Method and apparatus for routing data packets and method and apparatus for controlling data packet transmission

Abstract

To provide a method and an apparatus for routing data packets, and a method and an apparatus for controlling data packet transmission.SOLUTION: A data packet routing method includes the steps of receiving a first message transmitted by a first node and determining a transmission path of a data packet according to the first message. The method allows a node of a relay network to determine a condition for transmitting the data packet by using different transmission paths, thereby achieving effective use of multiple transmission paths to realize data packet transmission.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present application relates to the field of wireless communication technology, and in particular, the present application relates to a method and apparatus for routing data packets and a method and apparatus for controlling data packet transmission. [Background technology]

[0002] In order to meet the increasing demand for wireless data traffic since the commercialization of the 4th generation (4G) communication system, efforts are being made to develop improved 5th generation (5G) or pre-5G communication systems. For this reason, 5G or pre-5G communication systems are referred to as beyond 4G network communication systems or post-LTE (long term evolution) systems.

[0003] In order to achieve high data transmission rates, the 5G communication system is being considered for implementation in ultra-high frequency (mm Wave) bands (such as the 60 GHz band). In order to mitigate the path loss of propagation in ultra-high frequency bands and increase the propagation distance, technologies such as beamforming, massive array multiple input / output (massive MIMO), full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas, analog beam forming, and largescale antennas are being discussed in the 5G communication system.

[0004] Furthermore, to improve the system's network, technologies such as advanced small cells, cloud radio access networks (cloud RAN), ultra-dense networks, device to device communication (D2D), wireless backhaul, moving networks, cooperative communication, coordinated multi-points (CoMP), and receive interference cancellation are being developed in the 5G communication system.

[0005] In addition, advanced adaptive modulation and coding (ACM) techniques such as hybrid frequency shift keying and quadrature amplitude modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as well as advanced access technologies such as filter bank multi carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) are being developed for 5G systems.

[0006] In the New Radio access (NR) network or the fifth generation (5G) network, the Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) project has been proposed to expand the coverage of the network. The main purpose of this project is to build a multi-hop relay network architecture. As shown in FIG. 1, a multi-hop relay network architecture including a donor node (IAB donor) and two relay nodes (IAB nodes) is shown in FIG. 1. Users 1 / 2 / 3 access the relay network through the distributed unit of the donor node, the distributed unit part of the relay node 1, and the distributed unit part of the relay node 2. The donor node may be composed of an independent base station, or a central unit (CU) (IAB-Donor Central Unit) and a distributed unit (DU) (IAB-Donor Distributed Unit), where the interface between the central unit and the distributed unit is an F1 interface (see 3GPP TS38.473), and the protocol stacks included in the central unit include: the protocol stack serving the control plane includes a Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol layer and a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, and the protocol stack serving the user plane includes a Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer and a PDCP layer; the protocol stacks included in the distributed units are as follows: the protocol stacks serving the control plane and the user plane include a Radio Link Control (RLC) protocol layer, a Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol layer and a Physical Layer (PHY).The relay node includes a mobile terminal part and a distributed unit part, where the mobile terminal part is used to communicate with a node above the relay node (e.g., the mobile terminal part of relay node 1 is used to communicate with a donor node or a distributed unit of the donor node, and the mobile terminal part of relay node 2 is used to communicate with the distributed unit part of relay node 1), and the distributed unit part is used to communicate with a next level node of the relay node (e.g., the distributed unit part of relay node 1 is used to communicate with user 2, and can also be used to communicate with the mobile terminal part of relay node 2). The distributed unit part of the relay node includes protocol stacks such as RLC, MAC and PHY. The link between the relay node and the donor node or the distributed unit of the donor node, or between the relay nodes, is a backhaul link, and one or more different backhaul link channels, such as the backhaul link channel 1 and the backhaul link channel 2 in FIG. 1, are established on the backhaul link. One example of a backhaul link channel is a backhaul link RLC (Radio Link Control) protocol channel, i.e., a backhaul RLC channel. In a relay network, each backhaul link channel is used to transmit data packets belonging to the same or different user radio bearers, which may be data radio bearers (DRB) or signaling radio bearers (SRB), control plane signaling of the F1 interface, or user plane data of the F1 interface.

[0007] In a multi-hop relay network, a new protocol layer, namely, the backhaul adaptation protocol (BAP) layer, is defined. This protocol layer is composed of the distributed units of the donor node and the relay node. Its main role is data packet routing and data packet mapping. Data packet routing refers to sending a received data packet to the correct next hop node so that it can be received by the destination receiving node of the data packet (the destination receiving node may be a relay node, a donor node or a distributed unit of the donor node, or the central unit of the donor node. In the case of a relay node, it means that the data packet is a data packet of the relay node (e.g., the data packet of the control signaling of the F1 interface must be received by the distributed unit of the relay node) or a data packet of a user accessing the relay node). Data packet mapping refers to sending the data packet through the correct backhaul link channel. When the distributed units of the relay node or each relay node performs data packet routing, it reads the routing-related information in the data packet and determines the node to which the data packet is to be sent according to the configured routing table. The information related to the routing of the data packet includes at least one of the following information: 1) routing identification information (e.g., routing ID, BAP routing ID); 2) identification information or address information of the destination receiving node (e.g., destination address, BAP address); 3) route identification information (route ID). In one embodiment, the transmission route represented by the identification information may be the route during the traversal from the source sending node of the data packet to the destination receiving node, i.e., the transmission route indicates that the data packet is transmitted via the source node (which may be a donor node, a central unit of a donor node, or a distributed unit of a donor node), one or more intermediate nodes, and the destination receiving node; in another embodiment, the transmission route represented by the identification information may be the next hop node of the data packet.When the identification information of the transmission path is different, the next hop node can be the same or different. In one embodiment, the routing identification information can be composed of the identification information or address information (e.g., BAP address) of the destination receiving node and the identification information of the path. In another embodiment, the routing identification information can be used to indicate the destination receiving node and the path identification. The routing table includes at least one of the following information: 1) routing identification information; 2) identification information or address information (e.g., BAP address) of the destination receiving node; 3) path identification information; 4) identification information or address information (e.g., BAP address) of the next hop node. The following describes the data packet routing method in the relay network using FIG. 2 as an example. The address information (e.g., BAP address) of the relay nodes 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 are addresses 1 / 2 / 3 / 4, respectively. Three data packets (data packets 1 / 2 / 3) are transmitted from the central unit of the donor node to the relay node 4 (relay node 4 is the destination receiving node for these data packets). When the distributed unit of the donor node sends the three data packets to the relay node 1, the information contained in each data packet is shown in Table 1 (Information contained in the packet).

[0008] [Table 1]

[0009] After receiving the three data packets, relay node 1 performs the following process: After receiving the three data packets, relay node 1 performs the following process: 1) For data packet 1: relay node 1 obtains a data packet whose BAP address is address 4 and whose route ID is 1. According to the routing table of relay node 1, it can be determined that the next hop node of the data packet is relay node 2, so relay node 1 transmits data packet 1 to relay node 2.

[0010] 2) For data packet 2: relay node 1 obtains a data packet whose BAP address is address 4 and whose route ID is 2. According to the routing table of relay node 1, it can be determined that the next hop relay node 3 of the data packet is relay node 3, so relay node 1 transmits data packet 2 to relay node 3.

[0011] 3) For data packet 3: Relay node 1 obtains a data packet whose BAP address is address 4 and whose route ID is 1. According to the routing table of relay node 1, relay node 1 learns that the next hop node of the data packet sent to relay node 4 is relay node 2 or relay node 3. If the data packet is sent to relay node 2, the corresponding route ID is 1, and if the data packet is sent to relay node 3, the corresponding route ID is 2. In this case, relay node 1 can send data packet 3 to relay node 3. When relay node 1 receives data packet 3, the route ID included in the data packet is 1, and according to this information, relay node 1 should send it to relay node 2. However, relay node 1 decides to send the data packet through relay node 3 instead of relay node 2, so relay node 1 can modify the route ID included in data packet 3 from 1 to 2 and send data packet 3 to relay node 3.

[0012] Similarly, after receiving data packet 1, relay node 2 will send data packet 1 to relay node 4 according to its routing table. After receiving data packets 2 and 3, relay node 3 will send data packets 2 and 3 to relay node 4 according to its routing table.

[0013] In the above example, if the node's routing table indicates that there are multiple alternative routes to the destination receiving node, the node can change the transmission route of the data packet (modify the information regarding the transmission route included in the data packet).

[0014] According to the above example, the routing mechanism of data packets in a relay network can be summarized as follows:

[0015] 1) The routing of a data packet is determined by the routing information contained in the data packet and the routing tables at the nodes of the relay network.

[0016] 2) After receiving the data packet, a node in the relay network (eg, a distributed unit of a relay node or a donor node) determines the next hop node of the data packet according to the routing information of the data packet and a routing table stored in the node.

[0017] 3) A node of a relay network (e.g., a distributed unit of a relay node or a donor node) can change the transmission path of a data packet. When a routing table of a node in a relay network indicates that a data packet transmitted to the same destination receiving node has multiple different next hop nodes (i.e., a data packet transmitted to the same destination receiving node at this node can be transmitted via different next hop nodes and finally arrives at the destination receiving node via different next hop nodes), the node can change the transmission path of the data packet. As shown in FIG. 2, for a data packet whose destination receiving node is relay node 4, relay node 1 can transmit the data packet to relay node 2 or transmit the data packet to relay node 3, and relay node 1 changes the transmission path of data packet 3. Also, when a node of a relay network changes the transmission path of a data packet, it can change the routing information of the data packet (as shown in FIG. 2, the route ID of data packet 3 is changed from 1 to 2). Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0018] The existing technology has the following problems:

[0019] 1) A node in a relay network can change the transmission path of a data packet (such a change in the transmission path can ensure that the data packet can be transmitted to the same destination receiving node). The reason for changing the transmission path of such a node is load balancing, and problems in the transmission path of the data packet (e.g., signal quality degradation, RLF of a link, and link congestion) may occur. There are other reasons that cannot be excluded. However, the prior art does not define a mechanism for controlling such transmission path changes. If a node in a relay network arbitrarily modifies the transmission path of a data packet, network load imbalance and waste of network resources will occur.

[0020] 2) When a node of a relay network changes the transmission path of user data, this means that data with the same destination receiving node is sent to the destination receiving node through different transmission paths. In the prior art, the donor node or the central unit of the donor node cannot learn the data volume information of the data sent through different transmission paths, which is disadvantageous for the donor node or the central unit of the donor node to select a suitable transmission path for user data. Meanwhile, it is useless to control (e.g., flow control) the data transmission by the donor node or the central unit of the donor node.

[0021] 3) In the conventional technology, nodes in a relay network can transmit data packets to the same destination receiving node via different transmission paths. When a radio link failure (RLF) occurs in a backhaul link of a relay network, all data packets passing through the link cannot be transmitted. If other nodes in the relay network can learn the backhaul link where the RLF occurred, the other nodes can change the transmission path of user data to avoid the backhaul link where the RLF occurred, thereby ensuring continuous transmission of user data. However, in the conventional technology, other nodes in the relay network cannot learn the backhaul link where the RLF occurred, and the nodes in the relay network cannot change the data transmission path. As a result, the user data continues to be transmitted through the backhaul link where the RLF occurred, and the user data cannot reach the destination receiving node continuously.

[0022] 4) In the prior art, a relay node can access the network through two or more parent nodes (nodes to which the mobile terminal part of the relay node is connected), or a node directly or indirectly connected to one relay node can access the network through two or more nodes. In this case, user data can be transmitted to the relay node through different transmission paths. Generally, for one DRB data served by the relay node, a tunnel is established between the central unit of the donor node and the distributed unit of the relay node for the DRB. However, if there are multiple transmission paths between the central unit of the donor node and the distributed unit of the relay node, two or more tunnels may be established for the DRB, and data of different tunnels is transmitted to the relay node through different transmission paths. In the prior art, when two tunnels are established between the central unit of the donor node and the distributed unit of the relay node for one DRB, the distributed unit of the relay node must establish two different RLC entities for the DRB, and each RLC entity configures a corresponding logical channel, and further configures one or more cells serving each RLC entity and the corresponding logical channel. The purpose of this configuration is to support the PDCP duplication function (one packet of the PDCP layer is duplicated into two packets, and in order to provide reliability of data transmission, the central unit of the base station transmits two packets to the distributed unit part of the base station through two different tunnels, and the two packets are transmitted to the user through two different RLC entities, two different logical channels, and different cells). However, in a relay network, even if the PDCP duplication function is not enabled, two or more tunnels for the DRB can be established between the central unit of the donor node and the distributed unit part of the relay node. This is because the data of the DRB is transmitted to the relay node through different transmission paths. However, the conventional technology requires configuring two RLC entities for the DRB, which causes resource waste in the distributed unit part of the relay node and limits the transmission of the DRB data.

[0023] 5) In the prior art, a relay node can access the central unit of the donor node through two or more distributed units of the donor node. The relay node can be directly connected to the distributed units of each donor node or indirectly connected to the distributed units of each donor node through one or more other relay nodes. After the central unit of the donor node determines the transmission path of the downlink data, the relay node should determine the downlink address (e.g., downlink IP address) corresponding to the transmission path. However, in the prior art, the relay node cannot know the transmission path selected by the central unit of the donor node, so the relay node cannot select an appropriate downlink address for receiving the downlink data. [Means for solving the problem]

[0024] Considering the shortcomings of existing methods, the present application proposes a method and apparatus for routing data packets, and a method and apparatus for controlling data packet transmission to solve the aforementioned technical shortcomings.

[0025] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for routing a data packet applied to a second node, the method including: receiving a first message transmitted by a first node; and determining a transmission path for the data packet according to the first message.

[0026] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for routing a data packet applied to a first node, the method including: transmitting, by a second node, a first message to the second node for determining a transmission path of the data packet according to the first message; and receiving a second message transmitted by the second node for confirming that the second node has received the first message.

[0027] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for controlling data packet transmission applied to a fifth node, the method comprising: receiving a third message transmitted by a fourth node, the third message including auxiliary information for assisting the fifth node in determining the data packet transmission; and determining the data packet transmission according to the third message.

[0028] According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for controlling data packet transmission applied to a fourth node, the method including the steps of obtaining a third message and transmitting the third message to a fifth node, where the third message includes auxiliary information for assisting the fifth node in deciding to transmit the data packet.

[0029] According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for routing a data packet applied to a sixth node, the method including: determining an RLF; and transmitting a fifth message to a seventh node for determining a transmission path for the data packet.

[0030] According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for routing a data packet applied to a seventh node, the method including: receiving a fifth message transmitted by a sixth node; and determining a transmission path for the data packet according to the fifth message.

[0031] According to a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for routing a data packet applied to a central unit of a donor node, the method including: sending a sixth message to a relay node for configuring a user DRB to which the routing data belongs; and receiving a seventh message sent by the relay node to confirm that the sixth message has been received or to confirm that the configuration process of the radio bearer has been successfully completed.

[0032] According to an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, a data packet routing method applied to a relay node is provided, the method including: receiving a sixth message sent by a central unit of a donor node to configure a user DRB to which the routing data belongs; and sending a seventh message to the central unit of the donor node.

[0033] According to a ninth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for configuring a data transmission path applied to a central unit of a donor node, the method comprising: transmitting an eighth message to a relay node for configuring transmission of user data; and receiving a ninth message transmitted by the relay node for confirming that the eighth message has been received and for determining address information required for receiving the user data.

[0034] According to a tenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for configuring a data transmission path applied to a relay node, the method including receiving an eighth message sent by a central unit of a donor node to configure transmission of user data, and sending a ninth message to the central unit of the donor node.

[0035] According to an eleventh aspect of the present disclosure, a second node device is provided, the second node device including a first processing module configured to receive a first message transmitted by a first node, and a second processing module configured to determine a transmission path of a data packet according to the first message.

[0036] According to a twelfth aspect of the present disclosure, a first node apparatus is provided, the first node apparatus including: a third processing module configured to transmit a first message to a second node so that the second node determines a transmission path of a data packet based on the first message; and a fourth processing module configured to receive a second message transmitted by the second node so as to confirm that the second node has received the first message.

[0037] According to a thirteenth aspect of the present disclosure, a fifth node device is provided, the fifth node device including: a fifth processing module configured to receive a third message transmitted by a fourth node, the third message including auxiliary information for assisting the fifth node in determining data packet transmission; and a sixth processing module configured to determine data packet transmission based on the third message.

[0038] According to a fourteenth aspect of the present disclosure, a fourth node device is provided, the fourth node device including: a seventh processing module configured to acquire a third message; and an eighth processing module configured to transmit the third message to a fifth node, where the third message includes auxiliary information for assisting the fifth node in deciding to transmit a data packet.

[0039] According to a fifteenth aspect of the present disclosure, a sixth node device is provided, the sixth node device including a ninth processing module configured to determine an RLF, and a tenth processing module configured to send a fifth message to a seventh node for determining a transmission path of a data packet.

[0040] According to a sixteenth aspect of the present disclosure, a seventh node device is provided, the seventh node device including an eleventh processing module configured to receive a fifth message transmitted by a sixth node, and a twelfth processing module configured to determine a transmission path of a data packet according to the fifth message.

[0041] According to a seventeenth aspect of the present disclosure, a central unit device of a donor node is provided, which includes: a thirteenth processing module configured to send a sixth message or an eighth message to a relay node to configure a transmission path of user data or a user DRB to which routing data belongs; and a fourteenth processing module configured to receive a seventh message or a ninth message sent by the relay node to confirm that the sixth message or the eighth message has been received.

[0042] According to an 18th aspect of the present disclosure, a relay node device is provided, which includes a 15th processing module configured to receive a 6th message or an 8th message sent by a central unit of a donor node to configure a transmission path of user data or a user DRB to which routing data belongs, and a 16th processing module configured to send a 7th message or a 9th message to the central unit of the donor node. Effect of the Invention

[0043] The technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application exhibit at least the following beneficial effects:

[0044] 1) A relay node can determine conditions for transmitting user data using other transmission paths, thereby enabling user data transmission to be implemented by effectively using multiple transmission paths.

[0045] 2) The central unit of the donor node can determine an appropriate transmission path according to the received auxiliary information, thereby improving the efficiency of user data transmission. Another advantage is that the donor node or the central unit of the donor node can effectively control the flow of data transmission according to the received auxiliary information. When data is transmitted via multiple paths, the donor node or the central unit of the donor node can effectively control the flow of data transmission on one or more transmission paths (e.g., select an appropriate data transmission rate, select an appropriate data transmission volume, etc.) according to the received auxiliary information.

[0046] 3) When RLF occurs at a relay node, the RLF can be notified to other nodes, and user data can be diverted to another transmission path via the notification data, thereby avoiding interruption of user data transmission due to RLF.

[0047] 4) After receiving the address information of two or more tunnels sent by the central unit of the donor node, the relay node can determine whether or not to establish two or more RLC entities for the user DRB based on the information in the radio bearer configuration request message, thereby making efficient use of resources on the relay node side.

[0048] 5) When a relay node accesses the central unit of a donor node through two or more different distributed units of the donor node, the relay node can determine address information for receiving downlink data according to configuration information of the received user data.

[0049] Additional aspects and advantages of the present application will be set forth in the description which follows, and will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the present application. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0050] In order to explain the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application more clearly, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments of the present application will be briefly introduced below.

[0051] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram of an existing multi-hop relay network architecture. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of existing data packet routing. [Diagram 3] 1 is a schematic flowchart of a data packet routing method according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 4] 4 is a schematic flowchart of another data packet routing method according to an embodiment of the present application. [Diagram 5] 2 is a schematic flowchart of a data packet transmission control method according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 6] 4 is a schematic flowchart of another data packet transmission control method according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 7]4 is a schematic flowchart of another data packet routing method according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 8] 4 is a schematic flowchart of another data packet routing method according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 9] 4 is a schematic flowchart of another data packet routing method according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 10] 4 is a schematic flowchart of another data packet routing method according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 10a] 2 is a schematic flowchart of a method for configuring a user data transmission path according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 10b] 4 is a schematic flowchart of another method for configuring a user data transmission path according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 11] 4 is a schematic flowchart of a transmission path setup according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 12] 1 is a schematic flowchart of a method for providing auxiliary information for selecting a transmission path according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 13] 2 is a schematic flowchart of a method for changing a transmission path according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 14] 1 is an overview of establishing two RLC entities using existing mechanisms. [Figure 15] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of establishing two tunnels in a relay network according to one embodiment of the present application. [Figure 15a] 1 is a schematic diagram of a relay node receiving data using different IP addresses in an existing mechanism. [Figure 16] 2 is a schematic flow chart of setting up a radio bearer according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 16a] 4 is a schematic flow chart of configuring a user data transmission path according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 17] FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a second node device according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 18]1 is a schematic structural diagram of a first node device according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 19] FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a fifth node device according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 20] FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a fourth node device according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 21] FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a sixth node device according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 22] FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a seventh node device according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 23] FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a central unit device for a donor node according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 24] FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of a relay node device according to an embodiment of the present application; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0052] Hereinafter, the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail, examples of which are illustrated in the drawings, and the same or similar reference numerals are used throughout the drawings to indicate the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar functions. The embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings are illustrative and are used to explain the present disclosure, and are not to be construed as limiting the present disclosure.

[0053] Those skilled in the art should understand that the singular forms "a," "the," and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. It should be understood that the term "comprises" or "comprising" as used in the specification of this disclosure means the presence of features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more of other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or combinations thereof. When a component is referred to as being "connected" or "coupled" to another component, it should be understood that it can be directly connected or coupled to the other component, or intervening elements can be present. Also, the term "connected" or "coupled" as used herein can include wireless connections or wireless couplings. The term "and / or" as used herein includes all or any one and all combinations of one or more such listed items.

[0054] In order to make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the present application clearer, the embodiments of the present application are described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0055] In this application, message sequence numbers are used to indicate different messages (e.g., first message, second message, etc. are used to indicate different messages), not to indicate the sequence in which the messages are performed; node sequence numbers are used to indicate different nodes (e.g., first node and second node, etc. are used to indicate different nodes), not to indicate the sequence in which the nodes perform in the information interaction process.

[0056] In this application, the message names are exemplary and the use of other names is not excluded.

[0057] Example I

[0058] An embodiment of the present application provides a data packet routing method, applied to a second node, a schematic flowchart of the method is shown in Figure 3, the method includes:

[0059] Step S101: Receiving a first message sent by a first node.

[0060] Step S102: determining a transmission path for the data packet according to the first message.

[0061] Alternatively, the first node and the second node of the relay network may be a donor node, or a central unit of a donor node, or a distributed unit of a donor node, or a relay node.The first message is a transmission path configuration request message.

[0062] In this embodiment of the present application, a first message sent by a first node is received; and a transmission path for the data packet is determined by the first message. In this manner, the relay node can determine the conditions for transmitting user data using other transmission paths, thereby effectively using multiple transmission paths to complete the user data transmission.

[0063] Optionally, the first message includes at least one of the following: first information relating to user data attributes, second information relating to a transmission path, indication information indicating whether another transmission path may be enabled, indication information for activating or deactivating the transmission path, and seventh information relating to routing.

[0064] Optionally, the first information related to the user data attribute includes at least one of the following: user data attribute indication information, user identity information, data radio bearer (DRB) identification information, signaling radio bearer (SRB) identification information, user radio bearer identification information, control signaling type information, identification information of a backhaul link channel used by the second node to receive the user data, identification information of a backhaul link channel used by the second node to transmit the user data, identification information and / or address information (e.g., BAP address) of a destination receiving node of the user data, and routing identification information of the user data, identification information of a transmission path of the user data, indication information of uplink and downlink data, and indication information of a retransmitted data packet.

[0065] Optionally, the second information related to the transmission path includes at least one of the following: identification information of the transmission path, identification information of the primary transmission path, indication information of the primary transmission path, address information (e.g., a BAP address) or identification information of a destination receiving node of the transmission path, routing identification information of the transmission path, condition information for enabling the transmission path, information on the amount of data to be transmitted via the transmission path, Quality of Service (QoS) information of the data transmitted via the transmission path, and identification information of a backhaul link channel for transmitting user data via a backhaul link between the second node and the next hop node indicated by the transmission path.

[0066] Optionally, the seventh information related to routing includes at least one of the following: address information of the second node, address information of the distributed unit of the donor node, IP address information of the distributed unit of the donor node, IP address information of the central unit of the donor node, one or more routing table entries, and information of one or more supported slices.

[0067] Optionally, the second node adds third information related to a transmission path modification during the data packet transmission process to the data packet, where the third information includes at least one of the following: address information (e.g., BAP address) or identification information of the node whose transmission path is modified; at least one of the transmission path information, routing identification information, and identification information (or address information (e.g., BAP address)) of the destination receiving node included in the data packet before the transmission path is modified; at least one of the transmission path information, routing identification information, and identification information (or address information (e.g., BAP address)) of the destination receiving node included in the data packet after the transmission path is modified.

[0068] An embodiment of the present application provides another data packet routing method, applied to a first node, a schematic flow chart of the method is shown in Figure 4. The method includes:

[0069] Step S201: sending a first message to a second node, so that the second node determines a sending path of a data packet according to the first message.

[0070] Step S202: receiving a second message sent by the second node to confirm that the second node has received the first message or to confirm successful completion of the transmission path configuration process.

[0071] Optionally, the second message is a transmit path configuration request response message.

[0072] An embodiment of the present application provides a data packet transmission control method applied to a fifth node. A schematic flow chart of the method is shown in Figure 5. The method includes:

[0073] Step S301: receiving a third message transmitted by a fourth node, the third message including auxiliary information for assisting a fifth node in deciding to transmit a data packet.

[0074] Step S302: determining data packet transmission according to a third message.

[0075] Optionally, the third message is a transmission auxiliary information message.

[0076] Alternatively, the fourth node and the fifth node of the relay network may be a donor node, or a central unit of a donor node, or a distributed unit of a donor node, or a relay node.

[0077] In this embodiment of the present application, a third message sent by the fourth node is received, the third message including auxiliary information to support the fifth node in determining the data packet transmission, and the data packet transmission is determined by the third message. In this manner, the central unit of the donor node can determine an appropriate transmission path according to the received auxiliary information, and improve the efficiency of user data transmission.

[0078] Optionally, the third message includes at least one of the following: fourth information related to user data attributes, fifth information related to a data transmission path, identification information or address information (e.g., a BAP address) when the transmission path of the user data is changed, and information of the transmission path proposed by the fourth node.

[0079] Optionally, the fifth information related to the data transmission path includes at least one of the following: indication information of the type of the transmission path, identification indication information of the transmission path, and sixth information related to the data on the transmission path.

[0080] Optionally, the information of the transmission paths proposed by the fourth node includes at least one of the following: identification information of the one or more transmission paths proposed by the fourth node and indication information of the one or more transmission paths proposed by the fourth node.

[0081] An embodiment of the present application provides another data packet transmission control method applied to a fourth node.

[0082] A schematic flow chart of the method is shown in Figure 6. The method includes:

[0083] Step S401: Obtaining a third message.

[0084] Step S402: Sending a third message to the fifth node, the third message including auxiliary information for assisting the fifth node in deciding to send the data packet.

[0085] Optionally, the fourth node receives a fourth message sent by the fifth node to indicate to the fourth node to provide the fifth node with the auxiliary information.

[0086] Optionally, the fourth message is an auxiliary information request message.

[0087] An embodiment of the present application provides another data packet routing method, which is applied to the sixth node. A schematic flow chart of the method is shown in FIG. 7. The method includes:

[0088] In step S501, a radio link failure (RLF) is determined.

[0089] Step S502: Sending a fifth message to a seventh node for determining a sending path of the data packet.

[0090] Optionally, the fifth message is a message for reporting the RLF.

[0091] Alternatively, the sixth node, the seventh node and the ninth node of the relay network may be donor nodes, or central units of donor nodes, or distributed units of donor nodes, or relay nodes.

[0092] In this embodiment of the present application, a fifth message is sent to the seventh node to determine the RLF and to determine the transmission path of the data packet. When the RLF occurs in the relay node, other nodes can be notified of the link failure, and the user data can be diverted to a different transmission path through this notification data, thereby avoiding the interruption of the user data transmission due to the RLF.

[0093] Optionally, the fifth message includes at least one of the following: an RLF indication, an identification or address information of a sixth node (e.g., a BAP address), an indication of a backhaul link on which the RLF occurred, an identification or address information of an unreachable node (e.g., a BAP address), an identification or address information of a reachable node (e.g., a BAP address), an identification of a transmission path that cannot be used for data transmission, an identification of a transmission path that can be used for data transmission, an identification of a route that cannot be used for data transmission, an identification of a route that can be used for data transmission, an indication for RLF recovery, and an indication that the backhaul link on which the RLF occurred has been recovered.

[0094] Alternatively, the indication information of the backhaul link in which the RLF has occurred may include at least one of the following: identification information or address information (e.g., BAP address) of a node serving the backhaul link, identification information or address information (e.g., BAP address) of a distributed unit portion of the node serving the backhaul link, and identification information or address information (e.g., BAP address) of a mobile terminal portion of the node serving the backhaul link.

[0095] Alternatively, the indication information that the backhaul link in which the RLF occurred has been restored includes at least one of the following: identification information or address information (e.g., BAP address) of a node serving the backhaul link, identification information or address information (e.g., BAP address) of a distributed unit portion of the node serving the backhaul link, and identification information or address information (e.g., BAP address) of a mobile terminal portion of the node serving the backhaul link.

[0096] An embodiment of the present application provides another data packet routing method, which is applied to the seventh node. A schematic flow chart of the method is shown in Figure 8. The method includes:

[0097] Step S601: Receiving a fifth message sent by a sixth node.

[0098] Step S602: determining a transmission path for the data packet according to a fifth message.

[0099] An embodiment of the present application provides another data packet routing method, which is applied to the central unit of the donor node. A schematic flow chart of the method is shown in Figure 9. The method includes:

[0100] Step S701: sending a sixth message for configuring a user DRB to which routing data belongs to a relay node.

[0101] Step S702: receiving a seventh message sent by the relay node to confirm that the sixth message has been received or to confirm that the radio bearer configuration process has been successfully completed.

[0102] Optionally, the sixth message is a configuration request message for the radio bearer and the seventh message is a configuration response message for the radio bearer.

[0103] In this embodiment of the present application, a sixth message for configuring a user DRB to which the routing data belongs is sent to the relay node; and a seventh message sent by the relay node is received. In this manner, after receiving the address information of two or more tunnels sent by the central unit of the donor node, the relay node can determine whether to establish two or more RLC entities for the user DRB according to the information in the configuration request information of the wireless bearer, thereby making it possible to effectively use resources on the relay node side.

[0104] Optionally, the sixth message includes at least one of the following: identification information of the user DRB, address information of two or more tunnels on the central unit side of the donor node, and indication information for configuring a Radio Link Control Protocol (RLC) entity.

[0105] Optionally, the seventh message includes at least one of the following: identification information of the user DRB, address information of two or more tunnels on the relay node side, and configuration information of the user DRB.

[0106] An embodiment of the present application provides another data packet routing method applied to a relay node, the schematic flow chart of which is shown in Figure 10. The method includes:

[0107] Step S801: receiving a sixth message sent by a central unit of a donor node for configuring a user DRB to which the routing data belongs.

[0108] Step S802: Sending a seventh message to the central unit of the donor node.

[0109] An embodiment of the present application provides a method for configuring a user data transmission path, which is applied to a central unit of a donor node. A schematic flow chart of the method is shown in Fig. 10a. The method includes:

[0110] Step S801a: Sending an eighth message for configuring transmission of user data to a relay node.

[0111] In step S802a, receiving a ninth message sent by the relay node to verify that the eighth message has been received and to determine address information necessary for receiving the user data.

[0112] Optionally, the eighth message is a radio bearer configuration request message and the ninth message is a radio bearer setup response message.

[0113] In this embodiment of the present application, the eighth message is sent to the relay node to configure the transmission of user data; the ninth message sent by the relay node is received. In this way, after the relay node receives the routing configuration information of the central unit of the donor node, it can determine the address information used by the relay node when receiving data.

[0114] Optionally, the eighth message includes at least one of the following: information relating to the configuration of user data and configuration information relating to a transmission path of the user data.

[0115] Optionally, the ninth message includes information regarding the configuration of the user data.

[0116] An embodiment of the present application provides another method for configuring a user data transmission path, which is applied to a relay node. A schematic flowchart of the method is shown in Fig. 10b. The method includes:

[0117] Step S801b: receiving an eighth message sent by the central unit of the donor node for configuring the transmission of user data.

[0118] Step S802b: Sending a ninth message to the central unit of the donor node.

[0119] The following embodiment is used to comprehensively describe the data packet routing method in the above embodiment of the present application:

[0120] In this application, a node of a relay network may be a donor node, or a central unit of a donor node, or a distributed unit of a donor node, or a relay node.

[0121] Node 1 is the first node, node 2 is the second node, node 3 is the third node, node 4 is the fourth node, node 5 is the fifth node, node 6 is the sixth node, node 7 is the seventh node, node 8 is the eighth node, and node 9 is the ninth node.

[0122] Optionally, the transmission path refers to the nodes to which the user data is transmitted. In one embodiment, the transmission path may be the path during the traversal from the source transmitting node to the destination receiving node for a data packet, i.e., the transmission path refers to the source node (which may be a donor node, or a central unit of a donor node, or a distributed unit of a donor node, or node 2), one or more intermediate nodes (or there may be no intermediate nodes), and the destination receiving node to which the data packet is transmitted in turn; in another embodiment, for a data packet, the transmission path may be the next hop node that receives the data packet. In the case of different transmission paths, the next hop node will be different.

[0123] Alternatively, the user data may be user plane data, e.g., data carried by a DRB or user plane data of an F1 interface, or control plane data, e.g., data carried by an SRB or control plane data of an F1 interface; the target user may be a terminal user (which user is not a relay node) or a relay node or a mobile terminal of a relay node.

[0124] First aspect of the present application: As shown in Figure 11, in one embodiment of the present application, a data packet routing method is provided, which includes the following steps:

[0125] Step 1-1: Node 1 sends a transmission path configuration request message 1-1 to node 2. The configuration request message helps node 2 to determine whether the transmission path is capable of transmitting user data. The configuration request message includes at least one of the following information:

[0126] ■ first information relating to user data attributes, the information including at least one of the following information:

[0127] ■ User data attribute display information. This display information can be used to display user data attribute information. The attribute information is one or more other pieces of information included in the "first information related to user data attributes", and different display information indicates that the target user has different attributes;

[0128] ■ User identity - the user represented by the identity is the user to which the user data belongs -;

[0129] ■ DRB identification information - the DRB indicated by the identification information is the DRB to which the user data belongs -;

[0130] ■ SRB identification information - the SRB indicated by the identification information is the SRB to which the user data belongs -;

[0131] ■ User Radio Bearer Identification: This information can be used to indicate the user and radio bearer to which the user data belongs.

[0132] ■ type information of the control signaling, e.g., non-user-associated control signaling of the F1 interface, user-associated control signaling of the F1 interface, etc;

[0133] ■ An identity of the backhaul link channel (i.e., the ingress backhaul RLC channel) used by node 2 to receive user data;

[0134] ■ An identity of the backhaul link channel (i.e., the egress backhaul RLC channel) used by node 2 to transmit user data;

[0135] ■ Identification and / or address information of the destination receiving node of the user data (e.g. BAP address);

[0136] ■ User data routing identity;

[0137] ■ Identification of the path along which user data will be transmitted;

[0138] ■ uplink and downlink data indication information indicating that the user data is uplink data, or downlink data, or uplink data and downlink data;

[0139] ■ A retransmitted data packet indication, which indicates whether the data packet is a retransmitted data packet.

[0140] ■ Second information related to a transmission route. A transmission route refers to one or more transmission routes among different transmissions to the same destination receiving node. In one embodiment, the user data corresponding to the "second information related to a transmission route" have the same attribute (the attribute is one or more attributes included in the "first information related to user data attribute"). In the case of a transmission route, this information includes at least one of the following information:

[0141] ■ Identification of the transmission path;

[0142] ■ Identification information of the primary transmission path (primary path ID). The primary transmission path is the main transmission path required for transmitting user data. Node 2 can transmit user data using other transmission paths only if certain conditions are met (see, for example, "Condition information for enabling transmission paths" below).

[0143] ■ Indication of the primary transmission path. The primary transmission path is the main transmission path required to transmit user data. Node 2 can transmit user data using other paths only if certain conditions are met (see, for example, "Condition information for enabling transmission paths" below).

[0144] ■ Address information (e.g., BAP address) or identification information of the destination receiving node of the transmission path;

[0145] ■ A transmission path identification indicating a destination receiving node and a transmission path to the destination receiving node;

[0146] ■ priority information for enabling a transmission path, indicating the priority for enabling the transmission path if other transmission paths need to be enabled to transmit user data;

[0147] ■ Condition information for enabling a transmission path. In one embodiment, this condition information can be set for data having the same attribute (the attribute is one or more attributes included in the "first information related to user data attributes"). In one embodiment, if the data packet received by node 2 includes transmission path information (e.g., a path ID), the enabled transmission path is different from the transmission path indicated in the data packet, which can transmit the data packet received by node 2 to one or more transmission paths of the destination receiving node. In another embodiment, if the data packet received by node 2 does not include transmission path information, the enabled transmission path can transmit the data packet received by node 2 to one or more transmission paths of the destination receiving node. For one transmission path, the condition information includes at least one of the following information:

[0148] ◆ an indication as to whether the transmission path can be enabled or not - this indication can indicate that the transmission path cannot be enabled or that the transmission path may be enabled;

[0149] ◆ Threshold information for data packets stored in the cache of node 2. If the amount of stored data packets exceeds the amount indicated by the threshold information, the transmission path is enabled. The threshold information may be bits, bytes, numbers, or other quantities. The threshold information may be a threshold set for the average data packets stored in the cache, or a threshold set for the data packets stored in the cache at any one time; the stored data packets may be all data packets received by node 2 from one or more other nodes, or a portion of the data packets received by node 2 from one or more other nodes (in one implementation, the portion of the data packets may be data packets whose time stored in one or more other nodes exceeds a particular threshold. If the portion of the data packets received by node 2 whose time stored in one or more other nodes does not exceed the threshold, these data packets are not counted);

[0150] ◆ Threshold information of the time that the data packet is stored in the cache of node 2. If the time that the data packet is stored in the cache exceeds the value indicated by the threshold information, the transmission path is enabled;

[0151] ◆ Threshold information of the time for a data packet to be transmitted at another node of the relay node to node 2. If the time for a data packet to be transmitted at another node of the relay node to node 2 exceeds the value indicated by the threshold information, the transmission path is enabled.

[0152] ◆ Indication information indicating that the transmission path is enabled if RLF occurs on the link from node 2 to the next-hop node - the next-hop node being the next-hop node indicated by the routing information included in the data packet received by node 2;

[0153] ◆ Threshold information for link quality (e.g., signal strength, signal to interference and noise ratio, RSRP, RSRQ, CQI, etc.) of the link from node 2 to the next-hop node or previous-hop node (e.g., if the link quality is lower than the threshold, the transmission path is enabled). The next-hop node is the next-hop node indicated by the routing information included in the data packet received by node 2; the previous-hop node is the node that transmits the data packet to node 2;

[0154] ◆ Threshold information for the available buffer size reported by the next hop node of node 2. If the available buffer size is smaller than the threshold information, the transmission path is enabled. The buffer size may correspond to data having the same attribute (the attribute being one or more attributes included in the "first information related to user data attributes"). The next hop node is the next hop node indicated by the routing information included in the data packet received by node 2;

[0155] ◆ The RLF occurs at one or more nodes in the transmission path indicated in the routing information contained in the data packet received by node 2.

[0156] ■ Quantity information of data transmitted on the transmission path. This information indicates the amount of data transmitted after the transmission path is enabled. In one embodiment, the quantity information indicates information regarding the number of data packets transmitted on the transmission path. In another embodiment, the quantity information indicates information regarding bits or bytes of data packets transmitted on the transmission path. In another embodiment, the quantity information indicates a percentage ratio of packets transmitted on the transmission path to packets with the same attribute that need to be transmitted (the attribute being one or more attributes included in the "first information related to user data attributes").

[0157] ■ QoS information of data transmitted through the transmission path - this information indicates the QoS information of data transmitted after the transmission path is enabled -;

[0158] ■ Identification information of a backhaul link channel used to transmit user data on a backhaul link between node 2 and the next hop node indicated by the transmission path. The number of backhaul link channels may be one or more. When multiple backhaul link channels exist, identification information of multiple backhaul link channels is included. This may also include QoS information of the backhaul link channel;

[0159] ■ Indication information indicating whether another transmission path can be enabled or whether path identification information in the data packet should be modified, this indication information being set for data having the same attribute (this attribute being one or more attributes included in the "first information related to user data attributes");

[0160] ■ Indication information for activating or deactivating a transmission path. This indication information can be used to indicate a transmission path for transmitting user data or a transmission path for not transmitting user data. This indication information can correspond to all data having the same destination receiving node transmitted by node 2, or can correspond to a portion of data transmitted by node 2 to the same destination receiving node (e.g., the portion of data has the same attribute, the attribute being one or more attributes included in the "first information related to user data attributes" in step 1-1), and in one embodiment, this indication information can be a bitmap, where each bit indicates a transmission path, and the bit value is used to activate or deactivate the transmission path (e.g., "1" indicates "activation" and "0" indicates "deactivation", or "0" indicates "activation" and "1" indicates "deactivation");

[0161] ■ Seventh routing information. The seventh routing information includes at least one of the following information:

[0162] ■ Node 2 address information - this address information is address information (e.g., BAP address) used when node 2 is the destination receiving node - For example, if the destination receiving node identification information or address information included in the user data packet is address information, this indicates that the destination receiving node of the data packet is node 2.

[0163] ■ Address information of the distributed unit of the donor node. This address information is address information (e.g., BAP address) used when the distributed unit of the donor node is used as a destination receiving node. In one embodiment, the distributed unit of the donor node is directly connected to node 2 or indirectly connected to node 2 via another relay node. For example, when node 2 transmits user data (where user data is data of a terminal user (non-relay node) of access node 2) or transmits data generated by node 2 itself (where this data is data of F1 control plane or data of F1 user plane generated by node 2), if the data needs to be transmitted to the distributed unit of the donor node, node 2 sets the identification information or address information of the destination receiving node in the data packet as this information;

[0164] ■ IP address information of the distributed unit of the donor node. In one embodiment, the IP address information corresponds to "address information of the distributed unit of the donor node". For example, if the destination IP address of the data packet sent by node 2 is this IP address, node 2 can add "address information of the distributed unit of the donor node" to the data packet;

[0165] ■ IP address information of the central unit of the donor node. In one embodiment, this IP address information corresponds to "address information of the central unit of the donor node". For example, if the destination IP address of the data packet sent by node 2 is IP address, node 2 can add "address information of the central unit of the donor node" to the data packet;

[0166] ■ One or more routing table entries, each of which contains at least one of the following information:

[0167] ◆ Routing identity. In one embodiment, the routing identity may be composed of the identity or address information (e.g., BAP address) of the destination receiving node and the identity of the transmission path. In another embodiment, the routing identity may be used to indicate the destination receiving node and the transmission path identity;

[0168] ◆ Destination receiving node's identity or address information (e.g., BAP address);

[0169] ◆ Transmission path identity;

[0170] ◆ Identification or address information of the next hop node (e.g., BAP address);

[0171] ◆ Information for one or more supported slices (e.g., one or more S-NSSAI (Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information) information). After receiving the information, node 2 can determine the data transmission path using the routing table entries only after receiving user data provided by the slice.

[0172] ■ Information about one or more supported slices (e.g., one or more S-NSSAI (Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information) information). This information indicates that data transmission paths can be determined by the routing table only for user data provided by the slice.

[0173] Step 1-2: Node 2 sends a transmission path configuration request response message 1-2 to node 1. This message is used to confirm that node 2 has received the transmission path configuration request message 1-1, or to confirm that the transmission path configuration process has been completed successfully, or to confirm that the signaling interaction process related to the transmission path configuration request message 1-1 and the transmission path configuration request response message 1-2 has been completed successfully. This step may be an optional step.

[0174] Step 1-3: After node 2 receives the data packet, if the condition configured in step 1-1 is satisfied, node 2 determines the transmission path of the data packet according to the configuration in step 1-1. Optionally, node 2 modifies the transmission path information included in the data packet (modifies the transmission path information of the data packet with the selected transmission path), and transmits the data packet to the corresponding next-hop node according to the selected transmission path. In addition, when node 2 changes the transmission path of the data packet, node 2 can add third information related to the transmission path modification to the data packet, which information includes at least one of the following information:

[0175] ■ Address information (e.g., BAP address) or identification information of the node that modifies the transmission path;

[0176] ■ the transmission path information and / or routing identification information, and / or the destination receiving node identification or address information (e.g., BAP address) contained in the data packet before modifying the transmission path;

[0177] ■ After modifying the transmission path, the transmission path information and / or the routing identification information included in the data packet, and / or the identification information or address information of the destination receiving node (eg, the BAP address).

[0178] Optionally, the method is applicable to transmitting downlink data (data transmitted by a donor node or a central unit of a donor node or a distributed unit of a donor node to a relay node) and / or uplink data (data transmitted by a relay node to a donor node or a distributed unit of a donor node or a central unit of a donor node).

[0179] Alternatively, the configuration request message 1-1 in the above step may be an F1 control message (e.g., a GNB-CU configuration update message, a UE context setup / modification request message, or a newly defined message), or a control message of the X2 interface (SgNB addition / modification request), or a control message of the Xn interface (S-node addition / modification request), or an RRC message (e.g., an RRCReSetup message or a newly defined message), or information placed in a packet header of the MAC layer, or information placed in a packet header of the BAP layer, or information placed in a packet header of the RLC layer, or may be transmitted in any other form. The transmission path configuration request response message 1-2 may be an F1 control message (e.g., a GNB-CU configuration update acknowledgement message, a UE context setup / modification response message, or a newly defined message), or a control message of the X2 interface (SgNB addition / modification request acknowledgement), or a control message of the Xn interface (S-node addition / modification request acknowledgement), or an RRC message (e.g., an RRCReconfigurationComplete message or a newly defined message), or information placed in a packet header of the MAC layer, or information placed in a packet header of the BAP layer, or information placed in a packet header of the RLC layer, or may be transmitted in any other form.

[0180] Alternatively, when node 1 is a donor node or a central unit of a donor node, node 2 is a distributed unit of a donor node or a relay node; when node 1 and node 2 belong to two different base stations, node 1 is base station 1 or a central unit of base station 1, and node 2 is base station 2 or a central unit of base station 2. Also, base station 1 and base station 2 may be a master base station and an auxiliary base station (or an auxiliary base station and a master base station) in their respective dual connections; when node 1 is a distributed unit of a donor node or a relay node, node 2 is a relay node (one embodiment is a relay node in which node 2 is directly connected to node 1; another embodiment is that node 2 is connected to node 1 via one or more intermediate nodes).

[0181] Optionally, as shown in FIG. 11, when node 1 is a distributed unit of a donor node or a relay node, and node 2 is a relay node, the method further includes the steps of:

[0182] Step 1-a: Node 3 sends a configuration request message 1-a to node 1. Node 3 may be a donor node or a central unit of a donor node. This message is used by node 2 to send information related to the sending path of data packets. In the case of node 2, this message contains at least one of the following information:

[0183] ■ Address information (e.g., BAP address) or identification information of the destination receiving node. The destination receiving node is a destination receiving node that can be reached via node 2. That is, the routing table of node 2 includes a routing table entry for the destination receiving node.

[0184] ■ Identification of one or more all transmission paths to said referenced destination receiving node;

[0185] ■ an indication of whether another transmission path may be enabled or whether to modify the path identification information in the data packet;

[0186] ■ For information related to the transmission route, refer to the definition in step 1-1.

[0187] Step 1-b: Node 1 sends a configuration request response message 1-b to node 3, which is used to confirm that node 1 has received the configuration request message 1-a or to confirm that the signaling interaction process related to the configuration request message 1-a and the configuration request response message 1-b has been successfully completed. This step may be an optional step.

[0188] An advantage of the first aspect of the present application is that the relay node can determine the transmission path of the user data, thereby effectively using multiple transmission paths to complete the user data transmission.

[0189] The first aspect of the present application has the following possible implementations:

[0190] First embodiment (Realization 1): Node 1 transmits condition information for enabling another transmission path to node 2. The method includes the following steps:

[0191] Step 1-1: Node 1 sends a transmission path configuration request message 1-1 to node 2. This message includes at least one of the following pieces of information:

[0192] ■ first information relating to user data attributes;

[0193] ■ second information relating to the transmission path;

[0194] ■ An indication of whether other transmit paths may be enabled.

[0195] Step 1-2: Optionally, node 2 sends a transmission path configuration request response message 1-2 to node 1 to acknowledge that the information sent in step 1-1 was received.

[0196] Step 1-3: After node 2 receives the data packet, if the condition configured in step 1-1 is satisfied, node 2 determines the transmission path of the data packet according to the configuration in step 1-1. Optionally, node 2 can add information related to the transmission path modification to the data packet as described above.

[0197] This implementation can help node 2 determine the conditions for selecting a user data transmission path and transmit the user data via the determined transmission path.

[0198] First embodiment (realization 2): Node 1 transmits information related to a routing table to node 2, and the method includes the following steps:

[0199] Step 1-1: Node 1 sends an outgoing path configuration request message 1-1 to node 2. This message includes at least seventh routing information. The seventh routing information is used by node 2 for data packet routing.

[0200] Step 1-2: Optionally, node 2 sends a transmission path configuration request response message 1-2 to node 1 to acknowledge that the information was sent in step 1-1.

[0201] Step 1-3: After the node 2 receives the data packet, the node 2 performs user data routing according to the routing table. Optionally, as described above, the node 2 can add information related to transmission path modification to the data packet.

[0202] The effect of this embodiment is that node 2 determines the data transmission path according to the seventh information received in relation to routing.

[0203] First embodiment (embodiment 3): A node 1 transmits information regarding activation or deactivation of a transmission path to a node 2. The method includes the following steps:

[0204] Step 1-1: Node 1 sends a transmission path configuration request message 1-1 to node 2. This message contains at least one of the following information:

[0205] ■ first information relating to user data attributes;

[0206] ■ Indication information for activating or deactivating transmission paths.

[0207] Step 1-2: Optionally, node 2 sends a transmission path configuration request response message 1-2 to node 1 to acknowledge that the information sent in step 1-1 has been received.

[0208] Step 1-3: After node 2 receives the data packet, node 2 transmits the data packet via the activated or deactivated transmission path. Optionally, as described above, node 2 can add information related to the transmission path modification to the data packet.

[0209] When node 1 is a distributed unit of a donor node or a relay node and node 2 is a relay node, step 1-a may be further included before step 1-1, and step 1-b may be optionally included. For step 1-a / 1-b, refer to steps 1-a and 1-b described above.

[0210] The advantage of this embodiment is that node 2 can determine available transmission paths according to the information for activation or deactivation, and can then transmit data on the activated transmission paths.

[0211] First embodiment (embodiment 4): Node 1 transmits information on the amount of data to be transmitted on a transmission path to node 2. Node 1 is a sub base station, node 2 is a master base station, and node 1 and node 2 form two base stations in a dual connection. This method includes the following steps:

[0212] Step 1-1: Node 1 sends a transmission path configuration request message 1-1 to node 2. This message contains at least one of the following information:

[0213] ■ first information relating to user data attributes;

[0214] ■ Identification of the transmission path;

[0215] ■ Information on the amount of data transmitted on a transmission path, which is indicated by the transmission path identification information.

[0216] Optionally, before step 1-1, the method further includes a step of transmitting a request message for configuring a user radio bearer between base stations to node 1, the message including at least “first information related to user data attributes”, and the transmission path configuration request message 1-1 is a response to the “request message for configuring a user radio bearer between base stations”. For example, the request message for configuring a user radio bearer between base stations may be a control message of an X2 interface (e.g., SgNB Addition / Modification Request or S-Node Addition / Modification Request) or a control message of an Xn interface (e.g., S-Node Addition / Modification Request), and the transmission path configuration request message 1-1 may be a control message of an X2 interface (e.g., SgNB Addition / Modification Request Acknowledgement) or a control message of an Xn interface (e.g., S-Node Addition / Modification Request Acknowledgement).

[0217] The effect of this implementation is that the master base station can determine the transmission of user data over one or more transmission paths based on the information transmitted by the secondary base stations.

[0218] Second aspect of the present application: In one embodiment of the present application, a data packet routing method is provided, in which a distributed unit of a donor node or a relay node provides auxiliary information to a donor node or a central unit of a donor node, which assists the donor node or the central unit of a donor node in determining a transmission path for user data. As illustrated in FIG. 12, the method includes the following steps:

[0219] Step 2-1: Node 4 sends an assistance information transmission message 2-1 to node 5, the message including assistance information for assisting node 5 to select a user data transmission path, the message including at least one of the following information:

[0220] ■ The fourth information related to user data attributes refers to the definition in step 1-1 of the first aspect of the present application. This information can be provided in an explicit or implicit manner. In one embodiment, when the assistance information transmission message 2-1 is transmitted via a user plane message of the F1 interface (e.g., a DL DATA DELIVERY STATUS or ASSISTANCE INFORMATION DATA message), the tunnel information used to transmit this message can be used to obtain the DRB to which the user data belongs.

[0221] ■ Fifth information related to the data transmission path. Data targeted by this information are 1) data whose destination receiving node is node 4; 2) data whose destination receiving node is not node 4 and node 4 does not modify the data transmission path; 3) data whose destination receiving node is not node 4 and node 4 modifies the data transmission path; and 4) data whose destination receiving node is not node 4. The transmission path targeted by the "fifth information related to the data transmission path" may be the transmission path (ingress path) indicated by the data packet received by node 4, or the transmission path (egress path) indicated in the data packet when node 4 transmits the data packet to another node, and the ingress path and egress path may be the same or different. In the case of a transmission path, this information includes at least one of the following information:

[0222] ■ Indication information for the type of transmission path, which indicates whether the transmission path is a transmission path indicated by a data packet received by node 4 (ingress path) or a transmission path indicated in a data packet when node 4 transmits the data packet to another node (egress path). This indication information may be explicit indication information or implicit indication information;

[0223] ■ Identification of the transmission path, the identification including at least one of the following:

[0224] ◆ Transmission path identity;

[0225] ◆ indication of a transmission path, which indication is used to indicate the transmission path used to transmit user data. By means of this indication, node 5 can learn the identification of the transmission path targeted by the "fifth information related to data transmission path";

[0226] ◆ Routing identification information of the transmission path - this routing identification information indicates the destination receiving node and the transmission path to the destination receiving node -;

[0227] ◆ Address information (eg, BAP address) or identification information of the destination receiving node on the transmission path.

[0228] ■ The transmission path displayed by the display information may also be a transmission path that satisfies a specific condition (e.g., when the amount of data transmitted via the transmission path exceeds a specific threshold, when the ratio of data transmitted via the transmission path to all data exceeds a specific threshold, etc.). In the case of the sixth information related to data on the transmission path, this data may be user data with the same attribute (the attribute being one or more attributes included in the "fourth information related to user data attribute") transmitted by node 4 via the transmission path or received by node 4, or the user data packets may be all data packets with the same attribute received by node 4 from one or more other nodes, or a part of data packets with the same attribute received by node 4 from one or more other nodes (in one embodiment, the part of the data packets may be data packets whose time that the data packets are stored in one or more other nodes exceeds a specific threshold. If the time that the part of the data packets received by node 4 are stored in one or more other nodes does not exceed the threshold, these data packets are not counted). This information includes at least one of the following:

[0229] ◆ Data volume information of user data. This information may be in bits, bytes or packets. It may also be a percentage of the data volume of the transmission path relative to the amount of data (total data volume being the entire volume of user data with the same attributes that are processed or received or transmitted at node 4) or may be expressed in other forms. The data volume information may also be data volume information of uplink data and / or data volume information of downlink data and / or data volume information of uplink and downlink data;

[0230] Data rate information, which may be average rate information, and may be uplink data rate information and / or downlink data rate information and / or uplink and downlink data rate information.

[0231] ◆ Interval time information of user data, the interval time being the interval time between receiving or transmitting two data packets. The interval time information may be average interval time information. Also, the interval time information may be interval time information of uplink data and / or interval time information of downlink data and / or interval time information of uplink and downlink data;

[0232] ◆ the buffer size expected by node 4 and / or the buffer size available;

[0233] ◆ The data transmission rate expected and / or the acceptable data transmission rate by node 4.

[0234] The "sixth information related to data on the transmission path" reflects the data transmission / reception status on the transmission path, and therefore may also be referred to as "data transmission status information" or "data reception status information".

[0235] There are many ways to express the "fifth information related to data transmission path". One embodiment is to provide "indication information of transmission path type" and / or "identification information of transmission path" and / or "sixth information related to data on transmission path" for each transmission path; another embodiment is to represent the transmission paths in the form of a bitmap, each bit representing a transmission path, and the value of each bit representing whether node 4 provides information related to the transmission path represented by the bit. For example, "1" means that information is included and "0" means that information is not included, or "0" means that information is included and "1" means that information is not included. When the bit representing a specific transmission path indicates that information related to the transmission path is included, it may further include "indication information of transmission path type" and / or "information related to data transmission path". When the "fifth information related to data transmission path" includes only "identification information of transmission path", it means that the data received by node 4 is from the transmission path represented by "identification information of transmission path". Furthermore, if there is only one transmission path from node 4 to node 5, the "fifth information related to the data transmission path" cannot further include information indicating the transmission path, and only includes, for example, the "sixth information related to the data on the transmission path".

[0236] ■ When the transmission path of user data is changed, the node identification information or address information (e.g., BAP address). Also, when the transmission path is changed, this may include the identification information of the transmission path before the change and the identification information of the transmission path after the change;

[0237] ■ information on transmission paths proposed by node 4, where the proposed transmission paths are one or more transmission paths proposed by node 4 for transmitting user data, the information including at least one of the following information:

[0238] ■ Identification of one or more proposed transmission paths;

[0239] ■ Indication of one or more proposed transmission paths. This indication may be provided in the form of a bitmap. Each bit of the bitmap indicates a transmission path, and the value of each bit indicates whether node 4 should propose node 3 using the transmission path. For example, "1" indicates that use is recommended and "0" indicates that use is not recommended, or "0" indicates that use is recommended and "1" indicates that use is not recommended.

[0240] Step 2-2: With the information included in step 2-1, node 5 can learn the transmission conditions of user data for each transmission path, such as load and rate, etc. This can also help node 5 to select a transmission path suitable for user data, or help node 5 to add a new transmission path, or help node 5 to perform flow control when transmitting data.

[0241] Optionally, before step 2-1, this may further include node 4 acquiring information of the aiding information transmission message. Specifically, node 4 receives user data from other nodes, and generates an aiding information transmission message after acquiring information included in the aiding information transmission message 2-1 according to the received user data.

[0242] Optionally, a step 2-0 may be further included before the step 2-1.

[0243] Step 2-0: Node 5 sends an Aiding Information Request message 2-0 to node 4, which is used to indicate to node 4 to provide the aiding information to node 5, and which includes at least one of the following pieces of information:

[0244] ■ Information related to user data attributes refers to the definition in step 1-1 of the first aspect of this application. This information helps node 4 to determine the data for which it must provide auxiliary information to node 5.

[0245] ■ Identification information of the transmission path used to transmit the auxiliary information transmission message 2-1 and / or identification information of the backhaul link channel used;

[0246] ■ Configuration information that node 4 must provide to node 5 in the "fifth information related to data transmission path". In one embodiment, the configuration information may correspond to user data having the same attribute (the attribute being one or more attributes included in the "fourth information related to user data attributes"). The configuration information includes at least one of the following information:

[0247] ■ Indication information indicating whether node 4 provides "fifth information related to a data transmission path" to node 5, this indication information may be "provide" or "do not provide"; in one embodiment, this indication information indicates that node 5 will send polling indication information to node 4. This indication information can be used to indicate "provide" or "do not provide". If it indicates "provide", node 4 provides "fifth information related to a data transmission path" to node 5.

[0248] ■ Identification information of the transmission route (route) - node 4 must provide node 5 with "fifth information on the data transmission route" of the transmission route indicated by this identification information -;

[0249] ■ Indication information of a transmission path, by means of which the corresponding identification information of the transmission path can be determined. Node 4 needs to provide to Node 5 the "fifth information on the data transmission path" of the transmission path indicated by the indication information;

[0250] ■ Threshold information providing the "fifth information related to the data transmission path". The threshold may be a threshold for the transmitted data volume (or received data volume), or a threshold for the data transmission rate (or data reception rate). The threshold may further be a threshold for the interval time of data, or a data volume threshold for a particular data received (e.g., the date on which the residence time (or queuing time or storage time) at other nodes exceeds a particular threshold), or a threshold for other quantities. If it is less than the threshold, the "fifth information related to the data transmission path" may be provided, and if it is greater than the threshold, the "fifth information related to the data transmission path" may be provided. In one embodiment, user data is transmitted to node 4 via transmission path 1. If the data volume received by node 4 via transmission path 1 is less than a threshold, node 4 must provide "fifth information related to the data transmission path" to node 5; in another embodiment, if user data is transmitted to node 4 via transmission path 1 and the data volume received by node 4 via one or more other transmission paths (paths other than transmission path 1) is greater than a threshold, node 4 must provide "fifth information related to the data transmission path" to node 5; in one embodiment, if user data is transmitted by node 4 via transmission path 1 and the data volume transmitted by node 4 via transmission path 1 is less than a threshold, node 4 must provide "fifth information related to the data transmission path" to node 5; in another embodiment, if user data is transmitted by node 4 via transmission path 1 and the data volume transmitted by node 4 via one or more other transmission paths (paths other than transmission path 1) is greater than a threshold, node 4 must provide "fifth information related to the data transmission path" to node 5.

[0251] ■ Periodic information providing the "fifth information regarding the data transmission path" (or auxiliary information transmission message 2-1), this information indicates that node 4 transmits the "fifth information regarding the data transmission path" (or auxiliary information transmission 2-1) to node 5. After receiving the information, node 4 periodically transmits the "fifth information regarding the data transmission path" (or auxiliary information transmission message 2-1) to node 5 by the method in step 2-1.

[0252] ■ Information relating to the data transmission status of node 5, this information including at least one of the following information:

[0253] ■ Identification of the transmission path used to transmit the data

[0254] ■ Information on the amount of data transmitted (data volume information). This information may be in bits, bytes or packets or as a percentage of the data volume of the transmission path relative to the total data volume (total data volume being the total amount of user data with the same attributes processed or transmitted by node 5) or may be expressed in other forms.

[0255] ■ Data transmission rate information

[0256] ■ Data reception rate information

[0257] In the above process, the assistance information request message 2-0 and the assistance information sending message 2-1 can alternatively be user plane messages of the F1 interface, for example, the assistance information request message 2-0 is a DL USER DATA message, and the assistance information sending message 2-1 is a DL DATA DELIVERY STATUS or ASSISTANCE INFORMATION DATA message; in another embodiment, the aiding information request message 2-0 and the aiding information transmission message 2-1 are control plane messages of the F1 interface, for example, message 2-0 is a UE context modification request and message 2-1 is a UE context modification response; in another embodiment, the aiding information request message 2-0 and the aiding information transmission message 2-1 are RRC messages, for example, message 2-0 is an RRCReconfiguration and message 2-1 is an RRCReconfigurationComplete; in another embodiment, the aiding information request message 2-0 and the aiding information transmission message 2-1 are different types of messages, possible types being a user plane message of the F1 interface, a control plane message of the F1 interface and an RRC message, for example, message 2-0 is a control plane message of the F1 interface (e.g., a UE context setup / modification request or other control plane message of the F1 interface) and message 2-1 is a user plane message of the F1 interface, for example a DL DATA DELIVERY STATUS or ASSISTANCE INFORMATION DATA message. The message types used in the auxiliary information request message 2-0 and the auxiliary information transmission message 2-1 may be other types, and the names of these two messages may also be other names.

[0258] In the above process, alternatively, node 4 may be a distributed unit of a donor node or a relay node, and node 5 may be a donor node or a central unit of a donor node. In another embodiment, node 4 is a relay node and node 5 is a distributed unit of a donor node or another relay node. In this embodiment, the message defined in step 2-0 may be sent by the donor node or a central unit of a donor node to node 4, and node 4 sends the message defined in step 2-1 to node 5.

[0259] In the above process, optionally, before step 2-1, it can further include step 2-0-1, i.e., another node (a relay node or a distributed unit of a donor node) sends a congestion indication message 2-0-1 to node 4, which notifies node 4 that congestion has occurred in another node. After receiving this indication message, node 4 will perform the above step 2-1. Also, the congestion indication message 2-0-1 can include at least one of the following information:

[0260] ■ Node Congestion Indication. In one implementation, a bit is used to indicate that congestion has occurred at a node.

[0261] ■ Identification of the transmission path. In one embodiment, this transmission path is the transmission path in which congestion occurs.

[0262] ■ Backhaul link channel identification information

[0263] ■ Buffer status information (e.g., available buffer size, occupied buffer size, etc.) provided by other nodes providing backhaul link channels

[0264] An advantage of the second aspect of the present application is that the donor node central unit can determine an appropriate transmission path according to the received assistance information, thereby improving the efficiency of user data transmission. In addition, the information included in the assistance information transmission message 2-1 in step 2-1 further reflects the reception state when the relay node (node ​​4) receives data transmitted by the donor node or the donor node central unit (e.g., node 5). After the donor node or the donor node central unit receives the assistance information transmission message 2-1, the donor node or the donor node central unit can adjust its own data transmission to effectively perform flow control for data transmission. Therefore, another advantage of the second aspect of the present application is that the donor node or the donor node central unit can effectively perform flow control of data transmission according to the received assistance information. When data is transmitted via multiple paths, the donor node or the donor node central unit can effectively perform flow control of data transmission (e.g., select an appropriate data transmission rate, select an appropriate data transmission amount, etc.) on one or more transmission paths according to the received assistance information. In order to achieve this advantage, the following process can be provided:

[0265] Step 2-1a: Node 4 sends an auxiliary information transmission message 2-1a to node 5, which contains auxiliary information for assisting node 5 to acquire a data receiving state. For details, please refer to the auxiliary information transmission message 2-1.

[0266] Step 2-2a: The information included in step 2-1a enables node 5 to learn the transmission conditions, e.g., load, rate, etc., of user data for one or more transmission paths, which can help node 5 to effectively perform flow control of data transmission through one or more transmission paths.

[0267] Optionally, prior to step 2-1a, this may further include node 4 obtaining the information in a transmit aiding information message.

[0268] Optionally, before step 2-1a, it may further include step 2-0a: node 5 sends an auxiliary information request message 2-0a to node 4, which is used to indicate node 4 to provide auxiliary information to node 5, and for detailed contents of this message, refer to said auxiliary information request message 2-0.

[0269] Optionally, before step 2-1a, this may further include step 2-0-1a, i.e., another node (a relay node or a distributed unit of a donor node) sending a congestion indication message 2-0-1a to node 4. For details of the message, refer to the congestion indication message 2-0-1.

[0270] In addition, when the central unit of the donor node is divided into a central unit-control plane and a central unit-user plane, the relay node can send an auxiliary information transmission message 2-1 to the central unit-control plane. Because the transmission of user data is controlled by the central unit-user plane, the central unit-control plane needs to provide auxiliary information of data transmission to the central unit-user plane. In this case, the second aspect of the present application can further include the following process:

[0271] Step 2-a: Node 4 transmits an auxiliary information transmission message 2-a to the control plane part of node 5. The contents included in this message may refer to the auxiliary information transmission message 2-1. In addition, the auxiliary information transmission message 2-a may include at least one of the following information:

[0272] ■ Node congestion indication: One implementation is to use a bit to indicate that node congestion has occurred.

[0273] ■ Identification of the transmission path. In one embodiment, this transmission path is the transmission path where congestion occurred.

[0274] ■ Information relating to the backhaul link channel provided by node 4, which includes at least one of the following information:

[0275] ■ Backhaul link channel identification information

[0276] ■ An indication that congestion has occurred on the backhaul link. This indication indicates that congestion (eg, cache congestion) has occurred in the resources serving the backhaul link of node 4.

[0277] ■ Status information of the cache providing the backhaul link channel, such as available buffer size, occupied buffer size, etc.

[0278] Step 2-b: The control plane part of node 5 sends a request message 2-b for controlling data transmission to the user plane part of node 5. After receiving the message, the user plane part of node 5 can determine the data transmission manner, which includes at least the following information:

[0279] ■ Information on user data attributes (see definition in step 1-1 of the first aspect of this application) This information also indicates the attributes of user data corresponding to the control of data transmission.

[0280] ■ One or more pieces of information included in the auxiliary information transmission message 2-a received in step 2-a

[0281] ■ Display information for controlling data transmission, the display information including at least one of the following information:

[0282] ■ Display information for stopping data transmission, which may further include a transmission path indicating that data transmission is to be stopped (i.e., data transmission is stopped on the transmission path indicated by the display information).

[0283] ■ The display information for delaying data transmission may further include a transmission path indicating that data transmission is to be delayed (i.e., data transmission on the transmission path indicated by the display information is delayed).

[0284] ■ Display information for increasing the data transmission rate and a transmission path showing the data transmission rate may also be included (i.e., increasing the data transmission rate on the transmission path shown by the display information).

[0285] ■ Data transmission rate

[0286] ■ Data transmission volume

[0287] ■ Data transmission path

[0288] Step 2-c: The user plane part of node 5 controls the transmission of user data according to the information received in step 2-b. Optionally, the user plane part of node 5 transmits a response message 2-c for controlling data transmission to the control plane part of node 5 to acknowledge that the message transmitted in step 2-b has been received.

[0289] The request message 2-b for controlling data transmission in step 2-b may be a bearer context setup / modification request message (TS38.463) of the E1 interface, or another message of the E1 interface, or another type of message.

[0290] The effect of the above process is that when the central unit of the donor node includes a central unit-control plane and a central unit-user plane, after the relay node transmits auxiliary information to the central unit-control plane, it can continue to provide related information to the central unit-user plane to assist the user plane to control user data transmission.

[0291] Third Aspect of the Present Application: In one embodiment of the present application, a method for routing data packets is provided.

[0292] In this method, as shown in FIG. 13, after a distributed unit or a relay node of a donor node detects an RLF in a backhaul link, the distributed unit or the relay node of the donor node sends information related to the RLF to other nodes, and the method includes the following steps:

[0293] Step 3-1: Node 6 sends a message 3-1 to node 7 to report RLF, which is mainly to report information related to the RLF detected by node 6. This message is sent after the distributed unit part or the mobile terminal part of node 6 detects that an RLF occurs on the backhaul link it serves. This message includes at least one of the following information:

[0294] ■ Indication information that an RLF has occurred, the indication information indicating that node 6 has detected an RLF. In one embodiment, "node 6 detects an RLF" means that the distributed unit part of node 6 detects that an RLF has occurred on the backhaul link it serves; in another embodiment, "node 6 detects an RLF" means that the mobile terminal part of node 6 detects that an RLF has occurred on the backhaul link it serves; the indication information may also include indication information of an entity that detects where an RLF has occurred, the indication information indicating that the distributed unit part of node 6 detects an RLF or that the mobile terminal part of node 6 detects an RLF; the indication information may also be cause information, the cause information being used to indicate that the reason node 6 sends message 3-1 to report an RLF is because an RLF has been detected;

[0295] ■ Identification or address information (e.g., BAP address) of node 6, which is a node serving (serving by the distributed unit part or serving by the mobile terminal part) the backhaul link where the RLF occurs. In one embodiment, this information is identification or address information (e.g., BAP address) of the distributed unit of the relay node. In another embodiment, this information is identification or address information (e.g., BAP address) of the mobile terminal part of the relay node;

[0296] ■ Indication of the backhaul link on which the RLF occurred. This indication is used to indicate the backhaul link on which the RLF occurred. This information includes at least one of the following:

[0297] ■ Identification or address information (e.g., BAP address) of the nodes serving the backhaul link (e.g., distributed units of relay nodes and donor nodes);

[0298] ■ Identification or address information (e.g., BAP address) of the distributed unit parts of the nodes serving the backhaul links (e.g., the distributed units of the relay nodes and donor nodes);

[0299] ■ Identification information or address information (eg, BAP address) of the mobile terminal portion of the node serving the backhaul link (eg, distributed units of relay nodes and donor nodes).

[0300] ■ Identification or address information of an unreachable node (e.g., a BAP address), the unreachable node being a node of a relay network which may be a destination receiving node of one or more transmission paths, or a destination receiving node indicated by one or more routing identities. In one embodiment, the unreachable node is a node inferred by node 6 as being unreachable via a backhaul link where an RLF occurs, and the unreachable node may be a next hop node of node 6; in other embodiments, the unreachable node may not be a next hop node of node 6. The unreachable node may be a node to which downlink data cannot be reached, a node to which uplink data cannot be reached, or a node to which both uplink and downlink data cannot be reached;

[0301] ■ Identification or address information of a reachable node (e.g., a BAP address), where the reachable node is a node of a relay network, which may be a destination receiving node of one or more transmission paths or a destination receiving node indicated by one or more routing identities. In one embodiment, the reachable node is a node that can be reached and inferred by node 6 via a backhaul link where RLF occurs, and the reachable node may be a next hop node of node 6; in other embodiments, the reachable node may not be a next hop node of node 6. The reachable node may be a node that downlink data can reach, a node that uplink data can reach, or a node that both uplink and downlink data can reach;

[0302] ■ Identification information of a transmission path that cannot be used for data transmission, the transmission path including a backhaul link where RLF occurs; the transmission path that cannot be used for data transmission may be a transmission path that cannot be used for downlink data transmission, a transmission path that cannot be used for uplink data transmission, or a transmission path that cannot be used for uplink and downlink data transmission;

[0303] ■ Identification of a transmission path that can be used for data transmission, which does not have a backhaul link where RLF occurs. The transmission path that can be used for data transmission may be a transmission path that can be used for downlink data transmission, a transmission path that can be used for uplink data transmission, or a transmission path that can be used for uplink and downlink data transmission;

[0304] ■ Identification information of a route that cannot be used for data transmission. The identification information of the route indicates a destination receiving node of the route and a transmission path to the destination receiving node. The route that cannot be used for data transmission may be a route that cannot be used for downlink data transmission, a route that cannot be used for uplink data transmission, or a route that cannot be used for uplink and downlink data transmission;

[0305] ■ Identification information of a route that can be used for data transmission. This route identification information indicates a destination receiving node of the route and a transmission path to the destination receiving node; the route that can be used for data transmission can be a route that can be used for downlink data transmission, a route that can be used for uplink data transmission, or a route that can be used for uplink and downlink data transmission;

[0306] ■ Indication information for RLF recovery, which indicates that node 6 has detected that the backhaul link on which the RLF occurred has been restored. In one embodiment, "node 6 has detected that the backhaul link on which the RLF occurred has been restored" means that the distributed unit portion of node 6 has detected that the backhaul link it serves has been restored, and in another embodiment, "node 6 has detected that the backhaul link on which the RLF occurred has been restored" means that the mobile terminal portion of node 6 has detected that the backhaul link it serves has been restored.

[0307] ■ Indication that the backhaul link where the RLF occurred has been restored. This indication is used to indicate that the backhaul link has been restored. This information includes at least one of the following:

[0308] ■ Identification or address information (e.g., BAP address) of the nodes serving the backhaul link (e.g., distributed units of relay nodes and donor nodes);

[0309] ■ Identification or address information (e.g., BAP address) of the distributed unit parts of the nodes serving the backhaul links (e.g., the distributed units of the relay nodes and donor nodes);

[0310] ■ Identification information or address information (eg, BAP address) of the mobile terminal portion of the node serving the backhaul link (eg, distributed units of relay nodes and donor nodes).

[0311] Step 3-2: Node 7 determines the transmission path for user data. This step is a selective step.

[0312] Node 7 determines whether to change the transmission path of user data according to the received message 3-1 to report the RLF. For user data affected by the backhaul link where the RLF occurred, if node 7 can find another transmission path to transmit such user data, node 7 changes the transmission path of such data.

[0313] Step 3-3: Node 7 transmits a message 3-3 for reporting RLF to node 8. The content of this message refers to the message 3-1. This step is optional. Node 8 is a node other than node 6 / 7. The transmission of the message for reporting RLF by node 7 can be to transmit the message received in step 3-1 to node 8, or to update the message received in step 3-1 and transmit it to node 8. For example, the message 3-1 received from node 6 can include "identification information or address information (e.g., BAP address) of an unreachable node". If node 7 finds that one or more of the nodes indicated by this information can be reached via another transmission path of node 7 (the transmission path does not need to pass through node 6), node 7 can delete such reachable nodes from "identification information or address information (e.g., BAP address) of an unreachable node".

[0314] Optionally, before step 3-1, the step further includes node 6 determining the RLF, i.e., the distributed unit portion or the mobile terminal portion of node 6 detects that the RLF occurs on the link it serves.

[0315] Optionally, before step 3-1, the method further includes a step 3-0 of configuring node 6, which is used to configure whether node 6 will send a message to report RLF to other nodes. This step includes node 9 sending a configuration message 3-0 to report RLF to node 6, which message includes at least one of the following information:

[0316] ■ Display information for whether to send a message to report the RLF, this display information can indicate "Outbox" or "Don't send".

[0317] ■ Identification information or address information of a node that can be reached via another node (a node other than node 6), particularly in the case of a node represented by this information, the other node can be reached via another transmission path; it may also include identification information or address information of the other node (e.g., a BAP address).

[0318] Optionally, through the configuration message for reporting RLF 3-0, node 6 can determine whether it needs to send a message for reporting RLF 3-1 to other nodes after detecting RLF. In the case of an unreachable node determined by node 6, if the unreachable node determined by node 6 cannot be reached through a different node, node 6 does not need to send message 3-1 to other nodes, otherwise node 6 can send message 3-1 to other nodes.

[0319] In the above process, optionally, node 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 can be any type of node in the relay network (e.g., relay node, donor node, central unit of donor node, and distributed unit of donor node). Node 7 can be a parent node of node 6 (i.e., a node accessed by the mobile terminal part of node 6) or a child node of node 6 (i.e., a node served by the distributed unit part of node 6). For the same reason, node 8 can be a parent node of node 7 or a child node of node 7.

[0320] In the above process, optionally, the "message 3-1 for reporting RLF" and / or the "configuration message 3-0 for reporting RLF" may be an F1 control message, or an RRC message, or information placed in a packet header of the MAC layer, or information placed in a packet header of the BAP layer, or information placed in a packet header of the RLC layer, or may be transmitted in any other form.

[0321] An effect of the third aspect of the present application is that when an RLF occurs in a relay node, it is possible to notify other nodes of the RLF and to divert user data to another transmission path for transmission via the notification information, thereby making it possible to avoid interruption of user data transmission due to RLF.

[0322] A fourth aspect of the present application:

[0323] In order to provide reliability of user data transmission, the existing network supports a PDCP duplication function, i.e., one packet of the PDCP layer is duplicated into two packets, and the two packets are sent to each user. To support the PDCP duplication function, as shown in FIG. 14, for a PDCP packet of a user DRB, two tunnels (tunnel 1 and tunnel 2) are established between the central unit and the distributed unit of the base station to transmit two identical data packets generated by PDCP duplication, and then the two identical packets are transferred to two different RLC entities (RLC1 and RLC2) and corresponding logical channels (logical channel 1 and logical channel 2) for transmission, which are finally transmitted to the user through two different cell groups. Therefore, in the case of a user DRB in the prior art, as long as two tunnels are established between the central unit and the distributed unit of the base station, the distributed unit of the base station needs to configure two RLC entities and corresponding logical channels for the user DRB, and one or more cells serving each logical channel and RLC entity.

[0324] In a relay network, as shown in FIG. 15, a relay node can access the network through two or more parent nodes (nodes accessed by the mobile terminal part of the relay node) (see relay node 3 in FIG. 15(a)), or a node directly or indirectly connected by a relay node can access the network through two or more parent nodes (e.g., relay node 4 in FIG. 15(b)), in which case user data can be transmitted to the relay node through different transmission paths. In this case, two or more tunnels may have to be established for the user DRB. As shown in FIG. 15(a), data on different tunnels is transmitted to the relay node through different transmission paths, and tunnel 1 and tunnel 2 are established between the central unit of the donor node and relay node 3. In FIG. 15(b), tunnel 1 and tunnel 2 are established between the central unit of the donor node and relay node 4. According to the prior art, in response to a DRB initiating the PDCP duplication function, the distributed unit of the relay node considers that it is necessary to establish two different RLC entities for the DRB, each RLC entity configuring a corresponding logical channel, and further configuring one or more cells serving each RLC entity and corresponding logical channel. However, in a relay network, the purpose of establishing two tunnels is to transmit user DRB data to the distributed unit part of the relay node via different transmission paths. Therefore, the distributed unit part of the relay node does not need to configure the DRB according to the prior art. In order to enable the distributed unit of the relay node to correctly configure the user DRB, a data packet routing method is provided in the embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 16, the method includes the following steps:

[0325] Step 4-1: The central unit of the donor node sends a configuration request message for the user bearer 4-1 to the distributed unit part of the relay node. This message is used to configure the user DRB. This message contains at least one of the following information:

[0326] ■ User DRB identification information;

[0327] ■ Address information of the two (or more) tunnels on the central unit side of the donor node, e.g., transmission hierarchical information (e.g., IP address and / or GTP-TEID (GTP Tunnel endpoint IDentifier)); the address information for each tunnel may further include information related to the data transmitted through the tunnel, e.g., information on the amount of data transmitted, and percentage information of data transmitted (e.g., percentage of data transmitted relative to data transmitted on all tunnels for transmitting user DRB data (or uplink data or downlink data)), data transmission rate information, and condition information for enabling the tunnel (e.g., threshold information, e.g., enabling a tunnel when the value of data transmitted through other tunnels exceeds a threshold).

[0328] ■ Indication information for RLC entity configuration. This indication information is used to indicate to the distributed unit of the relay node whether two (or more than two) RLC entities must be configured for the user DRB. In one embodiment, this indication information is an indication information for PDCP replication configuration (indicating whether the PDCP replication function is configured for the user DRB). If the PDCP replication function is not configured, there is no need to configure two (or more than two) RLC entities for the user DRB. If the PDCP replication function is configured, two (or more than two) RLC entities must be configured for the user DRB. In another embodiment, this indication information is an indication information for configuring two (or more than two) RLC entities, and in another embodiment, this indication information is an indication information for configuring two (or more than two) logical channels. Also, if this indication indicates that there is no need to configure two (or more than two) entities (or there is no need to configure a PDCP duplication function or there is no need to configure two (or more than two) logical channels), then in step 4-2, the relay node does not need to transmit address information of the two (or more) tunnels to the donor node or the central unit of the donor node. In another embodiment, this indication can be transmitted in an implicit manner, and if no specific information is included, this indication implicitly indicates that there is no need to configure two or more RLC entities or there is no need to configure two or more logical channels, and this specific information may be duplication activation information of TS38.473 (this duplication activation information is used to indicate the initial state of the PDCP duplication function, for example, the initial state is "activated" or "deactivated").

[0329] ■ An indication of the number of configured RLC entities. If this information is received, step 4-2 must provide address information for the same number of tunnels.

[0330] ■ Indication of the number of configured logical channels. If this information is received, it is necessary to provide address information for the same number of tunnels in step 4-2.

[0331] ■ Indication information providing address information for two (or more) tunnels; when the information is received, in step 4-2, address information for more than one tunnel needs to be provided, and address information for more than one tunnel needs to be provided even if the PDCP duplication function is not configured.

[0332] ■ Information on the number of tunnel address information required (e.g. 1, 2, etc.). When the information is received, the number of tunnel address information provided in step 4-2 should be the number indicated by the information on this number. Also, even if the PDCP duplication function is not configured, tunnel address information should be provided in step 4-2 according to the information on this number.

[0333] Step 4-2: The distributed unit part of the relay node sends a configuration request response message 4-2 to the central unit part of the donor node, which message includes at least one of the following information:

[0334] ■ User DRB identification information;

[0335] ■ Address information of two (or more) tunnels on the relay node side, such as transmission layer information (e.g., IP address and / or GTP-TEID (GTP Tunnel endpoint IDentifier)); the number of tunnel address information provided is also determined by the information received in step 4-1. If the information in step 4-1 indicates that address information of one tunnel is provided, only address information of one tunnel is provided in step 4-2, and if the information in step 4-1 indicates that address information of two tunnels is provided, address information of two tunnels is provided in step 4-2.

[0336] ■ Configuration information of user DRB. If message 4-1 indicates that two (or more than two) RLC entities need to be established for the user DRB, the configuration information will include configuration information of two (or more) RLC entities and may also include logical channel information corresponding to each RLC entity and / or information of one or more cells serving each logical channel (cell identification information); if message 4-1 indicates that two (or more) RLC entities do not need to be established, the configuration information will include configuration information of one RLC entity and may also include logical channel information corresponding to each RLC entity and / or information of one or more cells serving each logical channel (cell identification information).

[0337] Step 4-3: The central unit of the donor node transmits the configuration information received in step 4-2 to the user via a radio bearer configuration message 4-3, which is transmitted by the central unit of the donor node to the relay node and then by the relay node to the user.

[0338] Alternatively, the message 4-1 and the message 4-2 may be a UE context setup / modification request and a UE context setup / modification response message, respectively, and the radio bearer configuration message 4-3 may be an RRC Reconfiguration message.

[0339] The method can configure routes for user data in a multi-hop network, i.e., configure transmission paths for user data, where each transmission path corresponds to a tunnel.

[0340] Besides configuring user data routing, the method can also be used to configure user radio bearers in a multi-hop network.

[0341] The effect of the fourth aspect of the present application is that after receiving two or more address information sent by the central unit of the donor node, the relay node can determine whether it is necessary to establish two or more RLC entities for the user DRB, thereby making it possible to effectively use resources on the relay node side. If the information in message 4-1 indicates that it is not necessary to configure two or more RLC entities (i.e., the PDCP duplication function is not enabled), this indicates that the addresses for multiple tunnels are used to transmit different data of the same DRB. Another effect of this method is that data of one user DRB can be transmitted to the relay node via different transmission paths, and each path has corresponding tunnel address information. In one embodiment, one tunnel indicates one transmission path.

[0342] A fifth aspect of the present application:

[0343] In a relay network, a relay node can access the central unit of the donor node through two or more distributed units of the donor node, and the relay node can be directly connected to the distributed units of each donor node, or can be indirectly connected to the distributed units of each donor node through one or more relay nodes. When the central unit of the donor node transmits data to the relay node, if the distributed units of the donor node through which the data passes are different, the address (e.g., IP address) used by the relay node side will be different. As shown in FIG. 15a, there are two transmission paths between the relay node 3 and the central unit of the donor node, and the distributed units of the donor node that pass through each transmission path are different, so that the relay node 3 communicates with the central unit of the donor node through different IP addresses. For example, relay node 3 has two IP addresses (IP1 and IP2), and when the central unit of the donor node transmits data to the relay node through the distributed unit 1 of the donor node, relay node 3 must use IP1 used as a destination address for receiving the data packet transmitted by the central unit of the donor node, so that the data packet passes through the distributed unit 1 of the donor node; when the central unit of the donor node transmits data to the relay node through the distributed unit 2 of the donor node, relay node 3 must use IP2 used as a destination address for receiving the data packet transmitted by the central unit of the donor node, so that the data packet passes through the distributed unit 2 of the donor node. However, in the prior art, the transmission path of the data packet is determined by the central unit of the donor node, and the address for receiving the data packet at the relay node side is determined by the relay node and notified to the donor node through signaling. Therefore, the relay node cannot know the transmission path selected by the central unit of the donor node when determining the address, and this may cause the relay node to select an inappropriate IP address.

[0344] In order to help a relay node select an appropriate address for receiving user data, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for configuring a user data transmission path. As shown in Figure 16a, the method includes the following steps:

[0345] Step 5-1: The central unit of the donor node sends a user data configuration request message 5-1 to the distributed unit part of the relay node, which is used to configure the transmission of user data. The relay node can be directly connected to the donor node or can be connected to the donor node via one or more other nodes. This message contains at least one of the following information:

[0346] ■ Information relating to user data configuration, which information includes at least one of the following:

[0347] ■ User DRB identification information

[0348] ■ User data type information, e.g., user-associated control signaling (UE-associated F1AP), non-user-associated control signaling (non-UE-associated F1AP), non-F1 interface data (non-F1traffic)

[0349] ■ Information for the tunnel address on the central unit side of the donor node, such as transmission layer information (e.g., IP address) and / or GTP-TEID (GTP Tunnel endpoint IDentifier)

[0350] ■ Configuration information relating to the transmission path of user data; the user data may be uplink data (sent by the relay node to the central unit of the donor node) or downlink data (sent by the central unit of the donor node to the relay node), or may include both uplink and downlink data. Also, if the user data is data of a user DRB, the configuration information may be provided for each user DRB or for each (uplink / downlink) tunnel of each user DRB. In another embodiment, the user data may include data of users accessing the distributed unit part of the relay node and data generated by the distributed unit part of the relay node itself (e.g., F1AP messages, non-F1 data, etc.); one possible case is that the configuration information relating to the transmission path of user data is suitable for all user data, and another possible case is that the configuration information is suitable for some user data. This information includes at least one of the following:

[0351] ■ Identification information of the transmission path (this identification information may include the BAP address of the node and the identification information of the transmission path); in the case of uplink data, the BAP address included in this identification information is the address information of the destination receiving node in the transmission path, and the destination receiving node is the distributed unit of the donor node (or the donor node or the central unit of the donor node); the BAP address in this identification information can also be used to indicate the address information of the distributed unit of the donor node (or the donor node or the central unit of the donor node) through which the transmission path of the downlink data passes, which indicates that the uplink and downlink data of the user pass through the distributed unit of the same donor node (or the central unit of the same donor node or the same central donor node). With this information, the relay node can determine the address information (IP address) to be used when receiving the downlink data, i.e., the address corresponding to the BAP address included in the identification information.

[0352] ■ Address information of the distributed unit of the donor node (or the donor node or the central unit of the donor node) through which the user data transmission path passes, such as a BAP address, an IP address; in one embodiment, the node indicated by this information is the distributed unit of the donor node (or the donor node or the central unit of the donor node) through which the transmission path of the uplink data passes; and when both the user's uplink data and downlink data pass through the distributed unit of the same donor node (or the same donor node or the central unit of the same donor node), this information indicates the distributed unit of the donor node (or the donor node or the central unit of the donor node) through which the transmission path of the downlink data passes; with this information, the relay node can determine the address information (IP address) to be used by it when receiving the downlink data;

[0353] ■ Identification information of a user data transmission path; in one embodiment, this transmission path is the transmission path of uplink data; this information also indicates the transmission path of downlink data, which indicates that both the user's uplink data and downlink data use the same transmission path; this information allows the relay node to determine the address information (IP address) to be used by it when receiving the downlink data;

[0354] ■ Address information of a next hop node (e.g., a BAP address); in one embodiment, the address information of the next hop node is the address information of a node that receives data (or uplink data) transmitted by the relay node;

[0355] ■ Identification of a backhaul link channel used to transmit user data; in one embodiment, the backhaul link channel may be a backhaul link channel used by the relay node to transmit data (or uplink data);

[0356] ■ Auxiliary information for determining a transmission path; this information is used to assist the relay node in determining address information to be used to receive downlink data; this information may include one of the following information:

[0357] ◆ Identification information of the distributed unit of the donor node (or the donor node or the central unit of the donor node) through which the transmission path of the downlink data passes, such as a BAP address, an IP address, a gNB-DUID, etc.; this may also include address information on the relay node side corresponding to the identification information, such as one or more BAP addresses and one or more IP addresses; in other embodiments, if the downlink data has to pass through multiple donor node distributed units, this may include identification information of multiple donor node distributed units, such as multiple BAP addresses or multiple IP addresses;

[0358] ◆ Address information used when receiving downlink data; this address information is information of the relay node side, such as an IP address or a BAP address; if the information is a BAP address of the relay node, the information may further include one or more IP addresses of the relay node side corresponding to the BAP address;

[0359] ◆ Indication information used to determine the downlink address of the relay node, which downlink address is used by the relay node to receive downlink data; in one embodiment, this indication information is identification information of the distributed unit of the donor node (or the donor node or the central unit of the donor node), such as a BAP address; in another embodiment, this information is identification information of the relay node, such as a BAP address, an IP address, etc.; in another embodiment, this information is identification information of the transmission path of the downlink data; in another embodiment, this information is routing identification information for transmitting the downlink data (this information includes the BAP address of the destination receiving node and an identification of the transmission path);

[0360] ◆ Identification of the transmission path used for downlink data transmission

[0361] ◆ The routing identification information used to transmit the downlink data (this information includes the BAP address of the destination receiving node and the identification of the transmission path);

[0362] ◆ Indication of the set to which the address used when receiving downlink data belongs; in one embodiment, the relay node has a number of addresses (e.g., IP addresses, BAP addresses); these addresses are divided into different groups; this indication is used to help the relay node determine from which group the address used when receiving downlink data should be selected;

[0363] ◆ Indication information of the cell group used by the relay node to receive downlink data; this information indicates the cell group used to receive downlink data, such as MCG (master cell group), SCG (secondary cell group), cell group ID, etc.

[0364] ◆ Identification information of the previous hop node for transmitting downlink data; the previous hop node is a node that transmits the user's downlink data to the relay node; this identification information may be a BAP address, gNB-DUID, etc.

[0365] ◆ Indication information of the distributed unit of the donor node (or the donor node or the donor node central unit) through which the transmission path of the downlink data passes; in one embodiment, this indication information indicates that the distributed unit of the donor node (or the donor node or the donor node central unit) through which the transmission path of the downlink data passes is different from the distributed unit of the donor node (or the donor node or the donor node central unit) through which the transmission path of the uplink data passes.

[0366] Step 5-2: The distributed unit part of the relay node sends a User Data Configuration Request Response message 5-2 to the central unit part of the donor node. This message contains at least one of the following information:

[0367] ■ User DRB identification information

[0368] ■ User data type information, such as user-associated control signaling (UE-associated F1AP), non-user-associated control signaling (non-UE-associated F1AP), non-F1 interface data (non-F1traffic)

[0369] ■ Information regarding a tunnel address on the relay node side, such as transmission layer information (e.g., an IP address) and / or a GTP Tunnel endpoint IDentifier (GTP-TEID); and the IP address in this information is determined based on the information received in step 5-1; in one embodiment, the address information can be used to indicate a tunnel address on the relay node side, such as a transmission layer address and / or a GTP-TEID; in another embodiment, the address information is information regarding a tunnel address on the relay node side, such as a transmission layer information (e.g., an IP address) and / or a GTP Tunnel endpoint IDentifier (GTP-TEID).

[0370] Alternatively, messages 5-1 and 5-2 may be F1AP messages, e.g., messages 5-1 and 5-2 may be UE context setup / modification request and UE context setup / modification response messages, respectively; in other embodiments, messages 5-1 and 5-2 may be gNB-CU configuration update and gNB-CU configuration update acknowledgement messages, respectively; in other embodiments, there may be only step 5-1, and message 5-1 may be an F1 setup response or a gNB-DU configuration update acknowledgement message; in other embodiments, messages 5-1 and 5-2 may be RRC messages. In this embodiment, message 5-1 may be sent by the central unit of the donor node to the mobile terminal portion of the relay node, and message 5-2 may be sent by the mobile terminal portion of the relay node to the central unit of the donor node; after receiving message 5-1, the mobile terminal portion of the relay node may determine address information to be used by the distributed unit portion of the relay node to transmit user data based on the information contained in message 5-1; in this embodiment, the messages 5-1 and 5-2 may be RRCReconfig / RRCConnectionReconfig messages and RRCReconfigComplete / RRCConnectionReconfigComplete messages, respectively; in another example, it may have only the step 5-1, and message 5-1 may be a DLInformation message or another RRC message (existing or newly defined); in another embodiment, the messages 5-1 and 5-2 may be newly defined messages.

[0371] An advantage of the fifth aspect of the present application is that after receiving the configuration information for transmitting user data sent by the central unit of the donor node, the relay node determines the IP address information required for receiving downlink data, and further, with this address information, the relay node can feed back the tunnel information set up for receiving the downlink data to the central unit of the donor node.

[0372] Example 2

[0373] Based on the same inventive concept as the above embodiment, an embodiment of the present application additionally provides a second node device. A schematic structural diagram of this device is shown in Figure 17. The second node device 10 includes a first processing module 101 and a second processing module 102.

[0374] The first processing module 101 is configured to receive a first message sent by a first node;

[0375] The second processing module 102 is configured to determine a transmission path for the data packet according to the first message.

[0376] Optionally, the first message includes at least one of the following: first information relating to user data attributes, second information relating to a transmission path, indication information indicating whether other transmission paths may be enabled, indication information for activating or deactivating a transmission path, and seventh information relating to routing.

[0377] Optionally, the first information related to the user data attribute includes at least one of the following: user data attribute indication information, user identification information, data radio bearer (DRB) identification information, signaling radio bearer (SRB) identification information, user radio bearer identification information, control signaling type information, identification information of a backhaul link channel used by the second node to receive usage data, identification information of a backhaul link channel used by the second node to transmit user data, identification information and / or address information (e.g., BAP address) of a destination receiving node of the user data, and routing identification information of the user data, identification information of a transmission path of the user data, indication information of uplink and downlink data, and indication information of retransmitted data packets.

[0378] Optionally, the second information related to the transmission path includes at least one of the following: identification information of the transmission path, identification information of the primary transmission path, indication information of the primary transmission path, address information (e.g., a BAP address) or identification information of a destination receiving node of the transmission path, routing identification information of the transmission path, condition information for enabling the transmission path, information on the amount of data to be transmitted via the transmission path, quality of service (QoS) information of the data transmitted via the transmission path, and identification information of a backhaul link channel for transmitting user data via a backhaul link between the second node and the next hop node indicated by the transmission path.

[0379] Optionally, the seventh information related to routing includes at least one of the following: address information of the second node, address information of the distributed unit of the donor node, IP address information of the distributed unit of the donor node, IP address information of the central unit of the donor node, one or more routing table entries, and information of one or more supported slices.

[0380] Optionally, the second node adds third information to the data packet related to a transmission path modification during the data packet transmission process, and the third information includes at least one of the following: address information (e.g., BAP address) or identification information of the node for modifying the transmission path; at least one of transmission path information, routing identification information, and identification information or address information (e.g., BAP address) of the destination receiving node included in the data packet before modifying the transmission path; at least one of transmission path information, routing identification information, and identification information or address information (e.g., BAP address) of the destination receiving node included in the data packet after modifying the transmission path.

[0381] Based on the same inventive concept as the above-mentioned embodiment, an embodiment of the present application additionally provides a first node device. A schematic structural diagram of this device is shown in Figure 18. The first node device 20 includes a third processing module 201 and a fourth processing module 202.

[0382] The third processing module 201 is configured to send a first message to a second node, and the second node determines a transmission path of the data packet according to the first message;

[0383] The fourth processing module 202 is configured to receive a second message sent by the second node to confirm that the second node has received the first message.

[0384] Based on the same inventive concept as the above embodiment, an embodiment of the present application additionally provides a fifth node device, the schematic structural diagram of which is shown in FIG.

[0385] The fifth node device 30 includes a fifth processing module 301 and a sixth processing module 302. The fifth processing module 301 is configured to receive a third message sent by the fourth node, where the third message includes auxiliary information for assisting the fifth node in determining to send a data packet;

[0386] The sixth processing module 302 is configured to determine a data packet transmission according to the third message.

[0387] Optionally, the third message includes at least one of the following: fourth information related to user data attributes, fifth information related to a data transmission path, identification information or address information (e.g., a BAP address) of a node when the transmission path of the user data is changed, and information of the transmission path proposed by the fourth node.

[0388] Optionally, the fifth information related to the data transmission path includes at least one of the following: indication information of the type of the transmission path, identification indication information of the transmission path, and sixth information related to the data on the transmission path.

[0389] Optionally, the information of the transmission paths proposed by the fourth node includes at least one of the following: identification information of the one or more transmission paths proposed by the fourth node and indication information of the one or more transmission paths proposed by the fourth node.

[0390] Based on the same inventive concept as the above-mentioned embodiment, an embodiment of the present application additionally provides a fourth node device, the schematic structural diagram of which is shown in Figure 20. The fourth node device 40 includes a seventh processing module 401 and an eighth processing module 402.

[0391] The seventh processing module 401 is configured to obtain the third message;

[0392] The eighth processing module 402 is configured to send a third message to the fifth node, where the third message includes auxiliary information for assisting the fifth node in deciding to transmit the data packet.

[0393] The seventh processing module 401 is further configured to receive a fourth message sent by the fifth node for indication to the fourth node to provide auxiliary information to the fifth node.

[0394] Based on the same inventive concept as the above-mentioned embodiment, an embodiment of the present application additionally provides a sixth node device, the schematic structural diagram of which is shown in Figure 21. The sixth node device 50 includes a ninth processing module 501 and a tenth processing module 502.

[0395] The ninth processing module 501 is configured to determine the RLF;

[0396] The tenth processing module 502 is configured to send a fifth message to the seventh node for determining a transmission path for the data packet.

[0397] Optionally, the fifth message includes at least one of the following: an RLF indication, an identification or address information of the sixth node (e.g., a BAP address), an indication of the backhaul link on which the RLF occurred, an identification or address information of the unreachable node (e.g., a BAP address), an identification or address information of the reachable node (e.g., a BAP address), an identification of a transmission path that cannot be used for data transmission, an identification of a transmission path that can be used for data transmission, an identification of a route that cannot be used for data transmission, an identification of a route that can be used for data transmission, an indication for RLF recovery, and an indication that the backhaul link on which the RLF occurred has been recovered.

[0398] Alternatively, the indication information of the backhaul link in which the RLF has occurred may include at least one of the following: identification information or address information (e.g., BAP address) of a node serving the backhaul link, identification information or address information (e.g., BAP address) of a distributed unit portion of the node serving the backhaul link, and identification information or address information (e.g., BAP address) of a mobile terminal portion of the node serving the backhaul link.

[0399] Alternatively, the indication information that the backhaul link in which the RLF occurred has been restored includes at least one of the following: identification information or address information (e.g., BAP address) of a node serving the backhaul link, identification information or address information (e.g., BAP address) of a distributed unit portion of the node serving the backhaul link, and identification information or address information (e.g., BAP address) of a mobile terminal portion of the node serving the backhaul link.

[0400] Based on the same inventive concept as the above embodiment, an embodiment of the present application additionally provides a seventh node device, the schematic structural diagram of which is shown in Figure 22. The seventh node device 60 includes an eleventh processing module 601 and a twelfth processing module 602.

[0401] the eleventh processing module 601 is configured to receive a fifth message sent by the sixth node;

[0402] The twelfth processing module 602 is configured to determine a transmission path for the data packet according to the fifth message.

[0403] Based on the same inventive concept as the previous embodiment, this embodiment of the present application further provides a central unit device of a donor node. The schematic structural diagram of this device is shown in Figure 23. The central unit device 70 of the donor node includes a thirteenth processing module 701 and a fourteenth processing module 702.

[0404] The thirteenth processing module 701 is configured to send a sixth message to the relay node, for configuring a user DRB to which the routing data belongs;

[0405] The fourteenth processing module 702 is configured to receive a seventh message sent by the relay node to confirm that the sixth message has been received or to confirm that the radio bearer configuration process has been successfully completed.

[0406] Optionally, the sixth message includes at least one of the following: identification information of the user DRB, address information of two or more tunnels on the central unit side of the donor node, and indication information for configuring a Radio Link Control Protocol (RLC) entity.

[0407] Optionally, the seventh message includes at least one of the following: identification information of the user DRB, address information of two or more tunnels on the relay node side, and configuration information of the user DRB.

[0408] An embodiment of the present application further provides a relay node device, the schematic structural diagram of which is shown in Figure 24. The relay node device 80 includes a fifteenth processing module 801 and a sixteenth processing module 802.

[0409] The fifteenth processing module 801 is configured to receive the sixth message or the eighth message sent by the central unit of the donor node, for configuring a user DRB to which the routing data belongs;

[0410] The sixteenth processing module 802 is configured to send the seventh message or the ninth message to a central unit of the donor node.

[0411] For contents not explicitly stated in the data packet routing device provided in the embodiment of the present application, reference may be made to the aforementioned data packet routing method. The beneficial effects that can be achieved by the data packet routing device provided in the embodiment of the present application are the same as those of the data packet routing method, and therefore will not be repeated here.

[0412] The embodiments of the present application provide at least the following beneficial effects:

[0413] 1) A relay node can determine conditions for transmitting user data using other transmission paths, thereby effectively using multiple transmission paths to complete user data transmission.

[0414] 2) The central unit of the donor node can determine an appropriate transmission path according to the received assistance information, and improve the efficiency of user data transmission. Another advantage is that the donor node or the central unit of the donor node can effectively control the flow of data transmission according to the received assistance information. When data is transmitted via multiple paths, the donor node or the central unit of the donor node can effectively control the flow of data transmission on one or more transmission paths according to the received assistance information (e.g., select an appropriate data transmission rate, select an appropriate data transmission volume, etc.).

[0415] 3) When an RLF occurs at a relay node, the RLF can be notified to other nodes, and the user data can be diverted to another transmission path for transmission, thereby avoiding interruption of user data transmission due to the RLF.

[0416] 4) After receiving the address information of two or more tunnels sent by the central unit of the donor node, the relay node can determine whether to establish two or more RLC entities for the user DRB based on the information in the radio bearer configuration request message, thereby making efficient use of resources on the relay node side.

[0417] 5) After receiving the configuration information related to the transmission path of user data transmitted by the central unit of the donor node, the relay node can determine the address information to be used when receiving downlink data, thereby maintaining the transmission path of the downlink data consistent with the address information used by the relay node.

[0418] Those skilled in the art can understand that computer program instructions can be used to realize each block in the structural diagrams and / or block diagrams and / or flowcharts and / or combinations of blocks in the structural diagrams and / or block diagrams and / or flowcharts. Those skilled in the art can understand that such computer program instructions can be provided to a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer or other processor of a programmable data processing means, and that a solution specified in a block or block in the structural diagrams and / or block diagrams and / or flowcharts can be executed by the computer or other processor of a programmable data processing means.

[0419] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the operations, methods, steps in the flow, measurements, and solutions already discussed in the present invention may be replaced, modified, combined, or deleted. Also, other steps, measurements, and solutions in the operations, methods, and flows already discussed in the present invention may be replaced, modified, rearranged, decomposed, combined, or deleted. Also, prior art having operations, methods, steps in the flow, measurements, and solutions already discussed in the present invention may be replaced, modified, rearranged, decomposed, combined, or deleted.

[0420] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It should be noted that those skilled in the art can make various modifications and changes without departing from the principles of the present invention. Such modifications and changes should be considered as belonging to the protection scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0421] 10 Second node device 20 First node device 30 5th node equipment 40 Fourth node equipment 50 6th node equipment 60 7th node equipment 70 Anchor Node Central Unit Equipment 80 Relay node equipment 101 First processing module 102 Second processing module 201 Third Processing Module 202 4th Processing Module 301 5th Processing Module 302 6th Processing Module 401 7th Processing Module 402 8th Processing Module 501 9th Processing Module 502 10th Processing Module 601 11th Processing Module 602 12th Processing Module 701 13th Processing Module 702 14th Processing Module 801 15th Processing Module 802 16th Processing Module

Claims

1. A method for routing data packets, applied in a second node, comprising: receiving a first message transmitted by a first node; and determining a transmission path for the data packet according to the first message.

2. The first message is 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of: first information relating to user data attributes; second information relating to the transmission path; indication information indicating whether another transmission path is enabled; indication information for activating or deactivating the transmission path; and seventh information relating to routing.

3. The second information relating to the transmission path is 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising at least one of: identification information of the transmission path, identification information of a primary transmission path, indication information of the primary transmission path, address information or identification information of a destination receiving node of the transmission path, routing identification information of the transmission path, condition information for enabling the transmission path, information on an amount of data to be transmitted via the transmission path, Quality of Service (QoS) information of the data to be transmitted via the transmission path, and identification information of a backhaul link channel for transmitting user data via a backhaul link between the second node and a next hop node indicated by the transmission path.

4. 1. A method for routing data packets, applied to a first node, comprising: transmitting a first message to a second node to cause the second node to determine a transmission path of the data packet according to the first message; and receiving a second message sent by the second node to determine that the second node has received the first message.

5. A method for controlling data packet transmission, applied in a fifth node, comprising: receiving a third message transmitted by the fourth node, the third message including aiding information for aiding the fifth node in determining to transmit the data packet; determining transmission of the data packet according to the third message.

6. The third message is 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising at least one of: fourth information relating to user data attributes; fifth information relating to a data transmission path; identification information or address information of a node when the transmission path of user data is changed; and information of a transmission path proposed by the fourth node.

7. The fifth information relating to the data transmission path is 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising at least one of an indication of a type of the transmission path, an identification indication of the transmission path, and sixth information relating to data on the transmission path.

8. A method for controlling data packet transmission, applied in a fourth node, comprising: obtaining a third message; transmitting the third message to a fifth node, the third message including aiding information for aiding the fifth node in determining to transmit the data packet.

9. A method for routing data packets, applied in a sixth node, comprising: determining a radio link failure (RLF); and transmitting a fifth message to a seventh node to determine a transmission path for the data packet.

10. The fifth message is 10. The method of claim 9, comprising at least one of: indication information for indicating that the RLF has occurred; identification information or address information of a sixth node; indication information of a backhaul link on which the RLF has occurred; identification information or address information of an unreachable node; identification information or address information of a reachable node; identification information of the transmission path that cannot be used for data transmission; identification information of the transmission path that can be used for data transmission; identification information of a route that cannot be used for data transmission; identification information of a route that can be used for data transmission; indication information for RLF recovery; and indication information that the backhaul link on which the RLF has occurred has been recovered.

11. A second node device, a first processing module configured to receive a first message transmitted by a first node; and a second processing module configured to determine a transmission path for a data packet according to the first message.

12. A first node device, a third processing module configured to transmit the first message to the second node to cause the second node to determine a transmission path of the data packet according to the first message; and a fourth processing module configured to receive a second message sent by the second node to confirm that the second node has received the first message.

13. A fifth node device, a fifth processing module configured to receive a third message transmitted by a fourth node, the third message including aiding information for aiding the fifth node in determining a data packet transmission; and a sixth processing module configured to determine a data packet transmission according to the third message.

14. A fourth node device, a seventh processing module configured to obtain the third message; and A fourth node device comprising: an eighth processing module configured to transmit the third message to a fifth node, the third message including auxiliary information for assisting the fifth node in deciding to transmit a data packet.

15. A sixth node device, a ninth processing module configured to determine a wireless link failure; and a tenth processing module configured to transmit a fifth message to the seventh node for determining a transmission path for the data packet.

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