CN114339882A

CN114339882A - Data transmission method, device and equipment

Info

Publication number: CN114339882A
Application number: CN202011060952.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 孙军帅; 刘光毅; 黄宇红
Original assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Current assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Priority date: 2020-09-30
Filing date: 2020-09-30
Publication date: 2022-04-12
Anticipated expiration: 2040-09-30
Also published as: WO2022068911A1; CN114339882B

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a data transmission method, a device and equipment; the method for transmitting the data of the user plane function UP of the L3 comprises the following steps: determining an order of at least one media access control, MAC, link transmitting the data packets; and transmitting the data packets according to the sequence of the at least one MAC link. The scheme of the invention reduces the cost of the length of the sequence number in the data packet.

Description

Data transmission method, device and equipment

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method, an apparatus, and a device for transmitting data.

Background

In the L2(L2, Layer2) of 5G, which includes four protocol sublayers of SDAP/PDCP/RLC/MAC, and facing the design goal of the very simple Network (Lite Network) of next generation mobile communication, it is proposed that Layer 3L3 introduces a User Plane function (UP) for data processing, and the data Plane function of L3 is directly connected with the MAC protocol function entity of L2, no matter whether other protocol entities exist in L2.

In the 3G/4G/5G system, the AS layer at the terminal side only has a Control Plane (CP), i.e. only has a rrc (radio Resource Control) protocol layer (or sublayer). The RRC protocol layer completes the radio resource control function and has no data processing function of an UP surface.

Considering that a UP function (User Plane: User Plane) is introduced into L3(Layer 3: Layer 3, RRC Layer of AS Layer in 5G system is called 3-Layer protocol) of AS Layer (Access Stratum: Access Layer) in the future, L3 UP has a data sorting function to ensure that data packets are delivered to an upper Layer in sequence. Meanwhile, when one L3 UP is simultaneously connected with a plurality of L2 functional entities, the L3 UP needs to sort data submitted by a plurality of L2 entities; and the data packets need to be distributed among different L2 entities.

Therefore, how to set the sequence number of the data packet and how to reduce the overhead of the sequence number length in the data packet become problems to be solved urgently.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides a data transmission method, a data transmission device and data transmission equipment. The method reduces the cost of the sequence number length in the data packet and realizes the flexible definition of the sequence number of the data packet.

To solve the above technical problem, an embodiment of the present invention provides the following solutions:

a data transmission method applied to layer three L3 of a sending device, the method comprising:

determining an order of at least one medium access control MAC link transmitting the data packets,

and transmitting the data packets according to the sequence of the at least one MAC link.

Optionally, the sending the data packet according to the order of the at least one MAC link includes:

according to the sequence of the at least one MAC link, distributing the sequence number of the data packet carried on the MAC link to each MAC link;

and sending the data packets according to the sequence of the at least one MAC link and the sequence number of the data packets carried on each MAC link.

Optionally, determining an order of at least one MAC link transmitting the data packet includes:

and determining the sequence of at least one MAC link for sending the data packet and the index number of the at least one MAC link according to the measurement information of the MAC link.

Optionally, the measurement information includes at least one of:

the rate of data transmission on the MAC link;

time delay of data transmission of the MAC link;

the rate at which packets of the MAC link are fragmented;

a rate at which packets of the MAC link are concatenated;

the load of the cell to which the MAC link belongs;

the total number of users that the MAC link scheduler needs to schedule.

and sequencing the at least one MAC link according to the ID of the MAC link to obtain the sequence of the at least one MAC link.

Optionally, the ID of the MAC link is an index of a sub-window in the sending window; the sub-window is a sending window of the MAC link, and the sending window includes sub-windows corresponding to all MAC links connected to the UP of the L3.

Optionally, the sequence number of the data packet carried on each MAC link is configured in the following manner:

and respectively allocating data packet clusters to each MAC link according to the sequence of the at least one MAC link, wherein the sequence numbers of the data packets in each data packet cluster are continuous.

Optionally, the data transmission method further includes: and transmitting the sequence of the at least one MAC link to the receiving device.

Optionally, the data transmission method further includes: and if the sequence of the at least one MAC link is changed, sending the changed new sequence of the at least one MAC link to the receiving equipment.

Optionally, the sending the order of the at least one MAC link to the receiving device includes:

and sending the sequence of the at least one MAC link to the receiving equipment through a protocol data unit PDU or a media access control unit MAC CE or a downlink control information DCI message.

Alternatively, the method is performed by the user plane function UP of L3.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a data transmission method, which is applied to layer three L3 of a receiving device, and the method includes:

when receiving a data packet, acquiring the sequence of at least one MAC link for transmitting the data packet;

receiving the data packets in the order of the at least one MAC link.

Optionally, the obtaining the order of the at least one MAC link for sending the data packet includes:

and receiving the sequence of the at least one MAC link transmitted by the transmitting equipment through a protocol data unit PDU or a media access control unit MAC CE or a downlink control information DCI message.

Optionally, the order of the at least one MAC link is determined according to at least one of the following:

the rate of data transmission on the MAC link;

time delay of data transmission of the MAC link;

the rate at which packets of the MAC link are fragmented;

a rate at which packets of the MAC link are concatenated;

the load of the cell to which the MAC link belongs;

total number of users that the MAC link scheduler needs to schedule

Optionally, each MAC link is respectively allocated with a packet cluster, and packet sequence numbers of each packet cluster are consecutive.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a data transmission device, which is applied to sending equipment and comprises the following components:

a user plane function UP of layer three L3 for determining an order of at least one MAC link to transmit the data packets; and transmitting the data packets according to the sequence of the at least one MAC link.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a sending device, including: layer three L3, layer two L2, and layer one L1;

the transceiver of the L3, configured to determine an order of at least one MAC link to transmit the data packets; and transmitting the data packets according to the sequence of the at least one MAC link.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a data transmission device, which is applied to receiving equipment, and the device comprises:

a user plane function UP of layer three L3, configured to, when receiving a data packet, obtain an order of at least one MAC link that sends the data packet; receiving the data packets in the order of the at least one MAC link.

Alternatively, the method is performed by the user plane function UP of L3.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a receiving device, including: layer three L3, layer two L2, and layer one L1; the transceiver of L3, configured to, when receiving a data packet, obtain an order of at least one MAC link that transmits the data packet; receiving the data packets in the order of the at least one MAC link.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a communication device, including: a processor, a memory storing a computer program which, when executed by the processor, performs the method as described above.

Embodiments of the present invention also provide a computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method as described above.

The scheme of the invention at least comprises the following beneficial effects:

in the above solution of the present invention, when the user plane function UP of the layer three L3 sends a data packet, determining the sequence of at least one MAC link for sending the data packet and the index number of the at least one MAC link; according to the sequence of the at least one MAC link, distributing the sequence number of the data packet carried on the MAC link to each MAC link; and sending the data packets according to the sequence of the at least one MAC link and the sequence number of the data packets carried on each MAC link. Therefore, the expense of the length of the sequence number in the data packet is reduced, and the flexible definition of the sequence number is realized.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of L3 UP connected to a plurality of L2 functional entities;

fig. 2 is a diagram illustrating a transmission method of the UP data of L3;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a MAC link connected with the UP of L3;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of L3 UP maintaining a virtual send window VTxW for MAC link selection;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between a predecessor MAC link and a successor MAC;

fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method for transmitting data on the receiving device side.

Detailed Description

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. While exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure may be embodied in various forms and should not be limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.

In the following examples of the invention, L1 is layer 1, L2 is layer2, and L3 is layer 3;

UP: user Plane: a user plane; a function of processing data is summarized;

and (3) CP: control Plane: a control plane; the functional totality of processing signaling and control;

the RRC in layer 3 is a control function; the newly introduced UP of layer 3 is a data processing function of layer 3. L1 is the physical layer.

And MAC link: refer to the uplink (receive) and downlink (transmit) connection links of the L3 UP with the MAC function entity.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of L3 UP connected with a plurality of L2 functional entities, wherein L3 UP is directly connected to MAC subprotocol functional entity of L2 through IP flow. The bearer between the L3 UP and the MAC subprotocol entity is IP Flow, i.e. the logical channel carrying this IP. Transmitted on each IP Flow are IP packets.

In order to realize the sorting and sequential distribution of the packets by the L3 UP, each packet needs to be assigned a Sequence Number (SN).

According to the SN mode defined by one of the sub-Protocol functions of the PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol, L2), the SN length is two bytes (two choices of 12 bits or 18 bits) and needs to be sorted by combining with Hyper Frame Number (HFN).

The SN is 12 bits or 18 bits, and the rounding bytes (8 bits, 16 bits, 24 bits, 32 bits, etc.) are because a long ordering window is required due to a delay between the receiving PDCP and the transmitting PDCP, and the SN of the PDCP is directly related to the length of the ordering window, which is 1/2 of the maximum SN. Too short an SN number for a whole byte results in too small an ordering window, or too long an SN number for a whole byte results in too large an ordering window and waste.

As shown in fig. 2, an embodiment of the present invention provides a data transmission method, which is applied to layer three L3 of a sending device, and the method includes:

step 21, determining the order of at least one medium access control, MAC, link transmitting the data packets,

and step 22, sending the data packet according to the sequence of the at least one MAC link.

In a specific implementation manner of this embodiment, the step 21 may include:

step 211, when the user plane function UP of the layer three L3 sends a data packet, determining an order of at least one MAC link and an index number of the at least one MAC link for sending the data packet;

the step 22 may include:

step 221, allocating a sequence number of a data packet carried on the MAC link to each MAC link according to the sequence of the at least one MAC link;

step 231, sending the data packet according to the sequence of the at least one MAC link and the sequence number of the data packet carried on each MAC link.

In this embodiment, as shown in fig. 3, the MAC link connected to the user plane function UP of L3 may be identified by 0# to n #, and the connection from 0# to n # is the MAC link.

In an optional embodiment of the present invention, in step 21, determining an order of at least one MAC link for transmitting the data packet and an index number of the at least one MAC link includes:

Optionally, the measurement information herein may include at least one of:

the rate of data transmission on the MAC link; time delay of data transmission of the MAC link; the rate at which packets of the MAC link are fragmented; a rate at which packets of the MAC link are concatenated; the load of the cell to which the MAC link belongs; the total number of users that the MAC link scheduler needs to schedule.

In a specific implementation, the L3 UP may perform MAC link selection according to one or more of the following methods:

(a) MAC link selection is carried out according to the data sending rate of each MAC link, and the MAC link with the rate higher than a preset value is preferentially selected for use; the high MAC link rate means that the data BLER (block error rate) on the MAC link is low, and the probability of success of the data after retransmission is high;

(b) according to the time delay of data transmission on each MAC link, the MAC link with low time delay is preferentially selected for use; the low time delay of the data sent by the MAC link means that the data retransmission on the MAC link is less, and the air interface resources are relatively sufficient, so that the data can be quickly sent to the air interface;

(c) according to the ratio of segmenting the data packet on each MAC link (segmenting a finished service data unit SDU into a plurality of small segments), the MAC link with a low ratio is preferentially selected for use;

(d) according to the ratio of the data packet cascade (a plurality of small SDUs are combined into a large protocol data unit PDU for transmission) on each link, the MAC link with high ratio is preferentially selected for use;

(e) the load of the cell to which the MAC link belongs or the total number of users to be scheduled by the MAC scheduler is selected for use preferentially by the MAC link with relatively light load or relatively small number of users;

l3 UP selects the link on which to send data each time, according to one or more of the manners described above. Each MAC link reports measurement information to L3 UP so that L3 UP obtains information of monitoring MAC links.

In an optional embodiment of the present invention, in the step 21, determining an order of at least one MAC link for transmitting the data packet includes:

The ID of the MAC link is an index of a sub-window in a sending window; the sub-window is a sending window of the MAC link, and the sending window includes sub-windows corresponding to all MAC links connected to the UP of the L3.

In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the sequence number of the data packet carried on each MAC link is configured in the following manner:

and respectively allocating a data packet Cluster (Cluster) to each MAC link according to the sequence of the at least one MAC link, wherein the data packet sequence number of each data packet Cluster is continuous.

As shown in FIG. 4, L3 UP may maintain a Virtual send Window (VTxW: Virtual TxWindow) for MAC link selection. VTxW characteristics:

1. VTxW is composed of the transmit windows (Tx windows) of all MAC links connected to the L3 UP, and the transmit Window of each MAC link is a sub-Window of VTxW;

2. for the sending Window of each MAC link, the VTxW adopts a two-stage management mode of MAC link ID and Tx Window, and the MAC link ID is a subscript or an index of the link Tx Window in the VTxW.

One method is as follows: the management is performed in the order of the MAC link ID values from small to large. For example, VTxWindow { (0,15), (0,31), (0,7) }. The VTx Window has three MAC links, the length of a sending Window of a 0# link is 16, and the value range of an SN number is 0-15; the length of a sending window of the 1# link is 32, and the value range of the SN number is 0-31; the length of a sending window of the 2# link is 8, and the value range of the SN number is 0-7. The indices of these three sub-windows in VTx Window are 0,1,2, respectively.

In an optional embodiment of the present invention, the data transmission method may further include:

and step 24, sending the sequence of the at least one MAC link to the receiving equipment.

Optionally, the sequence of the at least one MAC link is sent to the receiving device through a protocol data unit PDU or a media access control unit MAC CE or a downlink control information DCI message.

In this embodiment, when transmitting data, the L3 UP of the transmitting end device selects a MAC link for transmitting data, and maintains the order of the MAC links;

the L3 UP of the sending end device informs the sequence of the MAC link selected by the L3 UP of the receiving end device, can inform the information of a plurality of MAC links at one time, and can circularly use the MAC links to transmit data according to the informed sequence; the L3 UP of the transmitting end device transmits the MAC link selection notification to the receiving end L3 UP in time according to the need of data transmission. In order to ensure the robustness of receiving the MAC link selection information, the sending end device may start sending data after obtaining the confirmation of correct receiving of the MAC link selection information.

After receiving the notification message, the L3 UP of the receiving end device ensures the sequence of the packets between different MAC links according to the sequence of the MAC links indicated in the notification message, and the sequence of the packets in each MAC link is completed by the MAC of the receiving end device and is sequentially sent to the L3 UP of the receiving end device.

When there is only one MAC link between the L3 UP of the transmitting end device and the L3 UP of the receiving end device, the MAC link selection function may not be activated.

Such as: there are 4 MAC links, #0, #1, #2, # 3;

the L3 UP of the sending end device forms a sequence according to the quality of each MAC link: #3, #1, #0, # 2; according to the requirement of service QoS, three MAC links #3, #1 and #0 are used; since #2MAC link cannot satisfy the requirement, L3 UP of the transmitting end can be used to transmit data transmission with low QoS requirement.

The MAC link selection notification message is sent before sending data or when sending the first data packet. The message may be transmitted in the form of L3 UP control PDU, may be placed in the form of MAC CE, or may be carried in DCI of PDCCH.

If the control PDU is L3 UP, it needs to be sent in advance, for example, the control PDU is sent on the #3MAC link first, and after ACK acknowledgement of the opposite end is obtained, data transmission is started.

If the data packet is a MAC CE or a PDCCH, the data packet can be associated with the first data packet for transmission.

Before receiving no update, the sending end device and the receiving end device always transmit and receive data according to the sequence of #3, #1 and # 0.

and step 25, if the sequence of the at least one MAC link is changed, after the data packet is sent, sending the changed new sequence of the at least one MAC link to the receiving device.

In this embodiment, when a MAC link connected to the L3 UP changes, including various link operations such as establishment from scratch, addition or subtraction after existence, deletion, etc., the L3 CP configures the L3 UP through signaling or notifies the L3 UP through an internal message. The configured information at least comprises link identification information of MAC links connected with the L3 UP, the length of a sending window of each MAC link, the mapping relation between the L3 UP and the MAC link, the QoS requirement of each MAC link and the like.

When the MAC link needs to be changed, the L3 UP of the sending end device needs to be changed after the original sequential link is sent, so as to reduce the disorder of data as much as possible. For example, #3, #1, #0 are in the order of being used sequentially, and #1MAC link has a high bit error rate and cannot transmit data, and needs to be adjusted to #3, # 0; the order of implementation of L3 UP at this time is: #3, #1, #0 (existing MAC link order), #3, #0 (new link order); when the new link and the old link are switched in sequence, MAC link selection notification information is sent when each newly selected link sends data packets according to the new sequence. When a new sequence of data packets is transmitted on the #3MAC link, a MAC link selection notification message is transmitted first; when a new sequence of packets is transmitted on the #0MAC link, a notification message of MAC link selection is also transmitted first.

As shown in fig. 5, a diagram showing the relationship between the predecessor MAC link and the successor MAC is given. Arrow 2 indicates that a new order selection has occurred; arrow 1 indicates the ordered sequence of the reciprocating cycle.

MAC link selection notification message: there may be multiple ways, one way is that each time the order of all MAC links in this round is included, for example, MAC links #3, #1 and #0 are selected, and the MAC link selection notification message sent includes three link orders #3, #1 and #0 in sequence at the same time; another way is to include a predecessor MAC link and a successor MAC link of the current MAC link, as shown in fig. 5; taking #3, #1, #0 as an example, when sending is performed for the first time, the predecessor MAC link of the #3MAC link is invalid, and the #3MAC link is identified as the first link; the predecessor link of the #1MAC link is the #3MAC link, and the successor link is the #0MAC link; the predecessor MAC link of the #0MAC link is the #1MAC link, and the successor link is the #3MAC link; starting again, the predecessor link of the #3MAC link is #0, and so on. If the adjustment is #3 and #0, the predecessor MAC link of the #3MAC link is the #0 link, and the successor link is still the #0 link; the #0 link is preceded by a #3 link and is followed by a #3 link. When the MAC link selection information of the "# 0 link is not received on the #0 link, the link is preceded by the #3 link and is followed by the #3 link, the data packets received on the #0 link are all the #0 links in the cycle of" #3, #1, #0 ".

For the L3 UP of the receiving end, the method for judging the MAC link sequence is:

1. receiving MAC link notification information sent by a sending end, wherein the notification information is an indication for adjusting an MAC link;

2. the sender L3 UP will send this notification message on each MAC link that needs to be adjusted.

3. Until the MAC link adjustment information is not received, the data packets received on the MAC link are still sorted according to the existing MAC link order.

In the above embodiment of the present invention, a short SN manner in an air interface data packet is implemented by defining two-stage SN mechanism of L3 UP and MAC, and by a manner of binding an SN and a link;

the hopping distribution of SN number segments is achieved by sending SN number (MAC link) selection control PDUs of the end-to-end L3 UP without compromising the continuity of the SNs.

The sequencing sequence of each packet consists of two parts:

1. the sequence index of the MAC link transmitting the data packet; and

2. the sending sequence of each data packet inside the MAC link transmitting the data packet, i.e. the sn (sequence number) number carried by each data packet.

In specific implementation, L3 UP is responsible for selecting MAC link and obtaining the sequential index of MAC link. VTxW does not generate an SN number for each packet (L3 UP PDU).

The links with high air interface throughput can be preferentially selected according to the sequence of the serial numbers of the MAC links, the speed of sending data packets by each MAC link, the MAC links with matched air interface sending speed can be selected according to the QoS requirement of data, and the selection can be carried out by integrating various conditions. For example, if the selection is sequential, 0,1,2 cycle back and forth; if the selection is made by combining multiple situations, the transmission rate of each link, the BLER of data packet transmission, the QoS guarantee requirement of the service, the load of the cell to which the MAC link belongs, or the total number of users that the MAC scheduler needs to schedule, etc. may be considered. When a sub-window is selected, if there is data being sent by the MAC layer in the sub-window, L3 UP needs to notify the MAC layer that the sending window needs to be reset to the initial value when the packet is sent after the existing data is sent, that is, SN starts to count from 0.

According to the embodiment of the invention, the link for sending data is selected according to the air interface (MAC link state), so that the data sending efficiency is improved; a single MAC link and a plurality of MAC links are flexibly selected and uniformly distributed; short SN numbers can be used, shortening the overhead of SN numbers (by replacing part of the SN length with the MAC link ID).

As shown in fig. 6, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a data transmission method, which is applied to layer three L3 of a receiving device, where the method includes:

step 61, when receiving a data packet, acquiring a sequence of at least one MAC link for transmitting the data packet; in one implementation manner, when the user plane function UP of the layer three L3 receives a data packet, the order of at least one MAC link that sends the data packet is obtained;

step 62, receiving the data packet according to the sequence of the at least one MAC link.

the rate of data transmission on the MAC link; time delay of data transmission of the MAC link; the rate at which packets of the MAC link are fragmented; a rate at which packets of the MAC link are concatenated; the load of the cell to which the MAC link belongs; total number of users that the MAC link scheduler needs to schedule

Optionally, each MAC link is respectively allocated with a data packet segment, the data packet sequence number of each data packet segment is consecutive, and the data packet sequence number in each data packet segment is consecutive.

It should be noted that this embodiment is a method of a receiving end device corresponding to the method described in the sending end device, and all implementation manners in the method embodiment are applicable to this embodiment of the receiving end device, and the same technical effect can also be achieved.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides an apparatus for data transmission, where the apparatus is applied to a sending device, and the apparatus includes:

and determining the sequence of at least one MAC link for transmitting the data packet according to the measurement information of the MAC link.

Optionally, the measurement information includes at least one of:

Wherein the ID of the MAC link is an index of a sub-window in the sending window; the sub-window is a sending window of the MAC link, and the sending window includes sub-windows corresponding to all MAC links connected to the UP of the L3.

Optionally, the user plane function UP of layer three L3 is further configured to send the order of the at least one MAC link to the receiving device.

Optionally, the user plane function UP of layer three L3 is further configured to send, if the order of the at least one MAC link is changed, the changed new order of the at least one MAC link to the receiving device.

It should be noted that the apparatus is an apparatus corresponding to the method on the transmitting-end device side, and all implementation manners in the method embodiments are applicable to the embodiment of the apparatus, and the same technical effect can be achieved.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a sending device, including: layer three L3, layer two L2, and layer one L1; the transceiver of the L3, configured to determine an order of at least one MAC link to transmit the data packets; and transmitting the data packets according to the sequence of the at least one MAC link.

Optionally, the measurement information includes at least one of:

The ID of the MAC link is an index of a sub-window in the sending window; the sub-window is a sending window of the MAC link, and the sending window includes sub-windows corresponding to all MAC links connected to the UP of the L3.

Optionally, the user plane function UP of layer three L3 is further configured to, if the order of the at least one MAC link is changed, send the changed order of the at least one MAC link to the receiving device after the data packet is sent.

It should be noted that all the implementations in the above method embodiments are applicable to the embodiment of the apparatus, and the same technical effects can be achieved.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a receiving device, including: layer three L3, layer two L2, and layer one L1;

the transceiver of L3, configured to, when receiving a data packet, obtain an order of at least one MAC link that transmits the data packet; receiving the data packets in the order of the at least one MAC link.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a communication device, including: a processor, a memory storing a computer program which, when executed by the processor, performs the method as described above. All the implementation manners in the above method embodiment are applicable to the embodiment of the apparatus, and the same technical effect can be achieved.

Embodiments of the present invention also provide a computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method as described above. All the implementation manners in the above method embodiment are applicable to the embodiment of the apparatus, and the same technical effect can be achieved.

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

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not described herein again.

In the embodiments provided in the present invention, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

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

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present invention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit.

The functions, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present invention may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present invention. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a U disk, a removable hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

Furthermore, it is to be noted that in the device and method of the invention, it is obvious that the individual components or steps can be decomposed and/or recombined. These decompositions and/or recombinations are to be regarded as equivalents of the present invention. Also, the steps of performing the series of processes described above may naturally be performed chronologically in the order described, but need not necessarily be performed chronologically, and some steps may be performed in parallel or independently of each other. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or any of the steps or elements of the method and apparatus of the present invention may be implemented in any computing device (including processors, storage media, etc.) or network of computing devices, in hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof, which can be implemented by those skilled in the art using their basic programming skills after reading the description of the present invention.

Thus, the objects of the invention may also be achieved by running a program or a set of programs on any computing device. The computing device may be a general purpose device as is well known. The object of the invention is thus also achieved solely by providing a program product comprising program code for implementing the method or the apparatus. That is, such a program product also constitutes the present invention, and a storage medium storing such a program product also constitutes the present invention. It is to be understood that the storage medium may be any known storage medium or any storage medium developed in the future. It is further noted that in the apparatus and method of the present invention, it is apparent that each component or step can be decomposed and/or recombined. These decompositions and/or recombinations are to be regarded as equivalents of the present invention. Also, the steps of executing the series of processes described above may naturally be executed chronologically in the order described, but need not necessarily be executed chronologically. Some steps may be performed in parallel or independently of each other.

While the foregoing is directed to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting data, applied to layer three L3 of a sending device, the method comprising:

determining an order of at least one media access control, MAC, link transmitting the data packets;

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the data packets in the order of the at least one MAC link comprises:

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the order of at least one MAC link over which to transmit the data packets comprises:

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the measurement information comprises at least one of:

the rate of data transmission on the MAC link;

time delay of data transmission of the MAC link;

the rate at which packets of the MAC link are fragmented;

a rate at which packets of the MAC link are concatenated;

the load of the cell to which the MAC link belongs;

the total number of users that the MAC link scheduler needs to schedule.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the order of at least one MAC link over which to transmit the data packets comprises:

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the ID of the MAC link is an index of a sub-window in the transmission window; the sub-window is a sending window of the MAC link, and the sending window includes sub-windows corresponding to all MAC links connected to the UP of the L3.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the sequence number of the data packet carried on each MAC link is configured as follows:

8. The method for transmitting data according to claim 1, further comprising:

and transmitting the sequence of the at least one MAC link to the receiving device.

9. The method for transmitting data according to claim 7, further comprising:

and if the sequence of the at least one MAC link is changed, sending the changed new sequence of the at least one MAC link to the receiving equipment.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, wherein the step of transmitting the sequence of the at least one MAC link to the receiving device comprises:

11. Method for the transmission of data according to claim 1, characterized in that said method is performed by a user plane function UP of L3.

12. A method for transmitting data, applied to layer three L3 of a receiving device, the method comprising:

receiving the data packets in the order of the at least one MAC link.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein obtaining the order of at least one MAC link transmitting the data packets comprises:

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the order of the at least one MAC link is determined according to at least one of:

the rate of data transmission on the MAC link;

time delay of data transmission of the MAC link;

the rate at which packets of the MAC link are fragmented;

a rate at which packets of the MAC link are concatenated;

the load of the cell to which the MAC link belongs;

the total number of users that the MAC link scheduler needs to schedule.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein each MAC link is respectively allocated with packet clusters, and packet sequence numbers of each packet cluster are consecutive.

16. Method for the transmission of data according to claim 12, characterized in that said method is performed by the user plane function UP of L3.

17. An apparatus for data transmission, applied to a sending device, the apparatus comprising:

18. A transmitting device, comprising: layer three L3, layer two L2, and layer one L1;

19. An apparatus for transmitting data, the apparatus being applied to a receiving device, the apparatus comprising:

20. A receiving device, comprising: layer three L3, layer two L2, and layer one L1;

21. A communication device, comprising: a processor, a memory storing a computer program which, when executed by the processor, performs the method of any of claims 1 to 11 or the method of any of claims 12 to 16.

22. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 11 or the method of any of claims 12 to 16.