CN111050361B

CN111050361B - Message transmission method, device and system

Info

Publication number: CN111050361B
Application number: CN201811188377.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张婷婷
Original assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Current assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Priority date: 2018-10-12
Filing date: 2018-10-12
Publication date: 2023-07-25
Anticipated expiration: 2038-10-12
Also published as: CN111050361A

Abstract

The application discloses a message transmission method, device and system, which belong to the technical field of communication, and the method comprises the following steps: receiving parameters used for determining a message transmission path, such as a destination address of a message, a bandwidth required for transmitting the message and used network slice information, such as a network slice identifier and a network slice type; acquiring available bandwidth resource information of each transmission network element and available target resource information corresponding to the type of the network slice; configuring a path for transmitting the message, wherein a starting network element of the path is a transmitting network element for transmitting parameters, a destination network element is determined according to a destination address of the message, available bandwidth resources of each transmitting network element in the path are not smaller than the bandwidth required by transmitting the message, and an available target resource for packaging the message is determined for the transmitting network element; and transmitting the path information to each transmission network element in the path, so that each transmission network element transmits each message carrying the network slice identifier according to the path information.

Description

Message transmission method, device and system

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method, an apparatus, and a system for transmitting a message.

Background

Fifth generation mobile communication (5G) technology is dedicated to cope with future explosive mobile data traffic growth, mass device connection, and various new services and application scenarios that are continuously emerging.

Therefore, the 5G technology needs to bear various services such as mobile internet, high-definition video, internet of vehicles, internet of things and industrial control, and the services have great differences in mobility, charging, bandwidth, time delay, reliability, safety and the like, so that thousands of industry requirements are met for adapting to one network, operators need to deploy more economic and green network slicing technical schemes to realize isolation among different services, and no related technical scheme exists at present.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a message transmission method, device and system, which are used for providing a scheme for realizing end-to-end network slicing in a 5G network.

In a first aspect, a method for transmitting a message provided in an embodiment of the present application includes:

the management control unit receives parameters for determining a message transmission path, wherein the parameters comprise a destination address of a message, a bandwidth size required for transmitting the message and used network slice information, the network slice information comprises a network slice identifier and a network slice type, and the network slice type comprises a hard slice and a soft slice;

Acquiring available bandwidth resource information of each transmission network element and available target resource information corresponding to the network slice type in the jurisdiction of the management control unit, wherein the available target resource corresponding to the hard slice is a time slot resource, and the available target resource corresponding to the soft slice is a tunnel resource;

configuring a path for transmitting the message, wherein a start network element of the path is a transmission network element for transmitting the parameter, an end network element of the path is determined according to a destination address of the message, an available bandwidth resource of each transmission network element in the path is not less than a bandwidth required for transmitting the message, and an available target resource for packaging the message is determined for the transmission network element;

and transmitting the path information to each transmission network element in the path, so that each transmission network element transmits each message carrying the network slice identifier according to the path information.

In this embodiment of the present invention, a management control unit receives parameters for determining a packet transmission path, obtains available bandwidth resource information of each transmission network element in a jurisdiction range and available target resource information corresponding to a network slice type used for transmitting a packet, and further configures a path for transmitting the packet, where a start network element of the path is a transmission network element for transmitting the parameters, an end network element of the path is determined according to a destination address of the packet, the available bandwidth resource of each transmission network element in the path is not less than a bandwidth required for transmitting the packet, and an available target resource for encapsulating the packet is determined for the transmission network element, and then sends path information including a network slice identifier and a correspondence between an identifier of each transmission network element and the available target resource in the path to each transmission network element in the path, so that each transmission network element transmits each packet carrying the network slice identifier according to the path information, thereby providing a scheme for implementing end-to-end network slice in a 5G network.

In a second aspect, a method for transmitting a message provided in an embodiment of the present application includes:

the transmission network element receives and stores the path information issued by the management control unit, wherein the path information comprises the corresponding relation between the network slice identifier and the available target resource of each transmission network element in the path, and if the network slice corresponding to the network slice identifier is a hard slice, the available target resource is a time slot resource; if the network slice corresponding to the network slice identifier is a soft slice, the available target resource is a tunnel resource;

and transmitting and receiving each message carrying the network slice identifier according to the path information.

In a third aspect, a method for transmitting a message provided in an embodiment of the present application includes:

a base station or a core network element receives a message, wherein the message carries service identification information;

according to the established corresponding relation between the service identification and the network slice information, determining the network slice information corresponding to the service identification carried by the message, wherein the network slice information comprises the network slice identification and the network slice type;

adding the network slice information into the message;

and transmitting the message added with the network slice information to a transmitting network element.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a packet transmission device, including:

the receiving module is used for receiving parameters for determining a message transmission path, wherein the parameters comprise a destination address of the message, a bandwidth size required for transmitting the message and used network slice information, the network slice information comprises a network slice identifier and a network slice type, and the network slice type comprises a hard slice and a soft slice;

the acquisition module is used for acquiring available bandwidth resource information of each transmission network element and available target resource information corresponding to the network slice type in the jurisdiction of the management control unit, wherein the available target resource corresponding to the hard slice is a time slot resource, and the available target resource corresponding to the soft slice is a tunnel resource;

the configuration module is used for configuring a path for transmitting the message, wherein a starting network element of the path is a transmitting network element for transmitting the parameter, an end network element of the path is determined according to a destination address of the message, available bandwidth resources of each transmitting network element in the path are not smaller than the bandwidth required for transmitting the message, and an available target resource for packaging the message is determined for the transmitting network element;

And the sending module is used for sending the path information to each transmission network element in the path so that each transmission network element transmits each message carrying the network slice identifier according to the path information.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a packet transmission device, including:

the receiving module is used for receiving and storing the path information issued by the management control unit, wherein the path information comprises a corresponding relation between a network slice identifier and an identifier of each transmission network element in the path and an available target resource, and if the network slice corresponding to the network slice identifier is a hard slice, the available target resource is a time slot resource; if the network slice corresponding to the network slice identifier is a soft slice, the available target resource is a tunnel resource;

and the transmission module is used for transmitting each received message carrying the network slice identifier according to the path information.

In a sixth aspect, an apparatus for transmitting a message provided in an embodiment of the present application includes:

the receiving module is used for receiving a message, wherein the message carries service identification information;

the determining module is used for determining network slice information corresponding to the service identifier carried by the message according to the established corresponding relation between the service identifier and the network slice information, wherein the network slice information comprises the network slice identifier and the network slice type;

An adding module, configured to add the network slice information to the packet;

and the transmission module is used for transmitting the message added with the network slice information to a transmission network element.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a transmission system, where the system includes a management control unit and a plurality of transmission network elements connected to the management control unit, where:

the management control unit is used for receiving parameters for determining a message transmission path, wherein the parameters comprise a destination address of the message, a bandwidth size required for transmitting the message and network slice information used, the network slice information comprises a network slice identifier and a network slice type, and the network slice type comprises a hard slice and a soft slice; acquiring available bandwidth resource information of each transmission network element and available target resource information corresponding to the network slice type in the jurisdiction of the management control unit, wherein the available target resource corresponding to the hard slice is a time slot resource, and the available target resource corresponding to the soft slice is a tunnel resource; configuring a path for transmitting the message, wherein a start network element of the path is a transmission network element for transmitting the parameter, an end network element of the path is determined according to a destination address of the message, an available bandwidth resource of each transmission network element in the path is not less than a bandwidth required for transmitting the message, and an available target resource for packaging the message is determined for the transmission network element; transmitting path information to each transmission network element in the path, wherein the path information comprises the corresponding relation between the network slice identifier and the available target resource of each transmission network element in the path;

And each transmission network element in the path is used for receiving and storing the path information, and transmitting each received message carrying the network slice identifier according to the path information.

In an eighth aspect, an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present application includes: at least one processor, and a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, wherein:

the memory stores instructions executable by the at least one processor to enable the at least one processor to perform any one of the messaging methods described above.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions, where the computer executable instructions are configured to perform any one of the foregoing packet transfer methods.

In addition, the technical effects caused by any one of the designs in the second aspect to the ninth aspect may be referred to as technical effects caused by different implementations in the first aspect, which are not repeated herein.

These and other aspects of the present application will be more readily apparent from the following description of the embodiments.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the application and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiments of the application and together with the description serve to explain the application and do not constitute an undue limitation to the application. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an application scenario schematic diagram of a message transmission method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a hard slice manner of transmitting a message according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of an uplink transmission message provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a soft slice manner of transmitting a message according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic flow chart of another uplink transmission message provided in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic format of an extended network slice packet according to an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart of a message transmission method applied to a management control unit according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a message transmitting device provided in a management control unit according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a flowchart of a message transmission method applied to a transmission network element according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a packet forwarding device provided in a forwarding network element according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a flowchart of a message transmission method applied to a base station or a core network element provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a packet transmission device provided in a base station or a core network element according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 13 is a schematic hardware structure of an electronic device for implementing any message transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to provide a scheme for realizing end-to-end network slicing in a 5G network, the embodiment of the application provides a message transmission method, a message transmission device and a message transmission system.

The preferred embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings of the specification, it being understood that the preferred embodiments described herein are for illustration and explanation only, and are not intended to limit the present application, and embodiments and features of embodiments of the present application may be combined with each other without conflict.

In order to facilitate understanding of the present application, the present application refers to the technical terms:

network slicing, a specific form of virtualization, allows multiple logical networks to run on top of a shared physical network infrastructure, has the advantage that it provides an end-to-end virtual network, including not only networks, but also computing and storage functions, with the goal of allowing a physical mobile network operator to partition its network resources to allow different users to multiplex a single physical infrastructure.

The types of the network slices can be divided into hard slices and soft slices, and when the hard slices are used, messages belonging to different services are isolated in time, namely, only one service message can be transmitted at the same time, and the mode of transmitting the different service messages by using different time slots belongs to the hard slices; when soft slicing is used, messages belonging to different services are not isolated in time, namely, multiple service messages can be transmitted at the same time, but the multiple service messages are logically isolated, like the mode of using different tunnels to transmit different service messages, namely, the soft slicing is adopted.

Generally, services such as Ultra Reliable and low latency communications (ULRRC) and finance and government private lines require exclusive resources, low latency and high reliability, and the carrier network may provide hard slices based on L1 time division multiplexing (Time Division Multiplexing, TDM) isolation; internet access and augmented Reality (Augmented Reality, AR)/Virtual Reality (VR) video services of an enhanced mobile broadband (enhanced Mobile Broadband, eMBB) have characteristics of large bandwidth, insensitive delay, dynamic burstiness, and the like, and a bearer network is required to provide soft slices based on L2 or L3 logic isolation, so that in order to adapt to one network to meet thousands of industry requirements, a scheme for implementing end-to-end network slices in a 5G network is needed.

Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 shows an application scenario schematic diagram of a packet transmission system provided in an embodiment of the present application, including a base station, a core network element, a management control unit, and a plurality of transmission network elements connected to the management control unit, where network elements 1 to 8 in fig. 1 are all transmission network elements, and for brevity, they are not shown in the figure.

In the 5G network, the core network element may configure network slice information suitable for the service characteristics, such as a network slice type and a network slice identifier, for each service in advance, that is, the core network element establishes a correspondence between each service identifier and the network slice information in advance, and the core network element may send the correspondence between the service identifier and the network slice information to the base station, where the base station receives and stores the correspondence.

Subsequently, when the base station receives the message reported by the terminal (mobile phone terminal or internet of things terminal), the message can be analyzed to obtain the service identifier carried by the message, the network slice information corresponding to the service identifier carried by the message is determined according to the corresponding relation between the stored service identifier and the network slice information, and the network slice information is added in the message and sent to a transmission network element, such as the transmission network element 1.

When receiving the message, the transmitting network element 1 can acquire a network slice identifier carried in the message, judge whether path information for transmitting the message carrying the network slice identifier is stored in itself, and if yes, transmit the message according to the path information corresponding to the network slice identifier; if not, the bandwidth size required by the message and the destination address of the message can be determined, and parameters for determining the transmission path of the message are sent to the management control unit, so that the management control unit is triggered to allocate a transmission path for the message carrying the network slice identifier, wherein the parameters comprise the bandwidth size required by the message, the destination address of the message and the network slice information carried by the message.

In a specific implementation, when receiving parameters sent by the transmission network element 1 and used for determining a packet transmission path, the management control unit may obtain available bandwidth resource information of each transmission network element in the jurisdiction range and available target resource information corresponding to a network slice type in the packet, where if the network slice type is a hard slice, the available target resource is a time slot resource, and if the network slice type is a soft slice, the available target resource is a tunnel resource, further, the available bandwidth resource in each transmission network element may be selected to be not less than a bandwidth required for transmitting the packet, and a transmission network element with the available target resource is used as an alternative network element (the transmission network element 1 is also included in the alternative network element), and according to a destination address of the packet, one target network element is selected in the alternative network element, and the transmission network element 1 is used as a starting network element, the target network element is used as an end network element, and a path for transmitting the packet is configured, where each transmission network element in the path is a tunnel resource, and further, the available bandwidth resource in each transmission network element in the path is not less than a bandwidth required for transmitting the packet, and the available target resource in the path is determined to be used as an alternative network element, and an identifier is sent to each transmission network element in the path.

Each transmission network element in the path can analyze the message to obtain the network slice identifier, determine the next transmission network element connected with the current transmission network element and the available target resources determined for the current transmission network element according to the network slice identifier and the path information, and further send the message to the next transmission network element by using the available target resources.

If the network slice in the message is a hard slice, the message can be packaged on the corresponding time slot and sent to the next transmission network element; if the network slice in the message is a soft slice, the message can be encapsulated in a corresponding tunnel and sent to the next transmission network element.

In the implementation, after determining a piece of path information for each network slice, each message carrying the identifier corresponding to the network slice can be transmitted through the path, and the validity period can be set for each path in consideration of the need of deleting a certain service and the condition that the message quantity corresponding to the certain service is smaller.

Therefore, after the management control unit issues the path information to each transmitting network element in the path, the management control unit can monitor the message received by the transmitting network element 1, and if it is determined that the transmitting network element 1 does not receive the message carrying the corresponding network slice identifier within the preset duration, the management control unit can instruct each transmitting network element in the path to delete the stored path information, so that the flexibility of the network slice is higher, and the resource utilization rate of the 5G transmitting network can be improved.

The above process is described below with reference to specific examples.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of transmitting a packet in a hard slice manner provided in the embodiment of the present application, where, for sake of brevity, network elements 1 to 8 are all transmitting network elements, not shown in the drawing, and in a specific implementation, each device in fig. 2 may transmit an uplink packet according to a flow shown in fig. 3, where the flow includes:

s301: the core network element transmits the network slice information determined for each service to the base station.

The network slice information comprises a network slice identifier and a network slice type, and the network slice type comprises a hard slice and a soft slice.

For example, the network slice information configured for service 1 is (001,1), the network slice information configured for service 2 is (002,0), where 001, 002 are network slice identifiers, 1 is a soft slice, and 0 is a hard slice.

S302: and the base station receives the message carrying the service identifier sent by the terminal and determines the network slice information corresponding to the service identifier carried in the message.

The terminal is a mobile phone terminal, an internet of things terminal, a vehicle-mounted terminal and the like.

In the implementation, the message received by the base station carries the service identifier, and the base station can identify the service identifier carried in the message, so as to determine the network slice information corresponding to the service identifier carried in the message according to the corresponding relation between the stored service identifier and the network slice information.

S303: the base station adds the determined network slice information in the message and sends the message to the transmitting network element 1.

For example, the base station sends a message to port 1 of the transport network element 1.

Here, the transmitting network element 1 is merely taken as an example, and the base station may also send the message to other border network elements.

S304: the transmitting network element 1 receives and identifies the network slice information in the message.

S305: the transmitting network element 1 reports parameters for determining the transmission path of the message to the management control unit.

The parameters include the destination address of the message, the bandwidth required by the transmitted message and the identified network slice information, and the destination address of the message and the bandwidth required by the transmitted message can be obtained by the network element 1 analyzing the message.

S306: the management control unit determines the path of the transmission message according to the received parameters and the available bandwidth resource information and the idle time slot resource information of each transmission network element.

When the management control unit receives the parameters, it can obtain the available bandwidth resource and idle time slot resource information of each transmission network element in jurisdiction, select the transmission network element with available bandwidth resource larger than the bandwidth needed by the transmission message and idle time slot resource from these transmission network elements, take these transmission network elements as alternative network elements, and select a network element from the alternative network elements according to the destination address of the message as target network element, generally, the first several bits of the destination address of the message belonging to the same service are the same, so the target network element can be determined according to the first several bits of the destination address, then take the transmission network element 1 as the starting network element and the target network element as the end network element, configure a path for transmitting the message, where each transmission network element in the path belongs to the alternative network element, and determine an available time slot resource for encapsulating the message for each transmission network element in the path.

Taking fig. 2 as an example, the message needs to be sent from the transmitting network element 1 to the core network element, the determined path may be the transmitting network element 1-transmitting network element 3-transmitting network element 5-transmitting network element 7, where the transmitting network element 1 encapsulates the message using the time slot 1, the transmitting network element 3 encapsulates the message using the time slot 2, and the transmitting network element 5 encapsulates the message using the time slot 3, where the message may have a time slot crossing in the transmission process, and in fact, if the time slots 1 of the transmitting network elements 1, 3, 5, and 7 are all idle, the transmitting network elements 1, 3, 5, and 7 all use the time slot 1 encapsulates the message, that is, the message may not have a time slot crossing in the transmission process.

Further, path information describing the path is generated, such as a correspondence between the path information and the network slice identity and the identity and available time slot resources of each transport network element in the path.

S307: the management control unit issues the path information to the transport network element contained in the path.

S308: the transmitting network element 1 sends the message to the transmitting network element 3 on the time slot 1.

In a specific implementation, the network node interfaces (Network to Network Interface, NNI) of the transport network element 1 support FlexE interfaces, and FlexE encapsulation can be performed on the slave packets, and the encapsulated slave packets are transmitted to the transport network element 3 on the timeslot 1.

S309: the transmitting network element 3 transmits the message to the transmitting network element 5 on the time slot 2.

Here, after receiving a message sent by the transmitting network element 1 on the time slot 1, the transmitting network element 3 (NNI supporting FlexE interface) can identify the network slice information of the message, find the path information to determine the available time slot 2, and package the message into the time slot 2 by adopting time slot intersection to transmit the message to the transmitting network element 5.

S310: the transmitting network element 5 transmits the message to the transmitting network element 7 on the time slot 3.

After receiving the message sent by the transmitting network element 3 on the time slot 2, the transmitting network element 5 (NNI supporting FlexE interface) identifies the network slice information of the message, searches the path information to determine the available time slot 3, adopts time slot intersection, and packages the message to the time slot 3 to transmit to the transmitting network element 7.

S311: the transport network element 7 sends the message to the core network element.

In the implementation, after receiving a message sent by the transmitting network element 5 on the time slot 3, the transmitting network element 7 (NNI supporting FlexE interface) identifies network slice information, determines a port for sending the message according to the identified network slice identifier and the corresponding relationship between the established network slice identifier and the port, and if the port is assumed to be port 2, the message can be FlexE unpacked and sent to the core network element through the port 2.

In addition, in the above process, after S307, the management control unit may monitor the packet sent by the transmitting network element 1, and when the transmitting network element 1 does not receive the packet carrying the network slice identifier within a preset time, may instruct each transmitting network element in the path to delete the saved path information, so that the previously established path may be removed, and the timeslot resources on each transmitting network element may be released, thereby improving the resource utilization of the 5G transmitting network.

The process of transmitting the downlink transmission message by each device shown in fig. 2 is similar to the process of transmitting the uplink transmission message, and will not be described herein.

Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a soft slice manner of transmitting a message provided in an embodiment of the present application, where, for sake of brevity, network elements 1 to 8 are all transmitting network elements, not shown in the drawing, and in a specific implementation, each device in fig. 4 may transmit an uplink message according to a flow shown in fig. 5, where the flow includes:

s501: the core network element transmits the network slice information determined for each service to the base station.

S502: and the base station receives the message carrying the service identifier sent by the terminal and determines the network slice information corresponding to the service identifier carried in the message.

S503: the base station adds the determined network slice information in the message and sends the message to the transmitting network element 1.

S504: the transmitting network element 1 receives and identifies the network slice information in the message.

S505: the transmitting network element 1 reports parameters for determining the transmission path of the message to the management control unit.

The parameters include the destination address of the message, the bandwidth required for transmitting the message, and the identified network slice information.

S506: the management control unit determines the path of the transmission message according to the received parameters and the available bandwidth resource information and the idle time slot resource information of each transmission network element.

When the management control unit receives the parameters, the management control unit may obtain the available bandwidth resource and the available tunnel resource information of each transmitting network element in the jurisdiction, select transmitting network elements with available bandwidth resources greater than the bandwidth required by the transmitting message and available tunnel resources from the transmitting network elements, use the transmitting network elements as candidate network elements, and select one network element from the candidate network elements according to the destination address of the message as target network element, where in general, the first several bits of the destination address of the message belonging to the same service are the same, so that the target network element can be determined according to the first several bits of the destination address, and then, a path for transmitting the message is configured with transmitting network element 1 as the starting network element and the target network element as the destination network element, where each transmitting network element in the path belongs to the candidate network element, and an available tunnel resource for encapsulating the message is determined for each transmitting network element in the path.

Taking fig. 4 as an example, the message needs to be sent from the transmitting network element 1 to the core network element, and the determined end-to-end path may be the transmitting network element 1-the transmitting network element 3-the transmitting network element 5-the transmitting network element 7, where the transmitting network element 1 may use the tunnel 1 to encapsulate the message, the transmitting network element 3 may use the tunnel 2 to encapsulate the message, and the transmitting network element 5 may use the tunnel 3 to encapsulate the message.

Further, path information describing the path is generated, such as a correspondence between the path information and the network slice identity and the identity and available tunnel resources of each transport network element in the path.

For example, when the multi-label switching transmission protocol (Multiprotocol Label Switching-Transport Profile, MPLS-TP) is used to perform soft isolation on the message, the path information is the configuration information of the MPLS-TP.

S507: the management control unit issues the path information to the transport network element contained in the path.

S508: the transmitting network element 1 sends the message to the transmitting network element 3.

For example, the transport network element 1 may perform MPLS-TP encapsulation on the packet, and map the packet to a tunnel determined for the transport network element 1 for transmission to the transport network element 3.

S509: the transmitting network element 3 transmits the message to the transmitting network element 5.

Here, the transport network element 3 is a P node of the MPLS-TP tunnel, and after receiving the packet, the transport network element 3 may perform label switching, and forward the packet to the transport network element 5.

S510: the transmitting network element 5 transmits the message to the transmitting network element 7.

Similarly, the transport network element 5 is a P node of the MPLS-TP tunnel, and after receiving the packet, label switching may be performed to forward the packet to the transport network element 7, where the P node is a core device (P device).

S511: the transport network element 7 sends the message to the core network element.

The transport network element 7 is a PE node of the MPLS-TP tunnel, terminates the MPLS-TP tunnel, decapsulates the MPLS-TP packet, and transmits the packet from the port 2 to the core network element, where the PE node is a network Edge device (PE device).

In addition, in the above process, after S507, the management control unit may monitor the message information sent by the transmitting network element 1, and when the transmitting network element 1 does not receive the message carrying the network slice identifier within the preset time, may instruct each transmitting network element in the path to delete the stored path information, so that the previously established path may be removed, the timeslot resources on each transmitting network element may be released, and the resource utilization of the 5G transmitting network may be improved.

The process of transmitting the downlink transmission message by each device shown in fig. 4 is similar to the process of transmitting the uplink transmission message, and will not be described herein.

In addition, the 5G transport network deployment requires that IPV6 be supported end-to-end, so that the above packets may be IPV6 packets, in order to enable the existing IPV6 packet to express network slice information, a network slice packet may be extended in an extension header of the IPV6 packet, and the sequence may be located after a destination option header specified in RFC2460, before an upper layer protocol data packet, as shown in fig. 6, which is a schematic format diagram of the extended network slice packet, where:

the following header: 8 bits, indicating the next header type.

Extension head length: 8 bits, does not contain the length of the next header.

Network slice type: 1bit, is divided into hard slices and soft slices, for example, hard slices are 0 and soft slices are 1.

Slice identification: and (3) the length is not fixed, and the slice serial number is used for indicating the slice serial number.

The application also provides a message transmission method, which is applied to a message transmission side system, wherein the system comprises a management control unit and a plurality of transmission network elements connected with the management control unit, and the method can be implemented according to the flow shown in fig. 7:

s701: parameters for determining a message transmission path are received, wherein the parameters comprise a destination address of a message, a bandwidth size required for transmitting the message and used network slice information.

Here, the network slice information includes a network slice identification and a network slice type, which in turn includes hard slices and soft slices.

S702: and acquiring available bandwidth resource information of each transmission network element in the jurisdiction of the management control unit and available target resource information corresponding to the network slice type.

The available target resources corresponding to the hard slices are time slot resources, and the available target resources corresponding to the soft slices are tunnel resources.

S703: configuring a path for transmitting the message, wherein the initial network element of the path is a transmitting network element for transmitting parameters, the end network element of the path is determined according to the destination address of the message, the available bandwidth resource of each transmitting network element in the path is not less than the bandwidth required by transmitting the message, and an available target resource for packaging the message is determined for the transmitting network element.

S704: and transmitting the path information to each transmission network element in the path, so that each transmission network element transmits each message carrying the network slice identifier according to the path information.

Here, the path information includes a correspondence between the network slice identity and the identity of each transport network element in the path and the available target resources.

In the implementation, the paths can be used for transmitting the messages carrying the same network slice identifier, at this time, the validity period of the paths can be infinitely long, in addition, considering that some services may be deleted or the message quantity of some services is relatively small, a long-term occupation of one message transmission path wastes the resources of the 5G transmission network, therefore, the path can be provided with the validity period, and at this time, the method further comprises the following steps:

s705: and monitoring the message received by the initial network element.

S706: if the initial network element is determined not to receive the message carrying the network slice identifier within the preset time length, each transmission network element in the path is instructed to delete the stored path information.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the management control unit receives parameters sent by a certain transport network element and used for determining a packet transport path, available bandwidth resource information of each transport network element in the jurisdiction and available target resource information corresponding to a network slice type in the packet may be obtained, according to the parameters used for determining the packet transport path and the obtained resources, a transport network element meeting the requirements of a transport packet is selected as an alternative network element, and an optimal packet transport path may be determined according to the use condition of the available target resource in each alternative network element, so that not only is the currently determined path optimal, but also the resource utilization condition of each transport network element in the 5G network is comprehensively considered, and the 5G transport network resource may be utilized maximally, thereby improving the resource utilization rate of the 5G transport network.

Correspondingly, the embodiment of the application also provides a message transmitting device, which is applied to a message transmitting system, wherein the system comprises a management control unit and a plurality of transmission network elements connected with the management control unit, and the message transmitting device has a structure schematic diagram shown in fig. 8 and comprises a receiving module 801, an acquiring module 802, a configuration module 803 and a sending module 804.

A receiving module 801, configured to receive parameters for determining a packet transmission path, where the parameters include a destination address of the packet, a bandwidth size required for transmitting the packet, and network slice information used, where the network slice information includes a network slice identifier and a network slice type, and the network slice type includes a hard slice and a soft slice;

an obtaining module 802, configured to obtain available bandwidth resource information of each transport network element in the jurisdiction of the management control unit and available target resource information corresponding to the network slice type, where the available target resource corresponding to the hard slice is a time slot resource, and the available target resource corresponding to the soft slice is a tunnel resource;

a configuration module 803, configured to configure a path for transmitting the packet, where a start network element of the path is a transmitting network element that transmits the parameter, an end network element of the path is determined according to a destination address of the packet, an available bandwidth resource of each transmitting network element in the path is not less than a bandwidth required for transmitting the packet, and an available target resource for encapsulating the packet is determined for the transmitting network element;

A sending module 804, configured to send path information to each transmitting network element in the path, so that each transmitting network element transmits each message carrying the network slice identifier according to the path information.

In one possible implementation, the control module 805 further includes:

and a control module 805, configured to monitor, after sending path information to each transmitting network element in the path, a packet received by the starting network element, and if it is determined that the starting network element does not receive a packet carrying the network slice identifier within a preset duration, instruct each transmitting network element in the path to delete the stored path information.

The application also provides a message transmission method, which is applied to a message transmission side system, wherein the system comprises a management control unit and a plurality of transmission network elements connected with the management control unit, and the method can be implemented according to the flow shown in fig. 9:

s901: and receiving a message carrying network slice information, wherein the network slice information comprises a network slice identifier and a network slice type.

S902: analyzing the message to obtain network slice information, and if the path information corresponding to the network slice identification is determined not to be stored locally, determining the bandwidth size required by transmitting the message and the destination address of the message.

The bandwidth required for transmitting the message and the destination address resolution message of the message are both available, and in addition, if it is determined that the path information corresponding to the network slice identifier is locally stored, the message can be transmitted according to the stored path information, without executing a subsequent procedure.

S903: and sending parameters for determining the message transmission path to a management control unit, wherein the parameters comprise a destination address of the message, the bandwidth size required for transmitting the message and network slice information.

S904: and receiving and storing path information issued by the management control unit, wherein the path information comprises a network slice identifier, identifiers of each transmission network element in the path and a corresponding relation between the identifiers and available target resources.

If the network slice corresponding to the network slice identifier is a hard slice, the available target resource is a time slot resource; and if the network slice corresponding to the network slice identifier is a soft slice, the available target resource is a tunnel resource.

S905: and transmitting each received message carrying the network slice identifier according to the path information.

In the implementation, each received message carrying the network slice identifier may parse the message to obtain the network slice identifier, determine a next transmission network element connected to the current transmission network element according to the network slice identifier and the path information, and determine available target resources for the current transmission network element, so as to send the message to the next transmission network element by using the available target resources.

For example, if the network slice corresponding to the network slice identifier is a hard slice, when the message is received, the network slice identifier carried in the message can be identified, then the next transmission network element connected with the current transmission network element and the available time slot resource determined for the current transmission network element are determined according to the network slice identifier query path information, and then the message is packaged on the corresponding time slot and sent to the next transmission network element.

For example, if the network slice corresponding to the network slice identifier is a soft slice, when the message is received, the network slice identifier carried in the message can be identified, then the next transmission network element connected with the current transmission network element and the available tunnel resource determined for the current transmission network element are determined according to the network slice identifier query path information, and then the message is packaged in the corresponding tunnel and sent to the next transmission network element.

Correspondingly, the embodiment of the application also provides a message transmitting device, which is applied to a message transmitting system, wherein the system comprises a management control unit and a plurality of transmitting network elements connected with the management control unit, and the structure schematic diagram of the message transmitting device is shown in fig. 10 and comprises a receiving module 1001 and a transmitting module 1002.

A receiving module 1001, configured to receive and store path information sent by a management control unit, where the path information includes a correspondence between a network slice identifier and an identifier of each transmitting network element in a path and an available target resource, and if a network slice corresponding to the network slice identifier is a hard slice, the available target resource is a time slot resource; and if the network slice corresponding to the network slice identifier is a soft slice, the available target resource is a tunnel resource.

And a transmitting module 1002, configured to transmit each received packet carrying the network slice identifier according to the path information.

In one possible implementation, the transmission module 1002 is specifically configured to:

analyzing each received message carrying the network slice identifier to acquire the network slice identifier;

determining a next transmission network element connected with the current transmission network element and an available target resource determined for the current transmission network element according to the network slice identifier and the path information;

and transmitting the message to the next transmission network element by utilizing the available target resource.

In one possible embodiment, the method further comprises:

The processing module 1003 is configured to receive a packet carrying network slice information before receiving and storing path information issued by the management control unit, where the network slice information includes the network slice identifier and a network slice type; analyzing the message to obtain the network slice information, and if the path information corresponding to the network slice identifier is determined not to be stored locally, determining the bandwidth size required for transmitting the message and the destination address of the message;

a sending module 1004, configured to send parameters for determining the packet transmission path to a management control unit, where the parameters include a destination address of the packet, a bandwidth size required for transmitting the packet, and the network slice information.

The application also provides a message transmission method, which is applied to a message transmission side system, wherein the system comprises a management control unit and a plurality of transmission network elements connected with the management control unit, and the method can be implemented according to the flow shown in fig. 11:

s1101: and receiving a message, wherein the message carries service identification information.

S1102: and determining the network slice information corresponding to the service identifier carried by the message according to the established corresponding relation between the service identifier and the network slice information.

The network slice information comprises a network slice identifier and a network slice type.

S1103: network slice information is added to the message.

S1104: and transmitting the message added with the network slice information to a transmitting network element.

Correspondingly, the embodiment of the application also provides a message transmitting device, which is applied to a message transmitting system, wherein the system comprises a management control unit and a plurality of transmission network elements connected with the management control unit, and the message transmitting device has a structure schematic diagram shown in fig. 12 and comprises a receiving module 1201, a determining module 1202, an adding module 1203 and a transmitting module 1204.

A receiving module 1201, configured to receive a packet, where the packet carries service identification information;

a determining module 1202, configured to determine, according to a correspondence between the established service identifier and network slice information, network slice information corresponding to the service identifier carried by the packet, where the network slice information includes a network slice identifier and a network slice type;

an adding module 1203, configured to add the network slice information to the packet;

and the transmission module 1204 is used for transmitting the message with the added network slice information to a transmission network element.

Referring to fig. 13, a schematic structural diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present application is provided, where the electronic device includes a transceiver 1301, a processor 1302, and other physical devices, where the processor 1302 may be a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), a microprocessor, an application specific integrated circuit, a programmable logic circuit, a large-scale integrated circuit, or a digital processing unit. The transceiver 1301 is used for data transmission and reception between the electronic apparatus and other apparatuses.

The electronic device may further comprise a memory 1303 for storing software instructions executed by the processor 1302, and of course some other data required by the electronic device, such as identification information of the electronic device, encryption information of the electronic device, user data, etc. The memory 1303 may be a volatile memory (RAM) such as a random-access memory (RAM); the memory 1303 may also be a nonvolatile memory (non-volatile memory), such as a read-only memory (ROM), a flash memory (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), or the memory 1303 is any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program codes in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto. The memory 1303 may be a combination of the above memories.

The specific connection medium between the processor 1302, the memory 1303, and the transceiver 1301 is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. In the embodiment of the present application, the memory 1303, the processor 1302, and the transceiver 1301 are only illustrated in fig. 13 by way of example, and the bus 1304 is shown in bold in fig. 13, and the connection manner between other components is only illustrated schematically, but not limited thereto. The buses may be classified as address buses, data buses, control buses, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in fig. 13, but not only one bus or one type of bus.

The processor 1302 may be dedicated hardware or a processor executing software, and when the processor 1302 may execute software, the processor 1302 reads the software instructions stored in the memory 1303 and executes the message transmission method in any of the foregoing embodiments under the driving of the software instructions.

The division of the modules in the embodiments of the present application is schematically only one logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation, and in addition, each functional module in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processor, or may exist separately and physically, or two or more modules may be integrated in one module. The coupling of the individual modules to each other may be achieved by means of interfaces which are typically electrical communication interfaces, but it is not excluded that they may be mechanical interfaces or other forms of interfaces. Thus, the modules illustrated as separate components may or may not be physically separate, may be located in one place, or may be distributed in different locations on the same or different devices. The integrated modules may be implemented in hardware or in software functional modules.

The embodiment of the application also provides a computer readable storage medium which stores computer executable instructions required to be executed by the processor, and the computer readable storage medium contains a program for executing the processor.

In some possible embodiments, various aspects of the messaging methods provided herein may also be implemented in the form of a program product comprising program code for causing an electronic device to perform the steps of the messaging methods described herein above according to various exemplary embodiments of the application when the program product is run on the electronic device.

The program product may employ any combination of one or more readable media. The readable medium may be a readable signal medium or a readable storage medium. The readable storage medium can be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or a combination of any of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable disk, a hard disk, random Access Memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), optical fiber, portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

The program product for messaging of embodiments of the present application may employ a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM) and include program code and may run on a computing device. However, the program product of the present application is not limited thereto, and in this document, a readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

The readable signal medium may include a data signal propagated in baseband or as part of a carrier wave with readable program code embodied therein. Such a propagated data signal may take any of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to, electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. A readable signal medium may also be any readable medium that is not a readable storage medium and that can communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Program code for carrying out operations of the present application may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computing device, partly on the user's device, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computing device, partly on a remote computing device, or entirely on the remote computing device or server. In the case of remote computing devices, the remote computing device may be connected to the user computing device through any kind of network, including a Local Area Network (LAN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN), or may be connected to an external computing device (e.g., connected via the Internet using an Internet service provider).

It should be noted that although several units or sub-units of the apparatus are mentioned in the above detailed description, such a division is merely exemplary and not mandatory. Indeed, the features and functions of two or more of the elements described above may be embodied in one element in accordance with embodiments of the present application. Conversely, the features and functions of one unit described above may be further divided into a plurality of units to be embodied.

Furthermore, although the operations of the methods of the present application are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this is not required to or suggested that these operations must be performed in this particular order or that all of the illustrated operations must be performed in order to achieve desirable results. Additionally or alternatively, certain steps may be omitted, multiple steps combined into one step to perform, and/or one step decomposed into multiple steps to perform.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that embodiments of the present application may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present application may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present application may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present application is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the application. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

While preferred embodiments of the present application have been described, additional variations and modifications in those embodiments may occur to those skilled in the art once they learn of the basic inventive concepts. It is therefore intended that the following claims be interpreted as including the preferred embodiments and all such alterations and modifications as fall within the scope of the application.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present application without departing from the spirit or scope of the application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims and the equivalents thereof, the present application is intended to cover such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting a message, comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, after forwarding path information to each transport network element in the path:

monitoring a message received by the initial network element;

and if the initial network element is determined not to receive the message carrying the network slice identifier within the preset time length, indicating each transmitting network element in the path to delete the stored path information.

3. A method for transmitting a message, comprising:

the transmission network element receives and stores the path information issued by the management control unit, wherein the path information comprises the corresponding relation between the network slice identifier and the available target resource of each transmission network element in the path, and if the network slice corresponding to the network slice identifier is a hard slice, the available target resource is a time slot resource; if the network slice corresponding to the network slice identifier is a soft slice, the available target resource is a tunnel resource; the path is determined by the management control unit according to the received parameters for determining the transmission path of the message, and the obtained available bandwidth resource information of each transmission network element and the available target resource information configuration corresponding to the network slice type in the jurisdiction, wherein the available bandwidth resource of each transmission network element in the path is not less than the bandwidth required by transmitting the message, and an available target resource for packaging the message is determined for the transmission network element;

And transmitting each received message carrying the network slice identifier according to the path information, wherein the message is sent by a base station or a core network element.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein transmitting each received message carrying the network slice identifier according to the path information comprises:

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising, prior to receiving and storing the path information issued by the management control unit:

receiving a message carrying network slice information, wherein the network slice information comprises the network slice identifier and a network slice type;

analyzing the message to obtain the network slice information, and if the path information corresponding to the network slice identifier is determined not to be stored locally, determining the bandwidth size required for transmitting the message and the destination address of the message;

And sending parameters for determining the message transmission path to a management control unit, wherein the parameters comprise a destination address of the message, a bandwidth size required for transmitting the message and the network slice information.

6. A method for transmitting a message, comprising:

adding the network slice information into the message;

transmitting the message added with the network slice information to a transmission network element, so that the transmission network element transmits the message according to path information, wherein a start network element of the path is a transmission network element for transmitting parameters, an end network element of the path is determined according to a destination address of the message, available bandwidth resources of each transmission network element in the path are not smaller than the bandwidth required for transmitting the message, and an available target resource for packaging the message is determined for the transmission network element.

7. A message transmission apparatus, comprising:

the acquisition module is used for acquiring available bandwidth resource information of each transmission network element in the jurisdiction range and available target resource information corresponding to the network slice type, wherein the available target resource corresponding to the hard slice is a time slot resource, and the available target resource corresponding to the soft slice is a tunnel resource;

8. The apparatus as recited in claim 7, further comprising:

and the control module is used for monitoring the message received by the initial network element after transmitting the path information to each transmission network element in the path, and if the initial network element is determined not to receive the message carrying the network slice identifier within the preset time length, indicating each transmission network element in the path to delete the stored path information.

9. A message transmission apparatus, comprising:

the receiving module is used for receiving and storing the path information issued by the management control unit, wherein the path information comprises a corresponding relation between a network slice identifier and an identifier of each transmission network element in the path and an available target resource, and if the network slice corresponding to the network slice identifier is a hard slice, the available target resource is a time slot resource; if the network slice corresponding to the network slice identifier is a soft slice, the available target resource is a tunnel resource; the path is determined by the management control unit according to the received parameters for determining the transmission path of the message, and the obtained available bandwidth resource information of each transmission network element and the available target resource information configuration corresponding to the network slice type in the jurisdiction, wherein the available bandwidth resource of each transmission network element in the path is not less than the bandwidth required by transmitting the message, and an available target resource for packaging the message is determined for the transmission network element;

And the transmission module is used for transmitting each received message carrying the network slice identifier according to the path information, wherein the message is sent by a base station or a core network element.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the transfer module is specifically configured to:

11. The apparatus as recited in claim 9, further comprising:

the processing module is used for receiving a message carrying network slice information before receiving and storing the path information issued by the management control unit, wherein the network slice information comprises the network slice identifier and the network slice type; analyzing the message to obtain the network slice information, and if the path information corresponding to the network slice identifier is determined not to be stored locally, determining the bandwidth size required for transmitting the message and the destination address of the message;

And the sending module is used for sending parameters for determining the message transmission path to the management control unit, wherein the parameters comprise a destination address of the message, the bandwidth required for transmitting the message and the network slice information.

12. A message transmission apparatus, comprising:

the transmission module is used for transmitting the message added with the network slice information to the transmission network element, so that the transmission network element transmits the message according to the path information, wherein the starting network element of the path is the transmission network element for transmitting parameters, the end network element of the path is determined according to the destination address of the message, the available bandwidth resource of each transmission network element in the path is not less than the bandwidth required for transmitting the message, and an available target resource for packaging the message is determined for the transmission network element.

13. A transport system comprising a management control unit and a plurality of transport network elements connected to the management control unit, wherein:

14. An electronic device, comprising: at least one processor, and a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, wherein:

the memory stores instructions executable by the at least one processor to enable the at least one processor to perform the method of any one of claims 1-2, 3-5 or 6.

15. A computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions for performing the method of any one of claims 1-2, 3-5 or 6.