Patent Description:
A new radio (new radio, NR) communications system supports repeated sending of a plurality of synchronization/broadcast signal blocks (SS/PBCH block, SSB), and a beamforming gain may be obtained through beam sweeping (beam sweeping), to expand a coverage area. To maximize radio spectrum utilization, radio resource management (radio resource management, RRM) needs to be performed. Specifically, a synchronization signal block of a neighboring cell is received to obtain information such as load and a connection status of the neighboring cell.

In NR, it is specified that a maximum of four SSBs are supported by a frequency band below <NUM>, a maximum of eight SSBs are supported by a <NUM> to <NUM> frequency band, and a maximum of <NUM> SSBs are supported by a frequency band above <NUM>. However, a quantity of actually sent SSBs on each frequency band may be less than the maximum value. However, currently, a terminal device detects all possibly sent SSBs based on an entire SSB-based measurement timing configuration (SS block based RRM measurement timing configuration, SMTC) window. For example, SSBs at a maximum of <NUM> locations need to be detected for each cell.

Because a Long Term Evolution (long term evolution, LTE) communications system is not a multi-beam system, problems that a plurality of SSBs are repeatedly sent, and a quantity of actually sent SSBs is different from a theoretical maximum quantity of SSBs do not exist. Therefore, a solution for improving SSB detection efficiency is not provided in the prior art.

Further, prior art document <NPL> refers to remaining issues on SS block design and indication method.

Further, prior art document<NPL> refers to remaining details on SS block transmissions.

Further, prior art document <NPL> refers to remaining details on SS/PBCH block transmission. Further, prior art document <NPL>, refers to L3 measurement, and grouping possibilities.

This application provides a communications method and apparatus, to improve synchronization/broadcast signal block detection efficiency. This problem is solved by the subject matter of the independent claims. Further implementation forms are provided in the dependent claims.

To describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or in the background more clearly, the following describes the accompanying drawings required for describing the embodiments of the present invention or the background.

<FIG> is a schematic diagram of a communications system. The communications system may include at least one network device <NUM> (only one network device <NUM> is shown) and one or more terminal devices <NUM> connected to the network device <NUM>.

The network device <NUM> may be a device that can communicate with the terminal device <NUM>. The network device <NUM> may be any device that has a wireless transceiver function. The network device <NUM> includes but is not limited to a base station (for example, a NodeB, an evolved NodeB eNodeB, a base station in a fifth generation (the fifth generation, <NUM>) communications system, a base station or a network device in a future communications system, or an access node, a wireless relay node, or a wireless backhaul node in a Wi-Fi system) and the like. Alternatively, the network device <NUM> may be a radio controller in a cloud radio access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN) scenario. Alternatively, the network device <NUM> may be a network device in a <NUM> network or a network device in a future evolved network, or may be a wearable device, an in-vehicle device, or the like. Alternatively, the network device <NUM> may be a small cell, a transmission node (transmission reference point, TRP), or the like. Certainly, this application is not limited thereto.

The terminal device <NUM> is a device that has a wireless transceiver function. The terminal device <NUM> may be deployed on land and includes an indoor or outdoor device, a hand-held device, a wearable device, or an in-vehicle device, may be deployed on a water surface (for example, a ship), or may be deployed in the air (for example, an airplane, a balloon, or a satellite). The terminal device may be a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet computer (Pad), a computer that has a wireless transceiver function, a virtual reality (Virtual Reality, VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (Augmented Reality, AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in self driving (self driving), a wireless terminal in remote medical (remote medical), a wireless terminal in a smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in transportation safety (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in a smart city (smart city), a wireless terminal in a smart home (smart home), or the like. An application scenario is not limited in the embodiments of this application. The terminal device may sometimes be referred to as user equipment (user equipment, UE), an access terminal device, a UE unit, a UE station, a mobile station, a mobile console, a remote station, a remote terminal device, a mobile device, a UE terminal device, a wireless communications device, a UE agent, a UE apparatus, or the like.

It should be noted that the terms "system" and "network" may be used interchangeably in the embodiments of the present invention. The term "a plurality of" means "at least two". In view of this, "a plurality of" can be understood as "at least two" in the embodiments of the present invention. The term "and/or" describes an association relationship for describing associated objects and represents that three relationships may exist. In addition, the character "/" usually indicates an "or" relationship between the associated objects.

<FIG> is a schematic diagram of an interaction procedure in a communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method may include the following steps.

A network device sends a synchronization/broadcast signal block of a serving cell or a camping cell, and a terminal device receives the SSB.

The network device sends at least one piece of cell measurement configuration information to the terminal device, and the terminal device receives the at least one piece of cell measurement configuration information.

The at least one piece of cell measurement configuration information includes N pieces of information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block, and the N pieces of information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block are used to indicate information about actually sent synchronization/broadcast signal blocks of M cells, where <NUM>≤N≤M, M is a quantity of measurement cells of the terminal device, and both N and M are positive integers.

The network device sends synchronization/broadcast signal blocks of the M measurement cells, and the terminal device receives the synchronization/broadcast signal blocks of the M measurement cells based on the at least one piece of cell measurement configuration information.

The network device sends an SSB of the serving cell or the camping cell of the terminal device to the terminal device, the terminal device receives the SSB, and the terminal device performs synchronization with the serving cell/camping cell. If the terminal device needs to perform cell selection or reselection, cell handover, or the like, the terminal device needs to obtain the sent SSB of the cell.

Because an actually sent SSB on each frequency band is uncertain, a quantity of actually sent SSBs on each frequency band may be less than or equal to a maximum quantity of SSBs supported by the frequency band. Therefore, the terminal device needs to obtain information indicating an actually sent SSB of a cell to accurately measure the sent SSB of the cell. The sent SSB of the measurement cell of the terminal device may be used for cell selection or reselection, cell handover, or the like. The measurement cell herein may be a serving cell/camping cell of the terminal device, or may be a neighboring cell of the serving cell/camping cell. For the measurement cell, in terms of cell size, the measurement cell may include a macro cell, a micro cell, and the like; in terms of a status of a connection to the terminal device, the measurement cell may include a serving cell (when the terminal device is in a connected (connected) state), a camping cell (when the terminal device is in an idle (idle) state), a neighboring cell, and a cell corresponding to the terminal device in an inactive (inactive) state.

<FIG> is a schematic diagram of a signal structure of a synchronization/broadcast signal block, and the synchronization/broadcast signal block includes a primary synchronization signal (primary synchronization signal, PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (secondary synchronization signal, SSS), and a physical broadcast channel (physical broadcast channel, PBCH). The PSS and the SSS are mainly used to help the terminal device identify a cell and synchronize with the cell. The PBCH includes most basic system information, for example, a system frame number and intra-frame timing information. That the terminal device successfully receives the synchronization/broadcast signal block is a prerequisite for accessing the cell by the terminal device. In the structure of the synchronization/broadcast signal block shown in <FIG>, the PSS and the SSS each occupy one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM) symbol, the PBCH occupies two OFDM symbols, and a bandwidth occupied by the PBCH is approximately twice a bandwidth occupied by the PSS/SSS.

An SSB of a cell is repeatedly sent by using a plurality of beams. In a schematic diagram of sending an SSB shown in <FIG>, in the cell, eight SSBs (referred to as a synchronization/broadcast signal block burst set (SS burst set)) are actually sent by using eight beams in one period, and the sending period is referred to as a synchronization/broadcast signal block burst set period (SS burst set period), for example, <NUM> by default.

In this embodiment, the network device sends one or more pieces of cell measurement configuration information to the terminal device, and the terminal device receives the one or more pieces of cell measurement configuration information. The network device sends an SSB of a measurement cell, and the terminal device receives the SSB of the measurement cell based on the one or more pieces of cell measurement configuration information. It should be noted that the network device may send the SSB of the serving cell/camping cell and the SSB of the measurement cell simultaneously or separately, that is, a sequence of S201 and S203 is not limited.

Specifically, the at least one piece of cell measurement configuration information includes N pieces of information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block, and the N pieces of information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block are used to indicate information about actually sent synchronization/broadcast signal blocks of M cells, where <NUM>≤N≤M, M is a quantity of measurement cells of the terminal device, and both N and M are positive integers. To be specific, the network device may use one piece of information indicating actual sending of an SSB to indicate information about actually sent SSBs of all cells, or may use less than M pieces of information indicating actual sending of an SSB to indicate information about actually sent SSBs of M cells. Alternatively, each cell may use one piece of information indicating actual sending of an SSB to indicate information about an actually sent SSB of the cell. Detailed description is given below. It should be noted that the N pieces of information indicating actual sending of an SSB may be sent by using one piece of information or a plurality of pieces of information. In addition, the one or more pieces of cell measurement configuration information further include at least one of the following information: common measurement information (common information) used for an intra-frequency/inter-frequency/inter-RAT system, a cell identity (cell ID), frequency band information (frequency information), and a measurement window configuration of a synchronization signal block based measurement timing configuration (SS block based RRM measurement timing configuration, SMTC). The information indicating actual sending of an SSB includes at least one of the following information: a full bitmap (full bitmap), a compressed bitmap (compressed bitmap), and a lookup table (lookup table).

Further, in S202, the network device may send the at least one piece of cell measurement configuration information to the terminal device by using at least one of the following signaling, and the at least one of the following signaling includes remaining minimum system information (remaining minimum system information, RMSI), other system information (other system information, OSI), terminal device dedicated radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) signaling, and downlink control information (downlink control information, DCI). The terminal device may also receive the at least one piece of cell measurement configuration information by using the at least one of the foregoing signaling. When the terminal device is in an idle state, the network device may receive cell sending configuration information by using the RMSI or the OSI. When the terminal device is in a connected state, the network device may send the cell measurement configuration information by using the RRC or the DCI. The following provides detailed description with reference to a case in which the terminal device is in different states.

The following several manners may be available for the information indicating actual sending of an SSB. Certainly, the present invention is not limited to the following listed indication manners:.

In a possible design, when N=<NUM>, the N pieces of information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block are used to indicate some same information about actually sent synchronization/broadcast signal blocks of the M cells. Depending on whether the M cells and the serving cell/camping cell are located on a same frequency band, two cases are separately described as follows: As shown in <FIG>, if a frequency band fp on which a cell (p, <NUM>) to a cell (p, n) are located is the same as a frequency band of the serving cell/camping cell, one piece of information indicating actual sending of an SSB (referred to as common indication information) is used herein to indicate some same information about actually sent SSBs of all cells on the frequency band, that is, N=<NUM>. As shown in <FIG>, if cells in the figure and the serving cell/camping cell are located on different frequency bands, for all cells that are located on different frequency bands from the serving cell/camping cell, one piece of information indicating actual sending of an SSB (referred to as common indication information) is used to indicate some same information about actually sent SSBs of all cells on all these frequency bands, that is, N=<NUM>. It should be noted that herein, some same information about an actually sent SSB of each cell may be indicated. For example, there are two measurement cells. It is assumed that the information indicating actual sending of an SSB indicates that information about actually sent SSBs of the two cells is locations <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> in a pattern. However, SSBs are actually sent at locations <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of a cell <NUM>, and SSBs are actually sent at locations <NUM> and <NUM> of a cell <NUM>. In this case, when measuring SSBs of the cell <NUM> and the cell <NUM>, the terminal device can actually measure SSBs only at locations <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of the cell <NUM>, and for the cell <NUM>, can measure SSBs only at the locations <NUM> and <NUM>. In this design, all cells use one piece of information indicating actual sending of an SSB for indication, and therefore signaling overheads are low.

In another possible design, when N=M, the N pieces of information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block include information about an actually sent synchronization/broadcast signal block of each of the M cells. Depending on whether the M cells and the serving cell/camping cell are located on a same frequency band, two cases are also separately described as follows: As shown in <FIG>, if a frequency band fp on which a cell (p, <NUM>) to a cell (p, n) are located is the same as a frequency band of the serving cell/camping cell, n pieces of information indicating actual sending of an SSB are used herein to indicate information about actually sent SSBs of n cells on the frequency band. To be specific, information about an actually sent SSB of each cell is indicated by using one piece of information indicating actual sending of an SSB. As shown in <FIG>, if cells in the figure and the serving cell/camping cell are located on different frequency bands, one piece of information indicating actual sending of an SSB is used for indication for each of the cells located on different frequency bands from the serving cell/camping cell. In this design, each cell uses one piece of information indicating actual sending of an SSB for indication, and therefore measurement accuracy is high.

In still another possible design, the N pieces of information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block include information about an actually sent synchronization/broadcast signal block of each of N cell groups, and the M cells include the N cell groups. In other words, the information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block includes N pieces of information, and each piece of information indicates information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block of at least one cell. Three cases are separately described as follows: As shown in <FIG>, if a frequency band fp on which a cell (p, <NUM>) to a cell (p, n) are located is the same as a frequency band of the serving cell/camping cell, the cell (p, <NUM>) to the cell (p, n) are grouped into t cell groups, and t pieces of information indicating actual sending of an SSB are used to indicate information about actually sent SSBs of the n cells. For example, an indication <NUM> is used to indicate information about actually sent SSBs of the cell (p, <NUM>) and the cell (p, <NUM>), and an indication t is used to indicate information about an actually sent SSB of the cell (p, n), where t≤n. As shown in <FIG>, a plurality of cells located on different frequency bands are grouped into one cell group, and an indication <NUM> to an indication n are separately used to indicate information about actually sent SSBs of the plurality of cell groups. As shown in <FIG>, a frequency band corresponding to cells for which grouping is performed may be the same as or different from a frequency band of the serving cell/camping cell. In this design, cells are grouped based on patterns of actually sent SSBs and the like. Each cell group corresponds to one piece of information indicating actual sending of an SSB, and therefore measurement accuracy is relatively high, and configuration signaling overheads can be reduced.

In still another possible design, the N pieces of information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block include information about an actually sent synchronization/broadcast signal block of each of N frequency band groups, the M cells are located on K frequency bands, and the K frequency bands include the N frequency band groups, where N≤K, and K is a positive integer. In other words, the information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block includes N pieces of information, each piece of information indicates information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block of at least one cell, and the at least one cell belongs to one frequency band. As shown in <FIG>, cells on a plurality of different frequency bands from the frequency band of the serving cell/camping cell are grouped based on the frequency bands. To be specific, a cell (p, <NUM>) to a cell (p, n) on a frequency band fp are indicated by using an indication <NUM>; a cell (q, <NUM>) to a cell (q, n) on a frequency band fq are indicated by using an indication <NUM>; and so on. In this design, frequency bands are grouped based on similarity of patterns of actually sent SSBs of cells on the frequency bands and the like. Each frequency band group corresponds to one piece of information indicating actual sending of an SSB, and therefore measurement accuracy is relatively high, and configuration signaling overheads can be reduced.

With reference to the foregoing aspects, in still another possible design, the M cells are located on W frequency bands, and the W frequency bands include X frequency band groups, where X≤W; and each of the X frequency band groups includes at least one cell group, and a total quantity of cell groups included in the X frequency band groups is N, where N≥X, and X and W are positive integers. In other words, the information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block includes N pieces of information, each piece of information indicates information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block of at least one cell, and the at least one cell belongs to one cell set of one frequency band. As shown in <FIG>, first, a plurality of frequency bands different from that of the serving cell/camping cell are grouped into a frequency band group A, a frequency band group B, and a frequency band group C, and each frequency band group includes one or more frequency bands. Then, cell grouping is performed on a plurality of cells corresponding to each frequency band group. For example, cells in the frequency band group A are grouped into a cell group <NUM> and a cell group <NUM>, and cells in the frequency band group B and cells in the frequency band group C are also separately grouped into the cell group <NUM> and the cell group <NUM>. For each cell group, one piece of information indicating actual sending of an SSB is used to indicate information about an actually sent SSB of the cell group. In this design, frequency bands are grouped based on similarity of patterns of actually sent SSBs of cells on the frequency bands and the like, and cells in each frequency band group are grouped. Therefore, measurement accuracy is relatively high, and configuration signaling overheads can be reduced.

With reference to the foregoing aspects, in still another possible design, the N pieces of information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block include Y1 pieces of information indicating actual sending of synchronization/broadcast signal blocks of L1 cells in a first measurement window of a synchronization/broadcast signal block based measurement timing configuration SMTC and Y2 pieces of information indicating actual sending of synchronization/broadcast signal blocks of L2 cells in a second measurement window of an SMTC, a period of the first measurement window is different from a period of the second measurement window, and the M cells are located on a same frequency band, where N=Y1+Y2, and M=L1+L2.

First, an SMTC measurement window is described. In a schematic diagram of an SMTC measurement window shown in <FIG>, an SMTC includes at least one of the following parameters: a measurement periodicity (periodicity), measurement duration (duration), and an offset (offset).

Then, for a frequency band same as that of the serving cell/camping cell, the information indicating actual sending of an SSB is divided into a maximum of two SMTC measurement windows for indication; for a frequency band different from that of the serving cell/camping cell, each frequency band corresponds to one SMTC measurement window. In a schematic diagram of two SMTC measurement windows shown in <FIG>, a cell <NUM> to a cell <NUM> separately have different SS burst sets. A measurement period of the cell <NUM> is <NUM>, a measurement period of the cell <NUM> is <NUM>, a measurement period of the cell <NUM> is <NUM>, and a measurement period of the cell <NUM> is <NUM>. The measurement periods of the cell <NUM> and the cell <NUM> are greatly different from those of the cell <NUM> and the cell <NUM>. If the four cells are measured by using one SMTC measurement window, the terminal device needs to wait for an <NUM> measurement period. In this embodiment, the measurement periods of the cell <NUM> and the cell <NUM> are relatively close, and the network device instructs the terminal device to perform measurement in an SMTC measurement window <NUM> (the measurement period is <NUM>). The two measurement periods of the cell <NUM> and the cell <NUM> are relatively close, and the network device instructs the terminal device to perform measurement in an SMTC measurement window <NUM> (the measurement period is <NUM>).

In still another possible design, the Y1 pieces of information indicating actual sending of synchronization/broadcast signal blocks include information about an actually sent synchronization/broadcast signal block of each of Y1 groups, and the L1 cells include N groups; and the Y2 pieces of information indicating actual sending of synchronization/broadcast signal blocks include information about an actually sent synchronization/broadcast signal block of each of Y2 groups, and the L2 cells include the Y2 groups, where Y1, Y2, L1, and L2 are positive integers.

Specifically, as shown in <FIG>, two SMTC measurement windows: an SMTC measurement window <NUM> and an SMTC measurement window <NUM> are included, and a measurement period of die SMTC measurement window <NUM> (shown in a solid-line box) is less than a measurement period of the SMTC measurement window <NUM> (shown in a dashed-line box). Cell grouping may be performed on the L1 cells whose SSBs are sent in the SMTC measurement window <NUM>, and Y1 pieces of information indicating actual sending of an SSB are used to indicate information about actually sent SSBs of the L1 cells. Similarly, cell grouping may be performed on the L2 cells whose SSBs are sent in the SMTC measurement window <NUM>, and Y2 pieces of information indicating actual sending of an SSB are used to indicate information about actually sent SSBs of the L2 cells.

In this design, for the M cells that are located on a same frequency band as the serving cell/camping cell, two SMTC measurement windows are used to measure actually sent SSBs of cells in the windows. Correspondingly, the information indicating actual sending of an SSB also includes information indicating the actually sent SSBs of the cells in the two SMTC measurement windows. The information indicating the actually sent SSBs of the cells in the windows that is indicated by the two SMTC measurement windows may be information about actually sent SSBs of a plurality of cell groups.

The terminal device obtains indication information of an actually sent synchronization signal block of a neighboring cell, and the terminal device may detect the actually transmitted synchronization signal block in an SMTC window, without detecting synchronization signal blocks at all possible locations in the SMTC window. For example, it is assumed that the terminal device obtains information about actually sent <NUM> synchronization signal blocks and corresponding time locations, and the terminal device performs <NUM> times of detection. However, if the terminal device does not know the information, the terminal device simply performs <NUM> times of detection at all possible locations. If there are N neighboring cells, and <NUM> synchronization signal blocks of each of the N neighboring cells are actually sent, a workload ratio of detection by the terminal device is <NUM>×N/<NUM>×N. Power consumption of the terminal device is greatly reduced. Therefore, that the terminal device obtains indication information of an actually sent synchronization signal block is very important for radio resource management.

In the foregoing description of this embodiment, the grouping manner is used for description. Actually, grouping may not be performed, and a one-to-one or one-to-many manner is used.

According to the communication method provided in this embodiment of the present invention, the network device sends the information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block to the terminal device, and the terminal device does not need to detect all possibly sent synchronization/broadcast signal blocks, to improve synchronization/broadcast signal block detection efficiency. In addition, the quantity of pieces of information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block may be less than or equal to the quantity of measurement cells, to reduce overheads of sending the cell measurement configuration information.

When the terminal device is in different connection statuses, and the terminal device is in an intra-frequency (intra-frequency), inter-frequency (inter-frequency), or inter-RAT system, cell measurement configuration information and sent signaling vary. The following provides detailed description by using different implementations.

In an implementation, when the terminal device is in an idle state, the terminal device receives cell configuration information by using RMSI or OSI. Specifically, each piece of information in the cell configuration information is sent by using different system information (SI-a, SI-b, SI-c, and SI-d described below are merely used to distinguish between the different system information, but do not represent actual system information names):.

The inter-RAT system includes wireless communications systems such as UTRAN FDD and TDD, and GERAN and CDMA <NUM>.

In another implementation, when the terminal device is in an inter-frequency connected state, the terminal device receives cell configuration information by using RRC or DCI. The cell configuration information includes five measurement elements and the N pieces of information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block. The five measurement elements include a measurement object (measurement object), a reporting configuration (reporting configuration), a measurement identity (measurement ID), a measurement quantity configuration (quantity configuration), and a measurement gap (measurement gap). The measurement gap is optional. The N pieces of information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block may use the indication manners shown in <FIG>, <FIG>, and <FIG> to <FIG>.

The five measurement elements are specifically described as follows:.

For intra-frequency measurement and inter-frequency measurement, a measurement object is a single E-UTRA carrier frequency. Associated with the carrier frequency, an E-UTRAN can configure a list of cell-specific frequency offsets and a list of blacklisted cells. Blacklisted cells are not considered in event evaluation or measurement reporting.

For inter-RAT UTRA measurement, a measurement object is a set of cells on a single UTRA carrier frequency.

For inter-RAT GERAN measurement, a measurement object is a set of GERAN carrier frequencies.

When a measurement report condition is met, event reporting is triggered for the eUTRAN. Content includes a measurement ID, a measurement result of a serving cell (measurement values of RSRP and RSRQ), and a measurement result of a neighboring cell (optional).

Measurement reporting manner: In terms of trigger type, periodic trigger and event trigger are included.

Periodic trigger: Periodic sending is performed based on a reporting interval set by an eNB and a total quantity of reporting times.

ReportStrongestCells: A strongest cell is reported.

ReportCGI: A global cell identity is reported.

Event trigger: A measurement report is sent when a report condition is met.

Each measurement ID corresponds to one measurement object and one reporting configuration. A plurality of measurement IDs may correspond to a plurality of measurement objects and a same reporting configuration, or may correspond to one measurement object and a plurality of reporting configurations.

The measurement quantity configuration defines a measurement quantity and reporting types used for all event evaluation and related measurement. One filter can be configured per measurement quantity.

The measurement gap defines a time for a user to perform inter-frequency measurement (for inter-frequency measurement), including two parameters: a measurement gap repetition period and a measurement gap length.

In still another implementation, when the terminal device is in an intra-frequency connected state, the terminal device receives cell configuration information by using RRC or DCI. The cell configuration information includes five measurement elements and the N pieces of information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block. The N pieces of information indicating actual sending of a synchronization/broadcast signal block may use the indication manners shown in <FIG>, <FIG>, and <FIG>.

The method in the embodiments of the present invention is described in detail above, and an apparatus in the embodiments of the present invention is provided below.

<FIG> is a simplified schematic structural diagram of a network device. The network device includes a radio frequency signal receive/transmit and conversion part and a part <NUM>. The radio frequency signal receive/transmit and conversion part further includes a receiving unit part <NUM> and a sending unit part <NUM> (or may be collectively referred to as a transceiver unit). The radio frequency signal receive/transmit and conversion part is mainly configured to receive/transmit a radio frequency signal and perform conversion between the radio frequency signal and a baseband signal. The part <NUM> is mainly configured to perform baseband processing and control the network device or the like. The receiving unit <NUM> may also be referred to as a receiver, a receiving circuit, or the like, and the sending unit <NUM> may also be referred to as a transmitter, , a transmitting circuit, or the like. The part <NUM> is usually a control center of the network device, and may be usually referred to as a processing unit, and is configured to control the network device to perform steps performed by the network device in <FIG>. For details, refer to the description of the foregoing related parts.

The part <NUM> may include one or more boards. Each board may include one or more processors and one or more memories. The processor is configured to read and execute a program in the memory to implement a baseband processing function and control the network device. If a plurality of boards exist, the boards may be interconnected to improve a processing capability. In an optional implementation, the plurality of boards may share one or more processors, or the plurality of boards share one or more memories.

For example, in an embodiment, the sending unit <NUM> is configured to perform steps S201 to S203 in <FIG>.

In another optional implementation, with development of a system-on-chip (English: System-on-chip, SoC for short) technology, all or some functions of the part <NUM> to the part <NUM> may be implemented by using the SoC technology. For example, the all or some functions are implemented by a base station function chip. Components such as a processor, a memory, and an antenna interface are integrated into the base station function chip. A program of a related function of the base station is stored in the memory, and the processor executes the program to implement the related function of the base station. Optionally, the base station function chip can read a memory outside the chip to implement the related function of the base station.

<FIG> is a simplified schematic structural diagram of a terminal device. For ease of understanding and illustration, in <FIG>, for example, the terminal device is a mobile phone. 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 the 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 receive and transmit a radio frequency signal in an electromagnetic wave form. The input/output apparatus such as a touchscreen, a display screen, or a keyboard is mainly configured to: receive data entered 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 the processor needs to send data, the processor outputs a baseband signal to the radio frequency circuit after performing baseband processing on the to-be-sent data. After performing radio frequency processing on the baseband signal, the radio frequency circuit sends a radio frequency signal in an electromagnetic wave form by using the antenna. When data is to be sent to the terminal device, die radio frequency circuit receives a radio frequency signal by using 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, only one memory and one processor are shown in <FIG>. 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 independently of the processor, or may be integrated with the processor. This is not limited in this embodiment of this application.

In this embodiment of this application, the antenna and the radio frequency circuit that have a transceiver function may be considered as a receiving unit and a sending unit (or may be collectively referred to as a transceiver unit) of the terminal device, and the processor that has a processing function is considered as a processing unit of the terminal device. As shown in <FIG>, the terminal device includes a receiving unit <NUM>, a processing unit <NUM>, and a sending unit <NUM>. The receiving unit <NUM> may also be referred to as a receiver, a receiving circuit, or the like, and the sending unit <NUM> may also be referred to as a transmitter, a transmitting circuit, or the like. The processing unit may also be referred to as a processor, a processing board, a processing module, a processing apparatus, or the like.

For example, in an embodiment, the receiving unit <NUM> is configured to perform steps S201 to S203 in the embodiment shown in <FIG>.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one location, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units.

All or some of the foregoing embodiments may be implemented by using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When software is used to implement the embodiments, the embodiments may be implemented completely or partially in a form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on the computer, the procedure or functions according to the embodiments of the present invention are all or partially generated. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a dedicated computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatuses. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, or may be transmitted by using the computer readable storage medium. The computer instructions may be transmitted from a website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center in a wired manner (for example, by using a coaxial cable, an optical fiber, or a digital subscriber line (digital subscriber line, DSL)) or in a wireless (such as infrared, wireless, or microwave) manner. The computer readable storage medium may be any usable medium accessible by a computer, or a data storage device, such as a server or a data center, integrating one or more usable media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, or a magnetic tape), an optical medium (for example, a digital versatile disc (digital versatile disc, DVD), a semiconductor medium (for example, a solid-state drive (solid state disk, SSD)), or the like.

Claim 1:
A communication method performed by a network device, the method comprising:
• sending a synchronization/broadcast signal block of a serving cell of a terminal device or a camping cell of the terminal device to the terminal device (S <NUM>);
• sending t pieces of cell measurement configuration information to the terminal device (S <NUM>),
∘ wherein each piece among the t pieces of cell measurement configuration information corresponds to a different cell group among t cell groups,
∘ wherein each piece among the t pieces of cell measurement configuration information comprises:
▪ information indicating actual sending of synchronization/broadcast signal blocks of the cell group to which the piece of cell measurement configuration information corresponds to, and the information indicating actual sending of synchronization/broadcast signal blocks of the cell group to which the piece of cell measurement configuration information corresponds to contains information about an actually sent synchronization/broadcast signal block of the cell group to which the piece of cell measurement configuration information corresponds to,
∘ wherein n measurement cells of the terminal device are grouped into the t cell groups and each measurement cell among the n measurement cells is part of a different cell group among the t cell groups, wherein each cell group among the t cell groups contains at least one measurement cell and at least one cell group among the t cell groups contains at least two measurement cells, wherein t and n are positive integers,
∘ wherein the serving cell of the terminal device or the camping cell of the terminal device is either one measurement cell of the n measurement cells, or the n measurement cells are neighboring cells of the serving cell of the terminal device or the camping cell of the terminal device,
∘ wherein the n measurement cells are located on a same frequency band, and the frequency band on which the n measurement cells are located is the same as a frequency band on which the serving cell of the terminal device or the camping cell of the terminal device is located, and
• sending the synchronization/broadcast signal blocks of the n measurement cells to the terminal device (S <NUM>).