CN117119616A

CN117119616A - Multi-CU connection management method and device and related equipment

Info

Publication number: CN117119616A
Application number: CN202210527654.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 佟舟; 李娜; 张慧敏; 孙军帅; 刘光毅
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: 2022-05-16
Filing date: 2022-05-16
Publication date: 2023-11-24
Also published as: WO2023221821A1

Abstract

The application provides a multi-CU connection management method, a multi-CU connection management device and related equipment, and belongs to the technical field of communication. The multi-CU connection management method comprises the following steps: receiving a first message sent by a PDCP layer of a first CU from a first connection, and after a first parameter is added in the first message, sending the first message to a MAC layer of a DU; or, receiving a second message sent by the MAC layer from the first connection, and sending the second message to the PDCP layer of the first CU, where the DU is connected to at least two CUs, the first CU is one CU of the at least two CUs, and the first connection is a connection between the first CU and the DU. By configuring one DU to be connected with a plurality of CUs, the requirement that the terminal needs to be connected with a plurality of different CUs is met in future scenes facing the vertical industry, and the service continuity of the terminal is ensured.

Description

Multi-CU connection management method and device and related equipment

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of communication, in particular to a multi-CU connection management method, a device and related equipment.

Background

In 5G NR, a gNB (base station) may include a Centralized Unit (CU) and a plurality of Distributed Units (DUs), where the CU and the DUs are connected through an F1 interface, and a terminal and the CU are connected through DUs.

In the related art, one DU can be connected to only one CU; in future scenarios oriented towards the vertical industry, a terminal may need to connect to multiple different CUs, which are in different geographical locations and can provide different functions, thus requiring new connection means between CUs and DUs.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a multi-CU connection method, a multi-CU connection device and related equipment, so as to meet the requirement that a terminal needs to be connected with a plurality of different CUs.

To solve the above problems, the present application is achieved as follows:

in a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a multi-CU connection management method, applied to a network side device, including:

receiving a first message sent by a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer of a first Centralized Unit (CU) from a first connection, and after a first parameter is added in the first message, sending the first message to a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer of a Distribution Unit (DU);

or,

receiving a second message sent by the MAC layer from the first connection, and sending the second message to the PDCP layer of the first CU;

wherein the DU is connected with at least two CUs, the first CU is one CU of the at least two CUs, and the first connection is a connection between the first CU and the DU.

Optionally, the first parameter includes a first identifier and/or a second identifier;

the first identifier is used for indicating a radio link control RLC channel for receiving the first message, and the second identifier is used for indicating a CU corresponding to the first message.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a multi-CU connection management method, applied to a network side device, including:

in case a first connection has been established between the distribution unit DU and the first concentration unit CU, a second connection is established between said DU and the second CU.

Optionally, the establishing a second connection between the DU and a second CU includes:

selecting a second CU from CU information associated with the DU according to the service demand information of the terminal;

a connection request is initiated to the second CU, a second connection being established between the DU and the second CU.

Optionally, after the second connection is established between the DU and the second CU, the method further includes:

receiving a service establishment response corresponding to the second connection;

and sending a Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration message to the terminal, and receiving a reconfiguration completion message fed back by the terminal.

Optionally, the service requirement information of the terminal includes at least one of the following:

A slice list allowed by the terminal;

the terminal requires the calculation capability of the CU;

and the terminal requires the delay of the service provided by the CU corresponding to the network.

Optionally, the CU information associated with the DU includes at least one of:

slice IDs supported by the target CU;

a deployment location of the target CU;

the computing power of the target CU;

wherein the target CU is any CU of a plurality of CUs associated with the DU.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a multi-CU connection management method, applied to a network side device, including:

in case a first connection has been established between the first distribution unit DU and the first concentration unit CU and a second connection has been established between the first DU and the second CU, a third connection is established between the second DU and the second CU;

or,

in the case that a first connection has been established between the first DU and the first CU, a second connection has been established between the first DU and the second CU, and a fourth connection has been established between the second DU and the second CU, the fourth connection is deleted.

Optionally, the establishing a third connection between the second DU and the second CU includes:

obtaining a plurality of alternative DUs according to measurement results reported by a terminal, wherein the Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) of a cell corresponding to the alternative DUs is larger than a first threshold value, and the Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) of a cell corresponding to the alternative DUs is larger than a second threshold value;

Determining a second DU from the plurality of candidate DUs;

a connection request is initiated to the second DU, a third connection being established between the second DU and the second CU.

Optionally, determining the second DU from the plurality of candidate DUs includes:

determining the target DU as the second DU under the condition that the target DU meets the preset condition;

wherein the target DU is any one of the plurality of candidate DUs, and the preset condition includes at least one of the following:

the slice ID supported by the target DU is the same as the slice ID supported by the first DU, and the RSRP value of the cell corresponding to the target DU is the maximum value of a plurality of RSRP values of cells corresponding to a plurality of alternative DUs respectively;

the RSRQ of the cell corresponding to the target DU is larger than the RSRQ of the cell corresponding to the first DU;

the performance index of the target DU is larger than a third threshold corresponding to the performance index.

Optionally, after the third connection is established between the second DU and the second CU, the method further includes:

receiving a service establishment response corresponding to the third connection;

Optionally, the deleting the fourth connection includes:

Determining the second DU as a third DU according to the measurement result reported by the terminal, wherein the Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) of the cell corresponding to the third DU is smaller than a first threshold value, and/or the Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) of the cell corresponding to the third DU is smaller than a second threshold value;

a delete request is initiated to the third DU.

Optionally, after the deleting the fourth connection, the method further includes:

receiving a service deletion response corresponding to the fourth connection;

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a multi-CU connection management method, applied to a terminal device, including:

receiving a first message from a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer of a terminal, and transmitting the first message to a first Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer of the terminal;

or,

receiving a second message from a first PDCP layer of the terminal, and after adding a second parameter in the second message, transmitting the second message to a MAC layer of the terminal;

the wireless link control RLC layer of the terminal is connected with at least two PDCP of the terminal, and the first PDCP layer is one PDCP of the at least two PDCP of the terminal; at least two PDCP's of the terminal are in one-to-one correspondence with at least two CUs of the network side device.

Optionally, the second parameter is used to indicate an RLC channel for receiving the second message.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a multi-CU connection management method, applied to a terminal device, including:

and under the condition that a first connection is established between the distribution unit DU and the first centralized unit CU and a second connection is additionally arranged between the DU and the second CU, the network side equipment receives the radio resource control RRC reconfiguration message sent by the network side equipment and feeds back the reconfiguration completion message to the network side equipment.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a multi-CU connection management method, applied to a terminal device, including:

a first connection is established between a first distribution unit DU and a first concentration unit CU, a second connection is established between the first DU and a second CU, and a network side device receives a radio resource control RRC reconfiguration message sent by the network side device and feeds back a reconfiguration completion message to the network side device under the condition that a third connection is additionally arranged between the second DU and the second CU;

or,

and under the condition that a first connection is established between the first DU and the first CU, a second connection is established between the first DU and the second CU, and the network side equipment deletes the established fourth connection between the second DU and the second CU, receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) reconfiguration message sent by the network side equipment, and feeding back a reconfiguration completion message to the network side equipment.

In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a multi-CU connection management apparatus, including:

a first transceiver for:

or,

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a multi-CU connection management apparatus, including:

a second processor for:

In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a multi-CU connection management apparatus, including:

a third processor for:

Or,

In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a multi-CU connection management apparatus, including:

a fourth transceiver for:

or,

In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a multi-CU connection management apparatus, including:

a fifth transceiver for:

In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a multi-CU connection management apparatus, including:

a sixth transceiver for:

or,

In a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device, including: a transceiver, a memory, a processor, and a program stored on the memory and executable on the processor; wherein the processor is configured to read a program in the memory to implement the steps of the method according to the first aspect; or, a step in a method as described in the second aspect above; or, a step in a method as described in the foregoing third aspect; or, a step in a method as described in the fourth aspect; or, a step in a method as described in the fifth aspect; or, as in the method of the sixth aspect described above.

In a fourteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a readable storage medium storing a program, which when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the method according to the foregoing first aspect; or, a step in a method as described in the second aspect above; or, a step in a method as described in the foregoing third aspect; or, a step in a method as described in the fourth aspect; or, a step in a method as described in the fifth aspect; or, as in the method of the sixth aspect described above.

In the embodiment of the application, one DU is configured to be connected with a plurality of CUs, so that the requirement that the terminal needs to be connected with a plurality of different CUs in future scenes facing the vertical industry is met, and the service continuity of the terminal is ensured.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings that are needed in the description of the embodiments of the present application will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application, and other drawings may be obtained according to these drawings without inventive effort to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a wireless communication system to which embodiments of the present application are applicable;

fig. 2 is a schematic flow chart of a multi-CU connection management method applied to a network side device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a second flowchart of a multi-CU connection management method applied to a network side device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a radio bearer according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of an RRC message routing provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a flowchart of another multi-CU connection management method applied to a network side device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of a CU addition procedure according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of another CU addition procedure according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a flowchart of another multi-CU connection management method applied to a network side device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a DU adding and deleting procedure provided in an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of another DU adding and deleting procedure provided in the embodiment of the present application;

fig. 12 is a schematic flow chart of a multi-CU connection management method applied to a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 13 is a second flowchart of a multi-CU connection management method applied to a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a flowchart of another multi-CU connection management method applied to a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 15 is a flowchart of still another multi-CU connection management method applied to a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of a multi-CU connection management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of another multi-CU connection management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of still another multi-CU connection management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of still another multi-CU connection management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 20 is a schematic structural diagram of a multi-CU connection management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 21 is a schematic structural diagram of another multi-CU connection management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 22 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The following description of the embodiments of the present application will be made clearly and fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which it is evident that the embodiments described are some, but not all embodiments of the application. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the application without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the application.

The terms first, second and the like in the description and in the claims, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the application are capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein, and that the "first" and "second" distinguishing between objects generally are not limited in number to the extent that the first object may, for example, be one or more. Furthermore, in the description and claims, "and/or" means at least one of the connected objects, and the character "/" generally means a relationship in which the associated object is an "or" before and after.

It should be noted that the techniques described in the embodiments of the present application are not limited to long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE)/LTE evolution (LTE-Advanced, LTE-a) systems, but may also be used in other wireless communication systems, such as code division multiple access (Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA), time division multiple access (Time Division Multiple Access, TDMA), frequency division multiple access (Frequency Division Multiple Access, FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access, OFDMA), single-carrier frequency division multiple access (Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access, SC-FDMA), and other systems. The terms "system" and "network" in embodiments of the application are often used interchangeably, and the techniques described may be used for both the above-mentioned systems and radio technologies, as well as other systems and radio technologies. The following description describes a New air interface (NR) system for purposes of example and NR terminology is used in much of the description below, but these techniques may also be applied to applications other than NR system applications, such as the 6th generation (6th Generation,6G) communication system.

Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable. The wireless communication system includes a terminal 11 and a network device 12. The terminal 11 may also be called a terminal Device or a User Equipment (UE), and the terminal 11 may be a terminal-side Device such as a mobile phone, a tablet Computer (Tablet Personal Computer), a Laptop (Laptop Computer) or a notebook (Personal Digital Assistant, PDA), a palm Computer, a netbook, an ultra-mobile personal Computer (ultra-mobile personal Computer, UMPC), a mobile internet Device (Mobile Internet Device, MID), a Wearable Device (or a vehicle-mounted Device (VUE), a pedestrian terminal (PUE), and the Wearable Device includes: smart watches, bracelets, headphones, eyeglasses, etc. It should be noted that the specific type of the terminal 11 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. The network side device 12 may be a base station or a core network, wherein the base station may be called a node B, an evolved node B, an access point, a base transceiver station (Base Transceiver Station, BTS), a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a basic service set (Basic Service Set, BSS), an extended service set (Extended Service Set, ESS), a node B, an evolved node B (eNB), a home node B, a home evolved node B, a WLAN access point, a WiFi node, a transmission and reception point (Transmitting Receiving Point, TRP), or some other suitable terminology in the field, and the base station is not limited to a specific technical vocabulary so long as the same technical effect is achieved, and it should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, only the base station in the NR system is taken as an example, but the specific type of the base station is not limited.

The following describes a multi-CU connection management method provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Referring to fig. 2 and 3, fig. 2 is a first flowchart of a multi-CU connection management method according to an embodiment of the present application, and fig. 3 is a second flowchart of a multi-CU connection management method according to an embodiment of the present application. The multi-CU connection management method shown in fig. 2 and 3 is applied to a network side device.

As shown in fig. 2, the multi-CU connection management method may include the steps of:

step 201, a first message sent by a packet data convergence protocol PDCP layer of a first central unit CU is received from a first connection.

Step 202, after adding a first parameter to the first message, the first message is sent to a medium access control MAC layer of a distribution unit DU.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 3, the multi-CU connection management method may further include the steps of:

step 301, receiving a second message sent by the MAC layer from the first connection.

Step 302, sending the second message to the PDCP layer of the first CU.

It should be noted that connection of a DU to at least two CUs is understood to mean that at least two CUs establish a connection with a terminal through the DU, and similarly, connection between a first CU and the DU is understood to mean that a first CU establishes a connection with a terminal through the DU.

Any two CUs of the at least two CUs are different (e.g., different functions, different processing capabilities, different geographical locations, etc.), for example, one of the at least two CUs may be a CU deployed at an edge to reduce access delay of a terminal, and another CU of the at least two CUs may be a CU deployed at a cloud to reduce deployment cost.

The connection between one DU and at least two CUs is preferably implemented in a manner that at least two packet data convergence protocol (Packet Data Convergence Protocol, PDCP) entities are associated with one radio link control (Radio Link Control, RLC) bearer, which is understood to be RLC and medium access control (Medium Access Control, MAC) logical channel configuration on one radio bearer within one cell group, one-to-one correspondence of at least two PDCP entities with at least two CUs.

the first identifier is used for indicating to receive a first message radio link control RLC channel, and the second identifier is used for indicating a CU corresponding to the first message.

As described above, for the network side device, at the time of downlink transmission (corresponding to the first message), at least two PDCP entities may be differentiated by marking the RLC channel used for transmitting the first message, so as to indirectly complete the differentiation of at least two CUs that establish connection with the DU at the terminal; when uplink transmission (corresponding to the second message) is performed, the second message may be directly transmitted to the corresponding PDCP entity according to the message route related to the second message.

In addition, in the downlink transmission process, the network side device may also directly complete the distinction between at least two CUs that establish connection with the DU at the terminal by marking a CU corresponding to the first message, where the first message corresponds to the CU and may be understood as the CU is the message sending source of the first message.

For ease of understanding, taking the downlink transmission procedure as an example, the following is illustrated:

referring to fig. 4, a PDCP entity corresponding to a first CU and a PDCP entity corresponding to a second CU are associated with an RLC bearer corresponding to a DU, wherein the RLC bearer includes two parts, an RLC layer and a MAC layer, the RLC layer communicates with the PDCP layer through an RLC Channel (Channel), different PDCP entities transmit RLC service data units (Service Data Unit, SDUs) to the RLC layer through different RLC channels, and the RLC layer can recognize upper layer (which may be understood as PDCP layer) information from the different RLC channels by setting different Channel IDs for the different RLC channels.

The message transmitted by the RLC layer to the lower layer (which may be understood as the MAC layer in fig. 4) is an RLC protocol data unit (Protocol Data Unit, PDU) comprising an RLC header (header) and an RLC SDU, the RLC header may comprise the aforementioned first parameter.

It should be noted that, the RLC header remains unchanged during the message transmission process, so when the RLC layer receives the second message sent by the MAC layer, the RLC layer may determine an RLC channel according to the first parameter in the RLC header corresponding to the second message, and directly transmit the second message to the corresponding PDCP layer through the RLC channel.

In this example, the first identity included in setting the first parameter may be represented by a Reserved field "R" (Reserved (R) field) in the RLC header, as shown in fig. 5. The value of the "R" field may be set to 0 or 1 to correspond to the channel IDs of the different RLC channels, respectively. For example, as shown in table 1, when the channel id=0, the value of the "R" field is set to 0; the value of the "R" field is set to 0 when channel id=1 (the value of the "R" field may be set to 1 when channel id=0, and the value of the "R" field may be set to 0 when channel id=1).

TABLE 1

In this example, the first flag included in the first parameter may be set to be indicated by a combination of a Reserved field "R" (Reserved (R) field) in the RLC header and a used field (the used field may be one or two or more) in the RLC header, and the value of the "R" field may be set to be 0 or 1, and the value of the used field may be set to be 0 or 1, so as to correspond to the channel IDs of the different RLC channels, respectively. For example, as shown in table 2, when the channel id=0, the value of the first parameter is set to 00 (i.e. the value of the "R" field is set to 0, and the value of the used field is also set to 0); when channel id=1, setting the value of the first parameter to 01 (i.e., setting the value of the "R" field to 0 and the value of the used field to 1); when channel id=2, setting the value of the first parameter to 10 (i.e., setting the value of the "R" field to 1 and the value of the used field to 0); when channel id=3, the value of the first parameter is set to 11 (i.e., the value of the "R" field is set to 1, and the value of the used field is also set to 1).

The value of the first parameter	Description of values
		00	Data RLC channel id=0
01	Data RLC channel id=1
		10	Data RLC channel id=2
11	Data RLC channel id=3

TABLE 2

In this example, it may also be provided that the first parameter includes a first identity represented by at least one field already used in the RLC header.

The setting manner of the second identifier may refer to the setting manner of the first identifier in the above example, and in order to avoid repetition, a description thereof will be omitted.

Referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a flow chart of a multi-CU connection management method according to an embodiment of the present application. The multi-CU connection management application method shown in fig. 6 is applied to a network side device.

As shown in fig. 6, the multi-CU connection management method may include the steps of:

step 601, in case a first connection has been established between the distribution unit DU and the first concentration unit CU, a second connection is established between said DU and the second CU.

Through the mode of adding the second connection between DU and second CU, realize the connection between a DU and a plurality of CUs to in the future scene towards perpendicular trade, satisfy the terminal need connect the demand of a plurality of different CUs, ensure the business continuity of terminal.

It should be noted that the second CU is understood to be a CU different from the first CU (e.g. different in function, different in processing capability, different in geographic location, etc.), for example, the first CU may be a CU deployed at an edge to reduce access delay of a terminal, and the second CU may be a CU deployed at a cloud to reduce deployment cost.

The number of the second CUs may be one, or may be two or more. In the case where the number of second CUs is two or more, the two or more second CUs are different from each other (there is a difference in at least one of information such as a function, a processing capability, or a geographical location where they are located).

In some embodiments, the selecting operation of the second CU may be performed by the DU, that is, the DU receives service requirement information of the terminal sent by the first CU, and selects the second CU from CU information associated with the DU according to the service requirement information of the terminal.

In the case that the DU selects the second CU, the DU may trigger an addition operation of the second connection (i.e., the DU initiates a service establishment request to the second CU, so that the second CU reserves relevant service resources for the terminal), and feed back the addition situation and relevant information of the second CU to the first CU.

In case the DU selects the second CU, the DU may send related information of the selected second CU to the first CU, so that the first CU triggers an addition operation of the second connection according to the first CU (i.e. the first CU initiates a service establishment request to the second CU, so that the second CU reserves related service resources for the terminal).

In some embodiments, the selecting operation of the second CU may also be performed by the first CU, that is, the first CU sends a CU information request message (for requesting a CU list associated with the DU and service information supported by each CU in the CU list) to the DU, and after the DU responds to the CU information request message, the first CU receives the CU information fed back by the DU and selects the second CU from the received CU information according to the service requirement information of the terminal.

In case the first CU selects the second CU, the first CU may feed back the selected second CU to the DU, such that the DU triggers the addition operation of the second connection.

In case the first CU selects the second CU, the first CU may also directly trigger the addition operation of the second connection.

Specifically, the service requirement information of the terminal includes at least one of the following:

-a list of slices allowed by the terminal (Slice Support List);

the computational power requirements (CU Capability Request) of the terminal on the CU, such as the requirements of the terminal on the data processing rate of the CU and the like;

the terminal requests a delay (Maximum Latency) of a service provided by the CU corresponding to the network.

It should be noted that the service requirement information of the terminal may be obtained from the terminal by the first CU, or may be obtained from other network nodes by the first CU, for example, the other network nodes may be application functions (Application Function, AF), application servers (Application Server, AF), or policy control functions (Policy Control Function, PCF), etc

Specifically, the CU information associated with the DU includes at least one of the following:

slice IDs (CU support S-NSSAIs) supported by the target CU;

a deployment Location (CU Location) of the target CU, such as a machine room Location of the target CU and/or a distance between the target CU and the DU;

computing capabilities (CU capabilities) of the target CU;

wherein the target CU is any CU of a plurality of CUs associated with the DU.

After the second connection is established, the first CU receives a service establishment response of the second CU corresponding to the second connection, and sends updated configuration information to the terminal through the RRC reconfiguration message, and after the terminal receives the RRC reconfiguration message, the terminal feeds back a reconfiguration completion message to the first CU.

For ease of understanding, examples are illustrated below:

as shown in fig. 7, the DU receives a CU selection configuration (i.e., service requirement information of a terminal) sent by the first CU, and completes a CU selection response (i.e., selects a second CU in CU information associated with the DU) according to the CU selection configuration, and subsequently completes a CU addition request and response (i.e., triggers an addition operation of the second connection) through the DU or the first CU; after the second connection is added, the first CU receives a service setup response of the second CU (i.e. other CUs in fig. 7) corresponding to the second connection, and sends updated configuration information to the terminal through an RRC reconfiguration message, and after receiving the RRC reconfiguration message, the terminal feeds back a reconfiguration complete message to the first CU.

As shown in fig. 8, a first CU sends a CU information request message (for requesting a CU list associated with a DU and service information supported by each CU in the CU list) to a DU, and after the DU responds to the CU information request message, the first CU receives CU information fed back by the DU and selects a second CU from the received CU information according to service requirement information of a terminal, and then completes a CU addition request through the DU or the first CU; after the second connection is added, the first CU receives a service setup response of the second CU (i.e. other CUs in fig. 8) corresponding to the second connection, and sends updated configuration information to the terminal through an RRC reconfiguration message, and after receiving the RRC reconfiguration message, the terminal feeds back a reconfiguration complete message to the first CU.

Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a flowchart of a multi-CU connection management method according to an embodiment of the present application. The multi-CU connection management application method shown in fig. 9 is applied to a network side device.

As shown in fig. 9, the multi-CU connection management method may include the steps of:

901. in case a first connection has been established between the first distribution unit DU and the first concentration unit CU and a second connection has been established between the first DU and the second CU, a third connection is established between the second DU and the second CU;

Or,

Through the mode of third connection between the second DU and the second CU or the mode of deleting the fourth connection established between the third DU and the second CU by the terminal, under the condition that one DU is connected with a plurality of CUs, the change of the DU is realized, so that the requirement that the terminal needs to be connected with a plurality of different CUs in future scenes facing the vertical industry is met, and the service continuity of the terminal is ensured.

The second DU is understood to be a DU different from the first DU, and the number of the second DUs may be one or two or more in the embodiment of the present application, which is not limited in this regard.

determining a second DU from the plurality of candidate DUs;

In some embodiments, the determination of the second DU may be performed by the first CU, i.e. the first CU obtains a plurality of candidate DUs according to the measurement result reported by the terminal; the first CU determines a second DU from the plurality of candidate CUs and sends related information of the second DU to the second CU so that the second CU initiates a connection request to the second DU.

In some embodiments, the determining of the second DU may also be performed by the second CU, that is, the second CU obtains a plurality of candidate DUs according to the measurement result reported by the terminal; the second CU determines a second DU among the plurality of candidate CUs and initiates a connection request to the second DU.

The measurement result reported by the terminal comprises the following steps:

physical cell identity (Physical Cell Identifier, PCI) of the cell and PCI of the neighbor cell;

RSRP and RSRQ of the first DU related cell;

RSRP and RSRQ of other DU related cells associated with the terminal.

When a second DU is determined in the plurality of alternative DUs, the first CU or the second CU respectively performs information interaction with the plurality of alternative DUs, and determines the second DU based on the interacted information and the service requirement of the terminal; wherein the mutual information between the first CU or the second CU and the plurality of candidate DUs includes: a list of slices supported by the candidate DU (DU support S-NSSAIs), channel quality of a cell in which the candidate DU is located, computing power of the candidate DU, location information of the candidate DU, and the like.

Further, determining a second DU from the plurality of candidate DUs includes:

For example, in the case that the slice load accessed by the terminal through the first DU is higher than the load threshold, determining an alternative DU with the largest RSRP value of the relevant cell as the second DU from among alternative DUs supporting the same slice ID (refer to that the alternative DU supports the same slice ID as the first DU supports);

or,

in the case that the signal quality of the first DU related cell is lower than the quality threshold, determining an alternative DU having a channel quality superior to that of the first DU related cell among the plurality of alternative DUs as a second DU (the determined number of the second DUs is at least one);

or,

in the case that the terminal has a specific requirement on performance indexes such as time delay and throughput (for example, the requirement that the time delay is smaller than a time threshold or the throughput is larger than a throughput threshold) and the service provided by the first DU cannot meet the specific requirement, determining an alternative DU capable of meeting the specific requirement as a second DU (at least one determined number of the second DUs) from a plurality of alternative DUs.

In some embodiments, in the case where the determination of the second DU is performed by the first CU, after the third connection is established, the first CU receives a service establishment response of the second CU corresponding to the third connection, and sends updated configuration information to the terminal through an RRC reconfiguration message, and after the terminal receives the RRC reconfiguration message, the terminal feeds back a reconfiguration complete message to the first CU.

In some embodiments, in a case where the determination of the second DU is performed by the second CU, after the third connection is established, the second CU sends the updated configuration information to the terminal through an RRC reconfiguration message, and after the terminal receives the RRC reconfiguration message, the terminal feeds back a reconfiguration complete message to the second CU, and the second CU feeds back the reconfiguration complete message to the first CU.

Optionally, the deleting the fourth connection includes:

determining the second DU as a third DU according to a measurement result reported by the terminal, wherein the Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) of the cell corresponding to the third DU is smaller than a first threshold value, and/or the Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) of the cell corresponding to the third DU is smaller than a second threshold value;

A delete request is initiated to the third DU.

The determining of the third DU may be performed by the first CU or the second CU, that is, the first CU receives a measurement result reported by the terminal, and determines the second DU as the third DU according to the measurement result; or the second CU receives the measurement result reported by the terminal and determines the second DU as a third DU according to the measurement result.

If the third DU is determined by the first CU, the first CU sends related information of the third DU to the second CU so that the second CU initiates a deletion request to the third DU; if the third DU is determined by the second CU, the second CU directly initiates a delete request to the third DU.

The measurement results reported by the terminal are referred to the foregoing description, and are not repeated for avoiding repetition.

receiving a service deletion response corresponding to the fourth connection;

In some embodiments, if the third DU is determined by the first CU, after the third connection is established, the first CU receives a service deletion response corresponding to the third connection by the second CU, and sends updated configuration information to the terminal through an RRC reconfiguration message, and after the terminal receives the RRC reconfiguration message, the terminal feeds back a reconfiguration complete message to the first CU.

In some embodiments, if the third DU is determined by the second CU, after the third connection is established, the second CU sends updated configuration information to the terminal through an RRC reconfiguration message (corresponding to deletion of the third connection), and after the terminal receives the RRC reconfiguration message, the terminal feeds back a reconfiguration complete message to the second CU, which feeds back the reconfiguration complete message to the first CU.

For ease of understanding, examples are illustrated below:

referring to fig. 10, in the case where a first connection has been established between a first DU and a first CU and a second connection has been established between the first DU and a second CU, the addition procedure of the second DU may be:

the terminal reports a measurement result to the first CU, and after the first CU determines a second DU based on the service requirement of the terminal, the first CU sends related information of the second DU to the second CU so that the second CU initiates an addition request to the second DU; after the third connection is established, the second CU sends a service establishment response (i.e., a second DU addition response in fig. 10) corresponding to the third connection to the first CU, and the first CU generates RRC reconfiguration information based on the service establishment response and sends the RRC reconfiguration information to the terminal (after the reconfiguration is completed, the terminal feeds back a reconfiguration completion message to the first CU).

Referring to fig. 10 (the second DU deletion phase may be understood as a fourth connection deletion phase in fig. 10), in the case where a first connection has been established between a first DU and a first CU, a second connection has been established between the first DU and the second CU, and a fourth connection has been established between the second DU and the second CU, the deletion procedure of the fourth connection may be:

the terminal reports a measurement result to the first CU, and after the first CU determines the second DU as a third DU based on a preset condition, the first CU sends related information of the second DU (namely the determined third DU) to the second CU so as to enable the second CU to initiate a deletion request to the second DU; after the fourth connection is deleted, the second CU sends a service deletion response (i.e., the second DU deletion response in fig. 10) corresponding to the fourth connection to the first CU, and the first CU generates RRC reconfiguration information based on the service deletion response and sends the RRC reconfiguration information to the terminal (after the reconfiguration is completed, the terminal feeds back a reconfiguration completion message to the first CU).

Referring to fig. 11, in the case where a first connection has been established between a first DU and a first CU and a second connection has been established between the first DU and a second CU, the addition procedure of the second DU may be:

the terminal reports a measurement result to the second CU, and the second CU initiates an addition request to the second DU after determining the second DU based on the service requirement of the terminal; after the third connection is established, based on the newly established third connection, the second CU sends RRC reconfiguration information to the terminal, receives a reconfiguration complete message fed back by the terminal, and then forwards the reconfiguration complete message to the first CU.

Referring to fig. 11 (the second DU deletion phase may be understood as a fourth connection deletion phase in fig. 11), in the case where a first connection has been established between a first DU and a first CU, a second connection has been established between the first DU and the second CU, and a fourth connection has been established between the second DU and the second CU, the deletion procedure of the fourth connection may be:

the terminal reports the measurement result to the second CU, and the second CU determines the second DU as a third DU based on the preset condition and then initiates a deletion request to the second DU (namely the determined third DU); after the fourth connection is deleted, based on the deleted fourth connection, the second CU sends RRC reconfiguration information to the terminal, receives a reconfiguration complete message fed back by the terminal, and then forwards the reconfiguration complete message to the first CU.

Referring to fig. 12 and 13, fig. 12 is a first flowchart of a multi-CU connection management method according to an embodiment of the present application, and fig. 13 is a second flowchart of a multi-CU connection management method according to an embodiment of the present application. The multi-CU connection management application method shown in fig. 12 and 13 is applied to a terminal device.

As shown in fig. 12, the multi-CU connection management method may include the steps of:

step 1201, receiving a first message from a medium access control MAC layer of a terminal.

Step 1202, the first message is sent to a first packet data convergence protocol PDCP layer of the terminal.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 13, the multi-CU connection management method may further include the steps of:

step 1301, receiving a second message from a first PDCP layer of the terminal.

Step 1302, after adding a second parameter to the second message, sending the second message to a MAC layer of the terminal.

It should be noted that, this embodiment is implemented as a terminal device corresponding to the method embodiment described in fig. 2 and fig. 3, so reference may be made to the description related to the method embodiment described above, and the same beneficial effects may be achieved. In order to avoid repetition of the description, a description thereof will be omitted.

Referring to fig. 14, fig. 14 is a flowchart of a multi-CU connection management method according to an embodiment of the present application. The multi-CU connection management application method shown in fig. 14 is applied to a terminal device.

As shown in fig. 14, the multi-CU connection management method may include the steps of:

in step 1401, when a first connection is established between the distribution unit DU and the first centralized unit CU, and a second connection is added between the DU and the second CU by the network side device, a radio resource control RRC reconfiguration message sent by the network side device is received, and a reconfiguration completion message is fed back to the network side device.

The flow of adding the second connection between the DU and the second CU by the network side device may refer to the related description in the method embodiment described in fig. 6, and in order to avoid repetition of the description, no description is repeated here.

Referring to fig. 15, fig. 15 is a flowchart of a multi-CU connection management method according to an embodiment of the present application. The multi-CU connection management application method shown in fig. 15 is applied to a terminal device.

As shown in fig. 15, the multi-CU connection management method may include the steps of:

step 1501, a first connection is established between a first distribution unit DU and a first concentration unit CU, a second connection is established between the first DU and a second CU, and when a third connection is added between the second DU and the second CU, a network side device receives a radio resource control RRC reconfiguration message sent by the network side device, and feeds back a reconfiguration completion message to the network side device;

Or,

In the embodiment of the application, the connection between one DU and a plurality of CUs is configured to meet the requirement that the terminal needs to be connected with a plurality of different CUs in future scenes facing the vertical industry, so that the service continuity of the terminal is ensured.

The flow of adding the third connection between the second DU and the second CU by the network side device, or the flow of deleting the fourth connection established between the second DU and the second CU may refer to the related description in the method embodiment shown in fig. 9, and in order to avoid repetitive description, the description is omitted here.

Referring to fig. 16, fig. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of a multi-CU connection management apparatus 1600 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 16, the multi-CU connection management apparatus 1600 includes:

a first transceiver 1601 for:

Or,

The multi-CU connection management apparatus 1600 is capable of implementing the processes of the method embodiments of fig. 2 and 3 in the embodiment of the present application and achieves the same advantages, and for avoiding repetition, a detailed description is omitted here.

Referring to fig. 17, fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of a multi-CU connection management apparatus 1700 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 17, the multi-CU connection management apparatus 1700 includes:

a second processor 1701 for:

Optionally, the second processor 1501 is specifically configured to:

Selecting a second CU from CU information associated with DU according to the service demand information of the terminal;

the multi-CU connection management apparatus further includes:

a second transceiver for:

Further, the service requirement information of the terminal includes at least one of the following:

a slice list allowed by the terminal;

the terminal requires the calculation capability of the CU;

Further, the CU information associated with the DU includes at least one of:

slice IDs supported by the target CU;

a deployment location of the target CU;

the computing power of the target CU;

wherein the target CU is any CU of a plurality of CUs associated with the DU.

Optionally, the second transceiver is further configured to:

after establishing connection between the DU and a second CU, receiving a service establishment response corresponding to the second connection;

The multi-CU connection management apparatus 1700 is capable of implementing the processes of the method embodiment of fig. 6 in the embodiment of the present application and achieving the same advantageous effects, and is not described herein again for avoiding repetition.

Referring to fig. 18, fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of a multi-CU connection management apparatus 1800 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 18, the multi-CU connection management apparatus 1800 includes:

a third processor 1801 for:

or,

Optionally, the multi-CU connection management apparatus 1800 further includes:

a third transceiver for:

receiving a measurement result reported by a terminal;

the third processor 1801 is specifically configured to:

obtaining a plurality of alternative DUs according to the measurement result reported by the terminal, wherein the Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) of the cell corresponding to the alternative DUs is larger than a first threshold value, and the Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) of the cell corresponding to the alternative DUs is larger than a second threshold value;

determining a second DU from the plurality of candidate DUs;

the third transceiver is further configured to:

Optionally, the third processor 1601 is specifically configured to:

Optionally, the third transceiver is further configured to:

after a third connection is established between the second DU and the second CU, receiving a service establishment response corresponding to the third connection;

Optionally, the third transceiver is further configured to:

receiving a measurement result of the terminal on duty;

the third processor 1801 is specifically configured to:

the third transceiver is further configured to:

a delete request is initiated to the third DU.

Further, the third transceiver is further configured to:

after deleting the fourth connection, receiving a service deletion response corresponding to the fourth connection;

The multi-CU connection management apparatus 1800 is capable of implementing each process of the method embodiment of fig. 9 in the embodiment of the present application and achieving the same advantageous effects, and is not described herein again for avoiding repetition.

Referring to fig. 19, fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of a multi-CU connection management apparatus 1900 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 19, the multi-CU connection management apparatus 1900 includes:

a fourth transceiver 1901 for:

Or,

Optionally, the first parameter is used to indicate an RLC channel for receiving the second message. The multi-CU connection management apparatus 1900 can implement the processes of the method embodiments of fig. 12 and 13 in the embodiment of the present application, and achieve the same beneficial effects, and in order to avoid repetition, a detailed description is omitted here.

Referring to fig. 20, fig. 20 is a schematic structural diagram of a multi-CU connection management apparatus 2000 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 20, the multi-CU connection management apparatus 2000 includes:

a fifth transceiver 2001 for:

The multi-CU connection management apparatus 2000 can implement the processes of the method embodiment of fig. 14 in the embodiment of the present application and achieve the same beneficial effects, and in order to avoid repetition, a detailed description is omitted here.

Referring to fig. 21, fig. 21 is a schematic structural diagram of a multi-CU connection management apparatus 2100 according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 21, the multi-CU connection management apparatus 2100 includes:

a sixth transceiver 2101 for:

or,

The multi-CU connection management apparatus 2100 is capable of implementing the processes of the method embodiment of fig. 15 in the embodiment of the present application and achieves the same advantages, and for avoiding repetition, a detailed description is omitted here.

The embodiment of the application also provides communication equipment. Referring to fig. 22, a communication device may include a processor 2201, a memory 2202, and a program 22021 stored on the memory 2202 and executable on the processor 2201.

In the case that the communication device is a terminal, any steps and the same beneficial effects in the method embodiments corresponding to fig. 12, 13, 14 or 15 can be implemented when the program 22021 is executed by the processor 2201, which will not be described herein.

In the case where the communication device is a network side device, any steps and the same beneficial effects in the method embodiments corresponding to fig. 2, 3, 6 or 9 can be implemented when the program 22021 is executed by the processor 2201, which will not be described herein.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that all or a portion of the steps of implementing the methods of the embodiments described above may be implemented by hardware associated with program instructions, where the program may be stored on a readable medium. The embodiment of the present application further provides a readable storage medium, where a computer program is stored, where any step in the method embodiments corresponding to fig. 2, fig. 3, fig. 6, fig. 9, fig. 12, fig. 13, fig. 14, or fig. 15 can be implemented when the computer program is executed by a processor, and the same technical effects can be achieved, so that repetition is avoided and no redundant description is provided herein.

Such as Read-Only Memory (ROM), random access Memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), magnetic or optical disk, etc.

It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element. Furthermore, it should be noted that the scope of the methods and apparatus in the embodiments of the present application is not limited to performing the functions in the order shown or discussed, but may also include performing the functions in a substantially simultaneous manner or in an opposite order depending on the functions involved, e.g., the described methods may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Additionally, features described with reference to certain examples may be combined in other examples.

While the foregoing is directed to the preferred embodiments of the present application, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications and adaptations can be made without departing from the principles of the present application, and such modifications and adaptations are intended to be comprehended within the scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A multi-CU connection management method, comprising:

or,

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first parameter comprises a first identification and/or a second identification;

3. A multi-CU connection management method, comprising:

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the establishing a second connection between the DU and a second CU comprises:

5. The method of claim 4, wherein after the second connection is established between the DU and a second CU, the method further comprises:

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the service requirement information of the terminal includes at least one of:

a slice list allowed by the terminal;

the terminal requires the calculation capability of the CU;

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the DU-associated CU information includes at least one of:

slice IDs supported by the target CU;

a deployment location of the target CU;

the computing power of the target CU;

wherein the target CU is any CU of a plurality of CUs associated with the DU.

8. A multi-CU connection management method, comprising:

or,

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the establishing a third connection between the second DU and the second CU comprises:

Determining a second DU from the plurality of candidate DUs;

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining a second DU among the plurality of candidate DUs comprises:

11. The method of claim 9, wherein after the third connection is established between the second DU and the second CU, the method further comprises:

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the deleting the fourth connection comprises:

a delete request is initiated to the third DU.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein after the deleting the fourth connection, the method further comprises:

receiving a service deletion response corresponding to the fourth connection;

14. A multi-CU connection management method, comprising:

or,

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the second parameter is used to indicate an RLC channel on which the second message was received.

16. A multi-CU connection management method, comprising:

17. A multi-CU connection management method, comprising:

or,

18. A multi-CU connection management apparatus, comprising:

a first transceiver for:

or,

19. A multi-CU connection management apparatus, comprising:

a second processor for:

20. A multi-CU connection management apparatus, comprising:

a third processor for:

Or,

21. A multi-CU connection management apparatus, comprising:

a fourth transceiver for:

or,

22. A multi-CU connection management apparatus, comprising:

a fifth transceiver for:

23. A multi-CU connection management apparatus, comprising:

a sixth transceiver for:

or,

24. A communication device, comprising: a transceiver, a memory, a processor, and a program stored on the memory and executable on the processor; -characterized in that the processor is configured to read a program in a memory to implement the steps in the multi-CU connection management method as recited in any one of claims 1 to 2; or, the steps in the multi-CU connection management method as recited in any one of claims 3 to 7; or, the steps in the multi-CU connection management method as recited in any one of claims 8 to 13; or, the steps in the multi-CU connection management method as recited in any one of claims 14 to 15; or, the step in the multi-CU connection management method as recited in claim 16; or, the step in the multi-CU connection management method as recited in claim 17.

25. A readable storage medium storing a program, wherein the program when executed by a processor implements the steps in the multi-CU connection management method as recited in any one of claims 1-2; or, the steps in the multi-CU connection management method as recited in any one of claims 3 to 7; or, the steps in the multi-CU connection management method as recited in any one of claims 8 to 13; or, the steps in the multi-CU connection management method as recited in any one of claims 14 to 15; or, the step in the multi-CU connection management method as recited in claim 16; or, the step in the multi-CU connection management method as recited in claim 17.