Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and device. The method comprises: a terminal device starting a sleep state; the terminal device receiving a message for indicating the terminal device to terminate the sleep state; and the terminal device terminating the sleep state. After the terminal device starts the sleep state, when the network side needs to send downlink data to the terminal device, the method can send a message for indicating the terminal device to terminate the sleep state to the terminal device, so that the terminal device can receive the downlink data in time after terminating the sleep state, thereby avoiding the terminal device missing the downlink data as much as possible.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and apparatus. Background Technology

[0002] To address the challenges of wireless broadband technology, and to maintain the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) rd Leveraging the leading advantages of the Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) network, the 3GPP standards group formulated the next-generation mobile communication network architecture, known as the 5G network architecture, at the end of 2016. This architecture not only supports radio technologies defined by the 3GPP standards group for accessing the 5GC (5generation core network), known as 3GPP access, but also supports non-non-3GPP (non-3GPP, which can be abbreviated as N-3GPP or N3G) access technologies through non-3GPP interworking functions (N3IWF) or next-generation packet data gateways (ngPDG), known as non-3GPP access. For example, 3GPP access can include Long Term Evolution (LTE) and 5G RAN (5G Radio Access Network). Non-3GPP access can include WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) access or fixed network access.

[0003] When non-3GPP access is WLAN access, the WLAN air interface can support a sleep state for the terminal device. For example, when the terminal device sends uplink data, it obtains the right to send data based on preemption of air interface resources. For downlink data, the terminal device periodically listens to air interface messages to determine if it has its own downlink data. The duration of the aforementioned air interface message listening is related to the sleep state. When the terminal device is in normal state, the period of listening to air interface messages is very short, but after entering the sleep state, the terminal device can not listen to air interface messages for a long time, thereby achieving energy saving. Therefore, for WLAN access, the terminal device can be in a sleep state. In the sleep state, uplink data can be sent normally, but downlink data is unavailable. In this scheme, the terminal device cannot receive downlink data in the sleep state and needs to wait for the terminal device to terminate the sleep state before it can receive downlink data, which may lead to the terminal device missing downlink data while in the sleep state.

[0004] Therefore, how to minimize the loss of downlink data connections by terminal devices has become an urgent problem to be solved. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This application provides a communication method and apparatus to minimize the chance of terminal devices missing downlink data.

[0006] In a first aspect, embodiments of this application provide a communication method that can be executed by a terminal device. The method includes: the terminal device initiating a sleep state; the terminal device receiving a message instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state; and the terminal device terminating the sleep state.

[0007] In the above scheme, after the terminal device initiates a sleep state, the network side can decide to send a message to instruct the terminal device to terminate the sleep state, thereby notifying the terminal device to terminate the sleep state. For example, when the network side needs to send downlink data to the terminal device, it can send a message to instruct the terminal device to terminate the sleep state, so that the terminal device can receive downlink data in a timely manner after terminating the sleep state, thus minimizing the possibility of the terminal device missing downlink data.

[0008] In one possible implementation, the message used to instruct the terminal device to terminate its sleep state is a paging message, or the message used to instruct the terminal device to terminate its sleep state is a NAS notification message.

[0009] In one possible implementation, after the terminal device initiates a sleep state and before the terminal device receives a message instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state, the method further includes: before the duration of the terminal device initiating the sleep state reaches a first preset duration, the terminal device sends an uplink message.

[0010] In the above scheme, since the terminal device cannot receive downlink data after it starts hibernation, but can send uplink messages, the network side sends a message to the terminal device after the terminal device actively sends an uplink message to instruct the terminal device to terminate the hibernation state. This is beneficial for the terminal device to save energy, and the terminal device can be notified to terminate hibernation when necessary.

[0011] In one possible implementation, after the terminal device initiates a sleep state and before the terminal device receives a message instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state, the method further includes: after the duration of the terminal device initiating the sleep state reaches a first preset duration, the terminal device sends a message instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state.

[0012] In the above scheme, since the terminal device cannot receive downlink data after it starts hibernation, the network side sends a message to the terminal device after the terminal device actively sends a message to indicate that the terminal device has started hibernation. This is beneficial for the terminal device to save energy, and the network side can notify the terminal device to terminate hibernation when necessary.

[0013] In the above scheme, after the terminal device starts to sleep, it can send a message to the network side to instruct the terminal device to start to sleep, thereby notifying the network side that the terminal device has entered sleep mode.

[0014] In one possible implementation, after the terminal device terminates its sleep state, the method further includes: the terminal device sending a message indicating that the terminal device terminates its sleep state.

[0015] In the above scheme, after the terminal device terminates its sleep state, it can send a message to the network side to instruct the terminal device to terminate its sleep state, thereby notifying the network side to terminate the terminal device's sleep state.

[0016] In one possible implementation, before the terminal device initiates a sleep state, the method further includes: the terminal device receiving a message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to initiate a sleep state; the initiation of the sleep state by the terminal device includes: based on the message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to initiate a sleep state, the terminal device initiates a sleep state if a preset first condition is met; the first condition includes: no downlink data is received within a second preset time period and / or the terminal device does not send uplink data.

[0017] In the above scheme, after receiving a message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to start a sleep state, the terminal device will start a sleep state only when the conditions are met, which can realize the network side controlling the terminal device to start a sleep state.

[0018] In one possible implementation, before the terminal device receives a message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to initiate a sleep state, the method further includes: the terminal device sending a message indicating that the terminal device supports a sleep state.

[0019] In the above scheme, the terminal device can report to the network side that it has the ability to support a sleep state, so that the network side can decide to allow the terminal to sleep based on this capability.

[0020] Secondly, embodiments of this application provide a communication method that can be executed by an access gateway. The method includes: the access gateway receiving a message instructing the transmission of downlink data to a terminal device; the access gateway determining that the terminal device is in a sleep state; and after determining that the terminal device has terminated its sleep state, the access gateway transmitting the received downlink data or downlink message to the terminal device.

[0021] In the above scheme, when a message indicating that downlink data should be sent to the terminal device is received, the terminal device is first determined to terminate its sleep state, and then the received downlink data or downlink message is sent to the terminal device, thereby minimizing the possibility of the terminal device missing downlink data or downlink messages.

[0022] In one possible implementation, after determining that the terminal device has terminated its sleep state, the access gateway sends the received downlink data or downlink message to the terminal device, which includes: the access gateway sending a message to the terminal device instructing the terminal device to terminate its sleep state; and the access gateway sending the received downlink data or downlink message to the terminal device.

[0023] In the above scheme, the access gateway notifies the terminal device to terminate its sleep state by sending a message to the terminal device instructing it to do so, and then sends downlink data or downlink messages to the terminal device. This further ensures that downlink data or downlink messages are sent only after the terminal device terminates its sleep state, thereby minimizing the possibility of the terminal device missing downlink data or downlink messages.

[0024] In one possible implementation, the access gateway sends a message to the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to terminate its sleep state, including: the access gateway receiving an uplink message from the terminal device; and based on the uplink message, the access gateway sending a reply message to the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to terminate its sleep state.

[0025] In the above scheme, when the access gateway receives a message instructing the terminal device to send downlink data, the terminal device may have entered a sleep state. A terminal device in sleep state cannot receive downlink data. Therefore, after receiving the uplink message from the terminal device, the access gateway can send a message instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state, which can ensure that the terminal device can receive the message instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state.

[0026] In one possible implementation, the access gateway sends a message to the terminal device instructing the terminal device to terminate its sleep state, including: the access gateway receiving a message from the terminal device instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state; and based on the message instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state, the access gateway sends a message to the terminal device instructing the terminal device to terminate its sleep state.

[0027] In the above scheme, when the access gateway receives a message instructing the terminal device to send downlink data, the terminal device may have started a sleep state. A terminal device that has started a sleep state cannot receive downlink data. Therefore, after the access gateway receives the message from the terminal device instructing the terminal device to start a sleep state, it can send a message to the terminal device instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state, which can ensure that the terminal device can receive the message instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state.

[0028] In one possible implementation, the message indicating the sending of downlink data to the terminal device includes the downlink data, or after receiving the message indicating the sending of downlink data to the terminal device, the access gateway obtains the downlink data to be sent to the terminal device.

[0029] In one possible implementation, before the access gateway obtains the downlink data to be sent to the terminal device after receiving the message indicating that downlink data should be sent to the terminal device, the method further includes: the access gateway sending a message to the core network device to request the restoration of downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

[0030] In one possible implementation, before the access gateway receives a message indicating that downlink data should be sent to the terminal device, the method further includes: the access gateway determining that the terminal device has entered a sleep state; and the access gateway sending a message to the core network device requesting that the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device be suspended.

[0031] In the above scheme, the access gateway can send a message to the core network device to request the suspension of the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device when it determines that the terminal device has entered a sleep state. This can avoid wasting network-side resources and improve resource utilization.

[0032] In one possible implementation, the access gateway determines that the terminal device is in a sleep state by: determining that the terminal device is in a sleep state under a preset second condition; the second condition includes: not receiving downlink data to be sent to the terminal device or uplink data sent by the terminal device within a third preset time period before the access gateway receives a message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device.

[0033] In the above scheme, the access gateway can directly determine whether the terminal device is in a sleep state based on the second condition.

[0034] In one possible implementation, the access gateway determines that the terminal device is in a sleep state, including:

[0035] If a preset third condition is met, the access gateway determines that the terminal device is in a sleep state;

[0036] The third condition includes: no downlink data to be sent to the terminal device is received within a fourth preset time period before the access gateway receives the message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device.

[0037] In the above scheme, the access gateway can automatically determine whether the terminal device enters a sleep state based on the third condition.

[0038] In one possible implementation, before the access gateway receives a message indicating that downlink data should be sent to the terminal device, the method further includes: the access gateway receiving a message from the terminal device indicating that the terminal device should initiate a sleep state; the access gateway determining that the terminal device is in a sleep state includes: determining that the terminal device is in a sleep state if, according to the message indicating that the terminal device should initiate a sleep state, the duration of the sleep state has not yet reached a fifth preset duration.

[0039] In the above scheme, the access gateway can determine that the terminal device is in a sleep state based on the message sent by the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to start a sleep state.

[0040] In one possible implementation, after the access gateway receives a message from the terminal device instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state, and before the access gateway receives a message instructing the terminal device to send downlink data, the method further includes: the access gateway receiving a message from the terminal device instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state; the access gateway determining that the terminal device is in a sleep state includes: determining that the terminal device is in a sleep state if, according to the message instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state, the duration of the sleep state has not yet reached a fifth preset duration.

[0041] In the above scheme, the access gateway can determine that the terminal device is in a sleep state based on the message sent by the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to start a sleep state.

[0042] In one possible implementation, before the access gateway receives a message indicating that downlink data should be sent to the terminal device, the method further includes: the access gateway receiving a message from the core network device indicating that the terminal device is allowed to start a sleep state.

[0043] In the above scheme, the access gateway can determine whether the terminal device can start a sleep state based on the received message indicating that downlink data should be sent to the terminal device.

[0044] In one possible implementation, after the access gateway receives a message from the core network device indicating that the terminal device is allowed to start a sleep state, the method further includes: the access gateway sending the message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to start a sleep state to the terminal device; for terminal devices that are allowed to sleep, the access gateway stops sending link detection messages to the terminal device.

[0045] In the above solution, for terminal devices that are allowed to hibernate, the access gateway stops sending link detection messages to the terminal devices. This avoids the situation where the terminal devices cannot start hibernation due to frequent message sending, which is beneficial for energy saving of the terminal.

[0046] Thirdly, embodiments of this application provide a communication method that can be executed by a core network device. The method includes: the core network device receiving a message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to a terminal device; the core network device determining that the terminal device is in a sleep state; and the core network device sending a message indicating that downlink data should be sent to the terminal device.

[0047] In the above scheme, after receiving a message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device and determining that the terminal device is in a sleep state, the core network device sends a message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device. This allows the device that receives the message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device to notify the terminal to terminate the sleep state, thus minimizing the possibility of the terminal device missing downlink data.

[0048] In one possible implementation, the message indicating the sending of downlink data to the terminal device is a paging message, or the message indicating the sending of downlink data to the terminal device is a NAS notification message.

[0049] In one possible implementation, before the core network device receives a message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device, the method further includes: the core network device receiving a message requesting to suspend the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device; and based on the message requesting to suspend the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, the core network device suspends the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

[0050] In the above scheme, when it is determined that the terminal device has entered a dormant state, the core network device can suspend the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, thereby avoiding the waste of network-side resources and improving resource utilization.

[0051] In one possible implementation, the core network device determines that the terminal device is in a sleep state, including:

[0052] Based on the message requesting to suspend the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, if the duration of receiving the message requesting to suspend the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device has not reached a sixth preset duration, it is determined that the terminal device is in a sleep state.

[0053] In one possible implementation, after the core network device sends a message indicating that downlink data should be sent to the terminal device, the method further includes: the core network device receiving a message requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources of the terminal device; and restoring the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device based on the message requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

[0054] In the above scheme, when it is determined that the terminal device has terminated its sleep state, the core network device can restore the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, thereby ensuring that the terminal device can receive downlink data.

[0055] In one possible implementation, before the core network device receives a message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device, the method further includes: the core network device receiving a message indicating that the terminal device should start a sleep state; the core network device determining that the terminal device is in a sleep state includes: if the duration of receiving the message indicating that the terminal device should start a sleep state has not yet reached a sixth preset duration, the core network device determines that the terminal device is in a sleep state.

[0056] In one possible implementation, before the core network device receives a message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device, the method further includes: determining, based on the terminal device's subscription data or a message indicating that the terminal device supports a hibernation state, that the core network device is allowed to initiate the hibernation state; the core network device sends a message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to initiate the hibernation state; the message indicating that the terminal device supports the hibernation state is received before determining that the terminal device is allowed to initiate the hibernation state, and the subscription data includes information indicating that the terminal device supports the hibernation state or information indicating that the terminal device is allowed to initiate the hibernation state.

[0057] The above scheme allows the core network equipment to determine which terminal devices are allowed to start hibernation, thereby controlling the activation of hibernation by terminal devices.

[0058] Fourthly, embodiments of this application provide a communication device, which can be a terminal device or a chip for a terminal device. This device has the function of implementing any of the implementation methods in the first aspect described above. This function can be implemented in hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

[0059] Fifthly, embodiments of this application provide a communication device, which may be an access gateway or a chip for use as an access gateway. This device has the function of implementing any of the implementation methods described in the second aspect above. This function can be implemented in hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

[0060] Sixthly, embodiments of this application provide a communication device, which may be a core network device or a chip used in a core network device. This device has the function of implementing any of the implementation methods in the third aspect described above. This function can be implemented in hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-described functions.

[0061] In a seventh aspect, embodiments of this application provide a communication apparatus, including units or means for performing various steps of any of the implementation methods in the first to third aspects described above.

[0062] Eighthly, embodiments of this application also provide a communication device, including a module for executing any of the implementation methods in the first to third aspects described above.

[0063] Ninthly, embodiments of this application provide a communication device, including a processor and an interface circuit. The interface circuit is configured to receive signals from other communication devices besides the communication device and transmit them to the processor, or to send signals from the processor to other communication devices besides the communication device. The processor is configured to implement the method described in any one of the first to third aspects through logic circuits or executable code instructions. The processor may include one or more of these methods.

[0064] In a tenth aspect, embodiments of this application provide a communication device including a processor coupled to a memory. The processor is configured to invoke a program stored in the memory to execute any of the implementation methods described in the first to third aspects. The memory may be located within or outside the device. The processor may include one or more processors.

[0065] Eleventhly, embodiments of this application also provide a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause any of the implementation methods of the first to third aspects described above to be executed.

[0066] In a twelfth aspect, embodiments of this application also provide a computer program product, which includes a computer program that, when executed, causes any of the implementation methods in the first to third aspects to be performed.

[0067] In a thirteenth aspect, embodiments of this application also provide a chip system, including: a processor for executing any of the implementation methods in the first to third aspects described above.

[0068] In a fourteenth aspect, embodiments of this application also provide a communication system, including a terminal device for executing any implementation method of the first aspect, an access gateway for executing any implementation method of the second aspect, and a core network device for executing any implementation method of the third aspect.

[0069] Based on the implementation methods provided in the above aspects, this application can be further combined to provide more implementation methods. Attached Figure Description

[0070] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0071] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a network architecture provided for an embodiment of this application;

[0072] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of another network architecture provided for an embodiment of this application;

[0073] Figure 4A flowchart illustrating a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0074] Figure 5 A flowchart illustrating another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0075] Figure 6 A flowchart illustrating another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0076] Figure 7 A flowchart illustrating another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0077] Figure 8 A flowchart illustrating another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0078] Figure 9 A flowchart illustrating another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0079] Figure 10 A flowchart illustrating another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0080] Figure 11 A flowchart illustrating another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0081] Figure 12 A schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0082] Figure 13 Another schematic diagram of the communication device provided in the embodiments of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0083] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of this application clearer, the application will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The specific operating methods in the method embodiments can also be applied to the device embodiments or system embodiments.

[0084] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the architecture of the communication system 1000 used in an embodiment of this application. Figure 1 As shown, the communication system includes a wireless access network 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system 1000 may also include an Internet 300. The wireless access network 100 may include at least one wireless access network device (such as...). Figure 1 110a and 110b in the above), may also include at least one terminal (such as Figure 1(Referring to 120a-120j in the original text). Terminals connect wirelessly to the wireless access network (WLAN) equipment, which in turn connects to the core network via wireless or wired connections. The core network equipment and the WLAN equipment can be independent physical devices, or they can integrate the functions of the core network equipment and the logical functions of the WLAN equipment onto the same physical device. Alternatively, a single physical device can integrate some of the functions of both the core network equipment and the WLAN equipment. Terminals and WLAN equipment can be interconnected via wired or wireless connections. Figure 1 This is just an illustration; the communication system may also include other network devices, such as wireless repeaters and wireless backhaul devices. Figure 1 It is not shown in the middle.

[0085] Radio access network equipment can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next-generation NodeB (gNB) in a 5G mobile communication system, a next-generation base station in a 6G mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system; it can also be a module or unit that performs some of the functions of a base station, for example, it can be a central unit (CU) or a distributed unit (DU). Here, the CU performs the functions of the radio resource control protocol and the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) of the base station, and can also perform the functions of the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP); the DU performs the functions of the radio link control layer and the medium access control (MAC) layer of the base station, and can also perform some or all of the physical layer functions. For specific descriptions of the above-mentioned protocol layers, please refer to the relevant technical specifications of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Wireless access network equipment can be macro base stations (such as...) Figure 1 110a in the text), can also be a micro base station or an indoor station (such as... Figure 1The node in 110b) can also be a relay node or a donor node, etc. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technology or device form used in the wireless access network equipment. The wireless access network equipment can also be the non-3GPP access equipment described above, such as N3IWF, TWIF, etc. For ease of description, the following description uses a base station as an example of a wireless access network equipment.

[0086] A terminal can also be called a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. Terminals can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grids, smart furniture, smart offices, smart wearables, smart transportation, smart cities, etc. Terminals can be mobile phones, tablets, computers with wireless transceiver capabilities, wearable devices, vehicles, drones, helicopters, airplanes, ships, robots, robotic arms, smart home devices, etc. The embodiments of this application do not limit the specific technologies or device forms used in the terminals.

[0087] Base stations and terminals can be fixed or mobile. They can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; they can also be deployed on water; and they can be deployed in the air on aircraft, balloons, and artificial satellites. The embodiments of this application do not limit the application scenarios of base stations and terminals.

[0088] The roles of base stations and terminals can be relative, for example, Figure 1 The helicopter or drone 120i can be configured as a mobile base station. For terminals 120j accessing the wireless access network 100 via 120i, terminal 120i is a base station; however, for base station 110a, 120i is a terminal, meaning that 110a and 120i communicate via a wireless air interface protocol. Of course, 110a and 120i can also communicate via a base station-to-base station interface protocol; in this case, 120i is also a base station relative to 110a. Therefore, both base stations and terminals can be collectively referred to as communication devices. Figure 1 The 110a and 110b in the text can be referred to as communication devices with base station functions. Figure 1 The 120a-120j in the text can be referred to as communication devices with terminal functions.

[0089] Communication between base stations and terminals, between base stations, and between terminals can be conducted using licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or both simultaneously. Communication can be conducted using spectrum below 6 GHz, spectrum above 6 GHz, or both simultaneously. The embodiments of this application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communication.

[0090] In the embodiments of this application, the functions of the base station can be executed by modules (such as chips) within the base station, or by a control subsystem that includes base station functions. This control subsystem, including base station functions, can be a control center in the aforementioned application scenarios such as smart grids, industrial control, intelligent transportation, and smart cities. Similarly, the functions of the terminal can be executed by modules (such as chips or modems) within the terminal, or by a device that includes terminal functions.

[0091] In this application, the base station sends downlink signals or downlink information to the terminal, with the downlink information carried on the downlink channel; the terminal sends uplink signals or uplink information to the base station, with the uplink information carried on the uplink channel. In order to communicate with the base station, the terminal needs to establish a radio connection with a cell controlled by the base station. The cell with which the terminal has established a radio connection is called the terminal's serving cell. When the terminal communicates with this serving cell, it is also subject to interference from signals from neighboring cells.

[0092] It is understood that, in order to achieve the functions in the above embodiments, the base station and terminal include hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to perform each function. Those skilled in the art should readily recognize that, based on the units and method steps described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed in this application, this application can be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in hardware or by computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0093] Based on the above, Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a network architecture is shown. (For example...) Figure 2 As shown, the next-generation mobile communication network architecture defined by the 3GPP standard is called the 5G network architecture, which includes UE, (R)AN (radio access network), 5GC, and DN (data network). Figure 2 The UE in the middle can be Figure 1 Terminals in the middle (such as Figure 1 (120a-120j in the middle). Figure 2 (R)AN in the text can be... Figure 1 Wireless access network 100. Figure 2 5GC in the middle can be Figure 1 The core network of the 200. Figure 2 The DN in the text can be Figure 1 Internet 300.

[0094] The UE (User Equipment) serves as the entry point for mobile users to interact with the network. It provides basic computing and storage capabilities, displays service windows to the user, and accepts user input. For example, the UE can use New Radio (NR) technology to establish signal and data connections with the AN (Anti-Network Controller), thereby transmitting control signals and service data to the mobile network.

[0095] For example, a UE can also be called a terminal device, which is a device with wireless transceiver capabilities. It can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; it can also be deployed on water (such as on ships); and it can also be deployed in the air (such as on airplanes, balloons, and satellites). The terminal device can be a mobile phone, tablet, computer with wireless transceiver capabilities, virtual reality (VR) terminal, augmented reality (AR) terminal, wireless terminal in industrial control, wireless terminal in self-driving, wireless terminal in remote medical care, wireless terminal in smart grid, wireless terminal in transportation safety, wireless terminal in smart city, wireless terminal in smart home, user equipment (UE), etc. The aforementioned UE can also be a customer premises equipment (CPE), which is a mobile signal access device that receives mobile signals and forwards them as wireless Wi-Fi signals.

[0096] The aforementioned terminal devices can establish connections with the operator's network through interfaces provided by the operator's network (such as N1), and use data and / or voice services provided by the operator's network. The terminal devices can also access the DN (Network Provider) through the operator's network, and use operator services deployed on the DN, and / or services provided by third parties. These third parties can be service providers outside of the operator's network and terminal devices, and can provide other data and / or voice services to the terminal devices. The specific form of these third parties can be determined based on the actual application scenario and is not limited here.

[0097] An AN (Access Provider) is similar to a base station in a traditional network, deployed close to the UE (User Equipment). It provides network access to authorized users in a specific area and can determine different quality transmission tunnels to transmit user data based on the user's level and service requirements. The AN can manage its own resources, utilize them rationally, provide access services to the UE on demand, and is responsible for forwarding control signals and user data between the UE and the core network.

[0098] For example, AN includes (R)AN, which can be a sub-network of an operator's network and is the implementation system between service nodes and terminal equipment in the operator's network. For a terminal device to access the operator's network, it first goes through the RAN, and then can connect to the service nodes of the operator's network through the (R)AN. (R)AN equipment is a device that provides wireless communication functions for terminal equipment; (R)AN equipment is also called access network equipment. (R)AN equipment includes, but is not limited to: next-generation base stations (g nodeB, gNB) in 5G, evolved node B (eNB), radio network controller (RNC), node B (NB), base station controller (BSC), base transceiver station (BTS), home base station (e.g., home evolved nodeB, or home node B, HNB), baseband unit (BBU), transmitting and receiving point (TRP), transmitting point (TP), mobile switching center, etc.

[0099] Logically, 5GC can be divided into two parts: the user plane and the control plane. The user plane is mainly responsible for packet forwarding, QoS control, and billing information statistics, while the control plane is mainly responsible for user registration and authentication, mobility management, and issuing packet forwarding policies and QoS control policies to the user plane. For example... Figure 2As shown, the user plane includes UPF (User plane function); the control plane includes NSSF (network slice selection function), NEF (network exposure function), NRF (Network Function Repository function), PCF (policy control function), UDM (Unified Data Management function), AF (application function), AUSF (Authentication Server Function), AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function), and SMF (Session Management Function).

[0100] The functions of network elements in the core network are described below:

[0101] The AMF (Automatic Mobility Management) network element primarily performs functions such as mobility management and access authentication / authorization. Additionally, it is responsible for transmitting user policies between the UE and the PCF (Programmable Component Filter). For example, the AMF handles the user registration process upon access and location management during user movement.

[0102] The SMF (Service Provider Function) network element primarily performs functions such as session management, execution of control policies issued by the PCF (Process Control Function), selection of the UPF (User Provider Function), and allocation of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for the UE (User Equipment). For example, the SMF is responsible for establishing corresponding session connections on the network side when a user initiates a service, providing specific services to the user, especially issuing packet forwarding policies and QoS policies to the UPF through the NG4 interface between the SMF and the UPF.

[0103] UPF network elements, as interfaces with the data network, perform functions such as user plane data forwarding, session / flow-based billing and statistics, and bandwidth limiting.

[0104] UDM network elements are primarily responsible for managing subscription data and user access authorization. For example, UDM can provide unified user data management, such as storing user equipment subscription data.

[0105] UDR is primarily responsible for storing and retrieving data of various types, such as contract data, strategy data, and application data.

[0106] NEF network elements are primarily used to support the opening of capabilities and events.

[0107] The Application Provider (AF) element primarily conveys application-side requests to the network side, such as Quality of Service (QoS) requirements or user state event subscriptions. An AF can be a third-party functional entity or an application service deployed by the operator, such as the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) voice call service. For example, an AF can send application-related requests to the Programmable Component Provider (PCF) so that the PCF can generate corresponding policies.

[0108] The PCF (Portable Component Function) is primarily responsible for policy control functions such as billing, QoS bandwidth assurance, mobility management, and UE policy decision-making at the session and service data stream levels. For example, the PCF can be used to issue service-related policies to the AMF (Access and Mobility Control) or SMF (Session Management). In this architecture, the PCFs connected to the AMF and SMF correspond to the AM PCF (PCF for Access and Mobility Control) and SM PCF (PCF for Session Management), respectively, but in actual deployment scenarios, they may not be the same PCF entity.

[0109] NRF network elements can be used to provide network element discovery functionality, providing network element information corresponding to the network element type based on requests from other network elements. NRF also provides network element management services, such as network element registration, updates, deregistration, and network element status subscription and push.

[0110] AUSF network elements are primarily responsible for authenticating users to determine whether a user or device is allowed to access the network. For example, they are responsible for authenticating user equipment and verifying its legitimacy.

[0111] A Domain Provider (DN) is a network that provides services to users. A DN can include multiple application servers, which provide services to corresponding applications. Application clients are typically installed in the User Equipment (UE), while the application server (the application server itself) resides within the DN. A DN can be a private network, such as a local area network (LAN), or an external network not controlled by the operator, such as the internet. It can also be a dedicated network jointly deployed by operators, such as a network providing IP multimedia core network subsystem (IMS) services. For example, a DN can provide services to user equipment, such as mobile operator services, internet services, or third-party services.

[0112] For example, a carrier network can connect to multiple DNs, and various services can be deployed on each DN, providing data and / or voice services to terminal devices. For instance, a DN might be the private network of a smart factory, where sensors installed in the workshop can act as terminal devices. A control server for these sensors is deployed within the DN, providing services to the sensors. The sensors can communicate with the control server, receive instructions, and transmit the collected sensor data back to the control server accordingly. As another example, a DN could be the internal office network of a company, where employees' mobile phones or computers can act as terminal devices, accessing information and data resources on the company's internal office network.

[0113] The core network can adopt a service-oriented architecture or a reference point architecture. For example... Figure 2 As shown in the diagram, Namf is the service interface provided by AMF, Nsmf by SMF, Nnef by NEF, Npcf by PCF, Nudm by UDM, Naf by AF, Nnrf by NRF, Nnssf by NSSF, Nausf by AUSSF, Nudr by UDR, and Nudsf by UDSF. For example... Figure 3 As shown, N1 is the reference point between the AMF and the UE. N2 is the reference point between the AMF and the RAN. N3 is the reference point between the (R)AN and the UPF. N4 is the reference point between the SMF and the UPF. N6 is the reference point between the UPF and the DN. The meanings of these service interfaces and reference points can be found in the definitions in the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) standard protocols, and are not limited here.

[0114] The aforementioned network architecture can support both 3GPP-defined access technologies and non-3GPP access technologies. 3GPP-defined access technologies include next-generation base station (gNB) technology and evolved Node B (eNB) long-term evolution (LTE) technology. Non-3GPP access technologies include WLAN, high-rate packet data (HRPD), evolved high-rate packet data (EHRPD), and worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX).

[0115] When 5GC supports untrusted non-3GPP access, the 5G network architecture based on the point-to-point interface is as follows: Figure 3 As shown, the untrusted non-3GPP access gateway is N3IWF (Non-3GPP Interworking Function), and the untrusted non-3GPP access network can be, for example, an untrusted WLAN network. Note Figure 3 The diagram only shows AMF, SMF, and UPF network elements; other network elements are omitted. This does not mean that N3IWF does not interact with other network elements. Furthermore, the core network can also support trusted non-3GPP access networks and / or wired network access. Trusted non-3GPP access networks include trusted WLAN networks, and wired networks include fixed home networks, etc. The network architecture is similar to... Figure 3 The architecture shown is similar to that of an untrusted N-3GPP access network accessing the core network.

[0116] Specifically, it can be Figure 3The N3IWF in the code is replaced with a Trusted Non-3GPP Interworking Function (TWIF), such as a Trusted Non-3GPP Gateway Function (TNGF), a Wired Access Gateway Function (W-AGF), or a Fixed Mobile Interworking Function (FMIF). The access network equipment between the terminal device and the aforementioned access gateway includes WLAN APs, fixed access network (FAN) equipment, switches, routers, etc. Regardless of whether it is trusted non-3GPP access, untrusted non-3GPP access, or wired access network access, the core network side can adopt... Figure 2 The point-to-point interface protocol structure shown, or the one using... Figure 3 The service-oriented interface architecture is consistent with the 3GPP access network access core network architecture.

[0117] It is understood that the aforementioned network element or function can be a network component in a hardware device, a software function running on dedicated hardware, or a virtualized function instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform). The aforementioned network element or function can be implemented by a single device, multiple devices working together, or a functional module within a single device; this application does not specifically limit this.

[0118] The mobility management network element, session management network element, policy control network element, access network equipment, and user plane network element in this application can be respectively... Figure 2 The AMF, SMF, PCF, RAN, and UPF mentioned here can also refer to network elements in future communications such as 6th generation (6G) networks that have the functions of the aforementioned AMF, SMF, PCF, RAN, and UPF. This application does not limit this. For ease of explanation, this application uses mobility management network elements, session management network elements, policy control network elements, access network equipment, and user plane network elements as examples to illustrate the aforementioned AMF, SMF, PCF, RAN, and UPF, respectively.

[0119] The 3GPP standard, starting with Release 15, defines the architecture for N-3GPP access to the 5GC, as described above. When a UE accesses the network via non-3GPP, its state on the network side includes registered and unregistered states. For registered UEs, there are further distinctions between connected and idle states. When within the non-3GPP coverage area, the UE should maintain a connected state with the 5GC. When the UE is outside the non-3GPP coverage area, it enters the idle state. When the UE is in the idle state, downlink data is unreachable. For idle UEs, the network side starts an implicit deregistration timer. When the implicit deregistration timer expires, the UE deregisters from the network side, thus entering the deregistered state.

[0120] When non-3GPP access is via WLAN, the WLAN air interface can support the UE's sleep state. For example, when the UE sends uplink data, it obtains the right to send data based on preemption of air interface resources. For downlink data, the UE periodically listens to air interface messages to determine if it has its own downlink data. The duration of these air interface message listening is related to the sleep state. When the UE is in normal mode, the period for listening to air interface messages is very short, but after entering sleep mode, the UE can not listen to air interface messages for a long time, thereby achieving energy saving. Therefore, for WLAN access, the UE can be in sleep mode. In this sleep mode, uplink data can be sent normally, but downlink data is unavailable. In this scheme, the UE cannot receive downlink data in sleep mode and needs to wait for the UE to terminate the sleep state before it can receive downlink data, which may lead to the UE missing downlink data while in sleep mode.

[0121] Furthermore, when a UE accesses the network via non-3GPP, since paging is not supported on the non-3GPP side, the 3GPP standard defines that the UE should be in a connected state as much as possible on the non-3GPP side to ensure downlink data reachability. Even if there is no data transmission between the UE and the network for a period of time when the UE is within the non-3GPP coverage area, current technology still requires the UE to maintain a connected state with the network. Therefore, the network needs to reserve resources for the UE, and the UE also needs to frequently interact with the network through signaling to maintain the connection. This is detrimental to UE energy conservation and also wastes network resources.

[0122] In view of this, the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application are provided. The methods provided by the embodiments of this application are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0123] This application embodiment is applicable to architectures where terminal devices access 5GC via N3G access technology, for example... Figure 2The structure is shown. Especially for campus scenarios, after deploying 5GC in the campus, terminal devices can access 5GC through the N3G access gateway. The terminal can be a UE (User Equipment) with 5GC access capability or a N5CW (Network 5CW) without 5GC access capability. The terminal establishes a connection with the access gateway via WLAN or wired access technology, and then the access gateway establishes a connection with the 5GC.

[0124] In this application embodiment, the sleep state can also be called sleep mode, power saving mode, energy saving mode, power saving state, energy saving state, etc., to indicate that the UE is in a power saving state; this application embodiment does not limit this, and the following uses the sleep state as an example for explanation.

[0125] Based on the above, one embodiment of this application provides a communication method, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 4 Here is a flowchart of the method.

[0126] like Figure 4 As shown, the communication method includes:

[0127] S401, the terminal device enters sleep mode;

[0128] Specifically, the terminal device can initiate a sleep state when a preset first condition is met. This first condition includes: no downlink data received and / or no uplink data sent within a second preset time period. This second preset time period can be preset by the terminal device or a network-side device. The network-side device can be an access gateway or a core network device, etc. For example, the second preset time period can be preset to 10 minutes, meaning that if the terminal device does not receive downlink data and / or send uplink data within 10 minutes, it can initiate a sleep state. In this sleep state, the terminal device can send uplink data, but downlink data is unavailable, thereby achieving energy saving.

[0129] The second preset duration can be timed using a local timer on the terminal device. For example, the terminal device can start or update the timer each time it receives downlink data, and stop the timer after entering sleep mode.

[0130] In one example, the second preset duration can be preset by the terminal device or the network-side device. For example, the network-side device can be an access gateway or a core network device, such as an AMF.

[0131] In one possible implementation, after the terminal device initiates a sleep state, the method further includes: the terminal device sending a message indicating that the terminal device initiates a sleep state.

[0132] The above scheme allows the terminal to notify the network side that it has started a sleep state after it has started a sleep state, so that the network side can perform corresponding operations based on the terminal starting a sleep state.

[0133] For example, before the terminal device initiates a sleep state, the method may further include: the terminal device receiving a message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to initiate a sleep state; the initiation of the sleep state by the terminal device includes: based on the message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to initiate a sleep state, the terminal device initiates a sleep state when it is determined that a preset first condition is met.

[0134] In one example, the core network device can determine whether to allow the terminal device to start a sleep state. For a terminal device that is allowed to start a sleep state, the core network device can send a message to the terminal device to indicate that the terminal device is allowed to start a sleep state, thereby notifying the terminal device to allow it to sleep. After receiving the message, the terminal device can start a sleep state if a preset first condition is met.

[0135] In another example, for terminal devices that are not allowed to initiate a hibernation state, the core network device can send a message or parameter to the terminal device indicating that hibernation is not permitted. Upon receiving this message or parameter, the terminal device will not initiate a hibernation state. This scheme allows the network side to control whether a terminal device is allowed to hibernate, achieving the goal of proactively controlling whether hibernation is permitted.

[0136] S402, The access gateway receives a message indicating that downlink data should be sent to the terminal device;

[0137] The access gateway can be a non-3GPP access gateway. This non-3GPP access gateway can be one of N3IWF, TNGF, W-AGF, FMIF, etc.

[0138] For example, the message indicating the sending of downlink data to the terminal device includes the downlink data, or after receiving the message indicating the sending of downlink data to the terminal device, the access gateway obtains the downlink data to be sent to the terminal device.

[0139] In one example, the access gateway can receive a message from the UPF instructing the sending of downlink data to the terminal device. This message includes the downlink data to be sent to the terminal device.

[0140] In another example, the access gateway can receive a message from the AMF instructing the sending of downlink data to the terminal device.

[0141] In one possible implementation, before the access gateway receives a message indicating that downlink data should be sent to the terminal device, the method may further include: the access gateway determining that the terminal device has entered a sleep state; and the access gateway sending a message to the core network device requesting that downlink user plane resources of the terminal device be suspended.

[0142] After the access gateway sends a message to the core network device requesting the suspension of downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, the method may further include: the access gateway receiving a message from the core network device indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device have been successfully suspended.

[0143] As an example, before the access gateway receives a message instructing the sending of downlink data to the terminal device, the method may further include: the access gateway determining that the terminal device has entered a sleep state; and the access gateway sending a message to the core network device instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state.

[0144] After the access gateway sends a message to the core network device instructing the terminal device to start a hibernation state, the method may further include: the access gateway receiving a message from the core network device instructing the successful suspension of downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

[0145] In one possible implementation, before the access gateway receives a message instructing the sending of downlink data to the terminal device, the method may further include: if a preset second condition is met, the access gateway determines that the terminal device has entered a sleep state; the second condition includes: not receiving downlink data to the terminal device or uplink data sent by the terminal device within a third preset time period; or receiving a message from the terminal device instructing the terminal device to start a sleep state.

[0146] The third preset duration can be timed using a local timer on the access gateway. For example, the access gateway can start or update the timer each time it sends downlink data or receives uplink data, and stop the timer when it receives downlink or uplink data.

[0147] For example, the third preset duration can be pre-set by the access gateway or core network device. For instance, the core network device can be an AMF (Advanced Activated Front-End).

[0148] As an example, before the access gateway obtains the downlink data sent to the terminal device after receiving the message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device, the method may further include: the access gateway sending a message to the core network device to request the restoration of downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

[0149] After the access gateway sends a message to the core network device requesting the restoration of the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, the method may further include: the access gateway receiving a message from the core network device indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device have been successfully restored.

[0150] For example, an access gateway can receive messages from the AMF (Access Provider Function) instructing the transmission of downlink data to a terminal device, such as messages indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the terminal device from the network side. For instance, after determining that a terminal device has entered a sleep state, the access gateway can first send a message to the core network device requesting the suspension of the terminal device's downlink user plane resources or instructing the terminal device to enter a sleep state, thus suspending the terminal device's downlink user plane resources. When the access gateway receives the message from the AMF indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the terminal device from the network side, since the terminal device's downlink user plane resources have been suspended, the access gateway cannot receive the downlink data that needs to be sent to the terminal device. Therefore, it needs to send a message to the core network device requesting the restoration of the terminal device's downlink user plane resources, thereby restoring the terminal's downlink user plane resources and enabling it to receive the downlink data that needs to be sent to the terminal device.

[0151] As another example, before the access gateway obtains the downlink data to be sent to the terminal device after receiving the message instructing the sending of downlink data to the terminal device, the method may further include:

[0152] The access gateway sends a message to the core network equipment to instruct the terminal equipment to terminate its sleep state.

[0153] After the access gateway sends a message to the core network device instructing the terminal device to terminate its sleep state, the method may further include: the access gateway receiving a message from the core network device instructing the successful restoration of the terminal device's downlink user plane resources. For example, the access gateway may receive a message from the AMF instructing the sending of downlink data to the terminal device, such as a message indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the terminal device on the network side. For instance, after determining that the terminal device has entered a sleep state, the access gateway may first send a message to the core network device requesting the suspension of the terminal device's downlink user plane resources or instructing the terminal device to start its sleep state, thus suspending the terminal device's downlink user plane resources. When the access gateway receives the message from the AMF instructing that there is downlink data to be sent to the terminal device on the network side, since the terminal device's downlink user plane resources have been suspended, the access gateway cannot receive the downlink data that needs to be sent to the terminal device. Therefore, it needs to send a message to the core network device instructing the terminal device to terminate its sleep state to restore the terminal's downlink user plane resources, thereby enabling it to receive the downlink data that needs to be sent to the terminal device.

[0154] In the above scheme, after determining that the terminal device has entered a sleep state, the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device can be suspended, which can avoid the waste of network side resources and improve resource utilization.

[0155] As an example, before the access gateway receives a message instructing the transmission of downlink data to the terminal device, the method may further include:

[0156] The access gateway receives a message from the core network device indicating that the terminal device is allowed to start a hibernation state.

[0157] After the access gateway receives a message from the core network device indicating that the terminal device is allowed to start a sleep state, the method may further include:

[0158] The access gateway sends the message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to start a sleep state to the terminal device.

[0159] For terminal devices that are allowed to hibernate, the access gateway stops sending link detection messages to the terminal devices.

[0160] In the above scheme, for terminal devices that are allowed to hibernate, the access gateway stops sending link detection messages to the terminal devices. This avoids the terminal devices being unable to start hibernation due to frequent message sending, which is beneficial for energy saving.

[0161] S403, the access gateway determines that the terminal device is in a sleep state;

[0162] For example, the access gateway determining that the terminal device is in a sleep state may include:

[0163] If a preset third condition is met, the access gateway determines that the terminal device is in a sleep state;

[0164] The third condition includes: no downlink data to be sent to the terminal device is received within a fourth preset time period before the access gateway receives the message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device.

[0165] The fourth preset duration can be timed by a local timer on the access gateway. For example, the access gateway can start or update the timer each time it sends downlink data, and stop the timer when it receives a message indicating that downlink data should be sent to the terminal device.

[0166] For example, the fourth preset duration can be pre-set by the access gateway or core network device. For instance, the core network device can be an AMF (Advanced Management Function).

[0167] For example, the second preset duration can be less than or equal to the fourth preset duration.

[0168] In the above scheme, if the access gateway does not receive downlink data to the terminal device within a fourth preset time period before receiving the message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device, it can determine that the terminal device has entered a sleep state even if it does not receive the message indicating that the terminal device is in a sleep state.

[0169] As an example, before the access gateway receives a message instructing the transmission of downlink data to the terminal device, the method may further include:

[0170] The access gateway receives a message sent by the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to start a sleep state;

[0171] The access gateway determines that the terminal device is in a sleep state, including:

[0172] Based on the message indicating that the terminal device should start a sleep state, if the duration of the terminal device starting a sleep state has not yet reached the fifth preset duration, it is determined that the terminal device is in a sleep state.

[0173] In this example, the terminal device can send a message to the access gateway after initiating a sleep state, instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state.

[0174] In the above scheme, when the access gateway receives a message from the terminal device instructing it to enter a sleep state, it can determine that the terminal device has entered a sleep state. Thus, after the access gateway receives a message instructing it to send downlink data to the terminal device, if the duration of the terminal device entering a sleep state has not yet reached the fifth preset duration, it can determine that the terminal device is still in a sleep state based on the previously received message instructing it to enter a sleep state.

[0175] The fifth preset duration can be timed by a local timer on the access gateway. For example, the access gateway can start the timer when it determines that the terminal device has entered a sleep state, and stop the timer when it determines that the terminal device has terminated its sleep state. For example, the access gateway can determine that the terminal device has terminated its sleep state by sending a message to the terminal device instructing it to terminate its sleep state; or, the access gateway can determine that the terminal device has terminated its sleep state by sending a message to the terminal device instructing it to terminate its sleep state and by receiving a message from the terminal device instructing it to terminate its sleep state.

[0176] For example, the fifth preset duration can be set by the access gateway or the core network device. For instance, the core network device can be an AMF (Advanced Management Function).

[0177] As another example, after the access gateway receives a message from the terminal device instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state, and before the access gateway receives a message instructing the transmission of downlink data to the terminal device, the method may further include:

[0178] The access gateway receives a message from the terminal device instructing the terminal device to start a sleep state.

[0179] The access gateway determines that the terminal device is in a sleep state, including:

[0180] Based on the message indicating that the terminal device should start a sleep state, if the duration of the terminal device starting a sleep state has not yet reached a fifth preset duration, it is determined that the terminal device is in a sleep state.

[0181] In the above scheme, when the access gateway receives a message from the terminal device instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state, it can determine that the terminal device has entered a sleep state. Thus, after the access gateway receives a message instructing the sending of downlink data to the terminal device, if the duration of the terminal device's sleep state has not yet reached the fifth preset duration, it can determine that the terminal device is currently in a sleep state based on the previously received message instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state.

[0182] In this example, the terminal device can send a message to the access gateway after restarting the hibernation state, instructing the terminal device to start the hibernation state.

[0183] As an example, when the access gateway determines that a terminal device has entered a sleep state, it marks the terminal device as being in a sleep state. When the access gateway receives a message instructing the transmission of downlink data to the terminal device, it can determine that the terminal device is in a sleep state based on this marked sleep state. For example, if the access gateway sends a message to the terminal device instructing it to terminate its sleep state, the marked sleep state can be deleted; or if the access gateway sends a message to the terminal device instructing it to terminate its sleep state and receives a message from the terminal device instructing it to terminate its sleep state, the marked sleep state can be deleted.

[0184] S404, the access gateway sends a message to the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to terminate the sleep state, and correspondingly, the terminal device receives the message to instruct the terminal device to terminate the sleep state.

[0185] For example, the message indicating the transmission of downlink data to the terminal device includes a message indicating that the terminal device terminates its sleep state or a message indicating that downlink data is ready to be transmitted. For instance, the AMF can send the message indicating the transmission of downlink data to the access gateway; for example, the AMF can send a message indicating that the terminal device terminates its sleep state to the access gateway. Or, for example, the AMF can send a message indicating that downlink data is ready to be transmitted to the access gateway. For instance, this message indicating that downlink data is ready to be transmitted can be a message indicating that downlink data is ready to be transmitted on the non-3GPP side.

[0186] As an example, the access gateway sending a message to the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to terminate its sleep state may include:

[0187] The access gateway receives uplink messages sent from the terminal device;

[0188] Based on the uplink message, the access gateway sends a reply message to the terminal device, which instructs the terminal device to terminate the sleep state.

[0189] In the above scheme, when the access gateway receives a message instructing the terminal device to send downlink data, the terminal device may have entered a sleep state. A terminal device in sleep state cannot receive downlink data. Therefore, after receiving the uplink message from the terminal device, the access gateway can send a message instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state, which ensures that the terminal device can receive the message instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state.

[0190] As another example, the access gateway sending a message to the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to terminate the sleep state may include: the access gateway receiving a message from the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to start a sleep state; and based on the message to instruct the terminal device to start a sleep state, the access gateway sending a message to the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to terminate the sleep state.

[0191] In this example, the terminal device can send a message to the access gateway after starting or restarting the hibernation state, instructing the terminal device to start the hibernation state.

[0192] In the above scheme, when the access gateway receives a message instructing the terminal device to send downlink data, the terminal device may have started or restarted a sleep state. A terminal device that has started a sleep state cannot receive downlink data. Therefore, after the access gateway receives the message from the terminal device instructing the terminal device to start a sleep state, it can send a message to the terminal device instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state, which can ensure that the terminal device can receive the message instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state.

[0193] As an example, when the access gateway receives a message instructing the terminal device to send downlink data, the access gateway can mark the terminal device as being in a pending wake-up state. Upon receiving an uplink message from the terminal device or a message instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state, the access gateway, after determining that the terminal device is in a pending wake-up state, sends a message to the terminal device instructing it to terminate the sleep state. The access gateway can determine that the terminal device is in a pending wake-up state based on this marked pending wake-up state. For example, the pending wake-up state mark can be deleted when the access gateway sends the message instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state; or the pending wake-up state mark can be deleted when the access gateway sends the message instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state and receives a message from the terminal device instructing it to terminate the sleep state.

[0194] As an example, after the terminal device initiates a sleep state and before the terminal device receives a message instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state, the method may further include:

[0195] Before the duration of the terminal device's sleep state reaches a first preset duration, the terminal device sends an uplink message.

[0196] As another example, after the terminal device initiates a sleep state and before the terminal device receives a message instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state, the method further includes:

[0197] After the duration of the terminal device in sleep mode reaches a first preset duration, the terminal device sends a message instructing the terminal device to enter sleep mode.

[0198] In this example, after restarting from hibernation, the terminal device can send a message to the access gateway instructing the terminal device to start hibernation.

[0199] The first preset duration can be timed by a local sleep timer on the terminal device. For example, the sleep timer can be started when the terminal device starts or restarts from sleep mode, and can be stopped when the terminal device terminates from sleep mode.

[0200] For example, the first preset duration can be set by the access gateway or the core network device. For instance, the core network device can be an AMF (Access Default Server).

[0201] In the example row, the first preset duration and the fifth preset duration can be set by the access gateway, and the first preset duration can be less than or equal to the fifth preset duration.

[0202] As an example, after the terminal device initiates a sleep state and before the terminal device receives a message instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state, the method may further include: the terminal device sending a message instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state.

[0203] The above scheme allows the terminal device to notify the network side after starting or restarting from sleep mode, so that the network side can determine whether the terminal device has entered or is in sleep mode.

[0204] S405, the terminal device terminates its sleep state;

[0205] As an example, after the terminal device terminates its sleep state, the method may further include:

[0206] The terminal device sends a message instructing it to terminate its sleep state.

[0207] In the above scheme, after the terminal device terminates its sleep state, it can notify the network side so that the network side can determine that the terminal device has terminated its sleep state. For example, after the terminal device terminates its sleep state, it can send a message to the access gateway indicating that the terminal device has terminated its sleep state. The access gateway can determine the termination of the sleep state based on this message.

[0208] S406, the access gateway sends the received downlink data or downlink message to the terminal device.

[0209] As an example, after the access gateway receives a message instructing it to send downlink data to the terminal device, and before the access gateway sends the received downlink data to the terminal device, the method may include:

[0210] After the access gateway receives the message sent by the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to terminate the sleep state;

[0211] The access gateway sends a message to the core network device to request the restoration of the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

[0212] The access gateway receives the downlink data sent to the terminal device.

[0213] After the access gateway sends a message to the core network device requesting the restoration of the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, the method may further include: the access gateway receiving a message from the core network device indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device have been successfully restored.

[0214] For example, an access gateway can receive messages from the AMF (Access Provider Function) instructing the transmission of downlink data to a terminal device, such as messages indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the terminal device from the network side. For instance, after determining that a terminal device has entered a sleep state, the access gateway can first send a message to the core network device requesting the suspension of the terminal device's downlink user plane resources. When the access gateway receives the message from the AMF indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the terminal device from the network side, since the terminal device's downlink user plane resources have been suspended, the access gateway cannot receive the downlink data that needs to be sent to the terminal device. Therefore, it needs to send a message to the core network device requesting the restoration of the terminal device's downlink user plane resources to restore the terminal's downlink user plane resources, thereby enabling it to receive the downlink data that needs to be sent to the terminal device.

[0215] For example, before the access gateway receives a message instructing the sending of downlink data to the terminal device, the method may further include: the access gateway determining that the terminal device has entered a sleep state; and the access gateway sending a message to the core network device requesting the suspension of downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

[0216] After the access gateway sends a message to the core network device requesting the suspension of downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, the method may further include: the access gateway receiving a message from the core network device indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device have been successfully suspended.

[0217] For example, the downlink message can be a NAS message, such as a notification message, or other NAS messages, such as a PDU session modification command.

[0218] The technical solution provided in this application embodiment allows the network side to send a message as needed to instruct the terminal device to terminate the sleep state after the terminal device starts the sleep state, and notify the terminal device to terminate the sleep state. After the terminal device terminates the sleep state, downlink data or downlink messages are sent to the terminal device, thereby minimizing the possibility of the terminal device missing downlink data or downlink messages and facilitating the terminal device to sleep.

[0219] Based on the above, one embodiment of this application provides a communication method, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 5 Here is a flowchart of the method.

[0220] like Figure 5 As shown, the communication method includes:

[0221] S501, The core network equipment receives a message indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the terminal equipment;

[0222] The core network device can be an AMF (Advanced Management Function). For example, the message used to indicate that there is downlink data to be sent to the terminal device can be a downlink data notification message. For instance, the AMF can receive a downlink data notification message sent by the SMF, which indicates that there is downlink data to be sent to the terminal device.

[0223] As an example, prior to step S501, the method may further include:

[0224] Based on the subscription data of the terminal device or a message indicating that the terminal device supports a hibernation state, the core network device determines that the terminal device is allowed to initiate the hibernation state.

[0225] The core network device sends a message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to start a sleep state;

[0226] The message indicating that the terminal device supports a sleep state is received before determining that the terminal device is allowed to initiate the sleep state, and the subscription data includes information indicating that the terminal device supports a sleep state or information indicating that the terminal device is allowed to initiate a sleep state.

[0227] S502, the core network equipment determines that the terminal equipment is in a sleep state;

[0228] As an example, before the core network device receives a message indicating that downlink data is ready to be sent to the terminal device, the method may further include:

[0229] The core network device receives a message requesting to suspend the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

[0230] Based on a message requesting the suspension of downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, the core network device suspends the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

[0231] For example, the core network device determining that the terminal device is in a sleep state may include:

[0232] Based on the message requesting to suspend the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, if the duration of receiving the message requesting to suspend the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device has not reached a sixth preset duration, it is determined that the terminal device is in a sleep state.

[0233] As an example, before the core network device receives a message indicating that downlink data is ready to be sent to the terminal device, the method may further include:

[0234] The core network device receives a message instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state.

[0235] Based on a message indicating that the terminal device should enter a hibernation state, the core network device suspends the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

[0236] As an example, prior to S501, the method may further include: determining, based on the subscription data of the terminal device or a message indicating that the terminal device supports a hibernation state, whether to allow the terminal device to initiate the hibernation state;

[0237] The core network device sends a message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to start a sleep state;

[0238] The message indicating that the terminal device supports a sleep state is received before determining that the terminal device is allowed to initiate the sleep state, and the subscription data includes information indicating that the terminal device supports a sleep state or information indicating that the terminal device is allowed to initiate a sleep state.

[0239] For example, the core network device determines that the terminal device is in a sleep state, including:

[0240] Based on the message indicating that the terminal device should start a sleep state, if the duration of receiving the message indicating that the terminal device should start a sleep state has not yet reached the sixth preset duration, it is determined that the terminal device is in a sleep state.

[0241] As an example, before the core network device receives a message indicating that downlink data is ready to be sent to the terminal device, the method may further include:

[0242] The core network device receives a message instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state.

[0243] The core network equipment determines that the terminal equipment is in a sleep state, including:

[0244] Based on the message indicating that the terminal device should start a sleep state, if the duration of receiving the message indicating that the terminal device should start a sleep state has not yet reached a sixth preset duration, the core network device determines that the terminal device is in a sleep state.

[0245] The sixth preset duration can be timed by a local sleep timer on the core network device. For example, the core network device can start the sleep timer when it determines that the terminal device has entered a sleep state, and stop the sleep timer when it determines that the terminal device has terminated its sleep state. For example, the core network device can determine that the terminal device has entered a sleep state when it receives a message requesting to suspend the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device or a message instructing the terminal device to start a sleep state. Similarly, the core network device can determine that the terminal device has entered a sleep state when it receives a message requesting to restore the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device or a message instructing the terminal device to terminate its sleep state. For example, the sleep timer can be restarted when the core network device receives a message instructing the terminal device to start a sleep state.

[0246] For example, the sixth preset duration can be set by the core network device. For instance, the core network device could be an AMF (Advanced Management Function).

[0247] For example, the first preset duration and the sixth preset duration can be set by the core network equipment, and the first preset duration can be less than or equal to the sixth preset duration.

[0248] As an example, after the core network device suspends the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, the method may further include:

[0249] The core network equipment sends a message indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the terminal equipment have been successfully suspended.

[0250] S503, the core network device sends a message to the access gateway to instruct the sending of downlink data to the terminal device, and correspondingly, the access gateway receives the message to instruct the sending of downlink data to the terminal device.

[0251] The access gateway can be a non-3GPP access gateway. For example, the access gateway can be a non-3GPP access gateway. The non-3GPP access gateway can be one of N3IWF, TNGF, W-AGF, FMIF, etc.

[0252] For example, the message indicating the transmission of downlink data to the terminal device may include a message indicating that there is downlink data to be transmitted to the terminal device. Exemplarily, the AMF may send the message indicating the transmission of downlink data to the terminal device to the access gateway; for example, the AMF may send the message indicating that there is downlink data to be transmitted to the terminal device to the access gateway. In another example, the message indicating that there is downlink data to be transmitted to the terminal device may be a message indicating that there is downlink data to be transmitted on the non-3GPP side.

[0253] As another example, the message indicating the transmission of downlink data to the terminal device may include a message indicating the terminal device to terminate its sleep state. For instance, the AMF may send the message indicating the transmission of downlink data to the access gateway; for example, the AMF may send the message indicating the terminal device to terminate its sleep state to the access gateway.

[0254] Steps S504 to S506 are the same as steps S403 to S405, and will not be described again here.

[0255] As an example, after the core network device sends a message instructing the transmission of downlink data to the terminal device, the method may further include:

[0256] The core network device receives a message requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

[0257] Based on the message requesting the restoration of the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, the core network device restores the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

[0258] As another example, after the core network device sends a message instructing the transmission of downlink data to the terminal device, the method may further include:

[0259] The core network device receives a message instructing the terminal device to terminate its sleep state.

[0260] Based on the message indicating that the terminal device should terminate its sleep state, the core network device restores the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

[0261] After the core network equipment restores the downlink user plane resources of the terminal equipment, the method may further include:

[0262] The core network equipment sends a message indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the terminal equipment have been successfully restored.

[0263] For example, when the core network device receives a message requesting to suspend downlink user plane resources of the terminal device or a message instructing the terminal device to enter a sleep state, it can mark the terminal device as being in a sleep state. After the core network device receives a message indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the terminal device, it can determine that the terminal device is in a sleep state based on the marked sleep state.

[0264] For example, when the core network device suspends downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, the terminal device can be marked as being in a sleep state. After the core network device receives a message indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the terminal device, it can determine that the terminal device is in a sleep state based on the marked sleep state.

[0265] For example, if the core network device sends a message indicating that downlink user plane resources of the terminal device have been successfully suspended, the terminal device can be marked as being in a sleep state. After the core network device receives a message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device, it can determine that the terminal device is in a sleep state based on the marked sleep state.

[0266] For example, when a core network device receives a message requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources of the terminal device or a message instructing the terminal device to terminate its sleep state, it can delete the marked sleep state of the terminal device.

[0267] For example, if the core network equipment successfully restores the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, it can remove the marked dormant state of the terminal device.

[0268] For example, when the core network device sends a message indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device have been successfully restored, the dormant state of the terminal device can be removed.

[0269] S507, the access gateway obtains the downlink data to be sent to the terminal device;

[0270] S508, the access gateway sends the received downlink data to the terminal device.

[0271] In S507 and S508, another method can be used: the access gateway sends the received downlink message to the terminal device. This downlink message includes the message instructing the sending of downlink data to the terminal device. Alternatively, the downlink message can be a NAS message, such as a notification message, or other NAS messages, such as a PDU session modification command. This NAS message can be generated by the AMF and forwarded to the terminal device by the access gateway.

[0272] The technical solution provided in this application embodiment allows the core network device to notify the terminal device to terminate its sleep state through the access gateway when needed, such as when it receives a message indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the terminal device. After the terminal device terminates its sleep state, the downlink data or downlink message is sent to the terminal device, which can minimize the possibility of the terminal device missing downlink data.

[0273] Based on the above, one embodiment of this application provides a communication method, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 6 Here is a flowchart of the method.

[0274] like Figure 6 As shown, the communication method includes:

[0275] Steps S601 to S602 are the same as steps S501 to S502, and will not be described again here.

[0276] As an example, prior to step S601, the method may further include:

[0277] Based on the subscription data of the terminal device or a message indicating that the terminal device supports a hibernation state, the core network device determines that the terminal device is allowed to initiate the hibernation state.

[0278] The core network device sends a message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to start a sleep state;

[0279] The message indicating that the terminal device supports a sleep state is received before determining that the terminal device is allowed to initiate the sleep state, and the subscription data includes information indicating that the terminal device supports a sleep state or information indicating that the terminal device is allowed to initiate a sleep state.

[0280] S603, the core network device sends a message to the access device instructing the sending of downlink data to the terminal device;

[0281] The access device can be a 3GPP access device. This 3GPP access device can be one of the following: gNB, eNB, RNC, NB, BSC, BTS, HNB, BBU, TRP, TP, mobile switching center, etc.

[0282] The message used to instruct the sending of downlink data to the terminal device may include a message used to instruct the terminal device to terminate its sleep state.

[0283] For example, the message used to instruct the terminal device to terminate its sleep state includes a message indicating that downlink data is pending transmission. For instance, the core network device can be an AMF (Active Network Provider), the access device can be an eNB (Extended Network Node), and the message instructing the terminal device to terminate its sleep state can be a message indicating that downlink data is pending transmission on the non-3GPP side. For example, when the AMF receives a downlink data notification message from the SMF (Small Network Provider), it determines that the terminal device is in a sleep state on the non-3GPP side. The AMF can then send a message to the terminal device via the eNB indicating that downlink data is pending transmission on the non-3GPP side. Exemplarily, the message indicating that downlink data is pending transmission on the non-3GPP side can be a paging message or a NAS (Non-Standard Access Module) notification message, which carries an N3G access technology indication to indicate that downlink data is pending transmission on the N3G side.

[0284] For example, when the terminal device is in an idle state on the 3GPP side, the message indicating the sending of downlink data to the terminal device is a paging message. When the terminal device is in a connected state on the 3GPP side, the message indicating the sending of downlink data to the terminal device is a NAS notification message.

[0285] S604, the access device sends a message to the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to terminate the sleep state, and correspondingly, the terminal device receives the message to instruct the terminal device to terminate the sleep state.

[0286] The message instructing the terminal device to terminate its sleep state may include the message instructing the sending of downlink data to the terminal device. For example, when the terminal device is in an idle state on the 3GPP side, the message instructing the terminal device to terminate its sleep state is a paging message. When the terminal device is in a connected state on the 3GPP side, the message instructing the terminal device to terminate its sleep state is a NAS notification message.

[0287] S605, the terminal device terminates its sleep state;

[0288] The termination of the sleep state by the terminal device may include:

[0289] The terminal device terminates its sleep state based on a message indicating that downlink data should be sent to the terminal device.

[0290] S606, the terminal device sends a message to the access gateway to instruct the terminal device to terminate the sleep state;

[0291] The access gateway can be a non-3GPP access gateway. For example, the access gateway can be a non-3GPP access gateway. The non-3GPP access gateway can be one of N3IWF, TNGF, W-AGF, FMIF, etc.

[0292] In the above scheme, after the terminal device terminates its sleep state, it can notify the network side so that the network side can confirm that the terminal device has terminated its sleep state.

[0293] In step S604 above, the message sent by the access gateway to the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to terminate its sleep state is a message sent from the network side to the terminal, indicating that the network side requests the terminal to terminate its sleep state. However, in step S606, the message sent by the terminal device to the access gateway to instruct the terminal device to terminate its sleep state is a message sent from the terminal to the network side, indicating that the terminal has instructed the network side that it has terminated its sleep state.

[0294] S607, the access gateway sends a message to the core network device to request the restoration of downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, and the core network device receives the message to request the restoration of downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

[0295] The message sent by the access gateway to the core network device to request the restoration of downlink user plane resources of the terminal device may include:

[0296] Based on the message used to instruct the terminal device to terminate its sleep state, the access gateway sends a message to the core network device requesting the restoration of the terminal device's downlink user plane resources.

[0297] S608, the core network equipment restores the downlink user plane resources of the terminal equipment;

[0298] The restoration of downlink user plane resources for terminal devices by the core network equipment may include:

[0299] Based on the message requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, the core network device restores the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

[0300] In step S607, another approach can be adopted: based on the message indicating that the terminal device should terminate its sleep state, the access gateway can send the message indicating that the terminal should terminate its sleep state to the core network device, and correspondingly, the core network device receives the message indicating that the terminal device should terminate its sleep state. In step S608, based on the message indicating that the terminal should terminate its sleep state, the core network device can restore the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

[0301] For example, after the core network equipment restores the downlink user plane resources of the terminal equipment, the method may further include:

[0302] The core network equipment sends a message to the access gateway indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the terminal equipment have been successfully restored.

[0303] Before step S601, the method may further include: the core network device receiving a message for requesting to suspend downlink user plane resources of the terminal device;

[0304] Based on a message requesting the suspension of downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, the core network device suspends the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

[0305] As an example, when the core network device receives a message requesting to suspend downlink user plane resources of the terminal device or a message instructing the terminal device to enter a sleep state, it can mark the terminal device as being in a sleep state. After the core network device receives a message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device, it can determine that the terminal device is in a sleep state based on the marked sleep state.

[0306] For example, if the core network equipment suspends the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, the terminal device can be marked as being in a sleep state. After the core network equipment receives a message indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the terminal device, it can determine that the terminal device is in a sleep state based on the marked sleep state.

[0307] For example, when the core network device sends a message indicating that downlink user plane resources of the terminal device have been successfully suspended, the terminal device can be marked as being in a sleep state. After the core network device receives a message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device, it can determine that the terminal device is in a sleep state based on the marked sleep state.

[0308] As an example, when a core network device receives a message requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources of the terminal device or a message instructing the terminal device to terminate its sleep state, it can remove the marked sleep state of the terminal device.

[0309] For example, if the core network equipment successfully restores the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, it can remove the marked dormant state of the terminal device.

[0310] For example, when the core network device sends a message indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device have been successfully restored, the dormant state of the terminal device can be removed.

[0311] S609, the access gateway obtains downlink data to be sent to the terminal device;

[0312] As an example, after successfully restoring the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, the UPF can send the downlink data to be sent to the terminal device to the access gateway.

[0313] S610, the access gateway sends the received downlink data to the terminal device.

[0314] In S609 and S610, another method can be used: the access gateway sends the received downlink message to the terminal device. This downlink message includes the message instructing the sending of downlink data to the terminal device. Alternatively, the downlink message can be a NAS message, such as a notification message, or other NAS messages, such as a PDU session modification command. This NAS message can be generated by the AMF and forwarded to the terminal device by the access gateway.

[0315] The technical solution provided in this application embodiment allows the core network device to notify the terminal device to terminate its sleep state when needed, such as when it receives a message indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the terminal device. After the terminal device terminates its sleep state, the downlink data is sent to the terminal device through the access gateway, which can minimize the possibility of the terminal device missing downlink data.

[0316] Furthermore, the following embodiments of this application use a UE as an example for illustration.

[0317] Based on the above, one embodiment of this application provides a communication method, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 7The flowchart below illustrates the method. It should be noted that in this embodiment, the example uses a non-3GPP access gateway, an untrusted WLAN access gateway, and an N3IWF as examples. Untrusted WLAN access can be replaced with trusted WLAN access, N3IWF can be replaced with TNGF, or untrusted WLAN access can be replaced with fixed network access, and N3IWF can be replaced with W-AGF, etc. The core network device is exemplified by AMF. This embodiment does not impose limitations on this. In this embodiment, the UE is a terminal device that supports both 3GPP and non-3GPP access.

[0318] like Figure 7 As shown, the communication method includes:

[0319] S701, the UE establishes a connection with the WLAN;

[0320] The process of establishing a connection between the UE and the WLAN is existing technology and will not be described in detail here.

[0321] In the following steps, message transmission between the UE and N3IWF is forwarded via WLAN, which will not be elaborated further below.

[0322] S702, the UE sends a message to the N3IWF indicating that the UE supports the sleep state, and the N3IWF receives the message indicating that the UE supports the sleep state.

[0323] For example, the message indicating that the UE supports the sleep state can be carried in the NAS message sent by the UE to the N3IWF, such as a registration request message or a service request message.

[0324] For example, the message indicating that the UE supports a sleep state can be an N3G power saving mode capability indication.

[0325] S703, N3IWF sends a message indicating that the UE supports the sleep state to AMF, and the corresponding AMF receives the message indicating that the UE supports the sleep state;

[0326] For example, the N3IWF forwards a NAS message sent by the UE carrying a message indicating that the UE supports a hibernation state to the AMF, such as a registration request message or service request message sent by the UE carrying a message indicating that the UE supports a hibernation state to the AMF.

[0327] Steps S702 and S703 above are optional.

[0328] S704, AMF determines that the UE is allowed to start the hibernation state and sets the first preset duration and the fifth preset duration;

[0329] The first preset duration is the duration of the sleep timer set by the AMF for the UE, and the fifth preset duration is the duration of the sleep timer set by the AMF for the N3IWF. The first preset duration can be less than or equal to the fifth preset duration. For example, the AMF can set the first preset duration to 10 minutes and the fifth preset duration to 12 minutes.

[0330] As an example, in the above 704, AMF may not set the first preset duration or the fifth preset duration.

[0331] As another example, in S704 above, AMF can choose not to set the first preset duration and instead set the fifth preset duration.

[0332] For example, determining whether to allow the UE to initiate a sleep state includes:

[0333] AMF determines whether to allow the UE to initiate a sleep state based on the UE's subscription data or a message indicating that the UE supports a sleep state;

[0334] The UE's subscription data includes information indicating that the UE is allowed to initiate a hibernation state and / or information indicating that the UE supports a hibernation state.

[0335] For example, when the UE initiates a registration request process, such as when the UE sends a registration request message to the AMF via the N3IWF, the AMF can obtain the UE's subscription data from the UDM. The UDM can then locate the UE's subscription data based on the UE's identifier and send it to the AMF. For instance, this registration request message may carry a message indicating that the UE supports a hibernation state.

[0336] In one example, the AMF can determine that the UE is not allowed to start a sleep state based on subscription data or information from the UE indicating that the UE does not support the sleep state. The subscription data includes information indicating that the UE is not allowed to start a sleep state and / or information indicating that the UE does not support the sleep state.

[0337] S705, AMF sends a message to N3IWF indicating that the UE is allowed to start a sleep state, a first preset duration, and a fifth preset duration. Correspondingly, N3IWF receives the message indicating that the UE is allowed to start a sleep state, the first preset duration, and the fifth preset duration.

[0338] In one example, when the AMF does not set a first preset duration, the AMF sends a message to the N3IWF indicating that the UE is allowed to start a sleep state, along with a fifth preset duration.

[0339] For example, the message indicating that the UE is allowed to start a sleep state and the first preset duration can be carried in the NAS message sent by the AMF to the UE through the N3IWF, such as a registration success message or a service request success message. The NAS message and the fifth preset duration can be carried in the N2 message sent by the AMF to the N3IWF.

[0340] In another example, when the AMF does not set a first preset duration or a fifth preset duration, in step S505, the AMF sends a message to the N3IWF indicating that the UE is allowed to start a sleep state. This message indicating that the UE is allowed to start a sleep state can be carried in the NAS message sent by the AMF to the UE through the N3IWF, such as a registration success message or a service request success message. This NAS message can be carried in the N2 message sent by the AMF to the N3IWF.

[0341] S706, N3IWF saves the second preset duration;

[0342] S707, N3IWF sends a message indicating that the UE is allowed to start a sleep state and a first preset duration to the UE. Correspondingly, the UE receives the message indicating that the UE is allowed to start a sleep state and the first preset duration.

[0343] There is no fixed order for steps S706 and S707. They can be executed simultaneously, or step S706 can be executed first and then step S707, or step S707 can be executed first and then step S706.

[0344] For example, the N3IWF can forward NAS messages sent by the AMF to the UE, such as registration success messages or service request success messages, to the UE. These NAS messages include instructions to allow the UE to enter a sleep state and a first preset duration. For instance, if the UE sends a registration request message to the AMF via the N3IWF, the AMF will send a registration success message to the UE via the N3IWF; if the UE sends a service request message to the AMF via the N3IWF, the AMF will send a service request success message to the UE via the N3IWF.

[0345] In one example, when the AMF does not set a first preset duration but sets a fifth preset duration, the N3IWF can set the first preset duration and send it to the UE. For example, the first preset duration can be less than or equal to the second preset duration. For example, the first preset duration set by the N3IWF can be carried in the IKEv2 message sent to the UE.

[0346] In another example, when the AMF does not set either a first or second preset duration, the N3IWF can set the first preset duration and send it to the UE, as well as set and save the fifth preset duration. For example, the N3IWF can set the first and fifth preset durations according to local policies. For example, the first preset duration can be less than or equal to the fifth preset duration. For example, the first preset duration set by the N3IWF can be carried in an IKEv2 message and sent to the UE.

[0347] S708, N3IWF stops sending link detection messages to UE;

[0348] In S708, N3IWF can disable downlink reachability detection liveness check based on a message used to indicate that the UE is allowed to start a sleep state. For example, it can stop sending link detection messages to the UE to detect the UE's reachability status, such as stopping sending informational request messages to the UE, thereby allowing the UE to not receive downlink data for a long time and saving the UE's power consumption.

[0349] S709, the UE establishes a PDU (Protocol Data Unit) session with the network side and transmits service flow data packets through the PDU session;

[0350] Step S709 is existing technology and will not be described in detail here.

[0351] S710, the UE starts a sleep state and starts a local sleep timer;

[0352] The duration of the sleep timer is the first preset duration.

[0353] In S710, the UE can initiate a sleep state based on the message indicating that the UE is allowed to initiate a sleep state, and if a preset first condition is met; the first condition includes: no downlink data is received within a second preset time period and / or the terminal device does not send uplink data.

[0354] For example, if a UE has not transmitted any data packets for a period of time, it can enter a sleep state, or it can enter a sleep state if other preset conditions are met, such as receiving a sleep-initiating instruction from the network side. A UE in a sleep state can send uplink data, meaning it maintains an uplink connection with the network side, but downlink data is unreachable, meaning the UE cannot receive downlink data.

[0355] S711, the UE sends a message to the N3IWF to instruct the UE to start a sleep state, and the N3IWF receives the message to instruct the UE to start a sleep state.

[0356] For example, a message indicating that the UE has started a sleep state can be carried in an informational request message sent by the UE to the N3IWF to notify the N3IWF that the UE has started a sleep state. For instance, the message indicating that the UE has started a sleep state can carry a sleep start indication.

[0357] Step S711 is optional.

[0358] S712, N3IWF marks the UE as being in sleep mode and starts the local sleep timer;

[0359] The duration of the sleep timer is the fifth preset duration.

[0360] As an example, in step S712, N3IWF can mark the UE as in a sleep state based on the message used to instruct the UE to start a sleep state and start a local sleep timer.

[0361] As another example, in step S712, the N3IWF can determine that the UE has entered a sleep state based on the fact that no downlink data has been received to the terminal device within a third preset time period, thereby marking the UE as a sleep state and starting a local sleep timer.

[0362] S713, N3IWF sends a message to AMF to request the suspension of downlink user plane resources for the UE, and correspondingly, AMF receives the message to request the suspension of downlink user plane resources for the UE.

[0363] In S713, the N3IWF can send a message to the AMF to request downlink user plane resources for suspending the UE, based on a message used to instruct the UE to start a sleep state.

[0364] For example, the message used to request the suspension of downlink user plane resources for the UE can be a suspendrequest message, which carries the PDU session ID of the suspended resources to suspend the resources of that PDU session.

[0365] In S713, another operation can be performed, for example, the N3IWF can send a message to the AMF to instruct the UE to start a sleep state, and the AMF will receive the message to instruct the UE to start a sleep state.

[0366] For example, the message requesting downlink user plane resources to suspend the UE or the message instructing the UE to enter a sleep state can be in the N2 message sent by the N3IWF to the AMF. This application embodiment does not limit the scope of the N2 message.

[0367] There is no fixed order for steps S712 and S713. They can be executed simultaneously, or S712 can be executed first and then S713, or S713 can be executed first and then S712.

[0368] S714, AMF marks the UE as being in sleep mode;

[0369] In one example, in step S714, after receiving a message requesting to suspend downlink user plane resources for the UE, it can be determined that the UE has entered a sleep state, in which downlink data of the UE is unreachable. For example, a sleep state indicator can be stored in the UE context to indicate that the UE is currently in a sleep state.

[0370] In another example, in step S714, after receiving a message indicating that the UE has started a sleep state, it can be determined that the UE has started a sleep state based on the message indicating that the UE is in a sleep state, in which downlink data of the UE is unreachable. For example, a sleep state indication can be stored in the UE context to indicate that the UE is currently in a sleep state.

[0371] S715, AMF suspends downlink user plane resources of UE;

[0372] For example, in step S715, after receiving a message requesting to suspend downlink user plane resources for the UE or a message instructing the UE to start a sleep state, the AMF notifies the SMF, and the SMF notifies the UPF to delete the user plane resources of the UE's PDU session. For example, deleting the non-3GPP side access side downlink tunnel information of the session.

[0373] S716, AMF sends a message to N3IWF indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the UE have been successfully suspended, and N3IWF receives the message indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the UE have been successfully suspended.

[0374] For example, the message used to indicate the successful suspension of downlink user plane resources for the UE can be an N2 suspend response message.

[0375] Step 714 described above can be executed after the AMF receives a message requesting to suspend the downlink user plane resources of the UE or a message instructing the UE to start a sleep state, or after the AMF successfully suspends the UE's resources, or after the AMF sends a message to the N3IWF indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the UE have been successfully suspended. This embodiment does not impose any restrictions on this.

[0376] S717, the AMF receives a message from the SMF indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the UE;

[0377] An example of this message used to indicate that there is downlink data to be sent to the UE could be a downlink data notification message.

[0378] For example, in step 717, when the UPF receives downlink data from the UE, since the UE's downlink user plane has been suspended in step 615 (e.g., the downlink data channel of the PDU session has been deleted), the UPF cannot send the downlink data to the UE. The UPF can notify the SMF that there is downlink data to be sent. The SMF then sends a downlink data notification message to the AMF, informing the AMF that a certain PDU session of the UE has downlink data. Based on the session identifier of the aforementioned PDU session, the AMF identifies the PDU session and determines that the access technology corresponding to the aforementioned PDU session is non-3GPP access. The AMF determines that the UE is currently in a non-3GPP side sleep state, and therefore can notify the UE to terminate sleep or indicate that there is downlink data to be sent on the non-3GPP side through the 3GPP side.

[0379] S718, AMF determines that the UE is in a sleep state;

[0380] AMF can determine that the UE is in a sleep state based on the sleep state marked in step S714.

[0381] S719, the AMF sends a message to the 3GPP network access device instructing it to send downlink data to the UE, and the 3GPP network access device receives the message instructing it to send downlink data to the UE.

[0382] The message used to indicate the sending of downlink data to the terminal device may include a message used to indicate the termination of the sleep state of the terminal device, or may include the message used to indicate that there is downlink data to be sent to the UE.

[0383] An exemplary message for instructing the transmission of downlink data to the UE may include a message for instructing the terminal device to terminate its sleep state, which may be a message for instructing the non-3GPP side that there is downlink data to be transmitted; the message for instructing the transmission of downlink data to the UE may be a paging message, or the message for instructing the transmission of downlink data to the UE may be a NAS notification message.

[0384] For example, when the UE is in an idle state on the 3GPP side, it sends a paging message to the 3GPP network access device; when the UE is in a connected state on the 3GPP side, it sends a NAS notification message to the 3GPP network access device. For example, the paging message or NAS notification message may carry an N3G access technology indication to indicate that there is downlink data to be transmitted on the N3G side.

[0385] S720, the 3GPP network access device sends a message to the UE to instruct the UE to terminate the sleep state, and correspondingly, the UE receives the message to instruct the UE to terminate the sleep state;

[0386] The message used to instruct the UE to terminate its sleep state may include a message instructing the sending of downlink data to the terminal device, or it may include a message instructing that there is downlink data to be sent to the UE.

[0387] For example, the UE receives a message indicating that the UE should terminate the sleep state, including: before the first timer expires, the UE receives a message indicating that the UE should terminate the sleep state.

[0388] S721, the UE terminates its sleep state and stops its local sleep timer;

[0389] In S721, the UE can terminate the sleep state and stop the first timer based on a message used to instruct the UE to terminate the sleep state.

[0390] S722, the UE sends a message to the N3IWF to indicate that the UE should terminate the sleep state, and the N3IWF receives the message to indicate that the UE should terminate the sleep state.

[0391] Specifically, the N3IWF receives a message indicating that the UE should terminate its sleep state, including: before the local sleep timer expires, the N3IWF receives a message indicating that the UE should terminate its sleep state.

[0392] For example, a message instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state can be carried in an informational request message sent by the UE to the N3IWF.

[0393] S723, N3IWF removes the marked UE's sleep state and stops the local sleep timer;

[0394] In step 723, N3IWF can determine that the UE has terminated its sleep state based on the message used to indicate that the UE has terminated its sleep state, thereby deleting the marked sleep state of the UE and stopping the local sleep timer.

[0395] S724, N3IWF sends a message to AMF requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources of UE, and the corresponding AMF receives the message requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources of UE.

[0396] The message used to request the restoration of downlink user plane resources for the UE can be an N2 restore request message, which carries the PDU session ID of the restored resources, for restoring the user plane resources of the previously suspended PDU session, such as restoring the non-3GPP access side downlink tunnel information of the PDU session.

[0397] In S724, another operation can be adopted, such as the N3IWF sending a message to the AMF to instruct the UE to terminate the sleep state, and the corresponding AMF receiving the message to instruct the UE to terminate the sleep state.

[0398] For example, the message requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources for the UE or the message instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state can be carried in the N2 message sent by the N3IWF to the AMF. This application embodiment does not limit the scope of the N2 message.

[0399] S725, AMF removes the marked dormant state of the UE;

[0400] In step S725, after the AMF receives a message for requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources of the UE or a message for instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state, it can delete the marked sleep state of the UE, for example, it can delete the sleep state indication stored in the UE context.

[0401] S726, AMF restores the downlink user plane resources of the UE;

[0402] For example, in step S726, after the AMF receives a message requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources for the UE or a message instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state, the AMF notifies the SMF, and the SMF notifies the UPF to restore the user plane resources of the PDU session. For example, restoring the non-3GPP access-side downlink tunnel information of the PDU session.

[0403] S727, the AMF sends a message to the N3IWF indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the UE have been successfully restored, and the corresponding N3IWF receives the message indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the UE have been successfully restored.

[0404] The message used to indicate successful recovery of the UE's downlink user plane resources can be the N2 recovery response message.

[0405] The above step S 725 can be executed after the AMF receives a message for requesting the restoration of the downlink user plane resources of the UE or a message for instructing the UE to terminate its dormant state, or it can be executed after the AMF restores the downlink user plane resources of the UE, or it can be executed after the AMF sends a message to the N3IWF indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the UE have been successfully restored. This embodiment does not impose any restrictions.

[0406] S728, N3IWF acquires downlink data to be sent to UE;

[0407] For example, after successfully restoring the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, the UPF can send the downlink data to be sent to the terminal device to the N3IWF.

[0408] S729, N3IWF sends the downlink data to the terminal device.

[0409] Specifically, in this embodiment, when a UE accesses the 5GC via N3G, it supports the N3G-side power-saving state. Specifically, the UE sends an N3G-side power-saving capability indication to the 5GC, which then authorizes the UE to use the N3G power-saving state. For UEs supporting the N3G-side power-saving mode, the network side sends a sleep timer to the UE. The UE notifies the access gateway of its current state when starting or ending the sleep state. The access gateway also configures a network-side sleep timer and starts or terminates the timer based on the UE's state. Furthermore, for terminals supporting the N3G sleep state, the access gateway no longer sends link detection messages to detect the terminal's reachability, allowing the terminal to remain silent for extended periods, saving power consumption. In addition, the AMF maintains the UE's sleep state and sends a downlink data notification message to the UE via 3GPP access technology to terminate the UE's sleep state. For example, this link detection message can be an IKEv2 (Internet Key Exchange Version 2) message generated by the access gateway.

[0410] The technical solution provided in this application embodiment has several advantages. On the one hand, the network side can wake up the UE in a dormant state as needed, thereby minimizing the UE from missing downlink data. On the other hand, the UE can start the dormant state as needed, thereby saving UE power consumption and achieving energy saving. Furthermore, after the UE starts the dormant state, it notifies the network side to suspend downlink user plane resources, which can avoid wasting network resources, thereby saving network resource overhead and improving resource utilization.

[0411] In one possible implementation, after step S716 above, the communication method may further include:

[0412] S730, when the UE's local sleep timer expires, the UE terminates the sleep state and sends a message to the N3IWF to indicate that the UE is in a normal state. In turn, the N3IWF receives the message indicating that the UE is in a normal state.

[0413] An example message used to indicate that the UE is in a normal state can be an informational request message sent by the UE to the N3IWF.

[0414] For example, in step S730, if the UE does not interact with the network side for uplink and downlink data after starting its local sleep timer, the UE can send a message to the N3IWF after the local sleep timer expires, such as sending an informational request message to the N3IWF. The N3IWF will then restart its local sleep timer based on the aforementioned message.

[0415] S731, N3IWF restarts the local hibernation timer;

[0416] Among them, based on the message used to indicate that the UE is in a normal state, the N3IWF restarts its local sleep timer.

[0417] S732, N3IWF sends a message to the UE to instruct the terminal device to restart the sleep state, and the corresponding UE receives the message to instruct the terminal device to restart the sleep state;

[0418] For example, when the message used to indicate that the UE is in a normal state is an informational request message sent by the UE to the N3IWF, the message used to indicate that the terminal device restarts the sleep state can be an informational response message, which carries information to indicate that the UE restarts the sleep state.

[0419] S733, the UE restarts its sleep state and restarts the local sleep timer.

[0420] The UE can restart its sleep state based on a message that instructs the terminal device to restart its sleep state.

[0421] In the above scheme, when no message instructing the UE to terminate the sleep state is received, the UE can restart the sleep state based on the message sent by N3IWF instructing the terminal device to restart the sleep state, which can help the UE save energy.

[0422] In one possible implementation, after step S716 above, the communication method may further include:

[0423] S734, when the UE's local sleep timer expires, the UE restarts the sleep state and sends a message to the N3IWF to instruct the terminal device to start the sleep state. Correspondingly, the N3IWF receives the message to instruct the terminal device to start the sleep state.

[0424] Specifically, N3IWF receives a message instructing the terminal device to enter a sleep state before the second timer expires.

[0425] For example, a message instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state can be carried in an informational request message sent by the UE to the N3IWF.

[0426] S735, N3IWF restarts the local hibernation timer.

[0427] Specifically, based on the message used to instruct the terminal device to restart its sleep state, the N3IWF restarts its local sleep timer.

[0428] For example, in steps S734 and S735, if the UE does not interact with the network side for uplink and downlink data after starting its local sleep timer, the UE can send a message to the N3IWF after the local sleep timer expires, such as sending an informational request message to the N3IWF. The N3IWF will then restart its local sleep timer based on the aforementioned message.

[0429] The above scheme allows the UE to restart from sleep mode when no message instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state is received, which can help the UE save energy.

[0430] In one possible implementation, after step S716 above, the communication method may further include:

[0431] S736, after the local sleep timer expires, the N3IWF releases the connection with the AMF;

[0432] S737, N3IWF clears the UE's context;

[0433] S738, AMF marks the UE as being in the idle state on the non-3GPP side and starts the implicit separation timer;

[0434] S739, when the implicit separation timer expires, the AMF marks the UE as a non-3GPP side deregistered state.

[0435] The above solution allows the UE to register after the N3IWF's local sleep timer expires, thus avoiding the waste of network-side resources and improving resource utilization.

[0436] Based on the above, one embodiment of this application provides a communication method, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 8 The flowchart below illustrates the method. It should be noted that in this embodiment, the example uses a non-3GPP access gateway, an untrusted WLAN access gateway, and an N3IWF as examples. Untrusted WLAN access can be replaced with trusted WLAN access, N3IWF can be replaced with TNGF, or untrusted WLAN access can be replaced with fixed network access, and N3IWF can be replaced with W-AGF, etc. The core network device is exemplified by AMF. This embodiment does not impose limitations in this regard. In this embodiment, the UE can be a terminal device that supports non-3GPP access but does not support 3GPP access, or a terminal device that supports both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access but is in a non-registered state on the 3GPP access side, or a terminal device that supports both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access but is in an idle state on the 3GPP access side, or a terminal device that supports both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access but is in a connected state on the 3GPP access side; this embodiment does not limit this.

[0437] like Figure 8 As shown, the communication method includes:

[0438] Steps S801 to S818 are the same as steps S701 to S718 above, and will not be repeated here.

[0439] S819, AMF sends a message to N3IWF instructing that downlink data be sent to the UE, and N3IWF receives the message instructing that downlink data be sent to the UE accordingly;

[0440] The message used to instruct the transmission of downlink data to the UE includes a message instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state. For example, the message instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state may carry a sleep termination indication.

[0441] For example, before step 819, when the UPF receives downlink data from the UE, because the UE's downlink user plane resources have been suspended in step 815 (e.g., the downlink data channel of the PDU session has been deleted), the UPF cannot send the downlink data to the UE. The UPF can notify the SMF that there is downlink data to be sent, and the SMF notifies the AMF that a certain PDU session of the UE has downlink data. Based on the session identifier of the above PDU session, the AMF identifies the PDU session and determines that the access technology corresponding to the above PDU session is non-3GPP access. Based on the sleep state, the AMF determines that the UE is currently in a non-3GPP side sleep state, and therefore sends a message to the N3IWF to instruct the UE to terminate the sleep state, indicating that the network side needs the UE to restore the non-3GPP side connection state.

[0442] An exemplary message indicating that the UE terminates its sleep state can be carried in an N2 message sent by the AMF to the N3IWF.

[0443] S820, N3IWF marks the UE as waiting to be woken up;

[0444] In one example, in step 820, the N3IWF may mark the UE as awaiting wake-up based on a message indicating that the UE needs to terminate its sleep state. This awaiting wake-up state indicates that there is downlink data to be transmitted on the network side, and the UE needs to terminate its sleep state and resume connectivity.

[0445] In another example, in step S820, after receiving a message instructing the UE to send downlink data to the terminal device, when it is determined that the UE is in a sleep state, the access gateway marks the UE as awaiting wake-up. For example, the N3IWF may determine that the UE has entered a sleep state based on the fact that no downlink data has been received from the terminal device within a fourth preset time period before the access gateway receives the message instructing the UE to send downlink data to the terminal device, thereby marking the UE as sleep and starting a local sleep timer. As another example, in S812, the N3IWF may mark the UE as sleep and start a local sleep timer based on receiving a message from the terminal device instructing the UE to enter a sleep state. As yet another example, in S812, the N3IWF may determine that the UE has entered a sleep state based on the fact that no downlink data has been received from the terminal device within a third preset time period, thereby marking the UE as sleep and starting a local sleep timer.

[0446] S821, the UE sends an uplink message to the N3IWF; correspondingly, the N3IWF receives the uplink message;

[0447] In the case of the UE entering sleep mode, the UE cannot receive messages sent by N3IWF. Therefore, N3IWF needs to wait for the UE to actively send a message before sending a message to the UE.

[0448] In one example, the UE can proactively send uplink messages to the N3IWF when needed, such as when the UE has uplink data to send. For instance, this uplink message could be an informational request message sent by the UE to the N3IWF.

[0449] In another example, in step 821, the UE can also send a message to the N3IWF instructing it to initiate a sleep state after its local sleep timer expires and the sleep state is restarted. For example, this message instructing the UE to initiate a sleep state can be carried in an informational request message sent by the UE to the N3IWF, and the N3IWF receives the message instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state.

[0450] S822, if it is determined that the UE is in a state of waiting to be woken up, N3IWF sends a message to the UE to instruct the UE to terminate the sleep state;

[0451] In one possible implementation, in step 822, based on the uplink message sent by the terminal device, if it is determined that the UE is in a wake-up state, the N3IWF sends a message to the UE instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state. For example, the message instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state may carry a sleep termination indication.

[0452] For example, the message instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state can be a reply message to the uplink message, such as an informational response message. Specifically, the message instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state can be carried in a response message sent by the N3IWF to the UE. For example, when the UE sends an informational request message to the N3IWF, the message instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state can be carried in the informational response message sent by the N3IWF to the UE.

[0453] In another possible implementation, when step S821 employs a different approach—that is, the terminal device sends a message instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state—in step 822, based on the message instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state, and if it is determined that the UE is in a wake-up state, the N3IWF can send a message to the UE instructing the UE to terminate the sleep state. For example, the message instructing the UE to terminate the sleep state can carry a sleep termination indication.

[0454] S823, the UE terminates its sleep state and stops its local sleep timer;

[0455] In step 823, the UE may terminate its sleep state based on a message indicating that the UE may terminate its sleep state.

[0456] S824, the UE sends a message to the N3IWF to instruct the UE to terminate its sleep state;

[0457] Step S824 is optional.

[0458] Step S825, N3IWF removes the sleep state and wake-up state of the UE with the removed mark and stops the local sleep timer;

[0459] In step 825, N3IWF can determine that the UE has terminated its sleep state based on the message used to indicate that the UE has terminated its sleep state, thereby deleting the marked sleep state of the UE and stopping the local sleep timer.

[0460] In another approach, step S825 can also be executed after step S822, meaning that there is no fixed order between S825 and S823.

[0461] S826, N3IWF sends a message to AMF requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources of UE, and the corresponding AMF receives the message requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources of UE.

[0462] An example message for requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources of the UE can be an N2 restore request message, which carries the PDU session ID of the restored resources for restoring the user plane resources of the previously suspended PDU session, such as restoring the non-3GPP access side downlink tunnel information of the PDU session.

[0463] As an example, in S826, another operation can be adopted, such as the N3IWF sending a message to the AMF to instruct the UE to terminate the sleep state, and the corresponding AMF receiving the message to instruct the UE to terminate the sleep state.

[0464] For example, the message requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources for the UE or the message instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state can be carried in the N2 message sent by the N3IWF to the AMF. This application embodiment does not limit the scope of the N2 message.

[0465] S827, AMF removes the marked dormant state of the UE;

[0466] In step S827, after the AMF receives a message for requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources of the UE or a message for instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state, it can delete the marked sleep state of the UE, for example, it can delete the sleep state indication stored in the UE context.

[0467] S828, AMF restores the downlink user plane resources of the UE;

[0468] For example, in step S828, after the AMF receives a message requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources for the UE or a message instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state, the AMF notifies the SMF, and the SMF notifies the UPF to restore the user plane resources of the PDU session. For example, restoring the non-3GPP access-side downlink tunnel information of the PDU session.

[0469] S829, the AMF sends a message to the N3IWF indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the UE have been successfully restored, and the corresponding N3IWF receives the message indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the UE have been successfully restored.

[0470] An example message used to indicate successful recovery of downlink user plane resources for the UE could be the N2 recovery response message.

[0471] The above step S827 can be executed after the AMF receives a message requesting the restoration of the UE's downlink user plane resources or a message instructing the UE to terminate its dormant state, or after the AMF restores the UE's downlink user plane resources, or after the AMF sends a message to the N3IWF indicating that the UE's downlink user plane resources have been successfully restored. This embodiment does not impose any limitations on this.

[0472] S830, N3IWF acquires downlink data to be sent to UE;

[0473] For example, after successfully restoring the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, the UPF can send the downlink data to be sent to the terminal device to the N3IWF.

[0474] S731, N3IWF sends the downlink data to the terminal device.

[0475] Specifically, in this embodiment, when the UE accesses the 5GC via N3G, it supports the N3G-side power-saving state. Specifically, the UE sends an N3G-side power-saving capability indication to the 5GC, which then authorizes the UE to use the N3G power-saving state. For UEs supporting the N3G-side power-saving mode, the network side sends a sleep timer to the UE. The UE notifies the access gateway of its current state when starting or ending the sleep state. The access gateway also configures a network-side sleep timer and starts or terminates the timer based on the UE's state. Furthermore, for terminals supporting the N3G sleep state, the access gateway no longer sends link detection messages to detect the terminal's reachability, allowing the terminal to remain silent for extended periods, saving power consumption. In addition, the AMF maintains the UE's sleep state and, while in sleep mode, sends a downlink data notification message to the UE via N3G access technology, which can terminate the UE's sleep state.

[0476] The technical solution provided in this application embodiment has several advantages. First, the network side can wake up the UE in a dormant state as needed, thereby minimizing the possibility of the UE missing downlink data. Second, the UE can start the dormant state as needed, thereby saving UE power consumption and achieving energy saving. Third, after the UE starts the dormant state, it notifies the network side to suspend downlink user plane resources, which can avoid wasting network resources, thereby saving network resource overhead and improving resource utilization.

[0477] In one possible implementation, after step S816 above, the communication method may further include:

[0478] S832, when the UE's local sleep timer expires, the UE terminates the sleep state and sends a message to the N3IWF to indicate that the UE is in a normal state. In turn, the N3IWF receives the message indicating that the UE is in a normal state.

[0479] An example message used to indicate that the UE is in a normal state can be an informational request message sent by the UE to the N3IWF.

[0480] For example, in step S832, if the UE does not interact with the network side for uplink and downlink data after starting its local sleep timer, the UE can send a message to the N3IWF after the local sleep timer expires, such as sending an informational request message to the N3IWF. The N3IWF will then restart its local sleep timer based on the aforementioned message.

[0481] S833, N3IWF restarts the local hibernation timer;

[0482] Among them, based on the message used to indicate that the UE is in a normal state, the N3IWF restarts its local sleep timer.

[0483] S834, N3IWF sends a message to the UE to instruct the terminal device to restart the sleep state, and the corresponding UE receives the message to instruct the terminal device to restart the sleep state;

[0484] For example, when the message used to indicate that the UE is in a normal state is an informational request message sent by the UE to the N3IWF, the message used to indicate that the terminal device restarts the sleep state can be an informational response message, which carries information to indicate that the UE restarts the sleep state.

[0485] S835, the UE restarts its sleep state and restarts the local sleep timer.

[0486] The UE can restart its sleep state based on a message that instructs the terminal device to restart its sleep state.

[0487] In the above scheme, when no message instructing the UE to terminate the sleep state is received, the UE can restart the sleep state based on the message sent by N3IWF instructing the terminal device to restart the sleep state, which can help the UE save energy.

[0488] In one possible implementation, after step S832 above, the communication method may further include:

[0489] S836, if it is determined that the UE is in a state of waiting to be woken up, N3IWF deletes the UE's sleep state and the UE's state of waiting to be woken up, and stops the local sleep timer;

[0490] In step 836, N3IWF can determine that the UE has terminated its sleep state based on the message used to indicate that the UE is in a normal state, thereby deleting the marked sleep state, wake-up state and stopping the local sleep timer of the UE.

[0491] Steps S837 and S842 are the same as steps S726 to S731, and will not be described again here.

[0492] In one possible implementation, after step S816 above, the communication method may further include:

[0493] S843, when the UE's local sleep timer expires, the UE restarts the sleep state and sends a message to the N3IWF to instruct the terminal device to start the sleep state. Correspondingly, the N3IWF receives the message to instruct the terminal device to start the sleep state.

[0494] Specifically, N3IWF receives a message instructing the terminal device to enter a sleep state before the second timer expires.

[0495] An exemplary message instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state can be carried in an informational request message sent by the UE to the N3IWF.

[0496] S844, N3IWF restarts the local hibernation timer.

[0497] Specifically, the N3IWF can restart its local sleep timer based on a message used to instruct the terminal device to enter a sleep state.

[0498] For example, in steps S843 and S844, if the UE does not interact with the network side for uplink and downlink data after starting its local sleep timer, the UE can send a message to the N3IWF after the local sleep timer expires, such as sending an informational request message to the N3IWF. The N3IWF will then restart its local sleep timer based on the aforementioned message.

[0499] The above scheme allows the UE to restart from sleep mode when no message instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state is received, which can help the UE save energy.

[0500] In one possible implementation, after step S816 above, the communication method may further include:

[0501] S845, after the local sleep timer expires, the N3IWF releases the connection with the AMF;

[0502] S846, N3IWF clears the UE's context;

[0503] S847, AMF marks the UE as being in the idle state on the non-3GPP side and starts the implicit separation timer;

[0504] S848, when the implicit separation timer expires, the AMF marks the UE as a non-3GPP side deregistered state.

[0505] The above solution allows the UE to register after the N3IWF's local sleep timer expires, thus avoiding the waste of network-side resources and improving resource utilization.

[0506] Based on the above, one embodiment of this application provides a communication method, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 9The flowchart below illustrates the method. It should be noted that in this embodiment, the example uses a non-3GPP access gateway, an untrusted WLAN access gateway, and an N3IWF as examples. Untrusted WLAN access can be replaced with trusted WLAN access, N3IWF can be replaced with TNGF, or untrusted WLAN access can be replaced with fixed network access, and N3IWF can be replaced with W-AGF, etc. The core network device is exemplified by AMF. This embodiment does not impose limitations in this regard. In this embodiment, the UE can be a terminal device that supports non-3GPP access but does not support 3GPP access, or a terminal device that supports both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access but is in a non-registered state on the 3GPP access side, or a terminal device that supports both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access but is in an idle state on the 3GPP access side, or a terminal device that supports both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access but is in a connected state on the 3GPP access side; this embodiment does not limit this.

[0507] like Figure 9 As shown, the communication method includes:

[0508] Steps S901 to S913 are the same as steps S701 to S713, and will not be repeated here.

[0509] Steps S914 to S916 are the same as steps S715 to S717, and will not be described again here.

[0510] Steps S917 to S923 are the same as steps S719 to S725, and will not be repeated here.

[0511] For example, in S917, the message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the UE may include a message received by the AMF indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the UE. For example, the message indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the UE may be a downlink data notification message or other NAS messages sent by the SMF to the AMF.

[0512] For example, in S920, the message sent to the UE to indicate that the UE terminates its sleep state may include a message indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the UE.

[0513] S924, N3IWF sends a message to AMF requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources of UE, and the corresponding AMF receives the message requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources of UE.

[0514] For example, the message used to request the restoration of downlink user plane resources for the UE can be an N2 restore request message, which carries the PDU session ID of the restored resources, used to restore the user plane resources of the previously suspended PDU session, such as restoring the non-3GPP access side downlink tunnel information of the PDU session.

[0515] As an example, in S924, another operation can be adopted, such as the N3IWF sending a message to the AMF to instruct the UE to terminate the sleep state, and the corresponding AMF receiving the message to instruct the UE to terminate the sleep state.

[0516] For example, the message requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources for the UE or the message instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state can be carried in the N2 message sent by the N3IWF to the AMF. This application embodiment does not limit the scope of the N2 message.

[0517] S925, AMF restores the downlink user plane resources of the UE;

[0518] For example, in step S925, after the AMF receives a message requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources for the UE or a message instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state, the AMF notifies the SMF, and the SMF notifies the UPF to restore the user plane resources of the PDU session. For example, restoring the non-3GPP access-side downlink tunnel information of the PDU session.

[0519] S926, the AMF sends a message to the N3IWF indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the UE have been successfully restored, and the corresponding N3IWF receives the message indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the UE have been successfully restored.

[0520] An example message used to indicate successful recovery of downlink user plane resources for the UE could be the N2 recovery response message.

[0521] S927, N3IWF acquires downlink data to be sent to UE;

[0522] As an example, after successfully restoring the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, the UPF can send the downlink data to be sent to the terminal device to the N3IWF.

[0523] S928, N3IWF sends the downlink data to the terminal device.

[0524] In another example, in step S920, if the message sent to the UE indicating that the UE has terminated its sleep state does not include a message indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the UE, the N3IWF can send the message indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the UE to the UE after the UE resumes its connection state. Specifically, the N3IWF can transmit the message indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the UE to the UE through the IPSec tunnel between the N3IWF and the UE.

[0525] The technical solution provided in this application embodiment allows the AMF to operate without recognizing the UE's sleep state.

[0526] In one possible implementation, after step S915 above, the communication method may further include:

[0527] S929, when the UE's local sleep timer expires, the UE terminates the sleep state and sends a message to the N3IWF to indicate that the UE is in a normal state. Accordingly, the N3IWF receives the message indicating that the UE is in a normal state.

[0528] An example message used to indicate that the UE is in a normal state can be an informational request message sent by the UE to the N3IWF.

[0529] For example, in step S929, if the UE does not interact with the network side for uplink and downlink data after starting its local sleep timer, the UE can send a message to the N3IWF after the local sleep timer expires, such as sending an informational request message to the N3IWF. The N3IWF will then restart its local sleep timer based on the aforementioned message.

[0530] S930, N3IWF restarts local hibernation timer;

[0531] Among them, based on the message used to indicate that the UE is in a normal state, the N3IWF restarts its local sleep timer.

[0532] S931, N3IWF sends a message to the UE to instruct the terminal device to restart the sleep state, and the corresponding UE receives the message to instruct the terminal device to restart the sleep state;

[0533] For example, when the message used to indicate that the UE is in a normal state is an informational request message sent by the UE to the N3IWF, the message used to indicate that the terminal device restarts the sleep state can be an informational response message, which carries information to indicate that the UE restarts the sleep state.

[0534] S932, the UE restarts its hibernation state and restarts the local hibernation timer.

[0535] Specifically, the UE restarts its sleep state based on a message instructing the terminal device to restart its sleep state.

[0536] In the above scheme, when no message instructing the UE to terminate the sleep state is received, the UE can restart the sleep state based on the message sent by N3IWF instructing the terminal device to restart the sleep state, which can help the UE save energy.

[0537] In one possible implementation, after step S929 above, the communication method may further include:

[0538] S933, if it is determined that the UE is in a state of waiting to be woken up, N3IWF deletes the UE's sleep state and the UE's state of waiting to be woken up, and stops the local sleep timer;

[0539] For example, in step 933, N3IWF can determine that the UE has terminated its sleep state based on a message indicating that the UE is in a normal state, thereby deleting the marked sleep state, wake-up state, and stopping the local sleep timer of the UE.

[0540] Steps S934 and S938 are the same as steps S824 to S828, and will not be described again here.

[0541] In one possible implementation, after step S915 above, the communication method may further include:

[0542] S939, when the UE's local sleep timer expires, the UE restarts the sleep state and sends a message to the N3IWF to instruct the terminal device to start the sleep state. Correspondingly, the N3IWF receives the message to instruct the terminal device to start the sleep state.

[0543] Specifically, N3IWF receives a message instructing the terminal device to enter a sleep state before the second timer expires.

[0544] An exemplary message instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state can be carried in an informational request message sent by the UE to the N3IWF.

[0545] S940, N3IWF restarts local hibernation timer.

[0546] Specifically, the N3IWF can restart its local sleep timer based on a message used to instruct the terminal device to enter a sleep state.

[0547] For example, in steps S939 and S940, if the UE does not interact with the network side for uplink and downlink data after starting its local sleep timer, the UE can send a message to the N3IWF after the local sleep timer expires, such as sending an informational request message to the N3IWF. The N3IWF will then restart its local sleep timer based on the aforementioned message.

[0548] The above scheme allows the UE to restart from sleep mode when no message instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state is received, which can help the UE save energy.

[0549] In one possible implementation, after step S915 above, the communication method may further include:

[0550] S941, after the local sleep timer expires, the N3IWF releases the connection with the AMF;

[0551] S942, N3IWF clears the UE's context;

[0552] S943, AMF marks the UE as being in the idle state on the non-3GPP side and starts the implicit separation timer;

[0553] S944, when the implicit separation timer expires, the AMF marks the UE as a non-3GPP side deregistered state.

[0554] The above solution allows the UE to register after the N3IWF's local sleep timer expires, thus avoiding the waste of network-side resources and improving resource utilization.

[0555] Based on the above, one embodiment of this application provides a communication method, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 10The flowchart below illustrates the method. It should be noted that in this embodiment, the example uses a non-3GPP access gateway, an untrusted WLAN access gateway, and an N3IWF as examples. Untrusted WLAN access can be replaced with trusted WLAN access, N3IWF can be replaced with TNGF, or untrusted WLAN access can be replaced with fixed network access, and N3IWF can be replaced with W-AGF, etc. The core network device is exemplified by AMF. This embodiment does not impose limitations in this regard. In this embodiment, the UE can be a terminal device that supports non-3GPP access but does not support 3GPP access, or a terminal device that supports both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access but is in a non-registered state on the 3GPP access side, or a terminal device that supports both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access but is in an idle state on the 3GPP access side, or a terminal device that supports both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access but is in a connected state on the 3GPP access side; this embodiment does not limit this.

[0556] The communication method includes:

[0557] Steps S1001 to S1003 are the same as steps S701 to S703, and will not be repeated here.

[0558] S1004, AMF determines that the UE is allowed to start the hibernation state and sets the first preset duration and the sixth preset duration;

[0559] The sixth preset duration is the duration of the AMF's local sleep timer.

[0560] S1005, AMF sends a message to N3IWF indicating that the UE is allowed to start a sleep state and a first preset duration. Correspondingly, N3IWF receives the message indicating that the UE is allowed to start a sleep state and the first preset duration.

[0561] For example, a message indicating that the UE is allowed to start a sleep state and a first preset duration can be carried in a NAS message sent by the AMF to the UE via the N3IWF, such as a registration success message or a service request success message. This NAS message can be carried in an N2 message sent by the AMF to the N3IWF.

[0562] Steps S1006 to S1010 are the same as steps S707 to S711, and will not be described again here.

[0563] S1011 is the same as step 713, and will not be described again here.

[0564] S1012, AMF marks the UE as hibernating and starts a local hibernation timer;

[0565] In one example, in step S1012, after receiving a message requesting to suspend downlink user plane resources for the UE, it can be determined that the UE has entered a sleep state based on the message requesting to suspend downlink user plane resources for the UE. In this sleep state, downlink data of the UE is unreachable. For example, a sleep state indicator can be stored in the UE context to indicate that the UE is currently in a sleep state.

[0566] In another example, in step S1012, after receiving a message indicating that the UE has started a sleep state, it can be determined that the UE has started a sleep state based on the message indicating that the UE has started a sleep state, in which downlink data of the UE is unreachable. For example, a sleep state indication can be stored in the UE context to indicate that the UE is currently in a sleep state.

[0567] Steps S1013 to S1020 are the same as steps S715 to S722, and will not be described again here.

[0568] S1021 is the same as step S724, and will not be described again here.

[0569] S1022, AMF deletes the UE's sleep state and stops the local sleep timer;

[0570] For example, in step S1022, after the AMF receives a message for requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources of the UE or a message for instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state, it can delete the marked sleep state of the UE and stop the local timer. For example, it can delete the sleep state indication stored in the UE context.

[0571] Steps S1023 to S1026 are the same as steps S726 to S729, and will not be described again here.

[0572] The above step S1022 can be executed after the AMF receives a message for requesting the restoration of the UE's downlink user plane resources or a message for instructing the UE to terminate its dormant state, or it can be executed after the AMF restores the UE's downlink user plane resources, or it can be executed after the AMF sends a message to the N3IWF indicating that the UE's downlink user plane resources have been successfully restored. This embodiment does not impose any limitations on this.

[0573] The technical solution provided in this application embodiment has several advantages. First, the network side can wake up the UE in a dormant state as needed, thereby avoiding the UE from missing downlink data. Second, the UE can start the dormant state as needed, thereby saving UE power consumption and achieving energy saving. Third, after the UE starts the dormant state, it notifies the network side to suspend downlink user plane resources, which can avoid wasting network resources, thereby saving network resource overhead and improving resource utilization.

[0574] In one possible implementation, after step S1014 above, the communication method may further include:

[0575] S1027, when the UE's local sleep timer expires, the UE terminates the sleep state and sends a message to the N3IWF to indicate that the UE is in a normal state. Accordingly, the N3IWF receives the message to indicate that the UE is in a normal state.

[0576] An example message used to indicate that the UE is in a normal state can be an informational request message sent by the UE to the N3IWF.

[0577] For example, in step S1027, if the UE has not interacted with the network side for uplink and downlink data after starting the local sleep timer, the UE can send a message to the N3IWF after the local sleep timer expires, such as sending an informational request message to the N3IWF.

[0578] S1028, N3IWF sends a message to AMF to indicate the update of UE status;

[0579] Specifically, based on a message indicating that the UE is in a normal state, the N3IWF can send a message to the AMF indicating an update to the UE's state. For example, the N3IWF sends an N2 UE State Update Request message. This state update request message may carry a UE sleep update indication to indicate an update to the UE's state.

[0580] S1029, AMF restarts the local hibernation timer;

[0581] Based on this message used to indicate the update of the UE status, the AMF can restart the local sleep timer.

[0582] S1030, AMF sends a message to N3IWF to instruct the terminal device to restart its sleep state;

[0583] Steps S1029 and S1030 do not have a fixed order, or S1029 and S1030 can be executed simultaneously.

[0584] S1031, N3IWF sends a message to UE to instruct the terminal device to restart the sleep state, and the corresponding UE receives the message to instruct the terminal device to restart the sleep state;

[0585] For example, when the message used to indicate that the UE is in a normal state is an informational request message sent by the UE to the N3IWF, the message used to indicate that the terminal device restarts the sleep state can be an informational response message, which carries information to indicate that the UE restarts the sleep state.

[0586] S1032, the UE restarts its sleep state and restarts its local sleep timer.

[0587] Specifically, the UE restarts its sleep state based on a message instructing the terminal device to restart its sleep state.

[0588] In the above scheme, the UE can restart the sleep state based on a message from the AMF that instructs the terminal device to restart the sleep state, which can help the UE save energy.

[0589] In one possible implementation, after step S1014 above, the communication method may further include:

[0590] S1033, when the UE's local sleep timer expires, the UE restarts the sleep state and sends a message to the N3IWF to instruct the terminal device to start the sleep state. Correspondingly, the N3IWF receives the message to instruct the terminal device to start the sleep state.

[0591] An exemplary message instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state can be carried in an informational request message sent by the UE to the N3IWF.

[0592] S1034, N3IWF sends a message to AMF to instruct the terminal device to start a sleep state.

[0593] S1035, AMF restarts the local hibernation timer.

[0594] The AMF can restart its local sleep timer based on a message that instructs the terminal device to enter a sleep state.

[0595] The above scheme allows the UE to restart from sleep mode when no message instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state is received, which helps the UE save energy.

[0596] In one possible implementation, after step S1014 above, the communication method may further include:

[0597] S1036, after the local sleep timer expires, the AMF releases the connection with the N3IWF;

[0598] S1037, N3IWF clears the UE's context;

[0599] S1038, AMF marks the UE as being in the idle state on the non-3GPP side and starts the implicit separation timer;

[0600] S1039, when the implicit separation timer expires, the AMF marks the UE as a non-3GPP side deregistered state.

[0601] The above solution allows the UE to register after the AMF's local sleep timer expires, thus avoiding wasting network-side resources and improving resource utilization.

[0602] Based on the above, one embodiment of this application provides a communication method, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 11 The flowchart below illustrates the method. It should be noted that in this embodiment, the example uses a non-3GPP access gateway, a trusted WLAN access gateway, and a TWIF gateway. Trusted WLAN access can be replaced with untrusted WLAN access, TWIF can be replaced with FMIF, or untrusted WLAN access can be replaced with fixed-line access, and TWIF can be replaced with W-AGF, etc. This embodiment does not impose any limitations on these aspects. Taking AMF as an example of a core network device, this embodiment uses N5CW (Non-5G-Capable over WLAN, terminal devices that do not support access to 5GC via N3G), and this embodiment does not impose any limitations on these aspects.

[0603] The communication method includes:

[0604] S1101, N5CW establishes a connection with WLAN;

[0605] The process of establishing a connection between the UE and the WLAN is existing technology and will not be described in detail here.

[0606] In the following steps, message transmission between the UE and N3IWF is forwarded via WLAN, which will not be elaborated further below.

[0607] S1102, N5CW sends a DHCP message to TWIF;

[0608] In one example, the DHCP message can be either a DHCP Discover message or a DHCP Request message. For instance, a DHCP Discover message or a DHCP Request message can be sent from a WLAN AP to TWIF.

[0609] S1103, TWIF sends a message to AMF to indicate that N5CW supports hibernation;

[0610] Based on the received DHCP message, TWIF can trigger the 5GC access process. Specifically, TWIF can proxy the N5CW terminal to generate a NAS message, which can be a registration request message or a service request message. For example, the NAS message can carry a message indicating that the N5CW supports a sleep state, such as an N3G power-saving mode indicator.

[0611] Among them, steps S1102 to S1103 are optional.

[0612] S1104, AMF determines that N5CW is allowed to start hibernation and sets the first preset duration;

[0613] S1105, AMF sends a message to TWIF indicating that the UE is allowed to start a sleep state and a first preset duration. Correspondingly, N3IWF receives the message indicating that the UE is allowed to start a sleep state and the first preset duration.

[0614] For example, the message indicating that the UE is allowed to start a sleep state and the first preset duration can be carried in the NAS message sent by the AMF to the UE through the N3IWF, such as a registration success message or a service request success message. This NAS message can be carried in the N2 message sent by the AMF to the N3IWF.

[0615] S1106, TWIF initiates PDU session establishment process to obtain the UE IP address assigned to the UE by SMF or UPF;

[0616] S1107, TWIF sends the UE IP to the N5CW terminal via a DHCP message;

[0617] S1108, TWIF initiates the N5CW's hibernation state and starts the N5CW's hibernation timer;

[0618] The duration of this sleep timer is the first preset duration. TWIF initiating N5CW into sleep mode can be understood as TWIF determining that N5CW has entered sleep mode.

[0619] In one example, in S1108, TWIF can determine that the N5CW enters a sleep state based on the message indicating that the UE is allowed to start a sleep state, provided that a preset first condition is met; the first condition includes: no downlink data is received within a second preset time period and / or the terminal device does not send uplink data.

[0620] For example, when TWIF detects that there is no uplink or downlink data transmission from the N5CW for a period of time, TWIF starts the N5CW's sleep timer, or if other preset conditions are met, such as receiving a sleep start instruction from the network side, the N5CW can be put into sleep mode.

[0621] S1109, TWIF sends a message to AMF to request downlink user plane resources for suspending the UE, and AMF receives the message to request downlink user plane resources for suspending the UE.

[0622] As an example, in S1109, TWIF can send a message to AMF to request downlink user plane resources for suspending the UE based on the N5CW's sleep state.

[0623] For example, the message used to request the suspension of downlink user plane resources of the UE can be a suspendrequest message, which carries the PDU session ID of the suspended resources to suspend the resources of the PDU session.

[0624] In another example, S1109 can take a different action, such as TWIF sending a message to AMF to instruct the UE to start a sleep state, and AMF receiving the message to instruct the UE to start a sleep state.

[0625] For example, the message requesting downlink user plane resources to suspend the UE or the message instructing the UE to initiate a sleep state can be in the N2 message sent by TWIF to AMF. This application embodiment does not limit the scope of the N2 message.

[0626] S1110, AMF marks the N5CW as hibernating;

[0627] In one example, in step S1110, after receiving a message requesting to suspend downlink user plane resources for the UE, it can be determined that the N5CW has entered a sleep state, in which downlink data of the UE is unreachable. For example, a sleep state indicator can be stored in the UE context to indicate that the UE is currently in a sleep state.

[0628] In another example, in step S1110, after receiving a message indicating that the UE has started a sleep state, it is determined that the UE has started a sleep state based on the message indicating that the UE has started a sleep state. In this sleep state, downlink data of the N5CW is unreachable. For example, a sleep state indication can be stored in the UE context to indicate that the UE is currently in a sleep state.

[0629] S1111, AMF suspends downlink user plane resources of N5CW;

[0630] For example, in step S1111, after receiving a message requesting to suspend downlink user plane resources for the UE or a message instructing the UE to start a sleep state, the AMF notifies the SMF, and the SMF notifies the UPF to delete the user plane resources of the N5CW's PDU session. For example, deleting the non-3GPP side access side downlink tunnel information of the session.

[0631] S1112, AMF sends a message to TWIF indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the UE have been successfully suspended. Correspondingly, TWIF receives the message indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the UE have been successfully suspended.

[0632] For example, the message used to indicate the successful suspension of downlink user plane resources for the UE can be an N2 suspend response message.

[0633] The above step 1110 can be executed after the AMF receives a message for requesting to suspend the downlink user plane resources of the UE or a message for instructing the UE to start a sleep state, or after the AMF successfully suspends the UE's resources, or after the AMF sends a message to the N3IWF for instructing to successfully suspend the downlink user plane resources of the UE. This embodiment does not limit this.

[0634] S1113, AMF receives a message from SMF indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to UE;

[0635] For example, the message indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the UE can be a downlink data notification message.

[0636] For example, in step 1113, when the UPF receives downlink data from the UE, since the UE's downlink user plane has been suspended in step 1111 (e.g., the downlink data channel of the PDU session has been deleted), the UPF cannot send the downlink data to the UE. The UPF notifies the SMF that there is downlink data to be sent, and the SMF sends a downlink data notification message to the AMF, informing the AMF that a certain PDU session of the UE has downlink data. Based on the session identifier of the aforementioned PDU session, the AMF identifies the PDU session and determines that the access technology corresponding to the aforementioned PDU session is non-3GPP access.

[0637] S1114, AMF confirmed that N5CW is in a dormant state;

[0638] For example, the AMF can determine that the UE is in a sleep state based on the sleep state marked in step S1110.

[0639] S1115, AMF sends a message to TWIF instructing that downlink data be sent to the UE, and TWIF receives the message instructing that downlink data be sent to the UE accordingly;

[0640] The message used to instruct the transmission of downlink data to the UE may include a message used to instruct the UE to terminate its sleep state.

[0641] For example, before step 1115, when the UPF receives downlink data from the UE, it cannot send the downlink data to the UE because the UE's downlink user plane resources have been suspended in step 1115, such as the downlink data channel of the PDU session has been deleted. The UPF can notify the SMF that there is downlink data to be sent, and the SMF notifies the AMF that a certain PDU session of the UE has downlink data. Based on the session identifier of the above PDU session, the AMF identifies the PDU session and determines that the access technology corresponding to the above PDU session is non-3GPP access. Based on the sleep state, the AMF determines that the UE is currently in a non-3GPP side sleep state, and therefore sends a message to the TWIF to instruct the UE to terminate the sleep state, indicating that the network side needs the UE to restore the non-3GPP side connection state.

[0642] For example, a message instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state can be carried in an N2 message sent by the AMF to the TWIF.

[0643] S1116, TWIF terminates the N5CW's sleep state and stops the N5CW's sleep timer;

[0644] In one example, in S1116, TWIF can terminate the N5CW's sleep state and stop the N5CW's sleep timer based on a message used to instruct the UE to terminate its sleep state.

[0645] S1117, TWIF sends a message to AMF requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources for the UE, and the corresponding AMF receives the message requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources for the UE.

[0646] For example, the message used to request the restoration of downlink user plane resources of the UE can be an N2 restore request message, which carries the PDU session ID of the restored resources, for restoring the user plane resources of the previously suspended PDU session, such as restoring the non-3GPP side access side downlink tunnel information of the PDU session.

[0647] In another example, in S1117, another operation can be used, such as TWIF sending a message to AMF to instruct the UE to terminate the sleep state, and the corresponding AMF receiving the message to instruct the UE to terminate the sleep state.

[0648] For example, the message requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources for the UE or the message instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state can be carried in the N2 message sent by the N3IWF to the AMF. This application embodiment does not limit the scope of the N2 message.

[0649] S1118, AMF removes the N5CW's hibernation state;

[0650] In step S1118, after the AMF receives a message for requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources of the UE or a message for instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state, it can delete the marked sleep state of the UE, for example, it can delete the sleep state indication stored in the UE context.

[0651] S1119, AMF restores downlink user plane resources for N5CW;

[0652] For example, in step S1119, after the AMF receives a message requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources for the UE or a message instructing the UE to terminate its sleep state, the AMF notifies the SMF, and the SMF notifies the UPF to restore the user plane resources of the PDU session. For example, restoring the non-3GPP access-side downlink tunnel information of the PDU session.

[0653] S1120, AMF sends a message to TWIF indicating successful recovery of UE's downlink user plane resources, and the corresponding N3IWF receives the message indicating successful recovery of UE's downlink user plane resources.

[0654] An example message used to indicate successful recovery of downlink user plane resources for the UE could be the N2 recovery response message.

[0655] The above step S 1118 can be executed after the AMF receives a message for requesting the restoration of the downlink user plane resources of the UE or a message for instructing the UE to terminate its dormant state, or it can be executed after the AMF restores the downlink user plane resources of the UE, or it can be executed after the AMF sends a message to the N3IWF indicating that the downlink user plane resources of the UE have been successfully restored. This embodiment does not impose any restrictions.

[0656] S1121, TWIF obtains the downlink data that needs to be sent to N5CW;

[0657] S1122, TWIF sends the downlink data to N5CW.

[0658] For example, after the downlink user plane resources of the N5CW are restored, the downlink data of the N5CW can be sent to the TWIF through the user plane tunnel. The TWIF then sends it to the WLAN AP, and the WLAN AP then sends it to the N5CW.

[0659] In one possible implementation, after step S1108, the communication method further includes:

[0660] S1123, after the N5CW's sleep timer times out, TWIF releases the connection with AMF;

[0661] S1124, TWIF clears the UE's context;

[0662] S1125, AMF marks TWIF as being in the idle state on the non-3GPP side and starts the implicit separation timer;

[0663] S1126, when the implicit decoupling timer expires, the AMF marks the TWIF as deregistered on the non-3GPP side.

[0664] The above solution allows TWIF to be deregistered after its local sleep timer expires, thus avoiding wasting network resources and improving resource utilization.

[0665] Regarding the above embodiments, it should be noted that:

[0666] 1. The above text focuses on describing the differences between the different processes. Other content can be found by referring to the different processes.

[0667] 2. Not all steps shown in the flowcharts described in the embodiments are mandatory. Some steps may be added or deleted based on the actual needs of each flowchart.

[0668] 3. The various schemes described above can also be applied to 3GPP access technologies. For example, the access gateway mentioned above can be a 3GPP access device, and the access device mentioned above can be a non-3GPP access gateway, etc. This application does not impose any restrictions on this.

[0669] It is understood that in the embodiments of this application, the UE, access gateway, or core network device may execute some or all of the steps in the embodiments of this application. These steps or operations are merely examples, and the embodiments of this application may also perform other operations or variations thereof. Furthermore, the various steps may be executed in different orders as presented in the embodiments of this application, and it is not necessarily necessary to execute all the operations in the embodiments of this application.

[0670] In the various embodiments of this application, unless otherwise specified or in case of logical conflict, the terminology and / or descriptions of different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features of different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationship.

[0671] The above combination Figures 1 to 11 The methods provided in the embodiments of this application are described in detail. The apparatus provided in the embodiments of this application is described in detail below. It should be understood that the descriptions of the apparatus embodiments and the method embodiments may correspond to each other. Therefore, for content not described in detail, please refer to the descriptions in the method embodiments above.

[0672] Based on the above, Figure 12 and Figure 13 The diagram illustrates the possible structures of communication devices provided in embodiments of this application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions of terminals or base stations in the above method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects of the above method embodiments.

[0673] like Figure 12 As shown, the communication device 1200 includes a communication unit 1201 and a processing unit 1202. The communication unit 1201 is used for communication with the processor and may also be referred to as a communication interface, transceiver unit, or input or output interface, etc. The processing unit 1202 is used for processing.

[0674] In embodiments of this application, the communication device may be as follows: Figure 1 One of the terminals 120a-120j shown; or, it could be as follows: Figure 1 The base station shown is 110a or 110b; or, it could be as follows: Figure 1 The core network 200 shown can also be a module (such as a chip) applied to a terminal, base station, or core network.

[0675] In embodiments of this application, the communication device may be as follows: Figure 2 Or the UE shown in Figure 3; or, it could be as shown in Figure 3. Figure 2 The (R)AN shown or Figure 3 The N3IWF shown; or, it can be as follows: Figure 2 Or the network elements in the 5GC shown in Figure 3.

[0676] Based on the above embodiments, if the device 1200 can be a terminal device or a chip in a terminal device, then the processing unit 1202 is used to initiate and terminate the sleep state. The communication unit 1201 is used to receive a message instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state.

[0677] In one possible implementation, the communication unit 1201 can also be used to send an uplink message before the duration of the processing unit's sleep state reaches a first preset duration; or to send a message instructing the terminal device to start a sleep state after the duration of the sleep state has reached the first preset duration.

[0678] In one possible implementation, the communication unit 1201 can also be used to send a message instructing the terminal device to start a sleep state after the terminal device starts a sleep state and before receiving a message instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state.

[0679] In one possible implementation, the communication unit 1201 can also be used to send a message instructing the terminal device to terminate its sleep state after the terminal device terminates its sleep state.

[0680] In one possible implementation, the communication unit 1201 can also be used to receive a message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to start a sleep state before the terminal device starts a sleep state. The processing unit 1202 starts the sleep state by: based on the message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to start a sleep state, and determining that a preset first condition is met; the first condition includes: no downlink data has been received within a second preset time period and / or the terminal device has not sent uplink data.

[0681] In one possible implementation, the communication unit 1201 can also be used to send a message indicating that the terminal device supports a sleep state before the terminal device receives a message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to start a sleep state.

[0682] Based on the above embodiments, if device 1200 can be an access gateway or a chip within an access gateway, then communication unit 1201 is used to receive a message instructing the sending of downlink data to a terminal device. Processing unit 1202 is used to determine that the terminal device is in a sleep state; and after determining that the terminal device has terminated its sleep state, to send the received downlink data to the terminal device.

[0683] In one possible implementation, the communication unit 1201 can also be used to send a message to the terminal device instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state; and to send the received downlink data to the terminal device.

[0684] In one possible implementation, the communication unit 1201 can also be used to receive an uplink message sent from a terminal device; and based on the uplink message, send a reply message to the terminal device, the reply message being used to instruct the terminal device to terminate the sleep state.

[0685] In one possible implementation, the communication unit 1201 can also be used to receive a message from the terminal device instructing the terminal device to start a sleep state; and based on the message instructing the terminal device to start a sleep state, send a message to the terminal device instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state.

[0686] In one possible implementation, the communication unit 1201 can also be used to send a message to the core network device requesting the restoration of the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device after receiving the message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device and before obtaining the downlink data to be sent to the terminal device.

[0687] In one possible implementation, the processing unit 1202 can also be used to determine that the terminal device enters a sleep state if a preset second condition is met before receiving a message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device; the communication unit 1201 can also be used to send a message to the core network device to request the suspension of downlink user plane resources of the terminal device; the second condition includes: not receiving downlink data to be sent to the terminal device or uplink data sent by the terminal device within a third preset time period; or receiving a message from the terminal device indicating that the terminal device starts a sleep state.

[0688] In one possible implementation, the processing unit 1202 can also be used to determine that the terminal device is in a sleep state if a preset third condition is met; the third condition includes: no downlink data to be sent to the terminal device is received within a fourth preset time period before the access gateway receives a message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device.

[0689] In one possible implementation, the communication unit 1201 can also be configured to receive a message from the terminal device instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state before receiving a message instructing the terminal device to send downlink data. The processing unit 1202 can also be configured to determine that the terminal device is in a sleep state if, based on the message instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state, the duration of the sleep state has not yet reached a fifth preset duration.

[0690] In one possible implementation, the communication unit 1201 can also be configured to receive a message from the terminal device instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state after receiving a message from the terminal device instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state, and before receiving a message instructing the terminal device to send downlink data. The processing unit 1202 can also be configured to determine that the terminal device is in a sleep state if, based on the message instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state, the duration of the sleep state has not yet reached a fifth preset duration.

[0691] In one possible implementation, the communication unit 1201 can also be used to receive a message from the core network device indicating that the terminal device is allowed to start a sleep state before receiving a message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device.

[0692] In one possible implementation, the communication unit 1201 can further be configured to send the message indicating permission for the terminal device to initiate a sleep state to the terminal device after receiving a message from the core network device indicating permission for the terminal device to initiate a sleep state. The processing unit 1202 can further be configured to stop sending link detection messages to a terminal device that is allowed to sleep.

[0693] Based on the above embodiments, if the device 1200 can be a core network device or a chip in the core network device, then the communication unit 1201 is used to receive a message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device; and to send a message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device. The processing unit 1202 is used to determine that the terminal device is in a sleep state.

[0694] In one possible implementation, the communication unit 1201 can also be configured to receive a message requesting to suspend the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device before receiving a message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device. The processing unit 1202 can also be configured to suspend the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device based on the message requesting to suspend the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

[0695] In one possible implementation, the processing unit 1202 can also be used to determine that the terminal device is in a sleep state based on the message for requesting to suspend the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, when the duration of receiving the message for requesting to suspend the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device has not reached a sixth preset duration.

[0696] In one possible implementation, the communication unit 1201 can also be configured to receive a message requesting the restoration of the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device after sending a message indicating the transmission of downlink data to the terminal device. The processing unit 1202 can also be configured to restore the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device based on the message requesting the restoration of the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

[0697] In one possible implementation, the communication unit 1201 can also be used to receive a message indicating that the terminal device should start a sleep state before receiving a message indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the terminal device; the processing unit 1202 can also be used to determine that the terminal device is in a sleep state based on the message indicating that the terminal device should start a sleep state, if the duration of receiving the message indicating that the terminal device should start a sleep state has not yet reached a sixth preset duration.

[0698] In one possible implementation, the processing unit 1202 can also be configured to, before receiving a message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device, determine whether to allow the terminal device to initiate the sleep state based on the terminal device's subscription data or a message indicating that the terminal device supports a sleep state. The communication unit 1201 can also be configured to send a message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to initiate the sleep state.

[0699] It should be understood that the division of units in the above device is merely a logical functional division. In actual implementation, they can be fully or partially integrated into a single physical entity, or they can be physically separated. Furthermore, all units in the device can be implemented entirely through software calls from processing elements; all units can be implemented entirely in hardware; or some units can be implemented through software calls from processing elements, and some units can be implemented in hardware. For example, each unit can be a separately established processing element, or it can be integrated into a chip within the device. Alternatively, it can be stored in memory as a program, and its function can be called and executed by a processing element of the device. Moreover, these units can be fully or partially integrated together, or they can be implemented independently. The processing element mentioned here can also be called a processor, which can be an integrated circuit with signal processing capabilities. In the implementation process, each step of the above method or each of the above units can be implemented through integrated logic circuits in the processor element or through software calls from processing elements.

[0700] In one example, a unit in any of the above devices can be one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the methods described above, such as: one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), or one or more field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or a combination of at least two of these forms of integrated circuits. As another example, when a unit in the device can be implemented in the form of a processing element scheduler, the processing element can be a general-purpose processor, such as a central processing unit (CPU) or other processor capable of calling programs. Furthermore, these units can be integrated together to implement a system-on-a-chip (SOC).

[0701] Based on the above, the communication unit 1201 can be an interface circuit for the device, used to receive signals from or send signals to other devices. For example, when the device is implemented as a chip, the communication unit 1201 is an interface circuit for the chip to receive signals from or send signals to other chips or devices.

[0702] refer to Figure 13 This is a schematic diagram of a device 1300 provided in an embodiment of this application. The device includes a processor 1310 and an interface 1330. For example, the device may also include a memory 1320. The interface 1330 is used to enable communication with other devices.

[0703] Based on the above, the methods executed by the terminal device, access gateway, and core network device can be implemented by the processor 1310 calling a program stored in the memory. That is, the terminal device, access gateway, and core network device may include the processor 1310, which executes the methods performed by the terminal device, access gateway, and core network device in the above method embodiments by calling a program stored in the memory. The processor 1310 here can be an integrated circuit with signal processing capabilities, such as a CPU. The terminal device, access gateway, and core network device can be implemented by one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the above methods. For example, one or more ASICs, or one or more microprocessors (DSPs), or one or more FPGAs, or a combination of at least two of these integrated circuit forms.

[0704] Specifically, Figure 12 The functions / implementation processes of the communication unit 1201 and the processing unit 1202 can be obtained through Figure 13 The processor 1310 in the illustrated device 1300 calls computer-executable instructions stored in memory 1320 to implement the function. Alternatively, Figure 12 The function / implementation process of the processing unit 1202 can be achieved through... Figure 13 The processor 1310 in the illustrated device 1300 calls computer execution instructions stored in memory 1320 to implement this. Figure 12 The function / implementation process of the communication unit 1201 can be achieved through... Figure 13 This is implemented using interface 1330 in the device 1300 shown.

[0705] It should be understood that, in the various embodiments of this application, the sequence number of each process does not imply the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of this invention.

[0706] This application also provides a computer-readable medium having a computer program stored thereon, which, when executed by a computer, implements the functions of any of the above method embodiments.

[0707] This application also provides a computer program product that, when executed by a computer, implements the functions of any of the above method embodiments.

[0708] Those skilled in the art will understand that, for the sake of convenience and brevity, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and units described above can be referred to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0709] When the aforementioned communication device is a chip applied to a terminal, the terminal chip implements the functions of the terminal in the above method embodiments. The terminal chip receives information from other modules (such as radio frequency modules or antennas) in the terminal, which is information sent to the terminal by the base station; or, the terminal chip sends information to other modules (such as radio frequency modules or antennas) in the terminal, which is information sent to the base station by the terminal.

[0710] When the aforementioned communication device is a module applied to a base station, the base station module implements the functions of the base station in the above method embodiments. The base station module receives information from other modules (such as radio frequency modules or antennas) in the base station, information sent by the terminal to the base station; or, the base station module sends information to other modules (such as radio frequency modules or antennas) in the base station, information sent by the base station to the terminal. Here, the base station module can be the baseband chip of the base station, or a DU (Digital Unit) or other modules. The DU can be a DU under an Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) architecture.

[0711] It is understood that the processor in the embodiments of this application may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), or other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0712] The method steps in the embodiments of this application can be implemented in hardware or by a processor executing software instructions. The software instructions can consist of corresponding software modules, which can be stored in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, registers, hard disks, portable hard disks, CD-ROMs, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to a processor, enabling the processor to read information from and write information to the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium can also be a component of the processor. The processor and storage medium can reside in an ASIC. Alternatively, the ASIC can reside in a base station or terminal. Of course, the processor and storage medium can also exist as discrete components in the base station or terminal.

[0713] In the above embodiments, implementation can be achieved entirely or partially through software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented entirely or partially in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of this application are performed entirely or partially. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user equipment, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transferred from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer program or instructions can be transferred from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired or wireless means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium can be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape; it can also be an optical medium, such as a digital video optical disc; or it can be a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive. The computer-readable storage medium may be a volatile or non-volatile storage medium, or may include both types of storage media.

[0714] In the various embodiments of this application, unless otherwise specified or in case of logical conflict, the terminology and / or descriptions of different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features of different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationship.

[0715] In this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "more than one" means two or more. "And / or" describes the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A alone, A and B simultaneously, or B alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. In the textual description of this application, the character " / " generally indicates an "or" relationship between the preceding and following related objects; in the formulas of this application, the character " / " indicates a "division" relationship between the preceding and following related objects. "Including at least one of A, B, and C" can mean: including A; including B; including C; including A and B; including A and C; including B and C; including A, B, and C.

[0716] It is understood that the various numerical designations used in the embodiments of this application are merely for descriptive convenience and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of this application. The order of the process numbers described above does not imply the order of execution; the execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: The terminal device enters sleep mode; The terminal device receives a message from the non-3GPP access gateway instructing the terminal device to terminate its sleep state. The terminal device terminates its sleep state; The terminal device receives downlink data or downlink messages from the non-3GPP access gateway.

2. The communication method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The message used to instruct the terminal device to terminate its sleep state is a paging message, or the message used to instruct the terminal device to terminate its sleep state is a NAS notification message.

3. The communication method according to claim 1, characterized in that, After the terminal device initiates a sleep state, and before the terminal device receives a message from the non-3GPP access gateway instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state, the method further includes: Before the duration of the terminal device's sleep state reaches a first preset duration, the terminal device sends an uplink message.

4. The communication method according to claim 1, characterized in that, After the terminal device initiates a sleep state, and before the terminal device receives a message from the non-3GPP access gateway instructing the terminal device to terminate the sleep state, the method further includes: After the duration of the terminal device in sleep mode reaches a first preset duration, the terminal device sends a message instructing the terminal device to enter sleep mode.

5. The communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, After the terminal device terminates its sleep state, the method further includes: The terminal device sends a message instructing it to terminate its sleep state.

6. The communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, Before the terminal device initiates a sleep state, the method further includes: The terminal device receives a message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to start a hibernation state; The terminal device initiates a sleep state, including: Based on the message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to start a sleep state, the terminal device starts a sleep state when a preset first condition is met; The first condition includes: no downlink data is received within a second preset time period and / or the terminal device does not send uplink data.

7. The communication method according to claim 6, characterized in that, Before the terminal device receives a message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to enter a sleep state, the method further includes: The terminal device sends information indicating that it supports a sleep state.

8. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: The non-3GPP access gateway receives a message from the core network equipment instructing the sending of downlink data to the terminal equipment; The non-3GPP access gateway determines that the terminal device is in a sleep state; The non-3GPP access gateway sends a message to the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to terminate its sleep state. After determining that the terminal device has terminated its sleep state, the non-3GPP access gateway sends the received downlink data or downlink message to the terminal device.

9. The communication method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The non-3GPP access gateway sends a message to the terminal device instructing the terminal device to terminate its sleep state, including: The non-3GPP access gateway receives uplink messages sent from the terminal device; Based on the uplink message, the non-3GPP access gateway sends a reply message to the terminal device, which instructs the terminal device to terminate its sleep state.

10. The communication method according to claim 8, characterized in that, The non-3GPP access gateway sends a message to the terminal device instructing the terminal device to terminate its sleep state, including: The non-3GPP access gateway receives a message from the terminal device instructing the terminal device to start a sleep state. Based on the message used to instruct the terminal device to start a sleep state, the non-3GPP access gateway sends a message to the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to terminate the sleep state.

11. The communication method according to any one of claims 8 to 10, characterized in that, The message indicating the sending of downlink data to the terminal device includes the downlink data, or after receiving the message indicating the sending of downlink data to the terminal device, the non-3GPP access gateway obtains the downlink data to be sent to the terminal device.

12. The communication method according to claim 11, characterized in that, Before the non-3GPP access gateway obtains the downlink data to be sent to the terminal device after receiving the message instructing it to send downlink data to the terminal device, the method further includes: The non-3GPP access gateway sends a message to the core network equipment requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources of the terminal equipment.

13. The communication method according to claim 12, characterized in that, Before the non-3GPP access gateway receives a message from the core network equipment indicating that downlink data should be sent to the terminal equipment, the method further includes: If the preset second condition is met, the non-3GPP access gateway determines that the terminal device enters a sleep state; The non-3GPP access gateway sends a message to the core network equipment to request the suspension of downlink user plane resources of the terminal equipment. The second condition includes: not receiving downlink data sent to the terminal device or uplink data sent by the terminal device within a third preset time period; or receiving a message from the terminal device instructing the terminal device to start a sleep state.

14. The communication method according to any one of claims 8 to 10, characterized in that, The non-3GPP access gateway determines that the terminal device is in a sleep state, including: If a preset third condition is met, the non-3GPP access gateway determines that the terminal device is in a sleep state; The third condition includes: no downlink data to be sent to the terminal device is received within a fourth preset time period before the non-3GPP access gateway receives the message indicating that downlink data is to be sent to the terminal device.

15. The communication method according to any one of claims 8 to 10, characterized in that, Before the non-3GPP access gateway receives a message from the core network equipment indicating that downlink data should be sent to the terminal equipment, the method further includes: The non-3GPP access gateway receives a message from the terminal device instructing the terminal device to start a sleep state; The non-3GPP access gateway determines that the terminal device is in a sleep state, including: Based on the message indicating that the terminal device should start a sleep state, if the duration of the terminal device starting a sleep state has not yet reached the fifth preset duration, it is determined that the terminal device is in a sleep state.

16. The communication method according to any one of claims 8 to 10, characterized in that, After the non-3GPP access gateway receives a message from the terminal device instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state, and before the access gateway receives a message instructing the transmission of downlink data to the terminal device, the method further includes: The non-3GPP access gateway receives a message from the terminal device instructing the terminal device to start a sleep state. The non-3GPP access gateway determines that the terminal device is in a sleep state, including: Based on the message indicating that the terminal device should start a sleep state, if the duration of the terminal device starting a sleep state has not yet reached the fifth preset duration, it is determined that the terminal device is in a sleep state.

17. The communication method according to any one of claims 8 to 10, characterized in that, Before the non-3GPP access gateway receives a message instructing the transmission of downlink data to the terminal device, the method further includes: The non-3GPP access gateway receives a message from the core network device indicating that the terminal device is allowed to start a sleep state.

18. The communication method according to claim 17, characterized in that, After the non-3GPP access gateway receives a message from the core network device indicating that the terminal device is allowed to start a sleep state, the method further includes: The non-3GPP access gateway sends the message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to start a sleep state to the terminal device. For terminal devices that are allowed to hibernate, the non-3GPP access gateway stops sending link detection messages to the terminal devices.

19. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: The core network equipment receives a message indicating that there is downlink data to be sent to the terminal equipment; The core network equipment determines that the terminal equipment is in a sleep state; The core network device sends a message to the non-3GPP access gateway instructing the sending of downlink data to the terminal device. The message instructing the sending of downlink data to the terminal device triggers the non-3GPP access gateway to send a message to the terminal device instructing the terminal device to terminate its sleep state.

20. The communication method according to claim 19, characterized in that, The message used to instruct the sending of downlink data to the terminal device is a paging message, or the message used to instruct the sending of downlink data to the terminal device is a NAS notification message.

21. The communication method according to claim 19, characterized in that, Before the core network equipment receives a message indicating that downlink data is ready to be sent to the terminal equipment, the method further includes: The core network device receives a message requesting to suspend the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device. Based on a message requesting the suspension of downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, the core network device suspends the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

22. The communication method according to claim 21, characterized in that, The core network equipment determines that the terminal equipment is in a sleep state, including: Based on the message requesting to suspend the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, if the duration of receiving the message requesting to suspend the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device has not reached a sixth preset duration, it is determined that the terminal device is in a sleep state.

23. The communication method according to claim 21, characterized in that, After the core network device sends a message instructing the transmission of downlink data to the terminal device, the method further includes: The core network device receives a message requesting the restoration of downlink user plane resources of the terminal device. Based on the message requesting the restoration of the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device, the core network device restores the downlink user plane resources of the terminal device.

24. The communication method according to claim 19, characterized in that, Before the core network device receives a message indicating that downlink data is ready to be sent to the terminal device, the method further includes: The core network device receives a message instructing the terminal device to initiate a sleep state. The core network equipment determines that the terminal equipment is in a sleep state, including: Based on the message indicating that the terminal device should start a sleep state, if the duration of receiving the message indicating that the terminal device should start a sleep state has not yet reached a sixth preset duration, the core network device determines that the terminal device is in a sleep state.

25. The communication method according to any one of claims 21 to 24, characterized in that, Before the core network equipment receives a message indicating that downlink data is ready to be sent to the terminal equipment, the method further includes: Based on the subscription data of the terminal device or a message indicating that the terminal device supports a hibernation state, the core network device determines that the terminal device is allowed to initiate the hibernation state. The core network device sends a message indicating that the terminal device is allowed to start a sleep state; The message indicating that the terminal device supports a sleep state is received before determining that the terminal device is allowed to initiate the sleep state, and the subscription data includes information indicating that the terminal device supports a sleep state or information indicating that the terminal device is allowed to initiate a sleep state.

26. A communication device, characterized in that, include: A module for performing the communication method as described in any one of claims 1 to 25.

27. A communication device, characterized in that, The device includes a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the interface circuit is used to receive signals from other communication devices besides the communication device and transmit them to the processor, or to send signals from the processor to other communication devices besides the communication device, and the processor is used to implement the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 25 through logic circuits or execution code instructions.

28. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The storage medium stores a computer program or instructions, which, when executed by a communication device, implement the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 25.

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