CN112953843A

CN112953843A - Data transmission method and device

Info

Publication number: CN112953843A
Application number: CN201911180038.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 周军平; 屈琴; 郝文杰
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-11-26
Filing date: 2019-11-26
Publication date: 2021-06-11
Anticipated expiration: 2039-11-26
Also published as: WO2021104335A1; CN112953843B

Abstract

The embodiment of the application discloses a data transmission method and a device thereof, wherein the method can be applied to a scene supporting local distribution, and comprises the following steps: receiving an uplink data packet from terminal equipment, and determining session information corresponding to the uplink data packet; and under the condition that the session information corresponding to the uplink data packet meets the edge forwarding condition, sending the uplink data packet to an edge gateway. By implementing the embodiment of the application, the data traffic processed by the edge gateway can be reduced.

Description

Data transmission method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of internet technologies, and in particular, to a data transmission method and apparatus.

Background

The current network is a converged network. Under the current network, terminals access data through a gateway which is deployed in a centralized manner. With the development of virtualization technology and distributed cloud technology, in the future, a mobile network may deploy a micro cloud platform, i.e., a multi-access edge computing/multi-access edge cloud (MEC) platform, at a network edge (e.g., a location close to a base station).

Taking the network architecture diagram shown in fig. 1a as an example, when receiving data transmitted by a base station, a base station side gateway (CSG)/Access Service Gateway (ASG) transmits all data from the base station to an MEC gateway. And the MEC gateway judges whether the data needs to be locally distributed or not based on the distribution rule. And if the data needs to be locally distributed, sending the data to the local network. And if the data does not need to be subjected to local distribution, the MEC gateway sends the data to the CSG/ASG, and the CSG/ASG sends the data to the core network for processing. However, this results in a large data traffic that the MEC gateway needs to handle.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a data transmission method and a data transmission device, which are beneficial to reducing data traffic processed by an edge gateway.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a data transmission method, where the method includes: receiving an uplink data packet from terminal equipment, and determining session information corresponding to the uplink data packet; and under the condition that the session information corresponding to the uplink data packet meets the edge forwarding condition, sending the uplink data packet to an edge gateway.

In the technical scheme, the uplink data packet is sent to the edge gateway under the condition that the session information corresponding to the uplink data packet meets the edge forwarding condition, so that the data traffic processed by the edge gateway is reduced, and the load of the edge gateway is reduced.

In one implementation, the session information may include a session type, and the edge forwarding condition may include one or more edge forwarding session types; the session information satisfying the edge forwarding condition may include that the session type corresponding to the uplink data packet is the same as the edge forwarding session type.

In the technical scheme, the data traffic processed by the edge gateway is reduced, and the load of the edge gateway is reduced.

In one implementation, the session information may include an identifier of an access network device corresponding to the terminal device and a session type; the edge forwarding conditions may include one or more edge forwarding device identifications and one or more edge forwarding session types; the meeting of the edge forwarding condition by the session information may include: the identifier of the access network device is the same as the identifier of the edge forwarding device, and the session type corresponding to the uplink data packet is the same as the edge forwarding session type.

In one implementation, before sending the upstream data packet to the edge gateway, the method may further include: acquiring address information of an edge gateway, and modifying the destination address information of an uplink data packet into the address information of the edge gateway; the specific implementation of sending the uplink data packet to the edge gateway may be: and sending the uplink data packet to the edge gateway according to the modified destination address information of the uplink data packet.

In the technical scheme, the destination address information of the uplink data packet is modified into the address information of the edge gateway, so that the uplink data packet can be sent to the edge gateway according to the modified destination address information of the uplink data packet. Thereby facilitating a reduction in data traffic handled by the edge gateway.

In one implementation, the address information of the edge gateway may include an internet protocol version 6 IPV6 address.

In one implementation, the method may further include: and under the condition that the session information corresponding to the uplink data packet does not meet the edge forwarding condition, sending the uplink data packet to a core network element.

In the technical scheme, when the session information corresponding to the uplink data packet does not meet the edge forwarding condition, the uplink data packet is sent to the core network element, so that the data requested by the uplink data packet can be acquired from the core network, and the uplink data packet is prevented from being unable to respond.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides another data transmission method, where the method includes: determining that the current tunnel information is different from the historical tunnel information; the tunnel information is the tunnel information between the network element of the core network and the access network equipment; and sending the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information to the edge gateway.

In the technical scheme, when the tunnel information changes, the downlink data packet corresponding to the changed tunnel information is sent to the edge gateway. The edge gateway can determine the current tunnel information according to the information carried by the downlink data packet, and encapsulates and sends the downlink data packet from the local server according to the current tunnel information.

In one implementation, the method may further include: and generating a downlink data packet.

In the technical scheme, the situation that the current tunnel information cannot be determined by the edge gateway due to the fact that no downlink data packet from the internet exists can be avoided by automatically generating the downlink data packet, and therefore the success rate of returning the downlink data packet from the local server to the terminal device is improved.

In one implementation, the method may further include: and receiving a downlink data packet from a core network element.

In one implementation, the downlink data packet may be the first n downlink data packets in the downlink data stream; wherein n may be a positive integer.

In the technical scheme, the edge gateway can learn the current tunnel information according to the received n downlink data packets, so that the success rate of returning the downlink data packets from the local server to the terminal equipment is improved.

In an implementation manner, before sending the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information to the edge gateway, the method may further include: acquiring address information of an edge gateway; modifying the destination address information of the downlink data packet into the address information of the edge gateway; the specific implementation manner of sending the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information to the edge gateway may be: and sending the downlink data packet to the edge gateway according to the modified destination address information of the downlink data packet.

In the technical scheme, the destination address information of the downlink data packet is modified into the address information of the edge gateway, so that the downlink data packet can be sent to the edge gateway according to the modified destination address information of the downlink data packet. Therefore, the success rate of returning the downlink data packet from the local server to the terminal equipment is improved.

In one implementation, the method may further include: determining session information corresponding to the tunnel information; and under the condition that the session information meets the edge forwarding condition, triggering and executing the step of sending the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information to the edge gateway.

In the technical scheme, when the session information corresponding to the tunnel information meets the edge forwarding condition, the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information is sent to the edge gateway, so that on one hand, the downlink data packet returned from the local network is favorably and correctly returned to the terminal equipment; on the other hand, the situation that the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information is sent to the edge gateway under the condition that the session information corresponding to the tunnel information does not meet the edge forwarding condition can be avoided, and the reduction of the data traffic processed by the edge gateway is facilitated.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a data transmission apparatus, which is a first network device or an apparatus (e.g., a chip) having a function of the first network device. The apparatus has a function of implementing the data transmission method provided in the first aspect, and the function is implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides another data transmission apparatus, which is a second network device or an apparatus (e.g., a chip) having a function of the second network device. The apparatus has a function of implementing the data transmission method provided by the second aspect, and the function is implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the functions described above.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides another data transmission apparatus, which is a first network device or an apparatus (e.g., a chip) having a function of the first network device. The apparatus includes a processor and a storage medium, where instructions are stored in the storage medium, and when the instructions are executed by the processor, the apparatus implements the data transmission method provided in the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides yet another data transmission apparatus, which is a second network device or an apparatus (e.g. a chip) having the function of a second network device, and includes a processor and a storage medium, where instructions are stored in the storage medium, and when executed by the processor, the instructions cause the apparatus to implement the data transmission method provided in the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a data transmission system, where the data transmission system includes the data transmission apparatus of the third aspect and the data transmission apparatus of the fourth aspect, or the data transmission system includes the data transmission apparatus of the fifth aspect and the data transmission apparatus of the sixth aspect.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing computer program instructions for use by the data transmission apparatus described in the third aspect, which includes a program for performing the method of the first aspect.

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing computer program instructions for use by the data transmission apparatus described in the fourth aspect, which includes a program for executing the method of the second aspect.

In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, where the program includes a program, and when the program is executed by a data transmission apparatus, the apparatus is caused to implement the method described in the first aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, the present application provides a computer program product, which includes a program, and when the program is executed by a data transmission device, the device is enabled to implement the method described in the second aspect.

Drawings

FIG. 1a is a diagram of a conventional network architecture;

fig. 1b is a schematic architecture diagram of a communication system disclosed in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart of a data transmission method disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3a is a schematic flow chart of another data transmission method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application;

fig. 3b is a schematic diagram of an SRH extension header in an IPv6 packet header according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic flow chart diagram illustrating a further data transmission method disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic flow chart diagram illustrating a further data transmission method disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6a is a schematic diagram of a network architecture with a control plane separated from a forwarding plane, disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6b is a schematic diagram of a control plane and forwarding plane unified network architecture disclosed in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6c is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a 5G independent networking disclosed in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a data transmission device disclosed in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of another data transmission device disclosed in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of another data transmission device disclosed in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of another data transmission device disclosed in the embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to better understand a data transmission method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application, a communication system to which the embodiments of the present application are applicable is first described below.

Referring to fig. 1b, fig. 1b is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 1b, the communication system comprises: a first network device and an edge gateway.

The first network device may receive an uplink data packet from the terminal device, determine session information corresponding to the uplink data packet, and send the uplink data packet to the edge gateway when the session information satisfies an edge forwarding condition. By the method, the data traffic processed by the edge gateway is reduced, and the load of the edge gateway is reduced. In this embodiment of the present application, that the session information corresponding to the uplink data packet satisfies the edge forwarding condition may indicate that: the upstream packet is used to access a local service. The edge gateway may receive the upstream packet and send the upstream packet to the local network. The local network may store data related to local services. And the uplink data packet for accessing the local service is sent to the local network, so that the success rate of accessing the local service by the user is improved.

The first network device may be an entity for transmitting or receiving signals on the network side, for example, the first network device may be an access network device (e.g., a base station). In one implementation, the first network device may also be a device located behind a base station (not shown in fig. 1 b) in the uplink direction. For example, a first network device may be located between the base station and the edge gateway, the first network device having the following functionality: receiving an uplink data packet (the uplink data packet is from a terminal device) sent by a base station, determining session information corresponding to the uplink data packet, and sending the uplink data packet to an edge gateway under the condition that the session information meets an edge forwarding condition.

The edge gateway may send the received upstream packet to the local network. Specifically, the edge gateway may be a multi-access edge computing/multi-access edge cloud (MEC) gateway, or other network elements having the above functions of the edge gateway.

It should be understood that the communication system described in the embodiment of the present application is for more clearly illustrating the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, and does not constitute a limitation to the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, and as a person skilled in the art knows that along with the evolution of the system architecture and the appearance of a new service scenario, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is also applicable to similar technical problems.

The data transmission method and the data transmission device provided by the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic flowchart of a data transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method details how to reduce the data traffic handled by the edge gateway in the upstream direction. The execution subject of steps S201 to S203 is the first network device or a chip in the first network device, the execution subject of step S204 is the edge gateway or a chip in the edge gateway, and the first network device and the edge gateway are taken as the execution subjects of the data transmission method for example as follows. As shown in fig. 2, the method may include, but is not limited to, the following steps:

step S201: the first network equipment receives an uplink data packet from the terminal equipment.

Specifically, when the first network device is a base station, after the terminal device generates an uplink data packet, the terminal device may send the uplink data packet to the first network device. When the first network device is a device located behind the base station in the uplink direction, the terminal device may send the uplink data packet to the base station where the terminal device currently resides, and then the base station where the terminal device currently resides sends the uplink data packet to the first network device.

The terminal device may be an entity on the user side for receiving or transmitting signals. Specifically, the terminal device may be a User Equipment (UE), a remote terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless communication device, a user equipment, or the like. The user equipment may be a mobile phone, a desktop computer, a notebook computer, or other wearable equipment.

Step S202: and the first network equipment determines the session information corresponding to the uplink data packet.

Specifically, the first network device may determine, according to the first information carried by the uplink data packet, session information corresponding to the uplink data packet. And further judging whether the session information meets the edge forwarding condition, and sending the uplink data packet to the edge gateway under the condition that the session information meets the edge forwarding condition.

In one implementation, the first information may be a source Internet Protocol (IP) address carried by the uplink data packet. The session to which the upstream packet belongs can be determined by the source IP address. The first network device may determine, according to a pre-stored correspondence between the source IP address and the session identifier, the session identifier corresponding to the source IP address carried by the uplink data packet as the session identifier corresponding to the uplink data packet. And the session indicated by the session identifier corresponding to the uplink data packet is the session to which the uplink data packet belongs. Further, the first network device may determine session information of a session to which the uplink data packet belongs.

In one implementation, when the first network device is a base station, the first network device may store session information corresponding to a terminal that the first network device (i.e., the base station) resides in. When the first network device is a device located behind the first base station in the uplink direction, the first network device may store session information corresponding to a terminal that resides under the first base station. Or the session information corresponding to the terminal residing under the first base station is stored in the first base station. After determining the session information corresponding to the uplink data packet, the first base station may send the uplink data packet and the session information corresponding to the uplink data packet to the first network device. So that the first network device sends the uplink data packet to the edge gateway when the session information meets the edge forwarding condition. The number of the first base stations may be one or more.

It should be noted that each terminal may correspond to one or more sessions, each terminal may correspond to one or more source IP addresses, the source IP addresses of the packets belonging to different sessions are different, and the source IP addresses of the packets belonging to the same session are the same. Specifically, the session mentioned in this embodiment of the present application may be a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session in a fifth-generation mobile communication technology (5G), or a session in a next-generation network, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Step S203: and the first network equipment sends the uplink data packet to the edge gateway under the condition that the session information meets the edge forwarding condition.

In one implementation, the session information may include session types, sessions of different session types may be used to transmit different types of data, and sessions of the same session type may be used to transmit the same type of data. For example, when the terminal requests to acquire the video application data and the instant messaging application data, the network may allocate session resources for transmitting the video application data and session resources for transmitting the instant messaging application data to the terminal, respectively. In other words, the type of the service requested to be acquired by the uplink data packet can be determined according to the session type corresponding to the uplink data packet.

In one implementation, the edge forwarding condition may include one or more edge forwarding session types. If the session type corresponding to the uplink data packet is the same as any one of the one or more edge forwarding session types, determining that the session information corresponding to the uplink data packet meets an edge forwarding condition, and sending the uplink data packet to an edge gateway. By the method, the data traffic processed by the edge gateway is reduced, and the load of the edge gateway is reduced.

In one implementation, for a signaling plane packet that does not need to be shunted locally, the session type is not an edge forwarding session type. For data packets of a voice over long-term evolution (VoLTE) service or other timely communication services that do not require local offloading, the session type is not an edge forwarding session type. By the method, the service flow which does not need to be locally shunted can be prevented from being sent to the edge gateway for processing, so that the data flow processed by the edge gateway can be reduced.

In this embodiment of the present application, if the session type corresponding to the uplink data packet is an edge forwarding session type, it may indicate that the service data requested by the uplink data packet is stored in the local network. By sending the uplink data packet to the local network to obtain the data requested by the uplink data packet, the transmission path of the uplink data packet is shorter in the latter case than in sending the uplink data packet to the core network to obtain the data requested by the uplink data packet. Therefore, compared with the core network, by sending the uplink data packet to the local network to obtain the data requested by the uplink data packet, the efficiency of obtaining the data requested by the uplink data packet is improved, and the data traffic flowing through the core network is reduced.

In one implementation, the session information may include a session type and an identification of an access network device (e.g., a base station) corresponding to the terminal device. The edge forwarding conditions may include one or more edge forwarding device identifications and one or more edge forwarding session types. If the identifier of the access network device is the same as any identifier of one or more edge forwarding device identifiers, and the session type corresponding to the uplink data packet is the same as any type of the one or more edge forwarding session types, the first network device may determine that the session information corresponding to the uplink data packet satisfies an edge forwarding condition. The access network device corresponding to the terminal device may be a base station where the terminal device resides currently.

In practical cases, the operator may determine whether to deploy the local network according to the location of the base station, the number of access users of the base station, and other reasons. And the number of base stations that can be served by one local network is limited. In other words, after receiving the uplink data packet, any base station may not send the uplink data packet to the edge gateway, and further obtain the data requested by the uplink data packet from the local network corresponding to the edge gateway.

In one implementation, the user may configure the service area of the edge gateway on the first network device, or the user may configure the service area of the edge gateway on a preset network device, and then the preset network device sends an indication message to the first network device to indicate the service area of the edge gateway. In one implementation, the service area of the edge gateway may be indicated by an edge forwarding device identifier, which may be an access network device identifier (e.g., a base station identifier). The coverage area of the base station indicated by the edge forwarding device identifier may characterize the service area of the edge gateway. Only when the base station identifier is the edge forwarding device identifier, the uplink data packet received by the base station may be sent to the edge gateway, and the data requested by the uplink data packet is acquired from the local network corresponding to the edge gateway.

When the first network device receives the uplink data packet from the terminal device and the identifier of the access network device corresponding to the terminal device is the edge forwarding device identifier, it may indicate that the access network device is located in the service area of the edge gateway. Correspondingly, the first network device may determine whether the session type corresponding to the uplink data packet is an edge forwarding session type, and send the uplink data packet to the edge gateway when the session type is the edge forwarding session type. When the first network device receives the uplink data packet from the terminal device and the identifier of the access network device corresponding to the terminal device is not the edge forwarding device identifier, it may indicate that the access network device is located outside the service area of the edge gateway. Accordingly, the first network device may send the uplink data packet to a core network element.

By this way, when the identifier of the access network device corresponding to the terminal device is not the edge forwarding device identifier, that is, the access network device is located outside the service area of the edge gateway, it is possible to avoid sending the uplink data packet from the terminal device to the edge gateway. Since the access network device is located outside the service area of the edge gateway, even if the upstream packet from the terminal device is transmitted to the edge gateway, the data requested by the upstream packet cannot be acquired from the local network corresponding to the edge gateway. This is advantageous to avoid that upstream packets from the terminal device cannot be responded to.

In one implementation, the first network device may set the edge forwarding condition by default, or may set and change the edge forwarding condition according to a user operation.

In an implementation manner, the first network device may send the uplink data packet to a core network element when the session information corresponding to the uplink data packet does not satisfy the edge forwarding condition. By the method, the data requested by the uplink data packet can be acquired from the core network, and the uplink data packet is prevented from being incapable of being responded.

Step S204: and the edge gateway sends the uplink data packet to the local server.

Specifically, after receiving the uplink data packet, the edge gateway may strip a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) tunneling protocol user plane (GTPU) header, and then send the stripped uplink data packet to the local server. In order to obtain the data requested by the upstream packet from the local server (i.e., the local network).

In the embodiment of the application, the uplink data packet is sent to the edge gateway under the condition that the session information corresponding to the uplink data packet meets the edge forwarding condition, so that the data traffic processed by the edge gateway is reduced, and the load of the edge gateway is reduced.

Referring to fig. 3a, fig. 3a is a schematic flowchart of another data transmission method provided in this embodiment, which describes in detail how the first network device modifies address information of an upstream data packet so that the upstream data packet can pass through an edge gateway. The execution subject of steps S301 to S305 is the first network device or a chip in the first network device, the execution subject of step S306 is the edge gateway or a chip in the edge gateway, and the first network device and the edge gateway are taken as the execution subjects of the data transmission method for example as follows. The method may include, but is not limited to, the steps of:

step S301: the first network equipment receives an uplink data packet from the terminal equipment.

Step S302: and the first network equipment determines the session information corresponding to the uplink data packet.

It should be noted that, the execution processes of step S301 to step S302 can be referred to the specific descriptions of step S201 to step S202 in fig. 2, and are not described herein again.

Step S303: and the first network equipment acquires the address information of the edge gateway under the condition that the session information meets the edge forwarding condition.

Specifically, under the condition that the session information corresponding to the uplink data packet satisfies the edge forwarding condition, the first network device may obtain the address information of the edge gateway and the address information of the uplink data packet, and modify the address information of the uplink data packet according to the address information of the edge gateway, so that the uplink data packet may pass through the edge gateway.

Step S304: and the first network equipment modifies the destination address information of the uplink data packet into the address information of the edge gateway.

In one implementation, the address information of the uplink data packet may include destination address information. If the destination address information of the uplink data packet is the same as the address information of the edge gateway, it indicates that the uplink data packet originally needs to pass through the edge gateway. At this time, the first network device may not change the address information of the upstream packet. If the destination address information of the uplink data packet is different from the address information of the edge gateway, the first network device may modify the destination address information of the uplink data packet to the address information of the edge gateway.

The uplink data packet may be an internet protocol version 4 (IPv 4) data packet or an internet protocol version 6 (IPv 6) data packet. Accordingly, the address information in the embodiment of the present application may include an IPv4 address or an IPv6 address.

In one implementation, when the upstream packet is an IPv6 packet, the header of the upstream packet may include an IPv6 standard header and a segment routing extension header (SRH). On the way of the IPv6 packet to the destination address, the intermediate node address that must be traversed can be specified by the SRH extension header.

Take the schematic diagram of the SRH extension header in the IPv6 packet header shown in fig. 3b as an example. In fig. 3b, the meaning of each field in the SRH extension header is as follows: next Header: for identifying the type of header that immediately follows the SRH. Hdr Ext Len: the length of the SRH extension header, Hdr Ext Len, mainly refers to the length occupied by Segment List [0] to Segment List [ n ]. Routing Type: a routing header type is identified. Segments Left: the number of intermediate nodes that should still be accessed before reaching the destination node. Last Entry: the index of the last element of the segment list is contained in the segment list. Flag: some identification of the packet. Tag: the same group of packets is identified. Segment List [ n ]: a list of labeled segments, the segment list encoded starting from the last segment of the path. Segment List is an IPv6 address form. Segment List [ n ] can be represented as SL [ n ].

The procedure for specifying the intermediate node address that must be traversed by the SRH extension header is as follows: for example, an IPv6 packet sent from a source address E1::1 to a destination address A3::1 specifies that the A2::1 address must be passed through midway, if the destination address of the packet is A2::1 when the packet is sent from the source address, and the packet carries an extension header. If SL [0] in the extension header is A3::1, SL [1] is a2::1, and Segments Left is 1, then after the packet reaches a2::1, the intermediate routing device may update the destination address to A3::1 and segment Left in the extension header to 0. The query route then continues to the destination address A3:: 1.

In this embodiment, when the upstream packet is an IPv6 packet and the header of the upstream packet includes an SRH extension header, the first network device may modify the destination address of the upstream packet to be the IPv6 address of the edge gateway. Optionally, the Segments Left in the SRH extension header may also be updated to 0.

Step S305: and the first network equipment sends the uplink data packet to the edge gateway according to the modified destination address information of the uplink data packet.

Specifically, the first network device may query the routing table according to the modified destination address information of the uplink data packet, so as to send the uplink data packet to the edge gateway.

Step S306: and the edge gateway sends the uplink data packet to the local server.

It should be noted that, the execution process of step S306 can refer to the detailed description of step S204 in fig. 2, and is not described herein again.

In the embodiment of the application, the destination address information of the uplink data packet is modified into the address information of the edge gateway, so that the uplink data packet can be sent to the edge gateway according to the modified destination address information of the uplink data packet. Thereby facilitating a reduction in data traffic handled by the edge gateway.

Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a schematic flowchart of another data transmission method provided in this embodiment of the present application, which describes in detail how to reduce data traffic processed by an edge gateway in a downlink direction. The execution subject of steps S401 to S402 is the second network device or a chip in the second network device, and the second network device is taken as an example of the execution subject of the data transmission method. The method may include, but is not limited to, the steps of:

step S401: the second network equipment determines that the current tunnel information is different from the historical tunnel information; the tunnel information is the tunnel information between the network element of the core network and the access network equipment.

The second network device may be a core network element, a core network gateway, or a device before an edge gateway in a downlink direction. The downlink data packet can smoothly return to the terminal equipment through the tunnel information. The tunnel in the embodiment of the present application may refer to a GTPU tunnel or other network tunnel. The tunnel information of the GTPU tunnel may include, but is not limited to: an identification of the access network device and a Tunnel End Identifier (TEID). Therefore, when the access network device accessed by the terminal device changes and/or the TEID changes, the tunnel information may change. The TEID may include a TEID of a user plane (TEIDU) and a TEID of a control plane (TEIDC). The tunnel corresponding to TEIDU may be used for transmitting user plane data, and the tunnel corresponding to TEIDC may be used for transmitting control plane data.

In an implementation manner, the core network may store tunnel information of all GTPU tunnels, and when any tunnel information changes, the core network may send a first message to the second network device, where the first message may indicate that current tunnel information is different from historical tunnel information. In an implementation manner, both the core network and the second network device may store tunnel information of all GTPU tunnels, and when any one of the tunnel information changes, the core network may send a second message to the second network device, where the second message may carry current tunnel information. After the second network device receives the second message, it may be determined that the tunnel information has changed by comparing the historical tunnel information with the current tunnel information.

Step S402: and the second network equipment sends the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information to the edge gateway.

In this embodiment of the present application, when the tunnel information changes, the edge gateway cannot acquire the changed tunnel information (i.e., current tunnel information), so that when the edge gateway receives a downlink data packet from the local server, the edge gateway still sends the downlink data packet according to the historical tunnel information, which may result in that the downlink data packet cannot be returned to a correct terminal device.

Specifically, when the tunnel information changes, the second network device may send the downlink data packet corresponding to the changed tunnel information to the edge gateway. After receiving the downlink data packet, the edge gateway may determine current tunnel information according to information carried by the downlink data packet, then encapsulate the downlink data packet from the local server according to the current tunnel information, and send the encapsulated downlink data packet. By the method, the success rate of returning the downlink data packet from the local server to the terminal equipment is improved.

According to the embodiment of the application, the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information is sent to the edge gateway only when the tunnel information changes, so that the downlink data packet from the core network can be prevented from being sent to the edge gateway when the tunnel information does not change. By the method, the data traffic processed by the edge gateway is reduced, and the load of the edge gateway is reduced.

In an implementation manner, when the tunnel information changes, the second network device sends a downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information to the edge gateway, where the downlink data packet may come from a core network element, or the downlink data packet may be created and generated by the second network device itself.

Since the edge gateway cannot acquire the changed tunnel information (i.e., the current tunnel information) when the tunnel information changes, if the downlink packet corresponding to the changed tunnel information does not come from the core network (or the internet), the second network device cannot send the downlink packet from the core network (or the internet) to the edge gateway. Accordingly, the edge gateway cannot learn the current tunnel information, which may result in that the downlink data packet from the local server (i.e. the local network) cannot be correctly returned to the terminal device. At this time, the second network device can avoid the situation that the edge gateway cannot determine the current tunnel information due to the absence of the downlink data packet from the internet by creating the downlink data packet by itself, thereby being beneficial to improving the success rate of returning the downlink data packet from the local server to the terminal device.

In this embodiment of the application, after determining that the tunnel information changes, the second network device generates a downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information, and sends the downlink data packet to the edge gateway. And the edge gateway can determine the current tunnel information according to the information carried by the downlink data packet. Therefore, when the edge gateway receives the downlink data packet from the local server, the edge gateway can package and send the downlink data packet from the local server according to the current tunnel information more timely.

In an implementation manner, after the second network device determines that the tunnel information changes, if a downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information is not received, the second network device may obtain current tunnel information, and create a downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information according to the current tunnel information. The downlink data packet created in this way carries address information that can be correctly returned to the terminal.

In one implementation, before sending the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information to the edge gateway, the second network device may further determine session information corresponding to the tunnel information; and under the condition that the session information meets the edge forwarding condition, triggering and executing the step of sending the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information to the edge gateway.

Specifically, when the session information corresponding to the tunnel information satisfies the edge forwarding condition, a downlink data packet corresponding to the changed tunnel information is returned from the local network at a high probability, or the edge gateway receives the downlink data packet (from the local network) corresponding to the changed tunnel information at a high probability. In this case, the downlink data packet (from the core network or the internet) corresponding to the changed tunnel information is sent to the edge gateway, which is beneficial for the edge gateway to determine the current tunnel information, so that the downlink data packet returned from the local network can be correctly returned to the terminal device. It should be noted that, the session information and the edge forwarding condition may refer to descriptions in the embodiments of fig. 2 to fig. 3a, and are not described herein again.

In one implementation, if all the uplink data packets from the first terminal device are sent to the core network, the uplink data packets are not sent to the local network. There will be no downstream packet corresponding to the upstream packet returned from the local network. Since the data packet returned from the core network may also be correctly returned to the first terminal device without being forwarded to the edge gateway, in this case, the downlink data packet may not be sent to the edge gateway.

Under the condition that the session information corresponding to the tunnel information meets the edge forwarding condition, sending the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information to the edge gateway, on one hand, being beneficial to the downlink data packet returned from the local network to return to the terminal equipment correctly; on the other hand, the situation that the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information is sent to the edge gateway under the condition that the session information corresponding to the tunnel information does not meet the edge forwarding condition can be avoided, and the reduction of the data traffic processed by the edge gateway is facilitated.

By implementing the embodiment of the application, the success rate of returning the downlink data packet from the local server to the terminal equipment is improved.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a further data transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application, where the method describes in detail how the second network device modifies address information of a downstream data packet so that the downstream data packet can pass through an edge gateway. The execution subject of steps S501 to S505 is the second network device or a chip in the second network device, and the second network device is taken as an example of the execution subject of the data transmission method. The method may include, but is not limited to, the steps of:

step S501: and the second network equipment receives the downlink data packet from the core network element.

Step S502: the second network equipment determines that the current tunnel information is different from the historical tunnel information; the tunnel information is the tunnel information between the network element of the core network and the access network equipment.

It should be noted that the execution process of step S501 to step S502 can refer to the detailed description of step S401 to step S402 in fig. 4, and is not described herein again.

Step S503: and the second network equipment acquires the address information of the edge gateway.

Step S504: and the second network equipment modifies the destination address information of the downlink data packet into the address information of the edge gateway.

In one implementation, the address information of the edge gateway may be an IPV4 address or an IPV6 address.

Step S505: and the second network equipment sends the downlink data packet to the edge gateway according to the modified destination address information of the downlink data packet.

In an implementation manner, the downlink data packet corresponding to the changed tunnel information may be the first n downlink data packets in the downlink data stream. In other words, the second network device may send the first n received downlink data packets to the edge gateway when determining that the tunnel information corresponding to the received downlink data packets changes. Therefore, the edge gateway can learn the current tunnel information according to the received n downlink data packets, and the success rate of returning the downlink data packets from the local server to the terminal equipment is improved. Wherein n may be greater than or equal to 1. In one implementation, the larger n is, the better the edge gateway can learn the current tunnel information according to the received n downlink data packets. In one implementation, the second network device may send the first n downlink data packets received first to the edge gateway according to the receiving sequence. Alternatively, the second network device may send the first n downlink data packets with smaller Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) sequence numbers in the downlink data stream to the edge gateway. The TCP sequence number is a sequence number in a TCP header, and the sequence number is used for identifying the position of the downlink data packet in the downlink data stream to which the downlink data packet belongs.

In one implementation manner, the second network device sends the first n downlink data packets to the edge gateway and then returns the address information carried by the downlink data packet to the terminal device for the subsequent received downlink data packets, when determining that the tunnel information corresponding to the received downlink data packet changes. Therefore, the downlink data packet can be prevented from being continuously sent to the edge gateway under the condition that the edge gateway successfully learns the current tunnel information. And on the other hand, the data flow processed by the edge gateway can be reduced, and on the other hand, the data flow is returned to the terminal equipment according to the address information carried by the downlink data packet, so that the path which the downlink data packet passes before returning to the terminal equipment can be prevented from being prolonged.

It should be noted that the execution process of the second network device modifying the destination address information of the downlink data packet according to the address information of the edge gateway is the same as the execution process of the first network device modifying the destination address information of the uplink data packet according to the address information of the edge gateway. That is, the execution process of step S503 to step S505 can refer to the detailed description of step S303 to step S305 in fig. 3a, and will not be described herein again.

In the embodiment of the application, the destination address information of the downlink data packet is modified into the address information of the edge gateway, so that the downlink data packet can be sent to the edge gateway according to the modified destination address information of the downlink data packet, and the success rate of returning the downlink data packet from the local server to the terminal equipment is favorably improved.

The data transmission methods described in the foregoing embodiments of fig. 2 to fig. 5 may be applied to different network architectures, for example, network architectures of the core network of the fourth generation mobile communication technology (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE), the 5G core network (5G core network, 5GC) or other networks. The core network of LTE is evolved packet core network (EPC) or EPC +. The EPC + network can support both 4G and 5G non-stand alone (NSA). The EPC network (or EPC + network) may be a network architecture in which a control plane and a user plane (CU) are separated, or a network architecture in which CUs are integrated.

The EPC network (or EPC + network) may include, but is not limited to, the following network elements: a mobility management node (MME), a Serving Gateway (SGW), and a packet data network gateway (PGW). The 5GC network may include, but is not limited to, the following network elements: a User Plane Function (UPF), a Service Management Function (SMF), and an Access Management Function (AMF). Under the network architecture with separated CUs, an SGW may be divided into a user plane service gateway (SGW-U) and a control plane service gateway (SGW-C), and a PGW may be divided into a user plane packet data network gateway (PGW-U) and a control plane packet data network gateway (PGW-C).

The following exemplarily illustrates a case where the foregoing data transmission method is applied to the network architectures shown in fig. 6a, 6b, and 6c, respectively.

In the CU-separated network architecture shown in fig. 6a, the base station a and the base station b are configured to perform the respective functions of the first network device in the methods described in fig. 2-3 a. The SGW-U is configured to perform the corresponding functions of the second network device in the methods described in fig. 4-5. Both base station a and base station b are in the service area of the edge gateway, i.e. the edge forwarding device identifier at least includes the identifier of base station a and the identifier of base station b. Data packet 1 is an uplink data packet, and data packet 2 and data packet 3 are both downlink data packets.

1) In the upstream direction: as shown in fig. 6a, the terminal a may send a data packet 1 to the base station a, and after receiving the data packet 1, the base station may determine session information (e.g., a session type and an identifier of the base station (i.e., the base station a) corresponding to the data packet 1) corresponding to the terminal a. Because the identifier of the edge forwarding device includes the identifier of the base station a, if the session type of the data packet 1 is the edge forwarding session type, it can be determined that the session information corresponding to the data packet 1 satisfies the edge forwarding condition. Further, the base station a may send the packet 1 to the edge gateway. After receiving the data packet 1, the edge gateway may strip the GTPU header of the data packet 1, and send the data packet 1 with the stripped GTPU header to the local network.

Specifically, the base station a sends the packet 1 to the edge gateway by modifying the destination address of the packet 1 to the IPv6 address of the edge gateway. In the network architecture shown in fig. 6a, the IPv6 address of the edge gateway may be sent by the MME to base station a. In one implementation, when the terminal a is activated in the base station a (e.g., turned on), or the terminal a moves from outside the coverage area of the base station a to inside the coverage area of the base station a, the SGW-C may send information carrying the IPv6 address of the edge gateway to the MME by extending the cell. In other words, when the terminal a is activated in the service area of the edge gateway, or the terminal a moves from outside the service area of the edge gateway to inside the service area of the edge gateway, the SGW-C may send information carrying the IPv6 address of the edge gateway to the MME.

2) In the downstream direction: as can be seen from fig. 6a, after the terminal a moves from the coverage area of the base station a to the coverage area of the base station b, the SGW-C may send the current tunnel information to the SGW-U. The SGW-U may determine that the tunnel information has changed when it receives the current tunnel information. Then, the SGW-U may generate packet 2 according to the current tunnel information and send packet 2 to the edge gateway. After receiving the data packet 2, the edge gateway may extract the address information carried by the data packet 2 to learn the current tunnel information. The tunnel corresponding to the tunnel information may be used to transmit the downlink data packet corresponding to the data packet 1 (i.e., the data packet 3 in fig. 6 a). When the edge gateway receives the data packet 3 from the local network, the data packet 3 can be correctly sent to the base station b according to the learned current tunnel information, so that the terminal a can successfully acquire the downlink data packet (i.e. the data packet 3) corresponding to the data packet 1.

It should be noted that the SGW-U may generate n data packets 3, and send all the n data packets 3 to the edge gateway, so as to ensure that the edge gateway can successfully learn the current tunnel information. It should be noted that fig. 6a illustrates an example in which no packet from the internet exists, and does not limit the embodiments of the present application. If there are packets from the internet, the SGW-U may send the first n packets from the internet to the edge gateway. It should be noted that data packets from the internet may pass through the PGW-U to the SGW-U. The PGW is a border gateway of the EPC network, the PGW-U may be configured to process user plane data, and the PGW-C may be configured to process control plane data.

In the CU-in-one network architecture shown in fig. 6b, the functions of other network elements are consistent with those in fig. 6a except that the IPv6 address of the edge gateway is sent to the MME by the SGW, the current tunnel information is determined by the SGW itself, and the SGW is configured to perform the corresponding functions of the second network device in the methods described in fig. 4-5. And will not be described in detail herein.

In the 5G independent networking (SA) network architecture shown in fig. 6c, the functions of each network element in fig. 6c are basically the same as those in fig. 6 a. The difference is as follows: first, the UPF or SGW-U is configured to perform the corresponding functions of the second network device in the methods described in fig. 4-5. Secondly, the IPv6 address of the edge gateway is sent to the AMF by the SMF, and then the AMF sends the IPv6 address of the edge gateway to the base station a. Alternatively, the IPv6 address of the edge gateway may be sent by the MME to base station a. Thirdly, the current tunnel information is informed to the UPF by the SMF, or the current tunnel information is sent to the SGW-U by the SGW-C.

The method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application is explained in detail above, and the apparatus of the embodiments of the present application will be provided below.

Referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a data transmission apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application, where the apparatus may be a first network device or an apparatus (e.g., a chip) having a function of the first network device, and the data transmission apparatus 70 is configured to execute steps executed by the first network device in the method embodiments corresponding to fig. 2 to fig. 3a, where the data transmission apparatus 70 includes:

a communication module 701, configured to receive an uplink data packet from a terminal device;

a processing module 702, configured to determine session information corresponding to the uplink data packet;

the communication module 701 is further configured to send the uplink data packet to the edge gateway when the session information corresponding to the uplink data packet meets the edge forwarding condition.

In one implementation, the communication module 701 may further be configured to obtain address information of the edge gateway; the processing module 702 may also be configured to modify destination address information of the uplink data packet into address information of the edge gateway; the communication module 701 is configured to, when sending the uplink data packet to the edge gateway, specifically, be configured to send the uplink data packet to the edge gateway according to the modified destination address information of the uplink data packet.

In an implementation manner, the communication module 701 may be further configured to send the uplink data packet to a core network element when the session information corresponding to the uplink data packet does not satisfy the edge forwarding condition.

It should be noted that details that are not mentioned in the embodiment corresponding to fig. 7 and specific implementation manners of the steps executed by each module may refer to the embodiments shown in fig. 2 to fig. 3a and the foregoing details, and are not described again here.

In one implementation, the relevant functions implemented by the various modules in FIG. 7 may be implemented in connection with a processor and a communications interface. Referring to fig. 8, fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of another data transmission apparatus provided in this embodiment of the present application, where the apparatus may be a first network device or an apparatus (e.g., a chip) having a function of the first network device, the data transmission apparatus 80 may include a communication interface 801, a processor 802, and a memory 803, and the communication interface 801, the processor 802, and the memory 803 may be connected to each other through one or more communication buses, or may be connected in other manners. The related functions implemented by the communication module 701 and the processing module 702 shown in fig. 7 may be implemented by the same processor 802, or may be implemented by a plurality of different processors 802.

Communication interface 801 may be used to transmit data and/or signaling and receive data and/or signaling. In this embodiment, the communication interface 801 may be configured to receive an uplink data packet from a terminal device, and the communication interface 801 may be a transceiver.

The processor 802 is configured to perform the respective functions of the first network device in the methods described in fig. 2-3 a. The processor 802 may include one or more processors, for example, the processor 802 may be one or more Central Processing Units (CPUs), Network Processors (NPs), hardware chips, or any combination thereof. In the case where the processor 802 is a CPU, the CPU may be a single-core CPU or a multi-core CPU.

The memory 803 is used to store program codes and the like. The memory 803 may include a volatile memory (volatile memory), such as a Random Access Memory (RAM); the memory 803 may also include a non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory), such as a read-only memory (ROM), a flash memory (flash memory), a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), or a solid-state drive (SSD); the memory 803 may also comprise a combination of memories of the kind described above. It should be noted that the data transmission apparatus 80 includes the memory 803 for example only, and is not limited to the embodiment of the present application, and in an implementation manner, the memory 803 may be replaced by another storage medium with a storage function.

The processor 802 may call program code stored in the memory 803 to cause the data transfer device 80 to:

receiving an uplink data packet from terminal equipment, and determining session information corresponding to the uplink data packet;

and under the condition that the session information corresponding to the uplink data packet meets the edge forwarding condition, sending the uplink data packet to an edge gateway.

In one implementation, before sending the upstream packet to the edge gateway, the processor 802 may also call the program code stored in the memory 803 to cause the data transmission apparatus 80 to: acquiring address information of an edge gateway, and modifying the destination address information of an uplink data packet into the address information of the edge gateway; the processor 802 calls the program code stored in the memory 803 to make the data transmission apparatus 80 execute the following operations when sending the upstream data packet to the edge gateway: and sending the uplink data packet to the edge gateway according to the modified destination address information of the uplink data packet.

In one implementation, the processor 802 may also invoke program code stored in the memory 803 to cause the data transfer device 80 to perform the following operations: and under the condition that the session information corresponding to the uplink data packet does not meet the edge forwarding condition, sending the uplink data packet to a core network element.

Further, the processor 802 may also call the program code stored in the memory 803 to enable the data transmission apparatus 80 to execute the operation corresponding to the first network device in the embodiments shown in fig. 2 to fig. 3a, which may be referred to the description in the method embodiments and is not described herein again.

Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of another data transmission apparatus provided in this embodiment of the present application, where the apparatus may be a second network device or an apparatus (e.g., a chip) having a function of the second network device, and the data transmission apparatus 90 is used to execute steps executed by the second network device in the method embodiments corresponding to fig. 4 to fig. 5, where the data transmission apparatus 90 may include:

a processing module 901, configured to determine that current tunnel information is different from historical tunnel information; the tunnel information is the tunnel information between the network element of the core network and the access network equipment;

a communication module 902, configured to send the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information to the edge gateway.

In one implementation, the processing module 901 may also be configured to generate a downlink data packet.

In one implementation, the communication module 902 may be further configured to receive a downlink data packet from a network element of the core network.

In one implementation, the communication module 902 may be further configured to obtain address information of the edge gateway; the processing module 901 may also be configured to modify destination address information of the downlink data packet into address information of the edge gateway; the communication module 902 is configured to, when sending the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information to the edge gateway, specifically, send the downlink data packet to the edge gateway according to the destination address information of the modified downlink data packet.

In an implementation manner, the processing module 901 may further be configured to determine session information corresponding to the tunnel information; and under the condition that the session information meets the edge forwarding condition, triggering and executing the step of sending the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information to the edge gateway.

It should be noted that details that are not mentioned in the embodiment corresponding to fig. 9 and specific implementation manners of the steps executed by each module may refer to the embodiments shown in fig. 4 to fig. 5 and the foregoing details, and are not described again here.

In one implementation, the relevant functions implemented by the various modules in FIG. 9 may be implemented in connection with a processor and a communications interface. Referring to fig. 10, fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of another data transmission apparatus provided in this embodiment of the present application, where the apparatus may be a second network device or an apparatus (e.g., a chip) having a function of the second network device, the data transmission apparatus 100 may include a communication interface 1001, a processor 1002, and a memory 1003, and the communication interface 1001, the processor 1002, and the memory 1003 may be connected to each other through one or more communication buses, or may be connected in other manners. The related functions implemented by the processing module 901 and the communication module 902 shown in fig. 9 can be implemented by the same processor 1002, or can be implemented by a plurality of different processors 1002.

Communication interface 1001 may be used to transmit data and/or signaling and to receive data and/or signaling. In this embodiment, the communication interface 1001 may be configured to send the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information to the edge gateway. Communication interface 1001 may be a transceiver.

The processor 1002 is configured to perform the respective functions of the second network device in the methods described in fig. 4-5. The processor 1002 may include one or more processors, for example, the processor 1002 may be one or more Central Processing Units (CPUs), Network Processors (NPs), hardware chips, or any combination thereof. In the case where the processor 1002 is a CPU, the CPU may be a single-core CPU or a multi-core CPU.

The memory 1003 is used to store program codes and the like. The memory 1003 may include volatile memory (volatile memory), such as Random Access Memory (RAM); the memory 1003 may also include a non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory), such as a read-only memory (ROM), a flash memory (flash memory), a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), or a solid-state drive (SSD); the memory 1003 may also include a combination of the above types of memories. It should be noted that the data transmission apparatus 100 includes the memory 1003 for example only, and does not constitute a limitation to the embodiment of the present application, and in an implementation manner, the memory 1003 may be replaced by another storage medium having a storage function.

The processor 1002 may invoke the program code stored in the memory 1003 to cause the data transmission device 100 to perform the following operations:

determining that the current tunnel information is different from the historical tunnel information; the tunnel information is the tunnel information between the network element of the core network and the access network equipment;

and sending the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information to the edge gateway.

In one implementation, the processor 1002 may also invoke the program code stored in the memory 1003 to cause the data transmission apparatus 100 to perform the following operations: and generating a downlink data packet.

In one implementation, the processor 1002 may also invoke the program code stored in the memory 1003 to cause the data transmission apparatus 100 to perform the following operations: and receiving a downlink data packet from a core network element.

In one implementation, before sending the downstream packet corresponding to the tunnel information to the edge gateway, the processor 1002 may further call the program code stored in the memory 1003 to make the data transmission apparatus 100 perform the following operations: acquiring address information of an edge gateway; modifying the destination address information of the downlink data packet into the address information of the edge gateway; when the processor 1002 calls the program code stored in the memory 1003 to make the data transmission apparatus 100 execute sending the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information to the edge gateway, specifically, the data transmission apparatus 100 may execute the following operations: and sending the downlink data packet to the edge gateway according to the modified destination address information of the downlink data packet.

In one implementation, the processor 1002 may also invoke the program code stored in the memory 1003 to cause the data transmission apparatus 100 to perform the following operations: determining session information corresponding to the tunnel information; and under the condition that the session information meets the edge forwarding condition, triggering and executing the step of sending the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information to the edge gateway.

Further, the processor 1002 may also call the program code stored in the memory 1003 to enable the data transmission apparatus 100 to execute the operation corresponding to the second network device in the embodiments shown in fig. 4 to 5, which may specifically refer to the description in the method embodiment, and is not described herein again.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a data transmission system, where the data transmission system includes the aforementioned data transmission device shown in fig. 7, the aforementioned data transmission device shown in fig. 8, and an edge gateway, or the data transmission system includes the aforementioned data transmission device shown in fig. 9, the aforementioned data transmission device shown in fig. 10, and an edge gateway.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, which can be used to store computer software instructions for the data transmission apparatus in the embodiment shown in fig. 7, and which contains a program designed for executing the first network device in the foregoing embodiment.

An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, which can be used to store computer software instructions for the data transmission apparatus in the embodiment shown in fig. 9, and which contains a program designed for executing the second network device in the foregoing embodiment.

The computer readable storage medium includes, but is not limited to, flash memory, hard disk, solid state disk.

Embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product, which, when executed by a computing device, can execute the method designed for the first network device in the foregoing embodiments of fig. 2 to 3 a.

Embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product, which when executed by a computing device, can execute the method designed for the second network device in the foregoing embodiments of fig. 4 to 5.

There is also provided in an embodiment of the present application a chip including a processor and a memory, where the memory includes the processor and the memory, and the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to call and run the computer program from the memory, and the computer program is used to implement the method in the above method embodiment.

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

The above-described embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, cause the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the application to occur, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored on or transmitted over a computer-readable storage medium. The computer instructions may be transmitted from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that incorporates one or more of the available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

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

Claims

1. A method of data transmission, the method comprising:

and sending the uplink data packet to an edge gateway under the condition that the session information meets an edge forwarding condition.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the session information comprises a session type, and wherein the edge forwarding condition comprises one or more edge forwarding session types; the session information meeting the edge forwarding condition comprises that the session type is the same as the edge forwarding session type.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the session information includes an identifier of an access network device corresponding to the terminal device and a session type; the edge forwarding condition comprises one or more edge forwarding device identifications and one or more edge forwarding session types; the session information meeting the edge forwarding condition includes that the identifier of the access network device is the same as the identifier of the edge forwarding device and the session type is the same as the edge forwarding session type.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein before sending the upstream packet to an edge gateway, the method further comprises:

acquiring address information of the edge gateway;

modifying the destination address information of the uplink data packet into the address information of the edge gateway;

the sending the uplink data packet to an edge gateway includes:

and sending the uplink data packet to an edge gateway according to the modified destination address information of the uplink data packet.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the address information of the edge gateway comprises an Internet protocol version 6 IPV6 address.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising:

and sending the uplink data packet to a core network element under the condition that the session information does not meet the edge forwarding condition.

7. A method of data transmission, the method comprising:

and sending the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information to an edge gateway.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

and generating the downlink data packet.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

and receiving the downlink data packet from the core network element.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the downlink data packet is the first n downlink data packets in the downlink data stream; wherein n is a positive integer.

11. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 10, wherein before sending the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information to an edge gateway, the method further includes:

acquiring address information of the edge gateway;

modifying the destination address information of the downlink data packet into the address information of the edge gateway;

the sending the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information to the edge gateway includes:

and sending the downlink data packet to an edge gateway according to the modified destination address information of the downlink data packet.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the address information of the edge gateway comprises an internet protocol version 6 IPV6 address.

13. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 12, further comprising:

determining session information corresponding to the tunnel information;

and triggering and executing the step of sending the downlink data packet corresponding to the tunnel information to an edge gateway under the condition that the session information meets an edge forwarding condition.

14. A data transmission apparatus comprising means for performing a method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

15. A data transmission apparatus comprising means for performing a method according to any one of claims 7 to 13.

16. A data transmission apparatus comprising a processor and a memory, the memory having stored therein program instructions, the processor calling the program instructions stored in the memory to cause the data transmission apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 6.

17. A data transmission apparatus comprising a processor and a memory, the memory having stored therein program instructions, the processor calling the program instructions stored in the memory to cause the data transmission apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 7 to 13.

18. A data transmission system comprising a data transmission apparatus as claimed in claim 14 and a data transmission apparatus as claimed in claim 15, or comprising a data transmission apparatus as claimed in claim 16 and a data transmission apparatus as claimed in claim 17.

19. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program comprising program instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

20. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program comprising program instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to carry out the method according to any one of claims 7 to 13.