WO2025139379A1 - Communication method, apparatus and system - Google Patents

Abstract

A communication method and apparatus, and a system, which can be applied to the technical field of communications. The method comprises: a terminal device receiving a first MBS service, and recording measurement data of the first MBS service, the measurement data being used to determine coverage information and/or quality of service (QoS) information of the first MBS service; the terminal device further sending first measurement data to a first network device, so as to cause the network device, on the basis of the measurement data of the first MBS service, to determine a coverage condition and a QoS satisfaction degree of the first MBS service, thereby helping the network device to adjust and control the performance of the first MBS service, and accordingly improving the user experience with respect to the first MBS service.

Description

Communication method, device and system

This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on December 27, 2023, with application number 202311834255.3, and priority to the Chinese patent application with the invention name “Communication methods, devices and systems”, all contents of which are incorporated by reference in this application.

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and more specifically, to a communication method, device and system.

Background Art

Multicast/broadcast services (MBS) is a data distribution/transmission method that allows network devices to distribute/transmit the same content to multiple terminal devices at the same time, enabling efficient use of wireless resources. However, under the current technical background, network devices are unable to observe the coverage and quality of service (QoS) of MBS services, resulting in the inability of network devices to optimize the performance of MBS services.

Summary of the invention

The present application provides a communication method, apparatus and system, which can record measurement data for MBS services, so that network equipment can observe the coverage and/or QoS of MBS services.

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a terminal device or by a component of the terminal device (such as a chip or a chip system, etc.), and the present application does not limit this. The method includes: receiving a first MBS service; recording first measurement data of the first MBS service, the first measurement data being used to determine coverage information and/or QoS information of the first MBS service; and sending the first measurement data to a first network device.

In the above technical solution, the terminal device records the measurement data of the MBS service and reports the measurement data of the MBS service to the network device, so that the network device observes and regulates the performance of the MBS service, which helps to improve the user experience of the first MBS service.

In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method also includes: receiving measurement configuration information from a second network device, the measurement configuration information instructing the terminal device to record first measurement data; recording the first measurement data of the first MBS service, including: recording the first measurement data according to the measurement configuration information.

It should be noted that the second network device and the first network device may be the same network device, or may be different network devices.

In the above technical solution, the network device can configure the information of the MBS service for which measurement data needs to be recorded for the terminal device, so that the terminal device records the measurement data for a specific MBS service, which helps to save the overhead required for the terminal device to record and report the measurement data, and helps to meet the network device's needs for observing the coverage and/or QoS of a specific MBS service.

In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the measurement configuration information indicates at least one of the following: at least one MBS session identifier, each of the at least one MBS session identifier is used to identify at least one MBS service; at least one MBS service area, each of the at least one MBS service area provides at least one MBS service; or at least one downlink frequency supporting the MBS service.

In the above technical solution, a specific method for the network device to configure the terminal device with the information required to record the MBS service measurement data is clarified, so that the terminal device records the MBS service measurement data according to the instruction of the measurement configuration information.

In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, recording the first measurement data includes at least one of the following: recording the first measurement data when at least one MBS session identifier indicates a first MBS service and the first MBS service is received; recording the first measurement data when the first MBS service is received within at least one MBS service area; or recording the first measurement data when the first MBS service is received at at least one downlink frequency supporting the MBS service.

In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method also includes: determining a minimization of diver-tests (MDT) mode used to record the first measurement data according to a distribution method of the first MBS service; recording the first measurement data includes: recording the first measurement data in the MDT mode.

In the above technical solution, recording measurement data in different MDT modes according to the distribution mode of MBS services helps to achieve a balance between the measurement efficiency, reporting efficiency and communication overhead required for reporting MBS service measurement data.

In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the MDT mode used for recording the first measurement data is determined according to the distribution method of the first MBS service, including: when the distribution method of the first MBS service is broadcast, determining the MDT mode to be recorded MDT; or, when the distribution method of the first MBS service is multicast or unicast, determining the MDT mode to be fast MDT.

In the above technical solution, when the distribution mode of the first MBS service is broadcast, the measurement data is recorded by MDT, which helps to save the overhead required for reporting the measurement data; when the distribution mode of the first MBS service is multicast or unicast, the measurement data is recorded by fast MDT, which helps to improve the efficiency of reporting the measurement data.

In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, recording the first measurement data includes: using a logging MDT to record the first measurement data.

In the above technical solution, the terminal device uses MDT to record the measurement data of the MBS service so that the network device determines whether it needs to request the measurement data of the MBS service. When the network device does not request the measurement data of the MBS service, the terminal device does not report the measurement data of the MBS service, which helps to save communication overhead.

In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: sending indication information to the first network device, where the indication information indicates that the first measurement data exists.

In the above technical solution, the terminal device can separately indicate the existence of the measurement data of the MBS service, so that the network device determines whether to request the measurement data of the MBS service. When both the measurement data of the MBS service and the conventional MDT (other services or no services) measurement data are stored at the terminal device, the network device can determine whether to request the measurement data of the MBS service first or not according to the indication information, which helps to save the communication overhead of transmitting the measurement data.

In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method also includes: receiving request information from the first network device, the request information is used to request first measurement data; sending the first measurement data to the first network device, including: sending the first measurement data to the first network device according to the request information.

In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first measurement data includes at least one of the following:

An MBS session identifier of the first MBS service;

The number of MBS radio bearers (MBS radio bearers, MRBs) corresponding to the session of the first MBS service;

Providing serving cell identification information of a session of a first MBS service;

Providing neighbor cell identification information of the session of the first MBS service;

Service area information corresponding to the first MBS service;

Providing a downlink reference signal measurement result corresponding to the cell of the first MBS service;

Providing a downlink reference signal measurement result corresponding to a cell of a second MBS service, where the second MBS service is a service other than the first MBS service;

A block error rate corresponding to a session of the first MBS service;

Distribution mode indication information of the first MBS service, where the distribution mode indication information is used to indicate that the distribution mode of the first MBS service is one of broadcast, multicast or unicast;

Multicast distribution mechanism indication information of the first MBS service, where the multicast distribution mechanism indication information is used to indicate that the transmission mechanism of the first MBS service is point-to-point transmission or point-to-multipoint transmission; or

MBS interest indication information of a terminal device, the MBS interest indication information indicates at least one of the following: the frequency of a broadcast service that the terminal device is receiving or is interested in receiving, the session identifier of the MBS service that the terminal device is receiving or is interested in receiving, or the priority of the terminal device in receiving unicast services or broadcast services.

The terminal device reports the first measurement data as above to the network device, which helps the network device adjust the frequency, number of MRBs, MBS sessions, MBS distribution method, multicast mechanism, etc. supporting the MBS service, so as to optimize the performance of the first MBS service and improve the user experience of the first MBS service.

In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a network device or by a component of a network device (such as a chip or a chip system, etc.), and this application does not limit this. The method includes: sending a first MBS service to a terminal device; recording second measurement data of the first MBS service, and the second measurement data is used to determine coverage information and/or QoS information of the first MBS service.

In the above technical solution, the network device can record the measurement data of the MBS service, which helps to observe and regulate the performance of the MBS service, thereby improving the user experience of the first MBS service. The measurement data of the MBS service recorded by the network device complements the measurement data recorded by the terminal device, which helps the network device obtain more comprehensive measurement data of the MBS service.

In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: receiving first measurement data from a terminal device, the first measurement data being measurement data of a first MBS service, and the first measurement data being used to determine coverage information and/or QoS of the first MBS service. information.

In some implementations, the network device helps determine more comprehensive coverage information and/or QoS information of the first MBS service based on the first measurement data and the second measurement data.

In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: sending measurement configuration information to the terminal device, where the measurement configuration information instructs the terminal device to record the first measurement data.

In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the measurement configuration information indicates at least one of the following: at least one MBS session identifier, each of the at least one MBS session identifier is used to identify at least one MBS service; at least one MBS service area, each of the at least one MBS service area provides at least one MBS service; or at least one downlink frequency supporting the MBS service.

In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: receiving indication information from a terminal device, where the indication information indicates that the first measurement data exists.

In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: sending request information to the terminal device, where the request information is used to request the first measurement data.

In conjunction with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first measurement data includes at least one of the following:

An MBS session identifier of the first MBS service;

The number of MRBs corresponding to the session of the first MBS service;

Providing serving cell identification information of a session of a first MBS service;

Providing neighbor cell identification information of the session of the first MBS service;

Service area information corresponding to the first MBS service;

Providing a downlink reference signal measurement result corresponding to the cell of the first MBS service;

Providing a downlink reference signal measurement result corresponding to a cell of a second MBS service, where the second MBS service is a service other than the first MBS service;

A block error rate corresponding to the first MBS session;

Distribution mode indication information of the first MBS service, where the distribution mode indication information is used to indicate that the distribution mode of the first MBS service is one of broadcast, multicast or unicast;

Multicast distribution mechanism indication information of the first MBS service, where the multicast distribution mechanism indication information is used to indicate that the transmission mechanism of the first MBS service is point-to-point or point-to-multipoint; or

MBS interest indication information of a terminal device, the MBS interest indication information indicates at least one of the following: the frequency of a broadcast service that the terminal device is receiving or is interested in receiving, the session identifier of the MBS service that the terminal device is receiving or is interested in receiving, or the priority of the terminal device in receiving unicast services or broadcast services.

In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the second measurement data includes at least one of the following: downlink packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) service data unit (SDU) data volume; downlink average user throughput; downlink packet delay; or downlink packet loss rate.

In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, recording the second measurement data includes: when the distribution mode of the first MBS service is broadcast or multicast, recording the second measurement data at the granularity of each MRB, or recording the second measurement data at the granularity of each MRB of each terminal device.

In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, recording the second measurement data includes: when the distribution mode of the first MBS service is unicast, recording the second measurement data at the granularity of each wireless data bearer (data radio bearer, DRB), or recording the second measurement data at the granularity of each DRB of each terminal device.

In the above technical solution, when the distribution mode of the MBS service is different, the network device records the second measurement data with different granularities, which helps to achieve different degrees of regulation of the MBS service.

In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the second measurement data further includes the number of terminal devices receiving the first MBS service.

In conjunction with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the number of terminal devices receiving the first MBS service includes at least one of the following:

The number of terminal devices receiving the first MBS service in the service cell of the network device;

The number of terminal devices determined at a granularity of each MBS service or session identifier in the first MBS service;

The number of terminal devices determined at a granularity of each MBS broadcast service in the first MBS service;

The number of terminal devices determined at the granularity of each MBS multicast service in the first MBS service; or

The number of terminal devices is determined based on the granularity of each MRB in the first MBS service.

The beneficial effects not described in detail in the second aspect can be referred to the description in the first aspect and will not be repeated here.

In the third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device. The communication device may be a device or apparatus with a chip, or a device or apparatus integrated with a circuit, or a chip, a chip system, a module or a control unit in the aforementioned device or apparatus, and the specific application is not limited. It should be noted that in the present application, when referring to a communication device, it may refer to the communication device itself, or to a chip, a functional module or an integrated circuit in the communication device that completes the method provided in the present application, and the specific application is not limited. The device is used to execute the method provided in the first aspect or the second aspect above. Specifically, the device may include units and/or modules for executing the method provided in any one of the implementations of the first aspect or the second aspect, such as a transceiver unit (or a transceiver module) and a processing unit (or a processing module).

In some implementations, the processing unit may be at least one processor. The transceiver unit may be a transceiver, or an input/output interface. Optionally, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit. Optionally, the input/output interface may be an input/output circuit.

In some implementations, the communication device is a chip, a chip system, or a circuit in a terminal device or a network device. The transceiver module may be an input/output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin, or a related circuit on the chip, the chip system, or the circuit. The processing unit may be at least one processor, a processing circuit, or a logic circuit.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a processor for executing the methods provided in the above aspects. For operations such as sending and receiving involved in the processor, if there is no special description, or if it does not conflict with its actual role or internal logic in the relevant description, it can be understood as operations such as processor output, reception, and input, and can also be understood as sending and receiving operations performed by a radio frequency circuit and an antenna, and this application does not limit this.

In the fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which includes a terminal device and a network device. The terminal device can execute the method provided by any one of the implementation modes in the above-mentioned first aspect; the network device can execute the method provided by any one of the implementation modes in the above-mentioned second aspect.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium stores instructions or program codes, and when the instructions or program codes are executed by a processor, the method provided in any one of the implementation modes of the first aspect or the second aspect can be implemented.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions. When the computer program product is run on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method provided in any one of the implementations of the first aspect or the second aspect.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip, which includes a processor and a communication interface, wherein the processor reads instructions stored in a memory through the communication interface and executes the method provided in any one of the implementation modes of the first aspect or the second aspect.

Optionally, as an implementation method, the chip also includes a memory, in which a computer program or instructions are stored, and the processor is used to execute the computer program or instructions stored in the memory. When the computer program or instructions are executed, the processor is used to execute the method provided in any one of the implementation methods of the first aspect or the second aspect above.

The beneficial effects brought about by the third to eighth aspects mentioned above can be specifically referred to the description of the beneficial effects in the first or second aspect, and will not be repeated here.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system used in an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of transmission of MBS service data provided in an embodiment of the present application.

FIG3 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 4 is another schematic flowchart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

FIG5 is another schematic flowchart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

FIG6 is another schematic flowchart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

FIG8 is another schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a chip system provided in an embodiment of the present application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The technical solution in this application will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In order to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the following points are first explained.

1. Unless otherwise specified, “plurality” means two or more.

2. Unless otherwise specified or there is no logical conflict, the terms and/or descriptions between different embodiments of the present application are consistent and can be referenced to each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments based on their internal logical relationships.

3. The various digital numbers involved in this application are only used for the convenience of description and are not used to limit the scope of protection of this application. The size of the serial numbers involved in this application does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic. For example, the terms "first", "second", "third", "fourth" and other various terminology labels (if any) in the specification and claims and drawings of this application are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. Among them, the data used in this way can be interchangeable where appropriate, so that the embodiments described here can be implemented in an order other than what is illustrated or described here.

At the same time, any embodiment or design described in the present application as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete manner for ease of understanding.

4. The terms "comprise", "include", "have" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product or apparatus comprising a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units explicitly listed, but may include other steps or units not explicitly listed or inherent to such process, method, product or apparatus.

5. In this application, "used to indicate" can be understood as "enable", and "enable" can include direct enablement and indirect enablement. When describing that a certain information is used to enable A, it can include that the information directly enables A or indirectly enables A, and it does not mean that the information must carry A.

The information enabled by the information is called information to be enabled. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to enable the information to be enabled, such as but not limited to, the information to be enabled can be directly enabled, such as the information to be enabled itself or the index of the information to be enabled. The information to be enabled can also be indirectly enabled by enabling other information, wherein there is an association relationship between the other information and the information to be enabled. It is also possible to enable only a part of the information to be enabled, while the other parts of the information to be enabled are known or agreed in advance. For example, the enabling of specific information can also be achieved by means of the arrangement order of each piece of information agreed in advance (such as specified by the protocol), thereby reducing the enabling overhead to a certain extent. At the same time, the common parts of each piece of information can also be identified and enabled uniformly to reduce the enabling overhead caused by enabling the same information separately.

6. In this application, "pre-configuration" may include pre-definition, such as protocol definition. Among them, "pre-definition" can be implemented by pre-saving corresponding codes, tables or other methods that can be used to indicate relevant information in a device (for example, including each network element), and this application does not limit its specific implementation method.

VII. The term "storage" or "saving" as used in this application may refer to saving in one or more memories. One or more memories may be provided separately or integrated in an encoder or decoder, a processor, or a communication device. One or more memories may also be partially provided separately and partially integrated in a decoder, a processor, or a communication device. The type of memory may be any form of storage medium, without limitation.

8. The “protocol” involved in this application may refer to a standard protocol in the field of communications, for example, it may include the ^fourth generation (4G) network, the ^fifth generation (5G) network protocol, the new radio (NR) protocol, the 5.5G network protocol, the ^sixth generation (6G) network protocol and related protocols used in future communication systems, and this application does not limit this.

9. The dotted arrows or boxes in the schematic diagrams of the drawings in the specification of this application represent optional steps or optional modules.

10. Unless otherwise specified, “/” indicates that the objects associated with each other are in an “or” relationship. For example, A/B can represent A or B. The “and/or” in this application is only a description of the association relationship between the associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and/or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural.

For ease of understanding, the communication system shown in FIG. 1 is used as an example to describe a communication system to which the various embodiments of the present application are applicable.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the communication system includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network (CN) 200. The RAN 100 includes at least one RAN node (such as 110a and 110b in FIG. 1 , collectively referred to as 110) and at least one terminal device (such as 120a-120j in FIG. 1 , collectively referred to as 120). The RAN may also include other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay devices and/or wireless backhaul devices (not shown in FIG. 1 ). The terminal device 120 is connected to the RAN node 110 in a wireless manner. The RAN node 110 is connected to the core network 200 in a wireless or wired manner. The core network device in the core network 200 and the RAN node 110 in the RAN 100 may be different physical devices, or may be the same physical device that integrates the core network logical functions and the radio access network logical functions.

RAN 100 may be a cellular system related to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as a 4G, 5G, 6G mobile communication system, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) system, or a future-oriented evolution system. RAN 100 may also be an open access network (open RAN, O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (CRAN), or a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system, or a communication system that integrates two or more of the above systems.

A device in a communication system can send a signal to another device or receive a signal from another device. The signal may include information, signaling, or data. The device may also be replaced by an entity, a network entity, a communication device, a communication module, a node, a communication node, etc. The embodiments of the present application are described by taking a device as an example.

In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device is a device with wireless transceiver functions, which may refer to user equipment (UE), access terminal, subscriber unit, user station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, wireless communication equipment, user agent or user device.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device can also be a satellite phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a wireless data card, a wireless modem, a machine type communication device, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a customer-premises equipment (CPE), a smart point of sale (POS) machine, a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a communication device carried on a high-altitude aircraft, a wearable device, a drone, a robot, a terminal in device-to-device communication (D2D), a vehicle-to-everything communication (vehicle-to-everything communication) or a communication device. In the embodiments of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the terminal device may be a terminal device, or a device that can support the terminal device to realize the function, such as a chip system or a chip, which can be installed in the terminal device. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip system may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also be a device with communication functions in the 6G communication system, without limiting the form or type of the terminal device in 6G and other future communication systems.

In the embodiment of the present application, the RAN node 110 may also be referred to as an access network device, an access node or a RAN entity, and is used to help the terminal device achieve wireless access. Multiple RAN nodes 110 may be nodes of the same type or nodes of different types. In some scenarios, the roles of the RAN node 110 and the terminal device 120 are relative. For example, the network element 120i in FIG. 1 may be a helicopter or a drone, which may be configured as a mobile base station. For the terminal 120j that accesses the RAN 100 through the network element 120i, the network element 120i is a base station; but for the base station 110a, the network element 120i is a terminal device. The RAN node 110 and the terminal device 120 are sometimes referred to as communication devices. For example, the network elements 110a and 110b in FIG. 1 may be understood as communication devices with base station functions, and the network elements 120a-120j may be understood as communication devices with terminal functions.

In a possible scenario, the RAN node 110 can also become a network device, which can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), an access point (AP), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB), a next generation base station in a 6G mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system. The RAN node can be a macro base station (such as 110a in FIG. 1), a micro base station or an indoor station (such as 110b in FIG. 1), a relay node or a donor node, or a wireless controller in a CRAN scenario. Optionally, the RAN node can also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle or an onboard device, etc. For example, the network device in the vehicle to everything (V2X) technology can be a road side unit (RSU).

In another possible scenario, multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist the terminal in achieving wireless access, and different RAN nodes implement part of the functions of the base station. For example, the RAN node can be a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU). The CU and DU can be set separately, or they can also be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The CU node and the DU node split the protocol layer of the gNB, and the functions of some protocol layers are placed in the CU for centralized control, and the remaining part or all of the protocol layer functions are distributed in the DU, and the DU is centrally controlled by the CU. As an implementation method, the CU is deployed with the radio resource control (RRC) layer, the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, and the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer in the protocol stack; the DU is deployed with the radio link control (RLC) layer, the media access control (MAC) layer, and the physical layer (PHY) in the protocol stack. Thus, the CU has the processing capabilities of RRC, PDCP and SDAP. The DU has the processing capabilities of RLC, MAC and PHY. It can be understood that the above-mentioned functional division is only an example and does not constitute a limitation on the CU and DU. The RU may be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, for example, in a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU) or a remote radio head (RRH).

In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, CU may also be called O-CU (open CU), DU may also be called O-DU, CU-CP may also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be called O-CU-UP, and RU may also be called O-RU. For the convenience of description, CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU are described as examples in this application. Any unit of CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

Optionally, for network elements in the ORAN system, each network element may implement the protocol layer functions shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1

It should be noted that, in the ORAN system, the network device in the present application may be one or more network elements in Table 1 above.

In the embodiment of the present application, the core network device 200 refers to a device in the core network (CN) that provides service support for the terminal device 120. At present, some examples of core network devices are: access and mobility management function (AMF) entity, session management function (SMF) entity, user plane function (UPF) entity, etc., which are not listed here one by one. Among them, the AMF entity can be responsible for access management and mobility management of terminal devices; the SMF entity can be responsible for session management, such as user session establishment, etc.; the UPF entity can be a functional entity of the user plane, mainly responsible for connecting to the external network. It should be noted that the entity in the present application can also be referred to as a network element or a functional entity. For example, the AMF entity can also be referred to as an AMF network element or an AMF functional entity. For another example, the SMF entity can also be referred to as an SMF network element or an SMF functional entity, etc.

In the embodiments of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the network device may be a network device; or it may be a device capable of supporting the network device to realize the function, such as a chip system, a hardware circuit, a software module, or a hardware circuit plus a software module. The device may be installed in the network device or used in combination with the network device. In the embodiments of the present application, only the device for realizing the function of the network device is a network device as an example for explanation, and the scheme of the embodiments of the present application is not limited.

It should be noted that the embodiments of the present application do not limit the scenarios in which the network device/terminal device is located. In addition, the network device/terminal device may be a hardware device, or a software function running on dedicated hardware, or a software function running on general-purpose hardware, for example, an entity including dedicated or general-purpose hardware devices and software functions, and the present application does not limit the specific form of the network device/terminal device.

To facilitate understanding and explanation, the relevant terms involved in the embodiments of the present application are briefly described below.

1. MDT

An automated drive test technology that obtains the relevant parameters required for network optimization by means of terminal equipment reporting measurement reports or network equipment recording measurement data on its own. MDT can be used to evaluate network performance, such as detecting whether the network has weak coverage or coverage holes, and then achieve coverage optimization (such as improving coverage holes, weak coverage, excessive coverage, and uplink coverage, etc.).

For different data collection objects, MDT has two network management configuration modes, namely management-based MDT and signaling-based MDT. Management-based MDT can record the MDT measurement data of all terminal devices in a certain cell, which can be specified by the tracking area/cell global identifier (TA/CGI) list; signaling-based MDT can record the MDT measurement data of one or more specific terminal devices, which can be specified by the core network's operation, administration, and maintenance (OAM) element.

Depending on the state of the terminal device and the difference in the measurement reporting mechanism, MDT can include logged MDT and fast MDT (or immediate MDT). The details are as follows:

1) Logged MDT: refers to the collection and storage of measurement data by the terminal device when it is in RRC idle state and RRC inactive state. The terminal device indicates the existence of measurement data to the network device in the RRC message. When the network device requests measurement data from the terminal device, the terminal device reports the measurement data to the network device.

The network device can send configuration parameters to the terminal device in the RRC connection state so that it uses the logging MDT to collect measurement data. The configuration parameters may include: trigger recording conditions (such as time trigger, periodic trigger), recording duration and recording area, etc.; the form of the recording area may include at least one of the following: public land mobile network (PLMN) list, TA list, CGI list, frequency list. The terminal device collects measurement data in the configured recording area. When the recording duration times out or the terminal device receives a new logging MDT measurement configuration, the terminal device stops collecting measurement data. The above measurement data includes but is not limited to: measurement results of coverage-related service/neighboring areas, cell identification information, location information, time information, tracking information, etc.

2) Fast MDT: Measurements performed when the terminal device is in the RRC connected state. Both the terminal device and the network device can collect measurement data, and the terminal device can report the measurement data to the network device in real time.

The measurement configuration of fast MDT adds location information to the existing RRC measurement configuration, and can also add recording area information to instruct the terminal device to perform fast MDT collection in a specific area. The measurement data collected by the terminal device may include one or more of the following: measurement results covering related service/neighboring areas, location information, power headroom measurement, and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) delay measurement results at the L2 layer (i.e., data link layer). The measurement results on the network device side, i.e., L2 layer measurement results, may include but are not limited to physical resource block (PRB) utilization, throughput, PDCP data volume, packet loss rate, packet drop rate, number of active terminal devices, and packet delay.

2. MBS

A data distribution/transmission method in which network equipment can distribute/transmit the same content to multiple terminal devices at the same time, which can achieve efficient use of NR resources. MBS can provide any of the following MBS services: broadcast service, multicast service and unicast service. Among them, broadcast service is an MBS service issued by broadcast, which means that the data of the same MBS service is provided to all terminal devices in the MBS service area at the same time (all terminal devices in the MBS service area are authorized to receive the data); multicast service is an MBS service issued by multicast, which means that the data of the same MBS service is provided to a group of terminal devices at the same time (that is, not all terminal devices in the MBS service area are authorized to receive the data). Network equipment sends broadcast services to terminal devices through broadcast sessions, and terminal devices in the radio resource control (RRC) idle state (RRC idle), RRC inactive state (RRC inactive) and RRC connected state (RRC connected) can receive related broadcast services. Broadcast services only support point-to-multipoint (PTM) transmission mechanism, and do not support hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ). Network devices send multicast services to terminal devices through multicast sessions. Terminal devices in RRC connection state can receive multicast services, using point-to-point (PTP) and/or PTM transmission mechanisms. HARQ can be applied to PTP and PTM transmission. Unicast services are MBS services sent in unicast mode, which means that RAN that does not support MBS sends MBS service data to terminal devices in unicast mode.

Depending on whether the network equipment supports MBS, the data transmission modes for transmitting MBS services can be divided into two types, namely shared delivery mode and individual delivery mode:

1) Shared transmission mode: It can also be called "multicast/broadcast" mode or "multicast" mode. Shared transmission mode means that the transmission tunnel (or transmission channel) between UPF and RAN, and the transmission tunnel between RAN and UE (air interface side) are shared by multiple UEs in the multicast group. When the network equipment supports MBS, the shared transmission mode can be used to transmit MBS service data.

Taking Figure 2 as an example, when transmitting the data of the MBS service, a tunnel may be used between the multicast broadcast user plane function (MB-UPF) and RAN 1 to transmit the data of the MBS service, for example, a tunnel based on the general tunnel protocol (GTP). The tunnel between the MB-UPF and RAN 1 for transmitting the data of the MBS service is a multicast session shared tunnel, which is shared by UE a, UE b and UE c.

2) Single transmission mode: It can also be called "unicast" mode, which can be understood as "point to point" (PTP) communication. Unicast transmission mode means that the transmission tunnel between UPF and RAN, and the transmission tunnel between RAN and UE (air interface side) are exclusively used by a single UE. Single transmission mode can be used to transmit data of MBS services (through unicast) or unicast services. When the network equipment does not support MBS, single transmission mode can be used. For example, taking Figure 2 as an example, when RAN 2 where UE d resides does not support MBS, the data of RAN 2 comes from unicast UPF. The transmission channel from unicast UPF to RAN 2, and the transmission channel from RAN 2 to UE d on the air interface side are exclusively used by UE d. The data transmission path is: multicast UPF→unicast UPF→RAN 2→UE d.

As described above, under the current technical background, it is impossible to measure and collect data for MBS services, resulting in the inability of network devices to optimize the performance of MBS services. In view of this, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, device and system that can record measurement data for MBS services. To achieve performance optimization of MBS services.

FIG3 shows a schematic flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Method 300 can be applied to the system shown in FIG1 . The execution subject of the method 300 can be a terminal device and a first network device, or can also be a component of a terminal device and a first network device, such as a chip or a chip system or a circuit, which is not limited in the present application. The steps described below as being executed by a single execution subject (such as a terminal device or a first network device) can also be divided into being executed by multiple execution subjects, which can be logically and/or physically separated. The method 300 may include the following steps.

S310, the terminal device receives the first MBS service.

Exemplarily, the first MBS service may come from the first network device, or may also come from other network devices, such as the network device to which the terminal device currently resides in the cell, or the network device to which the serving cell belongs, or the network device to which the primary cell belongs, or the network device to which the neighboring cell belongs.

Exemplarily, the first MBS service may include one or more MBS services; the distribution mode of the first MBS service (or the service type of the first MBS service) may also include one or more of a unicast service, a multicast service, and a broadcast service.

S320, the terminal device records first measurement data of the first MBS service, where the first measurement data is used to determine coverage information and/or QoS information of the first MBS service.

For example, the behavior of recording MBS service measurement data of the terminal device can be predefined to enable it to record the measurement data of the MBS service when receiving the MBS service. Alternatively, the network device sending the first MBS service can instruct the terminal device to record the MBS service measurement data: the terminal device records the first measurement data when receiving the first MBS service.

Exemplarily, the method for the terminal device to record the first measurement data may be MDT measurement, or may be other measurements, such as reports associated with a self-organizing network (SON), such as one or more of a radio link failure report, a random access report, an RRC connection establishment/recovery failure report, and a switching success report.

In some implementations, taking the first MBS service as an MBS service as an example, the first measurement data includes at least one of the following 1) to 11):

1) MBS session identifier (MBS session identifier) of the first MBS service.

2) The number of MRBs corresponding to the session of the first MBS service.

3) Provide the service cell identification information of the session of the first MBS service. The service cell can be the primary cell of the UE in the connected state, or a special cell of the primary cell group and/or a special cell of the secondary cell group in dual connection, or a cell included in the primary cell group and a special cell and a secondary cell included in the secondary cell group, that is, the terminal device receives the MBS service session data from the service cell.

4) Providing neighbor cell identification information of the session of the first MBS service.

5) Service area (MBS service area) information corresponding to the first MBS service.

6) Providing a downlink reference signal measurement result corresponding to the cell of the first MBS service.

7) Providing a downlink reference signal measurement result corresponding to a cell of a second MBS service, where the second MBS service is other services except the first MBS service.

8) The block error rate (BLER) corresponding to the session of the first MBS service; wherein, BLER is the ratio of the number of erroneous blocks received by the terminal device to the total number of blocks sent by the network device within a time period, that is, the error rate of the transmission blocks after cyclic redundancy check (CRC) verification within a time period, and "block" refers to a series of consecutive bits associated with a channel. When any bit in a block is erroneous, the block is called an erroneous block.

9) Distribution mode indication information of the first MBS service, or service type indication information of the first MBS service. The distribution mode indication information is used to indicate that the distribution mode of the first MBS service is one of broadcast, multicast or unicast, or the service type is one of broadcast, multicast or unicast.

10) When the distribution mode of the first MBS service is multicast, the first measurement data may further include multicast distribution mechanism indication information of the first MBS service, where the multicast distribution mechanism indication information is used to indicate that the transmission mechanism of the first MBS service is PTP transmission or PTM transmission.

11) MBS interest indication information of the terminal device, where the MBS interest indication information indicates at least one of the following: the frequency of the broadcast service that the terminal device is receiving or interested in receiving, the session identifier of the MBS service that the terminal device is receiving or interested in receiving, or the priority of the terminal device in receiving unicast services or broadcast services.

The service of interest to be received may be understood as a service that is desired to be received, that is, the terminal device has not received the service temporarily but hopes to receive the service in a subsequent communication process.

In some implementations, the terminal device records the first measurement data in a manner including any one of the following examples:

In an example, the terminal device uses the logging MDT to log the first measurement data.

In another example, the terminal device determines the MDT mode for recording the first measurement data according to the distribution mode of the first MBS service. More specifically, when the distribution mode of the first MBS service is broadcast, the terminal device uses the recording MDT to record the first measurement data; or, when the distribution mode of the first MBS service is multicast or unicast, the terminal device uses the fast MDT to record the first measurement data.

In another example, the terminal device records the MDT mode of the first measurement data according to the RRC state. More specifically, when the terminal device is in the RRC idle state or the RRC inactive state, the first measurement data is recorded using the recording MDT; when the terminal device is in the RRC connected state, the first measurement data is recorded using the fast MDT.

In some implementations, before executing S320, the method further includes: the terminal device receiving measurement configuration information from the second network device, where the measurement configuration information instructs the terminal device to record the first measurement data.

The measurement configuration information may indicate at least one of the following 1) to 3):

1) At least one MBS session identifier, each of the at least one MBS session identifier is used to identify at least one MBS service; wherein the MBS service indicated by the at least one MBS session identifier may include a first MBS service.

2) at least one MBS service area, each of the at least one MBS service area provides at least one MBS service, wherein the MBS service provided by the at least one MBS service area may include a first MBS service.

Exemplarily, at least one MBS service area may be indicated by one or more of a TA list, a cell list, and a PLMN list.

3) At least one downlink frequency supporting an MBS service, wherein the MBS service transmitted by the at least one downlink frequency supporting an MBS service may include a first MBS service.

Exemplarily, the measurement configuration information may be sent or indicated by the core network (such as an AMF entity) to the second network device; the second network device may send the measurement configuration information to the terminal device via an RRC message.

Exemplarily, the second network device and the network device that sends the first MBS service to the terminal device may be the same network device.

Further, the terminal device records the first measurement data of the first MBS service, including: recording the first measurement data according to the measurement configuration information. More specifically, when at least one MBS session identifier indicates the first MBS service and the terminal device receives the first MBS service, the first measurement data is recorded; or, when the terminal device receives the first MBS service in at least one MBS service area, the first measurement data is recorded; or, when the terminal device receives the first MBS service at at least one downlink frequency point supporting the MBS service, the first measurement data is recorded.

S330: The terminal device sends first measurement data to the first network device.

Exemplarily, the first network device and the second network device may be the same network device.

In some implementations, the method further includes: the terminal device sends indication information to the first network device, the indication information indicating the existence of the first measurement data; further, the terminal device receives request information from the first network device, the request information is used to request the first measurement data. The terminal device sends the first measurement data to the first network device, including: the terminal device sends the first measurement data to the first network device according to the request information. For example, when the terminal device uses MDT to record the first measurement data, the terminal device can send the first measurement data to the first network device in the above manner. It should be understood that the first measurement data is different from ordinary MDT data, and the first measurement data is the measurement data of the MBS service.

When the terminal device uses fast MDT to record the first measurement data, the terminal device may send the first measurement data to the first network device after recording the first measurement data, without a request from the first network device.

Among them, the indication information sent by the terminal device to the first network device, the request information received by the terminal device from the first network device, and the first measurement data sent by the terminal device to the first network device. The information sent between the above terminal device and the network device can be sent directly or forwarded through the network device to which the main cell of the terminal device belongs.

Exemplarily, the terminal device may send indication information via an RRC message, wherein the RRC message includes but is not limited to: an RRC recovery complete message, an RRC re-establishment complete message, an RRC establishment complete message, and an RRC reconfiguration complete message.

It should be noted that, in actual implementation, the first network device may obtain the measurement data of the first MBS service recorded by multiple terminal devices.

In some implementations, when the first MBS service is sent by the first network device, the method 300 may further include S340: the first network device records second measurement data of the first MBS service.

In some implementations, the second measurement data may include at least one of the following: downlink PDCP SDU data volume (or M4 measurement result), downlink average user throughput (or M5 measurement result), downlink packet delay (or M6 measurement result), downlink packet loss rate (or M7 measurement result), and the number of terminal devices receiving the first MBS service.

Wherein, when the distribution mode of the first MBS service is broadcast or multicast, the first network device performs one or more of the M4 measurement to M7 measurement at the granularity of each MRB to obtain one or more of the M4 measurement results to M7 measurement results. Alternatively, when the distribution mode of the first MBS service is broadcast or multicast, the first network device performs M4 measurement to M7 measurement at the granularity of each MRB of each terminal device. One or more of the M7 measurements are recorded to obtain one or more of the M4 measurement results to the M7 measurement results. When the distribution mode of the first MBS service is unicast, the first network device performs one or more of the M4 measurement to the M7 measurement at the granularity of each DRB to obtain one or more of the M4 measurement results to the M7 measurement results. Alternatively, when the distribution mode of the first MBS service is unicast, the first network device records the execution of one or more of the M4 measurement to the M7 measurement at the granularity of each DRB of each terminal device to obtain one or more of the M4 measurement results to the M7 measurement results.

Exemplarily, when the first network device performs M6 measurement, the downlink packet delay may be determined according to the HARQ ACK value in RLC unacknowledged mode (UM) or the RLC ACK value in RLC acknowledged mode (AM). When the first network device performs M7 measurement, the downlink packet loss rate may be determined according to the HARQ ACK value and NACK value in RLC UM mode or the RLC ACK value and NACK value in RLC AM mode.

In some implementations, the first MBS service includes one or more MBS services, and the number of terminal devices receiving the first MBS service may include at least one of the following: the number of terminal devices receiving the first MBS service in the service cell of the first network device; the number of terminal devices determined with the granularity of each MBS service or session identifier in the first MBS service; the number of terminal devices determined with the granularity of each MBS broadcast service in the first MBS service; the number of terminal devices determined with the granularity of each MBS multicast service in the first MBS service; the number of terminal devices determined with the granularity of each MRB in the first MBS service.

In some implementations, the first network device optimizes the performance of the first MBS service according to the first measurement data and/or the second measurement data, for example, adjusting the frequency point supporting the MBS service, the number of MRBs, the MBS service type (MBS session), the MBS distribution method, the multicast mechanism, etc., so as to optimize the performance of the first MBS service and improve the user experience of the first MBS service. Exemplarily, when the first measurement data and the second measurement data are MDT data, the first network device can implement MDT-based coverage optimization, MDT-based QoS verification, etc.

The communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application provides a method for recording measurement data of MBS services, which helps to optimize the performance of MBS services.

FIG4 shows another schematic flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Method 400 can be regarded as a further description of method 300, or method 400 can be regarded as a refinement of the application scenario of method 300. The execution subject of method 400 can be a terminal device and a network device, or can also be a component of a terminal device and a network device, such as a chip or a chip system or a circuit, which is not limited in the present application. The method 400 may include the following steps.

S410, network device 2 sends measurement configuration information to the terminal device.

For example, the content of the measurement configuration information may refer to the description in method 300 , which will not be described in detail here. Network device 2 may be regarded as an example of the second network device in method 300 .

S420, the network device 1 sends a first MBS service to the terminal device.

Exemplarily, the network device 1 may be regarded as an example of the first network device in the method 300 ; the first MBS service may be the first MBS service of the method 300 .

In some implementations, network device 2 may be a serving network device when the terminal device is in a connected state, and network device 1 may be a serving network device when the terminal device re-enters a connected state or is always in a connected state; or, network device 1 may be a network device to which the terminal device currently resides in a cell, and network device 2 may be a serving network device when the terminal device is in a connected state before entering an inactive state/idle state; or, network device 2 may be a network device to which the terminal device resides in a cell, and network device 1 may be a network device to which a cell reselected by the terminal device belongs, or a network device to which a cell in which the terminal device always resides.

S430: The terminal device records first measurement data of the first MBS service.

For the specific implementation of the terminal device recording the first measurement data, reference may be made to the description in S320, which will not be repeated here. For example, the terminal device may record the first measurement data according to the measurement configuration information.

S460: The terminal device sends first measurement data to network device 1.

For the specific implementation of the terminal device sending the first measurement data to the network device 1, reference may be made to the description in S330, which will not be repeated here.

Optionally, the method 400 may further include S430': the network device 1 records the second measurement data of the first MBS service.

Optionally, before executing S460, method 400 may further include S440 and S450. For example, when the terminal device uses the record MDT to record the first measurement data, the following may be further executed: S440, the terminal device sends indication information to network device 1, the indication information indicating the existence of the first measurement data; S450, the network device 1 sends request information to the terminal device, the request information is used to request the first measurement data.

In the present application, the network device 1 can adjust the frequency point, number of MRBs, MBS service type (MBS session), MBS distribution method, multicast mechanism, etc. supporting MBS services related to the first MBS service based on the received first measurement data and/or the second measurement data recorded by itself.

FIG5 shows another schematic flow chart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Method 500 can be regarded as a further description of method 300, or method 500 can be regarded as a refinement of the application scenario of method 300. The execution subject of the method 500 can also be a terminal device and a network device, or can also be a component of a terminal device and a network device, such as a chip or a chip system or a circuit, which is not limited in the present application. The method 500 can include the following steps.

S510, network device 2 sends measurement configuration information to the terminal device.

For example, the content of the measurement configuration information may refer to the description in method 300 , which will not be described in detail here. Network device 2 may be regarded as an example of the second network device in method 300 .

S520, the network device 2 sends a first MBS service to the terminal device.

Exemplarily, the first MBS service may be the first MBS service of method 300 .

S530: The terminal device records first measurement data of the first MBS service.

For the specific implementation of the terminal device recording the first measurement data, reference may be made to the description in S320, which will not be repeated here. For example, the terminal device may record the first measurement data according to the measurement configuration information.

S560: The terminal device sends first measurement data to network device 1.

Exemplarily, the network device 1 may be regarded as an example of the first network device in the method 300. It should be understood that the network device 1 is a network device that can provide the first MBS service to the terminal device.

In some implementations, network device 2 may be a serving network device to which the terminal device belongs when in a connected state, or a network device to which the resident cell belongs, and network device 1 may be a serving network device to which the terminal device enters a connected state again, or a serving network device that is always in a connected state.

Optionally, the method 500 may further include S530': the network device 2 records second measurement data of the first MBS service.

Optionally, before executing S560, method 500 may further include S540 and S550. For example, when the terminal device uses the record MDT to record the first measurement data, the following may be further executed: S540, the terminal device sends indication information to network device 1, the indication information indicating the existence of the first measurement data; S550, network device 1 sends request information to the terminal device, the request information is used to request the first measurement data.

In an embodiment of the present application, the network device 1 can adjust the frequency point, number of MRBs, MBS service type (MBS session), MBS distribution method, multicast mechanism, etc. supporting MBS services related to the first MBS service based on the received first measurement data and/or second measurement data.

FIG6 shows another schematic flow chart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Method 600 can be regarded as a further description of method 300, or method 600 can be regarded as a refinement of the application scenario of method 600. The execution subject of method 600 can be a terminal device and a network device, or can also be a component of a terminal device and a network device, such as a chip or a chip system or a circuit, which is not limited in the present application. The method 600 may include the following steps.

S610, network device 2 sends measurement configuration information to the terminal device.

For example, the content of the measurement configuration information may refer to the description in method 300 , which will not be described in detail here. Network device 2 may be regarded as an example of the second network device in method 300 .

S620, the network device 3 sends a first MBS service to the terminal device.

Exemplarily, the first MBS service may be the first MBS service of method 300 .

S630: The terminal device records first measurement data of the first MBS service.

For the specific implementation of the terminal device recording the first measurement data, reference may be made to the description in S320, which will not be repeated here. For example, the terminal device may record the first measurement data according to the measurement configuration information.

S660: The terminal device sends first measurement data to network device 1.

Exemplarily, the network device 1 may be regarded as an example of the first network device in the method 300. It should be understood that the network device 1 is a network device that can provide the first MBS service to the terminal device.

In some implementations, network device 2 may be a service network device in which the terminal device is in a connected state, network device 3 may be a network device to which the terminal device resides in a cell or a main cell, and network device 1 may be a service network device (or target access network device) in which the terminal device re-enters a connected state or is always in a connected state.

Optionally, the method 600 may further include S630': the network device 3 records the second measurement data of the first MBS service.

Optionally, before executing S660, method 600 may further include S640 and S650. For example, when the terminal device uses the record MDT to record the first measurement data, the following may be further executed: S640, the terminal device sends indication information to network device 1, the indication information indicating the existence of the first measurement data; S650, the network device 1 sends request information to the terminal device, the request information being used to request the first measurement data.

In the embodiment of the present application, the network device 1 may perform a first MBS service according to the received first measurement data and/or second measurement data. The relevant frequencies supporting MBS services, number of MRBs, MBS service types (MBS sessions), MBS distribution methods, multicast mechanisms, etc. are adjusted.

The communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application is described above in conjunction with Figures 1 to 6. In the various embodiments of the present application, if there is no special description and logical conflict, the terms and/or descriptions between the various embodiments are consistent and can be referenced to each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form a new embodiment according to their inherent logical relationships. For example, any two or all of method 400, method 500, and method 600 can be combined.

The communication device provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below in conjunction with Figures 7 to 9. It should be understood that the description of the device embodiment corresponds to the description of the method embodiment, so the content not described in detail can be referred to the method embodiment above, and for the sake of brevity, it will not be repeated here.

FIG7 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 2000 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The device 2000 includes a transceiver unit 2010 (or transceiver module) and a processing unit 2020 (or processing module). The transceiver unit 2010 can be used to implement corresponding transceiver functions, and the processing unit 2020 can be used to implement corresponding processing functions. The communication device can be used to execute the method executed by the terminal device or the network device in any of the embodiments shown in FIG3 to FIG6.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 2010 may include a sending unit and a receiving unit. The sending unit is used to perform the sending operation in the above method embodiment. The receiving unit is used to perform the receiving operation in the above method embodiment.

Optionally, the communication device 2000 also includes a storage unit, which can be used to store instructions and/or data, and the processing unit 2020 can read the instructions and/or data in the storage unit so that the device implements the relevant actions performed by the terminal device or network device in the aforementioned method embodiments.

In some implementations, the communication device 2000 is used to perform the actions performed by the terminal device in any of the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 6 above.

Specifically, the transceiver unit 2010 is used to receive a first MBS service; the processing unit 2020 is used to record first measurement data of the first MBS service; and the transceiver unit 2010 is further used to send the first measurement data to the first network device.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 2010 is further used to: receive measurement configuration information from the second network device, the measurement configuration information instructing the terminal device to record the first measurement data; and the processing unit 2020 is used to: record the first measurement data according to the measurement configuration information.

Optionally, the measurement configuration information indicates at least one of the following: at least one MBS session identifier, each of the at least one MBS session identifier is used to identify at least one MBS service; at least one MBS service area, each of the at least one MBS service area provides at least one MBS service; or at least one downlink frequency point supporting MBS services. Then the processing unit 2020 is used to perform at least one of the following: when at least one MBS session identifier indicates a first MBS service and the transceiver unit 2010 receives the first MBS service, record the first measurement data; when the transceiver unit 2010 receives the first MBS service in at least one MBS service area, record the first measurement data; or, when the transceiver unit 2010 receives the first MBS service at at least one downlink frequency point supporting MBS services, record the first measurement data.

Optionally, the processing unit 2020 is further configured to: determine, according to a distribution mode of the first MBS service, a minimization of drive tests (MDT) mode used for recording the first measurement data; and record the first measurement data in the MDT mode.

Optionally, the processing unit 2020 is further configured to: when the distribution mode of the first MBS service is broadcast, determine that the MDT mode is logged MDT; or when the distribution mode of the first MBS service is multicast or unicast, determine that the MDT mode is fast MDT.

Optionally, the processing unit 2020 is further configured to: use the logging MDT to log the first measurement data.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 2010 is further used to: send indication information to the first network device, where the indication information indicates that the first measurement data exists.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 2010 is further used to: receive request information from the first network device, where the request information is used to request first measurement data; and send the first measurement data to the first network device according to the request information.

In some implementations, the communication device 2000 is used to perform actions performed by a network device (such as the first network device, the second network device, or any one of network devices 1 to 3) in any of the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 6 above.

Specifically, the transceiver unit 2010 is used to send a first MBS service to a terminal device; the processing unit 2020 is used to record second measurement data of the first MBS service, where the second measurement data is used to determine coverage information and/or QoS information of the first MBS service.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 2010 is further used to: receive first measurement data from a terminal device.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 2010 is further used to: send measurement configuration information to the terminal device, where the measurement configuration information instructs the terminal device to record the first measurement data.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 2010 is further used to: receive indication information from a terminal device, where the indication information indicates that the first measurement data exists.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 2010 is further used to: send request information to the terminal device, where the request information is used to request the first measurement data.

Optionally, the second measurement data includes at least one of the following: downlink PDCP SDU data volume; downlink average user throughput rate; downlink packet latency; or downlink packet loss rate. The processing unit 2020 is used to: when the distribution mode of the first MBS service is broadcast or multicast, record the second measurement data at the granularity of each MRB, or, record the second measurement data at the granularity of each MRB of each terminal device. Alternatively, the processing unit 2020 is used to: when the distribution mode of the first MBS service is unicast, record the second measurement data at the granularity of each DRB, or, record the second measurement data at the granularity of each DRB of each terminal device.

Optionally, the second measurement data may also include: the number of terminal devices receiving the first MBS service. The number of terminal devices receiving the first MBS service includes at least one of the following: the number of terminal devices receiving the first MBS service in the cell served by the network device; the number of terminal devices determined by the processing unit 2020 with the granularity of each MBS service or session identifier in the first MBS service; the number of terminal devices determined by the processing unit 2020 with the granularity of each MBS broadcast service in the first MBS service; the number of terminal devices determined by the processing unit 2020 with the granularity of each MBS multicast service in the first MBS service; the number of terminal devices determined by the processing unit 2020 with the granularity of each MRB in the first MBS service.

It should be understood that the specific process of each unit executing the above corresponding steps has been described in detail in the above method embodiment, and for the sake of brevity, it will not be repeated here.

It should also be understood that the device 2000 here is embodied in the form of a functional unit. The term "unit" here may refer to an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (such as a shared processor, a dedicated processor or a group processor, etc.) and a memory for executing one or more software or firmware programs, a combined logic circuit and/or other suitable components that support the described functions. In an optional example, those skilled in the art can understand that the device 2000 can be specifically the communication device in the above-mentioned embodiment, and can be used to execute the various processes and/or steps corresponding to the communication device in the above-mentioned method embodiments. To avoid repetition, it will not be repeated here.

The device 2000 of each of the above schemes has the function of implementing the corresponding steps performed by the communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device) in the above method. The function can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing the corresponding software implementation. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions; for example, the transceiver unit can be replaced by a transceiver (for example, the sending unit in the transceiver unit can be replaced by a transmitter, and the receiving unit in the transceiver unit can be replaced by a receiver), and other units, such as the processing unit, can be replaced by a processor to respectively perform the transceiver operations and related processing operations in each method embodiment.

In addition, the above-mentioned transceiver unit 2010 can also be a transceiver circuit (for example, can include a sending circuit, or can also include a receiving circuit), and the processing unit 2020 can be a processing circuit.

It should be noted that the device in FIG. 7 may be a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device) in the aforementioned embodiment, or may be a chip or a chip system, such as a system on chip (SoC). The transceiver unit may be an input and output circuit or a communication interface; the processing unit may be a processor or a microprocessor or an integrated circuit integrated on the chip. This is not limited here.

Fig. 8 shows a schematic diagram of another communication device 2100 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The device 2100 includes a processor 2110, the processor 2110 is coupled to a memory 2120, the memory 2120 is used to store computer programs or instructions and/or data, and the processor 2110 is used to execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory 2120, or read the data stored in the memory 2120, so as to execute the methods in the above method embodiments.

Optionally, there are one or more processors 2110 .

Optionally, the memory 2120 is one or more.

Optionally, the memory 2120 is integrated with the processor 2110 or provided separately.

Optionally, as shown in Fig. 8, the device 2100 further includes a transceiver 2130, and the transceiver 2130 is used for receiving and/or sending signals. For example, the processor 2110 is used for controlling the transceiver 2130 to receive and/or send signals.

As an example, the processor 2110 may have the function of the processing unit 2020 shown in FIG. 7 , the memory 2120 may have the function of a storage unit, and the transceiver 2130 may have the function of the transceiver unit 2010 shown in FIG. 7 .

As a solution, the device 2100 is used to implement the operations performed by a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device) in the above various method embodiments.

For example, the processor 2110 is configured to execute computer programs or instructions stored in the memory 2120 to implement relevant operations of the communication device in each of the above method embodiments.

In some implementations, when the device 2100 is a terminal device, the transceiver 2130 may include a transmitter, a receiver, a radio frequency circuit, an antenna, and an input-output device. The processor 2110 is mainly used to process the communication protocol and communication data, and to control the terminal device, execute the software program, process the data of the software program, etc. The memory 2120 is mainly used to store software programs and data. The radio frequency circuit is mainly used for conversion between baseband signals and radio frequency signals and processing of radio frequency signals. The antenna is mainly used to transmit and receive radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. The input-output device (for example, a touch screen, a display screen, a keyboard, etc.) is mainly used to receive data input by a user and output data to the user. It should be noted that some types of terminal devices may not have input and output devices.

When data needs to be sent, the processor performs baseband processing on the data to be sent and outputs the baseband signal to the RF circuit. The RF circuit performs RF processing on the baseband signal and then sends the RF signal outward in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the terminal device, the RF circuit receives the RF signal through the antenna, converts the RF signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor. The processor converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

In other implementations, when the apparatus 2100 is a network device, such as a base station, the processor 2110 is mainly used for baseband processing, controlling the base station, etc.; the processor 2110 is usually the control center of the base station, used to control the base station to perform the processing operations on the network device side in the above method embodiment. The memory 2120 is mainly used to store computer program code and data. The transceiver 2130 is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals and converting radio frequency signals to baseband signals; the transceiver 2130 may include an antenna and a radio frequency circuit (not shown in the figure), wherein the radio frequency circuit is mainly used for radio frequency processing.

In the embodiments of the present application, the antenna and radio frequency circuit with transceiver functions may be regarded as transceiver modules of a terminal device or a network device, and the processor with processing functions may be regarded as a processing module of a terminal device or a network device.

In some implementations, the processor 2110 may also be referred to as a processing unit, a processing board, a processing module, a processing device, etc. The transceiver 2130 may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, a transceiver, a transceiver device, etc.

When the device 2100 is a chip, the chip includes a processor, a memory, and a transceiver. The transceiver may be an input/output circuit or a communication interface; the processor may be a processing module or a microprocessor or an integrated circuit integrated on the chip. The sending operation of the terminal device in the above method embodiment may be understood as the output of the chip, and the receiving operation of the terminal device in the above method embodiment may be understood as the input of the chip.

It should be understood that the processor mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), or other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may also be any conventional processor, etc.

It should also be understood that the memory mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be a volatile memory and/or a non-volatile memory. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM). For example, a RAM may be used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, RAM includes the following forms: static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM) and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

It should be noted that when the processor is a general-purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware component, the memory (storage module) can be integrated into the processor.

It should also be noted that the memory described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

FIG9 shows a schematic diagram of a chip system 2200 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The chip system 2200 (or also referred to as a processing system) includes a logic circuit 2210 and an input/output interface 2220.

Among them, the logic circuit 2210 can be a processing circuit in the chip system 2200. The logic circuit 2210 can be coupled to the storage unit and call the instructions in the storage unit so that the chip system 2200 can implement the methods and functions of each embodiment of the present application. The input/output interface 2220 can be an input/output circuit in the chip system 2200, outputting information processed by the chip system 2200, or inputting data or signaling information to be processed into the chip system 2200 for processing.

As a solution, the chip system 2200 is used to implement the operations performed by a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device) in the above method embodiments.

For example, the logic circuit 2210 is used to implement the processing-related operations performed by the communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device) in the above method embodiments; the input/output interface 2220 is used to implement the sending and/or receiving-related operations performed by the communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device) in the above method embodiments.

The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium on which is stored information for implementing the above-mentioned method embodiments by the communication device. Computer instructions for a method to be executed by a device (such as a terminal device or a network device).

For example, when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer can implement the method performed by a communication device (such as a terminal device) in each embodiment of the above method.

An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product, comprising instructions, which, when executed by a computer, implement the methods performed by a communication device (such as a terminal device or a network device) in the above-mentioned method embodiments.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the sake of convenience and brevity of description, the explanation of the relevant contents and beneficial effects in any of the communication devices provided above can refer to the corresponding method embodiments provided above, and will not be repeated here.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units.

If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the part that essentially contributes to the technical solution of the present application or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including a number of instructions for a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as USB flash drives, mobile hard drives, ROM, RAM, magnetic disks, or optical disks.

As described above, the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, rather than to limit them. Although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or make equivalent replacements for some of the technical features therein. However, these modifications or replacements do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

Claims (28)

A communication method, characterized in that it is executed by a terminal device or a chip used for the terminal device, and the method comprises: Receiving a first multicast/broadcast service MBS service; Recording first measurement data of the first MBS service, where the first measurement data is used to determine coverage information and/or service quality QoS information of the first MBS service; The first measurement data is sent to a first network device. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the method further comprises: receiving measurement configuration information from a second network device, wherein the measurement configuration information instructs the terminal device to record the first measurement data; The recording the first measurement data of the first MBS service includes: The first measurement data is recorded according to the measurement configuration information. The method according to claim 2, wherein the measurement configuration information indicates at least one of the following: At least one MBS session identifier, each of the at least one MBS session identifier is used to identify at least one MBS service; at least one MBS service area, each MBS service area in the at least one MBS service area providing at least one MBS service; or At least one downlink frequency supporting MBS services. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that the recording of the first measurement data comprises at least one of the following: When the at least one MBS session identifier indicates the first MBS service and the first MBS service is received, recording the first measurement data; When receiving the first MBS service in the at least one MBS service area, recording the first measurement data; or, When the first MBS service is received at the at least one downlink frequency point supporting the MBS service, the first measurement data is recorded. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the method further comprises: Determining, according to the distribution mode of the first MBS service, a minimization of drive tests (MDT) mode used for recording the first measurement data; The recording of the first measurement data includes: The first measurement data is recorded in the MDT mode. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that the determining, according to the distribution mode of the first MBS service, the MDT mode used to record the first measurement data comprises: When the distribution mode of the first MBS service is broadcast, determining that the MDT mode is logged MDT; or, When the distribution mode of the first MBS service is multicast or unicast, the MDT mode is determined to be fast MDT. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that recording the first measurement data comprises: The first measurement data is recorded using the recording MDT. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the method further comprises: Send indication information to the first network device, where the indication information indicates that the first measurement data exists. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that the method further comprises: receiving request information from the first network device, where the request information is used to request the first measurement data; The sending the first measurement data to the first network device includes: The first measurement data is sent to the first network device according to the request information. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the first measurement data includes at least one of the following: An MBS session identifier of the first MBS service; the number of MBS radio bearers (MRBs) corresponding to the session of the first MBS service; Providing serving cell identification information of the session of the first MBS service; Providing neighbor cell identification information of the session of the first MBS service; service area information corresponding to the first MBS service; Providing a downlink reference signal measurement result corresponding to the cell of the first MBS service; Providing a downlink reference signal measurement result corresponding to a cell of a second MBS service, where the second MBS service is a service other than the first MBS service; a block error rate corresponding to the session of the first MBS service; Distribution mode indication information of the first MBS service, where the distribution mode indication information is used to indicate that the distribution mode of the first MBS service is one of broadcast, multicast or unicast; multicast distribution mechanism indication information of the first MBS service, where the multicast distribution mechanism indication information is used to indicate that a transmission mechanism of the first MBS service is point-to-point transmission or point-to-multipoint transmission; or The MBS interest indication information of the terminal device, the MBS interest indication information indicates at least one of the following: the frequency of the broadcast service that the terminal device is receiving or is interested in receiving, the session identifier of the MBS service that the terminal device is receiving or is interested in receiving, or the priority of the terminal device in receiving unicast services or broadcast services. A communication method, characterized in that it is executed by a network device or a chip used for the network device, and the method comprises: Sending a first multicast/broadcast service MBS service to a terminal device; Second measurement data of the first MBS service is recorded, where the second measurement data is used to determine coverage information and/or quality of service QoS information of the first MBS service. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that the method further comprises: Receive first measurement data from the terminal device, where the first measurement data is measurement data of the first MBS service, and the first measurement data is used to determine coverage information and/or QoS information of the first MBS service. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that the method further comprises: Send measurement configuration information to the terminal device, where the measurement configuration information instructs the terminal device to record the first measurement data. The method according to claim 13, wherein the measurement configuration information indicates at least one of the following: At least one MBS session identifier, each of the at least one MBS session identifier is used to identify at least one MBS service; at least one MBS service area, each MBS service area in the at least one MBS service area providing at least one MBS service; or At least one downlink frequency supporting MBS services. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, characterized in that the method further comprises: Indication information is received from the terminal device, where the indication information indicates that the first measurement data exists. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that the method further comprises: Sending request information to the terminal device, where the request information is used to request the first measurement data. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 16, characterized in that the first measurement data includes at least one of the following: An MBS session identifier of the first MBS service; the number of MBS radio bearers (MRBs) corresponding to the session of the first MBS service; Providing serving cell identification information of the session of the first MBS service; Providing neighbor cell identification information of the session of the first MBS service; service area information corresponding to the first MBS service; Providing a downlink reference signal measurement result corresponding to the cell of the first MBS service; Providing a downlink reference signal measurement result corresponding to a cell of a second MBS service, where the second MBS service is a service other than the first MBS service; a block error rate corresponding to the first MBS session; Distribution mode indication information of the first MBS service, where the distribution mode indication information is used to indicate that the distribution mode of the first MBS service is one of broadcast, multicast or unicast; multicast distribution mechanism indication information of the first MBS service, where the multicast distribution mechanism indication information is used to indicate that a transmission mechanism of the first MBS service is point-to-point or point-to-multipoint; or The MBS interest indication information of the terminal device, the MBS interest indication information indicates at least one of the following: the frequency of the broadcast service that the terminal device is receiving or is interested in receiving, the session identifier of the MBS service that the terminal device is receiving or is interested in receiving, or the priority of the terminal device in receiving unicast services or broadcast services. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 17, characterized in that the second measurement data includes at least one of the following: Downlink packet data convergence layer protocol PDCP service data unit SDU data volume; Downlink average user throughput; Downlink packet delay; or Downlink packet loss rate. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that recording the second measurement data comprises: When the distribution mode of the first MBS service is broadcast or multicast, the second measurement data is recorded at a granularity of each MRB, or the second measurement data is recorded at a granularity of each MRB of each terminal device. The method according to claim 18 is characterized in that the recording of the second measurement data includes: when the distribution mode of the first MBS service is unicast, recording the second measurement data at the granularity of each wireless data bearer DRB, or recording the second measurement data at the granularity of each DRB of each terminal device. The method according to claim 18 is characterized in that the second measurement data also includes the number of terminal devices receiving the first MBS service. The method according to claim 21, wherein the number of terminal devices receiving the first MBS service includes at least one of the following: The number of terminal devices receiving the first MBS service in the service cell of the network device; The number of terminal devices determined at a granularity of each MBS service or session identifier in the first MBS service; The number of terminal devices determined based on the granularity of each MBS broadcast service in the first MBS service; the number of terminal devices determined at a granularity of each MBS multicast service in the first MBS service; or The number of terminal devices is determined based on the granularity of each MRB in the first MBS service. A communication device, characterized by comprising a module for executing the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 10, or for executing the method as claimed in any one of claims 11 to 22. A communication device, characterized in that it includes a transceiver unit and a processing unit, wherein the transceiver unit and the processing unit are used to execute the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 10, or to execute the method as described in any one of claims 11 to 22. A communication device, characterized in that it comprises at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is coupled to at least one memory, and the at least one processor is used to execute a computer program or instruction stored in the at least one memory so that the communication device performs the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 10, or performs the method as described in any one of claims 11 to 22. A communication system, characterized in that it comprises a terminal device and a network device; Wherein, the terminal device is used to execute the communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 10; The network device is used to execute the communication method according to any one of claims 11 to 22. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that instructions or program codes are stored thereon, and when the instructions or program codes are executed by a processor, the processor implements the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 10, or the method as described in any one of claims 11 to 22. A chip, characterized in that the chip includes a processor and a communication interface, the communication interface is used to send information to other communication devices other than the communication device including the chip and/or receive information from the other communication devices, and the processor is used to execute the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 10, or to execute the method as described in any one of claims 11 to 22.