CN114208290B

CN114208290B - Handover in an integrated network

Info

Publication number: CN114208290B
Application number: CN201980099114.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王河; 晁华
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Priority date: 2019-08-09
Filing date: 2019-08-09
Publication date: 2024-03-19
Anticipated expiration: 2039-08-09
Also published as: CN114208290A; WO2021026674A1

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to handover in an integrated network. A handover method includes selecting, at a source network device, a target network device as a handover candidate for a terminal device served by the source network device, the source network device and the target network device being included in a first network; determining whether the terminal device has traffic to be transmitted from the source network device over a second network, the first network and the second network being of different types; acquiring capability information indicating whether a requirement of the traffic is satisfied in transmission from the target network device through the second network in response to determining that the terminal device has the traffic; and determining initiation of a handover of the terminal device to the target network device based on the capability information.

Description

Handover in an integrated network

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of telecommunications and, in particular, relate to a method, apparatus, device, and computer-readable storage medium for handover in an integrated network.

Background

The modern communications era has brought about a tremendous expansion of communication networks in order to provide an efficient and reliable solution for communication. Each new generation has its own technical challenges in handling the different situations and procedures required to connect and service devices to a communication network. In order to meet the demand for increased wireless data traffic since the deployment of the 4 th generation (4G) communication systems, efforts have been made to develop improved 5 th generation (5G) or former 5G communication systems. The new communication system may support various types of service applications for the terminal device.

As communication technologies evolve, new communication networks in the future will support more diverse services such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), mass machine type communication (emtc), and Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC). Furthermore, wireless communication networks are expected to support the automotive industry and industrial automation as time sensitive services. Accordingly, research has begun into how to integrate wireless communication networks into time-sensitive networks (time-sensitive network, TSNs), which are typically wired communication networks. One area of research effort relates to the switching of terminal devices between network devices in such integrated communication networks.

Disclosure of Invention

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a scheme for handover in an integrated network.

In a first aspect, a source network device is provided. The apparatus includes at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code; wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: selecting a target network device as a handover candidate for a terminal device served by a source network device, the source network device and the target network device being included in a first network; determining whether the terminal device has traffic to be transmitted from the source network device over a second network, the first network and the second network being of different types; responsive to determining that the terminal device has the traffic, obtaining capability information indicating whether a requirement of the traffic is satisfied in a transmission from the target network device over the second network; and determining initiation of a handover of the terminal device to the target network device based on the capability information.

In a second aspect, a core network device is provided. The apparatus includes at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code; wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: obtaining a first request from a source network device in a first network to determine capability information indicating whether a requirement of traffic of a terminal device is satisfied in a transmission from a target network device through a second network, the target network device being selected by the source network device for handover of the terminal device, and the first network and the second network being of different types; determining capability information at least by detecting whether a second network function element for the target network device is different from a first network function element of the source network device in response to the first request, the first network function element and the second network function element configured for forwarding traffic from the first network to the second network; and providing the determined capability information to the source network device as a first response to the first request.

In a third aspect, a control network device is provided. The apparatus includes at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code; wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to: obtaining a request from a core network device to determine capability information indicating whether a requirement of traffic of a terminal device is satisfied in transmission from a target network device in a first network through a second network, the target network device being selected by a source network device in the first network for handover of the terminal device, and the first network and the second network being of different types; in response to the request, detecting the presence of a path in the second network that is available for delivery of the required traffic; and based on the detecting, transmitting a response to the request to the core network device, the response including capability information to indicate whether the requirement of the traffic is satisfied.

In a fourth aspect, a handover method is provided. The method comprises the following steps: selecting, at the source network device, the target network device as a handover candidate for a terminal device served by the source network device, the source network device and the target network device being included in the first network; determining whether the terminal device has traffic to be transmitted from the source network device over a second network, the first network and the second network being of different types; responsive to determining that the terminal device has the traffic, obtaining capability information indicating whether a requirement of the traffic is satisfied in a transmission from the target network device over the second network; and determining initiation of a handover of the terminal device to the target network device based on the capability information.

In a fifth aspect, a communication method is provided. The method comprises the following steps: at the core network device, obtaining a first request from a source network device in the first network to determine capability information indicating whether a requirement of traffic of the terminal device is met in a transmission from a target network device through the second network, the target network device being selected by the source network device for handover of the terminal device, and the first network and the second network being of different types; determining capability information at least by detecting whether a second network function element for the target network device is different from the first network function element for the source network device in response to the first request, the first network function element and the second network function element configured for forwarding traffic from the first network to the second network; and providing the determined capability information to the source network device as a first response to the first request.

In a sixth aspect, a communication method is provided. The method comprises the following steps: at the control network device, obtaining a request from the core network device to determine capability information indicating whether a requirement of traffic of the terminal device is satisfied in transmission from a target network device in the first network through the second network, the target network device being selected by a source network device in the first network for handover of the terminal device, and the first network and the second network being of different types; in response to the request, detecting the presence of a path in the second network that is available for delivery of the required traffic; and based on the detecting, transmitting a response to the request to the core network device, the response including capability information to indicate whether the requirement of the traffic is satisfied.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising: means for selecting, at the source network device, the target network device as a handover candidate for a terminal device served by the source network device, the source network device and the target network device being included in the first network; means for determining whether the terminal device has traffic to be transferred from the source network device over a second network, the first network and the second network being of different types; means for obtaining capability information in response to determining that the terminal device has traffic, the capability information indicating whether a requirement of the traffic is met in a transmission from the target network device over the second network; and means for determining initiation of handover of the terminal device to the target network device based on the capability information.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for obtaining, at a core network device, a first request from a source network device in a first network to determine capability information indicating whether a requirement of traffic of a terminal device is met in a transfer from a target network device through a second network, the target network device being selected by the source network device for handover of the terminal device, and the first network and the second network being of different types; determining capability information at least by detecting whether a second network function element for the target network device is different from a first network function element for the source network device in response to the first request, the first network function element and the second network function element configured for forwarding traffic from the first network to the second network; and means for providing the determined capability information to the source network device as a first response to the first request.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising: means for obtaining, at the controlling network device, a request from the core network device to determine capability information indicating whether a requirement of traffic of the terminal device is met in a transmission from a target network device in the first network through the second network, the target network device being selected by a source network device in the first network for handover of the terminal device, and the first network and the second network being of different types; means for detecting, in response to the request, the presence of a path in the second network, the path being available for delivery of traffic meeting the demand; and means for transmitting a response to the request to the core network device based on the detecting, the response including capability information to indicate whether a requirement of the traffic is met.

In a tenth aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to any one of the above fourth to sixth aspects.

It should be understood that the summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the embodiments of the disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description.

Drawings

Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication network in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

fig. 2 shows a signaling diagram illustrating a handover procedure according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 3A and 3B show two examples illustrating a User Plane Function (UPF) of a target network device being changed and remaining unchanged, respectively, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 4A illustrates a block diagram of an example Control Plane Function (CPF) according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 4B shows a signaling diagram illustrating a process implemented at a core network device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 5 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a source network device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 6 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a core network device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 7 illustrates a flow chart of a method implemented at a control network device according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates a simplified block diagram of an apparatus suitable for practicing the example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

fig. 9 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer-readable medium, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

The same or similar reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like elements.

Detailed Description

Principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are described merely for the purpose of illustrating and helping those skilled in the art understand and practice the present disclosure and are not meant to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way. The disclosure described herein may be implemented in various ways other than those described below.

In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

References in the present disclosure to "one example embodiment," "an example implementation," etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an example embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It will be understood that, although the terms "first," "second," etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "has," "having," "includes" and/or "including," when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) Pure hardware circuit implementations (such as implementations in analog and/or digital circuitry only), and

(b) A combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (as applicable):

(i) Combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit(s) and software/firmware, and

(ii) Hardware processor with software (including digital signal processor (s)), software, and any portion of memory(s) that cooperate to cause a device (such as a mobile phone or server) to perform various functions, and

(c) Hardware circuit(s) and/or processor(s), such as microprocessor(s) or a portion of microprocessor(s), that require software (e.g., firmware)

The operation is performed, but software may not be present when the operation is not required.

The definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As another example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also encompasses hardware-only circuitry or a processor (or multiple processors) or an implementation of a hardware circuit or portion of a processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. For example, if applicable to the particular claim element, the term circuitry also encompasses a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device, or a similar integrated circuit in a server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that conforms to any suitable communication standard, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced (LTE-a), wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), high Speed Packet Access (HSPA), narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT), ethernet or Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and/or any other technology currently known or developed in the future. Furthermore, communication between a terminal device and a network device in a communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation of communication protocols, including, but not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, future fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocols now known or later developed. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to various communication systems. In view of the rapid development of communications, there will, of course, also be future types of communication techniques and systems that may be used to embody the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure should not be limited to only the above-described systems.

As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. A network device may refer to a Base Station (BS) or an Access Point (AP), e.g., a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also known as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a Radio Head (RH), a Remote Radio Head (RRH), a relay, a low power node (such as a femto node, pico node), etc., depending on the terminology and technology applied.

The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of communication. By way of example, and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user Equipment (UE), subscriber Station (SS), portable subscriber station, mobile Station (MS), or Access Terminal (AT). The terminal devices may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, tablet computers, wearable terminal devices, personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), portable computers, desktop computers, image capture terminal devices (such as digital cameras), gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback devices, in-vehicle wireless terminal devices, wireless terminals, mobile stations, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop mounted devices (LMEs), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless client devices (CPE), internet of things (loT) devices, smart appliances, networking industrial products, watches or other wearable devices, head Mounted Displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., tele-surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or automated processing chain environment), consumer electronics devices, devices operating on a commercial and/or industrial wireless network, and the like. In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment" and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

As communication technologies evolve, as mentioned above, it has been proposed to integrate wireless communication networks into Time Sensitive Networks (TSNs). For example, a 5G communication network may incorporate a TSN. Current TSNs are based on a set of IEEE standards (such as the IEEE 802.1 standard) that aim to make ethernet more deterministic for security critical and real-time services. Communications supported by the TSN may be referred to as time-sensitive communications (TSC). Some of the main objectives of TSNs are to provide time synchronization and timeliness (deterministic latency and reliability/redundancy) for various time-sensitive services that coexist on networks that also support best effort traffic. TSNs are expected to be widely used in many modern network physical systems, from industrial automation to on-board networks, for example. The real-time capabilities of the TSN will likely support more scenarios in the communication system. Wireless communication networks are also evolving to provide more diverse services such as enhanced mobile broadband (emmbb), mass machine type communication (mctc), and Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC). These services may be time sensitive in certain applications such as the automotive industry and industrial automation.

It has been proposed that the entire wireless communication network will be logically used as a network node in a TSN, such as an end-to-end (E2E) TSN, to communicate with other network nodes in the TSN. Such network nodes are also referred to as bridges or routers in the TSN. Fig. 1 illustrates an example logical architecture 100 in which a wireless communication network 102 (sometimes also referred to as a "first network" 102) is integrated with a TSN 104 (sometimes also referred to as a "second network" 104). Some example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in such an architecture.

As shown, wireless communication network 102 (also sometimes referred to as "first network" 102) acts as a logical TSN bridge 120, where logical TSN bridge 120 may be referred to as wireless TSN bridge 120. The wireless communication network 102 is integrated with another network (i.e., TSN 104) that includes one or more network devices to support communication between terminal devices. As shown, TSN 104 includes TSN bridges 122-1, 122-2, etc. for routing traffic between end stations, including end stations 132-1, 132-2 (collectively or individually referred to as end station 132). In the integrated deployment shown in fig. 1, wireless TSN bridge 120 corresponding to wireless communication network 102 is typically provided as the first hop or last hop of a bridge in the communication path from two endpoint stations, such that wireless TSN bridge 120 is directly connected to one or more endpoint stations 132, e.g., via end device 130 of wireless communication network 102.

In some example embodiments, the wireless communication network 102 may be a 5G system (5 GS). In other embodiments, the wireless communication network 102 may be any other type of wireless communication system or network, such as a 4G system, a 3G system, or the like. Wireless communication network 102 includes RAN 110, which RAN 110 may be deployed to provide communication based on any radio access technology. For better illustration, fig. 1 also schematically shows a physical network arrangement of RAN 110, which arrangement includes a plurality of network devices, such as network devices 112-1, 112-2, 112-3, etc. These network devices in RAN 110 serve respective areas 114-1, 114-2, 114-3, etc. (also referred to as cells 114-1, 114-2, 114-3, etc.). Network devices 112-1, 112-2, 112-3, etc. in RAN 110 may be collectively or individually referred to as network device 112, and cells 114-1, 114-2, 114-3, etc. in RAN 110 may be collectively or individually referred to as cell 114. In network integration, RAN 110 may be considered part of logical wireless TSN bridge 120. In examples where wireless communication network 102 is 5GS, wireless TSN bridge 120 may sometimes be referred to as 5GS TSN bridge 120. The names of such logical TSN bridges corresponding to the wireless communication network may vary.

In addition to RAN 110, wireless communication network 102 may also include a Core Network (CN) 140, wherein Network Function (NF) elements contained in CN 140 may also be logically considered to operate in wireless TSN bridge 120. The CN 140 includes a control plane element (CPF) 142 to implement control plane (UP) functions in the CN 104. CPF 142 may communicate with RAN 110 (specifically, network device 112 within RAN 110). The CPF 142 may also communicate with devices outside the wireless communication network 102.

The CN 140 may also include one or more NF elements to support User Plane (UP) functions, including a User Plane Function (UPF) 144.UPF 144 is configured for forwarding traffic communicated between RAN 110 and TSN 104. The UPF 144 may include a network TSN converter to perform forwarding, which typically performs address mapping between the two networks 102 and 104. The UPF 144 is also capable of buffering traffic received from one of the wireless communication network 102 and the TSN 104 before forwarding the traffic into the other network. The CPFs 142 and UPFs 144 in the CN 140 may also be referred to as core network devices 142 and 144, respectively. Each of the CPF 142 and the UPF 144 may be implemented by one or more physical devices or servers.

The granularity of logical wireless TSN bridge 120 is per UPF. That is, each combination of RAN 110, CN, and different UPFs 144 may be logically considered different wireless TSN bridges. Fig. 1 shows only one UPF 144 and a corresponding one of the wireless TSN bridges 120. If another UPF is deployed therein, RAN 110, CN and the other UPF may form another logical wireless TSN bridge. Thus, the number of logical wireless TSN bridges depends on the number of UPFs, and is not limited herein. In some implementations, one UPF may be connected to one or more network devices 112 in RAN 110.

Terminal device 130 is capable of accessing RAN 110 and may be referred to as a wireless communication terminal. To enable communication, terminal device 130 establishes a connection with one or more of network devices 112 in RAN 110. End device 130 may also be linked to an end station of TSN 104, such as end station 132-1, and receive data to be transmitted from end station 132-1. In the event that end device 130 has established a connection with network device 112 in RAN 110, network device 112 may be operable to communicate traffic from end device 130 to another TSN endpoint station 132-2 over TSN 104. Thus, traffic for TSN endpoint station 132-1 is communicated by end device 130 to TSN endpoint station 132-1 through RAN 110 and TSN 104. Likewise, communication may be effected in the opposite direction from end station 132-2 to end station 132-1. In some cases, end device 130 may initially send traffic to end station 132-2 and receive traffic from end station 132-2 as a destination.

TSN endpoint station 132 may be any type of terminal device that supports communications in TSN 104. In many cases, terminal device 130 may be a mobile device that supports wireless communications with RAN 110. Of course, other types of terminal devices in RAN 110 are also possible. By integrating the wireless communication network 102 and the TSN 104, a wide variety of different use cases and applications in a wide variety of fields can be supported through flexible wireless connections of mobile terminals. TSN endpoint stations 132 may benefit from the native flexible mobility in wireless communications, which makes factories easy to reconfigure, reduces wire installation and maintenance costs, and also allows innovative use of mobile robots and mobile platforms with Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) in an automation scenario.

CP and UP functions in wireless TSN bridge 120 are included to be compatible with TSN functions and procedures in TSN 104. The CPF 142 and UPF 144 may be configured to interact and map TSN features and RAN features. In general, wireless TSN bridge 120 may operate to meet the characteristics required of TSN 104. Some of the main characteristics include time synchronization in all network nodes (including bridges) in the TSN, such AS defined in the IEEE 802.1AS standard based on 1588 precision time protocol; scheduling and traffic shaping (such as defined in the IEEE 802.1Qbv standard); transmission path selection, resource reservation (such as defined in the IEEE 802.1Qcc standard), and fault tolerance (such as defined in the IEEE 802.1CB standard); etc.

Among other things, as an important component of the TSN traffic guarantee mechanism in TSN 104, the transmission path selection and resource reservation mechanism needs to collect capability information for each TSN bridge in TSN 104. Such capability information (including delay budget, local processing time, etc.) may be used to determine the appropriate transmission paths between all TSN bridges and configure resource reservations in the corresponding bridges for traffic transmission. These functions are described in, for example, IEEE 802.1Qcc and can be implemented using three alternative models, including a fully distributed model, a fully centralized model, and a centralized network/distributed user model (hybrid mode).

The fully distributed model requires individual bridges in the TSN to negotiate and determine path and resource reservations. In the fully centralized model, a Centralized Network Configuration (CNC) element and a Centralized User Configuration (CUC) element are included to implement transmission path selection and resource reservation mechanisms. The example of FIG. 1 is illustrated in terms of such a fully centralized model, including CNC element 160 and CUC element 162. The CNC element 160 and the CUC element 162 may be implemented at one or more physical devices or servers. For ease of discussion, CNC element 160 and CUC element 162 may sometimes be referred to as control network devices.

CUC element 162 is configured to collect from TSN endpoint stations 132 the requirements of the communication flow between the TSN endpoint stations (the communication link between CUC element 162 and TSN endpoint stations 132 is omitted from fig. 1 for clarity). CUC element 162 converts the collected requirements regarding the communication flow into corresponding communication requests for the TSN.

CNC element 160 is configured to obtain topology information about TSN 104, for example, via a Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) procedure, and request that TSN bridges, including wireless TSN bridge 120 and TSN bridge 122, report their capability information in processing traffic. In wireless TSN bridge 120, CPF 142 may be responsible for collecting capability information of network devices 112 in RAN 110 and reporting to CNC 162. Upon receiving a request from CUC element 162, CNC element 160 may calculate the path and the reservation of resources of the TSN bridges involved in the path, and may then configure each of the corresponding bridges so that a service flow with the required requirements may be established. The CNC element 160 may allocate the configuration of TSN bridges so that these bridges can handle traffic appropriately.

In the mixed mode, the CUC element 162 is not included in the TSN 104 and the TSN endpoint station 132 may report the requirements of the communication flow to the CNC element 160 through the TSN bridge to which it is connected. The function of the CNC element 160 remains substantially the same as in the full centralized mode.

It has now been proposed to support integration of wireless communication networks into TSNs in a fully centralized model. It will be appreciated that the other two models may also support network integration. Some example embodiments of the present disclosure described below relate to CNC elements in fully centralized models and hybrid models. However, some example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented in a fully distributed model. The scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this respect.

It should be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices is for illustration purposes only and does not imply any limitation. Networks 110 and 104 may include any suitable number of devices suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure.

In the illustrated example, it is assumed that the TSN endpoint station is separate from the terminal device in the RAN. For example, the TSN endpoint station may be a mobile robot, mobile platform, or automated vehicle carrying RAN terminal equipment. In some cases, the TSN endpoint station and the end device may be considered as a whole from the perspective of the RAN. The mobility of TSN endpoint stations (such as mobile robots and mobile platforms) represents the movement of the terminal devices they carry. A terminal device moving in the RAN may change network devices that are adapted to be served by the terminal device and may change the UPF in the TSN for communication with devices outside the wireless TSN bridge. This may trigger a handover of the terminal device to another network device in the RAN.

Currently, handover within the RAN of a wireless communication network is mainly dependent on the quality of the wireless signals received by the terminal device from the network device to which the terminal device is handed over. However, when a wireless communication network is integrated with another network, such as a wired communication network TSN, merely satisfying signal quality within the RAN does not guarantee that communication requirements within the TSN are also satisfied after a terminal device switches to a different network device.

According to some example embodiments of the present disclosure, a scheme for handover in an integrated network is presented. In this scheme, if the source network device is ready to switch the terminal device to a target network device in a first network (such as a wireless communication network), and if the terminal device has traffic to transmit from the source network device over a second network (e.g., a wired communication network such as a TSN), the source network device determines whether the requirements of the traffic are satisfied in the transmission from the target network device over the second network. The source network device then determines whether to initiate a handoff of the terminal device to the target network device. By this solution, traffic transfer of the terminal device through the second network can still be of satisfactory quality after handover to and service by the further network device by ensuring that the traffic requirements are fulfilled during handover.

The principles and embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the drawings. Referring now to fig. 2, fig. 2 illustrates a signaling diagram of a handover procedure 200 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Process 200 may be implemented in a communication architecture (such as that shown in fig. 1) that integrates two types of networks. For ease of discussion, process 200 will be described with reference to fig. 1. Process 200 may involve source network device 112, core network device 142, and possibly control network device 160 of terminal device 130 as shown in fig. 1. It should be appreciated that although the handoff process 200 has been described in the architecture 100 of fig. 1 with a wireless communication network and a wired communication network (such as a TSN) integrated therein, the process is equally applicable to other communication architectures with two different types of networks integrated therein.

In process 200, source network device 112 selects 205 a target network device 112 in a first network 102 (e.g., wireless communication network 102) as a handover candidate for terminal device 130. Terminal device 130 is currently served by source network device 112. The first network may be any type of wireless communication network based on any suitable communication protocol.

The serving network devices of the terminal device 130 in the first network 102 need to be changed by the handover procedure for various reasons. One of the reasons may be the movement of the terminal device 130. For example, the terminal device 130 initially located in the cell 114 of the source network device 112 is currently moving from the cell 114 towards its neighboring cell 114. During such mobility handover, the terminal device 130 may measure received signal quality of one or more neighboring cells and report the measurements to the source network device 112 according to a predetermined configuration. After receiving the report, the source network device 112 may begin a handover decision process and select the network device 112 from one or more possible network devices in the neighboring cell as a potential handover target for the terminal device 130. The selection of the target network device 112 may be based on reported signal quality, radio Resource Management (RRM) information, and/or other relevant factors. In some other cases, the handover of the terminal device 130 may be triggered by load balancing requirements between the network devices 112 and/or any other reason. In any event, the source network device 112 selects the network device 112 as a handover candidate.

According to example embodiments of the present disclosure, source network device 112 also considers traffic requirements of terminal device 130 in communications over second network 104 (such as TSN 104) in addition to or in lieu of meeting some predefined criteria (such as signal quality-based criteria) for handover of terminal device 130 of RAN 110 in first network 102. In an example embodiment of the present disclosure, the first network 102 and the second network 104 are integrated together, which means that certain traffic may be transmitted from one of the first network and the second network to the other network. The first network and the second network are of different types to support different communication protocols. Some switching functions in the control plane and the user plane may be required to support communication in the boundary of the two networks. Architecture 100 shown in fig. 1 is an example of such network integration.

Upon selecting the target network device 112, the source network device 112 determines 210 whether the terminal device 130 has traffic to transmit from the source network device 112 over the second network 104. Traffic may be related to the type of service supported by the second network 104, such as time sensitive services. Such traffic may also be referred to as TSC traffic. Examples of time sensitive services may include, but are not limited to eMBB, mMTC, URLLC and/or any other service that is sensitive to delay. End device 130 in first network 102 may or may not have ongoing traffic needs to be transmitted through second network 104 to its destination, such as TSN endpoint station 132-2. In some example embodiments, the source network device 112 may have established a communication session with the terminal device 130 for ongoing traffic of a particular service. In some example embodiments, the source network device 112 may have multiple communication sessions established for the delivery of different traffic.

If it is determined that the terminal device 130 has ongoing traffic for transmission over the second network 104, the source network device 112 initiates a capability assessment procedure to obtain capability information indicating whether the requirements of the traffic are met in a transmission from the target network device over the second network 104. In example embodiments of the present disclosure, whether the demand of ongoing traffic can be met is an important factor in deciding whether the target network device 112 can actually be used as a handover target. The satisfaction of this flow requirement is evaluated by: it is predicted whether the traffic can be delivered to its destination if it is transmitted by the target network device 112 to the second network 104. For TSC traffic, the requirement may be related to delay requirements and/or jitter requirements for traffic delivery, as delay and jitter are some of the deterministic quality of service (QoS) requirements of TSC traffic. By taking such requirements into account, qoS of traffic after successful handover of the terminal device 130 to the target network device 112 can be guaranteed.

Specifically, during the capability assessment process, the source network device 112 transmits 215 a request to the core network device 142 to determine capability information (sometimes referred to hereinafter as a "first request"), because the source network device 112 may not be able to communicate directly with the control plane devices in the second network 104.

The request may be transmitted via an N2 interface between the source network device 112 and the core network device 142. In one example, the request may be referred to as a "TSC capability assessment request" (TSC Capability Evaluation Request). To allow the core network device 142 to identify a particular request (which request is from the source network device 112), the request may include an identification of the terminal device, an identification of the target network device, and an identification of the traffic (such as an identifier of a session established for the traffic, e.g., a Packet Data Unit (PDU) session ID). If there are multiple sessions on the terminal device 130 for different traffic, all sessions may be affected by the handover and thus the identity of all sessions may be included in the request.

In some example embodiments, where no ongoing traffic is used by terminal device 130 for transmission from source network device 112 through second network 104, the capability assessment procedure may be skipped, and source network device 112 may determine whether to initiate a handover procedure with respect to the selected target network device 112 according to predefined criteria defined for RAN 110.

In an embodiment that initiates the capability assessment process, upon receiving a request from the source network device 112, the core network device 142 determines 220 the requested capability information. The core network device 142 may include various NF elements that may communicate with each other to process requests. The determination of capability information may be performed primarily by one NF element in the core network apparatus 142 with the assistance from other NF elements therein. Here, by considering the internal NF elements as a whole, some general operations at the core network apparatus 142 will be first described. The detailed interactions between NF elements in the core network device 142 will be described in further detail below.

In the case of integration of the first network 102 and the second network 104, the inventors have found that traffic requirements may not be met after a handoff due to a change in UPF responsible for interactions with network nodes external to the wireless TSN bridge 120, such as TSN bridge 122. The transfer of traffic, such as TSC traffic, is performed by the source network device 112, which means that the UPF to which the source network device 112 is connected and the path in the second network 104 to which the UPF is connected are able to meet the traffic requirements. Thus, if the target network device 112 is also connected to the same UPF, the path in the second network 104 is unchanged and, correspondingly, the transport performance for the traffic is unchanged. If the terminal device 130 is actually handed over to the target network device 112, the traffic requirements may still be met.

Since UPFs may be connected to one or more network devices 112 in RAN 110 of first network 102, changes to serving network device 112 may or may not change the UPF used in interaction with TSN bridge 122. Thus, in some example embodiments, the core network device 142 may determine the requested capability information by detecting whether the UPF 144 (sometimes referred to as a "second NF element" or "second UPF") for the target network device 112 is different than the UPF (sometimes referred to as a "first NF element" or "first UPF") for the source network device 112.

Fig. 3A and 3B show two examples, respectively, illustrating the UPF of the target network device 112 being changed and remaining unchanged. In the examples of fig. 3A and 3B, some components in architecture 100 of fig. 1 are omitted for clarity. In both examples, the terminal device 130 is served by the source network device 112-1 in the cell 114-1 and is moving to be close to another network device 112-2 in the cell 114-2. The source network device 112-1 selects the network device 112-2 as the target network device for the handover of the terminal device 130. To determine whether the target network device 112-2 may be used for an actual handover, upon request, the core network device 142 may determine whether the UPFs to which the two network devices 112 are connected are different.

In the example of FIG. 3A, the source network device 112-1 connects to a UPF (denoted herein as UPF 144-1) to support interactions with TSN bridges in the TSN 104. Depending on this UPF 144-1, the network device 112-1, the core network device 142, and the UPF 144-1 may logically form a wireless TSN bridge (denoted herein as wireless TSN bridge 120-1). The target network device 112-2 connects to another UPF (denoted herein as UPF 144-2), which enables the network device 112-2, core network device 142, and UPF 144-1 to logically form a wireless TSN bridge (denoted herein as wireless TSN bridge 120-2). As shown, if a handoff to the target network device 112-2 is performed, traffic for the terminal device 130 may be communicated to the TSN 104 through the UPF 144-2 external to the bridge 120-2. The communication path in TSN 104 may also change because UPF 144-2 may be connected to a different TSN bridge 122 in TSN 104 than the one to which UPF 144-1 is connected. In this example, the delivery of traffic may be affected by the handover and further evaluation of whether the traffic's requirements can be met may be required. In the example of fig. 3B, the source network device 112-1 and the target network device 112-3 are connected to the same UPF 144-1 and thus may be logically considered to be within the same wireless TSN bridge 120-1. In this example, changes in the network device have no effect on the delivery of traffic through TSN 104.

If the UPF 144 of the target network device 112 is detected to be the same as the UPF 144 of the source network device 112, the core network device 142 directly determines that the capability information indicates that the requirements of the traffic are met, and provides 225 the determined capability information to the source network device 112 as a response to the request (sometimes referred to as a "first response"). In addition to the capability information, the first response may also include an identification of the traffic, an identification of the terminal device 130, and an identification of the target network device 112. The identification information may be those included in the first request and may be used to indicate with which traffic, terminal device and target network device the capability information in the response relates. The first request may be referred to as a "TSC capability assessment response" (TSC Capability Evaluation Response).

If the UPF 144 of the target network device 112 is detected to be different from the UPF 144 of the source network device 112, the core network device 142 may need to determine whether the traffic requirements can be met further based on the new UPF 144. More specifically, it is determined whether a path can be found that can be used for the transfer of the traffic from the new UPF 144 when the requirements are met. Such determination of paths may be performed by a control network device in the second network 104, such as the control network device 160 (i.e., the CNC element 160), assuming that the second network 104 is based on a fully centralized model or hybrid model for transmission path selection. In the event that the UPF 144 of the target network device 112 is different from the UPF 144 of the source network device 112, the core network device 142 transmits 230 a request (sometimes referred to as a "second request") to the control network device 160 to determine capability information.

The request from the core network device 142 may include an identification of the traffic, which is used to identify the traffic in the second network 104. Such an identification may be translated from an identification (such as a PDU session ID) used to identify traffic within the first network 102, and may be, for example, a TSN flow ID corresponding to the traffic. If multiple sessions are established for different flows, the corresponding TSN stream ID may be included in the request.

The request from the core network device 142 may also include information indicating the capabilities of a logical wireless TSN bridge (such as wireless TSN bridge 120-2 in the example of fig. 3A) corresponding to the new UPF 144 of the target network device 112. Such information is required to control the network device 160 for transmission path selection and may include, for example, delay information for traffic from receipt by the target network device 112 of a transmission from the UPF 144 of the target network device 112. The request from the core network device 142 may be considered a "TSN capability report" (TSN Capability Report) for requesting the control network device 160 to evaluate capability information indicating whether the requirements of the traffic can be met via the new UPF 144.

Upon receiving the request from the core network device 142, the control network device 160 detects 235 the presence of a path in the second network 104 that can be used for delivery of the traffic if the requirements of the traffic are met. The control network device 160 may apply various techniques/algorithms to determine whether the path exists in the second network 104. Upon detection of this path, the control network device 160 may collect network topology information, delay information related to each of the TSN bridges in the second network 104, and so on. Based on the collected information and delay information from core network device 142, control network device 160 may then determine whether a path meeting the traffic requirements may be found in second network 104 for transmission of TSN traffic. Because of the change in UPF, if such a path can be found in the second network 104, some TSN bridges may change from the path of the UPF from the source network device 112. In some cases, due to the change in UPF, the controlling network device 160 may not find a suitable path in the second network 104 to meet the traffic requirements of the terminal device 130.

Depending on the detection result, the control network device 160 transmits 240 a response to the request (i.e., a "second response" to the "second request") to the core network device 142. In response to detecting the presence of the path, a second response to the second request may include capability information indicating that the requirements of the traffic are satisfied. In response to detecting the absence of the path, a second response to the second request may include capability information indicating that the requirements of the traffic cannot be met. The second response may include an identification of the traffic (such as included in the second request) to indicate with which traffic the capability information relates.

Upon receiving the second response from the controlling network device 160, the core network device 142 can determine a first response to the first request in the event of a UPF change. Thus, core network device 142 indicates the same capability information received from control network device 160 into a first response and transmits 245 the first response to source network device 112. Similarly, as described above, the first response may include, in addition to the capability information, an identification of the traffic, an identification of the terminal device 130, and an identification of the target network device 112.

In some of the example embodiments described above, the control network device 160 is included in the second network 104 to evaluate whether a path for the target network device 112 may be found in the event of a UPF change. In some implementations of the second network 104 in which the control network device 160 is not included (such as implementations based on a fully distributed model), the functionality described with respect to the control network device 160 may be implemented in a distributed manner by individual TSN bridges in the second network 104. In this case, even without a centralized control network device, the TSN bridge can determine capability information through a negotiation process.

The source network device 112 obtains capability information indicated in the first response at 225 or 245. The capability information may be used as an important reference to assist the source network device 112 in making handover decisions for the terminal device 130. Specifically, the source network device 112 determines 250 initiation of a handover of the terminal device to the target network device based on the capability information. Thus, in handover within an integrated network, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure, the source network device 112 makes handover decisions by taking into account both intra-network communication quality and cross-network communication to meet certain requirements of certain types of traffic.

The source network device 112 may initiate a handoff of the terminal device 130 to the target network device 112 if the capability information indicates that the requirements of the traffic are met. The initiation of the handover may follow the normal handover procedure. For example, the source network device 112 may send a handover request to the target network device 112. The target network device 112 performs admission control and sends a message to acknowledge or reject the handover request. If the handover request is acknowledged, the source network device 112 may perform subsequent handover execution and completion phases. If the handover request is denied, the source network device 112 may select another network device 112 (if any) as a handover candidate for the terminal device 130, and a similar process may be performed to evaluate whether a handover to that device 130 is appropriate.

In some example embodiments, the source network device 112 may discard the target network device as a handover candidate for the terminal device if the capability information indicates that the requirements of the traffic cannot be met. In this case, the source network device 112 may also consider another network device 112 (if any) as a handover candidate for the terminal device 130.

As described above, the core network device 142 (i.e., the CPF 142) may include one or more NF elements to implement the corresponding functions associated with the core network device 142. NF elements may vary depending on the type of wireless communication network 102. An example of the core network device 142 in 5GS is provided as an example in fig. 4A, but it should be understood that other manners of NF element partitioning may be employed in other wireless communication networks.

As shown in fig. 4A, the core network device 142 (i.e., CPF 142) includes an access and mobility management function (AMF) 402, a Session Management Function (SMF) 404, a Packet Control Function (PCF) 406, and an Application Function (AF) 408. One or more of these NF elements may be implemented at one or more physical devices or servers. Although not shown, the CN of the wireless communication network 102 may include more, fewer, or different NF elements.

AF 408 may be configured to implement CP functionality responsible for forwarding control plane signaling from wireless TSN bridge 120 to other bridges in TSN 104. AMF 402 may be configured to interact with RAN 110 (specifically, network device 112 in RAN 110). In some example embodiments, the SMF 404 may be configured to connect to one or more UPFs 144 in the CN 140 and monitor the connection between the network device 112 and the UPF 144.

Fig. 4B illustrates a signaling diagram of a process 400 implemented at the core network device 142 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Process 400 is triggered by a first request transmitted 215 from source network device 112 in process 200. The process 400 may involve NF elements in the core network device 142, including AMF 402, SMF 404, PCF 406, and AF 408.AMF 402 has an interface to source network device 112 and AF 408 has an interface to control network device 160.

In process 400, the AMF 402 receives 215 a first request to determine capability information indicating whether a requirement of a traffic is satisfied in a transmission from a target network device over the second network 104. The first request is described above. The AMF 402 causes 405 a first request to be provided to the SMF 404 to inform the SMF 404 that TSC capability assessment is requested for handover of the terminal device 130 to the target network device 112 (as indicated in the first request). A message "nsmf_pudsession_ UpdateSMContext Request" is transmitted from AMF 402 to SMF 404 to convey the first request, which may carry an identification of the traffic, an identification of terminal device 130, and an identification of target network device 112.

The SMF 404 has an interface with the UPF 144 and may determine 410 the requested capability information by at least detecting whether the target network device 112 is connected to a different UPF 144 than the source network device 112 upon receiving the request from the AMF 402. As discussed in detail above, if the UPF 144 of the target network device 112 is detected to be the same as the UPF 144 of the source network device 112, the SMF 404 transmits 415 a first response to the first request, the first response including capability information indicating that the requirements of the traffic are met. The AMF 402 provides 225 a first response to the source network device 112.

In some example embodiments, there is a new monitoring event defined for SMF 404, referred to as a "UPF change for potential handover" (Change of UPF for potential handover), which enables SMF 404 to actively monitor for potential UPF changes due to mobility of terminal device 130 of RAN 110. The monitoring results may be reported to the AMF 402 to indicate whether the demand for flow is met.

In some cases, if the UPF 144 of the target network device 112 is detected to be different from the UPF 144 of the source network device 112, the SMF 404 initiates 420 a notification of the new UPF 144 information to the PCF 406, which PCF 406 forwards 425 the notification to the AF 408 through a network capability exposure notification process. The notification transmitted from the SMF 404 to the AF 408 may include an identification of the UPF 144 of the target network device 112, and may also include an identification of the traffic, an identification of the terminal device 130, and an identification of the target network device 112. After receiving the information of the new UPF 144, the AF 408 may combine the previously stored residence time information and port information of the terminal device 130 and UPF 144 to determine 430 the capabilities of the new logical wireless TSN bridge corresponding to the new UPF 144. The AF 408 may convert the identification of traffic into an identification that may be used to identify traffic in the second network 104.

The AF 408 transmits 230 a second request to request the controlling network device 160 to determine capability information by: the identification of the traffic and information indicating the determined capabilities of the new logical wireless TSN bridge are included. The AF 408 then receives 240 a second response to the second request from the controlling network device 160. The second response may include capability information determined by the controlling network device 160 indicating whether the requirements of the traffic are met. The second response may also include an identification of the traffic (such as included in the second request) to indicate with which traffic the capability information relates.

Upon receiving the second response, AF 408 may map the identity of the traffic back to an identity that may be used to identify the traffic in RAN 110. The AF 408 transmits 435 capability information and other processing information in the second response to the PCF 406, for example, via the message "namf_communication_tsnecalcationresult_notify". PCF 406 forwards 440 it to SMF 404. The SMF 404 further forwards 445 the information to the AMF 402, for example by a message "nsmf_pudsession_ UpdateSMContext Response". The AMF 402 then transmits 245 a first response to the source network device 112, the first response comprising the determined capability information, and possibly in addition to the capability information, an identification of the traffic, an identification of the terminal device 130, and an identification of the target network device 112.

It should be appreciated that interactions between NF elements in the core network apparatus 142 are described above for illustrative purposes only. In NF elements, the SMF 404 operates to perform the primary function of detecting UPF changes. Other NF elements are primarily used to enable interactions with other network devices. It will be appreciated that other interaction procedures are possible in the core network device 142.

Fig. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 500 implemented at a source network device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes, the method 500 will be described with reference to fig. 1 from the perspective of the source network device 112.

At block 510, the source network device 112 selects a target network device as a handover candidate for a terminal device served by the source network device. The source network device and the target network device are included in a first network. At block 520, the source network device 112 determines whether the terminal device has traffic to transmit from the source network device over the second network. The first network and the second network are of different types. In block 530, in response to determining that the terminal device has the traffic, the source network device 112 obtains capability information indicating whether the requirements of the traffic are satisfied in the transmission from the target network device over the second network. At block 540, the source network device 112 determines initiation of a handover of the terminal device to the target network device based on the capability information.

In some example embodiments, determining the capability information includes: transmitting a request to a core network device to determine capability information, the core network device being connected to a further network device in the second network, the request comprising an identity of the terminal device, an identity of the target network device and an identity of the traffic; and receiving a response to the request from the core network device, the response indicating the capability information.

In some exemplary embodiments, determining the capability information includes: responding to the requirement that the capability information indicates the flow is satisfied, and initiating the switching from the terminal equipment to the target network equipment; and discarding the target network device as a handover candidate for the terminal device in response to the capability information indicating that the requirement of the traffic cannot be met.

In some example embodiments, the source network device and the target network device are connected to a first network function element and a second network function element, the first network function element and the second network function element configured for forwarding traffic from the first network to the second network.

In some example embodiments, the traffic is related to a time sensitive service, and the requirement of the traffic includes at least one of a delay requirement and a jitter requirement for delivery of the traffic.

In some example embodiments, the first network is a wireless communication network and the second network is a time sensitive network.

Fig. 6 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 600 implemented at a core network device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The core network device may be the entire core network device 142 in fig. 1 or the SMF 404 in the core network device 142. For discussion purposes, the method 600 will be described with reference to fig. 1 from the perspective of the core network device 142.

At block 610, core network device 142 obtains a first request from a source network device in the first network to determine capability information indicating whether a requirement of traffic of the terminal device is satisfied in a transmission from a target network device over the second network. The target network device is selected by the source network device for handover of the terminal device, and the first network and the second network are of different types. In response to the first request, the core network device 142 determines capability information by at least detecting whether the second network function element for the target network device is different from the first network function element for the source network device, at block 620. The first network function element and the second network function element are configured for forwarding traffic from the first network to the second network. At block 630, the core network device 142 provides the determined capability information to the source network device as a first response to the first request.

In some example embodiments, determining the capability information includes: in response to the second network function element being the same as the first network function element, it is determined that the capability information indicates that the requirement of the traffic is satisfied.

In some example embodiments, determining the capability information includes: responsive to the second network function element being different from the first network function element, causing a second request to be provided to a further network device in the second network to determine capability information, the second request including an identification of the traffic and delay information of the traffic from receipt by the target network device of the transmission from the first network function element; and obtaining a second response to the second request from the further network device, the second response comprising the capability information.

In some example embodiments, the second response includes capability information indicating that the requirement of the traffic is met if: the presence of a path in the second network may be used for the transfer of traffic from the second network function element when the demand is met, or the second response may include capability information indicating that the demand for traffic cannot be met without the presence of the path in the second network.

In some example embodiments, the first request includes an identification of the terminal device, an identification of the target network device, and an identification of the traffic.

Fig. 7 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 700 implemented at a control network device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes, the method 700 will be described with reference to fig. 1 from the perspective of the control network device 160.

At block 710, the control network device 160 obtains a request from the core network device to determine capability information indicating whether the requirements of the traffic of the terminal device are met in a transmission from the target network device in the first network over the second network. The target network device is selected by a source network device in the first network for handover of the terminal device, and the first network and the second network are of different types. In response to the request, the control network device 160 detects in the second network that the path is available for delivery of the traffic meeting the demand, block 720. Based on the detection, the control network device 160 transmits a response to the request to the core network device, the response including capability information to indicate whether the requirements of the traffic are met, block 730.

In some example embodiments, transmitting the response to the request includes: transmitting a response to the request in response to detecting the presence of the path, the response including capability information indicating that the requirement of the traffic is satisfied; and in response to detecting the absence of the path, transmitting a response to the request, the response including capability information indicating that the requirement of the traffic cannot be satisfied.

In some example embodiments, the request includes an identification of the traffic and delay information of the traffic from receipt by the target network device of the transmission from the network function element configured for forwarding of the traffic from the first network to the second network.

In some example embodiments, the traffic is related to a time sensitive service, and the requirement of the traffic includes at least one of a delay requirement and a jitter requirement for the delivery of the traffic.

In some example embodiments, an apparatus (e.g., source network device 112) capable of performing any one of the methods 500 may include means for performing the respective steps of the methods 500. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software modules.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus includes means for selecting, at a source network device, a target network device as a handover candidate for a terminal device served by the source network device, the source network device and the target network device being included in a first network; means for determining whether the terminal device has traffic to be transferred from the source network device over a second network, the first network and the second network being of different types; means for obtaining capability information in response to determining that the terminal device has the traffic, the capability information indicating whether a requirement of the traffic is met in a transmission from the target network device over the second network; and means for determining initiation of handover of the terminal device to the target network device based on the capability information.

In some example embodiments, determining the capability information includes transmitting a request to a core network device to determine the capability information, the core network device being connected to a further network device in the second network, the request including an identification of the terminal device, an identification of the target network device, and an identification of the traffic; and receiving a response to the request from the core network device, the response indicating the capability information.

In some example embodiments, the means for determining the capability information comprises: means for initiating a handover of the terminal device to the target network device in response to the capability information indicating that the requirement of the traffic is met; and means for discarding the target network device as a handover candidate for the terminal device in response to the capability information indicating that the requirement of the traffic cannot be met.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus further includes means for performing other steps in some example embodiments of the method 500. In some example embodiments, such components include at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause execution of the apparatus.

In some example embodiments, an apparatus (e.g., core network device 142) capable of performing any one of the methods 600 may include means for performing the respective steps of the method 600. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software components.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus includes means for obtaining, at a core network device, a first request from a source network device in a first network to determine capability information indicating whether a requirement of traffic of a terminal device is met in a transmission from a target network device over a second network, the target network device selected by the source network device for handover of the terminal device, and the first network and the second network being of different types; determining capability information at least by detecting whether a second network function element for the target network device is different from a first network function element for the source network device in response to the first request, the first network function element and the second network function element configured for forwarding traffic from the first network to the second network; and means for providing the determined capability information to the source network device as a first response to the first request.

In some example embodiments, the means for determining the capability information comprises: means for determining that the capability information indicates that the requirement of the traffic is met in response to the second network function being the same as the first network function.

In some example embodiments, the means for determining the capability information comprises: means for causing a second request to be provided to a further network device in the second network to determine capability information in response to the second network function being different from the first network function, the second request including an identification of the traffic and delay information of the traffic from receipt by the target network device of the transmission from the first network function; and means for obtaining a second response to the second request from the further network device, the second response comprising capability information.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus further includes means for performing other steps in some example embodiments of the method 600. In some example embodiments, such components include at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause execution of the apparatus.

In some example embodiments, an apparatus (e.g., control network device 160) capable of performing any of the methods 700 may include means for performing the respective steps of the methods 700. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software components.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus includes means for obtaining, at a controlling network device, a request from a core network device to determine capability information indicating whether a requirement of traffic of a terminal device is met in transmission from a target network device in a first network through a second network, the target network device selected by a source network device in the first network for handover of the terminal device, and the first network and the second network being of different types; means for detecting, in response to the request, the presence of a path in the second network, the path being available for delivery of traffic meeting the demand; and means for transmitting a response to the request to the core network device based on the detection, the response including capability information to indicate whether the requirement of the traffic is met.

In some example embodiments, the means for transmitting a response to the request comprises: means for transmitting a response to the request in response to detecting the presence of the path, the response including capability information indicating that the requirement of traffic is satisfied; and means for transmitting a response to the request in response to detecting the absence of the path, the response including capability information indicating that the requirement of traffic cannot be met.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus further includes means for performing other steps in some example embodiments of the method 700. In some example embodiments, such components include at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause execution of the apparatus.

Fig. 8 is a simplified block diagram of a device 800 suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. Device 800 may be provided to implement a communication device such as network device 112, core network device 142, or control network device 160 shown in fig. 1. As shown, the device 800 includes one or more processors 810, one or more memories 820 coupled to the processors 810, and one or more communication modules 840 coupled to the processors 810.

The communication module 840 is used for two-way communication. The communication module 840 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface required to communicate with other network elements.

The processor 810 may be of any type suitable to the local technology network and may include, as non-limiting examples, one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital Signal Processors (DSPs), and processors based on a multi-core processor architecture. The device 800 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock that is synchronized to the master processor.

Memory 820 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memory include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) 824, electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, a hard disk, a Compact Disk (CD), a Digital Video Disk (DVD), and other magnetic and/or optical storage devices. Examples of volatile memory include, but are not limited to, random Access Memory (RAM) 822 and other volatile memory that do not last for the duration of the power outage.

The computer program 830 includes computer-executable instructions that are executed by an associated processor 810. Program 830 may be stored in ROM 824. Processor 810 may perform any suitable actions and processes by loading program 830 into RAM 822.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by the program 830 such that the device 800 may perform any of the processes of the present disclosure as discussed with reference to fig. 2-7. Example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented in hardware or a combination of software and hardware.

In some example embodiments, the program 830 may be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, which may be included in the device 800 (such as in the memory 820) or other storage device accessible to the device 800. Device 800 may load program 830 from a computer readable medium into RAM 822 for execution. The computer readable medium may include any type of tangible, non-volatile memory, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, etc. Fig. 9 shows an example of a computer readable medium 900 in the form of a CD or DVD. The computer readable medium has a program 830 stored thereon.

In general, the various embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of the embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that the blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination of the foregoing.

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product comprises computer executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, which are executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor to perform the methods described above with reference to fig. 2-7. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data types, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within local or distributed devices. In distributed devices, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage media.

Program code for carrying out the methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, causes the functions/operations specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on the machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

In the context of this disclosure, computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable an apparatus, device, or processor to perform the various processes and operations described above. Examples of carriers include signals, computer readable media, and the like.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of a computer-readable storage medium include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination thereof.

Moreover, although operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Also, while the above discussion contains several specific implementation details, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

Although the disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A source network device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

selecting a target network device as a handover candidate for a terminal device served by the source network device, the source network device and the target network device being included in a first network;

determining whether the terminal device has traffic to be transmitted from the source network device over a second network, the first network and the second network being of different types;

responsive to determining that the terminal device has the traffic, obtaining capability information indicating whether a requirement of the traffic is satisfied in a transmission from the target network device over the second network; and

And determining initiation of handover of the terminal device to the target network device based on the capability information.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to determine the capability information by:

transmitting a request to a core network device to determine the capability information, the core network device being connected to a further network device in the second network, the request comprising an identity of the terminal device, an identity of the target network device and an identity of the traffic; and

a response to the request is received from the core network device, the response indicating the capability information.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to determine initiation of the handover by:

initiating the handover of the terminal device to the target network device in response to the capability information indicating that the requirement of the traffic is met; and

discarding the target network device as the handover candidate of the terminal device in response to the capability information indicating that the requirement of the traffic cannot be met.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the source network device and the target network device are connected to a first network function element and a second network function element, the first network function element and the second network function element configured for forwarding of the traffic from the first network to the second network.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the traffic is related to a time sensitive service and the requirement of the traffic comprises at least one of a delay requirement and a jitter requirement for transmission of the traffic.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first network is a wireless communication network and the second network is a time sensitive network.

7. A core network device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

obtaining a first request from a source network device in a first network to determine capability information indicating whether a requirement of traffic of a terminal device is met in a transmission from a target network device over a second network, the target network device being selected by the source network device for handover of the terminal device, and the first network and the second network being of different types;

Determining, in response to the first request, the capability information at least by detecting whether a second network function element for the target network device is different from a first network function element for the source network device, the first network function element and the second network function element being configured for forwarding of the traffic from the first network to the second network; and

the determined capability information is provided to the source network device as a first response to the first request.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to determine the capability information by:

in response to the second network function element being the same as the first network function element, determining that the capability information indicates that the requirement of the traffic is satisfied.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to determine the capability information by:

responsive to the second network function element being different from the first network function element, causing a second request to be provided to a further network device in the second network to determine the capability information, the second request including an identification of the traffic and delay information of the traffic from receipt by the target network device of a transmission from the first network function element; and

A second response to the second request is obtained from the further network device, the second response comprising the capability information.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the second response includes capability information indicating that the requirement of the flow is satisfied if: the presence of a path in the second network may be used for the transfer of the traffic from the second network function element when the requirement is fulfilled, or

Wherein the second response includes capability information indicating that the requirement of the traffic cannot be met without the path being present in the second network.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the first request includes an identification of the terminal device, an identification of the target network device, and an identification of the traffic.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the traffic is related to a time sensitive service and the requirement of the traffic comprises at least one of a delay requirement and a jitter requirement for transmission of the traffic.

13. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the first network is a wireless communication network and the second network is a time sensitive network.

14. A control network device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

obtaining a request from a core network device to determine capability information indicating whether a requirement of traffic of a terminal device is met in a transmission from a target network device in a first network through a second network, the target network device being selected by a source network device in the first network for handover of the terminal device, and the first network and the second network being of different types;

in response to the request, detecting the presence of a path in the second network, the path being available for transmission of the traffic when the requirement is satisfied; and

based on the detecting, a response to the request is transmitted to the core network device, the response including capability information to indicate whether the requirement of the traffic is met.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to transmit the response to the request by:

Transmitting the response to the request in response to detecting the presence of the path, the response including capability information indicating that the requirement of the traffic is satisfied; and

in response to detecting the absence of the path, transmitting the response to the request, the response including capability information indicating that the requirement of the traffic cannot be satisfied.

16. The device of claim 14, wherein the request includes an identification of the traffic and delay information of the traffic from receipt by the target network device of a transmission from a network function configured for forwarding of the traffic from the first network to the second network.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the traffic is related to a time sensitive service and the requirement of the traffic comprises at least one of a delay requirement and a jitter requirement for transmission of the traffic.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the first network is a wireless communication network and the second network is a time sensitive network.

19. A handover method, comprising:

selecting, at a source network device, a target network device as a handover candidate for a terminal device served by the source network device, the source network device and the target network device being included in a first network;

20. The method of claim 19, wherein determining the capability information comprises:

21. The method of claim 19, wherein determining the capability information comprises:

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the source network device and the target network device are connected to a first network function element and a second network function element, the first network function element and the second network function element configured for forwarding of the traffic from the first network to the second network.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the traffic is related to a time sensitive service and the requirement of the traffic comprises at least one of a delay requirement and a jitter requirement for transmission of the traffic.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the first network is a wireless communication network and the second network is a time sensitive network.

25. A method of communication, comprising:

at a core network device, obtaining a first request from a source network device in a first network to determine capability information indicating whether a requirement of traffic of a terminal device is met in a transmission from a target network device through a second network, the target network device being selected by the source network device for handover of the terminal device, and the first network and the second network being of different types;

26. The method of claim 25, wherein determining the capability information comprises:

27. The method of claim 25, wherein determining the capability information comprises:

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the second response includes capability information indicating that the requirement of the flow is satisfied if: the presence of a path in the second network may be used for the transfer of the traffic from the second network function element when the requirement is fulfilled, or

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the first request includes an identification of the terminal device, an identification of the target network device, and an identification of the traffic.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein the traffic is related to a time sensitive service and the requirement of the traffic comprises at least one of a delay requirement and a jitter requirement for transmission of the traffic.

31. The method of claim 25, wherein the first network is a wireless communication network and the second network is a time sensitive network.

32. A method of communication, comprising:

at a controlling network device, obtaining a request from a core network device to determine capability information indicating whether a requirement of traffic of a terminal device is met in a transmission from a target network device in a first network through a second network, the target network device being selected by a source network device in the first network for handover of the terminal device, and the first network and the second network being of different types;

in response to the request, detecting the presence of a path in the second network that is available for delivery of the traffic when the requirement is satisfied; and

33. The method of claim 32, wherein transmitting the response to the request comprises:

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the request includes an identification of the traffic and delay information of the traffic from receipt by the target network device of a transmission from a network function configured for forwarding of the traffic from the first network to the second network.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein the traffic is related to a time sensitive service and the requirement of the traffic comprises at least one of a delay requirement and a jitter requirement for transmission of the traffic.

36. The method of claim 32, wherein the first network is a wireless communication network and the second network is a time sensitive network.

37. An apparatus, comprising:

means for selecting, at a source network device, a target network device as a handover candidate for a terminal device served by the source network device, the source network device and the target network device being included in a first network;

means for determining whether the terminal device has traffic to be transmitted from the source network device over a second network, the first network and the second network being of different types;

Means for obtaining capability information in response to determining that the terminal device has the traffic, the capability information indicating whether a requirement of the traffic is met in a transmission from the target network device over the second network; and

means for determining initiation of a handover of the terminal device to the target network device based on the capability information.

38. An apparatus, comprising:

means for obtaining, at a core network device, a first request from a source network device in a first network to determine capability information indicating whether a requirement of traffic of a terminal device is met in a transmission from a target network device through a second network, the target network device being selected by the source network device for handover of the terminal device, and the first network and the second network being of different types;

means for determining the capability information at least by detecting whether a second network function element for the target network device is different from a first network function element for the source network device in response to the first request, the first network function element and the second network function element being configured for forwarding of the traffic from the first network to the second network; and

Means for providing the determined capability information to the source network device as a first response to the first request.

39. An apparatus, comprising:

means for obtaining, at a controlling network device, a request from a core network device to determine capability information indicating whether a requirement of traffic of a terminal device is met in a transmission from a target network device in a first network through a second network, the target network device being selected by a source network device in the first network for handover of the terminal device, and the first network and the second network being of different types;

means for detecting, in response to the request, the presence of a path in the second network, the path being available for transmission of the traffic when the requirement is satisfied; and

means for transmitting a response to the request to the core network device based on the detection, the response including capability information to indicate whether the requirement of the traffic is met.

40. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of any one of claims 19 to 24, any one of claims 25 to 31, and any one of claims 32 to 36.