CN115211169A

CN115211169A - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN115211169A
Application number: CN202180009625.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 蒋成堃; 周汉
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-02-01
Filing date: 2021-02-01
Publication date: 2022-10-18
Also published as: WO2022160346A1

Abstract

The application relates to a communication method and device. The first network equipment obtains first QoS information of the first communication network, and the first network equipment determines the QoS information of data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network according to the first QoS information. The first network equipment sends QoS information of a first link to the communication equipment, wherein the QoS information of the first link is included in QoS information of data transmitted through a first transmission path in a second communication network, and the first link is a link between the communication equipment and a next-hop equipment on the first transmission path. The first network device may decompose QoS information of the industrial ethernet onto each link on the first transmission path, so that each link can definitely transmit according to what QoS information, thereby providing a specific implementation manner for adapting the 5GS to the industrial ethernet, and enabling the 5GS to be adapted to the industrial ethernet.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

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

Background

The introduction of the fifth generation mobile communication system (the 5th generation system,5 GS) into the industry involves network compatibility issues with existing industrial scenarios. In the current Operational Technology (OT) scenario, the mainstream networking mode is a bus mode and an industrial ethernet mode, but with gradual upgrade of industrial equipment and gradual diversification of industrial requirements, the industrial ethernet is gradually replacing the traditional bus-mode networking mode due to its flexible networking mode, general network interface and strong network performance. Therefore, 5GS compatible industrial ethernet is becoming a necessary trend.

A key part of 5GS adaptation to industrial ethernet is the adaptation of quality of service (QoS). 5GS if compatible with Industrial Ethernet, it is necessary to translate the QoS of Industrial Ethernet to a QoS of 5 GS. Currently, considering 5GS as a node in an industrial ethernet network, the QoS achieved by 5GS is the overall QoS for that node. However, the 5GS also includes a plurality of devices, and when data is transmitted in the 5GS, the data is transmitted between the devices, which may cause that the transmission process of the data of the industrial ethernet in the 5GS cannot be controlled more accurately, and the communication quality is reduced.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a communication method and device, which are used for enabling a 5GS to be adaptive to an industrial Ethernet.

In a first aspect, a first communication method is provided, which may be performed by a network device or by a system-on-chip capable of implementing the functionality of a network device. Illustratively, the network device is a core network device, such as an Application Function (AF), a Session Management Function (SMF), or a Policy Control Function (PCF), etc. The method comprises the following steps: the first network equipment obtains first QoS information of a first communication network, and the first network equipment determines the QoS information of data transmitted through a first transmission path in a second communication network according to the first QoS information. The QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network comprises QoS information of a plurality of links on the first transmission path, wherein one end point of each link in the plurality of links is a terminal device in the second communication network, and the plurality of links are all located in the second communication network. The first network device sends QoS information of a first link to a communication device, wherein the QoS information of the first link is included in QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in a second communication network, the first link is a link between the communication device and a next-hop device on the first transmission path, and the communication device is a second network device or a first terminal device.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first communication network is, for example, an industrial ethernet network, or may be another network. The second communication network is, for example, 5GS, or may be another network. The first network device may determine QoS information of data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network according to first QoS information of the first communication network, where the QoS information of multiple links on the first transmission path is determined by the first network device, that is, the first network device may decompose the QoS information of the industrial ethernet onto each link on the first transmission path, so that each link can specify what QoS information should be transmitted, thereby providing a specific implementation manner for adapting the 5GS to the industrial ethernet, so that the 5GS is adapted to the industrial ethernet. And the QoS information is decomposed to each link, so that the whole transmission path can be better controlled, and the transmission quality is improved.

In an optional implementation manner, the determining, by the first network device, qoS information of data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network according to the first QoS information includes: the first network device mapping the first QoS information to second QoS information, the second QoS information being QoS information applied to the second communication network; and the first network equipment determines the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network according to the second QoS information. The first QoS information is QoS information in the industrial ethernet, and the first network device is located in the 5GS, and what the first network device is to determine is QoS information of data in the 5GS, so the first network device can map the first QoS information to QoS information in the 5GS (referred to as second QoS information), so that QoS information of data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network can be determined according to the second QoS information. The QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network may include QoS information of each of the one or more links on the first transmission path. That is, the first network device may decompose the second QoS information by links, so that the QoS information may be set for each link on the first transmission path. In this way, the QoS information of the industrial ethernet can be adapted to the 5GS, and the data of the industrial ethernet can be transmitted in the 5GS in a manner satisfying the QoS information of the industrial ethernet.

In an optional implementation manner, the determining, by the first network device, qoS information of data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network according to the first QoS information includes: the first network device determines, according to the first QoS information and connection state information, qoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network, where the connection state information is used to indicate connection states of a plurality of terminal devices located in the second communication network, and the plurality of terminal devices are capable of transmitting data for a device located in the first communication network, and a terminal device serving as one endpoint of each of the plurality of links belongs to the plurality of terminal devices. For example, if the connection status information includes information whether the UE supports a D2D connection manner, the first network device may determine that the first transmission path is a path through the UPF (in various embodiments of the present application, the "path through the UPF" is also referred to as a "path forwarded through the UPF"), or a D2D transmission path. For another example, the connection status information includes delay information between the UE and each device to which the UE is connected, and the first network device may determine QoS information in the 5GS of data transmitted through the first transmission path according to the first QoS information and the connection status information. For example, the first network device may consider delay information between the UE and each device to which the UE is connected when resolving the second QoS information. By considering the connection state information, the first network device can be made to determine a transmission path that more closely conforms to the actual transmission situation of data, and also more accurate QoS information can be determined.

In an optional implementation manner, the connection status information includes delay information between the first terminal device and each device connected to the first terminal device, and/or includes information whether the first terminal device supports a D2D connection mode, where the first terminal device is one of the plurality of terminal devices. For example, the connection state information may indicate the connection states of the plurality of terminal apparatuses located in the 5GS, or the connection state information may include the connection state information of the plurality of terminal apparatuses located in the 5 GS. The connection state information of one terminal device may be referred to as sub-connection state information, and taking the first terminal device as an example, the sub-connection state information of the first terminal device may include delay information (or referred to as delay information) between the first terminal device and each device connected to the first terminal device, or include information whether the first terminal device supports the D2D connection mode, or include delay information between the first terminal device and each device connected to the terminal device, and include information whether the first terminal device supports the D2D connection mode. The first network device can thus better determine the transmission path of the data in the 5GS on the basis of the connection state information.

In an optional implementation, the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network includes one or more pieces of decomposition information, each piece of decomposition information of the one or more pieces of decomposition information includes QoS information of a plurality of links on the first transmission path, wherein the QoS information of at least one link on the first transmission path is different in different pieces of decomposition information. It may be considered that, when the first network device allocates the second QoS information to the first transmission path, one decomposition manner may be adopted, or multiple decomposition manners may be adopted, and each decomposition manner may include QoS information of at least one link on the first transmission path, and a sum of delays corresponding to the QoS information of at least one link on the first transmission path corresponding to each decomposition manner may be less than or equal to a value of a packet delay budget parameter included in the second QoS information. The at least one link on the first transmission path may comprise a part of the link or all of the link on the first transmission path. Setting multiple QoS information decomposition modes for the first transmission path may facilitate selecting different decomposition modes for the first transmission path according to network conditions, for example, a decomposition mode 1 may be selected for the first transmission path at a certain time, and a decomposition mode 2 may be selected for the first transmission path at the next time, which makes the decomposition of the QoS information of the link more flexible, and may improve the quality and success rate of data transmission.

In an optional implementation, the sending, by the first network device, the QoS information of the first link to the communication device includes: the first network device sends QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in a second communication network to the communication device. The communication device may comprise the second network device, or comprise the first terminal device, or comprise both the second network device and the first terminal device. The second network device comprises, for example, a UPF, or comprises a (R) AN, or comprises both a UPF and a (R) AN. The first network device may send only the QoS information of the first link to the communication device without sending the QoS information of other links in the first transmission path, which may reduce signaling overhead, and the communication device may also send the data packet of the first UE according to the QoS information of the first link. Alternatively, the first network device may send the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path to the communication device (the first network device sends the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path to the UPF, that is, it is considered that the QoS information of the first link is sent to the communication device), so that the communication device can obtain not only the QoS information of the first link but also the QoS information of other links on the first transmission path.

In an optional implementation manner, in a case that the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network includes a plurality of pieces of decomposition information, the method further includes: the first network equipment determines first decomposition information corresponding to the communication equipment from the one or more pieces of decomposition information included in QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in a second communication network; the first network device sends an index of the first resolution information to the communication device. If the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path includes a plurality of pieces of resolution information, the first network device may select one piece of resolution information for the first UE from the plurality of pieces of resolution information, for example, the first network device selects the first piece of resolution information. If the first network device sends the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path to the communication device, the first network device may also send an index of the first resolution information to the communication device so that the communication device can know which resolution information in the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path should be used.

In an optional implementation manner, a part of or all links on the first transmission path are D2D links. The first transmission path is, for example, a transmission path through the UPF, and the D2D link may not be included on the transmission path through the UPF; alternatively, the first transmission path is, for example, a D2D transmission path, and one or more D2D links may be included on the D2D transmission path.

In an optional embodiment, the method further comprises: and the first network equipment sends the information of the terminal equipment which does not support D2D connection communication to the second network equipment. If there are terminal devices that do not support D2D connection communication and the communication of these terminal devices needs to pass through the second network device, the first network device may send the information of these terminal devices to the second network device, so that the second network device explicitly needs to forward data for which terminal devices.

In an optional embodiment, the method further comprises: the first network equipment determines QoS information of data transmitted through a second transmission path in the second communication network according to the first QoS information, wherein the QoS information of the data transmitted through the second transmission path in the second communication network comprises QoS information of a plurality of links on the second transmission path; the method comprises the steps that a first network device sends switching delay information to a second network device, wherein the switching delay information is used for indicating the duration required by a first terminal device to switch from a first transmission path to a second transmission path, a D2D link is arranged between the first terminal device and a third terminal device in the first transmission path, a link passing through the second network device is arranged between the first terminal device and the third terminal device in the second transmission path, or a link passing through the second network device is arranged between the first terminal device and the third terminal device in the first transmission path, and a D2D link is arranged between the first terminal device and the third terminal device in the second transmission path. In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device is supported to switch between different transmission paths, for example, if one transmission path cannot satisfy corresponding QoS information, the terminal device on the transmission path may consider switching the transmission path. However, if the time delay required for switching the transmission path is long, service interruption of the terminal device may be caused by the switching, or the system may be affected, which is not desirable. Therefore, to switch the transmission path, the switching delay may be considered, and the first network device may send the switching delay information to the second network device, so that the second network device can determine whether the first terminal device can switch the transmission path according to the switching delay information, so as to reduce the influence on the system caused by switching the transmission path.

In an optional embodiment, the method further comprises: the first network device receiving a determination result from the second network device; and under the condition that the determination result indicates that the duration indicated by the switching delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first terminal equipment, the first network equipment indicates the first terminal equipment to switch to the second transmission path. For example, the second network device determines whether the first terminal device can perform path switching according to the switching delay information. The second network device may determine whether the duration indicated by the handover delay information is less than or equal to the time-to-live of the data of the first terminal device. If the duration indicated by the switching delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first terminal device, indicating that the path switching performed by the first terminal device does not affect the system, the second network device determines that the first terminal device can perform the path switching, and if the duration indicated by the switching delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first terminal device, indicating that the path switching performed by the first terminal device affects the system, the second network device determines that the first terminal device cannot perform the path switching. And the second network device may send the determination result to the first network device, and the first network device may determine whether the first terminal device can switch the transmission path according to the determination result.

In an optional embodiment, the method further comprises: and the first network equipment sends the QoS information of the data transmitted through the second transmission path in a second communication network to the second network equipment and/or the first terminal equipment. If the data has other transmission paths in the 5GS besides the first transmission path, the first network device may determine QoS information of other transmission paths according to the second QoS information, in addition to QoS information of the data transmitted via the first transmission path in the second communication network, for example, the first network device also determines QoS information of the data transmitted via the second transmission path in the second communication network. The first network device may also send the QoS information of the data transmitted through the second transmission path in the second communication network to the second network device and/or the first terminal device, so that the second network device and/or the first terminal device can transmit the data of the first terminal device on the second transmission path by using the QoS information of the data transmitted through the second transmission path in the second communication network.

In a second aspect, a second communication method is provided, which method is executable by a communication device, or by a system-on-chip capable of performing the functionality of a communication device, or by a larger device comprising the communication device. For example, the communication device is a network device, illustratively, the network device is a core network device, such as a User Plane Function (UPF), or the like, or the network device is AN access network device, such as AN (R) AN, or the like. Also for example, the communication device is a terminal device, such as a first terminal device. The method comprises the following steps: a communication device receives QoS information of a first link, wherein the first link is a link between the communication device and a next hop device on a first transmission path, the first transmission path comprises a plurality of links in a second communication network, one end point of each link in the plurality of links is a terminal device, the terminal device can transmit data for a device located in the first communication network, and the first link is one link in the plurality of links; the communication equipment receives a first data packet, wherein the first data packet corresponds to first terminal equipment; and the communication equipment sends the first data packet to the next hop equipment through the first link according to the QoS information of the first link.

In an optional implementation, the communication device receives QoS information of the first link, including: the communication device receives QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network, wherein the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network comprises QoS information of a plurality of links in the second communication network on the first transmission path, and the QoS information of the plurality of links comprises the QoS information of the first link.

In an optional embodiment, the method further comprises: the communication device receives an index of first split information, wherein the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network comprises one or more pieces of split information, each piece of the one or more pieces of split information comprises QoS information of a plurality of links of the second communication network on the first transmission path, and QoS information of at least one link on the first transmission path is different in different pieces of split information, and the first split information is one piece of the one or more pieces of split information.

In an optional implementation manner, the QoS information of the first link is QoS information of the first link corresponding to an index of the first resolution information.

In an optional embodiment, the method further comprises: the communication equipment obtains actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal equipment; and the communication equipment determines whether to reselect the decomposition information for the first terminal equipment according to the first decomposition information and the actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal equipment. The communication device obtains the first resolution information and also obtains the actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal device, so that the degree of matching of the first resolution information with the actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal device can be determined to determine whether to reselect resolution information for the first terminal device, and thus resolution information that more closely matches the actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal device can be selected for the first terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the determining, by the communication device, whether to reselect the resolution information for the first terminal device according to the first resolution information and actual QoS information of data of the first terminal device includes: and under the condition that the difference value between the time delay corresponding to the actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal device and the time delay corresponding to the QoS information of the second link included in the first decomposition information is larger than a first threshold value, the communication device reselects the decomposition information for the first terminal device, wherein the second link is the link corresponding to the actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal device. If the difference between the delay corresponding to the actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal device and the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the second link included in the first resolution information is too large, it indicates that the first resolution information is less suitable for the second link.

In an optional implementation manner, the reselecting, by the communication device, the resolution information for the first terminal device includes: and the communication equipment reselects decomposition information for the first terminal equipment according to the actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal equipment, wherein the time delay corresponding to the QoS information of the second link included in the reselected decomposition information is greater than or equal to the time delay corresponding to the actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal equipment. The resolution information reselected by the communication device may be as good as possible in accordance with the actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the obtaining, by the communication device, actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal device includes: the communication device obtains first accumulated QoS information including a sum of actual QoS information of all links that the data of the first terminal device has been transmitted from a first device in the first transmission path to the communication device. The actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal device obtained by the communication device may be, for example, the actual QoS information of the second link, or may be first accumulated QoS information, and the first accumulated QoS information may further indicate the QoS information of the link located before the communication device on the first transmission path.

In an optional implementation, the determining, by the communication device, whether to reselect the resolution information for the first terminal device according to the first resolution information and actual QoS information of data of the first terminal device includes: and under the condition that the difference value between the time delay corresponding to the first accumulated QoS information and the time delay corresponding to the second accumulated QoS information is larger than a second threshold value, the communication equipment reselects decomposition information for the first terminal equipment. Wherein, the delay corresponding to the second accumulated QoS information includes a sum of delays corresponding to QoS information of N links included in the first decomposition information, the N links are all links through which the data of the first terminal device is transmitted from the first device in the first transmission path to the communication device, and N is a positive integer. If the difference between the delay corresponding to the second accumulated QoS information and the delay corresponding to the first accumulated QoS information is too large, indicating that the first split information is less suitable for the N links, in this case, the communication device may reselect the split information for the first terminal device to select the split information more suitable for the second link.

In an optional embodiment, the method further comprises: the communication device reselects resolution information for the first terminal device, including: and the communication equipment reselects decomposition information for the first terminal equipment according to the first accumulated QoS information and the second accumulated QoS information, wherein the sum of time delays corresponding to the QoS information of the N links included in the reselected decomposition information is greater than or equal to the time delay corresponding to the first accumulated QoS information. When the communication device reselects the decomposition information, the communication device may consider not to affect a link in front of the communication device on the first transmission path, so as to improve the success rate of data transmission.

In an alternative embodiment, the method further comprises: the communication device receives QoS information of data transmitted through a second transmission path in the second communication network, wherein the QoS information of the data transmitted through the second transmission path in the second communication network comprises QoS information of a link on the second transmission path, and the second transmission path is a transmission path corresponding to the first terminal device.

In an optional embodiment, the method further comprises: the communication device determines that the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network cannot meet the actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal device, but the QoS information of the data transmitted through the second transmission path in the second communication network can meet the actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal device, and the second QoS information is the QoS information of the second communication network, wherein a D2D link is formed between the first terminal device and the second terminal device in the first transmission path, a link passing through the second network device is formed between the first device and the second terminal device in the second transmission path, or a link passing through the second network device is formed between the first terminal device and the second terminal device in the first transmission path, and a D2D link is formed between the first terminal device and the second terminal device in the second transmission path; the communication equipment determines whether the time length indicated by switching time delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first terminal equipment, wherein the switching time delay information is used for indicating the time length required by the first terminal equipment to switch from the first transmission path to the second transmission path; the communication device transmits the determination result to the first network device.

In an optional implementation manner, the determination result is used to indicate that the duration indicated by the handover delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first terminal device, or indicate that the duration indicated by the handover delay information is greater than the survival time of the data of the first terminal device; or the determination result is used for indicating that the state is normal or indicating that the state is abnormal; or, the determination result is used for indicating that the path is allowed to be switched or indicating that the path is not allowed to be switched. The determination result can be indicated in various ways, and the embodiment of the application is not limited to this.

In an optional implementation manner, the sending, by the communication device, the first data packet to the next-hop device through the first link includes: and the communication equipment sends the first data packet carrying the index of the decomposition information of the data of the first terminal equipment to the next hop equipment through the first link. The communication device may not be the last hop device on the first transmission path, and the communication device may reselect the resolution information for the first terminal device, so that optionally, when the communication device sends a data packet to a next hop device through the first link, the communication device may carry an index of the resolution information used by the communication device in the data packet, so that other devices on the first transmission path can specify which resolution information the communication device uses at all, and thus the resolution information used by the devices on the first transmission path can be consistent to meet the requirement of the QoS information of the industrial ethernet.

With regard to the technical effects brought about by the second aspect or some embodiments of the second aspect, reference may be made to the introduction to the technical effects of the first aspect or the respective embodiments.

In a third aspect, a communications apparatus is provided. The communication device may be the first network device of the first aspect or the second aspect, or an electronic device (e.g., a system-on-chip) configured in the first network device, or a larger device including the first network device. Said first network device comprises corresponding means (means) or modules for performing the above method. For example, the communication device: including a processing unit (also sometimes referred to as a processing module) and a transceiver unit (also sometimes referred to as a transceiver module).

For example, the processing unit is configured to obtain first quality of service QoS information of a first communication network;

the processing unit is further configured to determine QoS information of data transmitted through a first transmission path in a second communication network according to the first QoS information, where the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network includes QoS information of multiple links on the first transmission path, where one end point of each link in the multiple links is a terminal device in the second communication network, and the multiple links are located in the second communication network;

the transceiving unit is configured to send QoS information of a first link to a communication device, where the QoS information of the first link is included in QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in a second communication network, and the first link is a link between the communication device and a next hop device on the first transmission path, where the communication device is a second network device or a first terminal device.

In an alternative implementation, the communication device includes a storage unit, and the processing unit can be coupled to the storage unit and execute a program or instructions in the storage unit to enable the communication device to perform the functions of the first network device.

In an alternative embodiment, the communication device comprises: a processor, coupled to the memory, for executing the instructions in the memory to implement the method performed by the first network device in the first aspect or the second aspect. Optionally, the communication device further comprises other components, such as an antenna, an input-output module, an interface, etc. These components may be hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be the communication apparatus of the first aspect or the second aspect. The communication device has the functions of the communication equipment. The communication device is, for example, a network device, such as a second network device, for example, a core network device, such as a UPF, or the like, or the second network device is, for example, AN access network device, such as AN (R) AN, or a baseband device in the (R) AN. Alternatively, the communication device is, for example, a terminal device, such as a first terminal device. In an alternative implementation, the communication device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another alternative implementation, the communication device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and a transceiver unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module).

For example, the transceiver unit is configured to receive QoS information of a first link, where the first link is a link between the communication device and a next hop device on a first transmission path, where the first transmission path includes multiple links in a second communication network, one end point of each link in the multiple links is a terminal device, the terminal device is capable of transmitting data for a device located in the first communication network, and the first link is one link in the multiple links;

the transceiver unit is further configured to receive a first data packet, where the first data packet corresponds to a first terminal device;

the processing unit is further configured to send, through the transceiving unit, the first data packet to the next hop device through the first link according to the QoS information of the first link.

In an alternative implementation, the communication device includes a storage unit, and the processing unit can be coupled to the storage unit and execute the program or instructions in the storage unit to enable the communication device to perform the functions of the communication apparatus.

In an alternative embodiment, the communication device comprises: a processor, coupled to the memory, for executing the instructions in the memory to implement the method performed by the communication device in the first aspect or the second aspect. Optionally, the communication device further comprises other components, such as an antenna, an input-output module, an interface, etc. These components may be hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

In a fifth aspect, a communication system is provided, which may comprise the communication apparatus of the third aspect, and the communication apparatus of the fourth aspect.

A sixth aspect provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing a computer program or instructions which, when executed, cause the method performed by the communication device or the first network device in the above aspects to be implemented.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the method of the above aspects to be carried out.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a 5G network architecture;

FIG. 2 is a combined architecture of 5GS and TSN layer 2 networks;

fig. 3 is a structural diagram of a 5GS compliant industrial ethernet network designed in this application;

fig. 4 is a schematic view of an application scenario according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5, 7-10 are flowcharts of several communication methods provided by embodiments of the present application;

fig. 6A is a diagram illustrating mapping of first QoS information to second QoS information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6B is a schematic view of another application scenario according to the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6C is a schematic diagram of another application scenario according to the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic block diagram of a terminal device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 13 is a schematic block diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the embodiments of the present application will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, some terms in the embodiments of the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device is a device having a wireless transceiving function, and may be a fixed device, a mobile device, a handheld device, a wearable device, an in-vehicle device, or a wireless apparatus (e.g., a communication module or a chip system) built in the above device. The terminal device is used for connecting people, objects, machines and the like, and can be widely used in various scenes, such as but not limited to the following scenes: cellular communication, device-to-device communication (D2D), vehicle-to-all (V2X), machine-to-machine/machine-type communication (M2M/MTC), internet of things (IoT), virtual Reality (VR), augmented Reality (AR), industrial control (industrial control), unmanned driving (self driving), remote medical (remote medical), smart grid (smart grid), smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart traffic, smart city (smart city), unmanned aerial vehicle, robot, etc. scenarios. The terminal device may sometimes be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), a terminal, an access station, a UE station, a remote station, a wireless communication device, or a user equipment, and for convenience of description, the terminal device is described as an example of the UE in this embodiment of the present application.

The network device in the embodiment of the present application includes, for example, an access network device and/or a core network device.

The access network equipment is equipment with a wireless transceiving function and is used for communicating with the terminal equipment. The access network device includes, but is not limited to, a base station (BTS, node B, eNodeB/eNB, or gnnodeb/gNB) in the above communication system, a transceiver point (t (R) ANsmission reception point, TRP), a base station for 3GPP subsequent evolution, an access Node in a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system, a wireless relay Node, a wireless backhaul Node, and the like. The base station may be: macro base stations, micro base stations, pico base stations, small stations, relay stations, etc. Multiple base stations may support the same access technology network as mentioned above, or may support different access technologies networks as mentioned above. A base station may include one or more co-sited or non-co-sited transmission receiving points. The network device may also be a wireless controller, a Centralized Unit (CU), and/or a Distributed Unit (DU) in a cloud radio access network (C (R) AN) scenario. The network device may also be a server, a wearable device, or a vehicle mounted device, etc. For example, the network device in vehicle to all (V2X) technology may be a Road Side Unit (RSU). The following description will take the access network device as a base station as an example. The multiple network devices in the communication system may be base stations of the same type or different types. The base station may communicate with the terminal device, and may also communicate with the terminal device through the relay station. A terminal device may communicate with multiple base stations in different access technologies.

The core network equipment is used for realizing at least one of the functions of mobile management, data processing, session management, policy, charging and the like. The names of devices for implementing the core network function in systems with different access technologies may be different, and this is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. Taking a 5G system as an example, the core network device includes: access and mobility management function (AMF), SMF, or User Plane Function (UPF), etc.

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

In this application, the number of nouns means "singular nouns or plural nouns" or "one or more" unless otherwise specified. "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a alone, A and B together, and B alone, wherein A and B may be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. For example, A/B, represents: a or B. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, represents: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c, wherein a, b and c can be single or multiple.

For ease of understanding, the network architecture of 5G is briefly described below. The third generation partnership project (3 rd generation partnership project,3 GPP) standards organization defines a next generation mobile communication network architecture (referred to as a 5G network architecture), wherein the 5G network architecture supports radio technologies defined by the 3GPP standards organization (e.g., long Term Evolution (LTE) or radio access network (R) AN). Please refer to fig. 1, which is a schematic diagram of a 5G network architecture. The UE accesses a core network through (R) AN, and the core network comprises a user plane network element and a control plane network element. Wherein, the user plane network element of the core network comprises UPF; the control plane network element of the core network includes at least one of an authentication server function (AUSF), an AMF, an SMF, a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF), a network open function (NEF), a network function repository function (NF), an NRF), a Unified Data Management (UDM), a PCF, and an AF.

The user plane network element (e.g., UPF) is mainly responsible for packet data packet forwarding, qoS control, accounting information statistics, etc. The control plane network element is mainly responsible for service flow interaction, data packet forwarding strategy and QoS control strategy distribution to the user plane. In the embodiment of the present application, it is considered that a device such as a sensor can access a core network through a UE and a device such as AN (R) AN, and thus a controller connected to the device such as the sensor in AN industrial ethernet can perform industrial data communication on a user plane through a UPF.

The core network control plane may adopt a service architecture, that is, the interaction between the control plane network elements adopts a service invocation mode to replace a point-to-point communication mode in the conventional architecture. In a service architecture, one control plane network element opens a service to other control plane network elements for the other control plane network elements to call; in point-to-point communication, a communication interface between control plane network elements has a set of specific messages, which can only be used by the control plane network elements at both ends of the interface during communication.

The functions of the network elements in the core network are introduced as follows:

and the UPF performs user data packet forwarding according to the routing rule of the SMF, for example, the uplink data is sent to the DN or other UPFs, and the downlink data is forwarded to other UPFs or (R) ANs.

AUSF, performing security authentication of the UE.

AMF, access management and mobility management of UE. The UE is responsible for state maintenance of the UE, reachability management of the UE, forwarding of non-Mobility Management (MM) non-access-stratum (NAS) messages, and forwarding of Session Management (SM) N2 messages.

SMF, UE conversation management, distributing resource for UE conversation and releasing resource. The resources include quality of service (QoS) of the session, session path, forwarding rules, etc.

NSSF, network slice selection for UE.

NEF, which opens network functions to third parties in the form of an Application Programming Interface (API) interface.

NRF, providing storage function and selection function of network function entity information for other network elements.

UDM, user subscription context management.

PCF, user strategy management, which is used to generate and manage user, conversation and QoS flow processing strategy.

AF, application management, functional network elements providing various business services, capable of interacting with the core network through the NEF, and capable of interacting with the policy management framework for policy management.

The relevant interfaces between network element functions related to the embodiments of the present application include:

n1: the interface between the UE and the core network control plane.

N2: a communication interface between AN Access Network (AN) network element and a core network control plane.

N3: and the communication interface between the access network element and the UPF is used for transmitting the user data.

N4: and the communication interface between the SMF and the UPF is used for carrying out policy configuration on the UPF and the like.

N6: a communication port between the UPF and a Data Network (DN).

Next, the QoS of the industrial Ethernet and the QoS of the 5GS are described.

The protocol of industrial ethernet is an ethernet protocol customized for industrial production scenarios on an ethernet basis. The protocol mainly improves a channel transmission mode based on competition in the traditional Ethernet, and ensures that data transmission between devices has characteristics of real-time control characteristic and determinacy, including at least one of delay determination, jitter determination and the like. Therefore, the QoS definition of the industrial ethernet is simple, and mainly used to describe the characteristics of data transmission, such as at least one of delay of data packets, jitter of data packets, period of periodic data, data amount, and survival time. The time-to-live of the data means that the system is not affected as long as the data is successfully transmitted within the time-to-live of the data, and the system is affected if the data is not successfully transmitted within the time-to-live of the data.

And the QoS of 5GS is defined based on data flow, which is relatively complex compared with industrial ethernet. The QoS of 5GS defines three types of data streams, non-Guaranteed Bit Rate (GBR), GBR, and critical-GBR, and defines at least one of a priority for data stream scheduling, a packet delay budget, a packet error rate, a mean window, a maximum data burst size, and a guaranteed maximum stream bit rate.

Currently, the 3GPP standard provides a combined architecture of 5GS and Time Sensitive Network (TSN) in a layer 2 network, and reference may be made to fig. 2 for this purpose.

In order to ensure deterministic communication between TSN nodes, a TSN node in the middle of two TSN nodes, referred to as a TSN bridge node (TSN bridge), is configured with a Centralized Network Configuration (CNC) related routing configuration and QoS between the two TSN nodes. Under the architecture, 5GS is modeled as a logical TSN bridge node called 5GS logical bridge (5 GS logical bridge) for combining with TSN, and adds an AF to adapt to the relevant control logic of TSN, and additionally adds a TSN translation (translator) module to each of UPF and UE side to adapt to data transmission of user plane. Then the TSN CNC can configure the relevant routing between two TSN nodes (e.g., the TSN node at the bottom right and the TSN node at the bottom left in fig. 2) and the QoS, and the AF can convert the relevant information from the TSN CNC into information corresponding to the 5GS by configuring the AF to the 5GS logical bridge node. The user plane adaptation functions on the UE and UPF sides are then used to provide the necessary decision information for the control plane. In addition, in fig. 2, the TSN further includes a network element of a TSN Centralized User Configuration (CUC), the TSN CUC may set a configuration of a user's relevant requirement for the TSN streaming data, and the TSN CUC may send the configuration to the TSN CNC, and the TSN CNC calculates the configuration requirement of the TSN node.

The TSN defines Time Sensitive Communication Assistance Information (TSCAI) to describe traffic characteristics of the industrial ethernet, and the TSCAI may include at least one of a direction of data flow, a data period, a burst arrival time, and the like. The AF, after converting the relevant information from the TSN CNC to information corresponding to 5GS, may send to the SMF, from which the SMF may derive the TSCAI for each data stream and send the TSCAI for each data stream to the (R) AN, which may then perform data scheduling for the industrial ethernet network based on the TSCAI for each data stream.

Meanwhile, other network elements in the SMF or 5GS also set the QoS of the corresponding 5GS according to the characteristics of the Time Sensitive Communication (TSC) data stream. For example, by deriving a Maximum Data Burst Volume (MDBV) using the TSC data burst volume, and deriving a Packet Delay Budget (PDB) according to a delay requirement of the TSC data stream, etc., an appropriate QoS stream of 5GS may be set to transmit the TSC data.

It can be seen that in the scenario of 5GS adapting to TSN, 5GS gets an end-to-end QoS of 5 GS. However, the 5GS also includes a plurality of devices, and in the scenario of adapting the 5GS to the industrial ethernet, when data is transmitted in the 5GS, the data is transmitted between the devices, that is, the data experiences a plurality of links in the 5 GS. However, the QoS obtained by the 5GS is only the overall QoS of the data from entering the 5GS to leaving the 5GS, and it cannot be known what QoS should be used between the devices in the 5GS, which may result in that the transmission process of the data of the industrial ethernet in the 5GS cannot be controlled more accurately, reduce the communication quality, and may even result in that the data of the industrial ethernet cannot be transmitted in the 5GS, that is, the 5GS cannot adapt to the industrial ethernet.

For example, please refer to fig. 3, which is a structural diagram of a 5GS compliant industrial ethernet network designed in this embodiment of the present application. Fig. 3 includes primary (primary) stations, 5GS, secondary (secondary) stations 1, secondary stations 2, and secondary stations 3, where the primary and secondary stations are all devices in an industrial ethernet network, and for ease of understanding, the primary, secondary, and secondary stations 1, 2, and 3 may be understood as UEs, which are located in the industrial ethernet network. E.g. the primary station has data to transmit to the secondary station 1, it can transmit through the 5GS, and the transmission of this data needs to go through the primary station-5 GS-the secondary station 1. Within the 5GS, the data may also be subject to one or more devices, e.g., the data may be subject to forwarding by a device such as AN (R) AN, a UPF, or one or more UEs within the 5GS, i.e., the data may also be subject to one or more links within the 5 GS. Since the 5GS obtains only the end-to-end QoS of the 5GS, the 5GS cannot know how to accurately control the QoS of the link that the data passes through in the 5GS, which may result in that the transmission process of the data cannot be controlled more accurately, and the communication quality is reduced.

In view of this, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application are provided. In this embodiment, the first network device may determine QoS information of data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network according to first QoS information of the first communication network, where the QoS information of multiple links on the first transmission path is determined by the first network device, that is, the first network device may split the QoS information of the industrial ethernet onto each link on the first transmission path, so that each link can definitely transmit according to what QoS information, thereby providing a specific implementation manner for adapting a 5GS to an industrial ethernet, so that the 5GS is adapted to the industrial ethernet. And the QoS information is decomposed to each link, so that the whole transmission path can be better controlled, and the transmission quality is improved.

The technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application may be applied to a 5G system, such as an NR system, or may also be applied to a next generation mobile communication system or other similar communication systems, which is not limited specifically.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario provided in the embodiment of the present application. The primary and secondary stations in fig. 4 are both located in an industrial ethernet network, and the other network elements in addition are located in 5 GS. Fig. 4 illustrates an example in which the primary station directly accesses 5GS and the secondary station accesses 5GS via the UE. In addition, fig. 4 only shows one primary station and one secondary station, in practical application, the primary station may be further connected with one or more secondary stations in the industrial ethernet network, and the secondary station in fig. 4 may also be connected with one or more secondary stations in the industrial ethernet network. The master station may be, for example, UE, or other devices in the industrial ethernet; the secondary station is, for example, a UE, or may be another device in an industrial ethernet network. The (R) AN in fig. 4 is implemented by, for example, AN access network device, such as a base station.

The method provided by the embodiment of the application is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The first communication network described in the various embodiments herein is, for example, an industrial ethernet network, or may be another network, such as a TSN or the like. The second communication network described in the embodiments herein is, for example, 5GS, or may be other networks, such as a next generation mobile communication system. In the description of the embodiments, the first communication network is an industrial ethernet network, and the second communication network is a 5GS network. In various embodiments of the present application, a D2D transmission path refers to a transmission path that includes a D2D connection. A D2D connection refers to a connection between two UEs on a connection transmission path, through which the two UEs communicate directly without going through the network side. A D2D transmission path may or may not pass the UPF, and is referred to as a D2D transmission path as long as a transmission path includes a D2D connection. And the transmission path forwarded by the UPF is, for example, a transmission path not including a D2D connection.

For convenience of introduction, in the embodiments to be described below, the method is performed as an example by a network device and a terminal device. The first network device described in the various embodiments herein is, for example, an AF, SMF, PCF, or the like. The second network device described in the various embodiments herein is, for example, a UPF or (R) AN, etc. In addition, the second network device, (R) AN or the first UE, etc. described in various embodiments herein may be collectively referred to as a communication device. In the figures corresponding to the embodiments of the present application, all the steps indicated by the dotted lines are optional steps.

The embodiment of the present application provides a first communication method, please refer to fig. 5, which is a flowchart of the method. The method is applicable to the network architecture shown in fig. 4, for example.

S501, the first network equipment obtains QoS information of the industrial Ethernet. For example, the QoS information of the industrial ethernet is referred to as first QoS information in order to distinguish from other QoS information that will appear later.

E.g. the first network device is an AF, the AF may obtain the first QoS information from the master station as shown in fig. 4. As another example, if the first network device is a PCF, the PCF may obtain the first QoS information from the AF. As another example, if the first network device is an SMF, then the SMF may obtain the first QoS information from the PCF.

Alternatively, the primary station shown in fig. 4 may establish a user plane data channel with the UPF, thereby transmitting the first QoS information to the UPF. The UPF may extract the first QoS information and send the first QoS information to the SMF, and if the SMF is the first network device, the first network device obtains the first QoS information. For another example, if the first network device is a PCF, the PCF may obtain the first QoS information from the SMF. For another example, if the first network device is an AF, the AF may obtain the first QoS information from the PCF.

S502, the first network device obtains connection state information, where the connection state information may indicate connection states of a plurality of UEs located in the 5GS, or the connection state information may include connection state information of a plurality of UEs located in the 5 GS. For the sake of name distinction, the connection state information of one UE may be referred to as sub-connection state information, and then the connection state information includes sub-connection information of a plurality of UEs located in the 5 GS. The plurality of UEs include, for example, the UE in fig. 4, and may further include part or all of the UEs in the 5GS except the UE. The plurality of UEs may be connected to a device (e.g., a primary station or a secondary station) in the industrial ethernet network, and the plurality of UEs may forward data for the connected device in the industrial ethernet network, which means that if the device in the industrial ethernet network is to transmit data, the data needs to pass through the 5GS, and then the UE connected to the device in the 5GS may forward the data. For example, some UEs in the multiple UEs may be connected to a primary station in the industrial ethernet network, and the primary stations to which different UEs are connected may be the same primary station or different primary stations, some UEs in the multiple UEs may be connected to secondary stations in the industrial ethernet network, and the secondary stations to which different UEs are connected may be the same secondary station or different secondary stations; or, the multiple UEs may all be connected to a master station in the industrial ethernet network, and the master stations connected to different UEs may be the same master station or different master stations; alternatively, the multiple UEs may all be connected to a secondary station in the industrial ethernet network, and the secondary stations connected to different UEs may be the same secondary station or different secondary stations.

The sub-connection state information of a UE may include delay information (or referred to as delay information) between the UE and each device to which the UE is connected, or include information whether the UE supports a device-to-device (D2D) connection scheme, or include delay information between the UE and each device to which the UE is connected, and include information whether the UE supports a D2D connection scheme. Wherein one UE may be connected to one or more devices. For example, one UE is connected to a secondary station in the industrial ethernet and also connected to a UPF in the 5 GS. Taking the example that the sub-connection state information of the UE includes delay information between the UE and each device connected to the UE, the sub-connection state information of the UE may include delay information of all or part of secondary stations connected to the UE and delay information between the UE and the UPF.

The information on whether the UE supports the D2D connection mode may be understood as including information on whether the UE supports the D2D connection mode of the PC5 communication interface, or including information on whether the UE supports the D2D connection mode of the Uu communication interface, or including information on whether the UE supports the D2D connection mode of the PC5 communication interface, and including information on whether the UE supports the D2D connection mode of the Uu communication interface. In addition, in this embodiment of the present application, the information on whether the UE supports the D2D connection mode may include information on whether the UE supports the D2D connection mode with one or some UEs. For example, the sub-connection state information of the UE1 may include information that the UE1 supports the D2D connection scheme with the UE2, that is, information whether one UE supports the D2D connection scheme may indicate a UE that the UE supports or does not support the D2D connection scheme. The UE supports or does not support the D2D connection method, which is generally corresponding, for example, the sub-connection state information of the UE1 includes information that the UE1 supports the D2D connection method with the UE2, and then the sub-connection state information of the UE2 may also include information that the UE2 supports the D2D connection method with the UE 1; for another example, the sub-connection state information of the UE1 includes information that the UE1 does not support the D2D connection method with the UE2, and then the sub-connection state information of the UE2 may also include information that the UE2 does not support the D2D connection method with the UE1. Therefore, for the first network device, if the information whether the UE1 supports the D2D connection mode is obtained, it can be determined whether the other UEs and the UE1 support the D2D connection.

For a UE, the sub-connection state information of the UE may be maintained, and the UE may also update the sub-connection state information of the UE. For example, the delay information between the UE and some devices is not always constant, but may vary with network quality. If the network quality is good, the delay between the UE and some devices may be small, and if the network quality is poor, the delay between the UE and some devices may be large, and the UE may update the delay information between the UE and some or all of the devices to which the UE is connected accordingly. For another example, the support of the UE for the D2D connection method may not be always the same, for example, the UE initially supports the D2D connection, and then may become incapable of supporting the D2D connection, so the UE may also update the information whether the UE supports the D2D connection method.

The first network device obtains the connection state information by obtaining sub-connection state information from a plurality of UEs. For example, for a UE, the UE may send sub-connection status information of the UE to an SMF through non-access stratum (NAS) signaling, and if the first network device is an SMF, the first network device obtains the sub-connection status information of the UE, and if the first network device is an AF or a PCF, the first network device may also obtain the sub-connection status information of the UE from the SMF. For another example, a UE may establish a connection between the UE and a UPF, and send sub-connection status information of the UE to the UPF, and the UPF may extract the sub-connection status information and send the sub-connection status information to an SMF, and if the first network device is an SMF, the first network device may obtain the sub-connection status information of the UE, and if the first network device is an AF or a PCF, the first network device may also obtain the sub-connection status information of the UE from the SMF. The multiple UEs may all send the sub-connection state information to the SMF in the above manner, so that the first network device may obtain the connection state information.

S503, the first network device determines QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in 5GS according to the first QoS information.

The first QoS information obtained by the first network device is QoS information of the industrial ethernet, and then the first network device may first obtain QoS information in 5GS according to the first QoS information. For example, the first network device maps the first QoS information to the second QoS information, which is the QoS information of 5 GS. Equivalently, the first network device converts the QoS information of the industrial ethernet to QoS information of 5 GS.

For example, the first QoS information may include one or more of the following parameters: a packet delay (packet delay) parameter, a packet jitter (packet jitter) parameter, a cycle time (cycle time) parameter, a data volume (data volume) parameter, or a survival time (survival time) parameter. The second QoS information may include one or more of: a source type (resource type) parameter, a priority level (priority level) parameter, a Packet Delay Budget (PDB) parameter, a packet error rate (packet error rate) parameter, an averaging window (averaging window) parameter, an MDBV parameter, a guaranteed stream bit rate (GFBR) parameter, or a maximum stream bit rate (MFBR) parameter. Mapping the first QoS information to obtain the second QoS information can refer to fig. 6A. For example, the first network device may select a corresponding packet delay budget parameter of 5GS based on the packet delay parameter in the first QoS information. The first network device may determine the MFBR parameter, the GFBR parameter, and the like in the second QoS information according to the cycle time parameter, the data amount parameter, and the like in the first QoS information. The first network device may calculate the MDBV in the second QoS information according to a data volume parameter of the industrial ethernet. Then, the first network device may select a 5G QoS identifier (5G QoS identifier, 5qi) that can satisfy the parameters according to the parameters in the calculated second QoS information, or may set a new 5QI, which results in the second QoS information.

After obtaining the second QoS information, the first network device may determine QoS information in 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path according to the second QoS information. Alternatively, the determination of the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path may also refer to the above-mentioned connection state information.

For data in the industrial ethernet to be transmitted in the 5GS, a transmission path is required, and the first network device may determine one or more transmission paths of the data in the 5 GS. As described above, the transmission path may have two kinds: D2D transmission path and transmission path forwarded through UPF. For example, the first network device does not obtain the connection status information, or the connection status information obtained by the first network device does not include information whether the UE supports the D2D connection mode, the first network device may determine that the transmission path of the data is a transmission path forwarded by the UPF.

Taking the architecture shown in fig. 4 as an example, for example, if the first network device does not obtain connection status information, or the connection status information obtained by the first network device does not include information whether the UE supports a D2D connection mode, the first network device determines that one transmission path of data in the industrial ethernet in the 5GS is a path forwarded through the UPF, and taking the example that the primary station sends data to the secondary station in fig. 4 as an example, the first network device may determine that one transmission path that the data may pass through is: primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE-secondary station. Or, after the primary station sends data to the secondary station, the secondary station performs corresponding processing on the data, and then further sends the processed data to the primary station, so that the first network device may determine that one transmission path that the data may experience is: primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE-secondary station-UE- (R) AN-UPF-primary station.

In addition, an example of a scenario is given, for example, a UE is added in the 5GS shown in fig. 4, which can refer to UE2 in fig. 6B. For example, the first network device does not obtain the connection status information, or the connection status information obtained by the first network device does not include information whether UE1 or UE2 supports the D2D connection mode. Taking the example that the primary station transmits data to the secondary station 1 and the secondary station 2, the first network device may determine that a transmission path that the data may pass through is: the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2. Or, after the primary station sends data to the secondary station, the secondary station performs corresponding processing on the data, and then further sends the processed data to the primary station, so that the first network device may determine that one transmission path that the data may experience is: the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station.

For example, a scenario is given, in fig. 4, the primary station directly accesses the 5GS as an example, or alternatively, the primary station also accesses the 5GS through the UE, for example, refer to the UE1 in fig. 6C, which is a schematic diagram of the scenario. For example, the first network device does not obtain the connection status information, or the connection status information obtained by the first network device does not include information whether UE1 or UE2 supports the D2D connection mode. Taking the example of the primary station sending data to the secondary station in fig. 6C, the first network device may determine that a transmission path that the data may traverse is: the primary station-UE 1- (R) AN 1-UPF- (R) AN2-UE 2-secondary station. Or, after the primary station sends data to the secondary station, the secondary station performs corresponding processing on the data, and then further sends the processed data to the primary station, so that the first network device may determine that one transmission path that the data may experience is: the main station-UE 1- (R) AN 1-UPF- (R) AN2-UE 2-auxiliary station-UE 2- (R) AN2-UPF- (R) AN1-UE 1-main station.

If the first network device obtains the connection state information, the first network device may determine a transmission path of data in the industrial ethernet in the 5GS according to the connection state information. For example, the connection status information includes information whether the UE supports the D2D connection mode, and if the UE does not support the D2D connection mode, the first network device determines that a transmission path of data in the industrial ethernet in the 5GS is a path forwarded by the UPF; or, if the UE supports the D2D connection mode, the first network device may determine, in addition to determining that one transmission path of the data in the industrial ethernet in the 5GS is a path forwarded by the UPF, another transmission path of the data in the industrial ethernet in the 5GS is a transmission path not forwarded by the UPF, or the another transmission path is a D2D transmission path. Referring back to fig. 6B, for example, the sub-connection status information of UE1 in fig. 6B indicates that UE1 supports D2D connection with UE2, and/or the sub-connection status information of UE2 in fig. 6B indicates that UE2 supports D2D connection with UE1. Taking the example that the primary station is to transmit data to the secondary stations 1 and 2, the first network device may determine that another transmission path that the data may traverse is: the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE 2-secondary station 2, or after the primary station sends data to the secondary station, the secondary station processes the data accordingly, and then sends the processed data to the primary station again, so that the first network device may determine that a transmission path that the data may experience is: primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station. It should be noted that this transmission path also experiences UPF because D2D transmission cannot be performed between the primary station and UE1, but a D2D path is between UE1 and UE2, and therefore this transmission path can also be regarded as a D2D transmission path.

An example is given, and reference may be made to fig. 6C, which is a schematic diagram of the scenario. For example, the sub-connection status information of UE1 in fig. 6C indicates that UE1 supports D2D connection with UE2, and/or the sub-connection status information of UE2 in fig. 6C indicates that UE2 supports D2D connection with UE1. Taking the example of the primary station sending data to the secondary station in fig. 6C, the first network device may determine that another transmission path that the data may traverse is: primary station-UE 1-UE 2-secondary station. Or, after the primary station sends data to the secondary station, the secondary station performs corresponding processing on the data, and then further sends the processed data to the primary station, so that the first network device may determine that one transmission path that the data may experience is: primary station-UE 1-UE 2-secondary station-UE 2-UE 1-primary station. Of course, data in the industrial ethernet is transmitted in the 5GS, and there may be other transmission paths besides the two transmission paths as described above, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited.

The first transmission path is, for example, a transmission path forwarded by UPF, or may also be a D2D transmission path, or may also be another transmission path. The first transmission path may comprise one link or a plurality of links, regardless of the path of the first transmission path. For example, applying the embodiment of the present application to the scenario shown in fig. 4, the first transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE-secondary station-UE- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 4, because the QoS flow (flow) of 5G is defined in one PDU session, the first transmission path includes two links, one of which is a link where the UPF points to the UE (i.e., UPF- (R) AN-UE), and the other is a link where the UE points to the UPF (i.e., UE- (R) AN-UPF).

For another example, applying the embodiment of the present application to the scenario shown in fig. 6B, the first transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B, and the first transmission path includes three links, one of the three links is a link in which the UPF points to the UE1 (i.e., UPF- (R) AN-UE 1), the other of the three links is a link in which the UE1 points to the UE2 (i.e., UE1-UE 2), and the other of the three links is a link in which the UE2 points to the UPF (i.e., UE2- (R) AN-UPF). In the embodiment of the present application, one endpoint device of the link is one UE in the 5GS, and the other endpoint device of the link is one UPF in the 5GS or another UE in the 5 GS. A link may be a direct channel between two devices (e.g., a link is UE1-UE2, which refers to a direct channel between UE1 and UE 2), or a link may be across multiple devices, which includes a direct channel between two of the multiple devices (e.g., a link is UE2- (R) AN-UPF, which includes a direct channel between UE2 and (R) AN, and which includes a direct channel between (R) AN and UPF). It should be noted that the links are directional, and the direction of the links is the same as the direction of data transmission, and even if the experienced devices are the same but the data transmission directions are different, the links are regarded as two links. For example, UE2- (R) AN-UPF is considered one link, while UPF- (R) AN-UE2 is considered the other link.

It should be noted that the second QoS information described in the embodiment of the present application may include QoS information of each link in the first transmission path. For example, the first network device may obtain third QoS information according to the first QoS information, where the third QoS information includes not only QoS information of each link in the first transmission path, but also QoS information of other connections on the first transmission path except for the link defined in the embodiment of the present application. For example, the other connection may be a connection between the UE and the secondary station in fig. 4, or a connection between the UE1 and the secondary station 1 in fig. 6B, a connection between the UE2 and the secondary station 2, or a connection between the UE2 and the secondary station in fig. 6C. And the QoS information of other connections than the link defined in the embodiment of the present application is known to the first network device, the first network device removes the QoS information of other connections on the first transmission path except the link defined in the embodiment of the present application from the third QoS information, and then obtains the second QoS information. That is, the third QoS information may be regarded as 5GS end-to-end QoS information or understood as overall QoS information of data from the entering 5GS to the leaving 5 GS. If the first transmission path does not include other connections than the links defined in the embodiment of the present application, that is, the connections included in the first transmission path are all links, the third QoS information and the second QoS information are the same QoS information, and if the first transmission path includes other connections than the links defined in the embodiment of the present application, the second QoS information cannot be strictly considered as the 5GS end-to-end QoS information. The first network device obtains the second QoS information according to the third QoS information, and then decomposes the second QoS information into each link included in the first transmission path, so as to obtain the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the 5GS, and therefore, the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the 5GS includes the QoS information of each link in the first transmission path.

For example, the first transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B, then the third QoS information may include QoS information for packets entering the UPF from the primary station until packets exit the UPF to the primary station, which passes through the link of UPF- (R) AN-UE1, the connection of UE 1-secondary station 1, the connection of secondary station 1-UE1, the link of UE1-UE2, the connection of UE 2-secondary station 2, the connection of secondary station 2-UE2, and the link of UE2- (R) AN-UPF. Wherein, UE 1-secondary station 1, secondary station 1-UE1, UE 2-secondary station 2, and secondary station 2-UE2, these two four connections are not links defined in the embodiments of the present application, and the QoS information of the connection of UE 1-secondary station 1, the QoS information of the connection of secondary station 1-UE1, the QoS information of the connection of UE 2-secondary station 2, and the QoS information of secondary station 2-UE2 are known by the first network device, so that the first network device can remove the QoS information of the connection of UE 1-secondary station 1, the QoS information of the connection of secondary station 1-UE1, the QoS information of the connection of UE 2-secondary station 2, and the QoS information of secondary station 2-UE2 from the third QoS information, so that the first network device can obtain the second QoS information, which includes the QoS information of each link in the first transmission path. The first network device further decomposes the second QoS information into each link included in the first transmission path, and obtains the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the 5 GS.

If the first network device does not obtain the connection status information, or the connection status information obtained by the first network device does not include delay information between the UE and a device to which the UE is connected, the first network device may determine QoS information in 5GS of data transmitted through the first transmission path according to the second QoS information.

For the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path determined in any of the above manners, the information may include QoS information of a plurality of links of the 5GS on the first transmission path. That is, the first network device may decompose the second QoS information by link, so that the QoS information may be set for each link at 5GS on the first transmission path. For example, the second QoS information includes at least one of parameters such as MDBV, MFBR, and GFBR, and when the first network device decomposes the second QoS information, the first network device may cause the value of the MDBV parameter of each link included in the first transmission path to be greater than or equal to the value of the MDBV parameter of the second QoS information, and cause the value of the MFBR parameter of each link included in the first transmission path to be greater than or equal to the value of the MFBR parameter of the second QoS information, or may cause the value of the GFBR parameter of each link included in the first transmission path to be greater than or equal to the value of the GFBR parameter of the second QoS information. For another example, the second QoS information includes a packet error rate parameter, and when the first network device decomposes the second QoS information, the sum of values of the packet error rate parameter of each link included in the first transmission path may be smaller than or equal to the value of the packet error rate parameter included in the second QoS information.

For another example, the second QoS information includes a packet delay budget parameter, and when the first network device decomposes the second QoS information, the first network device may allocate corresponding delays (or "delays" may also be referred to as "delays") to each link included in the first transmission path, and a sum of the delays of each link included in the first transmission path may be smaller than or equal to a value of the packet delay budget parameter included in the second QoS information. Optionally, the sum of the delays of the links included in the first transmission path may be made equal to the value of the packet delay budget parameter included in the second QoS information as much as possible, so as to fully utilize the second QoS information and improve the transmission success rate.

Alternatively, if the first network device receives the connection status information and the connection status information includes delay information between the UE and each device to which the UE is connected, the first network device may determine QoS information in 5GS of data transmitted through the first transmission path according to the second QoS information and the connection status information. For example, the first network device may consider delay information between the UE and each device to which the UE is connected when resolving the second QoS information. For example, if an endpoint device of a link on the first transmission path is a UE, the sub-connection state information of the UE includes delay information between the UE and a device to which the UE is connected, and the device belongs to the link (e.g., the device is another endpoint device of the link, or the device is located between the UE and another endpoint device of the link), then the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the link, which is decomposed by the first network device according to the second QoS information, may be greater than or equal to the delay between the UE and the device included in the sub-connection state information of the UE, so as to improve the transmission success rate on the link.

For example, the value of the packet delay budget parameter included in the second QoS information is 40ms, and the first transmission path is the primary station-UE 1- (R) AN 1-UPF- (R) AN2-UE 2-secondary station-UE 2- (R) AN2-UPF- (R) AN1-UE 1-primary station in fig. 6C, then the first transmission path includes a link 1 in which the UE1 points to the UPF, a link 2 in which the UPF points to the UE2, a link 3 in which the UE2 points to the UPF, and a link 4 in which the UPF points to the UE1. The first network device may determine QoS information in 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path according to the second QoS information. For example, one way to resolve the second QoS information is to allocate 10ms delay to each of the 4 links. Then the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the 5GS includes QoS information of 4 links, the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the 4 links is 10ms, and the sum of the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the 4 links is equal to the value of the packet delay budget parameter of the second QoS information.

For another example, if the first network device receives the connection state information, and the connection state information includes delay information between the UE and each device to which the UE is connected, the first network device may determine QoS information in 5GS of data transmitted through the first transmission path according to the second QoS information and the connection state information. For example, the first transmission path is the primary station-UE 1- (R) AN 1-UPF- (R) AN2-UE 2-secondary station-UE 2- (R) AN2-UPF- (R) AN1-UE 1-primary station in fig. 6C, and the first transmission path includes link 1 where UE1 points to UPF, link 2 where UPF points to UE2, link 3 where UE2 points to UPF, and link 4 where UPF points to UE1. The sub-connection status information of UE1 includes that the delay from UE1 to (R) AN1 is 11ms, and the delay from (R) AN1 to UE1 is 7ms, so that the delay corresponding to the QoS information allocated to link 1 by the first network device needs to be greater than or equal to 11ms, and the delay corresponding to the QoS information allocated to link 4 needs to be greater than or equal to 7ms. For example, one way to resolve the second QoS information is to assign a 12ms delay to link 1, a 10ms delay to link 2, a 10ms delay to link 3, and an 8ms delay to link 4. Then the QoS information in 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path includes QoS information of 4 links, and the sum of the delays corresponding to the QoS information of the 4 links is equal to the value of the packet delay budget parameter of the second QoS information.

As an alternative, the first network device may set one or more splitting modes for the first transmission path, or the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path may include one or more splitting information. In the case where the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path includes one piece of resolution information, the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path may be considered as a whole, which is referred to as the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path. One of the pieces of decomposition information may include QoS information of one or more links on the first transmission path, for example, each piece of decomposition information of the one or more pieces of decomposition information may include QoS information of one or more links on the first transmission path. It may be considered that, when the first network device allocates the second QoS information to the first transmission path, one decomposition manner may be adopted, or multiple decomposition manners may be adopted, and in each decomposition manner, the QoS information of multiple links on the first transmission path may be obtained, and a sum of delays corresponding to the QoS information of the links on the first transmission path corresponding to each decomposition manner may be less than or equal to a value of a packet delay budget parameter included in the second QoS information. Setting multiple QoS information decomposition modes for the first transmission path may facilitate selecting different decomposition modes for the first transmission path according to network conditions, for example, a decomposition mode 1 may be selected for the first transmission path at a certain time, and a decomposition mode 2 may be selected for the first transmission path at the next time, which makes the decomposition of the QoS information of the link more flexible, and may improve the quality and success rate of data transmission. This will be described later in detail.

For example, in the architecture of fig. 6B, the primary station is to transmit data to the secondary stations 1 and 2, and the data is processed by the secondary station 1 and returned to the primary station, and the data is processed by the secondary station 2 and returned to the primary station, for example, such data can be transmitted by using a first transmission path, such as the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B. The first transmission path includes four links, specifically, a UPF- (R) AN-UE1 link, a UE1- (R) AN-UPF link, a UPF- (R) AN-UE2 link, and a UE2- (R) AN-UPF link. Taking the value of the packet delay budget parameter of the second QoS information as 40ms as an example, please refer to table 1, which is an implementation manner of QoS information in 5GS for data transmitted through the first transmission path.

TABLE 1

	UPF→UE1	UE1→UPF	UPF→UE2	UE2→UPF
0	10	10	10	10
1	11	8	8	13
2	9	10	10	11

"→" in table 1 indicates a transfer direction of data and also indicates a link. Each row in table 1 represents one piece of decomposition information of the first transmission path. 0, 1, 2 of the first column indicate indexes (indexes) of the fragmentation information, and since the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the 5GS includes a plurality of pieces of fragmentation information, the first network device may set an index for the fragmentation information in order to distinguish different pieces of fragmentation information. It can be seen that table 1 adopts three decomposition manners, and in different decomposition manners, delays corresponding to QoS information of the same link on the first transmission path may be the same or different. For example, for the link of the UPF pointed to by the UE1, the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the link is 10ms in the decomposition scheme 0, and the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the link is also 10ms in the decomposition scheme 3. For another example, for the link with the UPF directed to UE1, the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the link is 10ms in the decomposition scheme 0, and 11ms in the decomposition scheme 1. In addition, in table 1, taking the value of the packet delay budget parameter included in the second QoS information as 40ms as an example, it can be seen that, in each decomposition mode, the sum of the delays corresponding to the QoS information of each link on the first transmission path is equal to 40ms. Of course, table 1 takes the example that the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the 5GS includes 3 pieces of decomposition information, in practical applications, the QoS information of one transmission path may include fewer or more pieces of decomposition information, and the values in table 1 are also only examples and are not limiting for the scheme of the embodiment of the present application.

If the transmission path of the data in the 5GS includes other transmission paths in addition to the first transmission path, the first network device may also set QoS information for the other transmission paths. For example, the data is transmitted in the 5GS through a second transmission path, for example, the first transmission path is a path for transmission through the UPF and the second transmission path is a D2D transmission path, or the second transmission path is a path for transmission through the UPF and the first transmission path is a D2D transmission path, or the like. The first network device may also set the QoS information in 5GS of the data transmitted through the second transmission path. Similarly, the first network device may determine QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the second transmission path in the 5GS according to the second QoS information, and optionally, according to the connection state information. The manner in which the first network device determines the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the second transmission path may refer to the manner in which the first network device determines the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path, which is not described in detail herein.

For example, in the architecture of fig. 6B, the primary station needs to transmit data to the secondary station 1 and the secondary station 2, and the data is processed by the secondary station 1 and then returned to the primary station, and the data is processed by the secondary station 2 and then returned to the primary station, for example, such data can also be transmitted by using the second transmission path, where the second transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B, and the value of the packet delay budget parameter of the second QoS information is 40ms, please refer to table 2, which is AN implementation manner of QoS information in 5GS for the data transmitted through the second transmission path.

TABLE 2

	UPF→UE1	UE1→UE2	UE2→UPF
0	19	4	17
1	17	6	17

"→" in table 2 indicates a transfer direction of data and also indicates a link. Each row in table 2 represents one piece of decomposition information of the second transmission path. 0 and 1 in the first column indicate the index of the resolution information. It can be seen that, in table 2, two decomposition manners are adopted, and in different decomposition manners, the delays corresponding to the QoS information of the same link on the second transmission path may be the same or different. In addition, in table 2, taking the value of the packet delay budget parameter included in the second QoS information as 40ms as an example, it can be seen that, in each decomposition mode, the sum of the delays corresponding to the QoS information of each link on the second transmission path is equal to 40ms. Of course, table 2 takes the example that the QoS information in 5GS of the data transmitted through the second transmission path includes 2 pieces of decomposition information, in practical applications, the QoS information of one transmission path may include fewer or more pieces of decomposition information, and the values in table 2 are also only examples and are not limiting for the solution of the embodiment of the present application.

As can be seen from tables 1 and 2, the delay between two UEs in the D2D transmission path may be smaller than the delay between two UEs in the path forwarded through the UPF. For example, according to table 1, 20ms (corresponding to index 0 or index 2) or 16ms (corresponding to index 1) needs to be passed from UE1 to UE2, but according to table 2, only 4ms (corresponding to index 0) or 6ms (corresponding to index 1) needs to be passed from UE1 to UE2, and if data is transmitted through the D2D transmission path under the condition that the total delay is unchanged, more delays can be allocated to other links except for the D2D connection in the D2D transmission path, so as to improve the transmission success rate of the data on the links.

If the first network device obtains QoS information for multiple transmission paths, the transmission information for the multiple paths may be located in one information. For example, the QoS information of the transmission paths is implemented in a table form, the QoS information of a plurality of transmission paths may be located in one table. For example, for an application scenario, the number of corresponding links under different transmission paths is the same, and then the QoS information of different transmission paths may be located in a table; or, even if the number of corresponding links under different transmission paths is different, the QoS information of different transmission paths may be located in one table, for example, the QoS information of different transmission paths is regarded as different sub-tables in one table, for example, table 1 and table 2 may be located in one table, which facilitates unified management. For the case that QoS information of two different transmission paths includes split information, the split information may also be set with indexes respectively, that is, indexes of split information included in QoS information of different transmission paths may be the same, but different split information will not be confused with each other even if the indexes of split information are the same because transmission paths are different. Alternatively, the transmission information of multiple paths may be located in different information, for example, the QoS information of the transmission paths is implemented in a table form, and then the QoS information of multiple transmission paths may be located in different tables, so as to avoid confusion between the QoS information of different transmission paths.

S504, the first network device determines that the first UE establishes a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session. The first UE is, for example, one of the plurality of UEs, or the connection status information may include sub-connection status information of the first UE. If the scenario shown in fig. 4 is taken as an example, the first UE is, for example, the UE in fig. 4. Alternatively, taking the scenario shown in fig. 6B as an example, the first UE is, for example, UE1 or UE2 in fig. 6B. Alternatively, taking the scenario shown in fig. 6C as an example, the first UE is, for example, UE1 or UE2 in fig. 6C.

The first UE may initiate a PDU session establishment procedure if the first UE needs to send or receive data. When a UE is registered in the core network, both the UE and the core network device can specify with which devices the UE may communicate, so that a UE can specify whether or not to go through UPF if communication is required, and to establish a PDU session if the UE goes through UPF. For example, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application is applied to the embodiment shown in fig. 6B, and the transmission path is, for example, a primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station. For example, for UE1, at this time, UE1 does not know the transmission path yet, but UE1 can know that, if UE1 wants to communicate, UE1 needs to communicate with the UPF, so UE1 can establish a PDU session, and similarly for UE2.

If a UE determines that the UE does not need to communicate via the UPF, the UE does not need to establish the PDU session but rather establishes the D2D session, then S504 may also change to: the first network device determines that the first UE established the D2D session. Since the embodiments of the present application mainly discuss a transmission path forwarded by UPF, the content will be described in the following embodiments.

If the first UE establishes the PDU session to forward data to the device in the industrial ethernet, the first network device may determine that the first UE needs to transmit data if the PDU session of the first UE is established, or the first network device may determine that the first UE needs to transmit data between the primary station and the secondary station, that is, the first network device may determine a transmitting end and a final receiving end of the data. If the first UE establishes the PDU session not for forwarding data to the device in the industrial ethernet but for other communication processes, after the first UE establishes the PDU session, if data needs to be forwarded to the device in the industrial ethernet, the first UE may notify the first network device, and the first network device may determine that data needs to be transmitted between the primary station and the secondary station, that is, the first network device may determine a transmitting end and a final receiving end of the data. Wherein the first network device may be a participant in a PDU session setup procedure of the first UE, the first network device may determine that the first UE has established a PDU session; alternatively, the first network device may determine, by the other network devices, that the first UE has established the PDU session if the first network device is not a participant in the PDU session establishment procedure for the first UE.

S505, the first network equipment allocates a transmission path for the first UE.

The first network device determines a transmitting end and a receiving end of data, and can allocate a transmission path to the first UE accordingly. For example, the first network device determines one or more transmission paths for the transmitting end and the receiving end through S503, the first network device may allocate a transmission path for the first UE from the one or more transmission paths. Since the D2D transmission path is not supported by all UEs, for example, some UEs may not support D2D connection establishment, the first network device may assign the transmission path forwarded through the UPF by default when assigning the transmission path to the UE. Of course, the method is not limited thereto, and for example, the first network device may also allocate a D2D transmission path to the first UE. In the embodiment of the present application, a first network device allocates a path forwarded by a UPF to a first UE as an example. For example, the first transmission path is a path forwarded through the UPF.

In an alternative embodiment, S503 may also occur after S505. That is to say, the first network device allocates a transmission path to the first UE after knowing that the first UE needs to transmit data. After the transmission path is allocated, the first network device obtains again the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path. For example, the first network device may directly allocate a transmission path forwarded by the UPF to the first UE; or, if the first network device obtains the connection status information and the connection status information includes information whether the UE supports the D2D connection mode, the first network device may allocate a transmission path forwarded through the UPF to the first UE if the first UE does not support the D2D connection mode, and may allocate a D2D transmission path to the first UE if the first UE supports the D2D connection mode. For example, the first network device allocates the first transmission path to the first UE, and then obtains the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the 5GS, and reference may be made to the description of S503 for the manner in which the first network device obtains the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the 5 GS.

S506, the first network device sends the QoS information of the first link to the UPF, and accordingly, the UPF receives the QoS information of the first link from the first network device. The first link is a link comprised by the first transmission path, the QoS information of the first link may be included in the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path. For example, the first link is a link between the UPF and a next hop device on the first transmission path, for example, the first transmission path is the primary station-UE 1- (R) AN 1-UPF- (R) AN2-UE 2-secondary station in fig. 6C, then the first link may be a link in which the UPF points to UE2. It should be noted that the "previous-hop device" or "next-hop device" described in the embodiments of the present application is relative to a link. For example, the first transmission path is primary station-UE 1- (R) AN 1-UPF- (R) AN2-UE 2-secondary station in fig. 6C, the actual next-hop device of the UPF is (R) AN2, but since the link refers to the link between the UPF and UE2, the present embodiment regards UE2 as the next-hop device of the UPF, and similarly, for the UE, the actual previous-hop device should be (R) AN1, but since the link refers to the link between the UPF and UE1, the present embodiment regards the UPF as the previous-hop device of UE1.

Since the embodiment of the present application takes the first transmission path as a path forwarded by the UPF as an example, the first network device needs to send the QoS information of the first link to the UPF, so that the UPF can send the data packet of the first UE according to the QoS information of the first link. The first network device may send only the QoS information of the first link to the UPF without sending the QoS information of other links in the first transmission path, which may reduce signaling overhead, and the UPF may also send the data packet of the first UE according to the QoS information of the first link. On the first transmission path, for the UPF, the first link may include one or more links, and thus the QoS information of the first link sent by the first network device to the UPF may include the QoS information of one link or include the QoS information of multiple links. For example, the first transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B, and for the UPF, the next hop device may be UE1 or UE2, and then the QoS information of the first link sent by the first network device to the UPF may include the QoS information of the link directed by the UPF to UE1 and/or include the QoS information of the link directed by the UPF to UE2.

Or, optionally, the first network device may send the QoS information of each link in the first transmission path to the UPF (the first network device sends the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in 5GS to the UPF, that is, it is considered that the QoS information of the first link is sent to the UPF), so that the UPF can obtain not only the QoS information of the first link but also the QoS information of other links on the first transmission path. If the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path includes a plurality of pieces of resolution information, the first network device may select one piece of resolution information for the first UE from the plurality of pieces of resolution information, for example, the first network device selects the first piece of resolution information. If the first network device sends QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path to the UPF, the first network device may also send an index of the first split information to the UPF so that the UPF can know which split information in the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path should be used.

Alternatively, optionally, if the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path includes a plurality of pieces of resolution information, the first network device may select one piece of resolution information for the first UE from the plurality of pieces of resolution information and send the resolution information to the UPF. The first network device sends the resolution information, i.e., what is believed to be the QoS information for the first link, to the UPF.

Optionally, the first network device may further send the QoS information of the first link to the first UE, and the manner in which the first network device sends the QoS information of the first link to the first UE may refer to the manner in which the first network device sends the QoS information of the first link to the UPF. In addition, if the (R) AN is further included on the first transmission path, optionally, the first network device may also send the QoS information of the first link to the (R) AN, and a manner in which the first network device sends the QoS information of the first link to the (R) AN may refer to a manner in which the first network device sends the QoS information of the first link to the UPF. It is noted that the first link may comprise a different link for the UPF, the first UE and the (R) AN. For example, the first link to which the QoS information for the first link sent to the UPF relates, its starting point is the UPF. And the first link, to which the QoS information of the first link transmitted to the first UE relates, has a starting point of the first UE.

S507, the UPF receives a first data packet, and the first data packet corresponds to the first UE. The UPF may receive a first data packet over a first transmission path. For example, the first transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B, and the first data packet is for example from the primary station, or from the (R) AN. According to the first transmission path, if the first data packet is from the primary station, the UPF transmits the first data packet to the UE1 through the (R) AN, and if the first data packet is from the (R) AN, the UPF transmits the first data packet to the UE2 or the primary station through the (R) AN. The first data packet corresponds to the first UE, which means that the first data packet may pass through the first UE during transmission, and the first UE may be a receiver of the first data packet or a sender of the first data packet. If the first transmission path is taken as an example, for example, the first UE is UE2, the first data packet corresponds to the first UE, which means that UE2 receives the first data packet from the UPF, and in addition, UE2 also retransmits the first data packet to the secondary station.

In various embodiments of the present application, a device receives a data packet and forwards the data packet, where the data packet received by the device and the data packet retransmitted by the device may or may not be the same data packet, for example, the device may perform corresponding processing on the received data packet and then retransmit the data packet, and strictly speaking, the two data packets are not the same data packet. For convenience of description, in the embodiment of the present application, the same name is used for both the data packet received by a device and the data packet transmitted by the device, for example, the UPF receives the first data packet, and the UPF forwards the first data packet is also referred to as the first data packet.

S508, the UPF sends a first data packet to the next hop device on the first transmission path through the first link according to the QoS information of the first link.

For example, the first transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B. When the UPF receives the first data packet to be sent from the primary station, the first link is, for example, a link in which the UPF points to the UE1 (or, the first link is a link of the UPF- (R) AN-UE 1), and the next-hop device of the UPF is, for example, the UE1. When the UPF receives a first data packet to be sent from the UE1 through the (R) AN, the first link is, for example, a link in which the UPF points to the UE2 (or, the first link is a link of the UPF- (R) AN-UE 2), and the next hop device of the UPF on the first transmission path is, for example, the UE2.

If the UPF receives only the QoS information of the first link in S506, the UPF may directly use the QoS information of the first link. Alternatively, if the UPF receives QoS information in 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in S506, the UPF may determine the QoS information of the first link from the QoS information in 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path. Or, if the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the 5GS includes a plurality of pieces of resolution information, the UPF determines first resolution information corresponding to an index of the first resolution information from the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the 5GS and determines the QoS information of the first link according to the first resolution information.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 5, S502, S504, S505, S507, S508, and the like are optional steps.

By the method, the first network device may determine QoS information of data transmitted through the first transmission path in the 5GS according to first QoS information of the first communication network, where the QoS information of each of the plurality of links on the first transmission path is determined by the first network device, that is, the first network device may split the QoS information of the industrial ethernet into each of the links on the first transmission path, so that each link can definitely transmit according to what QoS information, thereby providing a specific implementation manner for adapting the 5GS to the industrial ethernet, so that the 5GS is adapted to the industrial ethernet. And the QoS information is decomposed to each link, so that the whole transmission path can be better controlled, and the transmission quality is improved.

Optionally, the embodiment shown in fig. 5 may further include the following steps:

s509, the UPF obtains actual QoS information of the data of the first UE.

In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device may obtain the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE according to the third information, where the third information includes, for example, the first information, or includes the second information, or includes both the first information and the second information. For the UPF, for example, the third information includes the first information and the second information. For example, the UPF may determine the first information and the second information, such that actual QoS information of the data of the first UE may be obtained from the first information and the second information. In this embodiment, the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE obtained by the UPF according to the first information and the second information is, for example, the actual QoS information of the second link, and the second link includes, for example, a link between a position where the UPF last appeared and a position where the UPF is located on the first transmission path. Or, the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE obtained by the UPF according to the first information and the second information is, for example, accumulated QoS information, which is, for example, referred to as first accumulated QoS information, and the first accumulated QoS information includes, for example, a sum of actual QoS information of all links that the data of the first UE experiences from the first device located in the 5GS on the first transmission path to the UPF. On the first transmission path, for the UPF, the second link may include one or more links, and thus the actual QoS information of the second link obtained by the UPF may include the actual QoS information of one link or include the actual QoS information of a plurality of links.

For example, the first transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B, if the current location of the UPF on the first transmission path is after the primary station, the UPF on the first transmission path appears for the first time, and at this time, the UPF cannot obtain the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE. Or, if the location where the UPF is currently located on the first transmission path is between two (R) ANs, the location where the UPF last appeared on the first transmission path is after the primary station, and if the UPF obtains the actual QoS information of the second link, the actual QoS information of the second link includes the QoS information of the link where the UPF points to UE1 (or, UPF- (R) AN-UE 1), and includes the QoS information of the link where UE1 points to the UPF (or, UE1- (R) AN-UPF). In this scenario, the actual QoS information of the second link obtained by the UPF is actually the first accumulated QoS information. Or, if the current location of the UPF on the first transmission path is before the primary station, the location of the UPF on the first transmission path that last appeared is between two (R) ANs, and if the UPF obtains the actual QoS information of the second link, UPF, points to the QoS information of the link of UE2 (or, UPF- (R) AN-UE 2), and includes the QoS information of the link of UE2 that points to the UPF (or, UE2- (R) AN-UPF); and if the UPF obtains the first accumulated QoS information, the first accumulated QoS information includes QoS information for a link where the UPF points to UE1 (or, a link of UPF- (R) AN-UE 1), qoS information for a link where UE1 points to the UPF (or, a link of UE1- (R) AN-UPF), qoS information for a link where the UPF points to UE2 (or, a link of UPF- (R) AN-UE 2), and QoS information for a link where UE2 points to the UPF (or, a link of UE2- (R) AN-UPF).

The content of one data packet is identified by the UPF, or the identifier of the data packet carried by the header of the data packet (for example, the serial number of the data packet, or other identifier of the data packet) is also identified by the UPF, and the UPF is also known to the first transmission path, so that the UPF can determine the position of the UPF in the first transmission path according to the identification of the data packet. Taking the example where the first transmission path is primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B, during the transmission of data, the UPF receives a packet, and if the UPF determines that the packet was received for the first time, it can determine that the current location of the UPF is located behind the primary station, and if it determines that the packet was received for the second time, it can determine that the current location of the UPF is located between two (R) ANs, and so on. Similar methods may also be used if other communication devices (e.g. AN (R) AN or corresponding UE) want to identify the location of the communication device in the first transmission path, which will not be described in detail later.

It should be noted that, in the first transmission path, there may be a wired connection between the primary station and the UPF, and information such as a corresponding delay is fixed, so that QoS information corresponding to the connection between the primary station and the UPF is not considered in the scope of the embodiment of the present application, and therefore there is no link defined in the embodiment of the present application between the primary station and the UPF, and the primary station is not considered as a previous-hop device of the UPF. This is the case between the secondary station and the UE, and between the (R) AN and the UPF, etc., and the QoS information of any connection with fixed QoS information is not considered in the embodiments of the present application. The QoS information to be considered in the embodiment of the present application may include one or more of the following items: qoS information of a Uu interface between the UE and the (R) AN, qoS information of a PC5 interface between the UE and the UE, or QoS information between the UE and the UPF.

As an optional implementation, the first information includes one or more of the following: a transmission time of the one or more data packets of the first UE, a total data amount of the data of the first UE transmitted, or a data amount of the data of the first UE transmitted in a unit time. For example, the UPF may obtain the first information to send a data packet for the first UE. For example, if the first transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B, the UPF may send the data packet of the first UE to (R) AN (or UE 1) and may also send the data packet of the first UE to (R) AN (or UE 2). The UPF may record the transmission time stamp of each data packet transmitted by the first UE, so as to obtain the transmission time of the data packet, and may obtain the transmission time of one or more data packets of the first UE, for example, all or part of the data packets transmitted by the first UE through the first transmission path. For example, the UPF may obtain the transmission time of the first UE packet transmitted to UE1, or may obtain the transmission time of the first UE packet transmitted to UE2. In addition, the UPF may obtain a total data amount of the data of the first UE transmitted by the UPF, for example, the UPF may obtain a total data amount of the data of the first UE transmitted to the UE1, or may obtain a total data amount of the data of the first UE transmitted to the UE2. The UPF may also obtain the data amount of the data of the first UE transmitted in the unit time (which may also be understood as the transmission rate of the data of the UPF for the first UE), for example, the UPF may obtain the transmission rate of the data of the first UE transmitted to UE1, or may obtain the transmission rate of the data of the first UE transmitted to UE2. The data packet of the first UE refers to a data packet corresponding to the first UE, and reference may be made to the foregoing description.

As an optional implementation, the second information includes one or more of the following: a reception time of the one or more data packets of the first UE, a total data amount of the received data of the first UE, or a data amount of the received data of the first UE in a unit time. For example, the UPF may obtain the second information to receive a data packet of the first UE. For example, if the first transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B, then the UPF may receive the data packet from the first UE of (R) AN (or UE 1) and may also receive the data packet from the first UE of (R) AN (or UE 2). The UPF may record the receiving time stamp of each data packet received by the first UE, so as to obtain the receiving time of the data packet, and may obtain the receiving time of one or more data packets of the first UE, for example, all or part of the data packets transmitted by the first UE through the first transmission path. For example, the UPF may obtain the reception time of the first UE's packet received from UE1, and may also obtain the reception time of the first UE's packet received from UE2. In addition, the UPF may obtain a total data amount of the data of the first UE received by the UPF, for example, the UPF may obtain the total data amount of the data of the first UE received from UE1, and may also obtain the total data amount of the data of the first UE received from UE2. And, the UPF may also obtain the data amount of the data of the first UE received in the unit time (which may also be understood as the reception rate of the data of the first UE by the UPF), for example, the UPF may obtain the transmission rate of the data of the first UE received from UE1, or may obtain the transmission rate of the data of the first UE received from UE2.

For example, the UPF records may receive packets with time stamps, and the UPF records may send packets with time stamps in the same batch. For example, for a batch of data packets, if the current position of the UPF on the first transmission path is behind the master station, the UPF records time 1 for sending each data packet in the batch of data packets to the UE 1; if the current location of the UPF on the first transmission path is between two (R) ANs, the UPF may record a time 2 of receiving each of the data packets in the batch of data packets from UE1 and record a time 3 of sending each of the data packets in the batch of data packets to UE 2; if the location on the first transmission path where the UPF is currently located is before the primary station, the UPF may record the time 4 at which each packet in the batch of packets is received from the UE2. It should be noted that time 1, time 2, time 3, and time 4 may all refer to time of day, rather than time duration. If the current position of the UPF on the first transmission path is between two (R) ANs, and the time delay from the UE1 to the secondary station 1 and the time delay from the secondary station 1 to the UE1 are relatively fixed time delays known by the UPF, the UPF may obtain the actual QoS information of the second link according to time 1 and time 2, for example, the delay corresponding to the actual QoS information of the second link is the time duration of the interval between time 2 and time 1, then the time delay from the UE1 to the secondary station 1 is subtracted, and the time duration obtained by subtracting the time delay from the secondary station 1 to the UE1 is subtracted, at this time, the actual QoS information of the second link includes the actual QoS information of the UPF- (R) AN-UE1 link and the actual QoS information of the UE1- (R) AN-UPF link, and at this time, the first accumulated QoS information and the actual QoS information of the second link are the same QoS information. Or, if the location of the UPF on the first transmission path is before the primary station, and the time delay from the UE2 to the secondary station 2 and the time delay from the secondary station 2 to the UE2 are relatively fixed time delays known by the UPF, the UPF may obtain the actual QoS information of the second link according to time 3 and time 4, for example, the actual QoS information of the second link corresponds to a time duration that is AN interval between time 4 and time 3, and then the time delay from the UE2 to the secondary station 2 and the time delay from the secondary station 2 to the UE2 are subtracted, and the obtained time duration is obtained, where the actual QoS information of the second link includes the actual QoS information of the UPF- (R) AN-UE2 link and the actual QoS information of the UE2- (R) AN-UPF link. Alternatively, the UPF may obtain the first accumulated QoS information from time 1 and time 4, the first accumulated QoS information including actual QoS information for the link of UPF- (R) AN-UE1, actual QoS information for the link of UE1- (R) AN-UPF, actual QoS information for the link of UPF- (R) AN-UE2, and actual QoS information for the link of UE2- (R) AN-UPF. Of course, the actual QoS information may be calculated by considering the data amount and the sending rate or the receiving rate, and the relationship between the sending time and the receiving time and the data packet is only described here.

S510, the UPF determines whether to reselect the resolution information for the first UE according to the first resolution information and the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE.

For example, the UPF may determine whether to reselect the resolution information based on a delay corresponding to the QoS information. For example, the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE is the actual QoS information of the second link, and if the difference (or the absolute value of the difference) between the delay corresponding to the actual QoS information of the second link and the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the second link included in the first resolution information is greater than the second threshold, the difference between the actual QoS information of the second link and the QoS information of the second link included in the first resolution information is relatively large, or the first resolution information is not suitable for the second link, the UPF may reselect the resolution information for the first UE. If the difference (or the absolute value of the difference) between the delay corresponding to the actual QoS information of the second link and the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the second link included in the first resolution information is smaller than or equal to the second threshold, which indicates that the difference between the actual QoS information of the second link and the QoS information of the second link included in the first resolution information is smaller, or that the first resolution information is more suitable for the second link, the UPF may not necessarily reselect the resolution information for the first UE, but may continue to apply the first resolution information.

The second threshold may be specified by a protocol, or may be determined by a device such as an SMF or AMF, or determined by a UPF, etc. For example, the second threshold is 0, or the second threshold may be other values greater than 0.

If for the UPF, the second link includes multiple links, and the actual QoS information of the second link obtained by the UPF includes actual QoS information of the multiple links, the UPF may determine whether to reselect the resolution information for the first UE according to the first resolution information and the actual QoS information of one of the second links, or the UPF may determine whether to reselect the resolution information for the first UE according to the first resolution information and the actual QoS information of all of the second links.

For example, the determining, by the UPF, whether to reselect the resolution information for the first UE according to the first resolution information and actual QoS information of one of the second links includes: the UPF may determine whether to reselect the resolution information for the first UE based on whether a difference (or an absolute value of the difference) between a delay corresponding to actual QoS information for one of the second links and a delay corresponding to QoS information for the link included in the first resolution information is greater than a second threshold.

For another example, the determining, by the UPF, whether to reselect the split information for the first UE according to the first split information and actual QoS information of all links in the second link includes: the UPF may determine the delay corresponding to the actual QoS information of each of the second links, and determine whether a difference (or an absolute value of the difference) between the sum of the delays corresponding to the actual QoS information of all the links included in the second link and the sum of the delays corresponding to the QoS information of the links included in the first resolution information is greater than a second threshold, if the difference (or the absolute value of the difference) between the sum of the delays corresponding to the actual QoS information of all the links included in the second link and the sum of the delays corresponding to the QoS information of the links included in the first resolution information is greater than the second threshold, the UPF may reselect the resolution information for the first UE, otherwise, the UPF may not have to reselect the resolution information for the first UE.

Alternatively, the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE may also be the first accumulated QoS information. For example, the UPF may determine whether to reselect the resolution information for the first UE according to a delay corresponding to the QoS information. In this case, if the difference (or the absolute value of the difference) between the delay corresponding to the first accumulated QoS information and the delay corresponding to the second accumulated QoS information is greater than the second threshold, the UPF may reselect the split information for the first UE. And if the difference between the delay corresponding to the first accumulated QoS information and the delay corresponding to the second accumulated QoS information is less than or equal to the second threshold or if the absolute value of the difference between the delay corresponding to the first accumulated QoS information and the delay corresponding to the second accumulated QoS information is less than or equal to the second threshold, the UPF may not have to reselect the decomposition information for the first UE but may continue to use the first decomposition information.

The second accumulated QoS information includes, for example, a sum of delays corresponding to QoS information of N links included in the first breakdown information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 0. The N links may include all links that the data of the first UE experiences from the first device located in the 5GS on the first transmission path to the UPF. For example, the first transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B, the UPF is currently located between two (R) ANs on the first transmission path, then the N links include the link of UPF- (R) AN-UE1 and the link of UE1- (R) AN-UPF, and the second accumulated QoS information may include the sum of the QoS information of the link of UPF- (R) AN-UE1 and the QoS information of the link of UE1- (R) AN-UPF in the first decomposition information.

S511, the UPF reselects the decomposition information for the first UE.

S511 may be performed if the UPF determines from S510 that the split information needs to be reselected for the first UE, whereas S511 may not be performed if the UPF determines from S510 that the split information does not need to be reselected for the first UE.

For example, the UPF may select the resolution information based on the delay corresponding to the QoS information. For example, if the UPF calculates the actual QoS information of the second link, the UPF may reselect the resolution information for the first UE according to the delay corresponding to the actual QoS information of the second link. For example, the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the second link included in the resolution information of the UPF reselection may be greater than or equal to the delay corresponding to the actual QoS information of the second link. Here, reselecting the resolution information for the first UE may be understood as: and re-determining QoS information for the link which does not transmit the data packet, and controlling the link to transmit the data packet according to the updated QoS information.

For example, the first transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B. For example, when the UPF is located between two (R) ANs, the second link includes a link of the UPF- (R) AN-UE1, and the link including the UE1- (R) AN-UPF, table 1 may be referred to, for example, the first decomposition information is decomposition information corresponding to index 0 in table 1, the QoS information of the second link included in the first decomposition information corresponds to a delay of 20ms, the m links include a link of the UPF- (R) AN-UE1, and the link including the UE1- (R) AN-UPF, the QoS information of the link of the UPF- (R) AN-UE1 included in the first decomposition information corresponds to a delay of 10ms, and the QoS information of the link of the UE1- (R) AN-UPF corresponds to a delay of 10ms. The delay corresponding to the actual QoS information of the second link determined by the UPF is 18ms, and it can be seen that the delay corresponding to the actual QoS information of the second link is smaller than the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the second link included in the first resolution information, that is, a smaller delay can meet the requirement of the second link, so the UPF may consider that the first UE reselects the resolution information, and the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the second link included in the reselected resolution information may be, for example, as much as 18ms as possible, which is equivalent to that the second link can save 2ms of delay, and the saved delay can be used by a subsequent link, so as to improve the transmission success rate of the subsequent link. For example, if the UPF reselects the resolution information for the first UE from the resolution information included in the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in 5GS, and continuing to use table 1 as an example, it can be seen that the delay corresponding to the actual QoS information of the second link included in the resolution information corresponding to index 1 is 19ms, and the delay corresponding to the actual QoS information of the second link included in the resolution information corresponding to index 2 is also 19ms, and then the UPF may select the resolution information corresponding to index 1 or index 2 for the first UE, and no longer apply the resolution information corresponding to index 0. Although the 2ms delay cannot be saved, the 1ms delay can also be saved. By shortening the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the second link, the delay of other links on the first transmission path can be relaxed correspondingly, thereby improving the success rate of data transmission.

Optionally, when selecting the decomposition information, the UPF may consider QoS information of M links, in addition to QoS information of links for which actual QoS information has been calculated, where M is an integer greater than or equal to 0. For example, if the UPF calculates the actual QoS information of the second link, the UPF may reselect the resolution information for the first UE according to the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the M links included in the first resolution information and according to the delay corresponding to the actual QoS information of the second link. The M links include all but the second link of the links through which the data of the first UE is transmitted from the first device in the first transmission path to the UPF. For example, the sum of delays corresponding to the QoS information of the M links included in the resolution information for the UPF reselection may be greater than or equal to the sum of delays corresponding to the QoS information of the M links included in the first resolution information, and the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the second link included in the resolution information for the UPF reselection may be greater than or equal to the delay corresponding to the actual QoS information of the second link. In this way, the impact on the link through which the data packet has passed can be reduced.

The UPF may not be the last hop device on the first transmission path, and the UPF may reselect the resolution information for the first UE, so that optionally, when sending a data packet to a next hop device, the UPF may carry an index of the resolution information used by the UPF in the data packet, so that other devices on the first transmission path can specify which resolution information the UPF uses at all, and thus the resolution information used by each device on the first transmission path can be consistent to meet the requirement of the QoS information of the industrial ethernet. For example, if the UPF sends a packet of the first UE to the (R) AN, and the packet sent by the UPF to the (R) AN may carry a general packet radio service tunneling protocol (GTP-U) header and AN ethernet header, the UPF may add AN index of the resolution information used by the UPF in the GTP-U header and/or the ethernet header.

If the first network device also sends the QoS information for the first link to the (R) AN, optionally, the (R) AN may also calculate the actual QoS information for the second link, or calculate the first accumulated QoS information, to decide whether to reselect the split information for the first UE. Of course, for AN (R) AN, the second link may comprise a different link than the second link of the UPF. For example, for AN (R) AN, the second link comprises, for example, a link on the first transmission path between the last occurrence of the (R) AN and the current location of the (R) AN. For example, the first transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B, and if (R) AN is currently behind UE1 on the first transmission path, the second link may include the link of UPF- (R) AN-UE1 and the link including UE1- (R) AN-UPF. It should be noted that for the (R) AN, it should be the actual QoS information of the (R) AN-UE1 and the actual QoS information of the UE1- (R) AN that are calculated, but since the delay between the UPF- (R) AN and the delay of the (R) AN-UPF are relatively fixed, it can be considered that the (R) AN is known, and the (R) AN can obtain the actual QoS information of the second link based on the actual QoS information of the (R) AN-UE1, the actual QoS information of the UE1- (R) AN, the delay between the UPF- (R) AN and the delay of the (R) AN-UPF. Alternatively, for the (R) AN, the second link includes, for example, a link on the first transmission path where the (R) AN is located. Taking the first transmission path as AN example, if the (R) AN is currently in front of the UE1 on the first transmission path, the second link may be the UPF- (R) AN-UE1 link.

The (R) AN may obtain actual QoS information of the second link according to third information if the second link includes a link on which the (R) AN is located on the first transmission path, and for the (R) AN, the third information may include the first information, or include the second information, or include both the first information and the second information. Of course, the first information may be the same or different information and the second information may be the same or different information for the (R) AN and the UPF. For example, the second link includes a link of UPF- (R) AN-UE1, where (R) AN can determine a time for transmitting a packet to UE1, and UE1 can transmit hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information to (R) AN after receiving the packet, so that (R) AN can approximately determine a time for UE1 to receive the packet, and therefore (R) AN can determine actual QoS information between (R) AN and UE1, which is equivalent to that (R) AN can determine actual QoS information of the second link according to the first information. As can be seen from the foregoing description, the QoS information between UPF- (R) ANs is relatively fixed and can be considered known to (R) ANs, so that the (R) AN can determine the actual QoS information of the link of UPF- (R) AN-UE 1. For another example, the second link includes a link of UE1- (R) AN-UPF, and the transmission of the packet by UE1 to (R) AN is scheduled in advance by (R) AN, so (R) AN can determine the time when UE1 transmits the packet, and (R) AN can also determine the time when (R) AN receives the packet, so (R) AN can determine the actual QoS information between (R) AN and UE1, which is equivalent to (R) AN being able to determine the actual QoS information of the second link based on the second information.

And if the second link includes a link between a location on the first transmission path where the (R) AN last appeared and a location where the (R) AN now is located, the (R) AN can obtain actual QoS information of the second link based on the first information and the second information. For the first information, the second information, and how (R) the AN obtains the actual QoS information of the second link, reference may be made to the related description above.

Alternatively, the (R) AN may also obtain the first accumulated QoS information, and reference may also be made to the related description above regarding the manner in which the (R) AN obtains the first accumulated QoS information.

The (R) AN may determine whether to reselect the resolution information for the first UE according to the obtained QoS information of the second link or the first accumulated QoS information, and the determination may be as described above with respect to the determination procedure of the UPF. In addition, if the (R) AN determines to reselect the resolution information for the first UE, the manner in which the (R) AN reselects the resolution information may also refer to the above description of the manner in which the UPF reselects the resolution information.

For the (R) AN, it may not be the last hop device on the first transmission path, but the (R) AN may reselect the resolution information for the first UE, so that optionally, when the (R) AN sends a data packet to the next hop device, the data packet may carry AN index of the resolution information used by the (R) AN, so that other devices on the first transmission path can specify which resolution information the (R) AN uses, and thus the resolution information used by each device on the first transmission path can be consistent, so as to meet the requirement of QoS information of the industrial ethernet. For example, (R) the AN is to send a data packet of the first UE to the first UE, (R) the data packet sent by the AN to the first UE may carry AN ethernet header, and then (R) the AN may add AN index of the decomposition information used by (R) the AN in the ethernet header. For another example, if (R) the AN is to send the data packet of the first UE to the UPF, and the data packet sent by (R) the AN to the UPF may carry a GTP-U header, then (R) the AN may add AN index of the decomposition information used by (R) the AN to the GTP-U header.

If the first network device also sends QoS information for the first link to the first UE, the first UE may optionally calculate actual QoS information for the second link, or calculate a first cumulative QoS information, to decide whether to reselect the split information for the first UE. Of course, the link comprised by the second link may be different for the first UE than the link comprised by the second link of the UPF or (R) AN. For example, for the first UE, the second link includes, for example, a link between the last hop device on the first transmission path and the first UE. For example, the first transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B, if the first UE is UE1, the second link may comprise the link of UPF- (R) AN-UE 1.

For the first UE, actual QoS information for the second link may be obtained from the third information. For example, for the first UE, the third information includes the second information. For example, the first UE is UE1, the second link includes a link of UPF- (R) AN-UE1, where (R) AN schedules UE1 to receive a data packet, UE1 can determine (R) the time when the AN sends the data packet through the scheduling information, and UE1 can also determine the time when UE1 receives the data packet, so that UE1 can determine (R) actual QoS information between AN and UE1, which is equivalent to that UE1 can determine the actual QoS information of the second link according to the second information. As can be seen from the foregoing description, the QoS information between the UPF- (R) ANs is relatively fixed, and when the UE1 establishes the PDU session, the core network device may send the QoS information between the UPF- (R) ANs to the UE1, so that the QoS information between the UPF- (R) ANs is known to the UE1, and thus the UE1 may determine the actual QoS information of the link of the UPF- (R) AN-UE 1.

Or for the first UE, the third information may also include the first information, or the first information and the second information. Of course, the first information may be the same or different information and the second information may be the same or different information for the UPF, the first UE, or the (R) AN.

The first UE may determine whether to reselect the resolution information for the first UE according to the obtained QoS information of the second link, and the determination manner may refer to the foregoing description of the determination procedure for the UPF. In addition, if the first UE determines to reselect the resolution information for the first UE, the manner in which the first UE reselects the resolution information may also refer to the above description of the manner in which the UPF reselects the resolution information.

For the first UE, it may not be the last hop device on the first transmission path, but the first UE may reselect the decomposition information for the first UE, so that optionally, when the first UE sends a data packet to the next hop device, the first UE may carry an index of the decomposition information used by the first UE in the data packet, so that other devices on the first transmission path can specify which decomposition information the first UE uses at all, and thus the decomposition information used by each device on the first transmission path can be consistent, so as to meet the requirement of QoS information of the industrial ethernet. For example, the first UE is to send a data packet of the first UE to the UPF, and the data packet sent by the first UE to the UPF may carry an ethernet header, so the first UE may add an index of the decomposition information used by the first UE in the ethernet header. In various embodiments of the present application, if an index of the resolution information is to be added to the ethernet header, one way is to add the index of the resolution information to a virtual local area network tag (VLAN tag) field of the ethernet header.

In summary, it can be understood that, in the embodiment of the present application, the communication device may obtain the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE, so as to determine whether to reselect the resolution information for the first UE according to the actual QoS information of the link of the first UE. As can be appreciated from the foregoing description, the communication device includes, for example, one or more of the first UE, the UPF, or the (R) AN. Therefore, by adopting the scheme of the embodiment of the application, multiple decomposition modes of the QoS information can be set for one transmission path, and when the device (for example, UPF) on the first transmission path transmits the data of the first UE, a proper decomposition mode can be selected correspondingly according to the actual network condition, so that the QoS information of the industrial ethernet is satisfied, the flexibility of data transmission is improved, and the success rate of data transmission is improved.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the first transmission path is mainly taken as an example of a path forwarded by UPF. A second communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described below, in which the first transmission path involved in the method is, for example, a D2D transmission path. Fig. 7 is a flowchart of the method. The method is applicable to the network architecture shown in fig. 4, for example.

S701, the first network equipment obtains QoS information of the industrial Ethernet. For example, the QoS information of the industrial ethernet is referred to as first QoS information in order to distinguish from other QoS information that will appear later.

For more about S701, reference may be made to S501 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S702, the first network equipment obtains the connection state information.

For more about S702, reference may be made to S502 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S703, the first network device determines QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in 5GS according to the first QoS information.

For more about S703, reference may be made to S503 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S704, the first network device configures K pieces of UE to establish D2D connection, wherein K is an integer greater than or equal to 2.

For example, the first network device may determine whether there is a UE pair capable of supporting establishment of the D2D connection among the plurality of UEs in the 5GS according to the connection state information. By "UE pair" is meant that two UEs support D2D connection establishment between the two UEs, and the two UEs are considered as a pair of UEs, or a UE pair. For K UEs, there may be P UE pairs, P being, for example, a positive integer and P being less than or equal to [ (K-1) + (K-2) + (K-3) + … … +1]. For example, for K UEs, P may be equal to (K-1), e.g., K =3, and of these 3 UEs, UE1 and UE2 are one UE pair, and UE2 and UE3 are one UE pair, then there are 2 UE pairs. Alternatively, for K UEs, P may be equal to K, e.g., K =3, and of these 3 UEs, UE1 and UE2 are one UE pair, UE2 and UE3 are one UE pair, and UE1 and UE3 are one UE pair, there are 3 UE pairs. Alternatively, P may be equal to K UEs

Indicating that x is rounded up. For example, K =4, UE1 is one UE pair with UE2, UE3 is one UE pair with UE4, and the 4 UEs include 2 UE pairs. Alternatively, P can also be less than or equal to [ (K-1) + (K-2) + (K-3) + … … +1]Other values of (a).

The first network device may configure D2D connections to be established between some or all UE pairs related to the K UEs, where D2D connections are established between two UEs forming one UE pair. For example, the first network device is a PCF, the PCF may configure one or more of authentication information, connection information, or policy information of the D2D connection to the K UEs through the AMF to configure the corresponding UE pair to establish the D2D connection. For example, K =4, the 4 UEs include two UE pairs, i.e., a UE pair formed by UE1 and UE2, and a UE pair formed by UE3 and UE4, respectively, then the first network device may configure the UE1 and the UE2 to establish the D2D connection, and configure the UE3 and the UE4 to establish the D2D connection.

Optionally, the first network device may configure, according to the first transmission path, the D2D connection between the corresponding UE pair of the K UEs. For example, although two UEs are a UE pair, according to the first transmission path, the two UEs do not need to establish a D2D connection therebetween, and the first network device may not configure the two UEs to establish a D2D connection.

S705, the first network device determines that the first UE establishes the PDU session. The first UE is, for example, one of a plurality of UEs in an industrial ethernet network, or the connection status information may include sub-connection status information of the first UE.

For more about S705, reference may be made to S504 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S706, the first network device allocates a transmission path to the first UE.

For example, if the first UE is one of K UEs, that is, the first UE supports a D2D transmission path, the first network device may allocate the D2D transmission path for the first UE. For example, in the embodiment of the present application, the first transmission path is a D2D transmission path. For example, all or part of the links included in the first transmission path are D2D links. For example, the first transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B, where UE1 is, for example, a first UE. For fig. 6B, if a path through UPF transmission is used, the transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station, that is, after a data packet arrives at the secondary station 1, it needs to be transmitted back to UPF to continue transmitting to the secondary station 2, but if a D2D transmission path is used, the data packet can arrive at the UE2 directly from the UE1, which greatly reduces the time delay of the whole communication cycle and also gives more QoS scheduling space to other links in the multi-link transmission.

Alternatively, S705 may be replaced by the first network device determining that the first UE establishes the D2D session. The first network device may also allocate a D2D transmission path for the first UE if the first network device determines that the first UE established the D2D session. For example, if the embodiment of the present application is applied to the scenario shown in fig. 6C, the first UE is UE1, and the first network device determines that UE1 establishes a D2D session with UE2, the first network device may allocate a D2D transmission path to the first UE. In this scenario, the communication of UE1 does not have to go through the UPF, so UE1 may not have to re-establish the PDU session. That is, for a UE using a D2D transmission path, if the D2D transmission path passes through the UPF, the UE may establish a PDU session; the UE may not have to establish a PDU session if the D2D transmission path does not traverse the UPF. For UEs that do not need to establish a PDU session, the first network device may configure the UEs to establish a D2D connection through S704, or the UEs may establish a D2D connection by themselves when data needs to be transmitted, without the configuration of the first network device. After the D2D connection is established by one UE pair, one UE in the UE pair may send feedback information to the first network device, where the feedback information may indicate that the D2D connection is established or that the D2D connection is failed to be established. If the feedback information indicates that the D2D connection establishment is complete, the first network device may determine that the UE pair establishes the D2D connection, so that the first network device may allocate a transmission path for the UE pair.

For more details on S706, for example, S703 may also occur after S706, etc., reference may be made to the related description of the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S707, the first network device sends the QoS information of the first link to the first UE, and accordingly, the first UE receives the QoS information of the first link from the first network device. The first link is a link included in the first transmission path, and the QoS information of the first link may be included in the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path. For example, the first link is a link between the first UE and a next hop device on the first transmission path, for example, the first transmission path is a primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B, and the first UE is UE1, then the first link may be a link of UE1-UE 2.

Since the embodiment of the present application takes the example that the first transmission path is a D2D transmission path, the first network device needs to send the QoS information of the first link to the first UE, so that the first UE can send the data packet of the first UE according to the QoS information of the first link. With respect to the manner in which the first network device sends the QoS information of the first link to the first UE, reference may be made to the description of the first network device sending the QoS information of the first link to the UPF in the embodiment shown in fig. 4.

In addition, even in a D2D transmission path, UPF may be passed through in the transmission path, for example, the transmission path of primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B is passed through UPF. Thus, optionally, the first network device may also send QoS information for the first link to the UPF. The first network device may not need to send the QoS information for the first link to the UPF if the D2D transmission path does not pass through the UPF. Furthermore, even in a D2D transmission path, there is a possibility that the (R) AN is passed through in the transmission path, for example, the transmission path of the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B passes through the (R) AN. Thus, optionally, the first network device may also send QoS information for the first link to the (R) AN. The first network device may not need to send the QoS information of the first link to the (R) AN if the D2D transmission path does not pass through the (R) AN. With respect to the manner in which the first network device sends the QoS information of the first link to a device such as a UPF or (R) AN, reference may be made to the description of the embodiment shown in fig. 4 in which the first network device sends the QoS information of the first link to the UPF.

S708, the first UE receives the first data packet, where the first data packet corresponds to the first UE. If the first UE receives the first data packet on the first transmission path, for example, the first transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B, and UE1 is the first UE, the first UE may receive the first data packet from the UPF through (R) AN or receive the first data packet from the secondary station.

S709, the first UE sends a first data packet to a next-hop device on the first transmission path through the first link according to the QoS information of the first link.

If the first UE receives only the QoS information of the first link in S707, the first UE may directly use the QoS information of the first link. Alternatively, if the first UE receives QoS information in 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in S707, the first UE may determine the QoS information of the first link from the QoS information in 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path. Alternatively, if the first UE receives the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in S707 and the first UE further receives the index of the first parsing information, indicating that the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path includes a plurality of parsing information, the first UE determines the first parsing information corresponding to the index of the first parsing information from the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path and determines the QoS information of the first link according to the first parsing information.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 7, S702, S704 to S706, S708, S709, and the like are optional steps.

In this embodiment, the first network device may determine QoS information of data transmitted through the first transmission path in the 5GS according to first QoS information of the first communication network, where the QoS information of each of the plurality of links on the first transmission path is determined by the first network device, that is, the first network device may split the QoS information of the industrial ethernet into each of the links on the first transmission path, so that each link can specify what QoS information should be transmitted, thereby providing a specific implementation manner for adapting the 5GS to the industrial ethernet, so that the 5GS can be adapted to the industrial ethernet. And decomposing the QoS information to each link also enables the whole transmission path to be better controlled so as to improve the transmission quality.

Optionally, the embodiment shown in fig. 7 may further include the following steps:

s710, the first UE obtains actual QoS information of the data of the first UE.

The actual QoS information of the data of the first UE obtained by the first UE is, for example, actual QoS information of a second link, and for the first UE, the second link includes, for example, a link between a previous hop device on the first transmission path and the first UE. For example, the first transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B, the second link may comprise the link of UPF- (R) AN-UE1 if the first UE is UE1, or the link of UPF- (R) AN-UE2 if the first UE is UE2.

Regarding the way in which the first UE obtains the actual QoS information of the second link, the same way in which the UPF obtains the actual QoS information of the second link in fig. 5 can refer to the description of the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S711, the first UE determines whether to reselect the resolution information for the first UE according to the first resolution information and the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE.

For more details of S711, the manner in which the first UE determines whether to reselect the resolution information for the first UE is similar to the manner in which the UPF determines whether to reselect the resolution information for the first UE in fig. 5, and reference may be made to the related description of the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S712, the first UE reselects the decomposition information for the first UE.

S712 may be performed if the first UE determines from S711 that the decomposition information needs to be reselected for the first UE, and S712 may not be performed if the first UE determines from S711 that the decomposition information does not need to be reselected for the first UE. For more details of S712, the manner in which the first UE reselects the resolution information for the first UE is similar to the manner in which the UPF reselects the resolution information for the first UE in fig. 5, and reference may be made to the related description of the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

In addition, the first UE may not be the last hop device on the first transmission path, and the first UE may reselect the parsing information for the first UE, so that optionally, when the first UE sends a data packet to the next hop device, for example, the first UE is to send the data packet of the first UE to the UPF, and the data packet sent by the first UE to the UPF may carry an ethernet header, and then the first UE may add an index of the parsing information used by the first UE in the ethernet header. In various embodiments of the present application, if an index of the parsing information is to be added in the ethernet header, one way is to add the index of the parsing information in the VLAN tag field of the ethernet header. Therefore, by adopting the scheme of the embodiment of the application, multiple decomposition modes of the QoS information can be set for one transmission path, and when the device (for example, UPF) on the first transmission path transmits the data of the first UE, a proper decomposition mode can be selected correspondingly according to the actual network condition, so that the QoS information of the industrial ethernet is satisfied, the flexibility of data transmission is improved, and the success rate of data transmission is improved. In addition, the embodiment of the application can transmit data through the D2D transmission path as much as possible, so that the transmission path of the data can be shortened, and the transmission delay of the data can be reduced.

The embodiment shown in fig. 5 describes a case where the transmission path is a transmission path forwarded by UPF, and the embodiment shown in fig. 7 describes a case where the transmission path is a D2D transmission path. Considering the actual industrial ethernet architecture, there may be two connection modes, i.e., UPF forwarding and D2D, between UEs. Therefore, a third communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application is described next, which describes how to implement the decomposition of QoS information in the case where such multiple connection modes coexist. Please refer to fig. 8, which is a flowchart of the method. The method is applicable to the network architecture shown in fig. 4, for example.

S801, the first network equipment obtains QoS information of the industrial Ethernet. For example, the QoS information of the industrial ethernet is referred to as first QoS information in order to distinguish from other QoS information that will appear later.

For more about S801, reference may be made to S501 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S802, the first network equipment obtains the connection state information.

For more about S802, reference may be made to S502 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S803, the first network device determines, according to the first QoS information, qoS information of data transmitted through the first transmission path in the 5GS in the second communication network.

For more about S803, reference may be made to S503 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S804, configuring K pieces of UE by the first network equipment, and establishing D2D connection, wherein K is an integer larger than or equal to 2.

For more about S804, reference may be made to S704 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

S805, the first network device sends information of the UE that does not support D2D connection communication to the UPF, and accordingly, the UPF receives information of the UE that does not support D2D connection communication from the first network device.

For example, the PCF sends information of K UEs to the SMF, and the SMF may screen out the UEs that need to be forwarded by the UPF, or screen out the UEs that do not support D2D connectivity communication. For example, if the information of K UEs includes information that UE1 and UE2 are a UE pair, and includes information that UE3 and UE4 are a UE pair, then the SMF may determine that UPF forwarding is required between UE2 and UE 3. For another example, the first network device may determine, according to the connection status information, a UE that needs to be forwarded via the UPF.

S806, the first network device determines that the first UE establishes the PDU session. Alternatively, the first network device determines that the first UE established the D2D session. The first UE is, for example, one of a plurality of UEs in an industrial ethernet network, or the connection status information may include sub-connection status information of the first UE. For more about S806, refer to S504 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, or refer to S705 or S706 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

S807, the first network device allocates a transmission path to the first UE.

The first network device may allocate a D2D transmission path for the first UE if the first UE supports D2D connections with other UEs, and may allocate a transmission path forwarded through UPF for the first UE if the first UE does not support D2D connections with other UEs. Whether the first UE supports D2D connection with other UEs at all, the first network device may learn from the connection status information. For example, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application is applied to the embodiment shown in fig. 6B, where the first UE is UE1, and if UE1 supports a D2D connection with UE2, the first network device may allocate a D2D transmission path to UE1, where the D2D transmission path is, for example, a primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station; if UE1 does not support a D2D connection with UE2, the first network device may allocate a transmission path for UE1 to forward over UPF, for example, a primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station.

For more contents of S807, reference may be made to S505 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, or to S706 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

S808, the first network device sends QoS information of the first link to the UPF, and correspondingly, the UPF receives the QoS information of the first link from the first network device; or, the first network device sends the QoS information of the first link to the first UE, and correspondingly, the first UE receives the QoS information of the first link from the first network device; or, the first network device sends the QoS information of the first link to the (R) AN, and accordingly, the (R) AN receives the QoS information of the first link from the first network device; or the first network device sends the QoS information of the first link to the UPF and the (R) AN, and correspondingly, the UPF and the (R) AN respectively receive the QoS information of the first link from the first network device; or, the first network device sends the QoS information of the first link to the UPF and the first UE, and correspondingly, the UPF and the first UE receive the QoS information of the first link from the first network device, respectively; alternatively, the first network device sends the QoS information of the first link to the (R) AN and the first UE, and accordingly, the (R) AN and the first UE receive the QoS information of the first link from the first network device, respectively. It may be appreciated that the first network device transmits the QoS information for the first link to the communication device, and accordingly, the communication device receives the QoS information for the first link from the first network device, the communication device including one or more of a UPF, AN (R) AN, or a first UE.

For example, the communication device may include a UPF if the first UE is assigned a transmission path that is forwarded via UPF by the first network device, and may include a first UE if the first UE is assigned a D2D transmission path by the first network device. Alternatively, even if the first network device allocates a D2D transmission path for the first UE, the D2D transmission path may include a UPF (e.g., the D2D transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B). In this case, the communication device may include the first UE and the UPF. Additionally, if the transmission path allocated by the first network device for the first UE would pass through the (R) AN, the communication device may also include the (R) AN. Of course, the first link may be a different link for the first UE, (R) AN, and UPF.

For more on S808, reference may be made to S506 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, or to S707 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

S809 and UPF receive the first data packet, wherein the first data packet corresponds to the first UE. The UPF may receive a first data packet over a first transmission path. For example, the first transmission path is a transmission path forwarded by UPF, for example, a primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B, the first UE is, for example, UE1 (or may also be UE 2), and the first data packet is, for example, from the primary station on the first transmission path.

If the first network device allocates a transmission path to the first UE, the transmission path is forwarded through the UPF, and the data packet of the first UE passes through the UPF. Alternatively, even if the first UE is assigned a D2D transmission path by the first network device, such as the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B, the transmission path will pass through the UPF and thus the data packets of the first UE will also pass through the UPF.

S810, the UPF sends a first data packet to the next hop device on the first transmission path through the first link according to the QoS information of the first link. For example, the first transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B, and the QoS information of the first link sent by the first network device to the UPF in S808 includes, for example, the QoS information of the link pointed by the UPF to UE2, then the UPF may send a data packet to UE2 according to the QoS information of the link of UPF- (R) AN-UE 1.

For more about S810, reference may be made to S508 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 8, S802, S804 to S807, S809, and the like are optional steps.

In this embodiment, the first network device may determine QoS information of data transmitted through the first transmission path in the 5GS according to first QoS information of the first communication network, where the QoS information of each of the plurality of links on the first transmission path is determined by the first network device, that is, the first network device may split the QoS information of the industrial ethernet into each of the links on the first transmission path, so that each link can specify what QoS information should be transmitted, thereby providing a specific implementation manner for adapting the 5GS to the industrial ethernet, so that the 5GS is adapted to the industrial ethernet. And the QoS information is decomposed to each link, so that the whole transmission path can be better controlled, and the transmission quality is improved.

Optionally, the embodiment shown in fig. 8 may further include the following steps:

s811, the UPF obtains actual QoS information of the data of the first UE.

With respect to the way the UPF obtains the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE, reference may be made to S509 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S812, the UPF determines whether to reselect the resolution information for the first UE according to the first resolution information and the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE.

For more about S812, reference may be made to S510 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S813, UPF reselects the decomposition information for the first UE.

For more about S813, reference may be made to S511 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S814, the first UE receives a second data packet, where the second data packet corresponds to the first UE. The first UE may receive the second data packet on the first transmission path.

The transmission path is passed through the first UE regardless of whether the first UE is assigned a transmission path forwarded through the UPF or a D2D transmission path by the first network device. For example, the first transmission path is a transmission path forwarded by UPF, for example, the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station, for example, in fig. 6B, the first UE is UE1, and the first data packet is from UPF (or from (R) AN) on the first transmission path, for example, or from secondary station 1 on the first transmission path.

For more about S814, reference may be made to S708 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

S815, the first UE sends a second data packet to the next hop equipment on the first transmission path through the first link according to the QoS information of the first link.

For more about S815, reference may be made to S709 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

S816, the first UE obtains actual QoS information of the data of the first UE.

For more about S816, reference may be made to S710 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

S817, the first UE determines whether to reselect the decomposition information for the first UE according to the first decomposition information and the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE.

For more about S817, reference may be made to S711 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

S818, the first UE reselects the decomposition information for the first UE.

For more about S818, refer to S712 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

If the first network equipment allocates a transmission path forwarded by the UPF for the first UE, the steps from S809 to S813, or the steps from S814 to S817, or the steps from S809 to S813, and the steps from S814 to S817 can be executed; alternatively, if the first network device allocates the first UE to pass through the D2D transmission path, S814 to S817 may be performed.

If the first network device also sends the QoS information for the first link to the (R) AN, optionally, the (R) AN may also calculate actual QoS information for the data of the first UE to decide whether to reselect the resolution information for the first UE. In this connection reference is made to the description relating to the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

According to the embodiment of the application, multiple decomposition modes of QoS information can be set for one transmission path, and when equipment (for example, UPF) on the first transmission path transmits data of the first UE, a proper decomposition mode can be correspondingly selected according to actual network conditions, so that the QoS information of the industrial Ethernet is met, meanwhile, the flexibility of data transmission is improved, and the success rate of data transmission is improved. In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, different transmission paths may be allocated to different UEs, for example, a D2D transmission path may be allocated to a UE capable of supporting D2D connection communication, so as to shorten a transmission path of data and reduce transmission delay of data, and a transmission path forwarded by UPF may be allocated to a UE not supporting D2D connection communication, so as to improve a success rate of data transmission.

As can be seen from the foregoing description of the embodiments, data of the industrial ethernet is transmitted in the 5GS, and may be forwarded through the UPF or may be transmitted through the D2D transmission path. If the transmission path is forwarded through the UPF, the transmission delay caused by the UPF may be relatively large, and it is likely that the transmission path forwarded through the UPF cannot meet the QoS requirement of the industrial ethernet. The fourth communication method is provided in this embodiment of the present application, and by using this method, when one transmission path does not meet the QoS requirement of the industrial ethernet, another transmission path can be switched to, so as to improve the success rate of data transmission. Please refer to fig. 9, which is a flowchart of the method. The method is applicable to the network architecture shown in fig. 4, for example.

S901, the first network equipment obtains QoS information of the industrial Ethernet. For example, the QoS information of the industrial ethernet is referred to as first QoS information in order to distinguish from other QoS information that will appear later.

For more contents of S901, reference may be made to S501 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S902, the first network equipment obtains the connection state information.

For more about S902, reference may be made to S502 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S903, the first network equipment determines QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in 5GS according to the first QoS information. For example, the first network device also determines QoS information in 5GS of data transmitted through the second transmission path in 5GS based on the first QoS information. For example, the first transmission path is a transmission path forwarded by UPF and the second transmission path is a D2D transmission path, or the second transmission path is a transmission path forwarded by UPF and the first transmission path is a D2D transmission path. One transmission path passes through the first UE and the second UE, and the transmission path is a transmission path forwarded by the UPF, and may be implemented as a link forwarded by the UPF between the first UE and the second UE on the transmission path; one transmission path passes through the first UE and the second UE, and the transmission path is a D2D transmission path, and may be implemented as a D2D link between the first UE and the second UE on the transmission path. For example, the transmission path forwarded by UPF is the primary station-UE 1- (R) AN 1-UPF- (R) AN2-UE 2-secondary station-UE 2- (R) AN2-UPF- (R) AN1-UE 1-primary station in fig. 6C, and the corresponding D2D transmission path is the primary station-UE 1-UE 2-secondary station-UE 2-UE 1-primary station in fig. 6C; for another example, the transmission path forwarded by UPF is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B, and the corresponding D2D transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station in fig. 6B.

For more about S903, refer to S503 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S904, the first network device determines that the first UE establishes the PDU session. Alternatively, the first network device determines that the first UE established the D2D session. The first UE is, for example, one of a plurality of UEs in the 5GS, or the connection status information may include sub-connection status information of the first UE. For example, the first UE is UE1 in fig. 6B or UE2 in fig. 6C.

S905, the first network device allocates a transmission path to the first UE.

Similar to the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the first network device may default to that the first UE allocates a transmission path forwarded by UPF, and more may refer to S505; or may also be similar to the embodiment shown in fig. 8, if the first UE supports D2D connection, the first network device may allocate a D2D transmission path for the first UE, and if the first UE does not support D2D connection, the first network device may allocate a transmission path forwarded through UPF for the first UE, and more contents may refer to S807. For example, a first network device allocates a first transmission path for a first UE.

S906, the first network device sends the QoS information of the first link to the UPF, and accordingly, the UPF receives the QoS information of the first link from the first network device.

For more about S906, reference may be made to S506 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, or to S707 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

And S907, the first network equipment determines the switching delay information of at least one UE.

The at least one UE includes a UE requiring path switching, and the at least one UE may include a first UE. The UE that needs to perform path switching may include a UE that both the first transmission path and the second transmission path pass through, and the transmission directions of the UE on the first transmission path and the UE on the second transmission path are different. For example, for the scenario shown in fig. 6B, the first transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station shown in fig. 6B, and the second transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station shown in fig. 6B, then the UEs that both transmission paths pass through include UE1 and UE2, and for UE1, the transmission direction in the first transmission path includes receiving data from UPF and transmitting data to UPF, and the transmission direction in the second transmission path includes receiving data from UPF and transmitting data to UE2, and it can be seen that the transmission directions of UE1 on the two transmission paths are different, and UE1 is the UE that needs to perform path switching. For UE2, the transmission direction in the first transmission path includes receiving data from the UPF and sending data to the UPF, and the transmission direction in the second transmission path includes receiving data from UE1 and sending data to the UPF, and it can be seen that UE2 is also a UE that needs to perform path switching if the transmission directions of UE2 on the two transmission paths are different.

The handover delay information for a UE may indicate a time duration required for the UE to switch from the first transmission path to the second transmission path. For example, the handover delay information of a UE may include one or more of the following: and through the time delay required by the UE for path switching, the time delay for the UE to establish the D2D connection, or the time delay for the UE to send the information of successful switching to the network after the path switching is completed.

S908, the first network device sends the handover delay information of the at least one UE to the UPF, and accordingly, the UPF receives the handover delay information of the at least one UE from the first network device.

S909 and UPF receive the first data packet, where the first data packet corresponds to the first UE. The UPF may receive the first data packet on the first transmission path, that is, the UPF begins transmitting data for the first UE. If the first network device allocates a transmission path to the first UE, the transmission path is forwarded through the UPF, and the data packet of the first UE passes through the UPF. Alternatively, even if the first network device allocates a D2D transmission path to the first UE, and the D2D transmission path may include the UPF, the data packet of the first UE may also pass through the UPF.

S910, the UPF sends a first data packet to the next hop device on the first transmission path through the first link according to the QoS information of the first link. For example, the first transmission path is the primary station-UE 1- (R) AN 1-UPF- (R) AN2-UE 2-secondary station in fig. 6C, then the next hop device of the UPF on the first transmission path is UE2, and the first link is a link where the UPF points to UE2.

For more about S910, reference may be made to S508 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 9, S902, S904, S905, S907 to S910, and the like are optional steps.

Optionally, the embodiment shown in fig. 9 may further include the following steps:

s911, UPF obtains the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE.

For more about S910, refer to S509 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, or refer to S811 in the embodiment shown in fig. 8.

S912, the UPF determines whether to reselect the resolution information for the first UE according to the first resolution information and the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE.

For more about S912, refer to S509 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, or refer to S812 in the embodiment shown in fig. 8.

In addition, if the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path includes only one piece of decomposition information, the UPF may perform S913 and S912 may not necessarily perform.

S913, the UPF determines that the data transmitted through the first transmission path does not have the resolution information satisfying the requirement among the QoS information in the 5GS, and the data transmitted through the second transmission path can satisfy the requirement among the QoS information in the 5 GS.

For example, if the UPF determines to reselect the resolution information for the first UE through S912, the UPF may reselect the resolution information for the first UE, and as to the manner in which the UPF selects the resolution information for the first UE, refer to S511 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5 or refer to S812 in the embodiment shown in fig. 8. For example, after the UPF performs the process of reselecting the resolution information for the first UE, it is determined that none of the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path satisfies the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE, for example, if the UPF determines that, of the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path, all the resolution information includes a delay corresponding to the QoS information of the second link that is smaller than a delay corresponding to the actual upqos information of the second link, the UPF may determine that none of the resolution information satisfies the delay corresponding to the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE, which corresponds to the determination that, of the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the first transmission path, none of the resolution information satisfies the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE.

In the case where the data transmitted through the first transmission path does not have the decomposition information in the QoS information in the 5GS to satisfy the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE, if the UPF also obtains the QoS information of the other transmission path, the UPF may determine again whether the QoS information of the other transmission path satisfies the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE. For example, the UPF also obtains QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the second transmission path, and the UPF determines that the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the second transmission path can satisfy the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE. For example, the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the second transmission path includes only one piece of decomposition information, the UPF determines that the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the second transmission path can satisfy the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE; for another example, the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the second transmission path includes a plurality of pieces of resolution information, and the UPF determines that at least one piece of resolution information included in the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the second transmission path can satisfy the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE.

Additionally, S907 and S908 may occur before S909, which is exemplified in fig. 9. Alternatively, S909 to S913 may be executed first, after S913 is executed, the UPF may request the first network device to acquire the handover delay information of the first UE, and after the first network device receives the request from the UPF, S907 and S908 are executed.

S914, the UPF determines whether at least one UE is capable of path switching. For the introduction of at least one UE, reference may be made to the foregoing.

If the data transmitted through the first transmission path does not have the decomposition information among the QoS information in the 5GS that can satisfy the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE, but the data transmitted through the second transmission path has the QoS information in the 5GS that can satisfy the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE, the UPF may determine whether the at least one UE is capable of path switching, i.e., the UPF determines whether the at least one UE is capable of switching from the first transmission path to the second transmission path. For example, if the number of at least one UE is 1, the UPF may determine whether the duration indicated by the handover delay information of the UE is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first UE, which has been described above. If the duration indicated by the switching delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first UE, which indicates that the UE does not influence the system when performing the path switching, the UPF determines that the UE can perform the path switching, namely, determines that the path switching can be performed; and if the duration indicated by the switching delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first UE, which indicates that the UE performing the path switching may affect the system, the UPF determines that the UE cannot perform the path switching, which is equivalent to determining that the path switching cannot be performed.

Alternatively, if the number of at least one UE is greater than 1, the UPF receives handover delay information of a plurality of UEs through S908. And the UPF determines the switching delay information with the maximum value, and determines whether the duration indicated by the switching delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first UE. If the duration indicated by the switching delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first UE, which indicates that the path switching of at least one UE does not affect the system, the UPF determines that the path switching of at least one UE can be performed, namely, determines that the path switching can be performed; and if the duration indicated by the switching delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first UE, which indicates that the path switching performed by at least one UE may affect the system, the UPF determines that the path switching cannot be performed by at least one UE, which is equivalent to determining that the path switching cannot be performed.

For example, the first transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station shown in fig. 6B, and the first decomposition information is decomposition information corresponding to index 0 in table 1. The actual QoS information of the data of the first UE obtained by the UPF is the actual QoS information of the second link, and the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the second link is the sum of the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the link of the UPF- (R) AN-UE1 and the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the link of the UE1- (R) AN-UPF. Assume that the actual QoS information for the second link corresponds to a delay of 24ms. As can be seen from table 1, the sum of the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the UPF- (R) AN-UE1 link included in the first resolution information and the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the UE1- (R) AN-UPF link is 20ms, and the actual QoS information of the second link cannot be satisfied. However, the sum of the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the link of UPF- (R) AN-UE1 included in the resolution information corresponding to index 1 in table 1 and the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the link of UE1- (R) AN-UPF is 19ms, and the sum of the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the link of UPF- (R) AN-UE1 included in the resolution information corresponding to index 2 and the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the link of UE1- (R) AN-UPF is also 19ms, and thus the actual QoS information of the second link cannot be satisfied. That is, the data transmitted through the first transmission path can satisfy the actual QoS information of the second link without the resolution information among the QoS information in the 5 GS.

For example, the UPF also obtains QoS information in 5GS of the data transmitted through the second transmission path, and the QoS information in 5GS of the data transmitted through the second transmission path is shown in table 2. The UPF can determine whether the QoS information in 5GS of the data transmitted through the second transmission path can satisfy the actual QoS information of the second link. Since the second link includes two links, which are not included in table 2 for the link UE1- (R) AN-UPF, the UPF may split the actual QoS information for the second link into two links to evaluate against the link UPF- (R) AN-UE 1. For example, the UPF may average the delays corresponding to the actual QoS information of the second link, and the average is used as the QoS information of each link included in the second link. Of course, an arithmetic average is taken as an example here, in other examples, the UPF may also take a weighted average or the like, or the UPF may determine the actual QoS information of each link included in the second link according to other manners. Because the actual QoS information of the second link is 24ms, the UPF determines that the delay corresponding to the actual QoS information of each of the two links is 12ms by taking AN arithmetic average, that is, the delay corresponding to the QoS information of the link of the UPF- (R) AN-UE1 is 12ms. As can be seen from table 2, the decomposition information corresponding to the two indexes in table 2 includes delays greater than 12ms corresponding to the QoS information of the link of the UPF- (R) AN-UE1, and therefore, the decomposition information corresponding to the two indexes in table 2 can both satisfy the actual QoS information of the second link.

Further, if the at least one UE includes UE1 and UE2, the UPF may determine that the handover delay information of UE1 and the handover delay information of UE2 have a larger value, and determine whether a duration indicated by the handover delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first UE, and according to the determination process, the UPF may obtain the determination result. For example, if the duration indicated by the handover delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first UE, the determination result may indicate that the duration indicated by the handover delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first UE, and if the duration indicated by the handover delay information is greater than the survival time of the data of the first UE, the determination result may indicate that the duration indicated by the handover delay information is greater than the survival time of the data of the first UE; for another example, if the duration indicated by the handover delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first UE, the determination result may indicate that the state is normal, and if the duration indicated by the handover delay information is greater than the survival time of the data of the first UE, the determination result may indicate that the state is abnormal; for another example, if the duration indicated by the handover delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first UE, the determination result may indicate that the path handover is allowed, and if the duration indicated by the handover delay information is greater than the survival time of the data of the first UE, the determination result may indicate that the path handover is not allowed.

For example, the first transmission path is the primary station-UPF- (R) AN-UE 1-secondary station 1-UE1- (R) AN-UPF- (R) AN-UE 2-secondary station 2-UE2- (R) AN-UPF-primary station shown in fig. 6B, and the UPF determines whether at least one UE can switch the transmission path, and when the UPF determines, the UPF indicates that some data packets of the first UE have been received by the UPF, that is, some data packets of the first UE have been transmitted to the UPF. If the UPF determines that at least one UE can switch transmission paths, the data packets of the first UE that have been received by the UPF may be discarded, and in addition, during the path switching of at least one UE, if the data packets of the first UE are still transmitted, the data packets transmitted during the path switching may also be discarded. For this reason, the UPF determines whether the at least one UE can switch the transmission path according to the survival time, because if the packet is lost within the survival time of the first UE, the system is tolerable or does not affect the system, and therefore, if the maximum handover delay information of the at least one UE is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first UE, the UPF determines that the at least one UE can perform the path switching; if packet loss occurs after the survival time of the first UE is exceeded, the system may not tolerate and the system may be affected, so that if the maximum handover delay information of the at least one UE is greater than the survival time of the data of the first UE, which indicates that the at least one UE has not completed the path handover after the survival time of the data of the first UE is over, a packet loss may occur during the path handover, which is not tolerable by the system, and thus, in this case, the UPF determines that the at least one UE cannot perform the path handover. In addition, since there is at least one UE involved in path switching, that is, there may be one or more UEs involved in path switching, it is reasonable to uniformly determine whether these UEs perform path switching by the UPF.

S915, the UPF sends the determination result to the first network device, and correspondingly, the first network device receives the determination result from the UPF.

For example, the determination result indicates that the duration indicated by the handover delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first UE, or indicates that the duration indicated by the handover delay information is greater than the survival time of the data of the first UE. The first network device may determine that the first UE is capable of performing path switching if the determination result indicates that the duration indicated by the switching delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first UE, and may determine that the first UE is not capable of performing path switching if the determination result indicates that the duration indicated by the switching delay information is greater than the survival time of the data of the first UE.

For another example, the determination result indicates that the state is normal, or indicates that the state is abnormal. The first network device may determine that the first UE is capable of path switching if the determination result indicates that the state is normal, and may determine that the first UE is not capable of path switching if the determination result indicates that the state is abnormal.

As another example, the determination result indicates that the path switching is allowed or indicates that the path switching is not allowed. The first network device may determine that the first UE is capable of path switching if the determination result indicates that path switching is allowed, and may determine that the first UE is not capable of path switching if the determination result indicates that path switching is not allowed.

If the first network device determines that the first UE is capable of path switching, the first network device may instruct the UE to perform path switching. For example, the SMF may send path switch signaling to the UE via the AMF, which may instruct the UE to switch to the second transmission path. After receiving the path switching signaling, the UE may switch to the second transmission path. Because the duration indicated by the switching delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first UE, the path switching of the UE does not affect the system, and the success rate of the data transmission of the first UE can be improved through the switching.

Additionally, the first network device may also send QoS information for the third link to the communication device if the first network device indicates that the first UE switches to the second transmission path, and in response, the communication device receives the QoS information for the third link from the first network device, the communication device including one or more of a UPF, AN (R) AN, or the first UE. The third link is a link included in the second transmission path, and the QoS information of the third link may be included in the QoS information in 5GS of the data transmitted through the second transmission path. For example, the first network device sends QoS information of the third link to the communication device, and the third link may be a link between the communication device and a next hop device on the second transmission path. The third link may be different in case the communication devices are different.

Or, optionally, the first network device may send the QoS information of each link in the second transmission path to the communication device (the first network device sends the QoS information of the data transmitted through the second transmission path in 5GS to the communication device, that is, it is considered that the QoS information of the third link is sent to the communication device), so that the communication device can obtain not only the QoS information of the third link but also the QoS information of other links on the second transmission path. If the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the second transmission path includes a plurality of pieces of resolution information, the first network device may select one piece of resolution information for the first UE from the plurality of pieces of resolution information, for example, the first network device selects the second piece of resolution information. If the first network device sends the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the second transmission path to the communication device, the first network device may also send an index of the second resolution information to the communication device so that the communication device can know which resolution information in the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the second transmission path should be used.

Alternatively, if the QoS information in the 5GS of the data transmitted through the second transmission path includes a plurality of pieces of resolution information, the first network device may select one piece of resolution information for the first UE from the plurality of pieces of resolution information and transmit the piece of resolution information to the communication device. The first network device sends the resolution information, i.e., the QoS information for the third link, to the communication device.

The communication device may transmit the data packet of the first UE according to the QoS information of the third link if the QoS information of the third link is obtained. In addition, the communication device may also continue to calculate actual QoS information of the data of the first UE, and may also continue to determine whether the second resolution information needs to be adjusted, etc., as described above with reference to corresponding content.

In the embodiment of the present application, if one transmission path cannot meet the actual QoS requirement, the network may instruct the UE to switch the transmission path, so as to improve the transmission success rate and the transmission quality of the data.

In the foregoing embodiment, the UPF may select the decomposition information, and the UE may also select the decomposition information. A fifth communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application is described below, by which (R) AN can also select the resolution information. Please refer to fig. 10, which is a flowchart of the method. In the embodiment of the present application, for example, the master station also accesses 5GS through the UE, and reference may be made to fig. 11 for a scenario to which the embodiment of the present application is applied.

For example, the method may be applied to the network architecture shown in fig. 6C.

S1001, the first network equipment obtains QoS information of the industrial Ethernet. For example, the QoS information of the industrial ethernet is referred to as first QoS information in order to distinguish from other QoS information that will appear later.

For more about S1001, reference may be made to S501 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S1002, the first network equipment obtains connection state information.

For more on S1002, reference may be made to S502 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 5.

S1003, the first network equipment determines the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in 5GS according to the first QoS information.

For more contents of S1003, reference may be made to S503 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S1004, the first network device determines that the first UE establishes the PDU session. Alternatively, the first network device determines that the first UE established the D2D session. The first UE is, for example, one of a plurality of UEs in the 5GS, or the connection status information may include sub-connection status information of the first UE.

For more contents of S1005, reference may be made to S504 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, or reference may be made to S705 or S706 in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

S1005, the first network device allocates a transmission path to the first UE.

Similar to the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the first network device may default to that the first UE allocates a transmission path forwarded by UPF, and more may refer to S505; or similar to the embodiment shown in fig. 8, if the first UE supports D2D connection communication, the first network device allocates a D2D transmission path to the first UE, and if the first UE does not support D2D connection communication, the first network device allocates a transmission path forwarded by UPF to the first UE, and more contents may refer to S807. For example, a first network device allocates a first transmission path for a first UE.

S1006, the first network device sends QoS information of the first link to the second network device, and correspondingly, the second network device receives the QoS information of the first link from the first network device; or, the first network device sends the QoS information of the first link to the first UE, and correspondingly, the first UE receives the QoS information of the first link from the first network device; or, the first network device sends the QoS information of the first link to the second network device, and accordingly, the second network device receives the QoS information of the first link from the first network device, and the first network device sends the QoS information of the first link to the first UE, and accordingly, the first UE receives the QoS information of the first link from the first network device.

The second network device comprises, for example, a UPF, or comprises a (R) AN, or comprises both a UPF and a (R) AN. It is noted that the first link may comprise the same or different links for different devices, and is herein referred to collectively as the first link for convenience of description only. For example, for the UPF, the (R) AN, and the first UE, the first link may comprise the same link or may comprise different links.

With respect to the manner in which the first network device sends the QoS information of the first link, reference may be made to S506 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S1007, the UPF sends a first data packet to the next hop device on the first transmission path through the first link according to the QoS information of the first link.

For more contents of S1007, reference may be made to S508 and S509 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 10, S1002, S1004, S1005, S1007, and the like are all optional steps.

Optionally, the embodiment shown in fig. 10 may further include the following steps:

s1008, the UPF determines whether to reselect the resolution information for the first UE according to the first resolution information and the actual QoS information of the data of the first UE.

For more of S1008, reference may be made to S510 to S511 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, or to S811 to S813 in the embodiment shown in fig. 8.

S1009, the (R) AN sends the second packet to the next hop device on the first transmission path through the first link according to the QoS information of the first link. Note that, for the (R) AN, the first link may be a link through which the (R) AN passes. For example, the first transmission path is primary station-UE 1- (R) AN 1-UPF- (R) AN2-UE 2-secondary station in fig. 6C, the first network device may send information of a first link to (R) AN1 in S1006, the first link being a link that UE1 points to UPF, for (R) AN1, data packets may be sent to UPF through the first link according to QoS information of the first link, and/or the first network device may send information of the first link to (R) AN2 in S1006, the first link being a link of UPF- (R) AN2-UE2, for (R) AN2, data packets may be sent to UE2 through the first link according to QoS information of the first link.

For more contents of S1009, reference may be made to S508 and S509 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S1010, (R) the AN determines whether to reselect the resolution information for the first UE according to the first resolution information and the actual QoS information of the second link.

For more about S1010, reference may be made to S510 to S511 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

And S1011, the first UE sends a third data packet to the next-hop equipment on the first transmission path through the first link according to the QoS information of the first link.

For more about S1011, reference may be made to S508 and S509 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

S1012, the first UE determines whether to reselect the resolution information for the first UE according to the first resolution information and the actual QoS information of the second link.

For more about S1012, reference may be made to S510 to S511 in the embodiment shown in fig. 5.

In this embodiment of the present application, since the UPF, the (R) AN, and the first UE may all have the possibility to select the decomposition information, in order to enable other devices on the first transmission path to determine which decomposition information is currently used, optionally, when the communication device sends a packet of the first UE to a next-hop device on the first transmission path, AN index of the currently used decomposition information may be carried in the packet, so that the other devices on the first transmission path can determine which decomposition information is used by the communication device, and thus the decomposition information used by the devices on the first transmission path can be consistent, so as to meet the requirement of the QoS information of the industrial ethernet. The communication device includes, for example, one or more of: UPF, (R) AN, or, first UE.

For example, if the UPF is to send a packet of the first UE to the (R) AN, and the packet sent by the UPF to the (R) AN may carry a GTP-U header and AN ethernet header, the UPF may add AN index of the decomposition information used by the UPF in the GTP-U header and/or the ethernet header. For another example, (R) the AN is to send the data packet of the first UE to the first UE, and (R) the data packet sent by the AN to the first UE may carry AN ethernet header, so that (R) the AN may add AN index of the resolution information used by (R) the AN in the ethernet header. For another example, if (R) the AN is to send the data packet of the first UE to the UPF, and the data packet sent by (R) the AN to the UPF may carry a GTP-U header, then (R) the AN may add AN index of the decomposition information used by (R) the AN to the GTP-U header. For another example, if the UPF is to send a packet of the first UE to the first UE, and the packet sent by the UPF to the first UE may carry an ethernet header, the UPF may add an index of the decomposition information used by the UPF to the ethernet header. For another example, the first UE is to send a data packet of the first UE to the UPF, where the data packet sent by the first UE to the UPF may carry an ethernet header, and then the first UE may add an index of the decomposition information used by the first UE in the ethernet header. In various embodiments of the present application, if an index of the parsing information is to be added in the ethernet header, one way is to add the index of the parsing information in the VLAN tag field of the ethernet header.

The embodiment of the application provides a scene that a main station and AN auxiliary station of AN industrial Ethernet are wirelessly accessed through UE, a dynamic QoS scheduling mechanism with participation of (R) AN is designed, and the equipment on a first transmission path can sense the currently used decomposition information by carrying the index of the decomposition information in the packet header of a data packet, so that dynamic QoS scheduling can be more flexibly carried out, and network resources are fully utilized to complete the QoS requirement of the industrial Ethernet.

Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus 1100 may be the communication device or a chip system of the communication device according to the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the embodiment shown in fig. 7, the embodiment shown in fig. 8, the embodiment shown in fig. 9, or the embodiment shown in fig. 10, and is configured to implement the method corresponding to the communication device in the foregoing method embodiments. The communication device comprises, for example, the second network device and/or the first UE described in the foregoing embodiments. Alternatively, the communication apparatus may also be the first network device or a chip system of the first network device according to the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the embodiment shown in fig. 7, the embodiment shown in fig. 8, the embodiment shown in fig. 9, or the embodiment shown in fig. 10, and is configured to implement the method corresponding to the first network device in the foregoing method embodiment. The specific functions can be seen from the description of the above method embodiments.

The communication device 1100 includes one or more processors 1101. The processor 1101 may also be referred to as a processing unit, and may perform certain control functions. The processor 1101 may be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, or the like. For example, it includes: baseband processor, central processing unit, etc. The baseband processor may be used to process communication protocols as well as communication data. The central processor may be used to control the communication device 1100, execute software programs, and/or process data. The different processors may be separate devices or may be provided in one or more processing circuits, e.g. integrated on one or more application specific integrated circuits.

Optionally, one or more memories 1102 are included in the communication device 1100 for storing instructions 1104, and the instructions 1104 can be executed on the processor to enable the communication device 1100 to perform the methods described in the above method embodiments. Optionally, the memory 1102 may further store data therein. The processor and the memory may be provided separately or may be integrated together.

Optionally, the communication device 1100 may include instructions 1103 (which may also be referred to as code or program at times), and the instructions 1103 may be executed on the processor, so that the communication device 1100 performs the method described in the above embodiments. The processor 1101 may store data therein.

Optionally, the communications apparatus 1100 may also include a transceiver 1105 and an antenna 1106. The transceiver 1105, which may be referred to as a transceiver unit, transceiver circuitry, transceiver, input/output interface, etc., is used to implement the transceiving functions of the communication device 1100 via the antenna 1106.

Optionally, the communication device 1100 may further include one or more of the following components: the wireless communication module, the audio module, the external memory interface, the internal memory, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, the power management module, the antenna, the speaker, the microphone, the input/output module, the sensor module, the motor, the camera, or the display screen. It is understood that in some embodiments, communication device 1100 may include more or fewer components, or some components integrated, or some components separated. These components may be hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware implementations.

The processor 1101 and the transceiver 1105 described in this embodiment may be implemented on an Integrated Circuit (IC), an analog IC, a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFID), a mixed signal IC, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Printed Circuit Board (PCB), an electronic device, or the like. The communication apparatus implementing the present description may be a standalone device (e.g., a standalone integrated circuit, a mobile phone, etc.), or may be a part of a larger device (e.g., a module that can be embedded in other devices), and may refer to the foregoing descriptions about the communication device and the first network device, which are not repeated herein.

The embodiment of the present application provides a terminal device, which (for convenience of description, referred to as UE) may be used in the foregoing embodiments. The terminal device comprises corresponding means (means), units and/or circuitry to implement the first UE functionality as described in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the embodiment shown in fig. 7, the embodiment shown in fig. 8, the embodiment shown in fig. 9 or the embodiment shown in fig. 10. For example, the terminal device includes a transceiver module for supporting the terminal device to implement a transceiver function, and a processing module for supporting the terminal device to process a signal.

Fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application.

The terminal device 1200 may be adapted to the architecture shown in any of fig. 1, fig. 3, fig. 4, fig. 6B, or fig. 6C. For convenience of explanation, fig. 12 shows only main components of the terminal apparatus 1200. As shown in fig. 12, the terminal apparatus 1200 includes a processor, a memory, a control circuit, an antenna, and an input-output device. The processor is mainly used for processing a communication protocol and communication data, controlling the entire terminal device 1200, executing a software program, and processing data of the software program. The memory is used primarily for storing software programs and data. The control circuit is mainly used for converting baseband signals and radio frequency signals and processing the radio frequency signals. The antenna is mainly used for receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. Input and output devices, such as touch screens, display screens, microphones, keyboards, etc., are mainly used for receiving data input by users and outputting data to users.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that fig. 12 shows only one memory and processor for ease of illustration. In some embodiments, terminal device 1200 may include multiple processors and memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device, and the like, which is not limited in this application.

In one example, the antenna and the control circuit having the transceiving function may be regarded as the transceiving unit 1210 of the terminal device 1200, and the processor having the processing function may be regarded as the processing unit 1220 of the terminal device 1200. As shown in fig. 12, the terminal apparatus 1200 includes a transceiving unit 1210 and a processing unit 1220. A transceiver unit may also be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiving device, etc. Optionally, a device in the transceiver unit 1210 for implementing a receiving function may be regarded as a receiving unit, and a device in the transceiver unit 1210 for implementing a transmitting function may be regarded as a transmitting unit, that is, the transceiver unit 1210 includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. For example, the receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, a receiving circuit, etc., and the sending unit may be referred to as a transmitter, a transmitting circuit, etc.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a network device, which can be used in the foregoing embodiments. The network device comprises means (means), units and/or circuits to implement the functionality of the first network device as described in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the embodiment shown in fig. 7, the embodiment shown in fig. 8, the embodiment shown in fig. 9 or the embodiment shown in fig. 10. Alternatively, the network device comprises means, units and/or circuits to implement the functionality of the second network device as described in the embodiment shown in fig. 5, the embodiment shown in fig. 7, the embodiment shown in fig. 8, the embodiment shown in fig. 9 or the embodiment shown in fig. 10. For example, the network device includes a transceiver module for supporting the first network device or the second network device to implement a transceiver function, and a processing module for supporting the first network device or the second network device to process the signal.

Fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 13, the network device may be adapted for use in the architecture shown in any of fig. 1, 3, 4, 6B, or 6C. The network device includes: baseband device 1301, rf device 1302, and antenna 1303. In the uplink direction, the rf device 1302 receives information sent by the terminal device through the antenna 1303, and sends the information sent by the terminal device to the baseband device 1301 for processing. In the downlink direction, the baseband device 1301 processes the information of the terminal device and sends the information to the radio frequency device 1302, and the radio frequency device 1302 processes the information of the terminal device and sends the information to the terminal device through the antenna 1303.

The baseband apparatus 1301 includes one or more processing units 13011, a storage unit 13012, and an interface 13013. Wherein the processing unit 13011 is used to support the network device to execute the functions of the network device in the above-mentioned method embodiments. The storage unit 13012 is used to store software programs and/or data. The interface 13013, which is used for interacting with the radio frequency device 1302, comprises interface circuitry for the input and output of information. In one implementation, the processing unit is an integrated circuit, such as one or more ASICs, or one or more Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), or one or more Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), or a combination of these types of integrated circuits. These integrated circuits may be integrated together to form a chip. The storage unit 13012 and the processing unit 13011 may be located in the same chip, i.e. on-chip storage elements. Or the memory unit 13012 may be on a different chip, i.e. an off-chip memory element, than the processing unit 13011. The storage unit 13012 may be one memory, or may be a collective term for a plurality of memories or storage elements.

Network device 1300 may implement some or all of the steps in the above-described method embodiments in the form of one or more processing unit schedulers. For example, to implement the corresponding functionality of the first network device or the second network device in any of the embodiments shown in fig. 5, 7, 8, 9, or 10. The one or more processing units may support wireless access technologies of the same system, and may also support wireless access systems of different systems.

When several embodiments provided in the present application are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. The computer software product 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 perform all or part of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. The computer readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. Taking this as an example but not limiting: a computer-readable medium may include a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer.

The above description is only for the specific implementation of the present application, but the scope of the embodiments of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the embodiments of the present application, and all the changes or substitutions should be covered by the scope of the embodiments of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

A method of communication, comprising:

the first network equipment obtains first quality of service (QoS) information of a first communication network;

the first network equipment determines QoS information of data transmitted through a first transmission path in a second communication network according to the first QoS information, wherein the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network comprises QoS information of a plurality of links on the first transmission path, one end point of each link in the plurality of links is a terminal equipment in the second communication network, and the plurality of links are located in the second communication network;

the first network device sends QoS information of a first link to a communication device, wherein the QoS information of the first link is included in QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in a second communication network, the first link is a link between the communication device and a next-hop device on the first transmission path, and the communication device is a second network device or a first terminal device.
The method of claim 1, wherein the first network device determines the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network according to the first QoS information, and comprises:

the first network device mapping the first QoS information to second QoS information, the second QoS information being QoS information applied to the second communication network;

and the first network equipment determines the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network according to the second QoS information.
The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first network device determines the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network according to the first QoS information, and comprises:

the first network device determines, according to the first QoS information and connection state information, qoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network, where the connection state information is used to indicate connection states of a plurality of terminal devices located in the second communication network, and the plurality of terminal devices are capable of transmitting data for a device located in the first communication network, and a terminal device serving as one endpoint of each of the plurality of links belongs to the plurality of terminal devices.
The method according to claim 3, wherein the connection status information includes delay information between the first terminal device and each device connected to the first terminal device, and/or includes information whether the first terminal device supports a D2D connection mode, and wherein the first terminal device is one of the plurality of terminal devices.
The method according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network comprises one or more pieces of decomposition information, each piece of decomposition information of the one or more pieces of decomposition information comprising QoS information of a plurality of links on the first transmission path, wherein the QoS information of at least one link on the first transmission path is different in different pieces of decomposition information.
The method of claim 5, wherein the first network device sends the QoS information of the first link to the communication device, and wherein the QoS information comprises:

and the first network equipment sends the QoS information of the data transmitted by the first transmission path in the second communication network to the communication equipment.
The method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein in the case that the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network includes a plurality of pieces of resolution information, the method further comprises:

the first network equipment determines first decomposition information corresponding to the communication equipment from the one or more pieces of decomposition information included in QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in a second communication network;

the first network device sends the index of the first resolution information to the communication device.
The method according to any of claims 1 to 7, wherein part or all of the links on the first transmission path are device-to-device, D2D, links.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising:

and the first network equipment sends the information of the terminal equipment which does not support D2D connection communication to the second network equipment.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising:

the first network equipment determines QoS information of data transmitted through a second transmission path in the second communication network according to the first QoS information, wherein the QoS information of the data transmitted through the second transmission path in the second communication network comprises QoS information of a plurality of links on the second transmission path;

the method includes that a first network device sends switching delay information to a second network device, wherein the switching delay information is used for indicating the duration required by a first terminal device to switch from a first transmission path to a second transmission path, a D2D link is arranged between the first terminal device and a third terminal device in the first transmission path, a link passing through the second network device is arranged between the first terminal device and the third terminal device in the second transmission path, or the link passing through the second network device is arranged between the first terminal device and the third terminal device in the first transmission path, and a D2D link is arranged between the first terminal device and the third terminal device in the second transmission path.
The method of claim 10, further comprising:

the first network device receiving a determination result from the second network device;

and under the condition that the determination result indicates that the duration indicated by the switching delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first terminal equipment, the first network equipment indicates the first terminal equipment to switch to the second transmission path.
The method of claim 11, further comprising:

and the first network equipment sends the QoS information of the data transmitted by the second transmission path in the second communication network to the second network equipment and/or the first terminal equipment.
A method of communication, comprising:

a communication device receives QoS information of a first link, wherein the first link is a link between the communication device and a next hop device on a first transmission path, the first transmission path comprises a plurality of links in a second communication network, one end point of each link in the plurality of links is a terminal device, the terminal device can transmit data for a device located in the first communication network, and the first link is one link in the plurality of links;

the communication equipment receives a first data packet, wherein the first data packet corresponds to first terminal equipment;

and the communication equipment sends the first data packet to the next hop equipment through the first link according to the QoS information of the first link.
The method of claim 13, wherein the receiving the QoS information of the first link by the communication device comprises:

the communication device receives QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network, wherein the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network comprises QoS information of a plurality of links in the second communication network on the first transmission path, and the QoS information of the plurality of links comprises the QoS information of the first link.
The method of claim 14, further comprising:

the communication device receives an index of first split information, wherein the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network comprises one or more pieces of split information, each piece of the one or more pieces of split information comprises QoS information of a plurality of links of the second communication network on the first transmission path, and QoS information of at least one link on the first transmission path is different in different pieces of split information, and the first split information is one piece of the one or more pieces of split information.
The method of claim 15, wherein the QoS information of the first link is the QoS information of the first link corresponding to the index of the first resolution information.
The method according to claim 15 or 16, characterized in that the method further comprises:

the communication equipment obtains actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal equipment;

and the communication equipment determines whether to reselect the decomposition information for the first terminal equipment according to the first decomposition information and the actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal equipment.
The method of claim 17, wherein the determining, by the communication device, whether to reselect resolution information for the first terminal device based on the first resolution information and actual QoS information of data of the first terminal device comprises:

and when the difference between the time delay corresponding to the actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal device and the time delay corresponding to the QoS information of the second link included in the first decomposition information is greater than a first threshold, the communication device reselects decomposition information for the first terminal device, and the second link is a link corresponding to the actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal device.
The method of claim 18, wherein the communication device reselects resolution information for the first terminal device, comprising:

and the communication equipment reselects decomposition information for the first terminal equipment according to the actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal equipment, wherein the time delay corresponding to the QoS information of the second link included in the reselected decomposition information is greater than or equal to the time delay corresponding to the actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal equipment.
The method of claim 17, wherein the obtaining, by the communication device, actual QoS information for the data of the first terminal device comprises:

the communication device obtains first accumulated QoS information including a sum of actual QoS information of all links that the data of the first terminal device has been transmitted to the communication device from the first device in the first transmission path.
The method of claim 20, wherein the determining, by the communication device, whether to reselect resolution information for the first terminal device based on the first resolution information and actual QoS information for data of the first terminal device comprises:

when the difference value between the time delay corresponding to the first accumulated QoS information and the time delay corresponding to the second accumulated QoS information is larger than a second threshold value, the communication equipment reselects decomposition information for the first terminal equipment;

wherein, the delay corresponding to the second accumulated QoS information includes a sum of delays corresponding to QoS information of N links included in the first decomposition information, the N links are all links through which the data of the first terminal device is transmitted from the first device in the first transmission path to the communication device, and N is a positive integer.
The method of claim 21, wherein the communication device reselects resolution information for the first terminal device, comprising:

and the communication equipment reselects decomposition information for the first terminal equipment according to the first accumulated QoS information and the second accumulated QoS information, wherein the sum of time delays corresponding to the QoS information of the N links included in the reselected decomposition information is greater than or equal to the time delay corresponding to the first accumulated QoS information.
The method of any one of claims 17 to 22, further comprising:

the communication device receives QoS information of data transmitted through a second transmission path in the second communication network, wherein the QoS information of the data transmitted through the second transmission path in the second communication network comprises QoS information of a link on the second transmission path, and the second transmission path is a transmission path corresponding to the first terminal device.
The method of claim 23, further comprising:

the communication device determines that the QoS information of the data transmitted through the first transmission path in the second communication network cannot meet the actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal device, but the QoS information of the data transmitted through the second transmission path in the second communication network can meet the actual QoS information of the data of the first terminal device, and the second QoS information is the QoS information of the second communication network, wherein a D2D link is formed between the first terminal device and the second terminal device in the first transmission path, a link passing through the second network device is formed between the first device and the second terminal device in the second transmission path, or a link passing through the second network device is formed between the first terminal device and the second terminal device in the first transmission path, and a D2D link is formed between the first terminal device and the second terminal device in the second transmission path;

the communication equipment determines whether the time length indicated by switching time delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first terminal equipment, wherein the switching time delay information is used for indicating the time length required by the first terminal equipment to switch from the first transmission path to the second transmission path;

the communication device transmits the determination result to the first network device.
The method of claim 24,

the determination result is used for indicating that the duration indicated by the switching delay information is less than or equal to the survival time of the data of the first terminal device, or indicating that the duration indicated by the switching delay information is greater than the survival time of the data of the first terminal device; or the like, or, alternatively,

the determination result is used for indicating that the state is normal or indicating that the state is abnormal; or the like, or, alternatively,

the determination result is used for indicating that the path is allowed to be switched or indicating that the path is not allowed to be switched.
The method according to any one of claims 13 to 25, wherein the sending, by the communication device, the first data packet to the next hop device via the first link comprises:

and the communication equipment sends the first data packet carrying the index of the decomposition information of the data of the first terminal equipment to the next hop equipment through the first link.
A communications apparatus, comprising: a processor and a memory; the memory is used for storing one or more computer programs comprising computer executable instructions which, when executed by the communication apparatus, the processor executes the one or more computer programs stored by the memory to cause the communication apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 12 or to cause the communication apparatus to perform the method of any one of claims 13 to 26.
A computer-readable storage medium, for storing a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 12, or causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 13 to 26.
A computer program product, characterized in that it comprises a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 12, or causes the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 13 to 26.
A chip system, comprising:

a processor and an interface, the processor being configured to invoke and execute instructions from the interface, the instructions, when executed by the processor, implementing the method of any of claims 1 to 12, or implementing the method of any of claims 13 to 26.