CN108924859B

CN108924859B - Base station and data transmission method

Info

Publication number: CN108924859B
Application number: CN201710794902.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王弘; 许丽香; 柯小婉
Original assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2017-03-24
Filing date: 2017-09-05
Publication date: 2023-08-25
Anticipated expiration: 2037-09-05
Also published as: CN108924859A

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a base station and a data transmission method. The data transmission method comprises the following steps: a base station of a first network sends a measurement configuration message to User Equipment (UE); receiving a measurement report sent by UE; transmitting a neighbor cell information request message to the UE; and receiving a neighbor cell information response message sent by the UE, wherein the neighbor cell information response message carries indication information that the base station of the second network is a specific base station.

Description

Base station and data transmission method

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present invention relate to wireless communication technologies, and in particular, to a base station and a data transmission method.

Background

5G refers to fifth generation mobile communication technology. Unlike the first four generations, 5G is not a single wireless technology, but rather a fusion of existing wireless communication technologies. At present, the LTE (Long Term Evolution) peak rate can reach 100Mbps, and the 5G peak rate can reach 10Gbps, which is improved by 100 times compared with 4G. The existing 4G network has limited spontaneous processing capability, and cannot support the services of partial high-definition video, high-quality voice, augmented reality, virtual reality and the like. The 5G is introduced into a more advanced technology, and the requirements of mobile service flow increase are jointly met through higher frequency spectrum efficiency, more frequency spectrum resources, denser cells and the like, so that the problem faced by the 4G network is solved, and a network society with high transmission rate, high capacity, low time delay, high reliability and excellent user experience is constructed. As shown in fig. 1, a 5G architecture may include a 5G access network 120 and a 5G core network 130, with a ue (User Equipment) 110 in communication with a data network 140 through access network 120 and core network 130. In the network evolution process from 4G to 5G, the first stage can continue to use the LTE base station while being able to support the 5G terminal and use the 5G feature. Some 5G base stations may be deployed, which may act as secondary base stations, providing data transmission to the UE along with the LTE base station.

Therefore, a solution is needed to support network evolution from 4G to 5G.

Disclosure of Invention

According to an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a data transmission method including:

a base station of a first network sends a measurement configuration message to User Equipment (UE);

receiving a measurement report sent by UE;

transmitting a neighbor cell information request message to the UE; and

and receiving a neighbor cell information response message sent by the UE, wherein the neighbor cell information response message carries indication information of a specific base station of the second network.

For example, the base station of the first network obtains the IP address of the base station of the second network by pre-configuring or querying a server according to the indication information.

For example, the method further comprises: and the base station of the first network stores the information of the specific base station indicated in the indication information into a neighbor relation list according to the indication information, and marks the indicated specific base station as not allowing handover so as not to initiate the handover process of the base station of the indicated second network.

For example, the indication information includes at least one of the following information to indicate the specific base station: cell identity, operator identity, frequency and routing area code.

For example, the specific base station is a base station of the second network that has no signaling connection with the core network mobility management entity MME.

For example, the method further comprises: a base station of a first network sends an Xx interface establishment request message; and the base station of the first network receives the Xx interface setup response message from the base station of the second network.

For example, the Xx interface setup response message contains information of the MME pool. The method further comprises the steps of: when receiving the Xx interface establishment response message, the base station of the first network determines whether the base station of the second network can be used as an auxiliary base station according to the information from the MME pool of the base station of the second network.

For example, the method further comprises: pre-configuring an identification list of base stations of a first network, which can be used as a main base station, on the base stations of a second network; when receiving the Xx interface establishment request, aiming at the Xx interface establishment request initiated by the base station of the first network in the list, the base station of the second network sends a successful Xx interface establishment response message.

For example, the method further comprises: an identification list of base stations of a second network that can be used as secondary base stations is pre-configured on the base stations of the first network, and the base stations of the second network within the list are configured as secondary base stations of the UE.

For example, the base station of the first network is a long term evolution LTE base station, the base station of the second network is a fifth generation mobile communication 5G base station, and the specific base station is a specific 5G base station.

According to another aspect of the embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a data transmission method, including:

the main base station sends an auxiliary base station adding request message to the auxiliary base station;

the method comprises the steps that a main base station receives an auxiliary base station adding response message from an auxiliary base station, wherein the auxiliary base station adding response message carries information configured by the auxiliary base station for User Equipment (UE);

the method comprises the steps that a main base station determines information configured by the main base station for UE according to information configured by an auxiliary base station for the UE;

the method comprises the steps that a master base station sends a Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration request message to UE, wherein the RRC reconfiguration request message comprises information configured by the master base station for the UE; and

the primary base station receives an RRC reconfiguration complete message from the UE.

For example, the method further comprises: when UE accesses the auxiliary base station, the main base station sends a path switching request message to a mobility management entity MME; and the main base station receives the path switching response message from the MME.

For example, the path switching response message includes an uplink IP address and a tunnel endpoint identifier TEID allocated by the core network gateway SGW.

For example, the information element of the RRC container or the Xx interface message carries information configured by the secondary base station for the UE.

For example, the determining information configured by the master base station for the UE includes: and the main base station analyzes the information configured by the auxiliary base station for the UE, and enables the configuration of the auxiliary base station and the main base station to the UE not to exceed the capability of the UE.

For example, the auxiliary base station addition request message carries an uplink data reception address allocated by the core network.

For example, the secondary base station increase request message may carry quality requirement information and/or an aggregate rate of non-guaranteed rate traffic for the UE. In this case, the quality requirement information may include any one of the following: the quality requirement parameters of the bearing and the quality requirement parameters which need to be shared by the auxiliary base station; the quality requirement parameters of the bearing and the quality requirement parameters which can be shared by the main base station; and the quality requirement parameters of the bearer. In this case, the aggregate rate of the non-guaranteed rate traffic of the UE may include an aggregate rate of non-guaranteed traffic to be established on the secondary base station and/or an aggregate rate of non-guaranteed traffic that the primary base station is capable of sharing. For example, the secondary base station may increase the aggregate rate of non-guaranteed rate traffic for the UE and/or the quality requirement parameters that may be carried by the response message. In this case, the quality requirement parameters may include: the quality requirement corresponding to the data to be shared by the main base station or the quality requirement corresponding to the data to be shared determined by the auxiliary base station. The aggregate rate of the non-guaranteed rate traffic for the UE may include: the aggregate rate corresponding to the non-guaranteed service data to be shared by the main base station or the aggregate rate corresponding to the non-guaranteed service data to be shared by the auxiliary base station.

For example, the secondary base station addition request message carries at least one of: the quality requirement parameters of the quality flow of the auxiliary base station, the aggregation rate of non-guaranteed rate service in the packet data unit session corresponding to the quality flow, and the aggregation rate of non-guaranteed rate service subscribed by the UE. For example, the auxiliary base station increases one or more of a quality requirement parameter of a quality flow, an aggregate rate of non-guaranteed rate service in a packet data unit session corresponding to the quality flow, and an aggregate rate of non-guaranteed rate service subscribed by the UE, where the quality requirement parameter includes a quality requirement corresponding to data to be shared by the main base station or a quality requirement corresponding to data to be shared determined by the auxiliary base station, and the aggregate rate of non-guaranteed rate service in the packet data unit session corresponding to the quality flow includes an aggregate rate corresponding to non-guaranteed rate service data in the packet data unit session to be shared by the main base station or an aggregate rate corresponding to non-guaranteed rate service data in the packet data unit session to be shared by the auxiliary base station, and the aggregate rate of non-guaranteed rate service subscribed by the UE includes an aggregate rate corresponding to non-guaranteed rate service data subscribed by the UE to be shared by the main base station or an aggregate rate corresponding to non-guaranteed service data subscribed by the UE to be shared by the auxiliary base station.

According to another aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, a method for configuring an auxiliary split bearer is provided. The method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that a first base station sends an auxiliary base station adding request message to a second base station, wherein the auxiliary base station adding request message carries an identifier of an auxiliary split bearer and a first bearer quality requirement corresponding to the auxiliary split bearer; the first base station receives an auxiliary base station increasing response message sent by the second base station, wherein the auxiliary base station increasing response message carries the identification of the auxiliary split bearing and the second bearing quality requirement corresponding to the auxiliary split bearing.

For example, the first bearer quality requirement may comprise a total quality requirement parameter of the auxiliary split bearer, the total quality requirement parameter being a quality requirement parameter received by the first base station from a core network.

For example, the first bearer quality requirement may include a quality requirement parameter that the first base station is capable of sharing.

For example, the second bearer quality requirement may be a quality requirement parameter corresponding to the data that the first base station determines needs to share.

For example, the quality requirement parameters may include quality class indication QCI, priority ARP, uplink/downlink maximum rate of GBR traffic, uplink/downlink guaranteed rate of GBR traffic.

For example, the first base station may be a primary base station and the second base station may be a secondary base station.

According to another aspect of the embodiments of the present invention, a method for configuring an auxiliary split bearer is provided. The method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that a main base station sends an auxiliary base station adding request message to an auxiliary base station, wherein the auxiliary base station adding request message carries the aggregation rate of non-guaranteed services; and the main base station receives an auxiliary base station adding response message sent by the auxiliary base station.

For example, the aggregate rate of the non-guaranteed service may be an AMBR of the auxiliary base station to be established on the auxiliary base station and an AMBR of the main base station that can be shared by the main base station, where the AMBR of the main base station includes at least an uplink AMBR.

For example, the aggregate rate of the non-guaranteed traffic may be a total AMBR of the UE and an assisting base station AMBR, or may be a total AMBR of the UE and a primary base station AMBR, or may be a primary base station AMBR and an assisting base station AMBR; wherein, the master base station AMBR at least comprises an uplink AMBR.

For example, the aggregate rate of the non-guaranteed traffic may be the uplink AMBR carried on the primary base station leg by the secondary base station AMBR and SCG split.

For example, the aggregate rate of the non-guaranteed traffic may be an uplink threshold maximum value of the AMBR and SCG segmentation bearer of the secondary base station on the primary base station.

For example, the method may further comprise: the main base station negotiates different main base station uplink AMBR with the auxiliary base station; and the main base station receives the different main base station uplink AMBR from the auxiliary base station through the auxiliary base station adding response message.

For example, the secondary base station addition request message may instruct the secondary base station to configure uplink data splitting according to the configuration of the primary base station, where when the secondary base station configures the priority cell group as MCG, the uplink splitting threshold does not exceed the uplink AMBR of the primary base station, or does not exceed the uplink AMBR of the SCG split bearer on the primary base station branch, or does not exceed the uplink threshold maximum of the SCG split bearer on the primary base station.

According to another aspect of an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a base station including:

at least one processor; the method comprises the steps of,

a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor; wherein, the liquid crystal display device comprises a liquid crystal display device,

the memory stores instructions executable by the one processor to enable the at least one processor to perform a method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

At least one processor; the method comprises the steps of,

According to the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, in the process of evolving to 5G, the UE can be prevented from accessing or switching to the 5G base station, the horizontal interface between the LTE base station and the 5G base station is established, the 5G base station can be ensured to be used as an auxiliary base station of the UE, and the split bearing on the auxiliary base station is established. By the technical scheme of the embodiment of the invention, the 5G terminal can use the 5G characteristic, the data volume of the user is improved, the utilization rate of the network frequency is improved, and the current core network is reused as much as possible.

Drawings

FIG. 1 shows an architecture diagram of a 5G system;

FIG. 2 illustrates an architecture deployment structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 shows a flowchart of a data transmission method performed by a UE according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 shows a flow chart of a data transmission method performed by an LTE base station according to one embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 5 shows a flow chart of a data transmission method performed by an LTE base station according to another embodiment of the application;

fig. 6 shows a flowchart of a data transmission method performed by a master base station according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 shows a schematic block diagram of a base station according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 shows a schematic block diagram of another base station according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 shows a flowchart of another data transmission method performed by a master base station according to an embodiment of the present application; and

fig. 10 shows a flowchart of another data transmission method performed by a master base station according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present application more apparent, the present application will be further described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the following description is illustrative only and is not intended to limit the present disclosure. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that: no such specific details need be employed to practice the present disclosure. In other instances, well-known circuits, materials, or methods have not been described in detail in order to avoid obscuring the present disclosure.

Throughout the specification, references to "one embodiment," "an embodiment," "one example," or "an example" mean: a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included within at least one embodiment of the disclosure. Thus, the appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment," "in an embodiment," "one example," or "an example" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable combination and/or sub-combination in one or more embodiments or examples. Moreover, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the drawings are provided herein for illustrative purposes and that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. The term "and/or" as used herein includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

FIG. 2 illustrates an architecture deployment structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 2, there is no signaling connection between the 5G base station gNB (gNode B) 205 and the core network control node MME (Mobility Management Entity), and only a connection with the core network gateway SGW (Service GateWay) is made with a user plane. The LTE base station 207 and LTE core network can be reused in this architecture, which is attractive to operators. Specifically, the 5G base station 205 is configured by the LTE base station 207, and the dual connectivity technique defined in the LTE system is employed to transmit data to the UE. With LTE base station 207 as the primary base station and 5G base station 205 as the secondary base station. The bearers established on the secondary base station may include secondary bearers (SCG bearers, secondary Cell Group bearer), split bearers (split bearers), and secondary split bearers (SCG split bearers). The auxiliary split bearer is a new bearer type, which is a type of bearer in which an auxiliary base station receives data from a core network and then splits the data, wherein a part of the data is transmitted to a UE by the auxiliary base station, and a part of the data is transmitted to a main base station and is transmitted to the UE by the main base station. To support such architecture and such manner of data transmission, there is a need to address or alleviate at least one of the following problems:

1) How to avoid the UE from accessing or switching to the 5G base station.

2) How to establish a horizontal interface between an LTE base station and a 5G base station.

3) How to ensure that the 5G base station can act as a secondary base station for the UE.

4) How to establish split bearers on the secondary base station.

In the first stage, there is no connection of signaling plane between the 5G base station and the MME of the LTE core network, and the 5G base station has connection of data plane only with the data gateway in the LTE core network. In the first phase, the core network of 5G is not deployed yet, so the 5G base station can only serve as an auxiliary base station for providing data to the UE, but cannot serve the UE alone. Therefore, the 5G base station needs to prohibit the UE from accessing the 5G base station, and the surrounding LTE base stations cannot switch the UE to the 5G base station.

Fig. 3 illustrates a method 300 performed by a UE in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 3, in step S301, the UE receives an indication message broadcast by the 5G base station and knows information of cells that cannot be accessed. The UE may learn from the indication that the 5G base station is a specific 5G base station.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a "specific (Special) 5G base station" means that the 5G base station can only serve as an auxiliary base station to provide data for UEs, and the 5G base station has no signaling connection with the MME of the core network, and has only a connection with the data gateway of the core network in the user plane. The 5G base station informs the UE that the base station cannot establish a wireless connection with the UE. For example, the 5G base station may transmit an indication in the broadcast information indicating that the base station is a specific 5G base station, cannot normally serve users, and cannot establish a wireless connection with the UE. In addition, the 5G base station may be assigned a specific frequency or a specific cell identifier. When the UE receives a specific frequency or a specific cell identifier, it can be known that the base station is a specific 5G base station, and cannot normally serve the user, and cannot establish a wireless connection with the UE. In addition, a specific operator identifier or a specific routing area identifier may be allocated to the cell of the 5G base station, and the specific operator identifier or the specific routing area identifier may be sent to the UE through broadcast information. Differentiation may also be made by: the independent 5G base station broadcast information includes an indication information, and the specific 5G base station broadcast information does not include an indication information. The independent 5G base station refers to a 5G base station where the 5G base station and the 5G core network have a connection and are not connected to the LTE core network.

Next, in step S302, the UE determines a cell that cannot be accessed. For example, the UE may perform a cell search after power on. If the physical layer signal sent by the cell on the 5G base station is received, the broadcast information of the cell is read, and the base station where the cell is found to be a specific 5G base station which can not normally serve the UE is found, the UE can store the cell in a cell list which can not be accessed.

With the method shown in fig. 3, access of a UE to a specific 5G base station can be avoided.

Fig. 4 illustrates a data transmission method 400 according to an embodiment of the invention. The data transmission method 400 is performed by a base station of a first network. The following description will take an example in which the base station of the first network is an LTE base station eNB and the base station of the second network is a 5G base station gNB. As shown in fig. 4, in step S401, a base station of a first network, for example, an LTE base station eNB, sends a measurement configuration message to a UE. The measurement configuration message may carry mode information and a frequency list to be measured, and may also carry configuration information of the UE for cell measurement reporting. In response to the measurement configuration message, the UE may measure cells on other frequencies, other access modes of neighboring cells. In order for the UE to be able to make measurements, the LTE base station eNB needs to schedule to the UE some idle times in which the UE does not receive data in the serving cell, but rather makes cell signal measurements on the corresponding frequencies using the corresponding access technologies.

Next, in step S402, the LTE base station receives a measurement report sent by the UE.

And the UE measures the received cell physical layer signals according to the received information such as the access mode, the frequency and the like of the adjacent cells. And if the cell with strong signal is detected and the reporting condition of cell measurement is met, the UE sends the physical layer identification of the detected cell to the LTE base station. The format of the physical layer identity may be different according to the detected cell access mode, and in case of LTE cells, the physical layer identity may be PCI (Physical Cell Identifier). According to the embodiment of the invention, the adjacent cell can be a cell of the 5G base station, and the physical layer identifier of the 5G cell can be PCI or other names.

In step S403, the LTE base station transmits a neighbor cell information request message to the UE.

If the LTE base station eNB needs to obtain more information of the neighboring cell, the LTE base station eNB sends a neighboring cell information request message to the UE to instruct the UE to read broadcast information of the cell corresponding to the newly found physical layer identity. The UE may read at least one of a cell-wide network unique identity ECGI, a location routing area identity, and an operator identity PLMN ID(s) broadcasted on the broadcast channel.

In step S404, the LTE base station receives a neighbor cell information response message from the UE.

In the above step S302, the UE listens to broadcast information of neighboring cells at configured time instants. In an example, the neighboring cell is a 5G cell and the 5G base station where the 5G cell is located is a specific 5G base station. As described above, the specific 5G base station has no signaling connection with the MME of the core network and only has a connection of the user plane with the data gateway of the core network. As described above, the 5G base station where the 5G cell is located notifies the UE that the 5G base station cannot establish a wireless connection with the UE. For example, the 5G base station may send an indication in the broadcast message to indicate that the base station is a particular 5G base station, cannot normally serve users, and cannot establish a wireless connection with the UE. Alternatively, the 5G base station may be assigned at least one of a specific frequency, a specific cell identity, a specific operator identity, a specific routing area identity. When the UE receives the indication information, the 5G base station is known to be a specific 5G base station, the user cannot be served normally, and wireless connection with the UE cannot be established.

The UE reads the broadcast information in response to the neighbor cell information request message from the LTE base station, includes at least one of the read e.g. cell-wide unique identity ECGI, location routing area identity, operator-specific PLMN ID(s) in a neighbor cell information response message and transmits the neighbor cell information response message to the LTE base station eNB. In this embodiment, the UE also reads the indication information broadcast by the 5G base station, indicating that the base station is a specific 5G base station, and cannot normally serve the user, and cannot accept the handover. Accordingly, when the UE sends the neighbor cell information response message to the LTE base station, the neighbor cell information response message may further carry indication information to indicate that the base station where the cell is located is a specific 5G base station, and cannot normally serve the user, and cannot accept handover.

In step S405, the LTE base station eNB updates the neighbor relation list according to the received neighbor cell information response message. In the neighbor relation list, the unique identity of the cell is saved, and the attribute is set to "handover not allowed" to indicate that the LTE base station eNB does not initiate a handover procedure in which the target base station is the 5G base station, including, for example, S1 handover and X2 handover.

According to the embodiment of the invention, the LTE base station eNB is forbidden to switch the UE to the 5G base station through an automatic neighbor relation (ANR, automatic Neighbor Relation) function. The ANR function on the LTE base station eNB manages the relationship with the neighboring cells through a neighbor relationship list. Newly discovered cells may be added to the neighbor relation list and cells may be deleted from the neighbor relation list. The neighbor relation list maintains the relation between the serving cell and the neighbor cells. The information stored in the neighbor relation list may include the unique network identifier ECGI of the neighbor cell and the physical layer identifier PCI, and may further have three attributes: "cannot delete", if the attribute is set, it means that the LTE base station cannot delete the neighbor relation from the list; "handover not allowed", if the attribute is set, indicating that the LTE base station cannot initiate a handover procedure to the target cell; and "no X2 interface", if the attribute is set, indicating that the LTE base station cannot use the procedure on the X2 interface to the cell. The function of ANR is implemented on the LTE base station eNB. The LTE base station eNB may configure the UE in the radio resource control RRC (Radio Resource Control) connected state to perform measurement, and measure signals of cells of other surrounding access modes and different frequencies. The LTE base station eNB may employ different policies to configure the UE to perform measurement and reporting of measurement results.

The ANR procedure may also be used for horizontal interface setup between base stations. According to an embodiment of the present invention, an interface between an LTE base station and a 5G base station is referred to as an "Xx interface". The LTE base station is connected to the MME and the data gateway of the core network, but not all the MME and the data gateway of the core network are connected. The 5G base station is connected only to the data gateway of LTE, and is not connected to the data gateway of all LTE. If a dual connection is to be established (Dual Connectivity), it is desirable that the 5G base station and the LTE base station can be connected to the same core network data gateway. However, there is no connection between the 5G base station and the MME, and according to the current base station, the LTE base station cannot confirm whether the 5G base station is connected to the same core network data gateway. For example, in the method according to fig. 4, the LTE base station does not make a determination, and when receiving a measurement report of the UE, the LTE base station may initiate an Xx interface establishment with the 5G base station. In this case, it may be decided by the LTE base station to establish the dual connection and send a dual connection establishment request message to the 5G base station, where the dual connection establishment request includes the IP address of the data gateway. According to the IP address, the 5G base station finds that there is no data connection with the data gateway, and thus the 5G base station sends a reject message. When the rejection message is received, the LTE base station knows that the 5G base station and the LTE base station cannot be connected to the same data gateway.

Fig. 5 shows a flow chart of a data transmission method 500 according to another embodiment of the invention. Similar to the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the data transmission method 500 is performed by a base station of the first network. The following description will take an example in which the base station of the first network is an LTE base station eNB and the base station of the second network is a 5G base station gNB. According to the present embodiment, the LTE base station may determine whether the 5G base station can be configured as a secondary base station before establishing the Xx interface. If the Xx interface can be established; otherwise, the Xx interface is not established. When the dual connection is established later, the LTE base station only selects the 5G base station which has established the Xx interface with the LTE base station as an auxiliary base station, so that the rejection process cannot occur.

In step S501, the LTE base station eNB transmits a measurement configuration message to the UE.

The measurement configuration message may carry mode information and a frequency list to be measured, and may also carry configuration information of the UE for cell measurement reporting. In response to the measurement configuration message, the UE may measure cells on other frequencies, other access modes of the neighboring cells. In order for the UE to be able to make measurements, the LTE base station eNB needs to schedule to the UE some idle times in which the UE does not receive data in the serving cell, but rather makes cell signal measurements on the corresponding frequencies using the corresponding access technologies.

Next, in step S502, the LTE base station receives a measurement report sent by the UE.

And the UE measures the received cell physical layer signals according to the received information such as the access mode, the frequency and the like of the adjacent cells, and if the cell with strong signal is detected and the reporting condition of cell measurement is met, the UE sends the physical layer identification of the detected cell to the LTE base station. The format of the physical layer identity may be different according to the detected cell access mode, and if it is a cell of LTE, the physical layer identity may be PCI. According to this embodiment, the neighboring cell may be a 5G cell, and the physical layer identity of the 5G cell is PCI or other name.

In step S503, the LTE base station transmits a neighbor cell information request message to the UE.

If the LTE base station eNB needs to obtain more information of the neighboring cell, the LTE base station eNB sends a neighboring cell information request message to the UE to instruct the UE to read broadcast information of the cell corresponding to the newly found physical layer identity. The UE may read at least one of a cell-wide network unique identity ECGI, a location routing area identity, an operator identity PLMN ID(s) broadcasted on the broadcast channel.

In step S504, the LTE base station receives a neighbor cell information response message from the UE.

In the above step S302, the UE listens to broadcast information of neighboring cells at configured time instants. In this example, the neighboring cell is a 5G cell and the 5G base station where the 5G cell is located is a specific 5G base station. As described above, the 5G base station has no signaling connection with the MME of the core network and has only a connection with the data gateway of the core network for the user plane. As described above, the 5G base station where the 5G cell is located notifies the UE that the 5G base station cannot establish a wireless connection with the UE. For example, the 5G base station may send an indication in the broadcast message to indicate that the base station is a particular 5G base station, cannot normally serve users, and cannot establish a wireless connection with the UE. Alternatively, the 5G base station may be assigned at least one of a specific frequency, a specific cell identity, a specific operator identity, a specific routing area identity. When the UE receives the indication information, the 5G base station is known to be a specific 5G base station, the user cannot be served normally, and wireless connection with the UE cannot be established.

The UE reads the broadcast information in response to the neighbor cell information request message from the LTE base station, includes at least one of the read cell-wide network unique identification ECGI, location routing area identification, and operator-identified PLMN ID(s) in a neighbor cell information response message, and transmits the neighbor cell information response message to the LTE base station eNB. In this embodiment, the UE also reads the indication information broadcast by the 5G base station, indicating that the base station is a specific 5G base station, and cannot normally serve the user, and cannot accept the handover. Accordingly, when the UE sends the neighbor cell information response message to the LTE base station, the neighbor cell information response message may further carry indication information to indicate that the base station where the cell is located is a specific 5G base station, and cannot normally serve the user, and cannot accept handover.

In step 505, the lte base station sends an Xx interface setup request to the 5G base station.

And the LTE base station receives the neighbor cell information response message sent by the UE and obtains at least one of a cell unique identifier, an operator identifier and a routing area identifier of the surrounding 5G cell. If the LTE base station receives the report from the UE, including the indication information indicating that the neighboring 5G base station is a specific 5G base station, the LTE base station further determines whether to establish an Xx interface with the 5G base station. The determined criteria may be based on the operator's configuration. The operator configures a group of cell unique identification lists capable of establishing an Xx interface, and the LTE base station determines whether to establish the Xx interface with the base station where the 5G cell is located through comparison. Or the LTE base station sets the routing area identifier of the base station where the 5G cell is located to be the same as the routing area identifier of the LTE cell, and determines whether to establish an Xx interface with the base station where the 5G cell is located through the routing area identifier. The LTE base station may not initiate the procedure of S1 to obtain the IP address of the 5G base station, but rather obtain the IP address of the 5G base station by querying OAM (Operation Administration and Maintenance) configuration information, or obtain the IP address of the 5G base station by querying DNS (Domain Name System). If the LTE base station determines that an Xx interface with the 5G base station is to be established, the LTE base station sends an Xx establishment request message to the 5G base station. The Xx establishment request message may carry information of the LTE cell.

In step S506, the LTE base station receives the Xx interface setup response message from the 5G base station. The Xx interface setup response message may carry information of the 5G cell including, but not limited to, a cell unique identity, frequency, and routing area.

Specifically, one of the following methods may be used:

(1) Pre-configuring information of an MME pool, namely an operator identifier and an MME group identifier, on a 5G base station; when the 5G base station receives the Xx interface establishment request message, the 5G base station sends an Xx interface establishment response message, wherein the Xx interface establishment response message contains information of the MME pool. After receiving the response message of the Xx interface establishment, the LTE base station determines whether the 5G base station can be used as an auxiliary base station according to the information of the MME pool reported by the 5G base station. The basis of the judgment can be as follows: if the MME pool reported by the 5G base station is the same as the MME pool to which the LTE base station is connected, the 5G base station may be configured as an auxiliary base station for the UE.

(2) The identification list of the LTE base station which can be used as the main base station is preconfigured on the 5G base station. When receiving the Xx interface establishment request, the 5G base station transmits a successful Xx interface establishment response message only when the Xx interface establishment request is initiated by the base station in the list. Otherwise, a failure message is sent.

(3) An identification list which can be used as an auxiliary base station is pre-configured on the LTE base station, and only the 5G base stations in the list can be configured as the auxiliary base stations of the UE.

After the Xx interface is established, the LTE base station may determine to configure a neighboring 5G base station as an auxiliary base station to transmit service data for the UE. The service data may be sent to the UE via the LTE base station and the 5G base station, i.e. the data may be sent to the UE via two data connections, which transmission is called dual connectivity. Conventional dual connectivity may include several ways, which are not described in detail herein. In 5G, SCG split bearers are introduced. Under such a bearer, the 5G base station receives data from the core network gateway, and then the 5G base station splits the data into two paths, one part is transmitted to the LTE base station through the Xx interface, the LTE base station transmits the data to the UE, and the other part is transmitted to the UE through the 5G base station.

Fig. 6 shows a flow chart of a data transmission method 600 according to an embodiment of the invention.

In step S601, a primary base station (e.g., LTE base station) transmits a secondary base station addition request message to a secondary base station (e.g., 5G base station).

The primary base station determines to establish a data connection with the new secondary base station. The bearer may have been previously established on the source secondary base station, or on the primary base station, or a new bearer configured by the MME. The auxiliary base station addition request message may contain an identification of the bearer, a received IP address of the bearer at the core network gateway, and a tunnel number TEID. The secondary base station addition request message may also carry capability information of the UE. The capabilities of the UE may include two classes: (1) Capability of the UE in the 5G access network, the capability information is capability of the UE in the 5G access network, and the capability is not applicable in the LTE access network; and (2) UE generic capabilities in LTE and 5G, which are applicable in both LTE and 5G. The secondary base station addition request message also carries the type of dual connectivity determined by the LTE base station. In the present exemplary embodiment, the type of dual connection is SCG split. In order to share part of data transmission afterwards, the main base station allocates an address for downlink data reception in advance, including an IP address and a tunnel number, to receive data from the 5G base station. If the data is not sent to the UE in the main base station, the data needs to be forwarded to the auxiliary base station, and the main base station can send the indication information of data forwarding to the auxiliary base station.

And the auxiliary base station determines configuration information borne on the UE according to the bearing Qos requirement and the UE capability. Conventionally, the primary base station first determines configuration information of the UE under the primary bearer, that is, uses part of the UE capability, and then transmits the configuration information of the primary bearer to the secondary base station; the auxiliary base station decides configuration information of the auxiliary bearer according to the total UE capability and the UE capability already used. According to the embodiment of the invention, according to the type of the capability of the UE, the auxiliary base station firstly configures the bearer configuration between the auxiliary base station and the UE, and then the main base station determines the bearer configuration between the main base station and the UE according to the configuration information of the auxiliary base station. In particular, for the UE capability of class (1) above, i.e. the UE's capability in the 5G access network, the 5G base station may independently determine the configuration for the UE, which configuration information may be contained in the RRC transparent container. By sending the secondary base station addition response message to the primary base station, the primary base station does not have to parse the RRC transparent container, but forwards it to the UE. For UE capabilities of class (2), i.e., UE capabilities common to LTE and 5G, the 5G base station determines that a portion of the UE capabilities are used for configuration of the UE, which may be contained in a separate RRC container and sent to the primary base station via a secondary base station add response message. The master base station reads the information of the part, and the master base station determines the configuration of the radio bearer of the UE on the master base station according to the information, the configuration information of the auxiliary base station on the UE in the Xx message, and the capability of the UE which is used by the auxiliary base station or the remaining UE capability which can be used by the master base station.

In step S602, the primary base station receives a secondary base station addition response message from the secondary base station. The auxiliary base station adding response message may carry auxiliary bearer configuration information for the UE and carry a tunnel number of the downlink data receiving IP address of the S1 interface allocated by the auxiliary base station. In the present exemplary embodiment, the type of dual connection is SCG split. If there is data at the primary base station that has not yet been sent to the UE, the secondary base station allocates a receiving address for forwarding the downlink data, including an IP address and a tunnel number, to receive the data from the LTE base station at this address, and sends the data to the UE through the SCG split bearer.

The auxiliary base station configures an auxiliary bearer of the UE, is carried in an RRC container and is sent to the main base station. The RRC container may include: a transparent RRC container requiring the primary base station to parse and not modify the primary base station; requiring the primary base station to resolve and set configuration of the primary bearer according to the RRC container; and the transparent RRC container which is not analyzed by the main base station and is not modified by the main base station is not required, wherein the configuration information of the auxiliary base station to the UE is carried in the Xx message, or the capability of the UE which is used by the auxiliary base station is contained, or the capability of the rest UE which can be used by the main base station is contained. According to this information, the primary base station may configure the primary bearer.

For a transparent RRC container, the master base station may not parse the RRC container, but forward the RRC container to the UE. For the RRC container to be parsed or the information contained in the Xx message, the main base station sets the bearing configuration of the UE on the main base station according to the usable UE capability.

In step S603, the primary base station transmits an RRC reconfiguration request message to the UE.

In step S604, the primary base station receives an RRC reconfiguration complete message from the UE.

Additionally, a data transmission method according to an embodiment of the present invention may further include the following steps.

In step S605, when the UE accesses the secondary base station, the primary base station transmits a path switching request message to the MME.

The UE performs a random access procedure with the new assisting base station and synchronizes with the new assisting base station. After the random access procedure is completed, the new secondary base station may inform the primary base station of the success of the random result, if necessary. The primary base station may send a path switch request message to the MME. The path switch request message may contain a downstream receiving IP address and TEID (Tunnel Endpoint Identifier) corresponding to the bearer. In this embodiment, in step 602, the secondary base station may send a downlink received IP address and TEID corresponding to the bearer to the primary base station. The message may be sent by the MME to the SGW.

In step S606, the master base station receives the path switch response message from the MME. The path switch response message may contain the uplink IP address and TEID allocated by the SGW.

In step S607, if the SGW allocates a new uplink IP address and TEID, the primary base station sends a configuration update message to the secondary base station to update the uplink IP address and TEID of the bearer. If the SGW uses the old IP address and TEID, i.e., the same received IP address and TEID as in step S601, this step S607 need not be performed.

In the first stage, there is no connection of signaling plane between the 5G base station and the MME of the LTE core network, and the 5G base station has connection of data plane only with the data gateway in the LTE core network. In the first phase, the core network of 5G is not deployed yet, so the 5G base station can only serve as an auxiliary base station for providing data to the UE, but cannot serve the UE alone. The 5G base station in the first stage is not connected with the MME of the LTE core network, and only is connected with the data gateway in the LTE core network, and the 5G core network is not deployed in the first stage, so that the 5G base station can only serve as an auxiliary base station to provide data for the UE and can not serve the UE independently. Under this architecture, service data may be sent to the UE through the LTE base station and the 5G base station, i.e. through two data connections, this transmission mode is called dual connection. If a dual connection is established for the UE, the primary base station can only be a base station for LTE and the secondary base station is a 5G base station that can provide a new access technology (i.e., new RAT) over the air. There are several ways of double connection, as described in the background section above. At 5G, a new approach is introduced, called assisted split (i.e., SCG split) bearer. Under the load, the 5G base station receives data from the core network gateway, then the 5G base station divides the data into two paths, one path of the data is transmitted to the LTE base station through the X2 interface, the LTE base station transmits the data to the UE, and the other path of the data is transmitted to the UE through the 5G base station. Fig. 8 depicts how under this architecture, an assisted split (i.e., SCG split) bearer is established.

By the method in the embodiment, the auxiliary base station can obtain the correct bearing configuration parameters, and the UE is configured and scheduled according to the parameters. Meanwhile, the main base station can also share the flow of the load established on the auxiliary base station according to the decision of the auxiliary base station, so that the total flow between the auxiliary base station and the main base station is ensured not to exceed the capability of the UE, and the quality requirement of the load is not met. The examples include the following steps:

in step 901, the primary base station (LTE base station) transmits a secondary base station addition request message to the secondary base station (5G base station).

The primary base station determines to establish a certain bearer at the secondary base station. The bearer may have been previously established on the source secondary base station, or on the primary base station, or a new bearer configured by the MME. The auxiliary base station adding request message comprises the identification of the bearing, the receiving IP address of the bearing in the core network gateway and the tunnel number TEID. The auxiliary base station addition request message also carries capability information of the UE, and the capability of the UE may include two types: (1) Capability of the UE in the 5G access network, the capability information is capability of the UE in the 5G access network, and the capability is not applicable in the LTE access network; and (2) UE generic capabilities in LTE and 5G, which are applicable in both LTE and 5G. The secondary base station addition request message also carries the type of connection determined by the LTE base station, and the type of dual connection established on the secondary base station may include a split bearer, an SCG bearer, or a secondary split bearer. In an embodiment of the invention, the dual connectivity type is an assisted split bearer (SCG split). For the auxiliary split bearer, the main base station may also share part of data transmission, and the LTE base station may pre-allocate an address for downlink data reception, including an IP address and a tunnel number, to receive data from the 5G base station.

The supplementary base station addition request message also carries quality requirement (QoS) information to be established at the 5G base station and an aggregate rate (AMBR) of non-guaranteed rate (non-GBR) traffic of the UE. Quality requirement (QoS) information may include quality class indication QCI, priority ARP, maximum uplink/downlink rate of GBR traffic, guaranteed uplink/downlink rate of GBR traffic. For guaranteed rate GBR traffic, the data rate is set mainly by the maximum rate and the guaranteed rate in the QoS information. For non-guaranteed rate (non-GBR) traffic, the rate of data is set primarily by AMBR. Both quality requirement information (QoS) and UE AMBR are sent by the core network to the master base station, which needs to set the QoS parameters to appropriate values, which may be different from the values sent by the core network, when setting up the dual connection. For the auxiliary split bearer, the quality requirement QoS information carried in the message, that is, the quality requirement QoS information carried in the message determined by the primary base station, may be one of the following setting methods:

1) The QoS information contains two QoS parameters: (1) The quality requirement parameter of the bearer may be a quality requirement parameter received from the core network during the bearer establishment; (2) The quality requirement parameters which are needed to be shared by the auxiliary base stations or the quality requirement parameters which can be shared by the main base stations. The master base station determines, for example, according to its own status, that the master base station can share part of the data with its corresponding quality requirements, i.e. parameters corresponding to a set of quality requirements. According to the total quality requirement and the quality requirement which can be shared by the main base station, the main base station can determine the quality requirement which needs to be born by the auxiliary base station. In particular, it may be mainly represented on the maximum rate and guaranteed rate of GBR. Because the QCI is the same on the primary base station and the secondary base station for one bearer, ARP cannot be changed at will, but the primary base station can determine the maximum rate and the guaranteed rate of the GBR bearer shared by itself, so that the maximum rate and the guaranteed rate of the GBR bearer shared by the secondary base station can be determined. The sum of the maximum rates of the bearers shared by the main base station and the auxiliary base station does not exceed the total maximum rate, and the sum of the guaranteed rates of the bearers shared by the main base station and the auxiliary base station does not exceed the total guaranteed rate. For example, in the total quality requirement parameters, the maximum uplink/downlink rates are set to be 100 respectively, the maximum uplink/downlink rates are set to be 50 respectively, the maximum uplink/downlink rates which can be shared by the main base station are set to be 80, the maximum uplink/downlink rates are set to be 20 respectively, and the maximum uplink/downlink rates which need to be shared by the auxiliary base station are set to be 20 respectively, and the maximum uplink/downlink rates are set to be 30 respectively.

2) QoS information is a quality requirement parameter for the bearer. The quality requirement parameter of the bearer may be a quality requirement parameter received from the core network during the bearer establishment procedure.

And the auxiliary base station determines configuration information borne on the UE according to the QoS requirement and the UE capability. According to the different bearing quality requirement parameters sent by the main base station, the auxiliary base station has corresponding operations:

1) If two QoS parameters are received, one is the quality requirement parameter of the bearer, and the other is the quality requirement parameter which needs to be shared by the auxiliary base station or the quality requirement parameter which can be shared by the main base station. The auxiliary base station determines the quality requirement of the auxiliary base station sharing according to the state of the auxiliary base station, such as the condition of a memory, the quality of an air interface and the like. If the auxiliary base station determines that a part of data is to be shared for the main base station, the auxiliary base station refers to the information sent by the main base station to obtain the quality requirement parameters which can be shared by the main base station, so that the auxiliary base station determines the quality requirement shared by the main base station.

2) If a QoS parameter (i.e., the quality requirement parameter of the bearer) is received, the auxiliary base station determines the quality requirement shared by the auxiliary base station according to its own status, for example, the status of the memory, the quality of the air interface, and so on. If the auxiliary base station determines that a part of data is to be shared by the main base station, the auxiliary base station determines the quality requirement shared by the main base station, especially the guaranteed rate of GBR service and the value of maximum data which need to be shared by the main base station, and the sum of the quality requirements shared by the auxiliary base station and the main base station is ensured not to exceed the quality requirement parameter of the bearing.

The AMBR of the UE may also be carried in the secondary base station addition request message of step 901. The AMBR in the secondary base station addition request message may be one or more of the following:

1) AMBR in the message is the aggregate rate of the non-guaranteed traffic established on the secondary base station as determined by the primary base station. The AMBR may be set to a different value than the UE AMBR sent to the primary base station by the core network, considering that some non-guaranteed traffic is established on the primary base station. If all non-guaranteed traffic is established on the secondary base station, the AMBR may be set to the same value as the UE AMBR sent by the core network to the primary base station. If the non-guaranteed traffic is established on both the primary base station and the secondary base station, the sum of the AMBR on the primary base station and the AMBR on the secondary base station does not exceed the total UE AMBR.

2) The secondary base station addition request message may further include AMBR that may be shared by the primary base station, especially a value of AMBR that may be shared by the uplink. Because the type of the dual connection in the embodiment of the invention is auxiliary segmentation bearing, the auxiliary base station can determine to send data through the auxiliary base station and the main base station, the auxiliary base station determines uplink AMBR segmented to the main base station, and the main base station schedules uplink data of the UE according to the segmented uplink AMBR, namely determines how much uplink resources are allocated. The message may contain AMBR that the primary base station can share, which is to provide a reference to the secondary base station, and the secondary base station sets the AMBR that is split to the primary base station not to exceed this value.

3) The auxiliary base station adding request message comprises a total AMBR (UE-AMBR) of the UE and an auxiliary base station AMBR, wherein the UE-AMBR is the UE-AMBR sent to the main base station by the core network, the auxiliary base station AMBR is the maximum aggregate rate of non-guaranteed services distributed by the main base station for the auxiliary base station, and the auxiliary base station performs data forming and scheduling according to the auxiliary base station AMBR. Generally, the AMBR includes both uplink and downlink values, and in the secondary base station addition request message of step 901, the UE-AMBR may include uplink and downlink values, or the UE-AMBR includes only uplink values. The auxiliary base station knows the auxiliary base station AMBR from the auxiliary base station addition request message, and according to the relation of UE-ambr=main base station ambr+auxiliary base station AMBR, the auxiliary base station can obtain the main base station AMBR, or at least obtain the main base station uplink AMBR.

And for the downlink data, the auxiliary base station controls the received downlink data according to the DL-AMBR contained in the auxiliary base station AMBR, so that the total rate of non-GBR service on the auxiliary base station does not exceed the value indicated by the DL-AMBR. For uplink data, data segmentation is performed at the UE side. The assisting base station may configure an uplink segmentation threshold and a priority cell group for the UE, where the priority cell group may be MCG or SCG. When the uplink data sent by the UE is smaller than a certain specific threshold, the UE may send the uplink data through the priority cell group, and when the data is larger than the uplink segmentation threshold, the UE may segment the uplink data and send the uplink data to the primary base station and the secondary base station through two paths respectively. For uplink data related configuration, the behavior of the auxiliary base station is:

■ The secondary base station may negotiate a different (e.g., a new) primary base station uplink AMBR with the primary base station than the primary base station uplink AMBR indicated by the primary base station. The secondary base station decides whether the uplink AMBR of the primary base station needs modification and informs the primary base station of the modified value through a secondary base station addition response message (described in detail below) of step 902. Because the uplink AMBR of the main base station and the uplink AMBR of the auxiliary base station are equal to the uplink UE-AMBR, the auxiliary base station can calculate the uplink AMBR of the main base station after receiving the UE-AMBR and the auxiliary base station AMBR. The auxiliary base station knows the uplink AMBR of the main base station, and can judge whether the uplink AMBR of the main base station needs to be modified according to the configuration of the auxiliary base station on the uplink data segmentation. For example, if the assisting base station determines that the priority cell group is MCG, the uplink data partition threshold is 200, and the primary base station uplink AMBR is 100, the assisting base station informs the primary base station that the new primary base station uplink AMBR is 200 through the assisting base station addition response message of step 902.

■ The secondary base station does not negotiate with the primary base station, but configures the uplink data splitting according to the configuration of the primary base station. When the auxiliary base station configures uplink data segmentation, the segmentation configuration parameters of the uplink data of the UE can be configured by referring to the uplink AMBR of the main base station and the uplink AMBR of the auxiliary base station. For example, if the secondary base station configures the priority cell group to be MCG, the uplink segmentation threshold cannot exceed the uplink AMBR of the primary base station.

4) The secondary base station adds an AMBR of the primary base station and a total AMBR of the UE (UE-AMBR) to the request message. This example is a modification of example 3) above. From the UE-AMBR and the primary base station AMBR, the secondary base station may calculate the secondary base station AMBR. As described in example 3), the secondary base station may suggest a new primary base station uplink AMBR, or the secondary base station may refer to the primary base station uplink AMBR and the secondary base station uplink AMBR to determine configuration parameters for uplink data splitting. The behavior of each base station is as described in example 3) above. Omitted here.

5) The secondary base station addition request message includes AMBR of the secondary base station and AMBR of the primary base station (including at least uplink AMBR). This example is a modification of example 3) above. The secondary base station may calculate the UE-AMBR based on the AMBR of the secondary base station and the AMBR of the primary base station. Example 3) the secondary base station may suggest a new primary base station uplink AMBR, or the secondary base station may refer to the primary base station uplink AMBR and the secondary base station uplink AMBR to determine configuration parameters for uplink data splitting. The behavior of each base station is as described in example 3) above. Omitted here.

6) The auxiliary base station adding request message comprises the AMBR and SCG of the auxiliary base station to divide the uplink AMBR carried on the branch of the main base station. In this example, the primary base station further determines that the SCG segments the uplink AMBR carried on the primary base station leg, and the secondary base station addition request message of step 901 further includes the SCG segments the uplink AMBR carried on the primary base station leg. Or in other forms, for example, the primary base station informs the secondary base station SCG of the maximum value of the uplink threshold split carried on the primary base station. According to the information carried by the auxiliary base station addition request message in step 901, the behavior of the auxiliary base station may be:

■ If the auxiliary base station adding request message in step 901 contains AMBR of the auxiliary base station and uplink AMBR carried on the main base station branch by SCG segmentation, when the auxiliary base station configures uplink data segmentation of UE end, if the priority cell group is the main base station, the uplink segmentation threshold value cannot exceed the SCG to segment the uplink AMBR carried on the main base station branch.

■ If the auxiliary base station increasing request message in step 901 contains the maximum uplink threshold value of the AMBR and SCG of the auxiliary base station, when the auxiliary base station configures the uplink data division of the UE end, if the priority cell group is the main base station, the uplink division threshold value cannot exceed the maximum uplink threshold value of the SCG division, which is carried on the main base station.

In step 902, the primary base station receives a secondary base station addition response message from the secondary base station. The auxiliary base station increases the response message and carries the auxiliary bearer configuration information to UE. The auxiliary bearer configuration information carries the tunnel number of the downlink data receiving IP address of the S1 interface allocated by the auxiliary base station.

The auxiliary base station addition response message may also carry quality requirement parameters of the auxiliary split bearer, which may be one or more of the following information:

1) The quality requirement parameter is a quality requirement corresponding to data to be shared by the main base station, and the main base station configures a user plane on the main base station, namely an RLC layer and a MAC layer according to the parameter, and configures resources of a corresponding radio connection on the UE so as to meet the quality requirement. The auxiliary base station refers to the quality requirement information contained in the step 901 according to the self situation, and determines the quality requirement corresponding to the data to be shared by the main base station. Specifically, the quality requirement corresponding to the data to be shared by the main base station may be the maximum uplink and downlink rate to be shared by the main base station and the guaranteed uplink and downlink rate.

2) The quality requirement parameter is a quality requirement corresponding to data to be shared, which is determined by the auxiliary base station, and is a QoS quality requirement corresponding to the split bearing accepted by the auxiliary base station. The main base station determines the quality requirement corresponding to the data to be shared by the main base station according to the quality requirement parameter of the bearer sent in the 901 step and the quality requirement corresponding to the data to be shared by the auxiliary base station included in the auxiliary base station added response message in the step, and configures a user plane according to the quality requirement. Specifically, the quality requirement determined by the main base station includes the maximum uplink and downlink rates to be shared, and the uplink and downlink guaranteed rates. For example, in the auxiliary base station increase request message in step 901, the maximum uplink/downlink rates of the bearer are set to be 100, the guaranteed uplink/downlink rates are 50, the auxiliary base station determines that the maximum uplink/downlink rates to be shared are 80, and the guaranteed uplink/downlink rates are 30. The master base station knows that the uplink/downlink maximum rates to be shared are 20 each and the uplink/downlink guaranteed rates are 20 each. The primary base station configures the user plane, i.e. RLC layer, MAC layer, on the primary base station according to the quality requirement and configures the resources of the corresponding radio connection on the UE.

The auxiliary base station increasing response message may also carry an aggregate rate AMBR of the non-guaranteed traffic, which may be one or more of the following information:

1) The AMBR is the aggregate rate corresponding to the non-guaranteed service data which needs to be shared by the master base station, and the master base station configures uplink scheduling resources according to the AMBR. For example, when uplink AMBR is included, the master base station may schedule uplink data of the UE according to the segmented uplink AMBR, i.e. determine how many uplink resources are allocated. For the secondary split bearer, the secondary base station may determine to send some data by the primary base station. When establishing the dual connection, the primary base station configures the AMBR on the secondary base station. If the traffic type is non-guaranteed traffic, the assisting base station may determine AMBR that needs to be shared by the primary base station, and thus in the response message (assisting base station increasing response message), AMBR that needs to be shared by the primary base station may be included, for example, uplink AMBR shared by the primary base station. The master base station receives part of the uplink data from the UE, and after the master base station needs to know AMBR, the master base station can schedule the UE according to the AMBR. The main base station mainly controls the dispatching of uplink data, and the downlink data is mainly controlled by the auxiliary base station, so if the AMBR to be shared by the main base station carried by the message comprises uplink AMBR and downlink AMBR, the main base station can ignore the downlink AMBR and dispatch the UE according to the uplink AMBR.

2) The AMBR is an aggregate rate corresponding to data that the assisting base station needs to share. When the dual connection is established, the primary base station configures an AMBR on the secondary base station in step 901. The secondary base station may determine the AMBR on the secondary base station according to its own situation, i.e. determine the accepted AMBR, which may be the same as the value configured by the primary base station or different from the value. The auxiliary base station tells the value to the main base station, the main base station determines the aggregate rate to be shared by the main base station according to the AMBR to be shared determined by the auxiliary base station and the AMBR to be shared by the auxiliary base station which is preconfigured by the main base station, and the main base station configures uplink scheduling resources according to the AMBR to be shared by the main base station.

The above embodiments relate to quality of service requirement (QoS) parameters of an auxiliary split bearer of an auxiliary base station and an aggregate rate (AMBR) of non-guaranteed rate traffic of a UE. It should be noted that in some embodiments only either of the above two parameters may be involved.

3) In this example, the parameters of the primary base station uplink scheduling may be set in other forms instead of directly including AMBR. The secondary base station addition response message, e.g., of step 902, may carry an uplink data partition threshold and/or a priority cell group indication. The uplink data dividing threshold is allocated by the auxiliary base station to the UE, and the main base station may refer to the uplink data dividing threshold to schedule uplink data, for example, when the priority group indication information indicates that the priority cell group is MCG, the MCG refers to the threshold to schedule the UE.

If the secondary base station addition response message of step 902 contains a primary base station AMBR (e.g., at least an upstream AMBR) or a secondary base station AMBR (e.g., at least an upstream AMBR), the primary base station may calculate a new primary base station upstream AMBR. This means that the primary base station may modify the uplink AMBR of the primary base station according to the indication of the secondary base station, i.e. the primary base station may schedule the UE with the uplink AMBR negotiated with the secondary base station. In downlink, the auxiliary base station controls downlink data received by the auxiliary base station according to the configuration of the main base station, and does not need to negotiate with the main base station. The reason why the uplink AMBR needs to negotiate is that the secondary base station determines the uplink data segmentation threshold and the priority cell group, and the primary base station does not know the configuration parameters of the secondary base station for uplink data segmentation when the UE-AMBR segmentation is performed, so that the primary base station AMBR and the secondary base station AMBR determined by the primary base station may not be suitable. For example, in step 901, the UE-AMBR carried in the auxiliary base station addition request message is 200, the uplink AMBR of the auxiliary base station is 150, the auxiliary base station wants to configure the primary cell group as the priority cell group, and the partition threshold is 100, so that the auxiliary base station needs to reduce the uplink AMBR of the auxiliary base station and improve the uplink AMBR of the primary base station. For example, in the case where the secondary base station uplink AMBR is configured to be 90, the secondary base station addition response message in step 902 may indicate that the primary base station uplink AMBR is 110, or may indicate that the secondary base station uplink AMBR is 90, and the primary base station itself calculates that the new primary base station uplink AMBR is 110.

If the secondary base station addition response message of step 902 does not contain AMBR, this means that the secondary base station is to accept configuration of the primary base station. In downlink, the auxiliary base station controls downlink data received by the auxiliary base station according to the auxiliary base station AMBR configured by the main base station. On the uplink, the secondary base station configures the secondary base station AMBR and other information contained in step 901 to perform scheduling and uplink data division configuration. Specifically, according to the auxiliary base station addition request message in step 901, the auxiliary base station may learn the auxiliary base station AMBR, and the auxiliary base station may learn or calculate the uplink AMBR of the main base station, learn the uplink AMBR of the SCG split bearer on the branch of the main base station, or learn the maximum uplink threshold of the SCG split bearer on the main base station. The assisting base station may refer to any one or more of the above information to determine the uplink data segmentation threshold and the priority cell group when configuring uplink data segmentation. For example, in step 901, the secondary base station addition request message indicates that the UE-AMBR is 200, and the secondary base station uplink AMBR is 150, so that the secondary base station can calculate that the primary base station uplink AMBR is 50, and when the secondary base station configuration priority cell group is the primary base station, the threshold cannot exceed 50.

In step 903, the primary base station sends an RRC reconfiguration request message to the UE. The RRC reconfiguration request message may include configuration parameters of radio resources of the UE by the primary base station and the secondary base station.

Step 904: the primary base station receives an RRC reconfiguration complete message from the UE. After the UE performs radio resource configuration, a response message (RRC reconfiguration complete message) is sent to the base station.

The RRC reconfiguration request message in step 903 may be sent to the UE by the primary base station, or may be sent to the UE by the primary base station and the secondary base station, respectively. The UE may transmit a response message (RRC reconfiguration complete message) to the primary base station and the secondary base station, respectively.

Step 905: and the main base station sends a path switching request message to the MME.

If necessary, the UE performs a random access procedure with the auxiliary base station and synchronizes with the auxiliary base station. After the random access procedure is completed, the new secondary base station may inform the primary base station of the success of the random result, if necessary.

The primary base station may send a path switch request message to the MME, where the path switch request message may include the bearer and its corresponding downlink received IP address and TEID. In this embodiment, the downlink receiving IP address and TEID corresponding to the bearer may be allocated by the secondary base station, and may be sent to the primary base station in step 902. The path switch request message may be sent by the MME to the SGW.

Step 906: the primary base station receives the path switch response message from the MME. The path switch response message contains the uplink IP address and TEID allocated by the SGW.

Step 907: if the SGW allocates a new uplink IP address and TEID, the primary base station sends a configuration update message to the secondary base station to update the uplink IP address and TEID of the bearer. If the SGW adopts the old IP address and TEID, i.e., the same received IP address and TEID as in step 901, this step S907 need not be performed.

If the core network has been upgraded to a 5G core network, the LTE base station may be connected to the 5G core network, which may be referred to as an LTE base station in the present invention, which may send data to the UE together with the 5G base station by means of dual connectivity, the primary base station/secondary base station may be an LTE base station or a 5G base station, dual connectivity in several ways, as described in the background above. A new approach was introduced at 5G, called assisted split (i.e., SCG split) bearer. Under the load, the auxiliary base station receives data from the core network, then the auxiliary base station divides the data into two paths, one path of the data is transmitted to the eLTE base station through the Xn interface, and the eLTE base station transmits the data to the UE, and the other path of the data is transmitted to the UE through the 5G base station. The PDCP layer of the data radio bearer is located at the secondary base station, and after the secondary base station processes the data, the data is divided into two parts, one part is sent from the primary base station to U E, and the other part is sent from the secondary base station to U E.

Referring to fig. 10, it is illustrated how an assisted split (i.e., SCG split) bearer is established under this architecture in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

In step 1001, the primary base station (eLTE base station) sends a secondary base station addition request message to the secondary base station (5G base station).

The primary base station determines to establish some number of quality flows (QoS flows) at the secondary base station. The auxiliary base station adding request message may include an identifier of the QoS flow, a received IP address of a PDU Session (PDU Session) corresponding to the QoS flow at the core network gateway, and a tunnel number TEID. The auxiliary base station addition request message may also carry capability information of the UE, and the capability of the UE may include two types: (1) Capability of the UE in the 5G access network, the capability information is capability of the UE in the 5G access network, and the capability is not applicable in the LTE access network; and (2) UE generic capabilities in LTE and 5G, which are applicable in both LTE and 5G. The secondary base station addition request message may also carry a type of connection determined by the LTE base station, and the type of dual connectivity established on the secondary base station may include a split bearer, an SCG bearer, or a secondary split bearer. In an embodiment of the invention, the dual connectivity type is an assisted split bearer (SCG split). For the auxiliary split bearer, the main base station may also share part of the data transmission, and the eLTE base station may pre-allocate an address for downlink data reception, including an IP address and a tunnel number, to receive data from the 5G base station.

The auxiliary base station addition request message may also carry quality requirement (QoS) parameters of QoS flow to be established in the 5G base station, AMBR of non-guaranteed rate (non-GBR) service in PDU session corresponding to QoS flow, and aggregate rate (AMBR) of non-guaranteed rate (non-GBR) service subscribed by the UE. Quality requirement (QoS) parameters of QoS flow may include quality class indication 5QI, priority ARP.

For non-guaranteed rate (non-GBR) traffic, the aggregate rate of non-GBR data is determined primarily by PDU session AMBR and the AMBR subscribed to by the UE. The actual AMBR is the UE subscribed AMBR if the sum of all PDU session AMBRs is greater than the UE subscribed AMBR, and the actual AMBR is the sum of all PDU session AMBRs if the sum of all PDU session AMBRs is less than the UE subscribed AMBR.

The secondary base station addition request message indicates that the type of dual connection to be established is a secondary split bearer. For the secondary split bearer, the quality requirement (QoS) parameter of the QoS flow carried in the secondary base station increase request message may be received from the core network. The assisting base station determines the mapping of QoS flows to one data radio bearer based on the quality requirements of these QoS flows and the UE capabilities.

The secondary base station may further include AMBR carrying PDU session in the secondary base station addition request message. The AMBR of the PDU session carried by the auxiliary base station addition request message may be an AMBR of the PDU session sent by the core network, or an AMBR smaller than the PDU session sent by the core network. When the whole PDU session is established in the auxiliary base station, the auxiliary base station increases the AMBR of the PDU session carried by the request message not to exceed the AMBR of the PDU session sent by the core network. If some QoS flows in a certain PDU Session are established at the primary base station and other QoS flows are established at the secondary base station, the AMBR for that PDU Session at the primary base station and the AMBR for that PDU Session at the secondary base station may be determined by the primary base station. The total AMBR does not exceed the AMBR of the PDU session sent by the core network.

The auxiliary base station addition request message may also carry an authentication AMBR of the UE. The UE authentication AMBR carried by the auxiliary base station addition request message may be equal to the UE authentication AMBR sent by the core network, or smaller than the UE authentication AMBR sent by the core network. If some QoS flows are established at the primary base station and other QoS flows are established at the secondary base station, the primary base station can determine that the primary base station QoS flow and the UE authentication AMBR corresponding to the QoS flow at the secondary base station. The UE authentication AMBR of the primary base station and the UE authentication AMBR of the secondary base station do not add up to the UE authentication AMBR sent by the core network.

Specifically:

1) The auxiliary base station increases the total authentication AMBR (authentication UE-AMBR) of the UE and the auxiliary base station AMBR, wherein the authentication UE-AMBR is the UE-AMBR sent to the main base station by the core network, the auxiliary base station AMBR is the maximum aggregate rate of non-guaranteed services distributed by the main base station for the auxiliary base station, and the auxiliary base station performs data forming and scheduling according to the auxiliary base station AMBR. Generally, the AMBR includes both uplink and downlink values, and in the secondary base station addition request message of step 1001, the authentication UE-AMBR may include uplink and downlink values, or the authentication UE-AMBR may include only uplink values. The auxiliary base station knows the auxiliary base station AMBR from the auxiliary base station addition request message, and can obtain the main base station AMBR or at least obtain the main base station uplink AMBR according to the relation of authentication UE-ambr=main base station ambr+auxiliary base station AMBR.

And for the downlink data, the auxiliary base station controls the received downlink data according to the DL-AMBR contained in the auxiliary base station AMBR, so that the total rate of non-GBR service on the auxiliary base station does not exceed the value indicated by the DL-AMBR. For uplink data, data segmentation is performed at the UE side. The assisting base station may configure an uplink segmentation threshold and a priority cell group for the UE, where the priority cell group may be MCG or SCG. When the uplink data sent by the UE is less than a certain threshold, the uplink data may be sent through the priority cell group. When the data is greater than the uplink segmentation threshold, the UE may segment the uplink data and send the uplink data to the primary base station and the secondary base station through two paths, respectively. For uplink data related configuration, the behavior of the auxiliary base station is:

■ The secondary base station may negotiate a different (e.g., a new) primary base station uplink AMBR with the primary base station than the primary base station uplink AMBR indicated by the primary base station. The secondary base station decides whether the uplink AMBR of the primary base station needs modification and informs the primary base station of the modified value through a secondary base station addition response message (described in detail below) of step 1002. Because the uplink AMBR of the main base station and the uplink AMBR of the auxiliary base station are equal to the uplink authentication UE-AMBR, the auxiliary base station can calculate the uplink AMBR of the main base station after receiving the UE-AMBR and the auxiliary base station AMBR. The auxiliary base station knows the uplink AMBR of the main base station, and can judge whether the uplink AMBR of the main base station needs to be modified according to the configuration of the auxiliary base station on the uplink data segmentation. For example, if the assisting base station determines that the priority cell group is MCG, the uplink data partition threshold is 200, and the primary base station uplink AMBR is 100, the assisting base station informs the primary base station that the new primary base station uplink AMBR is 200 through the assisting base station addition response message of step 1002.

2) The secondary base station adds an AMBR (authentication UE-AMBR) of the total authentication AMBR of the UE and an AMBR of the primary base station to the request message. This example is a modification of example 1) above. Based on the authentication UE-AMBR and the primary base station AMBR, the secondary base station may calculate the secondary base station AMBR. As described in example 1), the secondary base station may suggest a new primary base station uplink AMBR, or the secondary base station may refer to the primary base station uplink AMBR and the secondary base station uplink AMBR to determine configuration parameters for uplink data splitting. The behavior of the base station is as described in example 1) above. Omitted here.

3) The secondary base station addition request message includes AMBR of the secondary base station and AMBR of the primary base station (including at least uplink AMBR). This example is a modification of example 1) above. The secondary base station may calculate an authenticated UE-AMBR based on the AMBR of the secondary base station and the AMBR of the primary base station. As described in example 1), the secondary base station may suggest a new primary base station uplink AMBR, or the secondary base station may refer to the primary base station uplink AMBR and the secondary base station uplink AMBR to determine configuration parameters for uplink data splitting. The behavior of the base stations is as shown in example 1) above for each base station. Omitted here.

4) The auxiliary base station adding request message comprises the AMBR and SCG of the auxiliary base station to divide the uplink AMBR carried on the branch of the main base station. In this example, the primary base station also determines that the SCG segments the uplink AMBR carried on the primary base station leg, and the secondary base station addition request message of step 1001 also contains the SCG segments the uplink AMBR carried on the primary base station leg. Or in other forms, for example, the primary base station informs the secondary base station SCG of the maximum value of the uplink threshold split carried on the primary base station. According to the information carried by the auxiliary base station addition request message in step 1001, the behavior of the auxiliary base station may be:

■ If the auxiliary base station adding request message in step 1001 includes AMBR of the auxiliary base station and SCG splitting uplink AMBR carried on the primary base station branch, when the auxiliary base station configures UE end uplink data splitting, if the priority cell group is the primary base station, the uplink splitting threshold value cannot exceed SCG to split uplink AMBR carried on the primary base station branch.

■ If the auxiliary base station adding request message in step 1001 contains the AMBR of the auxiliary base station and the maximum value of the uplink threshold of the SCG segmentation bearing on the main base station, when the auxiliary base station configures the uplink data segmentation of the UE end, if the priority cell group is the main base station, the uplink segmentation threshold value cannot exceed the maximum value of the uplink threshold of the SCG segmentation bearing on the main base station.

Step 1002, the primary base station receives a secondary base station addition response message from the secondary base station. The auxiliary base station increases the response message and carries the auxiliary bearer configuration information to UE. The auxiliary bearer configuration information carries the tunnel number of the downlink data receiving IP address of the NG interface distributed by the auxiliary base station, the corresponding QoS flow identifier and the PDU Session identifier to which the QoS flow belongs.

The auxiliary base station addition response message may also carry quality requirement parameters of the auxiliary split bearer. The quality requirement parameter of the auxiliary split bearer may be one or more of the following information:

1) The quality requirement parameter is a quality requirement corresponding to data to be shared by the main base station, and the main base station configures a user plane on the main base station, namely an RLC layer and a MAC layer according to the parameter, and configures resources of a corresponding radio connection on the UE so as to meet the quality requirement.

2) The quality requirement parameter is a quality requirement corresponding to data to be shared, which is determined by the auxiliary base station. The primary base station determines a quality requirement corresponding to data to be shared according to the quality requirement parameter of the QoS Flow sent in step 1001 and the quality requirement corresponding to the data to be shared determined by the secondary base station included in the secondary base station increase response message in this step, determines a quality requirement corresponding to the data to be shared by the primary base station, and configures a user plane according to the quality requirement.

The secondary base station addition response message may also carry an aggregate rate AMBR for a certain PDU Session, which may be one or more of the following information:

1) The AMBR is an aggregate rate corresponding to non-guaranteed traffic data transmitted on an auxiliary split bearer that needs to be shared by a master base station, and the master base station configures uplink scheduling resources according to the AMBR. For example, when uplink AMBR is included, the master base station may schedule uplink data of the UE according to the segmented uplink AMBR, i.e. determine how many uplink resources are allocated. Specifically, some QoS flows included in a Session are established on the primary base station and others are established on the secondary base station, when the secondary split bearer is established, the primary base station may determine PDU Session AMBR that needs to be shared by the primary base station and the secondary base station, where the PDU Session AMBR on the primary base station (called AMBR-1) and the PDU Session AMBR on the secondary base station (called AMBR-2) add up to not exceed the PDU Session AMBR sent by the core network (called AMBR-0). The main base station and the auxiliary base station schedule the UE according to the PDU Session AMBR, and shape (shaping) the data of the whole Session so that the data volume of the PDU Session sent to the core network does not exceed the value indicated by the PDU Session AMBR. For the secondary split bearer, the secondary base station determines to send some data by the primary base station. The auxiliary base station can determine the PDU Session AMBR (called AMBR-3) which needs to be shared by the main base station, wherein the PDU Session AMBR which needs to be shared by the main base station is smaller than or equal to the PDU Session AMBR which needs to be shared by the auxiliary base station (namely, the AMBR-3 is smaller than or equal to the AMBR-2). Thus, in the response message (secondary base station addition response message), the PDU Session AMBR (i.e., AMBR-3) that needs to be shared by the primary base station may be included, whereas in practice the PDU Session AMBR that needs to be shared by the primary base station needs to be determined by AMBR-3 and AMBR-1.

2) The AMBR is an aggregate rate corresponding to data that the assisting base station needs to share. When the dual connection is established, the primary base station may configure a PDU Session AMBR (referred to as AMBR-2) on the secondary base station at 1001. The assisting base station determines the AMBR on the assisting base station according to its own situation, i.e. determines the accepted AMBR (called AMBR-3), which may be the same as the value of the primary base station configuration or different. The value can be told to the main base station, the main base station determines the aggregate rate which the main base station really needs to share according to the AMBR to be shared (i.e. AMBR-3) determined by the auxiliary base station and the AMBR to be shared (i.e. AMBR-2) pre-configured by the main base station, and the uplink scheduling resource is configured according to the AMBR which the main base station needs to share.

The secondary base station increase response message may also carry an aggregate rate AMBR (UE-AMBR) for the UE, which may be one or more of the following information:

1) The UE-AMBR is the UE-AMBR corresponding to the non-guaranteed service data transmitted on the auxiliary split bearer which needs to be shared by the main base station, and the main base station configures uplink scheduling resources according to the UE-AMBR. For example, when uplink AMBR is included, the master base station may schedule uplink data of the UE according to the segmented uplink AMBR, i.e. determine how many uplink resources are allocated. Specifically, some QoS flows included in a Session are established on the primary base station and others are established on the secondary base station, when the secondary split bearer is established, the primary base station determines UE-AMBR that needs to be shared by the primary base station and the secondary base station, and the UE-AMBR on the primary base station (called AMBR-1) and the UE-AMBR on the secondary base station (called AMBR-2) add up to not exceed the UE-AMBR sent by the core network (called AMBR-0). The primary and secondary base stations may schedule UEs according to the UE-AMBR, shape (shaping) data of non-guaranteed traffic for the entire UE such that the amount of data of the UE sent to the core network does not exceed the value indicated by the authenticated UE-AMBR (i.e., AMBR-0). While for the secondary split bearer, the secondary base station determines to send some data by the primary base station. The auxiliary base station may determine that the UE-AMBR (referred to as AMBR-3) that needs to be shared by the primary base station, where the UE-AMBR that needs to be shared by the primary base station is less than or equal to the UE-AMBR that needs to be shared by the auxiliary base station (i.e., AMBR-3 is less than or equal to AMBR-2). The response message (secondary base station added response) may thus contain the UE-AMBR (i.e., AMBR-3) that needs to be shared by the primary base station, whereas in practice the UE-AMBR that needs to be shared by the primary base station needs to be determined by AMBR-3 and AMBR-1.

2) The UE-AMBR is an aggregate rate corresponding to data that the assisting base station needs to share. When establishing the dual connection, the primary base station may configure a UE-AMBR (referred to as AMBR-2) on the secondary base station in step 1001. The secondary base station may determine the UE-AMBR on the secondary base station, i.e. determine the accepted UE-AMBR (called AMBR-3), according to its own situation, which may be the same as the value of the primary base station configuration or different. The value can be informed to the main base station, the main base station determines the aggregation rate which the main base station really needs to share according to the UE-AMBR (i.e. AMBR-3) which is determined by the auxiliary base station and is to be shared by the auxiliary base station in combination with the UE-AMBR (i.e. AMBR-2) which is preconfigured by the main base station, and the uplink scheduling resource is configured according to the UE-AMBR which the main base station needs to share.

The above embodiments relate to a quality requirement (QoS) parameter of a quality flow of an auxiliary base station, an aggregate rate (AMBR) of non-guaranteed rate traffic in a packet data unit session corresponding to the quality flow, and an aggregate rate of non-guaranteed rate traffic subscribed to by a UE. It should be noted, however, that in some embodiments only any combination of any of the three parameters described above may be involved.

3) In this example, the parameters of the primary base station uplink scheduling may be set in other forms instead of directly including AMBR. The secondary base station addition response message of step 1002 may carry an uplink data partition threshold and/or a priority cell group indication, for example. The uplink data dividing threshold is allocated by the auxiliary base station to the UE, and the main base station may refer to the uplink data dividing threshold to schedule uplink data, for example, when the priority cell group indication information indicates that the priority cell group is MCG, the MCG refers to the threshold to schedule the UE.

If the secondary base station addition response message of step 1002 contains a primary base station AMBR (e.g., at least an upstream AMBR) or a secondary base station AMBR (e.g., at least an upstream AMBR), the primary base station may calculate a new primary base station upstream AMBR. This means that the primary base station may modify the uplink AMBR of the primary base station according to the indication of the secondary base station, i.e. the primary base station may schedule the UE with the uplink AMBR negotiated with the secondary base station. In downlink, the auxiliary base station controls downlink data received by the auxiliary base station according to the configuration of the main base station, and does not need to negotiate with the main base station. The reason why the uplink AMBR needs to negotiate is that the secondary base station determines the uplink data segmentation threshold and the priority cell group, and the primary base station does not know the configuration parameters of the secondary base station for uplink data segmentation when performing authentication UE-AMBR segmentation, and the primary base station AMBR and the secondary base station AMBR determined by the primary base station may not be suitable. For example, in step 1001, the authentication UE-AMBR carried in the secondary base station addition request message is 200, the uplink AMBR of the secondary base station is 150, the secondary base station wants to configure the primary cell group as the priority cell group, and the partition threshold is 100, so that the secondary base station needs to reduce the uplink AMBR of the secondary base station and improve the uplink AMBR of the primary base station. For example, in the case where the secondary base station uplink AMBR is configured to be 90, the secondary base station addition response message in step 1002 may indicate that the primary base station uplink AMBR is 110, or may indicate that the secondary base station uplink AMBR is 90, and the primary base station itself calculates that the new primary base station uplink AMBR is 110.

If the secondary base station addition response message of step 1002 does not contain AMBR, this means that the secondary base station is to accept the configuration of the primary base station. In downlink, the auxiliary base station controls downlink data received by the auxiliary base station according to the auxiliary base station AMBR configured by the main base station. On the uplink, the secondary base station performs scheduling and uplink data division configuration according to the primary base station configuration secondary base station AMBR and other information included in step 1001. Specifically, according to the auxiliary base station addition request message of step 1001, the auxiliary base station may learn the auxiliary base station AMBR, and the auxiliary base station may learn or calculate the uplink AMBR of the main base station, learn the uplink AMBR of the SCG split bearer on the main base station leg, or learn the uplink threshold maximum value of the SCG split bearer on the main base station. The assisting base station may refer to any one or more of the above information to determine the uplink data segmentation threshold and the priority cell group when configuring uplink data segmentation. For example, in the secondary base station addition request message of step 1001, the authentication UE-AMBR is indicated to be 200, and the secondary base station uplink AMBR is 150, so that the secondary base station can calculate that the primary base station uplink AMBR is 50, and when the secondary base station configuration priority cell group is the primary base station, the threshold cannot exceed 50.

In step 1003, the primary base station sends an RRC reconfiguration request message to the UE. The RRC reconfiguration request message may include configuration parameters of radio resources of the UE by the primary base station and the secondary base station.

Step 1004: the primary base station receives an RRC reconfiguration complete message from the UE. After the UE performs radio resource configuration, a response message (RRC reconfiguration complete message) is sent to the base station.

The RRC reconfiguration request message in step 1003 may be sent to the UE by the primary base station, or may be sent to the UE by the primary base station and the secondary base station, respectively. The UE may transmit a response message (RRC reconfiguration complete message) to the primary base station and the secondary base station, respectively.

Step 1005: the main base station sends a path switching request message to the core network control node.

If necessary, the UE performs a random access procedure with the secondary base station and synchronizes with the secondary base station. After the random access procedure is completed, the new secondary base station may inform the primary base station of the success of the random result, if necessary.

The primary base station may send a path switch request message to the core network control node. The path switch request message may include the bearer and its corresponding downstream receive IP address and TEID. In this embodiment, the downlink receiving IP address and TEID corresponding to the bearer may be allocated by the secondary base station, and may be sent to the primary base station in step 1002. The path switch request message may be sent by the core network control node to the core network user plane node.

Step 1006: the master base station receives a path switch response message from the core network control node. The path switching response message contains the uplink IP address and TEID allocated by the user plane node of the core network.

Step 1007: if the core network user plane node allocates a new uplink IP address and TEID, the primary base station sends a configuration update message to the secondary base station to update the uplink IP address and TEID of the bearer. If the core network user plane node adopts the old IP address and TEID, i.e. the same received IP address and TEID as in step 1001, this step S1007 need not be performed.

Fig. 7 schematically illustrates a block diagram of a base station 700 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The base station 700 includes a processor 710, e.g., a Digital Signal Processor (DSP). Processor 710 may be a single device or multiple devices for performing different actions in accordance with embodiments of the invention. The base station 700 may also include input/output (I/O) devices 730 for receiving signals from or transmitting signals to other entities.

Further, the base station 700 comprises a memory 720, which memory 720 may have the form: nonvolatile or volatile memory such as Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), flash memory, and the like. Memory 720 stores computer readable instructions that, when executed by processor 710, cause the processor to perform a method according to an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 8 schematically illustrates a block diagram of a base station 800 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. Base station 800 includes a processor 810, e.g., a Digital Signal Processor (DSP). The processor 810 may be a single device or multiple devices for performing different actions in accordance with embodiments of the application. The base station 800 may also include input/output (I/O) devices 830 for receiving signals from or transmitting signals to other entities.

Further, the base station 800 includes a memory 820, which memory 820 may have the form: nonvolatile or volatile memory such as Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), flash memory, and the like. Memory 820 stores computer readable instructions that, when executed by processor 810, cause the processor to perform a method according to an embodiment of the application.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that embodiments of the application include apparatuses related to performing one or more of the operations described herein. These devices may be specially designed and constructed for the required purposes, or may comprise known devices in general purpose computers. These devices have computer programs stored therein that are selectively activated or reconfigured. Such a computer program may be stored in a device (e.g., a computer) readable medium or any type of medium suitable for storing electronic instructions and respectively coupled to a bus, including, but not limited to, any type of disk (including floppy disks, hard disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magneto-optical disks), ROMs (Read-Only memories), RAMs (Random Access Memory, random access memories), EPROMs (Erasable Programmable Read-Only memories), EEPROMs (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only memories), flash memories, magnetic cards, or optical cards. That is, a readable medium includes any medium that stores or transmits information in a form readable by a device (e.g., a computer).

It will be understood by those within the art that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustrations, can be implemented by computer program instructions. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the computer program instructions can be implemented in a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing method, such that the blocks of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration are implemented by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing method.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the various operations, methods, steps in the flow, acts, schemes, and alternatives discussed in the present invention may be alternated, altered, combined, or eliminated. Further, other steps, means, or steps in a process having various operations, methods, or procedures discussed herein may be alternated, altered, rearranged, disassembled, combined, or eliminated. Further, steps, measures, schemes in the prior art with various operations, methods, flows disclosed in the present invention may also be alternated, altered, rearranged, decomposed, combined, or deleted.

The foregoing is only a partial embodiment of the present invention, and it should be noted that it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and adaptations can be made without departing from the principles of the present invention, and such modifications and adaptations are intended to be comprehended within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for establishing split bearers between different radio access technologies, RATs, in a wireless communication system, the split bearers being associated with a secondary cell group, SCG, in a dual connection, the method performed by a primary base station supporting a first RAT, the method comprising:

transmitting a first message to a secondary base station supporting a second RAT for requesting an increase of the secondary base station, the first message comprising a first parameter regarding quality of service, qoS, and a second parameter associated with QoS that a primary cell group, MCG, is capable of sharing, the first parameter being a total quality requirement parameter received from a core network of the first RAT;

a second message is received from the secondary base station,

wherein the second message includes a third parameter regarding QoS to be provided by the MCG;

wherein the first RAT is long term evolution, LTE, and the second RAT is a new radio, NR.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first message comprises information related to a bearer type.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein QoS requirements for bearers of the primary base station and the secondary base station are guaranteed according to a sum of resources provided by the MCG and the SCG.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the information broadcast by the secondary base station informs the secondary base station that the UE is restricted from serving.

5. A method for establishing secondary cell group, SCG, split bearers in a dual connection between different radio access technologies, RATs, in a wireless communication system, the method being performed by a secondary base station supporting a second RAT, the method comprising:

receiving a first message from a primary base station supporting a first RAT for requesting an increase of the secondary base station, the first message comprising a first parameter regarding quality of service, qoS, and a second parameter associated with QoS that a primary cell group, MCG, is capable of sharing, the first parameter being a total quality requirement parameter received from a core network of the first RAT;

a second message is sent to the master base station,

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first message comprises information related to a bearer type.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein QoS requirements for bearers of the primary base station and the secondary base station are guaranteed according to a sum of resources provided by the MCG and the SCG.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the information broadcast by the secondary base station informs the secondary base station that the UE is restricted from serving.

9. A primary base station in a wireless communication system, comprising:

a memory;

at least one processor coupled with the memory and configured to perform the method of any of claims 1-4.

10. An assisting base station in a wireless communication system, comprising:

a memory;

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to perform the method of any of claims 5-8.