Communication method and device

Abstract

A communication method and apparatus are used for providing a scheme for determining whether a terminal device can identify a PDU set for a specific service. The terminal device determines first indication information, the first indication information being used for indicating that the terminal device can identify the PDU set, the first indication information being associated with one or more of the following items: a first DRB, a first PDCP entity, a first Qos stream, and a first PDU session; and the terminal equipment sends the first indication information. The invention provides a scheme for determining whether the PDU set can be identified or not by the terminal equipment according to the XR service granularity, and the terminal equipment can accurately determine whether the PDU set can be identified or not according to the current XR service.

Description

Technical Field

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

[0002] The service data generated by the application layer of the terminal device can interact with the application server through the base station, core network and other devices. The data packets generated by the application layer of the terminal device can be carried by a protocol data unit (PDU) set. A PDU set includes one or more PDUs, and each PDU set carries the payload of a unit of information generated by the application layer of the terminal device, such as a frame or a video slice.

[0003] During the interaction between the terminal device and the base station, some functions require the terminal device to identify the PDU set. For example, if the terminal device needs to discard one or more PDU sets, the terminal device needs to have the ability to identify the PDU set first. However, the capabilities of the terminal device for different services may be different. Only after the base station determines whether the terminal device has the ability to identify the PDU set for a specific service can the base station provide the terminal device with the corresponding configuration related to the service. However, there is currently no solution to determine whether the terminal device can identify the PDU set for a specific service. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present application provides a communication method and apparatus for providing a solution for determining whether a terminal device can identify a PDU set for a specific service.

[0005] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be performed by a terminal device or a module (such as a chip) applied to the terminal device. Taking the terminal device performing the method as an example, the method includes: the terminal device determines first indication information, the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device can identify a PDU set, and the first indication information is associated with one or more of the following: a first DRB, a first PDCP entity, a first Qos flow, and a first PDU session; the terminal device sends the first indication information.

[0006] Through the above method, the terminal device can determine the first indication information associated with at least one of the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session, thereby determining the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set on the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session. Therefore, the network device can determine the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set on the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session, and provide reasonable configuration information for the terminal device. The embodiment of the present application provides a solution for a terminal device to determine whether a PDU set can be identified based on a service granularity, and the terminal device can accurately determine whether a PDU set can be identified based on the current service.

[0007] In one possible design, the first DRB is the DRB corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; the first PDCP entity is the PDCP entity corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; the first QoS flow is the QoS flow corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; and the first PDU session is the PDU session corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device.

[0008] Through the above method, the first indication information determined by the terminal device is related to the XR service, and the terminal device can accurately determine whether the PDU set can be identified for the current XR service.

[0009] In one possible design, the first indication information is determined by the terminal device based on application information of the XR service and / or capability information of the terminal device; the capability information is used to indicate the capability of the terminal device related to the identification PDU set.

[0010] Through the above method, the terminal device can determine whether the PDU set can be identified for the XR service based on the application information of the current XR service and the capability information related to the PDU set supported by the terminal device itself, thereby generating the first indication information based on the determination result.

[0011] In one possible design, the capability information includes at least one of the following: the terminal device supports the ability to identify a PDU set based on a first protocol, the first protocol including at least one of RTP, HTTP, UDP and IP; the terminal device supports the ability to identify a PDU set based on traffic detection.

[0012] Through the above method, the terminal device can have a variety of different capabilities related to identifying PDU sets, so that it can identify PDU sets more flexibly.

[0013] In one possible design, the terminal device receives second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate application information of the XR service.

[0014] Through the above method, the terminal device can obtain the application information of the XR service through the second indication information, and thus determine whether the PDU set can be identified for the XR service according to the XR service information.

[0015] In one possible design, the first indication information is carried by at least one of the following messages:

[0016] UE assistance information message, radio resource control RRC reconfiguration complete message, RRC connection establishment complete message, RRC connection reply complete message.

[0017] Through the above method, the terminal device can carry the first indication information through at least one message among a plurality of different message types, thereby improving the diversity of the first indication information sending methods.

[0018] In one possible design, the first indication information is carried via a NAS message.

[0019] In one possible design, the terminal device indicated by the first indication information can identify a PDU set including at least one of the following:

[0020] The terminal device is capable of identifying the PDU included in the PDU set, the terminal device is capable of identifying the PSI of the PDU set, and the terminal device is capable of supporting processing based on the PDU set.

[0021] Through the above method, the terminal device can identify the PDU set from multiple different aspects.

[0022] In one possible design, the terminal device is capable of supporting PDU set-based processing, including the terminal device supporting PDU set-based discarding.

[0023] Through the above method, the terminal device can determine whether PDU set-based discarding is supported for a specific XR service, thereby facilitating the network device to reasonably configure the terminal; for example, when the terminal device supports PDU set-based discarding, the configuration information that the network device can send to the terminal device can indicate PDU set-based discarding.

[0024] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be performed by a network device or a module (such as a chip) applied to a network device. Take the network device executing the method as an example, wherein the network device may include a first network device and / or a second network device; exemplarily, the first network device may be a core network device, and the second network device may be an access network device. The method includes: receiving first indication information, the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device can identify a protocol data unit PDU set, and the first indication information is associated with one or more of the following: a first DRB, a first PDCP entity, a first Qos flow, and a first PDU session.

[0025] Through the above method, the network device can receive the first indication information sent by the terminal device. Since the first indication information is the first indication information associated with at least one of the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session determined by the terminal device, the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set on the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session is determined. The network device can determine reasonable configuration information or requirement information based on the capability of the terminal device.

[0026] In one possible design, the first DRB is the DRB corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; the first PDCP entity is the PDCP entity corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; the first QoS flow is the QoS flow corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; and the first PDU session is the PDU session corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device.

[0027] Through the above method, the first indication information received by the network device is related to the XR service, and the network device can accurately determine whether the terminal device can recognize the PDU set for the current XR service.

[0028] In one possible design, the network device sends configuration information to the terminal device, and the configuration information instructs the terminal device to process the PDU set.

[0029] Through the above method, the network device can reasonably configure the terminal device to process the PDU set according to the first indication information. For example, when the terminal device can identify the PDU set for the XR service, the configuration information that the network device can send to the terminal device can instruct the terminal device to process the PDU set.

[0030] In one possible design, the processing of the PDU set indicated by the configuration information includes processing of the PDU set corresponding to at least one of the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session.

[0031] Through the above method, since the first indication information is associated with at least one of the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session, the configuration information sent by the network device to the terminal device indicates the processing of the PDU set corresponding to at least one of the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session, so that the configuration information sent by the network device to the terminal device is more reasonable.

[0032] In one possible design, the first indication information is carried by at least one of the following messages: UE assistance information message, RRC reconfiguration completion message, RRC connection establishment completion message, and RRC connection reply completion message.

[0033] Through the above method, the first indication information can be carried in at least one of a plurality of different message types, thereby improving the diversity of the first indication information sending methods.

[0034] In one possible design, the network device sends third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate indication information related to the PDU set.

[0035] In one possible design, the third indication information includes the first indication information.

[0036] Through the above method, after receiving the first indication information, the network device can indicate the information related to the PDU set to other network devices, so as to facilitate other network devices to determine whether the terminal device can recognize the PDU set for the XR service; for example, after receiving the first indication, the core network device can send a third indication information to the access network device, and indicate the content related to the PDU set through the third indication information. For example, the third indication information includes the first indication information, and the core network device indicates to the access network device whether the terminal device can recognize the PDU set for the XR service.

[0037] In one possible design, the network device sends second indication information to the terminal device, where the second indication information is used to indicate application information of the XR service.

[0038] Through the above method, the terminal device can obtain the application information of the XR service through the second indication information, so that according to the XR service information, it can more accurately determine whether the PDU set can be identified for the XR service.

[0039] In one possible design, the first indication information is carried via a NAS message.

[0040] In one possible design, the terminal device indicated by the first indication information can identify a PDU set including at least one of the following:

[0041] The terminal device is capable of identifying the PDU included in the PDU set, the terminal device is capable of identifying the PSI of the PDU set, and the terminal device is capable of supporting processing based on the PDU set.

[0042] Through the above method, the terminal device can identify the PDU set from multiple different aspects.

[0043] In one possible design, the terminal device is capable of supporting PDU set-based processing, including the terminal device supporting PDU set-based discarding.

[0044] Through the above method, the terminal device can determine whether the XR service supports PDU set-based discarding, thereby facilitating the network device to reasonably configure the terminal; for example, when the terminal device supports PDU set-based discarding, the configuration information that the network device can send to the terminal device can indicate PDU set-based discarding.

[0045] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be executed by a terminal device or a module (such as a chip) applied to a terminal device. Taking the terminal device executing the method as an example, the method includes: the terminal device determines capability information, where the capability information is used to indicate the capability of the terminal device related to the identification PDU set; and the terminal device sends the capability information to the first network device.

[0046] Through the above method, the terminal device sends capability information to the first network device. Since the capability information indicates the capability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set, it provides a basis for the first network device to determine whether the terminal device can identify the PDU set. Therefore, the first network device can accurately determine whether the terminal device can identify the PDU set based on the capability information sent by the terminal device; exemplarily, the first network device can determine whether the terminal device can identify the PDU set for the XR service based on the capability information of the terminal device.

[0047] In one possible design, the terminal device receives fourth indication information sent by the first network device, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate application information of the XR service.

[0048] Through the above method, the terminal device can obtain the application information of the XR service through the fourth indication information, so that according to the XR service information, it can more accurately determine whether the PDU set can be identified for the XR service.

[0049] In one possible design, the network device determines, based on the application information and / or the capability information of the XR service, that the terminal device can recognize a PDU set for the XR service.

[0050] Through the above method, the network device can accurately determine whether the PDU set can be identified for the XR service based on the application information of the XR service and the capability information related to the PDU set supported by the terminal device itself.

[0051] In one possible design, the capability information includes at least one of the following:

[0052] The terminal device supports the ability to identify PDU sets based on a first protocol, wherein the first protocol includes at least one of RTP, HTTP, UDP and IP; the terminal device supports the ability to identify PDU sets based on traffic detection.

[0053] Through the above method, the terminal device can have a variety of different capabilities related to identifying PDU sets, so that the PDU sets can be identified more accurately.

[0054] In one possible design, the terminal device can recognize that a PDU set for the XR service includes at least one of the following:

[0055] The terminal device can identify the first PDU or the last PDU of a PDU set, the terminal device can identify the PSI of a PDU set, and the terminal device can support processing based on a PDU set.

[0056] Through the above method, the terminal device can identify the PDU set from multiple different aspects.

[0057] In one possible design, the terminal device is capable of supporting PDU set-based processing, including the terminal device supporting PDU set-based discarding.

[0058] Through the above method, the terminal device can determine whether the XR service supports PDU set-based discarding, thereby facilitating the network device to reasonably configure the terminal; for example, when the terminal device supports PDU set-based discarding, the configuration information that the network device can send to the terminal device can indicate PDU set-based discarding.

[0059] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be performed by a first network device or a module (such as a chip) applied to the first network device. Taking the first network device performing the method as an example, the method includes: the first network device receives capability information sent by a terminal device, the capability information is used to indicate the capability of the terminal device related to identifying a PDU set; the first network device determines, based on the capability information, that the terminal device can identify a PDU set for an XR service.

[0060] Through the above method, the first network device receives capability information from the terminal device. Since the capability information indicates the capability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set, the first network device can accurately determine whether the terminal device can identify the PDU set for the XR service based on the capability information sent by the terminal device. The embodiment of the present application provides a solution for the first network device to determine whether the terminal device can identify the PDU set based on the granularity of the XR service. The first network device can accurately determine whether the terminal device can identify the PDU set for the current XR service.

[0061] In one possible design, the first network device sends fifth indication information to the second network device, where the fifth indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device can identify a PDU set for the XR service.

[0062] Through the above method, the first network device can notify the second network device through the fifth indication information that the terminal device can identify the PDU set for the XR service, thereby facilitating the second network device to reasonably configure the terminal device.

[0063] In one possible design, the first network device determines, based on the capability information and / or application information of the XR service, that the terminal device can identify a PDU set for the XR service.

[0064] Through the above method, the first network device can accurately determine whether the PDU set can be identified for the XR service based on the application information of the XR service and the capability information related to the PDU set supported by the terminal device itself.

[0065] In one possible design, the first network device sends fourth indication information to the terminal device, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate application information of the XR service.

[0066] Through the above method, the terminal device can obtain the application information of the XR service through the fourth indication information, so that the terminal device can more accurately determine whether the PDU set can be identified for the XR service based on the XR service information.

[0067] In one possible design, the capability information includes at least one of the following:

[0068] The terminal device supports the capability of identifying a PDU set based on a first protocol, wherein the first protocol includes at least one of a real-time transport protocol RTP, a hypertext transfer protocol HTTP, a user datagram protocol UDP, and an Internet protocol IP;

[0069] The terminal device supports the ability to identify PDU sets based on traffic detection.

[0070] Through the above method, the terminal device can have a variety of different capabilities related to identifying PDU sets, so that the PDU sets can be identified more accurately.

[0071] In one possible design, the terminal device can recognize that a PDU set for the XR service includes at least one of the following:

[0072] The terminal device can identify the first PDU or the last PDU of a PDU set, the terminal device can identify the PSI of a PDU set, and the terminal device can support processing based on a PDU set.

[0073] Through the above method, the terminal device can identify the PDU set from multiple different aspects.

[0074] In one possible design, the terminal device is capable of supporting PDU set-based processing, including the terminal device supporting PDU set-based discarding.

[0075] Through the above method, the terminal device can determine whether the XR service supports PDU set-based discarding, thereby facilitating the network device to reasonably configure the terminal; for example, when the terminal device supports PDU set-based discarding, the configuration information that the network device can send to the terminal device can indicate PDU set-based discarding.

[0076] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, which can be performed by a second network device or a module (such as a chip) applied to the second network device. Taking the second network device performing the method as an example, the method includes: the second network device receives fifth indication information, and the fifth indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device can identify the PDU set for the XR service; the second network device sends configuration information to the terminal device, and the configuration information indicates the terminal device's processing of the PDU set.

[0077] Through the above method, the second network device can determine whether the terminal device can identify the PDU set for the XR service based on the fifth indication information, and thus reasonably configure the terminal device based on whether the terminal device can identify the PDU set for the XR service.

[0078] In one possible design, the processing capability for the PDU set indicated by the configuration information includes the processing capability for the PDU set corresponding to the XR service.

[0079] Through the above method, since the fifth indication information indicates whether the terminal device can identify the PDU set for the XR service, accordingly, the second network device indicates the processing capability of the terminal device for the PDU set corresponding to the XR service based on the fifth indication information, so that the configuration information sent by the second network device to the terminal device is more reasonable.

[0080] In a sixth aspect, the present application further provides a communication device, which has the function of implementing the method in the first aspect or any possible design thereof, or the communication device has the function of implementing the method in the third aspect or any possible design thereof. The communication device can be implemented by hardware, or can be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0081] In one possible design, the communication device includes: a processor, which is configured to support the communication device to perform the corresponding functions of the terminal in the method shown above. The communication device may also include a memory (or storage medium), which may be coupled to the processor and stores the necessary program instructions and data for the communication device. Optionally, the communication device also includes an interface circuit, which is used to support communication between the communication device and a network device or other device. The interface circuit may also be a transceiver, and the transceiver may include a transmitter and a receiver, and the transmitter and the receiver may be different devices, or may be the same device but can implement different functions.

[0082] In one possible design, the communication device includes corresponding functional modules, which are respectively used to implement the steps in the above method. The functions can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0083] In one possible design, the structure of the communication device includes a processing unit (or processing module) and a communication unit (or communication module), which can perform the corresponding functions in the above method examples. For details, please refer to the description of the method provided in the first aspect or the third aspect, which will not be repeated here. The communication unit (or communication module) can also be a transceiver unit (or transceiver module), and the transceiver unit can include a sending unit and a receiving unit. The sending unit and the receiving unit can be different units, or they can be the same unit but can implement different functions.

[0084] The communication device may be a terminal or a chip or chip system in a terminal. If the communication device is a terminal, the transceiver may be a radio frequency transceiver component in the terminal. If the communication device is a chip or a chip system provided in a terminal, the transceiver may be a communication interface in the chip or the chip system, and the communication interface is connected to the radio frequency transceiver component in the terminal to realize information transmission and reception through the radio frequency transceiver component.

[0085] In a seventh aspect, the present application further provides a communication device, which has the function of implementing the method in the second aspect or any possible design thereof, or the communication device has the function of implementing the method in the fourth aspect or any possible design thereof, or the communication device has the function of implementing the method in the fifth aspect or any possible design thereof. The communication device can be implemented by hardware, or can be implemented by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0086] In one possible design, the communication device includes: a processor, which is configured to support the communication device to perform the corresponding functions of the network device in the method shown above. The communication device may also include a memory (or storage medium), which may be coupled to the processor and stores the necessary program instructions and data for the communication device. Optionally, the communication device also includes an interface circuit, which is used to support communication between the communication device and a device such as a terminal. The interface circuit may also be a transceiver, and the transceiver may include a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter and the receiver may be different devices, or may be the same device but capable of implementing different functions.

[0087] In one possible design, the communication device includes corresponding functional modules, which are respectively used to implement the steps in the above method. The functions can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0088] In one possible design, the structure of the communication device includes a processing unit (or processing module) and a communication unit (or communication module), which can perform the corresponding functions in the above method examples. For details, please refer to the description of the method provided in the second aspect, the fourth aspect or the fifth aspect, which will not be repeated here. The communication unit (or communication module) can also be a transceiver unit (or transceiver module), and the transceiver unit can include a sending unit and a receiving unit. The sending unit and the receiving unit can be different units, or they can be the same unit but can implement different functions.

[0089] The communication device may be a network device or a chip or chip system in the network device. If the communication device is a network device, the transceiver may be a radio frequency transceiver component in the network device. If the communication device is a chip or chip system provided in the network device, the transceiver may be a communication interface in the chip or chip system, and the communication interface is connected to the radio frequency transceiver component in the network device to realize information transmission and reception through the radio frequency transceiver component.

[0090] In an eighth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed by a processor, it implements the method of the aforementioned first aspect or any possible design thereof, or implements the method of the aforementioned second aspect or any possible design thereof, or implements the method of the aforementioned third aspect or any possible design thereof, or implements the method of the aforementioned fourth aspect or any possible design thereof, or implements the method of the aforementioned fifth aspect or any possible design thereof.

[0091] In the ninth aspect, a computer program product storing instructions is provided, which, when executed by a processor, implements the method of the first aspect or any possible design thereof, or implements the method of the second aspect or any possible design thereof, or implements the method of the third aspect or any possible design thereof, or implements the method of the fourth aspect or any possible design thereof, or implements the method of the fifth aspect or any possible design thereof.

[0092] In the tenth aspect, a communication device is provided, the communication device including a processor, the processor is used to implement the method in the aforementioned first aspect or any possible design thereof, or implement the method in the aforementioned second aspect or any possible design thereof, or implement the method in the aforementioned third aspect or any possible design thereof, or implement the method in the aforementioned fourth aspect or any possible design thereof, or implement the method in the aforementioned fifth aspect or any possible design thereof. In addition, the communication device may also include a storage medium, the storage medium stores instructions, and when the instructions are executed by the processor, they are used to implement the method in the aforementioned first aspect or any possible design thereof, or implement the method in the aforementioned second aspect or any possible design thereof, or implement the method in the aforementioned third aspect or any possible design thereof, or implement the method in the aforementioned fourth aspect or any possible design thereof, or implement the method in the aforementioned fifth aspect or any possible design thereof. The communication device may be a chip or a chip system. The chip system may be composed of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices.

[0093] In the eleventh aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the first terminal device described in the first aspect and the network device described in the second aspect.

[0094] In the twelfth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the first terminal device described in the third aspect, the first network device described in the fourth aspect, and the second network device described in the fifth aspect.

[0095] For each of the above-mentioned aspects 6 to 12 and the technical effects that may be achieved by each of the above-mentioned aspects 1 to 12, please refer to the technical effects that can be achieved by the above-mentioned first aspect or the various possible schemes in the first aspect, or the above-mentioned second aspect or the various possible schemes in the second aspect, or the above-mentioned third aspect or the various possible schemes in the third aspect, or the above-mentioned fourth aspect or the various possible schemes in the fourth aspect, or the above-mentioned fifth aspect or the various possible schemes in the fifth aspect, and no further details will be given here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0096] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0097] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of data transmission provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0098] Figure 3 A flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0099] Figure 4 An overall flow chart of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application;

[0100] Figure 5 A flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0101] Figure 6 An overall flow chart of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application;

[0102] Figure 7 A flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0103] Figure 8 An overall flow chart of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application;

[0104] Fig. 9 A flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0105] Fig.10 A schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0106] Fig.11 A schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0107] Fig.12 A schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0108] Fig.13 A schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0109] Fig.14 A schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0110] Fig.15 A schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0111] Fig.16 A schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0112] The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to the fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system (e.g., 5G new radio (NR) system), or to the long term evolution (LTE) system, or can also be applied to the next generation mobile communication system, such as the 6G mobile communication system or other similar communication systems. Other similar communication systems include, for example, vehicle to everything (V2X), Internet of things (IoT) system, narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) system, etc. IoT can be understood as IoT or wearable WiFi network based on wireless fidelity (WiFi). Wearable WiFi network refers to a WiFi network composed of a terminal device (e.g., a mobile phone) as a virtual access point and associated wearable devices. The embodiments of the present application are described by taking the 5G mobile communication system as an example. When the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application are applied to other communication systems, the devices, components, modules, etc. in the embodiments can be replaced with corresponding devices, components, modules in other communication systems without limitation.

[0113] See also Figure 1 , shows a communication system applicable to the embodiment of the present application, wherein a 5G mobile communication system is taken as an example, which may include a network device and at least one terminal device. Exemplarily, the network device may include Figure 1The equipment (such as core network equipment) in the 5G core network (such as 5GC) and the equipment (such as access network equipment) in the 5G access network (such as NG-RAN) shown in the figure. Among them, the access and mobility management function (AMF), the user plane function (UPF) and the session management function (SMF) are three network elements in 5GC; gNB (i.e., 5G base station) and ng-eNB (i.e., 4G base station connected to 5GC) are two network elements in NG-RAN. The service base station gNB of the terminal device is responsible for providing the user plane and control plane protocol functions of 5GNR for the terminal device; the service base station ng-eNB of the terminal device is responsible for providing the user plane and control plane protocol functions of LTE for the terminal.

[0114] The terminal device involved in the embodiment of the present application may be a wireless terminal device capable of receiving network device scheduling and indication information. The terminal device may be a device that provides voice and / or data connectivity to a user, or a handheld device with a wireless connection function, or other processing device connected to a wireless modem. In the embodiment of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the terminal device may be a terminal device; may be a module or unit that can be applied to the terminal device; or may be a device that can support the terminal device to realize the function, such as a chip system, which may be installed in the terminal device or used in combination with the terminal device.

[0115] Terminal equipment, also known as terminal, user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), etc. Terminal equipment is a device that includes wireless communication function (providing voice / data connectivity to users). For example, a handheld device with wireless connection function, or a vehicle-mounted device, etc. At present, some examples of terminal equipment are: mobile phones, tablet computers, laptops, PDAs, mobile Internet devices (MID), wearable devices, virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in the Internet of Vehicles, wireless terminals in self-driving, wireless terminals in remote medical surgery, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, or wireless terminals in smart homes, etc. For example, the wireless terminal in the Internet of Vehicles can be a vehicle-mounted device, a complete vehicle device, a vehicle-mounted module, a vehicle, etc. Wireless terminals in industrial control can be cameras, robots, etc. Wireless terminals in smart homes can be TVs, air conditioners, sweepers, speakers, set-top boxes, etc.

[0116] The access network device involved in the embodiments of the present application may be a device in a wireless network. For example, the access network device may be a device deployed in a wireless access network to provide wireless communication functions for a terminal. For example, the access network device may be a radio access network (RAN) node that connects a terminal to a wireless network. In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the access network device may be an access network device; may be a module or unit that can be applied to the access network device; or may be a device that can support the access network device to implement the function, such as a chip system, which may be installed in the access network device or used in combination with the access network device.

[0117] Access network equipment includes, but is not limited to: evolved Node B (eNB), radio network controller (RNC), Node B (NB), base station controller (BSC), base transceiver station (BTS), home base station (e.g., home evolved NodeB, or home Node B, HNB), baseband unit (BBU), access point (AP) in wireless fidelity (WIFI) system, wireless relay node, wireless backhaul node, transmission point (TP) or transmission and reception point (TRP), etc., and can also be network equipment in 5G mobile communication system. For example, the next generation NodeB (gNB) in NR system, transmission reception point (TRP), TP; or, one or a group of antenna panels (including multiple antenna panels) of a base station in 5G mobile communication system; or, the network equipment can also be a network node constituting a gNB or a transmission point. For example, BBU, or distributed unit (DU), etc.

[0118] In some deployments, the gNB may include a centralized unit (CU) and a DU. The gNB may also include an active antenna unit (AAU). The CU implements some functions of the gNB, and the DU implements some functions of the gNB. For example, the CU is responsible for processing non-real-time protocols and services, and implementing the functions of the radio resource control RRC and the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer. The DU is responsible for processing physical layer protocols and real-time services, and implementing the functions of the radio link control (RLC) layer, the MAC layer, and the physical (PHY) layer. The AAU implements some physical layer processing functions, radio frequency processing, and related functions of active antennas. The information of the RRC layer will eventually become the information of the PHY layer, or it will be converted from the information of the PHY layer. Therefore, under this architecture, high-level signaling (such as RRC layer signaling) can also be considered to be sent by the DU, or by the DU and the AAU. It can be understood that the network device can be a device including one or more of a CU node, a DU node, and an AAU node. In addition, the CU may be divided into a network device in the RAN, or may be divided into a network device in the core network (CN), which is not limited in the present application.

[0119] In a possible scenario, multiple RAN devices (or RAN nodes) collaborate to assist the terminal in achieving wireless access, and different RAN nodes respectively implement part of the functions of the base station. For example, the RAN node can be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU). The CU and DU can be set separately, or can also be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU) or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0120] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in an open radio access network (ORAN) system, CU may also be called O-CU (open CU), DU may also be called O-DU, CU-CP may also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be called O-CU-UP, and RU may also be called O-RU. For the convenience of description, this application takes CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU as examples for description. Any unit of CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0121] The core network (CN) device involved in the embodiment of the present application, as a bearer network, provides an interface to the data network (DN), provides communication connection, authentication, management, policy control and data service bearing for the terminal device. The core network device may include the following network elements: SMF network element, AMF network element, unified data management function (UDM) network element, authentication service function (AUSF) network element, policy control function (PCF) network element, user plane function (UPF) network element, network slice selection function (NSSF) network element, network exposure function (NEF) network element, network storage function (NRF) and application function (AF) network element. It should be noted that the above-mentioned core network may include one or more CN devices. Among them, the CN device can be a network element for executing the above-mentioned single network function, or a network element for executing the above-mentioned multiple network functions. When a CN device is used to execute the above-mentioned multiple network functions, the CN device may include one or more functional modules for executing the above-mentioned multiple network functions. The functional module may be a software module or a hardware and software module, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0122] In the embodiments of the present application, "at least one" refers to one or more, and "plurality" refers to two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the objects associated before and after are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b and (or) c can represent: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a, b and c, where each of a, b, c can be an element itself, or a set containing one or more elements.

[0123] In this application, "exemplary", "in some embodiments", "in other embodiments", etc. are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" in this application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of the word "exemplary" is intended to present concepts in a concrete way.

[0124] In this application, "of", "corresponding", and "corresponding" can sometimes be used interchangeably. It should be noted that when the distinction is not emphasized, the meanings they express are consistent. In the embodiments of this application, communication and transmission can sometimes be used interchangeably. It should be noted that when the distinction is not emphasized, the meanings they express are consistent. For example, transmission can include sending and / or receiving, which can be a noun or a verb.

[0125] In this application, "indication" may include direct indication, indirect indication, explicit indication, and implicit indication. When describing that a certain indication information is used to indicate A, it can be understood that the indication information carries A, directly indicates A, or indirectly indicates A.

[0126] It should be pointed out that the words "first", "second", etc. involved in the embodiments of the present application are only used for the purpose of distinguishing the description, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance, nor can they be understood as indicating or implying an order.

[0127] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, several basic concepts involved in the embodiments of the present application are briefly explained.

[0128] PDU set: A PDU set includes one or more PDUs. Each PDU set carries the payload of a unit of information generated by the application layer of the terminal device, such as a frame or a video slice.

[0129] Data burst: Data generated by the application layer in a short period of time. A data burst can include one or more PDU sets.

[0130] Extended reality (XR): refers to a virtual environment that combines the real and the virtual to create human-computer interaction. XR is a general term for different types of implementations, including but not limited to virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR).

[0131] When the terminal device starts the XR service, the application layer of the terminal device can interact with the application server. For example, when the application layer of the terminal device generates uplink XR data, the terminal device can send it to the corresponding application server through the base station, core network and other devices; Figure 2 The process of uplink XR data from generation to sending to the application server shown in the figure: the application layer of the terminal device generates an XR data packet (i.e., a PDU set) and transmits it downward; it is processed by the real-time transport protocol (RTP), the user datagram protocol (UDP), or the Internet protocol (IP), and then delivered to the access stratum (AS); the AS layer sends an XR data packet (one or more PDUs) to the base station, and the base station receives the XR data packet; the base station delivers the XR data packet to the core network device; the core network device delivers the XR data packet to the application server.

[0132] During the interaction between the terminal device and the network device (base station or core network device), the network device can configure the terminal device with relevant information on the processing of the PDU set; some configurations of the network device require the terminal device to be able to identify the PDU set; illustratively, the base station can configure the terminal device to discard based on the PDU set, that is, discard at the granularity of the PDU set. For example, in the event of network congestion, the terminal device can be instructed to discard unimportant PDU sets; if the terminal device executes the discard of unimportant PDU sets, the terminal device needs to be able to identify the PDU set. Therefore, the network device needs to be configured accordingly based on whether the terminal device can identify the PDU set.

[0133] At present, the terminal device can report to the network device whether the terminal device supports the identification of the PDU set. For example, the terminal device can indicate in the UE capability information message whether the terminal device supports the identification of the PDU set. This reporting method is based on the granularity of the terminal device, which represents whether the terminal device has the ability to identify the PDU set. However, the identification of the PDU set by the terminal device is related to the service. Taking the XR service as an example, since the high-level protocols and / or high-level protocol formats used by different XR services may be different, for example, the RTP protocol used by XR service 1, the encrypted RTP protocol (ie, the SRTP protocol) used by XR service 2, the RTP extension header used by XR service 3, and the Internet Security Protocol (IPsec) used by XR service 4. The ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set for XR services with different high-level protocols and / or high-level protocol formats is also different. That is, the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set for different XR services may be different. Therefore, if the terminal device only indicates to the network device that the terminal device supports or does not support the identification of the PDU set, the network device cannot configure the terminal device for different XR services based on the PDU set processing. For example, the terminal device reports that it supports the identification of PDU sets, and the network device configures the terminal device to process the PDU sets related to XR service 4. However, the terminal device cannot support the identification of the PDU sets of XR service 4, and the terminal device cannot perform the configuration of the network device. For another example, since the terminal device cannot support the identification of the PDU sets of XR service 4, it reports to the network device that it cannot support the identification of the PDU sets, and the network device cannot configure the identification of the PDU sets for the terminal device, although the terminal device can support the identification of the PDU sets of XR service 3. In this way, the configuration of the network device cannot fully exert its function.

[0134] An embodiment of the present application provides a communication method that can be used to determine whether a terminal device can recognize a PDU set. The following description takes the terminal device and the network device as the execution subject as an example, but the execution subject may also be a module (such as a chip) applied in the terminal device and a module (such as a chip) applied in the network device. The processing performed by a single execution subject in an embodiment of the present application may also be divided into executions by multiple execution subjects, and these execution subjects may be logically and / or physically separated. For example, the processing performed by the network device may be divided into executions by at least one of the CU, DU and RU.

[0135] like Figure 3 As shown, the method may include the following steps:

[0136] Step 300: The terminal device determines first indication information.

[0137] Step 301: The terminal device sends the first indication information to the second network device.

[0138] Correspondingly, the second network device receives the first indication information.

[0139] The second network device may be an access network device, for example, the second network device may be a base station.

[0140] Optionally, the first indication information may be used to indicate that the terminal device is capable of identifying a PDU set, or the first indication information may also be used to indicate that the terminal device is unable to identify a PDU set, or the first indication information may be used to indicate the ability of the terminal device to identify a PDU set.

[0141] Exemplarily, if the terminal device is able to identify the PDU set, a first indication message is sent to the second network device; correspondingly, after receiving the first indication message, the second network device determines that the terminal is able to identify the PDU set.

[0142] Alternatively, if the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set, a first indication message is sent to the second network device; accordingly, after receiving the first indication message, the second network device determines that the terminal cannot identify the PDU set.

[0143] Alternatively, the terminal device may indicate whether the terminal device can identify the PDU set through the information bit in the first indication information. For example, when the value of the information bit in the first indication information is the first value (e.g., 1), it indicates that the terminal device can identify the PDU set; when the value of the information bit in the first indication information is the second value (e.g., 0), it indicates that the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set.

[0144] Optionally, the first indication information indicates that the terminal device is able to identify a PDU set within the first range, or the first indication information indicates that the terminal device cannot identify a PDU set within the first range, or the first indication information indicates the ability of the terminal device to identify a PDU set within the first range. The first range may be determined according to the granularity of division of the PDU set. Optionally, the first range is divided according to different services (e.g., XR services), or the services associated with the PDU sets within the first range (e.g., XR services) are the same.

[0145] Optionally, the first indication information is associated with one or more of the following:

[0146] a first data radio bearer (DRB);

[0147] A first packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity;

[0148] First quality of service (Qos) flow;

[0149] First PDU session.

[0150] Among them, the first indication information is associated with at least one of the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session. It can be understood that the granularity of the first indication information can be the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, or the first PDU session.

[0151] The first indication information is associated with the first DRB, and can also be understood as the first indication information indicating the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set of the first DRB. The indication method may include but is not limited to:

[0152] Indication method 1a: The first indication information may include the identifier and information indication content of the first DRB; for example, the information indication content may be "1", where "1" indicates that the terminal device can or cannot recognize the PDU set. Correspondingly, the first indication information may also include the identifier and information indication content of the second DRB, which is used to indicate the ability of the terminal device to recognize the PDU set of the second DRB.

[0153] Indication method 1b: The first indication information may include an identifier corresponding to the first DRB. For example, when the first indication information includes an identifier corresponding to the first DRB, the first indication information may be used to indicate that the terminal device is able to or cannot identify the PDU set corresponding to the first DRB. Optionally, each DRB may have a corresponding identifier. By carrying the identifier corresponding to the DRB in the first indication information, the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set corresponding to the DRB may be indicated.

[0154] The first indication information is associated with the first PDCP entity, and can also be understood as the first indication information indicating the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set of the first PDCP entity. The indication method may include but is not limited to:

[0155] Indication method 2a: The first indication information may include the identifier and information indication content of the first PDCP entity; for example, the information indication content may be "1", where "1" indicates that the terminal device can or cannot identify the PDU set corresponding to the first PDCP entity. Correspondingly, the first indication information may also include the identifier and information indication content of the second PDCP entity, which is used to indicate the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set of the second PDCP entity.

[0156] Indication method 2b: The first indication information may include an identifier corresponding to the first PDCP entity. For example, when the first indication information includes an identifier corresponding to the first PDCP entity, the first indication information may be used to indicate that the terminal device is able to or cannot identify the PDU set corresponding to the first PDCP entity. Optionally, each PDCP entity may have a corresponding identifier. By carrying the identifier corresponding to the PDCP entity in the first indication information, the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set corresponding to the PDCP entity may be indicated.

[0157] The first indication information is associated with the first QoS flow, and can also be understood as the first indication information indicating the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set of the first QoS flow. The indication method may include but is not limited to:

[0158] Indication method 3a: The first indication information may include the identifier and information indication content of the first Qos flow; for example, the information indication content may be "0", where "0" indicates that the terminal device can or cannot identify the PDU set corresponding to the first Qos flow. Correspondingly, the first indication information may also include the identifier and information indication content of the second Qos flow, which is used to indicate the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set of the second Qos flow.

[0159] Indication method 3b: The first indication information may include an identifier corresponding to the first Qos flow. For example, when the first indication information includes an identifier corresponding to the first Qos flow, the first indication information may be used to indicate that the terminal device is able or unable to identify the PDU set corresponding to the first Qos flow. Optionally, each Qos flow may have a corresponding identifier. By carrying the identifier corresponding to the Qos flow in the first indication information, the terminal device may be indicated to be capable of identifying the PDU set corresponding to the Qos flow.

[0160] The first indication information is associated with the first PDU session, and can also be understood as the first indication information indicating the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set of the first PDU session. The indication method may include but is not limited to:

[0161] Indication method 4a: The first indication information may include the identifier and information indication content of the first PDU session; for example, the information indication content may be "0", where "0" indicates that the terminal device can or cannot identify the PDU set corresponding to the first PDU session. Correspondingly, the first indication information may also include the identifier and information indication content of the second PDU session, which is used to indicate the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set of the second PDU session.

[0162] Indication method 4b: The first indication information may include an identifier corresponding to the first PDU session. For example, when the first indication information includes an identifier corresponding to the first PDU session, the first indication information may be used to indicate that the terminal device is able to or cannot identify the PDU set corresponding to the first PDU session. Optionally, each PDU session may have a corresponding identifier. By carrying the identifier corresponding to the PDU session in the first indication information, the terminal device may be indicated as being able to identify the PDU set corresponding to the PDU session.

[0163] The ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set includes that the terminal device can identify the PDU set, or the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set.

[0164] Optionally, the first DRB may be the DRB corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device, the first PDCP entity may be the PDCP entity corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; the first QoS flow may be the QoS flow corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; the first PDU session may be the PDU session corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device. Alternatively, the first DRB may be the DRB corresponding to the XR service, the first PDCP entity may be the PDCP entity corresponding to the XR service; the first QoS flow may be the QoS flow corresponding to the XR service; the first PDU session may be the PDU session corresponding to the XR service.

[0165] Optionally, the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first QoS flow, and the first PDU session are the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first QoS flow, and the first PDU session for uplink services.

[0166] Optionally, the above-mentioned XR service may be an XR service initiated on the current terminal device. The first DRB may be a DRB configured for the XR service initiated by the terminal device, the first PDCP entity may be a PDCP entity configured for the XR service initiated by the terminal device, the first QoS flow may be a QoS flow configured for the XR service initiated by the terminal device, and the first PDU session may be a PDU session configured for the XR service initiated by the terminal device.

[0167] Optionally, the above-mentioned XR service may be an XR service currently being performed by the terminal device. The first DRB may be a DRB configured for the XR service being performed by the terminal device, the first PDCP entity may be a PDCP entity configured for the XR service being performed by the terminal device, the first QoS flow may be a QoS flow configured for the XR service being performed by the terminal device, and the first PDU session may be a PDU session configured for the XR service being performed by the terminal device.

[0168] Optionally, the terminal device may know the DRB, PDCP entity, QoS flow, or PDU session corresponding to the XR service in an explicit or implicit manner.

[0169] Exemplarily, the first DRB is the DRB corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device, and can also be replaced by the first DRB being a DRB associated with the sixth indication information. Similarly, the first PDCP entity is the PDCP entity corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device, and can also be replaced by the first PDCP entity being a PDCP entity associated with the sixth indication information. The first QoS flow is the QoS flow corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device, and can also be replaced by the first QoS flow being a QoS flow associated with the sixth indication information. The first PDU session is the PDU session corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device, and can also be replaced by the first PDU session being a PDU session associated with the sixth indication information.

[0170] The sixth indication information is used to indicate that the DRB or PDCP entity or QoS flow or PDU session is a PDU session of an XR service. For example, the sixth indication information is used to indicate that the first QoS flow is a QoS flow of an XR service.

[0171] In other words, the sixth indication information is used to indicate that a DRB or PDCP entity or QoS flow or PDU session needs to perform PDU set-based processing. For example, the sixth indication information is used to indicate that the first DRB or the first PDCP entity or the first QoS flow or the first PDU session needs to perform PDU set-based processing (for example, the sixth indication information is a PDU set marking indicator).

[0172] In other words, the sixth indication information is information related to PDU set processing. For example, the sixth indication information is protocol description information, or a 5G QoS indicator (5QI).

[0173] In another example, the terminal device can determine whether the second granularity is an XR service from the first granularity of the associated sixth indication information, or determine whether the second granularity is associated with the sixth indication information. The first granularity and the second granularity can be DRBs, or PDCP entities, or Qos flows, or PDU sessions. The first granularity and the second granularity are different. For example, the first granularity is a Qos flow, and the second granularity is a DRB. For example, the terminal device can determine that the first DRB is also associated with the sixth indication information based on the first Qos flow.

[0174] For another example, for a PDU session for which the terminal device is to report uplink service information (including the first indication information), the terminal device includes the PDU session identifier in the uplink service information and includes the first indication information in the uplink service information. The first indication information indicates the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set in the QoS flow of the PDU session.

[0175] During implementation, when the terminal device initiates an XR service, the terminal device can establish a PDU session corresponding to the XR service with the first network device; the first network device can also send QoS flow information or PDU session information corresponding to the XR service to the second network device.

[0176] Optionally, the first network device may be a core network device, for example, the first network device may be an AMF or a UPF.

[0177] It is understandable that before step 300, the second network device may send first configuration information to the terminal device, and the first configuration information includes configuration information associated with at least one of the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first QoS flow, and the first PDU session. After receiving the first configuration information, the terminal device determines the first indication information according to the first configuration information.

[0178] The second network device may send the first configuration information to the terminal device through at least one of the following messages:

[0179] Radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message, RRC connection establishment message, RRC connection recovery message or RRC connection reestablishment message.

[0180] The terminal device identification PDU set in the embodiment of the present application includes at least one of the following:

[0181] The terminal device identifies the PDU included in the PDU set, the terminal device identifies the PSI (PDU SetImportance, PDU set importance) of the PDU set, and the terminal device supports processing based on the PDU set.

[0182] in:

[0183] A. The terminal device identifies the PDU included in the PDU set, and can identify the last and / or first PDU in the PDU set for the terminal device. For example, in the case where the terminal device identifies the last PDU in the PDU set, for any PDU set, the PDU included in the PDU set can be determined based on the last PDU in the previous PDU set identified and the last PDU in the PDU set identified. The terminal device obtains the importance of the PDU set by interpreting the header of the high-level data packet or identifying it by means of traffic detection. For a specific description, please refer to the specific description of capability 1 and capability 2 in the capability information of the terminal device below, which will not be repeated here.

[0184] B. The terminal device identifies the PSI of the PDU set, which can be understood as the terminal device obtaining the importance information corresponding to the PDU set (or the type of the PDU set, the priority of the PDU set). For example, the importance of the PDU set can be divided into 16 levels, indicated by 0 to 15 respectively, and the lower the value, the more important the PDU set. The terminal device can obtain the importance of the PDU set by interpreting the header of the high-level data packet. For example, the terminal device can obtain the PSI of the PDU set from the RTP extension header contained in the PDU set. For example, 4 bits can be used in the RTP extension header to indicate PSI, and the value of PSI can be 0 to 15. The smaller the value of PSI, the more important the corresponding PDU set is. For another example, the terminal device can also obtain the importance information of the PDU set in other ways, including but not limited to obtaining the importance information of the PDU set by means of traffic characteristics. Optionally, the type of PDU set can include important PDU sets and unimportant PDU sets, or include I frames and P frames, I slices and P slices, etc.

[0185] C. The PDU set-based processing of the terminal device may include the discarding of the PDU set by the terminal device. For example, in the case of congestion in the network device, the terminal device may discard the PDUs included in some PDU sets. The terminal device may discard PDUs in a PDU set of relatively lower importance. For another example, when the timer associated with the PDU set times out, or the timer associated with a PDU in the PDU set times out, the terminal device may discard the PDUs included in the PDU set. The timer may be a discard timer. For another example, if the terminal device can discard the remaining PDUs in the PDU set after discarding one or more PDUs in the PDU set. The PDU set-based processing of the terminal device may also include other processing, such as sending the amount of cached data to the network device based on the PDU set, or starting a timer (such as a discard timer) based on the PDU set, etc., which are not limited here.

[0186] In a possible implementation manner, the terminal device may determine the first indication information according to the following manner:

[0187] The terminal device determines the first indication information according to the application information of the XR service and / or the capability information of the terminal device.

[0188] The capability information of the terminal device is used to indicate the capability of the terminal device related to the identification PDU set. For example, the capability information of the terminal device may be the specific capability of the terminal device itself, which is based on the granularity of the terminal device and has nothing to do with the XR service currently initiated by the terminal device.

[0189] Optionally, the capability information of the terminal device may include the following capabilities:

[0190] Capability 1: The terminal device supports the capability of identifying a PDU set based on a first protocol; the first protocol includes at least one of RTP, hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), UDP and IP. The RTP protocol may also include the SRTP protocol, and the IP protocol may also include the IPsec protocol, etc.

[0191] The ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set based on the first protocol can be understood as the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set when the XR service data packet corresponding to the PDU set is processed based on the first protocol.

[0192] The capability information of the terminal device may include the capability of the terminal device to parse the first protocol. If the terminal device can parse the first protocol, the terminal device can identify the PDU set; if the terminal device cannot parse the first protocol, the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set.

[0193] For example, when the first protocol is RTP, the PDU set includes an RTP extension header; wherein the RTP extension header may be a 1-byte RTP extension header or a 2-byte RTP extension header. The RTP extension header may include the following fields:

[0194] E field: End PDU of the PDU Set, which can occupy 1 bit and is used to indicate whether the PDU is the last PDU of the PDU Set;

[0195] EDB field: End of Data Burst, which can occupy 3 bits and is used to indicate the end of the data burst;

[0196] PSI field: It can occupy 4 bits and is used to indicate the importance of the corresponding PDU set compared with other PDU sets. The value range of PSI can be 0 to 15. The smaller the value, the more important the PDU set.

[0197] The terminal device can identify the PDU included in the PDU set based on the E field in the RTP extension header; and the terminal device can identify the PSI of the PDU set based on the PSI field in the RTP extension header.

[0198] Capability 2: The terminal device supports the ability to identify PDU sets based on traffic detection.

[0199] The terminal device can identify the PDU set by detecting the interval time between different PDUs; for example, the terminal device can regard a PDU that arrives in a shorter time as a PDU belonging to a PDU set. In some implementations, the terminal device can identify the PDU in a data burst as a PDU set. In addition, the terminal device can determine the PSI of the PDU set by the amount of data in the identified PDU set; for example, when the terminal device identifies the PDU in a data burst as a PDU set, the importance of the PDU set is determined according to the amount of data in the data burst, for example, the larger the amount of data during the databurst, the more important the corresponding PDU set is.

[0200] Optionally, the terminal device may receive second indication information sent by the first network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate application information of the XR service. The terminal device determines the application information of the XR service according to the received second indication information.

[0201] Exemplarily, the application information of the XR service includes the upper layer protocol used by the XR service, the header format and other information. Among them, the upper layer protocol can be the protocol used by the terminal device to process the XR service data before transmitting it to the AS layer. For example, the upper layer protocol includes but is not limited to: RTP, RTPC, UDP, TCP, IP. The header format of the XR service may include whether the header is encrypted (such as SRTP or IPsec), etc. For example, when the header is encrypted, the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set of the XR service by parsing the content in the header.

[0202] Exemplarily, the first network device may send the second indication information to the terminal device via a non-access stratum (NAS) message, wherein the NAS message may be a PDU session establishment acceptance message or a PDU session modification acceptance message.

[0203] During implementation, the first network device may obtain application information of the XR service from an application server; wherein the application server may be a server corresponding to the XR service initiated by the terminal device.

[0204] Exemplarily, the terminal device starts the XR service, and the application layer of the terminal device can communicate with the application server through the second network device and the first network device; for example, the terminal device can initiate a PDU session establishment request for the XR service, and realize the communication between the terminal device and the application server through the established PDU session; or the terminal device can realize the communication between the application server through the interaction of the data plane. The application server can indicate the application information of the XR service to the first network device (such as the PCF in the core network), and the application information of the XR service indicated by the application server can be associated with a specific PDU session or a specific QoS flow (for example, the specific PDU session can be the PDU session corresponding to the XR service initiated by the terminal device, or the specific QoS flow can be the QoS flow corresponding to the XR service initiated by the terminal device).

[0205] Alternatively, the first network device may also obtain the application information of the XR service in other ways. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the implementation manner in which the first network device obtains the application information of the XR service.

[0206] When the terminal device determines the first indication information, a possible implementation method is that the terminal device may compare the application information of the XR service with the capability information of the terminal device to determine whether the PDU set can be identified for the XR service; and generate the first indication information based on the determination result.

[0207] Exemplarily, if the application information of the XR service is that the XR service uses the RTP protocol, and the header format is the RTP extended header; the capability information of the terminal device includes the ability of the terminal device to support RTP-based identification of PDU sets; then the terminal device determines that it can identify the PDU set and generates first indication information for indicating that the terminal device can identify the PDU set.

[0208] In another possible implementation manner, the terminal device may also determine the first indication information according to the following manner:

[0209] The terminal device may attempt to identify the PDU set using a method for identifying the PDU set supported by the terminal device. If the terminal device still cannot identify the PDU set after traversing all the methods it supports, the terminal device determines the first indication information as the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set; otherwise, the terminal device determines the first indication information as the terminal device can identify the PDU set. The methods for identifying the PDU set supported by the terminal device may include the above-mentioned methods for identifying the PDU set based on the first protocol and identifying the PDU set based on traffic detection, and may also include other methods, which are not limited here.

[0210] It should be noted that, in the method for the terminal device to determine the first indication information provided in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal determines whether the terminal device can recognize the PDU set for the XR service after the XR service is established.

[0211] The terminal device in the embodiment of the present application may carry the first indication information sent to the second network device through at least one of the following messages:

[0212] UE assistance information message, RRC reconfiguration complete message, RRC connection establishment complete message, RRC connection recovery complete message.

[0213] In a possible implementation manner, the first indication information is not included in the UE capability information message.

[0214] In one possible implementation, the terminal device sends a first capability, and the first capability is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports processing based on a PDU set. Optionally, the first capability is included in a UE capability information message. Optionally, when the first capability indicates that the terminal device supports processing based on a PDU set, the terminal device sends the first indication information; and / or, when the first capability indicates that the terminal device does not support processing based on a PDU set, the terminal device does not send the first indication information.

[0215] After receiving the first indication information, the second network device sends configuration information to the terminal device, where the configuration information is used to instruct the terminal device to process the PDU set.

[0216] Optionally, the processing of the PDU set indicated by the configuration information includes processing of the PDU set corresponding to at least one of the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session.

[0217] Among them, the PDU set corresponding to at least one of the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session may be the PDU set corresponding to the XR service currently initiated by the terminal device.

[0218] The processing of the PDU set indicated by the configuration information may include discarding based on the PDU set; for example, the configuration information indicates that the terminal device may discard the PDUs included in part of the PDU set when network congestion occurs, such as indicating that the terminal device may discard the PDUs in the PDU set whose importance satisfies the condition. Among them, the PDU set importance may include that the importance of the PDU set is greater than or equal to a certain importance threshold N (for example, N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 0). Or the configuration information indicates that the terminal device performs discarding based on the granularity of the PDU set when the timer associated with the PDU set times out, or the timer associated with a certain PDU in the PDU set times out, such as the terminal device may discard the PDU included in the PDU set. The timer may be a discard timer. For another example, if the terminal device can discard the remaining PDUs in the PDU set after discarding one or more PDUs in the PDU set. For another example, the configuration information may also instruct the terminal device to send the amount of cached data based on the PDU set, or start a timer (for example, a discard timer) based on the PDU set.

[0219] Exemplarily, when the first indication information indicates that the terminal device can identify the PDU set, the second network device sends configuration information of discarding based on the PDU set to the terminal device. For example, when the first indication information indicates that the terminal device can identify the PDU set of the first QoS flow, the second network device sends configuration information of discarding based on the PDU set of the first QoS flow to the terminal device.

[0220] In another example, when the first indication information indicates that the terminal device can identify the PDU set of the first granularity, the second network device sends configuration information of the PDU set-based processing of the second granularity to the terminal device. The first granularity and the second granularity can be DRB, or PDCP entity, or Qos flow, or PDU session. The first granularity and the second granularity are different. For example, the first granularity is the Qos flow, and the second granularity is the PDCP entity (or DRB). For example, when the first indication information indicates that the terminal device can identify the PDU set of the first Qos flow, the second network device sends the configuration information of the PDU set-based discard of the PDCP entity (or DRB) associated with the first Qos flow to the terminal device.

[0221] In one possible implementation, the second network device receives the first capability of the terminal device, and the first capability is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports processing based on PDU sets. Processing based on PDU sets may include discarding based on PDU sets, or reporting of data volume based on PDU sets, etc. Optionally, the first capability is included in a UE capability information message. The terminal device sends the first capability to the second network device through a UE capability information message, and the second network device determines the terminal device's capability of processing based on PDU sets through the first capability. However, the second network device cannot send configuration information to the terminal device before receiving the first indication information. After receiving the first indication information sent by the terminal device, the second network device determines the terminal device's ability to identify PDU sets on the first DRB or the first PDCP or the first Qos flow or the first PDU session based on the first indication information, and sends configuration information to the terminal device accordingly.

[0222] Exemplarily, the first capability indicates that the terminal device supports processing based on a PDU set. Before receiving the first indication information, the second network device will not send configuration information for processing based on a PDU set to the terminal device. The second network device receives the first indication information sent by the terminal device. For example, when the first indication information indicates that the terminal device supports the identification of the PDU set of the first Qos flow, the second network device can send configuration information for processing based on a PDU set of the first Qos flow (or the PDCP or DRB associated with the first Qos flow) to the terminal device. For another example, when the first indication information indicates that the identification of the PDU set of the second Qos flow is not supported, the second network device does not send configuration information for processing based on a PDU set of the second Qos flow (or the PDCP or DRB associated with the second Qos flow) to the terminal device. That is, the second network device needs to determine the configuration information based on the first indication information and the first capability after receiving the first indication information. Optionally, when the first capability indicates that the terminal device does not support processing based on a PDU set, the second network device does not send configuration information for processing based on a PDU set to the terminal device.

[0223] The following is combined with Figure 4 The overall process of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is introduced below. It may include the following steps:

[0224] Step 400: The terminal device starts the XR service and interacts with the application server.

[0225] Step 401: The application server indicates application information of the XR service to the first network device.

[0226] Among them, the application information of the XR service indicated by the application server is associated with a specific PDU session or a specific QoS flow; exemplarily, the application information of the XR service indicated by the application server is associated with the first PDU session or the first QoS flow mentioned above.

[0227] It should be noted that the above steps 400 and 401 are optional steps, and the method for the first network device provided in steps 400 and 401 to determine the application information of the XR service is an optional method. In the embodiment of the present application, the first network device can also determine the application information of the XR service in other ways.

[0228] Step 402: The first network device sends second indication information to the terminal device.

[0229] The second indication information is used to indicate application information of the XR service.

[0230] Step 403: The terminal device determines whether a PDU set can be identified for the XR service.

[0231] Optionally, the terminal device may determine whether the PDU set can be identified for the XR service according to the application information and / or capability information of the XR service. The specific implementation method can be found in the above description.

[0232] It should be noted that the terminal device can also determine whether the PDU set can be identified for the XR service in other ways. Exemplarily, the terminal device can try to identify the PDU set using the PDU set identification method supported by the terminal device. If the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set after traversing all the methods it supports, the terminal device determines that the PDU set cannot be identified; otherwise, the terminal device determines that the PDU set can be identified.

[0233] Step 404: The first network device sends QoS flow information or PDU session information corresponding to the XR service to the second network device.

[0234] Step 405: The second network device sends the XR service-related configuration to the terminal device.

[0235] Among them, the XR service-related configuration may include but is not limited to DRB-related configuration, PDCP entity-related configuration, QoS flow-related configuration and PDU session-related configuration.

[0236] The execution order of the above steps 404 to 405 and steps 402 to 403 is not limited.

[0237] Step 406: The terminal device sends first indication information to the second network device.

[0238] The first indication information may be generated according to the determination result of the terminal device in step 403. Exemplarily, the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device can identify the PDU set.

[0239] The first indication information can be associated with at least one of the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session corresponding to the XR service; or it can be understood that the granularity of the first indication information is at least one of the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session corresponding to the XR service.

[0240] Step 407: The second network device sends configuration information to the terminal device.

[0241] Among them, the configuration information can be used to instruct the terminal device to process the PDU set.

[0242] Optionally, the configuration information may be determined by the second network device according to the first indication information included in the third indication information. Exemplarily, when the first indication information indicates that the terminal device can identify the PDU set, the configuration information may indicate that the terminal device discards the PDU set.

[0243] The embodiment of the present application also provides a communication method, which can be used to determine whether a terminal device can recognize a PDU set. The following description takes the terminal device and the network device as the execution subject as an example, but the execution subject may also be a module (such as a chip) applied in the terminal device and a module (such as a chip) applied in the network device. The processing performed by a single execution subject in the embodiment of the present application may also be divided into executions by multiple execution subjects, and these execution subjects may be logically and / or physically separated. For example, the processing performed by the network device can be divided into executions by at least one of the CU, DU and RU.

[0244] like Figure 5 As shown, the method may include the following steps:

[0245] Step 500: The terminal device determines first indication information.

[0246] Step 501: The terminal device sends the first indication information to the first network device.

[0247] Correspondingly, the first network device receives the first indication information.

[0248] Among them, the first network device can be a core network device, for example, the first network device can be an AMF or a UPF.

[0249] Optionally, the first indication information may be used to indicate that the terminal device is capable of identifying a PDU set, or the first indication information may also be used to indicate that the terminal device is unable to identify a PDU set, or the first indication information may be used to indicate the ability of the terminal device to identify a PDU set.

[0250] Exemplarily, if the terminal device is able to identify the PDU set, a first indication message is sent to the first network device; accordingly, after receiving the first indication message, the first network device determines that the terminal is able to identify the PDU set.

[0251] Alternatively, if the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set, a first indication message is sent to the first network device; accordingly, after receiving the first indication message, the first network device determines that the terminal cannot identify the PDU set.

[0252] Alternatively, the terminal device may indicate whether the terminal device can identify the PDU set through the information bit in the first indication information. For example, when the value of the information bit in the first indication information is the first value (e.g., 1), it indicates that the terminal device can identify the PDU set; when the value of the information bit in the first indication information is the second value (e.g., 0), it indicates that the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set.

[0253] Optionally, the first indication information indicates that the terminal device is able to identify a PDU set within the first range, or the first indication information indicates that the terminal device cannot identify a PDU set within the first range, or the first indication information indicates the ability of the terminal device to identify a PDU set within the first range. The first range may be determined according to the granularity of division of the PDU set. Optionally, the first range is divided according to different services (e.g., XR services), or the services associated with the PDU sets within the first range (e.g., XR services) are the same.

[0254] Optionally, the first indication information is associated with one or more of the following:

[0255] First QoS flow, first PDU session.

[0256] Among them, the first indication information is associated with at least one of the first Qos flow and the first PDU session. It can be understood that the granularity of the first indication information can be the first Qos flow or the first PDU session.

[0257] The first indication information is associated with the first QoS flow, and can also be understood as the first indication information indicating the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set of the first QoS flow. The indication method may include but is not limited to:

[0258] Indication mode 1a: The first indication information may include the identifier and information indication content of the first Qos flow; for example, the information indication content may be "0", where "0" indicates that the terminal device can or cannot identify the PDU set corresponding to the first Qos flow. Correspondingly, the first indication information may also include the identifier and information indication content of the second Qos flow, which is used to indicate the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set of the second Qos flow.

[0259] Indication method 1b: The first indication information may include an identifier corresponding to the first Qos flow. For example, when the first indication information includes an identifier corresponding to the first Qos flow, the first indication information may be used to indicate that the terminal device is able to or cannot identify the PDU set corresponding to the first Qos flow. Optionally, each Qos flow may have a corresponding identifier. By carrying the identifier corresponding to the Qos flow in the first indication information, the terminal device may be indicated to be capable of identifying the PDU set corresponding to the Qos flow.

[0260] The first indication information is associated with the first PDU session, and can also be understood as the first indication information indicating the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set of the first PDU session. The indication method may include but is not limited to:

[0261] Indication method 2a: The first indication information may include the identifier and information indication content of the first PDU session; for example, the information indication content may be "0", where "0" indicates that the terminal device can or cannot identify the PDU set corresponding to the first PDU session. Correspondingly, the first indication information may also include the identifier and information indication content of the second PDU session, which is used to indicate the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set of the second PDU session.

[0262] Indication method 2b: The first indication information may include an identifier corresponding to the first PDU session. For example, when the first indication information includes an identifier corresponding to the first PDU session, the first indication information may be used to indicate that the terminal device is able to or cannot identify the PDU set corresponding to the first PDU session. Optionally, each PDU session may have a corresponding identifier. By carrying the identifier corresponding to the PDU session in the first indication information, the terminal device may be indicated as being able to identify the PDU set corresponding to the PDU session.

[0263] The ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set includes that the terminal device can identify the PDU set, or the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set.

[0264] Optionally, the first QoS flow may be a QoS flow corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; the first PDU session may be a PDU session corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device. Alternatively, the first QoS flow may be a QoS flow corresponding to the XR service; the first PDU session may be a PDU session corresponding to the XR service.

[0265] Optionally, the first QoS flow and the first PDU session are the first QoS flow and the first PDU session of the uplink service.

[0266] Optionally, the XR service may be an XR service initiated on the current terminal device. The first QoS flow may be a QoS flow configured for the XR service initiated by the terminal device, and the first PDU session may be a PDU session configured for the XR service initiated by the terminal device.

[0267] Optionally, the XR service may be an XR service currently being performed by the terminal device. The first QoS flow may be a QoS flow configured for the XR service being performed by the terminal device, and the first PDU session may be a PDU session configured for the XR service being performed by the terminal device.

[0268] Optionally, the terminal device may know the QoS flow or PDU session corresponding to the XR service in an explicit or implicit manner.

[0269] Exemplarily, the first QoS flow is the QoS flow corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device, and can also be replaced by the first QoS flow being the QoS flow associated with the sixth indication information. The first PDU session is the PDU session corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device, and can also be replaced by the first PDU session being the PDU session associated with the sixth indication information.

[0270] The sixth indication information is used to indicate that the QoS flow or PDU session is a PDU session of an XR service. For example, the sixth indication information is used to indicate that the first QoS flow is a QoS flow of an XR service.

[0271] In other words, the sixth indication information is used to indicate that a QoS flow or a PDU session needs to perform PDU set-based processing. For example, the sixth indication information is used to indicate that a first QoS flow or a first PDU session needs to perform PDU set-based processing (for example, the sixth indication information is a PDU set marking indicator).

[0272] In other words, the sixth indication information is information related to PDU set processing. For example, the sixth indication information is protocol description information, or a 5G QoS indicator (5QI).

[0273] In another example, the terminal device can determine whether the second granularity is an XR service from the first granularity of the associated sixth indication information, or determine whether the second granularity is associated with the sixth indication information. The first granularity and the second granularity can be QoS flows or PDU sessions. The first granularity and the second granularity are different. For example, the first granularity is a QoS flow, and the second granularity is a PDU session. For example, the terminal device can determine that the first PDU session is also associated with the sixth indication information based on the first QoS flow.

[0274] For another example, for a PDU session for which the terminal device is to report uplink service information (including the first indication information), the terminal device includes the PDU session identifier in the uplink service information and includes the first indication information in the uplink service information. The first indication information indicates the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set in the QoS flow of the PDU session.

[0275] In implementation, when the terminal device initiates an XR service, the terminal device can establish a PDU session corresponding to the XR service with the first network device; the first network device can also send QoS flow information or PDU session information corresponding to the XR service to the second network device. Correspondingly, the second network device determines the first configuration information related to the XR service based on the QoS flow information or PDU session information corresponding to the XR service sent by the first network device, and sends the first configuration information to the terminal device, the first configuration information including configuration information related to the DRB, PDCP entity, QoS flow and PDU session corresponding to the XR service.

[0276] Optionally, the second network device may be an access network device, for example, the second network device may be a base station.

[0277] The first network device may send the QoS flow information or PDU session information corresponding to the XR service to the terminal device through at least one of the following messages:

[0278] PDU Session Establishment Accept message or PDU Session Modification Accept message.

[0279] The terminal device identification PDU set in the embodiment of the present application includes at least one of the following:

[0280] The terminal device identifies the PDU included in the PDU set, the terminal device identifies the PSI of the PDU set, and the terminal device supports processing based on the PDU set.

[0281] Among them, the specific explanation of the terminal device identifying the PDU set can be found in the introduction of the first communication method above, which will not be repeated here.

[0282] In a possible implementation manner, the terminal device may determine the first indication information according to the following manner:

[0283] The terminal device determines the first indication information according to the application information of the XR service and / or the capability information of the terminal device.

[0284] The capability information of the terminal device is used to indicate the capability of the terminal device related to the identification PDU set. For example, the capability information of the terminal device may be the specific capability of the terminal device itself, which is based on the granularity of the terminal device and has nothing to do with the XR service currently initiated by the terminal device.

[0285] Optionally, the capability information of the terminal device may include the following capabilities:

[0286] Capability 1: The terminal device supports the capability of identifying a PDU set based on a first protocol; the first protocol includes at least one of RTP, HTTP, UDP and IP. The RTP protocol may also include the SRTP protocol, and the IP protocol may also include the IPsec protocol, etc.

[0287] The ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set based on the first protocol can be understood as the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set when the XR service data packet corresponding to the PDU set is processed based on the first protocol.

[0288] The capability information of the terminal device may include the capability of the terminal device to parse the first protocol. If the terminal device can parse the first protocol, the terminal device can identify the PDU set; if the terminal device cannot parse the first protocol, the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set.

[0289] Capability 2: The terminal device supports the ability to identify PDU sets based on traffic detection.

[0290] Among them, the specific introduction of the capability information of the terminal device can be found in the introduction of capability 1 and capability 2 in the first communication method above, which will not be repeated here.

[0291] Optionally, the terminal device may receive second indication information sent by the first network device, where the second indication information is used to indicate application information of the XR service. The terminal device determines the application information of the XR service according to the received second indication information.

[0292] Exemplarily, the application information of the XR service includes the upper layer protocol, header format and other information used by the XR service. Among them, the upper layer protocol can be the protocol used by the terminal device to process the XR service data before transmitting it to the AS layer. For example, the upper layer protocol includes but is not limited to: RTP, RTPC, UDP, TCP, IP. The header format of the XR service may include whether the header is encrypted (such as SRTP or IPsec), etc. For example, when the header is encrypted, the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set of the XR service by parsing the content in the header.

[0293] Exemplarily, the first network device may send the second indication information to the terminal device via a NAS message, wherein the NAS message may be a PDU session establishment acceptance message or a PDU session modification acceptance message.

[0294] In implementation, the first network device may obtain application information of the XR service from the application server; wherein the application server may be a server corresponding to the XR service initiated by the terminal device. The specific implementation method of the first network device obtaining application information of the XR service from the application server can be referred to the introduction of the first communication method above, which will not be repeated here.

[0295] Alternatively, the first network device may also obtain the application information of the XR service in other ways. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the implementation manner in which the first network device obtains the application information of the XR service.

[0296] When the terminal device determines the first indication information, a possible implementation method is that the terminal device may compare the application information of the XR service with the capability information of the terminal device to determine whether the PDU set can be identified for the XR service; and generate the first indication information based on the determination result.

[0297] In another possible implementation manner, the terminal device may also determine the first indication information according to the following manner:

[0298] The terminal device may attempt to identify the PDU set using a method for identifying the PDU set supported by the terminal device. If the terminal device still cannot identify the PDU set after traversing all the methods it supports, the terminal device determines the first indication information as the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set; otherwise, the terminal device determines the first indication information as the terminal device can identify the PDU set. The methods for identifying the PDU set supported by the terminal device may include the above-mentioned methods for identifying the PDU set based on the first protocol and identifying the PDU set based on traffic detection, and may also include other methods, which are not limited here.

[0299] In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may send the first indication information to the first network device via a NAS message. The NAS message may be a PDU session establishment request message or a PDU session modification request message.

[0300] In a possible implementation manner, the first indication information is not included in the UE capability information message.

[0301] In one possible implementation, the terminal device sends a first capability, and the first capability is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports processing based on a PDU set. Optionally, the first capability is included in a UE capability information message. Optionally, when the first capability indicates that the terminal device supports processing based on a PDU set, the terminal device sends the first indication information; and / or, when the first capability indicates that the terminal device does not support processing based on a PDU set, the terminal device does not send the first indication information.

[0302] Optionally, in the present application, the terminal device is a terminal device that supports uplink service information reporting. The terminal device may send the first indication information when it is configured to send uplink service information, or the first indication information changes, or the timer satisfies at least one of the conditions. For example, the terminal device receives the seventh indication information, and the seventh indication information indicates or requests the terminal device to report uplink service information. The uplink service information includes the first indication information. For another example, when the first indication information is different from the first indication information sent last time (for example, when the configuration of a DRB or PDCP or Qos flow or PDU session is added or changed), the terminal device sends the first indication information. For another example, when the timer times out, the terminal device sends the first indication information. Optionally, the terminal device does not send the first indication information while the timer is running. The timer is used to control the sending of the first indication information.

[0303] After receiving the first indication information, the first network device may send third indication information to the second network device, where the third indication information is used to indicate indication information related to the PDU set.

[0304] Correspondingly, the second network device receives the third indication information sent by the first network device.

[0305] The third indication information may include the first indication information. After receiving the third indication information, the second network device may determine that the terminal device can recognize the PDU set according to the first indication information included in the third indication information, or the second network device may determine that the terminal device cannot recognize the PDU set according to the first indication information included in the third indication information.

[0306] Alternatively, the third indication information may also include requirement information related to the PDU set, such as delay requirement information of the PDU set. The second network device may configure the terminal device accordingly according to the delay requirement information of the PDU set.

[0307] After the second network device determines the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set from the third indication information, the second network device may send configuration information to the terminal device, where the configuration information is used to instruct the terminal device to process the PDU set.

[0308] Optionally, the processing of the PDU set indicated by the configuration information includes processing of the PDU set corresponding to at least one of the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session.

[0309] Among them, the PDU set corresponding to at least one of the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session may be the PDU set corresponding to the XR service currently initiated by the terminal device.

[0310] The processing of the PDU set indicated by the configuration information may include discarding based on the PDU set; wherein, the specific indication content indicated by the configuration information can be found in the introduction of the first communication method above, and will not be repeated here.

[0311] Exemplarily, when the first indication information indicates that the terminal device can identify the PDU set, the second network device sends configuration information of discarding based on the PDU set to the terminal device. For example, when the first indication information indicates that the terminal device can identify the PDU set of the first QoS flow, the second network device sends configuration information of discarding based on the PDU set of the first QoS flow to the terminal device.

[0312] In another example, when the first indication information indicates that the terminal device can identify the PDU set of the first granularity, the second network device sends configuration information of the PDU set-based processing of the second granularity to the terminal device. The first granularity and the second granularity can be DRB, or PDCP entity, or Qos flow, or PDU session. The first granularity and the second granularity are different. For example, the first granularity is the Qos flow, and the second granularity is the PDCP entity (or DRB). For example, when the first indication information indicates that the terminal device can identify the PDU set of the first Qos flow, the second network device sends the configuration information of the PDU set-based discard of the PDCP entity (or DRB) associated with the first Qos flow to the terminal device.

[0313] In one possible implementation, the second network device receives the first capability of the terminal device, and the first capability is used to indicate whether the terminal device supports processing based on PDU sets. Processing based on PDU sets may include discarding based on PDU sets, or reporting of data volume based on PDU sets, etc. Optionally, the first capability is included in a UE capability information message. The terminal device sends the first capability to the second network device through a UE capability information message, and the second network device determines the terminal device's ability to process based on PDU sets through the first capability. However, the second network device cannot send configuration information to the terminal device before receiving the first indication information. After receiving the first indication information sent by the first network device, the second network device determines the terminal device's ability to identify PDU sets on the first DRB or the first PDCP or the first Qos flow or the first PDU session based on the first indication information, and sends configuration information to the terminal device accordingly.

[0314] Exemplarily, the first capability indicates that the terminal device supports processing based on a PDU set. Before receiving the first indication information, the second network device will not send configuration information for processing based on a PDU set to the terminal device. The second network device receives the first indication information sent by the first network device. For example, when the first indication information indicates that the terminal device supports the identification of the PDU set of the first Qos flow, the second network device can send configuration information for processing based on a PDU set of the first Qos flow (or the PDCP or DRB associated with the first Qos flow) to the terminal device. For another example, when the first indication information indicates that the identification of the PDU set of the second Qos flow is not supported, the second network device does not send configuration information for processing based on a PDU set of the second Qos flow (or the PDCP or DRB associated with the second Qos flow) to the terminal device. That is, the second network device needs to determine the configuration information based on the first indication information and the first capability after receiving the first indication information. Optionally, when the first capability indicates that the terminal device does not support processing based on a PDU set, the second network device does not send configuration information for processing based on a PDU set to the terminal device.

[0315] The following is combined with Figure 6 The overall process of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is introduced below. It may include the following steps:

[0316] Step 600: The terminal device starts the XR service and interacts with the application server.

[0317] Step 601: The application server indicates application information of the XR service to the first network device.

[0318] Among them, the application information of the XR service indicated by the application server is associated with a specific PDU session or a specific QoS flow; exemplarily, the application information of the XR service indicated by the application server is associated with the first PDU session or the first QoS flow mentioned above.

[0319] It should be noted that the above steps 600 and 601 are optional steps, and the method for the first network device provided in steps 600 and 601 to determine the application information of the XR service is an optional method. In the embodiment of the present application, the first network device can also determine the application information of the XR service in other ways.

[0320] Step 602: The first network device sends second indication information to the terminal device.

[0321] The second indication information is used to indicate application information of the XR service.

[0322] Step 603: The terminal device determines whether a PDU set can be identified for the XR service.

[0323] Optionally, the terminal device may determine whether the PDU set can be identified for the XR service according to the application information and / or capability information of the XR service. The specific implementation method can be found in the above description.

[0324] It should be noted that the terminal device can also determine whether the PDU set can be identified for the XR service in other ways. Exemplarily, the terminal device can try to identify the PDU set using the PDU set identification method supported by the terminal device. If the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set after traversing all the methods it supports, the terminal device determines that the PDU set cannot be identified; otherwise, the terminal device determines that the PDU set can be identified.

[0325] Step 604: The first network device sends QoS flow information or PDU session information corresponding to the XR service to the second network device.

[0326] Step 605: The second network device sends the XR service-related configuration to the terminal device.

[0327] Among them, the XR service-related configuration may include but is not limited to DRB-related configuration, PDCP entity-related configuration, QoS flow-related configuration and PDU session-related configuration.

[0328] The execution order of the above steps 604 to 605 and steps 602 to 603 is not limited.

[0329] Step 606: The terminal device sends first indication information to the first network device.

[0330] The first indication information may be generated according to the determination result of the terminal device in step 603. Exemplarily, the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device can identify the PDU set.

[0331] The first indication information may be associated with the first QoS flow and / or the first PDU session corresponding to the XR service; or it may be understood that the granularity of the first indication information is the first QoS flow and / or the first PDU session corresponding to the XR service.

[0332] Step 607: The first network device sends third indication information to the second network device.

[0333] The third indication information is used to indicate indication information related to the PDU set. Exemplarily, the third indication information includes the first indication information, or the third indication information may also include delay requirement information of the PDU set.

[0334] Step 608: The second network device sends configuration information to the terminal device.

[0335] Among them, the configuration information can be used to instruct the terminal device to process the PDU set.

[0336] Optionally, the configuration information may be determined by the second network device according to the first indication information included in the third indication information. Exemplarily, when the first indication information indicates that the terminal device can identify the PDU set, the configuration information may indicate that the terminal device discards the PDU set.

[0337] The embodiment of the present application also provides a communication method, which can be used to determine whether a terminal device can recognize a PDU set. The following description takes the terminal device and the network device as the execution subject as an example, but the execution subject may also be a module (such as a chip) applied in the terminal device and a module (such as a chip) applied in the network device. The processing performed by a single execution subject in the embodiment of the present application may also be divided into executions by multiple execution subjects, and these execution subjects may be logically and / or physically separated. For example, the processing performed by the network device can be divided into executions by at least one of the CU, DU and RU.

[0338] like Figure 7 As shown, the method may include the following steps:

[0339] Step 700: The terminal device determines capability information.

[0340] The capability information is used to indicate the capability of the terminal device associated with the identification PDU set.

[0341] Optionally, the capability information of the terminal device may include the following capabilities:

[0342] Capability 1: The terminal device supports the capability of identifying a PDU set based on a first protocol; wherein the first protocol includes at least one of RTP, HTTP, UDP and IP. The RTP protocol may also include the SRTP protocol, and the IP protocol may also include the IPsec protocol, etc.

[0343] The ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set based on the first protocol can be understood as the ability of the terminal device to identify the PDU set when the XR service data packet corresponding to the PDU set is processed based on the first protocol.

[0344] The capability information of the terminal device may include the capability of the terminal device to parse the first protocol. If the terminal device can parse the first protocol, the terminal device can identify the PDU set; if the terminal device cannot parse the first protocol, the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set.

[0345] Capability 2: The terminal device supports the ability to identify PDU sets based on traffic detection.

[0346] Among them, the specific introduction of the capability information of the terminal device can be found in the introduction of capability 1 and capability 2 in the first communication method above, which will not be repeated here.

[0347] Step 701: The terminal device sends capability information to the first network device.

[0348] Correspondingly, the first network device receives the capability information sent by the terminal device.

[0349] Among them, the first network device can be a core network device, for example, the first network device is AMF or UPF.

[0350] Exemplarily, the terminal device may send the capability information to the first network device via a NAS message. For example, the terminal device may carry the capability information in a PDU session establishment request message or a PDU session modification request message.

[0351] After receiving the capability information sent by the terminal device, the first network device may determine, based on the capability information of the terminal device, that the terminal device can identify a PDU set for the XR service.

[0352] During implementation, the first network device may first receive capability information of the terminal device. When the terminal device starts the XR service and establishes the XR service of the terminal device, the first network device determines whether the terminal device can recognize the PDU set for the XR service based on the established XR service and the capability information reported by the terminal device.

[0353] It should be noted that the capability information of the terminal device can be the specific capability of the terminal device itself, which is based on the granularity of the terminal device and has nothing to do with the XR service currently initiated by the terminal device. Therefore, the step of the terminal device reporting the capability information to the first network device is not limited to after the XR service is established; the terminal device can report the capability information first, and when the XR service is established, the first network device determines whether the terminal device can recognize the PDU set for the XR service based on the specific XR service and the capability reported by the terminal device before.

[0354] Optionally, the first network device may determine that the terminal device can identify a PDU set for the XR service in the following manner:

[0355] The first network device may determine whether the terminal device can identify the PDU set for the XR service according to the capability information of the terminal device and / or the application information of the XR service.

[0356] Exemplarily, the application information of the XR service includes the upper layer protocol used by the XR service, the header format and other information. Among them, the upper layer protocol can be the protocol used by the terminal device to process the XR service data before transmitting it to the AS layer. For example, the upper layer protocol includes but is not limited to: RTP, RTPC, UDP, TCP, IP. The header format of the XR service may include whether the header is encrypted (such as SRTP or IPsec), etc. For example, when the header is encrypted, the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set of the XR service by parsing the content in the header.

[0357] During implementation, the first network device may determine the application information of the XR service in a variety of different ways.

[0358] Exemplarily, the first network device may obtain application information of the XR service from an application server; wherein the application server may be a server corresponding to the XR service initiated by the terminal device. The specific implementation manner in which the first network device obtains application information of the XR service from the application server can be found in the introduction to the first communication method above, which will not be repeated here. Alternatively, the first network device may also obtain application information of the XR service in other ways, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit the implementation manner in which the first network device obtains application information of the XR service.

[0359] When the first network device determines whether the terminal device can recognize the PDU set for the XR service, the first network device can compare the application information of the XR service with the capability information of the terminal device to determine whether the PDU set can be recognized for the XR service.

[0360] Exemplarily, if the application information of the XR service is that the XR service uses the RTP protocol, and the header format is the RTP extension header; the capability information of the terminal device is the ability of the terminal device to support the identification of PDU sets based on RTP; then the first network device can determine that the terminal device can identify the PDU set for the XR service. If the application information of the XR service is that the XR service uses the UDP protocol; the capability information of the terminal device is the ability of the terminal device to support the identification of PDU sets based on RTP; then the first network device can determine that the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set for the XR service.

[0361] The terminal device identification PDU set in the embodiment of the present application includes at least one of the following:

[0362] The terminal device identifies the PDU included in the PDU set, the terminal device identifies the PSI of the PDU set, and the terminal device supports processing based on the PDU set.

[0363] Among them, the specific explanation of the terminal device identifying the PDU set can be found in the introduction of the first communication method above, which will not be repeated here.

[0364] In addition, the first network device may send fourth indication information to the terminal device, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate application information of the XR service.

[0365] Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the fourth indication information sent by the first network device, and determines the application information of the XR service according to the fourth indication information.

[0366] Exemplarily, the first network device may send the fourth indication information to the terminal device via a NAS message; for example, the first network device may send the fourth indication information to the terminal device via a PDU session establishment acceptance message or a PDU session modification acceptance message.

[0367] Optionally, the terminal device can determine whether the PDU set can be identified for the XR service based on the application information and / or capability information of the XR service. The specific implementation method of the terminal device determining whether the PDU set can be identified for the XR service can refer to the method in which the first network device determines whether the terminal device can identify the PDU set above, which will not be repeated here.

[0368] After the first network device determines that the terminal device can identify the PDU set for the XR service, the first network device may send fifth indication information to the second network device, where the fifth indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device can identify the PDU set for the XR service.

[0369] Correspondingly, the second network device receives the fifth indication information sent by the first network device.

[0370] Alternatively, the fifth indication information may also be used to indicate that the terminal device cannot recognize the PDU set for the XR service.

[0371] The second network device may be an access network device, for example, the second network device is a base station.

[0372] During implementation, after the first network device determines whether the terminal device can recognize the PDU set for the XR service, the first network device may send fifth indication information to the second network device if it is determined that the terminal device can recognize the PDU set for the XR service, and the fifth indication is used to indicate that the terminal device can recognize the PDU set for the XR service; if it is determined that the terminal device cannot recognize the PDU set for the XR service, the second network device will not be notified.

[0373] Alternatively, after determining whether the terminal device can recognize the PDU set for the XR service, the first network device may, if it is determined that the terminal device can recognize the PDU set for the XR service, send fifth indication information to the second network device, where the fifth indication is used to indicate that the terminal device can recognize the PDU set for the XR service; and if it is determined that the terminal device cannot recognize the PDU set for the XR service, send fifth indication information to the second network device, where the fifth indication is used to indicate that the terminal device cannot recognize the PDU set for the XR service.

[0374] Alternatively, the fifth indication information may also include requirement information related to the PDU set, such as delay requirement information of the PDU set. The second network device may determine the PDU set that the terminal device can identify the XR service based on the delay requirement information of the PDU set.

[0375] After receiving the fifth indication information, the second network device sends configuration information to the terminal device, where the configuration information instructs the terminal device to process the PDU set.

[0376] Optionally, the processing of the PDU set indicated by the configuration information includes processing of the PDU set corresponding to the XR service.

[0377] The processing of the PDU set indicated by the configuration information may include discarding based on the PDU set; wherein, the specific indication content indicated by the configuration information can be found in the introduction of the first communication method above, and will not be repeated here.

[0378] Optionally, when the fifth indication information indicates that the terminal device can identify the PDU set, the second network device sends configuration information of discarding based on the PDU set to the terminal device. For example, when the first indication information indicates that the terminal device can identify the PDU set of the first PDCP entity, the second network device sends configuration information of discarding based on the PDU set of the first PDCP entity to the terminal device.

[0379] The following is combined with Figure 8 The overall process of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is introduced below. It may include the following steps:

[0380] Step 800: The terminal device sends capability information to the first network device.

[0381] The capability information is used to indicate the capability of the terminal device associated with the identification PDU set.

[0382] Step 801: The first network device determines whether the terminal device can recognize the PDU set for the XR service.

[0383] Optionally, the first network device may determine whether the terminal device can identify the PDU set for the XR service according to the application information of the XR service and / or the capability information of the terminal device. The specific implementation method can be referred to the introduction above.

[0384] Step 802: The first network device sends fourth indication information to the terminal device.

[0385] Among them, the fourth indication information is used to indicate application information of the XR service.

[0386] Step 803: The terminal device determines whether a PDU set can be identified for the XR service.

[0387] Optionally, the terminal device may determine whether the PDU set can be identified for the XR service according to the application information of the XR service and / or the capability information of the terminal device. The specific implementation method can be referred to the introduction above.

[0388] Step 804: The first network device sends fifth indication information to the second network device.

[0389] Optionally, the fifth indication information may be used to indicate that the terminal device can identify the PDU set for the XR service. Alternatively, the fifth indication information may also be used to indicate that the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set for the XR service.

[0390] Step 805: The second network device sends configuration information to the terminal device.

[0391] Among them, the configuration information can be used to instruct the terminal device to process the PDU set.

[0392] Optionally, the configuration information may be determined by the second network device according to the fifth indication information. Exemplarily, when the fifth indication information indicates that the terminal device can identify the PDU set, the configuration information may indicate that the terminal device discards the PDU set.

[0393] An embodiment of the present application provides a communication method that can be applied to a situation where a terminal device cannot identify a PDU set. The following description takes the terminal device and the network device as the execution subject as an example, but the execution subject may also be a module (such as a chip) applied in the terminal device and a module (such as a chip) applied in the network device. The processing performed by a single execution subject in an embodiment of the present application may also be divided into executions by multiple execution subjects, and these execution subjects may be logically and / or physically separated. For example, the processing performed by the network device may be divided into executions by at least one of the CU, DU, and RU.

[0394] like Fig. 9 As shown, the method may include the following steps:

[0395] Step 900: The terminal device receives configuration information of the second network device.

[0396] Correspondingly, the second network device sends configuration information.

[0397] The second network device may be an access network device, for example, the second network device may be a base station.

[0398] Optionally, the configuration information is used to instruct the terminal device to process the PDU set.

[0399] Optionally, the processing of the PDU set indicated by the configuration information includes processing of the PDU set corresponding to at least one of the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session.

[0400] Optionally, the first DRB may be the DRB corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device, the first PDCP entity may be the PDCP entity corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; the first QoS flow may be the QoS flow corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; the first PDU session may be the PDU session corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device.

[0401] Among them, the PDU set corresponding to at least one of the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session may be the PDU set corresponding to the XR service currently initiated by the terminal.

[0402] The processing of the PDU set indicated by the configuration information may include discarding based on the PDU set; wherein, the specific indication content indicated by the configuration information can be found in the introduction of the first communication method above, and will not be repeated here.

[0403] Step 901: When the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set, the terminal device ignores the configuration information.

[0404] Optionally, the situation where the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set includes the situation where the terminal device cannot identify the PDU set corresponding to at least one of the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session.

[0405] Optionally, the terminal device ignores the configuration information, including that the terminal device does not perform processing on the PDU set, or does not perform processing on the PDU set according to the configuration information. Optionally, the terminal device may not perform processing on the PDU set corresponding to at least one of the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session, or the terminal device may not perform processing on the PDU set corresponding to at least one of the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session according to the configuration information.

[0406] Exemplarily, the configuration information received by the terminal device indicates that in the event of network congestion, the terminal device performs partial or complete discarding of the PDU set of the first PDCP entity. If the terminal device does not support the identification of the PDU set on the first PDCP entity, or if the terminal device does not support the identification of the PDU set of the XR service associated with the first PDCP entity, the terminal device ignores the configuration information. The terminal device may not perform the discarding of the PDU set of the first PDCP entity.

[0407] As another example, the configuration information received by the terminal device indicates that in the event of network congestion, the terminal device discards the PDU set whose importance satisfies the threshold for the first PDCP entity. The PDU set importance satisfying condition may include that the importance of the PDU set is greater than or equal to a certain importance threshold N (for example, N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 0). In this case, if the terminal device does not support the identification of the PDU set on the first PDCP entity, or if the terminal device does not support the identification of the PDU set of the XR service associated with the first PDCP entity, the terminal device ignores the configuration information. The terminal device may not discard the PDU set of the first PDCP entity. Or the terminal device may ignore the threshold N indicated in the configuration information and discard the PDU set of the first PDCP entity according to a random or preset rule. For example, the terminal device determines a threshold M and discards the PDU set whose importance of the PDU set is greater than or equal to the threshold M. Wherein, M is a positive integer greater than or equal to 0. For another example, the terminal device may randomly discard the PDU set.

[0408] In the above example, the first PDCP entity can also be replaced by the first DRB, or the first QoS flow, or the first PDU session.

[0409] The terminal device identification PDU set in the embodiment of the present application includes at least one of the following:

[0410] The terminal device identifies the PDU included in the PDU set, the terminal device identifies the PSI of the PDU set, and the terminal device supports processing based on the PDU set. For a specific explanation, please refer to the introduction of the first communication method above, which will not be repeated here.

[0411] It should be noted that the scheme provided in the embodiment of the present application can also be applied to the terminal device to identify a data burst. Exemplarily, the scheme of the embodiment of the present application can be applied to indicate whether the terminal device can identify a data burst, or can be applied to indicate whether the terminal device can identify a data burst for the first DRB, or the first PDCP entity, or the first QoS flow, or the first PDU session. The specific implementation method of indicating and determining whether the terminal device can identify a data burst can refer to the implementation method of indicating and determining whether the terminal device can identify a PDU set in the above text. In this embodiment, the PDU set in the above embodiment can be replaced with a data burst. Optionally, the processing of the data burst can also include reporting uplink service information based on the data burst, such as reporting the period, jitter information and arrival time of the data burst through UE auxiliary information. The processing based on the data burst can also include configuring discontinuous reception (DRX) information or configured grant (CG) information. Optionally, the terminal device can identify the data burst through an indication in the upper layer header (e.g., an EDB field).

[0412] It is to be understood that in the above embodiments, the terminal and / or the network device may perform some or all of the steps in each embodiment. These steps or operations are merely examples, and the embodiments of the present application may also perform other operations or variations of various operations. In addition, each step may be performed in a different order as presented in each embodiment, and it is possible that all operations in the embodiments of the present application are not to be performed. Moreover, the size of the sequence number of each step does not mean the order of execution, and the execution order of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

[0413] Based on the same inventive concept as the method embodiment, the present application embodiment provides a communication device, the structure of which can be as follows: Fig.10 As shown, it includes a communication unit 1001 and a processing unit 1002.

[0414] In one embodiment, the communication device can be specifically used to implement the method executed by the terminal device, and the device can be the terminal device itself, or a chip or chipset in the terminal device or a part of the chip used to execute the function of the related method. Among them, the processing unit 1002 is used to determine the first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device can identify the protocol data unit PDU set, and the first indication information is associated with one or more of the following: the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session; the communication unit 1001 is used to send the first indication information.

[0415] In one possible design, the first DRB is the DRB corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; the first PDCP entity is the PDCP entity corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; the first QoS flow is the QoS flow corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; and the first PDU session is the PDU session corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device.

[0416] In one possible design, the first indication information is determined by the terminal device based on application information of the XR service and / or capability information of the terminal device; the capability information is used to indicate the capability of the terminal device related to the identification PDU set.

[0417] In one possible design, the capability information includes at least one of the following: the terminal device supports the ability to identify a PDU set based on a first protocol, the first protocol including at least one of RTP, HTTP, UDP and IP; the terminal device supports the ability to identify a PDU set based on traffic detection.

[0418] In one possible design, the communication unit 1001 is used to: receive second indication information, where the second indication information is used to indicate application information of the XR service.

[0419] In one possible design, the first indication information is carried by at least one of the following messages:

[0420] UE assistance information message, RRC reconfiguration complete message, RRC connection establishment complete message, RRC connection reply complete message.

[0421] In one possible design, the first indication information is carried via a NAS message.

[0422] In one possible design, the terminal device indicated by the first indication information can identify a PDU set including at least one of the following:

[0423] The terminal device is capable of identifying the PDU included in the PDU set, the terminal device is capable of identifying the PSI of the PDU set, and the terminal device is capable of supporting processing based on the PDU set.

[0424] Based on the same inventive concept as the method embodiment, the present application embodiment provides a communication device, the structure of which can be as follows: Fig.11 As shown, it includes a communication unit 1101 and a processing unit 1102.

[0425] In one embodiment, the communication device can be specifically used to implement a method executed by a network device (e.g., a first network device and / or a second network device). The device can be the network device itself, or a chip or chipset in the network device or a part of a chip used to execute the function of the related method. Among them, the communication unit 1101 is used to receive a first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device can identify a protocol data unit PDU set, and the first indication information is associated with one or more of the following: a first DRB, a first PDCP entity, a first Qos flow, and a first PDU session; wherein the communication unit 1101 can receive the first indication information under the control of the processing unit 1102.

[0426] In one possible design, the first DRB is the DRB corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; the first PDCP entity is the PDCP entity corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; the first QoS flow is the QoS flow corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; and the first PDU session is the PDU session corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device.

[0427] In one possible design, the communication unit 1101 is used to send configuration information to the terminal device, wherein the configuration information indicates how the terminal device processes a PDU set.

[0428] In one possible design, the processing of the PDU set indicated by the configuration information includes processing of the PDU set corresponding to at least one of the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session.

[0429] In one possible design, the first indication information is carried by at least one of the following messages: UE assistance information message, RRC reconfiguration completion message, RRC connection establishment completion message, and RRC connection reply completion message.

[0430] In one possible design, the communication unit 1101 is used to: send third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate indication information related to the PDU set.

[0431] In one possible design, the third indication information includes the first indication information.

[0432] In one possible design, the communication unit 1101 is used to: send second indication information to the terminal device, where the second indication information is used to indicate application information of the XR service.

[0433] In one possible design, the first indication information is carried via a NAS message.

[0434] In one possible design, the terminal device indicated by the first indication information can identify a PDU set including at least one of the following:

[0435] The terminal device is capable of identifying the PDU included in the PDU set, the terminal device is capable of identifying the PSI of the PDU set, and the terminal device is capable of supporting processing based on the PDU set.

[0436] Based on the same inventive concept as the method embodiment, the present application embodiment provides a communication device, the structure of which can be as follows: Fig.12 As shown, it includes a communication unit 1201 and a processing unit 1202.

[0437] In one embodiment, the communication device can be specifically used to implement the method executed by the terminal device, and the device can be the terminal device itself, or a chip or a chipset in the terminal device or a part of the chip used to execute the function of the related method. Among them, the processing unit 1202 is used to determine capability information, and the capability information is used to indicate the capability of the terminal device related to the identification PDU set; the communication unit 1201 is used to send the capability information to the first network device.

[0438] In one possible design, the communication unit 1201 is used to: receive fourth indication information sent by the first network device, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate application information of the XR service.

[0439] In one possible design, the processing unit 1202 is used to determine, based on the application information and / or the capability information of the XR service, that the terminal device can recognize a PDU set for the XR service.

[0440] In one possible design, the capability information includes at least one of the following:

[0441] The terminal device supports the ability to identify PDU sets based on a first protocol, wherein the first protocol includes at least one of RTP, HTTP, UDP and IP; the terminal device supports the ability to identify PDU sets based on traffic detection.

[0442] In one possible design, the terminal device can recognize that a PDU set for the XR service includes at least one of the following:

[0443] The terminal device can identify the first PDU or the last PDU of a PDU set, the terminal device can identify the PSI of a PDU set, and the terminal device can support processing based on a PDU set.

[0444] Based on the same inventive concept as the method embodiment, the present application embodiment provides a communication device, the structure of which can be as follows: Fig.13 As shown, it includes a communication unit 1301 and a processing unit 1302.

[0445] In one implementation, the communication device can be specifically used to implement the method executed by the first network device, and the device can be the first network device itself, or a chip or a chipset in the first network device or a part of the chip used to execute the function of the related method. Among them, the communication unit 1301 is used to receive capability information sent by the terminal device, and the capability information is used to indicate the capability of the terminal device related to the identification of the PDU set; the processing unit 1302 is used to determine that the terminal device can identify the PDU set for the XR service according to the capability information.

[0446] In one possible design, the communication unit 1301 is used to: send fifth indication information to the second network device, and the fifth indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device can identify a PDU set for the XR service.

[0447] In one possible design, the processing unit 1302 is used to: determine, based on the capability information and / or application information of the XR service, that the terminal device can recognize a PDU set for the XR service.

[0448] In one possible design, the communication unit 1301 is used to: send fourth indication information to the terminal device, and the fourth indication information is used to indicate application information of the XR service.

[0449] In one possible design, the capability information includes at least one of the following:

[0450] The terminal device supports the capability of identifying a PDU set based on a first protocol, wherein the first protocol includes at least one of a real-time transport protocol RTP, a hypertext transfer protocol HTTP, a user datagram protocol UDP, and an Internet protocol IP;

[0451] The terminal device supports the ability to identify PDU sets based on traffic detection.

[0452] In one possible design, the terminal device can recognize that a PDU set for the XR service includes at least one of the following:

[0453] The terminal device can identify the first PDU or the last PDU of a PDU set, the terminal device can identify the PSI of a PDU set, and the terminal device can support processing based on a PDU set.

[0454] Based on the same inventive concept as the method embodiment, the present application embodiment provides a communication device, the structure of which can be as follows: Fig.14 As shown, it includes a communication unit 1401 and a processing unit 1402.

[0455] In one embodiment, the communication device can be specifically used to implement the method executed by the second network device. The device can be the second network device itself, or it can be a chip or chipset in the second network device or a part of the chip used to execute the function of the relevant method. Among them, the communication unit 1401 is used to receive the fifth indication information, and the fifth indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device can identify the PDU set for the XR service; send configuration information to the terminal device, and the configuration information indicates the terminal device's processing of the PDU set. Among them, the communication unit 1401 can receive and / or send information under the control of the processing unit 1402.

[0456] In one possible design, the processing capability for the PDU set indicated by the configuration information includes the processing capability for the PDU set corresponding to the XR service.

[0457] The division of units in the embodiments of the present application is schematic and is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation. In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into a processor, or may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software function modules. It is understood that the functions or implementations of each unit in the embodiments of the present application may further refer to the relevant description of the method embodiment.

[0458] In one possible approach, the communication device may be as follows Fig.15 As shown, the device may be a communication device or a chip in a communication device, wherein the communication device may be a terminal device in the above embodiment. The device includes a processor 1501 and a communication interface 1502 , and may also include a memory 1503 .

[0459] The processor 1501 may be a CPU, or a digital processing unit, etc. The communication interface 1502 may be a transceiver, or an interface circuit such as a transceiver circuit, or a transceiver chip, etc. The device further includes: a memory 1503, which is used to store the program executed by the processor 1501. The memory 1503 may be a non-volatile memory, such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), etc., or a volatile memory (volatile memory), such as a random-access memory (RAM). The memory 1503 is any other medium that can be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto.

[0460] The processor 1501 is used to execute the program code stored in the memory 1503, and the communication interface 1502 is specifically used to execute the actions of the above-mentioned communication unit 1001 or communication unit 1201, which will not be repeated in this application.

[0461] The specific connection medium between the communication interface 1502, the processor 1501 and the memory 1503 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. Fig.15 In the embodiment, the memory 1503, the processor 1501 and the communication interface 1502 are connected via a bus 1504. Fig.15 The connections between 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.15 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.

[0462] In one possible approach, the communication device may be as follows Fig.16 As shown, the device may be a communication device or a chip in a communication device, wherein the communication device may be a network device in the above embodiment (may be a first network device or a second network device). The device includes a processor 1601 and a communication interface 1602, and may also include a memory 1603.

[0463] The processor 1601 may be a CPU, or a digital processing unit, etc. The communication interface 1602 may be a transceiver, or an interface circuit such as a transceiver circuit, or a transceiver chip, etc. The device further includes: a memory 1603, which is used to store the program executed by the processor 1601. The memory 1603 may be a non-volatile memory, such as an HDD or an SSD, etc., or a volatile memory, such as a RAM. The memory 1603 is any other medium that can be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto.

[0464] The processor 1601 is used to execute the program code stored in the memory 1603, and the communication interface 1602 is specifically used to execute the actions of the above-mentioned communication unit 1101 or communication unit 1301 or communication unit 1401, which will not be repeated in this application.

[0465] The specific connection medium between the communication interface 1602, the processor 1601 and the memory 1603 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. Fig.16 In the embodiment, the memory 1603, the processor 1601 and the communication interface 1602 are connected via a bus 1604. Fig.16 The connections between 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.16 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.

[0466] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, including a communication device for implementing the functions of the terminal device in the above embodiment and a communication device for implementing the functions of the network device (which may include a first network device and / or a second network device) in the above embodiment.

[0467] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium for storing computer software instructions required to be executed by the above-mentioned processor, which includes a program required to be executed by the above-mentioned processor.

[0468] The embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product, comprising a computer program for executing the above-mentioned processor.

[0469] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present application may be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, the present application may adopt the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment in combination with software and hardware. Moreover, the present application may adopt the form of a computer program product implemented in one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) that include computer-usable program code.

[0470] The present application is described with reference to the flowcharts and / or block diagrams of the methods, devices (systems), and computer program products according to the present application. It should be understood that each process and / or box in the flowchart and / or block diagram, as well as the combination of the processes and / or boxes in the flowchart and / or block diagram, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device generate instructions for implementing the processes in the flowchart and / or block diagram. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A device that provides the functions specified in a block or multiple blocks.

[0471] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory capable of directing a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture comprising an instruction device, which implements the process Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A function specified in one or more boxes.

[0472] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operating steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, thereby providing instructions for implementing the process. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 The steps for the functions specified in one or more boxes.

[0473] Obviously, those skilled in the art can make various changes and modifications to the present application without departing from the scope of protection of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents, the present application is also intended to include these modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Determine first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device can identify a protocol data unit PDU set, and the first indication information is associated with one or more of the following: A first data radio bearer DRB; A first packet data convergence layer protocol PDCP entity; First quality of service Qos flow; First PDU session; Send the first indication information.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first DRB is a DRB corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; The first PDCP entity is a PDCP entity corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; The first QoS flow is the QoS flow corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; The first PDU session is a PDU session corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The first indication information is determined by the terminal device according to application information of the XR service and / or capability information of the terminal device; the capability information is used to indicate the capability of the terminal device related to the identification PDU set.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The capability information includes at least one of the following: The terminal device supports the capability of identifying a PDU set based on a first protocol, wherein the first protocol includes at least one of a real-time transport protocol RTP, a hypertext transfer protocol HTTP, a user datagram protocol UDP, and an Internet protocol IP; The terminal device supports the ability to identify PDU sets based on traffic detection.

5. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Second indication information is received, where the second indication information is used to indicate application information of the XR service.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: The first indication information is carried by at least one of the following messages: UE assistance information message, radio resource control RRC reconfiguration complete message, RRC connection establishment complete message, RRC connection reply complete message.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: The first indication information is carried by a NAS message.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The terminal device indicated by the first indication information can identify a PDU set including at least one of the following: The terminal device is capable of identifying the PDU included in the PDU set, the terminal device is capable of identifying the PSI of the PDU set, and the terminal device is capable of supporting processing based on the PDU set.

9. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Receive first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device can identify a protocol data unit (PDU) set, and the first indication information is associated with one or more of the following: A first data radio bearer DRB; A first packet data convergence layer protocol PDCP entity; First quality of service Qos flow; First PDU session.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that The first DRB is a DRB corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; The first PDCP entity is a PDCP entity corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; The first QoS flow is a QoS flow corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device; The first PDU session is a PDU session corresponding to the XR service of the terminal device.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that The method further comprises: Configuration information is sent to the terminal device, where the configuration information indicates how the terminal device processes a PDU set.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The processing of the PDU set indicated by the configuration information includes processing of the PDU set corresponding to at least one of the first DRB, the first PDCP entity, the first Qos flow, and the first PDU session.

13. The method according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that The first indication information is carried by at least one of the following messages: a UE assistance information message, an RRC reconfiguration complete message, an RRC connection establishment complete message, and an RRC connection reply complete message.

14. The method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that The method further comprises: Send third indication information, where the third indication information is used to indicate indication information related to the PDU set.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The third indication information includes the first indication information.

16. The method according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that The method further comprises: Send second indication information to the terminal device, where the second indication information is used to indicate application information of the XR service.

17. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, characterized in that: The first indication information is carried by a NAS message.

18. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 17, characterized in that: The terminal device indicated by the first indication information can identify a PDU set including at least one of the following: The terminal device is capable of identifying the PDU included in the PDU set, the terminal device is capable of identifying the PSI of the PDU set, and the terminal device is capable of supporting processing based on the PDU set.

19. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Determining capability information, the capability information being used to indicate a capability of a terminal device associated with the identified PDU set; The capability information is sent to the first network device.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein: The method further comprises: Receive fourth indication information sent by the first network device, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate application information of the XR service.

21. The method according to claim 19 or 20, characterized in that The method further comprises: It is determined, according to the application information and / or the capability information of the XR service, that the terminal device can identify a PDU set for the XR service.

22. The method according to any one of claims 19 to 21, characterized in that: The capability information includes at least one of the following: The terminal device supports the capability of identifying a PDU set based on a first protocol, wherein the first protocol includes at least one of a real-time transport protocol RTP, a hypertext transfer protocol HTTP, a user datagram protocol UDP, and an Internet protocol IP; The terminal device supports the ability to identify PDU sets based on traffic detection.

23. The method according to any one of claims 19 to 22, characterized in that: The terminal device can recognize that the PDU set for the XR service includes at least one of the following: The terminal device can identify the first PDU or the last PDU of a PDU set, the terminal device can identify the PSI of a PDU set, and the terminal device can support processing based on a PDU set.

24. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Receiving capability information sent by a terminal device, the capability information being used to indicate a capability of the terminal device associated with an identification PDU set; According to the capability information, it is determined that the terminal device can identify a PDU set for the XR service.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein: Send fifth indication information to the second network device, where the fifth indication information is used to indicate that the terminal device can identify a PDU set for the XR service.

26. The method according to claim 24 or 25, characterized in that The determining, according to the capability information, that the terminal device can identify a PDU set for the XR service includes: According to the capability information and / or the application information of the XR service, it is determined that the terminal device can recognize a PDU set for the XR service.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein: The method further comprises: Send fourth indication information to the terminal device, where the fourth indication information is used to indicate application information of the XR service.

28. The method according to any one of claims 24 to 27, characterized in that: The capability information includes at least one of the following: The terminal device supports the capability of identifying a PDU set based on a first protocol, wherein the first protocol includes at least one of a real-time transport protocol RTP, a hypertext transfer protocol HTTP, a user datagram protocol UDP, and an Internet protocol IP; The terminal device supports the ability to identify PDU sets based on traffic detection.

29. The method according to any one of claims 24 to 28, characterized in that The terminal device can recognize that the PDU set for the XR service includes at least one of the following: The terminal device can identify the first PDU or the last PDU of a PDU set, the terminal device can identify the PSI of a PDU set, and the terminal device can support processing based on a PDU set.

30. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Receive fifth indication information, where the fifth indication information is used to indicate a PDU set that the terminal device can identify for the XR service; Configuration information is sent to the terminal device, where the configuration information indicates how the terminal device processes a PDU set.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein: The processing capability of the PDU set indicated by the configuration information includes the processing capability of the PDU set corresponding to the XR service.

32. A communication device, characterized in that: Comprising a module for executing the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 8, or a module for executing the method as described in any one of claims 9 to 18, or a module for executing the method as described in any one of claims 19 to 23, or a module for executing the method as described in any one of claims 24 to 29, or a module for executing the method as described in claim 30 or 31.

33. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: A computer program or instruction is stored, and when the computer program or instruction is executed on a computer, the computer-readable storage medium implements the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 8, or the computer-readable storage medium implements the method as described in any one of claims 9 to 18, or the computer-readable storage medium implements the method as described in any one of claims 19 to 23, or the computer-readable storage medium implements the method as described in any one of claims 24 to 29, or the computer-readable storage medium implements the method as described in claim 30 or 31.

34. A computer program product, characterized in that Comprising a computer program, which, when executed by a communication device, implements the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 8, or when executed by a communication device, implements the method as described in any one of claims 9 to 18, or when executed by a communication device, implements the method as described in any one of claims 19 to 23, or when executed by a communication device, implements the method as described in any one of claims 24 to 29, or when executed by a communication device, implements the method as described in claim 30 or 31.

35. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A processor, wherein the processor is used to execute the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 8, or to execute the method as described in any one of claims 9 to 18, or to execute the method as described in any one of claims 19 to 23, or to execute the method as described in any one of claims 24 to 29, or to execute the method as described in claim 30 or 31.

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