# US 11,115,879 B2 · State switching method, network device and terminal device > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,115,879 B2 - Document ID: US11115879B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/620,384 - Filed: 2017-09-08 - Published: 2021-01-07 - Granted: 2021-09-07 - Earliest claimed: 2017-09-08 - Assignees: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp., Ltd. - Applicants: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp., Ltd. - Inventors: Ning Yang; Jianhua Liu - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11115879B2 ## CPC - H04W 36/0033: {with transfer of context information} - H04W 76/27: Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states - H04W 68/005: {Transmission of information for alerting of incoming communication} - H04W 76/11: Allocation or use of connection identifiers - H04W 76/34: Selective release of ongoing connections - H04W 68/00: User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) ## Abstract Provided are a state switching method, a network device and a terminal device. The method is used for a first terminal device in an inactive state; the inactive state indicates that the first terminal device and a network device are in a disconnection state, and the first terminal device and the network device retain context information of the first terminal device. The method includes: generating indication information, which is used to indicate the first terminal device to release the context information, or not to release the context information; and sending the indication information to the first terminal device. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A state switching method, comprising: receiving, by a first terminal device, indication information sent by a network device, the first terminal device being in an inactive state indicating that the first terminal device and the network device are in a disconnection state, and the first terminal device and the network device retaining context information of the first terminal device, the indication information being used to indicate the first terminal device to release the context information, or not to release the context information; and determining whether to release the context information according to the indication information, wherein receiving, by the first terminal device, indication information sent by the network device comprises: receiving a bit sequence sent by the network device, the bit sequence comprising at least two bits corresponding to at least two terminal device groups each including a plurality of terminal devices, and data carried on each bit being used to indicate whether a terminal device in a corresponding terminal device group releases the context information; determining a first terminal device group to which the first terminal device belongs, the at least two terminal device groups comprising the first terminal device group; and obtaining a value carried on a first bit corresponding to the first terminal device group; wherein, determining whether to release the context information according to the indication information comprises: determining whether to release the context information according to the value carried on the first bit. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein determining whether to release the context information according to the value carried on the first bit comprises: in response to the value carried on the first bit being 1, determining to release the context information; or, in response to the value carried on the first bit being 0, determining not to release the context information. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein: the at least two terminal device groups are configured with different characteristic information, and the terminal device in each terminal device group is configured with same characteristic information, wherein the characteristic information is information which is obtained by the network device from a core network device or the terminal device and is used for representing attributes of the terminal device. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method according to claim 3, wherein the characteristic information comprises any one of the following information: a service type supporting by the terminal device, an access class value, a service habit behavior, a device type, network slice information, quality of service, a user priority corresponding to the terminal device, and a user class. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the indication information is a first identifier stamp for identifying the first terminal device; wherein, determining whether to release the context information according to the indication information comprises: in response to receiving the first identifier stamp sent by the network device, determining to release context information. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The method according to claim 5, wherein the first identifier stamp corresponds to at least one of the following information: a service type supporting by the terminal device, an access class value, a service habit behavior, a device type, a network slice information, a quality of service, a user priority corresponding to the first terminal device, and a user class. ### Claim 7 (depends on 5) The method according to claim 5, wherein the identifier stamp is configured with identifier information of the network device. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein receiving indication information sent by a network device comprises: receiving a system message sent by the network device, the system message comprising the indication information and identifier information of the network device; or receiving a paging message sent by the network device, the paging message comprising the indication information and the identifier information of the network device. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein receiving indication information sent by a network device comprises: receiving a paging message sent by the network device, the paging message comprising identifier information of the first terminal device and the indication information. ### Claim 10 A network device, comprising a processor, a transceiver, and a non-transitory memory, wherein when code stored in the non-transitory memory is executed by the processor, the network device is caused to: generate, by the processor, indication information, the indication information being used to indicate a first terminal device to release context information, or not to release the context information; wherein the first terminal device is in an inactive state, the inactive state indicating that the first terminal device and the network device are in a disconnection state, and the first terminal device and the network device retain the context information of the first terminal device; and send, by the transceiver, the indication information to the first terminal device, wherein the processor is configured to: generate a bit sequence comprising at least two bits, the at least two bits corresponding to at least two terminal device groups each including a plurality of terminal devices, data carried on each bit being used to indicate whether a terminal device in a corresponding terminal device group releases the context information, and a first terminal device group in the at least two terminal device groups comprising the first terminal device; wherein the transceiver is configured to: send the bit sequence to the first terminal device. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The network device according to claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to: generate the bit sequence in the following manner: in response to determining the terminal device in the first terminal device group releases the context information, setting a value carried on a first bit corresponding to the first terminal device group as 1, and in response to determining the terminal device in the first terminal device group does not release the context information, setting the value carried on the first bit as 0. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The network device according to claim 10, wherein the at least two terminal device groups are configured with different characteristic information, and the terminal device in each terminal device group is configured with same characteristic information, wherein the characteristic information is information which is obtained by the network device from a core network device or the terminal device and is used for representing attributes of the terminal device. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The network device according to claim 12, wherein the characteristic information comprises any one of the following information: a service type supporting by the terminal device, an access class value, a service habit behavior, a device type, network slice information, quality of service, a user priority corresponding to the terminal device, and a user class. ### Claim 14 A terminal device, comprising a processor, a transceiver, and a non-transitory memory, wherein when code stored in the non-transitory memory is executed by the processor, the terminal device is caused to: receive, by the transceiver, indication information sent by a network device, the indication information being used to indicate a first terminal device to release context information, or not to release the context information; wherein the first terminal device is in an inactive state indicating that the first terminal device and the network device are in a disconnection state, and the first terminal device and the network device retain the context information of the first terminal device; and determine, by the processor, whether to release the context information according to the indication information, wherein the transceiver is configured to: receive a bit sequence sent by the network device comprising at least two bits corresponding to at least two terminal device groups each including a plurality of terminal devices, and data carried on each bit being used to indicate whether a terminal device in a corresponding terminal device group releases the context information; wherein the processor is configured to: determine a first terminal device group to which the first terminal device belongs, the at least two terminal device groups comprising the first terminal device group; obtain a value carried on a first bit corresponding to the first terminal device group; and determine whether to release the context information according to the value carried on the first bit. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The terminal device according to claim 14, wherein the transceiver is further configured to: receive criterion information sent by the network device, the criterion information being used by the first terminal device to determine whether to release the context information. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The terminal device according to claim 15, wherein the criterion information comprises a first threshold; wherein the processor is configured to: in response to the value carried on the first bit being 1, and a remainder between an identifier of the first terminal device and a second threshold being equal to the first threshold, determine to release the context information. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The terminal device according to claim 16, wherein the criterion information further comprises the second threshold.