WO2022047654A1

WO2022047654A1 - Communication method and apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2022047654A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/112986
Authority: WO
Inventors: 李伟; 刘清顺; 何朗; 林浩
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2020-09-02
Filing date: 2020-09-02
Publication date: 2022-03-10
Also published as: CN115699887A

Abstract

A communication method and apparatus, applied to the field of Internet of Things. An edge relay node integrates a first CU-UP entity and a first UPF entity; a user equipment initiates a first PDU session request to a core network, the first PDU session request carrying a local communication type identifier; furthermore, the user equipment sends an identifier of the edge relay node to an access network, and an access network device can select the first CU-UP entity according to the identifier of the edge relay node to establish a first DRB; a core network device can select a first UPF according to the local communication type identifier to establish a first PDU session, and the core network device sends first PDU session information to the edge relay node by means of the first DRB; and the first PDU session information is used for the first UPF entity to serve the first PDU session, and the first PDU session is used for bearing transmission data between the edge relay node and a terminal device. The edge relay node can have the function of an edge computing device, thus not only reducing the deployment of the edge computing device, but also reducing data transmission delay.

Description

A communication method and device

technical field

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

Background technique

With the rapid development of Internet of Things technology, the number of Internet of Things devices increases rapidly, and the cloud computing-based method cannot meet the actual needs of many scenarios, and the edge computing method emerges as the times require. More and more IoT is changing from the architecture of end, pipe and cloud to the architecture of end, edge, pipe and cloud. Please refer to Figure 1, where the terminal refers to the local terminal, which is used to collect data. Edge refers to a device with edge computing capabilities, which is used to collect information from local terminals, perform edge computing on the acquired information, and implement local management and control. Pipe refers to the local communication pipeline between the end and the edge, and the remote communication pipeline between the edge and the cloud. Cloud refers to an IoT platform or application.

Local communication needs to be supported between the end and the edge (that is, the end can directly access local applications), and there is no need to forward data through the access network and core network to the IoT platform for processing through remote communication. The architecture of edge computing improves communication efficiency.

In some cases, due to the complexity of the device deployment environment, in local communication, multiple relay nodes are required between the end and the edge to support relay, so as to ensure reliable communication between the end and the edge. That is to say, in this case, in order to realize the reliability of edge computing and communication of the Internet of Things, it is necessary to deploy both edge computing devices and relay node devices, which increases the cost of device deployment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus, which are used to enable a relay node and a terminal device to implement local communication, so as to reduce the deployment of edge computing devices, reduce costs, and reduce data transmission delay.

In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to an edge relay node, and an edge relay node refers to a relay node that can support local communication; the edge relay node includes a first centralized unit user plane CU- The UP entity and the first user plane function UPF entity; the edge relay node sends the identifier of the edge relay node to the access network device, so that the access network device selects the first CU-UP entity according to the identifier of the edge relay node, and establishes The first data bearer DRB between the access network device and the CU-UP entity; then, the edge relay node can receive the first PDU session information from the core network device through the first DRB, where the first PDU session information comes from the core network device , forwarded by the access network device; the first PDU session information is used to serve the first PDU session; wherein, the first PDU session is: after the terminal device initiates the first PDU session request to the core network, the core network according to the local communication type The identity and the identity of the edge relay node are established after selecting the first UPF entity; wherein, the first PDU session request includes the identity of the edge relay node and the local communication type identity; the first PDU session is used to carry the edge relay node and the terminal. Service data to be transmitted between devices.

In this embodiment, the edge relay node integrates the first CU-UP entity and the first UPF entity. The first CU-UP entity and the first UPF entity are used to implement the user plane function of the edge relay node. The core network device selects the first UPF entity according to the local communication identifier to establish the first PDU session, the first UPF entity is used to serve the first PDU session, and the first PDU session is used for the transmission between the bearer edge relay node and the terminal device data. In this application, the edge relay node and the terminal device can realize local communication, and the edge relay node in the IoT communication system can also function as an edge computing device, which can not only reduce the deployment of edge computing devices, reduce costs, but also reduce Data transmission delay.

In an optional implementation manner, the edge relay node may also initiate a second PDU session request to the core network to establish its own second PDU session; the second PDU session request includes a long-distance communication type identifier, and the long-distance communication type identifier Indicates that the second PDU session to be established is a PDU session of long-distance communication; and the long-distance communication type identifier instructs the core network device to select the second UPF entity deployed in the core network for the second PDU session to be established to establish the edge Following the second PDU session from the node and the access network device to the core network, the second UPF entity is used to serve the second PDU session.

In this example, the edge relay node can establish a second PDU session with the second UPF in the core network to support remote communication, and the terminal device can establish a first PDU session with the first UPF in the edge relay node to support local communication. The core network device may select the first UPF to serve the first PDU session according to the local communication type identifier, and select the second UPF to serve the second PDU session according to the remote communication type identifier. In this way, the terminal can switch services from long-distance communication to local communication, or switch local communication to long-distance communication as required. In this example, the edge relay node can realize the function of local communication and can be flexibly applied to different application scenarios. The edge relay node can be applied to both the relay forwarding scenario and the edge computing application scenario, saving energy. While reducing equipment costs, it increases the flexibility of application scenarios.

In an optional implementation manner, after the edge relay node receives the first PDU session information from the core network device, the edge relay node transmits the service data between the edge relay node and the terminal device through the first PDU session, Terminal devices can communicate locally with edge relay nodes (ie, local application access).

In an optional implementation manner, the first PDU session information includes a quality of service (QoS) flow list, and transmitting service data between the edge relay node and the terminal device through the first PDU session may include: the edge relay node receives the terminal device. The first service data sent; then, the first service data is mapped to the QoS flow to which it belongs based on the first PDU session information through the first UPF and the first CU-UP; according to the mapping relationship between the first service data and the QoS flow, the transmission The second service data, where the second service data may be service data obtained according to the first service data. For example, the edge relay node may output the second service data to a display device, and display the second service data through the display device, or the edge relay node may transmit the second service data to the terminal.

In an optional implementation manner, the edge relay node may broadcast a system message, and the system message includes the identifier of the edge relay node. The edge relay node can broadcast the ID of the edge relay node by broadcasting the system message, so that the terminal device can receive the ID of the edge relay node, so that the terminal device can select the edge relay node supporting local communication to access the cell.

In an optional implementation manner, the edge relay node may be a power line communication PLC central coordinator, and the identifier of the edge relay node is the PLC network identifier NID. In this example, the edge relay node can also be applied to a PLC wireless dual-mode scenario to meet the requirements of a specific application scenario.

In an optional implementation manner, the first PDU session information includes a second DRB list, and a QoS flow and a packet detection rule PDR corresponding to each second DRB in the second DRB list; the second DRB is the terminal device and the edge Bearer between relay nodes.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to an access network device, and the access network device receives an identifier of an edge relay node sent by a terminal device; wherein the edge relay node includes a first UPF entity and the first CU-UP entity; then, receive the first PDU session request initiated by the terminal device, and forward the first PDU session request to the core network device, where the first PDU session request includes the identifier of the edge relay node and the local communication Type identifier; the local communication type is used to instruct the core network device to select the first UPF according to the identifier of the relay node to establish the first PDU session; then, the access network device receives the first PDU session information sent by the core network and the edge relay node. The access network device selects the first CU-UP according to the ID of the edge relay node to establish the first DRB; and sends the first PDU session information to the edge relay node through the first DRB, and the first PDU session information is used for the first PDU session information. A UPF entity serves the first PDU session, and the first PDU session is used to carry the service data to be transmitted between the edge relay node and the terminal device.

In this embodiment, the edge relay node integrates the first CU-UP entity and the first UPF entity. The first CU-UP entity and the first UPF entity are used to implement the user plane function of the edge relay node. The core network device selects the first UPF entity according to the local communication identifier to establish the first PDU session, the first UPF entity is used to serve the first PDU session, and the first PDU session is used for the transmission between the bearer edge relay node and the terminal device data. In this application, the edge relay node and the terminal device can realize local communication, and the edge relay node in the IoT system can also function as an edge computing device, which can not only reduce the deployment of edge computing devices, reduce costs, but also reduce data transmission delay.

In an optional implementation manner, the first PDU session information includes a second DRB list, and QoS flows and PDRs corresponding to each second DRB in the second DRB list; the second DRB is a terminal device and an edge relay node load between.

In an optional implementation manner, the access network device receives the second PDU session request initiated by the edge relay node, and forwards the second PDU session request to the core network device, where the second PDU session request includes the edge relay node. and long-distance communication type identifier; so that the core network device selects the second UPF entity as the edge relay node to establish the second PDU session.

In this example, the edge relay node can establish a second PDU session with the second UPF in the core network to support remote communication, and the terminal device can establish a first PDU session with the first UPF in the edge relay node to support local communication. The core network may select the first UPF to serve the first PDU session according to the local communication type identifier, and select the second UPF to serve the second PDU session according to the remote communication type identifier. In this way, the terminal can switch services from long-distance communication to local communication, or switch local communication to long-distance communication as required. In this example, the edge relay node can realize the function of local communication and can be flexibly applied to different application scenarios. The edge relay node can be applied to both the relay forwarding scenario and the edge computing application scenario, saving energy. While reducing equipment costs, it increases the flexibility of application scenarios.

In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication method, the method is applied to core network equipment, and the method includes:

The core network device receives the first PDU session request from the terminal device, the first PDU session request is initiated by the terminal device, and the first PDU session request includes the identifier of the edge relay node and the identifier of the local communication type; the local communication type identifier is used for Inform the core network device that the first PDU session is used for local communication, and the edge relay node includes the first CU-UP entity and the first UPF entity; then, the core network device selects the first edge relay node according to the local communication type identifier. The UPF entity establishes the first PDU session; the core network device sends the first PDU session information to the access network device, and the first PDU session information includes the identifier of the edge relay node; selecting the first CU-UP entity to establish the first DRB, and sending the first PDU session information to the edge relay node through the first DRB, and the first UPF entity is used for serving the PDU session according to the first PDU session information, The first PDU session is used to carry service data to be transmitted between the edge relay node and the terminal device.

In an optional implementation manner, the method further includes: the core network device may also receive a second PDU session request initiated by the side relay node, where the second PDU session request includes the identifier of the side relay node and the long-distance communication type identifier; Then, the second UPF entity deployed in the core network is selected according to the long-distance communication type identifier to establish a second PDU session, the second UPF entity is used to serve the second PDU session, and the second PDU session is used to carry the relay node to the Service data to be transmitted between core network devices.

In an optional implementation manner, the core network device sends the PDR to the edge relay node. Each PDR can also be used to detect packets in a specific direction of transmission, eg, upstream or downstream. In this example, edge relay nodes are used to support both local and remote communication. For example, when the relay node receives the first service data sent by the terminal device, it can locally process the second service data to obtain the second service data. The relay node can detect, according to the PDR, which second service data needs to be processed locally, which second service data (downlink data) needs to be sent to the terminal, and which second service data (uplink data) needs to be sent to the access network device.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which can be used to implement the method performed by an edge relay node in the first aspect, and the communication device integrates a first CU-UP entity and a first UPF entity; the communication device further includes: a transceiver module for sending the identifier of the edge relay node to the access network device, so that the access network device selects the first CU-UP entity according to the identifier of the edge relay node, and establishes an access The first data bearer DRB between the network device and the CU-UP entity; the transceiver module is further configured to receive the first PDU session information from the core network through the first DRB, and the first PDU session information is used to serve the first PDU session; The first PDU session is established by: after the terminal device initiates the first PDU session request to the core network, the core network device selects the first UPF entity according to the local communication type identifier and the identifier of the edge relay node; wherein, the first UPF entity is established; The PDU session request includes the identifier of the edge relay node and the local communication type identifier; the first PDU session is used to carry the service data to be transmitted between the edge relay node and the terminal device.

In an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module is further configured to initiate a second PDU session request to the core network device to establish a second PDU session; the second PDU session request includes a remote communication type identifier; A second UPF entity is selected in the core network for the second PUD session to be established, and the second UPF entity is a UPF entity deployed in the core network; the second UPF entity is used for serving the second PDU session.

In an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module is further configured to transmit service data between the edge relay node and the terminal device through the first PDU session.

In an optional implementation manner, the first PDU session information includes a quality of service (QoS) flow list, and the apparatus further includes a processing module; a transceiver module is further configured to receive the first service data sent by the terminal device; the processing module is configured to pass The first UPF and the first CU-UP map the first service data to the corresponding QoS flow based on the first PDU session information; the transceiver module is further configured to transmit the second service data according to the mapping relationship between the first service data and the QoS flow , and the second service data is service data obtained according to the first service data.

In an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module is further configured to broadcast a system message, where the system message includes the identifier of the edge relay node, so that the terminal device receives the identifier of the edge relay node.

In an optional implementation manner, the edge relay node is a power line communication PLC central coordinator, and the identifier of the edge relay node is a PLC network identifier NID.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, the communication apparatus is used to implement the method performed by an access network device in the second aspect, and the apparatus includes: a transceiver module for receiving an edge sent by a terminal device. The identifier of the relay node; wherein, the edge relay node includes the first UPF entity and the first CU-UP entity; the transceiver module is further configured to receive the first PDU session request initiated by the terminal device, and forward the PDU session request to the core network device, the first PDU session request includes the identifier of the side relay node and the identifier of the local communication type; the local communication type is used by the core network device to select the first UPF according to the identifier of the relay node to establish the first PDU session; the transceiver module, also is used for receiving the first PDU session information and the identifier of the side relay node sent by the core network device; the processing module is used for selecting the CU-UP to establish the first DRB according to the ID of the side relay node received by the transceiver module; the transceiver module further It is used to send the first PDU session information to the edge relay node through the first DRB established by the processing module, and the first UPF entity is used to serve the PDU session according to the first PDU session information, and the first PDU session is used in the bearer edge. Service data to be transmitted between the relay node and the terminal device.

In an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module is further configured to receive a second PDU session request initiated by the edge relay node, and forward the second PDU session request to the core network device, where the second PDU session request includes the edge The identifier of the relay node and the identifier of the remote communication type; the identifier of the remote communication type is used to instruct the core network device to select the second UPF entity to establish the second PDU session for the edge relay node.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, the communication device is used to implement the method performed by the core network device in the third aspect, and the device includes: a transceiver module, configured to receive a data sent by an access network device. The first PDU session request, where the first PDU session request includes the identifier of the edge relay node and the identifier of the local communication type; the edge relay node includes the first CU-UP entity and the first UPF entity; the processing module is configured to receive according to the transceiver module The local communication type identifier selects the first UPF entity in the edge relay node to establish the first PDU session; the transceiver module is used to send the first PDU session information to the access network device, and the first PDU session information includes the edge relay node. so that the access network device selects the first CU-UP entity according to the identification of the edge relay node to establish the first DRB, and sends the first PDU session information to the edge relay node through the first DRB, and the first PDU The session information is used by the first UPF entity to serve the PDU session according to the first PDU session information, and the first PDU session is used to carry the service data to be transmitted between the edge relay node and the terminal device.

In an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module is further configured to receive a second PDU session request initiated by the edge relay node, where the second PDU session request includes an identifier of the edge relay node and a long-distance communication type identifier; the processing module, It is also used to select a second UPF entity according to the long-distance communication type identifier received by the transceiver module to establish a second PDU session, where the second UPF entity is a UPF entity deployed in the core network; the second UPF entity is used for the second PDU session. service, the second PDU session is used to carry the service data to be transmitted between the edge relay node and the core network device.

In an optional implementation manner, the transceiver module is further configured to send the PDR to the edge relay node.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, including a processor, where the processor is coupled to at least one memory, and the processor is configured to read a computer program stored in the at least one memory, so that the The apparatus executes the method described in the first aspect, or causes the apparatus to execute the method described in the second aspect, or causes the apparatus to execute the method described in the third aspect.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable medium, where the computer-readable storage medium is used to store a computer program, and when the computer program runs on a computer, the computer is made to execute the above-mentioned first aspect or, causing the computer to execute the method described in the second aspect; or causing the computer to execute the method described in the third aspect.

In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a chip system, the chip system includes a processor for supporting an edge relay node to implement the functions involved in the above aspects, or for supporting an access network device to implement the above aspects. The involved functions, or, are used to support the core network equipment to implement the functions involved in the above aspects, for example, for example, sending or processing the data and/or information involved in the above methods. In a possible design, the chip system further includes a memory, and the memory is used for storing necessary program instructions and data of the edge relay node, or for storing necessary program instructions and data of the access network device, Or, it is used to save necessary program instructions and data of the core network equipment. The chip system may be composed of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices.

Description of drawings

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of the Internet of Things communication system;

2 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of each device in the Internet of Things communication system in the traditional method;

Fig. 3 is the schematic diagram of each device user plane protocol stack in the Internet of Things communication system in the traditional method;

4 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of each device in the Internet of Things communication system in the embodiment of the application;

5 is a schematic diagram of a user plane protocol stack of each device in an IoT communication system in an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of steps of an embodiment of a communication method in an embodiment of the present application;

7 is a schematic diagram of an edge relay node broadcasting a system message in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic flowchart of steps of another embodiment of a communication method in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a communication device in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

detailed description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application. The terms "first", "second" and the like in the description and claims of the present application and the above drawings are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances so that the embodiments described herein can be practiced in sequences other than those illustrated or described herein. Furthermore, the terms "comprising" and "having", and any variations thereof, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion.

In the IoT communication system, in some cases, due to the complexity of the device deployment environment, multiple relay nodes are required between the end and the edge to support multi-hop relay to ensure reliable communication between the end and the edge. That is to say, in this case, in order to realize the reliability of edge computing and communication of the Internet of Things, it is necessary to deploy both edge computing equipment and relay node equipment, which increases the cost of equipment deployment.

In order to solve the above problems, the solution of the present application is to enable the relay node to have the capability of edge computing device (also called edge computing device), so that in the Internet of Things communication system, the relay node can not only realize the function of relay, but also It can realize the functions of edge computing devices. The distance between the relay node and the terminal device is relatively short. It is more appropriate to deploy the relay node as an edge computing device, which can reduce the data transmission delay and save the deployment cost of the device. Because the current relay node can only forward data (ie, relay), and the relay node cannot perform direct data transmission with the terminal device, the relay node in the current technology cannot realize the function of the edge computing device. Compared with the current relay node, the communication enhancement of the relay node is carried out in this application, and the relay node adds a central unit user plane (CU-UP) entity and a user plane function (UPF) ) entity, so that data transmission between the relay node and the terminal device can be realized, and the relay node realizes the function of the edge computing device.

In order to better understand the solution, the relay node architecture in the traditional method is first described below.

Currently, the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) is discussing the relay scheme in the 5G communication system (5th generation, 5G), and the relay is called IAB (integrated access and backhaul) in TR38.874 , IAB supports access link and backhaul link. Among them, the link between the terminal equipment and the relay is an access link, and the link between the relay and the relay or access network equipment (such as a base station) is a backhaul link (backhaul link). .

Referring to FIG. 2, the architecture of the IAB utilizes a distributed unit (DU) and a centralized unit (central unit, CU) separation architecture, and the IAB is composed of a DU and a mobile terminal (mobile terminal, MT). The CU in the access network device manages one or more DUs, and the interface between the CU and the DU is an F1 interface. The DU of the IAB provides air interface access services for user equipment (user equipment, UE) and the MT of the sub-relay node, and the DU of the IAB is used to implement RLC and lower layer protocols. The MT of the IAB cooperates with the parent relay node or access network equipment (such as the IAB Donor) to realize the backhaul link of the relay. DU and MT work together to realize the relay function. The IAB Donor is a base station accessed by the UE and the relay IAB. The IAB Donor is composed of DUs and CUs.

The user plane protocol stack of the traditional relay node is shown in Figure 3. The CU is used to implement the radio resource control (RRC) protocol, the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) and the service data adaptation protocol. (service data adaptation protocol, SDAP). The DU is used to implement a radio link control (RLC) protocol, a medium access control (media access control, MAC) protocol and a physical layer (physical, PHY) protocol (not shown in the figure). An adaptation protocol (adapt) is added to the RLC protocol, and the adaptation protocol supports multi-hop relay forwarding. The adaptation protocol exists only on the backhaul link between relays and does not exist on the access link. The IAB relay scheme is to forward data at the RLC layer (belonging to the air interface layer 2), and the data needs to be sent to the access network equipment to complete the air interface user plane protocol processing. Since the access network equipment in the 3GPP architecture does not support the function of data forwarding between UEs, data needs to be further sent to the core network to complete the data forwarding between UEs. Therefore, the IAB relay solution cannot support local communication, that is, the relay node cannot directly parse and process the data packets of the terminal device, and the current relay node does not have the ability to implement edge computing devices.

The present application provides a communication method, which is used to enable a terminal device and a relay node to support direct communication (ie, direct local application access), that is, the terminal device and the relay node can implement local communication, so that the relay node can implement The capabilities of edge computing devices. In this embodiment, the edge relay node integrates the first CU-UP entity and the first UPF entity. The first CU-UP entity and the first UPF entity are used to implement the user plane function of the edge relay node. The user equipment initiates a first protocol data unit (protocol data unit, PDU) session request to the core network, where the first PDU session request carries a local communication type identifier. In addition, the user equipment sends the identifier of the edge relay node to the access network, so that the access network device selects the first CU-UP entity according to the identifier of the edge relay node, and establishes a relationship between the access network device and the first CU-UP entity. The first DRB between. The core network device may select the first UPF according to the local communication type identifier to establish the first PDU session, the core network device generates the first PDU session information for the PDU session requested by the user equipment, and passes the first PDU session information through the first DRB. Sent to edge relay nodes. The first PDU session information is used by the first UPF entity to serve the first PDU session, and the first PDU session is used to carry transmission data between the relay node and the terminal device. In this application, the edge relay node in the IoT communication system can also function as an edge computing device, which can not only reduce the deployment of edge computing devices, reduce costs, but also reduce data transmission delay.

First, the terms involved in this application will be explained.

Edge relay node: In order to distinguish between a relay that does not support local communication and a relay that supports local communication, the relay that supports local communication is referred to as an "edge relay node" in this application. The edge relay node has both the relay capability of a common relay node (such as IAB) and the capability of local communication (equivalent to the local communication of edge computing devices). In this application, when the edge relay node supports local communication, the edge relay node may be equivalent to an edge computing device. In this application, an edge relay node is also referred to as a direct local application access (DLAA) IAB. In this application, the relay node that only supports the relay function can be described by taking the IAB as an example. The edge relay node that supports both local communication and relay function can be illustrated by taking DLAA IAB as an example.

Local communication: The communication between the local terminal (also called user equipment) and the edge computing device in a small area.

Long-range communication: Large-scale wide-area communication between edge computing devices and IoT platforms (or applications).

In order to distinguish the CU-UP in the edge relay node from the CU-UP in the base station, the CU-UP in the edge relay node is called the "first CU-UP", and the CU-UP in the base station is called the "first CU-UP". Two CU-UP". In order to distinguish the UPF in the edge relay node from the UPF deployed in the core network, the UPF in the relay node is called "first UPF", and the UPF deployed in the core network is called "second UPF".

The communication method is applied to an IoT communication system, and the IoT communication system includes but is not limited to a 5G communication system, a 5.5G communication system, a 6G communication system, a system that integrates multiple communication systems, or a communication system that evolves in the future. For example, a new radio (NR) system, a wireless-fidelity (WiFi) system, a 3GPP-related communication system, etc., and other such communication systems. Referring to Figure 4, the IoT communication system includes terminal equipment (also called user equipment), edge relay nodes (such as DLAA IAB), access network equipment (such as IAB donor), and a core network. Optionally, Multiple relay nodes (eg, IABs) may also be included. Wherein, the edge relay node integrates the first CU-UP and the first UPF, which are user plane functional entities required for realizing local communication. The relay IAB includes DU, MT and the first CU-UP. The first CU-UP can manage one or more DUs, and the interface between the first CU-UP and the DU is an F1 interface. Since the DLAA IAB needs to implement the CU-UP function, an E1 interface needs to be added between the DLAA IAB and the access network equipment. This interface is the control plane interface, which is used to realize the control plane signaling interaction between the edge relay node and the access network equipment. , whose protocol is an E1 Application Protocol (E1 Application Protocol, AP), and the second CU-UP in the access network device interacts with the first CU-UP in the edge relay node through the E1 interface. The user plane protocol stack in the system is shown in FIG. 5 , and the first CU-UP includes a PDCP protocol layer and an SDAP protocol layer. The first CU-UP in the edge relay node is used to implement SDAP and PDCP protocols, and SDAP is responsible for completing the mapping from quality of service (quality of service, QoS) flow to data radio bearer (DRB). The first UPF completes the mapping of the received IP data packet to the QoS flow, that is, marks the QoS flow to which the received IP data packet belongs. Therefore, the first UPF and the first CU-UP jointly complete the mapping of data to radio bearers.

In this application, a terminal is a terminal with a function of collecting data. The terminal may be various sensors, mobile phone (mobile phone), tablet computer (Pad), computer with wireless transceiver function, virtual reality (virtual reality, VR) terminal equipment, augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) terminal equipment, Terminals in industrial control, in-vehicle terminal equipment, terminals in unmanned driving, terminals in assisted driving, terminals in remote medical, terminals in smart grid (smart grID), transportation security ( Terminals in transportation safety), terminals in smart cities, terminals in smart homes, and so on. The embodiments of the present application do not limit application scenarios. A terminal may also sometimes be referred to as a terminal device, a user equipment (UE), an access terminal device, or a UE device, or the like. Terminals can be fixed or mobile.

The access network device may be a base station (gNodeB or gNB) or a transceiver point (transmission receiving point/transmission reception point, TRP) in the NR, and a base station for subsequent evolution of 3GPP. The base station may be a macro base station, a micro base station, or the like. The base station can communicate with the terminal equipment, and can also communicate with the terminal equipment through the relay node. A terminal device can communicate with multiple base stations of different technologies. For example, a terminal device can communicate with a base station supporting a 5G network, and can also support dual connectivity with a base station of a long term evolution (LTE) network and a base station of the 5G network. In the embodiments of the present application, the access network device is described by taking a base station as an example. The base station is the base station (IAB donor) accessed by the edge relay node.

Edge relay nodes may be devices with data processing capabilities. For example, the edge relay node may be a gateway, a router, a drive test unit, a micro base station, a small base station, a pico base station, and the like. The edge relay node may also be a terminal device, or the edge relay node may also be a server.

The embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which is used to implement local communication between an edge relay node and a terminal device. Referring to Fig. 6, an embodiment of a communication method includes:

Step 601: The edge relay node sends the identifier of the edge relay node to the access network device. Correspondingly, the access network device receives the identifier of the edge relay node sent by the edge relay node.

After the edge relay node (DLAA IAB) successfully accesses the network, it sends a message to the access network device, and the message carries the identity of the edge relay node (such as ID or index, etc.) pre-allocated. Optionally, the edge relay node may send the identification of the edge relay node to the access network device through a message related to establishing an E1 interface, so as to reduce signaling overhead. The purpose of the edge relay node sending its own identification to the access network device is to make the access network device identify the edge relay node, and in the subsequent steps, the access network device can select the first CU-UP in the DLAA IAB according to the identification .

Step 602: After receiving the identifier of the edge relay node, the access network device saves the identifier of the edge relay node.

The identifier of the DLAA IAB is used to inform the access network device that the relay node is an edge relay node (a relay node capable of supporting local communication), and is used to distinguish different edge relay nodes. For example, a system may include multiple IABs and multiple DLAA IABs. The identification of the relay node may include a type identification bit and a sequence number identification bit, wherein the type identification bit is used to indicate whether the relay node is an ordinary relay node (IAB) or an edge relay node (DLAA IAB). The IDs of multiple IABs can be: 0-1, 0-2, 0-3 and so on. The IDs of multiple DLAA IABs can be: 1-1, 1-2, 1-3 and so on. The access network device can determine whether the node is an IAB or a DLAA IAB according to the identifier, and which DLAA IAB is specifically. It should be noted that the ID of the DLAA IAB in this example is only an example for the convenience of description, and does not limit the ID of the DLAA IAB.

Step 603, the edge relay node broadcasts the system message.

Referring to Figure 7, the system information (system information, SI) broadcast by the DLAA IAB can be directly received by the terminal device, or the system information can be received by other IABs in the system, and then relayed by the IAB and broadcast by the terminal device receives. The system message includes a communication type flag (flag) and an edge relay node ID (DLAA IAB ID). Optionally, the system message may also include the DLAA IAB hop count and session type (eg, IPv4, IPv6, IPv4v6, etc.). The communication type identifier is used to indicate the communication type. Exemplarily, when the flag in the flag is set to true, it indicates that the communication type identification is a local communication type identification, and the DLAA IAB supports local communication. When the flag in the flag is set to false, it indicates that the communication type is identified as the remote communication type.

Step 604: The terminal device obtains the identifier of the edge relay node from the system message of the edge relay node, and selects a cell that supports DLAA IAB to camp on.

When the terminal equipment selects and camps on a cell, it selects a cell that supports DLAA to camp on. For example, when the terminal device searches for a cell, it searches for a system message broadcast by DLAA, where the system message includes a local communication type identifier, indicating that the cell supports DLAA. Optionally, the terminal device also needs to select a DLAA IAB access (ie, cell camping) with a small number of hops. Thus, the transmission delay from the terminal device to the edge relay node can be reduced.

Exemplarily, a terminal device needs to access a specified DLAA IAB in a scenario. For example, power line communication (PLC) wireless dual-mode scenario. PLC technology refers to a communication method that uses power lines to transmit data and media signals. This technology transforms the original signal into a high-frequency signal and loads it onto the power line for transmission through modulation. At the receiving end, the modulated signal is taken out and demodulated through a filter to obtain the original signal and realize information transmission. In the PLC wireless dual-mode scenario, in the transformer station area (the power supply range or area of the transformer), multiple terminals connected to the transformer can be wirelessly connected to the DLAA IAB. At this time, the DLAA IAB is equivalent to the PLC central coordinator (central coordinator). coordinator, CCo), the DLAA IAB sets its DLAA IAB ID to the network identifier (NID) of the PLC, and the DLAA IAB broadcasts the PLC NID in the system message.

Local terminals (such as electricity meters) need to access the designated DLAA IAB. For example, covering multiple electricity meters in a certain geographic area (such as Building 1). Building No. 1 corresponds to 50 users, and each user corresponds to an electric meter. These 50 electric meters are connected to the No. 1 transformer. In order to prevent the 50 electric meters from being mistakenly connected to other relay nodes, each local terminal (electric meter) is preset with DLAA IAB ID. When the local terminal receives the system message, it needs to match the preset DLAA IAB ID with the received PLC NID. The meter determines the PLC NID that matches the preset DLAA IAB ID, and selects the DLAA IAB connection corresponding to the PLC NID. In order to ensure that the terminal is connected to the corresponding transformer station area, it can meet the requirements of specific application scenarios.

It should be noted that, step 601 and step 602 may also be after step 604, and the specific timing is not limited.

Step 605: The terminal device initiates a first PDU session request. Correspondingly, the core network device receives the first PDU session request from the terminal device.

The terminal device initiates a first PDU session establishment request (PDU session establishment request) to the core network device. The first PDU session request is forwarded by the base station to the core network device. The first PDU session request includes the identifier of the edge relay node and the identifier of the local communication type. In this embodiment of the present application, the core network device is also referred to as a core network for short.

Step 606: The core network device identifies the first PDU session as a local communication PDU session according to the local communication type identifier.

The first PDU session request is used to request the core network device to establish a PDU session, the first PDU session request carries a local communication type identifier, and the core network device identifies the first PDU session as a local communication type identifier according to the local communication type identifier. PDU session. The first UPF is included in the DLAA IAB in this application. When the core network identifies that the first PDU session is a PDU session for local communication, the core network device selects the first UPF, where the first UPF is used to serve the first PDU session to be established.

Step 607: The core network device sends a context establishment request to the access network device, where the context establishment request (initial context setup request) includes the first PDU session information.

The first PDU session information includes: the first PDU session information includes: a PDU session ID, a PDU type (Type), and a second DRB to setup list (DRB to setup list). Wherein, each DRB in the second DRB establishment list includes a corresponding QoS flow list (QoS flow list), a packet detection rule (packet detection rule, PDR), and the like. The PDR is used to map the data and the QoS flow, and map the data to the corresponding second DRB, where the second DRB is the bearer between the terminal device and the edge relay node. The second DRB is pre-established. Since the first CU-UP and the first UPF are integrated in the edge relay node (DLAA IAB), the interface between the first CU-UP and the first UPF can be simplified, for example, without the need to use the standard general wireless packet service tunnel-user According to the general packet radio service tunnelling protocol-user plane (GTP-U) protocol, the first PDU session information does not include the IP address of the first UPF and the GTP-U tunnel end point identifier (tunnel end point identifier, TEID).

Step 608: The access network device selects the first CU-UP located in the DLAA IAB based on the identifier (DLAA IAB ID) of the edge relay node.

Step 609: The access network device sends a bearer context setup request (bearer context setup request) to the first CU-UP.

The access network device initiates the establishment of the first DRB to the edge relay node (DLAA IAB), the bearer context establishment request carries the first PDU session information, and the first PDU session information includes: PDU session ID, PDU type (Type) and the second DRB establishment list (DRB to setup list), wherein each DRB in the second DRB establishment list includes a corresponding QoS flow list (QoS flow list) and a PDR, and the PDR is used to map the received data packets to the corresponding On the second DRB of , the second DRB is the bearer between the terminal device and the edge relay node. The second DRB is pre-established.

Step 610: The edge relay node establishes a corresponding first DRB, and the edge relay node (eg, DLAA IAB) receives the first PDU session information through the first DRB.

The purpose of step 608-step 610 is: the access network device selects the first CU-UP, establishes the first DRB between the access network device and the edge relay node, and the edge relay node (such as DLAA IAB) receives through the DRB. The first PDU session information saves the QoS flow list and the packet detection rule PDR.

The first UPF entity serves the first PDU session according to the first PDU session information, so as to establish a first PDU session between the user equipment and the edge relay node, where the first PDU session is used to carry the edge relay Transmission data between the node and the terminal device. The number of the first PUD sessions is not limited, and is determined according to actual service conditions.

Step 611: The edge relay node feeds back a bearer context setup response (bearer context setup response) message to the base station to the base station.

The bearer context establishment response is used to inform the base station that the DRB establishment is completed. This step 611 is an optional step and may not be executed.

Step 612, the base station returns an initial context setup response (initial context setup response) message to the core network, and the response may not include the IP address and GTP-U TEID transmitted by the user plane of the base station.

Step 612 is an optional step and may not be executed.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the data bearer between the terminal device and the edge computing device has been established in advance. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, the establishment of the data bearer between the terminal device and the edge computing device is not embodied Process. In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal and the edge relay node may be directly connected, or the information transmitted between the relay node and the terminal device may also be forwarded through at least one relay node, and the relay node (such as the IAB) only plays the role of To the role of the relay, it forwards the information transmitted between the relay node and the terminal device.

In this embodiment, the edge relay node integrates the first CU-UP entity and the first UPF entity. The user equipment initiates a first PDU session request to the core network, where the first PDU session request carries a local communication type identifier. And, the user equipment sends the identifier of the edge relay node to the access network, so that the access network device selects the first CU-UP entity according to the identifier of the edge relay node, and establishes the access network device the first DRB with the CU-UP entity. The core network may select the first UPF according to the local communication type identifier to establish the first PDU session, the core network generates first PDU session information for the PDU session requested by the user equipment, and sends the first PDU session information to the edge relay node . The first UPF entity may serve the first PDU session according to the first PDU session information, where the first PDU session is used to carry the transmission data between the edge relay node and the terminal device. It can be understood that the method provided in this application "activates" the first UPF entity and the first CU-UP entity in the edge relay node, so that the edge relay node supports local communication with the user equipment. The edge relay node in the IoT communication system can also function as an edge computing device, which can not only reduce the deployment of edge computing devices, reduce costs, but also reduce data transmission delay.

After step 612, service data can be transmitted between the edge relay node and the user equipment through the first PDU session.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first CU-UP entity includes a PDCP layer and an SDAP layer. The SDAP layer is located in the user plane and is responsible for completing the mapping from QoS flows to DRBs; the PDCP layer provides wireless bearer-level services for the SDAP layer, and the SDAP layer provides QoS flow-level services for the upper layers. The terminal sends data to the edge relay node, the first CU-UP in the edge relay node is used to implement SDAP and PDCP protocols, and SDAP is responsible for completing the mapping from QoS flow to radio bearer (DRB). The first UPF completes the mapping of the data to the QoS flow, that is, marks the QoS flow to which the data belongs. Therefore, the first UPF and the first CU-UP jointly complete the mapping of the first service data to the radio bearer. The edge relay node processes the received data to obtain second service data. Optionally, the edge relay node may output the second service data. For example, the edge relay node may output the second service data to a display device, and display the second service data through the display device, or the edge relay node may transmit the second service data to the terminal.

Referring to FIG. 8 , the present application provides another embodiment of a communication method. The main difference between this embodiment and the embodiment corresponding to FIG. 6 is that the edge relay node can implement local communication and also support long-distance communication.

Step 801: The edge relay node initiates a second PDU session request to the core network device.

The edge relay node establishes its own PDU session. In order to distinguish the PDU session request initiated by the terminal, the PDU session initiated by the edge relay node is called a "second PDU session". The second PDU session request includes a telecommunication type identification (flag set to false). The telecommunication type identifier is used to indicate that the second PDU session to be established by the core network is a telecommunication PDU session. The remote communication type identifier indicates that the second PDU session is a non-local communication PDU session but supports local communication. Optionally, the second PDU session request may also not carry the communication type identifier, and the second PDU session request may also indicate that the second PDU session request is a non-local communication (remote communication) PDU session request without the communication type identifier.

Step 802, the core network equipment allocates an IP address for the edge relay node (DLAA IAB), and saves the identity of the edge relay node (DLAA IAB ID), the base station global identifier (global RAN ID) and the corresponding relationship of the DLAA IAB IP address.

Specifically, the core network device may be a session control function (Session management Function, SMF) entity, and the SMF entity allocates an IP address to the DLAA IAB. Save the DLAA IAB ID, and the correspondence between the base station global RAN ID (global RAN ID) and the DLAA IAB IP address.

Step 803: The core network device selects the second UPF according to the long-distance communication type identifier to establish the second PDU session.

The SMF identifies the second PDU session as a telecommunication PDU session according to the telecommunication identifier, and then the SMF selects the second UPF deployed in the core network to establish the connection of the second PDU session between the second UPF, the base station, and the DLAA IAB. The second UPF serves the second PDU session. The second PDU session is used to carry service data transmitted between the DLAA IAB and the core network.

In this example, the purpose of steps 801 to 803 is to establish a second PDU session between the edge relay node and the core network, and the second PDU session can be used for remote communication. The number of the second PUD sessions is not limited, and is determined according to actual service conditions.

Subsequent steps are roughly the same as the steps in the example corresponding to FIG. 6 above. It can be understood that, in this example, the edge relay node can implement remote communication, and can also support local communication through the following steps.

Step 804, the edge relay node broadcasts the system message.

Please refer to the description of step 603 in the embodiment corresponding to FIG. 6 , which is not repeated here.

Step 805: The terminal device obtains the identifier of the edge relay node from the system message of the edge relay node, and selects a cell that supports the edge relay node (such as DLAA IAB) to camp on.

Please refer to the description of step 604 in the embodiment corresponding to FIG. 6 , which is not repeated here.

Step 806: The terminal device initiates a first PDU session request.

Please refer to the description of step 605 in the embodiment corresponding to FIG. 6 , which is not repeated here.

Step 807: The core network device receives the first PDU session request from the terminal device, and identifies the first PDU session as a local communication PDU session according to the local communication type.

Please refer to the description of step 606 in the embodiment corresponding to FIG. 6 , which is not repeated here.

Step 808: The core network device searches for the IP address of the DLAA IAB based on the identifier (DLAA IAB ID) of the edge relay node and the Global RAN ID.

Step 809, the core network sends the PDR to the DLAA IAB according to the IP address of the DLAA IAB.

The core network initiates the N4 session establishment process to the DLAA IAB and provides the PDR to the DLAA IAB.

The information needed to classify the packet can be contained in the PDR. Each PDR can also be used to detect packets in a specific direction of transmission, eg, upstream or downstream. In this example, the DLAA IAB is used to support both local and remote communication. For example, when the DLAA IAB receives the first service data sent by the user equipment, it can locally process the second service data to obtain the second service data. The DLAA IAB can detect, according to the PDR, which second service data needs to be processed locally, which second service data (downlink data) needs to be sent to the terminal, and which second service data (uplink data) needs to be sent to the base station.

Step 810: The core network sends a context setup request to the access network device, where the context setup request (initial context setup request) includes the first PDU session information.

Please refer to the description of step 607 in the embodiment corresponding to 6, which is not repeated here. Since in step 809, the core network device has already sent the PDR to the DLAA IAB, the difference between this step and step 607 is that the first PDU session information does not contain the PDR.

Step 811, the access network device selects the first CU-UP located in the DLAA IAB based on the DLAA IAB ID.

Step 812: The access network device initiates bearer establishment to the DLAA IAB, and the base station sends a bearer context setup request (bearer context setup request) to the first CU-UP.

Please refer to the description of step 609 in the embodiment corresponding to 6, which is not repeated here. The difference between this step and step 609 is that the bearer context setup request (bearer context setup request) does not contain the PDR.

Step 813: The edge relay node establishes the corresponding first DRB. The edge relay node (DLAA IAB) receives the first PDU session information through the first DRB, and saves the QoS flow list.

It should be noted that step 808 and step 809 are optional steps, and the PDR may also be carried in the context establishment request in step 810, and the PDR may also be carried in step 812. Steps 801 to 803 and subsequent steps are not limited in terms of time sequence. For example, steps 801 to 803 may be at any position after step 804 .

Optionally, in this example, it may also include: "the edge relay node feeds back a bearer context setup response (bearer context setup response) message to the access network device to the base station" and "the base station returns an initial context setup response to the core network device ( initial context setup response) message to the core network equipment" these two steps.

In this example, the edge relay node can establish a second PDU session with the second UPF in the core network to support long-distance communication, and the user equipment can establish a first PDU session with the first UPF in the edge relay node to support local communication. The core network may select the first UPF to serve the first PDU session according to the local communication type identifier, and select the second UPF to serve the second PDU session according to the remote communication type identifier. For example, the user equipment sends the first service data to the edge relay node through the first PDU session, the edge relay node can process the first service data to obtain the second service data, and the edge relay node can pass the second service data through The local communication is sent to the terminal device, and the edge relay node is equivalent to the edge computing device at this time. Alternatively, in different application scenarios, the edge relay node can also send the second service data to the IoT platform through remote communication, and process the second service data through the IoT platform. At this time, the edge relay node It is also equivalent to a common relay node (such as IAB), and is used to realize the relay and forwarding function. The terminal can initiate the establishment of a local communication PDU session or a long-distance communication PDU session according to service requirements, or initiate the establishment of a local communication and a long-distance communication PDU session at the same time, and different types of services are carried by different PDU sessions. The PDU session in which the terminal device initiates the remote communication is the same as the traditional method, which will not be repeated here. The terminal can switch services from remote communication to local communication, or switch local communication to long-distance communication as required. In this example, the edge relay node can realize the function of local communication and can be flexibly applied to different application scenarios. The edge relay node can be applied to both the relay forwarding scenario and the edge computing application scenario, saving energy. While reducing equipment costs, it increases the flexibility of application scenarios.

Corresponding to the methods given in the foregoing method embodiments, the embodiments of the present application further provide corresponding apparatuses, including corresponding modules for executing the foregoing embodiments. The modules may be software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware.

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device. The communication apparatus 900 may be an edge relay node, an access network device, a core network device, or a terminal device. It may also be a chip, a chip system, or a processor that supports an edge relay node to implement the above method, or a chip, a chip system, or a processor that supports an access network device to implement the above method. It may also be a chip, a chip system, or a processor that supports the core network device to implement the above method. It may also be a chip, a chip system, or a processor that supports the terminal device to implement the above method. The communication device may be used to implement the methods described in the foregoing method embodiments, and for details, reference may be made to the descriptions in the foregoing method embodiments. The communication apparatus 900 may include one or more processors 901, and the processors 901 may also be referred to as processing units, and may implement certain control functions. The processor 901 may be a general-purpose processor or a special-purpose processor, or the like. For example, it may be a baseband processor or a central processing unit. The baseband processor can be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processing unit can be used to control communication devices (such as base stations, baseband chips, terminals, terminal chips, DU or CU, etc.), execute software programs, process software program data.

In an optional design, the processor 901 may also store instructions and/or data 903, and the instructions and/or data 903 may be executed by the processor, so that the communication apparatus 900 executes the above method embodiments method described in .

In another optional design, the processor 901 may include a transceiver unit for implementing receiving and transmitting functions. For example, the transceiver unit may be a transceiver circuit, or an interface, or an interface circuit. Transceiver circuits, interfaces or interface circuits used to implement receiving and transmitting functions may be separate or integrated. The above-mentioned transceiver circuit, interface or interface circuit can be used for reading and writing code/data, or the above-mentioned transceiver circuit, interface or interface circuit can be used for signal transmission or transmission.

In yet another possible design, the communication apparatus 900 may include a circuit, and the circuit may implement the function of sending or receiving or communicating in the foregoing method embodiments.

Optionally, the communication apparatus 900 may include one or more memories 902, and instructions 904 may be stored thereon, and the instructions may be executed on the processor, so that the communication apparatus 900 executes the above method implementation method described in the example. Optionally, data may also be stored in the memory. Optionally, instructions and/or data may also be stored in the processor. The processor and the memory can be provided separately or integrated together. For example, the corresponding relationship described in the above method embodiments may be stored in a memory or in a processor.

Optionally, the communication apparatus 900 may further include a transceiver 905 and/or an antenna 906 . The processor 901 may be referred to as a processing unit, and controls the communication device 900 . The transceiver 905 may be referred to as a transceiver unit, a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, a transceiver communication device, or a transceiver module, etc., and is used to implement a transceiver function.

Optionally, the communication apparatus 900 in the embodiment of the present application may be used to execute the method executed by the edge relay node in FIG. 6 and FIG. 8 in the embodiment of the present application, or may also be used to execute the method executed by the access network device. Alternatively, the method may also be used to execute the method executed by the core network device, or may also be used to execute the method executed by the terminal.

As shown in FIG. 10 , another embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus 1000 . The communication device may be a terminal or a component of a terminal (eg, an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.). Alternatively, the communication device may be an edge relay node, or may be a component (eg, an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.) of an edge relay node. Alternatively, the communication apparatus may be an access network device, or may be a component (eg, an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.) of the access network device. The communication apparatus may be core network equipment, or may be a component (eg, an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.) of the core network equipment. The communication device may also be other communication modules, which are used to implement the methods in the method embodiments of the present application. The communication apparatus 1000 may include: a processing module 1002 (or referred to as a processing unit) and a transceiving module 1001 (or referred to as a transceiving unit).

In a possible design, one or more modules as shown in FIG. 10 may be implemented by one or more processors, or by one or more processors and memory; or by one or more processors and a transceiver; or implemented by one or more processors, a memory, and a transceiver, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. The processor, memory, and transceiver can be set independently or integrated.

The communication device has the function of implementing the edge relay node described in the embodiments of the present application. For example, the communication device includes modules or units or means (means) corresponding to the steps involved in the terminal executing the edge relay node described in the embodiments of the present application. ), the functions or units or means (means) may be implemented by software, or by hardware, or by executing corresponding software by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. Alternatively, the communication apparatus has the function of implementing the access network equipment described in the embodiments of the present application. For example, the communication apparatus includes modules or modules corresponding to the access network equipment performing the steps involved in the network equipment described in the embodiments of the present application. Units or means (means), the functions or units or means (means) can be implemented by software, or by hardware, or by executing corresponding software by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. Alternatively, the communication apparatus has the function of implementing the access network device described in the embodiment of the present application. Alternatively, the communication apparatus has the function of implementing the core network equipment described in the embodiments of the present application. For example, the communication apparatus includes modules or units or means ( means), the functions or units or means (means) may be implemented by software, or by hardware, or by executing corresponding software by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. For details, further reference may be made to the corresponding descriptions in the foregoing corresponding method embodiments.

Optionally, each module in the communication apparatus 1000 in the embodiment of the present application may be used to execute the method executed by the edge relay node in FIG. 6 and FIG. 8 in the embodiment of the present application.

In a possible design, a communication device 1000 may include: a processing module 1002 and a transceiver module 1001 .

Specifically, the transceiver module 1001 is configured to send the identifier of the edge relay node to the access network device, so that the access network device selects the first CU-UP entity according to the identifier of the edge relay node, and establishes the connection between the access network device and the CU. - the first DRB between UP entities;

The transceiver module 1001 is further configured to receive first PDU session information from the core network through the first DRB, and the first PDU session information is used to serve the first PDU session; wherein, the first PDU session is sent by: the terminal device to the core network After initiating the first PDU session request, the core network selects the first UPF entity according to the identification of the local communication type and the identification of the side relay node; wherein, the first PDU session request includes the identification of the side relay node and the identification of the local communication type. ; The first PDU session is used to bear the service data to be transmitted between the edge relay node and the terminal device.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1001 is further configured to initiate a second PDU session request to the core network to establish a second PDU session; the second PDU session request includes a long-distance communication type identifier; the long-distance communication type identifier is used to indicate that the core network is waiting. A second UPF entity is selected for the established second PUD session, and the second UPF entity is a UPF entity deployed in the core network; the second UPF entity is used to serve the second PDU session.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1001 is further configured to transmit service data between the edge relay node and the terminal device through the first PDU session.

Optionally, the first PDU session information includes a quality of service QoS flow list;

The transceiver module 1001 is further configured to receive the first service data sent by the terminal device;

a processing module 1002, configured to map the first service data to the belonging QoS flow based on the first PDU session information through the first UPF and the CU-UP;

The transceiver module 1001 is further configured to transmit second service data according to the mapping relationship between the first service data and the QoS flow, where the second service data is service data obtained according to the first service data.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1001 is further configured to broadcast a system message, where the system message includes the identifier of the edge relay node, so that the terminal device receives the identifier of the edge relay node.

Optionally, the side relay node is the power line communication PLC central coordinator, and the identifier of the side relay node is the PLC network identifier NID.

Optionally, the first PDU session information includes the second DRB list, and the QoS flow and packet detection rule PDR corresponding to each second DRB in the second DRB list; the second DRB is the communication between the terminal device and the edge relay node. bear.

Optionally, each module in the communication apparatus 1000 in the embodiment of the present application may be used to execute the method executed by the access network device in FIG. 6 and FIG. 8 in the embodiment of the present application.

A transceiver module 1001, configured to receive an identifier of an edge relay node sent by a terminal device; wherein, the edge relay node includes a first UPF entity and a first CU-UP entity;

The transceiver module 1001 is further configured to receive the first PDU session request initiated by the terminal device, and forward the first PDU session request to the core network device, where the first PDU session request includes the identifier of the edge relay node and the identifier of the local communication type; The communication type is used by the core network device to select the first UPF according to the identifier of the relay node to establish the first PDU session;

The transceiver module 1001 is further configured to receive the first PDU session information and the identifier of the side relay node sent by the core network;

The processing module 1002 is configured to select the first CU-UP according to the ID of the edge relay node received by the transceiver module 1001 to establish the first DRB;

The transceiver module 1001 is configured to send the first PDU session information to the edge relay node through the first DRB established by the processing module 1002, the first UPF entity is configured to serve the PDU session according to the first PDU session information, and the first PDU session is used for The service data to be transmitted between the bearer edge relay node and the terminal device.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1001 is further configured to receive the second PDU session request initiated by the edge relay node, and forward the second PDU session request to the core network, where the second PDU session request includes the identifier of the edge relay node and the remote Communication type identification; so that the core network selects the second UPF entity as the edge relay node to establish the second PDU session.

Optionally, each module in the communication apparatus 1000 in the embodiment of the present application may be used to execute the method executed by the core network device in FIG. 6 and FIG. 8 in the embodiment of the present application.

The transceiver module 1001 is configured to receive a first PDU session request sent by an access network device, where the first PDU session request includes an identifier of an edge relay node and an identifier of a local communication type; the edge relay node includes a first CU-UP entity and a first CU-UP entity and a first PDU session request. a UPF entity;

The processing module 1002 is configured to select the first UPF entity in the edge relay node according to the local communication type identifier received by the transceiver module 1001 to establish the first PDU session;

A transceiver module 1001, configured to send first PDU session information to an access network device, where the first PDU session information includes an identifier of an edge relay node; so that the access network device selects the first CU-UP according to the identifier of the edge relay node entity to establish the first DRB, and send the first PDU session information to the edge relay node through the first DRB, the first UPF entity is used to serve the PDU session according to the first PDU session information, and the first PDU session is used for The service data to be transmitted between the bearer edge relay node and the terminal device.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1001 is further configured to receive a second PDU session request initiated by an edge relay node, where the second PDU session request includes an identifier of the edge relay node and a long-distance communication type identifier;

The processing module 1002 is further configured to select a second UPF entity according to the long-distance communication type identifier received by the transceiver module 1001 to establish a second PDU session, where the second UPF entity is a UPF entity deployed in the core network; the second UPF entity is used for Serve the second PDU session, and the second PDU session is used to carry the service data to be transmitted between the edge relay node and the core network device.

Optionally, the transceiver module 1001 is configured to send the PDR to the edge relay node.

The present application also provides a computer-readable medium on which a computer program is stored, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, implements the function of the edge relay node in any of the foregoing method embodiments. Or, when the computer program is executed by a computer, the functions of the access network device in any of the foregoing method embodiments are implemented. Alternatively, when the computer program is executed by a computer, the functions of the core network device in any of the foregoing method embodiments are implemented.

The present application also provides a computer program product, which implements the function of the edge relay node in any of the above method embodiments when the computer program product is executed by a computer. Or, when the computer program is executed by a computer, the functions of the access network device in any of the foregoing method embodiments are implemented. Alternatively, when the computer program is executed by a computer, the functions of the core network device in any of the foregoing method embodiments are implemented.

Those skilled in the art can also understand that various illustrative logical blocks (illustrative logical blocks) and steps (steps) listed in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of the two. Whether such functionality is implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and overall system design requirements. For corresponding applications, those skilled in the art can use various methods to implement the described functions, but such implementation should not be understood as exceeding the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application.

It can be understood that the processor in this embodiment of the present application may be an integrated circuit chip, which has signal processing capability. In the implementation process, each step of the above method embodiments may be completed by a hardware integrated logic circuit in a processor or an instruction in the form of software. The above-mentioned processor may be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other possible Programming logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components.

In another possible design, when the device is a chip in the terminal, the chip includes: a processing unit and a communication unit, the processing unit may be, for example, a processor, and the communication unit may be, for example, an input/output interface, pins or circuits, etc. The processing unit can execute the computer-executable instructions stored in the storage unit, so that the chip in the terminal executes the wireless communication method according to any one of the above-mentioned first aspect. Optionally, the storage unit is a storage unit in the chip, such as a register, a cache, etc., and the storage unit may also be a storage unit in the terminal located outside the chip, such as a read-only memory (read only memory). -only memory, ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, random access memory (RAM), etc. Wherein, the processor mentioned in any one of the above may be a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more of the above The first aspect is an integrated circuit for executing the program of the wireless communication method.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working process of the system, device and unit described above may refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

As mentioned above, the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, but not to limit them; although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand: The technical solutions described in the embodiments are modified, or some technical features thereof are equivalently replaced; and these modifications or replacements do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application.

Claims

A communication method, characterized in that it is applied to an edge relay node, and the edge relay node includes a first centralized unit user plane CU-UP entity and a first user plane function UPF entity;

Send the identifier of the edge relay node to the access network device, so that the access network device selects the first CU-UP entity according to the identifier of the edge relay node, and establishes the connection between the access network device and the edge relay node. a first data bearer DRB between the first CU-UP entities;

The first PDU session information from the core network device is received through the first DRB, and the first PDU session information is used to serve the first PDU session; wherein, the first PDU session is sent by: the terminal device to the core network After initiating the first PDU session request, the core network device selects the first UPF entity according to the local communication type identifier and the identifier of the edge relay node; wherein, the first PDU session request includes the The identifier of the edge relay node and the local communication type identifier; the first PDU session is used to carry the service data to be transmitted between the edge relay node and the terminal device.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

Initiating a second PDU session request to the core network to establish a second PDU session; the second PDU session request includes a telecommunication type identifier; the telecommunication type identifier is used to instruct the core network device to select and deploy in the core network The second UPF entity is used to establish a second PDU session; the second UPF entity is used to serve the second PDU session.
The method according to claim 1, wherein after receiving the first PDU session information from the core network device, the method further comprises:

The service data between the edge relay node and the terminal device is carried through the first PDU session.
The method according to claim 3, wherein the first PDU session information comprises a quality of service (QoS) flow list, and the first PDU session carries the information between the edge relay node and the terminal device. business data, including:

receiving the first service data sent by the terminal device;

Mapping, by the first UPF entity and the first CU-UP entity, based on the first PDU session information, the first service data to the QoS flow to which it belongs;

According to the mapping relationship between the first service data and the QoS flow, the second service data is transmitted, where the second service data is service data obtained according to the first service data.
The method according to any one of claims 1-4, wherein the method further comprises:

Broadcast a system message, where the system message includes the identifier of the edge relay node, so that the terminal device receives the identifier of the edge relay node.
The method according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein the side relay node is a power line communication PLC central coordinator, and the identifier of the side relay node is a PLC network identifier NID.
The method according to any one of claims 1-6, wherein the first PDU session information comprises a second DRB list, a QoS flow corresponding to each second DRB in the second DRB list, and Packet detection rule PDR; the second DRB is the bearer between the terminal device and the edge relay node.
A communication method, characterized in that it is applied to an access network device, the method comprising:

receiving the identifier of the edge relay node sent by the terminal device; wherein, the edge relay node includes a first UPF entity and a first CU-UP entity;

Receive the first PDU session request initiated by the terminal device, and forward the PDU session request to the core network device, where the first PDU session request includes the identifier of the edge relay node and the identifier of the local communication type; the local communication Type is used to instruct the core network device to select the first UPF entity according to the identifier of the relay node to establish a first PDU session;

receiving the first PDU session information and the identifier of the edge relay node sent by the core network device;

Selecting the first CU-UP entity according to the ID of the edge relay node to establish the first DRB;

Send the first PDU session information to the edge relay node through the first DRB, and the first UPF entity is configured to serve the PDU session according to the first PDU session information, and the first PDU The session is used to carry the service data to be transmitted between the edge relay node and the terminal device.
The method according to claim 8, wherein the first PDU session information comprises a second DRB list, and a QoS flow and a PDR corresponding to each second DRB in the second DRB list; The DRB is the bearer between the terminal device and the edge relay node.
The method according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the method further comprises:

Receive a second PDU session request initiated by the edge relay node, and forward the second PDU session request to the core network, where the second PDU session request includes an identifier of the edge relay node and a long-distance communication type identifier ; The remote communication type identifier is used to instruct the core network device to select the second UPF entity to establish the second PDU session.
A communication method, characterized in that, applied to core network equipment, comprising:

receiving a first PDU session request from a terminal device, where the first PDU session request includes an identifier of an edge relay node and a local communication type identifier; the edge relay node includes a first CU-UP entity and a first UPF entity;

Selecting the first UPF entity in the edge relay node according to the local communication type identifier to establish a first PDU session;

Send the first PDU session information to the access network device, where the first PDU session information includes the identifier of the edge relay node; so that the access network device selects the first CU-UP entity according to the identifier of the edge relay node to establishing a first DRB, and sending the first PDU session information to the edge relay node through the first DRB, where the first PDU session information is used for the first UPF entity to be the first PDU Session service, the first PDU session is used to carry the service data to be transmitted between the edge relay node and the terminal device.
The method according to claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a second PDU session request initiated by the edge relay node, where the second PDU session request includes an identifier of the edge relay node and a long-distance communication type identifier;

A second UPF entity deployed in the core network is selected according to the long-distance communication type identifier to establish a second PDU session, the second UPF entity is used to serve the second PDU session, and the second PDU session uses Service data to be transmitted between the relay node on the bearer side and the core network device.
The method of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

Send the PDR to the edge relay node.
A communication device, characterized in that the device integrates a first CU-UP entity and a first UPF entity; the device further comprises:

a transceiver module, configured to send the identifier of the edge relay node to the access network device, so that the access network device selects the first CU-UP entity according to the identifier of the edge relay node, and establishes the a first data bearer DRB between the access network device and the first CU-UP entity;

The transceiver module is further configured to receive first PDU session information from the core network through the first DRB, where the first PDU session information is used to serve the first PDU session; wherein the first PDU session is It is established by: after the terminal device initiates the first PDU session request to the core network, the core network device selects the first UPF entity according to the local communication type identifier and the identifier of the edge relay node; wherein, the first PDU is established. The session request includes the identifier of the edge relay node and the local communication type identifier; the first PDU session is used to carry the service data to be transmitted between the edge relay node and the terminal device.
The apparatus of claim 14, wherein:

The transceiver module is further configured to initiate a second PDU session request to the core network to establish a second PDU session; the second PDU session request includes a long-distance communication type identifier; the long-distance communication type identifier is used by the core network A second UPF entity deployed in the core network is selected for the second PUD session to be established to establish a second PDU session; the second UPF entity is used to serve the second PDU session.
The device according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that,

The transceiver module is further configured to carry the service data between the edge relay node and the terminal device through the first PDU session.
The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the first PDU session information comprises a quality of service (QoS) flow list, and the apparatus further comprises a processing module;

The transceiver module is further configured to receive the first service data sent by the terminal device;

the processing module, configured to map the first service data to the QoS flow to which it belongs based on the first PDU session information through the first UPF and the first CU-UP;

The transceiver module is further configured to transmit second service data according to the mapping relationship between the first service data and the QoS flow, where the second service data is service data obtained according to the first service data.
The device according to any one of claims 14-17, characterized in that,

The transceiver module is further configured to broadcast a system message, where the system message includes the identifier of the edge relay node, so that the terminal device receives the identifier of the edge relay node.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 14-18, wherein the edge relay node is a power line communication PLC central coordinator, and the identifier of the edge relay node is a PLC network identifier NID.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 14-19, wherein the first PDU session information includes a second DRB list, a QoS flow corresponding to each second DRB in the second DRB list, and Packet detection rule PDR; the second DRB is the bearer between the terminal device and the edge relay node.
A communication device, comprising:

a transceiver module, configured to receive an identifier of an edge relay node sent by a terminal device; wherein the edge relay node includes a first UPF entity and a first CU-UP entity;

The transceiver module is further configured to receive a first PDU session request initiated by a terminal device, and forward the PDU session request to the core network, where the first PDU session request includes the identifier of the edge relay node and the local communication Type identifier; the local communication type is used to instruct the core network device to select the first UPF according to the identifier of the relay node to establish a first PDU session;

The transceiver module is further configured to receive the first PDU session information and the identifier of the edge relay node sent by the core network device;

a processing module, configured to select the first CU-UP entity to establish a first DRB according to the identifier of the edge relay node received by the transceiver module;

a transceiver module, configured to send the first PDU session information to the edge relay node through the first DRB established by the processing module, and the first UPF entity is configured to generate the first PDU session information for the edge relay node according to the first PDU session information PDU session service, where the first PDU session is used to carry service data to be transmitted between the edge relay node and the terminal device.
The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the transceiver module is further configured to receive a second PDU session request initiated by the edge relay node, and forward the second PDU session request to a core network device , the second PDU session request includes an identifier of the edge relay node and a long-distance communication type identifier; the long-distance communication type identifier is used to instruct the core network device to select a second UPF entity to establish a second PDU session.
A communication device, comprising:

a transceiver module, configured to receive a first PDU session request sent by an access network device, where the first PDU session request includes an identifier of the edge relay node and a local communication type identifier; the edge relay node includes a first CU - the UP entity and the first UPF entity;

a processing module, configured to select the first UPF entity in the edge relay node according to the local communication type identifier received by the transceiver module to establish a first PDU session;

a transceiver module, configured to send first PDU session information to the access network device, where the first PDU session information includes the identifier of the edge relay node; so that the access network device selects the first PDU session according to the identifier of the edge relay node The CU-UP entity establishes a first DRB, and sends the first PDU session information to the edge relay node through the first DRB, and the first PDU session information is used for the first UPF entity to be The first PDU session serves, and the first PDU session is used to carry the service data to be transmitted between the edge relay node and the terminal device.
The apparatus of claim 23, wherein:

The transceiver module is further configured to receive a second PDU session request initiated by the edge relay node, where the second PDU session request includes an identifier of the edge relay node and a long-distance communication type identifier;

The processing module is further configured to select a second UPF entity according to the long-distance communication type identifier received by the transceiver module to establish a second PDU session, where the second UPF entity is a UPF entity deployed in the core network; The second UPF entity is used to serve the second PDU session, and the second PDU session is used to carry service data to be transmitted between the edge relay node and the core network device.
The apparatus of claim 24, wherein:

The transceiver module is used for sending the PDR to the edge relay node.
A communication device, characterized in that it comprises a processor, the processor is coupled with at least one memory, and the processor is configured to read a computer program stored in the at least one memory, so that the device executes the method according to claim 1 - The method of any one of 7, or the apparatus is caused to perform the method of any one of 8-10, or the apparatus is caused to perform the method of any one of 11-13.
A computer-readable medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium is used to store a computer program, and when the computer program runs on a computer, the computer is made to execute any one of claims 1-7 or, causing the computer to execute the method described in any one of 8-10; or causing the computer to execute the method described in any one of 11-13.