CN114145043A

CN114145043A - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN114145043A
Application number: CN202080007286.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 常俊仁; 韩磊; 王玲萍; 冯淑兰; 刘江华
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-07-03
Filing date: 2020-07-03
Publication date: 2022-03-04
Anticipated expiration: 2040-07-03
Also published as: WO2022000496A1; CN114145043B

Abstract

The application relates to the technical field of communication and discloses a communication method and device. The method comprises the following steps: the terminal equipment sends request information to the access network equipment, wherein the request information is used for requesting network capacity information, and the network capacity information comprises capacity information of the access network equipment and/or capacity information of core network equipment; and receiving network capability information from the access network device. By adopting the method, the terminal equipment can request the network capacity information to the access network equipment in a request-on-demand mode, so that the terminal equipment can be effectively assisted to carry out quick and efficient problem positioning, the terminal equipment is prevented from executing an unintended capacity reduction attempt, and the communication problem caused by incompatibility of the terminal equipment and the network equipment is conveniently and quickly solved.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of wireless communication technologies, and in particular, to a communication method and apparatus.

Background

With the continuous development of wireless communication technology, the addition of more new features and the repair of vulnerabilities, the versions of wireless communication technology protocols are gradually upgraded and improved, for example, from the initially released commercial protocol versions (release8, R8), R9, to the related protocol versions of the advanced long term evolution (LTE-a) communication technology, such as R10, R11, R12, and the like, to the related protocol versions of the fifth generation (5G) communication technology, such as R15, R16, R17, and the like.

Due to the diversity of the protocol versions, for the actually deployed base station and the core network device, base stations supporting different protocol versions may exist at the same time, for example, the actually deployed base station 1 and the base station 2 may support different protocol versions, or core network devices supporting different protocol versions may exist, for example, the actually deployed core network device 1 and the actually deployed core network device 2 may support different protocol versions. In such a case, a problem may arise in the communication between the terminal device and the network device due to the incompatibility of the terminal device and the network device (such as a base station or a core network device).

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a communication method and a communication device, which are convenient for rapidly solving the communication problem caused by incompatibility of terminal equipment and network equipment.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, where the method may be applied to a terminal device or a chip in the terminal device, and for example, the method is applied to the terminal device, in the method, the terminal device sends request information to an access network device, where the request information is used to request network capability information, and the network capability information includes capability information of the access network device and/or capability information of a core network device; and receiving network capability information from the access network device.

By adopting the method, the terminal equipment can request the network capacity information to the access network equipment in a request-on-demand mode, so that the terminal equipment can be effectively assisted to carry out quick and efficient problem positioning, the terminal equipment is prevented from executing an unintended capacity reduction attempt, and the communication problem caused by incompatibility of the terminal equipment and the network equipment is conveniently and quickly solved.

In one possible design, the method further includes: and sending the first capability information to the access network equipment according to the network capability information.

In one possible design, sending the request information to the access network device includes: after at least one of the following items is met, request information is sent to the access network equipment: (1) determining that a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment failure occurs; (2) determining that a registration failure occurs; (3) determining that a service transmission failure occurs; (4) receiving indication information from the access network equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating at least one of the following items: the method comprises the steps that a first message sent by the terminal equipment cannot be identified; failing to identify one or more information elements in the first message; the second capability information sent by the terminal equipment fails to be analyzed; the capacity of the terminal equipment is too large; ASN.1 cell resolution fails; ASN.1 expansion cell analysis fails; (5) determining that a network capability area to which the access network device belongs is different from a historical network capability area, the network capability area including at least one access network device, the at least one access network device having the same capability, in one possible design, the request information is a random access preamble.

In one possible design, the method further includes: configuration information is received from the access network device, the configuration information being for configuring the random access preamble and/or random access resources for transmitting the random access preamble.

In one possible design, the random access preamble is a first random access preamble and/or the random access resource used for sending the random access preamble is a first random access resource, and the request information is used for requesting the capability information of the access network device; or the random access preamble is a second random access preamble and/or the random access resource used for sending the random access preamble is a second random access resource, and the request information is used for requesting the capability information of the core network device.

By adopting the method, the terminal equipment can more specifically request the capability information of the access network equipment or the capability information of the core network equipment.

In one possible design, the method further includes: and sending indication information to the access network equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating a reason value for requesting the network capability information.

In one possible design, the indication information is carried in an RRC connection setup request message.

In one possible design, the network capability information is carried in a random access response message, an RRC connection setup message, an RRC connection recovery message, a system message, or an RRC connection reconfiguration message.

In one possible design, the capability information of the access network device includes at least one of: protocol version information supported by the access network equipment, product version information of the access network equipment and caching capacity information of the access network equipment.

In one possible design, the product version information of the access network device includes at least one of: the method comprises the following steps of manufacturing information of the access network equipment, network information of the access network equipment, area information of the access network equipment and software version information of the access network equipment.

In one possible design, the capability information of the core network device includes at least one of: protocol version information supported by the core network equipment, product version information of the core network equipment and cache capacity information of the core network equipment.

In one possible design, the product version information of the core network device includes at least one of: the information of the manufacturer of the core network device, the network information of the core network device, the area information of the core network device, and the software version information of the core network device.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, where the method may be applied to a first access network device or a chip in the first access network device, and for example, the method is applied to the first access network device, in the method, the first access network device receives request information from a terminal device, where the request information is used to request network capability information, and the network capability information includes capability information of the access network device and/or capability information of a core network device; and sending the network capability information to the terminal device.

In one possible design, the method further includes: first capability information is received from a terminal device, the first capability information being determined based on network capability information.

In one possible design, the method further includes: capability information of the core network device is received from the core network device.

In one possible design, the request information is a random access preamble.

In one possible design, the method further includes: and sending configuration information to the terminal equipment, wherein the configuration information is used for configuring the random access preamble and/or random access resources used for sending the random access preamble.

In one possible design, the method further includes: and receiving indication information from the terminal equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating a reason value for requesting the network capability information.

It should be noted that the method described in the second aspect corresponds to the method described in the first aspect, and for the beneficial effects of the relevant technical features in the method described in the second aspect, reference may be made to the description of the first aspect, which is not repeated herein.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus may be a terminal device or a chip disposed inside the terminal device. The communication device has a function of implementing the first aspect, for example, the communication device includes a module or a unit or a means (means) corresponding to the step of executing the first aspect, and the function or the unit or the means may be implemented by software, or implemented by hardware executing corresponding software.

In one possible design, the communication apparatus includes a processing unit, a communication unit, wherein the communication unit may be configured to send and receive signals to and from the communication apparatus to implement communication between the communication apparatus and other apparatuses, for example, the communication unit is configured to receive configuration information from a terminal device; the processing unit may be adapted to perform some internal operations of the communication device. The functions performed by the processing unit and the communication unit may correspond to the operations described above in relation to the first aspect.

In one possible design, the communication device includes a processor, and may further include a transceiver, and the transceiver is configured to transmit and receive signals, and the processor executes the program instructions to implement the method in any possible design or implementation manner of the first aspect. Wherein the communication device may further comprise one or more memories for coupling with the processor, the memories may hold the necessary computer programs or instructions implementing the functions referred to in the first aspect above. The processor may execute a computer program or instructions stored by the memory which, when executed, causes the communication device to carry out the method of any possible design or implementation of the first aspect described above.

In one possible design, the communication device includes a processor, which may be configured to couple with a memory. The memory may hold the necessary computer programs or instructions to implement the functions referred to in the first aspect above. The processor may execute a computer program or instructions stored by the memory which, when executed, causes the communication device to carry out the method of any possible design or implementation of the first aspect described above.

In one possible design, the communication device comprises a processor and a memory, which may hold the necessary computer programs or instructions to implement the functionality referred to in the first aspect above. The processor may execute a computer program or instructions stored by the memory which, when executed, causes the communication device to carry out the method of any possible design or implementation of the first aspect described above.

In one possible design, the communication device includes a processor and an interface circuit, where the processor is configured to communicate with other devices through the interface circuit and to perform the method of any of the possible designs or implementations of the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, which may be an access network device or a chip disposed inside the access network device. The communication device has a function of implementing the second aspect, for example, the communication device includes a module or a unit or a means (means) corresponding to the operation of the second aspect, and the module or the unit or the means may be implemented by software, hardware, or hardware to execute corresponding software.

In one possible design, the communication apparatus includes a processing unit, a communication unit, wherein the communication unit may be configured to send and receive signals to and from the communication apparatus to implement communication between the communication apparatus and other apparatuses, for example, the communication unit is configured to receive configuration information from a terminal device; the processing unit may be adapted to perform some internal operations of the communication device. The functions performed by the processing unit and the communication unit may correspond to the operations described above in relation to the second aspect.

In one possible design, the communication device includes a processor, which may be configured to couple with a memory. The memory may hold the necessary computer programs or instructions to implement the functions referred to in the second aspect above. The processor may execute a computer program or instructions stored by the memory which, when executed, causes the communication device to implement the method of any possible design or implementation of the second aspect described above.

In one possible design, the communication device comprises a processor and a memory, which may hold the necessary computer programs or instructions to implement the functionality referred to in the second aspect above. The processor may execute a computer program or instructions stored by the memory which, when executed, causes the communication device to implement the method of any possible design or implementation of the second aspect described above.

In one possible design, the communication device includes a processor and an interface circuit, where the processor is configured to communicate with other devices through the interface circuit and to perform the method of any of the possible designs or implementations of the second aspect.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication system, where the communication system may include the communication apparatus according to the third aspect, and the communication apparatus according to the fourth aspect.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon which, when read and executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of the possible designs of the first or second aspects.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer program product, which when read and executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of the possible designs of the first or second aspects.

In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a chip comprising a processor coupled with a memory for reading and executing a software program stored in the memory to implement the method in any one of the possible designs of the first or second aspect.

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

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture suitable for use in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2a is a schematic diagram of a CU-DU separation architecture according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2b is a schematic diagram of another CU-DU separation architecture provided in the embodiments of the present application;

fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to a second embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a possible exemplary block diagram of the devices involved in the embodiments of the present application;

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

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an access network device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture applicable to the embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 1, a terminal device may access a wireless network to obtain services of an extranet (e.g., a Data Network (DN)) through the wireless network, or may communicate with other devices through the wireless network, such as may communicate with other terminal devices. The wireless network includes a Radio Access Network (RAN) and a Core Network (CN), where the RAN may also be referred to as AN Access Network (AN) for accessing a terminal device to the wireless network, and the CN is configured to manage the terminal device and provide a gateway for communicating with the DN.

The terminal device, RAN, and CN in fig. 1 will be described in detail below.

Terminal equipment

Terminal equipment, also referred to as User Equipment (UE), includes equipment that provides voice and/or data connectivity to a user and may include, for example, handheld devices having wireless connection capabilities or processing devices connected to wireless modems. The terminal device may communicate with a core network via a Radio Access Network (RAN), exchanging voice and/or data with the RAN. The terminal device may include a wireless terminal device, a mobile terminal device, a device-to-device communication (D2D) terminal device, a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) terminal device, a machine-to-machine/machine-type communication (M2M/MTC) terminal device, an internet of things (IoT) terminal device, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a remote station, an Access Point (AP), a remote terminal, an access terminal, a user agent, or user equipment, etc. For example, mobile telephones (or so-called "cellular" telephones), computers with mobile terminal equipment, portable, pocket, hand-held, computer-included mobile devices, and the like may be included. For example, Personal Communication Service (PCS) phones, cordless phones, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, Wireless Local Loop (WLL) stations, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and the like. Also included are constrained devices, such as devices that consume less power, or devices that have limited storage capabilities, or devices that have limited computing capabilities, etc. Examples of information sensing devices include bar codes, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), sensors, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), laser scanners, and the like.

In this embodiment of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the function of the terminal device may be the terminal device, or may be an apparatus capable of supporting the terminal device to implement the function, such as a chip system or a combined device and a component capable of implementing the function of the terminal device, and the apparatus may be installed in the terminal device. In the embodiment of the present application, the chip system may be composed of a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, a device for implementing a function of a terminal is taken as an example of a terminal device, and the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is described.

Two, RAN

The RAN may include one or more RAN devices, and an interface between the RAN device and the terminal device may be a Uu interface (or referred to as an air interface). Of course, in future communications, the names of these interfaces may be unchanged or replaced by other names, which are not limited in this application.

The RAN device is a node or a device for accessing the terminal device to the wireless network, and may also be referred to as an access network device or a base station. Access network equipment includes, for example but not limited to: a new generation base station (gbb), an evolved Node B (eNB), a Radio Network Controller (RNC), a Node B (NB), a Base Station Controller (BSC), a Base Transceiver Station (BTS), a home base station ((home evolved Node B, HeNB) or (home Node B, HNB)), a Base Band Unit (BBU), a Transmission and Reception Point (TRP), a Transmission Point (TP), or a mobile switching center (msc) in a 5G communication system.

In this embodiment of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the function of the access network device may be an access network device, or may be an apparatus capable of supporting the access network device to implement the function, for example, a chip system or a composite device or a component capable of implementing the function of the access network device, and the apparatus may be installed in the access network device. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, taking an example that a device for implementing a function of an access network device is an access network device, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is described.

Illustratively, the communication between the RAN device and the terminal device follows a certain protocol layer structure, for example, the control plane protocol layer structure may include a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer and a physical layer; the user plane protocol layer structure may include a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, an MAC layer, and a physical layer, and in a possible implementation, the PDCP layer may further include a Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer.

In one example, a RAN device may include one or more Centralized Units (CUs) and one or more Distributed Units (DUs), which may be centrally controlled by one CU. As an example, the interface between a CU and a DU may be referred to as an F1 interface, where a Control Plane (CP) interface may be F1-C and a User Plane (UP) interface may be F1-U. CUs and DUs can be divided according to the protocol layers of the wireless network: for example, as shown in fig. 2a, the functions of the PDCP layer and the above protocol layers are set in the CU, and the functions of the PDCP layer and the below protocol layers (e.g., the RLC layer, the MAC layer, etc.) are set in the DU.

It is understood that the above-mentioned division of the processing functions of the CU and the DU according to the protocol layers is only an example, and may also be divided in other manners, for example, the functions of the protocol layers above the PDCP layer are disposed in the CU, the functions of the PDCP layer and the protocol layers below are disposed in the DU, for example, the CU or the DU may be divided into functions having more protocol layers, and for example, the CU or the DU may also be divided into partial processing functions having protocol layers. In one design, some of the functions of the RLC layer and the functions of protocol layers above the RLC layer are provided in the CUs, and the remaining functions of the RLC layer and the functions of protocol layers below the RLC layer are provided in the DUs. In another design, the functions of the CU or the DU may also be divided according to the service type or other system requirements, for example, divided by time delay, and the function that processing time needs to meet the delay requirement is set in the DU, and the function that does not need to meet the delay requirement is set in the CU. In another design, a CU may also have one or more functions of the core network. Illustratively, CUs may be located on the network side to facilitate centralized management; the DU may have multiple rf functions, or may have a remote rf function. This is not limited in the examples of the present application.

Illustratively, the functionality of a CU may be implemented by one entity, or by different entities. For example, as shown in fig. 2b, the functionality of the CU may be further split, i.e. the control plane and the user plane are separated and implemented by different entities, respectively a control plane CU entity (i.e. CU-CP entity) and a user plane CU entity (i.e. CU-UP entity), which may be coupled to the DU to jointly perform the functionality of the RAN device. The interface between the CU-CP entity and the CU-UP entity may be an E1 interface, the interface between the CU-CP entity and the DU may be an F1-C interface, and the interface between the CU-UP entity and the DU may be an F1-U interface. Wherein one DU and one CU-UP may be connected to one CU-CP. One DU may be connected to a plurality of CUs-UPs and one CU-UP may be connected to a plurality of DUs under the control of the same CU-CP.

It should be noted that: in the above-described architectures illustrated in fig. 2a and 2b, the signaling generated by the CU may be sent to the terminal device through the DU, or the signaling generated by the terminal device may be sent to the CU through the DU. The DU may directly encapsulate the signaling through a protocol layer without parsing and then transmit the encapsulated signaling to the terminal device or the CU. In the following embodiments, if transmission of such signaling between the DU and the terminal device is involved, in this case, the transmission or reception of the signaling by the DU includes such a scenario. For example, the signaling of the RRC or PDCP layer is eventually processed as data of the physical layer to be transmitted to the terminal device, or converted from received data of the physical layer. Under this architecture, the signaling of the RRC or PDCP layer can also be considered to be sent by the DU, or by the DU and the radio frequency device.

III, CN

The CN may include one or more core network devices or core network elements, and for example, in a 5G communication system, the CN may include an access and mobility management function (AMF) network element, a Session Management Function (SMF) network element, a User Plane Function (UPF) network element, a Policy Control Function (PCF) network element, a Unified Data Management (UDM) network element, an Application Function (AF) network element, and the like.

The AMF network element is a control plane network element provided by an operator network and is responsible for access control and mobility management of terminal equipment accessing the operator network, for example, including functions of mobility state management, user temporary identity assignment, user authentication and authorization, and the like.

The SMF network element is a control plane network element provided by an operator network and is responsible for managing a PDU session of the terminal device. A PDU session is a channel for transmitting PDUs, and a terminal device needs to transfer PDUs to and from the DN through the PDU session. The PDU session is established, maintained, deleted and the like by the SMF network element. The SMF network element includes session management (e.g., session establishment, modification, and release, including tunnel maintenance between the UPF and RAN), selection and control of the UPF network element, Service and Session Continuity (SSC) mode selection, roaming, and other session-related functions.

The UPF network element is a gateway provided by the operator, which is a gateway for the operator network to communicate with the DN. The UPF network element includes user plane related functions such as packet routing and transmission, packet detection, quality of service (QoS) processing, lawful interception, uplink packet detection, downlink packet storage, and the like.

The PCF network element is a control plane function provided by the operator for providing the policy of the PDU session to the SMF network element. The policies may include charging related policies, QoS related policies, authorization related policies, and the like.

The UDM network element is a control plane network element provided by an operator, and is responsible for storing information such as a user permanent identifier (SUPI) and subscription data of a subscription user in an operator network.

The AF network element is a functional network element providing various service services, and can interact with a core network through other network elements and interact with a policy management framework to perform policy management.

In addition, although not shown, other possible network elements, such as a network open function (NEF) network element and a network element Unified Data Repository (UDR) network element, may also be included in the CN.

In this embodiment of the present application, the apparatus for implementing the function of the core network device may be the core network device, or may be an apparatus capable of supporting the core network device to implement the function, for example, a chip system or a component or part that can implement the function of the core network device, and the apparatus may be installed in the core network device. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, taking a device for implementing a function of a core network device as an example, the core network device is described.

It should be noted that the access network device and the core network device in the embodiment of the present application may be collectively referred to as a network device, that is, the network device may include an access network device and/or a core network device.

In fig. 1, Npcf, Nudm, Naf, Namf, Nsmf, N1, N2, N3, N4, and N6 are interface serial numbers. The meaning of these interface sequence numbers can be referred to as that defined in the relevant standard protocol, and is not limited herein.

It is understood that fig. 1 illustrates a 5G communication system as an example, and the solution in the embodiment of the present application may also be applied to other possible communication systems, such as a future 6th generation (6G) communication system. The network element or the function may be a network element in a hardware device, a software function running on dedicated hardware, or a virtualization function instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform). Optionally, the network element or the function may be implemented by one device, or may be implemented by multiple devices together, or may be a functional module in one device, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

In the network architecture illustrated in fig. 1, in the communication process between the terminal device and the network device, the network device is generally used as a center, that is, the network device controls the configuration of most or all parameters. Generally, after a problem occurs in communication between a terminal device and a network device, a manufacturer of the terminal device usually relies on traversing various possible problems for problem location and solution, which results in long time consumption and low efficiency.

In the process of the actual problem, the manufacturer of the terminal apparatus finds that there is a considerable portion of the problem due to incompatibility of the terminal apparatus with the network apparatus. There may be multiple situations where the terminal device is incompatible with the network device, for example, one possible situation is that the protocol version supported by the terminal device is different from the protocol supported by the access network device, and/or the protocol version supported by the terminal device is different from the protocol supported by the core network device. For example, the terminal device normally accesses the LTE access network device, but after the LTE access network device sends an auxiliary base station addition request message to the 5G access network device, the 5G access network device returns a rejection message, where a cause value carried in the rejection message is that an air interface resource is unavailable; through analysis, it is found that the protocol version supported by the terminal device is higher than the protocol version supported by the 5G access network device, which results in failure in analyzing the capability information of the terminal device by the 5G access network device, and thus results in failure in accessing the terminal device.

Another possible situation is that the capability information reported by the terminal device does not match the caching capability information of the access network device, and/or the capability information reported by the terminal device does not match the caching capability information of the core network device. For example, after the terminal device reports the measurement report to the access network device, the access network device does not issue a handover command message, resulting in a handover failure; through analysis, it is found that the empty port capability information reported by the terminal device to the access network device has 348 bytes (bytes), and the container (container) of the access network device can store the maximum 300 bytes of capability information, so that the access network device fails to analyze the capability information of the terminal device, and cannot issue a switching command.

However, when a problem such as access failure occurs in the communication process between the terminal device and the access network device or when a problem such as registration failure occurs in the communication process between the terminal device and the core network device, even if the access failure or the registration failure is caused by incompatibility of the terminal device and the access network device or the core network device, it is usually unpredictable whether the access failure or the registration failure is caused by the incompatibility, so that a lot of time is required to reproduce, position, test, or the like the problem. For example, the terminal device attempts to reduce the capability to determine the location and range of the problem, but the terminal device does not have any reference information when autonomously reducing the capability, and usually only can perform empirical attempts, so that the problem that the terminal device is incompatible with the network device is very inefficient to solve.

Based on this, the embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which is convenient for quickly solving the communication problem caused by incompatibility between the terminal device and the network device. Illustratively, the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application may include: the terminal device sends request information to the access network device, and the request information is used for requesting network capacity information, so that the network capacity information from the access network device can be received. Therefore, the terminal equipment can acquire the network capacity information, so that the capacity can be reduced in a targeted manner by referring to the network capacity information, and the communication problem caused by incompatibility of the terminal equipment and the network equipment is conveniently and quickly solved.

The following describes the communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application in detail.

Example one

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

step 301, the terminal device determines that network capability information needs to be acquired.

Here, there may be various cases where the terminal device determines that network capability information needs to be acquired, such as the following cases 1 to 5.

In case 1, the terminal device determines that an RRC connection setup failure occurs. For example, after the terminal device sends the RRC connection establishment request message to the access network device, if the RRC connection establishment rejection message sent by the second access network device is received, it may be understood that the RRC connection establishment fails.

In case 2, the terminal device determines that a registration failure occurs. For example, after the terminal device sends the registration request message to the core network device through the access network device, if the registration reject message sent by the core network device is received, the registration failure may be understood.

In case 3, the terminal device determines that the service transmission fails, such as the terminal device failing to successfully transmit the service data to the access network device or failing to successfully receive the service data from the access network device.

Case 4, the terminal device receives indication information from the access network device, where the indication information indicates at least one of the following: (1) the first message sent by the terminal device cannot be identified, that is, the terminal device sends the first message to the access network device, but the access network device cannot identify the first message. Wherein the first message may include at least one of: an RRC connection establishment request message, an RRC connection establishment recovery request message, and an RRC connection reestablishment request message. (2) One or more information elements in the first message cannot be identified. (3) The second capability information sent by the terminal device fails to be analyzed, that is, the terminal device sends the second capability information to the access network device, but the access network device fails to analyze the second capability information; or, the terminal device sends the second capability information to the core network device, but the core network device fails to analyze the second capability information, and then the core network device may send the indication information to the terminal device through the access network device. (4) The capacity of the terminal equipment is too large; (5) abstract syntax notation 1 (asn.1) cell (IE) or field parsing failure; (6) ASN.1 expansion cell or field analysis fails; (7) ASN.1 Key (critical) extended cells or fields fail to resolve; (8) asn.1 non-critical (critical) extension cells or fields fail to resolve. In one example, the indication information may be carried in an RRC connection setup reject message or a registration reject message.

In case 5, the terminal device determines that a Network Capability Area (NCA) to which the access network device belongs is different from the historical network capability information, or the terminal device determines that the network capability area changes. The network capability area comprises at least one access network device, at least one access network device has the same capability, and one access network device can belong to one network capability area. In one example, the network capability region may include one or more Tracking Areas (TAs), or may also include one or more RAN regions, which are regions for terminal devices in an inactive (inactive) state.

For example, the access network device may broadcast the network capability area information to which the access network device belongs through a system message, and then the terminal device may receive the network capability area information to which the access network device belongs. The network capability area information may include an identifier of the network capability area (NCA ID), and the identifier of the network capability area may refer to information for identifying the network capability area, such as a number of the network capability area or other possible information, which is not limited in particular. In the embodiment of the present application, all information that can distinguish different network capability areas can be understood as the identifier of the network capability area.

There may be various situations in which the terminal device determines that the network capability area changes. For example, after the terminal device accesses the access network device 1, if the network capability area information to which the access network device 1 belongs changes, the access network device 1 may send an updated system message, where the updated system message includes the changed network capability area information, and then the terminal device may determine that the network capability area changes after receiving the updated system message. For another example, after the terminal device accesses the access network device 1, the terminal device may exit the access network device 1 and move from the coverage of the access network device 1 to the coverage of the access network device 2; furthermore, the terminal device may receive the network capability area information to which the access network device 2 belongs, which is sent by the access network device 2 through the system message, and if the network capability area information to which the access network device 2 belongs is different from the network capability area information to which the access network device 1 belongs, it may be determined that the network capability area changes.

In this embodiment of the present application, the network capability area information to which the access network device belongs may be sent to the access network device by the core network device, that is, the core network device may manage the network capability area information to which a plurality of access network devices belong, and send the network capability area information to which each access network device belongs to the corresponding access network device. Or, the network capability area information to which the access network device belongs may be negotiation determination between the access network device and other access network devices. Or, the network capability area information to which the access network device belongs may be configured in the access network device in a pre-configured manner. The embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

Step 302, the terminal device sends request information to the access network device, where the request information is used to request network capability information, and the network capability information includes capability information of the access network device and/or capability information of the core network device.

Firstly, explaining the capability information of the access network equipment.

The capability information of the access network device includes at least one of: protocol version information supported by the access network equipment, product version information of the access network equipment and caching capacity information of the access network equipment.

The protocol version information supported by the access network device may include an identifier of a protocol version supported by the access network device. The protocol version may also be referred to as a standard version, such as a release of the third generation partnership project (3 GPP) standard, e.g., R15, R16, etc., or may be a version of the 3GPP standard, e.g., v15.1.0, v16.2.0, etc.

The product version information of the access network device refers to a code or model number or serial number used for indicating the access network device, or may also refer to a code or model number or serial number of the access network device allocated based on a certain standard criterion. For example, the product version information of the access network device may be composed of manufacturer information of the access network device itself and information of a network to which the access network device belongs, for example, the product version information of the access network device may include at least one of the following: the method comprises the following steps of manufacturing information of the access network equipment, network information of the access network equipment, area information of the access network equipment and software version information of the access network equipment.

The cache capacity information of the access network device may be used to indicate the size of the cache space for the access network device to store the capacity information of the terminal device.

And secondly, explaining the capability information of the core network equipment.

The capability information of the core network device includes at least one of: protocol version information supported by the core network equipment, product version information of the core network equipment and cache capacity information of the core network equipment. The related introduction may refer to the access network device side, for example, the protocol version information supported by the core network device may include an identifier of a protocol version supported by the core network device. The product version information of the core network device may include at least one of: the information of the manufacturer of the core network device, the network information of the core network device, the area information of the core network device, and the software version information of the core network device. The cache capability information of the core network device may be used to indicate the size of the cache space for the core network device to store the capability information of the terminal device.

It should be noted that the core network device may include an AMF network element, and may also include other possible network elements, such as an SMF network element, a UPF network element, and the like, which is not limited specifically.

And thirdly, explaining the request information.

The request information may be a random access preamble. In this case, the terminal device receives configuration information from the access network device, where the configuration information is used to configure a random access preamble and/or a random access resource for requesting network capability information, and the random access resource may be a resource for carrying or transmitting the random access preamble.

In one example, the access network device may configure a random access preamble and/or random access resources for requesting capability information of the access network device, and a random access preamble and/or random access resources for requesting capability information of the core network device, respectively. For example, when the random access preamble is the first random access preamble and/or the random access resource is the first random access resource, the method is used to request the capability information of the access network device. And when the random access preamble is the second random access preamble and/or the random access resource is the second random access resource, the method is used for requesting the capability information of the core network equipment.

In this way, if the terminal device determines that the network capability information that needs to be acquired is the capability information of the access network device (such as scenario 1, scenario 3, scenario 4, or scenario 5), the terminal device may initiate random access using the first random access preamble and/or the first random access resource. If the terminal device determines that the network capability information that needs to be acquired is the capability information of the core network device (for example, in case 2 or case 3), the terminal device may initiate random access using the second random access preamble and/or the second random access resource.

In addition, the terminal device may further send indication information to the access network device, where the indication information is used to indicate a cause value for requesting the network capability information, and the cause value may be at least one of: RRC connection establishment failure, registration failure, or service transmission failure, etc. The indication information is carried in the RRC connection setup request message.

It should be noted that, as a possible alternative, the terminal device may also request the network capability information from the access network device in an implicit manner, for example, the terminal device may send indication information to the access network device, and the access network device determines that the terminal device needs to acquire the network capability information according to the indication information. In this case, the access network device may no longer configure the terminal device with the random access preamble and/or the random access resources for requesting network capability information.

Step 303, the access network device sends the network capability information to the terminal device according to the request information.

Here, the access network device may send the network capability information in various manners, for example, the network capability information may be carried in a random access response message, an RRC connection setup message, an RRC connection recovery message, a system message, or an RRC connection reconfiguration message.

And step 304, the terminal device communicates with the access network device and/or the core network device according to the network capability information.

For example, the terminal device may perform capability fallback (i.e., reduce the capability) according to the network capability information, and then use the fallback capability information to communicate with the access network device and/or the core network device.

By adopting the method, when the terminal equipment has access failure or registration failure and the like, the network capacity information can be requested to the access network equipment in a request-on-demand mode, so that the terminal equipment can be effectively assisted to carry out quick and efficient problem positioning, the terminal equipment is prevented from executing an unintended capacity reduction attempt, and the communication problem caused by incompatibility of the terminal equipment and the network equipment is conveniently and quickly solved.

Based on the first embodiment, a possible flow is described below with reference to the second embodiment.

Example two

Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method according to a second embodiment of the present application, where as shown in fig. 4, the method may include:

in step 400, identifiers of protocol versions supported by the access network device and the core network device may be interacted.

For example, the core network device may send an identifier of a protocol version supported by the core network device to the access network device.

Step 401, the access network device sends a system message, and then the terminal device may receive the system message sent by the access network device.

Here, the system message may include configuration information for acquiring the network capability information as needed, where the configuration information may be used to configure a random access preamble and/or a random access resource, and the random access resource may refer to a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) resource. Further, different random access preamble codes and/or random access resources can be configured according to the capability information of the access network device and the capability information of the core network device which are acquired as required.

In step 402, the terminal device determines that network capability information needs to be acquired.

For example, the terminal device initiates access to the access network device based on the traffic demand to establish an RRC connection with the access network device. However, the terminal device determines that an RRC connection setup failure or a registration failure occurs, and may further determine that network capability information needs to be acquired.

For another example, even if the terminal device accesses the access network device and successfully registers, an abnormal situation of link interruption or connection interruption occurs very quickly during the service transmission process, and in such a situation, the terminal device may determine that network capability information needs to be acquired.

Step 403, the terminal device selects a corresponding random access preamble and/or random access resource based on the configuration information of the network capability information provided in the system message, and sends the random access preamble to the access network device.

Illustratively, if the random access preamble and/or the random access resource for requesting the capability information of the access network device and the random access preamble and/or the random access resource for requesting the capability information of the core network device are distinguished in step 401, the terminal device may determine whether the capability information of the access network device or the capability information of the core network device needs to be requested according to a potential cause of occurrence of a communication abnormality, and select a corresponding random access preamble and/or random access resource.

Step 404, the access network device sends a random access response message to the terminal device, and the random access response message carries the network capability information.

Alternatively, as a possible alternative, the access network device may also send the network capability information through a system message, in which case the access network device may no longer send the random access response message to the terminal device.

Or, as a possible alternative, the access network device may also send a random access response message to the terminal device, but the random access response message does not carry the network capability information. In this case, step 405 may continue.

In step 405, the terminal device sends a random access message 3 to the access network device.

Illustratively, the random access message 3 may carry indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate a cause value of a communication abnormality, such as a connection establishment failure, a registration failure, or an abnormal interruption of communication.

Step 406, the access network device sends a random access message 4 to the terminal device, where the random access message 4 may carry network capability information.

Alternatively, as a possible alternative, the access network device may send the network capability information to the terminal device after the random access message 4 through dedicated signaling or a broadcast message.

Step 407, the terminal device determines the capability information of the terminal device according to the network capability information provided by the access network, and re-initiates access.

For example, the protocol version corresponding to the capability information determined by the terminal device may not be higher than the protocol version corresponding to the access network device and/or the protocol version corresponding to the core network device, so that a communication problem caused by incompatibility between the terminal device and the network device may be avoided.

For the above first and second embodiments, it should be noted that:

(1) the step numbers of the flowcharts described in the first embodiment and the second embodiment are only an example of an execution flow, and do not limit the execution sequence of the steps, and there is no strict execution sequence between the steps that have no time sequence dependency relationship between them in this embodiment. In addition, not all the steps illustrated in each flowchart are necessarily required to be performed, and some steps may be added to or deleted from each flowchart according to actual needs. In addition, the first embodiment and the second embodiment can be referred to each other.

(2) In the first embodiment and the second embodiment, some messages in the 5G communication system are used, but in a specific implementation, different messages or message names may be used, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

The above-mentioned scheme provided by the embodiments of the present application is introduced mainly from the perspective of device interaction. It is understood that, in order to implement the above functions, the access network device or the terminal device may include a corresponding hardware structure and/or software module for performing each function. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed 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.

In the embodiment of the present application, the functional units may be divided for the access network device or the terminal device according to the above method example, for example, each functional unit may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

In case of integrated units, fig. 5 shows a possible exemplary block diagram of the apparatus involved in the embodiments of the present application. As shown in fig. 5, the apparatus 500 may include: a processing unit 502 and a communication unit 503. The processing unit 502 is used for controlling and managing the operation of the apparatus 500. The communication unit 503 is used to support the communication between the apparatus 500 and other devices. Optionally, the communication unit 503, also referred to as a transceiving unit, may comprise a receiving unit and/or a transmitting unit for performing receiving and transmitting operations, respectively. The apparatus 500 may further comprise a storage unit 501 for storing program codes and/or data of the apparatus 500.

The apparatus 500 may be the terminal device in the above embodiment, or may also be a chip disposed in the terminal device. Processing unit 502 may enable apparatus 500 to perform the actions of the terminal device in the above method examples. Alternatively, the processing unit 502 mainly performs internal actions of the terminal device in the method example, and the communication unit 503 may support communication between the apparatus 500 and other devices.

Specifically, in one embodiment, the communication unit 503 is configured to: sending request information to the access network equipment, wherein the request information is used for requesting network capacity information, and the network capacity information comprises capacity information of the access network equipment and/or capacity information of core network equipment; and receiving network capability information from the access network device.

In one possible design, the communication unit 503 is further configured to: and sending the first capability information to the access network equipment according to the network capability information.

In one possible design, the communication unit 503 is further configured to: after at least one of the following items is met, request information is sent to the access network equipment: (1) determining that a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment failure occurs; (2) determining that a registration failure occurs; (3) determining that a service transmission failure occurs; (4) receiving indication information from the access network equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating at least one of the following items: the method comprises the steps that a first message sent by the terminal equipment cannot be identified; failing to identify one or more information elements in the first message; the second capability information sent by the terminal equipment fails to be analyzed; the capacity of the terminal equipment is too large; the abstract syntax marks ASN.1 cell analysis failure; ASN.1 expansion cell analysis fails; (5) determining that a network capability area to which the access network device belongs is different from a historical network capability area, the network capability area including at least one access network device, the at least one access network device having the same capability.

In one possible design, the request information is a random access preamble.

In one possible design, the communication unit 503 is further configured to: configuration information is received from the access network device, the configuration information being for configuring the random access preamble and/or random access resources for transmitting the random access preamble.

In one possible design, the communication unit 503 is further configured to: and sending indication information to the access network equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating a reason value for requesting the network capability information.

The apparatus 500 may be the access network device in the above embodiment, or may also be a chip disposed in the access network device. The processing unit 502 may enable the apparatus 500 to perform the actions of the access network device in the above method examples. Alternatively, the processing unit 502 mainly performs internal actions of the access network device in the method example, and the communication unit 503 may support communication between the apparatus 500 and other devices.

Specifically, in one embodiment, the communication unit 503 is configured to: receiving request information from terminal equipment, wherein the request information is used for requesting network capacity information, and the network capacity information comprises capacity information of access network equipment and/or capacity information of core network equipment; and sending the network capability information to the terminal device.

In one possible design, the communication unit 503 is further configured to: first capability information is received from a terminal device, the first capability information being determined based on network capability information.

In one possible design, the communication unit 503 is further configured to: capability information of the core network device is received from the core network device.

In one possible design, the request information is a random access preamble.

In one possible design, the communication unit 503 is further configured to: and sending configuration information to the terminal equipment, wherein the configuration information is used for configuring the random access preamble and/or random access resources used for sending the random access preamble.

In one possible design, the communication unit 503 is further configured to: and receiving indication information from the terminal equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating a reason value for requesting the network capability information.

It should be understood that the division of the units in the above apparatus is only a division of logical functions, and the actual implementation may be wholly or partially integrated into one physical entity or may be physically separated. And the units in the device can be realized in the form of software called by the processing element; or may be implemented entirely in hardware; part of the units can also be realized in the form of software called by a processing element, and part of the units can be realized in the form of hardware. For example, each unit may be a processing element separately set up, or may be implemented by being integrated into a chip of the apparatus, or may be stored in a memory in the form of a program, and a function of the unit may be called and executed by a processing element of the apparatus. In addition, all or part of the units can be integrated together or can be independently realized. The processing element described herein may in turn be a processor, which may be an integrated circuit having signal processing capabilities. In implementation, each operation of the above method or each unit above may be implemented by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in a processor element or implemented in a form called by software through the processor element.

In one example, the units in any of the above apparatuses may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, such as: one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), or one or more microprocessors (DSPs), or one or more Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. For another example, when a unit in a device may be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler, the processing element may be a processor, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), or other processor capable of invoking a program. As another example, these units may be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

The above unit for receiving is an interface circuit of the apparatus for receiving signals from other apparatuses. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the receiving unit is an interface circuit for the chip to receive signals from other chips or devices. The above unit for transmitting is an interface circuit of the apparatus for transmitting a signal to other apparatuses. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the transmitting unit is an interface circuit for the chip to transmit signals to other chips or devices.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application, which may be the terminal device in the foregoing embodiment, and is used to implement the operation of the terminal device in the foregoing embodiment. As shown in fig. 6, the terminal device includes: an antenna 610, a radio frequency part 620, a signal processing part 630. The antenna 610 is connected to the radio frequency part 620. In the downlink direction, the rf section 620 receives information transmitted by the network device through the antenna 610, and transmits the information transmitted by the network device to the signal processing section 630 for processing. In the uplink direction, the signal processing part 630 processes the information of the terminal device and sends the information to the radio frequency part 620, and the radio frequency part 620 processes the information of the terminal device and sends the information to the network device through the antenna 610.

The signal processing section 630 may include a modem subsystem for implementing processing of each communication protocol layer of data; the system also comprises a central processing subsystem used for realizing the processing of the operating system and the application layer of the terminal equipment; in addition, other subsystems, such as a multimedia subsystem for controlling a camera, a screen display, etc. of the terminal device, a peripheral subsystem for connecting with other devices, etc. may be included. The modem subsystem may be a separately provided chip.

The modem subsystem may include one or more processing elements 631, including, for example, a main control CPU and other integrated circuits. The modem subsystem may also include storage element 632 and interface circuit 633. The storage element 632 is used to store data and programs, but the programs for executing the methods executed by the terminal device in the above methods may not be stored in the storage element 632, but stored in a memory outside the modem subsystem, and the modem subsystem is loaded for use when used. The interface circuit 633 is used to communicate with other subsystems.

The modem subsystem may be implemented by a chip comprising at least one processing element for performing the steps of any of the methods performed by the terminal equipment above, and interface circuitry for communicating with other devices. In one implementation, the unit for the terminal device to implement each step in the above method may be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler, for example, an apparatus for the terminal device includes a processing element and a storage element, and the processing element calls a program stored in the storage element to execute the method executed by the terminal device in the above method embodiment. The memory elements may be memory elements with the processing elements on the same chip, i.e. on-chip memory elements.

In another implementation, the program for performing the method performed by the terminal device in the above method may be a memory element on a different chip than the processing element, i.e. an off-chip memory element. At this time, the processing element calls or loads a program from the off-chip storage element onto the on-chip storage element to call and execute the method executed by the terminal device in the above method embodiment.

In yet another implementation, the unit of the terminal device for implementing the steps of the above method may be configured as one or more processing elements disposed on the modem subsystem, where the processing elements may be integrated circuits, for example: one or more ASICs, or one or more DSPs, or one or more FPGAs, or a combination of these types of integrated circuits. These integrated circuits may be integrated together to form a chip.

The units of the terminal device for realizing the steps of the method can be integrated together and realized in the form of SOC, and the SOC chip is used for realizing the method. At least one processing element and a storage element can be integrated in the chip, and the processing element calls the stored program of the storage element to realize the method executed by the terminal equipment; or, at least one integrated circuit may be integrated in the chip, for implementing the method executed by the above terminal device; alternatively, the above implementation modes may be combined, the functions of the partial units are implemented in the form of a processing element calling program, and the functions of the partial units are implemented in the form of an integrated circuit.

It is seen that the above apparatus for a terminal device may comprise at least one processing element and interface circuitry, wherein the at least one processing element is configured to perform the method performed by any one of the terminal devices provided by the above method embodiments. The processing element may: namely, the method calls the program stored in the storage element to execute part or all of the steps executed by the terminal equipment; it is also possible to: that is, some or all of the steps performed by the terminal device are performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in the processor element in combination with the instructions; of course, some or all of the steps performed by the terminal device may be performed in combination with the first manner and the second manner.

The processing elements herein, like those described above, may be implemented by a processor, and the functions of the processing elements may be the same as those of the processing unit described in fig. 5. Illustratively, the processing element may be a general-purpose processor, such as a CPU, and may also be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, such as: one or more ASICs, or one or more microprocessors DSP, or one or more FPGAs, etc., or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. The memory element may be implemented by a memory, and the function of the memory element may be the same as that of the memory cell described in fig. 5. The memory element may be implemented by a memory, and the function of the memory element may be the same as that of the memory cell described in fig. 5. The storage element may be a single memory or a combination of memories.

The terminal device shown in fig. 6 can implement the processes related to the terminal device in the above method embodiments. The operations and/or functions of the modules in the terminal device shown in fig. 6 are respectively for implementing the corresponding flows in the above method embodiments. Specifically, reference may be made to the description of the above method embodiments, and the detailed description is appropriately omitted herein to avoid redundancy.

Referring to fig. 7, a schematic structural diagram of an access network device provided in this embodiment of the present application is shown, where the access network device (or a base station) may be applied to the system architecture shown in fig. 1, and performs the functions of the access network device in the foregoing method embodiments. The access network equipment 70 may include one or more DUs 701 and one or more CUs 702. The DU701 may include at least one antenna 7011, at least one radio unit 7012, at least one processor 7013 and at least one memory 7014. The DU701 section is mainly used for transceiving radio frequency signals, converting radio frequency signals and baseband signals, and partially processing baseband. The CU702 can include at least one processor 7022 and at least one memory 7021.

The CU702 is mainly used for baseband processing, controlling access network devices, and the like. The DU701 and the CU702 may be physically located together or may be physically located separately, that is, distributed base stations. The CU702 is a control center of the access network device, and may also be referred to as a processing unit, and is mainly used to complete a baseband processing function. For example, the CU702 may be configured to control the access network device to perform the operation procedures of the above method embodiments with respect to the access network device.

Further, optionally, the access network device 70 may include one or more radio units, one or more DUs, and one or more CUs. Wherein the DU may include at least one processor 7013 and at least one memory 7014, the radio units may include at least one antenna 7011 and at least one radio unit 7012, and the CU may include at least one processor 7022 and at least one memory 7021.

In an example, the CU702 may be formed by one or more boards, and the multiple boards may jointly support a radio access network with a single access indication (e.g., a 5G network), or may respectively support radio access networks with different access schemes (e.g., an LTE network, a 5G network, or other networks). The memory 7021 and the processor 7022 may serve one or more boards. That is, the memory and processor may be provided separately on each board. Multiple boards may share the same memory and processor. In addition, each single board can be provided with necessary circuits. The DU701 may be composed of one or more boards, where the boards may jointly support a radio access network with a single access instruction (e.g., a 5G network), and may also respectively support radio access networks with different access schemes (e.g., an LTE network, a 5G network, or other networks). The memory 7014 and the processor 7013 may serve one or more boards. That is, the memory and processor may be provided separately on each board. Multiple boards may share the same memory and processor. In addition, each single board can be provided with necessary circuits.

The access network device shown in fig. 7 can implement the processes related to the access network device in the above method embodiments. The operations and/or functions of the modules in the access network device shown in fig. 7 are respectively for implementing the corresponding flows in the above-described method embodiments. Specifically, reference may be made to the description of the above method embodiments, and the detailed description is appropriately omitted herein to avoid redundancy.

The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application may be used interchangeably. "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a alone, A and B together, and B alone, wherein A and B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, "at least one of A, B, and C" includes A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, or ABC. And, unless specifically stated otherwise, the embodiments of the present application refer to the ordinal numbers "first", "second", etc., for distinguishing between a plurality of objects, and do not limit the order, sequence, priority, or importance of the plurality of objects.

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

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

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

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

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made in the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is intended to include such modifications and variations as well.

Claims

A communication method, wherein the method is applied to a terminal device or a chip in the terminal device, and the method comprises:

sending request information to access network equipment, wherein the request information is used for requesting network capacity information, and the network capacity information comprises capacity information of the access network equipment and/or capacity information of core network equipment;

receiving the network capability information from the access network device.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

and sending first capability information to the access network equipment according to the network capability information.
The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein sending the request information to the access network device comprises:

after at least one of the following conditions is met, the request information is sent to the access network equipment:

determining that a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment failure occurs;

determining that a registration failure occurs;

determining that a service transmission failure occurs;

receiving indication information from the access network equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating at least one of the following items: the first message sent by the terminal equipment cannot be identified; failing to identify one or more information elements in the first message; the second capability information sent by the terminal equipment fails to be analyzed; the capacity of the terminal equipment is too large; the abstract syntax marks ASN.1 cell analysis failure; ASN.1 expansion cell analysis fails;

determining that a network capability area to which the access network device belongs is different from a historical network capability area, the network capability area including at least one access network device, the at least one access network device having the same capability.
The method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the request information is a random access preamble.
The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving configuration information from the access network device, the configuration information being used to configure the random access preamble and/or a random access resource used to transmit the random access preamble.
The method according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the random access preamble is a first random access preamble and/or the random access resource used for transmitting the random access preamble is a first random access resource, and the request information is used for requesting capability information of the access network device; or,

the random access preamble is a second random access preamble and/or a random access resource used for sending the random access preamble is a second random access resource, and the request information is used for requesting the capability information of the core network device.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising:

and sending indication information to the access network equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating a reason value for requesting the network capability information.
The method of claim 7, wherein the indication information is carried in an RRC connection setup request message.
The method according to any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the network capability information is carried in a random access response message, an RRC connection setup message, an RRC connection recovery message, a system message or an RRC connection reconfiguration message.
The method according to any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the capability information of the access network device comprises at least one of:

protocol version information supported by the access network equipment, product version information of the access network equipment and caching capacity information of the access network equipment.
The method of claim 10, wherein the product version information of the access network device comprises at least one of: the information of the manufacturer of the access network equipment, the information of the network to which the access network equipment belongs, the information of the area to which the access network equipment belongs, and the information of the software version of the access network equipment.
The method according to any of claims 1 to 11, wherein the capability information of the core network device comprises at least one of:

protocol version information supported by the core network equipment, product version information of the core network equipment, and cache capacity information of the core network equipment.
The method of claim 12, wherein the product version information of the core network device comprises at least one of: the information of the manufacturer of the core network device, the information of the network to which the core network device belongs, the information of the area to which the core network device belongs, and the information of the software version of the core network device.
A communication method, wherein the method is applied to an access network device or a chip in the access network device, and the method comprises:

receiving request information from terminal equipment, wherein the request information is used for requesting network capacity information, and the network capacity information comprises capacity information of the access network equipment and/or capacity information of core network equipment;

and sending the network capability information to the terminal equipment.
The method of claim 14, further comprising:

first capability information is received from the terminal device, the first capability information being determined based on the network capability information.
The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that the method further comprises:

and receiving the capability information of the core network equipment from the core network equipment.
The method according to any of claims 14 to 16, wherein the request information is a random access preamble.
The method of claim 17, further comprising:

and sending configuration information to the terminal equipment, wherein the configuration information is used for configuring the random access preamble and/or random access resources used for sending the random access preamble.
The method according to claim 17 or 18, wherein the random access preamble is a first random access preamble and/or the random access resource used for transmitting the random access preamble is a first random access resource, and the request information is used for requesting capability information of the access network device; or,

the random access preamble is a second random access preamble and/or a random access resource used for sending the random access preamble is a second random access resource, and the request information is used for requesting the capability information of the core network device.
The method according to any one of claims 14 to 19, further comprising:

and receiving indication information from the terminal equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating a reason value for requesting the network capability information.
The method of claim 20, wherein the indication information is carried in an RRC connection setup request message.
The method according to any of claims 14 to 21, wherein the network capability information is carried in a random access response message, an RRC connection setup message, an RRC connection recovery message, a system message or an RRC connection reconfiguration message.
The method according to any of claims 14 to 22, wherein the capability information of the access network device comprises at least one of:

protocol version information supported by the access network equipment, product version information of the access network equipment and caching capacity information of the access network equipment.
The method of claim 23, wherein the product version information of the access network device comprises at least one of: the information of the manufacturer of the access network equipment, the information of the network to which the access network equipment belongs, the information of the area to which the access network equipment belongs, and the information of the software version of the access network equipment.
The method according to any of claims 14 to 24, wherein the capability information of the core network device comprises at least one of:

protocol version information supported by the core network equipment, product version information of the core network equipment, and cache capacity information of the core network equipment.
The method of claim 25, wherein the product version information of the core network device comprises at least one of: the information of the manufacturer of the core network device, the information of the network to which the core network device belongs, the information of the area to which the core network device belongs, and the information of the software version of the core network device.
A communications device comprising means for performing the method of any of claims 1 to 13.
A communications apparatus, comprising means for performing the method of any of claims 14-26.
A communications apparatus comprising a processor coupled to a memory, the memory having a computer program stored therein; the processor is configured to invoke a computer program in the memory to cause the communication device to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 13.
A communications apparatus comprising a processor coupled to a memory, the memory having a computer program stored therein; the processor is configured to invoke a computer program in the memory to cause the communication device to perform the method of any of claims 14 to 26.
A communication system comprising a communication device according to claim 27 or 29 and a communication device according to claim 28 or 30.
A computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program or instructions is stored which, when executed by a communication apparatus, implements the method of any one of claims 1 to 13 or the method of any one of claims 14 to 26.