CN116017607A

CN116017607A - Communication method and device

Info

Publication number: CN116017607A
Application number: CN202111219477.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 孙海洋; 余芳
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2021-10-20
Filing date: 2021-10-20
Publication date: 2023-04-25
Also published as: WO2023065865A1

Abstract

The application provides a communication method and equipment. In the method, in the process that the first terminal equipment requests registration, if a first base station accessed by the first terminal equipment is different from a second base station accessed by a second terminal equipment in a terminal equipment combination to which the first terminal equipment belongs, an access and mobility management function network element in a core network can instruct the first terminal equipment to access the second base station. In this way, the core network can control the terminal equipment in the terminal equipment combination which needs cooperative communication to be accessed to the same base station, thereby ensuring the cooperative communication effect of the terminal equipment combination and finally ensuring the realization of the whole service.

Description

Communication method and device

Technical Field

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

Background

Due to the limited transmission capabilities of a single terminal device, in some communication scenarios, multiple terminal devices may be required to combine and cooperate to complete the corresponding service. For example, in the scenario of large uplink offloading, multiple terminal devices are required to respectively send and receive service data of different portions in the same service to realize service transmission. For another example, in a highly reliable service scenario, a plurality of terminal devices or relay devices accessed by the terminal devices may copy service data into multiple copies for transmission, so as to prevent service data loss of a certain communication link from affecting service reliability.

In a practical scenario, two terminal devices that need cooperative communication are likely to be within the common coverage of two base stations

(e.g., an edge zone within the coverage area of the base station), therefore, the two terminal devices are likely to access different base stations respectively, and packet data convergence protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) layers between the different base stations are difficult to interwork, so that cooperative communication cannot be achieved between the two base stations, and further the service transmission effect of the whole terminal device combination is affected, and finally the service implementation is affected.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a communication method and equipment, which are used for ensuring that a plurality of terminal equipment needing cooperative communication can access the same base station.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which may be applied to an access and mobility management function network element, and the method is described below by taking AMF as an example. The method comprises the following steps:

after receiving a registration request from a first terminal device through a first base station, the AMF determines combined configuration information; the first base station is a base station accessed by the first terminal equipment; the combination configuration information is used for indicating a terminal equipment combination subscribed by the first terminal equipment, and a plurality of target terminal equipment contained in the terminal equipment combination are contained in the first terminal equipment; and when a second base station accessed by second terminal equipment contained in the terminal equipment combination is different from the first base station, the AMF indicates the first terminal equipment to access the second base station.

By the method, in the process that the first terminal equipment requests registration, if a first base station accessed by the first terminal equipment is different from a second base station accessed by a second terminal equipment in a terminal equipment combination to which the first terminal equipment belongs, an access and mobility management function network element in a core network can instruct the first terminal equipment to access the second base station. By the method, the terminal equipment in the terminal equipment combination which belongs to the terminal equipment combination requiring cooperative communication in the core network can be controlled to be accessed to the same base station, so that the cooperative communication effect of the terminal equipment combination can be ensured, and finally the realization of the whole service is ensured.

In one possible design, the AMF may instruct the first terminal device to access the second base station by:

mode one: and the AMF sends a registration rejection message to the first terminal equipment, wherein the registration rejection message contains the information of the second base station. Optionally, the registration reject message may further include a reject cause value. The cause value is used to inform the first terminal device that it is not accessing (being denied) under the same base station as other target terminal devices in the combination with the terminal device in question. At this time, the first terminal device may determine that access through another base station is required according to the cause value.

Mode two: the AMF sends information to the first base station for redirecting the first terminal device to the second base station.

By this design, the AMF may instruct the first terminal device to access the second base station or redirect the first terminal device to the second base station through the first base station.

In one possible design, the information of the second base station is identification information of the second base station or identification information of a cell managed by the second base station; the information for redirecting the first terminal device to the second base station is any one of: identification information of the second base station; the identification information of the cell managed by the second base station; a radio frequency selection priority index, wherein the priority of the frequency or access technology used by the second base station is highest in the radio frequency selection priority index.

In one possible design, when the information for redirecting the first terminal device to the second base station is the radio frequency selection priority index, before sending the information for redirecting the first terminal device to the second base station to the first base station, the AMF may further obtain the radio frequency selection priority index by:

The AMF sends a policy association request to a policy control function network element; wherein, the policy association request contains the combination configuration information; and receiving a policy association response from the policy control function network element, wherein the policy association response comprises the radio frequency selection priority index.

With this design, the AMF may obtain the radio frequency selection priority index from a policy control function network element.

In one possible design, the policy association response further includes an indication for indicating that the relay mode is layer two relay; the AMF may further send an indication for indicating that the relay mode is layer two relay to at least one of the first terminal device, the first base station, and the second base station.

By the method, the AMF can also acquire the relay mode of the first terminal equipment from the strategy control function network element, and send the indication of the relay mode to at least one of the first terminal equipment, the first base station and the second base station, so that the first terminal equipment can access the second base station by adopting the relay mode.

In one possible design, the AMF may further send a redirection indication to the first base station, so that the first base station redirects the first terminal device according to the redirection indication.

In one possible design, the AMF may also send an indication to the second base station indicating that the second base station does not redirect the first terminal device to another base station. The indication may also be referred to as a reselection-prohibited indication, a redirection-prohibited indication, or a handover-prohibited indication, etc.

Through the design, after the first terminal equipment is subsequently redirected to the second base station, the second base station can not initiate a cell reselection flow aiming at the first terminal equipment according to the forbidden reselection indication; or when the cell reselection flow is initiated for the first terminal equipment, the first terminal equipment does not reselect to the cell managed by other base stations through the configuration in the cell reselection configuration information. For example, the cell reselection configuration information only carries the information of the cell managed by the second base station; or the cell reselection configuration information carries information of a plurality of cells, but the reselection priority of the cell managed by the second base station is highest, so that the second base station can provide access service for the first UE preferentially.

In one possible design, after the AMF determines the combined configuration information, the AMF may further send a policy association request to a policy control function network element; the policy association request comprises the combination configuration information and the position indication information of the first terminal equipment, wherein the position indication information of the first terminal equipment is used for indicating the position of the first terminal equipment; the AMF receives a policy association response from the policy control function network element; the policy association response comprises an indication for indicating that the relay mode is layer two relay; and the AMF sends the indication for indicating the relay mode to be layer two relay to at least one of the first terminal equipment, the first base station and the second base station.

In one possible design, the AMF may determine the combined configuration information, but is not limited to, by:

mode one: transmitting the information of the first terminal equipment to a unified data management network element; receiving subscription information from the unified data management network element, wherein the subscription information comprises the combined configuration information;

mode two: determining the locally stored combined configuration information;

mode three: and acquiring the combined configuration information from other access and mobility management function network elements.

Through the design, the AMF can flexibly acquire the combination configuration information of the terminal equipment combination to which the first terminal equipment belongs in a plurality of modes.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, where the method may be applied to a network element with a policy control function, and the method is described below by taking PCF as an example. The method comprises the following steps:

In the process of requesting registration by a first terminal device, PCF receives a policy association request from an access and mobility management function network element; determining combination configuration information, wherein the combination configuration information is used for indicating a terminal equipment combination subscribed by the first terminal equipment, and a plurality of target terminal equipment contained in the terminal equipment combination, wherein the plurality of target terminal equipment contains the first terminal equipment; the PCF sends a strategy association response to the access and mobility management function network element; the policy association response includes a radio frequency selection priority index, where the priority of the frequency or access technology used by the second base station (the registered target terminal device in the terminal device combination) is highest, and the terminal device combination corresponds to the frequency or access technology used by the second base station.

In the method, the PCF may store frequencies or access technologies corresponding to a plurality of terminal equipment combinations, and after acquiring the combination configuration information of the terminal equipment combination to which the first terminal equipment belongs in the registration process of the first terminal equipment, the frequencies or access technologies corresponding to the terminal equipment combination indicated by the combination configuration information may be determined. Because the registered second terminal equipment also accesses the second base station by adopting the method provided by the embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment indicated by the combination configuration information combines the corresponding frequency or access technology, namely the frequency or access technology used by the second base station.

By the method, the PCF can store the frequency or the access technology corresponding to the terminal equipment combination so that the terminal equipment in the terminal equipment combination can access the same base station using the frequency or the access technology. Finally, the core network can control the UE belonging to the UE combination requiring cooperative communication to be accessed to the same base station through the wireless frequency selection priority index, thereby ensuring the cooperative communication effect of the UE combination and finally ensuring the realization of the whole service.

Alternatively, the PCF may determine the combined configuration information by, but not limited to, the following:

mode one: determining the locally stored combined configuration information;

mode two: transmitting the information of the first terminal equipment to a unified database network element; receiving subscription information from the unified data store network element, wherein the subscription information comprises the combined configuration information;

mode three: and acquiring the combined configuration information from the strategy association request.

Optionally, after determining the combined configuration information, the PCF may further obtain location indication information of a first terminal device to which the first terminal device is connected, where the location indication information of the first terminal device is used to indicate a location of the first terminal device; determining that a relay mode adopted by the first terminal equipment is layer two relay according to the combined configuration information and the position indication information of the first terminal equipment; the policy association response also includes an indication for indicating that the relay mode is layer two relay.

By the design, the PCF can preferentially configure a layer two relay mode for the first terminal equipment according to the combined configuration information and the position indication information of the first terminal equipment. In this way, the core network can ensure that the first terminal device and other terminal devices in the same combination can access through the same base station through the method provided by the embodiment of the application, or directly instruct the first terminal device and other terminal devices in the same combination to access the same base station through the relay mode indication of the second relay of the indication layer, so that the data transmission efficiency and the resource utilization rate of the mobile communication network can be improved, and unnecessary attempts (attempting to access through the third relay of the layer) are also omitted. In summary, the relay mode instruction generated by the PCF indicates the indicated relay mode, which is a relay mode that is preferred or required to be used by the first terminal device.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which may be applied to a terminal device, and the method is described below by taking a first terminal device as an example. The method comprises the following steps:

the first terminal equipment sends a registration request to an access and mobility management function network element through an accessed first base station; then the first terminal equipment receives a registration rejection message from the access and mobility management function network element, wherein the registration rejection message contains information of a second base station; and the first terminal equipment accesses the second base station according to the information of the second base station.

In one possible design, the information of the second base station is identification information of the second base station or identification information of a cell managed by the second base station.

In one possible design, after the first base station sends a registration request to the access and mobility management function network element, the first terminal device may further receive an indication from the access and mobility management function network element, where the indication indicates that the relay mode is layer two relay; in this case, when the first terminal device accesses the second base station, the first terminal device may access the second base station by adopting a layer two relay method.

By the method, the access and mobility management function network element can also control and configure the relay mode of the first terminal equipment in the registration process of the first terminal equipment.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, where the method may be applied to a first base station, and specifically may include the following steps:

forwarding a registration request of the first terminal device to an access and mobility management function network element; and then, after receiving information from the access and mobility management function network element for redirecting the first terminal device to a second base station, redirecting the first terminal device to the second base station.

By the method, in the process that the first terminal equipment requests registration, if a first base station accessed by the first terminal equipment is different from a second base station accessed by a second terminal equipment in a terminal equipment combination to which the first terminal equipment belongs, an access and mobility management function network element in a core network can instruct the first base station to redirect the first terminal equipment to the second base station. By the method, the terminal equipment in the terminal equipment combination which belongs to the terminal equipment combination requiring cooperative communication in the core network can be controlled to be accessed to the same base station, so that the cooperative communication effect of the terminal equipment combination can be ensured, and finally the realization of the whole service is ensured.

In one possible design, the information for redirecting the first terminal device to the second base station is any one of: identification information of the second base station; the identification information of the cell managed by the second base station; a radio frequency selection priority index, wherein the priority of the frequency or access technology used by the second base station is highest in the radio frequency selection priority index.

In one possible design, the method further comprises: the first base station receives a redirection instruction from the access and mobility management function network element; in this case, the first base station may redirect the first terminal device to the second base station according to the redirection indication.

In one possible design, when the information for redirecting the first terminal device to the second base station is a radio frequency selection priority index, the method may further include, before the first base station redirects the first terminal device to the second base station: and determining that the frequency or the access technology with the highest priority in the wireless frequency selection priority index is different from the frequency or the access technology used by the first base station.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for determining a relay mode of a terminal device, where the method may be applied to an access and mobility management function network element, and the method is described below by taking an AMF as an example. The method comprises the following steps:

after receiving a registration request from first terminal equipment through a first base station, the AMF determines position indication information of the first terminal equipment; the AMF sends a policy association request to a policy control function network element, wherein the policy association request comprises the position indication information of the first terminal equipment; the AMF receives a measurement association response from the strategy control function network element, wherein the strategy association response comprises a relay mode indication for indicating a relay mode; the AMF may send the relay mode indication to the first terminal device or the first base station. Optionally, the relay mode indicated by the relay mode indication may be layer two relay or layer three relay.

By the method, the PCF can configure a relay mode for the first terminal equipment according to the position indication information of the first terminal equipment. In this way, when the relay mode of the first terminal device is layer two relay, the core network can ensure that the first terminal device and other terminal devices in the same combination can access through the same base station through the method provided by the embodiment of the application, or directly instruct the first terminal device and other terminal devices in the same combination to access the same base station through the relay mode instruction of the relay of the instruction layer two relay, thereby improving the data transmission efficiency and the resource utilization rate of the mobile communication network, and omitting unnecessary attempts (attempting to access through layer three relay). In summary, the relay mode instruction generated by the PCF indicates the indicated relay mode, which is a relay mode that is preferred or required to be used by the first terminal device.

In one possible design, the location indication information of the first terminal device may include: information of a first base station accessed by the first terminal equipment and/or physical position information of the first terminal equipment. The information of the first base station is used to indicate that the first terminal device is located in a coverage area of the first base station, which may include, but is not limited to, an identifier of the first base station, physical location information of the first base station, an identifier of a cell managed by the first base station to which the first UE is accessed, and the like.

In one possible design, the AMF may further obtain combination configuration information of a terminal device combination to which the first terminal device belongs, and carry the combination configuration information in the policy association request.

By the design, the policy control network element can judge the relay mode of the first terminal equipment according to the position indication information of other registered terminal equipment in the terminal equipment combination and the position indication information of the first terminal equipment.

In one possible design, the AMF may obtain the combined configuration information, but is not limited to, by:

Mode two: determining the locally stored combined configuration information;

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for determining a relay manner of a terminal device, where the method may be applied to a network element with a policy control function, and a PCF is taken as an example to describe the method. The method comprises the following steps:

in the process of requesting registration by a first terminal device, PCF receives a policy association request from AMF, wherein the policy association request contains position indication information of the first terminal device; the PCF determines combination configuration information of a terminal equipment combination to which the first terminal equipment belongs; the PCF determines a relay mode of the first terminal equipment according to the combined configuration information and the position indication information of the first terminal equipment; and the PCF sends a strategy association response to the AMF, wherein the strategy association response comprises a relay mode indication for indicating the relay mode of the first terminal equipment. Optionally, the relay mode indicated by the relay mode indication may be layer two relay or layer three relay.

In one possible design, the PCF may also, but is not limited to, obtain the combined configuration information by:

mode one: determining the locally stored combined configuration information;

In one possible design, the PCF may preferentially configure the relay manner of the L2 relay for the first UE according to the combined configuration information and the location indication information of the first UE. In this way, the AMF or PCF in the core network may ensure that the first UE may access the same base station with other UEs in the same combination through the method provided in the above embodiment, or directly instruct the first UE to access the same base station with other UEs in the same combination through a relay manner instruction for instructing L2 relay, so that the data transmission efficiency and resource utilization of the mobile communication network may be improved, and some unnecessary attempts (attempting to access through L3 relay) may be omitted. In short, the relay method generated by the PCF indicates the indicated relay method, and is a relay method that is preferable or required to be used by the first UE.

In one possible design, the PCF may preferably configure a relay manner of the L2 relay for the first UE according to the combined configuration information and the location indication information of the first UE, including:

the PCF determines the position indication information of other registered target terminal equipment (hereinafter abbreviated as second terminal equipment) in the terminal equipment combination indicated by the combination configuration information, and then judges whether the first terminal equipment and the second terminal equipment can be accessed through the same base station according to the position indication information of the first terminal equipment and the position indication information of the second terminal equipment; and when judging that the two terminal equipment can be accessed through the same base station, determining the relay mode of the first terminal equipment to be L2 relay.

Optionally, when the position indication information of the first terminal device and the position indication information of the second terminal device indicate: when the first terminal device and the second terminal device are located close (for example, located in the same tracking area or the coverage area of the same cell, or the distance between the first base station accessed by the first terminal device and the second base station accessed by the second terminal device is close, or the distance between the physical location is close (for example, the euclidean distance between the longitude and latitude of the first terminal device and the longitude and latitude of the second terminal device is smaller than a set threshold), or when the first terminal device and the second terminal device are accessed to the same base station, the PCF may determine that the first terminal device (optionally, the second terminal device) may be accessed by adopting the relay mode of L2 relay.

In a seventh aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication apparatus including means for performing each of the above first to sixth aspects.

In an eighth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication device comprising at least one processing element and at least one storage element, wherein the at least one storage element is configured to store a program and data, and the at least one processing element is configured to perform the methods provided in the first aspect to the sixth aspect of the present application.

In a ninth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program, which when run on a computer causes the computer to perform the method provided in any one of the above aspects.

In a tenth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a computer storage medium having a computer program stored therein, which when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the method provided in any of the above aspects.

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, where the chip is configured to read a computer program stored in a memory, and perform the method provided in any one of the foregoing aspects.

In a twelfth aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a chip system, where the chip system includes a processor for supporting a computer device to implement the method provided in any one of the above aspects. In one possible design, the chip system further includes a memory for storing programs and data necessary for the computer device. The chip system may be formed of a chip or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic architecture diagram of a mobile communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic architecture diagram of another mobile communication system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3A is a schematic architecture diagram of a mobile communication system using an L2 relay scheme according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3B is a schematic architecture diagram of another mobile communication system using an L2 relay scheme according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4A is a schematic diagram of a communication scenario of a large uplink split service according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4B is a schematic diagram of a high-reliability service scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4C is a schematic diagram of another high-reliability service scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a relationship between a remote UE, a relay UE and a mobile communication network according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a flowchart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of yet another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of yet another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a flow chart of yet another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a flowchart of a method for determining a relay mode of a UE according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a flowchart of another method for determining a relay mode of a UE according to an embodiment of the present application;

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

fig. 14 is a block diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The application provides a communication method and equipment, which are used for ensuring that a plurality of terminal equipment needing cooperative communication can access the same base station. The method and the device are based on the same technical conception, and because the principle of solving the problems by the method and the device is similar, the implementation of the device and the method can be mutually referred to, and the repetition is not repeated.

Some of the terms in this application are explained below to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

1) The base station is a device for accessing a terminal device to a wireless network in a communication system. A base station is a node in a radio access network, which may also be referred to as a network device, and may also be referred to as a radio access network (radio access network, RAN) node (or device), AN Access Network (AN) node (or device), or AN Access Point (AP).

Currently, some examples of base stations are: a new generation Node B (generation Node B, gNB), a transmission reception point (transmission reception point, TRP), an evolved Node B (eNB), a radio network controller (radio network controller, RNC), a Node B (Node B, NB), an Access Point (AP) base station controller (base station controller, BSC), a base transceiver station (base transceiver station, BTS), a home base station (e.g., home evolved NodeB, or home Node B, HNB), or a baseband unit (BBU), an enterprise LTE discrete narrowband aggregation (Enterprise LTE Discrete Spectrum Aggregation, LTE-DSA) base station, and the like.

In addition, in one network architecture, a base station may include a Centralized Unit (CU) node and a Distributed Unit (DU) node. The structure separates the protocol layers of the base station, the functions of part of the protocol layers are controlled in the CU in a centralized way, and the functions of the rest part or all of the protocol layers are distributed in DUs, so that the CU controls the DUs in a centralized way.

2) A terminal device is a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to a user. The terminal device may also be referred to as a User Equipment (UE), a Mobile Station (MS), a Mobile Terminal (MT), etc.

For example, the terminal device may be a handheld device having a wireless connection function, various in-vehicle devices, a roadside unit, or the like. Currently, examples of some terminal devices are: a mobile phone, a tablet, a notebook, a palm, a mobile internet device (mobile internet device, MID), a point of sale (POS), a wearable device, a Virtual Reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) device, a wireless terminal in industrial control (industrial control), a wireless terminal in unmanned driving (self driving), a wireless terminal in teleoperation (remote medical surgery), a wireless terminal in smart grid (smart grid), a wireless terminal in transportation security (transportation safety), a wireless terminal in smart city (smart city), a wireless terminal in smart home (smart home), various smart meters (smart water meter, smart gas meter), a vehicle electronic control unit (electronic control unit, ECU), a vehicle-mounted computer, a vehicle-mounted cruise system, a telematics BOX (T-BOX), and the like.

3) The relay mode is a mode that the terminal equipment accesses the mobile communication network through the relay equipment. From the perspective of the protocol stack, the relay mode is mainly divided into: layer zero relay (L0 relay), layer one relay (L1 relay), layer two relay (L2 relay), and layer three relay (L3 relay).

The L0 relay, the relay device between the terminal device and the base station is a conventional repeater. The relay device can directly amplify and forward all received signals.

The relay device between the terminal device and the base station may perform inverse fast fourier transform on the received signal, and then amplify and forward the sampled data. The relay device may be considered an enhanced repeater capable of appropriate power control and frequency selective amplification.

The L2 relay, on the basis of the L1 relay, the relay equipment between the terminal equipment and the base station can also decode and check the received data and encode the data again, has an independent MAC layer function, has a partial resource allocation function, and can flexibly schedule and control users. By adopting the L2 relay, the terminal equipment and the base station can communicate through MAC addressing, the PDCP layer of the base station can perform the processes of sequencing, combining, de-duplication and the like on the data packets, and the core network does not sense the relay equipment.

And the L3 relay, on the basis of the L2 relay, the relay equipment between the terminal equipment and the base station introduces the function of an IP layer, and realizes communication through IP routing, so that the core network can perceive the relay equipment. The relay device in the L3 relay may be regarded as a base station for wireless backhaul, with a complete network layer protocol.

Note that, in the embodiment of the present application, the relay methods are two types, i.e., L2 relay and L3 relay.

4) "and/or" describes an association relationship of an associated object, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, may represent: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship.

The term "plurality" as used herein refers to two or more. At least one, meaning one or more.

In addition, it should be understood that in the description of this application, the words "first," "second," and the like are used merely for distinguishing between the descriptions and not for indicating or implying any relative importance or order.

Embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The communication method provided by the embodiment of the application is suitable for a mobile communication system, and the architecture of the mobile communication system is shown in fig. 1 and 2. Wherein, fig. 1 is a system architecture based on a reference point, and fig. 2 is a system architecture based on a service interface.

Referring to fig. 1 and 2, the mobile communication system includes three parts: terminal equipment, mobile communication network and Data Network (DN). The function and entity of each part will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The terminal equipment, abbreviated as UE, is an entity capable of receiving and transmitting wireless signals at the user side, and needs to access the DN through a mobile communication network to implement services of the UE. The UE may be any of a variety of devices that provide voice and/or data connectivity to the user, as this application is not limited in this regard.

DN, which may also be referred to as a packet data network (packet data network, PDN), is a network that is located outside the mobile communication network. Multiple services can be deployed on the DN, and data and/or voice services can be provided for the UE. Wherein the mobile communication network can access at least one DN, and the same DN can also be accessed by at least one mobile communication network. For example, the DN may be the Internet (Internet), an IP Multimedia Service (IMS) network, some application specific data networks, ethernet, IP local network, etc., which is not limited in this application.

A mobile communication network, deployed and maintained by an operator, provides access services and end-to-end connection services for UEs. The UE may access the DN through the mobile communication network to implement a specific service. The mobile communication network may further include a (radio) access network (R) AN and a Core Network (CN). When the UE requests access to the DN, the mobile communication network may establish a PDU session between the UE and the DN so that both may enable communication.

The (R) AN is mainly responsible for the radio access functions of the UE, and the functions of the (R) AN may be implemented by the base station. The base station is an entity capable of receiving and transmitting wireless signals at the network side, and is responsible for providing wireless access related services for UEs within the coverage area thereof, and realizing physical layer functions, resource scheduling and wireless resource management, quality of service (Quality of Service, qoS) management, wireless access control, user plane data forwarding and mobility management functions. And the base station and the UE realize air interface transmission through a Uu interface.

The CN is responsible for connecting the UE to different data networks according to a call request or a service request sent by the UE through the access network, and charging, mobility management, session management and other services. The CN may be divided into a Control Plane (CP) and a User Plane (UP) according to specific logic function division. The network elements responsible for the control plane functions in the CN may be collectively referred to as control plane network elements and the network elements responsible for the user plane functions may be collectively referred to as user plane network elements. The functions of the main network elements in the core network are specifically described below.

The user plane network element, i.e. the user plane function (user plane function, UPF) network element, abbreviated as UPF, is mainly responsible for forwarding and receiving user plane data of the UE. The user plane network element can receive user plane data from DN and transmit the user plane data to UE through the base station; the user plane network element may also receive user plane data from the UE through the base station and forward it to the DN. Wherein, the transmission resource and the dispatch function of the user plane network element for providing service for the UE are managed and controlled by the control plane network element.

The control plane network element comprises: an access and mobility management function (access and mobility management function, AMF) network element, a session management function (session management function, SMF) network element, a policy control function (policy control function, PCF) network element, an authentication service function (authentication server function, AUSF) network element, a network exposure function (network exposure function, NEF) network element, a unified database (unified data repository, UDR) network element, a unified data management (unified data management, UDM) network element, and an application function (application function, AF) network element, etc. The following will briefly describe each control plane network element.

The AMF network element, which may be abbreviated as AMF, is mainly responsible for mobility management, access authentication/authorization, and signaling handling parts in a mobile communication network, such as: access control, UE location update, UE registration, attach and detach, and select SMF. The AMF is also responsible for passing user policies between the UE and PCF.

The SMF network element, which may be simply referred to as SMF, is mainly responsible for session management in the mobile communication network, such as session establishment, modification release, etc. Specifically, the functions of the SMF include: the selection of a UPF, the redirection of a UPF, the allocation of internet protocol (internet protocol, IP) addresses, the establishment, modification and release of bearers, qoS control, etc.

The PCF network element, which may be abbreviated as PCF, is mainly responsible for supporting the provision of a unified policy framework to control network behavior, providing policy rules to other control plane network elements, and simultaneously for acquiring user subscription information related to policies.

The AUSF network element, which can be called AUSF for short, is mainly responsible for providing authentication function and supporting authentication of 3GPP access and Non-3GPP access.

The NEF network element, which can be called NEF for short, mainly supports the safe interaction between the mobile communication network and the third party application, can safely expose the network capability and the event to the third party, and is used for enhancing or improving the application service quality. The mobile communication network can also obtain relevant data from third parties through NEF network elements safely to enhance intelligent decisions of the network.

The UDR network element may be simply referred to as UDR, and is mainly responsible for storing subscription data, policy data, application data, and other types of data of the UE.

The UDM network element, which may be simply referred to as UDM, is mainly responsible for storing and managing subscription data of the UE, user access authorization, generating an authentication credentials, and user identification processing (such as storing and managing a user permanent identity).

The AF network element, which may be abbreviated as AF, mainly transmits the requirement of the application side on the network side, supports interaction with other network elements in the core network to provide services, for example, affects data routing decisions, policy control functions, or provides some services of a third party to the network side. The AF network element may be a third party functional entity, or may be an application service deployed by an operator.

NSSF network elements, which may be simply referred to as NSSF, are mainly responsible for the selection of network slices.

It should be understood that each of the above network elements in the CN may be either a network element implemented on dedicated hardware, or a software instance running on dedicated hardware, or an instance of a virtualized function on a virtualized platform (e.g., a cloud platform). In addition, the embodiment of the present application is not limited to the distribution form of each network element in the communication system, and alternatively, each network element may be deployed in different physical devices, or multiple network elements may be fused in the same physical device.

In addition, fig. 1 also shows the interaction relationship and corresponding interfaces between the network functional entities in the mobile communication system. Fig. 2 also shows the servitization interface adopted between some network function entities in the mobile communication system.

The mobile communication system shown in fig. 1 or fig. 2 is not limited to the mobile communication system to which the embodiments of the present application are applicable. Therefore, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application may also be applied to communication systems of various standards, for example: long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) communication system, fifth generation (The 5th Generation,5G) communication system, sixth generation (The 6th Generation,6G) communication system, and future communication systems. In addition, fig. 1 or fig. 2 does not limit the communication scenario of the mobile communication system, and the present application may be applied to various roaming scenarios in addition to the non-roaming scenario shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2.

Finally, it should also be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the names of the network elements in the mobile communication system are not limited, for example, in the mobile communication systems of different standards, each network element may have other names; for another example, when multiple network elements are converged in the same physical device, the physical device may also have other names.

In order to expand the coverage of the base station in the (R) AN, eliminate the coverage blind spot and improve the system capacity, the UE may also use the relay mode of the L2 relay, and access the base station through the relay node (also called as relay device), so as to effectively improve the channel transmission quality and reduce the power consumption of the UE. Namely, the UE can access the relay node through the relay interface, and the relay node can perform air interface transmission with the base station through the traditional Uu interface. The relay node may be UE or other devices in physical manifestation, which is not limited in this application.

The relay interface between the UE and the relay node may be a short-range service communication interface 5 (ProSe communication, pc 5), a WIFI interface, a bluetooth interface, or the like, which is not limited in this application.

When the UE accesses the mobile communication network through the relay node, the UE may also be referred to as a remote UE (remote UE), abbreviated as remote UE; when the relay node is a UE, the relay node may be referred to as a relay UE (relay UE), and the embodiments of the present application will be described by taking the relay node as an example only. The architecture of a mobile communication system employing the L2 relay scheme may be exemplified as shown in fig. 3A and 3B.

In the L2 relay scheme, the relay UE may forward uplink and downlink data of the remote UE according to the configuration of the access layer (access stratum layer, AS layer), so that the remote UE may access the base station.

In a mobile communication system, a relay interface such as a Uu interface or a PC5 interface includes a control plane protocol stack and a user plane protocol stack. The user plane protocol stacks at least comprise the following protocol layers: a Physical (PHY) layer, a medium access control (medium access control, MAC) layer, a radio link control (radio link control, RLC) layer, and PDCP layer, a service data adaptation protocol (service data adaptation protocol, SDAP) layer; the control plane protocol stack at least comprises the following protocol layers: PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer, PDCP layer, radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) layer.

Each UE may implement communication services based on the architecture of the mobile communication system shown in fig. 1-3B, but is limited by the transmission capabilities of a single UE, in some communication scenarios multiple UEs may be required to cooperatively communicate to accomplish certain specific services.

Example one: in the scenario of the large upstream offload service (for example, extended reality (XR) service) shown in fig. 4A, the mobile communication system may divide XR service data generated by XR glasses at a service end into two parts (first service data and second service data as shown in the figure), and then send the first service data to the base station through UEa, and send the second service data to the base station through UEb. Any one of the UEs can directly access the base station or access the base station through the relay node by adopting an L2 relay scheme. As shown in fig. 4A, the XR service data may be service split in the PDCP layer, RLC layer, or MAC layer of the UEa, that is, after the UEa receives the XR service data of the XR glasses, the PDCP layer, RLC layer, and MAC layer separate second service data from the XR service data and send the second service data to the UEb, where the UEb sends the second service data to the base station; and the UEa transmits the first traffic data directly to the base station. In addition, the PDCP' layer in the drawing represents an additional function of the PDCP layer, namely, unified ordering of PDCP layer packets of UEa and PDCP layer packets of UEb. Alternatively, the PDCP' layer may be multiplexed with the PDCP layer of the UEa or the PDCP layer of the UEb, which is not limited in this application. In this scenario, UEa and UEb requiring cooperative communication are configured in the same UE combination to facilitate mobile communication network management.

To further improve data offloading, either UE (UEa or UEb) in fig. 4A may access the base station as a remote UE through a relay UE. In the case that the UE can directly access to the base station, data transmission may also be implemented by means of UE Cooperation (UC). The UC mode refers to that a relay link (relay link) and a direct link (direct link) of the UE are activated simultaneously to transmit service data. The relay link refers to a communication link of the UE accessing the base station through the relay node, and the direct link refers to a communication link of the UE directly accessing the base station. In the scenario that the remote UE transmits service data in UC, the remote UE may continue to decompose (split) the portion of service data that needs to be transmitted, where the portion of service data is transmitted to the base station through a direct link and at least one relay link (or through multiple relay links) respectively. The base station may aggregate received traffic data over different communication links before sending it out. In this scenario, the remote UE requiring cooperative communication and its relay UE should also be configured in the same UE combination to facilitate mobile communication network management.

Example two: in the high reliability traffic scenario shown in fig. 4B, there are multiple communication links between the traffic end and the base station. When the service end is UE, the service end can be used as a remote UE to access the base station through the relay UE1 and the relay UE2 by adopting an L2 relay scheme. The remote UE may replicate (duplicate) the traffic data and then transmit to the base station via at least two of the direct link, the relay link 1, and the relay link 2, respectively. The base station may select only one of the communication links (for example, the communication link with the highest transmission quality) to receive the service data, or receive the service data in multiple communication links simultaneously and select one of the service data to send to the outside. In this scenario, the remote UE requiring cooperative communication and its relay UE should also be configured in the same UE combination to facilitate mobile communication network management.

Example three: in the highly reliable traffic scenario shown in fig. 4C, the traffic end does not have a function of establishing a connection with the base station (i.e., the traffic end is not a UE), and thus the traffic end can establish a connection with a plurality of UEs, which can access the base station respectively. As shown in fig. 4C, the service end may copy the generated service data and then transmit the copied service data to the base station through three communication links of UEa-UEc, respectively. Similar to the operation of the base station in the scenario shown in fig. 4B, the base station may select only one of the communication links for service data reception, or may simultaneously receive service data in multiple communication links and then select one of the communication links for transmission. In this scenario, UEa-UEc requiring cooperative communication should be configured in the same UE combination to facilitate mobile communication network management.

To further improve the reliability of the data, any UE (UEa or UEb or UEc) in fig. 4C may access the base station as a remote UE through the relay UE. Under the condition that the UE can directly access the base station, data transmission can be realized in a UC mode. That is, the remote UE may continue to copy the service data to be transmitted into multiple copies, and then transmit the service data to the base station through the direct link and at least one relay link (or through multiple relay links), respectively. At this time, the remote UE requiring cooperative communication and its relay UE should also be configured in the same UE combination to facilitate mobile communication network management.

Note that in the mobile communication system, both the remote UE and the relay UE can directly access the base station through the Uu interface, and thus, the relationship of the remote UE and the relay UE to the mobile communication network is shown in fig. 5. The core network device serving the remote UE and the core network device serving the relay UE may be the same network element, may be different network elements, or may be partially the same network element, which is not limited in this application. Similarly, DN1 accessed by a remote UE and DN2 accessed by a relay UE may be the same or different DNs.

In a scenario where a plurality of UEs cooperate to communicate, the plurality of UEs should access the same base station, based on the consideration of improving data transmission efficiency and resource utilization of the mobile communication network. Further, since PDCP layers of different base stations are difficult to interwork, when a plurality of UEs needing cooperative communication access to a base station by using an L2 relay method, the plurality of UEs must access to the same base station, otherwise, the cooperative communication cannot be achieved.

However, in a practical scenario, two UEs in a UE combination that needs to cooperatively communicate may be within a common coverage area of two base stations, so that the two UEs may access different base stations, thereby failing to implement cooperative communication between the two UEs, further affecting a cooperative communication effect of the UE combination, and finally affecting implementation of the whole service.

In order to ensure that a plurality of UEs can access the same base station in a scenario of cooperative communication of the plurality of UEs, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, which may be applied to the mobile communication system shown in fig. 1 to 3B and fig. 5. The method will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart shown in fig. 6.

S601: the first UE sends a registration request to the AMF through the first base station. The AMF receives a registration request from the first UE through a first base station.

Optionally, the first UE may access the first base station through, but not limited to, network searching, cell reselection, cell switching, inter-system switching, random access, and other processes.

S602: the AMF determines combination configuration information, wherein the combination configuration information is used for indicating a UE combination subscribed by the first UE, a plurality of target UEs are included in the UE combination, and the first UE is included in the plurality of target UEs.

Alternatively, the combination configuration information may include information (e.g., identification information) of each target UE in the UE combination. Optionally, the combination configuration information may further include group identification information of the UE combination. For example, UE1 and UE2 are included in UE combination a, and the combination configuration information indicating UE combination a may include: group identification information of UE group a (UE group IDa), identification information of UE1 (UE ID 1) and identification information of UE2 (UE 2 ID 2).

Wherein the UE combination includes multiple target UEs that need cooperative communication to implement a specific service, the UE combination may also be referred to as a UE cooperative group or a UE cooperative communication group.

For example, in a large upstream offload service scenario, where the first UE and the second UE are allocated different service data of the same service, the first UE and the second UE should be configured into the same UE combination.

For another example, in case the first UE needs to connect to the base station through a relay UE (e.g., UEa) (alternatively, the first UE may also connect to the base station through a direct link), the first UE and the UEa should be configured into the same UE combination.

For another example, in the case that the first UE connects to the base station through a plurality of relay UEs (for example, UEa and UEb) respectively (alternatively, the first UE may also connect to the base station through a direct link), the first UE, UEa and UEb should be configured into the same UE combination.

In an embodiment of the present application, the AMF may determine the combined configuration information by, but not limited to:

mode one: the AMF acquires the combined configuration information from the UDM through a subscription information acquisition flow, and the method comprises the following specific steps:

the AMF sends information of the first UE to a UDM; subscription information of the first UE from the UDM is then received. Wherein the subscription information includes the combination configuration information.

Optionally, the AMF may send a subscription information acquisition request to the UDM, where the subscription information acquisition request includes information of the first UE. Correspondingly, the subscription information may be carried in a subscription information acquisition response, and sent to the AMF by the UDM.

In a mobile communication system, a first UE may initiate a plurality of registration procedures. Alternatively, the AMF may acquire the combined configuration information in a first manner after each time a registration request of the first UE is received.

Mode two: the AMF determines the combined configuration information stored locally.

In a mobile communication system, the first UE may initiate a plurality of registration procedures, i.e. the AMF may need to obtain the combined configuration information in each registration procedure. In one embodiment, the AMF may acquire the combined configuration information in a first manner when the AMF first receives the registration request of the first UE, and then the AMF may save the combined configuration information of the first UE. Thus, after the AMF receives the registration request of the first UE again, the combined configuration information may be directly read locally, that is, the combined configuration information is determined in the second mode. By the method, signaling interaction of the AMF can be reduced, so that when the first UE initiates a registration process again, the AMF can rapidly determine the combination configuration information of the UE combination to which the first UE belongs, further, time delay of the first UE and other registered target UEs in the same combination accessing the same base station can be reduced, and finally, the efficiency of cooperative communication of the UE combination can be improved.

In another embodiment, the AMF may be an AMF in a private network scenario (e.g., a factory), and thus the AMF may be configured with the combined configuration information. For example, the AMF may be configured with the combined configuration information at the time of shipping, or the user may store the combined configuration information in the AMF, which is not limited in this application. Therefore, each time the first UE initiates a registration procedure, the AMF may acquire the combined configuration information in a second manner.

Mode three: the AMF may obtain the combined configuration information from other AMFs.

For example, when the first UE moves from the service area of the other AMF to the service area of the current AMF, the AMF may acquire the combined configuration information from the other AMF. For another example, when the first UE is handed over through a heterogeneous handover procedure, the other AMF may be a network element (e.g., MME, etc.) in the source mobile communication system that is responsible for access and mobility management functions.

S603: when a second base station to which a registered target UE (hereinafter referred to as a second UE) is accessed in the UE combination indicated by the combination configuration information is different from the first base station, the AMF indicates the first UE to access the second base station.

In one embodiment, there is only one AMF in the network environment in which the first UE is currently located, or the first UE is located in a service area of one AMF, for example, a private network scenario or in a fixed range of working environments (factories, enterprises). At this time, all base stations in the current network environment are connected to the AMF. In this case, when each UE registers with the mobile communication network through a base station, the AMF may locally store information of the base station to which the UE accesses (e.g., identification information of the base station, tunnel identification information of a connection to the base station, identification information of a cell managed by the base station, etc.).

Therefore, in this embodiment, when performing S603, the AMF performing mobility management on the first UE may determine information of the base station accessed by the registered target UE in the UE combination indicated by the combination configuration information, and then determine whether the first base station accessed by the first UE is the same as the base station accessed by the registered target UE.

In another embodiment, there are multiple AMFs in the network environment in which the first UE is currently located, or the first UE is located in a service area of the multiple AMFs. In this case, in the UE combination indicated by the combination configuration information, there may be a scenario in which base stations accessed by different target UEs are connected to different AMFs. In this scenario, after any UE registers to the mobile communication network through the base station, the AMF in the mobile communication network responsible for mobility management of the UE may store the information of the UE and the information of the base station to which the UE accesses to the unified data storage network element. Alternatively, the data storage network element may be any of unstructured data storage functions (unstructured data storage function, UDSF), UDM (assuming that these target UEs in the UE combination to which the first UE belongs may be selected to the same UDM), UDR (possibly storing these information into UDR by NEF), or PCF, etc.

Optionally, in this embodiment, when performing S603, the AMF performing mobility management on the first UE may acquire, from the unified data storage network element, information of a base station accessed by a registered target UE in the UE combination indicated by the combination configuration information, and then the AMF determines whether the first base station accessed by the first UE is the same as the base stations accessed by other registered target UEs. For example, the AMF may obtain the information of the base station accessed by the registered target UE in the UE combination indicated by the combination configuration information by:

the AMF may send the combined configuration information to the data storage network element, or the AMF may send information of a target UE in the UE combination indicated by the combined configuration information to the data storage network element; and then, the AMF receives the information of the base station accessed by the registered target UE, which is sent by the data storage network element.

Optionally, in this embodiment, when performing S603, the AMF performing mobility management on the first UE may further send information of the first base station (optionally, the combination configuration information or information of the target UE in the UE combination indicated by the combination configuration information) to the data storage network element. And judging whether the base stations accessed by other registered target UE in the first base station and the UE combination are the same or not by the data storage network element, and then feeding back a judging result to the AMF. Further, when the data storage network element determines that the first base station is different from the base stations accessed by other registered target UEs (second UEs), the information of the base stations accessed by the second UEs (i.e. the information of the second base stations) may be fed back to the AMF.

In an embodiment of the present application, the AMF may, but is not limited to, instruct the first UE to access the second base station by:

mode a: the AMF sends a registration rejection message to the first UE, wherein the registration rejection message comprises information (first information for short) of the second base station. It should be noted that in a specific implementation, the AMF may also notify the first UE by another message, here only a registration reject message is taken as an example.

Wherein the first information may be, but is not limited to being: the identification information of the second base station, or the identification information of the cell managed by the second base station, is not limited in this application.

In addition, the registration reject message may further include a reject cause value. Wherein the cause value is used to inform the first UE that it is (denied) due to the fact that it is not accessing under the same base station as other target UEs in the UE combination with the one. At this time, the first UE may determine that access through another base station is required according to the cause value.

Mode b: the AMF transmits information (abbreviated as second information) for redirecting the first UE to the second base station to the first base station.

Wherein the second information may be, but is not limited to being, any of the following: identification information of the second base station; the identification information of the cell managed by the second base station; a radio frequency selection priority index ((RAT/frequency selection priority, RFSP) index) in which the priority of the frequency or access technology used by the second base station is highest.

In this manner, the AMF may further send a redirection indication to the first base station, so that the first base station redirects the first UE to the second base station according to the redirection indication. Alternatively, the second information (and the redirection indication) may be carried in a registration accept message. It should be noted that in a specific implementation, the AMF may also notify the first UE by another message, here only a registration accept message is taken as an example.

In addition, after the AMF passes through the mode b and instructs the first base station to redirect the first UE to the second base station, the AMF may further send an instruction to the second base station to instruct the second base station not to redirect the first UE to another base station. The indication may also be referred to as a reselection-prohibited indication, a redirection-prohibited indication, a handover-prohibited indication, etc., and is hereinafter referred to as a reselection-prohibited indication. In this way, after the first UE subsequently accesses the second base station through S604, the second base station may not initiate a cell reselection procedure for the first UE according to the reselection prohibition instruction; or when a cell reselection procedure is initiated for the first UE, the first UE is not reselected to the cell managed by other base stations through the configuration in the cell reselection configuration information. For example, the cell reselection configuration information only carries the information of the cell managed by the second base station; or the cell reselection configuration information carries information of a plurality of cells, but the reselection priority of the cell managed by the second base station is highest, so that the second base station can provide access service for the first UE preferentially.

It should be noted that the present application does not limit whether different target UEs belonging to the same UE combination access the same cell. Therefore, when the second base station manages a plurality of cells, the cell reselection configuration information sent by the second base station to the first UE may include information of at least one cell or information of all cells managed by the second base station; and when the cell reselection configuration information also contains cells managed by other base stations, the reselection priorities of the cells managed by the second base station are higher than the reselection priorities of the cells managed by the other base stations.

When the AMF indicates that the first UE accesses the second base station in the manner b and the second information is RFSP index, in step S603, the AMF may further obtain the RFSP index by:

a1: the AMF sends a policy association request to the PCF, wherein the policy association request contains the combined configuration information obtained by the AMF in S602.

a2: after receiving the policy association request from the AMF, the PCF determines a frequency or an access technology corresponding to the UE combination indicated by the combination configuration information. In this embodiment of the present application, since the registered second UE also accesses the second base station by using the method provided in this embodiment, the UE indicated by the combination configuration information combines the corresponding frequency or access technology, that is, the frequency or access technology used by the second base station.

And after receiving the combination configuration information, determining the frequency or the access technology corresponding to the UE combination indicated by the combination configuration information.

a3: the PCF generates the RFSP index according to the frequency or the access technology corresponding to the UE combination indicated by the combination configuration information; and the PCF sends a policy association response to the AMF, wherein the policy association response comprises the RFSP index.

For example, when the frequency or access technology corresponding to (needing to be corresponding to) the UE combination is the frequency band a or the access technology a, the RFSP index generated by the PCF indicates that the domain with the highest priority contains the index value corresponding to the frequency band a or the access technology a.

a4: the AMF receives the policy association response from the PCF.

It should be noted that, the policy association request related to the above steps may be a policy association establishment/modification request (for example, an access and mobility policy association establishment/modification request), and accordingly, the policy association response may be a policy association establishment/modification response (for example, an access and mobility policy association establishment/modification response).

S604: the first UE accesses the second base station.

Corresponding to the manner in which the AMF indicates the first UE to access the second base station in S603, there are two manners in the implementation process of this step:

mode I: corresponding to the mode a, the first UE receives a registration rejection message from the AMF, where the registration rejection message includes information (i.e., first information) of the second base station. At this time, the first UE may access the second base station according to the first information. Wherein the first information may be, but is not limited to being: the identification information of the second base station or the identification information of the cell managed by the second base station.

Optionally, in the mode I, the first UE may screen a cell or a base station that may be currently accessed, and only select a cell or a base station corresponding to the first information (i.e., a cell or a second base station managed by the second base station).

For example, the AMF transmits identification information (gNB ID 2) of the second base station to the first UE, and then the first UE accesses only a cell including the gNB ID 2 in a cell identity (for example, NR radio access cell global identity (NR cell global identifier, NCGI) or NR radio access cell identity (NCI)). It is understood that the NCI includes NCI, and the NCI includes the gNB ID.

For another example, the AMF transmits identification information (NCGI 2) of a cell managed by the second base station to the first UE, and the first UE accesses the cell identified as NCGI 2.

It should be noted that the above examples are examples, and the manner in which the first UE accesses the second base station is not limited.

Furthermore, the first UE may continue to initiate a registration procedure with the AMF through the second base station.

Mode II: corresponding to mode b, the first base station redirects the first UE to the second base station after receiving information (i.e., second information) from the AMF for redirecting the first UE to the second base station. Wherein the second information may be, but is not limited to being, any of the following: identification information of the second base station; the identification information of the cell managed by the second base station; RFSP index, wherein, among the RFSP index, the priority of the frequency or access technology used by the second base station is highest.

Optionally, in mode II, the first base station may further receive a redirection indication from the AMF, such that the first base station may redirect the first UE to the second base station according to the redirection indication and the second information.

It should be further noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, after S602, the AMF may further determine a relay manner of the first UE according to the combined configuration information, which specifically includes the following steps:

b1: and the AMF sends a policy association request to the PCF, wherein the policy association request comprises the combined configuration information and the position indication information of the first UE.

The location indication information of the first UE is used to indicate a location of the first UE. Optionally, the location indication information of the first UE may include: information of the first base station accessed by the first UE and/or physical location information of the first UE. The information of the first base station is used to indicate that the first UE is located in a coverage area of the first base station, which may include, but is not limited to, an identifier of the first base station, physical location information of the first base station, an identifier of a cell managed by the first base station to which the first UE is accessed, and the like.

b2: and the PCF determines that the first UE needs to adopt a relay mode (such as L2 relay reference) of an L2 relay mode when determining that the UE indicated by the combination configuration information can be accessed through the same base station according to the combination configuration information and the position indication information of the first UE.

b3: the PCF sends a policy association response to the AMF, where the policy association response includes an indication (which may be referred to as a relay mode indication, for example, L2relay tendency information (L2 relay reference)) for indicating that the relay mode is L2 relay.

b4: the AMF receives a policy association response from the PCF.

b5: and the AMF sends the relay mode indication to the first UE and/or the second base station so that the first UE can access by adopting an L2relay mode.

It should be noted that, the policy association request related to the above steps may be a policy association establishment/modification request, and correspondingly, the policy association response may be a policy association establishment/modification response.

In one embodiment, the policy association establishment/modification request in the above step may include an access and mobility policy association establishment/modification request, and the policy association establishment/modification response may include an access and mobility policy association establishment/modification response. In this case, the AMF may obtain specific policy information (i.e., relay mode indication) from the PCF and perform the operations in the method when it is determined that the first UE is able to use the L2 relay.

In another embodiment, the policy association establishment/modification request in the above step may include a user equipment policy association establishment/modification request, and the policy association establishment/modification response may include a user equipment policy association establishment/modification response, in which case the AMF may obtain specific policy information (i.e. a relay mode indication) from the PCF, and transmit the policy information to the first UE to instruct the first UE to select a relay mode according to the policy information.

It should be noted that both embodiments may exist either or both.

It should also be noted that the AMF may obtain the RFSP index and the relay mode indication from the PCF at the same time through one policy association procedure, namely: the policy association request in step a1 further includes location indication information of the first UE, step b2 is executed before step a3, and the policy association response in steps a3 and a4 includes a relay type indication in addition to the RFSP index.

It should be noted that, in practical application, there may be a phenomenon that multiple UEs accessing the same or different base stations in the same UE combination request registration at the same time, at this time, the AMF may execute the above method for each UE requesting registration, so as to ensure that UEs in the same UE combination access the same base station.

In the method, if a first base station accessed by a first UE is different from a second base station accessed by a second UE in a UE combination to which the first UE belongs in a process of requesting registration by the first UE, an AMF may instruct the first UE to access the second base station. Thus, the AMF can control the UE belonging to the UE combination requiring cooperative communication to be accessed to the same base station, thereby ensuring the cooperative communication effect of the UE combination and finally ensuring the realization of the whole service.

Based on the method provided by the embodiment shown in fig. 6, the present application also provides embodiments that are equally applicable to the mobile communication system as shown in fig. 1-3B, and fig. 5. Various embodiments are described below with reference to fig. 7-9.

Embodiment one: see fig. 7.

S701: after the first UE accesses the first base station, the first UE sends a registration request to the AMF through the first base station.

S702: and the AMF sends a subscription information acquisition request containing the information of the first UE to the UDM so as to request to acquire the subscription information of the first UE.

S703: the UDM acquires the subscription information of the first UE according to the information of the first UE in the subscription information acquisition request; the UDM then returns subscription information to the AMF. The subscription information of the first UE includes, in addition to currently common subscription data, combination configuration information of a UE combination to which the first UE belongs.

The combination configuration information is used for indicating a UE combination subscribed by the first UE, and a plurality of target UEs contained in the UE combination.

S704: after the AMF acquires the combination configuration information, it is determined that a first base station accessed by the first UE is different from a second base station accessed by other registered target UE (second UE) in the UE combination indicated by the combination configuration information.

Alternatively, the AMF may adopt two implementations described in S603 in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, and the specific process of S704 may refer to the description in S603, which is not repeated herein.

S705: and the AMF sends a registration rejection message to the first UE, wherein the registration rejection message contains the information of the second base station. Optionally, the registration reject message may also reject a cause value, where the cause value is used to notify the first UE that the first UE is accessed (rejected) under the same base station due to other target UEs in the UE combination that are not in the same base station.

Wherein, the information of the second base station may be, but is not limited to: the identification information of the second base station or the identification information of the cell managed by the second base station.

Obviously, the AMF determines that the second base station is a base station to which the UE combination belonging to the first UE is commonly accessed. However, in this embodiment, the rule that the AMF determines the base station to which the UE is jointly connected is not limited. In a specific implementation, the AMF may determine, according to the sequence of accessing the base station by the target UE in the UE combination, the loading condition of the base station (for example, the number of UEs accessed by the base station) and the like, as rules, a base station to which the UE combination is commonly accessed.

For example, when the second UE accesses the second base station, the registration request initiated by the first UE is received for the first time, and then the AMF may determine that the second base station is a base station that the UE is jointly accessed for the combination, where the AMF may instruct the first UE to access the second base station by executing S705.

For another example, before the second UE accesses the second base station, the first UE accesses the first base station (when the current registration procedure is not the registration procedure initiated by the first UE for the first time), and the AMF may determine that the first base station is the base station that the UE combination accesses together, where the AMF may also notify the second UE to access the first base station.

For another example, the load rate of the second base station accessed by the second UE is lower than the first base station accessed by the first UE, and then the AMF may determine that the second base station is the base station commonly accessed by the UE combination, where the AMF may instruct the first UE to access the second base station by executing S705.

S706: the first UE may access the second base station according to the information of the second base station.

In this embodiment, the first UE may access the second base station in the manner I in S604 in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, which is not described herein.

S707: and after the first UE accesses the second base station, the first UE sends a registration request to an AMF through the second base station.

According to the embodiment, in the process that the first UE requests registration, if the first base station accessed by the first UE is different from the second base station accessed by the registered second UE in the UE combination to which the first UE belongs, the AMF may send information of the second base station to the first UE, so that the first UE accesses the second base station. Thus, the AMF can control the UE belonging to the UE combination requiring cooperative communication to be accessed to the same base station, thereby ensuring the cooperative communication effect of the UE combination and finally ensuring the realization of the whole service.

Embodiment two: see fig. 8.

S801 to S804 are the same as S701 to S704 in the first embodiment, and the same steps can be referred to each other, and are not described herein.

S805: the AMF transmits information of the second base station to a first base station to cause the first base station to redirect the first UE to the second base station. Optionally, the AMF may further send a redirection indication to the first base station.

Optionally, the AMF may send the information of the second base station and the redirection indication (optional) to the first base station in a registration accept message.

It should be noted that, similarly to S705, the rule of the AMF to determine the base station to which the UE is combined and commonly accesses is not limited in this embodiment, and specific reference may be made to the description in S705, which is not repeated here.

S806: the first base station may redirect the first UE to the second base station based on the received information of the second base station.

Optionally, after the first UE redirects to the second base station, the second base station may feed back a notification message to an AMF serving the second base station (the present embodiment assumes that the AMF serving the first base station is the same as the AMF serving the second base station) to inform the AMF that the first UE has successfully redirected to the second base station.

S807: after the first UE accesses the second base station, the AMF serving the first base station may also send an indication to the second base station indicating that the second base station no longer redirects the first UE to other base stations, i.e. a reselection-prohibited indication. Note that S807 is an optional step.

In step S807, the second base station may not initiate a cell reselection procedure for the first UE according to the reselection prohibition instruction; or when a cell reselection procedure is initiated for the first UE, the first UE is not reselected to the cell managed by other base stations through the configuration in the cell reselection configuration information. For example, the cell reselection configuration information only carries the information of the cell managed by the second base station; or the cell reselection configuration information carries information of a plurality of cells, but the reselection priority of the cell managed by the second base station is highest, so that the second base station can provide access service for the first UE preferentially.

For example, after the second base station receives the reselection prohibition instruction for the first UE, when the second base station needs to redirect some UEs (for example, the cell load managed by the second base station is too high), the second base station preferentially redirects the UEs that do not receive the reselection prohibition instruction; or the second base station may redirect the same group of UEs in a unified manner, that is, may redirect all accessed target UEs in the UE combination to which the first UE belongs to a third base station in a unified manner (note that in this scheme, the network side (such as AMF) also needs to send the combination configuration information of the UE combination to which the first UE belongs to the second base station).

According to the embodiment, in the process that the first UE requests registration, if the first base station accessed by the first UE is different from the second base station accessed by the registered second UE in the UE combination to which the first UE belongs, the AMF may send information of the second base station to the first base station, so that the first base station may redirect the first UE to the second base station. Thus, the AMF can control the UE belonging to the UE combination requiring cooperative communication to be accessed to the same base station, thereby ensuring the cooperative communication effect of the UE combination and finally ensuring the realization of the whole service.

It should be noted that, the methods provided in the first and second embodiments are implemented in a scenario in which, when the first UE requests registration, there is a registered target UE in the UE combination to which the first UE belongs. Then when the first UE requests registration, the mobile communication network may be implemented using a conventional registration procedure when there is no registered target UE in the UE combination to which the first UE belongs. Further, when multiple target UEs belonging to the same UE group accessing different base stations all request registration to the AMF, and no other registered target UEs exist in the UE group at this time, then the AMF may select any one of the multiple base stations accessed by the multiple target UEs as the base station commonly accessed by the UE group. Illustratively, the AMF may select the base station to which the UE is combined and commonly accessed from the plurality of base stations by using any one of the following principles:

Randomly selecting; selecting the base station with the largest number of the current access target UE; selecting a base station with a distance from each target UE requesting registration within a set range; a base station having the shortest sum of distances to the respective target UEs requesting registration is selected, and so on.

Embodiment III: see fig. 9.

S901 to S903 are the same as S701 to S703 in the first embodiment, and the same steps may be referred to each other, and will not be described here again.

S904: the AMF sends a policy association request to the PCF, wherein the policy association request contains the acquired combination configuration information of the UE combination to which the first UE belongs.

S905: and the PCF determines the frequency or the access technology corresponding to the UE combination indicated by the combination configuration information. Because other registered second UEs in the UE combination access the second base station by adopting the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the frequency or access technology used by the second base station is the same as the frequency or access technology corresponding to the UE combination. And the PCF generates RFSP index according to the frequency or the access technology corresponding to the UE combination indicated by the combination configuration information. In the RFSP index, the priority of the frequency or the access technology corresponding to the UE combination is highest. And the PCF sends a policy association response to the AMF, wherein the policy association response comprises the RFSP index.

In this embodiment, by configuring the frequency or the access technology corresponding to each UE combination in the PCF, the UEs in the same UE combination can access the same base station using the frequency or the access technology corresponding to the UE combination.

S906: the AMF sends the RFSP index to the first base station such that the first base station may redirect the first UE to the second base station according to the RFSP index. Optionally, the AMF may further send a redirection indication to the first base station.

Optionally, the AMF may send the RFSP index and the redirection indication (optional) to the first base station in a registration accept message.

S907: and the first base station judges whether the frequency or the access technology with the highest priority in the RFSP index is the same as the frequency or the access technology used by the first base station (namely, judges whether the base stations accessed by other registered second UEs in the combination of the first base station and the UEs are the same or not), and when determining that the frequency or the access technology with the highest priority in the RFSP index is different from the frequency or the access technology used by the first base station, S908 is executed.

When the first base station determines that the frequency or the access technology with the highest priority in the RFSP index is the same as the frequency or the access technology used by the first base station, a redirection procedure does not need to be executed.

S908: the first base station redirects the first UE to the second base station (i.e., the base station that combines the corresponding frequencies or access technologies for the UE) according to the received RFSP index.

S909 is the same as S807 in the second embodiment, and the same steps are referred to each other, and are not repeated here.

Embodiment four: similar to embodiment three, the difference is that: in this embodiment, before executing S906, the AMF may further determine whether the frequency or access technology with the highest priority in the RFSP index is the same as the frequency or access technology used by the first base station (i.e. determine whether the base station accessed by the first base station and other registered second UE in the UE combination is the same), if not, execute S906, and if not, do not need to execute S906.

In this embodiment, S907 is an optional step.

Fifth embodiment: similar to embodiment three or embodiment four, except that: after S903, before S906 (e.g., between S904 and S904), the AMF may further determine whether the first base station accessed by the first UE is the same as the second base station accessed by other registered target UEs (i.e., the second UE) in the UE combination indicated by the combination configuration information after obtaining the combination configuration information of the UE combination to which the first UE belongs, and the specific process may refer to the description in S603 in the embodiment shown in fig. 6 and will not be repeated herein. And executing step S904 when the AMF determines that the first base station is different from the second base station.

In this embodiment, S907 is an optional step.

In the third to fifth embodiments, in the process of the first UE requesting registration, if the first base station accessed by the first UE is different from the second base station accessed by the second registered UE in the UE combination to which the first UE belongs, the first base station redirects the first UE to the second base station according to the RFSP index received from the AMF, where the frequency or the access technology corresponding to the UE combination to which the first UE belongs in the RFSP index (i.e., the frequency or the access technology used by the second registered base station accessed by the second UE in the UE combination) has the highest priority. Therefore, the core network can control the UE belonging to the UE combination requiring cooperative communication to be accessed to the same base station through the RFSP index, so that the cooperative communication effect of the UE combination can be ensured, and finally the realization of the whole service is ensured.

In order to ensure that a plurality of UEs can access the same base station in a scenario of cooperative communication of the plurality of UEs, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, which may be applied to the mobile communication system shown in fig. 1 to 3B and fig. 5. The method will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart shown in fig. 10.

S1001: after a first UE accesses a first base station, the first UE sends a registration request to an AMF through the accessed first base station. The AMF receives a registration request from the first UE through a first base station.

S1002: the AMF sends a policy association request to the PCF. In the process that the first UE requests registration, the PCF receives a policy association request from an AMF. The policy association request may include information of the first UE.

The PCF may obtain, but not limited to, the combination configuration information of the UE combination to which the first UE belongs in the following two manners.

Mode one:

s1003a. the PCF obtains the locally stored combined configuration information.

Mode two: the combined configuration information is obtained from the UDR.

S1003b1: the PCF sends a subscription information acquisition request containing information of the first UE to the UDR.

S1003b2: and the UDR sends subscription information of the first UE to the PCF, wherein the subscription information comprises combination configuration information of a UE combination to which the first UE belongs.

Similar to the embodiment shown in fig. 6, the AMF obtains the combination configuration information of the UE combination to which the first UE belongs. A first UE may initiate a plurality of registration procedures in a mobile communication system. Therefore, the PCF may also acquire the combined configuration information from the UDR in the first UE first registration procedure in the second manner described above, and then the PCF may save the combined configuration information. In this way, when the first UE initiates a registration procedure again, the PCF may directly read the combined configuration information locally.

In addition, when the PCF has a function of storing the combined configuration information of a plurality of UEs, the PCF may acquire the combined configuration information of any one UE directly in one mode.

S1004 to S1008 are the same as S905 to S909 in the third example shown in fig. 9, and the same steps may be referred to each other, and will not be described here again.

Optionally, in another embodiment, before executing S1005, the AMF may further determine whether the frequency or the access technology with the highest priority in the RFSP index is the same as the frequency or the access technology used by the first base station (i.e. determine whether the base station accessed by the first base station and other registered second UEs in the UE combination are the same), if not, execute S1005, and if not, do not need to execute S1005. In this embodiment, S1006 is an optional step.

Optionally, in another embodiment, after the PCF obtains the combination configuration information of the UE combination to which the first UE belongs through S1003a or S1003b2, it may further determine whether the first base station accessed by the first UE is the same as the second base station accessed by other registered target UEs (i.e. the second UE) in the UE combination indicated by the combination configuration information; step S1004 is performed when it is determined that the first base station is different from the second base station. In this embodiment, S1006 is an optional step. Note that in this embodiment, the PCF may store the information of the registered UE and the base station information accessed by the UE; that is, after any UE registers to the mobile communication network through the base station, the AMF in the mobile communication network responsible for mobility management of the UE may store the information of the UE and the information of the base station to which the UE is connected to the PCF.

In the method, if, in a process that a first UE requests registration, a first base station accessed by the first UE is different from a second base station accessed by a registered second UE in a UE combination to which the first UE belongs, the first base station may redirect the first UE to the second base station according to an RFSP index received from an AMF, where a frequency or an access technology corresponding to the UE combination to which the first UE belongs in the RFSP index (i.e., a frequency or an access technology used by the second base station accessed by the registered second UE in the UE combination) has a highest priority. Therefore, the core network can control the UE belonging to the UE combination requiring cooperative communication to be accessed to the same base station through the RFSP index, so that the cooperative communication effect of the UE combination can be ensured, and finally the realization of the whole service is ensured.

In order to determine a relay mode of a UE accessing a network in a scenario of cooperative communication of a plurality of UEs, the embodiment of the present application further provides a method for determining a relay mode of the UE. The method may be applied to the mobile communication system shown in the above figures and may be combined with the communication method provided in any one of the embodiments or examples. The method will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart shown in fig. 11.

S1101 to S1103 are the same as S701 to S703 in the example shown in fig. 7, and the same steps may be referred to each other, and will not be described here again.

S1104: the AMF sends a policy association request to the PCF, wherein the policy association request comprises combined configuration information of a first UE and position indication information of the first UE.

Optionally, the location indication information of the first UE may include: information of a first base station accessed by the first UE and/or physical location information of the first UE. The information of the first base station is used to indicate that the first UE is located in a coverage area of the first base station, which may include, but is not limited to, an identifier of the first base station, physical location information of the first base station, an identifier of a cell managed by the first base station to which the first UE is accessed, and the like.

The information of the first base station may be acquired by the AMF when the first UE accesses (or requests registration), for example, the AMF may determine the information of the first base station according to tunnel information between the first base station and the AMF. The physical location information of the first UE may be obtained by the AMF from a location management function (location management function, LMF), or the AMF may be obtained according to a Tracking Area (TA) where the first UE is located, or the AMF may be obtained by mapping according to a cell identifier of a cell where the first UE is located.

S1105: the PCF determines whether the first UE can be accessed with other registered target UEs in the UE combination indicated by the combination configuration information through the same base station according to the combination configuration information and the position indication information of the first UE; if yes, the PCF generates a relay mode indication (e.g., L2relay preference information (L2 relay preference)) for indicating that the relay mode is L2 relay; otherwise, the PCF generates a relay mode indication (L3 relay preference information (L3 relay reference)) indicating that the relay mode is L3 relay. The PCF sends a policy association response carrying a relay mode indication (L2/L3 relay trend information) to the AMF.

In this step, the PCF may preferably configure the relay manner of the L2relay for the first UE according to the combined configuration information and the location indication information of the first UE. In this way, the AMF or PCF in the core network may ensure that the first UE may access the same base station with other UEs in the same combination through the method provided in the above embodiment, or directly instruct the first UE to access the same base station with other UEs in the same combination through a relay manner instruction for instructing L2relay, so that the data transmission efficiency and resource utilization of the mobile communication network may be improved, and some unnecessary attempts (attempting to access through L3 relay) may be omitted. In short, the relay method generated by the PCF indicates the indicated relay method, and is a relay method that is preferable or required to be used by the first UE.

In one embodiment, after the UE completes registration, the AMF responsible for mobility management of the UE may store location indication information of the UE in the PCF. In this way, when executing S1105, the PCF may determine whether the first UE and the second UE can access through the same base station according to the location indication information of the first UE and the location indication information of other registered target UEs (hereinafter abbreviated as second UE) in the UE combination indicated by the combination configuration information.

For example, when the location indication information of the first UE and the location indication information of the second UE indicate: when the first UE and the second UE are located close to each other (e.g., located in the same Tracking Area (TA), or within the coverage area of the same cell, or the distance between the first base station accessed by the first UE and the second base station accessed by the second UE is relatively close, or the distance between the physical location is relatively close (e.g., the euclidean distance between the longitude and latitude of the first UE and the longitude and latitude of the second UE is smaller than a set threshold), or when the first UE and the second UE access the same base station, the PCF may determine that the first UE (optionally, the second UE) may access in a relay manner of L2 relay.

In another embodiment, after the UE completes registration, the AMF responsible for mobility management of the UE may store the location indication information of the UE to other identical data storage network elements. Alternatively, the data storage network element may be a UDSF, a UDM (assuming that these target UEs in the UE combination to which the first UE belongs may be selected to the same UDM), or a UDR (it is possible to store these information into the UDR by the NEF). In this case, when executing S1105, the PCF may acquire, from the data storage network element, location indication information of other registered target UEs (hereinafter abbreviated as second UEs) in the UE combination indicated by the combination configuration information, according to the combination configuration information. In this way, the PCF may determine whether the first UE and the second UE can access through the same base station according to the location indication information of the first UE and the location indication information of the second UE, and the specific determination process may refer to the above embodiment, which is not described herein.

It should be noted that, the above two embodiments do not limit the manner in which the PCF determines whether the first UE and the second UE can access through the same base station. For example, in the case where the location indication information of the registered UE is stored in the data storage network element, the PCF may further send the combination configuration information (or the identity of the registered second UE in the UE combination indicated by the combination configuration information) and the location indication information of the first UE to the data storage network element; the data storage network element may determine, based on the received information, whether the first UE is capable of accessing the second UE through the same base station, and notify the PCF of the determination result. The specific determination process of the data storage network element may refer to the first embodiment, and will not be described herein.

S1106: and the AMF sends the relay mode indication to the first UE and/or the first base station so that the first UE can adopt the L2 relay or the L3 relay indicated by the relay mode indication to access a network.

It should also be noted that when this embodiment is combined with the previous embodiment, the AMF performs the step of instructing the first UE to access the second base station only when the relay mode received by the AMF instructs the L2 relay.

When the relay manner received by the AMF indicates L3 relay, the AMF may execute the subsequent process by adopting a conventional scheme, which is not described herein.

S1107: and the first UE and/or the first base station execute corresponding steps according to the received relay mode indication, so that the first UE can adopt the relay mode indication to indicate the L2 relay or the L3 relay to access the network.

Optionally, when executing S1107, the first base station may further determine whether the first UE can use the relay mode indicated by the relay mode indication, by using the capability of the first UE or the current network environment. When the first base station determines that the first UE does not use the L2 relay or the L3 relay indicated by the relay mode indication, the first base station may also notify the first UE of the relay mode indication, or reject access of the first UE.

In addition, the first UE and/or the first base station may further feed back an execution result of the step in the step S1107 to the AMF, and if the first UE uses the relay mode to indicate that the indicated relay mode fails to access the network, the AMF may further report the execution result to the PCF, so that the PCF generates a corresponding policy (for example, updates to other relay modes).

Based on the same concept as the embodiment shown in fig. 11, another method for determining a relay mode of the UE is also provided in the embodiments of the present application. The method is equally applicable to the mobile communication system shown in the above figures and may be combined with the communication method provided by any of the embodiments or examples. The method will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart shown in fig. 12.

The embodiment shown in fig. 12 is similar to the embodiment shown in fig. 11, except that the AMF does not acquire the combined configuration information of the UE combination to which the first UE belongs any more, but is determined by the PCF itself.

The S1201-S1203b2 are basically the same as S1001-S1003b2 in the example shown in fig. 10, and the only difference is that in S1202, the policy association request sent by the AMF to the PCF includes the location indication information of the first UE, and other same steps may be referred to each other, which is not described herein again.

S1204-S1206 are the same as S1105-S1107 in the embodiment shown in fig. 11, and the same steps are referred to herein, and are not described in detail.

In summary, the embodiments shown in fig. 11 and fig. 12 of the present application respectively provide a method for determining a relay mode of a UE. By the method, the core network can determine the relay mode of the first UE according to the combined configuration information of the UE combination to which the first UE belongs and the position indication information of the first UE. By the method, the PCF can configure the relay mode of the L2 relay for the first UE preferentially according to the combined configuration information of the UE combination to which the first UE belongs and the position indication information of the first UE. In this way, the AMF or PCF in the core network can ensure that the target UE in the UE combination can access through the same base station by using the method provided in the above embodiment, so that the data transmission efficiency and resource utilization rate of the mobile communication network can be improved, and some unnecessary attempts (attempting to access through L3 relay) are also omitted.

It should be noted that in the embodiments shown in fig. 11 or fig. 12, and the embodiments shown in fig. 6-10 may implement the same or different functions using the same procedure, for example, in the embodiment shown in fig. 11, the AMF may obtain the relay mode indication of the first UE using the policy association request procedure; whereas in the embodiments shown in fig. 9 or 10, the AMF may acquire the RFSP index using a policy association request procedure. For another example, in the embodiment shown in fig. 11, and in the examples shown in fig. 7-9, the AMF may obtain subscription information for the first UE from the UDM through a subscription information obtaining procedure. For another example, in the embodiments shown in fig. 10 and fig. 12, the PCF may acquire the locally stored combination configuration information of the UE combination to which the first UE belongs, or acquire the subscription information of the first UE from the UDR through the subscription information acquisition procedure. Thus, when the embodiment shown in fig. 11 or fig. 12 is combined with any one of the methods of the embodiments shown in fig. 6-10, when both exist in the same process, the process can be multiplexed to realize the corresponding function.

Further, it should also be noted that the embodiments shown in fig. 6-12 of the present application are performed for the first UE, and thus, the information of the first UE may be included in the information interacted with in the different devices to identify that the information is for the first UE. Such as registration requests, policy association responses, subscription information acquisition requests, messages carrying some of the information or indications provided herein, and the like.

As another solution, after the operations of the above certain embodiment are performed, after a plurality of UEs in the same UE combination may be accessed from the same base station, the network side (such as AMF) may further send the combined configuration information of the UE combination to the corresponding base station (where the AMF may obtain the combined configuration information as described in the above embodiments). Thus, in case that the base station needs to redirect some UEs (for example, the cell load managed by the base station is too high), the base station may uniformly redirect the UEs in the same UE combination, i.e., redirect the UEs in the same UE combination to the same new base station. It should be noted that the new base station may also obtain the combined configuration information of the UE combination, for example, from the source base station or from the AMF).

In addition, it should be noted that each step in the foregoing embodiments may be performed by a corresponding device, or may be performed by a component such as a chip, a processor, or a chip system in the device, which is not limited by the embodiment of the present application. The above embodiments are described only as examples to be executed by the respective apparatuses.

In the specific embodiment shown in fig. 6 to 12, some steps may be selected to be performed, or the order of steps in the drawings may be adjusted to be performed, which is not limited in this application. It should be understood that it is within the scope of the present application to perform some of the steps in the illustrations, adjust the order of the steps, or implement the steps in combination with each other.

It will be appreciated that, in order to implement the functions of the above embodiments, each device involved in the above embodiments includes a corresponding hardware structure and/or software module for performing each function. Those of skill in the art will readily appreciate that the elements and method steps of the examples described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is implemented as hardware or computer software driven hardware depends upon the particular application scenario and design constraints imposed on the solution.

It can be understood that the above network architecture and application scenario described in the embodiments of the present invention are for more clearly describing the technical solution of the embodiments of the present invention, and are not limited to the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present invention, and those skilled in the art can know that, with the evolution of the network architecture and the appearance of new services, the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present invention is equally applicable to similar technical problems.

Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication device, which may be applied to the mobile communication systems shown in fig. 1 to 3B and fig. 5, to implement the method provided in the above embodiments. Referring to fig. 13, the apparatus includes a communication unit 1301 and a processing unit 1302.

The communication unit 1301 is configured to receive and transmit data. The communication unit 1301 may be implemented by a physical interface, a communication module, a communication interface, and an input-output interface, for example. The communication apparatus 1300 may connect a network cable or a cable through the communication unit 1301, thereby establishing a physical connection with other devices.

The functions of the processing unit 1302 when the communication apparatus 1300 is applied to each network element in the mobile communication system shown in fig. 1 to 3B and fig. 5 are described below.

In one implementation, the communication apparatus 1300 is applied to the AMF in the example shown in fig. 6-10, and the processing unit 1302 is configured to perform, by using the communication unit 1301:

after receiving a registration request from a first UE through a first base station, determining combined configuration information; the first base station is a base station accessed by the first UE; the combination configuration information is used for indicating a UE combination subscribed by the first UE, and a plurality of target UEs contained in the UE combination contain the first UE; and when a second base station accessed by a second UE contained in the UE combination is different from the first base station, indicating the first UE to access the second base station.

Optionally, when the communication unit 1301 instructs the first UE to access the second base station, the processing unit 1302 is specifically configured to:

transmitting a registration rejection message to the first UE through the communication unit 1301, wherein the registration rejection message includes information of the second base station; or alternatively

Information for redirecting the first UE to the second base station is transmitted to the first base station through the communication unit 1301.

Optionally, the information of the second base station is identification information of the second base station or identification information of a cell managed by the second base station;

the information for redirecting the first UE to the second base station is any one of: identification information of the second base station; the identification information of the cell managed by the second base station; a radio frequency selection priority index, wherein the priority of the frequency or access technology used by the second base station is highest in the radio frequency selection priority index.

Optionally, when the information for redirecting the first UE to the second base station is the radio frequency selection priority index, the processing unit 1302 is further configured to:

Transmitting, by the communication unit 1301, a policy association request to a PCF before transmitting, to the first base station, information for redirecting the first UE to the second base station; wherein, the policy association request contains the combination configuration information;

and receiving, by the communication unit 1301, a policy association response from the PCF, where the policy association response includes the radio frequency selection priority index.

Optionally, the policy association response further includes an indication for indicating that the relay mode is layer two relay; the processing unit 1302 is further configured to:

and sending, by the communication unit 1301, the indication for indicating that the relay mode is layer two relay to the first UE and/or the second base station.

Optionally, the processing unit 1302 is further configured to:

a redirection indication is sent to the first base station by the communication unit 1301.

Optionally, the processing unit 1302 is further configured to:

an indication is sent to the second base station by the communication unit 1301 indicating that the second base station does not redirect the first UE to another base station.

Optionally, the processing unit 1302 is further configured to:

After determining the combined configuration information, sending, by the communication unit 1301, a policy association request to the PCF; the policy association request comprises the combination configuration information and the position indication information of the first UE, wherein the position indication information of the first UE is used for indicating the position of the first UE;

receiving, by the communication unit 1301, a policy association response from the PCF; the policy association response comprises an indication for indicating that the relay mode is layer two relay;

Optionally, the processing unit 1302 is specifically configured to, when determining the combined configuration information:

transmitting information of the first UE to a UDM through the communication unit 1301, and receiving subscription information from the unified data management network element, where the subscription information includes the combined configuration information; or alternatively

Determining the locally stored combined configuration information; or alternatively

The combined configuration information is acquired from other AMFs through the communication unit 1301.

In one implementation manner, the communication apparatus 1300 is applied to the first UE in the embodiment shown in fig. 6 or fig. 7, and the processing unit 1302 is specifically configured to perform:

Sending a registration request to an AMF through an accessed first base station;

receiving a registration rejection message from the AMF, wherein the registration rejection message comprises information of a second base station;

and accessing the second base station according to the information of the second base station.

Optionally, the information of the second base station is identification information of the second base station or identification information of a cell managed by the second base station.

Optionally, the processing unit 1302 is further configured to:

after a first base station which is accessed sends a registration request to an AMF, receiving an instruction from the AMF for indicating that a relay mode is layer two relay;

when the processing unit 1302 accesses the second base station, it is specifically configured to:

and accessing the second base station by adopting a relay mode of layer two relay.

In one embodiment, the communication apparatus 1300 is applied to the first base station in any of the embodiments shown in fig. 6 and fig. 8 to 10, and the processing unit 1302 is specifically configured to perform:

forwarding a registration request of the first UE to the AMF;

after receiving information from the AMF for redirecting the first UE to a second base station, the first UE is redirected to the second base station.

Optionally, the information for redirecting the first UE to the second base station is any one of the following: identification information of the second base station; the identification information of the cell managed by the second base station; a radio frequency selection priority index, wherein the priority of the frequency or access technology used by the second base station is highest in the radio frequency selection priority index.

Optionally, the processing unit 1302 is further configured to:

receiving a redirection indication from the AMF;

the processing unit 1302 is specifically configured to, when redirecting the first UE to the second base station:

and redirecting the first UE to the second base station according to the redirection indication.

Optionally, the processing unit 1302 is further configured to:

when the information for redirecting the first UE to the second base station is a radio frequency selection priority index, before redirecting the first UE to the second base station, it is determined that a frequency or access technology with a highest priority in the radio frequency selection priority index is different from a frequency or access technology used by the first base station.

In one implementation, the communication apparatus 1300 is applied to the PCF in the embodiment shown in fig. 6, 9 or 10, and the processing unit 1302 is configured to perform, by using the communication unit 1301:

In the process of requesting registration by the first UE, receiving a policy association request from an AMF;

determining combination configuration information, wherein the combination configuration information is used for indicating a UE combination subscribed by the first UE, and a plurality of target UEs contained in the terminal equipment combination, wherein the first UE is contained in the plurality of target UEs;

sending a policy association response to the AMF; the policy association response includes a radio frequency selection priority index, where a frequency or an access technology used by a second base station (other registered target UEs in the UE combination) has a highest priority, and the UE combination corresponds to the frequency or the access technology used by the second base station.

Transmitting information of the first terminal equipment to a UDR; receiving subscription information from the UDR, wherein the subscription information comprises the combined configuration information; or alternatively

And acquiring the combined configuration information from the strategy association request.

Optionally, after determining the combined configuration information, the processing unit 1301 further includes:

Acquiring position indication information of first terminal equipment accessed by the first terminal equipment, wherein the position indication information of the first terminal equipment is used for indicating the position of the first terminal equipment;

determining that a relay mode adopted by the first terminal equipment is layer two relay according to the combined configuration information and the position indication information of the first terminal equipment;

the policy association response also includes an indication for indicating that the relay mode is layer two relay.

It should be understood that the specific process of each unit performing the corresponding steps has been described in detail in the above method embodiments, and is not described herein for brevity.

It should be noted that, in the embodiments of the present application, the division of the modules is merely schematic, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation, and in addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated in one processing unit, or may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit. The integrated units may be implemented in hardware or in software functional units.

The integrated units, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as stand-alone products, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be embodied essentially or in part or all or part of the technical solution contributing to the prior art or in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, including several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) or a processor (processor) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods of the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (random access memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes.

Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication device, which may be applied to the mobile communication system shown in fig. 1 to 3B and fig. 5, to implement the method provided in the above embodiments, and have the functions of the communication apparatus 1300 provided in the above embodiments. Referring to fig. 14, the communication device 1400 includes: a communication module 1401, a processor 1402 and a memory 1403. Wherein the communication module 1401, the processor 1402 and the memory 1403 are interconnected.

Optionally, the communication module 1401, the processor 1402 and the memory 1403 are connected to each other via a bus 1404. The bus 1404 may be a peripheral component interconnect standard (peripheral component interconnect, PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (extended industry standard architecture, EISA) bus, among others. The buses may be divided into address buses, data buses, control buses, etc. For ease of illustration, only one thick line is shown in fig. 14, but not only one bus or one type of bus.

A communication module 1401 is configured to receive and transmit data, and to implement communication with other devices in the mobile communication system. The communication module 1401 may be implemented by a physical interface, a communication module, or an input/output interface, for example, when the communication device 1400 is a core network device (e.g., AMF, PCF), or when the communication device 1400 is a base station and the base station communicates with the core network device. The communication module 1401 may be implemented by a transceiver when the communication device 1400 is a UE or when the communication device 1400 is a base station and the base station communicates with a UE.

The processor 1402 is configured to implement the method provided in the above embodiments, and specific functions may be referred to the description in the above embodiments, which is not repeated herein.

The processor 1402 may be a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), a network processor (network processor, NP) or a combination of CPU and NP, among others. The processor 1402 may further include a hardware chip. The hardware chip may be an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (programmable logic device, PLD), or a combination thereof. The PLD may be a complex programmable logic device (complex programmable logic device, CPLD), a field-programmable gate array (field-programmable gate array, FPGA), general-purpose array logic (generic array logic, GAL), or any combination thereof. The processor 1402 may be implemented by hardware when implementing the above functions, or may be implemented by executing corresponding software by hardware.

The memory 1403 is used for storing program instructions and the like. In particular, the program instructions may comprise program code comprising computer-operating instructions. The memory 1403 may include random access memory (random access memory, RAM) and may also include non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory), such as at least one disk memory. The processor 1402 executes the program instructions stored in the memory 1403 to realize the functions described above, thereby realizing the methods provided by the above embodiments.

Based on the above embodiments, the present application further provides a computer program, which when run on a computer causes the computer to perform the method provided by the above embodiments.

Based on the above embodiments, the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a computer program, which when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the method provided in the above embodiments.

Wherein a storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. Taking this as an example but not limited to: the computer readable medium may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer.

Based on the above embodiments, the present application further provides a chip, where the chip is configured to read the computer program stored in the memory, and implement the method provided in the above embodiments.

Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application provide a chip system, which includes a processor for supporting a computer device to implement the functions involved in the communication apparatus in the above embodiments. In one possible design, the chip system further includes a memory for storing programs and data necessary for the computer device. The chip system can be composed of chips, and can also comprise chips and other discrete devices.

In summary, the embodiment of the application provides a communication method and a communication device. In the method, in the process that the first UE requests registration, if a first base station accessed by the first UE is different from a second base station accessed by a second UE in a UE combination to which the first UE belongs, the AMF may instruct the first UE to access the second base station. Thus, the AMF can control the UE belonging to the UE combination requiring cooperative communication to be accessed to the same base station, thereby ensuring the cooperative communication effect of the UE combination and finally ensuring the realization of the whole service.

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

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

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

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

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present application without departing from the spirit or scope of the application. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims and the equivalents thereof, the present application is intended to cover such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A communication method applied to an access and mobility management function network element, comprising:

after receiving a registration request from a first terminal device through a first base station, determining combined configuration information; the first base station is a base station accessed by the first terminal equipment; the combination configuration information is used for indicating a terminal equipment combination subscribed by the first terminal equipment, and a plurality of target terminal equipment contained in the terminal equipment combination are contained in the first terminal equipment;

and when a second base station accessed by second terminal equipment contained in the terminal equipment combination is different from the first base station, indicating the first terminal equipment to access the second base station.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein instructing the first terminal device to access the second base station comprises:

sending a registration rejection message to the first terminal equipment, wherein the registration rejection message comprises information of the second base station; or alternatively

And transmitting information for redirecting the first terminal equipment to the second base station to the first base station.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the information of the second base station is identification information of the second base station or identification information of a cell managed by the second base station;

The information for redirecting the first terminal device to the second base station is any one of: identification information of the second base station; the identification information of the cell managed by the second base station; a radio frequency selection priority index, wherein the priority of the frequency or access technology used by the second base station is highest in the radio frequency selection priority index.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein when the information for redirecting the first terminal device to the second base station selects a priority index for the radio frequency, before sending the information for redirecting the first terminal device to the second base station to the first base station, the method further comprises:

sending a policy association request to a policy control function network element; wherein, the policy association request contains the combination configuration information;

and receiving a strategy association response from the strategy control function network element, wherein the strategy association response comprises the wireless frequency selection priority index.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the policy association response further comprises an indication for indicating that the relay mode is layer two relay; the method further comprises the steps of:

And sending the indication for indicating the relay mode to be layer two relay to the first terminal equipment and/or the second base station.

6. The method of any one of claims 2-5, further comprising:

and sending a redirection indication to the first base station.

7. The method of any one of claims 2-6, wherein the method further comprises:

and sending an indication to the second base station indicating that the second base station does not redirect the first terminal device to other base stations.

8. A method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein after determining the combined configuration information, the method further comprises:

sending a policy association request to a policy control function network element; the policy association request comprises the combination configuration information and the position indication information of the first terminal equipment, wherein the position indication information of the first terminal equipment is used for indicating the position of the first terminal equipment;

receiving a policy association response from the policy control function network element; the policy association response comprises an indication for indicating that the relay mode is layer two relay;

9. The method of any of claims 1-8, wherein determining combined configuration information comprises:

transmitting the information of the first terminal equipment to a unified data management network element; receiving subscription information from the unified data management network element, wherein the subscription information comprises the combined configuration information; or alternatively

And acquiring the combined configuration information from other access and mobility management function network elements.

10. A communication method applied to a network element with a policy control function, comprising:

in the process of requesting registration by a first terminal device, receiving a policy association request from an access and mobility management function network element;

determining combination configuration information, wherein the combination configuration information is used for indicating a terminal equipment combination subscribed by the first terminal equipment, and a plurality of target terminal equipment contained in the terminal equipment combination, wherein the plurality of target terminal equipment contains the first terminal equipment;

sending a policy association response to the access and mobility management function network element; the policy association response includes a radio frequency selection priority index, and the priority of the frequency or the access technology used by the second base station in the radio frequency selection priority index is highest, where the terminal equipment combination corresponds to the frequency or the access technology used by the second base station.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining combined configuration information comprises:

Transmitting the information of the first terminal equipment to a unified database network element; receiving subscription information from the unified data store network element, wherein the subscription information comprises the combined configuration information; or alternatively

12. The method of claim 10 or 11, wherein after determining the combined configuration information, the method further comprises:

13. A communication device for use in an access and mobility management function network element, comprising:

A communication unit for receiving and transmitting data;

a processing unit configured to determine combined configuration information after receiving a registration request from a first terminal device through a first base station based on the communication unit; the first base station is a base station accessed by the first terminal equipment; the combination configuration information is used for indicating a terminal equipment combination subscribed by the first terminal equipment, and a plurality of target terminal equipment contained in the terminal equipment combination are contained in the first terminal equipment; and when a second base station accessed by a second terminal device contained in the terminal device combination is different from the first base station, indicating the first terminal device to access the second base station based on the communication unit.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processing unit, when instructing the first terminal device to access the second base station based on the communication unit, is specifically configured to:

transmitting a registration rejection message to the first terminal device based on the communication unit, wherein the registration rejection message contains information of the second base station; or alternatively

Information for redirecting the first terminal device to the second base station is sent to the first base station based on the communication unit.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the information of the second base station is identification information of the second base station or identification information of a cell managed by the second base station;

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein when the information for redirecting the first terminal device to the second base station selects a priority index for the radio frequency, the processing unit is further to:

transmitting a policy association request to a policy control function network element based on the communication unit before transmitting information for redirecting the first terminal device to the second base station based on the communication unit to the first base station; wherein, the policy association request contains the combination configuration information;

And receiving a policy association response from the policy control function network element based on the communication unit, wherein the policy association response comprises the radio frequency selection priority index.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the policy association response further comprises an indication for indicating that the relay mode is layer two relay; the processing unit is further configured to:

and sending the indication for indicating the relay mode to be layer two relay to the first terminal equipment and/or the second base station based on the communication unit.

18. The apparatus of any of claims 14-17, wherein the processing unit is further to:

and sending a redirection indication to the first base station based on the communication unit.

19. The apparatus of any of claims 14-18, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

and sending an indication to the second base station based on the communication unit indicating that the second base station does not redirect the first terminal device to another base station.

20. The apparatus of any of claims 13-15, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

after determining the combined configuration information, sending a policy association request to a policy control function network element based on the communication unit; the policy association request comprises the combination configuration information and the position indication information of the first terminal equipment, wherein the position indication information of the first terminal equipment is used for indicating the position of the first terminal equipment;

Receiving a policy association response from the policy control function network element based on the communication unit; the policy association response comprises an indication for indicating that the relay mode is layer two relay;

21. The apparatus according to any of the claims 13-20, wherein the processing unit, when determining the combined configuration information, is specifically configured to:

transmitting information of the first terminal equipment to a unified data management network element based on the communication unit, and receiving subscription information from the unified data management network element, wherein the subscription information comprises the combined configuration information; or alternatively

And acquiring the combined configuration information from other access and mobility management function network elements based on the communication unit.

22. A communication device for use in a policy control function network element, comprising:

a communication unit for receiving and transmitting data;

the processing unit is used for receiving a policy association request from an access and mobility management function network element based on the communication unit in the process of requesting registration by the first terminal equipment; determining combination configuration information, wherein the combination configuration information is used for indicating a terminal equipment combination subscribed by the first terminal equipment, and a plurality of target terminal equipment contained in the terminal equipment combination, wherein the plurality of target terminal equipment contains the first terminal equipment; and sending a policy association response to the access and mobility management function network element based on the communication unit; the policy association response includes a radio frequency selection priority index, and the priority of the frequency or the access technology used by the second base station in the radio frequency selection priority index is highest, where the terminal equipment combination corresponds to the frequency or the access technology used by the second base station.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the processing unit, when determining the combined configuration information, is specifically configured to:

Transmitting information of the first terminal equipment to a unified data storage library network element based on the communication unit, and receiving subscription information from the unified data storage library network element, wherein the subscription information comprises the combined configuration information; or alternatively

And acquiring the combined configuration information from the policy association request based on the communication unit.

24. The apparatus of claim 22 or 23, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

after the combined configuration information is determined, position indication information of first terminal equipment accessed by the first terminal equipment is obtained, wherein the position indication information of the first terminal equipment is used for indicating the position of the first terminal equipment;

25. An access and mobility management function network element, comprising:

a communication interface for receiving and transmitting data;

a memory for storing program instructions and data;

a processor for reading program instructions and data in said memory, implementing the method of any of claims 1-9 via said communication interface.

26. A policy control function network element, comprising:

a communication interface for receiving and transmitting data;

a memory for storing program instructions and data;

a processor for reading program instructions and data in said memory, implementing the method of any of claims 10-12 via said communication interface.

27. A computer readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer readable storage medium has stored therein a computer program which, when run on a computer, causes the computer to perform the method of any of claims 1-12.

28. A chip, characterized in that the chip is coupled to a memory, the chip reading a computer program stored in the memory, performing the method of any of claims 1-12.