes at least one of the following information:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Procedure for configuring user, the function of which is to configure the data transmission of the user on the SCG, may include the following steps:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Configuration procedure, the function of which is to configure the detection of the activity status, or to configure the transmission of user data. The activity status may be the activity status of a node or may be the activity status of a SCG; the transmission of the user data may be the transmission of user data on the node, or may be the transmission of the user data served by the SCG. The procedure occurs before or after the above “detection procedure”, or overlaps with the “detection procedure”. This procedure may include the following steps (whether each step is executed or not is not restricted, and the execution order of various steps is not restricted):
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Step 1-0-2: The control plane portion of the central unit of the base station transmits a second configuration message to the user plane portion of the central unit of the base station. The function of this message is to configure the user plane portion of the central unit of the base station to perform detection of SCG/node status and/or to configure the transmission of the user data. This message includes at least one of the following information:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Step 1-0-3: The central unit of the base station (the base station is a secondary base station) (or the control plane portion of the central unit of the base station) transmits a third configuration message to the master base station (or the central unit of the master base station, or the control plane portion of the central unit of the master base station). The function of this message is to configure the master base station (or the central unit of the master base station, or the control plane portion of the central unit of the master base station) to perform detection of SCG/node status and/or to configure the transmission of the user data. This message includes at least one of the following information:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Step 1-0-4: The master base station (or the central unit of the master base station, or the control plane portion of the central unit of the master base station) transmits a fourth configuration message to the central unit of the base station (the base station is a secondary base station) (or the control plane portion of the central unit of the base station). The function of this message is to configure the central unit of the base station (or the control plane portion of the central unit of the base station) to perform detection of SCG/node status and/or to configure the transmission of the user data. This message includes at least one of the following information:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
In one embodiment, after the above step 1-0-4, the above step 1-0-1 and step 1-0-2 may also be performed.
Embodiment 2: The activity status of a SCG is detected by a plurality of network entities respectively. The activity status of the SCG is determined by a central unit of a base station or a control plane portion of the central unit of the base station. In one embodiment, the base station is a secondary base station.
As shown in
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Step 2-1-3: A user plane portion of the central unit of the base station detects the activity status of the SCG, or detects its own activity status.
Step 2-1-4: The user plane portion of the central unit of the base station transmits a second notification message to the control plane portion of the central unit of the base station. The function of this message is to notify the activity status of the SCG or the user plane portion of the central unit of the base station. This message includes at least one of the following information:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Step 2-1-5: A master base station (or a central unit of the master base station, or a distributed unit of the master base station, or a user plane portion of the central unit of the master base station) detects the activity status of the SCG, or detects its own activity status.
Step 2-1-6: The master base station (or the central unit of the master base station, or the distributed unit of the master base station, or the user plane portion of the central unit of the master base station) transmits the third notification message to the control plane portion of the central unit of the secondary base station. The function of this message is to notify the activity status of the SCG or the master base station. This message includes at least one of the following information:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
According to the above step 2-1-2 and/or step 2-1-4 and/or step 2-1-6, the central unit of the base station or the control plane portion of the central unit of the base station may know the activity status of the SCG/node.
Notification procedure, the function of which is to notify the activity status of the SCG/node, may include the following steps (whether each step is executed or not is not restricted, and the execution order of various steps is not restricted):
Step 2-2-1: The control plane portion of the central unit of the base station transmits a fourth notification message to the user plane portion of the central unit of the base station. The function of this message is to notify the status of the SCG/node. This message includes at least one of the following information:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Step 2-2-2: When the base station is a secondary base station, the procedure further includes transmitting a fifth notification message to the master base station (or the central unit of the master base station, or the control plane portion of the central unit of the master base station) by the control plane of the central unit of the base station or the central unit of the base station, the function of the message is to notify the status of the SCG/node. This message includes at least one of the following information:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Step 2-2-3: The central unit of the base station (or the control plane portion of the central unit of the base station) transmits a sixth notification message to the distributed unit of the base station. The function of this message is to notify the status of the SCG/node. This message includes at least one of the following information:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Procedure for configuring user, the function of which is to configure the data transmission of the user on the SCG, may include the following steps:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Configuration procedure, the function of the process is to configure the detection of the activity status, or to configure the transmission of user data. The activity status may be the activity status of a node or the activity status of a SCG; the transmission of the user data may be the transmission of the user data on the node, may also be the transmission of user data served by the SCG. This procedure occurs before or after the above “detection procedure”, or overlaps with the “detection procedure”. This procedure may include the following steps (whether each step is executed or not is not restricted, and the execution order of various steps is not restricted):
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Step 2-0-2: The control plane portion of the central unit of the base station transmits a second configuration message to the user plane portion of the central unit of the base station. The function of this message is to configure the user plane portion of the central unit of the base station to perform detection of SCG/node status and/or to configure the transmission of the user data, which includes at least one of the following information:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Step 2-0-3: The central unit of the base station (the base station is the secondary base station) (or the control plane portion of the central unit of the base station) transmits a third configuration message to the master base station (or the central unit of the master base station, or the control plane portion of the central unit of the master base station). The function of this message is to configure the master base station (or the central unit of the master base station, or the control plane portion of the central unit of the master base station) to perform detection of SCG/node status and/or to configure the transmission of the user data. This message includes at least one of the following information:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Step 2-0-4: The master base station (or the central unit of the master base station, or the control plane portion of the central unit of the master base station) transmits a fourth configuration message to the central unit of the base station (the base station is a secondary base station) (or the control plane portion of the central unit of the base station). The function of this message is to configure the central unit of the base station (or the control plane portion of the central unit of the base station) to perform detection of SCG/node status and/or to configure the transmission of the user data. This message includes at least one of the following information:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
In one embodiment, after the above step 2-0-4, the above step 2-0-1 and step 2-0-2 may also be performed.
Embodiment 3: The activity status of a SCG is detected by a plurality of network entities respectively, and the activity status of the SCG is determined by a master base station (or a central unit of the master base station, or a control plane portion of the central unit of the master base station).
As shown in
Detection procedure, which is used to detect the activity status of a SCG/node, may include the following steps (whether each step is executed or not is not restricted, and the execution order of various steps is not restricted):
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Step 3-1-3: A user plane portion of the central unit of the base station detects the activity status of the SCG, or detects its own activity status.
Step 3-1-4: The user plane portion of the central unit of the base station transmits a second notification message to the control plane portion of the central unit of the base station. The function of this message is to notify the activity status of the SCG or the user plane portion of the central unit of the base station. This message includes at least one of the following information:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Step 3-1-5: The central unit of the base station (or the control plane portion of the central unit of the base station) detects the activity status of the SCG, or detects its own activity status. In one embodiment, in this step, the central unit of the base station (or the control plane portion of the central unit of the base station) detects the activity status of the SCG/node according to the information obtained in the above step 3-1-2 and/or step 3-1-4.
Step 3-1-6: The secondary base station (or the central unit of the base station, or the control plane portion of the central unit of the base station) transmits a third notification message to a master base station (or a central unit of the master base station, or a control plane portion of the central unit of the master base station). The function of this message is to notify the activity status of the SCG/node. This message includes at least one of the following information:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Notification procedure, the function of which is to notify the activity status of the SCG/node, may include the following steps (whether each step is executed or not is not restricted, and the execution order of various steps is not restricted):
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Step 3-2-2: The central unit of the secondary base station (or the control plane portion of the central unit of the secondary base station) transmits a fifth notification message to the distributed unit of the secondary base station. The function of this message is to notify the status of the SCG/node. This message includes at least one of the following information:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Step 3-2-3: The control plane portion of the central unit of the secondary base station transmits a sixth notification message to the user plane portion of the central unit of the secondary base station. The function of this message is to notify the status of the SCG/node. This message includes at least one of the following information:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Procedure for configuring user, the function of which is to configure the data transmission of a user on the SCG, may include the following steps:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Configuration procedure, the function of the process is to configure the detection of the activity status, or to configure the transmission of user data. The activity status may be the activity status of a node or the activity status of a SCG; the transmission of the user data may be the transmission of the user data on the node, may also be the transmission of user data served by the SCG. This procedure occurs before or after the above “detection procedure”, or overlaps with the “detection procedure”. This procedure may include the following steps (whether each step is executed or not is not restricted, and the execution order of various steps is not restricted):
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Step 3-0-2: The control plane portion of the central unit of the base station transmits a second configuration message to the user plane portion of the central unit of the base station. The function of this message is to configure the user plane portion of the central unit of the base station to perform detection of SCG/node status and/or to configure the transmission of the user data. In one embodiment, the base station is a secondary base station. The message includes at least one of the following information:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Step 3-0-3: The central unit of the base station (the base station is the secondary base station) (or the control plane portion of the central unit of the base station) transmits a third configuration message to the master base station (or the central unit of the master base station, or the control plane portion of the central unit of the master base station). The function of this message is to configure the master base station (or the central unit of the master base station, or the control plane portion of the central unit of the master base station) to perform detection of SCG/node status and/or to configure the transmission of the user data. In one embodiment, the base station is a secondary base station. The message includes at least one of the following information:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
Step 3-0-4: The master base station (or the central unit of the master base station, or the control plane portion of the central unit of the master base station) transmits a fourth configuration message to the central unit of the base station (the base station is a secondary base station) (or the control plane portion of the central unit of the base station). The function of this message is to configure the central unit of the base station (or the control plane portion of the central unit of the base station) to perform detection of SCG/node status and/or to configure the transmission of the user data. This message includes at least one of the following information:
The above information may be the information included in the “first configuration request message” described with reference to
In one embodiment, after the above step 3-0-4, the above step 3-0-1 and step 3-0-2 may also be performed.
It should be noted that in the above three embodiments, the information included in the first message in the above step 1-1 is put in different procedures, respectively. However, in a real system, the information included in the first message may be put in one procedure for transmission, or may be put in different procedures to be transmitted, respectively. Therefore, the present disclosure does not restrict the procedure for carrying the information included in the first message, and it may be transmitted in one procedure or in a plurality of procedures.
The advantageous effects of the above exemplary procedure 1 include at least:
The network node can control the transmission of user data, and can also control the transmission of user data by a SCG, so as to control the use of nodes/SCGs and save the power of the user equipments.
The network node can detect the use of nodes/SCGs, so as to know whether it is required to activate or deactivate the use of the nodes/SCGs.
Configure network nodes to activate or deactivate SCGs, thereby reducing the power consumption of user equipments.
Notify the network node of the activation or deactivation of SCGs, thereby controlling the transmission of data to the nodes serving SCGs, thus reducing the power consumption of user equipments.
The configuration related to SCG activation and deactivation is performed with respect to the user equipment. The configuration includes transmission configuration of the user data, activation and deactivation of SCG, and detection of SCG status, etc. The exemplary procedure 2 may include the following steps, as shown in
In one embodiment, if the above “fifth applicable information” is not included in the configuration information related to data transmission, the above “second threshold information” and/or “fourth time length information” are user-level information, and are applicable to data of one user equipment.
In one embodiment, if the above “sixth applicable information” is not included in the information related to SCG activity status detection time, the above “fifth time length information” is user-level information, and is applicable to data of one user equipment.
Step 2-2: Optionally, the user equipment detects the status of the SCG. In one implementation, the user equipment may detect the status of the SCG according to the configuration.
Step 2-3: Optionally, the user equipment transmits a fifth message to the third node, the fifth message includes information related to notification of the status of SCG. In one implementation, the fifth message may be the first user notification message, the function of this message is to notify the usage status of the SCG. The message may be an RRC message, or may be indication information of a MAC layer, or may be other types of indication information. This message includes at least one of the following information:
In one embodiment, the above steps 2-2 and 2-3 may be performed again according to the configuration in the above step 2-1. In another embodiment, the above steps 2-2 and 2-3 may also be performed independently.
The above third node may be a master base station, a secondary base station, a central unit of a master base station/a secondary base station, or a control plane portion of the central unit of the master base station/secondary base station.
The advantageous effects of the above exemplary procedure 2 include at least:
Based on the first aspect of the disclosure content, the advantageous effects brought by the present disclosure are at least:
Based on the second aspect of the disclosure content, the advantageous effects brought by the present disclosure are at least:
This procedure is a procedure directed to a user equipment handover process. A new handover mechanism is given in the 3GPP Rel-16 protocol, namely the Dual Active Protocol Stack (DAPS) handover. In the handover mechanism, during the handover process, the user equipment may maintain communication with a source base station until the network side notifies the user equipment to release the communication with the source base station. When this mechanism is applied to a base station with a separate architecture (that is, a base station includes one central unit and one or more distributed units), there will be a problem of whether to let the distributed unit of the source base station stop transmitting user data. In non-DAPS handover, when the handover occurs on the user equipment, the distributed unit of the source base station needs to stop communication with the user equipment. In DAPS handover, based on the description in TS38.401 v16.3.0, the distributed unit of the source base station will not stop communication with the user equipment. However, DAPS handover is not applicable to all radio bearers of user equipment, that is, during the handover, there will be some radio bearers of user equipment (called DAPS bearers in the present disclosure) that may maintain communication with the source base station, yet there are some bearers that need not to maintain communication with the source base station (referred to as non-DAPS bearer in the present disclosure). For a radio bearer configured as a DAPS bearer, during the user equipment handover, on one hand, the user equipment completes the procedure of accessing the target base station; and on the other hand, the user equipment may perform data transmission of the radio bearer with the source base station. For radio bearers configured as non-DAPS bearers, during the user equipment handover process, the user equipment may only perform data transmission of the bearer with the target base station after successfully accessing the target base station. According to conventional technology, if only part of the radio bearers of the user equipment are configured as DAPS bearers during the handover process, the distributed unit of the source base station will still transmit data belonging to non-DAPS bearers, which is a waste of resources for the distributed unit of the source base station. At the same time, it may affect the data transmission of the DAPS bearers on the distributed unit of the source base station, resulting in a decrease in the performance of the DAPS bearers. Therefore, the present disclosure also proposes a data transmission control procedure, which involves the following nodes:
As shown in
Step 3-2: The fifth node determines the transmission of user data according to the received sixth message, that is, the fifth node determines one or more radio bearers to continue data transmission with the user equipment. In particular, according to the information included in the sixth message, there may be the following implementations:
the data transmission of one or more or all of the radio bearers; if the “fourth indication information for data transmission” indicates “restart”, restart the data transmission of one or more or all of the radio bearers; and if the “fourth indication information for data transmission” indicates “do not keep (stop)”, stop the data transmission of one or more or all of the radio bearers.
In one embodiment, the transmission of user data is determined according to the “Indication information for DAPS configuration” for each radio bearer in the “information related to radio bearers”. If the “Indication information for DAPS configuration ” of one radio bearer indicates that the radio bearer is a DAPS bearer, the fifth node continues data transmission of the radio bearer with the user equipment; if the “Indication information for DAPS configuration ” of one radio bearer indicates that the radio bearer is a non-DAPS bearer, the fifth node stops data transmission of the radio bearer with the user equipment.
In another embodiment, the transmission of user data is determined according to the “first indication information for data transmission” for each radio bearer in “information related to radio bearers”. If the “first indication information for data transmission” indicates “keep”, continue the data transmission of the radio bearer; if the “first indication information for data transmission” indicates “restart”, restart the data transmission of the radio bearer; and if the “first indication information for data transmission” indicates “do not keep (stop)”, stop the data transmission of the radio bearer.
In one embodiment, the transmission of user data is determined according to the identification information of one or more radio bearers included in the “Information of the DAPS radio bearer”, that is, the fifth node continues the data transmission of one or more radio bearers as indicated by the “Information of the DAPS radio bearer” with the user equipment.
In another embodiment, the transmission of user data is determined according to the “second indication information for data transmission” for each indicated radio bearer in the “information of DAPS radio bearer”. If the “second indication information for data transmission” indicates “keep”, continue the data transmission of the radio bearer; if the “second indication information for data transmission” indicates “restart”, restart the data transmission of the radio bearer; and if the “second indication information for data transmission” indicates “do not keep (stop)”, stop the data transmission of the radio bearer.
In one embodiment, the transmission of user data is determined according to the identification information of one or more radio bearers included in the “information of non-DAPS radio bearers”, that is, the fifth node stops the data transmission of one or more radio bearers as indicated by the “Information of the non-DAPS radio bearer” with the user equipment.
In another embodiment, the transmission of user data is determined according to the “third indication information for data transmission” for each indicated radio bearer in the “information of non-DAPS radio bearers”. If the “third indication information for data transmission” indicates “keep”, continue the data transmission of the radio bearer; if the “third indication information for data transmission” indicates “restart”, restart the data transmission of the radio bearer; and if the “third indication information for data transmission” indicates “do not keep (stop)”, stop the data transmission of the radio bearer.
When the “fourth indication information for data transmission” indicates “do not keep (stop)”, for a radio bearer, if the “Indication information for DAPS configuration” included in the “information related to radio bearer” indicates that the radio bearer is a DAPS bearer, the fifth node continues the data transmission of the radio bearer with the user equipment; if the “Indication information for DAPS configuration” included in the “information related to radio bearer ” indicates that the radio bearer is a non-DAPS bearer, the fifth node stops the data transmission of the radio bearer with the user equipment.
When the “fourth indication information for data transmission” indicates “do not keep (stop)”, for one or more radio bearers indicated by the “Information of the DAPS radio bearer”, that is, these radio bearers configured as DAPS bearers, the fifth node continues the data transmission of the one or more radio bearers with the user equipment; for one or more radio bearers not indicated by the “Information of the DAPS radio bearer”, that is, these radio bearers configured as non-DAPS bearers, the fifth node stops data transmission of the one or more radio bearers with the user equipment.
When the “fourth indication information for data transmission” indicates “do not keep (stop)”, for one or more radio bearers indicated by the “Information of the non-DAPS radio bearers”, that is, these radio bearers configured as non-DAPS bearers, the fifth node stops data transmission of the one or more radio bearers with the user equipment; for one or more radio bearers not indicated by the “Information of the non-DAPS radio bearers”, that is, these radio bearers configured as DAPS bearers, the fifth node continues the data transmission of the one or more radio bearers with the user equipment.
Optionally, after step 3-2, data transmission between the fifth node and the user equipment may also be included.
The sixth message in the above procedure may be an F1AP message of the F1 interface, such as a user equipment context modification request (UE Context Modification Request) message, a downlink RRC message transfer (DL RRC Message Transfer) message, or may be other types of messages.
In the description of the above procedure, it is assumed that the user equipment is in the handover process, the procedure occurs on the source base station side. For other procedures in the entire handover process, they are not given because they are irrelevant to the inventive concept of the present disclosure, and the specific procedure may be referred to TS38.300 and TS38.401.
Further, in the above procedure, the fourth node and the fifth node are the nodes involved in the user equipment handover process, however, this procedure is not limited to the handover process, and may also be used in other processes.
Further, in the above procedure, the fourth node is the central unit of the base station or the control plane portion of the central unit of the base station, and the fifth node is the distributed unit of the base station. However, the procedure is not limited to the interaction between these two types of nodes, and is also applicable for other types of nodes (such as the fourth node and the fifth node are two different base stations, central units of two different base stations, or the control plane portions of the central units of two different base stations).
The advantageous effects of this exemplary procedure 3 include at least: the network node (such as the distributed unit of the base station) may know the configuration of data transmission with the user equipment according to the interaction of the procedure, determine the radio bearers required to maintain the data transmission, save the resources of the network node, and ensure the continuity of user data transmission.
Referring to
Referring to
Those skilled in the art may realize that the present disclosure may be implemented in other specific forms without changing the technical idea or basic features of the present disclosure. Therefore, it should be understood that the above embodiments are merely examples and not restrictive. The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims rather than the detailed descriptions. Therefore, it should be understood that all modifications or variations derived from the meaning and scope of the appended claims and the equivalents thereof fall within the scope of the present disclosure.
In the above embodiments of the present disclosure, all operations and messages may be selectively performed or omitted. Additionally, the operations in each embodiment need not to be performed sequentially, and the order of the operations may be changed. Messages do not need to be delivered in order, and the delivery order of messages may be changed. Each operation and each message delivery may be performed independently.
Although the present disclosure has been shown and described with reference to various embodiments of the present disclosure, those skilled in the art will understand that various changes may be made in form and in details without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure defined by the appended claims and the equivalents thereof.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202011131907.3 | Oct 2020 | CN | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/KR2021/014809 | 10/21/2021 | WO |
