WO2023116355A1 - Communication method and apparatus, and related devices and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed in the present application are a communication method and apparatus, and a first device, a second device and a storage medium. The method comprises: a first device sending service data to a second device, wherein the service data is obtained by merging at least one piece of first data. In this way, the first device performs merging of the first data, and sends to the second device the service data, which is obtained by means of merging, such that the differentiated requirements of the first data of different networks can be met.

Description

Communication method, device, related equipment and storage medium

Cross References to Related Applications

This application is based on a Chinese patent application with application number 202111598137.8 and a filing date of December 24, 2021, and claims the priority of this Chinese patent application. The entire content of this Chinese patent application is hereby incorporated by reference into this application.

technical field

The present application relates to the communication field, and in particular to a communication method, device, related equipment and storage medium.

Background technique

Mobile Edge Computing (MEC, Mobile Edge Computing) technology is one of the key technologies in the evolution of the fifth generation mobile communication technology (5G). , analysis function of information technology (IT, Information Technology) general platform; relying on MEC technology, traditional external applications can be pulled into the mobile interior, closer to users, and provide localized services, thereby improving user experience and giving full play to the value of edge networks .

In the current industry application scenarios where CPE (Customer Premise Equipment) is ubiquitous, CPE is used as a conversion gateway from 5G signals to other signal standards, so that devices that do not support 5G access can access 5G networks , and access to a private network with dedicated services based on network slicing technology; however, in the actual service matching process, the network connected to the CPE presents diversification and complexity, and the end-to-end service quality (QoS , Quality of Service) guaranteed differentiated requirements and other characteristics. This also leads to the fact that the multi-standard network or differentiated network requirements of network types between the existing CPE and the terminal cannot be effectively transmitted to the MEC side, and the MEC cannot perform reasonable and effective orchestration for specific services, and ultimately cannot guarantee the end-to-end performance of the service.

Contents of the invention

Embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, device, related equipment, and storage medium.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the application is realized in this way:

In the first aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides a communication method applied to the first device, including:

Sending service data to the second device; the service data is obtained by combining at least one piece of first data.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method also includes:

Sending a first signaling and/or a first request to the second device; the first signaling is used to describe the service transmission performance; the first request is based on the transmission performance parameters of the first network and/or the transmission of the second network Determination of performance parameters;

Receive a first instruction from the second device; the first instruction is used to instruct the first device to combine data.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method also includes:

Merge the at least one piece of first data according to a preset first merging strategy and/or the first instruction to obtain the service data.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first instruction includes at least one of the following:

An identifier of the first device, a network type of the first network, a local configuration identifier, and a second merging policy.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the second merging strategy includes at least one of the following:

The identification of the application, the type of traffic ratio allocation for each application, the length of the traffic ratio allocation for each application, and the traffic ratio allocation strategy for each application;

Wherein, the flow ratio distribution type is represented by numbers and/or character strings;

The flow proportional distribution length is represented by numbers;

The traffic proportion allocation policy is represented by a character string and/or a codebook index.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the local configuration identifier is used to indicate whether the first device performs data merging according to the second merging policy sent by the second device.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the priority of the first merging strategy is higher than the priority of the second merging strategy in the first instruction.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first signaling is used to indicate at least one of the following:

The identifier of the first device, the network type of the first network, the network connection status of the first network, and the performance information of the application program.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the sending the first signaling to the second device includes at least one of the following:

Periodically send the first signaling to the second device;

Send the first signaling to the second device aperiodically.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the aperiodically sending the first signaling to the second device includes:

When it is determined that the transmission performance parameter of the first network exceeds the preset threshold, the first signaling is sent to the second device.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the transmission performance parameters include at least one of the following: throughput, delay, and packet loss rate.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first data is data transmitted through the first network.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first network is a network between the target device and the first device;

The second network is a network between the first device and the second device.

In a second aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides a communication method applied to a second device, including:

Service data from the first device is received; the service data is obtained by combining at least one piece of first data.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method also includes:

Receive the first signaling and/or the first request sent by the first device; the first signaling is used to describe the service transmission performance; the first request is based on the transmission performance parameters of the first network and/or the transmission performance parameters of the second network Determination of transmission performance parameters;

Sending a first instruction to the first device; the first instruction is used to instruct the first device to combine data.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first signaling is used to indicate at least one of the following:

The identifier of the first device, the network type of the first network, the network connection status of the first network, and the performance information of the application program.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first instruction includes at least one of the following:

An identifier of the first device, a network type of the first network, a local configuration identifier, and a second merging policy.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the second merging strategy includes at least one of the following:

The identification of the application, the type of traffic ratio allocation for each application, the length of the traffic ratio allocation for each application, and the traffic ratio allocation strategy for each application;

Wherein, the flow ratio distribution type is represented by numbers and/or character strings;

The flow proportional distribution length is represented by numbers;

The traffic proportion allocation policy is represented by a character string and/or a codebook index.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the local configuration identifier is used to indicate whether the first device performs data merging according to the second merging policy sent by the second device.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the priority of the first merging policy saved by the first device is higher than the priority of the second merging policy in the first instruction.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the transmission performance parameters include at least one of the following: throughput, delay, and packet loss rate.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first data is data transmitted through the first network.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first network is a network between the target device and the first device;

The second network is a network between the first device and the second device.

In the third aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which is set on the first device, including:

The first communication unit is configured to send service data to the second device; the service data is obtained by combining at least one piece of first data.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first communication unit is configured to send a first signaling and/or a first request to the second device; the first signaling is used to describe service transmission performance; the The first request is determined according to transmission performance parameters of the first network and/or transmission performance parameters of the second network;

Receive a first instruction from the second device; the first instruction is used to instruct the first device to combine data.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first device further includes: a first processing unit configured to merge the at least one first data according to a preset first merge policy and/or the first instruction , to obtain the business data.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first instruction includes at least one of the following:

An identifier of the first device, a network type of the first network, a local configuration identifier, and a second merging policy.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the second merging strategy includes at least one of the following:

The identification of the application, the type of traffic ratio allocation for each application, the length of the traffic ratio allocation for each application, and the traffic ratio allocation strategy for each application;

Wherein, the flow ratio distribution type is represented by numbers and/or character strings;

The flow proportional distribution length is represented by numbers;

The traffic proportion allocation policy is represented by a character string and/or a codebook index.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the local configuration identifier is used to indicate whether the first device performs data merging according to the second merging policy sent by the second device.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the priority of the first merging strategy is higher than the priority of the second merging strategy in the first instruction.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first signaling is used to indicate at least one of the following:

The identifier of the first device, the network type of the first network, the network connection status of the first network, and the performance information of the application program.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first communication unit is configured to perform at least one of the following:

Periodically send the first signaling to the second device;

Send the first signaling to the second device aperiodically.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first communication unit is configured to send the first signaling to the second device when it is determined that the transmission performance parameter of the first network exceeds a preset threshold.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the transmission performance parameters include at least one of the following: throughput, delay, and packet loss rate.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first data is data transmitted through the first network.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first network is a network between the target device and the first device;

The second network is a network between the first device and the second device.

In a fourth aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which is set on the second device, including:

The second communication unit is configured to receive service data from the first device; the service data is obtained by combining at least one piece of first data.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the second communication unit is configured to receive the first signaling and/or the first request sent by the first device; the first signaling is used to describe service transmission performance; the The first request is determined according to the transmission performance parameters of the first network and/or the transmission performance parameters of the second network;

Sending a first instruction to the first device; the first instruction is used to instruct the first device to combine data.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the second device may further include: a second processing unit configured to generate the first instruction.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first signaling is used to indicate at least one of the following:

The identifier of the first device, the network type of the first network, the network connection status of the first network, and the performance information of the application program.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first instruction includes at least one of the following:

An identifier of the first device, a network type of the first network, a local configuration identifier, and a second merging policy.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the second merging strategy includes at least one of the following:

The identification of the application, the type of traffic ratio allocation for each application, the length of the traffic ratio allocation for each application, and the traffic ratio allocation strategy for each application;

Wherein, the flow ratio distribution type is represented by numbers and/or character strings;

The flow proportional distribution length is represented by numbers;

The traffic proportion allocation policy is represented by a character string and/or a codebook index.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the local configuration identifier is used to indicate whether the first device performs data merging according to the second merging policy sent by the second device.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the priority of the first merging policy saved by the first device is higher than the priority of the second merging policy in the first instruction.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the transmission performance parameters include at least one of the following: throughput, delay, and packet loss rate.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first data is data transmitted through the first network.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first network is a network between the target device and the first device;

The second network is a network between the first device and the second device.

In a fifth aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides a first device, including: a first processor and a first communication interface; wherein,

The first communication interface is configured to send service data to the second device; the service data is obtained by combining at least one piece of first data.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first processor is configured to combine the at least one piece of first data according to a preset first combination policy and/or the first instruction to obtain the service data .

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first communication interface is further configured as:

Sending a first signaling and/or a first request to the second device; the first signaling is used to describe the service transmission performance; the first request is based on the transmission performance parameters of the first network and/or the transmission of the second network Determination of performance parameters;

Receive a first instruction from the second device; the first instruction is used to instruct the first device to combine data.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first communication interface is further configured as:

periodically sending the first signaling to the second device; and/or,

Send the first signaling to the second device aperiodically.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first communication interface is further configured as:

When it is determined that the transmission performance parameter of the first network exceeds the preset threshold, the first signaling is sent to the second device.

In a sixth aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides a second device, including: a second processor and a second communication interface; wherein,

The second communication interface is configured to receive service data from the first device; the service data is obtained by combining at least one piece of first data.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the second communication interface is further configured as:

Receive the first signaling and/or the first request sent by the first device; the first signaling is used to describe the service transmission performance; the first request is based on the transmission performance parameters of the first network and/or the transmission performance parameters of the second network Determination of transmission performance parameters;

Sending a first instruction to the first device; the first instruction is used to instruct the first device to combine data.

In some optional embodiments of the present application, the second processor is configured to generate the first instruction.

In the seventh aspect, the embodiment of the present application further provides a network device, including: a processor and a memory configured to store a computer program that can run on the processor, wherein the processor is configured to run the computer program When, execute the steps of any one of the methods described above on the first device side; or, when the processor is configured to run the computer program, execute the steps of any one of the methods described above on the second device side.

In the eighth aspect, the embodiment of the present application also provides a storage medium on which a computer program is stored, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of any one of the methods on the first device side are implemented; or, the When the computer program is executed by the processor, the steps of any one of the methods on the second device side are implemented.

The communication system, method, device, first device, second device, and storage medium provided in the embodiments of the present application, the method includes: the first device sends service data to the second device; the service data is obtained based on at least one first data combination ; The second device receives service data from the first device; the service data is obtained by combining at least one piece of first data. The solution of the embodiment of the present application implements the combination of the first data on the first device, and sends the combined service data to the second device. In this way, the differentiated requirements of the first data of different networks can be met.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system structure of an MEC in the related art;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a host layer and a system layer of an MEC in the related art;

FIG. 3 is a schematic flow diagram of a CPE accessing an MEC system in the related art;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a routing scheme of a CPE in the related art;

Fig. 5 is the structure diagram of the IP header of the network layer in the related art;

Figure 6(a) is a schematic diagram of an IP quintuple before passing through the CPE in the related art;

Figure 6(b) is a schematic diagram of another quintuple after passing through CPE in the related art;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a business scenario of an application embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic flowchart of another communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application;

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

FIG. 11 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by an application embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of another communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of the first device of the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a second device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

The application will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

In related technologies, MEC is a multi-access edge computing platform standard led by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI, European Telecommunications Standards Institute). Access to the edge computing platform, and provide more efficient business operation services by virtualizing and serving MEC applications, platforms, and resources to meet the differentiated needs of different businesses in terms of processing capabilities.

In related technologies, 3GPP provides the system framework shown in Figure 1 for the combination of 5G core network (5GC, 5G core) and MEC in standards TS23.501 and TS23.502. First of all, in order to enable low-latency, high-bandwidth, and highly-reliable edge applications in vertical industries, the UPF sinks to the campus and is close to the MEC. Through UPF’s local distribution technology, that is, the uplink filter/IPv6 branch point (UL-CL/IPv6 BP, Uplink Classifier/IPv6 Branching Point) forwards the data to the MEC platform (MEP, MEC Platform); secondly, the core network application function (AF, Application Function) sinks to the MEC platform, and the network capability opening function of the core network (NEF, Network Exposure Function) to provide better data flow control strategies (encoding strategy, QoS strategy, routing strategy, etc.) for applications deployed on MEP.

MEC platform mainly includes: MEC system-level (MEC system-level), MEC host level (MEC host level). The architecture of the host layer and system layer of MEC defined by ETSI is shown in Figure 2. Among them, MEC orchestrator (MEO, MEC orchestrator), also known as MEC application orchestrator (MEAO, MEC application orchestrator), is the core of MEC system layer management, and the supported functions include:

1) Maintain the overall view of the MEC system (that is, the overall deployment); such as MEC host deployment, MEC available resource allocation, available MEC service calls, system topology, etc.;

2) Manage the launch of the MEC application package, including: checking the integrity and authenticity of the application package; confirming the application rules and requirements, and judging whether the application rules and requirements need to be adjusted; conform to the vendor's policy; keep a record of the application package's rollout, and prepare the virtual infrastructure manager for handling the application;

3) Select an appropriate MEC host for application initialization based on constraints (such as delay, available resources, available services, etc.);

4) Trigger the start and end of the application;

5) Trigger on-demand migration of applications.

The process of CPE accessing the MEC system is shown in Figure 3. First, the CPE discovers network elements through the terminal routing selection policy (URSP, UE Route Selection Policy) or access network discovery and selection policy (ANDSP, Access Network Discovery and Selection Policy). and select a routing policy. URSP is defined in 3GPP TS 23.503 and is a set of one or more URSP rules, where a URSP rule includes the priority value of the URSP rule, flow descriptor, etc.; ANDSP is used to control the access network on the non-3GPP access network Discovery and selection of relevant UE behaviors. Secondly, the CPE performs service distribution and scheduling through the ATSSS network element. 3GPP TS23.501 describes the ATSSS architecture based on non-3GPP access. ATSSS is Access Traffic Steering, Switching, Splitting, also known as access traffic control, switching, and splitting. It is a network-level traffic aggregation technology. A user-transparent method of balancing data traffic between mobile networks and non-3GPP access. Finally, the UE transmits to the 5G core network through the 5G physical layer (PHY, Physical) and the 5G base station wireless access network (RAN, wireless access network), and then accesses the application services on the MEP.

5G CPE equipment is equivalent to 5G industrial routers. The routing scheme is the same as most routers on the market, mainly involving IP packet conversion at the network layer. Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a 5G CPE routing scheme. As shown in Figure 4, a 5G CPE is generally composed of a 5G modem (Modem) and a 5G router (Router). The 5G Modem is responsible for the 5G UE protocol stack, baseband, and radio frequency processing. , to convert 5G signals into network port signals. The 5G Router is responsible for the routing function, converting the network port data of the 5G modem (Modem) into data such as Wi-Fi and ZigBee in the LAN. Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of an IP packet header of a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP, Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) network layer.

At present, most CPEs are developed and designed based on third-party routing firmware such as DD-WRT, Tomato, OpenWRT, or derivative modified firmware. "IP quintuple" includes source IP address, source port, destination IP address, destination port, and transport layer protocol. Among them, the "identification (identification)" field in the IP message header occupies 16 bits, and the IP software maintains a counter in the memory. Whenever a datagram is generated, the counter is incremented by 1, and this value is assigned to the identification field. It is used to identify the data slices belonging to the same IP group, and the data slices belonging to the same IP group have the same identification field value. After the edge computing platform (MEP) receives the IP flow, since the source IP address has been transformed by NAT, it cannot distinguish the network type of the CPE backend from the identification field.

A related technology provides a 5G CPE forwarding method. First, terminal A sends an IP message to terminal B through 5G CPE. The destination IP address of the message is the IP address of terminal B, and the source IP address is the IP address of terminal A. address, the target MAC address is exactly the MAC address of port 1 (Port1) of its CPE, and the source MAC address is exactly the MAC address of terminal A; Figure 6 (a) is shown in the schematic diagram of the IP quintuple before passing CPE. Secondly, when the CPE receives the message and finds that the destination MAC is the local Port1 port, it indicates that the local machine needs to perform further analysis (if the destination MAC is not the local machine, it indicates that the second-layer forwarding is performed directly, and other content of the frame does not need to be analyzed. Once again, the CPE further analyzes the message and learns that the protocol type carried by the frame is IPv4 (protocol type value=0x800), that is, IPv4 forwarding is required; finally, check the IP forwarding table (FIB table, Forwarding Info Base), Knowing that the message is not sent to itself, but needs to be sent to outbound port 4 (Port4, that is, the 4G/5G cellular network interface), therefore, the CPE no longer continues to analyze the content behind the IP header; the CPE replaces the destination MAC It becomes the MAC of terminal B, replaces the source MAC with the MAC of outgoing port 4 (Port4), converts the source IP address into a public IP address through NAT, and sends the message from port 4 (Port4); as shown in Figure 6(b ) is shown in the schematic diagram of the IP quintuple after passing through the CPE.

In the current industry application scenarios where CPE is common, CPE is used as a conversion gateway from 5G signals to other signal formats (Wi-Fi, optical fiber, cable, HDMI, Bluetooth, etc.), to meet the needs of medical devices that do not support 5G access. Access to the 5G network, and access to the medical dedicated network built based on network slicing technology and dedicated medical services; however, in the actual service matching process, the network connected to the CPE presents diversification and complexity (Wi -Fi, optical fiber, cable, HDMI, Bluetooth, etc.), differentiated requirements for service end-to-end QoS guarantees, etc., as shown in Figure 7, the following provides several service scenarios:

Business scenario 1: Accessing CPE through Wi-Fi and accessing application services on MEC generally bears the requirements for network quality (throughput, end-to-end delay, service level agreement (SLA, Service Level Agreement) guarantee, etc.) Low-cost services, such as office automation (OA, Office Automation) applications, public applications, etc.

Business scenario 2: Connect to CPE through optical fiber or cable and access application services on MEC, usually services that require high network quality (throughput, end-to-end delay, SLA guarantee, etc.), such as medical imaging equipment, medical Ultrasound equipment and other medical testing or monitoring equipment, etc.

Business scenario 3: Accessing CPE through Bluetooth, LoRa (LORA), etc. and accessing application services on MEC is a business that requires high latency but low throughput, such as positioning services, device management and control services, etc. . This type of business needs to update location information or accept instructions in real time to ensure the accuracy and speed of business execution.

Business scenario 4: Access to CPE and access application services on the MEC through the tunnel mode of Internet Protocol Security (IPSec, Internet Protocol Security) virtual private network (VPN, Virtual Private Network), mainly for services that require particularly high data security .

In order to enable the CPE to effectively support the business scenarios of the four vertical industries mentioned above, the orchestrator (MEAO/MEO) on the MEC side needs to be able to identify different service types or access network types connected to the CPE, and all The end-to-end transmission quality requirements of the accessed business or network (transmission throughput, transmission delay, transmission SLA, etc.); so that the MEC orchestrator (MEAO/MEO) can arrange the application services on the MEC. Guarantee the differentiated requirements for services or network performance connected to the CPE. For the 5G CPE implemented based on the existing IP layer protocol, there are two key technical problems:

1. For many-to-one scenarios, for example, the mixed IP data flow of business scenario 1, business scenario 2, and business scenario 3. According to the routing method of the above CPE, since the source IP address of the IP packet header has been converted into a public IP address by NAT, "the network or service IP data flow connected to the CPE by the back end" and "the IP address of the CPE connected to the MEC Data flow” does not form a mapping relationship. Therefore, the existing technology cannot judge the network or service type accessed by the CPE from the IP data packet of the 5G cellular port of the CPE. The MEC orchestrator MEAO/MEO cannot dynamically base the access Priority of network data to CPE to ensure differentiated transmission requirements of services.

2. For "one-to-one" scenarios, such as the single IP data flow in business scenario 4. According to the VPN function of the CPE mentioned above, since the IPSec VPN tunnel method encrypts the IP data flow (including the IP header) and then encapsulates an external network IP header, the backend access to the CPE network (service) through the "IPSec VPN method" The mapping relationship between "IP data flow" and "IP data flow connected from CPE to MEC" cannot be formed. The existing technology still cannot identify the IPSec data flow connected to CPE. The priority of CPE's network (service) data to ensure the differentiated transmission requirements of services.

The problems existing in the above-mentioned existing CPE will cause the differentiated network requirements of the multi-standard network or network type between the 5G CPE and the terminal to be unable to be effectively transmitted to the MEC side, and the orchestrator MEAO/MEO of the MEC service system cannot obtain the network type (or business type) information, which cannot be reasonably and effectively arranged for specific services, and ultimately cannot guarantee the end-to-end performance of the business.

Based on this, in various embodiments of the present application, the first device is used to send service data to the second device; the second device is used to receive service data from the first device; the service data is based on at least one first A combination of data obtained.

Fig. 8 is a schematic flow diagram of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application; as shown in Fig. 8, the method is applied to a first device, and the method includes:

Step 801. Send service data to a second device; the service data is obtained by combining at least one piece of first data.

In actual application, the first device is a CPE;

The second device is a multi-access edge computing device (MEC, Multi-access Edge Computing), and may also be other information technology ( IT) common platform.

The embodiment of the present application does not limit the names of the first device and the second device, as long as the functions of the first device and the second device can be realized.

In some embodiments, the method also includes:

Merge the at least one piece of first data according to a preset first merging strategy and/or the first instruction to obtain the service data.

Here, the first merging policy is a local merging policy saved by the first device; the merging policy is used to indicate a manner of merging the first data. The first data is data to be uploaded to the second device.

After the first device receives the first data transmitted through different network types and/or with different service requirements, in an example, the first terminal may determine the way to combine the first data according to the local combining strategy, and according to the determined combining first data merging the at least one first data in the form of one data to obtain the service data;

In another example, the first terminal determines the second merging strategy sent by the second device according to the first instruction sent by the second device, and may also determine the method of merging the first data according to the second merging strategy. Merge the at least one first data in a data manner to obtain the service data.

In another example, the first terminal determines the method of merging the first data according to the first merging strategy and/or the second merging strategy (one of which can be selected, or one can be selected according to the priority of different preset merging strategies). and merging the at least one piece of first data according to the determined way of merging the first data to obtain the service data.

In some embodiments, the method also includes:

Sending a first signaling and/or a first request to the second device; the first signaling is used to describe the service transmission performance; the first request is based on the transmission performance parameters of the first network and/or the transmission of the second network Determination of performance parameters;

Receive a first instruction from the second device; the first instruction is used to instruct the first device to combine data.

The first signaling, the first request, and the first instruction are respectively described below.

The first signaling is used to describe service transmission performance, and may also be described as service transmission performance reporting (PRTL, Performance reporting of traffic link to UE) of the first network. The first network refers to the network between the target device (eg, medical device) and the first device.

Here, considering that any system has different degrees of signaling transmission delay, and the performance index of the service is also changing in real time, the first device (such as CPE) sends the first signaling (that is, PRTL) to the second device (such as MEC). ) has two important functions: one is to allow the second device (such as MEC) to quickly adapt to the transmission changes of the back-end network or services of the first device (such as CPE), and the other is to avoid uploading the first information to the first device too frequently. order (that is, PRTL), to ensure that the network transmission overhead is controllable. That is, according to different business needs, the second device (such as MEC) can quickly adapt to the transmission changes of the back-end network or services of the first device (such as CPE) within a certain range of signaling transmission delay.

In some embodiments, the first signaling is used to indicate at least one of the following:

The identifier of the first device, the network type of the first network, the network connection status of the first network, and the performance information of the application program.

Here, in order to support the technical solution of the first signaling of the first device, it is necessary to feed back the identification of the first device, the network type of the first network, and the network connection of the first network in the uplink transmission signaling or data field of the first device. At least one of status and performance information of the application program is shown in Table 1, the data structure table of the first signaling (that is, PRTL).

Table 1

For the "identification of CPE", its implementation can be Media Access Control Address (MAC, Media Access Control Address), International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI, International Mobile Subscriber Identity), Identity Identification Number (ID, Identity document) and other description methods. When using the MAC address description method, use the MAC address of the CPE as the globally unique identifier, such as "2A:DA:0B:84:03:9B"; when using the IMSI, use the IMSI of the mobile phone card provided by the operator as the Identifier; when using the ID expression method, use the mobile phone number or the IMEI corresponding to the CPE or the factory serial number set by the manufacturer as the identifier.

For the "network type", its implementation can be index array, string array or Bitmap. Suppose CPE supports wireless communication technology (Wi-Fi, Wireless Fidelity), Bluetooth, infrared, narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT, Narrow Band Internet of Things), high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI, High Definition Multimedia Interface), optical fiber, VPN, etc. Network Type. Assume that there are three types of networks currently connected to the CPE, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and optical fiber; Enter the index array; when using the string expression, you can use "Wi-Fi" to represent the wireless LAN Wi-Fi network, "Bluetooth" to represent Bluetooth, "fiber" to represent optical fiber, and then "Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, fiber" Put it into a string array; when using the bitmap expression method, use an 8-bit or 16-bit bitmap, and set the bit 0, 1, and 5 to 1, which respectively represent Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optical fiber 3 networks, and others is 0 by default.

For "Network Connection Status", the implementation can be Boolean or String. When using Boolean expression, you can use 1 to indicate that the network connection is normal, use 0 to indicate that the network is abnormally disconnected; when using a string expression, use "up" to indicate that the network connection is normal, use "down" to indicate that the network is abnormally disconnected . Only when the network connection status of the CPE is normal, the STC indication will be sent, otherwise it will not be sent.

For the "performance information of the application program", at least include the application identification, throughput, delay, and packet loss rate. The detailed implementation of the included information is described as follows:

For "application identification (appD)", its implementation is the application description appD in the ETSI MEC protocol. When using the appD expression, the attribute field of appD includes the application identity (appDId), application name (appName), application provider (appProvider), application software version (appSoftVersion), application version number (appDVersion ), application information name (appInfoName), application description (appDescription), virtual computing descriptor (virtualComputeDescriptor), application exposed external interface (appExtCpd), application required service (appServiceRequired), application business option (appServiceOptional ), application-produced services (appServiceProduced), application required features (appFeatureRequired), application optional features (appFeatureOptional), transport dependencies (transportDependencies), application routing rules (appTrafficRule), application DNS rules (appDNSRule ), application latency (appLatency), configuration parameters for terminating application instance operations (terminateAppInstanceOpConfig), and configuration parameters for changing application instance state (changeAppInstanceStateOpConfig).

For "throughput", it means the maximum data rate that the CPE can receive and forward without frame loss. Its implementation is an integer, and the unit is bits per second (bps) or bits per megabyte (Mbps) or other .

For "delay", it means the time required to receive forwarding from a CPE backend to the front-end egress, and its implementation is an integer, and the unit is milliseconds or seconds, for example, 3ms.

For the "packet loss rate", it refers to the percentage of lost packets in the transmission packets during the network transmission process, and its implementation is expressed in floating-point numbers, such as 3.5%.

In some embodiments, the sending the first signaling to the second device includes at least one of the following:

Periodically send the first signaling to the second device;

Send the first signaling to the second device aperiodically.

In some embodiments, the aperiodically sending the first signaling to the second device includes:

When it is determined that the transmission performance parameter of the first network exceeds the preset threshold, the first signaling is sent to the second device.

Wherein, the first network is a network between the target device and the first device; for example, the target device may be a medical device, and the first network is a network between the medical device and the CPE. The network type of the first network includes at least one of the following: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, NB-loT, LoRa, infrared network and the like.

The transmission performance parameters include at least one of the following: throughput, delay, and packet loss rate.

That is, the trigger strategy of the first signaling (that is, the PRTL) includes two modes: periodic triggering and aperiodic triggering.

Periodic triggering refers to: no matter whether the transmission performance of the first network changes, it uploads to the second device (such as MEC) at regular intervals (which can be pre-set by the developer, or set by the user) The first signaling (ie PRTL), the period unit of time can be milliseconds, seconds, minutes, hours, etc.;

Aperiodic trigger: In order to avoid frequently uploading the first signaling (ie PRTL) to the second device (such as MEC), causing unnecessary network resource overhead, only when the change in the transmission performance of the first network exceeds the trigger condition threshold, the first signaling (that is, PRTL) is sent to the second device (such as MEC). Trigger conditions can be combined using "and (and)/or (or)" logic conditions. The embodiment of the trigger condition of the change of the transmission performance parameter (throughput, time delay, packet loss rate) of the first network is as shown in the following table 2, the trigger condition table of the transmission performance parameter change of the first network:

the	throughput	time delay	Packet loss rate	Combination conditions
Trigger condition A	2.1%	1.8%	3%	and
Trigger condition B	2.8%	1.3%	1%	or
Trigger condition C.	3.0%	2%	1.5%	mix

Table 2

The throughput is the change percentage threshold, recorded as throughput_per;

The time delay is the change percentage threshold, recorded as delay_per;

The packet loss rate is a change percentage threshold, which is recorded as loss_per.

Specifically, the thresholds in Table 2 can be adjusted according to the actual business situation. For example, the trigger conditions can be obtained according to Table 2 as follows:

Trigger condition A: (throughput_per>2.1%) and (delay_per>1.8%) and (loss_per>3%);

Trigger condition B: (throughput_per>2.8%) or (delay_per>1.3%) or (loss_per>1%);

Trigger condition C: (throughput_per>3.0% and delay_per>2%) or (loss_per>1.5%).

When any one of the above trigger conditions is met, the first signaling is uploaded.

Preferably, when triggering non-periodically, a time window (for example, 10s) can be added before the trigger condition, and only when the set time window is exceeded, the above trigger condition can be judged, which can further avoid network transmission resource overhead.

The time window can be fixed or variable. When the first signaling (ie PRTL) is triggered more frequently, the time window can be appropriately increased; when the first signaling (ie PRTL) is less triggered, the time window can be appropriately reduced window.

In some embodiments, the first instruction is used to instruct the first device to perform data combination, and may also be described as a service traffic combination instruction (STC, Strategy of traffic combination at UE) of the first network.

The first instruction includes at least one of the following:

An identifier of the first device, a network type of the first network, a local configuration identifier, and a second merging policy.

Wherein, the second merging strategy includes at least one of the following:

The identification of the application, the type of traffic ratio allocation for each application, the length of the traffic ratio allocation for each application, and the traffic ratio allocation strategy for each application;

Wherein, the flow ratio distribution type is represented by numbers and/or character strings;

The flow proportional distribution length is represented by numbers;

The traffic proportion allocation policy is represented by a character string and/or a codebook index.

The local configuration identifier is used to indicate whether the first device performs data merging according to the second merging policy sent by the second device.

There is a coupling relationship between the local configuration identifier and the second merging strategy. When the local configuration identifier allows the first device (such as CPE) to locally configure the combination of application data, the following situations and processing procedures and methods exist, as follows:

The priority of the local configuration is higher than the configuration issued from the second device (such as MEC), that is, in some embodiments, the priority of the first merging strategy may be higher than the second merging strategy in the first instruction the priority of the strategy;

When the local configuration is missing, use the configuration issued by the second device (such as MEC);

When the local configuration and the configuration of the second device (such as the MEC) exist simultaneously, the first device (such as the CPE) uses the local configuration.

Specifically, the first device (such as CPE) can complete the data merging and "many-to-one" mapping functions according to the received first command (ie, STC), as shown in Table 3, the data of the first command (ie, STC) shown in the structure table. When the first device (eg, CPE) does not receive the STC, it executes according to the default traffic combining strategy, that is, the first combining strategy.

table 3

For the "identification of the CPE" and the "type of the network", the implementation is the same as that of the "identification of the CPE" and the "type of the network" in Table 1, which will not be repeated here.

For the "local configuration identifier", its implementation can be a Boolean parameter or a string. When Boolean parameters are used, if the local configuration flag is 1, local configuration is allowed; if the local configuration flag is 0, local configuration is not allowed. When using a string, if the local configuration flag is "true", local configuration is allowed, and if the local configuration flag is "false", local configuration is not allowed.

For the "second merging strategy", it at least includes the identification of the application, the traffic proportion distribution type of each application program, the traffic proportion distribution length of each application program, and the traffic proportion distribution policy of each application program.

For the "identification of the application program (appD)", the implementation manner is the same as that of the "identification of the application program (appD)" in Table 1, and will not be repeated here. Each application ID corresponds to corresponding traffic ratio distribution parameters, including traffic ratio distribution type, traffic ratio distribution length, and traffic ratio distribution strategy.

For the "traffic ratio allocation type (quota_type)", its implementation can be a number or a character string. When using numbers, if quota_type is 1, it means allocation according to time latitude; if quota_type is 2, it means allocation according to storage space latitude. When using a character string, if the quota_type is "time", it means to allocate according to the time latitude; if the quota_type is "memory", it means to allocate according to the storage space latitude.

For the "flow proportional allocation length (quota_length)", its implementation can be a number. When quota_type is 1, it indicates the allocated transmission time length, and the unit can be milliseconds or seconds, such as 100ms, 10s, etc. When quota_type is 2, it indicates the length of the allocated storage space, and the unit can be Byte, KB, MB, GB, such as 10KB, 5MB, etc.

For the "traffic proportional allocation strategy (quota_strategy)", its implementation may be a character string or a proportional allocation codebook index, or other equivalent descriptions. In the character string description mode, take quota_strategy="App1, 40%; App2, 30%; App3, 20%; App4, 10%" as an example, and when quota_type=1 and quota_length=10s, the expressed Yes in 10 seconds, App 1 transmits 4 seconds, App 2 transmits 3 seconds, App 3 transmits 2 seconds, App 4 transmits 1 second. In the scenario where quota_type=2 and quota_length=100MB, it means that application 1 transmits 40MB of data, application 2 transmits 30MB of data, application 3 transmits 20MB of data, and application 4 transmits 10MB of data.

Preferably, under the implementation scheme in which the traffic ratio allocation strategy (quota_strategy) is a ratio allocation codebook index, the traffic ratio allocation strategy is configured in a codebook manner. In this indication mode, one quota_strategy ID can represent multiple multi-channel data traffic merging strategies. For example, when three application programs are connected to the terminal or the networks are A, B, and C respectively, it is assumed that the codebook set is 8 at the same time. As shown in Table 4 and the codebook index table, each column represents the data transmission ratio of each service or network. For example, as can be seen from Table 3, when ID=0 (corresponding to the column where P0 is located), the encoding codebook is [1 0 0], which means that only the data of A is sent; when ID=3 (corresponding to When the column where P3 is located), the encoding codebook is [1/3 1/3 1/3], which means that A/B/C each account for 1/3 of the sent data; when ID=5, the encoding codebook is [ 0.7 0.1 0.2], which means that A sends 70% of the data, B sends 10% of the data, and C sends 20% of the data.

the	P0	P1	P2	P3	P4	P5	P6	P7	P8
The distribution ratio corresponding to A	1	0	0	1/3	0.2	0.7	0.34	0.4	0.5
Corresponding to the distribution ratio of B	0	1	0	1/3	0.5	0.1	0.53	0.4	0.2
The distribution ratio corresponding to C	0	0	1	1/3	0.3	0.2	0.13	0.2	0.3

Table 4

In some embodiments, the first request is determined according to transmission performance parameters of the first network and/or transmission performance parameters of the second network;

The first request may also be described as a service traffic combination indication (STC, Strategy of traffic combination at UE).

In actual application, the first device (such as CPE) actively sends information to the second device (such as MEC) based on the transmission performance of the first network and the transmission performance between the first device (such as CPE) and the second device (such as MEC). ) to apply for a new traffic combining strategy, that is, a second combining strategy. That is, the first request is sent to the second device (such as the MEC).

The data structure of the first request (that is, the TCR) is shown in Table 5 and the data structure table of the TCR.

parameter name	type of data	illustrate
CPE identification	string	The global uniqueness used to identify the CPE

Network Type	number or string	Used to indicate the type of network between the CPE and the terminal
second merge strategy	structure	Used to proactively apply to the MEC for a new traffic consolidation strategy

table 5

For the "identification of the CPE" and the "type of the network", the implementation is the same as that of the "identification of the CPE" and the "type of the network" in Table 1, which will not be repeated here.

For the "second merging strategy", the implementation is the same as the "second merging strategy" in Table 3, which will not be repeated here.

The triggering strategy of the first request (that is, TCR) may be an aperiodic triggering manner. The first device (such as CPE) comprehensively evaluates the transmission performance of the first network and the transmission performance between the first device (such as CPE) and the second device (such as MEC). ) sends the first request (ie TCR). The first request (that is, TCR) to meet the trigger condition needs to meet the following two conditions at the same time:

1), the change of the transmission performance index (referring to the transmission performance index between the target device and the first device) of the first network of the first device (such as CPE) does not meet the trigger strategy of the first signaling (ie PRTL);

2) The transmission performance change of the transmission index (throughput, delay, packet loss rate) between the first device (such as CPE) and the second device (such as MEC) reaches a threshold. The change of the performance index between the first device (such as CPE) and the second device (such as MEC) refers to the trigger strategy of the first signaling (that is, PRTL), and sets the trigger threshold and trigger combination of each transmission index according to the actual needs of the business. I won't go into details here.

In some embodiments, the method further includes generating a first request.

Specifically, the first device (such as the CPE) can comprehensively determine and generate the first request ( ie TCR). Based on the above description about the first signaling (that is, PRTL), it can be seen that the first signaling (that is, PRTL) will be sent when the transmission performance index of the first network changes too much, so the generation of the first request (that is, TCR) mainly considers the first device A change in the network performance index between the second device and the second device.

The relevant embodiment of generating the first request (ie TCR) is as follows:

1) When the delay change between the first device (such as CPE) and the second device (such as MEC) is too large, and the percentage of delay change exceeds a certain threshold, the quota_type in the first request (ie TCR) is set to Time latitude, that is, set quota_type to 1. When the implementation method of quota_strategy is a string, for applications with low latency requirements, the proportion of traffic allocation time is smaller; for applications with high latency requirements, the proportion of time for traffic allocation is more. When the implementation method of quota_strategy is codebook index, for applications with low latency requirements, the codebook index should use an index with a smaller time ratio; for applications with high latency requirements, its codebook index should use a more time ratio index.

2) When the throughput between the first device (such as CPE) and the second device (such as MEC) changes too much, and the percentage of throughput change exceeds a certain threshold, the quota_type in the TCR is set to the spatial latitude, that is, the quota_type is set to for 2. When the implementation method of quota_strategy is a string, for applications with low throughput requirements, the proportion of space allocation is smaller; for applications with high throughput requirements, the proportion of space allocation is more. When the implementation method of quota_strategy is codebook index, for applications with low throughput requirements, the codebook index should use an index with a smaller space ratio; for applications with high throughput requirements, its codebook index should use a more space ratio index.

When the delay and throughput between the first device (such as CPE) and the second device (such as MEC) vary greatly, you can choose to use the delay index or the throughput index as the standard according to the actual needs of the business.

In some embodiments, the first data is data transmitted through the first network.

Here, the network type of the first network includes at least one of the following: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, NB-loT, LoRa, infrared network, and the like.

During application, the target device communicates with the first device, and the first device communicates with the second device;

The first network is a network between the target device and the first device; for example, the target device may be a medical device, and the first network is a network between the medical device and the CPE. The first network may also be described as a second-hop network; correspondingly, the second-hop performance index refers to the transmission performance index of the second-hop network; the second-hop data is data transmitted by the second-hop network.

The second network is a network between the first device and the second device, and the second network may also be described as a first-hop network.

Here, the target device is a device involved in an actual application, such as a medical device.

Correspondingly, FIG. 9 provides a schematic flowchart of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in FIG. 9, the method is applied to a second device, and the method includes:

Step 901. Receive service data from a first device; the service data is obtained by combining at least one piece of first data.

In actual application, the first device is a CPE;

The second device is a mobile edge computing device (MEC), and may also be other general information technology (IT) platforms with wireless network information application programming interface (API) interaction capabilities, and computing, storage, and analysis functions.

The embodiment of the present application does not limit the names of the first device and the second device, as long as the functions of the first device and the second device can be realized.

In some embodiments, the method also includes:

Receive the first signaling and/or the first request sent by the first device; the first signaling is used to describe the service transmission performance; the first request is based on the transmission performance parameters of the first network and/or the transmission performance parameters of the second network Determination of transmission performance parameters;

Sending a first instruction to the first device; the first instruction is used to instruct the first device to combine data.

In some embodiments, the method further includes: generating a first instruction.

Taking the second device as an MEC as an example, according to the above functional description of the MEC orchestrator MEO, the data that MEO can obtain includes time delay, available MEC services, and available MEC resources. Here, the time delay is the first device (such as CPE ) and the second device (such as MEC), the specific performance indicators of each application of the second-hop service cannot be obtained, so it is necessary to analyze and judge the performance indicators of each application of the second-hop service to generate The first command (ie STC).

According to different business needs, the M-TMMM module can quickly generate and issue the first command (ie STC) within a certain range of signaling transmission delays to adapt to the back-end network of the first device (such as CPE) Or business transmission changes. After the MEO obtains the performance parameters of the second-hop service data, it allocates different traffic ratios according to the actual needs of the service according to the different requirements of delay and throughput. The relevant embodiment of generating the first instruction (ie STC) is as follows:

For applications that require latency, set quota_type to 1 based on the time latitude. When the implementation method of quota_strategy is a character string, for applications with low latency requirements, the proportion of time for traffic allocation is relatively small; for applications with high latency requirements, the proportion of time for traffic allocation is relatively large. When the implementation method of quota_strategy is codebook index, for applications with low latency requirements, the codebook index uses an index with a smaller time ratio; for applications with high latency requirements, its codebook index uses an index with a larger time ratio;

For applications that require throughput, set quota_type to 2 based on the spatial latitude. When the implementation method of quota_strategy is a string, for applications with low throughput requirements, the proportion of space allocation is relatively small; for applications with high throughput requirements, the proportion of space allocation is relatively large. When the implementation method of quota_strategy is codebook index, for applications with low throughput requirements, the codebook index uses an index with a smaller space ratio; for applications with high throughput requirements, its codebook index uses an index with a larger space ratio;

For applications that require both delay and throughput, the requirements for delay or space indicators can be prioritized according to different services.

Specifically, the rules may be preset and stored in the second device, and the second merging strategy may be determined based on the preset rules during application.

In some embodiments, the first signaling is used to indicate at least one of the following:

The identifier of the first device, the network type of the first network, the network connection status of the first network, and the performance information of the application program.

In some embodiments, the first instruction includes at least one of the following:

An identifier of the first device, a network type of the first network, a local configuration identifier, and a second merging policy.

In some embodiments, the second merging strategy includes at least one of the following:

The identification of the application, the type of traffic ratio allocation for each application, the length of the traffic ratio allocation for each application, and the traffic ratio allocation strategy for each application;

Wherein, the flow ratio distribution type is represented by numbers and/or character strings;

The flow proportional distribution length is represented by numbers;

The traffic proportion allocation policy is represented by a character string and/or a codebook index.

In some embodiments, the local configuration identifier is used to indicate whether the first device performs data merging according to the second merging policy sent by the second device.

In some embodiments, the priority of the first merging policy saved by the first device is higher than the priority of the second merging policy in the first instruction.

In some embodiments, the transmission performance parameters include at least one of the following: throughput, delay, and packet loss rate.

In some embodiments, the first data is data transmitted through the first network.

In some embodiments, the first network is a network between the target device and the first device;

The second network is a network between the first device and the second device.

Other descriptions about the first signaling, the first request, and the first instruction have been described in detail in the method shown in FIG. 8 , and will not be repeated here.

Through the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the first device (such as CPE) can effectively support the above-mentioned four scenarios (business scenario 1, business scenario 2, business scenario 3, and business scenario 4), thereby ensuring that the uplink data During the transmission process, as well as the differentiated requirements of the services connected to the CPE or network performance.

The second device (such as MEC) can effectively identify the network type or service type between the first device (such as CPE) and the terminal, as well as the differentiated requirements for transmission performance, and can effectively guarantee the communication between the first device (such as CPE) and the terminal. Differentiated requirements for transmission performance of inter-network or business.

The first device, the second device, and the system architecture realized by the above solutions are operable, safer, implementable, and evolving, and more suitable for vertical industry customer needs.

Fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application; as shown in Fig. 10 , the communication system includes: a first device and a second device; the first device is a CPE; the second device for MEC.

In the following, description will be made by taking the first device as a CPE and the second device as an MEC as an example.

On the premise of not changing the physical layer, the CPE adds or has a traffic mapping module (M-TMM), and the orchestrator MEO of the MEC adds or has a traffic mapping management module (M-TMMM).

Traffic merging and mapping refers to the "many-to-one" merging and mapping function of multiple CPE second-hop data to the cellular network, hereinafter referred to as "traffic merging" or "traffic mapping". Among them, the functions of the traffic mapping module and the traffic mapping management module are as follows:

Traffic mapping module (M-TMM, Multiple traffic mapping module): carried on the CPE, realizes the traffic merging and mapping function of multiple networks or service data connected to the CPE to the 5G transmission channel, through which the CPE can be effectively guaranteed The transmission performance guarantee of multiple networks or services between the terminal and the terminal, such as key performance indicators such as transmission rate, transmission delay, and packet loss rate.

Traffic mapping management module (M-TMMM, Multiple traffic mapping management module): carried in the MEC system, realizes the second merged policy management function for the CPE side back-end multi-access network or business data, through which effective decision-making and Instruct the CPE backend network or service transmission method.

Signaling interaction: The traffic mapping module is managed by the traffic mapping management module. Through the signaling interaction between the traffic mapping module and the traffic mapping management module, the SLA transmission performance guarantee for the network or business between the CPE and the terminal is realized.

In this embodiment, the first hop network refers to the network between the CPE and the MEC, and the second hop network refers to the network between the CPE and the medical equipment. The signaling interaction process between the traffic mapping module in the CPE and the traffic mapping management module in the MEC system is shown in Figure 11 . It includes at least the following steps:

Step 1101, the CPE sends the service transmission performance of the second hop network to the MEC (PRTL, Performance reporting of traffic link to UE);

Specifically, the actual transmission performance of the network or service connection connected to the CPE is reported to the traffic mapping management module on the MEC side. It should be noted that the network or service connection connected to the CPE refers to the connection established with the CPE through Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, HDMI, optical fiber, network cable or APP.

The network connected to the CPE refers to the second-hop network, such as the network connected to the CPE by medical equipment.

The PRTL is equivalent to the first signaling in the methods shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 , which has been described in detail in the methods shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 , and will not be repeated here.

Step 1102, the CPE receives the service traffic combination indication (STC, Strategy of traffic combination at UE) of the second hop network sent by the MEC;

According to the service transmission performance of the CPE's second-hop network reported by the CPE, the traffic mapping management module on the MEC side performs policy scheduling for the traffic on the CPE side, and sends the policy scheduling content to the CPE through the STC. The CPE, based on the received STC, Complete data merging and mapping functions.

The STC is equivalent to the first instruction in the methods shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 , which has been detailed in the methods shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 , and will not be repeated here.

Step 1103, the CPE sends the service data transmission (DTC, Data transmission at CPE) of the second hop network to the MEC;

The CPE completes the assembling and merging of the service data of the second hop of the CPE according to the service flow merging instruction received from the second hop network, and completes the data transmission process from the CPE to the MEC side.

The method may also include:

Step 1101-1, the CPE sends a service traffic combination request (TCR, Traffic combination requirement at UE) of the second hop network to the MEC;

Specifically, according to the transmission performance of the second-hop network and the transmission performance of the first-hop network, the CPE can actively apply for a new traffic combination method from the traffic mapping management module on the MEC side, so as to quickly adapt to the CPE back-end network or service transmission changes.

The TCR is equivalent to the first request in the methods shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 , which has been described in detail in the methods shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 , and will not be repeated here.

The step 1102-1 may be executed simultaneously with the step 1102, or may be performed before or after the step 1102, which is not limited here.

It should be noted that, for specific embodiments of the above technical solution, PRTL, STC, DTC, and TCR, reference may be made to the methods shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 , and details are not repeated here.

In order to implement the method on the first device side of the embodiment of the present application, the embodiment of the present application also provides a communication device, which is set on the first device, as shown in FIG. 12 , the device includes:

The first communication unit 1201 is configured to send service data to the second device; the service data is obtained by combining at least one piece of first data.

In some embodiments, the first communication unit 1201 is further configured to send a first signaling and/or a first request to the second device; the first signaling is used to describe service transmission performance; the first The request is determined based on transmission performance parameters of the first network and/or transmission performance parameters of the second network;

Receive a first instruction from the second device; the first instruction is used to instruct the first device to combine data.

In some embodiments, the first device further includes: a first processing unit 1202 configured to merge the at least one first data according to a preset first merge strategy and/or the first instruction to obtain the business data.

In some embodiments, the first instruction includes at least one of the following:

An identifier of the first device, a network type of the first network, a local configuration identifier, and a second merging policy.

In some embodiments, the second merging strategy includes at least one of the following:

The identification of the application, the type of traffic ratio allocation for each application, the length of the traffic ratio allocation for each application, and the traffic ratio allocation strategy for each application;

Wherein, the flow ratio distribution type is represented by numbers and/or character strings;

The flow proportional distribution length is represented by numbers;

The traffic proportion allocation policy is represented by a character string and/or a codebook index.

In some embodiments, the local configuration identifier is used to indicate whether the first device performs data merging according to the second merging policy sent by the second device.

In some embodiments, the priority of the first merge strategy is higher than the priority of the second merge strategy in the first instruction.

In some embodiments, the first signaling is used to indicate at least one of the following:

The identifier of the first device, the network type of the first network, the network connection status of the first network, and the performance information of the application program.

In some embodiments, the first communication unit 1201 is configured to perform at least one of the following:

Periodically send the first signaling to the second device;

Send the first signaling to the second device aperiodically.

In some embodiments, the first communication unit 1201 is configured to send the first signaling to the second device when it is determined that the transmission performance parameter of the first network exceeds a preset threshold.

In some embodiments, the transmission performance parameters include at least one of the following: throughput, delay, and packet loss rate.

In some embodiments, the first data is data transmitted through the first network.

In some embodiments, the first network is a network between the target device and the first device;

The second network is a network between the first device and the second device.

In practical applications, the first communication unit 1201 and the first processing unit 1202 may be implemented by a processor in a communication device combined with a communication interface.

In order to implement the method on the second device side of the embodiment of the present application, the embodiment of the present application also provides a communication device, which is set on the second device, as shown in FIG. 13 , the device includes:

The second communication unit 1301 is configured to receive service data from the first device; the service data is obtained by combining at least one piece of first data.

In some embodiments, the second communication unit 1301 is configured to receive a first signaling and/or a first request sent by a first device; the first signaling is used to describe service transmission performance; the first The request is determined based on transmission performance parameters of the first network and/or transmission performance parameters of the second network;

Sending a first instruction to the first device; the first instruction is used to instruct the first device to combine data.

In some embodiments, the second device may further include: a second processing unit 1302 configured to generate the first instruction.

In some embodiments, the first signaling is used to indicate at least one of the following:

The identifier of the first device, the network type of the first network, the network connection status of the first network, and the performance information of the application program.

In some embodiments, the first instruction includes at least one of the following:

An identifier of the first device, a network type of the first network, a local configuration identifier, and a second merging policy.

In some embodiments, the second merging strategy includes at least one of the following:

The identification of the application, the type of traffic ratio allocation for each application, the length of the traffic ratio allocation for each application, and the traffic ratio allocation strategy for each application;

Wherein, the flow ratio distribution type is represented by numbers and/or character strings;

The flow proportional distribution length is represented by numbers;

The traffic proportion allocation policy is represented by a character string and/or a codebook index.

In some embodiments, the local configuration identifier is used to indicate whether the first device performs data merging according to the second merging policy sent by the second device.

In some embodiments, the priority of the first merging policy saved by the first device is higher than the priority of the second merging policy in the first instruction.

In some embodiments, the transmission performance parameters include at least one of the following: throughput, delay, and packet loss rate.

In some embodiments, the first data is data transmitted through the first network.

In some embodiments, the first network is a network between the target device and the first device;

The second network is a network between the first device and the second device.

In practical applications, the second communication unit 1301 and the second processing unit 1302 may be implemented by a processor in a communication device combined with a communication interface.

It should be noted that: when the communication device provided by the above-mentioned embodiment performs communication, the division of the above-mentioned program modules is used as an example for illustration. The internal structure of the program is divided into different program modules to complete all or part of the processing described above. In addition, the communication device and the communication method embodiments provided in the above embodiments belong to the same idea, and the specific implementation process thereof is detailed in the method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

Based on the hardware implementation of the above program modules, and in order to implement the method on the first device side of the embodiment of the present application, the embodiment of the present application further provides a first device, as shown in FIG. 14 , the first device 1400 includes:

The first communication interface 1401 is capable of exchanging information with the second device;

The first processor 1402 is connected to the first communication interface 1401 to implement information interaction with the second device, and is configured to execute the methods provided by one or more technical solutions on the first device side when running a computer program. Instead, the computer program is stored on the first memory 1403 .

Specifically, the first communication interface 1401 is configured to send service data to the second device; the service data is obtained by combining at least one piece of first data.

Wherein, in an embodiment, the first processor 1402 is configured to combine the at least one piece of first data according to a preset first combination strategy and/or the first instruction to obtain the service data.

In an embodiment, the first communication interface 1401 is further configured as:

Sending a first signaling and/or a first request to the second device; the first signaling is used to describe the service transmission performance; the first request is based on the transmission performance parameters of the first network and/or the transmission of the second network Determination of performance parameters;

Receive a first instruction from the second device; the first instruction is used to instruct the first device to combine data.

In an embodiment, the first communication interface 1401 is further configured as:

periodically sending the first signaling to the second device; and/or,

Send the first signaling to the second device aperiodically.

In an embodiment, the first communication interface 1401 is further configured as:

When it is determined that the transmission performance parameter of the first network exceeds the preset threshold, the first signaling is sent to the second device.

It should be noted that the specific processing procedures of the first processor 1402 and the first communication interface 1401 can be understood with reference to the above method.

Of course, in practical applications, various components in the first device 1400 are coupled together through the bus system 1404 . It can be understood that the bus system 1404 is used to realize connection and communication between these components. In addition to the data bus, the bus system 1404 also includes a power bus, a control bus and a status signal bus. However, for clarity of illustration, the various buses are labeled as bus system 1404 in FIG. 14 .

The first memory 1403 in the embodiment of the present application is used to store various types of data to support the operation of the first device 1400 . Examples of such data include: any computer programs for operating on the first device 1400 .

The methods disclosed in the foregoing embodiments of the present application may be applied to the first processor 1402 or implemented by the first processor 1402 . The first processor 1402 may be an integrated circuit chip, which has a signal processing capability. In the implementation process, each step of the above method may be implemented by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in the first processor 1402 or an instruction in the form of software. The aforementioned first processor 1402 may be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP, Digital Signal Processor), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, and the like. The first processor 1402 may implement or execute various methods, steps, and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present application. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module may be located in a storage medium, and the storage medium is located in the first memory 1403. The first processor 1402 reads the information in the first memory 1403, and completes the steps of the foregoing method in combination with its hardware.

In an exemplary embodiment, the first device 1400 may be implemented by one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC, Application Specific Integrated Circuit), DSP, Programmable Logic Device (PLD, Programmable Logic Device), complex programmable logic device ( CPLD, Complex Programmable Logic Device), field-programmable gate array (FPGA, Field-Programmable Gate Array), general-purpose processor, controller, microcontroller (MCU, Micro Controller Unit), microprocessor (Microprocessor), or others Electronic components are implemented for performing the aforementioned methods.

Based on the hardware implementation of the above program modules, and in order to implement the method on the second device side of the embodiment of the present application, the embodiment of the present application further provides a second device, as shown in FIG. 15 , the second device 1500 includes:

The second communication interface 1501 is capable of information interaction with the first device and the third device;

The second processor 1502 is connected to the second communication interface 1501 to realize information interaction with the first device and the third device, and is configured to execute one or more technical solutions on the second device side when running a computer program. Methods. Instead, the computer program is stored on the second memory 1503 .

Specifically, the second communication interface 1501 is configured to receive service data from the first device; the service data is obtained by combining at least one piece of first data.

Wherein, in an embodiment, the second communication interface 1501 is further configured as:

Receive the first signaling and/or the first request sent by the first device; the first signaling is used to describe the service transmission performance; the first request is based on the transmission performance parameters of the first network and/or the transmission performance parameters of the second network Determination of transmission performance parameters;

Sending a first instruction to the first device; the first instruction is used to instruct the first device to combine data.

In an embodiment, the second processor 1502 is configured to generate the first instruction.

It should be noted that: the specific processing procedures of the second communication interface 1501 and the second processor 1502 can be understood with reference to the above method.

Of course, in practical applications, various components in the second device 1500 are coupled together through the bus system 1504 . It can be understood that the bus system 1504 is used to realize connection and communication between these components. In addition to the data bus, the bus system 1504 also includes a power bus, a control bus and a status signal bus. However, the various buses are labeled as bus system 1504 in FIG. 15 for clarity of illustration.

The second memory 1503 in the embodiment of the present application is used to store various types of data to support the operation of the second device 1500 . Examples of such data include: any computer programs for operating on the second device 1500 .

The methods disclosed in the foregoing embodiments of the present application may be applied to the second processor 1502 or implemented by the second processor 1502 . The second processor 1502 may be an integrated circuit chip and has signal processing capabilities. In the implementation process, each step of the above method may be completed by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in the second processor 1502 or instructions in the form of software. The aforementioned second processor 1502 may be a general-purpose processor, DSP, or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, and the like. The second processor 1502 may implement or execute various methods, steps, and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present application. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module may be located in a storage medium, and the storage medium is located in the second storage 1503, and the second processor 1502 reads information in the second storage 1503, and completes the steps of the aforementioned method in combination with its hardware.

In an exemplary embodiment, the second device 1500 may be implemented by one or more ASICs, DSPs, PLDs, CPLDs, FPGAs, general processors, controllers, MCUs, Microprocessors, or other electronic components for performing the aforementioned methods.

It can be understood that the memory (the first memory 1403 and the second memory 1503 ) in this embodiment of the present application may be a volatile memory or a nonvolatile memory, and may also include both volatile and nonvolatile memories. Among them, the non-volatile memory can be read-only memory (ROM, Read Only Memory), programmable read-only memory (PROM, Programmable Read-Only Memory), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM, Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) Only Memory), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM, Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), Magnetic Random Access Memory (FRAM, ferromagnetic random access memory), Flash Memory (Flash Memory), Magnetic Surface Memory , CD, or CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read-Only Memory); magnetic surface storage can be disk storage or tape storage. The volatile memory may be random access memory (RAM, Random Access Memory), which is used as an external cache. By way of illustration and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM, Static Random Access Memory), Synchronous Static Random Access Memory (SSRAM, Synchronous Static Random Access Memory), Dynamic Random Access Memory Memory (DRAM, Dynamic Random Access Memory), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM, Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDRSDRAM, Double Data Rate Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory), enhanced Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (ESDRAM, Enhanced Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory), Synchronous Link Dynamic Random Access Memory (SLDRAM, SyncLink Dynamic Random Access Memory), Direct Memory Bus Random Access Memory (DRRAM, Direct Rambus Random Access Memory ). The memories described in the embodiments of the present application are intended to include, but are not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memories.

It should be noted that: "first", "second", etc. are used to distinguish similar objects, and not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence.

In addition, the technical solutions described in the embodiments of the present application may be combined arbitrarily if there is no conflict.

The above descriptions are only preferred embodiments of the present application, and are not intended to limit the protection scope of the present application.

Claims (29)

1. A communication method, applied to a first device, comprising:

   Sending service data to the second device; the service data is obtained by combining at least one piece of first data.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

   Sending a first signaling and/or a first request to the second device; the first signaling is used to describe the service transmission performance; the first request is based on the transmission performance parameters of the first network and/or the transmission of the second network Determination of performance parameters;

   Receive a first instruction from the second device; the first instruction is used to instruct the first device to combine data.
3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

   Merge the at least one piece of first data according to a preset first merging strategy and/or the first instruction to obtain the service data.
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the first instruction includes at least one of the following:

   An identifier of the first device, a network type of the first network, a local configuration identifier, and a second merging policy.
5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the second merging strategy includes at least one of the following:

   The identification of the application, the type of traffic ratio allocation for each application, the length of the traffic ratio allocation for each application, and the traffic ratio allocation strategy for each application;

   Wherein, the flow ratio distribution type is represented by numbers and/or character strings;

   The flow proportional distribution length is represented by numbers;

   The traffic proportion allocation policy is represented by a character string and/or a codebook index.
6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the local configuration identifier is used to indicate whether the first device performs data merging according to the second merging policy sent by the second device.
7. The method of claim 3, wherein the first merge policy has a higher priority than the second merge policy in the first instruction.
8. The method according to claim 2, wherein the first signaling is used to indicate at least one of the following:

   The identifier of the first device, the network type of the first network, the network connection status of the first network, and the performance information of the application program.
9. The method according to claim 2, wherein the sending the first signaling to the second device includes at least one of the following:

   Periodically send the first signaling to the second device;

   Send the first signaling to the second device aperiodically.
10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the aperiodically sending the first signaling to the second device comprises:

    When it is determined that the transmission performance parameter of the first network exceeds the preset threshold, the first signaling is sent to the second device.
11. The method according to claim 2 or 10, wherein the transmission performance parameters include at least one of the following: throughput, delay, and packet loss rate.
12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first data is data transmitted through a first network.
13. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 12, wherein the first network is a network between the target device and the first device;

    The second network is a network between the first device and the second device.
14. A communication method, applied to a second device, comprising:

    Service data from the first device is received; the service data is obtained by combining at least one piece of first data.
15. The method according to claim 14, wherein said method further comprises:

    Receive the first signaling and/or the first request sent by the first device; the first signaling is used to describe the service transmission performance; the first request is based on the transmission performance parameters of the first network and/or the transmission performance parameters of the second network Determination of transmission performance parameters;

    Sending a first instruction to the first device; the first instruction is used to instruct the first device to combine data.
16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the first signaling is used to indicate at least one of the following:

    The identifier of the first device, the network type of the first network, the network connection status of the first network, and the performance information of the application program.
17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the first instruction includes at least one of the following:

    An identifier of the first device, a network type of the first network, a local configuration identifier, and a second merging policy.
18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the second merging strategy includes at least one of the following:

    The identification of the application, the type of traffic ratio allocation for each application, the length of the traffic ratio allocation for each application, and the traffic ratio allocation strategy for each application;

    Wherein, the flow ratio distribution type is represented by numbers and/or character strings;

    The flow proportional distribution length is represented by numbers;

    The traffic proportion allocation policy is represented by a character string and/or a codebook index.
19. The method according to claim 17, wherein the local configuration identifier is used to indicate whether the first device performs data merging according to the second merging policy sent by the second device.
20. The method according to claim 17, wherein the priority of the first merging strategy stored by the first device is higher than the priority of the second merging strategy in the first instruction.
21. The method according to claim 15, wherein the transmission performance parameters include at least one of the following: throughput, delay, and packet loss rate.
22. The method of claim 14, wherein the first data is data transmitted over a first network.
23. The method according to any one of claims 15 to 22, wherein the first network is a network between the target device and the first device;

    The second network is a network between the first device and the second device.
24. A communication device, set on a first device, comprising:

    The first communication unit is configured to send service data to the second device; the service data is obtained by combining at least one piece of first data.
25. A communication device, set on a second device, comprising:

    The second communication unit is configured to receive service data from the first device; the service data is obtained by combining at least one piece of first data.
26. A first device, comprising: a first processor and a first communication interface; wherein,

    The first communication interface is configured to send service data to the second device; the service data is obtained by combining at least one piece of first data.
27. A second device, comprising: a second processor and a second communication interface; wherein,

    The second communication interface is configured to receive service data from the first device; the service data is obtained by combining at least one piece of first data.
28. A network device comprising: a processor and a memory configured to store a computer program capable of running on the processor,

    Wherein, the processor is configured to execute the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13 when running the computer program; or,

    The processor is configured to execute the steps of the method according to any one of claims 14 to 23 when running the computer program.
29. A storage medium on which a computer program is stored, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13 are realized; or,

    When the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of the method described in any one of claims 14 to 23 are realized.

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