WO2023011006A1

WO2023011006A1 - Communication method and apparatus, and device

Info

Publication number: WO2023011006A1
Application number: PCT/CN2022/098688
Authority: WO
Inventors: 蒋成堃; 周汉
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2021-08-06
Filing date: 2022-06-14
Publication date: 2023-02-09
Also published as: CN115707012A

Abstract

The present application discloses a communication method and apparatus, and a device, used to improve the timeliness and accuracy of network state detection in a mobile communication system. The method comprises: in the mobile communication system, after acquiring INT configuration information of a target communication device, a control plane network element can send the INT configuration information to the target communication device. In this way, the target communication device can perform INT processing on a service data packet according to the INT configuration information. By means of the solution, the control plane network element can perform INT configuration on the target communication device in the mobile communication system, so that the mobile communication system can support INT technology, such that the target communication device can detect the network state in real time and report the detection result when transmitting the service data packet, thereby improving the timeliness and accuracy of the network state detection.

Description

A communication method, device and equipment

Cross References to Related Applications

This application claims the priority of the Chinese patent application with the application number 202110904072.9 and the application title "A communication method, device and equipment" submitted to the China Patent Office on August 06, 2021, the entire contents of which are incorporated in this application by reference middle.

technical field

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

Background technique

The key to the successful application of mobile communication systems in industrial networks, commercial networks and other scenarios is the stability and reliability of transmission. For example, the current 5th generation (the 5th generation, 5G) communication system has been successfully applied to various networks. In order to realize the flexibility of networking, the wirelessization of the mobile communication system is also a development trend.

However, since the network state of the wireless network changes dynamically and at a fast rate, sporadic network performance degradation often occurs. Therefore, the wirelessization of the mobile communication system will affect the stability and reliability of transmission.

Therefore, network detection is required inside the mobile communication system, so as to be able to know changes in network status in time, and then perform fault location and repair in time when the network fails. Currently, a mobile communication system can generally adopt an active measurement mechanism based on a performance measurement function (PMF). In the active measurement mechanism, after the mobile communication system perceives the deterioration of the network state, it constructs an active detection packet, and detects the network state by transmitting the active detection packet.

However, due to sporadic and fast-changing characteristics of network state changes in wireless networks, the above active measurement mechanism may not be able to detect network state changes in time, or the accuracy of detection results may decrease. For example, the status of the air interface is abnormal when transmitting service data, but the status of the air interface has returned to normal when transmitting active detection packets.

Contents of the invention

The present application provides a communication method, device and equipment to improve the timeliness and accuracy of network state detection in a mobile communication system.

In a first aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides a communication method. This method can be applied to the communication system shown in FIG. 1 . Hereinafter, the control plane network element responsible for performing INT configuration for the target communication device in the mobile communication system is referred to as the first control plane network element, and the target communication device can be any of terminal equipment, access network equipment, and user plane network elements. kind. The method includes:

The first control plane network element may send the INT configuration information to the target communication device after acquiring the INT configuration information of the target communication device in the mobile communication system; wherein the INT configuration information is used for the target The communication device performs INT processing on the service data packet.

Through this method, in the mobile communication system, after the control plane network element obtains the INT configuration information of the target communication device, it can send the INT configuration information to the target communication device; in this way, the target communication device can use the INT configuration information to The business data packets are processed by INT, so that the target communication device can detect the network status in real time and report the detection results when transmitting the business data packets, thereby improving the timeliness and accuracy of the network status detection.

In a possible design, the INT configuration information may indicate at least one of the following: a type of INT metadata that needs to be provided by the target communication device, a format of an INT packet header, and an INT device type of the target communication device.

Wherein, the type of INT metadata that needs to be provided by the target communication device may include at least one of the following: the time stamp of the service data packet transmitted by the target communication device, the device identifier of the target communication device, the port status, the congestion status of the target communication device when transmitting service data packets, the bandwidth of the target communication device, the throughput of the target communication device, the bandwidth utilization rate of the target communication device, the The packet loss rate, the queue utilization rate of the target communication device, and the local forwarding delay of the target communication device for transmitting service data packets.

The INT device type of the target communication device may be any of the following: INT source node, INT transfer node, and INT pool node.

In this design, the INT configuration information can be combined in multiple ways, and the type of INT metadata that needs to be measured for the configuration of the target communication device contained therein can also be combined in multiple ways. Through this design, the control plane network element can flexibly configure INT configuration information such as the type of INT metadata to be measured for the target communication device, thereby improving the flexibility of network state measurement.

In a possible design, the first control plane network element may obtain, but not limited to, the INT configuration information of the target communication device in the mobile communication system in at least one of the following ways:

Way 1: The first control plane network element may acquire INT information, and generate the INT configuration information according to the INT information; wherein, the INT information is used for the mobile communication system to perform INT processing on service data packets.

In this manner, the first control plane network element may generate the INT configuration information corresponding to the INT requirement of the target communication device according to the INT information corresponding to the INT requirement of the mobile communication system. In this manner, the first control plane network element can convert the INT requirement for the mobile communication system into the INT requirement for the target communication device, thereby realizing INT processing in the mobile communication system.

Method 2: After receiving the INT request from the terminal device or the access network device accessed by the terminal device, the first control plane network element may generate the INT configuration information according to at least one of the following items: the terminal device The characteristics of the service of the terminal device, the service quality QoS parameter of the service of the terminal device, the resource configuration status of the mobile communication system, and the measurement requirement; wherein, the INT request is used to request INT for the service data packet of the terminal device deal with.

In this manner, the first control plane network element can perform INT configuration on the target communication device based on the request of the internal network elements of the mobile communication system, so that INT processing can be performed in the mobile communication system in a timely manner.

Manner 3: The first control plane network element may receive the INT configuration information from the second control plane network element.

In this manner, the first control plane network element can conveniently obtain the INT configuration information of the target communication device, thereby implementing INT processing in the mobile communication system.

In a possible design, the first control plane network element may acquire INT information in at least one of the following ways:

Manner 1: The first control plane network element may receive the INT information from the server or the third control plane network element.

Mode 2: After receiving the INT request from the terminal device or the access network device accessed by the terminal device, the first control plane network element may generate the INT information according to at least one of the following items: the terminal device's The characteristics of the service, the QoS parameters of the service of the terminal device, the resource configuration status of the mobile communication system, and the measurement requirements; wherein, the INT request is used to request INT processing on the service data packet of the terminal device.

In a possible design, the INT information may be used to indicate at least one of the following: the type of INT metadata that needs to be provided by the mobile communication system, and the format of the INT packet header.

In a possible design, the INT information may also include: data flow indication information, where the data flow indication information is used to indicate a target data flow that supports INT processing; the INT configuration information may also include: a target QoS flow indication Information, the target QoS flow indication information is used to indicate the target QoS flow supporting INT processing in the mobile communication system; wherein, the target QoS flow corresponds to the target data flow.

The above design shows the specific content of INT information. There may be a corresponding relationship between INT information and INT configuration information. The first control plane network element can conveniently determine the corresponding INT configuration information according to the above INT information, thereby improving the first The control plane network element determines the efficiency of the INT configuration information.

In a possible design, when the INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the target communication device is an INT pool node, the INT configuration information may further include: a first indication; the first indication may indicate The target communication device generates first INT metadata according to INT metadata of at least one communication device included in the received service data packet; wherein the first INT metadata is INT metadata of the mobile communication system.

In a possible design, the INT configuration information further includes: a second indication, the second indication may instruct the target communication device to send the first INT metadata to the target receiving device, where the first An INT metadata is used for the target receiving device to analyze the network status when the mobile communication system transmits the service data packet.

Optionally, the second indication may be a device identifier of the target receiving device and/or an address of the target receiving device.

In a possible design, the target receiving device is a server or a fourth control plane network element.

In the above design, after the target communication device as a pool node generates the first INT metadata for the service data packet, it may report the first INT metadata. In this way, after receiving the first INT metadata, the device (for example, the target receiving device) used for network status analysis does not need to distinguish which INT metadata is the INT metadata corresponding to the service data packet, and does not need to analyze the INT metadata. Metadata can be integrated to improve the efficiency of network status analysis.

In a possible design, when the INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the target communication device is an INT source node, the INT configuration information may instruct the target communication device to communicate the INT packet header with the target The INT metadata of the device is added to the service data packet, wherein the format of the INT header conforms to the format of the INT header indicated by the INT configuration information.

Through this design, the devices in the mobile communication system can implement the function of an INT source node.

In a possible design, when the INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the target communication device is an INT transmission node, the INT configuration information may indicate that the target communication device converts the INT of the target communication device to Metadata is added to the service data package.

In the second aspect, in order to improve the timeliness and accuracy of network state detection in a mobile communication system, the embodiment of the present application provides a communication method. This method can be applied to the communication system shown in FIG. 1 . Hereinafter, the target communication device responsible for performing INT processing on service data packets in the mobile communication system is referred to as the first communication device, and the first communication device may be any one of a terminal device, an access network device, or a user plane network element. The method includes:

After receiving the INT configuration information from the first control plane network element in the mobile communication system, the first communication device performs INT processing on the acquired first service data packet according to the INT configuration information. Wherein, the INT configuration information is used for the first communication device to perform INT processing on the service data packet.

Through this method, in the mobile communication system, the control plane network element sends the INT configuration information to the first communication device corresponding to the INT configuration information; thus, the target communication device can perform INT on the service data packet according to the INT configuration information processing, so that the target communication device can detect the network state in real time and report the detection result when transmitting the service data packet, thereby improving the timeliness and accuracy of the network state detection.

In a possible design, the INT configuration information is used to indicate at least one of the following: the type of INT metadata that needs to be provided by the first communication device, the format of the INT packet header, and the INT device of the first communication device type;

Wherein, the type of INT metadata that needs to be provided by the first communication device may include at least one of the following: the time stamp of the service data packet transmitted by the first communication device, the device identifier of the first communication device, the first Port status of a communication device, congestion status when the first communication device transmits service data packets, bandwidth of the first communication device, throughput of the first communication device, bandwidth utilization of the first communication device rate, the packet loss rate of the first communication device, the queue utilization rate of the first communication device, and the local forwarding delay of the first communication device for transmitting service data packets.

The INT device type of the first communication device is any one of the following: INT source node, INT transfer node, and INT pool node.

Through this design, the control plane network element can flexibly configure the type of INT metadata that needs to be measured for the target communication device, thereby improving the flexibility of network state measurement.

In a possible design, when the first communication device is a terminal device or an access network device accessed by the terminal device, when receiving the INT from the first control plane network element in the mobile communication system, Before configuring the information, the first communication device may send an INT request to the first control plane network element; where the INT request is used to request to perform INT processing on the first service data packet of the terminal device.

In this design, the terminal device or the access network device accessed by the terminal device can trigger the first control plane network element to perform INT configuration, so as to implement INT processing inside the mobile communication system.

In a possible design, the INT configuration information may further include: target QoS flow indication information, where the target QoS flow indication information is used to indicate a target QoS flow that supports INT processing in the mobile communication system; wherein, the The first service data packet belongs to the target QoS flow.

In this design, the first communication device can determine the target QoS flow that supports INT processing according to the target QoS flow indication information, so that it can perform INT processing on the service data packets in the target QoS flow in a targeted manner, thereby improving the mobile communication efficiency. The timeliness, accuracy and pertinence of network status detection when the communication system transmits the service data packets.

In a possible design, when the INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the first communication device is an INT pool node, the INT configuration information may further include: a first indication; the first communication device The INT processing may be performed on the first service data packet in the following manner, but not limited to:

Mode 1: The first communication device may generate the INT metadata of the first communication device according to the type of the INT metadata indicated by the INT configuration information. Then, the first communication device may generate the First INT metadata of the mobile communication system.

Mode 2: The first communication device may, after generating the INT metadata of the first communication device according to the type of INT metadata indicated by the INT configuration information, set the INT metadata of the first communication device to added to the first service data packet, and then, the first communication device may generate the First INT metadata of the mobile communication system.

In a possible design, when the INT configuration information includes a second indication, the first communication device may send the first INT metadata to the target receiving device according to the second indication, wherein The first INT metadata may be used by the target receiving device to analyze the network status when the mobile communication system transmits the first service data packet.

In the above design, after the first communication device as a pool node generates the first INT metadata for the service data packet, it may report the first INT metadata. In this way, after receiving the first INT metadata, the device used for network state analysis does not need to distinguish which INT metadata is the INT metadata corresponding to the service data packet, nor does it need to integrate the INT metadata, so that Improve the efficiency of network status analysis.

In a possible design, when the INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the first communication device is an INT source node, the first communication device may add an INT header to the first service data packet wherein, the format of the INT header conforms to the format of the INT header indicated by the INT configuration information; the first communication device may also generate the INT metadata type according to the INT metadata type indicated by the INT configuration information After the INT metadata of the first communication device is added, the INT metadata of the first communication device is added to the first service data packet.

With this design, the first communication device in the mobile communication system can implement the function of an INT source node.

In a possible design, when the INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the first communication device is an INT transmission node, the first communication device may, according to the INT metadata indicated by the INT configuration information, type, generate INT metadata of the first communication device; then, add the INT metadata of the first communication device to the first service data packet.

In a third aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, including a unit configured to perform each step in any one of the above aspects.

In a fourth aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, including at least one processing element and at least one storage element, wherein the at least one storage element is used to store programs and data, and the at least one processing element is used to read and execute The program and data stored in the storage element enable the method provided by any one of the above aspects of the present application to be realized.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, including: a first communication device configured to execute the method provided in the first aspect, and a second communication device configured to execute the method provided in the second aspect.

In a sixth aspect, the embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program, which, when the computer program is run on a computer, causes the computer to execute the method provided in any one of the above aspects.

In the seventh aspect, the embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, where a computer program is stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer executes any one of the above-mentioned method provided.

In an eighth aspect, the embodiment of the present application further provides a chip, the chip is used to read a computer program stored in a memory, and execute the method provided in any one of the above aspects.

In a ninth aspect, the embodiment of the present application further provides a chip system, where the chip system includes a processor, configured to support a computer device to implement the method provided in any one of the above aspects. In a possible design, the chip system further includes a memory, and the memory is used to store necessary programs and data of the computer device. The system-on-a-chip may consist of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices.

The technical effects that can be achieved by any one of the above-mentioned third to ninth aspects can be described with reference to the technical effects that can be achieved by any possible design of any one of the above-mentioned first or second aspects, and the repetition will not be discussed .

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is an architecture diagram of a communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of In-band Network Telemetry (INT);

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of another communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of performing INT processing on service data packets in another communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of another communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of performing INT processing on service data packets in another communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a structural diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 10 is a structural diagram of a communication device provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

The present application provides a communication method, device and equipment to improve the timeliness and accuracy of network state detection in a mobile communication system. Among them, the method, device and equipment are based on the same technical conception. Since the principles of solving the problems are similar, the implementation of the device, device and method can be referred to each other, and the repetition will not be repeated.

Through the solution provided by the embodiment of this application, in the mobile communication system, after the control plane network element obtains the INT configuration information of the target communication device, it can send the INT configuration information to the target communication device; in this way, the target communication device can according to the INT configuration information, INT processing for business data packets. Through this solution, the control plane network element can perform INT configuration on the target communication device in the mobile communication system, so that the mobile communication system can support INT technology, so that the target communication device can detect and report the network status in real time when transmitting service data packets The detection results can improve the timeliness and accuracy of network status detection.

In the following, some terms used in the embodiments of the present application are explained, so as to facilitate the understanding of those skilled in the art.

1) Communication equipment, generally refers to equipment with communication functions. Exemplarily, the communication device may be, but not limited to, a terminal device, an access network (access network, AN) device, an access point, a core network (core network, CN) device, and the like.

2) A terminal device is a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to users. The terminal equipment may also be called user equipment (user equipment, UE), mobile station (mobile station, MS), mobile terminal (mobile terminal, MT) and so on.

For example, the terminal device may be a handheld device with a wireless connection function, a vehicle-mounted device, and the like. At present, examples of some terminal devices are: mobile phone (mobile phone), tablet computer, notebook computer, palmtop computer, mobile internet device (mobile internet device, MID), wearable device, virtual reality (virtual reality, VR) device, enhanced Augmented reality (AR) equipment, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self driving, wireless terminals in remote medical surgery, smart grid Wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart city, wireless terminals in smart home, etc.

3) The AN device is a device for connecting a terminal device to a wireless network in a mobile communication system. As a node in the radio access network, the AN device may also be called a base station, a radio access network (radio access network, RAN) node (or device), and an access point (access point, AP).

At present, some examples of AN equipment are: new generation Node B (generation Node B, gNB), transmission reception point (transmission reception point, TRP), evolved Node B (evolved Node B, eNB), wireless network controller (radio network controller, RNC), node B (Node B, NB), base station controller (base station controller, BSC), base transceiver station (base transceiver station, BTS), home base station (for example, home evolved NodeB, or home Node B , HNB), or base band unit (base band unit, BBU), etc.

In addition, in a network structure, the AN device may include a centralized unit (centralized unit, CU) node and a distributed unit (distributed unit, DU) node. This structure separates the protocol layers of the AN device, and the functions of some protocol layers are placed in the CU for centralized control, and the remaining part or all of the functions of the protocol layers are distributed in the DU, and the CU centrally controls the DU.

4) The CN device is a network element included in the CN part of the mobile communication system. The CN device can connect terminal devices to different data networks, and perform services such as charging, mobility management, session management, and user plane forwarding. In mobile communication systems of different standards, names of CN devices with the same function may be different. However, the embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific name of the CN device with each function.

For example, in the 4th generation ( ^4th generation, 4G) mobile communication system (ie, long term evolution (LTE), the network element responsible for functions such as access control, security control, and signaling coordination is a mobility management entity (Mobile management entity, MME); the network element serving as the anchor point of local mobile management is the serving gateway (serving gateway, S-GW); as the anchor point of the handover of the external data network, it is responsible for Internet protocol (internet protocol, IP) address allocation The network element of the packet data network (PDN) gateway (PDN gateway, P-GW); the network element that stores user-related data and subscription data is the home subscription server (home subscriber server, HSS); responsible for policy, plan A network element with a charging function is called a policy and charging control rule function (policy and charging rule function, PCRF) network element.

For another example, in a 5th generation (5 ^th generation, 5G) mobile communication system, according to specific logical function divisions, the core network can be divided into a control plane (control plane, CP) and a user plane (user plane, UP). Wherein, network elements responsible for control plane functions in the CN may be collectively referred to as control plane network elements, and network elements responsible for user plane functions may be collectively referred to as user plane network elements. Specifically, on the user plane, the network element serving as an interface of the data network and responsible for functions such as user plane data forwarding is a user plane function (user plane function, UPF) network element. In the control plane, network elements responsible for access control and mobility management functions are called access and mobility management function (access and mobility management function, AMF) network elements; network elements responsible for session management and control policy execution are called It is a session management function (session management function, SMF) network element; the network element responsible for managing subscription data, user access authorization and other functions is called a unified data management (unified data management, UDM) network element; responsible for billing, policy control functions The network element is called policy control function (Policy and charging function, PCF) network element; the application function (application function, AF) network element responsible for transmitting the requirements of the application side to the network side.

5) The data network (data network, DN) is a network located outside the mobile communication system. For example, the DN may be a packet data network (PDN), such as the Internet (Internet), an IP Multi-media Service (IMS) network, some application-specific data networks, Ethernet, IP The local network and the like are not limited in this application. A variety of services can be deployed on the DN, which can provide data and/or voice services for terminal equipment.

A service flow transmitted in a DN may be called a data flow.

6) Session, which is a connection between the terminal device, the access network device, the user plane network element and the DN established by the session management network element in the mobile communication system for the terminal device, and is used to transmit the terminal device and the DN User plane data between, such as protocol data unit (protocol data unit, PDU) session.

The terminal device can establish one or more PDU sessions with the mobile communication system (for example, a 5G communication system), and one or more quality of service (quality of service, QoS) flows (flow) can be established in each PDU session.

Each QoS flow is used to transmit data of the same QoS requirement (reliability or delay) in a service. A QoS flow can be identified by a QoS flow identifier (QFI).

There is a corresponding relationship between the data flow in the DN and the QoS flow in the mobile communication system. For example, when a service data packet in a data flow in the DN is transmitted to the mobile communication system, the mobile communication system maps the service data packet to a corresponding QoS flow for transmission. Correspondingly, when the service data packet in the QoS flow in the mobile communication system is transmitted to the DN, it will be mapped to the corresponding data flow for transmission.

7) In the downlink transmission direction, the data sent by the network side (for example, access network device or core network) to the terminal device; in the uplink transmission direction, the terminal device sends data to the network side.

8) The characteristics of the service of the terminal device may include: at least one of the size of the service data packet of the terminal device, the transmission protocol used by the service data packet, the format of the service data packet, and the like.

9) The QoS parameters of the service of the terminal device may include: at least one of the time delay of the service data packet, the transmission bandwidth, and the like.

10), the resource configuration state of the mobile communication system can be used to represent at least one of the following: the resource usage of the communication equipment in the mobile communication system, the load status of the interface between the communication equipment in the mobile communication system (for example, air load), etc.

11). The measurement requirements may include: at least one of the requirements for measurement parameters, the requirements for measurement granularity, and the like.

The measurement parameters may include: at least one of time stamp, device identifier, port status, congestion status, bandwidth, throughput, bandwidth utilization, packet loss rate, forwarding delay, queue utilization and the like.

The measurement granularity is used to express the unit of measurement object. In the embodiment of the present application, the network measurement may be performed at the granularity of the session, the network measurement may be performed at the granularity of the QoS flow, and the network measurement may be performed at the granularity of the communication device.

In the embodiments of the present application, for the number of nouns, unless otherwise specified, it means "singular noun or plural noun", that is, "one or more". "At least one" means one or more, and "plurality" means two or more. "And/or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that there may be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and/or B may indicate: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists independently. The character "/" generally indicates that the contextual objects are an "or" relationship. For example, A/B means: A or B. "At least one (individual) of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items (individuals), including any combination of a single item (individuals) or a plurality of item (individuals).

In addition, it should be understood that in the description of this application, words such as "first" and "second" are only used to distinguish the purpose of description, and should not be interpreted as indicating or implying relative importance, nor should they be understood as To indicate or imply an order.

In addition, "greater than" in the embodiments of the present application may be replaced with "greater than or equal to", and "less than or equal to" may be replaced with "less than".

The communication system applied in the embodiment of the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the architecture of a possible communication system to which the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application is applicable. As shown in FIG. 1 , the communication system includes three parts: terminal equipment (UE is taken as an example in the figure), a mobile communication system and a DN. Wherein, the mobile communication system provides access service and connection service for terminal equipment.

The terminal device is an entity capable of receiving and transmitting wireless signals on the user side, and needs to access the DN through the mobile communication system. Optionally, the terminal device may serve as a relay device for other data collectors or other terminal devices, so that these devices can communicate with the DN through the mobile communication system.

A mobile communication system can access at least one DN, and the same DN can also be accessed by at least one mobile communication system. Wherein, the mobile communication system may include two parts, AN and CN.

The network device deployed in the AN is an AN device, which can specifically be responsible for functions such as wireless access, wireless resource management on the air interface side, quality of service (quality of service, QoS) management, data compression and encryption, and user plane data forwarding.

Network elements deployed in the CN may be collectively referred to as CN equipment. Taking the CN in the 5G mobile communication system as an example, the functions of the main network elements in the CN are introduced in detail below. From the above description, it can be seen that the network elements in the CN of the 5G mobile communication system can be divided into two types: control plane network elements and user plane network elements.

The user plane network element includes a user plane function (UPF), which is mainly responsible for packet forwarding, QoS control, and accounting information statistics. The embodiment of the present application can also be used in the following scenarios: devices such as on-site sensors are connected to the core network through the UE and the AN, and data transmission is performed on the user plane through the UPF.

The network elements of the control plane are mainly responsible for service process interaction, delivering data packet forwarding policies and QoS control policies to the user plane. Control plane network elements mainly include: AMF, SMF, PCF, AF, network exposure function (network exposure function, NEF), UDM, authentication server function (authentication server function, AUSF), network slice selection function (network slice selection function, NSSF ), network function storage function (network function (network function, NF) repository function, NRF).

Among them, AMF is mainly responsible for UE access management and mobility management, for example, responsible for UE state maintenance, UE reachability management, non-mobility management (mobility management, MM) non-access-stratum (non-access-stratum) , NAS) message forwarding, etc.

The SMF is mainly responsible for the session management of the UE, for example, managing the establishment and deletion of the PDU session, maintaining the PDU session context, and so on.

The PCF is mainly responsible for measurement control, for example, generating and/or managing user, session, QoS flow processing policies, etc.

AF is mainly responsible for providing various business services, and can interact with the core network through NEF, and interact with the policy management framework for policy management, etc.

NEF is mainly responsible for providing the framework, authentication and interface related to network capability opening, and transferring information between network functions and other network functions of the mobile communication system.

The AUSF is mainly responsible for performing UE security authentication.

NSSF is mainly responsible for selecting network slices for UE.

The NRF is mainly responsible for providing storage and selection functions for network function entity information for other network elements.

UDM is mainly responsible for user subscription context management.

FIG. 1 also shows the interfaces between multiple network elements in the communication system, and the related interfaces between the network elements involved in the embodiment of the present application will be described below. N1 is the interface between the UE and the core network control plane, and the UE and the AMF can interact through the N1 interface. N2 is an interface between the access network device and the core network control plane, and the access network device and the AMF can interact through the N2 interface. N3 is a communication interface between the access network equipment and the UPF, and is used to transmit user data. N4 is a communication interface between SMF and UPF, and is used for policy configuration of UPF, etc. N6 is the communication port between UPF and DN. The interfaces between the network elements of the control plane in the CN may be implemented in the form of corresponding service-oriented interfaces, as shown in FIG. 1 for details.

It should be noted that the communication system shown in FIG. 1 does not constitute a limitation to the applicable communication system of the embodiment of the present application. Therefore, the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application can also be applied to communication systems of various standards, for example: long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) communication system, 5G communication system, sixth generation (The 6th Generation, 6G) communication system and future communication systems. In addition, it should be noted that the embodiment of the present application does not limit the names of the network elements in the communication system. For example, in communication systems of different standards, each network element may have other names; When elements are fused in the same physical device, the physical device can also have other names.

For ease of understanding, the INT technology is described below. Referring to Figure 2, the INT technology is a method for passive network measurement on the data plane. In this method, when the service data packet is transmitted to a node in the network, the node adds the measurement data (also called measurement parameter or INT metadata) of the node to the packet header of the service data packet. Currently, the type of INT metadata includes: at least one of local forwarding delay, port number, device number, queue occupancy rate and the like.

The following three types of INT devices can be defined in a network supporting INT technology: INT source node, INT transfer node and INT pool node. As shown in Figure 2, the main INT functions of each INT device type are as follows:

The INT source node can add the INT header and the INT metadata of the node in the service data packet.

The INT transmission node can add the INT metadata of this node to the service data packet.

The INT pool node can add the INT metadata of the node to the service data packet, and then extract the INT header and all INT metadata included in the service data packet, and report it to the server for analysis and/or diagnosis.

Using INT technology, nodes in the network can detect the network status in real time when transmitting service data packets, and report the detection results to the server for analysis, thereby improving the timeliness and accuracy of network status detection.

The solutions provided by the present application will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. An embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to the communication system shown in FIG. 1 . Referring to the flow chart shown in FIG. 3 , the flow of the method will be described in detail. For ease of distinction and description, the control plane network element responsible for INT configuration for the target communication device in the mobile communication system is referred to as the first control plane network element in the following, and the target communication device can be any terminal device, AN device, or UPF. A sort of.

S301: The first control plane network element may acquire INT configuration information of a target communication device in the mobile communication system. The INT configuration information may be used by the target communication device to perform INT processing on service data packets.

Optionally, the first control plane network element may be one or more of control plane network elements such as AF, PCF, NEF, SMF, and AMF.

In some implementation manners, one control plane network element determines all the INT configuration information, that is, the first control plane network element may be one control plane network element. For example, a control plane network element in AF, PCF, or NEF determines the INT configuration information of the target communication device.

In some other implementation manners, multiple control plane network elements jointly determine the INT configuration information of the target communication device, that is, the first control plane network element may be multiple control plane network elements. For example, the AF determines a part of the INT configuration information, and the PCF or NEF determines another part of the INT configuration information.

In addition, it should be noted that the INT configuration information of different communication devices may be determined by the same control plane network element, or may be determined by different control plane network elements, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

In this embodiment of the present application, the INT configuration information of the target communication device may indicate at least one of the following: the type of INT metadata that needs to be provided by the target communication device (hereinafter referred to as the first INT metadata type), INT header format (first INT packet header format), and the INT device type of the target communication device.

Wherein, the first INT metadata type may include the type of parameters required by the target communication device for network measurement. For example, the first INT metadata type includes but is not limited to at least one of the following: the time stamp of the service data packet transmitted by the target communication device, the device identifier of the target communication device, the port status of the target communication device, The congestion state of the target communication device when transmitting service data packets, the bandwidth of the target communication device, the throughput of the target communication device, the bandwidth utilization rate of the target communication device, and the packet loss rate of the target communication device , the queue utilization rate of the target communication device, and the local forwarding delay of the target communication device for transmitting service data packets.

The first INT header format may include: a packaging protocol of the INT header in the service data packet transmitted by the target communication device. The packaging protocol of the INT header may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: virtual extended local area network (virtual extensible local area network, VXLAN), generic network virtualization encapsulation (generic network virtualization encapsulation, Geneve), generic routing encapsulation (generic routing encapsulation) , GRE), network service header (network service header, NSH), transmission control protocol (transmission control protocol, TCP), user datagram protocol (user datagram protocol, UDP).

In addition, the INT configuration information may also indicate the type of the INT header in the service data packet transmitted by the target communication device (hereinafter referred to as the first INT header type). The first INT header type may indicate an INT device type capable of performing INT processing on the service data packet. For example, when the INT configuration information indicates that the INT header contains the first type (for example, embedded data (eMbed data, MD) type or embedded indication (eMbed instruction, MX) type), it means that the target communication device as the INT transmission node When the service data packet containing the first type of INT packet header is received, INT processing may be performed on the service data packet. For another example, when the INT configuration information indicates that the INT header contains a second type (for example, a destination type), it means that when the target communication device serving as an INT pool node receives a service data packet containing a second type of INT header, INT processing may be performed on the service data packet.

It should be noted that the information contained in the INT configuration information of different communication devices may be the same, or different, or partly the same. For example, the INT configuration information of target communication devices with the same INT device type may be the same, and the INT configuration information of target communication devices with different INT device types may be different.

Optionally, the first control plane network element may, but not limited to, obtain the INT configuration information through the following several implementation manners:

Embodiment 1: After acquiring the INT information, the first control plane network element may determine the INT configuration information according to the INT information, where the INT information may be used by the mobile communication system to perform INT processing on service data packets.

Embodiment 2: The first control plane network element may determine the INT configuration information after receiving the INT request from the terminal device or the access network device accessed by the terminal device.

Embodiment 3: The first control plane network element may receive the INT configuration information from the second control plane network element. Wherein, the INT configuration information may be generated by the second control plane network element.

The above three implementation manners will be described respectively below.

Implementation mode one:

In the first embodiment, the INT information may be used to indicate at least one of the following: the type of INT metadata that needs to be provided by the mobile communication system (hereinafter referred to as the second INT metadata type), the format of the INT header ( Hereinafter referred to as the second INT packet header format for short).

Wherein, the second INT metadata type may include the type of parameters required by the mobile communication system for network measurement. For example, the second INT metadata type includes but is not limited to at least one of the following: the time stamp of the service data packet transmitted by the mobile communication system, the communication device that performs INT processing on the service data packet in the mobile communication system (hereinafter INT device for short), the port status of each INT device, the congestion status when the mobile communication system transmits service data packets, the bandwidth of the mobile communication system, the throughput of the mobile communication system, the The bandwidth utilization rate of the mobile communication system, the queue utilization rate of each INT device, the packet loss rate of the mobile communication system, and the system forwarding delay of the mobile communication system.

The second INT header format may include: a packaging protocol of the INT header in the service data packet in the mobile communication system.

Optionally, the INT information may also indicate the type of the INT header in the service data packet in the mobile communication system (hereinafter referred to as the second INT header type). The type of the INT packet header may indicate the type of INT device capable of performing INT processing on the service data packet.

For the type of the INT header and/or the content of the wrapping protocol of the INT header, refer to the description of the format of the INT header and/or the wrapping protocol of the INT header in the first INT header format, which will not be repeated here.

In the first embodiment, the first control plane network element may obtain the INT information through, but not limited to, the following implementation methods:

A first implementation manner: the first control plane network element may determine the INT information after receiving the INT request from the terminal device or the AN device accessed by the terminal device. Wherein, the INT request is used to request to perform INT processing on the service data packet of the terminal device.

In the first implementation manner, the first control plane network element may, but not limited to, acquire the INT request in the following ways:

Mode 1: When the first control plane network element is an SMF, the SMF may receive the INT request from the terminal device through the AN device and the AMF in sequence, or receive the INT request from the AN device through the AMF.

Mode 2: When the first control plane network element is PCF, PCF may receive the INT request from the terminal device through AN device, AMF and SMF in sequence, or receive the INT request from the AN device through AMF and SMF in sequence INT request.

In the first implementation manner, the INT request may carry INT indication information, and the INT indication information may instruct the mobile communication system to perform INT processing on the service data packet of the terminal device. The INT indication information may be an INT identifier, or other information corresponding to a request to perform INT processing on the service data packet of the terminal device.

Optionally, the INT request may reuse an existing message (for example, a PDU session establishment request message or a PDU session modification request message), and may also be used to request INT processing on the service data packet of the terminal device It is a dedicated message, which is not limited in this application.

In the first implementation manner, after receiving the INT request, the first control plane network element may, but not limited to, generate INT information by at least one of the following: the characteristics of the service of the terminal device, the The QoS parameters of the service of the terminal equipment, the resource configuration state of the mobile communication system, and the measurement requirements. Optionally, the INT request may carry at least one or any combination of the above; or the first control plane network element may obtain each of the above information separately in other ways, which is not limited in this application.

For example, when the service data packet of the terminal device is large (for example, the amount of data carried in the service data packet is greater than the first data amount threshold), the first control plane network element may determine the second INT metadata The type includes at least one of the following: the bandwidth of the mobile communication system, and the throughput of the mobile communication system.

For another example, when the service delay of the terminal device is required to be small (for example, less than the first delay threshold), the first control plane network element may determine that the second INT metadata type includes at least one of the following: The device identifier of the INT device in the mobile communication system, the time stamp of the service data packet transmitted by the mobile communication system, and the system forwarding delay of the mobile communication system.

For another example, when the load of the target communication device is very high (for example, greater than the first load threshold), or the available resources are few (for example, less than the first available resource threshold), the first control plane network element may determine the second The INT metadata type includes at least one of the following: the congestion state when the mobile communication system transmits service data packets, the bandwidth of the mobile communication system, and the bandwidth utilization rate of the mobile communication system.

For another example, when the load of the interface between communication devices is very high (for example, the air interface load is greater than the second load threshold), the first control plane network element may determine that the second INT metadata type includes at least one of the following: the The congestion state when the mobile communication system transmits service data packets, the bandwidth of the mobile communication system, and the bandwidth utilization rate of the mobile communication system.

For another example, when the measurement requirement is to measure at least one of the throughput and packet loss rate of enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services, for a mobile communication system that transmits eMBB services, the first control plane network The meta determination of the second INT metadata type includes at least one of the following: the throughput of the mobile communication system, and the packet loss rate of the mobile communication system.

For another example, when the measurement requirement is to measure at least one of the time delay and packet loss rate of Ultra-reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC) services, for the mobile communication system transmitting URLLC services, The first control plane network element determines that the second INT metadata type includes at least one of the following: system forwarding delay of the mobile communication system, and packet loss rate of the mobile communication system.

After the first control plane network element determines the second INT metadata type, it may generate the INT information indicating the second INT metadata type.

In the first implementation manner, the first control plane network element may also determine the second INT header format and/or the second INT header type after receiving the INT request.

For example, if the mobile communication system supports an INT header format (for example, the packaging protocol of the INT header supported by the mobile communication system is GRE), then the first control plane network element determines that the INT header format is the second INT packet header format. If the mobile communication system can support multiple INT header formats (for example, the packaging protocol of the INT header supported by the mobile communication system includes GRE and VXLAN), the first control plane network element can select from the multiple INT header formats supported One or more INT header formats are used as the second INT header format.

For example, if the mobile communication system supports an INT header type (for example, the type of the INT header supported by the mobile communication system is a destination type), then the first control plane network element determines that the INT header format is the first 2. INT packet header type. If the mobile communication system can support multiple types of INT headers (for example, the types of INT headers supported by the mobile communication system are destination type and MD type), then the first control plane network element can select from the supported multiple INT header types Select one or more INT header types as the second INT header type.

After the first control plane network element determines the second INT header format and/or the second INT header type, it may generate the INT indicating the second INT header format and/or the second INT header type information.

The second implementation manner: the first control plane network element may receive the INT information from the server or the third control plane network element, which specifically includes the following manners:

Manner 1: The first control plane network element may receive the INT information from the server. For example, when the first control plane network element is the AF, the AF receives the INT information from the server.

Manner 2: The first control plane network element may receive the INT information from the third control plane network element.

Optionally, the INT information sent by the third control plane network element may be received from the server. For example, when the first control plane network element is the PCF, the PCF may receive the INT information from the server through the AF, that is, the third control plane network element is the AF. For another example, when the first control plane network element is an SMF, the SMF may receive the INT information from the server through the AF and the PCF in sequence, that is, the third control plane network element is at least one of the AF and the PCF; specifically, the server The INT information is sent to the AF, the AF sends the INT information to the PCF, and then the SMF receives the INT information from the PCF.

Optionally, the INT information sent by the third control plane network element may also be generated by the third control plane network element, that is, the third control plane network element has an INT configuration capability. For example, the third control plane network element may be an AF, and the AF may generate INT information according to an INT request from a terminal device or an AN device accessed by the terminal device. For the manner in which the third control plane network element generates the INT information, reference may be made to the description in the first implementation manner, and details are not repeated here.

In the first embodiment, after the first control plane network element acquires INT information through the above implementation manner, the first control plane network element may, but not limited to, perform at least one of the following steps A1-A3, according to The INT information generates the INT configuration information.

A1: The first control plane network element may determine the first INT metadata type according to the second INT metadata type indicated by the INT information (optionally, it may also be based on the network measurement capability of the target communication device) .

Optionally, the second INT metadata type may correspond entirely to the first INT metadata type, or may not correspond, or may partially correspond. It should be noted that any first INT metadata type corresponds to a second INT metadata type, which may mean that metadata 1 belonging to the INT metadata type can determine metadata 2 belonging to the second INT metadata type ; or, the first INT metadata type is the same as the second INT metadata type.

For example, when the second INT metadata type includes: the time stamp of the service data packet transmitted by the mobile communication system, the first INT metadata type may include: the time stamp of the service data packet transmitted by the target communication device.

For another example, the first control plane network element may add a metadata type to the second INT metadata type to obtain the first INT metadata type. At this time, the first INT metadata type partly corresponds to the second INT metadata type, and the first INT metadata type is more than the second INT metadata type.

In an example, the second INT metadata type includes: the time stamp of the service data packet transmitted by the communication device in the mobile communication system, and the device identifier of the INT device in the mobile communication system. If the first control plane network element determines that the congestion situation needs to be analyzed, it can be determined that the first INT metadata type includes: the time stamp of the target communication device transmitting the service data packet, and the device identifier of the target communication device . The congestion state when the target communication device transmits service data packets.

For another example, the first control plane network element may reduce metadata types from the second INT metadata type to obtain the first INT metadata type. At this time, the first INT metadata type partially corresponds to the second INT metadata type, and the first INT metadata type is less than the second INT metadata type. When the first control plane network element does not support some metadata types in the second INT metadata type, the metadata type may be reduced on the basis of the second INT metadata type to obtain the first INT metadata type.

In an example, the second INT metadata type includes: the time stamp of the mobile communication system transmission service data packet, the device identifier of the INT device in the mobile communication system, the mobile communication system transmission service data packet congestion state. If the first control plane network element determines that the target communication device cannot analyze the congestion situation, it may be determined that the first INT metadata type includes: the time stamp of the target communication device transmitting the service data packet, the time stamp of the target communication device Equipment Identity.

Optionally, when the second INT metadata type does not correspond or partly corresponds to the first INT metadata type, the first control plane network element may determine the first INT metadata type by itself, or communicate with the server or Other control plane network elements are negotiated and determined.

After the first control plane network element determines the first INT metadata type, it may generate the INT configuration information indicating the first INT metadata type.

A2: The first control plane network element may determine the first INT header format indicated by the INT configuration information according to the second INT header format indicated by the INT information.

It should be understood that, generally, the first INT header format is the same as the second INT header format, or the first INT header format is included in the second INT header format. For example, when the packaging protocol of the INT header in the second INT header format is VXLAN or GRE, if the first control plane network element determines that the mobile communication system cannot support GRE, the first control plane network element may determine that the first INT The packaging protocol of the INT header in the header format is VXLAN.

Optionally, when the INT information indicates the second INT header type and the INT configuration information also indicates the first INT header type, the first control plane network element may further Two INT header types, determining the first INT header type indicated by the INT configuration information. Usually, the first INT header type is the same as the second INT header type, or the first INT header type is included in the second INT header type.

A3: In order to enable the mobile communication system to process service data packets, after the first control plane network element obtains the INT information, it also needs to determine the target communication device and target for INT processing in the mobile communication system The INT device type of the communication device.

Wherein, the target communication device is a communication device in the mobile communication system that performs INT processing on the service data packet (hereinafter referred to as INT device).

Optionally, the INT device in the mobile communication system may be the default, for example, the INT device in the mobile communication system is specified by the protocol or set by operation administration and maintenance (OAM); it may also be the first It is determined by the network element on the control plane. The INT device in the mobile communication system may also be notified to the first control plane network element after being determined by other control plane network elements.

The method for the first control plane network element to determine the INT device in the mobile communication system will be described below. The method for determining the INT device by other control plane network elements is the same as the method for determining the INT device by the first control plane network element, which will not be repeated here.

In the first embodiment, the first control plane network element may transmit service data in a user plane communication device (UE, AN device, UPF (in some scenarios, UPF may include: non-session In the relay UPF of the anchor point and the anchor point UPF of the session anchor point)), the INT device is determined: the characteristics of the service of the terminal device, the QoS parameters of the service of the terminal device, and the resources of the mobile communication system Configuration status, measurement requirements, and network measurement capabilities of each user plane communication device.

For example, when the service data packet of the terminal device is large (for example, the amount of data carried in the service data packet is greater than the second data volume threshold), the first control plane network element may select the UPF, AN device, and terminal device Some of the communication devices in the terminal device are used as INT devices; when the service data packet of the terminal device is small (for example, the amount of data carried in the service data packet is less than or equal to the second data amount threshold), the first control plane network element may Select UPF, AN device and terminal device as INT device.

Since the size of the service data packets that can be transmitted by the mobile communication system is limited, if the service data packets themselves carry a large amount of data, and all communication devices add INT metadata to the service data packets, it may cause the The size of the packet exceeds the capability of the mobile communication system to transmit. In the embodiment of the present application, the first control plane network element selects an appropriate number of INT devices to perform INT processing on the service data packets according to the size of the service data packets of the terminal equipment, so that the mobile The network status when the communication system transmits service data packets is detected without affecting the transmission of service data packets.

For another example, when the service delay of the terminal device is required to be small (for example, less than the second delay threshold), the first control plane network element may select some communication devices among the UPF, the AN device, and the terminal device as INT devices ; When the service delay of the terminal device is required to be large (for example, greater than or equal to the second delay threshold), the first control plane network element may select the UPF, the AN device and the terminal device as the INT device.

Since each INT device performs INT processing on the service data packet, the delay of the service data packet will be increased. In this method, the first control plane network element selects the INT device according to the delay requirement of the service of the terminal device. In this way, the network status when the mobile communication system transmits service data packets can be detected in time without affecting the transmission of service data packets.

For another example, when the load of the communication device is very high (for example, greater than the third load threshold), or the available resources are few (for example, less than the first available resource threshold), the first control plane network element may determine not to select the communication device as an INT device. Specifically, when the load of the AN device is greater than the third load threshold, the first control plane network element may select the terminal device and the UPF as the INT device, but not select the AN device as the INT device.

For another example, when the load of the interface between communication devices is very high (for example, the air interface load is greater than the fourth load threshold), the first control plane network element may determine not to select some or all of the communication devices corresponding to the interface as INT devices. Specifically, when the air interface load is greater than the fourth load threshold, the first control plane network element may select the terminal device and the UPF as the INT device, but not select the AN device as the INT device.

In the above method, the first control plane network element flexibly selects the INT device according to the resource configuration state, so that the processing resources and network resources of the mobile communication system can be reasonably utilized.

For another example, when the requirement for measurement granularity is high, the first control plane network element may determine that the INT device includes: UPF, AN device, and terminal device. In this method, the first control plane network element can flexibly determine the INT device according to the measurement requirement, so that the processing resources and network resources of the mobile communication system can be reasonably utilized.

For another example, when user plane communication equipment such as terminal equipment, AN equipment, and UPF all have the capability of measuring the second INT metadata type, the first control plane network element may determine that the INT equipment includes: UPF, AN equipment, and terminal equipment .

It should be understood that the above methods can also be combined with each other. For example, the first control plane network element may select an INT device according to network load and requirements on delay. The higher the requirement on latency, the heavier the network load, and the fewer INT devices.

After the first control plane network element determines at least one INT device, the first control plane network element can determine the INT configuration information for each INT device, that is, configure each INT device as a target communication device with INT configuration information.

After the first control plane network element determines the INT devices in the mobile communication system, it determines the INT device type of each INT device according to the transmission direction of the service data packet.

When the first control plane network element determines that there are two or more INT devices in the mobile communication system, the first control plane network element may determine the INT device type of the first INT device that the service data packet passes through on the user plane It is an INT source node or an INT transmission node; determine that the INT device type of the last INT device that the service data packet passes through on the user plane is an INT pool node; and determine that the INT device type of the INT device between the INT source node and the INT pool node is INT transfer node.

For example, when the INT device determined by the first control plane network element includes terminal equipment, AN equipment, and UPF for the uplink transmission direction, the first control plane network element may determine that the INT device type of the UPF is an INT pool node, and determine that the terminal The INT device type of the device is an INT source node, and the INT device type of the AN device is determined to be an INT transmission node.

For another example, when the INT device determined by the first control plane network element includes UPF and terminal equipment for the downlink transmission direction, the first control plane network element may determine that the INT device type of the UPF is an INT source node, and determine the INT device of the terminal equipment. The device type is INT pool node.

For another example, when the service data packet sent by the server to the mobile communication device includes an INT header for the downlink transmission direction, and the INT device determined by the first control plane network element includes UPF and terminal equipment, the first control plane network element The element may determine that the INT device type of the UPF is an INT transmission node, and determine the INT device type of the terminal device as an INT pool node.

After the first control plane network element determines the first INT metadata type, the first INT header format, the first INT header type, and the INT device type of the target communication device through the above steps A1-A3, it can generate instructions indicating the above four items The INT configuration information of information.

Implementation mode two:

In the second embodiment, the content and acquisition method of the INT request can refer to the first implementation in the first embodiment.

In Embodiment 2, after the first control plane network element receives the INT request from the terminal device or the AN device accessed by the terminal device, it may, but is not limited to, generate the INT configuration information through at least one of the following : characteristics of the service of the terminal device, quality of service (QoS) parameters of the service of the terminal device, resource configuration status of the mobile communication system, measurement requirements, and network measurement capability of the target communication device.

In Embodiment 2, the first control plane network element may refer to the method for determining the second INT metadata type in the first implementation manner in Embodiment 1 to determine the first INT metadata type, where No longer.

The method for determining the format of the first INT header can refer to the method for determining the format of the second INT header in the first implementation in the first implementation, and the method for determining the type of the first INT header can refer to the method for determining the format of the first INT header. The method for determining the type of the second INT packet header described in the first implementation manner will not be repeated here.

After the first control plane network element receives the INT request, it can determine the INT devices in the mobile communication system and the INT device type of each INT device. For the specific process, refer to the first embodiment above. I won't repeat them here.

In summary, the first control plane network element may determine the INT configuration information of the target communication device according to the first INT metadata type, the first INT header format, and the first INT header type.

Implementation mode three:

In Embodiment 3, the second control plane network element may be one or more of control plane network elements such as AF, PCF, NEF, and SMF. For example, the second control plane network element is PCF, and after PCF generates the INT configuration information, it can send the INT configuration information to SMF and AMF in sequence, that is, the first control plane network element is SMF and AMF at least one of the

For the manner in which the second control plane network element generates the INT configuration information, reference may be made to Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2, which will not be repeated here.

In some implementation manners, the INT configuration information may further include: target QoS flow indication information. The target QoS flow indication information may indicate a target QoS flow supporting INT processing in the mobile communication system.

The target QoS flow indication information may be an existing identifier (QoS flow identifier), or other indication information corresponding to a QoS flow.

In this method, the first control plane network element may determine the target QoS flow for this INT, and provide target QoS flow indication information for the target communication device. In this way, the target communication device can determine the target QoS flow that supports INT processing according to the target QoS flow indication information, and perform INT processing on the service data packets in the target QoS flow that supports INT processing, so that the mobile communication system can transmit the target The network status of the QoS flow is detected, which can improve the effectiveness, timeliness and pertinence of the network status detection.

In this embodiment, the first control plane network element may, but not limited to, generate the target QoS flow indication information in the following manner:

Mode 1: The first control plane network element may generate target QoS flow indication information according to the INT information.

Optionally, the INT information may include data flow indication information. The data flow indication information may indicate a target data flow supporting INT processing.

Wherein, the INT information may be obtained from the server according to the second implementation manner of the foregoing implementation manner.

The first control plane network element may determine the target QoS flow corresponding to the target data flow according to the data flow indication information, and then generate the target QoS flow indication information for indicating the target QoS flow.

There is a corresponding relationship between the target data flow supporting INT processing in the DN and the target QoS flow supporting INT processing in the mobile communication network. In this way, the mobile communication system can perform INT processing on the service data packets transmitted between the mobile communication system and the DN.

Mode 2: The first control plane network element may generate the target QoS flow indication information according to the INT request.

Wherein, the INT request may be obtained from the terminal device or the AN device accessed by the terminal device according to the second embodiment above.

In some examples, the INT request may include data packet indication information. The data packet indication information may indicate a target service data packet of the terminal device requesting INT processing.

The first control plane network element may determine a target QoS flow including the target service data packet according to the data packet indication information, and then generate the target QoS flow indication information that may indicate the target QoS flow.

In some other examples, when the INT request is sent through a PDU session establishment request message or a PDU session modification request message, the first control plane network element may determine that the PDU session establishment request message or the PDU session modification request message A PDU session is requested to be established/modified, and then the target QoS flow is determined according to the PDU session. For example, the first control plane network element may use part or all of at least one QoS flow corresponding to the PDU session as the target QoS flow.

In some embodiments, the INT configuration information may also indicate at least one of the following: the frequency at which the target communication device performs INT processing on the service data packet, the target communication device performs INT processing on the service data packet cycle.

Optionally, the first control plane network element may determine the frequency and/or the period according to a QoS parameter of a service of the terminal device.

For example, when the service delay of the terminal device is required to be small or the service bandwidth of the terminal device is required to be large, the first control plane network element may determine that some service data packets of the target QoS flow need to be processed, And determine the frequency or the period. In a possible example, the first control plane network element may determine that the frequency at which the target communication device performs INT processing on service data packets is to perform INT processing on service data packets every three service data packets. In another possible example, the first control plane network element may determine that the period for the target communication device to perform INT processing on service data packets is to perform INT processing on service data packets every 3 ms.

Through this embodiment, the first control plane network element can also control the frequency of INT processing by the target communication device, and while timely and accurately detecting the network status when the mobile communication system transmits service data packets, it can reduce traffic The transmission delay of the data packet saves the transmission bandwidth and reduces the resource consumption of the target communication device caused by high-frequency INT processing.

In some implementation manners, when the INT device type of the target communication device is an INT pool node, the INT configuration information may also indicate how the target communication device processes the INT metadata of the service data packet.

Optionally, the target communication device serving as an INT pool node may process the INT metadata of the service data packet in any of the following ways:

A first processing manner: normalize INT metadata of multiple communication devices to generate mobile communication system metadata (hereinafter referred to as first INT metadata), and then report the first INT metadata.

In this processing manner, the target communication device generates the first INT metadata according to the INT metadata of at least one communication device included in the received service data packet.

The second processing method: no normalization is performed, and the INT metadata of multiple communication devices is reported.

After the first control plane network element determines which processing method to adopt, it may generate the INT configuration information for indicating the processing method of the target communication device on the INT metadata of the service data packet.

In an implementation manner, the first control plane network element may determine which processing manner to adopt according to the second INT metadata type.

The first control plane network element may, but not limited to, instruct the target communication device to process the INT metadata of the service data packet in the following manner:

Mode 1: The INT configuration information includes a first indication, where the first indication is used to instruct the target communication device to perform processing in a first processing manner.

The INT configuration information may include a second indication, and the second indication is used to instruct the target communication device to perform INT processing in a second processing manner.

Mode 2: The INT configuration information may also include a first indication field, when the value of this field is the first value, it indicates a processing mode; when the value of this field is the second value, it indicates another processing Way.

Mode 3: The first control plane network element may also indicate the processing mode by whether the INT configuration information includes the second indication field. For example, when the INT configuration information includes the second indication field, it indicates a processing mode; when the INT configuration information does not include the second indication field, it indicates another processing mode.

In some implementation manners, when the INT device type of the target communication device is an INT pool node, the INT configuration information further includes: a third indication. The third instruction may instruct the target communication device to send the first normalized INT metadata to the target receiving device, or send INT metadata of multiple communication devices to the target receiving device.

Wherein, the third indication may include at least one of the following: a device identifier of the target receiving device, and an address of the target receiving device.

Optionally, the target receiving device may be a server or a fourth control plane network element (for example, AF).

In some implementation manners, when the INT device type of the target communication device is an INT pool node, the INT configuration information further includes: a fourth indication. The fourth instruction may instruct the target communication device to delete the INT header and INT metadata of all communication devices in the mobile communication system from the service data packet. In this way, it can be ensured that the target communication device can continue to realize the service of the terminal device according to the service data packet in the normal format.

S302: The first control plane network element sends the INT configuration information to the target communication device. Correspondingly, the target communication device receives the INT configuration information from the first control plane network element.

Optionally, the first control plane network element may send the INT configuration information to the target communication device by multiplexing an existing message (for example, a message during PDU session establishment or PDU session modification process), or Sending INT configuration information to the target communication device through a dedicated message.

In S302, the first control plane network element may, but not limited to, send the INT configuration information to the target communication device in the following manner:

Manner 1: The first control plane network element may be an SMF.

When the target communication device is a UPF, the SMF may send the INT configuration information of the UPF to the UPF. For example, the SMF may send the INT configuration information of the UPF to the UPF through the N4 interface.

When the target communication device is an AN device, the SMF may send the INT configuration information of the AN device to the AN device through the AMF. For example, the SMF sends the INT configuration information of the AN device to the AMF, and the AMF sends the INT configuration information of the AN device to the AN device through the N2 interface.

When the target communication device is a terminal device, the SMF may send the INT configuration information of the terminal device to the terminal device through the AMF. For example, the SMF sends the INT configuration information of the terminal device to the AMF, and the AMF sends the INT configuration information of the terminal device to the terminal device through the N1 interface.

Manner 2: The first control plane network element may be one of AF, PCF, and NEF. The first control plane network element may send the INT configuration information to the target communication device through the SMF.

S303: After acquiring the first service data packet, the target communication device performs INT processing on the first service data packet according to the INT configuration information.

Optionally, before the target communication device performs INT processing on the first service data packet, it may first determine a service data packet supporting INT processing. Wherein, the first service data packet belongs to a service data packet supporting INT processing.

The target communication device may determine, but is not limited to, the service data packets that support INT processing in the following manner:

Mode 1: The target communication device can determine the target QoS flow that supports INT processing according to the target QoS flow indication information included in the INT configuration information, and determine that all service data packets in the target QoS flow are service data that support INT processing Bag.

For example, the target communication device may determine the target QoS flow supporting INT processing in the mobile communication system according to the target QoS flow indication information contained in the INT configuration information, and perform INT processing on the service data packets in the target QoS flow.

Mode 2: The target communication device may determine a target QoS flow that supports INT processing according to the INT configuration information, and determine that some service data packets in the target QoS flow are service data packets that support INT processing.

Optionally, the target communication device may determine that part of the service data packets in the target QoS flow are service data packets supporting INT processing according to the frequency and/or period of performing INT processing on the service data packets indicated by the INT configuration information.

For example, if the frequency of performing INT processing on service data packets indicated by the INT configuration information is to perform INT processing on every three service data packets, then the target communication device selects INT every three service data packets in the target QoS flow. A business data packet, as a business data packet that requires INT processing. If the period indicated by the INT configuration information for performing INT processing on service data packets is 3 ms, the target communication device selects service data packets every 3 ms as service data packets requiring INT processing.

During the process of executing S303, the target communication device may perform corresponding INT processing according to the INT device type of the target communication device indicated by the INT configuration information, and the specific implementation method is as follows:

Embodiment 1: The INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the target communication device is an INT source node.

In this embodiment, the target communication device acquires the INT metadata of the current target communication device, and then adds the INT header and the INT metadata of the target device to the first service data packet.

In the first embodiment, the target communication device may add the INT header to the service data packet after generating the INT header according to the first INT header format indicated by the INT configuration information. Wherein, the format of the generated INT header conforms to the format of the first INT header. The target communication device may generate INT metadata of the target communication device according to the first INT metadata type indicated by the INT configuration information; then, the target communication device may generate the INT metadata of the target communication device Data is added to the service data packet.

For example, when the wrapping protocol of the INT header indicated by the INT configuration information is VXLAN, the target communication device may generate the INT header whose wrapping protocol is VXLAN. When the first INT metadata type indicated by the INT configuration information includes: the time stamp of the service data packet transmitted by the target communication device and the device identifier of the target communication device, the target communication device can acquire the The timestamp of the first service data packet and the device identifier of the target communication device are used to obtain the INT metadata of the target communication device.

Through this method, the target communication device in the mobile communication system can realize the function of the INT source node. Without the assistance of other systems, the mobile communication system can perform INT processing on the service data packets, thereby improving the network efficiency of the mobile communication system. Timeliness and accuracy of state measurements.

Embodiment 2: The INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the target communication device is an INT transmission node.

In this embodiment, the target communication device acquires INT metadata of the current target communication device, and then adds the INT metadata of the target communication device to the first service data packet.

In this embodiment, after the target communication device receives the first service data packet and recognizes that the first service data packet contains the INT packet header, it can, according to the first INT metadata indicated by the INT configuration information, type, generating INT metadata of the target communication device; then, the target communication device may add the INT metadata of the target communication device to the first service data packet.

Embodiment 3: The INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the target communication device is an INT pool node.

In this embodiment, after receiving the first service data packet, the target communication device may perform INT processing on the INT metadata of at least one communication device included in the first service data packet.

Optionally, the target communication device may execute S303 according to any default or pre-agreed processing method; when the INT configuration information also indicates the processing method of the INT pool node for the service data packet, the target communication device The device may execute S303 according to the processing manner indicated by the INT configuration information.

Wherein, corresponding to the processing method indicated by the INT configuration information in the aforementioned S301, the target communication device may, but not limited to, perform the INT metadata of at least one communication device contained in the first service data packet through the following two processing methods: deal with.

In a possible design of this mode, after the target communication device generates the INT metadata of the target communication device according to the first INT metadata type indicated by the INT configuration information, according to the first service data The INT metadata of at least one communication device contained in the packet and the INT metadata of the target communication device generate first INT metadata.

For example, the target communication device is a UPF, the INT device includes a UPF and a terminal device, and the first INT metadata type includes a local forwarding delay for the target communication device to transmit a service data packet. After receiving the first service data packet, the UPF generates INT metadata of the UPF according to the first INT metadata type indicated by the INT configuration information, wherein the INT metadata of the UPF includes the first Local forwarding delay of service data packets. Then, the UPF acquires INT metadata of the terminal device included in the first service data packet, where the INT metadata of the terminal device includes a local forwarding delay for the terminal device to transmit the first service data packet. The UPF generates the first INT metadata according to the INT metadata of the UPF and the INT metadata of the terminal device. Specifically, the UPF may obtain the mobile data in the first INT metadata according to the local forwarding delay of the UPF transmitting the first service data packet and the local forwarding delay of the terminal device transmitting the first service data packet. The system forwarding delay of the communication system.

In another possible design of this manner, after the target communication device generates the INT metadata of the target communication device according to the first INT metadata type indicated by the INT configuration information, the target The INT metadata of the communication device is added to the first service data packet. Then, the target communication device may generate the first INT metadata of the mobile communication system according to the INT metadata of multiple communication devices included in the first service data packet.

For example, the target communication device is a UPF, and after receiving the first service data packet, the UPF may generate INT metadata of the UPF according to the first INT metadata type, and add the INT metadata of the UPF to In the first service data packet. After the UPF acquires the INT metadata of the terminal device included in the first service data packet and the INT metadata of the UPF, it generates the first INT metadata according to the INT metadata of the UPF and the INT metadata of the terminal device.

The target communication device may report the first INT metadata after generating the first INT metadata.

In this manner, the target communication device as an INT pool node may synthesize the INT metadata of the mobile communication system related to the first service data packet into the first INT metadata, and report the first INT metadata, so that the received The device describing the first INT metadata can conveniently obtain the INT metadata corresponding to the network state experienced by the service data packet, which improves the efficiency of network analysis.

In a possible design of this manner, the target communication device may generate the INT metadata of the target communication device according to the first INT metadata type indicated by the INT configuration information. The target communication device may also obtain INT metadata of at least one communication device contained in the first service data packet, and then report the INT metadata of the target communication device, at least one of the INT metadata contained in the first service data packet INT metadata of a communication device.

For example, the target communication device is a UPF, and after receiving the first service data packet, the UPF generates INT metadata of the UPF according to the first INT metadata type indicated by the INT configuration information. The UPF acquires the INT metadata of the terminal device included in the first service data packet. Then, the UPF reports: the INT metadata of the UPF and the INT metadata of the terminal device.

In another possible design of this manner, the target communication device may communicate the target communication device after generating the INT metadata of the target communication device according to the first INT metadata type indicated by the INT configuration information The INT metadata of the device is added to the first service data packet. Then, the target communication device may obtain the INT metadata of the multiple communication devices included in the first service data packet, and report the INT metadata of the multiple communication devices included in the first service data packet.

For example, the target communication device is a UPF, and after receiving the first service data packet, the UPF may generate INT metadata of the UPF according to the first INT metadata type indicated by the INT configuration information, and convert the UPF INT metadata is added to the first service data packet. After the UPF acquires the INT metadata of the terminal device and the INT metadata of the UPF included in the first service data packet, it reports: the INT metadata of the terminal device and the INT metadata of the UPF.

In the third embodiment, the target communication device may report the first INT metadata or INT metadata of multiple communication devices to a pre-configured or protocol-specified target receiving device.

When the INT configuration information further includes a third indication, the target communication device sends the first INT metadata or INT metadata of multiple communication devices to the target receiving device according to the third indication.

In this way, the control plane network element can configure the target receiving device of the INT metadata for the INT pool node. The target communication device may send the first INT metadata or INT metadata of multiple communication devices to the target receiving device according to the third indication. In this way, the target receiving device can analyze the network status when the mobile communication system transmits the service data packet according to the INT metadata of the mobile communication system.

It should be noted that, in the third embodiment, the target communication device may send, but not limited to, the first INT metadata or INT metadata of multiple communication devices to the target receiving device in the following ways:

Method 1: When the target receiving device is a server, the target communication device may send the first INT metadata or INT metadata of multiple communication devices to the target receiving device through a service data packet in the mobile communication system . In other words, the target communication device may send the first INT metadata or INT metadata of multiple communication devices to the target receiving device through the user plane.

Method 2: In the case where the target receiving device is the fourth control plane network element or server in the mobile communication system, the target communication device may send the first INT metadata or multiple communication devices to the target receiving device through the control plane INT metadata.

For example, when the target receiving device is an AF, the target communication device may send the first INT metadata or INT metadata of multiple communication devices to the AF through control, or the target communication device may send the first INT to the AF through PCF or NEF metadata or INT metadata for multiple communication devices.

For another example, when the target receiving device is a server, the target communication device may send the first INT metadata or INT metadata of multiple communication devices to the server through one or more of PCF, NEF or AF.

Optionally, after receiving and sending the first INT metadata or the INT metadata of multiple communication devices, a control plane network element in PCF, NEF or AF may, according to the INT packet header format provided by AF (for example, VXLAN, Geneve etc.), process the received INT metadata. Then, PCF, NEF or AF sends the processed INT metadata to the server.

In addition, in Embodiment 3, when the INT configuration information further includes a fourth indication, the target communication device may also combine the INT header in the first service data packet with the INT header of each communication device according to the fourth indication. The INT metadata is deleted, and then, continue to perform service processing on the first service data packet in the normal format, so as to realize the service of the terminal device. For example, the target communication device may decapsulate the first service data packet, or send the deleted first service data packet to the next user plane communication device or a device connected to the mobile communication system (for example, a service server in the DN). A service data packet.

In this method, the service data packets sent out by the mobile communication system do not include the INT metadata and INT header of the mobile communication system, thereby reducing the resources occupied by sending service data packets and avoiding waste of resources.

An embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, through which, in a mobile communication system, after the control plane network element obtains the INT configuration information of the target communication device, it can send the INT configuration information to the target communication device; thus, The target communication device can perform INT processing on the service data packet according to the INT configuration information. Through this solution, the control plane network element can perform INT configuration on the target communication device in the mobile communication system, so that the mobile communication system can support INT technology, so that the target communication device can detect and report the network status in real time when transmitting service data packets The detection results can improve the timeliness and accuracy of network status detection.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an example of applying the communication method shown in FIG. 3 in a mobile communication system provided by the present application. The application of the method shown in FIG. 3 in the application scenario shown in FIG. 4 will be described below with reference to FIG. 4 .

As shown in Figure 4, the control plane network element of the mobile communication system (for example, 5G communication system) (that is, the 5G CP in the figure) can exchange information (for example, configuration information, control information, etc.) with the server of the DN through AF; There is an interface between the UPF of the communication system and the server of the DN (for example, the N6 interface in FIG. 1 ), through which the UPF can exchange user plane data with the server of the DN; the UE accesses the UPF through the AN device.

In one implementation, after receiving the INT information from the server, the AF can send the INT information to the 5G CP, and the 5G CP can determine the INT configuration information of the user plane communication equipment UE, AN equipment, and UPF according to the INT information , and send the INT configuration information of each user plane communication device to the corresponding communication device. In this way, for the downlink transmission direction, each user plane communication device may perform INT processing on the service data packet according to the INT configuration information after receiving the service data packet from the DN.

In another implementation, after receiving the INT request from the UE or the AN device serving the UE, the 5G CP can determine the INT configuration information of the UE, AN device, and UPF in the user plane communication device, and send each user plane The INT configuration information of the communication device is sent to the corresponding communication device. In this way, for the downlink transmission direction, each user plane communication device may perform INT processing on the service data packet according to the INT configuration information after receiving the service data packet from the DN.

From the example shown in Figure 4, it can be seen that the control plane network element can configure INT for multiple user plane communication devices in the mobile communication system, so that the mobile communication system can support INT technology, so that each user plane communication device can transmit services The network status detection can be carried out in real time and the detection result can be reported when the data packet is received, so that the timeliness and accuracy of the network status detection can be improved.

The embodiment of this application provides a communication method. This method can be applied to the communication system shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 4 . In this method, the control plane network element can perform INT configuration on the target communication device in the mobile communication system according to the INT information from the DN. In this embodiment of the present application, performing INT configuration may also be referred to as determining INT configuration information or configuring INT capabilities; the target communication device may be at least one of a terminal device, an AN device, and a UPF. Referring to the flowchart shown in FIG. 5 , the communication method will be described in detail. For the convenience of description, the following takes the UE as an example for illustration.

S501: The AF receives INT information from a server (for example, a measurement server of a DN). The INT information can be used by the mobile communication system where the AF is located to perform INT processing on the service data packet.

Optionally, the INT information may indicate the mode of the INT packet in the current DN network. For example, the INT information may indicate at least one of the following: the type of INT metadata that needs to be provided by the mobile communication system (for example, the second INT metadata type in S301), the format of the INT packet, and the type of the INT header ( For example, the second INT packet header type in S301), the target data stream that supports INT processing.

Wherein, the format of the INT packet may include the format of the INT packet header (for example, the second INT packet header format in S301). The information used to indicate the data stream supporting INT processing may be the data stream indication information in S301.

For the specific content of the INT information, reference may be made to the description of Embodiment 1 in S301, which will not be repeated here.

S502: The AF determines INT configuration information (hereinafter referred to as first INT configuration information) of the target communication device for the target QoS flow.

Wherein, the AF may determine the first INT configuration information for the target QoS flow in the mobile communication system according to the INT information obtained in S501.

Optionally, the first INT configuration information may be used to indicate at least one of the following: the type of INT metadata that needs to be provided by the target communication device (for example, the first INT metadata type in S301), the INT pool node pair service data packet The processing manner of the INT metadata (for example, the first processing manner and the second processing manner in S301).

Optionally, the first INT configuration information may further include at least one of the following: target QoS flow indication information, and a third indication. Wherein, the third instruction may instruct the target communication device as an INT pool node to send the INT metadata of the mobile communication system to the target receiving device.

For the generation method of the first INT configuration information, reference may be made to the description of Embodiment 1 in S301, which will not be repeated here.

S503: The AF sends the first INT configuration information and the INT information to the PCF. Correspondingly, the PCF receives the first INT configuration information and the INT information from the AF.

Optionally, the AF may send the first INT configuration information and the INT information to the PCF through an existing message (for example, a message during PDU session establishment or PDU session modification process), or send the first INT configuration information to the PCF through a dedicated message The first INT configuration information and the INT information.

S504: The PCF may determine second INT configuration information according to the first INT configuration information and the INT information. Wherein, the second INT configuration information is used for the target communication device to perform INT processing on the service data packet.

Optionally, the second INT configuration information may be used to indicate at least one of the following: the type of INT metadata that needs to be provided by the target communication device (for example, the first INT metadata type in S301), the INT pool node’s response to the service data packet The processing manner of INT metadata (for example, the first processing manner and the second processing manner in S301).

Optionally, the second INT configuration information may further include at least one of the following: target QoS flow indication information, and a third indication.

In an implementation manner, the PCF may determine a part of information in the second INT configuration information according to the first INT configuration information; determine another part of information in the second INT configuration information according to the INT information .

For the method of generating the second INT configuration information, reference may be made to the description of Embodiment 1 in S301 , which will not be repeated here.

It should be understood that the PCF may determine the second INT configuration information for multiple target communication devices, for example, the PCF determines the second INT configuration information of the UPF, the second INT configuration information of the AN device, and the second INT configuration information of the UPF.

S505: The PCF sends the second INT configuration information to the SMF. Correspondingly, the SMF receives the second INT configuration information from the PCF.

Wherein, the second INT configuration information sent by the PCF to the SMF may include at least one of the following: the second INT configuration information of the UPF, the second INT configuration information of the AN device, and the second INT configuration information of the UPF.

S506: The SMF sends the second INT configuration information of the UPF to the UPF. Correspondingly, the UPF receives the second INT configuration information of the UPF from the SMF.

Optionally, the SMF may send the second INT configuration information of the UPF to the UPF through the N4 interface.

In an implementation manner, the SMF may also determine the target communication device, and the determination method is the same as that of S301, which will not be repeated here. After determining the target device, the SMF may modify the second INT configuration information and send the modified second INT configuration information.

S507: The SMF sends the second INT configuration information to the AMF. Correspondingly, the AMF receives the second INT configuration information from the SMF.

Optionally, the SMF may send the second INT configuration information of the AN device and/or the second INT configuration information of the UE to the AMF, so that the AN device and/or the UE perform INT processing on the service data packet.

S508: The AMF sends the second INT configuration information of the AN device to the AN device. Correspondingly, the AN device receives the second INT configuration information from the AN device of the AMF.

Optionally, the AMF may send the second INT configuration information to the AN device through the N2 interface.

Wherein, the second INT configuration information sent by the AMF to the AN device may include: the second INT configuration information of the AN device and/or the second INT configuration information of the UE. If the second INT configuration information sent by the AMF to the AN device includes the second INT configuration information of the UE, the AN device may send the second INT configuration information of the UE to the UE after receiving the second INT configuration information of the UE.

S509: The AMF sends the second INT configuration information of the UE to the UE. Correspondingly, the UE receives the UE's second INT configuration information from the AMF.

Optionally, the AMF may send the second INT configuration information of the UE to the UE through the N1 interface. The AMF may send the second INT configuration information of the UE to the UE through an existing message (for example, a message in the PDU session modification procedure), or send the second INT configuration information of the UE to the UE through a dedicated message.

Among them, S506, S507, S508 and S509 are optional. If the communication device is not a target communication device that needs to perform INT processing on the service data packet, the mobile communication system may not configure the second INT configuration information for the communication device, and may not send the second INT configuration information to the communication device.

For example, when the target communication device does not include a UPF, S506 may not be performed. When the target communication device includes the UPF but does not include the AN device and the UE, in other words, when the UPF needs to perform INT processing on the service data packet, but the AN device and the UE do not need to perform INT processing on the service data packet, S507 may not be executed , S508 and S509. For another example, when the target communication device includes the UPF and the AN device but does not include the UE, S509 may not be executed. For another example, when the target communication device includes the UPF and the UE but does not include the AN device, S508 may not be executed. When the AN device forwards the second INT configuration information of the UE to the UE, S509 may not be executed.

S510: The target communication device performs INT processing on the service data packet according to the second INT configuration information of the target communication device.

In the following, the downlink transmission direction is taken as an example, and the implementation process of S510 is illustrated with reference to FIG. 6 . In this method, the target communication device includes: UPF, AN device, UE.

S601: The UPF receives a first service data packet from a server.

Wherein, the first service data packet may include an INT packet header. The INT packet header may be added by the server to the first service data packet.

S602: The UPF performs INT processing on the first service data packet.

Wherein, the UPF may perform INT processing on the received first service data packet according to the second INT configuration information obtained in S506.

For example, the UPF may determine that the INT device type of the UPF is an INT transmission node according to the INT device type in the second INT configuration information acquired in S506. After the UPF determines that the first service data packet supports INT processing, it may generate INT metadata of the UPF according to the second INT configuration information obtained in S506, and add the INT metadata to the first service data packet.

Wherein, the UPF may determine that the first service data packet supports INT processing by referring to the manner in which the service data packet supporting INT processing is determined in S303; The first service data packet is processed.

S603: The UPF sends a first service data packet to the AN device, where the first service data packet includes: an INT packet header and INT metadata of the UPF. Correspondingly, the AN device receives the first service data packet from the UPF.

S604: The AN device performs INT processing on the first service data packet.

Optionally, the AN device may perform INT processing on the received first service data packet according to the second INT configuration information of the AN device acquired in S508.

For example, the AN device may determine that the INT device type of the AN device is an INT transmission node according to the INT device type in the second INT configuration information acquired in S508. After determining that the first service data packet supports INT processing, the AN device may generate INT metadata of the AN device according to the second INT configuration information obtained in S508, and add the INT metadata to the first service data packet.

The AN device may determine that the first service data packet supports INT processing by referring to the method of determining the service data packet supporting INT processing in S303; and referring to the processing method of the first service data packet by the INT transmission node in S303, the A business data packet is processed.

S605: The AN device sends a first service data packet to the UE, where the first service data packet includes: an INT packet header, INT metadata of the UPF, and INT metadata of the AN device. Correspondingly, the UE receives the first service data packet from the AN device.

S606: After generating the INT metadata of the UE, the UE may perform INT processing on the first service data packet according to the manner in which the UE processes the INT metadata of the service data packet indicated by the second INT configuration information.

Optionally, the UE may determine that the INT device type of the UE is an INT pool node according to the INT device type in the second INT configuration information obtained in S509. The UE may determine the first service data packet that supports INT processing, and after generating the INT metadata of the UE according to the first INT metadata type indicated by the second INT configuration information, the UE may indicate according to the second INT configuration information The method for processing the INT metadata of the service data packet by the UE is to perform INT processing on the first service data packet.

The target communication device as an INT pool node may process the INT metadata of the service data packet in any of the following ways:

In this processing manner, in S606, the UE may generate first INT metadata according to the INT metadata of at least one communication device included in the received service data packet. In other words, the UE can obtain the overall INT metadata of the mobile communication system according to the INT metadata of internal network elements of the mobile communication system. For example, the UE may generate the first INT metadata according to the INT metadata of the UPF, the INT metadata of the AN device, and the INT metadata of the UE.

In this processing manner, in S606, the UE may obtain INT metadata of multiple communication devices of the first service data packet.

For example, the UE acquires INT metadata of the UPF, INT metadata of the AN device, and INT metadata of the UE.

The UE can refer to the method of determining the first service data packet supporting INT processing in S303, and determine that the first service data packet supports INT processing. For the specific processing method of the first service data packet by the UE, refer to the processing method of the INT pool node in S303. I won't repeat them here.

S607: The UE sends the first INT metadata or the INT metadata of the multiple communication devices to the target receiving device. Correspondingly, the target receiving device receives the first INT metadata from the UE or the INT metadata of the plurality of communication devices.

In an implementation manner, when the INT configuration information indicates the first processing mode, the UE may send the first INT metadata to the target receiving device according to the third indication in the second INT configuration information . In this way, the target receiving device can obtain the INT metadata of the mobile communication system as a whole corresponding to the first service data packet, without needing to distinguish which INT metadata is the INT metadata corresponding to the first service data packet, Therefore, the efficiency of analyzing the network state by the target receiving device can be improved.

In another implementation manner, when the INT configuration information indicates the second processing manner, the UE may send the INT metadata of multiple communication devices to the target receiving device according to the third indication. For example, the UE sends the INT metadata of the UPF, the INT metadata of the AN device, and the INT metadata of the UE to the target receiving device according to the third indication.

For the specific sending method in S607, reference may be made to S303, which will not be repeated here.

It can be understood that if some communication devices among the UPF, AN device, and UE are not target communication devices that need to perform INT processing, the communication device may not perform the step of INT processing, and the first service data packet does not include the communication device's INT metadata.

For example, when the AN device is not the target communication device that needs to perform INT processing, S604 may not be performed, and the INT metadata of the AN device is not included in S605 and subsequent steps.

It can be understood that a similar processing manner can also be adopted for the uplink transmission direction. For example, for the uplink transmission direction, the INT pool node may be the UPF, and the operation of the UPF is the same as that of the UE in S606-S607, and will not be repeated here.

The embodiment of the present application shown in FIG. 5 can be applied to a PDU session modification process. The following describes the steps of applying the messages in the PDU session modification process.

In S505, the PCF may send the second INT configuration information to the SMF through at least one of the following: session management (session management, SM) policy association modification procedure initiated by the PCF (PCF initiated SM policy association modification procedure), SM policy association initiated by the SMF Modification process (SMF initiated SM policy association modification procedure).

In S506, the SMF may send the second INT configuration information of the UPF to the UPF through an N4 session establishment/modification request (N4 session establishment/modification request).

In S507, the SMF may send the second INT configuration information to the AMF through an N1N2 message transfer (Namf_communication_N1N2 message transfer) message, wherein the N1N2 message transfer message includes the N1 message and the N2 message. The N1 message is a session establishment acceptance (PDU session establishment accept) message. Wherein, the N2 message includes CN tunnel information (CN tunnel information) allocated by the SMF and/or the UPF to the UE.

In S508, the AMF may send the second INT configuration information to the AN device through an N2 message (N2 message). When the INT configuration information sent by the AMF to the AN device includes the second INT configuration information of the UE, the AN device may send the second INT configuration information of the UE to the UE through an air interface resource configuration process.

In S509, the AMF may send the second INT configuration information of the UE to the UE through a session establishment response (PDU session establishment response).

In this embodiment of the present application, multiple control plane network elements jointly determine the INT configuration information of the target communication device, thereby saving computing resources of each control plane network element and effectively utilizing network element resources in the mobile communication system.

It can be understood that a control plane network element may also determine the INT configuration information for the target communication device. For example, the PCF determines INT configuration information for the target communication device. In this case, S502 may not be executed, and the first INT configuration information is not included in S503 and subsequent steps. In S504, the PCF may determine the second INT configuration information according to the INT information, and the determination method may refer to S301.

In the embodiment of the present application shown in FIG. 5 , the PCF may also be replaced by the NEF. The NEF may send the second INT configuration information to the SMF through the interface between the NEF and the SMF, or may send the second INT configuration information to the SMF through the PCF.

In the embodiment of the present application, after the control plane network element (for example, AF and PCF, or PCF, or NEF) obtains the INT configuration information of the target communication device, it can send the INT configuration information to the target communication device; thus, the target The communication device can perform INT processing on the service data packet according to the INT configuration information. Through this method, the control plane network element can perform INT configuration on the target communication device in the mobile communication system, so that the mobile communication system can support INT technology, so that the target communication device can detect and report the network status in real time when transmitting service data packets The detection results can improve the timeliness and accuracy of network status detection.

In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the target communication device sends accurate measurement information to the target receiving device in a timely manner, so that the target receiving device can optimize the data topology and the estimation of the network by the corresponding application, so that the change of the network status can be quickly discovered, Improve the stability of the mobile communication system.

The embodiment of the present application also provides a communication method. This method can be applied to the communication system shown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 4 , and in this method, the control plane network element can determine INT configuration information for the target communication device in the mobile communication system according to service requirements. In this embodiment of the present application, the target communication device may be at least one of a terminal device, an AN device, and a UPF. Referring to the flowchart shown in FIG. 7, the communication method will be described in detail below. For the convenience of description, the following takes the terminal device as UE as an example for illustration.

S701: The UE sends a first message to the AMF, where the first message is used to request INT processing on a service data packet of the UE. Correspondingly, the AMF receives the first message from the UE.

Wherein, the first message may be the INT request in S301.

In an implementation manner, the first message may carry an INT-related identifier (for example, an INT identifier), and the INT-related identifier may be used to request INT processing on the service data packet of the UE.

In addition, the first message may also carry indication information of the object requesting INT. The object requesting INT may include at least one of the following: service data packet, QoS flow and session. The indication information of the object requesting INT may include at least one of the following: an identifier of a service data packet, a QoS flow identifier, and a session identifier.

For the specific content of the first message, reference may be made to the INT request in S301, which will not be repeated here.

S702: The AMF may select an SMF serving the UE for the UE according to the first message.

S703: The AMF may send a second message to the selected SMF. The second message may be used to request INT processing on the service data packet of the UE. Correspondingly, the SMF receives the second message from the AMF.

The second message may include the information included in the first message in S701.

S704: The SMF determines that INT configuration needs to be performed according to the second message.

In some implementation manners, the SMF may determine that INT configuration needs to be performed according to the INT-related identifier included in the second message.

In some other implementation manners, when the second message is a dedicated message for an INT request, the SMF can determine that INT configuration needs to be performed after receiving the second message.

Optionally, the SMF may generate INT information, and the content and generation method of the INT information may refer to the first implementation manner of Embodiment 1 in S301.

S705: The SMF sends a third message to the PCF, where the third message may be used to request INT processing on the service data packet of the UE. Correspondingly, the PCF receives the third message from the SMF.

The third message may contain the information contained in the first message in S701.

When the SMF generates INT information, the third message may further include the INT information.

S706: The PCF generates INT configuration information of the target communication device.

Wherein, the INT configuration information may be used to indicate at least one of the following: the type of INT metadata that needs to be provided by the target communication device, the format of the INT header, the type of the INT header, and the INT device type of the target communication device.

Optionally, the INT configuration information may also include at least one of the following: target QoS flow indication information, the frequency at which the target communication device performs INT processing on the service data packets, and the target communication device performs INT processing on the service data packets. The period during which the packet performs INT processing.

In an implementation manner, when the third message includes INT information, the PCF may generate the INT configuration information according to the INT information. For the method for generating the INT configuration information, reference may be made to the description of the first implementation manner in the first implementation manner of S301.

In another implementation manner, when the third message does not include the INT information, the PCF may generate the INT configuration information according to the third message. For example, the third message may contain the information contained in the first message in S701, therefore, the third message also corresponds to the INT request in S301. The PCF may generate the INT configuration information according to the INT request corresponding to the third message. For the method of generating the INT configuration information, refer to the description of the second embodiment of S301.

S707: The PCF sends INT configuration information to the SMF. Correspondingly, the SMF receives the INT configuration information from the PCF.

In an implementation manner, the SMF may determine indication information for the target communication device serving as an INT pool node, where the indication information is used to indicate that the target communication device obtains at least one communication device of the mobile communication system from the service data packet After the INT metadata, delete the INT header and the INT metadata of each communication device from the service data packet.

S708: The SMF sends the INT configuration information of the UPF to the UPF. Correspondingly, the UPF receives the INT configuration information of the UPF from the SMF.

S709: The SMF sends the INT configuration information of the AN device and/or the INT configuration information of the UE to the AMF. Correspondingly, the AMF receives the INT configuration information of the AN device and/or the INT configuration information of the UE from the SMF.

S710: The AMF sends the INT configuration information of the AN device to the AN device. Correspondingly, the AN device receives the INT configuration information from the AN device of the AMF.

S711: The AMF sends the INT configuration information of the UE to the UE. Correspondingly, the UE receives the INT configuration information of the UE from the AMF.

For the specific implementation manners of S708-S711, reference may be made to S506-S509, which will not be repeated here.

In an implementation manner, S704 may be an optional step. In this case, after receiving the second message, the SMF may forward the second message to the PCF (that is, the second message is the same as the third message), or send a third message including the second message to the PCF.

S712: The target communication device performs INT processing on the service data packet according to the INT configuration information.

The following takes the uplink transmission direction as an example and describes S712 with reference to FIG. 8 . In this example, the target communication device includes: UE, AN device, UPF.

S801: The UE performs INT processing on the first service data packet.

Wherein, the UE may perform INT processing on the first service data packet according to the INT configuration information obtained in S711.

For example, the UE may determine that the INT device type of the UE is an INT source node according to the INT device type in the INT configuration information obtained in S711. After determining that the first service data packet supports INT processing, the UE may generate the INT header and INT metadata of the UE, and add the INT header and the INT metadata to the first service data packet.

The UE may determine that the first service data packet supports INT processing by referring to the method of determining the first service data packet supporting INT processing in S303; Packets are processed.

S802: The UE sends a first service data packet to the AN device, where the first service data packet includes an INT header and INT metadata of the UE. Correspondingly, the AN device receives the first service data packet from the UE.

S803: The AN device performs INT processing on the first service data packet.

Wherein, the AN device may perform INT processing on the received first service data packet according to the INT configuration information obtained in S710.

For example, the AN device may determine that the INT device type of the AN device is an INT transmission node according to the INT device type in the INT configuration information acquired at S710. After determining that the first service data packet supports INT processing, the AN device may generate INT metadata of the AN device, and add the INT metadata to the first service data packet.

The AN device may determine that the first service data packet supports INT processing by referring to the manner in which the first service data packet supporting INT processing is determined in S303; Business data packets are processed.

S804: The AN device sends a first service data packet to the UPF, where the first service data packet includes: an INT packet header, INT metadata of the UE, and INT metadata of the AN device. Correspondingly, the UPF receives the first service data packet from the AN device.

S805: After the UPF generates the INT metadata of the UPF, it may perform INT processing on the first service data packet according to the manner in which the UPF processes the INT metadata of the service data packet indicated by the INT configuration information.

Optionally, the UPF may determine that the INT device type of the UPF is an INT pool node according to the INT device type in the INT configuration information obtained in S708. The UPF may determine the first service data packet that supports INT processing, and after generating the INT metadata of the UPF according to the first INT metadata type indicated by the INT configuration information, the UPF may, according to the UPF indicated by the INT configuration information, For the processing manner of the INT metadata of the first service data packet, INT processing is performed on the first service data packet.

In this processing manner, in S805, the UPF may generate first INT metadata according to the INT metadata of at least one communication device included in the received service data packet. For example, the UPF may generate the first INT metadata according to the INT metadata of the UE, the INT metadata of the AN device, and the INT metadata of the UPF.

In this processing manner, in S805, the UE may obtain multiple communication device INT metadata of the first service data packet. For example, the UPF acquires the INT metadata of the UE, the INT metadata of the AN device, and the INT metadata of the UPF.

The UPF can refer to the method of determining the first service data packet supporting INT processing in S303, and determine that the first service data packet supports INT processing, and the specific processing method of the UPF for the first service data packet can refer to the processing of the INT pool node in S303 method, which will not be repeated here.

S806: The UPF sends the first INT metadata or the INT metadata of the multiple communication devices to the target receiving device. Correspondingly, the target receiving device receives the first INT metadata from the UPF or the INT metadata of the plurality of communication devices.

In an implementation manner, when the INT configuration information indicates the first processing mode, the UPF may send the first INT metadata to the target receiving device according to a third indication in the INT configuration information. In this way, the target receiving device can obtain the INT metadata of the mobile communication system as a whole corresponding to the first service data packet, without needing to distinguish which INT metadata is the INT metadata corresponding to the first service data packet, Therefore, the efficiency of analyzing the network state by the target receiving device can be improved.

In another implementation manner, when the INT configuration information indicates the second processing mode, the UPF may send at least one target communication device contained in the first service data packet to the target receiving device according to the third indication INT metadata. For example, the UPF sends the INT metadata of the UPF, the INT metadata of the AN device, and the INT metadata of the UE to the target receiving device according to the third indication.

For the specific sending method in S806, reference may be made to S303, which will not be repeated here.

S807: The UPF deletes the INT header and the INT metadata of each communication device from the first service data packet.

Optionally, the UPF may also delete the INT header and the INT metadata of each communication device of the mobile communication system from the first service data packet according to the indication information in the INT configuration information. In this way, the UPF can obtain the first service data packet before the INT processing. For example, the UPF may delete the following INT data from the first service data packet: INT header, INT metadata of the UE, INT metadata of the AN device, and INT metadata of the UPF.

S808: The UPF sends the first service data packet processed in S807.

Optionally, the UPF may send the first service data packet processed in S807 to a system other than the mobile communication system (for example, a server of the DN).

In this embodiment of the present application, the first service data packet sent out by the mobile communication system does not contain the INT metadata and INT packet header of the mobile communication system, thereby reducing the time spent on sending the first service data packet. resources, to avoid waste of resources, and to ensure that the target communication device can continue to implement the service of the terminal device according to the service data packet in the normal format.

It should be understood that S807 and S808 are optional steps. For example, when resources are sufficient, S807 and S808 may not be executed.

In addition, the execution order of S806, S807, and S808 is not limited. You can execute S806 first, and then execute S807 and S808; you can also execute S807 first, and then execute S806 and S808; S808.

This method takes the uplink transmission direction as an example. It should be understood that a similar processing manner may also be adopted for the downlink transmission direction. For example, for the downlink transmission direction, the INT pool node may be a UE, and the operation of the UE is the same as that of the UPF in this method, which will not be repeated here.

The embodiment of the present application shown in FIG. 7 can be applied to a PDU session establishment process. The following describes the steps of applying the messages in the PDU session establishment process.

In S701, the first message sent by the UE to the AMF may be a PDU session establishment request (PDU session establishment request).

In S703, the second message sent by the AMF to the SMF may be a session management context establishment request (Nsmf_PDU session_create SM context request).

In S705 and S707, the SMF may send the third message by initiating an SM policy association establishment/modification (SM policy association establishment or SM policy association modification) process to the PCF, and obtain the INT configuration information from the PCF.

In S708, the SMF may send the INT configuration information of the UPF to the UPF through the N4 session establishment/modification request.

In S709, the SMF may forward the message through the N1N2 message, and send the INT configuration information to the AMF.

In S710, AMF can send INT configuration information to AN device through N2 session request (N2 PDU session request). When the INT configuration information sent by the AMF to the AN device includes the INT configuration information of the UE, the AN device may send the INT configuration information of the UE to the UE through an air interface resource configuration process.

In S711, the AMF may send the second INT configuration information of the UE to the UE through a session establishment response.

The embodiment of the present application shown in FIG. 7 can be applied to a PDU session modification process. The following describes the steps of applying the messages in the PDU session modification process.

In S701, the first message sent by the UE to the AMF may be a PDU session modification request (PDU session modification request).

In S703, the second message sent by the AMF to the SMF may be an update session management context request (Nsmf_PDU session_update SM context request).

In S705 and S707, the SMF may send the third message by initiating an SM policy association establishment/modification process to the PCF, and acquire INT configuration information from the PCF.

In S710, the AMF may send INT configuration information to the AN device through an N2 message (N2 message). When the INT configuration information sent by the AMF to the AN device includes the INT configuration information of the UE, the AN device can send the INT configuration information of the UE to the UE through the air interface resource configuration process.

In S711, the AMF may send the INT configuration information of the UE to the UE through a session establishment response.

In the embodiment of the present application shown in FIG. 7 , the PCF can be replaced by the NEF. The NEF can send the INT configuration information to the SMF through the interface between the NEF and the SMF, and can also send the INT configuration information to the SMF through the PCF.

Through the solution provided by the embodiment of this application, in the mobile communication system, after the PCF determines the INT configuration information of the target communication device according to the INT request sent by the UE, it can send the INT configuration information to the target communication device; thus, the target communication device According to the INT configuration information, INT processing can be performed on the service data packet. Through this method, the control plane network element can perform INT configuration on the target communication device in the mobile communication system, so that the mobile communication system can support INT technology, so that the target communication device can detect and report the network status in real time when transmitting service data packets The detection results can improve the timeliness and accuracy of network status detection.

Based on the same technical concept, the present application also provides a communication device, the structure of which is shown in FIG. 9 , including a communication unit 901 and a processing unit 902 . The communication device 900 can be applied to the control plane network element, UPF, AN equipment, or terminal equipment in the communication system shown in FIG. 1 , and can implement the communication methods provided in the above embodiments and examples of the present application. The functions of each unit in the apparatus 900 are introduced below.

The communication unit 901 is configured to receive and send data.

When the communication device 900 is applied to control plane network elements, UPF or AN equipment (in the scenario where the AN equipment interacts with network elements in the core network), the communication unit 901 can , communication interface, input and output interface realization. The communication device 900 can be connected with a network cable or cable through the communication unit, and then establish a physical connection with other devices.

When the communication apparatus 900 is applied to a terminal device or an AN device (in a scenario where the AN device interacts with a terminal device), the communication unit 901 may be implemented by a transceiver, for example, a mobile communication module.

The mobile communication module can provide wireless communication solutions including 2G/3G/4G/5G applied to the terminal equipment. The mobile communication module may include at least one antenna, at least one filter, a switch, a power amplifier, a low noise amplifier (low noise amplifier, LNA) and the like. The terminal device can access the AN device in the AN through the mobile communication module, and interact with the AN device; the AN device can also communicate with the connected terminal device through the mobile communication module.

In one embodiment, the communication device 900 is applied to the control plane network element in the embodiment of the present application shown in FIG. 3 , FIG. 5 or FIG. 7 (for example, the first control plane network element in FIG. AF and PCF, PCF of Fig. 7). Wherein, the target communication device includes at least one of the following: a terminal device, an AN device, and a UPF. The specific functions of the processing unit 902 in this embodiment will be introduced below.

The processing unit 902 is configured to acquire in-band network measurement INT configuration information of the target communication device in the mobile communication system; wherein the INT configuration information is used for the target communication device to perform INT processing on service data packets; Send the INT configuration information to the target communication device through the communication unit 901 .

Optionally, the INT configuration information is used to indicate at least one of the following: the type of INT metadata that needs to be provided by the target communication device, the format of the INT packet header, and the INT device type of the target communication device;

Wherein, the INT device type of the target communication device is any one of the following: INT source node, INT transmission node, and INT pool node.

Optionally, the processing unit 902 is specifically configured to:

Acquire INT information, and generate the INT configuration information according to the INT information; wherein, the INT information is used for the mobile communication system to perform INT processing on service data packets; or

Receive the INT configuration information from the second control plane network element through the communication unit 901; or

After receiving the INT request from the terminal device or the access network device accessed by the terminal device through the communication unit 901, the INT configuration information is generated according to at least one of the following: the characteristics of the service of the terminal device, the Service quality QoS parameters of the service of the terminal device, resource configuration status of the mobile communication system, and measurement requirements; wherein, the INT request is used to request INT processing on the service data packet of the terminal device.

Optionally, the processing unit 902 is specifically configured to:

receiving INT information from a server or a third control plane network element through the communication unit 901; or

After receiving the INT request from the terminal device or the access network device accessed by the terminal device through the communication unit 901, the INT information is generated according to at least one of the following: the characteristics of the service of the terminal device, the terminal The QoS parameters of the service of the device, the resource configuration status of the mobile communication system, and the measurement requirements; wherein, the INT request is used to request INT processing on the service data packet of the terminal device.

Optionally, the INT information is used to indicate at least one of the following: the type of INT metadata that needs to be provided by the mobile communication system, and the format of the INT packet header.

Optionally, the INT information further includes: data flow indication information, the data flow indication information is used to indicate a target data flow that supports INT processing; the INT configuration information further includes: target QoS flow indication information, the target The QoS flow indication information is used to indicate the target QoS flow supporting INT processing in the mobile communication system; wherein, the target QoS flow corresponds to the target data flow.

Optionally, when the INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the target communication device is an INT pool node, the INT configuration information further includes: a first indication; the first indication is used to indicate that the target communication device The device generates first INT metadata according to the INT metadata of at least one communication device included in the received service data packet; wherein, the first INT metadata is INT metadata of the mobile communication system.

Optionally, the INT configuration information further includes: a second indication, where the second indication is used to instruct the target communication device to send the first INT metadata to the target receiving device, wherein the first INT metadata The data is used by the target receiving device to analyze the network status when the mobile communication system transmits the service data packet.

Optionally, the target receiving device is a server or a fourth control plane network element.

Optionally, when the INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the target communication device is an INT source node, the INT configuration information is specifically used to instruct the target communication device to combine the INT packet header with the target communication device's INT metadata is added to the service data packet, wherein the format of the INT header conforms to the format of the INT header indicated by the INT configuration information.

Optionally, when the INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the target communication device is an INT transmission node, the INT configuration information is specifically used to instruct the target communication device to transfer the INT metadata of the target communication device to Added to the business data package.

In one embodiment, the communication apparatus 900 is applied to the target communication device (hereinafter referred to as the first communication device) in the embodiment of the present application shown in FIG. 3 , FIG. 5 or FIG. 7 , and the target communication device may include At least one of the following: terminal equipment, AN equipment, and UPF. The specific functions of the processing unit 902 in this embodiment will be introduced below.

The processing unit 902 is configured to receive in-band network measurement INT configuration information from the first control plane network element in the mobile communication system through the communication unit 901; wherein the INT configuration information is used for the first A communication device performs INT processing on the service data packet; after acquiring the first service data packet, performs INT processing on the first service data packet according to the INT configuration information.

Optionally, the INT configuration information is used to indicate at least one of the following: the type of INT metadata that needs to be provided by the first communication device, the format of the INT header, and the INT device type of the first communication device;

Wherein, the INT device type of the first communication device is any one of the following: INT source node, INT transmission node, and INT pool node.

Optionally, when the first communication device is a terminal device or an access network device accessed by the terminal device, the processing unit 902 is specifically configured to: receive the first control from the mobile communication system Before the INT configuration information of the network element on the control plane, an INT request is sent to the first control plane network element through the communication unit 901; wherein, the INT request is used to request to perform INT on the first service data packet of the terminal device deal with.

Optionally, the INT configuration information further includes: target QoS flow indication information, the target QoS flow indication information is used to indicate the target QoS flow supporting INT processing in the mobile communication system; wherein, the first service data packet belongs to the target QoS flow.

Optionally, the INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the first communication device is an INT pool node, and the INT configuration information further includes: a first indication; in this case, the processing unit 902 specifically uses At:

According to the type of INT metadata indicated by the INT configuration information, generate the INT metadata of the first communication device; according to the first indication, the INT of at least one communication device contained in the first service data packet metadata, and the INT metadata of the first communication device, generating first INT metadata of the mobile communication system; or

According to the type of INT metadata indicated by the INT configuration information, generate the INT metadata of the first communication device; add the INT metadata of the first communication device to the first service data packet; according to The first indication, and the INT metadata of the plurality of communication devices included in the first service data packet, generate first INT metadata of the mobile communication system.

Optionally, when the INT configuration information further includes: a second indication, the processing unit 902 is specifically configured to: send the second indication to the target receiving device through the communication unit 901 according to the second indication. INT metadata, wherein the first INT metadata is used by the target receiving device to analyze the network status when the mobile communication system transmits the first service data packet.

Optionally, when the INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the first communication device is an INT source node, the processing unit 902 is specifically configured to: add an INT packet header to the first service data packet, Wherein, the format of the INT header conforms to the format of the INT header indicated by the INT configuration information; according to the type of INT metadata indicated by the INT configuration information, the INT metadata of the first communication device is generated; The INT metadata of the first communication device is added to the first service data packet.

Optionally, the processing unit 902 is specifically configured to, when the INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the first communication device is an INT transmission node, according to the type of INT metadata indicated by the INT configuration information , generating INT metadata of the first communication device; adding the INT metadata of the first communication device to the first service data packet.

It should be noted that the division of modules in the above embodiments of the present application is schematic, and is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. In addition, each function in each embodiment of the present application Units can be integrated into one processing unit, or physically exist separately, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated units can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units.

If the integrated unit is realized in the form of a software function unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application is essentially or part of the contribution to the prior art or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium , including several instructions to make a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) or a processor (processor) execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage media include: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (Read-Only Memory, ROM), random access memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), magnetic disk or optical disc and other media that can store program codes. .

Based on the same technical idea, this application also provides a communication device, which can be applied to the control plane network element, UPF, AN device, or terminal device in the communication system shown in Figure 1, which can realize the above The communication methods provided in the embodiments and examples of this application have the functions of the communication device shown in FIG. 9 . Referring to FIG. 10 , the communication device 1000 includes: a communication module 1001 , a processor 1002 and a memory 1003 . Wherein, the communication module 1001, the processor 1002 and the memory 1003 are connected to each other.

Optionally, the communication module 1001 , the processor 1002 and the memory 1003 are connected to each other through a bus 1004 . The bus 1004 may be a peripheral component interconnect standard (peripheral component interconnect, PCI) bus or an extended industry standard architecture (extended industry standard architecture, EISA) bus or the like. The bus can be divided into address bus, data bus, control bus and so on. For ease of representation, only one thick line is used in FIG. 10 , but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

The communication module 1001 is used to receive and send data to realize communication interaction with other devices. For example, when the communication device 1000 is applied to a network element on the control plane, UPF or AN device (in the scenario where the AN device interacts with a network element in the core network), the communication module 1001 can use a physical interface, The communication module, the communication interface, and the input and output interfaces are realized. For another example, when the communication device 1000 is applied to a terminal device or an AN device (in a scenario where the AN device interacts with a terminal device), the communication module 1001 may also be implemented by a transceiver.

In one embodiment, the communication device 1000 is applied to the control plane network element in the embodiment of the present application shown in FIG. 3, FIG. 5 or FIG. 7 (for example, the first control plane network element in FIG. AF and PCF, PCF of Fig. 7). Wherein, the target communication device includes at least one of the following: a terminal device, an AN device, and a UPF. The processor 1002 is specifically used for:

Obtaining the in-band network measurement INT configuration information of the target communication device in the mobile communication system; wherein the INT configuration information is used for the target communication device to perform INT processing on service data packets; through the communication module 1001, to The target communication device sends the INT configuration information.

In one embodiment, the communication device 1000 is applied to the target communication device (hereinafter referred to as the first communication device) in the embodiment of the present application shown in FIG. 3 , FIG. 5 or FIG. 7 , and the target communication device may include At least one of the following: terminal equipment, AN equipment, and UPF. The processor 1002 is specifically used for:

Receive in-band network measurement INT configuration information from the first control plane network element in the mobile communication system through the communication module 1001; wherein the INT configuration information is used by the first communication device to perform service data packets INT processing: after acquiring the first service data packet, perform INT processing on the first service data packet according to the INT configuration information.

For the specific functions of the processor 1002, please refer to the descriptions in the above embodiments of the application and the communication methods provided in the examples, as well as the specific function description of the communication device 900 in the embodiment of the application shown in FIG. 9 , which will not be repeated here. repeat.

The memory 1003 is used to store program instructions and data. Specifically, the program instructions may include program codes including computer operation instructions. The memory 1003 may include a random access memory (random access memory, RAM), and may also include a non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory), such as at least one disk memory. The processor 1002 executes the program instructions stored in the memory 1003, and uses the data stored in the memory 1003 to implement the above functions, thereby realizing the communication method provided by the above embodiments of the present application.

It can be understood that the memory 1003 in FIG. 10 of the present application may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, the non-volatile memory can be read-only memory (Read-Only Memory, ROM), programmable read-only memory (Programmable ROM, PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (Erasable PROM, EPROM), electronically programmable Erase Programmable Read-Only Memory (Electrically EPROM, EEPROM) or Flash. The volatile memory can be Random Access Memory (RAM), which acts as external cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static Random Access Memory (Static RAM, SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (Dynamic RAM, DRAM), Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (Synchronous DRAM, SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (Double Data Rate SDRAM, DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (Enhanced SDRAM, ESDRAM), synchronous connection dynamic random access memory (Synchlink DRAM, SLDRAM ) and Direct Memory Bus Random Access Memory (Direct Rambus RAM, DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory of the systems and methods described herein is intended to include, but not be limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

Based on the above embodiments, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program that, when the computer program is run on a computer, causes the computer to execute the communication method provided by the above embodiments.

Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application also provide a computer-readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer executes the communication provided by the above embodiments. method.

Wherein, the storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example but not limitation: computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or may be used to carry or store information in the form of instructions or data structures desired program code and any other medium that can be accessed by a computer.

Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application further provide a chip, the chip is configured to read a computer program stored in a memory, and implement the communication method provided by the above embodiments.

Based on the above embodiments, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip system, the chip system includes a processor, configured to support a computer device to implement the functions involved in the service device, forwarding device, or site device in the above embodiments. In a possible design, the chip system further includes a memory, and the memory is used to store necessary programs and data of the computer device. The system-on-a-chip may consist of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices.

To sum up, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, device, and equipment. In this method, in the mobile communication system, after the control plane network element obtains the INT configuration information of the target communication equipment, it can use the INT The configuration information is sent to the target communication device; in this way, the target communication device can perform INT processing on the service data packet according to the INT configuration information. Through this solution, the control plane network element can perform INT configuration on the target communication device in the mobile communication system, so that the mobile communication system can support INT technology, so that the target communication device can detect and report the network status in real time when transmitting service data packets The detection results can improve the timeliness and accuracy of network status detection.

In each embodiment of the present application, if there is no special explanation and logical conflict, the terms and/or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referred to each other, and the technical features in different embodiments are based on their inherent Logical relationships can be combined to form new embodiments.

Those skilled in the art should understand that the embodiments of the present application may be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. 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 should be understood that each procedure and/or block in the flowchart and/or block diagram, and a combination of procedures and/or blocks in the flowchart and/or block diagram can be realized by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or processor of other programmable data processing equipment to produce a machine such that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing equipment produce a An apparatus for realizing the functions specified in one or more procedures of the flowchart and/or one or more blocks of the 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 operate in a specific manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture comprising instruction means, the instructions The device realizes the function specified in one or more procedures of the flowchart and/or one or more blocks of the block diagram.

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

Apparently, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the scope of the present application. In this way, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalent technologies, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

A communication method, applied to a first control plane network element in a mobile communication system, characterized in that it includes:

Obtaining the in-band network measurement INT configuration information of the target communication device in the mobile communication system; wherein the target communication device includes at least one of the following: terminal equipment, access network equipment, and user plane network elements; the INT configuration The information is used for the target communication device to perform INT processing on the service data packet;

sending the INT configuration information to the target communication device.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the INT configuration information is used to indicate at least one of the following: the type of INT metadata that needs to be provided by the target communication device, the format of the INT header, the target communication device INT device type;

Wherein, the INT device type of the target communication device is any one of the following: INT source node, INT transmission node, and INT pool node.
The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein obtaining the INT configuration information of the target communication device in the mobile communication system comprises:

Acquire INT information, and generate the INT configuration information according to the INT information; wherein, the INT information is used for the mobile communication system to perform INT processing on service data packets; or

receiving the INT configuration information from a second control plane network element; or

After receiving the INT request from the terminal device or the access network device accessed by the terminal device, generating the INT configuration information according to at least one of the following: the characteristics of the service of the terminal device, the service of the service of the terminal device Quality QoS parameters, resource configuration status of the mobile communication system, and measurement requirements; wherein, the INT request is used to request INT processing on the service data packets of the terminal device.
The method according to claim 3, wherein obtaining INT information comprises:

receiving INT information from a server or a third control plane network element; or

After receiving the INT request from the terminal device or the access network device accessed by the terminal device, generating the INT information according to at least one of the following: characteristics of the service of the terminal device, QoS parameters of the service of the terminal device . Resource configuration status and measurement requirements of the mobile communication system; wherein, the INT request is used to request INT processing on the service data packets of the terminal device.
The method according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that,

The INT information is used to indicate at least one of the following: the type of INT metadata that needs to be provided by the mobile communication system, and the format of the INT header.
The method according to any one of claims 3-5, wherein the INT information further includes: data flow indication information, the data flow indication information is used to indicate a target data flow that supports INT processing;

The INT configuration information also includes: target QoS flow indication information, the target QoS flow indication information is used to indicate the target QoS flow supporting INT processing in the mobile communication system;

Wherein, the target QoS flow corresponds to the target data flow.
The method according to claim 2, wherein when the INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the target communication device is an INT pool node, the INT configuration information further includes: a first indication; the second An indication is used to instruct the target communication device to generate first INT metadata according to the INT metadata of at least one communication device contained in the received service data packet; wherein, the first INT metadata is the mobile communication system INT metadata.
The method according to claim 7, wherein the INT configuration information further includes: a second indication, the second indication is used to instruct the target communication device to send the first INT metadata to a target receiving device , wherein the first INT metadata is used by the target receiving device to analyze the network status when the mobile communication system transmits the service data packet.
The method according to claim 8, wherein the target receiving device is a server or a fourth control plane network element.
The method according to claim 2, wherein when the INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the target communication device is an INT source node, the INT configuration information is specifically used to indicate that the target communication device will The INT header and the INT metadata of the target communication device are added to the service data packet, wherein the format of the INT header conforms to the format of the INT header indicated by the INT configuration information.
The method according to claim 2, wherein when the INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the target communication device is an INT transmission node, the INT configuration information is specifically used to indicate that the target communication device will The INT metadata of the target communication device is added to the service data packet.
A communication method, applied to a first communication device in a mobile communication system, characterized in that it includes:

Receiving in-band network measurement INT configuration information from a first control plane network element in the mobile communication system; wherein the first communication device includes at least one of the following: a terminal device, an access network device, and a user plane network element ; The INT configuration information is used for the first communication device to perform INT processing on the service data packet;

After acquiring the first service data packet, perform INT processing on the first service data packet according to the INT configuration information.
The method according to claim 12, wherein the INT configuration information is used to indicate at least one of the following: the type of INT metadata that needs to be provided by the first communication device, the format of the INT header, the first INT device type of the communication device;

Wherein, the INT device type of the first communication device is any one of the following: INT source node, INT transmission node, and INT pool node.
The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein when the first communication device is a terminal device or an access network device accessed by the terminal device, when receiving the first communication from the mobile communication system, Before the INT configuration information of a control plane network element, the method also includes:

Sending an INT request to the first control plane network element; wherein the INT request is used to request INT processing on the first service data packet of the terminal device.
The method according to any one of claims 12-14, wherein the INT configuration information further includes: target QoS flow indication information, the target QoS flow indication information is used to indicate that the mobile communication system supports INT the target QoS flow to process;

Wherein, the first service data packet belongs to the target QoS flow.
The method according to claim 13, wherein when the INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the first communication device is an INT pool node, the INT configuration information further includes: a first indication;

The INT processing of the first service data packet includes:

According to the type of INT metadata indicated by the INT configuration information, generate the INT metadata of the first communication device; according to the first indication, the INT of at least one communication device contained in the first service data packet metadata, and the INT metadata of the first communication device, generating first INT metadata of the mobile communication system; or;

According to the type of INT metadata indicated by the INT configuration information, generate the INT metadata of the first communication device; add the INT metadata of the first communication device to the first service data packet; according to The first indication, and the INT metadata of the plurality of communication devices included in the first service data packet, generate first INT metadata of the mobile communication system.
The method according to claim 16, wherein the INT configuration information further comprises: a second indication; the method further comprises:

Send the first INT metadata to the target receiving device according to the second indication, where the first INT metadata is used by the target receiving device to transmit the first service to the mobile communication system The state of the network at the time of the data packet is analyzed.
The method according to claim 17, wherein the target receiving device is a server or a fourth control plane network element.
The method according to claim 13, wherein when the INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the first communication device is an INT source node, performing INT processing on the first service data packet, include:

adding an INT header to the first service data packet, wherein the format of the INT header conforms to the format of the INT header indicated by the INT configuration information;

generating INT metadata of the first communication device according to the type of INT metadata indicated by the INT configuration information;

Add the INT metadata of the first communication device to the first service data packet.
The method according to claim 13, wherein when the INT configuration information indicates that the INT device type of the first communication device is an INT transmission node, performing INT processing on the first service data packet, include:

generating INT metadata of the first communication device according to the type of INT metadata indicated by the INT configuration information;

Add the INT metadata of the first communication device to the first service data packet.
A communication device, applied to a first control plane network element, characterized in that it includes:

a communication unit for receiving and sending data;

A processing unit, configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 1-11 through the communication unit.
A communication device applied to a first communication device, characterized in that it includes:

a communication unit for receiving and sending data;

A processing unit configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 12-20 through the communication unit.
A communication system, characterized in that it includes:

A first control plane network element, configured to implement the method according to any one of claims 1-11;

The first communication device is configured to implement the method according to any one of claims 12-20.
A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that a computer program is stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer program is run on a computer, the computer is made to execute the computer program described in any one of claims 1-20. described method.
A chip, characterized in that the chip is coupled to a memory, and the chip reads a computer program stored in the memory to execute the method according to any one of claims 1-20.