CN117716640A

CN117716640A - Asynchronous communication method, device, communication equipment and storage medium

Info

Publication number: CN117716640A
Application number: CN202280002657.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 毛玉欣
Original assignee: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd
Current assignee: Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-07-15
Filing date: 2022-07-15
Publication date: 2024-03-15
Also published as: WO2024011633A1

Abstract

The present disclosure provides an asynchronous communication method, in which a network device or a core network element can determine a state of communication connection between a satellite and a ground station according to satellite auxiliary information, and determine whether to buffer or send user equipment context information based on a first state, that is, determine whether to buffer or send user equipment uplink data or downlink data, which provides an asynchronous communication technical scheme that a feeder link in a satellite access network cannot provide continuous connection.

Description

Asynchronous communication method, device, communication equipment and storage medium

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of mobile communications technologies, and in particular, to an asynchronous communication method, an asynchronous communication device, a communication device, and a storage medium.

Background

With the evolution of mobile network communication technology, satellite access technology plays an important role in 5G communication, and user equipment can access a core network through a satellite access network. However, the satellite access network may not provide continuous coverage service to a designated area due to the problems of insufficient number of satellite deployments, limited coverage, etc. Discontinuous connection conditions for feeder links between satellites and ground stations have been proposed in the related art to support delay tolerant traffic communication requirements, but no solution is currently available.

Disclosure of Invention

The disclosure provides an asynchronous communication method, an asynchronous communication device, a communication device and a storage medium, and aims to provide an asynchronous communication technical scheme that a feeder link in a satellite access network cannot provide continuous connection, and support development of a service with partial tolerance to longer time delay when the connection of the feeder link is interrupted.

An embodiment of a first aspect of the present disclosure provides an asynchronous communication method performed by a network device, the method comprising: determining a first state according to satellite auxiliary information, wherein the first state is a state of communication connection between a satellite and a ground station; and determining whether to buffer or send the user equipment uplink data based on the first state.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, determining the first state from the satellite assistance information comprises: determining parameters of the communication connection according to the satellite auxiliary information, wherein the parameters comprise the starting time and duration of establishing the communication connection and/or the starting time of establishing the next connection; the first state is determined based on the parameter.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, determining the first state according to the parameter comprises: determining that the first state has a first value for indicating that a communication connection between the satellite and the ground station is connected when the current time passes a start time of the communication connection and does not exceed a duration; when the current time passes the start time of the communication connection and exceeds the duration and does not reach the start time of the next connection establishment, it is determined that the first state has a second value for indicating that the communication connection between the satellite and the ground station is interrupted.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, determining whether to buffer or send user equipment uplink data based on the first state includes: when the first state is the disconnection state, caching uplink data of the user equipment; and transmitting user equipment uplink data when the first state has the first value.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the method further comprises: and determining a second state, wherein the second state is a connection state of the user equipment and comprises a connection management-IDLE CM-IDLE state and a connection management-CONNECTED CM-CONNECTED state.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, determining whether to buffer or send user equipment uplink data based on the first state includes: based on the first state and the second state, it is determined whether to buffer or send user equipment uplink data.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, determining whether to buffer or send user equipment uplink data based on the first state and the second state includes: caching uplink data of the user equipment when the first state has a second value and the second state is a CM-IDLE state; and when the first state has a first value and the second state is the CM-CONNECTED state, transmitting uplink data of the user equipment.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the method further comprises: and sending satellite auxiliary information to the first core network element, wherein the satellite auxiliary information is used for assisting the first core network element to determine the first state.

An embodiment of a second aspect of the present disclosure provides an asynchronous communication method, the method being performed by a first core network element, the method comprising: determining a first state according to satellite auxiliary information, wherein the first state is a state of communication connection between a satellite and a ground station; and determining whether to buffer or send the downlink data of the user equipment based on the first state.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, prior to determining the first state from the satellite assistance information, the method further comprises: receiving satellite auxiliary information sent by the network device, or receiving parameters of the communication connection sent by the network device, wherein the parameters comprise the starting time, duration and/or starting time of the next connection establishment of the communication connection.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, determining whether to buffer or send user equipment downlink data based on the first state includes: when the first state has the second value, caching downlink signaling data of the user equipment; and transmitting downlink signaling data of the user equipment when the first state has the first value.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, determining whether to buffer or send user equipment downlink data based on the first state includes: based on the first state and the second state, it is determined whether to buffer or send user equipment downlink data.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, determining whether to buffer or send user equipment downlink data based on the first state and the second state includes: when the first state has a second value and the second state is a CM-IDLE state, caching downlink signaling data of the user equipment; and when the first state has a first value and the second state is the CM-CONNECTED state, transmitting downlink signaling data of the user equipment.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the method further comprises: notifying a second core network element, and caching downlink service data of the user equipment when the first state has a second value; when the first state has a first value, downlink service data of the user equipment is sent, or a second core network element is informed, and when the first state has a second value and the second state is a CM-IDLE state, the downlink service data of the user equipment is cached; and transmitting downlink service data of the user equipment when the first state has a first value and the second state is the CM-CONNECTED state.

An embodiment of a third aspect of the present disclosure provides a communication apparatus including: a transceiver; a memory; and a processor, respectively connected with the transceiver and the memory, configured to control wireless signal transceiving of the transceiver by executing computer executable instructions on the memory, and capable of realizing the method as the embodiment of the first aspect or the embodiment of the second aspect of the disclosure.

A fourth aspect embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer storage medium, wherein the computer storage medium stores computer-executable instructions; the computer-executable instructions, when executed by a processor, are capable of implementing a method as in the first aspect embodiment or the second aspect embodiment of the present disclosure.

A fifth aspect embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication system including: the system comprises a first core network element and a second core network element, wherein the first core network element determines a first state according to satellite auxiliary information, and the first state is a state of communication connection between the satellite and a ground station; the first core network element determines whether to buffer or send downlink data of the user equipment based on the first state; and the first core network element informs the second core network element to buffer or send the downlink data of the user equipment.

According to the asynchronous communication method disclosed by the invention, the network equipment or the core network element can determine the state of communication connection between the satellite and the ground station according to satellite auxiliary information, and determine whether to buffer or send user equipment context information based on the first state, namely, determine whether to buffer or send user equipment uplink data or downlink data.

Additional aspects and advantages of the disclosure will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the disclosure.

Drawings

The foregoing and/or additional aspects and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent and readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of an asynchronous communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of an asynchronous communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a signaling interaction diagram of an asynchronous communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of an asynchronous communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of an asynchronous communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a signaling interaction diagram of an asynchronous communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic block diagram of an asynchronous communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram of an asynchronous communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram of an asynchronous communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a schematic block diagram of an asynchronous communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Fig. 11 is a schematic structural view of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a chip according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like or similar reference numerals refer to like or similar elements or elements having like or similar functions throughout. The embodiments described below by referring to the drawings are exemplary and intended for the purpose of explaining the present disclosure and are not to be construed as limiting the present disclosure.

The boundaries of application scenes in real life of the mobile network communication technology are continuously expanded, for example, future-oriented augmented Reality (Augmented Reality, AR), virtual Reality (VR), and more novel internet applications (such as internet of vehicles, internet of things and the like) are emerging, and requirements of each application scene on network communication quality and delay tolerance are different. With the increasing use of satellite access technology in core network communications, user Equipment (UE) may access the core network through the satellite access network.

For example, a Fifth Generation mobile communication technology (5G) network supports a satellite access technology, that is, a UE may access a 5G core network through a satellite access network, where a communication connection between the UE and a satellite is a Service Link (Service Link), a connection between the satellite and a ground receiving station is a Feeder Link (Feeder Link), and the ground receiving station is connected to the core network, so as to form the UE accessing the core network through the satellite access network.

For user equipment communication services, the delay tolerance of the user equipment communication services to network connection is not consistent, a part of emergency services have low delay tolerance to signaling and data transmission, and some services, such as part of entertainment applications, have high delay tolerance to signaling and data transmission, so that a certain limit of delay is allowed.

However, the satellite access network may not provide continuous coverage service due to the problems of insufficient number of satellite deployments, limited coverage, etc. Such discontinuous coverage includes situations where there is a break in the connection between the satellite and the UE or between the satellite and the ground receiving station.

In the related art, studies have been made on discontinuous coverage of service links between UEs and satellites, for example, mobility enhancement, power saving techniques, etc. of UEs in the case where satellites provide discontinuous coverage. However, for the discontinuous coverage situation of the feeder link between the satellite and the ground receiving station, although it has been proposed that the feeder link cannot provide the service communication requirement for supporting delay tolerance under continuous connection, no study has been made on how to support the above service.

In order to support service communication of the UE in a discontinuous coverage scenario of a feeder link, the disclosure proposes an asynchronous communication method, an apparatus, a communication device and a storage medium, which aims to provide an asynchronous communication technical scheme that the feeder link in a satellite access network cannot provide continuous connection, and when the connection of the feeder link is interrupted, the development of a service with a part of tolerance for a longer time delay is effectively supported.

It is to be appreciated that the solution provided by the present disclosure may be applied to a satellite access network, and in particular, to a communication scenario in which a UE accesses a core network through the satellite access network, including but not limited to a 5G core network and a core network supporting its subsequent communication technology, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), fifth generation mobile communication technology evolution (5G-advanced), sixth generation mobile communication technology (SixthGeneration, 6G), etc., which is not limited in the present disclosure.

User devices described in this disclosure include, but are not limited to, smart terminal devices, cellular telephones, wireless devices, handsets, mobile units, vehicles, on-board devices, etc., as the disclosure is not limited thereto.

The asynchronous communication scheme provided by the present disclosure is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 shows a flow diagram of an asynchronous communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method is performed by a network device.

The network device in the embodiment of the present application is an entity on the network side for transmitting or receiving signals. For example, the network device may be an evolved NodeB (eNB), a transmission point (transmission reception point, TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB) in an NR system, a base station in other future mobile communication systems, or an access node in a wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, wiFi) system, etc. The embodiment of the application does not limit the specific technology and the specific device form adopted by the network device. The network device provided in this embodiment of the present application may be composed of a Central Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU), where the CU may also be referred to as a control unit (control unit), and the structure of the CU-DU may be used to split the protocol layers of the network device, for example, a base station, where functions of part of the protocol layers are placed in the CU for centralized control, and functions of part or all of the protocol layers are distributed in the DU for centralized control of the DU by the CU.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a network device is taken as an example of a gNB.

As shown in fig. 1, the method may include the following steps.

S101, determining a first state according to satellite auxiliary information.

The first state is a state of communication connection between the satellite and the ground station, and specifically, the first state may include a connected state and a disconnected state.

In the present disclosure, the communication connection between the satellite and the ground station is a Feeder Link (Feeder Link), and the first state may characterize whether the Feeder Link is in a normal connected state. To support asynchronous communication modes in a discontinuous coverage scenario of a feeder link, two state management is introduced for the feeder link, in other words, a first state may represent different states by different values, the first state may have a first value, wherein the first value is used to indicate that a communication connection between a satellite and a ground station has been connected, such that communication between the satellite and the ground station may be made through the connection, and the first state may also have a second value, wherein the second value is used to indicate that the communication connection between the satellite and the ground station is interrupted, when communication between the satellite and the ground station is blocked. In particular, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the first state may be a connected state, identified by a first value, indicating that the feeder link is in a connected state or a connection recovery state, or the first state may be a disconnected state, identified by a second value, indicating that the connection of the feeder link has been lost, or is in a disconnected state.

It should be appreciated that in embodiments of the present disclosure, the first value is used to characterize communication between the satellite and the ground station, and its corresponding state may be referred to as a connected state, or an active state, without limitation in the present disclosure. Accordingly, the second value is used to characterize the inability or blockage of communication between the satellite and the ground station, and the corresponding state may be referred to as a disconnected state, or may be referred to as an inactive state or a disabled state, again without limitation.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, the first value may be a constant, such as 0, 1, or other constant. Similarly, the second value may be a constant different from the first value, without limitation in this disclosure.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, the satellite aiding information may be Ephemeris information (ephemerides data) of the satellite, or other data that characterizes the satellite's operation, without limitation in this disclosure. In an alternative embodiment, the ephemeris information of the satellite may include data such as a start time, duration, start time of a next connection establishment, etc. of the connection between the satellite and the ground station. Alternatively, the data such as the start time, duration, start time of the next connection establishment, etc. of the connection between the satellite and the ground station may be derived or determined from the ephemeris information of the satellite.

S102, based on the first state, determining whether to buffer or send uplink data of the user equipment.

The present disclosure may decide whether to cache the UE context or send the UE context according to whether the first state is a connected state or a disconnected state. Specifically, the gNB side is an uplink communication scenario, so the gNB may decide whether to buffer UE uplink data or send UE uplink data according to the first state.

In this embodiment, the UE uplink data may be a UE initiated protocol data unit (Protocol Data Unit, PDU) session operation request.

In summary, according to the asynchronous communication method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, the network device can determine the state of communication connection between the satellite and the ground station according to satellite auxiliary information, and determine whether to buffer or send uplink data of the user device based on the state, so that an asynchronous communication technical scheme is provided in the satellite access network that the feeder link cannot provide continuous connection.

Fig. 2 shows a flow diagram of an asynchronous communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method may be performed by a network device, and may include the following steps, as shown in fig. 2, based on the embodiment shown in fig. 1.

S201, satellite auxiliary information is sent to a first core network element, wherein the satellite auxiliary information is used for assisting the first core network element in determining a first state.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first core network element may be an access and mobility management function (Access and Mobility Management Function, AMF), or may be another core network function.

For the uplink communication process and the downlink communication process, the data synchronization of the network equipment side and the core network element side can be realized by the method and the device. As can be appreciated based on the embodiment shown in fig. 1, the gNB in the present disclosure is able to determine the status of the communication connection between the satellite and the ground receiving station from the satellite aiding information. Accordingly, the gNB can send satellite auxiliary information to a network element in the core network, so that the auxiliary core network element determines a communication connection state between the satellite and the ground station according to the satellite auxiliary information, and synchronization between the satellite access network and the core network is achieved.

It is to be understood that the above step S201 may occur before or after the following steps S202-S205, or may occur between the following steps, and the execution sequence of the step S201 is not limited in the present disclosure, and it is considered to be within the scope of the present disclosure that the synchronization of the satellite assistance information between the satellite access network and the core network can be achieved.

S202, determining parameters of the communication connection according to the satellite auxiliary information, wherein the parameters comprise the starting time, duration and/or starting time of the next connection establishment of the communication connection.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment described in fig. 1, step S101 may include steps S202-203 in this embodiment, and the principle is the same as that of step S101 described above, and reference may be made to the execution of the step S101, which is not described herein.

Specifically, in the embodiment of the present disclosure, the connection state of the feeder link may be set according to satellite auxiliary information (for example, ephemeris information of a satellite), and since the motion track of the satellite is set, parameters such as a start time, a duration, a start time of a next connection establishment, and the like of the satellite and the ground station may be determined according to the ephemeris information.

In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, the ephemeris information may include parameters such as a start time, a duration, a start time of a connection establishment between the satellite and the ground station, and the like, and the gNB may directly obtain the parameters from the ephemeris information, or the gNB may derive or determine the parameters according to the ephemeris information of the satellite.

S203, determining a first state according to the parameters.

In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the gNB may determine a connection state of a feeder link between the satellite and the ground station according to parameters such as a start time, a duration, a start time of a next connection establishment, and the like of the connection establishment between the satellite and the ground station.

Specifically, when the current time passes the start time of the communication connection and does not exceed the duration, it is determined that the first state has a first value. The first value is used to indicate that a communication connection between the satellite and the ground station is connected.

For example, with the start time and duration of the communication connection establishment, a time interval for the feeder link to successfully connect may be determined, and when the current time falls within this interval, i.e. when the current time passes the start time of the communication connection and does not exceed the duration, the gNB may determine that the feeder link is in a connected state, i.e. the first state has a first value.

It will be appreciated that the connection between the satellite and the ground station has a certain period, and after a certain duration has elapsed after a connection is established, a communication connection of the next period will be established, in other words, the gNB may determine whether the feeder link is in a connected state according to ephemeris information, and not depending on which connection period it is in, so long as it can be determined that the feeder link is in a connected state in a certain period.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the first state is determined to have a second value when the current time passes the start time of the communication connection and exceeds the duration and does not reach the start time of the next connection establishment. The second value is used to indicate an interruption in the communication connection between the satellite and the ground station.

For example, the gNB may determine that the feeder link is in the non-connected state, i.e. the first state has the second value, when the current time does not fall within an interval from a start time of the communication connection establishment to a duration of the communication connection establishment being passed, i.e. when the current time passes the start time of the communication connection exceeding the duration, or does not reach the start time of the communication connection establishment.

For another example, if the gNB determines that the current time has elapsed for a certain period of the communication connection establishment duration, but has not reached the communication connection establishment start time for the next period, it may be determined that the feeder link is in a disconnected state.

It will be appreciated that the start time of the communication connection and the start time of the next communication connection described in this disclosure are under the same timing system as the current time, and when there is a slight difference therebetween, calibration can be performed using a method common in the art, and will not be described in detail herein.

S204, when the first state has the second value, the uplink data of the user equipment is cached.

S205, when the first state has the first value, transmitting user equipment uplink data.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 1, step S102 may include steps S204-205 in this embodiment, and the principle is the same as that of step S102 described above, and reference may be made to the execution of the step S102, which is not repeated herein.

In the embodiment of the disclosure, when the feeder link is determined to be in a disconnected state, the gNB may cache UE uplink data, that is, may tolerate a communication delay of the service, so that the UE may send the UE uplink data after connection is restored. In this embodiment, the UE uplink data may be a UE initiated protocol data unit (Protocol Data Unit, PDU) session operation request.

In the embodiment of the disclosure, when it is determined that a feeder link between a satellite and a ground station is in a connection state, the gNB may send UE uplink data, where the feeder link in the connection state may be understood as the feeder link being successfully connected for the first time, may also be understood as the feeder link being in a continuous connection process, and may also be understood as a state of recovering the connection after disconnection.

In summary, according to the asynchronous communication method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, the network device may determine, according to satellite auxiliary information, a start time, a duration time, and/or a start time of a next connection establishment between a satellite and a ground station, so as to determine a state of the communication connection, and determine whether to buffer or send uplink data of the user device based on the state, and in addition, the gNB may send the satellite auxiliary information to a core network element, so that the network device and the core network element respectively maintain connection states of feeder links, thereby providing an asynchronous communication technical scheme in a satellite access network in which the feeder links cannot provide continuous connection, effectively supporting delay tolerance for service communication of the user device when the connection of the feeder links is interrupted, and improving a service success rate of the user device capable of supporting a certain delay.

In the above embodiment, the network device only needs to determine whether to buffer or send the UE uplink data according to the connection state of the feeder link. In some optional embodiments of the disclosure, the network device may further determine a status of the UE, and determine whether to buffer or send the UE uplink data according to the status of the feeder link and the status of the UE.

Specifically, the gNB may further determine a second state, which is a connection state of the user equipment, including a connection management-IDLE (CM-IDLE) state and a connection management-CONNECTED (CM-CONNECTED) state. It is understood that the gNB may determine the connection state of the UE using a general manner in the related art.

In an embodiment of the disclosure, the gNB may determine whether to buffer or send the user equipment uplink data based on the first state and the second state.

Specifically, the gNB may buffer the ue uplink data when the first state has the second value and the second state is the CM-IDLE state, and send the ue uplink data when the first state has the first value and the second state is the CM-CONNECTED state.

For example, when the UE is in CM-IDLE state and the feeder link is in disconnected state, if the gNB supports asynchronous communication, other network functions indicate to the gNB that asynchronous communication can be used for the UE (or that communication latency can be tolerated), the gNB updates and stores the UE context based on the message received from the UE. When the UE is in the CM-CONNECTED state and the feeder link is in the CONNECTED state, the gNB sends N1 and N2 messages to the core network element to synchronize the context of the UE. It is understood that the 5G core functional unit may communicate directly with an access network (RAN) or UE through the N1/N2 interface of the AMF. The service also enables NFs to subscribe to certain types of N1 messages received from UEs or N2 message notifications received from the access network.

In summary, according to the asynchronous communication method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, when the network device implements the asynchronous communication process, not only the connection condition of the feeder link between the satellite and the ground station is determined, but also the connection condition of the service link between the UE and the satellite is determined, and the satellite connection state and the UE state are comprehensively considered, so that a solution for all discontinuous coverage conditions in the satellite access network is implemented, and wider service communication requirements are supported.

As a specific example, fig. 3 shows a signaling interaction diagram of an asynchronous communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method is applied to a network device and an example is given for a specific application scenario based on the embodiments shown in fig. 1 and 2.

In the process of initiating PDU session connection, the UE described in this embodiment loses connection between the satellite with gNB function and the ground receiving station, at this time, gNB can buffer the session establishment message, and after connection is restored, the buffer message is sent to the core network element, so as to complete the PDU session establishment process of the UE.

As shown in fig. 3, the method may include the following steps.

S301, finishing core network registration, and sending satellite auxiliary information to an AMF network element by the gNB.

In this step, the UE accesses the 5G core network through the satellite, and completes the registration procedure, in which the gNB may send satellite assistance information (e.g., ephemeris information) to the core network element. Specifically, the gNB may send ephemeris information to the AMF network element through a NGAP (NG Application Protocol) message.

The start time of connection establishment between the satellite and the ground receiving station, the connection duration, the next connection establishment time and other parameters can be determined based on the ephemeris information.

S302, determining that the feeder link is in a connection state according to satellite auxiliary information by the gNB.

In this step, the state of the feeder link has a first value. At this time, the gNB and the AMF maintain connection states of the feeder links, respectively.

It can be understood that, because the present disclosure can achieve synchronization between the satellite access network and the core network, corresponding to step S302, on the core network element side, step S302' determines that the feeder link is in a connection state according to the synchronization of the satellite auxiliary information by the AMF network element.

S303, determining that the feeder link is in a disconnection state according to satellite auxiliary information by the gNB.

In this step, the state of the feeder link has a second value. It should be understood that steps S302 and S303 described above do not represent the order of occurrence in this disclosure, but only represent two possibilities.

It can be understood that, because the present disclosure can achieve synchronization between the satellite access network and the core network, in step S303', the AMF network element synchronously determines that the feeder link is in a disconnected state according to the satellite auxiliary information, corresponding to step S303, on the core network element side.

S304, the UE initiates a PDU session establishment request and sends the PDU session establishment request to the gNB.

And S305, the gNB is in a disconnected state according to the feeder link, and caches the UE context.

The UE context is specifically a PDU session establishment request.

And S306, the gNB determines that the feeder link connection is recovered according to the satellite auxiliary information, namely, determines that the feeder link is in a connection state.

It can be appreciated that, since the present disclosure can achieve synchronization of the satellite access network and the core network, corresponding to step S306, on the core network element side, step S306' determines, according to the satellite auxiliary information, the feeder link connection recovery by the AMF network element synchronization.

S307, the gNB forwards the PDU session establishment request to the core network element.

S308, the UE and the network side complete the PDU session establishment process.

In summary, according to the asynchronous communication method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, the network device can determine the state of communication connection between the satellite and the ground station according to satellite auxiliary information, and determine whether to buffer or send uplink data of the user device based on the state, so that an asynchronous communication technical scheme is provided in a satellite access network that a feeder link cannot provide continuous connection.

In a communication scenario, the transmission of signaling and data is bi-directional, and the embodiments described in fig. 1 to 3 above are implementations of an asynchronous communication method in an uplink communication process, and implementations of an asynchronous communication method in a downlink communication process are described below with reference to fig. 4 to 6.

Fig. 4 is a flow chart of an asynchronous communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method is performed by a first core network element. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the first core network element may be an access and mobility management function (Access and Mobility Management Function, AMF).

As shown in fig. 4, the method may include the following steps.

S401, determining a first state according to satellite auxiliary information.

In the present disclosure, the communication connection between the satellite and the ground station is a Feeder Link (Feeder Link), and the first state may characterize whether the Feeder Link is in a normal connected state. To support asynchronous communication modes in a discontinuous coverage scenario of a feeder link, two state management is introduced to the feeder link, specifically, the first state may be a connected state, which indicates that the feeder link is in a connected state or a connection recovery state, or the first state may be a disconnected state, which indicates that the connection of the feeder link is lost, i.e. in a non-connected state.

S402, based on the first state, determining whether to buffer or send downlink data of the user equipment.

The present disclosure may decide whether to cache the UE context or send the UE context according to whether the first state is a connected state or a disconnected state. Specifically, the core network element side is a downlink communication scenario, so the core network element can decide whether to buffer UE downlink data or send UE downlink data according to the first state.

In this embodiment, the UE downlink data may be a network initiated service request (service request).

In summary, according to the asynchronous communication method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, the core network element can determine the state of communication connection between the satellite and the ground station according to satellite auxiliary information, and determine whether to buffer or send downlink data of the user equipment based on the state, so that an asynchronous communication technical scheme is provided in the satellite access network that the feeder link cannot provide continuous connection.

Fig. 5 is a flow chart of an asynchronous communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method is performed by a first core network element, and based on the embodiment shown in fig. 4, as shown in fig. 5, the method may comprise the following steps.

S501, receiving satellite auxiliary information sent by network equipment.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, the core network element may receive satellite assistance information from the network device, which may be ephemeris information of the satellite, or other data capable of characterizing the satellite's operation, without limitation in this disclosure.

For the uplink communication process and the downlink communication process, the data synchronization of the network equipment side and the core network element side can be realized by the method and the device. Based on the embodiments shown in fig. 1 and fig. 4, it can be known that, in the present disclosure, a network element in a core network may receive satellite auxiliary information from a gNB, and the core network element may determine a communication connection state between a satellite and a ground station according to the satellite auxiliary information, so as to implement synchronization between a satellite access network and the core network.

S502, determining parameters of the communication connection according to the satellite auxiliary information.

In embodiments of the present disclosure, the parameters include a start time to establish the communication connection, a duration, and/or a start time of a next connection establishment.

It will be appreciated that the core network element may receive satellite assistance information, such as ephemeris information of the satellites, from which the above parameters are derived. As an optional real-time manner, the step S502 may be an optional step, in other words, the core network element may directly receive, from the network device, parameters of the communication connection sent by the network device, where the parameters include a start time, a duration, and/or a start time of a next connection establishment.

S503, determining a first state according to the parameters.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first core network element may determine the connection state of the feeder link between the satellite and the ground station according to parameters such as a start time, a duration, a start time of a next connection establishment, and the like of the connection between the satellite and the ground station.

Specifically, when the current time passes the start time of the communication connection and does not exceed the duration, it is determined that the first state has a first value.

For example, with the start time and duration of the communication connection establishment, a time interval for the feeder link to be successfully connected may be determined, and when the current time falls within this interval, i.e. when the current time passes the start time of the communication connection and does not exceed the duration, the first core network element may determine that the feeder link is in a connected state, i.e. the first state has a first value.

It will be appreciated that the connection between the satellite and the ground station has a certain period, and after a certain duration has elapsed after a connection is established, a communication connection in the next period will be established, in other words, the first core network element may determine, according to ephemeris information, whether the feeder link is in a connection state, and not depending on which connection period it is in, so long as it can be determined that the feeder link is in a connection state in a certain period.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the first state is determined to have a second value when the current time passes the start time of the communication connection and exceeds the duration and does not reach the start time of the next connection establishment.

For example, the first core network element may determine that the feeder link is in the non-connected state, i.e. the first state has the second value, when the current time does not fall within an interval from the start time of the establishment of the communication connection to the duration of the establishment of the communication connection, i.e. when the current time passes the start time of the communication connection beyond the duration, or does not reach the start time of the establishment of the communication connection.

For another example, if the first core network element determines that the current time has passed for a duration of communication connection establishment of a certain period, but has not reached the start time of communication connection establishment of the next period, it may be determined that the feeder link is in a disconnected state.

And S504, when the first state has the second value, caching the downlink signaling data of the user equipment.

And S505, when the first state has a first value, transmitting downlink signaling data of the user equipment.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment illustrated in fig. 4, step S402 may include steps S504-505 in the present embodiment, and the principle thereof is the same as that of step S402 described above, and reference may be made to the execution of the step S402, which is not repeated herein.

In the embodiment of the disclosure, when the feeder link is determined to be in the disconnected state, the first core network element may cache the UE downlink data, that is, may tolerate the communication delay of the service, so that the UE downlink data is sent after connection is restored. In this embodiment, the UE downlink data may be a network initiated service request (service request).

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, when it is determined that a feeder link between a satellite and a ground station is in a connection state, a first core network element may send UE downlink data, where the feeder link being in the connection state may be understood as the feeder link being successfully connected for the first time, may also be understood as the feeder link being in a continuous connection process, and may also be understood as a state of recovering the connection after disconnection.

In summary, according to the asynchronous communication method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first core network element can determine, according to satellite auxiliary information, a start time, a duration, and/or a start time of a next connection establishment between a satellite and a ground station, thereby determining a state of the communication connection, and determining whether to buffer or send downlink data of a user equipment based on the state.

In the above embodiment, the first core network element only needs to determine whether to buffer or send the UE downlink data according to the connection state of the feeder link. In some optional embodiments of the disclosure, the first core network element may further determine a state of the UE, and determine whether to buffer or send UE downlink data according to the state of the feeder link and the state of the UE.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first core network element may determine whether to buffer or send the downlink data of the user equipment based on the first state and the second state.

Specifically, when the first state has the second value and the second state is the CM-IDLE state, downlink signaling data of the user equipment is cached; and when the first state has a first value and the second state is the CM-CONNECTED state, transmitting downlink signaling data of the user equipment.

For example, when the UE uses satellite access, when the UE is in CM-IDLE state and the feeder link is in disconnected state, if the AMF supports asynchronous communication, the other network function indicates to the AMF that asynchronous communication can be used for the UE (or communication latency can be tolerated), the AMF updates and stores the UE context based on the messages received from the other network function. When the UE is in CM-CONNECTED state and the feeder link is in CONNECTED state, the AMF sends N1 and N2 messages to the RAN and/or UE to synchronize the UE's context. It is understood that the 5G core functional unit may communicate directly with an access network (RAN) or UE through the N1/N2 interface of the AMF. The service also enables NFs to subscribe to certain types of N1 messages received from UEs or N2 message notifications received from the access network.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the asynchronous communication method further comprises: notifying a second core network element, and caching downlink service data of the user equipment when the first state has a second value; and transmitting downlink service data of the user equipment when the first state has the first value.

Optionally, the asynchronous communication method further comprises: notifying a second core network element, and caching downlink service data of the user equipment when the first state has a second value and the second state is a CM-IDLE state; and transmitting downlink service data of the user equipment when the first state has a first value and the second state is the CM-CONNECTED state.

It is understood that the second core network element may be a session management function (Session Management Function, SMF), a user plane function (User plane function, UPF) or other core network element.

In summary, according to the asynchronous communication method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, when implementing an asynchronous communication process, a core network element not only determines a connection condition of a feeder link between a satellite and a ground station, but also determines a connection condition of a service link between a UE and the satellite, and comprehensively considers a satellite connection state and a UE state, thereby implementing a solution for all discontinuous coverage conditions in a satellite access network, and supporting wider service communication requirements.

As a specific example, fig. 6 shows a signaling interaction diagram of an asynchronous communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method is applied to a first core network element and an example is given for a specific application scenario based on the embodiments shown in fig. 4 and 5.

In the process of triggering and initiating the service request by the network described in this embodiment, the connection between the satellite with the gNB function and the ground receiving station is lost, at this time, the core network element AMF may cache the session establishment message, and after the connection is restored, send the cache message to the UE, so as to complete the service request process.

As shown in fig. 6, the method may include the following steps.

S601, finishing core network registration, and sending satellite auxiliary information to an AMF network element by the gNB.

S602, according to satellite auxiliary information, the AMF network element determines that the feeder link is in a connection state.

In this step, the state of the feeder link has a first value, and at this time, the gNB and the AMF maintain the connection state of the feeder link, respectively.

It can be appreciated that, because the present disclosure can achieve synchronization between the satellite access network and the core network, in step S602', the gNB synchronously determines that the feeder link is in a connected state according to the satellite auxiliary information, corresponding to step S602, at the network device side.

S603, according to the satellite auxiliary information, the AMF network element determines that the feeder link is in a disconnection state.

In this step, the state of the feeder link has a second value.

It can be appreciated that, because the present disclosure can achieve synchronization between the satellite access network and the core network, in step S603', the gNB synchronously determines that the feeder link is in a disconnected state according to the satellite auxiliary information, corresponding to step S603, at the network device side.

S604, the SMF network element sends a message for triggering the AMF network element to page the UE to the AMF network element.

In this step, if the UPF network element receives downlink data of the service, the UPF network element reports the downlink data to the SMF network element. The SMF network element may send a namf_communication_n1n2message transfer request message to the AMF network element for triggering the AMF network element to page the UE.

S605, the AMF network element caches the UE context according to the fact that the feeder link is in a disconnected state.

In this step, when the request message arrives at the AMF network element, the AMF network element may cache the UE context because the feeder link is in the disconnected state at this time.

And S606, the AMF network element determines that the feeder link connection is recovered according to the satellite auxiliary information, namely, determines that the feeder link is in a connection state.

It can be appreciated that, since the present disclosure enables synchronization of the satellite access network and the core network, in step S606', on the network device side, the gNB synchronization determines feeder link connection restoration according to the satellite assistance information, in step S606'.

S607, when the UE state maintained on the AMF network element is cm_idle state, the AMF network element sends a paging (paging) message to the UE.

S608, the UE receives the paging message and initiates a service request procedure.

In summary, according to the asynchronous communication method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, the core network element can determine the state of communication connection between the satellite and the ground station according to satellite auxiliary information, and determine whether to buffer or send uplink data of the user equipment based on the state, so that an asynchronous communication technical scheme is provided in the satellite access network that the feeder link cannot provide continuous connection.

In the embodiments provided in the present application, the method provided in the embodiments of the present application is described on the network device side and the core network element side respectively. In order to implement the functions in the methods provided in the embodiments of the present application, the network device and the terminal device may include hardware structures, software modules, and implement the functions in the form of hardware structures, software modules, or a combination of hardware structures and software modules. Some of the functions described above may be implemented in a hardware structure, a software module, or a combination of a hardware structure and a software module.

In correspondence with the asynchronous communication method provided in the above-described several embodiments, the present disclosure also provides an asynchronous communication device, and since the asynchronous communication device provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure corresponds to the asynchronous communication method provided in the above-described several embodiments, implementation of the asynchronous communication method is also applicable to the asynchronous communication device provided in the embodiment, and will not be described in detail in the embodiment.

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an asynchronous communication device 700 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, where the asynchronous communication device 700 may be used in a network apparatus.

As shown in fig. 7, the apparatus 700 may include:

A first determining unit 710, configured to determine a first state according to satellite assistance information, where the first state is a state of a communication connection between a satellite and a ground station; and

a second determining unit 720, configured to determine whether to buffer or send the ue uplink data based on the first status.

According to the asynchronous communication method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, the network equipment can determine the state of communication connection between the satellite and the ground station according to satellite auxiliary information, and based on the state, whether to buffer or send uplink data of the user equipment is determined.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the first determining unit 710 is configured to:

determining parameters of the communication connection according to the satellite auxiliary information, wherein the parameters comprise the starting time and duration of establishing the communication connection and/or the starting time of establishing the next connection;

the first state is determined based on the parameter.

determining that the first state has a first value for indicating that the communication connection between the satellite and the ground station is connected when the current time passes a start time of the communication connection and does not exceed a duration;

when the current time passes the start time of the communication connection and exceeds the duration and does not reach the start time of the next connection establishment, it is determined that the first state has a second value, the second value being used to indicate that the communication connection between the satellite and the ground station is interrupted.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the second determining unit 720 is configured to:

caching uplink data of the user equipment when the first state has the second value;

and transmitting user equipment uplink data when the first state has the first value.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the first determining unit 710 is further configured to:

and determining a second state, wherein the second state is a connection state of the user equipment and comprises a connection management-IDLE CM-IDLE state and a connection management-CONNECTED CM-CONNECTED state.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the second determining unit 720 is further configured to:

based on the first state and the second state, it is determined whether to buffer or send user equipment uplink data.

caching uplink data of the user equipment when the first state has a second value and the second state is a CM-IDLE state;

and when the first state has a first value and the second state is the CM-CONNECTED state, transmitting uplink data of the user equipment.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 8, the above-mentioned asynchronous communication device 700 further includes:

and a sending unit 730, configured to send satellite auxiliary information to the first core network element, where the satellite auxiliary information is used to assist the first core network element in determining the first state.

In addition, when the network equipment realizes the asynchronous communication process, not only the connection condition of the feeder line link between the satellite and the ground station is determined, but also the connection condition of the service link between the UE and the satellite is determined, and the satellite connection state and the UE state are comprehensively considered, so that the solution for all discontinuous coverage conditions in the satellite access network is realized, and the wider service communication requirement is supported.

Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of an asynchronous communication device 900 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The asynchronous communication device 900 may be used for a first core network element.

As shown in fig. 9, the apparatus 900 may include:

a third determining unit 910, configured to determine a first state according to satellite assistance information, where the first state is a state of a communication connection between a satellite and a ground station; and

a fourth determining unit 920, configured to determine whether to buffer or send the downlink data of the ue based on the first state.

According to the asynchronous communication method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, the core network element can determine the state of communication connection between the satellite and the ground station according to satellite auxiliary information, and based on the state, whether to buffer or send downlink data of the user equipment is determined.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, as shown in fig. 10, the apparatus 900 further includes:

a receiving unit 930, configured to receive satellite assistance information sent by the network device, or receive parameters of a communication connection sent by the network device, where the parameters include a start time, a duration, and/or a start time of a next connection establishment.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the third determining unit 910 is configured to:

the first state is determined based on the parameter.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the fourth determining unit 920 is configured to:

when the first state has the second value, caching downlink signaling data of the user equipment;

and transmitting downlink signaling data of the user equipment when the first state has the first value.

based on the first state and the second state, it is determined whether to buffer or send user equipment downlink data.

when the first state has a second value and the second state is a CM-IDLE state, caching downlink signaling data of the user equipment;

and when the first state has a first value and the second state is the CM-CONNECTED state, transmitting downlink signaling data of the user equipment.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the apparatus 900 further includes a notification unit 940 configured to:

notifying a second core network element, and caching downlink service data of the user equipment when the first state has a second value; transmitting downlink traffic data of the user equipment when the first state has a first value, or

Notifying a second core network element, and caching downlink service data of the user equipment when the first state has a second value and the second state is a CM-IDLE state; and transmitting downlink service data of the user equipment when the first state has a first value and the second state is the CM-CONNECTED state.

In addition, according to the asynchronous communication method provided by the embodiment of the disclosure, when the asynchronous communication process is realized, the core network element not only determines the connection condition of the feeder link between the satellite and the ground station, but also determines the connection condition of the service link between the UE and the satellite, and comprehensively considers the satellite connection state and the UE state, thereby realizing the solution of all discontinuous coverage conditions in the satellite access network and supporting wider service communication requirements.

Embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a communication system applied to a core network. The communication system may be a long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, a fifth generation (5th generation,5G) mobile communication system, a 5G New Radio (NR) system, or other future new mobile communication systems, etc.

The communication system includes: the system comprises a first core network element and a second core network element, wherein the first core network element determines a first state according to satellite auxiliary information, and the first state is a state of communication connection between the satellite and a ground station; the first core network element determines whether to buffer or send downlink data of the user equipment based on the first state; and the first core network element informs the second core network element to buffer or send the downlink data of the user equipment.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the first core network element may be an access and mobility management function (Access and Mobility Management Function, AMF), or may be another core network function. The second core network element may be a session management function (Session Management Function, SMF), a user plane function (User plane function, UPF) or other core network element.

In summary, according to the asynchronous communication method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, the first core network element can determine a state of communication connection between a satellite and a ground station according to satellite auxiliary information, and based on the state, determine whether to buffer or send downlink data of user equipment, and the first core network element can also notify the second core network element to buffer or send downlink data of UE, so that network elements in the core network can both perform buffering or send downlink data of UE, which provides an asynchronous communication technical scheme that a feeder link in a satellite access network cannot provide continuous connection, and when the connection of the feeder link is interrupted, delay tolerance is effectively supported for service communication of the user equipment, and service success rate of the user equipment capable of supporting a certain delay is improved.

Referring to fig. 11, fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 1100 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication apparatus 1100 may be a network device, a user device, a chip system, a processor, or the like that supports the network device to implement the above method, or a chip, a chip system, a processor, or the like that supports the user device to implement the above method. The device can be used for realizing the method described in the method embodiment, and can be particularly referred to the description in the method embodiment.

The communications device 1100 may include one or more processors 1101. The processor 1101 may be a general purpose processor or a special purpose processor, or the like. For example, a baseband processor or a central processing unit. The baseband processor may be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processor may be used to control communication devices (e.g., base stations, baseband chips, terminal equipment chips, DUs or CUs, etc.), execute computer programs, and process data of the computer programs.

Optionally, the communication device 1100 may further include one or more memories 1102, on which a computer program 1104 may be stored, and the processor 1101 executes the computer program 1104, so that the communication device 1100 performs the method described in the above method embodiments. Optionally, the memory 1102 may also have data stored therein. The communication device 1100 and the memory 1102 may be provided separately or may be integrated.

Optionally, the communication device 1100 may further include a transceiver 1105, an antenna 1106. The transceiver 1105 may be referred to as a transceiver unit, a transceiver circuit, or the like, for implementing a transceiver function. The transceiver 1105 may include a receiver, which may be referred to as a receiver or a receiving circuit, etc., for implementing a receiving function; the transmitter may be referred to as a transmitter or a transmitting circuit, etc., for implementing a transmitting function.

Optionally, one or more interface circuits 1107 may also be included in the communication device 1100. Interface circuit 1107 is configured to receive code instructions and transmit them to processor 1101. The processor 1101 executes code instructions to cause the communication device 1100 to perform the method described in the method embodiments described above.

In one implementation, a transceiver for implementing the receive and transmit functions may be included in the processor 1101. For example, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit, or an interface circuit. The transceiver circuitry, interface or interface circuitry for implementing the receive and transmit functions may be separate or may be integrated. The transceiver circuit, interface or interface circuit may be used for reading and writing codes/data, or the transceiver circuit, interface or interface circuit may be used for transmitting or transferring signals.

In one implementation, the processor 1101 may store a computer program 1103, where the computer program 1103 runs on the processor 1101, and may cause the communication device 1100 to perform the method described in the above method embodiments. The computer program 1103 may be solidified in the processor 1101, in which case the processor 1101 may be implemented by hardware.

In one implementation, the communications apparatus 1100 can include circuitry that can implement the functions of transmitting or receiving or communicating in the foregoing method embodiments. The processors and transceivers described herein may be implemented on integrated circuits (integrated circuit, ICs), analog ICs, radio frequency integrated circuits RFICs, mixed signal ICs, application specific integrated circuits (application specific integrated circuit, ASIC), printed circuit boards (printed circuit board, PCB), electronic devices, and the like. The processor and transceiver may also be fabricated using a variety of IC process technologies such as complementary metal oxide semiconductor (complementary metal oxide semiconductor, CMOS), N-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS), P-type metal oxide semiconductor (positive channel metal oxide semiconductor, PMOS), bipolar junction transistor (bipolar junction transistor, BJT), bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS), silicon germanium (SiGe), gallium arsenide (GaAs), etc.

The communication apparatus described in the above embodiment may be a network device or a user device, but the scope of the communication apparatus described in the present application is not limited thereto, and the structure of the communication apparatus may not be limited by fig. 10. The communication means may be a stand-alone device or may be part of a larger device. For example, the communication device may be:

(1) A stand-alone integrated circuit IC, or chip, or a system-on-a-chip or subsystem;

(2) A set of one or more ICs, optionally including storage means for storing data, a computer program;

(3) An ASIC, such as a Modem (Modem);

(4) Modules that may be embedded within other devices;

(5) A receiver, a terminal device, an intelligent terminal device, a cellular phone, a wireless device, a handset, a mobile unit, a vehicle-mounted device, a network device, a cloud device, an artificial intelligent device, and the like;

(6) Others, and so on.

For the case where the communication device may be a chip or a chip system, reference may be made to the schematic structural diagram of the chip shown in fig. 12. The chip shown in fig. 12 includes a processor 1201 and an interface 1202. Wherein the number of processors 1101 may be one or more, and the number of interfaces 1102 may be a plurality.

Optionally, the chip further comprises a memory 1203, the memory 1203 being for storing the necessary computer programs and data.

Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks (illustrative logical block) and steps (steps) described in connection with the embodiments herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design requirements of the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the functionality in a variety of ways for each particular application, but such implementation should not be understood to be beyond the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

The present application also provides a readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer, perform the functions of any of the method embodiments described above.

The present application also provides a computer program product which, when executed by a computer, implements the functions of any of the method embodiments described above.

In the above embodiments, it may be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product comprises one or more computer programs. When the computer program is loaded and executed on a computer, the flow or functions according to embodiments of the present application are fully or partially produced. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable apparatus. The computer program may be stored in or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, a website, computer, server, or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, digital subscriber line (digital subscriber line, DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) connection. Computer readable storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer or data storage devices, such as servers, data centers, etc., that contain an integration of one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a high-density digital video disc (digital video disc, DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a Solid State Disk (SSD)), or the like.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that: the first, second, etc. numbers referred to in this application are merely for convenience of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application, but also to indicate the sequence.

At least one of the present application may also be described as one or more, and a plurality may be two, three, four or more, and the present application is not limited thereto. In the embodiment of the present application, for a technical feature, the technical features of the technical feature are distinguished by "first", "second", "third", "a", "B", "C", and "D", and the technical features described by "first", "second", "third", "a", "B", "C", and "D" are not in sequence or in order of magnitude.

As used herein, the terms "machine-readable medium" and "computer-readable medium" refer to any computer program product, apparatus, and/or device (e.g., magnetic discs, optical disks, memory, programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)) used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor, including a machine-readable medium that receives machine instructions as a machine-readable signal. The term "machine-readable signal" refers to any signal used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor.

The systems and techniques described here can be implemented in a computing system that includes a background component (e.g., as a data server), or that includes a middleware component (e.g., an application server), or that includes a front-end component (e.g., a user computer having a graphical user interface or a web browser through which a user can interact with an implementation of the systems and techniques described here), or any combination of such background, middleware, or front-end components. The components of the system can be interconnected by any form or medium of digital data communication (e.g., a communication network). Examples of communication networks include: local Area Networks (LANs), wide Area Networks (WANs), and the internet.

The computer system may include a client and a server. The client and server are typically remote from each other and typically interact through a communication network. The relationship of client and server arises by virtue of computer programs running on the respective computers and having a client-server relationship to each other.

It should be appreciated that various forms of the flows shown above may be used to reorder, add, or delete steps. For example, the steps recited in the present disclosure may be performed in parallel, sequentially, or in a different order, provided that the desired results of the disclosed aspects are achieved, and are not limited herein.

Furthermore, it is to be understood that the various embodiments of the application may be practiced alone or in combination with other embodiments where the schemes allow.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

It will be clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, specific working procedures of the above-described systems, apparatuses and units may refer to corresponding procedures in the foregoing method embodiments, and are not repeated herein.

The foregoing is merely specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think about changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and the changes or substitutions are intended to be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

A method of asynchronous communication, the method performed by a network device, the method comprising:

determining a first state according to satellite auxiliary information, wherein the first state is a state of communication connection between a satellite and a ground station; and

and determining whether to buffer or send the uplink data of the user equipment based on the first state.
The method of claim 1, wherein determining the first state based on satellite assistance information comprises:

determining parameters of the communication connection according to the satellite auxiliary information, wherein the parameters comprise the starting time, duration and/or starting time of the next connection establishment of the communication connection;

and determining the first state according to the parameters.
The method of claim 2, wherein said determining said first state in accordance with said parameter comprises:

determining that the first state has a first value for indicating that a communication connection between the satellite and the ground station is connected when a current time passes a start time of the communication connection and does not exceed the duration;

when the current time passes the start time of the communication connection and exceeds the duration and does not reach the start time of the next connection establishment, the first state is determined to have a second value, the second value being used to indicate that the communication connection between the satellite and the ground station is interrupted.
A method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said determining whether to buffer or send user equipment uplink data based on said first state comprises:

caching the uplink data of the user equipment when the first state has the second value;

and when the first state has a first value, sending the uplink data of the user equipment.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising:

and determining a second state, wherein the second state is a connection state of the user equipment and comprises a connection management-IDLE CM-IDLE state and a connection management-CONNECTED CM-CONNECTED state.
The method of claim 5, wherein determining whether to buffer or send user device uplink data based on the first state comprises:

and determining whether to buffer or send the uplink data of the user equipment based on the first state and the second state.
The method of claim 6, wherein the determining whether to cache or send user device uplink data based on the first state and the second state comprises:

caching the uplink data of the user equipment when the first state has a second value and the second state is a CM-IDLE state;

And when the first state has a first value and the second state is a CM-CONNECTED state, sending the uplink data of the user equipment.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising:

and sending the satellite auxiliary information to a first core network element, wherein the satellite auxiliary information is used for assisting the first core network element in determining the first state.
A method of asynchronous communication, the method being performed by a first core network element, the method comprising:

determining a first state according to satellite auxiliary information, wherein the first state is a state of communication connection between the satellite and a ground station; and

and determining whether to buffer or send downlink data of the user equipment based on the first state.
The method of claim 9, wherein prior to determining the first state based on satellite assistance information, the method further comprises:

receiving the satellite auxiliary information sent by the network equipment, or

And receiving parameters of the communication connection sent by the network equipment, wherein the parameters comprise the starting time, duration and/or starting time of the next connection establishment of the communication connection.
The method according to any one of claims 9 to 10, wherein determining the first state from satellite assistance information comprises:

determining parameters of the communication connection according to the satellite auxiliary information, wherein the parameters comprise the starting time, duration and/or starting time of the next connection establishment of the communication connection;

and determining the first state according to the parameters.
The method of claim 11, wherein said determining said first state in accordance with said parameter comprises:

determining that the first state has a first value for indicating that a communication connection between the satellite and the ground station is connected when a current time passes a start time of the communication connection and does not exceed the duration;

when the current time passes the start time of the communication connection and exceeds the duration and does not reach the start time of the next connection establishment, the first state is determined to have a second value, the second value being used to indicate that the communication connection between the satellite and the ground station is interrupted.
The method according to any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein the determining whether to buffer or send user equipment downlink data based on the first state comprises:

When the first state has a second value, caching downlink signaling data of the user equipment;

and when the first state has a first value, transmitting downlink signaling data of the user equipment.
The method according to any one of claims 9 to 13, further comprising:

and determining a second state, wherein the second state is a connection state of the user equipment and comprises a connection management-IDLE CM-IDLE state and a connection management-CONNECTED CM-CONNECTED state.
The method of claim 14, wherein determining whether to buffer or send user device downstream data based on the first state comprises:

and determining whether to buffer or send downlink data of the user equipment based on the first state and the second state.
The method of claim 15, wherein the determining whether to buffer or send user device downstream data based on the first state and the second state comprises:

when the first state has a second value and the second state is a CM-IDLE state, caching downlink signaling data of the user equipment;

and when the first state has a first value and the second state is a CM-CONNECTED state, transmitting downlink signaling data of the user equipment.
The method according to any one of claims 9 to 12, 14, further comprising:

notifying a second core network element, and caching downlink service data of the user equipment when the first state has a second value; transmitting downlink traffic data of the user equipment when the first state has a first value, or

Notifying a second core network element, and caching downlink service data of the user equipment when the first state has a second value and the second state is a CM-IDLE state; and when the first state has a first value and the second state is a CM-CONNECTED state, transmitting downlink service data of the user equipment.
A communication device, comprising: a transceiver; a memory; a processor, coupled to the transceiver and the memory, respectively, configured to control wireless signal transceiving of the transceiver and to enable the method of any one of claims 1-17 by executing computer-executable instructions on the memory.
A computer storage medium, wherein the computer storage medium stores computer-executable instructions; the computer executable instructions, when executed by a processor, are capable of implementing the method of any one of claims 1-17.
A communication system, comprising:

the network element of the first core network,

a second core network element, wherein,

the first core network element determines a first state according to satellite auxiliary information, wherein the first state is a state of communication connection between the satellite and a ground station;

the first core network element determines whether to buffer or send downlink data of the user equipment based on the first state; and

and the first core network element informs the second core network element to buffer or send the downlink data of the user equipment.