IP Library Granted Patent US 12707353
Granted Patent B2
US 12707353 · App. 19/360,932 · Granted Aug 11, 2026

Cell handover method, terminal device, and network device

Inventors: Ling Lyu (Shanghai, CN); Zheng Zhao (Shanghai, CN)
Assignee: Quectel Wireless Solutions Co., Ltd.
H04W36/00837H04W74/0833
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12707353
App. No.
19/360,932
Granted
Aug 11, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method for cell handover, a terminal device, and a network device. One example method includes: receiving, by a terminal device, a first time advance (TA) during layer 1 (L1)/layer 2 (L2) triggered mobility, wherein the first TA is a TA of the terminal device relative to a target cell, and the first TA is valid during an operational period of a first time alignment timer (TAT) of the terminal device.

Claims (54)

1 . A method for cell handover, comprising:

receiving, by a terminal device, a first time advance (TA) during layer 1 (L1)/layer 2 (L2) triggered mobility, wherein the first TA is a TA of the terminal device relative to a target cell, and the first TA is valid during an operational period of a first time alignment timer (TAT) of the terminal device, wherein the first TA is determined based on a random access procedure initiated by the terminal device, and the random access procedure is a non-contention based random access procedure triggered by a source cell and is initiated based on a first dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) resource, and wherein the first dedicated PRACH resource is selected from a first PRACH resource group provided by the target cell; and

transmitting a signal by using the first TA.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, by the terminal device, first configuration information, wherein the first configuration information indicates one or more of:

a cell-radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) allocated to the terminal device by the target cell;

a configured grant (CG) resource allocated to the terminal device by the target cell;

a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) surveillance space allocated to the terminal device by the target cell;

a dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) resource allocated to the terminal device by the target cell; or

scheduling request (SR) configuration.

3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein the CG resource or the PDCCH surveillance space is valid during the operational period of the first TAT.

4 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein at least a portion of the first configuration information is carried in a handover configuration message from a source cell.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the operational period of the first TAT is determined based on a remaining period of the first TAT.

6 . The method according to claim 5 , wherein the remaining period is received from a source cell.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving, by the terminal device, a first message from a source cell, wherein the first message is configured to trigger the terminal device to initiate a random access procedure, and the first message comprises one or more of:

an offset value of a transmission power for a random access message; or

information for indicating whether maintenance of a number of random access attempts by the terminal device is required.

8 . A method for cell handover, comprising:

receiving, by a source cell, a first TA during L1/L2 triggered mobility, wherein the first TA is a TA of a terminal device relative to a target cell, and the first TA is valid during an operational period of a first TAT of the terminal device, wherein the first TA is determined based on a random access procedure initiated by the terminal device, and the random access procedure is a non-contention based random access procedure triggered by the source cell and is initiated based on a first dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) resource, and wherein the first dedicated PRACH resource is selected from a first PRACH resource group provided by the target cell.

9 . The method according to claim 8 , further comprising:

sending first configuration information, wherein the first configuration information indicates one or more of:

a cell-radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) allocated to the terminal device by the target cell;

a configured grant (CG) resource allocated to the terminal device by the target cell;

a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) surveillance space allocated to the terminal device by the target cell;

a dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) resource allocated to the terminal device by the target cell; or

scheduling request (SR) configuration.

10 . The method according to claim 9 , wherein the CG resource or the PDCCH surveillance space is valid during the operational period of the first TAT.

11 . The method according to claim 9 , wherein at least a portion of the first configuration information is carried in a handover configuration message from the source cell.

12 . The method according to claim 9 , wherein the operational period of the first TAT is determined based on a remaining period of the first TAT.

13 . The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:

sending a first message, wherein the first message is configured to trigger the terminal device to initiate a random access procedure, and the first message comprises one or more of:

an offset value of a transmission power for a random access message; or

information for indicating whether maintenance of a number of random access attempts by the terminal device is required.

14 . An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media coupled to the at least one processor and storing programming instructions for execution by the at least one processor, wherein the programming instructions, when executed, cause the apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by a terminal device, a first time advance (TA) during layer 1 (L1)/layer 2 (L2) triggered mobility, wherein the first TA is a TA of the terminal device relative to a target cell, and the first TA is valid during an operational period of a first time alignment timer (TAT) of the terminal device, wherein the first TA is determined based on a random access procedure initiated by the terminal device, and the random access procedure is a non-contention based random access procedure triggered by a source cell and is initiated based on a first dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) resource, and wherein the first dedicated PRACH resource is selected from a first PRACH resource group provided by the target cell; and

transmitting a signal by using the first TA.

15 . The apparatus according to claim 14 , the operations further comprising:

receiving, by the terminal device, first configuration information, wherein the first configuration information indicates one or more of:

a cell-radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) allocated to the terminal device by the target cell;

a configured grant (CG) resource allocated to the terminal device by the target cell;

a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) surveillance space allocated to the terminal device by the target cell;

a dedicated physical random access channel (PRACH) resource allocated to the terminal device by the target cell; or

scheduling request (SR) configuration.

16 . The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the CG resource or the PDCCH surveillance space is valid during the operational period of the first TAT.

17 . The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein at least a portion of the first configuration information is carried in a handover configuration message from a source cell.

18 . The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the operational period of the first TAT is determined based on a remaining period of the first TAT.

19 . The apparatus according to claim 18 , wherein the remaining period is received from a source cell.

20 . The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the operations comprise:

receiving a first message from a source cell, wherein the first message is configured to trigger the terminal device to initiate a random access procedure, and the first message comprises one or more of:

an offset value of a transmission power for a random access message; or

information for indicating whether maintenance of a number of random access attempts by the terminal device is required.