CN115334532A

CN115334532A - Data transmission method and related equipment

Info

Publication number: CN115334532A
Application number: CN202110506875.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 郭�东
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-05-10
Filing date: 2021-05-10
Publication date: 2022-11-11
Also published as: WO2022237232A1

Abstract

A data transmission method comprises the following steps: the first UPF entity acquires a first round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and a target AF entity; sending the first round-trip delay to the SMF entity; and receiving a first notification sent by the SMF entity under the condition that the first round-trip delay is greater than the sum of the second round-trip delay and the third round-trip delay, after the first UPF entity receives the target uplink data from the first terminal, sending the target uplink data to a second UPF entity according to the first notification, and then sending the target uplink data to the target AF entity by the second UPF entity. The method can measure the time delay between the UPF entity and the target AF entity and the time delay between the UPF entities, adjust the transmission path of the target uplink data according to the measured time delay, and shorten the data transmission time. The application also discloses a UPF entity and an SMF entity which can realize the data transmission method.

Description

Data transmission method and related equipment

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of wireless communications, and in particular, to a data transmission method and related device.

Background

In a fifth generation (5 g) network architecture, a User Plane Function (UPF) entity and a base station may serve as an intermediate node between a terminal and an Application Function (AF) entity, and be used to transmit user plane data. In order to ensure the end-to-end service quality of services, various services have certain requirements on data delay.

Based on the network architecture shown in fig. 1, the time delay from the terminal to the user plane functional entity can be measured. Referring to fig. 1, the conventional method for measuring the time delay is generally as follows: a Session Management Function (SMF) entity 15 sends a monitoring request to a User Plane Function (UPF) entity 13, and sends a monitoring request to a base station through an access and mobility management Function (AMF) entity 14, where the monitoring request includes monitoring parameters determined by the SMF entity according to a monitoring policy. The user plane functional entity 13 sends a monitoring packet to the base station 12 according to the monitoring request, the monitoring packet includes a time T1 for sending the monitoring packet, the base station 12 sends a monitoring response packet to the user plane functional entity 13, the monitoring response packet includes T1, T2 and T3, T2 is a time for receiving the monitoring packet by the base station 12, T3 is a time for sending the monitoring response packet by the base station 12, after the user plane functional entity 13 receives the monitoring response packet, the time delay between the base station 12 and the user plane functional entity 13 can be calculated according to (T2-T1 + T4-T3)/2, and the time T4 for receiving the monitoring response packet. The base station 12 measures the time delay between the terminal 11 and the base station 12 according to the monitoring request. Thus, the time delay from the terminal 11 to the user plane functional entity 13 can be calculated according to the time delay from the terminal 11 to the base station 12 and the time delay from the base station 12 to the user plane functional entity 13.

However, the delay is only the delay of a part of paths from end to end, and it is difficult to optimize the delay to meet the requirement of end-to-end delay.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, the present application provides a data transmission method and related device, which can measure a time delay between a UPF entity and an AF and a time delay between the UPF entities, and adjust an end-to-end data transmission path according to the measured time delay, thereby reducing the end-to-end time delay.

A first aspect provides a data transmission method, in which a first UPF entity obtains a first round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and a target AF entity; sending the first round-trip delay to the SMF entity; and receiving a first notification sent by the SMF entity under the condition that the first round-trip delay is greater than the sum of the second round-trip delay and the third round-trip delay, and after the first UPF entity receives the target uplink data from the first terminal, sending the target uplink data to the second UPF entity according to the first notification, so that the second UPF entity sends the target uplink data to the target AF entity. The second round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target AF entity, and the third round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity.

The time for the target uplink data to reach the target AF entity from the first UPF entity is half of the first round-trip delay. After the method is implemented, the target uplink data passes through the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity to reach the target AF entity, so that the transmission time of the target uplink data is less than half of the first round-trip delay, and the data transmission time can be shortened.

In one possible implementation manner, the acquiring, by the first UPF entity, the first round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the target AF entity includes: a first UPF entity receives uplink data sent by a first terminal; sending uplink data to a target AF entity; and receiving a confirmation frame sent by the target AF entity, and determining a first round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the target AF entity according to the time of sending the uplink data and the time of receiving the confirmation frame. The acknowledgement frame is generated by the target AF entity in response to the uplink data. This provides a specific way of measuring the first round trip delay.

In another possible implementation manner, the acquiring, by the first UPF entity, the first round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the target AF entity includes: the first UPF entity sends uplink data to a target AF entity; and receiving a confirmation frame sent by the target AF entity, and determining a first round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the target AF entity according to the time of sending the uplink data and the time of receiving the confirmation frame. The acknowledgement frame is generated by the target AF entity in response to the uplink data. This provides another specific way of measuring the first round trip delay.

In another possible implementation manner, the data transmission method further includes: after receiving a first message sent by an SMF entity, a first UPF entity sends an echo request to a second UPF entity according to the first message, then receives an echo response sent by the second UPF entity, determines a first measurement delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response, and then sends the first measurement delay to the SMF entity. The first message includes an IP address of the second UPF entity. The first measured delay is a round trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity. In this way, the SMF entity may obtain the first measurement delay measured by the first UPF entity, and then determine the round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the first measurement delay.

A second aspect provides a data transmission method, in which a second UPF entity obtains a second round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and a target AF entity, sends the second round-trip delay to an SMF entity, receives a second message sent by the SMF entity, obtains a second measurement delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the second message, sends the second measurement delay to the SMF entity, receives a second notification sent by the SMF entity when the first round-trip delay is greater than the sum of the second round-trip delay and a third round-trip delay, receives target uplink data sent by the first UPF entity according to the second notification, and sends the target uplink data to the target AF entity according to the second notification. The second message includes the IP address of the first UPF entity. The first round trip delay is a round trip delay between the first UPF entity and the target AF entity. The third round trip delay is determined by the SMF entity based on the second measured delay. The destination address of the target uplink data is the IP address of the target AF entity, and the source IP address of the target uplink data is the first IP address of the first terminal.

By this implementation, when the first round-trip delay is greater than the sum of the second round-trip delay and the third round-trip delay, the SMF entity may select the second UPF entity as a protocol data unit session anchor (PSA) of the target uplink data, so that the target uplink data reaches the target AF entity through the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity. Therefore, the transmission time of the target uplink data can be shortened, and the transmission efficiency is improved.

In a possible implementation manner, the acquiring, by the second UPF entity, the second round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target AF entity includes: a second UPF entity receives uplink data sent by a second terminal; sending the uplink data to a target AF entity; and receiving a confirmation frame sent by the target AF entity, and determining a second round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target AF entity according to the time of sending the uplink data and the time of receiving the confirmation frame. The acknowledgement frame is generated by the target AF entity in response to the uplink data. This provides a specific way of measuring the second round trip delay.

In another possible implementation manner, the acquiring, by the second UPF entity, the second round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target AF entity includes: the second UPF entity sends the uplink data to the target AF entity; and receiving a confirmation frame sent by the target AF entity, and determining a second round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target AF entity according to the time of sending the uplink data and the time of receiving the confirmation frame. The acknowledgement frame is generated by the target AF entity in response to the uplink data. This provides another specific way of measuring the second round trip delay.

In another possible implementation manner, the obtaining, by the second UPF entity according to the second message, the second measured time delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity includes: the second UPF entity sends an echo request to the first UPF entity according to the second message; receiving an echo response sent by a first UPF entity; and determining a second measurement time delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response. This provides another way to measure the time delay between UPF entities.

In another possible implementation manner, the sending, by the second UPF entity, the target uplink data to the target AF entity includes: the second UPF entity performs network address port conversion on the first IP address and the first port number in the target uplink data, namely converts the private network IP address and the port number of the first terminal into a public network IP address and a public network port number (namely, the second IP address and the second port number) according to a network address port conversion (NAPT) technology, and then sends the target uplink data after the network address port conversion to the target AF entity; the data transmission method further comprises the following steps: after the second UPF entity receives the target downlink data sent by the target AF entity to the first terminal, the destination IP address and the destination port number in the target downlink data are subjected to network address port conversion, so that the destination IP address and the destination port number in the target downlink data are restored to the private network IP address and the port number of the first terminal (i.e. the first IP address and the first port number of the target uplink data), and then the target downlink data after the network address port conversion is sent to the first UPF entity. The target uplink data after the network address port conversion comprises a second IP address and a second port number. The destination address of the target downlink data is a second IP address, and the destination port number of the target downlink data is a second port number. The destination address of the target downlink data is a second IP address, and the destination port number of the target downlink data is a second port number. Through network address conversion, target downlink data can be prevented from reaching the first terminal from the first UPF entity without passing through the second UPF entity, thereby avoiding downlink routing conflict and shortening downlink transmission time.

A third aspect provides a data transmission method, in which, an SMF entity receives a first round-trip delay sent by a first UPF entity, receives a second round-trip delay sent by a second UPF entity, and sends a second message to the second UPF entity; receiving a second measurement time delay sent by the second UPF entity, wherein the second measurement time delay is obtained by the second UPF entity according to the second message; determining a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the second measurement delay; when the first round-trip delay is larger than the sum of the second round-trip delay and the third round-trip delay, the SMF entity sends a first notice to the first UPF entity, the first UPF entity sends the target uplink data from the first terminal to the second UPF entity according to the first notice, sends a second notice to the second UPF entity, and the second UPF entity forwards the target uplink data received from the first UPF entity to the target AF entity according to the second notice. The first round trip delay is a round trip delay between the first UPF entity and the target application function, AF, entity. The second round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target AF entity. And the destination IP address of the target uplink data is the IP address of the target AF entity. In this way, the SMF entity may obtain the first round trip delay, the second round trip delay, and the third round trip delay, determine whether the first round trip delay is greater than the sum of the second round trip delay and the third round trip delay, and if so, adjust the network path of the target uplink data to reduce the data transmission time. And if not, not modifying the network path of the target uplink data.

In a possible implementation manner, the data transmission method further includes: and the SMF entity sends a first message to the first UPF entity, and after receiving the first measurement delay sent by the first UPF entity, determines a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the second measurement delay and the first measurement delay. The first message includes an IP address of the second UPF entity. The first measurement delay is obtained by the first UPF entity according to the first message. This provides an alternative method of determining the third round trip delay which increases the flexibility of implementation of the scheme.

A third aspect provides a data transmission method, in which a SMF entity receives a first message from a target AF entity, where the first message includes an identifier of a first terminal, an identifier of a second terminal, an identifier of the target AF entity, a first end-to-end delay, and a second end-to-end delay, and after receiving a first measurement delay sent by a first UPF entity, determines that a first round-trip delay is equal to a difference obtained by subtracting the first measurement delay from the first end-to-end delay; receiving a second measurement time delay sent by a second UPF entity, and determining that a second round-trip time delay is equal to a difference value obtained by subtracting the second measurement time delay from a second end-to-end time delay; after the SMF entity sends the second message to the second UPF entity, the SMF entity receives a third measurement delay sent by the second UPF entity, and determines a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the third measurement delay; and when the first round-trip delay is greater than the sum of the second round-trip delay and the third round-trip delay, the SMF entity sends a first notice to the first UPF entity and sends a second notice to the second UPF entity. The first end-to-end delay is a round-trip delay between the first terminal and the target AF entity, and the second end-to-end delay is a round-trip delay between the second terminal and the target AF entity. The first measured delay is a round trip delay between the first terminal and the first UPF entity. The third measurement delay is obtained by the second UPF entity according to the second message. The first notice is used for indicating the first UPF entity to send the target uplink data from the first terminal to the second UPF entity, the target IP address of the target uplink data is the IP address of the target AF entity, and the second notice is used for indicating the second UPF entity to receive the target uplink data sent by the first UPF entity and send the target uplink data to the target AF entity. The second measured delay is a round trip delay between the second terminal and the second UPF entity.

In this way, the SMF entity may respectively obtain the round-trip delay from the terminal to the UPF entity and the round-trip delay from the terminal to the target AF entity, and then determine the round-trip delay between the UPF entity and the target AF entity according to the two round-trip delays. This provides a new way of obtaining the round trip delay between the UPF entity and the target AF entity. When the first round-trip delay is greater than the sum of the second round-trip delay and the third round-trip delay, the SMF entity notifies the first UPF entity to forward the target uplink data to the second UPF entity, and the second UPF entity can forward the target uplink data to the target AF entity, so that the time for the target uplink data to reach the target AF entity through the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity is shorter.

In a possible implementation manner, the data transmission method further includes: the SMF entity sends a third message to the first UPF entity; and receiving a fourth measurement time delay sent by the first UPF entity, and then determining a third round-trip time delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the third measurement time delay and the fourth measurement time delay. And the fourth measurement time delay is obtained by the second UPF entity according to the third message. This provides a method of determining the third round trip delay.

In another possible implementation, the third round trip delay is equal to the third measured delay.

A fifth aspect provides a data transmission method, in which a first UPF entity obtains a first measurement delay between a first terminal and the first UPF entity; then sending the first measurement delay to the SMF entity; after the first UPF entity receives a first notification sent by the SMF entity under the condition that the first round-trip delay is greater than the sum of the second round-trip delay and the third round-trip delay, the first UPF entity receives target uplink data from the first terminal, and the first UPF entity sends the target uplink data to the second UPF entity according to the first notification. The first measured delay is used to determine a first round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the target AF entity. The second round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target AF entity, and the third round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity. And the destination address of the target uplink data is the IP address of the target AF entity.

In this way, when the first round-trip delay is greater than the sum of the second round-trip delay and the third round-trip delay, the first UPF entity may send the target uplink data to the second UPF entity according to the first notification sent by the SMF entity, and then the second UPF entity forwards the target uplink data to the target AF entity, which may shorten the data transmission time.

In a possible implementation manner, the first UPF entity receives a third message sent by the SMF entity, and sends an echo request to the second UPF entity according to the third message; receiving an echo response sent by a second UPF entity; determining a fourth measurement time delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response; the fourth measurement delay is sent to the SMF entity. The third message is the IP address of the second UPF entity. The fourth measured delay is used by the SMF entity to determine a third round trip delay. In this implementation, the first UPF entity may measure a round trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity.

A sixth aspect provides a data transmission method, in which a second UPF entity obtains a second measurement delay between a second terminal and the second UPF entity, and then sends the second measurement delay to an SMF entity, and the SMF entity determines, according to the second measurement delay, a second round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and a target AF entity; receiving a second message sent by the SMF entity, and acquiring a third measurement time delay between a second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the second message; sending the third measurement delay to the SMF entity; the SMF entity determines a third round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the third measurement delay; after the second UPF entity receives a second notification sent by the SMF entity under the condition that the first round-trip delay is larger than the sum of the second round-trip delay and the third round-trip delay, the second UPF entity receives target uplink data sent by the first UPF entity according to the second notification; and sending the target uplink data to the target AF entity according to the second notice. Wherein the second message includes an IP address of the first UPF entity. The first round trip delay is the round trip delay between the first UPF entity and the target application function, AF, entity. By this implementation, when the first round-trip delay is greater than the sum of the second round-trip delay and the third round-trip delay, the SMF entity may select the second UPF entity as a transmission anchor point of the target uplink data, so that the target uplink data passes through the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity to reach the target AF entity. Therefore, the transmission time of the target uplink data can be shortened, and the transmission efficiency is improved.

In a possible implementation manner, the obtaining, by the second UPF entity according to the second message, the second measurement delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity includes: the second UPF entity sends an echo request to the first UPF entity according to the second message; receiving an echo response sent by a first UPF entity; and determining a second measurement time delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response. The second measured delay is a round trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity. This provides a method of measuring the round trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity.

A seventh aspect provides a UPF entity, where the UPF entity includes an obtaining unit, a sending unit, and a receiving unit; the acquisition unit is used for acquiring a first round-trip delay between a first UPF entity and a target Application Function (AF) entity; the sending unit is used for sending the first round-trip delay to the session management function SMF entity; the receiving unit is configured to receive a first notification sent by the SMF entity, where the first notification is sent by the SMF when a first round-trip delay is greater than a sum of a second round-trip delay and a third round-trip delay, the second round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target AF entity, and the third round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity; the receiving unit is further configured to receive target uplink data from the first terminal, where a destination address of the target uplink data is an IP address of the target AF entity; the sending unit is further configured to send the target uplink data to the second UPF entity according to the first notification.

In a possible implementation manner, the obtaining unit is specifically configured to receive uplink data sent by a first terminal; sending uplink data to a target AF entity; receiving a confirmation frame sent by a target AF entity, wherein the confirmation frame is generated by the target AF entity responding to uplink data; and determining a first round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the target AF entity according to the time of sending the uplink data and the time of receiving the acknowledgement frame.

In another possible implementation manner, the receiving unit is further configured to receive a first message sent by the SMF entity, where the first message includes an IP address of the second UPF entity; the sending unit is further configured to send an echo request to the second UPF entity according to the first message; the receiving unit is further configured to receive an echo response sent by the second UPF entity; the UPF entity also comprises a determining unit, wherein the determining unit is used for determining a first measurement time delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response; the sending unit is further configured to send the first measurement delay to the SMF entity.

The terms in the seventh aspect explain, the steps and advantages performed by the respective units can refer to the corresponding descriptions in the first aspect.

The eighth aspect provides a UPF entity, which includes a first obtaining unit, a sending unit, a second obtaining unit, a receiving unit and a processing unit; the first obtaining unit is used for obtaining a second round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target Application Function (AF) entity; the sending unit is used for sending the second round-trip delay to the session management function SMF entity; the second obtaining unit is used for obtaining a second measurement time delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the second message; the sending unit is further configured to send the second measurement delay to the SMF entity; the receiving unit is configured to receive a second notification sent by the SMF entity, where the second notification is sent by the SMF when a first round-trip delay is greater than a sum of a second round-trip delay and a third round-trip delay, the first round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the target AF entity, and the third round-trip delay is determined by the SMF entity according to the second measurement delay; the receiving unit is further configured to receive, according to the second notification, target uplink data sent by the first UPF entity, where a destination address of the target uplink data is an IP address of the target AF entity, and a source IP address of the target uplink data is a first IP address of the first terminal; the sending unit is further configured to send the target uplink data to the target AF entity according to the second notification.

In a possible implementation manner, the first obtaining unit is specifically configured to receive uplink data sent by the second terminal; sending the uplink data to a target AF entity; receiving a confirmation frame sent by a target AF entity, wherein the confirmation frame is generated by the target AF entity responding to uplink data; and determining a second round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target AF entity according to the time of sending the uplink data and the time of receiving the acknowledgement frame.

In another possible implementation manner, the second obtaining unit is specifically configured to send an echo request to the first UPF entity according to the second message; receiving an echo response sent by a first UPF entity; and determining a second measurement time delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response.

In another possible implementation manner, the sending unit is specifically configured to perform network address port conversion on a first IP address and a first port number in the target uplink data to obtain a second IP address and a second port number; sending the target uplink data after the network address port conversion to a target AF entity, wherein the target uplink data after the network address port conversion comprises a second IP address and a second port number; the receiving unit is further configured to receive target downlink data sent by the target AF entity, where a destination address of the target downlink data is a second IP address, and a destination port number of the target downlink data is a second port number; the sending unit is further configured to perform network address port conversion on a second IP address and a second port number in the target downlink data; and sending the target downlink data after the network address port conversion to a first UPF entity, wherein the target downlink data after the network address port conversion comprises a first IP address and a first port number.

The terms in the eighth aspect explain, the steps and the beneficial effects performed by the units can refer to the corresponding description in the second aspect.

A ninth aspect provides an SMF entity, comprising a receiving unit, a transmitting unit and a processing unit; the receiving unit is used for receiving a first round-trip delay sent by a first User Plane Function (UPF) entity, wherein the first round-trip delay is the round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and a target Application Function (AF) entity; the receiving unit is further configured to receive a second round-trip delay sent by the second UPF entity, where the second round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target AF entity; the sending unit is used for sending a second message to the second UPF entity; the receiving unit is further configured to receive a second measurement delay sent by the second UPF entity, where the second measurement delay is obtained by the second UPF entity according to the second message; the processing unit is used for determining a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the second measurement delay; the sending unit is further configured to send a first notification to the first UPF entity when the first round-trip delay is greater than a sum of the second round-trip delay and the third round-trip delay, where the first notification is used to instruct the first UPF entity to send target uplink data from the first terminal to the second UPF entity, and a destination IP address of the target uplink data is an IP address of the target AF entity; the sending unit is further configured to send a second notification to the second UPF entity, where the second notification is used to instruct the second UPF entity to receive the target uplink data sent by the first UPF entity and send the target uplink data to the target AF entity.

In a possible implementation manner, the sending unit is further configured to send a first message to the first UPF entity, where the first message includes an IP address of the second UPF entity; the receiving unit is further configured to receive a first measurement delay sent by the first UPF entity, where the first measurement delay is obtained by the first UPF entity according to the first message; the processing unit is specifically configured to determine a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the second measurement delay and the first measurement delay.

The terms are explained in the ninth aspect, and the steps and the beneficial effects performed by the units can be referred to the corresponding description in the third aspect.

A tenth aspect provides an SMF entity, the SMF entity comprising a receiving unit, a processing unit and a transmitting unit; the receiving unit is configured to receive a first message from a target Application Function (AF) entity, where the first message includes an identifier of a first terminal, an identifier of a second terminal, an identifier of the target AF entity, a first end-to-end delay, and a second end-to-end delay, where the first end-to-end delay is a round-trip delay between the first terminal and the target AF entity, and the second end-to-end delay is a round-trip delay between the second terminal and the target AF entity; receiving a first measurement delay sent by a first UPF entity, wherein the first measurement delay is the round-trip delay between a first terminal and the first UPF entity; the processing unit is configured to determine that the first round-trip delay is equal to a difference obtained by subtracting the first measured delay from the first end-to-end delay; the receiving unit is further configured to receive a second measurement delay sent by the second UPF entity, where the second measurement delay is a round-trip delay between the second terminal and the second UPF entity; the processing unit is further configured to determine that the second round-trip delay is equal to a difference obtained by subtracting the second measured delay from the second end-to-end delay; the sending unit is used for sending a second message to the second UPF entity; the processing unit is further configured to determine a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the third measurement delay; the sending unit is further configured to send a first notification to the first UPF entity when the first round-trip delay is greater than a sum of the second round-trip delay and the third round-trip delay, where the first notification is used to instruct the first UPF entity to send target uplink data from the first terminal to the second UPF entity, and a destination IP address of the target uplink data is an IP address of the target AF entity; the sending unit is further configured to send a second notification to the second UPF entity, where the second notification is used to instruct the second UPF entity to receive the target uplink data sent by the first UPF entity and send the target uplink data to the target AF entity.

In a possible implementation manner, the sending unit is further configured to send a third message to the first UPF entity; the receiving unit is further configured to receive a fourth measurement delay sent by the first UPF entity, where the fourth measurement delay is obtained by the second UPF entity according to the third message; the processing unit is specifically configured to determine a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the third measurement delay and the fourth measurement delay.

The terms in the tenth aspect explain, the steps and advantages performed by the respective units can be referred to the corresponding description in the fourth aspect.

An eleventh aspect provides a UPF entity, including an obtaining unit, a sending unit, and a receiving unit; the acquisition unit is used for acquiring a first measurement time delay between a first terminal and a first UPF entity; the sending unit is configured to send a first measurement delay to the session management function SMF entity, where the first measurement delay is used to determine a first round-trip delay; the receiving unit is configured to receive a first notification sent by the SMF entity, where the first notification is sent by the SMF when a first round-trip delay is greater than a sum of a second round-trip delay and a third round-trip delay, the second round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target application function AF entity, and the third round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity; the receiving unit is further configured to receive target uplink data from the first terminal, where a destination address of the target uplink data is an IP address of the target AF entity; the sending unit is further configured to send the target uplink data to the second UPF entity according to the first notification.

In a possible implementation manner, the receiving unit is further configured to receive a third message sent by the SMF entity, where the third message is an IP address of the second UPF entity; the sending unit is further configured to send an echo request to the second UPF entity according to the third message; the receiving unit is further configured to receive an echo response sent by the second UPF entity; the UPF entity also comprises a processing unit, and the processing unit is used for determining a fourth measurement time delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response; the sending unit is further configured to send the fourth measurement delay to the SMF entity.

The terms in the eleventh aspect explain, the steps and advantages performed by the respective units can be referred to the corresponding descriptions in the fifth aspect.

A twelfth aspect provides a UPF entity, including a first obtaining unit, a sending unit, a receiving unit, a second obtaining unit and a processing unit; the first obtaining unit is used for obtaining a second measurement time delay between the second terminal and the second UPF entity; the sending unit is configured to send a second measurement delay to the session management function SMF entity, where the second measurement delay is used to determine a second round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target AF entity; the receiving unit is used for receiving a second message sent by the SMF entity, wherein the second message comprises the IP address of the first UPF entity; the second obtaining unit is used for obtaining a third measurement time delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the second message; the sending unit is further configured to send a third measurement delay to the SMF entity, where the third measurement delay is used to determine a third round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity; the receiving unit is further configured to receive a second notification sent by the SMF entity, where the second notification is sent by the SMF when the first round-trip delay is greater than a sum of the second round-trip delay and a third round-trip delay, and the first round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the target application function AF entity; the receiving unit is further configured to receive target uplink data sent by the first UPF entity according to the second notification; the sending unit is further configured to send the target uplink data to the target AF entity according to the second notification.

In a possible implementation manner, the first obtaining unit is specifically configured to send an echo request to the first UPF entity according to the second message; receiving an echo response sent by a first UPF entity; and determining a second measurement time delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response.

The terms in the twelfth aspect explain, the steps and the beneficial effects performed by the units can refer to the corresponding descriptions in the sixth aspect.

A thirteenth aspect provides a UPF entity comprising a processor and a memory, the memory for storing a program; the processor is configured to implement the data transmission method of the first aspect, the second aspect, the fifth aspect or the sixth aspect by executing a program.

A fourteenth aspect provides an SMF entity comprising a processor and a memory, the memory for storing a program; the processor is configured to implement the data transmission method of the third aspect or the fourth aspect by executing a program.

A fifteenth aspect provides a communication system comprising a UPF entity of the first aspect, a UPF entity of the second aspect and an SMF entity of the third aspect.

A sixteenth aspect provides another communication system comprising the SMF entity of the fourth aspect, the UPF entity of the fifth aspect and the UPF entity of the sixth aspect.

A seventeenth aspect provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions, which when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the above-described aspects.

An eighteenth aspect provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of the above aspects.

A nineteenth aspect provides a chip system comprising at least one processor, coupled to a memory for storing computer programs or instructions, the processor for executing the computer programs or instructions to implement the methods of the above aspects.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a conventional network architecture;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a data transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating measurement of round-trip delay between a user plane functional entity and a target application functional entity in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is another schematic diagram illustrating measuring round trip delay between a user plane functional entity and a target application functional entity in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating measuring round trip delay between two user plane functional entities according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a data transmission method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a user plane functional entity in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is another diagram of a user plane functional entity in the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a diagram of a session management function entity in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is another schematic diagram of a session management function entity in the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 12 is another schematic diagram of a user plane functional entity in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating user plane functional entities in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 14 is another diagram of a user plane functional entity in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 15 is another schematic diagram of a session management function entity in the embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The data transmission method can be applied to an end-to-end data transmission scene. For example, a data transmission scenario between a terminal and an application function entity in a 5G network. It should be understood that the wireless communication network to which the data transmission method of the present application is applied may also be a network after 5G.

Referring to fig. 2, the wireless communication network includes a first terminal 201, a second terminal 202, a first base station 211, a second base station 212, a first User Plane Function (UPF) entity 221, a second user plane function (AF) entity 222, an Application Function (AF) entity 23, a session management function (sm) entity 24, a measurement control function (PCF) entity 25, and a network capability opening function (NEF) entity 26.

The first terminal 201 and the second terminal 202 may be, but are not limited to, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a vehicle-mounted computer, a smart wearable device, an internet of things device, and the like. A terminal is also referred to as a User Equipment (UE), a mobile device, a wireless communication device, etc.

The first user plane functional entity 221, the second user plane functional entity 222, the session management functional entity 24, the measurement control functional entity 25, and the network capability opening functional entity 26 are all network elements of a 5G core network. The first user plane functional entity 221 and the second user plane functional entity 222 are responsible for route forwarding, policy enforcement, traffic reporting, and quality of service (QoS) processing. The session management function 24 is configured to select a user plane function entity as a user plane anchor point for the terminal. The measurement control function 25 is arranged to provide policy rules to a control plane function, such as the session management function 24. The network capability openness function entity 26 is configured to open a 5G network function to the internet server through an Application Programming Interface (API) interface. The application function entity 23 is an OTT server for providing internet services. OTT is an abbreviation of over the top, and specifically refers to a technology that internet enterprises develop their own services using broadband networks of operators. OTT services include, but are not limited to, financial transactions, e-commerce orders, online ticketing, and the like.

When the first terminal 201 sends the service data to the application function entity 23, the service data sequentially passes through the first base station 211 and the first user plane function entity 221 to reach the application function entity 23. When the application function entity 23 sends the service data to the first terminal 201, the service data sequentially passes through the first user plane function entity 221 and the first base station 211 to reach the first terminal 201. Data transmitted between the second terminal 202 and the application function entity 23 will pass through the second base station 212 and the second user plane function entity 222.

In the 5G core network, each functional entity can communicate through an interface. For example, the session management function entity 24 communicates with the first user plane function entity 221 and the second user plane function entity 222 through an N4 interface. The application function entity 23 communicates with the first user plane function entity 221 and the second user plane function entity 222 through an N6 interface. The session management function entity 24 communicates with the measurement control function entity 25 over an N7 interface. The network capability openness function 26 communicates with the measurement control function 25 via an N30 interface. The network capability openness function 26 communicates with the application function 23 through an N33 interface.

In OTT business, servers for transactional processing such as financial transactions, e-commerce orders, online ticketing, and the like generally cannot be deployed dispersedly and subsidily. And the deployment sites of the UPF entity in the 5GC are dispersed and have wide geographical distribution. Because the routing hop count and the exit bandwidth from different user plane functional entities to the same server are different, the time delay of different terminals accessing the same server is different. For example, the time delay for the first terminal 201 to access a certain server is greater than the time delay for the second terminal 202 to access the server.

Because the existing method for measuring the time delay only measures the time delay from the terminal to the UPF entity, but not the time delay from the terminal to the AF entity, the service time delay is difficult to be ensured. In order to improve service delay, the application provides a data transmission method, which can measure the delay from a UPF entity to an AF, and adjust an end-to-end data transmission path according to the measured delay, thereby reducing the end-to-end delay. Referring to fig. 3, the data transmission method according to the present application is described below, and an embodiment of the data transmission method according to the present application includes:

step 301, the first user plane functional entity obtains the first round-trip delay.

The first round trip delay is a Round Trip Time (RTT) between the first UPF entity and the target AF entity. The round trip delay is also referred to as loop delay. The target AF entity is a device providing business services, and may be, but is not limited to, a financial transaction server, an e-commerce order server, an online ticketing server, and the like.

Step 302, the first user plane functional entity sends the first round-trip delay to the session management functional entity.

Step 303, the second user plane functional entity obtains the second round trip delay.

The second round trip delay is a round trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target AF entity.

And step 304, the second user plane function entity sends the second round-trip delay to the session management function entity.

Step 305, the session management functional entity sends a second message to the second user plane functional entity.

Optionally, when the first round-trip delay is greater than the sum of the second round-trip delay and a preset threshold, the session management functional entity sends a second message to the second user plane functional entity. The preset threshold is greater than 0, and may be specifically set according to a time delay between the UPFs or an actual situation. When the first round-trip delay is larger than the sum of the second round-trip delay and a preset threshold value, the possibility that the round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the target AF entity is optimized is shown.

And step 306, the second user plane functional entity acquires a second measurement time delay according to the second message.

The second measured delay is the round trip delay between the second user plane functional entity and the first user plane functional entity.

And 307, the second user plane function entity sends the second measurement delay to the session management function entity.

And step 308, the session management functional entity determines a third round-trip delay according to the second measurement delay.

The third round trip delay is a round trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity. Optionally, the third round trip delay is equal to the second measured delay.

Step 309, the session management functional entity determines whether the first round-trip delay is greater than the sum of the second round-trip delay and the third round-trip delay, if so, step 310 and step 311 are executed, and if not, the subsequent steps are not executed.

Step 310, the session management functional entity sends a first notification to the first user plane functional entity. The first notification may include a session identification of the first terminal and may also include a user identification of the first terminal. The first notification includes one or more messages.

Step 311, the session management functional entity sends a second notification to the second user plane functional entity.

The second notification includes a session identification of the first terminal and may also include a user identification of the first terminal. The subscriber identity includes, but is not limited to, one or more of an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), a mobile subscriber international integrated services digital network number (MSISDN), and an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI). The second user plane function entity may establish the context of the first terminal based on the second notification such that the second UPF entity may act as another PSA between the first terminal and the target AF entity.

It should be understood that the second notification includes one or more messages. Step 310 and step 311 do not have a fixed order of precedence. Step 311 may be performed before step 310, or both steps may be in parallel.

Step 312, the first user plane functional entity receives the target uplink data sent by the first terminal. The target uplink data may be a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) message.

Step 313, the first user plane functional entity sends the target uplink data to the second user plane functional entity according to the first notification. The target uplink data refers to uplink data in which a source Internet Protocol (IP) address is a first IP address of the first terminal, and a destination IP address is an IP address of the target AF entity. The first IP address is a source IP address belonging to a private network, also called private network.

And after receiving the first notification, the first UPF entity can add a traffic classification function according to the first notification. After the first UPF entity receives the uplink data, the target uplink data can be obtained through the traffic classification function, and then the target uplink data is sent to the second UPF entity. The first UPF entity may forward other upstream data than the target upstream data, i.e., the first UPF entity acts as a PSA for the other upstream data.

And step 314, the second user plane functional entity sends the target uplink data to the target application functional entity according to the second notification.

It should be noted that, the second UPF entity may directly send the target uplink data to the target AF entity, or may send the converted target uplink data to the target AF entity after performing network address port conversion on the source IP address and the source port number of the target uplink data. The second UPF entity may also receive target downlink data sent by the target application function entity according to the second notification, and then send the target downlink data to the first UPF entity, where the target downlink data is data sent by the target AF entity to the first terminal.

In this embodiment, the SMF entity may obtain the first round trip delay, the second round trip delay, and the third round trip delay. When the first round-trip delay is greater than the sum of the second round-trip delay and the third round-trip delay, it is indicated that the data reaches the target AF entity through the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity faster than the data reaches the target AF entity through the first UPF entity, so that the first UPF entity forwards the target uplink data to the second UPF entity, and the second UPF entity sends the target uplink data to the target AF entity, and the data transmission time can be shortened to meet the end-to-end delay requirement. Wherein the first UPF entity acts as PSA1 and the second UPF entity acts as PSA2.

It should be understood that the delay between the UPF entities and the target AF entity and the delay between the UPF entities are measured according to the method of the present application, and then the path delay through one or more UPF entities can be determined. Usually, the path with the shortest path delay may be selected to transmit data, and other paths may also be selected to transmit data according to actual situations.

It should be noted that, in the present application, a unidirectional transmission delay between each entity may also be determined, and then whether the data transmission path needs to be adjusted is determined according to the single transmission delay. The one-way transmission delay between device a and device B is equal to half the round-trip delay between device a and device B. Device a or device B may be, but is not limited to, a terminal, a base station, a UPF entity, an AF entity in this application.

Referring now to fig. 4, in a detailed description of the method for obtaining the round trip delay, step 301 includes:

step 401, the first user plane functional entity receives uplink data sent by the first terminal. The upstream data may be a TCP message.

Step 402, the first user plane functional entity sends uplink data to the target application functional entity.

In step 403, the first user plane functional entity receives the acknowledgement frame sent by the target application functional entity. The acknowledgement frame is generated by the target AF entity in response to the uplink data.

Step 404, the first user plane functional entity determines a first round-trip delay according to the time of sending the uplink data and the time of receiving the acknowledgement frame.

In this embodiment, the first user plane functional entity may obtain a time when the uplink data is sent and a time when the acknowledgement frame is received, so as to determine a round-trip delay between the first user plane functional entity and the target application functional entity. It should be appreciated that step 401 is optional. In another alternative embodiment, the round trip delay between the first user plane functional entity and the target application functional entity can also be obtained by directly performing steps 402 to 404.

Referring now to fig. 5, describing the method for obtaining the second round trip delay, in an alternative embodiment, step 303 includes:

and step 501, the second user plane functional entity receives uplink data sent by the second terminal. The upstream data may be a TCP message.

Step 502, the second user plane functional entity sends uplink data to the target application functional entity.

Step 503, the second user plane functional entity receives the acknowledgement frame sent by the target application functional entity.

The acknowledgement frame is generated by the target AF entity in response to the uplink data.

And step 504, the second user plane functional entity determines a second round-trip delay according to the time of sending the uplink data and the time of receiving the acknowledgement frame.

In this embodiment, the second user plane functional entity may obtain a time when the uplink data is sent and a time when the acknowledgement frame is received, so as to determine a round-trip delay between the second user plane functional entity and the target application functional entity. It should be appreciated that step 501 is optional. In another alternative embodiment, the round trip delay between the second user plane functional entity and the target application functional entity can also be obtained by directly performing steps 502 to 504.

Referring now to fig. 6, describing the measurement process of round trip delay between UPF entities, in another alternative embodiment, step 306 includes:

step 601, the second user plane functional entity sends an echo request to the first user plane functional entity according to the second message.

Step 602, the second user plane functional entity receives the echo response sent by the first UPF entity.

Step 603, the second user plane functional entity determines a second measurement delay between the second user plane functional entity and the first user plane functional entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response.

In this embodiment, the echo request and the echo response may be, but are not limited to, signaling in a GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP) path maintenance message. GTP may be, but is not limited to, GTP-U.

The second measured delay is a round trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity. Optionally, the second measured delay is equal to the third round trip delay. This provides a way to measure round trip delay between UPF entities.

The round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity may be determined in a variety of ways. The second measured delay is described as the third round-trip delay, and another method for obtaining the third round-trip delay is described below.

In another optional embodiment, the data transmission method further includes: the SMF entity sends a first message to the first UPF entity, wherein the first message comprises the IP address of the second UPF entity; after the first UPF entity acquires the first measurement delay according to the first message, the SMF entity receives the first measurement delay sent by the first UPF entity; and determining a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the second measurement delay and the first measurement delay.

In this embodiment, the third round trip delay may be an arithmetic average of the first measured delay and the second measured delay.

Optionally, the obtaining, by the first UPF entity, the first measurement delay according to the first message includes: the first UPF entity sends an echo request to the second UPF entity according to the first message and receives an echo response sent by the second UPF entity; and determining a first measurement time delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response.

In another alternative embodiment, the SMF entity may further treat the first measured delay as a third round trip delay.

In another optional embodiment, after receiving the target uplink data, the second UPF entity performs network address port conversion on the first IP address and the first port number in the target uplink data; sending the target uplink data after the network address port conversion to a target AF entity, wherein the target uplink data after the network address port conversion comprises a second IP address and a second port number; after the second UPF entity receives the target downlink data sent by the target AF entity, the destination address of the target downlink data is a second IP address, and the destination port number of the target downlink data is a second port number; carrying out network address port conversion on a destination IP address and a destination port number in the target downlink data; and sending the target downlink data after the network address port conversion to a first UPF entity, wherein the target downlink data after the network address port conversion comprises a first IP address and a first port number.

In this embodiment, the first IP address and the second IP address in the target uplink data are source IP addresses, and the first port number and the second port number are source port numbers. The first IP address and the second IP address in the target downlink data are destination IP addresses, and the first port number and the second port number are destination port numbers.

The second UPF entity performs network address translation on the source IP address (i.e., the first IP address) and the source port number (i.e., the first port number) of the target uplink data, so that the private network address of the first terminal is translated into a public network address (including the second IP address and the second port number). After the network address conversion, the target downlink data from the target AF entity may reach the first terminal through the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity. The second UPF entity acts as PSA2 and the first UPF entity acts as PSA1.

The network address translation can prevent the target downlink data from reaching the first terminal from the first UPF entity without passing through the second UPF entity, thereby preventing downlink routing conflict and shortening downlink transmission time.

Referring to fig. 7, another method for measuring a round trip delay between a UPF entity and an application function entity is described below, and another embodiment of the data transmission method provided by the present application includes:

step 701, the session management functional entity receives a first message from the target application functional entity.

In this embodiment, the first message includes an identifier of the first terminal, an identifier of the second terminal, an identifier of the target application function entity, a first end-to-end delay, and a second end-to-end delay. The identity may be, but is not limited to, an IP quintuple. The IP five-tuple includes a source IP address, a source port number, a destination IP address, a destination port number, and a transport layer protocol. The first message may comprise more than three terminal identities and more than three end-to-end delays.

The target AF entity may measure a first end-to-end delay and a second end-to-end delay. The first end-to-end delay is a round-trip delay between the first terminal and the target AF entity, and the second end-to-end delay is a round-trip delay between the second terminal and the target AF entity. Optionally, the target AF entity measures a round-trip delay between the first terminal and the target AF entity multiple times, and an average value of multiple measurement results is used as the first end-to-end delay. And/or the target AF entity measures the round-trip delay between the second terminal and the target AF entity for multiple times, and the average value of the multiple measurement results is used as a second end-to-end delay.

The first message may also pass through other network elements from the target AF entity to the SMF entity. In one example, the target AF entity sends the first message to the NEF entity, the NEF entity sends the first message to the PCF entity, and the PCF entity sends the first message to the SMF entity.

Step 702, the first user plane function entity obtains a first measurement delay.

The first measured delay is a round trip delay between the first terminal and the first UPF entity. The method for obtaining the first measurement time delay may refer to a method for measuring time delay between a terminal and a UPF entity in the background art. Optionally, the time delay between the first terminal and the first UPF entity is measured multiple times, and the first measurement time delay is determined as an average value of multiple measurement results.

And 703, the first user plane function entity sends the first measurement delay to the session management function entity.

Step 704, the session management function entity determines that the first round-trip delay is equal to a difference obtained by subtracting the first measured delay from the first end-to-end delay.

Step 705, the second user plane function entity obtains the second measurement delay.

The second measured delay is a round trip delay between the second terminal and the second UPF entity. Optionally, the time delay between the second terminal and the second UPF entity is measured multiple times, and the second measurement time delay is determined as an average value of multiple measurement results.

And step 706, the second user plane function entity sends the second measurement delay to the session management function entity.

Step 707, the session management function entity determines that the second round-trip delay is equal to a difference obtained by subtracting the second measured delay from the second end-to-end delay.

Step 708, the session management functional entity sends a second message to the second user plane functional entity.

And step 709, the second user plane functional entity obtains a third measurement delay according to the second message.

The third measured delay is a round trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity.

And 710, the second user plane functional entity sends the third measurement delay to the session management functional entity.

Step 711, the session management functional entity determines a third round-trip delay according to the third measurement delay.

Optionally, the third measured delay is equal to the third round trip delay.

Step 712, the session management function entity determines whether the first round-trip delay is greater than the sum of the second round-trip delay and the third round-trip delay, if so, step 713 and step 714 are executed, and if not, the subsequent steps are not executed.

Step 713, the session management function entity sends a first notification to the first user plane function entity. The first notification may include a session identification of the first terminal and may also include a user identification of the first terminal.

Step 714, the session management function entity sends a second notification to the second user plane function entity.

The second notification includes a session identification of the first terminal and may also include a user identification of the first terminal. The subscriber identity includes, but is not limited to, one or more of IMSI, MSISDN, IMEI. The second UPF entity may establish the context of the first terminal based on the second notification such that the second UPF entity may act as another PSA between the first terminal and the target AF entity.

Step 713 and step 714 are not in a fixed order of precedence. Step 713 may be performed before step 714 or both steps may be in parallel.

And 715, the first user plane functional entity receives the target uplink data sent by the first terminal. The target uplink data may be a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) message.

And step 716, the first user plane functional entity sends the target uplink data to the second user plane functional entity according to the first notification.

And step 717, the second user plane functional entity sends the target uplink data to the target application functional entity according to the second notification.

In this embodiment, the SMF entity may determine the round-trip delay between the UPF entity and the target AF entity according to the round-trip delay between the terminal and the target AF entity and the round-trip delay between the terminal and the UPF entity. This provides another way of measuring the round trip delay between the UPF entity and the target AF entity. When the first round-trip delay is greater than the sum of the second round-trip delay and the third round-trip delay, it is indicated that the data reaches the target AF entity through the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity faster than the data reaches the target AF entity through the first UPF entity, so that the first UPF entity forwards the target uplink data to the second UPF entity, and the second UPF entity sends the target uplink data to the target AF entity, and the data transmission time can be shortened to meet the end-to-end delay requirement. Wherein the first UPF entity acts as PSA1 and the second UPF entity acts as PSA2.

It should be understood that the target AF entity may measure end-to-end delays between more than three terminals and the target AF entity, and send a plurality of measured end-to-end delays to the SMF entity. The SMF entity may further receive the time delay between the UE and the UPF entity sent by the UPF entities, so as to obtain the time delay between the UPF entities and the target AF entity. After the time delay between a plurality of UPF entities is measured according to the method of the application, the path time delay passing through one or more UPF entities can be determined. Usually, the path with the shortest path delay may be selected to transmit data, and other paths may also be selected to transmit data according to actual situations.

In an optional embodiment, the data transmission method further includes: the first UPF entity receives a third message sent by the SMF entity, and the third message is the IP address of the second UPF entity; sending an echo request to a second UPF entity according to the third message; receiving an echo response sent by a second UPF entity; determining a fourth measurement time delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response; sending the fourth measurement delay to the SMF entity; and determining a third round trip delay according to the fourth measurement delay and the third measurement delay.

In this embodiment, the third round trip delay is an arithmetic average of the fourth measurement delay and the third measurement delay.

In another alternative embodiment, the third round trip delay is equal to the fourth measured delay.

In another alternative embodiment, step 709 includes: the second UPF entity sends an echo request to the first UPF entity according to the second message; receiving an echo response sent by a first UPF entity; and determining a third measurement time delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response.

In this embodiment, the third measurement delay is a round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity. Optionally, the third measured delay is equal to the third round trip delay.

In this embodiment, the first IP address and the second IP address in the target uplink data are source IP addresses, and the first port number and the second port number are source port numbers. The first IP address and the second IP address in the target downlink data are both destination IP addresses, and the first port number and the second port number are both destination port numbers.

And the second UPF entity carries out network address conversion on the source IP address and the source port number of the target uplink data, so that the private network address of the first terminal is converted into a public network address. After the network address conversion, the target downlink data from the target AF entity may reach the first terminal through the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity. The second UPF entity acts as PSA2 and the first UPF entity acts as PSA1.

The network address conversion can prevent the target downlink data from reaching the first terminal from the first UPF entity without passing through the second UPF entity, thereby preventing downlink routing conflict and shortening the downlink transmission time.

It should be understood that uplink in this application refers to transmission from the terminal to the AF entity, and uplink data refers to data transmitted from the terminal to the AF. The downlink refers to sending data to the terminal by the AF entity, and the downlink data refers to sending data to the terminal by the AF entity. The descriptions of the first message, the second message and the third message in this application are for distinguishing different messages, and do not indicate a limitation on the message transmission order or the message names. The description of the first notification and the second notification in this application is to distinguish different notification messages, and does not indicate a limitation on the transmission order of the notification messages or the message names. The description of the first measurement delay, the second measurement delay, the third measurement delay and the fourth measurement delay in the present application is to distinguish different delays, and does not indicate the limitation on the transmission sequence of the delays or the names of the delays.

The data transmission method of the present application is introduced above, and the following describes an apparatus for implementing the data transmission method. The user plane functional entity 800 shown in fig. 8 may implement the steps performed by the first user plane functional entity in the embodiments shown in fig. 3 to 6. Referring to fig. 8, an embodiment of a user plane functional entity 800 in the present application includes:

an obtaining unit 801, configured to obtain a first round-trip delay between a first UPF entity and a target AF entity;

a sending unit 802, configured to send a first round-trip delay to an SMF entity;

a receiving unit 803, configured to receive a first notification sent by an SMF entity, where the first notification is sent by the SMF when a first round-trip delay is greater than a sum of a second round-trip delay and a third round-trip delay, the second round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between a second UPF entity and a target AF entity, and the third round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity;

a receiving unit 803, configured to receive target uplink data from the first terminal, where a destination address of the target uplink data is an IP address of the target AF entity;

the sending unit 802 is further configured to send the target uplink data to the second UPF entity according to the first notification.

In an optional embodiment, the obtaining unit 801 is specifically configured to receive uplink data sent by a first terminal; sending uplink data to a target AF entity; receiving a confirmation frame sent by a target AF entity, wherein the confirmation frame is generated by the target AF entity responding to uplink data; and determining a first round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the target AF entity according to the time of sending the uplink data and the time of receiving the confirmation frame.

In a further alternative embodiment of the method,

a receiving unit 803, further configured to receive a first message sent by the SMF entity, where the first message includes an IP address of the second UPF entity;

a sending unit 802, further configured to send an echo request to the second UPF entity according to the first message;

a receiving unit 803, configured to receive an echo response sent by the second UPF entity;

the user plane functional entity 800 further comprises:

a determining unit, configured to determine a first measurement delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to a time when the echo request is sent and a time when the echo response is received;

the sending unit 802 is further configured to send the first measurement delay to the SMF entity.

For the name explanation in the embodiment shown in fig. 8, the steps and advantages performed by the units can be referred to the corresponding description in the above embodiment.

The user plane functional entity 900 shown in fig. 9 may implement the steps performed by the second user plane functional entity in the embodiments shown in fig. 3 to 6. Referring to fig. 9, another embodiment of the user plane functional entity 900 in the present application includes:

a first obtaining unit 901, configured to obtain a second round-trip delay between a second UPF entity and a target application function AF entity;

a sending unit 902, configured to send the second round-trip delay to the session management function SMF entity;

a second obtaining unit 903, configured to obtain a second measurement delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the second message;

a sending unit 902, further configured to send the second measurement delay to the SMF entity;

a receiving unit 904, configured to receive a second notification sent by the SMF entity, where the second notification is sent by the SMF when a first round-trip delay is greater than a sum of a second round-trip delay and a third round-trip delay, the first round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the target AF entity, and the third round-trip delay is determined by the SMF entity according to the second measured delay;

a receiving unit 904, further configured to receive, according to the second notification, target uplink data sent by the first UPF entity, where a destination address of the target uplink data is an IP address of the target AF entity, and a source IP address of the target uplink data is a first IP address of the first terminal;

a sending unit 902, further configured to send the target uplink data to the target AF entity according to the second notification.

In an alternative embodiment of the method of the invention,

the first obtaining unit 901 is specifically configured to receive uplink data sent by the second terminal; sending the uplink data to a target AF entity; receiving a confirmation frame sent by a target AF entity, wherein the confirmation frame is generated by the target AF entity responding to uplink data; and determining a second round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target AF entity according to the time of sending the uplink data and the time of receiving the acknowledgement frame.

In a further alternative embodiment of the method,

the second obtaining unit 903 is specifically configured to send an echo request to the first UPF entity according to the second message; receiving an echo response sent by a first UPF entity; and determining a second measurement time delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response.

In another optional embodiment, the sending unit 902 is specifically configured to perform network address port conversion on a first IP address and a first port number in the target uplink data to obtain a second IP address and a second port number; sending the target uplink data after the network address port conversion to a target AF entity, wherein the target uplink data after the network address port conversion comprises a second IP address and a second port number;

the receiving unit 904 is further configured to receive target downlink data sent by the target AF entity, where a destination address of the target downlink data is a second IP address, and a destination port number of the target downlink data is a second port number;

the sending unit 902 is further configured to perform network address port conversion on the second IP address and the second port number in the target downlink data; and sending the target downlink data after the network address port conversion to a first UPF entity, wherein the target downlink data after the network address port conversion comprises a first IP address and a first port number.

For the name explanation in the embodiment shown in fig. 9, the steps and the advantageous effects performed by the units can be referred to the corresponding descriptions in the above embodiments.

The session management function 1000 shown in fig. 10 may implement the steps performed by the session management function in the embodiments shown in fig. 3 to 6. Referring to fig. 10, an embodiment of a session management function 1000 in the present application includes: a receiving unit 1001, a processing unit 1002, and a transmitting unit 1003;

a receiving unit 1001, configured to receive a first round-trip delay sent by a first user plane function UPF entity, where the first round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and a target application function AF entity;

a receiving unit 1001, configured to receive a second round-trip delay sent by a second UPF entity, where the second round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and a target AF entity;

a sending unit 1003, configured to send a second message to the second UPF entity;

the receiving unit 1001 is further configured to receive a second measurement delay sent by the second UPF entity, where the second measurement delay is obtained by the second UPF entity according to the second message;

a processing unit 1002, configured to determine a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the second measurement delay;

a sending unit 1003, further configured to send a first notification to the first UPF entity when the first round-trip delay is greater than a sum of the second round-trip delay and the third round-trip delay, where the first notification is used to instruct the first UPF entity to send target uplink data from the first terminal to the second UPF entity, and a destination IP address of the target uplink data is an IP address of the target AF entity;

the sending unit 1003 is further configured to send a second notification to the second UPF entity, where the second notification is used to instruct the second UPF entity to receive the target uplink data sent by the first UPF entity and send the target uplink data to the target AF entity.

In an alternative embodiment of the method according to the invention,

a sending unit 1003, further configured to send a first message to the first UPF entity, where the first message includes an IP address of the second UPF entity;

a receiving unit 1001, configured to receive a first measurement delay sent by a first UPF entity, where the first measurement delay is obtained by the first UPF entity according to a first message;

the processing unit 1002 is specifically configured to determine a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the second measurement delay and the first measurement delay.

For the name explanation in the embodiment shown in fig. 10, the steps and advantageous effects performed by the units can be referred to the corresponding descriptions in the above embodiments.

The session management function 1100 shown in fig. 11 is capable of implementing the steps performed by the session management function in the embodiment shown in fig. 7. Referring to fig. 11, one embodiment of the session management function 1100 includes:

a receiving unit 1101, configured to receive a first message from a target application function AF entity, where the first message includes an identifier of a first terminal, an identifier of a second terminal, an identifier of the target AF entity, a first end-to-end delay, and a second end-to-end delay, where the first end-to-end delay is a round-trip delay between the first terminal and the target AF entity, and the second end-to-end delay is a round-trip delay between the second terminal and the target AF entity;

a receiving unit 1101, configured to receive a first measurement delay sent by a first UPF entity, where the first measurement delay is a round-trip delay between a first terminal and the first UPF entity;

a processing unit 1102, configured to determine that the first round-trip delay is equal to a difference obtained by subtracting the first measured delay from the first end-to-end delay;

a receiving unit 1101, configured to receive a second measurement delay sent by a second UPF entity, where the second measurement delay is a round-trip delay between a second terminal and the second UPF entity;

the processing unit 1102 is further configured to determine that the second round-trip delay is equal to a difference obtained by subtracting the second measured delay from the second end-to-end delay;

a sending unit 1103, configured to send a second message to a second UPF entity;

the processing unit 1102 is further configured to determine a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the third measurement delay;

a sending unit 1103, configured to send a first notification to the first UPF entity when the first round-trip delay is greater than a sum of the second round-trip delay and the third round-trip delay, where the first notification is used to instruct the first UPF entity to send target uplink data from the first terminal to the second UPF entity, and a destination IP address of the target uplink data is an IP address of the target AF entity;

the sending unit 1103 is further configured to send a second notification to the second UPF entity, where the second notification is used to instruct the second UPF entity to receive the target uplink data sent by the first UPF entity and send the target uplink data to the target AF entity.

In an alternative embodiment of the method of the invention,

a sending unit 1103, configured to send a third message to the first UPF entity;

the receiving unit 1101 is further configured to receive a fourth measurement delay sent by the first UPF entity, where the fourth measurement delay is obtained by the second UPF entity according to the third message;

the processing unit 1102 is specifically configured to determine a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the third measurement delay and the fourth measurement delay.

For the name explanation in the embodiment shown in fig. 11, the steps and advantageous effects performed by the units can be referred to the corresponding description in the embodiment shown in fig. 7.

The user plane function entity 1200 shown in fig. 12 may implement the functionality of the first user plane function entity in the embodiment shown in fig. 7. Referring to fig. 12, another embodiment of the user plane functional entity 1200 in the present application includes:

an obtaining unit 1201, configured to obtain a first measurement delay between a first terminal and a first UPF entity;

a sending unit 1202, configured to send a first measurement delay to a session management function SMF entity, where the first measurement delay is used to determine a first round-trip delay;

a receiving unit 1203, configured to receive a first notification sent by an SMF entity, where the first notification is sent by the SMF when a first round-trip delay is greater than a sum of a second round-trip delay and a third round-trip delay, the second round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between a second UPF entity and an AF entity, and the third round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity;

a receiving unit 1203, further configured to receive target uplink data from the first terminal, where a destination address of the target uplink data is an IP address of the target AF entity;

the sending unit 1202 is further configured to send the target uplink data to the second UPF entity according to the first notification.

In an alternative embodiment of the method of the invention,

a receiving unit 1203, further configured to receive a third message sent by the SMF entity, where the third message is an IP address of a second UPF entity;

a sending unit 1202, further configured to send an echo request to the second UPF entity according to the third message;

a receiving unit 1203, further configured to receive an echo response sent by the second UPF entity;

the user plane function entity 1200 further comprises:

the processing unit is used for determining a fourth measurement time delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response;

a sending unit 1202, further configured to send the fourth measurement delay to the SMF entity.

For the name explanation in the embodiment shown in fig. 12, the steps and advantageous effects performed by the units can be referred to the corresponding description in the embodiment of fig. 7.

The user plane functionality 1300 shown in fig. 13 may implement the functionality of the second user plane functionality in the embodiment shown in fig. 7. Referring to fig. 13, an embodiment of a user plane functional entity 1300 in the present application includes:

a first obtaining unit 1301, configured to obtain a second measurement delay between the second terminal and the second UPF entity;

a sending unit 1302, configured to send a second measurement delay to the SMF entity, where the second measurement delay is used to determine a second round-trip delay between a second UPF entity and a target AF entity;

a receiving unit 1303, configured to receive a second message sent by the SMF entity, where the second message includes an IP address of the first UPF entity;

a second obtaining unit 1304, configured to obtain a third measurement time delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the second message;

a sending unit 1302, further configured to send a third measurement delay to the SMF entity, where the third measurement delay is used to determine a third round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity;

the receiving unit 1303 is further configured to receive a second notification sent by the SMF entity, where the second notification is sent by the SMF when the first round-trip delay is greater than a sum of the second round-trip delay and a third round-trip delay, and the first round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the target application function AF entity;

a receiving unit 1303, further configured to receive, according to the second notification, target uplink data sent by the first UPF entity;

the sending unit 1302 is further configured to send the target uplink data to the target AF entity according to the second notification.

In an alternative embodiment of the method according to the invention,

a second obtaining unit 1304, specifically configured to send an echo request to the first UPF entity according to the second message; receiving an echo response sent by a first UPF entity; and determining a third measurement time delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response.

For the name explanation in the embodiment shown in fig. 13, the steps and advantages performed by the units can be referred to the corresponding description in the embodiment of fig. 7.

Referring to fig. 14, a user plane functional entity and a session management functional entity of the present application are described below from a hardware device perspective, and another embodiment of the user plane functional entity 1400 in the present application includes: a processor 1401, a memory 1402, and a network interface 1403 connected by a bus 1404.

In this embodiment, the memory 1402 is used for storing programs, instructions or data. The processor 1401 is configured to perform the steps performed by the first UPF entity or the second UPF entity in the embodiments shown in fig. 3-7 by invoking programs or instructions stored in the memory 1402.

It should be understood that the processor 1401 referred to in this embodiment may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), and may also be other general purpose processors, digital Signal Processors (DSPs), application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

It will also be appreciated that the memory 1402 referred to in the subject embodiments can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), an Erasable PROM (EPROM), an electrically Erasable EPROM (EEPROM), or a flash memory. Volatile memory can be Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of example, but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM, enhanced SDRAM, SLDRAM, synchronous Link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

Network interface 1403 may be used to receive information or transmit information. The information may be, but is not limited to, a message, data, or instructions.

Referring to fig. 15, another embodiment of a session management function 1500 in the present application includes: a processor 1501, memory 1502, and a network interface 1503 coupled by a bus 1504.

In this embodiment, the memory 1502 is used for storing information such as programs, instructions or data. The processor 1501 is configured to perform the steps performed by the SMF entity in the embodiments illustrated in fig. 3-7 by calling a program or instructions stored in the memory 1502.

The network interface 1503 may be used to receive information or transmit information. The information may be, but is not limited to, a message, data, or instructions.

It should be understood that the processor 1501 in the embodiments of the present application may be a CPU, but may also be other general purpose processors, DSPs, ASICs, FPGAs, or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, and the like. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like.

It will also be appreciated that the memory 1502, in embodiments of the subject application, can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. The non-volatile memory may be a ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, or flash memory, among others. Volatile memory can be RAM, which acts as external cache memory. It should be noted that when the processor is a general-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component, the memory (memory module) is integrated in the processor. It should be noted that the memory described herein is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

It should be noted that, because the contents of information interaction, execution process, and the like between the modules/units of the apparatus are based on the same concept as the method embodiment of the present application, the technical effect brought by the contents is the same as the method embodiment of the present application, and specific contents may refer to the description in the foregoing method embodiment of the present application, and are not described herein again.

The present application provides a computer-readable storage medium in which a computer program is stored, which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the data transmission method in the above-described embodiment or the alternative embodiment.

The present application also provides a computer program product comprising instructions which, when run on a computer, cause the computer to perform the data transmission method as described in the embodiments or the alternative embodiments illustrated above.

The present application also provides a chip system including a processor and a memory coupled to each other. The memory is used for storing computer programs or instructions, and the processing unit is used for executing the computer programs or instructions stored by the memory to make the UPF entity execute the steps executed by the first UPF entity or the second UPF entity in the above embodiments. Alternatively, the memory may be an on-chip memory, such as a register, a cache, or the like, and the memory may also be an on-site memory located outside the chip, such as a read-only memory (ROM) or another type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a Random Access Memory (RAM), or the like. The processor referred to herein may be a general purpose central processing unit, a microprocessor, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the contention resolution method described above.

The present application further provides another system-on-a-chip that includes a processor and a memory coupled to each other. The memory is used for storing computer programs or instructions, and the processing unit is used for executing the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory, so that the SMF entity executes the steps executed by the SMF entity in the above embodiments.

It should be noted that the above-described embodiments of the apparatus are merely illustrative, and units illustrated as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and components illustrated as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment. In addition, in the drawings of the embodiments of the apparatus provided in the present application, the connection relationship between the modules indicates that there is a communication connection therebetween, and may be implemented as one or more communication buses or signal lines.

Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art will clearly understand that the present application can be implemented by software plus necessary general-purpose hardware, and certainly can also be implemented by special-purpose hardware including special-purpose integrated circuits, special-purpose CPUs, special-purpose memories, special-purpose components and the like. Generally, functions performed by computer programs can be easily implemented by corresponding hardware, and specific hardware structures for implementing the same functions may be various, such as analog circuits, digital circuits, or dedicated circuits. However, for the present application, the implementation of a software program is more preferable. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the present application may be substantially embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a readable storage medium, such as a floppy disk, a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk of a computer, and includes several instructions for enabling a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to execute the method of the embodiments of the present application.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product.

The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. The procedures or functions according to the embodiments of the present application are all or partially generated when the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. Computer instructions may be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, e.g., computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center by wire (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.).

The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, and not to limit the same; although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may still be modified, or some technical features may be equivalently replaced; such modifications or substitutions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method of data transmission, comprising:

a first User Plane Function (UPF) entity acquires a first round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and a target Application Function (AF) entity;

the first UPF entity sends the first round-trip delay to a Session Management Function (SMF) entity;

the first UPF entity receives a first notification sent by the SMF entity, wherein the first notification is sent by the SMF when a first round-trip delay is larger than the sum of a second round-trip delay and a third round-trip delay, the second round-trip delay is the round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target AF entity, and the third round-trip delay is the round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity;

the first UPF entity receives target uplink data from a first terminal, and the destination address of the target uplink data is the IP address of the target AF entity;

and the first UPF entity sends the target uplink data to the second UPF entity according to the first notification.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining, by the first UPF entity, a first round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and a target AF entity comprises:

the first UPF entity receives uplink data sent by the first terminal;

the first UPF entity sends the uplink data to the target AF entity;

the first UPF entity receives a confirmation frame sent by the target AF entity, wherein the confirmation frame is generated by the target AF entity responding to the uplink data;

and the first UPF entity determines a first round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the target AF entity according to the time of sending the uplink data and the time of receiving the acknowledgement frame.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the method further comprises:

the first UPF entity receives a first message sent by the SMF entity, wherein the first message comprises an IP address of a second UPF entity;

the first UPF entity sends an echo request to the second UPF entity according to the first message;

the first UPF entity receives an echo response sent by the second UPF entity;

the first UPF entity determines a first measurement time delay between the first UPF entity and a second UPF entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response;

and the first UPF entity sends the first measurement delay to the SMF entity.

4. A method of data transmission, comprising:

a second User Plane Function (UPF) entity acquires a second round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and a target Application Function (AF) entity;

the second UPF entity sends the second round-trip delay to a Session Management Function (SMF) entity;

the second UPF entity receives a second message sent by the SMF entity, wherein the second message comprises the IP address of the first UPF entity;

the second UPF entity acquires a second measurement time delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the second message;

the second UPF entity sends the second measurement delay to the SMF entity;

the second UPF entity receives a second notification sent by the SMF entity, wherein the second notification is sent by the SMF entity under the condition that a first round-trip delay is greater than the sum of a second round-trip delay and a third round-trip delay, the first round-trip delay is the round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the target AF entity, and the third round-trip delay is determined by the SMF entity according to the second measurement delay;

the second UPF entity receives target uplink data sent by the first UPF entity according to the second notification, wherein the destination address of the target uplink data is the IP address of the target AF entity, and the source IP address of the target uplink data is the first IP address of the first terminal;

and the second UPF entity sends the target uplink data to the target AF entity according to the second notice.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the obtaining, by the second UPF entity, the second round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target AF entity comprises:

the second UPF entity receives uplink data sent by a second terminal;

the second UPF entity sends the uplink data to the target AF entity;

the second UPF entity receives a confirmation frame sent by the target AF entity, wherein the confirmation frame is generated by the target AF entity responding to the uplink data;

and the second UPF entity determines a second round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target AF entity according to the time of sending the uplink data and the time of receiving the acknowledgement frame.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the obtaining, by the second UPF entity according to the second message, the second measured time delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity comprises:

the second UPF entity sends an echo request to the first UPF entity according to the second message;

the second UPF entity receives the echo response sent by the first UPF entity;

and the second UPF entity determines a second measurement time delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response.

7. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 6,

the sending, by the second UPF entity, the target uplink data to the target AF entity includes: the second UPF entity carries out network address port conversion on the first IP address and the first port number in the target uplink data to obtain a second IP address and a second port number; the second UPF entity sends the target uplink data after the network address port conversion to the target AF entity, where the target uplink data after the network address port conversion includes the second IP address and the second port number;

the method further comprises the following steps:

the second UPF entity receives target downlink data sent by the target AF entity, where a destination address of the target downlink data is the second IP address, and a destination port number of the target downlink data is the second port number;

the second UPF entity carries out network address port conversion on a destination IP address and a destination port number in the target downlink data;

and the second UPF entity sends the target downlink data after the network address port conversion to the first UPF entity, wherein the target downlink data after the network address port conversion comprises the first IP address and the first port number.

8. A method of data transmission, comprising:

a Session Management Function (SMF) entity receives a first round-trip delay sent by a first User Plane Function (UPF) entity, wherein the first round-trip delay is the round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and a target Application Function (AF) entity;

the SMF entity receives a second round-trip delay sent by the second UPF entity, wherein the second round-trip delay is the round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target AF entity;

the SMF entity sends a second message to the second UPF entity;

the SMF entity receives a second measurement delay sent by the second UPF entity, wherein the second measurement delay is obtained by the second UPF entity according to the second message;

the SMF entity determines a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the second measurement delay;

when the first round-trip delay is greater than the sum of the second round-trip delay and the third round-trip delay, the SMF entity sends a first notification to the first UPF entity, where the first notification is used to instruct the first UPF entity to send target uplink data from a first terminal to the second UPF entity, and a destination IP address of the target uplink data is an IP address of the target AF entity;

and the SMF entity sends a second notice to the second UPF entity, wherein the second notice is used for indicating the second UPF entity to receive the target uplink data sent by the first UPF entity and send the target uplink data to the target AF entity.

9. The method of claim 8,

the method further comprises the following steps: the SMF entity sends a first message to the first UPF entity, wherein the first message comprises an IP address of a second UPF entity; the SMF entity receives a first measurement delay sent by a first UPF entity, wherein the first measurement delay is obtained by the first UPF entity according to the first message;

the determining, by the SMF entity, a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the second measurement delay includes: and the SMF entity determines a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the second measurement delay and the first measurement delay.

10. A method of data transmission, comprising:

a Session Management Function (SMF) entity receives a first message from a target Application Function (AF) entity, wherein the first message comprises an identifier of a first terminal, an identifier of a second terminal, an identifier of the target AF entity, a first end-to-end delay and a second end-to-end delay, the first end-to-end delay is a round-trip delay between the first terminal and the target AF entity, and the second end-to-end delay is a round-trip delay between the second terminal and the target AF entity;

the SMF entity receives a first measurement delay sent by the first UPF entity, wherein the first measurement delay is the round-trip delay between the first terminal and the first UPF entity;

the SMF entity determines that the first round-trip delay is equal to a difference value obtained by subtracting the first measurement delay from the first end-to-end delay;

the SMF entity receives a second measurement delay sent by the second UPF entity, wherein the second measurement delay is the round-trip delay between a second terminal and the second UPF entity;

the SMF entity determines that the second round-trip delay is equal to a difference obtained by subtracting the second measurement delay from the second end-to-end delay;

the SMF entity sends a second message to the second UPF entity;

the SMF entity receives a third measurement delay sent by the second UPF entity, wherein the third measurement delay is obtained by the second UPF entity according to the second message;

the SMF entity determines a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the third measurement delay;

11. The method of claim 10,

the method further comprises the following steps: the SMF entity sends a third message to the first UPF entity; the SMF entity receives a fourth measurement delay sent by the first UPF entity, wherein the fourth measurement delay is obtained by the second UPF entity according to the third message;

the determining, by the SMF entity, a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the third measurement delay includes: and the SMF entity determines a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the third measurement delay and the fourth measurement delay.

12. A method of data transmission, comprising:

a first User Plane Function (UPF) entity acquires a first measurement time delay between a first terminal and the first UPF entity;

the first UPF entity sends the first measurement delay to a Session Management Function (SMF) entity, wherein the first measurement delay is used for determining a first round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and a target Application Function (AF) entity;

the first UPF entity receives a first notification sent by the SMF entity, wherein the first notification is sent by the SMF when the first round-trip delay is larger than the sum of a second round-trip delay and a third round-trip delay, the second round-trip delay is the round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target AF entity, and the third round-trip delay is the round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity;

the first UPF entity receives target uplink data from a first terminal, wherein the destination address of the target uplink data is the IP address of the target AF entity;

and the first UPF entity sends the target uplink data to a second UPF entity according to the first notification.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

the first UPF entity receives a third message sent by the SMF entity, wherein the third message is the IP address of a second UPF entity;

the first UPF entity sends an echo request to the second UPF entity according to the third message;

the first UPF entity receives the echo response sent by the second UPF entity;

the first UPF entity determines a fourth measurement time delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response;

and the first UPF entity sends the fourth measurement delay to the SMF entity.

14. A method of data transmission, comprising:

a second User Plane Function (UPF) entity acquires a second measurement time delay between a second terminal and the second UPF entity;

the second UPF entity sends the second measurement delay to a Session Management Function (SMF) entity, wherein the second measurement delay is used for determining a second round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and a target AF entity;

the second UPF entity acquires a third measurement time delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the second message;

the second UPF entity sends the third measurement delay to the SMF entity, and the third measurement delay is used for determining a third round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity;

the second UPF entity receives a second notification sent by the SMF entity, wherein the second notification is sent by the SMF under the condition that a first round-trip delay is greater than the sum of a second round-trip delay and a third round-trip delay, and the first round-trip delay is the round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and a target Application Function (AF) entity;

the second UPF entity receives the target uplink data sent by the first UPF entity according to a second notification;

and the second UPF entity sends the target uplink data to the target AF entity according to the second notification.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the obtaining, by the second UPF entity, the third measured time delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the second message comprises:

the second UPF entity receives the echo response sent by the first UPF entity;

and the second UPF entity determines a third measurement time delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response.

16. A user plane function, UPF, entity, as a first UPF entity, the UPF entity comprising:

an obtaining unit, configured to obtain a first round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and a target Application Function (AF) entity;

a sending unit, configured to send the first round-trip delay to a session management function SMF entity;

a receiving unit, configured to receive a first notification sent by the SMF entity, where the first notification is sent by the SMF when a first round-trip delay is greater than a sum of a second round-trip delay and a third round-trip delay, the second round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between a second UPF entity and the target AF entity, and the third round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive target uplink data from a first terminal, where a destination address of the target uplink data is an IP address of the target AF entity;

the sending unit is further configured to send the target uplink data to the second UPF entity according to the first notification.

17. The UPF entity of claim 16,

the acquiring unit is specifically configured to receive uplink data sent by the first terminal; sending the uplink data to the target AF entity; receiving an acknowledgement frame sent by the target AF entity, wherein the acknowledgement frame is generated by the target AF entity in response to the uplink data; and determining a first round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the target AF entity according to the time of sending the uplink data and the time of receiving the acknowledgement frame.

18. The UPF entity according to claim 16 or 17,

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a first message sent by the SMF entity, where the first message includes an IP address of a second UPF entity;

the sending unit is further configured to send an echo request to the second UPF entity according to the first message;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive an echo response sent by the second UPF entity;

the UPF entity further comprises:

the sending unit is further configured to send the first measurement delay to the SMF entity.

19. A user plane function, UPF, entity, as a second UPF entity, the UPF entity comprising:

a first obtaining unit, configured to obtain a second round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and a target application function, AF, entity;

a sending unit, configured to send the second round-trip delay to a session management function SMF entity;

a second obtaining unit, configured to obtain, according to the second message, a second measurement delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity;

the sending unit is further configured to send the second measurement delay to the SMF entity;

a receiving unit, configured to receive a second notification sent by the SMF entity, where the second notification is sent by the SMF when a first round-trip delay is greater than a sum of a second round-trip delay and a third round-trip delay, where the first round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between a first UPF entity and the target AF entity, and the third round-trip delay is determined by the SMF entity according to the second measurement delay;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive, according to the second notification, target uplink data sent by the first UPF entity, where a destination address of the target uplink data is an IP address of the target AF entity, and a source IP address of the target uplink data is a first IP address of the first terminal;

the sending unit is further configured to send the target uplink data to the target AF entity according to the second notification.

20. The UPF entity of claim 19,

the first obtaining unit is specifically configured to receive uplink data sent by a second terminal; sending the uplink data to the target AF entity; receiving an acknowledgement frame sent by the target AF entity, wherein the acknowledgement frame is generated by the target AF entity in response to the uplink data; and determining a second round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target AF entity according to the time of sending the uplink data and the time of receiving the acknowledgement frame.

21. The UPF entity of claim 19,

the second obtaining unit is specifically configured to send an echo request to the first UPF entity according to the second message; receiving an echo response sent by the first UPF entity; and determining a second measurement time delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response.

22. The UPF entity according to any of the claims 19 to 21,

the sending unit is specifically configured to perform network address port conversion on the first IP address and the first port number in the target uplink data to obtain a second IP address and a second port number; sending the target uplink data after the network address port conversion to the target AF entity, wherein the target uplink data after the network address port conversion comprises the second IP address and the second port number;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive target downlink data sent by the target AF entity, where a destination address of the target downlink data is the second IP address, and a destination port number of the target downlink data is the second port number;

the sending unit is further configured to perform network address port conversion on a second IP address and a second port number in the target downlink data; and sending the target downlink data after the network address port conversion to the first UPF entity, wherein the target downlink data after the network address port conversion comprises the first IP address and the first port number.

23. A session management function, SMF, entity, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a first round-trip delay sent by a first user plane function UPF entity, where the first round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and a target application function AF entity;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a second round-trip delay sent by the second UPF entity, where the second round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the target AF entity;

a sending unit, configured to send a second message to the second UPF entity;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a second measurement delay sent by the second UPF entity, where the second measurement delay is obtained by the second UPF entity according to the second message;

a processing unit, configured to determine a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the second measurement delay;

the sending unit is further configured to send a first notification to the first UPF entity when the first round-trip delay is greater than a sum of the second round-trip delay and the third round-trip delay, where the first notification is used to instruct the first UPF entity to send target uplink data from a first terminal to the second UPF entity, and a destination IP address of the target uplink data is an IP address of the target AF entity;

the sending unit is further configured to send a second notification to the second UPF entity, where the second notification is used to instruct the second UPF entity to receive the target uplink data sent by the first UPF entity and send the target uplink data to the target AF entity.

24. The SMF entity of claim 23,

the sending unit is further configured to send a first message to the first UPF entity, where the first message includes an IP address of a second UPF entity;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a first measurement delay sent by a first UPF entity, where the first measurement delay is obtained by the first UPF entity according to the first message;

the processing unit is specifically configured to determine a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the second measurement delay and the first measurement delay.

25. A session management function, SMF, entity, comprising:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a first message from a target Application Function (AF) entity, where the first message includes an identifier of a first terminal, an identifier of a second terminal, an identifier of the target AF entity, a first end-to-end delay, and a second end-to-end delay, where the first end-to-end delay is a round-trip delay between the first terminal and the target AF entity, and the second end-to-end delay is a round-trip delay between the second terminal and the target AF entity;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a first measurement delay sent by the first UPF entity, where the first measurement delay is a round-trip delay between the first terminal and the first UPF entity;

a processing unit, configured to determine that the first round-trip delay is equal to a difference obtained by subtracting the first measured delay from the first end-to-end delay;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a second measurement delay sent by the second UPF entity, where the second measurement delay is a round-trip delay between a second terminal and the second UPF entity;

the processing unit is further configured to determine that the second round-trip delay is equal to a difference obtained by subtracting the second measured delay from the second end-to-end delay;

a sending unit, configured to send a second message to the second UPF entity;

the processing unit is further configured to determine a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the third measurement delay;

the sending unit is further configured to send a second notification to the second UPF entity, where the second notification is used to receive the target uplink data sent by the first UPF entity and send the target uplink data to the target AF entity.

26. The SMF entity of claim 25,

the sending unit is further configured to send a third message to the first UPF entity;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a fourth measurement delay sent by the first UPF entity, where the fourth measurement delay is obtained by the second UPF entity according to the third message;

the processing unit is specifically configured to determine a third round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to the third measurement delay and the fourth measurement delay.

27. A user plane function, UPF, entity, as a first UPF entity, the UPF entity comprising:

an obtaining unit, configured to obtain a first measurement delay between a first terminal and the first UPF entity;

a sending unit, configured to send the first measurement delay to a Session Management Function (SMF) entity, where the first measurement delay is used to determine a first round-trip delay;

a receiving unit, configured to receive a first notification sent by the SMF entity, where the first notification is sent by the SMF when the first round-trip delay is greater than a sum of a second round-trip delay and a third round-trip delay, the second round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between a second UPF entity and a target application function, AF, entity, and the third round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity;

the sending unit is further configured to send the target uplink data to a second UPF entity according to the first notification.

28. The UPF entity of claim 27, wherein,

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a third message sent by the SMF entity, where the third message includes an IP address of a second UPF entity;

the sending unit is further configured to send an echo request to the second UPF entity according to the third message;

the UPF entity further comprises:

a processing unit, configured to determine a fourth measurement delay between the first UPF entity and the second UPF entity according to a time when the echo request is sent and a time when the echo response is received;

the sending unit is further configured to send the fourth measurement delay to the SMF entity.

29. A user plane function, UPF, entity, as a second UPF entity, the UPF entity comprising:

a first obtaining unit, configured to obtain a second measurement delay between a second terminal and the second UPF entity;

a sending unit, configured to send the second measurement delay to a session management function SMF entity, where the second measurement delay is used to determine a second round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and a target AF entity;

a receiving unit, configured to receive a second message sent by the SMF entity, where the second message includes an IP address of a first UPF entity;

a second obtaining unit, configured to obtain, according to the second message, a third measurement delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity;

the sending unit is further configured to send the third measurement delay to the SMF entity, where the third measurement delay is used to determine a third round-trip delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive a second notification sent by the SMF entity, where the second notification is sent by the SMF when a first round-trip delay is greater than a sum of a second round-trip delay and a third round-trip delay, and the first round-trip delay is a round-trip delay between the first UPF entity and the target application function, AF, entity;

the receiving unit is further configured to receive, according to the second notification, target uplink data sent by the first UPF entity;

30. The UPF entity of claim 29,

the first obtaining unit is specifically configured to send an echo request to the first UPF entity according to the second message; receiving an echo response sent by the first UPF entity; and determining a third measurement time delay between the second UPF entity and the first UPF entity according to the time of sending the echo request and the time of receiving the echo response.

31. A computer storage medium, in which a computer program is stored which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the data transmission method of any one of claims 1 to 15.