CN114145043B

CN114145043B - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN114145043B
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: 2023-08-22
Anticipated expiration: 2040-07-03
Also published as: CN114145043A; WO2022000496A1

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 capability information, and the network capability information comprises capability information of the access network equipment and/or capability 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 capability information from the access network equipment in a request-on-demand mode, so that the terminal equipment can be effectively assisted to perform quick and efficient problem positioning, the terminal equipment is prevented from performing purposeless capability-reducing attempts, 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 communications technologies, and in particular, to a communication method and apparatus.

Background

With the continuous development of wireless communication technologies, the addition of more new features and the repair of vulnerabilities, versions of wireless communication technology protocols are gradually upgraded, such as from the originally released commercial protocol versions (release 8, R8) and R9, to the related protocol versions R10, R11 and R12 of the long term evolution-advanced (advanced long term evolution, LTE-a) communication technologies, and to the related protocol versions R15, R16 and R17 of the fifth generation (the fifith generation, 5G) communication technologies.

Due to the diversity of protocol versions, for the actually deployed base station and the core network device, there may be base stations supporting different protocol versions at the same time, for example, the actually deployed base station 1 and the base station 2 may support different protocol versions, or there may be core network devices supporting different protocol versions, for example, the actually deployed core network device 1 and the core network device 2 may support different protocol versions. In this case, communication between the terminal device and the network device may be problematic due to incompatibility of the terminal device and the network device (e.g., base station or core network device).

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a communication method and a communication device, which are convenient to quickly solve 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, which may be applied to a terminal device or a chip in a terminal device, where the method is applicable to a terminal device, for example, 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 capability information from the access network equipment in a request-on-demand mode, so that the terminal equipment can be effectively assisted to perform quick and efficient problem positioning, the terminal equipment is prevented from performing purposeless capability-reducing attempts, 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 comprises: 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 is met, request information is sent to access network equipment: (1) Determining that a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment failure occurs; (2) determining that a registration failure has occurred; (3) determining that a traffic transmission failure occurs; (4) Receiving indication information from access network equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating at least one of the following: the first message sent by the terminal equipment cannot be identified; one or more cells in the first message cannot be identified; the second capability information sent by the terminal equipment fails to be analyzed; the capability of the terminal equipment is too large; ASN.1 cell analysis fails; ASN.1 expanded 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, wherein the network capability area comprises at least one access network device, and the at least one access network device has the same capability, and in one possible design, the request information is a random access preamble.

In one possible design, the method further comprises: configuration information is received from the access network device, the configuration information being used for configuring the random access preamble and/or for transmitting random access resources of 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 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 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 request the capability information of the access network equipment or the capability information of the core network equipment more pertinently.

In one possible design, the method further comprises: 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 capability information of the access network equipment.

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

In one possible design, the product version information of the core network device includes at least one of: manufacturer information of the core network device, network information of the core network device, area information of the core network device, and 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 taking the application of the method to the first access network device as an example, where the first access network device receives request information from a terminal device, where the request information is used to request network capability information, where 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 equipment.

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

In one possible design, the method further comprises: 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 comprises: 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 comprises: and receiving indication information from the terminal equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating a reason value of the request 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 the beneficial effects of the related technical features in the method described in the second aspect may be referred to the description of the first aspect, which is not repeated in detail.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, which 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 steps related to the first aspect, where the function or the unit or the means may be implemented by software, or implemented by hardware, or implemented by executing corresponding software by hardware.

In one possible design, the communication device includes a processing unit and a communication unit, where the communication unit may be configured to receive and send signals to enable communication between the communication device and other devices, 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, the communication unit may correspond to the operations referred to in the first aspect described above.

In one possible design, the communication device includes a processor, and may further include a transceiver, where the transceiver is configured to receive signals, and where the processor executes program instructions to perform the method in any possible design or implementation of the first aspect. Wherein the communication device may further comprise one or more memories for coupling with the processor, which memories 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, cause the communication device to implement the method of any of the possible designs or implementations of the first aspect described above.

In one possible design, the communication device includes a processor that may be used 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, cause the communication device to implement the method of any of the possible designs or implementations of the first aspect described above.

In one possible design, the communication device includes a processor and a memory, where the memory may hold 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, cause the communication device to implement the method of any of the possible designs or implementations of the first aspect described above.

In one possible design, the communication device includes a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the processor is configured to communicate with other devices via the interface circuit and 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 arranged 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 unit or means (means) corresponding to the operation related to the second aspect, where the module or unit or means may be implemented by software, or implemented by hardware, or implemented by executing corresponding software by hardware.

In one possible design, the communication device includes a processing unit and a communication unit, where the communication unit may be configured to receive and send signals to enable communication between the communication device and other devices, 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, the communication unit may correspond to the operations related to the above second aspect.

In one possible design, the communication device includes a processor that may be used 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, cause the communication device to implement the method in any of the possible designs or implementations of the second aspect described above.

In one possible design, the communication device includes a processor and a memory, where 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, cause the communication device to implement the method in any of the possible designs or implementations of the second aspect described above.

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

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication system, where the communication system may include a communication apparatus according to the third aspect, a communication apparatus according to the fourth aspect.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium having stored therein computer readable instructions 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 described above.

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

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

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

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable;

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

FIG. 2b is a schematic diagram of another CU-DU separation architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a flow chart corresponding to a communication method according to a first embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a flow chart corresponding to a communication method according to a second embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a possible exemplary block diagram of an apparatus involved in an embodiment 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 application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable. As shown in fig. 1, the terminal device may access to a wireless network to obtain services of an external network (e.g., a Data Network (DN)) through the wireless network, or communicate with other devices through the wireless network, such as may communicate with other terminal devices. The wireless network comprises a radio access network (radio access network, RAN), which may also be referred to as AN access network (radio access network, AN), for accessing the terminal device to the wireless network, and a Core Network (CN) for managing the terminal device and providing a gateway for communication with the DN.

The terminal device, RAN, CN, respectively, referred to in fig. 1 will be described in detail.

1. Terminal equipment

A terminal device, which may also be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), includes a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to a user, and may include, for example, a handheld device with wireless connectivity, or a processing device connected to a wireless modem. The terminal device may communicate with the core network via a radio access network (radio access network, RAN), exchanging voice and/or data with the RAN. The terminal devices may include wireless terminal devices, mobile terminal devices, device-to-device (D2D) terminal devices, vehicle-to-everything (vehicle to everything, V2X) terminal devices, machine-to-machine/machine-type communication (M2M/MTC) terminal devices, internet of things (internet of things, ioT) terminal devices, subscriber units, subscriber stations, mobile stations, remote stations, access Points (APs), remote terminals, access terminals, user agents, user equipment, or the like. For example, mobile telephones (or "cellular" telephones) computers with mobile terminal devices, portable, pocket, hand-held, computer-built mobile devices, and the like may be included. Such as personal communication services (personal communication service, PCS) phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phones, wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (personal digital assistant, PDAs), and the like. But also limited devices such as devices with lower power consumption, or devices with limited memory capabilities, or devices with limited computing capabilities, etc. Examples include bar codes, radio frequency identification (radio frequency identification, RFID), sensors, global positioning systems (global positioning system, GPS), laser scanners, and other information sensing devices.

In the embodiment of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal device may be the terminal device, or may be a device capable of supporting the terminal device to implement the function, for example, a chip system or a combination device or a component capable of implementing the function of the terminal device, and the device may be installed in the terminal device. In the embodiment of the application, the chip system can be composed of chips, and can also comprise chips and other discrete devices. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal is a terminal device, which is described in the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application.

2. RAN (radio Access network)

One or more RAN devices may be included in the RAN, and the interface between the RAN devices and the terminal devices may be a Uu interface (or referred to as a null interface). Of course, in future communications, the names of these interfaces may be unchanged or may be replaced with other names, as the application is not limited in this regard.

RAN equipment, which is a node or device that accesses a terminal device to a wireless network, may also be referred to as an access network device or a base station. Access network devices include, for example, but are not limited to: a new generation base station (generation Node B, gNB), evolved node B (eNB), radio network controller (radio network controller, RNC), node B (NB), base station controller (base station controller, BSC), base transceiver station (base transceiver station, BTS), home base station (home evolved nodeB, heNB) or (home node B, HNB), baseBand unit (BBU), transmission reception point (transmitting and receiving point, TRP), transmission point (transmitting point, TP), or mobile switching center in a 5G communication system.

In the embodiment of the present application, the means for implementing the function of the access network device may be the access network device, or may be a means capable of supporting the access network device to implement the function, for example, a chip system or a combination device or a component capable of implementing the function of the access network device, where the means may be installed in the access network device. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the access network device is an access network device, which is described in the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application.

Illustratively, the communication between the RAN device and the terminal device follows a protocol layer structure, e.g., the control plane protocol layer structure may include a radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) layer, a packet data convergence layer protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) layer, a radio link control (radio link control, RLC) layer, a medium access control (media access control, MAC) layer, and a physical layer; the user plane protocol layer structure may include a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, a MAC layer, and a physical layer, and in one possible implementation, a service data adaptation (service data adaptation protocol, SDAP) layer may be further included above the PDCP layer.

In one example, the RAN device may include one or more Centralized Units (CUs) and one or more Distributed Units (DUs), and the plurality of DUs 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 may 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 above are set in the CU, and the functions of the PDCP layer and below protocol layers (e.g., RLC layer and MAC layer, etc.) are set in the DU.

It should be understood that the above-mentioned division of the processing functions of the CU and the DU according to the protocol layer is only an example, and may be divided in other manners, for example, the functions of the protocol layer above the PDCP layer are set in the CU, the functions of the PDCP layer and the protocol layer below the PDCP layer are set in the DU, for example, the CU or the DU may be divided into functions having more protocol layers, for example, the CU or the DU may be further divided into partial processing functions having protocol layers. In one design, part of the functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layers above the RLC layer are set at CU, and the remaining functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layers below the RLC layer are set at DU. In another design, the functions of the CU or the DU may be further divided according to a service type or other system requirements, for example, the functions that the processing time needs to meet the delay requirement are set in the DU, and the functions that do not need to meet the delay requirement are set in the CU. In another design, a CU may also have one or more functions of the core network. Illustratively, the CUs can be arranged on the network side to facilitate centralized management; the DU may have multiple radio functions, or the radio functions may be set remotely. The embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

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

It should be noted that: in the architecture illustrated in fig. 2a and 2b above, the signaling generated by the CU may be sent to the terminal device through a DU, or the signaling generated by the terminal device may be sent to the CU through a DU. The DU may be directly transmitted to the terminal device or CU after being encapsulated by the protocol layer without parsing the signaling. In the following embodiments, transmission or reception of signaling by a DU includes such a scenario if such signaling is involved in the transmission between the DU and the terminal device. For example, 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 the received data of the physical layer. Under this architecture, the signaling of the RRC or PDCP layer may be considered as being sent by either a DU or by both a DU and a radio frequency device.

3. CN (CN)

One or more core network devices or core network elements, for example, a 5G communication system, may be included in the CN, and an access and mobility management function (access and mobility management function, AMF) element, a session management function (session management function, SMF) element, a user plane function (user plane function, UPF) element, a policy control function (policy control function, PCF) element, a unified data management (unified data management, UDM) element, an application function (application function, AF) element, and the like may be included in the CN.

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

The SMF network element is a control plane network element provided by the operator network and is responsible for managing PDU sessions of the terminal device. A PDU session is a channel for transmitting PDUs, and the terminal device needs to transmit PDUs to each other through the PDU session and DN. The PDU session is responsible for establishment, maintenance, deletion, etc. by the SMF network element. The SMF network elements include session-related functions such as session establishment, modification and release, including tunnel maintenance between UPF and RAN, selection and control of UPF network elements, traffic and session continuity (service and session continuity, SSC) mode selection, roaming, etc.

The UPF network element is a gateway provided by an operator, and is a gateway for the operator network to communicate with the DN. The UPF network element includes functions related to a user plane such as packet routing and transmission, packet detection, quality of service (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 SMF network element with policies for PDU sessions. Policies may include charging related policies, qoS related policies, and authorization related policies, among others.

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 (subscriber permanent identifier, SUPI) of an signing user, subscription data, etc. in the operator network.

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

Furthermore, although not shown, other possible network elements may be included in the CN, such as network opening functions (network exposure function, NEF), network element unified data repository (unified data repository, UDR) network elements.

In the embodiment of the present application, the means for implementing the function of the core network device may be the core network device, or may be a means capable of supporting the core network device to implement the function, for example, a chip system or a combination device or component capable of implementing the function of the core network device, where the means may be installed in the core network device. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the core network device is taken as an example of the core network device, and the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is described.

It should be noted that, the access network device and the core network device in the embodiments 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.

Npcf, nudm, naf, namf, nsmf, N1, N2, N3, N4, and N6 in fig. 1 are interface serial numbers. The meaning of these interface serial numbers can be found in the meaning defined in the relevant standard protocol, without limitation.

It will be appreciated that the scheme of the embodiment of the present application is illustrated in fig. 1 as a 5G communication system, and may be applied to other possible communication systems, such as the future sixth generation (the 6th generation,6G) communication system. The network elements or functions described above may be either network elements in hardware devices, software functions running on dedicated hardware, or virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform). Alternatively, the network element or the function may be implemented by one device, or may be implemented by a plurality of devices together, or may be a functional module in one device, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

In the network architecture illustrated in fig. 1, the configuration of most or all parameters is usually controlled by the network device, which is the center of the network device, during the communication between the terminal device and the network device. Generally, after a problem occurs in communication between a terminal device and a network device, manufacturers of the terminal device generally rely on traversing various possible problems to locate and solve the problem, which results in long time consumption and low efficiency.

In dealing with practical problems, manufacturers of terminal devices find that a significant portion of the problem is due to incompatibility of the terminal device with the network device. There may be various situations where the terminal device is not compatible 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 equipment normally accesses to the LTE access network equipment side, but after the LTE access network equipment sends an auxiliary base station adding request message to the 5G access network equipment, the 5G access network equipment returns a rejection message, and the reason value carried in the rejection message is that the air interface resource is unavailable; according to analysis, the protocol version supported by the terminal equipment is higher than the protocol version supported by the 5G access network equipment, so that the capability information analysis of the 5G access network equipment on the terminal equipment fails, and the access failure of the terminal equipment is caused.

Another possible scenario is that the capability information reported by the terminal device does not match the cache capability information of the access network device, and/or that the capability information reported by the terminal device does not match the cache 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 handover failure; through analysis, the terminal equipment reports 348 bytes of air interface capability information to the access network equipment, and a container (container) of the access network equipment can store 300 bytes of capability information at maximum, so that the access network equipment fails to analyze the capability information of the terminal equipment and cannot issue a switching command.

However, when a problem such as an access failure occurs in a communication process of the terminal device with the access network device or when a problem such as a registration failure occurs in a communication process of the terminal device with the core network device, even if the access failure or the registration failure is caused by incompatibility of the terminal device with the access network device or the core network device, it is generally not known whether or not the failure is caused by the incompatibility, thereby causing a problem to be repeated, located, or tested, which takes a lot of time. For example, the terminal device performs the determination of the location and the range of the problem by attempting to reduce the capability, but the terminal device does not have any reference information when autonomously reducing the capability, and generally only empirical attempts can be made, so that the problem that the terminal device is not compatible with the network device is very inefficient to solve.

Based on the above, the embodiment of the application provides a communication method, which is convenient for rapidly solving the communication problem caused by incompatibility of the terminal equipment and the network equipment. The communication method provided by the embodiment of the application can comprise the following steps: the terminal device sends request information to the access network device, where the request information is used to request network capability information, and further can receive the network capability information from the access network device. Therefore, the terminal equipment can acquire the network capability information, so that the capability can be reduced in a targeted manner by referring to the network capability information, and the communication problem caused by incompatibility of the terminal equipment and the network equipment can be solved conveniently and rapidly.

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

Example 1

Fig. 3 is a flow chart corresponding to a communication method according to a first embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 3, the method may include:

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

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

Case 1, the terminal device determines that an RRC connection establishment 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.

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

Case 3, the terminal device determines that the service transmission fails, such as the terminal device failing to send service data to the access network device or failing to receive service data from the access network device.

Case 4, the terminal device receives indication information from the access network device, where the indication information is used to indicate at least one of the following: (1) The first message sent by the terminal device cannot be identified, that is, the terminal device sent 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: RRC connection establishment request message, RRC connection establishment restoration request message, RRC connection reestablishment request message. (2) One or more cells in the first message cannot be identified. (3) The second capability information sent by the terminal equipment fails to be analyzed, that is, the terminal equipment sends the second capability information to the access network equipment, but the access network equipment fails to analyze the second capability information; or the terminal equipment sends the second capability information to the core network equipment, but the core network equipment fails to analyze the second capability information, so that the core network equipment can send indication information to the terminal equipment through the access network equipment. (4) the capability of the terminal device is excessive; (5) Abstract syntax notation 1 (abstract syntax notation one, asn.1) cell (information element, IE) or field parsing failed; (6) asn.1 extension cell or field parsing fails; (7) ASN.1 critical (critical) extension cells or fields fail to parse; (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 the network capability area (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. Wherein the network capability area comprises at least one access network device, the at least one access network device has the same capability, and one access network device may belong to one network capability area. In one example, the network capability area may include one or more Tracking Areas (TAs), or may also include one or more RAN areas, which are areas for terminal devices in an inactive (inactive) state.

The access network device may broadcast, for example, the network capability area information to which the access network device belongs through a system message, and the terminal device may further receive the network capability area information to which the access network device belongs. The network capability area information may include an identification (NCA ID) of the network capability area, and the identification of the network capability area may refer to information for identifying the network capability area, for example, may be a number of the network capability area or other possible information, which is not specifically limited. In the embodiment of the application, any information that can serve to distinguish between different network capability areas can be understood as the identification of the network capability areas.

There may be various situations in which the terminal device determines that the network capability area has changed. 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 area of the access network device 1 to the coverage area of the access network device 2; furthermore, the terminal device may receive the network capability area information of the access network device 2 sent by the access network device 2 through the system message, and if the network capability area information of the access network device 2 is different from the network capability area information of the access network device 1, it may determine that the network capability area is changed.

In the 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. Alternatively, the network capability area information to which the access network device belongs may be a 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 can be configured in the access network device in a preconfigured mode. The embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

In 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.

1. The explanation is made with respect to capability information of the access network device.

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 capability information of the access network equipment.

Wherein the protocol version information supported by the access network device may include an identification of the protocol version supported by the access network device. The protocol version may also be referred to as a standard version, such as release of the third generation partnership project (3rd generation partnership project,3GPP) standard, e.g., R15, R16, etc., or may also be 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 or serial number for identifying the access network device, or may also refer to a code or model or serial number of the access network device assigned based on certain standard criteria. 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, such as the product version information of the access network device may include at least one of the following: manufacturer 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 buffer capability information of the access network device may be used to indicate a buffer space size in which the access network device stores the capability information of the terminal device.

2. The explanation is made with respect to capability information of the core network device.

The capability information of the core network device includes at least one of: protocol version information supported by the core network device, product version information of the core network device, and cache capability information of the core network device. The related description 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 the protocol version supported by the core network device. The product version information of the core network device may include at least one of: manufacturer information of the core network device, network information of the core network device, area information of the core network device, and software version information of the core network device. The buffer capability information of the core network device may be used to indicate a buffer space size in which the core network device stores 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 are not limited in particular.

3. The explanation is made with respect to 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 resource for requesting capability information of the access network device and a random access preamble and/or random access resource 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 capability information of the access network device is requested. And when the random access lead code is the second random access lead code 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 to be acquired is the capability information of the access network device (such as case 1, case 3, case 4, or case 5 described above), 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 to be acquired is the capability information of the core network device (such as case 2 or case 3 above), 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 network capability information, and the cause value may be at least one of the following: RRC connection establishment failure, registration failure, or traffic transmission failure, etc. Wherein, 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 random access preambles and/or random access resources for requesting network capability information.

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

Here, the access network device may transmit 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.

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 rollback (i.e. reduce capability) according to the network capability information, and then use the capability information after rollback to communicate with the access network device and/or the core network device.

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

Based on the first embodiment, a possible flow is described below in conjunction with the second embodiment.

Example two

Fig. 4 is a flow chart corresponding to a communication method according to a second embodiment of the present application, as shown in fig. 4, the method may include:

step 400, the identification of the protocol versions supported by each can be interacted between the access network device and the core network device.

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

In 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 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 herein may refer to a physical random access channel (physical random access channel, PRACH) resource. Further, different random access preambles and/or random access resources may be configured according to the capability information of the access network device and the capability information of the core network device.

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 service requirement to establish an RRC connection with the access network device. However, the terminal device determines that RRC connection establishment failure or registration failure occurs, and thus may determine that network capability information needs to be acquired.

For another example, even if the terminal device accesses the access network device and registers successfully, an abnormal condition of link interruption or connection interruption occurs quickly in the service transmission process, and in this case, the terminal device may determine that the 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, which is 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 or the corresponding random access preamble and/or random access resource is selected according to a potential cause of occurrence of communication abnormality.

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

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

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

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

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

In 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, or as a possible alternative, the access network device may also send the network capability information to the terminal device after the random access message 4 by means of dedicated signalling or broadcast messages.

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

For example, the protocol version corresponding to the capability information determined by the terminal device may be not 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 of the terminal device and the network device may be avoided.

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

(1) The step numbers of the flowcharts described in the first and second embodiments are only an example of the execution flow, and do not limit the execution sequence of the steps, and in the embodiment of the present application, there is no strict execution sequence between the steps that have no time sequence dependency relationship with each other. Furthermore, not all the steps illustrated in the respective flowcharts are necessarily performed, and partial steps may be added or deleted on the basis of the respective flowcharts according to actual needs. Further, the first embodiment and the second embodiment can be referred to each other.

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

The scheme provided by the embodiment of the application is mainly introduced from the perspective of equipment interaction. It will be appreciated that in order to achieve the above described functionality, the access network device or the terminal device may comprise corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules performing the respective functionality. 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 implemented as hardware or computer software driven hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

The embodiment of the application can divide the functional units of the access network equipment or the terminal equipment according to the method example, for example, each functional unit can be divided corresponding to each function, and two or more functions can be integrated in one unit. The integrated units may be implemented in hardware or in software functional units.

In case of integrated units, fig. 5 shows a possible exemplary block diagram of the apparatus involved in an embodiment of the 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 actions of the device 500. The communication unit 503 is used to support communication of the apparatus 500 with other devices. Alternatively, the communication unit 503, also referred to as a transceiver 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 code 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 provided in the terminal device. The processing unit 502 may support the apparatus 500 to perform the actions of the terminal device in the examples of the methods above. 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: transmitting request information to the access network equipment, wherein the request information is used for requesting network capability information, and the network capability information comprises capability information of the access network equipment and/or capability 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 is met, request information is sent to access network equipment: (1) Determining that a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment failure occurs; (2) determining that a registration failure has occurred; (3) determining that a traffic transmission failure occurs; (4) Receiving indication information from access network equipment, wherein the indication information is used for indicating at least one of the following: the first message sent by the terminal equipment cannot be identified; one or more cells in the first message cannot be identified; the second capability information sent by the terminal equipment fails to be analyzed; the capability of the terminal equipment is too large; abstract syntax notation asn.1 cell resolution failure; ASN.1 expanded 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, wherein the network capability area comprises at least one access network device, and the at least one access network device has 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 used for configuring the random access preamble and/or for transmitting random access resources of 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 an access network device in the above embodiment, or may also be a chip disposed in the access network device. The processing unit 502 may support the apparatus 500 to perform the actions of the access network device in the examples of the methods above. 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 a terminal device, wherein the request information is used for requesting network capability information, and the network capability information comprises capability information of access network equipment and/or capability information of core network equipment; and sending the network capability information to the terminal equipment.

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

It should be understood that the division of the units in the above apparatus is merely a division of a logic function, and may be fully or partially integrated into a physical entity or may be physically separated when actually implemented. And the units in the device can be all realized in the form of software calls through the processing element; or can be realized in hardware; it is also possible that part of the units are implemented in the form of software, which is called by the processing element, and part of the units are implemented in the form of hardware. For example, each unit may be a processing element that is set up separately, may be implemented as integrated in a certain chip of the apparatus, or may be stored in a memory in the form of a program, and the functions of the unit may be called and executed by a certain processing element of the apparatus. Furthermore, all or part of these units may be integrated together or may be implemented independently. The processing element described herein may in turn be a processor, which may be an integrated circuit with signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the operations of the above methods or the above units may be implemented by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor element or in the form of software calls through a processing element.

In one example, the unit in any of the above apparatuses may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, for example: one or more specific integrated circuits (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), or one or more microprocessors (digital singnal processor, DSP), or one or more field programmable gate arrays (field programmable gate array, FPGA), or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. For another example, when the units in the apparatus may be implemented in the form of a scheduler of processing elements, the processing elements may be processors, such as general purpose central processing units (central processing unit, CPU), or other processors that may invoke programs. For another example, the 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 device for receiving signals from other devices. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the receiving unit is an interface circuit of the chip for receiving signals from other chips or devices. The above unit for transmitting is an interface circuit of the apparatus for transmitting signals to other apparatuses. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the transmitting unit is an interface circuit of the chip for transmitting 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 a terminal device in the above embodiment, for implementing an operation of the terminal device in the above 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 radio frequency part 620 receives information transmitted from the network device through the antenna 610, and transmits the information transmitted from the network device to the signal processing part 630 for processing. In the uplink direction, the signal processing part 630 processes information of the terminal device and transmits the processed information to the radio frequency part 620, and the radio frequency part 620 processes information of the terminal device and transmits the processed information to the network device through the antenna 610.

The signal processing section 630 may include a modem subsystem for implementing processing of the various communication protocol layers of data; the system also comprises a central processing subsystem for realizing the processing of the terminal equipment operating system and the application layer; in addition, other subsystems, such as a multimedia subsystem for implementing control of a terminal device camera, screen display, etc., a peripheral subsystem for implementing connection 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 host CPU and other integrated circuits. In addition, the modulation and demodulation subsystem may also include a storage element 632 and an interface circuit 633. The storage element 632 is used to store data and programs, but the programs used to perform the methods performed by the terminal device in the above methods may not be stored in the storage element 632, but in a memory external to the modulation and demodulation subsystem, which is loaded for use when in use. Interface circuit 633 is used to communicate with other subsystems.

The modulation and demodulation 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 above terminal device and an interface circuit for communicating with other devices. In one implementation, the unit of the terminal device implementing each step in the above method may be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler, for example, the apparatus for a terminal device includes a processing element and a storage element, and the processing element invokes the program stored in the storage element to perform the method performed by the terminal device in the above method embodiment. The memory element may be a memory element where the processing element is on the same chip, i.e. an on-chip memory element.

In another implementation, the program for executing the method executed by the terminal device in the above method may be a storage element on a different chip than the processing element, i.e. an off-chip storage element. At this time, the processing element calls or loads a program from the off-chip storage element on 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 implementing the steps of the above method may be configured as one or more processing elements, which are 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 implementing the steps in the method can be integrated together and implemented in the form of an SOC chip for implementing the method. At least one processing element and a storage element can be integrated in the chip, and the processing element invokes the stored program of the storage element to implement the method executed by the terminal device; alternatively, at least one integrated circuit may be integrated in the chip for implementing the method performed by the above terminal device; alternatively, the functions of the partial units may be implemented in the form of a processing element calling program, and the functions of the partial units may be implemented in the form of an integrated circuit, in combination with the above implementations.

It will be 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 adapted to perform any of the methods performed by the terminal device provided by the above method embodiments. The processing element may be configured in a first manner: that is, a part or all of the steps executed by the terminal device are executed in a manner of calling the program stored in the storage element; the second way is also possible: i.e. by means of integrated logic circuitry of hardware in the processor element in combination with instructions to perform part or all of the steps performed by the terminal device; of course, it is also possible to perform part or all of the steps performed by the terminal device in combination with the first and second modes.

The processing elements herein are as described above and may be implemented by a processor, and the functions of the processing elements may be the same as those of the processing units 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 microprocessor DSPs, 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 memory element may be one memory or may be a collective term for a plurality of memories.

The terminal device shown in fig. 6 is capable of implementing the respective procedures related to the terminal device in the above-described method embodiment. The operations and/or functions of the respective modules in the terminal device shown in fig. 6 are respectively for implementing the corresponding flows in the above-described method embodiment. Reference is specifically made to the description of the above method embodiments, and detailed descriptions are omitted here as appropriate to avoid redundancy.

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

The CU702 is mainly configured to perform baseband processing, control an access network device, and the like. The DU 701 and CU702 may be physically located together or may be physically separate, i.e., a distributed base station. The CU702 is a control center of the access network device, and may also be referred to as a processing unit, and is mainly configured to perform a baseband processing function. For example, the CU702 may be configured to control the access network device to perform the operation procedure of the method embodiment described above with respect to the access network device.

Further, the access network device 70 may optionally include one or more radio frequency 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 frequency unit may include at least one antenna 7011 and at least one radio frequency 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 configured by one or more boards, where the multiple boards may support a single access indicated radio access network (such as a 5G network) together, or may support radio access networks of different access schemes (such as an LTE network, a 5G network, or other networks) respectively. The memory 7021 and processor 7022 may serve one or more boards. That is, the memory and the processor may be separately provided on each board. It is also possible that multiple boards share the same memory and processor. In addition, each single board can be provided with necessary circuits. The DU701 may be formed by one or more single boards, where the multiple single boards may support a single access indicated radio access network (such as a 5G network), or may support radio access networks of different access schemes (such as 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 the processor may be separately provided on each board. It is also possible that multiple boards 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 is capable of implementing the various procedures described above in connection with the access network device in the method embodiments. The operations and/or functions of the respective modules in the access network device shown in fig. 7 are respectively for implementing the corresponding flows in the above-mentioned method embodiments. Reference is specifically made to the description of the above method embodiments, and detailed descriptions are omitted here as appropriate to avoid redundancy.

The terms "system" and "network" in embodiments of the application may be used interchangeably. "at least one" means one or more, and "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or", describes an association relationship of an association object, and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, a and/or B, and may indicate: cases where A alone, both A and B together, and B alone, where A and B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship. "at least one of" or the like means any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items(s). For example, "at least one of A, B, and C" includes A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, or ABC. And, unless otherwise specified, references to "first," "second," etc. ordinal words of embodiments of the present application are used for distinguishing between multiple objects and not for defining a sequence, timing, priority, or importance of the multiple objects.

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

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

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

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

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present application without departing from the spirit or scope of the application. Thus, it is intended that the present application also include such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.

Claims

1. A communication method, wherein the method is applicable to a terminal device or a chip in the terminal device, the method comprising:

in the case that communication between the terminal equipment and the network equipment is problematic, or in the case that a network capability area to which the access network equipment belongs is different from a historical network capability area, sending request information to the access network equipment, wherein the request information is used for requesting network capability information, and the network capability information comprises capability information of the access network equipment and/or capability information of core network equipment;

receiving the network capability information from the access network device;

wherein the network device comprises the access network device and/or the core network device, the network capability area comprises at least one access network device, and the at least one access network device has the same capability.

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

and sending first capability information to the access network equipment according to the network capability information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication between the terminal device and the network device is problematic, comprising at least one of:

Failure of radio resource control, RRC, connection establishment occurs;

a registration failure occurs;

failure of service transmission occurs;

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

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the request information is a random access preamble.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the method further comprises:

and receiving configuration information from the access network 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.

6. The method according to claim 4, 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 alternatively, the process may be performed,

The random access lead code is a second random access lead code and/or the random access resource used for sending the random access lead code is a second random access resource, and the request information is used for requesting the capability information of the core network equipment.

7. 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 network capability information.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the indication information is carried in an RRC connection setup request message.

9. The method according to any of claims 1 to 6, 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.

10. The method according to any of claims 1 to 6, 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 capability information of the access network equipment.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the product version information of the access network device comprises at least one of: manufacturer 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.

12. The method according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the capability information of the core network device comprises at least one of:

protocol version information supported by the core network device, product version information of the core network device, and cache capability information of the core network device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the product version information of the core network device comprises at least one of: manufacturer information of the core network device, network information of the core network device, region information of the core network device, and software version information of the core network device.

14. A method of communication, the method being applicable to an access network device or a chip in the access network device, the method comprising:

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

transmitting the network capability information to the terminal equipment;

wherein the request information is sent by the terminal device in case of a problem in communication between the terminal device and a network device or in case of a network capability area to which the access network device belongs being different from a history network capability area; the network device comprises the access network device and/or the core network device, and the network capability area comprises at least one access network device, wherein the at least one access network device has the same capability.

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

first capability information is received from the terminal device, the first capability information being determined from the network capability information.

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

capability information of a core network device is received from the core network device.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the request information is a random access preamble.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises:

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.

19. The method according to claim 17, 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 alternatively, the process may be performed,

20. 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 network capability information.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the indication information is carried in an RRC connection setup request message.

22. The method according to any of claims 14 to 19, 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.

23. The method according to any of claims 14 to 19, wherein the capability information of the access network device comprises at least one of:

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the product version information of the access network device comprises at least one of: manufacturer 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.

25. The method according to any of claims 14 to 19, wherein the capability information of the core network device comprises at least one of:

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the product version information of the core network device comprises at least one of: manufacturer information of the core network device, network information of the core network device, region information of the core network device, and software version information of the core network device.

27. A communication device comprising means for performing the method of any one of claims 1 to 13.

28. A communication device comprising means for performing the method of any of claims 14 to 26.

29. 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.

30. 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.

31. A communication system comprising a communication device according to claim 27 or 29, and a communication device according to claim 28 or 30.

32. A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that the storage medium has stored therein a computer program or instructions which, when executed by a communication device, implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 13 or the method of any one of claims 14 to 26.