Patent Description:
A conventional terrestrial network cannot provide seamless coverage for user equipment (user equipment, UE), especially in places in which base stations cannot be deployed, such as in seas, in deserts, or in the air. Therefore, a non-terrestrial network (non-terrestrial network, NTN) is introduced into a fifth generation (The 5th Generation, <NUM>) mobile communications system. The non-terrestrial network provides seamless coverage for user equipment UE by deploying base stations or some functions of the base stations on high-altitude platforms or satellites. In addition, the high-altitude platforms or the satellites are less subject to natural disasters, so that reliability of the <NUM> system can be improved. In a satellite-based non-terrestrial network (NTN), a satellite covers the ground by using different beams to form satellite cells. User equipment UE may be covered by a plurality of satellite cells at the same time. In this case, the user equipment UE needs to select a cell or re-camp on a cell.

As described above, in a satellite system-based non-terrestrial network (NTN), an area may be covered by beams from a plurality of satellites at the same time, and beam coverage duration of the satellites may be different. According to a conventional solution for selecting or reselecting a cell in which only a signal power condition is considered but an over-the-top time of a satellite is not considered, a terminal may select a cell with optimal signal quality but short coverage duration to camp on. In this case, the terminal needs to reselect a cell soon. Consequently, signaling overheads are increased. In addition, because of high-speed movement among cells in the non-terrestrial network (NTN), cell selection performed based on measurement of a single parameter signal power cannot meet requirements of different scenarios and different users.

<CIT> discloses methods and apparatuses for managing inter-satellite handovers are provided to allow a user terminal to reduce the frequency of handovers while maintaining a sufficiently high system capacity in a non-geosynchronous satellite communication system.

This application provides a method for selecting a cell in a non-terrestrial network (NTN) scenario and an apparatus, to design a new cell selection or reselection policy by introducing a plurality of parameters including beam coverage duration, so as to comprehensively determine an optimal cell for camping.

To describe technical solutions in embodiments of this application more clearly, the following briefly describes accompanying drawings for describing the embodiments.

The following clearly describes the technical solutions of this application in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by a person skilled in the art to which this application belongs. Terms used in the specification of this application are merely intended to describe specific embodiments, but are not intended to limit this application.

This application relates to the field of satellite communication. Members of the 3GPP incorporate satellite communication and <NUM> technologies, and propose a typical network application architecture shown in <FIG> that may be applied to this application. Terrestrial mobile user equipment UE accesses a network through a <NUM> new radio interface. A <NUM> base station is deployed on a satellite and is connected to a terrestrial core network through a radio link. In addition, there are radio links between satellites to implement signaling exchange and user data transmission between base stations. Network elements and interfaces between the network elements in <FIG> are described as follows.

User equipment is a mobile device supporting <NUM> new radio interfaces, for example, a user terminal or a wearable device. The user equipment may access a satellite network through an air interface, initiate calls, access the Internet, and the like.

<NUM> base station provides radio access services, schedules radio resources for access terminals, and provides reliable radio transmission protocols and data encryption protocols.

<NUM> core network provides services such as user access control, mobility management, session management, user security authentication, and accounting. The <NUM> core network includes a plurality of functional units, which can be classified into control-plane functional entities and data-plane functional entities. An access and mobility management function (AMF) is responsible for user access management, security authentication, and mobility management. A user plane function (UPF) manages user-plane data transmission, traffic statistics collection, and lawful interception.

A ground station is responsible for forwarding signaling and service data between a satellite base station and a <NUM> core network.

A <NUM> new radio interface is a radio link between user equipment and a base station.

An Xn interface is an interface between a <NUM> base station and a base station, and is used for handover signaling exchange and the like.

An NG interface is an interface between a <NUM> base station and a <NUM> core network, and is mainly used for exchange of NAS signaling of the core network and user service data.

In a satellite communications application system in conventional technologies, an area may be covered by beams from a plurality of satellites. As shown in a simulation diagram of <FIG>, between <NUM>:<NUM> and <NUM>:<NUM> marked by an ellipse circle, a receiver (receiver <NUM>) may receive beams of five satellites numbered <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>. Each satellite has different beam coverage duration. According to a conventional solution for selecting or reselecting a cell in which only a signal power condition is considered but an over-the-top time of a satellite is not considered, a terminal may select a cell with optimal signal quality but short coverage duration to camp on. In this case, the terminal needs to reselect a cell soon. Consequently, signaling overheads are increased. In addition, because of high-speed movement among cells in a non-terrestrial network (NTN), cell selection performed based on measurement of a single parameter signal power cannot meet requirements of different scenarios and different users.

For the foregoing technical problem, this application provides a method for selecting a cell in an NTN scenario, to design a new cell selection or reselection policy by introducing a plurality of parameters including beam coverage duration, so as to comprehensively determine an optimal cell for camping.

Technical solutions provided in the embodiments of this application may be applied to various communications systems, for example, a satellite communications system, and a system combining satellite communication and a cellular network. The cellular network system may include a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, a fifth generation (the 5th generation, <NUM>) mobile communications system, a new radio (new radio, NR) system, a machine to machine (machine to machine, M2M) communications system, another future evolved communications system, or the like. The satellite communications system may include various non-terrestrial network systems, which are not enumerated herein.

The user equipment in the embodiments of this application may also be referred to as a terminal device, an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a terminal, a wireless communications device, a user agent, or a user apparatus. The user equipment may alternatively be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA), a handheld device having a wireless communications function, a computing device or another processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a <NUM> network, or a terminal device in a future evolved public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN).

A satellite network device in the embodiments of this application may be configured to communicate with one or more user equipments, or may be configured to communicate with one or more base stations having some terminal functions (for example, communication between a macro base station and a micro base station such as an access point). A base station may be an evolved NodeB (evolved NodeB, eNB) in an LTE system, a base station (gNB) in a <NUM> system or an NR system, or another satellite base station and a satellite relay node. In addition, the base station may alternatively be an access point (access point, AP), a transmission point (transport point, TRP), a central unit (central unit, CU), or another network entity, and may include some or all of functions of the foregoing network entities.

It should be further noted that in this application, the two descriptions of "cell" and "base station in a cell" are equivalent. In other words, a cell mentioned in this application represents a base station in the cell. Moreover, the two descriptions of "satellite" and "satellite network device" are equivalent. In other words, a satellite mentioned in this application represents a set of satellites and other network devices related to satellite communication.

To better understand the solutions provided in this application, some terms in this application are first described.

When user equipment UE is powered on or enters a coverage area from a blind area, the user equipment UE searches for all frequencies allowed by a public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN for short), and selects an appropriate cell to camp on. This process is referred to as "cell selection". Cell selection includes two types of selection: initial cell selection and stored information-based cell selection. Regardless of the type of cell selection, a to-be-selected cell needs to be measured, to evaluate channel quality and determine whether the cell meets a camping condition. A cell selection criterion in a cellular network is referred to as a criterion S. When a value of S Srxlev of cell selection is greater than <NUM>, camping is allowed.

User equipment UE has stored carrier frequency-related information, and may also include parameter information of some cells, for example, previously-received measurement control information or information about a previously camped on or detected cell. The user equipment UE preferentially selects a cell whose related information is stored. Once there is a suitable cell, the user equipment UE selects the cell and camps on the cell. The user equipment UE initiates initial cell selection only if cells storing the related information are all inappropriate.

The criterion S is a cell selection criterion in a cellular network, and the criterion S is expressed as follows: <MAT>.

Meanings of the parameters in the formula are as follows.

When performing cell selection, user equipment UE obtains a value of Qrxlevmeas of a cell through measurement, obtains the other parameters in the formula of the criterion S based on system information of the cell and a capability level of the user equipment UE, calculates a value of Srxlev, and compares the value with <NUM>. If Srxlev > <NUM> , the user equipment UE considers that the cell meets a channel quality requirement for cell selection, and may select the cell to camp on. If the system information of the cell indicates that the user equipment UE is allowed to camp on, the user equipment UE selects to camp on the cell, and enters an idle mode.

Mobility measurement in a cellular system is a measurement in a connection state. After a network delivers a measurement configuration to user equipment UE, the UE detects a signal status of a neighboring cell based on parameters such as a measurement object and a reported configuration that are indicated in the measurement configuration, fills in a measurement report, and feeds back the measurement report to the network, so that the network makes a handover decision, completes a neighboring cell list relationship, or the like.

Cellular cell reselection (cell reselection) is a process in which user equipment UE in an idle mode selects a better cell to provide service signals by measuring signal quality of a neighboring cell and a current cell. When the signal quality and a level of the neighboring cell meet the criterion S and a reselection criterion, the UE accesses the cell to camp on.

Cell reselection may be classified into intra-frequency cell reselection and inter-frequency cell reselection. The intra-frequency cell reselection can resolve radio coverage problems. The inter-frequency cell reselection can implement load balancing by setting priorities of different frequencies, in addition to the radio coverage problems.

After the user equipment UE successfully camps on, the user equipment UE continuously performs measurement on the current cell. A radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) layer calculates the value of S Srxlev based on a reference signal received power (reference signal received power, RSRP) measurement result, and compares the value of S with a threshold for triggering intra-frequency measurement (Sintrasearch) and a threshold for triggering inter-frequency and inter-RAT measurement (Snonintrasearch) to determine whether to start neighboring cell measurement. After a measurement condition is met, the user equipment UE performs intra-frequency or inter-frequency measurement on neighboring cells, obtains to-be-selected cells based on a measurement result, and sorts the to-be-selected cells according to a specific criterion, to obtain a reselected target cell.

In a non-terrestrial network (NTN), more types of parameter that need to be evaluated during cell selection are used, and a corresponding criterion is modified, so that a more appropriate cell selection criterion can be obtained by configuring different weighting factors and comprehensively considering impact of a plurality of factors.

In this application, a value of a criterion X Xlex of a current cell is determined based on a plurality of parameters and a customized rule. Camping is allowed when the value Xlex of the criterion X of the cell is greater than Xthreshold. A general criterion is represented as follows: <MAT>.

According to the foregoing general criterion, this application provides a method <NUM> for selecting a cell by a user in a non-terrestrial network (NTN). A specific criterion X in the method is as follows: <MAT>.

It should be noted that a first decision factor (signal quality ratio ( Signal_Quality/Signal_Quality_reference )) and a second decision factor (beam coverage time ratio ( DurationTimebeam/DurationTimebeam_reference )) are both normalized reference values. A function relationship of the criterion X Xlex is calculating a sum of a weighted result obtained by multiplying a value of the first decision factor and a first weighting coefficient A and a weighted result obtained by multiplying a value of the second decision factor and a second weighting coefficient B. The weighting coefficient A and the weighting coefficient B are respectively used to represent a weight of the signal quality ratio ( Signal_Quality/Signal_Quality_reference ) and a weight of the beam coverage time ratio ( DurationTimebeam/DurationTimebeam_reference ) in cell selection decision according to the criterion X.

A value of a criterion S in an existing standard, that is, a value of the criterion S Srxlev, may be reused as a value of signal quality ( Signal_Quality ) in the first decision factor (signal quality ratio (Signal_Quality/Signal_Quality_reference )). A value of a beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam) in the second decision factor (beam coverage time ratio ( DurationTimebeam/DurationTimebeam_reference)) may be obtained by using a method <NUM> for obtaining a beam coverage time provided in this application. Details are described in the following, and details are not described herein. A value of reference signal quality ( Signal_Quality_reference ) in the first decision factor (signal quality ratio ( Signal_Quality/Signal_Quality_reference )) and a value of a reference beam coverage time ( DurationTimebeam_reference ) in the second decision factor (beam coverage time ratio ( DurationTimebeam/DurationTimebeam_reference)) are known preset values of user equipment. The values may vary with different application scenarios, different user equipment vendors, different user equipment operators, and other factors. The preset values may be obtained through calculation or querying by the user equipment.

Further, a value of the weighting coefficient A and a value of the weighting coefficient and B may have a plurality of configurations. The user equipment may query a table for value configurations of A and B in the current criterion X based on a service type and service duration of a current service. For example, the value of the weighting coefficient A and the value of the weighting coefficient B include but are not limited to configuration types in the following table. Alternatively, the value of A and the value of B may be configured based on any combination of different configuration types in the following table. Alternatively, the value of A and the value of B may be a combination of the configuration types in Table <NUM> and Table <NUM> and another configuration type. This is not limited in this application. For example, the value of A and the value of B are configured based on service types listed in Table <NUM>. When the user equipment is used in cell selection in Internet of Things communication, communication coverage is concerned. If the user equipment is an IoT device, a value of the first weighting coefficient A may be <NUM>, and a value of the second weighting coefficient B is <NUM>. When the user equipment is used in cell selection in fixed access communication, a communication throughput is concerned. If the user equipment is a fixed access point, a value of the first weighting coefficient A may be <NUM>, and a value of the second weighting coefficient B is <NUM>. When the user equipment is used in cell selection in mobile broadband communication, if the user equipment is a mobile device, a value of the first weighting coefficient A may be <NUM>, and a value of the second weighting coefficient B is <NUM>. Optionally, the value of A and the value of B may alternatively be configured based on another service type, for example, another application scenario, another user equipment vendor, or another user equipment operator. Table <NUM> is merely used as an example, and does not constitute any limitation.

In addition to configuring the value of A and the value of B based on the service types, the weighting coefficient A and the weighting coefficient B may alternatively be configured based on service duration. For example, the value of A and the value of B are configured based on different service duration in Table <NUM>, for example, a beam coverage time of a satellite. In Table <NUM>, when service duration is T<NUM>, a value of a specific weighting coefficient A is <NUM>, and a value of a specific weighting coefficient B is <NUM>. When the service duration is T<NUM>, a value of a specific weighting coefficient A is <NUM>, and a value of a specific weighting coefficient B is <NUM>. Optionally, the value of A and the value of B may alternatively be configured based on another service duration, for example, service duration of another application scenario, another user equipment vendor, or another user equipment operator. Table <NUM> is merely used as an example, and does not constitute any limitation.

Based on the foregoing criterion X, this application provides the method <NUM> for selecting a user cell in an NTN. A method procedure is shown in <FIG>. The method <NUM> for selecting a user cell may be executed by a terminal device, or may be executed by a component such as a chip or a circuit configured in the terminal device. The method <NUM> includes the following steps.

<NUM>: User equipment queries whether there is prestored information, and determines a frequency for preferential searching based on the prestored information.

The prestored information includes a carrier frequency, and may also include parameter information of some cells, for example, previously-received measurement control information or information about a previously camped on or detected cell. The user equipment UE preferentially selects a cell whose information is prestored to camp on. The user equipment UE initiates initial cell selection only if cells storing the prestored information are all inappropriate or there is no cell whose information is prestored.

<NUM>: The user equipment determines values of two decision factors.

A value of a criterion S in an existing standard, that is, a value of Srxlev, may be reused as a value of signal quality ( Signal_Quality ) in a first decision factor (signal quality ratio (Signal_Quality/Signal_Quality_reference)). The criterion S in the existing standard is as follows: <MAT>.

When performing cell selection, the user equipment UE obtains a value of Qrxlevmeas of a cell through measurement, obtains values of Qrxlevmin, Qrxlevminoffset, Pemax, and Qoffsettem of the cell based on a system broadcast message delivered by a satellite network device or the cell, obtains a value of Pumax in the formula of the criterion S based on the capability level of the user equipment UE and the standard definition, and finally calculates a value of Srxlev, that is, the value of the signal quality (Signal_Quality).

A value of reference signal quality (Signal_Quality_reference) in the first decision factor (signal quality ratio (Signal_Quality/Signal_Quality_reference)) is a known preset value by default. The value may vary with different application scenarios, different user equipment vendors, different user equipment operators, and other related factors. The preset value may be obtained through calculation or querying by the user equipment.

A value of a beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam) in a second decision factor (beam coverage time ratio (DurationTimebeam/DurationTimebeam_reference)) is obtained by using a method <NUM> for obtaining a beam coverage time provided in this application. Details are described in the following, and details are not described herein.

A value of a reference beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam_reference) in the second decision factor (beam coverage time ratio (DurationTimebeam/DurationTimebeam_reference)) is a known preset value by default. The value may vary with different application scenarios, different user equipment vendors, different user equipment operators, and other related factors. The preset value may be obtained through calculation or querying by the user equipment.

<NUM>: The user equipment determines value configurations of A and B in the criterion X.

The user equipment may determine a value of A and a value of B in the criterion X by querying a table based on a parameter such as a device type of the user equipment. The weighting coefficients may have a plurality of configurations, and the user may determine, based on a current service, the value configurations of A and B in the current criterion X by querying the table. Optionally, the value configurations of A and B in the current criterion X are determined based on a service type by querying Table <NUM>. Optionally, the value configurations of A and B in the current criterion X may be determined based on service duration by querying Table <NUM>. The value configurations of A and B include but are not limited to the configurations in Table <NUM> and Table <NUM>, or may be any combination of the configuration types in Table <NUM> and Table <NUM>, or may be a combination of the configuration types in Table <NUM> and Table <NUM> and another configuration type. This is not limited in this application.

<NUM>: The user equipment searches for a cell according to the determined criterion X.

The user equipment calculates a value of the criterion X Xlex based on the values of the two decision factors obtained in step <NUM>, the values of the two weighting coefficients obtained in step <NUM>, and the foregoing formula of the criterion X in this embodiment.

If a value of the criterion X Xlex of a candidate cell meets a camping threshold requirement, a cell whose value of the criterion X Xlex is largest is selected to be camped on.

If there is no candidate cell whose value of the criterion X Xlex meets the camping threshold requirement, a cell whose value of the criterion X Xlex is largest is selected to be camped on.

Different from a cell that is static in a cellular network, a cell in the NTN is in a high-speed movement state. A terminal may select a cell with optimal signal quality but short coverage duration to camp on. In this case, the terminal needs to reselect a cell soon. Consequently, signaling overheads are increased. Based on the foregoing embodiment, in the solution provided in this application, coverage duration of the satellite cell is used as a basis for cell selection, so that more types of parameters that need to be evaluated during cell selection are used, and frequent cell handover resulting from cell selection that is performed based on only single signal quality can be alleviated by configuring different weighting factors and comprehensively considering impact of a plurality of factors. In this way, signaling overheads are reduced, and a more appropriate cell selection criterion is obtained.

<FIG> is a schematic diagram of the method <NUM> for obtaining a beam coverage time according to this application. <FIG> is a flowchart of the method. The method <NUM> for obtaining a beam coverage time is used to determine a value of a beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam) in the foregoing method <NUM> for performing cell selection by a user and the following method <NUM> for performing cell reselection by a user.

<NUM>: A network-side system divides the ground into several geographic grids.

For example, the ground is divided into grids Grid1/<NUM>/<NUM>/<NUM>/<NUM>/<NUM>, as shown in <FIG>.

<NUM>: The network-side system obtains beam coverage information of each grid in a period of time based on an ephemeris.

<NUM>: The network-side system schedules a satellite to deliver the beam coverage information to user equipment in each grid.

The delivered beam coverage information includes a beam identifier (ID), a start time at which a beam covers a current grid, an over time at which the beam covers the current grid, and the like. Optionally, the beam coverage information may further include other forms, such as the beam identifier (ID), the start time at which the beam covers the current grid, and duration for which the beam covers the current grid. This is not limited in this application.

The satellite in the operation may be understood as a satellite related to satellite communication and a related network device, which may be briefly referred to as a satellite network device.

As shown in <FIG>, a system schedules a satellite A (Sat A) and a satellite B (Sat B) to deliver related beam coverage information. The satellite B (Sat B) covers only the grid <NUM> (Grid3) and broadcast information of the grid <NUM> is as follows.

In Table <NUM>, grid IDs in the first column represent geographic grids into which the ground is divided, for example, the grid <NUM> (Grid3). Beam IDs in the second column represent different beams transmitted by a satellite, for example, SatB_Beam1 and SatB_Beam2. The third column represents a start time at which a beam transmitted by a satellite covers a specific area, for example, T2 and T4. The fourth column represents an over time of at which the beam transmitted by the satellite covers the area, for example, T1 and T5.

At this time, the satellite A (Sat A) covers two grids: a grid <NUM> (Grid1) and a grid <NUM> (Grid2). Broadcast information of the satellite A (Sat A) is as follows.

In Table <NUM>, grid IDs in the first column represent geographic grids into which the ground is divided, for example, the grid <NUM> (Grid1) and the grid <NUM> (Grid2). Beam IDs in the second column represent different beams transmitted by a satellite, for example, SatA_Beam1 and SatA_Beam2. The third column represents a start time at which a beam transmitted by a satellite covers a specific area, for example, T2 and T4. The fourth column represents an over time at which the beam transmitted by the satellite covers the area, for example, T1 and T5.

<NUM>: The user equipment in each grid queries for a current time, and compares the current time with the received beam coverage information, to obtain a value of the beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam).

It should be noted that the current time queried for by the user equipment, the start time and the over time at which the beam transmitted by the satellite covers the specific area are all absolute time. For example, the user equipment may calculate a remaining beam coverage time of beam transmitted by a satellite by performing subtraction based on the end time of beam coverage and the queried for current time or the start time of beam coverage, or perform subtraction based on the start time of beam coverage, beam coverage duration, and the queried for current time.

According to the method <NUM> for obtaining a beam coverage time shown in <FIG>, in an NTN scenario, a satellite cell may broadcast a beam coverage time for a specific area to user equipment in the area, and the beam coverage time is used as a determining basis for cell selection.

In addition to the foregoing method <NUM> for performing cell selection by a user in a non-terrestrial network (NTN), this application further provides another method <NUM> for performing cell reselection by a user in an NTN. Different from the foregoing embodiment, a specific criterion X in this embodiment is as follows: <MAT>.

A function relationship of the criterion X Xlex is to determine a priority sequence of decision factors (a signal quality (Signal_Quality) and a beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam)) in cell selection decision according to an agreed priority sequence (Priority).

<FIG> is a schematic flowchart of the method <NUM> for performing cell selection by a user in an NTN according to this application. As shown in <FIG>, the method includes the following steps:.

<NUM>: User equipment (UE) queries whether there is prestored information, and determines a frequency for preferential searching based on the prestored information.

<NUM>: The user equipment (UE) determines values of two decision factors.

A value of a criterion S in an existing standard, that is, a value of Srxlev, may be reused as a value of a third decision factor (signal quality (Signal_Quality)). The criterion S in the existing standard is as follows: <MAT>.

Meanings of the parameters in the criterion formula are as follows.

A value of a fourth decision factor (beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam)) may also be obtained by using the method <NUM> for obtaining a beam coverage time.

<NUM>: The user equipment determines, based on a priority sequence agreed in a criterion X, a cell to camp on.

When a priority of the third decision factor (signal quality (Signal_Quality)) is higher than a priority of the fourth decision factor (beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam)):.

When a priority of the fourth decision factor beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam) is higher than a priority of the third decision factor signal quality (Signal_Quality):.

In this embodiment, in a non-terrestrial network (NTN) scenario, coverage duration of a satellite cell is used as a basis for cell selection. A new cell selection criterion is generated according to a priority principle by considering different parameters. This implementation is simpler than the implementation in the first embodiment.

Different from a cell that is static in a cellular network, a cell in the NTN is in a high-speed movement state. A terminal may select a cell with optimal signal quality but short coverage duration to camp on. In this case, the terminal needs to reselect a cell soon. Consequently, signaling overheads are increased. In addition, because of high-speed movement among cells in the NTN, cell selection performed based on measurement of a single parameter cannot meet requirements of different scenarios and different users. An optimized cell selection policy may be obtained by configuring different parameter combinations for different users and different scenarios for cell selection. In this application, in the NTN, more types of parameters that need to be evaluated during cell selection are used, and a more appropriate cell selection criterion can be obtained by configuring different weighting factors and comprehensively considering impact of a plurality of factors. In addition, more types of parameters that need to be evaluated during cell selection may be used, a priority function is configured, and a new cell selection criterion is generated as a basis for cell selection.

It should be further understood that, in addition to being applied to the non-terrestrial network NTN scenario shown in <FIG>, the method for performing cell selection or reselection by a user in the NTN provided in this application may be used in other scenarios in which cell selection needs to be performed.

It should be further understood that, various numbers such as first and second used in this application are distinguished merely for convenience of description, and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application.

The embodiments described in this application may be independent solutions, or may be combined based on internal logic. All these solutions fall within the protection scope of this application.

It may be understood that in the foregoing method embodiments, the methods and operations implemented by the user equipment may alternatively be implemented by a component (for example, a chip or a circuit) that may be used in the user equipment, and the methods and the operations implemented by the satellite network device may alternatively be implemented by a component (for example, a chip or a circuit) that may be used in the satellite network device.

The foregoing describes the method embodiments provided in this application, and the following describes apparatus embodiments provided in this application. It should be understood that descriptions of the apparatus embodiments correspond to the descriptions of the method embodiments. Therefore, for content that is not described in detail, refer to the foregoing method embodiments. For brevity, details are not described herein again.

The foregoing mainly describes the solutions provided in the embodiments of this application from the perspective of interaction between various devices. It can be understood that, to implement the foregoing functions, the devices such as the user equipment and the satellite network device include corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules for performing the functions. A person skilled in the art may be aware that with reference to units and method steps in the examples described in the embodiments disclosed in this application, this application can be implemented by hardware or a combination of computer software and hardware. Whether a specific function is performed by hardware or hardware driven by computer software depends on particular applications and design constraints of the technical solutions.

In the embodiments of this application, division into functional modules of the user equipment or the satellite network device may be performed based on the foregoing method examples. For example, division into functional modules may be performed based on corresponding functions, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module may be implemented in a form of hardware, or may be implemented in a form of a software functional module. It should be noted that division into the modules is an example and is merely logical function division in the embodiments of this application. In an actual implementation, another division manner may be used. The following provides descriptions by using the example in which division into functional modules is performed based on functions.

<FIG> is a schematic block diagram of a communications apparatus <NUM> according to an embodiment of this application. The communications apparatus <NUM> includes a transceiver unit <NUM> and a processing unit <NUM>. The transceiver unit <NUM> may communicate with the outside, and the processing unit <NUM> is configured to process data. The transceiver unit <NUM> may also be referred to as a communications interface or a communications unit.

The communications apparatus <NUM> may be configured to execute actions of the user equipment in the foregoing method embodiments, or execute actions on the satellite in the foregoing method embodiments.

In an implementation, the communications apparatus <NUM> may be configured to execute the actions of the user equipment in the foregoing method embodiments. In this implementation, the communications apparatus <NUM> may be referred to as a terminal device. The transceiver unit <NUM> is configured to perform receiving and sending related operations on the user equipment side in the foregoing method embodiments. The processing unit <NUM> is configured to perform a processing-related operation of the user equipment in the foregoing method embodiments.

In a design of this implementation, the transceiver unit <NUM> is configured to: receive beam coverage information delivered by a satellite, and receive a system broadcast message and a reference signal that are related to calculating a value of a criterion S and that are delivered by the satellite or a cell. The processing unit <NUM> is configured to: query whether there is prestored information; determine a frequency for preferential searching based on the prestored information; determine values of two decision factors (a signal quality ratio (Signal_Quality/Signal_Quality_reference) and a beam coverage time ratio (DurationTimebeam/DurationTimebeam_reference)); determine value configurations of A and B in a criterion X; search for a cell according to the determined criterion X; and select a cell whose value of the criterion X Xlex is largest to camp on if a value of the criterion X Xlex of a candidate cell meets a camping threshold requirement, or select a cell whose value of the criterion X Xlex is largest to camp on if there is no candidate cell whose value of the criterion X Xlex meets a camping threshold requirement.

It should be noted that, a method for determining the values of the two decision factors (the signal quality ratio (Signal_Quality/Signal_Quality_reference) and the beam coverage time ratio (DurationTimebeam/DurationTimebeam_reference)) by the processing unit <NUM> includes: receiving a system broadcast message and a reference signal that are related to calculation of the criterion S and that are delivered by a satellite or a cell, and calculating the value of the criterion S, that is, a value of the signal quality (Signal_Quality) in a first decision factor; and querying a current time, and comparing the current time with received beam coverage information, to obtain a value of the beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam) in a second decision factor. It should be noted that, a value of reference signal quality (Signal_Quality_reference) in the first decision factor (namely, signal quality ratio (Signal_Quality/Signal_Quality_reference)) and a value of a reference beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam_reference) in the second decision factor (namely, beam coverage time ratio (DurationTimebeam/DurationTimebeam_reference)) are known preset values by default. The values may vary with different application scenarios, different user equipment vendors, different user equipment operators, and other related factors. The preset values may be obtained through calculation or querying by the processing unit <NUM>. This is not limited in this application.

Optionally, in another design in this implementation, the transceiver unit <NUM> is configured to: receive beam coverage information delivered by a satellite, and receive a system broadcast message and a reference signal that are related to calculating a value of the criterion S and that are delivered by the satellite. The processing unit <NUM> is configured to: query whether there is prestored information, and determine a frequency for preferential searching based on the prestored information; determine values of decision factors (signal quality (Signal_Quality) and beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam)); and determine a cell to camp on based on a priority sequence agreed in the criterion X. When a priority of a third decision factor (signal quality (Signal_Quality)) is higher than a priority of a fourth decision factor (beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam)), the processing unit <NUM> is configured to select a cell whose signal quality (Signal_Quality) is highest to camp on if signal quality of a current cell (Signal_Quality) is lower than a preset threshold and there is at least one neighboring cell whose signal quality (Signal_Quality) is higher than the preset threshold, or select a cell whose beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam) is longest to camp on if signal quality (Signal_Quality) of a current cell is lower than a preset threshold and there is no neighboring cell whose signal quality (Signal_Quality) is higher than the preset threshold,. When a priority of a fourth decision factor beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam) is higher than a priority of a third decision factor signal quality (Signal_Quality), the processing unit <NUM> selects a cell whose beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam) is longest to camp on if a beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam) of a current cell is shorter than a preset threshold and there is at least one neighboring cell whose beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam) is longer than the preset threshold, or selects a cell whose signal quality (Signal_Quality) is highest to camp on if a beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam) of a current cell is less than a preset threshold and there is no neighboring cell whose beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam) is longer than the preset threshold.

It should be noted that, a method for determining the values of the two decision factors (the signal quality (Signal_Quality) and the beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam)) by the processing unit <NUM> includes: receiving a system broadcast message and a reference signal that are related to calculation of the criterion S and that are delivered by a satellite, and calculating a value Srxlev of the criterion S, that is, the value of a third decision factor (signal quality (Signal_Quality)); and querying a current time, and comparing the current time with received beam coverage information, to obtain the value of a fourth decision factor (beam coverage time (DurationTimebeam)).

In another implementation, the communications device <NUM> may be configured to execute the actions of the satellite in the foregoing method embodiments. In this implementation, the communications device <NUM> may be referred to as a satellite network device. The transceiver unit <NUM> is configured to perform receiving and sending related operations of the satellite in the foregoing method embodiments. The processing unit <NUM> is configured to perform a processing-related operation of the satellite in the foregoing method embodiments.

In a design in this implementation, the transceiver unit <NUM> is configured to: receive scheduling information that is related to beam coverage information and that is sent by a network-side system; send the beam coverage information to user equipment in each grid; and send, to user equipment that performs cell selection, a system broadcast message and a reference signal that are related to calculation of the criterion S. The processing unit <NUM> is configured to: process the scheduling information that is related to the beam coverage information and that is sent by the network-side system, control delivery of the beam coverage information, and control a sending process of the system broadcast message and the reference signal related to calculation of the criterion S.

It should be understood that the transceiver unit <NUM> may be implemented by a transceiver or a transceiver-related circuit, and the processing unit <NUM> may be implemented by a processor or a processor-related circuit.

As shown in <FIG>, this application further provides a communications device <NUM>. The communications device <NUM> includes a processor <NUM>, a memory <NUM>, and a transceiver <NUM>. The memory <NUM> stores a program. The processor <NUM> is configured to execute the program stored in the memory <NUM>, to enable the processor <NUM> to perform related processing steps in the foregoing method embodiments, and enable the processor <NUM> to control the transceiver <NUM> to perform receiving and sending related steps in the foregoing method embodiments.

In an implementation, the communications device <NUM> is configured to execute actions of the user equipment in the foregoing method embodiments. In this case, the execution of the program stored in the memory <NUM> enables the processor <NUM> to perform processing steps on the user equipment side in the foregoing method embodiments, and enables the transceiver <NUM> to perform receiving and sending steps on the user equipment side in the foregoing method embodiments. Optionally, the execution of the program stored in the memory <NUM> enables the processor <NUM> to control the transceiver <NUM> to perform the receiving and sending steps on the user equipment side in the foregoing method embodiments.

In another implementation, the communications device <NUM> is configured to execute actions of the satellite in the foregoing method embodiments. In this case, the execution of the program stored in the memory <NUM> enables the processor <NUM> to perform processing steps on the satellite side in the foregoing method embodiments, and enables the transceiver <NUM> to perform receiving and sending steps on the satellite side in the foregoing method embodiments. Optionally, the execution of the program stored in the memory <NUM> enables the processor <NUM> to control the transceiver <NUM> to perform the receiving and sending steps on the satellite side in the foregoing method embodiments.

This application further provides a communications apparatus <NUM>. The communications apparatus <NUM> may be a terminal device or may be a chip. The communications device <NUM> may be configured to execute actions of the user equipment in the foregoing method embodiments.

When the communications device <NUM> is a terminal device, <FIG> is a simplified schematic diagram depicting a structure of the terminal device. For ease of understanding and illustration, in <FIG>, user equipment is used as an example of the terminal device. As shown in <FIG>, the terminal device includes a processor, a memory, a radio frequency circuit, an antenna, and an input/output apparatus. The processor is mainly configured to process a communications protocol and communication data, control the terminal device, execute a software program, process data of a software program, and the like. The memory is mainly configured to store a software program and data. The radio frequency circuit is mainly configured to perform conversion between a baseband signal and a radio frequency signal, and process the radio frequency signal. The antenna is mainly configured to send and/or receive a radio frequency signal in a form of an electromagnetic wave. The input/output apparatus, such as a touchscreen, a display, or a keyboard, is mainly configured 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 an input/output apparatus.

When needing to send data, the processor outputs a baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit after performing baseband processing on to-be-sent data. The radio frequency circuit sends a radio frequency signal to outside in a form of an electromagnetic wave through the antenna after performing radio frequency processing on the baseband signal. When data is sent to the terminal device, the radio frequency circuit receives a radio frequency signal through the antenna, converts the radio frequency 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. For ease of description, <FIG> shows only one memory and one processor. In an actual terminal device product, there may be one or more processors and one or more memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium, a storage device, or the like. The memory may be disposed independent of the processor, or may be integrated with the processor. This is not limited in the embodiments of this application.

In this embodiment of this application, the antenna and the radio frequency circuit that have sending and receiving functions may be considered as a transceiver unit of the terminal device, and the processor that has a processing function may be considered as a processing unit of the terminal device.

As shown in <FIG>, if the antenna and the radio frequency circuit are considered as the transceiver unit, and the processor is considered as the processing unit, the terminal device includes a transceiver unit <NUM> and a processing unit <NUM>. The transceiver unit <NUM> may also be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiver machine, a transceiver apparatus, or the like. The processing unit <NUM> may also be referred to as a processor, a processing board, a processing module, a processing apparatus, or the like. Optionally, a component that is in the transceiver unit <NUM> and that is configured to implement a receiving function may be considered as a receiving unit, and a component that is in the transceiver unit <NUM> and that is configured to implement a sending function may be considered as a sending unit. In other words, the transceiver unit <NUM> includes the receiving unit and the sending unit. The transceiver unit sometimes may also be referred to as a transceiver machine, a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, or the like. The receiving unit sometimes may also be referred to as a receiving machine, a receiver, a receiving circuit, or the like. The sending unit sometimes may also be referred to as a transmitter machine, a transmitter, a transmitter circuit, or the like.

For example, in an implementation, the transceiver unit <NUM> is configured to perform a receiving operation on the terminal device side in step S320 shown in <FIG> and step S530 shown in <FIG>, and/or the transceiver unit <NUM> is further configured to perform other receiving and sending steps on the terminal device side. The processing unit <NUM> is configured to perform the processing operations on the terminal device side in steps S310, S320, S330, and S340 shown in <FIG>, and step S540 shown in <FIG>, and/or the processing unit <NUM> is further configured to perform another processing step on the terminal device side.

For another example, in another implementation, the transceiver unit <NUM> is configured to perform the receiving operation on the terminal device side in step S620 shown in <FIG> and step S530 shown in <FIG>. The processing unit <NUM> is configured to perform the processing operations on the terminal device side in steps S610, S620 and S630 shown in <FIG>, and step S540 shown in <FIG>, and/or the processing unit <NUM> is further configured to perform another processing step on the terminal device side.

It should be understood that <FIG> is merely an example instead of a limitation. The terminal device including the transceiver unit and the processing unit may not depend on the structure shown in <FIG>.

When the communications device <NUM> is a chip, the chip includes a transceiver unit and a processing unit. The transceiver unit may be an input/output circuit or a communications interface. The processing unit may be a processor, a microprocessor, or an integrated circuit integrated on the chip.

An embodiment of this application further provides a communications system. The communications system includes the foregoing terminal device, the candidate cell, and the satellite network device.

An embodiment of this application further provides a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program. When the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer is enabled to implement the method on a terminal device side or the method on a satellite network device side in the foregoing method embodiments.

An embodiment of this application further provides a computer program product including instructions. When the instructions are executed by a computer, the computer is enabled to implement the method on a terminal device side or the method on a satellite network device side in the foregoing method embodiments.

For explanations and beneficial effects of related content in any of the foregoing provided communications apparatuses, refer to corresponding method embodiments provided above.

In the embodiments of this application, the terminal device or the satellite network device includes a hardware layer, an operating system layer running above the hardware layer, and an application layer running above the operating system layer. The hardware layer includes hardware such as a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), a memory management unit (memory management unit, MMU), and a memory (also referred to as a main memory). The operating system may be any one or more computer operating systems that implement service processing through a process (process), for example, a Linux operating system, a Unix operating system, an Android operating system, an iOS operating system, or a Windows operating system. The application layer includes applications such as a browser, an address book, word processing software, and instant messaging software. In addition, a specific structure of an execution body of the method provided in this application is not specifically limited in this application, provided that communication can be performed according to the method provided in this application by running a program that records code of the method provided in the embodiments of this application. For example, the method provided in this application may be executed by a terminal device or a satellite network device, or by a functional module that can invoke a program and execute the program and that is in the terminal device or the satellite network device.

In addition, aspects or features of this application may be implemented as a method, an apparatus, or a product that uses standard programming and/or engineering technologies. The term "product" used in this application covers a computer program that can be accessed from any computer-readable device, carrier or medium. For example, a computer-readable medium may include but is not limited to: a magnetic storage device (for example, a hard disk, a floppy disk or a magnetic tape), an optical disc (for example, a compact disc (compact disc, CD) and a digital versatile disc (digital versatile disc, DVD)), a smart card, and a flash memory device (for example, an erasable programmable read-only memory (erasable programmable read-only memory, EPROM), a card, a stick, or a key drive). In addition, various storage media described in this application may indicate one or more devices and/or other machine-readable media that are configured to store information. The term "machine-readable media" may include but is not limited to a radio channel and various other media that can store, include, and/or carry instructions and/or data.

It should be understood that, the processor in the embodiments of this application may be a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), or may be another general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (digital signal processor, DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (application-specific integrated circuit, ASIC), a field programmable gate array (field programmable gate array, FPGA) or another programmable logic device, a discrete gate or a transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component, or the like. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

It may be understood that the memory mentioned in the embodiments of this application may be a volatile memory or a nonvolatile memory, or may include a volatile memory and a nonvolatile memory. The nonvolatile memory may be a read-only memory (read-only memory, ROM), a programmable read-only memory (programmable ROM, PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (erasable PROM, EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (electrically EPROM, EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (random access memory, RAM) and is used as an external cache. Through example but not limitative description, many forms of RAMs may be used, for example, a static random access memory (static RAM, SRAM), a dynamic random access memory (dynamic RAM, DRAM), a synchronous dynamic random access memory (synchronous DRAM, SDRAM), a double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (double data rate SDRAM, DDR SDRAM), an enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (enhanced SDRAM, ESDRAM), a synchronous link dynamic random access memory (synchlink DRAM, SLDRAM), and a direct rambus dynamic random access memory (direct rambus RAM, DR RAM).

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

It should be noted that the memory described in this application includes but is not limited to the foregoing memory, and further includes any other suitable type of memory.

A person of ordinary skill in the art may be aware that, in combination with the examples described in the embodiments disclosed in this application, units and method steps may be implemented by electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware.

In addition, the displayed or discussed mutual couplings or direct couplings or communication connections may be implemented through some interfaces. The indirect couplings or communication connections between the apparatuses or units may be implemented in an electrical, a mechanical, or another form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, may be located in one position, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units may be selected based on actual requirements to achieve the objectives of the solutions in the embodiments.

When the functions are implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, the functions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on such an understanding, the technical solutions of this application essentially, or the part contributing to the prior art, or some of the technical solutions may be implemented in a form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium, and includes several instructions for instructing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a terminal device, or a satellite network device) to perform all or some of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of this application. The foregoing storage medium includes any medium that can store program code, such as a USB flash drive, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (read-only memory, ROM), a random access memory (random access memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disc.

Claim 1:
A method (<NUM>) for selecting a cell in a non-terrestrial network (NTN), comprising:
querying (<NUM>), by user equipment, whether there is first prestored information, and determining a frequency for preferential searching based on the first prestored information;
determining (<NUM>), by the user equipment, a value of a first decision factor and a value of a second decision factor in a first decision criterion;
determining (<NUM>), by the user equipment, a value of a first weighting coefficient and a value of a second weighting coefficient in the first decision criterion;
searching (<NUM>) for, by the user equipment, a cell according to the determined first decision criterion; and
selecting, by the user equipment, a cell whose value of the first decision criterion is largest to camp on if a value of the first decision criterion of a candidate cell meets a camping threshold requirement of a cell; or
selecting, by the user equipment, a cell whose value of the first decision criterion is largest to camp on if there is no candidate cell whose value of the first decision criterion meets a camping threshold requirement of a cell;
wherein the first decision criterion is expressed as: <MAT> wherein
Signal _ Quality / Signal _ Quality _ reference (signal quality ratio) is the first decision factor, and DurationTimebeam / DurationTimebeam _reference (beam coverage time ratio) is the second decision factor;
A is the first weighting coefficient, and is used to represent a weight of the first decision factor in first decision criterion-based cell selection decision; and B is the second weighting coefficient, and is used to represent a weight of the second decision factor in the first decision criterion-based cell selection decision; and
a function relationship of the first decision criterion Xlex is calculating a sum of a weighted result obtained by multiplying the value of the first decision factor and the first weighting coefficient and a weighted result obtained by multiplying the value of the second decision factor and the second weighting coefficient.