CN110519864B

CN110519864B - Message transmission method and device

Info

Publication number: CN110519864B
Application number: CN201810491291.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 朱方园; 李岩
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-05-21
Filing date: 2018-05-21
Publication date: 2021-09-21
Anticipated expiration: 2038-05-21
Also published as: WO2019223405A1; CN110519864A

Abstract

The application discloses a message transmission method and a message transmission device, relates to the field of communication, and is used for enabling a UPF network element to determine how to process a URLLC service message when the message is transmitted through two paths. The message transmission method comprises the following steps: the session management function network element receives first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the double tunnels are associated with a single access network element or are associated with a double access network element; the session management function network element sends second indication information to the user plane function network element according to the first indication information, wherein the second indication information is used for triggering the user plane function network element to add the same serial number to the first message and the second message in the first protocol layer; the first message and the second message are messages transmitted through double tunnels.

Description

Message transmission method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for transmitting a packet.

Background

Three major scenarios of the fifth generation mobile communication technology (5th generation,5G) include: enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive internet of things (mtc), ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC). The characteristics of URLLC include high reliability, low latency, and extremely high availability, and may be applied to various scenarios and applications as follows: industrial applications and controls, traffic safety and controls, remote manufacturing, remote training, remote surgery, and the like.

For example, a single base station or a dual base station may be used to implement reliable message transmission for URLLC service. In the dual-base station mode, an independent user plane tunnel is respectively established between two different Radio Access Network (RAN) network elements and a User Plane Function (UPF) network element, so that data messages are transmitted in two ways. In the single base station mode, two independent user plane tunnels are established between the same RAN network element and the UPF network element, so that data messages are transmitted in two ways. However, the UPF network element cannot distinguish whether the wireless access network side performs two-way transmission in a dual-base station or single-base station manner, so that the UPF network element cannot determine how to process the URLLC service packet, thereby reducing user experience.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a message transmission method and a message transmission device, which are used for enabling a UPF network element to determine how to process a URLLC service message when the message is transmitted through two paths.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the embodiment of the present application adopts the following technical solutions:

in a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a packet transmission method, where the method includes: the session management function network element receives first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the double tunnels are associated with a single access network element or are associated with a double access network element; the session management function network element sends second indication information to the user plane function network element according to the first indication information, wherein the second indication information is used for triggering the user plane function network element to add the same serial number to the first message and the second message in the first protocol layer; the first message and the second message are messages transmitted through double tunnels. In the packet transmission method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the RAN network element determines that the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element or the dual RAN network element, and sends the corresponding indication information to the SMF network element through the AMF network element, and triggers the UPF network element to add the same sequence numbers to the first packet and the second packet in the first protocol layer. When the message is transmitted through two paths, the UPF network element can determine how to add the sequence number to the downlink message.

In one possible embodiment, the second indication information is the first indication information. In this embodiment, the session management function network element sends the first indication information to the user plane function network element, and the user plane function network element decides that the first packet and the second packet add the same sequence number in the first protocol layer.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: and the session management function network element determines second indication information according to the first indication information. In this embodiment, the session management function network element indicates the user plane function network element to add the same sequence number to the first packet and the second packet in the first protocol layer.

In a possible implementation, the sending, by the session management function network element, the second indication information to the user plane function network element includes: and the session management function network element sends a forwarding rule to the user plane function network element, wherein the forwarding rule comprises second indication information. In this embodiment, a message passing manner of the second indication information is provided.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: and the session management function network element indicates the user plane function network element to copy the data packet so as to obtain a first message and a second message. In this embodiment, the session management function network element indicates the user plane function network element to copy the downlink packet.

In a possible implementation, when the first indication information indicates that the dual tunnel is associated with a single access network element, the first protocol layer is a protocol layer located between the single access network element and a user plane function network element. This embodiment provides a way of how to determine protocol layers that add the same sequence number when a dual tunnel is associated with a single access network element.

In a possible implementation, when the first indication information indicates that the dual tunnel is associated with a dual access network element, the first protocol layer is a protocol layer located between the terminal device and the user plane function network element. This embodiment provides a way of how to determine the first protocol layer when the dual tunnel is associated with a dual access network element.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a message transmission method, including: the user plane functional network element adds the same serial number for the first message and the second message in the first protocol layer; and the user plane functional network element transmits the first message and the second message through the double tunnels. In the packet transmission method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the RAN network element determines that the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element or the dual RAN network element, and sends the corresponding indication information to the SMF network element through the AMF network element, and triggers the UPF network element to add the same sequence numbers to the first packet and the second packet in the first protocol layer. When the message is transmitted through two paths, the UPF network element can determine how to add the sequence number to the downlink message.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: the user plane function network element receives indication information from the session management function network element, wherein the indication information is used for triggering the user plane function network element to add the same serial number to the first message and the second message in the first protocol layer; wherein, the user plane functional network element adds the same sequence number for the first message and the second message in the first protocol layer, including: and the user plane functional network element adds the same serial number for the first message and the second message in the first protocol layer according to the indication information. The embodiment provides that the session management function network element triggers the user plane function network element to add the same sequence number to the first message and the second message in the first protocol layer.

In one possible embodiment, the indication information is used to indicate that the dual tunnel is associated with a single access network element or with a dual access network element. In this embodiment, the session management function network element sends the first indication information to the user plane function network element, and the user plane function network element decides that the first packet and the second packet add the same sequence number in the first protocol layer.

In a possible embodiment, when the indication information indicates that the dual tunnels are associated with the single access network element, the adding, by the user plane functional network element, the same sequence numbers to the first packet and the second packet at the first protocol layer according to the indication information includes: and the user plane functional network element adds the same serial number for the first message and the second message in a protocol layer between the access network element and the user plane functional network element according to the indication information. This embodiment provides a way of how to determine protocol layers that add the same sequence number when a dual tunnel is associated with a single access network element.

In a possible embodiment, when the indication information indicates that the dual tunnel is associated with the dual access network element, the user plane functional network element adds the same sequence number to the first packet and the second packet at the first protocol layer according to the indication information, including: and the user plane functional network element adds the same serial number for the first message and the second message in a protocol layer between the terminal equipment and the user plane functional network element according to the indication information. This embodiment provides a way of how to determine protocol layers that add the same sequence number when the dual tunnel is associated with a dual access network element.

In one possible embodiment, the receiving, by the user plane function network element, the second indication information from the session management function network element includes: and the user plane function network element receives a forwarding rule from the session management function network element, wherein the forwarding rule comprises second indication information. In this embodiment, a message passing manner of the second indication information is provided.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: and the user plane functional network element copies the data packet according to the indication of the session management functional network element to obtain a first message and a second message. In this embodiment, the session management function network element indicates the user plane function network element to copy the downlink packet.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a packet transmission method, including: the access network element determines that the double tunnels are associated with the single access network element or the double access network element; and the access network element sends first indication information to the access and mobility management function network element, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the double tunnels are associated with the single access network element or the double access network element. In the packet transmission method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the RAN network element determines that the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element or the dual RAN network element, and sends the corresponding indication information to the SMF network element through the AMF network element, and triggers the UPF network element to add the same sequence numbers to the first packet and the second packet in the first protocol layer. When the message is transmitted through two paths, the UPF network element can determine how to add the sequence number to the downlink message.

In one possible embodiment, the dual tunnels are associated with a single access network element, which is an access network element; the method further comprises the following steps: the access network element receives a first downlink message from the user plane functional network element through a first tunnel in the double tunnels, and receives a second downlink message from the user plane functional network element through a second tunnel in the double tunnels, wherein the first downlink message and the second downlink message have the same serial number in a first protocol layer; and the access network element sends the data packet in the first downlink message or the second downlink message to the terminal equipment. The embodiment provides an implementation manner of how the single access network element forwards the downlink message through the dual tunnels when the dual tunnels are associated with the single access network element.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a packet transmission method, including: the access network element determines that the double tunnels are associated with the single access network element, and the single access network element is the access network element; the access network element receives a first downlink message from the user plane functional network element through a first tunnel in the double tunnels, and receives a second downlink message from the user plane functional network element through a second tunnel in the double tunnels, wherein the first downlink message and the second downlink message have the same serial number in a first protocol layer; and the access network element sends the data packet in the first downlink message or the second downlink message to the terminal equipment. In the packet transmission method provided in the embodiment of the present application, a protocol layer between the terminal device and the UPF network element is added in the RAN network element, so that the UPF network element can copy a packet in the protocol layer and add the same sequence number in the protocol layer regardless of whether the dual tunnel is associated with the single RAN network element or the dual RAN network element. When the message is transmitted through two paths, the UPF network element can determine how to add the sequence number to the downlink message.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises: and the access network element determines that the data packets encapsulated on the upper layer of the first protocol layer in the first downlink message and the second downlink message are the same according to the same serial numbers of the first downlink message and the second downlink message on the first protocol layer. The embodiment provides that when the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element, the RAN network element can perform duplicate removal on the downlink message according to the dual tunnels.

In a possible embodiment, the first protocol layer is a protocol layer located between the terminal device, the access network element and the user plane function network element. This embodiment provides one implementation of a protocol layer that adds the same sequence number.

In a possible implementation manner, the first downlink packet or the second downlink packet sent by the access network element to the terminal device includes a first protocol layer. The method and the device can reduce the logic complexity of the terminal device for processing the downlink data message when the terminal device is switched from a scene associated with the single base station and the double tunnels to a scene associated with the double base stations.

In a possible implementation manner, an access network element receives a first uplink message from a terminal device; when the first uplink message comprises a protocol layer positioned among the terminal equipment, the access network element and the user plane functional network element, the access network element copies the first uplink message to obtain a second uplink message; or when the first uplink message does not comprise a protocol layer positioned among the terminal equipment, the access network element and the user plane functional network element, adding the first protocol layer to the access network element, and copying the first uplink message to obtain a second uplink message; and the access network element sends the first uplink message and the second uplink message to the user plane functional network element through the double tunnels. The implementation mode provides an implementation mode of how the access network element forwards the uplink message to the user plane functional network element.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a message transmission method, including: the access network element determines that the double tunnels are associated with the single access network element, and the single access network element is the access network element; the access network element receives a first uplink message from the terminal equipment; when the first uplink message comprises a protocol layer positioned among the terminal equipment, the access network element and the user plane functional network element, the access network element copies the first uplink message to obtain a second uplink message; or when the first uplink message does not comprise a protocol layer positioned among the terminal equipment, the access network element and the user plane functional network element, adding the first protocol layer to the access network element, and copying the first uplink message to obtain a second uplink message; and the access network element sends the first uplink message and the second uplink message to the user plane functional network element through the double tunnels. In the message transmission method provided in the embodiment of the present application, a protocol layer between the terminal device and the UPF network element is added in the RAN network element, so that the UPF network element can perform message duplication/duplication removal in the protocol layer regardless of whether the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element or the dual RAN network elements. When the message is transmitted through two paths, the UPF network element can determine to receive the uplink message.

In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication device, configured to perform the methods described in the foregoing first aspect and various possible implementations of the first aspect.

In a seventh aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a second communication device, configured to perform the methods described in the second aspect and various possible implementation manners of the second aspect.

In an eighth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication apparatus, configured to perform the methods described in the foregoing various possible implementations of the third aspect and the third aspect.

In a ninth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a second communication device, configured to perform the methods described in the foregoing fourth aspect and various possible implementations of the fourth aspect.

In a tenth aspect, there is provided a communication device for performing the methods of the various possible embodiments of the fifth aspect and the fifth aspect described above.

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, including the communication apparatus according to the sixth aspect, the communication apparatus according to the seventh aspect, and the communication apparatus according to any one of the eighth, ninth, or tenth aspects.

In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, including: a processor and a memory, the memory being configured to store a program, the processor calling the program stored in the memory to perform the method according to the first aspect and the various possible embodiments of the first aspect, or to perform the method according to the second aspect and the various possible embodiments of the second aspect, or to perform the method according to the third aspect and the various possible embodiments of the third aspect, or to perform the method according to the fourth aspect and the various possible embodiments of the fourth aspect, or to perform the method according to the various possible embodiments of the fifth aspect.

In a thirteenth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, where the computer program, when executed by a processor, performs the methods described in the first aspect and the various possible embodiments of the first aspect, or performs the methods described in the second aspect and the various possible embodiments of the second aspect, or performs the methods described in the third aspect and the various possible embodiments of the third aspect, or performs the methods described in the fourth aspect and the various possible embodiments of the fourth aspect, or performs the methods described in the fifth aspect and the various possible embodiments of the fifth aspect.

In a fourteenth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product, which, when run on a communication apparatus, causes the communication apparatus to perform the methods described in the above first aspect and the various possible embodiments of the first aspect, or perform the methods described in the above second aspect and the various possible embodiments of the second aspect, or perform the methods described in the above third aspect and the various possible embodiments of the third aspect, or perform the methods described in the above fourth aspect and the various possible embodiments of the fourth aspect, or perform the methods described in the above fifth aspect and the various possible embodiments of the fifth aspect

In a fifteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip system, including: a processor configured to enable a communication device to perform the methods described in the various possible embodiments of the first aspect and the first aspect, or to perform the methods described in the various possible embodiments of the second aspect and the second aspect, or to perform the methods described in the various possible embodiments of the third aspect and the third aspect, or to perform the methods described in the various possible embodiments of the fourth aspect and the fourth aspect, or to perform the methods described in the various possible embodiments of the fifth aspect and the fifth aspect.

Technical effects of the sixth to fifteenth aspects may be as described with reference to the first to fifth aspects.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a mobile phone according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a first schematic diagram of a protocol stack according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a first schematic signaling interaction diagram of a message transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of two-way transmission performed by a dual RAN network element according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic signaling interaction diagram ii of a message transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of two-way transmission performed by a single RAN network element according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a third schematic signaling interaction diagram of a message transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a fourth schematic signaling interaction diagram of a message transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a fifth schematic signaling interaction diagram of a message transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a sixth schematic signaling interaction diagram of a message transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a schematic diagram of a terminal device being handed over from a dual RAN network element to a single RAN network element according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 15 is a seventh schematic signaling interaction diagram of a message transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 16 is a schematic diagram of a terminal device being handed over from a single RAN network element to a dual RAN network element according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 17 is an eighth schematic signaling interaction diagram of a message transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 18A is a schematic diagram illustrating signaling interaction of a message transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 18B is a schematic signaling interaction diagram ten of a message transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 18C is a schematic signaling interaction diagram eleven of a message transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 19 is a second schematic diagram of a protocol stack according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 20 is a twelfth schematic signaling interaction diagram of a message transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 21 is a schematic signaling interaction diagram thirteen of a message transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 22 is a first schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 23 is a second schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 24 is a first schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 25 is a second schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 26 is a first schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 27 is a second schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The embodiment of the present application takes a scenario of a 5G network in a wireless communication network as an example for description, it should be noted that the scheme in the embodiment of the present application may also be applied to other wireless communication networks, and corresponding names may also be replaced with names of corresponding functions in other wireless communication networks.

Referring to fig. 1, a communication system architecture provided in an embodiment of the present application includes: a terminal device 101, a radio access network (R) AN network element 102, AN access and mobility management function (AMF) network element 103, a Session Management Function (SMF) network element 104, and a User Plane Function (UPF) network element 105.

It should be noted that the interface name between each network element in the figure is only an example, and the interface name may be other names in a specific implementation, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application. For example, an interface between the terminal device 101 and the AMF network element 103 may be an N1 interface, an interface between the RAN network element 102 and the AMF network element 103 may be an N2 interface, an interface between the RAN network element 102 and the UPF network element 105 may be an N3 interface, an interface between the UPF network element 105 and the SMF network element 104 may be an N4 interface, an interface between the AMF network element 103 and the SMF network element 104 may be an N11 interface, and an interface between the UPF network element 105 and a Data Network (DN) may be an N6 interface.

The terminal device 101 referred to in the embodiments of the present application may include various handheld devices, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, computing devices, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem with wireless communication capability; a subscriber unit (subscriber unit), a cellular phone (cellular phone), a smart phone (smart phone), a wireless data card, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) computer, a tablet computer, a wireless modem (modem), a handheld device (dhhand), a laptop computer (laptop computer), a cordless phone (cordless phone) or a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Machine Type Communication (MTC) terminal, a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Station (MS), a terminal equipment (terminal device) or a relay user equipment, etc. may also be included. The relay user equipment may be, for example, a 5G home gateway (RG). For convenience of description, the above-mentioned devices may be collectively referred to as terminal devices.

Taking the terminal device 101 as a mobile phone as an example, a hardware architecture of the mobile phone will be described. As shown in fig. 2, the mobile phone may include: radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 100, memory 120, other input devices 130, a display screen 140, sensors 150, audio circuitry 160, an I/O subsystem 170, a processor 180, and a power supply 190. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the configuration of the handset shown in the figures is not intended to be limiting and may include more or fewer components than those shown, or some components may be combined, some components may be separated, or a different arrangement of components may be used. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the display screen 140 belongs to a User Interface (UI), and the display screen 140 may include a display panel 141 and a touch panel 142. Although not shown, the mobile phone may further include a camera, a bluetooth module, and other functional modules or devices, which are not described herein again.

Further, processor 180 is connected to RF circuitry 100, memory 120, audio circuitry 160, I/O subsystem 170, and power supply 190, respectively. The I/O subsystem 170 is connected to other input devices 130, the display screen 140, and the sensor 150, respectively. The RF circuit 100 may be used for receiving and transmitting signals during information transmission and reception or during a call, and in particular, for receiving downlink information from a network device and then sending the downlink information to the processor 180 for processing. The memory 120 may be used to store software programs and modules. The processor 180 executes various functional applications and data processing of the mobile phone, for example, methods and functions of the terminal device in the embodiments of the present application, by executing the software programs and modules stored in the memory 120. Other input devices 130 may be used to receive entered numeric or character information and generate keypad signal inputs relating to user settings and function controls of the handset. The display screen 140 may be used to display information input by or provided to the user and various menus of the handset, and may also accept user input. The sensor 150 may be a light sensor, a motion sensor, or other sensor. Audio circuitry 160 may provide an audio interface between the user and the handset. The I/O subsystem 170 is used to control input and output peripherals, which may include other device input controllers, sensor controllers, and display controllers. The processor 180 is a control center of the mobile phone 200, connects various parts of the entire mobile phone using various interfaces and lines, and performs various functions of the mobile phone and processes data by operating or executing software programs and/or modules stored in the memory 120 and calling data stored in the memory 120, thereby performing overall monitoring of the mobile phone. A power supply 190 (e.g., a battery) is used to supply power to the above components, and preferably, the power supply may be logically connected to the processor 180 via a power management system, so that functions of managing charging, discharging, and power consumption are implemented via the power management system. In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device 101 may receive a signal from the RAN network element 102 through the RF circuit 100.

RAN network element 102 is a device that provides radio access to terminal equipment 101. RAN network elements 102 include, but are not limited to, enodebs, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) access points, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) base stations, and the like. The RAN network element 102 in the embodiment of the present application may include a single RAN network element or include a dual RAN network element. For example, a dual RAN network element includes a primary radio access network (M-RAN) network element and a secondary radio access network (S-RAN) network element. The single RAN network element or the dual RAN network element may transmit the message with the UPF network element through a dual tunnel.

Taking RAN network element 102 as a base station as an example, a hardware architecture of the base station is described. As shown in fig. 3, the base station 102 may include a building Base Band Unit (BBU) 301 and a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) 302, where the RRU 302 is connected to an antenna feed system (i.e., an antenna) 303, and the BBU 301 and the RRU 302 may be detached for use as needed. Wherein, BBU 301 may include processor 331, memory 332, and bus system 333, and processor 331 and memory 332 of BBU 301 are connected to each other through bus system 333. The bus system may be a peripheral component interconnect standard bus or an extended industry standard architecture bus, or the like. The bus may be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, only one line is shown, but this does not represent only one bus or one type of bus. RRU 302 may include RF circuitry 334 and base station 102 may also include optical fiber 335, coaxial cable 336, antenna 337. The RF circuitry 334 in the RRU 302 and the BBU 301 are interconnected by optical fiber 335, and the RF circuitry 334 and the antenna 337 in the RRU 302 are interconnected by coaxial cable 336. The base stations may include various forms of base stations, such as: macro base stations, micro base stations (also referred to as small stations), relay stations, access points, etc. The RAN network element 102 according to the embodiment of the present application is used for transmitting data between the terminal device 101 and the core network device.

The AMF network element 103 may be responsible for mobility management in the mobile network, such as user location update, user registration network, user handover, etc.

The SMF network element 104 may be responsible for session management in the mobile network, such as session establishment, modification, and release, and the specific functions include allocating an IP address to a user, selecting a UPF network element providing a message forwarding function, and the like.

The UPF network element 105 may be responsible for processing the user packet, such as forwarding, charging, and the like.

The network elements of the AMF network element 103, the SMF network element 104, and the UPF network element 105 may be collectively referred to as core network elements, and the following describes the structure of the core network elements by taking a network device as an example.

As shown in fig. 4, the network device 400 may include at least one processor 401, communication circuitry 402, memory 403, and at least one communication interface 404. The processor 401 may be a general-purpose Central Processing Unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more ics for controlling the execution of programs in accordance with the present disclosure. The communication link 402 may include a path for communicating information between the aforementioned components. The communication interface 404 may be any device, such as a transceiver, for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as an ethernet, a Radio Access Network (RAN), a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), etc. The memory 403 may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a Random Access Memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disk storage, optical disk storage (including compact disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, blu-ray disc, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited to these. The memory may be separate and coupled to the processor via a communication line 402. The memory may also be integral to the processor. The memory 403 is used for storing computer executable instructions (which may be referred to as application program codes) for executing the present application, and is controlled by the processor 401. Processor 401 is configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in memory 403 to implement the methods provided by the embodiments described below.

The method and the device can be suitable for high-reliability message transmission. For example, a single base station scheme or a dual base station scheme may be used to implement reliable packet transmission for URLLC services.

Scheme one, a double-base station scheme:

in this scheme, the RAN network element includes a master radio access network (M-RAN) network element and a secondary radio access network (S-RAN) network element. An independent user plane tunnel is established between two different RAN network elements and UPF network elements respectively to transmit the same data message. Therefore, the terminal equipment can receive two downlink messages containing the same data packet, and the duplication of the downlink messages is removed according to the downlink messages. The UPF network element may receive two uplink messages containing the same data packet, and perform deduplication on the uplink messages accordingly. In the first scheme, the M-RAN network element and the S-RAN network element may respectively allocate different tunnel identifiers to respective user plane tunnels, and both the M-RAN network element and the S-RAN network element are sent to the core network through control plane signaling.

Scheme two, single base station scheme:

in the scheme, two independent user plane tunnels are established between the same RAN network element and a UPF network element to transmit the same data message. Thus, the RAN network element may receive two downlink packets containing the same data packet, and perform deduplication on the downlink packets accordingly. The UPF network element may receive two uplink messages containing the same data packet, and perform deduplication on the uplink messages accordingly. In the second scheme, the RAN network element allocates different tunnel identifiers for two user plane tunnels, and the RAN network element sends the tunnel identifiers to the core network through a control plane signaling.

By means of any one of the two schemes, when the UPF network element sends downlink data, the message is copied to obtain two downlink messages containing the same data packet, and the downlink messages are sent through two different user plane tunnels. Therefore, even if one of the user plane tunnels loses packets, the downlink message of the other user plane tunnel is not affected.

When the terminal device initiates a session establishment procedure to establish a user plane connection between the terminal device and the core network, in order to achieve high reliability of message transmission, the RAN network element may determine whether to perform message transmission of two user plane tunnels by a dual-base-station scheme or a single-base-station scheme. However, the UPF network element cannot distinguish whether the wireless access network side adopts a dual-base station scheme or a single-base station scheme, so that the UPF network element cannot determine how to add the sequence number to the downlink packet. Such uncertainty can affect processing of URLLC service messages, thereby reducing user experience. By the message transmission scheme of the embodiment of the application, the core network can judge whether the wireless access network side adopts a double-base station or single-base station mode to carry out double-path transmission according to the indication information sent by the RAN network element, and further indicate the UPF network element how to add the same serial number to the downlink data.

In one embodiment, the following messaging scheme is applicable to the protocol stack shown in FIG. 5. The terminal device, RAN network element, and UPF network element in fig. 5 may be the terminal device 101, (R) AN network element 102, and UPF network element 105 in fig. 1. As shown in fig. 5, the protocol layers between the terminal device and the UPF network element include a Network Control Protocol (NCP) layer and a Packet Data Unit (PDU) layer; protocol layers between the terminal device and the RAN network element include an L1 layer, a Media Access Control (MAC) layer, a radio link layer control (RLC) layer, and a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer; the protocol layers between the RAN network element and the UPF network element include an L1 layer, an L2 layer, a User Datagram Protocol (UDP)/Internet Protocol (IP) layer, and a GPRS tunneling protocol-user plane (GTP-U) layer. The NCP layer functions to implement high-reliability transmission of packets, and packets containing the same sequence number may be subjected to deduplication processing, which will be further described with reference to fig. 6 to 17 later. The protocol layer that can implement the NCP layer function may also have other names, for example, a Traffic Flow Control Protocol (TFCP) layer or a High Reliability Protocol (HRP) layer, and the present application is not limited herein.

Based on the protocol stack in fig. 5, in the URLLC scenario, as shown in the signaling interaction diagram in fig. 6, two-way transmission may be performed through a dual RAN network element (i.e., scheme one); fig. 7 will be further combined with fig. 6 to show how the UPF network element adds the same sequence number to the downlink data in the dual RAN network element scenario. Alternatively, as shown in the signaling interaction diagram in fig. 8, two-way transmission may be performed through a single RAN network element (i.e., scheme two); fig. 9, in conjunction with fig. 8, further illustrates how the UPF network element adds the same sequence number to the downlink data in a single RAN network element scenario.

For example, the flow of the dual RAN network element using two-way transmission is shown in fig. 6. The process may include the steps of:

s601, the terminal device sends a non-access stratum (NAS) message to the AMF network element through the currently accessed RAN network element.

For example, the currently accessed RAN network element may be a RAN network element that is subsequently an M-RAN network element.

The NAS message includes a PDU session establishment request message for requesting the core network to establish a PDU session for the terminal device. For example, the PDU session establishment request message includes a PDU session identifier (PDU session ID) allocated to the session by the terminal device, single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) corresponding to the session, and a Data Network Name (DNN). Wherein, the S-NSSAI is used to indicate a slice type corresponding to the session. The DNN is used to indicate the data network to which the session corresponds.

S602, the AMF network element selects an SMF network element and invokes a session creation request service operation (Nsmf _ pduse _ CreateSMContextRequest) of the SMF.

The service operation carries a PDU session setup request message.

The following session establishment procedures include: the SMF network element selects the UPF network element, etc., which are not described herein.

S603, the SMF network element invokes a servitization operation of N1N2message passing of the AMF network element (Namf _ Communication _ N1N2 MessageTransfer).

By invoking the servitization operation, the SMF network element sends N1 session management information (N1 session management information, N1 SM info) and N2 session management information (N2 SM info) to the AMF network element. For example, the N1 SM information includes a session acceptance message sent to the terminal device. The N2 SM information includes user plane tunnel information, quality of service (QoS) parameters, session type, etc. transmitted to the RAN network element. For example, the QoS parameters may include a QoS Flow Identifier (QFI).

It should be noted that the SMF network element may determine whether the service accessed by the terminal device is a URLLC service according to the QoS parameter, subscription data, policy, and the like, that is, the service associated with the session is a URLLC service. The user plane tunnel information sent to the RAN network element includes core network dual-tunnel information CN tunnel info-1 and CN tunnel info-2. For example, if the SMF network element determines that the session is associated with URLLC service, two pieces of core network side tunnel information are allocated as core network dual tunnel information, namely CN tunnel info-1 and CN tunnel info-2, and the core network dual tunnel information is included in the N2 SM information.

S604, the AMF network element sends an N2 PDU session request (N2 PDU session request) message to the RAN network element which the terminal equipment is currently accessed to.

The message includes the above N1 SM information and N2 SM information.

S605, the RAN network element which the terminal equipment is currently accessed to initiates a wireless connection establishment process with the terminal equipment.

In this procedure, the RAN network element sends an N1 SM message to the terminal device.

The following steps S606-S611 describe the procedure after the RAN network element currently accessed by the terminal device decides to add the S-RAN network element. Namely, the RAN network element currently accessed by the terminal device becomes an M-RAN network element. For example, the RAN network element currently accessed by the terminal device may determine whether to add an S-RAN network element after receiving the N2 PDU session request message of S604, or may determine whether to add an S-RAN network element after S605, which is not limited herein.

The judgment condition for the M-RAN network element to decide to add the S-RAN network element may include any one of the following conditions: QFI contained in the N2 SM information corresponds to QoS with high reliability requirement; the slice type corresponding to the S-NSSAI contained in the N2 SM information is a URLLC slice; the N2 SM message contains tunnel information of two different UPF network elements. That is to say, when the M-RAN network element learns that the QoS corresponding to the session has a high reliability requirement according to the QFI included in the N2 SM information, or when the M-RAN network element learns that the session is associated with the URLLC slice according to the S-NSSAI included in the N2 SM information, or when the M-RAN network element learns that the session has a high reliability requirement according to the tunnel information of two different UPF network elements included in the N2 SM information, the M-RAN network element needs to provide a high reliability support for the session, thereby determining to add the S-RAN network element. In addition, the M-RAN network element may also determine that high reliability support needs to be provided for the session according to the indication information from the SMF network element. When the M-RAN network element determines that there is another RAN network element (i.e., the following S-RAN network element) capable of satisfying the two-way transmission with high reliability at the current location according to the current wireless signal quality (e.g., obtained through a measurement report sent by the terminal device), the following step S606 is executed.

And S606, the M-RAN network element sends an increase request message to the S-RAN network element.

The message includes a PDU session identification. If only some service flows in the session initiated by the terminal equipment belong to the URLLC service, the message also includes a service flow identifier corresponding to the URLLC service.

S607, the S-RAN network element sends an addition response message to the M-RAN network element.

The message includes S-RAN network element tunnel information (tunnel info). Meanwhile, the S-RAN network element can store the corresponding relation between the tunnel information of the S-RAN network element and the PDU session identification. For example, the tunnel information may include a Tunnel End Identifier (TEID).

S608, the M-RAN network element sends a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message to the terminal device.

And S609, the terminal equipment sends an RRC connection reconfiguration completion message to the M-RAN network element.

And triggering the terminal equipment to carry out RRC connection to the S-RAN network element by the M-RAN network element through the RRC connection reconfiguration process.

S610, the M-RAN network element sends a reconfiguration completion message to the S-RAN network element.

The message indicates that the terminal device successfully completed the reconfiguration process.

And S611, performing a random access process between the S-RAN network element and the terminal equipment.

Through the random access process, the terminal equipment establishes RRC connection with the S-RAN network element.

S612, the M-RAN network element sends an N2 PDU session response (N2 PDU session response) message to the AMF network element.

The message comprises N2 SM information, wherein the N2 SM information comprises M-RAN network element tunnel information and S-RAN network element tunnel information.

S613, the AMF network element invokes a service operation (Nsmf _ pdusesion _ update smcontext) of the request of the SMF network element to update the session management context, so as to trigger the SMF to update the session management context.

The input of the AMF network element to invoke this servitization operation includes the above-mentioned N2 SM message. That is, through this step, the AMF network element transmits N2 SM information including M-RAN network element tunnel information, S-RAN network element tunnel information to the SMF network element.

S614, the SMF network element sends a N4 session modification request (N4 session modification request) message to the UPF network element.

The message includes the tunnel information of the M-RAN network element, the tunnel information of the S-RAN network element and the message forwarding rule. And the message forwarding rule is used for indicating that when the UPF network element receives the message of the URLLC, two downlink messages containing the same data packet are generated and sent to the terminal equipment through the two-way tunnel. Thus, the terminal device can receive two downlink messages containing the same data packet.

It should be noted that, because the terminal device in this scheme receives two downlink packets containing the same data packet, and the terminal device needs to identify which downlink packets are duplicated, further, the terminal device performs packet deduplication on the duplicated packets. Similarly, the UPF network element receives two uplink messages containing the same data packet, and the UPF network element needs to identify which uplink messages are duplicated, and further, performs message deduplication on the duplicated messages. Therefore, a layer above the GTP-U on the UPF side, i.e. a protocol layer (e.g. the NCP layer in fig. 5) between the terminal device and the UPF network element, is needed to assign the same sequence number to the repeated packets, so as to implement the deduplication of the NCP packets with the same sequence number by the terminal device or the UPF network element.

Fig. 7 will describe in detail the processing of the downlink packet by each network element by taking the copy/deduplication of the packet at the NCP layer in the downlink direction as an example.

For example, when a UPF network element receives an IP packet from a Data Network (DN), the IP packet includes an IP address (UE IP) and data (data) of a terminal device that is to receive the packet. The UPF network element identifies which terminal equipment the message needs to be sent to according to the stored PDU session context and the UE IP, encapsulates the IP message into a PDU message, and then generates two NCP messages with the same Sequence Number (SN). For example, one of the methods is: and after adding the NCP serial number to the PDU message, the UPF network element duplicates the NCP message into two parts. The other method is that the UPF network element firstly copies the PDU message into two parts, and then adds the same NCP serial number respectively. In either case, the sequence numbers of such two NCP messages are the same. And the UPF network element respectively encapsulates the messages of the two NCP layers in the GTP-U layer, wherein in the two encapsulated GTP messages, a header of the GTP-U layer respectively comprises a Tunnel End Identifier (TEID) of the M-RAN network element and a TEID of the S-RAN network element. Then, according to the protocol stack shown in fig. 5, the UPF network element sequentially encapsulates the two GTP messages by the UDP/IP layer, the L2 layer, and the L1 layer, so as to generate the first downlink message and the second downlink message. Obviously, the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet have the same sequence number (i.e., the NCP sequence number described above). In this way, the UPF network element can respectively send the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet to the M-RAN network element and the S-RAN network element through the tunnels respectively established with the M-RAN network element and the S-RAN network element. Thus, the M-RAN network element and the S-RAN network element receive the same downlink data, respectively.

In the process of message transmission, after receiving the first downlink message, the M-RAN network element decapsulates the L1, L2, and UDP/IP layers in sequence according to the protocol stack shown in fig. 5, obtains a GTP layer, encapsulates the decapsulated first downlink message according to AN air interface protocol after the GTP-U layer obtains the decapsulated first downlink message (for example, a 5G AN protocol layer: L1 layer, AN MAC layer, AN RLC layer, and a PDCP layer), and forwards the encapsulated message to the terminal device. Similarly, after receiving the second downlink packet, the S-RAN network element decapsulates the L1, the L2, and the UDP/IP layer in sequence according to the protocol stack shown in fig. 5 to obtain a GTP layer, and after obtaining the decapsulated second downlink packet, the GTP-U layer encapsulates the second downlink packet according to an air interface protocol, and forwards the encapsulated packet to the terminal device. After receiving the two-way packet, the terminal device decapsulates the L1 layer, the MAC layer, the RLC layer, and the PDCP layer in sequence according to the protocol stack shown in fig. 5, finally obtains two NCP packets (packets containing NCP headers), and then deduplicates the NCP packets having the same sequence number. And finally, the terminal equipment obtains an NCP message and obtains the data contained in the NCP message.

It should be noted that, in the reliability scheme for the dual RAN network element, it is not limited that the terminal device and the UPF network element must perform message duplication/deduplication at the NCP layer, and may also be another protocol layer above the GTP layer and capable of implementing message duplication/deduplication in the implementation of the scheme. For example, the packet duplication/deduplication may also be performed in a Traffic Flow Control Protocol (TFCP) layer or a High Reliability Protocol (HRP) layer. In other words, for a reliability scheme of a dual RAN network element, the UPF network element needs to assign the same sequence number to the repeated messages at a protocol layer located between the terminal equipment and the UPF network element.

For the single RAN network element, two-way transmission is adopted, and the difference between the scheme and the previous scheme is that when the RAN network element can support double-link establishment (and/or other RAN network elements capable of meeting high-reliability two-way transmission do not exist at the current position), the high-reliability requirement of the URLLC service can also be realized by means of the single RAN network element. The scheme adopts two different user plane tunnels established by a RAN network element and a UPF network element of a core network. Wherein, two TEIDs of the user plane tunnel are distributed by a RAN network element, and then the UPF network element sends the same data message to the two tunnels respectively based on different tunnel information. After receiving the same message, the RAN network element performs deduplication first, and then may send the message to the terminal device by using a high reliability technology on the air interface side.

For example, the flow of the single RAN network element using two-way transmission is shown in fig. 8. Fig. 8 will be described in conjunction with fig. 6. The process may include the steps of:

s801, the terminal equipment sends NAS information to the AMF network element through the RAN network element.

The RAN network element in this step is identical to the M-RAN network element in step S601, and other contents may refer to the description of S601 in fig. 6 and are not described herein again.

S802, the AMF network element selects the SMF network element and invokes a session creation request service operation (Nsmf _ pduse _ CreateSMContextRequest) of the SMF network element.

This step may refer to the description of S602 in fig. 6, and is not described herein.

S803, the SMF network element invokes a servitization operation of N1N2message passing of the AMF network element (Namf _ Communication _ N1N2 MessageTransfer).

This step may refer to the description of S603 in fig. 6, and is not described herein.

S804, the AMF network element sends an N2 PDU session request (N2 PDU session request) message to the RAN network element.

Similarly, the message includes the above N1 SM information and N2 SM information.

The RAN network element learns that the QoS corresponding to the session needs high reliability according to the QoS parameters, such as QoS Flow Identifier (QFI), included in the N2 SM information; or, the RAN network element learns that the session is associated with the URLLC slice according to the S-NSSAI included in the N2 SM information; or, when the RAN network element learns that the session has a high reliability requirement according to the tunnel information of two different UPF network elements included in the N2 SM message, the RAN network element needs to provide a high reliability support for the session accessed to the URLLC slice. In addition, the RAN network element may also determine that high reliability support needs to be provided for the session according to the indication information from the SMF network element. When the RAN network element determines that there is no other RAN network element capable of satisfying the high-reliability two-way transmission at the current location according to the current wireless signal quality (for example, obtained through a measurement report sent by the terminal device), or when the RAN network element itself can support the establishment of the two-way transmission, it is determined to adopt a single-base-station reliability mechanism.

And after the RAN network element determines to adopt a single base station reliability mechanism, two different pieces of tunnel information (tunnel info) are distributed.

S805, the RAN network element initiates a radio connection establishment process with the terminal equipment.

S806, the RAN network element sends an N2 PDU session response (N2 PDU session response) message to the AMF network element.

The message includes N2 SM information, wherein the N2 SM information includes two different tunnel information allocated by the RAN network element.

S807, the AMF network element invokes a service operation (Nsmf _ transaction _ update smcontext) of the SMF network element to update the session management context, so as to trigger the SMF to update the session management context.

The input of the AMF network element to invoke the servitization operation includes the N2 SM message. That is, through this step, the AMF network element transmits an N2 SM message including two pieces of tunnel information to the SMF network element.

S808, the SMF network element sends a N4 session modification request (N4 session modification request) message to the UPF network element.

The input of the AMF network element invoking the service operation includes two different tunnel information and message forwarding rules allocated by the RAN network element. The message forwarding rule is used for enabling the UPF network element to generate two downlink messages containing the same data packet and send the two downlink messages to the RAN network element through two paths when receiving the message of the URLLC. Thus, the RAN network element can receive two downlink messages containing the same data packet.

In addition, for uplink data, when the application of the terminal device generates a message of URLLC, the message is transmitted to the RAN network element through an air interface protocol, and the RAN network element generates two uplink messages containing the same data packet from the message and transmits the uplink messages to the UPF network element through the two-way tunnel. Thus, the UPF network element can receive two uplink messages containing the same data packet.

According to the protocol stack shown in fig. 5, for the single RAN network element solution, if the RAN network element is to duplicate the downlink packet, the RAN network element is to identify which packets are duplicated from the protocol layer (e.g., GTP-U layer) located between the UPF network element and the RAN network element, which requires the UPF network element to generate two packets (e.g., GTP packets) with the same sequence number at the corresponding protocol layer.

Fig. 9 will describe in detail the processing of the downlink packet by each network element by taking the copy/deduplication of the packet at the GTP-U layer in the downlink direction as an example.

For example, when a UPF network element receives an IP packet from a data network, the IP packet includes the IP address (UE IP) and data (data) of the terminal device that is to receive the packet. And the UPF network element identifies which terminal equipment the message needs to be sent to according to the stored PDU session context and the UE IP and encapsulates the IP message into a PDU message. And then the UPF network element duplicates the message into two GTP messages with the same serial number. For example, one of the methods is: and after the UPF network element adds a GTP serial number to the PDU message, duplicating the GTP message into two parts. The other method is that the UPF network element firstly copies the PDU message into two parts, and then adds the same GTP serial number respectively. In any case, the sequence numbers of the two GTP packets are the same. And the UPF network element respectively encapsulates the messages of the two GTP layers in the GTP-U layer, and the heads of the GTP-U layer respectively comprise tunnel endpoint identifiers TEID-1 and TEID-2 of one tunnel in the double tunnels in the two encapsulated GTP messages. The TEID-1 of one tunnel is allocated by the RAN network element, and the TEID-2 of the other tunnel is also allocated by the RAN network element. Then, according to the protocol stack shown in fig. 5, the UPF network element sequentially encapsulates the two GTP messages by the UDP/IP layer, the L2 layer, and the L1 layer, so as to generate the first downlink message and the second downlink message. Obviously, the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet have the same sequence number (i.e., the GTP sequence number described above). Thus, the UPF network element can send the first downlink message and the second downlink message to the RAN network element through the two tunnels established with the RAN network element before. Thus, the RAN network element receives the same downlink data through two different tunnels, respectively.

In the process of message transmission, after receiving the first downlink message and the second downlink message on the GTP layer, the RAN network element decapsulates the L1, the L2, and the UDP/IP layer in sequence according to the protocol stack shown in fig. 5, obtains the GTP layer, deduplicates the GTP message with the same sequence number, then encapsulates the deduplicated message according to the air interface protocol layer (for example, the L1 layer, the MAC layer, the RLC layer, and the PDCP layer in the 5G AN protocol layer), and forwards the encapsulated message to the terminal device. And finally, the terminal equipment obtains a message and obtains the data contained in the message.

As can be seen from comparing fig. 7 and fig. 9, in the dual RAN network element scheme shown in fig. 7, the UPF network element needs to allocate the same sequence number to the repeated packet at a protocol layer located between the terminal device and the UPF network element (for example, the UPF network element generates two NCP packets containing the same sequence number), while in the single RAN network element scheme shown in fig. 9, the UPF network element needs to allocate the same sequence number to the repeated packet at a protocol layer located between the single RAN network element and the UPF network element (for example, the UPF network element generates two GTP packets containing the same sequence number). However, for the network side device, although the core network receives two different tunnel identifiers from the RAN network element, it cannot distinguish whether the radio access network side performs dual-path transmission by using a dual RAN network element or a single RAN network element, and further, the UPF network element cannot judge whether to generate two NCP messages containing the same sequence number or two GTP messages containing the same sequence number. Therefore, different two-way mechanisms can affect the copying processing mode of the UPF network element to the downlink data message.

The message transmission scheme of the embodiment of the invention is realized by the following steps: the RAN network element determines to adopt a reliability mechanism for the URLLC service, indicates the type of the mechanism adopted by the core network, and triggers the SMF network element to indicate a protocol layer in which the UPF network element should copy the data message, so that the data transmission of two paths of the URLLC service and the message duplicate removal are realized.

Before introducing the message transmission scheme of the embodiment of the present application, first, terms that may be referred to in the present application are explained as follows:

the dual-RAN network element described in the embodiment of the present application includes an M-RAN network element and an S-RAN network element, or includes a first RAN network element and a second RAN network element, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit specific names of the RAN network elements.

The tunnel described in the embodiment of the present application may refer to a tunnel used for performing a PDU session between a UPF network element and a RAN network element. The dual tunnel may include a first tunnel and a second tunnel. And the data packets in the messages transmitted by the first tunnel and the second tunnel are the same.

The first downlink packet and the second downlink packet in the embodiment of the application are downlink packets transmitted through dual tunnels, where the first downlink packet is transmitted through a first tunnel, and the second downlink packet is transmitted through a second tunnel. The first uplink message and the second uplink message are uplink messages transmitted through double tunnels, wherein the first uplink message is transmitted through a first tunnel, and the second uplink message is transmitted through a second tunnel.

The association between the dual tunnels and the single RAN network element in the embodiment of the present application means: a double tunnel exists between the UPF network element and a RAN network element, and the message is transmitted between the UPF network element and the RAN network element through the double tunnel. The association between the dual tunnels and the dual RAN network elements in the embodiment of the present application means: a first tunnel exists between the M-RAN network element (or called a first RAN network element) and the UPF network element, and uplink/downlink messages are transmitted between the UPF network element and the M-RAN network element through the first tunnel; and a second tunnel exists between the S-RAN network element (or called a second RAN network element) and the UPF network element, and the UPF network element and the S-RAN network element transmit uplink/downlink messages through the second tunnel.

The embodiment of the application provides a message transmission method, wherein a RAN network element determines whether a dual tunnel is associated with a single RAN network element or a dual RAN network element, and sends indication information indicating that the dual tunnel is associated with the single RAN network element or the dual RAN network element to an SMF network element. When transmitting the downlink message, the UPF network element copies the data packet and allocates the same serial number for the two data packets in the first protocol layer of the encapsulated data packet. If the double tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element, the same message duplication elimination can be carried out by the RAN network element; and if the double tunnels are associated with the double RAN network elements, the terminal equipment is used for carrying out duplicate removal on the same data packets.

Referring to fig. 10, the method includes at least steps S1001-S1005.

S1001, the RAN network element determines whether the double tunnels are associated with a single RAN network element or a double RAN network element.

In one possible implementation, if the session established between the RAN network element and the UPF network element belongs to the session of the URLLC service (for example, the RAN network element learns that the session belongs to the session of the URLLC service through the N2 SM information in step S604 or S804 described above), the RAN network element (i.e., the first RAN network element) determines whether the dual tunnel is associated with the single RAN network element or the dual RAN network element according to whether a second RAN network element satisfying a preset condition exists at the current location. The RAN network element capable of meeting high-reliability double-path transmission is a second RAN network element meeting preset conditions. For example, the measurement report sent by the terminal device may be used to indicate the signal quality between the terminal device and the second RAN network element. The first RAN network element may determine whether the second RAN network element satisfies the high-reliability two-way transmission according to the measurement report sent by the terminal device.

For example, if there is a second RAN network element satisfying a preset condition at the current location, the first RAN network element determines that the dual tunnel is associated with the dual RAN network element, and the first RAN network element may serve as an M-RAN network element and the second RAN network element may serve as an S-RAN network element. And if the current position does not have a second RAN network element meeting the preset condition, the first RAN network element determines that the double tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element, and the first RAN network element is the single RAN network element.

S1002, the RAN network element sends first indication information to the SMF network element through the AMF network element.

The first indication information is used for indicating that the dual tunnel is associated with the single RAN network element or the dual RAN network element. When the dual tunnel is associated with a dual RAN network element, the RAN network element may be the first RAN network element or the M-RAN network element described above.

Accordingly, the SMF network element receives the first indication information.

S1003, the SMF network element sends second indication information to the UPF network element according to the first indication information.

The second indication information is used for triggering the UPF network element to add the same serial number to the first downlink message and the second downlink message in the first protocol layer. The first downlink message and the second downlink message are messages transmitted through double tunnels.

For example, when the first indication information indicates that the dual tunnel is associated with the single RAN network element, the first protocol layer is a protocol layer (e.g., GTP-U layer) located between the single RAN network element and the UPF network element. That is to say, when the first indication information indicates that the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element, the second indication information is used to trigger the UPF network element to add the same sequence number to the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet in the GTP-U layer.

For example, when the first indication information indicates that the dual tunnel is associated with the dual RAN network element, the first protocol layer is a protocol layer (e.g., NCP layer, TFCP layer, or HRP layer) located between the terminal device and the UPF network element. That is, when the first indication information indicates that the dual tunnel is associated with the dual RAN network element, the second indication information is used to trigger the UPF network element to add the same sequence number to the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet in the NCP layer (or the TFCP layer or the HRP layer).

For example, the SMF network element may send a forwarding rule to the UPF network element, the forwarding rule including the second indication information. The forwarding rule is further used for indicating that the UPF network element transmits the message of the URLLC service to the terminal device through the dual tunnels when receiving the message of the URLLC service. Accordingly, the UPF network element may receive the second indication information. For example, the UPF network element may receive the forwarding rule containing the second indication information from the SMF network element. Illustratively, the forwarding rule may be included in an N4 session modification request (N4 session modification request) message.

In one possible embodiment, the second indication information may be the first indication information. That is to say, the SMF network element sends the received first indication information as the second indication information to the UPF network element, and the UPF network element decides the first protocol layer and performs the addition of the same sequence number to the first protocol layer for the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet. For example, when the first indication information indicates that the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element, the UPF network element determines that the protocol layer (e.g., GTP-U layer) between the single RAN network element and the UPF network element adds the same sequence numbers for the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet at the first protocol layer. When the first indication information indicates that the dual tunnels are associated with the dual RAN network element, the UPF network element determines that the protocol layer (e.g., NCP layer, TFCP layer, or HRP layer) between the terminal device and the UPF network element adds the same sequence numbers to the first protocol layer for the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet.

In another possible implementation, after receiving the first indication information, the SMF network element determines second indication information according to the first indication information. For example, when the first indication information indicates that the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element, the SMF network element determines that the UPF network element adds the same sequence number to the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet at a protocol layer (e.g., GTP-U layer) located between the single RAN network element and the UPF network element. Accordingly, the content of the second indication information may be identification information of a protocol layer (e.g., GTP-U layer) between the single RAN network element and the UPF network element, for example, the second indication information may be: GTP-U. When the first indication information indicates that the dual tunnels are associated with the dual-RAN network element, the SMF network element determines that the UPF network element adds the same sequence number to the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet in a protocol layer (e.g., an NCP layer, a TFCP layer, or an HRP layer) located between the terminal device and the UPF network element. Accordingly, the content of the second indication information may be identification information of a protocol layer (e.g., NCP layer) between the terminal device and the UPF network element, and the second indication information may be, for example: NCP. And after receiving the second indication information, the UPF network element adds the same serial number for the first downlink message and the second downlink message in the corresponding first protocol layer according to the indication of the SMF network element.

In a possible implementation manner, the SMF network element may further instruct the UPF network element to copy the data packet to obtain the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet. For example, the SMF network element may instruct the UPF network element to copy the data packet through the forwarding rule to obtain the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet.

Note that the same sequence number may be obtained by duplication or allocation. For example, one method is: and after the UPF network element adds the serial number to the message, the message is duplicated into two parts. The other method is that the UPF network element copies the message into two parts and adds the same serial number respectively.

S1004, the UPF network element adds the same sequence number to the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet in the first protocol layer.

In conjunction with the description in fig. 7 or fig. 9, if the UPF network element receives an IP packet from the data network, the UPF network element may identify to which terminal device the packet is sent according to the stored session context and the UE IP in the IP packet.

In one possible implementation, the UPF network element may copy the data packet (i.e., the data in the IP packet) to obtain the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet according to the indication of the SMF network element.

In a possible implementation manner, the UPF network element may add the same sequence number to the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet at the first protocol layer according to the second indication information.

As described above, when the second indication information indicates that the UPF network element adds the same sequence number to the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet at the protocol layer (e.g., GTP-U layer) located between the single RAN network element and the UPF network element, the UPF network element correspondingly adds the same sequence number to the protocol layer (e.g., GTP-U layer) located between the single RAN network element and the UPF network element for the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet. In addition, the UPF network element adds the TEID of the first tunnel and the TEID of the second tunnel to the GTP-U headers of the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet, respectively, as described with reference to fig. 9.

When the second indication information indicates that the UPF network element adds the same sequence number to the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet in a protocol layer (e.g., an NCP layer, a TFCP layer, or an HRP layer) located between the terminal device and the UPF network element, the UPF network element correspondingly adds the same sequence number to the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet in the protocol layer (e.g., the NCP layer, the TFCP layer, or the HRP layer) located between the terminal device and the UPF network element. In addition, the UPF network element adds the TEID of the first tunnel and the TEID of the second tunnel to the GTP-U headers of the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet, respectively, as described with reference to fig. 7.

When the second indication information indicates that the dual tunnel is associated with the dual RAN network element, the UPF network element may add the same sequence number to a protocol layer (e.g., an NCP layer, a TFCP layer, or an HRP layer) located between the terminal device and the UPF network element for the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet according to the second indication information. In addition, the UPF network element adds the TEID of the first tunnel and the TEID of the second tunnel to the GTP-U headers of the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet, respectively, as described with reference to fig. 7.

When the second indication information indicates that the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element, the UPF network element may add the same sequence numbers to a protocol layer (e.g., GTP-U layer) located between the RAN network element and the UPF network element for the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet according to the second indication information. In addition, the UPF network element adds the TEID of the first tunnel and the TEID of the second tunnel to the GTP-U headers of the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet, respectively, as described with reference to fig. 9.

And S1005, the UPF network element transmits the first downlink message and the second downlink message through the double tunnels.

In a possible implementation manner, the UPF network element transmits the first downlink packet through a first tunnel in the dual tunnel, and transmits the second downlink packet through a second tunnel in the dual tunnel.

If the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element, the UPF network element sends a first downlink packet to the RAN network element through a first tunnel in the dual tunnels, and sends a second downlink packet to the RAN network element through a second tunnel in the dual tunnels, and the method may further include steps S1006-S1007.

If the dual tunnels are associated with the dual-RAN network element, the UPF network element sends a first downlink packet to the M-RAN network element through a first tunnel in the dual tunnels, and sends a second downlink packet to the S-RAN network element through a second tunnel in the dual tunnels, and the method may further include steps S1008-S1010.

S1006, the RAN network element receives the first downlink message from the UPF network element through the first tunnel in the double tunnels, and removes the duplication of the first downlink message and the second downlink message after receiving the second downlink message from the UPF network element through the second tunnel in the double tunnels.

In a possible implementation manner, the RAN network element may determine, according to the same sequence number of the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet in the first protocol layer, that the data packets encapsulated in the first protocol layer in the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet are the same.

For example, the RAN network element may perform deduplication on a first downlink packet and a second downlink packet having the same sequence number on a GTP layer, and obtain a data packet encapsulated in an upper layer of the GTP layer of the first downlink packet or the second downlink packet.

S1007, the RAN network element sends the data packet in the first downlink packet or the second downlink packet to the terminal device.

Correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the data packet in the first downlink message or the second downlink message. The data packet is the data packet encapsulated in the upper layer of the GTP layer of the first downlink message or the second downlink message.

S1008, after receiving the first downlink message from the UPF network element through the first tunnel in the double tunnels, the M-RAN network element sends the first downlink message to the terminal device.

And S1009, after receiving the second downlink message from the UPF network element through the second tunnel in the double tunnels, the S-RAN network element sends the second downlink message to the terminal equipment.

Wherein, the first downlink message and the second downlink message comprise a first protocol layer.

Correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the first uplink message and the second downlink message.

S1010, the terminal equipment deduplicates the first downlink message and the second downlink message.

For example, the terminal device determines that the data packets encapsulated in the upper layer of the first protocol layer are the same in the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet according to the same sequence numbers of the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet in the first protocol layer, further performs deduplication on the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet having the same sequence numbers in the NCP layer (or the TFCP layer or the HRP layer), and acquires the data packet encapsulated in the upper layer of the NCP layer (or the TFCP layer or the HRP layer) of the first downlink packet or the second downlink packet.

In the packet transmission method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the RAN network element determines that the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element or the dual RAN network elements, and sends the corresponding indication information to the AMF network element, where the indication information is finally sent to the SMF network element, and triggers the UPF network element to add the same sequence numbers to the first packet and the second packet in the first protocol layer. When the message is transmitted through two paths, the UPF network element can determine how to add the sequence number to the downlink message.

Fig. 11 and 12 are two implementations of the message transmission scheme shown in fig. 10. In the implementation manner of fig. 11, the RAN network element in the single RAN network element scenario or the M-RAN network element in the dual RAN network element scenario transmits the first indication information and the two different RAN-side tunnel information to the SMF network element through different messages. In the implementation manner shown in fig. 12, the RAN network element in the single RAN network element scenario or the M-RAN network element in the dual RAN network element scenario transmits the first indication information and the two different RAN-side tunnel information to the SMF network element through the same message. Fig. 11 and 12 will be described in conjunction with fig. 6, 8 and 10.

As shown in fig. 11, the process includes the following steps:

s1101, the terminal device sends an NAS message to the AMF network element through the currently accessed RAN network element.

For example, reference may be made to the description of steps S601-S603 in fig. 6. And after selecting the SMF network element, the AMF network element sends the information of QFI, DNN, S-NSSAI and the like of the PDU session contained in the received NAS message to the SMF network element.

S1102, the SMF network element determines that the session is the session of the URLLC service according to at least one of QFI, DNN and S-NSSAI information of the PDU session.

In a possible implementation, the SMF network element may determine that the session is a session of the URLLC service according to the correspondence between the S-NSSAI and the URLLC slice; in another possible implementation, the SMF network element may determine that the session is a session of the URLLC service according to the association of the DNN and the URLLC service; in another possible implementation manner, the SMF network element may determine that the session is a session of a URLLC service according to the PDU session identifier corresponding to the QFI with high reliability requirement, and the like, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

S1103, the SMF network element sends, to the RAN network element through the AMF network element, indication information indicating that the session is a session of the URLLC service.

Illustratively, the indication information indicating that the session is a session of URLLC service may be at least one of QFI, DNN, S-NSSAI information of PDU session; or a flag or indicator that indicates the session is URLLC service alone.

The indication information indicating that the session is a session of the URLLC service may be included in N2 session management information (N2 SM info), and the SMF network element sending the N2 session management information to the AMF network element may be sent by invoking a servitization operation (Namf _ Communication _ N1N2message transfer) of the AMF network element.

And after receiving the N2 session management information, the AMF network element sends the session management information to the RAN network element through an N2 PDU session request (N2 PDU session request) message.

And S1104, the RAN network element determines that the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element or the dual RAN network element according to the indication information.

The RAN network element may determine that the session is a session of the URLLC service according to the indication information involved in steps S1102 to S1103 described above. Further, in order to provide high reliability transmission for the session, the RAN network element may also determine that the dual tunnel is associated with the single RAN network element or with the dual RAN network element according to the manner mentioned in fig. 6 or fig. 8, which is not repeated here.

S1105, the RAN network element sends the first indication information to the SMF network element through the AMF network element.

The first indication information refers to the description in the previous embodiment of the present application, and is not repeated here.

Illustratively, the first indication information may be included in N2 session management information (N2 SM info), and when the RAN network element sends the first indication information to the AMF network element, the N2 session management information may be included in an N2 PDU session request acknowledge (N2 PDU session request ACK) message. When the AMF network element sends the first indication information to the SMF network element, the N2 session management information may be sent by invoking a service operation (Nsmf _ pdussion _ update smcontext request) of the SMF network element. Accordingly, the SMF network element receives the first indication information.

Accordingly, the SMF network element may send a response message to the AMF network element, the response message being used to respond to the PDU session update session management context request message. Illustratively, the SMF network element may send a PDU session update SM context response (Nsmf _ PDU _ update smcontext response) message to the AMF network element.

S1106, the SMF network element sends N1 session management information (N1 SM info) and N2 session management information (N2 SM info) to the RAN network element through the AMF network element.

Since the SMF network element knows that the RAN network element satisfies the high-reliability transmission of the dual tunnel, the N2 session management information includes two pieces of UPF tunnel information, i.e., tunnel-1 and tunnel-2, allocated by the SMF network element.

Illustratively, when the SMF network element sends N1 session management information and N2 session management information to the AMF network element, the N1 session management information and N2 session management information may be sent by invoking a service operation (Namf _ Communication _ N1N2message transfer) of the AMF network element. Wherein, the N1 session management information may include a session acceptance message sent to the terminal device; the N2 session management information may include user plane tunnel information sent to the RAN network element, PDU session identification, at least one QFI (s)), at least one QoS profile (s)), session aggregation maximum bit rate (session-AMBR), PDU session type (PDU session type), and so on.

Illustratively, when the AMF network element sends the N1 session management information and the N2 session management information to the RAN network element, the N1 session management information and the N2 session management information may be included in an N2 PDU session request (N2 PDU session request) message.

Accordingly, the RAN network element receives the N1 session management information and the N2 session management information.

Accordingly, the RAN network element may send a response message to the AMF network element, the response message being used to respond to the N2 PDU session request message. Illustratively, the response message may be an N2 PDU session response (N2 PDU session response) message.

It should be noted that, if the quality of an air interface of the current RAN network element is not good, or the congestion of an air interface signaling cannot meet the requirement of high-reliability transmission, the session establishment fails, which results in the waste of parameter transmission resources such as core network dual-tunnel information (CN tunnel info-1 and CN tunnel info-2); therefore, the SMF network element may only contain N2 session management information for triggering the RAN network element to initiate a high reliability transport for the session in step S1103.

The other realization method is as follows: in the step S1103, the N2 session management information and the N1 session management information are included in the N2 session management information, and the N2 session management information includes parameters such as indication information indicating that the session is a session of a URLLC service, core network dual-tunnel information (CN tunnel info-1 and CN tunnel info-2), quality of service (QoS) parameters, and session type. Step S1106 may be omitted.

S1107, the RAN network element initiates a radio connection establishment procedure with the terminal device.

Illustratively, the RAN network element may send N1 session management information to the terminal device, the N1 session management information may be included in a PDU session establishment accept (PDU session acknowledgement) message, and the PDU session establishment accept message may be included in AN specific resource setup (AN specific resource setup) message.

S1108, the RAN network element obtains tunnel information of the dual tunnels.

For example, if the dual tunnel is associated with a dual RAN network element, the RAN network element performs an S-RAN network element discovery procedure as an M-RAN network element (refer to the description of steps S606 and S607 in fig. 6). And the M-RAN network element distributes the tunnel information of a first tunnel in the double tunnels, and the S-RAN network element distributes the tunnel information of a second tunnel in the double tunnels.

If the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element, the RAN network element allocates tunnel information of a first tunnel and tunnel information of a second tunnel in the dual tunnels. For example, the tunnel information of the different first tunnel and the tunnel information of the second tunnel may be different TEIDs.

And S1109, the RAN network element sends the tunnel information of the double tunnels to the SMF network element through the AMF network element.

In one possible embodiment, if the dual tunnel is associated with the dual RAN network element, the RAN network element may be an M-RAN network element, that is, the M-RAN network element sends the tunnel information of the first tunnel and the tunnel information of the second tunnel to the AMF network element, and the tunnel information of the first tunnel and the tunnel information of the second tunnel may be included in one message or included in different messages.

In another possible embodiment, if the dual tunnel is associated with a dual RAN network element, the RAN network element may include an M-RAN network element and an S-RAN network element, that is, the M-RAN network element sends tunnel information of the first tunnel to the AMF network element, and the S-RAN network element sends tunnel information of the second tunnel to the AMF network element.

For example, when the RAN network element sends the tunnel information of the dual tunnel to the AMF network element, the tunnel information of the dual tunnel (the tunnel information of the first tunnel and the tunnel information of the second tunnel) may be included in N2 session management information (N2 SM info), and N2 session management information may be included in an N2 session response (N2 PDU session response) message. When the AMF network element transmits tunnel information of the dual tunnel to the SMF network element, the tunnel information of the dual tunnel may be included in N2 session management information (N2 SM info), and the N2 session management information may be transmitted by invoking a servitization operation (Nsmf _ PDU session update SM context request) of the SMF network element.

Accordingly, the SMF network element may send a response message to the AMF network element, the response message being used to respond to the PDU session update session management context request. Illustratively, the SMF network element may send a PDU session update SM context response (Nsmf _ PDU session update SM context response) message to the AMF network element.

S1110, the SMF network element sends the tunnel information of the double tunnels and the forwarding rule to the UPF network element according to the first indication information.

For example, the tunnel information of the dual tunnel and the forwarding rule may be included in an N4 session modification request (N4 session modification request) message.

The forwarding rule includes second indication information determined by the SMF network element according to the first indication information, which is specifically referred to the foregoing embodiments of the present application and will not be repeated here.

Referring to fig. 12, the message transmission method may include the steps of:

s1201, the terminal equipment sends NAS information to the AMF network element through the currently accessed RAN network element.

S1202, the SMF network element determines that the session is the session of the URLLC service according to at least one of QFI, DNN and S-NSSAI information of the PDU session.

S1203, the SMF network element sends, to the RAN network element through the AMF network element, indication information indicating that the session is a session of the URLLC service.

Steps S1202 and S1203 may refer to the description of steps S1102 and S1103 in fig. 11, and are not repeated here.

S1204, the RAN network element determines that the dual tunnel is associated with the single RAN network element or the dual RAN network element according to the indication information, and generates first indication information according to a determination result to acquire tunnel information of the dual tunnel.

How the RAN network element determines whether a dual tunnel is associated with a single RAN network element or a dual RAN network element refers to the description in the previous embodiments of the present application and is not repeated here.

How the RAN network element acquires the tunnel information of the dual tunnel may refer to the description of step S1108 in fig. 6, fig. 8, or fig. 11, and will not be repeated here.

S1205, the RAN network element sends the first indication information and the tunnel information of the double tunnels to the SMF network element through the AMF network element.

For example, the first indication information and the tunnel information of the dual tunnel may be included in N2 session management information (N2 SM info), and when the RAN network element transmits the first indication information and the tunnel information of the dual tunnel to the AMF network element, the N2 session management information may be included in an N2 PDU session request acknowledgement (N2 PDU session request ACK) message. When the AMF network element sends the first indication information and the tunnel information of the dual tunnel to the SMF network element, the N2 session management information may be sent by invoking a service operation (Nsmf _ pdusesion _ update smcontext request) of the SMF network element.

Accordingly, the SMF network element receives the first indication information and the tunnel information of the dual tunnel.

S1206, the SMF network element sends second indication information and tunnel information of the double tunnels to the UPF network element according to the first indication information.

The second indication information and the tunnel information of the dual tunnel refer to the description in the previous embodiment of the present application and are not repeated here.

Illustratively, the second indication information may be included in the forwarding rule. The forwarding rule and the tunnel information of the dual tunnel may be included in an N4 session modification request (N4 session modification request) message. Accordingly, the UPF network element receives the second indication information and the tunnel information of the dual tunnel.

S1207, the SMF network element sends N1 session management information (N1 SM info) and N2 session management information (N2 SM info) to the RAN network element through the AMF network element.

This step is similar to step S1106 and will not be repeated here.

S1208, the RAN network element initiates a process of establishing the wireless connection with the terminal equipment.

This step is similar to step S1107 and is not repeated here.

Similarly, the message transmission method is also applicable to the transmission of uplink messages. When transmitting the uplink packet, if the dual tunnel is associated with the single RAN network element, the RAN network element may copy the data packet and allocate the same sequence number to the two data packets in the first protocol layer of the encapsulated data packet, as shown in steps S1301-S1303 and S1306 in fig. 13. If the dual tunnel is associated with a dual RAN network element, packet duplication may be performed by the terminal device and the same sequence number may be assigned to both packets at the first protocol layer encapsulating the packets, as shown in steps S1304-S1306 in fig. 13. For example:

s1301, in a scene that the double tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element, the terminal equipment sends a first uplink message to the single RAN network element.

Accordingly, the single RAN network element receives the first uplink packet from the terminal device.

The first uplink packet may include a protocol layer between the terminal device and the UPF network element. Illustratively, the protocol layer between the terminal device and the UPF network element may be an NCP layer.

S1302, the RAN network element determines that the double tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element, copies the first uplink message to obtain a second uplink message, and adds the same sequence number to the first protocol layer for the first uplink message and the second uplink message.

Wherein the RAN network element is the single RAN network element.

For example, since the RAN network element determines that the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element in the above steps S1001, S1104, or S1204, the RAN network element can learn that the current dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element after receiving the first uplink packet, and further copy the first uplink packet to obtain the second uplink packet, and add the same sequence number to the first protocol layer for the first uplink packet and the second uplink packet.

Illustratively, the first protocol layer may be a GTP layer. The RAN network element may copy the data packet on the GTP layer, and add the same sequence number to the GTP layer for the first uplink packet and the second uplink packet. The RAN network element can also add a GTP head to the first uplink message according to the TEID of the first tunnel; and adding a GTP head for the second uplink message according to the TEID of the second tunnel.

The process of adding the same serial number is described in the previous embodiment of the present application and will not be repeated here.

S1303, the RAN network element sends the first uplink message and the second uplink message to the UPF network element through the double tunnels.

For example, the RAN network element sends a first uplink packet to the UPF network element through a first tunnel in the dual tunnels, and sends a second uplink packet to the UPF network element through a second tunnel in the dual tunnels.

In a possible implementation manner, the UPF network element receives the first uplink packet through a first tunnel in the dual tunnels, and receives the second uplink packet through a second tunnel in the dual tunnels.

Correspondingly, the UPF network element receives the first uplink message and the second uplink message through the double tunnels.

S1304, in a scenario that the dual tunnel is associated with the dual RAN network element, the terminal device generates a first uplink packet and a second uplink packet having the same sequence number at the first protocol layer, sends the first uplink packet to the M-RAN network element, and sends the second uplink packet to the S-RAN network element.

Correspondingly, the M-RAN network element receives the first uplink message from the terminal equipment, and the S-RAN network element receives the second uplink message from the terminal equipment.

The first uplink packet and the second uplink packet have the same sequence number in the first protocol layer, and the data packets encapsulated in the upper layer of the first protocol layer in the first uplink packet and the second uplink packet are the same.

Illustratively, the first protocol layer may be an NCP layer, a TFCP layer, or an HRP layer.

S1305, the M-RAN network element determines that the double tunnels are associated with the double-RAN network element, and sends a first uplink message to the UPF network element through a first tunnel in the double tunnels; and the S-RAN network element determines that the double tunnels are associated with the double-RAN network element, and sends a second uplink message to the UPF network element through a second tunnel in the double tunnels.

For example, because the M-RAN network element determines that the dual tunnel is associated with the dual RAN network element in the above steps S1001, S1104, or S1204, the M-RAN network element can know that the current dual tunnel is associated with the dual RAN network element after receiving the first uplink packet, and further does not need to perform the processing in step S1302, and can send the first uplink packet to the UPF network element through the first tunnel in the dual tunnel after encapsulating the first uplink packet successively according to the L1 layer, the L2 layer, the UDP/IP layer, and the GTP-U layer according to the protocol stack shown in fig. 5.

Since the S-RAN network element is the second RAN network element in the dual-RAN network element, after receiving the second uplink packet, the S-RAN network element can learn that the current dual tunnel is associated with the dual-RAN network element, and does not need to perform the processing in step S1302, and can send the second uplink packet to the UPF network element through the second tunnel in the dual tunnel after successively encapsulating the first uplink packet according to the L1 layer, the L2 layer, the UDP/IP layer, and the GTP-U layer according to the protocol stack shown in fig. 5.

Correspondingly, the UPF network element receives the first uplink message through the first tunnel in the double tunnels, and receives the second uplink message through the second tunnel in the double tunnels.

S1306, for any of the foregoing scenarios, after receiving the first uplink packet and the second uplink packet through the dual tunnel, the UPF network element determines that the data packets encapsulated in the upper layer of the first protocol layer in the first uplink packet and the second uplink packet are the same according to the same sequence numbers of the first uplink packet and the second uplink packet in the first protocol layer.

Accordingly, the UPF network element may obtain the data packet in the first uplink packet or the second uplink packet.

Step S1306 can refer to the description of step S1005 in fig. 10, and is not repeated here.

Since the mobility of the terminal device may cause the terminal device to switch between different RAN network elements, referring to fig. 14, the terminal device may switch from a dual RAN network element high reliability scenario associated with dual tunnels to a single RAN network element high reliability scenario. Thus, the RAN network element currently serving the terminal device is required to re-determine that the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element.

It should be noted that, before the handover, the dual tunnel on the source side is associated with the dual RAN network element (including the source M-RAN network element and the source S-RAN network element). The terminal equipment is switched from the dual-RAN network element to the target RAN network element due to the reasons of movement and the like, wherein the source M-RAN network element adopts the switching based on the Xn interface, a forwarding path is established between the source M-RAN network element and the target RAN network element, and a forwarding path is established between the source S-RAN network element and the target RAN network element.

Based on the above switching scenario, the present application provides another packet transmission method. Referring to fig. 15, the method includes:

s1501, the M-RAN network element in the double-RAN network element selects a target RAN network element, and the terminal equipment is initiated to be switched from the source side to the target side.

For example, a terminal device establishes a dual-tunnel connection with a core network through a high-reliability scenario of a dual-RAN network element at a source side, and due to mobility of the terminal device, the terminal device moves from a service area of the dual-RAN network element to a target area, so that an M-RAN network element in the dual-RAN network element needs to select a suitable target RAN network element at the target side, and continues to provide high-reliability support for the terminal device, thereby implementing switching of the terminal device from the dual-tunnel at the source side to the dual-tunnel at the target side.

S1502, the target RAN network element sends the first indication information and the tunnel information of the dual tunnels to the SMF network element through the AMF network element.

At this time, the first indication information indicates that the dual tunnel is associated with the single RAN network element.

For example, when the target RAN network element sends the first indication information and the tunneling information of the dual tunnel to the AMF network element, the first indication information and the tunneling information of the dual tunnel may be included in the N2 SM information. The N2 SM information may be included in an N2 path switch request (N2 path switch request) message. When the AMF network element sends the first indication information and the tunnel information of the dual tunnel to the SMF network element, the N2 session management information may be sent by invoking a service operation (Nsmf _ pduse _ update smcontext Request) of the SMF network element.

This step is similar to step S1205 and is not repeated here.

It should be noted that, after this step, the SMF network element may send a response message to the AMF network element, and accordingly, the AMF network element may receive the response message.

And S1503, the SMF network element sends second indication information to the UPF network element according to the first indication information.

The second indication information refers to the description in the previous embodiment of the present application and is not repeated here.

S1504, the AMF network element sends a switching confirmation message to the target RAN network element.

Illustratively, the switch acknowledgement message may be an N2 path switch request acknowledgement (N2 path switch request ACK) message.

It should be noted that, after receiving the response message as described in step S1502, the AMF network element may send a handover confirmation message to the RAN network element. And step S1504 has no execution sequence with step S1503.

Accordingly, the target RAN network element receives the handover confirmation message and knows that the handover procedure is successful.

S1505, the target RAN network element sends a resource release request message to the source M-RAN network element to trigger the source M-RAN network element to release the context, and the source M-RAN network element triggers the source S-RAN network element to release the context.

And S1506, the terminal equipment initiates a registration updating process.

Similarly, referring to fig. 16, the terminal device may switch from the single RAN network element to the dual RAN network element, at which time the dual tunnel associated with the single RAN network element switches to the dual tunnel associated with the dual RAN network element.

It should be noted that, before handover, the dual tunnel on the source side is associated with a single RAN network element. The terminal equipment is switched from a source RAN network element to a target M-RAN network element due to the reasons of movement and the like, wherein the source RAN network element adopts the switching based on Xn, a forwarding path is established between the source RAN network element and the target M-RAN network element, and the target M-RAN network element executes the selection process of the target S-RAN network element.

Based on the above switching scenario, the present application provides another packet transmission method. Referring to fig. 17, the method includes:

s1701, the single RAN network element selects a target M-RAN network element and initiates the terminal equipment to be switched from the source side to the target side.

Specifically, a terminal device establishes a dual-tunnel connection with a core network through a high-reliability scenario of a single RAN network element at a source side, and due to mobility of the terminal device, the terminal device moves from a service area of the single RAN network element to a target area, so that the single RAN network needs to select a proper target RAN network element at the target side to continuously provide high-reliability support for the terminal device.

The target RAN network element is an M-RAN network element in the double base stations, and a target S-RAN network element is selected by the target M-RAN network element, so that the terminal equipment is switched from the double tunnels at the source side to the double tunnels at the target side.

S1702, the target M-RAN network element sends the first indication information and the tunnel information of the dual tunnel to the SMF network element through the AMF network element.

At this time, the first indication information indicates that the dual tunnel is associated with the dual RAN network element.

This step is similar to step S1502 and will not be repeated here.

S1703, the SMF network element sends second indication information to the UPF network element according to the first indication information.

This step is similar to step S1503 and is not repeated here.

S1704, the AMF network element sends a switching confirmation message to the target M-RAN network element.

Accordingly, the target M-RAN network element receives the switching confirmation message and learns that the switching process is successful.

S1705, the target M-RAN network element sends a resource release request message to the source RAN network element to trigger the source RAN network element to release the context.

S1706, the terminal device initiates a registration updating process.

Therefore, with reference to the descriptions of fig. 5 to fig. 17, an embodiment of the present application discloses a message transmission method, as shown in fig. 18A, the method includes:

s1801, the SMF network element receives the first indication information.

The first indication information is used for indicating that the dual tunnels are associated with the single access network element or the dual access network element.

And S1802, the SMF network element sends second indication information to the UPF network element according to the first indication information.

The second indication information is used for triggering the UPF network element to add the same serial number to the first message and the second message in the first protocol layer; the first message and the second message are messages transmitted through double tunnels.

In one possible embodiment, the second indication information may be the first indication information. In another possible embodiment, the SMF network element may determine the second indication information from the first indication information.

In one possible implementation, the sending, by the SMF network element, the second indication information to the UPF network element may include: the SMF network element sends a forwarding rule to the UPF network element, where the forwarding rule may include the second indication information.

For example, when the first indication information indicates that the dual tunnel is associated with the single RAN network element, the first protocol layer is a protocol layer located between the single RAN network element and the UPF network element. And when the first indication information indicates that the dual tunnels are associated with the dual RAN network elements, the first protocol layer is a protocol layer positioned between the terminal equipment and the UPF network elements.

In the message transmission method disclosed in the embodiment of the present application, the SMF network element receives indication information indicating that a dual tunnel is associated with a single access network element or is associated with a dual access network element, and accordingly triggers the UPF network element to add the same sequence number to a first protocol layer for a first message and a second message transmitted in the dual tunnel. When the message is transmitted through two paths, the UPF network element can determine how to add the sequence number to the downlink message.

In one possible implementation, as shown in fig. 18A, the method may further include S1803:

s1803, the SMF network element instructs the UPF network element to copy the data packet, so as to obtain the first packet and the second packet.

In addition, an embodiment of the present application discloses a packet transmission method, as shown in fig. 18B, the method includes:

s1811, the UPF network element receives the indication information from the SMF network element.

The indication information is used for triggering the UPF network element to add the same serial number to the first message and the second message in the first protocol layer.

In one possible embodiment, the indication information is used to indicate that the dual tunnel is associated with a single RAN network element or with a dual RAN network element.

In one possible embodiment, the receiving, by the UPF network element, the indication information from the SMF network element includes: the UPF network element receives a forwarding rule from the SMF network element, wherein the forwarding rule comprises indication information.

S1812, the UPF network element adds the same sequence number to the first protocol layer for the first packet and the second packet according to the indication information.

In a possible implementation manner, when the indication information indicates that the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element, the UPF network element adds the same sequence numbers to the first packet and the second packet at the first protocol layer according to the indication information, including: and the UPF network element adds the same serial number for the first message and the second message in a protocol layer between the RAN network element and the UPF network element according to the indication information.

In a possible embodiment, when the indication information indicates that the dual tunnel is associated with the dual RAN network element, the UPF network element adds the same sequence number to the first packet and the second packet at the first protocol layer according to the indication information, including: and the UPF network element adds the same serial number for the first message and the second message in a protocol layer between the terminal equipment and the UPF network element according to the indication information.

S1813, the UPF network element transmits the first packet and the second packet through the dual tunnel.

In the message transmission method disclosed in the embodiment of the present application, the UPF network element may receive an indication of the SMF network element, or add the same sequence number to the first protocol layer for the first message and the second message according to association between the dual tunnel and the dual RAN network element or association with the single RAN network element, and transmit the first message and the second message through the dual tunnel. When the message is transmitted through two paths, the UPF network element can determine how to add the sequence number to the downlink message.

Optionally, the method may further include: and the UPF network element copies the data packet according to the indication of the SMF network element so as to obtain a first message and a second message.

In addition, an embodiment of the present application discloses a packet transmission method, as shown in fig. 18C, the method includes:

s1821, the RAN network element determines whether the dual tunnel is associated with a single RAN network element or a dual RAN network element.

S1822, the RAN network element sends the first indication information to the AMF network element.

The first indication information is used for indicating that the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element or the dual RAN network element.

In one possible embodiment, the dual tunnels are associated with a single RAN network element, which is the RAN network element described above. As shown in fig. 18C, the method may further include S1823, S1824, and S1825:

s1823, the RAN network element receives the first downlink packet from the UPF network element through the first tunnel in the dual tunnels, and receives the second downlink packet from the UPF network element through the second tunnel in the dual tunnels.

The first downlink message and the second downlink message have the same sequence number in the first protocol layer.

S1824, the RAN network element determines, according to the same sequence number of the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet in the first protocol layer, that the data packets encapsulated in the first protocol layer in the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet are the same.

In one possible embodiment, the first protocol layer is a protocol layer located between the RAN network element and the UPF network element.

S1825, the RAN network element sends the data packet in the first downlink packet or the second downlink packet to the terminal device.

In the message transmission method disclosed in the embodiment of the present application, the RAN network element determines that the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element or the dual RAN network element, and sends the corresponding indication information to the SMF network element through the AMF network, and triggers the UPF network element to add the same sequence numbers to the first message and the second message on the first protocol layer. When the message is transmitted through two paths, the UPF network element can determine how to add the sequence number to the downlink message.

In another embodiment, the following messaging scheme is applied to a protocol stack as shown in fig. 19. The terminal equipment, RAN, UPF in fig. 19 may be the terminal equipment 101, (R) AN network element 102, UPF network element 105 in fig. 1. As shown in fig. 19, the protocol layers between the terminal device and the UPF network element include an NCP layer and a PDU layer; the protocol layers between the terminal equipment and the RAN network element comprise an L1 layer, an MAC layer, an RLC layer, a PDCP layer and an NCP layer; the protocol layers between the RAN network element and the UPF network element comprise an L1 layer, an L2 layer, a UDP/IP layer, a GTP-U layer and an NCP layer.

As can be seen from comparing fig. 5 and fig. 19, the protocol stack shown in fig. 19 differs from the protocol stack shown in fig. 5 in that: an NCP layer is added to the GTP layer in the RAN network element, that is, the RAN network element also supports the NCP layer. Therefore, the UPF network element can perform message duplication/duplication removal at the NCP layer regardless of whether the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element or the dual RAN network elements. Therefore, the UPF network element may not need to know whether dual tunnels are associated with a single RAN network element or with a dual RAN network element. When transmitting the downlink message, the UPF network element generates two downlink messages with the same serial number on the NCP layer and transmits the downlink messages to the RAN network element. If the double tunnels are associated with the double RAN network elements, the double RAN network elements respectively send the received downlink messages with the same sequence number on the NCP layer to the terminal equipment, and the terminal equipment performs duplicate removal on the same messages. If the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element, after the single RAN network element receives two messages with the same serial number on the NCP layer, the RAN network element supports the NCP layer, the downlink message can be judged to be a repeated message, and then the same message is subjected to duplicate removal.

In addition, the NCP layer in the protocol stack may also be replaced with a TFCP layer or an HRP layer. The NCP layer is taken as an example to introduce a corresponding message transmission scheme.

Referring to fig. 20, the message transmission method includes the following steps:

s2001, the UPF network element adds the same sequence number to the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet in the first protocol layer.

Wherein the first packet and the second packet are packets transmitted through the dual tunnel.

Illustratively, the first protocol layer is a protocol layer (e.g., NCP layer in fig. 19) located between the terminal devices/RANs/UPFs. The UPF network element can copy the data packet on the NCP layer, add the same serial number for the first downlink message and the second downlink message on the NCP layer, add the GTP head for the first uplink message according to the TEID of the first tunnel, and add the GTP head for the second uplink message according to the TEID of the second tunnel. The process of adding the same serial number is described in the previous embodiment of the present application and will not be repeated here.

And S2002, the UPF network element transmits the first downlink message and the second downlink message through the double tunnels.

For example, the UPF network element transmits the first downlink packet through a first tunnel in the dual tunnel, and transmits the second downlink packet through a second tunnel in the dual tunnel.

The method may further include steps S2006-S2010, if the dual tunnel is associated with a dual RAN network element. The steps S2006-S2010 can refer to the descriptions of the steps S1008-S1010 in fig. 10, and are not described herein again. The method may further comprise steps S2003-S2005 if the dual tunnel is associated with a single RAN network element.

S2003, the RAN network element receives the first downlink message from the UPF network element through the first tunnel in the double tunnels, and after receiving the second downlink message from the UPF network element through the second tunnel in the double tunnels, the RAN network element determines that the double tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element.

Wherein the single RAN network element is the RAN network element.

And S2004, the RAN network element performs duplicate removal on the first downlink message and the second downlink message with the same serial number in the first protocol layer to obtain a data packet in the first downlink message or the second downlink message.

For example, the RAN network element may perform deduplication on a first downlink packet and a second downlink packet having the same sequence number in an NCP layer (or a TFCP layer or an HRP layer), and obtain a data packet encapsulated in an upper layer of the NCP layer (or the TFCP layer or the HRP layer) of the first downlink packet or the second downlink packet.

S2005, the RAN network element sends the data packet in the first downlink packet or the second downlink packet to the terminal device.

The data packet is the data packet encapsulated in the upper layer of the NCP layer (or the TFCP layer or the HRP layer) of the first downlink packet or the second downlink packet.

For example, after receiving the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet, the RAN network element may remove the GTP header of the encapsulation, deduplicate the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet having the same sequence number in the NCP layer (or the TFCP layer or the HRP layer), and obtain the data packet encapsulated in the upper layer of the NCP layer (or the TFCP layer or the HRP layer) of the first downlink packet or the second downlink packet.

In a possible implementation manner, the first downlink packet or the second downlink packet sent by the RAN network element to the terminal device may include a first protocol layer, and for example, when the first protocol layer is an NCP layer, a TFCP layer, or an HRP layer, the first downlink packet or the second downlink packet may include the NCP layer, the TFCP layer, or the HRP layer. The first protocol layer can reduce the logic complexity of the terminal equipment for processing the downlink data message when the terminal equipment is switched from a scene associated with the single base station and the double tunnels to a scene associated with the double base stations.

In another possible implementation, the first downlink packet or the second downlink packet sent by the RAN network element to the terminal device may not include the first protocol layer. Not including the first protocol layer may reduce overhead of air interface signaling. In the scenario that the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element, the RAN network element determines that the data packets encapsulated in the first protocol layer in the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet are the same according to the same sequence numbers of the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet in the first protocol layer, and further, the terminal device does not need to determine whether the downlink packets are the same according to the sequence number of the first protocol layer, so that the first downlink packet or the second downlink packet sent by the RAN network element to the terminal device may not include the first protocol layer. Correspondingly, the terminal equipment receives the data packet in the first downlink message or the second downlink message. Therefore, the first downlink message or the second downlink message received by the terminal device from the RAN network element is the message after the RAN network element has been deduplicated, and the terminal device does not need to execute the deduplication action.

In the packet transmission method provided in the embodiment of the present application, a protocol layer between the terminal device and the UPF network element is added in the RAN network element, so that the UPF network element can copy/deduplicate a packet in the protocol layer and add the same sequence number in the protocol layer regardless of whether the dual tunnel is associated with the single RAN network element or the dual RAN network element. When the message is transmitted through two paths, the UPF network element can determine how to add the sequence number to the downlink message.

Similarly, the message transmission method is also applicable to the transmission of uplink messages. When transmitting the uplink packet, if the dual tunnel is associated with the single RAN network element, the RAN network element may copy the data packets and assign the same sequence number to the two data packets at the first protocol layer of the encapsulated data packet, as in steps S2101 to S2103 and S2106 in fig. 21. If the dual tunnels are associated with dual RAN network elements, the terminal device may perform packet duplication and assign the same sequence number to both packets at the first protocol layer encapsulating the packets. As in steps S2104-S2106 in fig. 21. Steps S2104 to S2109 can refer to the description of steps S1304 to S1306 in fig. 13, and are not described herein again. For example:

s2101, under the scene that the double tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element, the terminal equipment sends a first uplink message to the single RAN network element.

In a possible implementation manner, the first uplink packet may include a protocol layer among the terminal device, the RAN network element, and the UPF network element, that is, include the first protocol layer. Whether the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element or the dual RAN network elements, the first uplink message may include the first protocol layer, so that the logic complexity of the terminal device in processing the uplink message when the terminal device switches from a scenario in which the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element to a scenario in which the dual tunnels are associated with the dual RAN network elements can be reduced. In another possible implementation manner, the first uplink packet may not include a protocol layer between the terminal device, the RAN network element, and the UPF network element, that is, the first protocol layer is not included. Not including the first protocol layer may reduce overhead of air interface signaling.

Correspondingly, the single RAN network element receives the first uplink message from the terminal equipment.

S2102, the RAN network element determines that the double tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element, and when the first uplink message comprises a protocol layer among the terminal equipment, the RAN network element and the UPF network element, the RAN network element copies the first uplink message to obtain a second uplink message; or when the first uplink message does not include a protocol layer among the terminal equipment, the RAN network element and the UPF network element, the RAN network element adds the first protocol layer and copies the first uplink message to obtain a second uplink message.

Wherein the RAN network element is the single RAN network element.

For example, since the RAN network element determines that the dual tunnel is associated with the single RAN network element in the above step S1001, S1104 or S1204, the RAN network element may learn that the current dual tunnel is associated with the single RAN network element after receiving the first uplink packet.

The protocol layer between the terminal device and the UPF network element and the first protocol layer may be an NCP layer, a TFCP layer, or an HRP layer.

For example, when the first uplink packet includes an NCP layer, a TFCP layer, or an HRP layer, the RAN network element may copy the data packet in the NCP layer, the TFCP layer, or the HRP layer, and add the same sequence number to the NCP layer, the TFCP layer, or the HRP layer for the first uplink packet and the second uplink packet. The RAN network element can also add a GTP head to the first uplink message according to the TEID of the first tunnel; and adding a GTP head for the second uplink message according to the TEID of the second tunnel.

Illustratively, when the first uplink packet does not include the NCP layer, the TFCP layer, or the HRP layer, the RAN network element adds the NCP layer, the TFCP layer, or the HRP layer to the first uplink packet, copies the data packet in the NCP layer, the TFCP layer, or the HRP layer, and adds the same sequence number to the NCP layer, the TFCP layer, or the HRP layer for the first uplink packet and the second uplink packet. The RAN network element can also add a GTP head to the first uplink message according to the TEID of the first tunnel; and adding a GTP head for the second uplink message according to the TEID of the second tunnel.

As can be seen from the above steps, in step S2101, when the first uplink packet sent to the RAN network element by the terminal device does not include the first protocol layer, the single RAN network element adds the first protocol layer to the first uplink packet and copies the first uplink packet to obtain the second uplink packet. Therefore, when the first uplink packet does not include the first protocol layer, the RAN network element is not affected to generate the first uplink packet and the second uplink packet with the same sequence number at the first protocol layer, so that the overhead of an air interface signaling can be reduced.

S2103, the RAN network element sends the first uplink message and the second uplink message to the UPF network element through the double tunnels.

This step is similar to S1303 and is not repeated here.

Therefore, in conjunction with the descriptions of fig. 19 to fig. 21, when the terminal device, the RAN network element, and the UPF network element all support the NCP layer (or the TFCP layer or the HRP layer), the RAN network element may not send the first indication information to the SMF network element.

For the RAN side, step S1822 in fig. 18C may be omitted. Alternatively, step S1822 in fig. 18C may be an optional step.

In the message transmission method provided in the embodiment of the present application, a protocol layer between the terminal device and the UPF network element is added in the RAN network element, so that the UPF network element can perform message duplication/duplication removal in the protocol layer regardless of whether the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element or the dual RAN network elements. When the message is transmitted through two paths, the UPF network element can determine to receive the uplink message.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a communication apparatus, which can be used to execute the function of the RAN network element in the foregoing method. In the embodiment of the present application, the communication apparatus may be divided into the functional modules according to the method example, for example, each functional module may be divided according to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode. It should be noted that, the division of the modules in the present application is schematic, and is only a logical function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation.

In the case of dividing each functional module by corresponding functions, fig. 22 shows a schematic diagram of a possible structure of the communication device according to the above embodiment, and the communication device 22 may include: reception section 2211, determination section 2212, transmission section 2213, and copy section 2214. The above-mentioned units are used to support the communication device to perform the related method of the RAN network element in any of fig. 6, 8, 10-13, 15, 17-18C, 20, 21. The communication device provided by the present application is configured to execute the corresponding method provided above, and therefore, the corresponding features and the achieved beneficial effects thereof refer to the beneficial effects in the corresponding method provided above, and are not described herein again. It should be noted that the above units are optional. Illustratively, the communication device 22 may include a determining unit 2212 and a sending unit 2213, and optionally, the communication device 22 may further include a receiving unit 2211. Alternatively, the communication apparatus 22 may include a receiving unit 2211, a determining unit 2212, and a transmitting unit 2213, and optionally, the communication apparatus 22 may further include a copying unit 2214.

Exemplarily, the receiving unit 2211 is configured to support the communication device 22 to execute the processes S601, S604, S605, S606, S607, S609, and S611 in fig. 6, or the processes S801, S804, and S805 in fig. 8, or the process S1006 in fig. 10, or the processes S1101, S1103, and S1106 in fig. 11, or the processes S1201, S1203, S1207, and S1208 in fig. 12, or the processes S1301 and S1304 in fig. 13, or the processes S1501, S1504, S1505, and S1506 in fig. 15, or the processes S1701, S1704, S1705, and S1706 in fig. 17, or the process S1823 in fig. 18C, the processes S2004, S2006, and S2008 in fig. 20, or the processes S2101 and S2104 in fig. 21; the determination unit 2212 is configured to support the communication device 22 to execute the process S1001 in fig. 10, the process S1104 in fig. 11, the process S1204 in fig. 12, the process S1302 in fig. 13, the processes S1821 and S1824 in fig. 18C, the process S2003 in fig. 20, or the process S2102 in fig. 21; the transmitting unit 2213 is configured to support the communication apparatus 22 to execute processes S601, S605, S606, S607, S608, S610, S611, S612 in fig. 6, or processes S801, S805, S806 in fig. 8, or processes S1002, S1007-S1009 in fig. 10, or processes S1101, S1105, S1107, S1109 in fig. 11, or processes S1201, S1205, S1208 in fig. 12, or processes S1303, S1305 in fig. 13, or processes S1501, S1502, S1504, S1505, S1506 in fig. 15, or processes S1701, S1702, S1705, S1706 in fig. 17, or processes S1822, S1825 in fig. 18C, or processes S2005, S2007, S2009 in fig. 20, or processes S2103, S2105 in fig. 21; the copy unit 2214 is used to support the communication apparatus 22 to execute the process S1302 in fig. 13 or the process S2102 in fig. 21. All relevant contents of each step related to the above method embodiment may be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and are not described herein again.

In a possible implementation, the determining unit 2212 is configured to determine that the dual tunnels are associated with a single RAN network element or a dual RAN network element; a sending unit 2213, configured to send first indication information to the AMF network element, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the dual tunnel determined by the determining unit 2212 is associated with the single access network element or is associated with the dual access network element.

In one possible embodiment, the dual tunnels are associated with a single RAN network element, which is the communication device 22; the communication device 22 may further include a receiving unit 2211; a receiving unit 2211, configured to receive a first downlink packet from a UPF network element through a first tunnel in a dual tunnel, and receive a second downlink packet from the UPF network element through a second tunnel in the dual tunnel, where the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet have the same sequence number in a first protocol layer; the sending unit 2213 is further configured to send, to the terminal device, the data packet in the first downlink packet or the second downlink packet received by the receiving unit 2211.

In one possible implementation, the determining unit 2212 is configured to determine that the dual tunnels are associated with a single RAN network element, which is the communication device 22; a receiving unit 2211, configured to receive a first downlink packet from the UPF network element through a first tunnel in the dual tunnels determined by the determining unit 2212, and receive a second downlink packet from the UPF network element through a second tunnel in the dual tunnels, where the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet have the same sequence number in the first protocol layer; a sending unit 2213, configured to send the data packet in the first downlink packet or the second downlink packet to the terminal device.

In a possible implementation manner, the determining unit 2212 is further configured to determine, according to the same sequence number of the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet at the first protocol layer, that the data packets encapsulated at the upper layer of the first protocol layer in the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet are the same.

In one possible implementation, the first downlink packet or the second downlink packet sent by the sending unit 2213 to the terminal device includes the first protocol layer.

In one possible implementation, the communication device 22 further includes a copy unit 2214: a receiving unit 2211, further configured to receive a first uplink packet from a terminal device; a copying unit 2214, configured to copy the first uplink packet to obtain a second uplink packet when the first uplink packet received by the receiving unit 2211 includes a protocol layer located between the terminal device and the UPF network element; or when the first uplink message does not comprise a protocol layer between the terminal equipment and the UPF network element, adding the first protocol layer, and copying the first uplink message to obtain a second uplink message; the sending unit 2213 is further configured to send the first uplink packet and the second uplink packet copied by the copying unit 2214 to the UPF network element through the dual tunnel.

In one possible implementation, the determining unit 2212 is configured to determine that the dual tunnels are associated with a single RAN network element, which is the communication device 22; a receiving unit 2211, configured to receive a first uplink packet from a terminal device; a copying unit 2214, configured to copy the first uplink packet to obtain a second uplink packet when the first uplink packet received by the receiving unit 2211 includes a protocol layer located between the terminal device and the UPF network element; or when the first uplink message does not comprise a protocol layer between the terminal equipment and the UPF network element, adding the first protocol layer, and copying the first uplink message to obtain a second uplink message; a sending unit 2213, configured to send the first uplink packet and the second uplink packet copied by the copying unit 2214 to the UPF network element through the dual tunnel determined by the determining unit 2212.

Fig. 23 shows a schematic diagram of another possible structure of the communication device according to the above embodiment. The communication device 23 includes: a processing module 2322, and a communication module 2323. Optionally, the communication device 23 may further include a storage module 2321. The modules described above are used to support the communication device to perform the related method of the RAN network element in any of fig. 6, 8, 10-13, 15, 17-18C, 20, 21. The communication device provided by the present application is configured to execute the corresponding method provided above, and therefore, the corresponding features and the achieved beneficial effects thereof refer to the beneficial effects in the corresponding method provided above, and are not described herein again.

The processing module 2322 is used to control and manage the actions of the communication device 23 or perform corresponding processing functions, such as the functions of the determination unit 2212 and the copy unit 2214. The communication module 2323 is used to support the communication device 23 to execute the functions of the receiving unit 2211 and the transmitting unit 2213. The storage module 2321 is used for storing program codes and/or data of the communication device.

The processing module 2322 may be a processor or a controller, and may be, for example, a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, DSPs, and microprocessors, among others. The communication module 2323 may be a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, bluetooth, a network interface or a communication interface, etc. The storage module 2321 may be a memory.

One possible approach, the processing module 2322 may be the processor 331 in the BBU 301 in fig. 3, the communication module 2323 may be the RF circuitry 334 in the RRU 302 in fig. 3, and the storage module 2321 may be the memory 332 in the BBU 301 in fig. 3. Wherein one or more programs are stored in the memory, the one or more programs comprising instructions which, when executed by the communication device, cause the communication device to perform the method relating to the RAN network element of any of figures 6, 8, 10-13, 15, 17-18C, 20, 21.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication apparatus, including: a processor and a memory, the memory for storing a program, the processor invoking the program stored by the memory to cause the communication device to perform the method associated with the RAN network element of any of figures 6, 8, 10-13, 15, 17-18C, 20, 21.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer storage medium storing one or more programs thereon, which when executed by a processor, cause a communication device to perform a method related to a RAN network element in any of fig. 6, 8, 10-13, 15, 17-18C, 20, 21.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product containing instructions, which when run on a communication apparatus, cause the communication apparatus to perform the method related to the RAN network element in any one of fig. 6, 8, 10-13, 15, 17-18C, 20, and 21.

Embodiments of the present application provide a chip system, which includes a processor and is configured to enable a communication device to perform a method related to a RAN network element in any one of fig. 6, 8, 10-13, 15, 17-18C, 20, and 21. For example, the RAN network element determines that a dual tunnel is associated with a single RAN network element or with a dual RAN network element; and the RAN network element sends first indication information to the AMF network element, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the dual tunnels are associated with the single RAN network element or the dual RAN network element. In one possible design, the system-on-chip further includes a memory for storing program instructions and data necessary for the terminal device. The chip system may include a chip, an integrated circuit, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

The communication device, the computer storage medium, the computer program product, or the chip system provided in the present application are all configured to execute the corresponding method provided above, and therefore, the beneficial effects achieved by the communication device, the computer storage medium, the computer program product, or the chip system may refer to the beneficial effects in the corresponding method provided above, and are not described herein again.

It is to be understood that the above-mentioned communication device may be a RAN network element, and may also be a component (chip or circuit, etc.) that can be used for the RAN network element.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a communication apparatus, which can be used to execute the function of the SMF network element in the foregoing method. In the embodiment of the present application, the communication apparatus may be divided into the functional modules according to the method example, for example, each functional module may be divided according to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode. It should be noted that, the division of the modules in the present application is schematic, and is only a logical function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation.

In the case of dividing each functional module by corresponding functions, fig. 24 shows a schematic diagram of a possible structure of the communication device according to the above embodiment, and the communication device 24 may include: the receiving unit 2411, the sending unit 2412, and optionally, the determining unit 2413 may also be included. The above-mentioned units are used to support the communication device to execute the relevant method of the SMF network element in any of fig. 6, 8, 10-13, 15, 17-18C, 20, 21. The communication device provided by the present application is configured to execute the corresponding method provided above, and therefore, the corresponding features and the achieved beneficial effects thereof refer to the beneficial effects in the corresponding method provided above, and are not described herein again.

Exemplarily, the receiving unit 2411 is configured to support the communication apparatus 24 to perform the processes S602 and S613 in fig. 6, or the processes S802 and S807 in fig. 8, or the process S1002 in fig. 10, or the processes S1101, S1105 and S1109 in fig. 11, or the processes S1201 and S1205 in fig. 12, or the processes S1502 and S1506 in fig. 15, or the processes S1702 and S1706 in fig. 17, or the process S1801 in fig. 18A; the sending unit 2412 is configured to support the communication device 24 to execute the processes S603 and S614 in fig. 6, or the processes S803 and S808 in fig. 8, or the process S1003 in fig. 10, or the processes S1103, S1106, and S1110 in fig. 11, or the processes S1203, S1206, and S1207 in fig. 12, or the processes S1503 and S1506 in fig. 15, the processes S1703 and S1706 in fig. 17, or the processes S1802 and S1803 in fig. 18A; the determination unit 2413 is configured to support the communication apparatus 24 to execute the process S1102 in fig. 11 or the process S1202 in fig. 12. All relevant contents of each step related to the above method embodiment may be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and are not described herein again.

In a possible embodiment, the receiving unit 2411 is configured to receive first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that a dual tunnel is associated with a single RAN network element or a dual RAN network element; a sending unit 2412, configured to send second indication information to the UPF network element according to the first indication information received by the receiving unit 2411, where the second indication information is used to trigger the UPF network element to add the same sequence number to the first protocol layer for the first packet and the second packet; the first message and the second message are messages transmitted through double tunnels.

In one possible embodiment, the second indication information is the first indication information.

In a possible implementation, the communication device 24 further includes a determining unit 2413, configured to determine the second indication information sent by the sending unit 2412 according to the first indication information received by the receiving unit 2411.

In a possible implementation manner, the sending unit 2412 is specifically configured to send a forwarding rule to the UPF network element, where the forwarding rule includes the second indication information.

In a possible embodiment, the sending unit 2412 is further configured to instruct the UPF network element to duplicate the data packet to obtain the first message and the second message.

In one possible embodiment, when the first indication information indicates that the dual tunnel is associated with the single RAN network element, the first protocol layer is a protocol layer located between the single RAN network element and the UPF network element.

In one possible embodiment, when the first indication information indicates that the dual tunnel is associated with the dual RAN network element, the first protocol layer is a protocol layer located between the terminal device and the UPF network element.

Fig. 25 shows a schematic diagram of another possible structure of the communication device according to the above embodiment. The communication device 25 includes: a processing module 2522, and a communication module 2523. Optionally, the communication device 25 may further include a storage module 2521. The modules are used to support the communication device to execute the method related to the SMF network element in any one of fig. 6, 8, 10-13, 15, 17-18C, 20, 21. The communication device provided by the present application is configured to execute the corresponding method provided above, and therefore, the corresponding features and the achieved beneficial effects thereof refer to the beneficial effects in the corresponding method provided above, and are not described herein again.

The processing module 2522 is used to control and manage the actions of the communication device 25 or to perform corresponding processing functions, such as the functions of the determination unit 2413, for example. The communication module 2523 is used to support the communication device 25 to perform the functions of the receiving unit 2411 and the transmitting unit 2412. The memory module 2521 is used to store program codes and/or data of the communication device.

The processing module 2522 may be a processor or a controller, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a general-purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, DSPs, and microprocessors, among others. The communication module 2523 may be a transceiver, transceiving circuit, bluetooth, network interface or communication interface, etc. The storage module 2521 may be a memory.

In a possible manner, the processing module 2522 may be the processor 401 in fig. 4, the communication module 2523 may be the communication interface 404 in fig. 4, and the storage module 2521 may be the memory 403 in fig. 4. Wherein one or more programs are stored in the memory, the one or more programs comprising instructions which, when executed by the communication apparatus, cause the communication apparatus to perform the method relating to the SMF network element of any of figures 6, 8, 10-13, 15, 17-18C, 20, 21.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication apparatus, including: a processor and a memory, the memory for storing a program, the processor invoking the memory stored program to cause the communications apparatus to perform a method associated with an SMF network element of any of figures 6, 8, 10-13, 15, 17-18C, 20, 21.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer storage medium storing one or more programs thereon, which when executed by a processor, cause a communication device to perform a method related to an SMF network element of any of fig. 6, 8, 10-13, 15, 17-18C, 20, 21.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product containing instructions, which when run on a communication apparatus, cause the communication apparatus to perform the method related to the SMF network element in any one of fig. 6, 8, 10-13, 15, 17-18C, 20, and 21.

Embodiments of the present application provide a chip system, which includes a processor and is configured to support a communication device to perform a method related to an SMF network element in any one of fig. 6, 8, 10 to 13, 15, 17 to 18C, 20, and 21. For example, the SMF network element receives first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that a dual tunnel is associated with a single RAN network element or an SMF network element associated with a dual RAN network element sends second indication information to the UPF network element according to the first indication information, and the second indication information is used to trigger the UPF network element to add the same sequence number to the first packet and the second packet in the first protocol layer; the first message and the second message are messages transmitted through double tunnels. In one possible design, the system-on-chip further includes a memory for storing program instructions and data necessary for the terminal device. The chip system may include a chip, an integrated circuit, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

It is to be understood that the communication device may be an SMF network element, or may be a component (chip or circuit, etc.) that can be used in an SMF network element.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device, which can be used to execute the function of the UPF network element in the foregoing method. In the embodiment of the present application, the communication apparatus may be divided into the functional modules according to the method example, for example, each functional module may be divided according to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode. It should be noted that, the division of the modules in the present application is schematic, and is only a logical function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation.

In the case of dividing each functional module by corresponding functions, fig. 26 shows a schematic diagram of a possible structure of the communication device according to the above embodiment, and the communication device 26 may include: the adding unit 2611 and the transmitting unit 2612 may optionally further include a receiving unit 2613, a copying unit 2614, and a determining unit 2615. The above units are used to support the communication device to execute the relevant method of the UPF network element in any of fig. 6, 8, 10-13, 15, 17-18C, 20, 21. The communication device provided by the present application is configured to execute the corresponding method provided above, and therefore, the corresponding features and the achieved beneficial effects thereof refer to the beneficial effects in the corresponding method provided above, and are not described herein again.

Illustratively, the adding unit 2611 is configured to support the communication device 26 to execute the process S1004 in fig. 10, or the process S1812 in fig. 18B, or the process S2001 in fig. 20; the transmitting unit 2612 is configured to support the communication device 26 to perform the process S1005 in fig. 10, or the process S1813 in fig. 18B, or the process S2002 in fig. 20; the receiving unit 2613 is configured to support the communication device 26 to perform the process S601 in fig. 6, or the process S808 in fig. 8, or the process S1003 in fig. 10, or the process S1100 in fig. 11, or the process S1206 in fig. 12, or the processes S1303 and S1305 in fig. 13, or the process S1503 in fig. 15, or the process S1703 in fig. 17, or the processes S1802 and S1803 in fig. 18A, or the process S1811 in fig. 18B, or the processes S2103 and S2105 in fig. 21; the copy unit 2614 is configured to support the communication device 26 to execute the process S1004 in fig. 10, or S1803 in fig. 18B, or the process S2001 in fig. 20; the determination unit 2615 is configured to support the communication device 26 to perform the process S1306 in fig. 13 or the process S2106 in fig. 21. All relevant contents of each step related to the above method embodiment may be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module, and are not described herein again.

In a possible implementation manner, the adding unit 2611 is configured to add the same sequence number to the first packet and the second packet at the first protocol layer; a sending unit 2612, configured to add the first packet and the second packet with the same sequence numbers through the dual tunnel transmission adding unit 2611.

In a possible implementation, the communication device further comprises a receiving unit 2613; a receiving unit 2613, configured to receive indication information from an SMF network element, where the indication information is used to trigger the adding unit 2611 to add the same sequence number to the first packet and the second packet in the first protocol layer; the adding unit 2611 is specifically configured to add the same sequence number to the first packet and the second packet in the first protocol layer according to the indication information received by the receiving unit 2613.

In a possible implementation, when the indication information indicates that the dual tunnel is associated with the single RAN network element, the adding unit 2611 is specifically configured to add the same sequence number to the protocol layer located between the RAN network element and the UPF network element for the first packet and the second packet according to the indication information.

In a possible implementation, when the indication information indicates that the dual tunnel is associated with the dual RAN network element, the adding unit 2611 is specifically configured to add the same sequence number to the protocol layer located between the terminal device and the UPF network element for the first packet and the second packet according to the indication information.

In a possible implementation, the receiving unit 2613 is specifically configured to receive a forwarding rule from an SMF network element, where the forwarding rule includes indication information.

In a possible implementation, the communication device 26 further includes a copying unit 2614, configured to copy the data packet according to the indication of the SMF network element to obtain the first packet and the second packet.

Fig. 27 shows a schematic diagram of still another possible structure of the communication device according to the above embodiment. The communication device 27 includes: a processing module 2722 and a communication module 2723. Optionally, the communication device 27 may further include a storage module 2721. The modules are used for supporting the communication device to execute the relevant method of the UPF network element in any one of the figures 6, 8, 10-13, 15, 17-18C, 20 and 21. The communication device provided by the present application is configured to execute the corresponding method provided above, and therefore, the corresponding features and the achieved beneficial effects thereof refer to the beneficial effects in the corresponding method provided above, and are not described herein again.

The processing module 2722 is used to control and manage the actions of the communication device 27 or to perform corresponding processing functions, such as the functions of the adding unit 2611, the copying unit 2614 and the determining unit 2615. The communication module 2723 is used to support the communication device 27 to perform the functions of the receiving unit 2613 and the transmitting unit 2612. The storage module 2721 is used to store program codes and/or data of the communication device.

The processing module 2722 may be a processor or a controller, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a general-purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. The processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, DSPs, and microprocessors, among others. The communication module 2723 may be a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, bluetooth, a network interface or a communication interface, etc. The storage module 2721 may be a memory.

In a possible manner, the processing module 2722 may be the processor 401 in fig. 4, the communication module 2723 may be the communication interface 404 in fig. 4, and the storage module 2721 may be the memory in fig. 4. Wherein one or more programs are stored in the memory, the one or more programs including instructions which, when executed by the communications apparatus, cause the communications apparatus to perform the method associated with the UPF network element of any of figures 6, 8, 10-13, 15, 17-18C, 20, 21.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication apparatus, including: a processor and a memory, the memory storing a program, the processor invoking the program stored by the memory to cause the communications apparatus to perform the method associated with the UPF network element of any of figures 6, 8, 10-13, 15, 17-18C, 20, 21.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer storage medium storing one or more programs thereon, which when executed by a processor, cause a communication device to perform a method related to a UPF network element of any of fig. 6, 8, 10-13, 15, 17-18C, 20, 21.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product containing instructions, which when run on a communication apparatus, causes the communication apparatus to execute the method related to the UPF network element in any one of fig. 6, 8, 10-13, 15, 17-18C, 20, and 21.

Embodiments of the present application provide a chip system, which includes a processor and is configured to support a communication device to perform a method related to a UPF network element in any one of fig. 6, 8, 10-13, 15, 17-18C, 20, and 21. For example, the UPF network element adds the same sequence number to the first protocol layer for the first message and the second message; and the UPF network element transmits the first message and the second message through the double tunnels. In one possible design, the system-on-chip further includes a memory for storing program instructions and data necessary for the terminal device. The chip system may include a chip, an integrated circuit, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

It is to be understood that the communication device may be a UPF network element, and may also be a component (chip or circuit, etc.) that can be used in the UPF network element.

It should be understood that in various embodiments of the present application, "first," "second," etc. are used merely to refer to different objects and do not imply other limitations on the objects referred to.

It should also be understood that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus, and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described device embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical functional division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using a software program, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. The procedures or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the present application are all or partially generated upon loading and execution of computer program instructions on a computer. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored on a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wire (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or can comprise one or more data storage devices, such as a server, a data center, etc., that can be integrated with the medium. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy Disk, hard Disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and shall be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for packet transmission, comprising:

a session management function network element receives first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that a double tunnel is associated with a single access network element or is associated with a double access network element;

the session management function network element sends second indication information to a user plane function network element according to the first indication information, wherein the second indication information is used for triggering the user plane function network element to add the same serial number to the first message and the second message in a first protocol layer;

wherein the first message and the second message are messages transmitted through the dual tunnels;

when the first indication information indicates that the dual tunnels are associated with a single access network element, the first protocol layer is a protocol layer located between the single access network element and the user plane functional network element;

and when the first indication information indicates that the dual tunnel is associated with a dual access network element, the first protocol layer is a protocol layer located between the terminal equipment and the user plane functional network element.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second indication information is the first indication information.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

and the session management function network element determines the second indication information according to the first indication information.

4. The method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the sending, by the session management function network element, the second indication information to the user plane function network element comprises:

and the session management function network element sends a forwarding rule to a user plane function network element, wherein the forwarding rule comprises the second indication information.

5. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, further comprising:

and the session management function network element indicates the user plane function network element to copy a data packet so as to obtain the first message and the second message.

6. A method for packet transmission, comprising:

the user plane functional network element adds the same serial number for the first message and the second message in the first protocol layer;

the user plane functional network element transmits the first message and the second message through a double tunnel;

the user plane functional network element receives indication information from a session management functional network element, wherein the indication information is used for triggering the user plane functional network element to add the same sequence number to the first message and the second message in the first protocol layer;

wherein, the user plane functional network element adds the same sequence number for the first message and the second message in the first protocol layer, including: the user plane functional network element adds the same serial number for the first message and the second message in the first protocol layer according to the indication information;

the indication information is used for indicating the association of the double tunnels and the single access network element or the association of the double tunnels and the double access network element;

when the indication information indicates that the dual tunnels are associated with a single access network element, the user plane functional network element adds the same sequence numbers for the first packet and the second packet in the first protocol layer according to the indication information, including:

the user plane functional network element adds the same serial number for the first message and the second message in a protocol layer between an access network element and the user plane functional network element according to the indication information;

when the indication information indicates that the dual tunnel is associated with a dual access network element, the user plane functional network element adds the same sequence number for the first packet and the second packet in the first protocol layer according to the indication information, including:

and the user plane function network element adds the same serial number for the first message and the second message in a protocol layer between the terminal equipment and the user plane function network element according to the indication information.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the receiving, by the user plane function network element, the indication information from the session management function network element comprises:

and the user plane function network element receives a forwarding rule from the session management function network element, wherein the forwarding rule comprises the indication information.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

and the user plane functional network element copies a data packet according to the indication of the session management functional network element to obtain the first message and the second message.

9. A method for packet transmission, comprising:

the access network element determines that the double tunnels are associated with the single access network element or the double access network element;

the access network element sends first indication information to an access and mobility management function network element, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating that the double tunnels are associated with a single access network element or a double access network element;

the double tunnels are associated with a single access network element, and the single access network element is the access network element;

the method further comprises the following steps:

the access network element receives a first downlink message from a user plane functional network element through a first tunnel in the dual tunnels, and receives a second downlink message from the user plane functional network element through a second tunnel in the dual tunnels, wherein the first downlink message and the second downlink message have the same serial number in a first protocol layer;

the access network element sends a data packet in the first downlink message or the second downlink message to a terminal device;

10. A method for packet transmission, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that an access network element determines that double tunnels are associated with a single access network element, wherein the single access network element is the access network element;

when the double tunnels are associated with a single access network element, the first protocol layer is a protocol layer positioned between the single access network element and the user plane functional network element;

and when the double tunnels are associated with the network elements of the double access networks, the first protocol layer is a protocol layer positioned between the terminal equipment and the user plane functional network elements.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the method further comprises:

and the access network element determines that the data packets encapsulated in the upper layer of the first protocol layer in the first downlink message and the second downlink message are the same according to the same serial numbers of the first downlink message and the second downlink message in the first protocol layer.

12. The method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the first protocol layer is a protocol layer located between the access network element and a user plane function network element.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first downlink packet or the second downlink packet sent by the access network element to the terminal device includes the first protocol layer.

14. The method of claim 9 or 10, further comprising:

the access network element receives a first uplink message from the terminal equipment;

when the first uplink message comprises a protocol layer positioned between the terminal equipment and a user plane functional network element, the access network element copies the first uplink message to obtain a second uplink message; or, when the first uplink message does not include a protocol layer located between the terminal device and a user plane functional network element, the access network element adds the first protocol layer and copies the first uplink message to obtain a second uplink message;

and the access network element sends the first uplink message and the second uplink message to the user plane functional network element through the double tunnels.

15. A communications apparatus, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that a dual tunnel is associated with a single access network element or is associated with a dual access network element;

a sending unit, configured to send second indication information to a user plane function network element according to the first indication information received by the receiving unit, where the second indication information is used to trigger the user plane function network element to add the same sequence number to the first packet and the second packet in the first protocol layer;

and when the first indication information indicates that the dual tunnels are associated with the dual access network elements, the first protocol layer is a protocol layer located between the terminal equipment and the user plane function network elements.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the apparatus further comprises a determining unit configured to determine the second indication information sent by the sending unit according to the first indication information received by the receiving unit.

17. A communications apparatus, comprising:

an adding unit, configured to add the same sequence number to the first packet and the second packet in the first protocol layer;

a sending unit, configured to transmit the first packet and the second packet, which are added with the same serial number by the adding unit, through a dual tunnel;

the communication device further comprises a receiving unit;

the receiving unit is configured to receive indication information from a session management function network element, where the indication information is used to trigger the adding unit to add the same sequence number to the first packet and the second packet in the first protocol layer;

the adding unit is specifically configured to add the same sequence number to the first packet and the second packet in the first protocol layer according to the indication information received by the receiving unit;

the receiving unit is further configured to, when the indication information indicates that the dual tunnels are associated with a single access network element, add, by a user plane function network element, the same sequence numbers to the first protocol layer for the first packet and the second packet according to the indication information, and include:

the receiving unit is further configured to, when the indication information indicates that the dual tunnel is associated with a dual access network element, add, by the user plane functional network element, the same sequence number to the first protocol layer for the first packet and the second packet according to the indication information, and include:

the adding unit is further configured to add the same sequence number to the first packet and the second packet in a protocol layer located between the terminal device and the user plane functional network element according to the indication information.

18. A communications apparatus, comprising:

the determining unit is used for determining that the double tunnels are associated with the single access network element or the double access network element;

a sending unit, configured to send first indication information to an access and mobility management function network element, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the dual tunnel determined by the determining unit is associated with a single access network element or is associated with a dual access network element;

a receiving unit, configured to receive a first downlink packet from a user plane functional network element through a first tunnel in the dual tunnels, and receive a second downlink packet from the user plane functional network element through a second tunnel in the dual tunnels, where the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet have a same sequence number in a first protocol layer;

the sending unit is further configured to send a data packet in the first downlink packet or the second downlink packet to a terminal device;

19. A communications apparatus, comprising:

a determining unit, configured to determine that a dual tunnel is associated with a single access network element, where the single access network element is the communication device;

a receiving unit, configured to receive a first downlink packet from a user plane function network element through a first tunnel in the dual tunnels determined by the determining unit, and receive a second downlink packet from the user plane function network element through a second tunnel in the dual tunnels, where the first downlink packet and the second downlink packet have a same sequence number in a first protocol layer;

a sending unit, configured to send a data packet in the first downlink packet or the second downlink packet to a terminal device;

20. A storage medium having stored thereon a computer program for implementing the method of any one of claims 1-5, or for implementing the method of any one of claims 6-8, or for implementing the method of claim 9, or for implementing the method of any one of claims 10-14, when the computer program is executed by a processor.