Root cause failure determination method and apparatus

Abstract

A root cause failure determination method and apparatus are provided, which includes the steps of: a first network element determining alarm information of N objects, where N is an integer equal to or greater than 2; and the first network element determining a root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects based on an object association relationship, where the root cause failure is the alarm information of M objects among the N objects, where M is a positive integer equal to or less than N. According to the method and apparatus of the present disclosure, the root cause failures of the multiple alarm information can be determined, and a service ticket is sent out only for the root cause failure, in order to reduce operation and maintenance costs.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202210152355.7, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ROOT CAUSE FAILURE DETERMINATION," filed with the China National Intellectual Property Office on February 18, 2022, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0002] The present disclosure relates to the field of communications technology, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for determining root cause failure. [Background technology]

[0003] In wireless communication networks, e.g., mobile communication networks, networks need to support more and more diverse services and therefore meet more and more requirements. For example, networks need to be able to support very high speed connections, very low latency connections, and / or large scale connections. This functionality makes network planning, network configuration, and / or resource scheduling more and more complex. These new requirements, scenarios, and capabilities bring unprecedented challenges to network planning, operation, and maintenance and efficient operation. How to improve the efficiency of network operation and maintenance has become a topic worth considering. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The present disclosure provides a root cause failure determination method and apparatus that determines the root cause failure of multiple alarm information and enables service tickets to be sent only for the root cause failure in order to reduce operation and maintenance costs. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] According to a first aspect, a root cause failure determination method is provided. The method is executed by a first network element, which may be a CU, DU, RU, SMOF, etc., or may be a component (processor, chip, etc.) in the first network element, or may be a software module, etc. The method includes: determining alarm information of N objects, where N is an integer equal to or greater than 2; and determining a root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects based on an object association relationship, where the root cause failure is the alarm information of M objects of the N objects, where M is a positive integer equal to or less than N.

[0006] According to the above method, the first network element can determine the root cause failure of the alarm information of the multiple objects, and then report only the alarm information corresponding to the root cause failure to the carrier's network management system and send out a service ticket. In order to reduce operation and maintenance costs, the service ticket is not sent out for alarm information other than the root cause failure.

[0007] In one design, determining a root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects based on the object association relationship includes determining a root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects based on the object association relationship and a generation time of the alarm information of the N objects.

[0008] Based on the above design, when determining the root cause failure, not only the association relationship between objects is considered, but also the generation time of each alarm information is considered. Even if there is an association relationship between some objects of alarm information, the generation time difference of the corresponding alarm information is large, and there is essentially no causal relationship between these alarm information. However, by using the above method, the above possibility can be reduced, and the accuracy of determining the root cause failure can be improved.

[0009] In one design, determining a root cause failure of the alarm information of N objects based on the object relationship relationships and the generation times of the alarm information of the N objects includes: determining X relationship sets based on the object relationship relationships; for each relationship set, determining L objects in the relationship set based on the generation times of the alarm information of the objects included in the relationship set; a generation time difference of the alarm information of the L objects is less than (or equal to) a threshold; and determining a root cause failure of the alarm information of the L objects, the root cause failure being the alarm information of at least one of the L objects, where X and L are both positive integers.

[0010] According to the above method, firstly, a related relationship set is determined based on object related relationships, and the related relationship set includes at least one object having related relationships. Then, based on the generation time of each alarm information, the object whose generation time does not satisfy the condition is removed from the related relationship set. Finally, for each related relationship set, the alarm information of one or more objects is determined as a root cause failure, in order to ensure the accuracy of the determined root cause failure.

[0011] In one design, determining a root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects based on the object association relationship and the generation time of the alarm information of the N objects includes: determining P association relationship sets based on the object association relationship and the generation time of the alarm information of the N objects; for each association relationship set, determining a root cause failure of the alarm information of Q objects included in the association relationship set, the root cause failure is the alarm information of at least one of the Q objects, the Q objects have an association relationship, a generation time difference of the alarm information of the Q objects having the association relationship is less than a threshold, and P and Q are both positive integers.

[0012] According to the above-mentioned method, when determining the association relationship set, the determining materials such as the association relationship between objects and the generation time of the alarm information are also taken into consideration. The determined association relationship set includes at least one object having an association relationship, and the generation time of the alarm information of the object included in the set satisfies a condition. To ensure the accuracy of the determined root cause failure, for each association relationship set, the alarm information of at least one or more objects is determined to be the root cause failure.

[0013] In one design, the N objects include N1 objects and N2 objects, where N1 and N2 are both positive integers, and the sum of N1 and N2 is equal to N, and determining the alarm information of the N objects includes detecting the alarm information of the N1 objects and receiving the alarm information of the N2 objects from the second network element.

[0014] According to the above method, a first network element can detect alarm information of N1 objects and receive alarm information of N2 objects from a second network element. A root cause failure of the alarm information of the N1 objects and the alarm information of the N2 objects is determined. A service ticket can be sent only in the case of a root cause failure, and a service ticket is not sent in the case of other alarm information to reduce operation and maintenance costs.

[0015] In one design, the first network element is a central unit CU, and the second network element is a distributed unit DU, and the alarm information of the N1 objects includes alarm information of an object of a CU, and the alarm information of the N2 objects includes at least one of alarm information of an object of a DU, alarm information of an object of a radio unit RU, alarm information of an object of a cloud resource corresponding to the RU, or alarm information of an object of a cloud resource corresponding to the DU.

[0016] According to the aforementioned method, the first network element is a CU and the second network element is a DU. The DU collects alarm information and reports the collected alarm information to the CU. The alarm information collected by the DU includes alarm information of N2 objects. The CU detects the alarm information of the N1 objects. The CU performs root cause analysis on the alarm information of the N1 objects and the alarm information of the N2 objects to determine the root cause failure, so as to reduce operation and maintenance costs.

[0017] In one design, the first network element is a DU, the second network element is a RU, and the alarm information of the N1 objects includes alarm information of objects of the DU, and the alarm information of the N2 objects includes at least one of alarm information of objects of the RU or alarm information of objects of cloud resources corresponding to the RU.

[0018] According to the above method, the first network element is a DU and the second network element is a RU, and the RU collects alarm information of the N2 objects and reports the alarm information to the DU. The DU performs root cause analysis on the detected alarm information of the N1 objects and the received alarm information of the N2 objects to determine the root cause failure, thereby reducing operation and maintenance costs.

[0019] In one design, the first network element is an RU, DU, or CU, the alarm information of the N1 objects includes alarm information of objects of the first network element, the second network element is a cloud resource corresponding to the first network element, and the alarm information of the N2 objects includes alarm information of objects of the cloud resource corresponding to the first network element.

[0020] According to the above method, the first network element is an RU, a DU, or a CU. Take the first network element as an example. If an object corresponding to the RU in the cloud resource generates alarm information, the cloud resource may report the alarm information to the RU. Upon detecting the alarm information of the N1 objects of the RU and the alarm information of the N2 objects corresponding to the RU reported by the cloud resource, the RU may perform root cause analysis to determine the root cause failure, thereby reducing operation and maintenance costs.

[0021] In one design, for the N2 objects, the alarm information for each object is a first type of alarm information, and the first type of alarm information includes at least one of an identifier of the object, an identifier of the second network element, or an identifier of a network element associated with the second network element.

[0022] In the current design, alarm information generated by a CU, DU, RU, cloud resource, etc. is not reported to a corresponding management network element or to a network element having a corresponding relationship. However, in this design, alarm information generated or collected by a RU is reported to a management DU or to a DU having a corresponding relationship, and alarm information generated or collected by a DU is reported to a CU having a corresponding relationship. Alarm information generated by a cloud resource Cloud may be reported to a network element corresponding to the alarm information. In the present disclosure, a CU, a DU, a RU, etc. perform root cause analysis to determine a root cause failure, thereby reducing operation and maintenance costs. In addition, for a managed or lower layer network element having a corresponding relationship, the alarm information reported to a higher layer network element, i.e., the first type of alarm information described above, is further improved compared with the alarm information, and the alarm information no longer includes a failure cause or a failure identifier, etc., but may include an object identifier, an identifier of a corresponding network element, or an association relationship between each network element. For a network element performing root cause analysis, the association relationship between each network element may be easily obtained based on the association relationship between each network element included in the alarm information to improve root cause analysis efficiency.

[0023] In one design, the method further includes sending first indication information to a third network element, the first indication information indicating a root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects.

[0024] According to the aforementioned method, the third network element may be a SMOF, etc., and the first network element may be a CU, a DU, a RU, etc. The CU, DU, or RU may report the determined root cause failure to the SMOF. In order to reduce operation and maintenance costs, the SMOF may report only alarm information corresponding to the root cause failure to the carrier's network management system.

[0025] In one design, the method further includes obtaining object association relationships, the object association relationships being indicated by a configuration file or a configuration message from a third network element.

[0026] According to the above method, the third network element may be a SMOF, and the SMOF may configure the association relationships between objects for the CU, DU, RU, etc. Optionally, the SMOF may update the association relationships between objects, such as periodically or based on a trigger condition, using big data, artificial intelligence, etc., and synchronize the updated object association relationships to the CU, DU, RU, etc. By using the above method, the object association relationships can be flexibly configured or updated to improve the accuracy of determining the root cause failure.

[0027] In one design, obtaining the object relationship includes receiving a first configuration file or a first configuration message from a third network element, the first configuration file or the first configuration message indicating a first object relationship, receiving a second configuration file or a second configuration message from the third network element, the second configuration file or the second configuration message indicating a second object relationship, and determining the object relationship based on the first object relationship and the second object relationship.

[0028] In one design, the N objects include N1 objects, N2 objects, and N3 objects, where the values ​​of N1, N2, and N3 are all positive integers, and the sum of N1, N2, and N3 is equal to N, and the alarm information of the N objects is determined according to the following formula:

[0029] The method includes receiving alarm information from a first network element, the alarm information including alarm information for N1 objects, receiving alarm information from a second network element, the alarm information including alarm information for N2 objects, and receiving alarm information from a third network element, the alarm information including alarm information for N3 objects.

[0030] According to the aforementioned method, the fourth network element receives alarm information from the first network element, the second network element, and the third network element separately. A root cause analysis is performed on the alarm information of the three network elements to determine a root cause failure. Then, only the root cause failure can be reported to the carrier's network management system and a service ticket can be sent out. In order to reduce operation and maintenance costs, a service ticket is not sent out for other alarm information.

[0031] In one design, the alarm information is a second type of alarm information, where the second type of alarm information includes at least one of an object identifier, an identifier of a corresponding network element, a fault identifier, or a fault cause.

[0032] According to a second aspect, a root cause failure determination method is provided, which is executed by a second network element, and the second network element is a cloud resource Cloud, a RU, a DU, etc., or a component (such as a processor, a chip, etc.) in the second network element.

[0033] The method includes a step of transmitting alarm information of N2 objects to a first network element, the alarm information being a first type of alarm information, and for the N2 objects, the first type of alarm information of each object includes at least one of an identifier of the object, an identifier of the second network element, or an identifier of a network element associated with the second network element, where N2 is a positive integer.

[0034] According to a third aspect, a root cause failure determination method is provided, the method being executed by a third network element, the third network element being a SMOF, etc., or a component (such as a processor, chip, etc.) in the third network element. The method includes receiving a first indication, the first indication indicating a root cause failure of alarm information of N objects, the root cause failure being alarm information of M objects of the N objects, N being a positive integer equal to or greater than 2, and M being a positive integer equal to or less than N.

[0035] According to the foregoing design, the first network element may report indication information of the analyzed root cause failure to the third network element, and the third network element may determine the root cause failure based on the indication information and report alarm information corresponding to the root cause failure to the network management system of the carrier, so as to reduce operation and maintenance costs. Optionally, the third network element may supplement and / or update the root cause failure analyzed by the first network element, so as to improve the accuracy of determining the root cause failure.

[0036] In one design, the method further includes sending a configuration file or a configuration message indicating the object association relationship to the first network element.

[0037] In one design, sending a configuration file or configuration message indicating the object relation relationship to the first network element includes sending a first configuration file or first configuration message to the first network element, the first configuration file or first configuration message indicating the first object relation relationship, and sending a second configuration file or second configuration message to the first network element, the second configuration file or second configuration message indicating the second object relation relationship.

[0038] In one design, the N objects include N1 objects and N2 objects, where N1 and N2 are both positive integers, the sum of N1 and N2 is equal to N, and the N1 objects include an object of a central unit CU, and the N2 objects include at least one of an object of a distributed unit DU, an object of a cloud resource corresponding to the DU, an object of a radio unit RU, or an object of a cloud resource corresponding to the RU, and the N1 objects include an object of the DU, and the N2 objects include at least one of an object of an RU, or an object of a cloud resource corresponding to the RU, or the N1 objects include an object of a CU, an object of a DU, or an object of a RU, and the N2 objects include an object of a cloud resource corresponding to the CU, an object of a cloud resource corresponding to the DU, or an object of a cloud resource corresponding to the RU.

[0039] In one design, the N objects include N1 objects, N2 objects, and N3 objects, where N1, N2, and N3 are all positive integers, the sum of N1, N2, and N3 is equal to N, the N1 objects include objects for the CU, the N2 objects include objects for the DU, and the N3 objects include objects for the RU.

[0040] According to a fourth aspect, an apparatus is provided. For beneficial effects, please refer to the description of the first aspect. The apparatus may be a first network element, an apparatus configured in the first network element, or an apparatus that can be used in conjunction with the first network element. The first network element may be a CU, a DU, a RU, a SMOF, etc.

[0041] In one design, the apparatus includes units that perform the methods / tasks / steps / operations described in the first aspect in a one-to-one correspondence, and these units may be hardware circuits, or software, or may be implemented by hardware circuits in combination with software. For example, the apparatus may include a processing unit and a transceiver unit, and the processing unit and the transceiver unit may perform corresponding functions in any design example of the first aspect. Specifically,

[0042] The processing unit is configured to determine alarm information of the N objects, where N is an integer equal to or greater than 2. The processing unit is further configured to determine a root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects based on the object association relationship, where the root cause failure is the alarm information of M objects of the N objects, where M is a positive integer equal to or less than N. The transceiver unit is configured to receive corresponding information from another network element.

[0043] For the specific execution process of the processing unit and the transceiver unit, please refer to the description of the first embodiment, and the details will not be described again here.

[0044] In another design, the apparatus includes a processor configured to perform the method of the first aspect. The apparatus may further include a memory configured to store instructions and / or data. The memory is coupled to the processor, and the processor may perform the method of the first aspect by executing program instructions stored in the memory. For example, the apparatus may include: a memory configured to store program instructions; a processor configured to determine alarm information of N objects, N being an integer equal to or greater than 2, and determine root cause failures of the alarm information of the N objects based on an object association relationship, the root cause failures being alarm information of M objects among the N objects, M being a positive integer equal to or less than N; Includes.

[0045] For the specific execution process of the processor, please refer to the description of the first aspect, and the details will not be described again.

[0046] According to a fifth aspect, an apparatus is provided. For beneficial effects, please refer to the description of the second aspect. The apparatus may be a second network element, an apparatus configured in the second network element, or an apparatus that can be used in conjunction with the second network element. The second network element may be a cloud resource Cloud, a RU, a DU, etc.

[0047] In one design, the apparatus includes units that perform the methods / tasks / steps / operations described in the second aspect in a one-to-one correspondence, and these units may be hardware circuits, or software, or may be implemented by hardware circuits in combination with software. For example, the apparatus includes a transceiver unit. Optionally, the apparatus may further include a processing unit. The communication unit and the transceiver unit may perform corresponding functions in any design example of the second aspect. Specifically,

[0048] The communication unit is configured to send alarm information of the N2 objects to the first network element, the alarm information being a first type of alarm information, and for the N2 objects, the first type of alarm information of each object includes at least one of an identifier of the object, an identifier of the second network element, or an identifier of a network element associated with the second network element, where N2 is a positive integer.

[0049] Optionally, the processing unit is configured to determine alarm information of the N2 objects.

[0050] For the specific execution process of the transceiver unit and the processing unit, please refer to the description of the second embodiment, and the details will not be described again here.

[0051] In another design, the apparatus includes a processor configured to perform the method of the second aspect. The apparatus may further include a memory configured to store a program and / or instructions. The memory is coupled to the processor, and the processor may perform the method of the second aspect when executing the program instructions stored in the memory. The apparatus may further include a communication interface, which may be used by the apparatus to communicate with another device. For example, the communication interface may be a transceiver, a circuit, a bus, a module, a pin, or another type of communication interface. The apparatus may further include a communication interface. a memory configured to store program instructions; a processor configured to determine alarm information for the N objects; a communications interface configured to transmit alarm information of N2 objects to a first network element, the alarm information being a first type of alarm information, and for the N2 objects, the first type of alarm information of each object includes at least one of an identifier of the object, an identifier of the second network element, or an identifier of a network element associated with the second network element, where N2 is a positive integer; Includes.

[0052] For the specific execution process of the processor and the communication interface, please refer to the description of the second embodiment, and the details will not be described again here.

[0053] According to a sixth aspect, an apparatus is provided. For beneficial effects, please refer to the description of the third aspect. The apparatus may be a third network element, an apparatus configured in a third network element, or an apparatus that can be used in conjunction with a third network element. The third network element may be a SMOF, etc.

[0054] In one design, the apparatus includes units for performing the methods / tasks / steps / operations described in the third aspect in a one-to-one correspondence, which may be hardware circuits, or software, or may be implemented by hardware circuits in combination with software. For example, the apparatus includes a transceiver unit. Optionally, the apparatus may further include a processing unit. The communication unit and the transceiver unit may perform the corresponding functions in any design example of the third aspect. Specifically,

[0055] The transceiver unit is configured to receive first indication information, where the first indication information indicates a root cause failure of alarm information of N objects, where the root cause failure is the alarm information of M objects among the N objects, where N is a positive integer greater than or equal to 2, and M is a positive integer less than or equal to N.

[0056] Optionally, the processing unit is configured to process the first indication.

[0057] For the specific execution process of the transceiver unit and the processing unit, please refer to the description of the third embodiment, and the details will not be described again here.

[0058] In another design, the apparatus includes a processor configured to perform the method of the third aspect. The apparatus may further include a memory configured to store a program and / or instructions. The memory is coupled to the processor, and the processor may perform the method of the third aspect when executing the program instructions stored in the memory. The apparatus may further include a communication interface, which may be used by the apparatus to communicate with another device. For example, the communication interface may be a transceiver, a circuit, a bus, a module, a pin, or another type of communication interface. The apparatus may further include a communication interface. a memory configured to store program instructions; a communications interface configured to receive first indication information, the first indication information indicating a root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects, the root cause failure being the alarm information of M objects of the N objects, N being a positive integer equal to or greater than 2, and M being a positive integer equal to or less than N; a processor configured to process the first instruction information; Includes.

[0059] For the specific execution process of the communication interface and the processor, please refer to the description of the third embodiment, and the details will not be described again here.

[0060] According to a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to perform the method of the first aspect, the second aspect or the third aspect.

[0061] According to an eighth aspect, a chip system is provided. The chip system includes a processor and may further include a memory configured to perform the method of the first aspect, the second aspect, or the third aspect. The chip system may be formed by a chip or may include a discrete device separate from the chip.

[0062] According to a ninth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to perform the method of the first aspect, the second aspect or the third aspect.

[0063] According to a tenth aspect, there is provided a system, the system comprising the apparatus of the fourth aspect, the apparatus of the fifth aspect, and the apparatus of the sixth aspect. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0064] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram of an architecture of an O-RAN according to the present disclosure. [Diagram 3] 1 is a flow chart for determining root cause failure according to the present disclosure. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of reporting alarm information according to the present disclosure. [Diagram 5] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an apparatus according to the present disclosure. [Figure 6] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an apparatus according to the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0065] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a communication system 1000 to which the present disclosure may be applied. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication system includes a radio access network 100 and a core network 200. Optionally, the communication system 1000 may further include an Internet 300. The radio access network 100 may include at least one access network device (e.g., 110a and 110b in FIG. 1) and may further include at least one terminal device (e.g., 120a-120j in FIG. 1). The terminal device is connected to the access network device in a wireless manner, and the access network device is connected to the core network in a wireless or wired manner. The core network device and the access network device may be separate and distinct physical devices, or the functions of the core network device and the logical functions of the access network device may be integrated into the same physical device, or some of the functions of the core network device and some of the functions of the access network device may be integrated into one physical device. The terminal devices may be connected to each other, and the access network devices may be connected to each other in a wireless or wired manner. FIG. 1 is merely a schematic diagram. The communication system may further include other network devices, for example, wireless relay devices and wireless backhaul devices not shown in FIG.

[0066] The access network device may be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB) of a 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system, an access network device of an open radio access network (O-RAN), a next generation NodeB of a 6th generation (6G) mobile communication system, a base station of a future mobile communication system, an access node of a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system, etc., or may be a module or unit that performs part of the functions of a base station, for example a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a central unit control plane (CU-CP) module, or a central unit user plane (CU-UP) module. The access network device may be a macro base station (e.g., 110a in FIG. 1), or may be a micro base station or an indoor station (e.g., 110b in FIG. 1), or may be a relay node, a donor node, etc. The specific technology used by the access network device and the specific device form are not limited by this disclosure.

[0067] In the present disclosure, an apparatus configured to perform the functions of an access network device may be an access network device. Alternatively, the apparatus may be an apparatus that can assist the access network device in performing the functions, such as a chip system, a hardware circuit, a software module, or a hardware circuit and a software module, and the apparatus may be installed in the access network device or used in accordance with the access network device. In the present disclosure, the chip system may be formed by a chip, or may include a chip and another discrete device. For ease of explanation, the following uses an example in which an apparatus configured to perform the functions of an access network device is an access network device, and the access network device is a base station, to describe the technical solution provided in the present disclosure.

[0068] (1) Protocol Layer Structure The communication between the access network device and the terminal device follows a protocol layer structure. The protocol layer structure may include a control plane protocol layer structure and a user plane protocol layer structure. For example, the control plane protocol layer structure may include the functions of protocol layers such as a radio resource control (RRC) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, a media access control (MAC) layer, and a physical layer. For example, the user plane protocol layer structure may include the functions of protocol layers such as a PDCP layer, an RLC layer, a MAC layer, and a physical layer. In one possible implementation, a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer may be further included above the PDCP layer.

[0069] Optionally, the protocol layer structure between the access network device and the terminal device may further include an artificial intelligence (AI) layer for transmitting data related to AI functions.

[0070] (2) Central unit (CU) and distributed unit (DU) The access network device may include a CU and a DU. A plurality of DUs may be centrally controlled by one CU. For example, an interface between a CU and a DU may be called an F1 interface. A control panel (CP) interface may be F1-C, and a user panel (UP) interface may be F1-U. The specific names of the respective interfaces are not limited in this disclosure. The CU and the DU may be classified based on the protocol layer of a wireless network. For example, the functions of the PDCP layer and the protocol layers higher than the PDCP layer are configured in the CU, and the functions of the protocol layers lower than the PDCP layer (e.g., the RLC layer and the MAC layer) are configured in the DU. As another example, the functions of the protocol layers higher than the PDCP layer are configured in the CU, and the functions of the PDCP layer and the protocol layers lower than the PDCP layer are configured in the DU. This is not limited.

[0071] The above-described division of the processing functions in the CU and the DU based on the protocol layer is only an example, and the division may be performed in another manner. For example, the CU or DU may be divided into more protocol layer functions. As another example, the CU or DU may be further divided into a part of the processing functions of the protocol layers. In one design, a part of the functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layers above the RLC layer are configured in the CU, and the remaining functions of the RLC layer and the functions of the protocol layers below the RLC layer are configured in the DU. In another design, the functions of the CU or DU may be further divided based on the service type or other system requirements, for example, based on delay. The functions whose processing time needs to meet the delay requirement are configured in the DU, and the functions whose processing time does not need to meet the delay requirement are configured in the CU. In another design, the CU may instead have one or more functions of the core network. For example, the CU may be located on the network side to facilitate centralized management. In another design, the radio unit (RU) of the DU is remotely located. Optionally, the RU may have a radio frequency function.

[0072] Optionally, the DU and RU may be divided by a physical layer (PHY). For example, the DU may perform higher layer functions of the PHY layer, and the RU may perform lower layer functions of the PHY layer. When used for transmission, the PHY layer functions may include at least one of cyclic redundancy check (CRC) code addition, channel coding, rate matching, scrambling, modulation, layer mapping, precoding, resource mapping, physical antenna mapping, or radio frequency transmission functions. When used for reception, the PHY layer functions may include at least one of CRC checking, channel decoding, rate dematching, descrambling, demodulation, layer demapping, channel detection, resource demapping, physical antenna demapping, or radio frequency reception functions. The higher layer functions of the PHY layer may include a portion of the functions of the PHY layer. For example, a portion of the functions is closer to the MAC layer. The lower layer functions of the PHY layer may include another portion of the functions of the PHY layer. For example, another portion of the functions is closer to the radio frequency functions. For example, the upper layer functions of the PHY layer may include CRC code addition, channel coding, rate matching, scrambling, modulation, and layer mapping, and the lower layer functions of the PHY layer may include precoding, resource mapping, physical antenna mapping, and radio frequency transmission functions. Alternatively, the upper layer functions of the PHY layer may include CRC code addition, channel coding, rate matching, scrambling, modulation, layer mapping, and precoding, and the lower layer functions of the PHY layer may include resource mapping, physical antenna mapping, and radio frequency transmission functions. For example, the upper layer functions of the PHY layer may include CRC checking, channel decoding, rate dematching, decoding, demodulation, and layer demapping, and the lower layer functions of the PHY layer may include channel detection, resource demapping, physical antenna demapping, and radio frequency reception functions. Alternatively, the upper layer functions of the PHY layer may include CRC checking, channel decoding, rate dematching, decoding, demodulation, layer demapping, and channel detection, and the lower layer functions of the PHY layer may include resource demapping, physical antenna demapping, and radio frequency reception functions.

[0073] For example, the functions of the CU may be implemented by one entity or by separate entities. For example, the functions of the CU may be further divided. In other words, the control plane and the user plane are separated and implemented by separate entities, i.e., a control plane CU entity (i.e., a CU-CP entity) and a user plane CU entity (i.e., a CU-UP entity). The CU-CP entity and the CU-UP entity may be combined with the DU to jointly implement the functions of the access network device.

[0074] Optionally, any one of the DU, CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, and RU may be a software module, a hardware structure, or a software module and a hardware structure. This is not limited. The existence forms of each entity may be different and are not limited. For example, the DU, CU, CU-CP, and CU-UP are software modules, and the RU is a hardware structure. These modules and the methods performed by these modules also fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

[0075] In one possible implementation, the access network device includes a CU-CP, a CU-UP, a DU, and a RU. For example, the implementation of the present disclosure includes a DU, or includes a DU and a RU, or includes a CU-CP, a DU, and a RU, or includes a CU-UP, a DU, and a RU. This is not limited. The method performed by each module also falls within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

[0076] A terminal device may also be referred to as a terminal, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal device, etc. A terminal device may be widely used for communication in various scenarios, including, but not limited to, at least one of the following scenarios: device-to-device (D2D), vehicle to everything (V2X), machine-type communication (MTC), internet of things (IoT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transport, smart city, etc. A terminal device may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver capabilities, a wearable device, a vehicle, a drone, a helicopter, an aircraft, a ship, a robot, a robot arm, a smart home device, etc. The specific technology used by the terminal device and the specific device form are not limited by this disclosure.

[0077] In the present disclosure, an apparatus configured to perform the functions of a terminal device may be a terminal device. Alternatively, the apparatus may be an apparatus that can assist the terminal device in performing the functions, such as a chip system, a hardware circuit, a software module, or a hardware circuit and a software module, and the apparatus may be installed in the terminal device or used in accordance with the terminal device. For ease of explanation, the following uses an example in which the apparatus configured to perform the functions of a terminal device is a terminal device, and the terminal device is a UE, to describe the technical solution provided in the present disclosure.

[0078] The base station and the terminal device may be fixed or mobile. The base station and / or the terminal device may be deployed on land, including indoor or outdoor, handheld, or vehicle-mounted, on water, or on an airborne aircraft, balloon, or satellite. The application scenarios of the base station and the terminal device are not limited by this disclosure. The base station and the terminal device may be deployed in the same scenario or different scenarios. For example, the base station and the terminal device are both deployed on land, or the base station is deployed on land and the terminal device is deployed on water. Examples are not provided one by one.

[0079] The role of a base station and the role of a terminal device may be relative. For example, the helicopter or drone 120i in FIG. 1 may be configured as a mobile base station, and for the terminal device 120j that accesses the radio access network 100 through 120i, the terminal device 120i is a base station, but for the base station 110a, 120i is a terminal device. That is, the communication between 110a and 120i is performed using a wireless air interface protocol. Alternatively, the communication between 110a and 120i may be performed using an interface protocol between base stations. In this case, for 110a, 120i is also a base station. Therefore, both the base station and the terminal device may be collectively referred to as a communication device, and 110a and 110b in FIG. 1 may be referred to as a communication device having a base station function, and 120a to 120j in FIG. 1 may be referred to as a communication device having a terminal device function.

[0080] In one design, as shown in Figure 2, in the O-RAN architecture, a traditional base station is divided into separate components, such as cloud resources (Cloud), RU, DU, CU-CP, CU-UP, access network intelligent controller (RAN intelligent controller, RIC), and service management and orchestration framework (SMOF). The functions of those components are as follows:

[0081] SMOF: SMOF provides a service-based framework to support network operation and management. Optionally, SMOF includes operation, administration and maintenance (OAM) of cloud infrastructure (e.g., cloud resources) and OAM of base stations.

[0082] RIC: RIC refers to software defined network (SDN), introduces intelligent scheduling, implements policy and execution separation, etc. RIC is configured to implement artificial intelligence. RIC is classified into near real time (Near-RT) RIC and non-real time (None-RT) RIC. Near real time RIC is O-RAN near real time RAN intelligent controller, and implements near real time control and optimization of O-RAN elements and resources through fine-grained data collection and E2 interface operation. Non-real time RIC is O-RAN non-real time RAN intelligent controller, and implements logical functions of non-real time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) workflow including model training and updating, and policy-based application and function guidance of near real time RIC. Optionally, in the example of Figure 2, non-real time RIC is deployed in SMOF.

[0083] Cloud Resources Cloud: The O-RAN Alliance defines the Cloud Resources Cloud as a cloud computing platform consisting of a collection of physical infrastructure nodes that meet O-RAN requirements, hosting the relevant O-RAN functions, supporting software components and appropriate management and orchestration capabilities.

[0084] For RU, DU, CU-CP, CU-UP, etc., please refer to the explanation in Figure 1 and the details will not be described again. Optionally, in the O-RAN architecture, RU, DU, and Cloud may be called open RU (open RU, O-RU), open DU (open DU, O-DU), open Cloud (open Cloud, O-Cloud), etc., respectively.

[0085] In one design, each component of a base station reports alarm information to a network management system of a carrier when it identifies a fault, for example, when it identifies a fault using software. The network management system of a carrier may be a network management system (NMS). The carrier's monitor judges and analyzes the alarm information, and distributes the task of the fault to be corrected in a service ticket. In an O-RAN architecture, since there is an association relationship between each component, a failure of one component may cause multiple components to report alarm information. If a service ticket is sent for each alarm information, the workload of monitoring and maintenance personnel will be significantly increased, and operation and maintenance costs will be high. Therefore, how to determine the root cause failure of multiple alarm information has become a problem worth considering.

[0086] The present disclosure provides a root cause failure determination method. In the method, when a plurality of alarm information is determined, a root cause failure can be determined from the plurality of alarm information, and the root cause failure is one or more alarm information of the plurality of alarm information. A service ticket is sent for the alarm information of the root cause failure, and a service ticket is not sent for the alarm information of the non-root cause failure. This reduces the workload of monitoring and maintenance personnel and reduces operation and maintenance costs. In the following description, an example in which the method of the present disclosure is applied to a base station of an O-RAN architecture is used for explanation, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. For example, to determine a root cause failure, the method of the present disclosure can also be applied to devices other than an O-RAN base station, such as a core network device or a terminal device. As shown in FIG. 3, the present disclosure provides a procedure for a root cause failure determination method, including at least the following steps.

[0087] Step 301: A first network element determines alarm information of N objects, where N is an integer equal to or greater than 2.

[0088] Step 302: A first network element determines root cause failures of the alarm information of the N objects according to object association relationships.

[0089] The root cause failure is the alarm information of M objects among the N objects, where M is a positive integer equal to or less than N. Alternatively, the description is as follows: the root cause failure of the alarm information of the NM objects is the alarm information of the M objects. For example, the value of N is 3, and the first network element determines the alarm information of the three objects. Based on the object association relationship, it is determined that the three objects have an association relationship. For example, the network element CU of the object 1, the network element DU of the object 2, and the network element RU of the object 3 have an association relationship. It is determined that the alarm information of the object 3 of the RU is the root cause failure of the alarm information of the object 1 of the CU and the alarm information of the object 2 of the DU. In other words, the CU and the DU generate alarm information due to the failure of the RU. In the present disclosure, for the root cause failure, for example, the alarm information of the object 3 of the RU is reported to the network management system of the carrier, and the network management system of the carrier sends a service ticket to perform corresponding maintenance. For alarm information other than the root cause failure, for example, the alarm information of object 2 of DU and the alarm information of object 1 of CU are no longer reported to the carrier's network management system, and no service ticket is sent out to reduce the network operation and maintenance cost. Or, the value of N is 5, and the first network element determines the alarm information of five objects. The first network element determines two association relationship sets based on the object association relationships. One association relationship set includes three objects, and the other association relationship set includes two objects. Based on the association relationship set including the three objects, the root cause failure is determined. The other root cause failure is determined based on the association relationship set including the two objects. In this example, the value of M is 2.

[0090] In the present disclosure, the object-related relationship may be pre-configured or may be specified in a protocol. For example, the third network element may configure the object-related relationship for the first network element by a configuration file or a configuration message, etc. For example, the third network element may send a configuration file or a configuration message, etc. to the first network element, where the configuration file or the configuration message indicates the object-related relationship. The first network element may obtain the object-related relationship through the configuration file or the configuration message. For example, the object-related relationship configured by the third network element by the configuration file or the configuration message is the CU, DU, and RU related relationship. Alternatively, the third network element may configure the object-related relationship by multiple configuration files or multiple configuration messages. The first network element combines the configured multiple object-related relationships to form a final object-related relationship. For example, the third network element sends a first configuration file or a first configuration message to the first network element, where the first configuration file or the first configuration message indicates the first object-related relationship. The third network element sends a second configuration file or a second configuration message to the first network element, and the second configuration file or the second configuration message is used to configure a second object relationship. The first network element determines an object relationship based on the first object relationship and the second object relationship. For example, the first object relationship is an object relationship between a CU and a DU, and the second object relationship is an object relationship between a DU and a RU. Based on the relationship between the two units, the relationship between a CU, a DU, and a RU is finally determined. Optionally, the first network element may be a CU, a DU, a RU, etc., and the third network element that configures the object relationship for the first network element may be a SMOF.

[0091] In the description of the present disclosure, the object may be a network element. For example, the first network element is a SMOF, and the SMOF may receive alarm information from at least two of the network elements, such as a RU, a DU, and a CU. For example, the SMOF receives alarm information from a CU, a DU, and a RU. If the RU, the DU, and the CU have an associated relationship, the alarm information of the RU is considered to be the root cause failure of the alarm information of the DU and the CU. The SMOF can report the alarm information of the RU to the network management system of the carrier, and no longer reports the alarm information of the CU and the DU to the carrier, in order to reduce the operation and maintenance costs of the network. Alternatively, the SMOF receives alarm information from a CU and a DU. If the CU and the DU have an associated relationship, the alarm information of the DU is considered to be the root cause failure of the alarm information of the CU. The SMOF reports the alarm information of the DU to the network management system of the carrier, and no longer reports the alarm information of the CU, in order to reduce the operation and maintenance costs of the network. Alternatively, the SMOF may receive alarm information from a DU and a RU. If the DU and the RU have an associated relationship, the alarm information of the RU is considered to be the root cause failure of the alarm information of the DU. SMOF reports RU alarm information to the carrier and no longer reports DU alarm information to reduce network operation and maintenance costs. Alternatively, SMOF may receive alarm information from CU and RU. Since CU and DU have an association relationship and DU and RU have an association relationship, if CU and RU have an indirect association relationship, the RU alarm information may be considered as the root cause failure of the CU alarm information, and the RU alarm information may be reported to the carrier's network management system. Note that in some scenarios, a RU failure may not cause a corresponding DU failure, but may cause a corresponding CU failure. Therefore, in some scenarios, RU and CU may report alarm information at the same time, but DU does not report alarm information.

[0092] In the present disclosure, the association relationship between at least two of the RU, DU, and CU may include the following meaning: one CU may centrally manage multiple DUs, and the CU and the multiple DUs managed by the CU have an association relationship. one DU may centrally manage multiple RUs, and the DU and the multiple RUs managed by the DU have an association relationship. the DU acts as an intermediate bridge, and the CU and the RU also have an association relationship. for example, if a target CU manages a target DU and the target DU manages a target RU, the target CU and the target RU have an association relationship. it is clear that the above description is described using an example of an association relationship between any two items among the RU, DU, and CU. in the present disclosure, the association relationship may be an association relationship between three or more items. for example, the association relationship may be an association relationship between the RU, DU, and CU. similar to the above description, if a target CU manages a target DU and the target DU manages a target RU, it is considered that the target CU, the target DU, and the target RU have an association relationship. For example, if CU1 manages DU11-DU13 and DU11 manages RU111-RU113, it is considered that CU1, DU11, and RU11 have an associated relationship. For example, at a certain time or period, CU1, DU11, and RU111 separately report alarm information to SMOF. Since RU, DU, and CU that report alarm information have an associated relationship, it is considered that the alarm information of RU111 is the root cause failure of the alarm information of DU11 and CU1. For example, the alarm information reported by RU may be a RU function exception alarm, the alarm information reported by DU may be a DU cell unavailable alarm, and the alarm information reported by CU may be a CU cell unavailable alarm.

[0093] Alternatively, in another description of the present disclosure, the object may be an object of a network element. For example, in a CU, a DU, or a RU, various objects may be obtained by division based on various functions implemented. For example, in a DU, an object that manages the function of a cell may be called an object of a DU. In a CU, an object that manages the function of a cell may be called an object of a CU. Each object has a different identifier. The identifier may be assigned to the object by an SMOF, may be assigned by another network element, may be pre-set, may be specified in a protocol, etc. This is not limited. As another example, a cloud resource Cloud includes a computing resource pool, a storage resource pool, and a network resource pool. The computing resource pool includes multiple computing objects, each of which corresponds to a different identifier. The storage resource pool includes multiple storage objects, each of which also has a different identifier. The network resource pool includes multiple network resource objects.

[0094] In the O-RAN architecture, certain functions of the CU, DU, and RU may be implemented in the cloud resource Cloud. For example, the computing resource pool of the cloud resource Cloud includes 10 computing objects. Five computing objects implement the computing functions of the RU, and these five computing objects may be referred to as the computing objects of the RU. Three computing objects implement the computing functions of the DU, and these three computing objects of the DU may be referred to as the computing objects of the DU. Two computing objects implement the computing functions of the RU, and these two computing objects may be referred to as the computing objects of the RU. In the present disclosure, the computing objects of the CU, the computing objects of the DU, and the computing objects of the RU have an association relationship, and a root cause failure may be determined based on the association relationship of these three computing objects. For example, the computing objects of the RU, the computing objects of the DU, and the computing objects of the CU all report alarm information. Because the RU, the DU, and the CU have an association relationship, it is determined that the alarm information of the computing object of the RU is the root cause failure of the other alarm information. In order to reduce operation and maintenance costs, the SMOF then reports only the alarm information of the computing object of the RU to the network management system of the carrier. In the description of the present disclosure, it should be noted that there is an association relationship between the objects of the RU, the objects of the DU, and the objects of the CU, but there is no association relationship between the objects of the RU, the objects of the DU, or the objects of the CU. In the following description, an example in which an object is an object of a corresponding network element will be continued.

[0095] Optionally, in addition to the object related relationship, the root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects can be further determined based on the generation time of the alarm information of the N objects. In other words, the root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects can be determined based on the object related relationship and the generation time of the alarm information of the N objects. The alarm information of each object may carry a timestamp, and the generation time of the alarm information of each object can be determined based on the timestamp of the alarm information of each object.

[0096] In one design, X associated relationship sets may be determined based on the object associated relationships. The associated relationship sets include at least one object having an associated relationship. The number of objects having an associated relationship included in each of the X associated relationship sets may be the same or different. This is not limited. Optionally, one or more root cause failures may be determined for any of the X associated relationship sets. In step 302 above, the present disclosure specifies that a total of M root cause failures may be determined. The total number of root cause failures determined based on the X associated relationship sets is less than or equal to M.

[0097] For example, the object association relationships include association relationships of CU, DU, and RU, and association relationships between CU and cloud resource Cloud. The objects of CU, DU, RU, and the objects of cloud resource Cloud corresponding to CU all report alarm information. In this case, based on the above object association relationships, the multiple objects reporting alarm information can be divided into two association relationship sets. One association relationship set includes the objects of CU, DU, and RU, and the objects of CU, DU, and RU have an association relationship. The other association relationship set includes the objects of CU and the objects of cloud resource Cloud corresponding to CU, and the objects of CU and cloud resource Cloud corresponding to CU have an association relationship.

[0098] For any associated relationship set i among X associated relationship sets, i is a positive integer between 1 and X, and the following operations are performed: L objects in the associated relationship set are determined according to the generation time of the alarm information of the objects included in the associated relationship set i, the generation time difference of the alarm information of the L objects is less than (or less than) a threshold, and the root cause failure of the alarm information of the L objects is determined, and the root cause failure is at least one alarm information of the L objects, and L is a positive integer. Alternatively, the explanation is as follows: for any associated relationship set i, the generation time of the alarm information of the objects included in the associated relationship set is obtained, and the objects in the objects included in the associated relationship set i whose generation time of the alarm information satisfies a condition are determined, and the objects that satisfy the condition are L objects, and the root cause failure is determined in the L objects. Continuing with the above example, the associated relationship set includes an object of a CU, an object of a DU, and an object of a RU. The generation time difference between the alarm information of the object of the CU and the alarm information of the object of the DU is smaller than the threshold (satisfies the condition), and the generation time difference between the alarm information of the object of the RU and the alarm information of the object of the CU and / or the alarm information of the object of the DU is larger than the threshold (does not satisfy the condition), and the determined L objects are the object of the CU and the object of the DU. It is determined that the alarm information of the object of the DU is the root cause failure of the alarm information of the object of the CU. In the present disclosure, for one association relationship set, one root cause failure, or multiple root cause failures, etc. may be determined. This is not limited.

[0099] In another design, P related relationship sets may be determined based on object related relationships and generation times of the alarm information of the N objects. Each related relationship set of the P related relationship sets includes the same or different number of objects. This is not limited. P is an integer equal to or greater than 1. Optionally, at least one root cause failure may be determined for any related relationship set of the P related relationship sets. In the above step 302, it is specified that a total of M root cause failures are determined for the alarm information of the N objects. The total number of root cause failures determined in the P related relationship sets is M.

[0100] Different from the above design, in the above design, first, an association relationship set is determined based on object association relationships. Then, based on the generation time of each alarm information, L objects whose generation time of alarm information satisfies the condition are determined in the association relationship set. In this design, the generation time of alarm information of each object is considered when the association relationship set is determined. In other words, in this design, the generation time of alarm information corresponding to the objects included in the association relationship set all satisfies the condition. Continuing with the above example, the object of the CU, the object of the DU, the object of the RU, and the object of the cloud resource Cloud corresponding to the CU all report alarm information. The object association relationship includes the association relationship of the CU, the DU, and the RU, as well as the association relationship between the CU and the cloud resource Cloud corresponding to the CU. Therefore, in the present disclosure, the object of the CU, the object of the DU, and the object of the RU are grouped into one set, and the object of the CU and the object of the cloud resource Cloud corresponding to the CU are grouped into another set. For the set formed by the object of the CU, the object of the DU, and the object of the RU, the generation time of alarm information corresponding to the object of the CU, the object of the DU, and the object of the RU are obtained separately. It is determined whether the generation times of the alarm information of these three objects satisfy a condition (e.g., the generation time difference of the alarm information is less than a threshold). If the condition is satisfied, the original set is maintained. Otherwise, the objects whose generation times of the alarm information do not satisfy the condition are removed from the original set to form the associated relationship set. For example, if the generation time difference between the alarm information of the RU and the alarm information of the CU and / or the alarm information of the DU is greater than a threshold, the object of the RU is removed from the original set, and the determined associated relationship set includes the object of the CU and the object of the DU. Optionally, the removed object in the associated relationship set, e.g., the RU, may form a separate set, and the root cause failure corresponding to the set is the alarm information of the object included in the set, e.g., the alarm information of the RU.The alarm information is reported separately to the carrier's network management system. Alternatively, the description is as follows: the alarm information of the removed object is directly reported to the carrier's network management system, and the carrier's network management system sends out a corresponding service ticket.

[0101] For any one of the P associated relationship sets, a root cause failure of alarm information of Q objects included in the associated relationship set is determined, Q is a positive integer, the root cause failure is alarm information of at least one of the Q objects, the Q objects have an associated relationship, and a generation time difference of the alarm information of the Q objects having the associated relationship is less than a threshold (or equal to or less than the threshold).

[0102] For example, one of the P association relationship sets includes an object of a CU, an object of a DU, and an object of a RU. The CU, DU, and RU have an association relationship, and the CU manages the DU and the DU manages the RU, so that the alarm information corresponding to the RU can be considered as a root cause failure of the alarm information corresponding to the CU and the DU.

[0103] In one design, one implementation of the aforementioned step 301 is as follows: a first network element detects alarm information of N1 objects, the first network element receives alarm information of N2 objects from a second network element, N1 and N2 are both positive integers, and the sum of N1 and N2 is equal to N.

[0104] For example, the first network element is a CU, and the alarm information of the N1 objects detected by the first network element includes alarm information of the N1 objects detected by the CU. The second network element is a DU, and the alarm information of the N2 objects sent by the DU to the CU includes at least one of alarm information of an object of the DU, alarm information of an object of an RU, alarm information of an object of a cloud resource Cloud corresponding to the DU, or alarm information of an object of a cloud resource Cloud corresponding to the RU. Alternatively, the first network element is a DU, and the alarm information of the N1 objects detected by the first network element includes alarm information of the N1 objects detected by the DU. The second network element is a RU, and the alarm information of the N2 objects sent by the RU to the DU includes at least one of alarm information corresponding to the RU, or alarm information of an object of a cloud resource Cloud corresponding to the RU. Alternatively, the first network element is a CU, a DU, or a RU, and the second network element is an object of a cloud resource Cloud corresponding to the first network element, etc. For example, the first network element is a CU, the alarm information of the N1 objects detected by the first network element includes alarm information of the N1 objects detected by the CU, and the cloud resource Cloud sends alarm information of the N2 objects of the cloud resource Cloud corresponding to the CU to the CU.

[0105] Optionally, in the present disclosure, the alarm information of the N2 objects sent by the second network element to the first network element is referred to as a first type of alarm information, where the first type of alarm information includes at least one of an object identifier, an identifier of the second network element, an identifier of a network element associated with the second network element, etc.

[0106] For example, if there is a failure of N1 objects of a CU, the failure of the N1 objects may be identified using software, and corresponding alarm information, i.e., alarm information of the N1 objects, is generated. The DU may collect alarm information of the N2 objects, and the alarm information of the N2 objects includes at least one of alarm information of the object of the DU detected by the DU, alarm information of the object of the RU collected from the RU, alarm information of the object of the cloud resource Cloud corresponding to the RU collected from the RU, alarm information of the object of the DU corresponding to the DU collected from the cloud resource Cloud, etc. The DU reports the alarm information of the N2 objects to a CU having an association relationship with the DU. The CU performs root cause analysis on the alarm information of the N1 objects and the alarm information of the N2 objects based on the object association relationship to determine the root cause failure. In this example, the alarm information of the N2 objects reported by the DU is referred to as a first type of alarm information. The first type of alarm information of the object of the DU reported by the DU includes at least one of an identifier of the CU associated with the DU, a DU identifier, or an object identifier. For example, the first type of alarm information of the object of the DU reported by the DU is a CU identifier, a DU identifier, and an object identifier. The first type of alarm information of the object of the RU reported by the DU includes at least one of the identifier of the CU associated with the DU, the DU identifier, the RU identifier, or the object identifier. For example, the first type of alarm information of the object of the RU reported by the DU includes a CU identifier, a DU identifier, an RU identifier, and an object identifier. It can be understood that the alarm information of the object of the RU is reported to the DU by the RU. This will be discussed in the following two cases.

[0107] In the first design, the RU does not recognize the CU, in other words, the RU knows the corresponding DU but does not know the corresponding CU. The alarm information reported by the RU to the DU may include a DU identifier, an RU identifier, and an object identifier. Upon receiving the alarm information reported by the RU, the DU adds the CU identifier to the alarm information of the RU based on the correspondence between the DU identifier and the CU identifier. The first type of alarm information reported by the DU to the CU is a CU identifier, a DU identifier, an RU identifier, and an object identifier. Alternatively, upon receiving the alarm information of the RU, the DU does not process the alarm information, uses the alarm information as the first type of alarm information as it is, and reports the alarm information to the CU. In other words, the alarm information of the object of the DU reported by the DU to the CU is a DU identifier, an RU identifier, and an object identifier. In one design, the object association relationship stored in the CU is a CU identifier and a DU identifier, and a DU identifier and a RU identifier. When the CU determines the root cause failure based on the object association relationship, the CU performs the association process twice based on the CU identifier and the DU identifier, and the DU identifier and the RU identifier as the key (KEY) for the association. For example, the association relationship between the RU and the DU is determined based on the DU identifier and the RU identifier. Then, the association relationship between the DU and the CU is determined based on the CU identifier and the DU identifier. The association relationship between the CU, the DU, and the RU, that is, the CU identifier, the DU identifier, and the RU identifier, is finally determined. Alternatively, when the object association relationship stored in the CU is the CU identifier, the DU identifier, and the RU identifier, the CU performs the association process once based on the CU identifier, the DU identifier, and the RU identifier as the key for association, and directly determines the association relationship between the CU, the DU, and the RU.

[0108] In the second design, the RU may recognize the CU, in other words, the RU knows the corresponding DU and CU. The alarm information reported by the RU to the DU may include a CU identifier, a DU identifier, an RU identifier, and an object identifier. Upon receiving the alarm information reported by the RU, the DU forwards the alarm information to the CU as a first type of alarm information.

[0109] Optionally, in the above procedure shown in Fig. 3, after the first network element determines a root cause failure, the method may further include a step of the first network element sending first indication information to a third network element, the first indication information indicating a root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects. For example, the first network element is a CU, a DU, or a RU. After determining a root cause failure using the method in the above procedure shown in Fig. 3, the CU, the DU, or the RU may send an indication information indicating a root cause failure to a third network element, and the third network element may be an SMOF, etc.

[0110] In another design, one implementation of the aforementioned step 301 is as follows: a first network element receives alarm information from a second network element, where the alarm information includes alarm information of N1 objects, the first network element receives alarm information from a third network element, where the alarm information includes alarm information of N2 objects, and the first network element receives alarm information from a fourth network element, where the alarm information includes alarm information of N3 objects. N1, N2, and N3 are all positive integers, and the sum of these three is equal to N. The alarm information reported by the second network element, the third network element, and the fourth network element is referred to as a second type of alarm information. The second type of alarm information includes at least one of an object identifier, an identifier of a corresponding network element, a failure identifier, or a failure cause. For example, the first network element may be a SMOF, the second network element may be a CU, the third network element may be a DU, the fourth network element may be a RU, etc.

[0111] In the present disclosure, the cloud resource cloud may report alarm information to a CU, a DU, a RU, etc. using an existing interface. Alternatively, an interface is added between the cloud resource cloud and a CU, a DU, or a RU to report alarm information. Alternatively, the cloud resource cloud may report part of the content of the alarm information using an existing interface and report the remaining content of the alarm information using a newly added interface. This is not limited. The RU may report alarm information to the DU using an existing interface, for example, an open fronthaul interface. Alternatively, an interface may be added between the RU and the DU to report alarm information. The DU may report alarm information to the CU using an existing interface, for example, an F1 interface, or an interface may be added between the DU and the CU to report alarm information. In alarm information reporting between the RU and the DU, or alarm information reporting between the DU and the CU, part of the content may be reported using a newly added interface, and the remaining part of the content of the alarm information may be reported using an existing interface.

[0112] For example, the specific process is described using an example in which the first network element is a SMOF, and the second network element, the third network element, and the fourth network element are a CU, a DU, and a RU, respectively. When detecting failures of N1 objects of the CU, the CU may report alarm information of the N1 objects to the SMOF. This alarm information may be referred to as a second type of alarm information, and the second type of alarm information includes at least one of an object identifier, a CU identifier, a failure identifier, a failure cause, etc. For example, the CU reports alarm information of N1 objects to the SMOF, and the alarm information of each object of the N1 objects includes an object identifier, a CU identifier, and a failure identifier. The failure identifier may implicitly indicate the failure cause. Similarly, when detecting failures of N2 objects of the DU, the DU may report alarm information of N2 objects to the SMOF, and the alarm information of each of the N2 objects includes an object identifier, a DU identifier, and a failure identifier, and the failure identifier may implicitly indicate the failure cause. The process in which the RU reports the alarm information of the N3 objects to the SMOF is similar to the process in which the CU or DU reports the alarm information to the SMOF, and the details will not be described again. In the present disclosure, the SMOF may determine the root cause failure of the alarm information reported by the CU, DU, and RU based on the object relational relationship, for example, based on the relational relationship of the CU, DU, and RU. In the present disclosure, one CU may centrally control multiple DUs. There is a relational relationship between the CU and the DU centrally controlled by the CU, and there is no relational relationship between the CU and the DU other than the centrally controlled DU. One DU may centrally control multiple RUs. There is a relational relationship between the DU and the RU centrally controlled by the DU, and there is no relational relationship between the DU and the RU other than the centrally controlled RU. For example, when the CU1 centrally controls the DU11 to DU13, and the DU11 centrally controls the RU111 to RU113, there is a relational relationship between the CU1 and the DU11 to DU13, and there is a relational relationship between the DU11 and the RU111 to RU113.In the present disclosure, if CU1 reports alarm information of N1 objects to SMOF, DU11 reports alarm information of N2 objects to SMOF, and RU113 reports alarm information of N3 objects to SMOF, since CU1, DU11, and RU113 have an association relationship, it can be determined that the alarm information of the N3 objects of RU113 is the root cause failure of the alarm information of the N2 objects of DU11 and the alarm information of the N1 object of CU1.

[0113] It should be understood that in the above description, an example is used for explanation, in which CU, DU, or RU reports alarm information to SMOF, and SMOF determines the root cause failure. In addition, cloud resource Cloud may also report alarm information to SMOF, and SMOF may determine the root cause failure of the alarm information of CU, DU, RU, or cloud resource Cloud based on the association relationship. Continuing with the above example, CU1, DU11, RU113, and cloud resource Cloud report alarm information to SMOF separately. Based on the above analysis, CU1, DU11, and RU113 have an association relationship, and the alarm information reported by cloud resource Cloud is designed to be the alarm information of the object of RU113. SMOF may determine that the alarm information of cloud resource Cloud is the root cause failure of the alarm information of CU1, DU11, and RU113.

[0114] In the present disclosure, the CU, DU, RU, cloud resource Cloud, etc. may report alarm information to the SMOF using an existing interface. For example, the alarm information is reported to the SMOF using an O1 interface. Alternatively, an interface is added between the SMOF and the CU, DU, RU, or cloud resource Cloud, and the alarm information is reported to the SMOF using the newly added interface. Alternatively, a part of the content of the alarm information is reported using an existing standard interface, and another part of the content is reported using a newly added interface. This is not limited.

[0115] For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the failure of an object of a cloud resource Cloud corresponding to a RU is used as an example to provide a root cause failure determination process, which includes at least the following steps:

[0116] When detecting a failure of an object of the cloud resource Cloud corresponding to the RU, the cloud resource Cloud reports alarm information to the RU, where the alarm information is referred to as a first type of alarm information, and where the alarm information includes at least one of an object identifier of the cloud resource Cloud, a cloud resource Cloud identifier, or an RU identifier. Optionally, the alarm information may further include an associated DU identifier and a CU identifier, etc. The RU detects the internal alarm information, and determines that the alarm information of the cloud resource Cloud is a root cause failure of the alarm information of the RU based on the association relationship between the RU and the object of the cloud resource Cloud corresponding to the RU. The RU reports the aforementioned correlation analysis of the root cause failure to the SMOF using the O1 interface.

[0117] The RU may send alarm information to the DU, and the alarm information includes the alarm information of the RU and the alarm information of the cloud resource Cloud. For the content of the alarm information of the cloud resource Cloud, please refer to the above description. The alarm information reported by the RU may be a first type of alarm information, and includes an object identifier of the RU and a DU identifier corresponding to the RU. Optionally, if the RU can recognize the CU, the alarm information reported by the RU may further include a CU identifier corresponding to the RU. The DU determines that the alarm information of the cloud resource Cloud is a root cause failure of the alarm information of the RU and the alarm information of the DU based on the association relationship between the RU and the DU and the association relationship between the RU and the failure of the object of the cloud resource Cloud. The DU reports the above correlation analysis of the root cause failure to the SMOF using the O1 interface.

[0118] The DU may send alarm information to the CU, where the alarm information includes the alarm information of the DU, the alarm information of the RU, and the alarm information of the cloud resource Cloud. For the contents of the alarm information of the RU and the alarm information of the cloud resource Cloud, please refer to the above description. The alarm information of the DU includes at least one of an identifier of the CU associated with the DU, a DU identifier, and an object identifier of the DU. When the CU detects an internal failure, it generates alarm information. The CU determines a root cause failure of the multiple alarm information based on the object association relationship. The multiple alarm information includes alarm information detected by the CU, the received alarm information of the DU, the alarm information of the RU, and the alarm information of the cloud resource Cloud. It is found by performing correlation analysis on the alarm information that the alarm information of the CU is caused by the alarm information of the DU, the alarm information of the DU is caused by the alarm information of the RU, and the alarm information of the RU is caused by the alarm information of the cloud resource Cloud. The CU finally determines that the alarm information of the cloud resource Cloud is the root cause failure of the alarm information of the CU, the DU, and the RU. The CU reports the above-mentioned correlation analysis of the root cause failure to the SMOF using the O1 interface.

[0119] For example, upon receiving correlation analysis of root cause failures reported by CU, DU, RU, etc., the SMOF may report alarm information corresponding to the root cause failure to the carrier's network management system, and the carrier's network management system will send a service ticket. Optionally, to more accurately determine the root cause failure, the SMOF may determine the root cause failure itself as follows:

[0120] The cloud resource Cloud, RU, DU, CU, etc. may further report alarm information detected by the cloud resource Cloud, RU, DU, or CU separately to the SMOF, and this alarm information is referred to as a second type of alarm information, and the second type of alarm information includes at least one of an object identifier, an identifier of a corresponding network element, a failure identifier, a failure cause, etc. For example, the alarm information reported by the cloud resource Cloud to the SMOF includes an object identifier of the cloud resource Cloud, a cloud resource Cloud identifier, a failure identifier, etc. The alarm information reported by the RU to the SMOF includes an object identifier of the RU, an RU identifier, a failure identifier, etc. The alarm information reported by the DU to the SMOF includes an object identifier of the DU, a DU identifier, a failure identifier, etc. The alarm information reported by the CU to the SMOF includes an object identifier of the CU, a CU identifier, a failure identifier, etc. The failure identifier may implicitly indicate the failure cause. Upon receiving the alarm information reported separately by the cloud resource Cloud, the RU, the DU, and the CU, the SMOF may obtain an object identifier of the cloud resource Cloud from the alarm information of the cloud resource Cloud, obtain an RU identifier from the alarm information of the RU, obtain a DU identifier from the alarm information of the DU, and obtain a CU identifier from the alarm information of the CU. Based on the object association relationship, it is determined whether there is an association relationship between the obtained object identifier of the cloud resource Cloud and the obtained RU identifier, between the obtained RU identifier and the obtained DU identifier, and between the obtained DU identifier and the obtained CU identifier. If all three association relationships exist, it can be determined that the alarm information of the cloud resource Cloud is the root cause failure of the alarm information of the RU, the DU, and the CU. The SMOF may report the alarm information of the cloud resource Cloud as a root cause failure to the network management system of the carrier, and the network management system of the carrier dispatches a service ticket for the root cause failure.For example, the alarm information reported by the SMOF to the network management system of the carrier may be the second type of alarm information reported by each network element. For example, using an example where the root cause failure is the alarm information of the cloud resource Cloud, the alarm information reported by the SMOF to the network management system of the carrier includes at least one of the object identifier of the cloud resource Cloud, the cloud resource Cloud identifier, the failure identifier, etc. The failure identifier may implicitly indicate the failure cause, etc.

[0121] For example, in one implementation, the SMOF may compare the root cause failures determined by the CU, DU, and RU with the root cause failures determined by the SMOF to determine whether the root cause failures reported by the network elements are the same as the root cause failures determined by the SMOF. If the root cause failures reported by the network elements and the root cause failures determined by the SMOF are the same, the same root cause failures are reported to the SMOF; if the root cause failures reported by the network elements and the root cause failures determined by the SMOF are different, the root cause failures reported by the network elements and the root cause failures determined by the SMOF are all reported to the carrier's network management system. Alternatively, the SMOF may report the root cause failures determined by the SMOF to the carrier's network management system in consideration of the high determination accuracy of the SMOF. It is clear that if the accuracy of the root cause failures determined by the network elements is high, the SMOF may also report the root cause failures of the network elements to the carrier's network management system. This is not limited.

[0122] In one design, SMOF may learn and update object association relationships through methods such as big data and AI. Therefore, the accuracy of the root cause failure determined by SMOF is high. In the association relationships of some alarm information, the root cause failure may not be determined by the CU, DU, DU, etc. In this case, aggregation and integration processing may be performed by SMOF to accurately determine the root cause failure. Optionally, SMOF may further synchronously send the updated object association relationships to the CU, DU, RU, etc.

[0123] As can be seen from the above, in the present disclosure, RU, DU, CU, etc. may report the root cause failure analysis of each of RU, DU, CU, etc. to SMOF. Optionally, SMOF may determine the root cause failure based on the alarm information reported by cloud resources Cloud, RU, DU, CU, etc. To improve the accuracy of determining the root cause failure, the root cause failure determination process of SMOF may be used as a supplement to the root cause failure determination of RU, DU, or CU.

[0124] To implement the functions in the aforementioned manner, the first network element, the second network element, and the third network element include corresponding hardware structures and / or corresponding software modules for performing the respective functions. Those skilled in the art should easily notice that the units and steps of the methods in the examples described with reference to the present disclosure can be implemented in the form of hardware, or in the combination of hardware and computer software in the present disclosure. Whether the functions are implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of hardware driven by computer software depends on the specific application scenario and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0125] 5 and 6 are schematic diagrams of possible device structures according to the present disclosure. These communication devices may be configured to implement the functions of the first network element, the second network element, or the third network element in the aforementioned method, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects of the aforementioned method.

[0126] 5, the communication device 500 includes a processing unit 510 and a transceiver unit 520. The communication device can implement the functions of the first network element, the second network element, or the third network element in the manner described above.

[0127] For example, when the communication device 500 is configured to perform the function of a first network element in the aforementioned manner, the processing unit 510 is configured to determine alarm information of the N objects, where N is an integer equal to or greater than 2. The processing unit 510 is further configured to determine a root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects based on the object association relationship, where the root cause failure is the alarm information of M objects of the N objects, where M is a positive integer equal to or less than N. The transceiver unit 520 is configured to receive corresponding information from another network element.

[0128] For example, when the communications device 500 is configured to perform the functionality of the second network element in the manner described above, the processing unit 510 is configured to determine alarm information of the N2 objects and the transceiver unit 520 is configured to transmit the alarm information of the N2 objects to the first network element, where the alarm information is referred to as a first type of alarm information. For the N2 objects, the first type of alarm information of each object includes at least one of an identifier of the object, an identifier of the second network element, or an identifier of a network element associated with the second network element, where N2 is a positive integer.

[0129] For example, when the communication device 500 is configured to perform the function of the third network element in the above-mentioned manner, the transceiver unit 520 is configured to receive first indication information, the first indication information indicating a root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects; The root cause failure is the alarm information of M objects among the N objects, where N is a positive integer equal to or greater than 2, and M is a positive integer equal to or less than N. The processing unit 510 is configured to process the root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects.

[0130] For a more detailed description of the processing unit 510 and the transceiver unit 520, please directly refer to the relevant description of the aforementioned method, and the details will not be described again here.

[0131] 6, the communication device 600 includes a processor 610 and an interface circuit 620. The processor 610 and the interface circuit 620 are coupled to each other. It is understood that the interface circuit 620 may be a transceiver, an input / output interface, a pin, etc. Optionally, the communication device 600 may further include a memory 630 configured to store instructions to be executed by the processor 610, or to store input data required by the processor 610 to execute the instructions, or to store data generated after the processor 610 executes the instructions.

[0132] When the communications device 600 is configured to perform the aforementioned methods, the processor 610 is configured to perform the functions of the processing unit 510 and the interface circuit 620 is configured to perform the functions of the transceiver unit 520 .

[0133] If the aforementioned device is a module used in a CU, DU, RU, or SMOF, the module performs the functions of the CU, DU, RU, SMOF, etc. in the aforementioned manner. The module may be a chip in a CU, DU, RU, SMOF, etc., or may be another module, etc.

[0134] It will be understood that a processor in this disclosure may be a central processing unit (CPU) or other general purpose processor, digital signal processor (DSP), application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, transistor logic device, hardware component, or any combination thereof. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0135] Memory in this disclosure may be random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, erasable programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, registers, hard disk, removable hard disk, CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art.

[0136] An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. The storage medium may alternatively be a component of the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC may reside in a base station or terminal. It will be apparent that the processor and the storage medium may alternatively reside as discrete components in a base station or terminal.

[0137] The whole or part of the method of the present disclosure may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When software is used for implementation, the whole or part of the method may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer programs or instructions. When the computer programs or instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the process or function of the present disclosure is executed. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, a user equipment, a core network device, an OAM, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another. For example, the computer program or instructions may be transmitted from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center in a wired or wireless manner. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium accessible by a computer, or a data storage device such as a server or data center that integrates one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium, such as a floppy disk, hard disk, or magnetic tape, an optical medium, such as a digital video disk, or a semiconductor medium, such as a solid-state drive. The computer-readable storage medium may be a volatile or non-volatile storage medium, or may include both volatile and non-volatile types of storage media.

[0138] In this disclosure, unless otherwise specified or there is no logical contradiction, the terminology and / or description of each example are consistent and may be cross-referenced, and the technical features of each example may be combined to form new examples based on the internal logical relationships of each example.

[0139] In the present disclosure, "at least one" means one or more, and "multiple" means two or more. "And / or" describes the related relationship of related objects and indicates that there may be three relationships, for example, A and / or B may indicate that A exists alone, that both A and B exist, and that B exists alone, and A and B may be singular or plural. In the text description of the present disclosure, the character " / " generally indicates that the related objects are in an "or" relationship. In the formula of the present disclosure, the character " / " indicates that the related objects are in a "division" relationship. "Comprises at least one of A, B, or C" may indicate that A is included; that B is included; that C is included; that A and B are included; that A and C are included; that B and C are included; or that A, B, and C are included.

[0140] It should be understood that various numerical values ​​in the present disclosure are merely for distinction to facilitate description, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. The sequence numbers of the above processes do not imply the execution order, and the execution order of the processes should be determined based on the functions and internal logic of the processes. [Explanation of symbols]

[0141] 100 Wireless Access Network 200 Core Network 300 Internet 500 Communication Equipment 510 Processing Unit 520 Transceiver Unit 600 Communication Equipment 610 Processor 620 Interface Circuit 630 Memory 1000 Communication Systems

Claims

1. determining alarm information for N objects, where N is an integer equal to or greater than 2; determining a root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects based on an object association relationship, the root cause failure being the alarm information of M objects among the N objects, where M is a positive integer less than N; A method for determining root cause failure.

2. The step of determining a root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects based on an object association relationship includes: determining the root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects based on the object association relationship and the generation time of the alarm information of the N objects; 2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

3. The step of determining the root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects based on the object association relationship and the generation time of the alarm information of the N objects includes: determining X associative relationship sets based on the object associative relationships; For each association relationship set, determining L objects in the association relationship set based on the generation time of alarm information of objects included in the association relationship set, where the generation time difference of the alarm information of the L objects is less than a threshold; determining a root cause failure of the alarm information of the L objects, where the root cause failure is the alarm information of at least one of the L objects, and X and L are both positive integers; 3. The method of claim 2, comprising:

4. The step of determining the root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects based on the object association relationship and the generation time of the alarm information of the N objects includes: determining P sets of association relationships based on the object association relationships and the generation times of the alarm information of the N objects; For each association relationship set, determining a root cause failure of alarm information of Q objects included in the association relationship set, the root cause failure being alarm information of at least one of the Q objects, the Q objects having an association relationship, a generation time difference of the alarm information of the Q objects having the association relationship is less than a threshold, and P and Q are both positive integers; 3. The method of claim 2, comprising:

5. The N objects include N1 objects and N2 objects, N1 and N2 are both positive integers, and the sum of N1 and N2 is equal to N, and the step of determining alarm information of the N objects includes: detecting alarm information of the N1 objects; receiving alarm information of the N2 objects from a second network element; 5. The method according to claim 1 , comprising:

6. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first network element is a central unit CU and the second network element is a distributed unit DU, and the alarm information of the N1 objects includes alarm information of an object of the CU, and the alarm information of the N2 objects includes at least one of alarm information of an object of the DU, alarm information of an object of a radio unit RU, alarm information of an object of a cloud resource corresponding to the RU, or alarm information of an object of a cloud resource corresponding to the DU.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the first network element is a DU and the second network element is a RU, the alarm information of the N1 objects includes alarm information of an object of the DU, and the alarm information of the N2 objects includes at least one of alarm information of an object of the RU or alarm information of an object of a cloud resource corresponding to the RU.

8. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first network element is an RU, a DU, or a CU, and the alarm information of the N1 objects includes alarm information of objects of the first network element, and the second network element is a cloud resource corresponding to the first network element, and the alarm information of the N2 objects includes alarm information of objects of the cloud resource corresponding to the first network element.

9. 9. The method of claim 5, wherein for the N2 objects, alarm information of each object is a first type of alarm information, and the first type of alarm information includes at least one of an identifier of the object, an identifier of the second network element, or an identifier of a network element associated with the second network element.

10. sending a first indication to a third network element, the first indication indicating the root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects; 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

11. obtaining the object association relationship, the object association relationship being indicated by a configuration file or a configuration message from a third network element; 11. The method of any one of claims 1 to 10, further comprising:

12. The step of obtaining the object association relationships comprises: receiving a first configuration file or a first configuration message from the third network element, the first configuration file or the first configuration message indicating a first object association relationship; receiving a second configuration file or a second configuration message from the third network element, the second configuration file or the second configuration message indicating a second object association relationship; determining the object association relationship based on the first object association relationship and the second object association relationship; 12. The method of claim 11, comprising:

13. The N objects include N1 objects, N2 objects, and N3 objects, where the values ​​of N1, N2, and N3 are all positive integers, and the sum of N1, N2, and N3 is equal to N, and the step of determining alarm information of the N objects includes: receiving alarm information from a first network element, the alarm information including alarm information of the N1 objects; receiving alarm information from a second network element, the alarm information including alarm information of the N2 objects; receiving alarm information from a third network element, the alarm information including alarm information of the N3 objects; 5. The method according to claim 1 , comprising:

14. 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the alarm information is a second type of alarm information, and the second type of alarm information includes at least one of an object identifier, an identifier of a corresponding network element, a fault identifier, or a fault cause.

15. sending alarm information of the N2 objects to a first network element, the alarm information being a first type of alarm information; For the N2 objects, the first type of alarm information of each object includes at least one of an identifier of the object, an identifier of a second network element, or an identifier of a network element associated with the second network element, where N2 is a positive integer. A method for determining root cause failure.

16. receiving a first indication information, the first indication information indicating a root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects; The root cause failure is alarm information of the M objects among the N objects, where N is a positive integer equal to or greater than 2, and M is a positive integer less than N. A method for determining root cause failure.

17. Sending a configuration file or message indicating the object association relationships to the first network element.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

18. The step of transmitting a configuration file or a configuration message indicating an object association relationship to a first network element includes: sending a first configuration file or a first configuration message to the first network element, the first configuration file or the first configuration message indicating a first object association relationship; sending a second configuration file or a second configuration message to the first network element, the second configuration file or the second configuration message indicating a second object association relationship; 20. The method of claim 17, comprising:

19. The N objects include N1 objects and N2 objects, where N1 and N2 are both positive integers, and the sum of N1 and N2 is equal to N; The N1 objects include a central unit CU object, and the N2 objects include at least one of a distributed unit DU object, a cloud resource object corresponding to the DU, a radio unit RU object, or a cloud resource object corresponding to the RU; The N1 objects include a DU object, and the N2 objects include at least one of an RU object or a cloud resource object corresponding to the RU; or The N1 objects include a CU object, a DU object, or an RU object, and the N2 objects include a cloud resource object corresponding to the CU, a cloud resource object corresponding to the DU, or a cloud resource object corresponding to the RU; 19. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 18.

20. the N objects include N1 objects, N2 objects, and N3 objects, where N1, N2, and N3 are all positive integers, and the sum of N1, N2, and N3 is equal to N; The N1 objects include a CU object, the N2 objects include a DU object, and the N3 objects include a RU object; 19. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 18.

21. A communication device comprising a unit configured to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 14.

22. A communications device comprising a processor and a memory, the processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to perform a method according to any one of claims 1 to 14.

23. A communication device comprising a unit configured to perform the method according to claim 15.

24. A communications device comprising a processor and a memory, the processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to perform the method of claim 15.

25. A communication device comprising a unit configured to carry out the method according to any one of claims 16 to 20.

26. A communications device comprising a processor and a memory, the processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to perform a method according to any one of claims 16 to 20.

27. A communication system comprising a communication device according to claim 21 or 22, a communication device according to claim 23 or 24, and a communication device according to claim 25 or 26.

28. A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 14, the method of claim 15, or the method of any one of claims 16 to 20.

29. A computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, the method according to claim 15 or the method according to any one of claims 16 to 20.

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