Patent Description:
To ensure communication quality of high-speed mobility user equipment, an operating company deploys a high-speed mobility device dedicated network for the high-speed mobility user equipment to access. The high-speed mobility device dedicated network is also known as a high-speed dedicated network for the skilled in the art.

In an overlapping region of the high-speed mobility device dedicated network and a public network (for example, ordinary 4th-generation (<NUM>) and 5th-generation (<NUM>) communication networks), the high-speed mobility device dedicated network usually has higher signal strength than the public network. Since user equipment may usually select a network with higher signal strength to access, in the overlapping region, non-high-speed mobility user equipment may also access the high-speed mobility device dedicated network. Consequently, the high-speed mobility device dedicated network may be congested, and communication quality of the high-speed mobility user equipment may further be influenced.

Related technologies are known from <CIT>, <CIT>, <CIT> and early publication <CIT>.

In view of this, the present disclosure discloses a cell access method and a cell access apparatus, to solve the technical problem in a related art.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, whether to access the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network can be determined according to the current mobility state so as to ensure that only user equipment in a specified mobility state can access the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network, so that the condition that user equipment not in the specified mobility state accesses the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network to congest the high-speed mobility device dedicated network is avoided, and high communication quality of the user equipment in the specified mobility state during access to the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network is further guaranteed.

In order to describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application more clearly, the accompanying drawings required to be used for descriptions about the embodiments will be simply introduced below. It is apparent that the accompanying drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. Those of ordinary skill in the art may further obtain other accompanying drawings according to these accompanying drawings without creative work.

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below in combination with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application. It is apparent that the described embodiments are not all embodiments but only part of embodiments of the present application.

<FIG> is a schematic flow chart showing a cell access method, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The cell access method in the embodiment may be applied to user equipment, for example, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, and the like.

As illustrated in <FIG>, the cell access method may include the following steps.

In step S1, an identifier for each cell of at least one cell is acquired.

In step S2, a cell in a high-speed mobility device dedicated network is determined form the at least one cell according to the identifier.

In an embodiment, the at least one cell includes a cell where the user equipment resides and one or more neighbor cells of the cell.

In an embodiment, the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network and a cell in the public network have different identifiers, so that the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network may be determined from the at least one cell according to the acquired identifier for each cell if the acquired identifiers of the cells includes an identifier of the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network.

In step S3, whether to access the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network is determined according to a current mobility state.

In an embodiment, the user equipment may determine its own current mobility state. The mobility state may include multiple states. For example, two mobility states, i.e., a high-speed mobility state and a low-speed mobility state, are included. For another example, three mobility states, i.e., the high-speed mobility state, a medium-speed mobility state and the low-speed mobility state, are included. Specifically, how to determine the mobility state of the user equipment will be described in following embodiments of the present disclosure. For illustrative purposes only, it is assumed in the following embodiments that the mobility state includes two mobility states, i.e., the high-speed mobility state and the low-speed mobility state.

In an embodiment, whether to access the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network may be determined according to the current mobility state so as to ensure that only user equipment in a specified mobility state may access the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network, so that the condition that user equipment not in the specified mobility state accesses the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network to congest the high-speed mobility device dedicated network is avoided, and high communication quality of the user equipment in the specified mobility state during access to the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network is further guaranteed.

For example, the mobility state of the user equipment includes the high-speed mobility state and the low-speed mobility state. For the user equipment in the high-speed mobility state, the acquired cell identifiers include the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network. Since such user equipment moves along the high-speed mobility device dedicated network at a relatively high probability, it may further be determined to access the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network, and communication service is provided for it through the high-speed mobility device dedicated network to ensure communication quality thereof. For the user equipment in the low-speed mobility state, such user equipment usually does not move along the high-speed mobility device dedicated network and moves in the public network in more cases, so that it may be determined not to access the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network, and optionally, such user equipment may be determined to access the cell in the public network to further avoid congestion of the high-speed mobility device dedicated network and prevent influence on the communication quality of the user equipment accessing the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network in the high-speed mobility state.

<FIG> is a schematic flow chart showing another cell access method, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in <FIG>, based on the embodiment illustrated in <FIG>, the operation that the identifier for each cell of the at least one cell is acquired may include the following step.

In step S11, a physical cell identifier (PCI) of a cell is acquired.

The operation that the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network is determined from the at least one cell according to the identifier includes the following step.

In step S21, a cell corresponding to the PCI matching a pre-stored identifier is determined as the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network.

In an embodiment, the PCI of each cell is configured for the cell by an operating company through an operation administration and maintenance (OAM) system.

The PCI of the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network is different from the PCI of the cell in the public network, and the PCI (i.e., the pre-stored identifier) of the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network may be pre-stored in the user equipment.

The user equipment, after acquiring the PCI of each cell, compares the acquired PCI and the pre-stored identifier, determine the PCI matching the pre-stored identifier and further determine the cell corresponding to the determined PCI as the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network.

<FIG> is a schematic flow chart showing another cell access method, which is not part of the present disclosure and is present for illustration purpose. As illustrated in <FIG>, based on the embodiment illustrated in <FIG>, the operation that the identifier for each cell of the at least one cell is acquired may include the following steps.

In step S12, at least one of a paging message or a system message sent by a base station corresponding to the cell is received.

In step S13, the identifier is determined according to the at least one of the paging message or the system message.

In an embodiment, the base station may include the identifier in the paging message, and may also include the identifier in the system message. The user equipment may determine the identifier through the paging message received from the base station, and may also determine the identifier through the system message received from the base station.

Compared with the embodiment illustrated in <FIG>, it is unnecessary, for the user equipment in this embodiment, to pre-store the PCI of the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network, so that complexity in setting of the user equipment may be reduced. Based on the embodiment illustrated in <FIG>, the paging message and system message sent by the base station are not required to include the identifier, so that complexity in setting of the message sent by the base station may be reduced. The embodiment illustrated in <FIG> and the embodiment illustrated in <FIG> may be respectively implemented as required, or they may be combined.

<FIG> is a schematic flow chart showing determination of an identifier, which is not part of the present disclosure and is present for illustration purpose. As illustrated in <FIG>, based on the embodiment illustrated in <FIG>, the operation that the identifier is determined according to the at least one of the paging message or the system message includes the following steps.

In step S131, a preset bit in the at least one of the paging message or the system message is extracted.

In step S132, the identifier is determined according to a numerical value of the preset bit.

In an embodiment, the base station may represent the identifier through the preset bit in the at least one of the paging message or the system message. The preset bit may be one bit, and may also be multiple bits. For example, when the preset bit is one bit, when a numerical value of the bit is <NUM>, it may be indicated that the cell corresponding to the base station is a cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network; and when the numerical value of the bit is <NUM>, it may be indicated that the cell corresponding to the base station is a cell in the public network.

<FIG> is another schematic flow chart showing determination of an identifier, which is not part of the present disclosure and is present for illustration purpose. As illustrated in <FIG>, based on the embodiment illustrated in <FIG>, the operation that the identifier is determined according to the at least one of the paging message or the system message includes the following step.

In step S133, the identifier is determined according to whether a preset bit of the at least one of the paging message or the system message has a numerical value.

In an embodiment, the base station may control whether to set the preset bit in the at least one of the paging message or the system message to represent the identifier. For example, if the preset bit has the numerical value, namely, the preset bit is set, it may be indicated that the cell corresponding to the base station is a cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network; and if the preset bit does not have the numerical value, namely the preset bit is not set, it may be indicated that the cell corresponding to the base station is a cell in the public network. The preset bit may be one bit, and may also be multiple bits.

<FIG> is a schematic flow chart showing determination of a mobility state of user equipment, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in <FIG>, based on the embodiment illustrated in <FIG>, the operation that whether to access the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network is determined according to the current mobility state includes the following steps.

In step S31, information of a neighbor cell of a cell where user equipment resides is recorded.

In step S32, an amount of the information, recorded in unit time, of the neighbor cell is determined.

In an embodiment, the information of the neighbor cell may include at least one of: an identifier of the neighbor cell, a paging message or system message of the neighbor cell, and the like.

For example, when the information of the neighbor cell is the identifier of the neighbor cell, the user equipment may periodically detect the identifier of the neighbor cell of the cell (for example, for determining a cell suitable for access).

<FIG> is a schematic diagram illustrating a relationship between a cell in a high-speed mobility device dedicated network and a cell in a public network, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

As illustrated in <FIG>, the cell <NUM> in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network includes multiple sub-cells, and each sub-cell has the same identifier (each sub-cell may also send the same paging message and/or system message). For example, the cell where the user equipment resides is a cell <NUM> in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network, and the neighbor cell detected by the user equipment is a cell <NUM>, neighboring to the cell <NUM> in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network, in the public network.

When the user equipment is in a still state, the neighbor cell of the cell where the user equipment resides may not change, and the amount of the information, recorded in the unit time, of the neighbor cell only includes the amount of information of the present neighbor cell. When the user equipment is in a mobility state, the neighbor cell of the cell where the user equipment resides may change, the amount of the information, recorded in the unit time, of the neighbor cell includes the amounts of information of all neighbor cells on a moving path in the unit time, and if a moving speed of the user equipment is higher, the moving path in the unit time is longer and the amount of the recorded information of the neighbor cell is larger. For example, in <FIG>, the cell where the user equipment is the cell <NUM> in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network, and if the moving speed of the user equipment is higher, the number of identifiers, recorded in the unit time, of cells <NUM> in the public network is larger.

In step S33, a mobility state of the user equipment is determined according to a relationship between the amount and one or more preset amounts as well as association information of the relationship with the mobility state.

In an embodiment, the relationship between the amount and the preset amount is different under different numbers of preset amounts, and the number of corresponding mobility states of the user equipment may also be different.

For example, if the number of the preset amount is <NUM>, a first relationship between the amount and the preset amount may be that the amount is greater than or equal to the preset amount, and a second relationship may be that the amount is less than the preset amount. A mobility state corresponding to the first relationship may be the high-speed mobility state, and a mobility state corresponding to the second relationship may be the low-speed mobility state.

For example, if the number of the preset amount is <NUM>, i.e., a first preset amount and a second preset amount greater than the first preset amount, a first relationship between the amount and the preset amounts may be that the amount is less than the first preset amount, a second relationship may be that the amount is greater than or equal to the first preset amount and less than or equal to the second preset amount, and a third relationship may be that the amount is greater than the second preset amount. A state corresponding to the first relationship may be the low-speed mobility state, a mobility state corresponding to the second relationship may be the medium-speed mobility state, and a mobility state corresponding to the third relationship may be the high-speed mobility state.

In an embodiment, if the moving speed of the user equipment is higher, the amount of the information, recorded in the unit time, of the neighbor cell is larger; and if the moving speed is lower, the amount of the information, recorded in the unit time, of the neighbor cell is smaller. Therefore, the preset amount and the association information of the relationship between the preset amount and the amount of the information, recorded in by the user equipment, of the neighbor cell and the mobility state may be preset, and the mobility state of the user equipment may further be determined according to the relationship between the preset amount and the amount of the information, recorded by the user equipment, of the neighbor cell as well as the association information of the relationship with the mobility state.

For example, if the amount of the information, recorded by the user equipment, of the neighbor cell is greater than the preset amount, it may be determined according to a relationship that the user equipment is in the high-speed mobility state. For example, if the amount of the information, recorded by the user equipment, of the neighbor cell is less than or equal to the preset amount, it may be determined according to a relationship that the user equipment is in the low-speed mobility state.

Based on the embodiment illustrated in <FIG>, the mobility state of the user equipment may be accurately determined to further ensure that the user equipment may subsequently determine whether to access the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network according to the current mobility state accurately.

It is to be noted that the one or more preset amounts and/or association information in the embodiment illustrated in <FIG> may be set in the user equipment, and may also be set in the base station.

<FIG> is another schematic flow chart showing determination of a mobility state of user equipment, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in <FIG>, based on the embodiment illustrated in <FIG>, the one or more preset amounts include a first preset amount and a second preset amount, the second preset amount being greater than or equal to the first preset amount, and the operation that the mobility state of the user equipment is determined according to the association information of the relationship between the amount and the one or more preset amounts with the mobility state includes the following steps.

In step S331, in response to the amount being less than or equal to the first preset amount, it is determined that the user equipment is in a low-speed mobility state.

In step S332, in response to the amount being greater than or equal to the second preset amount, it is determined that the user equipment is in a high-speed mobility state.

In an embodiment, if the moving speed of the user equipment is higher, the amount of the information, recorded in the unit time, of the neighbor cell is larger; and if the moving speed is lower, the amount of the information, recorded in the unit time, of the neighbor cell is smaller. The second preset amount is greater than or equal to the first preset amount. Therefore, if the amount of the information, recorded in the unit time, of the neighbor cell is greater than or equal to the second preset amount, it may be determined that the moving speed of the user equipment is relatively high, namely the user equipment is in the high-speed mobility state; and if the amount of the information, recorded in the unit time, of the neighbor cell is less than or equal to the first preset amount, it may be determined that the moving speed of the user equipment is relatively low, namely the user equipment is in the low-speed mobility state.

Optionally, the high-speed mobility device dedicated network includes at least one of: a high-speed railway dedicated network or a highway dedicated network.

In an embodiment, a cell in the high-speed railway dedicated network may include multiple sub-cells, and each sub-cell may have the same identifier; and a cell in the highway dedicated network may include multiple sub-cells, and each sub-cell may have the same identifier. Based on this, when the cell where the user equipment resides is a cell in the high-speed railway dedicated network or a cell in the highway dedicated network, the user equipment may identify each sub-cell as the same cell, thereby avoiding frequent cell handover during movement.

Corresponding to the embodiments of the cell access methods, the present disclosure also discloses cell access apparatus embodiments.

<FIG> is a schematic block diagram of a cell access apparatus, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in <FIG>, the cell access apparatus includes:.

Optionally, the identifier acquisition module is configured to acquire a PCI of a cell; and
the cell determination module is configured to determine a cell corresponding to the PCI matching a pre-stored identifier as the cell in the high-speed mobility device dedicated network.

<FIG> is a schematic block diagram of an identifier acquisition module, which is not part of the present disclosure and is present for illustration purpose. As illustrated in <FIG>, based on the embodiment illustrated in <FIG>, the identifier acquisition module <NUM> includes:.

Optionally, the determination submodule is configured to extract a preset bit in the at least one of the paging message or the system message, and determine the identifier according to a numerical value of the preset bit.

Optionally, the determination submodule is configured to determine the identifier according to whether a preset bit of the at least one of the paging message or the system message has a numerical value.

<FIG> is a schematic block diagram of an access determination module, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in <FIG>, based on the embodiment illustrated in <FIG>, the access determination module <NUM> includes:.

Optionally, the one or more preset amounts include a first amount and a second amount, the second amount being greater than or equal to the first amount, and the state determination submodule is configured, in response to the amount being less than or equal to the first amount, to determine that the user equipment is in a low-speed mobility state; or in response to the amount being greater than or equal to the second amount, to determine that the user equipment is in a high-speed mobility state.

Optionally, the high-speed mobility device dedicated network includes: at least one of a high-speed railway dedicated network or a highway dedicated network.

With respect to the device in each of the above embodiments, the specific manners for performing operations for individual modules therein have been described in detail in the embodiment regarding the method, which will not be elaborated herein.

The device embodiments substantially correspond to the method embodiments, and thus related parts refer to part of descriptions of the method embodiments. The device embodiment described above is only schematic, units described as separate parts therein may or may not be physically separated, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, and namely may be located in the same place or may also be distributed to multiple network units. Part or all of the modules therein may be selected according to a practical requirement to achieve the purpose of the solutions of the embodiments. Those of ordinary skill in the art may understand and implement without creative work.

The embodiments of the present disclosure also disclose an electronic device, which includes:.

The embodiments of the present disclosure also disclose a computer-readable storage medium is provided, in which a computer program is stored, the program being executed by a processor to implement the following steps:.

<FIG> is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus <NUM> for cell accessing, which is not part of the present disclosure and is present for illustration purpose. For example, the apparatus <NUM> may be a mobile phone, a computer, a digital broadcast terminal, a messaging device, a gaming console, a tablet, a medical device, exercise equipment, a personal digital assistant, and the like.

The processing component <NUM> may include one or more processors <NUM> to execute instructions to perform all or part of the steps in the abovementioned method. Moreover, the processing component <NUM> may include one or more modules which facilitate interaction between the processing component <NUM> and other components. For instance, the processing component <NUM> may include a multimedia module to facilitate interaction between the multimedia component <NUM> and the processing component <NUM>.

The memory <NUM> is configured to store various types of data to support the operation of the apparatus <NUM>. Examples of such data include instructions for any applications or methods operated on the apparatus <NUM>, contact data, phonebook data, messages, pictures, video, etc. The memory <NUM> may be implemented by any type of volatile or non-volatile memory devices, or a combination thereof, such as a static random access memory (SRAM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), a read-only memory (ROM), a magnetic memory, a flash memory, and a magnetic or optical disk.

The power component <NUM> may include a power management system, one or more power supplies, and other components associated with generation, management and distribution of power for the apparatus <NUM>.

The multimedia component <NUM> includes a screen providing an output interface between the apparatus <NUM> and a user. If the screen includes the TP, the screen may be implemented as a touch screen to receive an input signal from the user. The TP includes one or more touch sensors to sense touches, swipes and gestures on the TP. The touch sensors may not only sense a boundary of a touch or swipe action, but also detect a period of time and a pressure associated with the touch or swipe action. The front camera and/or the rear camera may receive external multimedia data when the apparatus <NUM> is in an operation mode, such as a photographing mode or a video mode. Each of the front camera and the rear camera may be a fixed optical lens system or have focusing and optical zooming capabilities.

The audio component <NUM> is configured to output and/or input an audio signal. For example, the audio component <NUM> includes a microphone (MIC), and the MIC is configured to receive an external audio signal when the apparatus <NUM> is in an operation mode, such as a call mode, a recording mode and a voice recognition mode. The received audio signal may further be stored in the memory <NUM> or sent through the communication component <NUM>. In some embodiments, the audio component <NUM> further includes a speaker configured to output the audio signal.

The I/O interface <NUM> provides an interface between the processing component <NUM> and peripheral interface modules, such as a keyboard, a click wheel, buttons and the like. The buttons may include, but are not limited to: a home button, a volume button, a starting button and a locking button.

The sensor component <NUM> includes one or more sensors configured to provide status assessments of various aspects of the apparatus <NUM>. For instance, the sensor component <NUM> may detect an on/off status of the apparatus <NUM> and relative positioning of components, such as a display and small keyboard of the apparatus <NUM>, and the sensor component <NUM> may further detect a change in a position of the apparatus <NUM> or a component of the apparatus <NUM>, presence or absence of contact between the user and the apparatus <NUM>, orientation or acceleration/deceleration of the apparatus <NUM> and a change in temperature of the apparatus <NUM>. The sensor component <NUM> may also include a light sensor, such as a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) or charge coupled device (CCD) image sensor, configured for use in an imaging application.

The communication component <NUM> is configured to facilitate wired or wireless communication between the apparatus <NUM> and other devices. The apparatus <NUM> may access a communication-standard-based wireless network, such as a wireless fidelity (WiFi) network, a 2nd-generation (<NUM>) or 3rd-generation (<NUM>) network or a combination thereof. In an exemplary embodiment, the communication component <NUM> receives a broadcast signal or broadcast associated information from an external broadcast management system through a broadcast channel. In an exemplary embodiment, the communication component <NUM> further includes a near field communication (NFC) module to facilitate short-range communications. For example, the NFC module may be implemented based on a radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, an infrared data association (IrDA) technology, an ultra-wide band (UWB) technology, a Bluetooth (BT) technology, and other technologies.

In an exemplary embodiment, the apparatus <NUM> may be implemented by one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors or other electronic components, and is configured to execute the method of any one embodiment.

In an exemplary embodiment, there is also provided a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions, such as included in the memory <NUM>, executable by the processor <NUM> of the apparatus <NUM>, for performing the abovementioned methods. For example, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may be a ROM, a random access memory (RAM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a magnetic tape, a floppy disc, an optical data storage device, and the like.

It is to be noted that relational terms "first", "second" and the like in the present disclosure are adopted only to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation and not always to require or imply existence of any such practical relationship or sequence between the entities or operations. Terms "include" and "have" or any other variation thereof is intended to cover nonexclusive inclusions, so that a process, method, object or device including a series of elements not only includes those elements, but also includes other elements that are not clearly listed, or further includes elements intrinsic to the process, the method, the object or the device. Under the condition of no more limitations, an element defined by statement "including a/an. " does not exclude existence of another element that is the same in a process, method, object or device including the element.

Claim 1:
A cell access method applied to user equipment, the method comprises:
acquiring (S1) an identifier of at least one cell of one or more cells, wherein the identifier of the at least one cell is a physical cell identifier, PCI, configured by an operator through an operation administration and maintenance, OAM, system, and a PCI of a high-speed dedicated network cell is different from a PCI of a cell in a public network;
determining the PCI of the at least one cell matching a pre-stored identifier, and further determining the at least one cell as the high-speed dedicated network cell; and
in response to determining that the at least one cell is a high-speed dedicated network cell,
determining (S3) whether or not to access the high-speed dedicated network cell according to a current mobility state of the user equipment;
wherein the step of determining whether or not to access the high-speed dedicated network cell according to the current mobility state of the user equipment comprises:
recording (S31) information of a neighbor cell of a cell where the user equipment resides;
determining (S32) an amount of the information, recorded in unit time, of the neighbor cell; and
determining (S33) a mobility state of the user equipment according to a relationship between the amount and one or more preset amounts as well as association information of the relationship with the mobility state;
wherein the one or more preset amounts comprise a first amount and a second amount, and the second amount is greater than or equal to the first amount; and wherein the step of determining the mobility state of the user equipment according to the relationship between the amount and the one or more preset amounts as well as the association information of the relationship with the mobility state comprises:
in response to the amount being less than or equal to the first amount, determining (S331) that the user equipment is in a low-speed mobility state.