WO2020192654A1

WO2020192654A1 - Radio link control (rlc) bearer configuration method and apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2020192654A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/080884
Authority: WO
Inventors: 朱元萍; 戴明增; 曹振臻; 刘菁; 卓义斌
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2019-03-28
Filing date: 2020-03-24
Publication date: 2020-10-01
Also published as: CN111757387A; CN111757387B

Abstract

Provided are a radio link control (RLC) bearer configuration method and apparatus, which can improve the reliability of data transmission on a backhaul link in an IAB network. The method comprises: a first node receiving a first configuration message from a host centralized unit (CU), wherein the first configuration message is used for indicating the configuration of a first RLC bearer pair between the first node and a second node, the first RLC bearer pair is used for transmitting a data packet of a first radio bearer of a first terminal device, the first radio bearer is configured with the function of copying and transmitting the data packet, and the first node is a father node of the second node; and the first node configuring the first RLC bearer pair according to the first configuration message, wherein the first RLC bearer pair comprises a first RLC bearer and a second RLC bearer.

Description

Method and device for configuring radio link control RLC bearer

This application claims the priority of a Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on March 28, 2019, the application number is 201910245334.8, and the application name is "Method and device for configuring radio link control RLC bearer", the entire content of which is by reference Incorporated in this application.

Technical field

This application relates to access to an integrated backhaul IAB network, and in particular to a method and device for configuring a radio link control RLC bearer in an IAB network.

Background technique

In order to meet the ultra-high capacity requirements of the 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system, high-frequency small station networking has become the mainstream. The high-frequency carrier has poor propagation characteristics, severe attenuation due to obstruction, and limited coverage. Therefore, a large number of densely deployed small stations are required. Correspondingly, the cost of providing optical fiber backhaul for these large numbers of densely deployed small stations is high, and the construction is difficult, so an economic and convenient backhaul solution is required. In addition, from the perspective of wide coverage requirements, to provide network coverage in some remote areas, the deployment of optical fibers is difficult and costly, and flexible and convenient access and backhaul solutions need to be designed. Integrated access and backhaul (IAB) technology provides ideas for solving the above problems. Both the access link and backhaul link of the IAB network adopt wireless transmission schemes, which can avoid optical fiber deployment.

In the IAB network, multi-hop transmission is involved and the network topology is relatively complicated. How to improve the reliability of data transmission is an urgent problem to be solved.

Summary of the invention

The present application provides a method and device for configuring an RLC bearer, which can improve the reliability of data transmission on the backhaul link of an IAB network.

In the first aspect, this application provides a method for configuring an RLC bearer, which may be executed by the first node or a chip in the first node. The method includes: a first node receives a first configuration message from a donor centralized unit CU, the first configuration message is used to instruct to configure a first radio link control RLC bearer pair between the first node and the second node, and the first node An RLC bearer pair is used to transmit the data packet of the first radio bearer of the first terminal device. The first radio bearer has the function of copying and transmitting the data packet. The first RLC bearer pair includes a first RLC bearer and a second RLC bearer , The first node is the parent node of the second node; the first node configures the first RLC bearer pair according to the first configuration message.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first configuration message includes the first configuration content carried by the first RLC and the second configuration content carried by the second RLC, and the first configuration message The configuration content and the second configuration content satisfy any one of the following ways: the first configuration content includes the identity of the first RLC bearer and the identity of the second RLC bearer, and the second configuration content includes The identity of the second RLC bearer and the identity of the first RLC bearer; or, the first configuration content includes the identity of the first RLC bearer and the first identity, and the second configuration content includes all The identifier of the second RLC bearer and the first identifier, where the first identifier is used to associate the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer to form the first RLC bearer pair.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the first identifier is an identifier of the first radio bearer.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first configuration message includes quality of service QoS information and first indication information, and the first indication information is used to instruct the first node to configure according to the QoS information The first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer form the first RLC bearer pair.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, this further includes: the first node sends a first response message to the host CU, the first response message carries an identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer And/or the second RLC bears the identifier of the corresponding logical channel.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first response message also carries information about the available serving cell of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and/or the second RLC bearer corresponds to each Serving cell information available for the logical channel.

Optionally, the available serving cells of the logical channels corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer are different; or,

The lists of available serving cells for the logical channels corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer are different, and the serving cells in the lists of different serving cells have no intersection; or,

The first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer have different cell groups of available serving cells for corresponding logical channels, and there is no intersection between the serving cells in the different cell groups.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first response message further carries second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate that the first RLC bearer is the RLC bearer of the main path.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, this further includes: the first node receiving the data packet of the first radio bearer that the second node sends only on the first RLC bearer.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first node is an intermediate backhaul node, and the method further includes: the first node receives a first notification message from the host CU, where the first notification message is used for Indicate the activation of the restriction on the available serving cell of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the restriction on the available serving cell of the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer, or the first notification message is used to instruct to cancel the The first RLC bearer has a restriction on the available serving cell of the logical channel and the second RLC bearer has a restriction on the available serving cell of the logical channel.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the first node receives a second notification message from the home CU, the second notification message is used to instruct to enable the logic corresponding to the first RLC bearer The restriction on the serving cell available for the channel and the restriction on the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer, or the second notification message is used to instruct to cancel the restriction on the available serving cell for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer Restriction of available serving cells for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer;

The first node sends a third notification message to the second node, where the third notification message is used to indicate to the second node to enable the restriction of the available serving cells of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and The second RLC bearer corresponds to the restriction on the serving cell available for the logical channel, or the third notification message is used to instruct to cancel the restriction on the available serving cell for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC It bears the limitation of the available serving cell of the corresponding logical channel.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, after the first node configures the first RLC bearer pair according to the first configuration message, the method further includes: The data packets of the first radio bearer received on the channel are respectively mapped to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first node is the host distributed unit DU, which further includes: the first node associates two different general packet radio service tunnel protocols corresponding to the first radio bearer The data packets received on the GTP tunnel are respectively mapped to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer.

In the second aspect, this application provides a method for configuring an RLC bearer, which may be executed by the second node or a chip in the second node. The method includes: a second node receives a second configuration message from a donor centralized unit CU, the second configuration message is used to instruct to configure a first radio link control RLC bearer pair between the second node and the first node, and the second node An RLC bearer pair is used to transmit the data packet of the first radio bearer of the first terminal device. The first radio bearer has the function of copying and transmitting the data packet. The first RLC bearer pair includes a first RLC bearer and a second RLC bearer , The second node is a child node of the first node; the second node configures the first RLC bearer pair according to the second configuration message.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the second configuration message includes the third configuration content carried by the first RLC and the fourth configuration content carried by the second RLC, and the third configuration message The configuration content and the fourth configuration content satisfy any one of the following methods: the third configuration content includes the identity of the first RLC bearer and the identity of the second RLC bearer, and the fourth configuration content includes The identity of the second RLC bearer and the identity of the first RLC bearer; or, the third configuration content includes the identity of the first RLC bearer and the first identity, and the fourth configuration content includes all The identifier of the second RLC bearer and the first identifier, where the first identifier is used to associate the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer to form the first RLC bearer pair.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, the first identifier is an identifier of the first radio bearer.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the second configuration message further carries third indication information, and the third indication information is used to indicate that the first RLC bearer is an RLC bearer of the main path.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, this further includes: the second node receives from the donor CU the logical channel used to instruct to cancel the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer, respectively In the case of the first notification message of the limitation of available serving cells, the second node only transmits data packets to the first node through the first RLC bearer; or, the second node receives the first radio from a logical channel When carrying data packets, the second node only transmits the data packets to the first node through the first RLC bearer; or, the second node determines that the data volume of the data packets of the first radio bearer does not exceed a preset threshold Within a limited time, the second node only transmits data packets to the first node through the first RLC bearer.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, this further includes: the second node receives a first notification message from the donor CU, where the first notification message is used to instruct to enable the corresponding first RLC bearer The limit of the serving cell available for the logical channel and the limit of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer, or the first notification message is used to instruct to cancel the available logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer The limitation of the serving cell and the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, this further includes: the second node receives a third notification message from the first node, where the third notification message is used to instruct to enable the first RLC bearer corresponding The limit of the available serving cell of the logical channel and the limit of the available serving cell of the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer, or the third notification message is used to instruct to cancel the availability of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer The limitation of the serving cell and the limitation of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the second node is an access backhaul node serving the first terminal device, and before the second node receives the first notification message from the host CU, the method The method further includes: the second node determines the activation state of the data packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer, the activation state includes activation and deactivation; the second node instructs the host CU to copy the data packet of the first radio bearer The activation status of the transmission function.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, after the second node configures the first RLC bearer pair according to the second configuration message, the method further includes: The data packets of the first radio bearer received on the channel are respectively mapped to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer.

In the third aspect, this application provides a method for configuring the RLC bearer, which can be executed by the CU or the chip in the CU. The method includes: a donor centralized unit CU generates a first configuration message, the first configuration message is used to instruct to configure a first radio link control RLC bearer pair between a first node and a second node, and the first RLC bearer pair It is used to transmit the data packet of the first radio bearer of the first terminal device. The first radio bearer has the function of copying and transmitting the data packet. The first RLC bearer pair includes the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer. The first node Is the parent node of the second node; the host CU sends the first configuration message to the first node.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the first configuration message includes the first configuration content carried by the first RLC and the second configuration content carried by the second RLC, and the first configuration message The configuration content and the second configuration content satisfy any one of the following ways: the first configuration content includes the identity of the first RLC bearer and the identity of the second RLC bearer, and the second configuration content includes The identity of the second RLC bearer and the identity of the first RLC bearer; or, the first configuration content includes the identity of the first RLC bearer and the first identity, and the second configuration content includes all The identifier of the second RLC bearer and the first identifier, where the first identifier is used to associate the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer to form the first RLC bearer pair.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementation manners of the third aspect, the first identifier is an identifier of the first radio bearer.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the first configuration message includes quality of service QoS information and first indication information, and the first indication information is used to instruct the first node to configure according to the QoS information The first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer form the first RLC bearer pair.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, this further includes: the host CU receives a first response message from the first node, the first response message carries an identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer And/or the second RLC bears the identifier of the corresponding logical channel.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the first response message further carries second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate that the first RLC bearer is the RLC bearer of the main path.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the method further includes: the host CU generates a second configuration message, where the second configuration message is used to instruct to configure the first node between the second node and the first node. A radio link control RLC bearer pair; the donor CU sends a second configuration message to the second node.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the second configuration message includes the third configuration content carried by the first RLC and the fourth configuration content carried by the second RLC, and the third configuration message The configuration content and the fourth configuration content satisfy any one of the following methods: the third configuration content includes the identity of the first RLC bearer and the identity of the second RLC bearer, and the fourth configuration content includes The identity of the second RLC bearer and the identity of the first RLC bearer; or, the third configuration content includes the identity of the first RLC bearer and the first identity, and the fourth configuration content includes all The identifier of the second RLC bearer and the first identifier, where the first identifier is used to associate the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer to form the first RLC bearer pair.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the second configuration message further carries third indication information, and the third indication information is used to indicate that the first RLC bearer is the RLC bearer of the primary path.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, after the configuration of the first RLC bearer pair is completed, the method further includes: the host CU sends a first notification message to the first node and the second node, and the A notification message is used to indicate to enable the restriction of the available serving cell of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the restriction of the available serving cell of the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer, or the first notification message is used For instructing to cancel the restriction on the serving cell that is available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the restriction on the available serving cell for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, before the host CU sends the first notification message, the method further includes: the host CU determines the activation state of the data packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer , The activation state includes activation and deactivation; or, the host CU receives from the access backhaul node serving the first terminal device information indicating the activation state of the data packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer, The activation state includes activation and deactivation.

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a device for transmitting data packets. The device has the function of implementing the method in the first aspect and any possible implementation manners thereof. The function can be realized by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the above functions.

In the fifth aspect, this application provides a device for transmitting data packets, the device having the function of implementing the method in the second aspect and any possible implementation manners thereof. The function can be realized by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the above functions.

In a sixth aspect, this application provides a device for transmitting data packets. The device has the function of implementing the method in the third aspect and any possible implementation manners thereof. The function can be realized by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the above functions.

In a seventh aspect, this application provides a network device including a processor and a memory. The memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to call and run the computer program stored in the memory, so that the network device executes the foregoing first aspect or the method in any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, this application provides a network device including a processor and a memory. The memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to call and run the computer program stored in the memory, so that the network device executes the foregoing second aspect or any possible implementation method of the second aspect.

In a ninth aspect, this application provides a network device including a processor and a memory. The memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is used to call and run the computer program stored in the memory, so that the network device executes the foregoing third aspect or any possible implementation method of the third aspect.

In a tenth aspect, this application provides a chip including a processor. The processor is used to read and execute a computer program stored in the memory to execute the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

Optionally, the chip further includes a memory, and the memory and the processor are connected to the memory through a circuit or wire, and the memory is used to store a computer program.

Further optionally, the chip further includes a communication interface.

In an eleventh aspect, this application provides a chip including a processor. The processor is used to read and execute the computer program stored in the memory to execute the second aspect or any possible implementation method of the second aspect.

Optionally, the chip further includes a memory, the memory and the processor are connected to the memory through a circuit or a wire, and the memory is used for storing computer programs.

Further optionally, the chip further includes a communication interface.

In a twelfth aspect, this application provides a chip including a processor. The processor is used to read and execute a computer program stored in the memory to execute the third aspect or any possible implementation method of the third aspect.

Further optionally, the chip further includes a communication interface.

In a thirteenth aspect, this application also provides a computer program product, the computer program product comprising computer program code, when the computer program code runs on a computer, the computer can execute the first aspect or any one of its possibilities The method in the implementation.

In a fourteenth aspect, this application also provides a computer program product. The computer program product includes computer program code. When the computer program code runs on a computer, the computer executes the second aspect or any one of its possibilities. The method in the implementation.

In a fifteenth aspect, this application also provides a computer program product. The computer program product includes computer program code. When the computer program code runs on a computer, the computer can execute the third aspect or any one of its possibilities. The method in the implementation.

In a sixteenth aspect, this application also provides a computer storage medium that stores computer instructions in the computer-readable storage medium. When the computer instructions run on the computer, the computer executes the first aspect or any of its possible implementations. Method in.

In a seventeenth aspect, the present application also provides a computer storage medium that stores computer instructions in the computer-readable storage medium. When the computer instructions run on the computer, the computer executes the second aspect or any of its possible implementations. Method in.

In an eighteenth aspect, this application also provides a computer storage medium in which computer instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium. When the computer instructions run on the computer, the computer executes the third aspect or any possible implementation manner thereof Method in.

The technical solution of the present application, by configuring an RLC bearer pair between the parent node and the child node of the backhaul link, can support the mapping of the data packets of the radio bearer configured with the data packet replication transmission function of the terminal device to the RLC bearer respectively Transmission is carried out on the two included RLC bearers, so that the data packet of one radio bearer can be transmitted on the backhaul link to the next hop through different RLC bearers, which improves the reliability of data packet transmission on the backhaul link .

Description of the drawings

Figure 1 is an architecture diagram of an IAB system suitable for the technical solution of the present application.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the composition of an IAB node.

Figure 3 (a) and (b) are examples of the protocol stack architecture of the intermediate IAB node.

Figure 4 is an example of the user plane protocol stack architecture of a multi-hop IAB network.

Figure 5 is an example of the control plane protocol stack architecture of a multi-hop IAB network.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of the mapping relationship among RLC channels, logical channels, and protocol entities.

Figure 7 is a specific example of the IAB system.

Figure 8 (a) and (b) are sending scenarios where the UE supports the copy operation of the data packet.

Fig. 9 is an example of a scenario where a UE is supported to perform a data packet copy operation in an IAB network.

FIG. 10 is a schematic flowchart of a method for transmitting data packets provided by the present application.

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus 500 for configuring an RLC bearer provided by this application.

FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus 600 for configuring an RLC bearer provided by this application.

FIG. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus 700 for configuring an RLC bearer provided by this application.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the network device 1000 provided by the present application.

detailed description

The technical solution in this application will be described below in conjunction with the drawings.

Wherein, in the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, "/" means or, for example, A/B can mean A or B. The "and/or" in this article is only an association relationship describing the associated objects, which means that there can be three relationships, for example, A and/or B, which can mean: A alone exists, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone These three situations. Also, in the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, "plurality" means two or more than two. In addition, in order to facilitate a clear description of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish the same items or similar items with substantially the same function and effect. Those skilled in the art can understand that words such as "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity and order of execution, and words such as "first" and "second" do not limit the difference.

The names of all nodes and messages in this application are only names set for the convenience of description. The names in the actual network may be different, and it should not be understood that this application limits the names of various nodes and messages. On the contrary, any name that has the same or similar function as the node or message used in this application is regarded as a method or equivalent replacement of this application, and is within the protection scope of this application, and will not be repeated hereafter.

The communication systems mentioned in the embodiments of this application include but are not limited to: narrowband-internet of things (NB-IoT) system, wireless local access network (WLAN) system, LTE system, next-generation 5G mobile Communication systems or communication systems after 5G, such as NR, device-to-device (D2D) communication systems, etc.

The base stations mentioned in this application include but are not limited to: evolved node B (evolved node base, eNB), radio network controller (RNC), node B (node B, NB), base station controller (base station) controller, BSC), base transceiver station (BTS), home base station (home evolved NodeB, or home node B, HNB), baseband unit (BBU), evolved (evolved LTE, eLTE) base station, NR base station (next generation node B, gNB), etc.

Terminal equipment includes but is not limited to: user equipment (UE), mobile station, access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile equipment, terminal, wireless communication equipment, user agent, Station (ST), cell phone, cordless phone, session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) station in wireless local area network (wireless local access network, WLAN) Personal digital assistant (PDA), handheld devices with wireless communication functions, computing devices, other processing devices connected to wireless modems, in-vehicle devices, wearable devices, mobile stations in the future 5G network, and public Any of the terminal devices in the public land mobile network (PLMN) network.

The wireless backhaul node (may also be referred to as an IAB node) is used to provide a wireless backhaul service for a node (for example, a terminal) that wirelessly accesses the wireless backhaul node. Among them, the wireless backhaul service refers to the data and/or signaling backhaul service provided through the wireless backhaul link. The IAB node is a specific name of a relay node, which does not limit the solution of the present application. It may be one of the aforementioned base stations or terminal devices with a forwarding function, or may be an independent device form. In a network containing IAB nodes (hereinafter referred to as IAB networks), the IAB nodes can provide wireless access services for terminals, and are connected to a donor base station (donor gNB) through a wireless backhaul link to transmit user service data.

Exemplarily, the IAB node may also be equipment such as customer premises equipment (CPE for short) and residential gateway (RG for short). In this case, the method provided in the embodiment of the present application can also be applied to a home access scenario.

Refer to Fig. 1, which is an architecture diagram of an IAB system applicable to the technical solution of the present application. As shown in Figure 1, an IAB system includes at least one base station 100, and one or more terminal devices (terminal) 101 served by the base station 100, one or more relay nodes (that is, IAB nodes) 110, and IAB One or more terminal devices 111 served by the node 110. The IAB node 110 is connected to the base station 100 through a wireless backhaul link 113. Generally, the base station 100 is called a donor base station. Alternatively, the donor base station is also referred to as a donor node or a donor node or an IAB donor (IAB donor) in this application. In addition, the IAB system may also include one or more intermediate IAB nodes. For example, IAB node 120 and IAB node 130.

The donor base station can be an access network element with complete base station functions, or it can be a form in which a centralized unit (centralized unit, referred to as CU) and a distributed unit (abbreviated as DU) are separated, that is, the host node is controlled by the donor base station. The centralized unit and the distributed unit of the donor base station. In this article, the centralized unit of the host node is also called IAB donor CU (also called donor CU, or directly called CU). The distributed unit of the host node is also called IAB donor DU (or donor DU). Among them, the donor CU may also be a form where the control plane (CP) (referred to as CU-CP in this article) and the user plane (UP) (referred to in this article as CU-UP) are separated. For example, a CU may be composed of one CU-CP and one or more CU-UPs.

In the embodiments of the present application and in the accompanying drawings, the host node is composed of Donor-CU and Donor-DU as an example to illustrate the method provided in the embodiments of the present application.

The following is a brief introduction to the concepts involved in the IAB system in conjunction with Figure 1.

1. Basic concepts.

Link: Refers to the path between two adjacent nodes in a path.

Access link: the link between the terminal device and the base station, or between the terminal device and the IAB node, or between the terminal device and the host node, or between the terminal device and the host DU. Or, the access link includes a wireless link used when a certain IAB node is in the role of a common terminal device to communicate with its parent node. When the IAB node acts as an ordinary terminal device, it does not provide backhaul services for any child nodes. The access link includes an uplink access link and a downlink access link. In this application, the access link of the terminal device is a wireless link, so the access link may also be called a wireless access link.

Backhaul link: the link between the IAB node and the parent node when it is used as a wireless backhaul node. When the IAB node is used as a wireless backhaul node, it provides wireless backhaul services for child nodes. The backhaul link includes an uplink backhaul link and a downlink backhaul link. In this application, the backhaul link between the IAB node and the parent node is a wireless link, so the backhaul link can also be called a wireless backhaul link.

Parent node and child node: Each IAB node regards the neighboring node that provides wireless access service and/or wireless backhaul service for it as a parent node. Correspondingly, each IAB node can be regarded as a child node of its parent node.

Alternatively, the child node may also be called a lower-level node, and the parent node may also be called an upper-level node.

The last hop node of a node: refers to the last node in the path containing the node that received the data packet before the node. It can be understood that the previous hop node of a node may include the previous hop node of the node in uplink transmission and the previous hop node of the node in downlink transmission.

The next hop node of a node: refers to the node in the path containing the node that receives the data packet first after the node. It can be understood that the next hop node of a node may include the next hop node of the node in uplink transmission and the next hop node of the node in downlink transmission.

The entry link of a node: refers to the link between the node and the previous hop node of the node, and can also be called the previous hop link of the node. It can be understood that the ingress link of the node may include the ingress link of the node in uplink transmission and the ingress link of the node in downlink transmission.

The exit link of a node: refers to the link between the node and the next hop node of the node, and can also be called the next hop link of the node. It can be understood that the egress link of the node may include the egress link of the node in uplink transmission and the egress link of the node in downlink transmission.

Access IAB node: refers to the IAB node that the terminal accesses, or the IAB node that provides access services for the terminal device.

Intermediate IAB node: refers to an IAB node that provides wireless backhaul services for other IAB nodes (for example, access IAB nodes or other intermediate IAB nodes).

2. The composition of the IAB node.

The IAB node may have a mobile terminal (MT) part and a DU part. The IAB node uses the MT part to communicate with its parent node, and the IAB node uses the DU part to communicate with its child nodes (the child node may be a terminal or another IAB node). An IAB node can establish a backhaul connection with at least one parent node of the IAB node through the MT part. The DU part of an IAB node can provide access services for the terminal or the MT part of other IAB nodes. The following is an example description with reference to Figure 2.

Refer to Figure 2, which is a schematic diagram of the composition of an IAB node. The UE is connected to the host node through IAB node 2 and IAB node 1. Among them, IAB node 1 and IAB node 2 both include a DU part and an MT part. The DU part of IAB node 2 provides access services for the UE. The DU part of IAB node 1 provides access services for the MT part of IAB node 2. The DU part of the host node provides access services for the MT part of the IAB node 1.

In order to facilitate understanding, it is also necessary to introduce the protocol stack of the IAB network. The protocol stack of the IAB network includes the user plane protocol stack and the control plane protocol stack.

3. Access to the protocol stack architecture of IAB nodes, intermediate IAB nodes, Donor-DU, Donor-CU and terminal equipment.

The intermediate IAB node has the same protocol stack on the user plane and the control plane. Figure 3 (a) and (b) are examples of the protocol stack architecture of the intermediate IAB node. Among them, the MT part and the DU part of the intermediate IAB node may not share an adaptation (adapt) layer, as shown in Figure 3(a). The MT part and the DU part of the intermediate IAB node can also share the adaptation layer, as shown in Figure 3(b).

The protocol stacks for accessing the IAB node are different in the user plane and the control plane. Refer to the IAB node 1 shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5 respectively.

Refer to FIG. 4, which is an example of a user plane protocol stack architecture of a multi-hop IAB network. As shown in Figure 4, in the protocol architecture shown in Figure 4, the meaning of each protocol layer is: Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, General Packet Radio Service Tunneling Protocol user plane (general packet radio) service tunneling protocol user plane, GTP-U) layer, user datagram protocol (UDP) layer, internet protocol (IP) layer, L2 layer (layer 2), L1 layer (layer 1) , Radio link control (RLC) layer, medium access control (MAC) layer, physical (PHY) layer, radio resource control (RRC) layer, F1 application protocol (F1application protocol, F1AP) layer, stream control transmission protocol (stream control transmission protocol, SCTP) layer. Among them, the L2 layer is the link layer. Exemplarily, the L2 layer may be the data link layer in the open systems interconnection (OSI) reference model. The L1 layer can be a physical layer. Exemplarily, the L1 layer may be the physical layer in the OSI reference model.

In order to meet the service quality requirements of different types of services of terminal equipment, one or more radio bearers (RB) are introduced into the wireless network. The radio bearers include data radio bearer (DRB) and signaling radio bearer (signaling). raido bearer, SRB), used to transmit different types of service data (including control plane signaling and user plane data) between the UE and the base station. In the IAB network, the RB can be considered as a logical channel for data transmission between the UE and the host node.

Among them, each protocol layer will be configured with a corresponding protocol layer entity, such as a PDCP entity, an RLC entity, and a MAC entity. In the uplink transmission, the data packets of the UE (such as IP data packets) are processed in the PDCP layer, and then passed through the RLC layer, the MAC layer and the PHY layer to the access backhaul node (such as the IAB node shown in Figure 4). 2) The PHY layer.

As mentioned above, in an IAB network, an IAB node can include a DU part and an MT part. When the IAB node is used as a wireless backhaul node, the MT part of the IAB node performs data forwarding on the backhaul link without the complete protocol stack of the terminal device on the wireless access link. For example, the IAB node 2 shown in FIG. 4 is for the IAB node 1, and the IAB node 2 is a child node of the IAB node 1. When the IAB node 2 sends the data packet from the UE to the IAB node 1, the MT of the IAB node 2 does not need the PDCP layer, and the data packet is forwarded under the adaptation layer (adapt layer). Therefore, in Figure 4, when an IAB node acts as a wireless backhaul node to send a data packet to its parent node, only the protocol layer below the adaptation layer is involved, which is applicable to all IAB nodes and will not be repeated.

When the IAB node plays the role of a wireless terminal, the protocol stack of the communication link between it and the parent node is the same as the protocol stack of the wireless access link between the UE and the access IAB node. The protocol stack is the same as the protocol stack between the UE and the host CU.

In addition, FIG. 4 also shows the user plane protocol stack of the F1 interface between the host CU and the access IAB node (IAB node 2 in FIG. 4). The GTP-U tunnel established by the F1 interface through the GTP-U protocol layer corresponds to the data radio bearer DRB of the UE. In other words, each radio bearer of a UE has a GTP tunnel corresponding to one of them.

Refer to FIG. 5, which is an example of a control plane protocol stack architecture of a multi-hop IAB network. The introduction of each protocol layer in Figure 4 is also applicable to Figure 5, but there are some differences. For example, in Figure 5, the F1 interface between the access IAB node and the host CU uses the F1 control plane (F1-C) protocol stack.

It should be noted that FIGS. 4 and 5 respectively show an example of an end-to-end user plane and control plane protocol stack architecture for transmitting the data service of the UE in the IAB network. Optionally, the protocol stack architecture may also have other possibilities. For example, if the F1 interface between IAB2 and the host CU introduces a protocol layer for security protection, the protocol stack architecture will change.

In addition, if the host node is a fully functional entity, the IAB donor reserves the protocol stacks for the external node interfaces of donor DU and donor CU, and the protocol layer on the internal interface between donor DU and donor CU is not necessary. Similarly, the protocol stack of the IAB node does not distinguish between the DU part and the MT part to the outside, and only displays the protocol stack to the external node interface uniformly.

In addition, whether it is the control plane protocol stack architecture or the user plane protocol stack architecture, when Donor-DU is the proxy node of the F1 interface between Donor-CU and IAB nodes, Donor-DU faces users who access the IAB node In the surface protocol stack architecture, above the IP layer, it can include the UDP layer and the GTP-U layer, which are equivalent to the UDP layer and GTP-U layer in the protocol stack architecture of the DU part of the IAB node. Contains the IPsec layer equivalent to the DU part of the access IAB node; in the control plane protocol stack architecture of the Donor-DU facing the access IAB node, above the IP layer, it can include the DU part accessing the IAB node The SCTP layer and the F1AP layer in the protocol stack architecture are equivalent to the SCTP layer and the SCTP layer, respectively, and may also include an IPsec layer or DTLS layer that is equivalent to the DU part of the IAB node;

In addition, Figures 4 and 5 also involve the F1 interface.

4. The protocol layer of F1 interface and F1 interface

Among them, the F1 interface refers to the logical interface between the DU part of the IAB node and the host node (or donor-CU or donor-DU). The F1 interface can also be referred to as an F1* interface, which supports the user plane and the control plane. The protocol layer of the F1 interface refers to the communication protocol layer on the F1 interface.

Exemplarily, the user plane protocol layer of the F1 interface may include one or more of the IP layer, the UDP layer, and the GTP-U layer. Optionally, the user plane protocol layer of the F1 interface further includes a PDCP layer and/or an IP security (IP Security, IPsec) layer.

Exemplarily, the control plane protocol layer of the F1 interface may include one or more of the IP layer, the F1AP layer, and the SCTP layer. Optionally, the control plane protocol layer of the F1 interface further includes one or more of the PDCP layer, the IPsec layer, and the datagram transport layer security (DTLS) layer.

Refer to FIG. 6, which is a schematic diagram of the mapping relationship between RLC channels, logical channels, and protocol entities. As shown in Figure 6, the RLC channel (RLC channel) is the channel between the RLC layer and the upper protocol layer. The configuration of the radio bearer corresponds to the configuration of the upper layer (for example, the PDCP layer) part and the lower layer (for example, the RLC layer and the MAC layer) part.

Among them, the configuration of the RLC bearer refers to the configuration of the RB at the RLC layer, which specifically includes the configuration of the RLC layer entity and logical channel. In this article, the RLC bearer of the IAB node on the backhaul link includes the RLC layer and the logical channel part. The RLC channel on the backhaul link is the channel between the RLC layer and the upper protocol layer. For example, if the upper layer of the RLC layer is the PDCP layer, the RLC channel on the backhaul link is the channel between the RLC layer and the PDCP layer. For another example, if the upper layer of the RLC layer is an adaptation layer (also called an adapt layer), the RLC channel on the backhaul link is a channel between the RLC layer and the adaptation layer. Therefore, the definition of the RLC channel depends on the upper protocol layer of the RLC layer. The RLC channel of the IAB node on the backhaul link corresponds to one RLC entity one by one, and also corresponds to one RLC bearer.

Among them, between the adapt entity and the RLC entity can be one adapt entity corresponding to multiple RLC entities, as shown in Figure 6(a), or one adapt entity corresponding to one RLC entity, as shown in Figure 6(b) , This application does not limit this.

In addition, the adaptation layer has one or more of the following capabilities: adding routing information (routing information) that can be recognized by the wireless backhaul node (IAB node) to the data packet, and based on the above can be recognized by the wireless backhaul node Perform routing selection on the outgoing routing information, add identification information related to the quality of service (QoS) requirements that can be identified by the wireless backhaul node for the data packet, and execute the data packet on the multi-segment chain containing the wireless backhaul node QoS mapping on the road, adding data packet type indication information to data packets, and sending flow control feedback information to nodes with flow control capabilities.

Wherein, the routing information that can be recognized by the wireless backhaul node may be the identification of the terminal, the identification of the IAB node that the terminal accesses, the identification of the host node, the identification of Donor-DU, the identification of Donor-CU, the identification of the transmission path One or more of the information such as identification.

The QoS mapping on the multi-segment link may be: in the wireless backhaul link, based on the identification of the RB of the terminal carried in the data packet, execute the RLC bearer or RLC channel or logic from the RB of the terminal to the wireless backhaul link. Channel mapping; or, based on the correspondence between any two or more of the ingress link and egress link RB, RLC bearer, RLC channel, and logical channel, perform the RB or RLC bearer from the ingress link Or RLC channel or logical channel, RB or RLC bearer or RLC channel or logical channel mapping to egress link.

The identification information related to the QoS requirements may be, for example, the QoS flow identifier (QFI) of the terminal, the RB identifier of the terminal, the differentiated services code point (DSCP), Internet Protocol version 6 One or more of the flow label in the header of the IP data packet (internet protocol version 6, referred to as IPv6).

It should be noted that the name of the protocol layer with these capabilities is not necessarily the adaptation layer, but may also be other names. Those skilled in the art can understand that any protocol layer with these capabilities can be understood as the adaptation layer in the embodiment of the application.

In addition, this application also involves routing and bearer mapping.

Route selection: used to select the next hop node for the data packet.

Bearer mapping can also be called QoS mapping. The bearer mapping is used to select the RLC bearer or RLC channel or logical channel for sending data packets.

It should be understood that in the integrated access and backhaul system shown in FIG. 1, an IAB node is connected to an upper-level node. However, in the future relay system, in order to improve the reliability of the wireless backhaul link, an IAB node, such as 120, can have multiple upper-level nodes simultaneously providing services for an IAB node. The IAB node 130 in Figure 1 also It may be connected to the IAB node 120 through the backhaul link 134, that is, both the IAB node 110 and the IAB node 120 are regarded as the upper node of the IAB node 130. The names of the

IAB nodes

110, 120, and 130 do not limit the scenarios or networks where they are deployed, and may be any other names such as relay, RN, and so on. In this application, an IAB node can generally refer to any node or device with a relay function. The use of IAB node and relay node in this application should be understood to have the same meaning, and the use of IAB node in this application is only for convenience of description. .

In Figure 1, the wireless links 102, 112, 122, 132, 113, 123, 133, 134 can be bidirectional links, including uplink and downlink transmission links. In particular, the

wireless backhaul links

113, 123, 133, 134 can be used by the upper node to provide services for the lower node, such as the upper node 100 is the lower node 110 provides wireless backhaul services. It should be understood that the uplink and downlink of the backhaul link may be separated, that is, the uplink and the downlink are not transmitted through the same node. The downlink transmission refers to an upper node, such as node 100, and a lower node, such as node 110, transmitting information or data, and the uplink transmission refers to a lower node, such as node 110, and an upper node, such as node 100, transmitting information or data. The node is not limited to whether it is a network node or a terminal device. For example, in a D2D scenario, the terminal device can act as a relay node to serve other terminal devices. The wireless backhaul link can also be an access link in some scenarios. For example, when the node 110 acts as an ordinary terminal device, the backhaul link 123 can also be regarded as an access link for the node 110, and the node 100 As an ordinary terminal device, the backhaul link 113 is also the access link of the node 100. It should be understood that the above-mentioned upper node may be a base station or a relay node, and the lower node may be a relay node or a terminal device with a relay function. For example, in a D2D scenario, the lower node may also be a terminal device.

In 5G, considering the small coverage of high frequency bands, in order to ensure the coverage performance of the network, multi-hop networking may be adopted in the IAB network. Considering the requirement of service transmission reliability, the IAB node can be made to support dual connectivity (DC) or multi-connectivity to deal with possible abnormal situations in the backhaul link. For example, abnormalities such as link interruption or blockage and load fluctuations can improve the reliability of transmission. Therefore, the IAB network supports multi-hop networking and can also support multi-connection networking.

There is at least one transmission path composed of multiple links between the UE served by the IAB node and the IAB donor. A transmission path includes multiple nodes, for example, UE, one or more IAB nodes, and IAB donor (if the IAB donor is in the form of separate CU and DU, it also includes the Donor DU part and the Donor CU part).

Refer to Figure 7, which is a specific example of the IAB system. As shown in Figure 7, the parent node of IAB node 1 is IAB donor, IAB node 1 is the parent node of IAB node 2 and IAB node 3, IAB node 2 and IAB node 3 are both the parent nodes of IAB node 4, IAB node 5 The parent node of is IAB node 3. The uplink data packet of the UE may be transmitted to the host site IAB donor via one or more IAB nodes, and then sent by the IAB donor to the mobile gateway device (for example, the user plane function unit UPF in the 5G core network). The UE's downlink data packet will be received by the IAB donor from the mobile gateway device, and then sent to the UE through the IAB node. Among them, there are two available paths for data transmission between UE1 and the donor base station. Path 1: Terminal 1→IAB node 4→IAB node 3→IAB node 1→host node, and terminal 1→IAB node 4→IAB node 2→IAB node 1→host node. There are three available paths for data packet transmission between terminal 2 and host node, namely: terminal 2→IAB node 4→IAB node 3→IAB node 1→host node, terminal 2→IAB node 4→IAB node 2→IAB Node 1 → host node, and terminal 2 → IAB node 5 → IAB node 2 → IAB node 1 → host node.

It should be understood that the IAB networking scenario shown in Figure 7 is only exemplary. In the IAB scenario where multi-hop and multi-connection are combined, there are more other possibilities, for example, the IAB donor in Figure 7 and another IAB nodes under the IAB donor form dual connections to serve the UE, etc., which are not listed here.

Considering the requirement of service transmission reliability, in scenarios where the UE supports dual connectivity (DC) or carrier aggregation (CA), data packet duplication (duplication) operations can be performed. That is, the data packet to be transmitted is copied on the sending side to obtain two identical data packets. Then, the two identical data packets are sent to the receiving side via two transmission paths. Description will be given below in conjunction with FIG. 3.

Referring to Fig. 8 (a) and (b), Fig. 8 (a) and (b) are sending scenarios in which the UE supports the copy operation of the data packet. Figure 8 (a) is a carrier aggregation (CA) scenario. The base station and the UE can map the data packet to two different component carriers (CC) for transmission, so as to support the data packet copy operation. Figure 8(b) is a dual connectivity (DC) scenario. Data packets on the sending side can reach the receiving side through two different paths. For example, in the above behavior example, one path is a direct link between the UE and the master base station, and the cell group serving the UE on this path is the master cell group (MCG). The other path is composed of two links of UE-secondary base station-primary base station. On the second path, the cell group served by the secondary base station for the UE is a secondary cell group (SCG).

Refer to FIG. 9, which is an example of a scenario in which a UE is supported to perform a data packet copy operation in an IAB network. As shown in (a) in Figure 9, the UE can perform a CA-based packet copy operation on the access link. CA is also supported between IAB1 and IAB2. Therefore, between IAB2 and IAB1, a CA-based manner can be used to support the UE to perform data packet copy operations.

Or, if the IAB node of the backhaul link supports multiple connections, the IAB node can also support the transmission of the duplication data packet of the UE in a DC-based manner on the backhaul link, for example, FIG. 9(b). In Figure 9(b), IAB 2 has two parent nodes IAB 1 and IAB 3, and IAB 2 can transmit the duplication data packet of the UE through two links between the two parent nodes.

Or, there may be backhaul links in the IAB network that neither support multiple connections nor CA. For example, in Figure 9(a), the backhaul link between IAB 1 and donor DU neither supports CA nor multiple connections.

It should be understood that, in the embodiments of the present application, the UE is supported to perform a data packet duplication operation. It can also be said that the transmission of duplication data packets of the UE is supported.

Alternatively, the duplication data packet of the UE described in the embodiment of the present application refers to a data packet in which the UE has performed a duplication operation. The duplication data packet of the UE includes the data packet subjected to the duplication operation and its duplicated data packet, or the data packet subjected to the duplication operation and its copy.

In other scenarios, the access link of the UE may support multiple connections, so that the UE can support duplication of data packets in a DC manner. The data packets that have performed the copy operation can be transmitted through different backhaul links, can also be transmitted on a public backhaul link that supports CA, or may be transmitted on a public backhaul link that does not support CA.

For the above scenario, if it is guaranteed that the backhaul link supports the data packet replication transmission function of the UE's radio bearer, there is currently no solution to support it.

The technical solutions provided by this application are described below.

The following description takes the CU-DU separation architecture of the donor base station as an example. Optionally, if the host CU further has a CP and UP separation architecture, the host CU can be replaced with CU-CP. Optionally, if the donor base station is a complete functional entity and does not separate the CU and DU, the donor CU and/or the donor DU in the embodiment can be replaced with the donor base station for understanding, and the donor CU does not need to configure the donor DU the process of.

Refer to FIG. 10, which is a schematic flowchart of a method for configuring an RLC bearer provided by the present application.

The host node described in FIG. 10 may be the host node 100 shown in FIG. 1, the first node may be the node 110 shown in FIG. 1, and the second node may be the node 120 or the node 130 shown in FIG.

210. The host CU sends a first configuration message to the first node, and the first node receives the first configuration message from the host CU.

The first configuration message is used to instruct the first node to configure the first RLC bearer pair between the first node and the second node. The first RLC bearer pair may be used to transmit data packets of the first radio bearer of the first terminal device. Here, the first radio bearer is configured with data packet replication transmission.

Optionally, the first node is the host DU or an intermediate IAB node.

In addition, the first node is the parent node of the second node. That is, the second node is a child node of the first node.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first RLC bearer pair refers to a group of RLC bearers formed by two RLC bearers between the first node and the second node. The first RLC bearer pair is used to transmit the data packet of the first radio bearer. The first radio bearer supports the duplication and transmission of the data packet. In other words, the two RLC bearers included in the first RLC bearer pair are used to transmit data packets from the first radio bearer. Radio bearer data packets and their duplicate data packets (or, called duplicates).

It should be understood that the first radio bearer supports the replication transmission of data packets, which can be understood as the first radio bearer is configured with data packet replication transmission (function or capability), or the first radio bearer has data packet replication transmission (function or Capability), or the first radio bearer has the capability of copying and transmitting data packets. Although the first radio bearer has the ability to copy and transmit data packets, the copy transmission operation can be activated or deactivated. When the copy transmission operation is in the activation state, each data on the first radio bearer The package will be copied into two (or more) for transmission. One of the two RLC bearers included in the first RLC bearer pair may be used to transmit a data packet, and the other RLC bearer may be used to transmit a duplicate data packet of this data packet. That is, the two RLC bearers included in the first RLC bearer pair are used to transmit two identical data packets on the first radio bearer. When the copy transmission operation is in the deactivation state, the data packet on the first radio bearer is not copied into two (or more) copies for transmission, and only one data packet of the first radio bearer is still transmitted. The first RLC One RLC bearer in the bearer pair can transmit the data packet on the first radio bearer.

Optionally, when a wireless backhaul node (IAB node) transmits its own services, the wireless backhaul node or its MT part can be regarded as a terminal device. Therefore, if the wireless backhaul node transmits itself via the first node The wireless backhaul node can also be regarded as the first terminal device.

It should be noted that the first radio bearer supports or is configured with a data packet copy transmission function, which means that the first radio bearer has such a function. Optionally, the data packet copy transmission function of the first radio bearer can be activated or deactivated.

In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the RLC bearer (RLC bearer), the RLC channel (RLC channel), and the logical channel (logical channel). In other words, each RLC bearer uniquely corresponds to one RLC channel, and also uniquely corresponds to a logical channel.

Therefore, in each embodiment, an RLC bearer pair (RLC bearer pair) may also be expressed as an RLC channel pair or a logical channel pair, which is not limited in this application.

Optionally, in some cases, the two RLC bearers included in the first RLC bearer pair may only use one of the RLC bearers for data transmission. These cases will be described in detail below.

Hereinafter, the two RLC bearers included in the first RLC bearer pair are respectively denoted as the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer. Specifically, the donor CU may instruct the first node to configure the first RLC bearer pair in the following manner.

In an implementation manner, the first configuration content and the second configuration content in the first configuration message. The first configuration content is used to indicate the first RLC bearer, and the second configuration content is used to configure the second RLC bearer.

Optionally, the first configuration content and the second configuration content satisfy any one of the following modes:

(1) The first configuration content includes the identity of the first RLC bearer and the identity of the second RLC bearer, and the second configuration content includes the identity of the second RLC bearer and the identity of the first RLC bearer.

In this manner, the first configuration content and the second configuration content both include the identity of the first RLC bearer and the identity of the second RLC bearer, indicating that the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer form an RLC bearer pair.

(2) The first configuration content includes the identifier and the first identifier of the first RLC bearer, and the second configuration content includes the identifier and the first identifier of the second RLC bearer. The first identifier is used to associate the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer to form a first RLC bearer pair.

In this manner, the first configuration content and the second configuration content each include a common first identifier in addition to an RLC bearer identifier, which means that the first configuration content and the second configuration content are combined through the first identifier. The RLC bearers contained in are associated to form an RLC bearer pair.

Optionally, the first identifier may be the identifier of the first radio bearer (or bearer identifier).

Through the above two methods, the donor CU can conveniently indicate to the first node the two bearers forming the RLC bearer pair, saving signaling overhead.

Optionally, the first configuration message may not include the RLC bearer identifier, and the donor CU instructs the first node to configure the first RLC bearer pair in other ways, as described in (3) below.

(3) The first configuration message contains quality of service QoS information and first indication information. The first indication information is used to instruct the first node to configure the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer according to the QoS information to form a first RLC bearer pair .

In this implementation manner, the first configuration message includes QoS information and first indication information. According to the first indication information, the first node configures two RLC bearers that meet the QoS indicated by the QoS information, thereby forming a first RLC bearer pair. In this way, the donor CU may not indicate the identity of the first RLC bearer and the identity of the second RLC bearer, and the first node can flexibly configure the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer according to the QoS information.

(4) The first configuration message includes reliability parameters.

In this implementation manner, the donor CU instructs the first node to configure the first RLC bearer pair through an implicit indication. The first node compares the reliability parameter contained in the first configuration message with the pre-configured threshold, and if the comparison result between the reliability parameter index contained in the first configuration message and the pre-configured threshold meets the need to configure two RLC bearers If conditions are met, two RLC bearers are configured to form an RLC bearer pair.

For example, the reliability parameter is the packet loss rate, and when it is less than the preset threshold, it indicates that the reliability requirement is high and two RLC bearers need to be configured. For another example, the reliability parameter is a reliability indicator, and when it is greater than the preset threshold, it indicates that the reliability requirement is high, and two RLC bearers need to be configured.

Optionally, the reliability parameters are not limited here. Various parameters that can characterize the reliability of data transmission, such as error rate, packet loss rate, etc., are all applicable in this application.

In this way, the first node can flexibly configure the first RLC bearer and/or the second RLC bearer according to the pre-configured threshold.

Optionally, the first configuration message may also carry a backhaul type indication.

The indication of the backhaul type is used to indicate that the first RLC bearer and/or the second RLC bearer is used to transmit the backhaul service. For the first node, the backhaul service refers to the service (including data and signaling) of the terminal transmitted via the wireless backhaul link between the first node and its child node (second node), which is different from the first node. Access service of two nodes. The access service of the second node refers to the own service (including data and signaling) transmitted from or ending at the second node (or the MT part of the second node) when the second node is regarded as a terminal role. When transmitting backhaul services, the protocol stack of the backhaul link can be used for communication between the first node and the second node. When transmitting the access services of the second node, the first node and the second node can use The protocol stack of the access link communicates.

Optionally, the first configuration message may be a radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) message or an F1 interface application layer protocol (F1 application protocol, F1AP) message.

Optionally, if the first node here is the donor DU, the first configuration message may also include one or more of some information: the bearer that can be mapped to the first RLC bearer to the UE's radio bearer for transmission The identifier can be mapped to the QoS label in the data packet transmitted by the first RLC bearer pair.

In the embodiments of this application, the bearer identifier of the UE's radio bearer can be composed of UE ID + radio bearer (radio bearer, RB) identifier (identifier, ID), or GTP-U TEID + IP address, or other The form of the logo is not limited. Here, TEID represents the tunnel endpoint identifier (tunnel endpoint identifier).

In addition, the RB here may be a signaling radio bearer (signaling radio bearer, SRB) or a data radio bearer (data radio bearer, DRB).

In addition, the QoS label can refer to the differentiated services code point (DSCP) value in the IP header, the flow label in IPv6, the quality of service class identifier (QoS class identifier, QCI), and the 5G QoS identifier (5G QoS identifier). , 5QI), etc. This application is not limited.

The first node configures the first RLC bearer pair between the first node and the second node according to the first configuration message, which is used to transmit the same data packet of the first radio bearer of the first terminal device (or the first radio bearer Data package and its copy). Optionally, when a data packet is transmitted on the backhaul link, the first node and/or the second node need to perform routing selection to determine the next hop node, and need to perform bearer mapping to determine the RLC bearer used to transmit the data packet . The configuration of the first node and/or the second node for routing and the configuration of bearer mapping will be introduced below.

The first node configures the first RLC bearer pair according to the first configuration message. After completing the configuration, the first node returns a first response message to the host CU.

220. The first node sends a first response message to the host CU.

Correspondingly, the host CU receives the first response message from the first node.

Optionally, in an implementation manner, the first response message carries the identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and/or the identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer.

Here, the first response message carries the identifiers of the logical channels corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer, which can be used when the donor CU configures bearer mapping. The host CU can use the identifier of the logical channel to perform bearer mapping.

Optionally, the first configuration message may also carry information of the allowed serving cells (allowed serving cells) available for the logical channels corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer.

Optionally, the available serving cell of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer is different from the available serving cell of the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer, which can improve the reliability of the transmission of the same data packet transmitted from the first radio bearer . .

For example, the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer serve two different cells. For another example, the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer respectively serve two different cell lists, wherein the cells contained in the different cell lists have no intersection.

Optionally, the available serving cells for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer are the same.

Optionally, the first node may also carry second indication information in the first response message, where the second indication information is used to indicate the RLC bearer or logical channel used as a primary path in the first RLC bearer pair.

It should be understood that the RLC bearer as the primary path refers to one of the first RLC bearer or the second RLC bearer included in the first RLC bearer pair. The logical channel as the primary path refers to a logical channel corresponding to one of the first RLC bearer or the second RLC bearer included in the first RLC bearer pair.

Further optionally, the first response message may also include the RLC bearer pair generated by the first node for the second node (that is, the child node of the first node) for the RLC bearer pair between the second node configuration and the first node. Letter yuan.

In an implementation manner, the information element used to configure the RLC bearer pair may be RLC-BearerConfig, the first response message may carry the RLC-BearerConfig information element or the content in the RLC-BearerConfig, and the second node may follow the RLC-BearerConfig The content configures the RLC layer and logical channels.

Optionally, the first response message may be an RRC message or an F1AP message.

After the above steps 210 and 220 are completed, the host CU instructs a parent node to perform the configuration of the RLC bearer pair between its child nodes, and then the host CU may instruct the child node to perform the configuration corresponding to the RLC bearer between its parent nodes.

230. The host CU sends a second configuration message to the second node.

Correspondingly, the second node receives the second configuration message from the host CU.

Optionally, the second node is an IAB node, which may be an access IAB node or an intermediate IAB node.

Similar to the first configuration message, the second configuration message also contains configuration content instructing the second node to configure the first RLC bearer pair. The first RLC bearer pair may be used to transmit data packets of the first radio bearer of the first terminal device.

In an implementation manner, the second configuration message contains third configuration content and fourth configuration content, where the third configuration content is used to configure the first RLC bearer in the first RLC bearer pair, and the fourth configuration content is used to Configure the second RLC bearer in the first RLC bearer pair.

Optionally, the third configuration content includes the logical channel identifier (LCID) of the logical channel (logical channel, LCH) corresponding to the first RLC bearer, and the available serving cell of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer Information, and the configuration content of the RLC entity and logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer.

Optionally, the fourth configuration content includes the logical channel identifier (LCID) of the logical channel (logical channel, LCH) corresponding to the second RLC bearer, and the available serving cell of the second RLC bearer corresponding logical channel Information, and the configuration content of the RLC entity and logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer.

Optionally, the third configuration content and the fourth configuration content also satisfy any of the following modes.

(1) The third configuration content includes the identity of the first RLC bearer and the identity of the second RLC bearer, and the fourth configuration content includes the identity of the second RLC bearer and the identity of the first RLC bearer.

(2) The third configuration content includes the identity of the first RLC bearer and the first identity, and the fourth configuration content includes the identity of the second RLC bearer and the first identity. The first identifier is used to associate the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer to form a first RLC bearer pair.

(3) The second configuration message includes reliability parameters.

Here, the description of the third configuration content and the fourth configuration content in the manners (1)-(3) can refer to the description of the first configuration content and the second configuration content in step 210, and will not be repeated.

Optionally, the second configuration message carries the first identifier. The first identifier may be a bearer identifier of the first radio bearer.

Optionally, the second configuration message carries third indication information, and the third indication information is used to indicate the RLC bearer serving as the primary path in the first RLC bearer pair. For example, the third indication information is carried in the third configuration content.

As described above, the first response message returned by the first node to the donor CU may carry second indication information, and the second indication information is used to indicate the RLC bearer of the first RLC bearer pair as the primary path. The host CU may indicate the main path specified in the first response message to the child node of the first node (that is, the second node). In this way, the second node may also transmit the data packet of the first radio bearer to its parent node only through the RLC bearer in the first RLC bearer pair as the main path in some cases.

In a possible implementation, if the number of uplink data packets to be sent by the second node is small, for example, the data volume of the uplink data packets that can be transmitted via the first RLC bearer pair is lower than a certain preset threshold. The second node may send the data packet to the first node only through the main path in the first RLC bearer pair. The preset threshold may be configured by the host CU, for example, included in the second configuration message and sent to the second node.

In another possible implementation, if the data packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer of the first terminal device is deactivated, the second node may only send the first node to the first node through the main path of the first RLC bearer pair. A data packet carried by a radio.

The activation and deactivation of the data packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer will be described in detail below.

In another possible implementation, if the second node does not need to map the UE's data packet to two RLC bearers for transmission, the second node only sends the data packet to the first node through the primary path in the first RLC bearer .

Optionally, the second configuration message includes the information of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the available serving cell of the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer. For example, the information of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer may be carried in the third configuration content, and the information of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer may be carried in the fourth configuration content.

Optionally, the logical channels corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the logical channels corresponding to the second RLC bearer have different available serving cells. For example, the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer serve different cells or serve different cell lists, or the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer belong to different cell groups, corresponding to For different cell group identification. Further optionally, the cells included in the different cell lists or cell groups have no intersection.

Optionally, the second configuration message may also carry other information.

For example, the second configuration message may also include a threshold value for the amount of data, and the threshold value is used for the offload decision of the second node for uplink transmission. For example, according to the mapping rules, some uplink data packets can be mapped to one of the RLC bearers in the first RLC pair for transmission, and the second node can use the threshold value in which the data volume of these uplink data packets does not exceed the threshold value. In the case of, only the RLC bearer specified by the third indication information as the primary path is used to transmit the uplink data packets; otherwise, these uplink data packets may be transmitted through the two RLC bearers included in the first RLC bearer pair.

For another example, the second configuration message may also carry one or more of the following information: indication of the backhaul type, the identifier of the RLC bearer of the backhaul link, and the information element used to configure the RLC layer (for example, RLC-Config), cells used to configure logical channels (for example, LogicalChannelConfig), etc.

The indication of the backhaul type is used to indicate that the first RLC bearer and/or the second RLC bearer is used to transmit the backhaul service. For the second node, the backhaul service refers to the service (including data and signaling) of the terminal transmitted via the wireless backhaul link between the second node and the parent node of the second node, which is different from the second node Access business. The access service of the second node refers to the own service (including data and signaling) transmitted from or ending at the second node (or the MT part of the second node) when the second node is regarded as a terminal role. When transmitting backhaul services, the second node and the parent node can use the protocol stack of the backhaul link for communication. When transmitting the access services of the second node, the second node and the parent node can use access The protocol stack of the link communicates.

Optionally, if the second node here is an intermediate IAB node, the second configuration message may also include one or more of the following information: the bearer that can be mapped to the first RLC bearer to the UE's radio bearer for transmission Identifier, the identifier of the RLC bearer that can be mapped to the last hop link transmitted on the first RLC bearer during uplink transmission, and the RLC that can be mapped to the last hop link transmitted on the second RLC bearer during uplink transmission The identity of the bearer, the identity of the next hop link RLC bearer to which the data packet transmitted on the first RLC bearer can be mapped during the downlink transmission, and the identity of the data packet transmitted on the second RLC bearer during the downlink transmission can be mapped to The identifier of the RLC bearer on the next hop link.

Optionally, if the second node here is an access IAB node, the second configuration message may also include one or more of the following information: the radio bearer that can be mapped to the first RLC bearer to the UE transmitting Bearer identification, QoS label that can be mapped to the data packet transmitted by the first RLC bearer pair, QoS label that can be mapped to the data packet transmitted by the second RLC bearer, and GTP TEID that can be mapped to the first RLC bearer transmission Or GTP TEID+IP address, which can be mapped to GTP TEID or GTP TEID+IP address transmitted by the second RLC bearer.

Optionally, the bearer identity of the radio bearer of the UE may be composed of UE identity + RB ID, or GTP-U TEID + IP address, or other forms, and the radio bearer RB may be SRB or DRB.

The QoS label can refer to the DSCP value in the IP header, flow label, QCI, 5QI, etc. in IPv6.

After the second node completes the configuration of the first RLC bearer pair with the first node according to the second configuration message, it sends a second response message to the first donor CU.

240. The second node sends a second response message to the host CU.

Correspondingly, the host CU receives the second response message from the second node.

The second response message may be used to feed back to the host CU the configuration of the first RLC bearer pair between the second node and the parent node.

Optionally, the second response message may be an RRC message or an F1AP message.

The above takes the configuration of the RLC bearer pair between two IAB nodes as an example to describe the configuration process of the RLC bearer pair in detail. It is understandable that in the multi-hop scenario in the IAB network, for each IAB node on the backhaul link that supports the wireless bearer transmission of the terminal device, it is necessary to configure the RLC bearer pair with the parent node, and also need Configure the RLC bearer pair with the child node. When an IAB node faces the parent node, it can be regarded as a child node of the parent node. The process of configuring the RLC bearer pair between the IAB node and its parent node can refer to the configuration behavior of the second node. When the IAB node faces a child node, it can be regarded as the parent node of the child node. The process of configuring the RLC bearer pair between the IAB node and its child nodes can refer to the configuration behavior of the first node.

In the technical solution of the present application, by configuring the RLC bearer pair for the backhaul link, the backhaul link can support the duplication operation of the data packet of the radio bearer of the UE, which improves the reliability of the data transmission of the backhaul link.

After completing the configuration of the RLC bearer pair on the backhaul link, the RLC bearer pair configuration on the backhaul link may also be updated according to the actual data transmission situation.

The following describes the process of updating the configuration of the RLC bearer pair of the backhaul link.

In the above text, the first radio bearer of the first terminal device is taken as an example. If the data packet copy transmission function of the first terminal device of the first terminal device is deactivated, the backhaul link between the first terminal device and the host node The restriction on the available serving cells of the logical channels corresponding to the two RLC bearers in the configured RLC bearer pair can be cancelled. If the data packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer of the terminal device is activated, the logical channels corresponding to the two RLC bearers in the RLC bearer pair configured on the backhaul link between the first terminal device and the host node The limitation of available serving cells can be enabled. Therefore, the active status of the data packet replication transmission function of the radio bearer of the UE needs to be known by the host DU and/or the IAB node on the backhaul link.

Optionally, if the limitation of the available serving cells of a logical channel is cancelled, the logical channel can use any cell in the cell group corresponding to the logical channel. For example, logical channel 1 is allocated by the first node to the second node, and the cell group served by the first node for the second node is called cell group 1. Cell group 1 includes cell 1, cell 2, and cell 3. , Cell 4, when configuring logical channel 1 of the second node, the available serving cells of logical channel 1 include cell 1 and cell 2, then when the restriction on the available serving cells of logical channel 1 is cancelled, logical channel 1 can Use any cell in the cell group 1, that is, any one of cell 1, cell 2, cell 3, and cell 4.

Optionally, when the duplication operation of the first radio bearer of the terminal device is deactivated, or the restriction on the available serving cells of the logical channels corresponding to the two RLC bearers in the pair of RLC bearers configured on the backhaul link is cancelled , Then on the backhaul link, the data packet of the first radio bearer of the terminal device may be transmitted only through the RLC bearer of the RLC bearer pair as the main path. When the replication operation of the first radio bearer of the terminal device is activated, or the restriction of the available serving cells of the logical channels corresponding to the two RLC bearers in the RLC bearer pair configured on the backhaul link is activated, the backhaul On the link, the data packet of the first radio bearer of the terminal device needs to be transmitted through the two RLC bearers in the RLC bearer pair.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the activation state includes two states: activation and deactivation.

This application provides the following implementation methods for the configuration of the RLC bearer pair updating the backhaul link.

Way 0

In the second configuration message sent by the donor CU to the second node, if the RLC bearer pair on the wireless backhaul link between the second node and the first node is included, the available serving cell of each RLC bearer corresponding to the logical channel , The second node defaults that the restriction of the available serving cells of the logical channels corresponding to the two RLC bearers in the RLC bearer pair is enabled.

Optionally, the second node may be an access IAB node or an intermediate IAB node, and the first node is a parent node of the second node.

Way 1

The host CU determines the activation state of the data packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer of the first terminal device.

Optionally, the host CU indicates the activation state of the data packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer in the configuration information of the first radio bearer sent to the first terminal device.

In one case, if the activation state of the data packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer is activated, the host CU sends a first notification message to the second node, and the first notification message is specifically used to instruct the second node to enable the second node The RLC bearer on the backhaul link between the first node and the first node limits the available serving cells of the logical channels corresponding to the two included RLC bearers.

On the contrary, in another case, the active state of the data packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer is deactivated, the host CU sends a first notification message to the second node, and the first notification message is specifically used to instruct the second node The restriction of the RLC bearer on the backhaul link between the second node and the first node on the available serving cells of the logical channels corresponding to the two contained RLC bearers is cancelled.

Optionally, the first notification message may be an RRC message or an F1AP message, which is not limited here.

In another possible implementation, the host CU sends a second notification message to the first node. The second notification message is used to indicate that the activation state of the packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer is activated. Optionally, the first After the node obtains the second notification message, it sends a third notification message to its child node (ie, the second node). The third notification message is used to instruct the second node to enable the backhaul chain between the second node and the first node. The RLC bearer on the road restricts the available serving cells of the logical channels corresponding to the two RLC bearers; or, the donor CU sends a second notification message to the first node, and the second notification message is used to indicate the status of the first radio bearer The activation state of the data packet replication transmission function is deactivated. Optionally, after the first node obtains the second notification message, it sends a third notification message to its child node (ie, the second node). The third notification message is used to The second node instructs to cancel the restriction of the RLC bearer on the backhaul link between the second node and the first node on the available serving cells of the logical channels corresponding to the two contained RLC bearers.

Optionally, the second notification message may be an RRC message or an F1AP message, which is not limited here.

Optionally, the third notification message may be included in a control element (CE) of a media access control (MAC) layer and sent to the second node.

Way 2

The access IAB node serving the first terminal device determines the activation status of the data packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer of the first terminal device, and informs the host CU, and the host CU sends a first notification message to the second node, Or the host CU sends the second notification message to the first node, and the first node may send the third notification message to the second node.

If the donor CU sends the first notification message to the second node, the donor CU sends the second notification message to the first node, and the first node sends the third notification message to the second node, please refer to the configuration of updating the RLC bearer pair of the backhaul link. Understand the description in Mode 1.

Through any of the above methods 0 to 2, the configuration of the RLC bearer pair of the backhaul link can be flexibly opened or cancelled.

In the above description of the second configuration message, the second configuration message may carry a third indication message, and the third indication information is used to indicate the RLC bearer in the first RLC bearer pair as the primary path. After the second node obtains the third indication information, if the data packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer is deactivated, the second node only transmits the first radio bearer to the first node through the main path specified by the third indication information Packets.

In conjunction with the description of the configuration of the RLC bearer pair of the backhaul link here, it can be known that if the second node receives from the donor CU, it is specifically used to instruct the cancellation of the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer’s respective corresponding logical channel available serving cell Or, the second node receives from the first node a third notification message specifically used to instruct to cancel the restriction of the serving cells available for the logical channels corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer, The second node only transmits the data packet of the first radio bearer through the RLC bearer designated as the primary path.

The configuration process of bearer mapping and the configuration process of routing are respectively described below. It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, there may also be other applicable bearer mapping configuration procedures, or other applicable routing configuration procedures, which are not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

Optionally, the information indicating the configuration of the bearer mapping can be carried in the first configuration message in step 210 and sent to the first node, or carried in the second configuration message in step 230 and sent to the second node, or it can be It is sent separately to the first node and/or the second node, which is not limited in this application.

This application provides a variety of bearer mapping methods, and the following uses the first radio bearer of the first terminal device as an example for description.

Way 1

Map the first radio bearer of the first terminal device to the RLC bearer of the egress link.

Here, method 1 is applicable to all IAB nodes (that is, access IAB nodes and intermediate IAB nodes) and the host DU.

Way 2

Map to the RLC bearer of the egress link according to the QoS label carried in the received data packet.

Here, method 2 is applicable to access IAB nodes and host DU.

Way 3

The RLC bearer of the ingress link is mapped to the RLC bearer of the egress link.

Among them, method 3 is applicable to all IAB nodes.

Way 4

The GTP-U TEID or GTP-U TEID+IP address carried in the data packet is mapped to the RLC bearer of the egress link.

Here, method 4 is applicable to access IAB nodes and host DU.

The following separately describes the access IAB node, the intermediate IAB and the host DU.

(1) Access to IAB node

For the access IAB node, because the bearer mapping of the backhaul link is configured, only uplink transmission is involved.

In uplink transmission, since the backhaul link supports duplication and transmission of data packets, the duplication data of the UE needs to be mapped to two different RLC bearers for transmission.

Therefore, for the radio bearer (for example, denoted as RB1) of the UE configured to support the data packet replication transmission function (for example, CA-based data packet replication) and the data packet replication transmission function is activated, the access IAB node will be from two Two different logical channels (denoted as LCH1, LCH2, respectively) receive the UE's RB1 data packet, and access to the IAB node needs to map the data packet received from LCH1, LCH2 to the RLC bearer of two different egress links Upward transmission to the parent node. For example, the access IAB node maps the data packets of RB1 received from LCH1 and LCH2 to the RLC bearer of egress link 1 and the RLC bearer of egress link 2 for transmission.

When accessing the IAB node for uplink bearer mapping configuration, if the UE’s radio bearer supports the replication transmission of data packets and the replication transmission function is activated, the access IAB node receives from two different logical channels The data packets of the radio bearer of the UE will be respectively mapped to the RLC bearers of two different egress links and transmitted to the parent node. Optionally, access to the IAB node also needs to configure the cells served by the RLC bearer of the two different egress links. Optionally, the RLC bearers of the two different egress links serve different cells or different cell lists or different cell groups.

Optionally, there may be multiple specific mapping modes for accessing the IAB node, and the configuration of these mapping modes may be sent by the host CU to the accessing IAB node, or may be determined by the accessing IAB node.

For example, the access IAB node assigns the RLC bearer or logical channel data of two different ingress links corresponding to the same radio bearer of a certain UE to be mapped to the RLC bearer of two different egress links. transmission.

For another example, an access IAB node will correspond to two different GTP-U tunnels (identified by the GTP-U tunnel endpoint identifier TEID or GTP-U TEID+IP address) on the same radio bearer of a certain UE. Designate RLC bearers mapped to two different egress links for transmission.

Optionally, the two different GTP-U tunnels may be identified by different GTP-U TEID or GTP-U TEID+IP address.

For another example, the access IAB node adds data packets of two different logical channels corresponding to the same radio bearer of a certain UE with different QoS labels, and then carries the data packets of the two different QoS labels Specify the RLC bearer mapped to two different egresses for transmission.

Optionally, the different QoS labels may be DSCP values, or flow label values, etc., which are not limited here.

(2) Intermediate IAB node

For the intermediate IAB node, the configuration of the bearer mapping of the backhaul link involves uplink transmission and downlink transmission. The intermediate IAB node may also have multiple bearer mapping modes, and the configuration of these bearer mapping modes may be sent by the host CU to the intermediate IAB node, or may be determined by the intermediate IAB node itself.

When the intermediate IAB node performs the uplink bearer mapping configuration, the radio bearer of the UE that is configured to support the data packet replication transmission function (for example, CA-based data packet replication) and the data packet replication transmission function is activated (for example, marked as RB1 ), the data packets corresponding to the radio bearer RB1 of the UE received from two different RLC bearers or logical channels are respectively mapped to the RLC bearers of two different egress links for transmission to the next hop.

When the intermediate IAB node configures the downlink bearer mapping, the radio bearer of the UE that is configured to support the data packet replication transmission function (for example, CA-based data packet replication) and the data packet replication transmission function is activated (for example, marked as RB1 ), the data packet corresponding to the radio bearer RB1 of the UE received from the RLC bearer or logical channel of two different ingress links is mapped to the RLC bearer of two different egress links for next hop transmission.

Optionally, for uplink transmission or downlink transmission, the logical channels corresponding to the RLC bearers of the two different egress links are restricted to serve cells. For example, the logical channels corresponding to the RLC bearers of two different egress links serve different cells or different cell lists or different cell groups.

For example, the RLC bearer of egress link 1 corresponds to logical channel 1, and the RLC bearer pair of egress link 2 is used for logical channel 2. Among them, logical channel 1 is restricted to serve cell 1, and logical channel 2 is restricted to serve cell 2. Or, logical channel 1 is restricted to serve cells in cell list 1, and logical channel 2 is restricted to serve cells in cell list 2. Among them, the cells in the cell list 1 and the cells in the cell list 2 have no intersection. Or, logical channel 1 is restricted to serve the cells included in cell group 1, and logical channel 2 is restricted to serve cells included in cell group 2. Among them, the cells included in the cell group 1 and the cells included in the cell group 2 have no intersection.

(3) Host DU

For the donor DU (that is, the donor DU), the configuration of the bearer mapping of the backhaul link only involves downlink transmission.

When the donor DU configures the downlink bearer mapping, for the radio bearer of the UE that supports data packet replication transmission and the data packet replication transmission function is in the active state, the radio bearer is received from the RLC bearer or logical channel of two different ingress links. The data packet and its copy corresponding to the bearer are respectively mapped to the RLC bearer or logical channel of two different egress links for transmission to the next hop node.

Optionally, the logical channels corresponding to the RLC bearers of the two different egress links may be restricted to serve cells. For example, logical channels corresponding to RLC bearers of different egress links serve different cells or different cell lists or different cell groups. Here, the cell lists contained in different cell lists have no intersection, and the cells contained in different cell groups have no intersection.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the cell where the logical channel is restricted to serve and the serving cell where the logical channel is available can be replaced with each other.

When configuring the downlink bearer mapping, the donor DU may also have multiple specific mapping methods. The configuration of the bearer mapping mode for downlink transmission may be sent by the host CU to the host DU, or may be determined by the host DU itself.

For example, the donor DU assigns two different GTP-U tunnels corresponding to the same radio bearer of a certain UE, and respectively designates RLC bearers mapped to two different egress links.

For another example, the host CU adds different QoS labels to data packets of two different logical channels corresponding to the same radio bearer of a certain UE, and then assigns the two different QoS labels to the two different host DUs. RLC bearer of the egress link.

The way that the IAB node and the host DU perform bearer mapping on the backhaul link can make the UE's replicated data packet be transmitted through different paths on the backhaul link, so that the backhaul link of the IAB network is also the UE's data Transmission provides a guarantee of higher reliability.

The following describes the configuration process for the IAB node to perform routing. For ease of description, the following uses the first node as an example for description.

The routing configuration in the embodiments of the present application may be an uplink routing configuration for uplink transmission, or a downlink routing configuration for downlink transmission.

The first node receives third configuration information from the host CU. The third configuration information is used to configure the routing configuration of the adaptation layer entity of the first node. The third configuration information includes the following content: a routing identifier, corresponding to the routing identifier Next hop node ID.

Optionally, the route identifier may be the target node identifier or the transmission path identifier.

Optionally, the first node may be an access IAB node, or an intermediate IAB node, or a host DU.

Corresponding to one route identifier, the next hop node identifier may include only one node identifier, or multiple node identifiers. When there are multiple next-hop node identifiers corresponding to one routing identifier, it indicates that for a data packet carrying a routing identifier, the first node can forward the data packet through multiple different next-hop nodes.

Optionally, when there are multiple next hop node identifiers (for example, the multiple next hop nodes include at least the first next hop node and the second next hop node) correspond to one route identifier (for example, the first route identifier) At this time, the third configuration information may also include a main path indication, the main path indication corresponding to the identifier of the first next hop node corresponding to the multiple next hop node identifiers, and is used to indicate that the first next hop node is the main path. When the first node performs route selection, for the data packet carrying the first route identifier, select the first next hop node as the next hop node, and send the data carrying the first route identifier to the first next hop node package.

Or, when there are multiple next hop node identifiers (for example, the multiple next hop nodes include at least the first next hop node and the second next hop node) correspond to one routing identifier (for example, the first routing identifier) At this time, the third configuration information may also include a primary path indication and a threshold (threshold, TH). The primary path indication corresponds to the identifier of the first next hop node among the multiple next hop node identifiers, and is used to indicate that the first next hop node is the primary path. Then, when the first node performs route selection, for the data packet carrying the first route identifier:

If the data volume of the data packet carrying the first route identifier in the first node is less than or equal to the threshold value TH, the first node selects the first next hop node as the next hop node, and sends it to the first next hop node Sending a data packet carrying the first route identifier;

If the data volume of the data packet carrying the first route identifier in the first node is greater than the threshold value TH, for each data packet carrying the first route identifier, the first node can identify from multiple next-hop nodes Among the corresponding multiple next hop nodes, one next hop node is arbitrarily selected, and a data packet carrying the first route identifier is sent to it.

In the technical solution of the present application, an RLC bearer pair can be configured for the duplication data packet of the UE on the backhaul link, or multiple RLC bearers can be configured to transmit the duplication data packet of the UE. Therefore, the duplication data packet of the UE can be transmitted on the IAB network. The transmission link provides higher reliability guarantee for UE data transmission.

The configuration of the backhaul link provided by this application has been described in detail above. In fact, configuring the access link of the IAB network can also support the duplication and transmission of the UE's data packet, which is briefly introduced below.

If a certain radio bearer of the UE supports replication and transmission of data packets, the host CU will indicate to the access IAB node of the UE.

It is understandable that the radio bearer of the UE can be divided into signaling radio bearer SRB and data radio bearer DRB, which will be described separately below.

If a certain SRB of the UE supports duplication and transmission of data packets, the configuration message sent to the access IAB node by the host CU includes the configuration content for the SRB that carries duplication transmission indication information (or called duplication indication information).

Optionally, the host CU may carry the replication transmission instruction information in the F1AP message sent by the F1AP protocol layer. For example, the F1AP message may be a context establishment request of the UE or a context modification request of the UE.

Correspondingly, if the configuration content of the host CU for a certain SRB does not contain replication transmission indication information, it indicates that the SRB does not support replication transmission.

If a certain DRB of the UE supports the replication and transmission of data packets, the configuration message sent to the access IAB node by the host CU includes the information of two uplink GTP-U tunnel endpoints in the configuration content for the DRB.

Here, the information of the uplink GTP-U tunnel endpoint may be, for example, an IP address+GTP-U TEID.

It should be understood that the configuration message sent by the host CU to the access IAB node carries the information of the two uplink GTP-U tunnel endpoints, which means that the DRB data packet needs to pass through the two different GTP-U tunnels in the host CU and Transmission between access IAB nodes. At this time, the access IAB node needs to map the same data packet of the DRB to the RLC bearer of different egress links and send it to the next hop node.

Correspondingly, if the configuration content for a certain DRB received by the access IAB received from the host CU only contains information about one uplink GTP-U tunnel endpoint, it means that the DRB does not support the replication and transmission of data packets. At this time, the access IAB node does not perform special processing on the DRB data packet.

It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, an IAB node does not perform special processing on a data packet of a radio bearer, which means that the data packet of the radio bearer does not need to be mapped to RLC bearers of different egress links.

According to the above-mentioned access link configuration principle, for the radio bearer RB x (here, x represents the number or identifier of the radio bearer) of the UE that supports the duplication and transmission of data packets, the access IAB node will be the RB x in the access Configure two RLC bearers on the incoming link, that is, configure one RLC bearer pair. Wherein, the logical channels corresponding to the two RLC bearers are configured with available cells or cell lists. Optionally, the logical channels corresponding to the two RLC bearers serve different cells or cell lists.

After the IAB node completes the configuration of the two RLC bearers of the access link, it sends the configuration information of the two RLC bearers to the donor CU, and then the donor CU sends the configuration information to the UE so that the UE can access the link The RLC bearer used to transmit the duplication data packet of the RB x (that is, the data packet and its copy, which may also be called the duplication data packet) is configured.

In addition, the duplication transmission function of the radio bearer of the UE may be activated or deactivated. When the data packet duplication transmission function of a certain radio bearer of the UE is deactivated, the duplication data packet of the radio bearer is transmitted through only one RLC bearer on the access link. Optionally, this RLC bearer used to transmit duplication data packets may be considered as the primary path. Optionally, when the data packet duplication transmission function of a certain radio bearer of the UE is activated, the duplication data packet of the radio bearer will pass through two RLC bearers configured on the access link (that is, one RLC bearer) on the access link. Bearer pair) for transmission.

Optionally, since the PDCP layer configuration related to the radio bearer RB x of the UE needs to include the cell group ID and the logical channel identifier corresponding to the primary path, the logical channel included in the configuration information of the RLC bearer sent by the donor CU to the UE The identity is allocated by the access IAB node. Therefore, the access IAB node will send the logical channel identifier (LCID) corresponding to the primary path to the host CU, so that the host CU can send it to the UE.

The method for transmitting data packets in the embodiments of the present application has been described in detail above, and the device for transmitting data packets provided by the embodiments of the present application is introduced below.

Referring to FIG. 11, FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus 500 for transmitting data packets provided by this application. As shown in FIG. 11, the device 500 includes a transceiver unit 510 and a processing unit 520.

The transceiver unit 510 is configured to receive a first configuration message from the donor centralized unit CU, where the first configuration message is used to instruct to configure a first radio link control RLC bearer pair between the apparatus and the second node, and the first RLC bearer For the data packet used to transmit the first radio bearer of the first terminal device, the first radio bearer is configured with the function of copying and transmitting the data packet, and the first RLC bearer pair includes the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer. Is the parent node of the second node;

The processing unit 520 is configured to configure the first RLC bearer pair according to the first configuration message.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 510 is further configured to send a first response message to the donor CU, where the first response message carries the identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and/or the identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer .

Optionally, the transceiving unit 510 is further configured to receive the data packet of the first radio bearer sent by the second node only on the RLC bearer serving as the primary path in the first RLC bearer pair.

Optionally, the transceiving unit 510 is further configured to receive a first notification message from the donor CU, where the first notification message is used to indicate the restriction of the available serving cell for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the logic corresponding to the second RLC bearer. The restriction on the serving cell available for the channel, or the first notification message is used to instruct the cancellation of the restriction on the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer limits.

Optionally, the processing unit 520 is further configured to map the data packets of the first radio bearer received from two different logical channels to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer, respectively.

Optionally, the processing unit 520 is further configured to map data packets received on two different General Packet Radio Service Tunneling Protocol GTP tunnels corresponding to the first radio bearer to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC respectively. Bearing on.

In one implementation, the device 500 may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

In this case, the transceiver unit 510 may be a communication interface, for example, an input/output interface, an input interface circuit, an output interface circuit, and so on. The processing unit 520 may be a processor.

In another implementation manner, the apparatus 500 may completely correspond to the first node in the method embodiment of the present application. The units included in the apparatus 500 are respectively used to implement corresponding operations and/or processing performed by the first node in each method embodiment.

In this case, the transceiver unit 510 may be a transceiver, which includes a transmitter and a receiver, and has both receiving and sending functions. The processing unit 520 may be a processor.

Referring to FIG. 12, FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus 600 for transmitting data packets provided by this application. As shown in FIG. 12, the device 600 includes a transceiver unit 610 and a processing unit 620.

The transceiver unit 610 is configured to receive a second configuration message from the donor centralized unit CU, where the second configuration message is used to instruct to configure the first radio link control RLC bearer pair between the device and the first node, the first RLC bearer For the data packet used to transmit the first radio bearer of the first terminal device, the first radio bearer is configured with the function of copying and transmitting the data packet, and the first RLC bearer pair includes the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer. Is a child node of the first node;

The processing unit 620 is configured to configure the first RLC bearer pair according to the second configuration message.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 610 is further configured to receive, from the donor CU, a first notification message for instructing to cancel the restriction on the serving cells available for the logical channels corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer. , And, the transceiver unit 610 transmits data packets to the first node only through the RLC bearer in the first RLC bearer pair as the primary path.

Optionally, the transceiving unit 610 is further configured to receive the data packet of the first radio bearer from a logical channel, and the transceiving unit 610 only transmits the RLC bearer as the primary path in the first RLC bearer pair to the The first node transmits the data packet.

Optionally, the processing unit 620 is further configured to determine that the number of data packets of the first radio bearer does not exceed a preset threshold, and the transceiving unit 610 only uses the RLC bearer of the first RLC bearer pair as the primary path. Transmitting a data packet to the first node.

Optionally, the transceiving unit 610 is further configured to receive a first notification message from the donor CU, where the first notification message is used to indicate to enable the restriction of the available serving cells of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer Restrictions on the serving cells available for the respective corresponding logical channels, or the first notification message is used to instruct the cancellation of the restriction on the serving cells available for the logical channels corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the respective logical channels corresponding to the second RLC bearer Limits of available serving cells.

Optionally, the transceiving unit 610 is further configured to receive a second notification message from the first node, where the second notification message is used to instruct to enable or cancel the available logical channels corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer. Restriction of serving cell.

Optionally, the processing unit 620 is further configured to determine the activation state of the data packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer, and the transceiver unit 610 is further configured to send a data packet indicating the first radio bearer to the host CU Copy the information of the activation status of the transfer function.

Optionally, the processing unit 620 is further configured to map the received data packets of the first radio bearer on two different logical channels to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer, respectively.

In one implementation, the device 600 may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

In this case, the transceiver unit 610 may be a communication interface, for example, an input/output interface, an input interface circuit, an output interface circuit, and so on. The processing unit 620 may be a processor.

In another implementation manner, the apparatus 600 may completely correspond to the second node in the method embodiment of the present application. The units included in the apparatus 600 are respectively used to implement corresponding operations and/or processing performed by the second node in each method embodiment.

In this case, the transceiver unit 610 may be a transceiver, and the transceiver includes a transmitter and a receiver. The processing unit 620 may be a processor.

Referring to FIG. 13, FIG. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a data packet transmission apparatus 700 provided by this application. As shown in FIG. 13, the device 700 includes a transceiver unit 710 and a processing unit 720.

The processing unit 710 is configured to generate a first configuration message, where the first configuration message is used to instruct to configure a first radio link control RLC bearer pair between the first node and the second node, and the first RLC bearer pair is used to transmit the first The data packet of the first radio bearer of the terminal device. The first radio bearer is configured with the function of copying and transmitting the data packet. The first RLC bearer pair includes the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer. The first node is the parent of the second node. node;

The transceiver unit 720 is configured to send a first configuration message to the first node.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 720 is further configured to receive a first response message from the first node, where the first response message carries the identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and/or the logic corresponding to the second RLC bearer The ID of the channel.

Optionally, the processing unit 710 is further configured to generate a second configuration message, and the transceiver unit 720 is further configured to send a second configuration message to the second node.

Optionally, the processing unit 710 is further configured to generate third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate the RLC bearer serving as the primary path in the first RLC bearer pair.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 720 is further configured to send the first notification message to the first node and the second node. The first notification message is used to indicate to enable the restriction of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the restriction of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer, or the first notification message is used For instructing to cancel the restriction on the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the restriction on the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer.

Optionally, the processing unit 710 is further configured to determine the activation state of the data packet copy transmission function of the first radio bearer before the transceiver unit 720 sends the first notification message, or the transceiver unit 720 serves the first notification message. The access backhaul node of the terminal device receives information used to indicate the activation state of the data packet copy transmission function of the first radio bearer.

Optionally, the processing unit 710 is further configured to map data packets received on two different GTP tunnels corresponding to the first radio bearer to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer.

In one implementation, the device 600 may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

In this case, the processing unit 710 may be a processor. The transceiver unit 720 may be a communication interface, for example, an input/output interface, an input interface circuit, an output interface circuit, and so on.

In another implementation manner, the apparatus 700 may completely correspond to the host node in the method embodiment of the present application. The units included in the apparatus 700 are respectively used to implement corresponding operations and/or processing performed by the host node in each method embodiment.

In this case, the processing unit 710 may be a processor. The transceiver unit 720 may be a transceiver, and the transceiver includes a transmitter and a receiver.

The chips described in the above device embodiments may be field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), system on chips (SoC), and central Processor (central processor unit, CPU), network processor (Network Processor, NP), digital signal processing circuit (digital signal processor, DSP), can also be a microcontroller (microcontroller unit, MCU, programmable controller ( programmable logic device (PLD) or other integrated chips.

In addition, this application also provides a network device 1000, which is described below with reference to FIG. 14.

Refer to FIG. 14, which is a schematic structural diagram of a network device 1000 provided by the present application. As shown in FIG. 14, the network equipment 1000 includes an antenna 1101, a radio frequency device 1102, and a baseband device 1103. The antenna 1101 is connected to the radio frequency device 1102. In the uplink direction, the radio frequency device 1102 receives the signal sent by the previous hop network node through the antenna 1101, and sends the received signal to the baseband device 1103 for processing. In the downlink direction, the baseband device 1103 processes the signal to be sent to the next-hop network node, and sends it to the radio frequency device 1102, and the radio frequency device 1102 sends the signal through the antenna 1101.

The baseband device 1103 may include one or more processing units 11031. In addition, the baseband device 1103 may further include a storage unit 11032 and a communication interface 11033. The storage unit 11032 is used to store computer programs and data. The communication interface 11033 is used to exchange information with the radio frequency device 1102. The communication interface 11033 may be an input/output interface or an input/output circuit.

Optionally, when the apparatus 500 completely corresponds to the first node, the structure of the apparatus 500 may be a network device 1000 as shown in FIG. 12. For example, the transceiver unit 510 may be implemented by the radio frequency device 1102, and the processing unit 520 may be implemented by the baseband device 1103.

For example, the radio frequency device 1102 is configured to receive the first configuration message from the host CU through the antenna 1101, and send the first configuration message to the baseband device 1103 through the communication interface 11033. The baseband device 1103 is configured to configure the first RLC bearer pair with the second node according to the first configuration message.

For another example, the baseband device 1103 is further configured to generate a first response message, and send the first response message to the radio frequency device 1102 through the communication interface 11033. The radio frequency device 1102 is further configured to send the first response message to the host CU through the antenna 1101.

For another example, the radio frequency device 1102 is further configured to receive the first notification message through the antenna 1101. The radio frequency device 1102 is also used to send a second notification message.

For another example, the baseband device 1103 is also used to perform bearer mapping, generate second indication information, and so on.

Optionally, when the apparatus 600 completely corresponds to the second node, the structure of the apparatus 600 may also be a network device 1000 as shown in FIG. 12. For example, the transceiver unit 610 may be implemented by the radio frequency device 1102, and the processing unit 620 may be implemented by the baseband device 1103.

For example, the radio frequency device 1102 is configured to receive the second configuration message from the host CU through the antenna 1101, and send the second configuration message to the baseband device 1103 through the communication interface 11033. The baseband device 1103 is configured to configure the first RLC bearer pair with the first node according to the second configuration message.

For another example, the baseband device 1103 is further configured to generate a second response message, and send the second response message to the radio frequency device 1102 through the communication interface 11033. The radio frequency device 1102 is further configured to send the second response message to the host CU through the antenna 1101.

For another example, the radio frequency device 1102 is further configured to receive the first notification message through the antenna 1101. Alternatively, the radio frequency device 1102 is further configured to receive the second notification message.

For another example, the radio frequency device 1102 is further configured to receive the second notification message through the antenna 1101.

In an implementation, if the device 600 completely corresponds to the access backhaul node serving the first terminal device, the baseband device 1103 is also used to determine the activation state of the data packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer.

For another example, the baseband device 1103 is further configured to map data packets on two different logical channels corresponding to the first radio bearer to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer of the first RLC bearer pair, respectively.

Optionally, when the apparatus 700 and the host node completely correspond, the structure of the apparatus 700 may be a network device 1000 as shown in FIG. 14. For example, the processing unit 710 may be implemented by the baseband device 1103, and the transceiver unit 720 may be implemented by the radio frequency device 1102.

For example, the baseband device 1103 is used to generate the first configuration message, and the radio frequency device 1102 is used to receive the first response message through the antenna 1101. The baseband device 1103 is also used to generate the first configuration content and the second configuration content in the first configuration message.

For another example, the baseband device 1103 is used to generate the second configuration message, and the radio frequency device 1102 is used to receive the second response message through the antenna 1101. The baseband device 1103 is also used to generate the third configuration content and the fourth configuration content in the second configuration message.

For another example, the baseband device 1103 is further configured to generate first indication information and third indication information.

In an implementation, the baseband device 1103 is also used to determine the activation state of the data packet copy transmission function of the first radio bearer of the first terminal device.

For another example, the radio frequency device 1102 is also used to send the first notification message.

In addition, this application also provides a communication system, including one or more of the first node, the second node, and the host node as described in the method embodiment.

The present application provides a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions. When the computer instructions run on the computer, the computer can execute the corresponding operations performed by the first node in any method embodiment and/ Or processing.

This application provides a computer-readable storage medium in which computer instructions are stored. When the computer instructions are run on the computer, the computer is caused to execute the corresponding operations performed by the second node in any method embodiment and/ Or processing.

This application provides a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions. When the computer instructions run on the computer, the computer can execute the corresponding operations performed by the host node in any method embodiment and/or deal with.

This application also provides a computer program product. The computer program product includes computer program code. When the computer program code runs on a computer, the computer executes the corresponding operations and/or performed by the first node in any method embodiment of this application. deal with.

This application also provides a computer program product. The computer program product includes computer program code. When the computer program code runs on a computer, the computer executes the corresponding operations and/or performed by the second node in any method embodiment of this application. deal with.

This application also provides a chip including a processor. The processor is used to call and run a computer program stored in the memory to execute the corresponding operation and/or processing performed by the first node in any method embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, the chip further includes a memory, and the memory is connected to the processor. The processor is used to read and execute the computer program in the memory.

Further optionally, the chip further includes a communication interface, and the processor is connected to the communication interface. The communication interface is used to receive signals and/or data to be processed, and the processor obtains the signals and/or data to be processed from the communication interface and processes them.

This application also provides a chip including a processor. The processor is used to call and run a computer program stored in the memory to execute corresponding operations and/or processing performed by the second node in any method embodiment of the present application.

This application also provides a chip including a processor. The processor is used to call and run a computer program stored in the memory to execute corresponding operations and/or processing performed by the host node in any method embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, the aforementioned communication interface may be an input/output interface, which may specifically include an input interface and an output interface. Alternatively, the communication interface may be an input/output circuit, which may specifically include an input interface circuit and an output interface circuit.

The memory and the memory involved in the foregoing embodiments may be physically independent units, or the memory may also be integrated with the processor.

In an implementation, when the network device is the first node, the network device may implement the operations and/or processing performed by the first node in the above method embodiments by calling a program by the processing unit. For example, the processing unit 11031 calls a program stored by the storage unit 11032 to execute the operation and/or processing performed by the first node in the above method embodiment. The storage unit 11032 may be a storage element on the same chip as the processing unit 11031, that is, an on-chip storage unit, or a storage element on a different chip from the processing unit 11031, that is, an off-chip storage unit.

In another implementation, when the network device is the second node, the network device can implement the operations and/or processing performed by the second node in the above method embodiments by calling a program by the processing unit.

In another implementation, when the network device is the host node, the network device can implement the operations and/or processing performed by the host node in the above method embodiments by calling a program by the processing unit.

In the above embodiments, the processor may be a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more of them used to control the technology of the application Integrated circuits for program execution, etc. For example, the processor may be a digital signal processor device, a microprocessor device, an analog-to-digital converter, a digital-to-analog converter, etc. The processor can distribute control and signal processing functions of terminal devices or network devices among these devices according to their respective functions. In addition, the processor may have a function of operating one or more software programs, and the software programs may be stored in the memory. The functions of the processor can be realized by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-mentioned functions.

The memory can be read-only memory (ROM), other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, random access memory (RAM), or other types that can store information and instructions Dynamic storage devices can also be electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), or other optical disk storage, optical disc storage ( Including compact discs, laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs, Blu-ray discs, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or can be used to carry or store desired program codes in the form of instructions or data structures and can Any other medium accessed by the computer, etc.

In the embodiments of the present application, "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, which means that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and/or B, which can mean that A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. Happening. Among them, A and B can be singular or plural.

A person of ordinary skill in the art may be aware that, in combination with the examples described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the units can be implemented by electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are executed by hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraint conditions of the technical solution. Professional technicians can use different methods for each specific application to achieve the described functions.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, device, and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only illustrative. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division, and there may be other divisions in actual implementation, for example, multiple units or components may be combined or may be Integrate into another system, or some features can be ignored or not implemented. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place, or they may be distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the objectives of the solutions of the embodiments.

In addition, the functional units in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

If the function is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application essentially or the part that contributes to the existing technology or the part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including Several instructions are used to make a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage media include: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (read-only memory, ROM), random access memory (random access memory, RAM), magnetic disk or optical disk and other media that can store program code .

The above are only specific implementations of this application, but the protection scope of this application is not limited to this. Any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in this application. Should be covered within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of this application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

A method for configuring a radio link control RLC bearer is characterized in that it includes:

The first node receives a first configuration message from the donor centralized unit CU, where the first configuration message is used to instruct to configure a first radio link control RLC bearer pair between the first node and the second node. An RLC bearer pair is used to transmit data packets of a first radio bearer of a first terminal device, the first radio bearer has the function of copying and transmitting data packets, and the first RLC bearer pair includes a first RLC bearer and a second RLC bearer. RLC bearer, the first node is the parent node of the second node;

The first node configures the first RLC bearer pair according to the first configuration message.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the first configuration message contains first configuration content carried by the first RLC and second configuration content carried by the second RLC, and the first configuration The content and the second configuration content satisfy any of the following methods:

The first configuration content includes the identity of the first RLC bearer and the identity of the second RLC bearer, and the second configuration content includes the identity of the second RLC bearer and the identity of the first RLC bearer. Logo; or,

The first configuration content includes the identifier and the first identifier of the first RLC bearer, the second configuration content includes the identifier of the second RLC bearer and the first identifier, and the first identifier is used for Associating the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer to form the first RLC bearer pair.
The method according to claim 2, wherein the first identifier is an identifier of the first radio bearer.
The method according to claim 2, wherein the first configuration message contains quality of service (QoS) information and first indication information, and the first indication information is used to instruct the first node according to the QoS information The first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer are configured to form the first RLC bearer pair.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the method further comprises:

The first node sends a first response message to the donor CU, where the first response message carries the identifier of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and/or the information of the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer Logo.
The method according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein the first node is an intermediate backhaul node, and the method further comprises:

The first node receives a first notification message from the donor CU, where the first notification message is used to indicate to enable the restriction of the available serving cells of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer. The corresponding logical channel can be used to limit the available serving cells, or the first notification message is used to instruct the cancellation of the first RLC bearer and the corresponding logical channel of the corresponding logical channel. The limit of the service cell available for the channel.
The method according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein the method further comprises:

The first node receives a second notification message from the donor CU, where the second notification message is used to indicate to enable the restriction of the available serving cells of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and corresponds to the second RLC bearer Or, the second notification message is used to instruct the cancellation of the restriction on the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the availability of the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer The limitation of the service area;

The first node sends a third notification message to the second node, where the third notification message is used to indicate to the second node to enable the restriction of the available serving cells of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and The second RLC bearer has the restriction of the available serving cell of the logical channel, or the third notification message is used to instruct the second node to cancel the available serving cell of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer Restriction and restriction of the serving cell available for the logical channel corresponding to the second RLC bearer.
A method for configuring a radio link control RLC bearer is characterized in that it includes:

The second node receives a second configuration message from the donor centralized unit CU, where the second configuration message is used to instruct to configure the first radio link control RLC bearer pair between the second node and the first node. An RLC bearer pair is used to transmit data packets of a first radio bearer of a first terminal device, the first radio bearer has the function of copying and transmitting data packets, and the first RLC bearer pair includes a first RLC bearer and a second RLC bearer. RLC bearer, the second node is a child node of the first node;

The second node configures the first RLC bearer pair according to the second configuration message.
The method according to claim 8, wherein the second configuration message contains the third configuration content carried by the first RLC and the fourth configuration content carried by the second RLC, and the third configuration The content and the fourth configuration content satisfy any of the following methods:

The third configuration content includes the identity of the first RLC bearer and the identity of the second RLC bearer, and the fourth configuration content includes the identity of the second RLC bearer and the identity of the first RLC bearer. Logo; or,

The third configuration content includes the identifier and the first identifier of the first RLC bearer, the fourth configuration content includes the identifier of the second RLC bearer and the first identifier, and the first identifier is used for Associating the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer to form the first RLC bearer pair.
The method according to claim 9, wherein the first identifier is an identifier of the first radio bearer.
The method according to any one of claims 8-10, wherein the method further comprises:

The second node receives a first notification message from the donor CU, where the first notification message is used to indicate to enable the restriction of the available serving cells of the logical channel corresponding to the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the first notification message. 2. Restrictions on the serving cells available for the logical channel corresponding to the RLC bearer, or the first notification message is used to instruct the cancellation of the restriction on the serving cells available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and corresponds to the second RLC bearer The limit of the available serving cell of the logical channel.
The method according to any one of claims 8-10, wherein the method further comprises:

The second node receives a third notification message from the first node, where the third notification message is used to indicate to enable the restriction of available serving cells of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer Restrictions on the serving cells available for the respective corresponding logical channels, or the third notification message is used to instruct to cancel the restriction on the serving cells available for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the respective corresponding to the second RLC bearer The limit of the service cell available for the logical channel.
The method according to claim 11, wherein the second node is a node that provides access services for the first terminal device, and before the second node receives the first notification message from the host CU, The method also includes:

Determining, by the second node, that the data packet copy transmission function of the first radio bearer is activated or deactivated;

The second node indicates to the host CU the activation status of the data packet replication transmission function of the first radio bearer.
A method for configuring a radio link control RLC bearer is characterized in that it includes:

The donor centralized unit CU generates a first configuration message, the first configuration message is used to instruct to configure the first radio link control RLC bearer pair between the first node and the second node, and the first RLC bearer pair is used for The data packet of the first radio bearer of the first terminal device is transmitted. The first radio bearer has the function of copying and transmitting data packets. The first RLC bearer pair includes a first RL bearer and a second RLC bearer. A node is the parent node of the second node;

The host CU sends the first configuration message to the first node.
The method according to claim 14, wherein the first configuration message contains first configuration content carried by the first RLC and second configuration content carried by the second RLC, and the first configuration The content and the second configuration content satisfy any of the following methods:

The first configuration content includes the identity of the first RLC bearer and the identity of the second RLC bearer, and the second configuration content includes the identity of the second RLC bearer and the identity of the first RLC bearer. Logo; or,

The first configuration content includes the identifier and the first identifier of the first RLC bearer, the second configuration content includes the identifier of the second RLC bearer and the first identifier, and the first identifier is used for Associating the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer to form the first RLC bearer pair.
The method according to claim 15, wherein the first identifier is an identifier of the first radio bearer.
The method according to any one of claims 14-16, wherein the method further comprises:

Generating, by the donor CU, a second configuration message, where the second configuration message is used to configure the first radio link control RLC bearer pair between the second node and the first node;

The host CU sends the second configuration message to the second node.
The method according to claim 17, wherein the second configuration message contains the third configuration content carried by the first RLC and the fourth configuration content carried by the second RLC, and the third configuration The content and the fourth configuration content satisfy any of the following methods:

The third configuration content includes the identity of the first RLC bearer and the identity of the second RLC bearer, and the fourth configuration content includes the identity of the second RLC bearer and the identity of the first RLC bearer. Logo; or,

The third configuration content includes the identifier and the first identifier of the first RLC bearer, the fourth configuration content includes the identifier of the second RLC bearer and the first identifier, and the first identifier is used for Associating the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer to form the first RLC bearer pair.
The method according to any one of claims 14-18, wherein after completing the configuration of the first RLC bearer pair, the method further comprises:

The donor CU sends a first notification message to the first node and the second node, where the first notification message is used to indicate the restriction and all available serving cells of the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer. The second RLC bearer has the restriction on the serving cells available for the logical channel corresponding to each of the second RLC bearers, or the first notification message is used to instruct to cancel the restriction on the available serving cells for the logical channel corresponding to the first RLC bearer and the second RLC bearer. The RLC bears the limitation of the service cell available for the corresponding logical channel.
A communication device, characterized by comprising a processor, the processor is coupled with a memory, the memory is used to store a computer program or instruction, and the processor is used to execute the computer program or instruction, so that claims 1 to 7. The method described in any one of 7.
A communication device, characterized by comprising a processor, the processor is coupled with a memory, the memory is used to store a computer program or instruction, and the processor is used to execute the computer program or instruction, so that claims 8 to 13. The method described in any one of 13.
A communication device, characterized by comprising a processor, the processor is coupled with a memory, the memory is used to store a computer program or instruction, and the processor is used to execute the computer program or instruction, so that claims 14 to The method of any one of 19.