Data processing method and device

Abstract

The invention provides a data processing method and device, and is applied to the technical field of communication. The method comprises the following steps: a sending end obtains first SN information of a data unit discarded by a first protocol layer of the sending end, and sends the first SN information to a second protocol layer of a receiving end through a control signaling of a second protocol layer of the sending end. Correspondingly, after the second protocol layer of the receiving end obtains the first SN information through the over-control signaling from the second protocol layer of the sending end, the first SN information can be submitted to the first protocol layer of the receiving end. According to the method, the end-to-end transmission delay of the service data can be effectively reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a data processing method and device. Background Art

[0002] The new radio (NR) user plane protocol stack includes the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, the radio link control (RLC) layer, the medium access control (MAC) layer and the physical (PHY) layer. Among them, the RLC layer is a protocol layer in the middle position. The RLC layer provides transmission services for the protocol data unit (PDU) generated by the upper layer protocol stack, and can segment, reassemble, and resegment the PDU as needed. In order to meet the quality of service (QoS) requirements of different types of data transmission, the RLC layer provides three transmission modes: acknowledge mode (AM), unacknowledged mode (UM) and transparent mode (TM). The data radio bearer (DRB) used for service data transmission can be configured as AM mode or UM mode.

[0003] The PDCP layer is located above the RLC layer and provides functions such as message forwarding, timed discard, reordering, and in-order delivery on the user plane / control plane. Among them, timed discard means that when the PDCP layer receives a PDCP service data unit (SDU) from the upper layer, a discard timer (discardTimer) is started for the SDU. When the discard timer associated with an SDU times out, the corresponding PDCP SDU and PDCP PDU are discarded. If the data packet has been delivered to the RLC layer, the PDCP layer will continue to instruct the RLC layer to perform packet loss processing.

[0004] However, after the PDCP layer at the transmitting end discards the data unit, the PDCP layer at the receiving end still waits for the discarded data unit for reordering, resulting in unnecessary reordering at the receiving end, introducing additional waiting delay to data transmission and increasing the end-to-end transmission delay of service data. Summary of the invention

[0005] The embodiments of the present application provide a data processing method and device, which effectively reduce the end-to-end transmission delay of business data.

[0006] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a data processing method, which is applied to a transmitting end or a chip or a functional module disposed in the transmitting end, and the method includes:

[0007] Acquire first sequence number (SN) information of a data unit discarded by a first protocol layer of a sending end; and send the first SN information to a second protocol layer of a receiving end through control signaling of a second protocol layer of the sending end.

[0008] In the embodiment of the present application, the transmitting end sends the first SN information of the first protocol layer of the transmitting end through the control signaling of its second protocol layer, so that the processing priority of the control signaling can be fully utilized to reduce the queuing delay of the first SN information, so that the second protocol layer of the receiving end can quickly receive the first SN information and submit the first SN information to the first protocol layer. Therefore, the first protocol layer of the receiving end can quickly obtain the first SN information, and the first protocol layer of the receiving end can effectively know the data unit discarded by the first protocol layer of the transmitting end based on the first SN information, avoiding the situation where the first protocol layer of the receiving end continuously reorders the data unit due to the discarding of the data unit by the first protocol layer of the transmitting end, or avoiding the situation where the first protocol layer of the receiving end continuously requires retransmission due to the discarding of the data unit by the first protocol layer of the transmitting end, thereby effectively reducing the end-to-end transmission delay of the service data.

[0009] In a possible implementation manner, the second protocol layer of the sending end is a radio link control RLC layer of the sending end, and the first protocol layer of the sending end is a packet data convergence protocol PDCP layer of the sending end.

[0010] In a possible implementation manner, the control signaling includes an RLC control protocol data unit PDU.

[0011] In a possible implementation, sending the first SN information to the second protocol layer of the receiving end through the control signaling of the second protocol layer of the sending end includes: sending the first SN information and the second SN information to the RLC layer of the receiving end through the RLC control PDU of the RLC layer of the sending end, and the second SN information is the SN information of the RLC layer of the sending end.

[0012] The method provided in the embodiment of the present application effectively shortens the delay of sending the SN information (i.e., the first SN information) of the PDCP layer of the transmitting end to the PDCP layer of the receiving end, and the delay of sending the SN information (i.e., the second SN information) of the RLC layer of the transmitting end to the RLC layer of the receiving end. The PDCP layer of the receiving end / the RLC layer of the receiving end can timely update the variables it maintains based on the SN information of the sending PDCP layer / the receiving RLC layer, effectively avoiding the introduction of additional reordering delays due to the fact that the sending PDCP layer discards the data unit and the receiving PDCP layer still performs the reordering process to wait for the discarded data unit, and effectively avoiding the situation where the receiving RLC layer still requires the sending RLC layer to retransmit due to the discard of the data unit. Therefore, the method provided in the embodiment of the present application effectively reduces the end-to-end transmission delay of service data, improves the user service experience, and saves resources for retransmitting data units.

[0013] In one possible implementation, the method also includes: receiving a first RLC status report; obtaining the first sequence number (SN) information of the data unit discarded by the first protocol layer of the sending end includes: determining the first SN information based on the SN of the successfully received data unit indicated by the first RLC status report and the data unit discarded by the first protocol layer of the sending end.

[0014] In the embodiment of the present application, the first SN information may be the SN of the data unit that was not successfully received among the data units discarded by the first protocol layer of the sending end.

[0015] In one possible implementation, after the control signaling of the second protocol layer of the sending end sends the first SN information to the second protocol layer of the receiving end, the method also includes: receiving a second RLC status report; and when the data unit that is not successfully received indicated by the second RLC status report includes the data unit indicated by the first SN information, retransmitting the first SN information to the second protocol layer of the receiving end through the control signaling of the second protocol layer of the sending end.

[0016] In an embodiment of the present application, when the transmitting end receives a second RLC status report and the data units that are not successfully received indicated by the second RLC status report include data units indicated by the first SN information, the transmitting end can learn based on the second RLC status report that the receiving end may not have received the first SN information, whereby the transmitting end can promptly retransmit the first SN information, thereby avoiding a situation where the first protocol layer of the receiving end continuously reorders data due to the first protocol layer of the transmitting end discarding data units, resulting in a large data transmission delay, or avoiding a situation where the first protocol layer of the receiving end continuously requires retransmission due to the first protocol layer of the transmitting end discarding data units, thereby effectively reducing the end-to-end transmission delay of service data.

[0017] In one possible implementation, after the control signaling of the second protocol layer of the sending end sends the first SN information to the second protocol layer of the receiving end, the method also includes: receiving a third RLC status report, wherein the third RLC status report indicates that one or more data units among the data units indicated by the first SN information are successfully received.

[0018] In the embodiment of the present application, when the transmitting end receives the third RLC status report and the third RLC status report indicates that one or more data units in the data units indicated by the first SN information are successfully received, the transmitting end can learn based on the third RLC status report that the receiving end has received the first SN information. The transmitting end can timely clear the cached first SN information or the data unit indicated by the first SN information based on the third RLC status report.

[0019] In a possible implementation manner, the second protocol layer of the sending end is a media access control MAC layer of the sending end, and the first protocol layer of the sending end is an RLC layer of the sending end.

[0020] In a possible implementation manner, the control signaling includes a MAC control element (CE).

[0021] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a data processing method, which is applied to a receiving end or a chip or a functional module disposed in the receiving end, and the method includes:

[0022] The second protocol layer of the receiving end obtains the first SN information of the data unit discarded by the first protocol layer of the sending end through the control signaling from the second protocol layer of the sending end; the second protocol layer of the receiving end sends the first SN information to the first protocol layer of the receiving end.

[0023] In a possible implementation manner, the second protocol layer of the receiving end is a radio link control RLC layer of the receiving end, and the first protocol layer of the receiving end is a packet data convergence protocol PDCP layer of the receiving end.

[0024] In a possible implementation manner, the control signaling includes an RLC control protocol data unit PDU.

[0025] In a possible implementation, the second protocol layer of the receiving end obtains the first SN information of the data unit discarded by the first protocol layer of the sending end through the control signaling from the second protocol layer of the sending end, including: the second protocol layer of the receiving end obtains the first SN information and the second SN information through the control signaling from the second protocol layer of the sending end, the second SN information is the SN information of the RLC layer of the sending end, and the first SN information is the SN information of the PDCP layer of the sending end.

[0026] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: updating variables maintained by the PDCP layer of the receiving end based on the first SN information; and updating variables maintained by the RLC layer of the receiving end based on the second SN information.

[0027] In the embodiment of the present application, after the first protocol layer of the receiving end quickly receives the first SN information of the first protocol layer, the first SN information can be effectively used to update the variables and windows maintained by the first protocol layer of the receiving end, thereby reducing the processing delay of the first protocol layer of the receiving end for subsequent data units. After the second protocol layer of the receiving end quickly receives the second SN information of the second protocol layer, the second SN information can be effectively used to update the variables and windows maintained by the second protocol layer of the receiving end, thereby avoiding the situation where the second protocol layer of the receiving end continuously requests to retransmit the discarded data units, thereby saving air interface resources for retransmission.

[0028] In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: sending a third RLC status report, where the third RLC status report indicates that one or more data units among the data units indicated by the first SN information are successfully received.

[0029] In one possible implementation, the method also includes: sending a second RLC status report, wherein the data units that are not successfully received indicated by the second RLC status report include the data units indicated by the first SN information; and the second protocol layer of the receiving end obtains the retransmitted first SN information through the control signaling from the second protocol layer of the sending end.

[0030] In a possible implementation manner, the second protocol layer of the receiving end is a media access control MAC layer of the receiving end, and the first protocol layer of the receiving end is an RLC layer of the receiving end.

[0031] In a possible implementation manner, the control signaling includes a MAC control element CE.

[0032] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a data processing method, which is applied to a terminal device or a chip or a functional module provided in the terminal device, and the method includes:

[0033] Receive indication information, where the indication information is used to indicate that a transport block (TB) of a process is not decoded successfully, where the TB carries one or more SDUs; and trigger an automatic repeat request (ARQ) retransmission of the one or more SDUs based on the unsuccessful decoding of the TB.

[0034] In an embodiment of the present application, the condition for triggering ARQ retransmission may be that the terminal device receives NACK feedback indicating that a TB decoding has failed (ie, the above-mentioned indication information), thereby achieving the purpose of quickly triggering ARQ retransmission through the indication information.

[0035] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a data processing method, which is applied to a network device or a chip or a functional module provided in the network device, and the method includes:

[0036] When a TB of a process is not successfully decoded, indication information is sent, where the indication information is used to indicate that the TB of the process is not successfully decoded, and the TB carries one or more SDUs.

[0037] In combination with the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the indication information is carried in L1 signaling or L2 signaling.

[0038] In combination with the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, when the indication information is carried in L1 signaling, the terminal device submits the L1 signaling to the MAC layer.

[0039] In combination with the third aspect or the fourth aspect, in one possible implementation method, the indication information is carried in the scheduling DCI of the new transmission TB of the process; or, the indication information is carried in the scheduling DCI of other processes in the same cell as the process; or, the indication information is carried in the scheduling DCI of processes in other cells.

[0040] In combination with the third aspect or the fourth aspect, the L2 signaling is a MAC CE, and the MAC CE carries a cell identifier and an identifier of the process; or, the MAC CE carries a cell identifier and a bit map, and each bit in the bit map may correspond to indication information of whether the previous transmission of a process in the cell indicated by the cell identifier was successfully decoded.

[0041] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a data processing method, which is applied to a communication device, wherein the communication device may include a terminal device or a chip or a functional module disposed in the terminal device, or the communication device may include a network device or a chip or a functional module disposed in the network device, and the method includes:

[0042] When the communication device fails to successfully decode the TB, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) negative acknowledgement (NACK) is sent, and the HARQ NACK indicates retransmission of the TB, and the TB carries one or more SDUs; when the number of HARQ NACKs of the TB reaches a maximum number, ARQ retransmission of the one or more SDUs is triggered.

[0043] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which is used to execute the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation. The communication device includes a module having the function of executing the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation.

[0044] In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which is used to execute the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation. The communication device includes a module having the function of executing the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation.

[0045] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device for executing the method in the third aspect, the fifth aspect, or any possible implementation. The communication device includes a module for executing the method in the third aspect, the fifth aspect, or any possible implementation.

[0046] In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device for executing the method in the fourth aspect or any possible implementation. The communication device includes a module for executing the method in the fourth aspect or any possible implementation.

[0047] In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, the communication device comprising a processor, configured to execute the method shown in any aspect or any possible implementation of the first to fifth aspects above. The processor is configured to execute a program stored in a memory, and when the program is executed, the method shown in any aspect or any possible implementation of the first to fifth aspects above is executed.

[0048] In a possible implementation manner, the memory is located outside the above communication device.

[0049] In a possible implementation manner, the memory is located within the above-mentioned communication device.

[0050] In the embodiment of the present application, the processor and the memory may also be integrated into one device, that is, the processor and the memory may also be integrated together. Exemplarily, the communication device may be a chip.

[0051] In a possible implementation manner, the communication device further includes a transceiver, and the transceiver is used to receive information or send information.

[0052] In the eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which includes a logic circuit and an interface, and the logic circuit and the interface are coupled; the interface is used to input and / or output information, and the logic circuit is used to execute the method described in any aspect of the first to fifth aspects or any possible implementation method.

[0053] In a possible implementation, the interface being used to output information includes: the interface being used to output SN information. Exemplarily, the logic circuit is used to obtain the SN information of the data unit discarded by the first protocol layer of the sending end.

[0054] In a possible implementation, the interface being used to input information includes: the interface being used to input SN information. Exemplarily, the logic circuit is used to submit the SN information from the second protocol layer to the first protocol layer, etc.

[0055] In the twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which is used to store a computer program. When the computer program is run on a computer, the method shown in the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, the fourth aspect, the fifth aspect or any possible implementation method is executed.

[0056] In the thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program or a computer code. When the computer program product runs on a computer, the method shown in the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, the fourth aspect, the fifth aspect or any possible implementation method is executed.

[0057] In a fourteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program. When the computer program runs on a computer, the method shown in the above-mentioned first aspect, second aspect, third aspect, fourth aspect, fifth aspect or any possible implementation method is executed.

[0058] In the fifteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which includes a transmitting end and a receiving end, the transmitting end is used to execute the method shown in the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, and the receiving end is used to execute the method shown in the above-mentioned second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0059] In the sixteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which includes a terminal device and a network device, wherein the terminal device is used to execute the method shown in the third aspect or any possible implementation of the third aspect, and the network device is used to execute the method shown in the fourth aspect or any possible implementation of the fourth aspect; or, the terminal device is used to execute the method shown in the fifth aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0060] Figure 1a It is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0061] Figure 1b is a schematic diagram of the architecture of another communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0062] Figure 2a It is a format diagram of a user plane protocol stack provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0063] Figure 2b It is a format diagram of another user plane protocol stack provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0064] Figure 3a It is a schematic diagram of a scenario of solution A provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0065] Figure 3b It is a schematic diagram of the scenario of the present solution provided in the embodiment of the present application;

[0066] Figure 4 It is a flowchart of a data processing method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0067] Figure 5a This is a schematic diagram of SN information interaction provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0068] Figure 5b is another schematic diagram of SN information interaction provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0069] Figure 5c It is a schematic diagram of the format of an RLC control PDU provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0070] Figure 6a This is another schematic diagram of SN information interaction provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0071] Figure 6b This is another schematic diagram of SN information interaction provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0072] Figure 6c This is another schematic diagram of SN information interaction provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0073] Figure 6d It is a schematic diagram of the format of a MAC CE provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0074] Figure 7a It is a scenario schematic diagram of a data processing method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0075] Figure 7b is a schematic diagram of SN information provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0076] Figure 7c It is a schematic diagram of receiving a PDCP layer update receiving window provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0077] Figure 8 It is a scenario diagram of a data processing method under a CU-DU separation architecture provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0078] Figure 9a It is a flowchart of a data processing method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0079] Figure 9b It is a flowchart of another data processing method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0080] Fig.10 is a structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0081] Fig.11 is a structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0082] Fig.12 It is a structural diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0083] To facilitate understanding of the technical solution of the present application, the present application will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0084] The terms "first" and "second" in the specification, claims and drawings of this application are only used to distinguish different objects, rather than to describe a specific order. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product or device that includes a series of steps or units is not limited to the listed steps or units, but may optionally include steps or units that are not listed, or may optionally include other steps or units that are inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

[0085] The "embodiment" mentioned in this article means that the specific features, structures or characteristics described in conjunction with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the present application. The appearance of this phrase in various places in the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, nor is it an independent or alternative embodiment that is mutually exclusive with other embodiments. It can be explicitly and implicitly understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein can be combined with other embodiments.

[0086] In the present application, "at least one (item)" means one or more, "more than one" means two or more, "at least two (items)" means two or three and more than three, and "and / or" is used to describe the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, "A and / or B" can mean: only A exists, only B exists, and A and B exist at the same time, where A and B can be singular or plural. "Or" means that two relationships may exist, such as only A exists, only B exists; when A and B are not mutually exclusive, it can also mean that there are three relationships, such as only A exists, only B exists, and A and B exist at the same time. The character " / " generally indicates that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items. For example, at least one of a, b or c can mean: a, b, c, "a and b", "a and c", "b and c", or "a and b and c".

[0087] The embodiments of the present application provide a data processing method and device, which can effectively avoid resource waste, save resources, and reduce the transmission delay of business data.

[0088] The following introduces the communication system involved in the embodiments of the present application.

[0089] The technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, for example, it can be an Internet of Things (IoT) system, a narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) system, a long term evolution (LTE) system, or a fifth-generation (5G) communication system, a sixth-generation (6G) communication system, and new communication systems that will emerge in the future development of communications. Among them, IoT may include, for example, the Internet of Vehicles. The communication methods in the Internet of Vehicles system can be collectively referred to as vehicle-to-everything (V2X, X can represent anything). For example, the V2X may include: vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication, vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) communication, or vehicle-to-network (V2N) communication, etc. The following Figure 1b In the present invention, terminal devices (such as Tx UE) and terminal devices (such as Rx UE) can communicate through device-to-device (D2D), machine-to-machine (M2M) or V2X technology.

[0090] The technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application can also be applied to non-terrestrial network (NTN) communications (also referred to as non-terrestrial network communications).

[0091] Figure 1a Schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 1a As shown, the communication system may include at least one network device and at least one terminal device, such as Figure 1a UE 1 and UE 2 in Figure 1a As shown, the terminal device and the network device can communicate through the Uu port. Figure 1a The types of terminal devices shown are only examples and are not limited to these in the embodiments of the present application. Figure 1a The UE2 shown is only an example. In a specific implementation, the terminal device may also include a vehicle-mounted device or a vehicle-mounted terminal in the Internet of Vehicles. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific form of the terminal device when applied to the Internet of Vehicles.

[0092] Figure 1bis a schematic diagram of the structure of another communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 1b As shown, the communication system may include at least one network device and at least one terminal device, such as Figure 1b The transmitting UE (Tx UE) and receiving UE (Rx UE) in Figure 1b As shown, terminal devices can communicate with each other via a sidelink (SL) link.

[0093] Figure 1a and Figure 1b The exemplary embodiment shows a network device and multiple terminal devices, as well as the communication links between the communication devices. In a specific implementation, the communication system may also include a larger number of network devices, and each network device may include a larger number or a smaller number of terminal devices within its coverage area, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. Figure 1a and Figure 1b The next generation node B (gNB) shown is only an example and should not be understood as a limitation on the embodiments of the present application.

[0094] The following is a detailed description of the terminal equipment and network equipment.

[0095] A terminal device is a device with wireless transceiver functions. The terminal device can communicate with an access network device (or may also be referred to as an access device or a network device shown below) in a radio access network (RAN). The terminal device may also be referred to as user equipment (UE), access terminal, terminal, subscriber unit, user station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, user agent or user device, etc. In one possible implementation, the terminal device may be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted, or may also be deployed on the water, including ships, etc. In another possible implementation, the terminal device may be a handheld device with wireless communication function, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a sensor, a terminal in the Internet of Things, a terminal in the Internet of Vehicles, a drone, a 5G network or any form of terminal device in a future network, etc., and the embodiments of the present application are not limited to this.

[0096] A network device may be a device deployed in a wireless access network to provide wireless communication services for terminal devices. The network device may also be referred to as an access network device, an access device, or a RAN device. Exemplarily, the network device may be a next generation node B (gNB), a next generation evolved node B (ng-eNB), or a network device in 6G communication. The network device may be any device with a wireless transceiver function, including but not limited to the base station shown above (including a base station deployed on a satellite). The network device may also be a device with a base station function in 6G. As an example, the network device may be an access node, a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, etc. in a wireless local area network (wireless-fidelity, Wi-Fi) system. As another example, the network device may be a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario. As another example, the network device may be a wearable device or a vehicle-mounted device capable of providing wireless communication services. As another example, the network device may also be a small station, a transmission reception point (TRP) (or may also be referred to as a transmission point), etc. In systems with different wireless access technologies, the names of the communication devices with network device functions may be different, and the embodiments of the present application will not list them one by one.

[0097] In some deployments of network devices, the network devices may include centralized units (CU) and distributed units (DU). The network devices including CU and DU can be understood as splitting the protocol stack, placing the functions of some protocol layers under centralized control of CU, and distributing the functions of the remaining part or all of the protocol layers in DU, which is centrally controlled by CU. In other deployments of network devices, CU can also be divided into CU-control plane (CP) and CU-user plane (UP). In some other deployments of network devices, the network device may also be an open radio access network (ORAN) architecture. When the network device is an ORAN architecture, the network device may be an access network device in ORAN, or a functional module in ORAN. In the ORAN system, CU may also be referred to as open (open, O)-CU, DU may also be referred to as O-DU, CU-CP may also be referred to as O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be referred to as O-CU-UP, etc. The deployment methods of the network devices listed here are only examples. With the evolution of standard technologies, network devices may have other deployment forms, which are not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0098] The embodiment of the present application describes the method provided by the embodiment of the present application with a transmitting end and a receiving end, wherein the transmitting end is a communication device that transmits a data unit from an air interface, and the receiving end is a communication device that receives a data unit from an air interface. As an example, the transmitting end may be a terminal device, and the receiving end may be a network device. As another example, the transmitting end may be a network device, and the receiving end may be a terminal device. As another example, the transmitting end and the receiving end may be different terminal devices. The specific forms of the transmitting end and the receiving end are not listed one by one here.

[0099] For the convenience of description, when referring to specific examples below, the method provided in the embodiment of the present application is illustrated by taking the terminal device as UE and the network device as gNB as an example.

[0100] The following introduces the protocol stack involved in the embodiments of the present application.

[0101] Figure 2a Schematic diagram of the format of a user plane protocol stack provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 2a As shown, the user plane protocol stack of the UE and the gNB may include at least one of the following: SDAP layer, PDCP layer, RLC layer, MAC layer, and PHY layer. Figure 2a The protocol stack of the gNB shown is only an example.

[0102] Figure 2bFIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of another format of a user plane protocol stack provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 2b As shown, the SDAP layer and the PDCP layer are deployed in the CU, and the RLC layer, the MAC layer, and the PHY layer are deployed in the DU. The CU and the DU can be connected through the F1 interface, the CU in the gNB is connected to the core network through the NG interface, and the CU in the gNB is connected to other gNBs through the Xn interface. Exemplarily, when the CU is divided into CU-CP and CU-UP, the user plane interface between the CU-UP and the DU can be F1-U, and the control plane interface between the CU-CP and the DU can be F1-C.

[0103] The three transmission modes provided by the RLC layer are as follows:

[0104] The TM mode is used to transmit signaling radio bearer 0 (SRB0) data, paging data, and broadcast system messages. Such messages cannot be segmented, and the data is transparently transmitted through the RLC protocol layer.

[0105] The UM mode is suitable for real-time services with high latency requirements and error tolerance. After a data packet is transmitted through the UM RLC entity, the transmission is considered complete. Even if the data packet is lost during air interface transmission, the RLC layer will not retransmit it. For ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) applications that have high latency and reliability requirements, the UM RLC mode can usually be used in conjunction with other mechanisms to improve reliability, such as PDCP duplication and slot aggregation mechanisms.

[0106] The AM mode is suitable for non-real-time services that require high reliability, such as web browsing, file transfer protocol (FTP) file downloading, signaling transmission, etc. The aforementioned services need to avoid data transmission loss as much as possible, so the ARQ mechanism of the AM mode can be used to ensure lossless transmission of data. The basic idea of ​​ARQ is that the receiving side RLC entity (i.e., the RLC entity at the receiving end) can feedback the RLC status report to the sending side RLC entity (i.e., the RLC entity at the sending end), and the RLC status report can indicate which data packets are received successfully and which data packets fail to be received. The sending side RLC entity can retransmit the data packets that failed to be transmitted based on the RLC status report.

[0107] Figure 2a and Figure 2bThe user plane protocol stack shown is only an example. As the standard advances, the user plane protocol stack may change. However, any communication device that can execute the method provided in the embodiment of the present application belongs to the protection scope of the embodiment of the present application. For example, for an ORAN network device, the O-CU may include a PDCP layer, and the O-DU may include an RLC layer. Other protocol layers included in the O-CU and O-DU are not listed here. Figure 2a and Figure 2b The functions implemented by each protocol layer shown can be implemented by an entity of the corresponding protocol layer. A certain protocol layer shown below and a certain entity (the entity corresponding to the certain protocol layer) can be understood as a corresponding relationship or a mutually replaceable relationship.

[0108] by Figure 2a For example, when the UE sends a data unit (i.e., the UE acts as a transmitter), each protocol layer in the UE can process the SDU obtained from the previous protocol layer, and then submit the processed PDU to the next protocol layer. When the gNB receives a data unit (i.e., the gNB acts as a receiver), each protocol layer in the gNB can process the obtained PDU, and then submit the processed SDU to the previous protocol layer. For the transmitter, the function implemented by each protocol layer is to process the obtained SDU and submit the PDU to the lower layer. For the receiver, the function implemented by each protocol layer is to process the obtained PDU and submit the SDU to the upper layer. Therefore, for the sake of simplicity, the following text will not distinguish between SDU and PDU, and will be uniformly represented by data units. For example, a data unit may include any of the following: PDCP SDU, RLC SDU, PDCP PDU, RLC PDU. The data unit can also be replaced by a data packet, etc., and the specific name of the data unit is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0109] The following introduces the terms involved in the embodiments of the present application.

[0110] 1. Extended reality (XR)

[0111] XR refers to various environments that combine reality and virtuality, as well as human-machine interactions, generated by computing technology and wearable devices. XR can include the following forms: augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and virtual reality (VR). XR is one of the 5G multimedia applications that the industry is currently focusing on. Generally speaking, XR services periodically generate data frames at a certain frame rate. Generally speaking, a data frame is usually an information unit at the application layer. When transmitted at a lower layer, it may be divided into multiple data packets (or data units) due to the limitation of the maximum transmission unit size of the lower layer.

[0112] Exemplarily, the service model for the downlink XR service may be as follows:

[0113] AR / VR: The frame rate can be 60 frames per second (fps), which means that 60 video frames are generated per second (just an example), and one video frame appears approximately every 16.66ms. The transmission rate is 20Mbps or 45Mbps, etc. The frame rate may also be 120fps, which means 120 video frames per second, and one video frame appears approximately every 8.33ms. For example, the air interface transmission delay budget for a complete video frame is 10ms. The base station starts timing when it receives data of a frame of image from the user plane function (UPF) until a frame of image is successfully sent from the base station to the UE. This duration can be called the air interface transmission delay budget of the video frame. According to the video frame granularity, the transmission reliability is required to reach 99%.

[0114] Cloud gaming (CG): 60 frames per second viewing images or 120 frames per second video images, with a transmission rate of 8Mbps or 30Mbps, etc. The air interface transmission delay budget for a complete video frame is 15ms. According to the video frame granularity, the transmission reliability is required to be 99%.

[0115] XR services require large data volume (relatively high transmission rate), high transmission reliability, and low transmission latency. The video images listed above are only examples, and XR services can also be applied to other types of images, which are not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

[0116] 2. Data unit collection

[0117] A data unit set can also be called a PDU set. A PDU set refers to one or more PDUs that carry the payload of an information unit or data unit (such as a video frame or video slice) generated by the application layer. For example, a video frame generated by an XR application is large and can be divided into 100 PDUs at the IP layer. These 100 PDUs are called a PDUset.

[0118] Compared with traditional QoS parameters packet delay budget (PDB) and packet error rate (PER), XR services introduce the concepts of packet set delay budget (PSDB) and packet set error rate (PSER), which represent the delay budget and packet error rate of PDU set respectively. Taking downlink transmission as an example, PSDB represents the delay budget from the time the first PDU of a PDU set arrives at the user plane function (UPF) network element until the last PDU is successfully transmitted to the UE. PSER represents the PDU set transmission success rate calculated at the granularity of PDU set.

[0119] 3. The first protocol layer of the sender and the first protocol layer of the receiver

[0120] As an example, the first protocol layer of the transmitting end may be a PDCP layer of the transmitting end. The first protocol layer of the receiving end may be a PDCP layer of the receiving end.

[0121] As another example, the first protocol layer of the transmitting end may be an RLC layer of the transmitting end. The first protocol layer of the receiving end may be an RLC layer of the receiving end.

[0122] 4. The second protocol layer of the sender and the second protocol layer of the receiver

[0123] As an example, the second protocol layer of the transmitting end may be an RLC layer of the transmitting end. The second protocol layer of the receiving end may be an RLC layer of the receiving end.

[0124] As another example, the second protocol layer of the transmitting end may be a MAC layer of the transmitting end. The second protocol layer of the receiving end may be a MAC layer of the receiving end.

[0125] The first protocol layer and the second protocol layer shown in the embodiment of the present application may be a combination of the above-mentioned terms 3 and 4. For example, the first protocol layer may be a PDCP layer, and the second protocol layer may be an RLC layer. For another example, the first protocol layer may be an RLC layer, and the second protocol layer may be a MAC layer. For another example, the first protocol layer may be a PDCP layer, and the second protocol layer may be a MAC layer. Based on the example of the first protocol layer and the second protocol layer, the first SN information shown in the embodiment of the present application may be the SN information of the PDCP layer, and the second SN information may be the SN information of the RLC layer. Alternatively, the first SN information may be the SN information of the RLC layer. Alternatively, the first SN information may be the SN information of the PDCP layer. For ease of description, the following description is given by taking the SN information of the PDCP layer and the SN information of the RLC layer as examples.

[0126] For ease of description, the PDCP layer of the transmitting end is referred to as the transmitting PDCP layer. Similarly, the PDCP layer of the receiving end is referred to as the receiving PDCP layer. The RLC layer of the transmitting end is referred to as the transmitting RLC layer, and the RLC layer of the receiving end is referred to as the receiving RLC layer. The MAC layer of the transmitting end is referred to as the transmitting MAC layer, and the MAC layer of the receiving end is referred to as the receiving MAC layer.

[0127] 5. RLC Status Report

[0128] The receiving RLC layer may feed back an RLC status report to the sending RLC layer, and the RLC status report may indicate the data units that have been successfully received, and / or the data units that have failed to be received. The sending RLC layer may retransmit the data units that have failed to be received based on the RLC status report. Exemplarily, after the sending RLC layer determines that a data unit corresponding to an RLC SN has been successfully transmitted according to the RLC status report, it may send an indication (hereinafter referred to as the first indication) to the sending PDCP layer to indicate that the RLC SDU has been successfully delivered. The RLC SN shown here represents the SN of the RLC SDU.

[0129] The first indication shown in the embodiment of the present application can be used for the sending RLC layer to indicate to the sending PDCP layer the data units that have been successfully received by the receiving end. If the first indication represents the indication information determined by the sending RLC layer based on the RLC status (such as the first RLC status report shown below) report, the sending RLC layer can send the first indication to the sending PDCP layer, and after the sending PDCP layer receives the first indication, it can know which data units have been successfully received by the receiving end based on the first indication.

[0130] There is currently a solution A: the RLC layer and PDCP layer of the transmitting end respectively notify the receiving RLC layer to update the receiving window through the RLC layer indication information, and notify the receiving PDCP layer to update the receiving window through the PDCP layer indication information. In this solution, the PDCP layer indication information will be treated as an RLC SDU and needs to be queued for sending when it reaches the sending RLC layer. Therefore, it is impossible to quickly deliver the PDCP layer indication information to the receiving PDCP layer, thereby quickly pushing the window maintained by the receiving PDCP layer. At the same time, the PDCP layer and the RLC layer send the PDCP layer indication information and the RLC layer indication information respectively, and the signaling overhead is large. Generally speaking, when the PDCP layer indication information and the RLC layer indication information are sent separately, the header information of these two information needs to be sent separately, resulting in a large information header overhead.

[0131] Figure 3a Schematic diagram of the scenario A provided in the embodiment of the present application. Figure 3a As shown, the first PDU set (such as Figure 3a When the waiting time for transmission of burst1 (shown in FIG. 1 ) exceeds the packet set delay budget (PSDB) (which means that the timer associated with the PDU set has timed out), the transmitter can discard the first PDU set, generate the SN information of the PDCP layer (carried in the PDCP control PDU) and pass it to the RLC layer for transmission. However, at this time, the second PDU set (such as Figure 3a The burst 2) shown in the figure is still waiting for transmission in the RLC buffer, and the SN information of the PDCP layer cannot be queued before the second PDU set for fast transmission. When the second PDU set is delivered to the receiving end, because the receiving end has not received the first PDU set, the second PDU set needs to be reordered at the receiving end and wait for the first PDU set to be received before being delivered to the upper layer in sequence. When the SN information of the PDCP layer is sent to the receiving end, the second PDU set has experienced a meaningless reordering delay. This reordering delay will increase the end-to-end transmission delay of the data packet and affect the user's service experience. Figure 3a The burst shown may include one or more PDU sets.

[0132] In view of this, an embodiment of the present application provides a data processing method. Figure 3b Schematic diagram of the scenario of the present solution provided in the embodiment of the present application. Figure 3bAs shown, the first PDU set times out, and the transmitter discards the first PDU set. The transmitter can generate the SN information of the PDCP layer, and carry the SN information of the PDCP through the RLC control PDU. Through the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the transmitter processes the RLC control PDU before processing the second PDU set, and quickly transmits the RLC control PDU to the receiver. As a result, the receiver can receive the RLC control PDU before receiving the second PDU set, and update the window and variables it maintains based on the RLC control PDU, effectively avoiding the reordering delay of the second PDU set and reducing the end-to-end transmission delay of the data packet. Exemplarily, the transmitter can send the SN information of the PDCP layer and the SN information of the RLC layer through the RLC control PDU, so that the sending RLC layer can preferentially and quickly process the RLC control PDU, speed up the transmission of the SN information, and quickly promote the windows and variables maintained by the receiving PDCP layer and the RLC layer.

[0133] Figure 3b The scenarios shown are only examples. The data processing method provided in the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to more scenarios. Examples of other scenarios are not listed here one by one.

[0134] Figure 4 It is a flow chart of a data processing method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The description of the sending end and the receiving end involved in the method can be referred to Figure 1a , Figure 1b , which will not be described in detail here. The description of the protocol stack involved in this method can be found in Figure 2a , Figure 2b , which will not be described in detail here. Figure 4 As shown, the method includes:

[0135] 401. A sending end obtains SN information of a data unit discarded by a first protocol layer of the sending end.

[0136] The discarded data unit is one or more discarded data units. Exemplarily, the multiple data units may belong to the same data unit set. For the description of the data unit set, please refer to the above term 2, which will not be described in detail here.

[0137] In the embodiment of the present application, the SN information may include the following examples:

[0138] Example 1A. The SN information may include the maximum SN among the discarded data units. Alternatively, the SN information may include an SN determined based on the maximum SN and an offset of the discarded data units.

[0139] For example, the SNs of the discarded data units are 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8 respectively, and the SN information includes 8. For another example, the offset may be +1, and the SN information includes 8+1=9. The specific value of the offset is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0140] Example 1B. The starting SN of a plurality of consecutive data units in the discarded data unit and the number of the plurality of data units. The plurality of consecutive data units indicates that the SNs of the plurality of data units are consecutive. The SN information may include one or more "starting SN+number". Exemplarily, the control signaling (refer to the description of step 302 below) may also include the number of "starting SN+number".

[0141] For example, the SNs of the discarded data units are 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8. 2 to 4 are continuous, and 6 to 8 are continuous, so the SN information may include starting SN 2 + number 3, and starting SN 6 + number 3. The number of "starting SN + number" is 2.

[0142] Example 1C. The starting SN and bitmap of the discarded data unit, each bit in the bitmap corresponds to a data unit. The value of the bit is used to indicate whether to discard the data unit corresponding to the bit. The data unit corresponding to the first bit in the bitmap is the data unit of the starting SN. Alternatively, the data unit corresponding to the first bit in the bitmap can be a data unit of the next SN of the starting SN. Exemplarily, a bit value of 1 indicates that the data unit is discarded, and a bit value of 0 indicates that the data unit is not discarded.

[0143] For example, the SNs of the discarded data units are 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 respectively. For example, the SN information may include a starting SN 2, a bitmap of 1110111, or a bitmap of 111011100. The SN of the data unit corresponding to the first bit in the bitmap may be the starting SN 2, the SN of the data unit corresponding to the second bit in the bitmap is 3, the SN of the data unit corresponding to the third bit in the bitmap is 4, and so on, which are not listed here one by one. For another example, the SN information may include a starting SN 2, a bitmap of 110111 or 11011100. The SN of the data unit corresponding to the first bit in the bitmap may be SN 3, the SN of the data unit corresponding to the second bit in the bitmap is SN 4, the SN of the data unit corresponding to the third bit in the bitmap is SN 5, and so on, which are not listed here one by one. The 00 at the end of the above bitmap 111011100 or 11011100 can be used for byte alignment. The lengths of the bitmaps listed here are only examples. For example, the length of the bitmap may be 1 byte, 12 bits, or 2 bytes, etc., which are not listed here one by one.

[0144] For the PDCP layer, the parameter it maintains can be either SN or count, so the above description about SN also applies to count and will not be described in detail here.

[0145] For the above example 1B and example 1C, the starting SN may also be the SN of the last data unit that is not discarded before the data packet is discarded. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the setting method of the starting SN.

[0146] The description of SN information here also applies to the SN information of the first protocol layer of the sender and the SN information of the second protocol layer of the sender. Numbers 1A to 1C, and numbers 2A to 2C shown below, etc. are for distinguishing different examples and facilitating reference in the following text.

[0147] In the embodiment of the present application, the SN information may include the SN information of the PDCP layer and / or the SN information of the RLC layer. The sending end may obtain the SN information in the following ways:

[0148] Example 2A. The transmitting PDCP layer may maintain a timer for each data unit. The expiration of a timer associated with a data unit indicates that the transmitting PCDP layer may discard the data unit. If the timer associated with a data unit expires, the transmitting PDCP layer may send a second indication to the transmitting RLC layer, and the second indication may be used to instruct the transmitting RLC layer to discard the data unit.

[0149] As an example, the SN information of the PDCP layer may be the SN of the data unit. Alternatively, when the number of discarded data units reaches the discard threshold, the SN information of the PDCP layer may indicate the SNs of multiple discarded data units. The number of discarded data units indicated by the SN information of the PDCP layer may be equal to the discard threshold.

[0150] In this example, when the number of data units whose timer times out reaches a certain value (such as the above-mentioned discard threshold), the sending PDCP layer may send a second indication to the sending RLC layer, and the second indication may be the SN of the data unit discarded by the sending PDCP layer. In this example, the second indication may be the SN information of the sending PDCP layer. The specific value of the above-mentioned discard threshold is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0151] As another example, the SN information of the transmitting PDCP layer may be determined by the transmitting PDCP layer based on a timer associated with each data unit and / or a first indication of the transmitting RLC layer. The data unit indicated by the SN information of the transmitting PDCP layer may be one or more data units for which the timer associated with the data unit has timed out and the receiving RLC has not received the data unit successfully.

[0152] In this example, when the transmitting RLC layer receives the first RLC status report from the receiving RLC layer, the transmitting RLC layer can determine the successfully received data unit based on the first RLC status report, and then indicate the successfully received data unit to the transmitting PDCP layer through the first indication. For example, after receiving the first indication, the transmitting PDCP layer can obtain the successfully received data unit based on the first indication, and obtain the unsuccessfully received data unit based on the successfully received data unit, thereby determining the SN information of the transmitting PDCP layer based on the unsuccessfully received data unit. For another example, after receiving the first indication, the transmitting PDCP layer can determine the SN information of the transmitting PDCP layer based on the first indication and the timer associated with each data unit. For example, after receiving the first indication, the transmitting PDCP layer can obtain the successfully received data unit based on the first indication, and obtain the unsuccessfully received data unit based on the successfully received data unit. Then, the data unit with the timer timeout in the unsuccessfully received data unit is used as the data unit indicated by the SN information of the transmitting PDCP layer.

[0153] As another example, the SN information of the sending PDCP layer can be determined by the sending RLC layer based on the second indication of the sending PDCP layer and / or the first RLC status report. For example, the data unit indicated by the SN information of the sending PDCP layer may be one or more data units whose timer associated with the data unit has timed out and the receiving RLC has not successfully received it. In a specific implementation, the SN information of the sending PDCP layer determined by the sending PDCP layer may have a certain deviation from the SN information of the sending PDCP layer determined by the sending RLC layer. The deviation may be caused by the fact that the sending RLC layer receives the RLC status report faster than the sending PDCP layer receives the first indication. Compared with the set of discarded data units, the deviation is relatively small, so the embodiment of the present application can ignore the deviation.

[0154] In this example, if the timer maintained in the sending PDCP layer times out, the sending PDCP layer may send a second indication to the sending RLC layer, and the second indication may be used to instruct the sending RLC layer to discard one or more data units. The timers associated with the one or more data units have all timed out. For example, after receiving the second indication, the sending RLC layer may learn one or more data units that need to be discarded based on the second indication, and then generate SN information of the sending PDCP layer based on the discarded one or more data units. For another example, after receiving the second indication, the sending RLC layer may learn one or more data units that need to be discarded based on the second indication, and after receiving the first RLC status report from the receiving RLC layer, the sending RLC layer may learn the data units that have not been successfully received based on the first RLC status report. The sending RLC layer may use the data units that have not been successfully received among the one or more data units that need to be discarded as the data units indicated by the SN information of the sending PDCP layer.

[0155] Example 2B. The transmitting PDCP layer may maintain a timer for each data unit set. The expiration of a timer associated with a certain data unit set indicates that the transmitting PCDP layer may discard the data unit set. If the timer associated with a certain data unit set expires, the transmitting PDCP layer may send a second indication to the transmitting RLC layer, and the second indication may be used to instruct the transmitting RLC layer to discard the data unit set.

[0156] As an example, the SN information of the sending PDCP layer may be determined by the sending PDCP layer based on a timer and / or a first indication associated with each data unit set. The data unit indicated by the SN information of the sending PDCP layer may be a data unit to which the timer associated with the data unit set to which the data unit belongs has timed out and to which the receiving RLC has not received successfully.

[0157] In this example, if the timer associated with the data unit set times out, the sending PDCP layer can determine the data unit set that needs to be discarded. For example, the data unit indicated by the SN information of the sending PDCP layer is one or more data units in the data unit set whose timer has timed out. For another example, the sending PDCP layer can also obtain the successfully received data unit based on the first indication sent by the sending RLC layer, obtain the unsuccessfully received data unit based on the successfully received data unit, and then use the unsuccessfully received data unit in the data unit set whose timer has timed out as the data unit indicated by the SN information of the sending PDCP layer. In this example, the second indication can be the SN information of the data unit in the discarded data unit set that has not been confirmed as successfully delivered by the receiving RLC layer. For example, the second indication sent by the sending PDCP layer to the sending RLC layer may include the SN information of the sending PDCP layer, or the second indication may be the SN information of the sending PDCP layer. Alternatively, the second indication may be the SN information of one or more data units in the discarded data unit set. If all the data units in the data unit set have been successfully received by the receiving RLC layer, the transmitting end may not send the SN information of the PDCP layer to the receiving RLC layer.

[0158] As another example, the SN information of the transmitting PDCP layer may be determined by the transmitting RLC layer based on the second indication of the transmitting PDCP layer and / or the first RLC status report. The data unit indicated by the SN information of the transmitting PDCP layer may be a data unit to which a timer associated with a data unit set to which the data unit belongs has timed out and to which the receiving RLC has not successfully received.

[0159] In this example, if the timer associated with the data unit set times out, the sending PDCP layer can determine the data unit set that needs to be discarded. A second indication is sent to the sending RLC layer based on the data unit set. For example, the sending RLC layer can learn the data unit set that needs to be discarded based on the second indication, and learn the data units that have not been successfully received based on the first RLC status report from the receiving RLC layer, and use the data units that have not been successfully received in the data unit set that needs to be discarded as the data units indicated by the SN information of the sending PDCP layer. The details of the sending RLC layer determining the SN information of the sending PDCP layer based on the first RLC status report or the second indication will not be described here.

[0160] Example 2C. The SN information of the transmitting RLC layer may be determined by the transmitting RLC layer based on the second indication of the transmitting PDCP layer and / or the first RLC status report. For example, the SN information of the transmitting RLC layer may be the SN of the data unit indicated by the first RLC status report that was not successfully received by the receiving RLC layer. For another example, the SN information may be the SN of the discarded data unit indicated by the second indication of the transmitting PDCP layer. For another example, the SN information may be the SN of the data unit discarded by the transmitting PDCP layer and the data unit that was not successfully received by the receiving RLC layer.

[0161] Taking the second indication shown in the above example 2B as an example, after receiving the second indication from the sending PDCP layer, the sending RLC layer can learn the set of data units that need to be discarded based on the second indication, and use the data units that have not been successfully received in the set of data units that need to be discarded as the data units indicated by the SN information of the sending RLC layer. For another example, the second indication received by the sending RLC layer can be the SN information of the data units in the discarded data unit set that have not been confirmed as successfully delivered by the receiving RLC layer. At this time, the sending RLC layer can generate the SN information of the RLC layer based on the second indication.

[0162] The above-mentioned Example 2A and Example 2B can be combined with Example 2C. For example, the SN information of the sending PDCP layer can be determined by the sending PDCP layer, and the SN information of the sending RLC layer can be determined by the sending RLC layer; for example, the SN information of the sending PDCP layer and the SN information of the sending RLC layer can both be determined by the sending RLC layer, etc. The specific methods of the combination will not be described in detail here.

[0163] For the UM mode, since the RLC layer does not support the ARQ retransmission mechanism, when the RLC layer adopts the UM mode, the RLC status report may not be involved in the above examples.

[0164] For ease of description, the SN information of the PDCP layer shown in the embodiment of the present application may be referred to as PDCP SN information, and the SN information of the RLC layer may be referred to as RLC SN information. Exemplarily, the data unit indicated by the SN information of the PDCP layer may be the same as the data unit indicated by the SN information of the RLC layer. For example, as shown in the first example of Example 2B above, the SN information of the PDCP layer is determined by the sending PDCP layer, and as shown in Example 2C above, the SN information of the RLC layer is determined by the sending RLC layer based on the second indication of the PDCP layer, the data units indicated by the two SN information may be the same. Exemplarily, the data unit indicated by the SN information of the PDCP layer may be different from the data unit indicated by the SN information of the RLC layer. For example, as shown in the second example of Example 2B above, the SN information of the PDCP layer is determined by the sending RLC layer based on the second indication, and as shown in Example 2C above, the SN information of the RLC layer is determined by the sending RLC layer based on the first RLC status report, the data units indicated by the two SN information may be different. For specific examples, the embodiments of the present application will not list them one by one.

[0165] 402. The transmitting end sends SN information to the second protocol layer of the receiving end through the control signaling of the second protocol layer of the transmitting end. Correspondingly, the receiving end receives the SN information through the second protocol layer of the receiving end.

[0166] As an example 3A, the first protocol layer is the PDCP layer, and the second protocol layer is the RLC layer.

[0167] Step 402 may include: Figure 5a As shown, the transmitting end sends the PDCPSN information to the receiving RLC layer by sending the control signaling of the RLC layer, and correspondingly, the receiving end receives the PDCPSN information by receiving the RLC layer. Alternatively, step 402 may include: Figure 5b As shown, the transmitting end sends the PDCP SN information and the RLC layer SN information to the receiving RLC layer by sending the control signaling of the RLC layer.

[0168] The control signaling includes an RLC control PDU (RLC control PDU). Exemplarily, the RLC control PDU may include a data / control (D / C) field, and the value of the D / C field may indicate that the PDU is an RLC control PDU. And the RLC control PDU may also include a control PDU type (CPT) field, and the value of the control PDU type field indicates that the control PDU is used to transmit the PDCP SN information corresponding to the discarded data unit, or the corresponding PDCP SN information + RLC SN information; or the control PDU type field may include specific PDCP SN information, or PDCP SN information + RLC SN information. Exemplarily, Figure 5c 1 is a schematic diagram of a format of an RLC control PDU provided in an embodiment of the present application. The RLC control PDU is illustrated by taking RLC SN information and PDCP SN information as an example, but it should not be understood as a limitation to the embodiment of the present application. Figure 5c The R shown represents reserved (R).

[0169] For RLC control PDU and RLC data PDU, RLC control PDU has a higher processing priority, so the sending RLC layer can give priority to sending the RLC control PDU. The sending RLC layer gives priority to sending the RLC control PDU, so that the receiving RLC layer can receive the RLC control PDU as soon as possible. After receiving the RLC control PDU, the receiving RLC layer can deliver the SN information of the sending PDCP layer to the receiving PDCP layer.

[0170] The method provided in the embodiment of the present application effectively shortens the delay of sending the SN information of the sending PDCP layer to the receiving PDCP layer, and the delay of sending the SN information of the sending RLC layer to the receiving RLC layer. Thus, the receiving PDCP layer / receiving RLC layer can timely update the variables it maintains based on the SN information of the sending PDCP layer / receiving RLC layer, effectively avoiding the introduction of additional reordering delays due to the fact that the sending PDCP layer discards the data unit while the receiving PDCP layer still performs the reordering process and waits for the discarded data unit, and effectively avoiding the situation where the receiving RLC layer still requires the sending RLC layer to retransmit due to the discard of the data unit. Therefore, the method provided in the embodiment of the present application effectively reduces the end-to-end transmission delay of service data, improves the user service experience, and saves resources for retransmitting data units.

[0171] Generally speaking, after the SN information of the sending PDCP layer reaches the sending RLC layer, it will be treated as an RLC SDU. The sending RLC layer will process the RLC SDU in sequence, thereby increasing the transmission delay of the SN information, resulting in the receiving PDCP layer being unable to update the variables it maintains in a timely manner, and the receiving PDPC layer being unable to perform window updates in a timely manner. And after the SN information of the sending PDC layer reaches the sending RLC layer, the sending RLC layer will also process the SN information of the sending RLC layer in sequence. However, in an embodiment of the present application, after the SN information of the sending PDCP reaches the sending RLC layer, the sending RLC layer carries the SN information in the RLC control PDU, so that the sending RLC layer can give priority to processing the RLC control PDU, effectively reducing the queuing delay of the SN information, so that the receiving PDCP layer can quickly receive the SN information, thereby quickly pushing the receiving PDCP layer window and updating the variables maintained by the receiving PDCP layer.

[0172] As another example 3B, the first protocol layer is the RLC layer, and the second protocol layer is the MAC layer.

[0173] Step 402 may include: Figure 6a As shown, the transmitting end sends the SN information of the RLC layer to the receiving MAC layer by sending the control signaling of the MAC layer, and correspondingly, the receiving MAC layer receives the SN information of the RLC layer. Alternatively, step 402 may include: Figure 6b As shown, the transmitting end sends the SN information of the RLC layer and the SN information of the PDCP layer to the transmitting and receiving MAC layer through the control signaling of the MAC layer, and correspondingly, the receiving MAC layer receives the SN information of the RLC layer and the SN information of the PDCP layer. The relevant instructions for the transmitting end to obtain the SN information of the RLC layer can refer to the above example 2C, and the relevant instructions for the transmitting end to obtain the SN information of the PDCP layer can refer to the above examples 2A and 2B, which will not be described in detail here.

[0174] Control signaling includes MAC CE. Figure 6d FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a format of a MAC CE provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 6d As shown, R indicates reservation, F indicates whether the length (L) of the payload is one byte or two bytes, etc. LCID indicates a logical channel identifier (LCID). The payload may include SN information of the PDCP layer and / or SN information of the RLC layer.

[0175] Generally speaking, after receiving the MAC SDU, the sending MAC layer will process the MAC SDU in sequence, which will result in a longer queuing delay for the MAC SDU carrying the SN information, increase the transmission delay of the SN information, and cause the receiving RLC layer / receiving PDCP layer to be unable to update the variables it maintains in a timely manner, and the receiving RLC layer / receiving PDCP layer is unable to perform window updates in a timely manner. However, in an embodiment of the present application, the sending MAC layer can give priority to processing the MAC CE by carrying the SN information in the MAC CE, reduce the queuing delay of the SN information, and enable the receiving RLC layer / receiving PDCP layer to quickly receive the SN information, thereby quickly pushing the receiving RLC layer / receiving PDCP layer window and updating the variables maintained by the receiving RLC layer / receiving PDCP layer.

[0176] As yet another example 3C, the first protocol layer is the PDCP layer, and the second protocol layer is the MAC layer.

[0177] Step 302 may include: Figure 6c As shown, the transmitting end sends the SN information of the PDCP layer to the receiving MAC layer by sending the control signaling of the MAC layer, and correspondingly, the receiving MAC layer receives the SN information of the PDCP layer. Alternatively, step 302 may include: the transmitting end sends the SN information of the RLC layer and the SN information of the PDCP layer to the receiving MAC layer by sending the control signaling of the MAC layer, and correspondingly, the receiving MAC layer receives the SN information of the RLC layer and the SN information of the PDCP layer. For the specific description of Example 3C, please refer to Example 3B, Example 2A to Example 2C, etc., which will not be described in detail here.

[0178] 403. The second protocol layer of the receiving end sends the SN information to the first protocol layer of the receiving end, and the first protocol layer of the receiving end receives the SN information.

[0179] Figure 5a Schematic diagram of SN information interaction provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 5a As shown, after receiving the SN information of the sending PDCP layer, the receiving RLC layer can deliver the SN information of the sending PCDP layer to the receiving PDCP layer.

[0180] Figure 5b FIG. 1 is another schematic diagram of SN information interaction provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 5b As shown, after the receiving RLC layer receives the SN information of the sending PDCP layer and the SN information of the sending RLC layer, the receiving RLC layer may deliver the SN information of the sending PDCP layer to the receiving PDCP layer.

[0181] Figure 6a This is another schematic diagram of SN information interaction provided by the embodiment of the present application. Figure 6aAs shown, after receiving the SN information of the transmitting MAC layer, the receiving MAC layer can deliver the SN information of the transmitting RLC layer to the receiving RLC layer.

[0182] Figure 6b This is another schematic diagram of SN information interaction provided by the embodiment of the present application. Figure 6b As shown, after the receiving MAC layer receives the SN information of the sending PDCP layer and the SN information of the sending RLC layer, it can deliver the SN information of the sending PDCP layer and the SN information of the sending RLC layer to the receiving RLC layer, and the receiving RLC layer can deliver the SN information of the sending PDCP layer to the receiving PDCP layer. Figure 6b The receiving MAC layer delivering the SN information of the sending PDCP layer and the sending RLC layer to the upper layer is only an example. For example, the receiving MAC layer may also deliver the SN information of the sending RLC layer to the receiving RLC layer and deliver the SN information of the sending PDCP layer to the receiving PDCP layer.

[0183] Figure 6c This is another schematic diagram of SN information interaction provided by the embodiment of the present application. Figure 6c As shown, after the receiving MAC layer receives the SN information of the sending PDCP layer, it can deliver the SN information of the PDCP layer to the RLC layer, and the RLC layer can deliver the SN information of the sending PDCP layer to the receiving PDCP layer. Alternatively, after the receiving MAC layer receives the SN information of the sending PDCP layer, it can deliver the SN information of the PDCP layer to the receiving PDCP layer.

[0184] Figure 5a , Figure 5b , Figure 6a , Figure 6b , Figure 6c The protocol stack shown is only an example. In a specific implementation, the RLC layer and the PDCP layer may be deployed in different functional modules or chips, and the MAC layer and the RLC layer may also be deployed in different functional modules or chips. The embodiments of the present application do not limit this. For specific instructions on how the RLC layer and the PDCP layer are deployed in different functional modules, please refer to Tables 1 to 6 below.

[0185] In one possible implementation, Figure 4 The method shown also includes step 404 and step 405. The order of step 404 and step 405 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0186] 404. The first protocol layer of the receiving end updates the variables maintained by the first protocol layer of the receiving end based on the SN information of the first protocol layer of the sending end.

[0187] 405. The second protocol layer of the receiving end updates the variable maintained by the second protocol layer of the receiving end based on the SN information of the second protocol layer of the sending end.

[0188] The following describes in detail the method for updating variables in the first protocol layer and the second protocol layer.

[0189] As an example, in UM mode, the receiving RLC layer may maintain the following variables:

[0190] (1) RX_Next_Highest: The upper boundary of the reassembly window. The variable value is equal to the maximum SN+1 of the received data units that have not been reassembled.

[0191] (2) RX_Next_Reassembly: equal to the SN of the first RLC SDU to be considered for reassembly.

[0192] (3) RX_Timer_Trigger: equal to the value of RX_Next_Highest when the reassembly timer is started.

[0193] As another example, in AM mode, the receiving RLC layer may maintain the following variables:

[0194] (1) RX_Next: The lower boundary of the RLC receiving window, indicating the next SN of the RLC SDU received in sequence by the receiving RLC layer. If all RLC SDUs with SNs less than RX_Next have been reassembled.

[0195] (2) RX_Next_Highest: indicates the maximum SN+1 of the RLC SDU received by the receiving RLC layer.

[0196] (3) RX_Next_Status_Trigger: The variable value is equal to the value of RX_Next_Highest when the reassembly timer is triggered.

[0197] (4) RX_Highest_Status: The maximum value that the "ACK_SN" field in the RLC status report can take.

[0198] The variables maintained by the receiving RLC layer listed above are only examples. For specific descriptions of the variables or windows, please refer to the relevant standards, and the embodiments of the present application are not limited to this.

[0199] Generally speaking, in AM mode, the receiving RLC layer will update the value of RX_Next only after the data unit with SN equal to the lower limit of the receiving window RX_Next is successfully reassembled and submitted to the upper layer. If the data unit is not successfully received, the receiving RLC layer will instruct the sender to retransmit the data unit through the RLC status report until it is successfully received or the maximum number of retransmissions is reached. Therefore, if the sender has determined to discard the data unit, the receiving RLC layer will be unable to update the variables it maintains in a timely manner, and will continuously request the retransmission of the discarded data unit, resulting in a waste of air interface resources and equipment energy, as well as an increase in transmission delay, and even triggering a wireless link failure when the maximum number of retransmissions is reached, affecting the normal operation of the business.

[0200] In an embodiment of the present application, the receiving RLC layer can quickly obtain the SN information of the sending RLC layer, so as to timely update the variables and windows maintained by it based on the SN information of the sending RLC layer. For example, the receiving RLC layer can determine the maximum SN of the data unit discarded by the transmitter based on the SN information of the sending RLC layer, and update the value of RX_Next to the SN corresponding to the RLC SDU that is greater than the maximum SN in the SN information and has not been fully received. Exemplarily, the receiving RLC layer can discard all segmented data units whose RLC SN is less than the updated RX_Next. Exemplarily, when the receiving RLC layer determines that the value of RX_Next_Highest is less than the updated RX_Next, RX_NEXT_Highest is updated to RX_NEXT. By timely updating the variables and windows maintained by it, the receiving RLC layer can effectively avoid the receiving RLC layer from constantly requesting retransmission of the discarded data units, thereby saving air interface resources for retransmission.

[0201] Exemplarily, receiving variables maintained by the PDCP layer may include:

[0202] (1) RX_DELIV: used to identify the lower boundary of the PDCP receive window, such as the count (count or COUNT) value of the first PDCP SDU that has not been delivered to the upper layer and is still waiting for the receiver.

[0203] (2) RX_NEXT: equal to the maximum count value of the currently received data unit plus 1.

[0204] (3) RX_REORD: equal to the value of RX_NEXT when the reordering timer is started.

[0205] Generally speaking, when the PDCP layer is configured for in-order delivery, if data units are discarded, the count value in the receiving window of the receiving PDCP layer will be discontinuous, which will continuously trigger the reordering timer and consume the processing resources of the receiving end. When the reordering timer times out, the receiving PDCP layer is allowed to deliver the data unit to the upper layer, which will also increase the processing delay of the receiving end and affect the timely delivery of subsequent data units.

[0206] In an embodiment of the present application, the receiving PDCP layer can quickly obtain the SN information of the sending PDCP layer, and thus timely update the variables and windows it maintains based on the SN information of the sending PDCP layer. For example, the receiving PDCP layer can determine the maximum count value of the data units discarded by the transmitter based on the SN information of the sending PDCP layer, and update RX_DELIV to a count value corresponding to the PDCP SDU that is greater than the maximum count value and has not been received. Exemplarily, the receiving PDCP layer can discard all PDCP data units in the receiving PDCP cache whose count value is less than the updated RX_DELIV. By timely updating the variables and windows it maintains, the receiving PDCP layer can effectively avoid the consumption of resources caused by constantly triggering the reordering timer, save resources, and effectively reduce the processing delay of subsequent data units.

[0207] As a possible implementation, Figure 4 The method shown may also include:

[0208] The receiving RLC layer sends a third RLC status report, and correspondingly, the sending RLC layer receives the third RLC status report. The third RLC status report may indicate that one or more data units in the data units indicated by the SN information are successfully received.

[0209] The third RLC status report may indicate that the data unit in the SN information is successfully received by the receiving RLC layer. This can effectively indicate that the SN information carried by the sending RLC layer through the RLC control PDU is correctly received, and the receiving RLC layer also regards it as successfully received. The receiving RLC layer may indicate that all data units in the SN information are successfully received through one or more third RLC status reports.

[0210] In an embodiment of the present application, the triggering condition for the third RLC status report may be that the receiving RLC layer updates the receiving window and variables based on the RLC control PDU, such as the receiving RLC layer updates the RX_Next variable it maintains based on the RLC control PDU. Alternatively, the triggering condition for the third RLC status report may be that the receiving RLC layer treats the data unit indicated by the RLC SN information as successfully received based on the RLC control PDU. In an embodiment of the present application, when the transmitting end receives the third RLC status report and the third RLC status report indicates that one or more data units in the data unit indicated by the first SN information are successfully received, the transmitting end may learn based on the third RLC status report that the receiving end has received the first SN information. The transmitting end may promptly clear its cached first SN information or the data unit indicated by the first SN information based on the third RLC status report.

[0211] As another possible implementation, Figure 4 The method shown may also include:

[0212] a) After receiving the second indication from the sending PDCP layer, the sending RLC layer does not discard the RLC SDU and the corresponding segments, or the sending RLC entity does not discard the RLC SDU and the corresponding segments that have been delivered to the bottom layer for transmission, that is, the RLC SDU that has not been delivered to the bottom layer for transmission can be discarded. The above-mentioned non-discarding of data packets means that the corresponding RLC SDU and the corresponding segments can still be stored in the cache of the RLC layer. In the case that the receiving RLC layer does not receive the RLC control PDU, the receiving RLC layer can normally trigger the RLC status report (such as the second RLC status report) to request the retransmission of the RLC SDU that was not successfully received. Since the sending RLC layer does not trigger active packet loss, the RLC SDU and the corresponding segments are still in the cache of the RLC layer. Therefore, after receiving the RLC status report from the receiving RLC layer, the sending RLC layer can still retransmit the data unit requested for retransmission as usual.

[0213] b) After receiving the second indication from the transmitting PDCP layer, the transmitting RLC layer may discard the RLC SDU and the corresponding segments. The receiving RLC layer sends a second RLC status report to the transmitting RLC layer, and the data units that are not successfully received indicated by the second RLC status report include the data units indicated by the SN information, such as the second RLC status report carries the NACK of the discarded RLC SDU / SDU segments.

[0214] As an example, the sending RLC layer receives the second RLC status report and can retransmit the SN information of the sending PDCP layer and the SN information of the sending RLC layer shown above based on the second RLC status report. That is to say, the data unit that was not successfully received indicated in the second RLC status report received by the sending RLC layer includes the data unit indicated by the SN information, then the sending RLC layer can know based on the second RLC status report that the receiving RLC layer may not have received the SN information of the sending PDCP layer and the SN information of the sending RLC layer. At this time, the sending RLC layer can retransmit the SN information of the sending PDCP layer and the SN information of the sending RLC layer.

[0215] As another example, the sending RLC layer receives a second RLC status report and can send new SN information based on the second RLC status report. The SN information may include the SN information of the sending RLC layer and the SN information of the sending PDCP layer indicating the discarded data units, starting from the first data unit in the aforementioned SN information that was not successfully received by the receiving RLC layer. In other words, if the data units that were not successfully received indicated in the second RLC status report received by the sending RLC layer include the data units indicated by the SN information, then the sending RLC layer can learn based on the second RLC status report that the receiving RLC layer may not have received the SN information of the sending PDCP layer and the SN information of the sending RLC layer. At this time, the sending RLC layer can regenerate the SN information, which may be the same as the data unit indicated by the SN information sent last time, or it may be different from the data unit indicated by the SN information sent last time.

[0216] In an embodiment of the present application, when the transmitting end receives the second RLC status report and the data units that are not successfully received indicated by the second RLC status report include the data units indicated by the SN information, the transmitting end can learn based on the second RLC status report that the receiving end may not have received the SN information, so that the transmitting end can promptly retransmit the SN information, thereby avoiding the situation where the first protocol layer of the receiving end continuously reorders the data due to the first protocol layer of the transmitting end discarding the data units, resulting in a long data transmission delay, or avoiding the situation where the first protocol layer of the receiving end continuously requires retransmission due to the first protocol layer of the transmitting end discarding the data units, thereby effectively reducing the end-to-end transmission delay of the service data.

[0217] Both the above methods a) and b) can effectively avoid the situation where the sending end still thinks that the receiving end has successfully received the RLC control PDU when the RLC control PDU is lost. Even if the RLC control PDU does not have an RLC SN, the sending RLC layer can still know whether the receiving RLC layer has successfully received the RLC control PDU, thereby improving the reliability of RLC control PDU transmission and effectively improving the situation where the receiving window maintained by the receiving RLC layer / receiving PDCP layer is stuck due to unreliable RLC control PDU transmission.

[0218] In the embodiment of the present application, the transmitting end sends the SN information of the first protocol layer of the transmitting end through the control signaling of its second protocol layer, so that the processing priority of the control signaling can be fully utilized, so that the second protocol layer of the receiving end can quickly receive the SN information and submit the SN information to the first protocol layer. After the first protocol layer of the receiving end quickly receives the SN information of the first protocol layer, the SN information can be effectively used to update the variables and windows maintained by the first protocol layer of the receiving end, thereby reducing the processing delay of the first protocol layer of the receiving end for subsequent data units.

[0219] The following is a description of the specific scenario Figure 4 The data processing method shown.

[0220] Figure 7a It is a scenario diagram of a data processing method provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 7a The RLC layer mode is AM mode, and the AM RLC associated DRB is used as an example. Figure 7a The example in which the PDCP layer associates a discard timer for each data unit set (i.e., PDU set) is used (as in Example 2B above). Figure 7a As shown, the method includes:

[0221] 701. When a timer associated with a PDU set times out, the sending PDCP layer discards all PDCP SDUs and PDUs in the PDU set.

[0222] For a data unit that has been delivered to the sending RLC layer, the sending PDCP layer may instruct the sending RLC layer to discard the corresponding data unit. Figure 7a As shown, the sending PDCP layer can indicate to the sending RLC layer to discard the data unit corresponding to the above PDUset through the second indication. The timer in step 701 can also be called a discard timer, and the specific name of the timer is not limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0223] As an example, the sending PDCP layer may instruct the sending RLC layer to discard the corresponding data unit for the data unit that has not been confirmed as successfully delivered by the receiving RLC layer. In this example, the second indication (the second indication includes the SN information of the sending PDCP layer) may be the SN information of the data unit in the discarded PDU set that has not been confirmed as successfully delivered by the receiving RLC layer. After receiving the second indication, the sending RLC layer may send the PDCPSN information and the SN information of the sending RLC layer to the receiving RLC layer. For the specific description of this example, please refer to the first example or example 2C in the above example 2B, etc., which will not be described in detail here.

[0224] As another example, after receiving the second indication, the sending RLC layer determines that there are data units in the discarded PDU set that have not been confirmed as successfully delivered by the receiving RLC layer, and triggers and sends PDCPSN information and RLCSN information to the receiving RLC layer. For the specific description of this example, please refer to the second example in Example 2B above or Example 2C, etc., which will not be described in detail here.

[0225] 702. The sending RLC layer sends the PDCPSN information and the RLCSN information to the receiving RLC layer via the RLC control PDU.

[0226] That is, the RLC SN information of the discarded data unit and the PDCP SN information of the discarded data unit are carried by the RLC control PDU.

[0227] As an example, the RLC SN information of the data unit discarded by the transmitting end may be expressed in one of the following forms:

[0228] 1) Actively discard the largest RLC SN in the data unit, or the largest RLC SN+1. For a detailed description of this example, please refer to the above Example 1A.

[0229] 2) One or more "starting RLC SN of continuously discarded data units + the number of continuously discarded data units". For example, one "starting RLC SN of continuously discarded data units + the number of continuously discarded data units" is called a continuously discarded data block. For example, if the RLC SNs corresponding to the data units actively discarded by the sending RLC entity are 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 respectively, then "RLC SN 2 + the number of continuously discarded data units 3" can be used to indicate that the 3 data units corresponding to RLC SN 2, 3, and 4 are discarded, and "RLC SN 6 + the number of continuously discarded data units 3" can be used to indicate that the 3 data units corresponding to RLC SN 6, 7, and 8 are discarded. In this implementation form, the RLC control PDU can additionally carry a continuously discarded data block number field to indicate how many "starting RLC SN of continuously discarded data units + the number of continuously discarded data units" are contained in the current RLC control PDU. For a detailed description of this example, please refer to Example 1B above.

[0230] 3) Starting RLC SN+bitmap. The starting RLC SN can indicate the SN of the first data unit to be discarded, or the SN of the first data unit that has not been discarded. Taking the example of the starting RLC SN indicating the SN of the first data unit to be discarded, when the RLC SNs corresponding to the data units actively discarded by the sending RLC entity are 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 respectively, RLC SN=2 can be carried, and bitmap=11011100 represents the RLC SN information. The '110111' in the bitmap indicates that the data units corresponding to RLC SN 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 are discarded, and the data units corresponding to RLC SN=5 are not discarded. The '00' at the end is used for byte alignment. For a detailed description of this example, please refer to Example 1C above.

[0231] As another example, the PDCP SN information of the data unit discarded by the transmitting end may be expressed in one of the following forms:

[0232] 1) Actively discard the largest PDCP SN or PDCP SN+1, or the largest PDCP COUNT or PDCP COUNT+1 in the data unit.

[0233] 2) One or more "starting PDCP SN / COUNT of consecutively discarded data units + number of consecutively discarded data units".

[0234] 3) Starting PDCP SN / COUNT+bitmap, where each bit in the bitmap indicates whether the data unit corresponding to the subsequent SN / COUNT is actively discarded.

[0235] For a detailed description of the PDCP SN information, please refer to the above description of the RLC SN information, or refer to Examples 1A to 1C above.

[0236] Figure 7b SN information provided by the embodiment of the present application is shown in FIG. Figure 7b As shown, the RLC SN information included in the RLC control PDU may be in the form of a starting RLC SN+bitmap, and the PDCP SN information included in the RLC control PDU may be in the form of the maximum PDCP SN in the discarded data unit. Figure 7b This is just an example. The RLCSN information and PDCP SN information in the RLC control PDU may also have other combinations, which are not listed one by one in the embodiments of the present application.

[0237] 703. After receiving the RLC control PDU, the receiving RLC layer may update the RLC receiving window and variables based on the RLC SN information, and deliver the PDCP SN information to the receiving PDCP layer.

[0238] Based on the RLC SN information carried in the RLC control PDU, the RLC receiving window and variables are updated. For example, the receiving RLC layer can treat the data units actively discarded by the sender as successfully received. Figure 7b As shown, the receiving RLC layer can consider that the data unit with an RLC SN less than the RLC SN carried in the RLC control PDU is regarded as successfully received. When the RLC status report is subsequently fed back, the corresponding data unit will not indicate NACK information. For the relevant description of the RLC status report, please refer to the third RLC status report above.

[0239] 704. After receiving the PDCP SN information indicating the active discarding of the data unit indicated by the RLC layer, the receiving PDCP layer updates the PDCP receiving window and variables based on the PDCP SN information.

[0240] Exemplarily, the receiving PDCP layer may also regard the data unit actively discarded by the transmitting end as a successfully received data unit.

[0241] Figure 7c Schematic diagram of receiving a PDCP layer update receiving window provided by an embodiment of the present application. Figure 7cAs shown, the data units corresponding to COUNT=200, 202, 204 in the receiving PDCP buffer are not received, and RX_DELIV corresponds to the lower boundary of the current window of 200. The maximum value of COUNT of the data units actively discarded indicated by the received PDCP SN information is 204. The receiving PDCP layer can regard the data units corresponding to COUNT=200, 202, 204 as being received successfully, and changes RX_DELIV to 207.

[0242] Above Figure 7a This is for AM DRB. For UM DRB, after the sending RLC layer receives the PDCP SN information, it carries the PDCP SN information in the RLC control PDU. After the receiving RLC layer receives the PDCP SN information, it delivers it to the receiving PDCP layer, and the receiving PDCP layer can update the variables / windows it maintains based on the PDPC SN information.

[0243] In the embodiment of the present application, when the sending PDCP layer entity triggers the PDU set discard (the discard timer associated with the PDU set times out), the PDCP SN information and the RLC SN information are quickly transmitted to the receiving end through the RLC control PDU. This can achieve the rapid advancement of the receiving RLC layer and the receiving PDCP layer, avoid unnecessary reordering at the receiving end to introduce additional waiting delays to data transmission, reduce the end-to-end transmission delay of service data, and improve the user service experience. The PDCP packet loss information is delivered to enable the PDCP receiving window to be quickly advanced.

[0244] The following uses a network device as an example to illustrate the data processing method provided in the embodiment of the present application.

[0245] Figure 8 Schematic diagram of a data processing method under a CU-DU separation architecture provided in an embodiment of the present application. Figure 8 As shown, when a network device such as a base station is used as a receiving end, after the receiving RLC layer on the DU receives the RLC control PDU, it can perform window / variable update based on the RLC SN information and deliver the PDCP SN information to the receiving PDCP layer. After the receiving PDCP layer on the CU receives the PDCP SN information, it can perform window / variable update based on the PDCP SN information.

[0246] An embodiment of the present application provides a new frame that can be used to transmit PDCP SN information. For example, the DU can send a frame carrying PDCP SN information to the CU through the F1-U (only as an example) interface. Exemplarily, the frame can be called a discard status frame, or an uplink (UL) discard status frame, etc. For ease of description, the following description will be taken as an example of the UL discard status frame. Tables 1 to 7 shown below indicate that the relevant descriptions of the PDCP SN information are also applicable to Examples 1A to 1C above, as well as the PDCP SN information.

[0247] As an example, Table 1 is a schematic diagram of the format of a UL discard status frame shown in an embodiment of the present application. The form of the PDCP SN information in the UL discard status frame may be the same as the form of the SN information in the RLC control PDU (such as the above examples 1A to 1C), or the same as the form of the SN information in the MAC CE (such as the above examples 1A to 1C).

[0248] Table 1

[0249]

[0250] As shown in Table 1, the value x of the PDU type field indicates that the frame is a UL discard status frame. For example, x can be an integer between [3,15]. The specific description of the maximum PDCP SN / PDCP count value of discarded PDCP PDUs can be found above (such as Example 1A, etc.), which will not be described in detail here. The byte numbers shown in Table 1 are only examples and are not limited to this in the embodiments of the present application. Similarly, the embodiments of the present application do not limit the byte numbers shown in Tables 2 to 6.

[0251] As another example, Table 2 is a schematic diagram of the format of another UL discard status frame shown in an embodiment of the present application.

[0252] Table 2

[0253]

[0254]

[0255] As shown in Table 2, the value x of the PDU type field indicates that the frame is a UL discard status frame. For the relevant description of Table 2, please refer to the above (such as Example 1B, etc.). Table 2 only exemplarily shows a "starting RLC SN of continuously discarded data units + the number of continuously discarded data units", and the number of "starting RLC SN of continuously discarded data units + the number of continuously discarded data units" is equal to the number of continuously discarded data blocks. The data blocks shown in Table 2 may include one or more consecutive data packets (or data units). Tables 2 and 5 are shown by taking data blocks as an example. As another example, Tables 2 and 5 can also be expressed in terms of data units, which will not be described in detail here.

[0256] As another example, Table 3 is a schematic diagram of the format of another UL discard status frame shown in an embodiment of the present application.

[0257] Table 3

[0258]

[0259] As shown in Table 3, the value x of the PDU type field indicates that the frame is a UL discard status frame. For the detailed description of Table 3, please refer to the above (such as Example 1C, etc.).

[0260] The UL discard status frame can also reuse the current assistance information data frame. Tables 4 to 6 are frame formats that are extended based on the assistance information data frame.

[0261] As an example, Table 4 is a schematic diagram of an extended format of an auxiliary information data frame shown in an embodiment of the present application.

[0262] Table 4

[0263]

[0264] The bold part in Table 4 may be content related to PDCP SN information, and the specific description of this part can refer to the above, and will not be described in detail here. The description of the non-bold part in Table 4 can refer to the relevant standards, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this.

[0265] As another example, Table 5 is a schematic diagram of an extended format of an auxiliary information data frame shown in an embodiment of the present application.

[0266] Table 5

[0267]

[0268] The bold part in Table 5 may be content related to PDCP SN information, and the specific description of this part can refer to the above, and will not be described in detail here. The description of the non-bold part in Table 5 can refer to relevant standards, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this.

[0269] As another example, Table 6 is a schematic diagram of an extended format of an auxiliary information data frame shown in an embodiment of the present application.

[0270] Table 6

[0271]

[0272]

[0273] The bold part in Table 6 may be content related to PDCP SN information, and the specific description of this part can refer to the above, and will not be described in detail here. The description of the non-bold part in Table 6 can refer to the relevant standards, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this.

[0274] In the embodiment of the present application, the F1-U interface signaling between the DU and the CU is extended, so that when the receiving end is a network device, the data processing method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to the CU-DU separation network architecture. Of course, the data processing method provided in the embodiment of the present application can also be applied to the network architecture of ORAN, which will not be listed here one by one.

[0275] In other embodiments of the present application, a data processing method and device are provided, which can effectively improve ARQ retransmission and improve the reliability of transmission in PDB / PSDB. Exemplarily, the transmitting end can quickly trigger ARQ retransmission through L1 / L2 signaling.

[0276] Figure 9a is a flow chart of a data processing method provided in an embodiment of the present application, such as Figure 9a As shown, the method includes:

[0277] 901. When the network device fails to successfully decode the TB of HARQ process A, it sends indication information through L1 signaling or L2 signaling. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the indication information through the L1 signaling or L2 signaling. The indication information is used to indicate to the terminal device that the TB is not successfully decoded, or the last scheduling of the TB still fails to decode.

[0278] The above unsuccessful decoding may also be replaced by: unsuccessful reception or transmission failure or decoding failure, etc.

[0279] For example, for uplink transmission, in a cell, after the base station schedules the TB transmission of HARQ process A, the base station fails to decode the TB successfully and decides not to continue to schedule the retransmission of the HARQ process A in the future, then the base station can indicate to the UE that the TB transmission has failed through L1 signaling or L2 signaling. The HARQ process A shown in the embodiment of the present application is only an example, and the A shown here can be used to represent the identifier of the process.

[0280] The implementation methods of L1 signaling include:

[0281] a) Carrying indication information in the new transmission scheduling DCI of the subsequent scheduling HARQ process A, to indicate to the UE that the previous TB transmission of the HARQ process A was not decoded successfully.

[0282] b) Indication information is carried in the scheduling DCI for other HARQ processes (such as HARQ process B) in the same cell, to indicate to the UE that the previous TB transmission of HARQ process A was not decoded successfully. In this manner, the indication information may include the process number of HARQ process A.

[0283] c) Indication information is carried in the DCI of the HARQ process scheduling other cells, which is used to indicate to the UE that the previous TB transmission of HARQ process A was not decoded successfully. In this way, the indication information may include the cell identifier associated with HARQ process A and the process number of HARQ process A.

[0284] L2 signaling may be a MAC CE. In the MAC CE, the base station may indicate to the UE that the previous TB transmission of at least one HARQ process (one or more HARQ processes) was not decoded successfully. The TBs of the at least one HARQ process all failed to decode. For example, the MAC CE may carry a cell identifier, an identifier of HARQ process A (such as a process number); or, the MAC CE may carry a cell identifier and a bitmap, and each bit in the bitmap may correspond to indication information of whether the previous transmission of a HARQ process in the cell was decoded successfully. Optionally, the MAC CE may not carry a cell identifier, and the UE determines whether the MAC CE indicates whether the uplink transmission of the corresponding cell is decoded successfully by the cell on which the MAC CE is received.

[0285] 902. When the indication information is carried in L1 signaling, the terminal device may submit the indication information carried in the L1 signaling to the MAC layer.

[0286] When the indication information is carried in L2 signaling, the terminal device can receive the L2 signaling through the MAC layer.

[0287] 903. The terminal device indicates to the RLC layer corresponding to LCH X that the TB transmission fails.

[0288] The MAC layer of the terminal device determines that the previous TB transmission of the HARQ process A failed, and determines that the TB contains a data unit of a specified logical channel (logical channel, LCH) X, then the terminal device indicates to the RLC layer corresponding to LCH X that the previous data transmission failed.

[0289] The above X is the identifier of the logical channel.

[0290] 904. The RLC layer of the terminal device triggers ARQ retransmission of the RLC SDU / SDU segment transmitted in the previous transmission opportunity.

[0291] That is, the RLC entity of the UE may consider that for the previous transmission opportunity, all RLC SDU / SDU segments handed over by the RLC layer to the MAC layer have received NACK feedback from the network device.

[0292] In an embodiment of the present application, the condition for triggering ARQ retransmission may be a NACK feedback (i.e., the above-mentioned indication information) carried by the terminal device through L1 signaling or L2 signaling indicating a TB decoding failure. The purpose of quickly triggering ARQ retransmission may be achieved through L1 signaling or L2 signaling.

[0293] Figure 9b It is a flowchart of another data processing method provided by an embodiment of the present application. For the description of the sending end and the receiving end, please refer to the above description of the communication system. As an example, the sending end may include a network device or a chip or functional module disposed in the network device, and the receiving end may include a terminal device or a chip or functional module disposed in the terminal device. As another example, the sending end may include a terminal device or a chip or functional module disposed in the terminal device, and the receiving end may include a network device or a chip or functional module disposed in the network device, which are not listed one by one here. Figure 9b As shown, the method includes:

[0294] 911. The transmitting end sends a TB to the receiving end, and correspondingly, the receiving end receives the TB.

[0295] For example, for downlink transmission, LCH X may be used to transmit services with high latency and reliability requirements such as XR services. For example, a downlink transmission TB may include RLC SDU segment #1 from LCH X. The base station may transmit the TB via an air interface.

[0296] 912. The receiving end fails to decode the TB and feeds back a HARQ NACK.

[0297] After receiving the HARQ NACK, the transmitting end may retransmit the TB several times. If the transmitting end undergoes several HARQ retransmissions, the receiving end still fails to successfully decode the TB and feeds back the HARQ NACK.

[0298] 913. When the number of HARQ NACKs of the TB reaches the maximum number, the transmitting end determines that the TB includes RLC SDU segment #1, and notifies the RLC layer to retransmit RLC SDU segment #1.

[0299] Exemplarily, the transmitting end may determine that the TB includes RLC SDU segment #1, and notify the transmitting RLC layer that the transmission of RLC SDU segment #1 has failed. The transmitting RLC layer may send polling information to the receiving RLC layer, requesting the receiving RLC layer to feedback an RLC status report. The transmitting RLC layer may retransmit the data packet that was not successfully transmitted based on the RLC status report. The above RLC SDU segment #1 is only an example, and the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to other RLC SDUs or segments.

[0300] 914. The RLC layer at the transmitting end re-encapsulates RLC SDU segment (segment) #1 into an acknowledgement mode data (AMdata, AMD) PDU and delivers it to the bottom layer for transmission through a new TB.

[0301] Exemplarily, the above steps 913 and 914 may also be replaced by: when the number of HARQ NACKs of the TB reaches the maximum number, the transmitting end may retransmit the above TB, or the transmitting end may retransmit the RLC SDU segment or RLC SDU of the TB by sending the RLC layer.

[0302] Generally speaking, after receiving the RLC status report fed back by the receiving RLC layer, the sending RLC layer needs to retransmit the data packet of the corresponding RLC SN based on the NACK SN information indicated in the RLC status report. The receiving RLC layer triggers the RLC status report when the RLC status report triggering condition is met. Exemplarily, the triggering conditions may include: 1) receiving a polling indication from the transmitting end; 2) the t-Reassembly timer started by a hole in the receiving end window times out. When an RLC status report is triggered, the receiving RLC layer allows the generation of an RLC status PDU and the sending of the RLC status PDU when the t-StatusProhibit timer is not running.

[0303] However, for XR services, PDB / PSDB is usually small (such as 15ms). When using AM RLC, the RLC status report is triggered and sent slowly, making it difficult to trigger retransmission as soon as possible within the PDB duration to improve service transmission reliability. Figure 9a The method shown triggers ARQ retransmission through NACK carried by L1 signaling or L2 signaling indicating a TB decoding failure, or triggers ARQ retransmission when the number of HARQ NACKs for a TB reaches the maximum number, thereby achieving the purpose of quickly triggering ARQ retransmission and improving the reliability of data transmission in PDB / PSDB. The trigger conditions shown in the embodiment of the present application may include 1) and 2) shown above, and may also include Figure 9a L1 signaling or L2 signaling as shown, and Figure 9b The number of HARQ NACKs shown.

[0304] In the above-mentioned various embodiments, where one embodiment is not described in detail, reference may be made to other embodiments.

[0305] The following is an introduction to the communication device provided in the embodiments of the present application.

[0306] The present application divides the functional modules of the communication device according to the above method embodiment. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the present application is schematic and is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation. Figures 10 to 12 The communication device according to the embodiment of the present application is described in detail.

[0307] Fig.10 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application, such as Fig.10 As shown, the communication device includes a processing module 1001 and a transceiver module 1002. The transceiver module 1002 can implement corresponding communication functions, and the processing module 1001 is used for data processing. For example, the transceiver module 1002 can also be called an interface, a communication interface or a communication module.

[0308] In some embodiments of the present application, the communication device can be used to execute the actions performed by the sending end in the above method embodiments, such as the sending end can be the device itself or a chip or functional module that can be configured in the device, etc. The transceiver module 1002 is used to execute the operations related to the sending and receiving of the sending end in the above method embodiments, and the processing module 1001 is used to execute the operations related to the processing of the sending end in the above method embodiments.

[0309] Exemplarily, the processing module 1001 is used to obtain SN information of a data unit discarded by the first protocol layer of the sending end;

[0310] The transceiver module 1002 is used to send or output the SN information through the control signaling of the second protocol layer of the sending end.

[0311] Exemplarily, the transceiver module 1002 is specifically configured to send or output the SN information of the first protocol layer of the sending end and the SN information of the second protocol layer of the sending end through the control signaling of the second protocol layer of the sending end.

[0312] Exemplarily, the transceiver module 1002 is also used to receive or input a first RLC status report; the processing module 1001 is specifically used to determine the SN information based on the SN of the successfully received data unit indicated by the first RLC status report and the data unit discarded by the first protocol layer of the sending end.

[0313] Exemplarily, the transceiver module 1002 is also used to receive or input a second RLC status report; and when the data unit indicated by the second RLC status report that is not successfully received includes a data unit indicated by the SN information, send or output the SN information through the control signaling of the second protocol layer of the sending end.

[0314] Exemplarily, the transceiver module 1002 is further configured to receive or input a third RLC status report.

[0315] Reuse Fig.10 In some other embodiments of the present application, the communication device can be used to execute the actions performed by the receiving end in the above method embodiments, such as the receiving end can be a device or a chip or functional module that can be configured in the device, etc. The transceiver module 1002 is used to execute the operations related to the receiving end in the above method embodiments, and the processing module 1001 is used to execute the operations related to the processing of the receiving end in the above method embodiments.

[0316] Exemplarily, the transceiver module 1002 is used to receive or input control signaling through the second protocol layer from the sending end;

[0317] The processing module 1001 is used to obtain SN information of a data unit discarded by the first protocol layer of the sending end;

[0318] The processing module 1001 is also used for the second protocol layer of the receiving end to output the SN information to its first protocol layer.

[0319] Exemplarily, the processing module 1001 may be used to process the SN information, such as updating a variable maintained by the PDCP layer of the receiving end based on the SN information of the PDCP layer of the transmitting end, or updating a variable maintained by the RLC layer of the receiving end based on the SN information of the RLC layer of the transmitting end.

[0320] Exemplarily, the transceiver module 1002 is specifically configured to receive or input control signaling through the second protocol layer from the transmitting end;

[0321] The processing module 1001 is specifically configured to obtain the SN information of the PDCP layer of the transmitting end and the SN information of the RLC layer of the transmitting end.

[0322] Exemplarily, the transceiver module 1002 is further configured to send or output a third RLC status report.

[0323] Exemplarily, the transceiver module 1002 is further configured to send or output a second RLC status report.

[0324] Reuse Fig.10 In some embodiments of the present application, the communication device can be used to execute the actions performed by the terminal device in the above method embodiments, such as the communication device can be a terminal device or a chip or functional module that can be configured in the terminal device, etc. The transceiver module 1002 is used to execute the operations related to the transmission and reception of the terminal device in the above method embodiments, and the processing module 1001 is used to execute the operations related to the processing of the terminal device in the above method embodiments.

[0325] Exemplarily, the transceiver module 1002 is used to receive or input indication information; the processing module 1001 is used to trigger ARQ retransmission of the SDU based on the indication information.

[0326] Exemplarily, the transceiver module 1002 is used to send a HARQ NACK when the terminal device fails to decode the TB successfully, and trigger ARQ retransmission of the SDU when the number of HARQ NACKs of the TB reaches a maximum number.

[0327] Reuse Fig.10 In some other embodiments of the present application, the communication device can be used to execute the actions performed by the network device in the above method embodiments, such as the communication device can be a network device or a chip or functional module that can be configured in the network device, etc. The transceiver module 1002 is used to execute the operations related to the transceiver of the network device in the above method embodiments, and the processing module 1001 is used to execute the operations related to the processing of the network device in the above method embodiments.

[0328] Exemplarily, the transceiver module 1002 is used to send indication information when the TB of the decoding process is not successfully decoded.

[0329] Exemplarily, the transceiver module 1002 is configured to send a HARQ NACK when the network device fails to decode a TB, and trigger an ARQ retransmission of the SDU when the number of HARQ NACKs of the TB reaches a maximum number.

[0330] Optionally, in each of the above embodiments, the communication device may further include a storage module, which may be used to store instructions and / or data, and the processing module 1001 may read the instructions and / or data in the storage module so that the communication device implements the above method embodiments.

[0331] In the above-mentioned embodiments, for the specific description of terms or steps such as SN information, SN information of the PDCP layer of the transmitting end, SN information of the RLC layer of the transmitting end, the first RLC status report, the second RLC status report, the third RLC status report, indication information, HARQ NACK, etc., please refer to the introduction in the above method embodiments, and will not be described in detail here.

[0332] The specific descriptions of the transceiver module and the processing module shown in the above embodiments are only examples. For the specific functions or execution steps of the transceiver module and the processing module, reference may be made to the above method embodiments and will not be described in detail here.

[0333] The above describes the communication device of the embodiment of the present application, and the following describes possible product forms of the communication device. Fig.10 Any form of product with the functions of the communication device described above falls within the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application. The following description is only for example and does not limit the product form of the communication device of the embodiments of the present application to this.

[0334] In one possible implementation, Fig.10 In the communication device shown, the processing module 1001 may be one or more processors, the transceiver module 1002 may be a transceiver, or the transceiver module 1002 may also be a sending module and a receiving module, the sending module may be a transmitter, the receiving module may be a receiver, and the sending module and the receiving module are integrated into one device, such as a transceiver. In the embodiment of the present application, the processor and the transceiver may be coupled, etc., and the embodiment of the present application does not limit the connection mode of the processor and the transceiver. In the process of executing the above method, the process of sending information in the above method may be a process in which the processor outputs the above information. When outputting the above information, the processor outputs the above information to the transceiver so that it is transmitted by the transceiver. After the above information is output by the processor, it may also need to be processed in other ways before it reaches the transceiver. Similarly, the process of receiving information in the above method may be a process in which the processor receives the input information. When the processor receives the input information, the transceiver receives the above information and inputs it into the processor. Furthermore, after the transceiver receives the above information, the above information may need to be processed in other ways before it is input into the processor.

[0335] like Fig.11As shown, the communication device 110 includes one or more processors 1120 and a transceiver 1110. Exemplarily, the transceiver 1110 is configured to execute the following Fig.10 The functions or steps implemented by the transceiver module 1002 shown in FIG. 1 are as follows: Fig.10 The functions or steps implemented by the processing module 1001 shown in FIG. 10A and 10B can be referred to for details about the processor 1120 and the transceiver 1110. Fig.10 Or the method embodiments shown above will not be described in detail here.

[0336] In the above-mentioned embodiments, for the specific description of terms or steps such as SN information, SN information of the PDCP layer of the transmitting end, SN information of the RLC layer of the transmitting end, the first RLC status report, the second RLC status report, the third RLC status report, indication information, HARQ NACK, etc., please refer to the introduction in the above method embodiments, and will not be described in detail here.

[0337] exist Fig.11 In various implementations of the communication device shown, the transceiver may include a receiver and a transmitter, wherein the receiver is used to perform a receiving function (or operation) and the transmitter is used to perform a transmitting function (or operation). The transceiver is used to communicate with other devices / devices through a transmission medium.

[0338] Optionally, the communication device 110 may also include one or more memories 1130 for storing program instructions and / or data. The memory 1130 is coupled to the processor 1120. The coupling in the embodiment of the present application is an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units or modules, which may be electrical, mechanical or other forms, and is used for information exchange between devices, units or modules. The processor 1120 may operate in conjunction with the memory 1130. The processor 1120 may execute program instructions stored in the memory 1130. Optionally, at least one of the one or more memories may be included in the processor.

[0339] The specific connection medium between the transceiver 1110, the processor 1120 and the memory 1130 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. Fig.11 The memory 1130, the processor 1120 and the transceiver 1110 are connected via a bus 1140. Fig.11 The connections between the other components are shown in bold lines, which are only for illustration and are not intended to be limiting. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of representation, Fig.11 Only one thick line is used in the diagram, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0340] In the embodiments of the present application, the processor may be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component, etc., and may implement or execute the methods, steps, and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of the present application. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application may be directly embodied as being executed by a hardware processor, or may be executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor, etc.

[0341] In the embodiment of the present application, the memory may include, but is not limited to, non-volatile memory such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), a random access memory (RAM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), a read-only memory (ROM) or a portable read-only memory (CD-ROM), etc. The memory is any storage medium that can be used to carry or store program codes in the form of instructions or data structures and can be read and / or written by a computer (such as a communication device shown in the present application), but is not limited thereto. The memory in the embodiment of the present application can also be a circuit or any other device that can realize a storage function, for storing program instructions and / or data.

[0342] The processor 1120 is mainly used to process the communication protocol and communication data, and to control the entire communication device, execute the software program, and process the data of the software program. The memory 1130 is mainly used to store the software program and data. The transceiver 1110 may include a control circuit and an antenna. The control circuit is mainly used to convert the baseband signal and the radio frequency signal and process the radio frequency signal. The antenna is mainly used to send and receive radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves. The input and output devices, such as a touch screen, a display screen, a keyboard, etc., are mainly used to receive data input by the user and output data to the user.

[0343] When the communication device is turned on, the processor 1120 can read the software program in the memory 1130, interpret and execute the instructions of the software program, and process the data of the software program. When data needs to be sent wirelessly, the processor 1120 performs baseband processing on the data to be sent, and outputs the baseband signal to the RF circuit. The RF circuit performs RF processing on the baseband signal and then sends the RF signal outward in the form of electromagnetic waves through the antenna. When data is sent to the communication device, the RF circuit receives the RF signal through the antenna, converts the RF signal into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor 1120. The processor 1120 converts the baseband signal into data and processes the data.

[0344] In another implementation, the RF circuit and antenna may be arranged independently of the processor performing baseband processing. For example, in a distributed scenario, the RF circuit and antenna may be arranged remotely from the communication device.

[0345] The communication device shown in the embodiment of the present application may also have Fig.11 The embodiments of the present application do not limit the number of components and the like. The methods executed by the processor and the transceiver shown above are only examples, and the specific steps executed by the processor and the transceiver can refer to the methods described above.

[0346] In another possible implementation, Fig.10 In the communication device shown, the processing module 1001 may be one or more logic circuits, and the transceiver module 1002 may be an input / output interface, or a communication interface, or an interface circuit, or an interface, etc. Alternatively, the transceiver module 1002 may be a sending module and a receiving module, the sending module may be an output interface, and the receiving module may be an input interface, and the sending module and the receiving module may be integrated into one module, such as an input / output interface. Fig.12 As shown, Fig.12 The communication device shown includes a logic circuit 1201 and an interface 1202. That is, the processing module 1001 can be implemented by the logic circuit 1201, and the transceiver module 1002 can be implemented by the interface 1202. The logic circuit 1201 can be a chip, a processing circuit, an integrated circuit or a system on chip (SoC) chip, etc., and the interface 1202 can be a communication interface, an input / output interface, a pin, etc. For example, Fig.12 The above communication device is taken as an example as a chip, and the chip includes a logic circuit 1201 and an interface 1202 .

[0347] In the embodiment of the present application, the logic circuit and the interface may also be coupled to each other. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific connection method between the logic circuit and the interface. For example, the logic circuit 1201 may be used to perform the following Fig.10The functions or steps implemented by the processing module 1001 shown in FIG. 1001, the interface 1202 can be used to perform the following steps: Fig.10 The functions or steps implemented by the transceiver module 1002 shown in FIG. 1002 are shown in FIG. 1002 . For a detailed description of the logic circuit 1201 and the interface 1202, please refer to FIG. Fig.10 Or the method embodiments shown above will not be described in detail here.

[0348] The above description of the communication device is only an example. Fig.12 The specific description of the communication device shown can also refer to the above method embodiment or Fig.10 or Fig.11 , which will not be described in detail here.

[0349] The communication device shown in the embodiment of the present application can implement the method provided in the embodiment of the present application in the form of hardware, or can implement the method provided in the embodiment of the present application in the form of software, etc., and the embodiment of the present application is not limited to this.

[0350] In the above-mentioned embodiments, the specific description of the terms or steps such as SN information, SN information of the PDCP layer of the transmitting end, SN information of the RLC layer of the transmitting end, first RLC status report, second RLC status report, third RLC status report, indication information, HARQ NACK, etc. can be referred to the introduction in the above method embodiment, and will not be described in detail here. Fig.12 The specific implementation methods of the various embodiments shown can also refer to the above embodiments, which will not be described in detail here.

[0351] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, which includes a transmitting end and a receiving end, and the transmitting end and the receiving end can be used to execute the method in any of the aforementioned embodiments.

[0352] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, which includes a terminal device and a network device. The terminal device and the network device can be used to execute the method in any of the aforementioned embodiments.

[0353] In addition, the present application also provides a computer program, which is used to implement the operations and / or processing performed by each communication device in the method provided by the present application.

[0354] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which computer codes are stored. When the computer codes are executed on a computer, the computer executes the operations and / or processes performed by each communication device in the method provided by the present application.

[0355] The present application also provides a computer program product, which includes a computer code or a computer program. When the computer code or the computer program runs on a computer, the operations and / or processes performed by each method provided by the present application are executed.

[0356] In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the modules is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple modules or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, or it can be an electrical, mechanical or other form of connection.

[0357] The modules described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components displayed as modules may or may not be physical modules, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed on multiple network modules. Some or all of the modules may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the technical effects of the solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application.

[0358] In addition, each functional module in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated into one processing module, or each module can exist physically separately, or two or more modules can be integrated into one module. The above integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional modules.

[0359] If the integrated module is implemented in the form of a software function module and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application is essentially or partly contributed to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a readable storage medium, including a number of instructions for a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned readable storage medium includes: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), disk or optical disk and other media that can store program code.

[0360] The above is only a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art who is familiar with the present technical field can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present application, which should be included in the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A data processing method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Obtaining first sequence number SN information of a data unit discarded by a first protocol layer of a sending end; The first SN information is sent to the second protocol layer of the receiving end through the control signaling of the second protocol layer of the sending end.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The second protocol layer of the transmitting end is a radio link control RLC layer of the transmitting end, and the first protocol layer of the transmitting end is a packet data convergence protocol PDCP layer of the transmitting end.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The control signaling includes an RLC control protocol data unit (PDU).

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The sending the first SN information to the second protocol layer of the receiving end through the control signaling of the second protocol layer of the sending end includes: The first SN information and the second SN information are sent to the RLC layer of the receiving end through the RLC control PDU of the RLC layer of the sending end, and the second SN information is the SN information of the RLC layer of the sending end.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The method further comprises: receiving a first RLC status report; The obtaining of the first sequence number SN information of the data unit discarded by the first protocol layer of the sending end includes: The first SN information is determined based on the SN of the successfully received data unit indicated by the first RLC status report and the data unit discarded by the first protocol layer of the transmitting end.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: After the control signaling of the second protocol layer of the transmitting end sends the first SN information to the second protocol layer of the receiving end, the method further includes: receiving a second RLC status report; In a case where the data units that are not successfully received and indicated by the second RLC status report include the data units indicated by the first SN information, the first SN information is retransmitted to the second protocol layer of the receiving end through control signaling of the second protocol layer of the sending end.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: After the control signaling of the second protocol layer of the transmitting end sends the first SN information to the second protocol layer of the receiving end, the method further includes: A third RLC status report is received, wherein the third RLC status report indicates that one or more data units among the data units indicated by the first SN information are successfully received.

8. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The second protocol layer of the transmitting end is a media access control MAC layer of the transmitting end, and the first protocol layer of the transmitting end is an RLC layer of the transmitting end.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The control signaling includes a MAC control element CE.

10. A data processing method, characterized in that: The method comprises: The second protocol layer of the receiving end obtains the first sequence number SN information of the data unit discarded by the first protocol layer of the sending end through the control signaling from the second protocol layer of the sending end; The second protocol layer of the receiving end sends the first SN information to the first protocol layer of the receiving end.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The second protocol layer of the receiving end is a radio link control RLC layer of the receiving end, and the first protocol layer of the receiving end is a packet data convergence protocol PDCP layer of the receiving end.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The control signaling includes an RLC control protocol data unit (PDU).

13. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 12, characterized in that: The second protocol layer of the receiving end obtains the first sequence number SN information of the data unit discarded by the first protocol layer of the sending end through the control signaling from the second protocol layer of the sending end, including: The second protocol layer of the receiving end obtains the first SN information and the second SN information through the control signaling from the second protocol layer of the sending end, the second SN information is the SN information of the RLC layer of the sending end, and the first SN information is the SN information of the PDCP layer of the sending end.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that The method further comprises: Update a variable maintained by the PDCP layer of the receiving end based on the SN information of the PDCP layer of the transmitting end; The variables maintained by the RLC layer of the receiving end are updated based on the SN information of the RLC layer of the sending end.

15. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 14, characterized in that: The method further comprises: A third RLC status report is sent, wherein the third RLC status report indicates that one or more data units among the data units indicated by the first SN information are successfully received.

16. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 14, characterized in that: The method further comprises: sending a second RLC status report, where the unsuccessfully received data unit indicated by the second RLC status report includes the data unit indicated by the first SN information; The second protocol layer of the receiving end obtains the retransmitted first SN information through the control signaling from the second protocol layer of the sending end.

17. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The second protocol layer of the receiving end is a media access control MAC layer of the receiving end, and the first protocol layer of the receiving end is an RLC layer of the receiving end.

18. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that The control signaling includes a MAC control element CE.

19. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a module for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

20. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a module for executing the method according to any one of claims 10 to 11.

21. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a processor configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

22. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a processor configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 10 to 18.

23. A communication device, characterized in that: comprising a logic circuit and an interface, wherein the logic circuit and the interface are coupled; The interface is used to input and / or output information, and the logic circuit is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 1-9.

24. A communication device, characterized in that: comprising a logic circuit and an interface, wherein the logic circuit and the interface are coupled; The interface is used to input and / or output information, and the logic circuit is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 10-18.

25. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium is used to store a computer program. When the computer program is executed, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 18 is executed.

26. A communication system, characterized in that: It comprises a sending end and a receiving end, wherein the sending end is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, and the receiving end is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 10 to 18.

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