WO2023051195A1 - Communication method and communication apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

A communication method and a communication apparatus. The method comprises: a terminal device sending a first service in an uplink manner; and the terminal device sending an uplink heartbeat packet before the arrival of a data packet of the first service, so as to perform uplink resource pre-occupation in advance, wherein a traffic feature and a sending moment of the uplink heartbeat packet are determined on the basis of a traffic feature of the first service. In this way, when a data packet of a first service arrives at a terminal, a terminal device can directly send the data packet of the first service by using a pre-occupied uplink resource, such that there is no need to apply for resources to perform data transmission, or the probability of applying for resources to perform data transmission is reduced, thereby not only solving the problems of delayed air interface access and an uplink resource scheduling delay, but also improving the utilization rate of air interface resources.

Description

Communication method and communication device

This application claims priority to a Chinese patent application with application number 202111140338.3 and application title "Communication Method and Communication Device" filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on September 28, 2021, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference .

technical field

The present application relates to the communication field, and more specifically, to a communication method and a communication device.

Background technique

The fifth generation (5th generation, 5G) ToB industry scenarios (for example: port gantry cranes, remote control cranes in steel mills) have high requirements for delay deterministic service level agreements (service level agreements, SLA), but are limited by the wireless resources of terminal equipment. Control (radio resource control, RRC) state switching, and the impact of random delays introduced by air interface resource scheduling authorization waiting, the network cannot stably meet service delay requirements, resulting in service damage or even equipment shutdown.

In 5G, terminal devices have three RRC connection management states, which are RRC_IDLE (idle state), RRC_INACTIVE (deactivated state), and RRC_CONNECTED (connected state). When a terminal device needs to send data, it needs to switch from idle state and deactivated state to In the connected state, there will be a delay of 10ms to 100ms. For example, switching from the idle state to the connected state generally requires an additional 100ms delay, and switching from the deactivated state to the connected state generally requires an additional 10ms delay.

In addition, although the current uplink intelligent pre-scheduling and uplink authorization-free scheduling can reduce the air interface delay to a certain extent, because these scheduling methods are aimed at the quality of service (quality of service, QoS) class identifier (QoS class identifier, QCI) It takes effect globally, resulting in serious waste of air interface resources.

Contents of the invention

The present application provides a communication method and a communication device, which can reduce delay overhead and improve the utilization rate of air interface resources.

In the first aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be applied to a terminal device, and can also be applied to a component (such as a chip, a chip system or a processor, etc.) in the terminal device, including: the terminal device sends a plurality of data of the first service packet, wherein the first service is the service sent by the terminal device to the mobile edge computing application program MEC APP; the terminal device receives the second information from the mobile edge computing platform MEP, and the second information includes the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet and the first heartbeat When the packet starts to be sent, the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the first heartbeat packet uplink, wherein the second information is determined based on the traffic characteristics of the first service and air interface parameters, and the air interface parameter is the service network between the terminal device and the terminal device parameters between devices; the terminal device sends a first heartbeat packet to the network device based on the second information; the terminal device receives the first indication information from the network device, the first indication information is used to indicate the first uplink resource, and the first uplink resource is the network The device allocates resources to the terminal device based on the first heartbeat packet; the terminal device sends a first data packet on the first uplink resource, and the first data packet is a data packet arriving at the terminal device after the first heartbeat packet corresponding to the first uplink resource, The first data packet is a data packet of the first service.

In the above technical solution, the first heartbeat packet is sent in advance before the data packet of the first service reaches the terminal device. On the one hand, the terminal device can quickly enter the RRC connection state from other states, thereby eliminating the need for the terminal device to establish a data transmission connection. On the other hand, the delay caused by the switching of the device status, on the other hand, the uplink resources can be reserved in advance through the heartbeat packet, so that when the data packet of the first service arrives at the terminal, the terminal device can directly use the reserved uplink resources to send the first For business data packets, there is no need to apply for resources for data transmission or reduce the probability of applying for resources for data transmission (that is, no need to send SRs or reduce the probability of sending SRs), thereby reducing the delay overhead caused by uplink resource scheduling. In addition, compared with the uplink scheduling in the prior art that takes effect globally for QCI, this application can accurately identify the service flow characteristics for the uplink services of different terminal devices, and then estimate the air interface resources for sending heartbeat packets according to the service flow characteristics, which improves the air interface resources. utilization rate.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet satisfy minimum air interface resource consumption.

In an implementation manner, according to the traffic characteristics of the first service and air interface configuration parameters and air interface parameters, the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet meeting the minimum air interface resource consumption and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet can be obtained based on a multivariate binary algorithm.

With reference to the first aspect, in some implementation manners of the first aspect, the traffic characteristics include a packet sending period and a packet length.

In the second aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be applied to network equipment, and can also be applied to components in the network equipment (such as chips, chip systems or processors, etc.), including: the network equipment receives the first A heartbeat packet, the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet are determined based on the traffic characteristics and air interface parameters of the first service. The first service is the service sent by the terminal device to the mobile edge computing application program MEC APP , the air interface parameter is a parameter between the terminal device and the serving network device of the terminal device; the network device sends second indication information to the terminal device, the second indication information is used to indicate the second uplink resource, and the second uplink resource is the network device based on the first A heartbeat packet is allocated to the resource of the terminal device, and the second uplink resource is used to send the first data packet, the first data packet is a data packet of the first service, and the first data packet is after the first heartbeat packet corresponding to the second uplink resource Packets arriving at an end device.

It should be noted that this solution can achieve the purpose of reducing the air interface delay when the network device enables the intelligent pre-scheduling function of the wireless air interface. Specifically, before the data packet of the first service is about to arrive, the MEP sends the first downlink heartbeat packet to the network device, which can trigger the wireless air interface intelligent pre-scheduling function, that is, the downlink service triggers the network device to continue for a certain period of time according to the intelligent pre-scheduling configuration. Internally allocate uplink resources to the terminal equipment, that is to say, when there is no downlink service, sending a heartbeat packet downlink triggers the base station to actively authorize uplink resources to the terminal equipment. Then, when the data packet of the first service arrives, the terminal device does not need to send an SR, but directly uses the uplink resources allocated by the network device to send the data packet. Therefore, this method reduces the probability of the terminal device sending an SR, thereby reducing The delay overhead caused by uplink resource scheduling is eliminated. In addition, compared with the uplink scheduling in the prior art that takes effect globally for QCI, this application can accurately identify the service flow characteristics for the uplink services of different terminal devices, and then estimate the air interface resources for sending heartbeat packets according to the service flow characteristics, which improves the air interface resources. utilization rate.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, the traffic of the first heartbeat packet satisfies minimum air interface resource consumption.

With reference to the second aspect, in some implementation manners of the second aspect, the traffic characteristics include a packet sending period and a packet length.

In the third aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be applied to MEP, and can also be applied to components in MEP (such as chips, chip systems or processors, etc.), including: the mobile edge computing platform MEP acquires the traffic characteristics of the first service and air interface parameters, wherein the first service is the service sent by the terminal device to the mobile edge computing application program MEC APP, and the air interface parameter is the air interface parameter between the terminal device and the service network device of the terminal device; MEP according to the traffic characteristics of the first service and air interface parameters to determine the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet; the MEP sends the second information to the terminal device, the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the first heartbeat packet uplink, and the second information includes the first The traffic characteristic of the heartbeat packet and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet; or, the MEP sends the first heartbeat packet to the network device based on the traffic characteristic of the first heartbeat packet and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet.

For the beneficial effects of the third aspect, refer to the descriptions of the first aspect and the second aspect, and details are not repeated here.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementation manners of the third aspect, the traffic characteristics include a packet sending period and a packet length.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementation manners of the third aspect, the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet satisfy minimum air interface resource consumption.

With reference to the third aspect, in some implementation manners of the third aspect, the MEP obtaining the traffic characteristics of the first service includes: the MEP receives first information from the user plane function UPF network element, and the first information includes the traffic characteristics of the first service .

In conjunction with the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the MEP receives third information, and the third information is used to indicate that the terminal device corresponding to the current service is different from the terminal device corresponding to the first service; the MEP notifies the terminal device to stop sending The first heartbeat packet; or, the MEP stops sending the first heartbeat packet to the network device.

In the fourth aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be applied to UPF network elements, and can also be applied to components (such as chips, chip systems, or processors) in UPF network elements, including: UPF detects multiple The first service is the service sent by the terminal device to the mobile edge computing application program MEC APP; the UPF determines the first information according to the multiple data packets of the first service, and the first information includes the traffic characteristics of the first service; The mobile edge computing platform MEP sends the first information.

Compared with the uplink scheduling in the prior art, the above technical solution takes effect globally for the QCI, and can accurately identify service flow characteristics for uplink services of different terminal devices, improving the utilization rate of air interface resources.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementation manners of the fourth aspect, the traffic characteristics of the first service include a packet sending period and a packet length.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the UPF detects multiple consecutive data packets of the first service, including: the UPF receives first configuration information, the first configuration information includes a quadruple, and the quadruple It is the identifier of the terminal device, the port of the terminal device, the identifier of the MEC APP, and the port of the MEC APP; the UPF detects multiple data packets of the first service according to the first configuration information.

In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, and the communication device has a function of implementing the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation thereof. The functions may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by executing corresponding software through hardware. Hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the functions described above.

In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, and the communication device has a function of implementing the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation thereof. The functions may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by executing corresponding software through hardware. Hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the functions described above.

In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a communication device, and the communication device has a function of implementing the method in the third aspect or any possible implementation thereof. The functions may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by executing corresponding software through hardware. Hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the functions described above.

In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, and the communication device has a function of implementing the method in the fourth aspect or any possible implementation thereof. The functions may be implemented by hardware, or may be implemented by executing corresponding software through hardware. Hardware or software includes one or more units corresponding to the functions described above.

In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, including at least one processor, at least one processor is coupled to at least one memory, at least one memory is used to store computer programs or instructions, and at least one processor is used to call from at least one memory And execute the computer program or instruction, so that the communication device executes the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner thereof. Optionally, the communication device further includes a memory. Optionally, the communication device further includes a communication interface, and the processor is coupled to the communication interface.

In an example, the communication device may be a terminal device. When the communication device is a terminal device, the communication interface may be a transceiver, or an input/output interface.

In another example, the communication device may be a component (such as a chip or an integrated circuit) installed in the terminal device. When the communication device is a chip or a chip system, the communication interface may be an input/output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin or a related circuit on the chip or the chip system. The processor may also be embodied as a processing circuit or logic circuit.

In a tenth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, including at least one processor, at least one processor is coupled with at least one memory, at least one memory is used to store computer programs or instructions, and at least one processor is used to call from at least one memory And execute the computer program or instruction, so that the communication device executes the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner thereof. Optionally, the communication device further includes a memory. Optionally, the communication device further includes a communication interface, and the processor is coupled to the communication interface.

In one example, the communication device may be a network device. When the communication device is a terminal device, the communication interface may be a transceiver, or an input/output interface.

In another example, the communication device may be a component (such as a chip or an integrated circuit) installed in a network device. When the communication device is a chip or a chip system, the communication interface may be an input/output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin or a related circuit on the chip or the chip system. The processor may also be embodied as a processing circuit or logic circuit.

In an eleventh aspect, the present application provides a communication device, including at least one processor, the at least one processor is coupled to at least one memory, the at least one memory is used to store computer programs or instructions, and the at least one processor is used to retrieve from the at least one memory The computer program or instruction is invoked and executed, so that the communication device executes the method in the third aspect or any possible implementation manner thereof. Optionally, the communication device further includes a memory. Optionally, the communication device further includes a communication interface, and the processor is coupled to the communication interface.

In one example, the communication device may be a MEP. When the communication device is a terminal device, the communication interface may be a transceiver, or an input/output interface.

In another example, the communication device may be a component (eg, a chip or an integrated circuit) installed in the MEP. When the communication device is a chip or a chip system, the communication interface may be an input/output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin or a related circuit on the chip or the chip system. The processor may also be embodied as a processing circuit or logic circuit.

In a twelfth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, including at least one processor, at least one processor is coupled with at least one memory, at least one memory is used to store computer programs or instructions, and at least one processor is used to retrieve from at least one memory The computer program or instruction is invoked and executed, so that the communication device executes the method in the fourth aspect or any possible implementation manner thereof. Optionally, the communication device further includes a memory. Optionally, the communication device further includes a communication interface, and the processor is coupled to the communication interface.

In an example, the communication device may be a UPF network element. When the communication device is a terminal device, the communication interface may be a transceiver, or an input/output interface.

In another example, the communication device may be a component (such as a chip or an integrated circuit) installed in the UPF. When the communication device is a chip or a chip system, the communication interface may be an input/output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin or a related circuit on the chip or the chip system. The processor may also be embodied as a processing circuit or logic circuit.

In a thirteenth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided. Computer instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium. When the computer instructions are run on a computer, the method, or a method in any possible implementation manner of any one of the first aspect to the fourth aspect is executed.

In a fourteenth aspect, a computer program product is provided, the computer program product includes computer program code, and when the computer program code is run on a computer, the method according to any one of the first aspect to the fourth aspect, Or the method in any possible implementation manner of any aspect from the first aspect to the fourth aspect is executed.

A fifteenth aspect provides a wireless communication system, including one or more of the devices involved in any one of the first to fourth aspects.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application.

Fig. 2 is a schematic interaction diagram of a communication method proposed in this application.

Fig. 3 is a schematic interaction diagram of another communication method proposed in this application.

Fig. 4 is a schematic interaction diagram of another communication method proposed in this application.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 1000 provided in this application.

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 10 provided by the present application.

Detailed ways

The technical solution in this application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The technical solution of the embodiment of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (frequency division duplex, FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (time division duplex) , TDD), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) Communication System, Fifth Generation (5th Generation, 5G) System or New Radio (new radio , NR) and future communication systems, vehicle-to-X V2X, where V2X can include vehicle to Internet (vehicle to network, V2N), vehicle to vehicle (vehicle to-vehicle, V2V), vehicle to infrastructure (vehicle to infrastructure, V2I), vehicle to pedestrian (vehicle to pedestrian, V2P), etc., long term evolution-vehicle communication technology (long term evolution-vehicle, LTE-V), vehicle networking, machine type communication (machine type communication) , MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), long term evolution-machine (LTE-M), machine to machine (M2M), etc.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 1, the communication system in this embodiment of the present application may include a network device and multiple terminal devices. A network device may include 1 antenna or multiple antennas. In addition, the network equipment may additionally include a transmitter chain and a receiver chain, and those of ordinary skill in the art may understand that they may include multiple components related to signal transmission and reception (such as processors, modulators, multiplexers, demodulator, demultiplexer or antenna, etc.).

A network device can communicate with multiple end devices. The terminal equipment in the embodiment of the present application may also be referred to as: user equipment (user equipment, UE), mobile station (mobile station, MS), mobile terminal (mobile terminal, MT), access terminal, subscriber unit, subscriber station, Mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device, etc.

A terminal device may be a device that provides voice/data connectivity to users, for example, 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, cellular phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocols protocol, SIP) telephone, wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) station, personal digital assistant (personal digital assistant, PDA), handheld device with wireless communication function, computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, Vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, terminal devices in 5G networks or terminal devices in future evolved public land mobile network (PLMN) and/or any other suitable devices for communicating on wireless communication systems , which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

Among them, wearable devices can also be called wearable smart devices, which is a general term for the application of wearable technology to intelligently design daily wear and develop wearable devices, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing and shoes. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothing or accessories. Wearable devices are not only a hardware device, but also achieve powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Generalized wearable smart devices include full-featured, large-sized, complete or partial functions without relying on smart phones, such as smart watches or smart glasses, etc., and only focus on a certain type of application functions, and need to cooperate with other devices such as smart phones Use, such as various smart bracelets and smart jewelry for physical sign monitoring.

In addition, in this embodiment of the application, the terminal device can also be a terminal device in the Internet of Things system. IoT is an important part of the development of information technology in the future. Its main technical feature is to connect items to the network through communication technology, so as to realize human An intelligent network that interconnects machines and things.

In addition, in this embodiment of the application, the terminal equipment may also include sensors such as smart printers, train detectors, and gas stations, and its main functions include collecting data (part of the terminal equipment), receiving control information and downlink data from network equipment, and sending electromagnetic waves , to transmit uplink data to the network device.

The network device in the embodiment of the present application may be a device for communicating with a terminal device, and the network device may be a global system for mobile communications (GSM) system or a code division multiple access (code division multiple access, CDMA) The base transceiver station (BTS) in the system can also be the base station B (nodeB, NB) in the wideband code division multiple access (wideband code division multiple access, WCDMA) system, and can also be the evolved base station B in the LTE system (evolved nodeB, eNB or eNodeB), can also be a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (cloud radio access network, CRAN) scenario, or a radio network controller (radio network controller, RNC), base station controller (base station controller, BSC), home base station (for example, home evolved nodeB, or home nodeB, HNB), baseband unit (baseband unit, BBU), or the network device can be a relay station, access point, vehicle equipment, wearable Devices and network devices in the 5G network or network devices in the future evolved PLMN network, etc., can be access points (access points, APs), wireless relay nodes, wireless backhaul nodes, and transmission points (transmission point) in WLANs. , TP) or transmission and reception point (transmission and reception point, TRP), etc., can be a gNB or transmission point (TRP or TP) in the new wireless system (new radio, NR) system, or one of the base stations in the 5G system Or a group (including multiple antenna panels) of antenna panels, or it can also be a network node that constitutes a gNB or a transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU), or a distributed unit (distributed unit, DU), etc. This application implements Examples are not limited.

In some deployments, a gNB may include a centralized unit (CU) and a DU. The gNB may also include an active antenna unit (active antenna unit, AAU for short). CU implements some functions of gNB, and DU implements some functions of gNB. For example, CU is responsible for processing non-real-time protocols and services, implementing radio resource control (radio resource control, RRC), packet data convergence protocol (packet data convergence protocol, PDCP) layer function. The DU is responsible for processing physical layer protocols and real-time services, realizing the functions of the radio link control (radio link control, RLC) layer, media access control (media access control, MAC) layer and physical (physical, PHY) layer. The AAU implements some physical layer processing functions, radio frequency processing and related functions of active antennas. Since the information of the RRC layer will eventually become the information of the PHY layer, or be transformed from the information of the PHY layer, under this architecture, high-level signaling, such as RRC layer signaling, can also be considered to be sent by the DU , or, sent by DU+AAU. It can be understood that the network device may be a device including one or more of a CU node, a DU node, and an AAU node. In addition, the CU can be divided into network devices in an access network (radio access network, RAN), and the CU can also be divided into network devices in a core network (core network, CN), which is not limited in this application.

In addition, in this embodiment of the application, the network equipment may include a base station (gNB), such as a macro base station, a micro base station, an indoor hotspot, and a relay node, etc., whose function is to send radio waves to terminal equipment, on the one hand to realize downlink data transmission, On the other hand, it sends scheduling information to control uplink transmission, and receives radio waves sent by terminal equipment to receive uplink data transmission.

In order to facilitate the understanding of the embodiments of the present application, several terms involved in the present application are briefly introduced below.

(1) Uplink scheduling request (scheduling request, SR): If the UE has no uplink data to transmit, the base station does not need to allocate uplink resources for the UE, otherwise resources will be wasted. Therefore, the UE needs to tell the base station whether it has uplink data to transmit, so that the base station can decide whether to allocate uplink resources to the UE, so the SR mechanism is provided to realize this function.

(2) Buffer status report (buffer status report, BSR): The UE tells the base station whether it needs uplink resources through the SR, but it does not tell the base station how much uplink data needs to be sent. Therefore, the base station needs to report the size of the data to be sent through the BSR . Generally, after the base station receives the SR, how many uplink resources it allocates to the UE depends on the implementation of the base station. A common practice is that the base station at least allocates enough resources for the UE to send the BSR.

(3) Discontinuous reception (DRX): Packet-based data streams are usually bursty. When there is no data transmission, the power consumption can be reduced by turning off the UE's receiving circuit, thereby improving battery life. The basic mechanism of DRX is to configure a DRX cycle. The DRX cycle consists of an activation period and a dormancy period: during the "activation period", the UE monitors and receives the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH); during the "sleep period" During the time, the UE does not receive data on the downlink channel to save power consumption.

(4) Wireless air interface intelligent pre-scheduling function: This function is triggered by downlink services. Once the base station sends downlink data to the terminal, considering that the terminal has a corresponding reply, there will be uplink data transmission. At the same time, there is no need to turn off the DRX feature, so as to achieve the effect of UE power saving.

(5) Uplink authorization-free scheduling (non-dynamic scheduling): The UE's uplink authorization-free resources are activated and deactivated by downlink control information (DCI). When the UE's authorization-free resources are activated, the UE can automatically Directly send physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) data on authorized resources without reporting SR and BSR first, so as to achieve the purpose of shortening the delay. When the UE does not receive the deactivation instruction, it will always Use the resources specified by the first uplink grant for uplink transmission.

(6) Mobile edge computing (mobile edge computing, MEC): Mobile edge computing refers to providing IT service environment and cloud computing capabilities at the edge of the mobile network, and sinking network services to the wireless access network side closer to mobile users. It reduces latency, realizes efficient network management and control and service distribution, and improves user experience.

(7) MEC host: It is composed of virtualized infrastructure and MEC platform (MEC Platform, MEP), which is used to carry various MEC applications (MEC APP). Among them, the virtualized infrastructure data plane is responsible for executing the traffic rules received by the mobile edge platform and realizing traffic forwarding. MEP provides middleware capabilities such as integrated deployment of MEC applications and network opening, and can host MEC services such as 5G network capabilities and business capabilities.

(8) MEC APP: A virtual machine running on the virtualization infrastructure of the MEC host, which supports interaction with MEP to build and provide MEC services. MEC applications have a series of rules and requirements, including required resources, maximum delay, available services, etc.

The method provided in the embodiment of the present application will be described in detail below.

Referring to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 is a schematic interaction diagram of a communication method proposed in this application. For ease of understanding, in this embodiment of the application, the terminal device is UE and the network device is gNB as an example for description.

S201. The UE sends multiple data packets of the first service, where the first service is a service between the UE and the MEC APP.

It should be understood that the sending path of the first service is UE→gNB→UPF→MEC APP.

S202. The UPF detects multiple data packets of the first service, and determines first information according to the multiple data packets of the first service, where the first information includes traffic characteristics of the first service.

Optionally, the traffic characteristics may include packet sending period and packet length.

In a specific implementation manner, the data packet of the first service detected by the UPF may be: the UPF receives the first configuration information, wherein the first configuration information includes a quaternion, and the quaternion is the IP and port of the terminal device and The IP and port of the MEC APP, the first configuration information is synchronized by the MEC APP to the UPF through the MEP, and the UPF can match the data packets of the first service from the service flow of the first service sent by the UE according to the first configuration information.

In a specific implementation manner, the UPF may determine the first information according to multiple data packets of the first service: the UPF may analyze the received data packets of the first service to obtain the traffic characteristics of the first service. For example: the time when the UPF receives the first data packet of the first service is T1, and the time when the second data packet of the first service is received is T2, then the time of the first service can be obtained according to the receiving time of the two data packets The sending cycle is T2-T1.

S203. The UPF sends the first information to the MEP.

Correspondingly, the MEP receives the first information from the UPF.

It should be noted that the traffic characteristics of the first service may change. Taking the packet sending cycle as an example, assuming that the first service includes 100 data packets, the cycle of the first 30 data packets is 10 ms, and the cycle of the last 70 data packets is 15 ms.

In an implementation manner, the UPF may periodically send the first service flow characteristic to the MEP, where the sending period may be preset or determined by two network elements, which is not specifically limited in this application.

In another implementation manner, after the UPF sends the traffic characteristic of the first service to the MEP for the first time, it may send the new traffic characteristic of the first service to the MEP again after the traffic characteristic of the first service changes.

Optionally, if the traffic characteristics of the first service are relatively clear, for example, if the first service is a timer task, S202 and S203 can be skipped, and the traffic characteristics of the first service can be directly configured on the MEP interface.

S204, the MEP acquires air interface parameters between the UE and the gNB.

The air interface parameters include, but are not limited to, SR configuration period, periodic BSR configuration period, ratio of uplink and downlink time slots, wireless protocol stack grouping parameters, and the like.

S205. The MEP determines the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet according to the traffic characteristics of the first service and the air interface parameters.

It can be seen that compared with the uplink scheduling in the prior art that takes effect globally for QCI, this application can accurately identify service flow characteristics for uplink services of different UEs, and then estimate the air interface resources for sending heartbeat packets according to the service flow characteristics, which improves the efficiency of the air interface. resource utilization.

In a specific implementation manner, the MEP obtains the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet meeting the minimum air interface resource consumption and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet based on the multivariate binary algorithm based on the traffic characteristics of the first service and air interface parameters.

S206. The MEP sends second information to the UE, the second information is used to instruct the UE to send the first heartbeat packet uplink, and the second information includes the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet.

Correspondingly, the UE receives the second information from the MEP.

S207, the UE sends a first heartbeat packet to the gNB according to the second information.

Optionally, if the first service is a periodic and continuous contract sending service, the UE may continuously send the first heartbeat packet during the first service sending period; if the first service is a non-continuous regular sending service, the UE may intermittently Send the first heartbeat packet.

It should also be understood that the periodical and continuous contracting service refers to the periodic contracting service with a relatively small interval, and the non-continuous regular contracting service refers to the periodic contracting service with a relatively large interval. For example: with 25ms as the judgment standard, if the period of periodic contract delivery service A is less than or equal to 25ms, service A can be regarded as a periodic contract delivery service, and if the contract period of service A is greater than 25ms, service A can be regarded as non-continuous Regular contracting business.

For ease of understanding, how the UE intermittently sends the first heartbeat packet is described here by taking the first service as a non-continuous regular packet sending service as an example. For example: the packet sending cycle of the first service is 30 minutes, the UE has just sent the Nth data packet of the first service, and the UE sends the N+1th data packet at an interval of 30 minutes, and then sends the Nth data packet at an interval of 30 minutes N+2 data packets, the UE may intermittently send the first heartbeat packet in multiple discontinuous time periods. Specifically, the UE can know how long in advance to send the first heartbeat packet before the N+1th data packet is sent according to the sending time of the first heartbeat packet in the second information, and the N+1th data packet arrives at the UE Or stop sending the first heartbeat packet for a period of time after that. Similarly, send the first heartbeat packet in advance before the N+2 data packet is sent, and stop sending the first heartbeat packet for a period of time after the N+2 data arrives at the UE In this way, in the case of a long period of sending the first business packet, the first heartbeat packet based on the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet is only sent before and after the data packet is sent, so as to avoid the continuous and uninterrupted sending of the heartbeat packet in the non-persistent periodic packet sending service resulting in wastage of resources.

Optionally, MEP can subscribe UE IP change notification from UPF or other devices. When UE IP changes due to movement and other reasons, MEP can perceive and notify UE to stop sending the first heartbeat packet by subscribing to the event, thereby avoiding resource waste.

S208, the UE receives first indication information from the gNB, where the first indication information is used to indicate a first uplink resource, and the first uplink resource is a resource allocated to the UE by the gNB based on the first heartbeat packet.

S209, the UE sends a first data packet on the first uplink resource, the first data packet is a data packet arriving at the UE after the first heartbeat packet corresponding to the first uplink resource, and the first data packet is a data packet of the first service.

In the above technical solution, sending the first uplink heartbeat packet by the UE can enable the UE to quickly enter the RRC connection state from other states, thereby eliminating the time delay caused by UE state switching during the UE establishment of a data transmission connection. In addition, sending the first heartbeat packet in advance before the data packet of the first service arrives at the UE can preempt the uplink resource in advance, so that when the data packet of the first service arrives at the terminal, the UE can directly use the reserved uplink resource to send The data packets of the first service do not need to apply for resources for data transmission or reduce the probability of applying for resources for data transmission (that is, do not need to send SRs or reduce the probability of sending SRs), thereby reducing the delay overhead caused by uplink resource scheduling.

Referring to FIG. 3 , FIG. 3 is a schematic interaction diagram of another communication method proposed in the present application. For ease of understanding, in this embodiment of the application, the terminal device is UE and the network device is gNB as an example for description.

For S301 to S305, refer to the description of S201 to S205 in FIG. 2 , and details will not be repeated here.

S306. The MEP sends the first heartbeat packet to the gNB based on the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet.

Correspondingly, the gNB receives the first heartbeat packet from the MEP.

Optionally, if the first service is a periodic and continuous contract sending service, the MEP can continuously send the first heartbeat packet during the first service contract sending period; if the first service is a non-continuous regular contract sending service, the MEP can intermittently Send the first heartbeat packet. For the explanation of the intermittent sending, refer to the description in S206, which will not be repeated here.

Optionally, the MEP can subscribe to the UE IP change notification from the UPF or other devices. When the UE IP changes due to movement or other reasons, the MEP can perceive and stop sending the first heartbeat packet by subscribing to the event.

It should be noted that in this step, when the wireless air interface intelligent pre-scheduling function is enabled by the gNB, the gNB will continue to actively grant the UE uplink authorization within a certain period of time through the transmission of the downlink heartbeat packet, so as to achieve the purpose of reducing the air interface delay.

S307. The gNB sends second indication information to the UE. The second indication information is used to indicate the second uplink resource. The second uplink resource is the resource allocated to the UE by the network device based on the first heartbeat packet. The second uplink resource is used to send the first The data packet, the first data packet is a data packet of the first service, and the first data packet is a data packet arriving at the UE after the first heartbeat packet corresponding to the second uplink resource.

Correspondingly, the UE receives the second indication information.

S308. The UE sends the first data packet on the second uplink resource.

Specifically, before the data packet of the first service is about to arrive, the MEP sends the first downlink heartbeat packet to the gNB, which can trigger the intelligent pre-scheduling function of the wireless air interface, that is, the downlink service triggers the gNB to continue sending the GNB within a certain period of time according to the intelligent pre-scheduling configuration. The UE allocates uplink resources, that is, when there is no downlink service, sending a heartbeat packet downlink triggers the base station to actively authorize uplink resources to the UE. Then, when the data packet of the first service arrives, the UE does not need to send the SR, but directly uses the uplink resource allocated by the gNB to send the data packet. Therefore, this method reduces the probability of the UE sending the SR, thereby reducing the uplink resource The delay overhead caused by scheduling.

Referring to FIG. 4 , FIG. 4 is a schematic interaction diagram of another communication method proposed in this application. For ease of understanding, in this embodiment of the application, the terminal device is UE and the network device is gNB as an example for description.

For S401 to S405, refer to the description of S201 to S205 in FIG. 2 , and details will not be repeated here.

S406. The MEP sends fourth information to the gNB, where the fourth information includes the traffic characteristic of the first heartbeat packet and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet.

Correspondingly, the UE receives fourth information from the gNB.

S407, the gNB determines according to the fourth information that the UE sends the first heartbeat packet uplink or the MEP sends the first heartbeat packet downlink.

Regarding the process of sending the first heartbeat packet uplink by the UE or sending the first heartbeat packet downlink by the MEP and the beneficial effect of the corresponding solution, please refer to the above description, which will not be further described here.

The communication method provided by the present application has been described in detail above, and the communication device provided by the present application will be introduced below.

Referring to FIG. 5 , FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 1000 provided in this application.

In a possible design, as shown in FIG. 5 , the communication device 1000 includes a sending unit 1100 , a receiving unit 1200 and a processing unit 1300 . The communication device 1000 can implement the steps or processes corresponding to the execution of the terminal device in the above method embodiments, for example, the communication device 1000 can be a terminal device, or can also be a chip or a circuit configured in the terminal device. The sending unit 1100 is used to perform the sending related operation of the terminal device in the above method embodiment, the receiving unit 1200 is used to perform the receiving related operation of the terminal device in the above method embodiment, and the processing unit 1300 is used to perform the above method embodiment End device processing related operations.

The sending unit 1100 is configured to send a plurality of data packets of the first service, wherein the first service is a service sent by the terminal device to the mobile edge computing application program MEC APP; the receiving unit 1200 is used to receive data from the mobile edge computing platform MEP receiving second information, the second information including the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet, the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to send the first heartbeat packet uplink, wherein, The second information is determined based on the traffic characteristics of the first service and air interface parameters, where the air interface parameters are parameters between the terminal device and a serving network device of the terminal device; the processing unit 1300, based on the The second information sends the first heartbeat packet to the network device; the receiving unit 1200 is further configured to receive first indication information from the network device, and the first indication information is used to indicate the first uplink resource , the first uplink resource is a resource allocated by the network device to the terminal device based on the first heartbeat packet; the sending unit 1100 is further configured to send the first uplink resource on the first uplink resource A data packet, the first data packet is a data packet arriving at the terminal device after the first heartbeat packet corresponding to the first uplink resource, and the first data packet is a data packet of the first service.

Optionally, the traffic characteristic of the first heartbeat packet meets minimum air interface resource consumption.

Optionally, the traffic characteristics include a packet sending period and a packet length.

Optionally, the sending unit 1100 and the receiving unit 1200 may be integrated into a transceiver unit, which has both receiving and sending functions, which is not limited here.

In an implementation manner, the communication apparatus 1000 may be the terminal device in the method embodiment. In this implementation manner, the sending unit 1100 may be a transmitter, and the receiving unit 1200 may be a receiver. Receiver and transmitter can also be integrated into a transceiver. The processing unit 1300 may be a processing device.

In another implementation manner, the communication apparatus 1000 may be a chip or an integrated circuit installed in a terminal device. In this implementation manner, the receiving unit 1200 and the sending unit 1100 may be communication interfaces or interface circuits. For example, the sending unit 1200 is an output interface or an output circuit, the receiving unit 1300 is an input interface or an input circuit, and the processing unit 1300 may be a processing device.

Wherein, the functions of the processing device may be realized by hardware, or may be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. For example, the processing device may include a memory and a processor, where the memory is used to store computer programs, and the processor reads and executes the computer programs stored in the memory, so that the communication device 1000 executes the operations and operations performed by the terminal device in each method embodiment. /or processing. Alternatively, the processing means may comprise only a processor, and the memory for storing the computer program is located outside the processing means. The processor is connected to the memory through circuits/wires to read and execute the computer programs stored in the memory. As another example, the processing device may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

In another possible design, the communication device 1000 includes a receiving unit 1200 and a sending unit 1100 . The communication device 1000 may implement the steps or processes corresponding to the execution of the network device in the above method embodiments, for example, the communication device 1000 may be a network device, or may also be a chip or a circuit configured in the network device. The receiving unit 1200 is configured to perform receiving-related operations of the network device in the above method embodiments, and the sending unit 1100 is configured to perform sending-related operations of the network device in the above method embodiments.

The receiving unit 1200 is configured to receive a first heartbeat packet from the mobile edge computing platform MEP, the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet are determined based on the traffic characteristics and air interface parameters of the first service , the first service is a service sent by the terminal device to the mobile edge computing application program MEC APP, and the air interface parameter is a parameter between the terminal device and the service network device of the terminal device;

A sending unit 1100, configured to send second indication information to the terminal device, where the second indication information is used to indicate a second uplink resource, and the second uplink resource is allocated by the network device based on the first heartbeat packet resources for the terminal device, the second uplink resource is used to send a first data packet, the first data packet is a data packet of a first service, and the first service is a mobile edge computing In the service sent by the application program MEC APP, the first data packet is a data packet arriving at the terminal device after the first heartbeat packet corresponding to the second uplink resource.

Optionally, the first heartbeat packet is a heartbeat packet satisfying minimum air interface resource consumption.

Optionally, the traffic characteristics include a packet sending period and a packet length.

Optionally, the communications apparatus 1000 may further include a processing unit 1300, and the processing unit 1300 is configured to perform processing-related operations of the network device in the foregoing method embodiments. For example: the processing unit 1300 is configured to enable the wireless air interface intelligent pre-scheduling function before receiving the first heartbeat packet.

Optionally, the sending unit 1100 and the receiving unit 1200 may be integrated into a transceiver unit, which has both receiving and sending functions, which is not limited here.

In an implementation manner, the communications apparatus 1000 may be the network device in the method embodiment. In this implementation manner, the sending unit 1100 may be a transmitter, and the receiving unit 1200 may be a receiver. Receiver and transmitter can also be integrated into a transceiver. The processing unit 1300 may be a processing device.

In another implementation manner, the communication apparatus 1000 may be a chip or an integrated circuit installed in a network device. In this implementation manner, the receiving unit 1200 and the sending unit 1100 may be communication interfaces or interface circuits. For example, the sending unit 1200 is an output interface or an output circuit, the receiving unit 1300 is an input interface or an input circuit, and the processing unit 1300 may be a processing device.

Wherein, the functions of the processing device may be realized by hardware, or may be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. For example, the processing device may include a memory and a processor, where the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor reads and executes the computer program stored in the memory, so that the communication device 1000 performs the operations and operations performed by the network device in each method embodiment. /or processing. Alternatively, the processing means may comprise only a processor, and the memory for storing the computer program is located outside the processing means. The processor is connected to the memory through circuits/wires to read and execute the computer programs stored in the memory. As another example, the processing device may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

In yet another possible design, the communication device 1000 includes a receiving unit 1200 and a sending unit 1100 . The communication device 1000 may implement the steps or processes corresponding to the execution of the MEP in the method embodiment above, for example, the communication device 1000 may be a MEP, or may also be a chip or a circuit configured in the MEP. The receiving unit 1200 is configured to perform receiving-related operations of the MEP in the above method embodiments, and the sending unit 1100 is configured to perform sending-related operations of the MEP in the above method embodiments.

The receiving unit 1200 is configured to obtain traffic characteristics and air interface parameters of a first service, wherein the first service is a service sent by a terminal device to a mobile edge computing application program MEC APP, and the air interface parameter is a service between the terminal device and the terminal Air interface parameters between serving network devices of devices; processing unit 1300, configured to determine the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet and the sending of the first heartbeat packet according to the traffic characteristics of the first service and the air interface parameters time; a sending unit 1100, configured to send the second information to the terminal device, the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to send a first heartbeat packet uplink, and the second information includes the first heartbeat The traffic characteristics of the packet and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet; or, the sending unit 1100 is configured to send the network device based on the traffic characteristic of the first heartbeat packet and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet Describe the first heartbeat packet.

Optionally, the traffic characteristics include a packet sending period and a packet length.

Optionally, the traffic characteristic of the first heartbeat packet meets minimum air interface resource consumption.

Optionally, the receiving unit 1200 is specifically configured to: receive first information from a user plane function network element UPF, where the first information includes the traffic characteristics of the first service.

Optionally, the receiving unit 1200 is further configured to receive third information, where the third information is used to indicate that the terminal device corresponding to the current service is different from the terminal device corresponding to the first service; the sending unit 1100 , is further configured to notify the terminal device to stop sending the first heartbeat packet; or, the sending unit 1100 is further configured to stop sending the first heartbeat packet to the network device.

Optionally, the sending unit 1100 and the receiving unit 1200 may be integrated into a transceiver unit, which has both receiving and sending functions, which is not limited here.

In an implementation manner, the communication device 1000 may be the MEP in the method embodiment. In this implementation manner, the sending unit 1100 may be a transmitter, and the receiving unit 1200 may be a receiver. Receiver and transmitter can also be integrated into a transceiver. The processing unit 1300 may be a processing device.

In another implementation manner, the communication device 1000 may be a chip or an integrated circuit installed in the MEP. In this implementation manner, the receiving unit 1200 and the sending unit 1100 may be communication interfaces or interface circuits. For example, the sending unit 1200 is an output interface or an output circuit, the receiving unit 1300 is an input interface or an input circuit, and the processing unit 1300 may be a processing device.

Wherein, the functions of the processing device may be realized by hardware, or may be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. For example, the processing device may include a memory and a processor, wherein the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor reads and executes the computer program stored in the memory, so that the communication device 1000 performs the operations performed by the MEP in each method embodiment and/or or process. Alternatively, the processing means may comprise only a processor, and the memory for storing the computer program is located outside the processing means. The processor is connected to the memory through circuits/wires to read and execute the computer programs stored in the memory. As another example, the processing device may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

In yet another possible design, the communication device 1000 includes a receiving unit 1200 and a sending unit 1100 . The communication device 1000 can implement the steps or processes corresponding to the steps or processes performed by the UPF network element in the above method embodiments. For example, the communication device 1000 can be a UPF network element, or can also be a chip or a circuit configured in the UPF network element. The receiving unit 1200 is configured to perform receiving-related operations of the UPF network element in the above method embodiments, and the sending unit 1100 is configured to perform sending-related operations of the UPF network element in the above method embodiments.

The processing unit 1300 is configured to detect multiple data packets of the first service, the first service is a service sent by the terminal device to the mobile edge computing application MEC APP; the processing unit 1300 is also configured to Multiple data packets of a service determine first information, where the first information includes traffic characteristics of the first service; the sending unit 1100 is configured to send the first information to a mobile edge computing platform MEP.

Optionally, the sending unit 1100 and the receiving unit 1200 may be integrated into a transceiver unit, which has both receiving and sending functions, which is not limited here.

In an implementation manner, the communication device 1000 may be a UPF network element in the method embodiment. In this implementation manner, the sending unit 1100 may be a transmitter, and the receiving unit 1200 may be a receiver. Receiver and transmitter can also be integrated into a transceiver. The processing unit 1300 may be a processing device.

In another implementation manner, the communication device 1000 may be a chip or an integrated circuit installed in a UPF network element. In this implementation manner, the receiving unit 1200 and the sending unit 1100 may be communication interfaces or interface circuits. For example, the sending unit 1200 is an output interface or an output circuit, the receiving unit 1300 is an input interface or an input circuit, and the processing unit 1300 may be a processing device.

Wherein, the functions of the processing device may be realized by hardware, or may be realized by executing corresponding software by hardware. For example, the processing device may include a memory and a processor, where the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor reads and executes the computer program stored in the memory, so that the communication device 1000 performs the operations performed by the UPF network element in each method embodiment and/or processing. Alternatively, the processing means may comprise only a processor, and the memory for storing the computer program is located outside the processing means. The processor is connected to the memory through circuits/wires to read and execute the computer programs stored in the memory. As another example, the processing device may be a chip or an integrated circuit.

Optionally, based on the above-mentioned embodiments, this application can also have a built-in traffic characteristic detection service module in UPF, which is responsible for the analysis of aggregated business traffic characteristics, such as business packet sending interval and message length, and periodically sends it to the hot connection control service to complete the heartbeat Packet start and stop policy judgment.

Optionally, the hot connection control service is integrated on the MEP to control the sending and stopping strategy of the heartbeat message. When the business application APP subscribes to the service, it obtains the business flow characteristics by calling the traffic characteristic detection service, and calculates the optimal cost Heartbeat packet sending interval and packet length, start heartbeat sending; when the UE IP changes due to movement and other reasons, the hot connection control service perceives and stops heartbeat sending by subscribing to events.

Optionally, the collaborative service module at the MEP deployment end (terminal) side (edge MEC) is used as a platform service, and the service subscription application programming interface (application programming interface, API) is opened to the business application MEC APP through apigw. The end-side collaborative service module applies the lightweight machine to machine protocol (LWM2M) of the IoT device to realize the end-side integrated management (agent) module (the agent deployed on the terminal device is responsible for interacting with the MEC interface) Realize terminal-side collaboration, basic operation and maintenance and other operations.

Optionally, a management (agent) module is integrated on the terminal side, which is used to interface with the terminal-side collaborative service module to complete functions such as terminal-side access authentication, configuration management, and software status monitoring.

Optionally, the hot connection execution module is integrated on the terminal device and is responsible for sending uplink heartbeat messages, or the hot connection execution module is integrated on the MEP and is responsible for sending downlink heartbeat messages, or the hot connection execution module is integrated on the network device , responsible for sending heartbeat packets (sent by the control terminal or MEP side).

Referring to FIG. 6 , FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 10 provided in the present application. The device 10 includes a processor 11, the processor 11 is coupled with a memory 12, the memory 12 is used to store computer programs or instructions and/or data, and the processor 11 is used to execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory 12, or to read the memory 12 The stored data is used to execute the methods in the above method embodiments.

Optionally, there are one or more processors 11 .

Optionally, there are one or more memories 12 .

Optionally, the memory 12 is integrated with the processor 11, or is set separately.

Optionally, as shown in FIG. 6 , the device 10 further includes a transceiver 13, and the transceiver 13 is used for receiving and/or sending signals. For example, the processor 11 is configured to control the transceiver 13 to receive and/or send signals.

As a solution, the apparatus 10 is used to implement the operations performed by the terminal device in the above method embodiments.

For example, the processor 11 is configured to execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory 12, so as to implement related operations of the terminal device in the various method embodiments above. For example, the method executed by the terminal device in any one of the embodiments shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 .

As a solution, the apparatus 10 is configured to implement the operations performed by the network device in the foregoing method embodiments.

For example, the processor 11 is configured to execute computer programs or instructions stored in the memory 12, so as to implement related operations of the network device in the above method embodiments. For example, the method executed by the network device in any one of the embodiments shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 5 .

As a solution, the apparatus 10 is used to implement the operations performed by the MEP in the above method embodiments.

For example, the processor 11 is configured to execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory 12, so as to implement related operations of the MEP in each method embodiment above. For example, the method executed by the MEP in any one of the embodiments shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 .

As a solution, the apparatus 10 is used to implement the operations performed by the UPF network element in the above method embodiments.

For example, the processor 11 is configured to execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory 12, so as to implement related operations of the UPF network element in each method embodiment above. For example, the method executed by the UPF network element in any embodiment shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 5 .

Optionally, the processor and the memory in the foregoing apparatus embodiments may be physically independent units, or the memory may also be integrated with the processor, which is not limited herein.

In addition, the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, where computer instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer instructions are run on the computer, the operations performed by the terminal device in each method embodiment of the present application are and/or process is executed.

The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, where computer instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer instructions are run on the computer, the operations performed by the network device in each method embodiment of the present application and/or or process is executed.

The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, where computer instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium. When the computer instructions are run on the computer, the operations performed by the MEP in each method embodiment of the present application and/or The process is executed.

The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, where computer instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer instructions are run on the computer, the operations performed by the UPF network element in each method embodiment of the present application and /or the process is executed.

The present application also provides a computer program product. The computer program product includes computer program codes or instructions. When the computer program codes or instructions are run on the computer, the operations and/or processes performed by the terminal device in each method embodiment of the present application are be executed.

The present application also provides a computer program product. The computer program product includes computer program codes or instructions. When the computer program codes or instructions are run on a computer, the operations and/or processes performed by the network device in each method embodiment of the present application are be executed.

The present application also provides a computer program product. The computer program product includes computer program codes or instructions. When the computer program codes or instructions are run on the computer, the operations and/or processes performed by the MEP in each method embodiment of the present application are executed. implement.

The present application also provides a computer program product. The computer program product includes computer program codes or instructions. When the computer program codes or instructions are run on the computer, the operations performed by the UPF network element in each method embodiment of the present application and/or The process is executed.

In addition, the present application also provides a chip, and the chip includes a processor. The memory used to store the computer program is set independently of the chip, and the processor is used to execute the computer program stored in the memory, so that the operations and/or processes performed by the corresponding device or network element in any one method embodiment are performed.

Further, the chip may further include a communication interface. The communication interface may be an input/output interface, or an interface circuit or the like. Further, the chip may further include the memory.

In addition, the present application also provides a communication system, including one or more of the devices or network elements involved in the embodiments of the present application.

The processor in this embodiment of the present application may be an integrated circuit chip capable of processing signals. In the implementation process, each step of the above-mentioned method embodiments may be completed by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in a processor or instructions in the form of software. The processor can be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or the processor may be any conventional processor, or the like. The steps of the methods disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware coded processor, or executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the coded processor. The software module can be located in a mature storage medium in the field such as random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory or electrically erasable programmable memory, register. The storage medium is located in the memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory, and completes the steps of the above method in combination with its hardware.

The memory in the embodiments of the present application may be a volatile memory or a nonvolatile memory, or may include both volatile and nonvolatile 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), electrically programmable Erases programmable read-only memory (electrically EPROM, EEPROM) or flash memory. 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, DRRAM). 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.

Those skilled in the art can appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of the examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented by electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are executed by hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art may use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be regarded as exceeding the scope of the present application.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that for the convenience and brevity of the description, the specific working process of the above-described system, device and unit can refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

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

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place, or may be distributed to multiple network units. Part or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

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

The term "and/or" in this application is only an association relationship describing associated objects, which means that there may be three relationships, for example, A and/or B, which may mean: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and A and B exist alone. There are three cases of B. Wherein, A, B and C may be singular or plural, without limitation.

If the functions described above are realized in the form of software function units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application is essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art or the part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including Several instructions are used to make a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes such as U disk, mobile hard disk, ROM, RAM, magnetic disk or optical disk.

The above is only a specific implementation of the application, but the scope of protection of the application is not limited thereto. Anyone familiar with the technical field can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the application. Should be covered within the protection scope of this application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be determined by the protection scope of the claims.

Claims (28)

1. A communication method, characterized in that, comprising:

   The mobile edge computing platform MEP obtains the traffic characteristics and air interface parameters of the first service, wherein the first service is a service sent by the terminal device to the mobile edge computing application program MEC APP, and the air interface parameters are the terminal device and the terminal device Air interface parameters between service network devices;

   The MEP determines the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet according to the traffic characteristics of the first service and the air interface parameters;

   The MEP sends second information to the terminal device, the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to send a first heartbeat packet uplink, and the second information includes the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet and the The sending time of the first heartbeat packet;

   or,

   The MEP sends the first heartbeat packet to the network device based on the traffic characteristic of the first heartbeat packet and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the traffic characteristics include a packet sending period and a packet length.
3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet meet minimum air interface resource consumption.
4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the MEP obtaining the traffic characteristics of the first service includes:

   The MEP receives first information from a user plane function UPF network element, where the first information includes the traffic characteristic of the first service.
5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the method further comprises:

   The MEP receives third information, where the third information is used to indicate that the terminal device corresponding to the current service is different from the terminal device corresponding to the first service;

   The MEP notifies the terminal device to stop sending the first heartbeat packet; or,

   The MEP stops sending the first heartbeat packet to the network device.
6. A communication method, characterized in that, comprising:

   The terminal device sends multiple data packets of the first service, where the first service is a service sent by the terminal device to the mobile edge computing application program MEC APP;

   The terminal device receives second information from the mobile edge computing platform MEP, the second information includes the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet, and the second information is used to indicate that the terminal The device sends a first heartbeat packet uplink, wherein the second information is determined based on the traffic characteristics of the first service and air interface parameters, and the air interface parameters are a link between the terminal device and the serving network device of the terminal device parameters between

   The terminal device sends the first heartbeat packet to the network device based on the second information;

   The terminal device receives first indication information from the network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate a first uplink resource, and the first uplink resource is allocated to the network device based on the first heartbeat packet. resources of the terminal device;

   The terminal device sends the first data packet on the first uplink resource, and the first data packet is a data packet arriving at the terminal device after the first heartbeat packet corresponding to the first uplink resource, so The first data packet is a data packet of the first service.
7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the traffic characteristic of the first heartbeat packet satisfies minimum air interface resource consumption.
8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the traffic characteristics include packet sending cycle and packet length.
9. A communication method, characterized in that, comprising:

   The network device enables the intelligent pre-scheduling function of the wireless air interface;

   The network device receives a first heartbeat packet from the mobile edge computing platform MEP, the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet are determined based on the traffic characteristics and air interface parameters of the first service, so The first service is a service sent by the terminal device to the mobile edge computing application program MEC APP, and the air interface parameter is a parameter between the terminal device and the service network device of the terminal device;

   The network device sends second indication information to the terminal device, where the second indication information is used to indicate a second uplink resource, and the second uplink resource is allocated to the terminal device by the network device based on the first heartbeat packet. The resource of the terminal device, the second uplink resource is used to send a first data packet, the first data packet is a data packet of the first service, and the first data packet is the first data packet corresponding to the second uplink resource A data packet arriving at the end device after a heartbeat packet.
10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the flow rate of the first heartbeat packet satisfies minimum air interface resource consumption.
11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the traffic characteristics include a packet sending period and a packet length.
12. A communication device, characterized by comprising:

    The receiving unit is configured to obtain the traffic characteristics and air interface parameters of the first service, wherein the first service is a service sent by the terminal device to the mobile edge computing application program MEC APP, and the air interface parameters are the terminal device and the terminal device Air interface parameters between service network devices;

    A processing unit, configured to determine the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet according to the traffic characteristics of the first service and the air interface parameters;

    a sending unit, configured to send second information to the terminal device, where the second information is used to instruct the terminal device to send a first heartbeat packet uplink, where the second information includes the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet and The sending time of the first heartbeat packet;

    or,

    A sending unit, configured to send the first heartbeat packet to the network device based on the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet.
13. The device according to claim 12, wherein the traffic characteristics include a packet sending period and a packet length.
14. The device according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the traffic characteristic of the first heartbeat packet satisfies minimum air interface resource consumption.
15. The device according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein the receiving unit is specifically used for:

    Receive first information from a user plane function UPF network element, where the first information includes the traffic characteristic of the first service.
16. Apparatus according to any one of claims 12 to 15, characterized in that

    The receiving unit is further configured to receive third information, where the third information is used to indicate that the terminal device corresponding to the current service is different from the terminal device corresponding to the first service;

    The sending unit is further configured to notify the terminal device to stop sending the first heartbeat packet;

    or,

    The sending unit is further configured to stop sending the first heartbeat packet to the network device.
17. A communication device, characterized by comprising:

    A sending unit, configured to send a plurality of data packets of the first service, wherein the first service is a service sent by the terminal device to the mobile edge computing application program MEC APP;

    The receiving unit is configured to receive second information from the mobile edge computing platform MEP, the second information includes the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet, and the second information is used to indicate the The terminal device sends the first heartbeat packet uplink, wherein the second information is determined based on the traffic characteristics of the first service and air interface parameters, and the air interface parameters are the service network equipment of the terminal device and the terminal device parameters between

    a processing unit, configured to send the first heartbeat packet to the network device based on the second information;

    The receiving unit is further configured to receive first indication information from the network device, where the first indication information is used to indicate a first uplink resource, and the first uplink resource is obtained by the network device based on the first heartbeat including resources allocated to said terminal device;

    The sending unit is further configured to send the first data packet on the first uplink resource, where the first data packet arrives at the terminal device after the first heartbeat packet corresponding to the first uplink resource A data packet, where the first data packet is a data packet of the first service.
18. The device according to claim 17, wherein the traffic characteristic of the first heartbeat packet satisfies minimum air interface resource consumption.
19. The device according to claim 17 or 18, wherein the traffic characteristics include packet sending cycle and packet length.
20. A communication device, characterized by comprising:

    The processing unit enables the wireless air interface intelligent pre-scheduling function;

    The receiving unit is configured to receive a first heartbeat packet from the mobile edge computing platform MEP, the traffic characteristics of the first heartbeat packet and the sending time of the first heartbeat packet are determined based on the traffic characteristics and air interface parameters of the first service, The first service is a service sent by the terminal device to the mobile edge computing application program MEC APP, and the air interface parameter is a parameter between the terminal device and the service network device of the terminal device;

    a sending unit, configured to send second indication information to the terminal device, where the second indication information is used to indicate a second uplink resource, and the second uplink resource is allocated to by the network device based on the first heartbeat packet; The resource of the terminal device, the second uplink resource is used to send a first data packet, the first data packet is a data packet of a first service, and the first service is a mobile edge computing application from the terminal device For services sent by the program MEC APP, the first data packet is a data packet arriving at the terminal device after the first heartbeat packet corresponding to the second uplink resource.
21. The device according to claim 20, wherein the first heartbeat packet is a heartbeat packet satisfying minimum air interface resource consumption.
22. The device according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the traffic characteristics include packet sending cycle and packet length.
23. A communication device, characterized in that it includes at least one processor, the at least one processor is coupled to at least one memory, and the at least one processor is configured to execute a computer program or an instruction stored in the at least one memory, so that The communication device performs the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, or, so that the communication device performs the method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, or, so that the The communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 9-11.
24. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that computer instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer instructions are run on a computer, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 is carried out, or, the method according to any one of claims 6 to 8 is carried out, or, the method according to any one of claims 9 to 11 is carried out.
25. A computer program product, characterized in that the computer program product includes computer program code, and when the computer program code is run on a computer, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 is executed, Or, the method according to any one of claims 6 to 8 is carried out, or, the method according to any one of claims 9 to 11 is carried out.
26. A communication device, characterized in that it includes a unit or module for implementing the method described in any one of claims 1 to 5, or includes a unit or module used for implementing the method described in any one of claims 6 to 8 A unit or module, or, comprising a unit or module for implementing the method according to any one of claims 9 to 11.
27. A system on a chip, characterized in that it includes: a processor, configured to call and run a computer program from a memory, so that a communication device equipped with the system on a chip executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 , or, make the communication device installed with the chip system execute the method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, or make the communication device installed with the chip system execute the method according to any one of claims 9 to 11 one of the methods described.
28. A communication system, characterized in that it includes:

    A mobile edge computing platform MEP is used to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5;

    A terminal device, configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 6 to 8;

    A network device, configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 9-11.

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