CN112534846A

CN112534846A - Method, equipment and system for inquiring capability information of terminal

Info

Publication number: CN112534846A
Application number: CN201880096195.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王冠; 王振东; 万利红
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-11-15
Filing date: 2018-11-15
Publication date: 2021-03-19
Also published as: WO2020097884A1

Abstract

A method, equipment and system for inquiring capability information of a terminal relate to the technical field of communication and solve the problem that time-slot overhead is large when the capability information of the terminal is inquired in the prior art. The method comprises the following steps: the access network equipment acquires a first key value corresponding to the terminal (401), the access network equipment queries a corresponding relation table (402) comprising at least one key value and at least one piece of capability information corresponding to the at least one key value, and if the capability information corresponding to the first key value exists in the corresponding relation table, the access network equipment determines the capability information corresponding to the first key value as the capability information of the terminal (403).

Description

Method, equipment and system for inquiring capability information of terminal

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of communication, in particular to a method, equipment and a system for inquiring capability information of a terminal.

Background

Currently, in a communication system, a base station may query capability information of a terminal through a query procedure shown in fig. 1. For example, as shown in fig. 1, the base station may send a terminal capability query (UE capability query) request to the terminal, and after receiving the terminal capability query request sent by the base station, the terminal may send the base station with capability information (UE capability information) of the terminal carried in a certain message.

As shown in fig. 1, the base station needs to query the capability information of the terminal through information interaction with the terminal, and this query method consumes more air interface resources. In particular, in the future, as the frequency bands and frequency band combinations supported by the terminal increase more and more, the capability information of the terminal gradually increases, and the terminal may need to transmit all the capability information to the base station by multiple (two or more) transmissions, which results in a high air interface overhead.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a method, equipment and a system for inquiring capacity information of a terminal, which aim to solve the problem that the time-slot overhead is high when the capacity information of the terminal is inquired.

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

in a first aspect, a method for querying capability information of a terminal is provided, where the method includes: the access network equipment acquires a first key value corresponding to the terminal and inquires a corresponding relation table comprising at least one key value and at least one piece of capability information corresponding to the at least one key value; if the corresponding relation table has the capability information corresponding to the first key value, the access network equipment determines the capability information corresponding to the first key value as the capability information of the terminal.

Based on the method provided by the first aspect, the first key value corresponding to the terminal may be acquired, the corresponding relationship table including the key values and the capability information is queried with the acquired first key value as an index, and the capability information corresponding to the acquired first key value in the corresponding relationship table is used as the capability information of the terminal. Therefore, the capability information of the terminal can be inquired and obtained through the corresponding relation table, the existing inquiry flow is not needed, the capability information sent by the terminal is received through the air interface, and the air interface overhead is reduced.

In one possible design, the correspondence table is stored on the access network device. Therefore, the access network equipment can inquire the capability information of the terminal from the corresponding relation table stored locally, and the inquiry power consumption is reduced.

In one possible design, the first key value is IMEISV of the terminal; the method for acquiring the first key value corresponding to the terminal by the access network equipment comprises the following steps: the access network equipment acquires a first key value from a local area; or the access network equipment acquires the first key value from the terminal; or the access network device acquires the first key value from the core network device. Therefore, the existing identifier can be used as the first key value corresponding to the terminal, so that the cost and the power consumption caused by calculating the first key value corresponding to the terminal are reduced, the IMEISV of the terminal can be acquired from a local area or the terminal or core network equipment, and the flexibility of acquiring the IMEISV of the terminal is improved.

In one possible design, the first key value is a numerical value generated by the terminal according to the capability information of the terminal; the method for acquiring the first key value corresponding to the terminal by the access network equipment comprises the following steps: the access network equipment acquires a first key value from a terminal; or the access network device acquires the first key value from the core network device. Therefore, the key value corresponding to the terminal capability information can be dynamically calculated according to a certain algorithm, the cost of the terminal for maintaining the mapping relation between the terminal key value and the terminal capability information is reduced, meanwhile, the calculated terminal key value can be obtained from the terminal or the core network equipment, and the flexibility of obtaining the terminal key value is improved.

In one possible design, the method further includes: if the capability information corresponding to the first key value does not exist in the corresponding relation table, the access network equipment sends a first request to the terminal, and the first request is used for requesting the capability information of the terminal; and the access network equipment receives the terminal capability information sent by the terminal and correspondingly stores the first key value and the terminal capability information in a corresponding relation table. Therefore, when the corresponding relation table does not have the capacity information corresponding to the first key value of the terminal, the capacity information of the terminal is obtained from the terminal by adopting the existing query mode, and meanwhile, the obtained capacity information of the terminal and the first key value corresponding to the terminal are correspondingly stored in the corresponding relation table, so that when the capacity information of the terminal with the key value as the first key value is queried subsequently, the capacity information of other terminals can be directly queried from the corresponding relation table.

In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be an access network device or a chip or a system on chip in the access network device. The communication device may implement the functions performed by the access network equipment in the above aspects or possible designs, and the functions may be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software comprises one or more modules corresponding to the functions. Such as: the communication apparatus may include: an acquisition unit and an inquiry unit;

the terminal comprises an acquisition unit, a processing unit and a processing unit, wherein the acquisition unit is used for acquiring a first key value corresponding to the terminal;

the access network equipment determines the capability information corresponding to the first key value as the capability information of the terminal if the capability information corresponding to the first key value exists in the corresponding relation table;

the corresponding relation table comprises at least one key value and at least one piece of capability information corresponding to the at least one key value.

The specific implementation manner of the communication apparatus may refer to the behavior function of the access network device in the method for querying capability information of a terminal provided by the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect, and will not be described repeatedly herein. Thus, the communication device provided may achieve the same advantageous effects as the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect.

In a third aspect, a communication apparatus is provided, including: a processor and a memory; the memory is configured to store computer executable instructions, and when the communication apparatus is running, the processor executes the computer executable instructions stored by the memory, so as to enable the communication apparatus to perform the method for querying capability information of a terminal as set forth in the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores instructions that, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to perform the method for querying capability information of a terminal according to the first aspect or any one of the above aspects.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, enable the computer to perform the method of querying capability information of a terminal according to the first aspect or any one of the above possible designs.

A sixth aspect provides a chip system, where the chip system includes a processor and a communication interface, and is configured to support a communication device to implement the functions related in the foregoing aspects, for example, the processor obtains a first key value corresponding to a terminal, queries a correspondence table including at least one key value and at least one piece of capability information corresponding to the at least one key value, and determines, if capability information corresponding to the first key value exists in the correspondence table, the capability information corresponding to the first key value as the capability information of the terminal. In one possible design, the system-on-chip further includes a memory for storing program instructions and data necessary for the communication device. The chip system may be constituted by a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

For technical effects brought by any design manner in the third aspect to the sixth aspect, reference may be made to the technical effects brought by the first aspect or any possible design manner in the first aspect, and details are not repeated.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a method for querying capability information of a terminal, where the method includes: the method comprises the steps that a terminal obtains a first key value used for inquiring capability information of the terminal; the terminal sends a first key value to the access network equipment; wherein, the first key value. Based on the method provided in the seventh aspect, the terminal may send the key value corresponding to the terminal to the access network device, so that the access network device queries the correspondence table including the key value and the capability information to obtain the capability information of the terminal, with the key value of the terminal as an index.

In one possible design, the first key value is IMEISV of the terminal. Therefore, the existing identifier can be used as the first key value corresponding to the terminal, and the cost and the power consumption caused by calculating the first key value corresponding to the terminal are reduced.

In one possible design, the first key value is a numerical value generated by the terminal according to the capability information of the terminal. Therefore, the key value corresponding to the capability information of the terminal can be obtained through dynamic calculation according to a certain algorithm, and the cost of maintaining the mapping relation between the key value of the terminal and the capability information of the terminal by the terminal is reduced.

In a possible design, if the capability information corresponding to the first key does not exist in the correspondence table, the method further includes: a terminal receives a first request sent by access network equipment; and the terminal sends the capability information of the terminal to the access network equipment. Therefore, when the corresponding relation table does not have the capacity information corresponding to the first key value of the terminal, the terminal sends the capacity information of the terminal to the access network equipment in the existing query mode, so that the access network equipment correspondingly stores the acquired capacity information of the terminal and the first key value corresponding to the terminal in the corresponding relation table, and when the capacity information of the terminal with the key value as the first key value is queried subsequently, the capacity information of other terminals can be directly queried from the corresponding relation table.

In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be a terminal or a chip or a system on a chip in a terminal, and which may implement the functions performed by the terminal in each possible design of the seventh aspect or the seventh aspect, where the functions may be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software comprises one or more modules corresponding to the functions. Such as: the communication apparatus may include: an acquisition unit, a transmission unit;

the terminal comprises an acquisition unit, a processing unit and a processing unit, wherein the acquisition unit is used for acquiring a first key value used for inquiring the capability information of the terminal;

a sending unit, configured to send the first key value to the access network device.

The specific implementation manner of the communication device may refer to the behavior function of the terminal in the method for querying capability information of the terminal provided in any one of the seventh aspect and the seventh aspect, which is not repeated herein. Therefore, the communication device provided can achieve the same advantageous effects as any one of the possible designs of the seventh aspect or the seventh aspect.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a communication apparatus comprising: a processor and a memory; the memory is configured to store computer-executable instructions, and when the communication apparatus runs, the processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory, so as to enable the communication apparatus to perform the method for querying capability information of a terminal according to any one of the possible designs of the seventh aspect or the seventh aspect.

A tenth aspect provides a computer-readable storage medium, having stored therein instructions, which, when run on a computer, make the computer perform the method for querying capability information of a terminal according to the seventh aspect or any one of the above aspects.

In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a computer program product containing instructions, which when run on a computer, enable the computer to perform the method for querying capability information of a terminal according to the seventh aspect or any one of the above aspects.

In a twelfth aspect, a chip system is provided, where the chip system includes a processor and a communication interface, and is used to support a communication device to implement the functions in the foregoing aspects, for example, the processor obtains a first key value used for querying capability information of a terminal, and sends the first key value to an access network device through the communication interface. In one possible design, the system-on-chip further includes a memory for storing program instructions and data necessary for the communication device. The chip system may be constituted by a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

For technical effects brought by any design manner of the ninth aspect to the twelfth aspect, reference may be made to the seventh aspect or any possible design manner of the seventh aspect, and details are not repeated.

A thirteenth aspect provides a system for querying capability information of a terminal, comprising an access network device according to any one of the second to sixth aspects and a terminal according to any one of the eighth to twelfth aspects.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a process of inquiring capability information of a terminal in the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a simplified diagram of a system architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method for querying capability information of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a communication device 50 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 6 is a schematic composition diagram of a communication device 60 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The idea of the embodiment of the application is as follows: the method comprises the steps that capability information supported by at least one terminal category (UE category) is correspondingly stored with at least one key (key) value (for example, the key value is stored in access network equipment), the key value corresponds to the terminal, when the access network equipment inquires the capability information of a certain terminal, the access network equipment can acquire the key corresponding to the terminal, the capability information corresponding to the key is inquired from a corresponding relation table of the stored capability information and the key value, and the inquired capability information is determined as the capability information of the terminal, so that the terminal does not need to send the capability information of the terminal to the access network equipment through an air interface, and the air interface overhead is reduced.

The technical solution in the embodiments of the present application is described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

The method for querying capability information of a terminal according to the embodiment of the present application may be applied to a communication system shown in fig. 2, where the communication system may be a cellular communication system or a universal mobile telecommunications system terrestrial radio access network (universal mobile radio access network)An evolved system terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN) system, an evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) system, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, or the like, and may be a fifth generation (5 th generation (LTE)^thgeneration, 5G) mobile communication system or new radio (NG) system, and may be other mobile communication systems, without limitation. As shown in fig. 2, the communication system may include an access network device and a terminal, where the access network device may query capability information of the terminal through the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, and then allocate appropriate communication resources (e.g., frequency resources and/or time domain resources, etc.) to the terminal according to the capability information of the terminal. In the embodiments of the present application, the capability information of the terminal may be referred to as a wireless access capability of the terminal, and the capability information of the terminal may include, but is not limited to: the number of carriers supported by the terminal, the access capability of the terminal (e.g., the capability of accessing UTRAN or the capability of accessing E-UTRAN or the capability of accessing LTE), the protocol version supported by the terminal, the characteristics of the terminal (e.g., the capability of supporting space division multiplexing), the frequency bands (bands) and frequency band combinations supported by the terminal, etc. For example, terminals supporting the same capability information may be classified into the same terminal class (or UE class), such as: the capability information of each terminal in a plurality of terminals in the same batch produced by the same manufacturer may be the same, and the terminals may be classified into the same UE category; the capability information of each of a plurality of terminals of the same model and installed with the same software version may be the same, and the terminals may be classified to the same UE category.

Illustratively, the terminal in fig. 2 corresponds to a key value, wherein the detailed description of the key value can be described with reference to the embodiment corresponding to fig. 4. Specifically, the terminal may be referred to as a terminal equipment (terminal equipment) or a User Equipment (UE), or a Mobile Station (MS), or a Mobile Terminal (MT), and may be deployed on the water surface (such as a ship); and may also be deployed in the air (e.g., airplanes, balloons, satellites, etc.). Specifically, the terminal in fig. 2 may be a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet computer, or a computer with a wireless transceiving function. The terminal may also be a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal, an Augmented Reality (AR) terminal, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in unmanned driving, a wireless terminal in telemedicine, a wireless terminal in smart grid, a wireless terminal in smart city (smart city), a wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), and so on. In the embodiment of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the function of the terminal may be the terminal, or may be an apparatus capable of supporting the terminal to implement the function, such as a chip system. In the embodiment of the present application, the chip system may be composed of a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, a device for implementing a function of a terminal is taken as an example, and the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is described.

The access network device in fig. 2 may be referred to as a network device, where a corresponding relationship between capability information supported by the UE category and a key value may be stored in the access network device, and the access network device is mainly used to implement functions such as a radio physical control function, resource scheduling and radio resource management, radio access control, mobility management, and capability information of an inquiry terminal. Specifically, the access network device may be AN Access Network (AN)/Radio Access Network (RAN) device, or a device composed of a plurality of 5G-AN/5G-RAN nodes, or any one of a base station (NB), AN evolved node b (eNB), a next generation base station (gbb), a transmission point (TRP), a Transmission Point (TP), and some other access node. In this embodiment of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the function of the access network device may be an access network device, or may be an apparatus capable of supporting the access network device to implement the function, for example, a chip system. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, taking an example that a device for implementing a function of an access network device is an access network device, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is described.

For example, in the system shown in fig. 2, when the access network device needs to query the capability information of a certain terminal, a key value corresponding to the terminal may be obtained, the capability information corresponding to the key value is queried from the correspondence between the capability information supported by the UE category and the key value, and the queried capability information is used as the capability information of the terminal. Specifically, the method may be described with reference to the corresponding embodiment in fig. 4.

It should be noted that fig. 2 is only an exemplary framework diagram, the number of devices included in fig. 2 is not limited, and the system described in fig. 2 may include other nodes besides the functional nodes shown in fig. 2, such as: core network devices, gateway devices, application servers, etc., without limitation.

In particular implementations, each of the devices shown in FIG. 2 may have the components shown in FIG. 3. Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, and as shown in fig. 3, the communication device 300 includes at least one processor 301, a communication line 302, and at least one communication interface 303; further, a memory 304 may also be included. The processor 301, the memory 304 and the communication interface 303 may be connected by a communication line 302. In the embodiments of the present application, at least one of the two or more may be one, two, three or more, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited.

The processor 301 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a general purpose processor Network (NP), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), or any combination thereof. The processor may also be any other means having a processing function such as a circuit, device or software module.

The communication lines 302 may include pathways for conveying information between components included in the communication device.

Communication interface 303 may be used to communicate with other devices or communication networks (e.g., ethernet, Radio Access Network (RAN), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), etc.). Communication interface 303 may be a module, circuitry, transceiver, or any device capable of enabling communication.

Memory 304 may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that may store static information and/or instructions, a Random Access Memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that may store information and/or instructions, an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disk storage, optical disk storage (including compact disk, laser disk, optical disk, digital versatile disk, blu-ray disk, 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, not limited thereto. In one possible design, the memory 304 may exist separately from the processor 301, i.e., the memory 304 may be a memory external to the processor 301, in which case the memory 304 may be coupled to the processor 301 via the communication line 302 for storing instructions or program code. The processor 301, when calling and executing the instructions or program codes stored in the memory 304, can implement the data protection method provided by the following embodiments of the present application. In yet another possible design, the memory 304 may also be integrated with the processor 301, that is, the memory 304 may be an internal memory of the processor 301, for example, the memory 304 is a cache memory, and may be used for temporarily storing some data and/or instruction information, and the like.

As one implementation, the processor 301 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 in fig. 3. As another implementation, the communication device 300 may include multiple processors, such as the processor 301 and the processor 307 in fig. 3. As yet another implementable manner, the communications apparatus 300 may further include an output device 305 and an input device 306. Illustratively, the input device 306 may be a keyboard, mouse, microphone, joystick, or the like, and the output device 305 may be a display screen, speaker (spaker), or the like.

It should be noted that the communication apparatus 300 may be a general-purpose device or a special-purpose device. Such as: the communication device 300 may be a desktop computer, a portable computer, a web server, a PDA, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wireless terminal, an embedded device, a system-on-a-chip, or a device with a similar structure as in fig. 3. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the type of the communication apparatus 300. In the embodiment of the present application, the chip system may be composed of a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices.

In the following, with reference to the system shown in fig. 2, taking the case that the access network device queries the capability information of any terminal in fig. 2 as an example, a method for querying the capability information of the terminal provided in the embodiment of the present application is described. Each device mentioned in the following method embodiments may have a component shown in fig. 3, and is not described again.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of a method for querying capability information of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present application, and as shown in fig. 4, the method may include:

step 401: the access network equipment acquires a first key value corresponding to the terminal.

Wherein the terminal may be any one of the terminals in fig. 2. The first key value corresponding to the terminal may also be described as a key value of the terminal or a key value corresponding to the terminal or a capability identifier (UE capability identity) of the terminal. The first key value corresponding to the terminal may correspond to the capability information of the terminal, and may be used to identify the capability information of the terminal.

In one possible design, the first key corresponding to the terminal may be an international mobile equipment identifier + software version (IMEISV) of the terminal, and each terminal may uniquely correspond to one IMEISV. The IMEISV mainly includes a Type Allocation Code (TAC), a Serial Number (SNR), and a Software Version Number (SVN). The IMEISV of each terminal in the same UE category (e.g., terminals generated by the same equipment vendor and using the same software release) may be the same, and the IMEISV of terminals of different UE categories may be different. Such as: assuming that the terminal 1 is a device produced by apple and having a software version number XX, and the terminal 2 is a device produced by apple and having a software version number YY, the terminal 1 corresponds to IMEISV1, and the terminal 2 corresponds to IMEISV2, which is different from IMEISV1 of the terminal 1.

For example, after accessing a cell through a random access procedure, a terminal may send its IMEISV to an access network device, which stores the IMEISV, such as: stored in a database within the access network equipment, the access network equipment may obtain the IMEISV of the terminal from a local (e.g., its own database) when performing step 401.

Or, the access network equipment acquires IMEISV of the terminal from the terminal, such as: the access network equipment sends a query request to the terminal, and the terminal sends the IMEISV of the terminal to the access network equipment after receiving the query request. The query request may be for requesting a capability identifier of the querying terminal, and the query request may be further described as a capability identifier query request.

Or the access network equipment acquires the IMEISV of the terminal from the core network equipment. The core network device may be a mobility management device (e.g., a Mobility Management Entity (MME), an access and mobility management function (AMF), etc.), and the core network device may send an IMEISV of the terminal to the access network device through an initial context establishment procedure, where the IMEISV includes: the core network device may send an initial context setup request (initial context setup request) to the access network device, where the initial context setup request may carry an IMEISV of the terminal. The IMEISV of the terminal may be sent to the core network device by the terminal through non-access stratum (NAS) signaling.

In another possible design, the first key value corresponding to the terminal is a value generated by the terminal according to the capability information of the terminal, and a hexadecimal bit stream corresponding to the value is much shorter than a hexadecimal bit stream corresponding to the capability information of the terminal.

For example, the value may be obtained by calculating the capability information of the terminal by using a mapping algorithm, which may be a Hash (Hash) algorithm, such as: may be an MD5 algorithm (MD message-digest algorithm), or an SHA256 algorithm (SHA secure hash algorithm), and the first key value corresponding to the terminal may be a hash value. Optionally, the hash algorithm is configured in advance for the terminal, and the hash algorithms configured for a class of terminals (e.g., UE category) supporting the same capability information may be the same.

In this possible design, the obtaining, by the access network device, the first key value corresponding to the terminal may include:

and the access network equipment acquires the value generated by the terminal according to the capability information of the terminal from the terminal. Taking the value as a hash value as an example, the access network device may send an inquiry request to the terminal, and after receiving the inquiry request, the terminal inputs a code stream corresponding to the capability information of the terminal into a hash algorithm to generate a hash value, and sends the hash value to the access network device. The query request is as described above and is not described in detail. In addition, the embodiment of the application is not limited to generating the hash value after the terminal receives the query request, and for example, the terminal may also generate the hash value before receiving the query request and store the generated hash value locally, and after receiving the query request sent by the access network device, the terminal obtains the hash value locally and sends the hash value to the access network device.

Or the access network equipment acquires the value generated by the terminal according to the capability information of the terminal from the core network equipment. The obtaining method is similar to the above-mentioned method for obtaining IMEISV of the terminal from the core network device by the access network device, such as: taking a value generated by the terminal according to the capability information of the terminal as a hash value, the terminal may send the hash value included in the NAS signaling to the core network device, and after obtaining the hash value, the core network device sends an initial context establishment request including the hash value to the access network device.

It should be noted that the first key value corresponding to the terminal may include, but is not limited to, the two possible designs, and may also be a combination of the two possible designs, for example: the first key value corresponding to the terminal may include IMEISV of the terminal and a value (e.g., a hash value) generated by the terminal according to the capability information of the terminal.

Step 402: the access network device queries the corresponding relationship table, and if the capability information corresponding to the first key value exists in the corresponding relationship table, the access network device executes step 403.

The correspondence table may be pre-configured in the access network device and dynamically maintained by the access network device. The corresponding relationship table may include multiple records, where each record is used to record capability information corresponding to a key value, the key values correspond to the capability information one to one, the key values corresponding to different capability information are different, and the capability information may refer to capability information corresponding to one UE category, for example: each record may include a key value as well as capability information. The initial state of the correspondence table may be empty, or a part of the content may be predefined by an administrator and then dynamically maintained by the access network device. For example, when a UE category is newly added, the capability information corresponding to the newly added UE category and the key value corresponding to a terminal in the newly added UE category may be added into the corresponding relationship table. It should be noted that the access network device may obtain the key value corresponding to the terminal from the terminal in the manner described in step 401.

For example, the querying the correspondence table by the access network device may include: traversing key values included in each record in the corresponding relation table by taking the first key value as an index, if the key value same as the first key value is found, determining that the corresponding relation table has capability information corresponding to the first key value, and acquiring the capability information of the terminal from the corresponding relation table; otherwise, it is determined that the capability information corresponding to the first key value does not exist in the corresponding relationship table, and the capability information of the terminal cannot be acquired from the corresponding relationship table.

Step 403: and the access network equipment determines the capability information corresponding to the first key value as the capability information of the terminal.

Taking the first key value corresponding to the terminal as an IMEISV for example, the following table one is a corresponding relationship table including IMEISV and capability information, as shown in table one, the capability information supported by the UE category1 is capability information 1, IMEISV1 corresponds to capability information 1, the capability information supported by the UE category1 is capability information 1, IMEISV2 corresponds to capability information 2, it is assumed that the access network device needs to query the capability information of the terminal 1, the terminal 1 belongs to the UE category1, the IMEISV of the terminal 1 is IMEISV1, after the access network device obtains the IMEISV of the terminal 1, the table one can be queried to find the capability information 1 corresponding to IMEISV1, and the capability information 1 is used as the capability information of the terminal 1, so that the terminal 1 is not required to send its own capability information to the access network device through an air interface, and air interface overhead is reduced.

Watch 1

IMEISV	Capability information
IMEISV1	Capability information 1
IMEISV2	Capability information 2

Illustratively, if the capability information corresponding to the first key value does not exist in the correspondence table, the access network device may send a first request for requesting the capability information of the terminal to the terminal, after receiving the first request, the terminal sends the capability information of the terminal to the access network device, the access network device receives the capability information of the terminal sent by the terminal, correspondingly stores the first key value and the capability information of the terminal in the correspondence table, and subsequently, when the access network device needs to query the capability information of the terminal or the capability information of other terminals belonging to the same UE category as the terminal, the access network device may directly query the capability information from the correspondence table without receiving the capability information sent by the terminal.

For example, it is assumed that the access network device needs to query the capability information of the terminal 3, the terminal 3 belongs to UE category3, IMEISV of the terminal 3 is IMEISV3, after the access network device obtains IMEISV of the terminal 3, it may query the first table, it is found that IMEISV3 does not exist in the first table, that is, it is impossible to obtain the capability information of the terminal 3 from the correspondence table, at this time, the access network device may send a request to the terminal 3 to request the capability information of the terminal 3, after the terminal 3 receives the request sent by the access network device, it sends its own capability information (for example, capability information 3) to the access network device, after the access network device receives the capability information of the terminal 3, it correspondingly adds IMEISV3 of the terminal 3 and the capability information of the terminal 3 into the correspondence table, and the second table is a correspondence table after IMEISV3 and the capability information 3 are added. Subsequently, when the capability information of the terminal of IMEISV3 is queried, the capability information can be directly queried from the table two, and the capability information sent by the terminal is received from the air interface without the existing query process, so that the air interface overhead is reduced.

Watch two

IMEISV	Capability information
IMEISV1	Capability information 1
IMEISV2	Capability information 2
IMEISV3	Capability information 3

The method for the access network device to query the capability information of the terminal through the corresponding relation table is similar to the above method under the condition that the first key value corresponding to the terminal is the hash value. For example, assume that the code stream (hexadecimal) corresponding to the capability information 1 of the terminal 1 is as follows:

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the hash value corresponding to the code stream calculated by the terminal 1 by using the SHA256 algorithm is: 2bced37a2e420ef3023e7f1eb321e7f19fa988d35780c689977a19ca2aad3cf 2. Terminal 1 may send 2bced37a2e420ef3023e7f1eb321e7f19fa988d35780c689977a19ca2aad3cf2 and capability information 1 to the access network device so that the access network device will: 2bced37a2e420ef3023e7f1eb321e7f19fa988d35780c689977a19ca2aad3cf2 and capability information 1 are stored in the following table three, and subsequently, when the capability information of the terminal 4 is queried and the hash value generated by the terminal 4 is: ced37a2e420ef3023e7f1eb321e7f19fa988d35780c689977a19ca2 ad3cf2, the third table is queried, and the capability information 1 corresponding to 2bced37a2e420ef3023e7f1eb321e7f19fa988d35780c689977a19ca2 ad3cf2 is used as the capability information of the terminal 4.

Watch III

hash value	Capability information
2bced37a2e420ef3023e7f1eb321e7f19fa988d35780c689977a19ca2aad3cf2	Capability information 1
88d35780c689977a19ca2aad3cf22bced37a2e420ef3023e7f1eb321e7f19fa9	Capability information 2

Based on the method shown in fig. 4, a correspondence table including key values and capability information may be preset, when the capability information of the terminal needs to be queried, the key value corresponding to the terminal is obtained, the obtained key value is used as an index, the correspondence table is queried, and the capability information corresponding to the obtained key value in the correspondence table is used as the capability information of the terminal. Therefore, the capability information of the terminal can be inquired and obtained through the corresponding relation table, the existing inquiry flow is not needed, the capability information sent by the terminal is received through the air interface, and the air interface overhead is reduced.

The above mainly introduces the scheme provided by the present application from the perspective of interaction between the nodes. It will be understood that each node, such as the access network equipment and the terminal, for implementing the above-described functions, includes corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules for performing the respective functions. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the present invention can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software, in conjunction with the exemplary algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein. Whether a function is performed as hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. 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 invention.

The present application may perform the division of the functional modules for the terminal and the access network device according to the above method examples, for example, each functional module may be divided corresponding 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.

Fig. 5 is a schematic composition diagram of a communication apparatus 50 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, where the communication apparatus 50 may be an access network device or a chip or a system on chip in the access network device. As shown in fig. 5, the communication device 50 may include: an acquisition unit 501, an inquiry unit 502 and a sending unit 503;

an obtaining unit 501, configured to obtain a first key value corresponding to a terminal. Such as: the obtaining unit 501 is configured to support the communication apparatus 50 to perform step 401.

A querying unit 502, configured to query a correspondence table including at least one key value and at least one piece of capability information corresponding to the at least one key value, and if the capability information corresponding to the first key value exists in the correspondence table, the access network device determines the capability information corresponding to the first key value as the capability information of the terminal. Such as: the querying unit 502 is configured to support the communication device 50 to perform the steps 402 and 403.

Further, if the capability information corresponding to the first key does not exist in the correspondence table, as shown in fig. 5, the communication device 50 may further include:

a sending unit 503, configured to send a first request to the terminal when the capability information corresponding to the first key does not exist in the correspondence table; the first request is used for requesting the capability information of the terminal;

the acquiring unit 501 is further configured to receive capability information of the terminal sent by the terminal;

the querying unit 502 is further configured to correspondingly store the first key value and the capability information of the terminal in a corresponding relationship table.

It should be noted that 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. The communication device 50 provided in the embodiment of the present application is used to execute the function of the access network device in the method for querying the capability information of the terminal shown in fig. 4, so that the same effect as the above-mentioned method for querying the capability information of the terminal can be achieved.

As yet another implementation, the communication device 50 shown in fig. 5 may include: a processing module and a communication module. The processing module may integrate the functions of the querying unit 502 and the communication module may integrate the functions of the obtaining unit 501 and the sending unit 503. The processing module is used to control and manage the actions of the communication device 50, for example, the processing module is used to support the communication device 50 to perform the steps 402, 403 and other processes for performing the techniques described herein. The communication module is used to support the communication device 50 to perform step 401 and communicate with other network entities. Further, the communication device 50 shown in fig. 5 may also include a storage module for storing program codes and data of the communication device 50.

The processing module may be a processor or a controller. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. A processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, a DSP and a microprocessor, or the like. The communication module may be a transceiver circuit or a communication interface, etc. The storage module may be a memory. When the processing module is a processor, the communication module is a communication interface, and the storage module is a memory, the communication device 50 shown in fig. 5 may be the communication device shown in fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is a schematic composition diagram of a communication device 60 according to an embodiment of the present application, where the communication device 60 may be a terminal or a chip in the terminal or a system on a chip. As shown in fig. 6, the communication device 60 may include: an acquisition unit 601, a transmission unit 602;

an obtaining unit 601, configured to obtain a first key value;

a sending unit 602, configured to send a first key value to an access network device; the first key value is used for inquiring the capability information of the terminal.

It should be noted that 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. The communication device 60 provided in the embodiment of the present application is used for executing the function of the terminal in the method for querying the capability information of the terminal shown in fig. 4, so that the same effect as the above-mentioned method for querying the capability information of the terminal can be achieved.

As yet another implementation, the communication device 60 shown in fig. 6 may include: a processing module and a communication module. The communication module may integrate the functions of the acquisition unit 601 and the transmission unit 602. The processing module is used to control and manage the actions of the communication device 60, e.g., the processing module is used to support the communication device 60 to perform other processes of the techniques described herein. The communication module is used to support the communication device 60 to perform communications with other network entities. Further, the communication device 60 shown in fig. 6 may also include a storage module for storing program codes and data of the communication device 60.

The processing module may be a processor or a controller. Which may implement or perform the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure. A processor may also be a combination of computing functions, e.g., comprising one or more microprocessors, a DSP and a microprocessor, or the like. The communication module may be a transceiver circuit or a communication interface, etc. The storage module may be a memory. When the processing module is a processor, the communication module is a communication interface, and the storage module is a memory, the communication device 60 shown in fig. 6 may be the communication device shown in fig. 3.

Through the above description of the embodiments, it is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and simplicity of description, the foregoing division of the functional modules is merely used as an example, and in practical applications, the above function distribution may be completed by different functional modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the device may be divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the above described functions.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed 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 modules or units is only one logical functional division, and there may be other divisions when actually implemented, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or may be integrated into another device, 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 be one physical unit or a plurality of physical units, that is, may be located in one place, or may be distributed in a plurality of different places. 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 invention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be substantially implemented or contributed to by the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution may be embodied in the form of a software product, where the software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to enable a device (which may be a single chip, a chip, or the like) or a processor (processor) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present invention. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a U disk, a removable hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The above description is only an embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present invention are intended to be covered by the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the appended claims.

Claims

A method for inquiring capability information of a terminal, the method comprising:

the access network equipment acquires a first key value corresponding to the terminal;

the access network equipment inquires a corresponding relation table; the corresponding relation table comprises at least one key value and at least one piece of capability information corresponding to the at least one key value;

if the capability information corresponding to the first key value exists in the corresponding relation table, the access network equipment determines the capability information corresponding to the first key value as the capability information of the terminal.
The method of claim 1,

the correspondence table is stored on the access network device.
The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the first key value is the terminal's international mobile equipment identifier + software version number IMEISV; the method for the access network equipment to acquire the first key value corresponding to the terminal includes:

the access network equipment acquires the first key value locally; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the access network equipment acquires the first key value from the terminal; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

and the access network equipment acquires the first key value from core network equipment.
The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the first key value is a numerical value generated by the terminal according to the terminal's capability information; the method for the access network equipment to acquire the first key value corresponding to the terminal includes:

the access network equipment acquires the first key value from the terminal; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

and the access network equipment acquires the first key value from core network equipment.
The method according to any one of claims 1-4, further comprising:

if the corresponding relation table does not have the capability information corresponding to the first key value, the access network equipment sends a first request to the terminal, and the first request is used for requesting the capability information of the terminal;

and the access network equipment receives the capability information of the terminal sent by the terminal and correspondingly stores the first key value and the capability information of the terminal in the corresponding relation table.
A method for inquiring capability information of a terminal, the method comprising:

the terminal acquires a first key value;

the terminal sends a first key value to access network equipment; the first key value is used for inquiring the capability information of the terminal.
The method of claim 6,

the first key value is the international mobile equipment identifier + software version number IMEISV of the terminal.
The method of claim 6,

the first key value is a numerical value generated by the terminal according to the capability information of the terminal.
The method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein if the capability information corresponding to the first key does not exist in the correspondence table, the method further comprises:

the terminal receives a first request sent by the access network equipment;

and the terminal sends the capability information of the terminal to the access network equipment.
A communication apparatus, characterized in that the communication apparatus comprises:

the terminal comprises an acquisition unit, a processing unit and a processing unit, wherein the acquisition unit is used for acquiring a first key value corresponding to the terminal;

the query unit is used for querying a corresponding relation table, and if the corresponding relation table has the capability information corresponding to the first key value, determining the capability information corresponding to the first key value as the capability information of the terminal;

the corresponding relation table comprises at least one key value and at least one piece of capability information corresponding to the at least one key value.
The communication device of claim 10,

the correspondence table is stored on the communication device.
A communication apparatus according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the first key value is the terminal's international mobile equipment identifier + software version number IMEISV; the obtaining unit is specifically configured to:

acquiring the first key value from the local place; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

acquiring the first key value from the terminal; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

and acquiring the first key value from the core network equipment.
The communication apparatus according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the first key is a numerical value generated by the terminal according to the capability information of the terminal; the obtaining unit is specifically configured to:

acquiring the first key value from the terminal; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

and acquiring the first key value from the core network equipment.
The communications apparatus according to any one of claims 10 to 13, wherein if the capability information corresponding to the first key does not exist in the correspondence table, the communications apparatus further includes:

a sending unit, configured to send a first request to the terminal when there is no capability information corresponding to a first key value in a correspondence table, where the first request is used to request the capability information of the terminal;

the acquiring unit is also used for receiving the capability information of the terminal sent by the terminal;

and the query unit is further used for correspondingly storing the first key value and the capability information of the terminal in the corresponding relation table.
A communication apparatus, characterized in that the communication apparatus comprises:

an obtaining unit, configured to obtain a first key value;

a sending unit, configured to send a first key value to an access network device; the first key value is used for inquiring the capability information of the terminal.
The communication device of claim 15,

the first key value is the international mobile equipment identifier + software version number IMEISV of the terminal.
The communication device of claim 15,

the first key value is a numerical value generated by the terminal according to the capability information of the terminal.
The apparatus according to any one of claims 15 to 17, wherein if the capability information corresponding to the first key does not exist in the correspondence table, the obtaining unit is further configured to:

receiving a first request sent by the access network equipment;

the sending unit is further configured to send the capability information of the terminal to the access network device.