CN113518475B

CN113518475B - Communication method, device and system

Info

Publication number: CN113518475B
Application number: CN202010281118.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 许胜锋; 李濛; 应江威
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-04-10
Filing date: 2020-04-10
Publication date: 2023-08-04
Anticipated expiration: 2040-04-10
Also published as: CN113518475A; WO2021204277A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method, a device and a system, relates to the technical field of communication, and can solve the technical problems that a network side cannot find a terminal in the prior art, and further cannot realize network authentication, charging or other control operation of the terminal. The method comprises the following steps: the user plane network element receives a data packet comprising data of the first terminal through a protocol data unit PDU session of the second terminal; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal; the user plane network element judges whether the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF; and if so, sending the data packet to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session.

Description

Communication method, device and system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communications method, apparatus, and system.

Background

With the rapid development of mobile communications, the widespread use of services such as video chat, virtual Reality (VR), and augmented reality (Augmented Reality, AR) has led to an increasing demand for bandwidth by users. To meet the user's demand for bandwidth, device-to-device (D2D) communication is proposed. Among other things, D2D communication may allow communication between terminals through proximity service communication 5 (proximity-based services communication, pc 5) interfaces. Based on D2D communication, when the terminal is out of network coverage range or communication signals between the terminal and an access network element are bad, other terminals can be selected as relay nodes, and the network is accessed through the relay nodes.

In the prior art, a terminal may send data to a network through a protocol data unit (protocol data unit, PDU) session established by a relay node. For example, as shown in fig. 1a, the terminal may send data to a user plane network element (user plane function, UPF) corresponding to the relay node through a PDU session established by the relay node, and the UPF forwards the data of the terminal to the server.

The terminal may send data or signaling to the network side access device corresponding to the terminal through the PDU session of the relay node using an internet protocol security (internet protocol security, IPsec) tunnel. And the network side access equipment corresponding to the terminal sends the received data or signaling to the core network equipment. The IPsec tunnel can be utilized to avoid the relay node from analyzing the data or signaling of the terminal. However, the network side may not find the terminal in the process, and thus may not implement network authentication, charging, or other control operations for the terminal.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the foregoing, an objective of the embodiments of the present application is to provide a communication method, device and system, which can solve the security problem of data transmission.

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, the method comprising: the user plane network element receives a data packet comprising data of a first terminal through PDU session of a second terminal, wherein the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal; the user plane network element judges whether the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF; if so, the user plane network element sends the data packet to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session.

Based on the method of the first aspect, in the embodiment of the present application, the user plane network element may detect a data packet received through a PDU session of the second terminal, and when a destination address of the data packet matches with an IP address of the first N3IWF, perform data forwarding, so that data of the first terminal may be forwarded to the first user plane network element corresponding to the PDU session established by the first terminal through the first N3IWF, and then forwarded to a server in the data network, so that the network side may discover the terminal through the first N3IWF, and further implement network authentication, charging, or other control operations on the first terminal.

In a possible design, with reference to the first aspect, the user plane network element receives first indication information from the session management network element, where the first indication information is used to instruct the user plane network element to determine whether a destination address of a data packet carried by the PDU session matches an IP address of the first N3 IWF; and judging whether the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF or not according to the first indication information.

In a possible design, with reference to the first aspect, the user plane network element receives second indication information from the session management network element for indicating that the PDU session is used for the relay service; and judging whether the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF or not according to the second indication information.

Based on the above two possible designs, the user plane network element may determine, according to the explicit first indication information sent by the session management network element, whether the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session matches the IP address of the first N3 IWF. Or judging whether the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the implicit second indication information sent by the session management network element. A feasibility scheme is provided for the user plane network element to judge whether the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

In one possible design, with reference to the first aspect or the possible design of the first aspect, the user plane network element receives third indication information from the session management network element; the third indication information is used for indicating that when the user plane network element judges that the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF, the data packet is sent to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session; and sending the data packet to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session according to the third indication information.

Based on the possible design, the user plane network element can send the data packet to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session according to the third indication information sent by the session management network element, and a feasibility scheme is provided for the user plane network element to send the data packet to the first N3 IWF.

In a possible design, with reference to the first aspect or the possible design of the first aspect, if a destination address of a data packet carried by the PDU session does not match an IP address of the first N3IWF, the user plane network element sends fourth indication information including identification information of the first terminal to the session management network element; the fourth indication information is used for indicating that the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session does not match with the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

Based on the possible design, when the destination address of the data packet does not match the IP address of the first N3IWF, the user plane network element may send fourth indication information to the session management network element, so that the session management network element releases the context of the first terminal according to the fourth indication information, and the first terminal is prevented from bypassing the first N3IWF to send the data to the server.

In one possible design, with reference to the first aspect or the possible design of the first aspect, the user plane network element receives fifth indication information from the session management network element; the fifth indication information is used for indicating that when the user plane network element judges that the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session is not matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF, the fourth indication information is sent to the session management network element; and sending fourth indication information to the session management network element according to the fifth indication information.

Based on the possible design, the user plane network element can send fourth indication information to the session management network element according to the fifth indication information sent by the session management network element, so that a feasibility scheme is provided for the user plane network element to send the fourth indication information to the session management network element.

In one possible design, with reference to the first aspect or the possible design of the first aspect, the user plane network element receives an IP address of the second N3IWF provided by the first terminal of the session management network element; the user plane network element sends sixth indication information comprising the identification information of the first terminal to the session management network element; the sixth indication information is used to indicate whether the IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

Based on the possible design, after receiving the IP address of the second N3IWF, the user plane network element may detect the IP address of the second N3IWF and determine whether it matches the IP address of the first N3 IWF. If so, the IP address of the second N3IWF can be determined as the IP address of the first N3IWF, and in the subsequent data transmission process, whether the data packet is sent to the corresponding first N3IWF can be determined by detecting whether the destination address of the data packet is matched with the IP address of the second N3IWF, so that the matching complexity is reduced. If the first N3IWF is not matched with the second N3IWF, the session management network element and the second terminal can be instructed to release the context of the first terminal, so that the first terminal is prevented from bypassing the first N3IWF to send data to the server.

In one possible design, with reference to the first aspect or the possible design of the first aspect, the user plane network element receives seventh indication information from the session management network element, where the seventh indication information is used to instruct the user plane network element to determine whether the IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3 IWF; and according to the seventh indication information, sending sixth indication information to the session management network element.

Based on the possible design, the user plane network element can send the sixth indication information according to the seventh indication information sent by the session management network element, so that a feasibility scheme is provided for the user plane network element to send the sixth indication information to the session management network element.

In one possible design, with reference to the first aspect or the possible design of the first aspect, the user plane network element is preconfigured with an IP address of the first N3 IWF; or the user plane network element receives the IP address of the first N3IWF from the session management network element; or the user plane network element receives the identification information of the public land mobile network PLMN from the session management network element, and determines the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the identification information of the PLMN.

Based on the possible design, a feasibility scheme is provided for the user plane network element to acquire the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

In one possible design, with reference to the first aspect or the possible design of the first aspect, the user plane network element receives identification information of the first terminal from the session management network element.

In one possible design, with reference to the first aspect or the possible design of the first aspect, the identification information of the first terminal includes at least one of: the second terminal allocates an IP address, identification information of PDU session and identity information of the first terminal to the first terminal.

Based on the possible design, the identification information of the first terminal may be an IP address allocated to the first terminal by the second terminal, or identification information of a PDU session, or identity information of the first terminal, or other information for indicating the first terminal, without limitation.

In a second aspect, a communication device is provided, where the communication device may implement the functions performed by the user plane network element in the first aspect or the possible designs of the first aspect, where the functions may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software comprises one or more modules corresponding to the functions. Such as: the communication device includes: the device comprises a receiving module, a processing module and a sending module.

And the receiving module is used for receiving the data packet comprising the data of the first terminal through the PDU session of the second terminal, wherein the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal.

And the processing module is used for judging whether the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

And the sending module is used for sending the data packet to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session if the data packet is matched.

The specific implementation manner of the communication device may refer to the behavior function of the user plane network element in the communication method provided by the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect, based on the communication device described in the second aspect, the user plane network element may detect a data packet received through a PDU session of the second terminal, and when a destination address of the data packet matches with an IP address of the first N3IWF, data forwarding is performed, so that data of the first terminal may be forwarded to the first user plane network element corresponding to the PDU session established by the first terminal through the first N3IWF, and then forwarded to a server in a data network, so that a network side may discover the terminal through the first N3IWF, and further implement network authentication, charging or other control operations for the first terminal.

In a possible design, with reference to the second aspect, the receiving module is further configured to receive first indication information from the session management network element, where the first indication information is used to instruct the user plane network element to determine whether a destination address of a data packet carried by the PDU session matches an IP address of the first N3 IWF; and the processing module is also used for judging whether the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the first indication information.

In a possible design, with reference to the second aspect, the receiving module is further configured to receive second indication information from the session management network element, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the PDU session is used for the relay service; and the processing module is also used for judging whether the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the second indication information.

In one possible design, with reference to the second aspect or the possible design of the second aspect, the receiving module is further configured to receive third indication information from the session management network element; the third indication information is used for indicating that when the user plane network element judges that the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF, the data packet is sent to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session; and the sending module is further used for sending the data packet to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session according to the third indication information.

In one possible design, with reference to the second aspect or the possible design of the second aspect, the sending module is further configured to send fourth indication information including identification information of the first terminal to the session management network element if a destination address of a data packet carried by the PDU session does not match an IP address of the first N3 IWF; the fourth indication information is used for indicating that the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session does not match with the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

In one possible design, with reference to the second aspect or the possible design of the second aspect, the receiving module is further configured to receive fifth indication information from the session management network element; the fifth indication information is used for indicating that when the user plane network element judges that the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session is not matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF, the fourth indication information is sent to the session management network element; and the sending module is further used for sending fourth indication information to the session management network element according to the fifth indication information.

In one possible design, with reference to the second aspect or the possible design of the second aspect, the receiving module is further configured to receive, by the user plane network element, an IP address of the second N3IWF provided by the first terminal of the session management network element; the sending module is further used for sending sixth indication information comprising the identification information of the first terminal to the session management network element; the sixth indication information is used to indicate whether the IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

In one possible design, with reference to the second aspect or the possible design of the second aspect, the receiving module is further configured to receive seventh indication information from the session management network element, where the seventh indication information is used to instruct the user plane network element to determine whether the IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3 IWF; and the sending module is further used for sending sixth indication information to the session management network element according to the seventh indication information.

In one possible design, with reference to the second aspect or the possible design of the second aspect, the user plane network element is preconfigured with an IP address of the first N3 IWF; or the user plane network element receives the IP address of the first N3IWF from the session management network element; or the user plane network element receives the identification information of the public land mobile network PLMN from the session management network element, and determines the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the identification information of the PLMN.

In one possible design, with reference to the second aspect or the possible design of the second aspect, the receiving module is further configured to receive identification information of the first terminal from the session management network element.

In one possible design, with reference to the second aspect or the possible design of the second aspect, the identification information of the first terminal includes at least one of the following: the second terminal allocates an IP address, identification information of PDU session and identity information of the first terminal to the first terminal.

In a third aspect, a communication device is provided, which may be a user plane network element or a chip or a system on chip in a user plane network element. The communication device may implement the functions performed by the user plane network elements in the aspects or in the possible designs, where the functions may be implemented by hardware. In one possible design, the communication device may include: a transceiver and a processor. The transceiver and processor may be adapted to support the communication device to implement the functionality referred to in the above-described first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect. For example: the transceiver may be configured to receive a data packet including data of a first terminal through a PDU session of a second terminal, the second terminal being a relay node of the first terminal; the processor may be configured to determine whether a destination address of a data packet carried by the PDU session matches an IP address of the first N3 IWF; if so, the transceiver may be further configured to send the data packet to a first N3IWF corresponding to a destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session. In yet another possible design, the communication device may further include a memory for holding computer-executable instructions and data necessary for the communication device. The transceiver and processor execute the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory when the communication device is operating to cause the communication device to perform the communication method as described above in the first aspect or any one of the possible designs of the first aspect.

In this embodiment, the specific implementation manner of the communication apparatus may refer to the behavior function of the user plane network element in the communication method provided by the first aspect or any one of possible designs of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, a communications apparatus is provided that includes one or more processors and one or more memories; one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more memories for storing computer program code or computer instructions; the computer instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the communication device to perform the communication method as described in the first aspect or any of the possible designs of the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium storing computer instructions or a program which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform a communication method as described in the first aspect or any of the possible designs of the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a computer program product containing instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the communication method as described in the first aspect or any of the possible designs of the first aspect.

In a seventh aspect, a chip system is provided, the chip system comprising one or more processors and one or more memories; one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more memories having stored therein computer program code or computer instructions; the computer program code or computer instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the chip system to perform the communication method as described above in the first aspect or any of the possible designs of the first aspect.

The technical effects caused by any design manner of the third aspect to the seventh aspect may be referred to the technical effects caused by any possible design of the first aspect to the second aspect, and are not repeated.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided a communication method comprising: the session management network element determines that the PDU session of the second terminal is used for relay service; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal; the session management network element sends first indication information for indicating the user plane network element to judge whether the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF or not; the data packet includes data of the first terminal.

Based on the eighth aspect, when the session management network element determines that the PDU session of the second terminal is used for the relay service, the first indication information may be sent to the user plane network element, so that the user plane network element may find the terminal through the first N3IWF according to whether the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session matches the IP address of the first N3IWF, and if the destination address of the data packet matches the IP address of the first N3IWF, perform data forwarding, so that the data of the first terminal may be forwarded to the first user plane network element corresponding to the PDU session established by the first terminal through the first N3IWF, and then forwarded to a server in the data network, so that the network side may further implement network authentication, charging or other control operations on the first terminal.

In a possible design, with reference to the eighth aspect, the session management network element receives fourth indication information including identification information of the first terminal from the user plane network element; the fourth indication information is used for indicating that the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session does not match with the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

In one possible design, with reference to the eighth aspect or the possible design of the eighth aspect, the session management network element releases the context of the first terminal according to the fourth indication information.

Based on the two possible designs, the session management network element can determine that the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session is not matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the fourth indication information sent by the user plane network element, so as to release the context of the first terminal and avoid the first terminal from bypassing the first N3IWF to send the data to the server.

In one possible design, with reference to the eighth aspect or the possible design of the eighth aspect, the session management network element receives an IP address of the second N3IWF provided by the first terminal of the mobility management network element; the session management network element judges whether the IP address of the second N3IWF is matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF; if not, the session management network element deletes the context of the first terminal.

Based on the possible design, the session management network element may determine whether the received IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3IWF, and if not, may delete the context of the first terminal, thereby avoiding the first terminal from bypassing the first N3IWF and sending data to the server.

In one possible design, with reference to the eighth aspect or the possible design of the eighth aspect, the session management network element receives sixth indication information including identification information of the first terminal from the user plane network element; the sixth indication information is used for indicating whether the IP address of the second N3IWF provided by the first terminal is matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF; when the sixth indication information is used for indicating that the IP address of the second N3IWF is not matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF, the session management network element deletes the context of the first terminal.

Based on the possible design, the session management network element may also determine, according to the sixth indication information sent by the user plane network element, whether the IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3IWF, and delete the context of the first terminal when the IP address of the second N3IWF does not match the IP address of the first N3IWF, so as to avoid the first terminal from bypassing the first N3IWF and sending data to the server.

In a possible design, with reference to the eighth aspect or the possible design of the eighth aspect, the session management network element receives identification information of a public land mobile network PLMN from the mobility management network element; and the session management network element sends the identification information of the PLMN and/or the IP address of the first N3IWF corresponding to the PLMN to the user plane network element according to the identification information of the PLMN.

Based on the possible design, the session management network element may directly send the identification information of the PLMN to the user plane network element, so that the user plane network element determines the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the identification information of the PLMN, and the session management network element may also determine the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the identification information of the PLMN, and directly send the IP address of the first N3IWF to the user plane network element.

In one possible design, with reference to the eighth aspect or the possible design of the eighth aspect, the session management network element receives an IP address of the second N3IWF provided by the first terminal of the mobility management network element; the session management network element sends the IP address of the second N3IWF to the user plane network element.

Based on the possible design, the session management network element sends the IP address of the second N3IWF to the user plane network element, so that the user plane network element can conveniently determine whether the IP address of the second N3IWF is matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

A ninth aspect provides a communication device, the communication device may implement the functions performed by the session management network element in the eighth aspect or the possible designs of the eighth aspect, where the functions may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software comprises one or more modules corresponding to the functions. Such as: the communication device includes: the processing module and the sending module.

A processing module, configured to determine that a PDU session of the second terminal is used for a relay service; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal.

The sending module is used for sending first indication information for indicating the user plane network element to judge whether the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF or not; the data packet includes data of the first terminal.

The specific implementation manner of the communication device may refer to the behavior function of the session management network element in the communication method provided by the eighth aspect or any one of the possible designs of the eighth aspect, and based on the communication device described in the ninth aspect, when the session management network element determines that the PDU session of the second terminal is used for the relay service, the session management network element may send first indication information to the user plane network element, so that the user plane network element may determine whether the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session matches with the IP address of the first N3IWF, and if the destination address of the data packet matches with the IP address of the first N3IWF, forward the data of the first terminal to the first user plane network element corresponding to the PDU session established by the first terminal through the first N3IWF, and further forward the data to a server in the data network, so that the network side may discover the terminal through the first N3IWF, thereby implementing network authentication, charging or other control operations for the first terminal.

In a possible design, with reference to the ninth aspect, the session management network element further includes a receiving module, where the receiving module is configured to receive fourth indication information including identification information of the first terminal from the user plane network element; the fourth indication information is used for indicating that the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session does not match with the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

In one possible design, with reference to the ninth aspect or the possible design of the ninth aspect, the processing module is further configured to release the context of the first terminal according to the fourth indication information.

In one possible design, with reference to the ninth aspect or the possible design of the ninth aspect, the receiving module is further configured to receive an IP address of the second N3IWF provided by the first terminal from the mobility management network element; the processing module is further used for judging whether the IP address of the second N3IWF is matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF; and if the context does not match, deleting the context of the first terminal.

In a possible design, with reference to the ninth aspect or the possible design of the ninth aspect, the receiving module is further configured to receive sixth indication information that includes identification information of the first terminal from the user plane network element; the sixth indication information is used for indicating whether the IP address of the second N3IWF provided by the first terminal is matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF; the processing module is further configured to delete the context of the first terminal when the sixth indication information is used to indicate that the IP address of the second N3IWF does not match the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

In a possible design, with reference to the ninth aspect or the possible design of the ninth aspect, the receiving module is further configured to receive identification information of a public land mobile network PLMN from a mobility management network element; and the receiving module is also used for sending the identification information of the PLMN and/or the IP address of the first N3IWF corresponding to the PLMN to the user plane network element according to the identification information of the PLMN.

In one possible design, with reference to the ninth aspect or the possible design of the ninth aspect, the receiving module is further configured to receive an IP address of the second N3IWF provided by the first terminal from the mobility management network element; and the sending module is also used for sending the IP address of the second N3IWF to the user plane network element.

In a tenth aspect, a communication device is provided, which may be a session management network element or a chip or a system on chip in a session management network element. The communication device may implement the functions performed by the session management network element in the aspects described above or in each possible design, which may be implemented by hardware. In one possible design, the communication device may include: a processor and a transceiver. The processor and transceiver may be adapted to support the communication device to carry out the functions referred to in the eighth aspect or any one of the possible designs of the eighth aspect. For example: the processor may be configured to determine that the PDU session of the second terminal is for a relay service; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal; the transceiver may be configured to send first indication information to the user plane network element, where the first indication information is used to instruct the user plane network element to determine whether a destination address of a data packet carried by the PDU session matches an IP address of the first N3 IWF; the data packet includes data of the first terminal. In yet another possible design, the communication device may further include a memory for holding computer-executable instructions and data necessary for the communication device. The processor and transceiver execute the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory when the communication device is operating to cause the communication device to perform the communication method as described in the eighth aspect or any one of the possible designs of the eighth aspect.

In this embodiment, the specific implementation manner of the communication apparatus may refer to the behavior function of the session management network element in the communication method provided by the eighth aspect or any one of possible designs of the eighth aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, a communications apparatus is provided that includes one or more processors and one or more memories; one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more memories for storing computer program code or computer instructions; the computer instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the communication device to perform the communication method as described in the first aspect or any of the possible designs of the first aspect.

In a twelfth aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium storing computer instructions or a program which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform a communication method as described in the first aspect or any of the possible designs of the first aspect.

In a thirteenth aspect, there is provided a computer program product containing instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the communication method as described in the first aspect or any of the possible designs of the first aspect.

In a fourteenth aspect, a chip system is provided, the chip system comprising one or more processors and one or more memories; one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more memories having stored therein computer program code or computer instructions; the computer program code or computer instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the chip system to perform the communication method as described above in the first aspect or any of the possible designs of the first aspect.

The technical effects of any one of the designs of the tenth aspect to the fourteenth aspect may be referred to the technical effects of any one of the possible designs of the eighth aspect to the ninth aspect, and are not repeated.

In a fifteenth aspect, a communication method is provided, the method comprising: the second terminal sends the data of the first terminal through PDU conversation of the second terminal; the second terminal receives eighth indication information which is from the mobility management network element and comprises the identification information of the first terminal; the second terminal releases the context of the first terminal according to the eighth indication information; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal, and the eighth indication information is used for indicating to release the context of the first terminal; or the second terminal receives fourth indication information comprising the identification information of the first terminal from the mobility management network element; the second terminal releases the context of the first terminal according to the fourth indication information; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal, the fourth indication information is used for indicating that a destination address of a data packet borne by a protocol data unit PDU session is not matched with an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the first non-third generation partnership project interworking function network element N3IWF, and the data packet comprises data of the first terminal.

Based on the fifteenth aspect, the second terminal may release the context of the first terminal according to the explicit eighth indication information. The context of the first terminal may be released according to the implicit fourth indication information, without limitation.

In a possible design, with reference to the fifteenth aspect, the second terminal receives the IP address of the second N3IWF from the first terminal; the second terminal sends the IP address of the second N3IWF to the mobility management network element.

In a possible design, with reference to the fifteenth aspect or the possible design of the fifteenth aspect, the second terminal receives identification information of the public land mobile network PLMN from the first terminal; and the second terminal sends the identification information of the PLMN to the mobility management network element.

Based on the two possible designs, the second terminal may send the IP address of the second N3IWF or the identification information of the PLMN to the mobility management network element, so that the mobility management network element sends the IP address of the second N3IWF or the identification information of the PLMN to the session management network element.

In a sixteenth aspect, there is provided a communication method comprising: the second terminal receives data from the first terminal; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal, and the data of the first terminal is forwarded through a protocol data unit PDU session of the second terminal; the second terminal judges whether the destination address of the data of the first terminal is matched with the IP address of the Internet protocol of the first non-third generation partnership project interworking function network element N3 IWF; if the two terminal data packets are matched, the second terminal sends the data packet comprising the data of the first terminal to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address through the PDU session of the second terminal.

Based on the sixteenth aspect, when the destination address of the data packet matches the IP address of the first N3IWF, the second terminal may forward the data of the first terminal to the first N3IWF through the PDU session, and further forward the data to the server in the data network through the first user plane network element corresponding to the PDU session established by the first terminal, so that the network side may discover the terminal through the first N3IWF, and further implement network authentication, charging, or other control operations for the first terminal.

In a possible design, with reference to the sixteenth aspect, if the destination address of the data of the first terminal does not match the IP address of the first N3IWF, the second terminal releases the context of the first terminal.

In one possible design, with reference to the sixteenth aspect or the possible design of the sixteenth aspect, the second terminal receives the IP address of the second N3IWF from the first terminal; the second terminal judges whether the IP address of the second N3IWF is matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF; if not, the second terminal deletes the context of the first terminal.

Based on the two possible designs, the second terminal may release the context of the first terminal when the destination address of the data of the first terminal does not match the IP address of the first N3 IWF. The context of the first terminal may also be released when the IP address of the second N3IWF does not match the IP address of the first N3 IWF. Thereby avoiding the first terminal from bypassing the first N3IWF and forwarding the data to the server.

In one possible design, with reference to the sixteenth aspect or the possible design of the sixteenth aspect, the second terminal is preconfigured with the IP address of the first N3 IWF; or the second terminal receives the IP address of the first N3IWF from the mobility management network element; or the second terminal receives the identification information of the public land mobile network PLMN from the first terminal, and determines the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the identification information of the PLMN.

Based on this possible design, a feasibility scheme is provided for the second terminal to obtain the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

A seventeenth aspect provides a communication device, which may implement the functions performed by the second terminal in the foregoing fifteenth or fifteenth possible designs, and may also implement the functions performed by the second terminal in the foregoing sixteenth or sixteenth possible designs, where the functions may be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software comprises one or more modules corresponding to the functions. Such as: the communication device includes: the device comprises a receiving module, a processing module and a sending module.

When the communication device is used to implement the functionality performed by the second terminal in the fifteenth aspect or in a possible design of the fifteenth aspect as described above:

A transmitting module, configured to transmit data of the first terminal through a PDU session of the second terminal;

and the receiving module is used for receiving eighth indication information which is from the mobility management network element and comprises the identification information of the first terminal.

The processing module is used for releasing the context of the first terminal according to the eighth indication information; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal, and the eighth indication information is used for indicating to release the context of the first terminal.

Or a receiving module, configured to receive fourth indication information including identification information of the first terminal from the mobility management network element.

The processing module is used for releasing the context of the first terminal according to the fourth indication information; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal, the fourth indication information is used for indicating that a destination address of a data packet borne by a protocol data unit PDU session is not matched with an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the first non-third generation partnership project interworking function network element N3IWF, and the data packet comprises data of the first terminal.

In a specific implementation manner of the communication apparatus, reference may be made to the behavior function of the second terminal in the communication method provided by the fifteenth aspect or any one of the possible designs of the fifteenth aspect, and based on the communication apparatus described in the seventeenth aspect, the second terminal may release the context of the first terminal according to the explicit eighth indication information. The context of the first terminal may be released according to the implicit fourth indication information, without limitation.

In a possible design, with reference to the seventeenth aspect, the receiving module is further configured to receive an IP address of the second N3IWF from the first terminal; and the sending module is used for sending the IP address of the second N3IWF to the mobility management network element.

In a possible design, with reference to the seventeenth aspect or the possible design of the seventeenth aspect, the receiving module is further configured to receive identification information of the public land mobile network PLMN from the first terminal; and the sending module is also used for sending the identification information of the PLMN to the mobility management network element.

When the communication device is used to implement the function performed by the second terminal in the sixteenth aspect or the possible designs of the sixteenth aspect:

the receiving module is used for receiving data from the first terminal; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal, and the data of the first terminal is forwarded through a protocol data unit PDU session of the second terminal.

And the processing module is used for judging whether the destination address of the data of the first terminal is matched with the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the first non-third generation partnership project interworking function (N3 IWF).

And the sending module is used for sending the data packet comprising the data of the first terminal to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address through the PDU session of the second terminal if the PDU is matched.

The specific implementation manner of the communication device may refer to the behavior function of the second terminal in the communication method provided by the sixteenth aspect or any one of the possible designs of the sixteenth aspect, based on the communication device described in the seventeenth aspect, the second terminal may forward the data of the first terminal to the first N3IWF through the PDU session when the destination address of the data packet matches with the IP address of the first N3IWF, and further forward the data of the first terminal to a server in the data network through the first user plane network element corresponding to the PDU session established by the first terminal, so that the network side may discover the terminal through the first N3IWF, and further implement network authentication, charging or other control operations on the first terminal.

In a possible design, with reference to the seventeenth aspect, the processing module is further configured to release the context of the first terminal if the destination address of the data of the first terminal does not match the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

In one possible design, with reference to the seventeenth aspect or the possible design of the seventeenth aspect, the receiving module is further configured to receive an IP address of the second N3IWF from the first terminal; the processing module is further used for judging whether the IP address of the second N3IWF is matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF; and if the context does not match, deleting the context of the first terminal.

In one possible design, with reference to the seventeenth aspect or the possible design of the seventeenth aspect, the second terminal is preconfigured with the IP address of the first N3 IWF; or the second terminal receives the IP address of the first N3IWF from the mobility management network element; or the second terminal receives the identification information of the public land mobile network PLMN from the first terminal, and determines the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the identification information of the PLMN.

In an eighteenth aspect, a communication device is provided, which may be the second terminal or a chip or a system on chip in the second terminal. The communication device may implement the functions performed by the second terminal in the above aspects or in each possible design, which may be implemented by hardware. In one possible design, the communication device may include: a transceiver and a processor. The transceiver and processor may be adapted to support the communication device to carry out the functions involved in any one of the possible designs of the fifteenth or fifteenth aspects described above. May also be used to support a communication device to implement the functionality referred to in the above-described sixteenth aspect or any one of the possible designs of the sixteenth aspect. For example: when the transceiver and the processor are used to support the communication device to implement the functions involved in the fifteenth aspect or any one of the possible designs of the fifteenth aspect described above, the transceiver may be used to transmit data of the first terminal through a PDU session of the second terminal; the transceiver may be further configured to receive eighth indication information from the mobility management network element including identification information of the first terminal; the processor may be configured to release the context of the first terminal according to the eighth indication information; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal, and the eighth indication information is used for indicating to release the context of the first terminal; or the transceiver may be configured to receive fourth indication information from the mobility management network element comprising identification information of the first terminal; the processor may be configured to release the context of the first terminal according to the fourth indication information; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal, and the fourth indication information is used for indicating that a destination address of a data packet carried by the PDU session is not matched with an IP address of the first N3IWF, wherein the data packet comprises data of the first terminal. When the transceiver and the processor are used to support the communication device to implement the functions involved in the above-described sixteenth aspect or any one of the possible designs of the sixteenth aspect, the transceiver may be used to receive data from the first terminal; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal, and the data of the first terminal is forwarded through a protocol data unit PDU session of the second terminal; the processor may be configured to determine whether a destination address of the data of the first terminal matches an IP address of the first N3 IWF; if so, the transceiver may be configured to transmit a data packet including data of the first terminal to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address through the PDU session of the second terminal. In yet another possible design, the communication device may further include a memory for holding computer-executable instructions and data necessary for the communication device. When the communication device is operating, the transceiver and processor execute the computer-executable instructions stored by the memory to cause the communication device to perform the communication method as described in any one of the possible designs of the fifteenth or fifteenth aspects described above, or to perform the communication method as described in any one of the possible designs of the sixteenth or sixteenth aspects described above.

In this embodiment, the specific implementation manner of the communication apparatus may refer to a behavior function of the second terminal in the communication method provided by the fifteenth aspect or any one of the possible designs of the fifteenth aspect, or refer to a behavior function of the second terminal in the communication method provided by the sixteenth aspect or any one of the possible designs of the sixteenth aspect.

In a nineteenth aspect, a communications device is provided that includes one or more processors and one or more memories; one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more memories for storing computer program code or computer instructions; the computer instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the communications apparatus to perform the communications method as set forth in the fifteenth aspect or any of the possible designs of the fifteenth aspect or perform the communications method as set forth in the sixteenth aspect or any of the possible designs of the sixteenth aspect.

In a twentieth aspect, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions or a program that, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the communication method as described in any one of the possible designs of the fifteenth or fifteenth aspect, or the communication method as described in any one of the possible designs of the sixteenth or sixteenth aspect.

In a twenty-first aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the communication method as described in any of the possible designs of the fifteenth or fifteenth aspect, or to perform the communication method as described in any of the possible designs of the sixteenth or sixteenth aspect.

In a twenty-second aspect, a chip system is provided, the chip system comprising one or more processors and one or more memories; one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more memories having stored therein computer program code or computer instructions; the computer program code or computer instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the chip system to perform the communication method as described in any one of the possible designs of the fifteenth or fifteenth aspect, or to perform the communication method as described in any one of the possible designs of the sixteenth or sixteenth aspect.

The technical effects brought by any one of the designs of the eighteenth aspect to the twenty-second aspect may be referred to the technical effects brought by any one of the possible designs of the fifteenth aspect or the fifteenth aspect, or the technical effects brought by any one of the possible designs of the sixteenth aspect or the sixteenth aspect, which are not repeated.

In a twenty-third aspect, there is provided a communication system comprising a communication device as described in the second aspect or any of the possible designs of the second aspect, a communication device as described in the ninth aspect or any of the possible designs of the seventeenth aspect, and a communication device as described in the seventeenth aspect or any of the possible designs of the seventeenth aspect.

Drawings

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

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

fig. 1c is a schematic diagram of a 5G communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a component structure diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3a is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3b is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of a method for establishing a PDU session according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The following describes embodiments of the present application in detail with reference to the drawings.

The communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application may be used in any communication system, which may be a third generation partnership project (third generation partnership project,3 GPP) communication system, for example, a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, a fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system, a new air interface (NR) system, an NR V2X system, and other next generation communication systems, or may be a non-3 GPP communication system, without limitation.

The communication method provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to various communication scenes, for example, one or more of the following communication scenes: enhanced mobile broadband (enhanced mobile broadband, eMBB), ultra-reliable low latency communications (ultra reliable low latency communication, URLLC), machine type communications (machine type communication, MTC), large-scale machine type communications (massive machine type communications, mctc), device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-vehicle (vehicle to everything, V2X), vehicle-to-vehicle (vehicle to vehicle, V2V), and internet of things (internet of things, ioT), among others. The following describes a communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application by taking fig. 1b as an example.

Fig. 1b is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in the embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 1b, where the communication system may include at least one first terminal, at least one second terminal, an access network element corresponding to the second terminal, a user plane element corresponding to the second terminal, a mobility management element corresponding to the second terminal, a session management element corresponding to the second terminal, a policy control element corresponding to the second terminal, a first N3IWF corresponding to the first terminal, a first user plane element corresponding to the first terminal, a mobility management element corresponding to the first terminal, a session management element corresponding to the first terminal, and a Data Network (DN).

In this embodiment of the present application, the first terminal may also be referred to as a remote terminal (remote UE), and the second terminal may also be referred to as a relay terminal (relay UE), which is not limited.

The first terminal can establish PC5 communication connection with the second terminal, and data of the first terminal are sent to the second terminal through a PC5 interface.

The second terminal may be located within a cell coverage area of the access network element, where the second terminal may perform air interface communication with the access network element through an Uplink (UL), where the second terminal sends data to the access network element on the UL, the access network element forwards the received data to the core network element, the core network element processes the data, and the processed data is sent to the second terminal through the access network element. Such as: the second terminal sends uplink data to the access network element through an uplink physical layer shared channel (physical sidelink share channel, PUSCH) on the UL, the access network element forwards the received uplink data to the core network element, the core network element processes the uplink data, and the processed uplink data is sent to the second terminal through the access network element; the access network element for forwarding the uplink data from the second terminal to the core network element and the access network element for forwarding the downlink data from the core network element to the second terminal may be the same access network element or may be different access network elements.

The second terminal may also communicate with the core network element through a specific interface, such as: the second terminal may communicate with a mobility management network element of the core network elements via the N1 interface.

The second terminal may establish a protocol data unit (protocol data unit, PDU) session after accessing the network, communicate with the first N3IWF over the PDU session, and send data of the first terminal to the first N3IWF over the PDU session.

The first N3IWF is an operator deployed untrusted non-3 GPP access gateway whose network topology location corresponds to an access network element when the first terminal accesses the network through the 3GPP access technology. In order to ensure the security of data transmission, the first N3IWF supports to establish an IPsec tunnel with the first terminal, and the first N3IWF also supports an N2 interface and an N3 interface with the core network, and is capable of transferring NAS signaling between the first terminal and the first mobility management network element.

The terminal (terminal) in fig. 1b may be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Station (MS), a Mobile Terminal (MT), or the like. Specifically, the terminal in fig. 1b may be a mobile phone (mobile phone), a tablet computer, or a computer with a wireless transceiver function. The terminal may also be a Virtual Reality (VR) terminal, an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) terminal, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in unmanned aerial vehicle, a wireless terminal in telemedicine, a wireless terminal in smart grid, a wireless terminal in smart city, a wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), a vehicle-mounted terminal, a vehicle with vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication capability, an intelligent network vehicle, an unmanned aerial vehicle with unmanned aerial vehicle-to-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, U2U) communication capability, etc., without limitation. The above-mentioned terminal may be the first terminal or the second terminal.

The access network element in fig. 1b may be any device with a radio transceiver function, and is mainly used for implementing a radio physical control function, a resource scheduling function, a radio resource management function, a radio access control function, a mobility management function, and the like. Specifically, the access network element may be a device supporting wired access, or may be a device supporting wireless access. The access network element may be AN Access Network (AN)/radio access network (radio access network, RAN) device, which is composed of a plurality of 5G-AN/NG-RAN nodes, for example. The 5G-AN/NG-RAN node may be: an Access Point (AP), a base station (NB), an enhanced nodeB (eNB), a next generation base station (NR nodeB, gNB), a transmission reception point (transmission reception point, TRP), a transmission point (transmission point, TP), or some other access node, etc.

The mobility management network element in fig. 1b is mainly responsible for operations such as access authentication, mobility management, signaling interaction between various functional network elements, and the like, for example: the registration state of the user, the connection state of the user, the user registration network access, the tracking area update, the cell switching user authentication, the key security and the like are managed. It should be noted that, the first mobility management element in fig. 1b is for distinguishing the mobility management element corresponding to the second terminal, and the first mobility management element in fig. 1b corresponds to the first terminal, and also has the features of the mobility management element described above. In practical applications, the mobility management network element in fig. 1b and the first mobility management network element may be the same mobility management network element.

The session management network element in fig. 1b may be referred to as a session management function or multicast/multicast service management function (MB-SMF) or multicast session management network element, etc., without limitation. The session management network element is mainly used for realizing a user plane transmission logic channel, such as: session management functions such as establishment, release, and modification of Packet Data Unit (PDU) sessions. It should be noted that, the first session management network element in fig. 1b is for distinguishing the session management network element corresponding to the second terminal, and the first session management network element in fig. 1b corresponds to the first terminal, and also has the features of the session management network element. In practical applications, the session management network element in fig. 1b and the first session management network element may be the same session management network element.

The policy control element in fig. 1b may be configured to formulate corresponding policy and charging control rules (policy and charging control rule, PCC rules) for the PDU session and send the PCC rules to the session management element.

The user plane network element in fig. 1b may be referred to as a PDU session anchor (PDU session anchor, PSA), user plane function or multicast/multicast user plane function (multicast/broadcast user plane fuction, MB-UPF). The user plane network element can be used as an anchor point on a user plane transmission logic channel, and is mainly used for completing functions of routing forwarding and the like of user plane data, such as: and a channel (namely a user plane transmission logic channel) is established between the mobile terminal and the terminal, and data packets between the terminal and the DN and data message filtering, data forwarding, rate control, charging information generation and the like are carried out on the channel. It should be noted that, the first user plane element in fig. 1b is for distinguishing the user plane element corresponding to the second terminal PDU session, and the first user plane element in fig. 1b corresponds to the first terminal PDU session, and also has the features of the user plane element. In practical applications, the user plane network element and the first user plane network element in fig. 1b may be the same user plane network element.

The data network DN in fig. 1b may be an operator network providing data transmission services to users, such as: an operator network that provides IP Multimedia Services (IMS) to users, etc. A server may be deployed in the DN, which may provide data transfer services to users.

It should be noted that, the first terminal, the second terminal, the access network element, and the core network element in the embodiments of the present application may be one or more chips, or may be a System On Chip (SOC) or the like. Fig. 1b is only an exemplary drawing, which includes no limitation on the number of devices. Furthermore, the communication system may comprise other devices than the device shown in fig. 1 b. The names of the devices and the links in fig. 1b are not limited, and the devices and the links may be named as other names besides the names shown in fig. 1 b.

Taking the communication system shown in fig. 1b as a 5G communication system as an example, as shown in fig. 1c, the network element or entity corresponding to the access network element may be a radio access network (radio access network, RAN) in the 5G communication system, the network element or entity corresponding to the mobility management network element may be an access and mobility management function (access and mobility management function, AMF) in the 5G communication system, the network element or entity corresponding to the session management network element may be a session management function (session management function, SMF) in the 5G communication system, the policy control network element may be a policy control function (policy control function, PCF) in the 5G communication system, the network element or entity corresponding to the user plane network element may be a user plane function (user plane function, UPF) in the 5G communication system, and so on.

As shown in fig. 1c, the terminal communicates with the AMF through a next generation network (next generation) N1 interface (abbreviated as N1), the RAN device communicates with the AMF through an N2 interface (abbreviated as N2), the RAN device communicates with the UPF through an N3 interface (abbreviated as N3), the UPF communicates with the SMF through an N4 interface, and the UPF communicates with the server in the DN through an N6 interface. The core network elements can communicate with each other through a service interface, for example: AMF can communicate with other core network elements through Namf interface, SMF can communicate with other core network elements through Nsf interface, PCF can communicate with other core network elements through Npcf interface, UDM can communicate with other core network elements through Nudr interface.

Based on the above system, the terminal (may be referred to as a remote terminal, or the first terminal in the embodiment of the present application) may send the data packet to the UPF corresponding to the relay node through the PDU session established by the relay node (may be referred to as a relay terminal, or the second terminal in the embodiment of the present application), and the UPF forwards the data packet of the terminal to the server. However, if the terminal does not encrypt the data packet at the application layer, the relay node may parse the data of the terminal, resulting in lower security of data transmission. The terminal may send data or signaling to the network side access device corresponding to the terminal through the PDU session of the relay node using an internet protocol security (internet protocol security, IPsec) tunnel. And the network side access equipment corresponding to the terminal sends the received data or signaling to the core network equipment. The IPsec tunnel can be utilized to avoid the relay node from analyzing the data or signaling of the terminal. However, the network side may not find the terminal in the process, and thus may not implement network authentication, charging, or other control operations for the terminal.

To solve the problem, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, including: the user plane network element receives a data packet comprising data of the first terminal from a PDU session established by a second terminal acting as a relay node of the first terminal; and determining whether the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session matches an Internet protocol (internet protocol, IP) address of a first non-third generation partnership project interworking function network element (non-3rd generation partnership project interworking function,N3IWF); and if so, sending the data packet to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address of the data packet. The network side can find the terminal through the first N3IWF, and further network authentication, charging or other control operation of the first terminal is realized.

In specific implementation, as shown in fig. 1b, the following are: each of the terminal, the access network element and the core network element may adopt the composition structure shown in fig. 2, or include the components shown in fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a communication device 200 according to an embodiment of the present application, where the communication device 200 may be a terminal or a chip or a system on a chip in the terminal; or can be an access network element or a chip or a system on chip in the access network element; or may be a core network element or a chip or a system on a chip in a core network element. As shown in fig. 2, the communication device 200 includes a processor 201, a transceiver 202, and a communication line 203.

Further, the communication device 200 may also include a memory 204. The processor 201, the memory 204, and the transceiver 202 may be connected by a communication line 203.

The processor 201 is a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), a general purpose processor network processor (network processor, NP), a digital signal processor (digital signal processing, DSP), a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a programmable logic device (programmable logic device, PLD), or any combination thereof. The processor 201 may also be other devices with processing functions, such as, without limitation, circuits, devices, or software modules.

A transceiver 202 for communicating with other devices or other communication networks. The other communication network may be an ethernet, a radio access network (radio access network, RAN), a wireless local area network (wireless local area networks, WLAN), etc. The transceiver 202 may be a module, circuitry, transceiver, or any device capable of enabling communications.

Communication line 203 for transmitting information between the components included in communication device 200.

Memory 204 for storing instructions. Wherein the instructions may be computer programs.

The memory 204 may be, but is not limited to, a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device capable of storing static information and/or instructions, a random access memory (random access memory, RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device capable of storing information and/or instructions, an EEPROM, a CD-ROM (compact disc read-only memory) or other optical disk storage, an optical disk storage (including compact disk, laser disk, optical disk, digital versatile disk, blu-ray disk, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, etc.

It should be noted that the memory 204 may exist separately from the processor 201 or may be integrated with the processor 201. Memory 204 may be used to store instructions or program code or some data, etc. The memory 204 may be located inside the communication device 200 or outside the communication device 200, and is not limited. The processor 201 is configured to execute instructions stored in the memory 204 to implement a communication method provided in the following embodiments of the present application.

In one example, processor 201 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 in fig. 2.

As an alternative implementation, the communication device 200 includes multiple processors, e.g., in addition to the processor 201 in fig. 2, a processor 207 may be included.

As an alternative implementation, the communication apparatus 200 further comprises an output device 205 and an input device 206. Illustratively, the input device 206 is a keyboard, mouse, microphone, or joystick device, and the output device 205 is a display screen, speaker (spaker), or the like.

It should be noted that the communication apparatus 200 may be a desktop computer, a portable computer, a web server, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wireless terminal, an embedded device, a chip system, or a device having a similar structure as in fig. 2. Further, the constituent structure shown in fig. 2 does not constitute a limitation of the communication apparatus, and the communication apparatus may include more or less components than those shown in fig. 2, or may combine some components, or may be arranged in different components, in addition to those shown in fig. 2.

In the embodiment of the application, the chip system may be formed by a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices.

Further, actions, terms, etc. referred to between embodiments of the present application may be referred to each other without limitation. In the embodiment of the present application, the name of the message or the name of the parameter in the message, etc. interacted between the devices are only an example, and other names may also be adopted in the specific implementation, and are not limited.

The communication method provided in this embodiment of the present application will be described below with reference to the communication system shown in fig. 1b, where the second terminal in the following embodiment is any terminal that provides a relay service for the first terminal in the communication system shown in fig. 1b, the user plane network element is a user plane network element corresponding to a PDU session established by the second terminal in the communication system shown in fig. 1b, the first N3IWF is an N3IWF corresponding to a PDU session established by the first terminal in the communication system shown in fig. 1b, the first user plane network element is a user plane network element corresponding to a PDU session established by the first terminal in the communication system shown in fig. 1b, and the server is any server in the data network in the communication system shown in fig. 1 b. The first terminal, the second terminal, the access network element, the user plane element, the first N3IWF, the first user plane element, and the server described in the following embodiments may all have the components shown in fig. 2.

Fig. 3a is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 3a, the method may include:

step 301, the first terminal sends data of the first terminal to the second terminal; correspondingly, the second terminal receives the data of the first terminal.

The source address of the data of the first terminal may be an IP address of the first terminal, and the destination address may be an IP address of the first N3 IWF; the data of the first terminal may be understood as data that needs to be forwarded by the second terminal in a relay manner, and the data that is sent by the first terminal and has the destination address of the second terminal is not included.

The destination address of the data of the first terminal may be an IP address of the first N3IWF preconfigured in the first terminal. For the case of pre-configuring the IP addresses of the plurality of first N3 IWFs, the first terminal selects the IP address of one of the N3 IWFs as the destination address of the data of the first terminal. Specifically, the first N3IWF has a correspondence with a tracking area (tracking area), and the first terminal may select the first N3IWF according to the current tracking area. Alternatively, the first N3IWF has a correspondence with a public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN), and the first terminal selects the first N3IWF according to the current PLMN.

Specifically, the first terminal may establish a PC5 communication connection with the second terminal to perform communication, and send data of the first terminal to the second terminal through the PC5 interface.

In addition to transmitting the data of the first terminal, the first terminal may transmit data including the destination address of the second terminal to the second terminal, which data does not need to be relayed. The destination address of the second terminal may be an IP address of the second terminal, where the IP address of the second terminal refers to an IP address for PC5 communication allocated by the first terminal to the second terminal or an IP address for PC5 communication allocated by the second terminal.

For example, when performing PC5 communication, the first terminal may set the source address of the data of the first terminal as the IP address allocated to the first terminal by the second terminal, set the destination address of the data of the first terminal as the IP address of the first N3IWF, package the data of the first terminal, the source address of the data of the first terminal, and the destination address of the data of the first terminal in the same data packet, and send the data packet to the second terminal through the PC5 interface, so that the second terminal receives the data packet, and then determine that the data in the data packet is the data of the first terminal according to the source address included in the data packet.

In order to improve reliability of data transmission, optionally, as shown in fig. 1b, an IPsec tunnel may be established between the first terminal and the first N3IWF, and a public key and a private key corresponding to the IPsec tunnel may be determined. When the IPsec tunnel is used for data transmission, the first terminal may encrypt the data of the first terminal by using the public key, encapsulate the encrypted data of the first terminal, the IP address of the first terminal, and the IP address of the first N3IWF in a data packet, and send the data packet to the second terminal, so that after the second terminal receives the data packet, modify the IP address of the first terminal in the data packet to the IP address of the second terminal, encapsulate the encrypted data of the first terminal, the IP address of the second terminal, and the IP address of the first N3IWF in the data packet, and send the data packet to the user plane network element through a pre-established PDU session, so that the user plane network element forwards the data packet to the corresponding first N3IWF according to the destination address of the data packet, that is, the first N3IWF decrypts the data of the first terminal encrypted in the data packet by using the private key, and obtains the data of the first terminal. The PDU session is a PDU session of a second terminal, and is used for providing relay service for a first terminal. The IP address of the second terminal is the IP address corresponding to the PDU session of the second terminal.

Specifically, the IPsec tunnel is used for protecting data transmission at the IP layer, especially protecting transmission sensitive data in an unsafe network environment. The two communication parties can ensure confidentiality, data consistency, data source authentication and replay resistance of the data packet during network transmission by performing encryption, data source authentication and other operations at the IP layer.

In the embodiment of the application, the IPsec tunnel is established between the first terminal and the first N3IWF, so that the data of the first terminal is not tampered in the transmission process, and encryption protection of the data of the first terminal is realized.

It should be noted that, the specific process of establishing the IPsec tunnel between the first terminal and the first N3IWF may refer to the description of the IPsec tunnel in the prior art, and will not be repeated.

Specifically, the procedure for the second terminal to establish the PDU session may be referred to as the method shown in fig. 5 below.

Step 302, the second terminal sends the data of the first terminal to the access network element through PDU session of the second terminal; correspondingly, the access network element receives the data of the first terminal from the second terminal through the PDU session of the second terminal.

Specifically, the second terminal may also receive the source address and the destination address of the data of the first terminal.

Specifically, the second terminal modifies the source address of the received data of the first terminal into the IP address of the second terminal, encapsulates the data of the first terminal, the IP address of the second terminal and the destination address of the data of the first terminal in a data packet, and sends the data packet to the access network element.

Specifically, S302 may be understood that the second terminal sends the data of the first terminal to the access network element through a Data Radio Bearer (DRB) corresponding to the PDU session of the second terminal; correspondingly, the access network element receives the data of the first terminal from the second terminal through the data radio bearer corresponding to the PDU session of the second terminal.

Step 303, the access network element sends the data of the first terminal to the user plane network element through the PDU session of the second terminal; correspondingly, the user plane network element receives the data of the first terminal through the PDU session of the second terminal.

Wherein the data of the first terminal is in the form of data packets. The data packet may be the data packet described in step 302.

Specifically, the access network element may forward the data packet to the user plane network element through an N3 interface corresponding to the PDU session.

Step 304, the user plane network element determines whether the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

Specifically, after receiving the data packet, the user plane network element may compare the destination address of the data packet with the IP address of the first N3IWF to determine whether the data packet is matched. For example: if the destination address of the data packet is the same as the IP address of the first N3IWF, determining that the destination address of the data packet is matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF, otherwise, determining that the data packet is not matched.

Illustratively, the user plane network element may acquire the IP address of the first N3IWF in any one of the following manners one to three:

mode one: the user plane network element is preconfigured with the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

Optionally, the network management network element may configure IP addresses of a plurality of first N3 IWFs corresponding to PLMNs where the user plane network element is located on the user plane network element.

For example, the IP address of the first N3IWF corresponding to the PLMN where the user plane network element is located includes IP1, IP2, and IP3, and the network management network element may configure IP1, IP2, and IP3 in the user plane network element.

Mode two: the user plane network element receives the IP address of the first N3IWF sent by the session management network element.

Mode three: the user plane network element receives the identification information of the PLMN sent by the session management network element, and determines the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the identification information of the PLMN.

The PLMN identification information may be PLMN identification information or other information that may be used to identify the PLMN. The user plane network element may request to obtain information of a network element storing the IP address of the first N3IWF from a network storage network element (NF repository function, NRF) corresponding to the PLMN according to the identification information of the PLMN, determine the network element according to the obtained information of the network element, and obtain the IP address of the first N3IWF from the network element. The network element storing the IP address of the first N3IWF may be UDM, UDR, or the like, without limitation.

It should be noted that, the IP address of the first N3IWF corresponding to each PLMN is preconfigured, and the corresponding relationship between the PLMN and the first N3IWF may refer to the description of the PLMN in the prior art, which is not repeated.

One possible design is that the user plane network element receives the first indication information sent by the session management network element, and judges whether the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session matches with the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the first indication information. The first indication information is used for indicating the user plane network element to judge whether the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

In another possible design, the user plane network element receives the second indication information sent by the session management network element, and determines whether the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session matches the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the second indication information. Wherein the second indication information is used for indicating that the PDU session is used for the relay service. For example, the user plane network element may be preconfigured to: when its corresponding PDU session is used for the relay service, the destination address of the data packet received through the PDU session needs to be matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

Optionally, the second indication information further includes identification information of the first terminal. The identification information of the first terminal includes at least one of: the IP address of the first terminal, the identification information of the PDU session (e.g., the N4 interface corresponding to the PDU session), the identity information of the first terminal (e.g., the ID of the first terminal).

Optionally, the session management network element may send the first indication information or the second indication information to the user plane network element in an N4 session establishment (N4 session establishment) request message carried in the PDU session establishment procedure; alternatively, the session management network element may send the first indication information or the second indication information to the user plane network element after the PDU session establishment is completed, carried in an N4 session modification (N4 session modification) message. Accordingly, the UPF stores the first indication information or the second indication information in an N4 session context (N4 session context).

The N4 session establishment request message or the N4 session modification message may further include some existing information, such as a processing policy corresponding to the service, a packet detection rule (packet detection rule, PDR), a forwarding action rule (forwarding action rule, FAR) associated with the PDR, a quality of service flow (QoS flow) mapping rule, and other information, which are not limited, and related descriptions of these information may be omitted herein with reference to the prior art.

Step 305, if the user plane network element determines that the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session matches the IP address of the first N3IWF, the user plane network element sends the data packet to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session. Correspondingly, the first N3IWF receives a data packet sent by the user plane network element.

The number of the first N3 IWFs may be plural, and when the IP address of a certain first N3IWF matches with the destination address of the data packet, the user plane network element may send the data packet to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address of the data packet.

Optionally, the user plane network element receives the third indication information sent by the session management network element, and sends the data packet to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address according to the third indication information. The third indication information is used for indicating that when the user plane network element judges that the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session matches with the IP address of the first N3IWF, the data packet is sent to the first N3IWF.

Specifically, the user plane network element may pre-establish a forwarding tunnel with the first N3IWF, and store a correspondence between the first N3IWF and the forwarding tunnel.

For example, taking the example that the first N3IWF includes the first N3IWF1, the first N3IWF2, and the first N3IWF3, the pre-established forwarding tunnel may include a forwarding tunnel 1 corresponding to the first N3IWF1, a forwarding tunnel 2 corresponding to the first N3IWF2, and a forwarding tunnel 3 corresponding to the first N3IWF 3. When the destination address of the data packet is the IP address of the first N3IWF1, the user plane network element may forward the data packet to the first N3IWF1 through the forwarding tunnel 1.

Alternatively, the user plane network element may also dynamically establish a forwarding tunnel with the first N3IWF. Taking the destination address of the data packet as the IP address of the first N3IWF1 as an example, the user plane network element may establish a forwarding tunnel with the first N3IWF1 in real time, and forward the data packet to the first N3IWF1 through the forwarding tunnel established in real time.

Step 306, the first N3IWF sends the data of the first terminal to the first user plane network element through the PDU session of the first terminal. Correspondingly, the first user plane network element receives the data of the first terminal sent by the first N3IWF.

The PDU session of the first terminal refers to: the first terminal establishes a PDU session with the first user plane network element through the first N3IWF.

Step 307, the first user plane network element forwards the data of the first terminal to a server in the data network. Correspondingly, the server receives the data of the first terminal sent by the first user plane network element.

Specifically, the first user plane network element sends the received data packet to the server, so that the server processes the data of the first terminal, and the processed result is returned to the first terminal.

In the method shown in fig. 3a, when receiving a data packet including data of a first terminal, a user plane network element corresponding to a PDU session of a second terminal may determine whether a destination address of the data packet matches an IP address of a first N3IWF, and if so, forward the data packet to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address. When the first terminal sets the destination address of the data of the first terminal as the server, the user plane network element in the embodiment of the application can judge that the destination address of the data packet including the data of the first terminal is not matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF, so that the data packet is not transmitted in the next step, and the user plane network element is prevented from directly forwarding the data packet to the server. The network side can find the terminal through the first N3IWF, and further network authentication, charging or other control operation of the first terminal is realized. In the embodiment of the application, the first terminal establishes the IPsec tunnel with the first N3IWF, so that the second terminal can be prevented from analyzing the data of the first terminal, and the safety of data transmission can be improved.

The method shown in fig. 3a above describes actions performed by the user plane network element after determining that the destination address of the data packet matches the IP address of the first N3 IWF. Further, the method shown in fig. 3b further includes the following steps 308 to 311, where the following steps 308 to 311 describe actions performed by the user plane network element when the user plane network element determines that the destination address of the data packet does not match the IP address of the first N3 IWF. Steps 308 to 311 may be used to replace steps 305 to 307 described above.

Step 308, if the user plane network element determines that the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session does not match the IP address of the first N3IWF, the user plane network element sends fourth indication information to the session management network element; correspondingly, the session management network element receives fourth indication information.

The fourth indication information includes identification information of the first terminal, and the fourth indication information is used for indicating that a destination address of a data packet carried by the PDU session is not matched with an IP address of the first N3 IWF. The fourth indication information may be carried in a data notification (data notification) message.

Optionally, the user plane network element receives identification information of the first terminal sent by the session management network element, where the identification information of the first terminal includes at least one of the following: the IP address of the first terminal, the identification information of the PDU session (e.g., the N4 interface corresponding to the PDU session), the identity information of the first terminal (e.g., the ID of the first terminal).

Optionally, the user plane network element receives the fifth indication information sent by the session management network element, and sends the fourth indication information to the session management network element according to the fifth indication information. The fifth indication information is used for indicating that the fourth indication information is sent to the session management network element when the user plane network element judges that the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session is not matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF. The fifth indication information may be carried in an N4 session setup or N4 session modification message, and accordingly the user plane network element stores the fifth indication information in an N4 session context.

Step 309, the session management network element releases the context of the first terminal according to the fourth indication information.

Specifically, after receiving the fourth indication information, the session management network element may determine, according to the identifier of the first terminal included in the fourth indication information, that the destination address of the data packet corresponding to the first terminal is not matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF, and release the context of the first terminal.

The context of the first terminal may include information about the PDU session for the relay service, which is set up by the second terminal for the first terminal and stored in the session management network element. Specifically, the context of the first terminal may be identification information of the first terminal and address information allocated to the first terminal by the second terminal.

Optionally, when the identification information of the first terminal is an IP address of the first terminal, the session management network element determines related information of the PDU session corresponding to the first terminal according to the IP address of the first terminal. Or when the identification information of the first terminal is the identity information of the first terminal, the session management network element determines the IP address of the first terminal according to the corresponding relation between the identity information of the first terminal and the IP address of the first terminal, which is stored when the PDU session is established for the second terminal, and determines the related information of the PDU session corresponding to the first terminal according to the IP address of the first terminal. Or when the identification information of the first terminal is the identification information of the PDU session, the session management network element determines the related information of the PDU session according to the identification information of the PDU session.

It should be noted that, the context of the first terminal may refer to the description of the context of the first terminal in the prior art, which is not repeated.

Step 310, the session management network element sends indication information to the second terminal through the mobility management network element; correspondingly, the second terminal receives the indication information.

The indication information is used for indicating the second terminal to release the context of the first terminal.

Optionally, the session management network element may forward the fourth indication information as indication information to the second terminal through the mobility management network element after receiving the fourth indication information.

Optionally, the session management network element sends the eighth indication information as indication information to the second terminal through the mobility management network element. The eighth indication information comprises identification information of the first terminal, and the eighth indication information is used for indicating to release the context of the first terminal.

It should be noted that, when the identification information of the first terminal sent by the session management network element to the second terminal through the mobility management network element is the identification information of the PDU session, the identification information of the PDU session may also be the ID of the PDU session.

Step 311, the second terminal releases the context of the first terminal according to the indication information.

Optionally, the second terminal receives the fourth indication information, determines that the destination address of the data packet corresponding to the first terminal is not matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the fourth indication information, and releases the context of the first terminal.

Optionally, the second terminal receives the eighth indication information, and releases the context of the first terminal according to the eighth indication information.

In this embodiment of the present application, releasing, by the second terminal, the context of the first terminal means that the second terminal deletes the related information used for relaying the service between the second terminal and the first terminal. Specifically, the context of the first terminal may be identification information of the first terminal and address information allocated to the first terminal by the second terminal. Based on this, the second terminal releasing the context of the first terminal may also be described as the second terminal deleting the context of the first terminal.

Based on the above description, it may be understood that after the second terminal deletes the context of the first terminal, the first terminal may also send data with the destination address of the second terminal to the second terminal, and the second terminal may also send data with the destination address of the first terminal to the first terminal.

The above-mentioned methods shown in fig. 3a and fig. 3b describe that in the data transmission process, the user plane network element performs an action of determining whether the destination address of the received data packet matches the IP address of the first N3 IWF. In the method shown in fig. 4, the second terminal determines whether the destination address of the data of the first terminal matches the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

Fig. 4 is a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 4, where the method includes:

step 401, the first terminal sends data of the first terminal to the second terminal; accordingly, the second terminal receives the data of the first terminal from the first terminal.

Specifically, the description of step 401 may refer to step 301 described above, and will not be repeated.

Step 402, the second terminal determines whether the destination address of the data of the first terminal matches the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

Illustratively, the second terminal may acquire the IP address of the first N3IWF in the following manner:

Mode one: the second terminal is preconfigured with the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

Mode two: the second terminal receives the IP address of the first N3IWF sent by the session management network element through the mobility management network element.

Mode three: the second terminal receives the identification information of the PLMN sent by the first terminal, and determines the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the identification information of the PLMN.

The process of determining the IP address of the first N3IWF by the second terminal according to the PLMN identification information may refer to the process of determining the IP address of the first N3IWF by the user plane network element according to the PLMN identification information in step 304, which is not described in detail.

Step 403, if the second terminal determines that the destination address of the data of the first terminal matches the IP address of the first N3IWF, the second terminal sends the data of the first terminal to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address of the data of the first terminal through the PDU session of the second terminal. Accordingly, the first N3IWF receives data of the first terminal.

Specifically, the second terminal may modify the source address of the data of the first terminal to be the IP address of the second terminal, and encapsulate the data of the first terminal, the IP address of the second terminal, and the destination address of the data of the first terminal in the data packet. The second terminal sends the data packet to an access network element, the access network element forwards the data packet to a user plane network element, the user plane network element forwards the data packet to a first N3IWF corresponding to a destination address according to the destination address of the data packet, the first N3IWF sends the data of the first terminal to the first user plane network element according to a PDU session established by the first terminal, and the first user plane network element sends the data of the first terminal to a server.

Step 404, if the second terminal determines that the destination address of the data of the first terminal does not match the IP address of the first N3IWF, the second terminal releases the context of the first terminal.

Specifically, step 404 may refer to the description of the context of the second terminal releasing the first terminal in step 311, which is not described herein.

Further, the second terminal may further send, to the session management network element, indication information for indicating the session management network element to release the context of the first terminal through the mobility management network element, so that the session management network element releases the context of the first terminal.

In the method shown in fig. 4, when the second terminal receives the data of the first terminal, it may determine whether the destination address of the data matches the IP address of the first N3IWF, and if so, forward the data to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address. When the first terminal sets the destination address of the data of the first terminal as the server, the second terminal in the embodiment of the present application may determine that the destination address of the data including the first terminal is not matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF, so that the data of the first terminal is not transmitted in the next step, and the user plane network element is prevented from directly forwarding the data packet to the server. The network side can find the terminal through the first N3IWF, and further network authentication, charging or other control operation of the first terminal is realized.

Based on the above embodiments, referring to fig. 5, the embodiment of the present application provides a procedure for establishing a PDU session by a second terminal, in which the IP address of the N3IWF sent by the first terminal may be determined. As shown in fig. 5, the method includes:

step 501, a PC5 communication connection is established between the first terminal and the second terminal.

Specifically, the first terminal may discover a second terminal that can provide a relay service for the first terminal through a discovery procedure in the prior art, and establish a PC5 communication connection with the second terminal.

Alternatively, the second terminal may assign the first terminal an IP address for the PC5 communication connection, i.e. the IP address of the first terminal.

Optionally, when the first terminal establishes a PC5 communication connection with the second terminal, the first terminal may send the IP address of the second N3IWF of the first terminal to the second terminal.

Wherein the IP address of the second N3IWF may be preconfigured in the first terminal. The method for the first terminal to select the second N3IWF is the same as the method for the first terminal to select the IP address of one N3IWF from the IP addresses of the plurality of first N3 IWFs in step 301.

Further, step 501 may further include step 501a.

Step 501a, the second terminal determines whether the IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

The second terminal may acquire the IP address of the first N3IWF in the second or third mode in step 402.

If the IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3IWF, the following steps 502 to 512 may be continued to establish a PDU session providing relay service for the first terminal.

If the IP address of the second N3IWF does not match the IP address of the first N3IWF, the second terminal may delete the context of the first terminal without establishing a PDU session providing a relay service for the first terminal.

Step 502, the second terminal sends a session establishment request to the mobility management network element through the access network element; correspondingly, the mobility management network element receives the session establishment request.

The session establishment request includes identification information of the first terminal, and is used for requesting to establish a PDU session for providing relay service for the first terminal for the second terminal.

Specifically, the description of the identification information of the first terminal may refer to fig. 3a, fig. 3b or fig. 4, and is not repeated.

Optionally, the terminal further sends identification information of the session to the mobility management network element through the access network element, where the identification information of the session is used to identify the session.

Optionally, the session establishment request and the session identification are sent to the mobility management network element carried in a non-access stratum message (non access stratum message, NAS message).

Optionally, the second terminal sends the IP address of the second N3IWF to the mobility management network element, so that the mobility management network element sends the IP address of the second N3IWF to the session management network element, and the session management network element performs the action performed by the second terminal in step 501 to determine whether the IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

Step 503, the mobility management network element sends a request message for creating the session context to the session management network element; accordingly, the session management network element receives the create session context request message.

The session creation context request message may include identification information of the first terminal, identification information of the second terminal, identification information of the session, and a session establishment request.

Optionally, the create session context request message further comprises an IP address of the second N3 IWF.

Step 504, the session management network element sends a policy creation request to the policy control network element; accordingly, the policy control network element receives the policy creation request.

Optionally, the create session context request message includes an IP address of the second N3 IWF.

Further, similar to the second terminal determining whether the IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3IWF in step 501, step 504 may include step 504a described below.

Step 504a, the session management network element determines whether the IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

If so, the following steps 505 to 512 are performed to establish a PDU session for the second terminal for providing the relay service for the first terminal, and if not, not establish the PDU session for the second terminal.

Optionally, if there is no match, the session management network element deletes the context of the first terminal.

Optionally, if the two types of information do not match, the session management network element further sends indication information for indicating the second terminal to release the context of the first terminal to the second terminal through the mobility management network element, or sends indication information that the IP address of the second N3IWF does not match the IP address of the first N3IWF to the second terminal, so that the second terminal releases the context of the first terminal according to the indication information.

Specifically, the session management network element may acquire the IP address of the first N3IWF in the following manner:

mode one: the session management network element is preconfigured with the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

Mode two: the session management network element receives the identification information of the PLMN sent by the first terminal through the mobility management network element and the second terminal, and determines the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the identification information of the PLMN.

The process of determining the IP address of the first N3IWF by the session management network element according to the PLMN identification information is similar to the process of determining the IP address of the first N3IWF by the user plane network element according to the PLMN identification information in step 304, and is not repeated.

Wherein the policy creation request may include identification information of the first terminal, identification information of the second terminal, and identification information of the session.

Alternatively, the policy creation request may be a session management policy establishment request (SM policy establishment request). For example, the terminal may send a PDU session establishment request to the session management network element through the mobility management network element, requesting to establish a PDU session for the terminal, and after the session management network element receives the PDU session establishment request, send SM policy establishment request to the policy control network element.

Step 505, the policy control network element sends a policy creation request response to the session management network element; accordingly, the session management network element receives the policy creation request response.

The policy creation request response may include some existing information, such as policy and charging control rules (policy and charging control rule, PCC rules), which are not described herein.

Alternatively, when the request message is SM policy establishment request, the policy creation request response may establish a response for the session management policy (SM policy establishment response).

Step 506, the session management network element sends an N4 session establishment request to the user plane network element; correspondingly, the user plane network element receives an N4 session establishment request.

Optionally, the N4 session establishment request includes first indication information.

Optionally, the N4 session establishment request includes second indication information.

Optionally, the N4 session establishment request includes information of the first identity.

Note that, the first indication information, the second indication information, and the identification information of the first terminal may refer to the description of the first indication information, the second indication information, and the identification information of the first terminal in fig. 3a, which is not repeated.

Optionally, the N4 session establishment request further includes an IP address of the second N3 IWF.

Step 507, the user plane network element sends an N4 session establishment request response to the session management network element. Correspondingly, the session management network element receives an N4 session establishment request response sent by the user plane network element.

Further, step 507 may further include step 507a.

Step 507a, the user plane network element determines whether the IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

When the user plane network element receives the IP address of the second N3IWF, the IP address of the second N3IWF may be matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF, and the matching result is carried in the form of sixth indication information in the N4 session establishment request response and is sent to the session management network element; the sixth indication information includes identification information of the first terminal, and the sixth indication information is used for indicating whether the IP address of the second N3IWF matches with the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

If the sixth indication information indicates that the IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3IWF, the following steps 508 to 512 may be performed to establish a PDU session providing a relay service for the first terminal.

Optionally, the N4 session establishment request response further includes tunnel information of the user plane network element.

Optionally, the user plane network element further receives seventh indication information sent by the session management network element, and sends sixth indication information to the session management network element according to the seventh indication information.

The seventh indication information is used for indicating the user plane network element to judge whether the IP address of the second N3IWF is matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

If the user plane network element interprets that the IP address of the second N3IWF does not match the IP address of the first N3IWF, sixth indication information for indicating that the IP address of the second N3IWF does not match the IP address of the first N3IWF may be sent to the session management network element, so that the session management network element may delete the context of the first terminal according to the sixth indication information.

Optionally, the session management network element further sends indication information for indicating the second terminal to release the context of the first terminal to the second terminal, or sends sixth indication information for indicating that the IP address of the second N3IWF does not match the IP address of the first N3IWF to the second terminal, so that the second terminal releases the context of the first terminal according to the sixth indication information.

Step 508, the session management network element sends an N1N2 information transfer message to the mobility management network element. Correspondingly, the mobility management network element receives the N1N2 information transmission message sent by the session management network element.

The N1N2 information transmission message comprises identification information of a session, tunnel information of a user plane network element and session establishment acceptance information; the session establishment acceptance information is used for indicating acceptance of the session establishment request sent by the second terminal.

Step 509, the mobility management network element sends an N2 session request to the access network element. Correspondingly, the access network element receives an N2 session request sent by the mobility management network element.

The N2 session request includes identification information of a session, tunnel information of a user plane network element, and session establishment acceptance information.

Step 510, the access network element sends a radio connection establishment request to the terminal. Correspondingly, the terminal receives an N2 session request sent by the network element of the access network.

Wherein the wireless connection establishment request may include session establishment acceptance information.

Step 511, the access network element sends the tunnel information of the access network element to the session management network element through the mobility management network element. Correspondingly, the session management network element receives the network element tunnel information of the access network.

Step 512, the session management network element sends an N4 session modification request to the user plane network element. Correspondingly, the user plane network element receives an N4 session modification request.

Wherein the N4 session modification request includes access network element tunnel information.

The session management network element sends the tunnel information of the access network element to the user plane network element, and sends the tunnel information of the user plane network element to the access network element, so that the access network element and the user plane network element can conveniently establish connection, and the PDU session establishment flow is completed.

Based on the method shown in fig. 5, in the embodiment of the present application, the second terminal, or the session management network element, or the user plane network element determines whether the IP address of the second N3IWF is matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF in the PDU session establishment process, if not, it may not need to establish a PDU session for providing a relay service for the first terminal, thereby avoiding that the data of the first terminal bypasses the first N3IWF to reach the server, and at the same time, may also save network resources.

Further, when the IP address of the second N3IWF is matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF, the IP address of the second N3IWF provided by the first terminal may be determined as the IP address of the first N3IWF, and during data transmission, based on the method shown in fig. 3a, the user plane network element may determine whether the destination address of the received data packet is matched with the IP address of the second N3IWF provided by the first terminal. Alternatively, based on the method shown in fig. 4, the second terminal may determine whether the destination address of the received data of the first terminal matches the IP address of the second N3IWF provided by the first terminal.

For example, taking the example that the IP address of the second N3IWF provided by the first terminal includes IP1, IP2 and IP3, assuming that the IP address of the first N3IWF includes IP1, IP2, IP3, IP4 and IP5, the user plane network element may determine that the IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3IWF through judgment, when performing data transmission, the user plane network element may match the destination address of the received data packet with IP1, IP2 and IP3, and if so, forward the data packet to the N3IWF corresponding to the destination address. Similarly, the actions performed by the second terminal are similar to those performed by the user plane network element, and will not be described again.

The method shown in fig. 5 above describes that in the process of establishing a PDU session for relay service for the second terminal, or the session management network element, or the user plane network element may determine whether the IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3IWF, if so, establish the PDU session for providing relay service for the second terminal, and if not, release the context of the first terminal.

Alternatively, the process that the second terminal, or the session management network element, or the user plane network element determines whether the IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3IWF may also occur after the PDU session is established for the second terminal, i.e. the second terminal modifies the already established PDU session.

Specifically, the second terminal may initiate a PDU session modification procedure, add an IP address of the second N3IWF to the PDU session modification procedure, and determine, by the second terminal, or the session management network element, or the user plane network element, whether the IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the received IP address of the second N3 IWF.

It should be noted that, the second terminal may refer to the description of the PDU session modification procedure in the prior art, and will not be described in detail.

The above description has been presented mainly from the point of interaction between devices. It will be appreciated that each device, in order to implement the above-described functions, includes corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules that perform the respective functions. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the algorithm steps of the examples described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is implemented as hardware or computer software driven 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 application.

The embodiment of the application may divide the functional modules of each network element according to the above method example, 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 modules may be implemented in hardware or in software functional modules. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the modules is schematic, which is merely a logic function division, and other division manners may be implemented in actual implementation.

In case of dividing the respective functional modules with corresponding respective functions, fig. 6 shows a communication device, the communication device 60 may be a user plane network element or a chip or a system on chip in the user plane network element. The communication means 60 may be arranged to perform the functions of the user plane network elements referred to in the above embodiments. The communication device 60 shown in fig. 6 includes: the receiving module 601, the processing module 602 and the sending module 603.

A receiving module 601, configured to receive, through a PDU session of a second terminal, a data packet including data of a first terminal, where the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal.

A processing module 602, configured to determine whether a destination address of a packet carried by the PDU session matches an IP address of the first N3 IWF.

A sending module 603, configured to send, if the packet matches, the packet to a first N3IWF corresponding to a destination address of a packet carried by the PDU session.

The specific implementation of the communication device 60 may refer to the behavior function of the user plane network element in the communication method described in fig. 3-5.

In a possible design, the receiving module 601 is further configured to receive first indication information from the session management network element, where the first indication information is used to instruct the user plane network element to determine whether a destination address of a data packet carried by the PDU session matches an IP address of the first N3 IWF; the processing module 602 is further configured to determine, according to the first indication information, whether a destination address of a data packet carried by the PDU session matches an IP address of the first N3 IWF.

In a possible design, the receiving module 601 is further configured to receive second indication information from the session management network element, where the second indication information is used to indicate that the PDU session is used for the relay service; the processing module 602 is further configured to determine, according to the second indication information, whether a destination address of a data packet carried by the PDU session matches an IP address of the first N3 IWF.

In a possible design, the receiving module 601 is further configured to receive third indication information from the session management network element; the third indication information is used for indicating that when the user plane network element judges that the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF, the data packet is sent to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session; the sending module 603 is further configured to send, according to the third indication information, a data packet to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session.

In a possible design, the sending module 603 is further configured to send, to the session management network element, fourth indication information including identification information of the first terminal, if a destination address of a data packet carried by the PDU session does not match an IP address of the first N3 IWF; the fourth indication information is used for indicating that the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session does not match with the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

In a possible design, the receiving module 601 is further configured to receive fifth indication information from the session management network element; the fifth indication information is used for indicating that when the user plane network element judges that the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session is not matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF, the fourth indication information is sent to the session management network element; the sending module 603 is further configured to send fourth indication information to the session management network element according to the fifth indication information.

In a possible design, the receiving module 601 is further configured to receive, by the user plane network element, an IP address of the second N3IWF provided by the first terminal of the session management network element; a sending module 603, configured to send sixth indication information that includes identification information of the first terminal to the session management network element; the sixth indication information is used to indicate whether the IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

In a possible design, the receiving module 601 is further configured to receive seventh indication information from the session management network element, where the seventh indication information is used to instruct the user plane network element to determine whether the IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3 IWF; the sending module 603 is further configured to send sixth indication information to the session management network element according to the seventh indication information.

In one possible design, the user plane network element is preconfigured with the IP address of the first N3 IWF; or the user plane network element receives the IP address of the first N3IWF from the session management network element; or the user plane network element receives the identification information of the public land mobile network PLMN from the session management network element, and determines the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the identification information of the PLMN.

In a possible design, the receiving module 601 is further configured to receive identification information of the first terminal from the session management network element.

In one possible design, the identification information of the first terminal includes at least one of: the second terminal allocates an IP address, identification information of PDU session and identity information of the first terminal to the first terminal.

As yet another implementation, the receiving module 601 and the transmitting module 603 in fig. 6 may be replaced by a transceiver, which may integrate the functions of the receiving module 601 and the transmitting module 603, and the processing module 602 may be replaced by a processor, which may integrate the functions of the processing module 602. Further, the communication device 60 shown in fig. 6 may also include a memory. When the receiving module 601 and the transmitting module 603 are replaced by transceivers and the processing module 602 is replaced by a processor, the communication device 60 according to the embodiment of the present application may be the communication device shown in fig. 2.

In the case of dividing the respective functional modules with the respective functions, fig. 7 shows a communication device, the communication device 70 may be a session management network element or a chip or a system on chip in the session management network element. The communication means 70 may be arranged to perform the functions of the session management network element as referred to in the above embodiments. The communication device 70 shown in fig. 7 includes: processing module 701, transmitting module 702.

A processing module 701, configured to determine that a PDU session of the second terminal is used for a relay service; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal.

A sending module 702, configured to send, to a user plane network element, first indication information for indicating the user plane network element to determine whether a destination address of a data packet carried by a PDU session matches an IP address of a first N3 IWF; the data packet includes data of the first terminal.

The specific implementation of the communication device 70 may refer to the behavior function of the session management network element in the communication method described in fig. 3-5.

In a possible design, the session management network element further includes a receiving module 703, where the receiving module 703 is configured to receive fourth indication information including identification information of the first terminal from the user plane network element; the fourth indication information is used for indicating that the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session does not match with the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

In a possible design, the processing module 701 is further configured to release the context of the first terminal according to the fourth indication information.

In a possible design, the receiving module 703 is further configured to receive an IP address of the second N3IWF provided by the first terminal from the mobility management network element; the processing module 701 is further configured to determine whether the IP address of the second N3IWF is matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF; and if the context does not match, deleting the context of the first terminal.

In a possible design, the receiving module 703 is further configured to receive sixth indication information from the user plane network element, including identification information of the first terminal; the sixth indication information is used for indicating whether the IP address of the second N3IWF provided by the first terminal is matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF; the processing module 701 is further configured to delete the context of the first terminal when the sixth indication information is used to indicate that the IP address of the second N3IWF does not match the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

In a possible design, the receiving module 703 is further configured to receive identification information of a public land mobile network PLMN from a mobility management network element; the receiving module 703 is further configured to send, to the user plane network element, the identification information of the PLMN and/or the IP address of the first N3IWF corresponding to the PLMN according to the identification information of the PLMN.

In a possible design, the receiving module 703 is further configured to receive an IP address of the second N3IWF provided by the first terminal from the mobility management network element; the sending module 702 is further configured to send the IP address of the second N3IWF to the user plane network element.

As yet another implementation, the transmitting module 702 and the receiving module 703 in fig. 7 may be replaced by a transceiver, which may integrate functions of the transmitting module 702 and the receiving module 703, and the processing module 701 may be replaced by a processor, which may integrate functions of the processing module 701. Further, the communication device 70 shown in fig. 7 may also include a memory. When the transmitting module 702 and the receiving module 703 are replaced by transceivers and the processing module 701 is replaced by a processor, the communication device 70 according to the embodiment of the present application may be the communication device shown in fig. 2.

In the case of dividing the respective functional modules with the respective functions, fig. 8 shows a communication apparatus, the communication apparatus 80 may be a second terminal or a chip or a system on chip in the second terminal. The communication device 80 may be used to perform the functions of the second terminal as referred to in the above embodiments. The communication device 80 shown in fig. 8 includes: a receiving module 802, a processing module 803, and a transmitting module 801.

A transmitting module 801, configured to transmit data of the first terminal through a PDU session of the second terminal.

A receiving module 802, configured to receive eighth indication information from the mobility management network element, where the eighth indication information includes identification information of the first terminal.

A processing module 803, configured to release the context of the first terminal according to the eighth indication information; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal, and the eighth indication information is used for indicating to release the context of the first terminal.

Or, the receiving module 802 is configured to receive fourth indication information from the mobility management network element, where the fourth indication information includes identification information of the first terminal.

A processing module 803, configured to release the context of the first terminal according to the fourth indication information; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal, the fourth indication information is used for indicating that a destination address of a data packet borne by a protocol data unit PDU session is not matched with an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the first non-third generation partnership project interworking function network element N3IWF, and the data packet comprises data of the first terminal.

Or, a receiving module 802, configured to receive data from the first terminal; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal, and the data of the first terminal is forwarded through a protocol data unit PDU session of the second terminal.

A processing module 803 is configured to determine whether the destination address of the data of the first terminal matches the IP address of the first non-third generation partnership project interworking function network element N3 IWF.

A sending module 801, configured to send, if the data packets are matched, a data packet including data of the first terminal to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address through the PDU session of the second terminal.

The specific implementation of the communication device 80 may refer to the behavior function of the second terminal in the communication method described in fig. 3-5.

In a possible design, the receiving module 802 is further configured to receive an IP address of the second N3IWF from the first terminal; a sending module 801, configured to send an IP address of the second N3IWF to a mobility management network element.

In a possible design, the receiving module 802 is further configured to receive identification information of a public land mobile network PLMN from the first terminal; the sending module 801 is further configured to send identification information of the PLMN to a mobility management network element.

In a possible design, the processing module 803 is further configured to release the context of the first terminal if the destination address of the data of the first terminal does not match the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

In a possible design, the receiving module 802 is further configured to receive an IP address of the second N3IWF from the first terminal; the processing module 803 is further configured to determine whether the IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3 IWF; and if the context does not match, deleting the context of the first terminal.

In one possible design, the second terminal is preconfigured with the IP address of the first N3 IWF; or the second terminal receives the IP address of the first N3IWF from the mobility management network element; or the second terminal receives the identification information of the public land mobile network PLMN from the first terminal, and determines the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the identification information of the PLMN.

As yet another implementation, the transmitting module 801 and the receiving module 802 in fig. 8 may be replaced by a transceiver, which may integrate functions of the transmitting module 801 and the receiving module 802, and the processing module 803 may be replaced by a processor, which may integrate functions of the processing module 803. Further, the communication device 80 shown in fig. 8 may also include a memory. When the transmitting module 801 and the receiving module 802 are replaced by transceivers and the processing module 803 is replaced by a processor, the communication apparatus 80 according to the embodiment of the present application may be the communication apparatus shown in fig. 2.

Embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium. All or part of the flow in the above method embodiments may be implemented by a computer program to instruct related hardware, where the program may be stored in the above computer readable storage medium, and when the program is executed, the program may include the flow in the above method embodiments. The computer readable storage medium may be an internal storage unit of the terminal (including the data transmitting end and/or the data receiving end) of any of the foregoing embodiments, for example, a hard disk or a memory of the terminal. The computer readable storage medium may be an external storage device of the terminal, for example, a plug-in hard disk, a Smart Media Card (SMC), a Secure Digital (SD) card, a flash card (flash card), or the like, which are provided in the terminal. Further, the computer-readable storage medium may further include both an internal storage unit and an external storage device of the terminal. The computer-readable storage medium is used for storing the computer program and other programs and data required by the terminal. The above-described computer-readable storage medium may also be used to temporarily store data that has been output or is to be output.

It should be noted that the terms "first" and "second" and the like in the description, claims and drawings of the present application are used for distinguishing between different objects and not for describing a particular sequential order. Furthermore, the terms "comprise" and "have," as well as any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not limited to only those listed steps or elements but may include other steps or elements not listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

It should be understood that, in the present application, "at least one (item)" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more, "at least two (items)" means two or three and three or more, "and/or" for describing an association relationship of an association object, three kinds of relationships may exist, for example, "a and/or B" may mean: only a, only B and both a and B are present, wherein a, B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship. "at least one of" or the like means any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items(s). For example, at least one (one) of a, b or c may represent: a, b, c, "a and b", "a and c", "b and c", or "a and b and c", wherein a, b, c may be single or plural.

From the foregoing description of the embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, only the above-described division of functional modules is illustrated, and in practical application, the above-described functional allocation may be implemented by different functional modules according to needs, i.e. the internal structure of the apparatus is divided into different functional modules to implement all or part of the functions described above.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative, e.g., the division of the modules or units is merely a logical functional division, and there may be additional divisions when actually implemented, e.g., multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another apparatus, or some features may be omitted, or not performed. Alternatively, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed with each other may be an indirect coupling or communication connection via some interfaces, devices or units, which may be in electrical, mechanical or other form.

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

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit. The integrated units may be implemented in hardware or in software functional units.

The integrated units, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as stand-alone products, may be stored in a readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the embodiments of the present application may be essentially or a part contributing to the prior art or all or part of the technical solution may be embodied in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, including several instructions for causing a device (may be a single-chip microcomputer, a chip or the like) or a processor (processor) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, etc.

The foregoing is merely a specific embodiment of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present disclosure should be covered in the protection 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 communication, comprising:

the user plane network element receives the data packet through the protocol data unit PDU session of the second terminal; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal, and the data packet comprises data of the first terminal;

the user plane network element judges whether the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first non-third generation partnership project interworking function network element N3IWF; wherein, the first N3IWF is N3IWF corresponding to PDU session established by the first terminal;

and if the data packet is matched, the user plane network element sends the data packet to a first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

the user plane network element receives first indication information from a session management network element; the first indication information is used for indicating the user plane network element to judge whether the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF;

The user plane network element determining whether the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session matches with the IP address of the first N3IWF, including:

and the user plane network element judges whether the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the first indication information.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

the user plane network element receives second indication information from a session management network element; wherein the second indication information is used for indicating that the PDU session is used for relay service;

and the user plane network element judges whether the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the second indication information.

4. A method according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the method further comprises:

the user plane network element receives third indication information from a session management network element; the third indication information is used for indicating that when the user plane network element judges that the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session matches with the IP address of the first N3IWF, the data packet is sent to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session;

The user plane network element sends the data packet to a first N3IWF corresponding to a destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session, and the method comprises the following steps:

and the user plane network element sends the data packet to a first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session according to the third indication information.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, further comprising:

if the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session is not matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF, the user plane network element sends fourth indication information to the session management network element; the fourth indication information includes identification information of the first terminal, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate that a destination address of a data packet carried by the PDU session is not matched with an IP address of the first N3 IWF.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises:

the user plane network element receives fifth indication information from a session management network element; the fifth indication information is used for indicating that when the user plane network element judges that the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session is not matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF, fourth indication information is sent to the session management network element; the fourth indication information is used for indicating that the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session is not matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF;

The user plane network element sending the fourth indication information to the session management network element, including:

and the user plane network element sends the fourth indication information to the session management network element according to the fifth indication information.

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

the user plane network element receives an IP address of a second N3IWF provided by the first terminal from a session management network element;

the user plane network element sends sixth indication information to the session management network element; the sixth indication information includes identification information of the first terminal, where the sixth indication information is used to indicate whether the IP address of the second N3IWF matches the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

the user plane network element receives seventh indication information from the session management network element; the seventh indication information is used for indicating the user plane network element to judge whether the IP address of the second N3IWF is matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF;

the user plane network element sends sixth indication information to the session management network element, including:

And the user plane network element sends the sixth indication information to the session management network element according to the seventh indication information.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1-8, further comprising:

the user plane network element is preconfigured with an IP address of the first N3 IWF; or alternatively

The user plane network element receives the IP address of the first N3IWF from a session management network element; or alternatively

The user plane network element receives the identification information of the public land mobile network PLMN from the session management network element, and determines the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the identification information of the PLMN.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1-9, wherein the method further comprises:

the user plane network element receives identification information of a first terminal from a session management network element.

11. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 10, wherein,

the identification information of the first terminal includes at least one of: the second terminal allocates an IP address for the first terminal, the identification information of the PDU session and the identity information of the first terminal.

12. A method of communication, comprising:

The session management network element determines that a protocol data unit PDU session of the second terminal is used for relay service; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal;

the session management network element sends first indication information to a user plane network element; the first indication information is used for indicating the user plane network element to judge whether the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session is matched with the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the first non-third generation partnership project interworking function network element N3 IWF; the data packet comprises the data of the first terminal; wherein the first N3IWF is an N3IWF corresponding to the PDU session established by the first terminal.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

the session management network element receives fourth indication information from the user plane network element; the fourth indication information includes identification information of the first terminal, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate that a destination address of a data packet carried by the PDU session is not matched with an IP address of the first N3IWF.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

And the session management network element releases the context of the first terminal according to the fourth indication information.

15. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein,

the session management network element receives an IP address of a second N3IWF provided by the first terminal from a mobility management network element;

the session management network element judges whether the IP address of the second N3IWF is matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF;

and if the context of the first terminal does not match, the session management network element deletes the context of the first terminal.

16. The method according to any one of claims 12-15, further comprising:

the session management network element receives sixth indication information from the user plane network element; the sixth indication information includes identification information of the first terminal, where the sixth indication information is used to indicate whether an IP address of the second N3IWF provided by the first terminal matches with an IP address of the first N3 IWF;

and when the sixth indication information is used for indicating that the IP address of the second N3IWF is not matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF, the session management network element deletes the context of the first terminal.

17. The method according to any one of claims 12-16, further comprising:

the session management network element receives the identification information of the public land mobile network PLMN from the mobility management network element;

and the session management network element sends the identification information of the PLMN and/or the IP address of the first N3IWF corresponding to the PLMN to the user plane network element according to the identification information of the PLMN.

18. The method according to any one of claims 12-17, further comprising:

and the session management network element sends the IP address of the second N3IWF to the user plane network element.

19. A method of communication, comprising:

the second terminal sends the data of the first terminal through the PDU session of the second terminal; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal;

the second terminal receives eighth indication information from a mobility management network element; the second terminal releases the context of the first terminal according to the eighth indication information; the eighth indication information comprises identification information of the first terminal, and is used for indicating to release the context of the first terminal; or alternatively

The second terminal receives fourth indication information from a mobility management network element; the second terminal releases the context of the first terminal according to the fourth indication information; the fourth indication information includes identification information of the first terminal, and is used for indicating that a destination address of a data packet carried by a protocol data unit PDU session is not matched with an internet protocol IP address of a first non-third generation partnership project interworking function network element N3IWF, where the data packet includes data of the first terminal; wherein the first N3IWF is an N3IWF corresponding to the PDU session established by the first terminal.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises:

the second terminal receives an IP address of a second N3IWF from the first terminal;

and the second terminal sends the IP address of the second N3IWF to the mobility management network element.

21. The method according to claim 19 or 20, characterized in that the method further comprises:

the second terminal receives the identification information of the public land mobile network PLMN from the first terminal;

and the second terminal sends the identification information of the PLMN to the mobility management network element.

22. A method of communication, comprising:

the second terminal receives data from the first terminal; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal, and the data of the first terminal is forwarded through a protocol data unit PDU session of the second terminal;

the second terminal judges whether the destination address of the data of the first terminal is matched with the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the first non-third generation partnership project interworking function (N3 IWF); wherein, the first N3IWF is N3IWF corresponding to PDU session established by the first terminal;

and if the data of the first terminal is matched, the second terminal sends the data of the first terminal to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address through the PDU session of the second terminal.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the method further comprises:

and if the destination address of the data of the first terminal is not matched with the IP address of the first N3IWF, the second terminal releases the context of the first terminal.

24. The method according to claim 22 or 23, characterized in that the method further comprises:

The second terminal judges whether the IP address of the second N3IWF is matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF;

and if the context of the first terminal is not matched, the second terminal deletes the context of the first terminal.

25. The method according to any one of claims 22-24, further comprising:

the second terminal is preconfigured with an IP address of the first N3 IWF; or alternatively

The second terminal receives an IP address of the first N3IWF from a mobility management network element; or alternatively

The second terminal receives the identification information of the public land mobile network PLMN from the first terminal, and determines the IP address of the first N3IWF according to the identification information of the PLMN.

26. A communication device comprising one or more processors, a transceiver; the one or more processors, the transceiver supporting the communication device to perform the communication method of any of claims 1-11, or to perform the communication method of any of claims 12-18, or to perform the method of any of claims 19-21, or to perform the method of any of claims 22-25.

27. A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer readable storage medium stores computer instructions or a program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the communication method according to any one of claims 1-11, or to perform the communication method according to any one of claims 12-18, or to perform the method according to any one of claims 19-21, or to perform the method according to any one of claims 22-25.

28. A communication system, which is characterized in that the communication system comprises a user plane network element and a session management network element;

the user plane network element is configured to receive a data packet through a protocol data unit PDU session of the second terminal; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal, and the data packet comprises data of the first terminal; the user plane network element is further configured to determine whether a destination address of a data packet carried by the PDU session is matched with an IP address of the first non-third generation partnership project interworking function network element N3 IWF; if the data packet is matched with the PDU session, the user plane network element sends the data packet to a first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address of the data packet carried by the PDU session;

the session management network element is configured to determine that a protocol data unit PDU session of the second terminal is used for relay service, and send first indication information to the user plane network element; the first indication information is used for indicating the user plane network element to judge whether the destination address of the data packet borne by the PDU session is matched with the IP address of the first N3 IWF.

29. A communication system, the communication system comprising: a first terminal and a second terminal;

The first terminal is used for sending data to the second terminal; the second terminal is a relay node of the first terminal;

the second terminal is used for receiving data from the first terminal; the data of the first terminal is forwarded through a protocol data unit PDU session of the second terminal; the second terminal is further configured to determine whether a destination address of the data of the first terminal matches an IP address of the first non-third generation partnership project interworking function network element N3 IWF; if the two data packets are matched, the second terminal sends the data packets to the first N3IWF corresponding to the destination address through the PDU session of the second terminal; wherein the data packet includes data of the first terminal.