WO2024093729A1

WO2024093729A1 - Communication method and apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2024093729A1
Application number: PCT/CN2023/126197
Authority: WO
Inventors: 郭英昊
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2022-11-03
Filing date: 2023-10-24
Publication date: 2024-05-10
Also published as: CN117998459A

Abstract

A communication method and apparatus, relating to the technical field of communications, and capable of satisfying a packet delay budget (PDB) requirement of a data set, reducing data transmission delay, and improving data transmission reliability when a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity of a terminal device submits the data set to a radio link control (RLC) entity. The method may comprise: a first PDCP entity of a terminal device acquires one or more data sets, and submits the data set to an RLC entity associated with the data set, wherein the terminal device comprises a plurality of PDCP entities, the plurality of PDCP entities comprise the first PDCP entity, different PDCP entities acquire data sets of different importance levels, the first PDCP entity is associated with a plurality of RLC entities, and different data sets are associated with different RLC entities.

Description

Communication method and device

This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on November 3, 2022, with application number 202211371598.6 and application name “Communication Method and Device”, all contents of which are incorporated by reference in this application.

Technical Field

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

Background technique

In a communication system, a network device may configure a split radio bearer (split RB) for a terminal device. For a split RB, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity of the terminal device may be associated with a primary radio link control (RLC) entity and one or more secondary RLC entities.

When a terminal device sends data to a network device, the PDCP entity of the terminal device can save the data received successively in a cache because the uplink (UL) packet delay budget (PDB) is usually longer than the period of generating data. If the terminal device is configured with split RB, when the data volume is large, the PDCP entity can deliver the data to the primary RLC entity or the secondary RLC entity, and when the data volume is small, the PDCP entity can deliver the data to the primary RLC entity.

However, when delivering data to the primary RLC entity or the secondary RLC entity according to the data volume, some data may exceed its own PDB requirements, reducing data transmission reliability. Therefore, how the PDCP entity of the terminal device delivers data to the RLC entity to meet the PDB requirements of the data, reduce data transmission delay, and improve data transmission reliability has become a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently.

Summary of the invention

The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus, which can meet the packet delay budget (PDB) requirements of a data set when a packet data convergence protocol (PDC) entity of a terminal device delivers a data set to a radio link control (RLC) entity, thereby reducing data transmission delay and improving data transmission reliability.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which may include: a first packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity of a terminal device obtains one or more data sets, and submits the data sets to a radio link control (RLC) entity associated with the data sets; wherein the terminal device includes multiple PDCP entities, the multiple PDCP entities include a first PDCP entity, and different PDCP entities obtain data sets of different importance levels; the first PDCP entity is associated with multiple RLC entities, and different data sets are associated with different RLC entities.

Based on the first aspect, when the upper layer submits a data set to the PDCP entity, data sets of different importance levels can be submitted to different PDCP entities to achieve different processing of data sets of different importance levels. When each PDCP entity processes the acquired data set, it can also submit different data sets to different RLC entities/logical channels to achieve different processing of different data sets, thereby meeting the packet delay budget PDB requirements of the data set, reducing data transmission delay, and improving data transmission reliability.

In one possible design, the data set is a data set of extended reality (XR) business.

In one possible design, before the first PDCP entity of the terminal device obtains one or more data sets, the method also includes: the terminal device receives configuration information from the network device; wherein the configuration information includes one or more of the following: first indication information, second indication information, third indication information, fourth indication information, and fifth indication information; wherein the first indication information is used to indicate that the PDCP entity of the terminal device is configured as a split radio bearer RB; the second indication information is used to indicate the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB, and the configured number of logical channels is equal to the maximum value of the data sets sent by the terminal device in the protocol data unit set delay budget PSDB; the third indication information is used to indicate the configuration of one or more media access control MAC entities; the fourth indication information is used to indicate the number of logical channels associated with each MAC entity; and the fifth indication information is used to indicate the identification information of the logical channel.

Based on this possible design, the network device can send configuration information to the terminal device through RRC signaling. When the RRC layer of the terminal device receives the configuration information, it can submit the configuration information to the PDCP layer, RLC layer and MAC layer of the terminal device to complete the configuration of the PDCP entity, RLC entity, logical channel and MAC entity according to the configuration information.

In one possible design, the fifth indication information is used to indicate the identification information of the first logical channel associated with each MAC entity; the difference between the identification information of two consecutive logical channels associated with the same MAC entity is the first difference; or, the fifth indication information is used to indicate the identification information of each logical channel associated with each MAC entity.

Based on this possible design, if the multiple logical channels associated with each MAC entity are continuous logical channels, the network device can indicate the identification information of the first logical channel associated with each MAC entity to the terminal device, and the terminal device can determine the identification information of the remaining logical channels in the MAC entity based on the identification information of the first logical channel and the first difference. When the multiple logical channels associated with each MAC entity are continuous logical channels, the network device can indicate the identification information of each logical channel associated with each MAC entity through the fifth indication information; when the multiple logical channels associated with each MAC entity are not continuous logical channels, the network device can also indicate the identification information of each logical channel associated with each MAC entity through the fifth indication information without restriction.

In one possible design, when the first PDCP entity receives a data set or the sixth indication information, the first PDCP entity determines the logical channel associated with the data set based on the first count value; wherein the initial value of the first count value is 0; the first PDCP entity determines the RLC entity associated with the data set based on the logical channel associated with the data set and the association relationship between the RLC entity and the logical channel; the first PDCP entity delivers the data set to the RLC entity associated with the data set.

Based on this possible design, when the first PDCP entity delivers a data set to the RLC entity, it can first determine the logical channel associated with the data set, and then deliver the data set to the RLC entity according to the association relationship between the RLC entity and the logical channel. This provides a feasible solution for the first PDCP entity to deliver a data set to the RLC entity.

In one possible design, after the first PDCP entity submits the data set to the RLC entity associated with the data set, the method also includes: the first PDCP entity increases the first count value by one, and determines the updated first count value as the modulus of the first count value after the increase by one and the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB.

Based on this possible design, each time the first PDCP entity submits a data set to the RLC entity, the first count value may be updated once, so that the first count value associated with each subsequent data set can determine the logical channel associated with each data set.

In one possible design, when the first count value associated with the data set is i, the first PDCP entity determines the i+1th logical channel associated with the split RB as the logical channel associated with the data set; where i is greater than or equal to 0.

Based on this possible design, a feasible solution is provided for the first PDCP entity to determine the logical channel associated with each data set according to the first count value associated with each data set.

In one possible design, when the logical channel associated with the split RB is associated with one MAC entity, the i+1th logical channel is the i+1th logical channel among the logical channels associated with the MAC entity, arranged from small to large according to the identification information of the logical channels; or, when the logical channel associated with the split RB is associated with multiple MAC entities, the i+1th logical channel is the i+1th logical channel among the logical channels associated with multiple MAC entities, arranged from small to large according to the identification information of the logical channels; or, when the logical channel associated with the split RB is associated with multiple MAC entities, the i+1th logical channel is the i-th logical channel among the logical channels associated with multiple MAC entities, arranged from small to large according to the identification information of the MAC entities and the identification information of the logical channels.

In one possible design, when the logical channels associated with the split RB include m logical channels associated with the first MAC entity and n logical channels associated with the second MAC entity, if i+1 is less than or equal to m, the i+1th logical channel is the i+1th logical channel among the m logical channels associated with the first MAC entity; or, if i+1 is greater than m, the i+1th logical channel is the i+1-mth logical channels among the n logical channels associated with the second MAC entity.

Based on the above two possible designs, a feasible solution is provided for the first PDCP entity to determine the i+1th logical channel.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which may include: a network device determines configuration information and sends the configuration information to a terminal device; wherein the configuration information includes one or more of the following: first indication information, second indication information, third indication information, fourth indication information, and fifth indication information; the first indication information is used to indicate that a packet data convergence protocol PDCP entity of the terminal device is configured as a split radio bearer RB; the second indication information is used to indicate the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB, and the configured number of logical channels is equal to the maximum value of the data set sent by the terminal device in the protocol data unit set delay budget PSDB; the third indication information is used to indicate the configuration of one or more media access control MAC entities; the fourth indication information is used to indicate the number of logical channels associated with each MAC entity; the fifth indication information is used to indicate the identification information of the logical channel.

Based on the second aspect, the network device can send configuration information to the terminal device through RRC signaling. When the RRC layer of the terminal device receives the configuration information, it can submit the configuration information to the PDCP layer, RLC layer and MAC layer of the terminal device to complete the configuration of the PDCP entity, RLC entity, logical channel and MAC entity according to the configuration information.

In the third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which may include: a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity of a terminal device obtains one or more data sets and submits data to an RLC entity associated with the data; wherein, one or more data sets are associated with one or more importance levels; a data set includes one or more data; the PDCP entity is associated with multiple RLC entities; data with the same importance level in the same data set are associated with the same radio link control (RLC) entity; data with different importance levels in the same data set are associated with different RLC entities; data in different data sets are associated with different RLC entities.

Based on the third aspect, when the PDCP entity processes the acquired data set, it can not only deliver data sets of different importance levels to different logical channels/RLC entities, but also deliver data of different importance levels in the same data set to different logical channels/RLC entities. Channel/RLC entity. Differentiate between different data sets or different data to meet the packet delay budget (PDB) requirements of data sets or data, reduce data transmission delay, and improve data transmission reliability.

In one possible design, before the PDCP entity of the terminal device obtains one or more data sets, the method also includes: the terminal device receives configuration information from the network device; wherein the configuration information includes one or more of the following: first indication information, seventh indication information, third indication information, fourth indication information, and fifth indication information; wherein the first indication information is used to indicate that the PDCP entity of the terminal device is configured as a split radio bearer RB; the seventh indication information is used to indicate the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB, and the configured number of logical channels is determined according to the maximum value and the number of importance levels of the data sets sent by the terminal device in the protocol data unit set delay budget PSDB; the third indication information is used to indicate the configuration of one or more media access control MAC entities; the fourth indication information is used to indicate the number of logical channels associated with each MAC entity; and the fifth indication information is used to indicate the identification information of the logical channel.

Based on this possible design, if the multiple logical channels associated with each MAC entity are continuous logical channels, the network device can indicate the identification information of the first logical channel associated with each MAC entity to the terminal device, and the terminal device can determine the identification information of the remaining logical channels in the MAC entity based on the identification information of the first logical channel and the first difference. In addition, when the multiple logical channels associated with each MAC entity are continuous logical channels, the network device can indicate the identification information of each logical channel associated with each MAC entity through the fifth indication information; when the multiple logical channels associated with each MAC entity are not continuous logical channels, the network device can also indicate the identification information of each logical channel associated with each MAC entity through the fifth indication information without restriction.

In one possible design, when the PDCP entity receives a data set or the sixth indication information, the PDCP entity determines the logical channel associated with the data based on a first count value; wherein the initial value of the first count value is 0; the PDCP entity determines the RLC entity associated with the data based on the logical channel associated with the data and the association relationship between the RLC entity and the logical channel; the PDCP entity delivers data to the RLC entity associated with the data.

Based on this possible design, when the PDCP entity delivers data to the RLC entity, it can first determine the logical channel associated with the data, and then deliver the data to the RLC entity according to the association relationship between the RLC entity and the logical channel, providing a feasible solution for the PDCP entity to deliver data to the RLC entity.

In one possible design, after the PDCP entity submits data to the data-associated RLC entity, the method also includes: the PDCP entity increases the first count value by one, and determines the updated first count value by the modulus of the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB.

Based on this possible design, each time the PDCP entity delivers data to the RLC entity, the first count value may be updated to facilitate the determination of the logical channel associated with each subsequent data using the first count value associated with each data.

In one possible design, when the first count value of the data association is i, the PDCP entity determines the i+1th logical channel associated with the split RB as the logical channel associated with the data; wherein, i is greater than or equal to 0, and data with the same importance level in the same data set are associated with the same first count value; and data with different importance levels in the same data set are associated with different first count values.

Based on this possible design, a feasible solution is provided for the PDCP entity to determine the logical channel of each data association according to the first count value of each data association.

In one possible design, when the logical channels associated with the split RB include m logical channels associated with the first MAC entity and n logical channels associated with the second MAC entity, if i+1 is less than or equal to m, the i+1th logical channel is the first MAC entity associated with n logical channels. The i+1th logical channel among the m logical channels associated with the second MAC entity; or, if i+1 is greater than m, the i+1th logical channel is the i+1-mth logical channel among the n logical channels associated with the second MAC entity.

Based on the above two possible designs, a feasible solution is provided for the PDCP entity to determine the i+1th logical channel.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which may include: a network device determines configuration information and sends the configuration information to a terminal device; wherein the configuration information includes one or more of the following: first indication information, seventh indication information, third indication information, fourth indication information, and fifth indication information; the first indication information is used to indicate that the PDCP entity of the terminal device is configured as a split radio bearer RB; the seventh indication information is used to indicate the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB, and the configured number of logical channels is determined according to the maximum value and the number of importance levels of the data set sent by the terminal device in the protocol data unit set delay budget PSDB; the third indication information is used to indicate the configuration of one or more media access control MAC entities; the fourth indication information is used to indicate the number of logical channels associated with each MAC entity; the fifth indication information is used to indicate the identification information of the logical channel.

Based on the fourth aspect, the network device can send configuration information to the terminal device through RRC signaling. When the RRC layer of the terminal device receives the configuration information, it can submit the configuration information to the PDCP layer, RLC layer and MAC layer of the terminal device to complete the configuration of the PDCP entity, RLC entity, logical channel and MAC entity according to the configuration information.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which can be applied to the first PDCP entity of a terminal device in the first aspect or a possible design of the first aspect to implement the functions performed by the first PDCP entity of the terminal device. The communication device can be the first PDCP entity of the terminal device, or a chip or system on chip used to implement the functions of the first PDCP entity of the terminal device. The communication device can implement the functions performed by the first PDCP entity of the terminal device by executing corresponding software through hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions. For example, a transceiver module and a processing module. The transceiver module is used to obtain one or more data sets, and is also used to submit a data set to a radio link control RLC entity associated with the data set; wherein the terminal device includes multiple PDCP entities, the multiple PDCP entities include a first PDCP entity, and different PDCP entities obtain data sets of different importance levels; the first PDCP entity is associated with multiple RLC entities, and different data sets are associated with different RLC entities.

In one possible design, before the transceiver module obtains one or more data sets, it also receives configuration information from the network device; wherein the configuration information includes one or more of the following: first indication information, second indication information, third indication information, fourth indication information, and fifth indication information; wherein the first indication information is used to indicate that the PDCP entity of the terminal device is configured as a split radio bearer RB; the second indication information is used to indicate the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB, and the configured number of logical channels is equal to the maximum value of the data sets sent by the terminal device in the protocol data unit set delay budget PSDB; the third indication information is used to indicate the configuration of one or more media access control MAC entities; the fourth indication information is used to indicate the number of logical channels associated with each MAC entity; and the fifth indication information is used to indicate the identification information of the logical channel.

In one possible design, when the transceiver module receives a data set or the sixth indication information, the processing module determines the logical channel associated with the data set based on the first count value; wherein the initial value of the first count value is 0; the processing module is also used to determine the RLC entity associated with the data set based on the logical channel associated with the data set and the association relationship between the RLC entity and the logical channel; the transceiver module is also used to submit the data set to the RLC entity associated with the data set.

In one possible design, after the transceiver module submits the data set to the RLC entity associated with the data set, the processing module is also used to add one to the first count value, and determine the updated first count value by the modulus of the first count value after adding one and the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB.

In one possible design, the processing module is also used to determine the i+1th logical channel associated with the split RB as the logical channel associated with the data set when the first count value associated with the data set is i; wherein i is greater than or equal to 0.

It should be noted that the specific implementation method of the communication device in the fifth aspect can refer to the behavior function of the first PDCP entity of the terminal device in the communication method provided by the first aspect or any possible design of the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which can be applied to a network device in the above-mentioned second aspect or a possible design of the second aspect to implement the functions performed by the above-mentioned network device. The communication device can be a network device, or a chip or system on chip for implementing the functions of the network device, and the communication device can implement the functions performed by the PDCP entity of the above-mentioned terminal device by executing corresponding software through hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-mentioned functions. For example, a transceiver module and a processing module. The processing module is used to determine configuration information, and the transceiver module is used to send configuration information to the terminal device; wherein the configuration information includes one or more of the following: first indication information, second indication information, third indication information, fourth indication information, and fifth indication information; the first indication information is used to indicate that the packet data convergence protocol PDCP entity of the terminal device is configured as a split radio bearer RB; the second indication information is used to indicate the configuration number of logical channels associated with the split RB, and the configuration number of logical channels is equal to the maximum value of the data set sent by the terminal device in the protocol data unit set delay budget PSDB; the third indication information is used to indicate the configuration of one or more media access control MAC entities; the fourth indication information is used to indicate the number of logical channels associated with each MAC entity; the fifth indication information is used to indicate the identification information of the logical channel.

It should be noted that the specific implementation method of the communication device in the sixth aspect can refer to the behavioral function of the network device in the communication method provided by the second aspect or any possible design of the second aspect.

In the seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which can be applied to the PDCP entity of the terminal device in the third aspect or the possible design of the third aspect to implement the functions performed by the PDCP entity of the terminal device. The communication device can be the PDCP entity of the terminal device, or it can be a chip or system on chip used to implement the PDCP entity function of the terminal device. The communication device can implement the functions performed by the PDCP entity of the terminal device by executing corresponding software through hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions. For example, a transceiver module and a processing module. The transceiver module is used to obtain one or more data sets, and is also used to submit data to the RLC entity associated with the data; wherein one or more data sets are associated with one or more importance levels; the data set includes one or more data; the PDCP entity is associated with multiple RLC entities; data with the same importance level in the same data set are associated with the same radio link control RLC entity; data with different importance levels in the same data set are associated with different RLC entities; data in different data sets are associated with different RLC entities.

In one possible design, before the transceiver module obtains one or more data sets, it is also used to receive configuration information from a network device; wherein the configuration information includes one or more of the following: first indication information, seventh indication information, third indication information, fourth indication information, and fifth indication information; wherein the first indication information is used to indicate that the PDCP entity of the terminal device is configured as a split radio bearer RB; the seventh indication information is used to indicate the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB, and the configured number of logical channels is determined according to the maximum value and the number of importance levels of the data sets sent by the terminal device in the protocol data unit set delay budget PSDB; the third indication information is used to indicate the configuration of one or more media access control MAC entities; the fourth indication information is used to indicate the number of logical channels associated with each MAC entity; and the fifth indication information is used to indicate the identification information of the logical channel.

In one possible design, the processing module is used to determine the logical channel associated with the data based on a first count value when the transceiver module receives a data set or a sixth indication information; wherein the initial value of the first count value is 0; the processing module is also used to determine the RLC entity associated with the data based on the logical channel associated with the data, the association relationship between the RLC entity and the logical channel; the transceiver module is also used to deliver data to the RLC entity associated with the data.

In one possible design, after the transceiver module submits data to the RLC entity associated with the data, the processing module is also used to add one to the first count value, and determine the updated first count value by the modulus of the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB.

In a possible design, the processing module is further configured to split the i+1th RB association when the first count value of the data association is i. logical channels are determined as logical channels associated with the data; wherein, i is greater than or equal to 0, data with the same importance level in the same data set are associated with the same first count value; data with different importance levels in the same data set are associated with different first count values.

It should be noted that the specific implementation method of the communication device in the seventh aspect can refer to the behavior function of the PDCP entity of the terminal device in the communication method provided by the third aspect or any possible design of the third aspect.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which can be applied to a network device in the fourth aspect or a possible design of the fourth aspect to implement the functions performed by the network device. The communication device can be a network device, or a chip or system on chip for implementing the functions of the network device, and the communication device can implement the functions performed by the PDCP entity of the terminal device by executing corresponding software through hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions. For example, a transceiver module and a processing module. The processing module is used to determine configuration information, and the transceiver module is used to send configuration information to the terminal device; wherein the configuration information includes one or more of the following: first indication information, seventh indication information, third indication information, fourth indication information, and fifth indication information; the first indication information is used to indicate that the PDCP entity of the terminal device is configured as a split radio bearer RB; the seventh indication information is used to indicate the number of logical channels associated with the split RB, and the number of logical channels is determined according to the maximum value of the data set sent by the terminal device in the protocol data unit set delay budget PSDB and the number of importance levels; the third indication information is used to indicate the configuration of one or more media access control MAC entities; the fourth indication information is used to indicate the number of logical channels associated with each MAC entity; the fifth indication information is used to indicate the identification information of the logical channel.

It should be noted that the specific implementation method of the communication device in the eighth aspect can refer to the behavioral function of the network device in the communication method provided by the fourth aspect or any possible design of the fourth aspect.

In the ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which includes one or more processors; one or more processors are used to run computer programs or instructions, and when the one or more processors execute the computer instructions or instructions, the communication device executes the communication method described in any one of the first to fourth aspects.

In one possible design, the communication device further includes one or more memories, the one or more memories are coupled to one or more processors, and the one or more memories are used to store the above-mentioned computer programs or instructions. In one possible implementation, the memory is located outside the communication device. In another possible implementation, the memory is located inside the communication device. In an embodiment of the present application, the processor and the memory may also be integrated into one device, that is, the processor and the memory may also be integrated together. In one possible implementation, the communication device further includes a transceiver, and the transceiver is used to receive information and/or send information.

In one possible design, the communication device also includes one or more communication interfaces, the one or more communication interfaces are coupled to the one or more processors, and the one or more communication interfaces are used to communicate with other modules outside the communication device.

In the tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which includes an input and output interface and a logic circuit; the input and output interface is used to input and/or output information; the logic circuit is used to execute the communication method described in any one of the first to fourth aspects, and process and/or generate information based on the information.

In the eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores computer instructions or programs. When the computer instructions or programs are run on a computer, the communication method described in any one of the first to fourth aspects is executed.

In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product comprising computer instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enables the communication method described in any one of the first to fourth aspects to be executed.

In a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program, which, when executed on a computer, enables the communication method described in any one of the first to fourth aspects to be executed.

Among them, the technical effects brought about by any design method in the ninth to thirteenth aspects can refer to the technical effects brought about by any design method in the first to fourth aspects mentioned above.

In the fourteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which may include the communication device as described in the fifth aspect and the communication device as described in the sixth aspect, or include the communication device as described in the seventh aspect and the communication device as described in the eighth aspect.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a user plane protocol stack architecture provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG2 is a schematic diagram of routing of a PDCP layer provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG4 is a schematic diagram of a 5G communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG5 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG6 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG7 is a schematic diagram of a protocol architecture A provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG8 is a schematic diagram of a protocol architecture B provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG9 is a schematic diagram of the composition of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG10 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG11 is a schematic diagram of routing of a PDCP layer provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG12 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG13 is a schematic diagram of routing of a PDCP layer provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG14 is a schematic diagram of the composition of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG15 is a diagram showing the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

Before describing the embodiments of the present application, the technical terms involved in the embodiments of the present application are described.

Wireless access network side protocol stack: may include control plane protocol stack and user plane protocol stack, network equipment and terminal equipment can communicate based on the protocol stack.

Among them, the control plane protocol stack architecture, that is, the protocol cluster used for control signaling transmission in the communication system, may include non-access stratum (NAS) layer, radio resource control (RRC) layer, packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, radio link control (RLC) layer, medium access control (MAC) layer and physical (PHY) layer.

Among them, the user plane protocol stack architecture, that is, the protocol cluster used for user data transmission, as shown in Figure 1, may include the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, PDCP layer, RLC layer, MAC layer and PHY layer.

For example, taking the case where a terminal device sends data to a network device, the data transmission process can be described as follows: the data first arrives at the SDAP layer of the terminal device, and after being mapped by the SDAP layer, it is transmitted to the PDCP layer, and after being processed by the PDCP layer of the terminal device, it is transmitted to the RLC layer and the MAC layer, and after being processed accordingly, it is sent out from the physical layer and transmitted to the network device through the air interface. Each protocol layer of the network device performs corresponding processing on the received data in turn in the opposite processing order of the terminal device.

On the terminal device and network device side, the processing of data packets by each layer can be figuratively combined into a radio bearer (RB). Each data in the radio bearer needs to be processed by each layer. Each layer has a corresponding functional entity or bearer to perform the corresponding function, such as the SDAP entity of the SDAP layer, the PDCP entity of the PDCP layer, the RLC entity of the RLC layer (or described as RLC bearer), and the MAC entity of the MAC layer.

Split radio bearer (split RB): For split RB, the PDCP entity of the terminal device can be associated with a primary RLC entity and one or more secondary RLC entities.

Among them, after the data reaches the PDCP layer, the PDCP entity can deliver the data to the primary RLC entity or the secondary RLC entity based on the data volume of the received data. When the data volume is large, the PDCP entity can deliver the data to the primary RLC entity or the secondary RLC entity. When the data volume is small, the PDCP entity can deliver the data to the primary RLC entity.

Among them, the data may include protocol data unit (PDU) and/or service data unit (SDU).

For example, as shown in FIG2 , after the data reaches the PDCP layer, the PDCP entity can compare the data volume and data volume of the PDCP layer. If the data volume is less than the data volume threshold, the PDCP entity can deliver the data to the primary RLC entity; if the data volume is greater than or equal to the data volume threshold, the PDCP entity can deliver the data to the primary RLC entity or the secondary RLC entity.

When a terminal device sends data to a network device, since the uplink (UL) packet delay budget (PDB) is usually longer than the period for generating data, the PDCP entity of the terminal device can save the data that arrives successively in the cache.

For example, taking an uplink augmented reality (AR) service as an example, as shown in Table 1 below, the uplink AR service has the following traffic characteristics. Based on the traffic characteristics, it can be known that the uplink PDB of the uplink AR service is longer than the period for generating service data:

Table 1

When the PDCP entity of the terminal device delivers data to the primary RLC entity or the secondary RLC entity according to the data volume, the data that arrives first (or is described as old data, old PDU, old PDU set, etc.) and the data that arrives later (or is described as new data, new PDU, new PDU set, etc.) may be delivered to the same RLC entity (or described as being mapped to the same logical channel), that is, the data that arrives first and the data that arrives later may be processed in the same way, which may cause some data to exceed its own PDB requirements, thereby reducing the reliability of data transmission.

That is, during the above data delivery process, the PDCP entity cannot separate the data that arrives first from the data that arrives later, and cannot process different data differently.

Therefore, how the PDCP entity of the terminal device delivers data to the RLC entity to meet the PDB requirements of the data, reduce data transmission delay, and improve data transmission reliability has become a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently.

In order to solve the above-mentioned technical problems, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, in which a first PDCP entity of a terminal device can obtain one or more data sets and submit the data sets to an RLC entity associated with the data sets; wherein the terminal device includes multiple PDCP entities, the multiple PDCP entities include a first PDCP entity, and different PDCP entities obtain data sets of different importance levels; the first PDCP entity is associated with multiple RLC entities, and different data sets are associated with different RLC entities.

In an embodiment of the present application, when submitting a data set to a PDCP entity, data sets of different importance levels can be submitted to different PDCP entities to achieve differentiated processing of data sets of different importance levels. When each PDCP entity processes the acquired data set, different data sets can also be submitted to different RLC entities to achieve differentiated processing of different data sets, thereby meeting the packet delay budget PDB requirements of the data set, reducing data transmission delay, and improving data transmission reliability.

The implementation of the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

The communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application can be used in any communication system, which can be a third generation partnership project (3GPP) communication system, for example, a long term evolution (LTE) system, or a fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system, a new radio (NR) communication system, a new radio vehicle to everything (NR V2X) system, and can also be applied to a system of LTE and 5G hybrid networking, or a non-terrestrial network (NTN) system, a device-to-device (D2D) communication system, a machine-to-machine (M2M) communication system, an Internet of Things (IoT), and other next generation communication systems, such as future communication systems such as 6G, and can also be a non-3GPP communication system without limitation.

The following describes the communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application by taking Figure 3 as an example.

FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG3, the communication system may include one or more terminal devices, network devices, core network devices, and data networks. The core network devices may include network elements such as mobility management network elements, session management network elements, and user plane network elements.

In FIG. 3 , the terminal device may be located within the cell coverage of the network device. The terminal device may communicate with the network device via an uplink (UL) or a downlink (DL). For example, the terminal device may send uplink data to the network device via a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) in the UL direction; the network device may send downlink data to the terminal device via a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) in the DL direction.

The terminal device in FIG3 may also communicate with the core network device through a specific interface. For example, the terminal device may communicate with the mobility management network element in the core network device through the N1 interface.

After accessing the network, the terminal device can establish a protocol data unit (PDU) session, access the external data network through the PDU session, and interact with the application server deployed in the data network.

The terminal device in FIG3 may be a device with wireless transceiver functions or a chip or chip system that can be set in the device, which can allow the user to access the network and is a device for providing voice and/or data connectivity to the user. The terminal device may include an application (APP) related to the operation of a service (such as an extended reality (XR) service), and the APP may provide the terminal device with application data related to the service (such as XR data).

Among them, XR business refers to various environments that combine reality and virtuality, as well as human-machine interactions, generated by computing technology and wearable devices. Exemplary, it can include the following typical forms: AR, mixed reality (MR), and virtual reality (VR).

The terminal device may also be called user equipment (UE), subscriber unit (subscriber unit), terminal or mobile station (MS) or mobile terminal (MT), etc. Specifically, the terminal device in FIG3 may be a cellular phone, a smart phone, a wireless data card, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet computer or a computer with wireless transceiver function, a wireless modem, a handheld device (handset), or a laptop computer. The terminal equipment can also be VR terminal, AR terminal, wireless terminal in industrial control, wireless terminal in unmanned driving, wireless terminal in telemedicine, wireless terminal in smart grid, wireless terminal in smart city, wireless terminal in smart home, machine type communication (MTC) terminal on-board terminal, vehicle with vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication capability, intelligent connected vehicle, drone with UAV to UAV (U2U) communication capability, etc., without restriction.

The network device in FIG3 may be any device deployed in the access network that can communicate wirelessly with the terminal device, and is mainly used to implement wireless physical control functions, resource scheduling and wireless resource management, wireless access control, and mobility management functions. Specifically, the network device may be a device that supports wired access or a device that supports wireless access. Exemplarily, the network device may be an access network (AN)/radio access network (RAN) device, which is composed of multiple AN/RAN nodes. The AN/RAN node may be: an access point (AP), a base station (nodeB, NB), a macro base station, a micro base station (or described as a small station), a relay station, an enhanced base station (enhance nodeB, eNB), a next generation eNB (next generation eNB, ng-eNB), a next generation base station (next generation nodeB, gNB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a transmission point (TP), a transmission measurement function (TMF), a wearable device, a vehicle-mounted device, or some other access node, etc., without limitation.

The network device may also be a centralized unit (CU)/distributed unit (DU) architecture, in which case the network device may include two network elements, CU and DU; the network device may also be a control plane-user plane (CP-UP) architecture, in which case the network device may include three network elements, namely the CU control plane (CU-CP), the CU user plane (CU-UP) and the DU, without restriction.

The core network equipment in FIG3 is mainly responsible for providing user connections, user management, and service carrying, and serves as an interface to the external network as a bearer network.

The mobility management network element in Figure 3 is an access and mobility management function for terminal devices deployed in the wireless core network. It is mainly responsible for access authentication, mobility management, and signaling interaction between various functional network elements, such as: managing the user's registration status, user connection status, user registration, tracking area update, cell switching user authentication, and key security. It can also provide a session management message transmission channel for terminal devices and session management network elements, and provide authentication and authorization functions for user access. It is the access point for terminal devices and the wireless core network control plane.

The session management network element in Figure 3 is mainly used to implement the user plane transmission logical channel, such as: PDU session establishment, release and change The session management NE can also send the quality of service flow (QoS flow) configuration and QoS requirements of the PDU session to the network device through the mobility management NE.

The user plane network element in Figure 3 can be called a PDU session anchor point, a user plane function (UPF), and a multicast/broadcast user plane function (MB-UPF). The user plane network element can serve as an anchor point on the user plane transmission logical channel, and is mainly used to complete functions such as routing and forwarding of user plane data, such as: establishing a channel with the terminal device (i.e., the user plane transmission logical channel), forwarding data packets between the terminal device and the data network on the channel, and filtering data packets of the terminal device, forwarding data, controlling the rate, generating billing information, etc.

The data network in FIG3 may be an operator network that provides data transmission services to users, such as an operator network that provides Internet protocol multimedia services (IMS) to users. An application server (AS) may be deployed in the data network, and the application server may provide data transmission services to users.

It should be noted that the terminal device, network device and core network device of the embodiment of the present application can be one or more chips, or a system on chip (SOC), etc. Figure 3 is only an exemplary figure, and the number of devices included is not limited. In addition, in addition to the devices shown in Figure 3, the communication system may also include other devices. The names of each device and each link in Figure 3 are not limited. In addition to the names shown in Figure 3, each device and each link can also be named with other names without limitation.

Taking the communication system shown in Figure 3 as a 5G communication system as an example, as shown in Figure 4, the network elements or entities corresponding to the above-mentioned network devices can be gNB and ng-eNB in the 5G communication system; the network element or entity corresponding to the mobility management network element can be the access and mobility management function (AMF) in the 5G communication system; the network element or entity corresponding to the user plane network element can be the UPF in the 5G communication system.

As shown in Figure 4, the gNB or ng-eNB can communicate with the AMF or UPF through the NG interface, the gNB can communicate with the gNB or ng-eNB through the Xn interface, and the ng-eNB can communicate with the gNB or ng-eNB through the Xn interface.

Based on the communication system shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 , the terminal device can communicate with the application server in the data network through the network device and the core network device.

Exemplarily, when a terminal device and an application server perform data transmission, any network architecture shown in FIG. 5 or FIG. 6 can be used for data transmission.

As shown in Figure 5, after the user-side network element receives the data sent by the application server, it can use different data streams (such as different QoS streams) to send different data to the network device; the network device can also use different data streams (such as different data radio bearers (DRB) or different logical channels (LCH)) to send different data to the terminal device.

Among them, the application server can use different data streams (such as Internet protocol (IP) streams) to send different data to the user plane network element; it can also use the same data stream to transmit different data to the user plane network element. When the application server uses the same data stream to transmit different data to the user plane network element, the user plane network element can distinguish the received data and transmit different data to the network device through different data streams (such as different QoS streams).

It should be noted that different data can be data of different priorities, data of different types, or other different data, without restriction. The data flow between the application server and the user-plane network element, the data flow between the user-plane network element and the network device, and the data flow between the network device and the terminal device can represent different meanings. For example, the data flow between the application server and the user-plane network element can be an Internet protocol (IP) flow, the data flow between the user-plane network element and the network device can be a QoS flow, and the data flow between the network device and the terminal device can be a DRB or LCH, etc., without restriction.

Different from the user plane network element in Figure 5 that uses different data streams to transmit different data to the network device, as shown in Figure 6, the user plane network element can also use the same data stream (such as the same QoS stream) to transmit different data to the network device. After the network device receives the data sent by the user plane network element, it can distinguish the data and transmit different data to the terminal device through different data streams (such as different DRBs or different LCHs).

The above Figures 5 to 6 describe the network architecture by taking the application server sending data to the terminal device as an example. When the terminal device sends data to the application server, for example, the terminal device can map the application layer data to the corresponding DRB or LCH for transmission based on the mapping relationship between the QoS flow and the DRB or LCH.

For example, taking the example of using different QoS streams to transmit different data between the user plane network element and the network device in the above Figure 5, the SDAP layer of the terminal device can receive data associated with different QoS streams sent by the application layer, the SDAP entity can submit data associated with different QoS streams to different PDCP entities, and the PDCP entity can submit the received data to the RLC entity associated with itself.

For example, as shown in FIG. 7 , the SDAP entity receives data associated with QoS flow 1 and data associated with QoS flow 2 sent by the application layer. For example, the SDAP entity may deliver data associated with QoS flow 1 (or described as associated QoS flow identifier 1 (QFI 1)) to PDCP entity 1, and deliver data associated with QoS flow 2 (or described as associated QFI 2) to PDCP entity 2. PDCP entity 1 delivers data associated with QoS flow 1 to the RLC entity associated with itself. PDCP entity 2 delivers data associated with QoS flow 2 to the RLC entity associated with itself.

In the protocol architecture shown in FIG. 7 above, the SDAP entity of the terminal device can be associated with multiple PDCP entities. When a split RB is configured for the terminal device, the PDCP entity can also be associated with multiple RLC entities. The protocol architecture shown in FIG. 7 can also be referred to as protocol architecture A.

In another example, taking the example of using different QoS streams to transmit different data between the user plane network element and the network device in Figure 6 above, the SDAP layer of the terminal device can receive data associated with different QoS streams sent by the application layer, the SDAP entity can submit data associated with different QoS streams to the same PDCP entity, and the PDCP entity can submit data associated with different QoS streams to different RLC entities associated with itself.

For example, as shown in FIG8 , taking the case where the SDAP entity receives data of the associated QoS flow 1 and data of the associated QoS flow 2 sent by the application layer, the SDAP entity may deliver data of the associated QoS flow 1 (or described as associated QFI 1) and data of the associated QoS flow 2 (or described as associated QFI 2) to the PDCP entity. The PDCP entity may deliver data of the associated QoS flow 1 to the RLC entity 1 associated with itself, and deliver data of the associated QoS flow 2 to the RLC entity 2 associated with itself.

In the protocol architecture shown in FIG. 8 above, the SDAP entity of the terminal device can be associated with one PDCP entity. When the split RB is configured for the terminal device, the PDCP entity can be associated with multiple RLC entities. The protocol architecture shown in FIG. 8 can also be referred to as protocol architecture B.

In specific implementation, as shown in Figures 3 to 8, each terminal device, network device, and core network device may adopt the composition structure shown in Figure 9, or include the components shown in Figure 9. Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of the composition of a communication device 900 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 900 may be a terminal device or a chip or a system on chip in a terminal device; it may also be a network device or a chip or a system on chip in a network device; it may also be a core network device or a chip or a system on chip in a core network device. As shown in Figure 9, the communication device 900 includes a processor 901, a transceiver 902, and a communication line 903.

Furthermore, the communication device 900 may also include a memory 904. The processor 901, the memory 904 and the transceiver 902 may be connected via a communication line 903.

The processor 901 is a central processing unit (CPU), a general-purpose processor, a network processor (NP), a digital signal processor (DSP), a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a programmable logic device (PLD), or any combination thereof. The processor 901 may also be other devices with processing functions, such as circuits, devices, or software modules, without limitation.

The transceiver 902 is used to communicate with other devices or other communication networks. The other communication networks may be Ethernet, radio access network (RAN), wireless local area networks (WLAN), etc. The transceiver 902 may be a module, a circuit, a transceiver or any device capable of achieving communication.

The communication line 903 is used to transmit information between the components included in the communication device 900.

The memory 904 is used to store instructions, where the instructions may be computer programs.

Among them, the memory 904 can be a read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and/or instructions, or a random access memory (RAM) or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and/or instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compressed optical disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, Blu-ray disc, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, etc., without limitation.

It should be noted that the memory 904 can exist independently of the processor 901, or can be integrated with the processor 901. The memory 904 can be used to store instructions or program codes or some data, etc. The memory 904 can be located in the communication device 900, or can be located outside the communication device 900, without limitation. The processor 901 is used to execute the instructions stored in the memory 904 to implement the communication method provided in the following embodiments of the present application.

In one example, the processor 901 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 in FIG. 9 .

As an optional implementation manner, the communication device 900 includes multiple processors. For example, in addition to the processor 901 in FIG. 9 , it may also include a processor 907 .

As an optional implementation, the communication device 900 further includes an output device 905 and an input device 906. Exemplarily, the input device 906 is a device such as a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone or a joystick, and the output device 905 is a device such as a display screen and a speaker.

It should be noted that the communication device 900 may be a desktop computer, a portable computer, a network server, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a wireless terminal, an embedded device, a chip system, or a device having a similar structure as shown in FIG9. In addition, the composition structure shown in FIG9 does not constitute a limitation on the communication device. In addition to the components shown in FIG9, the communication device may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine certain components, or arrange the components differently.

In the embodiment of the present application, the chip system may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

In addition, the actions, terms, etc. involved in the various embodiments of the present application can refer to each other without limitation. The message name or parameter name in the message exchanged between the various devices in the embodiments of the present application is only an example, and other names can also be used in the specific implementation without limitation.

In conjunction with the communication system shown in FIG3 , the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application is described with reference to FIG10 below, wherein the terminal device may be any terminal device in the communication system shown in FIG3 , and the network device may be any network device in the communication system shown in FIG3 . The terminal devices and network devices described in the following embodiments may all have the components shown in FIG9 . The processing performed by a single execution subject (terminal device or network device) shown in the embodiment of the present application may also be divided into executions by multiple execution subjects, and these execution subjects may be logically and/or physically separated without limitation.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method may be applied to the network architecture shown in FIG. 5 or the protocol architecture A shown in FIG. 7 . As shown in FIG. 10 , the method may include:

Step 1001: The first PDCP entity of the terminal device obtains one or more data sets.

Among them, the terminal device may include multiple PDCP entities, each PDCP entity may be associated with one or more RLC entities, and different PDCP entities may obtain data sets with different importance levels.

Among them, multiple PDCP entities may include a first PDCP entity. In the embodiment of the present application, the process of the PDCP entity acquiring data and submitting data to the RLC entity associated with itself is described by taking the first PDCP entity as an example. It can be understood that each PDCP entity in the terminal device can refer to the process of the first PDCP entity acquiring data and submitting data to the RLC entity, acquiring data and submitting data to the RLC entity associated with itself. That is, the first PDCP entity can be any PDCP entity among the multiple PDCP entities of the terminal device.

A data set may include one or more data. A data set may also be described as a data burst.

Exemplarily, the data may include PDU and/or SDU, and the data set may be a PDU set (PDU set) and/or an SDU set (SDU set).

Exemplarily, the data set may be a data set of an XR service.

Optionally, when the SDAP entity of the terminal device receives a data set from the application layer, it can send data sets of different importance levels to different PDCP entities according to the importance levels of the data sets.

Optionally, before the first PDCP entity of the terminal device obtains one or more data sets, the terminal device may receive configuration information from the network device.

The network device may send configuration information to the terminal device through RRC signaling, and the configuration information may also be referred to as RRC configuration, RRC configuration information, etc., without limitation. When the RRC layer of the terminal device receives the configuration information, it may deliver the configuration information to the PDCP layer, RLC layer, and MAC layer of the terminal device to complete the configuration of the PDCP entity, RLC entity, logical channel, and MAC entity according to the configuration information.

The configuration information may include one or more of the following: first indication information, second indication information, third indication information, fourth indication information, and fifth indication information.

Among them, the first indication information can be used to indicate that the PDCP entity of the terminal device is configured as a split RB.

Optionally, the terminal device includes multiple PDCPs, and the first indication information can be used to indicate that each PDCP entity is configured as a split RB.

Optionally, the first indication information may also be used to indicate that a PDCP entity associated with a certain service in the terminal device is configured as a split RB.

Exemplarily, taking the terminal device executing the XR service as an example, the first indication information may also be used to indicate that the PDCP entity associated with the XR service in the terminal device is configured as a split RB.

The second indication information may be used to indicate the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB.

Among them, the configured number of logical channels can be equal to the maximum value (maxDataBurstWithinPSDB) of the data set sent by the terminal device in the protocol data unit set delay budget (PDU set delay budget, PSDB).

Optionally, the mobility management network element may determine the PSDB and the data transmission cycle of the service according to the QoS requirements of the service. The management network element can send the determined PSDB and the data transmission period of the service to the network device. The network device can determine the maximum value of the data set sent by the terminal device in the PSDB according to the received PSDB and the data transmission period of the service, and determine the maximum value as the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB.

Exemplarily, taking the PSDB as 60ms and the data transmission period of the service as 15ms, the network device can determine that the maximum value of the data set sent by the terminal device in the PSDB is 4, that is, the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB is 4.

It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, the logical channels correspond one-to-one to the RLC entities, that is, the terminal device can determine the configured number of logical channels and the configured number of RLC entities according to the second indication information.

Exemplarily, taking the PDCP entity as the first PDCP entity and the second indication information being used to indicate that the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB is 4, the terminal device can determine that the first PDCP entity is associated with 4 RLC entities, and each RLC entity is associated with one logical channel.

The third indication information may be used to indicate the configuration of one or more MAC entities, or the third indication information may also be described as being used to indicate the configured number of MAC entities.

Compared with configuring one MAC entity, configuring multiple MAC entities can increase the throughput of the terminal device.

Among them, the above-mentioned fourth indication information can be used to indicate the number of logical channels associated with each MAC entity.

Among them, the sum of the numbers of logical channels associated with each MAC entity is equal to the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB indicated by the above-mentioned second indication information.

Exemplarily, taking the example of a network device configuring two MAC entities for a terminal device, m logical channels can be configured for the first MAC entity and n logical channels can be configured for the second MAC entity, where the sum of m and n is equal to the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB indicated by the second indication information.

Optionally, the multiple logical channels associated with each MAC entity may be continuous logical channels or discontinuous logical channels without restriction. The logical channels associated with multiple MAC entities may be continuous logical channels or discontinuous logical channels without restriction.

The fifth indication information may be used to indicate identification information of a logical channel.

In one possible design, the fifth indication information can be used to indicate the identification information of the first logical channel associated with each MAC entity; the difference between the identification information of two consecutive logical channels associated with the same MAC entity is the first difference.

The identification information of the first logical channel may also be referred to as the start identification information of the logical channel, the logical channel start identification (logicalChannelStartIdentity), etc., without limitation.

Among them, if the multiple logical channels associated with each MAC entity are continuous logical channels, the network device can indicate the identification information of the first logical channel associated with each MAC entity to the terminal device, and the terminal device can determine the identification information of the remaining logical channels in the MAC entity based on the identification information of the first logical channel and the first difference.

Optionally, the first difference may be indicated by the network device to the terminal device, may be pre-defined by the protocol, or may be customized by the terminal device, without limitation. When the first difference is 1, the identification information between consecutive logical channels is also continuous; when the first difference is not 1, the identification information between consecutive logical channels is separated by the first difference.

Optionally, when the network device indicates the identification information of the first logical channel associated with each MAC entity through the fifth indication information, the "per MAC entity" method can be used to indicate the identification information of the first logical channel associated with each MAC entity. At this time, the fifth indication information can imply the configured number of MAC entities, that is, the terminal device can determine the configured number of MAC entities according to the number of identification information of the first logical channel indicated by the fifth indication information. The network device does not need to send the third indication information to the terminal device.

Exemplarily, a network device configures two MAC entities for a terminal device, the first MAC entity is associated with three consecutive logical channels, the second MAC entity is associated with four consecutive logical channels, and the first difference is 1. For example, if the fifth indication information is used to indicate that the identification information of the first logical channel associated with the first MAC entity is 1, and the identification information of the first logical channel associated with the second MAC entity is 6, then the terminal device can determine that the identification information of the logical channels associated with the first MAC entity is 1, 2, 3; and the identification information of the logical channels associated with the second MAC entity is 6, 7, 8, 9.

In another possible design, the fifth indication information can be used to indicate the identification information of each logical channel associated with each MAC entity.

Among them, when the network device indicates the identification information of each logical channel associated with each MAC entity through the fifth indication information, the network device can use the "per MAC entity" method to indicate the identification information of the logical channel of each MAC entity to the terminal device. At this time, the fifth indication information can imply the configured number of MAC entities, that is, the terminal device can determine the configured number of MAC entities based on the fifth indication information. The network device does not need to send the third indication information to the terminal device. In addition, the fifth indication information can also imply each MAC The number of logical channels associated with the entity, that is, the terminal device can also determine the number of logical channels associated with each MAC entity based on the fifth indication information, and the network device does not need to send the fourth indication information to the terminal device.

Among them, when the multiple logical channels associated with each MAC entity are continuous logical channels, the network device can indicate the identification information of each logical channel associated with each MAC entity through the fifth indication information; when the multiple logical channels associated with each MAC entity are not continuous logical channels, the network device can also indicate the identification information of each logical channel associated with each MAC entity through the fifth indication information without restriction.

Optionally, in the above configuration information, the configuration information related to the logical channel can be carried in the configuration information related to the MAC layer, that is, when the terminal device performs the configuration of the MAC layer, it can perform the configuration of the logical channel.

Optionally, when the terminal device configures a logical channel, the logical channel may be configured according to service requirements.

Optionally, the terminal device may also associate the logical channel with the RLC entity to obtain an association relationship between the logical channel and the RLC entity.

Among them, the PDCP entity, RLC entity and MAC entity of the terminal device can save the association relationship between the logical channel and the RLC entity, so as to facilitate subsequent data transmission based on the association relationship.

Step 1002: The first PDCP entity delivers the data set to the RLC entity associated with the data set.

The first PDCP entity may be associated with one or more RLC entities, and different data sets may be associated with different RLC entities.

Optionally, when the first PDCP entity receives a data set or the sixth indication information, the first PDCP entity may determine the logical channel associated with the data set based on the first count value, determine the RLC entity associated with the data set based on the association relationship between the logical channel associated with the data set and the RLC entity and the logical channel, and then submit the data set to the RLC entity associated with the data set.

The sixth indication information may be used to indicate the arrival of a data set; and the initial value of the first count value may be 0.

Optionally, the first count value may be counted by a first counter. The first counter may also be described as a data burst counter (DATA_BURST_COUNTER).

Optionally, each time the first PDCP entity delivers a data set to the RLC entity, the first count value is updated once.

Exemplarily, after the first PDCP entity delivers the data set to the RLC entity associated with the data set, the first PDCP entity may refer to the following formula (1), increase the first count value by one, and determine the modulus value of the first count value after the increase by one and the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB as the updated first count value:
(DATA_BURST_COUNTER++)module(maxDataBurstWithinPSDB); Formula (1)

Among them, DATA_BURST_COUNTER represents the first count value, DATA_BURST_COUNTER++ represents adding one to the first count value, module is a modulo operation, and maxDataBurstWithinPSDB represents the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB.

Optionally, when the first count value associated with the data set is i, the first PDCP entity determines the i+1th logical channel associated with the split RB as the logical channel associated with the data set.

Wherein, i is greater than or equal to 0.

In the first possible design, when the logical channels associated with the split RB are associated with a MAC entity, the i+1th logical channel is the i+1th logical channel among the logical channels associated with the MAC entity, arranged from small to large according to the identification information of the logical channels.

In the second possible design, when the logical channel associated with the split RB is associated with multiple MAC entities, the i+1th logical channel is the i+1th logical channel among the logical channels associated with multiple MAC entities, arranged from small to large according to the identification information of the logical channel.

If the identification information of the logical channels associated with multiple MAC entities is different, the logical channels can be arranged in ascending order according to the identification information of the logical channels.

For example, taking a terminal device including two MAC entities, the identification information of the logical channels associated with the first MAC entity is 1, 2 and 3, and the identification information of the logical channels associated with the second MAC entity is 7, 8, 9, 10, according to the identification information of the logical channels, the result of sorting the logical channels in order from smallest to smallest is: logical channel 1, logical channel 2, logical channel 3, logical channel 7, logical channel 8, logical channel 9, logical channel 10.

In a third possible design, when the logical channel associated with the split RB is associated with multiple MAC entities, the i+1th logical channel is the i-th logical channel among the logical channels associated with multiple MAC entities, arranged from small to large according to the identification information of the MAC entity and the identification information of the logical channel.

Among them, if the identification information of the logical channels associated with multiple MAC entities is the same, the logical channels can be arranged in ascending order according to the identification information of the MAC entity and the identification information of the logical channel.

Among them, when sorting the logical channels, the identification information of the MAC entity can be arranged in ascending order, and then the logical channels associated with the first MAC entity can be arranged in ascending order according to the identification information of the logical channels, and then the logical channels associated with the second MAC entity can be arranged in ascending order according to the identification information of the logical channels, until the logical channels associated with the last MAC entity are arranged in ascending order according to the identification information of the logical channels.

Exemplarily, taking a terminal device including two MAC entities, the identification information of the logical channel associated with the first MAC entity is 1, 2 and 3, and the identification information of the logical channel associated with the second MAC entity is 3, 4, 5, 6, as an example, according to the identification information of the MAC entity and the identification information of the logical channel, the result of sorting the logical channels in order from smallest to smallest is: logical channel 1 of the first MAC entity, logical channel 2 of the first MAC entity, logical channel 3 of the first MAC entity, logical channel 3 of the second MAC entity, logical channel 4 of the second MAC entity, logical channel 5 of the second MAC entity, and logical channel 6 of the second MAC entity.

Optionally, if the identification information of the logical channels associated with multiple MAC entities is different, the logical channels may be arranged in ascending order according to the identification information of the MAC entities and the identification information of the logical channels.

Based on the above three possible designs, exemplarily, when the logical channels associated with the split RB include m logical channels associated with the first MAC entity and n logical channels associated with the second MAC entity, if i+1 is less than or equal to m, the i+1th logical channel may be the i+1th logical channel among the m logical channels associated with the first MAC entity; or, if i+1 is greater than m, the i+1th logical channel may be the i+1-mth logical channels among the n logical channels associated with the second MAC entity.

Optionally, if the logical channels associated with each MAC entity of the terminal device are continuous logical channels, and the first difference between the identification information of two consecutive logical channels is 1, when the first count value associated with the data set is i, the first PDCP entity can also determine the identification information of the i+1th logical channel associated with the data set according to the following formula (2) or formula (3).

Exemplarily, taking the case where the logical channels associated with the split RB include m logical channels associated with the first MAC entity and n logical channels associated with the second MAC entity, when the first count value associated with the data set is i, if i+1 is less than or equal to m, the identification information of the i+1th logical channel may be:
logicalChannelStartIdentity1+DATA_BURST_COUNTER; Formula (2)

If i+1 is greater than m, the identification information of the i+1th logical channel can be:
logicalChannelStartIdentity2+DATA_BURST_COUNTER-m; Formula (3)

Among them, logicalChannelStartIdentity1 represents the identification information of the first logical channel associated with the first MAC entity; logicalChannelStartIdentity2 represents the identification information of the first logical channel associated with the second MAC entity; DATA_BURST_COUNTER represents the first count value i.

For example, taking m=1, n=2, logicalChannelStartIdentity1=1, and logicalChannelStartIdentity2=5 as an example, as shown in Figure 11, the first PDCP entity can deliver the first received data set (such as data burst 1) to the RLC entity associated with logical channel 1, deliver the second received data set (such as data burst 2) to the RLC entity associated with logical channel 5, and deliver the third received data set (such as data burst3) to the RLC entity associated with logical channel 6.

Based on the method shown in FIG. 10 above, when the upper layer submits a data set to the PDCP entity, data sets of different importance levels can be submitted to different PDCP entities to achieve different processing of data sets of different importance levels. When each PDCP entity processes the acquired data set, it can also submit different data sets to different RLC entities/logical channels to achieve different processing of different data sets, thereby meeting the packet delay budget PDB requirements of the data set, reducing data transmission delay, and improving data transmission reliability.

Different from the above-mentioned FIG. 10 in which data sets of different importance levels are delivered to different PDCP entities, as shown in FIG. 11 , data sets of different importance levels may also be delivered to the same PDCP entity.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method may be applied to the network architecture shown in FIG. 6 or the protocol architecture B shown in FIG. 8 . As shown in FIG. 12 , the method may include:

Step 1201: The PDCP entity of the terminal device obtains one or more data sets.

Among them, the terminal device may include a PDCP entity, the PDCP entity may be associated with one or more RLC entities, and the PDCP entity may obtain data sets of different importance levels, that is, one or more data sets obtained by the PDCP entity may be associated with one or more importance levels.

Exemplarily, the data may include a PDU and/or an SDU, and the data set may be a PDU set (PDU set) and/or an SDU set (SDU set).

Exemplarily, the data set may be a data set of an XR service.

Optionally, when the SDAP entity of the terminal device receives a data set from the application layer, it can send the received data set to the PDCP entity.

Optionally, before the PDCP entity of the terminal device obtains one or more data sets, the terminal device may receive configuration information from the network device.

The configuration information may include one or more of the following: first indication information, seventh indication information, third indication information, fourth indication information, and fifth indication information.

Among them, the description of the first indication information, the third indication information, the fourth indication information and the fifth indication information can refer to the relevant description of the first indication information, the third indication information, the fourth indication information and the fifth indication information in the above-mentioned Figure 10, and will not be repeated here.

The seventh indication information may be used to indicate the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB.

Among them, the configured number of logical channels can be determined based on the maximum value (maxDataBurstWithinPSDB) of the data set sent by the terminal device in the PSDB and the number of importance levels.

Optionally, the mobility management network element may determine the PSDB and the data transmission period of the service according to the QoS requirements of the service. The mobility management network element may send the determined PSDB and the data transmission period of the service to the network device. The network device may determine the maximum value of the data set sent by the terminal device in the PSDB according to the received PSDB and the data transmission period of the service.

Optionally, the number of importance levels (ImportanceLevel) may be predefined by the protocol or may be preconfigured for the network device, without limitation.

Optionally, the network device may determine the product of the maximum value of the data set sent by the terminal device in the PSDB and the number of importance levels (maxDataBurstWithinPSDB*ImportanceLevel) as the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB.

It should be noted that in the embodiment of the present application, the logical channels correspond one-to-one to the RLC entities, that is, the terminal device can determine the configured number of logical channels and the configured number of RLC entities according to the seventh indication information.

Exemplarily, taking the seventh indication information used to indicate that the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB is 4 as an example, the terminal device can determine that the PDCP entity is associated with 4 RLC entities, and each RLC entity is associated with one logical channel.

Among them, the PDCP entity, RLC entity and MAC entity of the terminal device can save the association relationship between the logical channel and the RLC entity, so as to facilitate subsequent data transmission according to the association relationship.

Step 1202: The PDCP entity delivers data to the data-associated RLC entity.

Among them, the PDCP entity can be associated with one or more RLC entities, data with the same importance level in the same data set can be associated with the same RLC entity; data with different importance levels in the same data set can be associated with different RLC entities; data in different data sets can be associated with different RLC entities.

Optionally, when the PDCP entity receives a data set or the sixth indication information, the PDCP entity may determine the logical channel associated with the data based on the first count value, determine the RLC entity associated with the data based on the association relationship between the logical channel associated with the data, the RLC entity and the logical channel, and then deliver the data to the RLC entity associated with the data.

Optionally, each time the PDCP entity delivers data to the RLC entity, the first count value may be updated.

The PDCP entity submitting data to the RLC entity once may refer to the PDCP entity submitting one or more data with the same importance level in the same data set to an RLC entity.

Exemplarily, after the PDCP entity delivers data to the RLC entity associated with the data, the PDCP entity may refer to the following formula (4), increase the first count value by one, and determine the first count value after the increase by one and the modulus value of the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB as the updated first count value:
(DATA_BURST_COUNTER++)module(maxDataBurstWithinPSDB*ImportanceLevel); (Formula 4)

Among them, DATA_BURST_COUNTER represents the first count value, DATA_BURST_COUNTER++ represents adding one to the first count value, module is a modulo operation, and maxDataBurstWithinPSDB*ImportanceLevel represents the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB.

Optionally, when the first count value of the data association is i, the PDCP entity determines the i+1th logical channel associated with the split RB as the data-associated logical channel.

Here, i is greater than or equal to 0. Data with the same importance level in the same data set are associated with the same first count value; data with different importance levels in the same data set are associated with different first count values, and data in different data sets are associated with different first count values.

Optionally, if the logical channels associated with each MAC entity of the terminal device are continuous logical channels, and the first difference between the identification information of two consecutive logical channels is 1, when the first count value associated with the data set is i, the PDCP entity can also determine the identification information of the i+1th logical channel associated with the data set according to the following formula (5) or formula (6).

Exemplarily, taking the case where the logical channels associated with the split RB include m logical channels associated with the first MAC entity and n logical channels associated with the second MAC entity, when the first count value associated with the data set is i, if i+1 is less than or equal to m, the identification information of the i+1th logical channel may be:

logicalChannelStartIdentity1+(DATA_BURST_COUNTER)*ImportanceLevel+DATA_BURST_COUNTER; Formula (5)

If i+1 is greater than m, the identification information of the i+1th logical channel can be:
logicalChannelStartIdentity2+(DATA_BURST_COUNTER)*ImportanceLevel+m; Formula (6)

Among them, logicalChannelStartIdentity1 represents the identification information of the first logical channel associated with the first MAC entity; logicalChannelStartIdentity2 represents the identification information of the first logical channel associated with the second MAC entity; DATA_BURST_COUNTER represents the first count value i, and ImportanceLevel represents the number of importance levels.

For example, taking m=2, n=4, logicalChannelStartIdentity1=1, logicalChannelStartIdentity2=5, and ImportanceLevel=2 as an example, as shown in FIG13 , the PDCP entity may deliver the data of importance level 1 in the first received data set (such as data burst 1) to the RLC entity associated with logical channel 1, deliver the data of importance level 2 in the first received data set (such as data burst 1) to the RLC entity associated with logical channel 2, deliver the data of importance level 1 in the second received data set (such as data burst 2) to the RLC entity associated with logical channel 5, and deliver the data of importance level 2 in the second received data set (such as data burst 2) to the RLC entity associated with logical channel 6.

Based on the method shown in FIG. 12 above, when the PDCP entity processes the acquired data set, it can not only deliver data sets of different importance levels to different logical channels/RLC entities, but also deliver data of different importance levels in the same data set to different logical channels/RLC entities. Different processing of different data sets or different data is achieved, thereby meeting the packet delay budget PDB requirements of the data set or data, reducing data transmission delay, and improving data transmission reliability.

It should be noted that the various methods provided in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented separately or in combination without limitation.

It is understandable that in the embodiments of the present application, the execution subject may execute some or all of the steps in the embodiments of the present application, and these steps or operations are only examples, and the embodiments of the present application may also execute other operations or variations of various operations. In addition, the various steps may be executed in different orders presented in the embodiments of the present application, and it is possible that not all operations in the embodiments of the present application need to be executed.

The above mainly introduces the solution provided by the embodiment of the present application from the perspective of interaction between devices. It is understandable that, in order to realize the above functions, each device includes a hardware structure and/or software module corresponding to each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that, in combination with the algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to exceed the scope of the present application.

The embodiment of the present application can divide the functional modules of each device according to the above method example. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated module can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic and is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation.

In the case of dividing each functional module according to each function, Figure 14 shows a communication device 140, which can execute the actions executed by the terminal device in Figures 10 to 13 above, or execute the actions executed by the network device in Figures 10 to 13 above.

Wherein, the communication device 140 may include a transceiver module 1401 and a processing module 1402. Exemplarily, the communication device 140 may be a communication device, or a chip applied to a communication device, or other combined devices, components, etc. having the functions of the above-mentioned communication device. When the communication device 140 is a communication device, the transceiver module 1401 may be a transceiver, and the transceiver may include an antenna and a radio frequency circuit, etc.; the processing module 1402 may be a processor (or a processing circuit), such as a baseband processor, and the baseband processor may include one or more CPUs. When the communication device 140 is a component having the functions of the above-mentioned communication device, the transceiver module 1401 may be a radio frequency unit; the processing module 1402 may be a processor (or a processing circuit), such as a baseband processor. When the communication device 140 is a chip system, the transceiver module 1401 may be an input and output interface of a chip (such as a baseband chip); the processing module 1402 may be a processor (or a processing circuit) of the chip system, and may include one or more central processing units. It should be understood that the transceiver module 1401 in the embodiment of the present application can be implemented by a transceiver or a transceiver-related circuit component; the processing module 1402 can be implemented by a processor or a processor-related circuit component (or, referred to as a processing circuit).

For example, the transceiver module 1401 may be used to perform all the transceiver operations performed by the communication device in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 10 to 13, and/or to support other processes of the technology described herein; the processing module 1402 may be used to perform all the operations except the transceiver operations performed by the communication device in the embodiments shown in FIGS. 10 to 13, and/or to support other processes of the technology described herein. Procedure.

As another possible implementation, the transceiver module 1401 in FIG14 may be replaced by a transceiver, which may integrate the functions of the transceiver module 1401; the processing module 1402 may be replaced by a processor, which may integrate the functions of the processing module 1402. Furthermore, the communication device 140 shown in FIG14 may also include a memory.

Alternatively, when the processing module 1402 is replaced by a processor and the transceiver module 1401 is replaced by a transceiver, the communication device 140 involved in the embodiment of the present application may also be the communication device 150 shown in FIG15 , wherein the processor may be a logic circuit 1501 and the transceiver may be an interface circuit 1502. Further, the communication device 150 shown in FIG15 may also include a memory 1503.

The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program product, which can implement the functions of any of the above method embodiments when executed by a computer.

The embodiments of the present application also provide a computer program, which can implement the functions of any of the above method embodiments when executed by a computer.

The embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium. All or part of the processes in the above method embodiments can be completed by a computer program to instruct the relevant hardware, and the program can be stored in the above computer-readable storage medium. When the program is executed, it can include the processes of the above method embodiments. The computer-readable storage medium can be an internal storage unit of the terminal (including the data sending end and/or the data receiving end) of any of the above embodiments, such as the hard disk or memory of the terminal. The above computer-readable storage medium can also be an external storage device of the above terminal, such as a plug-in hard disk equipped on the above terminal, a smart memory card (smart media card, SMC), a secure digital (secure digital, SD) card, a flash card (flash card), etc. Further, the above computer-readable storage medium can also include both the internal storage unit of the above terminal and an external storage device. The above computer-readable storage medium is used to store the above computer program and other programs and data required by the above terminal. The above computer-readable storage medium can also be used to temporarily store data that has been output or is to be output.

It should be noted that the terms "first" and "second" in the specification, claims and drawings of this application are used to distinguish different objects rather than to describe a specific order. "First" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Therefore, the features defined as "first" and "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of this embodiment, unless otherwise specified, "multiple" means two or more.

In addition, the terms "include" and "have" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product or device comprising a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but may optionally include steps or units not listed, or may optionally include other steps or units inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

It should be understood that in the present application, "at least one (item)" refers to one or more. "Multiple" refers to two or more. "At least two (items)" refers to two or three and more than three. "And/or" is used to describe the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, "A and/or B" can mean: only A exists, only B exists, and A and B exist at the same time, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the objects associated before and after are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following (items)" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single (items) or plural (items). For example, at least one of a, b or c can mean: a, b, c, "a and b", "a and c", "b and c", or "a and b and c", where a, b, c can be single or multiple. "When" and "if" both mean that corresponding processing will be made under certain objective circumstances, not a time limit, and do not require judgment actions when implementing, nor do they mean that there are other restrictions.

In the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of the present application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete way for easy understanding.

Through the description of the above implementation methods, technical personnel in the relevant field can clearly understand that for the convenience and simplicity of description, only the division of the above-mentioned functional modules is used as an example. In actual applications, the above-mentioned functions can be assigned to different functional modules as needed, that is, the internal structure of the device can be divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the functions described above.

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

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may be one physical unit or multiple physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed in multiple different places. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the present embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units.

If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application can essentially or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium, including several instructions to enable a device (which can be a single-chip microcomputer, chip, etc.) or a processor to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as USB flash drives, mobile hard drives, ROM, RAM, magnetic disks or optical disks.

Claims

A communication method, comprising:

A first packet data convergence protocol PDCP entity of a terminal device acquires one or more data sets; wherein the terminal device includes multiple PDCP entities, the multiple PDCP entities include the first PDCP entity, and different PDCP entities acquire data sets of different importance levels;

The first PDCP entity delivers the data set to a radio link control RLC entity associated with the data set; wherein the first PDCP entity is associated with multiple RLC entities, and different data sets are associated with different RLC entities.
The method according to claim 1, characterized in that

The data set is a data set of extended reality XR business.
The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that before the first PDCP entity of the terminal device obtains the one or more data sets, the method further comprises:

The terminal device receives configuration information from the network device; wherein the configuration information includes one or more of the following: first indication information, second indication information, third indication information, fourth indication information, and fifth indication information;

Among them, the first indication information is used to indicate that the PDCP entity of the terminal device is configured as a split radio bearer RB; the second indication information is used to indicate the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB, and the configured number of logical channels is equal to the maximum value of the data set sent by the terminal device in the protocol data unit set delay budget PSDB; the third indication information is used to indicate the configuration of one or more media access control MAC entities; the fourth indication information is used to indicate the number of logical channels associated with each MAC entity; the fifth indication information is used to indicate the identification information of the logical channel.
The method according to claim 3, characterized in that

The fifth indication information is used to indicate the identification information of the first logical channel associated with each MAC entity; the difference between the identification information of two consecutive logical channels associated with the same MAC entity is the first difference; or

The fifth indication information is used to indicate identification information of each logical channel associated with each MAC entity.
The method according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the first PDCP entity submits the data set to the RLC entity associated with the data set, comprising:

When the first PDCP entity receives the data set or the sixth indication information, the first PDCP entity determines the logical channel associated with the data set according to the first count value; wherein the initial value of the first count value is 0;

The first PDCP entity determines the RLC entity associated with the data set according to the logical channel associated with the data set and the association relationship between the RLC entity and the logical channel;

The first PDCP entity delivers the data set to the RLC entity associated with the data set.
The method according to claim 5, characterized in that after the first PDCP entity delivers the data set to the RLC entity associated with the data set, the method further comprises:

The first PDCP entity increases the first count value by one, and determines the modulus of the increased first count value and the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB as the updated first count value.
The method according to claim 6, wherein the first PDCP entity determines the logical channel associated with the data set according to the first count value, comprising:

When the first count value associated with the data set is i, the first PDCP entity determines the i+1th logical channel associated with the split RB as the logical channel associated with the data set; wherein i is greater than or equal to 0.
The method according to claim 7, characterized in that

When the logical channel associated with the split RB is associated with a MAC entity, the i+1th logical channel is the i+1th logical channel among the logical channels associated with the MAC entity, which is arranged in ascending order according to identification information of the logical channels; or

When the logical channel associated with the split RB is associated with multiple MAC entities, the i+1th logical channel is the i+1th logical channel among the logical channels associated with the multiple MAC entities, arranged in ascending order according to identification information of the logical channels; or

When the logical channel associated with the split RB is associated with multiple MAC entities, the i+1th logical channel is the i-th logical channel among the logical channels associated with the multiple MAC entities, arranged from small to large according to the identification information of the MAC entity and the identification information of the logical channel.
The method according to claim 8, characterized in that when the logical channels associated with the split RB include m logical channels associated with the first MAC entity and n logical channels associated with the second MAC entity,

If the i+1 is less than or equal to the m, the i+1th logical channel is the i+1th logical channel among the m logical channels associated with the first MAC entity; or

If the i+1 is greater than the m, the i+1th logical channel is the i+1-mth logical channel among the n logical channels associated with the second MAC entity.
A communication method, comprising:

A Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) entity of a terminal device acquires one or more data sets; wherein the one or more data sets are associated with one or more importance levels; and the data set includes one or more data;

The PDCP entity delivers the data to the RLC entity associated with the data; wherein the PDCP entity is associated with multiple RLC entities; data with the same importance level in the same data set are associated with the same radio link control RLC entity; data with different importance levels in the same data set are associated with different RLC entities; data in different data sets are associated with different RLC entities.
The method according to claim 10, characterized in that

The data set is a data set of extended reality XR business.
The method according to claim 10 or 11, characterized in that before the PDCP entity of the terminal device obtains the one or more data sets, the method further comprises:

The terminal device receives configuration information from the network device; wherein the configuration information includes one or more of the following: first indication information, seventh indication information, third indication information, fourth indication information, and fifth indication information;

Among them, the first indication information is used to indicate that the PDCP entity of the terminal device is configured as a split radio bearer RB; the seventh indication information is used to indicate the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB, and the configured number of logical channels is determined according to the maximum value of the data set sent by the terminal device in the protocol data unit set delay budget PSDB and the number of importance levels; the third indication information is used to indicate the configuration of one or more media access control MAC entities; the fourth indication information is used to indicate the number of logical channels associated with each MAC entity; the fifth indication information is used to indicate the identification information of the logical channel.
The method according to claim 12, characterized in that

The fifth indication information is used to indicate the identification information of the first logical channel associated with each MAC entity; the difference between the identification information of two consecutive logical channels associated with the same MAC entity is the first difference; or

The fifth indication information is used to indicate identification information of each logical channel associated with each MAC entity.
The method according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that the PDCP entity submits the data to the RLC entity associated with the data, comprising:

When the PDCP entity receives the data set or the sixth indication information, the PDCP entity determines a logical channel associated with the data according to a first count value; wherein an initial value of the first count value is 0;

The PDCP entity determines the RLC entity associated with the data according to the logical channel associated with the data and an association relationship between the RLC entity and the logical channel;

The PDCP entity delivers the data to the RLC entity associated with the data.
The method according to claim 14, characterized in that after the PDCP entity delivers the data to the RLC entity associated with the data, the method further comprises:

The PDCP entity increases the first count value by one, and determines the modulus of the increased first count value and the configured number of logical channels associated with the split RB as the updated first count value.
The method according to claim 15, characterized in that the PDCP entity determines the logical channel associated with the data according to the first count value, comprising:

When the first count value of the data association is i, the PDCP entity determines the i+1th logical channel associated with the split RB as the logical channel associated with the data; wherein, i is greater than or equal to 0, data with the same importance level in the same data set are associated with the same first count value; data with different importance levels in the same data set are associated with different first count values.
The method according to claim 16, characterized in that

When the logical channel associated with the split RB is associated with a MAC entity, the i+1th logical channel is the i+1th logical channel among the logical channels associated with the MAC entity, which is arranged in ascending order according to identification information of the logical channels; or

When the logical channel associated with the split RB is associated with multiple MAC entities, the i+1th logical channel is the i+1th logical channel among the logical channels associated with the multiple MAC entities, arranged in ascending order according to identification information of the logical channels; or

When the logical channel associated with the split RB is associated with multiple MAC entities, the i+1th logical channel is associated with the multiple MAC entities. Among the logical channels associated with the entity, the i-th logical channel is arranged from small to large according to the identification information of the MAC entity and the identification information of the logical channel.
The method according to claim 17, characterized in that when the logical channels associated with the split RB include m logical channels associated with the first MAC entity and n logical channels associated with the second MAC entity,

If the i+1 is less than or equal to the m, the i+1th logical channel is the i+1th logical channel among the m logical channels associated with the first MAC entity; or

If the i+1 is greater than the m, the i+1th logical channel is the i+1-mth logical channel among the n logical channels associated with the second MAC entity.
A communication device, characterized in that the communication device includes a processor; the processor is used to run a computer program or instruction so that the communication device executes the communication method as described in any one of claims 1-9, or executes the communication method as described in any one of claims 10-18.
A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions or programs, and when the computer instructions or programs are run on a computer, the communication method as described in any one of claims 1 to 9 is executed, or the communication method as described in any one of claims 10 to 18 is executed.
A computer program product, characterized in that the computer program product includes computer instructions; when part or all of the computer instructions are run on a computer, the communication method as described in any one of claims 1 to 9 is executed, or the communication method as described in any one of claims 10 to 18 is executed.