Patent Description:
Machine type communication (Machine Type Communication, MTC) is machine-to-machine communication (Machine to Machine, M2M), and is a technology of transmitting data from one terminal to another terminal. For wireless network access, an electronic device having a wireless access capability may directly access a wireless network by using a SIM/USIM card, or may access the wireless network by relaying by one gateway device in a manner such as Bluetooth or Zigbee, thereby implementing communication with an MTC server or another device.

MTC communication does not focus on data transmission rates, or multiband, multi-antenna, and full-duplex transmission, and instead, focuses on longer battery life of the terminal apparatus and lower costs of the terminal apparatus, that is, the terminal is required to implement low power consumption (Low power consumption) and low costs (Low cost). In an application scenario of a terminal of the MTC type, for example, a water meter or an electricity meter, a signal coverage strength of the terminal cannot meet a requirement of signal reception. Therefore, the MTC is enhanced, so that a base station and the terminal can support coverage enhancement (Coverage enhancement). A main method for implementing the coverage enhancement is to repeatedly send uplink signals or downlink signals for a plurality of times, and a success rate of data reception is improved through reception and combination for a plurality of times.

However, a larger quantity of times of repeated transmission indicates more consumed time-frequency resources. Based on a degree of the enhanced coverage, for example, based on the quantity of times of repeated transmission, the enhanced coverage is divided into different levels, and different enhanced coverage levels correspond to different quantities of times of repeated transmission. When an enhanced coverage level is relatively high, a larger quantity of times of repeated transmission are required, and more resources are consumed. Due to a relatively large deployment amount of terminals of the MTC type, network congestion is caused if a network accepts connection setup requests from all terminals in a short period of time. Document <CIT> discloses a network access method. The method comprises the following steps of dividing terminals into first class terminals and second class terminals according to a decision for distinguishing terminal classes when an access problem arises; accessing the first class terminals to a control station and accessing the second class terminals to the first class terminals. The network access technology provided by the invention can distinguish the terminals through the access method of the hierarchical network applied in a wireless communication system of the Internet of things, thereby realizing hierarchically accessing for the distinguished terminals. Document <CIT> discloses a communication device for handling system information which comprises a storage unit for storing instructions and a processing means coupled to the storage unit. The processing means is configured to execute the instructions stored in the storage unit. The instructions comprise receiving at least one legacy system information block (SIB) including at least one first configuration in a cell; receiving at least one enhanced coverage (EC) SIB including at least one second configuration in the cell; and applying the at least one second configuration instead of the at least one first configuration, when the communication device is a low complexity communication device or is configured to apply the at least one EC SIB instead of the at least one legacy SIB wherein the at least one first configuration and the at least one second configuration are transmitted for a same communication function. Document <NPL> proposes to introduce access barring criteria corresponding to the level of coverage extension required by a UE.

Embodiments of this application provide an access control method and an apparatus, to prevent terminal devices in a network from impacting on the network when the terminal devices simultaneously access the network, to reduce network congestion.

The embodiment of <FIG>, <FIG>, <FIG>, <FIG> fall under the scope of the claims. All the other embodiments do not fall under the scope of the claims but they constitute examples useful to better understand the invention.

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

To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the embodiments of this application clearer, the following clearly and completely describes the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of this application.

<FIG> is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of an access control method according to this application. As shown in <FIG>, the access control method of this application may specifically be applied to a long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE) communications system. A terminal device accesses a core network through an eNB (eNB), and a base station provides a radio resource management function, a function of organizing and sending a paging message, a function of organizing and sending a broadcast message, and the like. According to the access control method of this application, an access control mode may be configured for terminal devices within different coverage areas, to enable the terminal devices to access a network by using the access control mode configured by the base station, thereby preventing the terminal devices in the network from impacting on the network when the terminal devices simultaneously access the network, to reduce network congestion.

It should be noted that, the access control method of this application may also be applied to a <NUM> communications system, and correspondingly, the eNB is replaced with a DU or a CU. The access control method may further be applied to any suitable communications system, and the network device and the terminal device are a network side device and a terminal side device in the corresponding communications system.

The network device in this application may be specifically a wireless access device, for example, may be an evolved NodeB eNB, a distributed unit (Distributed Unit, DU), a centralized unit (Centralized Unit, CU), a NodeB NodeB, a gNB gNB in a future communications system or an access node in a Wi-Fi system. The specific technology used by the network device and a specific device form are not limited in the embodiments of this application.

The terminal device in this application may be specifically a wireless access device, for example, may also be referred to as a terminal (Terminal), user equipment (user equipment, UE), a mobile station (mobile station, MS), or a mobile terminal (mobile terminal, MT). The terminal device may be a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet computer (Pad), a computer having a wireless transmission and receiving function, a machine type communication (Machine Type Communication, MTC) terminal, a virtual reality (Virtual Reality, VR) terminal, an augmented reality (Augmented Reality, AR) terminal, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in self driving (self driving), a wireless terminal in a remote medical surgery (remote medical surgery), 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.

The MTC terminal is an electronic device that uses the MTC technology, and the electronic device supports low power consumption, low complexity and coverage enhancement. For example, the electronic device may be a wireless terminal in a smart grid (smart grid), such as an electricity meter, or may be a water meter. The MTC technology is a communications technology introduced by 3GPP in evolution of an LTE technology for the development of Internet of Things (Internet of Things, IoT), and is specifically used for communication of an electronic device with low power consumption and low costs.

The network device and the terminal device of this application may be deployed on land, including an indoor or outdoor device, a handheld device, or an in-vehicle device; or may be deployed on water; or may be deployed in air, for example, on an air plane, a balloon, or a man-made satellite. Application scenarios of the network device and the terminal device are not limited in the embodiments of this application.

The "coverage area" in this application is specifically an area in which a strength of a reference signal satisfies a condition. The strength of a reference signal of the network device measured by the terminal device in this area satisfies the condition, and the condition may be flexibly set based on a requirement. Selection under different conditions may divide the coverage area of the network device into one or more coverage areas, and the divided coverage area is used as an access control granularity, to perform access control on the terminal in the coverage area of the network device. For example, the condition may be a strength range of the reference signal, and when the strength of the reference signal measured by the terminal device is within the strength range, the coverage area is a coverage area of the terminal device. The strength of the reference signal may be specifically reference signal received power (Reference Signal Receiving Power, RSRP), may be reference signal received quality (Reference Signal Receiving Quality, RSRQ), or may be a reference signal to interference plus noise ratio (Signal Interference Noise Ratio, SINR), and certainly, or may be other measurement quantity. Examples are not listed one by one herein.

The reference signal (Reference Signal, RS) is a "pilot" signal, and is a known signal provided by a transmit end to a receive end for channel estimation or channel sounding. For example, a network device may serve as the transmit end, and a terminal device may serve as the receive end.

In an implementation, the "coverage area" of an MTC terminal device may be coverage areas corresponding to one or more coverage enhancement (Coverage enhancement, CE) levels (level).

The "access control mode" in this application may be used to instruct the terminal device to access a current cell, enter a preset access control process, camp on the current cell, skip accessing the current cell, skip entering the preset access control process, or skip camping on the current cell. It should be noted herein that, specific behaviors of the terminal device instructed by the access control mode may vary based on different scenarios or implementations, and this is not specifically limited herein. The preset access control process includes any one or more of an extended access barring EAB process, a service specific access control SSAC process, an access class barring ACB process, and an application specific access control ACDC process.

<FIG> is a flowchart of an access control method according to this application. This embodiment relates to a network device and a terminal device. As shown in <FIG>, the method in this embodiment may include the following steps.

Step <NUM>. The network device determines access control configuration information, where the access control configuration information is used to indicate an access control mode corresponding to at least one coverage area.

Specifically, the network device may determine the access control configuration information based on a load status of the network device, and a manner of determining the access control configuration information may be flexibly set based on an access control requirement of a network. The access control configuration information may be used to indicate access control modes corresponding to one or more coverage areas. The access control modes corresponding to different coverage areas may be the same, or may be different. The network device may configure the access control modes for terminal devices located within different coverage areas by using the access control configuration information, so that the terminal device may access the network by using the access control mode corresponding to the coverage to which the terminal device belongs to.

Step <NUM>. The network device sends the access control configuration information to the terminal device, and the terminal device receives the access control configuration information sent by the network device.

The access control configuration information is used to determine the access control mode of the terminal device. Specifically, the network device may send the access control configuration information in a broadcast manner, and a specific message that carries the access control configuration information may be flexibly set based on a requirement.

Step <NUM>. The terminal device determines a coverage area of the terminal device.

The terminal device determines the coverage area of the terminal device based on a measured signal strength of the network device.

Step <NUM>. The terminal device determines the access control mode of the terminal device based on the access control configuration information and the coverage area of the terminal device.

The access control mode of the terminal device may be any one of the access control modes described above. For specific descriptions, refer to the foregoing descriptions, and details are not described herein again. Then the terminal device performs corresponding operations based on the access control mode of the terminal device. In this way, the access control configuration information is sent to the terminal device, so that the terminal device determines the access control mode corresponding to the coverage area of the terminal device.

There may be two specific implementations in which the network device indicates the access control mode corresponding to the at least one coverage area by using the access control configuration information. One implementation is a direct indication manner. In the direct indication manner, the access control configuration information may include at least one piece of access control mode information, the access control mode information corresponds to the at least one coverage area, the access control mode information is used to indicate the access control mode corresponding to the at least one coverage area corresponding to the access control mode information, and the at least one piece of access control mode information is used to determine the access control mode of the terminal device. The other implementation is an indirect indication manner. In the indirect indication manner, the access control configuration information includes at least one probability factor, the at least one probability factor is used to determine an access probability of the terminal device, and the access probability is used to determine the access control mode of the terminal device.

The access control mode in this application may specifically be set in many different manners.

In an implementation, the access control mode includes accessing a current cell or entering a preset access control process. Specifically, the terminal device determines, based on the access control configuration information and the coverage area of the terminal device, the access control mode of the terminal device as accessing the current cell or entering the preset access control process. When the access control mode of the terminal device is accessing the current cell, the terminal device may request to access the network device. When the access control mode of the terminal device is entering the preset access control process, the terminal device may enter the preset access control process, to further determine whether the access is barred.

In another implementation, the access control mode includes entering the preset access control process, or skipping accessing the current cell. Specifically, the terminal device determines, based on the access control configuration information and the coverage area of the terminal device, the access control mode of the terminal device as skipping accessing the current cell or entering the preset access control process. When the access control mode of the terminal device is skipping accessing the current cell, the terminal device may start a timer, and the terminal device may notify, on an RRC layer, a non-access stratum (Non-access stratum, NAS) that accessing the network device is restricted. During the operation of the timer, on the RRC layer, the terminal device no longer requests to access the network device. When the access control mode of the terminal device is entering the preset access control process, the terminal device may enter the preset access control process, to further determine whether the access is barred.

In still another implementation, the access control mode includes accessing the current cell or skipping accessing the current cell. Specifically, the terminal device determines, based on the access control configuration information and the coverage area of the terminal device, the access control mode of the terminal device as accessing the current cell or skipping accessing the current cell. When the access control mode of the terminal device is accessing the current cell, the terminal device may request to access the network device. When the access control mode of the terminal device is skipping accessing the current cell, the terminal device may start a timer, and the terminal device may notify, on an RRC layer, a NAS layer that accessing the network device is restricted. During the operation of the timer, on the RRC layer, the terminal device no longer requests to access the network device.

In yet another implementation, the access control mode includes camping on the current cell or skipping camping on the current cell. Specifically, the terminal device determines, based on the access control configuration information and the coverage area of the terminal device, the access control mode of the terminal device as camping on the current cell or skipping camping on the current cell. When the access control mode of the terminal device is camping on the current cell, the terminal device may camp on the cell of the current network device, and request to access the network device. When the access control mode of the terminal device is skipping camping on the current cell, the terminal device reselects a cell of a network device to camp on, and no longer camps on the cell of the current network device.

It may be understood that, when the access control mode in any one of the foregoing implementations is indicated in the bit manner, a value "<NUM>" of the bit indicates one access control mode in any one of the foregoing implementations, and a value "<NUM>" of the bit indicates another access control mode. Description is provided by using an example in which the access control mode includes accessing the current cell or entering the preset access control process. The value "<NUM>" of the bit indicates accessing the current cell, and the value "<NUM>" of the bit indicates entering the preset access control process, or the value "<NUM>" of the bit indicates entering the preset access control process, and the value "<NUM>" of the bit indicates accessing the current cell.

The preset access control process may specifically include any one or more of an extended access barring (Extended Access Barring, EAB) process, a service specific access control (Service Specific Access Control, SSAC) process, an access class barring (Access Class Barring, ACB) process, and an application specific access control (Application specific access class barring, ACDC) process.

It should be noted that, specific steps included in the EAB process, the SSAC process, the ACB process, and the ACDC process in this application are not limited, and the steps may be the same as those in the prior art, or some adjustments or modifications may be made to the process in the prior art without changing implementable functions, so that a person skilled in the art may still determine the EAB process, the SSAC process, the ACB process, the ACDC process, and the like. This is not limited in this embodiment of this application.

Optionally, a specific implementation of step <NUM> may be that the network device broadcasts system information, and the system information carries the access control configuration information. The system information may be one of the following information types: a system information block SIB <NUM>, a system information block SIB <NUM>, a system information block SIB <NUM>, and a master information block MIB.

In this embodiment, the network device sends the access control configuration information to the terminal device, where the access control configuration information is used to indicate the access control mode corresponding to the at least one coverage area; and the terminal device determines the access control mode of the terminal device based on the access control configuration information and the coverage area of the terminal device, to perform corresponding operations by using the access control mode of the terminal device, thereby preventing the terminal devices in a network from impacting on the network when the terminal devices simultaneously access the network, to reduce network congestion.

The technical solution in the method embodiment shown in <FIG> is described in detail below by using several specific embodiments.

<FIG> is a flowchart of another access control method according to this application. In this embodiment, the access control configuration information is described in detail in a direct indication manner. As shown in <FIG>, the method in this embodiment may include the following steps.

Step <NUM>. A network device determines access control configuration information, where the access control configuration information includes at least one piece of access control mode information, and the access control mode information corresponds to at least one coverage area.

The access control configuration information may include the at least one piece of access control mode information, the access control mode information corresponds to the at least one coverage area, the access control mode information is used to indicate an access control mode corresponding to the at least one coverage area corresponding to the access control mode information, and the at least one piece of access control mode information is used to determine the access control mode of the terminal device. A correspondence between the coverage area and the access control mode information may be specifically: In one implementation, the coverage area is in a one-to-one correspondence with the access control mode information, that is, each coverage area corresponds to one piece of access control mode information; and in another implementation, the coverage area is in a many-to-one correspondence with the access control mode information, that is, a plurality of coverage areas correspond to one piece of the access control mode information. The correspondence may be flexibly set based on a requirement.

It may be understood that, in a one-to-one correspondence, each coverage area corresponds to one piece of access control mode information, so that access control modes of coverage areas are mutually independent, and access control modes of a plurality of coverage areas are set in a more flexible way. In a many-to-one correspondence, a plurality of coverage areas correspond to one piece of access control mode information, so that resources occupied by the access control configuration information may be reduced.

The at least one piece of access control mode information may be specifically a bitstring (bitstring), or may be a bitmap (bitmap), that is, one piece of access control mode information may be one bit. A length of the access control configuration information may be flexibly set based on an access control requirement. For example, a bit is set to correspond to one coverage area, then a quantity of bits of the access control configuration information is the same as a quantity of the coverage areas, and each bit is used to indicate an access control mode within one coverage area. Certainly, it may be understood that a bit may alternatively be set to correspond to two coverage areas. Examples are not listed one by one herein.

Certainly, it may be understood that, one piece of access control mode information may alternatively be a plurality of bits, for example, three bits, and every three bits are used to indicate the access control mode within the at least one coverage area. The quantity of bits may be flexibly set based on a requirement.

The at least one piece of access control mode information may be specifically a list, in other words, one piece of access control mode information may be a parameter carried in a line of the list, and the terminal device may determine the access control mode indicated by the line based on the parameter. For example, a line is set to correspond to one coverage area, then a quantity of lines in the list of the access control configuration information is the same as a quantity of the coverage areas, and each line is used to indicate an access control mode within one coverage area. Certainly, it may be understood that a line may alternatively be set to correspond to two coverage areas. Examples are not listed one by one herein.

In one implementation, the at least one coverage area is pre-configured at least one coverage area. The network device may pre-configure the at least one coverage area, in other words, the coverage area of the network device is divided in advance, and the terminal device is notified of a condition under which each coverage area meets a signal strength, so that the terminal device may determine, based on the signal strength measured by the terminal device, the coverage area of the terminal device.

In another implementation, the at least one coverage area is dynamically indicated by the network device to the terminal device. Specifically, the access control configuration information may further include coverage area information that is used to indicate the at least one coverage area, and the coverage area information is used to indicate the division of the coverage area to the terminal device. For example, the access control configuration information further includes n measurement values, and the n measurement values are used to indicate n+<NUM> coverage areas. By using n=<NUM> as an example, the access control configuration information further includes three measurement values, respectively, a1, a2, and a3, and the three measurement values indicate four coverage areas, respectively, a coverage area <NUM>, a coverage area <NUM>, a coverage area <NUM>, and a coverage area <NUM>, where a signal measurement result of the coverage area <NUM> is less than a1, a signal measurement result of the coverage area <NUM> is greater than or equal to a1 and is less than a2, a signal measurement result of the coverage area <NUM> is greater than or equal to a2 and is less than a3, and a signal measurement result of the coverage area <NUM> is greater than or equal to a4. The network device may flexibly adjust coverage area division in a network based on an access control requirement.

Optionally, the coverage area information may specifically include at least one RSRP value, for example, the a1, the a2, and the a3 are all RSRP values.

Step <NUM>. The terminal device obtains access control mode information corresponding to the coverage area of the terminal device from the at least one piece of access control mode information, and determines an access control mode of the terminal device based on the access control mode information corresponding to the coverage area of the terminal device.

For example, the access control configuration information is <NUM>, where the first digit corresponds to the coverage area <NUM>, the second digit corresponds to the coverage area <NUM>, and based on the correspondence, the fourth digit corresponds to the coverage area <NUM>. The terminal device belongs to the coverage area <NUM>, and then the terminal device obtains a value of the first digit of the access control configuration information, that is, <NUM>, and "<NUM>" indicates skipping camping on the current cell. Therefore, the terminal device determines the access control mode of the terminal device as skipping camping on the current cell.

In this embodiment, the network device sends the access control configuration information to the terminal device, where the access control configuration information includes the at least one piece of access control mode information; and the terminal device determines the access control mode of the terminal device based on the at least one piece of access control mode information and the coverage area of the terminal device, to perform corresponding operations by using the access control mode of the terminal device, thereby reducing load of the network device based on the coverage area, and preventing terminal devices in a network from impacting on the network when the terminal devices simultaneously access the network, to reduce network congestion.

<FIG> is a flowchart of another access control method according to this application. A difference between this embodiment and the embodiment shown in <FIG> lies in that, the access control configuration information may further include at least one probability factor, the at least one probability factor is used to determine an access probability of the terminal device, and the access probability is used to determine whether to perform the access control mode of the terminal device. As shown in <FIG>, the method in this embodiment may include the following steps.

Step <NUM>. A network device determines access control configuration information, where the access control configuration information includes at least one piece of access control mode information and at least one possibility factor.

For specific descriptions of the at least one piece of access control mode information, refer to step <NUM> in the embodiment shown in <FIG>, and details are not described herein again.

For specific descriptions of step <NUM>, refer to step <NUM> in the embodiment shown in <FIG>, and details are not described herein again.

Step <NUM>. The terminal device determines an access probability based on the coverage area corresponding to the terminal device and the at least one probability factor.

Step <NUM>. The terminal device determines, based on the access probability, whether to perform the access control mode.

One implementation of step <NUM> may be that: The terminal device obtains a first random number, and when the first random number is greater than the access probability, the terminal device determines to perform the access control mode, and when the first random number is not greater than the access probability, the terminal device determines to skip performing the access control mode. Another implementation of step <NUM> may be that: The terminal device obtains a first random number, and when the first random number is less than the access probability, the terminal device determines to perform the access control mode, and when the first random number is not less than the access probability, the terminal device determines to skip performing the access control mode.

One implementation in which the terminal device obtains the first random number may be that the terminal device generates the first random number, and another implementation may be that the terminal device obtains the first random number from another apparatus or module, and a specific implementation may be flexibly set based on a requirement.

Optionally, one implementation of step <NUM> may be that: The terminal device may determine the access probability based on reference signal received power RSRP measured by the terminal device and at least one probability factor. Optionally, the terminal device may determine the access probability based on a formula (<NUM>). The reference signal received power RSRP measured by the terminal device is related to the coverage area corresponding to the terminal device. <MAT> where
p is the access probability, q is the reference signal received power RSRP or reference signal received quality RSRQ measured by the terminal device, {kn,kn-<NUM>,kn-<NUM>,. ,k<NUM>} is the at least one probability factor, n+<NUM> is a quantity of the at least one probability factor, and n is any natural number.

In this embodiment, the network device sends the access control configuration information to the terminal device, where the access control configuration information includes the at least one piece of access control mode information and the at least one probability factor; and the terminal device determines the access control mode of the terminal device based on the at least one piece of access control mode information and the coverage area of the terminal device, and the terminal device further determines, based on the at least one probability factor, whether to perform the access control mode, thereby reducing load of the network device based on the coverage area, and preventing terminal devices in a network from impacting on the network when the terminal devices simultaneously access the network, to reduce network congestion. In addition, terminal devices within a same coverage area may implement different access control by using the at least one probability factor.

It should be noted that the RSRP used for calculation in this application may be replaced with RSRQ, SINR or another measurement quantity, and examples are not listed one by one herein.

<FIG> is a flowchart of another access control method according to this application. In this embodiment, access control configuration information is described in detail in an indirect indication manner. As shown in <FIG>, the method in this embodiment may include the following steps.

Step <NUM>. A network device determines access control configuration information, where the access control configuration information includes at least one probability factor.

The at least one probability factor is used to determine an access probability of a terminal device, and the access probability is used to determine an access control mode of the terminal device.

Step <NUM>. The terminal device determines the access probability based on the coverage area corresponding to the terminal device and the at least one probability factor.

In one implementation, the terminal device may determine the access probability based on reference signal received power RSRP measured by the terminal device and the at least one probability factor. Optionally, the terminal device may determine the access probability based on the formula (<NUM>). The reference signal received power RSRP measured by the terminal device is related to the coverage area corresponding to the terminal device.

Step <NUM>. The terminal device determines the access control mode of the terminal device based on the access probability.

One implementation of step <NUM> may be that: The terminal device obtains a second random number, and when the second random number is greater than the access probability, the terminal device determines that the access control mode is a first access control mode, and when the second random number is not greater than the access probability, the terminal device determines that the access control mode is a second access control mode. Another implementation of step <NUM> may be that: The terminal device obtains a second random number, and when the second random number is less than the access probability, the terminal device determines that the access control mode is a first access control mode, and when the second random number is not less than the access probability, the terminal device determines that the access control mode is a second access control mode.

The first access control mode and the second access control mode are any two access control modes described above. For example, the first access control mode may be accessing a current cell, and the second access control mode may be entering a preset access control process.

It should be noted that, the first access control mode and the second access control mode may be two access control modes set in the terminal device, and the terminal device may determine one of the two as the access control mode of the terminal device by using the access control configuration information sent by the network device.

One implementation in which the terminal device obtains the second random number may be that the terminal device generates the second random number, and another implementation may be that the terminal device obtains the second random number from another apparatus or module, and a specific implementation may be flexibly set based on a requirement.

In this embodiment, the network device sends the access control configuration information to the terminal device, where the access control configuration information includes the at least one probability factor; and the terminal device determines the access control mode of the terminal device based on the at least one probability factor and the coverage area of the terminal device, to perform corresponding operations by using the access control mode of the terminal device, thereby reducing load of the network device based on the coverage area, and preventing terminal devices in a network from impacting on the network when the terminal devices simultaneously access the network, to reduce network congestion.

<FIG> is a flowchart of another access control method according to this application. In this embodiment, based on any one of the foregoing embodiments, after the receiving, by the terminal device, the access control configuration information sent by the network device, performing corresponding operations by the terminal device is described in detail. Description is provided by using an example in which the access control mode is accessing a current cell or entering a preset access control process. As shown in <FIG>, the method in this embodiment may include the following steps.

The access control mode of the terminal device in this embodiment is specifically an access control mode corresponding to a coverage area of the terminal device.

Step <NUM>. The terminal device receives, on an RRC layer, a connection setup request sent by a NAS layer.

Correspondingly, the terminal device sends the connection setup request on the NAS layer.

Step <NUM>. The terminal device determines the access control mode of the terminal device on the RRC layer based on the access control configuration information and the coverage area of the terminal device.

When receiving the connection setup request sent by the NAS layer, the terminal device performs detection on the access control mode that is based on the coverage area. Specifically, the terminal device determines the access control mode corresponding to the coverage area of the terminal device based on the access control configuration information and the coverage area of the terminal device. The specific implementation may use a specific implementation of the step in any one of the foregoing embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

Step <NUM>. When the access control mode of the terminal device is accessing the current cell, the terminal device requests to access a network device on the RRC layer.

Step <NUM>. When the access control mode of the terminal device is entering a preset access control process, the terminal device performs the preset access control process.

In this embodiment, the network device sends the access control configuration information to the terminal device, and the terminal device determines the access control mode of the terminal device based on the access control configuration information and the coverage area of the terminal device, to perform corresponding operations by using the access control mode of the terminal device, thereby reducing load of the network device based on the coverage area, and preventing terminal devices in a network from impacting on the network when the terminal devices simultaneously access the network, to reduce network congestion.

<FIG> is a flowchart of still another access control method according to this application. In this embodiment, based on any one of the foregoing embodiments, after the receiving, by the terminal device, the access control configuration information sent by the network device, performing corresponding operations by the terminal device is described in detail. Description is provided by using an example in which the access control mode is skipping accessing a current cell or entering a preset access control process. As shown in <FIG>, the method in this embodiment may include the following steps.

Step <NUM>. When the access control mode of the terminal device is skipping accessing the current cell, the terminal device starts a timer, and notifies the NAS layer that access is barred, and during the operation of the timer, on the RRC layer, the terminal device no longer requests to access a network device.

The terminal device notifies, on the RRC layer, the NAS layer that the access is barred, and may further notify the NAS layer of a reason why the access is barred, and the reason why the access is barred may be limitation by the coverage area. When the timer expires, the RRC layer notifies the NAS layer that the barring is canceled, and the NAS layer may send a connection setup request to the RRC layer again.

Step <NUM>. When the access control mode of the terminal device is entering the preset access control process, the terminal device performs the preset access control process.

In addition, the access control mode in this embodiment is skipping accessing the current cell or entering the preset access control process, and terminal devices within some coverage areas are directly barred from access, thereby reducing load of the network device in a quicker and more effective way.

<FIG> is a flowchart of yet another access control method according to this application. In this embodiment, based on any one of the foregoing embodiments, after the receiving, by the terminal device, the access control configuration information sent by the network device, performing corresponding operations by the terminal device is described in detail. Description is provided by using an example in which the access control mode is accessing a current cell or skipping accessing the current cell. As shown in <FIG>, the method in this embodiment may include the following steps.

Step <NUM>. When the access control mode of the terminal device is accessing the current cell, the terminal device requests, on the RRC layer, to access the network device.

It should be noted that, the access control method in this embodiment may be performed after any one or more of the existing EAB process, SSAC process, ACB process, and ACDC process. Optionally, when a result of the foregoing existing detection processes is that access is allowed, the access control method of this embodiment is then performed.

<FIG> is a flowchart of yet another access control method according to this application. In this embodiment, based on any one of the foregoing embodiments, after the receiving, by the terminal device, the access control configuration information sent by the network device, performing corresponding operations by the terminal device is described in detail. Description is provided by using an example in which the access control mode is camping on a current cell or skipping camping on the current cell. As shown in <FIG>, the method in this embodiment may include the following steps.

Step <NUM>. When the access control mode of the terminal device is skipping camping on the current cell, the terminal device reselects a cell of a network device to camp on.

Step <NUM>. When the access control mode of the terminal device is camping on the current cell, the terminal device camps on the cell of the current network device, and requests to access the network device.

The access control configuration information in this embodiment may be specifically sent by using the SIB <NUM>. When the terminal device determines, based on the access control configuration information, the access control mode corresponding to the coverage area of the terminal device as skipping camping on the current cell, the terminal device may not read the SIB <NUM>, thereby reducing power consumption of the terminal device.

In this embodiment, the network device sends the access control configuration information to the terminal device, where the access control configuration information is used to indicate that the access control mode of the terminal device is camping on the current cell or skipping camping on the current cell. To be specific, by controlling whether the terminal device can camp, access of terminal devices within different coverage areas is controlled, thereby reducing load of the network device based on the coverage area, and preventing terminal devices in a network from impacting on the network when the terminal devices simultaneously access the network, to reduce network congestion.

<FIG> is a flowchart of yet another access control method according to this application. Based on any one of the foregoing embodiments, in this embodiment, the network device may further send an indication message to the terminal device, and the indication message is used to indicate that the access control configuration information is already updated or to be updated. As shown in <FIG>, the method in this embodiment may specifically include the following steps.

Step <NUM>. The network device sends the indication message to the terminal device, and the terminal device receives the indication message sent by the network device.

The indication message is used to indicate that the access control configuration information is already updated or to be updated, and the indication message may be carried in a paging message and/or system information.

In one implementation, after the access control configuration information of the network device changes, the network device sends the indication message to the terminal device, and the terminal device reads updated access control configuration information in the system information based on the indication message. In another implementation, when the access control configuration information of the network device is to be changed, the network device sends the indication message to the terminal device, and the terminal device re-reads updated access control configuration information in the system information based on the indication message. In this way, the power consumption of the terminal device is reduced.

Step <NUM>. The terminal device obtains updated access control configuration information based on the indication message.

Description is provided by using an example in which the indication message is carried in a paging message. When the access control configuration information is already updated or to be updated, the network device may send the paging message to the terminal device, and the paging message carries the indication message. After receiving the indication message, the terminal device learns of that the access control configuration information is already updated or to be updated, so that the terminal device re-reads the system information, to obtain the updated access control configuration information.

Optionally, in one implementation, the indication message includes one piece of bit information, and the one piece of bit information is used to indicate that the access control configuration information is already updated or to be updated. Correspondingly, one implementation of step <NUM> may be that: The terminal device obtains the updated access control configuration information based on the one piece of bit information.

In another implementation, the indication message includes M pieces of bit information, where M is a quantity of pieces of the at least one piece of access control mode information, each piece of bit information corresponds to one piece of access control mode information, and each piece of bit information is used to indicate that the access control mode information corresponding to the bit information is already updated or to be updated, where M is any integer. Correspondingly, one implementation of step <NUM> may be that: The terminal device obtains the bit information of the terminal device from the M pieces of bit information, and determines, based on the bit information of the terminal device, whether the access control mode information of the terminal device is already updated or to be updated; and the terminal device obtains the updated access control configuration information when the access control mode information of the terminal device is updated or to be updated, where the bit information of the terminal device is a bit corresponding to the access control mode information corresponding to the coverage area of the terminal device.

In still another implementation, the indication message includes N pieces of bit information, where N is a quantity of the at least one coverage area, each piece of bit information corresponds to one coverage area, and each piece of bit information is used to indicate that access control information corresponding to the coverage area corresponding to the bit information is already updated or to be updated, where N is any integer. Correspondingly, one implementation of step <NUM> may be that: The terminal device obtains the bit information corresponding to the coverage area of the terminal device from the N pieces of bit information, and determines, based on the bit information corresponding to the coverage area of the terminal device, whether the access control mode information corresponding to the coverage area of the terminal device is already updated or to be updated; and the terminal device obtains the updated access control configuration information when the access control mode information corresponding to the coverage area of the terminal device is already updated or to be updated.

In this embodiment, the network device sends the access control configuration information to the terminal device, where the access control configuration information is used to indicate the access control mode corresponding to the at least one coverage area; and the terminal device determines the access control mode of the terminal device based on the access control configuration information and the coverage area of the terminal device, to perform corresponding operations by using the access control mode of the terminal device, thereby preventing terminal devices in a network from impacting on the network when the terminal devices simultaneously access the network, to reduce network congestion. When the access control configuration information is already updated or to be updated, the network device may send the indication message to the terminal device, so that the terminal device promptly obtains the updated access control configuration information based on the indication message, to implement flexible adjustment on the access control mode of the terminal device in the network.

It may be understood that, the access control apparatus in this application may be a terminal device, or may be a network device, configured to implement the access control method in the foregoing embodiments.

It may be understood that, in the foregoing embodiments, the methods or the steps performed by the terminal device may alternatively be implemented by a chip inside the terminal device. The methods or the steps performed by the network device may alternatively be implemented by a chip inside the network device.

<FIG> is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device according to this application. As shown in <FIG>, the terminal device in this embodiment includes: a receiving module <NUM> and a processing module <NUM>.

The receiving module <NUM> is configured to receive access control configuration information sent by a network device, where the access control configuration information is used to indicate an access control mode corresponding to at least one coverage area.

The processing module <NUM> is configured to: determine a coverage area of the terminal device, and determine the access control mode of the terminal device based on the access control configuration information and the coverage area of the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the access control configuration information includes at least one piece of access control mode information, where the access control mode information corresponds to the at least one coverage area; and the processing module <NUM> is configured to: obtain access control mode information corresponding to the coverage area of the terminal device from the at least one piece of access control mode information, and determine the access control mode of the terminal device based on the access control mode information corresponding to the coverage area of the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the access control configuration information further includes at least one probability factor, and the processing module <NUM> is further configured to: determine an access probability based on the coverage area corresponding to the terminal device and the at least one probability factor; and determine, based on the access probability, whether to perform the access control mode.

In some embodiments, the processing module <NUM> is configured to: obtain a first random number, and when the first random number is greater than the access probability, determine to perform the access control mode, and when the first random number is not greater than the access probability, determine to skip performing the access control mode; or obtain a first random number, and when the first random number is less than the access probability, determine to perform the access control mode, and when the first random number is not less than the access probability, determine to skip performing the access control mode.

In some embodiments, the access control configuration information includes at least one probability factor, and the processing module <NUM> is configured to: determine an access probability based on the coverage area corresponding to the terminal device and the at least one probability factor; and determine the access control mode of the terminal device based on the access probability.

In some embodiments, the processing module <NUM> is configured to determine the access probability based on a formula <MAT> where
p is the access probability, q is reference signal received power RSRP or reference signal received quality RSRQ measured by the terminal device, {kn,kn-<NUM>,kn-<NUM>,. ,k<NUM>} is the at least one probability factor, and n is any natural number.

In some embodiments, the processing module <NUM> is configured to: obtain a second random number, and when the second random number is greater than the access probability, determine that the access control mode is a first access control mode, and when the second random number is not greater than the access probability, determine that the access control mode is a second access control mode; or obtain a second random number, and when the second random number is less than the access probability, determine that the access control mode is a first access control mode, and when the second random number is not less than the access probability, determine that the access control mode is a second access control mode.

In some embodiments, the access control mode includes accessing a current cell, entering a preset access control process, camping on the current cell, skipping accessing the current cell, skipping entering the preset access control process, or skipping camping on the current cell, where the preset access control process includes any one or more of an extended access barring EAB process, a service specific access control SSAC process, an access class barring ACB process, and an application specific access control ACDC process, and
the first access control mode and the second access control mode are any two access control modes.

In some embodiments, when the access control mode of the terminal device is the skipping accessing the current cell, the processing module <NUM> is further configured to: start a timer, and notify a non-access stratum that the current cell is barred from being accessed; or
when the access control mode of the terminal device is the skipping camping on the current cell, the processing module <NUM> is further configured to perform cell reselection.

In some embodiments, the receiving module <NUM> is further configured to receive an indication message sent by the network device, where the indication message is used to indicate that the access control configuration information is already updated or to be updated; and
the processing module <NUM> is further configured to obtain updated access control configuration information based on the indication message.

In some embodiments, the indication message includes one piece of bit information, and the processing module <NUM> is configured to: obtain updated access control configuration information based on the one piece of bit information; or.

Certainly, it may be understood that, the terminal device in this embodiment may further include a sending module <NUM>, configured to send information or a message to another device.

The terminal device in this embodiment may be configured to perform technical solutions performed by the terminal device or a chip of the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiments, the implementation principles and technical effects thereof are similar, and for functions of the modules, refer to corresponding descriptions in the method embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

<FIG> is a schematic structural diagram of another terminal device according to this application. As shown in <FIG>, the terminal device in this embodiment includes: a receiver <NUM> and a processor <NUM>.

In hardware implementation, the receiving module <NUM> may be the receiver <NUM> in this embodiment. The receiver <NUM> may alternatively correspond to a transceiver. It may be understood that the terminal device may further include a transmitter <NUM>. The sending module <NUM> may be the transmitter <NUM> in this embodiment, and the transmitter <NUM> may alternatively correspond to a transceiver. The processing module <NUM> may be embedded in or independent of the processor <NUM> of the terminal device in a hardware form.

The receiver <NUM> may include a necessary radio frequency communications device such as a frequency mixer. The processor <NUM> may include at least one of a central processing unit (Central Processing Unit, CPU), a digital signal processor (digital signal processor, DSP), a microcontroller (Microcontroller Unit, MCU), an application-specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), or a field programmable gate array (Field-Programmable Gate Array, FPGA).

Optionally, the terminal device in this embodiment may further include a memory <NUM>, the memory <NUM> is configured to store a program instruction, and the processor <NUM> is configured to invoke the program instruction in the memory <NUM> to perform the foregoing solutions.

The program instruction may be implemented in a form of a software functional unit and can be sold or used as an independent product, and the memory <NUM> may be a computer-readable storage medium in any form. Based on such an understanding, all or some of the technical solutions of this application may be implemented in a form of a software product. The software product includes several instructions for instructing a computer device, which may be specifically the processor <NUM>, to perform all or some of the steps of the terminal device in the embodiments of this application. The foregoing computer-readable 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.

The terminal device in this embodiment may be configured to perform technical solutions performed by the terminal device or a chip of the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiments, the implementation principles and technical effects thereof are similar, and for functions of the devices, refer to corresponding descriptions in the method embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

<FIG> is a schematic structural diagram of a chip according to this application. As shown in <FIG>, the chip in this embodiment may be a chip of a terminal device, and the chip in this embodiment may include: a memory <NUM> and a processor <NUM>. The memory <NUM> is communicatively connected to the processor <NUM>. It should be noted that the chip may further include another structure or unit that forms a chip, for example, an interface or a slot. This is not limited herein.

In hardware implementation, the receiving module <NUM>, the processing module <NUM>, and the sending module <NUM> may be embedded in or independent of the processor <NUM> of the chip in a hardware form.

The memory <NUM> is configured to store a program instruction, and the processor <NUM> is configured to invoke the program instruction in the memory <NUM>, to perform the foregoing solutions.

The chip in this embodiment may be configured to perform technical solutions performed by the terminal device or a chip inside the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiments of this application, the implementation principles and technical effects thereof are similar, and for functions of the modules, refer to corresponding descriptions in the method embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

<FIG> is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to this application. As shown in <FIG>, the network device in this embodiment may include: a processing module <NUM> and a sending module <NUM>.

The processing module <NUM> is configured to determine access control configuration information, where the access control configuration information is used to indicate an access control mode corresponding to at least one coverage area.

The sending module <NUM> is configured to send the access control configuration information to a terminal device, where the access control configuration information is used to determine the access control mode of the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the access control configuration information includes at least one piece of access control mode information, the access control mode information corresponds to the at least one coverage area, the access control mode information is used to indicate the access control mode corresponding to the at least one coverage area corresponding to the access control mode information, and the at least one piece of access control mode information is used to determine the access control mode of the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the access control configuration information includes at least one probability factor, the at least one probability factor is used to determine an access probability of the terminal device, and the access probability is used to determine the access control mode of the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the access control mode includes accessing a current cell, entering a preset access control process, skipping accessing the current cell, camping on the current cell, skipping camping on the current cell, or skipping entering the preset access control process, where
the preset access control process includes any one or more of an extended access barring EAB process, a service specific access control SSAC process, an access class barring ACB process, and an application specific access control ACDC process.

In some embodiments, the sending module <NUM> is further configured to send an indication message to the terminal device, where the indication message is used to indicate that the access control configuration information is already updated or to be updated, and the indication message is carried in a paging message and/or system information.

In some embodiments, the indication message includes one piece of bit information, and the one piece of bit information is used to indicate that the access control configuration information is already updated or to be updated; or.

Certainly, it may be understood that, the network device in this embodiment may further include a receiving module <NUM>, configured to send information or a message to another device.

The network device in this embodiment may be configured to perform technical solutions performed by the network device or a chip of the network device in the foregoing method embodiments, the implementation principles and technical effects thereof are similar, and for functions of the modules, refer to corresponding descriptions in the method embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

<FIG> is a schematic structural diagram of another network device according to this application. As shown in <FIG>, the network device in this embodiment includes: a processor <NUM> and a transmitter <NUM>.

In hardware implementation, the processing module <NUM> may be embedded in or independent of the processor <NUM> of the network device in a hardware form. The sending module <NUM> may be the transmitter <NUM> in this embodiment. The transmitter <NUM> may alternatively correspond to a transceiver. It may be understood that the network device may further include a receiver <NUM>, the receiving module <NUM> may be the receiver <NUM> in this embodiment, and the receiver <NUM> may alternatively correspond to a transceiver.

The transmitter <NUM> may include a necessary radio frequency communications device such as a frequency mixer. The processor <NUM> may include at least one of a CPU, a DSP, an MCU, an ASIC, or an FPGA.

Optionally, the network device in this embodiment may further include a memory <NUM>, the memory <NUM> is configured to store a program instruction, and the processor <NUM> is configured to invoke the program instruction in the memory <NUM>, to perform the foregoing solutions.

The network device in this embodiment may be configured to perform technical solutions performed by the network device or a chip of the network device in the foregoing method embodiments, the implementation principles and technical effects thereof are similar, and for functions of the devices, refer to corresponding descriptions in the method embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

<FIG> is a schematic structural diagram of another chip according to this application. As shown in <FIG>, the chip in this embodiment may be a chip of the network device, and the chip in this embodiment may include: a memory <NUM> and a processor <NUM>. The memory <NUM> is communicatively connected to the processor <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may include, for example, at least one of a CPU, a DSP, an MCU, an ASIC, or an FPGA. It should be noted that the chip may further include another structure or unit that forms a chip, for example, an interface or a slot. This is not limited herein.

The program instruction may be implemented in a form of a software functional unit and can be sold or used as an independent product, and the memory may be a computer-readable storage medium in any form. Based on such an understanding, all or some of the technical solutions of this application may be implemented in a form of a software product. The software product includes several instructions for instructing a computer device, which may be specifically the processor <NUM>, to perform all or some of the steps of the network device in the embodiments of this application. The foregoing computer-readable storage medium includes any medium that can store program code, such as a USB flash drive, a removable hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disc.

The chip in this embodiment may be configured to perform technical solutions performed by the network device or a chip inside the network device in the foregoing method embodiments of this application, the implementation principles and technical effects thereof are similar, and for functions of the modules, refer to corresponding descriptions in the method embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

It should be noted that, module division in the embodiments of this application is an example and is merely a logical function division. During actual implementation, another division manner may be used. Functional modules in the embodiments of this application may be integrated into one processing module, or each of the modules may exist alone physically, or two or more modules are integrated into one module. The integrated module may be implemented in a form of hardware, or may be implemented in a form of a software functional module.

When the integrated module is implemented in the form of a software functional module and sold or used as an independent product, the integrated module 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 all or some of the technical solutions may be implemented in a form of a software product. The 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 network device, or the like) or a processor (processor) 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 ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disc.

Claim 1:
An access control method, comprising:
receiving, by a terminal device, access control configuration information sent by a network device, wherein the network device is a wireless access device and the access control configuration information comprises a reference signal receiving power, RSRP value, and the RSRP value indicates a first coverage area and a second coverage area, and a first access control mode corresponding to the first coverage area is different from a second access control mode corresponding to the second coverage area, wherein the first access control mode comprises skipping accessing the current cell and the second access control mode comprises entering a preset access control process, wherein the preset access control process comprises an extended access barring, EAB, process;
determining(<NUM>), by the terminal device, a coverage area of the terminal device, the determining (<NUM>) comprises:
measuring, by the terminal device, a strength of a reference signal, and
determining, by the terminal device, the coverage area of the terminal device, wherein the strength range of the reference signal corresponds to the coverage area of the terminal device; and
determining(<NUM>), by the terminal device, an access control mode of the terminal device based on the access control configuration information and the coverage area of the terminal device;
wherein the access control mode of the terminal device corresponds to the coverage area of the terminal device.