Communication method, apparatus, device, storage medium, chip, product and program

Abstract

This application provides a communication method, apparatus, device, storage medium, chip, product, and program. The method includes: a user plane network element adding a first protocol header to a target data packet based on sequence information in the target data packet; the first protocol header includes first information that can be read by an access network device, the first information indicating the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set; and the user plane network element sending the target data packet with the first protocol header added to it to the access network device.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of mobile communication technology, specifically to a communication method, apparatus, device, storage medium, chip, product, and program. Background Technology

[0002] When an access network device receives multiple data packets from a user plane network element, it will send multiple data packets to the terminal device. However, the art has not considered that the access network device needs to perform transmission control on the sending of multiple data packets. Summary of the Invention

[0003] This application provides a communication method, apparatus, device, storage medium, chip, product, and program.

[0004] In a first aspect, embodiments of this application provide a communication method, the method comprising:

[0005] The user plane network element adds a first protocol header to the target data packet based on the sequence information in the target data packet; the first protocol header includes first information that can be read by the access network device, and the first information is used to indicate the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set.

[0006] The user plane network element sends a target data packet with the first protocol header added to it to the access network device.

[0007] Secondly, embodiments of this application provide a communication method, the method comprising:

[0008] The access network device receives a target data packet sent by a user plane network element; the first protocol header of the target data packet includes first information, which is used to indicate the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set;

[0009] The access network device reads the first information from the first protocol header in the target data packet.

[0010] Thirdly, embodiments of this application provide a communication method, the method comprising:

[0011] The control plane network element receives description information and / or sequence number indication information of the service data stream;

[0012] The control plane network element sends the description information of the service data stream and / or the sequence number indication information to the user plane network element; wherein, the description information of the service data stream and / or the sequence number indication information are used by the user plane network element to add a first protocol header to the target data packet based on the order information in the target data packet; the first protocol header includes first information that can be read by the access network device, and the first information is used to indicate the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set.

[0013] Fourthly, embodiments of this application provide a communication device, including:

[0014] The processing unit is configured to add a first protocol header to the target data packet based on the sequence information in the target data packet; the first protocol header includes first information that can be read by the access network device, the first information being used to indicate the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set;

[0015] The communication unit is used to send a target data packet with the first protocol header added to it to the access network device.

[0016] Fifthly, embodiments of this application provide a communication device, including:

[0017] A communication unit is used to receive target data packets sent by user plane network elements; the first protocol header of the target data packet includes first information, which is used to indicate the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set;

[0018] The reading unit is used to read the first information from the first protocol header in the target data packet.

[0019] Sixthly, embodiments of this application provide a communication device, including:

[0020] A communication unit is used to receive description information and / or sequence number indication information of the service data stream;

[0021] The communication unit is further configured to send the description information of the service data stream and / or the sequence number indication information to the user plane network element; wherein, the description information of the service data stream and / or the sequence number indication information are used by the user plane network element to add a first protocol header to the target data packet based on the order information in the target data packet; the first protocol header includes first information that can be read by the access network device, and the first information is used to indicate the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set.

[0022] Seventhly, embodiments of this application provide a communication device, including: a processor and a memory.

[0023] The memory stores computer programs that can run on the processor.

[0024] When the processor executes the program, it implements the method described in the first, second, or third aspects.

[0025] Eighthly, embodiments of this application provide a computer storage medium storing one or more programs, which can be executed by one or more processors to implement the methods described in the first, second, or third aspects.

[0026] In a ninth aspect, embodiments of this application provide a chip, including: a processor for calling and running a computer program from a memory to implement the methods described in the first, second, or third aspects.

[0027] In a tenth aspect, embodiments of this application provide a computer program product, the computer program product including a computer storage medium storing a computer program, the computer program including instructions executable by at least one processor, which, when executed by the at least one processor, implement the methods of the first aspect, the second aspect, or the third aspect.

[0028] Eleventhly, embodiments of this application provide a computer program that causes a computer to perform the methods described in the first, second, or third aspects.

[0029] In this embodiment, the user plane network element adds a first protocol header to the target data packet based on the sequence information in the target data packet. The first protocol header includes first information that can be read by the access network device, and the first information is used to indicate the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set. The user plane network element sends the target data packet with the added first protocol header to the access network device. In this way, when the user plane network element sends the target data packet with the added first protocol header to the access network device, the first information in the first protocol header can be read by the access network device, so that the access network device can determine the sequence of the target data packet in the data set, and then control the air interface transmission based on the sequence of the target data packet in the data set. Attached Figure Description

[0030] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of this application and form part of this application, illustrate exemplary embodiments and are used to explain this application, but do not constitute an undue limitation of this application. In the drawings:

[0031] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram illustrating an application scenario of an embodiment of this application;

[0032] Figure 2A schematic diagram of a system architecture based on a reference point presentation method is provided for an embodiment of this application;

[0033] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a service-based presentation method provided in this application embodiment;

[0034] Figure 4 A flowchart illustrating a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0035] Figure 5 A flowchart illustrating another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0036] Figure 6 A flowchart illustrating yet another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0037] Figure 7 A flowchart illustrating another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0038] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the structural composition of the communication device provided in the embodiments of this application;

[0039] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the structural composition of another communication device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0040] Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of the structural composition of another communication device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0041] Figure 11 A schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application;

[0042] Figure 12 This is a schematic structural diagram of a chip according to an embodiment of this application. Detailed Implementation

[0043] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this application will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of this application, and not all of them. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of this application without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0044] The technical solutions described in the embodiments of this application can be combined arbitrarily without conflict. In the description of this application, "multiple" means two or more, unless otherwise explicitly specified.

[0045] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram illustrating an application scenario of an embodiment of this application. For example... Figure 1As shown, the communication system 100 may include a terminal device 110 and a network device 120. The network device 120 can communicate with the terminal device 110 via an air interface. Multi-service transmission is supported between the terminal device 110 and the network device 120.

[0046] It should be understood that the embodiments of this application are only illustrated by way of example with communication system 100, but the embodiments of this application are not limited thereto. That is to say, the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD) system, Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), Internet of Things (IoT) system, Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) system, enhanced Machine-Type Communications (eMTC) system, 5th generation (5G) communication system (also known as New Radio (NR) communication system), or future communication systems (such as 6G, 7G communication systems), etc.

[0047] The network device 120 in this embodiment may include an access network device 121 and / or a core network device 122. The access network device can provide communication coverage for a specific geographical area and can communicate with terminal devices 110 (e.g., UEs) located within that coverage area.

[0048] The terminal device in the embodiments of this application may be referred to as User Equipment (UE), Mobile Station (MS), Mobile Terminal (MT), User Unit, User Station, Mobile Station, Remote Station, Remote Terminal, Mobile Device, User Terminal, Terminal, Wireless Communication Equipment, User Agent, or User Apparatus. Terminal devices may include one or more of the following, or a combination of at least two: Internet of Things (IoT) devices, satellite terminals, Wireless Local Loop (WLL) stations, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), handheld devices with wireless communication capabilities, computing devices or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, servers, mobile phones, tablets, computers with wireless transceiver capabilities, PDAs, desktop computers, portable media players, smart speakers, navigation devices, smartwatches, smart glasses, smart necklaces and other wearable devices, pedometers, digital TVs, Virtual Reality (VR) terminal devices, Augmented Reality (AR) terminal devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self-driving vehicles, wireless terminals in remote medical surgery, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, and wireless terminals in smart homes. Wireless terminals in the home, as well as vehicles, in-vehicle equipment, in-vehicle modules, wireless modems, handheld devices, customer premises equipment (CPE), smart home appliances, etc. in the vehicle networking system.

[0049] Optionally, terminal device 110 can be any terminal device, including but not limited to terminal devices that are connected to network device 120 or other terminal devices via wired or wireless connections.

[0050] Optionally, the terminal device 110 can be used for device-to-device (D2D) communication.

[0051] Access network equipment 121 may include one or a combination of at least two of the following: Evolutionary Node B (eNB or eNodeB) in Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG RAN) equipment, base station (gNB) in NR systems, small cell, micro cell, radio controller in Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN), access point in Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi), transmission reception point (TRP), relay station, access point, vehicle-mounted equipment, wearable device, hub, switch, bridge, router, network equipment in future evolved Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), etc.

[0052] The core network device 122 can be a 5G core network (5G Core, 5GC) device, which may include one or a combination of at least two of the following: Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), User Plane Function (UPF), Session Management Function (SMF), Location Management Function (LMF), and Policy Control Function (PCF). In other embodiments, the core network device may also be an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) device of an LTE network, for example, a Session Management Function + Core Packet Gateway (SMF+PGW-C) device. It should be understood that SMF+PGW-C can simultaneously implement the functions that SMF and PGW-C can perform. During network evolution, the aforementioned core network device 122 may also be called by other names, or new network entities may be formed by dividing the functions of the core network. This application embodiment does not limit this.

[0053] The various functional units in the communication system 100 can also establish connections and communicate with each other through the next generation (NG) interface.

[0054] For example, terminal devices establish air interface connections with access network devices through the NR interface for transmitting user plane data and control plane signaling; terminal devices can establish control plane signaling connections with the AMF through NG interface 1 (N1); access network devices, such as next-generation radio access base stations (gNB), can establish user plane data connections with the UPF through NG interface 3 (N3); access network devices can establish control plane signaling connections with the AMF through NG interface 2 (N2); the UPF can establish control plane signaling connections with the SMF through NG interface 4 (N4); the UPF can interact with the data network for user plane data through NG interface 6 (N6); the AMF can establish control plane signaling connections with the SMF through NG interface 11 (N11); and the SMF can establish control plane signaling connections with the PCF through NG interface 7 (N7).

[0055] Figure 1 An exemplary embodiment shows a base station, a core network device, and two terminal devices. Optionally, the wireless communication system 100 may include multiple base station devices, and each base station may include other numbers of terminal devices within its coverage area. This application embodiment does not limit this.

[0056] It should be noted that, Figure 1This application merely illustrates the system to which this application applies; of course, the methods shown in the embodiments of this application can also be applied to other systems. Furthermore, the terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably herein. The term "and / or" in this application merely describes the relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A existing alone, A and B existing simultaneously, or B existing alone. Additionally, the character " / " in this application generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects have an "or" relationship. It should also be understood that "instruction" mentioned in the embodiments of this application can be a direct instruction, an indirect instruction, or an indication of a related relationship. For example, A instructing B can mean that A directly instructs B, for example, B can be obtained through A; it can also mean that A indirectly instructs B, for example, A instructs C, B can be obtained through C; or it can mean that there is a related relationship between A and B. It should also be understood that "correspondence" mentioned in the embodiments of this application can indicate a direct or indirect correspondence between two things, or an related relationship between two things, or a relationship of instruction and being instructed, configuration and being configured, etc. It should also be understood that the "predefined," "protocol agreement," "predetermined," or "predefined rule" mentioned in the embodiments of this application can be implemented by pre-storing corresponding codes, tables, or other means that can be used to indicate relevant information in the device (e.g., including terminal devices and network devices). This application does not limit the specific implementation method. For example, predefined can refer to what is defined in a protocol. It should also be understood that in the embodiments of this application, the "protocol" can refer to standard protocols in the field of communication, such as the LTE protocol, the NR protocol, and related protocols applied to future communication systems. This application does not limit this.

[0057] To facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, the related technologies of the embodiments of this application are described below. The related technologies described below are optional solutions and can be combined with the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application in any way, and they all fall within the protection scope of the embodiments of this application.

[0058] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a system architecture based on a reference point presentation method is provided for an embodiment of this application, such as... Figure 2As shown, the reference point presentation method can demonstrate the interaction that can exist between corresponding Network Function (NF) services. Network functions include, for example: Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 201, Session Management Function (SMF) 202, Policy Control Function (PCF) 203, Application Function (AF) 204, and User Plane Function (UPF) 205. The system may also include: UE 206, Radio Access Network (RAN) or Access Node (AN) 207, and Data Network (DN) 208.

[0059] Figure 2 The following reference points are shown: N1 (between UE 206 and AMF 201), N2 (between RAN 207 and AMF 201), N3 (between RAN 207 and UPF 205), N4 (between SMF 202 and UPF 205), N5 (between PCF 203 and AF 204), N6 (between UPF 205 and DN 208), N7 (between SMF 202 and PCF 203), N9 (between the two UPF 205s), N11 (between AMF 201 and SMF 202), N14 (between the two AMF 201s), N15 (between PCF 203 and AMF 201 in non-roaming situations, or between PCF 203 and the visited network and AMF 201 in roaming situations), and N16 (between the two SMFs; not shown).

[0060] The following explains SMF, PCF, and AF:

[0061] SMF includes session establishment, modification and release, tunnel maintenance between UPF and AN nodes, terminal Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of UPF functions, billing data collection and billing interface support, etc.

[0062] PCF: Supports a unified policy framework for managing network behavior and provides operator network control policies to other network elements and terminals.

[0063] Applications Functions (AFs) can be internal to the carrier, such as IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS), or third-party services, such as web services, video, or games. If an AF is internal to the carrier and within the same trusted domain as other network functions (NFs), it can directly interact and access other NFs. If the AF is not within a trusted domain, a Network Exposure Function (NEF) is required to access other NFs.

[0064] The UE establishes an access layer connection with the AN via the Uu interface, exchanging access layer messages and radio data. The UE also establishes a non-access stratum (NAS) connection with the AMF via the N1 interface, exchanging NAS messages. The AMF is the mobility management function in the core network, and the SMF is the session management function. In addition to managing the UE's mobility, the AMF is responsible for forwarding session management-related messages between the UE and the SMF. The PCF is the policy management function in the core network, responsible for formulating policies related to UE mobility management, session management, and charging. The UPF is the user plane function in the core network, transmitting data with the external data network via the N6 interface and with the AN via the N3 interface.

[0065] Figure 3 This application provides a schematic diagram of a system architecture based on a service-oriented presentation method, as shown in the embodiments below. Figure 3 As shown, Figure 3 and Figure 2 The difference is that PCF 203, AF 204, AMF 201 and SMF 202 interact through service interfaces. The service interface provided by PCF 203 is Npcf, the service interface provided by AF 204 is Naf, the service interface provided by AMF 201 is Namf, and the service interface provided by SMF 202 is Nsmf.

[0066] In any embodiment of this application, AN or RAN is understood as the same as access network equipment, UPF is understood as the same as UPF network element, AMF is understood as the same as AMF network element, SMF is understood as the same as SMF network element, PCF is understood as the same as PCF network element, and AF is understood as the same as AF equipment.

[0067] It should be noted that the embodiments of this application do not limit communication between network elements to an interface method (corresponding to a reference point-based presentation method) or a service call method (corresponding to a service-based presentation method).

[0068] The UE can interact with the application server (which can be understood in the same way as the AF) to exchange application layer data. Application layer data includes at least one of the following: AR data, VR data, cloud gaming-related data, live video streaming data, etc. Application layer data is typically obtained after specific encoding and / or compression. For example, during the encoding process, media data may be divided into multiple data sets, each of which is encoded independently. For instance, a 100*100 pixel image (or picture) can be encoded independently, or the image can be divided into 10 100*10 pixel image blocks, each of which is encoded independently.

[0069] Each data set may include multiple IP packets, sent from the application server, reaching the UPF via the data network, and then sent by the UPF to the access network device. The access network device allocates radio resources to send these IP packets to the UE via the air interface. After receiving the data, the UE identifies the data set through the protocol layer above the IP layer, decodes each data set individually or further combines them to obtain the entire image. Optionally, the data set may include media units.

[0070] However, when multiple IP packets belonging to the same data set are sent from the application server, each packet chooses its own route as it travels through the data network to the UPF, resulting in out-of-order arrival at the UPF. This out-of-order delivery further occurs during the UPF's transmission to the access network device. Once the access network device receives multiple IP packets belonging to the same data set, it cannot read the IP layer and the protocol layers above it, and therefore cannot distinguish the order of these packets within the data set.

[0071] However, in some cases, the loss of a data packet in the dataset can lead to subsequent data being unable to be correctly decoded by the UE, even if it is successfully transmitted to the UE. Therefore, the data following this packet becomes invalid, rendering the transmission ineffective and wasting air interface resources. Consequently, if the access network device cannot distinguish the order of these data packets within the dataset, it cannot optimize air interface transmission based on the packet order.

[0072] To facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, the technical solutions of this application are described in detail below through specific embodiments. The above-mentioned related technologies are optional solutions and can be arbitrarily combined with the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application, all of which fall within the protection scope of the embodiments of this application. The embodiments of this application include at least some of the following contents.

[0073] Figure 4 This is a flowchart illustrating a communication method provided in an embodiment of this application, such as... Figure 4As shown, this method is applied to user plane network elements, and the method includes:

[0074] S401. The user plane network element adds a first protocol header to the target data packet based on the sequence information in the target data packet; the first protocol header includes first information that can be read by the access network device, and the first information is used to indicate the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set.

[0075] S402, The user plane network element sends a target data packet with the first protocol header added to it to the access network device.

[0076] Optionally, user plane network elements may include UPF network elements, or user plane network elements may include Packet Data Network / Serving Gateway (P / S-GW). It should be understood that, with the evolution of protocols, user plane network elements may also include network elements with other names, such as user plane network elements in 6G network systems or user plane network elements in 7G network systems, etc., and this application embodiment does not limit this.

[0077] Optionally, the target data packet may store sequence information, or the user plane network element may determine the sequence information based on fields stored in the target data packet. Optionally, the sequence information may characterize the generation order and / or transmission order of the target data packets. Optionally, the service data flow may be split into multiple data packets for transmission, and the multiple data packets include the target data packet. Optionally, the service data flow may be split into one or more data sets for transmission, and a data set may include one or more data packets, with the target data packet being a data packet from one of the data sets.

[0078] The sequence information in this application embodiment may be the sequence information of multiple data packets split from a service data stream or a message. Optionally, the service data stream may include complete data information to be sent. For example, the service data stream may include a video segment, a set of images, a frame of images, or a frame of image blocks; wherein, a frame of images may be divided into multiple image blocks. In some embodiments, the service data stream may be referred to as a message, or the service data stream may be divided into multiple messages.

[0079] Optionally, the sequence information may be referred to as sequence, sequence, sequence information, serial number, or serial number information.

[0080] Optionally, the target data packet can be an IP data packet, which includes at least one of the following: Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) data packets, Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP) data packets, Transfer Control Protocol (TCP) data packets, User Datagram Protocol (UDP) data packets, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) data packets, H.26x protocol data packets, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) protocol data packets, and Audio and Video Coding Standard (AVS) protocol data packets. In other embodiments, the target data packet can be one of the following: RTP data packets, SRTP data packets, TCP data packets, UDP data packets, HTTP data packets, H.26x protocol data packets, MPEG protocol data packets, and AVS protocol data packets. H.26x can include one of the following: H.263, H.264, H.265, etc. AVS can also be referred to as the "Advanced Audio and Video Coding" series of standards.

[0081] Optionally, the target data packet may include a payload and one or more protocol headers. For example, the target data packet may include an IP header, an upper-layer protocol header, and an upper-layer protocol payload. As another example, the target data packet may include a UDP header and a UDP payload. The upper-layer protocol may include protocols above the IP protocol. Optionally, the upper-layer protocol may include at least one of the following: RTP, SRTP, TCP, UDP, HTTP, H.26x protocol, MPEG protocol, and AVS protocol.

[0082] Optionally, the first protocol header can be a header that the access network device can read. Optionally, the information included in the first protocol header can be used by the access network device. Optionally, the first protocol header can be one header or multiple headers. Optionally, the first protocol is a protocol used for transmission between the access network device and the user plane device.

[0083] Optionally, by adding a first protocol header to the target data packet, a first protocol data packet can be obtained. That is, the first protocol data packet may include a first protocol header and a target data packet. In any embodiment of this application, the target data packet with the first protocol header added may be referred to as the first protocol data packet.

[0084] Optionally, the first information may be located in the sequence number field and / or extended field and / or predefined field of the first protocol packet header. Optionally, the first information may be represented by one or more bits.

[0085] Optionally, the dataset may include one or more data packets, and the one or more data packets may include a target data packet. Optionally, the target data packet may be any one or more data packets in the dataset, or any two or more data packets. For example, in some cases, the target data packet may be any one data packet in the dataset, while in other cases, the target data packet may be all the data packets in the dataset.

[0086] Optionally, the first protocol header may also include indication or identification information of the data set. For example, if the indication or identification information of the data set is 5, it indicates that the identifier of the data set to which the target data packet belongs is 5. In this way, the sequence of the target data packet in its data set can be determined by the indication or identification information of the data set and the first information.

[0087] Optionally, the user plane network element can send the target data packet with the first protocol header to the access network device via the N3 interface. Optionally, the user plane network element can send the data packets in the data set to the access network device according to the sequence of data packets in the data set. Optionally, the user plane network element can send the data packets in the data set to the access network device according to the order in which the data packets in the data set are received.

[0088] In this embodiment, the user plane network element adds a first protocol header to the target data packet based on the sequence information in the target data packet. The first protocol header includes first information that can be read by the access network device, and the first information is used to indicate the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set. The user plane network element sends the target data packet with the added first protocol header to the access network device. In this way, when the user plane network element sends the target data packet with the added first protocol header to the access network device, the first information in the first protocol header can be read by the access network device, so that the access network device can determine the sequence of the target data packet in the data set, and then control the air interface transmission based on the sequence of the target data packet in the data set.

[0089] In some implementation scenarios, if the target data packet transmission fails, the access network device will no longer send data packets following the target data packet to the terminal device, thereby saving air interface resources. Furthermore, since the terminal device will no longer receive data packets following the target data packet if the target data packet transmission fails, the power consumption of the terminal device can be reduced.

[0090] In some embodiments, the first protocol header may include a General Packet Radio Service Tunneling Protocol-User plane (GTP-U) header. In some embodiments, adding the first protocol header to the target data packet includes adding a GTP-U header to the target data packet.

[0091] Optionally, the GTP-U header added to the target data packet may include first information. Optionally, the first information may include a sequence number field and / or an extended field and / or a predefined field in the GTP-U header.

[0092] In some embodiments, the first information is the order information in the target data packet.

[0093] Optionally, if the sequence information in the target data packet is 25, then the first information is also 25. In some implementations, if the sequence information in multiple data packets in the data set is 24, 25, and 26 respectively, then the first information in the first protocol header added to these multiple data packets is also 24, 25, and 26 respectively.

[0094] In some implementations, the sequence information in the target data packet may include at least one of the following: a second sequence number in the target data packet, a target timestamp, a frame boundary marker, a start packet indication of the data set, and an end packet indication of the data set.

[0095] In other embodiments, the first information is the first sequence number of the target data packet in its respective data set, determined by the user plane network element based on the sequence information in the target data packet.

[0096] In some implementations, if the sequence information of multiple data packets in the data set is 24, 25, and 26 respectively, then the first information in the first protocol header added to these multiple data packets is 0, 1, and 2 respectively, or the first information is 1, 2, and 3 respectively.

[0097] In some implementations, the first information may be the first sequence number of the target data packet in its respective data set, determined by the user plane network element based on the order information in the target data packet and at least one of the following: a second sequence number, a target timestamp, a frame boundary marker, a start packet indication of the data set, and an end packet indication of the data set.

[0098] Optionally, the user plane network element may determine one or more data packets belonging to the same data set based on at least one of the following: second sequence number, target timestamp, frame boundary marker, start packet indication of data set, and end packet indication of data set, and then determine the first sequence number of the target data packet in its data set based on the second sequence number in one or more data packets in each data set.

[0099] For example, data packets with the same target timestamp belong to the same data set, and / or, data packets with the same or corresponding frame boundary markers belong to the same data packet, and / or, in the ordered data packets, the data packets indicated by the start packet of the data set to the data packets indicated by the end packet of the data set belong to the same data packet.

[0100] In some embodiments, the order information in the target data packet includes: the order information in the second protocol header and / or the order information in the second protocol payload.

[0101] In some embodiments, the second protocol includes one of the following: Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), H.26x protocol, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) protocol, and Audio / Video Codec Standard (AVS) protocol.

[0102] Optionally, the second protocol payload may include a payload header and a data portion. Optionally, the payload header may be referred to as the payload head, and / or the data portion may be referred to as the payload body portion or the payload body portion. Optionally, the first information may be included in the payload header, and / or may be included in the data portion.

[0103] Optionally, the sequence information may be included in the second protocol header (also known as the second protocol header), and / or, the sequence information may be included in the second protocol payload. When the sequence information is included in the second protocol payload, it may be included in the second protocol payload header or the data portion of the second protocol payload.

[0104] In some embodiments, the sequence information includes at least one of the following: a second sequence number, a target timestamp, a frame boundary marker, a start packet indication of the data set, and an end packet indication of the data set.

[0105] Optionally, the user plane network element may determine the first information based on at least one of the second sequence number, the target timestamp, the frame boundary marker, the start packet indication of the data set, and the end packet indication of the data set. For example, the user plane network element may determine the first information based on the second sequence number, and based on the target timestamp and / or the frame boundary marker. As another example, the user plane network element may determine the first information based on the second sequence number, and based on the start packet indication of the data set and / or the end packet indication of the data set.

[0106] In some embodiments, the method further includes: the user plane network element receiving description information and / or sequence number indication information of a service data stream sent by a control plane network element; and the user plane network element reading the sequence information in the target data packet based on the description information and / or the sequence number indication information of the service data stream.

[0107] Alternatively, the control plane element may also be referred to as the control network element in other embodiments.

[0108] Optionally, control plane network elements may include PCF network elements and / or SMF network elements, or control plane network elements may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME). It should be understood that, with the evolution of the protocol, control plane network elements may also include network elements with other names, such as control plane network elements in a 6G network system or control plane network elements in a 7G network system, etc., and this application embodiment does not impose such limitations.

[0109] Optionally, multiple data packets can be obtained by dividing the business data stream. For example, the business data stream can be divided into multiple data sets, and each data set may include one or more data packets. Each data packet obtained by dividing the business data stream may include header information, and the header information of each data packet may include description information of the business data stream, or may be associated with the description information of the business data stream.

[0110] Optionally, the sequence number indication information is used to indicate at least one of the following: reading sequence information, whether to add first information to the first protocol header, the protocol associated with the reading sequence information, data set level processing of the business data stream, the position of reading sequence information, and using a frame or Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit as the data set.

[0111] Optionally, upon receiving description information of a service data stream, the user plane network element may read the sequence information in the target data packet corresponding to the description information of the service data stream. Optionally, upon receiving sequence number indication information, the user plane network element may read the sequence information in the target data packet. Optionally, upon receiving both description information of the service data stream and sequence number indication information, the user plane network element may read the sequence information in the target data packet.

[0112] Alternatively, the serial number indication information may also be referred to as sequence indication information, order indication information, or sequence addition indication information in other embodiments.

[0113] In some embodiments, the description information includes at least one of the following: packet header information, application identifier, and service identifier; the packet header information includes at least one of the following: source Internet Protocol (IP) address, destination IP address, source port, destination port, source Media Access Control (MAC) address, and destination MAC address.

[0114] Optionally, the application identifier can be the application identifier corresponding to the business data flow. The application identifier can include the identifier of an application or application software. For example, the application identifier can include the identifier of Tencent Video, the identifier of iQiyi Video, or the identifier of WeChat, etc. The application identifier can be an application identifier within the operator or an application identifier of a third-party application.

[0115] Optionally, the service identifier can be a service identifier corresponding to a service data stream. Different service identifiers can correspond to different services within the service data stream. For example, service identifiers can include: identifiers for voice communication services, video playback services, video communication services, web browsing services, etc. Service identifiers can be internal operator service identifiers or service identifiers for third-party services.

[0116] Optionally, the packet header information may also include at least one of the following: IP packet header information, upper-layer protocol packet header information of the IP protocol, etc.

[0117] In some embodiments, the serial number indication information includes at least one of the following:

[0118] Explicit indication information and / or implicit indication information, wherein the explicit indication information and / or the implicit indication information are used to indicate whether to add the first information to the first protocol header;

[0119] The second protocol instruction information includes one of the following: Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), H.26x protocol, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) protocol, and Audio / Video Standard (AVS) protocol.

[0120] The second information is used to instruct the data set-level processing of the business data stream;

[0121] The third information is used to indicate the position where the sequence information in the target data packet is read;

[0122] The fourth information is used to indicate whether the data set is a frame or a Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit.

[0123] Optionally, the indication information can be one or more bits, and different values ​​of the one or more bits indicate whether to add the first information to the first protocol header. For example, when the bit information is 1, it indicates that the first information should be added to the first protocol header; when the bit information is 0, it indicates that the first information should not be added to the first protocol header.

[0124] Optionally, the implicit indication information can be a target field or target field in the signaling, which can be used to: configure relevant parameters for reading sequence information in the target data packet, and / or configure an indication to add the first information to the first protocol header. If the target field or target field is carried in the signaling, it indicates that the first information should be added to the first protocol header. If the target field or target field is not carried in the signaling, or if the target field or target field is not configured with relevant parameters for reading sequence information in the target data packet, or if the target field or target field is not configured with an indication to add the first information to the first protocol header, it indicates that the first information should not be added to the first protocol header. Optionally, the relevant parameters for reading sequence information in the target data packet can include at least one of the following: an indication to read sequence information, an indication of the protocol associated with reading sequence information, an indication to perform data set-level processing on the service data stream, an indication of the position of reading sequence information, and an indication of using a frame or NAL unit as a data set.

[0125] Optionally, when a user plane network element receives the second protocol indication information, it can read the sequence information from the data packet corresponding to the second protocol in the target data packet. For example, it can read the sequence information from the second protocol header (also called the second protocol header) and / or the second protocol payload.

[0126] Optionally, upon receiving the second information, the user plane network element can determine that the service data stream is being processed by a data set, meaning the service data stream is being sent through multiple data sets. Thus, the user plane network element can read the sequence information in the target data packet and include the first information in the first protocol header added to the target data packet.

[0127] Optionally, when the user plane network element receives the third information, it can read the sequence information in the target data packet based on the position indicated by the third information, and add a first protocol header including the first information to the target data packet.

[0128] Optionally, the third information may also be used to indicate at least one of the following: a second protocol data packet, a second protocol packet header (also called a second protocol header), a second protocol payload, a second protocol payload header, a second protocol extension header, a target field or target field for reading order information.

[0129] Optionally, when using frames as the data set, one data set can correspond to one frame of image, or one data set can correspond to multiple frames of image. Optionally, when using network abstraction layer (NAL) units as the data set, one data set can correspond to one image patch, or one data set can correspond to multiple image patches. A single frame of image can be divided into multiple image patches. The sizes of the multiple image patches can be the same or different.

[0130] Optionally, when the fourth information indicates that the data set is a frame, the user plane network element can determine the order information from the information read from the second protocol header. Optionally, when the fourth information indicates that the data set is a Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit, the user plane network element can determine the order information from the information read from the second protocol header and the second protocol payload header, and then add a first protocol header including the first information to the target data packet based on the order information.

[0131] In some embodiments, the location includes at least one of the following: Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) header, Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) payload header, and Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) extension header.

[0132] Optionally, in other embodiments, the location information may include at least one of the following: TCP header, TCP payload header, TCP extension header, UDP header, UDP payload header, UDP extension header, HTTP header, HTTP payload header, HTTP extension header, H.26x header, H.26x payload header, H.26x extension header, MPEG header, MPEG payload header, MPEG extension header, AVS header, AVS payload header, AVS extension header, etc.

[0133] In some embodiments, the method further includes: when the position of reading the sequence information in the target data packet is a Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) header, or when the data is a frame, the user plane network element determines the sequence of the target data packet in its data set based on at least one of the following: target timestamp, frame boundary marker, and second sequence number.

[0134] In any embodiment of this application, the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set can be the first sequence number of the target data packet in its respective data set.

[0135] Optionally, when the position of reading the sequence information in the target data packet is the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) header, or when the data is in frames, the user plane network element determines the data packets belonging to the same data set based on at least one of the following: target timestamp, frame boundary marker; the user plane network element may determine the sequence of the target data packet in its data set based on the second sequence number of the data packets in the same data set.

[0136] Optionally, the user plane network element may determine, based on the received third information, that the position for reading the sequence information in the target data packet is the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) header, or determine, based on the received fourth information, that the frame is the data set.

[0137] Optionally, data packets with the same destination timestamp can belong to the same data set. Optionally, data packets with the same frame boundary marker or response can belong to the same data set.

[0138] For example, if the first data set includes 3 data packets with second sequence numbers 0, 1, and 2 respectively, then the first information included in the first protocol header added to the 3 data packets in the first data set is 0, 1, and 2 respectively. As another example, if the second data set includes 4 data packets with second sequence numbers 3, 4, 5, and 6 respectively, then the first information included in the first protocol header added to the 4 data packets in the second data set is 0, 1, 2, and 3, or 1, 2, 3, and 4, or 3, 4, 5, and 6 respectively.

[0139] In some embodiments, the method further includes: when the location for reading the sequence information in the target data packet includes a Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) payload header, or when a Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit is used as the data set, the user plane network element determines the sequence of the target data packet in its data set based on at least one of the following: a start packet indication of the data set, an end packet indication of the data set, and a second sequence number.

[0140] Optionally, when the location for reading the sequence information in the target data packet includes the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) payload header, or when the Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit is used as the data set, the user plane network element determines the data packets belonging to the same data set based on at least one of the following: the start packet indication of the data set, the end packet indication of the data set, and the second sequence number; the user plane network element may determine the sequence of the target data packet in its data set based on the second sequence number of the data packets in the same data set.

[0141] Optionally, the user plane network element may determine the location for reading the sequence information in the target data packet, including the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) payload header, based on the received third information, or determine the Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit as the data set based on the received fourth information.

[0142] Optionally, in some implementations, the location for reading the sequence information in the target data packet includes the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) payload header. This can include: the location for reading the sequence information in the target data packet includes both the RTP header and the RTP payload header; or, the location for reading the sequence information in the target data packet is the RTP payload header. For example, the user plane network element can first read the RTP header, from which at least one of the following can be read: target timestamp, frame boundary marker, and second sequence number. Then, it can read the RTP payload header, from which at least one of the following can be read: start packet indicator of the data set, end packet indicator of the data set, and second sequence number. For example, if the user plane network element is instructed by the received third information to read the sequence information in the target data packet at a location including the RTP payload header, or if the user plane network element is instructed by the received fourth information to use a Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit as the data set, the user plane network element may read at least one of the following from the RTP payload header: the start packet indication of the data set, the end packet indication of the data set, and the second sequence number; or, the user plane network element may read at least one of the following from the RTP packet header: the target timestamp, the frame boundary marker, and the second sequence number, and then read the RTP payload header, and read at least one of the following from the RTP payload header: the start packet indication of the data set, the end packet indication of the data set, and the second sequence number.

[0143] Optionally, the user plane network element can determine the data packets belonging to the same data set based on the start packet indication and the second sequence number of the data set; or the user plane network element can determine the data packets belonging to the same data set based on the end packet indication and the second sequence number of the data set; or the user plane network element can determine the data packets belonging to the same data set based on the start packet indication, the end packet indication, and the second sequence number of the data set.

[0144] In some embodiments, the second sequence number is the sequence number of data generation or data sent from the application server, and the target timestamp is the timestamp of data generation or data sent from the application server.

[0145] Figure 5 A flowchart illustrating another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application is shown below. Figure 5 As shown, this method is applied to access network equipment, and the method includes:

[0146] S501. The access network device receives a target data packet sent by a user plane network element; the first protocol header of the target data packet includes first information, which is used to indicate the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set.

[0147] S502, The access network device reads the first information from the first protocol header in the target data packet.

[0148] Optionally, the access network device can determine the location for reading the first information based on a pre-configuration, and read the first information from the first protocol header in the target data packet based on that location. The pre-configuration may include indication information of the domain or field where the first information is located. Optionally, in other embodiments, the access network device can determine the location for reading the first information based on configuration information sent by the user plane network element, or the access network device can determine the location for reading the first information based on the location indicated by other information in the first protocol header, and thus read the first information from the first protocol header in the target data packet based on that location.

[0149] Optionally, the access network device may also read the indication information or identification information of the data set from the first protocol packet header, thereby determining the data set to which the target data packet belongs based on the indication information or identification information of the data set.

[0150] In this embodiment of the application, the access network device reads the first information, thereby enabling the access network device to determine the sequence number of the target data packet in its respective data set, and then to control the air interface transmission according to the needs of the target data packet in its respective data set, for example, to optimize the air interface transmission.

[0151] In some embodiments, the access network device reads the first information from the first protocol header in the target data packet, including: the access network device reads the first information from the General Packet Radio Service Tunneling Protocol-User Plane GTP-U header in the target data packet.

[0152] In some embodiments, the first information is the sequence information in the target data packet, or the first information is the first sequence number of the target data packet in its data set, determined by the user plane network element based on the sequence information in the target data packet.

[0153] In some embodiments, the order information in the target data packet includes: order information in the second protocol header and / or order information in the second protocol payload, wherein the second protocol includes one of the following:

[0154] Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), H.26x protocol, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) protocol, and Audio / Video Codec Standard (AVS) protocol.

[0155] In some embodiments, the sequence information includes at least one of the following: a second sequence number, a target timestamp, a frame boundary marker, a start packet indication of the data set, and an end packet indication of the data set.

[0156] In some embodiments, the second sequence number is the sequence number of data generation or data sent from the application server, and the target timestamp is the timestamp of data generation or data sent from the application server.

[0157] In some embodiments, the method further includes: if the access network device fails to send the target data packet to the terminal device, the access network device does not send the remaining data packets to the terminal device; the remaining data packets are: data packets in the data set that are sequenced after the target data packet.

[0158] Optionally, failure to send the target data packet to the terminal device may include: failure to send the target data packet to the terminal device once or multiple times.

[0159] Optionally, failure to send the target data packet to the terminal device may include: the target data packet being lost, or the target data packet sent by the access network device not reaching the terminal device, or an error occurring in the target data packet, or the access network device not receiving a feedback message for the target data packet.

[0160] For example, when the access network device receives data packets with sequences 0, 1, and 2 in the data set, it can first send the data packet with sequence 0 to the terminal device. If the data packet with sequence 0 is successfully sent, it will send the data packet with sequence 1. If the data packet with sequence 0 fails to be sent, it will not send the data packets with sequences 1 and 2 to the terminal device. If the data packet with sequence 1 is successfully sent, it will send the data packet with sequence 2. If the data packet with sequence 1 fails to be sent, it will not send the data packet with sequence 2 to the terminal device.

[0161] Optionally, if the target data packet fails to be sent, the access network device may continue to send the target data packet to the terminal device after a preset time interval; or, the access network device may send the target data packet to the terminal device if it determines that the channel quality between it and the terminal device is greater than a certain threshold; or, the access network device may discard the data set including the target data packet.

[0162] In other embodiments, unlike the scheme described above, the remaining data packets are data packets received by the access network device after the target data packet. In this case, the order in which the access network device sends data packets to the terminal device is consistent with the order in which it receives data packets sent by the user plane network element.

[0163] Figure 6 A flowchart illustrating another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application is shown below. Figure 6 As shown, this method is applied to control plane network elements, and the method includes:

[0164] S601, The control plane network element receives the description information and / or sequence number indication information of the service data stream.

[0165] S602, the control plane network element sends the description information of the service data stream and / or the sequence number indication information to the user plane network element; wherein, the description information of the service data stream and / or the sequence number indication information are used by the user plane network element to add a first protocol header to the target data packet based on the order information in the target data packet; the first protocol header includes first information that can be read by the access network device, and the first information is used to indicate the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set.

[0166] Optionally, the control plane network element receiving the description information and / or sequence number indication information of the service data stream may include: the control plane network element receiving the description information and / or sequence number indication information of the service data stream sent by the application server.

[0167] Optionally, the control plane network element may include a PCF network element and an SMF network element. The PCF network element receives the description information and / or sequence number indication information of the service data stream and sends the description information and / or sequence number indication information of the service data stream to the SMF network element. The SMF network element sends the received description information and / or sequence number indication information of the service data stream to the user plane network element.

[0168] In some embodiments, the description information includes at least one of the following: packet header information, application identifier, and service identifier; the packet header information includes at least one of the following: source Internet Protocol (IP) address, destination IP address, source port, destination port, source Media Access Control (MAC) address, and destination MAC address.

[0169] In some embodiments, the serial number indication information includes at least one of the following:

[0170] Explicit indication information and / or implicit indication information, wherein the explicit indication information and / or the implicit indication information are used to indicate whether to add the first information to the first protocol header;

[0171] The second protocol instruction information includes one of the following: Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), H.26x protocol, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) protocol, and Audio / Video Standard (AVS) protocol.

[0172] The second information is used to instruct the data set-level processing of the business data stream;

[0173] The third information is used to indicate the position where the sequence information in the target data packet is read;

[0174] The fourth information is used to indicate whether the data set is a frame or a Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit.

[0175] In some embodiments, the location includes at least one of the following: Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) header, Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) payload header, and Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) extension header.

[0176] In some embodiments, this application may also provide another communication method, which can be applied to an application server. The method includes: the application server sending description information and / or sequence number indication information of a service data stream to a control plane network element, wherein the description information and / or sequence number indication information of the service data stream is used by the control plane network element to send to a user plane network element.

[0177] The following describes the implementation methods of the embodiments of this application:

[0178] In this embodiment, the Application Function (AF) device (corresponding to the application server described above) provides the Policy Control Function (PCF) network element located in the core network with service data flow description information (corresponding to the service data flow description information in the above embodiment) and sequence number indication (corresponding to the sequence number indication information in the above embodiment). Wherein:

[0179] The business data flow description information can be business data flow filter information. The data flow filter information is a feature of the user plane data packet header. For example, for IP type data, it can include at least one of the following: IP source address, destination IP address, source port number, destination port number, etc. For Ethernet type data, it can include at least one of the following: source MAC address, destination MAC address, etc.

[0180] Sequence number indication is used to indicate the addition of sequence number information that can be recognized by the access network device to the data packets of the service data stream, such as adding sequence number information to the data packets at the GTP-U protocol layer of the 3GPP protocol.

[0181] Alternatively, the serial number indicator can be one or a combination of the following:

[0182] An explicit flag, for example, 1 indicates adding, and 0 indicates not adding;

[0183] Protocol types above the IP layer, such as one of the following: TCP, UDP, RTP, HTTP, H.26x (H.263 / H.264 / H.265, etc.), MPEG, AVS, etc.;

[0184] Instructions to perform data set-level processing on the business data stream;

[0185] Indicates the location for reading the order information of data packets in the upper-layer protocol (corresponding to the second protocol mentioned above), such as reading the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) header to obtain the order information of data packets, or reading the RTP payload header to obtain the order information of data packets, or reading the RTP extension header to obtain the order information of data packets;

[0186] The instruction can be in frames as a data set or in Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) units as a data set. In this case, the instruction for the position of reading the order information is implicit. For example, when the instruction is in frames as a data set, it means reading the RTP header to obtain the order information of the data packets. When the instruction is in NAL units as a data set, it means reading the RTP payload header to obtain the order information of the data packets.

[0187] In some embodiments, the serial number information that the added access network device can recognize (corresponding to the first information or the first serial number mentioned above) can be one or more of the following combinations:

[0188] The sequence information of data packets read from the upper-layer protocol can be, for example, at least one of the following: the sequence number of the data generated or sent from the application server, the timestamp of the data generated or sent from the application server, frame boundary markers, start / end packet indications of the data set, etc.

[0189] The sequence number assigned to the data packet by the core network element within its respective data set based on information read from the upper-layer protocol.

[0190] In some embodiments, the PCF network element determines the Policy Control and Charging (PCC) rules for the service data flow according to the request of the application function device. These rules include the service data flow description information and / or sequence number indication for the service data flow. The PCC rules are then sent to the SMF network element, which in turn sends the service data flow description information and / or sequence number indication to the UPF network element.

[0191] Figure 7 A flowchart illustrating another communication method provided in an embodiment of this application is shown below. Figure 7 As shown, the method includes:

[0192] S701, Application Function AF device sends service data flow description information and / or sequence number indication to PCF network element.

[0193] S702, the PCF network element sends a PCC rule to the SMF network element. The PCC rule includes service data flow description information and / or sequence number indication.

[0194] S703, SMF network element sends service data flow description information and / or sequence number indication to UPF network element.

[0195] The S704 and UPF network elements receive downlink data, which includes the target data packet.

[0196] Optionally, the downlink data received by the UPF network element may be sent by the application function device or by other devices.

[0197] The S705 and UPF network elements send downlink data with a first protocol header added to the access network device. The first protocol header includes first information that can be read by the access network device.

[0198] The following describes how UPF processes downlink (DL) data based on information obtained from the control plane.

[0199] For downlink data, the UPF network element receives data (downlink data) from the data network. The UPF network element uses the service data flow description information to match the received data, thereby determining whether to add sequence number information that the access network device can recognize (corresponding to the first information mentioned above) to the data. For example, if the UPF network element obtains the service data flow description information and sequence number indication of the IP-5 tuple {source IPa, destination IPb, source port number c, destination port number d, protocol type e} from S703, then when the UPF network element receives downlink data whose packet header information matches the IP-5 tuple from the external data network, it reads the packet order information in the upper-layer protocol of the packet and determines the sequence number information that the access network device can recognize based on the packet order information in the upper-layer protocol (corresponding to the sequence or first sequence number of the target packet in its data set mentioned above). The UPF network element adds the determined sequence number information that the access network device can recognize to the packet header and sends it to the access network device. The upper-layer protocol here refers to protocols above the IP layer, such as TCP, UDP, RTP, HTTP, H.26x (H.263 / H.264 / H.265, etc.), MPEG, AVS, etc. The sequence number information that the access network device can recognize, as determined by the UPF network element, can be added to any position in the packet header that the access network device can read, such as in the GTP-U protocol layer packet header of the 3GPP protocol. The access network device schedules DL data based on the sequence number information carried in the DL packet header received from the UPF network element. For example, if a packet cannot be transmitted, packets with sequence numbers belonging to the same data set following that packet are considered invalid and will not be transmitted.

[0200] The following are examples of several specific operations of UPF based on the RTP protocol layer:

[0201] Method 1: The sequence number received by the UPF network element from the SMF network element indicates an explicit flag, and / or an RTP type indication, and / or a data set level processing indication, and / or an RTP header read indication. The UPF network element reads the RTP header of the RTP data received from the data network to obtain at least one of the following: the sequence number generated by the data or sent from the application server, the timestamp generated by the data or sent from the application server, frame boundary markers, etc. The UPF network element can directly add this information to the packet header that the access network device can read, or the UPF network element can assign a sequence number to the packet in its data set based on this information and add the sequence number to the packet header that the access network device can read. This method can be used when the frame is a data set. For example, packets belonging to the same data set can be identified by the timestamp generated by the data or sent from the application server (data timestamps in the same frame are the same), or by the frame boundary markers. Then, the sequence number of the packet in its data set can be determined based on the sequence number generated by the data or sent from the application server.

[0202] Method 2: The sequence number received by the UPF network element from the SMF network element indicates explicit flags, and / or RTP type indication, and / or data set level processing indication, and / or RTP header read indication, and / or RTP payload header read indication. The UPF network element reads the RTP header of the RTP data received from the data network to obtain at least one of the following: the sequence number of the data generation or sent from the application server, the timestamp of the data generation or sent from the application server, frame boundary markers, etc. The UPF network element further reads the RTP payload header of the RTP data received from the data network to obtain information such as the start / end packet indication of the data set. The UPF network element can directly add this information to the packet header that the access network device can read, or the UPF network element can assign a sequence number to the packet in its respective data set based on this information and add the sequence number to the packet header that the access network device can read. This method can be used when the Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit is a data set. For example, the start / end packet indication of the data set can be obtained through the RTP payload header to determine the data packets belonging to the same data set. Then, the sequence number of the data packet in its data set can be determined based on the sequence number generated by the data or sent from the application server.

[0203] In this embodiment, the access network device can distinguish the order of data packets in the data set. Therefore, the access network device can optimize the air interface transmission according to the order of data packets. For example, when a data packet cannot be transmitted, the data packets with sequence numbers following the data packet belonging to the same data set are considered invalid data packets, and invalid data packets will no longer be transmitted.

[0204] It should be noted that the embodiments of this application are applicable not only to 5G networks, but also to future 3GPP networks.

[0205] The preferred embodiments of this application have been described in detail above with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, this application is not limited to the specific details of the above embodiments. Within the scope of the technical concept of this application, various simple modifications can be made to the technical solutions of this application, and these simple modifications all fall within the protection scope of this application. For example, the various specific technical features described in the above specific embodiments can be combined in any suitable manner without contradiction. To avoid unnecessary repetition, this application will not describe the various possible combinations separately. Furthermore, various different embodiments of this application can also be arbitrarily combined, as long as they do not violate the spirit of this application, they should also be considered as the content disclosed in this application. Moreover, without conflict, the various embodiments and / or the technical features in the various embodiments described in this application can be arbitrarily combined with the prior art, and the resulting technical solutions should also fall within the protection scope of this application.

[0206] It should also be understood that in the various method 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 application. Furthermore, in the embodiments of this application, the terms "downlink," "uplink," and "sidelink" are used to indicate the transmission direction of signals or data. "Downlink" indicates that the transmission direction of signals or data is a first direction from the site to the user equipment in the cell; "uplink" indicates that the transmission direction of signals or data is a second direction from the user equipment in the cell to the site; and "sidelink" indicates that the transmission direction of signals or data is a third direction from user equipment 1 to user equipment 2. For example, "downlink signal" indicates that the transmission direction of the signal is the first direction. Additionally, in the embodiments of this application, the term "and / or" is merely a description of the association relationship between related objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. Specifically, A and / or B can represent: A existing alone, A and B existing simultaneously, and B existing alone. Furthermore, the character " / " in this document generally indicates that the preceding and following related objects have an "or" relationship.

[0207] Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the structural composition of the communication device provided in the embodiments of this application, which is applied to terminal devices, such as... Figure 8 As shown, the communication device 800 includes:

[0208] Processing unit 801 is configured to add a first protocol header to the target data packet based on the sequence information in the target data packet; the first protocol header includes first information that can be read by the access network device, the first information being used to indicate the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set;

[0209] The communication unit 802 is used to send a target data packet with the first protocol header added to it to the access network device.

[0210] In some embodiments, the processing unit 801 is further configured to add a General Packet Radio Service Tunneling Protocol-User Plane GTP-U header to the target data packet.

[0211] In some embodiments, the first information is the sequence information in the target data packet, or the first information is the first sequence number of the target data packet in its data set, determined by the user plane network element based on the sequence information in the target data packet.

[0212] In some embodiments, the order information in the target data packet includes: order information in the second protocol header and / or order information in the second protocol payload, wherein the second protocol includes one of the following:

[0213] Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), H.26x protocol, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) protocol, and Audio / Video Codec Standard (AVS) protocol.

[0214] In some embodiments, the sequence information includes at least one of the following:

[0215] Second sequence number, target timestamp, frame boundary marker, start packet indicator of data set, and end packet indicator of data set.

[0216] In some embodiments, the communication unit 802 is further configured to receive description information and / or sequence number indication information of the service data stream sent by the control plane network element;

[0217] The processing unit 801 is further configured to read the sequence information in the target data packet based on the description information of the service data stream and / or the sequence number indication information.

[0218] In some embodiments, the description information includes at least one of the following: packet header information, application identifier, and service identifier;

[0219] The packet header information includes at least one of the following: source Internet Protocol (IP) address, destination IP address, source port, destination port, source Media Access Control (MAC) address, and destination MAC address.

[0220] In some embodiments, the serial number indication information includes at least one of the following:

[0221] Explicit indication information and / or implicit indication information, wherein the explicit indication information and / or the implicit indication information are used to indicate whether to add the first information to the first protocol header;

[0222] The second protocol instruction information includes one of the following: Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), H.26x protocol, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) protocol, and Audio / Video Standard (AVS) protocol.

[0223] The second information is used to instruct the data set-level processing of the business data stream;

[0224] The third information is used to indicate the position where the sequence information in the target data packet is read;

[0225] The fourth information is used to indicate whether the data set is a frame or a Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit.

[0226] In some embodiments, the location includes at least one of the following: Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) header, Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) payload header, and Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) extension header.

[0227] In some embodiments, the processing unit 801 is further configured to: when the position of reading the sequence information in the target data packet is the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) header, or when the data is a frame, the user plane network element determines the sequence of the target data packet in its data set based on at least one of the following: target timestamp, frame boundary marker, and second sequence number.

[0228] In some embodiments, the processing unit 801 is further configured to: when the location for reading the sequence information in the target data packet includes a Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) payload header, or when the Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit is used as the data set, the user plane network element determines the sequence of the target data packet in its data set based on at least one of the following: a start packet indication of the data set, an end packet indication of the data set, and a second sequence number.

[0229] In some embodiments, the second sequence number is the sequence number of data generation or data sent from the application server, and the target timestamp is the timestamp of data generation or data sent from the application server.

[0230] Figure 9 This is a schematic diagram of the structural composition of another communication device provided in an embodiment of this application, applied to a terminal device, such as... Figure 9 As shown, the communication device 900 includes:

[0231] Communication unit 901 is used to receive target data packets sent by user plane network elements; the first protocol header of the target data packet includes first information, which is used to indicate the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set;

[0232] The reading unit 902 is used to read the first information from the first protocol header in the target data packet.

[0233] In some embodiments, the reading unit 902 is configured to read the first information from the General Packet Radio Service Tunneling Protocol-User Plane GTP-U header in the target data packet.

[0234] In some embodiments, the first information is the sequence information in the target data packet, or the first information is the first sequence number of the target data packet in its data set, determined by the user plane network element based on the sequence information in the target data packet.

[0235] In some embodiments, the order information in the target data packet includes: order information in the second protocol header and / or order information in the second protocol payload, wherein the second protocol includes one of the following:

[0236] Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), H.26x protocol, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) protocol, and Audio / Video Codec Standard (AVS) protocol.

[0237] In some embodiments, the sequence information includes at least one of the following:

[0238] Second sequence number, target timestamp, frame boundary marker, start packet indicator of data set, and end packet indicator of data set.

[0239] In some embodiments, the second sequence number is the sequence number of data generation or data sent from the application server, and the target timestamp is the timestamp of data generation or data sent from the application server.

[0240] In some embodiments, the communication unit 901 is further configured to, in the event that the access network device fails to send the target data packet to the terminal device, not send the remaining data packets to the terminal device; the remaining data packets are: data packets in the data set that are sequenced after the target data packet.

[0241] Figure 10 This is a schematic diagram of the structural composition of another communication device provided in an embodiment of this application, applied to a terminal device, such as... Figure 10 As shown, the communication device 1000 includes:

[0242] The communication unit 1001 is used to receive description information and / or sequence number indication information of the service data stream;

[0243] The communication unit 1001 is further configured to send the description information of the service data stream and / or the sequence number indication information to the user plane network element; wherein, the description information of the service data stream and / or the sequence number indication information are used by the user plane network element to add a first protocol header to the target data packet based on the order information in the target data packet; the first protocol header includes first information that can be read by the access network device, and the first information is used to indicate the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set.

[0244] In some embodiments, the communication device 1000 further includes a processing unit for determining user plane network elements.

[0245] In some embodiments, the description information includes at least one of the following: packet header information, application identifier, and service identifier;

[0246] The packet header information includes at least one of the following: source Internet Protocol (IP) address, destination IP address, source port, destination port, source Media Access Control (MAC) address, and destination MAC address.

[0247] In some embodiments, the serial number indication information includes at least one of the following:

[0248] Explicit indication information and / or implicit indication information, wherein the explicit indication information and / or the implicit indication information are used to indicate whether to add the first information to the first protocol header;

[0249] The second protocol instruction information includes one of the following: Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), H.26x protocol, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) protocol, and Audio / Video Standard (AVS) protocol.

[0250] The second information is used to instruct the data set-level processing of the business data stream;

[0251] The third information is used to indicate the position where the sequence information in the target data packet is read;

[0252] The fourth information is used to indicate whether the data set is a frame or a Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit.

[0253] In some embodiments, the location includes at least one of the following: Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) header, Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) payload header, and Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) extension header.

[0254] Those skilled in the art should understand that the description of the communication device in the embodiments of this application can be understood with reference to the description of the communication method in the embodiments of this application.

[0255] Figure 11 This is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of this application. The communication device 1100 may include one of the following: a user plane network element, an access network device, or a control plane network element. Figure 11 The communication device 1100 shown may include a processor 1110 and a memory 1120, wherein the memory 1120 stores a computer program that can run on the processor 1110, and the processor 1110 implements the communication method in any of the above embodiments when executing the program.

[0256] Alternatively, the memory 1120 may be a separate device independent of the processor 1110, or it may be integrated into the processor 1110.

[0257] In some embodiments, such as Figure 11 As shown, the communication device 1100 may also include a transceiver 1130. The processor 1110 can control the transceiver 1130 to communicate with other devices. Specifically, it can send information or data to other devices or receive information or data sent by other devices.

[0258] The transceiver 1130 may include a transmitter and a receiver. The transceiver 1130 may further include an antenna, and the number of antennas may be one or more.

[0259] In some embodiments, the communication device 1100 may specifically be a user plane network element, access network device or control plane network element in the embodiments of this application, and the communication device 1100 may implement the corresponding processes implemented by the user plane network element, access network device or control plane network element in the various methods of the embodiments of this application. For the sake of brevity, it will not be described in detail here.

[0260] This application also provides a computer storage medium that stores one or more programs, which can be executed by one or more processors to implement the communication method in any embodiment of this application.

[0261] In some embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium can be applied to user plane network elements, access network devices, or control plane network elements in the embodiments of this application, and the computer program causes the computer to execute the corresponding processes implemented by user plane network elements, access network devices, or control plane network elements in the various methods of the embodiments of this application. For the sake of brevity, these will not be described in detail here.

[0262] Figure 12This is a schematic structural diagram of a chip according to an embodiment of this application. Figure 12 The chip 1200 shown includes a processor 1210, which is used to call and run a computer program from memory to implement the method in any embodiment of this application.

[0263] In some embodiments, such as Figure 12 As shown, chip 1200 may further include memory 1220. Processor 1210 can retrieve and run computer programs from memory 1220 to implement the methods described in this embodiment.

[0264] The memory 1220 can be a separate device independent of the processor 1210, or it can be integrated into the processor 1210.

[0265] In some embodiments, the chip 1200 may further include an input interface 1230. The processor 1210 can control the input interface 1230 to communicate with other devices or chips; specifically, it can acquire information or data sent by other devices or chips.

[0266] In some embodiments, the chip 1200 may further include an output interface 1240. The processor 1210 can control the output interface 1240 to communicate with other devices or chips, specifically, to output information or data to other devices or chips.

[0267] In some embodiments, the chip can be applied to user plane network elements, access network devices or control plane network elements in the embodiments of this application, and the chip can implement the corresponding processes implemented by user plane network elements, access network devices or control plane network elements in various methods of the embodiments of this application. For the sake of brevity, it will not be described in detail here.

[0268] It should be understood that the chip mentioned in the embodiments of this application may also be referred to as a system-on-a-chip, system chip, chip system, or system-on-a-chip, etc.

[0269] This application also provides a computer program product, which includes a computer storage medium storing a computer program. The computer program includes instructions executable by at least one processor, which, when executed by the at least one processor, implement the communication method in any embodiment of this application.

[0270] In some embodiments, the computer program product can be applied to user plane network elements, access network devices, or control plane network elements in the embodiments of this application, and the computer program instructions cause the computer to execute the corresponding processes implemented by user plane network elements, access network devices, or control plane network elements in the various methods of the embodiments of this application. For the sake of brevity, these will not be described in detail here.

[0271] Alternatively, the computer program product in the embodiments of this application may also be referred to as a software product in other embodiments.

[0272] This application also provides a computer program that causes a computer to execute the communication method in any embodiment of this application.

[0273] In some embodiments, the computer program can be applied to user plane network elements, access network devices, or control plane network elements in the embodiments of this application. When the computer program is run on a computer, it causes the computer to execute the corresponding processes implemented by user plane network elements, access network devices, or control plane network elements in the various methods of the embodiments of this application. For the sake of brevity, these will not be described in detail here.

[0274] The processor, communication device, or chip in the embodiments of this application may be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. During implementation, each step of the above method embodiments can be completed by integrated logic circuits in the processor hardware or by instructions in software form. The processor, communication device, or chip described above may include any one or more of the following integrations: general-purpose processor, application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), digital signal processor (DSP), digital signal processing device (DSPD), programmable logic device (PLD), field-programmable gate array (FPGA), central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU), embedded neural network processing unit (NPU), controller, microcontroller, microprocessor, programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware component. It can implement or execute the methods, steps, and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of this application. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of this application can be directly manifested as being executed by a hardware decoding processor, or executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software modules can reside in random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, or other mature storage media in the art. This storage medium is located in memory, and the processor reads information from the memory and, in conjunction with its hardware, completes the steps of the above method.

[0275] It is understood that the memory or computer storage medium in the embodiments of this application can be volatile memory or non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory can be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or flash memory. The volatile memory can be random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example, but not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), Double Data Rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), Enhanced Synchronous DRAM (ESDRAM), Synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM), and Direct Rambus RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory used in the systems and methods described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0276] It should be understood that the above-described memory or computer storage medium is exemplary but not limiting. For example, the memory in the embodiments of this application may also be static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct memory bus RAM (DR RAM), etc. That is to say, the memory in the embodiments of this application is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0277] Those skilled in the art will recognize that the units and algorithm steps of the various examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0278] 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.

[0279] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, apparatuses, and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are merely illustrative; for instance, the division of units is only a logical functional division, and in actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Furthermore, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces; the indirect coupling or communication connection between apparatuses or units may be electrical, mechanical, or other forms.

[0280] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. The components shown as units may or may not be physical units; that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0281] In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of this application can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can exist physically separately, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit.

[0282] If the aforementioned functions are implemented as software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of this application, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or a portion of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. This computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of this application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media capable of storing program code, such as USB flash drives, portable hard drives, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disks, or optical disks.

[0283] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited thereto. Any variations or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the scope of the technology disclosed in this application should be included within the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, the method comprising: The user plane network element adds a first protocol header to the target data packet based on the order information in the target data packet; The first protocol header includes first information that can be read by the access network device. The first information is used to indicate the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set. The sequence information in the target data packet is read based on the description information of the service data stream and / or the sequence number indication information. The user plane network element sends a target data packet with the first protocol header added to it to the access network device. The description information includes at least one of the following: packet header information, application identifier, and service identifier; The serial number indication information includes at least one of the following: Explicit indication information and / or implicit indication information, wherein the explicit indication information and / or the implicit indication information are used to indicate whether to add the first information to the first protocol header; The second protocol instruction information includes one of the following: Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), H.26x protocol, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) protocol, and Audio / Video Standard (AVS) protocol. The second information is used to instruct the data set-level processing of the business data stream; The third information is used to indicate the position where the sequence information in the target data packet is read; The fourth information is used to indicate whether the data set is a frame or a Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, Adding a first protocol header to the target data packet includes: Add a General Packet Radio Service Tunneling Protocol-User Plane (GTP-U) header to the target data packet.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, The first information is the sequence information in the target data packet, or the first information is the first sequence number of the target data packet in its data set, determined by the user plane network element based on the sequence information in the target data packet.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, The order information in the target data packet includes: the order information in the second protocol header and / or the order information in the second protocol payload, wherein the second protocol includes one of the following: Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), H.26x protocol, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) protocol, and Audio / Video Codec Standard (AVS) protocol.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The sequence information includes at least one of the following: Second sequence number, target timestamp, frame boundary marker, start packet indicator of data set, and end packet indicator of data set.

6. The method according to claim 1, 2 or 5, wherein, The method further includes: The user plane network element receives description information and / or sequence number indication information of the service data stream sent by the control plane network element; The user plane network element reads the sequence information in the target data packet based on the description information of the service data stream and / or the sequence number indication information.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein, The packet header information includes at least one of the following: source Internet Protocol (IP) address, destination IP address, source port, destination port, source Media Access Control (MAC) address, and destination MAC address.

8. The method according to claim 1, 2 or 5, wherein, The location includes at least one of the following: Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) header, Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) payload header, and Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) extension header.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The method further includes: When the position of reading the sequence information in the target data packet is the Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) header, or when the data is in frames, the user plane network element determines the sequence of the target data packet in its data set based on at least one of the following: target timestamp, frame boundary marker, and second sequence number.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The method further includes: When the location for reading the sequence information in the target data packet includes the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) payload header, or when the Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit is used as the data set, the user plane network element determines the sequence of the target data packet in its data set based on at least one of the following: the start packet indication of the data set, the end packet indication of the data set, and the second sequence number.

11. The method according to claim 5, 9 or 10, wherein, The second sequence number is the sequence number of data generation or data sent from the application server, and the target timestamp is the timestamp of data generation or data sent from the application server.

12. A communication method, the method comprising: Access network equipment receives target data packets sent by user plane network elements; The first protocol header of the target data packet includes first information, which is used to indicate the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set; the first protocol header is added to the target data packet based on the sequence information in the target data packet, and the sequence information in the target data packet is read based on the description information and / or sequence number indication information of the service data stream; The access network device reads the first information from the first protocol header in the target data packet; The description information includes at least one of the following: packet header information, application identifier, and service identifier; The serial number indication information includes at least one of the following: Explicit indication information and / or implicit indication information, wherein the explicit indication information and / or the implicit indication information are used to indicate whether to add the first information to the first protocol header; The second protocol instruction information includes one of the following: Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), H.26x protocol, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) protocol, and Audio / Video Standard (AVS) protocol. The second information is used to instruct the data set-level processing of the business data stream; The third information is used to indicate the position where the sequence information in the target data packet is read; The fourth information is used to indicate whether the data set is a frame or a Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein, The access network device reads the first information from the first protocol header in the target data packet, including: The access network device reads the first information from the General Packet Radio Service Tunneling Protocol-User Plane GTP-U header in the target data packet.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein, The first information is the sequence information in the target data packet, or the first information is the first sequence number of the target data packet in its data set, determined by the user plane network element based on the sequence information in the target data packet.

15. The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein, The order information in the target data packet includes: the order information in the second protocol header and / or the order information in the second protocol payload, wherein the second protocol includes one of the following: Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), H.26x protocol, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) protocol, and Audio / Video Codec Standard (AVS) protocol.

16. The method according to claim 12, wherein, The sequence information includes at least one of the following: Second sequence number, target timestamp, frame boundary marker, start packet indicator of data set, and end packet indicator of data set.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein, The second sequence number is the sequence number of data generation or data sent from the application server, and the target timestamp is the timestamp of data generation or data sent from the application server.

18. The method according to claim 12, 13, 16 or 17, wherein, The method further includes: If the access network device fails to send the target data packet to the terminal device, the access network device will not send the remaining data packets to the terminal device; the remaining data packets are the data packets in the data set that are sequenced after the target data packet.

19. A communication method, the method comprising: The control plane network element receives description information and / or sequence number indication information of the service data stream; The control plane network element sends the description information of the service data stream and / or the sequence number indication information to the user plane network element; wherein, the description information of the service data stream and / or the sequence number indication information are used by the user plane network element to add a first protocol header to the target data packet based on the order information in the target data packet; the first protocol header includes first information that can be read by the access network device, and the first information is used to indicate the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set; The description information includes at least one of the following: packet header information, application identifier, and service identifier; The serial number indication information includes at least one of the following: Explicit indication information and / or implicit indication information, wherein the explicit indication information and / or the implicit indication information are used to indicate whether to add the first information to the first protocol header; The second protocol instruction information includes one of the following: Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), H.26x protocol, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) protocol, and Audio / Video Standard (AVS) protocol. The second information is used to instruct the data set-level processing of the business data stream; The third information is used to indicate the position where the sequence information in the target data packet is read; The fourth information is used to indicate whether the data set is a frame or a Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein, The packet header information includes at least one of the following: source Internet Protocol (IP) address, destination IP address, source port, destination port, source Media Access Control (MAC) address, and destination MAC address.

21. The method according to claim 19, wherein, The location includes at least one of the following: Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) header, Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) payload header, and Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) extension header.

22. A communication device, comprising: The processing unit is configured to add a first protocol header to the target data packet based on the order information in the target data packet; The first protocol header includes first information that can be read by the access network device. The first information is used to indicate the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set. The sequence information in the target data packet is read based on the description information of the service data stream and / or the sequence number indication information. The communication unit is used to send a target data packet with the first protocol header added to it to the access network device; The description information includes at least one of the following: packet header information, application identifier, and service identifier; The serial number indication information includes at least one of the following: Explicit indication information and / or implicit indication information, wherein the explicit indication information and / or the implicit indication information are used to indicate whether to add the first information to the first protocol header; The second protocol instruction information includes one of the following: Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), H.26x protocol, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) protocol, and Audio / Video Standard (AVS) protocol. The second information is used to instruct the data set-level processing of the business data stream; The third information is used to indicate the position where the sequence information in the target data packet is read; The fourth information is used to indicate whether the data set is a frame or a Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit.

23. A communication device, comprising: The communication unit is used to receive target data packets sent by user plane network elements; The first protocol header of the target data packet includes first information, which is used to indicate the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set; the first protocol header is added to the target data packet based on the sequence information in the target data packet, and the sequence information in the target data packet is read based on the description information and / or sequence number indication information of the service data stream; A reading unit is configured to read the first information from the first protocol header in the target data packet; The description information includes at least one of the following: packet header information, application identifier, and service identifier; The serial number indication information includes at least one of the following: Explicit indication information and / or implicit indication information, wherein the explicit indication information and / or the implicit indication information are used to indicate whether to add the first information to the first protocol header; The second protocol instruction information includes one of the following: Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), H.26x protocol, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) protocol, and Audio / Video Standard (AVS) protocol. The second information is used to instruct the data set-level processing of the business data stream; The third information is used to indicate the position where the sequence information in the target data packet is read; The fourth information is used to indicate whether the data set is a frame or a Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit.

24. A communication device, comprising: A communication unit is used to receive description information and / or sequence number indication information of the service data stream; The communication unit is further configured to send the description information of the service data stream and / or the sequence number indication information to the user plane network element; wherein, the description information of the service data stream and / or the sequence number indication information are used by the user plane network element to add a first protocol header to the target data packet based on the order information in the target data packet; the first protocol header includes first information that can be read by the access network device, and the first information is used to indicate the sequence of the target data packet in its respective data set; The description information includes at least one of the following: packet header information, application identifier, and service identifier; The serial number indication information includes at least one of the following: Explicit indication information and / or implicit indication information, wherein the explicit indication information and / or the implicit indication information are used to indicate whether to add the first information to the first protocol header; The second protocol instruction information includes one of the following: Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), H.26x protocol, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) protocol, and Audio / Video Standard (AVS) protocol. The second information is used to instruct the data set-level processing of the business data stream; The third information is used to indicate the position where the sequence information in the target data packet is read; The fourth information is used to indicate whether the data set is a frame or a Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit.

25. A communication device, comprising: Processor and memory, The memory stores computer programs that can run on the processor. When the processor executes the program, it implements the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, or any one of claims 12 to 18, or any one of claims 19 to 21.

26. A computer storage medium storing one or more programs, said one or more programs being executable by one or more processors to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 11, or any one of claims 12 to 18, or any one of claims 19 to 21.

27. A chip, comprising: A processor for retrieving and running a computer program from memory to implement the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 11, or any one of claims 12 to 18, or any one of claims 19 to 21.

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