WO2023241463A1 - 一种通信方法及通信装置 - Google Patents

一种通信方法及通信装置 Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2023241463A1
WO2023241463A1 PCT/CN2023/099260 CN2023099260W WO2023241463A1 WO 2023241463 A1 WO2023241463 A1 WO 2023241463A1 CN 2023099260 W CN2023099260 W CN 2023099260W WO 2023241463 A1 WO2023241463 A1 WO 2023241463A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
terminal device
cell
switching
handover
message
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Ceased
Application number
PCT/CN2023/099260
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English (en)
French (fr)
Inventor
顾志方
娄崇
胡星星
张宏卓
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Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
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Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Huawei Technologies Co Ltd filed Critical Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority to EP23823031.2A priority Critical patent/EP4529099A4/en
Publication of WO2023241463A1 publication Critical patent/WO2023241463A1/zh
Priority to US18/980,255 priority patent/US20250113273A1/en
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
Ceased legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
    • H04W36/08—Reselecting an access point
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
    • H04W36/08—Reselecting an access point
    • H04W36/087—Reselecting an access point between radio units of access points

Definitions

  • the present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular, to a communication method and communication device.
  • the network equipment may switch the terminal equipment from one cell to another in order to maintain the continuity of the communication service of the terminal equipment.
  • the handover process may be called cell handover, that is, during the cell handover process, the network device switches the terminal device from the source cell to the target cell.
  • network equipment may be logically divided into centralized units (central unit, CU) and distributed units (distributed unit, DU) , that is, network equipment can be implemented through a CU and DU separated architecture.
  • the architecture of separating CU and DU is also compatible with the process of cell handover.
  • the CU obtains a measurement report sent by the terminal device.
  • the measurement report includes the measurement information of the source cell and the measurement information of one or more neighboring cells, so that the CU serves as the decision-making party for cell handover. That is, the CU can determine whether the terminal device needs to perform cell switching based on the measurement report, and when the CU determines that the terminal device needs to perform cell switching, the CU sends a cell switching command to the terminal device.
  • DU may also serve as the deciding party for cell switching, that is, DU may also send a cell switching command to the terminal device. This will result in that, when both CU and DU send cell switching commands to the terminal device, the terminal device may receive different cell switching commands, resulting in unclear switching behavior of the terminal device, which may lead to cell failure of the terminal device. Switch failed.
  • the present application provides a communication method and communication device, which are used to avoid cell handover failures caused by unclear handover behavior of terminal equipment, so as to improve the reliability of the cell handover process.
  • the first aspect of this application provides a communication method.
  • the method is executed by a DU, or the method is executed by some components in the DU (such as a processor, a chip or a chip system, etc.), or the method can also be executed by a device that can realize all Or the logic module or software implementation of some DU functions.
  • the communication method is described by taking the example that the communication method is executed by DU.
  • the DU after the DU sends the first switching message to the terminal device, the DU receives the second switching message from the CU.
  • the first switching message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch from the source cell to the first target cell based on the first method.
  • the first method includes a cell switching method based on L1 and/or L2; the second switching message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch from the source cell to a second target cell based on the second method, the second method includes a cell switching method based on L3 The cell switching mode; the DU determines the cell switching mode of the terminal equipment as the first mode or the second mode.
  • DU initiates L1 and/or L2 cell handover to the terminal device based on the first handover message.
  • the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is one of the first mode and the second mode, This allows the DU to subsequently initiate a cell switching process based on one of the methods.
  • the DU decision-making method causes the DU to initiate based on one of the first method and the second method.
  • the cell handover process avoids cell handover failures caused by unclear handover behavior of terminal equipment, thereby improving the reliability of the cell handover process.
  • L1 refers to layer 1 (layer 1, L1), where layer 1 can be called a physical (physical, PHY) layer;
  • L2 refers to layer 2 (layer 2, L2 ), where layer 2 includes the media access control (media access control, MAC) layer.
  • L3 refers to layer 3 (layer 3, L3), where layer 3 may be called a radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) layer.
  • L2 also includes a radio link control (RLC) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, and a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer.
  • RLC radio link control
  • PDCP packet data convergence protocol
  • SDAP service data adaptation protocol
  • the first target cell indicated by the first handover message and the second target cell indicated by the second handover message may be the same cell; or, the first target cell indicated by the first handover message and the second target cell indicated by the second handover message may be the same cell.
  • the second target cell indicated by the handover message may not be the same cell, and this application does not limit this.
  • the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the first mode; the first condition includes at least one of the following: the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the first mode.
  • the second switching message includes priority information indicating the second switching message, and the DU determines that the priority indicated by the priority information is lower than the preset priority; or, the DU determines that the terminal device is based on the first method.
  • the switching is successful; or, the DU determines to receive the first response message from the terminal device and the first response message is used to indicate that the first switching message is successfully received.
  • the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the first mode.
  • the DU can discard the second switching message or ignore the second switching.
  • the cell switching process initiated based on the second method is not performed through messages or other methods to avoid failure of the cell switching initiated based on the first method.
  • the preset priority can be the priority of the first method, the preset priority can also be the preconfigured priority, or the preset priority can also be implemented in other ways, which will not be done here. limited.
  • the DU may perform a cell switching process corresponding to the first mode with the terminal device based on the previously sent first switching message. , so that the terminal equipment performs a cell switching process and switches to the first target cell.
  • the DU after the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the first mode, the DU sends at least one of the following to the CU: indicating that the terminal device successfully based on the first mode.
  • Information indicating that the cell handover has been completed in one way information indicating that the terminal equipment has successfully switched to the first target cell based on the first way, information indicating that the second handover message has been discarded, and information indicating that the DU has not sent the third handover message.
  • the third switching message is used to instruct the terminal equipment to switch from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second manner.
  • the DU can perform a cell switching process corresponding to the first mode with the terminal device based on the previously sent first switching message. and indicate to CU through at least one of the above information.
  • the CU is caused to clarify that the terminal device performs cell switching based on the first manner based on at least one of the above information, and/or the CU is made clear based on the at least one piece of information above that the terminal device does not perform cell switching based on the second manner.
  • the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal equipment is the second mode
  • the second condition includes at least one of the following: the DU determines that the cell switching mode is the second mode.
  • the second handover message includes first indication information indicating that cell handover is performed preferentially based on the second manner; or, the DU determines that the second handover message includes priority information for indicating the second handover message, And the DU determines that the priority indicated by the priority information is higher than the preset priority; or, the DU determines that the terminal device fails to switch based on the first mode; or, the DU determines that the second response message from the terminal device is received. And the second response message is used to indicate that the first switching message has not been successfully received; or, the DU determines that a response message to the first switching message from the terminal device has not been received.
  • the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the second mode.
  • the DU does not perform the cell switching process initiated based on the first mode to avoid The cell handover initiated based on the second method fails.
  • the method further includes: the DU sending a third switching message to the terminal device, and the third switching message is sent to the terminal device.
  • the third handover message is used to instruct the terminal equipment to switch from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second manner.
  • the DU when the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the second mode, the DU sends a message to the terminal device instructing the terminal device to switch from the source cell to the second mode based on the second mode.
  • the third handover message of the target cell causes the terminal device to perform a cell handover process corresponding to the second mode based on the third handover message.
  • the third handover message includes: configuration information of the second target cell; or incremental configuration information of the second target cell and second indication information, the second The instruction information is used to instruct the terminal device to perform incremental configuration of the incremental configuration information of the second target cell based on the configuration information of the source cell.
  • the third handover message sent by the DU to the terminal device may include configuration information related to the second target cell, so that after the terminal device receives the third handover message, the terminal device can, based on the related configuration information of the second target cell, The configuration information is switched to the second target cell.
  • the terminal device may also obtain the configuration information related to the second target cell through other methods. For example, during communication with the source cell, the terminal device receives configuration information from a neighboring cell of the source cell, and the neighboring cell includes the second target cell. For another example, during the communication process between the terminal device and the CU, the terminal device receives configuration information of multiple cells from the CU, and the multiple cells include the second target cell.
  • the DU after the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the second mode, the DU sends at least one of the following to the CU: indicating that the terminal device successfully switches based on the third mode. Information indicating that the terminal device has successfully switched to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the DU can perform a cell switching process corresponding to the second mode between the third switching message and the terminal device, and through at least one of the above This item of information is indicated to the CU.
  • the CU is caused to know that the terminal device performs cell switching based on the second method based on at least one of the above information.
  • the second aspect of this application provides a communication method, which is executed by a centralized unit (CU), or the method is executed by some components in the CU (such as a processor, a chip or a chip system, etc.), or This method can also be implemented by a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the CU functions.
  • the communication method is described by taking the communication method being executed by the CU as an example.
  • the CU sends a second switching message, the second switching message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second method, the second method includes the L3-based cell switching method;
  • the CU receives at least one of the following from the DU: information indicating that the terminal equipment successfully completed cell switching based on the first method, information indicating that the terminal equipment successfully switched to the first target cell based on the first method, information indicating that the third
  • the information that the second handover message was discarded indicates that the DU did not send the third handover message, and the third handover message is used to instruct the terminal equipment to handover from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second method; or , the CU receives at least one of the following from the DU: information indicating that the terminal equipment successfully performs cell switching based on the second method, and information indicating that the terminal equipment successfully switches to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the first method includes an L1-based cell switching method and/or an L
  • the DU may have previously initiated the L1 and/or L2 cell switching process to the terminal device based on the first switching message.
  • DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal equipment is one of the first mode and the second mode, and DU directly or indirectly obtains the one determined by DU through at least one of the above information. way.
  • the DU decision-making method causes the DU to initiate based on one of the first method and the second method.
  • the cell handover process avoids cell handover failures caused by unclear handover behavior of terminal equipment, thereby improving the reliability of the cell handover process.
  • the CU may clarify that the terminal device performs cell switching based on the second method based on at least one of the above information, or the CU may clarify based on the at least one piece of information above that the terminal device performs cell switching based on the first method, or the CU may clarify based on the at least one of the above information This item of information clearly indicates that the terminal equipment did not perform cell switching based on the second method.
  • the third aspect of the present application provides a communication method.
  • the method is executed by a terminal device, or the method is executed by some components in the terminal device (such as a processor, a chip or a chip system, etc.), or the method can also be executed by a capable device. Logic modules or software implementations that implement all or part of the terminal equipment functions.
  • the communication method is described by taking the example that the communication method is executed by a terminal device. In this method, after the terminal device receives the first switching message, the terminal device receives the third switching message. The first switching message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch from the source cell to the first target cell based on the first method.
  • the first switching message includes a cell switching method based on L1 and/or a cell switching method based on L2; the third switching message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second method; the terminal device switches based on the third method.
  • the second method is used to switch to the second target cell.
  • the DU determines When the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the second mode, the terminal device will receive a third handover message for instructing the terminal device to switch from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second mode, and the terminal device is based on the second mode.
  • the third handover message executes the cell handover process in the second mode.
  • the DU decision-making method is used to make the DU based on the second method.
  • the second method initiates the cell handover process to avoid cell handover failure caused by unclear handover behavior of the terminal equipment, thereby improving the reliability of the cell handover process.
  • the terminal device when the terminal device receives the third handover message, the terminal device determines that it has not switched to the first target cell, and the terminal device switches to the second target based on the second method.
  • the cell includes: the terminal equipment determines to stop switching to the first target cell and the terminal equipment switches to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the terminal equipment when the terminal equipment receives the third handover message from the DU, the terminal equipment determines to handover to the second target cell based on the second method. To this end, when the terminal device has not completed switching to the first target cell, the terminal device will terminate the process of switching to the first target cell to ensure that the terminal device can switch to the second target cell based on the second method. target cells while avoiding unnecessary overhead.
  • the third handover message includes an identifier of the source cell.
  • the terminal device receives the third handover message, when the terminal device determines that it has been handed over to the first target cell, the The terminal equipment switching to the second target cell based on the second method includes: the terminal equipment switching from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the terminal equipment determines to handover to the second target cell based on the second method. For this reason, when the terminal device has currently completed switching to the first target cell, the terminal device will switch from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second method, rather than switching from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the first target cell is handed over to the second target cell to avoid handover failure.
  • the terminal device after the terminal device receives the third handover message, when the terminal device determines that cell handover with the first target cell has not been performed, the terminal device switches to The second target cell includes: the terminal equipment determines to stop switching to the first target cell and the terminal equipment switches to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the terminal equipment determines to handover to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the terminal device may switch to the second target cell based on the second method without performing the process of handover to the first target cell, so as to This ensures that the terminal equipment can switch to the second target cell based on the second method while avoiding unnecessary overhead.
  • the third handover message includes configuration information of the second target cell; or, the third handover message includes incremental configuration information of the second target cell and a second indication.
  • the second instruction information is used to instruct the terminal device to perform incremental configuration of the incremental configuration information of the second target cell based on the configuration information of the source cell.
  • the third handover message sent by the terminal device received from the DU may include the configuration information related to the second target cell, so that after the terminal device receives the third handover message, the terminal device can perform the switching based on the second target cell.
  • the relevant configuration information is switched to the second target cell.
  • the terminal device may also obtain the configuration information related to the second target cell through other methods. For example, during communication with the source cell, the terminal device receives configuration information from a neighboring cell of the source cell, and the neighboring cell includes the second target neighborhood. For another example, during the communication process between the terminal device and the CU, the terminal device receives configuration information of multiple cells from the CU, and the multiple cells include the second target cell.
  • the fourth aspect of this application provides a communication method, which is executed by a distributed unit (DU), or the method is executed by some components in the DU (such as a processor, a chip or a chip system, etc.), or The method can also be implemented by a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the DU functions.
  • the communication method is described by taking the example that the communication method is executed by DU.
  • the DU sends a first message to the CU.
  • the first message is used to request that the terminal device be switched to the first target cell based on a first method.
  • the first method includes an L1-based cell switching method and/or an L2-based cell switching method.
  • the DU receives the first indication information from the CU, the first indication information is used to indicate whether to allow the terminal equipment to be switched to the first target cell; when the first indication information indicates that the terminal equipment is allowed to be switched to the first target cell, When the device switches to the first target cell, the DU sends a first switching message to the terminal device, and the first switching message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch to the first target cell based on the first method.
  • the DU receives the first indication information from the CU to indicate whether the terminal equipment is allowed to be switched to the first target cell, and when the first indication information indicates that the terminal equipment is allowed to be switched to the first target cell, When there is a target cell, the DU sends the first handover message to the terminal equipment.
  • the CU makes the decision to make it clear whether to initiate the cell switching process based on the first method, and the CU indicates that it is allowed to initiate the cell switching of the terminal device based on the first method.
  • the CU will not initiate the cell switching process of the terminal equipment based on the second method, that is, the DU initiates the cell switching process based on the first switching message. Therefore, compared with the situation where both CU and DU send cell switching commands to the terminal equipment, the CU decision-making method can enable the DU to clarify whether to initiate the cell switching process of the terminal equipment based on the first method, thus avoiding unclear switching behavior of the terminal equipment. The resulting cell handover failure occurs to improve the reliability of the cell handover process.
  • the first target cell corresponds to the DU
  • the method further includes: determining the terminal after the DU After the device successfully switches to the first target cell, the DU sends at least one of the following: information indicating that the terminal device successfully completes cell switching based on the first method, or indicating that the terminal device successfully switches to the first target cell based on the first method. Information about the first target cell.
  • the DU can perform a cell switching process corresponding to the first mode based on the first switching message and the terminal device, and through at least the above A piece of information indicates to the CU, so that the CU determines that the terminal device successfully switches to the first target cell based on the first method based on the at least one piece of information.
  • the first target cell corresponds to the DU
  • the method further includes: determining the terminal after the DU After the device fails to switch to the first target cell, the DU sends at least one of the following: indicating that the terminal device fails to switch based on the first method, or indicating that the terminal device fails to switch to the first target cell based on the first method. .
  • the DU can perform a cell switching process corresponding to the first mode based on the first switching message and the terminal device, and through at least the above A piece of information indicates to the CU, so that the CU determines that the terminal equipment fails to switch to the first target cell based on the at least one piece of information.
  • the method further includes: the DU receiving a second switching message from the CU, the second switching message being used to instruct the terminal device to switch to the second target cell based on the second method, the third The second method includes a cell switching method based on L3; the DU sends the third switching message, and the third switching message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the DU when the first indication information indicates that the terminal device is not allowed to be switched to the first target cell, the DU will also receive an instruction from the CU to switch the terminal device to the second target cell based on the second method. a second handover message of the target cell, and the DU sends a third handover message to the terminal device for instructing the terminal device to switch to the second target cell based on the second manner.
  • the CU determines whether to initiate a cell switching process based on the first method, and the CU indicates that the terminal device is not allowed to initiate a cell based on the first method.
  • the CU will not initiate the cell handover process of the terminal equipment based on the first method, and after receiving the second handover message from the CU, initiate the cell handover process of the terminal equipment based on the second method.
  • the third handover message includes: configuration information of the second target cell; or incremental configuration information of the second target cell and second indication information, the second The instruction information is used to instruct the terminal device to perform incremental configuration of the incremental configuration information of the second target cell based on the configuration information of the source cell.
  • the third handover message sent by the DU to the terminal device may include configuration information related to the second target cell, so that after the terminal device receives the third handover message, the terminal device can, based on the related configuration information of the second target cell, The configuration information is switched to the second target cell.
  • the terminal device may also obtain the configuration information related to the second target cell through other methods. For example, during communication with the source cell, the terminal device receives configuration information from a neighboring cell of the source cell, and the neighboring cell includes the second target cell. For another example, during the communication process between the terminal device and the CU, the terminal device receives configuration information of multiple cells from the CU, and the multiple cells include the second target cell.
  • the first indication information is carried in a second message, and the second message is used to indicate successful reception of the first message.
  • the first indication information sent by the CU can be carried in a second message used to indicate successful reception of the first message, so as to save overhead.
  • the first indication information may also be carried in other messages different from the second message.
  • the fifth aspect of this application provides a communication method, which is executed by a centralized unit (CU), or the method is executed by some components in the CU (such as a processor, a chip or a chip system, etc.), or This method can also be implemented by a logic module or software that can realize all or part of the CU functions.
  • the communication method is described by taking the communication method being executed by the CU as an example.
  • the CU receives a first message, which is used to request that the terminal device be switched to the first target cell based on a first method.
  • the first method includes an L1-based cell switching method and/or an L2-based cell.
  • Handover mode The CU sends first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device is allowed to be switched to the first target cell.
  • the first indication information sent by the CU to the DU is used to indicate whether the terminal device is allowed to be switched to the first target cell, so that when the first indication information indicates that the terminal device is allowed to be switched to the first target cell Small zone, the DU sends the first handover message to the terminal device.
  • the CU makes the decision to make it clear whether to initiate the cell switching process based on the first method, and the CU indicates that it is allowed to initiate the cell switching of the terminal device based on the first method.
  • the CU will not initiate the cell switching process of the terminal equipment based on the second method, that is, the DU initiates the cell switching process based on the first switching message. Therefore, compared with the situation where both CU and DU send cell switching commands to the terminal equipment, the CU decision-making method can enable the DU to clarify whether to initiate the cell switching process of the terminal equipment based on the first method, thus avoiding unclear switching behavior of the terminal equipment. The resulting cell handover failure occurs to improve the reliability of the cell handover process.
  • the method further includes: the CU receiving at least one of the following: information indicating that the terminal device successfully completes cell switching based on the first method, or indicating that the terminal device successfully completes cell switching based on the first method.
  • the first mode switches to the information of the first target cell.
  • the DU can perform a cell switching process corresponding to the first mode based on the first switching message and the terminal device, and through at least the above A piece of information indicates to the CU, so that the CU determines that the terminal device successfully switches to the first target cell based on the first method based on the at least one piece of information.
  • the method further includes: the CU receiving at least one of the following: instructing the terminal device to fail to switch based on the first mode, or instructing the terminal device to switch based on the first mode. Failed to reach the first target cell.
  • the DU can perform a cell switching process corresponding to the first mode based on the first switching message and the terminal device, and through at least the above A piece of information indicates to the CU, so that the CU determines that the terminal equipment fails to switch to the first target cell based on the at least one piece of information.
  • the method when the first indication information indicates that the terminal device is not allowed to be switched to the first target cell, the method further includes: the CU sending a second switching message to the DU, The second switching message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch to the second target cell based on the second method, and the second method includes the L3-based cell switching method.
  • the CU when the first indication information indicates that the terminal device is not allowed to be switched to the first target cell, the CU will also send an instruction to the DU to switch the terminal device to the second target cell based on the second method. a second handover message, and the DU sends a third handover message to the terminal device for instructing the terminal device to switch to the second target cell based on the second manner.
  • the CU determines whether to initiate a cell switching process based on the first method, and the CU indicates that the terminal device is not allowed to initiate a cell based on the first method.
  • the CU will not initiate the cell handover process of the terminal equipment based on the first method, and after receiving the second handover message from the CU, initiate the cell handover process of the terminal equipment based on the second method.
  • the first indication information is carried in a second message, and the second message is used to indicate successful reception of the first message.
  • the first indication information sent by the CU can be carried in a second message used to indicate successful reception of the first message, so as to save overhead.
  • the first indication information may also be carried in other messages different from the second message.
  • the sixth aspect of the present application provides a communication method.
  • the method is executed by a terminal device, or the method is executed by some components in the terminal device (such as a processor, a chip or a chip system, etc.), or the method can also be executed by a capable device. Logic modules or software implementations that implement all or part of the terminal equipment functions.
  • the communication method is described by taking the example that the communication method is executed by a terminal device.
  • the terminal device receives a first switching message, which is used to instruct the terminal device to switch from the source cell to the first target cell based on a first method.
  • the first method includes an L1-based cell switching method and/or Or based on the L2 cell switching method; the terminal equipment receives a third switching message, the third switching message is used to instruct the terminal equipment to switch from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second method; the terminal equipment determines the cell switching method This is the first way or the second way.
  • the terminal device when the network device initiates the L1 and/or L2 cell switching process to the terminal device based on the first switching message, and the network device initiates the L3 cell switching process to the terminal device based on the third switching message, the terminal device The cell switching mode is determined to be one of the first mode and the second mode, so that the terminal device can subsequently initiate a cell switching process based on one of the modes.
  • the terminal equipment when the DU makes a cell switching decision result based on the first method and the CU makes a cell switching decision result based on the second method, the terminal equipment makes a decision based on one of the first method and the second method. This method initiates the cell handover process to avoid cell handover failure caused by unclear handover behavior of the terminal equipment, so as to improve the reliability of the cell handover process.
  • the terminal device determines that the cell switching mode is the first mode or the second mode: after the terminal device determines that the cell it is currently in corresponds to the handover message received later.
  • the terminal device determines that the cell switching mode is the cell switching mode corresponding to the handover message received first; or, when the terminal device determines that the cell it is currently in is the same as the source cell corresponding to the handover message received later, the terminal device determines that the cell switching mode is the same as the source cell corresponding to the handover message received later.
  • the terminal equipment determines that the cell switching mode is the cell switching mode corresponding to the subsequently received switching message.
  • the terminal device may receive the first switching message and the third switching message respectively.
  • the switching message received first is the first switching message and the switching message received later is the third switching message, or , in this implementation, the switching message received first is the third switching message and the switching message received later is the first switching message.
  • the terminal device can determine whether the cell it is currently in is the same as the source cell corresponding to the handover message received later. Moreover, when the two are different, the terminal equipment determines that it has switched to the target cell corresponding to the handover message received first, that is, the terminal equipment determines that the cell switching method is the cell switching method corresponding to the handover message received first; when they are the same In the case where the terminal device does not switch to the target cell corresponding to the handover message received first, that is, the terminal device determines that the cell switching mode is the cell switching mode corresponding to the handover message received later.
  • the terminal device determines that the cell switching mode is the second mode, and the method further includes: the terminal device switches from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second mode. .
  • the terminal device always believes that it is necessary to perform the cell switching mode corresponding to the second mode, that is, regardless of whether the first switching message is received or not, the terminal device needs to switch from the source based on the second mode after receiving the third switching message.
  • the cell is switched to the second target cell.
  • the method further includes: the terminal device starts a timer; and before the timer times out, the terminal device receives the third Switch message when the terminal device discards the third switching message; or when the terminal device receives the third switching message after the timer times out, the terminal device switches to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the terminal device can also start the timer after receiving the first switching message, and receive the message before the timer times out.
  • the terminal device determines that there is no need to perform cell handover based on the third handover message, that is, the terminal device determines to discard the third handover message; after the timer
  • the terminal device determines that it is necessary to perform cell switching based on the third switching message, that is, the terminal device switches to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the terminal device determines that the cell switching mode is the first mode or the second mode including: after the terminal device successfully switches to the first target cell based on the first mode, The terminal equipment discards the third handover message; or, after the terminal equipment fails to switch to the first target cell based on the first method, the terminal equipment switches to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the terminal device preferentially executes the cell handover process corresponding to the first mode, and the terminal device switches based on the first mode. After successfully switching to the first target cell, the terminal equipment discards the third handover message; or, after the terminal equipment fails to switch to the first target cell based on the first method, the terminal equipment switches to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the second target cell is used to improve the success rate of cell handover.
  • the terminal device determines that the cell switching mode is the first mode or the second mode including: after the terminal device successfully switches to the second target cell based on the second mode, The terminal equipment discards the first handover message; or, after the terminal equipment fails to switch to the second target cell based on the second method, the terminal equipment switches to the first target cell based on the first method.
  • the terminal device preferentially executes the cell switching process corresponding to the second mode, and the terminal device switches based on the second mode. After successfully switching to the second target cell, the terminal equipment discards the first handover message; or, after the terminal equipment fails to switch to the second target cell based on the second method, the terminal equipment switches to the second target cell based on the first method.
  • the first target cell is used to improve the success rate of cell handover.
  • the terminal device determines that the cell switching mode is the first mode or the second mode, including: the terminal device switches to the second target cell based on the second mode.
  • the terminal device first parses the first handover message corresponding to the underlying protocol stack and then parses the downlink data packet.
  • the third handover message corresponding to the high-level protocol stack.
  • the terminal device first performs cell handover based on the first handover message, and after the terminal device parses and obtains the third handover message, it terminates the handover process corresponding to the first mode and executes the second handover message.
  • the switching process corresponding to the mode enables the terminal device to switch to the second target cell based on the second mode.
  • the method further includes: the terminal device sending a first measurement result, the first measurement result being the L1 measurement result or the L3 measurement result, wherein the L1 measurement result is the first measurement result.
  • the L3 measurement result is the basis for the judgment of the first method
  • the L3 measurement result is the basis for the judgment of the second method.
  • the network device makes a cell handover decision based on the measurement results reported by the terminal device, that is, L1 and/or L2 handover is based on the L1 measurement results, and L3 handover is based on the L3 measurement results.
  • L1 and/or L2 handover is based on the L1 measurement results
  • L3 handover is based on the L3 measurement results.
  • the terminal device can report only the L1 measurement result and the L3 measurement result.
  • One of the measurement results is a way to avoid cell handover failures caused by unclear handover behavior of terminal equipment caused by network equipment issuing multiple handover messages, thereby improving the reliability of the cell handover process.
  • the terminal device sending the first measurement result includes: when the terminal device determines that it is in the preset area, the terminal device sends the L1 measurement result or the L3 measurement result.
  • the preset area is the signal coverage area of one or more cells corresponding to the preset cell identifier, or the preset area is a preset synchronization signal block (SS/PBCH).
  • SS/PBCH preset synchronization signal block
  • the signal coverage area of one or more SSBs corresponding to block, SS/PBCH block or SSB) index is not limited here.
  • the terminal device when communicating in a preset area, the terminal device sends one of the L1 measurement results and the L3 measurement results to avoid the network device issuing multiple handover messages causing unclear handover behavior of the terminal device.
  • the resulting cell handover failure occurs to improve the reliability of the cell handover process.
  • a seventh aspect of the present application provides a communication device that can implement the method in any possible implementation manner of the above-mentioned first to sixth aspects.
  • the device includes corresponding units or modules for performing the above method.
  • the units or modules included in the device can be implemented by software and/or hardware.
  • the communication device includes a processing unit and a communication unit, wherein the communication unit may include a receiving unit and/or a sending unit, and the communication unit may be used to send and receive signals to implement the communication between the communication device and other devices.
  • the processing unit can be used to perform some internal operations of the communication device.
  • the functions performed by the processing unit and the communication unit may correspond to the operations involved in any of the possible implementations of the above-mentioned first to sixth aspects.
  • the communication device includes a processor and may also include a transceiver, the transceiver is used to send and receive signals, and the processor uses the transceiver to complete the above first to sixth aspects.
  • the communication device may further include one or more memories, the memories being used to couple with the processor, and the memories may store computer programs or instructions that implement the functions involved in the first aspect.
  • the processor can execute the computer program or instructions stored in the memory. When the computer program or instructions are executed, the communication device implements any of the possible implementations of the first to sixth aspects. Methods.
  • the communication device includes a processor, and the processor can be coupled to a memory.
  • the memory may store computer programs or instructions that implement the functions involved in any of the possible implementations of the above-mentioned first to sixth aspects.
  • the processor can execute the computer program or instructions stored in the memory. When the computer program or instructions are executed, the communication device implements any of the possible implementations of the first to sixth aspects. Methods.
  • the communication device includes a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the processor is configured to communicate with other devices through the interface circuit and perform any possible one of the above-mentioned first to sixth aspects. Methods in the implementation.
  • An eighth aspect of the embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium that stores one or more computer-executable instructions.
  • the processor executes the method described in the above first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or the processor executes the method described in the above second aspect or the third aspect.
  • a ninth aspect of the embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product (or computer program) that stores one or more computers.
  • the computer program product includes programs or instructions. When the programs or instructions in the computer program product are executed by the processor
  • the processor executes the above-mentioned third aspect or any one of the possible implementation methods of the third aspect, or the processor executes the above-mentioned fourth aspect or any one of the possible implementation methods of the fourth aspect, or the processor executes the above-mentioned third aspect.
  • the fifth aspect or any one of the possible implementation methods of the fifth aspect, or the processor executes the above-mentioned sixth aspect or any one of the possible implementation methods of the sixth aspect.
  • a tenth aspect of the embodiment of the present application provides a chip system.
  • the chip system includes at least one processor for supporting a communication device to implement the functions involved in the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect, Or, it is used to support the communication device to implement the functions involved in the above-mentioned second aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect, or to support the communication device to implement the above-mentioned third aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the third aspect.
  • the chip system may also include a memory for storing necessary program instructions and data of the first communication device.
  • the chip system may be composed of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices.
  • the chip system further includes an interface circuit that provides program instructions and/or data to the at least one processor.
  • the eleventh aspect of the embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which includes the DU in the above first aspect and any implementation thereof, the CU in the above second aspect and any implementation thereof, and the above third aspect. Aspects and terminal devices in any of their implementations.
  • the communication system includes the DU in the above fourth aspect and any implementation manner thereof, and the CU in the above fifth aspect and any implementation manner thereof.
  • the communication system includes the terminal device in the above-mentioned sixth aspect and any implementation manner thereof.
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the communication system provided by this application.
  • FIG. 2 is another schematic diagram of the communication system provided by this application.
  • FIG. 3a is a schematic diagram of the cell switching method involved in this application.
  • FIG. 3b is another schematic diagram of the cell switching method provided by this application.
  • FIG. 3c is another schematic diagram of the cell switching method provided by this application.
  • FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the communication method provided by this application.
  • FIG. 5a is another schematic diagram of the communication method provided by this application.
  • FIG. 5b is another schematic diagram of the communication method provided by this application.
  • Figure 5c is another schematic diagram of the communication method provided by this application.
  • FIG. 5d is another schematic diagram of the communication method provided by this application.
  • Figure 5e is another schematic diagram of the communication method provided by this application.
  • FIG. 6 is another schematic diagram of the communication method provided by this application.
  • FIG. 7 is another schematic diagram of the communication method provided by this application.
  • FIG 8a is another schematic diagram of the communication method provided by this application.
  • Figure 8b is another schematic diagram of the communication method provided by this application.
  • FIG. 9 is another schematic diagram of the communication device provided by this application.
  • FIG. 10 is another schematic diagram of the communication device provided by this application.
  • FIG 11 is another schematic diagram of the communication device provided by this application.
  • Figure 12 is another schematic diagram of the communication device provided by this application.
  • Figure 13 is another schematic diagram of the communication device provided by this application.
  • Terminal equipment The terminal equipment involved in the embodiments of this application may also be called a terminal, user equipment (user equipment, UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc.
  • Terminal devices can be mobile phones, tablets, computers with wireless transceiver functions, virtual reality terminal devices, augmented reality terminal devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in driverless driving, wireless terminals in remote surgery, and smart grids. Wireless terminals in transportation security, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, wearable devices, etc.
  • the embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology and specific equipment form used by the terminal equipment.
  • the device used to implement the functions of the terminal device may be a terminal device; it may also be a device that can support the terminal device to implement the function, such as a chip system.
  • the device may be installed in the terminal device or in conjunction with the terminal device. Match the equipment used.
  • the chip system may be composed of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices.
  • the terminal device may also be a terminal device in a communication system evolved after the fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) communication system (such as a sixth generation (6th generation, 6G) communication system, etc.) or a public land mobile network that will evolve in the future.
  • Terminal equipment in public land mobile network, PLMN, etc.
  • Network equipment It can be equipment in a wireless network.
  • network equipment can be a radio access network (RAN) node (or equipment) that connects terminal equipment to a wireless network, and can also be called a base station.
  • RAN equipment are: base station gNB (gNodeB), transmission reception point (TRP), evolved node B (evolved Node B, eNB), radio network controller (radio network) in the 5G communication system controller, RNC), Node B (Node B, NB), home base station (e.g., home evolved Node B, or home Node B, HNB), base band unit (base band unit, BBU), or wireless fidelity, Wi-Fi) access point AP, etc.
  • the network device may include a centralized unit (CU) node, a distributed unit (DU) node, or a RAN device including a CU node and a DU node.
  • CU centralized unit
  • DU distributed unit
  • RAN device including a CU node and a
  • FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the communication system in this application.
  • a network device 101 and six terminal devices are shown as an example.
  • the six terminal devices are terminal device 1, terminal device 2, terminal device 3, terminal device 4, terminal device 5, terminal device 6, etc. .
  • terminal device 1 is a smart teacup
  • terminal device 2 is a smart air conditioner
  • terminal device 3 is a smart gas pump
  • terminal device 4 is a vehicle
  • terminal device 5 is a mobile phone
  • terminal device 6 is The printer is used as an example.
  • the indication information (or configuration information) sending entity may be a network device.
  • the indication information (or configuration information) receiving entity may be terminal equipment 1 - terminal equipment 6.
  • the network equipment and terminal equipment 1 - terminal equipment 6 form a communication system.
  • terminal equipment 1 - terminal equipment 6 Uplink data can be sent to the network device, and the network device needs to receive the uplink data sent by terminal device 1-terminal device 6.
  • the network device can send instruction information (or configuration information) to the terminal device 1-6.
  • UE4-UE6 can also form a communication system.
  • terminal device 5 serves as a network device, that is, an indication information (or configuration information) sending entity
  • terminal device 4 and terminal device 6 serve as terminal devices, that is, an indication information (or configuration information) receiving entity.
  • the terminal device 5 sends instruction information (or configuration information) to the terminal device 4 and the terminal device 6 respectively, and receives the uplink data sent by the terminal device 4 and the terminal device 6; correspondingly Accordingly, terminal device 4 and terminal device 6 receive the instruction information (or configuration information) sent by terminal device 5 and send uplink data to terminal device 5.
  • LTE long term evolution
  • NR new radio
  • 5G 5G
  • 6G 6G
  • the communication system includes network equipment and terminal equipment.
  • the network device may switch the terminal device from one cell to another in order to maintain the continuity of the communication service of the terminal device. sex.
  • the handover process may be called cell handover, that is, during the cell handover process, the network device switches the terminal device from the source cell to the target cell.
  • the communication system shown in Figure 1 may be 5G.
  • beamforming technology has been widely used in 5G.
  • the transmitter uses beamforming to guide each signal to the best path of the terminal receiver, improving signal strength and avoiding signal interference, thereby improving communication quality.
  • the terminal device moves, it needs to go through the beam management process to select the beam direction with better signal quality for communication.
  • This process can be called beam switching and/or cell switching.
  • FIG. 2 shows an architecture in which CU and DU are separated.
  • the network device logically divides a CU and one or more DUs. Each DU is connected to the CU through the F1 logical interface.
  • operations related to the radio link control (RLC) layer, media access control (MAC) layer and physical (physical, PHY) layer are handled by DU; radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) layer, service data adaptation protocol (service data adaptation protocol, SDAP) layer and packet data convergence protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) layer-related operations are processed by the CU.
  • RLC radio link control
  • MAC media access control
  • PHY physical
  • RRC radio resource control
  • service data adaptation protocol service data adaptation protocol
  • SDAP packet data convergence protocol
  • PDCP packet data convergence protocol
  • the process of cell handover can also be compatible.
  • the CU can serve as the decision-making party for cell handover.
  • the CU obtains a measurement report sent by the terminal device.
  • the measurement report includes the measurement information of the source cell and the measurement information of one or more neighboring cells, so that the CU serves as the decision-making party for cell handover. That is, the CU can determine whether the terminal device needs to perform cell switching based on the measurement report, and when the CU determines that the terminal device needs to perform cell switching, the CU sends a cell switching command to the terminal device.
  • this implementation process may also be called L3 handover.
  • L3 handover refers to that handover-related operations are mainly performed at the RRC layer.
  • the measurement report sent by the terminal device is based on the result of the physical layer measurement. It is further filtered by L3 to obtain the L3 measurement result, and is sent to the network device through an RRC message (L3 message), so that the RRC layer of the network device reads the L3 measurement result.
  • the RRC layer of the network device is located on the CU, that is, the CU receives the L3 measurement results, and the CU determines whether to perform cell handover based on the L3 measurement results.
  • the handover command is passed through RRC messages are sent to the terminal device.
  • L3 handover is applicable to: (1) cross-CU cell handover (that is, the source cell and the target cell belong to different CUs); (2) cross-DU cell handover within the same CU (that is, the source cell and the target cell Belonging to different DUs under the same CU); (3) Cell handover within the same DU (that is, the source cell and the target cell belong to the same DU).
  • a certain cell (including a source cell or a target cell) belongs to a certain network device (including a CU or DU), and it can be expressed that the cell is managed by the network device, or it can also be expressed as The network device provides services for the community, and may also be expressed in other terms, which are not limited here.
  • a certain cell (including the source cell or target cell) does not belong to a certain network device (including CU or DU), it can also be stated that the cell is not managed by the network device, or it can also be expressed that other network devices other than the network device provide the service for the cell Service can also be expressed in other terms, which are not limited here.
  • Step 1 The terminal device sends a measurement report (MeasurementReport) to the source DU.
  • MeasurementReport a measurement report
  • step 1 after the downlink user data (Downlink user data) from the CU is received by the source DU, the source DU sends it to the terminal device.
  • the source DU sends it to the CU.
  • Step 2 The source DU performs an uplink RRC message transmission (UL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER) message to the CU, which is used to carry the measurement report received by the source DU in step 1.
  • UL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER uplink RRC message transmission
  • steps 2a and 2b may also be performed between the CU and the source DU.
  • step 2a the CU sends a UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST message to the source DU.
  • the UE context modification request message is used to request the configuration information of the terminal device; in step 2b, the source DU sends the UE context modification to the CU.
  • Response (UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION RESPONSE) message the UE context modification response message carries the configuration information of the terminal device.
  • Step 3 The CU sends a UE CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST message to the target DU.
  • the CU makes a decision based on the measurement report received in step 2, and determines that the terminal equipment needs to perform cell handover, and switches from the source cell in the source DU to the target cell in the target DU.
  • the CU indicates the CU's decision result to the target DU through the UE context configuration request message.
  • Step 4 The target DU sends a UE CONTEXT SETUP RESPONSE message to the CU.
  • Step 5 The CU sends a UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST message to the source DU.
  • Step 6 The source DU sends an RRC reconfiguration (RRCReconfiguration) message to the terminal device.
  • RRC reconfiguration RRCReconfiguration
  • the RRC reconfiguration message includes configuration information provided by the target cell in the target DU for the terminal equipment.
  • the source DU sends a downlink data delivery status (Downlink Data Delivery Status) message to the CU.
  • Downlink Data Delivery Status Downlink Data Delivery Status
  • Step 7 The source DU sends a UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION RESPONSE message to the CU.
  • Step 8 The terminal device initiates a random access procedure (Random Access Procedure) to the target DU.
  • Random Access Procedure Random Access Procedure
  • the target DU sends a downlink data delivery status (Downlink Data Delivery Status) message to the CU.
  • Downlink Data Delivery Status Downlink Data Delivery Status
  • the CU sends the downlink user data (Downlink User Data) to the target DU.
  • the downlink user data Downlink User Data
  • Step 9 After the terminal device successfully accesses the target cell in the source DU in step 8, the terminal device sends RRC Reconfiguration Complete information to the target DU.
  • the target DU sends it to the terminal device.
  • the target DU sends it to the CU.
  • Step 10 The target DU sends an uplink RRC message transmission (UL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER) message to the CU.
  • UL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER uplink RRC message transmission
  • Step 11 After the CU receives the uplink RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER message in step 10, the CU sends a UE CONTEXT RELEASE Command message to the source DU in step 11.
  • Step 12 After the source DU receives the UE CONTEXT RELEASE Command message in step 11, the source DU sends the UE context release completion (UE CONTEXT RELEASE COMPLETE) message to the CU in step 12.
  • UE CONTEXT RELEASE COMPLETE UE context release completion
  • the terminal device can implement cell switching based on the interaction of L3 messages (including RRC reconfiguration messages, RRC reconfiguration completion messages, etc.).
  • L3 messages including RRC reconfiguration messages, RRC reconfiguration completion messages, etc.
  • DU may serve as the deciding party for cell handover.
  • the DU obtains a measurement report sent by the terminal device.
  • the measurement report includes the measurement information of the source cell and the measurement information of one or more neighboring cells, so that the DU serves as the decision party for cell handover. That is, the DU can determine whether the terminal equipment needs to perform cell switching based on the measurement report, and when the DU determines that the terminal equipment needs to perform cell switching, the DU sends a cell switching command to the terminal equipment.
  • the implementation process may also be called L1 and/or L2 switching.
  • L1 refers to layer 1 (layer 1, L1), where layer 1 can be called the physical (PHY) layer;
  • L2 refers to layer 2 (layer 2, L2), where layer 2 includes the media interface.
  • Access control media access control, MAC
  • L2 also includes a radio link control (RLC) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, and a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer.
  • RLC radio link control
  • PDCP packet data convergence protocol
  • SDAP service data adaptation protocol
  • L2 mainly refers to the MAC layer.
  • L1 and/or L2 handover refers to handover-related operations mainly performed at the physical layer and MAC layer.
  • the terminal device passes the L1 measurement results through physical layer control signaling (such as physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) signaling) is sent to the network device.
  • the physical layer of the network device reads the L1 measurement results and sends the handover decision based on the measurement results to the terminal device through L1 and/or L2 signaling.
  • the L1 and/or L2 signaling can It is a message carried on the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), or it can also be a MAC control element (MAC control element, MAC CE), etc.
  • PUCCH physical uplink control channel
  • MAC control element MAC control element
  • L1 and/or L2 handover is applicable to: (1) cross-DU cell handover within the same CU (that is, the source cell and the target cell belong to different DUs under the same CU); (2) within the same DU Cell handover (that is, the source cell and the target cell belong to the same DU).
  • Step 1 The CU requests a message from the DU.
  • the request message is used to request the configuration information of the candidate cell.
  • the DU sends the first configuration information to the CU.
  • the first configuration information includes the configuration information provided by N (N is an integer greater than or equal to 1) candidate cells for the terminal equipment.
  • the N candidate cells are determined by the DU. Cells capable of performing L1 and/or L2 handovers.
  • Step 3 The CU sends the second configuration information to the DU.
  • the second configuration information includes the configuration information provided for the terminal device by the M (M is an integer less than or equal to N) candidate cells selected by the CU among the N candidate cells.
  • the communication process between the terminal equipment and the DU equipment is subdivided into cells 1 (i.e. source cell). , denoted as Cell#1) and cell 2 (that is, the target cell, denoted as Cell#2), the communication process is described. It can be understood that when the terminal device communicates with Cell 1, it can be understood that the terminal device communicates with the network device where Cell 1 is located, and the communication resources used are the communication resources of Cell 1.
  • Step 4 The DU sends the configuration information of the candidate cells to the terminal device through Cell#1.
  • the candidate cells are part or all of the M candidate cells.
  • Step 5 After the terminal device performs beam measurement, the terminal device sends a beam measurement report to Cell#1, where the beam measurement report contains the beam measurement results of the active cell and/or at least one candidate cell.
  • Step 6 Cell#1 sends a layer 1/layer 2 switching command to the terminal device.
  • Step 7 The terminal device uses the configuration information of the target cell received in step 4 to perform cell handover to the target cell (i.e., Cell #2).
  • the target cell i.e., Cell #2.
  • the L1 and/or L2 handover process may be successful, and the DU may determine that the terminal device handover is successful through at least one of the following methods, including:
  • the terminal device responds to the L1 and/or L2 handover command received in step 6, for example, the DU receives an acknowledgment (ACK) message corresponding to the message sent from the terminal device;
  • ACK acknowledgment
  • (b) DU receives an uplink message sent from the terminal equipment using the communication resources of the target cell;
  • the DU After the DU sends a downlink message based on the communication resources of the target cell, the DU receives an ACK message from the terminal device for correctly receiving the downlink message on the communication resources of the target cell.
  • the L1 and/or L2 handover process may fail, and the DU may determine the terminal device handover failure through at least one of the following methods, including:
  • the terminal device responds to the L1 and/or L2 handover command received in step 6, for example, the DU receives the negative acknowledgment (NACK) message corresponding to the message sent from the terminal device;
  • NACK negative acknowledgment
  • the terminal device does not respond to the L1 and/or L2 handover command received in step 6, for example, the DU does not receive the response message (including ACK message and NACK message) corresponding to the message sent from the terminal device;
  • the DU After the DU sends a downlink message based on the communication resources of the target cell, the DU does not receive a response message (including an ACK message and a NACK message) from the terminal device to the downlink message on the communication resources of the target cell.
  • a response message including an ACK message and a NACK message
  • the terminal device can implement cell switching based on the interaction of L1 and/or L2 messages (including beam measurement reports, L1/L2 handover commands, etc.).
  • the cell handover process can include the implementation process of L3 handover and L1 and/or L2 handover.
  • the two applicable scenarios are different, and the network equipment may be configured for the same terminal device.
  • L1 and/or L2 handover and L3 handover are different, and the network equipment may be configured for the same terminal device.
  • the DU in the network equipment may issue L1 and/or L2 handover commands.
  • the CU in the network device issues an L3 handover command.
  • the decision of L1 and/or L2 handover is executed by DU
  • the decision of L3 handover is executed by CU. Since the decision subject is not the same device, conflict of decision results may occur.
  • the decision result of DU indicates that the terminal equipment switches from cell 1 to cell 2 based on the cell handover method of L1 and/or L2 handover
  • the decision result of CU indicates that the terminal equipment switches from cell 1 to cell 3 based on the cell handover method of L3 handover.
  • the judgment result of DU indicates that the terminal equipment switches from cell 1 to cell 2 based on the cell switching method of L1 and/or L2 handover
  • the judgment result of CU indicates that the terminal equipment switches from cell 1 to cell 2 based on the cell switching method of L3 handover.
  • Cell 2 where Cell 1 is the source cell where the terminal device is currently located.
  • One implementation method is to resolve the above conflict through decision-making by DU, as shown in any of the embodiments shown in Figure 4, Figure 5a to Figure 5e and related embodiments; another implementation method is to resolve the above conflict through decision-making by CU, as follows Any embodiment of Figure 6 and Figure 7 and related embodiments; another implementation method is to resolve the above conflict through decision-making of the terminal device, as shown in any embodiment of Figure 8a and Figure 8b and related embodiments. This will be introduced in detail below.
  • Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the communication method provided by this application. The method includes the following steps.
  • S401.DU sends the first handover message.
  • the DU sends the first switching message in step S401, and accordingly, the terminal device receives the first switching message in step S401.
  • the first handover message is used to instruct the terminal equipment to switch from the source cell to the first target cell based on a first method, where the first method includes a cell handover method based on L1 and/or L2.
  • the first handover message may not explicitly indicate the identity of the source cell, that is, both the DU and the terminal device may determine (or regard) the serving cell where the terminal device is currently located as (or regard) the source cell corresponding to the first handover message. .
  • the handover message/handover command may not explicitly indicate the identity of the source cell.
  • the DU sends a first switching message to the terminal device to trigger the cell switching process of L1 and/or L2.
  • the first switching message can be as shown in Figure 3c. "Layer 1/Layer 2 Switching Command" in step 6.
  • S402.CU sends the second switching message.
  • the CU sends the second switching message in step S402, and correspondingly, the DU receives the second switching message in step S402.
  • the second handover message is used to instruct the terminal device to handover from the source cell to the second target cell based on a second method, and the second method includes an L3-based cell handover method.
  • step S402 the CU sends a second switching message to the DU to trigger the cell switching process of L3.
  • the second switching message can be the one in step 5 of Figure 3a. "UE context modification request message”.
  • the first target cell indicated by the first handover message and the second target cell indicated by the second handover message may be the same cell; or, the first target cell indicated by the first handover message and the second target cell indicated by the second handover message may be the same cell.
  • the second target cell indicated by the handover message may not be the same cell, and this application does not limit this.
  • the source cell and the first target cell may be located in the same DU, or the source cell and the first target cell may be located in different DUs, which is not limited here.
  • the source cell and the second target cell may be located in the same DU, or the source cell and the second target cell may be located in different DUs, which is not limited here.
  • S403.DU determines whether the cell switching mode is the first mode or the second mode.
  • the DU determines the cell switching method of the terminal device in step S403. Either the first way or the second way.
  • step S403 the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the first mode.
  • the DU determines in step S403 that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the first mode; the first condition includes at least one of the following:
  • Case A The DU determines that the second switching message includes priority information indicating the second switching message, and the DU determines that the priority indicated by the priority information is lower than the preset priority;
  • Case B The DU determines that the terminal device is successfully switched based on the first mode
  • the DU determines to receive the first response message from the terminal device and the first response message is used to indicate successful reception of the first switching message.
  • the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the first mode.
  • the DU may discard the second switching message or ignore the second switching message, etc.
  • the method does not execute the cell switching process initiated based on the second method to avoid failure of the cell switching initiated based on the first method.
  • the preset priority can be the priority of the first method, the preset priority can also be the preconfigured priority, or the preset priority can also be implemented in other ways, which will not be done here. limited.
  • the terminal device may consider that the priority of the second method is always lower than the priority of the first method, for example, by defining in a protocol that the priority of the second method is lower than the priority of the first method.
  • the priority of the method for example, the method configured by the CU (or core network element) indicates that the priority of the second method is always lower than the priority of the first method.
  • this situation A can be expressed as the DU determines that the second handover message includes priority information indicating the second mode, and the DU determines the priority indicated by the priority information. Lower than default priority.
  • situation A can also be expressed as the DU determining that the first switching message includes a message indicating the first switching The priority information of the message, and the DU determines that the priority indicated by the priority information is higher than the preset priority.
  • situation A can also be expressed as the DU determining that the first switching message includes priority information indicating the first mode, and the DU determining that the priority indicated by the priority information is higher than the preset priority.
  • DU determines the cell handover of the terminal device in step S403.
  • the mode is the first mode, or the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the second mode in step S403, which is not limited here.
  • the DU determines in step S403 that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the first mode, or the DU determines in step S403 that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the first mode. It is determined that the cell switching mode of the terminal equipment is the second mode, which is not limited here.
  • the DU may perform a cell switching process corresponding to the first mode with the terminal device based on the previously sent first switching message. , so that the terminal equipment performs a cell switching process and switches to the first target cell.
  • the DU after the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the first mode, the DU sends at least one of the following to the CU:
  • Information A Information indicating that the terminal device successfully completed cell switching based on the first method
  • Information B Information indicating that the terminal device successfully switches to the first target cell based on the first method
  • Information C Information indicating that the second handover message is discarded
  • Information D Information indicating that the DU has not sent the third switching message.
  • the third switching message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the information C carries information indicating that the reason why the second switching message is discarded is that the terminal device performs the first mode.
  • the information D carries information indicating that the reason why the third switching message is not sent is that the terminal device performs the first mode.
  • the DU1 when the source cell and the first target cell are located in the same DU (for convenience of description, the DU where the source cell is located in step S403 is recorded as DU1), because the DU1 can sense whether the terminal device is based on the first The first method successfully switches to the first target cell and it can be determined whether the terminal device performs cell switching based on the second method.
  • the DU1 may send at least one of the above information A, information B, information C and information D to the CU.
  • CU may receive at least one of the above information from DU1.
  • the DU1 when the source cell and the first target cell are located in different DUs (for ease of distinction, the DU where the source cell is located in step S403 is recorded as DU1, and the DU where the first target cell is located is recorded as DU2), due to the DU1 can know whether the terminal equipment performs cell handover based on the second method, and the DU1 may also sense whether the terminal equipment successfully switches to the first target cell based on the first method, so the DU1 can send the above information A, information B, and information to the CU. C. At least one item of information D.
  • the DU2 can also sense whether the terminal device successfully switches to the first target cell based on the first method, in this case, the DU2 can send at least one of the above information A and information B to the CU.
  • CU may receive at least one of information A, information B, information C, and information D from DU1
  • CU may receive at least one of information A, information B from DU2.
  • DU1 sends at least one of information C and information D to the CU
  • DU2 sends at least one of information A and information B to the CU.
  • the DU can perform a cell switching process corresponding to the first mode with the terminal device based on the previously sent first switching message, and through the above At least one piece of information is indicated to the CU.
  • the CU is caused to clarify that the terminal device performs cell switching based on the first manner based on at least one of the above information, and/or the CU is made clear based on the at least one piece of information above that the terminal device does not perform cell switching based on the second manner.
  • the DU may perform an L1 and/or L2 cell switching process with the terminal device based on the first switching message sent in step S401.
  • the implementation process may Please refer to the previous Figure 3b and Figure 3c and the implementation of related embodiments, which will not be described again here.
  • step S403 the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the second mode.
  • the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the second mode, and the second condition includes at least one of the following:
  • Case D The DU determines that the second handover message includes first indication information, and the first indication information indicates that cell handover is performed based on the second method first;
  • Case E The DU determines that the second switching message includes priority information indicating the second switching message, and the DU determines that the priority indicated by the priority information is higher than the preset priority;
  • Case F The DU determines that the terminal device fails to switch based on the first mode
  • Case G The DU determines to receive a second response message from the terminal device and the second response message is used to indicate that the first switching message was not successfully received;
  • Case H The DU determines that no response message to the first handover message from the terminal device has been received.
  • the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the second mode.
  • the DU does not perform the cell switching process initiated based on the first mode to avoid the cell switching process initiated based on the first mode.
  • the cell handover initiated by the second method failed.
  • this situation D can be expressed as the DU determines that the second handover message includes priority information indicating the second mode, and the DU determines the priority indicated by the priority information. Higher than default priority.
  • the terminal device (or DU) may consider that the priority of the second method is always higher than the priority of the first method. For example, it is defined in a protocol that the priority of the second method is always higher than the priority of the first method.
  • the priority of the first method for example, is configured through the CU (or core network element) to indicate that the priority of the second method is always higher than the priority of the first method.
  • the implementation process of the above situation D can also be implemented through the first switching message (or the first mode). ) priority information implementation.
  • the situation D can also be expressed as the DU determines that the first switching message includes priority information indicating the first switching message, and the DU determines that the priority indicated by the priority information is lower than a preset priority.
  • the situation D can also be expressed as the DU determining that the first switching message includes priority information indicating the first mode, and the DU determining that the priority indicated by the priority information is lower than the preset priority.
  • DU determines the cell handover of the terminal device in step S403.
  • the mode is the first mode, or the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the second mode in step S403, which is not limited here.
  • the DU determines in step S403 that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the first mode, or the DU determines in step S403 that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the first mode. It is determined that the cell switching method of the terminal equipment is the second method, which is not limited here.
  • the DU after the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the second mode, the DU sends at least one of the following to the CU:
  • Information E Information indicating that the terminal device successfully performed cell switching based on the second method
  • Information F Information indicating that the terminal equipment successfully switches to the second target cell based on the second method
  • Information G Information indicating that the cell switching mode determined by the DU is the second mode.
  • the DU1 may send at least one of the above information E, information F, and information G to the CU.
  • CU may receive at least one of the above information from DU1.
  • DU1 may send at least one of information E, information F, and information G to the CU
  • DU2 may send at least one of information E and information F to the CU.
  • the CU may receive at least one of the information E, the information F, and the information G from the DU1, and/or receive at least one of the information E, the information F from the DU2.
  • the DU may perform a cell switching process corresponding to the second mode with the terminal device based on the third switching message, and pass at least one of the above Information is directed to the CU.
  • the CU is caused to know that the terminal device performs cell switching based on the second method based on at least one of the above information.
  • the method further includes: the DU sends a third switching message to the terminal device, and the third switching message Used to instruct the terminal equipment to switch from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the second mode
  • the DU sends a message to the terminal device instructing the terminal device to switch from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second mode.
  • the third switching message causes the terminal device to perform a cell switching process corresponding to the second mode based on the third switching message.
  • the third handover message includes: configuration information of the second target cell; or incremental configuration information of the second target cell and second indication information, the second indication information is used to instruct the terminal device based on
  • the configuration information of the source cell incrementally configures the incremental configuration information of the second target cell, that is, the second indication information indicates the identity of the source cell.
  • the third handover message sent by the DU to the terminal device may include the configuration information related to the second target cell, so that after the terminal device receives the third handover message, the terminal device based on the configuration related to the second target cell The information is switched to the second target cell.
  • the terminal device may also obtain the configuration information related to the second target cell through other methods. For example, during communication with the source cell, the terminal device receives configuration information from a neighboring cell of the source cell, and the neighboring cell includes the second target neighborhood. For another example, during the communication process between the terminal device and the CU, the terminal device receives configuration information of multiple cells from the CU, and the multiple cells include the second target cell.
  • the DU can also send a third switching message to the terminal device.
  • the message is used to instruct the terminal equipment to switch from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the terminal device may receive the third switching message after step S403, and the terminal device may perform cell switching based on the third switching message.
  • the terminal device has received the first switching message in step S401 and may perform cell switching based on the first switching message.
  • the terminal device determines that it has not switched to the first target cell.
  • the terminal device switching to the second target cell based on the second method includes: The terminal equipment determines to terminate switching to the first target cell and the terminal equipment switches to the second target cell based on the second method. Specifically, in the case where the terminal device receives the third handover message from the DU, the terminal device determines to handover to the second target cell based on the second manner. To this end, when the terminal device has not completed switching to the first target cell, the terminal device will terminate the process of switching to the first target cell to ensure that the terminal device can switch to the second target cell based on the second method. target cells while avoiding unnecessary overhead.
  • the third handover message includes the identity of the source cell.
  • the terminal device based on The second method of switching to the second target cell includes: the terminal device switching from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the terminal device determines to handover to the second target cell based on the second manner.
  • the terminal equipment will switch from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second method (for example, based on the information carried in the third handover message).
  • the incremental configuration of the second target cell and the configuration of the source cell determine the configuration of the second target cell) instead of switching from the first target cell to the second target cell based on the second method to avoid handover failure.
  • the terminal device after the terminal device receives the third switching message, when the terminal device determines that cell switching with the first target cell has not been performed, the terminal device switches to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the target cell includes: the terminal equipment determines to stop switching to the first target cell and the terminal equipment switches to the second target cell based on the second method. Specifically, in the case where the terminal device receives the third handover message from the DU, the terminal device determines to handover to the second target cell based on the second manner.
  • the terminal device may switch to the second target cell based on the second method without performing the process of handover to the first target cell, so as to This ensures that the terminal equipment can switch to the second target cell based on the second method while avoiding unnecessary overhead.
  • the DU initiates the L1 and/or L2 cell handover process to the terminal device based on the first handover message in step S401, and the CU initiates the L1 and/or L2 cell handover process based on the first handover message in step S402.
  • the DU determines in step S403 that the cell handover mode of the terminal device is one of the first mode and the second mode, so that the subsequent The DU can initiate the cell handover process based on one of these methods.
  • the DU decision-making method makes the DU based on the first method and the second method.
  • One of the methods initiates a cell handover process to avoid cell handover failure caused by unclear handover behavior of the terminal equipment, thereby improving the reliability of the cell handover process.
  • the DU forwards the L3 handover command to the UE and stops making L1 and/or L2 handover decisions. and/or send L1 and/or L2 handover commands.
  • the DU since the DU can learn whether the L3 handover command has arrived, the DU can avoid subsequent L1 and/or L2 handover decisions that conflict with the previous L3 handover command.
  • the L3 switching command generated by the CU arrives at the DU later than the L1 and/or L2 switching command sent by the DU, the DU processes the received L3 switching command according to any of the following embodiments. This scenario is described in detail in the steps of the embodiment shown in Figures 5a to 5e below.
  • FIG. 5a mainly involves the implementation process of the above situations D, B, and F. As shown in Figure 5a, this embodiment includes the following steps.
  • Step A1.DU sends L1 and/or L2 handover command (L1/L2 HO Command) to the terminal device.
  • step A1 DU makes an L1 and/or L2 handover decision based on the L1 measurement results previously reported by the terminal equipment (such as the implementation process of the beam measurement report in step 5 in Figure 3c).
  • step A1 Generate and send L1 and/or L2 handover commands.
  • the L1 and/or L2 switching command may be the first switching message in the aforementioned step S401. That is, the L1 and/or L2 handover command is used to instruct the terminal device to switch from the source cell (recorded as cell 1) to the first target cell (recorded as cell 2).
  • Step A2. DU sends L1 and/or L2 handover notification (L1/L2 HO notification) message to CU.
  • DU notifies the CU of the decision result obtained in step A1, that is, the DU sends an L1 and/or L2 switching notification to the CU in step A2, so that the CU determines that the DU has currently made an L1 and/or L2 switching decision based on the message.
  • the DU sends an F1 application protocol (F1 application protocol, F1AP) message through the F1 interface.
  • the message includes at least one of the following information: indicating that the DU has made an L1 and/or L2 handover decision. Indication information, target cell identification information for the L1 and/or L2 handover decision made by the DU.
  • the above-mentioned F1AP message can be a UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUIRED message, or a new F1AP message type can be defined.
  • This embodiment specifically determines which type of F1AP message is used to send the DU.
  • the L2 handover decision information is not limited.
  • step A1 and step A2 does not limit the order in which step A1 and step A2 actually occur, that is, the DU can send the message of step A2 after sending the message of step A1; the DU can also make L1 and/or L2 switching. After the decision is made, and before the L1 and/or L2 switching command is issued, the message of step A2 is sent first, and then the message of step A1 is sent.
  • Step A3.CU sends L3 handover command (L3 HO Command) to DU.
  • the CU when the CU makes an L3 handover decision for the terminal device, it will generate an L3 handover command, which needs to be sent to the DU first, and then sent by the DU to the terminal device (such as the implementation process of steps 5 and 6 in Figure 3a). ).
  • the L3 switching command may be the second switching message in the aforementioned step S402. That is, the L3 handover command is used to instruct the terminal equipment to switch from the source cell (denoted as cell 1) to the second target cell (denoted as cell 3).
  • Step A4. CU sends L1 and/or L2 handover response (L1/L2 HO response) message to DU.
  • step A4 is an optional step
  • the L1 and/or L2 switching response message is a response message sent by the CU to the L1 and/or L2 switching information received in step A2.
  • the CU may choose to stop generating/issuing the L3 handover command to avoid handover command conflicts. .
  • the CU may still issue the L3 handover command in step A3 in the following two situations:
  • Case 1 After generating/delivering the L3 handover command, the CU receives the message in step A2.
  • the generated conflict can be resolved in subsequent step A6, that is, the conflict is resolved through DU's decision-making in subsequent step A6.
  • the L3 handover command sent by the CU to the DU in step A3 can carry the first indication information (that is, the implementation process of the aforementioned case D).
  • the first indication The information indicates that cell switching is performed preferentially based on the second method.
  • the first indication information may be a newly added field (field) in the L3 handover command, used to indicate that the L3 handover is performed first, or that the L3 handover is more important (or urgent, or urgent) than the L1 and/or L2 handover. ).
  • step A4 may not be needed because the message in step A3 can already indicate that the CU is aware of the existence of L1 and/or L2 handover information. And it is still intended to prioritize the L3 handover process.
  • Step A5. Perform L1 and/or L2 handover (L1/L2 HO) between the terminal device and the DU.
  • the DU may cooperate with the L1 and/or L2 handover performed by the terminal device in step A5, so that the terminal device switches based on L1 and/or L2. method to switch from cell 1 to cell 2.
  • the DU may reject the L1 and/or L2 handover performed by the terminal device in step A5 to avoid the terminal device switching based on L1 and/or L2. method to switch from cell 1 to cell 2.
  • Step A6 DU discards or sends L3 handover command (Discard or send L3 HO conmmand) message.
  • step A6 if DU determines that the L1 and/or L2 handover performed by the terminal device in step A5 is successfully completed (i.e., the implementation process of case B mentioned above), then DU may perform any of the following implementations To avoid conflicts, include:
  • Method 1 DU discards the L3 switching command to prevent the terminal device from receiving the L3 switching command and causing the switching failure.
  • the configuration information included in the L3 handover command sent by the CU in step A3 may be delta configuration information.
  • Incremental configuration means that DU only needs to send the parts of the configuration information of the second target cell (ie, cell 3) that are different from the configuration information of the source cell (ie, cell 1), but does not need to send the same parts.
  • the terminal device determines the configuration of cell 3 based on the incremental configuration information, the terminal device needs to perform the incremental configuration based on the configuration of the source cell. Configuration to get the configuration of cell 3.
  • the terminal device since the terminal device has already switched from cell 1 to the first target cell (i.e., cell 2) through L1 and/or L2, when the incremental configuration information in the L3 handover command is read, it may be When performing incremental configuration, the terminal device performs incremental configuration based on the current cell (ie, cell 2) and obtains an incorrect target cell configuration, resulting in handover failure.
  • Method 2 DU still sends the L3 handover command to the terminal device, but needs to additionally instruct the terminal device to perform incremental configuration based on cell 1.
  • the terminal device performs incremental configuration based on the configuration information of cell 1 to obtain the configuration information of the second target cell (ie, cell 3).
  • Method 3 DU still sends the L3 handover command to the terminal device.
  • the terminal device defaults to performing incremental configuration based on the source cell (i.e., cell 1) before performing L1 and/or L2 handover to determine the second target cell (i.e., cell 1). That is, the configuration information of cell 3).
  • step A6 if the DU determines that the L1 and/or L2 switching performed by the terminal device in step A5 succeeds and fails (i.e., the implementation process of the aforementioned situation F), the DU may send the L3 switching command to The terminal equipment causes the terminal equipment to perform cell handover to cell 3 based on the L3 handover command.
  • Step A7 Step A7.DU sends L1 and/or L2 handover success (L1/L2 HO success) to the CU.
  • step A7 is an optional step.
  • the DU When the terminal device successfully completes L1 and/or L2 handover, the DU notifies the CU of the handover completion information.
  • the DU discards the L3 handover command in step A6, it also informs the CU of at least one of the following information: the L3 handover command has not been issued to the terminal device/has been discarded (i.e., the aforementioned information C/information D), The reason why the L3 handover command is not issued to the terminal device is because the L1 and/or L2 handover has been performed (that is, the foregoing information B), and the terminal device has performed the L1 and/or L2 handover (that is, the foregoing information A). Further optionally, this information can be sent in the same message or through multiple messages, which is not limited in this embodiment.
  • the DU may not send the message in step 7.
  • step A4 if the L3 handover command sent by the CU to the DU in step A3 can carry the first indication information indicating that the cell handover is preferentially performed based on the second mode, as in the aforementioned situation
  • the DU triggers the execution of L3 handover, so that the terminal device can perform cell handover based on L3 handover.
  • step A6 if DU determines that the L1 and/or L2 handover performed by the terminal device in step A5 is successfully completed, as in the implementation process of case B mentioned above, then DU discards the L3 handover command to avoid the terminal device receiving the L3 handover. The command caused the switch to fail.
  • step A6 if DU determines that the L1 and/or L2 handover performed by the terminal device in step A5 has failed successfully, as in the implementation process of case F mentioned above, then DU can send the L3 handover command to the terminal device, so that the terminal device is based on This L3 handover command performs cell handover to cell 3.
  • FIG. 5b mainly involves the implementation process of the above situations A, E, etc. As shown in Figure 5b, this embodiment includes the following steps.
  • Step B1. DU sends an L1 and/or L2 handover command (L1/L2 HO Command) to the terminal device.
  • step B1 DU makes an L1 and/or L2 switching decision based on the L1 measurement results previously reported by the terminal equipment (such as the implementation process of the beam measurement report in step 5 in Figure 3c).
  • step B1 Generate and send L1 and/or L2 handover commands.
  • the L1 and/or L2 switching command may be the first switching message in the aforementioned step S401. That is, the L1 and/or L2 handover command is used to instruct the terminal device to switch from the source cell (recorded as cell 1) to the first target cell (recorded as cell 2).
  • Step B2.CU sends L3 handover command (L3 HO Command) to DU.
  • the CU when the CU makes an L3 handover decision for the terminal device, it will generate an L3 handover command, which needs to be sent to the DU first, and then sent by the DU to the terminal device (such as the implementation process of steps 5 and 6 in Figure 3a). ).
  • the L3 switching command in step B2 may be the second switching message in step S402. That is, the L3 handover command is used to instruct the terminal equipment to switch from the source cell (denoted as cell 1) to the identification information of the second target cell (denoted as cell 3).
  • the L3 handover command includes identification information of the source cell.
  • the L3 switching command carries information indicating the priority of the L3 switching command.
  • the information may be the value of a field (or domain) in the L3 handover command.
  • the value may be a value used to indicate the priority of the L3 handover command, a value used to indicate the priority of the L3 handover command, or a value used to indicate the priority of the L3 handover command.
  • the value of importance is used to indicate the switching reason value of the L3 switching command, etc., and is not limited here.
  • the size of the value may be positively correlated with the priority level used to indicate the L3 handover command, that is, the larger the value is, the higher the priority used to indicate the L3 handover command is, conversely, the The smaller the value, the lower the priority used to indicate the L3 handover command.
  • the value may be negatively correlated with the priority of the L3 switching command, that is, the smaller the value, the higher the priority of the L3 switching command. On the contrary, the value The larger the value, the lower the priority used to indicate the L3 handover command.
  • the information used to indicate the priority of the L3 switching command may be carried in the same message as the L3 switching command, or the information used to indicate the priority of the L3 switching command may be carried with the L3 switching command.
  • the information used to indicate the priority of the L3 switching command may be carried with the L3 switching command.
  • Step B3.DU discards or sends L3 handover command (Discard or send L3 HO conmmand) message.
  • the DU determines to discard the L3 switching command based on the information carried in the L3 switching command in step B2, or determines to send the L3 switching command to the terminal device.
  • DU can discard the L3 The command is switched, and the DU executes step B4 (ie, the implementation process of the aforementioned situation A).
  • the DU notifies the CU of discarding the L3 handover command.
  • the DU when the L3 handover command in step B2 indicates a higher priority (or a higher importance, or a higher priority/importance corresponding to the handover reason value), the DU sends a signal to the terminal device. Issue the L3 handover command (ie, the implementation process of the aforementioned situation E). It can be understood that the L3 switching command in step B3 may be the third switching message in step S403. That is, the L3 handover command is used to instruct the terminal equipment to switch from the source cell (denoted as cell 1) to the second target cell (denoted as cell 3).
  • the DU since the DU has already performed the decision-making process in step B3 based on the information indicating the priority of the L3 handover command to determine the cell switching mode of the terminal equipment, for this reason, the DU does not need to use the information used to indicate the priority of the L3 handover command.
  • Information about the priority of the switching command is sent to the UE.
  • Step B4 Perform L1 and/or L2 handover (L1/L2 HO) or L3 handover (L3 HO) between the terminal device and the DU.
  • the terminal device switches L1 and/or L2 according to the L1 and/or L2 handover command received in step 1.
  • the DU when the L1 and/or L2 handover is completed, the DU sends a message to inform the CU that the L1 and/or L2 handover of the terminal device is completed. Further optionally, the message may also include information that the DU discarded the L3 handover command.
  • the terminal device can execute it according to the following different situations:
  • the terminal device can immediately terminate the L1 and/or L2 handover process and follow the instructions of the L3 handover command.
  • Content performs L3 switching.
  • the L3 handover command carries the identity information of the source cell when the L3 handover decision is made, the terminal device takes effect based on the configuration information of the source cell and takes into effect the incremental configuration in the L3 handover command.
  • the terminal device If the terminal device has started to perform L1 and/or L2 handover and has completed it. After the DU issues the L3 switching command in step B3, the terminal device performs L3 switching according to the instructions of the L3 switching command.
  • the L3 handover command carries the identity information of the source cell when the L3 handover decision is made, the terminal device takes effect based on the configuration information of the source cell and takes into effect the incremental configuration in the L3 handover command.
  • the terminal device may not perform L1 and/or L2 handover and directly start the L3 handover process.
  • step B3 when the L3 switching command in step B2 indicates a lower priority (or a lower importance, or a lower priority/importance corresponding to the switching reason value) , as in the implementation process of case A mentioned above, DU can discard the L3 handover command, and DU performs L1 and/or L2 handover in step B4 to avoid handover failure caused by the terminal device receiving the L3 handover command.
  • step B3 when the L3 switching command in step B2 indicates a higher priority (or a higher importance, or a higher priority/importance corresponding to the switching reason value), as in the implementation process of the aforementioned situation E, the DU issues an L3 handover command to the terminal device so that the terminal device performs cell handover based on L3 handover.
  • the embodiment shown in Figure 5d mainly relates to the implementation process of the above-mentioned situation G and situation H
  • the embodiment shown in Figure 5e mainly relates to the implementation process of the above-mentioned situation C.
  • the implementation process of the terminal device feeding back information to the DU during the L1 and/or L2 handover process will first be introduced through the embodiment shown in Figure 5c.
  • this embodiment includes the following steps.
  • Step C1.DU sends L1 and/or L2 handover command (L1/L2 HO Command) to the terminal device.
  • step C1 DU makes an L1 and/or L2 handover decision based on the L1 measurement results previously reported by the terminal equipment (such as the implementation process of the beam measurement report in step 5 in Figure 3c).
  • step C1 Generate and send L1 and/or L2 handover commands.
  • the L1 and/or L2 switching command may be the first switching message in the aforementioned step S401. That is, the L1 and/or L2 handover command is used to instruct the terminal device to switch from the source cell (recorded as cell 1) to the first target cell (recorded as cell 2).
  • Step C2. The terminal device sends a non-acknowledgement (NACK) to the DU.
  • NACK non-acknowledgement
  • the terminal device if the terminal device fails to decode/receive the L1/L2 switching command successfully in step C1, the terminal device will execute step C2 and reply with a message (such as a NACK message) to indicate that the L1/L2 switching command has not been successfully decoded/received. Successfully decoded/received.
  • a message such as a NACK message
  • step C1 if the terminal device does not successfully receive the L1/L2 switching command in step C1, the terminal device will not execute step C2, that is, the terminal device will not reply to any message.
  • Step C3.DU sends L1 and/or L2 handover command (retransmission) (L1/L2 HO Command) (restransmission) to the terminal device.
  • step C2 when the DU receives the NACK message in step C2 (or the DU does not receive the response message corresponding to step C1), the DU will execute step C3, that is, the DU retransmits L1 and/or L2 in step C3. Switch command.
  • the DU when the DU receives the ACK message from the terminal device in step C2, the DU directly triggers the execution of step C5 without executing steps C3 and C4.
  • Step C4. The terminal device sends an acknowledgment (ACK) to the DU.
  • ACK acknowledgment
  • step C3 if the terminal device successfully decodes/receives the L1/L2 switching command in step C3, the terminal device will reply with a message (such as an ACK message) in step C4, indicating successful decoding/reception. Furthermore, the terminal device and the DU trigger execution of step C5.
  • a message such as an ACK message
  • Step C5. Perform L1 and/or L2 handover (L1/L2 HO) between the terminal device and the DU.
  • Step C6 DU sends L1 and/or L2 HO success (L1/L2 HO success) to the CU to indicate to the CU that the terminal device has successfully completed the handover based on the L1 and/or L2 handover method.
  • L1 and/or L2 HO success L1/L2 HO success
  • the method shown in Figure 5d includes the following steps.
  • Step D1.DU sends L1 and/or L2 handover command (L1/L2 HO Command) to the terminal device.
  • step D1 DU makes an L1 and/or L2 handover decision based on the L1 measurement results previously reported by the terminal equipment (such as the implementation process of the beam measurement report in step 5 in Figure 3c).
  • step D1 Generate and send L1 and/or L2 handover commands.
  • the L1 and/or L2 switching command may be the first switching message in the aforementioned step S401. That is, the L1 and/or L2 handover command is used to instruct the terminal device to switch from the source cell (recorded as cell 1) to the first target cell (recorded as cell 2).
  • Step D2. The terminal device sends a non-acknowledgement (NACK) to the DU.
  • NACK non-acknowledgement
  • the terminal device if the terminal device fails to successfully decode/receive the L1/L2 switching command in step D1, the terminal device will execute step D2 and reply with a message (such as a NACK message) to indicate that the L1/L2 switching command has not been received. Successfully decoded/received.
  • a message such as a NACK message
  • step D1 if the terminal device does not successfully receive the L1/L2 switching command in step D1, the terminal device will not execute step D2, that is, the terminal device will not reply to any message.
  • Step D3.CU sends L3 handover command (L3 HO Command) to DU.
  • the CU when the CU makes an L3 handover decision for the terminal device, it will generate an L3 handover command, which needs to be sent to the DU first, and then sent by the DU to the terminal device (such as the implementation process of steps 5 and 6 in Figure 3a). ).
  • the L3 switching command in step D3 may be the second switching message in step S402. That is, the L3 handover command is used to instruct the terminal equipment to switch from the source cell (denoted as cell 1) to the identification information of the second target cell (denoted as cell 3).
  • the DU may receive the L3 handover command in step D3 before receiving the NACK in step D2.
  • the DU may receive the NACK in step D2 but before successfully decoding the NACK, the DU receives the L3 switching command in step D3.
  • Step D4 shown in Figure 5d is a step that DU does not execute.
  • the DU does not need to send the L1 and/or L2 switching command (retransmission) (L1/L2 HO Command) (restransmission) to the terminal device in step D4, and the DU determines the terminal device in step D3
  • steps D5 and D6 are triggered, that is, the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is L3 handover (that is, the implementation process of the aforementioned situation G or situation H).
  • Step D5.DU sends the L3 handover command (L3 HO Command) to the terminal device.
  • the L3 switching command in step D5 may be the third switching message in step S403. That is, the L3 handover command is used to instruct the terminal equipment to switch from the source cell (denoted as cell 1) to the second target cell (denoted as cell 3).
  • Step D6 The terminal device performs L3 handover (L3 HO).
  • the DU since the DU determines in step D2 that the terminal device has not successfully received/decoded the L1 and/or L2 switching command, the DU determines that the terminal device is not currently performing L1 and/or L2 switching. In order to improve the cell switching success rate of the terminal device, as in the implementation process of case G or case H mentioned above, the DU does not need to execute step D4 but triggers the execution of steps D5 and D6, so that the terminal device performs cell switching based on L3 handover.
  • the method shown in Figure 5e includes the following steps.
  • Step E1.DU sends L1 and/or L2 handover command (L1/L2 HO Command) to the terminal device.
  • step E1 DU makes an L1 and/or L2 switching decision based on the L1 measurement results previously reported by the terminal equipment (such as the implementation process of the beam measurement report in step 5 in Figure 3c).
  • step E1 Generate and send L1 and/or L2 handover commands.
  • the L1 and/or L2 switching command may be the first switching message in the aforementioned step S401. That is, the L1 and/or L2 handover command is used to instruct the terminal device to switch from the source cell (recorded as cell 1) to the first target cell (recorded as cell 2).
  • Step E2 The terminal device sends an acknowledgment (ACK) to the DU.
  • ACK acknowledgment
  • the terminal device if the terminal device successfully decodes/receives the L1/L2 switching command in step E1, the terminal device will reply with a message (such as an ACK message) in step E2, indicating successful decoding/reception.
  • a message such as an ACK message
  • Step E3.CU sends L3 handover command (L3 HO Command) to DU.
  • the CU when the CU makes an L3 handover decision for the terminal device, it will generate an L3 handover command, which needs to be sent to the DU first, and then sent by the DU to the terminal device (such as the implementation process of steps 5 and 6 in Figure 3a). ).
  • the L3 switching command in step E3 may be the second switching message in step S402. That is, the L3 handover command is used to instruct the terminal equipment to switch from the source cell (denoted as cell 1) to the identification information of the second target cell (denoted as cell 3).
  • the DU may receive the L3 handover command in step E3 before receiving the ACK in step E2.
  • the DU may receive the L3 handover command in step E3 before receiving the ACK in step E2 but not successfully decoding the ACK.
  • Step E4. discards or sends L3 HO command (Discard or send L3 HO command).
  • the DU may determine that the terminal device will perform L1 and/or L2 handover next, and therefore discard the L3 handover command.
  • Step E5. Perform L1 and/or L2 handover (L1/L2 HO) between the terminal device and the DU.
  • Step E6 DU sends notification (Notification) to CU.
  • the DU since the DU determines in step E2 that the terminal device successfully receives the L1 and/or L2 switching command, the DU determines that the terminal device is currently able to perform L1 and/or L2 switching. In order to improve the cell handover success rate of the terminal device, as in the implementation process of case C, the DU discards the L3 handover command in step E4 to avoid handover failure caused by the terminal device receiving the L3 handover command. Furthermore, the DU triggers the process of executing steps E5 and E6, so that the terminal device performs L1 and/or L2 handover, and causes the CU to learn the handover result.
  • step S402 can be executed after step S401, that is, any of the above embodiments can provide an L1/L2 switching command. Solution when L1/L2 handover and L3 handover may conflict after being sent from DU.
  • step S402 can be executed before step S401, that is, in a scenario where the DU has made an L1/L2 handover decision but has not yet issued an L1/L2 handover command, if the DU receives the L3 handover sent by the CU command, the DU may use a method similar to any of the above embodiments to properly package the subsequent downlink sent messages to avoid handover command conflicts.
  • the DU can be implemented in step S403 in the following manner:
  • (1) DU determines in step S403 that the cell switching mode of the terminal equipment is the second mode; in other words, DU will not package the L1/L2 switching command and the L3 switching command in the same downlink data packet, and can prioritize the L3 switching.
  • the command group is packaged in the downlink data packet (i.e. DU sends L3 handover command and discards L1/L2 handover command).
  • (2) DU determines in step S403 that the cell switching mode of the terminal equipment is the first mode; in other words, DU will not group the L1/L2 switching command and the L3 switching command in the same downlink data packet, and can prioritize the L1/L2 switching command.
  • the handover command group is in the downlink data packet (that is, the DU sends the L1/L2 handover command and discards the L3 handover command).
  • DU caches the L3 handover command.
  • DU sends the L3 handover command to the UE;
  • DU discards the L3 handover command.
  • DU notifies the CU At least one of the following information: the L3 handover command has been discarded, the reason why the L3 handover command was discarded, and the UE has performed L1/L2 handover.
  • the DU determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is a high-priority (or high-importance, etc.) mode. For example, when the L1/L2 handover command has a higher priority (or has a higher importance, or the handover cause value indicates that the L1/L2 handover command has a higher priority), DU prioritizes packetization and sends the L1/L2 handover command. (That is, DU sends L1/L2 handover command and discards L3 handover command).
  • the DU when the L3 handover command has a higher priority (or has a higher importance, or the handover reason value indicates that the priority of the L3 handover command is higher), the DU first packages and sends the L3 handover command (that is, the DU sends the L3 handover command and discards the L1/L2 handover command).
  • Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of the communication method provided by this application. The method includes the following steps.
  • the DU sends the first message in step S601, and accordingly, the CU receives the first message in step S601.
  • the first message is used to request that the terminal device be switched to the first target cell based on a first method, and the first method includes an L1-based cell switching method and/or an L2-based cell switching method.
  • S602.CU sends the first instruction information.
  • the CU sends the first indication information in step S602, and correspondingly, the DU receives the first indication information in step S602.
  • the first indication information is used to indicate whether the terminal device is allowed to be switched to the first target cell.
  • the first indication information is carried in a second message, and the second message is used to indicate successful reception of the first message.
  • the first indication information sent by the CU may be carried in a second message used to indicate successful reception of the first message to save overhead.
  • the first indication information may also be carried in other messages different from the second message.
  • the DU may execute implementation mode 1 (ie, step S603 below), and the DU may also execute implementation mode 2 (ie, step S604 and step S605 below), which will be described in detail below.
  • the DU sends the first switching message.
  • the DU when the DU determines that the first indication information received in step S602 indicates that the terminal device is allowed to be switched to the first target cell, the DU sends a first switching message to the terminal device in step S603.
  • the first The handover message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch to the first target cell based on the first method.
  • the terminal device receives the first switching message in step S603.
  • the first target cell corresponds to the DU
  • the method further includes: when the DU determines that the terminal device successfully switches to After the first target cell, the DU sends at least one of the following: information indicating that the terminal equipment has successfully completed cell switching based on the first method, or indicating that the terminal equipment has successfully switched to the first target cell based on the first method. Information.
  • the DU may perform a cell switching process corresponding to the first mode with the terminal device based on the first switching message, and pass at least one of the above
  • the information indicates to the CU, so that the CU determines that the terminal device successfully switches to the first target cell based on the first method based on at least one of the above information.
  • the first target cell corresponds to the DU (or the DU manages the first target cell, that is, both the source cell and the first target cell are located in the DU), and the DU is based on
  • the method further includes: after the DU determines that the terminal equipment fails to switch to the first target cell, the DU sends at least one of the following: instructing the terminal equipment to based on the first Mode switching fails, or indicating that the terminal equipment fails to switch to the first target cell based on the first mode.
  • the DU may perform communication with the terminal device corresponding to the first mode based on the first switching message. The cell switching process is performed, and is indicated to the CU through at least one of the above pieces of information, so that the CU determines that the terminal equipment fails to switch to the first target cell based on the above at least one piece of information.
  • the CU sends a second switching message.
  • the CU when the DU determines that the first indication information received in step S602 indicates that the terminal device is not allowed to be switched to the first target cell, the CU will send a second switching message in step S604 after step S602.
  • the second switching message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch to the second target cell based on the second method, and the second method includes the L3-based cell switching method.
  • DU receives the second switching message in step S604.
  • the CU may combine the indication information sent in step S602 and step S604 into the same message and send it, that is, use the same message to indicate that the terminal device is not allowed to switch to the terminal device through the first method. the first target cell, and instructs the terminal equipment to switch to the second target cell based on the second handover method.
  • S605.DU sends the third handover message.
  • the DU after the DU receives the second switching message in step S604, the DU sends a third switching message to the terminal device in step S605.
  • the third switching message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch to the terminal based on the second method.
  • the second target community Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the third switching message in step S605.
  • step S605 when the first indication information indicates that the terminal device is not allowed to be switched to the first target cell, the DU will also receive an instruction from the CU to switch the terminal device to the second target cell based on the second method. a second handover message of the target cell, and the DU sends a third handover message to the terminal device for instructing the terminal device to switch to the second target cell based on the second manner.
  • the CU determines whether to initiate a cell switching process based on the first method, and the CU indicates that the terminal device is not allowed to initiate a cell based on the first method.
  • the CU will not initiate the cell handover process of the terminal equipment based on the first method, and after receiving the second handover message from the CU, initiate the cell handover process of the terminal equipment based on the second method.
  • the third handover message includes: configuration information of the second target cell; or incremental configuration information of the second target cell and second indication information, the second indication information is used to The terminal device is instructed to perform incremental configuration on the second target cell based on the configuration information of the source cell, that is, the second instruction information indicates the identity of the source cell.
  • the third handover message sent by the DU to the terminal device may include the configuration information related to the second target cell, so that after the terminal device receives the third handover message, the terminal device based on the configuration related to the second target cell The information is switched to the second target cell.
  • the terminal device may also obtain the configuration information related to the second target cell through other methods. For example, during communication with the source cell, the terminal device receives configuration information from a neighboring cell of the source cell, and the neighboring cell includes the second target cell. For another example, during the communication process between the terminal device and the CU, the terminal device receives configuration information of multiple cells from the CU, and the multiple cells include the second target cell.
  • step S602 the DU receives the first indication information from the CU to indicate whether to allow the terminal device to be handed over to the first target cell, and , when the first indication information indicates that the terminal device is allowed to be switched to the first target cell, the DU sends a first switching message to the terminal device in step S603.
  • the CU decides The method makes it clear whether the DU initiates the cell switching process based on the first method, and if the CU indicates that it is allowed to initiate the cell switching process of the terminal equipment based on the first method, the CU will not initiate the cell switching process of the terminal equipment based on the second method. Handover process, so the DU will initiate the cell handover process based on the first handover message. Therefore, compared with the situation where both CU and DU send cell switching commands to the terminal equipment, the CU decision-making method can enable the DU to clarify whether to initiate the cell switching process of the terminal equipment based on the first method, thus avoiding unclear switching behavior of the terminal equipment. The resulting cell handover failure occurs to improve the reliability of the cell handover process.
  • the method shown in Figure 7 includes the following steps.
  • Step F1.DU sends L1 and/or L2 handover request (L1/L2 HO request) to CU.
  • step F1 DU makes an L1 and/or L2 handover decision based on the L1 measurement results previously reported by the terminal equipment (such as the implementation process of the beam measurement report in step 5 in Figure 3c).
  • step F1 Send a request message to the CU to request whether to allow L1 and/or L2 handover to be performed.
  • the L1 and/or L2 switching command may be the first switching message in the aforementioned step S601. That is, the L1 and/or L2 handover command is used to instruct the terminal device to switch from the source cell (recorded as cell 1) to the first target cell (recorded as cell 2).
  • the request message in step F1 may also be used to request whether to allow the terminal device to be switched to the first target cell.
  • Step F2. CU sends L1 and/or L2 handover response (L1/L2 HO response) to DU.
  • the CU sends a response message to the DU in step F2 to indicate that the message in step F1 is successfully received.
  • step F2 the CU sends an F1AP message through the F1 interface to indicate that the information related to the L1/L2 handover decision sent by the DU has been successfully received.
  • the response message in step F2 carries a field indicating that the CU allows the DU to perform L1/L2 handover, and when the CU receives the message of the L1/L2 handover decision made by the DU in step 1, the CU stops L3 Switch decision (stop L3 HO decision).
  • the timing for the CU to stop making the L3 handover decision may be before sending the message of step F2, or after sending the message of step F2.
  • the CU stops making L3 handover decisions which may be that the CU's radio resource management (RRM) module/function stops making L3 handover decisions, and/or the CU makes an L3 handover decision, but does not generate/send it. L3 switching command.
  • RRM radio resource management
  • the response message in step F2 carries a field indicating that the CU does not allow (or rejects) the DU to perform L1/L2 handover, and when the CU receives the L1/L2 handover decision made by the DU in step 1, After receiving the message, the CU can still perform L3 handover decision.
  • the CU performs the L3 handover decision, which may be the RRM module/function of the CU that performs the L3 handover decision, and/or, when the CU makes the L3 handover decision, further generates/issues an L3 handover command.
  • the L3 handover decision which may be the RRM module/function of the CU that performs the L3 handover decision, and/or, when the CU makes the L3 handover decision, further generates/issues an L3 handover command.
  • Step F3.DU sends L1 and/or L2 handover command (L1/L2 HO Command) to the terminal device.
  • Step F4 Perform L1 and/or L2 handover (L1/L2 HO) between the terminal device and the DU.
  • Step F5.DU sends L1 and/or L2 handover success (L1/L2 HO success) to the CU.
  • the DU triggers the implementation process of steps F3 to F5, and causes the CU to re-execute the L3 handover decision after step F5. (start L3 HO decision).
  • start L3 HO decision For the L1 and/or L2 switching process triggered by the DU based on the L1 and/or L2 switching command, reference may be made to the description of the foregoing embodiments and will not be described again here.
  • the CU makes the decision to make it clear in step F2 whether to initiate the cell switching process based on the first method, and, in When the CU indicates that it is allowed to initiate the cell switching process of the terminal equipment based on the first method, the CU will not initiate the cell switching process of the terminal equipment based on the second method, that is, the DU performs the cell switching process based on the first switching in steps F3 to F4. The message initiates the cell handover process.
  • the CU decision-making method can enable the DU to clarify whether to initiate the cell switching process of the terminal equipment based on the first method, thus avoiding unclear switching behavior of the terminal equipment.
  • the resulting cell handover failure occurs to improve the reliability of the cell handover process.
  • Figure 8a is a schematic diagram of the communication method provided by this application. The method includes the following steps.
  • the network device sends the first switching message.
  • the network device sends the first switching message in step S801, and accordingly, the terminal device receives the first switching message in step S801.
  • the first switching message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch from the source cell to the first target cell based on a first method, where the first method includes an L1-based cell switching method and/or an L2-based cell switching method.
  • the first handover message includes identification information of the first target cell.
  • the first handover message also includes identification information of the source cell.
  • the network device sends the third switching message.
  • the network device sends the third switching message in step S802, and accordingly, the terminal device receives the third switching message in step S802.
  • the third switching message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second mode; the terminal device determines that the cell switching mode is the first mode or the second mode.
  • the third handover message includes identification information of the second target cell.
  • the third handover message also includes identification information of the source cell.
  • the terminal device determines that the cell switching mode is the first mode or the second mode.
  • the terminal device determines that the cell switching method is the third method in step S803. First way or second way.
  • the terminal device may determine the cell switching mode to be one of the first mode and the second mode based on various implementation methods to avoid conflicts, which will be introduced below through various embodiments.
  • step S801 and step S802 are not limited, that is, step S801 may be executed first and then step S802, or step S802 may be executed first and then step S801.
  • the terminal device it is possible for the terminal device to receive the first switching message and the third switching message respectively.
  • the switching message received first by the terminal device is the first switching message in step S801 and the switching message received later is the third switching message in step S802; for another example, the switching message received first by the terminal device is the third switching message in step S802.
  • the third switching message and the last received switching message are the first switching messages in step S801.
  • step S803 when the terminal device determines that the cell it is currently in is different from the source cell corresponding to the handover message received later, the terminal device determines the cell.
  • the switching mode is the cell switching mode corresponding to the handover message received first; or, the terminal device determines the cell where it is currently located.
  • the terminal device determines that the cell switching mode is the cell switching mode corresponding to the later received handover message.
  • the terminal device may determine whether the cell it is currently in is the same as the source cell corresponding to the handover message received later. Moreover, if the two are different, the terminal device determines that it has switched to the target cell corresponding to the handover message received first, that is, the terminal device determines that the cell switching mode is the cell switching mode corresponding to the handover message received first, and the terminal device can Discard (or ignore) the handover message received later; if the two are the same, the terminal device does not switch to the target cell corresponding to the handover message received first, that is, the terminal device determines that the cell switching method is the cell handover message corresponding to the handover message received later. Cell switching mode, and the terminal device performs cell switching based on the subsequently received switching message.
  • the terminal device may send indication information to the network device to instruct the terminal device to discard (or ignore) the switching message.
  • the terminal device determines that the cell switching mode is the second mode, and the method further includes: the terminal device switches from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second mode. Specifically, the terminal device always believes that it is necessary to perform the cell switching mode corresponding to the second mode, that is, regardless of whether the first switching message is received or not, the terminal device needs to switch from the source cell based on the second mode after receiving the third switching message. to the second target community.
  • the method further includes: the terminal device starts a timer; when the terminal device receives the third switching message before the timer times out, The terminal device discards the third switching message; or, when the terminal device receives the third switching message after the timer times out, the terminal device switches to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the terminal device may also start a timer after receiving the first switching message, and receive the third switching message before the timer times out.
  • the terminal device determines that there is no need to perform cell handover based on the third handover message, that is, the terminal device determines to discard the third handover message; after the timer times out
  • the terminal device determines that it is necessary to perform cell switching based on the third switching message, that is, the terminal device switches to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the terminal device determines that the cell switching mode is the first mode or the second mode including: after the terminal device successfully switches to the first target cell based on the first mode, the terminal device discards the third switching message; or, after the terminal equipment fails to switch to the first target cell based on the first method, the terminal equipment switches to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the terminal device preferentially executes the cell switching process corresponding to the first mode, and the terminal device switches to the cell based on the first mode.
  • the terminal equipment After the first target cell succeeds, the terminal equipment discards the third handover message; or, after the terminal equipment fails to switch to the first target cell based on the first method, the terminal equipment switches to the second based on the second method. target cell to improve the success rate of cell handover.
  • the terminal device determines that the cell switching mode is the first mode or the second mode, including: after the terminal device successfully switches to the second target cell based on the second mode, the terminal device discards the first switching message; or, after the terminal equipment fails to switch to the second target cell based on the second method, the terminal equipment switches to the first target cell based on the first method.
  • the terminal device preferentially executes the cell switching process corresponding to the second mode, and after the terminal device successfully switches to the second target cell based on the second mode, the terminal device discards the first handover message; or, after the terminal equipment fails to switch to the second target cell based on the second method, the terminal equipment switches to the first target cell based on the first method to improve the success rate of cell handover.
  • the terminal device determines that the cell switching mode is the first mode or the second mode, including: the terminal device switches to the second target cell based on the second mode.
  • the terminal device parses the downlink data packet, it first parses the first handover message corresponding to the underlying protocol stack and then parses it to obtain the high-level protocol.
  • the third switching message corresponding to the stack.
  • the terminal device first performs cell switching based on the first switching message, and after the terminal device parses and obtains the third switching message, it terminates the switching process corresponding to the first mode and performs the corresponding switching process in the second mode.
  • the handover process causes the terminal equipment to switch to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the method further includes: the terminal device sending a first measurement result, the first measurement result being an L1 measurement result or an L3 measurement result, wherein the L1 measurement result The result is the basis for judgment of the first method, and the L3 measurement result is the basis for judgment of the second method.
  • the network device makes a cell switching decision based on the measurement results reported by the terminal device, that is, L1 and/or L2 handover is based on the L1 measurement results, and L3 handover is based on the L3 measurement results.
  • the terminal device can report only the L1 measurement result and the L3 measurement result.
  • One of the measurement results is a way to avoid cell handover failures caused by unclear handover behavior of terminal equipment caused by network equipment issuing multiple handover messages, thereby improving the reliability of the cell handover process.
  • the terminal device sending the first measurement result includes: when the terminal device determines that it is in the preset area, the terminal device sends the L1 measurement result or the L3 measurement result. Specifically, when communicating in the preset area, the terminal device sends one of the L1 measurement results and the L3 measurement results to avoid the problem caused by the network device issuing multiple handover messages causing the terminal device's handover behavior to be unclear. Cell handover failure occurs to improve the reliability of the cell handover process.
  • the preset area is the signal coverage area of one or more cells corresponding to the preset cell identifier, or the preset area is the signal coverage area of one or more SSBs corresponding to the preset SSB index, There are no limitations here.
  • the network device initiates the L1 and/or L2 cell handover process to the terminal device in step S801 based on the first handover message, and the network device
  • the terminal device determines in step S803 that the cell switching mode is one of the first mode and the second mode. A way so that the terminal device can subsequently initiate a cell switching process based on one of the ways.
  • the terminal equipment makes a decision based on one of the first method and the second method.
  • This method initiates the cell handover process to avoid cell handover failure caused by unclear handover behavior of the terminal equipment, so as to improve the reliability of the cell handover process.
  • the method shown in Figure 8b includes the following steps.
  • Step G1.DU sends L1 and/or L2 handover command (L1/L2 HO Command) to the terminal device.
  • Step G2.CU sends L3 handover command (L3 HO Command) to DU.
  • Step G3. Perform L1 and/or L2 handover (L1/L2 HO) between the terminal device and the DU.
  • Step G4.DU sends an L3 handover command (L3 HO Command) to the terminal device.
  • Step G5. The terminal device rejects or performs L3 HO.
  • the terminal device receives the L1 and/or L2 switching command in steps G1 to G3.
  • the L1 and/or L2 switching process for receiving the L3 switching command and executing the L1 and/or L2 switching process may refer to the description of the previous embodiment, which will not be done here. Repeat.
  • the main difference between the embodiment shown in Figure 8b and the previous embodiments lies in the implementation process of step G4 and step G5, which will be further described below with reference to various implementation situations.
  • Step G4 The DU sends an L3 handover command to the terminal device.
  • the handover command carries the identity information of the source cell where the terminal device is located when the L3 handover decision is made.
  • Step G5 After receiving the L3 handover command, the terminal device compares the source cell identity information carried in the L3 handover command with the identity information of the serving cell where the terminal device is currently located. If they do not match, the terminal device does not perform L3 handover.
  • the terminal device sends the mismatch situation/rejection of L3 handover to the DU, and the DU can further send this information to the CU. If they match, the terminal device performs L3 handover.
  • Implementation method 2 The terminal device always believes that the L3 handover decision needs to be executed.
  • Step G4 DU sends an L3 handover command to the terminal device. (Passive cell indication information)
  • Step G5 The terminal device performs L3 handover, and validates the target cell configuration information in the L3 handover command based on the cell configuration before performing L1/L2 handover.
  • this embodiment requires that the terminal device still retains the configuration information of the source cell after performing L1/L2 handover.
  • Implementation method three the terminal device determines whether L3 handover needs to be performed based on a timer.
  • the terminal device After receiving the L1/L2 handover command, or after completing the L1/L2 handover, the terminal device starts a certain timer. When the timer expires, if the handover command in step G4 is received, the L3 handover is performed; if the timer expires, If the server has not expired, the L3 switch/ignore L3 switch command will be refused. Optionally, the terminal device rejects the L3 handover and sends it to the DU, and the DU can further send this information to the CU.
  • the terminal device receives the L3 switching command after receiving the L1/L2 switching command.
  • Another situation is that the terminal device receives the L1/L2 switching command in step G1 and the L3 switching command in step G4 in the same message.
  • the terminal device can take the following actions to avoid configuration errors and switching failures.
  • Solution 1 The terminal device performs L1/L2 switching first.
  • the terminal device caches and retains the received L1/L2 switching command and L3 switching command, first performs the L1/L2 switching, and when the L1/L2 switching is successful, discards/delete the L3 switching command; if the L1/ If the L2 handover fails (fails once or fails for a specified number of times, or fails within the specified time), the terminal device will no longer perform L1/L2 handover, but will perform L3 handover.
  • Option 2 The terminal device performs L3 handover first.
  • L1 for example, physical layer
  • L2 for example, MAC layer
  • L3 for example, RRC layer
  • L3 reads the L3 switching command and the instructions reported by L1/L2, and determines that the L3 switching is performed first.
  • L3 triggers the terminal device to perform L3 switching and does not instruct the L1/L2 switching to be performed.
  • Option 3 The terminal device executes according to the protocol stack processing sequence.
  • the terminal device receives the L1/L2 switching command and the L3 switching command. Since the underlying protocol stack processes it first, the terminal device will first decode the L1/L2 switching signaling. At this time, the terminal device starts to execute L1/L2 Switching; when the L3 of the terminal device decodes the L3 switching command, the terminal device is triggered to perform L3 switching, and L3 instructs L1/L2 to terminate the L1/L2 switching process.
  • the L1/L2 handover can be based on the L1 measurement results
  • the L3 handover can be based on the L3 measurement results.
  • the terminal device can only report one of the L1 measurement results and L3 measurement results when moving within the preconfigured area.
  • the preconfigured area may be a set of cells preconfigured by the base station.
  • the terminal device may report only one of the L1 measurement result and the L3 measurement result.
  • the terminal device can solve the switching conflict problem that may occur when the L1/L2 switching and L3 switching functions are jointly configured for the terminal device, and avoid configuration failures and ambiguous switching of the terminal device. behavior to ensure the smooth completion of cell switching.
  • the communication device 900 can realize the functions of any communication device (including terminal equipment, CU or DU, etc.) in the above method embodiment, and therefore can also realize the above. Beneficial effects possessed by method embodiments.
  • the communication device 900 may be a DU, or an integrated circuit or component inside the DU, such as a chip.
  • the following embodiments will be described taking the communication device 900 as a DU as an example.
  • the device 900 includes a processing unit 901 and a transceiver unit 902; in an implementation manner in which the communication device 900 is DU, the transceiver unit 902 is used to send the first switching message to the terminal device, and the transceiver unit 902 is also used to Receive a second handover message from the centralized unit CU, the first handover message being used to instruct the terminal device to handover from the source cell to the first target cell based on a first manner, the first manner including cell handover based on L1 and/or L2 mode; the second switching message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second mode, the second mode includes the L3-based cell switching mode; the processing unit 901 is used to determine the terminal device.
  • the cell switching method is the first method or the second method.
  • the processing unit 901 determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the first mode; the first condition includes at least one of the following: the processing unit 901 determines that the cell switching mode is the first mode.
  • the second switching message includes priority information indicating the second switching message, and the DU determines that the priority indicated by the priority information is lower than the preset priority; or, the processing unit 901 determines that the terminal device is based on the third switching message.
  • One mode switching is successful; or, the processing unit 901 determines that the transceiver unit 902 receives the first response message from the terminal device and the first response message is used to indicate successful reception of the first switching message.
  • the transceiver unit 902 is also configured to send at least one of the following to the CU: indicating that the terminal device is successful.
  • Information indicating that the cell switching is completed based on the first method information indicating that the terminal equipment successfully switched to the first target cell based on the first method, information indicating that the second handover message is discarded, indicating that the DU has not sent the third
  • the information of the handover message, the third handover message is used to instruct the terminal device to handover from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the processing unit 901 determines that the cell switching mode of the terminal device is the second mode.
  • the second condition includes at least one of the following: the processing unit 901 determines that the cell switching mode is the second mode.
  • the second switching message includes first indication information indicating that cell switching is performed preferentially based on the second manner; or, the processing unit 901 determines that the second switching message includes a priority indicating the second switching message.
  • the processing unit 901 determines that the priority indicated by the priority information is higher than the preset priority; or, the processing unit 901 determines that the terminal device fails to switch based on the first mode; or, the processing unit 901 determines that the transceiver unit 902 receives a second response message from the terminal device and the second response message is used to indicate that the first switching message was not successfully received; or, the processing unit 901 determines that the transceiver unit 902 did not receive the third response message from the terminal device.
  • a response message for a handover message is used to indicate that the first switching message was not successfully received.
  • the transceiving unit 902 is also configured to send a third switching message to the terminal device.
  • the message is used to instruct the terminal equipment to switch from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second method.
  • the third handover message includes: configuration information of the second target cell; or incremental configuration information of the second target cell and second indication information, the second indication information is used to Instruct the terminal device to perform incremental configuration of the incremental configuration information of the second target cell based on the configuration information of the source cell.
  • the transceiver unit 902 is used to send a first message to the CU.
  • the first message is used to request that the terminal device be switched to the first target cell based on the first method.
  • One method includes an L1-based cell switching method and/or an L2-based cell switching method; the transceiver unit 902 is also configured to receive first indication information from the CU, and the first indication information is used to indicate whether to allow the terminal device to be switched. to the first target cell; when the first instruction information of the processing unit 901 indicates that the terminal device is allowed to be switched to the first target cell, the transceiver unit 902 is also used to send a first handover message to the terminal device.
  • a handover message is used to instruct the terminal equipment to handover to the first target cell based on the first method.
  • the first target cell corresponds to the DU
  • the processing unit 901 determines that the transceiver unit 902 sends a first handover message based on the first indication information, and determines that the terminal device successfully switches to
  • the transceiver unit 902 is further configured to send at least one of the following: information indicating that the terminal equipment successfully completes cell switching based on the first method, or indicating that the terminal equipment successfully switches to the cell based on the first method.
  • Information about the first target cell is further configured to send at least one of the following: information indicating that the terminal equipment successfully completes cell switching based on the first method, or indicating that the terminal equipment successfully switches to the cell based on the first method.
  • the first target cell corresponds to the DU
  • the processing unit 901 determines that the transceiver unit 902 sends a first handover message based on the first indication information, and determines that the terminal device switches to the After the first target cell fails
  • the transceiver unit 902 is also configured to send at least one of the following: indicating that the terminal equipment fails to switch based on the first method, or instructing the terminal equipment to switch to the first target cell based on the first method. fail.
  • the transceiver unit 902 when the processing unit 901 determines that the first indication information indicates that the terminal device is not allowed to be switched to the first target cell, the transceiver unit 902 is also configured to receive a second switching message, the The second switching message The message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch to the second target cell based on the second method, the second method includes the L3-based cell switching method; the transceiver unit 902 is also used to send the third switching message, the third switching message Used to instruct the terminal device to switch to the second target cell based on the second method, the third switching message includes configuration information of the second target cell.
  • the first indication information is carried in a second message, and the second message is used to indicate successful reception of the first message.
  • the communication device 900 may be a CU, or an integrated circuit or component inside the CU, such as a chip.
  • the following embodiments will be described by taking the communication device 900 as a CU as an example.
  • the device 900 includes a processing unit 901 and a transceiver unit 902; in an implementation manner in which the communication device 900 is a CU, the processing unit 901 is used to determine a second switching message, and the second switching message is used to instruct the terminal device Switch from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second method, the second method includes the cell switching method based on L3; the transceiver unit 902 is used to send the second handover message to the DU; the transceiver unit 902 is also used to receive from At least one of the following of the DU: information indicating that the terminal equipment successfully completed cell switching based on the first method, information indicating that the terminal equipment successfully switched to the first target cell based on the first method, indicating the second handover message The discarded information indicates that the DU did not send the third switching message.
  • the third switching message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second method; or, the sending and receiving Unit 902 is also configured to receive at least one of the following from the DU: information indicating that the terminal equipment successfully performs cell switching based on the second method, and information indicating that the terminal equipment successfully switches to the second target cell based on the second method. .
  • the transceiver unit 902 is used to receive a first message.
  • the first message is used to request that the terminal device be switched to the first target cell based on the first method.
  • the first method Including an L1-based cell switching method and/or an L2-based cell switching method;
  • the processing unit 901 is used to determine first indication information, the first indication information is used to indicate whether to allow the terminal device to be switched to the first target cell ;
  • the transceiver unit 902 is also used to send the first indication information.
  • the first handover message includes at least one of the following: identification information of the first target cell, beam identification information of the first target cell, timing advance TA information of the first target cell, Information indicating whether to initiate random access to the first target cell, or the wireless network temporary identity RNTI of the terminal device in the first target cell.
  • the first target cell corresponds to the DU
  • the transceiver unit 902 is further configured to receive at least one of the following: information indicating that the terminal device successfully completes cell switching based on the first method, or, Information indicating that the terminal equipment successfully switches to the first target cell based on the first method.
  • the first target cell corresponds to the DU
  • the transceiver unit 902 is further configured to receive at least one of the following: indicating that the terminal device fails to switch based on the first mode, or indicating that the terminal device fails to switch based on the first mode. Handover to the first target cell based on the first method fails.
  • the transceiver unit 902 when the processing unit 901 determines that the first indication information indicates that the terminal device is not allowed to be switched to the first target cell, the transceiver unit 902 is also configured to send a second switching message, the The second handover message is used to instruct the terminal device to be handed over to the second target cell based on a second method, where the second method includes an L3-based cell handover method.
  • the communication device 900 may be a terminal device, or an integrated circuit or component inside the terminal device, such as a chip.
  • the following embodiments will be described by taking the communication device 900 as a terminal device as an example.
  • the device 900 includes a processing unit 901 and a transceiver unit 902; in an implementation manner in which the communication device 900 is a terminal device, the transceiver unit 902 is used to receive a first switching message from a DU, and the first switching message is used to Instruct the terminal equipment to switch from the source cell to the first target cell based on the first method, the first method includes the L1-based cell switching method and/or the L2-based cell switching method; the transceiver unit 902 is also used to receive the third signal from the DU. Three switching messages, the third switching message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second method; the processing unit 901 is used to determine the cell switching method as the first method or the second method. .
  • the transceiver unit 902 receives the third switching message.
  • the processing unit 901 determines that the cell switching mode is the first mode or the second mode including: when the processing unit 901 determines that the current cell is different from the source cell, the processing unit 901 determines that the cell switching mode is different from the source cell. 901 determines that the cell switching method is the cell switching method corresponding to the handover message received earlier; or, when the processing unit 901 determines that the current cell is the same as the source cell, the processing unit 901 determines that the cell switching method is the cell switching method that is received later. The cell switching method corresponding to the handover message.
  • the processing unit 901 determines the cell switching mode as the second mode, and the processing unit 901 is further configured to switch from the source cell to the second target cell based on the second mode.
  • the processing unit 901 After the transceiver unit 902 receives the first switching message, the processing unit 901 starts a timer; before the timer times out, the processing unit 901 determines that the transceiver unit 902 receives the third switching message. message, the processing unit 901 is also used to determine to discard the third switching message; or,
  • the processing unit 901 determines that the transceiver unit 902 receives the third switching message, the processing unit 901 is also configured to switch to the second target cell based on the second manner.
  • the processing unit 901 determines that the cell switching mode is the first mode or the second mode including: after the processing unit 901 successfully switches to the first target cell based on the first mode, the processing The unit 901 is also configured to determine to discard the third switching message; or, after the processing unit 901 fails to switch to the first target cell based on the first method, the processing unit 901 is also configured to switch to the third target cell based on the second method. Two target communities.
  • the processing unit 901 determines that the cell switching mode is the first mode or the second mode, including: after the processing unit 901 successfully switches to the second target cell based on the second mode, the processing The unit 901 is also configured to determine to discard the first handover message; or, after the processing unit 901 fails to switch to the second target cell based on the second method, the processing unit 901 is also configured to switch to the third target cell based on the first method.
  • a target community including: after the processing unit 901 successfully switches to the second target cell based on the second mode, the processing The unit 901 is also configured to determine to discard the first handover message; or, after the processing unit 901 fails to switch to the second target cell based on the second method, the processing unit 901 is also configured to switch to the third target cell based on the first method.
  • the processing unit 901 is specifically configured to switch to the second target cell based on the second manner.
  • the transceiver unit 902 is also configured to send a first measurement result, which is an L1 measurement result or an L3 measurement result, where the L1 measurement result is the basis for judgment of the first method. , the L3 measurement result is the basis for judgment of the second method.
  • the transceiver unit 902 when the processing unit 901 determines that it is in a preset area, the transceiver unit 902 is also configured to send the first measurement result; wherein the preset area is one or more corresponding to the preset cell identifier.
  • the transceiver unit 902 is also used to receive a third switching message, and the first switching message is used to instruct the terminal
  • the device switches from the source cell to the first target cell based on the first method, the first method includes the L1-based cell switching method and/or the L2-based cell switching method; the third switching message is used to instruct the terminal device to switch based on the second
  • the mode is switched from the source cell to the second target cell; the processing unit 901 is configured to switch to the second target cell based on the second mode.
  • FIG. 10 is another schematic structural diagram of a communication device 1000 provided in this application.
  • the communication device 1000 at least includes an input and output interface 1002 .
  • the communication device 1000 may be a chip or an integrated circuit.
  • the communication device also includes a logic circuit 1001.
  • the receiving unit 901 and the sending unit 902 shown in FIG. 9 may be communication interfaces, and the communication interface may be the input-output interface 1002 in FIG. 10 .
  • the input-output interface 1002 may include an input interface and an output interface.
  • the communication interface may also be a transceiver circuit, and the transceiver circuit may include an input interface circuit and an output interface circuit.
  • the processing unit 901 in the communication device 900 shown in FIG. 9 may be the logic circuit 1001 in FIG. 10.
  • the logic circuit 1001 may be a processing device, and the functions of the processing device may be partially or fully implemented through software. Among them, the functions of the processing device can be partially or fully implemented through software.
  • the processing device may include a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor reads and executes the computer program stored in the memory to perform corresponding processing and/or steps in any method embodiment. .
  • the processing means may comprise only a processor.
  • the memory for storing computer programs is located outside the processing device, and the processor is connected to the memory through circuits/wires to read and execute the computer programs stored in the memory.
  • the memory and processor can be integrated together, or they can also be physically independent of each other.
  • the processing device may be one or more chips, or one or more integrated circuits.
  • the processing device may be one or more field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), system on chip (SoC), central processing unit (central processor unit, CPU), network processor (network processor, NP), digital signal processing circuit (digital signal processor, DSP), microcontroller unit (micro controller unit, MCU), programmable logic device, PLD) or other integrated chips, or any combination of the above chips or processors, etc.
  • FPGA field-programmable gate arrays
  • ASIC application specific integrated circuit
  • SoC system on chip
  • central processing unit central processor unit, CPU
  • network processor network processor
  • NP network processor
  • DSP digital signal processing circuit
  • microcontroller unit microcontroller unit
  • microcontroller unit micro controller unit, MCU
  • PLD programmable logic device
  • FIG 11 is a communication device 1100 involved in the above embodiment provided by an embodiment of the present application.
  • the communication device 1100 can specifically be a communication device serving as a terminal device in the above embodiment.
  • the example shown in Figure 11 is a terminal
  • the device is implemented through a terminal device (or a component in the terminal device).
  • the communication device 1100 may include but is not limited to at least one processor 1101 and a communication port 1102.
  • the device may also include at least one of a memory 1103 and a bus 1104.
  • the at least one processor 1101 is used to control the actions of the communication device 1100.
  • the processor 1101 may be a central processing unit, a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. It may implement or execute the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with this disclosure.
  • the processor may also be a combination that implements computing functions, such as a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, and so on.
  • the communication device 1100 shown in Figure 11 can be specifically used to implement the steps implemented by the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiment, and to achieve the corresponding technical effects of the terminal device.
  • the specific implementation methods of the communication device shown in Figure 11 are all Reference may be made to the descriptions in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be described again here.
  • FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of the communication device 1200 involved in the above embodiment provided for the embodiment of the present application.
  • the communication device 1200 may be a communication device as a network device (such as CU or DU) in the above embodiment. device, wherein the structure of the communication device may refer to the structure shown in FIG. 12 .
  • the communication device 1200 includes at least one processor 1211 and at least one network interface 1214. Further optionally, the communication device further includes at least one memory 1212, at least one transceiver 1213 and one or more antennas 1215.
  • the processor 1211, the memory 1212, the transceiver 1213 and the network interface 1214 are connected, for example, through a bus. In the embodiment of the present application, the connection may include various interfaces, transmission lines or buses, etc., which is not limited in this embodiment.
  • Antenna 1215 is connected to transceiver 1213.
  • the network interface 1214 is used to enable the communication device to communicate with other communication devices through communication links.
  • the network interface 1214 may include a network interface between a communication device and a core network device, such as an S1 interface, and the network interface may include a network interface between a communication device and other communication devices (such as other network devices or core network devices), such as an X2 Or Xn interface.
  • a network interface between a communication device and a core network device such as an S1 interface
  • the network interface may include a network interface between a communication device and other communication devices (such as other network devices or core network devices), such as an X2 Or Xn interface.
  • the processor 1211 is mainly used to process communication protocols and communication data, control the entire communication device, execute software programs, and process data of the software programs, for example, to support the communication device to perform actions described in the embodiments.
  • the communication device may include a baseband processor and a central processing unit.
  • the baseband processor is mainly used to process communication protocols and communication data.
  • the central processing unit is mainly used to control the entire terminal device, execute software programs, and process data of the software programs.
  • the processor 1211 in Figure 12 can integrate the functions of the baseband processor and the central processor. Those skilled in the art can understand that the baseband processor and the central processor can also be independent processors, interconnected through technologies such as buses.
  • the terminal device may include multiple baseband processors to adapt to different network standards, the terminal device may include multiple central processors to enhance its processing capabilities, and various components of the terminal device may be connected through various buses.
  • the baseband processor can also be expressed as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip.
  • the central processing unit can also be expressed as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. Processing communication protocols and communication data Functions can be built into the processor or stored in memory in the form of software programs that are executed by the processor to implement baseband processing functions.
  • Memory is mainly used to store software programs and data.
  • the memory 1212 may exist independently and be connected to the processor 1211.
  • the memory 1212 can be integrated with the processor 1211, for example, integrated into a chip.
  • the memory 1212 can store the program code for executing the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, and the execution is controlled by the processor 1211.
  • the various computer program codes executed can also be regarded as the driver of the processor 1211.
  • Figure 12 shows only one memory and one processor. In an actual terminal device, there may be multiple processors and multiple memories. Memory can also be called storage media or storage devices.
  • the memory may be a storage element on the same chip as the processor, that is, an on-chip storage element, or an independent storage element, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.
  • the transceiver 1213 may be used to support the reception or transmission of radio frequency signals between the communication device and the terminal, and the transceiver 1213 may be connected to the antenna 1215.
  • Transceiver 1213 includes a transmitter Tx and a receiver Rx.
  • one or more antennas 1215 can receive radio frequency signals
  • the receiver Rx of the transceiver 1213 is used to receive the radio frequency signals from the antennas and convert the radio frequency signals into digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals, and convert the digital baseband signals into digital baseband signals.
  • the signal or digital intermediate frequency signal is provided to the processor 1211, so that the processor 1211 performs further processing on the digital baseband signal or digital intermediate frequency signal, such as demodulation processing and decoding processing.
  • the transmitter Tx in the transceiver 1213 is also used to receive a modulated digital baseband signal or a digital intermediate frequency signal from the processor 1211, and convert the modulated digital baseband signal or digital intermediate frequency signal into a radio frequency signal, and pass it through a Or multiple antennas 1215 transmit the radio frequency signal.
  • the receiver Rx can selectively perform one or more levels of down-mixing processing and analog-to-digital conversion processing on the radio frequency signal to obtain a digital baseband signal or a digital intermediate frequency signal.
  • the sequence of the down-mixing processing and the analog-to-digital conversion processing is The order is adjustable.
  • the transmitter Tx can selectively perform one or more levels of upmixing processing and digital-to-analog conversion processing on the modulated digital baseband signal or digital intermediate frequency signal to obtain a radio frequency signal.
  • the upmixing processing and digital-to-analog conversion processing are The order is adjustable.
  • Digital baseband signals and digital intermediate frequency signals can be collectively referred to as digital signals.
  • the transceiver 1213 may also be called a transceiver unit, a transceiver, a transceiver device, etc.
  • the devices used to implement the receiving function in the transceiver unit can be regarded as the receiving unit
  • the devices used in the transceiver unit used to implement the transmitting function can be regarded as the transmitting unit, that is, the transceiver unit includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit, and the receiving unit also It can be called a receiver, input port, receiving circuit, etc.
  • the sending unit can be called a transmitter, transmitter, or transmitting circuit, etc.
  • the communication device 1200 shown in Figure 12 can be used to implement the steps implemented by the network equipment (such as CU or DU) in the foregoing method embodiments, and to achieve the corresponding technical effects of the network equipment.
  • the communication device shown in Figure 12 For specific implementation methods of 1200, reference may be made to the descriptions in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be described again here.
  • Figure 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device provided by an embodiment of the present application.
  • the network device can adopt a CU-DU separated architecture, that is, a schematic diagram of the implementation in which the CU and DU are located on the same network device in any of the aforementioned embodiments.
  • the network device can be used to implement the functions of the network device in the above method embodiment.
  • Network equipment may include one or more DUs 1301 and one or more CUs 1302.
  • the DU 1301 may include at least one antenna 13011, at least one radio frequency unit 13012, at least one processor 13013 and at least one memory 13014.
  • the DU 1301 part is mainly used for the transmission and reception of radio frequency signals and the conversion of radio frequency signals and baseband signals, as well as some baseband deal with.
  • CU 1302 may include at least one processor 13022 and at least one memory 13021.
  • CU 1302 and DU 1301 can communicate through interfaces, wherein the control plane interface can be F1-C, and the user plane interface can be F1-U.
  • the CU 1302 part is mainly used for baseband processing, base station control, etc.
  • the DU 1301 and the CU 1302 can be physically set together or physically separated, that is, a distributed base station.
  • the CU 1302 is the control center of the base station, which can also be called a processing unit, and is mainly used to complete the baseband processing function.
  • the CU 1302 can be used to control the base station to perform the operation process of the network equipment in the above method embodiment.
  • the baseband processing on CU and DU can be divided according to the protocol layer of the wireless network.
  • the protocol layer of the wireless network please refer to the above content.
  • the CU 1302 may be composed of one or more single boards. Multiple single boards may jointly support a wireless access network (such as a 5G network) with a single access indication, or may support different access standards respectively. Wireless access network (such as LTE network, 5G network or other access network).
  • the memory 13021 and processor 13022 may serve one or more single boards. In other words, the memory and processor can be set independently on each board. It is also possible for multiple boards to share the same memory and processor. In addition, necessary circuits can also be installed on each board.
  • the DU 1301 can be composed of one or more single boards.
  • Multiple single boards can jointly support a wireless access network with a single access indication (such as a 5G network), or can respectively support wireless access networks of different access standards (such as LTE network, 5G network or other access networks).
  • the memory 13014 and processor 13013 may serve one or more single boards. In other words, the memory and processor can be set independently on each board. It is also possible for multiple boards to share the same memory and processor. In addition, necessary circuits can also be installed on each board.
  • the CU 1302 can transmit with the sub-nodes of the network device through the DU 1301.
  • the CU 1302 can be connected to other network devices through the interface.
  • the CU 1302 can receive data from other network devices (such as CUs of other network devices) through the interface. and/or messages, or CU 1302 may send data and/or messages to the other network device through the interface.
  • Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium that stores one or more computer-executable instructions.
  • the processor executes the possible implementations of the terminal device in the foregoing embodiments. Methods.
  • Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium that stores one or more computer-executable instructions.
  • the processor executes the network device (such as CU and/or DU) Possible Implementation Methods.
  • Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product (or computer program) that stores one or more computers.
  • the processor executes the method of possible implementation of the above terminal device.
  • Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product that stores one or more computers.
  • the processor executes the method of possible implementation of the above network device (such as CU and/or DU). .
  • Embodiments of the present application also provide a chip system, which includes at least one processor and is used to support the communication device in implementing the functions involved in the possible implementation manners of the communication device.
  • the chip system further includes an interface circuit that provides program instructions and/or data to the at least one processor.
  • the chip system may also include a memory for storing necessary program instructions and data of the communication device. according to.
  • the chip system may be composed of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices, where the communication device may specifically be the terminal equipment in the foregoing method embodiment.
  • Embodiments of the present application also provide a chip system, which includes at least one processor and is used to support the communication device in implementing the functions involved in the possible implementation manners of the communication device.
  • the chip system further includes an interface circuit that provides program instructions and/or data to the at least one processor.
  • the chip system may also include a memory, which is used to store necessary program instructions and data for the communication device.
  • the chip system may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices, where the communication device may specifically be the network device (such as CU and/or DU) in the foregoing method embodiment.
  • An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system.
  • the network system architecture includes the terminal device and network device (such as CU and/or DU) in any of the above embodiments.
  • the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways.
  • the device embodiments described above are only illustrative.
  • the division of the units is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods.
  • multiple units or components may be combined or can be integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored, or not implemented.
  • the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between each other shown or discussed may be through some interfaces, and the indirect coupling or communication connection of the devices or units may be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.
  • the units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place, or they may be distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.
  • each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated into one processing unit, each unit can exist physically alone, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit.
  • the above integrated units can be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional units. If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium.
  • the technical solution of the present application is essentially or contributes to the existing technology, or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium , including several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in various embodiments of this application.
  • the aforementioned storage media include: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (ROM, Read-Only Memory), random access memory (RAM, Random Access Memory), magnetic disk or optical disk and other media that can store program code. .

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Abstract

本申请提供了一种通信方法及通信装置，用于避免终端设备的切换行为不明确所导致的小区切换失败的情况出现，以提升小区切换过程的可靠性。在该方法中，DU向终端设备发送第一切换消息之后，该DU接收来自CU的第二切换消息，该第一切换消息用于指示终端设备基于第一方式从源小区切换至第一目标小区，该第一方式包括基于L1和/或L2的小区切换方式；该第二切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于第二方式从该源小区切换至第二目标小区，该第二方式包括基于L3的小区切换方式；该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式或该第二方式。

Description

一种通信方法及通信装置
本申请要求于2022年06月15日提交中国国家知识产权局，申请号为202210675608.9，发明名称为“一种通信方法及通信装置”的中国专利申请的优先权，其全部内容通过引用结合在本申请中。
技术领域
本申请涉及通信技术领域，尤其涉及一种通信方法及通信装置。
背景技术
在通信系统中，由于终端设备的移动或者网络信号的波动等原因，网络设备有可能会将终端设备从一个小区切换到另一个小区，以保持该终端设备的通信业务的连续性。其中，该切换过程可以称为小区切换，即在小区切换过程中，网络设备将该终端设备从源小区切换至目标小区。
目前，在第三代合作伙伴计划(3rd-generation partner ship project，3GPP)R15提出，网络设备有可能在逻辑上划分为集中式单元(central unit，CU)和分布式单元(distributed unit，DU)，即网络设备可以通过CU和DU分离的架构实现。其中，CU和DU分离的架构也能兼容实现小区切换的过程。例如，CU获取终端设备发送的测量报告，该测量报告包括源小区的测量信息以及一个或多个邻区的测量信息，使得该CU作为小区切换的判决方。即该CU可以基于该测量报告确定该终端设备是否需要执行小区切换，并在CU确定终端设备需要执行小区切换的情况下，CU向终端设备发送小区切换命令。
然而，在CU和DU分离的架构中，DU也可能作为小区切换的判决方，即DU也可能向终端设备发送小区切换命令。这将导致，在CU和DU都向终端设备发送小区切换命令的情况下，由于终端设备有可能接收到不同的小区切换命令而导致终端设备的切换行为不明确，进而有可能导致终端设备的小区切换失败。
发明内容
本申请提供了一种通信方法及通信装置，用于避免终端设备的切换行为不明确所导致的小区切换失败的情况出现，以提升小区切换过程的可靠性。
本申请第一方面提供了一种通信方法，该方法由DU执行，或者，该方法由DU中的部分组件(例如处理器、芯片或芯片系统等)执行，或者该方法还可以由能实现全部或部分DU功能的逻辑模块或软件实现。在第一方面及其可能的实现方式中，以该通信方法由DU执行为例进行描述。在该方法中，DU向终端设备发送第一切换消息之后，该DU接收来自CU的第二切换消息，该第一切换消息用于指示终端设备基于第一方式从源小区切换至第一目标小区，该第一方式包括基于L1和/或L2的小区切换方式；该第二切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于第二方式从该源小区切换至第二目标小区，该第二方式包括基于L3的小区切换方式；该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式或该第二方式。
基于上述技术方案，DU在基于第一切换消息向终端设备发起L1和/或L2的小区切换 过程，并且，CU基于第二切换消息向终端设备发起L3的小区切换过程的情况下，该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式和该第二方式中的其中一种方式，使得后续该DU可以基于该其中一种方式发起小区切换过程。换言之，在DU基于第一方式作出小区切换判决结果且CU基于第二方式作出小区切换判决结果的情况下，通过DU决策的方式使得DU基于第一方式和第二方式中的其中一种方式发起小区切换过程，避免终端设备的切换行为不明确所导致的小区切换失败的情况出现，以提升小区切换过程的可靠性。
应理解，本申请的第一方式中，L1指的是层1(layer 1，L1)，其中，层1可以称为物理(physical，PHY)层；L2指的是层2(layer 2，L2)，其中，层2包括媒体接入控制(media access control，MAC)层。本申请的第二方式中，L3指的是层3(layer 3，L3)，其中，层3可以称为无线资源控制(radio resource control，RRC)层。
可选地，L2还包括无线链路控制(radio link control，RLC)层，分组数据汇聚协议(packet data convergence protocol，PDCP)层，服务数据适配协议(service data adaptation protocol，SDAP)层。
在本申请中，第一切换消息所指示的第一目标小区和第二切换消息所指示的第二目标小区可以为同一个小区；或者，第一切换消息所指示的第一目标小区和第二切换消息所指示的第二目标小区也可以不是同一个小区，本申请对此不做限定。
在第一方面的一种可能的实现方式中，在满足第一条件时，该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式；该第一条件包括以下至少一项：该DU确定该第二切换消息包括用于指示该第二切换消息的优先级信息，且该DU确定该优先级信息指示的优先级低于预设优先级；或，该DU确定该终端设备基于该第一方式切换成功；或，该DU确定接收来自该终端设备的第一响应消息且该第一响应消息用于指示成功接收该第一切换消息。
基于上述技术方案，在满足以上至少一项的情况下，DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式，相应的，该DU可以通过丢弃(discard)第二切换消息或忽略第二切换消息等方式不执行基于该第二方式发起的小区切换过程，以避免基于第一方式所发起的小区切换失败。
本申请中，该预设优先级可以为第一方式的优先级，该预设优先级也可以为预配置的优先级，或该预设优先级还可以通过其它的方式实现，此处不做限定。
可以理解的是，在该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式的情况下，该DU可以基于此前发送的第一切换消息与终端设备之间执行第一方式对应的小区切换过程，以使得该终端设备执行小区切换过程并切换至第一目标小区。
在第一方面的一种可能的实现方式中，在该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式之后，该DU向该CU发送以下至少一项：指示该终端设备成功基于该第一方式完成小区切换的信息，指示该终端设备成功基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区的信息，指示该第二切换消息被丢弃的信息，指示该DU未发送该第三切换消息的信息，该第三切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于该第二方式从该源小区切换至该第二目标小区。
基于上述技术方案，在该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式之后，该DU可以基于此前发送的第一切换消息与终端设备之间执行第一方式对应的小区切换过程， 并通过上述至少一项信息向CU指示。使得CU基于上述至少一项信息明确该终端设备基于第一方式执行小区切换，和/或，使得CU基于上述至少一项信息明确该终端设备未基于第二方式执行小区切换。
在第一方面的一种可能的实现方式中，在满足第二条件时，该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第二方式，该第二条件包括以下至少一项：该DU确定该第二切换消息包括第一指示信息，该第一指示信息指示优先基于该第二方式执行小区切换；或，该DU确定该第二切换消息包括用于指示该第二切换消息的优先级信息，且该DU确定该优先级信息指示的优先级高于预设优先级；或，该DU确定该终端设备基于该第一方式切换失败；或，该DU确定接收来自该终端设备的第二响应消息且该第二响应消息用于指示未成功接收该第一切换消息；或，该DU确定未接收到来自该终端设备的该第一切换消息的响应消息。
基于上述技术方案，在满足以上至少一项的情况下，DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第二方式，相应的，该DU不执行基于该第一方式发起的小区切换过程，以避免基于第二方式所发起的小区切换失败。
在第一方面的一种可能的实现方式中，在该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第二方式之后，该方法还包括：该DU向该终端设备发送第三切换消息，该第三切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于该第二方式从该源小区切换至该第二目标小区。
基于上述技术方案，在DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第二方式的情况下，该DU向终端设备发送用于指示该终端设备基于该第二方式从该源小区切换至该第二目标小区的第三切换消息，使得该终端设备基于该第三切换消息执行第二方式对应的小区切换过程。
在第一方面的一种可能的实现方式中，该第三切换消息包括：该第二目标小区的配置信息；或，该第二目标小区的增量配置信息以及第二指示信息，该第二指示信息用于指示该终端设备基于该源小区的配置信息对该第二目标小区的增量配置信息进行增量配置。
基于上述技术方案，该DU向终端设备发送的第三切换消息可以包括该第二目标小区相关的配置信息，以便于终端设备在接收第三切换消息之后，该终端设备基于该第二目标小区相关的配置信息切换至该第二目标小区。
可选地，该第三切换消息不包括该第二目标小区相关的配置信息的情况下，该终端设备也可以通过其它的方式获取该第二目标小区相关的配置信息。例如，该终端设备在与源小区的通信过程中，该终端设备接收来自该源小区的邻区的配置信息，该邻区包括该第二目标小区。又如，该终端设备在与CU的通信过程中，该终端设备接收来自该CU的多个小区的配置信息，该多个小区包括该第二目标小区。
在第一方面的一种可能的实现方式中，在该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第二方式之后，该DU向该CU发送以下至少一项：指示该终端设备成功基于该第二方式执行小区切换的信息，指示该终端设备成功基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区的信息。
基于上述技术方案，在该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第二方式之后，该DU可以第三切换消息与终端设备之间执行第二方式对应的小区切换过程，并通过上述至少一项信息向CU指示。使得CU基于上述至少一项信息明确该终端设备基于第二方式执行小区切换。
本申请第二方面提供了一种通信方法，该方法由集中式单元(centralized unit，CU)执行，或者，该方法由CU中的部分组件(例如处理器、芯片或芯片系统等)执行，或者该方法还可以由能实现全部或部分CU功能的逻辑模块或软件实现。在第二方面及其可能的实现方式中，以该通信方法由CU执行为例进行描述。在该方法中，CU发送第二切换消息，该第二切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于第二方式从源小区切换至第二目标小区，该第二方式包括基于L3的小区切换方式；该CU接收来自该DU的以下至少一项：指示该终端设备成功基于该第一方式完成小区切换的信息，指示该终端设备成功基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区的信息，指示该第二切换消息被丢弃的信息，指示该DU未发送该第三切换消息的信息，该第三切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于该第二方式从该源小区切换至该第二目标小区；或，该CU接收来自该DU的以下至少一项：指示该终端设备成功基于该第二方式执行小区切换的信息，指示该终端设备成功基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区的信息。其中，该第一方式包括基于L1的小区切换方式和/或基于L2的小区切换方式。
基于上述技术方案，CU基于第二切换消息向终端设备发起L3的小区切换过程的情况下，DU有可能事先已基于第一切换消息向终端设备发起L1和/或L2的小区切换过程。为此，DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式和该第二方式中的其中一种方式，并且，DU通过上述至少一项信息直接或间接地获取DU所确定的该其中一种方式。换言之，在DU基于第一方式作出小区切换判决结果且CU基于第二方式作出小区切换判决结果的情况下，通过DU决策的方式使得DU基于第一方式和第二方式中的其中一种方式发起小区切换过程，避免终端设备的切换行为不明确所导致的小区切换失败的情况出现，以提升小区切换过程的可靠性。
此外，CU可以基于上述至少一项信息明确该终端设备基于第二方式执行小区切换，或，CU基于上述至少一项信息明确该终端设备基于第一方式执行小区切换，或，CU基于上述至少一项信息明确该终端设备未基于第二方式执行小区切换。
本申请第三方面提供了一种通信方法，该方法由终端设备执行，或者，该方法由终端设备中的部分组件(例如处理器、芯片或芯片系统等)执行，或者该方法还可以由能实现全部或部分终端设备功能的逻辑模块或软件实现。在第三方面及其可能的实现方式中，以该通信方法由终端设备执行为例进行描述。在该方法中，终端设备接收第一切换消息之后，该终端设备接收第三切换消息，该第一切换消息用于指示终端设备基于第一方式从源小区切换至第一目标小区，该第一方式包括基于L1的小区切换方式和/或基于L2的小区切换方式；该第三切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于第二方式从源小区切换至该第二目标小区；该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区。
基于上述技术方案，DU在基于第一切换消息向终端设备发起L1和/或L2的小区切换过程，并且，CU基于第二切换消息向终端设备发起L3的小区切换过程的情况下，该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为第二方式时，终端设备将会接收用于指示该终端设备基于第二方式从源小区切换至该第二目标小区的第三切换消息，并且，该终端设备基于该第三切换消息执行第二方式的小区切换过程。换言之，在DU基于第一方式作出小区切换判决结果且CU基于第二方式作出小区切换判决结果的情况下，通过DU决策的方式使得DU基于第 二方式发起小区切换过程，避免终端设备的切换行为不明确所导致的小区切换失败的情况出现，以提升小区切换过程的可靠性。
在第三方面的一种可能的实现方式中，在该终端设备接收第三切换消息时该终端设备确定未切换至该第一目标小区，该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区包括：该终端设备确定中止切换至该第一目标小区且该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区。
基于上述技术方案，在终端设备接收来自DU的第三切换消息的情况下，该终端设备确定将基于该第二方式切换至第二目标小区。为此，在该终端设备当前未完成切换至第一目标小区的情况下，该终端设备将会中止切换至第一目标小区的过程，以确保该终端设备能够基于该第二方式切换至第二目标小区的同时，避免不必要的开销。
在第三方面的一种可能的实现方式中，该第三切换消息包括该源小区的标识，在该终端设备接收第三切换消息之后该终端设备确定已切换至该第一目标小区时，该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区包括：该终端设备基于该第二方式从该源小区切换至该第二目标小区。
基于上述技术方案，在终端设备接收来自DU的第三切换消息的情况下，该终端设备确定将基于该第二方式切换至第二目标小区。为此，在该终端设备当前已完成切换至第一目标小区的情况下，该终端设备将会基于该第二方式从该源小区切换至该第二目标小区，而不是基于该第二方式从该第一目标小区切换至该第二目标小区，以避免切换失败。
在第三方面的一种可能的实现方式中，在该终端设备接收第三切换消息之后该终端设备确定未执行与该第一目标小区的小区切换时，该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区包括：该终端设备确定中止切换至该第一目标小区且该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区。
基于上述技术方案，在终端设备接收来自DU的第三切换消息的情况下，该终端设备确定将基于该第二方式切换至第二目标小区。为此，在该终端设备当前未开始执行切换至第一目标小区的情况下，该终端设备可以无需执行切换至第一目标小区的过程而基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区，以确保该终端设备能够基于该第二方式切换至第二目标小区的同时，避免不必要的开销。
在第三方面的一种可能的实现方式中，该第三切换消息包括该第二目标小区的配置信息；或，该第三切换消息包括该第二目标小区的增量配置信息以及第二指示信息，该第二指示信息用于指示该终端设备基于该源小区的配置信息对该第二目标小区的增量配置信息进行增量配置。
基于上述技术方案，终端设备接收来自该DU发送的第三切换消息可以包括该第二目标小区相关的配置信息，以便于终端设备在接收第三切换消息之后，该终端设备基于该第二目标小区相关的配置信息切换至该第二目标小区。
可选地，该第三切换消息不包括该第二目标小区相关的配置信息的情况下，该终端设备也可以通过其它的方式获取该第二目标小区相关的配置信息。例如，该终端设备在与源小区的通信过程中，该终端设备接收来自该源小区的邻区的配置信息，该邻区包括该第二 目标小区。又如，该终端设备在与CU的通信过程中，该终端设备接收来自该CU的多个小区的配置信息，该多个小区包括该第二目标小区。
本申请第四方面提供了一种通信方法，该方法由分布式单元(distributed unit，DU)执行，或者，该方法由DU中的部分组件(例如处理器、芯片或芯片系统等)执行，或者该方法还可以由能实现全部或部分DU功能的逻辑模块或软件实现。在第四方面及其可能的实现方式中，以该通信方法由DU执行为例进行描述。在该方法中，DU向CU发送第一消息，该第一消息用于请求将终端设备基于第一方式切换至第一目标小区，该第一方式包括基于L1的小区切换方式和/或基于L2的小区切换方式；该DU接收来自该CU的第一指示信息，该第一指示信息用于指示是否允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区；在该第一指示信息指示允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区时，该DU向终端设备发送第一切换消息，该第一切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区。
基于上述技术方案，DU接收来自该CU的第一指示信息用于指示是否允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区，并且，在该第一指示信息指示允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区时，该DU向终端设备发送第一切换消息。换言之，在DU基于第一方式作出小区切换判决结果之后，通过CU决策的方式使得DU明确是否基于第一方式发起小区切换过程，并且，在该CU指示允许基于第一方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程的情况下，该CU将不会基于第二方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程，即该DU基于第一切换消息发起小区切换过程。从而，相比于CU和DU都会向终端设备发送小区切换命令的情况下，通过CU决策的方式能够使得DU明确是否基于第一方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程，避免终端设备的切换行为不明确所导致的小区切换失败的情况出现，以提升小区切换过程的可靠性。
在第四方面的一种可能的实现方式中，该第一目标小区对应于该DU，在该DU基于该第一指示信息发送第一切换消息之后，该方法还包括：在该DU确定该终端设备成功切换至该第一目标小区之后，该DU发送以下至少一项：指示该终端设备成功基于该第一方式完成小区切换的信息，或，指示该终端设备成功基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区的信息。
基于上述技术方案，在该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式之后，该DU可以基于第一切换消息与终端设备之间执行第一方式对应的小区切换过程，并通过上述至少一项信息向CU指示，使得CU基于上述至少一项信息明确该终端设备基于第一方式成功切换至第一目标小区。
在第四方面的一种可能的实现方式中，该第一目标小区对应于该DU，在该DU基于该第一指示信息发送第一切换消息之后，该方法还包括：在该DU确定该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区失败之后，该DU发送以下至少一项：指示该终端设备基于该第一方式切换失败，或，指示该终端设备基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区失败。
基于上述技术方案，在该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式之后，该DU可以基于第一切换消息与终端设备之间执行第一方式对应的小区切换过程，并通过上述至少一项信息向CU指示，使得CU基于上述至少一项信息明确该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区失败。
在第四方面的一种可能的实现方式中，在该第一指示信息指示不允许将该终端设备切 换至该第一目标小区时，该方法还包括：该DU接收来自CU的第二切换消息，该第二切换消息用于指示将该终端设备基于第二方式切换至第二目标小区，该第二方式包括基于L3的小区切换方式；该DU发送该第三切换消息，该第三切换消息用于指示将该终端设备基于第二方式切换至第二目标小区。
基于上述技术方案，在该第一指示信息指示不允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区时，该DU还会接收来自CU的用于指示将该终端设备基于第二方式切换至第二目标小区的第二切换消息，并且，DU向终端设备发送用于指示将该终端设备基于第二方式切换至第二目标小区的第三切换消息。换言之，在DU基于第一方式作出小区切换判决结果之后，通过CU决策的方式使得DU明确是否基于第一方式发起小区切换过程，并且，在该CU指示不允许基于第一方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程的情况下，该CU将不会基于第一方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程，并接收来自CU的第二切换消息之后基于第二方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程。
在第四方面的一种可能的实现方式中，该第三切换消息包括：该第二目标小区的配置信息；或，该第二目标小区的增量配置信息以及第二指示信息，该第二指示信息用于指示该终端设备基于该源小区的配置信息对该第二目标小区的增量配置信息进行增量配置。
基于上述技术方案，该DU向终端设备发送的第三切换消息可以包括该第二目标小区相关的配置信息，以便于终端设备在接收第三切换消息之后，该终端设备基于该第二目标小区相关的配置信息切换至该第二目标小区。
可选地，该第三切换消息不包括该第二目标小区相关的配置信息的情况下，该终端设备也可以通过其它的方式获取该第二目标小区相关的配置信息。例如，该终端设备在与源小区的通信过程中，该终端设备接收来自该源小区的邻区的配置信息，该邻区包括该第二目标小区。又如，该终端设备在与CU的通信过程中，该终端设备接收来自该CU的多个小区的配置信息，该多个小区包括该第二目标小区。
在第四方面的一种可能的实现方式中，该第一指示信息承载于第二消息，该第二消息用于指示成功接收该第一消息。
基于上述技术方案，CU所发送的第一指示信息可以承载于用于指示成功接收该第一消息的第二消息中，以节省开销。
可选地，该第一指示信息也可以承载于不同于该第二消息的其他消息中。
本申请第五方面提供了一种通信方法，该方法由集中式单元(centralized unit，CU)执行，或者，该方法由CU中的部分组件(例如处理器、芯片或芯片系统等)执行，或者该方法还可以由能实现全部或部分CU功能的逻辑模块或软件实现。在第二方面及其可能的实现方式中，以该通信方法由CU执行为例进行描述。在该方法中，CU接收第一消息，该第一消息用于请求将终端设备基于第一方式切换至第一目标小区，该第一方式包括基于L1的小区切换方式和/或基于L2的小区切换方式；该CU发送第一指示信息，该第一指示信息用于指示是否允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区。
基于上述技术方案，CU向DU发送的第一指示信息用于指示是否允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区，使得在该第一指示信息指示允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小 区时，该DU向终端设备发送第一切换消息。换言之，在DU基于第一方式作出小区切换判决结果之后，通过CU决策的方式使得DU明确是否基于第一方式发起小区切换过程，并且，在该CU指示允许基于第一方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程的情况下，该CU将不会基于第二方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程，即该DU基于第一切换消息发起小区切换过程。从而，相比于CU和DU都会向终端设备发送小区切换命令的情况下，通过CU决策的方式能够使得DU明确是否基于第一方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程，避免终端设备的切换行为不明确所导致的小区切换失败的情况出现，以提升小区切换过程的可靠性。
在第五方面的一种可能的实现方式中，该方法还包括：该CU接收以下至少一项：指示该终端设备成功基于该第一方式完成小区切换的信息，或，指示该终端设备成功基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区的信息。
基于上述技术方案，在该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式之后，该DU可以基于第一切换消息与终端设备之间执行第一方式对应的小区切换过程，并通过上述至少一项信息向CU指示，使得CU基于上述至少一项信息明确该终端设备基于第一方式成功切换至第一目标小区。
在第五方面的一种可能的实现方式中，该方法还包括：该CU接收以下至少一项：指示该终端设备基于该第一方式切换失败，或，指示该终端设备基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区失败。
基于上述技术方案，在该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式之后，该DU可以基于第一切换消息与终端设备之间执行第一方式对应的小区切换过程，并通过上述至少一项信息向CU指示，使得CU基于上述至少一项信息明确该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区失败。
在第五方面的一种可能的实现方式中，在该第一指示信息指示不允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区时，该方法还包括：该CU向DU发送第二切换消息，该第二切换消息用于指示将该终端设备基于第二方式切换至第二目标小区，该第二方式包括基于L3的小区切换方式。
基于上述技术方案，在该第一指示信息指示不允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区时，CU还会向DU发送用于指示将该终端设备基于第二方式切换至第二目标小区的第二切换消息，并且，DU向终端设备发送用于指示将该终端设备基于第二方式切换至第二目标小区的第三切换消息。换言之，在DU基于第一方式作出小区切换判决结果之后，通过CU决策的方式使得DU明确是否基于第一方式发起小区切换过程，并且，在该CU指示不允许基于第一方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程的情况下，该CU将不会基于第一方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程，并接收来自CU的第二切换消息之后基于第二方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程。
在第五方面的一种可能的实现方式中，该第一指示信息承载于第二消息，该第二消息用于指示成功接收该第一消息。
基于上述技术方案，CU所发送的第一指示信息可以承载于用于指示成功接收该第一消息的第二消息中，以节省开销。
可选地，该第一指示信息也可以承载于不同于该第二消息的其他消息中。
本申请第六方面提供了一种通信方法，该方法由终端设备执行，或者，该方法由终端设备中的部分组件(例如处理器、芯片或芯片系统等)执行，或者该方法还可以由能实现全部或部分终端设备功能的逻辑模块或软件实现。在第六方面及其可能的实现方式中，以该通信方法由终端设备执行为例进行描述。在该方法中，终端设备接收第一切换消息，该第一切换消息用于指示终端设备基于第一方式从源小区切换至第一目标小区，该第一方式包括基于L1的小区切换方式和/或基于L2的小区切换方式；该终端设备接收第三切换消息，该第三切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于第二方式从源小区切换至该第二目标小区；该终端设备确定小区切换方式为该第一方式或该第二方式。
基于上述技术方案，网络设备基于第一切换消息向终端设备发起L1和/或L2的小区切换过程，且网络设备基于第三切换消息向终端设备发起L3的小区切换过程的情况下，该终端设备确定小区切换方式为该第一方式和该第二方式中的其中一种方式，使得后续该终端设备可以基于该其中一种方式发起小区切换过程。换言之，在DU基于第一方式作出小区切换判决结果且CU基于第二方式作出小区切换判决结果的情况下，通过终端设备决策的方式使得该终端设备基于第一方式和第二方式中的其中一种方式发起小区切换过程，避免终端设备的切换行为不明确所导致的小区切换失败的情况出现，以提升小区切换过程的可靠性。
在第六方面的一种可能的实现方式中，该终端设备确定小区切换方式为该第一方式或该第二方式包括：在该终端设备确定当前所处的小区与后接收的切换消息对应的源小区不同时，该终端设备确定小区切换方式为先接收的切换消息对应的小区切换方式；或，在该终端设备确定当前所处的小区与后接收的切换消息对应的源小区相同时，该终端设备确定小区切换方式为后接收的切换消息对应的小区切换方式。
应理解，终端设备有可能分别接收第一切换消息和第三切换消息，为此，该实现方式中的先接收的切换消息为第一切换消息且后接收的切换消息为第三切换消息，或者，该实现方式中的先接收的切换消息为第三切换消息且后接收的切换消息为第一切换消息。
基于上述技术方案，终端设备在接收第一切换消息和第三切换消息之后，该终端设备可以确定当前所处的小区与后接收的切换消息对应的源小区是否相同。并且，在两者不同的情况下该终端设备确定已切换至先接收的切换消息对应的目标小区，即该终端设备确定小区切换方式为先接收的切换消息对应的小区切换方式；在两者相同的情况下该终端设备未切换至先接收的切换消息对应的目标小区，即该终端设备确定小区切换方式为后接收的切换消息对应的小区切换方式。
在第六方面的一种可能的实现方式中，该终端设备确定小区切换方式为该第二方式，该方法还包括：该终端设备基于该第二方式从该源小区切换至该第二目标小区。
基于上述技术方案，该终端设备始终认为需要执行第二方式对应的小区切换方式，即无论是否接收该第一切换消息，该终端设备在接收第三切换消息之后需要基于该第二方式从该源小区切换至该第二目标小区。
在第六方面的一种可能的实现方式中，在该终端设备接收该第一切换消息之后，该方法还包括：该终端设备启动定时器；在该定时器超时之前该终端设备接收该第三切换消息 时，该终端设备丢弃该第三切换消息；或，在该定时器超时之后该终端设备接收该第三切换消息时，该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区。
基于上述技术方案，在终端设备先接收第一切换消息且后接收第三切换消息的情况下，该终端设备还可以在接收第一切换消息之后启动定时器，并且，在该定时器超时之前接收该第三切换消息的时候，为了避免第一方式对应的小区切换过程失败，该终端设备确定无需基于第三切换消息执行小区切换，即该终端设备确定丢弃该第三切换消息；在该定时器超时之后接收该第三切换消息的时候，该终端设备确定需要基于第三切换消息执行小区切换，即该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区。
在第六方面的一种可能的实现方式中，该终端设备确定小区切换方式为该第一方式或该第二方式包括：该终端设备基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区成功之后，该终端设备丢弃该第三切换消息；或，该终端设备基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区失败之后，该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区。
基于上述技术方案，在第一切换消息和第三切换消息承载于同一下行数据包的情况下，该终端设备优先执行第一方式对应的小区切换过程，并且，该终端设备基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区成功之后，该终端设备丢弃该第三切换消息；或，该终端设备基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区失败之后，该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区，以提升小区切换的成功率。
在第六方面的一种可能的实现方式中，该终端设备确定小区切换方式为该第一方式或该第二方式包括：该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区成功之后，该终端设备丢弃该第一切换消息；或，该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区失败之后，该终端设备基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区。
基于上述技术方案，在第一切换消息和第三切换消息承载于同一下行数据包的情况下，该终端设备优先执行第二方式对应的小区切换过程，并且，该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区成功之后，该终端设备丢弃该第一切换消息；或，该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区失败之后，该终端设备基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区，以提升小区切换的成功率。
在第六方面的一种可能的实现方式中，该终端设备确定小区切换方式为该第一方式或该第二方式包括：该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区。
基于上述技术方案，在第一切换消息和第三切换消息承载于同一下行数据包的情况下，由于终端设备解析该下行数据包的过程中先解析底层协议栈对应的第一切换消息后解析得到高层协议栈对应的第三切换消息，为此，该终端设备先执行基于第一切换消息执行小区切换，并在终端设备解析得到第三切换消息之后中止第一方式对应的切换过程并执行第二方式对应的切换过程，使得该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区。
在第六方面的一种可能的实现方式中，该方法还包括：该终端设备发送第一测量结果，该第一测量结果为L1测量结果或L3测量结果，其中，该L1测量结果为该第一方式的判决依据，该L3测量结果为该第二方式的判决依据。
应理解，该实现方式可以单独实现，而不无需依赖于第六方面所示的方法。
基于上述技术方案，由于网络设备做出小区切换的判决会基于终端设备上报的测量结果，即L1和/或L2切换基于L1测量结果得到，L3切换基于L3测量结果得到。为避免网络设备在较短时间内连续发出第一切换消息(即L1和/或L2切换命令)和第三切换消息(即L3切换命令)，终端设备可以通过仅上报L1测量结果和L3测量结果的其中一个测量结果的方式，避免网络设备下发多个切换消息造成终端设备的切换行为不明确所导致的小区切换失败的情况出现，以提升小区切换过程的可靠性。
在第六方面的一种可能的实现方式中，该终端设备发送第一测量结果包括：在该终端设备确定处于预设区域时，该终端设备发送L1测量结果或L3测量结果。
可选地，该预设区域为预设小区标识所对应的一个或多个小区的信号覆盖区域，或，该预设区域为预设同步信号块(synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel block，SS/PBCH block、SS/PBCH块或SSB)索引所对应的一个或多个SSB的信号覆盖区域，此处不做限定。
基于上述技术方案，在预设区域中进行通信时，该终端设备发送L1测量结果和L3测量结果中的其中一个测量结果，避免网络设备下发多个切换消息造成终端设备的切换行为不明确所导致的小区切换失败的情况出现，以提升小区切换过程的可靠性。
本申请第七方面提供了一种通信装置，该装置可以实现上述第一方面至第六方面中的任一可能的实现方式中的方法。该装置包括用于执行上述方法的相应的单元或模块。该装置包括的单元或模块可以通过软件和/或硬件方式实现。
在一种可能的设计中，所述通信装置包括处理单元和通信单元，其中，通信单元可以包括接收单元和/或发送单元，通信单元可以用于收发信号，以实现该通信装置和其它装置之间的通信；处理单元可以用于执行该通信装置的一些内部操作。处理单元、通信单元执行的功能可以和上述第一方面至第六方面中的任一可能的实现方式涉及的操作相对应。
在一种可能的设计中，所述通信装置包括处理器，还可以包括收发器，所述收发器用于收发信号，所述处理器利用所述收发器，以完成上述第一方面至第六方面中的任一可能的实现方式中的方法。其中，所述通信装置还可以包括一个或多个存储器，所述存储器用于与处理器耦合，所述存储器可以保存实现上述第一方面涉及的功能的计算机程序或指令。所述处理器可执行所述存储器存储的计算机程序或指令，当所述计算机程序或指令被执行时，使得所述通信装置实现上述第一方面至第六方面中的任一可能的实现方式中的方法。
在一种可能的设计中，所述通信装置包括处理器，处理器可以用于与存储器耦合。所述存储器可以保存实现上述第一方面至第六方面中的任一可能的实现方式涉及的功能的计算机程序或指令。所述处理器可执行所述存储器存储的计算机程序或指令，当所述计算机程序或指令被执行时，使得所述通信装置实现上述第一方面至第六方面中的任一可能的实现方式中的方法。
在一种可能的设计中，所述通信装置包括处理器和接口电路，其中，处理器用于通过所述接口电路与其它装置通信，并执行上述第一方面至第六方面中的任一可能的实现方式中的方法。
本申请实施例第八方面提供一种存储一个或多个计算机执行指令的计算机可读存储介 质，当计算机执行指令被处理器执行时，该处理器执行如上述第一方面或第一方面任意一种可能的实现方式所述的方法，或，该处理器执行如上述第二方面或第二方面任意一种可能的实现方式所述的方法，或，该处理器执行如上述第三方面或第三方面任意一种可能的实现方式所述的方法，或，该处理器执行如上述第四方面或第四方面任意一种可能的实现方式所述的方法，或，该处理器执行如上述第五方面或第五方面任意一种可能的实现方式所述的方法，或，该处理器执行如上述第六方面或第六方面任意一种可能的实现方式所述的方法。
本申请实施例第九方面提供一种存储一个或多个计算机的计算机程序产品(或称计算机程序)，该计算机程序产品包括程序或指令，当计算机程序产品中的程序或指令被该处理器执行时，该处理器执行上述第一方面或第一方面任意一种可能实现方式的方法，或，该处理器执行上述第二方面或第二方面任意一种可能实现方式的方法，或，该处理器执行上述第三方面或第三方面任意一种可能实现方式的方法，或，该处理器执行上述第四方面或第四方面任意一种可能实现方式的方法，或，该处理器执行上述第五方面或第五方面任意一种可能实现方式的方法，或，该处理器执行上述第六方面或第六方面任意一种可能实现方式的方法。
本申请实施例第十方面提供了一种芯片系统，该芯片系统包括至少一个处理器，用于支持通信装置实现上述第一方面或第一方面任意一种可能的实现方式中所涉及的功能，或，用于支持通信装置实现上述第二方面或第二方面任意一种可能的实现方式中所涉及的功能，或，用于支持通信装置实现上述第三方面或第三方面任意一种可能的实现方式中所涉及的功能，或，用于支持通信装置实现上述第四方面或第四方面任意一种可能的实现方式中所涉及的功能，或，用于支持通信装置实现上述第五方面或第五方面任意一种可能的实现方式中所涉及的功能，或，用于支持通信装置实现上述第六方面或第六方面任意一种可能的实现方式中所涉及的功能。
在一种可能的设计中，该芯片系统还可以包括存储器，存储器，用于保存该第一通信装置必要的程序指令和数据。该芯片系统，可以由芯片构成，也可以包含芯片和其他分立器件。可选的，所述芯片系统还包括接口电路，所述接口电路为所述至少一个处理器提供程序指令和/或数据。
本申请实施例第十一方面提供了一种通信系统，该通信系统包括上述第一方面及其任一实现方式中的DU，上述第二方面及其任一实现方式中的CU以及上述第三方面及其任一实现方式中的终端设备。或者，该通信系统包括上述第四方面及其任一实现方式中的DU，上述第五方面及其任一实现方式中的CU。或者，该通信系统包括上述第六方面及其任一实现方式中的终端设备。
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图1为本申请提供的通信系统的一个示意图；
图2为本申请提供的通信系统的另一个示意图；
图3a为本申请涉及的小区切换方法的一个示意图；
图3b为本申请提供的小区切换方法的另一个示意图；
图3c为本申请提供的小区切换方法的另一个示意图；
图4为本申请提供的通信方法的一个示意图；
图5a为本申请提供的通信方法的另一个示意图；
图5b为本申请提供的通信方法的另一个示意图；
图5c为本申请提供的通信方法的另一个示意图；
图5d为本申请提供的通信方法的另一个示意图；
图5e为本申请提供的通信方法的另一个示意图；
图6为本申请提供的通信方法的另一个示意图；
图7为本申请提供的通信方法的另一个示意图；
图8a为本申请提供的通信方法的另一个示意图；
图8b为本申请提供的通信方法的另一个示意图；
图9为本申请提供的通信装置的另一个示意图；
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具体实施方式
下面将结合本申请实施例中的附图，对本申请实施例中的技术方案进行描述。基于本申请中的实施例，本领域普通技术人员在没有做出创造性劳动前提下所获得的所有其他实施例，都属于本申请保护的范围。
首先，对本申请实施例中的部分用语进行解释说明，以便于本领域技术人员理解。
(1)终端设备：本申请实施例涉及到的终端设备也可以称为终端、用户设备(user equipment，UE)、移动台、移动终端等。终端设备可以是手机、平板电脑、带无线收发功能的电脑、虚拟现实终端设备、增强现实终端设备、工业控制中的无线终端、无人驾驶中的无线终端、远程手术中的无线终端、智能电网中的无线终端、运输安全中的无线终端、智慧城市中的无线终端、智慧家庭中的无线终端、可穿戴设备等等。本申请的实施例对终端设备所采用的具体技术和具体设备形态不做限定。在本申请实施例中，用于实现终端设备的功能的装置可以是终端设备；也可以是能够支持终端设备实现该功能的装置，例如芯片系统，该装置可以被安装在终端设备中或者和终端设备匹配使用。本申请实施例中，芯片系统可以由芯片构成，也可以包括芯片和其他分立器件。本申请实施例提供的技术方案中，以用于实现终端设备的功能的装置是终端设备为例，描述本申请实施例提供的技术方案。
此外，终端设备也可以是第五代(5th generation，5G)通信系统之后演进的通信系统(例如第六代(6th generation，6G)通信系统等)中的终端设备或者未来演进的公共陆地移动网络(public land mobile network，PLMN)中的终端设备等。
(2)网络设备：可以是无线网络中的设备，例如网络设备可以为将终端设备接入到无线网络的接入网(radio access network，RAN)节点(或设备)，又可以称为基站。目前，一些RAN设备的举例为：5G通信系统中的基站gNB(gNodeB)、传输接收点(transmission reception point，TRP)、演进型节点B(evolved Node B，eNB)、无线网络控制器(radio network controller，RNC)、节点B(Node B，NB)、家庭基站(例如，home evolved Node B，或home Node B，HNB)、基带单元(base band unit，BBU)，或无线保真(wireless fidelity，Wi-Fi)接入点AP等。另外，在一种网络结构中，网络设备可以包括集中单元(centralized unit，CU)节点、或分布单元(distributed unit，DU)节点、或包括CU节点和DU节点的RAN设备。
(3)本申请实施例中，“多个”是指两个或两个以上。“和/或”，描述关联对象的关联关系，表示可以存在三种关系，例如，A和/或B，可以表示：单独存在A、同时存在A和B、单独存在B的情况，其中A，B可以是单数或者复数。字符“/”一般表示前后关联对象是一种“或”的关系。“以下至少一项(个)”或其类似表达，是指的这些项中的任意组合，包括单项(个)或复数项(个)的任意组合。例如“A，B和C中的至少一项”包括A，B，C，AB，AC，BC或ABC。以及，除非有特别说明，本申请实施例提及“第一”、“第二”等序数词是用于对多个对象进行区分，不用于限定多个对象的顺序、时序、优先级或者重要程度。
本申请中，除特殊说明外，各个实施例之间相同或相似的部分可以互相参考。在本申请中各个实施例、以及各实施例中的各个方法/设计/实现方式中，如果没有特殊说明以及逻辑冲突，不同的实施例之间、以及各实施例中的各个方法/设计/实现方式之间的术语和/或描述具有一致性、且可以相互引用，不同的实施例、以及各实施例中的各个方法/设计/实现方式中的技术特征根据其内在的逻辑关系可以组合形成新的实施例、方法、或实现方式。以下所述的本申请实施方式并不构成对本申请保护范围的限定。
请参阅图1，为本申请中通信系统的一种示意图。图1中，示例性的示出了一个网络设备101和6个终端设备，6个终端设备分别为终端设备1、终端设备2、终端设备3、终端设备4、终端设备5以及终端设备6等。在图1所示的示例中，是以终端设备1为智能茶杯，终端设备2为智能空调，终端设备3为智能加油机，终端设备4为交通工具，终端设备5为手机，终端设备6为打印机进行举例说明的。
如图1所示，指示信息(或配置信息)发送实体可以为网络设备。指示信息(或配置信息)接收实体可以为终端设备1-终端设备6，此时，网络设备和终端设备1-终端设备6组成一个通信系统，在该通信系统中，终端设备1-终端设备6可以发送上行数据给网络设备，网络设备需要接收终端设备1-终端设备6发送的上行数据。同时，网络设备可以向终端设备1-终端设备6发送指示信息(或配置信息)。
示例性的，在图1中，UE4-UE6也可以组成一个通信系统。其中，终端设备5作为网络设备，即指示信息(或配置信息)发送实体；终端设备4和终端设备6作为终端设备，即指示信息(或配置信息)接收实体。例如车联网系统中，终端设备5分别向终端设备4和终端设备6发送指示信息(或配置信息)，并且接收终端设备4和终端设备6发送的上行数据；相 应的，终端设备4和终端设备6接收终端设备5发送的指示信息(或配置信息)，并向终端设备5发送上行数据。
应理解，本申请可以应用于长期演进(long term evolution，LTE)系统、新无线(new radio，NR)系统，或者是5G之后演进的通信系统(例如6G等)。其中，该通信系统中包括网络设备和终端设备。
以图1所示通信系统为例，由于终端设备的移动或者网络信号的波动等原因，网络设备有可能会将终端设备从一个小区切换到另一个小区，以保持该终端设备的通信业务的连续性。其中，该切换过程可以称为小区切换，即在小区切换过程中，网络设备将该终端设备从源小区切换至目标小区。
在一种可能的实现方式中，图1所示通信系统可以为5G。其中，波束赋形技术在5G得到了广泛应用，发送端使用波束赋形，将每个信号引导到终端接收器的最佳路径上，提高信号强度，避免信号干扰，从而改善通信质量。当终端设备移动时，需要通过波束管理过程，选用信号质量较好的波束方向进行通信。在高频部署场景，信号强度衰减程度更大，需要通过波束赋形技术提升通信质量，该过程可以称为波束切换和/或小区切换。
图2为一种CU和DU分离的架构。在图2中，网络设备逻辑划分了一个CU，以及一个或多个DU。每个DU通过F1逻辑接口与CU连接。并且，无线链路控制(radio link control，RLC)层，媒体接入控制(media access control，MAC)层以及物理(physical，PHY)层相关的操作由DU处理；无线资源控制(radio resource control，RRC)层，服务数据适配协议(service data adaptation protocol，SDAP)层以及分组数据汇聚协议(packet data convergence protocol，PDCP)层相关的操作由CU处理。
在CU和DU分离的架构中，也能兼容实现小区切换的过程。
在一种实现方式中，CU可以作为小区切换的判决方。例如，CU获取终端设备发送的测量报告，该测量报告包括源小区的测量信息以及一个或多个邻区的测量信息，使得该CU作为小区切换的判决方。即该CU可以基于该测量报告确定该终端设备是否需要执行小区切换，并在CU确定终端设备需要执行小区切换的情况下，CU向终端设备发送小区切换命令。其中，该实现过程也可以称为L3切换。
其中，L3切换指的是切换相关的操作主要在RRC层进行。例如，终端设备发送的测量报告是基于物理层测量得到的结果，进一步进行L3滤波得到L3测量结果，并通过RRC消息(L3消息)发送给网络设备，使得网络设备的RRC层读取L3测量结果。在CU和DU分离的架构中，网络设备的RRC层位于CU，即CU接收该L3测量结果，并且CU基于该L3测量结果判断是否要进行小区切换，当需要进行小区切换时，将切换命令通过RRC消息发送给终端设备。
可选地，L3切换适用于：(1)跨CU的小区切换(即源小区和目标小区属于不同的CU)；(2)同一个CU内部的跨DU的小区切换(即源小区和目标小区属于同一个CU下的不同DU)；(3)同一个DU内部的小区切换(即源小区和目标小区属于同一个DU)。
可以理解的是，本申请中，某个小区(包括源小区或目标小区)属于某个网络设备(包括CU或DU)，可以表述为该小区由该网络设备管理，或者，也可以表述为由该网络设备为该小区提供服务，还可以是其它的表述，此处不做限定。相应的，某个小区(包括源小区 或目标小区)不属于某个网络设备(包括CU或DU)，也可以表述为该小区不是由该网络设备管理，或者，也可以表述为由该网络设备之外的其他网络设备为该小区提供服务，还可以是其它的表述，此处不做限定。
下面通过图3a所示实现示例，介绍同一个CU内部的跨DU的小区切换流程，包括如下步骤。
步骤1.终端设备向源DU发送测量报告(MeasurementReport)。
可选地，在步骤1之前，来自CU的下行用户数据(Downlink user data)被源DU接收后，由源DU向终端设备发送。相应的，来自终端设备的上行用户数据(Uplink user data)被源DU接收后，由源DU向CU发送。
步骤2.源DU向CU执行上行RRC消息传输(UL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER)消息，用于携带源DU在步骤1收到的测量报告。
可选地，在步骤2之后，还可以CU和源DU之间还可以执行步骤2a和步骤2b。
在步骤2a中，CU向源DU发送UE上下文修改请求(UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST)消息，该UE上下文修改请求消息用于请求终端设备的配置信息；在步骤2b中，源DU向CU发送UE上下文修改响应(UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION RESPONSE)消息，该UE上下文修改响应消息携带该终端设备的配置信息。
步骤3.CU向目标DU发送UE上下文配置请求(UE CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST)消息。
其中，CU基于步骤2收到的测量报告进行判决，确定该终端设备需要执行小区切换，并且由源DU中的源小区切换至目标DU中的目标小区。在步骤3中，该CU通过UE上下文配置请求消息向目标DU指示该CU的判决结果。
步骤4.目标DU向CU发送UE上下文配置响应(UE CONTEXT SETUP RESPONSE)消息。
步骤5.CU向源DU发送UE上下文修改请求(UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUEST)消息。
步骤6.源DU向终端设备发送RRC重配置(RRCReconfiguration)消息。
可选地，该RRC重配置消息中包含了目标DU中的目标小区为该终端设备提供的配置信息。
可选地，在步骤6之后，源DU向CU发送下行数据传输状态(Downlink Data Delivery Status)消息。
步骤7.源DU向CU发送UE上下文修改响应(UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION RESPONSE)消息。
步骤8.终端设备向目标DU发起随机接入过程(Random Access Procedure)。
可选地，终端设备在步骤8中成功接入至源DU中的目标小区之后，目标DU向CU发送下行数据传输状态(Downlink Data Delivery Status)消息。
可选地，CU在接收下行数据传输状态(Downlink Data Delivery Status)消息之后，CU向目标DU发送下行用户数据(Downlink User Data)。
步骤9.终端设备在步骤8中成功接入至源DU中的目标小区之后，终端设备向目标DU发送RRC重配置完成(RRCReconfigurationComplete)信息。
可选地，在步骤9之后，来自CU的下行用户数据(Downlink user data)被目标DU接收后，由目标DU向终端设备发送。相应的，来自终端设备的上行用户数据(Uplink user data)被目标DU接收后，由目标DU向CU发送。
步骤10.目标DU向CU发送上行RRC消息传输(UL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER)消息。
步骤11.CU在步骤10接收上行RRC消息传输(UL RRC MESSAGE TRANSFER)消息之后，CU在步骤11中向源DU发送UE上下文释放命令(UE CONTEXT RELEASE Command)消息。
步骤12.源DU在步骤11接收UE上下文释放命令(UE CONTEXT RELEASE Command)消息之后，源DU在步骤12中向CU发送UE上下文释放完成(UE CONTEXT RELEASE COMPLETE)消息。
基于图3a所示实现过程，终端设备可以基于L3消息(包括RRC重配置消息、RRC重配置完成消息等)的交互，实现小区切换。
在另一种实现方式中，DU可以作为小区切换的判决方。例如，DU获取终端设备发送的测量报告，该测量报告包括源小区的测量信息以及一个或多个邻区的测量信息，使得该DU作为小区切换的判决方。即该DU可以基于该测量报告确定该终端设备是否需要执行小区切换，并在DU确定终端设备需要执行小区切换的情况下，DU向终端设备发送小区切换命令。其中，该实现过程也可以称为L1和/或L2切换。
其中，L1指的是层1(layer 1，L1)，其中，层1可以称为物理(physical，PHY)层；L2指的是层2(layer 2，L2)，其中，层2包括媒体接入控制(media access control，MAC)层。
可选地，L2还包括无线链路控制(radio link control，RLC)层，分组数据汇聚协议(packet data convergence protocol，PDCP)层，服务数据适配协议(service data adaptation protocol，SDAP)层。
一般地，在L1和/或L2切换过程中，L2主要指MAC层。L1和/或L2切换指的是切换相关的操作主要在物理层和MAC层进行，例如，终端设备将L1测量结果通过物理层控制信令(例如物理上行控制信道(physical uplink control channel，PUCCH)信令)发送给网络设备，网络设备的物理层读取L1测量结果，并根据测量结果做出的切换判决通过L1和/或L2信令发送给终端设备，该L1和/或L2信令可以是承载在物理下行控制信道(physical downlink control channel，PDCCH)的消息，也可以是MAC控制元素(MAC control element，MAC CE)等。
可选地，L1和/或L2切换适用于：(1)同一个CU内部的跨DU的小区切换(即源小区和目标小区属于同一个CU下的不同DU)；(2)同一个DU内部的小区切换(即源小区和目标小区属于同一个DU)。
需要说明的是，L1和/或L2切换在上述不同场景中，虽具体的信令交互内容存在差异，但实现过程基本一致。下面通过图3b和图3c所示实现过程介绍同一个DU内部的小区切换流程。
在下述图3b的实现过程中，主要涉及DU与CU之间的交互过程，包括如下步骤。
步骤1.CU向DU请求消息，该请求消息用于请求候选小区的配置信息。
步骤2.DU向CU发送第一配置信息，该第一配置信息包括N(N为大于或等于1的整数)个候选小区为该终端设备提供的配置信息，该N个候选小区为DU确定的能够执行L1和/或L2切换的小区。
步骤3.CU向DU发送第二配置信息，该第二配置信息包括CU在N个候选小区中选择的M(M为小于或等于N的整数)个候选小区为该终端设备提供的配置信息。
在下述图3c的实现过程中，主要涉及DU与终端设备之间的交互过程，包括如下步骤。
需要说明的是，在下述图3c的流程图中，为了体现终端设备在不同小区的通信过程，将终端设备与DU设备之间的通信过程进行了细分，分为与小区1(即源小区，记为Cell#1)和小区2(即目标小区，记为Cell#2)的通信过程进行描述。可以理解的是，终端设备与小区1进行通信，可以理解为终端设备与小区1所在的网络设备进行通信，所使用的通信资源为小区1的通信资源。
步骤4.DU通过Cell#1向终端设备发送候选小区的配置信息，该候选小区为上述M个候选小区的部分小区或全部小区。
步骤5.终端设备在执行波束测量之后，该终端设备向Cell#1发送波束测量报告，该波束测量报告包含有源小区和/或至少一个候选小区的波束测量结果。
步骤6.Cell#1向终端设备发送层1/层2切换命令。
步骤7.终端设备采用步骤4中接收到的目标小区的配置信息执行小区切换至目标小区(即Cell#2)。
可选地，在上述过程中，L1和/或L2切换过程有可能成功，DU可以通过以下至少一项方式确定终端设备切换成功，包括：
(a)终端设备对步骤6中接收的L1和/或L2切换命令做出响应，例如DU接收来自该终端设备发送的该消息对应的确认(acknowledge，ACK)消息；
(b)DU接收来自该终端设备使用目标小区的通信资源发送的上行消息；
(c)DU基于目标小区的通信资源发送下行消息之后，该DU在该目标小区的通信资源接收来自该终端设备对该下行消息做出的正确接收的ACK消息。
可选地，在上述过程中，L1和/或L2切换过程有可能失败，DU可以通过以下至少一项方式确定终端设备切换失败，包括：
(d)终端设备对步骤6中接收的L1和/或L2切换命令做出响应，例如DU接收来自该终端设备发送的该消息对应的非确认(negative acknowledge，NACK)消息；
(e)终端设备未对步骤6中接收的L1和/或L2切换命令做出响应，例如DU未接收来自该终端设备发送的该消息对应响应消息(包括ACK消息和NACK消息)；
(f)DU未接收来自该终端设备使用目标小区的通信资源发送的上行消息；
(g)DU基于目标小区的通信资源发送下行消息之后，该DU未在该目标小区的通信资源接收来自该终端设备对该下行消息做出的响应消息(包括ACK消息和NACK消息)。
基于图3b和图3c所示实现过程，终端设备可以基于L1和/或L2消息(包括波束测量报告，L1/L2 handover command等)的交互，实现小区切换。
由上述实现过程可知，在CU和DU分离的架构中，小区切换过程可以包括L3切换的实现过程以及L1和/或L2切换，两者适用的场景不同，可能网络设备会为同一个终端设备配置L1和/或L2切换与L3切换。例如，当终端设备的移动位置适合执行同一个DU内的小区切换时，网络设备中的DU有可能下发L1和/或L2切换命令，当终端设备的移动位置适合执行跨DU或者跨CU的切换时，网络设备中的CU下发L3切换命令。
然而，在CU和DU分离的架构中，L1和/或L2切换的判决是由DU执行，L3切换的判决是由CU执行，由于判决主体不是同一个设备，可能产生判决结果冲突。例如，DU的判决结果指示终端设备基于L1和/或L2切换的小区切换方式从小区1切换至小区2，且CU的判决结果指示终端设备基于L3切换的小区切换方式从小区1切换至小区3；又如，DU的判决结果指示终端设备基于L1和/或L2切换的小区切换方式从小区1切换至小区2，且CU的判决结果指示终端设备基于L3切换的小区切换方式从小区1切换至小区2；其中，小区1为终端设备当前所处的源小区。当判决结果的切换冲突发生时，终端设备将会接收到两个不同的切换命令，可能导致终端设备的切换行为不明确，进而有可能导致终端设备的小区切换失败。
为此，如何提升终端设备的小区切换过程的可靠性，是一个亟待解决的技术问题。下面将通过本申请提供的多个实施例进行介绍，以期通过多种不同的技术手段解决该技术问题。
本申请提供的多个实施例中，通过多种技术方案解决上述技术问题。一种实现方式是通过DU的决策以解决上述冲突，如下述图4、图5a至图5e任一实施例及相关实施例；另一种实现方式是通过CU的决策以解决上述冲突，如下述图6和图7任一实施例及相关实施例；另一种实现方式是通过终端设备的决策以解决上述冲突，如下述图8a和图8b任一实施例及相关实施例。下面将进行详细介绍。
请参阅图4，为本申请提供的通信方法的一个示意图，该方法包括如下步骤。
S401.DU发送第一切换消息。
本实施例中，DU在步骤S401中发送第一切换消息，相应的，终端设备在步骤S401中接收该第一切换消息。其中，该第一切换消息用于指示终端设备基于第一方式从源小区切换至第一目标小区，该第一方式包括基于L1和/或L2的小区切换方式。
应理解，该第一切换消息可以不显式指示源小区的身份标识，即DU和终端设备都可将终端设备当前所处的服务小区确定为(或视为)第一切换消息对应的源小区。在本申请中，若无特殊说明时，切换消息/切换命令均可不显式指示源小区的身份标识。
可选地，DU向终端设备发送第一切换消息以触发L1和/或L2的小区切换过程可以参考前文图3b和图3c及相关实施例的实现，例如该第一切换消息可以为图3c的步骤6中的“层1/层2切换命令”。
S402.CU发送第二切换消息。
本实施例中，CU在步骤S402中发送第二切换消息，相应的，DU在步骤S402中接收该第二切换消息。其中，该第二切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于第二方式从该源小区切换至第二目标小区，该第二方式包括基于L3的小区切换方式。
可选地，CU在步骤S402中向DU发送第二切换消息以触发L3的小区切换过程可以参考前文图3a及相关实施例的实现，例如该第二切换消息可以为图3a的步骤5中的“UE上下文修改请求消息”。
在本申请中，第一切换消息所指示的第一目标小区和第二切换消息所指示的第二目标小区可以为同一个小区；或者，第一切换消息所指示的第一目标小区和第二切换消息所指示的第二目标小区也可以不是同一个小区，本申请对此不做限定。
此外，源小区和第一目标小区可以位于同一DU，或者，源小区和第一目标小区也可以位于不同DU，此处不做限定。类似地，源小区和第二目标小区可以位于同一DU，或者，源小区和第二目标小区也可以位于不同DU，此处不做限定。
S403.DU确定小区切换方式为第一方式或第二方式。
本实施例中，DU在步骤S401基于第一方式作出小区切换判决结果且CU在步骤S402中基于第二方式作出小区切换判决结果的情况下，该DU在步骤S403中确定终端设备的小区切换方式为第一方式或第二方式。
下面将分别通过不同的实现示例进一步说明。
实现示例一，DU在步骤S403中确定终端设备的小区切换方式为第一方式。
在实现示例一中，在满足第一条件时，该DU在步骤S403中确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式；该第一条件包括以下至少一项：
情况A.该DU确定该第二切换消息包括用于指示该第二切换消息的优先级信息，且该DU确定该优先级信息指示的优先级低于预设优先级；
情况B.该DU确定该终端设备基于该第一方式切换成功；
情况C.该DU确定接收来自该终端设备的第一响应消息且该第一响应消息用于指示成功接收该第一切换消息。
具体地，在满足以上至少一项的情况下，DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式，相应的，该DU可以通过丢弃(discard)第二切换消息或忽略第二切换消息等方式不执行基于该第二方式发起的小区切换过程，以避免基于第一方式所发起的小区切换失败。
本申请中，该预设优先级可以为第一方式的优先级，该预设优先级也可以为预配置的优先级，或该预设优先级还可以通过其它的方式实现，此处不做限定。
在一种可能的实现方式中，终端设备(或DU)可认为第二方式的优先级始终低于第一方式的优先级，例如通过协议约定的方式定义第二方式的优先级低于第一方式的优先级，又如通过CU(或者核心网网元)配置的方式指示第二方式的优先级始终低于第一方式的优先级。
应理解，上述情况A的实现过程中，该情况A可以表述为该DU确定该第二切换消息包括用于指示该第二方式的优先级信息，且该DU确定该优先级信息指示的优先级低于预设优先级。
此外，考虑到DU在步骤S403中需要确定小区切换方式为第一方式或第二方式中的其中一种方式，为此，上述情况A的实现过程也可以通过第一切换消息(或第一方式)的优先级信息实现。例如，该情况A也可以表述为该DU确定该第一切换消息包括用于指示该第一切换 消息的优先级信息，且该DU确定该优先级信息指示的优先级高于预设优先级。又如，该情况A也可以表述为该DU确定该第一切换消息包括用于指示该第一方式的优先级信息，且该DU确定该优先级信息指示的优先级高于预设优先级。
需要说明的是，在情况A的多种实现过程中，在第一切换消息(或第一方式)的优先级等于预设优先级的情况下，DU在步骤S403中确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为第一方式，或者，DU在步骤S403中确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为第二方式，此处不做限定。类似地，在第二切换消息(或第二方式)的优先级等于预设优先级的情况下，DU在步骤S403中确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为第一方式，或者，DU在步骤S403中确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为第二方式，此处不做限定。
可以理解的是，在该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式的情况下，该DU可以基于此前发送的第一切换消息与终端设备之间执行第一方式对应的小区切换过程，以使得该终端设备执行小区切换过程并切换至第一目标小区。
在实现示例一的一种可能的实现方式中，在该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式之后，该DU向该CU发送以下至少一项：
信息A.指示该终端设备成功基于该第一方式完成小区切换的信息；
信息B.指示该终端设备成功基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区的信息；
信息C.指示该第二切换消息被丢弃的信息；
信息D.指示该DU未发送该第三切换消息的信息，该第三切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于该第二方式从该源小区切换至该第二目标小区。
可选地，该信息C携带指示该第二切换消息被丢弃的原因为终端设备执行第一方式的信息。
可选地，该信息D携带指示未发送第三切换消息的原因为终端设备执行第一方式的信息。
需要说明的是，当在源小区和第一目标小区位于同一DU(为便于描述，将步骤S403中的源小区所在的DU记为DU1)的情况下，由于该DU1能够感知终端设备是否基于第一方式成功切换至第一目标小区并能够确定终端设备是否基于第二方式执行小区切换。为此，在该情况下，该DU1可以向CU发送上述信息A、信息B、信息C和信息D中的至少一项。换言之，在该情况下，CU可以接收来自DU1的上述至少一项信息。
此外，当在源小区和第一目标小区位于不同DU(为便于区分，将步骤S403中的源小区所在的DU记为DU1，第一目标小区所在的DU记为DU2)的情况下，由于该DU1能够明确终端设备是否基于第二方式执行小区切换，且该DU1也可能感知终端设备是否基于第一方式成功切换至第一目标小区，故该DU1可以向CU发送上述信息A、信息B、信息C、信息D中的至少一项。由于该DU2也可以感知终端设备是否基于第一方式成功切换至第一目标小区，在该情况下，该DU2可以向CU发送上述信息A、信息B中的至少一项。换言之，在该情况下，CU可以接收来自DU1的信息A、信息B、信息C、信息D中的至少一项，且CU可以接收来自DU2的信息A、信息B中的至少一项。应理解，在一种可能的实现方式中，DU1向CU发送信息C、信息D中的至少一项，和/或，DU2向CU发送信息A、信息B中的至少一项。
具体地，在该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式之后，该DU可以基于此前发送的第一切换消息与终端设备之间执行第一方式对应的小区切换过程，并通过上述至少一项信息向CU指示。使得CU基于上述至少一项信息明确该终端设备基于第一方式执行小区切换，和/或，使得CU基于上述至少一项信息明确该终端设备未基于第二方式执行小区切换。
应理解，在实现示例一中，DU可以基于步骤S401所发送的第一切换消息与终端设备之间执行L1和/或L2的小区切换过程，对于终端设备的实现过程而言，该实现过程可以参考前文图3b和图3c及相关实施例的实现，此处不做赘述。
实现示例二，DU在步骤S403中确定终端设备的小区切换方式为第二方式。
在实现示例二中，在满足第二条件时，该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第二方式，该第二条件包括以下至少一项：
情况D.该DU确定该第二切换消息包括第一指示信息，该第一指示信息指示优先基于该第二方式执行小区切换；
情况E.该DU确定该第二切换消息包括用于指示该第二切换消息的优先级信息，且该DU确定该优先级信息指示的优先级高于预设优先级；
情况F.该DU确定该终端设备基于该第一方式切换失败；
情况G.该DU确定接收来自该终端设备的第二响应消息且该第二响应消息用于指示未成功接收该第一切换消息；
情况H.该DU确定未接收到来自该终端设备的该第一切换消息的响应消息。
具体地，在满足以上至少一项的情况下，DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第二方式，相应的，该DU不执行基于该第一方式发起的小区切换过程，以避免基于第二方式所发起的小区切换失败。
应理解，上述情况D的实现过程中，该情况D可以表述为该DU确定该第二切换消息包括用于指示该第二方式的优先级信息，且该DU确定该优先级信息指示的优先级高于预设优先级。在一种可能的实现方式中，终端设备(或DU)可认为第二方式的优先级始终高于第一方式的优先级，例如通过协议约定的方式定义第二方式的优先级始终高于第一方式的优先级，又如通过CU(或者核心网网元)配置的方式指示第二方式的优先级始终高于第一方式的优先级。
此外，考虑到DU在步骤S403中需要确定小区切换方式为第一方式或第二方式中的其中一种方式，为此，上述情况D的实现过程也可以通过第一切换消息(或第一方式)的优先级信息实现。例如，该情况D也可以表述为该DU确定该第一切换消息包括用于指示该第一切换消息的优先级信息，且该DU确定该优先级信息指示的优先级低于预设优先级。又如，该情况D也可以表述为该DU确定该第一切换消息包括用于指示该第一方式的优先级信息，且该DU确定该优先级信息指示的优先级低于预设优先级。
需要说明的是，在情况D的多种实现过程中，在第一切换消息(或第一方式)的优先级等于预设优先级的情况下，DU在步骤S403中确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为第一方式，或者，DU在步骤S403中确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为第二方式，此处不做限定。类似 地，在第二切换消息(或第二方式)的优先级等于预设优先级的情况下，DU在步骤S403中确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为第一方式，或者，DU在步骤S403中确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为第二方式，此处不做限定。
在实现示例二的一种可能的实现方式中，在该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第二方式之后，该DU向该CU发送以下至少一项：
信息E.指示该终端设备成功基于该第二方式执行小区切换的信息；
信息F.指示该终端设备成功基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区的信息；
信息G.指示该DU确定的小区切换方式为该第二方式的信息。
需要说明的是，当在源小区和第二目标小区位于同一DU(为便于描述，将步骤S403中的源小区所在的DU记为DU1)的情况下，由于该DU1能够感知终端设备是否基于第二方式成功切换至第二目标小区。为此，在该情况下，该DU1可以向CU发送上述信息E、信息F、信息G中的至少一项。换言之，在该情况下，CU可以接收来自DU1的上述至少一项信息。
此外，当在源小区和第二目标小区位于不同DU(为便于区分，将步骤S403中的源小区所在的DU记为DU1，第二目标小区所在的DU记为DU2)的情况下，如实现示例一中所述，可由DU1向CU发送信息E、信息F、信息G中的至少一项，和/或，由DU2向CU发送信息E、信息F中的至少一项。换言之，在该情况下，CU可以接收来自DU1的信息E、信息F、信息G中的至少一项，和/或，接收来自DU2的信息E、信息F中的至少一项。
具体地，在该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第二方式之后，该DU可以基于第三切换消息与终端设备之间执行第二方式对应的小区切换过程，并通过上述至少一项信息向CU指示。使得CU基于上述至少一项信息明确该终端设备基于第二方式执行小区切换。
此外，在实现示例二中，DU在步骤S403中确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第二方式之后，该方法还包括：该DU向该终端设备发送第三切换消息，该第三切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于该第二方式从该源小区切换至该第二目标小区。具体地，在DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第二方式的情况下，该DU向终端设备发送用于指示该终端设备基于该第二方式从该源小区切换至该第二目标小区的第三切换消息，使得该终端设备基于该第三切换消息执行第二方式对应的小区切换过程。
可选地，该第三切换消息包括：该第二目标小区的配置信息；或，该第二目标小区的增量配置信息以及第二指示信息，该第二指示信息用于指示该终端设备基于该源小区的配置信息对该第二目标小区的增量配置信息进行增量配置，即第二指示信息指示了该源小区的身份标识。具体地，该DU向终端设备发送的第三切换消息可以包括该第二目标小区相关的配置信息，以便于终端设备在接收第三切换消息之后，该终端设备基于该第二目标小区相关的配置信息切换至该第二目标小区。
可选地，该第三切换消息不包括该第二目标小区相关的配置信息的情况下，该终端设备也可以通过其它的方式获取该第二目标小区相关的配置信息。例如，该终端设备在与源小区的通信过程中，该终端设备接收来自该源小区的邻区的配置信息，该邻区包括该第二 目标小区。又如，该终端设备在与CU的通信过程中，该终端设备接收来自该CU的多个小区的配置信息，该多个小区包括该第二目标小区。
由上述实现过程可知，在实现示例二中，DU在步骤S403中确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第二方式之后，该DU还可以向该终端设备发送第三切换消息，该第三切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于该第二方式从该源小区切换至该第二目标小区。相应的，终端设备可以在步骤S403之后接收该第三切换消息，并且终端设备可以基于该第三切换消息执行小区切换。而终端设备在步骤S401中已经接收第一切换消息并可能基于该第一切换消息执行小区切换，下面将对终端设备的实现过程进一步描述。
在一种可能的实现方式中，在该终端设备接收第三切换消息时该终端设备确定未切换至该第一目标小区，该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区包括：该终端设备确定中止切换至该第一目标小区且该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区。具体地，在终端设备接收来自DU的第三切换消息的情况下，该终端设备确定将基于该第二方式切换至第二目标小区。为此，在该终端设备当前未完成切换至第一目标小区的情况下，该终端设备将会中止切换至第一目标小区的过程，以确保该终端设备能够基于该第二方式切换至第二目标小区的同时，避免不必要的开销。
在另一种可能的实现方式中，该第三切换消息包括该源小区的标识，在该终端设备接收第三切换消息之后该终端设备确定已切换至该第一目标小区时，该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区包括：该终端设备基于该第二方式从该源小区切换至该第二目标小区。具体地，在终端设备接收来自DU的第三切换消息的情况下，该终端设备确定将基于该第二方式切换至第二目标小区。为此，在该终端设备当前已完成切换至第一目标小区的情况下，该终端设备将会基于该第二方式从该源小区切换至该第二目标小区(例如基于第三切换消息携带的第二目标小区的增量配置与源小区的配置确定该第二目标小区的配置)，而不是基于该第二方式从该第一目标小区切换至该第二目标小区，以避免切换失败。
在另一种可能的实现方式中，在该终端设备接收第三切换消息之后该终端设备确定未执行与该第一目标小区的小区切换时，该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区包括：该终端设备确定中止切换至该第一目标小区且该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区。具体地，在终端设备接收来自DU的第三切换消息的情况下，该终端设备确定将基于该第二方式切换至第二目标小区。为此，在该终端设备当前未开始执行切换至第一目标小区的情况下，该终端设备可以无需执行切换至第一目标小区的过程而基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区，以确保该终端设备能够基于该第二方式切换至第二目标小区的同时，避免不必要的开销。
综上所述，基于图4所示实施例及相关实施例可知，DU在步骤S401中基于第一切换消息向终端设备发起L1和/或L2的小区切换过程，并且，CU在步骤S402基于第二切换消息向终端设备发起L3的小区切换过程的情况下，该DU在步骤S403中确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式和该第二方式中的其中一种方式，使得后续该DU可以基于该其中一种方式发起小区切换过程。换言之，在DU基于第一方式作出小区切换判决结果且CU基于第二方式作出小区切换判决结果的情况下，通过DU决策的方式使得DU基于第一方式和第二方式中的 其中一种方式发起小区切换过程，避免终端设备的切换行为不明确所导致的小区切换失败的情况出现，以提升小区切换过程的可靠性。
由图4所示实施例可知，情况A至情况H的不同实现过程将会使得DU在步骤S403中有可能作出不同的决策，下面将基于图5a至图5e所示实现过程对上述情况A至情况H的实现过程进行示例性说明。其中，在下述示例中，以源小区、第一目标小区和第二目标小区均位于同一DU作为示例进行说明。
需要说明的是，当CU生成的L3切换命令到达DU时，此时若DU未做出L1和/或L2切换判决，则DU转发L3切换命令至UE，并停止进行L1和/或L2切换判决和/或发送L1和/或L2切换命令。在这种场景下，由于DU能够获知L3切换命令是否达到，DU能够避免随后做出L1和/或L2切换判决与之前的L3切换命令产生冲突。然而，当CU生成的L3切换命令到达DU的时刻，晚于DU发出的L1和/或L2切换命令的时刻时，则DU对收到的L3切换命令进行如下任一实施例的处理。下文图5a至图5e所示实施例的步骤对于这种场景进行详细描述。
图5a所示实施例主要涉及上述情况D、情况B以及情况F等实现过程，如图5a所示，该实施例包括如下步骤。
步骤A1.DU向终端设备发送L1和/或L2切换命令(L1/L2 HO Command)。
具体地，在步骤A1中，DU根据此前终端设备上报的L1测量结果(例如前述图3c中的步骤5中波束测量报告的实现过程)，做出L1和/或L2切换判决，在步骤A1中生成并发送L1和/或L2切换命令。
可以理解的是，L1和/或L2切换命令可以为前述步骤S401中的第一切换消息。即该L1和/或L2切换命令用于指示该终端设备从源小区(记为小区1)切换至第一目标小区(记为小区2)。
步骤A2.DU向CU发送L1和/或L2切换通知(L1/L2 HO notification)消息。
具体地，DU将步骤A1得到的判决结果通知CU，即DU在步骤A2中向CU发送L1和/或L2切换通知，使得CU基于该消息确定DU当前已作出L1和/或L2切换判决。
示例性地，在步骤A2中，DU通过F1接口发送一条F1应用协议(F1 application protocol，F1AP)消息，该消息中包括以下至少一项信息：指示该DU做出了L1和/或L2切换判决的指示信息，DU所做出的L1和/或L2切换判决的目标小区标识信息。
可选地，上述F1AP消息可以是UE上下文需要修改(UE CONTEXT MODIFICATION REQUIRED)消息，也可以定义新的F1AP消息类型，本实施例对具体采用哪种类型的F1AP消息发送DU做出的L1和/或L2切换判决信息不做限定。
应理解，本实施例中不限定步骤A1与步骤A2实际发生的先后顺序，即DU可以在发送步骤A1的消息之后，再发送步骤A2的消息；DU也可以在做出L1和/或L2切换判决后，并且在发出L1和/或L2切换命令之前，先发送步骤A2的消息，再发送步骤A1的消息。
步骤A3.CU向DU发送L3切换命令(L3 HO Command)。
具体地，当CU对终端设备做出L3切换判决时，会生成L3切换命令，该命令需先发送给DU，再由DU发送给终端设备(例如前述图3a中步骤5和步骤6的实现过程)。
可以理解的是，L3切换命令可以为前述步骤S402中的第二切换消息。即该L3切换命令用于指示该终端设备从源小区(记为小区1)切换至第二目标小区(记为小区3)。
(可选步骤)步骤A4.CU向DU发送L1和/或L2切换响应(L1/L2 HO response)消息。
具体地，步骤A4为可选步骤，该L1和/或L2切换响应消息为CU对步骤A2中收到的L1和/或L2切换信息发送的响应消息。
此外，若CU在步骤A3中下发L3切换命令之前，已收到步骤A2中的与L1和/或L2切换相关的信息，CU可选择停止生成/下发L3切换命令，避免发生切换命令冲突。然而，可能在如下两种情况中，CU仍旧在步骤A3中下发L3切换命令：
情况1：CU在生成/下发L3切换命令之后，收到了步骤A2的消息。在情况1中，产生的冲突可以在后续步骤A6中解决，即在后续步骤A6中通过DU的决策以解决冲突。
情况2：CU收到了步骤A2的消息，但认为L3切换优先级更高(或更为紧迫)时，希望该终端设备仍执行L3切换。在情况2中，产生的冲突可由步骤A3或步骤A6中的至少一个步骤解决。
可选地，在情况2中通过步骤A3解决冲突的实现过程中，CU在步骤A3向DU发送的L3切换命令中可以携带第一指示信息(即前述情况D的实现过程)，该第一指示信息指示优先基于该第二方式执行小区切换。例如，该第一指示信息可以为L3切换命令中一个新增的域(field)，用于指示优先执行L3切换，或该L3切换比L1和/或L2切换更为重要(或紧急，或紧迫)。
可选地，当CU在步骤A3向DU发送L3切换命令携带该第一指示信息的时候，步骤A4可以不需要，因为步骤A3的消息已经可以表明CU获知L1和/或L2切换信息的存在，并仍意图优先执行L3切换过程。
步骤A5.终端设备和DU之间执行L1和/或L2切换(L1/L2 HO)。
可选地，若步骤A3中的消息未携带该第一指示信息的时候，此时DU可在步骤A5中配合终端设备执行的L1和/或L2切换，使得终端设备基于L1和/或L2切换的方式从小区1切换至小区2。
可选地，若步骤A3中的消息携带该第一指示信息的时候，此时DU可在步骤A5中拒绝终端设备执行的L1和/或L2切换，以避免终端设备基于L1和/或L2切换的方式从小区1切换至小区2。
步骤A6.DU丢弃或发送L3切换命令(Discard or send L3 HO conmmand)消息。
在步骤A6的一种可能的实现方式中，若DU确定终端设备在步骤A5中执行的L1和/或L2切换成功完成(即前述情况B的实现过程)，则DU可执行如下任一实现方式以避免冲突，包括：
方式1：DU丢弃L3切换命令，避免终端设备收到L3切换命令导致切换失败。
可选地，CU在步骤A3发送的L3切换命令中包含的配置信息可能是增量(delta)配置信息。其中，增量配置指的是，DU只需要发送第二目标小区(即小区3)的配置信息与源小区(即小区1)的配置信息中不同的部分，而相同的部分不用发送。换言之，终端设备若基于该增量配置信息确定小区3的配置时，该终端设备需要在源小区的配置的基础上执行增量 配置，以得到小区3的配置。而在方式1中，由于此时终端设备已经从小区1通过L1和/或L2切换到了第一目标小区(即小区2)，当读取到L3切换命令中的增量配置信息时，可能在进行增量配置时，终端设备基于当前所处的小区(即小区2)执行增量配置而得到错误的目标小区配置，导致切换失败。
方式2：DU仍将该L3切换命令发送给终端设备，但需额外指示终端设备应基于小区1执行增量配置。换言之，终端设备在步骤A6中接收A3切换命令中的额外指示之后，该终端设备基于小区1的配置信息执行增量配置，以得到第二目标小区(即小区3)的配置信息。
应理解，此时终端设备虽然已通过L1和/或L2切换从小区1切换到了小区2，但仍然应保留小区1的配置信息不释放。
方式3：DU仍将该L3切换命令发送给终端设备，终端设备默认基于执行L1和/或L2切换之前的源小区(即小区1)来执行增量配置的方式，以确定第二目标小区(即小区3)的配置信息。
在步骤A6的一种可能的实现方式中，若DU确定终端设备在步骤A5中执行的L1和/或L2切换成功失败(即前述情况F的实现过程)，则DU可将L3切换命令发送给终端设备，使得该终端设备基于该L3切换命令执行小区切换至小区3。
(可选步骤)步骤A7.DU向CU发送L1和/或L2切换成功(L1/L2 HO success)。
具体地，步骤A7为可选步骤，当终端设备成功完全L1和/或L2切换时，DU将切换完成的信息告知CU。
可选地，若DU在步骤A6中丢弃了L3切换命令，也告知CU以下信息的至少一项：L3切换命令并未下发给终端设备/已被丢弃(即前述信息C/信息D)，L3切换命令未下发给终端设备的原因是因为已执行L1和/或L2切换(即前述信息B)，终端设备已执行L1和/或L2切换(即前述信息A)。进一步可选地，这些信息可在同一条消息中发送，也可以通过多条消息发送，本实施例对此不做限定。
可选地，当终端设备执行L1和/或L2切换失败时，DU可不发送步骤7中的消息。
由图5a所示实施例可知，在步骤A4中，若CU在步骤A3向DU发送的L3切换命令中可以携带指示优先基于该第二方式执行小区切换的第一指示信息的时候，如前述情况D的实现过程，该DU触发执行L3切换，以便于终端设备基于L3切换执行小区切换。
在步骤A6的方式1中，若DU确定终端设备在步骤A5中执行的L1和/或L2切换成功完成,如前述情况B的实现过程，则DU丢弃L3切换命令，避免终端设备收到L3切换命令导致切换失败。
在步骤A6中，若DU确定终端设备在步骤A5中执行的L1和/或L2切换成功失败，如前述情况F的实现过程，则DU可将L3切换命令发送给终端设备，使得该终端设备基于该L3切换命令执行小区切换至小区3。
图5b所示实施例主要涉及上述情况A、情况E等实现过程，如图5b所示，该实施例包括如下步骤。
步骤B1.DU向终端设备发送L1和/或L2切换命令(L1/L2 HO Command)。
具体地，在步骤B1中，DU根据此前终端设备上报的L1测量结果(例如前述图3c中的步骤5中波束测量报告的实现过程)，做出L1和/或L2切换判决，在步骤B1中生成并发送L1和/或L2切换命令。
可以理解的是，L1和/或L2切换命令可以为前述步骤S401中的第一切换消息。即该L1和/或L2切换命令用于指示该终端设备从源小区(记为小区1)切换至第一目标小区(记为小区2)。
步骤B2.CU向DU发送L3切换命令(L3 HO Command)。
具体地，当CU对终端设备做出L3切换判决时，会生成L3切换命令，该命令需先发送给DU，再由DU发送给终端设备(例如前述图3a中步骤5和步骤6的实现过程)。
可以理解的是，步骤B2中的L3切换命令可以为前述步骤S402中的第二切换消息。即该L3切换命令用于指示该终端设备从源小区(记为小区1)切换至第二目标小区(记为小区3)的标识信息。
可选地，该L3切换命令包括源小区的标识信息。
可选地，该L3切换命令中，携带用于指示该L3切换命令的优先级的信息。示例性的，该信息可以为L3切换命令中的一个字段(或域)的取值，该取值具体可以为用于指示该L3切换命令的优先级的取值、用于指示该L3切换命令的重要度的取值，用于指示该L3切换命令的切换原因值等，此处不做限定。
进一步可选地，该取值的大小可以与用于指示该L3切换命令的优先级的高低呈正相关，即该取值越大说明用于指示该L3切换命令的优先级越高，反之，该取值越小说明用于指示该L3切换命令的优先级越低。或者，该取值的大小可以与用于指示该L3切换命令的优先级的高低呈负相关，即该取值越小说明用于指示该L3切换命令的优先级越高，反之，该取值越大说明用于指示该L3切换命令的优先级越低。
此外，用于指示该L3切换命令的优先级的信息可以与该L3切换命令可以承载于同一条消息，或者，用于指示该L3切换命令的优先级的信息可以与该L3切换命令也可以承载于不同消息，此处不做限定。此处实施例中以前者的实现作为示例。
步骤B3.DU丢弃或发送L3切换命令(Discard or send L3 HO conmmand)消息。
具体地，DU基于步骤B2中的L3切换命令中携带的信息，确定丢弃该L3切换命令，或者确定向终端设备发送该L3切换命令。
一种可能的实现方式中，当步骤B2中的L3切换命令中指示优先级较低(或重要度较低，或切换原因值对应的优先级/重要度较低)时，DU可丢弃该L3切换命令，并且DU执行步骤B4(即前述情况A的实现过程)。
可选地，DU将丢弃该L3切换命令的情况告知CU。
另一种可能的实现方式中，当步骤B2中的L3切换命令中指示优先级较高(或重要度较高，或切换原因值对应的优先级/重要度较高)时，DU向终端设备下发L3切换命令(即前述情况E的实现过程)。可以理解的是，步骤B3中的L3切换命令可以为前述步骤S403中的第三切换消息。即该L3切换命令用于指示该终端设备从源小区(记为小区1)切换至第二目标小区(记为小区3)。
可选地，由于DU已基于该用于指示该L3切换命令的优先级的信息执行步骤B3中的决策过程，以确定该终端设备的小区切换方式，为此，DU无需将用于指示该L3切换命令的优先级的信息发送给UE。
(可选步骤)步骤B4.终端设备和DU之间执行L1和/或L2切换(L1/L2 HO)或L3切换(L3 HO)。
一种可能的实现方式中，若步骤B3中，DU丢弃了L3切换命令，则终端设备按照步骤1中收到的L1和/或L2切换命令L1和/或L2切换。
可选地，当L1和/或L2切换完成后，DU发送消息告知CU该终端设备的L1和/或L2切换完成的信息。进一步可选地，该消息中也可以包含DU丢弃了L3切换命令的信息。
另一种可能的实现方式中，若步骤B3中，DU下发了L3切换命令，则终端设备可以根据以下不同情况进行执行：
若终端设备已经开始执行L1和/或L2切换，但尚未完成，当步骤B3中DU下发了L3切换命令后，终端设备可立即终止L1和/或L2切换过程，并按照L3切换命令的指示内容执行L3切换。当L3切换命令中携带L3切换判决作出时的源小区身份信息时，终端设备基于该源小区的配置信息生效L3切换命令中的增量配置。
若终端设备已经开始执行L1和/或L2切换，且已完成。步骤B3中DU下发了L3切换命令后，终端设备按照L3切换命令的指示内容执行L3切换。当L3切换命令中携带L3切换判决作出时的源小区身份信息时，终端设备基于该源小区的配置信息生效L3切换命令中的增量配置。
若终端设备尚未开始L1和/或L2切换，则可不执行L1和/或L2切换，直接开始执行L3切换过程。
由图5b所示实施例可知，在步骤B3中，当步骤B2中的L3切换命令中指示优先级较低(或重要度较低，或切换原因值对应的优先级/重要度较低)时，如前述情况A的实现过程，DU可丢弃该L3切换命令，并且DU在步骤B4执行L1和/或L2切换，避免终端设备收到L3切换命令导致切换失败。
在步骤B3中，当步骤B2中的L3切换命令中指示优先级较高(或重要度较高，或切换原因值对应的优先级/重要度较高)时，如前述情况E的实现过程，DU向终端设备下发L3切换命令，以便于终端设备基于L3切换执行小区切换。
图5d所示实施例主要涉及上述情况G和情况H的实现过程，图5e所示实施例主要涉及上述情况C的实现过程。为便于理解图5d和图5e的实现过程，下面将首先通过图5c所示实施例介绍在L1和/或L2切换过程中，终端设备向DU反馈信息的实现过程。
如图5c所示，该实施例包括如下步骤。
步骤C1.DU向终端设备发送L1和/或L2切换命令(L1/L2 HO Command)。
具体地，在步骤C1中，DU根据此前终端设备上报的L1测量结果(例如前述图3c中的步骤5中波束测量报告的实现过程)，做出L1和/或L2切换判决，在步骤C1中生成并发送L1和/或L2切换命令。
可以理解的是，L1和/或L2切换命令可以为前述步骤S401中的第一切换消息。即该L1和/或L2切换命令用于指示该终端设备从源小区(记为小区1)切换至第一目标小区(记为小区2)。
步骤C2.终端设备向DU发送非确认(NACK)。
一种可能的实现方式中，若终端设备在步骤C1中未成功解码/接收该L1/L2切换命令，则该终端设备将会执行步骤C2会回复一条消息(例如NACK消息)，用于表明未成功解码/接收。
另一种可能的实现方式中，若终端设备在步骤C1中未成功接收该L1/L2切换命令，则该终端设备不会执行步骤C2，即该终端设备不回复任何消息。
步骤C3.DU向终端设备发送L1和/或L2切换命令(重传)(L1/L2 HO Command)(restransmission)。
具体地，DU在步骤C2中接收到NACK消息(或DU未收到步骤C1对应的响应消息)的时候，该DU将会执行步骤C3，即该DU在步骤C3中重传L1和/或L2切换命令。
可选地，当DU在步骤C2中接收来自该终端设备的ACK消息的时候，该DU无需执行步骤C3和步骤C4而直接触发执行步骤C5。
步骤C4.终端设备向DU发送确认(ACK)。
具体地，若终端设备在步骤C3中成功解码/接收该L1/L2切换命令，则该终端设备会在步骤C4中回复一条消息(例如ACK消息)，表明成功解码/接收。并且，终端设备和DU触发执行步骤C5。
步骤C5.终端设备和DU之间执行L1和/或L2切换(L1/L2 HO)。
(可选步骤)步骤C6.DU向CU发送L1和/或L2切换成功(L1/L2 HO success)，用以向CU指示该终端设备已基于L1和/或L2切换方式成功完成切换。
图5d所示方法包括如下步骤。
步骤D1.DU向终端设备发送L1和/或L2切换命令(L1/L2 HO Command)。
具体地，在步骤D1中，DU根据此前终端设备上报的L1测量结果(例如前述图3c中的步骤5中波束测量报告的实现过程)，做出L1和/或L2切换判决，在步骤D1中生成并发送L1和/或L2切换命令。
可以理解的是，L1和/或L2切换命令可以为前述步骤S401中的第一切换消息。即该L1和/或L2切换命令用于指示该终端设备从源小区(记为小区1)切换至第一目标小区(记为小区2)。
步骤D2.终端设备向DU发送非确认(NACK)。
一种可能的实现方式中，若终端设备在步骤D1中未成功解码/接收该L1/L2切换命令，则该终端设备将会执行步骤D2会回复一条消息(例如NACK消息)，用于表明未成功解码/接收。
另一种可能的实现方式中，若终端设备在步骤D1中未成功接收该L1/L2切换命令，则该终端设备不会执行步骤D2，即该终端设备不回复任何消息。
步骤D3.CU向DU发送L3切换命令(L3 HO Command)。
具体地，当CU对终端设备做出L3切换判决时，会生成L3切换命令，该命令需先发送给DU，再由DU发送给终端设备(例如前述图3a中步骤5和步骤6的实现过程)。
可以理解的是，步骤D3中的L3切换命令可以为前述步骤S402中的第二切换消息。即该L3切换命令用于指示该终端设备从源小区(记为小区1)切换至第二目标小区(记为小区3)的标识信息。
可选地，该DU可能在步骤D2中接收NACK之前，该DU在步骤D3中接收该L3切换命令。或者，该DU可能在步骤D2中接收NACK但是未解码成功该NACK之前，该DU在步骤D3中接收该L3切换命令。
图5d所示的步骤D4为DU不执行的步骤。其中，不同于前述步骤C3，DU在步骤D4无需向终端设备发送L1和/或L2切换命令(重传)(L1/L2 HO Command)(restransmission)，并且，该DU在步骤D3中确定终端设备发送NACK(或终端设备未发出响应消息)之后触发执行步骤D5和步骤D6，即该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为L3切换(即前述情况G或情况H的实现过程)。
步骤D5.DU向终端设备发送L3切换命令(L3 HO Command)。
可以理解的是，步骤D5中的L3切换命令可以为前述步骤S403中的第三切换消息。即该L3切换命令用于指示该终端设备从源小区(记为小区1)切换至第二目标小区(记为小区3)。
步骤D6.终端设备执行L3切换(L3 HO)。
由图5d所示实施例可知，由于DU在步骤D2中确定该终端设备未成功接收/解码L1和/或L2切换命令，则DU确定该终端设备当前未执行L1和/或L2切换。为了提升该终端设备的小区切换成功率，如前述情况G或情况H的实现过程，该DU无需执行步骤D4而触发执行步骤D5和步骤D6，以便于终端设备基于L3切换执行小区切换。
图5e所示方法包括如下步骤。
步骤E1.DU向终端设备发送L1和/或L2切换命令(L1/L2 HO Command)。
具体地，在步骤E1中，DU根据此前终端设备上报的L1测量结果(例如前述图3c中的步骤5中波束测量报告的实现过程)，做出L1和/或L2切换判决，在步骤E1中生成并发送L1和/或L2切换命令。
可以理解的是，L1和/或L2切换命令可以为前述步骤S401中的第一切换消息。即该L1和/或L2切换命令用于指示该终端设备从源小区(记为小区1)切换至第一目标小区(记为小区2)。
步骤E2.终端设备向DU发送确认(ACK)。
具体地，若终端设备在步骤E1中成功解码/接收该L1/L2切换命令，则该终端设备会在步骤E2中回复一条消息(例如ACK消息)，表明成功解码/接收。
步骤E3.CU向DU发送L3切换命令(L3 HO Command)。
具体地，当CU对终端设备做出L3切换判决时，会生成L3切换命令，该命令需先发送给DU，再由DU发送给终端设备(例如前述图3a中步骤5和步骤6的实现过程)。
可以理解的是，步骤E3中的L3切换命令可以为前述步骤S402中的第二切换消息。即该L3切换命令用于指示该终端设备从源小区(记为小区1)切换至第二目标小区(记为小区3)的标识信息。
可选地，该DU可能在步骤E2中接收ACK之前，该DU在步骤E3中接收该L3切换命令。或者，该DU可能在步骤E2中接收ACK但是未解码成功该ACK之前，该DU在步骤E3中接收该L3切换命令。
步骤E4.DU丢弃或发送L3切换命令(Discard or send L3 HO conmmand)。
可以理解的是，当步骤E2中，DU接收到对于L1/L2切换命令的ACK消息，DU可判决接下来终端设备将执行L1和/或L2切换，故将L3切换命令丢弃。
步骤E5.终端设备和DU之间执行L1和/或L2切换(L1/L2 HO)。
步骤E6.DU向CU发送通知(Notification)。
由图5e所示实施例可知，由于DU在步骤E2中确定该终端设备成功接收L1和/或L2切换命令，则DU确定该终端设备当前能够执行L1和/或L2切换。为了提升该终端设备的小区切换成功率，如前述情况C的实现过程，则DU在步骤E4中丢弃L3切换命令，避免终端设备收到L3切换命令导致切换失败。并且，该DU触发执行步骤E5和步骤E6的过程，以使得该终端设备执行L1和/或L2切换，并使得CU获知该切换结果。
在一种可能的实现方式中，在上述图4，以及图5a至图5e所示任一实施例中，步骤S402可以在步骤S401之后执行，即上述任一实施例可以提供L1/L2切换命令已从DU发出后，L1/L2切换与L3切换可能产生冲突时的解决办法。此外，上述任一实施例中，步骤S402可以在步骤S401之前执行，即对于DU已作出L1/L2切换判决，但尚未发出L1/L2切换命令的场景中，若DU收到CU发送的L3切换命令，DU可采用类似上述任一实施例的方法，对随后的下行发送的消息进行合理组包，避免发生切换命令冲突。示例性的，该DU在步骤S403中可以通过如下方式实现：
(1)DU在步骤S403中确定终端设备的小区切换方式为第二方式；换言之，DU不会将L1/L2切换命令和L3切换命令组包在同一个下行数据包中，可优先将L3切换命令组包在下行数据包中(即DU发送L3切换命令且丢弃L1/L2切换命令)。
(2)DU在步骤S403中确定终端设备的小区切换方式为第一方式；换言之，DU不会将L1/L2切换命令和L3切换命令组在同一个下行数据包中，可优先将L1/L2切换命令组在下行数据包中(即DU发送L1/L2切换命令丢弃L3切换命令)。
可选地，DU将L3切换命令缓存下来，当L1/L2切换未成功时，DU将L3切换命令发送给UE；当L1/L2切换成功时，DU丢弃L3切换命令，进一步地，DU告知CU以下至少一项信息：该L3切换命令已被丢弃，L3切换命令被丢弃的原因，UE已执行L1/L2切换。
(3)DU在步骤S403中基于确定终端设备的小区切换方式为高优先级的(或高重要度等)方式。例如，当L1/L2切换命令具有较高优先级(或具有较高重要度，或切换原因值指示L1/L2切换命令的优先级较高)时，DU优先组包并发送L1/L2切换命令(即DU发送L1/L2切换命令丢弃L3切换命令)。又如，当L3切换命令具有较高优先级(或具有较高重要度， 或切换原因值指示L3切换命令的优先级较高)时，DU优先组包并发送L3切换命令(即DU发送L3切换命令且丢弃L1/L2切换命令)。
请参阅图6，为本申请提供的通信方法的一个示意图，该方法包括如下步骤。
S601.DU发送第一消息。
本实施例中，DU在步骤S601中发送第一消息，相应的，CU在步骤S601中接收该第一消息。其中，该第一消息用于请求将终端设备基于第一方式切换至第一目标小区，该第一方式包括基于L1的小区切换方式和/或基于L2的小区切换方式。
S602.CU发送第一指示信息。
本实施例中，CU在步骤S602中发送第一指示信息，相应的，DU在步骤S602中接收该第一指示信息。其中，该第一指示信息用于指示是否允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区。
在一种可能的实现方式中，在步骤S602中，该第一指示信息承载于第二消息，该第二消息用于指示成功接收该第一消息。具体地，CU所发送的第一指示信息可以承载于用于指示成功接收该第一消息的第二消息中，以节省开销。
可选地，该第一指示信息也可以承载于不同于该第二消息的其他消息中。
如图6所示，在步骤S602之后，该DU可能执行实现方式一(即后文步骤S603)，该DU也可能执行实现方式二(即后文步骤S604和步骤S605)，下面将详细介绍。
S603.在第一指示信息指示允许切换时，DU发送第一切换消息。
本实施例中，当DU确定步骤S602中接收的第一指示信息指示允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区时，该DU在步骤S603中向终端设备发送第一切换消息，该第一切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区。相应的，终端设备在步骤S603中接收该第一切换消息。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该第一目标小区对应于该DU，在该DU基于该第一指示信息发送第一切换消息之后，该方法还包括：在该DU确定该终端设备成功切换至该第一目标小区之后，该DU发送以下至少一项：指示该终端设备成功基于该第一方式完成小区切换的信息，或，指示该终端设备成功基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区的信息。具体地，在该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式之后，该DU可以基于第一切换消息与终端设备之间执行第一方式对应的小区切换过程，并通过上述至少一项信息向CU指示，使得CU基于上述至少一项信息明确该终端设备基于第一方式成功切换至第一目标小区。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该第一目标小区对应于该DU(或者说该DU管理该第一目标小区，即源小区和该第一目标小区均位于该DU中)，在该DU基于该第一指示信息发送第一切换消息之后，该方法还包括：在该DU确定该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区失败之后，该DU发送以下至少一项：指示该终端设备基于该第一方式切换失败，或，指示该终端设备基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区失败。具体地，在该DU确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式之后，该DU可以基于第一切换消息与终端设备之间执行第一方式对应的 小区切换过程，并通过上述至少一项信息向CU指示，使得CU基于上述至少一项信息明确该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区失败。
S604.在第一指示信息指示不允许切换时，CU发送第二切换消息。
本实施例中，当DU确定步骤S602中接收的第一指示信息指示不允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区时，该CU在步骤S602之后会在步骤S604中发送第二切换消息，该第二切换消息用于指示将该终端设备基于第二方式切换至第二目标小区，该第二方式包括基于L3的小区切换方式。相应的，DU在步骤S604中接收该第二切换消息。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该CU可将步骤S602与步骤S604中发送的指示信息合并为同一条消息发送，即通过该同一条消息指示不允许将该终端设备通过第一方式切换至该第一目标小区，且指示该终端设备需基于第二切换方式切换至第二目标小区。
S605.DU发送第三切换消息。
本实施例中，DU在步骤S604中接收第二切换消息之后，该DU在步骤S605中向终端设备发送第三切换消息，该第三切换消息用于指示将该终端设备基于第二方式切换至第二目标小区。相应的，终端设备在步骤S605中接收该第三切换消息。
在步骤S605中，在该第一指示信息指示不允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区时，该DU还会接收来自CU的用于指示将该终端设备基于第二方式切换至第二目标小区的第二切换消息，并且，DU向终端设备发送用于指示将该终端设备基于第二方式切换至第二目标小区的第三切换消息。换言之，在DU基于第一方式作出小区切换判决结果之后，通过CU决策的方式使得DU明确是否基于第一方式发起小区切换过程，并且，在该CU指示不允许基于第一方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程的情况下，该CU将不会基于第一方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程，并接收来自CU的第二切换消息之后基于第二方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该第三切换消息包括：该第二目标小区的配置信息；或，该第二目标小区的增量配置信息以及第二指示信息，该第二指示信息用于指示该终端设备基于该源小区的配置信息对该第二目标小区进行增量配置，即第二指示信息指示了该源小区的身份标识。具体地，该DU向终端设备发送的第三切换消息可以包括该第二目标小区相关的配置信息，以便于终端设备在接收第三切换消息之后，该终端设备基于该第二目标小区相关的配置信息切换至该第二目标小区。
可选地，该第三切换消息不包括该第二目标小区相关的配置信息的情况下，该终端设备也可以通过其它的方式获取该第二目标小区相关的配置信息。例如，该终端设备在与源小区的通信过程中，该终端设备接收来自该源小区的邻区的配置信息，该邻区包括该第二目标小区。又如，该终端设备在与CU的通信过程中，该终端设备接收来自该CU的多个小区的配置信息，该多个小区包括该第二目标小区。
综上所述，基于图6所示实施例及相关实施例可知，DU在步骤S602中接收来自该CU的第一指示信息用于指示是否允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区，并且，在该第一指示信息指示允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区时，该DU在步骤S603中向终端设备发送第一切换消息。换言之，在DU基于第一方式作出小区切换判决结果之后，通过CU决策的 方式使得DU明确是否基于第一方式发起小区切换过程，并且，在该CU指示允许基于第一方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程的情况下，该CU将不会基于第二方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程，故该DU将基于第一切换消息发起小区切换过程。从而，相比于CU和DU都会向终端设备发送小区切换命令的情况下，通过CU决策的方式能够使得DU明确是否基于第一方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程，避免终端设备的切换行为不明确所导致的小区切换失败的情况出现，以提升小区切换过程的可靠性。
下面将结合图7所示实现示例，对图6所示实现过程进行示例性描述。
图7所示方法包括如下步骤。
步骤F1.DU向CU发送L1和/或L2切换请求(L1/L2 HO request)。
具体地，在步骤F1中，DU根据此前终端设备上报的L1测量结果(例如前述图3c中的步骤5中波束测量报告的实现过程)，做出L1和/或L2切换判决，在步骤F1中向CU发送请求消息，用于请求是否允许执行L1和/或L2切换。
可以理解的是，L1和/或L2切换命令可以为前述步骤S601中的第一切换消息。即该L1和/或L2切换命令用于指示该终端设备从源小区(记为小区1)切换至第一目标小区(记为小区2)。换言之，步骤F1中的请求消息也可以用于请求是否允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区。
步骤F2.CU向DU发送L1和/或L2切换响应(L1/L2 HO response)。
具体地，CU在步骤F2中向DU发送一条响应消息，用于表明成功收到步骤F1中的消息。
示例性地，CU在步骤F2中通过F1接口发送一条F1AP消息，用于表明成功收到DU发送的L1/L2切换判决相关的信息。
一种实现方式中，步骤F2中的响应消息携带一个域表明CU允许DU进行L1/L2切换，并且，当CU接收到步骤1中DU做出的L1/L2切换判决的消息后，CU停止L3切换判决(stop L3 HO decision)。
可选地，CU停止进行L3切换判决的时机，可以是发送步骤F2的消息之前，也可以是发送步骤F2的消息之后。此外，CU停止进行L3切换判决，可以是CU的无线资源管理(radio resource management，RRM)模块/功能停止进行L3切换判决，和/或，CU做出了L3切换判决，但是不生成/不发出L3切换命令。
另一种实现方式中，步骤F2中的响应消息携带一个域表明CU不允许(或拒绝)DU进行L1/L2切换，并且，当CU接收到步骤1中DU做出的L1/L2切换判决的消息后，CU仍可以执行L3切换判决。
可选地，CU执行L3切换判决，可以是CU的RRM模块/功能执行L3切换判决，和/或，当CU做出了L3切换判决时，进一步生成/发出L3切换命令。
(可选步骤)步骤F3.DU向终端设备发送L1和/或L2切换命令(L1/L2 HO Command)。
(可选步骤)步骤F4.终端设备和DU之间执行L1和/或L2切换(L1/L2 HO)。
(可选步骤)步骤F5.DU向CU发送L1和/或L2切换成功(L1/L2 HO success)。
具体地，当步骤F2中的响应消息携带一个域表明CU允许DU进行L1/L2切换的时候，DU触发执行步骤F3至步骤F5的实现过程，并使得CU在步骤F5之后重新执行开始L3切换判决 (start L3 HO decision)。其中，DU基于L1和/或L2切换命令触发执行的L1和/或L2切换过程可以参考前述实施例的描述，此处不做赘述。
由图7所示实现方式可知，DU在步骤F1中基于第一方式作出小区切换判决结果之后，通过CU决策的方式使得DU在步骤F2中明确是否基于第一方式发起小区切换过程，并且，在该CU指示允许基于第一方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程的情况下，该CU将不会基于第二方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程，即该DU在步骤F3至步骤F4中基于第一切换消息发起小区切换过程。从而，相比于CU和DU都会向终端设备发送小区切换命令的情况下，通过CU决策的方式能够使得DU明确是否基于第一方式发起终端设备的小区切换过程，避免终端设备的切换行为不明确所导致的小区切换失败的情况出现，以提升小区切换过程的可靠性。
请参阅图8a，为本申请提供的通信方法的一个示意图，该方法包括如下步骤。
S801.网络设备发送第一切换消息。
本实施例中，网络设备在步骤S801中发送第一切换消息，相应的，终端设备在步骤S801中接收该第一切换消息。其中，该第一切换消息用于指示终端设备基于第一方式从源小区切换至第一目标小区，该第一方式包括基于L1的小区切换方式和/或基于L2的小区切换方式。
其中，该第一切换消息包括第一目标小区的标识信息。可选地，该第一切换消息还包括源小区的标识信息。
S802.网络设备发送第三切换消息。
本实施例中，网络设备在步骤S802中发送第三切换消息，相应的，终端设备在步骤S802中接收该第三切换消息。其中，该第三切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于第二方式从源小区切换至该第二目标小区；该终端设备确定小区切换方式为该第一方式或该第二方式。
其中，该第三切换消息包括第二目标小区的标识信息。可选地，该第三切换消息还包括源小区的标识信息。
S803.终端设备确定小区切换方式为第一方式或第二方式。
本实施例中，DU在步骤S401基于第一方式作出小区切换判决结果且CU在步骤S402中基于第二方式作出小区切换判决结果的情况下，该终端设备在步骤S803中确定小区切换方式为第一方式或第二方式。
在步骤S803中，终端设备可以基于多种实现方式，确定小区切换方式为第一方式和第二方式中的其中一种，以避免冲突，下面将通过多种实施例进行介绍。
在一种可能的实现方式中，步骤S801和步骤S802的执行顺序不做限定，即可以先执行步骤S801后执行步骤S802，也可以先执行步骤S802后执行步骤S801。换言之，终端设备有可能分别接收第一切换消息和第三切换消息。例如，终端设备先接收的切换消息为步骤S801中的第一切换消息且后接收的切换消息为步骤S802中的第三切换消息；又如，终端设备先接收的切换消息为步骤S802中的第三切换消息且后接收的切换消息为步骤S801中的第一切换消息。
在该实现方式中，终端设备在分别接收两个切换消息之后，在步骤S803中，在该终端设备确定当前所处的小区与后接收的切换消息对应的源小区不同时，该终端设备确定小区切换方式为先接收的切换消息对应的小区切换方式；或，在该终端设备确定当前所处的小 区与后接收的切换消息对应的源小区相同时，该终端设备确定小区切换方式为后接收的切换消息对应的小区切换方式。
具体地，终端设备在接收第一切换消息和第三切换消息之后，该终端设备可以确定当前所处的小区与后接收的切换消息所对应的源小区是否相同。并且，在两者不同的情况下该终端设备确定已切换至先接收的切换消息对应的目标小区，即该终端设备确定小区切换方式为先接收的切换消息对应的小区切换方式，并且终端设备可以丢弃(或忽略)后接收的切换消息；在两者相同的情况下该终端设备未切换至先接收的切换消息对应的目标小区，即该终端设备确定小区切换方式为后接收的切换消息对应的小区切换方式，并且终端设备基于后接收的切换消息执行小区切换。
可选地，在终端设备丢弃(或忽略)切换消息之后，该终端设备可以向网络设备发送指示信息，用于指示该终端设备丢弃(或忽略)该切换消息。
在另一种可能的实现方式中，该终端设备确定小区切换方式为该第二方式，该方法还包括：该终端设备基于该第二方式从该源小区切换至该第二目标小区。具体地，该终端设备始终认为需要执行第二方式对应的小区切换方式，即无论是否接收该第一切换消息，该终端设备在接收第三切换消息之后需要基于该第二方式从该源小区切换至该第二目标小区。
在一种可能的实现方式中，在该终端设备接收该第一切换消息之后，该方法还包括：该终端设备启动定时器；在该定时器超时之前该终端设备接收该第三切换消息时，该终端设备丢弃该第三切换消息；或，在该定时器超时之后该终端设备接收该第三切换消息时，该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区。具体地，在终端设备先接收第一切换消息且后接收第三切换消息的情况下，该终端设备还可以在接收第一切换消息之后启动定时器，并且，在该定时器超时之前接收该第三切换消息的时候，为了避免第一方式对应的小区切换过程失败，该终端设备确定无需基于第三切换消息执行小区切换，即该终端设备确定丢弃该第三切换消息；在该定时器超时之后接收该第三切换消息的时候，该终端设备确定需要基于第三切换消息执行小区切换，即该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该终端设备确定小区切换方式为该第一方式或该第二方式包括：该终端设备基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区成功之后，该终端设备丢弃该第三切换消息；或，该终端设备基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区失败之后，该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区。具体地，在第一切换消息和第三切换消息承载于同一下行数据包的情况下，该终端设备优先执行第一方式对应的小区切换过程，并且，该终端设备基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区成功之后，该终端设备丢弃该第三切换消息；或，该终端设备基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区失败之后，该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区，以提升小区切换的成功率。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该终端设备确定小区切换方式为该第一方式或该第二方式包括：该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区成功之后，该终端设备丢弃该第一切换消息；或，该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区失败之后，该终端设备基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区。具体地，在第一切换消息和第三切换消息承载 于同一下行数据包的情况下，该终端设备优先执行第二方式对应的小区切换过程，并且，该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区成功之后，该终端设备丢弃该第一切换消息；或，该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区失败之后，该终端设备基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区，以提升小区切换的成功率。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该终端设备确定小区切换方式为该第一方式或该第二方式包括：该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区。具体地，在第一切换消息和第三切换消息承载于同一下行数据包的情况下，由于终端设备解析该下行数据包的过程中先解析底层协议栈对应的第一切换消息后解析得到高层协议栈对应的第三切换消息，为此，该终端设备先执行基于第一切换消息执行小区切换，并在终端设备解析得到第三切换消息之后中止第一方式对应的切换过程并执行第二方式对应的切换过程，使得该终端设备基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区。
在一种可能的实现方式中，在图8a所示方法中，该方法还包括：该终端设备发送第一测量结果，该第一测量结果为L1测量结果或L3测量结果，其中，该L1测量结果为该第一方式的判决依据，该L3测量结果为该第二方式的判决依据。具体地，由于网络设备做出小区切换的判决会基于终端设备上报的测量结果，即L1和/或L2切换基于L1测量结果得到，L3切换基于L3测量结果得到。为避免网络设备在较短时间内连续发出第一切换消息(即L1和/或L2切换命令)和第三切换消息(即L3切换命令)，终端设备可以通过仅上报L1测量结果和L3测量结果的其中一个测量结果的方式，避免网络设备下发多个切换消息造成终端设备的切换行为不明确所导致的小区切换失败的情况出现，以提升小区切换过程的可靠性。
应理解，该实现方式可以单独实现，而不无需依赖于图8a所示方法。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该终端设备发送第一测量结果包括：在该终端设备确定处于预设区域时，该终端设备发送L1测量结果或L3测量结果。具体地，在预设区域中进行通信时，该终端设备发送L1测量结果和L3测量结果中的其中一个测量结果，避免网络设备下发多个切换消息造成终端设备的切换行为不明确所导致的小区切换失败的情况出现，以提升小区切换过程的可靠性。
可选地，该预设区域为预设小区标识所对应的一个或多个小区的信号覆盖区域，或，该预设区域为预设SSB索引所对应的一个或多个SSB的信号覆盖区域，此处不做限定。
综上所述，基于图8a所示实施例及相关实施例可知，网络设备在步骤S801中基于第一切换消息在步骤S801中向终端设备发起L1和/或L2的小区切换过程，且网络设备在步骤S802中基于第三切换消息在步骤S802中向终端设备发起L3的小区切换过程的情况下，该终端设备在步骤S803中确定小区切换方式为该第一方式和该第二方式中的其中一种方式，使得后续该终端设备可以基于该其中一种方式发起小区切换过程。换言之，在DU基于第一方式作出小区切换判决结果且CU基于第二方式作出小区切换判决结果的情况下，通过终端设备决策的方式使得该终端设备基于第一方式和第二方式中的其中一种方式发起小区切换过程，避免终端设备的切换行为不明确所导致的小区切换失败的情况出现，以提升小区切换过程的可靠性。
下面将结合图8b所示实现示例，以网络设备包括CU和DU的示例，对图8a所示实现过程进行示例性描述。
图8b所示方法包括如下步骤。
步骤G1.DU向终端设备发送L1和/或L2切换命令(L1/L2 HO Command)。
步骤G2.CU向DU发送L3切换命令(L3 HO Command)。
步骤G3.终端设备和DU之间执行L1和/或L2切换(L1/L2 HO)。
步骤G4.DU向终端设备发送L3切换命令(L3 HO Command)。
步骤G5.终端设备拒绝或执行L3切换(reject or perform L3 HO)。
需要说明的是，终端设备在步骤G1至步骤G3中接收基于L1和/或L2切换命令，接收L3切换命令以及执行的L1和/或L2切换过程可以参考前述实施例的描述，此处不做赘述。图8b所示实施例与前文实施例主要不同之处在于步骤G4和步骤G5的实现过程，下面将结合多种实现情况进一步描述。
实现方式一，步骤G4中的L3切换命令中携带源小区身份标识信息。
步骤G4：DU向终端设备发送L3切换命令，该切换命令中，携带做出L3切换判决时，终端设备所处的源小区的身份标识信息。
步骤G5：终端设备收到L3切换命令后，将L3切换命令中携带的源小区身份信息与终端设备当前所处的服务小区身份信息进行对比，若不匹配，则终端设备不执行L3切换。
可选地，终端设备将不匹配的情况/拒绝L3切换的情况发送给DU，DU可进一步发送该信息给CU。若匹配，则终端设备执行L3切换。
实现方式二，终端设备始终认为L3切换判决需要执行。
步骤G4：DU向终端设备发送L3切换命令。(无源小区指示信息)
步骤G5：终端设备执行L3切换，并且基于执行L1/L2切换之前的小区配置来生效L3切换命令中的目标小区配置信息。
应理解，该实施例要求终端设备执行L1/L2切换之后，仍然保留源小区的配置信息。
实现方式三，终端设备基于定时器判断是否需要执行L3切换。
终端设备在收到L1/L2切换命令后，或完成L1/L2切换后，启动某一定时器，当定时器计时到期后，若收到步骤G4的切换命令，则执行L3切换；若定时器未到期，则拒绝执行L3切换/忽略L3切换命令。可选地，终端设备拒绝L3切换的情况发送给DU，DU可进一步发送该信息给CU。
上述方案均描述的是终端设备收到L1/L2切换命令之后，又收到L3切换命令的情况。另外还有一种情况是，终端设备在同一条消息中，收到了步骤G1中的L1/L2切换命令和步骤G4中L3切换命令，此时终端设备可以有如下行为来避免配置错误和切换失败。
方案1：终端设备优先执行L1/L2切换。
在方案1中，终端设备将收到的L1/L2切换命令和L3切换命令均缓存保留下来，先执行L1/L2切换，当L1/L2切换成功后，丢弃/删除L3切换命令；若L1/L2切换失败(失败一次或失败次数达到规定的次数，或规定的时间内还未成功)，则终端设备不再执行L1/L2切换，而是执行L3切换。
方案2：终端设备优先执行L3切换。
在方案2中，终端设备的L1(例如物理层)和/或L2(例如MAC层)读取到L1/L2切换命令后，通知L3(例如RRC层)，并等待L3指示是否执行L1/L2切换，L3读取到L3切换命令和L1/L2上报的指示，判决出优先执行L3切换。此时L3触发终端设备进行L3切换，且不指示执行L1/L2切换。
方案3：终端设备按照协议栈处理顺序执行。
在方案3中，终端设备收到L1/L2切换命令和L3切换命令，由于底层协议栈先进行处理，故终端设备会先解码出L1/L2切换信令，此时终端设备开始执行L1/L2切换；当终端设备的L3解码到L3切换命令时，触发终端设备进行L3切换，同时L3指示L1/L2终止L1/L2切换过程。
此外，在上述图8b所示实现方式中，由于网络设备做出切换判决会基于终端设备上报的测量结果，L1/L2切换可基于L1测量结果，L3切换可基于L3测量结果。为避免网络设备在较短时间内连续发出L1/L2切换命令和L3切换命令，终端设备可在预配置的区域内移动时，只上报L1测量结果和L3测量结果中的一个测量结果。
可选地，预配置的区域可以是基站预配置好的小区集合，当终端设备在该小区集合内移动时，终端设备可仅上报L1测量结果和L3测量结果中的一个测量结果。
基于图8b所示实现过程可知，通过预设规则，让终端设备解决L1/L2切换与L3切换功能共同配置给终端设备时可能发生的切换冲突问题，避免让终端设备产生配置失败和模糊的切换行为，保障顺利完成小区切换。
请参阅图9，本申请实施例提供了一种通信装置900，该通信装置900可以实现上述方法实施例中任一通信装置(包括终端设备，CU或DU等)的功能，因此也能实现上述方法实施例所具备的有益效果。
图9所示通信装置900的一种实现方式中，该通信装置900可以是DU，也可以是DU内部的集成电路或者元件等，例如芯片。下文实施例以该通信装置900为DU为例进行说明。其中，该装置900包括处理单元901和收发单元902；该通信装置900为DU的一种实现方式中，该收发单元902用于向终端设备发送第一切换消息之后，该收发单元902还用于接收来自集中式单元CU的第二切换消息，该第一切换消息用于指示终端设备基于第一方式从源小区切换至第一目标小区，该第一方式包括基于L1和/或L2的小区切换方式；该第二切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于第二方式从源小区切换至第二目标小区，该第二方式包括基于L3的小区切换方式；该处理单元901用于确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式或该第二方式。
在一种可能的实现方式中，在满足第一条件时，该处理单元901确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式；该第一条件包括以下至少一项：该处理单元901确定该第二切换消息包括用于指示该第二切换消息的优先级信息，且该DU确定该优先级信息指示的优先级低于预设优先级；或，该处理单元901确定该终端设备基于该第一方式切换成功；或，该处理单元901确定该收发单元902接收来自该终端设备的第一响应消息且该第一响应消息用于指示成功接收该第一切换消息。
在一种可能的实现方式中，在该处理单元901确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第一方式之后，该收发单元902还用于向该CU发送以下至少一项：指示该终端设备成功基于该第一方式完成小区切换的信息，指示该终端设备成功基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区的信息，指示该第二切换消息被丢弃的信息，指示该DU未发送该第三切换消息的信息，该第三切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于该第二方式从该源小区切换至该第二目标小区。
在一种可能的实现方式中，在满足第二条件时，该处理单元901确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第二方式，该第二条件包括以下至少一项：该处理单元901确定该第二切换消息包括第一指示信息，该第一指示信息指示优先基于该第二方式执行小区切换；或，该处理单元901确定该第二切换消息包括用于指示该第二切换消息的优先级信息，且该DU确定所述优先级信息指示的优先级高于预设优先级；或，该处理单元901确定该终端设备基于该第一方式切换失败；或，该处理单元901确定该收发单元902接收来自该终端设备的第二响应消息且该第二响应消息用于指示未成功接收该第一切换消息；或，该处理单元901确定该收发单元902未接收到来自该终端设备的该第一切换消息的响应消息。
在一种可能的实现方式中，在该处理单元901确定该终端设备的小区切换方式为该第二方式之后，该收发单元902还用于向该终端设备发送第三切换消息，该第三切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于该第二方式从该源小区切换至该第二目标小区。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该第三切换消息包括：该第二目标小区的配置信息；或，该第二目标小区的增量配置信息以及第二指示信息，该第二指示信息用于指示该终端设备基于该源小区的配置信息对该第二目标小区的增量配置信息进行增量配置。
该通信装置900为DU的另一种实现方式中，该收发单元902用于向CU发送第一消息，该第一消息用于请求将终端设备基于第一方式切换至第一目标小区，该第一方式包括基于L1的小区切换方式和/或基于L2的小区切换方式；该收发单元902还用于接收来自CU的第一指示信息，该第一指示信息用于指示是否允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区；在该处理单元901该第一指示信息指示允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区时，该收发单元902还用于向终端设备发送第一切换消息，该第一切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该第一目标小区对应于该DU，在该处理单元901确定该收发单元902基于该第一指示信息发送第一切换消息之后，且确定该终端设备成功切换至该第一目标小区之后，该收发单元902还用于发送以下至少一项：指示该终端设备成功基于该第一方式完成小区切换的信息，或，指示该终端设备成功基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区的信息。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该第一目标小区对应于该DU，在该处理单元901确定该收发单元902基于该第一指示信息发送第一切换消息之后，且确定该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区失败之后，该收发单元902还用于发送以下至少一项：指示该终端设备基于该第一方式切换失败，或，指示该终端设备基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区失败。
在一种可能的实现方式中，在该处理单元901确定该第一指示信息指示不允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区时，该收发单元902还用于接收第二切换消息，该第二切换消 息用于指示将该终端设备基于第二方式切换至第二目标小区，该第二方式包括基于L3的小区切换方式；该收发单元902还用于发送该第三切换消息，该第三切换消息用于指示将该终端设备基于第二方式切换至第二目标小区，该第三切换消息包括该第二目标小区的配置信息。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该第一指示信息承载于第二消息，该第二消息用于指示成功接收该第一消息。
图9所示通信装置900的一种实现方式中，该通信装置900可以是CU，也可以是CU内部的集成电路或者元件等，例如芯片。下文实施例以该通信装置900为CU为例进行说明。其中，该装置900包括处理单元901和收发单元902；该通信装置900为CU的一种实现方式中，该处理单元901用于确定第二切换消息，该第二切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于第二方式从源小区切换至第二目标小区，该第二方式包括基于L3的小区切换方式；该收发单元902用于向DU发送该第二切换消息；该收发单元902还用于接收来自该DU的以下至少一项：指示该终端设备成功基于该第一方式完成小区切换的信息，指示该终端设备成功基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区的信息，指示该第二切换消息被丢弃的信息，指示该DU未发送该第三切换消息的信息，该第三切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于该第二方式从该源小区切换至该第二目标小区；或，该收发单元902还用于接收来自该DU的以下至少一项：指示该终端设备成功基于该第二方式执行小区切换的信息，指示该终端设备成功基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区的信息。
该通信装置900为CU的另一种实现方式中，该收发单元902用于接收第一消息，该第一消息用于请求将终端设备基于第一方式切换至第一目标小区，该第一方式包括基于L1的小区切换方式和/或基于L2的小区切换方式；该处理单元901用于确定第一指示信息，该第一指示信息用于指示是否允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区；该收发单元902还用于发送该第一指示信息。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该第一切换消息包括以下至少一项：该第一目标小区的标识信息，该第一目标小区的波束标识信息，该第一目标小区的定时提前TA信息，指示是否向该第一目标小区发起随机接入的信息，或，该终端设备在该第一目标小区中的无线网络临时标识RNTI。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该第一目标小区对应于该DU，该收发单元902还用于接收以下至少一项：指示该终端设备成功基于该第一方式完成小区切换的信息，或，指示该终端设备成功基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区的信息。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该第一目标小区对应于该DU，该收发单元902还用于接收以下至少一项：指示该终端设备基于该第一方式切换失败，或，指示该终端设备基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区失败。
在一种可能的实现方式中，在该处理单元901确定该第一指示信息指示不允许将该终端设备切换至该第一目标小区时，该收发单元902还用于发送第二切换消息，该第二切换消息用于指示将该终端设备基于第二方式切换至第二目标小区，该第二方式包括基于L3的小区切换方式。
图9所示通信装置900的一种实现方式中，该通信装置900可以是终端设备，也可以是终端设备内部的集成电路或者元件等，例如芯片。下文实施例以该通信装置900为终端设备为例进行说明。其中，该装置900包括处理单元901和收发单元902；该通信装置900为终端设备的一种实现方式中，该收发单元902用于接收来自DU的第一切换消息，该第一切换消息用于指示终端设备基于第一方式从源小区切换至第一目标小区，该第一方式包括基于L1的小区切换方式和/或基于L2的小区切换方式；该收发单元902还用于接收来自DU的第三切换消息，该第三切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于第二方式从源小区切换至该第二目标小区；该处理单元901用于确定小区切换方式为该第一方式或该第二方式。
在一种可能的实现方式中，在该收发单元902接收该第一切换消息之后，该收发单元902接收该第三切换消息。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该处理单元901确定小区切换方式为该第一方式或该第二方式包括：在该处理单元901确定当前所处的小区与该源小区不同时，该处理单元901确定小区切换方式为该先接收的切换消息对应的小区切换方式；或，在该处理单元901确定当前所处的小区与该源小区相同时，该处理单元901确定小区切换方式为该后接收的切换消息对应的小区切换方式。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该处理单元901确定小区切换方式为该第二方式，该处理单元901还用于基于该第二方式从该源小区切换至该第二目标小区。
在一种可能的实现方式中，在该收发单元902接收该第一切换消息之后，该处理单元901启动定时器；在该定时器超时之前该处理单元901确定该收发单元902接收该第三切换消息时，该处理单元901还用于确定丢弃该第三切换消息；或，
在该定时器超时之后该处理单元901确定该收发单元902接收该第三切换消息时，该处理单元901还用于基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该处理单元901确定小区切换方式为该第一方式或该第二方式包括：该处理单元901基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区成功之后，该处理单元901还用于确定丢弃该第三切换消息；或，该处理单元901基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区失败之后，该处理单元901还用于基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该处理单元901确定小区切换方式为该第一方式或该第二方式包括：该处理单元901基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区成功之后，该处理单元901还用于确定丢弃该第一切换消息；或，该处理单元901基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区失败之后，该处理单元901还用于基于该第一方式切换至该第一目标小区。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该处理单元901具体用于基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区。
在一种可能的实现方式中，该收发单元902还用于发送第一测量结果，该第一测量结果为L1测量结果或L3测量结果，其中，该L1测量结果为该第一方式的判决依据，该L3测量结果为该第二方式的判决依据。
在一种可能的实现方式中，在该处理单元901确定处于预设区域时，该收发单元902还用于发送第一测量结果；其中，该预设区域为预设小区标识所对应的一个或多个小区的信号覆盖区域。
该通信装置900为终端设备的另一种实现方式中，该收发单元902用于接收第一切换消息之后，该收发单元902还用于接收第三切换消息，该第一切换消息用于指示终端设备基于第一方式从源小区切换至第一目标小区，该第一方式包括基于L1的小区切换方式和/或基于L2的小区切换方式；该第三切换消息用于指示该终端设备基于第二方式从源小区切换至该第二目标小区；该处理单元901用于基于该第二方式切换至该第二目标小区。
需要说明的是，上述通信装置900的单元的信息执行过程等内容，具体可参见本申请前述所示的方法实施例中的叙述，此处不再赘述。
请参阅图10，为本申请提供的通信装置1000的另一种示意性结构图，通信装置1000至少包括输入输出接口1002。其中，通信装置1000可以为芯片或集成电路。
可选的，该通信装置还包括逻辑电路1001。
其中，图9所示接收单元901和发送单元902可以为通信接口，该通信接口可以是图10中的输入输出接口1002，该输入输出接口1002可以包括输入接口和输出接口。或者，该通信接口也可以是收发电路，该收发电路可以包括输入接口电路和输出接口电路。
在一种可能的实现方式中，图9所示通信装置900中的处理单元901(或图9所示通信装置900中的处理单元901)可以为图10中的逻辑电路1001。
可选的，逻辑电路1001可以是一个处理装置，处理装置的功能可以部分或全部通过软件实现。其中，处理装置的功能可以部分或全部通过软件实现。
可选的，处理装置可以包括存储器和处理器，其中，存储器用于存储计算机程序，处理器读取并执行存储器中存储的计算机程序，以执行任意一个方法实施例中的相应处理和/或步骤。
可选地，处理装置可以仅包括处理器。用于存储计算机程序的存储器位于处理装置之外，处理器通过电路/电线与存储器连接，以读取并执行存储器中存储的计算机程序。其中，存储器和处理器可以集成在一起，或者也可以是物理上互相独立的。
可选地，该处理装置可以是一个或多个芯片，或一个或多个集成电路。例如，处理装置可以是一个或多个现场可编程门阵列(field-programmable gate array，FPGA)、专用集成芯片(application specific integrated circuit，ASIC)、系统芯片(system on chip，SoC)、中央处理器(central processor unit，CPU)、网络处理器(network processor，NP)、数字信号处理电路(digital signal processor，DSP)、微控制器(micro controller unit，MCU)，可编程控制器(programmable logic device，PLD)或其它集成芯片，或者上述芯片或者处理器的任意组合等。
请参阅图11，为本申请的实施例提供的上述实施例中所涉及的通信装置1100，该通信装置1100具体可以为上述实施例中的作为终端设备的通信装置，图11所示示例为终端设备通过终端设备(或者终端设备中的部件)实现。
其中，该通信装置1100的一种可能的逻辑结构示意图，该通信装置1100可以包括但不限于至少一个处理器1101以及通信端口1102。
进一步可选的，该装置还可以包括存储器1103、总线1104中的至少一个，在本申请的实施例中，该至少一个处理器1101用于对通信装置1100的动作进行控制处理。
此外，处理器1101可以是中央处理器单元，通用处理器，数字信号处理器，专用集成电路，现场可编程门阵列或者其他可编程逻辑器件、晶体管逻辑器件、硬件部件或者其任意组合。其可以实现或执行结合本申请公开内容所描述的各种示例性的逻辑方框，模块和电路。该处理器也可以是实现计算功能的组合，例如包含一个或多个微处理器组合，数字信号处理器和微处理器的组合等等。所属领域的技术人员可以清楚地了解到，为描述的方便和简洁，上述描述的系统，装置和单元的具体工作过程，可以参考前述方法实施例中的对应过程，在此不再赘述。
需要说明的是，图11所示通信装置1100具体可以用于实现前述方法实施例中终端设备所实现的步骤，并实现终端设备对应的技术效果，图11所示通信装置的具体实现方式，均可以参考前述方法实施例中的叙述，此处不再一一赘述。
请参阅图12，为本申请的实施例提供的上述实施例中所涉及的通信装置1200的结构示意图，该通信装置1200具体可以为上述实施例中的作为网络设备(例如CU或DU)的通信装置，其中，该通信装置的结构可以参考图12所示的结构。
通信装置1200包括至少一个处理器1211以及至少一个网络接口1214。进一步可选的，该通信装置还包括至少一个存储器1212、至少一个收发器1213和一个或多个天线1215。处理器1211、存储器1212、收发器1213和网络接口1214相连，例如通过总线相连，在本申请实施例中，该连接可包括各类接口、传输线或总线等，本实施例对此不做限定。天线1215与收发器1213相连。网络接口1214用于使得通信装置通过通信链路，与其它通信设备通信。例如网络接口1214可以包括通信装置与核心网设备之间的网络接口，例如S1接口，网络接口可以包括通信装置和其他通信装置(例如其他网络设备或者核心网设备)之间的网络接口，例如X2或者Xn接口。
处理器1211主要用于对通信协议以及通信数据进行处理，以及对整个通信装置进行控制，执行软件程序，处理软件程序的数据，例如用于支持通信装置执行实施例中所描述的动作。通信装置可以包括基带处理器和中央处理器，基带处理器主要用于对通信协议以及通信数据进行处理，中央处理器主要用于对整个终端设备进行控制，执行软件程序，处理软件程序的数据。图12中的处理器1211可以集成基带处理器和中央处理器的功能，本领域技术人员可以理解，基带处理器和中央处理器也可以是各自独立的处理器，通过总线等技术互联。本领域技术人员可以理解，终端设备可以包括多个基带处理器以适应不同的网络制式，终端设备可以包括多个中央处理器以增强其处理能力，终端设备的各个部件可以通过各种总线连接。该基带处理器也可以表述为基带处理电路或者基带处理芯片。该中央处理器也可以表述为中央处理电路或者中央处理芯片。对通信协议以及通信数据进行处理的 功能可以内置在处理器中，也可以以软件程序的形式存储在存储器中，由处理器执行软件程序以实现基带处理功能。
存储器主要用于存储软件程序和数据。存储器1212可以是独立存在，与处理器1211相连。可选的，存储器1212可以和处理器1211集成在一起，例如集成在一个芯片之内。其中，存储器1212能够存储执行本申请实施例的技术方案的程序代码，并由处理器1211来控制执行，被执行的各类计算机程序代码也可被视为是处理器1211的驱动程序。
图12仅示出了一个存储器和一个处理器。在实际的终端设备中，可以存在多个处理器和多个存储器。存储器也可以称为存储介质或者存储设备等。存储器可以为与处理器处于同一芯片上的存储元件，即片内存储元件，或者为独立的存储元件，本申请实施例对此不做限定。
收发器1213可以用于支持通信装置与终端之间射频信号的接收或者发送，收发器1213可以与天线1215相连。收发器1213包括发射机Tx和接收机Rx。具体地，一个或多个天线1215可以接收射频信号，该收发器1213的接收机Rx用于从天线接收该射频信号，并将射频信号转换为数字基带信号或数字中频信号，并将该数字基带信号或数字中频信号提供给该处理器1211，以便处理器1211对该数字基带信号或数字中频信号做进一步的处理，例如解调处理和译码处理。此外，收发器1213中的发射机Tx还用于从处理器1211接收经过调制的数字基带信号或数字中频信号，并将该经过调制的数字基带信号或数字中频信号转换为射频信号，并通过一个或多个天线1215发送该射频信号。具体地，接收机Rx可以选择性地对射频信号进行一级或多级下混频处理和模数转换处理以得到数字基带信号或数字中频信号，该下混频处理和模数转换处理的先后顺序是可调整的。发射机Tx可以选择性地对经过调制的数字基带信号或数字中频信号时进行一级或多级上混频处理和数模转换处理以得到射频信号，该上混频处理和数模转换处理的先后顺序是可调整的。数字基带信号和数字中频信号可以统称为数字信号。
收发器1213也可以称为收发单元、收发机、收发装置等。可选的，可以将收发单元中用于实现接收功能的器件视为接收单元，将收发单元中用于实现发送功能的器件视为发送单元，即收发单元包括接收单元和发送单元，接收单元也可以称为接收机、输入口、接收电路等，发送单元可以称为发射机、发射器或者发射电路等。
需要说明的是，图12所示通信装置1200具体可以用于实现前述方法实施例中网络设备(例如CU或DU)所实现的步骤，并实现网络设备对应的技术效果，图12所示通信装置1200的具体实现方式，均可以参考前述方法实施例中的叙述，此处不再一一赘述。
图13是本申请实施例提供的网络设备的一种结构示意图，该网络设备可以采用CU-DU分离的架构，即前述任一实施例中的CU和DU位于同一网络设备的实现示意图。
如图13所示，该网络设备可用于实现上述方法实施例中网络设备的功能。
网络设备可包括一个或多个DU 1301和一个或多个CU 1302。所述DU 1301可以包括至少一个天线13011，至少一个射频单元13012，至少一个处理器13013和至少一个存储器13014。所述DU 1301部分主要用于射频信号的收发以及射频信号与基带信号的转换，以及部分基带 处理。CU1302可以包括至少一个处理器13022和至少一个存储器13021。CU 1302和DU 1301之间可以通过接口进行通信，其中，控制面(control plane)接口可以为F1-C，用户面(user Plane)接口可以为F1-U。
所述CU 1302部分主要用于进行基带处理，对基站进行控制等。所述DU 1301与CU 1302可以是物理上设置在一起，也可以物理上分离设置的，即分布式基站。所述CU 1302为基站的控制中心，也可以称为处理单元，主要用于完成基带处理功能。例如所述CU 1302可以用于控制基站执行上述方法实施例中关于网络设备的操作流程。
具体的，CU和DU上的基带处理可以根据无线网络的协议层划分，具体可以参考上文的内容。
在一个实例中，所述CU 1302可以由一个或多个单板构成，多个单板可以共同支持单一接入指示的无线接入网(如5G网)，也可以分别支持不同接入制式的无线接入网(如LTE网，5G网或其他接入网)。所述存储器13021和处理器13022可以服务于一个或多个单板。也就是说，可以每个单板上单独设置存储器和处理器。也可以是多个单板共用相同的存储器和处理器。此外每个单板上还可以设置有必要的电路。所述DU 1301可以由一个或多个单板构成，多个单板可以共同支持单一接入指示的无线接入网(如5G网)，也可以分别支持不同接入制式的无线接入网(如LTE网，5G网或其他接入网)。所述存储器13014和处理器13013可以服务于一个或多个单板。也就是说，可以每个单板上单独设置存储器和处理器。也可以是多个单板共用相同的存储器和处理器。此外每个单板上还可以设置有必要的电路。
可选的，CU 1302可以通过DU 1301与网络设备的子节点进行传输，CU 1302可以通过接口与其他网络设备相连，CU 1302可以通过该接口从其他网络设备(例如其他网络设备的CU)接收数据和/或消息，或者CU 1302可以通过该接口向该其他网络设备发送数据和/或消息。
本申请实施例还提供一种存储一个或多个计算机执行指令的计算机可读存储介质，当计算机执行指令被处理器执行时，该处理器执行如前述实施例中终端设备可能的实现方式所述的方法。
本申请实施例还提供一种存储一个或多个计算机执行指令的计算机可读存储介质，当计算机执行指令被处理器执行时，该处理器执行如前述实施例中网络设备(例如CU和/或DU)可能的实现方式所述的方法。
本申请实施例还提供一种存储一个或多个计算机的计算机程序产品(或称计算机程序)，当计算机程序产品被该处理器执行时，该处理器执行上述终端设备可能实现方式的方法。
本申请实施例还提供一种存储一个或多个计算机的计算机程序产品，当计算机程序产品被该处理器执行时，该处理器执行上述网络设备(例如CU和/或DU)可能实现方式的方法。
本申请实施例还提供了一种芯片系统，该芯片系统包括至少一个处理器，用于支持通信装置实现上述通信装置可能的实现方式中所涉及的功能。可选的，所述芯片系统还包括接口电路，所述接口电路为所述至少一个处理器提供程序指令和/或数据。在一种可能的设计中，该芯片系统还可以包括存储器，存储器，用于保存该通信装置必要的程序指令和数 据。该芯片系统，可以由芯片构成，也可以包含芯片和其他分立器件，其中，该通信装置具体可以为前述方法实施例中终端设备。
本申请实施例还提供了一种芯片系统，该芯片系统包括至少一个处理器，用于支持通信装置实现上述通信装置可能的实现方式中所涉及的功能。可选的，所述芯片系统还包括接口电路，所述接口电路为所述至少一个处理器提供程序指令和/或数据。在一种可能的设计中，芯片系统还可以包括存储器，存储器，用于保存该通信装置必要的程序指令和数据。该芯片系统，可以由芯片构成，也可以包含芯片和其他分立器件，其中，该通信装置具体可以为前述方法实施例中网络设备(例如CU和/或DU)。
本申请实施例还提供了一种通信系统，该网络系统架构包括上述任一实施例中的终端设备和网络设备(例如CU和/或DU)。
在本申请所提供的几个实施例中，应该理解到，所揭露的系统，装置和方法，可以通过其它的方式实现。例如，以上所描述的装置实施例仅仅是示意性的，例如，所述单元的划分，仅仅为一种逻辑功能划分，实际实现时可以有另外的划分方式，例如多个单元或组件可以结合或者可以集成到另一个系统，或一些特征可以忽略，或不执行。另一点，所显示或讨论的相互之间的耦合或直接耦合或通信连接可以是通过一些接口，装置或单元的间接耦合或通信连接，可以是电性，机械或其它的形式。
所述作为分离部件说明的单元可以是或者也可以不是物理上分开的，作为单元显示的部件可以是或者也可以不是物理单元，即可以位于一个地方，或者也可以分布到多个网络单元上。可以根据实际的需要选择其中的部分或者全部单元来实现本实施例方案的目的。
另外，在本申请各个实施例中的各功能单元可以集成在一个处理单元中，也可以是各个单元单独物理存在，也可以两个或两个以上单元集成在一个单元中。上述集成的单元既可以采用硬件的形式实现，也可以采用软件功能单元的形式实现。所述集成的单元如果以软件功能单元的形式实现并作为独立的产品销售或使用时，可以存储在一个计算机可读取存储介质中。基于这样的理解，本申请的技术方案本质上或者说对现有技术做出贡献的部分或者该技术方案的全部或部分可以以软件产品的形式体现出来，该计算机软件产品存储在一个存储介质中，包括若干指令用以使得一台计算机设备(可以是个人计算机，服务器，或者网络设备等)执行本申请各个实施例所述方法的全部或部分步骤。而前述的存储介质包括：U盘、移动硬盘、只读存储器(ROM，Read-Only Memory)、随机存取存储器(RAM，Random Access Memory)、磁碟或者光盘等各种可以存储程序代码的介质。

Claims (10)

  1. 一种通信方法，其特征在于，包括：
    分布式单元DU向终端设备发送第一切换消息之后，所述DU接收来自集中式单元CU的第二切换消息，所述第一切换消息用于指示终端设备基于第一方式从源小区切换至第一目标小区，所述第一方式包括基于L1和/或L2的小区切换方式；所述第二切换消息用于指示所述终端设备基于第二方式从所述源小区切换至第二目标小区，所述第二方式包括基于L3的小区切换方式；
    所述DU确定所述终端设备的小区切换方式为所述第一方式或所述第二方式。
  2. 根据权利要求1所述的方法，其特征在于，在满足第一条件时，所述DU确定所述终端设备的小区切换方式为所述第一方式；所述第一条件包括以下至少一项：
    所述DU确定所述第二切换消息包括用于指示所述第二切换消息的优先级信息，且所述DU确定所述优先级信息指示的优先级低于预设优先级；或，
    所述DU确定所述终端设备基于所述第一方式切换成功；或，
    所述DU确定接收来自所述终端设备的第一响应消息且所述第一响应消息用于指示成功接收所述第一切换消息。
  3. 根据权利要求2所述的方法，其特征在于，在所述DU确定所述终端设备的小区切换方式为所述第一方式之后，所述DU向所述CU发送以下至少一项：
    指示所述终端设备成功基于所述第一方式完成小区切换的信息，指示所述终端设备成功基于所述第一方式切换至所述第一目标小区的信息，指示所述第二切换消息被丢弃的信息，指示所述DU未发送所述第三切换消息的信息，所述第三切换消息用于指示所述终端设备基于所述第二方式从所述源小区切换至所述第二目标小区。
  4. 根据权利要求1所述的方法，其特征在于，在满足第二条件时，所述DU确定所述终端设备的小区切换方式为所述第二方式，所述第二条件包括以下至少一项：
    所述DU确定所述第二切换消息包括第一指示信息，所述第一指示信息指示优先基于所述第二方式执行小区切换；或，
    所述DU确定所述第二切换消息包括用于指示所述第二切换消息的优先级信息，且所述DU确定所述优先级信息指示的优先级高于预设优先级；或，
    所述DU确定所述终端设备基于所述第一方式切换失败；或，
    所述DU确定接收来自所述终端设备的第二响应消息且所述第二响应消息用于指示未成功接收所述第一切换消息；或，
    所述DU确定未接收到来自所述终端设备的所述第一切换消息的响应消息。
  5. 根据权利要求4所述的方法，其特征在于，在所述DU确定所述终端设备的小区切换方式为所述第二方式之后，所述方法还包括：
    所述DU向所述终端设备发送第三切换消息，所述第三切换消息用于指示所述终端设备基于所述第二方式从所述源小区切换至所述第二目标小区。
  6. 根据权利要求5所述的方法，其特征在于，所述第三切换消息包括：
    所述第二目标小区的配置信息；或，
    所述第二目标小区的增量配置信息以及第二指示信息，所述第二指示信息用于指示所述终端设备基于所述源小区的配置信息对所述第二目标小区的增量配置信息进行增量配置。
  7. 一种通信装置，其特征在于，包括处理单元和收发单元；
    所述处理单元和所述收发单元用于执行如权利要求1至权利要求6中任一项所述的方法。
  8. 一种通信装置，其特征在于，包括至少一个处理器，与存储器耦合；
    所述存储器用于存储程序或指令；
    所述至少一个处理器用于执行所述程序或指令，以使所述装置实现如权利要求1至6中任一项所述的方法。
  9. 一种计算机可读存储介质，其特征在于，所述介质存储有指令，当所述指令被计算机执行时，实现权利要求1至6中任一项所述的方法。
  10. 一种计算机程序产品，其特征在于，包括指令，当所述指令在计算机上运行时，使得计算机执行如权利要求1至6中任一项所述的方法。
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