WO2022017403A1

WO2022017403A1 - Communication method and apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2022017403A1
Application number: PCT/CN2021/107479
Authority: WO
Inventors: 孔繁华; 张健; 徐海博
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2020-07-24
Filing date: 2021-07-20
Publication date: 2022-01-27
Also published as: CN113973390A

Abstract

The present application provides a communication method and apparatus, relating to the field of communication technology. In said method, a core network device associates a first PDU session with a second PDU session according to a received association request, and indicates the association relationship to an application server; and upon reception of uplink data sent by a first terminal by means of the first PDU session, the application server sends, according to the association relationship, downlink data to a second terminal by means of the second PDU session, the downlink data being downlink data received by the second terminal for the first terminal. In said method, as the amount of uplink data is relatively small, the first terminal does not need too much transmission power, and then the uplink data can be directly sent to an access network device over radio. As the amount of downlink data is relatively large, sending the downlink data to the first terminal by means of the second terminal that is closer to the first terminal can prevent the first terminal from having to use too large reception power to receive the downlink data, thereby avoiding the increase in power consumption of the first terminal whilst satisfying service requirements.

Description

Communication method and device

This application claims the priority of the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on July 24, 2020, the application number is 202010724352.7, and the application name is "a communication method for UE2NW relay, UE and network equipment", and in 2020 The priority of the Chinese patent application with the application number 202011530068.2 and the application name "communication method and device" filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on December 22, 2019, the entire contents of which are incorporated in this application by reference.

technical field

The present application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular, to a communication method and device.

Background technique

The development of communication technology has further improved the experience of the new media industry, video services have become the mainstream media form, and emerging multimedia services such as 4K/8K ultra-high-definition video and extended reality (XR) have emerged. Multimedia services generally have requirements such as reducing device power consumption and communication delay.

Taking the XR service as an example, the XR device captures the user's motion information, such as head motion, hand motion, crouching/standing up, etc., and sends it through a communication network (for example, a 5th Generation (5G) network) to the cloud application server. The cloud application server renders and generates screen data according to the user's action information, and sends it to the XR device through the communication network, so that the user can watch the screen on the XR device. In some cases, the XR device also needs to undertake the rendering work, which increases the power consumption of the XR device. Wherein, the XR device can communicate directly with the access network device (eg, base station), and in this case, the communication delay between the XR device and the access network device can be reduced. The XR device can also communicate with the access network device through other devices, such as mobile phones. At this time, the mobile phone can undertake the rendering work, thereby reducing the power consumption of the XR device, but it will increase the transmission time between the XR device and the access network device. extension. How to balance the latency and power consumption requirements of XR services is an urgent problem to be solved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus for reducing the data transmission delay of the multimedia device without increasing the power consumption of the multimedia device (eg, XR device).

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, including: a first terminal sending a first association request to a core network device for requesting to associate a first PDU session with a second PDU session, or sending a first association request to a second terminal for requesting to associate A second association request associated with the first PDU session and the second PDU session; the first terminal sends uplink data to the access network device through the first PDU session, and obtains the downlink data sent by the access network device from the second terminal, wherein the downlink data The data is sent by the access network device to the second terminal through the second PDU session. The first PDU session is a PDU session of the first terminal, and the second PDU session is a PDU session of the second terminal. The method provided by the first aspect enables the core network device to associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session according to the association request, thereby ensuring that the access network device can send downlink data to the first terminal through the second terminal. For uplink data, the first terminal can directly send it to the access network device through the air interface, and for downlink data, the access network device can send it to the second terminal, and the second terminal sends data to the first terminal according to the downlink data. Since the access network device and the first terminal are far away, the larger the amount of uplink data, the greater the transmit power of the first terminal and the greater the power consumption. Therefore, for services whose uplink rate requirements are much lower than downlink rate requirements, since the amount of uplink data is small, the first terminal does not need too much transmit power, so it can be directly sent to the access network device through the air interface. Due to the large amount of downlink data, the second terminal that is closer to the first terminal sends the data to the first terminal, so that the first terminal can be prevented from receiving too much receive power, so as to avoid increasing the first terminal when the service requirements are met. power consumption of the terminal. In addition, the first terminal directly sends the uplink data to the access network device through the air interface, which can also reduce the transmission delay of the uplink data.

In a possible implementation manner, the downlink data obtained by the first terminal from the second terminal is the data processed by the second terminal on the downlink data sent by the access network device, and the processing includes compression, decompression, rendering, encoding, and decoding. at least one of the. In this possible implementation manner, when necessary, the second terminal may process downlink data in place of the first terminal, thereby further reducing the power consumption of the first terminal.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the first terminal sends a message to the core network device for instructing the first terminal to transmit only uplink data on the air interface and/or for instructing the second terminal to transmit the first terminal The first indication information of the downlink data. In this possible implementation manner, after the first indication information is sent to the application server through the core network device, the application server can be made to clearly need to send downlink data.

In a possible implementation manner, the first association request includes the identifier of the second PDU session, or the first association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session and the identifier of the second PDU session; the second association request includes the first PDU The ID of the session. In this possible implementation manner, by carrying the identifier of the PDU session in the association request, the core network device can determine which PDU session needs to be associated.

In a possible implementation manner, the first terminal communicates with the access network device through a cellular network, and the first terminal and the second terminal communicate through a short-distance manner. In this possible implementation manner, the first terminal and the second terminal communicate in a short-distance manner, so that the first terminal can receive the data sent by the access network device through the second terminal that is closer (compared to the access network device) to the first terminal. It can prevent the first terminal from using too large receive power to receive data, and avoid increasing the power consumption of the first terminal.

In a possible implementation manner, the core network device is a mobility management network element.

In a possible implementation manner, the second PDU session is a PDU session in which the second terminal provides a relay service for the first terminal. In this possible implementation manner, by associating the first PDU session with a PDU session of the second terminal that provides a transfer service for the first terminal, the second terminal can transfer data for the first terminal and reduce the power consumption of the first terminal .

In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, comprising: a core network device receiving a first association request from a first terminal for requesting to associate a first PDU session with a second PDU session or receiving a request from a second terminal for requesting to associate a first PDU session with a second PDU session. A third association request associated with the first PDU session and the second PDU session, associate the first PDU session and the second PDU session according to the first association request or the third association request, and send to the application server to indicate the first PDU session Second indication information associated with the second PDU session. The first PDU session is a PDU session of the first terminal, and the second PDU session is a PDU session of the second terminal. In the method provided in the second aspect, by sending the second indication information to the application server, the core network device can enable the downlink data of the first terminal to be sent through the second PDU session of the second terminal, because the uplink rate requirement is much lower than the downlink rate The amount of downlink data of the required service is relatively large, and the second terminal that is closer to the first terminal sends the data to the first terminal, so that the first terminal can be prevented from using too large receiving power to receive, so as to meet the service requirements, avoid The power consumption of the first terminal is increased.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the core network device receives, from the first terminal, an air interface for instructing the first terminal to transmit only uplink data and/or for instructing the second terminal to transmit the first terminal through the air interface. the first indication information of the downlink data, and send the first indication information to the application server. In this possible implementation manner, after the first indication information is sent to the application server through the core network device, the application server can be made to clearly need to send downlink data.

In a possible implementation manner, the first association request includes the identifier of the second PDU session, or the first association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session and the identifier of the second PDU session; the third association request includes the first PDU The identifier of the session, or the third association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session and the identifier of the second PDU session. In this possible implementation manner, by carrying the identifier of the PDU session in the association request, the core network device can determine which PDU session needs to be associated.

In a third aspect, a communication method is provided, comprising: an application server receiving from a core network device second indication information for indicating an association between a first PDU session and a second PDU session, where the first PDU session is a PDU session of a first terminal , the second PDU session is the PDU session of the second terminal; the application server receives the uplink data sent by the first terminal through the first PDU session, and sends downlink data through the second PDU session according to the second indication information, and the downlink data is the second terminal. Downlink data received by the first terminal. According to the method provided in the third aspect, the application server can send the downlink data of the first terminal through the second PDU session of the second terminal according to the second indication information. Since the uplink rate requirement is far lower than the downlink data volume of the service required by the downlink rate If the first terminal is sent to the first terminal by the second terminal that is closer to the first terminal, the first terminal can be prevented from receiving too much receive power, so as to avoid increasing the power consumption of the first terminal under the condition that the service requirements are met. .

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: receiving from the core network device by the application server for instructing the first terminal to transmit only uplink data on the air interface and/or for instructing the second terminal to send downlink data of the first terminal The first indication information of the data is determined to send downlink data according to the first indication information. In this possible implementation manner, after the first indication information is sent to the application server through the core network device, the application server can be made to clearly need to send downlink data.

In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided, including: a second terminal receives downlink data from an access network device through a second PDU session, where the second PDU session is a PDU session of the second terminal; Data is sent to the first terminal, and the uplink data of the first terminal is sent by the first terminal to the access network device over the air interface. In the method provided by the fourth aspect, since the amount of downlink data of the service whose uplink rate is far lower than the downlink rate requirement is relatively large, the second terminal that is closer to the first terminal sends the data to the first terminal, so that the first terminal can avoid using too much data. A large received power is received, so as to avoid increasing the power consumption of the first terminal under the condition that the service requirements are met.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the second terminal receives a second association request from the first terminal, where the second association request is used to request to associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session, and the first PDU session is the PDU session of the first terminal; the second terminal sends a third association request to the core network device according to the second association request, where the third association request is used to request to associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session.

In a possible implementation manner, the data sent by the second terminal to the first terminal is data processed by the second terminal on the downlink data, and the processing includes at least one of compression, decompression, rendering, encoding, and decoding. In this possible implementation manner, when necessary, the second terminal may process downlink data in place of the first terminal, thereby further reducing the power consumption of the first terminal.

In a possible implementation manner, the second association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session; the third association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session, or the third association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session and the second PDU The ID of the session. In this possible implementation manner, by carrying the identifier of the PDU session in the association request, the core network device can determine which PDU session needs to be associated.

A fifth aspect provides a communication method, comprising: a first terminal establishing a MA PDU session, and using a cellular network to send uplink data to an access network device over an air interface through the MA PDU session, and also sending uplink data from the second terminal through the MA PDU session Receive data. The MA PDU session is used to carry the uplink data sent by the first terminal on the air interface, the downlink data sent by the access network device to the routing device, and the data sent by the routing device to the first terminal through the second terminal. The second terminal is used for Provide a relay service for the first terminal; or, the MA PDU session is used to carry the uplink data sent by the first terminal on the air interface, the downlink data sent by the access network device to the second terminal, and the data sent by the second terminal to the first terminal , the second terminal is a routing device, and the second terminal is used to provide a transit service for the first terminal. In the method provided by the fifth aspect, for uplink data, the first terminal can directly send the data to the access network device through the air interface, and for the downlink data, the access network device can send the data to the second terminal, and the second terminal sends the data to the first terminal. . Since the access network device and the first terminal are far away, the larger the amount of uplink data, the greater the transmit power of the first terminal, and the greater the power consumption. Therefore, for services whose uplink rate requirements are much lower than downlink rate requirements, since the amount of uplink data is small, the first terminal does not need too much transmit power, so it can be directly sent to the access network device through the air interface. Due to the large amount of downlink data, the second terminal, which is closer to the first terminal, sends the data to the first terminal, so that the first terminal can be prevented from receiving too much receive power, and the power consumption of the first terminal can be prevented from increasing. If required, avoid increasing the power consumption of the first terminal. In addition, the first terminal directly sends the uplink data to the access network device through the air interface, which can also reduce the transmission delay of the uplink data.

In a possible implementation manner, the data sent by the second terminal to the first terminal is data after processing downlink data, or the data sent by the second terminal to the first terminal is the same as the downlink data.

In one possible implementation, the processing includes at least one of compression, decompression, rendering, encoding, and decoding.

In a possible implementation manner, during the process of establishing the MA PDU session by the first terminal, the method further includes: the first terminal sends third indication information to the user plane network element, where the third indication information is used to indicate that a non-cellular network to send downlink data. In this possible implementation manner, by sending the third indication information to the user plane network element, the access network device can send the downlink data sent by the first terminal to the first terminal through the second terminal, because the uplink rate requirement is far lower. Since the amount of downlink data of the service required by the downlink rate is relatively large, sending the data to the first terminal by the second terminal that is closer to the first terminal can prevent the first terminal from using too large receiving power to receive, and avoid increasing the power of the first terminal. power consumption, so as to avoid increasing the power consumption of the first terminal under the condition that the service requirements are met.

In a sixth aspect, a communication method is provided, comprising: in the process of establishing a MA PDU session by the first terminal, a user plane network element receives a first terminal from the first terminal for instructing to use a non-cellular network to send downlink data of the first terminal. Three indication information, receive downlink data through the MA PDU session, and replace the destination IP address in the downlink data with the IP address corresponding to the non-cellular network of the first terminal according to the third instruction information, and send it to the access network device through the MA PDU session Downlink data. The MA PDU session is used to carry the uplink data sent by the first terminal on the air interface, the downlink data sent by the access network device to the routing device, and the data sent by the routing device to the first terminal through the second terminal. The second terminal is used for Provide a relay service for the first terminal; or, the MA PDU session is used to carry the uplink data sent by the first terminal on the air interface, the downlink data sent by the access network device to the second terminal, and the data sent by the second terminal to the first terminal , the second terminal is a routing device, and the second terminal is used to provide a transit service for the first terminal. In the method provided in the sixth aspect, the third indication information can enable the access network device to send the downlink data of the first terminal to the first terminal through the second terminal. The amount of data is large, and the second terminal, which is closer to the first terminal, sends the data to the first terminal, which can prevent the first terminal from using too large receiving power to receive, and avoid increasing the power consumption of the first terminal, so as to meet the service requirements. In this case, increase the power consumption of the first terminal is avoided.

In a seventh aspect, a communication method is provided, comprising: an access network device receives downlink data of a first terminal from a user plane network element through an MA PDU session; wherein, the function of the MA PDU session is the following first function or second function , the first function is: used to carry the uplink data sent by the first terminal on the air interface, the downlink data sent by the access network device to the routing device, and the data sent by the routing device to the first terminal through the second terminal. The second terminal uses The second function is: the MA PDU session is used to carry the uplink data sent by the first terminal on the air interface, the downlink data sent by the access network equipment to the second terminal, and the second terminal to the first terminal. The data sent by the terminal, the second terminal is a routing device, and the second terminal is used to provide a relay service for the first terminal; the destination IP address in the downlink data is the IP address corresponding to the non-cellular network of the first terminal, and the MA PDU session In the case where the role is the first role, the access network device sends downlink data to the routing device through the MA PDU session; the destination IP address in the downlink data is the IP address corresponding to the non-cellular network of the first terminal, and the MA PDU session In the case that the role of the device is the second role, the access network device sends downlink data to the second terminal through the MA PDU session. According to the method provided by the seventh aspect, the access network device sends the downlink data of the first terminal to the first terminal through the second terminal. Since the uplink rate requirement is much lower than the downlink rate requirement, the downlink data volume of the service is relatively large, and the downlink data volume of the service is large through the distance. The second terminal that is closer to the first terminal sends the data to the first terminal, which can prevent the first terminal from using too large receive power to receive, and avoid increasing the power consumption of the first terminal. power consumption of the terminal.

In an eighth aspect, a communication method is provided, comprising: the second terminal receives downlink data of the first terminal through the MA PDU session, and the destination IP address in the downlink data is the IP address corresponding to the non-cellular network of the first terminal; wherein, The MA PDU session is used to carry the uplink data sent by the first terminal on the air interface, the downlink data sent by the access network device to the second terminal, and the data sent by the second terminal to the first terminal. The second terminal is a routing device, and the second terminal is a routing device. The terminal is used to provide a relay service for the first terminal; the second terminal uses a non-cellular network to send downlink data to the first terminal through an MA PDU session. In the method provided by the eighth aspect, the access network device sends the downlink data of the first terminal to the first terminal through the second terminal. The second terminal that is closer to the first terminal sends the data to the first terminal, which can prevent the first terminal from using too large receive power to receive, and avoid increasing the power consumption of the first terminal. power consumption of the terminal.

A ninth aspect, a communication method is provided, comprising: the routing device receives downlink data of the first terminal through the MA PDU session, and the destination IP address in the downlink data is the IP address corresponding to the non-cellular network of the first terminal; wherein, the MA The PDU session is used to carry the uplink data sent by the first terminal on the air interface, the downlink data sent by the access network device to the routing device, and the data sent by the routing device to the first terminal through the second terminal, and the second terminal is used for the first terminal. The terminal provides a relay service; the routing device uses a non-cellular network to send downlink data to the second terminal through the MA PDU session. In the method provided by the ninth aspect, the access network device sends the downlink data of the first terminal to the first terminal through the second terminal. The second terminal that is closer to the first terminal sends the data to the first terminal, which can prevent the first terminal from using too large receive power to receive, and avoid increasing the power consumption of the first terminal. power consumption of the terminal.

A tenth aspect provides a communication device, comprising: a communication unit and a processing unit; the processing unit is configured to use the communication unit to send a first association request to a core network device or a second association request to a second terminal, the first association request The request and the second association request are used to request to associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session, where the first PDU session is a PDU session of the communication device, and the second PDU session is a PDU session of the second terminal; the processing unit is further configured to The communication unit is used to send the uplink data to the access network device through the first PDU session; the processing unit is further configured to use the communication unit to obtain the downlink data sent by the access network device from the second terminal, wherein the downlink data is passed by the access network device through The second PDU session is sent to the second terminal.

In a possible implementation manner, the downlink data obtained by the communication apparatus from the second terminal is the data after processing the downlink data sent by the second terminal to the access network device, and the processing includes compression, decompression, rendering, encoding, and decoding. at least one of.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing unit is further configured to use the communication unit to send first indication information to the core network device, where the first indication information is used to instruct the air interface of the communication device to transmit only uplink data and/or to indicate The downlink data of the communication device is sent through the second terminal.

In a possible implementation manner, the first association request includes the identifier of the second PDU session, or the first association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session and the identifier of the second PDU session; the second association request includes the first PDU The ID of the session.

In a possible implementation manner, the communication device communicates with the access network device through a cellular network, and the communication device communicates with the second terminal through a short-distance manner.

In a possible implementation manner, the second PDU session is a PDU session in which the second terminal provides a relay service for the communication apparatus.

In an eleventh aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a communication unit and a processing unit; the communication unit is configured to receive a first association request from a first terminal or a third association request from a second terminal, the first association request and The third association request is used to request to associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session, the first PDU session is the PDU session of the first terminal, and the second PDU session is the PDU session of the second terminal; An association request or a third association request associates the first PDU session with the second PDU session; the communication unit is further configured to send second indication information to the application server, where the second indication information is used to indicate the first PDU session and the second PDU session session association.

In a possible implementation manner, the communication unit is further configured to receive first indication information from the first terminal, where the first indication information is used to instruct the air interface of the first terminal to transmit only uplink data and/or to instruct the The second terminal sends the downlink data of the first terminal; the communication unit is further configured to send the first indication information to the application server.

In a possible implementation manner, the first association request includes the identifier of the second PDU session, or the first association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session and the identifier of the second PDU session; the third association request includes the first PDU The identifier of the session, or the third association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session and the identifier of the second PDU session.

In a possible implementation manner, the first terminal communicates with the access network device through a cellular network, and the first terminal and the second terminal communicate through a short-distance manner.

In a possible implementation manner, the communication device is a mobility management network element.

In a possible implementation manner, the second PDU session is a PDU session in which the second terminal provides a relay service for the first terminal.

A twelfth aspect provides a communication apparatus, including: a communication unit and a processing unit; the processing unit is used to receive second indication information from a core network device by using the communication unit, where the second indication information is used to indicate the first PDU session and The second PDU session is associated, the first PDU session is the PDU session of the first terminal, and the second PDU session is the PDU session of the second terminal; the processing unit is further configured to use the communication unit to receive the data sent by the first terminal through the first PDU session. Uplink data; the processing unit is further configured to use the communication unit to send downlink data through the second PDU session according to the second indication information, where the downlink data is the downlink data received by the second terminal for the first terminal.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing unit is further configured to use the communication unit to receive first indication information from the core network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that only uplink data is transmitted on the air interface of the first terminal and/or used for Instructing to send downlink data of the first terminal through the second terminal; the processing unit is further configured to determine to send downlink data according to the first indication information.

A thirteenth aspect provides a communication device, comprising: a communication unit and a processing unit; the processing unit is configured to use the communication unit to receive downlink data from an access network device through a second PDU session, where the second PDU session is a communication The PDU session of the device; the processing unit is further configured to use the communication unit to send data to the first terminal according to the downlink data, and the uplink data of the first terminal is sent by the first terminal to the access network device over the air interface.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing unit is further configured to use the communication unit to receive a second association request from the first terminal, where the second association request is used to request to associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session, and the first PDU session The session is a PDU session of the first terminal; the processing unit is further configured to use the communication unit to send a third association request to the core network device according to the second association request, and the third association request is used to request the first PDU session and the second PDU session. association.

In a possible implementation manner, the data sent by the communication device to the first terminal is data processed by the communication device on the downlink data, and the processing includes at least one of compression, decompression, rendering, encoding, and decoding.

In a possible implementation manner, the second association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session; the third association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session, or the third association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session and the second PDU The ID of the session.

In a possible implementation manner, the first terminal communicates with the access network device through a cellular network, and the first terminal communicates with the communication apparatus through a short-distance manner.

In a possible implementation manner, the second PDU session is a PDU session in which the communication apparatus provides a relay service for the first terminal.

A fourteenth aspect provides a communication device, comprising: a communication unit and a processing unit; the processing unit is used to establish a MA PDU session; wherein, the MA PDU session is used to carry uplink data, access data sent by the communication device on the air interface The downlink data sent by the network device to the routing device and the data sent by the routing device to the communication device through the second terminal, the second terminal is used to provide a relay service for the communication device; or, the MA PDU session is used to carry the data sent by the communication device on the air interface Uplink data, downlink data sent by the access network equipment to the second terminal, and data sent by the second terminal to the communication device, the second terminal is a routing device, and the second terminal is used to provide a relay service for the communication device; the communication unit is used for The cellular network is used to send uplink data to the access network device through the MA PDU session over the air interface; the communication unit is also used to receive data from the second terminal through the MA PDU session.

In a possible implementation manner, in the process of establishing the MA PDU session by the communication device, the communication unit is further configured to: send third indication information to the user plane network element, where the third indication information is used to indicate that the non-cellular network is used for sending Downlink data.

A fifteenth aspect provides a communication device, comprising: a communication unit and a processing unit; the communication unit is configured to receive third indication information from the first terminal during the process of establishing the MA PDU session by the first terminal, the third indication The information is used to indicate that the non-cellular network is used to send the downlink data of the first terminal; wherein, the MA PDU session is used to carry the uplink data sent by the first terminal on the air interface, the downlink data sent by the access network device to the routing device, and the routing device passing through. For the data sent by the second terminal to the first terminal, the second terminal is used to provide a relay service for the first terminal; or, the MA PDU session is used to carry the uplink data sent by the first terminal on the air interface, and the access network device sends the data to the second terminal. Downlink data sent by the terminal and data sent by the second terminal to the first terminal, the second terminal is a routing device, and the second terminal is used to provide a relay service for the first terminal; the communication unit is also used to receive downlink data through the MA PDU session The processing unit is used to replace the destination IP address in the downlink data with the corresponding IP address of the non-cellular network of the first terminal according to the third instruction information; The communication unit is also used to send downlink to the access network equipment through the MA PDU session data.

A sixteenth aspect provides a communication device, including: a communication unit and a processing unit; the processing unit is configured to use the communication unit to receive downlink data of a first terminal from a user plane network element through an MA PDU session; wherein, the MA PDU session The first function is: used to carry the uplink data sent by the first terminal on the air interface, the downlink data sent by the communication device to the routing device, and the routing device to the first terminal through the second terminal. For the data sent by the terminal, the second terminal is used to provide a relay service for the first terminal; the second function is: the MA PDU session is used to carry the uplink data sent by the first terminal on the air interface and the downlink data sent by the communication device to the second terminal. And the data sent by the second terminal to the first terminal, the second terminal is a routing device, and the second terminal is used to provide a relay service for the first terminal; the destination IP address in the downlink data is the non-cellular network corresponding to the first terminal. When the IP address and the role of the MA PDU session is the first role, the processing unit is further configured to use the communication unit to send downlink data to the routing device through the MA PDU session; the destination IP address in the downlink data is the address of the first terminal. When the IP address corresponding to the non-cellular network and the role of the MA PDU session is the second role, the processing unit is further configured to use the communication unit to send downlink data to the second terminal through the MA PDU session.

A seventeenth aspect provides a communication device, comprising: a communication unit and a processing unit; the processing unit is configured to use the communication unit to receive downlink data of a first terminal through an MA PDU session, and the destination IP address in the downlink data is the first terminal The IP address corresponding to the non-cellular network of the terminal; wherein the MA PDU session is used to carry the uplink data sent by the first terminal on the air interface, the downlink data sent by the access network equipment to the communication device, and the data sent by the communication device to the first terminal , the communication device is a routing device, and the communication device is used to provide a relay service for the first terminal; the processing unit is also used to send downlink data to the first terminal through the MA PDU session using the communication unit and the non-cellular network.

In an eighteenth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a communication unit and a processing unit; the processing unit is configured to use the communication unit to receive downlink data of a first terminal through an MA PDU session, and the destination IP address in the downlink data is the first terminal. The IP address corresponding to the non-cellular network of the terminal; wherein, the MA PDU session is used to carry the uplink data sent by the first terminal on the air interface, the downlink data sent by the access network equipment to the communication device, and the communication device to the first terminal through the second terminal. For the data sent by the terminal, the second terminal is used to provide a relay service for the first terminal; the processing unit is also used to send downlink data to the second terminal through the MA PDU session using a communication unit and a non-cellular network.

In a nineteenth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor. The processor is connected to the memory, the memory is used for storing computer-executed instructions, and the processor executes the computer-executed instructions stored in the memory, thereby implementing any one of the methods provided in any one of the first to ninth aspects. Exemplarily, the memory and the processor may be integrated together, or may be independent devices. In the latter case, the memory may be located in the communication device or outside the communication device.

In a possible implementation, the processor includes a logic circuit, and also includes an input interface and/or an output interface. Exemplarily, the output interface is used for performing the sending action in the corresponding method, and the input interface is used for performing the receiving action in the corresponding method.

In a possible implementation manner, the communication device further includes a communication interface and a communication bus, and the processor, the memory and the communication interface are connected through the communication bus. The communication interface is used to perform the actions of transceiving in the corresponding method. The communication interface may also be referred to as a transceiver. Optionally, the communication interface includes at least one of a transmitter and a receiver. In this case, the transmitter is configured to perform the sending action in the corresponding method, and the receiver is configured to perform the receiving action in the corresponding method.

In a possible implementation manner, the communication device exists in the form of a chip product.

A twentieth aspect provides a chip, comprising: a processor and an interface, the processor is coupled to a memory through the interface, and when the processor executes a computer program or instructions in the memory, any one of the first to ninth aspects is enabled Any one of the methods provided by an aspect is performed.

A twenty-first aspect provides a communication device, comprising: a processor and an interface, the processor is coupled to the memory through the interface, and when the processor executes the computer program or instructions in the memory, the first to ninth aspects are Any one of the methods provided by any one of the aspects is performed.

In a twenty-second aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform any one of the methods provided in any one of the first to ninth aspects.

A twenty-third aspect provides a computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform any one of the methods provided in any one of the first to ninth aspects.

For the technical effects brought by any one of the implementation manners of the tenth aspect to the twenty-third aspect, reference may be made to the technical effects brought by the corresponding implementation manners in the first aspect to the ninth aspect, which will not be repeated here.

It should be noted that, on the premise that the solutions are not contradictory, the solutions in the above aspects can be combined.

Description of drawings

1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a 5G system;

2 is a schematic diagram of a PDU session;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a PDU session establishment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of communication between a first terminal and an access network device;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of communication between a first terminal and an access network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

6 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of still another communication between a first terminal and an access network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

10 is a schematic diagram of still another communication between a first terminal and an access network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

11 is a flowchart of another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

12 is a flowchart of another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

13 is a flowchart of another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of the composition of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of a hardware structure of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of a hardware structure of another communication apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application.

detailed description

In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, "/" means or means, for example, A/B can mean A or B. In this article, "and/or" is only an association relationship to describe the associated objects, which means that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and/or B, which can mean that A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone these three situations. In the description of this application, unless stated otherwise, "at least one" means one or more, and "plurality" means two or more.

In addition, in order to clearly describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish the same or similar items with basically the same function and effect. Those skilled in the art can understand that the words "first", "second" and the like do not limit the quantity and execution order, and the words "first", "second" and the like are not necessarily different.

The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application may be applied to the fourth generation (4th Generation, 4G) system, various systems based on 4G system evolution, 5G systems, various systems based on 5G system evolution, or in future communication systems middle. The 4G system may also be called an evolved packet system (EPS). The core network (CN) of the 4G system may be called an evolved packet core (EPC), and the access network may be called long term evolution (LTE). The core network of the 5G system can be called 5GC (5G core), and the access network can be called new radio (NR).

FIG. 1 exemplarily shows a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a 5G system. In this schematic diagram, the 5G system may include: an authentication server function (AUSF) network element, an access and mobility management function (AMF) network element, a Data Network (DN) ), unified data management (UDM) network element, policy control function (PCF) network element, (radio) access network ((R)AN) network element, user User plane function (UPF) network element, terminal (terminal), application function (application function, AF) network element, session management function (session management function, SMF) network element.

For convenience of description, in the following, (R)AN network element, AMF network element, SMF network element, UDM network element, UPF network element, PCF network element, etc. are referred to by RAN, AMF, SMF, UDM, UPF, PCF, etc. respectively. .

The 5G system is divided into two parts: the access network and the core network. The access network is used to implement functions related to wireless access, mainly including the RAN. The core network is used for network service control, data transmission, etc. The core network consists of multiple network elements, mainly including: AMF, SMF, UPF, PCF, UDM, etc.

The functions of some network elements in Figure 1 are as follows:

PCF is responsible for providing policies to AMF and SMF, such as Quality of Service (QoS) policies and slice selection policies.

UDM, for processing 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) authentication and key agreement (AKA) authentication credentials, user identification processing, access authorization, registration/mobility management, subscription management , SMS management, etc.

AF, which may be an application server, may belong to an operator or a third party. It mainly supports interaction with the 3GPP core network to provide services, such as influencing data routing decisions, policy control functions, or providing some third-party services to the network side.

AMF is mainly responsible for the signaling processing part, such as terminal registration management, terminal connection management, terminal reachability management, terminal access authorization and access authentication, terminal security function, terminal mobility management ( Such as terminal location update, terminal registration network, terminal switching, etc.), network slice selection, SMF selection, terminal registration or de-registration and other functions.

SMF is mainly responsible for the control plane functions of terminal session management, including UPF selection, control and redirection, Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management, session QoS management, and obtaining policy and charging control from PCF (policy and charging control, PCC) policy, bearer or session establishment, modification and release, etc.

UPF, as the anchor point of protocol data unit (Protocol Data Unit, PDU) session connection, is responsible for data packet filtering, data transmission/forwarding, rate control, generation of billing information, user plane QoS processing, uplink transmission authentication, Transmission level verification, downlink data packet buffering, and downlink data notification triggering, etc. The UPF can also act as a branch point for a multi-homed PDU session. The transmission resources and scheduling functions that serve the terminal in the UPF are managed and controlled by the SMF.

RAN, a network composed of one or more access network devices (also referred to as RAN nodes or network devices), implements radio physical layer functions, resource scheduling and radio resource management, radio access control and mobility management functions, services Features such as quality management, data compression and encryption. The access network equipment is connected to the UPF through the user plane interface N3, and is used to transmit data of the terminal. The access network equipment establishes a control plane signaling connection with the AMF through the control plane interface N2 to implement functions such as radio access bearer control.

The access network equipment may be a base station, a wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point (AP), a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) site, and the like. The base station may include various forms of base stations, such as: a macro base station, a micro base station (also called a small station), a relay station, an access point, and the like. Specifically, it can be: an AP in a wireless local area network (WLAN), a base station in the global system for mobile communications (GSM) or code division multiple access (CDMA) ( base transceiver station, BTS), or a base station (NodeB, NB) in wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), or an evolved base station (evolved node B, eNB or eNodeB) in LTE ), or relay station or access point, or the next generation node B (gNB) in the future 5G system or the base station in the future evolved public land mobile network (PLMN) network, etc.

DN refers to an operator network that provides data transmission services for users, such as an IP multi-media service (IMS) network, the Internet, and the like. The terminal accesses the DN by establishing a PDU session (PDU session).

A PDU session is a connection between a terminal and a DN for providing PDU connection services. The PDU session type may be an IP connection, an Ethernet connection, or an unstructured data connection. The PDU connection service supported by the core network of the 5G system refers to the service that provides the exchange of PDUs between the terminal and the DN determined by the data network name (DNN). A terminal can initiate the establishment of one or more PDU sessions to connect to the same DN or to different DNs. For example, in FIG. 2, the terminal initiates the establishment of PDU Session 1 and PDU Session 2 to connect to the same DN.

Referring to Figure 3, the PDU session establishment process includes:

301. The terminal sends a PDU session establishment request (PDU Session Establishment Request) to the AMF.

The PDU session establishment request is used to request the establishment of a PDU session. The PDU session establishment request may include the identifier of the PDU session generated by the terminal.

302. The AMF performs SMF selection (SMF selection).

303. The AMF sends a PDU session creation session context request (Nsmf_PDU Session_CreateSMContext Request) to the SMF.

The PDU session creation session context request is used for requesting to create a context of the PDU session.

304. If there is no subscription information of the terminal in the SMF, the SMF obtains the subscription information of the terminal from the UDM through a subscription retrieval (Subscription retrieval)/subscription for updates (Subscription for updates) process.

305. The SMF sends a PDU session creation session context response (Nsmf_PDU Session_CreateSMContext Response) to the AMF.

The PDU session creation session management context response is used to notify the AMF that the session management context has been established.

306. Each network element performs an authentication and authorization (PDU Session authentication/authorization) process of the PDU session interactively.

307. If the PDU session adopts dynamic PCC, the SMF performs PCF selection, and initializes the session management policy association establishment (SM Policy Association Establishment)/session management policy association modification (SM Policy Association Modification) process.

Step 307 includes step 307a and step 307b in FIG. 3 . Step 307a is: SMF selects PCF. Step 307b is: the SMF initializes the session management policy joint establishment/session management policy joint modification process.

308. The SMF performs UPF selection (UPF selection).

309. The SMF initializes the session management policy joint modification process.

310. The SMF establishes an N4 session connection with the UPF.

Step 310 includes step 310a and step 310b. Step 310a is: the SMF sends an N4 session establishment/modification request (N4 Session Establishment/Modification Request) to the UPF. Step 310b is: the UPF sends an N4 session establishment/modification response (N4 Session Establishment/Modification Response) to the SMF.

The SMF requests the UPF for the tunnel information of the UPF in step 310a, and the UPF sends the tunnel information of the UPF to the SMF in step 310b.

311. The SMF sends an N1N2 message (Namf_Communication_N1N2MessageTransfer) to the AMF.

Wherein, the N1N2 message includes the N2 message, and the N2 message includes the tunnel information of the UPF, which is used to establish the uplink N3 link.

312. The AMF sends an N2 PDU session request (N2_PDUSession_Request) to the access network device.

Wherein, the N2 PDU session request includes the N2 message in step 311, and the N2 message includes the tunnel information of the UPF, thereby establishing an uplink N3 link, and the access network device can transmit the uplink data to the UPF on the user plane.

313. The access network device allocates radio resources.

Specifically, the access network device may perform an AN-specific resource setup (AN-specific resource setup) process. Radio resources are allocated through this process, and a PDU Session Establishment accept (PDU Session Establishment accept) message is sent to the terminal in this process.

Wherein, before step 311 , the SMF may allocate an IP address to the terminal, and send it to the terminal through step 311 , step 312 and step 313 .

314. The access network device sends an N2 PDU Session Response (N2 PDU Session Response) to the AMF.

The N2 PDU session response may include tunnel information of the access network device. In the subsequent process, the AMF can send the tunnel information of the access network device to the UPF through the SMF, thereby establishing the downlink N3 link.

315. The AMF sends a PDU session update session context request (Nsmf_PDU Session_UpdateSMContext Request) to the SMF.

The PDU session update session context request includes the tunnel information of the access network device.

316. The SMF executes the N4 session modification process.

The SMF also sends the tunnel information of the access network device and the N4 session identifier to the UPF through the N4 session modification process, thereby establishing the downlink N3 link.

Wherein, step 316 includes step 316a and step 316b. Step 316a is: the SMF sends an N4 session modification request (N4 Session Modification Request) to the UPF. Step 316b is: the UPF sends an N4 Session Modification Response (N4 Session Modification Response) to the SMF.

317. The SMF sends a PDU session update session context response (Nsmf_PDU Session_UpdateSMContext Response) to the AMF.

The methods provided in the embodiments of the present application may be applied to multimedia services, for example, XR services, tactile internet services, and the like. Among them, XR business includes virtual reality (virtual reality, VR) business, augmented reality (augment reality, AR) business, mixed reality (mixed reality, MR) business and so on.

AR technology is a technology that ingeniously integrates virtual information with the real world. It widely uses various technical means such as multimedia, three-dimensional modeling, real-time tracking and registration, intelligent interaction, and sensing. Models, music, videos and other virtual information are simulated and applied to the real world, and the two kinds of information complement each other, thereby realizing the "enhancement" of the real world.

VR technology, also known as spiritual realm technology, includes computer, electronic information, and simulation technology. VR is mainly divided into two types of services. One is 360° panoramic video, such as live sports events, concerts, movies, etc. This type of business restores the flat video to a panoramic view by means of multiple cameras collection and splicing, and broadcasts it on the helmet display in the form of streaming media. The other one takes computer graphics (CG) processing as the key technology, uses computer to generate a simulated environment, and immerses users in the environment through the system simulation of multi-source information fusion, interactive three-dimensional dynamic scene and entity behavior , also known as CG VR.

The virtual scene created by MR technology can enter the real life and recognize the user. For example, through the user's device, the user can measure the scale and orientation of the object in real life when he sees a scene in his eyes. The real world can interact.

XR technology refers to a real and virtual environment that can be interacted with by computer technology and wearable devices. XR is proposed on the basis of AR, VR and MR. The purpose of the XR business is to use high-speed networks and technologies such as 360° imaging to achieve an interactive immersive experience.

Haptic Internet integrates one or more of AR, VR and MR, 5G network, Haptic sense and other latest technologies. It is another evolution of Internet technology. As a result, the Internet has further evolved from content transmission network to skill transmission. network of. At the same time, the tactile Internet provides a new way of human-computer interaction, superimposing real-time tactile experience in addition to sight and hearing, allowing users to interact with the virtual environment in a more natural way. In addition, the tactile Internet defines a basic communication network with low latency, high reliability, high connection density and high security. It is one of the important application scenarios of the 5G system and can be widely used in industrial control, autonomous driving, smart grid, Industry applications such as games, entertainment, health and education that require millisecond (ms)-level response, and realize the expansion of network functions from environmental information monitoring to environmental control.

Various service scenarios in different multimedia services have different requirements for uplink and downlink rates. Taking the XR business as an example, for cloud gaming, the XR device needs to send the captured user action information to the cloud application server. After the cloud application server receives the user's action information, it renders the screen according to the user's action information. The data is sent to the XR device through the communication network, and the user can watch the picture on the XR device. At this time, the uplink rate requirement is much lower than the downlink rate requirement. For XR services similar to AR conferences, the XR device needs to send local image data to the cloud application server, and the cloud application server then performs AR operations (including rendering and encoding and decoding) to combine images to produce downlink image data, and feed it back to each XR equipment. In this case, both the uplink and downlink rate requirements are relatively high.

In some cases, due to the weak capability of one terminal (referred to as terminal 1 ), another terminal (referred to as terminal 2 ) needs to perform compression and decompression or codec operations for terminal 1 . For example, the cloud application server compresses the rendered image (for example, 10 times the compression ratio) and sends it to terminal 2. Because terminal 2 has strong computing power, the decompression ability is generally stronger than that of terminal 1, so terminal 2 first decompresses and then decompresses it. After being compressed (for example, 5 times the compression rate), it is transmitted to the terminal 1, so that the terminal 1 can decompress even if the terminal 1 is weak.

In some cases, the terminal needs to perform rendering operations. For example, the terminal requires high transmission rate and low latency. If the terminal reports the captured user action information to the cloud application server, and then waits for the cloud application server to render the compressed feedback, the delay of such a serial transmission processing method is too large. If the delay is high (the overall process delay exceeds 70ms), dizziness and black borders will occur, which will seriously affect the user experience. Therefore, the terminal-cloud asynchronous rendering technology is proposed, that is, secondary rendering (also known as secondary projection) . The terminal-cloud asynchronous rendering technology adopts a parallel processing method, that is, the terminal captures the user's action information at the current moment and reports it to the cloud application server, so that the cloud application server can render. The cloud application server performs time and space distortion on the rendered image at the previous moment plus the user's action information captured now, that is to say, the terminal modifies the rendered image previously received from the cloud application server according to the action information at the current moment, The rendered image becomes the current image and then displayed to the user, so that the delay will be greatly shortened.

See FIG. 4 for a communication scenario involved in the present application, where the communication scenario includes an access network device, a first terminal, and a second terminal. The first terminal and the access network device may communicate in two ways. In the first communication manner, the first terminal may transmit uplink and downlink data between the access network device and the path 1 in FIG. 4 . The uplink data refers to the data sent by the terminal to the access network device, and the downlink data refers to the data sent by the access network device to the terminal. In the second communication mode, the first terminal sends data to the second terminal through path 2 in FIG. 4 , the second terminal sends uplink data to the access network device through path 3 in FIG. 4 , and the access network device sends data through the path 3 in FIG. 4 . Path 3 in FIG. 4 sends downlink data to the second terminal, and the second terminal sends data to the first terminal through path 2 in FIG. 4 . The data transmitted between the terminals may be referred to as sideline data. In the second communication mode, the first terminal is invisible to the access network device. The choice of communication method can be determined according to the actual situation. Wherein, the communication between the first terminal and the second terminal may be performed by means of a universal serial bus (universal serial bus, USB)/WiFi/Bluetooth/sidelink (sidelink). The second terminal and the access network device may communicate over the cellular network.

In the first communication mode, the first terminal directly communicates with the access network device, which can reduce the transmission delay. However, since the multimedia service involves one or more tasks of rendering, compression and decompression, and encoding and decoding, if direct communication is performed, the first terminal also needs to undertake one or more tasks of rendering, compression and decompression, and encoding and decoding. The computing capability of the first terminal is relatively high, and the power consumption of the first terminal is increased. Especially when the first terminal is at the edge of the cell, the increase in transmit power due to the coverage problem will make the power consumption problem even more serious. In the second communication method, the transmission delay will increase. However, the second terminal can help the first terminal to perform one or more of rendering, compression and decompression, and encoding and decoding, without increasing the power consumption of the first terminal.

At present, multimedia services generally have requirements such as improving coverage, reducing device power consumption, and reducing communication delay. Among them, the communication delay is the main factor causing black borders, vertigo, etc., which will seriously affect the user experience. According to the above, various service scenarios in different multimedia services have different requirements for uplink and downlink rates. For services whose uplink rate requirements are much lower than the downlink rate requirements, when the uplink rate requirements are not high, the first terminal does not need too high transmission power when directly sending uplink data to the access network equipment. Therefore, neither There is too much power consumption, and the latency can also be reduced. Therefore, for this type of service, the advantages of direct communication (that is, the above-mentioned first communication method) and indirect communication (that is, the above-mentioned second communication method) can be combined, and the relay device can share rendering, compression, decompression and encoding for the first terminal. One or more operations in the decoding can save power for the first terminal, reduce power consumption, and reduce the uplink transmission delay without increasing the power consumption of the first terminal, thereby meeting service requirements. Exemplarily, referring to FIG. 5 , for uplink data, the first terminal directly sends uplink data to the access network device through path 1, and for downlink data, the access network device sends downlink data to the transit device through path 3, and the transit device passes path 3. 2 Send data to the first terminal. The transit device can be one device or multiple devices. For example, the transit device may be a second terminal, and the second terminal may be a terminal other than the routing device, and may also be a routing device. The transit device may also be a second terminal (here, the second terminal is a terminal other than the routing device) and a routing device. Path 1 may also include a routing device, and the first terminal sends uplink data to the access network device through the routing device, for example, (c) in FIG. 10 . In addition, for the requirement of improving coverage, the first terminal may perform uplink data transmission through a low-frequency supplementary uplink (supplementary uplink, SUL).

The first terminal in this embodiment of the present application may be a multimedia terminal with a communication module (for example, a 4G communication module, a 5G communication module), for example, an AR device (for example, AR glasses), a VR device (for example, VR glasses), MR equipment, XR equipment, tactile Internet equipment, IoT terminals, etc. It should be noted that a terminal with a communication module can directly communicate with an access network device, and a terminal without a communication module needs to communicate with the access network device through other terminals. This application is mainly aimed at terminals with a communication module.

The second terminal in this embodiment of the present application may communicate with the access network device using a certain air interface technology (eg, NR technology or LTE technology). The second terminal may be a mobile terminal, a smart phone, a satellite wireless device, a wireless modem card, a computer with a mobile terminal, a router, a customer premise equipment (CPE), and the like. Exemplarily, the wireless terminal may be a personal communication service (PCS) phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital Assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA), machine type communication terminal, etc.

The terminal in this application may also be referred to as user equipment (UE), terminal equipment, subscriber unit (subscriber unit), subscriber station (subscriber station), mobile station (mobile station), mobile station (mobile), remote station (remote station), access point (access point), access terminal (access terminal), user terminal (user terminal), user agent (user agent), etc.

The present application can be implemented by the methods shown in Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2. The main difference between the first embodiment and the second embodiment is that in the first embodiment, the first terminal establishes two PDU sessions, and transmits the uplink data and the downlink data corresponding to the uplink data respectively. In the second embodiment, the first terminal establishes a multi-connection Enter a PDU (multi access PDU, MA PDU) session, and transmit uplink data, downlink data, and sideline data through the MA PDU session. Embodiments 1 and 2 are described below. In Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2, the core network device may be a mobility management network element or other core network device that can perform the actions performed by the mobility management network element in this application. The following description takes the core network device as the mobility management network element as an example for description. The mobility management network elements in the following description can all be replaced by core network equipment.

Example 1

In the first embodiment, the transit device is the second terminal (it may be a terminal other than the routing device, or it may be a routing device). Referring to FIG. 6 , the communication method provided by Embodiment 1 includes:

601. The first terminal sends an association request to a mobility management network element, where the association request is used to request to associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session. Correspondingly, the mobility management network element receives the association request from the first terminal.

The mobility management network element may be, for example, a network element (eg, a mobility management entity (MME)) with a mobility management function in the above-mentioned AMF or other communication systems (eg, a 4G network).

The first PDU session is a PDU session of the first terminal, the second PDU session is a PDU session of the second terminal, and the second terminal may provide a relay service (which may also be described as a relay service) for the first terminal. There may be two types of PDU sessions of the second terminal, one is a PDU session of the second terminal itself, and the other is a PDU session in which the second terminal provides a transfer service for the first terminal. The former is used to transmit the own data of the second terminal, and the latter is used to transfer data for the first terminal. The second PDU session may be a PDU session in which the second terminal provides a transit service for the first terminal.

The premise of the second terminal providing the relay service for the first terminal is that a connection is established between the first terminal and the second terminal. The first terminal and the second terminal may communicate in a short-range manner. The connection between the first terminal and the second terminal may be a wired connection, such as a type C connection, a USB connection, etc., or a wireless connection, such as a Bluetooth connection, a WiFi connection, and the like.

Specifically, the first terminal may determine to receive downlink data through the second terminal, and then establish a connection with the second terminal, when initiating certain services (for example, the above-mentioned services whose uplink rate requirement is far lower than the downlink rate requirement). The services whose uplink rate requirements are much lower than the downlink rate requirements can be some services strongly related to user actions (that is, services that generate screen data by rendering based on user action information), such as cloud games, XR live broadcast and other services.

Exemplarily, the first terminal is powered on, the user performs an operation of subscribing to the XR live broadcast service on the first terminal (for example, clicking a link of a certain XR live broadcast of the corresponding application), and the application (Application, APP) layer of the first terminal obtains The identification of the service or the requirement of the uplink and downlink rate of the service, according to the identification of the service or the requirement of the uplink and downlink rate of the service, determine whether the current service is a service whose uplink rate requirement is much lower than the downlink rate requirement. For service identifiers, different service identifiers represent different services, and different services have different uplink and downlink rate requirements. Therefore, according to the service identifiers, it can be determined whether the current service is a service whose uplink rate requirement is much lower than the downlink rate requirement. For example, the identifiers of multiple services and the corresponding uplink and downlink rate requirements are stored in the first terminal. If the uplink and downlink rate requirements corresponding to the identifiers of the services obtained by the APP layer of the first terminal are: the uplink rate requirements are much lower than the downlink rate requirements , it is determined that the service is a service whose uplink rate requirement is much lower than that of downlink rate. For another example, the first terminal may store multiple sets divided according to the rate requirements of the services, wherein the identifiers of the services whose uplink rate requirements are far lower than the downlink rate requirements form a group. If the identifier of the service belongs to the set, it is determined that the service is a service whose uplink rate requirement is much lower than the downlink rate requirement. Regarding the uplink and downlink rate requirements of the service, it can be directly determined whether the current service is a service whose uplink rate requirement is much lower than the downlink rate requirement according to the uplink and downlink rate requirements of the service. If the current service is a service whose uplink rate requirement is much lower than the downlink rate requirement, the first terminal establishes a connection with the second terminal.

The establishment process of the connection between the first terminal and the second terminal, the establishment process of the connection between the second terminal and the access network device (that is, the radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) connection), and the connection between the first terminal and the access network device. There is no absolute sequence for establishing the connection between the access network devices. If the connection between the first terminal and the second terminal is established before the connection between the second terminal and the access network device is established, in one case, after the second terminal establishes the connection with the first terminal, it needs to be the first terminal by default. If the terminal provides a transit service, it establishes a connection with the access network equipment. In another case, after establishing a connection with the second terminal, the first terminal may send to the second terminal indication information (referred to as the sixth indication information) for instructing the transmission of downlink data through the second terminal. After establishing the connection with the first terminal, the second terminal receives the sixth indication information, and establishes a connection with the access network device according to the received sixth indication information. In another case, the first terminal may send the sixth indication information to the second terminal during the process of establishing the connection with the second terminal, and after establishing the connection with the first terminal, the second terminal may communicate with the second terminal according to the sixth indication information. The access network device establishes a connection. Wherein, the sixth indication information is generated by the first terminal, and is used to make the second terminal clearly need to provide a transfer service for the first terminal. The sixth indication information may be carried in an existing message (for example, a relay (Relay) request). In this case, an information element may be added to the existing message or a blank field in the existing message may be carried The sixth indication information may also be carried in a new message, and the sixth indication information is carried by an information element in the new message.

The first terminal may establish a first PDU session after establishing a connection with the access network device and in the case that there is data to be transmitted. The second terminal may establish a second PDU session after establishing a connection with the access network device. There is no absolute sequence for establishing the first PDU session and the second PDU session. The terminal (the first terminal or the second terminal) may perform a random access procedure after powering on, thereby establishing a connection with the access network device, and establishing a PDU session when data needs to be transmitted, or after powering on, The random access process is not performed first, and when there is data to be transmitted, the random access process is performed again, so as to establish a connection with the access network device and establish a PDU session.

The second PDU session may be established later than the first PDU session. In this case, the second PDU session may be a PDU session established when the second terminal has data to transmit, or may be a PDU session determined by the second terminal to provide a transfer service for the first terminal. For example, the second terminal may establish the second PDU session under the triggering of the sixth indication information, that is, after receiving the sixth indication information, establish the second PDU session.

The meaning of the association of two PDU sessions (eg, a first PDU session and a second PDU session) refers to uplink data sent through one PDU session, and downlink data sent through another PDU session associated with the PDU session. The association between the first PDU session and the second PDU session is also an association between the first IP address and the second IP address. The first IP address is the IP address of the first terminal, and the second IP address is the IP address of the second terminal. The first IP address may be allocated to the first terminal by a mobility management network element or a session management network element (eg, SMF) during the process of establishing the first PDU session for the first terminal. The second IP address may be allocated to the second terminal by the mobility management network element or the session management network element during the process of establishing the second PDU session for the second terminal. For details, reference may be made to the flow shown in FIG. 3 for understanding, which will not be repeated.

Step 601 may be implemented in the following manner 1 or manner 2.

Manner 1: The first terminal sends an association request (referred to as the first association request) to the mobility management network element, where the first association request is used to request to associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session. Correspondingly, the mobility management network element receives the first association request from the first terminal.

The first terminal may send the first association request to the mobility management network element through the access network device. The first association request may be non-access stratum (Non-Access-Stratum, NAS) information, or may not be NAS information, which is not limited in this application. The first terminal and the access network device may communicate through the cellular network.

In the first case, the first terminal may send the first association request to the mobility management network element during the establishment of the first PDU session. For example, in the process of establishing the first PDU session, the first terminal may carry the first association request in the PDU session establishment request and send it to the mobility management network element.

In the second case, the first terminal may send the first association request to the mobility management network element after the first PDU session is successfully established.

Optionally, the first association request includes an identifier of the second PDU session, or the first association request includes an identifier of the first PDU session and an identifier of the second PDU session.

Wherein, the identifier of the second PDU session included in the first association request is received by the first terminal from the second terminal, and the second terminal may send the identifier to the A terminal sends the identification of the second PDU session. The identifier of the first PDU session included in the first association request is generated by the first terminal. The terminal may generate an identifier of the PDU session before establishing the PDU session, and carry the identifier of the PDU session to the mobility management network element in the PDU session establishment request.

Mode 2: The first terminal sends an association request (denoted as the second association request) to the second terminal, the second terminal receives the second association request from the first terminal, and sends an association request to the mobility management network element (denoted as the third association request) association request). Correspondingly, the mobility management network element receives the third association request from the second terminal.

The first terminal may send the second association request to the second terminal after acquiring the identifier of the first PDU session or after the first PDU session is successfully established.

In the first case, the second terminal may send a third association request to the mobility management network element during the establishment of the second PDU session. For example, in the process of establishing the second PDU session, the second terminal may send the third association request to the mobility management network element in the PDU session establishment request.

In the second case, the second terminal may send a third association request to the mobility management network element after the second PDU session is successfully established.

The second association request and the third association request are used to request to associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session. Optionally, the second association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session. Optionally, the third association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session, or the third association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session and the identifier of the second PDU session.

The identifier of the first PDU session included in the second association request is generated by the first terminal. The identifier of the first PDU session included in the third association request is obtained from the second association request, and the identifier of the second PDU session included in the third association request is generated by the second terminal.

Optionally, the first association request, the second association request and the third association request further include a first association indication, which is used to indicate that the PDU sessions in the corresponding association requests need to be associated. If the association request is carried in an existing message, the identifier of the PDU session and the first association indication in the association request may be carried in a blank field in the existing message, or, an A plurality of information elements, and the identifier of the PDU session and the first association indication are carried on the added information elements. If the association request is carried in a newly defined message, the identifier of the PDU session in the association request can be carried in one or more information elements in the newly defined message, and the first association indication can be carried in the newly defined message In one or more information elements of the newly defined message type, it is also possible to indirectly indicate that the PDU session in the corresponding association request needs to be associated (that is, the newly defined message does not contain the first association indication).

When step 601 is specifically implemented, the terminal that can establish a PDU session later can directly send an association request to the mobility management network element. At this time, if the first PDU session is established later, step 601 is implemented by way 1, and if the second PDU session is established later, step 601 is implemented by way 2. At this time, the terminal that established the PDU session first sends the corresponding information (specifically, if the first terminal establishes the first PDU session first, it sends a second association request to the second terminal; if the second terminal establishes the second PDU session first, Then, the identifier of the second PDU session is sent to the first terminal), and after the terminal that establishes the PDU session later receives the corresponding information, it sends the corresponding association request to the mobility management network element (for example, if the second terminal establishes the second PDU session later) PDU session, the second terminal sends the third association request to the mobility management network element, and if the first terminal establishes the first PDU session later, the first terminal sends the first association request to the mobility management network element). The following rules may be preset in the first terminal: after the identification of the first PDU session is acquired or the first PDU session is successfully established, if the identification of the second PDU session is not received, the second association is sent to the second terminal. request, if the identifier of the second PDU session is received, a first association request is sent to the mobility management network element. The following rules are preset in the second terminal: after the identifier of the second PDU session is acquired or the second PDU session is successfully established, if the identifier of the first PDU session is not received, the identifier of the second PDU session is sent to the first terminal. , if the second association request is received, the third association request is sent to the mobility management network element. This ensures the smooth execution of the method.

When step 601 is specifically implemented, the first terminal or the second terminal may directly send an association request to the mobility management network element by default. In this case, if by default the first terminal directly sends an association request to the mobility management network element, step 601 is implemented in mode 1. At this time, if the first terminal obtains the identifier of the first PDU session or successfully establishes the first PDU If the identifier of the second PDU session has not been received after the session, the first association request is sent to the mobility management network element after receiving the identifier of the second PDU session. If the second terminal sends the association request directly to the mobility management network element by default, step 601 is implemented in mode 2. At this time, if the second terminal has not yet obtained the identifier of the second PDU session or successfully established the second PDU session After receiving the second association request, the third association request is sent to the mobility management network element after the second association request is received.

It should be noted that, when the first terminal sends the first association request or the second association request, or when the second terminal sends the third association request, it is not required that both the first PDU session and the second PDU session are already established. Either the first PDU session or the second PDU session may not have been established. If the first PDU session has not been established, "for requesting to associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session" can also be described as "for requesting to associate the PDU session of the first terminal with the second PDU session". At this time, the first PDU session may be a subsequently established PDU session of the first terminal. If the second PDU session has not been established, "for requesting to associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session" may also be described as "for requesting the association of the first PDU session with the PDU session of the second terminal". At this time, the second PDU session may be a subsequently established PDU session of the second terminal.

602. The mobility management network element associates the first PDU session with the second PDU session according to the association request (the first association request or the third association request).

Wherein, associating the first PDU session with the second PDU session can be understood as establishing a corresponding relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session, for example, by establishing between the identifier of the first PDU session and the identifier of the second PDU session The corresponding relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session is established.

In the case where the mobility management network element associates the first PDU session with the second PDU session according to the first association request:

If the first terminal sends the first association request to the mobility management network element during the establishment of the first PDU session, in one case, the mobility management network element may associate the first PDU session with the first PDU session during the establishment of the first PDU session. Two PDU sessions are associated. For example, if the first association request includes the identifier of the second PDU session, after acquiring the identifier of the first PDU session, the mobility management network element compares the identifier of the first PDU session with the identifier of the second PDU session in the first association request. An association is identified, thereby associating the first PDU session with the second PDU session. If the first association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session and the identifier of the second PDU session, the mobility management network element may directly associate the identifier of the first PDU session with the identifier of the second PDU session in the first association request, thereby The first PDU session and the second PDU session are associated. In another case, the mobility management network element may associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session after the first PDU session is successfully established.

If the first terminal sends a first association request to the mobility management network element after the first PDU session is successfully established, the mobility management network element may associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session after the first PDU session is successfully established .

In this case, after step 602, the mobility management network element may send an association response to the first terminal, where the association response includes information indicating successful association, and the first terminal determines, according to the association response, that the mobility management network element will associate the first terminal with the first terminal. A PDU session is associated with a second PDU session.

In the case where the mobility management network element associates the first PDU session with the second PDU session according to the third association request:

If the second terminal sends a third association request to the mobility management network element during the establishment of the second PDU session, in one case, the mobility management network element may associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session during the establishment of the second PDU session. Two PDU sessions are associated. For example, if the third association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session, after acquiring the identifier of the second PDU session, the mobility management network element compares the identifier of the second PDU session with the identifier of the first PDU session in the third association request. An association is identified, thereby associating the first PDU session with the second PDU session. If the third association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session and the identifier of the second PDU session, the mobility management network element may directly associate the identifier of the first PDU session with the identifier of the second PDU session in the third association request, thereby The first PDU session and the second PDU session are associated. In another case, the mobility management network element may associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session after the second PDU session is successfully established.

If the second terminal sends a third association request to the mobility management network element after the second PDU session is successfully established, the mobility management network element may associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session after the second PDU session is successfully established .

In this case, after step 602, the mobility management network element may send an association response to the second terminal, and the second terminal sends an association response to the first terminal. The association response includes information indicating that the association is successful, and the first terminal according to The association response determines that the mobility management network element associates the first PDU session with the second PDU session.

The second association request or the third association request is carried in an existing message or a newly defined message. If the second association request or the third association request is carried in the existing message, the second association request or the third association request can be carried in a blank field in the existing message, or, it can be added in the existing message One or more cells carrying the second association request or the third association request on the added cells. If the second association request or the third association request is carried in the newly defined message, the second association request or the third association request may be carried in one or more information elements in the newly defined message. The first association request is also similar.

After step 602, in one case, the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session may be valid by default, or indirectly indicate that the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session is valid by other means, for example, The first indication information below. In another case, the first terminal may send fifth indication information to the mobility management network element, where the fifth indication information is used to indicate that the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session is valid, and the mobility management network element according to the first PDU session and the second PDU session. The fifth indication information determines that the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session takes effect. For the above method 1, the fifth indication information may be carried in the above-mentioned first association request (for example, the first association request may include an information element, the information element is used to indicate whether the association relationship takes effect immediately, for example, through 1 bit When the value of this bit is 0 or 1, it means that the association relationship is valid), or, the first association request and the fifth indication information are implemented by different cells in the same message. At this time, the mobility management When establishing the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session, the network element determines that the association relationship is valid according to the fifth indication information. The fifth indication information may not be carried in the first association request, but is independently sent to the mobility management network element. In this case, the mobility management network element may determine that the association relationship is valid when receiving the fifth indication information. of. For the above-mentioned mode 2, the fifth indication information may be carried in the above-mentioned second association request and the third association request. For a specific description, please refer to the description related to step 815 below, which will not be repeated here.

After determining that the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session is valid according to the fifth indication information, the mobility management network element may indicate to the first terminal that the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session is valid.

603. The mobility management network element sends second indication information to an application server (for example, a cloud application server), where the second indication information is used to indicate that the first PDU session is associated with the second PDU session. Correspondingly, the application server receives the second indication information from the mobility management network element.

Among them, the application server may be located in the DN. In the case where the second indication information is used to indicate that the first PDU session and the second PDU session are associated, the second indication information may include an identifier of the first PDU session and an identifier of the second PDU session. Optionally, the second indication information further includes a second association indication, indicating that the identifiers of the two PDU sessions in the second indication information have an association relationship. Exemplarily, the second association indication may be indicated by a value of 1 bit. For example, when the value of the bit is 0 or 1, it indicates that the identifiers of the two PDU sessions in the second indication information have an association relationship.

If the mobility management network element associates the first PDU session with the second PDU session during the establishment of the first PDU session, the mobility management network element may send the second indication information to the application server during the establishment of the first PDU session, For example, the second indication information is sent to the application server in the authentication and authorization process during the establishment of the first PDU session. The mobility management network element may also send the second indication information to the application server after the first PDU session is successfully established.

If the mobility management network element associates the first PDU session with the second PDU session during the establishment of the second PDU session, the mobility management network element may send the second indication information to the application server during the establishment of the second PDU session, For example, the second indication information is sent to the application server in the authentication and authorization process during the establishment of the second PDU session. The mobility management network element may also send the second indication information to the application server after the second PDU session is successfully established.

Wherein, if the second indication information is carried in the existing message, the second indication information may be carried in a blank field in the existing message, or one or more information elements are added to the existing message, and the The added information element carries the second indication information. If the second indication information is carried in the newly defined message, the identifier of the PDU session in the second indication information may be carried in one or more information elements in the newly defined message, and the second association indication in the second indication information It can be carried in one or more information elements in the newly defined message, or it can be indirectly indicated by the type of the newly defined message that the identifiers of the two PDU sessions in the second indication information have an associated relationship (that is, the new The defined message does not contain a second association indication).

When step 603 is specifically implemented, the mobility management network element may send the second indication information to the application server under the condition that the association between the first PDU session and the second PDU session is valid.

604. The first terminal sends uplink data through the first PDU session. Correspondingly, the application server receives the uplink data sent by the first terminal through the first PDU session.

Specifically, the uplink data sent by the first terminal reaches the application server in the DN via an access network device and a user plane network element (eg, UPF). The uplink data is uplink data sent by the first terminal to the access network device over the air interface. The uplink data may be, for example, the user's action information, for example, the user's head rotation angle information, the user's body rotation angle information, and the like.

605. The application server sends downlink data through the second PDU session according to the second indication information, where the downlink data is downlink data received by the second terminal for the first terminal. Correspondingly, the second terminal receives downlink data through the second PDU session.

Specifically, the downlink data sent by the application server reaches the second terminal via a user plane network element (eg, UPF) and an access network device. The downlink data may be, for example, picture data corresponding to the user's action information rendered by the application server.

When step 605 is specifically implemented, after receiving the uplink data carried on the first PDU session, the application server determines, according to the second indication information, to carry the downlink data through the PDU session associated with the first PDU session (ie, the second PDU session). For example, if the uplink data received by the application server carries the identifier of the first PDU session, the application server determines to use the second PDU session associated with the first PDU session indicated by the identifier of the first PDU session to carry the downlink data.

Optionally, the method further includes:

11) The first terminal sends first indication information to the mobility management network element, where the first indication information is used to instruct the air interface of the first terminal to transmit only uplink data and/or to instruct the second terminal to send the downlink of the first terminal through the second terminal data. Correspondingly, the mobility management network element receives the first indication information from the first terminal.

12) The mobility management network element sends the first indication information to the application server. Correspondingly, the application server receives the first indication information from the mobility management network element.

13) The application server determines to send downlink data according to the first indication information.

Optionally, the specific implementation of step 11) includes: the first terminal sends the first indication information to the mobility management network element through the access network device. Wherein, the first indication information may be NAS information, or may not be NAS information, which is not limited in this application. After step 11), optionally, the mobility management network element returns a response to the first terminal, which is used to indicate that the first indication information is received.

In the first case, the first indication information may be sent to the access network device during the RRC connection establishment process of the first terminal, and the access network device may then send it to the mobility management network element. In the second case, the first terminal may send the first indication information to the mobility management network element during the establishment of the PDU session. In the third case, the first indication information may be sent by the first terminal to the mobility management network element after the first PDU session is successfully established. For a specific description, reference may be made to the description related to step 817 below, which is not repeated here.

When the fifth indication information does not exist, the first indication information may also indirectly indicate that the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session is valid. At this time, the mobility management network element determines the validating the first PDU session according to the first indication information. The association relationship with the second PDU session.

The first indication information may be carried in an existing message or a newly defined message. If the first indication information is carried in an existing message, the first indication information may be carried in a blank field in the existing message, or one or more information elements are added to the existing message, and the added The information element carries the first indication information. If the first indication information is carried in the newly defined message, the first indication information may be carried in one or more information elements in the newly defined message.

It should be noted that, the first terminal receives the downlink data sent through the first PDU session in two cases: one is to receive downlink data, and the other is to not receive downlink data. This optional method enables the application server to determine that the first terminal receives downlink data, thereby determining to send downlink data, and then determines to send downlink data through a second PDU session associated with the first PDU session according to the second indication information.

606. The second terminal sends data to the first terminal. Correspondingly, the first terminal receives data from the second terminal.

It should be noted that the downlink data in this application may be downlink data corresponding to the uplink data, and the downlink data corresponding to the uplink data refers to downlink data determined according to the uplink data. For example, when the uplink data is the user's action information, the downlink data may be screen data corresponding to the user's action information rendered by the application server according to the user's action information. The downlink data in this application may not be the downlink data corresponding to the uplink data. For example, after the first terminal sends the uplink data, the service server may send a plurality of downlink data, and some/some of the downlink data may not be the downlink data corresponding to the uplink data.

When step 606 is specifically implemented, since there may also be data transmission between the second terminal and the network, after receiving the downlink data, the second terminal needs to determine whether the downlink data is its own data. The following method 1 or method 2 is implemented.

Manner 1: The first terminal sends the service identifier of the performed service (referred to as the first service identifier) to the second terminal. The second terminal initiates the establishment of the second PDU session based on the first service identifier sent by the first terminal. In this case, the second PDU session is a PDU session dedicated to the service corresponding to the first service identifier, and the second PDU session is the same as the first PDU session. Business IDs have a corresponding relationship. At this time, the second terminal receives downlink data through a certain PDU session, and if the service identifier corresponding to the certain PDU session is the first service identifier, the second terminal determines that the downlink data is the data to be sent to the first terminal, and Not your own data.

Mode 2: The first terminal sends the first service identifier to the second terminal, and the uplink data sent by the first terminal may carry the first service identifier. Correspondingly, the downlink data sent by the application server may also carry the first service identifier. The second terminal may determine, according to the first service identifier carried in the received downlink data, that the downlink data is data to be sent to the first terminal, rather than its own data.

It can be understood that if the second terminal only provides relay services for the first terminal and does not perform any data transmission by itself, the second terminal can directly send the received downlink data to the first terminal without judging whether it is its own. data.

Optionally, the data sent by the second terminal to the first terminal is data after processing the downlink data, or the data sent by the second terminal to the first terminal is the same as the downlink data. Optionally, the processing includes at least one of compression, decompression, rendering, encoding, and decoding. The second terminal can help the first terminal to complete part of the compression and decompression work, and can also help the first terminal to complete all the compression and decompression work. The encoding and decoding here mainly refers to the encoding and decoding of the channel, and the second terminal decodes the channel between it and the access network device, and then encodes and sends it to the first terminal. The second terminal can help the first terminal to complete part of the encoding and decoding work, and can also help the first terminal to complete all the encoding and decoding work. The rendering here generally refers to secondary rendering (also known as secondary projection). The second terminal can help the first terminal to complete part of the rendering work, or can help the first terminal to complete all the rendering work. Whether the second terminal processes the downlink data is related to the service itself and the computing capability of the first terminal. For example, if the rendering technology adopts the terminal-cloud asynchronous rendering technology, and the computing capability of the first terminal is relatively weak, the second terminal processes the downlink data. It can be understood that, if the second terminal completes part of the compression and decompression work for the first terminal, the rest of the compression and decompression work is completed by the first terminal. The codec work is similar to the rendering work.

It should be noted that, if the second terminal does not perform any processing on the downlink data, the first terminal can process the data sent by the second terminal. In this case, the first terminal needs to have strong computing capability. If the second terminal performs partial processing on the downlink data, the first terminal only needs to have general computing capability. If the second terminal performs all processing on the downlink data, the first terminal may not have the computing capability, and only needs to implement the display function.

Assuming that the service subscribed by the user in this application is the XR live broadcast service, and the XR live broadcast service is the live broadcast of the game, a scenario from steps 604 to 606 may be, for example: the user wears XR glasses and is immersed in the environment of the live broadcast of the game, The screen currently seen by the user is the center of the stadium. The XR glasses receive the user's operation or detect the user's behavior, and send the user's operation or behavior to the application server. The application server obtains the corresponding image based on the user's operation or behavior, and sends The picture is returned to the XR glasses. For example: if the user's head is turned 90° to the right, the XR glasses send the user's head rotation information (that is, uplink data) to the application server through the access network device and the user plane gateway, and the application server receives the user's head After receiving the rotation information of the user's head, the user's right auditorium screen is rendered according to the user's head rotation information, and the information of the screen (that is, the downlink data) is sent to the first terminal through the user plane gateway, the access network device and the second terminal. , the first terminal displays the screen according to the information of the screen, and the user can see the screen of the auditorium on the right side of the user in the XR glasses.

In the method provided in Embodiment 1, for uplink data, the first terminal can directly send the data to the access network device through the air interface, and for the downlink data, the access network device can send the data to the second terminal, and the second terminal sends the data to the first terminal. . Since the access network device and the first terminal are far away, the larger the amount of uplink data, the greater the transmit power of the first terminal and the greater the power consumption. Therefore, for services whose uplink rate requirements are much lower than downlink rate requirements, since the amount of uplink data is small, the first terminal does not need too much transmit power, so it can be directly sent to the access network device through the air interface. Due to the large amount of downlink data, the second terminal, which is closer to the first terminal, sends the data to the first terminal, so that the first terminal can be prevented from receiving too much receive power, and the power consumption of the first terminal can be prevented from increasing. If required, avoid increasing the power consumption of the first terminal. In addition, the first terminal directly sends the uplink data to the access network device through the air interface, which can also reduce the transmission delay of the uplink data. When necessary, the second terminal can also process downlink data in place of the first terminal, thereby further reducing the power consumption of the first terminal.

It should be noted that, only uplink data is transmitted on the air interface of the first terminal, and the uplink data here includes data information, or includes data information and control signaling. Similarly, the downlink data between the access network device and the second terminal includes data information, or includes data information and control signaling. Wherein, the data information may be carried in a data radio bearer (DRB), and the control signaling may be carried in a signaling radio bearer (signaling radio bearer, SRB). In another implementation, the control signaling may be end-to-end. Exemplarily, referring to FIG. 7 , the first terminal sends uplink data to the access network device, and the access network device directly feeds back an acknowledgment (Acknowledgement, ACK) to the first terminal after confirming the reception. The access network device sends the downlink data to the second terminal, and the second terminal feeds back an ACK to the access network device after confirming the reception. The second terminal sends data to the first terminal, and the first terminal feeds back an ACK to the second terminal after confirming the reception.

The method provided in the first embodiment can be applied to any one of the application scenarios 1 to 3. For the description of the application scenarios 1 to 3, please refer to the following embodiments a and b, and will not be repeated here. .

In order to make Embodiment 1 more clear, the method provided in Embodiment 1 is exemplified below through Embodiment a and Embodiment b. In embodiment a, the first PDU session is established before the second PDU session. In embodiment b, the second PDU session is established before the first PDU session. In the embodiment a and the embodiment b, the method provided by the embodiment a and the embodiment b is exemplarily described by taking the mobility management network element as an AMF as an example.

Example a

Referring to Fig. 8, the method that embodiment a provides comprises:

801. The first terminal sends an RRC connection request (RRC connection request) message to an access network device.

The RRC connection request message is used to request the establishment of an RRC connection.

802. The access network device sends an RRC connection setup (RRC connection setup) message to the first terminal.

Wherein, the RRC connection setup message is used to indicate whether the random access is successful. Here, it is considered that the random access of the first terminal is successful.

803. The first terminal sends an RRC connection setup complete (RRC connection setup complete) message to the access network device.

The RRC connection setup complete message is used to indicate that the RRC connection is successfully established.

Steps 801 to 803 are the RRC connection establishment process of the first terminal. There may also be other existing steps between the RRC connection establishment process and other processes below, which will not be described in detail in this application.

804. The first terminal establishes a connection with the second terminal.

Exemplarily, the connection established between the first terminal and the second terminal may be, for example, a Bluetooth connection, a WiFi connection, a typeC connection, a USB connection, or the like.

Wherein, step 804 may also be executed before steps 801 to 803 .

805. The second terminal sends an RRC connection request message to the access network device.

806. The access network device sends an RRC connection setting message to the second terminal.

807. The second terminal sends an RRC connection setup completion message to the access network device.

Steps 805 to 807 are the RRC connection establishment process of the second terminal. There may also be other existing steps between the RRC connection establishment process and other processes below, which will not be described in detail in this application. For the functions of each message in steps 805 to 807, reference may be made to the above-mentioned steps 801 to 803, and details are not repeated here.

Wherein, steps 805 to 807 may also be executed before step 804 . Steps 801 to 803 and steps 805 to 807 are executed in no particular order.

808. The first terminal establishes a first PDU session by interacting with other network elements (ie, network elements other than the terminal in FIG. 3).

There is no sequence between step 808 and any of the above steps 804 to 807 . For the specific implementation of step 808, reference may be made to the flowchart in FIG. 3 , which will not be repeated.

809. The first terminal sends a second association request to the second terminal, where the second association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session.

The identifier of the first PDU session in the second association request may be generated by the first terminal before sending the PDU session establishment request. The second association request is used to request to associate the first PDU session with the PDU session of the second terminal. The first terminal may send a second association request to the second terminal when it is determined that the service to be performed is a service whose uplink rate requirement is much lower than the downlink rate requirement, and the first terminal may also, after establishing a connection with the second terminal, Just send the second association request to the second terminal, or the first terminal may also send the second association request to the second terminal at other timings, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

810. The second terminal establishes a second PDU session by interacting with other network elements (ie, network elements other than the terminal in FIG. 3). For the specific implementation of step 810, reference may be made to the flowchart in FIG. 3 , which will not be repeated.

811. The second terminal sends a third association request to the AMF, where the third association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session, or the third association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session and the identifier of the second PDU session.

The identifier of the first PDU session included in the third association request is obtained from the second association request, and the identifier of the second PDU session included in the third association request is generated by the second terminal before sending the PDU session establishment request.

For other descriptions about the second association request and the third association request, reference may be made to the relevant descriptions in Embodiment 1, which will not be repeated here.

812. The AMF associates the first PDU session with the second PDU session.

Specifically, the AMF may associate the first PDU session and the second PDU session by associating the identifier of the first PDU session with the identifier of the second PDU session.

Wherein, when the third association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session, the AMF determines to associate the first PDU session with the PDU session of the terminal that sent the third association request according to the third association request, and subsequently obtains the first PDU session. After the identification of the second PDU session or the successful establishment of the second PDU session, the first PDU session and the second PDU session are associated. When the third association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session and the identifier of the second PDU session, the AMF determines to associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session according to the third association request, and then directly associates the first PDU session with the second PDU session. Associating with the second PDU session, or, after successfully establishing the second PDU session, associating the first PDU session with the second PDU session.

In the first case, steps 811 and 812 may be performed in step 810, for example, during the establishment of the second PDU session, the second terminal may carry the third association request in the PDU session establishment request and send it to the AMF , the AMF can associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session after obtaining the identifier of the second PDU session. For example, after receiving the PDU session establishment request sent by the second terminal, the AMF will obtain the second PDU session. After the identification, the AMF associates the first PDU session with the second PDU session. In this case, the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session can be established as early as possible, so that the association relationship can be used for data transmission as early as possible, and the data transmission delay can be reduced.

In the second case, step 811 is performed in step 810. For example, during the establishment of the second PDU session, the second terminal may send the third association request to the AMF by carrying the third association request in the PDU session establishment request. Step 812 is performed after step 810. In this case, the AMF may associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session after the second PDU session is successfully established. In this case, after the second PDU session is successfully established, the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session can be established to ensure that the association relationship can be used for data transmission.

In the third case, both steps 811 and 812 are performed after step 810. In this case, the second terminal may send the third association request to the AMF after the second PDU session is successfully established. The association request associates the first PDU session with the second PDU session. In this case, after the second PDU session is successfully established, the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session can be established to ensure that the association relationship can be used for data transmission.

813. The AMF sends a third association response to the second terminal, where the third association response includes information used to indicate that the association is successful. The third association response is a response to the third association request.

814. The second terminal sends a second association response to the first terminal, where the second association response includes information used to indicate that the association is successful. The second association response is a response to the second association request. The first terminal determines that the first PDU session and the second PDU session are successfully associated according to the second association response.

Among them, step 813 and step 814 are optional steps.

815. The first terminal sends fifth indication information to the AMF, where the fifth indication information is used to indicate that the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session is valid.

Step 815 is an optional step. When step 815 does not exist, the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session may be taken into effect by default, or the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session may be indirectly indicated to take effect in other ways, for example, the following first indication information. When step 815 exists, the fifth indication information may be sent by the first terminal to the AMF through the second terminal. Optionally, the first terminal sends fifth indication information to the second terminal, and the second terminal sends fifth indication information to the AMF. The fifth indication information sent by the first terminal to the second terminal may be carried in the second association request (for example, the second association request may include an information element, the information element is used to indicate whether the association relationship takes effect immediately), or It can be sent to the second terminal separately. The fifth indication information sent by the second terminal to the AMF may be carried in the third association request (for example, the third association request may include an information element, the information element is used to indicate whether the association relationship takes effect immediately), or, the third association request may contain an information element. The three association requests and the fifth indication information are implemented by different information elements in the same message. At this time, when the AMF establishes the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session, the association is determined according to the fifth indication information. is valid. The fifth indication information sent by the second terminal to the AMF may not be carried in the third association request, but sent to the AMF separately. At this time, the AMF may determine that the association relationship is valid when receiving the fifth indication information . The fifth indication information may also be directly sent by the first terminal to the AMF, and the AMF may determine that the association relationship is valid when receiving the fifth indication information.

After step 815, the AMF may indicate to the first terminal that the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session takes effect.

816. The AMF sends second indication information to the application server, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the first PDU session is associated with the second PDU session.

The AMF may send the second indication information to the application server when it is determined that the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session is valid. If the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session is established and takes effect during the establishment of the second PDU session, exemplarily, the AMF may send the second PDU session to the application server during the authentication and authorization process of the second PDU session. Instructions.

817. The first terminal sends first indication information to the AMF, where the first indication information is used to instruct the air interface of the first terminal to transmit only uplink data and/or to instruct the second terminal to send downlink data of the first terminal.

In the first case, the first indication information may be sent to the access network device during the RRC connection establishment process of the first terminal, and the access network device may then send it to the AMF. For example, the RRC connection request includes first indication information, and the first indication information may be located in a blank field in the parameter "EstablishmentCause" in the RRC connection request. The first indication information in the RRC connection request may be called "mo-data (UL-only)". The parameter "EstablishmentCause" is used to indicate the reason for requesting to establish an RRC connection, for example, it may be an emergency call, data transmission and so on. For another example, the RRC connection setup complete message includes first indication information, the first indication information may be located in an extensible field in the RRC connection setup complete message, and the first indication information in the RRC connection setup complete message may be called "UL- only-indicator". After acquiring the first indication information, the access network device sends the first indication information to the AMF.

In the second case, the first terminal may send the first indication information to the AMF during the establishment of the PDU session. For example, the first indication information may be carried in a PDU session establishment request for requesting establishment of the first PDU session.

In the third case, the first indication information may be sent by the first terminal to the AMF after the first PDU session is successfully established.

When step 815 does not exist, the first indication information may also indirectly indicate that the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session is valid. connection relation.

818. The AMF sends the first indication information to the application server.

819. The application server determines to send the downlink data of the first terminal according to the first indication information.

Steps 817 to 819 are optional steps. When steps 817 to 819 do not exist, the application server defaults that the first PDU session sends uplink data, and the second PDU session sends downlink data.

820. The first terminal sends uplink data through the first PDU session. Correspondingly, the application server receives the uplink data of the first terminal through the first PDU session. For a description of step 820, please refer to step 604 above.

821. The application server sends downlink data to the second terminal through the second PDU session according to the second indication information. Correspondingly, the second terminal receives the downlink data. For the related description of step 821, please refer to the above-mentioned step 605.

822. The second terminal sends data to the first terminal. Correspondingly, the first terminal receives data from the second terminal. For the related description of step 822, please refer to the above-mentioned step 606.

823. The first terminal displays a picture according to the data sent by the second terminal.

Taking XR glasses as the first terminal as an example, Embodiment a can be applied to the following application scenarios 1 and 2.

Application scenario 1 is: the first terminal is powered on, the user performs an operation of subscribing to the XR live broadcast service on the first terminal (for example, clicking on a certain XR live broadcast link of the corresponding application), and the APP layer of the first terminal obtains the service identifier or The uplink and downlink rate requirements of the service are determined according to the identification of the service or the uplink and downlink rate requirements of the service to determine whether the current service is a service whose uplink rate requirement is much lower than the downlink rate requirement. For service identifiers, different service identifiers represent different services, and different services have different uplink and downlink rate requirements. Therefore, according to the service identifiers, it can be determined whether the current service is a service whose uplink rate requirement is much lower than the downlink rate requirement. For example, the identifiers of multiple services and the corresponding uplink and downlink rate requirements are stored in the first terminal. If the uplink and downlink rate requirements corresponding to the identifiers of the services obtained by the APP layer of the first terminal are: the uplink rate requirements are much lower than the downlink rate requirements , it is determined that the service is a service whose uplink rate requirement is much lower than that of downlink rate. For another example, the first terminal may store multiple sets divided according to the rate requirements of the services, wherein the identifiers of the services whose uplink rate requirements are far lower than the downlink rate requirements form a group. If the identifier of the service belongs to the set, it is determined that the service is a service whose uplink rate requirement is much lower than the downlink rate requirement. Regarding the uplink and downlink rate requirements of the service, it can be directly determined whether the current service is a service whose uplink rate requirement is much lower than the downlink rate requirement according to the uplink and downlink rate requirements of the service. If the current service is a service whose uplink rate requirement is much lower than the downlink rate requirement, steps 801 to 819 in FIG. 8 are performed, wherein steps 801 to 803 can also be performed immediately after power-on. In the subsequent process, it is assumed that the XR live broadcast service is the live broadcast of the game, the user wears XR glasses and is immersed in the live broadcast environment of the game, and the current picture the user sees is the center of the stadium, and the XR glasses receive the user's operation or detect the user's behavior, and Send the user's operation or behavior to the application server, and the application server obtains the corresponding picture based on the user's operation or behavior, and returns the picture to the XR glasses. For example, if the user's head turns 90° to the right, the XR The glasses send the user's head rotation information to the application server through the access network device and the user plane gateway. After receiving the user's head rotation information, the application server renders the user's right auditorium screen according to the user's head rotation information. Send the information of the picture to the first terminal through the user plane gateway, the access network device and the second terminal. The first terminal displays the picture according to the information of the picture, and the user can see the audience on the right side of the user in the XR glasses. seat screen.

Application scenario 2 is: the first terminal is powered on, the user performs an operation of subscribing to the XR live broadcast service on the first terminal (for example, clicking a link of a certain XR live broadcast of the corresponding application), and the APP layer of the first terminal obtains according to the user's subscription The identifier of the current service or the uplink and downlink rate requirements of the service, regardless of the uplink and downlink rate requirements of the service, use the above-mentioned first communication method for data transmission. During the data transmission process, if the first terminal determines that there is a low-power consumption Demand (for example, the power of the first terminal is lower than a threshold, such as 20%, 15%, the first terminal is set to a low power consumption mode by the user, etc.) or the computing power of the first terminal is insufficient (for example, the current business update, the computing requirement of the updated service is greater than a threshold) or the user triggers the optimization of the network (for example, the screen displayed by the first terminal appears dizzy and black borders, and the user clicks the button to optimize the network), if the APP layer of the first terminal According to the identification of the service or the uplink and downlink rate requirements of the service, it is determined that the current service is a service whose uplink rate requirement is far lower than the downlink rate requirement (for the determination method, please refer to Application Scenario 1), then perform steps 804 to 807 in FIG. 809 to step 819. Steps 801 to 803, and step 808 may be performed before data transmission is performed using the above-mentioned first communication manner. The subsequent process is the same as the application scenario 1, which can be understood by reference, and will not be repeated here. Each threshold mentioned in this application may be preset or specified by a protocol or configured by an access network device, which is not limited in this application.

Example b

Referring to Figure 9, the method provided by Embodiment b includes:

901-907 are the same as steps 801 to 807 respectively.

908. The second terminal establishes a second PDU session by interacting with other network elements (ie, network elements other than the terminal in FIG. 3).

There is no sequence between step 908 and any of the above steps 801 to 804 . For the specific implementation of step 908, reference may be made to the flowchart in FIG. 3 , which will not be repeated.

909. The second terminal sends the identifier of the second PDU session to the first terminal.

The identifier of the second PDU session sent by the second terminal is generated before the second terminal sends the PDU session establishment request. The second terminal may send the identifier of the second PDU session to the first terminal after obtaining the identifier of the second PDU session, or may send the second PDU to the first terminal if the second PDU session is successfully established The ID of the session.

910. The first terminal establishes a first PDU session by interacting with other network elements (ie, network elements other than the terminal in FIG. 3). For the specific implementation of step 910, reference may be made to the flowchart in FIG. 3 , which will not be repeated.

911. The first terminal sends a first association request to the AMF, where the first association request includes the identifier of the second PDU session, or the first association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session and the identifier of the second PDU session.

The first association request is used to request to associate the second PDU session with the PDU session of the first terminal. The first terminal may send a first association request to the AMF when it is determined that the service to be performed is a service whose uplink rate requirement is much lower than the downlink rate requirement, and the first terminal may also send a first association request to the AMF after establishing a connection with the second terminal. The AMF sends the first association request, or the first terminal may also send the first association request to the AMF at other occasions, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

The identifier of the second PDU session included in the first association request is received by the first terminal from the second terminal, and the identifier of the first PDU session included in the first association request is generated by the first terminal before sending the PDU session establishment request of.

912. The AMF associates the first PDU session with the second PDU session.

Wherein, when the first association request includes the identifier of the second PDU session, the AMF determines to associate the second PDU session with the PDU session of the terminal that sent the first association request according to the first association request, and subsequently obtains the first association request. The identification of a PDU session or after the first PDU session is successfully established, the first PDU session and the second PDU session are associated. When the first association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session and the identifier of the second PDU session, the AMF determines to associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session according to the first association request, and then directly associates the first PDU session with the second PDU session. Associating with the second PDU session, or, after successfully establishing the first PDU session, associating the first PDU session with the second PDU session. In the first case, steps 911 and 912 may be performed in step 910, for example, during the establishment of the first PDU session, the first terminal may carry the first association request in the PDU session establishment request and send it to the AMF , the AMF can associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session after obtaining the identifier of the first PDU session. For example, after receiving the PDU session establishment request of the first PDU session, the AMF will obtain the first PDU session After the identification, the AMF associates the first PDU session with the second PDU session. In this case, the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session can be established as early as possible, so that the association relationship can be used for data transmission as early as possible, and the data transmission delay can be reduced.

In the second case, step 911 is performed in step 910, for example, during the establishment of the first PDU session, the first terminal may send the first association request to the AMF by carrying the first association request in the PDU session establishment request. Step 912 is performed after step 910. In this case, the AMF may associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session after the first PDU session is successfully established. In this case, after the first PDU session is successfully established, the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session can be established to ensure that the association relationship can be used for data transmission.

In the third case, both steps 911 and 912 are performed after step 910. In this case, the first terminal can send the first association request to the AMF after the first PDU session is successfully established. The association request associates the first PDU session with the second PDU session. In this case, after the first PDU session is successfully established, the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session can be established to ensure that the association relationship can be used for data transmission.

913. The AMF sends a first association response to the first terminal, where the first association response includes information used to indicate that the association is successful. The first association response is a response to the first association request. The first terminal determines that the first PDU session and the second PDU session are successfully associated according to the first association response.

Wherein, step 913 is an optional step.

914. The first terminal sends fifth indication information to the AMF, where the fifth indication information is used to indicate that the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session is valid.

Step 914 is an optional step. When step 914 does not exist, the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session can be assumed to be valid by default, or the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session can be indirectly indicated to be valid by other means, for example, the following first indication information. When step 914 exists, the fifth indication information may be carried in the first association request (for example, the first association request may include an information element, the information element is used to indicate whether the association relationship takes effect immediately), or, the first The association request and the fifth indication information are implemented by different information elements in the same message. At this time, when the AMF establishes the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session, it determines according to the fifth indication information whether the association relationship is valid. The fifth indication information may also not be carried in the first association request, but be sent to the AMF independently. In this case, the AMF may determine that the association relationship is valid when receiving the fifth indication information.

After step 914, the AMF may indicate to the first terminal that the association relationship between the first PDU session and the second PDU session takes effect.

915-922 are the same as steps 816 to 823 respectively.

Taking XR glasses as the first terminal as an example, the application scenario of Embodiment b may be application scenario 3 in addition to the above-mentioned application scenario 1 .

Application scenario 3 is: the first terminal is powered on, the user performs an operation of subscribing to the XR live broadcast service on the first terminal (for example, clicking a link of a certain XR live broadcast of the corresponding application), and the APP layer of the first terminal obtains according to the user's subscription The identification of the current service or the uplink and downlink rate requirements of the service, regardless of the uplink and downlink rate requirements of the service, use the second communication method for data transmission. At this time, if the upper layer of the first terminal determines that the current communication method cannot meet the requirements The delay requirement of the service, for example, the delay requirement of the service is within 20ms, and the upper layer of the first terminal determines that the current transmission delay is 25ms according to the sent data packet and the timestamp in the received data packet, and then determines the current communication delay. The method cannot meet the delay requirement of the service. At this time, if the APP layer of the first terminal determines that the current service is a service whose uplink rate requirement is far lower than the downlink rate requirement according to the service identifier or the service's uplink and downlink rate requirements (for the determination method, see In application scenario 1), steps 910 to 918 in FIG. 9 are executed. Steps 901 to 909 may be performed before data transmission is performed using the above-mentioned second communication manner. The subsequent process is the same as the application scenario 1, which can be understood by reference, and will not be repeated here.

In the foregoing Embodiments a and b, the method provided in Embodiment 1 is exemplified by taking an example that a terminal that establishes a PDU session in the future directly sends an association request to the AMF. In actual implementation, the first terminal or the second terminal may send the association request by default. At this time, if the first terminal sends the association request by default, the second terminal sends the identifier of the second PDU session to the first terminal after establishing the second PDU session, and the first terminal receives the identifier of the second PDU session, and sends the identifier of the second PDU session to the first terminal. After the identifier of the first PDU session is acquired or the first PDU session is successfully established, the first association request is sent to the AMF. If the second terminal sends the association request by default, the first terminal sends the second association request to the second terminal after establishing the first PDU session, and the second terminal receives the second association request and obtains the information of the second PDU session. After identifying or successfully establishing the second PDU session, a third association request is sent to the AMF.

Embodiment 2

The method provided in the second embodiment can be applied in at least three communication scenarios. See Fig. 10(a), Fig. 10(b), and Fig. 10(c). In (a) of FIG. 10 , the relay device is the second terminal (here the second terminal is a terminal other than the routing device) and the routing device, the first terminal is connected to the second terminal by wire or wireless, and the first terminal is connected to the second terminal by wire or wirelessly. The two terminals are connected to a routing device (eg, router or CPE) through a non-cellular network (eg, WiFi), and the routing device and the access network device are connected through a wired connection. In (b) of FIG. 10 , the transit device is the second terminal (here the second terminal is the routing device), the first terminal is connected to the second terminal through the non-cellular network, the second terminal is the routing device, and the routing device Wired connection with access network equipment. In (c) of FIG. 10 , the transit device is the second terminal (here the second terminal is a terminal other than the routing device), the first terminal is connected to the second terminal by wire or wireless, and the second terminal is connected to The access network device is wired or wirelessly connected, the first terminal is also connected to the routing device via a non-cellular network, and the routing device is wired to the access network device.

For the relevant description of the uplink data and the downlink data mentioned in the second embodiment, reference may be made to the first embodiment, which will not be repeated.

For the scenario shown in (a) in FIG. 10 , referring to FIG. 11 , the method provided by the second embodiment includes:

1101. The first terminal establishes an MA PDU session.

The MA PDU session is used to carry the uplink data sent by the first terminal on the air interface, the downlink data sent by the access network device to the routing device, and the data sent by the routing device to the first terminal.

The routing device communicates with the first terminal through the second terminal, and the second terminal is used to provide transit services for the first terminal; the first terminal communicates with the access network device through the cellular network; the routing device and the second terminal communicate with each other through the cellular network. Communicate over a non-cellular network.

MA PDU sessions are also used to carry uplink data between access network equipment and user plane network elements (eg, UPF) and between user plane network elements and application servers, as well as between application servers and user plane network elements and user plane network elements Downlink data between the element and the access network equipment.

The specific implementation of step 1101 can refer to the content of Section 5.32 of 3GPP TS 23.501, which will not be repeated. Through step 1101, the first terminal can be made to communicate with the network side simultaneously through two communication channels of the cellular network and the non-cellular network.

1102. The first terminal uses the cellular network to send uplink data to the access network device over the air interface through the MA PDU session. After receiving the uplink data, the access network device sends the uplink data to the user plane network element, the user plane network element sends the uplink data to the application server, and after the application server receives the uplink data, it sends the downlink data to the user plane network element.

1103. The user plane network element receives downlink data through the MA PDU session.

1104. The user plane network element replaces the destination IP address in the downlink data with an IP address corresponding to the non-cellular network of the first terminal.

It should be noted that, in the user plane network element, the first terminal may correspond to two IP addresses, one IP address corresponds to the cellular network, and the other IP address corresponds to the non-cellular network. The two IP addresses may be two sub-IP addresses derived from the IP address of the first terminal. These two IP addresses can be stored in the user plane network element.

1105. The user plane network element sends downlink data to the access network device through the MA PDU session. Correspondingly, the access network device receives downlink data from the user plane network element through the MA PDU session.

1106. The access network device sends downlink data to the routing device through the MA PDU session. Correspondingly, the routing device receives downlink data from the access network device through the MA PDU session.

It can be understood that there are two downlink paths from the access network device to the first terminal, the first one is: access network device→first terminal; the second one is: access network device→routing device→second terminal → The first terminal. If the destination IP address in the downlink data is the IP address corresponding to the non-cellular network of the first terminal, it means that the non-cellular network needs to be used to transmit the downlink data. Therefore, the access network device sends the downlink data to the routing device through the MA PDU session.

1107. The routing device uses the non-cellular network to send downlink data to the second terminal through the MA PDU session. Correspondingly, the second terminal receives downlink data from the routing device through the MA PDU session.

1108. The second terminal sends data to the first terminal through the MA PDU session. Correspondingly, the first terminal receives data from the second terminal through the MA PDU session.

Optionally, the data sent by the second terminal to the first terminal is data after processing the downlink data, or the data sent by the second terminal to the first terminal is the same as the downlink data. For the relevant description of the optional method, reference may be made to the above-mentioned first embodiment, which will not be repeated.

Optionally, the processing includes at least one of compression, decompression, rendering, encoding, and decoding. For the relevant description of the optional method, reference may be made to the above-mentioned first embodiment, which will not be repeated.

Optionally, during the process of establishing the MA PDU session by the first terminal, the method further includes: the first terminal sends third indication information to the user plane network element, where the third indication information is used to instruct the use of a non-cellular network to send downlink data. Correspondingly, the user plane network element receives the third indication information from the first terminal. In this case, the specific implementation of step 1104 may include: the user plane network element replaces the destination IP address in the downlink data with the IP address corresponding to the non-cellular network of the first terminal according to the third indication information.

For the scenario shown in (b) of FIG. 10, referring to FIG. 12, the method further includes:

1201. The first terminal establishes an MA PDU session.

The MA PDU session is used to carry the uplink data sent by the first terminal on the air interface, the downlink data sent by the access network device to the second terminal, and the data sent by the second terminal to the first terminal.

The second terminal is a routing device, and the second terminal is used to provide transit services for the first terminal; the first terminal communicates with the access network equipment through a cellular network; the second terminal and the first terminal communicate through a non-cellular network communication.

For the specific implementation of step 1201, reference may be made to the content of Section 5.32 of 3GPP TS 23.501, which will not be repeated.

1202-1205 are the same as steps 1102 to 1105 respectively.

1206. The access network device sends downlink data to the second terminal through the MA PDU session. Correspondingly, the second terminal receives downlink data from the access network device through the MA PDU session.

It can be understood that there are two downlink paths from the access network device to the first terminal, the first one is: access network device→first terminal; the second one is: access network device→second terminal→first terminal terminal. If the destination IP address in the downlink data is the IP address corresponding to the non-cellular network of the first terminal, it means that the non-cellular network needs to be used to transmit the downlink data. Therefore, the access network device sends the downlink data to the second terminal through the MA PDU session.

1207. The second terminal uses the non-cellular network to send data to the first terminal through the MA PDU session. Correspondingly, the first terminal receives data from the second terminal through the MA PDU session.

Optionally, during the process of establishing the MA PDU session by the first terminal, the method further includes: the first terminal sends third indication information to the user plane network element, where the third indication information is used to instruct the use of a non-cellular network to send downlink data. Correspondingly, the user plane network element receives the third indication information from the first terminal. In this case, the specific implementation of step 1204 may include: the user plane network element replaces the destination IP address in the downlink data with the IP address corresponding to the non-cellular network of the first terminal according to the third indication information.

If the transmission of uplink data through the routing device is faster or more reliable than the transmission of uplink data by the first terminal directly to the access network device (for example, the signal interference of the cellular network between the first terminal and the access network device is greater) , the method shown in FIG. 13 can be used for data transmission, and the method is aimed at the scene shown in (c) in FIG. 10 , referring to FIG. 13 , the method further includes:

1301. The first terminal establishes a MA PDU session.

The MA PDU session is used to carry the uplink data sent by the first terminal to the access network device through the routing device, the downlink data sent by the access network device to the second terminal, and the data sent by the second terminal to the first terminal.

The second terminal is used to provide a transit service for the first terminal; the routing device communicates with the first terminal through a non-cellular network, and the second terminal communicates with the access network device through a cellular network.

1302. The first terminal uses the non-cellular network to send uplink data to the routing device through the MA PDU session. Correspondingly, the routing device receives uplink data from the first terminal.

1303. The routing device sends uplink data to the access network device. After receiving the uplink data, the access network device sends the uplink data to the user plane network element, the user plane network element sends the uplink data to the application server, and after the application server receives the uplink data, it sends the downlink data to the user plane network element.

1304. The user plane network element receives downlink data through the MA PDU session.

1305. The user plane network element replaces the destination IP address in the downlink data with an IP address corresponding to the cellular network of the first terminal.

1306. The user plane network element sends downlink data to the access network device through the MA PDU session. Correspondingly, the access network device receives downlink data from the user plane network element through the MA PDU session.

1307. The access network device uses the cellular network to send downlink data to the second terminal through the MA PDU session. Correspondingly, the second terminal receives downlink data from the access network device through the MA PDU session.

It can be understood that there are two downlink paths from the access network device to the first terminal, the first one is: access network device→routing device→first terminal; the second one is: access network device→second terminal → The first terminal. If the destination IP address in the downlink data is the IP address corresponding to the cellular network of the first terminal, it means that the cellular network needs to be used to transmit the downlink data. Therefore, the access network device sends the downlink data to the second terminal through the MA PDU session.

1308. The second terminal sends data to the first terminal through the MA PDU session. Correspondingly, the first terminal receives data from the second terminal through the MA PDU session.

Optionally, in the process of establishing the MA PDU session by the first terminal, the method further includes: the first terminal sends fourth indication information to the user plane network element, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate that the cellular network is used to send downlink data. Correspondingly, the user plane network element receives the fourth indication information from the first terminal. In this case, the specific implementation of step 1305 may include: the user plane network element replaces the destination IP address in the downlink data with the IP address corresponding to the cellular network of the first terminal according to the fourth indication information.

In the method provided in the second embodiment, by establishing a MA PDU session, the first terminal can simultaneously communicate with the network side through two communication channels of the cellular network and the non-cellular network, thereby realizing the separation of uplink and downlink data. The beneficial effects of the second embodiment are the same as those of the first embodiment, which can be understood by reference, and will not be repeated.

In the second embodiment, the non-cellular network is WiFi as an example to illustrate the method provided in the second embodiment. In actual implementation, the non-cellular network may also be other networks, such as Bluetooth. The explanations of various application scenarios and terms and concepts in the first embodiment are also applicable to the second embodiment.

Any indication information or association request in the foregoing embodiments of the present application may be carried in an existing message or a newly defined message. If it is carried in an existing message, the indication information or association request may be carried in a blank field in the existing message, or, one or more cells are added to the existing message, and the added cell Bearer indication or association request. If the indication information or the association request is carried in the newly defined message, the indication information or the association request may be carried in one or more information elements in the newly defined message. Specifically, the indication information may be indicated by the value of one or more bits in the information element, and when the value of the one or more bits is a specific value, it has the function described in the indication information. The specific value may be one or more values that are preset or specified by the protocol.

The system architecture and service scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are for the purpose of illustrating the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application more clearly, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application. Those of ordinary skill in the art know that with the evolution of the network architecture and the emergence of new service scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

The solutions of the embodiments of the present application have been introduced above mainly from the perspective of methods. It can be understood that each network element, for example, a first terminal, a mobility management network element, an application server, a second terminal, a user plane network element, an access network device, and a routing device, etc., in order to implement the above functions, includes executing the At least one of a hardware structure and a software module corresponding to each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that the present application can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein. Whether a function is performed by hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality using different methods for each particular application, but such implementations should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first terminal, the mobility management network element, the application server, the second terminal, the user plane network element, the access network device, and the routing device may be divided into functional units according to the foregoing method examples. The functions are divided into various functional units, and two or more functions can also be integrated into one processing unit. The above-mentioned integrated units may be implemented in the form of hardware, or may be implemented in the form of software functional units. It should be noted that the division of units in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative, and is only a logical function division, and other division methods may be used in actual implementation.

Exemplarily, FIG. 14 shows a possible schematic structural diagram of the communication device (referred to as the communication device 140 ) involved in the above-mentioned embodiment. The communication device 140 includes a processing unit 1401 and a communication unit 1402. Optionally, a storage unit 1403 is also included. The communication apparatus 140 may be used to illustrate the structures of the first terminal, the mobility management network element, the application server, the second terminal, the user plane network element, the access network device, and the routing device in the foregoing embodiment.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 14 is used to illustrate the structure of the first terminal involved in the above-mentioned embodiment, the processing unit 1401 is used to control and manage the actions of the first terminal, for example, the processing unit 1401 is used to execute FIG. 6 601, 604 and 606 in Figure 8, 801-804, 808, 809, 814, 815, 817, 820, 822 and 823 in Figure 8, 901-904, 909-911, 913, 914, 916, 919, 921, and 922, 1101, 1102, and 1108 in FIG. 11, 1201, 1202, and 1207 in FIG. 12, 1301, 1302, and 1308 in FIG. 13, and/or in other processes described in the embodiments of the present application The action performed by the first terminal. The processing unit 1401 may communicate with other network entities through the communication unit 1402, for example, with the mobility management network element in FIG. 6 . The storage unit 1403 is used to store program codes and data of the first terminal.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 14 is used to illustrate the structure of the mobility management network element involved in the above embodiment, the processing unit 1401 is used to control and manage the actions of the mobility management network element. For example, the processing unit 1401 uses 601-603 in FIG. 6, 808, 810-813 and 815-818 in FIG. 8 (at this time, the mobility management network element is AMF), and 908, 910-917 in FIG. The mobility management network element is AMF), and/or actions performed by the mobility management network element in other processes described in the embodiments of this application. The processing unit 1401 may communicate with other network entities through the communication unit 1402, for example, communicate with the first terminal in FIG. 6 . The storage unit 1403 is used for storing program codes and data of the mobility management network element.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 14 is used to illustrate the structure of the application server involved in the above embodiment, the processing unit 1401 is used to control and manage the actions of the application server, for example, the processing unit 1401 is used to execute the 603-605, 808, 810, 816 and 818-821 in Fig. 8, 908, 910, 915 and 917-920 in Fig. 9, 1101 and 1103 in Fig. 11, 1201 and 1203 in Fig. 12, Fig. 13 Actions performed by the application server in 1301 and 1304, and/or other processes described in the embodiments of this application. The processing unit 1401 may communicate with other network entities through the communication unit 1402, for example, with the mobility management network element in FIG. 6 . The storage unit 1403 is used to store program codes and data of the application server.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 14 is used to illustrate the structure of the second terminal involved in the above embodiment, the processing unit 1401 is used to control and manage the actions of the second terminal. For example, the processing unit 1401 is used to execute the operation of FIG. 6 605 and 606 in Figure 8, 804-807, 809-811, 813, 814, 821 and 822 in Figure 8, 904-910, 920 and 921 in Figure 9, 1107 and 1108 in Figure 11, and 12 in Figure 12 1206 and 1207, 1307 and 1308 in FIG. 13, and/or actions performed by the second terminal in other processes described in the embodiments of this application. The processing unit 1401 may communicate with other network entities through the communication unit 1402, for example, communicate with the first terminal in FIG. 6 . The storage unit 1403 is used for storing program codes and data of the second terminal.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 14 is used to illustrate the structure of the user plane network elements involved in the above embodiments, the processing unit 1401 is used to control and manage the actions of the user plane network elements. For example, the processing unit 1401 is used to execute 1103-1105 in FIG. 11, 1203-1205 in FIG. 12, 1304-1306 in FIG. 13, and/or actions performed by user plane network elements in other processes described in the embodiments of this application. The processing unit 1401 may communicate with other network entities through the communication unit 1402, for example, communicate with the access network device in FIG. 11 . The storage unit 1403 is used for storing program codes and data of the user plane network element.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 14 is used to illustrate the structure of the access network equipment involved in the above embodiment, the processing unit 1401 is used to control and manage the actions of the access network equipment, for example, the processing unit 1401 is used to execute 1101 , 1102 , 1105 and 1106 in FIG. 11 , 1201 , 1202 , 1205 and 1206 in FIG. 12 , 1301 , 1303 , 1306 and 1307 in FIG. 13 , and/or in other processes described in the embodiments of the present application The action performed by the access network device. The processing unit 1401 may communicate with other network entities through the communication unit 1402, for example, communicate with the first terminal in FIG. 8 . The storage unit 1403 is used for storing program codes and data of the access network device.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 14 is used to illustrate the structure of the routing device involved in the above embodiment, the processing unit 1401 is used to control and manage the actions of the routing device, for example, the processing unit 1401 is used to execute the 1106 and 1107, 1206 and 1207 in FIG. 12 (at this time, the second terminal is the routing device), 1307 and 1308 in FIG. 13, and/or the routing device in other processes described in the embodiments of this application. action. The processing unit 1401 may communicate with other network entities through the communication unit 1402, for example, communicate with the second terminal in FIG. 11 . The storage unit 1403 is used to store program codes and data of the routing device.

Exemplarily, the communication apparatus 140 may be a device or a chip or a chip system.

When the communication apparatus 140 is a device, the processing unit 1401 may be a processor; the communication unit 1402 may be a communication interface, a transceiver, or an input interface and/or an output interface. Optionally, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit. Optionally, the input interface may be an input circuit, and the output interface may be an output circuit.

When the communication device 140 is a chip or chip system, the communication unit 1402 may be a communication interface, input interface and/or output interface, interface circuit, output circuit, input circuit, pin or related circuit, etc. on the chip or chip system. The processing unit 1401 may be a processor, a processing circuit, a logic circuit, or the like.

The integrated units in FIG. 14 may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium if implemented in the form of software functional modules and sold or used as independent products. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be embodied in the form of software products in essence, or the parts that contribute to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solutions, and the computer software products are stored in a storage The medium includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) or a processor (processor) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. Storage media for storing computer software products include: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disk or CD, etc. that can store program codes medium.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a schematic diagram of a hardware structure of a communication apparatus, see FIG. 15 or FIG. 16 , the communication apparatus includes a processor 1501 , and optionally, a memory 1502 connected to the processor 1501 .

The processor 1501 can be a general-purpose central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more processors used to control the execution of the programs of the present application. integrated circuit. The processor 1501 may also include multiple CPUs, and the processor 1501 may be a single-core (single-CPU) processor or a multi-core (multi-CPU) processor. A processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, or processing cores for processing data (eg, computer program instructions).

The memory 1502 can be a ROM or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a RAM or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory. read-only memory, EEPROM), compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compact disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, Blu-ray disc, etc.), magnetic disk A storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program codes in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. The memory 1502 may exist independently (in this case, the memory 1502 may be located outside the communication device, or may be located in the communication device), or may be integrated with the processor 1501 . Among them, the memory 1502 may contain computer program code. The processor 1501 is configured to execute the computer program codes stored in the memory 1502, so as to implement the methods provided by the embodiments of the present application.

In a first possible implementation manner, referring to FIG. 15 , the communication device further includes a transceiver 1503 . The processor 1501, the memory 1502 and the transceiver 1503 are connected by a bus. The transceiver 1503 is used to communicate with other devices or communication networks. Optionally, the transceiver 1503 may include a transmitter and a receiver. A device in the transceiver 1503 for implementing the receiving function may be regarded as a receiver, and the receiver is configured to perform the receiving steps in the embodiments of the present application. The device in the transceiver 1503 for implementing the sending function may be regarded as a transmitter, and the transmitter is used to perform the sending step in the embodiment of the present application.

Based on the first possible implementation manner, the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 15 may be used to illustrate the first terminal, mobility management network element, application server, second terminal, user plane network element, connection The structure of network access equipment and routing equipment.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 15 is used to illustrate the structure of the first terminal involved in the above embodiment, the processor 1501 is used to control and manage the actions of the first terminal, for example, the processor 1501 is used to execute the operation of FIG. 6 601, 604 and 606 in Figure 8, 801-804, 808, 809, 814, 815, 817, 820, 822 and 823 in Figure 8, 901-904, 909-911, 913, 914, 916, 919, 921, and 922, 1101, 1102, and 1108 in FIG. 11, 1201, 1202, and 1207 in FIG. 12, 1301, 1302, and 1308 in FIG. 13, and/or in other processes described in the embodiments of the present application The action performed by the first terminal. The processor 1501 may communicate with other network entities through the transceiver 1503, eg, with the mobility management network element in FIG. 6 . The memory 1502 is used to store program codes and data of the first terminal.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 15 is used to illustrate the structure of the mobility management network element involved in the above embodiment, the processor 1501 is used to control and manage the actions of the mobility management network element. For example, the processor 1501 uses 601-603 in FIG. 6, 808, 810-813 and 815-818 in FIG. 8 (at this time, the mobility management network element is AMF), and 908, 910-917 in FIG. The mobility management network element is AMF), and/or actions performed by the mobility management network element in other processes described in the embodiments of this application. The processor 1501 may communicate with other network entities through the transceiver 1503, for example, with the first terminal in FIG. 6 . The memory 1502 is used to store program codes and data of the mobility management network element.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 15 is used to illustrate the structure of the application server involved in the above embodiment, the processor 1501 is used to control and manage the actions of the application server, for example, the processor 1501 is used to execute the 603-605, 808, 810, 816 and 818-821 in Fig. 8, 908, 910, 915 and 917-920 in Fig. 9, 1101 and 1103 in Fig. 11, 1201 and 1203 in Fig. 12, Fig. 13 Actions performed by the application server in 1301 and 1304, and/or other processes described in the embodiments of this application. The processor 1501 may communicate with other network entities through the transceiver 1503, eg, with the mobility management network element in FIG. 6 . The memory 1502 is used to store program codes and data of the application server.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 15 is used to illustrate the structure of the second terminal involved in the above embodiment, the processor 1501 is used to control and manage the actions of the second terminal, for example, the processor 1501 is used to execute the operation of FIG. 6 605 and 606 in Fig. 8, 804-807, 809-811, 813, 814, 821 and 822 in Fig. 8, 904-910, 920 and 921 in Fig. 9, 1107 and 1108 in Fig. 11, Fig. 12 1206 and 1207, 1307 and 1308 in FIG. 13, and/or actions performed by the second terminal in other processes described in the embodiments of this application. The processor 1501 may communicate with other network entities through the transceiver 1503, for example, with the first terminal in FIG. 6 . The memory 1502 is used to store program codes and data of the second terminal.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 15 is used to illustrate the structure of the user plane network elements involved in the above embodiments, the processor 1501 is used to control and manage the actions of the user plane network elements, for example, the processor 1501 is used to execute 1103-1105 in FIG. 11, 1203-1205 in FIG. 12, 1304-1306 in FIG. 13, and/or actions performed by user plane network elements in other processes described in the embodiments of this application. The processor 1501 may communicate with other network entities through the transceiver 1503, eg, with the access network device in FIG. 11 . The memory 1502 is used to store program codes and data of user plane network elements.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 15 is used to illustrate the structure of the access network equipment involved in the above embodiment, the processor 1501 is used to control and manage the actions of the access network equipment, for example, the processor 1501 is used to execute 1101 , 1102 , 1105 and 1106 in FIG. 11 , 1201 , 1202 , 1205 and 1206 in FIG. 12 , 1301 , 1303 , 1306 and 1307 in FIG. 13 , and/or in other processes described in the embodiments of the present application The action performed by the access network device. The processor 1501 may communicate with other network entities through the transceiver 1503, for example, with the first terminal in FIG. 8 . The memory 1502 is used to store program codes and data of the access network equipment.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 15 is used to illustrate the structure of the routing device involved in the above embodiment, the processor 1501 is used to control and manage the actions of the routing device, for example, the processor 1501 is used to execute the 1106 and 1107, 1206 and 1207 in FIG. 12 (at this time, the second terminal is the routing device), 1307 and 1308 in FIG. 13, and/or the routing device in other processes described in the embodiments of this application. action. The processor 1501 may communicate with other network entities through the transceiver 1503, for example, with the second terminal in FIG. 11 . Memory 1502 is used to store program codes and data for the routing device.

In a second possible implementation, the processor 1501 includes a logic circuit and an input interface and/or an output interface. Exemplarily, the output interface is used for performing the sending action in the corresponding method, and the input interface is used for performing the receiving action in the corresponding method.

Based on the second possible implementation manner, see FIG. 16 . The schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 16 may be used to illustrate the first terminal, mobility management network element, application server, second terminal, and user plane involved in the foregoing embodiment. Structure of network elements, access network equipment, and routing equipment.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 16 is used to illustrate the structure of the first terminal involved in the above embodiment, the processor 1501 is used to control and manage the actions of the first terminal, for example, the processor 1501 is used to execute the operation of FIG. 6 601, 604 and 606 in Figure 8, 801-804, 808, 809, 814, 815, 817, 820, 822 and 823 in Figure 8, 901-904, 909-911, 913, 914, 916, 919, 921, and 922, 1101, 1102, and 1108 in FIG. 11, 1201, 1202, and 1207 in FIG. 12, 1301, 1302, and 1308 in FIG. 13, and/or in other processes described in the embodiments of the present application The action performed by the first terminal. The processor 1501 may communicate with other network entities, eg, with the mobility management network element in FIG. 6 , through the input interface and/or the output interface. The memory 1502 is used to store program codes and data of the first terminal.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 16 is used to illustrate the structure of the mobility management network element involved in the above embodiment, the processor 1501 is used to control and manage the actions of the mobility management network element. For example, the processor 1501 uses 601-603 in FIG. 6, 808, 810-813 and 815-818 in FIG. 8 (at this time, the mobility management network element is AMF), 908, 910-917 in FIG. The mobility management network element is AMF), and/or actions performed by the mobility management network element in other processes described in the embodiments of this application. The processor 1501 may communicate with other network entities, eg, with the first terminal in FIG. 6 , through the input interface and/or the output interface. The memory 1502 is used to store program codes and data of the mobility management network element.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 16 is used to illustrate the structure of the application server involved in the above embodiment, the processor 1501 is used to control and manage the actions of the application server, for example, the processor 1501 is used to execute the 603-605, 808, 810, 816 and 818-821 in Fig. 8, 908, 910, 915 and 917-920 in Fig. 9, 1101 and 1103 in Fig. 11, 1201 and 1203 in Fig. 12, Fig. 13 Actions performed by the application server in 1301 and 1304, and/or other processes described in the embodiments of this application. The processor 1501 may communicate with other network entities, eg, with the mobility management network element in FIG. 6 , through the input interface and/or the output interface. The memory 1502 is used to store program codes and data of the application server.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 16 is used to illustrate the structure of the second terminal involved in the above embodiment, the processor 1501 is used to control and manage the actions of the second terminal, for example, the processor 1501 is used to execute the operation of FIG. 6 605 and 606 in Figure 8, 804-807, 809-811, 813, 814, 821 and 822 in Figure 8, 904-910, 920 and 921 in Figure 9, 1107 and 1108 in Figure 11, and 12 in Figure 12 1206 and 1207, 1307 and 1308 in FIG. 13, and/or actions performed by the second terminal in other processes described in the embodiments of this application. The processor 1501 may communicate with other network entities, eg, with the first terminal in FIG. 6 , through the input interface and/or the output interface. The memory 1502 is used to store program codes and data of the second terminal.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 16 is used to illustrate the structure of the user plane network elements involved in the foregoing embodiments, the processor 1501 is used to control and manage the actions of the user plane network elements, for example, the processor 1501 is used to execute 1103-1105 in FIG. 11, 1203-1205 in FIG. 12, 1304-1306 in FIG. 13, and/or actions performed by user plane network elements in other processes described in the embodiments of this application. The processor 1501 may communicate with other network entities, eg, with the access network device in FIG. 11 , through the input interface and/or the output interface. The memory 1502 is used to store program codes and data of user plane network elements.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 16 is used to illustrate the structure of the access network equipment involved in the above embodiment, the processor 1501 is used to control and manage the actions of the access network equipment, for example, the processor 1501 is used to execute 1101 , 1102 , 1105 and 1106 in FIG. 11 , 1201 , 1202 , 1205 and 1206 in FIG. 12 , 1301 , 1303 , 1306 and 1307 in FIG. 13 , and/or in other processes described in the embodiments of the present application The action performed by the access network device. The processor 1501 may communicate with other network entities, eg, with the first terminal in FIG. 8 , through the input interface and/or the output interface. The memory 1502 is used to store program codes and data of the access network equipment.

When the schematic structural diagram shown in FIG. 16 is used to illustrate the structure of the routing device involved in the above embodiment, the processor 1501 is used to control and manage the actions of the routing device, for example, the processor 1501 is used to execute the 1106 and 1107, 1206 and 1207 in FIG. 12 (at this time, the second terminal is the routing device), 1307 and 1308 in FIG. 13, and/or the routing device in other processes described in the embodiments of this application. action. The processor 1501 may communicate with other network entities, eg, with the second terminal in FIG. 11 , through the input interface and/or the output interface. Memory 1502 is used to store program codes and data for the routing device.

In the implementation process, each step in the method provided in this embodiment may be completed by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in a processor or an instruction in the form of software. The steps of the methods disclosed in conjunction with the embodiments of the present application may be directly embodied as executed by a hardware processor, or executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor.

Embodiments of the present application further provide a computer-readable storage medium, including instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to execute any of the foregoing methods.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product containing instructions, which, when run on a computer, enables the computer to execute any of the above methods.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, including: one or more of the above-mentioned first terminal, a mobility management network element, an application server, a second terminal, a user plane network element, an access network device, and a routing device .

An embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, including: a processor and an interface, where the processor is coupled to a memory through the interface, and when the processor executes a computer program or instruction in the memory, any one of the methods provided in the above embodiments is executed by the processor. implement.

An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication device, including: a processor and an interface, where the processor is coupled to a memory through the interface, and when the processor executes a computer program or instruction in the memory, any one of the methods provided in the foregoing embodiments is enabled. be executed.

In the above-mentioned embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using a software program, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on the computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. Computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from a website site, computer, server, or data center over a wire (e.g. coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (eg infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means to transmit to another website site, computer, server or data center. Computer-readable storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer or data storage devices including one or more servers, data centers, etc., that can be integrated with the media. Useful media may be magnetic media (eg, floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes), optical media (eg, DVDs), or semiconductor media (eg, solid state disks (SSDs)), and the like.

Although the application is described herein in conjunction with various embodiments, in practicing the claimed application, those skilled in the art can understand and implement the disclosure by reviewing the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims Other variations of the embodiment. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other components or steps, and "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit may fulfill the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that these measures cannot be combined to advantage.

Although the application has been described in conjunction with specific features and embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that various modifications and combinations can be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Accordingly, this specification and drawings are merely exemplary illustrations of the application as defined by the appended claims, and are deemed to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations or equivalents within the scope of this application. Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

A communication method, comprising:

The first terminal sends a first association request to the core network device or sends a second association request to the second terminal, where the first association request and the second association request are used to request the first protocol data unit PDU session and the second association request. PDU session association, the first PDU session is the PDU session of the first terminal, and the second PDU session is the PDU session of the second terminal;

sending, by the first terminal, uplink data to the access network device through the first PDU session;

The first terminal obtains the downlink data sent by the access network device from the second terminal, where the downlink data is sent by the access network device to the second terminal through the second PDU session .
The method according to claim 1, wherein the downlink data obtained by the first terminal from the second terminal is data processed by the second terminal on the downlink data sent by the access network device, The processing includes at least one of compression, decompression, rendering, encoding, decoding.
The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the method further comprises:

The first terminal sends first indication information to the core network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate that only the uplink data is transmitted on the air interface of the first terminal and/or is used to indicate that the The second terminal sends the downlink data of the first terminal.
The method according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein,

The first association request includes the identifier of the second PDU session, or the first association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session and the identifier of the second PDU session;

The second association request includes an identification of the first PDU session.
The method according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the first terminal and the access network device communicate through a cellular network, and the first terminal and the second terminal communicate through a short-range method communication.
The method according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein the core network device is a mobility management network element.
The method according to any one of claims 1-6, wherein the second PDU session is a PDU session in which the second terminal provides a relay service for the first terminal.
A communication method, comprising:

The core network device receives a first association request from the first terminal or receives a third association request from the second terminal, where the first association request and the third association request are used to request the first protocol data unit PDU session and the second PDU session association, the first PDU session is the PDU session of the first terminal, and the second PDU session is the PDU session of the second terminal;

The core network device associates the first PDU session with the second PDU session according to the first association request or the third association request;

The core network device sends second indication information to the application server, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the first PDU session is associated with the second PDU session.
The method according to claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

The core network device receives first indication information from the first terminal, where the first indication information is used to instruct the air interface of the first terminal to transmit only uplink data and/or to instruct the second terminal to transmit sending downlink data of the first terminal;

The core network device sends the first indication information to the application server.
The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that,

The first association request includes the identifier of the second PDU session, or the first association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session and the identifier of the second PDU session;

The third association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session, or the third association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session and the identifier of the second PDU session.
A communication method, comprising:

The application server receives second indication information from the core network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the first protocol data unit PDU session is associated with the second PDU session, and the first PDU session is the PDU session of the first terminal, so The second PDU session is the PDU session of the second terminal;

receiving, by the application server, uplink data sent by the first terminal through the first PDU session;

The application server sends downlink data through the second PDU session according to the second indication information, where the downlink data is downlink data received by the second terminal for the first terminal.
The method according to claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

The application server receives first indication information from the core network device, where the first indication information is used to instruct the air interface of the first terminal to transmit only uplink data and/or to instruct to transmit through the second terminal downlink data of the first terminal;

The application server determines to send the downlink data according to the first indication information.
A communication method, comprising:

The second terminal receives downlink data from the access network device through a second protocol data unit PDU session, where the second PDU session is a PDU session of the second terminal;

The second terminal sends data to the first terminal according to the downlink data, and the uplink data of the first terminal is sent by the first terminal to the access network device over the air interface.
The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

The second terminal receives a second association request from the first terminal, where the second association request is used to request to associate a first PDU session with the second PDU session, and the first PDU session is the first PDU session. A terminal's PDU session;

The second terminal sends a third association request to the core network device according to the second association request, where the third association request is used to request to associate the first PDU session with the second PDU session.
The method of claim 14, wherein:

the second association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session;

The third association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session, or the third association request includes the identifier of the first PDU session and the identifier of the second PDU session.
The method according to any one of claims 13-15, wherein the data sent by the second terminal to the first terminal is data processed by the second terminal on the downlink data, and the Processing includes at least one of compression, decompression, rendering, encoding, decoding.
A communication device, comprising: a functional unit for executing the method according to any one of claims 1-7; or a functional unit for executing the method according to any one of claims 8-10 ; Or, a functional unit for performing the method according to claim 11 or 12; or, a functional unit for performing the method according to any one of claims 13-16; wherein, the action performed by the functional unit It is realized by hardware or by executing the corresponding software by hardware.
A communication device, comprising: a processor;

The processor is connected to a memory, the memory is used to store computer-executable instructions, and the processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory, so that the communication device implements any one of claims 1-7 The method, alternatively, implements the method described in any one of claims 8-10, or implements the method described in any one of claims 11 or 12, or implements the method described in any one of claims 13-16.
A computer-readable storage medium, characterized by comprising instructions, when the instructions are run on a computer, the computer is made to execute the method according to any one of claims 1-7, or to execute claim 8 -10 The method of any one of claims 11 or 12, or the method of any one of claims 13-16 is performed.