Stream association and HTTP media classification

Abstract

According to an embodiment, a user plane function (UPF) node receives a plurality of packets from an application server. The UPF node identifies one or more packets of the plurality of packets. The one or more packets belong to a session group of media streams for coordinated transmission and have the same media stream coordination identification (MSCI) value. The UPF node sends one or more packets for coordinated transmissions to the base station.

Description

[0001] Priority claims and cross references

[0002] This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 338,716, filed on May 5, 2022, entitled “Flow Correlation and HTTP Media Classification,” the entire contents of which are reproduced in this application by reference. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure relates generally to methods and systems for network communications and, in particular embodiments, to methods and systems for stream correction and hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) media classification. Background Art

[0004] Media is sometimes sent across multiple transport connections or streams that need to be coordinated so that they are received within a limited time (e.g., similar time in extended reality and media service (XRM) research). Currently, policy and control plane information can help define various aspects of coordinated transmission of multimodal streams. However, current schemes do not scale well and are inefficient because each stream that must be associated requires explicit per-stream control plane (CP) signaling from the application side (e.g., 3GPPAF) to the 5G core network (5GC) for the user plane function (UPF) to identify a group of associated streams (e.g., a group of streams belonging to the same media) and apply coordinated transmission policies to the group of streams. That is, traditional techniques using the quintuple of Internet protocol (IP) connections, real time protocol (RTP) synchronization source (SSRC), or other provided connection / media header fields are ineffective for uniquely identifying a group of associated streams. Summary of the invention

[0005] The disclosed embodiments describe methods and apparatus for stream correction and hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) media classification, and through the disclosed embodiments, technical advantages are generally achieved.

[0006] According to an embodiment, a user plane function (UPF) node receives a plurality of packets from an application server. The UPF node identifies one or more packets in the plurality of packets. The one or more packets belong to a session group for coordinating a transmitted media stream and have the same media stream coordination identifier (MSCI) value. The UPF node sends the one or more packets for coordinating the transmission to a base station.

[0007] In some embodiments, the UPF node may add the MSCI to a general packet radio service (GRPS) tunneling protocol (GTP) user plane (GTP-U) extension header of one or more packets. The UPF node may send one or more packets with a GTP-U extension header having the MSCI.

[0008] In some embodiments, the UPF may obtain the MSCI from a real time protocol (RTP) extension header, a corresponding transmission control protocol (TCP) optional header, or a corresponding user datagram protocol (UDP) optional header.

[0009] In some embodiments, the UPF node may identify one or more packets belonging to a session group of media streams for coordinated transmission based on the MSCI and the application identification information. In some embodiments, the application identification information may include a triple of a source address, a source port, and a protocol type indicated in one or more packets. In some embodiments, the application identification information may include a serving network slice selection assistance identifier (S-NSSAI) or a data network access identifier (DNAI).

[0010] In some embodiments, the UPF node may identify one or more packets belonging to a session group for coordinating the transmission of a media stream based on the corresponding MSCI and importance information of the one or more packets.

[0011] In some embodiments, a conversation group of media streams may share a common clock.

[0012] In some embodiments, coordinated transmission may be performed based on a common configuration policy including at least one of a drop policy or a delay policy.

[0013] In some embodiments, a conversation group of media streams may include at least one of an audio stream, a video stream, or a haptic stream of the same media.

[0014] According to an embodiment, a base station receives a plurality of packets from a UPF node. The base station identifies one or more packets in the plurality of packets. The one or more packets belong to a session group of a media stream for coordinated transmission and have the same MSCI value. The base station performs coordinated transmission of the one or more packets.

[0015] In some embodiments, the base station may obtain the MSCI from a GTP-U extension header of the one or more packets.

[0016] In some embodiments, the base station may obtain the MSCI from an RTP extension header, a corresponding TCP optional header, or a UDP optional header.

[0017] In some embodiments, the base station may identify one or more packets belonging to a session group of a media stream for coordinated transmission based on the MSCI and the application identification information. In some embodiments, the application identification information may include a triple of a source address, a source port, and a protocol type indicated in one or more packets. In some embodiments, the application identification information may include an S-NSSAI or a DNAI.

[0018] In some embodiments, the base station may identify one or more packets belonging to a session group for coordinating the transmission of a media stream based on the MSCI and importance information of the one or more packets.

[0019] In some embodiments, a conversation group of media streams may share a common clock.

[0020] In some embodiments, coordinated transmission may be performed based on a common configuration policy including at least one of a drop policy or a delay policy.

[0021] In some embodiments, a conversation group of media streams may include an audio stream, a video stream, and a haptic stream of the same media.

[0022] According to an embodiment, a UPF node receives a configuration from a 5G core network (5GC) node. The configuration indicates that a plurality of media streams belong to a session group of media streams. The UPF node receives a plurality of packets from an application server. The UPF node identifies one or more packets in the plurality of packets that belong to a session group for coordinated transmission, and the identification is based on the configuration and the stream information of the one or more packets. The UPF node sends one or more packets for coordinated transmission to a base station.

[0023] In some embodiments, the 5GC node may receive the above configuration from an application function (AF) node.

[0024] In some embodiments, the UPF node may receive a reconfiguration from the 5GC node indicating that the media stream is added to or deleted from the session group. In some embodiments, the 5GC node may receive the above reconfiguration from the AF node.

[0025] In some embodiments, a conversation group of media streams may share a common clock.

[0026] In some embodiments, a session group of media streams may be associated with a common canonical name (CNAME) in an RTP session.

[0027] According to an embodiment, the base station receives a configuration from a 5GC node. The configuration indicates that a plurality of media streams belong to a session group of media streams. The base station receives a plurality of packets from a UPF node. The base station identifies one or more packets in the plurality of packets that belong to the session group for coordinated transmission, the identification being based on the configuration and the stream information of the one or more packets. The base station performs coordinated transmission of the one or more packets.

[0028] In some embodiments, the 5GC node may receive the above configuration from the AF node.

[0029] In some embodiments, the base station may receive a reconfiguration from a 5GC node indicating that a media stream is added to or deleted from a session group. In some embodiments, the 5GC node may receive the reconfiguration from an AF node.

[0030] In some embodiments, a conversation group of media streams may share a common clock.

[0031] In some embodiments, a session group for a media stream may be associated with a CNAME in an RTP session. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0032] For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure and its advantages, reference is now made to the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0033] Figure 1 An example communication system 100 is shown according to an embodiment;

[0034] Figure 2 An example process for configuring MSCI utilized in a network system according to some embodiments is shown;

[0035] Figure 3A A flowchart showing a method performed by a UPF node according to some embodiments is shown;

[0036] Figure 3B A flow chart showing a method performed by a base station according to some embodiments;

[0037] Figure 3C A flowchart showing a method performed by a UPF node according to some embodiments is shown;

[0038] Figure 3D A flow chart showing a method performed by a base station according to some embodiments;

[0039] Figure 4 illustrates example HTTP / 2 and HTTP / 3 classification methods according to some embodiments;

[0040] Figure 5 An embodiment communication system is shown;

[0041] Fig. 6A and Figure 6B An example device is shown in which the methods and teachings according to the present disclosure may be implemented; and

[0042] Figure 7 A block diagram of a computing system that may be used to implement the devices and methods disclosed herein is shown, according to some embodiments.

[0043] Corresponding numerals and symbols in the different figures generally refer to corresponding parts unless otherwise indicated.The figures are drawn to clearly illustrate the relevant aspects of the various embodiments and are not necessarily drawn to scale. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0044] The formation and use of the disclosed embodiments are discussed in detail below. However, it should be understood that the concepts disclosed herein can be embodied in a variety of specific contexts, and the specific embodiments discussed herein are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims. In addition, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims.

[0045] Figure 1An example communication system 100 according to an embodiment is shown. The communication system 100 includes an access node 110 having a coverage area 101. The access node 110 serves user equipment (UE), such as UE 120. In a first operating mode, communications to and from the UE pass through the access node 110 having the coverage area 101. The access node 110 is connected to a backhaul network 115 for connection to the Internet and for operations and management, etc. In a second operating mode, communications to and from the UE do not pass through the access node 110, however, the access node 110 will typically allocate resources for UE communications when certain conditions are met. Communications between a pair of UEs 120 may use a sidelink connection (shown as two separate unidirectional connections 125). In Figure 1 1, sidelink communication occurs between two UEs operating within coverage area 101. However, sidelink communication typically occurs when both UEs 120 are outside of coverage area 101, both are within coverage area 101, or one is within coverage area 101 and the other is outside of coverage area 101. Communication between a pair of UEs and access nodes occurs over unidirectional communication links, where the communication link between the UE and the access node is referred to as an uplink 130 and the communication link between the access node and the UE is referred to as a downlink 135.

[0046] Access nodes may also be generally referred to as Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), next generation (NG) Node B (NG NodeB, gNB), master eNB (MeNB), secondary eNB (SeNB), master gNB (MgNB), secondary gNB (SgNB), network controller, control node, base station, access point, transmission point (TP), transmission-reception point (TRP), cell, carrier, macro cell, femto cell, pico cell, etc., and UE may also be generally referred to as mobile station, mobile phone, terminal, user, subscriber, station, etc. The access node may provide wireless access according to one or more wireless communication protocols such as Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced (LTE-A), 5G, 5G LTE, 5G NR, sixth generation (6G), High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), IEEE 802.11 series standards such as 802.11a / b / g / n / ac / ad / ax / ay / be, etc. Although it is understood that the communication system may use multiple access nodes capable of communicating with multiple UEs, for simplicity, only one access node and two UEs are shown.

[0047] Conventional techniques that can help define various aspects of coordinated transmission of multiple streams are insufficient because packets or media streams do not carry enough information for the UPF to identify a set of associated streams. Using the 5-tuple of IP connections, RTP SSRC, or other connection / media header fields provided may not be sufficient and effective to uniquely identify the following information.

[0048] An application can use multiple media sources and one or more RTP sessions. It can be assumed that the SSRC mapped to a common canonical name (CNAME) in the RTP session has real time transport control protocol (RTCP) sender report (SR) timing information derived from a common clock that will be synchronized for playback. These can be sent over multiple transport connections.

[0049] There may be a mixture of real-time and non-real-time flows between two endpoints, and the IP connection quintuple that does not necessarily have the ability to distinguish may not be able to distinguish between real-time and non-real-time flows.

[0050] If IP connectivity is used for identification, application sessions can dynamically add / remove flows with new flows / endpoints, which can result in a large number of configuration changes.

[0051] · Passing application group "state" information via control / policy requires constantly providing media transport endpoints or other parameters that change on a per-session basis. Therefore, this approach is inefficient and does not scale well.

[0052] The second technical problem is that traditional solutions for identifying protocol data unit (PDU) sets and the importance of PDU sets consider mechanisms for addressing RTP / SRTP-based media transport. However, HTTP-based transport is increasingly applicable to low-latency / real-time media and needs to be addressed. HTTP transport includes multiple versions (e.g., HTTP / 1.1, HTTP / 2, and HTTP / 3), which differ in encryption, stream multiplexing, and network transport (e.g., transmission control protocol (TCP) / quick UDP Internet connection (QUIC)). Classification problems with these new aspects need to be addressed.

[0053] The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a technical solution to solve the above technical problems. Specifically, the associated media streams are coordinated so that a common strategy (eg, delay, discard) can be applied to all associated media streams.

[0054] Applications such as extended reality (XR) can use multiple media streams to represent multiple media sources, or to carry scalable encoding of media sources (e.g., foreground media superimposed on basic background media). These media streams can be between a server and a UE, between multiple servers and UEs, or between multiple servers and multiple UEs.

[0055] Media streams belonging to applications such as XR can include multiple RTP session groups (CNAMEs), and each RTP session can have multiple media streams (e.g., multiple SSRCs). It can be assumed that the SSRC mapped to the CNAME in the RTP session has RTCP send report (SR) timing information derived from a common clock, which will be synchronized for playback. These streams can be transmitted over multiple transport connections. The endpoint associates the set of SSRCs belonging to the application based on application signaling (e.g., session description protocol (SDP), RTCP). Since the media to be synchronized may span multiple RTP streams or transport connections, there is no common user plane field that can be used to identify the group of multiple RTP streams or transport connections. Therefore, the application can be responsible for providing this association of the group of media streams to be synchronized.

[0056] According to an embodiment, the present disclosure provides two technical methods. In the first technical method, the application can configure the group of media streams (e.g., SSRC). The application can configure the 5G core network (5GC) to form an association of a group (e.g., an SSRC mapped to a public CNAME). For example, the configuration can be configured by an application function (AF) to 5GC, and 5GC in turn configures the user plane. The configured information may include a set of streams (e.g., identified by a triplet or a quintuple) and the corresponding SSRC. However, an application session can dynamically add / delete streams with new servers / endpoints, which can result in a large number of configuration changes. This method may have a large number of configurations.

[0057] The second technical approach is based on media coordination identification. A common media stream coordination identifier (MSCI) is used to identify all media streams belonging to a session group. Since the application is aware of the group (through application signaling information in SDP or RTCP), the application applies the MSCI to all media streams of the group. The MSCI can be carried in user datagram protocol (UDP) options (RTP streams) or TCP options (for example, HTTP streams). The UPF, which classifies various quality of service (QoS) aspects of media streams, can add the MSCI in the general packet radio service (GRPS) tunneling protocol (GTP) user plane (GTP-user plane, GTP-U) extension.

[0058] The second technical method can be adopted as follows.

[0059] The media stream does not carry enough information for the UPF to identify the group. There may be multiple "m" lines in the SDP, with multiple SSRCs spanning multiple application sessions that are part of a group with a common clock that will be synchronized for playback.

[0060] • The application is aware of the group of media streams due to SDP, RTCP or other session signaling.

[0061] MSCI can be sent for media streams from one or more application servers. For example, XR's application server (AS) can compose the base picture, while another AS can compose the overlay picture. Alternatively, there can be a mixer that groups multiple streams into one transport connection.

[0062] For example, TCP options or UDP options have lower overhead and can be used to carry MSCI metadata. Another example method may be to extend RTP to carry MSCI information in the RTP extension header. These example methods of carrying MSCI information are for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to be limiting. Other types of headers may be used to carry MSCI information. In addition, the tunnel between the application / media server and the UPF may allow the application server to be configured with a tunnel termination address (i.e., the address of the UPF).

[0063] In some embodiments, policies configured in other schemes (eg, application information, latency tolerance, and other policies) may be applied to flow groups coordinated by the MSCI.

[0064] When packets belonging to a group of media streams that may need to be coordinated for transmission have the same MSCI, the packets are identified. In some embodiments, different applications can use the same MSCI space, and the MSCI can be unique to only one application. The combination of an application (for example, a triplet (the address, port, and protocol of the originating application server)) and an MSCI can uniquely identify the media stream to be coordinated. For all media streams of an application with the same MSCI, the same policies such as the delay or delay difference configured for the application can be applied (for example, the IP address range of the application server, or in the case of UE-UE, a serving network slice selection assistance identifier (S-NSSAI) / data network access identifier (DNAI)).

[0065] Figure 2 An example process for configuring MSCI utilized in a network system 200 according to some embodiments is shown. The network system 200 includes an AF 212, a 5GC 214, at least one application server (AS) 216, a UPF 218, a radio access network (RAN) (e.g., one or more base stations) 220, and at least one UE 222. Each of the 5GC 214, AS 216, UPF 218, and RAN 220 can run on one or more network devices. Figure 2 In the embodiment, the coordinated set of media streams may be known to AS216 (operation 203), AS216 configures the MSCI value to the set of media streams to be transmitted with the media packets (operation 204), and then the coordinated set of media streams is used for QoS in the 5G system (5G system, 5GS) (operations 205 and 206).

[0066] exist Figure 2 In the operation 201 shown, AF 212 configures application parameters for a set of flows to be synchronized. The parameters may include the maximum delay budget and delay difference between the set of flows. The flow from the application may use a set of one or more IP addresses / ports / protocols (triplets). If the flow is a UE-UE flow, the flow from the application may use S-NSSAI / DNAI. In addition to the QoS policy and flow parameters, the two domains (application / AF, 5GS) can provide encryption keys (PKI or symmetric keys), and the TCP or UDP options at operation 204 are encrypted by the encryption keys. The provision may be 5GS providing one or more keys to the application domain / AF 212, or vice versa.

[0067] At operation 202, one or more UEs 222 may establish a PDU connection, and the 5GC 214 may provide policy rules (including new per-PDU aggregation parameters) in the user plane (e.g., send the policy rules to the UPF 218 and the RAN 220).

[0068] At operation 203, one or more UEs 222 and one or more application servers 216 may initiate signaling at the application layer to set up media resources across multiple parties, which may include multiple party (e.g., multiple UEs and / or application servers) sessions, and the various sessions may be multiplexed over one or more transport connections.

[0069] At operation 204, one or more application servers 216 may identify a media stream group of an application (wherein the group is the group to be synchronized) and assign a unique value of a media stream coordination identifier (MSCI) to all media streams that are part of the group. Each media stream packet is added with a TCP / UDP option carrying the MSCI as metadata before forwarding the packet.

[0070] It should be noted that, for uplink communication, UE 222 may use similar configuration rules and / or metadata (eg, MSCI), as shown in operation 204a.

[0071] The metadata may be encrypted using the key provided at operation 201. The reserved value of MSCI may be used to indicate a retransmission stream or a forward error correction (FEC) stream.

[0072] For UE-UE flows, the application in the UE that initiates the media flow may encode the MSCI in the TCP or UDP options in the packet.

[0073] At operation 205, UPF 216 may process one or more incoming packets / media streams, identify PDU sets, and classify packets of the PDU sets (e.g., determine the importance of packets in the PDU sets). In addition to the classification results, if the MSCI is present in a TCP or UDP option (e.g., in an optional field), the MSCI may be added to a general packet radio service (GRPS) tunneling protocol (GTP) user plane (GTP-user plane, GTP-U) extension header.

[0074] At operation 206, the RAN 220 may use the configured policies to support coordinated transmission (eg, latency, latency difference, etc.) across flows having the same MSCI.

[0075] According to some embodiments, further details of the UPF processing sequence (eg, starting with operation 205) are provided below.

[0076] In some embodiments, at operation 205, the PDU set can be identified by information included in various headers in an incoming packet (e.g., an IP packet). For example, the sequence number, timestamp, and M bits in the RTP can be used to identify packets belonging to the PDU set. The RTP transport and payload headers (RTP / payload header values) can be used to classify, characterize, or assign importance / priority (e.g., packet priority marking (PPM)) of the packets. In some embodiments, the RTP header, RTP extension header, network adaptation layer (NAL) unit, or any combination thereof may include information indicating the type of payload data in the packet / media stream, which can be used to classify or characterize the importance / priority of the packet / media stream.

[0077] To map RTP / payload header values ​​to PPM, packets of a PDU set have a set of headers in the IP, RTP transport, and payload that can be used to assign importance and dependencies to other PDU sets. After detecting the start of a new PDU set, various header information can be used. Three cases are described below: (1) RTP with unencrypted header and payload; (2) SRTP with unencrypted extended experimental header and encrypted payload; and (3) SRTP with unencrypted header and encrypted payload.

[0078] For the case of (1) RTP with unencrypted header and payload, the RTP payload / NAL unit header with information about media coding priority, dependencies (e.g., H.264, SVC) is used to map to per-packet QoS priority values ​​in PPM. Independent frames / PDU sets without dependencies are marked with the highest priority, while PDU sets carrying temporal, spatial or quality enhancements are configured per application based on importance level.

[0079] For the case of (2) SRTP with unencrypted extended experimental headers and encrypted payload, the experimental Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) draft with extended headers includes coded media information that can be used to map to PPM values. For example, "I" (independent / IDR frames with temporal independence) can be marked as important, while selected layer identifier (LID) / temporal identifier (TID) values ​​(spatial / quality / temporal frames with dependencies indicated by the value) can have medium PPM priority, while others are marked as low.

[0080] For the case of (3) SRTP with an unencrypted header and encrypted payload, the RTP unencrypted header does not provide meta-information to determine the coded media carried in the packet, and the NAL unit header is part of the encrypted payload. Since the unencrypted header does not convey sufficient information about the carried media, the application supplements it by using different IPv6 flow labels, differentiated service code point (DSCP) fields, and / or send ports to convey different required QoS treatment priorities. These values ​​are configurable for each application.

[0081] The detailed process of identification and classification in the above three cases can be based on the process of mapping RTP / payload header values ​​to PPM described in PCT / US2022 / 050394. The above three cases are described using RTP / SRTP as an example. These descriptions also apply to HTTP / HTTPS.

[0082] If one or more packets include a TCP / UDP option, the option is checked. The UPF 218 may look up a corresponding policy for the PDU session (e.g., based on the parameter provision at operation 201 above, and the policy installed during the PDU session establishment at operation 202 above). If there is a key provided for the application / encryption of the metadata, the UPF uses the key to decrypt the metadata and obtain the MSCI value.

[0083] If the incoming MSCI identifying the media stream should be coordinated, the UPF 218 looks up the corresponding policy for the PDU session (parameter provision at operation 201 above, and policy installed during PDU session establishment at operation 202 above). If there is a match (stream origin (corresponding to application triplet, S-NSSAI / DNAI)), the delay, delay variance or other parameters are marked for transmission in the GTP-U extension field of the set of packets belonging to the PDU set.

[0084] UPF 218 may store the MSCI value and allowed flow origins (corresponding to the applied policy) for matching / retrieval in subsequent packet inspections (carrying the same MSCI).

[0085] The UPF 218 may add a GTP-U header before forwarding to the RAN 220 .

[0086] A GTP-U extension field carrying MSCI and parameters (delay, delay variance, etc.) may be inserted into the GTP-U header. The packet with the GTP-U header is then forwarded towards the RAN 220.

[0087] Embodiments of the present disclosure may include configuring parameters between the 5GS (e.g., including the UPF 218 and the RAN 220) and the application domain / AF to identify a set of sources or origins of streams to be grouped (e.g., based on a triplet or S-NSSAI / DNAI) (e.g., operation 201). Embodiments of the present disclosure may also include configuring keys between the 5GS and the application domain / AF to protect metadata in TCP or UDP options (e.g., operation 201). Embodiments of the present disclosure may also include assigning a public identifier (e.g., MSCI) to a group of media streams to be synchronized, and encrypting the metadata in the TCP or UDP options (e.g., in an optional field) and passing it together with the packets carrying the media streams. The UPF may retrieve the TCP or UDP options, decrypt the content (MSCI), and add the MSCI to other frame / PSU set QoS parameters transmitted to the RAN via GTP-U (e.g., operations 204 and 205).

[0088] The disclosed embodiments may also include the RAN applying policies (delay / latency bounds, discard, synchronous flow transmission) using a combination of the policies (configured in operation 201) and the MSCI value in the GTP-U flow.

[0089] Figure 3A A flow chart of a method 300 performed by a user plane function (UPF) node according to some embodiments is shown. The UPF node may include computer readable code or instructions executed on one or more processors of the UPF node. In view of the present disclosure, the coding of software for performing or executing the method 300 is well within the capabilities of a person of ordinary skill in the art. The method 300 may include more or fewer operations than shown and described, and may be performed or executed in a different order. The computer readable code or instructions of the software executable by one or more processors may be stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium such as a memory of the UPF node.

[0090] The method 300 starts at operation 302, where a UPF node receives a plurality of packets from an application server. At operation 304, the UPF node identifies one or more packets from the plurality of packets. The one or more packets belong to a session group for media streams for coordinated transmission and have the same media stream coordination identifier (MSCI) value. At operation 306, the UPF node sends one or more packets for coordinated transmission to a base station.

[0091] In some embodiments, the UPF node may add the MSCI to a GTP-U extension header of one or more packets. The UPF node may send one or more packets with a GTP-U extension header having the MSCI.

[0092] In some embodiments, the UPF may obtain the MSCI from a real time protocol (RTP) extension header, a corresponding TCP optional header, or a corresponding UDP optional header.

[0093] In some embodiments, the UPF node may identify one or more packets belonging to the session group of the media stream for coordinated transmission based on the MSCI and the application identification information. In some embodiments, the application identification information may include a triple of a source address, a source port, and a protocol type indicated in one or more packets. In some embodiments, the application identification information may include a serving network slice selection assistance identifier (S-NSSAI) or a data network access identifier (DNAI).

[0094] In some embodiments, the UPF node may identify one or more packets belonging to a session group of the media flow for coordinated transmission based on the corresponding MSCI and importance information of the one or more packets.

[0095] In some embodiments, the conversation group of the media stream may share a common clock.

[0096] In some embodiments, coordinated transmission may be performed based on a common configuration policy including at least one of a drop policy or a delay policy.

[0097] In some embodiments, the conversation group of the media stream may include at least one of an audio stream, a video stream, or a haptic stream of the same media.

[0098] Figure 3B A flow chart of a method 350 performed by a base station according to some embodiments is shown. The base station may include computer readable code or instructions executed on one or more processors of the base station. In view of the present disclosure, the coding of software for performing or executing the method 350 is well within the capabilities of a person of ordinary skill in the art. The method 350 may include more or fewer operations than shown and described, and may be performed or executed in a different order. The computer readable code or instructions of the software executable by one or more processors may be stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium such as a memory of the base station.

[0099] Method 350 begins at operation 352, where a base station receives a plurality of packets from a UPF node. At operation 354, the base station identifies one or more packets from the plurality of packets. The one or more packets belong to a conversation group for media streams for coordinated transmission and have the same media stream coordination identifier (MSCI) value. At operation 356, the base station performs coordinated transmission of the one or more packets.

[0100] In some embodiments, the base station may obtain the MSCI from the corresponding GTP-U extension header of one or more packets.

[0101] In some embodiments, the base station may obtain the MSCI from an RTP extension header, a corresponding TCP optional header, or a corresponding UDP optional header.

[0102] In some embodiments, the base station may identify one or more packets belonging to the session group of the media stream for coordinated transmission based on the MSCI and the application identification information. In some embodiments, the application identification information may include a triple of a source address, a source port, and a protocol type indicated in one or more packets. In some embodiments, the application identification information may include a serving network slice selection assistance identifier (S-NSSAI) or a data network access identifier (DNAI).

[0103] In some embodiments, the base station may identify one or more packets belonging to a session group of the media stream for coordinated transmission based on the corresponding MSCI and importance information of the one or more packets.

[0104] In some embodiments, the conversation group of the media stream may share a common clock.

[0105] In some embodiments, coordinated transmission may be performed based on a common configuration policy including at least one of a drop policy or a delay policy.

[0106] In some embodiments, the conversation group of the media stream may include an audio stream, a video stream, and a haptic stream of the same media.

[0107] Figure 3CA flow chart of a method 360 performed by a UPF node according to some embodiments is shown. The UPF node may include computer readable code or instructions executed on one or more processors of the UPF node. In view of the present disclosure, the coding of software for performing or executing method 360 is well within the capabilities of one of ordinary skill in the art. Method 360 may include more or fewer operations than shown and described, and may be performed or executed in a different order. The computer readable code or instructions of the software executable by one or more processors may be stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium such as a memory of the UPF node.

[0108] Method 360 starts at operation 362, where the UPF node receives a configuration from a 5GC node. The configuration indicates that a plurality of media streams belong to a session group of media streams. At operation 364, the UPF node receives a plurality of packets from an application server. At operation 366, the UPF node identifies one or more packets in the plurality of packets that belong to a session group for coordinated transmission based on the configuration and the flow information of the one or more packets. At operation 368, the UPF node sends one or more packets for coordinated transmission to a base station.

[0109] In some embodiments, the 5GC node may receive configuration from the AF node.

[0110] In some embodiments, the UPF node may receive a reconfiguration from a 5GC node indicating that a media stream is added to or deleted from a session group. In some embodiments, the 5GC node may receive a reconfiguration from an AF node.

[0111] In some embodiments, the conversation group of the media stream may share a common clock.

[0112] In some embodiments, the session group for the media stream may be associated with a CNAME in the RTP session.

[0113] Figure 3D A flow chart of a method 370 performed by a base station according to some embodiments is shown. The base station may include computer readable code or instructions executed on one or more processors of the base station. In view of the present disclosure, the coding of software for performing or executing the method 370 is well within the capabilities of a person of ordinary skill in the art. The method 370 may include more or fewer operations than shown and described, and may be performed or executed in a different order. The computer readable code or instructions of the software executable by one or more processors may be stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium such as a memory of the base station.

[0114] Method 370 starts at operation 372, where the base station receives a configuration from a 5GC node. The configuration indicates that a plurality of media streams belong to a conversation group of media streams. At operation 374, the base station receives a plurality of packets from a UPF node. At operation 376, the base station identifies one or more packets in the plurality of packets that belong to the conversation group for coordinated transmission based on the configuration and the flow information of the one or more packets. At operation 378, the base station performs coordinated transmission of the one or more packets.

[0115] In some embodiments, the 5GC node may receive configuration from the AF node.

[0116] In some embodiments, the base station may receive a reconfiguration from a 5GC node indicating that a media stream is added to or deleted from a session group. In some embodiments, the 5GC node may receive a reconfiguration from an AF node.

[0117] In some embodiments, the conversation group of the media stream may share a common clock.

[0118] In some embodiments, the session group for the media stream may be associated with a CNAME in the RTP session.

[0119] HTTP payloads can be inspected to determine the start, middle, and end of a PDU set, identifying HTTP / 1.1 packets that belong to a PDU set. HTTP payloads with the same timestamp and content type belong to a PDU set. Enhancement layers can detect changes in content type (while timestamps may not increment). By tracking TCP sequence numbers and the content type of packets, the arrival of out-of-order packets can be managed.

[0120] HTTP / 2 and HTTP / 3 packets carry multiple streams that are dynamically ordered (i.e., the ordering of these streams is based on application priority, network latency, etc.) The combination of dynamically ordered streams or possible encryption makes it processing intensive to identify and characterize sets of PDUs at line speed without additional metadata.

[0121] The techniques for HTTP / 2 and HTTP / 3 can use a combination of IP header fields and stream fingerprinting (method 1), or use new TCP / UDP options with media metadata (method 2).

[0122] Figure 4 Example HTTP / 2 and HTTP / 3 classification methods are shown according to some embodiments. Figure 4The use of Method 1 and Method 2 are shown. For Method 2 (combination of IP header fields and flow fingerprints), UPF 418 uses IP header fields (e.g., flow label, differentiated service code point (DSCP)) to differentiate flows, because a flow (e.g., a single transport connection) may have multiple flows that are dynamically ordered. In the identified HTTP / 2 flows, flow fingerprints (including packet size, burst, inter-arrival time) can be used to identify PDU set boundaries. Flow fingerprints can be configured as described below.

[0123] For method 2 (new TCP / UDP options with media metadata), a media-aware application server on the N6 interface (e.g., media server 416) adds a new TCP option for HTTP / 2 or a new UDP option for HTTP / 3 to carry metadata on the codec (e.g., audio, video, haptics), media encoding in the packet (base layer and / or enhancement layer), timestamp, and PDU collection information (start / end of frame). Since the metadata is in the TCP or UDP options of the packet, no additional new routing / destination information is required (unlike the alternative of using tunnels in the N6 interface).

[0124] For method 2, UPF 418 may process HTTP media streams as follows.

[0125] At operation 401, UPF 418 receives one or more incoming IP packets from media server 416 and identifies a PDU set for HTTP media. If the packet contains a TCP / UDP option, the option is checked. UPF 418 looks up the corresponding policy for the PDU session (parameters are provided as described below). If there is a key provided for application / encryption of metadata, UPF 418 uses the key to decrypt the metadata and obtain the PDU set information.

[0126] At operation 402, UPF 418 looks up the corresponding policy for the PDU session (parameter preconfiguration is described below). A mapping process may be performed. Details of the mapping process are described below.

[0127] At operation 403, if there is a match based on the provided parameters and mapping process, one or more packets are marked with PDU set information (e.g., packet priority marking (PPM), PDU sequence marking) and prepared for transmission in the GTP-U extension of the packet set belonging to the PDU set.

[0128] At operation 404, the UPF 418 adds a GTP-U header before forwarding one or more packets to the RAN 420. A GTP-U extension carrying a PPM and a PDU sequence marker is inserted.

[0129] At operation 405 , one or more packets with the GTP-U header are forwarded to the RAN 420 , which will perform transmission to the UE 422 .

[0130] In some embodiments, the mapping process at operation 402 described above may include mapping HTTP transport payloads to PPMs. The method described above may include both identification of PDU sets and classification of packets with HTTP media transports.

[0131] For HTTP / 1.1 (unencrypted headers and payload), the content type, base layer, and enhancement layer are detected by inspecting the media payload and mapped to per-packet QoS priority values ​​in the PPM. Independent frames / PDU sets that have no dependencies are marked with the highest priority, while PDU sets that carry temporal, spatial, or quality enhancements are configured per application based on importance level. More details are described below.

[0132] For HTTP / 2 and HTTP / 3 (dynamically ordered streams and possible encryption), the HTTP / 2 or HTTP / 3 headers do not provide meta information to determine the coded media. IP header fields (e.g., flow label, DSCP) can be used to distinguish streams, as one flow (e.g., a single transport connection) may have multiple streams that are dynamically ordered. If metadata on the codec (e.g., audio, video, haptics), media encoding in the packet (e.g., base layer, enhancement layer), timestamps, and PDU set information (e.g., start / end of frame) are available in the TCP options for HTTP / 2 or the UDP options for HTTP / 3, this information is used for classification and mapping to per-packet QoS priority values.

[0133] The parameter provision described above with respect to operation 402 may include providing application information for HTTP transport. This provision is used to filter media PDUs and apply QoS classification based on the importance required by the application for different media encodings. For example, a video stream encoding significant motion may wish to prioritize PDUs with enhancement layers with temporal information over PDUs carrying quality.

[0134] For media packet filtering, media traffic (e.g., one or more packets) is classified using rules configured based on the application priority of the corresponding field in the HTTP transport or payload header. Some PDU sets have well-understood importance (e.g., independent frames have high importance, or discardable frames have low importance). However, in other cases, applications may indicate preferences (e.g., an application involving high-speed motion may give more importance to temporal enhancement PDU sets than to spatial or quality data).

[0135] AF 412 may send information to 5GC 414 to configure default and application specific information. The information may include the classification of HTTP. The information may also include configured parameters. These parameters may include:

[0136] · Parameters used to fingerprint flows using packet signatures for HTTP classification; these parameters include packet size, burst rate, inter-arrival time, etc.

[0137] The IPv6 flow label value corresponding to the application's preference for the importance of the PDU;

[0138] - DSCP corresponding to the application's preference for the importance of the PDU (eg, if DSCP = d1, then PPM = high importance).

[0139] If no configuration applies, PPM is set to low importance by default.

[0140] The disclosed embodiments provide a method in which the UPF identifies a set of PDUs in an HTTP transport packet using a combination of an IP header (DSCP, flow label) and a flow fingerprint. The disclosed embodiments also provide a method by which a media-aware application function adds a TCP / UDP option to transmit metadata on a media encoding carried in a packet.

[0141] The disclosed embodiments provide for configuring parameters between the 5GS and the application domain / AF to identify a set (triplet or S-NSSAI / DNAI) of sources or origins of the streams to be grouped (e.g., operation 201).

[0142] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide for configuring keys between 5GS and application domain / AF to protect metadata in TCP or UDP options (e.g., operation 201).

[0143] The disclosed embodiment provides a technical solution to assign a public identifier (e.g., MSCI) to a group of media streams to be synchronized, encrypt the metadata in a TCP or UDP option and pass it together with the packet carrying the media stream. The UPF retrieves the TCP or UDP option, decrypts the content (e.g., MSCI), and adds the MSCI to other frames / PSU set QoS parameters transmitted to the RAN via GTP-U.

[0144] The embodiment of the present disclosure provides a technical solution, where the RAN uses a combination of the policy (configured in operation 201) and the MSCI value in the GTP-U flow to apply a policy (delay / latency boundary, discard, synchronous flow transmission).

[0145] The disclosed embodiments provide a method by which the UPF identifies a set of PDUs in an HTTP transport packet using a combination of an IP header (DSCP, flow label) and a flow fingerprint. The disclosed embodiments also provide a method by which a media-aware application function adds a TCP / UDP option to transmit metadata on the media encoding carried in the packet.

[0146] The disclosed embodiments provide technical solutions to the technical problems in the current system. In the current user plane nodes, when there is high congestion, packets are randomly dropped or delayed within the flow corresponding to the 5G QoS identifier (5G QoS identifier, 5QI). When the traffic is a high data rate and low latency application with different types of packets within the flow, some form of differential QoS for packets and frames within the flow is desired. The disclosed embodiments describe a technical solution that can achieve differential QoS and synchronization of flows.

[0147] Figure 5 An example communication system 500 is shown. In general, the system 500 enables multiple wireless or wired users to send and receive data and other content. The system 500 can implement one or more channel access methods, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), or non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA).

[0148] In this example, the communication system 500 includes electronic devices (EDs) 510a to 510c, RANs 520a and 520b, a core network 530, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 540, the Internet 550, and other networks 560. Although a certain number of these components or elements are present in the Figure 5 Although not shown in FIG. 5 , any number of these components or elements may be included in system 500 .

[0149] ED 510a to ED 510c are configured to operate or communicate in system 500. For example, ED 510a to ED 510c are configured to transmit or receive through a wireless communication channel or a wired communication channel. Each of ED 510a to ED 510c represents any suitable end-user device, which may include (or may be referred to as): UE or user equipment, wireless transmit or receive unit (WTRU), mobile station, fixed or mobile subscriber unit, cellular phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), smart phone, laptop, computer, touch pad, wireless sensor or consumer electronic device, etc.

[0150] Here, the RAN 520a and the RAN 520b include a base station 570a and a base station 570b, respectively. The base station 570a and the base station 570b are configured to wirelessly connect to one or more of the EDs 510a to 510c so as to access the core network 530, the PSTN 540, the Internet 550 or other networks 560. For example, the base station 570a and the base station 570b may include (or may be) one or more of several known devices, such as a base transceiver station (BTS), a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a Next Generation (NG) NodeB (NGNodeB, gNB), a home NodeB, a home eNodeB, a site controller, an access point (AP) or a wireless router. The EDs 510a to 510c are configured to connect and communicate with the Internet 550, and may access the core network 530, the PSTN 540 or other networks 560.

[0151] exist Figure 5In the illustrated embodiment, base station 570a forms part of RAN 520a, which may include other base stations, elements and / or devices. Similarly, base station 570b forms part of RAN 520b, which may include other base stations, elements and / or devices. Each of base stations 570a and 570b operates to send or receive wireless signals within a specific geographic area or region (sometimes referred to as a "cell"). In some embodiments, if each cell has multiple transceivers, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology can be used.

[0152] Base station 570a and base station 570b communicate with one or more of EDs 510a-510c using wireless communication links over one or more air interfaces 590. Air interface 590 may use any suitable radio access technology.

[0153] It is contemplated that the system 500 may use multi-channel access functionality, including the schemes described above. In certain embodiments, the base station and ED implement 5G New Radio (NR), LTE, LTE-A, or LTE-B. Of course, other multiple access schemes and wireless protocols may also be used.

[0154] RAN 520a and RAN 520b communicate with core network 530 to provide voice, data, applications, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) or other services to ED 510a to ED 510c. It is understood that RAN 520a and RAN 520b or core network 530 can communicate directly or indirectly with one or more other RANs (not shown). Core network 530 can also be used as a gateway access for other networks (e.g., PSTN 540, Internet 550, and other networks 560). In addition, some or all of ED 510a to ED 510c may include the function of communicating with different wireless networks through different wireless links using different wireless technologies or protocols. ED can communicate with a service provider or switch (not shown) and the Internet 550 through a wired communication channel instead of wireless communication (or also wireless communication).

[0155] Although Figure 5 An example of a communication system is shown, but the Figure 5 For example, communication system 500 may include any number of EDs, base stations, networks, or other components in any suitable configuration.

[0156] Fig. 6A and Figure 6B An example device is shown in which the methods and teachings according to the present disclosure can be implemented. Specifically, Fig. 6A An example ED 610 is shown, Figure 6B An example base station 670 is shown. These components may be used in system 500 or any other suitable system.

[0157] like Fig. 6A As shown, ED 610 includes at least one processing unit 600. Processing unit 600 implements various processing operations of ED 610. For example, processing unit 600 can perform signal encoding, data processing, power control, input / output processing, or any other function that enables ED 610 to operate in system 1000. Processing unit 600 also supports the methods and teachings described in more detail above. Each processing unit 600 includes any suitable processing or computing device configured to perform one or more operations. Each processing unit 600 may include, for example, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a digital signal processor, a field programmable gate array, or an application specific integrated circuit.

[0158] ED 610 also includes at least one transceiver 602. Transceiver 602 is configured to modulate data or other content for transmission by at least one antenna or network interface controller (NIC) 604. Transceiver 602 is also configured to demodulate data or other content received by at least one antenna 604. Each transceiver 602 includes any suitable structure for generating a signal for wireless or wired transmission or for processing a signal received by wireless or wired means. Each antenna 604 includes any suitable structure for sending or receiving wireless or wired signals. ED 610 can use one or more transceivers 602, and ED 610 can use one or more antennas 604. Although shown as a single functional unit, transceiver 602 can also be implemented using at least one transmitter and at least one separate receiver.

[0159] ED 610 also includes one or more input / output devices 606 or interfaces (e.g., a wired interface to the Internet 550). Input / output devices 606 facilitate interaction with users or other devices in the network (network communications). Each input / output device 606 includes any suitable structure for providing information to or receiving information from a user, such as a speaker, microphone, keypad, keyboard, display, or touch screen, including network interface communications.

[0160] In addition, the ED 610 includes at least one memory 608. The memory 608 stores instructions and data used, generated, or collected by the ED 610. For example, the memory 608 can store software or firmware instructions executed by one or more processing units 600 and data for reducing or eliminating interference in incoming signals. Each memory 608 includes any suitable one or more volatile or non-volatile storage and retrieval devices. Any suitable type of memory can be used, for example, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), hard disk, optical disk, subscriber identity module (SIM) card, memory stick, secure digital (SD) memory card.

[0161] like Figure 6B As shown, the base station 670 includes at least one processing unit 650, at least one transceiver 652, one or more antennas 656, at least one memory 658, and one or more input / output devices or interfaces 666, and at least one transceiver 652 includes the functions of a transmitter and a receiver. A scheduler that can be understood by those skilled in the art is coupled to the processing unit 650. The scheduler can be included in the base station 670 or can be run separately from the base station 670. The processing unit 650 implements various processing operations of the base station 670, such as signal encoding, data processing, power control, input / output processing, or any other function. The processing unit 650 can also support the methods and teachings described in more detail above. Each processing unit 650 includes any suitable processing device or computing device configured to perform one or more operations. Each processing unit 650 may include, for example, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a digital signal processor, a field programmable gate array, or an application-specific integrated circuit.

[0162] Each transceiver 652 includes any suitable structure for generating a signal for wireless transmission or wired transmission to one or more EDs or other devices. Each transceiver 652 also includes any suitable structure for processing signals received from one or more EDs or other devices by wireless or wired means. Although shown as a transceiver 652 in combination, the transmitter and receiver can be separate components. Each antenna 656 includes any suitable structure for sending or receiving wireless signals or wired signals. Although the common antenna 656 is shown here as coupled to the transceiver 652, one or more antennas 656 can be coupled to one or more transceivers 652, allowing a separate antenna 656 to be coupled to the transmitter and receiver (if equipped as a separate component). Each memory 658 includes any suitable one or more volatile or non-volatile storage and retrieval devices. Each input / output device 666 facilitates interaction with users or other devices (network communication) in the network. Each input / output device 666 includes any suitable structure for providing information to or receiving information from a user, including network interface communication.

[0163] Figure 7 700 is a block diagram of a computing system 700 that can be used to implement the devices and methods disclosed herein according to some embodiments. For example, the computing system can be any entity in a UE, an access network (AN), a mobility management (MM), a session management (SM), a user plane gateway (UPGW), or an access stratum (AS). A particular device may use all of the components shown or only a subset of the components, and the level of integration may vary from device to device. In addition, a device may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processing units, processors, memories, transmitters, receivers, etc. The computing system 700 includes a processing unit 702. The processing unit includes a central processing unit (CPU) 714 connected to a bus 720, a memory 708, and may also include a mass storage device 704, a video adapter 710, and an I / O interface 712.

[0164] Bus 720 may be one or more of any type of several bus architectures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, or a video bus. CPU 714 may include any type of electronic data processor. Memory 708 may include any type of non-transient system memory, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), read-only memory (ROM), or a combination thereof. In one embodiment, memory 708 may include a ROM for use at startup and a DRAM for storing programs and data used when executing a program.

[0165] Mass storage 704 may include any type of non-transitory storage device configured to store data, programs, and other information and make the data, programs, and other information accessible via bus 720. Mass storage 704 may include, for example, one or more of a solid-state drive, a hard disk drive, a magnetic disk drive, or an optical disk drive.

[0166] Video adapter 710 and I / O interface 712 provide interfaces for coupling external input and output devices to processing unit 702. As shown, examples of input and output devices include a display 718 coupled to video adapter 710 and a mouse, keyboard, or printer 716 coupled to I / O interface 712. Other devices can be coupled to processing unit 702, and additional or fewer interface cards can be used. For example, a serial interface such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) (not shown) can be used to provide an interface for external devices.

[0167] The processing unit 702 also includes one or more network interfaces 706, which may include wired links such as Ethernet cables, or wireless links to access nodes or different networks. The network interface 706 allows the processing unit 702 to communicate with remote units over the network. For example, the network interface 706 can provide wireless communication through one or more transmitters / transmit antennas and one or more receivers / receive antennas. In one embodiment, the processing unit 702 is coupled to a local area network 722 or a wide area network for data processing and communication with remote devices (e.g., other processing units, the Internet, or remote storage facilities).

[0168] It should be understood that one or more steps in the embodiment methods provided herein can be performed by corresponding units or modules. The corresponding units or modules can be hardware, software or a combination thereof. For example, one or more units or modules can be integrated circuits, such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC).

[0169] Although the specification has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims. In addition, the scope of the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the specific embodiments described herein, as it is readily understood by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the present disclosure that processes, machines, manufactured products, material compositions, devices, methods or steps currently existing or to be developed in the future may perform substantially the same functions or achieve substantially the same results as the corresponding embodiments described herein. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to include within their scope such processes, machines, manufactured products, material compositions, devices, methods or steps.

Claims

1. A method comprising: The user plane function UPF node receives a plurality of packets from the application server; The UPF node identifies one or more packets among the multiple packets, the one or more packets belonging to a session group for coordinating the transmission of a media stream and having the same media stream coordination identifier MSCI value; as well as The UPF node sends the one or more packets for the coordinated transmission to a base station.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: The UPF node adds the MSCI to the General Packet Radio Service GRPS Tunneling Protocol GTP User Plane GTP-U extension header of the one or more packets, and The sending includes: The one or more packets are sent with the GTP-U extension header having the MSCI.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the identification comprises: The UPF node obtains the MSCI from a real-time protocol RTP extension header, a corresponding transmission control protocol TCP optional header, or a corresponding user datagram protocol UDP optional header.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the identification comprises: The UPF node identifies the one or more packets belonging to the session group of the media flow for the coordinated transmission based on the MSCI and application identification information. 5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the application identification information comprises a triplet of a source address, a source port, and a protocol type indicated in the one or more packets.

6. According to the method described in claim 4, the application identification information includes a service network slice selection auxiliary identifier S-NSSAI or a data network access identifier DNAI.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the identification comprises: The UPF node identifies the one or more packets belonging to a session group of the media flow for the coordinated transmission based on the corresponding MSCI and importance information of the one or more packets.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein: The session group of the media streams shares a common clock.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the coordinated transmission is performed based on a common configuration policy including at least one of a drop policy or a delay policy.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the conversation group of media streams comprises at least one of an audio stream, a video stream or a haptic stream of the same media.

11. A method comprising: The base station receives a plurality of packets from a user plane function UPF node; The base station identifies one or more packets among the multiple packets, where the one or more packets belong to a session group for coordinating the transmission of a media stream and have the same media stream coordination identifier MSCI value; as well as The base station performs the coordinated transmission of the one or more packets.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the identification comprises: The base station obtains the MSCI from a General Packet Radio Service GRPS Tunneling Protocol GTP User Plane GTP-U extension header corresponding to the one or more packets.

13. The method according to claim 11 or 12, wherein the identification comprises: The base station obtains the MSCI from a real-time protocol RTP extension header, a corresponding transmission control protocol TCP optional header, or a corresponding user datagram protocol UDP optional header.

14. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein the identification comprises: The base station identifies the one or more packets belonging to the session group of the media stream for the coordinated transmission based on the MSCI and application identification information.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the application identification information comprises a triplet of a source address, a source port, and a protocol type indicated in the one or more packets.

16. According to the method according to claim 14, the application identification information includes a service network slice selection auxiliary identifier S-NSSAI or a data network access identifier DNAI.

17. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 16, wherein the identification comprises: The base station identifies the one or more packets belonging to a session group of the media stream for the coordinated transmission based on the MSCI and importance information of the one or more packets.

18. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 17, wherein: The session group of the media streams shares a common clock.

19. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 18, wherein the coordinated transmission is performed based on a common configuration policy including at least one of a drop policy or a delay policy.

20. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 19, wherein the conversation group of media streams comprises an audio stream, a video stream, and a haptic stream of the same media.

21. A method comprising: The user plane function UPF node receives a configuration from the 5G core network 5GC node, where the configuration indicates that the multiple media flows belong to a session group of media flows; The UPF node receives a plurality of packets from an application server; The UPF node identifies one or more packets among the plurality of packets belonging to the session group for coordinated transmission, wherein the identification is based on the configuration and flow information of the one or more packets; as well as The UPF node sends the one or more packets for the coordinated transmission to a base station.

22. The method according to claim 21, further comprising: The UPF node receives a reconfiguration from the 5GC node, where the reconfiguration indicates that a media stream is added to or deleted from the session group.

23. The method according to claim 21 or 22, wherein: The session group of the media streams shares a common clock.

24. The method according to any one of claims 21 to 23, wherein: The session group of the media stream is associated with a common canonical name CNAME in a real-time protocol RTP session.

25. A method comprising: The base station receives a configuration from a 5G core network 5GC node, wherein the configuration indicates that the plurality of media flows belong to a session group of media flows; The base station receives a plurality of packets from a user plane function UPF node; The base station identifies one or more packets among the plurality of packets that belong to the session group for coordinated transmission, wherein the identification is based on the configuration and flow information of the one or more packets; as well as The base station performs the coordinated transmission of the one or more packets.

26. The method according to claim 25, further comprising: The base station receives a reconfiguration from the 5GC node, where the reconfiguration indicates that a media stream is added to or deleted from the session group.

27. The method according to claim 25 or 26, wherein: The session group of the media streams shares a common clock.

28. A method according to any one of claims 25 to 27, wherein: The session group of the media stream is associated with a common canonical name CNAME in a real-time protocol RTP session.

29. A user plane function UPF node, comprising: at least one processor; A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program, the program comprising instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the UPF node to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

30. A base station, comprising: at least one processor; A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program, the program comprising instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the base station to perform the method according to any one of claims 11 to 20.

31. A user plane function UPF node, comprising: at least one processor; A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program, the program comprising instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the UPF node to perform the method according to any one of claims 21 to 24.

32. A base station, comprising: at least one processor; A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program, the program comprising instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the base station to perform the method according to any one of claims 25 to 28.

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