CN116266931A

CN116266931A - Method, device, communication equipment and storage medium for data packet serial connection

Info

Publication number: CN116266931A
Application number: CN202111554765.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李娜; 赵芸; 张慧敏
Original assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Current assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Priority date: 2021-12-17
Filing date: 2021-12-17
Publication date: 2023-06-20

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention discloses a method, a device, communication equipment and a storage medium for data packet serial connection. The method comprises the following steps: the terminal equipment receives first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating whether to start Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) data packet concatenation or not; the PDCP data packet concatenation refers to concatenating at least two PDCP Service Data Units (SDUs) before the PDCP entity adds the header.

Description

Method, device, communication equipment and storage medium for data packet serial connection

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method, an apparatus, a communication device, and a storage medium for data packet concatenation.

Background

For 4K video streaming and file download transmitted over a transmission control protocol (TCP, transmission Control Protocol) connection, a User Equipment (UE) may generate many TCP feedback Acknowledgement (ACK) packets at the same time. These packets carry only TCP ACK information, with packet sizes between 25-60 bytes. Considering that the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP, packet Data Convergence Protocol) layer performs user plane integrity protection and ciphering on these small data packets, respectively, the processing efficiency is low. Meanwhile, for each small packet, layer2 (L2, layer 2) needs to add packets thereto, which require approximately 6 bytes (e.g., PDCP packet header takes 2-3 bytes, radio link control (RLC, radio Link Control) packet header takes 2-3 bytes, medium access control (MAC, medium Access Control) packet header takes 2 bytes), and 19% (assuming 25 bytes per packet)/9% (assuming 60 bytes per packet) of the entire packet size.

Disclosure of Invention

In order to solve the existing technical problems, the embodiment of the invention provides a method, a device, communication equipment and a storage medium for data packet concatenation.

In order to achieve the above object, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention is as follows:

in a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for concatenating data packets, where the method includes:

the method comprises the steps that terminal equipment receives first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating whether the PDCP data packet series connection is opened or not; the PDCP data packet concatenation refers to concatenating at least two PDCP service data units (SDUs, service Data Unit) before the PDCP entity adds the header.

In the above scheme, the terminal device receives the first indication information, including: the terminal equipment receives first configuration information sent by network equipment, wherein the first configuration information comprises the first indication information;

the first configuration information further includes: the PDCP message header is used for indicating the indication domain size of the data packet length; and/or an option for indicating a packet concatenation rule.

In the above solution, the first indication information further includes at least one of the following information:

the PDCP message header is used for indicating the indication domain size of the data packet length;

Options for indicating the concatenation rules of the data packets.

In the above scheme, the terminal device receives the first configuration information sent by the network device, including:

the terminal equipment receives first configuration information sent by the network equipment through a high-layer signaling.

In the above scheme, the terminal device receives the first indication information, including:

the PDCP entity of the terminal equipment receives the first indication information sent by the MAC entity.

In the above solution, the first indication information is further used for indicating an option for indicating a packet tandem rule, where the option for indicating the packet tandem rule is configured by a network device, predefined by the terminal device, or specified by a protocol.

In the above scheme, the method further comprises: the PDCP entity of the terminal device receives at least one of the following information sent by the MAC entity:

predicted transport block size;

the predicted uplink resource allocation size;

predicted channel quality.

In the above solution, the option for indicating the packet concatenation rule includes one of the following:

an option for indicating a size of the concatenated data packet;

an option for indicating the number of concatenated data packets;

Options corresponding to different sizes of the series data packets or numbers of the series data packets according to different predicted transport block sizes;

for different predicted uplink resource allocation sizes, corresponding options of different tandem data packet sizes or number of tandem data packets;

options corresponding to different tandem data packet sizes or numbers of tandem data packets for different predicted channel qualities.

In the above scheme, the method further comprises: the PDCP entity of the terminal equipment sends PDCP data based on the first indication information, and the PDCP data comprises the PDCP data packets connected in series when the first indication information indicates that the PDCP data packets are connected in series.

In the above scheme, at least one reserved bit in the header of the PDCP data is used to indicate whether to start PDCP data packet concatenation.

In the above solution, at least two reserved bits in the header of the PDCP data are used to indicate the enabled option for indicating a concatenation rule of PDCP data packets.

In the above solution, the header of the PDCP data further includes at least one first indication field, where the at least one first indication field is used to indicate a size of each received upper layer packet or a size of each compressed upper layer packet.

In the above solution, in the case that the terminal device switches access from the first network device to the second network device, the method further includes:

the terminal device sends a first PDCP status report to the second network device, and a sequence number field in the first PDCP status report fills in a sequence number of a data packet that is not received in the first network device.

In the above scheme, the method further comprises: and the terminal equipment receives a second PDCP state report sent by the second network equipment, and a sequence number field in the second PDCP state report is filled with the sequence number of a data packet which is not received in the first network equipment.

In the above scheme, the method further comprises: the terminal device sends capability information to the network device, wherein the capability information comprises at least one of the following information:

whether the terminal equipment supports a PDCP data packet tandem function;

whether the terminal equipment supports an uplink PDCP data packet serial function;

whether the terminal equipment supports the downlink PDCP data packet tandem function or not.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a method for data packet concatenation, where the method includes:

the network equipment sends first indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating whether the PDCP data packet series connection is opened or not; the PDCP data packet concatenation refers to concatenating at least two PDCP SDUs before the PDCP entity adds the header.

In the above scheme, the network device sends the first indication information to the terminal device, including: the network equipment sends first configuration information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first configuration information comprises the first indication information;

options for indicating the concatenation rules of the data packets.

an option for indicating a size of the concatenated data packet;

an option for indicating the number of concatenated data packets;

In the above scheme, the network device sends the first configuration information to the terminal device, including:

the network device sends first configuration information to the terminal device through higher layer signaling.

In the above scheme, the method further comprises: and the network equipment receives the data sent by the terminal equipment, and when the first indication information indicates that the PDCP data packets are opened for series connection, the PDCP data corresponding to the data comprises the PDCP data packets which are connected in series.

In the above solution, in the case that the terminal device switches access from the first network device to the second network device, the method further includes: and in the case that the network device is the first network device, the first network device sends the first configuration information to the second network device.

In the above solution, in the case that the terminal device switches access from the first network device to the second network device, the method further includes: and the second network equipment sends the first configuration information to the first network equipment under the condition that the network equipment is the second network equipment.

In the above scheme, the method further comprises: the second network device receives a first PDCP status report sent by the terminal device, and a sequence number field in the first PDCP status report is filled with a sequence number of a data packet that is not received in the first network device.

In the above scheme, the method further comprises: and the second network equipment sends a second PDCP status report to the terminal equipment, and a sequence number field in the second PDCP status report is filled with the sequence number of the data packet which is not received in the first network equipment.

In the above scheme, the method further comprises: the network equipment receives capability information sent by the terminal equipment, wherein the capability information comprises at least one of the following information:

whether the terminal equipment supports a PDCP data packet tandem function;

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a device for concatenating data packets, where the device is applied to a terminal device; the device comprises a first receiving unit, a second receiving unit and a first receiving unit, wherein the first receiving unit is used for receiving first indication information, and the first indication information is used for indicating whether the PDCP data packet series connection is opened or not; the PDCP data packet concatenation refers to concatenating at least two PDCP SDUs before the PDCP entity adds the header.

In a fourth aspect, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a device for concatenating data packets, where the device is applied to a network device; the device comprises a second sending unit, a first receiving unit and a second sending unit, wherein the second sending unit is used for sending first indication information to terminal equipment, and the first indication information is used for indicating whether the PDCP data packet series connection is opened or not; the PDCP data packet concatenation refers to concatenating at least two PDCP SDUs before the PDCP entity adds the header.

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present invention also provide a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which when executed by a processor implements the steps of the method of the first or second aspect of the embodiments of the present invention.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a communication device, including a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, where the processor executes the program to implement the steps of the method according to the foregoing first aspect or the second aspect of the embodiment of the present invention.

The embodiment of the invention provides a method, a device, communication equipment and a storage medium for data packet concatenation, wherein the method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that terminal equipment receives first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating whether the PDCP data packet series connection is opened or not; the PDCP data packet concatenation refers to concatenating at least two PDCP SDUs before the PDCP entity adds the header. By adopting the technical scheme of the embodiment of the invention, the PDCP SDUs are connected in series, so that the cost of the packet header is reduced, and the processing efficiency of L2 can be improved.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a method for concatenating data packets according to an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an indication of a MAC entity to a PDCP entity in a method for concatenation of data packets according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3a to 3d are schematic diagrams illustrating the format of a data packet in a method for concatenating data packets according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of PDCP status report format in a method for concatenation of data packets according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a second flow chart of a method for concatenating data packets according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 is an interactive flow chart of a method for concatenating data packets according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a packet concatenation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram II of a packet concatenation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a hardware composition structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific examples.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the invention can be applied to various communication systems, such as: global system for mobile communications (GSM, global System of Mobile communication), long term evolution (LTE, long Term Evolution) or 5G systems, etc. Alternatively, the 5G system or 5G network may also be referred to as a New Radio (NR) system or NR network.

By way of example, the communication system to which the embodiments of the present invention are applied may include network devices and terminal devices (may also be referred to as terminals, communication terminals, etc.); the network device may be a device in communication with the terminal device. Wherein the network device may provide communication coverage for a range of areas and may communicate with terminals located within the areas. Alternatively, the network device may be a base station in each communication system, such as an evolved base station (eNB, evolutional Node B) in an LTE system, and also such as a base station (gNB) in a 5G system or an NR system.

It should be understood that a device having a communication function in a network/system in an embodiment of the present application may be referred to as a communication device. The communication device may include a network device and a terminal having a communication function, where the network device and the terminal device may be the specific devices described above, and are not described herein; the communication device may also include other devices in the communication system, such as a network controller, a mobility management entity, and other network entities, which are not limited in this embodiment of the present invention.

It should be understood that the terms "system" and "network" are used interchangeably herein. The term "and/or" is herein merely an association relationship describing 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. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the front and rear associated objects are an "or" relationship.

The terms first, second and the like in the description and in the claims, are used for distinguishing between similar objects and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the data so used may be interchanged where appropriate such that embodiments of the present application described herein may be capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or described herein, for example. Furthermore, the terms "comprises," "comprising," and "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not necessarily limited to those steps or elements expressly listed but may include other steps or elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

The embodiment of the invention provides a method for serially connecting data packets, which is applied to terminal equipment. FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a method for concatenating data packets according to an embodiment of the invention; as shown in fig. 1, the method includes:

step 101: the method comprises the steps that terminal equipment receives first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating whether the PDCP data packet series connection is opened or not; the PDCP data packet concatenation refers to concatenating at least two PDCP SDUs before the PDCP entity adds the header.

In the embodiment of the invention, the terminal equipment can start the PDCP data packet tandem function based on the indication of the first indication information, further execute the tandem connection of at least two PDCP SDUs before the PDCP entity adds the packet header, reduce the cost of the packet header and improve the processing efficiency of L2 by tandem connection of the PDCP SDUs.

In some optional embodiments, the terminal device receives first indication information, including: the terminal equipment receives first configuration information sent by the network equipment, wherein the first configuration information comprises the first indication information.

In this embodiment, the first indication information is issued by the network device, and the network device may specifically send the first indication information to the terminal device through first configuration information, that is, the first indication information is carried in or included in the first configuration information.

Optionally, the terminal device receives first configuration information sent by the network device, including: the terminal equipment receives first configuration information sent by the network equipment through a high-layer signaling.

The higher layer signaling may be, for example, radio resource control (RRC, radio Resource Control) signaling, i.e. the network device may send first configuration information to the terminal device through RRC signaling, where the first configuration information carries or includes the first indication information. Of course, the higher layer signaling in this embodiment is not limited to RRC signaling, and other types of higher layer signaling are also within the scope of the embodiments of the present invention.

Optionally, the first configuration information further includes: the PDCP message header is used for indicating the indication domain size of the data packet length; and/or an option for indicating a packet concatenation rule.

The indication field size in the PDCP packet header, which is used to indicate the length of the data packet, refers to the size of the received upper layer data packet or the size of the compressed upper layer data packet. For example, when the PDCP entity receives an upper layer packet (without performing packet concatenation), the PDCP entity performs concatenation on the upper layer packet according to the first indication information in the first configuration information, and then the indication field size for indicating the length of the packet indicates the size of each received upper layer packet, or performs header compression and encryption on the received upper layer packet, and then the indication field size for indicating the length of the packet indicates the size of the compressed upper layer packet.

In some optional embodiments, the first indication information further includes at least one of the following information: the PDCP message header is used for indicating the indication domain size of the data packet length; options for indicating the concatenation rules of the data packets.

The indication field size used for indicating the length of the data packet in the PDCP message header included in the first indication information refers to the size of the received upper layer data packet or the size of the compressed upper layer data packet. Illustratively, the PDCP entity receives an upper layer packet (without concatenation of packets), and if concatenation of upper layer packets is to be performed according to the first indication information, the indication field size for indicating the length of the packet indicates the size of each received upper layer packet, or the PDCP entity performs header compression and encryption on the received upper layer packet, and if the indication field size for indicating the length of the packet indicates the size of the compressed upper layer packet.

Optionally, the option for indicating the packet concatenation rule includes one of the following:

an option for indicating a size of the concatenated data packet;

an option for indicating the number of concatenated data packets;

In this embodiment, the option for indicating the packet concatenation rule may specifically be a rule for PDCP packet concatenation. As a first example, the option for indicating the size of the concatenated packet may be, for example, 500 bytes, 1000 bytes or 1500 bytes, that is, PDCP packets concatenated according to the 500 bytes, 1000 bytes or 1500 bytes, and the size of the concatenated PDCP packet is not greater than 500 bytes, 1000 bytes or 1500 bytes; of course, the present embodiment is not limited to the above-listed tandem packet sizes, and may be other byte numbers. As a second example, the option for indicating the number of tandem packets may be, for example, 2, 5, or 10, etc., which indicates the number of tandem PDCP packets, and of course, the present embodiment is not limited to the above-listed number of tandem packets, but may be other number of tandem packets. As a third example, for different predicted transport block sizes, corresponding options for different tandem data packet sizes or number of tandem data packets, e.g. for a certain class of predicted transport block sizes (e.g. predicted transport block sizes in a certain interval, or not exceeding a certain threshold), the corresponding tandem data packet sizes or number of tandem data packets are configured. As a fourth example, for different predicted uplink resource allocation sizes, corresponding options of different tandem data packet sizes or number of tandem data packets, for example, for a certain class of uplink resource allocation sizes (e.g. uplink resource allocation sizes in a certain interval, or not exceeding a certain threshold), the corresponding tandem data packet sizes or number of tandem data packets are configured. As a fifth example, for different predicted channel quality, the corresponding different concatenated packet sizes or concatenated packet numbers are chosen, e.g., the predicted channel quality is above threshold 1 and below threshold 2, the corresponding concatenated packet numbers are configured as specified numbers or the corresponding concatenated packet sizes are configured as specified bits.

In other alternative embodiments, the terminal device receives first indication information, including: the PDCP entity of the terminal equipment receives the first indication information sent by the MAC entity.

In this embodiment, the first indication information received by the PDCP entity of the terminal device is sent by the MAC entity. Illustratively, the MAC entity of the terminal device has an artificial intelligence (AI, artificial Intelligence) capability, or a decision-making or control capability, and can decide whether to start PDCP packet concatenation or not based on the current situation, i.e. the PDCP entity of the terminal device receives the first indication information sent by the MAC entity.

In some optional embodiments of the present invention, the first indication information is further used to indicate an option for indicating a packet concatenation rule that is activated, where the option for indicating the packet concatenation rule is configured by a network device, predefined by the terminal device, or specified by a protocol.

In this embodiment, the first indication information is further used to indicate an activated option for indicating a packet tandem rule, where the option for indicating the packet tandem rule includes one of the following: an option for indicating a size of the concatenated data packet; an option for indicating the number of concatenated data packets; options corresponding to different sizes of the series data packets or numbers of the series data packets according to different predicted transport block sizes; for different predicted uplink resource allocation sizes, corresponding options of different tandem data packet sizes or number of tandem data packets; options corresponding to different tandem data packet sizes or numbers of tandem data packets for different predicted channel qualities.

In some alternative embodiments of the invention, the method further comprises: the PDCP entity of the terminal device receives at least one of the following information sent by the MAC entity:

predicted transport block size;

the predicted uplink resource allocation size;

predicted channel quality.

For example, as shown in fig. 2, the MAC entity of the terminal device may transmit the above-mentioned first indication information for indicating whether to start PDCP packet concatenation to the PDCP entity, and may also transmit at least one of a predicted Transport Block (TB) size, a predicted uplink resource allocation size, and a predicted channel quality.

Optionally, before the PDCP entity of the terminal device receives the at least one information sent by the MAC entity, and/or before the PDCP entity of the terminal device receives the first indication information sent by the MAC entity, the method further includes: the PDCP entity of the terminal device sends indication information to the MAC entity, where the indication information is used to indicate a PDCP packet size in which the PDCP entities can concatenate.

The predicted uplink resource allocation size may include, for example, a predicted uplink time domain resource allocation size and/or a predicted uplink frequency domain resource allocation size, where the uplink time domain resource may be any time domain resource involved in uplink transmission, and the uplink frequency domain resource may be any frequency domain resource involved in uplink transmission, which is not limited in this embodiment.

The predicted channel quality may specifically be a predicted channel quality indicator (CQI, channel Quality Indicator), which is not limited thereto, and other parameters that can reflect the channel quality may be within the scope of the embodiments of the present invention.

In some alternative embodiments of the invention, the method further comprises: the terminal device sends capability information to the network device, wherein the capability information comprises at least one of the following information:

whether the terminal equipment supports a PDCP data packet tandem function;

In some alternative embodiments of the invention, the method further comprises: the PDCP entity of the terminal equipment sends PDCP data based on the first indication information, and the PDCP data comprises the PDCP data packets connected in series when the first indication information indicates that the PDCP data packets are connected in series.

In this embodiment, when the first indication information indicates that PDCP data packet concatenation is started, the PDCP entity of the terminal device concatenates PDCP data packets, that is, concatenates at least two PDCP SDUs, and adds a packet header to the concatenated PDCP SDUs for transmission; compared with the scheme of adding a packet header for each PDCP data packet (PDCP SDU), the technical scheme of the embodiment reduces the cost of the packet header and can also improve the processing efficiency of L2.

In some alternative embodiments, at least one reserved bit in the header of the PDCP data is used to indicate whether to initiate PDCP packet concatenation.

In this embodiment, at least one reserved bit in the header of the PDCP data is used to indicate whether to start PDCP data packet concatenation, so as to inform the receiving side whether the current PDCP data packet is concatenated, and if it is indicated that PDCP data packet concatenation is not performed, the receiving side processes according to a conventional processing manner; if the PDCP data packets are indicated to be connected in series, the receiving side decomposes the PDCP data packets connected in series according to the indication to obtain decomposed data packets.

Illustratively, one reserved bit is used for "tandem indication" with reference to fig. 3a and 3 b. For example, when the "tandem indication" position is 1, it indicates that PDCP packet tandem is turned on; accordingly, when the "tandem indication" position is 0, it indicates that PDCP packet tandem is not turned on. Or vice versa, when the "tandem indication" position is 0, the PDCP packet tandem is indicated to be opened; accordingly, when the "tandem indication" position is 1, it indicates that PDCP packet tandem is not turned on.

In some alternative embodiments, at least two reserved bits in the header of the PDCP data are used to indicate the enabled option for indicating a packet concatenation rule.

Illustratively, reference is made to two reserved bits in fig. 3c and 3d for indicating the enabled option for indicating a packet concatenation rule, i.e. for indicating a "concatenation option ID". For example, when "concatenation option ID" is set to 00, it indicates that the concatenation data packet size is indicated; when the "concatenation option ID" is set to 01, indicating that the number of concatenation data packets is indicated; when the 'tandem option ID' is set to 10, the corresponding different tandem data packet sizes or the number of tandem data packets are indicated for different predicted transport block sizes; when "tandem option ID" is set to 11, this indicates that for different predicted uplink resource allocation sizes, corresponding different tandem packet sizes or number of tandem packets, etc. Of course, the correspondence between the "concatenation option ID" and the corresponding option for indicating the packet concatenation rule in the present embodiment is not limited to the above example; more than two reserved bits may also be used for indication in case of a greater number of options for indicating the concatenation of data packets.

In some optional embodiments, the header of the PDCP data further includes at least one first indication field, where the at least one first indication field is used to indicate a size of each received upper layer data packet or a size of each compressed upper layer data packet.

As illustrated in fig. 3a to 3d, the header of the PDCP data further includes an L field (i.e., a first indication field) for indicating a size of each upper layer packet or a size of each compressed upper layer packet, so that the receiving end can decompose or segment the data based on the indication of at least one first indication field.

In some optional embodiments of the invention, in case the terminal device switches access by the first network device to the second network device, the method further comprises: the terminal device sends a first PDCP status report to the second network device, and a sequence number field in the first PDCP status report fills in a sequence number of a data packet that is not received in the first network device.

In this embodiment, in a scenario in which a terminal device is handed over from a first network device (e.g., a source base station) to a second network device (e.g., a target base station), the terminal device sends a first PDCP status report to the second network device, where a sequence number field in the first PDCP status report is filled with a sequence number of a data packet that is not received in the first network device, so as to implement transmission status alignment between the terminal device and the second network device.

Illustratively, as shown in fig. 4, the indication of SN (sequence Number) based on the Sequence Number (SN) of the first network device (i.e., source base station) is used to inform the receiving side of SN of the PDCP status report. The first miss count (FMC, first Missing Count) field is used to indicate the first lost PDCP packet (i.e., PDCP SDU) in the reordering window. The Bitmap (Bitmap) field is used to indicate which data packets (e.g., PDCP SDUs) are missing and which are correctly received.

In some alternative embodiments of the invention, the method further comprises: and the terminal equipment receives a second PDCP state report sent by the second network equipment, and a sequence number field in the second PDCP state report is filled with the sequence number of a data packet which is not received in the first network equipment.

In this embodiment, in a scenario in which the terminal device is handed over from a first network device (e.g., a source base station) to a second network device (e.g., a target base station), the terminal device receives a second PDCP status report sent by the second network device, and a sequence number field in the second PDCP status report is filled with a sequence number of a data packet that is not received in the first network device, so as to implement transmission status alignment between the terminal device and the second network device. An example of the second PDCP status report may be described with reference to fig. 4.

Based on the above embodiment, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a method for data packet concatenation, which is applied to a network device. FIG. 5 is a second flow chart of a method for concatenating data packets according to an embodiment of the invention; as shown in fig. 5, the method includes:

step 201: the network equipment sends first indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating whether the PDCP data packet series connection is opened or not; the PDCP data packet concatenation refers to concatenating at least two PDCP SDUs before the PDCP entity adds the header.

In some optional embodiments of the invention, the network device sends first indication information to the terminal device, including: the network device sends first configuration information to the terminal device, wherein the first configuration information comprises the first indication information.

Optionally, the first configuration information further includes: the PDCP message header is used for indicating the indication domain size of the data packet length; and/or options for indicating a concatenation rule for a data packet

Optionally, the network device sends first configuration information to the terminal device, including: the network device sends first configuration information to the terminal device through higher layer signaling.

an option for indicating a size of the concatenated data packet;

an option for indicating the number of concatenated data packets;

In some alternative embodiments of the invention, the method further comprises: and the network equipment receives the data sent by the terminal equipment, and when the first indication information indicates that the PDCP data packets are opened for series connection, the PDCP data corresponding to the data comprises the PDCP data packets which are connected in series.

In some optional embodiments, at least two reserved bits in the header of the PDCP data are used to indicate the enabled option for indicating PDCP packet concatenation rules.

In some optional embodiments of the invention, in case the terminal device switches access by the first network device to the second network device, the method further comprises: and in the case that the network device is the first network device, the first network device sends the first configuration information to the second network device.

In some optional embodiments of the invention, in case the terminal device switches access by the first network device to the second network device, the method further comprises: and the second network equipment sends the first configuration information to the first network equipment under the condition that the network equipment is the second network equipment.

In some alternative embodiments of the invention, the method further comprises: the second network device receives a first PDCP status report sent by the terminal device, and a sequence number field in the first PDCP status report is filled with a sequence number of a data packet that is not received in the first network device.

In some alternative embodiments of the invention, the method further comprises: and the second network equipment sends a second PDCP status report to the terminal equipment, and a sequence number field in the second PDCP status report is filled with the sequence number of the data packet which is not received in the first network equipment.

In some alternative embodiments of the invention, the method further comprises: the network equipment receives capability information sent by the terminal equipment, wherein the capability information comprises at least one of the following information:

whether the terminal equipment supports a PDCP data packet tandem function;

The method of concatenating data packets according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to a specific example.

FIG. 6 is an interactive flow chart of a method for concatenating data packets according to an embodiment of the invention; as shown in fig. 6, the source base station corresponds to a first network device, and the target base station corresponds to a second network device. The method comprises the following steps:

step 301: the source base station sends configuration information to the target base station, wherein the configuration information comprises first indication information.

Optionally, step 302 may also be included: the target base station sends configuration information to the source base station, wherein the configuration information comprises first indication information.

In the present embodiment, the execution sequence of steps 301 to 302 is not limited to the execution sequence shown above, and step 302 may be executed first, then step 301 may be executed, or step 301 and step 302 may be executed simultaneously, which is not limited in the present embodiment. In addition, step 302 is an optional step.

The configuration information corresponds to the first configuration information in the foregoing embodiment, and the specific implementation manner of the configuration information may be described in the foregoing embodiment, which is not repeated herein.

Step 303: and the source base station sends a switching command to the UE.

Step 304: the UE sends a first PDCP status report to the target base station.

Step 305: the target base station sends a second PDCP status report to the UE.

And data transmission between the UE and the target base station is based on the SN of the target base station.

For seamless handover, similar to the related technical scheme, for downlink data transmission, the source base station forwards PDCP SDUs that have not yet been transmitted or downlink data that have not yet been processed by PDCP to the target base station. The downlink data transmitted by the PDCP SDU is completed and does not need to be forwarded to the target base station. For some PDCP SDUs already in progress, but some RLC PDU data is still stored, the source base station discards the remaining RLC PDUs, i.e., discards PDCP SDUs. For uplink data transmission, the UE sends PDCP SDU data that has not been transmitted in the source base station to the target base station.

For lossless handover, in this embodiment, the source base station will configure information (e.g., the first configuration information carrying the first indication information in the above embodiment, or may also be referred to as PDCP tandem (establishment) configuration information). Further, the UE receives a switching command sent by the source base station and executes switching; after switching to the target base station, data transmission between the UE and the target base station is based on the SN of the target base station.

And the UE sends a first PDCP status report to the target base station, wherein the SN in the first PDCP status report is the SN of the source base station. After switching to the target base station, the UE may perform new transmission or retransmission of data according to the SN number of the target base station. The UE will retransmit the PDCP SDU packet following the unacknowledged PDCP SDU (which may include PDCP SDUs received by the source base station but not acknowledged by the UE) starting from the first PDCP SDU that has not yet been acknowledged in the source base station.

And the target base station sends a second PDCP status report to the UE, wherein the SN in the second PDCP status report is the SN of the source base station. After switching to the target base station, the target base station can perform new transmission or retransmission of data according to the SN of the target base station.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a device for serially connecting the data packets, which is applied to the terminal equipment. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a packet concatenation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 7, the apparatus includes a first receiving unit 31 configured to receive first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate whether to start PDCP packet concatenation; the PDCP data packet concatenation refers to concatenating at least two PDCP SDUs before the PDCP entity adds the header.

In some optional embodiments of the present invention, the first receiving unit 31 is configured to receive first configuration information sent by a network device, where the first configuration information includes the first indication information; the first configuration information further includes: the PDCP message header is used for indicating the indication domain size of the data packet length; and/or an option for indicating a packet concatenation rule.

In some optional embodiments of the invention, the first indication information further comprises at least one of the following information:

options for indicating the concatenation rules of the data packets.

In some optional embodiments of the present invention, the first receiving unit 31 is configured to receive, through higher layer signaling, first configuration information sent by a network device.

In some optional embodiments of the present invention, the first receiving unit 31 is configured to receive, by using a PDCP entity, the first indication information sent by a MAC entity.

In some optional embodiments of the present invention, the first receiving unit 31 is further configured to receive, by the PDCP entity, at least one of the following information sent by the MAC entity:

predicted transport block size;

the predicted uplink resource allocation size;

predicted channel quality.

In some optional embodiments of the present invention, the option for indicating a packet concatenation rule includes one of:

an option for indicating a size of the concatenated data packet;

an option for indicating the number of concatenated data packets;

In some optional embodiments of the invention, the apparatus further comprises a first sending unit 32 configured to send PDCP data based on the first indication information, where the first indication information indicates that concatenation of PDCP data packets is opened, the PDCP data includes the PDCP data packets concatenated therein.

In some optional embodiments of the invention, at least one reserved bit in the header of the PDCP data is used to indicate whether to start PDCP packet concatenation.

In some optional embodiments of the invention, at least two reserved bits in the header of the PDCP data are used to indicate the enabled option for indicating PDCP packet concatenation rules.

In some optional embodiments of the present invention, the header of the PDCP data further includes at least one first indication field, where the at least one first indication field is used to indicate a size of each received upper layer data packet or a size of each compressed upper layer data packet.

In some optional embodiments of the invention, the first sending unit 32 is configured to send a first PDCP status report to a second network device when the terminal device is switched to access to the second network device by the first network device, where a sequence number field in the first PDCP status report is filled with a sequence number of a data packet that is not received in the first network device.

In some optional embodiments of the present invention, the first receiving unit 31 is further configured to receive a second PDCP status report sent by the second network device, where a sequence number field in the second PDCP status report fills a sequence number of a data packet that is not received in the first network device.

In some optional embodiments of the invention, the apparatus further comprises a first sending unit 32, configured to send capability information to the network device, where the capability information includes at least one of the following information:

whether the terminal equipment supports a PDCP data packet tandem function;

In the embodiment of the present invention, the first receiving unit 31 and the first transmitting unit 32 in the device may be implemented in practical application by a communication module (including a basic communication suite, an operating system, a communication module, a standardized interface, a standardized protocol, etc.) and a transceiver antenna.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a device for serially connecting the data packets, which is applied to the network equipment. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram II of a packet concatenation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 8, the apparatus includes a second sending unit 41, configured to send first indication information to a terminal device, where the first indication information is used to indicate whether to start PDCP packet concatenation; the PDCP data packet concatenation refers to concatenating at least two PDCP SDUs before the PDCP entity adds the header.

In some optional embodiments of the present invention, the second sending unit 41 is configured to send first configuration information to the terminal device, where the first configuration information includes the first indication information; the first configuration information further includes: the PDCP message header is used for indicating the indication domain size of the data packet length; and/or an option for indicating a packet concatenation rule.

In some optional embodiments of the invention, the first indication information further comprises at least one of the following information: the PDCP message header is used for indicating the indication domain size of the data packet length;

options for indicating the concatenation rules of the data packets.

an option for indicating a size of the concatenated data packet;

an option for indicating the number of concatenated data packets;

In some optional embodiments of the present invention, the second sending unit 41 is configured to send the first configuration information to the terminal device through higher layer signaling.

In some optional embodiments of the present invention, the apparatus further includes a second receiving unit 42, configured to receive data sent by the terminal device, where, in a case where the first indication information indicates that concatenation of PDCP data packets is opened, PDCP data corresponding to the data includes PDCP data packets connected in series.

In some optional embodiments of the present invention, when the terminal device is switched to access to a second network device by a first network device, and when the network device is the first network device, the second sending unit 41 is further configured to send the first configuration information to the second network device.

In some optional embodiments of the present invention, when the terminal device is switched to access to a second network device by a first network device, and when the network device is the second network device, the second sending unit 41 is further configured to send the first configuration information to the first network device.

In some optional embodiments of the invention, the apparatus further comprises a second receiving unit 42 configured to receive a first PDCP status report sent by the terminal device, where a sequence number field in the first PDCP status report fills a sequence number of a data packet not received in the first network device.

In some optional embodiments of the invention, the second sending unit 41 is further configured to send a second PDCP status report to the terminal device, where a sequence number field in the second PDCP status report fills a sequence number of a data packet that is not received in the first network device.

In some optional embodiments of the invention, the apparatus further comprises a second receiving unit 42, configured to receive capability information sent by the terminal device, where the capability information includes at least one of the following information:

whether the terminal equipment supports a PDCP data packet tandem function;

In the embodiment of the present invention, the second receiving unit 42 and the second transmitting unit 41 in the device may be implemented in practical application by a communication module (including a basic communication suite, an operating system, a communication module, a standardized interface, a standardized protocol, etc.) and a transceiver antenna.

It should be noted that: in the apparatus for data packet concatenation according to the foregoing embodiment, only the division of each program module is used for illustration, and in practical application, the processing allocation may be performed by different program modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the apparatus is divided into different program modules to complete all or part of the processing described above. In addition, the device for serially connecting data packets provided in the above embodiment belongs to the same concept as the method embodiment for serially connecting data packets, and the specific implementation process is detailed in the method embodiment, which is not described herein again.

Based on the foregoing embodiments, the embodiments of the present invention further provide a communication device, where the communication device is a terminal device or a network device in the foregoing embodiments. Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a hardware composition structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 9, the communication device includes a memory 52, a processor 51, and a computer program stored in the memory 52 and capable of running on the processor 51, where the processor 51 executes the program to implement steps of a method applied to the data packet concatenation of a terminal device; alternatively, the processor 51 performs the steps of the method of concatenation of data packets applied to a network device when executing the program.

Optionally, the communication device further comprises at least one network interface 53. Wherein the various components of the communication device are coupled together by a bus system 54. It is understood that the bus system 54 is used to enable connected communications between these components. The bus system 54 includes a power bus, a control bus, and a status signal bus in addition to the data bus. But for clarity of illustration the various buses are labeled as bus system 54 in fig. 9.

It will be appreciated that the memory 52 can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, and can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory. Wherein the nonvolatile Memory may be Read Only Memory (ROM), programmable Read Only Memory (PROM, programmable Read-Only Memory), erasable programmable Read Only Memory (EPROM, erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), electrically erasable programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM, electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), magnetic random access Memory (FRAM, ferromagnetic Random Access Memory), flash Memory (Flash Memory), magnetic surface Memory, optical disk, or compact disk Read Only Memory (CD-ROM, compact Disc Read-Only Memory); the magnetic surface memory may be a disk memory or a tape memory. The volatile memory may be random access memory (RAM, random Access Memory), which acts as external cache memory. By way of example, and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static random access memory (SRAM, static Random Access Memory), synchronous static random access memory (SSRAM, synchronous Static Random Access Memory), dynamic random access memory (DRAM, dynamic Random Access Memory), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM, synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (ddr SDRAM, double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM, enhanced Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM, syncLink Dynamic Random Access Memory), direct memory bus random access memory (DRRAM, direct Rambus Random Access Memory). The memory 52 described in embodiments of the present invention is intended to comprise, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

The method disclosed in the above embodiment of the present invention may be applied to the processor 51 or implemented by the processor 51. The processor 51 may be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. In implementation, the steps of the above method may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in the processor 51 or by instructions in the form of software. The processor 51 may be a general purpose processor, DSP, or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware components, or the like. The processor 51 may implement or perform the methods, steps and logic blocks disclosed in embodiments of the present invention. The general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiment of the invention can be directly embodied in the hardware of the decoding processor or can be implemented by combining hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software modules may be located in a storage medium in a memory 52. The processor 51 reads information in the memory 52 and, in combination with its hardware, performs the steps of the method as described above.

In an exemplary embodiment, the communication device may be implemented by one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASIC, application Specific Integrated Circuit), DSP, programmable logic device (PLD, programmable Logic Device), complex programmable logic device (CPLD, complex Programmable Logic Device), FPGA, general purpose processor, controller, MCU, microprocessor, or other electronic element for performing the aforementioned methods.

In an exemplary embodiment, the present invention also provides a computer readable storage medium, such as a memory 52, comprising a computer program executable by the processor 51 of the communication device to perform the steps of the method described above. The computer readable storage medium may be FRAM, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash Memory, magnetic surface Memory, optical disk, or CD-ROM; but may be a variety of devices including one or any combination of the above memories.

The embodiment of the invention provides a computer readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, which when being executed by a processor, implements the steps of a method for concatenating data packets applied to a terminal device; alternatively, the program when executed by the processor implements the steps of a method for concatenation of said data packets applied to the network device.

The methods disclosed in the several method embodiments provided in the present application may be arbitrarily combined without collision to obtain a new method embodiment.

The features disclosed in the several product embodiments provided in the present application may be combined arbitrarily without conflict to obtain new product embodiments.

The features disclosed in the several method or apparatus embodiments provided in the present application may be arbitrarily combined without conflict to obtain new method embodiments or apparatus embodiments.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. The above described device embodiments are only illustrative, e.g. the division of the units is only one logical function division, and there may be other divisions in practice, such as: multiple units or components may be combined or may be integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not performed. In addition, the various components shown or discussed may be coupled or directly coupled or communicatively coupled to each other via some interface, whether indirectly coupled or communicatively coupled to devices or units, whether electrically, mechanically, or otherwise.

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

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present invention may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may be separately used as one unit, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit; the integrated units may be implemented in hardware or in hardware plus software functional units.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that: all or part of the steps for implementing the above method embodiments may be implemented by hardware associated with program instructions, where the foregoing program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and when executed, the program performs steps including the above method embodiments; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: a removable storage device, ROM, RAM, magnetic or optical disk, or other medium capable of storing program code.

Alternatively, the above-described integrated units of the present invention may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium if implemented in the form of software functional modules and sold or used as separate products. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention may be embodied in essence or a part contributing to the prior art in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, including several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the methods described in the embodiments of the present invention. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a removable storage device, ROM, RAM, magnetic or optical disk, or other medium capable of storing program code.

The foregoing is merely illustrative of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art will readily recognize that variations or substitutions are within the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of concatenating data packets, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that terminal equipment receives first indication information, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating whether a PDCP data packet series connection of a packet data convergence protocol is started; the PDCP data packet concatenation refers to concatenating at least two PDCP service data units SDUs before the PDCP entity adds the header.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal device receives the first indication information, comprising:

the terminal equipment receives first configuration information sent by network equipment, wherein the first configuration information comprises the first indication information;

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first indication information comprises at least one of:

options for indicating the concatenation rules of the data packets.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the terminal device receives the first configuration information sent by the network device, comprising:

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal device receives the first indication information, comprising:

the PDCP entity of the terminal equipment receives the first indication information sent by the Medium Access Control (MAC) entity.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first indication information is further used for indicating an activated option for indicating a packet concatenation rule, the option for indicating a packet concatenation rule being configured by a network device, or being predefined by the terminal device, or being specified by a protocol.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises:

The PDCP entity of the terminal device receives at least one of the following information sent by the MAC entity:

predicted transport block size;

the predicted uplink resource allocation size;

predicted channel quality.

8. The method of claim 2, 3 or 6, wherein the option for indicating a packet concatenation rule comprises one of:

an option for indicating a size of the concatenated data packet;

an option for indicating the number of concatenated data packets;

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

the PDCP entity of the terminal equipment sends PDCP data based on the first indication information, and the PDCP data comprises the PDCP data packets connected in series when the first indication information indicates that the PDCP data packets are connected in series.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein at least one reserved bit in a header of the PDCP data is used to indicate whether to initiate PDCP packet concatenation.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein at least two reserved bits in a header of the PDCP data are used to indicate the option enabled for indicating PDCP packet concatenation rules.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the header of the PDCP data further includes at least one first indication field, the at least one first indication field being used to indicate a size of each upper layer packet received or a size of each compressed upper layer packet.

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein in case the terminal device switches access by a first network device to a second network device, the method further comprises:

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

And the terminal equipment receives a second PDCP state report sent by the second network equipment, and a sequence number field in the second PDCP state report is filled with the sequence number of a data packet which is not received in the first network equipment.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising:

the terminal device sends capability information to the network device, wherein the capability information comprises at least one of the following information:

whether the terminal equipment supports a PDCP data packet tandem function;

16. A method of concatenating data packets, the method comprising:

the network equipment sends first indication information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating whether the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) data packet concatenation is started or not; the PDCP data packet concatenation refers to concatenating at least two PDCP service data units SDUs before the PDCP entity adds the header.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the network device sending the first indication information to the terminal device comprises:

The network equipment sends first configuration information to the terminal equipment, wherein the first configuration information comprises the first indication information;

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the first indication information further comprises at least one of:

options for indicating the concatenation rules of the data packets.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the option for indicating a packet concatenation rule comprises one of:

an option for indicating a size of the concatenated data packet;

an option for indicating the number of concatenated data packets;

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the network device sending the first configuration information to the terminal device comprises:

21. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 20, further comprising:

and the network equipment receives the data sent by the terminal equipment, and when the first indication information indicates that the PDCP data packets are opened for series connection, the PDCP data corresponding to the data comprises the PDCP data packets which are connected in series.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein at least one reserved bit in a header of the PDCP data is used to indicate whether to initiate PDCP packet concatenation.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein at least two reserved bits in a header of the PDCP data are used to indicate the option enabled for indicating PDCP packet concatenation rules.

24. The method of claim 22 or 23, wherein the header of the PDCP data further includes at least one first indication field, the at least one first indication field being configured to indicate a size of each upper layer packet received or a size of each compressed upper layer packet.

25. The method according to any of the claims 17 to 20, wherein in case the terminal device switches access by a first network device to a second network device, the method further comprises:

and in the case that the network device is the first network device, the first network device sends the first configuration information to the second network device.

26. The method according to any of the claims 17 to 20, wherein in case the terminal device switches access by a first network device to a second network device, the method further comprises:

and the second network equipment sends the first configuration information to the first network equipment under the condition that the network equipment is the second network equipment.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the method further comprises:

the second network device receives a first PDCP status report sent by the terminal device, and a sequence number field in the first PDCP status report is filled with a sequence number of a data packet that is not received in the first network device.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein the method further comprises:

And the second network equipment sends a second PDCP status report to the terminal equipment, and a sequence number field in the second PDCP status report is filled with the sequence number of the data packet which is not received in the first network equipment.

29. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 20, further comprising:

the network equipment receives capability information sent by the terminal equipment, wherein the capability information comprises at least one of the following information:

whether the terminal equipment supports a PDCP data packet tandem function;

30. A device for concatenating data packets, wherein the device is applied to a terminal device; the device comprises a first receiving unit, a second receiving unit and a first receiving unit, wherein the first receiving unit is used for receiving first indication information, and the first indication information is used for indicating whether the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) data packet concatenation is started or not; the PDCP data packet concatenation refers to concatenating at least two PDCP service data units SDUs before the PDCP entity adds the header.

31. A device for concatenating data packets, wherein the device is applied to network equipment; the device comprises a second sending unit, a first sending unit and a second sending unit, wherein the second sending unit is used for sending first indication information to terminal equipment, and the first indication information is used for indicating whether to start Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) data packet concatenation; the PDCP data packet concatenation refers to concatenating at least two PDCP service data units SDUs before the PDCP entity adds the header.

32. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program, characterized in that the program when executed by a processor realizes the steps of the method according to any of claims 1 to 15; or,

which when executed by a processor carries out the steps of the method of any one of claims 16 to 29.

33. A communication device comprising a memory, a processor and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, characterized in that the processor implements the steps of the method of any of claims 1 to 15 when the program is executed; or,

the processor, when executing the program, implements the steps of the method of any one of claims 16 to 29.