CN107071842B

CN107071842B - Automatic switching method, system, base station and user equipment

Info

Publication number: CN107071842B
Application number: CN201710064631.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 孙立新; 丁颖哲; 周明宇; 路杨
Original assignee: Baicells Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Baicells Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-02-04
Filing date: 2017-02-04
Publication date: 2020-06-16
Anticipated expiration: 2037-02-04
Also published as: WO2018141287A1; CN107071842A

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides an automatic switching method, an automatic switching system, a base station and user equipment. In one aspect, in an embodiment of the present invention, a base station generates a measurement configuration message, where the measurement configuration message includes at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, at least one measurement report condition, and an automatic handover flag; thereby, the base station sends the measurement configuration message to the user equipment; and then the user equipment acquires the measurement configuration message, takes the measurement configuration corresponding to the automatic switching identifier as the automatic switching measurement configuration, and switches to the target cell when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatic switching measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatic switching measurement configuration. Therefore, the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention is used for solving the problem that the user equipment cannot be automatically switched in the prior art.

Description

Automatic switching method, system, base station and user equipment

[ technical field ] A method for producing a semiconductor device

The present invention relates to the field of wireless communications technologies, and in particular, to an automatic handover method, system, base station, and user equipment.

[ background of the invention ]

The MuLTE-Fire is a radio access technology that extends Long Term Evolution (LTE) to an unlicensed frequency band. In the technology, the unlicensed band carrier can independently provide services without the help of the licensed band carrier. In order to fairly occupy the unlicensed band channel with other devices in the unlicensed band (e.g., Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) devices) and avoid mutual interference between the devices in the unlicensed band, the MuLTE-Fire physical layer introduces a Listen Before Talk (LBT) mechanism of the Wi-Fi-like carrier sensing technology. The principle of the LBT mechanism is that when the base station or the user equipment monitors that the unlicensed frequency band channel is occupied, the signal is stopped to be sent to the opposite terminal when the LBT is considered to be failed, and on the contrary, if the unlicensed frequency band channel is monitored to be idle, the signal is sent to the opposite terminal when the LBT is considered to be successful.

In order to improve transmission efficiency of downlink common control signals of a base station under an LBT mechanism, MuLTE-Fire introduces a Discovery Reference Signal (DRS), and the DRS includes main downlink common control signals, such as system broadcast, Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), enhanced Primary synchronization Signal (ePSS), enhanced Secondary synchronization Signal (eSSS), Cell Reference Signal (CRS), main system Information Block (MIB) and enhanced system Information Block (SIB-MF), where the DRS occupies 12 or 14 symbols (Symbol) in one downlink subframe. The user equipment may acquire the DRS, the MIB, and the SIB-MF within a Discovery Signals measurement timing Configuration (DMTC) window. The MulteFire cell transmits the CRS only in a DRS subframe or other subframes transmitted by a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), so that the user equipment can perform Channel measurement on the MuLTE-Fire serving cell or a MuLTE-Fire neighboring cell only in a DMTC window for cell selection, cell reselection or handover. The base station may send the DMTC information of the serving cell, the co-frequency neighboring cell, and the inter-frequency neighboring cell to the user equipment, respectively.

When the measurement result of the user equipment located in the MuLTE-Fire cell meets the handover condition, if the user equipment monitors that the channel is occupied according to the LBT mechanism, the user equipment cannot send a measurement report to the base station, and similarly, after the base station to which the MuLTE-Fire cell belongs receives the measurement report of the user equipment, if the channel is monitored to be occupied according to the LBT mechanism, the base station cannot send a handover command to the user equipment, thereby causing too long handover delay. Therefore, an automatic handover scheme of the ue is supported in the existing MuLTE-Fire system, when the ue detects that the signal quality of the measurement object for automatic handover meets the measurement report condition for automatic handover, the ue sends a measurement report to the base station and starts an automatic handover timer, the base station initiates handover preparation to the target cell after receiving the measurement report, and after the handover preparation is completed, the base station sends a handover instruction to the ue. If the user equipment acquires a switching instruction sent by the base station before the automatic switching timer is overtime, the user equipment is switched to a target cell indicated by the switching instruction according to the switching instruction; otherwise, if the automatic switching timer is overtime and the user equipment does not receive the switching instruction, the user equipment autonomously selects the target cell and initiates a switching request to the autonomously selected target cell.

In the above automatic handover scheme, when the measurement report condition of automatic handover is satisfied, the ue reports the measurement report of automatic handover, starts the automatic handover timer, and waits for obtaining a handover command, and the bs initiates a handover preparation when receiving the measurement report of automatic handover, so both the ue and the bs need to know the measurement configuration of automatic handover, i.e. know when to start automatic handover. However, in the prior art, the base station cannot make the user equipment know which is the measurement configuration for the automatic handover, so that the user equipment cannot perform the automatic handover. Therefore, a method is needed to make the base station and the ue aware of the measurement configuration of the automatic handover so that the ue can perform the automatic handover.

[ summary of the invention ]

In view of this, embodiments of the present invention provide an automatic handover method, system, base station, and user equipment, so as to solve the problem that in the prior art, the user equipment cannot perform automatic handover.

In one aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an automatic handover method, which is applied to a system including a base station and a user equipment; the method comprises the following steps:

the base station generates a measurement configuration message, wherein the measurement configuration message comprises at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, at least one measurement report condition and an automatic switching identifier;

the base station sends the measurement configuration message to the user equipment;

the user equipment acquires the measurement configuration message;

and the user equipment takes the measurement configuration corresponding to the automatic switching identifier as the measurement configuration for automatic switching, and switches to the target cell when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the measurement configuration for automatic switching meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the measurement configuration for automatic switching.

In a possible implementation, the handover of the ue to the target cell when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration satisfies the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration includes:

when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the user equipment starts an automatic switching timer and sends a measurement report aiming at automatic switching to the base station;

the base station determines to switch the user equipment according to the measurement report aiming at automatic switching, which is sent by the user equipment, sends a switching preparation request to a target base station, and sends a switching instruction to the user equipment when the base station acquires a response message of the switching preparation request sent by the target base station;

if the automatic switching timer is overtime and the user equipment does not acquire a switching instruction sent by the base station, the user equipment selects the target cell and switches to the target cell; or, if the automatic handover timer is before time out, the user equipment acquires a handover instruction sent by the base station, and the user equipment is handed over to a target cell indicated by the handover instruction.

when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the user equipment determines to switch and sends a measurement report aiming at the automatic switching to the base station;

the base station sends a switching preparation request to a target base station according to the measurement report aiming at automatic switching sent by the user equipment, and obtains a response message of the switching preparation request sent by the target base station;

and the user equipment selects the target cell and switches to the target cell.

In one possible implementation of the method according to the invention,

the automatic switching identification is contained in one or more of the measurement configurations; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

one or more of the measurement objects comprise the automatic switching identifier; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

the automatic handover identification is included in one or more of the measurement reporting conditions.

In a possible implementation, the ue regards the measurement configuration for which the automatic handover identifier is directed as the automatically handed over measurement configuration, including:

if the measurement configuration contains the automatic switching identifier, the user equipment takes the measurement configuration as the automatic switching measurement configuration; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

if the measurement object contains the automatic switching identifier, the user equipment takes all measurement configurations corresponding to the measurement object as the automatic switching measurement configurations; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

and if the measurement report condition contains the automatic switching identifier, the user equipment takes all the measurement configurations corresponding to the measurement report condition as the automatic switching measurement configurations.

In a possible implementation, before the ue switches to the target cell when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the measurement configuration satisfies the measurement report condition corresponding to the measurement configuration, the method further includes:

and the user equipment determines a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration according to the measurement configuration message, and measures the measurement object to obtain a measurement result.

In one possible implementation, the selecting, by the ue, a target cell includes:

the user equipment selects the target cell according to the measurement result of the measurement object aiming at the measurement configuration of automatic switching when the automatic switching timer is started; or,

the user equipment selects the target cell according to the measurement result of the first designated cell within a first designated time before the automatic switching timer is overtime; or,

the user equipment selects the target cell according to the measurement result of the first designated cell within a second designated time after the automatic switching timer is overtime;

the first designated cell is any adjacent cell or a cell included in a measurement object corresponding to the measurement configuration of automatic switching.

In one possible implementation, the selecting, by the ue, a target cell includes: the user equipment selects the target cell according to the measurement result of the second designated cell;

the second designated cell is a cell included in a measurement object corresponding to any neighboring cell or measurement configuration for automatic handover.

In one possible implementation, the method further comprises: the user equipment acquires the cell list sent by the base station;

the user equipment selects a target cell, and the method comprises the following steps: and the user equipment selects a cell from the cell list as the target cell according to the measurement result of the cells in the cell list.

On the other hand, the embodiment of the invention also provides an automatic switching method, which is executed on the base station; the method comprises the following steps:

generating a measurement configuration message comprising at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, at least one measurement reporting condition, and an automatic handover identification;

and sending the measurement configuration message to the user equipment so that the user equipment can acquire the measurement configuration message, taking the measurement configuration corresponding to the automatic switching identifier as the automatic switching measurement configuration, and switching to a target cell when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatic switching measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatic switching measurement configuration.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes:

sending a switching preparation request to a target base station according to the measurement report aiming at the automatic switching;

and when a response message of the switching preparation request sent by the target base station is acquired, sending a switching instruction to the user equipment.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes:

and acquiring a response message of the switching preparation request returned by the target base station.

In one possible implementation of the method according to the invention,

In one possible implementation, the method further comprises:

and sending a cell list to the user equipment, wherein the cell list is used for the user equipment to select the target cell.

On the other hand, the embodiment of the invention also provides an automatic switching method, which is applied to a system comprising user equipment and a base station; the method comprises the following steps:

the base station generates a measurement configuration message, wherein the measurement configuration message comprises at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object and at least one measurement report condition;

the user equipment determines one or more measurement configurations as an automatically switched measurement configuration in the at least one measurement configuration, and sends a measurement report for automatic switching to the base station when a measurement result of a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets a measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, wherein the measurement report carries an automatic switching instruction;

and the user equipment is switched to a target cell.

In one possible implementation of the method according to the invention,

the method further comprises the following steps:

when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the user equipment starts an automatic switching timer;

after the base station acquires the measurement report carrying the automatic switching instruction, determining to switch the user equipment, and sending a switching preparation request to a target base station according to the measurement report; when the base station acquires a response message returned by the target base station, the base station sends a switching instruction to the user equipment;

the handover to the target cell includes:

when the automatic switching timer is overtime and the user equipment does not acquire a switching instruction sent by the base station according to the measurement report, the user equipment selects the target cell and switches to the target cell; or, before the automatic handover timer times out, if the user equipment acquires a handover instruction sent by the base station, the user equipment switches to a target cell indicated by the handover instruction.

In one possible implementation, the method further comprises:

after the base station acquires the measurement report carrying the automatic switching instruction, sending a switching preparation request to a target base station according to the measurement report, and acquiring a response message returned by the target base station;

the handover to the target cell includes:

and the user equipment selects the target cell and switches to the target cell.

In a possible implementation scheme, when a measurement result of a measurement object corresponding to an automatically switched measurement configuration meets a measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, sending a measurement report for automatic switching to the base station, where the measurement report carries an automatic switching instruction and further includes, before switching to a target cell: and the user equipment determines a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, and measures the measurement object to obtain a measurement result.

In a possible implementation, the measurement configuration message further includes indication information for indicating the measurement configuration selected as the automatic handover by the user equipment; determining one or more measurement configurations among the at least one measurement configuration as automatically switched measurement configurations, comprising:

and the user equipment selects one or more measurement configurations from the measurement configurations indicated by the indication information as the automatically switched measurement configurations according to the indication information in the measurement configuration message.

In one possible implementation, determining one or more measurement configurations among the at least one measurement configuration as automatically switched measurement configurations includes:

selecting one or more measurement configurations among the at least one measurement configuration as automatically switched measurement configurations; or,

selecting one or more measurement objects from the at least one measurement object, and taking the measurement configuration corresponding to the selected one or more measurement objects as the automatically switched measurement configuration; or,

selecting one or more measurement report conditions from the at least one measurement report condition, and using the measurement configuration corresponding to the selected one or more measurement report conditions as the automatically switched measurement configuration.

In one possible implementation, the selecting, by the ue, a target cell includes: the user equipment selects the target cell according to the measurement result of the second designated cell; the second designated cell is any adjacent cell or a cell included in a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration.

In one possible implementation, the method further comprises:

the user equipment acquires the cell list sent by the base station;

the user equipment selects a target cell, and the method comprises the following steps:

and the user equipment selects a cell from the cell list as the target cell according to the measurement result of the cells in the cell list.

On the other hand, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an automatic handover method, which is executed on a base station, and includes:

generating a measurement configuration message comprising at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, at least one measurement reporting condition;

and sending the measurement configuration message to the user equipment, so that the user equipment determines one or more measurement configurations as an automatically switched measurement configuration in the at least one measurement configuration, and sends a measurement report for automatic switching to the base station when a measurement result of a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets a measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, wherein the measurement report carries an automatic switching instruction and is switched to a target cell.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes:

sending a switching preparation request to a target base station according to a measurement report which is sent by the terminal and carries an automatic switching instruction;

and acquiring a response message returned by the target base station.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes:

and if a response message returned by the target base station is acquired, sending a switching instruction to the user equipment.

In a possible implementation, the measurement configuration message further includes indication information, where the indication information is used for the ue to select one or more measurement configurations as the automatically switched measurement configuration in the measurement configuration indicated by the indication information.

In one possible implementation, the method further comprises:

and sending a cell list to the user equipment, wherein the cell list is used for the user equipment to select a target cell.

On the other hand, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an automatic switching method, which is executed on a user equipment, and includes:

determining a measurement object for automatic switching and a condition for automatic switching;

and when the measurement result aiming at the measurement object subjected to automatic switching meets the switching condition of the automatic switching, sending an automatic switching instruction to the base station, and selecting and switching to a target cell.

In one possible implementation, selecting the target cell includes:

selecting the target cell according to the measurement result of the first designated cell;

the second designated cell is any neighboring cell or a cell included in the measurement object for automatic handover.

In one possible implementation, the method further comprises:

acquiring the cell list sent by the base station;

the selecting the target cell includes: selecting a cell from the cell list as the target cell according to the measurement result of the cells in the cell list.

On the other hand, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an automatic switching system, including a base station and a user equipment:

the base station is configured to generate a measurement configuration message, where the measurement configuration message includes at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, at least one measurement report condition, and an automatic handover identifier;

the base station is further configured to send the measurement configuration message to the user equipment;

the user equipment is used for acquiring the measurement configuration message;

the user equipment is further configured to use the measurement configuration to which the automatic handover identifier is directed as an automatically handed over measurement configuration, and switch to the target cell when a measurement result of a measurement object corresponding to the automatically handed over measurement configuration meets a measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically handed over measurement configuration.

In a possible implementation scheme, when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the ue is further configured to start an automatic switching timer and send a measurement report for automatic switching to the base station;

the base station is further configured to determine to switch the user equipment according to the measurement report for automatic switching sent by the user equipment, send a switching preparation request to a target base station, and send a switching instruction to the user equipment when the base station obtains a response message of the switching preparation request sent by the target base station;

if the automatic switching timer is overtime and the user equipment does not acquire a switching instruction sent by the base station, the user equipment is also used for selecting the target cell and switching to the target cell; or, before the automatic handover timer times out, the user equipment is further configured to handover to a target cell indicated by the handover instruction when acquiring the handover instruction sent by the base station.

In one possible implementation of the method according to the invention,

when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the user equipment is further configured to determine to perform switching and send a measurement report for automatic switching to the base station;

the base station is further configured to send a handover preparation request to a target base station according to the measurement report for automatic handover sent by the user equipment, and obtain a response message of the handover preparation request sent by the target base station;

the user equipment is further configured to select the target cell and switch to the target cell.

In one possible implementation of the method according to the invention,

In a feasible implementation scheme, the ue is further configured to determine, according to the measurement configuration message, a measurement object corresponding to the measurement configuration that is automatically switched, and measure the measurement object to obtain a measurement result.

In a possible implementation, the user equipment is specifically configured to:

selecting the target cell according to a measurement result of a measurement object aiming at the measurement configuration of automatic switching when an automatic switching timer is started; or,

selecting the target cell according to the measurement result of the first designated cell within a first designated time before the automatic switching timer is overtime; or,

selecting the target cell according to the measurement result of the first designated cell within a second designated time length after the automatic switching timer is overtime;

In a possible implementation, the user equipment is specifically configured to: selecting the target cell according to the measurement result of the second designated cell; the second designated cell is a cell included in a measurement object corresponding to any neighboring cell or measurement configuration for automatic handover.

In a possible implementation, the user equipment is specifically configured to:

acquiring the cell list sent by the base station;

selecting a cell from the cell list as the target cell according to the measurement result of the cells in the cell list.

On the other hand, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a base station, including:

a generating unit, configured to generate a measurement configuration message, where the measurement configuration message includes at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, at least one measurement report condition, and an automatic handover identifier;

a sending unit, configured to send the measurement configuration message to the ue, so that the ue obtains the measurement configuration message, uses the measurement configuration to which the automatic handover identifier is directed as an automatic handover measurement configuration, and switches to the target cell when a measurement result of a measurement object corresponding to the automatic handover measurement configuration meets a measurement report condition corresponding to the automatic handover measurement configuration.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes:

an obtaining unit, configured to obtain the measurement report for automatic handover sent by the user equipment;

the sending unit is further configured to send a handover preparation request to a target base station according to the measurement report for automatic handover; and when a response message of the switching preparation request sent by the target base station is acquired, sending a switching instruction to the user equipment.

In one possible implementation of the method according to the invention,

On the other hand, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an automatic switching system, including a user equipment and a base station:

the base station is configured to generate a measurement configuration message, where the measurement configuration message includes at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, and at least one measurement report condition;

the ue is further configured to determine one or more measurement configurations as an automatically switched measurement configuration in the at least one measurement configuration, and send a measurement report for automatic switching to the base station when a measurement result of a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets a measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, where the measurement report carries an automatic switching instruction and is switched to a target cell.

In one possible implementation of the method according to the invention,

when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the user equipment is further configured to start an automatic switching timer;

the base station is further configured to determine to switch the user equipment after acquiring the measurement report carrying the automatic switching instruction, and send a switching preparation request to a target base station according to the measurement report; when the base station acquires a response message returned by the target base station, the base station sends a switching instruction to the user equipment;

the user equipment is specifically configured to:

when the automatic switching timer is overtime and the user equipment does not acquire a switching instruction sent by the base station according to the measurement report, selecting the target cell and switching to the target cell; or, before the automatic handover timer times out, if the user equipment acquires a handover instruction sent by the base station, switching to a target cell indicated by the handover instruction.

In one possible implementation of the method according to the invention,

the base station is further configured to send a handover preparation request to a target base station according to the measurement report after the measurement report carrying the automatic handover instruction is obtained, and obtain a response message returned by the target base station;

the user equipment is specifically configured to: and selecting the target cell and switching to the target cell.

In a possible implementation scheme, the ue is further configured to determine a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, and measure the measurement object to obtain a measurement result.

In a possible implementation, the measurement configuration message further includes indication information for indicating the measurement configuration selected as the automatic handover by the user equipment;

the user equipment is specifically configured to:

according to the indication information in the measurement configuration message, selecting one or more measurement configurations as automatically switched measurement configurations from the measurement configurations indicated by the indication information.

In a possible implementation, the user equipment is specifically configured to:

selecting the target cell according to the measurement result of the second designated cell; the second designated cell is any adjacent cell or a cell included in a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration.

In a possible implementation, the user equipment is specifically configured to:

and acquiring the cell list sent by the base station, and selecting a cell from the cell list as the target cell according to the measurement result of the cell in the cell list.

a generating unit, configured to generate a measurement configuration message, where the measurement configuration message includes at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, and at least one measurement report condition;

a sending unit, configured to send the measurement configuration message to the ue, so that the ue determines one or more measurement configurations as an automatically switched measurement configuration in the at least one measurement configuration, and sends a measurement report for automatic switching to the base station when a measurement result of a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets a measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, where the measurement report carries an automatic switching instruction and is switched to a target cell.

In a possible implementation scheme, the sending unit is further configured to send a handover preparation request to a target base station according to a measurement report carrying an automatic handover instruction sent by the terminal;

further comprising: and the acquisition unit is used for acquiring the response message returned by the target base station.

In one possible implementation of the method according to the invention,

the sending unit is further configured to send a handover preparation request to a target base station according to a measurement report carrying an automatic handover instruction sent by the terminal; and if a response message returned by the target base station is acquired, sending a switching instruction to the user equipment.

On the other hand, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a user equipment, including:

an acquisition unit for determining a measurement object for automatic switching and a condition for automatic switching;

a transmission unit configured to transmit an automatic switching instruction to the base station when a measurement result for the automatically switched measurement object satisfies a switching condition of the automatic switching;

and the processing unit is used for selecting and switching to the target cell when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration.

In a possible implementation, the processing unit is specifically configured to:

In one possible implementation, the method further includes:

an obtaining unit, configured to obtain the cell list sent by the base station;

the processing unit is specifically configured to: selecting a cell from the cell list as the target cell according to the measurement result of the cells in the cell list.

One of the above technical solutions has the following beneficial effects:

in the embodiment of the invention, when the base station sends the measurement configuration message to the user equipment, the user equipment can determine the measurement configuration of automatic switching by carrying the automatic switching identifier through the measurement configuration message, so that the base station and the user equipment can know the measurement configuration of automatic switching and know when to perform automatic switching, thereby realizing an automatic switching scheme when an LBT mechanism is used in a MuLTE-Fire system, and the user equipment can perform automatic switching. Furthermore, due to the realization of the automatic switching scheme, the problem of high switching failure rate of the user equipment caused by high channel occupancy rate of the target cell when the user equipment uses an LBT mechanism in the MuLTE-Fire system can be solved, so that the user radio can select the target cell with low channel occupancy rate to complete the switching, the switching time delay of the user equipment is reduced, and the probability of switching failure is reduced to a certain extent.

[ description of the drawings ]

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without inventive labor.

Fig. 1 is a schematic flow chart of an automatic switching method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for a ue to handover to a target cell according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating another method for a ue to handover to a target cell according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic flowchart of a specific implementation manner of the automatic switching method according to the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic flowchart of another specific implementation manner of the automatic switching method according to the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic flowchart of a base station side in an automatic handover method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic flow chart illustrating an automatic switching method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method for implementing step 703 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic flow chart of another implementation method of step 703 provided in the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a schematic flowchart of another specific implementation manner of the automatic switching method according to the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a schematic flowchart of another specific implementation manner of the automatic switching method according to the embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 12 is another schematic flow chart of the base station side in the automatic handover method according to the embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 13 is another schematic flow chart of an automatic switching method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of an automatic switching system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 15 is a functional block diagram of a base station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 16 is another functional block diagram of a base station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 17 is a functional block diagram of a ue according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[ detailed description ] embodiments

For better understanding of the technical solutions of the present invention, the following detailed descriptions of the embodiments of the present invention are provided with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It should be understood that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the invention, and not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The terminology used in the embodiments of the invention is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used in the examples of the present invention and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

It should be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein is merely one type of association that describes an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the former and latter related objects are in an "or" relationship.

It should be understood that although the terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe specified durations in embodiments of the present invention, these specified durations should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish specified durations from each other. For example, the first specified duration may also be referred to as the first specified duration, and similarly, the second specified duration may also be referred to as the first specified duration, without departing from the scope of embodiments of the present invention.

The word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "at … …" or "when … …" or "in response to a determination" or "in response to a detection", depending on the context. Similarly, the phrases "if determined" or "if detected (a stated condition or event)" may be interpreted as "when determined" or "in response to a determination" or "when detected (a stated condition or event)" or "in response to a detection (a stated condition or event)", depending on the context.

In an automatic switching scheme in the existing scenario that a MuLTE-Fire technology is adopted, when a measurement report condition of automatic switching is met, a user equipment reports a measurement report of automatic switching, an automatic switching timer is started, a switching instruction is waited to be obtained, and a base station initiates switching preparation when receiving the measurement report of automatic switching, so that the user equipment and the base station need to know measurement configuration of automatic switching.

Aiming at the problem that the base station and the user equipment can not both know the measurement configuration of automatic switching in the prior art, the embodiment of the scheme provides two corresponding feasible solutions.

The method comprises the steps that the base station selects the measurement configuration of automatic switching, and the measurement configuration of automatic switching is indicated to the user equipment through a measurement configuration message.

The second method is that the user equipment autonomously selects the measurement configuration of automatic switching, and then the measurement configuration of automatic switching is indicated to the base station through an automatic switching instruction.

The two modes can enable the user equipment and the base station to know which measurement configuration is the automatic switching measurement configuration, so that the time for automatic switching can be known, and the automatic switching scheme of the user equipment can be smoothly completed.

It should be noted that the embodiment of the present invention may be applied to a system including a base station and a user equipment. The base station and the user equipment can adopt the MuLTE-Fire technology.

The following is a related description of method one.

Please refer to fig. 1, which is a schematic flow chart of an automatic switching method according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 1, the method includes:

101. the base station generates a measurement configuration message comprising at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, at least one measurement report condition and an automatic handover identification.

102. The base station sends a measurement configuration message to the user equipment.

103. The user equipment acquires a measurement configuration message.

104. And the user equipment takes the measurement configuration corresponding to the automatic switching identifier as the measurement configuration for automatic switching, and switches to the target cell when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the measurement configuration for automatic switching meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the measurement configuration for automatic switching.

It should be noted that the user Equipment according to the embodiment of the present invention is an Equipment capable of sending and acquiring a wireless signal, and may include, but is not limited to, a Mobile phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless handheld device, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop station, a client Equipment (CPE) capable of converting a Mobile signal into a wireless signal, or a portable broadband wireless device (Mobile Wi-Fi), a smart appliance, and the like.

For the implementation of step 101 and step 102, the embodiment of the present invention provides a feasible implementation manner.

The measurement configuration message generated by the base station and sent to the user equipment comprises: at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, at least one measurement reporting condition, and an automatic handover identification.

Each Measurement configuration includes a Measurement configuration identifier (Measurement Identity), a Measurement object identifier, and a Measurement report condition identifier, that is, one Measurement configuration may correspond to one Measurement object and one Measurement report condition, which is equivalent to storing a corresponding relationship among the Measurement configuration, the Measurement object, and the Measurement report condition in the Measurement configuration.

Each measurement object is used for indicating a target to be measured by the user equipment, and may include a target frequency point or a target cell.

Each measurement report condition is used for indicating the condition of reporting the measurement report by the user equipment, wherein one measurement report condition may include the type of one measurement event, the signal quality requirement of the measurement event, and the transmission period and the transmission number of the measurement report.

It should be noted that one measurement object may correspond to one or more measurement configurations, and one measurement object may correspond to one or more measurement report conditions. One measurement report condition may correspond to one or more measurement objects, while one measurement report condition may correspond to one or more measurement configurations.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the measurement configuration message sent by the base station to the ue further needs to include an automatic switching identifier, where the automatic switching identifier is used to indicate to the ue which measurement configuration is the automatically switched measurement configuration. The measurement configuration message sent by the base station to the user equipment carries the automatic handover identifier, and there may be the following three possible implementation schemes:

the first method comprises the following steps: the one or more measurement configurations include an automatic switching identification.

In a possible implementation, the measurement configuration message may include a field for storing one or more measurement configurations, the field for storing one or more measurement configurations may be utilized to carry an automatic handover identifier, and if an automatic handover identifier is included in one field for storing a measurement configuration, it indicates that the measurement configuration stored in the field is an automatic handover measurement configuration. As another example, measurement configurations for automatic handover are stored using a dedicated field that is distinguished from the legacy measurement configuration field.

In one possible implementation, the automatic switching identifier may be implemented by using an implicit identifier, for example, if an automatic switching timer is included in a field for storing the measurement configuration, the field stores the measurement configuration that is the measurement configuration for automatic switching.

And the second method comprises the following steps: one or more measurement objects contain an automatic switching identifier.

In a possible implementation, the measurement configuration message may include a field for storing one or more measurement objects, the field for storing one or more measurement objects may be used to carry an auto-switching identifier, and if an auto-switching identifier is included in one field for storing a measurement object, it indicates that the measurement object stored in the field is an auto-switching measurement object, so that the auto-switching identifier may indicate that all measurement configurations corresponding to the measurement object stored in the field are auto-switching measurement configurations.

In one possible implementation, the automatic switching identifier may be implemented by using an implicit identifier, for example, if an automatic switching timer is included in a field for storing the measurement object, it indicates that the measurement object stored in the field is an automatically switched measurement object. For another example, measurement configurations for automatic switching are stored using a dedicated field distinguished from a conventional measurement object field.

And the third is that: the one or more measurement reporting conditions include an automatic handover identification.

In a possible implementation, the measurement configuration message may include a field for storing one or more measurement reporting conditions, and the field for storing one or more measurement reporting conditions may be used to carry an automatic handover identifier, and if an automatic handover identifier is included in one field for storing measurement reporting conditions, the field indicates that the measurement reporting conditions stored in the field are measurement reporting conditions for automatic handover, so that the automatic handover identifier may indicate that all measurement configurations corresponding to the measurement reporting conditions stored in the field are measurement configurations for automatic handover.

In one possible implementation, the automatic switching identification may be implemented using implicit identification. For example, if a field for storing the measurement report condition includes an auto-switching timer or an enable (enable) auto-switching timer flag, it indicates that the measurement report condition stored in the field is the measurement object of auto-switching. Alternatively, for another example, if a field for storing the measurement report condition includes an auto-switching dedicated measurement event, the field is identified to include an auto-switching identifier, which indicates that the measurement report condition stored in the field is a measurement object for auto-switching, for example, the auto-switching dedicated measurement event may be a newly set a7 event dedicated to auto-switching. Alternatively, and for another example, the measurement configuration for automatic handover is stored using a dedicated field distinguished from the conventional measurement report condition field.

For the implementation of step 104, the embodiment of the present invention provides a feasible implementation manner here

The following three possible implementations can be made for the user equipment to use the measurement configuration for which the automatic switching identifier is directed as the measurement configuration for automatic switching:

the first method comprises the following steps: and if the measurement configuration in the measurement configuration message contains the automatic switching identification, the user equipment takes the measurement configuration as the automatic switching measurement configuration.

And the second method comprises the following steps: and if the measurement object in the measurement configuration message contains the automatic switching identifier, the user equipment takes all the measurement configurations corresponding to the measurement object as the automatic switching measurement configurations.

And the third is that: if the measurement report condition contains the automatic switching identifier, the user equipment takes all the measurement configurations corresponding to the measurement report condition as the automatic switching measurement configurations.

For "when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the measurement configuration that is automatically switched satisfies the measurement report condition corresponding to the measurement configuration that is automatically switched, the ue is switched to the target cell" in step 104, the embodiment of the present invention provides the following two possible implementation schemes.

The first possible implementation is applied to a hybrid automatic handover scenario, where the ue needs to send a measurement report to the base station and start an automatic handover timer, and the second possible implementation is applied to a full automatic handover scenario, where the ue can send a measurement report to the base station but does not start the automatic handover timer to receive a handover command.

A first possible implementation is illustrated below.

Please refer to fig. 2, which is a flowchart illustrating a method for a ue to switch to a target cell according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 2, the method includes:

201. and the user equipment determines a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration according to the measurement configuration message, and measures the measurement object to obtain a measurement result.

202. And when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the user equipment starts an automatic switching timer and sends a measurement report aiming at automatic switching to the base station.

In a specific implementation scheme, the measurement configuration message carries the measurement configuration, the measurement object, and the measurement report condition, and the user equipment may measure a target to be measured, that is, a cell or a frequency point included in the measurement object corresponding to the measurement configuration that is automatically switched, according to the measurement object carried in the measurement configuration message. For the automatically switched measurement configuration, when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration satisfies the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the ue needs to start an automatic switching timer in addition to transmitting the measurement report for the automatic switching.

When the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the user equipment starts the automatic switching timer and sends the measurement report for automatic switching to the base station, which may have the following three possible implementation schemes.

Firstly, if a field for storing measurement configuration in a measurement configuration message acquired by user equipment contains an automatic switching identifier, the user equipment determines that the measurement configuration stored in the field for storing the measurement configuration is the automatically switched measurement configuration, and when a measurement result obtained after the user equipment measures a measurement object corresponding to the measurement configuration meets a measurement report condition corresponding to the measurement configuration, the user equipment starts an automatic switching timer and sends a measurement report message to a base station, wherein the measurement report message carries a measurement report, and the measurement report contains the identifier of the automatically switched measurement configuration.

For example, a field for storing measurement configuration 0 includes an automatic handover identifier, where measurement configuration 0 corresponds to measurement report condition 3 and measurement object 1, and if a measurement result of the user equipment on measurement object 1 satisfies measurement report condition 3, the user equipment starts an automatic handover timer and sends a measurement report message carrying a measurement report of measurement object 1 to the base station, where the measurement report carries the identifier of measurement configuration 0.

And secondly, if a field for storing a measurement object in a measurement configuration message acquired by user equipment contains an automatic switching identifier, the user equipment determines that the measurement object stored in the field for storing the measurement object is the automatically switched measurement object, all measurement configurations corresponding to the measurement object are the automatically switched measurement configurations, and when a measurement result obtained after the user equipment measures the measurement object meets a measurement report condition corresponding to the measurement object, the user equipment starts an automatic switching timer and sends a measurement report message to a base station, wherein the measurement report message carries a measurement report, and the measurement report contains the identifier of the measurement configuration corresponding to the automatically switched measurement object.

It should be noted that one measurement object may correspond to one or more measurement report conditions, and when a measurement result of the measurement object satisfies the measurement report condition corresponding to the measurement object, a measurement report message corresponding to the measurement report condition is sent to the base station. However, for a measurement report condition that the measurement result of the measurement object does not satisfy, the user equipment does not transmit a measurement report message corresponding to the measurement report condition to the base station. Furthermore, one measurement object may correspond to one or more measurement configurations, and therefore, the measurement report carried in the measurement report message includes an identifier of the measurement configuration corresponding to the measurement object and satisfying the measurement report condition.

For example, the field for storing the measurement object 3 includes an automatic switching identifier, the measurement object 3 corresponds to the measurement report condition 1 and the measurement configuration 0, and the measurement object 3 also corresponds to the measurement report condition 2 and the measurement configuration 1. If the measurement result of the ue for the measurement object 3 satisfies the measurement report condition 1 but does not satisfy the measurement report condition 2, the ue starts the automatic handover timer and sends a measurement report message carrying the measurement report of the measurement object 3 to the base station, where the content of the measurement report is only the identifier of the measurement configuration 0. Or, if the measurement result of the ue for the measurement object 3 satisfies the measurement report condition 1 and the measurement report condition 2, the ue starts the automatic handover timer and sends a measurement report message carrying the measurement report of the measurement object 3 to the base station, where the measurement report includes the identifier of the measurement configuration 0 and the identifier of the measurement configuration 1.

And thirdly, if a field for storing the measurement report condition in the measurement configuration message acquired by the user equipment contains an automatic switching identifier, the user equipment determines that the measurement report condition stored in the field for storing the measurement report condition is the measurement report condition for automatic switching, all the measurement configurations corresponding to the measurement report condition are the measurement configurations for automatic switching, and when the measurement result obtained by the user equipment after measuring one or more measurement objects corresponding to the measurement report condition for automatic switching meets the measurement report condition, the user equipment starts an automatic switching timer and sends a measurement report message to the base station, wherein the measurement report message carries a measurement report, and the measurement report contains the identifier of the one or more measurement configurations corresponding to the measurement report condition.

It should be noted that one measurement report condition may correspond to one or more measurement objects, and when a measurement result of a measurement object corresponding to a certain measurement report condition satisfies the measurement report condition, a measurement report message corresponding to the measurement report condition is sent to the base station. However, for a measurement report condition that the measurement result of the measurement object does not satisfy, the user equipment does not transmit a measurement report message corresponding to the measurement report condition to the base station. Furthermore, one measurement object may correspond to one or more measurement configurations, and therefore, the content of the measurement report carried in the measurement report message is an identifier of the measurement configuration corresponding to the satisfied measurement report condition when the measurement report condition is satisfied.

For example, the field for storing the measurement report condition 3 includes an automatic handover flag, the measurement report condition 3 corresponds to the measurement object 1 and the measurement configuration 0, and the measurement report condition 3 also corresponds to the measurement object 2 and the measurement configuration 1. If the measurement result of the ue for the measurement object 1 satisfies the measurement report condition 3, and the measurement result of the measurement object 2 does not satisfy the measurement report condition 3, the ue starts the automatic handover timer, and sends a measurement report message carrying the measurement report of the measurement object 0 to the base station, where the content of the measurement report is only the identifier of the measurement configuration 0. Or, if the measurement result of the ue for the measurement object 1 satisfies the measurement report condition 3 and the measurement result of the measurement object 2 also satisfies the measurement report condition 3, the ue starts the automatic handover timer and sends a measurement report message carrying a measurement report to the base station, where the measurement report includes the identifier of the measurement configuration 0 and the identifier of the measurement configuration 1.

Fourthly, if the field for storing the measurement report condition in the measurement configuration message received by the user equipment contains the automatic switching identifier and the field for storing the measurement object in the measurement configuration message also contains the automatic switching identifier, the user determines that the measurement report condition and the measurement configuration corresponding to the measurement object are the automatic switching measurement configuration. When the measurement result of the measurement object by the user meets the measurement report condition, the user equipment starts an automatic switching timer and sends a measurement report message to the base station, wherein the measurement report message carries a measurement report, and the measurement report comprises the measurement report condition and an identifier of measurement configuration corresponding to the measurement object.

203. And the base station determines to switch the user equipment according to the measurement report aiming at the automatic switching, which is sent by the user equipment, and sends a switching preparation request to a target base station.

Specifically, the base station obtains a measurement report message sent by the user equipment, and if the measurement report message carries a measurement report for automatic handover, the base station determines that the user equipment needs to be handed over, so that handover preparation needs to be initiated, and a handover preparation request can be sent to the target base station. The base station may determine, according to a cell identifier carried in a measurement report for automatic handover, a target cell for handover of the user equipment, and further send a handover preparation request to a target base station where the target cell is located.

In a specific implementation scheme, the handover preparation request sent by the base station to the target base station may carry context information of the user equipment.

In one possible implementation, the base station may send a handover preparation request to the target base station over an X2 interface or an S1 interface.

In this embodiment, the base station determines whether the measurement report message sent by the ue carries a measurement report for automatic handover, and there are several possible implementation schemes below.

First, in a case that a field for storing measurement configuration in a measurement configuration message includes an automatic handover identifier, if a measurement configuration corresponding to the identifier of the measurement configuration carried in a measurement report message acquired by a base station belongs to the measurement configuration stored in the field including the automatic handover identifier, the base station determines that a measurement report of the measurement configuration in the measurement report message is a measurement report for automatic handover.

Secondly, under the condition that a field for storing a measurement object in a measurement configuration message contains an automatic handover identifier, if the measurement object corresponding to the measurement configuration identifier carried in a measurement report message acquired by the base station belongs to the measurement object stored in the field containing the automatic handover identifier, the base station determines that the measurement report of the measurement configuration in the measurement report message is the measurement report for automatic handover.

For example, the measurement report message includes an identifier of measurement configuration 0, the identifier of measurement configuration 0 corresponds to measurement object 1 and measurement report condition 3, and if the field for storing measurement object 1 in the measurement configuration message includes an automatic handover identifier, it indicates that the measurement report of measurement configuration 0 is a measurement report for automatic handover.

Thirdly, under the condition that the field for storing the measurement report condition in the measurement configuration message contains the automatic handover identifier, if the measurement report condition corresponding to the measurement configuration identifier carried in the measurement report message acquired by the base station belongs to the measurement report condition stored in the field containing the automatic handover identifier, the base station determines that the measurement report of the measurement configuration in the measurement report message is the measurement report for automatic handover.

For example, the measurement report message includes an identifier of measurement configuration 0, the identifier of measurement configuration 0 corresponds to measurement object 1 and measurement report condition 3, and if the field for storing measurement report condition 3 in the measurement configuration message includes an automatic handover identifier, it indicates that the measurement report of measurement configuration 0 is a measurement report for automatic handover.

Fourthly, under the condition that a field for storing the measurement report condition in the measurement configuration message contains an automatic switching identifier and a field for storing the measurement object contains an automatic switching identifier, if the measurement report condition corresponding to the measurement configuration identifier carried in the measurement report message received by the base station belongs to the measurement report condition stored in the field containing the automatic switching identifier and the corresponding measurement object belongs to the measurement object stored in the field containing the automatic switching identifier, the base station determines that the measurement report of the measurement configuration in the measurement report message is the measurement report for automatic switching.

For example, the measurement report message includes an identifier of measurement configuration 0, the identifier of measurement configuration 0 corresponds to measurement object 1 and measurement report condition 3, and if a field in the measurement configuration message for storing measurement report condition 3 includes an automatic handover identifier and a field in the measurement object 1 includes an automatic handover identifier, it indicates that the measurement report of measurement configuration 0 is a measurement report for automatic handover.

In an alternative implementation, before the base station sends the handover preparation request to the target base station, the base station may also send a cell list or a base station list to the user equipment. The cell list includes an identifier of one or more cells under each of the one or more target base stations, and the base station list may include an identifier of each of the one or more target base stations. The cell list or the base station list is used for the user equipment to preferentially select the target cell from the cells in the cell list or preferentially select the target cell from the cells under the base station in the base station list when selecting the target cell.

204. And when the base station acquires a response message of the switching preparation request sent by the target base station, sending a switching instruction to the user equipment.

Specifically, after acquiring the handover preparation request sent by the base station, the target base station determines whether to allow the user equipment to access according to context information of the user equipment carried by the target base station.

And if the user equipment is allowed to access, the target base station sends a response message of the switching preparation request to the base station, wherein the response message carries a switching allowing command. In this way, the base station may obtain a response message of the handover preparation request sent by the target base station, and send a handover instruction to the user equipment according to a handover permission command carried by the response message, where the handover instruction is used to indicate a target cell to which handover is possible. However, based on the LBT mechanism, when the base station needs to send a handover command to the ue, it first monitors whether the channel is occupied, and if it is monitored that the channel is occupied, the base station cannot send the handover command to the ue, so that the ue may not receive the handover command when the automatic handover timer is up. If the channel is monitored to be idle, the base station can smoothly send a switching instruction to the user equipment.

On the contrary, if the user equipment is not allowed to be accessed, the target base station sends a response message of the switching preparation request to the base station, wherein the response message carries a switching refusal command, so that the base station can acquire the response message of the switching preparation request sent by the target base station and does not send a switching instruction to the user equipment according to the switching refusal command carried by the response message.

205. And if the automatic switching timer is overtime and the user equipment does not acquire the switching instruction sent by the base station, the user equipment selects the target cell and switches to the target cell.

In this embodiment, after the user equipment starts the automatic switching timer, the automatic switching timer may start timing, and if the automatic switching timer is overtime, the user equipment has not yet acquired a switching instruction sent by the base station, and the user equipment determines that automatic switching is required, so that the user equipment may autonomously select a target cell to be switched to, and switch to the autonomously selected target cell after the selection is completed.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the user equipment may have the following several implementation schemes for selecting the target cell.

First, the user equipment selects the target cell according to the measurement result of the measurement object for the measurement configuration of the automatic handover when the automatic handover timer is started.

The first designated cell is any adjacent cell or a cell contained in a measurement object corresponding to the measurement configuration of automatic switching

Specifically, the ue may select the target cell in the first designated cell that starts the automatic handover timer and sends the measurement report of the automatic handover, that is, select the target cell in the first designated cell that has the measurement result satisfying the measurement report condition and the corresponding measurement configuration being the measurement configuration of the automatic handover.

And secondly, the user equipment selects the target cell according to the measurement result of the first designated cell within a first designated time before the automatic switching timer is overtime.

Specifically, the ue may select the target cell according to the measurement result of the first specified cell within the first specified duration T1 before the automatic handover timer expires.

Wherein the first specified duration T1 may be configured by the base station.

The cell included in the measurement object corresponding to the measurement configuration that is automatically switched may include the following situations: the first is that the user equipment measures a cell in a measurement object corresponding to a measurement configuration stored in a field for storing the measurement configuration and including an automatic handover identifier, and when a measurement result satisfies a corresponding measurement report condition or other specified conditions, the user equipment takes the cell as a target cell. The second is that the user equipment measures a cell in a measurement object which contains an automatic switching identifier and is stored in a field for storing the measurement object, and when a measurement result meets a corresponding measurement report condition or other specified conditions, the user equipment takes the cell as a target cell. The third is that the user equipment measures the cell in the corresponding measurement object according to the measurement report condition stored in the field containing the automatic switching identifier and used for storing the measurement report condition, and when the measurement result meets the corresponding measurement report condition or other specified conditions, the user equipment takes the cell as the target cell. And the fourth method is that the user equipment measures a cell contained in a measurement object which contains an automatic switching identifier and is stored in a field for storing the measurement object, and when the measurement result meets the measurement report condition which contains the automatic switching identifier and is stored in the field for storing the measurement report condition, the user equipment takes the cell as a target cell.

And thirdly, the user equipment selects the target cell according to the measurement result of the first specified cell within a second specified time after the automatic switching timer is overtime.

The first designated cell is any neighboring cell or a cell included in a measurement object corresponding to the measurement configuration for automatic handover.

Specifically, the user equipment may select the target cell according to the measurement result of the first designated cell within a second designated time length T2 after the automatic handover timer expires.

Wherein the second specified duration T2 may be configured by the base station.

Fourthly, the user equipment selects a cell from the cell list as a target cell according to the measurement result of the cell in the cell list. The cell list may be sent by the base station to the user equipment before sending the handover preparation request to the target base station.

In a possible implementation, for the fourth implementation, for a cell in the cell list, the user equipment may regard the cell as a target cell as long as the signal quality of the cell exceeds a specified threshold. Or, if the cell is a cell in the measurement object corresponding to the measurement configuration for automatic handover and the signal quality of the cell exceeds a specified threshold, the ue may use the cell as the target cell. Or, if the cell is a cell in the measurement object corresponding to the measurement configuration for automatic handover and the measurement result of the cell satisfies the measurement report condition corresponding to the measurement configuration for automatic handover, the ue may use the cell as the target cell.

In some possible embodiments, the second implementation may also be preferentially adopted, and when the cell in the cell list cannot be selected as the target cell, other implementations (the first, second, third, or fourth implementations) are adopted.

206. And if the automatic switching timer is overtime, the user equipment acquires a switching instruction sent by the base station, and the user equipment is switched to the target cell indicated by the switching instruction.

If the user equipment acquires a switching instruction sent by the base station before the automatic switching timer is overtime, the user equipment executes a traditional switching process, switches to a target cell indicated by the switching instruction, and stops the automatic switching timer.

The embodiment is applied to a hybrid automatic handover scenario, where a user equipment needs to send a measurement report to a base station and start an automatic handover timer, and only when the automatic handover timer is overtime and does not receive a handover instruction sent by the base station, the user equipment can autonomously select a target cell and handover to the target cell, and if the automatic handover timer is overtime, the user equipment receives the handover instruction sent by the base station, the user equipment cannot autonomously select the target cell and needs to handover to the target cell indicated by the base station through the handover instruction, which is called a hybrid automatic handover scenario.

A second possible implementation is illustrated below.

Please refer to fig. 3, which is a flowchart illustrating another method for a ue to switch to a target cell according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 3, the method includes:

301. and the user equipment determines a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration according to the measurement configuration message, and measures the measurement object to obtain a measurement result.

For a specific implementation of step 301, reference may be made to the above-mentioned specific implementation of step 201, which is not described herein again.

302. And when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the user equipment determines to switch and sends a measurement report aiming at the automatic switching to the base station.

303. And the base station sends a switching preparation request to a target base station according to the measurement report aiming at the automatic switching sent by the user equipment, and acquires a response message of the switching preparation request sent by the target base station.

304. And the user equipment selects the target cell and switches to the target cell.

In a specific implementation scheme, the measurement configuration message carries the measurement configuration, the measurement object, and the measurement report condition, and the user equipment may measure a target to be measured, such as a target frequency point and/or a target cell, according to the measurement object carried in the measurement configuration message, and determine the measurement report condition corresponding to the measurement object according to the measurement configuration. In this embodiment, if the measurement configuration is not the measurement configuration that is automatically switched, when the measurement result of the measurement object satisfies the measurement report condition corresponding to the measurement object, the ue needs to send a measurement report to the base station. For the automatically switched measurement configuration, when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration satisfies the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the ue needs to send the measurement report for the automatic switching, but does not need to start the automatic switching timer.

The specific implementation scheme for the ue to determine whether the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration may refer to the description in step 202, and is not described herein again.

In this embodiment, when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the ue determines that automatic switching is required, and therefore, the ue directly and autonomously selects the target cell to be switched to without starting an automatic switching timer and waiting for the base station to send a switching instruction.

First, the user equipment selects the target cell according to the measurement result of the second designated cell.

In one possible implementation, the user equipment may select a target cell among cells in the automatically switched measurement object whose measurement result satisfies the corresponding measurement report condition when it is determined that the measurement result of the automatically switched measurement object satisfies the corresponding measurement report condition.

And secondly, the user equipment selects a cell from the cell list as the target cell according to the measurement result of the cells in the cell list.

The cell list may be sent to the user equipment by the base station at the same time as the measurement configuration message is sent to the user equipment.

In a possible implementation, for the second implementation, for a cell in the cell list, the user equipment may regard the cell as a target cell as long as the signal quality of the cell exceeds a specified threshold. Or, if the cell is a cell in the measurement object corresponding to the measurement configuration for automatic handover and the signal quality of the cell exceeds a specified threshold, the ue may use the cell as the target cell. Or, if the cell is a cell in the measurement object corresponding to the measurement configuration for automatic handover and the measurement result of the cell satisfies the measurement report condition corresponding to the measurement configuration for automatic handover, the ue may use the cell as the target cell.

The embodiment is applied to a completely automatic switching scenario, and when determining that the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the user equipment only needs to send a measurement report to the base station, but does not start the automatic switching timer, so that the user equipment does not need to wait until the automatic switching timer times out to select the target cell, but directly and autonomously select the target cell and then switch to the target cell when determining that the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, which is called a completely automatic switching scenario.

Please refer to fig. 4, which is a flowchart illustrating a specific implementation manner of an automatic switching method according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the embodiment is applied to the hybrid automatic switching scenario. As shown in fig. 4, the method includes:

401. the base station generates a measurement configuration message comprising at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, at least one measurement reporting condition, and an automatic handover identification.

402. The base station sends a measurement configuration message to the user equipment.

403. The user equipment takes the measurement configuration for which the automatic switching identification in the measurement configuration message is directed as the automatically switched measurement configuration.

404. And the user equipment determines a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration according to the measurement configuration message, and measures the measurement object to obtain a measurement result.

405. The user equipment determines whether the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration satisfies the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, and if so, executes 406.

406. The user equipment starts an automatic handover timer and transmits a measurement report for the automatic handover to the base station, and then performs step 407 or performs step 409.

407. The base station determines the switching user equipment according to the measurement report aiming at the automatic switching sent by the user equipment, and sends a switching preparation request to the target base station.

408. When the base station obtains the response message of the switching preparation request sent by the target base station, whether the channel is occupied is judged, and if not, step 409 is executed. If so, a switch instruction cannot be sent, and then step 411 is executed.

409. And the base station sends a switching instruction to the user equipment.

410. And if the automatic switching timer is overtime, the user equipment acquires a switching instruction sent by the base station, and the user equipment is switched to the target cell indicated by the switching instruction.

411. And if the automatic switching timer is overtime and the user equipment does not acquire the switching instruction sent by the base station, the user equipment selects the target cell and switches to the target cell.

Please refer to fig. 5, which is a flowchart illustrating another specific implementation manner of the automatic switching method according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the embodiment is applied to the above-mentioned fully automatic switching scenario. As shown in fig. 5, the method includes:

501. the base station generates a measurement configuration message comprising at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, at least one measurement reporting condition, and an automatic handover identification.

502. The base station generates a cell list.

503. The base station sends a measurement configuration message and a cell list to the user equipment.

504. The user equipment takes the measurement configuration for which the automatic switching identification in the measurement configuration message is directed as the automatically switched measurement configuration.

505. And the user equipment determines a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration according to the measurement configuration message, and measures the measurement object to obtain a measurement result.

506. The user equipment judges whether the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, if so, the user equipment determines to switch, sends a measurement report aiming at the automatic switching to the base station, and then executes 507 and/or 508.

507. The base station sends a switching preparation request to the target base station according to the measurement report aiming at the automatic switching sent by the user equipment, and obtains a response message of the switching preparation request sent by the target base station.

508. The user equipment selects a target cell.

The user equipment may select the target cell according to the obtained cell list.

509. And the user equipment is switched to the target cell.

It can be understood that, for detailed implementation of each step in the two specific flows of fig. 4 and fig. 5, reference may be made to the detailed description corresponding to fig. 1 to fig. 3, which is not described herein again.

Based on the foregoing general flow, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a method flow for a base station side, please refer to fig. 6, which is a schematic flow diagram of the base station side in the automatic handover method provided in the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 6, the method may include:

601. generating a measurement configuration message comprising at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, at least one measurement reporting condition, and an automatic handover identification.

602. And sending a measurement configuration message to the user equipment so that the user equipment can conveniently acquire the measurement configuration message, taking the measurement configuration corresponding to the automatic switching identifier as the automatic switching measurement configuration, and switching to the target cell when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatic switching measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatic switching measurement configuration.

It can be understood that, for the detailed implementation manner of the base station side in the automatic handover method, reference may be made to the detailed description corresponding to fig. 1 to fig. 3, which is not described herein again.

In the embodiment of the invention, when the base station sends the measurement configuration message to the user equipment, the user equipment can determine the measurement configuration of automatic switching by carrying the automatic switching identifier through the measurement configuration message, so that the base station and the user equipment can know the measurement configuration of automatic switching, and the base station and the user equipment can know when to perform automatic switching, thereby realizing an automatic switching scheme when an LBT mechanism is used in a MuLTE-Fire system, and enabling the user equipment to perform automatic switching. Furthermore, due to the realization of the automatic switching scheme, the problem of high switching failure rate of the user equipment caused by high channel occupancy rate of the target cell when the user equipment uses an LBT mechanism in the MuLTE-Fire system can be solved, so that the user radio can select the target cell with low channel occupancy rate to complete the switching, the switching time delay of the user equipment is reduced, and the probability of switching failure is reduced to a certain extent.

The following is a related description of one possible implementation of the second method.

Please refer to fig. 7, which is another schematic flow chart of an automatic switching method according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 7, the method includes:

701. the base station generates a measurement configuration message comprising at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, at least one measurement report condition.

702. And the base station sends the measurement configuration message to the user equipment.

703. The user equipment determines one or more measurement configurations as an automatically switched measurement configuration in at least one measurement configuration, and sends a measurement report for automatic switching to the base station when a measurement result of a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets a measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, wherein the measurement report carries an automatic switching instruction.

704. And the user equipment is switched to the target cell.

For the implementation of step 701 and step 702, reference may be made to the related description of step 101 and step 102, which is not described herein again, but the difference is that in this embodiment, the base station does not need to carry the automatic handover identifier through the measurement configuration message, but the user equipment determines which measurement configuration is the measurement configuration for automatic handover, and then synchronizes the measurement configuration to the base station through the measurement report message, so that both the base station and the user equipment can know the measurement configuration for automatic handover.

Before the step of sending the measurement report for automatic handover to the base station when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the measurement configuration that is automatically switched satisfies the measurement report condition corresponding to the measurement configuration that is automatically switched in step 703, the step of carrying an automatic handover command in the measurement report may further include: and the user equipment determines a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, and measures the measurement object to obtain a measurement result.

It can be understood that, when the user equipment measures the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the obtained measurement result may refer to the above related description, and is not described herein again.

For the implementation of "the ue determines one or more measurement configurations among at least one measurement configuration as an automatically switched measurement configuration" in step 703, the following possible implementations are provided in the embodiments of the present invention.

In a first method, the measurement configuration message sent by the base station to the ue further includes indication information for indicating the measurement configuration selected by the ue as an automatic handover measurement configuration, so that the ue can select one or more measurement configurations as the automatic handover measurement configuration from the measurement configurations indicated by the indication information according to the indication information in the measurement configuration message.

Second, one or more measurement configurations are selected among the at least one measurement configuration as automatically switched measurement configurations.

And thirdly, selecting one or more measuring objects from at least one measuring object, and taking the measuring configuration corresponding to the selected one or more measuring objects as the automatically switched measuring configuration.

And fourthly, selecting one or more measurement report conditions from at least one measurement report condition, and taking the measurement configuration corresponding to the selected one or more measurement report conditions as the measurement configuration of the automatic switching.

For example, the measurement report condition of the automatic handover is that the a3-1 event under preset parameters is satisfied, wherein the preset parameters may be autonomously determined by the user equipment. Thus, when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the measurement report condition meets the measurement report condition, the user equipment determines that automatic switching is required, and further sends a measurement report carrying an automatic switching instruction to the base station.

With respect to step 703 and step 704, the embodiment of the present invention provides a possible implementation manner.

Referring to fig. 8, which is a flowchart illustrating a method for implementing step 703 according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 8, the method is applied to a hybrid automatic switching scenario, and the method may include:

801. and when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the user equipment starts an automatic switching timer and sends a measurement report aiming at the automatic switching to the base station, wherein the measurement report carries an automatic switching instruction.

802. The base station acquires a measurement report carrying an automatic switching instruction, determines to switch the user equipment, and sends a switching preparation request to a target base station according to the measurement report.

In this embodiment, when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the automatic switching instruction is carried in the measurement report for automatic switching sent by the user equipment to the base station, so that the base station learns that the measurement report is the measurement report for automatic switching according to the automatic switching instruction, and can initiate switching preparation. Wherein the automatic handover command may be used to indicate the target base station.

Specifically, the base station may send a handover preparation request to the target base station through an X2 interface or an S1 interface, where the handover preparation request carries context information of the user equipment.

In an alternative implementation, before the base station sends the handover preparation request to the target base station, the base station may also send a cell list to the user equipment. The cell list comprises the identification of one or more cells under each target base station in one or more target base stations. The cell list is used for the user equipment to preferentially select the target cell from the cells in the cell list when selecting the target cell.

803. And if the base station acquires the response message returned by the target base station, the base station sends a switching instruction to the user equipment.

The specific implementation of step 803 may refer to the related description for step 204, which is not described herein again.

804. And when the automatic switching timer is overtime and the user equipment does not acquire a switching instruction sent by the base station according to the measurement report, the user equipment selects the target cell and switches to the target cell.

First, the target cell is selected by the user equipment according to a measurement result of a measurement object for a measurement configuration for automatic handover when an automatic handover timer is started.

Specifically, the ue may select a target cell from cells included in a measurement object corresponding to a measurement report that starts an automatic handover timer and sends the automatic handover, that is, select a target cell from cells included in a measurement object whose measurement result satisfies a measurement report condition and whose corresponding measurement configuration is the automatic handover measurement configuration.

Secondly, the user equipment selects the target cell according to the measurement result of the first designated cell within a first designated time length T4 before the automatic switching timer is overtime.

Wherein the first specified duration T4 may be configured by the base station.

Thirdly, the user equipment selects the target cell according to the measurement result of the specified cell within a second specified time length T5 after the automatic switching timer is overtime.

Specifically, the user equipment may select the target cell according to the measurement result of the first designated cell within a second designated time length T5 after the automatic handover timer expires.

Wherein the second specified duration T5 may be configured by the base station.

Fourthly, the user equipment selects a cell from the cell list as the target cell according to the measurement result of the cell in the cell list. The cell list may be sent by the base station to the user equipment before sending the handover preparation request to the target base station.

805. And before the automatic switching timer is overtime, if the user equipment acquires a switching instruction sent by the base station, the user equipment is switched to a target cell indicated by the switching instruction.

The technical solution described in fig. 8 is applied to a hybrid automatic handover scenario, where there is a measurement configuration for a ue to autonomously select an automatic handover, but the ue needs to synchronize a measurement report for the automatic handover to a base station through the measurement report, and starts an automatic handover timer, and when the automatic handover timer expires and does not receive a handover command sent by the base station, the ue autonomously selects a target cell and switches to the target cell, and if the automatic handover timer expires, the ue receives the handover command sent by the base station, cannot autonomously select the target cell and needs to switch to the target cell indicated by the base station through the handover command, which is called a hybrid automatic handover scenario.

For the implementation of step 703 and step 704, another possible implementation manner is provided in the embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to fig. 9, which is a flowchart illustrating another implementation method of step 703 according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 9, the method is applied to a fully automatic switching scenario, and the method may include:

901. and when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the user equipment sends a measurement report aiming at the automatic switching to the base station, wherein the measurement report carries an automatic switching instruction.

The specific implementation manner of step 901 may refer to the above description related to step 801, which is not described herein again, except that in this embodiment, the user equipment does not need to wait for the automatic handover timer to arrive at time to autonomously select the target cell and handover to the target cell, so in this embodiment, the user equipment does not need to start the automatic handover timer, and only needs to send a measurement report carrying an automatic handover instruction to the base station, so that after the user equipment selects the measurement configuration for automatic handover, when automatic handover needs to be performed, the measurement configuration for automatic handover may be synchronized to the base station, and thus, the user equipment and the base station may both know the measurement configuration for automatic handover.

902. And after the base station acquires the measurement report carrying the automatic switching instruction, sending a switching preparation request to a target base station according to the measurement report.

The specific implementation manner of step 902 may refer to the related description for step 802, which is not described herein again.

903. And the base station acquires a response message of the switching preparation request returned by the target base station.

The specific implementation manner of step 903 may refer to the related description for step 803, which is not described herein again.

904. The user equipment selects a target cell and switches to the target cell.

In a specific implementation, the user equipment may select the target cell according to a cell list. The specific implementation scheme of the user equipment selecting the target cell according to the cell list may refer to the above-mentioned related description of step 804, which is not described herein again.

Please refer to fig. 10, which is a flowchart illustrating another specific implementation manner of an automatic switching method according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 10, the method includes:

1001. the base station generates a measurement configuration message comprising at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, at least one measurement reporting condition.

1002. The base station sends a measurement configuration message to the user equipment.

1003. The user equipment determines one or more measurement configurations among the at least one measurement configuration as the automatically switched measurement configuration.

1004. And the user equipment determines a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, and measures the measurement object to obtain a measurement result.

1005. The user equipment determines whether the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration satisfies the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, if so, the process proceeds to 1006.

1006. The user equipment starts an automatic switching timer and sends a measurement report aiming at automatic switching to the base station, wherein the measurement report carries an automatic switching instruction. Then step 1007 is performed or step 1009 is performed.

1007. After the base station determines to switch the user equipment according to a measurement report which is sent by the user equipment and carries an automatic switching instruction, and sends a switching preparation request to a target base station according to the measurement report.

1008. When the base station acquires the response message of the handover preparation request sent by the target base station, it determines whether the channel is occupied, and if not, step 1009 is executed. If so, a switch instruction cannot be sent, and then step 1011 is performed.

1009. And the base station sends a switching instruction to the user equipment.

1010. And if the automatic switching timer is overtime, the user equipment acquires a switching instruction sent by the base station, and the user equipment is switched to the target cell indicated by the switching instruction.

1011. And if the automatic switching timer is overtime and the user equipment does not acquire the switching instruction sent by the base station, the user equipment selects the target cell and switches to the target cell.

Please refer to fig. 11, which is a flowchart illustrating another specific implementation manner of the automatic switching method according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the embodiment is applied to a fully automatic switching scenario. As shown in fig. 11, the method includes:

1101. the base station generates a measurement configuration message comprising at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, at least one measurement reporting condition.

1102. The base station sends a measurement configuration message to the user equipment.

1103. The user equipment determines one or more measurement configurations among the at least one measurement configuration as the automatically switched measurement configuration.

1104. And the user equipment determines a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, and measures the measurement object to obtain a measurement result.

1105. The ue determines whether the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration satisfies the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, and if so, executes 1106.

1106. The ue sends a measurement report for automatic handover to the base station, where the measurement report carries an automatic handover indication, and then performs steps 1107 and 1109.

1107. And after the base station acquires the measurement report carrying the automatic switching instruction, sending a switching preparation request to a target base station according to the measurement report, and acquiring a response message returned by the target base station.

1108. The base station acquires a response message of the switching preparation request sent by the target base station.

1109. The user equipment selects a target cell and switches to the target cell.

Based on the foregoing general flow, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a method flow for a base station side, please refer to fig. 12, which is another schematic flow diagram of the base station side in the automatic handover method provided in the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 12, the method may include:

1201. generating a measurement configuration message comprising at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, at least one measurement reporting condition.

1202. And sending the measurement configuration message to the user equipment, so that the user equipment determines one or more measurement configurations as an automatically switched measurement configuration in the at least one measurement configuration, and sends a measurement report for automatic switching to the base station when a measurement result of a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets a measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, wherein the measurement report carries an automatic switching instruction and is switched to a target cell.

It can be understood that, for the detailed implementation manner of the base station side in the automatic handover method, reference may be made to the detailed description corresponding to fig. 7 to fig. 11, which is not described herein again.

The following is a related description of another possible implementation of method two.

Please refer to fig. 13, which is another schematic flow chart of an automatic switching method according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 13, the method includes:

1301. a measurement object for automatic switching and a condition for automatic switching are determined.

In a possible implementation, the measurement object for automatic switching and the condition for automatic switching may be pre-configured on the user equipment, so that the user equipment can directly obtain when it needs to be used.

1302. And when the measurement result aiming at the measurement object subjected to automatic switching meets the switching condition of the automatic switching, sending an automatic switching instruction to the base station, and selecting and switching to a target cell.

Before the step 1302 is executed, the method may further include the steps of: and measuring the automatically switched measuring object to obtain a measuring result.

Implementations for step 1302 may include the following possible implementations.

First, the target cell is selected based on measurements of a first designated cell.

The second designated cell is any neighboring cell or a cell included in the measurement object for automatic handover. For a detailed description, reference may be made to the related description for selecting the target cell in fig. 3, which is not described herein again.

And secondly, selecting a cell from the cell list as the target cell according to the measurement result of the cells in the cell list. For a detailed description, reference may be made to the related description for selecting the target cell in fig. 3, which is not described herein again.

In some possible embodiments, the second implementation may also be preferentially adopted, and the first implementation is adopted when the cell in the cell list cannot be selected as the target cell.

In the embodiment of the invention, when the base station carries out measurement configuration on the user equipment, the user equipment determines the measurement configuration of automatic switching, and then the measurement configuration of automatic switching is indicated to the base station through the measurement report message, so that the base station and the user equipment can both know the measurement configuration of automatic switching, and further know when to carry out automatic switching, thereby realizing an automatic switching scheme when an LBT mechanism is used in a MuLTE-Fire system, and the user equipment can carry out automatic switching. Furthermore, due to the realization of the automatic switching scheme, the problem of high switching failure rate of the user equipment caused by high channel occupancy rate of the target cell when the user equipment uses an LBT mechanism in the MuLTE-Fire system can be solved, so that the user radio can select the target cell with low channel occupancy rate to complete the switching, the switching time delay of the user equipment is reduced, and the probability of switching failure is reduced to a certain extent.

Or, when the base station does not perform measurement configuration on the user equipment, the user equipment determines the measurement configuration of automatic switching, and then indicates the measurement configuration of automatic switching to the base station through the automatic switching indication, so that both the base station and the user equipment can know the measurement configuration of automatic switching, and therefore know when to perform automatic switching, and therefore, an automatic switching scheme when an LBT mechanism is used in a MuLTE-Fire system can be realized, and the user equipment can perform automatic switching. Furthermore, due to the realization of the automatic switching scheme, the problem of high switching failure rate of the user equipment caused by high channel occupancy rate of the target cell when the user equipment uses an LBT mechanism in the MuLTE-Fire system can be solved, so that the user radio can select the target cell with low channel occupancy rate to complete the switching, the switching time delay of the user equipment is reduced, and the probability of switching failure is reduced to a certain extent.

The embodiment of the invention further provides an embodiment of a device for realizing the steps and the method in the embodiment of the method.

Please refer to fig. 14, which is a schematic structural diagram of an automatic handover system according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 14, the system includes a base station 100 and a ue 200:

the base station 100 is configured to generate a measurement configuration message, where the measurement configuration message includes at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, at least one measurement report condition, and an automatic handover identifier;

the base station 100 is further configured to send the measurement configuration message to the ue;

the user equipment 200 is configured to obtain the measurement configuration message;

the ue 200 is further configured to use the measurement configuration corresponding to the automatic handover identifier as an automatic handover measurement configuration, and switch to the target cell when a measurement result of a measurement object corresponding to the automatic handover measurement configuration meets a measurement report condition corresponding to the automatic handover measurement configuration.

In a possible implementation scheme, when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration satisfies the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the ue 200 is further configured to start an automatic switching timer and send a measurement report for automatic switching to the base station;

the base station 100 is further configured to determine to switch the user equipment according to the measurement report for automatic handover sent by the user equipment, send a handover preparation request to a target base station, and send a handover instruction to the user equipment when the base station obtains a response message of the handover preparation request sent by the target base station;

if the automatic handover timer is overtime and the user equipment does not acquire the handover instruction sent by the base station, the user equipment 200 is further configured to select the target cell and handover to the target cell; or, before the automatic handover timer times out, the user equipment is further configured to handover to a target cell indicated by the handover instruction when acquiring the handover instruction sent by the base station.

In a possible implementation scheme, when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the ue 200 is further configured to determine to perform switching, and send a measurement report for automatic switching to the base station;

the base station 100 is further configured to send a handover preparation request to a target base station according to the measurement report for automatic handover sent by the ue, and obtain a response message of the handover preparation request sent by the target base station;

the ue 200 is further configured to select the target cell and switch to the target cell.

In one possible implementation, one or more of the measurement configurations include the automatic switching identifier; and/or one or more of the measuring objects comprise the automatic switching identification; and/or, one or more of the measurement report conditions include the automatic switching identifier.

In a possible implementation scheme, the ue 200 is further configured to determine, according to the measurement configuration message, a measurement object corresponding to the measurement configuration that is automatically switched, and measure the measurement object to obtain a measurement result.

In a possible implementation, the user equipment 200 is specifically configured to:

In a possible implementation, the user equipment 200 is specifically configured to: selecting the target cell according to the measurement result of the second designated cell; the second designated cell is a cell included in a measurement object corresponding to any neighboring cell or measurement configuration for automatic handover.

acquiring the cell list sent by the base station;

Please refer to fig. 15, which is a functional block diagram of a base station according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 15, the base station includes:

a generating unit 11, configured to generate a measurement configuration message, where the measurement configuration message includes at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, at least one measurement report condition, and an automatic handover identifier;

a sending unit 12, configured to send the measurement configuration message to the ue, so that the ue obtains the measurement configuration message, and uses the measurement configuration to which the automatic handover identifier is directed as an automatic handover measurement configuration, and switches to the target cell when a measurement result of a measurement object corresponding to the automatic handover measurement configuration meets a measurement report condition corresponding to the automatic handover measurement configuration.

In one possible implementation, the base station further includes:

an obtaining unit 13, configured to obtain the measurement report for automatic handover sent by the user equipment;

the sending unit 12 is further configured to send a handover preparation request to a target base station according to the measurement report for automatic handover; and when a response message of the switching preparation request sent by the target base station is acquired, sending a switching instruction to the user equipment.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides an automatic switching system, as shown in fig. 14, including a user equipment and a base station:

the base station 100 is configured to generate a measurement configuration message, where the measurement configuration message includes at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, and at least one measurement report condition;

the base station 100 is further configured to send the measurement configuration message to the user equipment 200;

the ue 200 is further configured to determine one or more measurement configurations as an automatically switched measurement configuration in the at least one measurement configuration, and send a measurement report for automatic switching to the base station 100 when a measurement result of a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets a measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, where the measurement report carries an automatic switching instruction and is switched to a target cell.

In a possible implementation, when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration satisfies the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the ue 200 is further configured to start an automatic switching timer;

the base station 100 is further configured to determine to switch the user equipment after obtaining the measurement report carrying the automatic switching instruction, and send a switching preparation request to a target base station according to the measurement report; when the base station acquires a response message returned by the target base station, the base station sends a switching instruction to the user equipment;

In a feasible implementation scheme, the base station 100 is further configured to send a handover preparation request to a target base station according to the measurement report after the measurement report carrying the automatic handover instruction is obtained, and obtain a response message returned by the target base station;

the user equipment 200 is specifically configured to: and selecting the target cell and switching to the target cell.

In a possible implementation scheme, the ue 200 is further configured to determine a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, and measure the measurement object to obtain a measurement result.

the user equipment 200 is specifically configured to:

In a possible implementation, the user equipment 200 is specifically configured to: and acquiring the cell list sent by the base station, and selecting a cell from the cell list as the target cell according to the measurement result of the cell in the cell list.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a base station, please refer to fig. 16, which is another functional block diagram of the base station according to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 16, including:

a generating unit 21, configured to generate a measurement configuration message, where the measurement configuration message includes at least one measurement configuration, at least one measurement object, and at least one measurement report condition;

a sending unit 22, configured to send the measurement configuration message to the ue, so that the ue determines one or more measurement configurations as an automatically switched measurement configuration in the at least one measurement configuration, and sends a measurement report for automatic switching to the base station when a measurement result of a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets a measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, where the measurement report carries an automatic switching instruction and is switched to a target cell.

In a possible implementation scheme, the sending unit 22 is further configured to send a handover preparation request to a target base station according to a measurement report carrying an automatic handover instruction sent by the terminal;

further comprising: an obtaining unit 23, configured to obtain a response message returned by the target base station.

In a possible implementation scheme, the sending unit 22 is further configured to send a handover preparation request to a target base station according to a measurement report carrying an automatic handover instruction sent by the terminal; and if a response message returned by the target base station is acquired, sending a switching instruction to the user equipment.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a ue, please refer to fig. 17, which is a functional block diagram of the ue provided in the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 17, including:

an acquisition unit 31 for determining a measurement object for automatic switching and a condition for automatic switching;

a transmitting unit 32 configured to transmit an automatic switching instruction to the base station when a measurement result for the automatically switched measurement object satisfies a switching condition of the automatic switching;

and a processing unit 33, configured to select and switch to the target cell when a measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration satisfies a measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration.

In a possible implementation, the processing unit 33 is specifically configured to:

In one possible implementation, the method further includes:

an obtaining unit 34, configured to obtain the cell list sent by the base station;

the processing unit 33 is specifically configured to: selecting a cell from the cell list as the target cell according to the measurement result of the cells in the cell list.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In the embodiments provided in the present invention, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and there may be other divisions in actual implementation, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present invention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, or in a form of hardware plus a software functional unit.

The integrated unit implemented in the form of a software functional unit may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. The software functional unit is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) or a Processor (Processor) to execute some steps of the methods according to the embodiments of the present invention. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The above description is only for the purpose of illustrating the preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements and the like made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. An automatic switching method is characterized in that the method is applied to a system comprising a base station and user equipment; the method comprises the following steps:

the user equipment acquires the measurement configuration message;

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the switching the ue to the target cell when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration satisfies the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration comprises:

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the switching the ue to the target cell when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration satisfies the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration comprises:

and the user equipment selects the target cell and switches to the target cell.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the user equipment regards the measurement configuration for which the automatic switching identifier is configured as an automatically switched measurement configuration, and comprises:

6. The method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein before the UE switches to the target cell when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the measurement configuration satisfies the measurement report condition corresponding to the measurement configuration, the method further comprises:

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the UE selects the target cell, comprising:

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the UE selects the target cell, comprising: the user equipment selects the target cell according to the measurement result of the second designated cell;

9. A method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the method further comprises: the user equipment acquires a cell list sent by the base station;

10. An automatic switching method is characterized in that the method is executed on a base station; the method comprises the following steps:

and sending the measurement configuration message to user equipment so that the user equipment can acquire the measurement configuration message, taking the measurement configuration corresponding to the automatic switching identifier as the automatic switching measurement configuration, and switching to a target cell when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatic switching measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatic switching measurement configuration.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

sending a handover preparation request to the target base station according to the measurement report for the automatic handover;

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

13. The method of claim 11,

14. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 13, further comprising:

15. An automatic switching method is characterized in that the method is applied to a system comprising user equipment and a base station; the method comprises the following steps:

and the user equipment is switched to a target cell.

16. The method of claim 15,

the method further comprises the following steps:

the handover to the target cell includes:

17. The method of claim 15,

the method further comprises the following steps:

the handover to the target cell includes:

and the user equipment selects the target cell and switches to the target cell.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein when a measurement result of a measurement object corresponding to an automatically switched measurement configuration meets a measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, sending a measurement report for automatic switching to the base station, wherein the measurement report carries an automatic switching instruction and further comprises, before switching to a target cell: and the user equipment determines a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, and measures the measurement object to obtain a measurement result.

19. The method according to claim 15, wherein the measurement configuration message further includes indication information for indicating the measurement configuration selected as the automatic handover for the ue; determining one or more measurement configurations among the at least one measurement configuration as automatically switched measurement configurations, comprising:

20. The method of claim 15, wherein determining one or more measurement configurations among the at least one measurement configuration as an automatically switched measurement configuration comprises:

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the selecting, by the ue, the target cell comprises:

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the selecting, by the ue, the target cell comprises: the user equipment selects the target cell according to the measurement result of the second designated cell; the second designated cell is any adjacent cell or a cell included in a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration.

23. The method of claim 20 or 22, further comprising:

the user equipment acquires a cell list sent by the base station;

24. An automatic switching method is characterized in that the method is executed on a base station; the method comprises the following steps:

and sending the measurement configuration message to user equipment, so that the user equipment determines one or more measurement configurations as an automatically switched measurement configuration in the at least one measurement configuration, and sends a measurement report for automatic switching to the base station when a measurement result of a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets a measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, wherein the measurement report carries an automatic switching instruction and is switched to a target cell.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

sending a switching preparation request to a target base station according to a measurement report which is sent by a terminal and carries an automatic switching instruction;

and acquiring a response message returned by the target base station.

26. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

27. The method according to claim 24, wherein the measurement configuration message further contains indication information, and the indication information is used for the ue to select one or more measurement configurations as the automatically switched measurement configuration in the measurement configuration indicated by the indication information.

28. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

29. An automatic handover method, implemented on a user equipment, the method comprising:

determining a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration according to the measurement configuration message;

measuring the measuring object to obtain a measuring result; and when the measurement result meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the measurement configuration of automatic switching, sending an automatic switching instruction to the base station, and selecting and switching to the target cell.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein selecting a target cell comprises:

the first designated cell is any adjacent cell or a cell included in the measurement object for automatic handover.

31. The method of claim 30, further comprising:

acquiring a cell list sent by the base station;

32. An automatic switching system, comprising a base station and a user equipment:

the user equipment is used for acquiring the measurement configuration message;

33. The system of claim 32,

when the measurement result of the measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets the measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, the user equipment is further configured to start an automatic switching timer and send a measurement report for automatic switching to the base station;

34. The system of claim 32,

35. The system of any one of claims 32 to 34,

36. The system according to any one of claims 32 to 34, wherein the ue is further configured to determine a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration according to the measurement configuration message, and measure the measurement object to obtain a measurement result.

37. The system according to claim 33, wherein the user equipment is specifically configured to:

38. The system according to claim 34, wherein the user equipment is specifically configured to: selecting the target cell according to the measurement result of the second designated cell; the second designated cell is a cell included in a measurement object corresponding to any neighboring cell or measurement configuration for automatic handover.

39. The system according to claim 33 or 34, wherein the user equipment is specifically configured to:

acquiring a cell list sent by the base station;

40. A base station, comprising:

a sending unit, configured to send the measurement configuration message to a ue, so that the ue obtains the measurement configuration message, uses the measurement configuration to which the automatic handover identifier is directed as an automatic handover measurement configuration, and switches to a target cell when a measurement result of a measurement object corresponding to the automatic handover measurement configuration meets a measurement report condition corresponding to the automatic handover measurement configuration.

41. The base station of claim 40, further comprising:

an obtaining unit, configured to obtain a measurement report for automatic handover sent by the user equipment;

42. The base station of claim 40,

43. An automatic switching system, comprising a user equipment and a base station:

44. The system of claim 43,

the user equipment is specifically configured to:

45. The system of claim 43,

46. The system according to claim 43, wherein the UE is further configured to determine a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, and measure the measurement object to obtain the measurement result.

47. The system according to claim 43, wherein said measurement configuration message further comprises indication information for indicating a measurement configuration selected as an automatic handover for said UE;

the user equipment is specifically configured to:

48. The system according to claim 43, wherein the UE is specifically configured to:

49. The system according to claim 44, wherein the UE is specifically configured to:

50. The system according to claim 43, wherein the UE is specifically configured to:

51. The system according to claim 49 or 50, wherein the user equipment is specifically configured to:

52. A base station, comprising:

a sending unit, configured to send the measurement configuration message to a ue, so that the ue determines one or more measurement configurations as an automatically switched measurement configuration in the at least one measurement configuration, and sends a measurement report for automatic switching to the base station when a measurement result of a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration meets a measurement report condition corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration, where the measurement report carries an automatic switching instruction and is switched to a target cell.

53. The base station of claim 52, wherein the sending unit is further configured to send a handover preparation request to the target base station according to a measurement report carrying an automatic handover command sent by the terminal;

54. The base station of claim 52,

the sending unit is further configured to send a handover preparation request to the target base station according to a measurement report carrying an automatic handover instruction sent by the terminal; and if a response message returned by the target base station is acquired, sending a switching instruction to the user equipment.

55. The BS of claim 52, wherein the measurement configuration message further includes indication information for the UE to select one or more measurement configurations as the automatically switched measurement configuration in the measurement configuration indicated by the indication information.

56. A user device, comprising:

a determining unit, configured to determine, according to the measurement configuration message, a measurement object corresponding to the automatically switched measurement configuration; the measuring unit is used for measuring the measuring object to obtain a measuring result;

a sending unit, configured to send an automatic switching instruction to a base station when the measurement result meets a measurement report condition corresponding to the measurement configuration for automatic switching;

and the processing unit is used for selecting and switching to the target cell.

57. The UE of claim 56, wherein the processing unit is specifically configured to:

58. The user equipment of claim 57, further comprising:

an obtaining unit, configured to obtain a cell list sent by the base station;