Method and apparatus for transmitting traffic flows by multiple ues

Abstract

The embodiment of the application discloses a method and device for transmitting a service flow through multiple UEs, and belongs to the technical field of communication. The method for transmitting a service flow through multiple UEs comprises the following steps: a mobility management function determines that a first session of a first UE and a second session of a second UE are used for transmission of a same service flow; and the mobility management function selects a same session management function for the first session and the second session.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application belongs to the field of communication technology, and specifically relates to a method and apparatus for transmitting service flows through a multi-user equipment (UE). Background Technology

[0002] Due to the limited capabilities of a single UE, uplink data transmission is restricted and cannot meet the data transmission requirements of high-bandwidth uplink services. By leveraging multiple air interfaces of multiple UEs to jointly transmit high-bandwidth uplink services, the power consumption of a single UE can be increased while simultaneously improving data transmission bandwidth through multi-path transmission. Furthermore, since session data transmission by a single UE carries a certain error rate and failure risk, using session redundancy across multiple UEs to transmit the same service data helps improve the accuracy and success rate of data transmission.

[0003] In scenarios where multiple UEs jointly transmit data streams over the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) air interface, how to ensure that the session management function associates multiple sessions of multiple terminals together, thereby realizing multi-UE transmission of service streams, is a technical problem that urgently needs to be solved in related technologies. Summary of the Invention

[0004] This application provides a method and device for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs, which can solve the problem in related technologies that it is impossible to associate multiple sessions of multiple UEs and thus impossible to realize multi-UE transmission of service flows.

[0005] In a first aspect, a method for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs is provided, comprising: a mobility management function determining that a first session of a first UE and a second session of a second UE are used for transmitting the same service flow; the mobility management function selecting the same session management function for the first session and the second session.

[0006] Secondly, a method for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs is provided, comprising: a second UE sending a second session establishment request message, wherein the second session establishment request message is used by a mobility management function to determine that a first session of a first UE and a second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, and to select the same session management function for the first session and the second session.

[0007] Thirdly, a method for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs is provided, comprising: a session management function sending registration information to a data management or storage function so that a mobility management function of a second UE service can obtain information from the session management function, wherein the session management function corresponds to a first session of a first UE; wherein the registration information includes an identifier of the session management function and at least one of the following: an identifier of the first UE, an identifier of the first session, an identifier of a first aggregated UE group, service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and DNN information.

[0008] Fourthly, an apparatus for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs is provided, comprising: a determining module for determining that a first session of a first UE and a second session of a second UE are used for transmitting the same service flow; and a selecting module for selecting the same session management function for the first session and the second session.

[0009] Fifthly, an apparatus for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs is provided, comprising: a sending module, configured to send a second session establishment request message, wherein the second session establishment request message is used by a mobility management function to determine that a first session of a first UE and a second session of the apparatus are used for transmitting the same service flow, and to select the same session management function for the first session and the second session.

[0010] In a sixth aspect, an apparatus for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs is provided, comprising: a sending module for sending registration information to a data management or storage function so that a mobility management function of a second UE service can obtain information about the apparatus, wherein the apparatus corresponds to a first session of a first UE; wherein the registration information includes an identifier of the apparatus and at least one of the following: an identifier of the first UE, an identifier of the first session, an identifier of a first aggregated UE group, service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and DNN information.

[0011] In a seventh aspect, a terminal is provided, the terminal including a processor, a memory, and a program or instructions stored in the memory and executable on the processor, the program or instructions implementing the method as described in the second aspect when executed by the processor.

[0012] Eighthly, a terminal is provided, including a processor and a communication interface, wherein the communication interface is used to send a second session establishment request message, the second session establishment request message being used by a mobility management function to determine that a first session of a first UE and a second session of a second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, and to select the same session management function for the first session and the second session.

[0013] A ninth aspect provides a network-side device including a processor, a memory, and a program or instructions stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the program or instructions, when executed by the processor, implement the method as described in the first or third aspect.

[0014] In a tenth aspect, a network-side device is provided, including a processor and a communication interface, wherein the processor is configured to determine that a first session of a first UE and a second session of a second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, and to select the same session management function for the first session and the second session; or, the communication interface is configured to send registration information to a data management or storage function so that the mobility management function of the second UE service can obtain information of the session management function, wherein the session management function corresponds to the first session of the first UE; wherein the registration information includes an identifier of the session management function and at least one of the following: an identifier of the first UE, an identifier of the first session, an identifier of a first aggregated UE group, service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and DNN information.

[0015] Eleventhly, a readable storage medium is provided, on which a program or instructions are stored, which, when executed by a processor, implement the method as described in the first, second, or third aspect.

[0016] In a twelfth aspect, a chip is provided, the chip including a processor and a communication interface coupled to the processor, the processor being used to run programs or instructions to implement the methods described in the first, second, or third aspects.

[0017] In a thirteenth aspect, a computer program / program product is provided, the computer program / program product being stored in a non-transient storage medium, the program / program product being executed by at least one processor to implement the method as described in the first aspect, the second aspect, or the third aspect.

[0018] In a fourteenth aspect, a method for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs is provided, comprising: a second UE sending a second session establishment request message to a mobility management function, the second session establishment request message being used to request the establishment of a second session, the second session and the first session of the first UE being used for the transmission of the same service flow.

[0019] Optionally, as an embodiment, the second session establishment request message causes the mobility management function to select the same session management function for the second session as for the first session.

[0020] Optionally, as an embodiment, the second session establishment request message includes at least one of the following: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and DNN information; or the second session establishment request message includes at least one of the following: the identifier of the second aggregated UE group, the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and DNN information.

[0021] Optionally, as an embodiment, the method further includes: the second UE obtaining at least one of the following sent by the first UE: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and DNN information.

[0022] Optionally, as an embodiment, the second session establishment request message further includes first indication information, which is used to indicate that the second session supports the multi-UE aggregation function.

[0023] In a fifteenth aspect, a method for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs is provided, comprising: a mobility management function receiving a second session establishment request message from a second UE, the second session establishment request message being used to request the establishment of a second session, the second session and a first session of a first UE being used for the transmission of the same service flow; the mobility management function sending the second session establishment request message to a session management function.

[0024] Optionally, as an embodiment, the method further includes: the mobility management function selecting the same session management function for the second session as for the first session.

[0025] Optionally, as an embodiment, the method further includes: the mobility management function determining that the second session and the first session of the first UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow.

[0026] Optionally, as an embodiment, the mobility management function determines that the second session and the first session of the first UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, including: the mobility management function determines, based on the second session request message, that the first user plane tunnel of the first session and the second user plane tunnel of the second session are used for the transmission of the same service flow.

[0027] Optionally, as an embodiment, the mobility management function determines that the second session and the first session of the first UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, including: the mobility management function determines that the second session and the first session of the first UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow based on at least one of the following in the second session establishment request message: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and the DNN information.

[0028] Optionally, as an embodiment, the second session establishment request message includes first indication information, which is used to indicate that the second session supports the multi-UE aggregation function.

[0029] Optionally, as an embodiment, the method further includes: the mobility management function receiving a first session establishment request message sent by the first UE, the first session establishment request message including a first aggregated UE group identifier.

[0030] Optionally, as an embodiment, the mobility management function determines that the second session and the first session of the first UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, including: the mobility management function determines that the second aggregated UE group identifier included in the second session establishment request message is the same as the first aggregated UE group identifier, and determines that the second session and the first session of the first UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow.

[0031] Optionally, as an embodiment, the first session establishment request message further includes first aggregated service flow description information, and the second session establishment request message further includes second aggregated service flow description information.

[0032] Optionally, as an embodiment, the mobility management function determines that the second session and the first session of the first UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, including: the mobility management function determines that the second session and the first session of the first UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow based on the fact that the first aggregated UE group identifier and the second aggregated UE group identifier are the same, and the first aggregated service flow description information and the second aggregated service flow description information are the same.

[0033] Optionally, as an embodiment, the mobility management function selecting the same session management function for the second session as for the first session includes: the mobility management function obtaining the session management function corresponding to the first session from the data management or storage function; and the mobility management function using the obtained session management function as the session management function corresponding to the second session.

[0034] In the embodiments of this application, the mobility management function determines that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, and selects the same session management function for the first session and the second session, so that the session management function can associate the first session and the second session, which facilitates the transmission of service flows by multiple UEs and improves communication efficiency. Attached Figure Description

[0035] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of this application;

[0036] Figure 2 This is a schematic flowchart of a method for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs according to an embodiment of this application;

[0037] Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the system architecture of a method for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs according to an embodiment of this application;

[0038] Figure 4 This is a schematic flowchart of a method for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs according to an embodiment of this application;

[0039] Figure 5 This is a schematic flowchart of a method for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs according to an embodiment of this application;

[0040] Figure 6 This is a schematic flowchart of a method for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs according to an embodiment of this application;

[0041] Figure 7 This is a schematic flowchart of a method for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs according to an embodiment of this application;

[0042] Figure 8 This is a schematic flowchart of a method for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs according to an embodiment of this application;

[0043] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an apparatus for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs according to an embodiment of this application;

[0044] Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an apparatus for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs according to an embodiment of this application;

[0045] Figure 11 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of an apparatus for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs according to an embodiment of this application;

[0046] Figure 12 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of this application;

[0047] Figure 13 This is a schematic diagram of the terminal structure according to an embodiment of this application;

[0048] Figure 14 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of a network-side device according to an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0049] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this application will be clearly described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some, not all, of the embodiments of this application. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of this application are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0050] The terms "first," "second," etc., used in the specification and claims of this application are used to distinguish similar objects and not to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that such terms can be used interchangeably where appropriate so that embodiments of this application can be implemented in orders other than those illustrated or described herein, and the objects distinguished by "first" and "second" are generally of the same class, not limited in number; for example, a first object can be one or more. Furthermore, in the specification and claims, "and / or" indicates at least one of the connected objects, and the character " / " generally indicates that the preceding and following objects are in an "or" relationship. The steps in the various embodiments of this application are merely illustrative and do not necessarily represent mandatory steps.

[0051] It is worth noting that the technologies described in this application are not limited to Long Term Evolution (LTE) / LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, but can also be used in other wireless communication systems, such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Single-carrier Frequency-Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), and other systems. The terms "system" and "network" in this application are often used interchangeably, and the described technologies can be used in the systems and radio technologies mentioned above, as well as in other systems and radio technologies. The following description describes New Radio (NR) systems for illustrative purposes, and NR terminology is used in most of the following description. These technologies can also be applied to applications beyond NR systems, such as 6th generation (6G) radio systems. th Generation 6G communication system.

[0052] Figure 1This diagram illustrates a wireless communication system applicable to embodiments of this application. The wireless communication system includes a terminal 11 and a network-side device 12. The terminal 11 can also be referred to as a terminal device or user equipment (UE). The terminal 11 can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, laptop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), handheld computer, netbook, ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), mobile internet device (MID), wearable device, vehicle-mounted device (VUE), pedestrian terminal (PUE), etc. Wearable devices include smartwatches, wristbands, headphones, glasses, etc. It should be noted that this application does not limit the specific type of terminal 11. Network-side device 12 can be a base station or a core network. The base station can be referred to as a node B, evolved node B, access point, base transceiver station (BTS), radio base station, radio transceiver, basic service set (BSS), extended service set (ESS), B node, evolved B node (eNB), next-generation node B (gNB), home B node, home evolved B node, WLAN access point, WiFi node, transmitting and receiving point (TRP), or any other suitable term in the field, as long as the same technical effect is achieved. The base station is not limited to specific technical terms. It should be noted that in this application embodiment, only the base station in the NR system is used as an example, but the specific type of base station is not limited.

[0053] The method and device for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs provided in this application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and through some embodiments and application scenarios.

[0054] The scenario of transmitting service streams through multiple UEs provided in this application embodiment can be divided into the following two cases:

[0055] Scenario 1: Two independent terminals, two Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards (corresponding to the first UE and the second UE), communicate with the wireless network through a wireless air interface (such as a Uu interface).

[0056] The first UE (or the terminal carrying the first UE) has a multi-UE aggregation function, which can also be called a multi-terminal joint transmission function or a service offloading / aggregation function. For example, the first UE can completely or partially hand over its own service flow data to the second UE for uplink transmission to the wireless communication network; the first UE can receive service flow data from the second UE and aggregate and rearrange it with the service flow data it receives from the network side into a complete service flow. The interaction between the first UE and the second UE can be based on wired connection, WIFI, Bluetooth, or PC5 interface, etc.

[0057] Scenario 2: A terminal (or device) carries two SIM cards, which is equivalent to integrating two UEs (first UE and second UE) in one terminal. The first UE and second UE communicate with the wireless network through two wireless air interfaces (such as Uu interface).

[0058] The terminal is equipped with a multi-UE aggregation function. For example, the terminal can entrust its own service flow data, either entirely or partially, to the first and second UEs for uplink transmission to the wireless communication network; the terminal can receive downlink service flow data sent from the network side by the first and / or second UEs, and aggregate and rearrange them into a complete service flow. The interaction between the terminal and the two UEs is based on internal implementation; the interaction between the first and second UEs is based on the terminal's internal implementation.

[0059] For the above multi-UE joint scenario (taking two UEs as an example) and requirements, each UE can establish a session (such as a PDU session) with the network through a 3GPP access method (such as Uu air interface). The first UE and the second UE transmit an uplink service flow to the communication network through two sessions, and the two sessions are aggregated in the communication network (such as UPF) before being passed to the target data network or server; the downlink service flow sent by the target data network / server is split in the communication network (such as UPF) and forwarded to the two UEs through two sessions, and finally aggregated into a single service flow by the two UEs.

[0060] The above solutions rely on the network (such as session management functions) being able to associate two sessions of two UEs, thereby enabling multi-UE transmission of service flows. This requires that the two sessions be processed by the same session management function. However, ensuring that the session management function associates multiple sessions of multiple terminals together, and thus enables multi-UE transmission of service flows, is a technical problem that urgently needs to be solved in related technologies.

[0061] To solve the above technical problems, such as Figure 2As shown in the figure, this application embodiment provides a method 200 for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs. This method can be executed by a mobility management function. In other words, this method can be executed by software or hardware installed in the mobility management function. The method includes the following steps.

[0062] S202: The mobility management function determines that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow.

[0063] The same business flow mentioned in this step can be the business flow corresponding to the same application ID.

[0064] It should be noted that the same service flow mentioned in the various embodiments of this application may also refer to the transmission of the service flow of the same service, and is not limited to only one service flow. For example, an XR service may have multiple service flows (voice stream, video stream), and one service flow may be transmitted in one session, while another service flow is transmitted in another session.

[0065] Therefore, the same business flow mentioned here can be a single business flow, such as a Service Data Flow (SDF); or it can be multiple business flows, such as multiple SDFs. For example, a high-definition video service includes a voice stream and a video stream.

[0066] Furthermore, the embodiments of this application use two UEs as an example to illustrate the method of transmitting service flows through multiple UEs. In reality, the number of UEs can be more, and the embodiments of this application are not limited to two UEs.

[0067] The mobility management function mentioned in the various embodiments of this application can be used to manage the access and mobility of the UE. It may have different names in different communication systems. For example, in a 5G communication system, the mobility management function can be called the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF).

[0068] Similarly, the sessions mentioned in various embodiments of this application, such as the first session and the second session, can all be Packet Data Unit (PDU) sessions. Of course, in other communication systems, PDU sessions may have other names. The session establishment requests mentioned in various embodiments of this application, such as the first session establishment request and the second session establishment request, can all be PDU session establish requests. Of course, in other communication systems, PDU session establish requests may have other names. The session identifiers mentioned in various embodiments of this application, such as the identifier of the first session and the identifier of the second session, can be PDU session identifiers. Of course, in other communication systems, PDU session identifiers may have other names.

[0069] In one example, the mobility management function can receive a second session establishment request message sent by the second UE; and determine, based on at least one of the following in the second session establishment request message, that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, and the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function.

[0070] In this example, the second UE can obtain the identifier of the first UE and the identifier of the first session by interacting with the first UE. Optionally, when the second UE sends the identifier of the first session to the mobility management function, the second UE can also send the QoS Flow Identity (QFI) of the first UE, so that the network can subsequently combine the second QoS flow of the second session with the first QoS flow corresponding to the QFI of the first session.

[0071] In this example, the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function is used to indicate the service type corresponding to the service flow that needs to perform multi-UE aggregation. The service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function may include the service characteristics corresponding to the service flow that needs to perform multi-UE aggregation, such as IP packet filter information, service identification information, data network name (DNN) information, service type, service identifier, IP 5-tuple, etc.

[0072] In this example, if the second session establishment request message includes service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, the mobility management function can determine the multi-UE aggregation function corresponding to the service flow description information of the second session based on the internal configuration information.

[0073] In another example, the mobility management function receives a first session establishment request message sent by the first UE and a second session establishment request message sent by the second UE; the first session establishment request message includes a first aggregated UE group identifier, and the second session establishment request message includes a second aggregated UE group identifier; the mobility management function determines that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow based on the fact that the first aggregated UE group identifier and the second aggregated UE group identifier are the same.

[0074] In this embodiment, the mobility management function determining that a first session of a first UE and a second session of a second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow may include: the mobility management function determining that a first user plane tunnel of the first session and a second user plane tunnel of the second session are used for the transmission of the same service flow.

[0075] S204: The mobility management function selects the same session management function for both the first session and the second session.

[0076] The session management function mentioned in the various embodiments of this application can be used to perform session management for the UE. It may have different names in different communication systems. For example, in a 5G communication system, the session management function can be called a Session Management Function (SMF).

[0077] In this step, the mobility management function selects the same session management function for the first session and the second session, which includes: the mobility management function selects the same session management function for the first session and the second session from the session management functions that support multi-UE aggregation; wherein, the multi-UE aggregation function includes the function of transmitting the same service flow (or multiple service flows of the same service, and so on) through multiple sessions corresponding to multiple UEs.

[0078] In this step, the mobility management function can use the session management function corresponding to the first session as the session management function corresponding to the second session, thereby enabling the selection of the same session management function for the first session and the second session.

[0079] In this embodiment, after the mobility management function selects the same session management function for the first session and the second session, the session management function can associate the first session and the second session, and can also associate different Quality of Service (QoS) streams that specifically transmit a service flow in the first session and the second session together, thereby formulating appropriate traffic splitting / aggregation strategies for them.

[0080] The method for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs provided in this application embodiment determines that a first session of a first UE and a second session of a second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, and selects the same session management function for the first session and the second session, so that the session management function can associate the first session and the second session, which facilitates the transmission of service flows through multiple UEs and improves communication efficiency.

[0081] like Figure 3 As shown, Figure 3 The system architecture of the method for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs provided in the embodiments of this application is illustrated schematically, and its implementation principle is as follows:

[0082] UE1 (i.e., the first UE) and UE2 (i.e., the second UE) register to the wireless communication network respectively; UE1 and UE2 establish sessions respectively, and the session establishment request message initiated by each UE is sent to the corresponding mobility management function (such as AMF). The mobility management function selects a session management function (such as SMF) for each session.

[0083] During the session establishment process, if the mobility management function identifies that two sessions are related and are intended for the aggregation / separation of the same service flow, then the mobility management function will select the same session management function for both sessions.

[0084] The session management function associates and binds two sessions, generates appropriate service flow aggregation / separation strategies, and sends them to the UE (or the terminal it carries) and the user plane function (such as UPF) for installation.

[0085] For downlink traffic from the target network (such as AF) / server, the user plane function splits the traffic into two sessions according to the installed policy. After the traffic reaches the two UEs, the UEs aggregate the data streams in one UE (for scenario one) or in the terminal (for scenario two).

[0086] For uplink traffic, one UE (for scenario one) or terminal (for scenario two) is split into two sessions for the two UEs according to the installed policy. After the traffic reaches the user plane function, the user plane function aggregates the traffic from the two sessions into a single traffic flow and passes it to the target network / server.

[0087] Based on embodiment 200, optionally, the mobility management function in S202 determines that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, including: the mobility management function receiving a second session establishment request message sent by the second UE; the AMF determines that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow based on at least one of the following in the second session establishment request message: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, and the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function.

[0088] In this embodiment, the second session establishment request message further includes at least one of the following:

[0089] 1) First indication information, the first indication information is used to indicate that the second session supports multi-UE aggregation function, in other words, the first indication information is used to indicate that the second session is a session for multi-UE aggregation transmission.

[0090] The specific form of the first indication information can be a UE aggregation indication, a multi-UE aggregation based on multi-connection indication, or an aggregated PDU session requested type, etc.

[0091] 2) Capability information of the second UE: The capability information of the second UE indicates whether the second UE supports the multi-UE aggregation function. In this example, the second UE supports the multi-UE aggregation function.

[0092] In this embodiment, the mobility management function selecting the same session management function for the first session and the second session includes: the mobility management function using the session management function corresponding to the first session as the session management function corresponding to the second session.

[0093] This embodiment may further include the following steps: the mobility management function receives a first session establishment request message sent by the first UE, the first session establishment request message including at least one of the following:

[0094] 1) Second indication information, the second indication information is used to indicate that the first session supports multi-UE aggregation function, in other words, the second indication information is used to indicate that the first session is a session for multi-UE aggregation transmission.

[0095] The specific form of the second indication information can be a UE aggregation indication, a multi-UE aggregation based on multi-connection indication, or an aggregated PDU session requested type, etc.

[0096] 2) Capability information of the first UE: The capability information of the first UE indicates whether the first UE supports the multi-UE aggregation function. In this example, the first UE supports the multi-UE aggregation function.

[0097] Based on embodiment 200, the following steps may also be included: the mobility management function receives a first session establishment request message sent by the first UE and a second session establishment request message sent by the second UE; wherein, the first session establishment request message includes a first aggregated UE group identifier, and the second session establishment request message includes a second aggregated UE group identifier.

[0098] In this embodiment, the mobility management function in S202 determining that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow includes: the mobility management function determines that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow based on the fact that the first aggregated UE group identifier and the second aggregated UE group identifier are the same.

[0099] Optionally, the first session establishment request message further includes first aggregated service flow description information, and the second session establishment request message further includes second aggregated service flow description information; the mobility management function determines that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow by: the mobility management function determines that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow based on the fact that the first aggregated UE group identifier and the second aggregated UE group identifier are the same, and the first aggregated service flow description information and the second aggregated service flow description information are the same.

[0100] For example, the mobility management function determines that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow based on the following identical contents in the first session establishment request message and the second session establishment request message: the aggregated UE group identifier is the same, and the DNN or Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI) is the same.

[0101] In this embodiment, the mobility management function selects the same session management function for the first session and the second session, which includes: the mobility management function selects the same session management function for the first session and the second session based on the second aggregated UE group identifier and the first mapping relationship; wherein, the first mapping relationship includes the mapping relationship between the first aggregated UE group identifier and the session management function corresponding to the first session.

[0102] In this embodiment, the first session establishment request message and / or the second session establishment request message further include at least one of the following:

[0103] 1) The first session establishment request message includes second indication information, which is used to indicate that the first session supports multi-UE aggregation function.

[0104] 2) The second session establishment request message includes first indication information, which is used to indicate that the second session supports multi-UE aggregation function.

[0105] 3) Service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function. The service flow description information is used to indicate the service type corresponding to the service flow that needs to perform multi-UE aggregation. The service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function may include service characteristics corresponding to the service flow that needs to perform multi-UE aggregation, such as IP packet filter information, service identification information, data network name (DNN) information, service type, service identifier, IP 5-tuple, etc.

[0106] 4) Data Network Name (DNN) information, which is used to indicate the identifier of the DNN that supports multi-UE aggregation function.

[0107] In the preceding embodiments, the mobility management function selecting the same session management function for the first session and the second session may further include: the mobility management function obtaining the session management function corresponding to the first session from the data management or storage function; and the mobility management function using the obtained session management function as the session management function corresponding to the second session.

[0108] In this embodiment, the session management function corresponding to the first session can be registered with the data management or storage function so that the mobility management function of the second UE service can obtain the information of the session management function.

[0109] This data management or storage function can be Unified Data Management (UDM) / Unified Data Repository (UDR).

[0110] Alongside the preceding embodiments, this application also provides a method for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs, comprising: a second UE sending a second session establishment request message to a mobility management function, the second session establishment request message being used to request the establishment of a second session, the second session and the first session of the first UE being used for the transmission of the same service flow.

[0111] Optionally, as an embodiment, the second session establishment request message causes the mobility management function to select the same session management function for the second session as for the first session.

[0112] Optionally, as an embodiment, the second session establishment request message includes at least one of the following: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and DNN information; or the second session establishment request message includes at least one of the following: the identifier of the second aggregated UE group, the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and DNN information.

[0113] Optionally, as an embodiment, the method further includes: the second UE obtaining at least one of the following sent by the first UE: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and DNN information.

[0114] Optionally, as an embodiment, the second session establishment request message further includes first indication information, which is used to indicate that the second session supports the multi-UE aggregation function.

[0115] Alongside the preceding embodiments, this application also provides a method for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs, comprising: a mobility management function receiving a second session establishment request message from a second UE, the second session establishment request message being used to request the establishment of a second session, the second session and the first session of the first UE being used for the transmission of the same service flow; and the mobility management function sending the second session establishment request message to a session management function.

[0116] Optionally, as an embodiment, the method further includes: the mobility management function selecting the same session management function for the second session as for the first session.

[0117] Optionally, as an embodiment, the method further includes: the mobility management function determining that the second session and the first session of the first UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow.

[0118] Optionally, as an embodiment, the mobility management function determines that the second session and the first session of the first UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, including: the mobility management function determines, based on the second session request message, that the first user plane tunnel of the first session and the second user plane tunnel of the second session are used for the transmission of the same service flow.

[0119] Optionally, as an embodiment, the mobility management function determines that the second session and the first session of the first UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, including: the mobility management function determines that the second session and the first session of the first UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow based on at least one of the following in the second session establishment request message: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and the DNN information.

[0120] Optionally, as an embodiment, the second session establishment request message includes first indication information, which is used to indicate that the second session supports the multi-UE aggregation function.

[0121] Optionally, as an embodiment, the method further includes: the mobility management function receiving a first session establishment request message sent by the first UE, the first session establishment request message including a first aggregated UE group identifier.

[0122] Optionally, as an embodiment, the mobility management function determines that the second session and the first session of the first UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, including: the mobility management function determines that the second aggregated UE group identifier included in the second session establishment request message is the same as the first aggregated UE group identifier, and determines that the second session and the first session of the first UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow.

[0123] Optionally, as an embodiment, the first session establishment request message further includes first aggregated service flow description information, and the second session establishment request message further includes second aggregated service flow description information.

[0124] Optionally, as an embodiment, the mobility management function determines that the second session and the first session of the first UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, including: the mobility management function determines that the second session and the first session of the first UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow based on the fact that the first aggregated UE group identifier and the second aggregated UE group identifier are the same, and the first aggregated service flow description information and the second aggregated service flow description information are the same.

[0125] Optionally, as an embodiment, the mobility management function selecting the same session management function for the second session as for the first session includes: the mobility management function obtaining the session management function corresponding to the first session from the data management or storage function; and the mobility management function using the obtained session management function as the session management function corresponding to the second session.

[0126] To illustrate in detail the method for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs provided in this application, the following description will be provided in conjunction with several specific embodiments.

[0127] It should be noted that some steps in the subsequent embodiments are only illustrative and do not necessarily mean that they are required to be performed. They can be omitted during execution.

[0128] Example 1

[0129] This embodiment is applicable to scenarios where two UEs can exchange relevant information through an internal interface, such as... Figure 4 As shown, this embodiment includes the following steps.

[0130] Step 0: UE1 and UE2 complete the registration process.

[0131] Step 1: UE1 triggers the PDU session establishment process, sending a PDU session establishment request (message) to the AMF. This PDU session establishment request may carry PDU session ID1 and a first indication. The first indication (corresponding to the second indication information in the previous embodiment) indicates that the requested PDU session ID1 is used for a session for service flow aggregation / separation (or multi-UE aggregation function). It is understood that the first indication is optional; the PDU session establishment request may or may not include it.

[0132] The specific form of the first indication can be a UE aggregation indication, a multi-UE aggregation based on multi-connection indication, or an aggregated PDU session requested type, etc.

[0133] Optionally, the PDU session establishment request may also include one or more of the following information:

[0134] 1) Identification information of UE1, such as UE1's Subscription Concealed Identifier (SUCI), 5G GUTI, 5G-MMEC Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (SAE-TMSI), etc.

[0135] 2) Service aggregation / distribution capability information of UE1, such as whether it supports terminal aggregation, whether it supports MultiPath TCP (MPTCP), MultiPath QUIC (MPQUIC), or distribution / aggregation capabilities based on underlying protocols.

[0136] 3) Service aggregation / distribution group information corresponding to UE1, such as the terminal aggregation group ID (UE aggregationgroup ID) and the UE2 ID associated with UE1 aggregation (aggregated UE2 ID).

[0137] 4) Data Network Name (DNN) information.

[0138] 5) Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (S-NSSAI).

[0139] Step 2: The AMF selects an SMF that supports terminal aggregation (or multi-UE aggregation function) for PDU session ID1 according to the first instruction.

[0140] Specifically, during the PDU session establishment process, in addition to selecting an SMF by referring to information such as DNN or S-NSSAI, the AMF can also select an SMF that supports special capabilities, namely an SMF that supports UE aggregation, by referring to the first instruction.

[0141] Step 3: The AMF sends the PDU session establishment request initiated by UE1 to the SMF.

[0142] The PDU session establishment request may carry PDU session ID1 and a first indication, which indicates that the requested PDU session ID1 is used for business flow aggregation / separation.

[0143] Step 4: The SMF selects a UPF for PDU session ID1 according to the first instruction.

[0144] Step 5: SMF and UPF perform the N4 session establishment process, which corresponds to PDU session ID1.

[0145] In this step, the SMF can send an N4 session establishment request message to the UPF. This N4 session establishment request message can carry the N4 rules that the SMF has defined for the N4 session, such as billing, quality of service (QoS), gating, and other rules.

[0146] Step 6: The SMF sends a PDU session establishment response to UE1 through the AMF to inform UE1 that the PDU session ID1 has been established.

[0147] The PDU session establishment response can carry the terminal rules (UE rules) defined by SMF for PDU session ID1, such as QoS rules, UE route selection policy (URSP) rules, etc.

[0148] Step 7: UE2 triggers the PDU session establishment process and sends a PDU session establishment request to AMF. The PDU session establishment request carries PDU session ID2 and a first indication (corresponding to the first indication information in the previous embodiment). The first indication is used to indicate that the PDU session ID2 requested to be established is used for service flow aggregation / separation.

[0149] The difference from step 1 is that the PDU session establishment request can also carry UE1's PDU session ID1 and UE1's identification information from step 1, such as UE1's SUCI, 5G GUTI, 5G-S-TMSI, or UE1's IP address. This identification information is used by the AMF to select an SMF that is the same as UE1's PDU session ID1 for UE2's PDU session ID2.

[0150] Before this step is executed, UE2 can use the interface with UE1 to obtain UE1's PDU session ID1 and UE1's identification information, etc.

[0151] Step 8: The AMF selects an SMF for UE2's PDU session ID2 that is the same as UE1's PDU session ID1, based on the PDU session establishment request sent by UE2.

[0152] Specifically, the AMF can select the SMF selected in step 2 based on the PDU session ID1 of UE1 and the identification information of UE1 reported by UE2.

[0153] Step 9: Similar to step 3, the AMF sends a PDU session establishment request for UE2 to the SMF.

[0154] The PDU session establishment request may carry a PDU session ID2 and a first indication, which indicates that the requested PDU session is used for business flow aggregation / separation.

[0155] Step 10: The SMF selects a UPF for PDU session ID2 based on the UE1's identification information and PDU session ID1.

[0156] Step 11: SMF and UPF perform the N4 session establishment process, which corresponds to PDU session ID2.

[0157] In this step, the SMF can send an N4 session establishment request message to the UPF. This N4 session establishment request message can carry the N4 rules that the SMF has defined for the N4 session, such as billing, QoS, gating, and other rules.

[0158] Step 6: The SMF sends a PDU session establishment response to UE2 via the AMF to inform UE2 that the PDU session ID2 has been established.

[0159] The PDU session establishment response can carry the terminal rules defined by SMF for the PDU session ID2, such as QoS rules, URSP rules, etc.

[0160] Optionally, the PDU session establishment response may carry the service flow aggregation / distribution strategy defined by SMF for the PDU session ID2.

[0161] In this embodiment, based on the aforementioned associated PDU session path and the corresponding aggregation / splitting strategies on the UE and UPF, the UE and UPF can respectively perform uplink and downlink service flow aggregation and splitting.

[0162] Through the above process, the network can select the same SMF and the same UPF for two PDU sessions of two UEs (i.e., UE1 and UE2), which makes it possible to associate the two PDU sessions with the SMF and provide aggregation / distribution strategies.

[0163] Example 2

[0164] This embodiment is applicable to scenarios where two UEs (i.e., UE1 and UE2) cannot exchange relevant information through internal interfaces, such as when UE1 and UE2 cannot exchange UE1's identification information and PDU session ID1. Figure 5 As shown, this embodiment includes the following steps.

[0165] The UE registration and PDU session establishment process in this second embodiment is the same as in the first embodiment, with the following differences:

[0166] In step 1, the PDU session establishment request sent by UE1 carries the UE aggregation group ID information to which UE1 belongs. In step 7, the PDU session establishment request sent by UE2 does not carry the identification information of UE1 and PDU session ID1, but instead carries the UE aggregation group ID information to which UE2 belongs.

[0167] The terminal aggregation group identifier is an identifier or description of the terminal service flow aggregation / splitting group. For example, if UE1 and UE2 both belong to terminal aggregation group 1, it means that the PDU sessions of UE1 and UE2 can be aggregated.

[0168] Optionally, the PDU session establishment request in steps 1 and 7 may also carry at least one of the following: a first instruction, aggregated service type information, and DNN information.

[0169] The first instruction is used to indicate that the requested PDU session ID1 / PDU session ID2 is used for business flow aggregation / separation.

[0170] The aggregated service type information is used to indicate which specific service type corresponds to which service flow needs to be aggregated / splittered. For example, if the aggregated service type is AR type, it means that AR service data flow initiated by UE in the terminal aggregation group will be aggregated / splittered.

[0171] DNN information can indicate certain aggregation DNNs that support terminal aggregation. For example, if IMS DNN supports terminal aggregation, then if UE1 / UE2 carries IMS DNN in the PDU session establishment request, it indicates that the PDU session ID1 / PDU session ID2 can be aggregated / distributed with the PDU sessions corresponding to the IMS DNNs of other UEs in the same terminal aggregation group.

[0172] In step 2, after the AMF selects an SMF that supports terminal aggregation, it records the mapping relationship between the terminal aggregation group identifier and the selected SMF. Optionally, the AMF also records the correspondence between the aggregation service type information or the DNN and the former two (i.e., the terminal aggregation group identifier and the SMF).

[0173] In step 8, the AMF selects the SMF based on the terminal aggregation group identifier sent by UE2 and the stored mapping relationship.

[0174] Optionally, the AMF can also select the SMF by combining the aggregated service type information sent by UE2 or the DNN.

[0175] In step 4, after the SMF selects the UPF for PDU session ID1 according to the first instruction, it can also record the mapping relationship between the terminal aggregation group identifier sent by UE1 and the UPF.

[0176] Optionally, the SMF can also record service type information or the mapping relationship between the DNN and the following two: terminal aggregation group identifier and selected UPF.

[0177] In step 10, the SMF selects the corresponding UPF based on the terminal aggregation group identifier, optional aggregation service type information, DNN information, and saved mapping relationship carried by UE2 in the PDU session establishment request.

[0178] In this embodiment, the two UEs do not exchange their own identifiers and PDU session ID information. Through the predefined terminal aggregation group identifier and other relevant information, the network side, such as the AMF, knows whether there is UE aggregation association information between the two PDU sessions of the two UEs, and can then select the same SMF.

[0179] Example 3

[0180] This embodiment is applicable to scenarios where UE1 and UE2 are registered in different AMFs. For example... Figure 6 As shown, this embodiment includes the following steps.

[0181] Step 0: UE1 and UE2 complete the registration process.

[0182] Step 1: UE1 triggers the PDU session establishment process. For details, please refer to Example 1 or Example 2.

[0183] Step 2: After the SMF establishes PDU session ID1 for UE1, it initiates a network element registration process with the UDM / UDR to register its own information with the UDM / UDR.

[0184] In this step, the registration message sent by the SMF to the UDM / UDR may include SMF information, and may also include at least one of the following: UE1 identification information, PDU session ID1, terminal aggregation group identifier, aggregation service type, and DNN.

[0185] Step 3: UE2 triggers the PDU session establishment process. For details, please refer to Example 1 or Example 2.

[0186] Step 4a: AMF2 queries UDM / UDR to obtain the SMF information corresponding to PDU session ID1.

[0187] Optionally, the query message sent by AMF2 to UDM / UDR may include at least one of the following:

[0188] 1) UE1's identification information and PDU session ID1, provided that UE2 reported these two pieces of information in step 3.

[0189] 2) Terminal aggregation group identifier. Optionally, it may also carry aggregation service type information and DNN, provided that UE2 reported this information in step 3.

[0190] Step 4b: UDM / UDR queries the SMF corresponding to PDU session ID1 based on one or both of the above two index information, and feeds back the SMF information to AMF2.

[0191] The above combination Figures 2 to 6 A method for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs according to embodiments of this application is described in detail below. The following will combine... Figures 7 to 9 This application describes in detail a method for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs according to embodiments of the present application. It is understood that... Figures 7 to 9 Some descriptions in Figures 2 to 6 The descriptions in the methods shown are the same or corresponding; to avoid repetition, relevant descriptions have been omitted as appropriate.

[0192] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the implementation process of a method for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs according to an embodiment of this application, which can be applied to the UE side. For example... Figure 7 As shown, the method 700 includes the following steps.

[0193] S702: The second UE sends a second session establishment request message. The second session establishment request message is used by the mobility management function to determine that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, and to select the same session management function for the first session and the second session.

[0194] In this embodiment, the second UE sends a second session establishment request message. The mobility management function determines that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, and selects the same session management function for the first session and the second session so that the session management function can associate the first session and the second session, which facilitates the transmission of the service flow by multiple UEs and improves communication efficiency.

[0195] Optionally, as an embodiment, the second session establishment request message includes at least one of the following: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and DNN information; or the second session establishment request message includes at least one of the following: the identifier of the second aggregated UE group, the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and DNN information.

[0196] Optionally, as an embodiment, the method further includes: the second UE obtaining at least one of the following sent by the first UE: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and DNN information.

[0197] Optionally, as an embodiment, the second session establishment request message further includes at least one of the following: 1) first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate that the second session supports multi-UE aggregation function; 2) capability information of the second UE, the capability information of the second UE indicating whether the second UE supports multi-UE aggregation function.

[0198] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the implementation process of a method for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs according to an embodiment of this application, which can be applied to the session management function side. For example... Figure 8 As shown, the method 800 includes the following steps.

[0199] S802: The session management function sends registration information to the data management or storage function so that the mobility management function of the second UE service can obtain the information of the session management function, and the session management function corresponds to the first session of the first UE.

[0200] The registration information includes the identifier of the session management function and at least one of the following: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, the identifier of the first aggregated UE group, the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and DNN information.

[0201] In this embodiment, the session management function sends registration information to the data management or storage function so that the mobility management function of the second UE service can obtain the information of the session management function and select the same session management function for the first session and the second session. This allows the session management function to associate the first session and the second session, facilitating the multi-UE transmission of service flows and improving communication efficiency.

[0202] It should be noted that the method for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs provided in this application embodiment can be executed by an apparatus for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs, or by a control module in the apparatus for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs for executing the method. This application embodiment uses an apparatus for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs executing the method as an example to illustrate the apparatus for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs provided in this application embodiment.

[0203] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs according to an embodiment of this application. This apparatus may correspond to the mobility management function in other embodiments. Figure 9 As shown, the device 900 includes the following modules.

[0204] The determination module 902 can be used to determine that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow.

[0205] The selection module 904 can be used to select the same session management function for the first session and the second session.

[0206] In this embodiment, the device 900 determines that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, and selects the same session management function for the first session and the second session, so that the session management function can associate the first session and the second session, which facilitates the transmission of the service flow by multiple UEs and improves communication efficiency.

[0207] Optionally, as an embodiment, the determining module 902 is used to determine that the first user plane tunnel of the first session and the second user plane tunnel of the second session are used for the transmission of the same service flow.

[0208] Optionally, as an embodiment, the determining module 902 is used to select the same session management function for the first session and the second session from the session management functions that support multi-UE aggregation; wherein, the multi-UE aggregation function includes the function of transmitting the same service flow through multiple sessions corresponding to multiple UEs.

[0209] Optionally, as an embodiment, the determining module 902 is configured to receive a second session establishment request message sent by the second UE; and determine, based on at least one of the following in the second session establishment request message, that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, and the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function.

[0210] Optionally, as an embodiment, the second session establishment request message further includes at least one of the following: 1) first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate that the second session supports multi-UE aggregation function; 2) capability information of the second UE, the capability information of the second UE indicating whether the second UE supports multi-UE aggregation function.

[0211] Optionally, as an embodiment, the selection module 904 is used to select the session management function corresponding to the first session as the session management function corresponding to the second session.

[0212] Optionally, as an embodiment, the apparatus further includes a receiving module for receiving a first session establishment request message sent by the first UE, the first session establishment request message including at least one of the following: 1) second indication information, the second indication information being used to indicate that the first session supports multi-UE aggregation function; 2) capability information of the first UE, the capability information of the first UE indicating whether the first UE supports multi-UE aggregation function.

[0213] Optionally, as an embodiment, the apparatus further includes a receiving module, configured to receive a first session establishment request message sent by the first UE and a second session establishment request message sent by the second UE; wherein the first session establishment request message includes a first aggregated UE group identifier, and the second session establishment request message includes a second aggregated UE group identifier.

[0214] Optionally, as an embodiment, the determining module 902 is used to determine that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, based on the fact that the first aggregated UE group identifier and the second aggregated UE group identifier are the same.

[0215] Optionally, as an embodiment, the selection module 904 is configured to select the same session management function for the first session and the second session based on the second aggregated UE group identifier and the first mapping relationship; wherein, the first mapping relationship includes the mapping relationship between the first aggregated UE group identifier and the session management function corresponding to the first session.

[0216] Optionally, as an embodiment, the first session establishment request message further includes first aggregated service flow description information, and the second session establishment request message further includes second aggregated service flow description information; the determining module 902 is used to determine that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow based on the fact that the first aggregated UE group identifier and the second aggregated UE group identifier are the same, and the first aggregated service flow description information and the second aggregated service flow description information are the same.

[0217] Optionally, as an embodiment, the first session establishment request message and / or the second session establishment request message further include at least one of the following: 1) second indication information included in the first session establishment request message, the second indication information being used to indicate that the first session supports multi-UE aggregation function; 2) first indication information included in the second session establishment request message, the first indication information being used to indicate that the second session supports multi-UE aggregation function; 3) service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function; 4) DNN information, the DNN information being used to indicate the identifier of the DNN supporting the multi-UE aggregation function.

[0218] Optionally, as an embodiment, the selection module 904 is used to obtain the session management function corresponding to the first session from the data management or storage function; and use the obtained session management function as the session management function corresponding to the second session.

[0219] The apparatus 900 according to the embodiments of this application can refer to the flow of the method 200 corresponding to the embodiments of this application. Furthermore, each unit / module in the apparatus 900 and the other operations and / or functions described above are respectively implemented to achieve the corresponding flow in the method 200 and can achieve the same or equivalent technical effects. For the sake of brevity, they will not be described in detail here.

[0220] Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs according to an embodiment of this application. This apparatus may correspond to a terminal (such as a second UE) in other embodiments. Figure 10 As shown, the device 1000 includes the following modules.

[0221] The sending module 1002 can be used to send a second session establishment request message. The second session establishment request message is used by the mobility management function to determine that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the device are used for the transmission of the same service flow, and to select the same session management function for the first session and the second session.

[0222] In this embodiment, the device 1000 sends a second session establishment request message. The mobility management function determines that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, and selects the same session management function for the first session and the second session so that the session management function can associate the first session and the second session, which facilitates the transmission of the service flow by multiple UEs and improves communication efficiency.

[0223] Optionally, as an embodiment, the second session establishment request message includes at least one of the following: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and DNN information; or the second session establishment request message includes at least one of the following: the identifier of the second aggregated UE group, the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and DNN information.

[0224] Optionally, as an embodiment, the apparatus further includes an acquisition module for acquiring at least one of the following sent by the first UE: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and DNN information.

[0225] Optionally, as an embodiment, the second session establishment request message further includes at least one of the following: 1) first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate that the second session supports multi-UE aggregation function; 2) device capability information, the device capability information indicating whether the device supports multi-UE aggregation function.

[0226] The apparatus 1000 according to the embodiments of this application can refer to the flow of the method 700 corresponding to the embodiments of this application. Furthermore, each unit / module in the apparatus 1000 and the other operations and / or functions described above are respectively for implementing the corresponding flow in the method 700 and can achieve the same or equivalent technical effects. For the sake of brevity, they will not be described in detail here.

[0227] Figure 11 This is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs according to an embodiment of this application. This apparatus may correspond to the session management function in other embodiments. Figure 11 As shown, the device 1100 includes the following modules.

[0228] The sending module 1102 can be used to send registration information to the data management or storage function so that the mobility management function of the second UE service can obtain the information of the device, and the device corresponds to the first session of the first UE.

[0229] The registration information includes the device identifier and at least one of the following: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, the identifier of the first aggregated UE group, the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and DNN information.

[0230] In this embodiment, device 1100 (such as session management function) sends registration information to data management or storage function so that the mobility management function of the second UE service can obtain the information of the session management function and select the same session management function for the first session and the second session so that the first session and the second session can be associated, which facilitates the multi-UE transmission of service flows and improves communication efficiency.

[0231] The apparatus 1100 according to the embodiments of this application can refer to the flow of the method 800 corresponding to the embodiments of this application. Furthermore, each unit / module in the apparatus 1100 and the other operations and / or functions described above are respectively for implementing the corresponding flow in the method 800 and can achieve the same or equivalent technical effects. For the sake of brevity, they will not be described in detail here.

[0232] The device for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs in this application embodiment can be a device, a device or electronic device with an operating system, or a component, integrated circuit, or chip in a terminal. This device or electronic device can be a mobile terminal or a non-mobile terminal. For example, a mobile terminal can include, but is not limited to, the types of terminals 11 listed above, while a non-mobile terminal can be a server, network attached storage (NAS), personal computer (PC), television (TV), ATM, or self-service machine, etc. This application embodiment does not specifically limit the type of terminal.

[0233] The apparatus for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs provided in this application embodiment can achieve... Figures 2 to 8 The various processes implemented in the method embodiments achieve the same technical effect, and will not be described again here to avoid repetition.

[0234] Optional, such as Figure 12As shown, this application embodiment also provides a communication device 1200, including a processor 1201, a memory 1202, and a program or instructions stored in the memory 1202 and executable on the processor 1201. For example, when the communication device 1200 is a terminal, the program or instructions executed by the processor 1201 implement the various processes of the above-described method embodiment for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs, and achieve the same technical effect. When the communication device 1200 is a network-side device, the program or instructions executed by the processor 1201 implement the various processes of the above-described method embodiment for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs, and achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, further details are omitted here.

[0235] This application embodiment also provides a terminal, including a processor and a communication interface. The communication interface is used to send a second session establishment request message. The second session establishment request message is used by the mobility management function to determine that a first session of a first UE and a second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, and to select the same session management function for the first session and the second session. This terminal embodiment corresponds to the above-described terminal-side method embodiment. All implementation processes and methods of the above-described method embodiments can be applied to this terminal embodiment and achieve the same technical effect. Specifically, Figure 13 A schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a terminal to implement an embodiment of this application.

[0236] The terminal 1300 includes, but is not limited to, at least some of the following components: radio frequency unit 1301, network module 1302, audio output unit 1303, input unit 1304, sensor 1305, display unit 1306, user input unit 1307, interface unit 1308, memory 1309, and processor 1310.

[0237] Those skilled in the art will understand that the terminal 1300 may also include a power supply (such as a battery) for supplying power to various components. The power supply may be logically connected to the processor 1310 through a power management system, thereby enabling functions such as managing charging, discharging, and power consumption through the power management system. Figure 13 The terminal structure shown does not constitute a limitation on the terminal. The terminal may include more or fewer components than shown, or combine certain components, or have different component arrangements, which will not be elaborated here.

[0238] It should be understood that, in this embodiment, the input unit 1304 may include a graphics processing unit (GPU) 13041 and a microphone 13042. The GPU 13041 processes image data of still images or videos obtained by an image capture device (such as a camera) in video capture mode or image capture mode. The display unit 1306 may include a display panel 13061, which may be configured in the form of a liquid crystal display, an organic light-emitting diode, or the like. The user input unit 1307 includes a touch panel 13071 and other input devices 13072. The touch panel 13071 is also called a touch screen. The touch panel 13071 may include a touch detection device and a touch controller. Other input devices 13072 may include, but are not limited to, a physical keyboard, function keys (such as volume control buttons, power buttons, etc.), a trackball, a mouse, and a joystick, which will not be described in detail here.

[0239] In this embodiment, the radio frequency unit 1301 receives downlink data from the network-side device and processes it for the processor 1310; additionally, it sends uplink data to the network-side device. Typically, the radio frequency unit 1301 includes, but is not limited to, an antenna, at least one amplifier, a transceiver, a coupler, a low-noise amplifier, a duplexer, etc.

[0240] The memory 1309 can be used to store software programs or instructions and various data. The memory 1309 may primarily include a program or instruction storage area and a data storage area. The program or instruction storage area may store the operating system, application programs or instructions required for at least one function (such as sound playback, image playback, etc.). Furthermore, the memory 1309 may include high-speed random access memory and non-transient memory, wherein the non-transient memory may be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or flash memory. For example, at least one disk storage device, flash memory device, or other non-transient solid-state storage device.

[0241] Processor 1310 may include one or more processing units; optionally, processor 1310 may integrate an application processor and a modem processor, wherein the application processor mainly handles the operating system, user interface, and applications or instructions, and the modem processor mainly handles wireless communication, such as a baseband processor. It is understood that the aforementioned modem processor may also not be integrated into processor 1310.

[0242] The radio frequency unit 1301 can be used to send a second session establishment request message. The second session establishment request message is used by the mobility management function to determine that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, and to select the same session management function for the first session and the second session.

[0243] In this embodiment, the terminal (such as the second UE) sends a second session establishment request message. The mobility management function determines that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, and selects the same session management function for the first session and the second session so that the session management function can associate the first session and the second session, which facilitates the transmission of the service flow by multiple UEs and improves communication efficiency.

[0244] The terminal 1300 provided in this application embodiment can also implement the various processes of the above-described method embodiment for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs, and can achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be described again here.

[0245] This application embodiment also provides a network-side device, including a processor and a communication interface. The processor is used to determine that a first session of a first UE and a second session of a second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, and to select the same session management function for the first session and the second session; or, the communication interface is used to send registration information to a data management or storage function so that the mobility management function of the second UE service can obtain the information of the session management function, wherein the session management function corresponds to the first session of the first UE; wherein, the registration information includes the identifier of the session management function and at least one of the following: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, the identifier of the first aggregated UE group, service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and DNN information. This network-side device embodiment corresponds to the above-described network-side device method embodiment. All implementation processes and methods of the above-described method embodiments can be applied to this network-side device embodiment and can achieve the same technical effects.

[0246] Specifically, embodiments of this application also provide a network-side device. For example... Figure 14 As shown, the network-side device 1400 includes: an antenna 141, a radio frequency (RF) device 142, and a baseband device 143. The antenna 141 is connected to the RF device 142. In the uplink direction, the RF device 142 receives information through the antenna 141 and transmits the received information to the baseband device 143 for processing. In the downlink direction, the baseband device 143 processes the information to be transmitted and sends it to the RF device 142. The RF device 142 processes the received information and transmits it through the antenna 141.

[0247] The aforementioned frequency band processing device can be located in the baseband device 143. The method executed by the network-side device in the above embodiments can be implemented in the baseband device 143, which includes a processor 144 and a memory 145.

[0248] Baseband device 143 may include, for example, at least one baseband board on which multiple chips are disposed, such as Figure 14 As shown, one of the chips, for example, is a processor 144, which is connected to a memory 145 to call the program in the memory 145 and execute the network-side device operations shown in the above method embodiment.

[0249] The baseband device 143 may also include a network interface 146 for exchanging information with the radio frequency device 142, such as a common public radio interface (CPRI).

[0250] Specifically, the network-side device in this application embodiment further includes: instructions or programs stored in memory 145 and executable on processor 144, wherein processor 144 calls the instructions or programs in memory 145 to execute. Figure 9 or Figure 11 The methods executed by each module shown achieve the same technical effect, and to avoid repetition, they will not be described in detail here.

[0251] This application also provides a readable storage medium storing a program or instructions. When the program or instructions are executed by a processor, they implement the various processes of the above-described method embodiment for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs and achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, they will not be described again here.

[0252] The processor may be the processor in the terminal described in the above embodiments. The readable storage medium includes computer-readable storage media, such as computer read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disk, or optical disk.

[0253] This application embodiment also provides a chip, which includes a processor and a communication interface. The communication interface and the processor are coupled. The processor is used to run programs or instructions to implement the various processes of the above-described method embodiment for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs, and can achieve the same technical effect. To avoid repetition, it will not be described again here.

[0254] It should be understood that the chip mentioned in the embodiments of this application may also be referred to as a system-on-a-chip, system chip, chip system, or system-on-a-chip, etc.

[0255] It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "comprising," "including," or any other variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not expressly listed, or elements inherent to such a process, method, article, or apparatus. Without further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprising one..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes that element. Furthermore, it should be noted that the scope of the methods and apparatuses in the embodiments of this application is not limited to performing functions in the order shown or discussed, but may also include performing functions substantially simultaneously or in the reverse order, depending on the functions involved. For example, the described methods may be performed in a different order than described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Additionally, features described with reference to certain examples may be combined in other examples.

[0256] Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the methods of the above embodiments can be implemented by means of software plus necessary general-purpose hardware platforms. Of course, they can also be implemented by hardware, but in many cases the former is a better implementation method. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, can be embodied in the form of a computer software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium (such as ROM / RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk) and includes several instructions to cause a terminal (which may be a mobile phone, computer, server, air conditioner, or network-side device, etc.) to execute the methods described in the various embodiments of this application.

[0257] The embodiments of this application have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, this application is not limited to the specific embodiments described above. The specific embodiments described above are merely illustrative and not restrictive. Those skilled in the art can make many other forms under the guidance of this application without departing from the spirit and scope of the claims, and all of these forms are within the protection scope of this application.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting service flows through a multi-user equipment (UE), characterized in that, include: Mobility management functions determine that a first session of a first UE and a second session of a second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow; The mobility management function selects the same session management function for both the first session and the second session; The mobility management function determines that a first session of a first UE and a second session of a second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, including: The mobility management function receives a second session establishment request message sent by the second UE; The mobility management function determines, based on at least one of the following in the second session establishment request message, whether the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, and the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function. or, The mobility management function receives a first session establishment request message sent by the first UE and a second session establishment request message sent by the second UE; wherein, the first session establishment request message includes a first aggregated UE group identifier, and the second session establishment request message includes a second aggregated UE group identifier; The mobility management function determines that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, based on the fact that the first aggregated UE group identifier and the second aggregated UE group identifier are the same.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The mobility management function determines that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, including: The mobility management function determines that the first user plane tunnel of the first session and the second user plane tunnel of the second session are used for the transmission of the same service flow.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The mobility management function selects the same session management function for both the first session and the second session, including: The mobility management function selects the same session management function for both the first session and the second session from among the session management functions that support multi-UE aggregation. The multi-UE aggregation function includes the ability for the same service flow to be transmitted using multiple sessions corresponding to multiple UEs.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The second session establishment request message also includes at least one of the following: The first indication information is used to indicate that the second session supports multi-UE aggregation function; The capability information of the second UE indicates whether the second UE supports multi-UE aggregation function.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The mobility management function selects the same session management function for both the first session and the second session, including: The mobility management function uses the session management function corresponding to the first session as the session management function corresponding to the second session.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The method further includes: the first session establishment request message includes at least one of the following: The second indication information is used to indicate that the first session supports multi-UE aggregation function; The capability information of the first UE indicates whether the first UE supports multi-UE aggregation function.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, When the mobility management function receives a first session establishment request message sent by the first UE and a second session establishment request message sent by the second UE, the mobility management function selects the same session management function for the first session and the second session, including: The mobility management function selects the same session management function for the first session and the second session based on the second aggregated UE group identifier and the first mapping relationship; The first mapping relationship includes the mapping relationship between the first aggregated UE group identifier and the session management function corresponding to the first session.

8. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, When the mobility management function receives a first session establishment request message sent by the first UE and a second session establishment request message sent by the second UE, the first session establishment request message further includes first aggregated service flow description information, and the second session establishment request message further includes second aggregated service flow description information. The mobility management function determines, based on the fact that the first aggregated UE group identifier and the second aggregated UE group identifier are the same, that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, including: The mobility management function determines that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, based on the fact that the first aggregated UE group identifier and the second aggregated UE group identifier are the same, and the first aggregated service flow description information and the second aggregated service flow description information are the same.

9. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The first session establishment request message and / or the second session establishment request message further include at least one of the following: Service flow description information corresponding to multi-UE aggregation function; Data Network Name (DNN) information, which indicates the identifier of the DNN that supports multi-UE aggregation.

10. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The mobility management function selects the same session management function for both the first session and the second session, including: The mobility management function obtains the session management function corresponding to the first session from the data management or storage function; The mobility management function will use the acquired session management function as the session management function corresponding to the second session.

11. A method for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs, characterized in that, include: The second UE sends a second session establishment request message. The second session establishment request message is used by the mobility management function to determine that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, and to select the same session management function for the first session and the second session. The second session establishment request message includes at least one of the following for the mobility management function to determine that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, and the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function; or the second session establishment request message includes a second aggregated UE group identifier for the mobility management function to determine that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that, The method further includes: The second UE obtains at least one of the following sent by the first UE: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and the DNN information.

13. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that, The second session establishment request message also includes at least one of the following: The first indication information is used to indicate that the second session supports multi-UE aggregation function; The capability information of the second UE indicates whether the second UE supports multi-UE aggregation function.

14. An apparatus for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs, characterized in that, include: The determination module is used to determine whether the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow; The selection module is used to select the same session management function for the first session and the second session; The determining module is configured to receive a second session establishment request message sent by the second UE; and determine, based on at least one of the following in the second session establishment request message, that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, and the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function. Alternatively, the determining module is configured to receive a first session establishment request message sent by the first UE and a second session establishment request message sent by the second UE; wherein the first session establishment request message includes a first aggregated UE group identifier, and the second session establishment request message includes a second aggregated UE group identifier; based on the fact that the first aggregated UE group identifier and the second aggregated UE group identifier are the same, it is determined that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14, characterized in that, The determining module is used to determine that the first user plane tunnel of the first session and the second user plane tunnel of the second session are used for the transmission of the same service flow.

16. The apparatus according to claim 14, characterized in that, The selection module is used to select the same session management function for the first session and the second session from the session management functions that support multi-UE aggregation. The multi-UE aggregation function includes the ability for the same service flow to be transmitted using multiple sessions corresponding to multiple UEs.

17. The apparatus according to claim 14, characterized in that, The second session establishment request message also includes at least one of the following: The first indication information is used to indicate that the second session supports multi-UE aggregation function; The capability information of the second UE indicates whether the second UE supports multi-UE aggregation function.

18. The apparatus according to claim 14, characterized in that, The selection module is used to select the session management function corresponding to the first session as the session management function corresponding to the second session.

19. The apparatus according to claim 14, characterized in that, The first session establishment request message includes at least one of the following: The second indication information is used to indicate that the first session supports multi-UE aggregation function; The capability information of the first UE indicates whether the first UE supports multi-UE aggregation function.

20. The apparatus according to claim 14, characterized in that, When the determining module is used to receive the first session establishment request message sent by the first UE and the second session establishment request message sent by the second UE, the selecting module is used to select the same session management function for the first session and the second session according to the second aggregated UE group identifier and the first mapping relationship. The first mapping relationship includes the mapping relationship between the first aggregated UE group identifier and the session management function corresponding to the first session.

21. The apparatus according to claim 14, characterized in that, When the determining module is used to receive the first session establishment request message sent by the first UE and the second session establishment request message sent by the second UE, the first session establishment request message further includes first aggregated service flow description information, and the second session establishment request message further includes second aggregated service flow description information. The determining module is configured to determine, based on the fact that the first aggregated UE group identifier and the second aggregated UE group identifier are the same, and the first aggregated service flow description information and the second aggregated service flow description information are the same, that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow.

22. The apparatus according to claim 14, characterized in that, The first session establishment request message and / or the second session establishment request message further include at least one of the following: Service flow description information corresponding to multi-UE aggregation function; DNN information, which is used to indicate the identifier of the DNN that supports multi-UE aggregation function.

23. The apparatus according to claim 14, characterized in that, The selection module is used to obtain the session management function corresponding to the first session from the data management or storage function; and to use the obtained session management function as the session management function corresponding to the second session.

24. An apparatus for transmitting service streams through multiple UEs, applied to a second UE, characterized in that, include: The sending module is used to send a second session establishment request message. The second session establishment request message is used by the mobility management function to determine that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow, and to select the same session management function for the first session and the second session. The second session establishment request message includes at least one of the following for the mobility management function to determine that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow: the identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, and the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function; or the second session establishment request message includes a second aggregated UE group identifier for the mobility management function to determine that the first session of the first UE and the second session of the second UE are used for the transmission of the same service flow.

25. The apparatus according to claim 24, characterized in that, The apparatus further includes an acquisition module, configured to acquire at least one of the following transmitted by the first UE: The identifier of the first UE, the identifier of the first session, the service flow description information corresponding to the multi-UE aggregation function, and the DNN information.

26. The apparatus according to claim 24, characterized in that, The second session establishment request message also includes at least one of the following: The first indication information is used to indicate that the second session supports multi-UE aggregation function; The capability information of the second UE indicates whether the second UE supports multi-UE aggregation function.

27. A terminal, characterized in that, It includes a processor, a memory, and a program or instructions stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the program or instructions, when executed by the processor, implement the method for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs as described in any one of claims 11 to 13.

28. A network-side device, characterized in that, It includes a processor, a memory, and a program or instructions stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the program or instructions, when executed by the processor, implement the method for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs as described in any one of claims 1 to 10.

29. A readable storage medium, characterized in that, The readable storage medium stores a program or instructions that, when executed by a processor, implement the method for transmitting service flows through multiple UEs as described in any one of claims 1 to 13.

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