Counting method and network control device

A counting method, which pre-establishes a user terminal information record and a user number threshold in a cell, comprising:

• informing a plurality of user terminals in the cell in which multimedia broadcast and multicast service (MBMS) is transmitted of initiation of counting a number of the user terminals accepting MBMS service, receiving responses from the user terminals, and recording identification of the responding user terminals into the user terminal information record;
• monitoring the cell, and updating the user terminal information record after the recording the identification of the responding user terminals into the user terminal information record when it is determined that a user terminal having a varied communication behavior exists in the cell;
• determining whether to trigger a re-counting according to a number of user terminals and the user number threshold in the cell in the user terminal information record;
• and
• informing the user terminals in the cell about initiation of re-counting, receiving responses from the user terminals, recording the new responding user terminals in the user terminal information record, monitoring the cell and updating the user terminal information record after the recording the responding user terminals into the user terminal information record when it is determined that a user terminal having a varied communication behavior exists in the cell, when a determination is made to trigger a re-counting, and monitoring the cell and updating the user terminal information record when it is determined that a user terminal having a varied communication behavior exists in the cell without informing the user terminals in the cell about initiation of re-counting, when a determination is made not to trigger the re-counting.

A network control device providing a counting operation, comprising:

• a control module sending a notification indicating initiation of counting;
• a storage module used to store a user terminal information record and a user number threshold in a cell;
• and
• a communication module receiving the notification indicating initiation of counting from the control module, sending out the received notification to the user terminals in the cell, receiving responses from the user terminals, and sending the received responses to the control module,
• wherein the control module receives the responses from the user terminals from the communication module, sends information of the responding user terminals to the storage module, obtains the user terminal information record and the user number threshold in the cell from the storage module, monitors the cell in which multimedia broadcast and multicast service is transmitted, informs the storage module to update the user terminal information record, and determines whether to trigger a recounting according to the number of user terminals and the user number threshold in the cell in the user terminal information record.