Time delay control method and related device

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a time delay control method and a related device, and the method comprises the steps: receiving first information transmitted by an application server, the first information indicating an end-to-end transmission time delay requirement of a first data flow, and the end-to-end transmission time delay requirement is a transmission time delay requirement for data transmission between first terminal equipment and second terminal equipment; and generating a policy and charging control (PCC) rule according to the first information, the PCC rule being used for indicating an uplink transmission delay requirement of a first data stream from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, and / or a downlink transmission delay requirement of a first data stream from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device. By configuring the end-to-end delay requirement of the first data stream, the end-to-end delay guarantee between terminal devices is realized, various service requirements are met, and the communication quality is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a delay control method and related devices. Background Art

[0002] In the current quality of service (QoS) model, after receiving a data packet, a user plane function (UPF) maps the data packet to the same QoS flow for transmission according to a packet detection rule (PDR). Each QoS flow is associated with a QoS profile, and the QoS profile includes QoS-related parameters, such as a packet delay budget (PDB). The PDB refers to the upper limit of the time for a data packet to be transmitted between the UPF and the terminal device.

[0003] With the development of fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication technology, media service traffic has shown exponential growth. With the evolution of services, media service traffic such as high-definition video services and extended reality (XR) services has emerged. For such new media service traffic, there may be a service requirement for data interaction between multiple terminal devices. For example, in XR media services, multiple users corresponding to multiple terminal devices need to play games simultaneously, so data related to the games needs to be interacted between the multiple terminal devices.

[0004] In the current QoS model, delay control only targets the transmission between the UPF and the terminal device. How to control the end-to-end transmission delay between terminal devices has become a technical problem to be solved urgently. Summary of the Invention

[0005] In a first aspect, an embodiment of this application provides a delay control method, which is applied to a policy control function network element, and the method includes:

[0006] Receiving first information sent by an application server, where the first information indicates an end-to-end transmission delay requirement of a first data stream, and the end-to-end transmission delay requirement is a transmission delay requirement for data transmission between a first terminal device and a second terminal device;

[0007] Generate a policy and charging control (PCC) rule according to the first information, where the PCC rule is used to indicate the quality of service (QoS) requirements of a first QoS flow and / or the QoS requirements of a second QoS flow. The QoS requirements of the first QoS flow include the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, and the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow include the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device.

[0008] It should be noted that the first user plane function network element and the second user plane function network element may be the same user plane function network element or different user plane function network elements. The first user plane function network element is the user plane function network element serving the first terminal device, and the second user plane function network element is the user plane function network element serving the second terminal device.

[0009] It should be noted that when the network includes a first session management function network element and a second session management function network element, the first session management function network element is the session management function network element of the first terminal device, and the second session management function network element is the session management function network element of the second terminal device. The policy control function network element may send a first PCC rule to the first session management function network element, where the first PCC rule is used to indicate the QoS requirements of the first QoS flow; the policy control function network element may send a second PCC rule to the second session management function network element, where the second PCC rule is used to indicate the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow.

[0010] In the embodiment of the present application, the policy management function network element generates a PCC rule according to the end-to-end delay requirement of the first data stream configured by the application server. The PCC rule is used to indicate the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream. So that each network element or device in the uplink direction of the first data stream in the network guarantees the delay of the data packets of the first data stream according to the PCC rule, and each network element or device in the downlink direction of the first data stream in the network guarantees the delay of the data packets of the first data stream according to the PCC rule. Through the coordinated cooperation between each network element or device, end-to-end delay guarantee between terminal devices is achieved, various service requirements are met, and communication quality is improved.

[0011] Combined with the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the PCC rule includes: first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the first terminal device adds first time information of the data packet to the data packet of the first data stream, and the first time information indicates the time information when the first terminal device generates or sends the data packet.

[0012] In one example, the first terminal device adds first time information to the data packet transmitted in the first QoS flow according to the first indication information, where the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the data packet.

[0013] Optionally, the first indication information is further used to instruct the user plane function network element to add the first time information to the data packet of the first data stream. Specifically, the user plane function network element extracts the first time information from the data packet of the first data stream according to the first indication information. Then the user plane function network element adds the first time information to the data packet again. For example, the first time information is added to the general packet radio service tunneling protocol - user plane (GTP-U) header of the data packet. The user plane function network element forwards the data packet of the first data stream with the first time information added to the GTP-U header to the second terminal device through the first data stream.

[0014] Optionally, the first indication information is further used to instruct the access network device to send the data packet to the second terminal device within the transmission delay budget of the data packet of the first data stream. Specifically, the access network device sends the data packet to the second terminal device within the transmission delay budget of the data packet of the first data stream according to the first indication information.

[0015] In the embodiments of the present application, through the explicit first indication information, each network element or device is instructed to provide end-to-end delay guarantee services for the first data stream, improving the communication quality.

[0016] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the PCC rule further includes: the end-to-end transmission delay budget of the first data stream, where the end-to-end transmission delay budget is the transmission delay budget for transmitting data between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The PCC rule may further include: the end-to-end transmission delay budget of the first data stream, improving the implementation flexibility of the solution.

[0017] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream includes: the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, and the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device. Improving the implementation flexibility of the solution.

[0018] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the sum of the uplink transmission delay requirement and the downlink transmission delay requirement satisfies being less than or equal to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement. By defining that the sum of the uplink transmission delay requirement and the downlink transmission delay requirement satisfies being less than or equal to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement, it ensures that the data packets of the first data stream are end-to-end transmitted within the specified transmission delay requirement, improving the communication quality. For example, the sum of the uplink transmission delay requirement, the first transmission delay value, the downlink transmission delay requirement, and the second transmission delay value satisfies being less than or equal to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement.

[0019] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, generating the Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rule according to the first information includes: obtaining a first transmission delay value from the application server to the first user plane function network element and / or a second transmission delay value from the application server to the second user plane function network element; determining the QoS requirement of the first QoS flow and / or the QoS requirement of the second QoS flow according to the first information and the first transmission delay value and / or the second transmission delay value. During the process of generating the PCC rule, the transmission delay value between the application server and the user plane function network element, such as the N6 transmission delay value, can also be considered, further improving the accuracy of the end-to-end delay guarantee service and the communication quality.

[0020] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, generating the PCC rule according to the first information includes: generating a first PCC rule according to the first information, where the first PCC rule is used to indicate the QoS requirement of the first QoS flow; generating a second PCC rule according to the first information, where the second PCC rule is used to indicate the QoS requirement of the second QoS flow.

[0021] Optionally, it can be the same policy management function network element that generates multiple PCC rules, or different policy management function network elements that generate different PCC rules. In the embodiments of the present application, when there are multiple policy management function network elements in the network, multiple PCC rules related to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream can also be negotiated and generated, improving the implementation flexibility of the solution to meet the needs of different services.

[0022] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation of the first aspect, the method further includes: sending a first subscription request for requesting to provide a first notification service, where the first notification service is to send a first notification message when the transmission delay of the first data stream is greater than or equal to a first threshold; receiving the first notification message indicating that the transmission delay of the first data stream is greater than or equal to the first threshold; and updating the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the first notification message.

[0023] In the embodiments of the present application, the policy management function network element may send the first subscription request to the application server or to the user plane function network element, which improves the implementation flexibility of the solution. The first notification message may be used to notify that the transmission delay of the first data stream is greater than or equal to the first threshold.

[0024] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation of the first aspect, the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream are updated according to the first notification message. Optionally, the first notification message may also include second indication information for indicating the policy management function network element to update the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream, which improves the implementation flexibility of the solution.

[0025] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation of the first aspect, the method further includes: determining a target transmission delay requirement combination from a set of transmission delay requirements, where the set of transmission delay requirements includes one or more sets of transmission delay requirement combinations, and each set of transmission delay requirement combinations includes the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement; and updating the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the target transmission delay requirement combination.

[0026] In the embodiments of the present application, after the policy management function network element receives the first information, generates a PCC rule according to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream, and then generates a set of transmission delay requirements according to the PCC rule. The application server determines the remaining available transmission time of the first data packet according to the first time information and / or the second time information. Then, the target transmission delay requirement combination is determined from the set of transmission delay requirements according to the remaining available transmission time of the first data packet, which improves the delay guarantee performance, ensures the normal operation of the service, and improves the communication quality.

[0027] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation of the first aspect, the method further includes: sending a set of transmission delay requirements, where the set of transmission delay requirements includes one or more sets of transmission delay requirement combinations, and each set of the transmission delay requirement combinations includes the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement; receiving a second notification message, where the second notification message indicates a target transmission delay requirement combination, and the target transmission delay requirement combination belongs to the one or more sets of transmission delay requirement combinations included in the set of transmission delay requirements; and updating the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the second notification message.

[0028] Optionally, the policy management function network element sends a second subscription request to the application server, and the second subscription request is used to request the application server to provide a second notification service, where the second notification service is that the application server determines the target transmission delay requirement from the set of transmission delay requirements and then sends the second notification message.

[0029] In a possible implementation, the policy management function network element includes the set of transmission delay requirements in the second subscription request.

[0030] In another possible implementation, after the policy management function network element receives the first information sent by the application server, it generates a set of transmission delay requirements according to the first information. Then the policy management function network element sends the set of transmission delay requirements to the application server.

[0031] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation of the first aspect, the method further includes: updating the QoS requirements of the first QoS flow and / or the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow according to the updated uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and / or the updated downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream. After the policy management function network element updates the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream, it can update the PCC rule in a timely manner. Specifically, it updates the QoS requirements of the first QoS flow and / or the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow indicated by the PCC rule to ensure timely adjustment of the transmission delay requirements applied by the delay guarantee service and improve the communication quality.

[0032] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the first subscription request further includes: description information of the first data stream, and / or, the first threshold. The description information of the first data stream includes any one or more of the following information: the source Internet Protocol (IP) address of the first data stream, the destination IP address of the first data stream, the source port of the first data stream, the destination port of the first data stream, the transport layer protocol information of the first data stream, the queue pair of the first data stream, the service type of the first data stream, or the port index of the first data stream.

[0033] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: obtaining the time when the first terminal device sends or generates a first data packet, where the first data packet belongs to the first data stream; updating the second PCC rule according to the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the first data packet. Alternatively, the policy control function network element may also obtain the time when the first user plane function network element receives or sends the first data packet, or the time when the application server receives or sends the first data packet, and update the PCC rule. In the embodiments of the present application, the policy management function network element may update the PCC rule in a timely manner according to the actual transmission situation of the data packets in the first data stream, and then adjust the transmission delay requirements applied to the delay guarantee service in a timely manner, so as to improve the communication quality.

[0034] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a delay control method, which is applied to an application server or an application function network element. The method includes: sending a first message, where the first message indicates an end-to-end transmission delay requirement of a first data stream, and the end-to-end transmission delay requirement is a transmission delay requirement for transmitting data between a first terminal device and a second terminal device, and the end-to-end transmission delay requirement is used for a wireless communication network to determine the transmission delay requirement of the wireless communication network from the first terminal device to the second terminal device.

[0035] In the embodiments of the present application, the application server may send the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream to each network element or device in the network. The end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is the transmission delay requirement for transmitting data between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. Through the coordinated cooperation among the network elements or devices, end-to-end delay guarantee between the terminal devices is achieved, various service requirements are met, and the communication quality is improved.

[0036] Combined with the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the first information further includes: description information of the first data stream, and the description information of the first data stream includes any one or more of the following information: the source Internet Protocol (IP) address of the first data stream, the destination IP address of the first data stream, the source port of the first data stream, the destination port of the first data stream, the transport layer protocol information of the first data stream, the queue pair of the first data stream, the service type of the first data stream, or the port index of the first data stream. By carrying the description information of the first data stream, the first information realizes the association and binding of the transmission delay requirement with the first data stream.

[0037] Combined with the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the description information of the first data stream included in the first information may include the description information of the uplink data stream, and / or the description information of the downlink data stream. The content included in the description information of the uplink data stream or the downlink data stream is the same as the content of the description information of the first data stream, and only needs to be correspondingly modified to the uplink data stream or the downlink data stream.

[0038] Combined with the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the first information indicates: the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream, and the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream indicates the upper limit value of the transmission time of the data packets in the first data stream. This improves the implementation flexibility of the solution.

[0039] Combined with the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes: obtaining first time information, where the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the first data packet, and the first data packet is carried on the first data stream; and / or, obtaining second time information, where the second time information indicates the time when the application server receives the first data packet, or the second time information indicates the time when the application server sends the first data packet to the second terminal device.

[0040] Optionally, update the end-to-end transmission delay requirement according to the first time information and the second time information.

[0041] Specifically, the application server determines the remaining available transmission time of the first data packet according to the first time information and the second time information. Then, according to the remaining available transmission time of the first data packet and the first threshold, it determines whether to update the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream, and further determines whether to send a first notification message to the policy management function network element. In a possible example, when the remaining available transmission time of the first data packet is less than or equal to the first threshold, a first notification message is sent to the policy management function network element; when the remaining available transmission time of the first data packet is greater than the first threshold, no first notification message is sent.

[0042] It should be noted that updating the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream in the embodiments of the present application can either update the upper limit value of the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream or update the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream. For example, before the update, the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is 20 milliseconds, and after the update, the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is 30 milliseconds. Another example, before the update, the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is 15 milliseconds, and the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is 15 milliseconds; after the update, the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is 10 milliseconds, and the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is 20 milliseconds.

[0043] In the embodiments of the present application, the application server can timely adjust the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the actual transmission situation of the data packets of the first data stream, improving the adaptability to different service scenarios, meeting various service requirements, and improving communication quality.

[0044] Combined with the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, updating the end-to-end transmission delay requirement according to the first time information and / or the second time information includes: receiving a set of transmission delay requirements sent by the policy control function (PCF), where the set of transmission delay requirements includes one or more groups of transmission delay requirement combinations, and each group of transmission delay requirement combinations includes the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement; determining a target transmission delay requirement combination from the set of transmission delay requirements according to the first time information and / or the second time information, where the target transmission delay requirement combination belongs to the set of transmission delay requirements; and updating the end-to-end transmission delay requirement according to the target transmission delay requirement combination.

[0045] In the embodiments of the present application, the policy management function network element can send a set of transmission delay requirements related to the first data stream to the application server, so that the application server can determine or update the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the set of transmission delay requirements, improving the delay guarantee performance, ensuring the normal operation of services, and improving communication quality.

[0046] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, determining or updating the end-to-end transmission delay requirement according to the set of transmission delay requirements includes: sending a second notification message to the policy management function, where the second notification message indicates the target transmission delay requirement combination.

[0047] In the embodiments of the present application, after the application server updates the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the set of transmission delay requirements, it may also notify the policy management function to update the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream, so as to improve the delay guarantee performance, ensure the normal operation of the service, and improve the communication quality.

[0048] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the method further includes: receiving a first subscription request sent by a policy management function network element, where the first subscription request is used to request to provide a first notification service, and the first notification service is to send a first notification message when the transmission delay of the first data stream is greater than or equal to a first threshold; obtaining first time information, where the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends a first data packet, and the first data packet is carried on the first data stream; and / or, obtaining second time information, where the second time information indicates the time when the application server receives the first data packet, or the second time information indicates the time when the application server sends the first data packet to the second terminal device; determining whether to send the first notification message to the policy management function network element according to the first time information and / or the second time information, and the first threshold.

[0049] In the embodiments of the present application, the policy management function network element may subscribe to the first notification service from the application server, so as to update the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream in a timely manner according to the first notification message of the application server, improve the delay guarantee performance, ensure the normal operation of the service, and improve the communication quality.

[0050] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the first information includes: the QoS requirement of the first Quality of Service (QoS) flow, and / or, the QoS requirement of the second QoS flow, where the QoS requirement of the first QoS flow includes the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, and the QoS requirement of the second QoS flow includes the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device. There are various possible implementation manners of the first information, which improves the implementation flexibility of the solution.

[0051] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation of the second aspect, the first information includes: QoS parameters of a first Quality of Service (QoS) flow, and / or QoS parameters of a second QoS flow, where the QoS parameters of the first QoS flow include the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data flow from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, and the QoS parameters of the second QoS flow include the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data flow from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device. There are various possible implementation manners of the first information, which improves the implementation flexibility of the solution.

[0052] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation of the second aspect, the first information is further used to indicate the packet detection rule of the first data flow. There are various possible implementation manners of the first information, which improves the implementation flexibility of the solution.

[0053] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation of the second aspect, the first information further includes: a first transmission delay value between the application server and the first user plane function network element, and a second transmission delay value between the application server and the second user plane function network element, where the first user plane function network element provides services for the first terminal device, and the second user plane function network element provides services for the second terminal device. The application server can also provide the transmission delay value between the application server and the user plane function network element, such as the N6 transmission delay value, further improving the accuracy of the end-to-end delay guarantee service and improving the communication quality.

[0054] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation of the second aspect, the first user plane function network element and the second user plane function network element are the same user plane function network element.

[0055] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation of the second aspect, the method further includes: receiving the first data packet sent by the first terminal device, where the first data packet is carried on the first data flow; and sending the first data packet with first time information added to the second terminal device, where the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the first data packet. The application server can obtain the first time information from the data packet and then add the first time information to the outer message header of the data packet, such as the GTP-U message header, to facilitate other network elements or devices to obtain the first time information. In a possible implementation manner, the address information of the first data packet sent by the application server to the second terminal device is different from that of the first data packet received by the application server from the first terminal device.

[0056] Third aspect, an embodiment of the present application proposes a delay control method, which is applied to a session management function network element. The method includes: receiving a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rule; according to the PCC rule, obtaining third information, where the third information includes the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements of a first QoS flow, and / or the QoS requirements of a second QoS flow, and the QoS requirements of the first QoS flow include the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, and the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow include the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device; sending the third information.

[0057] In an embodiment of the present application, after receiving the PCC rule, the session management function network element can obtain third information according to the PCC rule, where the third information may include the uplink transmission delay requirement and the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream. For example, the third information includes: the QoS rule of the first QoS flow sent to the first terminal device; the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream sent to the access network device; the QoS parameters of the first QoS flow and / or the QoS parameters of the second QoS flow sent to the access network device; the packet detection rule of the first data stream and / or the QoS execution rule of the first data stream sent to the user plane function network element. Then, the session management function network element sends the third information to other network elements or devices, so that each network element or device in the uplink direction of the first data stream in the network can perform delay guarantee on the packets of the first data stream according to the third information, and each network element or device in the downlink direction of the first data stream in the network can perform delay guarantee on the packets of the first data stream according to the third information. Through the coordinated cooperation among various network elements or devices, end-to-end delay guarantee between terminal devices is achieved, various service requirements are met, and communication quality is improved.

[0058] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, sending the third information includes: sending the third information to the first terminal device, where the third information includes the QoS rule of the first QoS flow, and the QoS rule of the first QoS flow instructs the first terminal device to add the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the packet in the packet transmitted in the first data stream.

[0059] In an embodiment of the present application, the session management function network element can also instruct the first terminal device to add first time information in the packets of the first QoS flow through the QoS rule of the first QoS flow, and the first time information is used to indicate the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the packet. So that other network elements in the network can obtain the first time information of the packet, which is convenient for realizing delay guarantee.

[0060] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the session management function network element sends the third information, including: sending the third information to the first terminal device, where the third information includes first indication information, and the first indication information indicates that the first terminal device adds time information of sending or generating the data packet in the data packet transmitted in the first data stream.

[0061] In an example, the QoS rule of the first QoS flow includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the first terminal device adds first time information of the data packet in the data packet of the first data stream, and the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the data packet, so that the first terminal device adds the time information of sending or generating the data packet in the data packet transmitted in the first QoS flow according to the first indication information.

[0062] In the embodiments of the present application, the session management function network element may also indicate, through explicit first indication information, that the first terminal device adds first time information in the data packet of the first QoS flow, and the first time information is used to indicate the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the data packet. So that other network elements in the network can obtain the first time information of the data packet, which is convenient for realizing delay guarantee.

[0063] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, sending the third information includes: sending the third information to the access network device, where the third information includes: the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream, and the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream indicates the upper limit value of the transmission time of the data packet in the first data stream, and the access network device provides communication services for the second terminal device. There are various possible implementation manners of the third information, which improves the implementation flexibility of the solution.

[0064] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, sending the third information includes: sending the third information to an access network device, where the third information includes: QoS parameters of the first QoS flow, and / or QoS parameters of the second QoS flow, where the QoS parameters of the first QoS flow include an uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data flow from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, and the QoS parameters of the second QoS flow include a downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data flow from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device. There are various possible implementation manners of the third information, which improves the implementation flexibility of the solution. For example, the session management function network element sends the QoS parameters of the first QoS flow to the first access network device, and the session management function network element sends the QoS parameters of the second QoS flow to the second access network device.

[0065] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, sending the third information includes: sending the third information to a user plane function network element, where the third information includes: a packet detection rule of the first data flow and / or a QoS execution rule of the first data flow, and the QoS execution rule of the first data flow is used to instruct the user plane function network element to add the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the packet in the packet of the first data flow. There are various possible implementation manners of the third information, which improves the implementation flexibility of the solution.

[0066] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a delay control method, which is applied to an access network device. The method includes: receiving a packet of the first data flow, where the packet includes first time information indicating that a first terminal device generates or sends the packet; and determining a transmission delay budget of the packet according to an end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data flow and the first time information of the packet, where the end-to-end transmission delay requirement is a transmission delay requirement for transmitting data between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0067] In the embodiment of the present application, after receiving the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data flow, the access network device may, according to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement, after receiving the packet of the first data flow in the downlink direction, send the packet to the second terminal device according to the transmission delay budget of the packet, so as to ensure that the packet of the first data flow is transmitted from the first terminal device to the second terminal device within the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data flow, realize end-to-end transmission delay guarantee, and improve communication quality.

[0068] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the method further includes: receiving third information sent by a session management function network element, where the third information includes the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream.

[0069] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, according to the first time information of the data packet and the reception time when the access network device receives the data packet, determine a first time period of the data packet, where the first time period indicates the transmission time of the data packet from the first terminal device to the access network device; according to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and the first time period of the data packet, determine the transmission delay budget of the data packet; and within the transmission delay budget of the data packet, send the data packet to the second terminal device.

[0070] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, within the transmission delay budget of the data packet, sending the data packet to the second terminal device includes: preferentially sending the data packet with a lower transmission delay budget to the second terminal device. For example: receiving a first data packet in the first data stream; determining the transmission delay budget of the first data packet; receiving a third data packet in the first data stream; determining the transmission delay budget of the third data packet; and preferentially sending the first data packet according to the transmission delay budget of the first data packet and the transmission delay budget of the third data packet, where the transmission delay budget of the first data packet is lower than the transmission delay budget of the third data packet.

[0071] In the embodiments of the present application, when multiple data packets of a first data stream arrive at an access network device in the downlink direction and the access network device has not yet sent these data packets to be sent to a second terminal device, the access network device may determine the priority of sending these data packets to be sent according to the transmission delay budget of the data packets to be sent. Taking the first data packet of the first data stream and the third data packet of the first data stream as an example: after the access network device receives the first data packet, it determines the transmission delay budget of the first data packet; after the access network device receives the third data packet, it determines the transmission delay budget of the third data packet. If the transmission delay budget of the first data packet is less than the transmission delay budget of the third data packet, the access network device preferentially sends the first data packet to the second terminal device.

[0072] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, obtain the air interface transmission delay from the access network device to the second terminal device; according to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream, the air interface transmission delay from the access network device to the second terminal device, and the first time information of the data packet, determine the transmission delay budget of the data packet.

[0073] In the embodiments of the present application, when determining the transmission delay budget of a data packet, the access network device may further consider the air interface transmission delay from the second terminal device to the access network device, further improving the delay control accuracy and the communication quality.

[0074] Combined with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the third information includes: the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream, and the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream indicates the upper limit value of the transmission time of the data packets in the first data stream. There are various possible implementation manners of the third information, improving the implementation flexibility of the solution.

[0075] In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application propose a delay control method, which is applied to a user plane function network element. The method includes: receiving third information, where the third information includes a packet detection rule PDR of a first data stream; receiving a first data packet, where the first data packet is sent by the first terminal device, and the third data packet is carried in the first QoS flow; detecting the first data packet according to the packet detection rule PDR of the first data stream included in the third information. Then, according to the QoS flow execution rule of the first data stream included in the first information, add first time information to the first data packet, where the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the first data packet; send the first data packet including the first time information.

[0076] In the embodiments of the present application, the user plane function network element adds first time information to the first data packet of the first data stream according to the indication of the third information, and the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the first data packet. The user plane function network element may obtain the first time information from the data packet, and then add the first time information to the outer message header of the data packet, such as the GTP-U message header, to facilitate other network elements or devices to obtain the first time information.

[0077] Combined with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the method further includes: receiving a first subscription request, where the first subscription request is used to request to provide a first notification service, and the first notification service is to send a first notification message when the transmission delay of the first data stream is greater than or equal to a first threshold; obtaining first time information, where the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends a first data packet, and the first data packet is carried in the first data stream; obtaining third time information, where the third time information indicates the reception time when the user plane function network element receives or sends the first data packet; determining whether to send the first notification message to the policy management function network element according to the first time information, the third time information, and the first threshold.

[0078] In the embodiments of the present application, the policy management function network element may subscribe to a first notification service from the user plane function network element, so that the policy management function network element can update the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream in a timely manner according to the first notification message of the user plane function network element, improve the delay guarantee performance, ensure the normal operation of services, and improve the communication quality.

[0079] In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a delay control method, which is applied to a terminal device. The method includes: the terminal device receives third information, where the third information includes a QoS rule of a first QoS flow; determining a data packet to be sent according to the QoS rule of the first QoS flow included in the third information, where the data packet to be sent is carried on the first QoS flow; sending the data packet, where the data packet carries first time information, and the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the data packet.

[0080] In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device carries first time information in the first data packet of the first data stream according to the indication of the third information, and the first time information indicates the time when the terminal device sends or generates the first data packet. This facilitates other network elements or devices to obtain the first time information.

[0081] In combination with the sixth aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, adding the first time information to the data packet includes: adding the first time information to the General Packet Radio Service User Plane Tunneling Protocol (GTP-U) header of the data packet; or adding the first time information to the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) header of the data packet.

[0082] In combination with the sixth aspect, in a possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the QoS rule of the first QoS flow includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to instruct the first terminal device to add the first time information of the data packet to the data packet of the first data stream, where the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the data packet.

[0083] In a seventh aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a communication device, which is applied to a policy control function network element. The communication device includes: a transceiver module and a processing module;

[0084] The transceiver module is further configured to receive first information sent by an application server, where the first information indicates an end-to-end transmission delay requirement of a first data stream, and the end-to-end transmission delay requirement is a transmission delay requirement for transmitting data between a first terminal device and a second terminal device;

[0085] The processing module is further configured to generate a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rule according to the first information, where the PCC rule is used to indicate the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements of a first QoS flow and / or the QoS requirements of a second QoS flow. The QoS requirements of the first QoS flow include the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, and the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow include the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device.

[0086] In a possible example, the PCC rule includes: first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the first terminal device adds first time information of the data packet to the data packet of the first data stream, and the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the data packet.

[0087] In a possible example, the PCC rule further includes: the end-to-end transmission delay budget of the first data stream, where the end-to-end transmission delay budget is the transmission delay budget for transmitting data between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0088] In a possible example, the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream includes: the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, and the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device.

[0089] In a possible example, the sum of the uplink transmission delay requirement and the downlink transmission delay requirement satisfies being less than or equal to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement.

[0090] In a possible example,

[0091] The transceiver module is further configured to obtain a first transmission delay value from an application server to the first user plane function network element and / or a second transmission delay value from the application server to the second user plane function network element;

[0092] The processing module is further configured to determine the QoS requirements of the first QoS flow and / or the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow according to the first information, the first transmission delay value, and / or the second transmission delay value.

[0093] In a possible example, the sum of the uplink transmission delay requirement, the first transmission delay value, the downlink transmission delay requirement, and the second transmission delay value satisfies being less than or equal to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement.

[0094] In a possible example,

[0095] The processing module is further configured to generate a first PCC rule according to the first information, where the first PCC rule is used to indicate the QoS requirement of the first QoS flow;

[0096] The processing module is further configured to generate a second PCC rule according to the first information, where the second PCC rule is used to indicate the QoS requirement of the second QoS flow.

[0097] In a possible example,

[0098] The transceiver module is further configured to send a first subscription request, where the first subscription request is used to request to provide a first notification service, and the first notification service is to send a first notification message when the transmission delay of the first data stream is greater than or equal to a first threshold;

[0099] The transceiver module is further configured to receive the first notification message, where the first notification message indicates that the transmission delay of the first data stream is greater than or equal to the first threshold.

[0100] In a possible example, the processing module is further configured to update the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the first notification message.

[0101] In a possible example,

[0102] The transceiver module is further configured to send a second subscription request, where the second subscription request is used to request an application server to provide a second notification service, and the second notification service is to send the second notification message after the application server determines the target transmission delay requirement from the set of transmission delay requirements.

[0103] In a possible example, the processing module is further configured to determine a target transmission delay requirement combination from a set of transmission delay requirements, where the set of transmission delay requirements includes one or more groups of transmission delay requirement combinations, and each group of the transmission delay requirement combinations includes the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement;

[0104] The processing module is further configured to update the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the target transmission delay requirement combination.

[0105] In a possible example,

[0106] The transceiver module is further configured to send a set of transmission delay requirements, where the set of transmission delay requirements includes one or more groups of transmission delay requirement combinations, and each group of transmission delay requirement combinations includes the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement;

[0107] The transceiver module is further configured to receive a second notification message, where the second notification message indicates a target transmission delay requirement combination, and the target transmission delay requirement combination belongs to the set of transmission delay requirements including one or more groups of transmission delay requirement combinations;

[0108] The processing module is further configured to update the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the second notification message.

[0109] In a possible example, according to the updated uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream, update the QoS requirement of the first QoS flow and / or the QoS requirement of the second QoS flow.

[0110] In a possible example, the first subscription request further includes: description information of the first data stream and / or the first threshold.

[0111] In a possible example,

[0112] The transceiver module is further configured to obtain the time when the first terminal device sends or generates a first data packet, where the first data packet belongs to the first data stream:

[0113] The processing module is further configured to update the second PCC rule according to the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the first data packet.

[0114] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, where the communication device is applied to an application server, and the communication device includes: a transceiver module and a processing module;

[0115] The transceiver module is further configured to send first information, where the first information indicates an end-to-end transmission delay requirement of a first data stream, and the end-to-end transmission delay requirement is a transmission delay requirement for transmitting data between a first terminal device and a second terminal device, and the end-to-end transmission delay requirement is used by a wireless communication network to determine a transmission delay requirement of the wireless communication network from the first terminal device to the second terminal device.

[0116] In a possible example, the first information further includes: description information of the first data stream, and the description information of the first data stream includes any one or more of the following information: the source Internet Protocol (IP) address of the first data stream, the destination IP address of the first data stream, the source port of the first data stream, the destination port of the first data stream, the transport layer protocol information of the first data stream, the queue pair of the first data stream, the service type of the first data stream, or the port index of the first data stream.

[0117] In a possible example, the first information includes: the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream, and the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream indicates the upper limit value of the transmission time of the data packets in the first data stream.

[0118] In a possible example,

[0119] The transceiver module is further configured to obtain first time information, where the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends a first data packet, and the first data packet is carried in the first data stream;

[0120] And / or, the transceiver module is further configured to obtain second time information, where the second time information indicates the time when the application server receives the first data packet, or the second time information indicates the time when the application server sends the first data packet to the second terminal device.

[0121] In a possible example, the processing module is further configured to update the end-to-end transmission delay requirement according to the first time information and / or the second time information.

[0122] In a possible example,

[0123] The transceiver module is further configured to receive a set of transmission delay requirements sent by a Policy Control Function (PCF), where the set of transmission delay requirements includes one or more sets of transmission delay requirement combinations, and each set of transmission delay requirement combinations includes the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement;

[0124] The processing module is further configured to determine a target transmission delay requirement combination from the set of transmission delay requirements according to the first time information and / or the second time information, and the target transmission delay requirement combination belongs to the set of transmission delay requirements;

[0125] The processing module is further configured to update the end-to-end transmission delay requirement according to the target transmission delay requirement combination.

[0126] In a possible example,

[0127] The transceiver module is further configured to send a second notification message to the policy management function, where the second notification message indicates the target transmission delay requirement combination.

[0128] In a possible example,

[0129] The transceiver module is further configured to receive a first subscription request sent by a policy management function network element, where the first subscription request is used to request to provide a first notification service, and the first notification service is to send a first notification message when the transmission delay of the first data stream is greater than or equal to a first threshold;

[0130] The transceiver module is further configured to obtain first time information, where the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends a first data packet, and the first data packet is carried on the first data stream;

[0131] And / or, the transceiver module is further configured to obtain second time information, where the second time information indicates the time when the application server receives the first data packet, or the second time information indicates that the application server sends the first data packet to the second terminal device;

[0132] The processing module is further configured to determine whether to send the first notification message to the policy management function network element according to the first time information and / or the second time information, and the first threshold.

[0133] In a possible example, the first subscription request includes: the first threshold.

[0134] In a possible example,

[0135] The transceiver module is further configured to receive a first data packet, and the first data packet is carried on the first data stream;

[0136] The processing module is further configured to obtain the first time information from the first data packet.

[0137] In a possible example, the first information includes: the QoS requirements of a first quality of service (QoS) flow, and / or the QoS requirements of a second QoS flow, where the QoS requirements of the first QoS flow include the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, and the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow include the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device.

[0138] In a possible example, the first information includes: QoS parameters of a first Quality of Service (QoS) flow, and / or QoS parameters of a second QoS flow, where the QoS parameters of the first QoS flow include the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data flow from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, and the QoS parameters of the second QoS flow include the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data flow from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device.

[0139] In a possible example, the first information is further used to indicate the packet detection rule of the first data flow.

[0140] In a possible example, the first information further includes: a first transmission delay value between the application server and the first user plane function network element, and a second transmission delay value between the application server and the second user plane function network element, where the first user plane function network element provides services for the first terminal device, and the second user plane function network element provides services for the second terminal device.

[0141] In a possible example, the first user plane function network element and the second user plane function network element are the same user plane function network element.

[0142] In a possible example,

[0143] The transceiver module is further configured to receive the first data packet sent by the first terminal device, where the first data packet is carried on the first data flow;

[0144] The transceiver module is further configured to send the first data packet with the first time information added to the second terminal device, where the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the first data packet.

[0145] In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which is applied to a session management function network element. The communication device includes: a transceiver module and a processing module;

[0146] The transceiver module is further configured to receive a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rule;

[0147] The transceiver module is further configured to obtain third information according to the PCC rule. The third information includes QoS requirements of a first Quality of Service (QoS) flow, and / or QoS requirements of a second QoS flow. The QoS requirements of the first QoS flow include the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data flow from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, and the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow include the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data flow from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device;

[0148] The transceiver module is further configured to send the third information.

[0149] In a possible example,

[0150] The transceiver module is further configured to send the third information to the first terminal device, where the third information includes the QoS rule of the first QoS flow, and the QoS rule of the first QoS flow instructs the first terminal device to add the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the data packet in the data packet transmitted in the first data stream.

[0151] In a possible example, sending the third information includes: sending the third information to the first terminal device, where the third information includes first indication information.

[0152] The first indication information instructs the first terminal device to add the time information when the first terminal device sends or generates the data packet in the data packet transmitted in the first data stream.

[0153] In a possible example, the QoS rule of the first QoS flow includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to instruct the first terminal device to add the first time information of the data packet in the data packet of the first data stream, where the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the data packet, so that the first terminal device adds the time information when the first terminal device sends or generates the data packet in the data packet transmitted in the first QoS flow according to the first indication information.

[0154] In a possible example,

[0155] The transceiver module is further configured to send the third information to the access network device, where the third information includes: the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream, and the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream indicates the upper limit value of the transmission time of the data packet in the first data stream, and the access network device provides communication services for the second terminal device.

[0156] In a possible example,

[0157] The transceiver module is further configured to send the third information to the access network device, where the third information includes: the QoS parameter of the first QoS flow, and / or, the QoS parameter of the second QoS flow, where the QoS parameter of the first QoS flow includes the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, and the QoS parameter of the second QoS flow includes the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device.

[0158] In a possible example,

[0159] The transceiver module is further configured to send the third information to the user plane function network element, where the third information includes: the packet detection rule of the first data stream and / or the QoS execution rule of the first data stream, and the QoS execution rule of the first data stream is used to instruct the user plane function network element to add the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the packet to the packet of the first data stream.

[0160] In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which is applied to an access network device, and the communication device includes: a transceiver module and a processing module;

[0161] The transceiver module is further configured to receive a packet of the first data stream, where the packet includes first time information indicating that a first terminal device generates or sends the packet;

[0162] The processing module is further configured to send the packet to the second terminal device according to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and the first time information of the packet, where the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is the transmission delay requirement for data transmission between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

[0163] In a possible example,

[0164] The processing module is further configured to determine a first time period of the packet according to the first time information of the packet and the reception time when the access network device receives the packet, where the first time period indicates the transmission time of the packet from the first terminal device to the access network device;

[0165] The processing module is further configured to determine the transmission delay budget of the packet according to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and the first time period of the packet.

[0166] In a possible example,

[0167] The transceiver module is further configured to receive third information sent by a session management function network element, where the third information includes the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream.

[0168] In a possible example,

[0169] The transceiver module is further configured to obtain the radio interface transmission delay from the access network device to the second terminal device;

[0170] The processing module is further configured to determine the transmission delay budget of the data packet for the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream according to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream, the radio interface transmission delay from the access network device to the second terminal device, and the first time information of the data packet.

[0171] In a possible example, the transceiver module is further configured to preferentially send the data packet with a low transmission delay budget to the second terminal device.

[0172] In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which is applied to a user plane function network element. The communication device includes a transceiver module and a processing module.

[0173] The transceiver module is further configured to receive third information, where the third information includes the QoS requirements of a first Quality of Service (QoS) flow and / or the QoS requirements of a second QoS flow. The QoS requirements of the first QoS flow include the uplink transmission delay requirement of a first data stream from a first terminal device to a first user plane function network element, and the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow include the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from a second user plane function network element to a second terminal device.

[0174] The transceiver module is further configured to receive a first data packet, where the first data packet is sent by the first terminal device and the third data packet is carried in the first QoS flow.

[0175] The processing module is further configured to add first time information to the received first data packet according to a Packet Detection Rule (PDR) included in the third information, where the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the first data packet.

[0176] The transceiver module is further configured to send the first data packet including the first time information.

[0177] In a possible example,

[0178] The processing module is further configured to add first time information to a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol for the User Plane (GTP-U) packet header of the first data packet, where the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the first data packet.

[0179] In a possible example,

[0180] The transceiver module is further configured to receive a first subscription request for requesting to provide a first notification service, where the first notification service is to send a first notification message when the transmission delay of the first data stream is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

[0181] The transceiver module is further configured to obtain first time information, where the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends a first data packet, and the first data packet is carried in the first data stream;

[0182] The transceiver module is further configured to obtain third time information, where the third time information indicates the reception time when the user plane function network element receives the first data packet;

[0183] The processing module is further configured to determine whether to send the first notification message to the policy management function network element according to the first time information, the third time information, and the first threshold.

[0184] In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which is applied to a terminal device, and the communication device includes: a transceiver module and a processing module;

[0185] The transceiver module is further configured to receive third information, where the third information includes a QoS rule of a first QoS flow; determine a data packet to be sent according to the QoS rule of the first QoS flow included in the third information, where the data packet to be sent is carried in the first QoS flow;

[0186] The transceiver module is further configured to send the data packet, where the data packet carries first time information, and the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the data packet.

[0187] In a possible example,

[0188] The processing module is further configured to add the first time information to a General Packet Radio Service User Plane Tunneling Protocol (GTP-U) packet header of the data packet; or add the first time information to a Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) packet header of the data packet.

[0189] In a possible example, the QoS rule of the first QoS flow includes first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the first terminal device adds the first time information of the data packet to the data packet in the first data stream, and the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the data packet.

[0190] In a possible example, the QoS rule of the first QoS flow includes first indication information, where the first indication information is used to indicate that the first terminal device adds the first time information of the data packet to the data packet in the first data stream, and the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the data packet.

[0191] The thirteenth aspect of the present application provides a communication device, which can implement the method in the above first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect. The device includes corresponding units or modules for executing the above method. The units or modules included in the device can be implemented in software and / or hardware manners. For example, the device can be a policy control function network element, or the device can be a component in the policy control function network element (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or the device can also be a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the policy control function network element. Among them, the communication device includes a transceiver module and a processing module. For example, the communication device is a server with a policy control function network element.

[0192] The fourteenth aspect of the present application provides a communication device, which can implement the method in the above second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect. The device includes corresponding units or modules for executing the above method. The units or modules included in the device can be implemented in software and / or hardware manners. For example, the device can be an application server, or the device can be a component in the application server (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or the device can also be a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the application server. Among them, the communication device includes a transceiver module and a processing module.

[0193] The fifteenth aspect of the present application provides a communication device, which can implement the method in the above third aspect or any possible implementation manner of the third aspect. The device includes corresponding units or modules for executing the above method. The units or modules included in the device can be implemented in software and / or hardware manners. For example, the device can be a session management function network element, or the device can be a component in the session management function network element (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or the device can also be a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the session management function network element. Among them, the communication device includes a transceiver module and a processing module.

[0194] The sixteenth aspect of the present application provides a communication device, which can implement the method in the above fourth aspect or any possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect. The device includes corresponding units or modules for executing the above method. The units or modules included in the device can be implemented in software and / or hardware manners. For example, the device can be an access network device, or the device can be a component in the access network device (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or the device can also be a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the access network device. Among them, the communication device includes a transceiver module and a processing module.

[0195] The seventeenth aspect of the present application provides a communication device, which can implement the method in the above fifth aspect or any possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect. The device includes corresponding units or modules for executing the above method. The units or modules included in the device can be implemented in software and / or hardware manners. For example, the device can be a user plane function network element, or the device can be a component in the user plane function network element (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or the device can also be a logical module or software that can implement all or part of the user plane function network element. Among them, the communication device includes a transceiver module and a processing module.

[0196] The eighteenth aspect of the present application provides a communication device, which can implement the method in the above sixth aspect or any possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect. The device includes corresponding units or modules for executing the above method. The units or modules included in the device can be implemented in software and / or hardware manners. For example, the device can be a terminal device, or the device can be a component in the terminal device (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or the device can also be a logical module or software that can implement all or part of the terminal device. Among them, the communication device includes a transceiver module and a processing module.

[0197] The nineteenth aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a communication device, including at least one processor, and the at least one processor is coupled to a memory; the memory is used for storing programs or instructions; the at least one processor is used for executing the programs or instructions to enable the device to implement the method in any possible implementation manner of the foregoing first aspect to the sixth aspect.

[0198] The twentieth aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a communication device, including a communication interface for inputting and / or outputting signaling or data; a processor for executing a computer-executable program to enable the device to implement the method in any possible implementation manner of the foregoing first aspect to the sixth aspect.

[0199] The twenty-first aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a communication device, including at least one logic circuit and an input / output interface; the input / output interface is used for inputting or outputting information; the logic circuit is used for executing the method in any possible implementation manner of the foregoing first aspect to the sixth aspect.

[0200] The twenty-second aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a computer program product (or a computer program), when the computer program product is executed by the processor, the processor executes the methods in the above first aspect to the sixth aspect and any possible implementation manner.

[0201] The twenty-third aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a chip system, which includes at least one processor for supporting a communication device to implement the methods in the above first aspect to sixth aspect and any possible implementation manners.

[0202] In a possible design, the chip system may further include a memory for storing necessary program instructions and data of the communication device. The chip system may be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete devices. Optionally, the chip system further includes an interface circuit for providing program instructions and / or data to the at least one processor.

[0203] The twenty-fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a communication system, which includes the communication devices in the above seventh aspect, eighth aspect, ninth aspect, tenth aspect, eleventh aspect and / or twelfth aspect.

[0204] Among them, the technical effects brought by any design manner in the seventh aspect to the twenty-fourth aspect can be referred to the technical effects brought by different implementation manners in the above first aspect to the sixth aspect, which will not be elaborated here. Description of the Drawings

[0205] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of a communication system in the embodiments of the present application;

[0206] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of a communication system in the embodiments of the present application;

[0207] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of a communication system in the embodiments of the present application;

[0208] Figure 4 It is a schematic flow diagram of an embodiment of a time delay control method in the embodiments of the present application;

[0209] Figure 5 It is another schematic flow diagram of an embodiment of a time delay control method in the embodiments of the present application;

[0210] Figure 6 It is another schematic flow diagram of an embodiment of a time delay control method in the embodiments of the present application;

[0211] Figure 7 It is another schematic flow diagram of an embodiment of a time delay control method in the embodiments of the present application;

[0212] Figure 8 It is another schematic flow diagram of an embodiment of a time delay control method in the embodiments of the present application;

[0213] Figure 9 A schematic diagram of the communication device provided by this application;

[0214] Figure 10 Another schematic diagram of the communication device provided by this application;

[0215] Figure 11 Another schematic diagram of the communication device provided by this application;

[0216] Figure 12 Another schematic diagram of the communication device provided by this application. Detailed implementation manners

[0217] Next, the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application will be clearly and completely described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of this application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of this application, rather than all of the embodiments. Terms such as "first" and "second" in the description and claims of this application and the corresponding term numbers are used to distinguish similar objects, and do not necessarily need to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that such terms can be interchanged under appropriate circumstances, which is only a way of distinguishing objects with the same attributes when describing the embodiments of this application. In addition, the terms "include" and "have" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, system, product or device including a series of units does not have to be limited to those units, but may include other units not clearly listed or inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

[0218] In the description of this application, unless otherwise specified, " / " means "or". For example, A / B can mean A or B; "and / or" in this application is only a description of the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, in the description of this application, "at least one item" means one or more items, and "multiple items" means two or more items. "At least one of the following (items)" or its similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of single item (s) or plural item (s). For example, at least one of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c, a - b, a - c, b - c, or a - b - c, where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0219] The technical solution of the embodiment of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, LTE Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, LTE Time Division Duplex (TDD), Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) communication system, 5th generation (5G) system, New Generation (NR) communication system or future 6th generation communication system, etc.

[0220] The part operated by the operator in various communication systems can be called the operator network. The operator network can also be called the Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) network, which is a network established and operated by the government or an operator approved by the government for the purpose of providing land mobile communication services to the public. It is mainly a public network where Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) provide mobile broadband access services to users. The operator network or PLMN network described in the embodiment of the present application can be a network that meets the requirements of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standard, abbreviated as the 3GPP network. Usually, the 3GPP network is operated by the operator, including but not limited to the 5th-generation (5G) mobile communication network, the 4th-generation (4G) mobile communication network, or the 3rd-generation (3G) mobile communication technology network. It also includes the future 6th-generation (6G) mobile communication network.

[0221] Please refer to Figure 1 , Figure 1 which is a schematic diagram of a communication system in the embodiment of the present application. As Figure 1As shown, the communication system includes an access and mobility management function (AMF), a session management function (SMF), a unified data management (UDM), a radio access network (RAN), a policy control function (PCF), a terminal device, a user plane function (UPF), a network exposure function (NEF), an application function (AF), and a data network (DN), etc.

[0222] The following Figure 1 briefly introduces each network function (or network element) shown in

[0223] Terminal device: It can be called a user equipment (UE), an access terminal, a user unit, a user station, a mobile station, a mobile platform, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user device.

[0224] A terminal device can be a device that provides voice / data to users. For example, it can be a handheld device, a vehicle-mounted device, etc. with wireless connection capabilities. Currently, some examples of terminals are: mobile phones, tablet computers, laptop computers, palmtop computers, mobile internet devices (MIDs), wearable devices, virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, 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, wireless terminals in smart homes, cellular phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDAs), handheld devices with wireless communication capabilities, computing devices, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, wearable devices, terminal devices in 5G networks, or terminal devices in future evolved public land mobile communication networks, etc. The embodiments of this application are not limited thereto.

[0225] By way of example and not limitation, in the embodiments of this application, the terminal device can also be a wearable device. A wearable device can also be referred to as a wearable intelligent device, which is a general term for devices developed by applying wearable technologies to the intelligent design of daily wear, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. A wearable device is a portable device that is either directly worn on the body or integrated into the user's clothing or accessories. A wearable device is not just a hardware device, but also realizes powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Broadly speaking, wearable intelligent devices include those with complete functions and large sizes that can achieve complete or partial functions without relying on a smartphone, such as smart watches or smart glasses, etc., and those that only focus on a certain type of application function and need to cooperate with other devices such as smartphones, such as various smart bracelets and smart jewelry for physical sign monitoring.

[0226] In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may also be a terminal device in an Internet of Things (IoT) system. The IoT is an important part of the future development of information technology. Its main technical feature is to connect objects to the network through communication technology, thereby realizing an intelligent network of human-machine interconnection and object-object interconnection.

[0227] It should be noted that the terminal device and the access network device may communicate with each other using a certain air interface technology (such as NR or LTE technology, etc.). The terminal device and the terminal device may also communicate with each other using a certain air interface technology (such as NR or LTE technology, etc.).

[0228] In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device may be replaced by a device for implementing the functions of the terminal device, or may be a device capable of supporting the terminal device to implement the functions, such as a chip system or a chip. This device may be installed in the terminal device. In addition, the chip system may be composed of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices.

[0229] An access network device (also known as a wireless access network) can be a device with wireless transceiver functions. The access network device can be a device that provides wireless communication function services and is usually located on the network side, including but not limited to: the next-generation base station (gNodeB, gNB) in the fifth-generation communication system, the next-generation base station in the sixth-generation (mobile communication system), the base station in the future mobile communication system, or the access node in the WiFi system, etc., the evolved node B (eNB) in the LTE system, the radio network controller (RNC), the node B (NB), the base station controller (BSC), the home base station (for example, home evolved NodeB, or home Node B, HNB), the wireless access point, the base band unit (BBU), the transmission reception point (TRP), the transmitting point (TP), the base transceiver station (BTS), etc. In one network structure, the access network device can include a centralized unit (CU) node, or a distributed unit (DU) node, or a RAN device including a CU node and a DU node, or a RAN device including a control plane CU node and a user plane CU node, and a DU node. The access network device provides services for a cell, and the user equipment communicates with the base station through the transmission resources used by the cell (for example, frequency domain resources, or in other words, spectrum resources). The cell can be the cell corresponding to the base station (such as the base station), and the cell can belong to a macro base station or a base station corresponding to a small cell. Here, the small cell can include: the metro cell, the micro cell, the pico cell, the femto cell, etc. These small cells have the characteristics of small coverage range and low transmission power and are suitable for providing high-rate data transmission services. The access network device can be a macro base station, or a micro base station or an indoor station, and can also be a relay node or a donor node, a device that provides wireless communication services for user equipment in the V2X communication system, a wireless controller in the cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario, a relay station, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, and network devices in future evolved networks, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technologies and specific device forms adopted by the access network device.

[0230] The Unified Data Management Network Element (which can also be referred to as the Unified Data Management Network Element, Unified Data Management Network Element Entity, Data Management Device, Unified Data Management Network Element Device) is a type of core network device mainly used for processing terminal device identification, access authentication, registration, and mobility management, etc. Unified Data Management is a control plane device.

[0231] The Policy Control Function (which can also be referred to as the Policy Control Network Element, Policy Control Function Network Element, Policy Control Device, Policy Control Function Network Element Entity, etc.): It is mainly responsible for policy control functions such as charging, service quality bandwidth guarantee, and mobility management, and terminal device policy decision-making at the session and service flow levels.

[0232] The Session Management Function (which can also be referred to as the Session Management Function Network Element): It mainly performs functions such as session management, execution of the control policy issued by the PCF, selection of the UPF, and allocation of the Internet protocol address for the terminal device.

[0233] The Access and Mobility Management Function (which can also be referred to as the Access and Mobility Management Function Entity, Access and Mobility Management Device, Access and Mobility Management Function Network Element, Access Management Device, Mobility Management Device) is a type of core network device mainly used for mobility management and access management, etc. It can be used to implement other functions in the mobility management entity (MME) function except session management. For example, lawful interception, or access authorization (or authentication), registration of the user equipment, mobility management, tracking area update process, reachability detection, selection of the session management function network element, mobile state transition management, etc.

[0234] The User Plane Function (which can also be referred to as the User Plane Device, User Plane Function Network Element, User Plane Function Network Element, User Plane Function Entity): It mainly includes the following functions: packet routing and transmission, packet detection, service usage reporting, QoS processing, uplink packet detection, downlink packet storage, and other user plane-related functions.

[0235] The Application Function AF is similar to an application server. It interacts with other 5G core network control planes (NFs) and provides business services. AF can exist for different application services and can be owned by the operator or a trusted third party. For example, the main role of this network element is to tell the PCF the latest business requirements of a third-party enterprise for a certain application. The PCF will generate corresponding quality of service (QoS) rules according to the requirements to ensure that the services provided by the network meet the requirements put forward by the third party.

[0236] It should be noted that the application server in the embodiments of the present application includes an application function (AF) and / or an application server (AS) or other devices (or functions or network elements, etc.) that can support or provide application services (or business services). The embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0237] Network Exposure Function. The NEF can also be referred to as a network exposure device, a network exposure function entity, a network exposure function network element, a network capability exposure function entity, a network capability exposure function device, a network capability exposure function network element, or a network capability exposure device, etc. The NEF is mainly used to support the exposure of capabilities and events, such as securely exposing services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions to the outside.

[0238] It should be understood that the RAN, SMF, PCF, or AF in the embodiments of the present application can also be referred to as a communication device or a communication equipment, which can be a general device or a dedicated device. The present application does not make specific limitations on this.

[0239] It should also be understood that the above names are only used to distinguish different functions and do not mean that these devices are separate physical devices. The present application does not limit the specific form of the above devices. For example, they can be integrated in the same physical device or can be different physical devices respectively. In actual deployment, network functions (or simply referred to as functions), network elements, or devices can be co-located. For example, the access and mobility management function network element can be co-located with the session management function network element; the session management function network element can be co-located with the user plane function network element. When two functions are co-located, the interaction between the two functions provided by the embodiments of the present application becomes an internal operation of the co-located function or can be omitted.

[0240] It can be understood that the above functions can be either network elements in hardware devices, software functions running on dedicated hardware, or a combination of hardware and software, or virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (such as a cloud platform).

[0241] It should be noted that Figure 1 the naming of each device (such as AF, SMF, PCF, AMF, etc.) is just a name, and the name does not limit the function of the device itself. In the 5G network and future other networks, the above devices can also have other names. The present application does not make specific limitations on this. For example, in the 6G network, some or all of the above network elements may continue to use the terms in 5G or may have other names, etc. A unified description is made here and will not be repeated below.

[0242] It should be noted that the examples mentioned in this application do not represent the best; the first, second, etc. mentioned in this application are only used to distinguish different information, messages or other objects, and do not represent an order relationship; in addition, the embodiments in this application can refer to and learn from each other, and the same or similar steps or terms will not be described one by one.

[0243] In the embodiments of this application, the direction from the terminal device to the application server (or the user plane function network element) is referred to as the uplink direction. Correspondingly, the direction from the application server (or the user plane function network element) to the terminal device is referred to as the downlink direction.

[0244] Currently, when the user plane function network element receives a data packet in the downlink direction, the user plane function network element will encapsulate the data packets into the same Quality of Service (QoS) flow according to the Packet Detection Rule (PDR) filter pre-configured by the session management function network element. The PDR filter of the session management function network element is obtained from the policy and charging control rules (PCC Rules) of the policy management function network element. The QoS flow identifier (QFI) of each QoS flow is associated with a QoS profile. The network side will adopt the same QoS guarantee for the data packets belonging to the same QoS flow according to the QoS parameters in the QoS profile. The QoS guarantee includes but is not limited to: delay, forwarding priority, or packet loss rate, etc.

[0245] The policy management function network element generates PCC rules, and then the session management function network element will obtain the QoS requirements of the corresponding QoS flow based on the PCC rules. Usually, the QoS requirements can be represented by QoS parameters. In the PCC rules, the packet delay budget (PDB) can be used to define the transmission delay requirement. In the current QoS model, the delay control only targets the transmission between the UPF and the terminal device. How to control the end-to-end transmission delay between terminal devices has become a technical problem to be solved urgently.

[0246] Based on this, an embodiment of the present application proposes a delay control method. The policy control function receives the first information sent by the application server, where the first information indicates the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream, and the end-to-end transmission delay requirement is the transmission delay requirement for data transmission between the first terminal device and the second terminal device; according to the first information, a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rule is generated, and the PCC rule is used to indicate the Quality of Service (QoS) requirement of the first QoS flow, and / or the QoS requirement of the second QoS flow. The QoS requirement of the first QoS flow includes the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, and the QoS requirement of the second QoS flow includes the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device. The policy control function network element decomposes the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream to obtain the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream. Through the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream, the transmission delay between the first terminal device and the second terminal device is controlled, and the communication quality in the end-to-end service scenario is improved.

[0247] Next, the communication system related to the present application is introduced. In one example, please refer to Figure 2 , Figure 2 which is a schematic diagram of a communication system in an embodiment of the present application. The communication system provided by the embodiment of the present application includes: a first user plane function network element, a first access network device, and a first terminal device, a second user plane function network element, a second access network device, a second terminal device, and an application server. Among them, the data transmission direction from the first terminal device to the application server is called the uplink direction, and the transmission delay requirement from the first terminal device to the application server is called the uplink transmission delay requirement. The data transmission direction from the application server to the second terminal device is called the downlink direction, and the transmission delay requirement from the application server to the second terminal device is called the downlink transmission delay requirement. The first terminal device sends a data packet to the second terminal device through the first data stream, and the data packet passes through the first access network device, the first user plane function network element, the application server, the second user plane function network element, and the second access network device to reach the second terminal device. For ease of description, the Figure 2 schematic communication system is called a data network (DN) involvement system.

[0248] In another example, please refer to Figure 3 , Figure 3This is a schematic diagram of a communication system in an embodiment of the present application. The communication system provided in the embodiment of the present application includes: a first user plane function network element, a first access network device, and a first terminal device, a second user plane function network element, a second access network device, and a second terminal device. Among them, the data transmission direction from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element is called the uplink direction, and the transmission delay requirement from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element is called the uplink transmission delay requirement. The data transmission direction from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device is called the downlink direction, and the transmission delay requirement from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device is called the downlink transmission delay requirement. The first terminal device sends a data packet to the second terminal device through a first data stream. The data packet reaches the second terminal device through the first access network device, the first user plane function network element, the application server, the second user plane function network element, and the second access network device. For the sake of convenience of description, Figure 2 the illustrated communication system is called a system without data network involvement (without DN involvement).

[0249] It should be noted that the first access network device and the second access network device may be the same access network device or two independent access network devices, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit this. The first user plane function network element and the second user plane function network element may be the same user plane function network element or two independent user plane function network elements, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit this.

[0250] Combined with the foregoing communication system, the embodiments of the present application will be introduced below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Please refer to Figure 4 , Figure 4 This is a schematic flowchart of an embodiment of a delay control method in an embodiment of the present application. A delay control method proposed in the embodiment of the present application includes:

[0251] S1. The application server sends a first piece of information to the policy control function network element, and the first piece of information indicates the end-to-end delay requirement of the first data stream.

[0252] In step S1, the application server sends first information to the policy control function network element. The first information indicates the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of a first data stream. The end-to-end transmission delay requirement is the transmission delay requirement for data transmission between a first terminal device and a second terminal device. The end-to-end transmission delay requirement is used by the radio communication network to determine the transmission delay requirement of the radio communication network from the first terminal device to the second terminal device. For example, the end-to-end transmission delay requirement is used to determine the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device. The sum of the uplink transmission delay requirement and the downlink transmission delay requirement satisfies being less than or equal to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement.

[0253] It should be noted that the first information indicating the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is only an example description. The first information may also indicate the end-to-end transmission delay requirements of other data streams between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The first information may indicate the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of one data stream, and the first information may also indicate the end-to-end transmission delay requirements of multiple data streams. The embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0254] It should be noted that the first information may also indicate the end-to-end transmission delay requirements of one or more data streams in the uplink direction (referred to as uplink data streams for ease of description) and one or more data streams in the downlink direction that have an association relationship with the one or more uplink data streams in the downlink direction (the data streams in the downlink direction are referred to as downlink data streams for ease of description). The uplink data stream is used to carry the uplink data from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element or the application server, and the downlink data stream is used to carry the downlink data from the application server or the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device. The embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0255] In a possible implementation manner, the first information further includes: description information of the first data stream. The description information of the first data stream includes any one or more of the following information: the source Internet Protocol (IP) address of the first data stream, the destination IP address of the first data stream, the source port of the first data stream, the destination port of the first data stream, the transport layer protocol information of the first data stream, the queue pair of the first data stream, the service type of the first data stream, or the port index of the first data stream. By the description information of the first data stream included in the first information, the end-to-end transmission delay requirement is associated with the first data stream.

[0256] In a possible implementation, the description information of the first data stream included in the first information may include the description information of the uplink data stream and / or the description information of the downlink data stream. The content included in the description information of the uplink or downlink data stream is the same as that of the first data stream, and only needs to be correspondingly modified to the uplink or downlink data stream.

[0257] In a possible implementation, specifically, the first information includes: the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream, and the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream indicates the upper limit value of the transmission time of the data packets in the first data stream. For example, the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream indicates the upper limit value of the transmission time of the first data packet from the first terminal device to the second terminal device. The transmission time of the first data packet from the first terminal device to the second terminal device may be the transmission time from the first terminal device sending the first data packet to the second terminal device receiving the first data packet, or the generation time of the first data packet from the first terminal device to the second terminal device receiving the first data packet. The embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0258] In a possible implementation, optionally, when the first data stream passes through the application server, taking the first data packet as an example, the application server may further determine a second data packet according to the first data packet, and the second data packet has an association relationship with the first data packet. For example, the second data packet is a data packet generated by the application server according to the first data packet. Another example is that the second data packet includes the service data carried by the first data packet. Then the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream may further indicate the upper limit value of the transmission time from the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the first data packet to the time when the second terminal device receives the second data packet. The relevant processing of the first data packet in the embodiments of the present application can also be adapted to the second data packet, which will not be elaborated here. The second data packet may be carried in the first data stream, or the second data packet may also be carried in other data streams between the service server and the second terminal device, which is not limited here.

[0259] Optionally, the first information may include: the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream, and the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream. For example, the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream indicates the upper limit value of the transmission time of the first data packet in the first data stream from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, and the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream indicates the upper limit value of the transmission time of the first data packet in the first data stream from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device. The transmission time of the first data packet from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element may be the time from when the first terminal device sends or generates the first data packet to the time when the first user plane function network element receives the first data packet, or the time from when the first terminal device generates or sends the first data packet to the time when the first user plane function network element sends the first data packet to the second user plane function network element, or the time from when the first terminal device generates or sends the first data packet to the time when the second user plane function network element receives the first data packet. The transmission time of the first data packet from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device may be the time from when the second user plane function network element sends the first data packet to the time when the second terminal device receives the first data packet.

[0260] For another example, the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream indicates the upper limit value of the transmission time of the first data packet in the first data stream from the first terminal device to the application server, and the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream indicates the upper limit value of the transmission time of the first data packet in the first data stream from the application server to the second terminal device. The transmission time of the first data packet from the first terminal device to the application server may be the time from when the first terminal device sends or generates the first data packet to the time when the application server receives the first data packet, or the time from when the first terminal device generates or sends the first data packet to the time when the application server sends the first data packet to the second user plane function network element. The transmission time of the first data packet from the application server to the second terminal device may be the time from when the application server sends the first data packet to the time when the second terminal device receives the first data packet.

[0261] In a possible implementation, the first information includes: the QoS requirements of the first Quality of Service (QoS) flow, and / or, the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow. Wherein, the QoS requirements of the first QoS flow include the uplink transmission delay requirements of the first data stream from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element. The QoS requirements of the second QoS flow include the downlink transmission delay requirements of the first data stream from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device. Regarding the uplink transmission delay requirements of the first data stream, it refers to the transmission delay requirements for the data packets in the first data stream from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, or the transmission delay requirements for the data packets of the first data stream from the first terminal device to the application server. Regarding the downlink transmission delay requirements of the first data stream, it refers to the transmission delay requirements for the data packets in the first data stream from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device, or the transmission delay requirements for the data packets of the first data stream from the application server to the second terminal device.

[0262] In a possible implementation, the first information includes: the QoS parameters of the first Quality of Service (QoS) flow, and / or, the QoS parameters of the second QoS flow. Wherein, the QoS parameters of the first QoS flow include the uplink transmission delay requirements of the first data stream from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element. The QoS parameters of the second QoS flow include the downlink transmission delay requirements of the first data stream from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device.

[0263] In a possible implementation, the first information is further used to indicate the Packet Detection Rule (PDR) of the first data stream.

[0264] In a possible implementation, the first information further includes: the first transmission delay value between the application server and the first user plane function network element, and the second transmission delay value between the application server and the second user plane function network element. The first user plane function network element provides services for the first terminal device, and the second user plane function network element provides services for the second terminal device. At this time, the sum of the uplink transmission delay requirements, the first transmission delay value, the downlink transmission delay requirements, and the second transmission delay value satisfies being less than or equal to the end-to-end transmission delay requirements.

[0265] Further, the application server may also update the first information according to the actual transmission time of the data packets in the first data stream. For example, the application server obtains first time information, which indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the first data packet; and / or, the application server obtains second time information, which indicates the time when the application server sends the first data packet to the second terminal device. Then, the application server determines the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the updated first data stream according to the first time information, the second time information, and / or the first threshold. Furthermore, the first information is updated according to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream. The first threshold may be configured by the policy management function network element to the application server, may be generated by the application server according to service requirements, or may be configured by the user to the application server. The embodiments of the present application do not limit this. Exemplarily, when the application server determines that the remaining delay budget of the first data packet (i.e., the end-to-end delay budget of the first data stream minus the second time information plus the first time information) is small according to the first time information, the second time information, and the first threshold, the application server updates the first information, and the updated first information increases the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream.

[0266] It should be noted that updating the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream in the embodiments of the present application may update both the upper limit value of the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream and the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream. For example, before the update, the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is 20 milliseconds, and after the update, the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is 30 milliseconds. Another example is that before the update, the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is 15 milliseconds, and the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is 15 milliseconds; after the update, the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is 10 milliseconds, and the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is 20 milliseconds. Regarding the application server obtaining the first time information, the application server may obtain the first time information from the general packet radio service tunneling protocol-user plane (GTP-U) header of the first data packet, and the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the first data packet.

[0267] Another example is that the application server may also obtain the reception time when the second terminal device receives the first data packet. The application server determines whether to update the first information according to the first time information, the second time information, and the reception time when the second terminal device receives the first data packet.

[0268] Optionally, regarding the application server determining the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the updated first data stream based on the first time information, and / or the second time information, and / or the first threshold, the application server may determine the target transmission delay requirement from the set of transmission delay requirements configured by the policy control function network element according to the first time information, the second time information, and the first threshold. The set of transmission delay requirements includes one or more sets of transmission delay requirement combinations, and each set of transmission delay requirement combinations includes an uplink transmission delay requirement and / or a downlink transmission delay requirement. Then, the application server determines the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the updated first data stream according to the target transmission delay requirement.

[0269] Exemplarily, regarding the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the updated first data stream, the end-to-end transmission delay requirement may remain unchanged, but the uplink transmission delay requirement and the downlink transmission delay requirement change. For example, the end-to-end transmission delay requirement before update is 10 milliseconds, the uplink transmission delay requirement before update is 5 milliseconds, and the downlink transmission delay requirement before update is 5 milliseconds; the end-to-end transmission delay requirement after update is 10 milliseconds, the uplink transmission delay requirement after update is 3 milliseconds, and the downlink transmission delay requirement after update is 7 milliseconds. It may also be that the end-to-end transmission delay requirement changes. For example, the end-to-end transmission delay requirement before update is 10 milliseconds, and the end-to-end transmission delay requirement after update is 12 milliseconds.

[0270] In a possible example, the application server directly sends the first information to the policy control function network element.

[0271] In another possible example, the application server sends the first information to the policy control function network element through other network elements. For example, the application server sends the first information to the policy control function network element through the Network Exposure Function (NEF) network element. The application server sends an "Nnef_AFsessionWithQoS Create request" message to the Network Exposure Function network element, and the "Nnef_AFsessionWithQoS Create request" message includes the first information. After the Network Exposure Function network element performs an authorization operation according to the "Nnef_AFsessionWithQoS Create request" message, if the authorization is passed, the Network Exposure Function network element forwards the first information to the policy control function network element through an "Npcf_PolicyAuthorization Create request" message.

[0272] S2. Generate a policy and charging control (PCC) rule according to the first information. The PCC rule is used to indicate the QoS requirements of the first QoS flow and / or the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow. The QoS requirements of the first QoS flow include the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream, and the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow include the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream.

[0273] In step S2, after receiving the first information sent by the application server, the policy management function network element generates a policy and charging control (PCC) rule according to the first information. The PCC rule is used to indicate the QoS requirements of the first quality of service (QoS) flow and / or the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow. The QoS requirements of the first QoS flow include the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, and the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow include the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device.

[0274] In a possible implementation, the PCC rule includes: a first indication information, which is used to indicate the first terminal device to add the first time information of the data packet in the data packet of the first data stream. The first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the data packet. The first indication information can also be used to indicate other network elements or devices to process the data packets of the first data stream. The following is an example:

[0275] Example 1: When the first terminal device receives the first indication information, the first terminal device can determine the first QoS flow according to the QoS requirements of the first QoS flow, and then determine the data packets transmitted in the first QoS flow. The first terminal device adds the first time information to the data packets transmitted in the first QoS flow according to the first indication information. The first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the data packet. The first terminal device transmits the data packet added with the first time information to the network side through the first QoS flow (for example, through the data radio bearer (DRB) corresponding to the first QoS flow).

[0276] Example 2: When a user plane function network element (such as a first user plane function network element) receives the first indication information, the user plane function network element may determine a first data stream according to the data packet detection rule of the first data stream. Then, the user plane function network element extracts first time information from the data packets of the first data stream according to the first indication information. Then, the user plane function network element adds the first time information to the data packet again. For example, the first time information is added to the general packet radio service tunneling protocol - user plane (GTP-U) header of the data packet. The user plane function network element forwards the data packet of the first data stream with the first time information added in the GTP-U header to a second terminal device through the first data stream.

[0277] Example 3: When an access network device receives the first indication information, the access network device may configure or modify a first QoS flow for carrying the first data stream according to the QoS parameters of the first QoS flow. Furthermore, according to the first indication information, within the transmission delay budget of the data packets of the first data stream, the access network device sends the data packets to a second terminal device. The transmission delay budget of the data packets is determined according to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and the first time information of the data packets.

[0278] In a possible implementation manner, the PCC rule further includes: the end-to-end transmission delay budget of the first data stream, where the end-to-end transmission delay budget is the transmission delay budget for transmitting data between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The first information may further include: the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream, and / or, the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream.

[0279] In a possible implementation, if the first information further includes a first transmission delay value between the application server and the first user plane function network element, and a second transmission delay value between the application server and the second user plane function network element. Then, when generating the PCC rule according to the first information, it is also necessary to consider the first transmission delay value and / or the second transmission delay value. For example, the policy management function network element obtains the first transmission delay value from the application server to the first user plane function network element from the first information. The policy management function network element determines the QoS requirements of the first QoS flow according to the first information and the first transmission delay value. And / or, the policy management function network element obtains the second transmission delay value from the application server to the second user plane function network element. The policy management function network element determines the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow according to the first information and the second transmission delay value. The uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream indicated by the QoS requirements of the first QoS flow and the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream indicated by the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow satisfy: the sum of the uplink transmission delay requirement, the first transmission delay value, the downlink transmission delay requirement, and the second transmission delay value is less than or equal to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement.

[0280] Optionally, the PCC rule generated by the policy control function network element according to the first information may further include a first PCC rule and a second PCC rule, where the first PCC rule is used to indicate the QoS requirements of the first QoS flow, and the second PCC rule is used to indicate the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow.

[0281] Optionally, when the network includes a first session management function network element and a second session management function network element, the policy control function network element may send the first PCC rule to the first session management function network element respectively, and the policy control function network element sends the second PCC rule to the second session management function network element. The first session management function network element corresponds to the first terminal device, and the second session management function network element corresponds to the second terminal device.

[0282] Optionally, when the network includes a first policy control function network element and a second policy control function network element, the generation of the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule by the policy control function network element based on the first information may include: the first policy control function network element and the second policy control function network element negotiate and generate the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule based on the first information. The first policy control function network element and the second policy control function network element negotiate and generate the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule according to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream indicated by the first information. The first PCC rule and the second PCC rule satisfy: the sum of the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream indicated by the first PCC rule and the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream indicated by the second PCC rule is less than or equal to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream. In one example, the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream indicated by the first PCC rule is equal to the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream indicated by the second PCC rule.

[0283] Optionally, after the policy control function network element generates the PCC rule, it may further determine a set of transmission delay requirements according to the PCC rule. The set of transmission delay requirements includes one or more sets of transmission delay requirement combinations. Each set of transmission delay requirement combinations includes the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream. Then, the policy control function network element reports the set of transmission delay requirements to the application server so that the application server determines the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the set of transmission delay requirements. The policy control function network element may also determine the set of transmission delay requirements according to the first information after receiving the first information. This application embodiment does not limit this.

[0284] Further optionally, the policy control function network element may also send a first subscription request to other network elements (or devices). The first subscription request is used to request to provide a first notification service. The first notification service is to send a first notification message when the transmission delay of the first data stream is greater than or equal to a first threshold. The policy control function network element updates the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the received first notification message. The policy control function network element determines the updated uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream. The policy control function network element updates the PCC rule according to the updated uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream. For example, updating the QoS requirements of the first QoS flow included in the PCC rule, and / or, the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow.

[0285] Optionally, the first threshold is included in the first subscription request.

[0286] Optionally, the description information of the first data stream is included in the first subscription request.

[0287] In one example, the policy control function network element sends a first subscription request to the application server. When the application server detects that the transmission delay of the first data stream is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the application server sends a first notification message to the policy control function network element. For example, the application server obtains the first time information of the first data packet in the first data stream and the second time information of the first data packet. Then, the application server determines whether to update the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream based on the first time information, the second time information, and the first threshold. If it is determined that an update is needed, the application server sends a first notification message to the policy control function network element.

[0288] In another example, when the application server determines a target transmission delay requirement combination from the set of transmission delay requirements, it determines the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the target transmission delay requirement combination. The application server may also send a second notification message to the policy control function network element. The second notification message indicates the target transmission delay requirement combination. For example, the second notification message includes the index of the target transmission delay requirement combination. The policy control function network element determines the target transmission delay requirement combination according to the second notification message, and then updates the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the target transmission delay requirement combination.

[0289] In another example, the policy control function network element sends a first subscription request to the user plane function network element. When the user plane function network element detects that the transmission delay of the first data stream is greater than or equal to the first threshold, the user plane function network element sends a first notification message to the policy control function network element. For example, the user plane function network element obtains the first time information of the first data packet in the first data stream and the third time information of the first data packet. The third time information indicates the time when the user plane function receives the first data packet. Then, the user plane function network element determines whether to update the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream based on the first time information, the third time information, and the first threshold. If it is determined that an update is needed, the user plane function network element sends a first notification message to the policy control function network element.

[0290] Further optionally, the policy control function network element may also obtain the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the first data packet, and then the policy control function network element updates the PCC rule according to the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the first data packet. For example, the policy control function network element updates the second PCC rule. Further optionally, the policy control function network element may also obtain the time when the first user plane function network element receives the first data packet, or the time when the application server receives the first data packet, and update the PCC rule.

[0291] S3. The Policy Control Function (PCF) sends a PCC rule to the Session Management Function (SMF).

[0292] In step S3, after the PCF generates a PCC rule, the PCF sends the PCC rule to the SMF.

[0293] In one example, the PCF sends a first PCC rule and a second PCC rule to the SMF.

[0294] In another example, the PCF sends a first PCC rule to a first SMF and a second PCC rule to a second SMF.

[0295] In yet another example, a first PCF sends a first PCC rule to a first SMF, and a second PCF sends a second PCC rule to a second SMF.

[0296] S4. The SMF obtains third information according to the PCC rule. The third information includes the QoS requirements of a first QoS flow and / or the QoS requirements of a second QoS flow. The QoS requirements of the first QoS flow include the uplink transmission delay requirement of a first data stream, and the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow include the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream.

[0297] In step S4, after receiving the PCC rule, the SMF obtains third information according to the PCC rule. The third information includes the QoS requirements of a first QoS flow and / or the QoS requirements of a second QoS flow. The QoS requirements of the first QoS flow include the uplink transmission delay requirement of a first data stream, and the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow include the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream.

[0298] The SMF can obtain different third information according to the PCC rule, and then the SMF sends different third information to different network elements or devices. The following is a separate description:

[0299] In a possible implementation, the third information includes the QoS rule of a first QoS flow. The SMF generates the QoS rule of the first QoS flow according to the PCC rule. Then, the SMF sends the QoS rule of the first QoS flow to a first terminal device. The QoS rule of the first QoS flow instructs the first terminal device to add the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the data packet in the data packet transmitted in the first data stream.

[0300] Optionally, the QoS rule of the first QoS flow includes first indication information for indicating to provide an end-to-end delay guarantee service for the first data stream, so that the first terminal device adds the time information of sending or generating the data packet by the first terminal device to the data packet transmitted in the first QoS flow according to the first indication information. Alternatively, the third information includes the first indication information.

[0301] Optionally, the session management function network element generates the QoS rule of the first QoS flow according to the PCC rule, including: the first session management function network element generates the QoS rule of the first QoS flow according to the first PCC rule. Then, the first session management function network element sends the QoS rule of the first QoS flow to the first terminal device.

[0302] In a possible implementation, the third information sent by the session management function network element to the access network device includes: the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream, and the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream indicates the upper limit value of the transmission time of the data packets in the first data stream, and the access network device provides communication services for the second terminal device.

[0303] In another possible implementation, the session management function network element sends the third information to the access network device, and the third information includes: the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream. Exemplarily, the session management function network element sends the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream to the first access network device, and the session management function network element sends the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream to the second access network device. In another example, the first session management function network element sends the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream to the first access network device, and the first session management function network element sends the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream to the second access network device.

[0304] In a possible implementation, the session management function network element sends the third information to the access network device. The third information includes: the QoS parameters of the first QoS flow, and / or the QoS parameters of the second QoS flow. Wherein, the QoS parameters of the first QoS flow include the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data flow from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, and the QoS parameters of the second QoS flow include the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data flow from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device. Exemplarily, the session management function network element sends the QoS parameters of the first QoS flow to the first access network device, and the session management function network element sends the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow to the second access network device. In another example, the first session management function network element sends the QoS parameters of the first QoS flow to the first access network device, and the first session management function network element sends the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow to the second access network device. Exemplarily, when the session management function network element generates or modifies the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow for the first data flow, it generates (or modifies) the QoS parameters of the first QoS flow, and / or the QoS parameters of the second QoS flow.

[0305] In a possible implementation, the session management function network element sends the third information to the user plane function network element. The third information includes: the packet detection rule of the first data flow and / or the QoS execution rule of the first data flow. The QoS execution rule of the first data flow is used to instruct the user plane function network element to add the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the packet to the packet of the first data flow.

[0306] After step S4, step S5, step S9, and / or step S11 are executed.

[0307] S5. The session management function network element sends the third information to the first terminal device.

[0308] In step S5, the session management function network element sends the third information to the first terminal device. The third information includes: the QoS rule of the first QoS flow. The QoS rule of the first QoS flow instructs the first terminal device to add the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the packet to the packet transmitted in the first data flow.

[0309] Exemplarily, the session management function network element sends the QoS rule of the first QoS flow to the first terminal device through the access and mobility management function network element and the access network device. The QoS rule of the first QoS flow is carried in the "N2 message" and the "NAS message".

[0310] Step S6 is executed after step S5.

[0311] S6. The first terminal device adds first time information to the data packets to be sent in the first data stream according to the third information.

[0312] In step S6, the first terminal device determines the data packets to be sent in the first data stream according to the QoS rules of the first QoS flow. Then, the first terminal device adds first time information to the data packets to be sent in the first data stream according to the first indication information. Exemplarily, according to the QoS rules of the first QoS flow, the first terminal device adds the first time information of the first data packet (the first data packet is the data packet to be sent in the first data stream, and the first data packet is carried on the first QoS flow) to the first data packet, and the first time information of the first data packet indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the first data packet.

[0313] Optionally, the first time information of the first data packet may also be carried in other data packets of the first data stream.

[0314] S7. The first terminal device sends the first data packet, and the first data packet is carried on the first data stream.

[0315] In step S6, the first terminal device sends the first data packet, the first data packet includes the first time information of the first data packet, and the first data packet is carried on the first data stream.

[0316] It should be noted that steps S8-1 to S8-2 are optional steps. When the first data stream passes through the application server, steps S8-1 to S8-2 are executed. That is to say, steps S8-1 to S8-2 are executed when the data network is involved. When the first data stream does not pass through the application server, for example, after the first data packet of the first data stream is sent from the first terminal device, it reaches the second terminal device through the first user plane function network element and the second user plane function network element. At this time, steps S8-1 to S8-2 are not executed.

[0317] S8-1. The user plane function network element forwards the first data packet to the application server, and the first data packet is carried on the first data stream.

[0318] In step S8-1, when the user plane function network element receives the first data packet sent by the first terminal device, the user plane function network element sends the first data packet to the application server. For example, when the first user plane function network element receives the first data packet sent by the first terminal device, the first user plane function network element sends the first data packet to the application server.

[0319] S8-2. The application server sends the first data packet to the user plane function network element.

[0320] In step S8-2, after receiving the first data packet forwarded by the user plane function network element, the application server may perform relevant processing on the first data packet according to the first data packet and then send the first data packet to the second terminal device, or directly forward the first data packet to the second terminal device.

[0321] In one example, the first data packet sent by the application server to the user plane function network element may be a first data packet generated after modifying the address information based on the first data packet sent by the first terminal device.

[0322] In another example, the application server may also generate (or determine) a second data packet according to the first data packet from the first terminal device, and the second data packet has an association relationship with the first data packet. For example, the second data packet is a data packet generated by the application server according to the first data packet. Another example is that the second data packet includes the service data carried by the first data packet. Then, the application server sends the second data packet to the second terminal device.

[0323] S9. The session management function network element sends the third information to the user plane function network element device.

[0324] In step S9, the session management function network element sending the third information to the user plane function network element includes: the session management function network element sending the third information to the user plane function network element, and the third information includes: the packet detection rule of the first data stream and / or the QoS enforcement rule of the first data stream, and the QoS enforcement rule of the first data stream is used to instruct the user plane function network element to add the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the packet in the packet of the first data stream.

[0325] S10. The user plane function network element adds the first time information to the first data packet according to the third information.

[0326] In step S10, the session management function network element sending the third information to the user plane function network element includes: the session management function network element sending the third information to the user plane function network element, and the third information includes: the packet detection rule of the first data stream and / or the QoS enforcement rule (QoS enforcement rule, QER) of the first data stream.

[0327] Specifically, the user plane function network element determines the data packets belonging to the first data stream from multiple data packets according to the data packet detection rule of the first data stream. Then, the user plane function network element reads the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the data packet from the data packets of the first data stream according to the QER of the first data stream. After generating the first time information according to the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the data packet, the user plane function network element adds it to the data packet again. For example, the first time information is added to the GTP-U message header of the data packet.

[0328] After step S10, step S13 is executed.

[0329] S11. The session management function network element sends the third information to the access network device.

[0330] In step S11, for the third information sent by the session management function network element to the access network device, please refer to the aforementioned step S4 and will not be elaborated here.

[0331] S12. The access network device determines the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the third information.

[0332] In step S12, the access network device determines the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the third information, and then the access network device determines the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream (the P2P delay budget of the first data stream) according to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream.

[0333] Optionally, the access network device can also obtain the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the application server.

[0334] S13. The user plane function network element sends the first data packet to the access network device.

[0335] After step S13, step S14 is executed.

[0336] S14. The access network device determines the transmission delay budget of the first data packet according to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and the first time information of the first data packet.

[0337] In step S14, after the access network device determines the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream according to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream, the access network device determines the first time period of the data packet according to the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream, the first time information of the data packet in the first data stream, and the reception time of the data packet at the access network device. The first time period indicates the transmission time of the data packet from the first terminal device to the access network device. Then, according to the first time period of the data packet and the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream, the transmission delay budget of the data packet is determined.

[0338] The following uses the first data packet as an example for illustration: The first time information of the first data packet indicates 10 milliseconds. The reception time of the first data packet at this access network device (sent from the second user plane function network element to this access network device) is 20 milliseconds. The end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is 25 milliseconds. Then, based on the above information, it can be determined that the first time period of this data packet is: 20 - 10 = 10 milliseconds. The transmission delay budget of the first data packet is: 25 - 10 = 15 milliseconds. According to the transmission delay budget of the first data packet, the access network device needs to send the first data packet to the second terminal device within 15 milliseconds.

[0339] Optionally, when determining the transmission delay budget of the first data stream, the access network device may also consider the air interface delay between the access network device and the second terminal device. The access network device determines the transmission delay budget of the data packet according to the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream, the air interface transmission delay from the access network device to the second terminal device, and the first time period of the data packet.

[0340] The following uses the first data packet as an example for illustration: The first time information of the first data packet indicates 10 milliseconds. The reception time of the first data packet at this access network device (sent from the second user plane function network element to this access network device) is 20 milliseconds. The end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is 25 milliseconds. The air interface transmission delay from the access network device to the second terminal device is 5 milliseconds. Then, based on the above information, it can be determined that the first time period of this data packet is: 20 - 10 = 10 milliseconds. The transmission delay budget of the first data packet is: 25 - 10 - 5 = 10 milliseconds. According to the transmission delay budget of the first data packet, the access network device needs to send the first data packet to the second terminal device within 10 milliseconds.

[0341] Optionally, when the transmission delay budget of the data packet is less than or equal to the second threshold, the access network device may discard the data packet.

[0342] S15. The access network device sends the first data packet to the second terminal device within the transmission delay budget of the first data packet.

[0343] In step S15, when the access network device locally caches multiple packets to be sent in the first data stream, in other words, when multiple packets of the first data stream arrive at the access network device in the downlink direction and the access network device has not sent these packets to be sent to the second terminal device, the access network device may determine the priorities of sending these packets to be sent according to the transmission delay budget of the packets to be sent. Taking the first packet of the first data stream and the third packet of the first data stream as examples for illustration: after receiving the first packet, the access network device determines the transmission delay budget of the first packet; after receiving the third packet, the access network device determines the transmission delay budget of the third packet. If the transmission delay budget of the first packet is less than that of the third packet, the access network device preferentially sends the first packet to the second terminal device.

[0344] In the embodiments of the present application, the application server may send the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream to each network element or device in the network. The end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is the transmission delay requirement for transmitting data between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. The first terminal device may add first time information indicating the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the packet to the packet of the first data stream. The user plane function network element or the application server may re-add the first time information inside the packet to an outer message header that is easy to identify. For example, the first time information is added to the GTP-U message header of the packet. The access network device sends the packet to the second terminal device within the transmission delay budget of the packet according to the reception time of receiving the packet, the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the packet indicated by the first time information, and the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream. Through the coordinated cooperation between each network element or device, end-to-end delay guarantee between terminal devices is realized, various service requirements are met, and communication quality is improved.

[0345] Combined with the foregoing embodiments, in the embodiments of the present application, the policy management function network element updates the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the notification message of the application server and / or the user plane function network element. Specifically, the following will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0346] Method 1: The policy management function network element requests the application server to provide the first notification service.

[0347] Please refer to Figure 5 , Figure 5 which is another flowchart of an embodiment of a delay control method in the embodiments of the present application. A delay control method proposed in the embodiments of the present application further includes:

[0348] D1. The policy management function network element sends a first subscription request to the application server. The first subscription request is used to request the provision of a first notification service, and the first notification service is to send a first notification message when the transmission delay of the first data stream is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

[0349] In step D1, the policy control function network element may also send a first subscription request to the application server. The first subscription request is used to request the application server to provide a first notification service. The first notification service is that when the application server detects that the transmission delay of the first data stream is greater than or equal to the first threshold, it sends a first notification message to the policy management function network element. The policy control function network element updates the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the received first notification message.

[0350] Optionally, the first threshold is included in the first subscription request.

[0351] Optionally, the description information of the first data stream is included in the first subscription request.

[0352] It can be understood that the policy control function network element can send different first subscription requests to different application servers for different data streams. Or, send first subscription requests with different thresholds to the same application server.

[0353] For example, for the first data stream, the first threshold carried in the first subscription request corresponding to the first data stream is 10 milliseconds. The meaning is: if the remaining available transmission time of the data packet in the first data stream in the application server (determined by the reception time of the application server receiving the data packet minus the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the data packet) is less than or equal to 10 milliseconds, the application server sends a first notification message corresponding to the first data stream to the policy control function network element.

[0354] For the second data stream, the first threshold carried in the first subscription request corresponding to the second data stream is 5 milliseconds. The meaning is: if the remaining available transmission time of the data packet in the second data stream in the application server (determined by the reception time of the application server receiving the data packet minus the time when the first terminal device sends or generates the data packet) is less than or equal to 5 milliseconds, the application server sends a first notification message corresponding to the second data stream to the policy control function network element.

[0355] D2. The application server obtains first time information, and the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends a first data packet, and the first data packet is carried on the first data stream.

[0356] In step D2, after receiving the first data packet, the application server obtains the first time information.

[0357] D3. The application server obtains second time information, where the second time information indicates the time when the application server receives the first data packet, or the second time information indicates the time when the application server sends the first data packet to the second terminal device.

[0358] In step D3, after the application server receives the first data packet, it obtains the second time information.

[0359] The present application embodiment does not limit the execution order of step D2 and step D3.

[0360] D4. The application server determines whether to send a first notification message to the policy management function network element according to the first time information, the second time information, and the first threshold.

[0361] In step D4, the application server determines the remaining available transmission time of the first data packet according to the first time information and the second time information. Then, according to the remaining available transmission time of the first data packet and the first threshold, it determines whether to update the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream, and further determines whether to send a first notification message to the policy management function network element.

[0362] In a possible example, when the remaining available transmission time of the first data packet is less than or equal to the first threshold, a first notification message is sent to the policy management function network element; when the remaining available transmission time of the first data packet is greater than the first threshold, no first notification message is sent.

[0363] D5. The application server sends a first notification message to the policy management function network element.

[0364] D6. The policy management function network element updates the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the first notification message.

[0365] In step D6, the policy management function network element updates the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the first notification message. For example, on the premise that the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream remains unchanged, the policy management function network element increases the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and decreases the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream. Another example is that on the premise that the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream remains unchanged, the policy management function network element decreases the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and increases the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream. Another example is that the policy management function network element increases the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and correspondingly increases the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream.

[0366] In the embodiments of the present application, the policy management function network element may subscribe to a first notification service from the application server, so as to update the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream in a timely manner according to the first notification message of the application server, improve the delay guarantee performance, ensure the normal operation of the service, and improve the communication quality.

[0367] Method 2: The policy management function network element sends a set of transmission delay requirements to the application server, and requests the application server to indicate a target transmission delay requirement combination to the policy management function.

[0368] Please refer to Figure 6 , Figure 6 , which is another flowchart of an embodiment of a delay control method in the embodiments of the present application. A delay control method proposed in the embodiments of the present application further includes:

[0369] F1. The policy management function network element sends a set of transmission delay requirements to the application server. The set of transmission delay requirements includes one or more sets of transmission delay requirement combinations, and each set of transmission delay requirement combinations includes an uplink transmission delay requirement and / or a downlink transmission delay requirement.

[0370] In step F1, after the policy management function network element receives the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream sent by the application server, it may generate a set of transmission delay requirements corresponding to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream. Taking the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream being 20 milliseconds as an example, the set of transmission delay requirements is shown in Table 1.

[0371] Table 1

[0372] Index Uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream (milliseconds) Downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream (milliseconds) 1 10 10 2 8 12 3 12 8 4 15 5 5 5 15

[0373] Exemplarily, the policy management function network element sends the index of the transmission delay requirement combination in the set of transmission delay requirements to the application server and / or the transmission delay requirement combination corresponding to the index, or the policy management function network element sends a complete set of transmission delay requirement combinations to the application server.

[0374] F2. The application server obtains first time information, and the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends a first data packet, and the first data packet is carried on the first data stream.

[0375] F3. The application server obtains second time information, and the second time information indicates the time when the application server receives the first data packet, or the second time information indicates the time when the application server sends the first data packet to the second terminal device.

[0376] Steps F2 to F3 are the same as the foregoing steps D2 to D3, and will not be elaborated here.

[0377] F4. The application server determines a target transmission delay requirement combination from the set of transmission delay requirements according to the first time information and the second time information.

[0378] In step F4, one example is that the application server determines the remaining available transmission time of the first data packet according to the first time information and the second time information. Then, it determines the target transmission delay requirement combination from the set of transmission delay requirements according to the remaining available transmission time of the first data packet. Referring to Table 1, when the remaining available transmission time of the first data packet is 12 milliseconds, the transmission delay requirement combination with index 2 is selected as the target transmission delay requirement combination.

[0379] Optionally, the application server may update the first information according to the target transmission delay requirement combination. For example, it updates the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream indicated by the first information.

[0380] F5. The application server sends a second notification message to the policy management function network element, and the second notification message indicates the target transmission delay requirement combination.

[0381] In step F5, the second notification message may include the target transmission delay requirement combination, or the index (or identification information) of the target transmission delay requirement combination, etc.

[0382] F6. The policy management function network element updates the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the second notification message.

[0383] In step F6, the policy management function network element determines the target transmission delay requirement combination according to the second notification message, and then updates the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the target transmission delay requirement combination.

[0384] In the embodiments of the present application, the policy management function network element may send the set of transmission delay requirements related to the first data stream to the application server, so that the application server updates the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the set of transmission delay requirements, improves the delay guarantee performance, ensures the normal operation of services, and improves the communication quality.

[0385] Method 3: The policy management function network element requests the user plane function network element to provide the first notification service.

[0386] Please refer to Figure 7 , Figure 7 which is another schematic flowchart of the embodiment of a delay control method in the embodiments of the present application. A delay control method proposed in the embodiments of the present application further includes:

[0387] G1. The policy management function network element sends a first subscription request to the user plane function network element. The first subscription request is used to request the provision of a first notification service, where the first notification service is to send a first notification message when the transmission delay of a first data stream is greater than or equal to a first threshold.

[0388] In step G1, the policy control function network element may also send a first subscription request to the user plane function network element. The first subscription request is used to request the user plane function network element to provide a first notification service, where the first notification service is that when the user plane function network element detects that the transmission delay of the first data stream is greater than or equal to the first threshold, it sends a first notification message to the policy management function network element. The policy control function network element updates the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the received first notification message.

[0389] Optionally, the first threshold is included in the first subscription request.

[0390] Optionally, the description information of the first data stream is included in the first subscription request.

[0391] G2. The user plane function network element obtains first time information, where the first time information indicates the time when a first terminal device generates or sends a first data packet, and the first data packet is carried on a first data stream.

[0392] In step G2, after the user plane management function network element receives the first data packet, it obtains the first time information.

[0393] G3. The user plane function network element obtains third time information, where the third time information indicates the time when the user plane function receives the first data packet.

[0394] In step G3, after the user plane management function network element receives the first data packet, it obtains the third time information.

[0395] The execution order of step G2 and step G3 is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0396] G4. The user plane function network element determines whether to send a first notification message to the policy management function network element according to the first time information, the third time information, and the first threshold.

[0397] In step G4, the user plane management function network element determines the remaining available transmission time of the first data packet according to the first time information and the third time information. Then, according to the remaining available transmission time of the first data packet and the first threshold, it determines whether to send a first notification message to the policy management function network element.

[0398] In a possible example, when the remaining available transmission time of the first data packet is less than or equal to the first threshold, a first notification message is sent to the policy management function network element; when the remaining available transmission time of the first data packet is greater than the first threshold, the first notification message is not sent.

[0399] G5. The user plane function network element sends a first notification message to the policy management function network element.

[0400] G6. The policy management function network element updates the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the first notification message.

[0401] In step G6, the policy management function network element updates the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the first notification message. For example, on the premise that the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream remains unchanged, the policy management function network element increases the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and decreases the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream. Another example is that on the premise that the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream remains unchanged, the policy management function network element decreases the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and increases the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream. Another example is that the policy management function network element increases the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream, and correspondingly increases the uplink transmission delay requirement and the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream.

[0402] In the embodiment of the present application, the policy management function network element can subscribe to the first notification service from the user plane management function network element, so as to update the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream in a timely manner according to the first notification message of the user plane management function network element, improve the delay guarantee performance, ensure the normal operation of services, and improve the communication quality.

[0403] Combined with the foregoing embodiments, in the embodiment of the present application, the policy management function network element may further include a first policy management function network element and a second policy management function network element. The first policy management function network element and the second policy management function network element can also negotiate to generate a first PCC rule related to the uplink direction and a second PCC rule related to the downlink direction. Please refer to Figure 8 , Figure 8 which is another flowchart of an embodiment of a delay control method in the embodiment of the present application. A delay control method proposed in the embodiment of the present application further includes:

[0404] H1. The first policy management function network element and the second policy management function network element receive the first information.

[0405] H2. The first policy management function network element negotiates with the second policy management function network element to generate a first PCC rule and a second PCC rule according to the first information.

[0406] In step H2, the QoS requirements of the first QoS flow indicated by the first PCC rule and the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow indicated by the second PCC rule meet the following requirements: the QoS requirements of the first QoS flow include the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, and the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow include the sum of the downlink transmission delay requirements of the first data stream from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device, which is less than or equal to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream. For example, the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is 20 milliseconds, the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream indicated by the first PCC rule is 10 milliseconds, and the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream indicated by the second PCC rule is 10 milliseconds.

[0407] For another example, the first policy management function network element and the second policy management function network element adjust the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream indicated by the first PCC rule and the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream indicated by the second PCC rule according to the actual transmission situation of the data packets in the first data stream. For example, the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is 20 milliseconds, the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream indicated by the first PCC rule is 15 milliseconds, and the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream indicated by the second PCC rule is 5 milliseconds.

[0408] H3. The first policy management function network element sends the first PCC rule to the first session management function network element, and the first PCC rule indicates the QoS requirements of the first QoS flow.

[0409] H4. The second policy management function network element sends the second PCC rule to the second session management function network element, and the second PCC rule indicates the QoS requirements of the second QoS flow.

[0410] H5. The first session management function network element obtains the third information corresponding to the first PCC rule according to the first PCC rule.

[0411] In step H5, the first session management function network element obtains the third information corresponding to the first PCC rule according to the first PCC rule, which is similar to the previous step S4 and will not be elaborated here.

[0412] H6. The first session management function network element sends the third information corresponding to the first PCC rule to the first access network device.

[0413] H7. The second session management function network element obtains the third information corresponding to the second PCC rule according to the second PCC rule.

[0414] In step H7, the second session management function network element obtains the third information corresponding to the second PCC rule according to the second PCC rule. Similar to the aforementioned step S4, details are not described herein.

[0415] H8. The second session management function network element sends the third information corresponding to the second PCC rule to the second access network device.

[0416] In the embodiments of the present application, when there are multiple policy management function network elements in the network, multiple PCC rules related to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream can also be negotiated and generated, which improves the implementation flexibility of the solution to meet the needs of different services.

[0417] The present application has been described from the perspective of the method above. Other embodiments provided by the present application will be further described below.

[0418] Please refer to Figure 9 , which is a schematic diagram of an implementation of the communication device provided by the present application. The communication device 900 includes a processing module 901 and a transceiver module 902. The communication device 900 can implement the functions of the communication device (including application server, user plane function network element, session management function network element, policy management function network element, and / or access network device, etc.) in the above method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects possessed by the above method embodiments. In the embodiments of the present application, the communication device 900 can be an application server, a user plane function network element, a session management function network element, a policy management function network element, and / or an access network device, or an integrated circuit or component inside the application server, user plane function network element, session management function network element, policy management function network element, and / or access network device, such as a chip, or an integrated circuit or component integrating the application server, user plane function network element, session management function network element, policy management function network element, and / or access network device inside.

[0419] Please refer to Figure 10 , which is another schematic structural diagram of the communication device 1000 provided by the present application. The communication device 1000 includes at least an input / output interface 1002. Among them, the communication device 1000 can be a chip or an integrated circuit.

[0420] Optionally, the communication device further includes a logic circuit 1001.

[0421] Among them, Figure 9 the transceiver module 902 shown can be a communication interface, and this communication interface can be Figure 10 the input / output interface 1002 in , and the input / output interface 1002 can include an input interface and an output interface. Or, this communication interface can also be a transceiver circuit, and this transceiver circuit can include an input interface circuit and an output interface circuit.

[0422] Optionally, when the communication device 1000 is the application server, user plane function network element, session management function network element, policy management function network element, and / or access network device in the foregoing embodiments, the input / output interface 1002 is used to input and output information; the logic circuit 1001 is used to execute the methods executed by the application server, user plane function network element, session management function network element, policy management function network element, and / or access network device in the foregoing embodiments.

[0423] Wherein, the logic circuit 1001 and the input / output interface 1002 may also execute other steps executed by the communication device in any of the embodiments and achieve corresponding beneficial effects, which will not be elaborated herein.

[0424] In a possible implementation manner, Figure 9 the shown processing module 901 may be Figure 10 the logic circuit 1001 in

[0425] Optionally, the logic circuit 1001 may be a processing device, and the functions of the processing device may be implemented partially or entirely by software. Among them, the functions of the processing device may be implemented partially or entirely by software.

[0426] Optionally, the processing device may include a memory and a processor. Among them, the memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor reads and executes the computer program stored in the memory to execute the corresponding processing and / or steps in any method embodiment.

[0427] Optionally, the processing device may only include a processor. The memory for storing the computer program is located outside the processing device, and the processor is connected to the memory through a circuit / wire to read and execute the computer program stored in the memory. Among them, the memory and the processor may be integrated together or may be physically independent of each other.

[0428] Optionally, the processing device may be one or more chips, or one or more integrated circuits. For example, the processing device may be one or more field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), system on chips (SoCs), central processor units (CPUs), network processors (NPs), digital signal processing circuits (DSPs), microcontroller units (MCUs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), or other integrated chips, or any combination of the above chips or processors, etc.

[0429] Please refer to Figure 11 , for the communication device 1100 involved in the above embodiments provided in the embodiments of the present application. Specifically, the communication device 1100 may be the communication device acting as an application server, a user plane function network element, a session management function network element, a policy management function network element, and / or an access network device in the above embodiments.

[0430] Among them, a possible schematic logical structure diagram of the communication device 1100. The communication device 1100 may include, but is not limited to, at least one processor 1101 and a communication port 1102.

[0431] Further optionally, the device may further include at least one of a memory 1103 and a bus 1104. In the embodiments of the present application, the at least one processor 1101 is used to control and process the actions of the communication device 1100.

[0432] In addition, the processor 1101 may be a central processing unit, a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. It may implement or execute various exemplary logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure of the present application. The processor may also be a combination that implements computing functions, such as a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, and so on. Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices, and units described above may refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and will not be described in detail herein.

[0433] It should be noted that Figure 11 The communication device 1100 shown can specifically be used to implement the steps implemented by the application server, user plane function network element, session management function network element, policy management function network element, and / or access network device in the foregoing method embodiments, and achieve the technical effects corresponding to the application server, user plane function network element, session management function network element, policy management function network element, and / or access network device. Figure 11 For the specific implementation manners of the communication device shown, reference can be made to the descriptions in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not described herein one by one.

[0434] Please refer to Figure 12 , which is a schematic structural diagram of the communication device 1200 involved in the foregoing embodiments provided in the embodiments of the present application. The communication device 1200 can specifically be the communication device acting as the application server, user plane function network element, session management function network element, policy management function network element, and / or access network device in the foregoing embodiments. Among them, the structure of the communication device can refer to Figure 12 the structure shown.

[0435] The communication device 1200 includes at least one processor 1201 and at least one network interface 1204. Further optionally, the communication device further includes at least one memory 1202, at least one transceiver 1203, and one or more antennas 1205. The processor 1201, memory 1202, transceiver 1203, and network interface 1204 are connected, for example, through a bus. In the embodiments of the present application, this connection can include various interfaces, transmission lines, or buses, etc., and this embodiment does not limit this. The antenna 1205 is connected to the transceiver 1203. The network interface 1204 is used to enable the communication device to communicate with other communication devices through a communication link. For example, the network interface 1204 can include a network interface between the communication device and a core network device, such as an S1 interface, and the network interface can include a network interface between the communication device and other communication devices (such as other radio access networks or core network devices), such as an X2 or Xn interface.

[0436] The processor 1201 is mainly used to process communication protocols and communication data, and control the entire communication device, execute software programs, and process data of the software programs, for example, to support the communication device to execute the actions described in the embodiments. The communication device can include a baseband processor and a central processing unit. The baseband processor is mainly used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processing unit is mainly used to control the entire terminal device, execute software programs, and process data of the software programs. Figure 12The processor 1201 therein may integrate the functions of a baseband processor and a central processor. Those skilled in the art can understand that the baseband processor and the central processor may also be independent processors, interconnected through technologies such as a bus. Those skilled in the art can understand that the terminal device may include multiple baseband processors to adapt to different network systems, and the terminal device may include multiple central processors to enhance its processing capabilities. Each component of the terminal device may be connected through various buses. The baseband processor may also be referred to as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip. The central processor may also be referred to as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The function of processing communication protocols and communication data may be built into the processor or stored in the memory in the form of a software program, and the processor executes the software program to implement the baseband processing function.

[0437] The memory is mainly used to store software programs and data. The memory 1202 may exist independently and be connected to the processor 1201. Optionally, the memory 1202 may be integrated with the processor 1201, for example, integrated within a single chip. Among them, the memory 1202 is capable of storing the program code for executing the technical solution of the embodiments of the present application and is controlled by the processor 1201 to be executed. Various types of computer program codes being executed may also be regarded as the driver programs of the processor 1201.

[0438] Figure 12 Only one memory and one processor are shown. In an actual terminal device, there may be multiple processors and multiple memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device, etc. The memory may be a storage element on the same chip as the processor, i.e., an on-chip storage element, or an independent storage element. The embodiments of the present application do not make any limitations in this regard.

[0439] The transceiver 1203 can be used to support the reception or transmission of radio frequency signals between the communication device and the terminal. The transceiver 1203 can be connected to the antenna 1205. The transceiver 1203 includes a transmitter Tx and a receiver Rx. Specifically, one or more antennas 1205 can receive radio frequency signals. The receiver Rx of the transceiver 1203 is used to receive the radio frequency signals from the antenna, convert the radio frequency signals into digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals, and provide the digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals to the processor 1201 so that the processor 1201 can perform further processing on the digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals, such as demodulation processing and decoding processing. In addition, the transmitter Tx in the transceiver 1203 is also used to receive the modulated digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals from the processor 1201, convert the modulated digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals into radio frequency signals, and transmit the radio frequency signals through one or more antennas 1205. Specifically, the receiver Rx can selectively perform one-stage or multi-stage down-conversion processing and analog-to-digital conversion processing on the radio frequency signals to obtain digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals, and the order of the down-conversion processing and the analog-to-digital conversion processing can be adjusted. The transmitter Tx can selectively perform one-stage or multi-stage up-conversion processing and digital-to-analog conversion processing on the modulated digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals to obtain radio frequency signals, and the order of the up-conversion processing and the digital-to-analog conversion processing can be adjusted. Digital baseband signals and digital intermediate frequency signals can be collectively referred to as digital signals.

[0440] The transceiver 1203 can also be referred to as a transceiver module, a transceiver, a transceiver device, etc. Optionally, the devices used to implement the receiving function in the transceiver module can be regarded as a receiving unit, and the devices used to implement the sending function in the transceiver module can be regarded as a sending unit, that is, the transceiver module includes a receiving unit and a sending unit. The receiving unit can also be referred to as a receiver, an input port, a receiving circuit, etc., and the sending unit can be referred to as a transmitter, a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc.

[0441] It should be noted that Figure 12 The illustrated communication device 1200 can specifically be used to implement the steps implemented by the application server, the user plane function network element, the session management function network element, the policy management function network element, and / or the access network device in the foregoing method embodiments, and achieve the technical effects corresponding to the application server, the user plane function network element, the session management function network element, the policy management function network element, and / or the access network device. Figure 12 For the specific implementation manners of the illustrated communication device 1200, reference can be made to the descriptions in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

[0442] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium storing one or more computer-executable instructions. When the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor, the processor executes the methods of the possible implementation manners of the application server, user plane function network element, session management function network element, policy management function network element, and / or access network device in the foregoing embodiments.

[0443] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product (or computer program) storing one or more computers. When the computer program product is executed by the processor, the processor executes the methods of the possible implementation manners of the foregoing application server, user plane function network element, session management function network element, policy management function network element, and / or access network device.

[0444] An embodiment of the present application further provides a chip system. The chip system includes at least one processor for supporting a communication device to implement the functions involved in the possible implementation manners of the communication device. Optionally, the chip system further includes an interface circuit, and the interface circuit provides program instructions and / or data for the at least one processor. In a possible design, the chip system may further include a memory for storing necessary program instructions and data of the communication device. The chip system may be composed of chips or may include chips and other discrete devices, where the communication device may specifically be the application server, user plane function network element, session management function network element, policy management function network element, and / or access network device in the foregoing method embodiments.

[0445] An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system. The communication system includes the application server, user plane function network element, session management function network element, policy management function network element, and / or access network device in any of the foregoing embodiments.

[0446] In several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the unit is only a logical function division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the displayed or discussed mutual coupling, direct coupling, or communication connection may be through some interfaces, and the indirect coupling or communication connection of the device or unit may be in an electrical, mechanical, or other form.

[0447] The unit described as a separate component may or may not be physically separated. The component shown as a unit may or may not be a physical unit, that is, it may be located in one place or distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

[0448] In addition, each functional unit in various embodiments of the present application may be integrated in a processing module, may exist separately as individual physical units, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit. The above-mentioned integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of a software functional unit. If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on such an understanding, the technical solution of the present application, in essence, or the part that makes a contribution, or all or part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a radio access network, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method in various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media such as USB flash drives, mobile hard disks, read-only memories (ROM, Read-Only Memory), random access memories (RAM, Random Access Memory), magnetic disks, or optical discs that can store program codes.

Claims

1. A method for delay control, characterized in that, the method is applied to a policy control function network element, and the method includes: receiving first information sent by an application server, where the first information indicates an end-to-end transmission delay requirement of a first data stream, and the end-to-end transmission delay requirement is a transmission delay requirement for transmitting data between a first terminal device and a second terminal device; generating a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rule according to the first information, where the PCC rule is used to indicate a Quality of Service (QoS) requirement of a first QoS flow, and / or a QoS requirement of a second QoS flow, where the QoS requirement of the first QoS flow includes an uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the first terminal device to a first user plane function network element, and the QoS requirement of the second QoS flow includes a downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from a second user plane function network element to the second terminal device.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, the PCC rule includes: a first indication information, which is used to indicate that the first terminal device adds first time information of the data packet in the data packet of the first data stream, and the first time information indicates the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the data packet.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, the PCC rule further includes: an end-to-end transmission delay budget of the first data stream, and the end-to-end transmission delay budget is a transmission delay budget for transmitting data between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that, the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream includes: an uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, and a downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, the sum of the uplink transmission delay requirement and the downlink transmission delay requirement satisfies being less than or equal to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that, generating the Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rule according to the first information includes: obtaining a first transmission delay value from the application server to the first user plane function network element and / or a second transmission delay value from the application server to the second user plane function network element; determining the QoS requirement of the first QoS flow and / or the QoS requirement of the second QoS flow according to the first information and the first transmission delay value, and / or the second transmission delay value.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that, the method further includes: sending a first subscription request, where the first subscription request is used to request to provide a first notification service, and the first notification service is to send a first notification message when the transmission delay of the first data stream is greater than or equal to a first threshold. Receive the first notification message, where the first notification message indicates that the transmission delay of the first data stream is greater than or equal to the first threshold.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1-7, wherein, the method further comprises: sending a set of transmission delay requirements, the set of transmission delay requirements including one or more sets of transmission delay requirement combinations, and each set of transmission delay requirement combinations includes the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement; receiving a second notification message, the second notification message indicating a target transmission delay requirement combination, and the target transmission delay requirement combination belongs to the set of transmission delay requirements including one or more sets of transmission delay requirement combinations; updating the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream according to the second notification message.

9. A delay control method, wherein, the method is applied to an application server or an application function network element, and the method comprises: sending first information, the first information indicating an end-to-end transmission delay requirement of a first data stream, the end-to-end transmission delay requirement being a transmission delay requirement for transmitting data between a first terminal device and a second terminal device, and the end-to-end transmission delay requirement is used for a radio communication network to determine a transmission delay requirement of the radio communication network from the first terminal device to the second terminal device.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein, the first information further comprises: description information of the first data stream, and the description information of the first data stream includes any one or more of the following information: the source Internet Protocol (IP) address of the first data stream, the destination IP address of the first data stream, the source port of the first data stream, the destination port of the first data stream, the transport layer protocol information of the first data stream, the queue pair of the first data stream, the service type of the first data stream, or the port index of the first data stream.

11. The method according to any one of claims 9-10, wherein, the method further comprises: obtaining first time information, the first time information indicating the time when the first terminal device generates or sends a first data packet, and the first data packet is carried on the first data stream; and / or obtaining second time information, the second time information indicating the time when the application server receives the first data packet, or the second time information indicating the time when the application server sends the first data packet to the second terminal device.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein, the method further comprises: receiving a set of transmission delay requirements sent by a Policy Control Function (PCF), the set of transmission delay requirements including one or more sets of transmission delay requirement combinations, and each set of transmission delay requirement combinations includes the uplink transmission delay requirement and / or the downlink transmission delay requirement; determining a target transmission delay requirement combination from the set of transmission delay requirements according to the first time information and / or the second time information, and the target transmission delay requirement combination belongs to the set of transmission delay requirements; Update the end-to-end transmission delay requirement according to the combined target transmission delay requirement.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein, updating the end-to-end transmission delay requirement according to the combined target transmission delay requirement includes: sending a second notification message to the policy management function, the second notification message indicating the combined target transmission delay requirement.

14. The method according to any one of claims 9-13, wherein, the method further includes: receiving a first subscription request sent by a policy management function network element, the first subscription request being used to request to provide a first notification service, the first notification service being to send a first notification message when the transmission delay of the first data stream is greater than or equal to a first threshold; obtaining first time information, the first time information indicating the time when the first terminal device generates or sends a first data packet, the first data packet being carried in the first data stream; and / or, obtaining second time information, the second time information indicating the time when the application server receives the first data packet, or the second time information indicating that the application server sends the first data packet to the second terminal device; determining whether to send the first notification message to the policy management function network element according to the first time information and / or the second time information, and the first threshold.

15. The method according to any one of claims 9-14, wherein, the method further includes: receiving the first data packet sent by the first terminal device, the first data packet being carried in the first data stream; sending the first data packet with added first time information to the second terminal device, the first time information indicating the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the first data packet.

16. A delay control method, wherein, the method is applied to a session management function network element, and the method includes: receiving a policy and charging control (PCC) rule; obtaining third information according to the PCC rule, the third information including the QoS requirement of a first quality of service (QoS) flow, and / or, the QoS requirement of a second QoS flow, the QoS requirement of the first QoS flow including the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, the QoS requirement of the second QoS flow including the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device; sending the third information.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein, sending the third information includes: sending the third information to the first terminal device, the third information including first indication information, the first indication information indicating that the first terminal device adds the time information when the first terminal device sends or generates the data packet to the data packet transmitted in the first data stream.

18. The method according to claim 16 or 17, wherein, sending the third information includes: Send the third information to the access network device, where the third information includes: the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream, and the end-to-end transmission delay of the first data stream indicates the upper limit value of the transmission time of the data packets in the first data stream, and the access network device provides communication services for the second terminal device.

19. The method according to any one of claims 16-18, wherein, sending the third information includes: sending the third information to the access network device, where the third information includes: the QoS parameters of the first QoS flow, and / or the QoS parameters of the second QoS flow, wherein, the QoS parameters of the first QoS flow include the uplink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the first terminal device to the first user plane function network element, the QoS parameters of the second QoS flow include the downlink transmission delay requirement of the first data stream from the second user plane function network element to the second terminal device.

20. The method according to any one of claims 16-19, wherein, sending the third information includes: sending the third information to the user plane function network element, where the third information includes: the packet detection rule of the first data stream and / or the QoS execution rule of the first data stream, and the QoS execution rule of the first data stream is used to instruct the user plane function network element to add the time when the first terminal device generates or sends the data packet in the data packet of the first data stream.

21. A delay control method, wherein, the method is applied to an access network device, and the method includes: receiving a data packet of the first data stream, where the data packet includes time information indicating that a first terminal device generates or sends the data packet; sending the data packet to the second terminal device according to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and the time information of the data packet, and the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream is the transmission delay requirement for transmitting data between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein, the method further includes: receiving third information sent by a session management function network element, where the third information includes the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream.

23. The method according to claim 21 or 22, wherein, the method further includes: determining a first time period of the data packet according to the first time information of the data packet and the reception time when the access network device receives the data packet, where the first time period indicates the transmission time of the data packet from the first terminal device to the access network device; determining a transmission delay budget of the data packet according to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and the first time period of the data packet; sending the data packet to the second terminal device within the transmission delay budget of the data packet.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein, the method further includes: Determine a first time period of the data packet according to the first time information of the data packet and the reception time when the access network device receives the data packet, where the first time period indicates the transmission time for the data packet to be transmitted from the first terminal device to the access network device; Determine the transmission delay budget of the data packet according to the end-to-end transmission delay requirement of the first data stream and the first time period of the data packet.

25. A communication device, characterized in that, it includes a transceiver module and a processing module: The transceiver module is used to input and / or output signaling or data; The processing module is configured to execute, through a communication unit, the method according to any one of claims 1-8, or execute the method according to any one of claims 9-15, execute the method according to any one of claims 16-20, and execute the method according to any one of claims 21-24.

26. A communication device, characterized in that, it includes a communication interface and a processor: The communication interface is used to input and / or output signaling or data; The processor is configured to execute a computer-executable program, so that the method according to any one of claims 1-8 is executed, or the method according to any one of claims 9-15 is executed, or the method according to any one of claims 16-20 is executed, or the method according to any one of claims 21-24 is executed.

27. A computer-readable storage medium, including instructions, characterized in that, when the instructions are executed by a processor, the method according to any one of claims 1-8, or, claims 9-15, or, claims 16-20, or, the method according to any one of claims 21-24 is implemented.

28. A computer program product, including a program, characterized in that, when the program is executed by a processor, the method according to any one of claims 1-8, or, claims 9-15, or, claims 16-20, or, the method according to any one of claims 21-24 is implemented.

29. A chip system, characterized in that, the chip system includes at least one processor, and when program instructions are executed in the at least one processor, the method according to any one of claims 1-8, or, claims 9-15, or, claims 16-20, or, claims 21-24 is implemented.

30. A communication system, characterized in that, it includes a communication device for executing the method according to any one of claims 1-8, a communication device for executing the method according to any one of claims 9-15, a communication device for executing the method according to any one of claims 16-20, and a communication device for executing the method according to any one of claims 21-24.

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