WO2022000496A1

WO2022000496A1 - Communication method and apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2022000496A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/100242
Authority: WO
Inventors: 常俊仁; 韩磊; 王玲萍; 冯淑兰; 刘江华
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2020-07-03
Filing date: 2020-07-03
Publication date: 2022-01-06
Also published as: CN114145043B; CN114145043A

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of communication, and discloses a communication method and apparatus. The method comprises: a terminal device sends request information to an access network device, the request information being used for requesting network capability information, and the network capability information comprising capability information of the access network device and/or capability information of a core network device; and receiving network capability information from the access network device. Using the present method, the terminal device can request network capability information from the access network device by means of an on-demand request method, effectively helping the terminal device to locate a problem quickly and effectively, preventing the terminal device from executing purposeless capability reduction attempts, and facilitating quick resolution of communication problems caused by the terminal device and the network device being incompatible.

Description

A communication method and device

technical field

The present application relates to the field of wireless communication technologies, and in particular, to a communication method and device.

Background technique

With the continuous development of wireless communication technology, the addition of more new features and the repair of loopholes, various versions of wireless communication technology protocols are gradually being upgraded and improved, such as from the initially released commercial protocol versions (release8, R8), R9, to Relevant protocol versions R10, R11, R12, etc. of the advanced long term evolution (LTE-A) communication technology, and then to the fifth generation (the fifth generation, 5G) communication technology The relevant protocol versions R15, R16, R17 Wait.

Due to the diversity of protocol versions, for actually deployed base stations and core network equipment, there may be base stations that support different protocol versions at the same time. For example, actually deployed base station 1 and base station 2 may support different protocol versions, or there may be different Core network devices with protocol versions, such as actually deployed core network device 1 and core network device 2, may support different protocol versions. In this case, a communication problem between the terminal device and the network device may occur due to the incompatibility between the terminal device and the network device (eg, base station or core network device).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present application provides a communication method and device, which is convenient for quickly solving the communication problem caused by the incompatibility between terminal equipment and network equipment.

In the first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to a terminal device or a chip in a terminal device. Taking the method being applied to a terminal device as an example, in this method, the terminal device sends a message to an access network device. Sending request information, where the request information is used to request network capability information, where the network capability information includes capability information of the access network device and/or capability information of the core network device; and receiving network capability information from the access network device.

By adopting the above method, the terminal device can request network capability information from the access network device in an on-demand manner, thereby effectively assisting the terminal device to perform fast and efficient problem location, avoiding the terminal device from performing an aimless attempt to reduce capability, and facilitating quick solutions. Communication problems caused by incompatibility between end devices and network devices.

In a possible design, the method further includes: sending the first capability information to the access network device according to the network capability information.

In a possible design, sending the request information to the access network device includes: after meeting at least one of the following items, sending the request information to the access network device: (1) determining that a radio resource control RRC connection establishment failure occurs; (2) ) determine that a registration failure has occurred; (3) determine that a service transmission failure has occurred; (4) receive indication information from the access network device, the indication information is used to indicate at least one of the following: the first message sent by the terminal device cannot be identified; One or more information elements in the first message; the second capability information sent by the terminal device fails to parse; the capability of the terminal device is too large; ASN.1 information element analysis fails; ASN.1 extended information element analysis fails; (5) It is determined that the network capability area to which the access network device belongs is different from the historical network capability area. The network capability area includes at least one access network device, and at least one access network device has the same capability. In a possible design, the request information is random Access preamble.

In a possible design, the method further includes: receiving configuration information from the access network device, where the configuration information is used to configure a random access preamble and/or a random access resource used to send the random access preamble.

In a possible design, the random access preamble is the first random access preamble and/or the random access resource used for sending the random access preamble is the first random access resource, and the request information is used to request capability information of the access network equipment; or, the random access preamble is the second random access preamble and/or the random access resource used for sending the random access preamble is the second random access resource, and the request information is used for It is used to request capability information of core network equipment.

With this method, the terminal device can request the capability information of the access network device or the capability information of the core network device in a more targeted manner.

In a possible design, the method further includes: sending indication information to the access network device, where the indication information is used to indicate a reason value for requesting the network capability information.

In a possible design, the indication information is carried in the RRC connection establishment request message.

In a possible design, the network capability information is carried in a random access response message, an RRC connection establishment message, an RRC connection recovery message, a system message or an RRC connection reconfiguration message.

In a possible design, the capability information of the access network device includes at least one of the following: protocol version information supported by the access network device, product version information of the access network device, and cache capability information of the access network device.

In a possible design, the product version information of the access network device includes at least one of the following: manufacturer information of the access network device, network information to which the access network device belongs, area information to which the access network device belongs, and access network device information. Software version information of the network access device.

In a possible design, the capability information of the core network device includes at least one of the following: protocol version information supported by the core network device, product version information of the core network device, and cache capability information of the core network device.

In a possible design, the product version information of the core network device includes at least one of the following: manufacturer information of the core network device, network information to which the core network device belongs, area information to which the core network device belongs, and software of the core network device Version Information.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, and the method can be applied to a first access network device or a chip in the first access network device. Taking the method applied to the first access network device as an example, In this method, the first access network device receives request information from the terminal device, the request information is used to request network capability information, and the network capability information includes capability information of the access network device and/or capability information of the core network device; and , and send network capability information to the terminal device.

In a possible design, the method further includes: receiving first capability information from the terminal device, where the first capability information is determined according to the network capability information.

In a possible design, the method further includes: receiving capability information of the core network device from the core network device.

In a possible design, the request information is a random access preamble.

In a possible design, the method further includes: sending configuration information to the terminal device, where the configuration information is used to configure a random access preamble and/or a random access resource used for sending the random access preamble.

In a possible design, the method further includes: receiving indication information from the terminal device, where the indication information is used to indicate a reason value for requesting the network capability information.

It should be noted that the method described in the second aspect above corresponds to the method described in the first aspect. For the beneficial effects of the related technical features in the method described in the second aspect, reference may be made to the description of the first aspect, and details are not repeated here. .

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, where the communication device may be a terminal device or a chip provided inside the terminal device. The communication device has the function of implementing the first aspect. For example, the communication device includes modules or units or means (means) corresponding to the steps involved in executing the first aspect, and the functions, units or means may be implemented by software. , or implemented by hardware, or by executing corresponding software by hardware.

In a possible design, the communication device includes a processing unit and a communication unit, wherein the communication unit can be used to send and receive signals to implement communication between the communication device and other devices, for example, the communication unit is used to receive data from Configuration information of the terminal device; the processing unit can be used to perform some internal operations of the communication device. The functions performed by the processing unit and the communication unit may correspond to the operations involved in the first aspect above.

In a possible design, the communication device includes a processor, and may also include a transceiver, where the transceiver is used for transmitting and receiving signals, and the processor executes program instructions to implement any possible design or design in the first aspect above or method in the implementation. Wherein, the communication device may further include one or more memories, the memories are used for coupling with the processor, and the memories may store necessary computer programs or instructions for realizing the functions involved in the first aspect above. The processor may execute computer programs or instructions stored in the memory, and when the computer programs or instructions are executed, cause the communication apparatus to implement the method in any possible design or implementation manner of the first aspect.

In one possible design, the communication device includes a processor, which may be operative to couple with the memory. The memory may store necessary computer programs or instructions to implement the functions involved in the first aspect above. The processor may execute computer programs or instructions stored in the memory, and when the computer programs or instructions are executed, cause the communication apparatus to implement the method in any possible design or implementation manner of the first aspect.

In a possible design, the communication device includes a processor and a memory, and the memory can store necessary computer programs or instructions for implementing the functions involved in the first aspect above. The processor may execute computer programs or instructions stored in the memory, and when the computer programs or instructions are executed, cause the communication apparatus to implement the method in any possible design or implementation manner of the first aspect.

In a possible design, the communication device includes a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the processor is configured to communicate with other devices through the interface circuit, and execute the method in any possible design or implementation of the first aspect above .

In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, where the communication device may be an access network device or a chip provided inside the access network device. The communication device has the function of implementing the second aspect. For example, the communication device includes modules or units or means (means) corresponding to the operations involved in performing the second aspect, and the modules, units, or means may be implemented by software. , or implemented by hardware, or by executing corresponding software by hardware.

In a possible design, the communication device includes a processing unit and a communication unit, wherein the communication unit can be used to send and receive signals to implement communication between the communication device and other devices, for example, the communication unit is used to receive data from Configuration information of the terminal device; the processing unit can be used to perform some internal operations of the communication device. The functions performed by the processing unit and the communication unit may correspond to the operations involved in the second aspect above.

In one possible design, the communication device includes a processor, which may be operative to couple with the memory. The memory may store necessary computer programs or instructions to implement the functions involved in the second aspect above. The processor can execute computer programs or instructions stored in the memory, and when the computer programs or instructions are executed, cause the communication apparatus to implement the method in any possible design or implementation manner of the second aspect.

In a possible design, the communication device includes a processor and a memory, and the memory can store necessary computer programs or instructions for implementing the functions involved in the second aspect above. The processor can execute computer programs or instructions stored in the memory, and when the computer programs or instructions are executed, cause the communication apparatus to implement the method in any possible design or implementation manner of the second aspect.

In a possible design, the communication device includes a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the processor is configured to communicate with other devices through the interface circuit, and execute the method in any possible design or implementation of the second aspect above .

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, wherein the communication system may include the communication apparatus described in the third aspect and the communication apparatus described in the fourth aspect.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, where computer-readable instructions are stored in the computer storage medium, and when the computer reads and executes the computer-readable instructions, the computer is made to execute the above-mentioned first aspect or The method in any possible design of the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer program product that, when the computer reads and executes the computer program product, causes the computer to execute the method in any possible design of the first aspect or the second aspect.

In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a chip, the chip includes a processor, the processor is coupled to a memory, and is configured to read and execute a software program stored in the memory, so as to implement the above-mentioned first aspect or the second any possible design method of the aspect.

These and other aspects of the present application will be more clearly understood in the description of the following embodiments.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable;

FIG. 2a is a schematic diagram of a CU-DU separation architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2b is a schematic diagram of still another CU-DU separation architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart corresponding to the communication method provided in Embodiment 1 of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart corresponding to the communication method provided in Embodiment 2 of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a possible exemplary block diagram of the apparatus involved in the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an access network device according to an embodiment of the present application.

detailed description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture to which an embodiment of the present application is applied. As shown in Figure 1, a terminal device can access a wireless network to obtain services from an external network (such as a data network (DN)) through the wireless network, or communicate with other devices through the wireless network, such as with other terminals device communication. The wireless network includes a radio access network (RAN) and a core network (CN), where the RAN may also be called an access network (AN) for connecting terminal devices to To the wireless network, the CN is used to manage the terminal equipment and provide the gateway to communicate with the DN.

The terminal equipment, RAN, and CN involved in FIG. 1 are respectively described in detail below.

1. Terminal equipment

Terminal equipment, also known as user equipment (UE), includes equipment that provides voice and/or data connectivity to users, for example, may include handheld devices with wireless connectivity, or processing devices connected to wireless modems . The terminal equipment may communicate with the core network via a radio access network (RAN), and exchange voice and/or data with the RAN. The terminal equipment may include wireless terminal equipment, mobile terminal equipment, device-to-device communication (device-to-device, D2D) terminal equipment, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) terminal equipment, machine-to-machine/machine-type communication ( machine-to-machine/machine-type communications, M2M/MTC) terminal equipment, Internet of things (Internet of things, IoT) terminal equipment, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, remote station, access point (access point, AP) ), remote terminal, access terminal, user terminal, user agent, or user equipment, etc. For example, these may include mobile telephones (or "cellular" telephones), computers with mobile terminal equipment, portable, pocket-sized, hand-held, computer-embedded mobile devices, and the like. For example, personal communication service (PCS) phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (personal digital assistants), PDA), etc. Also includes constrained devices, such as devices with lower power consumption, or devices with limited storage capacity, or devices with limited computing power, etc. For example, it includes information sensing devices such as barcodes, radio frequency identification (RFID), sensors, global positioning system (GPS), and laser scanners.

In the embodiments of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the terminal device may be the terminal device, or it may be a device capable of supporting the terminal device to realize the function, such as a chip system or a combined device or component capable of realizing the function of the terminal device. Can be installed in terminal equipment. In this embodiment of the present application, the chip system may be composed of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices. In the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are described by taking the device for realizing the function of the terminal being a terminal device as an example.

2. RAN

The RAN may include one or more RAN devices, and the interface between the RAN device and the terminal device may be a Uu interface (or called an air interface). Of course, in future communications, the names of these interfaces may remain unchanged, or may be replaced with other names, which are not limited in this application.

A RAN device is a node or device that accesses a terminal device to a wireless network, and the RAN device may also be called an access network device or a base station. Access network equipment, for example, includes but is not limited to: a new generation base station (generation Node B, gNB), an evolved node B (evolved node B, eNB), a radio network controller (radio network controller, RNC) in the 5G communication system, Node B (node B, NB), base station controller (BSC), base transceiver station (base transceiver station, BTS), home base station ((home evolved nodeB, HeNB) or (home node B, HNB)) , baseband unit (baseBand unit, BBU), transmitting and receiving point (transmitting and receiving point, TRP), transmitting point (transmitting point, TP), or mobile switching center.

In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the access network device may be the access network device, or may be a device capable of supporting the access network device to realize the function, such as a chip system or a device capable of realizing the function of the access network device The combination device and component of the device can be installed in the access network equipment. In the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are described by taking the device for implementing the functions of the access network equipment as an example of the access network equipment.

Exemplarily, the communication between the RAN device and the terminal device follows a certain protocol layer structure, for example, the control plane protocol layer structure may include a radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC) layer, a packet data convergence layer protocol (packet data convergence protocol) , PDCP) layer, radio link control (radio link control, RLC) layer, media access control (media access control, MAC) layer and physical layer; user plane protocol layer structure may include PDCP layer, RLC layer, MAC layer and The physical layer, in a possible implementation, may further include a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer above the PDCP layer.

In one example, a RAN device may include one or more centralized units (CUs) and one or more distributed units (DUs), and multiple DUs may be centrally controlled by one CU. As an example, an interface between a CU and a DU may be referred to as an F1 interface, wherein a control plane (control panel, CP) interface may be an F1-C, and a user plane (user panel, UP) interface may be an F1-U. The CU and DU can be divided according to the protocol layer of the wireless network: for example, as shown in Figure 2a, the functions of the PDCP layer and the above protocol layers are set in the CU, and the functions of the protocol layers below the PDCP layer (such as the RLC layer and the MAC layer, etc.) are set in the DU.

It can be understood that the above division of the processing functions of CU and DU according to the protocol layer is only an example, and can also be divided in other ways. For example, the functions of the protocol layer above the PDCP layer are set in the CU, and the PDCP layer and the following protocol layers. The function of the CU is set in the DU. For example, the CU or DU can be divided into functions with more protocol layers. For example, the CU or DU can also be divided into partial processing functions with protocol layers. In one design, some functions of the RLC layer and functions of the protocol layers above the RLC layer are placed in the CU, and the remaining functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layers below the RLC layer are placed in the DU. In another design, the functions of the CU or DU can also be divided according to the service type or other system requirements, for example, by the delay, the functions whose processing time needs to meet the delay requirements are set in the DU, and do not need to meet the delay. The required functionality is set in the CU. In another design, the CU may also have one or more functions of the core network. Exemplarily, the CU can be set on the network side to facilitate centralized management; the DU can have multiple radio functions, or the radio functions can be set remotely. This embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

Exemplarily, the functions of the CU may be implemented by one entity, or may also be implemented by different entities. For example, as shown in Figure 2b, the functions of the CU can be further divided, that is, the control plane and the user plane are separated and implemented by different entities, namely the control plane CU entity (ie, the CU-CP entity) and the user plane CU entity. (ie the CU-UP entity), the CU-CP entity and the CU-UP entity can be coupled with the DU to jointly complete the functions of the RAN device. The interface between the CU-CP entity and the CU-UP entity may be the E1 interface, the interface between the CU-CP entity and the DU may be the F1-C interface, and the interface between the CU-UP entity and the DU may be the F1-U interface interface. Among them, one DU and one CU-UP can be connected to one CU-CP. Under the control of the same CU-CP, one DU can be connected to multiple CU-UPs, and one CU-UP can be connected to multiple DUs.

It should be noted that: in the architectures shown in the foregoing Figures 2a and 2b, the signaling generated by the CU may be sent to the terminal device through the DU, or the signaling generated by the terminal device may be sent to the CU through the DU. The DU may not parse the signaling, but directly encapsulate it through the protocol layer and transparently transmit it to the terminal device or CU. In the following embodiments, if the transmission of such signaling between the DU and the terminal device is involved, at this time, the sending or receiving of the signaling by the DU includes this scenario. For example, the signaling of the RRC or PDCP layer will eventually be processed as the data of the physical layer and sent to the terminal device, or converted from the received data of the physical layer. Under this architecture, the signaling of the RRC or PDCP layer can also be considered to be sent by the DU, or sent by the DU and the radio frequency device.

3. CN

The CN may include one or more core network devices or core network elements. Taking a 5G communication system as an example, the CN may include access and mobility management function (AMF) network elements and session management functions. (session management function, SMF) network element, user plane function (user plane function, UPF) network element, policy control function (policy control function, PCF) network element, unified data management (unified data management, UDM) network element, application Function (application function, AF) network element, etc.

The AMF network element is the control plane network element provided by the operator's network. It is responsible for the access control and mobility management of the terminal equipment accessing the operator's network, such as the management of mobility status, the allocation of user temporary identities, and the authentication and authorization of users. .

The SMF network element is the control plane network element provided by the operator's network and is responsible for managing the PDU sessions of the terminal equipment. A PDU session is a channel for transmitting PDUs. Terminal devices need to communicate PDUs with the DN through the PDU session. The PDU session is established, maintained and deleted by the SMF network element. SMF network elements include session management (such as session establishment, modification and release, including tunnel maintenance between UPF and RAN), selection and control of UPF network elements, service and session continuity (SSC) mode selection, Session related functions such as roaming.

The UPF network element is the gateway provided by the operator, and is the gateway for the communication between the operator's network and the DN. UPF network elements include user plane-related functions such as packet routing and transmission, packet detection, quality of service (QoS) processing, legal interception, upstream packet detection, and downstream packet storage.

The PCF network element is a control plane function provided by the operator, and is used to provide the SMF network element with the policy of the PDU session. The policies may include charging-related policies, QoS-related policies, authorization-related policies, and the like.

The UDM network element is a control plane network element provided by an operator, and is responsible for storing information such as subscriber permanent identifier (SUPI) and subscription data of subscribers in the operator's network.

The AF network element is a functional network element that provides various business services, can interact with the core network through other network elements, and can interact with the policy management framework for policy management.

In addition, although not shown, other possible network elements may also be included in the CN, such as network exposure function (NEF), network element unified data repository (unified data repository, UDR) network element.

In the embodiment of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the core network device may be the core network device, or may be a device capable of supporting the core network device to realize the function, such as a chip system or a combined device that can realize the function of the core network device, component, the device can be installed in the core network equipment. In the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application, the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are described by taking the device for implementing the functions of the core network equipment as the core network equipment as an example.

It should be noted that the access network devices and core network devices in the embodiments of the present application may be collectively referred to as network devices, that is, the network devices may include access network devices and/or core network devices.

In Figure 1, Npcf, Nudm, Naf, Namf, Nsmf, N1, N2, N3, N4, and N6 are interface serial numbers. For the meanings of these interface serial numbers, please refer to the meanings defined in the relevant standard protocols, which are not limited here.

It can be understood that a 5G communication system is used as an example for illustration in FIG. 1 , and the solutions in the embodiments of the present application may also be applied to other possible communication systems, such as the 6th generation (6G) in the future. in the communication system. The above network elements or functions may be either network elements in hardware devices, software functions running on dedicated hardware, or virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (eg, a cloud platform). Optionally, the foregoing network element or function may be implemented by one device, or may be implemented jointly by multiple devices, or may be a functional module in one device, which is not specifically limited in this embodiment of the present application.

In the above-mentioned network architecture shown in FIG. 1 , the communication process between the terminal device and the network device is usually centered on the network device, that is, the configuration of most or all parameters is controlled by the network device. Generally, after a problem occurs in the communication between the terminal device and the network device, the terminal device manufacturer usually relies on traversing various possible problems to locate and solve the problem, which results in a long time and low efficiency.

In dealing with practical problems, manufacturers of terminal equipment find that a considerable part of the problems are caused by incompatibility between terminal equipment and network equipment. There may be various situations in which the terminal device is incompatible with the network device. For example, a possible situation is that the protocol version supported by the terminal device is different from the protocol supported by the access network device, and/or the protocol version supported by the terminal device is Different from the protocol supported by the core network equipment. For example, the terminal device accesses normally on the LTE access network device side, but after the LTE access network device sends a secondary base station addition request message to the 5G access network device, the 5G access network device returns a reject message, and the reject message carries the The reason is that the air interface resources are unavailable; after analysis, it is found that the protocol version supported by the terminal device is higher than the protocol version supported by the 5G access network device, which causes the 5G access network device to fail to parse the capability information of the terminal device, resulting in the terminal device receiving Entry failed.

Another possible situation is that the capability information reported by the terminal device does not match the cache capability information of the access network device, and/or the capability information reported by the terminal device does not match the cache capability information of the core network device. For example, after the terminal device reports the measurement report to the access network device, the access network device does not issue a handover command message, resulting in a handover failure; after analysis, it is found that the air interface capability information reported by the terminal device to the access network device is 348 bytes ( byte), and the container of the access network device can store capability information of a maximum of 300 bytes, so that the access network device fails to parse the capability information of the terminal device and cannot issue a handover command.

However, when a problem such as an access failure occurs during the communication between the terminal device and the access network device, or when a problem such as a registration failure occurs during the communication between the terminal device and the core network device, even if the access fails or The registration failure is caused by the incompatibility between the terminal equipment and the access network equipment or core network equipment, but it is usually impossible to predict whether the incompatibility is caused by the incompatibility, so it takes a lot of time to reproduce, locate or test the problem. Wait. For example, the terminal device tries to reduce the capability to locate and determine the scope of the problem. However, when the terminal device reduces the capability autonomously, it does not have any reference information. Usually, it can only make an empirical attempt, so that the terminal device and the network device do not have any reference information. Compatibility issues are very inefficient to solve.

Based on this, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, which is convenient to quickly solve the communication problem caused by the incompatibility between the terminal device and the network device. Exemplarily, the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application may include: the terminal device sends request information to the access network device, where the request information is used to request network capability information, and then may receive the network capability information from the access network device. In this way, since the terminal device can obtain the network capability information, the capability can be reduced in a targeted manner with reference to the network capability information, which is convenient to quickly solve the communication problem caused by the incompatibility between the terminal device and the network device.

The communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below.

Example 1

FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart corresponding to the communication method provided in Embodiment 1 of the present application. As shown in FIG. 3 , the method may include:

Step 301, the terminal device determines that it needs to acquire network capability information.

Here, the terminal device may determine that the network capability information needs to be acquired in various situations, such as the following situations 1 to 5.

In case 1, the terminal device determines that an RRC connection establishment failure occurs. For example, after the terminal device sends the RRC connection establishment request message to the access network device, if it receives the RRC connection establishment rejection message sent by the second access network device, it can be understood that the RRC connection establishment fails.

In case 2, the terminal device determines that a registration failure has occurred. For example, after the terminal device sends a registration request message to the core network device through the access network device, if it receives a registration rejection message sent by the core network device, it can be understood that the registration fails.

In case 3, the terminal device determines that the service transmission fails, for example, the terminal device fails to successfully send service data to the access network device, or fails to successfully receive service data from the access network device.

Scenario 4: The terminal device receives indication information from the access network device, where the indication information is used to indicate at least one of the following: (1) The first message sent by the terminal device cannot be identified, that is, the terminal device sends the access network device The first message is sent, but the access network device cannot recognize the first message. The first message may include at least one of the following: an RRC connection establishment request message, an RRC connection establishment recovery request message, and an RRC connection re-establishment request message. (2) One or more cells in the first message cannot be identified. (3) Analysis of the second capability information sent by the terminal device fails, that is, the terminal device sends the second capability information to the access network device, but the access network device fails to parse the second capability information; or, the terminal device sends the second capability information to the access network device. The core network device sends the second capability information, but the core network device fails to parse the second capability information, and then the core network device may send indication information to the terminal device through the access network device. (4) The capability of the terminal device is too large; (5) Abstract syntax notation one (ASN.1) information element (IE) or field parsing fails; (6) ASN.1 extended cell or Field parsing failed; (7) ASN.1 critical (critical) extended cell or field parsing failed; (8) ASN.1 non-critical (critical) extended cell or field parsing failed. In an example, the indication information may be carried in an RRC connection establishment reject message or a registration reject message.

In case 5, the terminal device determines that the network capability area (NCA) to which the access network device belongs is different from the historical network capability information, or the terminal device determines that the network capability area has changed. The network capability area includes at least one access network device, at least one access network device has the same capability, and one access network device may belong to one network capability area. In one example, the network capability area may include one or more tracking areas (TA), or may also include one or more RAN areas, where the RAN area is an area for terminal devices in an inactive state.

Exemplarily, the access network device may broadcast the network capability area information to which the access network device belongs through a system message, and then the terminal device may receive the network capability area information to which the access network device belongs. The network capability area information may include the identifier of the network capability area (NCA ID). The identifier of the network capability area may refer to the information used to identify the network capability area, such as the number of the network capability area or other possible information. limited. In the embodiments of the present application, any information that can play a role in distinguishing different network capability areas can be understood as an identifier of a network capability area.

There may be various situations in which the terminal device determines that the network capability area has changed. For example, after the terminal device accesses the access network device 1, if the network capability area information to which the access network device 1 belongs changes, the access network device 1 may send an updated system message, and the updated system message includes the changed The network capability area information, and then the terminal device may determine that the network capability area has changed after receiving the updated system message. For another example, after accessing the access network device 1, the terminal device can exit the access network device 1 and move from the coverage of the access network device 1 to the coverage of the access network device 2; further, the terminal device can receive the access network device 1. The network capability area information to which the access network device 2 belongs is sent by the network access device 2 through the system message. If the network capability area information to which the access network device 2 belongs is different from the network capability area information to which the access network device 1 belongs, it can be determined. The network capability area changes.

In this embodiment of the present application, the network capability area information to which the access network device belongs may be sent by the core network device to the access network device, that is, the core network device may manage the network capability areas to which multiple access network devices belong information, and send the network capability area information to which each access network device belongs to the corresponding access network device. Alternatively, the network capability area information to which the access network device belongs may also be determined through negotiation between the access network device and other access network devices. Alternatively, the network capability area information to which the access network device belongs may be configured in the access network device in a pre-configured manner. This embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

Step 302: The terminal device sends request information to the access network device, where the request information is used to request network capability information, and the network capability information includes capability information of the access network device and/or capability information of the core network device.

1. Explain the capability information of the access network equipment.

The capability information of the access network device includes at least one of the following: protocol version information supported by the access network device, product version information of the access network device, and cache capability information of the access network device.

The protocol version information supported by the access network device may include an identifier of the protocol version supported by the access network device. The protocol version can also be called a standard version, such as the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) standard release, such as R15, R16, etc., or it can also be a 3GPP standard version, such as v15.1.0, v16. 2.0 etc.

The product version information of the access network device refers to the code or model or serial number used to indicate the access network device, or may also refer to the code or model or serial number of the access network device allocated based on certain standard criteria. For example, the product version information of the access network device may consist of manufacturer information of the access network device itself and information of the network to which the access network device belongs. For example, the product version information of the access network device may include at least one of the following : Manufacturer information of the access network device, information of the network to which the access network device belongs, information of the area to which the access network device belongs, and software version information of the access network device.

The cache capability information of the access network device may be used to indicate the size of the cache space in which the access network device stores the capability information of the terminal device.

2. Explain the capability information of the core network equipment.

The capability information of the core network device includes at least one of the following: protocol version information supported by the core network device, product version information of the core network device, and cache capability information of the core network device. For related introduction, reference may be made to the access network device side. For example, the protocol version information supported by the core network device may include an identifier of the protocol version supported by the core network device. The product version information of the core network device may include at least one of the following: manufacturer information of the core network device, network information to which the core network device belongs, region information to which the core network device belongs, and software version information of the core network device. The cache capability information of the core network device may be used to indicate the size of the cache space in which the core network device stores the capability information of the terminal device.

It should be noted that the core network device may include AMF network elements, and may also include other possible network elements, such as SMF network elements, UPF network elements, etc., which are not specifically limited.

3. Explain the requested information.

The request information may be a random access preamble. In this case, the terminal device receives configuration information from the access network device, and the configuration information is used to configure the random access preamble and/or random access resources used to request network capability information, and the random access resources may be used for carrying Or resources for sending random access preambles.

In an example, the access network device may separately configure a random access preamble and/or random access resource for requesting capability information of the access network device, and a random access request for the capability information of the core network device Preamble and/or random access resources. For example, when the random access preamble is the first random access preamble and/or the random access resource is the first random access resource, it is used to request capability information of the access network device. When the random access preamble is the second random access preamble and/or the random access resource is the second random access resource, it is used to request capability information of the core network device.

In this way, if the terminal device determines that the network capability information to be acquired is the capability information of the access network device (such as the above-mentioned situation 1, situation 3, situation 4, or situation 5), it can use the first random access preamble and/or the first random access preamble and/or the first random access preamble. A random access resource initiates random access. If the terminal device determines that the network capability information to be acquired is the capability information of the core network device (such as the above scenario 2 or scenario 3), it can use the second random access preamble and/or the second random access resource to initiate random access. .

In addition, the terminal device may also send indication information to the access network device, where the indication information is used to indicate a reason value for requesting network capability information, and the reason value may be at least one of the following: RRC connection establishment failure, registration failure, or service transmission failure, etc. . The indication information is carried in the RRC connection establishment request message.

It should be noted that, as a possible alternative, the terminal device can also request network capability information from the access network device in an implicit manner. For example, the terminal device can send instruction information to the access network device, and the access network device can The indication information determines that the terminal device needs to acquire network capability information. In this case, the access network device may no longer configure the terminal device with a random access preamble and/or random access resource for requesting network capability information.

Step 303, the access network device sends the network capability information to the terminal device according to the request information.

Here, the access network device may send the network capability information in various ways, for example, the network capability information may be carried in a random access response message, an RRC connection establishment message, an RRC connection recovery message, a system message or an RRC connection reconfiguration message.

Step 304, the terminal device communicates with the access network device and/or the core network device according to the network capability information.

For example, the terminal device may perform capability rollback (ie, reduce the capability) according to the network capability information, and then use the rolled-back capability information to communicate with the access network device and/or the core network device.

By adopting the above method, in the event of access failure or registration failure, the terminal device can request network capability information from the access network device through an on-demand request, thereby effectively assisting the terminal device to locate problems quickly and efficiently, avoiding the need for the terminal The device performs an aimless attempt to reduce the capability, which is convenient to quickly solve the communication problem caused by the incompatibility between the terminal device and the network device.

Based on the first embodiment above, a possible process is described below in combination with the second embodiment.

Embodiment 2

FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart corresponding to the communication method provided in Embodiment 2 of the present application. As shown in FIG. 4 , the method may include:

In step 400, the access network device and the core network device may exchange the identifiers of the protocol versions supported by each.

For example, the core network device may send the identification of the protocol version supported by the core network device to the access network device.

In step 401, the access network device sends a system message, so that the terminal device can receive the system message sent by the access network device.

Here, the system message may include configuration information for acquiring network capability information on demand, and the configuration information may be used to configure random access preambles and/or random access resources, where random access resources may refer to physical random access resources. Incoming channel (physical random access channel, PRACH) resources. Further, different random access preambles and/or random access resources may be configured according to the capability information of the access network device and the capability information of the core network device obtained as needed.

Step 402, the terminal device determines that it needs to acquire network capability information.

For example, the terminal device initiates access to the access network device based on service requirements to establish an RRC connection with the access network device. However, the terminal device determines that an RRC connection establishment failure or a registration failure occurs, and further determines that it needs to acquire network capability information.

For another example, even if the terminal device accesses the access network device and successfully registers, but the abnormal situation of link interruption or connection interruption occurs quickly during the service transmission process, in this case, the terminal device may determine that it needs to obtain network capability information.

Step 403, the terminal device selects the corresponding random access preamble and/or random access resource based on the configuration information provided in the system message for obtaining network capability information on demand, and sends the random access preamble to the access network device.

Exemplarily, if the random access preamble and/or random access resource used to request capability information of the access network device and the random access preamble used to request capability information of the core network device are distinguished in step 401 and/or random access resources, the terminal device can determine whether it needs to request the capability information of the access network device or the capability information of the core network device according to the potential cause of the communication abnormality, and select the corresponding random access preamble and/or Random access resources.

Step 404, the access network device sends a random access response message to the terminal device, and the random access response message carries the network capability information.

Alternatively, as a possible alternative solution, the access network device may also send the network capability information through a system message. In this case, the access network device may no longer send a random access response message to the terminal device.

Alternatively, as a possible alternative solution, the access network device may also send a random access response message to the terminal device, but the random access corresponding message does not carry network capability information. In this case, step 405 can be continued.

Step 405, the terminal device sends a random access message 3 to the access network device.

Exemplarily, the random access message 3 may carry indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate a cause value of a communication abnormality, such as connection establishment failure, registration failure, or abnormal communication interruption.

Step 406, the access network device sends a random access message 4 to the terminal device, where the random access message 4 may carry network capability information.

Alternatively, as a possible alternative solution, the access network device may also send the network capability information to the terminal device through dedicated signaling or a broadcast message after the random access message 4 .

Step 407, the terminal device determines the capability information of the terminal device according to the network capability information provided by the access network, and re-initiates access.

Exemplarily, the protocol version corresponding to the capability information determined by the terminal device may not be higher than the protocol version corresponding to the access network device and/or the protocol version corresponding to the core network device, so as to avoid the incompatibility between the terminal device and the network device. communication problems.

For the above-mentioned Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2, it should be noted that:

(1) The step numbers of the flowcharts described in Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2 are only an example of the execution process, and do not constitute a restriction on the sequence of execution of the steps. There is no sequence in the embodiments of the present application. There is no strict order of execution between the steps of a dependency. In addition, not all the steps shown in each flowchart are steps that must be executed, and some steps may be added or deleted on the basis of each flowchart according to actual needs. In addition, the first embodiment and the second embodiment can be referred to each other.

(2) Some messages in the 5G communication system are used in the above-mentioned Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2, but in specific implementation, different messages or message names may be used, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

The foregoing mainly introduces the solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application from the perspective of device interaction. It can be understood that, in order to realize the above functions, the access network device or the terminal device may include corresponding hardware structures and/or software modules for performing each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that, in conjunction with the units and algorithm steps of the examples described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is implemented by hardware or computer software-driven hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality using different methods for each particular application, but such implementations should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

In this embodiment of the present application, the access network device or the terminal device may be divided into functional units according to the foregoing method examples. For example, each functional unit may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one unit. . The above-mentioned integrated units may be implemented in the form of hardware, or may be implemented in the form of software functional units.

In the case of using an integrated unit, FIG. 5 shows a possible exemplary block diagram of the apparatus involved in the embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 5 , the apparatus 500 may include: a processing unit 502 and a communication unit 503 . The processing unit 502 is used to control and manage the actions of the device 500 . The communication unit 503 is used to support the communication between the apparatus 500 and other devices. Optionally, the communication unit 503 is also referred to as a transceiving unit, and may include a receiving unit and/or a sending unit, which are respectively configured to perform receiving and sending operations. The apparatus 500 may further include a storage unit 501 for storing program codes and/or data of the apparatus 500 .

The apparatus 500 may be the terminal device in the foregoing embodiment, or may also be a chip provided in the terminal device. The processing unit 502 can support the apparatus 500 to perform the actions of the terminal device in each method example above. Alternatively, the processing unit 502 mainly performs the internal actions of the terminal device in the method example, and the communication unit 503 may support the communication between the apparatus 500 and other devices.

Specifically, in one embodiment, the communication unit 503 is configured to: send request information to the access network device, where the request information is used to request network capability information, where the network capability information includes capability information of the access network device and/or core network device and receiving network capability information from the access network device.

In a possible design, the communication unit 503 is further configured to: send the first capability information to the access network device according to the network capability information.

In a possible design, the communication unit 503 is further configured to: send request information to the access network device after meeting at least one of the following: (1) determine that a radio resource control RRC connection establishment failure occurs; (2) determine that a registration occurs failure; (3) determine that a service transmission failure occurs; (4) receive indication information from the access network device, the indication information is used to indicate at least one of the following: the first message sent by the terminal device cannot be identified; the first message cannot be identified in the first message. One or more information elements of the information; the second capability information sent by the terminal device fails to parse; the capability of the terminal device is too large; the abstract syntax mark ASN.1 cell fails to parse; the ASN.1 extended cell fails to parse; (5) determine The network capability area to which the access network device belongs is different from the historical network capability area. The network capability area includes at least one access network device, and at least one access network device has the same capability.

In a possible design, the request information is a random access preamble.

In a possible design, the communication unit 503 is further configured to: receive configuration information from the access network device, where the configuration information is used to configure the random access preamble and/or the random access resource used to send the random access preamble .

In a possible design, the communication unit 503 is further configured to: send indication information to the access network device, where the indication information is used to indicate a reason value for requesting the network capability information.

The apparatus 500 may be the access network device in the foregoing embodiment, or may also be a chip provided in the access network device. The processing unit 502 can support the apparatus 500 to perform the actions of the access network device in each method example above. Alternatively, the processing unit 502 mainly performs the internal actions of the access network device in the method example, and the communication unit 503 may support the communication between the apparatus 500 and other devices.

Specifically, in one embodiment, the communication unit 503 is configured to: receive request information from the terminal device, where the request information is used to request network capability information, where the network capability information includes capability information of the access network device and/or information of the core network device. capability information; and, sending the network capability information to the terminal device.

In a possible design, the communication unit 503 is further configured to: receive first capability information from the terminal device, where the first capability information is determined according to the network capability information.

In a possible design, the communication unit 503 is further configured to: receive capability information of the core network device from the core network device.

In a possible design, the request information is a random access preamble.

In a possible design, the communication unit 503 is further configured to: send configuration information to the terminal device, where the configuration information is used to configure the random access preamble and/or the random access resource used for sending the random access preamble.

In a possible design, the communication unit 503 is further configured to: receive indication information from the terminal device, where the indication information is used to indicate a reason value for requesting the network capability information.

It should be understood that the division of units in the above apparatus is only a division of logical functions, and in actual implementation, it may be fully or partially integrated into one physical entity, or may be physically separated. And all the units in the device can be realized in the form of software calling through the processing element; also can all be realized in the form of hardware; some units can also be realized in the form of software calling through the processing element, and some units can be realized in the form of hardware. For example, each unit can be a separately established processing element, or can be integrated in a certain chip of the device to be implemented, and can also be stored in the memory in the form of a program, which can be called by a certain processing element of the device and execute the unit's processing. Features. In addition, all or part of these units can be integrated together, and can also be implemented independently. The processing element described here can also become a processor, which can be an integrated circuit with signal processing capability. In the implementation process, each operation of the above method or each of the above units may be implemented by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in the processor element or implemented in the form of software being invoked by the processing element.

In one example, a unit in any of the above apparatuses may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, eg, one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or, one or more Multiple microprocessors (digital singnal processors, DSPs), or, one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. For another example, when a unit in the apparatus can be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler, the processing element can be a processor, such as a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), or other processors that can invoke programs. For another example, these units can be integrated together and implemented in the form of a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

The above unit for receiving is an interface circuit of the device for receiving signals from other devices. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the receiving unit is an interface circuit used by the chip to receive signals from other chips or devices. The above unit for sending is an interface circuit of the device for sending signals to other devices. For example, when the device is implemented in the form of a chip, the sending unit is an interface circuit used by the chip to send signals to other chips or devices.

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a terminal device provided by an embodiment of the present application, which may be the terminal device in the above embodiment, and is used to implement operations of the terminal device in the above embodiment. As shown in FIG. 6 , the terminal device includes: an antenna 610 , a radio frequency part 620 , and a signal processing part 630 . The antenna 610 is connected to the radio frequency part 620 . In the downlink direction, the radio frequency part 620 receives the information sent by the network device through the antenna 610, and sends the information sent by the network device to the signal processing part 630 for processing. In the upstream direction, the signal processing part 630 processes the information of the terminal equipment and sends it to the radio frequency part 620 , and the radio frequency part 620 processes the information of the terminal equipment and sends it to the network equipment through the antenna 610 .

The signal processing part 630 may include a modulation and demodulation subsystem, which is used to implement the processing of each communication protocol layer of the data; it can also include a central processing subsystem, which is used to implement the processing of the terminal device operating system and the application layer; in addition, it can also Including other subsystems, such as multimedia subsystem, peripheral subsystem, etc., wherein the multimedia subsystem is used to realize the control of the terminal equipment camera, screen display, etc., and the peripheral subsystem is used to realize the connection with other devices. The modem subsystem can be a separate chip.

The modem subsystem may include one or more processing elements 631, including, for example, a host CPU and other integrated circuits. In addition, the modulation and demodulation subsystem may also include a storage element 632 and an interface circuit 633 . The storage element 632 is used to store data and programs, but the program used to execute the method performed by the terminal device in the above method may not be stored in the storage element 632, but in a memory outside the modulation and demodulation subsystem, When used, the modem subsystem is loaded for use. Interface circuitry 633 is used to communicate with other subsystems.

The modulation and demodulation subsystem can be implemented by a chip, the chip includes at least one processing element and an interface circuit, wherein the processing element is used to execute each step of any one of the methods performed by the above terminal equipment, and the interface circuit is used to communicate with other devices. In one implementation, the unit for the terminal device to implement each step in the above method may be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler. For example, an apparatus for a terminal device includes a processing element and a storage element, and the processing element calls the program stored in the storage element to Execute the method executed by the terminal device in the above method embodiments. The storage element may be a storage element in which the processing element is on the same chip, that is, an on-chip storage element.

In another implementation, the program for executing the method performed by the terminal device in the above method may be in a storage element on a different chip from the processing element, that is, an off-chip storage element. At this time, the processing element calls or loads the program from the off-chip storage element to the on-chip storage element, so as to call and execute the method performed by the terminal device in the above method embodiments.

In yet another implementation, the unit for the terminal device to implement each step in the above method may be configured as one or more processing elements, and these processing elements are provided on the modulation and demodulation subsystem, and the processing element here may be an integrated circuit, For example: one or more ASICs, or, one or more DSPs, or, one or more FPGAs, or a combination of these types of integrated circuits. These integrated circuits can be integrated together to form chips.

The units of the terminal device implementing each step in the above method may be integrated together and implemented in the form of an SOC, and the SOC chip is used to implement the above method. At least one processing element and a storage element may be integrated in the chip, and the method executed by the above terminal device may be implemented in the form of a program stored in the storage element being invoked by the processing element; or, at least one integrated circuit may be integrated in the chip to implement the above terminal The method for device execution; or, in combination with the above implementation manners, the functions of some units are implemented in the form of calling programs by processing elements, and the functions of some units are implemented in the form of integrated circuits.

It can be seen that the above apparatus for a terminal device may include at least one processing element and an interface circuit, where the at least one processing element is configured to execute any method performed by the terminal device provided in the above method embodiments. The processing element can execute part or all of the steps performed by the terminal device in the first way: by calling the program stored in the storage element; or in the second way: by combining the instructions with the integrated logic circuit of the hardware in the processor element Part or all of the steps performed by the terminal device may be performed in the manner of the first method; of course, some or all of the steps performed by the terminal device may also be performed in combination with the first manner and the second manner.

The processing elements here are the same as those described above, and may be implemented by a processor, and the functions of the processing elements may be the same as those of the processing unit described in FIG. 5 . Illustratively, the processing element may be a general-purpose processor, such as a CPU, or may be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods, such as: one or more ASICs, or, one or more microprocessors, DSPs , or, one or more FPGAs, etc., or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms. The storage element may be implemented by a memory, and the function of the storage element may be the same as that of the storage unit described in FIG. 5 . The storage element may be implemented by a memory, and the function of the storage element may be the same as that of the storage unit described in FIG. 5 . The storage element can be one memory or a collective term for multiple memories.

The terminal device shown in FIG. 6 can implement each process involving the terminal device in the foregoing method embodiments. The operations and/or functions of each module in the terminal device shown in FIG. 6 are respectively to implement the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments. For details, reference may be made to the descriptions in the foregoing method embodiments. To avoid repetition, the detailed descriptions are appropriately omitted here.

Referring to FIG. 7 , which is a schematic structural diagram of an access network device according to an embodiment of the application, the access network device (or base station) can be applied to the system architecture shown in FIG. The function of the network access device. Access network equipment 70 may include one or more DUs 701 and one or more CUs 702. The DU 701 may include at least one antenna 7011 , at least one radio frequency unit 7012 , at least one processor 7013 and at least one memory 7014 . The DU 701 part is mainly used for the transceiver of radio frequency signals, the conversion of radio frequency signals and baseband signals, and part of baseband processing. The CU 702 may include at least one processor 7022 and at least one memory 7021 .

The CU 702 part is mainly used to perform baseband processing, control access network equipment, and the like. The DU 701 and the CU 702 can be physically set together, or can be physically set separately, that is, a distributed base station. The CU 702 is the control center of the access network equipment, which can also be called a processing unit, and is mainly used to complete the baseband processing function. For example, the CU 702 may be used to control the access network device to perform the operation process of the access network device in the foregoing method embodiments.

In addition, optionally, the access network device 70 may include one or more radio frequency units, one or more DUs, and one or more CUs. The DU may include at least one processor 7013 and at least one memory 7014 , the radio unit may include at least one antenna 7011 and at least one radio frequency unit 7012 , and the CU may include at least one processor 7022 and at least one memory 7021 .

In an example, the CU702 may be composed of one or more boards, and the multiple boards may jointly support a wireless access network (such as a 5G network) with a single access indication, or may respectively support wireless access systems of different access standards. Access network (such as LTE network, 5G network or other network). The memory 7021 and the processor 7022 may serve one or more single boards. That is to say, the memory and processor can be provided separately on each single board. It can also be that multiple boards share the same memory and processor. In addition, necessary circuits may also be provided on each single board. The DU701 can be composed of one or more single boards. Multiple single boards can jointly support a wireless access network (such as a 5G network) with a single access indication, or can support a wireless access network with different access standards (such as a 5G network). LTE network, 5G network or other network). The memory 7014 and processor 7013 may serve one or more single boards. That is to say, the memory and processor can be provided separately on each single board. It can also be that multiple boards share the same memory and processor. In addition, necessary circuits may also be provided on each single board.

The access network device shown in FIG. 7 can implement each process involving the access network device in the foregoing method embodiments. The operations and/or functions of each module in the access network device shown in FIG. 7 are respectively to implement the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments. For details, reference may be made to the descriptions in the foregoing method embodiments. To avoid repetition, the detailed descriptions are appropriately omitted here.

The terms "system" and "network" in the embodiments of the present application may be used interchangeably. "At least one" means one or more, and "plurality" means two or more. "And/or", which describes the association relationship of the associated objects, means that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and/or B, which can mean: the existence of A alone, the existence of A and B at the same time, and the existence of B alone, where A, B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the associated objects are an "or" relationship. "At least one item(s) below" or similar expressions thereof refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single item(s) or plural items(s). For example "at least one of A, B and C" includes A, B, C, AB, AC, BC or ABC. And, unless otherwise specified, ordinal numbers such as “first” and “second” mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the order, sequence, priority or importance of multiple objects degree.

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

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

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory capable of directing a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory result in an article of manufacture comprising instruction means, the instructions The apparatus implements the functions specified in the flow or flow of the flowcharts and/or the block or blocks of the block diagrams.

These computer program instructions can also be loaded on a computer or other programmable data processing device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process such that The instructions provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow or blocks of the flowcharts and/or the block or blocks of the block diagrams.

Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

A communication method, characterized in that the method is applicable to a terminal device or a chip in the terminal device, and the method includes:

Sending request information to an access network device, where the request information is used to request network capability information, where the network capability information includes capability information of the access network device and/or capability information of the core network device;

The network capability information from the access network device is received.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

Send first capability information to the access network device according to the network capability information.
The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein sending the request information to the access network device comprises:

After meeting at least one of the following items, send the request information to the access network device:

It is determined that a radio resource control RRC connection establishment failure occurs;

determine that a registration failure has occurred;

determine that a service transmission failure has occurred;

Receive indication information from the access network device, where the indication information is used to indicate at least one of the following: the first message sent by the terminal device cannot be identified; one or more information in the first message cannot be identified. element; the second capability information sent by the terminal device failed to parse; the capability of the terminal device was too large; the abstract syntax mark ASN.1 cell failed to parse; the ASN.1 extended cell failed to parse;

It is determined that the network capability area to which the access network device belongs is different from the historical network capability area, and the network capability area includes at least one access network device, and the at least one access network device has the same capability.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the request information is a random access preamble.
The method according to claim 4, wherein the method further comprises:

Receive configuration information from the access network device, the configuration information being used to configure the random access preamble and/or random access resources used to transmit the random access preamble.
The method according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the random access preamble is the first random access preamble and/or the random access resource used for sending the random access preamble is the first random access preamble a random access resource, where the request information is used to request capability information of the access network device; or,

The random access preamble is the second random access preamble and/or the random access resource used for sending the random access preamble is the second random access resource, and the request information is used to request the Capability information of core network equipment.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the method further comprises:

Sending indication information to the access network device, where the indication information is used to indicate a reason value for requesting network capability information.
The method according to claim 7, wherein the indication information is carried in an RRC connection establishment request message.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the network capability information is carried in a random access response message, an RRC connection establishment message, an RRC connection recovery message, a system message or an RRC connection reconfiguration message .
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the capability information of the access network device includes at least one of the following:

Protocol version information supported by the access network device, product version information of the access network device, and cache capability information of the access network device.
The method according to claim 10, wherein the product version information of the access network device includes at least one of the following: manufacturer information of the access network device, network information to which the access network device belongs , the area information to which the access network device belongs, and the software version information of the access network device.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the capability information of the core network device includes at least one of the following:

Protocol version information supported by the core network device, product version information of the core network device, and cache capability information of the core network device.
The method according to claim 12, wherein the product version information of the core network device comprises at least one of the following: manufacturer information of the core network device, network information to which the core network device belongs, the The area information to which the core network device belongs, and the software version information of the core network device.
A communication method, characterized in that the method is applicable to an access network device or a chip in the access network device, and the method comprises:

receiving request information from a terminal device, where the request information is used to request network capability information, and the network capability information includes capability information of the access network device and/or capability information of the core network device;

Send the network capability information to the terminal device.
The method of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises:

First capability information is received from the terminal device, where the first capability information is determined according to the network capability information.
The method according to claim 14 or 15, wherein the method further comprises:

The capability information of the core network device is received from the core network device.
The method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, wherein the request information is a random access preamble.
The method of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises:

Sending configuration information to the terminal device, where the configuration information is used to configure the random access preamble and/or random access resources used for sending the random access preamble.
The method according to claim 17 or 18, wherein the random access preamble is the first random access preamble and/or the random access resource used for sending the random access preamble is the first random access preamble a random access resource, where the request information is used to request capability information of the access network device; or,

The random access preamble is the second random access preamble and/or the random access resource used for sending the random access preamble is the second random access resource, and the request information is used to request the Capability information of core network equipment.
The method according to any one of claims 14 to 19, wherein the method further comprises:

Receive indication information from the terminal device, where the indication information is used to indicate a reason value for requesting network capability information.
The method according to claim 20, wherein the indication information is carried in an RRC connection establishment request message.
The method according to any one of claims 14 to 21, wherein the network capability information is carried in a random access response message, an RRC connection establishment message, an RRC connection recovery message, a system message or an RRC connection reconfiguration message .
The method according to any one of claims 14 to 22, wherein the capability information of the access network device includes at least one of the following:

Protocol version information supported by the access network device, product version information of the access network device, and cache capability information of the access network device.
The method according to claim 23, wherein the product version information of the access network device includes at least one of the following: manufacturer information of the access network device, network information to which the access network device belongs , the area information to which the access network device belongs, and the software version information of the access network device.
The method according to any one of claims 14 to 24, wherein the capability information of the core network device includes at least one of the following:

Protocol version information supported by the core network device, product version information of the core network device, and cache capability information of the core network device.
The method according to claim 25, wherein the product version information of the core network device includes at least one of the following: manufacturer information of the core network device, network information to which the core network device belongs, the The area information to which the core network device belongs, and the software version information of the core network device.
A communication device, characterized by comprising a module for performing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.
A communication device, characterized by comprising a module for performing the method of any one of claims 14 to 26.
A communication device, characterized in that it comprises a processor, the processor is coupled to a memory, and a computer program is stored in the memory; the processor is used to call the computer program in the memory, so that the communication device executes A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13.
A communication device, characterized in that it comprises a processor, the processor is coupled to a memory, and a computer program is stored in the memory; the processor is used to call the computer program in the memory, so that the communication device executes A method as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 26.
A communication system, characterized by comprising the communication device as claimed in claim 27 or 29, and the communication device as claimed in claim 28 or 30.
A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, a computer program or instruction is stored in the storage medium, and when the computer program or instruction is executed by a communication device, any one of claims 1 to 13 is implemented. , or a method as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 26.