Communication method and device

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a communication method and device which are used for shortening communication time delay. The method comprises: sending SR to a network device at a first moment or a second moment for requesting uplink resources, the first moment and the second moment being an SR sending opportunity configured for the network device; wherein the first moment is earlier than a third moment, the third moment is an estimated moment for generating a first data packet when a first operation for starting a first application is detected, and the first data packet is used for requesting to establish a connection with a server of the first application; the second moment is a first opportunity used for sending the SR after the RRC connection is established. And if the first operation is detected and the terminal equipment is in a non-RRC connection state, the method further comprises the step of sending a first request for requesting to establish an RRC connection to the network equipment when the first operation for starting the first application is detected.

Description

Technical Field

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

[0002] In the fifth generation (5G) communication system, a terminal device can request to allocate uplink resources to the terminal device by sending a resource request, such as a scheduling request (SR), to a network device, and the terminal device can use the uplink resources configured by the network device to send uplink data. The rules for the terminal device to send SR (such as the timing and mode of sending, etc.) are configured by the network device. However, the terminal device sending SR according to the rules configured by the network device may result in a longer delay in the terminal device obtaining uplink resources, thereby resulting in a longer communication delay between the terminal device and the network device. Summary of the invention

[0003] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and device for shortening communication delay.

[0004] In the first aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a terminal device or by a chip system, and the chip system can realize the functions of the terminal device. The method includes: sending a scheduling request SR to a network device at a first moment or a second moment, the SR is used to request uplink resources, the first moment and the second moment are the timings of sending the SR configured by the network device; wherein the first moment is earlier than the third moment, the third moment is the estimated moment of generating the first data packet when the first operation of starting the first application is detected, the first data packet is used to request to establish a connection with the server of the first application, and the second moment is the first opportunity for sending the SR after the terminal device establishes a radio resource control (RRC) connection with the network device.

[0005] In the embodiment of the present application, when the terminal device detects the operation of starting the first application, it can estimate the time of generating a data packet and send an SR to the network device at the SR sending opportunity before the time of generating the data packet; or, the terminal device sends an SR at the first SR sending opportunity after establishing the RRC connection, so that the SR can be sent without waiting for the data packet to be generated, shortening the waiting time for the terminal device to obtain uplink resources, thereby shortening the communication delay between the terminal device and the network device. In addition, the terminal device sends an SR to the network device before generating the first data packet, so that after the first data packet is generated, the first data packet for establishing a connection with the server of the first application can be sent to the network device in a timely manner, shortening the startup delay of the first application.

[0006] In a possible implementation, the terminal device sends an SR to the network device at a first moment or a second moment, including: if the terminal device is in an RRC connected state when the first operation is detected, sending the SR to the network device at the first moment; if the terminal device is in a non-RRC connected state when the first operation is detected, after the terminal device establishes an RRC connection with the network device, sending the SR to the network device at the first moment or the second moment. When the first operation of starting the first application is detected, if the terminal device has established an RRC connection with the network device, the terminal device does not need to execute the process of establishing the RRC connection, that is, there will be no triggering condition for establishing the RRC connection. At this time, the terminal device can send the SR at the first moment; if the terminal device is in a non-RRC connection state, the terminal device needs to establish an RRC connection with the network device before sending the SR to the network device. At this time, the terminal device can send the SR at the second moment, or, if the terminal device estimates that the first data packet may need to wait for a long time to be generated after establishing the RRC connection with the network device, the terminal device can also wait until the first moment to send the SR. This can reduce the probability of the network device needing to send the SR again after allocating uplink resources because the first data packet is not generated, thereby reducing the waste of air interface resources.

[0007] In one possible implementation, if the terminal device is in a non-RRC connection state when the first operation is detected, the method further includes: when the first operation of starting the first application is detected, sending a first request to the network device, the first request being used to request the establishment of an RRC connection. If the terminal device is in a non-RRC connection state, currently, the terminal device needs to wait until the data is ready, that is, the first data packet is generated before initiating a request to establish an RRC connection, that is, the generation of the first data packet and the sending of the RRC connection request are serial, and the delay in establishing the RRC connection is relatively long. In an embodiment of the present application, when the terminal device detects the first operation, it sends an RRC connection request to the network device, that is, the generation of the first data packet and the sending of the RRC connection request are parallel, which can reduce the delay in establishing the RRC connection, thereby further shortening the communication delay.

[0008] In a possible implementation, the time interval between the first moment and the third moment is less than the SR sending period configured by the network device. The time interval between the first moment and the third moment is less than the SR sending period configured by the network device, indicating that the first moment is the last SR sending opportunity corresponding to the third moment, so that the SR is sent only one SR sending opportunity in advance, which can reduce the probability of the network device needing to send the SR again because the first data packet is not generated after allocating uplink resources, thereby reducing the waste of air interface resources.

[0009] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: sending a buffer status report (BSR) to the network device based on the uplink resources configured by the network device, wherein the BSR is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted. Since the authorization of the SR request is relatively small, generally only the BSR can be sent. Therefore, after receiving the uplink resources configured by the network device, the terminal device can send the BSR to the network device based on the uplink resources and continue to apply for uplink resources. In this way, after the first data packet is generated, the data can be sent immediately based on the uplink resources applied for by the BSR, which shortens the transmission delay of the data packet, thereby shortening the communication delay between the terminal device and the network device.

[0010] In a possible implementation, when generating the BSR, if the first data packet is not generated, the amount of data to be transmitted is a preset amount of data. When generating the BSR, if the first data packet is not generated, the terminal device cannot generate the BSR based on the amount of data of the first data packet, so the terminal device can generate the BSR based on the preset amount of data, so that when the first data packet is generated, the terminal device can immediately send the first data packet to the network device, shortening the transmission delay of the data packet, thereby shortening the communication delay between the terminal device and the network device.

[0011] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may be a terminal device, or a module (such as a chip, etc.) applied to a terminal device. The device has the function of implementing any implementation method of the first aspect above. The function may be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software implementation. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0012] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device. The communication device includes a communication interface and a processor, and optionally, a memory. The memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is coupled to the memory and the communication interface. When the processor reads the computer program or instruction, the communication device executes the method executed by the terminal device in the first aspect.

[0013] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium is used to store a computer program. When the computer program is run on a computer, the computer executes the method provided in the first aspect above.

[0014] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, including a computer program, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method described in the first aspect above.

[0015] In a sixth aspect, a chip system is provided, comprising a processor and an interface, wherein the processor is used to call and execute instructions from the interface so that the chip system implements the method described in the first aspect above.

[0016] For the beneficial effects of the second to sixth aspects mentioned above, refer to the beneficial effects of the first aspect and will not be repeated. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a network architecture applicable to an embodiment of the present application;

[0018] Figure 2 It is a structural schematic diagram of a terminal device;

[0019] Figure 3 to Figure 5 Flowcharts of several communication methods provided in embodiments of the present application;

[0020] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of a device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0021] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of another device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0023] In the embodiments of the present application, the number of nouns, unless otherwise specified, means "singular noun or plural noun", that is, "one or more". "At least one" means one or more, and "plural" means 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 mean: 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 previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. For example, A / B means: A or B. "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, or c means: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c, where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0024] Furthermore, unless otherwise specified, ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the size, content, order, timing, priority or importance of multiple objects. For example, the first moment and the second moment can be the same moment or different moments, and such a name does not indicate the difference in the order, priority or importance of the two moments.

[0025] Below, some terms in the embodiments of the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

[0026] (1) Terminal device: a device with wireless transceiver function, which can be a fixed device, mobile device, handheld device, wearable device, vehicle-mounted device, or a wireless device built into the above devices (for example, a communication module or chip system, etc.). The terminal device is used to connect people, objects, machines, etc., and can be widely used in various scenarios, such as but not limited to the following scenarios: cellular communication, device-to-device (D2D), vehicle to everything (V2X), machine-to-machine / machine-type communications (M2M / MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), industrial control, self driving, remote medical, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, drone, robot and other scenarios. The terminal device may sometimes be referred to as user equipment (UE), terminal, access station, UE station, remote station, wireless communication device, or user device, etc.

[0027] In the embodiment of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal device may be a terminal device, or may be a device capable of supporting the terminal device to implement the function, such as a chip system, which may be provided in the terminal device. The technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is described below by taking the terminal device as an example in which the device for implementing the function of the terminal device is a terminal device. In addition, for simplicity, the terminal device is described below by taking the UE as an example.

[0028] (2) Network equipment, for example, including radio access network (RAN) equipment. The interface between the RAN equipment and the terminal equipment may be a Uu interface (or air interface). Of course, in future communications, the names of these interfaces may remain unchanged, or may be replaced by other names, which is not limited in this application.

[0029] RAN equipment is a node or device that connects a terminal device to a wireless network. RAN equipment can also be called a base station. RAN equipment includes, but is not limited to, generation Node B (gNB), 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 node B, or home node B, HNB), baseband unit (BBU), transmission and receiving point (TRP), transmission point (TP), mobile switching center, etc.

[0030] The network equipment may also include core network (CN) equipment, which is used to manage terminal equipment and provide a gateway for communication with DN. Taking the 5G communication system as an example, the CN may include access and mobility management function (AMF) network elements, session management function (SMF) network elements, user plane function (UPF) network elements, policy control function (PCF) network elements, unified data management (UDM) network elements, application function (AF) network elements, etc.

[0031] In addition, although not shown, the CN may also include other possible network elements, such as a network exposure function (NEF) and a unified data repository (UDR) network element. The NEF network element is used to provide a framework, authentication and interface related to network capability exposure, and to transmit information between the 5G system network function and other network functions; the UDR network element is mainly used to store user-related contract data, policy data, structured data for openness, and application data.

[0032] In the embodiment of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the network device may be a network device, or may be a device capable of supporting the network device to implement the function, such as a chip system, which may be arranged in the network device. The technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is described below by taking the device for implementing the function of the network device as a network device as an example.

[0033] (3) Application (APP) is a software program that can realize one or more specific functions. Usually, multiple applications can be installed in a terminal device. For example, camera application, gallery application, SMS application, MMS application, various email applications, short video applications, etc. The applications mentioned below can be applications installed when the terminal leaves the factory, or they can be applications downloaded from the Internet or obtained from other terminals by the user during the use of the terminal.

[0034] The technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to a variety of communication systems. For example, it can be applied to the fifth generation mobile communication technology (5G) system, such as the new radio (NR) system, or it can also be applied to the next generation mobile communication system or other similar communication systems, such as the sixth generation mobile communication technology (6G) system, etc., without specific limitation.

[0035] Please refer to Figure 1 , Figure 1 Schematic diagram of a network architecture applicable to the embodiment of the present application. Figure 1 As shown, the terminal device can access the network device to obtain services of the external network (such as the data network (DN)) through the network device. Among them, DN can also be called packet data network (PDN), which is a network located outside the operator network. The operator network can access multiple DNs, and servers with multiple applications can be deployed in the DN to provide a variety of possible services for the terminal device.

[0036] In an embodiment of the present application, the network device can establish a user plane data transmission channel for the terminal device through a control plane signaling interaction process (such as a PDU session establishment process), and then the terminal device and the server deployed in the DN can transmit data through the user plane data channel. For example, when a user clicks on an application installed on a terminal device, the terminal device can send an uplink data packet to the server corresponding to the application, and the transmission path of the uplink data packet is: terminal device → network device (such as RAN device → UPF network element) → server. Correspondingly, the server can send a downlink data packet to the terminal device, and the transmission path of the downlink data packet is: server → network device (such as UPF network element → RAN device) → terminal device.

[0037] The structure of the terminal device can be referred to as Figure 2 , Figure 2 The terminal device shown includes a processor 110 and a wireless communication module 120. The processor 110 may include one or more processing units, for example, the processor 110 may include an application processor (AP) and a modem, etc. The application processor and the modem may be independent devices or integrated into one processor.

[0038] In an embodiment of the present application, the application processor and the modem can communicate with each other. For example, the modem can provide an interface to the application processor for communication between the application processor and the modem. The interface is, for example, an AT interface.

[0039] The wireless communication module 120 can provide wireless communication solutions including wireless local area networks (WLAN) (such as wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) networks), bluetooth (BT), global navigation satellite system (GNSS), frequency modulation (FM), near field communication (NFC), infrared (IR), etc., which are applied to terminal devices. The wireless communication module 120 can be one or more devices integrating at least one communication processing module. The wireless communication module 120 receives electromagnetic waves from network devices via an antenna (not shown in the figure), modulates and filters the electromagnetic wave signals, and sends the processed signals to the processor 110. The wireless communication module 120 can also receive the signal to be sent from the processor 110, modulate the frequency, amplify it, convert it into electromagnetic waves and radiate it through the antenna to send it to the network device.

[0040] The structure illustrated in the embodiments of the present application does not constitute a specific limitation on the terminal device. In some other embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may include more or fewer components than those illustrated, or combine certain components, or split certain components, or have different component arrangements. The illustrated components may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination of software and hardware.

[0041] When starting an application, the terminal device may send a connection request to the server corresponding to the application to establish a connection with the server, for example, to establish a Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP) connection. For example, the terminal device may send a data packet for establishing a connection with the server to a network device, and the network device will send the data packet to the server after receiving the data packet. Among them, when the terminal device sends a data packet to the network device, if there is no uplink resource, the terminal device may send a Scheduling Request (SR) to the network device to request an uplink resource, and the network device will allocate an uplink resource for the terminal device after receiving the SR.

[0042] However, the timing for the terminal device to send an SR to the network device is configured by the network device. For example, there may be a timing for sending an SR every 20 ms. Also, currently, the terminal device needs to generate a data packet in the application processor and send an SR to the network device when the data packet reaches the modem, which means that the terminal device will wait for at most one SR cycle delay before initiating the SR. For example, according to the configured timing for sending an SR by the network device, the terminal device may send an SR to the network device at time 1 and time 2. The interval between time 1 and time 2 is, for example, 20 ms. If the data packet generated by the server reaches the modem 2 ms after time 1, the terminal device needs to send an SR to the network device at time 2, that is, it needs to wait for 18 ms to send an SR to the network device, resulting in a relatively long time delay.

[0043] In view of this, in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may estimate the time when the data packet is generated and send an SR to the network device at the SR sending timing before the time when the data packet is generated, or send an SR to the network device at the sending timing of the first SR after the terminal device establishes an RRC connection with the network device. In this way, since the SR is sent in advance, the duration that the terminal device needs to wait to obtain the uplink resource is shortened, thereby shortening the communication delay between the terminal device and the network device. In addition, the terminal device sends an SR to the network device before generating the first data packet, so that after the first data packet is generated, it can promptly send the first data packet for establishing a connection with the server of the first application to the network device, shortening the startup delay of the first application.

[0044] The method provided by the embodiments of the present application is described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0045] This application embodiment provides a communication method, see Figure 3 , which is a flowchart of the method. This method can be applied in Figure 1 For example, the network devices involved in the method are Figure 1 The network device shown in the figure, the terminal device involved in the method is Figure 1 In the embodiment of the present application, all optional steps are indicated by dotted lines.

[0046] S301: The terminal device sends an SR to the network device at the first moment or the second moment to request uplink resources. Correspondingly, the network device receives the SR from the terminal device.

[0047] The first moment and the second moment are the times configured by the network device for sending SR. At present, after detecting the operation of starting the first application (for example, the first operation), the terminal device can generate a data packet (for example, the first data packet) for establishing a connection with the server of the first application, and after generating the first data packet, determine whether there is an uplink resource for sending the first data packet. If so, the uplink resource can be used to send the first data packet to the network device. If not, SR can be sent to the network device to request the network device to configure uplink resources for it. Among them, the first application is, for example, an application that needs to be deployed in the DN. The first application is, for example, a short video application, an instant messaging application, and the like. However, after the terminal device generates the first data packet and then sends the SR to the network device, it may cause a long delay in the first application to establish a connection with the server of the first application. For example, the terminal device may have to wait for up to one SR cycle to obtain uplink resources.

[0048] In the embodiment of the present application, when the terminal device detects the operation of starting the application, it can estimate the time of generating the first data packet (for example, the third time), and send the SR to the network device at a time of sending the SR earlier than the third time. The time of sending the SR earlier than the third time is, for example, the first time, so that the terminal device can obtain uplink resources in advance, so that the terminal device can send the first data packet to the network device in time after generating the first data packet, which can shorten the time for the terminal device to establish a connection with the server of the first application, and reduce the time for the terminal device to establish a connection with the server of the first application.

[0049] Optionally, the time interval between the first moment and the third moment is less than the SR sending period configured by the network device. That is, the first moment is the sending time of the last SR corresponding to the third moment. For example, the SR sending period configured by the network device is 20ms, and the time interval between the first moment and the third moment is less than 20ms, indicating that there is no other opportunity to send SR between the first moment and the third moment, so that the number of times the terminal device sends SR to the network device can be reduced, saving uplink resources.

[0050] Alternatively, if the terminal device is in a non-RRC connection state when the first operation of starting the first application is detected, the terminal device needs to establish an RRC connection with the network device before sending the SR to the network device, so the terminal device can send the SR to the network device at the first opportunity for sending the SR (for example, the second moment) after the RRC connection is established with the network device. The non-RRC connection state includes the RRC inactive state and the RRC idle state.

[0051] Optionally, if the terminal device is in a non-RRC connection state when detecting the first operation of starting the first application, the terminal device may send a first request to the network device to request to establish an RRC connection with the network device, wherein the first request is, for example, an RRC connection request. Figure 2 The AP shown generates the first data packet, and sends an indication message to the modem through the AP, instructing the modem to establish an RRC connection with the network device. In this way, the process of generating the first data packet and establishing the RRC connection can be carried out in parallel, which can shorten the delay compared with the technical solution of establishing the RRC connection after the first data packet reaches the modem. For example, it takes 5ms for the AP to generate the first data packet, and it takes 3ms for the modem to establish the RRC connection with the network device. If the RRC connection is established after the first data packet is generated, it takes 8ms to implement the whole process. If the process of generating the first data packet and establishing the RRC connection is carried out in parallel, it only takes 5ms to implement the whole process.

[0052] Since the terminal device can send the SR to the network device at the first moment or the second moment, that is, the moment when the terminal device sends the SR to the network device may be related to the state of the terminal device when the first operation of starting the first application is detected, the terminal device can optionally determine whether to send the SR to the network device at the first moment or the second moment according to the state of the terminal device when the first operation of starting the first application is detected. For example, if the terminal device is in an RRC connected state when the first operation of starting the first application is detected, the terminal device does not execute the process of establishing an RRC connection, so the terminal device can send the SR to the network device at the first moment. If the terminal device is in a non-RRC connected state when the first operation of starting the first application is detected, the terminal device must execute the process of establishing an RRC connection, so the terminal device can send the SR to the network device at the first moment, or the terminal device can also send the SR to the network device at the second moment.

[0053] Optionally, if the terminal device is in a non-RRC connected state when the first operation of starting the first application is detected, the terminal device may send an SR to the network device in the following situations:

[0054] Case 1: The first moment is earlier than the second moment, and the terminal device sends an SR to the network device at the second moment.

[0055] The first moment is earlier than the second moment, indicating that when the first moment arrives, the terminal device has not established an RRC connection with the network device. At this time, the terminal device cannot send SR to the network device. Therefore, the terminal device needs to wait until the second moment to send SR to the network device.

[0056] Case 2: The first moment is later than the second moment, and the terminal device sends an SR to the network device at the first moment or the second moment.

[0057] The first moment is later than the second moment, indicating that when the first moment is reached, the terminal device has established an RRC connection with the network device. At this time, the terminal device can send an SR to the network device at the second moment; or, in order to reduce the number of times SR is sent to the network device, the terminal device can also send an SR to the network device at the first moment.

[0058] Case 3: The terminal device sends an SR to the network device at the first moment.

[0059] If the terminal device is in a non-RRC connection state when the first operation of starting the first application is detected, the terminal device can establish an RRC connection with the network device as a condition for triggering the sending of the SR, that is, the third moment is not estimated. In this way, the operating burden of the terminal device can be reduced.

[0060] S302: The network device sends first resource configuration information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the resource configuration information from the network device.

[0061] When receiving the SR from the terminal device, the network device can configure uplink resources for the terminal device and send first resource configuration information for configuring the uplink resources to the terminal device. The uplink resources may include, for example, physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources, physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resources and other resources. In other embodiments, the uplink resources may also include other resources, such as time domain resources or other frequency domain resources, which are not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0062] After receiving the first resource configuration information from the network device, the terminal device may send a first data packet to the network device based on the uplink resources configured by the first resource configuration information. Optionally, since the uplink resources requested by the SR may be relatively small and may only be used to send a BSR, the terminal device may also execute S303 after receiving the first resource configuration information of the network device.

[0063] S303: The terminal device sends a BSR to the network device based on the first resource configuration information. Correspondingly, the network device receives the BSR from the terminal device.

[0064] Among them, BSR is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted. The BSR sent by the terminal device to the network device may be, for example, an index value (index) corresponding to the BSR. Among them, the mapping relationship between the index and the value of the BSR is shown in Table 1. Table 1 takes the mapping relationship between the index and the value of the BSR in the media access control layer control unit (MAC CE) as an example. In other embodiments, there may be other mapping relationships, which are not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0065] Index BSR Value Index BSR Value 0 0 8 Less than or equal to 102 1 Less than or equal to 10 9 Less than or equal to 142 2 Less than or equal to 14 10 Less than or equal to 198 3 Less than or equal to 20 11 Less than or equal to 276 4 Less than or equal to 28 12 Less than or equal to 384 5 Less than or equal to 38 13 Less than or equal to 535 6 Less than or equal to 53 14 Less than or equal to 745 7 Less than or equal to 74 15 Less than or equal to 1038

[0066] Table 1

[0067] When receiving the first resource configuration information from the network device, the terminal device can determine whether there is data to be sent in the uplink buffer queue, that is, whether there is a first data packet. If yes, the terminal device can generate a BSR based on the first data packet.

[0068] If it does not exist, the terminal device can generate a BSR based on the preset data volume. For example, if the data volume of the first data packet is represented by BSR as 254, the index sent by the terminal device to the network device can be 11. If there is no data to be sent in the uplink cache queue, the index sent by the terminal device to the network device can be 1. In this way, when there is data to be sent in the uplink cache queue, that is, there is a first data packet, the terminal device can send the first data packet to the network device in a timely manner.

[0069] After receiving the BSR, the network device may continue to configure uplink resources for the terminal device, and send the second resource configuration information for configuring the uplink resources to the terminal device. The resource type included in the uplink resource may, for example, refer to the resource type of the uplink resource configured by the first resource configuration information, or may also be other resource types, that is, the resource type configured by the second resource configuration information may be the same as the resource type configured by the first resource configuration information, or may be different, which is not limited here.

[0070] After receiving the first data packet, the network device may send the first data packet to the server of the first application. After receiving the first data packet, the server may execute a process of establishing a connection with the terminal device. The connection is, for example, a TCP / IP connection.

[0071] In the above technical solution, the terminal device can send an SR to the network device in advance to obtain uplink resources, so that the terminal device can send the first data packet to the network device in time after generating the first data packet, shortening the time it takes for the terminal device to establish a connection with the server of the first application, and reducing the time it takes for the terminal device to establish a connection with the server of the first application. Also, when the terminal device detects the first operation of starting the first application, it can initiate a process of establishing an RRC connection to the network device while generating a data packet, which helps to reduce the delay of application startup.

[0072] As follows Figure 4 and Figure 5 Two embodiments are introduced. Figure 3 The illustrated embodiment introduces two examples of the communication method.

[0073] Please refer to Figure 4 ,for Figure 3 The embodiment shown is a flowchart of an example of a communication method provided in the embodiment. In this example, it is taken that when the terminal device detects a first operation of starting a first application, the terminal device is in an RRC connected state.

[0074] S401: When the terminal device detects a first operation of starting a first application, the terminal device generates a first data packet and estimates a third time when the first data packet is generated.

[0075] S402: The terminal device sends an SR to the network device at the first moment. Correspondingly, the network device receives the SR from the terminal device.

[0076] S403: The network device sends the first resource configuration information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first resource configuration information from the network device.

[0077] S404: The terminal device sends a BSR to the network device based on the first resource configuration information. Correspondingly, the network device receives the BSR from the terminal device.

[0078] S405: The network device sends the second resource configuration information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the second resource configuration information from the network device.

[0079] S406: The terminal device sends a first data packet to the network device based on the second resource configuration information. Correspondingly, the network device receives the first data packet from the terminal device.

[0080] S407: The network device sends the first data packet to the server of the first application. Correspondingly, the server of the first application receives the first data packet from the network device.

[0081] S408: The terminal device establishes a connection with the server of the first application.

[0082] In the above technical solution, if the terminal device detects the first operation of starting the first application while the terminal device is in an RRC connected state, the terminal device can estimate the time of generating the first data packet and send an SR to the network device before the time of generating the first data packet, thereby shortening the delay of starting the first application.

[0083] Please refer to Figure 5 ,for Figure 3 The embodiment shown is a flowchart of another example of a communication method provided in the embodiment. In this example, it is taken that when the terminal device detects a first operation of starting a first application, the terminal device is in a non-RRC connected state.

[0084] S501: When a terminal device detects a first operation of starting a first application, it generates a first data packet and sends a first request to a network device to request to establish an RRC connection. Correspondingly, the network device receives the first request from the terminal device.

[0085] S502: The terminal device sends an SR to the network device at the first moment or the second moment. Correspondingly, the network device receives the SR from the terminal device.

[0086] S503: The network device sends the first resource configuration information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first resource configuration information from the network device.

[0087] S504: The terminal device sends a BSR to the network device based on the first resource configuration information. Correspondingly, the network device receives the BSR from the terminal device.

[0088] S505: The network device sends the second resource configuration information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the second resource configuration information from the network device.

[0089] S506: The terminal device sends a first data packet to the network device based on the second resource configuration information. Correspondingly, the network device receives the first data packet from the terminal device.

[0090] S507: The network device sends the first data packet to the server of the first application. Correspondingly, the server of the first application receives the first data packet from the network device.

[0091] S508: The terminal device establishes a connection with the server of the first application.

[0092] In the above technical solution, if the terminal device is in a non-RRC connection state when detecting the first operation of starting the first application, the terminal device can generate the first data packet and establish the RRC connection in parallel, thereby shortening the delay of starting the first application. In addition, the terminal device can estimate the time of generating the first data packet, and send an SR to the network device at the time of sending the SR before the time of generating the first data packet, thereby further shortening the delay of starting the first application.

[0093] Figure 4 and Figure 5 For the description of the technical features involved in the example shown, please refer to the relevant description of S301 to S303, which will not be repeated here.

[0094] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application is given. The communication device 600 may be Figure 3 to Figure 5 The terminal device or the circuit system of the terminal device described in the embodiment shown in any of the drawings is used to implement the method corresponding to the terminal device in the above method embodiment. For example, one circuit system is a chip system.

[0095] The communication device 600 includes at least one processor 601. The processor 601 can be used for internal processing of the device to implement certain control processing functions. Optionally, the processor 601 includes instructions. Optionally, the processor 601 can store data. Optionally, different processors can be independent devices, can be located in different physical locations, and can be located on different integrated circuits. Optionally, different processors can be integrated into one or more processors, for example, integrated on one or more integrated circuits.

[0096] Optionally, the communication device 600 includes one or more memories 603 for storing instructions. Optionally, data may also be stored in the memory 603. The processor and memory may be provided separately or integrated together.

[0097] Optionally, the communication device 600 includes a communication line 602 and at least one communication interface 604. Since the memory 603, the communication line 602 and the communication interface 604 are all optional, Figure 6 Indicated by dotted lines.

[0098] Optionally, the communication device 600 may further include a transceiver and / or an antenna. The transceiver may be used to send information to other devices or receive information from other devices. The transceiver may be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, an input / output interface, etc., and is used to implement the transceiver function of the communication device 600 through an antenna. Optionally, the transceiver includes a transmitter and a receiver. Exemplarily, the transmitter may be used to generate a radio frequency signal from a baseband signal, and the receiver may be used to convert the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal.

[0099] The processor 601 may include a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the program of the present application.

[0100] The communication link 602 may include a pathway to transmit information between the above-mentioned components.

[0101] The communication interface 604 uses any transceiver-like device for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as Ethernet, radio access network (RAN), wireless local area networks (WLAN), wired access networks, etc.

[0102] The memory 603 may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM) or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compressed optical disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, Blu-ray disc, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or 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. The memory 603 may exist independently and be connected to the processor 601 via the communication line 602. Alternatively, the memory 603 may also be integrated with the processor 601.

[0103] The memory 603 is used to store computer-executable instructions for executing the solution of the present application, and the execution is controlled by the processor 601. The processor 601 is used to execute the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 603, thereby realizing Figure 3 to Figure 5 The steps performed by the terminal device described in the embodiments shown in any of the accompanying drawings.

[0104] Optionally, the computer-executable instructions in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as application code, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0105] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the processor 601 may include one or more CPUs, such as Figure 6 CPU0 and CPU1 in.

[0106] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication device 600 may include multiple processors, such as Figure 6 601 and processor 605 in the embodiment of the present invention. Each of these processors may be a single-CPU processor or a multi-CPU processor. The processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and / or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

[0107] when Figure 6When the device shown is a chip, for example, a chip of a terminal device, the chip includes a processor 601 (may also include a processor 605), a communication line 602 and a communication interface 604, and optionally, the chip may include a memory 603. Specifically, the communication interface 604 may be an input interface, a pin or a circuit, etc. The memory 603 may be a register, a cache, etc. The processor 601 and the processor 605 may be a general-purpose CPU, a microprocessor, an ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the program of the communication method of any of the above embodiments.

[0108] The embodiment of the present application can divide the functional modules of the device according to the above method example. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic and is only a logical functional division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation. For example, in the case of dividing each functional module according to each function, Figure 7 A schematic diagram of a device is shown, and the device 700 may be a terminal device involved in each of the above method embodiments, or a chip in the terminal device. The device 700 includes a sending unit 701, a processing unit 702 and a receiving unit 703.

[0109] It should be understood that the apparatus 700 can be used to implement the steps performed by the terminal device in the communication method of the embodiment of the present application, and the relevant features can refer to the above Figure 3 to Figure 5 Any one of the embodiments shown in any of the accompanying drawings will not be described in detail here.

[0110] Optional, Figure 7 The functions / implementation processes of the sending unit 701, the receiving unit 703 and the processing unit 702 can be Figure 6 The processor 601 in the embodiment calls the computer execution instructions stored in the memory 603 to implement. Or, Figure 7 The function / implementation process of the processing unit 702 in Figure 6 The processor 601 in the embodiment calls the computer execution instruction stored in the memory 603 to implement, Figure 7 The functions / implementation processes of the sending unit 701 and the receiving unit 703 can be Figure 6 It is implemented by the communication interface 604 in.

[0111] Optionally, when the device 700 is a chip or a circuit, the functions / implementation processes of the sending unit 701 and the receiving unit 703 can also be implemented through pins or circuits.

[0112] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is run, the method performed by the terminal device in the above method embodiment is implemented. In this way, the functions described in the above embodiments can be implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application can be essentially or in other words, the part that contributes or the part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

[0113] The present application also provides a computer program product, which includes: a computer program code, when the computer program code is run on a computer, the computer executes the method executed by the terminal device in any of the aforementioned method embodiments.

[0114] An embodiment of the present application also provides a processing device, including a processor and an interface; the processor is used to execute the method executed by the terminal device involved in any of the above method embodiments.

[0115] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from a website site, computer, server or data center by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) mode to another website site, computer, server or data center. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media integrated. The available medium may be a magnetic medium, (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a solid state disk (SSD)), etc.

[0116] The various illustrative logic units and circuits described in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented or operated by a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gates or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination of the above. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor, and optionally, the general-purpose processor can also be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller or state machine. The processor can also be implemented by a combination of computing devices, such as a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors combined with a digital signal processor core, or any other similar configuration.

[0117] The steps of the method or algorithm described in the embodiments of the present application can be directly embedded in the hardware, the software unit executed by the processor, or the combination of the two. The software unit can be stored in RAM, flash memory, ROM, erasable programmable read-only memory (erasable programmable read-only memory, EPROM), EEPROM, register, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM or other storage media of any form in the art. Exemplarily, the storage medium can be connected to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and can write information to the storage medium. Optionally, the storage medium can also be integrated into the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be arranged in an ASIC, and the ASIC can be arranged in a terminal device. Optionally, the processor and the storage medium can also be arranged in different components in the terminal device.

[0118] 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.

[0119] The contents of the various embodiments of the present application may refer to each other. If there is no special explanation and logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments are consistent and can be referenced to each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their internal logical relationships.

[0120] It is understandable that in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device can perform some or all of the steps in the embodiment of the present application, and these steps or operations are only examples. In the embodiment of the present application, other operations or variations of various operations can also be performed. In addition, the various steps can be performed in different orders presented in the embodiment of the present application, and it is possible that not all operations in the embodiment of the present application need to be performed.

Claims

1. A communication method, It is characterized in that Applied to a terminal device, the method comprises: Sending a scheduling request SR to a network device at a first moment or a second moment, where the SR is used to request uplink resources, and the first moment and the second moment are timings configured by the network device to send the SR; Among them, the first moment is earlier than the third moment, the third moment is the estimated moment of generating the first data packet when the first operation of starting the first application is detected, the first data packet is used to request to establish a connection with the server of the first application, and the second moment is the first opportunity to send the SR after the terminal device establishes a wireless resource control RRC connection with the network device.

2. The method according to claim 1, It is characterized in that Sending an SR to a network device at a first moment or a second moment includes: If the terminal device is in an RRC connected state when the first operation is detected, sending the SR to the network device at the first moment; If the terminal device is in a non-RRC connected state when the first operation is detected, the terminal device sends the SR to the network device at the first moment or the second moment after establishing an RRC connection with the network device.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, It is characterized in that If the terminal device is in a non-RRC connected state when the first operation is detected, the method further includes: When a first operation of starting the first application is detected, a first request is sent to the network device, where the first request is used to request to establish an RRC connection.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, It is characterized in that The time interval between the first moment and the third moment is smaller than the SR sending period configured by the network device.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, It is characterized in that The method further comprises: A buffer status report BSR is sent to the network device based on the uplink resources configured by the network device, where the BSR is used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted.

6. The method according to claim 5, It is characterized in that When generating the BSR, if the first data packet is not generated, the amount of data to be transmitted is a preset amount of data.

7. A communication device, It is characterized in that The method comprises a processor and a memory, wherein the memory is coupled to the processor, and the processor is used to call computer instructions in the memory to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

8. A computer-readable storage medium, It is characterized in that The method comprises a computer program, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

9. A computer program product, It is characterized in that When the method is executed on a computer, the computer is enabled to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

10. A chip system, It is characterized in that The method comprises: a processor, configured to call and run a computer program from a memory, so that the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6 is implemented.

Images