CN110062428A

CN110062428A - A kind of Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier/Identity, Cell-RNTI distribution method, apparatus and system

Info

Publication number: CN110062428A
Application number: CN201810055031.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 韩哲
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2018-01-19
Filing date: 2018-01-19
Publication date: 2019-07-26

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a kind of Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier/Identity, Cell-RNTI distribution methods, apparatus and system, the wherein Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier/Identity, Cell-RNTI distribution method, it include: that access network control node receives the first request message that the Target cell of its management is sent, first request message is used to request to the UE distribution Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier/Identity, Cell-RNTI C-RNTI for the cell for accessing the access network control node management for the first time；The access network control node is to UE distribution C-RNTI and is handed down to the Target cell.Technical solution of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the resource interaction of minizone, the resource that can also be reduced between cell and UE interact, and reduce handover delay.

Description

Method, device and system for distributing cell wireless network temporary identifiers

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of wireless communications, and in particular, to a method, an apparatus, and a system for allocating cell radio network temporary identifiers.

Background

An Ultra-Dense Network (UDN) is one of the most promising technical directions for improving 5G system capacity and user data rate. In an ultra-dense network, Low Power Nodes (LPNs), such as RRUs (Remote Radio units)/RRHs (Remote Radio heads), picoenbs (micro base stations), Home enbs (Home base stations), Relay nodes (Relay nodes), are densely deployed, and the density of the Low Power nodes is even far greater than that of small base station (small cell) enhancement technologies in 4G. The distance between the low power nodes is reduced and can hear each other. And the distance between the low power node and the User Equipment (UE) becomes very close, so that their transmission power can be greatly reduced.

Intensive deployment of low power nodes on the other hand poses serious mobility problems: frequent switching of the UE between low power nodes causes data interruptions and fluctuations in data rates. A dual connectivity solution is proposed in the third generation partnership (3rd generation partnership Project, 3GPP) release R12, i.e. a UE can be connected to both a Macro base station (Macro eNodeB or eNB) and a low power node. The dual connectivity of R12 improves mobility performance of UEs to some extent in a densely deployed low-power node scenario. However, the dual connectivity does not fully solve various aspects affecting user experience during handover, such as target base station admission control delay, X2 interface data forwarding delay, and the like, and the dual connectivity also does not solve scenarios without macro base station coverage or without dual connectivity capability of the UE.

In view of the above problems, the core idea for solving the problem of ultra-dense network mobility through virtualization is that, taking a UE as a center, one or more low power nodes flexibly form a Virtual Cell (VC) to serve the UE. Part of the context of the UE, such as a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI), a bearer identifier, a security key, a security algorithm, etc., of the UE does not change before and after handover, provides consistent communication experience for the UE, and reduces delay of a user plane.

However, the C-RNTI is a parameter at a cell level, and if the UE moves to other cells, the network side needs to reallocate a new C-RNTI. The prior art lacks a mechanism for ensuring that the same C-RNTI can be used by the UE before and after handover.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for allocating a cell radio network temporary identifier, including:

an access network control node receives a first request message sent by a target cell managed by the access network control node, wherein the first request message is used for requesting to allocate a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI to UE which is accessed to the cell managed by the access network control node for the first time;

and the access network control node allocates C-RNTI to the UE and issues the C-RNTI to the target cell.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a method for distributing the cell wireless network temporary identifier, which comprises the following steps:

after receiving a random access request sent by UE, a target cell sends a first request message to an access network control node managing the target cell, wherein the first request message is used for requesting the allocation of a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI (radio network temporary identifier) to the UE which is accessed to a cell managed by the access network control node for the first time;

and the target cell receives the C-RNTI distributed to the UE by the access network control node and sends a random access response to the UE.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a cell switching method, which comprises the following steps:

an access network control node receives a notification message sent by a source cell managed by the access network control node, wherein the notification message comprises a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI of UE in the source cell and information of a target cell;

and when the access network control node judges that the target cell and the source cell both belong to the management of the access network control node, the C-RNTI is sent to the target cell.

a source cell sends a notification message to an access network control node managing the source cell, wherein the notification message comprises a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI of UE in the source cell and information of a target cell;

and after receiving a first response message returned by the access network control node, the source cell sends an RRC reconfiguration message to the UE, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message comprises information of a target cell and a non-competitive access preamble message or a competitive access preamble message, and the first response message is used for informing the source cell that the C-RNTI is successfully sent to the target cell.

after receiving a second response message returned by the access network control node, the source cell sends a switching request to the target cell, wherein the second response message is used for informing the source cell that the target cell does not belong to the management of the access network control node, and the switching request is used for requesting to switch the UE from the source cell to the target cell;

and after receiving a switching response message sent by the target cell, the source cell sends an RRC reconfiguration message to the UE, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message comprises information of the target cell and a non-competitive access preamble message or a competitive access preamble message, and the switching response message comprises a switching agreement message and a new C-RNTI of the UE.

the target cell receives a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI (radio network temporary identifier) of the UE in the source cell, which is sent by an access network control node, and returns a successful receiving message to the access network control node;

and when receiving the random access request sent by the UE, returning a random access response to the UE.

after receiving a switching request sent by a source cell, a target cell sends a second request message to an access network control node managing the target cell, wherein the second request message is used for requesting to allocate a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI to UE needing to be switched from the source cell to the target cell;

and the target cell receives the C-RNTI distributed to the UE by the access network control node and sends a switching response message to the source cell, wherein the switching response message comprises the consent to switch and the C-RNTI.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a device for distributing the cell radio network temporary identifier, which is applied to the access network control node and is characterized by comprising the following steps:

a receiving module, configured to receive a first request message sent by a target cell managed by the access network control node, where the first request message is used to request that a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI is allocated to a UE that first accesses the cell managed by the access network control node;

the allocation module is used for allocating C-RNTI to the UE;

and the sending module is used for sending the C-RNTI to the target cell.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a cell switching apparatus, which is applied to an access network control node, and is characterized in that the apparatus comprises:

a receiving module, configured to receive a notification message sent by a source cell managed by the access network control node, where the notification message includes a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI of the UE in the source cell and information of a target cell;

and the judging and sending module is used for sending the C-RNTI to the target cell when the target cell and the source cell are judged to belong to the management of the access network control node.

The embodiment of the invention also provides an access network system, which comprises one or more cells and is characterized by also comprising any one of the access network control nodes;

the one or more cells are allocated to different access network control nodes in groups, and one access network control node manages one group;

the access network control node is used for allocating C-RNTI and sending the allocated C-RNTI to a target cell in the first random access process of the UE;

or, the method is used for sending the cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI of the UE in the source cell to the target cell in the cell switching process of the UE;

or, the method is used for notifying a source cell to send a handover request to a target cell in a handover process of a UE cell, where the handover request is used to request that the UE is handed over from the source cell to the target cell.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a device, where the device includes: a memory, a processor and a program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, the program implementing the steps of any of the above-mentioned cell radio network temporary identity allocation method or any of the above-mentioned cell handover method when executed by the processor.

The technical scheme of the invention can reduce the resource interaction between the cells, also can reduce the resource interaction between the cells and the UE, and reduces the switching time delay.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, and/or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the example serve to explain the principles of the invention and not to limit the invention.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an access network system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an access network system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of a method for allocating a cell radio network temporary identifier according to a second embodiment of the present invention; fig. 4 is a flowchart of another method for allocating a cell radio network temporary identifier according to a second embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a second example of the first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a device for allocating a cell radio network temporary identifier according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a flowchart of a cell handover method according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a flowchart of another cell handover method according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9-1 is a flowchart of another cell handover method according to a third embodiment of the present invention; fig. 9-2 is a flowchart of another cell handover method according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a third example of the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a third example two of the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a third example of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a third example of the fourth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of a cell switching apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the embodiments and features of the embodiments in the present application may be arbitrarily combined with each other without conflict.

The steps illustrated in the flow charts of the figures may be performed in a computer system such as a set of computer-executable instructions. Also, while a logical order is shown in the flow diagrams, in some cases, the steps shown and/or described may be performed in an order different than here.

Example one

In a very dense network, the C-RNTI is a cell-level parameter. When UE initiates cell switching, a target cell needs to allocate new C-RNTI to the UE and inform a source cell, and when the source cell initiates switching preparation to the UE, the source cell needs to send the new C-RNTI allocated to the UE by the target cell to the UE. Therefore, more signaling interaction exists among the UE, the target cell and the source cell, and the switching time delay is longer. In order to solve the problem, embodiments of the present invention provide a new scheme for allocating a cell radio network temporary identifier and a cell handover scheme. Compared with the prior art, the scheme of the embodiment of the invention reduces the signaling interaction among the UE, the target cell and the source cell and reduces the switching time delay. In addition, the Cell mentioned in the technical scheme of the invention can be a Virtual Cell (VC) flexibly composed of one or more low-power nodes; various actions and functions of the cell mentioned in the technical solution of the present invention may be assumed by one or more low power nodes.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an access network system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 1, an access network control node is introduced in the embodiment of the present invention, and the access network control node has a C-RNTI assignment right.

The access network control node may be a newly added network element with a corresponding function, or may add a corresponding function to an existing network element, and may include any one of the following: an access network gateway (RAN GW), a control plane Anchor (CP Anchor), a base station with C-RNTI distribution authority, and the like.

In this embodiment, the cells are allocated to several different access network control nodes in groups, and one or more cells may be managed under one access network control node. For example, cell 1, cell 2, cell 3 or even more cells may be managed by the same network element with management control function, which is referred to as an access network control node.

And the access network control node manages the C-RNTI.

And the access network control node is responsible for allocating the C-RNTI in the random access process and informing the cell.

When the UE is switched in different cells managed by the same access network control node, the access network control node does not need to redistribute the C-RNTI again, and only the existing C-RNTI of the target cell UE needs to be informed. When the UE is switched in a group of cells under the same access network control node, the source cell informs the target cell of the C-RNTI allocated to the UE through the access network control node, the target cell does not need to allocate a new C-RNTI to the UE and inform the source cell, and only the C-RNTI already owned by the UE is used for carrying out a random access process.

When the UE is accessed to the target cell for the first time or the UE is switched between two cells managed by two different access network control nodes, the access network control node to which the target cell belongs allocates a new C-RNTI for the UE and issues the C-RNTI to the target cell, and a random access process is performed by using the newly allocated C-RNTI, so that the target cell does not need to allocate the C-RNTI to the UE.

Therefore, the resource interaction between the cells can be reduced, the resource interaction between the cells and the UE can also be reduced, and the switching time delay is reduced.

In particular, the method of manufacturing a semiconductor device,

the UE according to the embodiment of the present invention needs to have a message receiving function and a message sending function. The message receiving function is used for receiving an RRC reconfiguration message sent by a source cell, wherein the reconfiguration message carries parameter information of a target cell and is prepared for switching. And the message sending function is used for initiating random access to the target cell according to the received reconfiguration message.

The access network control node related in the embodiment of the present invention needs to have a receiving function, an allocating function, and a transmitting function. The receiving function is used for receiving a notification message sent by a source cell, wherein the notification message comprises the C-RNTI of the UE in the source cell. The allocation function is used for allocating C-RNTI to the UE in the random access process and recovering the C-RNTI when RRC connection is released; when the UE switches cells among cells managed by different access network control nodes, different C-RNTIs are required to be allocated to the UE; when the UE is switched among cells under the same access network control node, the UE does not need to be allocated with a new C-RNTI, and only needs to be informed of the C-RNTI already owned by the target cell UE. The sending function is configured to notify the source cell to send a handover request to the target cell when the access network control node determines that the target cell does not belong to the management of the access network control node, where the handover request is used to request that the UE be handed over from the source cell to the target cell. The method and the device can also be used for notifying the existing C-RNTI of the UE in the source cell to the target cell when the access network control node judges that the target cell and the source cell belong to the management of the access network control node, and the target cell does not need to request a new C-RNTI to the access network control node to be allocated to the UE.

The technical solution provided by the first embodiment is specifically described below by a specific example.

In addition, a first embodiment further provides an access network system, fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an access network system according to a first embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 2, the system includes one or more cells, and further includes any one of the above-mentioned access network control nodes;

said one or more cells are assigned to different access network control nodes in groups, an access network control node managing a group comprising at least one cell;

Example two

Fig. 3 is a flowchart of a method for allocating a cell radio network temporary identifier according to a second embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that, in this embodiment, fig. 3 only describes a process in which the access network control node allocates the C-RNTI to the UE and issues the C-RNTI to the target cell, and descriptions of other irrelevant steps are omitted. As shown in fig. 3, fig. 3 shows a method for allocating a cell radio network temporary identifier in a scenario where a UE accesses a certain target cell for the first time, where the method includes the following steps:

step 301, an access network control node receives a first request message sent by a target cell managed by the access network control node, wherein the first request message is used for requesting to allocate a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) to a UE which is accessed to a cell managed by the access network control node for the first time;

wherein, when the UE scans a proper registration cell for the first time and needs to register, the UE sends a random access request to a target cell. And the target cell receives the random access request and immediately requests an access network control node to which the target cell belongs to distribute the C-RNTI to the UE needing to be accessed.

And step 302, the access network control node allocates C-RNTI to the UE and issues the C-RNTI to the target cell.

And after receiving the C-RNTI distributed to the UE by the access network control node, the target cell sends a random access response message to the UE, wherein the response message carries the C-RNTI issued by the access network control node. The UE then sends a random access message to the target cell.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of another method for allocating a cell radio network temporary identifier according to a second embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that, in this embodiment, fig. 4 only describes a process of receiving, by the target cell, the C-RNTI allocated by the access network control node to the UE, and descriptions of other irrelevant steps are omitted. As shown in fig. 4, in this embodiment, fig. 4 shows a method for allocating a cell radio network temporary identifier in a scenario where a UE accesses a certain target cell for the first time, where the method includes the following steps:

step 401, after receiving a random access request sent by a UE, a target cell sends a first request message to an access network control node managing the target cell, where the first request message is used to request allocation of a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI to the UE accessing a cell managed by the access network control node for the first time;

when the UE scans a proper registration cell and needs to register, the UE sends a random access request to a target cell. And the target cell receives the random access request and immediately requests an access network control node to which the target cell belongs to distribute the C-RNTI to the UE needing to be accessed. Step 402, the target cell receives the C-RNTI allocated to the UE by the access network control node, and sends a random access response to the UE.

And after receiving the C-RNTI distributed to the UE by the access network control node, the target cell sends a random access response message to the UE, wherein the response message carries the C-RNTI issued by the access network control node. The UE then initiates random access to the target cell.

In the above-mentioned flowcharts of fig. 3 and 4, when the UE starts cell registration for the first time, the target cell does not allocate the C-RNTI for the UE any more, but the target cell needs to request the C-RNTI from the upper-level access network control node, and the access network control node allocates the C-RNTI value and then issues the C-RNTI value to the UE through the target cell.

The technical solution provided by the second embodiment is specifically described below by a specific example.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a first example according to a second embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that, in the second example of this embodiment, for a process in which the UE performs random access in a certain target cell scenario for the first time, a description of steps irrelevant to this embodiment is omitted, and in the first example of this embodiment, the UE is not allocated a C-RNTI before random access, and needs to obtain the C-RNTI through random access. As shown in fig. 5, this example is described in detail as follows:

step 501, UE sends a random access request Msg1 to a target cell;

specifically, when the UE scans a suitable registration cell to register, the UE sends a random access request Msg1 message to the target cell.

Step 502, the target cell requests the C-RNTI of the UE to be accessed from the access network control node, namely, sends a first request message;

specifically, the target cell receives the random access request, immediately requests an upper-level control node, namely an access network control node managing the target cell, to allocate the C-RNTI parameter to the UE needing to be accessed.

Step 503, the access network control node issues the allocated C-RNTI value to the target cell;

specifically, the access network control node distributes the value of the C-RNTI to the UE and sends the value to the target cell.

Step 504, the target cell sends a random access response Msg2 to the UE, with the value of the C-RNTI sent from the access network control node.

In step 505, the UE sends a random access Msg3, i.e. an RRC connection request message, to the target cell.

Step 506, the target cell sends a random access Msg4 to the UE, and the RRC connection establishment is completed.

The UE initiates random access in the target cell is prior art and is not described herein again.

So far, the method flow in the first embodiment is ended. In the flow of fig. 5, after the target cell starts cell registration, the target cell needs to request the upper-level control node to allocate C-RNTI, and the control node allocates the value and then issues the value to the UE through the target cell. In addition, the second embodiment further provides a device for allocating a cell radio network temporary identifier, which is applied to an access network control node.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a cell radio network temporary identifier allocation apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention, where the apparatus is applied to an access network control node, and includes:

a receiving module 6001, configured to receive a first request message sent by a target cell managed by the access network control node, where the first request message is used to request that a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI is allocated to a UE that first accesses the cell managed by the access network control node;

an allocating module 6002, configured to allocate a C-RNTI to the UE;

a sending module 6003, configured to send the C-RNTI to the target cell.

EXAMPLE III

Fig. 7 is a flowchart of a cell handover method according to a third embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that, in this embodiment, fig. 7 only describes a process in which the access network control node issues the C-RNTI of the UE to the target cell, and descriptions of other irrelevant steps are omitted. As shown in fig. 7, fig. 7 of this embodiment is a method for cell switching in a cell switching scenario performed by a UE, where the method includes the following steps:

step 701, an access network control node receives a notification message sent by a source cell managed by the access network control node, wherein the notification message comprises a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) of UE in the source cell and information of a target cell;

when the UE measures a proper handover cell and needs to perform handover, the UE reports a measurement report to the source cell, wherein the measurement report carries a corresponding handover event and target cell information. The source cell informs the information of a target cell needing to be switched and simultaneously informs the C-RNTI of the UE in the source cell to an upper-level access network control node to which the source cell belongs, namely the access network control node managing the source cell.

Step 702, when the access network control node judges that the target cell and the source cell both belong to the management of the access network control node, sending the C-RNTI to the target cell.

In this embodiment, after the access network control node receives the notification message sent by the source cell managed by the access network control node, the method further includes: and when the access network control node judges that the target cell does not belong to the management of the access network control node, informing the source cell to send a switching request to the target cell, wherein the switching request is used for requesting the UE to be switched from the source cell to the target cell.

Specifically, after receiving a handover request sent by a source cell, an access network control node needs to judge whether the target cell and the source cell belong to the same access network control node for management, that is, whether the target cell and the source cell belong to the same access network control node for management, and when the target cell and the source cell belong to the same access network control node for management, that is, both belong to the access network control node for management, the access network control node does not need to allocate a new C-RNTI to the UE, and only needs to send the C-RNTI already owned by the UE to the target cell; when the target cell and the source cell do not belong to the same access network control node, namely the target cell does not belong to the management of the access network control node, the access network control node informs the source cell to send a switching request to the target cell, the target cell sends a second request message to the access network control node to which the target cell belongs after receiving the switching request, the request is to allocate a new C-RNTI to the UE, the access network control node to which the target cell belongs informs the target cell of the new C-RNTI of the UE after allocating the new C-RNTI to the UE, then the target cell sends a switching response message with the new C-RNTI of the UE and agreeing to switching to the source cell, and the source cell informs the UE to initiate access to the target cell.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart of another cell handover method according to a third embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that, in this embodiment, fig. 8 only describes a process of notifying the access network control node UE of the source cell to perform cell handover, and descriptions of other unrelated steps are omitted. As shown in fig. 8, this embodiment is a cell handover method in a cell handover scenario performed by a UE, and the method includes the following steps:

step 801, a source cell sends a notification message to an access network control node managing the source cell, wherein the notification message comprises a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI of a UE in the source cell and information of a target cell;

when the UE measures that a proper handover cell needs to be handed over, the UE reports a measurement report to the source cell, wherein the measurement report carries a corresponding handover event and target cell information. The source cell sends a notification message to the upper-level access network control node to which the source cell belongs, namely the access network control node managing the source cell, notifies the information of the target cell needing to be switched, and notifies the C-RNTI of the UE in the source cell.

After which step 802 or 803 is performed

Step 802, after receiving a first response message returned by the access network control node, the source cell sends an RRC reconfiguration message to the UE, where the RRC reconfiguration message includes information of a target cell and a non-contention access preamble message or a contention access preamble message, and the first response message is used to notify the source cell that the C-RNTI is successfully sent to the target cell.

Or,

step 803, after receiving a second response message returned by the access network control node, the source cell sends a handover request to the target cell, where the second response message is used to notify the source cell that the target cell does not belong to the access network control node for management, and the handover request is used to request handover of the UE from the source cell to the target cell; and after receiving a switching response message sent by the target cell, the source cell sends an RRC reconfiguration message to the UE, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message comprises information of the target cell and a non-competitive access preamble message or a competitive access preamble message, and the switching response message comprises a switching agreement message and a new C-RNTI of the UE.

Fig. 9-1 is a flowchart of another cell handover method according to a third embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that, in this embodiment, fig. 9-1 only describes a process of receiving, by a target cell, a C-RNTI of a UE sent by an access network control node, and descriptions of other irrelevant steps are omitted. As shown in fig. 9-1, fig. 9-1 of the present embodiment is a method for cell handover performed by a UE in a cell handover scenario, where the method includes the following steps:

step 901, a target cell receives a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI (radio network temporary identifier) of a UE (user equipment) in a source cell, which is sent by an access network control node;

when the access network control node judges that the target cell and the source cell belong to the same access network control node, the access network control node informs the target cell that UE is about to be switched to the cell and informs the C-RNTI of the UE of the target cell.

Step 902, when receiving a random access request sent by the UE, returning a random access response to the UE.

Fig. 9-2 is a flowchart of another cell handover method according to a third embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that, in this embodiment, fig. 9-2 only describes another process of the target cell receiving the C-RNTI of the UE sent by the access network control node, and descriptions of other irrelevant steps are omitted. As shown in fig. 9-2, fig. 9-2 of this embodiment is a method for cell handover performed by a UE in a cell handover scenario, where the method includes the following steps:

step 903, after receiving a handover request sent by a source cell, a target cell sends a second request message to an access network control node managing the target cell, where the second request message is used to request that a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI is allocated to a UE that needs to be handed over from the source cell to the target cell;

step 904, the target cell receives the C-RNTI allocated to the UE by the access network control node, and sends a handover response message to the source cell, where the handover response message includes the consent to handover and the C-RNTI.

The following specifically describes the technical solution provided by the third embodiment by four specific examples.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart of a third example according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that, in the third example of this embodiment, a non-contention based random access procedure is performed in a cell handover scenario for a UE, and a description of steps that are not related to this embodiment is omitted, and in the third example of this embodiment, the UE is already allocated with a C-RNTI. As shown in fig. 10, the third example of the present embodiment is specifically described as follows:

1001, UE sends measurement report to source cell;

specifically, the UE reports a measurement report to the source cell, where the measurement report carries a corresponding handover event and target cell information.

Step 1002, the source cell informs the access network control node of the information of the handover target cell, and simultaneously informs the existing C-RNTI of the UE, namely sends an informing message to the access network control node;

specifically, the source cell notifies the access network control node, the UE measures a suitable handover cell and needs to perform handover, and simultaneously notifies the target cell information and reports the C-RNTI allocated to the UE to the access network control node.

Step 1003, the access network control node informs the target cell that the UE is about to be switched to the target cell and informs the target cell of the existing C-RNTI of the UE;

specifically, when the access network control node judges that the target cell and the source cell belong to the management of the access network control node, the access network control node notifies the target cell that the UE is to be switched to the local cell and notifies the C-RNTI of the UE of the target cell.

Specifically, after receiving a notification message sent by a source cell, an access network control node needs to determine whether the target cell and the source cell belong to the same access network control node, that is, both belong to the management of the access network control node, and when the target cell and the source cell belong to the same access network control node, that is, both belong to the management of the access network control node, the access network control node does not need to allocate a new C-RNTI to the UE, and only needs to send the C-RNTI already owned by the UE to the target cell.

Step 1004, the target cell returns a successful receiving message to the access network control node after receiving the existing C-RNTI of the UE,

step 1005, after receiving the successful receiving message, the access network control node sends a first response message to the source cell, where the first response message is used to notify the source cell that the C-RNTI is successfully sent to the target cell.

Step 1006, a source cell sends an RRC reconfiguration message to the UE, notifying the UE of information of a target cell and a non-contention access preamble, that is, after the source cell receives a first response message returned by the access network control node, the source cell sends an RRC reconfiguration message to the UE, where the RRC reconfiguration message includes information of the target cell and a non-contention access preamble message, and the first response message is used to notify the source cell that the C-RNTI is successfully sent to the target cell;

specifically, the source cell informs the UE to initiate a non-contended random access preamble on the target cell.

Step 1007, the UE sends a random access request to the target cell;

specifically, the UE initiates random access on the target cell using a non-contention random access preamble.

Step 1008, the target cell returns a random access response to the UE, and the random access is successful. The UE initiates random access on the target cell based on the non-contention random access preamble, which is the prior art and is not described herein again.

So far, the method flow in the third example i of the present embodiment ends. In the flow of fig. 10, the access network control node directly notifies the target cell UE of the C-RNTI in the source cell, and message interaction between the source cell and the target cell is not required, so that signaling interaction between the target cell and the source cell is saved, air interface resources are saved, and handover delay is reduced.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart of a third example two of the embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that, in the third example of this embodiment, for a UE performing a non-contention based random access procedure in a cell handover scenario between cells belonging to different access network control nodes, a description of steps irrelevant to this embodiment is omitted, and in the third example of this embodiment, the UE is already allocated with a C-RNTI; a difference between the third example two of the present embodiment and the first example referred to in fig. 10 is that in the second example, the source cell and the target cell are managed by different access network control nodes. As shown in fig. 11, the third example two of the present embodiment is specifically described as follows:

step 1101, the UE reports a measurement report to the source cell, with a corresponding handover event and target cell information;

step 1102, a source cell notifies an access network control node a, a UE measures a suitable handover cell and needs to perform handover, and simultaneously notifies a target cell of information, and reports a C-RNTI allocated to the UE to the access network control node a, that is, the source cell sends a notification message to the access network control node managing the source cell; .

Step 1103, the access network control node a determines that the target cell and the source cell do not belong to the same access network control node, that is, the target cell does not belong to the management of the access network control node a, notifies the source cell, and needs to send a handover request to the target cell, that is, sends a second response message to the source cell;

Step 1104, a source cell sends a handover request to a target cell, that is, after receiving a second response message returned by the access network control node, the source cell sends a handover request to the target cell, where the second response message is used to notify the source cell that the target cell does not belong to the access network control node for management, and the handover request is used to request to handover the UE from the source cell to the target cell;

step 1105, the target cell requests the access network control node B to which it belongs to allocate a new C-RNTI to the UE, that is, after the target cell receives the handover request sent by the source cell, the target cell sends a second request message to the access network control node managing the target cell, where the second request message is used to request allocation of a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI to the UE that needs to be handed over from the source cell to the target cell;

step 1106, the access network control node B distributes a new C-RNTI to the UE and informs a target cell;

step 1107, the target cell sends a handover grant message to the source cell, and has a C-RNTI newly allocated to the UE, that is, the target cell receives the C-RNTI allocated to the UE by the access network control node, and sends a handover response message to the source cell, where the handover response message includes the handover grant and the C-RNTI;

step 1108, the source cell informs the UE to initiate a non-contention random access preamble on the target cell, that is, after receiving a handover response message sent by the target cell, the source cell sends an RRC reconfiguration message to the UE, where the RRC reconfiguration message includes information of the target cell and the non-contention access preamble message, and the handover response message includes a handover grant and a new C-RNTI of the UE. .

Step 1109, the UE initiates random access on the target cell using the non-contention random access preamble.

Step 1110, the target cell returns a random access response, and the random access is successful. So far, the method flow in the third example two of this embodiment ends. In the above flow, after receiving the handover request, the target cell needs to send to the upper-level access network control node, that is, the access network control node managing the target cell, after requesting the C-RNTI, the access network control node distributes the value and sends it to the target cell.

Fig. 12 is a flowchart of a third example according to the third embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that, in the third embodiment, a contention-based random access procedure is performed in a cell handover scenario for a UE, and a description of steps that are not related to this embodiment is omitted, and in the third embodiment, the UE is already allocated with a C-RNTI. As shown in fig. 12, example three of the present embodiment is described in detail as follows:

step 1201, the UE sends a measurement report to a source cell;

specifically, the UE reports a measurement report to the source cell, and carries a corresponding handover event and target cell information.

Step 1202, a source cell notifies an access network control node of a message for switching a target cell and notifies an existing C-RNTI of UE, namely the source cell sends a notification message to the access network control node managing the source cell, wherein the notification message comprises a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI of the UE in the source cell and information of the target cell;

Step 1203, an access network control node notifies a target cell that the UE is about to be switched to the target cell, and notifies an existing C-RNTI of the UE of the target cell, that is, when the access network control node judges that both the target cell and the source cell belong to the management of the access network control node, the C-RNTI is sent to the target cell;

specifically, the access network control node judges that the target cell and the source cell belong to the same access network control node, informs the target cell that UE is about to be switched to the local cell, and informs the C-RNTI of the UE of the target cell.

Step 1204, the target cell returns a successful receiving message to the access network control node after receiving the existing C-RNTI of the UE,

step 1205, after receiving the successful receiving message, the access network control node sends a first response message to the source cell, where the first response message is used to notify the source cell that the C-RNTI is successfully sent to the target cell.

Step 1206, the source cell sends an RRC reconfiguration message to the UE, notifies the UE of information of the target cell, and notifies the UE that the target cell does not provide a dedicated access preamble, that is, after the source cell receives a first response message returned by the access network control node, the source cell sends an RRC reconfiguration message to the UE, where the RRC reconfiguration message includes information of the target cell and a contention access preamble message, and the first response message is used to notify the source cell that the C-RNTI is successfully sent to the target cell. (ii) a

Specifically, the source cell informs the UE to initiate an access request on the target cell based on the contention-based random access preamble.

Step 1207, the UE sends a random access request Msg1 to the target cell;

specifically, the UE initiates random access on the target cell using a contention-based random access preamble.

Step 1208, the target cell returns a random access response Msg2 to the UE, and the random access response Msg2 carries the existing C-RNTI of the UE;

in step 1209, the UE sends a random access Msg3, i.e. RRC connection request message, to the target cell.

Step 1210, the target cell sends a random access Msg4 to the UE, and the RRC connection establishment is completed.

The UE initiates random access on the target cell based on the contention based random access preamble, which is the prior art and is not described herein again.

So far, the method flow in the third example of this embodiment is ended. In the flow of fig. 12, the access network control node directly notifies the target cell UE of the C-RNTI in the source cell, and message interaction between the source cell and the target cell is not required, so that signaling interaction between the target cell and the source cell is saved, air interface resources are saved, and handover delay is reduced.

Fig. 13 is a flowchart of a third example fourth of the embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that, in the fourth embodiment, for a scenario that the UE performs a contention-based random access procedure in a cell handover between cells belonging to different access network control nodes, a description of steps irrelevant to the fourth embodiment is omitted, and in the fourth embodiment, the UE is already allocated with a C-RNTI; example four of the present embodiment differs from example three referred to in fig. 12 in that in example four the source cell and the target cell are managed by different access network control nodes. As shown in fig. 13, example four of the present embodiment is described specifically as follows:

step 1301, the UE reports a measurement report with a corresponding switching event and target cell information;

step 1302, a source cell notifies an access network control node a, and the UE measures a suitable handover cell and needs to perform handover, and simultaneously notifies information of a target cell, and reports the C-RNTI already allocated to the UE to the access network control node a, that is, the source cell sends a notification message to the access network control node managing the source cell, where the notification message includes a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI of the UE in the source cell and information of the target cell; (ii) a

Step 1303, the access network control node a determines that the target cell and the source cell do not belong to the same access network control node, and notifies the source cell that a handover request needs to be sent to the target cell, that is, when the access network control node determines that the target cell does not belong to the access network control node management, the source cell is notified to send a handover request to the target cell, where the handover request is used to request to handover the UE from the source cell to the target cell;

Step 1304, a source cell sends a handover request to a target cell, that is, after receiving a second response message returned by the access network control node, the source cell sends a handover request to the target cell, where the second response message is used to notify the source cell that the target cell does not belong to the management of the access network control node, and the handover request is used to request that the UE is handed over from the source cell to the target cell;

step 1305, a target cell requests an access network control node B to which the target cell belongs to allocate a new C-RNTI to a UE, that is, after receiving a handover request sent by a source cell, the target cell sends a second request message to an access network control node managing the target cell, where the second request message is used to request allocation of a cell radio network temporary identity C-RNTI to the UE that needs to be handed over from the source cell to the target cell;

step 1306, the access network control node B distributes a new C-RNTI to the UE and informs a target cell;

step 1307, the target cell sends a message of agreeing to handover to the source cell and has a C-RNTI newly allocated to the UE, that is, the target cell receives the C-RNTI allocated to the UE by the access network control node and sends a handover response message to the source cell, wherein the handover response message includes the agreement to handover and the C-RNTI;

step 1308, the source cell informs the UE to initiate a non-contention random access preamble on the target cell, that is, after receiving a handover response message sent by the target cell, the source cell sends an RRC reconfiguration message to the UE, where the RRC reconfiguration message includes information of the target cell and a contention access preamble message, and the handover response message includes a grant handover and a new C-RNTI of the UE;

step 1309, the UE initiates random access on the target cell using the contention based random access preamble;

step 1310, the target cell returns a random access response;

step 1311, an RRC connection request message;

at step 1312, RRC connection setup is complete.

So far, the method flow in example four of this embodiment ends. In the above flow, after receiving the handover request, the target cell needs to request C-RNTI to the upper-level access network control node, that is, the access network control node managing the target cell, and the access network control node distributes the value and then issues the value to the target cell.

Fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of a cell switching apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention, where the apparatus is applied to an access network control node, and includes:

a receiving module 1401, configured to receive a notification message sent by a source cell managed by the access network control node, where the notification message includes a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI of the source cell and information of a target cell of the UE;

a determining and sending module 1402, configured to send the C-RNTI to the target cell when it is determined that the target cell and the source cell both belong to the management of the access network control node.

In this embodiment, the determining and sending module 1402 is further configured to notify the source cell to send a handover request to the target cell when the access network control node determines that the target cell does not belong to the management of the access network control node, where the handover request is used to request that the UE is handed over from the source cell to the target cell. The embodiment of the invention also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores computer-executable instructions, and when the computer-executable instructions are executed, the method for allocating the radio network temporary identifier of any cell is realized.

For the second and third embodiments, after the UE sends the random access request to the target cell, to solve the problem how the target cell identifies whether the UE accesses the target cell for the first time or accesses the target cell during the process of switching from the source cell to the target cell, a signaling element (or information) may be included in the random access request sent by the UE to the target cell, where the signaling element (or information) may be referred to as C-RNTI or other names (fields). If the UE is first randomly accessed, the signaling element (or information) may be set to a specific value or null, for example, null reported by C-RNTI; if the UE is handed over from the source cell to the target cell, the signaling element (or information) may be set to another specific value or directly set to the C-RNTI carried in the RRC reconfiguration message. Thus, the target cell can identify the identity of the UE according to the value of the signaling element (or information), and determine whether the UE is a UE that is randomly accessed for the first time or a UE that is accessed to the target cell in the process of being switched from the source cell to the target cell. For example, if the target cell identifies that the C-RNTI is null after receiving the random access request sent by the UE, the target cell may send a first request message to an access network control node managing the target cell after determining that the UE is first randomly accessed; if the target cell identifies that the C-RNTI is not null or a specific value after receiving the random access request sent by the UE, the target cell judges that the UE is the UE which is ready to be switched from the source cell to the target cell, and can carry out the subsequent random access process.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores computer-executable instructions, and when the computer-executable instructions are executed, the method for performing cell handover is described above.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a device, where the device includes: the system comprises a memory, a processor and a program stored on the memory and capable of running on the processor, wherein the program realizes any one of the above methods for allocating the radio network temporary identifier of the cell when executed by the processor.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a device, where the device includes: a memory, a processor and a program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, the program when executed by the processor implementing any of the above cell handover methods.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the above description is only for the convenience of understanding the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for distributing cell wireless network temporary identification comprises the following steps:

2. A method for distributing cell wireless network temporary identification comprises the following steps:

3. A cell handover method, comprising:

4. The method of claim 3, wherein after the access network control node receives the notification message sent by the source cell it manages, the method further comprises:

and when the access network control node judges that the target cell does not belong to the management of the access network control node, informing the source cell to send a switching request to the target cell, wherein the switching request is used for requesting the UE to be switched from the source cell to the target cell.

5. A cell handover method, comprising:

6. A cell handover method, comprising:

7. A cell handover method, comprising:

8. A cell handover method, comprising:

9. A device for distributing cell wireless network temporary identification is applied to an access network control node, and is characterized by comprising:

the allocation module is used for allocating C-RNTI to the UE;

and the sending module is used for sending the C-RNTI to the target cell.

10. A cell switching device applied to an access network control node is characterized by comprising:

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the determining and sending module is further configured to notify the source cell to send a handover request to the target cell when the access network control node determines that the target cell does not belong to the management of the access network control node, where the handover request is used to request handover of the UE from the source cell to the target cell.

12. An access network system comprising one or more cells, further comprising an access network control node according to any of claims 9-11;

13. An apparatus, characterized in that the apparatus comprises: memory, processor and program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, which when executed by the processor implements the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 8.