Forward message processing method and apparatus, forward interface, communication device, and computer-readable storage medium

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a forward message processing method, including: determining a type keyword of the forward message based on a type of a transmission layer that transmits the forward message (S110); determining a type of the forward message based on the type keyword (S120); determining a position of service data carried by the forward message in the forward message based on the type of the forward message (S130); and extracting and processing the service data based on the position of the service data (S140). The present disclosure further provides a forward message processing device, a forward interface, a communication device, and a computer-readable storage medium.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202110987481.X filed on August 26, 2021, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] The present disclosure relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular to a forward message processing method, a forward message processing apparatus for performing the forward message processing method, a forward interface, a communication device, and a computer-readable storage medium. [Background technology]

[0003] In order to meet the needs of low latency, high bandwidth, and large data capacity required for 5G networking scenarios, the forward interface protocol of the related technology, i.e., the Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) protocol, has evolved into an Ethernet forward protocol, i.e., the 5G forward interface protocol. The related 5G forward interface protocols include the Radio over Ethernet (RoE) protocol, the enhanced Common Public Radio Interface (eCPRI) protocol, the open Radio Access Network (oRAN) protocol, the x Radio Access Network (xRAN) protocol, etc. Compared with the CPRI protocol, the Ethernet forward interface protocol encapsulates based on Ethernet messages (e.g., MAC, IP, UDP, and other types of messages), which can more flexibly support the requirements of 5G networking scenarios. However, there are multiple types of 5G forward interface protocols, and each protocol creates some logic to support it, which makes the design complex and increases the power consumption of resources. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0004] As a first aspect of the present disclosure, determining a type keyword for the forward message based on a type of transmission layer that transmits the forward message; determining a type of the forward message based on the type keyword; determining a location within the forward message of service data carried by the forward message based on a type of the forward message; and extracting and processing the service data based on the location of the service data. A method for processing a forward message is provided.

[0005] As a second aspect of the present disclosure, a type keyword determination module configured to determine a type keyword of the forward message based on a type of a transmission layer that transmits the forward message; a message type determination module configured to determine a type of the forward message based on the type keyword; a location determination module configured to determine a location within the forward message of service data carried by the forward message based on a type of the forward message; a service data processing module configured to extract and process the service data based on a location of the service data. A forward message processing device is provided.

[0006] As a third aspect of the present disclosure, one or more processors; a memory having one or more computer programs stored therein, the one or more computer programs, when executed by the one or more processors, causing the one or more processors to implement a forward message processing method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure; one or more input / output (I / O) interfaces coupled between the processor and the memory and configured to facilitate communication between the processor and the memory. Provides a forward interface.

[0007] As a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication device including a forward interface according to the third aspect of the present disclosure.

[0008] According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the forward message processing method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a flow chart of one embodiment of a method for processing a forward message according to the present disclosure. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a flow chart of one embodiment of step S130. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a data structure of a forward message based on the eCPRI protocol. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a data structure of a forward message based on the RoE protocol. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a flow chart of one embodiment of step S131. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a flow chart of another embodiment of a method for processing a forward message according to the present disclosure. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a flow chart of one embodiment of step S150. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a flow chart of yet another embodiment of a method for processing a forward message according to the present disclosure. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a modular schematic diagram of one embodiment of a forward message processing device according to the present disclosure. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a structural schematic diagram of one embodiment of a forward interface according to the present disclosure. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a computer-readable storage medium according to the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] In order to make it easier for those skilled in the art to understand the technical solutions of the present disclosure, the following describes in detail the forward message processing method, forward message processing apparatus, forward interface, communication device, and computer-readable storage medium according to the present disclosure in combination with the drawings.

[0011] Although the exemplary embodiments are described in detail below with reference to the drawings, the embodiments shown may be embodied in different forms, and the present disclosure should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments described herein. These embodiments are provided to make the present disclosure thorough and complete, and to allow those skilled in the art to fully understand the scope of the present disclosure.

[0012] In addition, the embodiments of the present disclosure and the features in the embodiments can be combined with each other in any combination unless there is a contradiction.

[0013] For example, as used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0014] The terms used in this disclosure are merely for the purpose of describing particular embodiments and are not intended to limit the disclosure. For example, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" used herein are intended to include the plural unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms "comprising," "comprising," and "consisting of" used herein specify the presence of certain features, wholes, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, wholes, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof.

[0015] Unless otherwise limited, all terms used herein, including technical and scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art. It is also understood that terms as defined in commonly used dictionaries should be interpreted to have a meaning consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and this disclosure, and should not be interpreted to have an ideal or overly formal meaning unless expressly so limited in this disclosure.

[0016] As a first aspect of the present disclosure, a forward message processing method is provided. As shown in FIG. 1, the forward message processing method includes: determining a type keyword of the forward message according to a type of a transmission layer that transmits the forward message; determining a type of the forward message based on the type keyword; determining a location within the forward message of service data carried by the forward message based on the type of the forward message; and S140, extracting and processing the service data based on the location of the service data.

[0017] The forward message is a message based on an Ethernet forward protocol, and all Ethernet forward protocols are based on an Ethernet protocol. The type of the forward message is the type of an Ethernet forward protocol that encapsulates the forward message, for example, the type of the forward message can be one of a number of types, such as a MAC message, an IPV4 message, an IPV6 message, etc. In the present disclosure, a field of a forward message that is related to a type of message and a transmission layer can be determined as the type keyword. When transmitting in the same type of transmission layer, the type keywords carried by different types of forward messages are different.

[0018] For example, if the transmission layer is a MAC layer, an Ethernet type (ETHtype) field in the forward message may be determined as the type keyword. For an IPV4 type forward message, the ETHtype field is 0x0800, for an IPV6 type forward message, the ETHtype field is 0x86DD, and for an eCPRI type forward message, the ETHtype field is 0xAEFF.

[0019] Also, for example, if the transmission layer is an IPV4 layer, a Protocol field in the forward message may be determined as a type keyword of the forward message. The type of the forward message may be determined by identifying a Protocol field in the forward message.

[0020] Once the type of the forward message is determined, the specific structure of the forward message becomes clear, and based on the specific structure of the forward message, the location of the service data in the forward message can be determined and the service data can be extracted.

[0021] The forward message processing method is used in a forward interface of a receiving end of a forward message, and can determine the specific type of the forward message according to the type of transmission layer that transmits the forward message; that is, for different types of forward messages sent from different receiving ends of forward messages, the forward interfaces of the receiving end can all extract service data from the received forward messages, thereby realizing compatibility with different types of Ethernet forward protocols, eliminating the need to place logic corresponding to each protocol in the forward interface of the receiving end, simplifying the structure of the forward interface that can receive and process different types of forward messages, and reducing implementation costs.

[0022] It should be noted that "service data" herein refers to data in the payload of a forward message.

[0023] In the present disclosure, the specific embodiment of the step of determining the location of the service data carried by the forward message according to the type of the forward message (i.e., step S130) is not particularly limited. For example, the location of the service data can be directly calculated according to the type of the forward message.

[0024] For ease of implementation, in some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 2, step S130 may be S131, determining a position within the forward message of a classification field for each level of the forward message based on the type of the forward message, and a position within the forward message of a length field of the forward message; S132: extracting and determining information carried by the classification field of each level of the forward message and information carried by the length field of the forward message based on the position of the classification field of each level of the forward message in the forward message and the position of the length field of the forward message in the forward message; and determining a location of the service data based on information carried by a classification field of each level of the forward message and information carried by a length field of the forward message S133.

[0025] For forward messages of different types, the positions of the classification fields are different, but the data described in the classification fields of the same level are the same type of data flow. By determining the data corresponding to the classification fields, the processing method of the service data can be determined. The forward message may include at least a classification field of a first level classification. For example, for a forward message based on the eCPRI protocol, the data carried by the forward message includes two levels of classification. As shown in FIG. 3, the data of the forward message based on the eCPRI protocol includes a data flow indicated by a classification field Message Type of the first level and a data flow indicated by a classification field PC_ID of the second level. In addition, for example, the data carried by the forward message based on the RoE protocol also includes two levels of classification. As shown in FIG. 4, the data of the forward message based on the RoE protocol includes a data flow indicated by a classification field subType of the first level and a data flow indicated by a classification field FlowID of the second level. In the case of a forward message based on the eCPRI protocol and a forward message based on the RoE protocol, the data flow indicated by the first level classification field Message Type and the data flow indicated by the first level classification field subType are the same type of data, and the data flow indicated by the second level classification field PC_ID and the data flow indicated by the second level classification field FlowID are the same type of data. In the present disclosure, the position of the classification field at each level may be determined based on the type of the forward message.

[0026] As mentioned above, in each type of forward message, the position of the length field is deterministic. In other words, the position of the length field in a forward message is simply related to the type of the message, and as long as the message type of the forward message is determined, the position of the length field of the forward message can be determined. In a forward message, the length field can directly or indirectly reflect the length of the service data.

[0027] For example, in the case of a forward message based on the eCPRI protocol, the payload size field (i.e., length field) includes the PC_ID field, the SEQ_ID field (i.e., sequence field), and the total length of the service data. The length of the service data can be determined based on the value of the Message Type. Specifically, when Message Type=0, 1, or 2, the length of the service data is the value obtained by subtracting 4 from the value of the Payload size field. When Message Type=3, the length of the service data is the value obtained by subtracting 8 from the value of the Payload size field. The relationship between the value of the Payload size field and the length of the service data is already specified in detail in the eCPRI protocol, so a description thereof will be omitted here.

[0028] Also, for example, in the case of a forward message based on the RoE protocol, the length field Length contains the length of the service data located after the orderinginfo field.

[0029] As shown in FIG. 3, a forward message based on the eCPRI protocol includes two parts: an eCPRI Common header carrying a Version field, an RSV field, a C field, a Message Type field, and a Payload size field, and an eCPRI Payload carrying a PC_ID field, a SEQ_ID field, and a Payload.

[0030] As shown in FIG. 4, a forward message based on the RoE protocol includes two parts: a RoE header carrying a subType field, a FlowID field, a Length field, and an orderinginfo field, and a RoE payload carrying a payload.

[0031] Table 1 shows a comparative relationship between the protocol fields of the forward message based on the eCPRI protocol and the forward message fields based on the RoE protocol. [Table 1]

[0032] Although the present disclosure has been described using a forward message based on the eCPRI protocol and a forward message based on the RoE protocol as examples, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and the method provided by the present disclosure can also be applied to forward messages based on other protocols (e.g., the oRAN protocol).

[0033] The location of the classification field at each level of the forward message and the location of the length field of the forward message are determined, and the location of the service data is determined based on the information carried by the classification field at each level of the forward message and the information carried by the length field, and the service data can be processed based on this.

[0034] In the present disclosure, there is no particular limitation on how to determine the position of the classification field of each level of the forward message. In order to quickly determine the position of the classification field of each level of the forward message and the position of the length field of the forward message, a first mapping relationship between the message type of the forward message and the position of the classification field of each level, and a second mapping relationship between the message type and the position of the length field can be pre-stored in the receiving end of the forward message. Correspondingly, as shown in FIG. 5, step S131 includes: determining a position of a classification field of the forward message based on a first mapping relationship that characterizes a mapping relationship between a type of the forward message and a position of a classification field of each level of the forward message; and determining a position of a length field of the forward message based on a second mapping relationship that characterizes a mapping relationship between a type of the forward message and a position of a length field of the forward message. In addition to determining the location of the service data in the forward message, the classification field is also used to service classify the forward message containing the classification field. Correspondingly, as shown in FIG. 6, the forward message processing method includes: The method may further include a step S150 of classifying the forward message into a service based on the classification field.

[0035] Forward messages of different service categories are used to realize different services.

[0036] In order to facilitate better identification of the service type of the forward message during subsequent processing of the forward message, in some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 7, step S150 includes: determining a classification label corresponding to the classification field based on a predefined mapping relationship characterizing a mapping relationship between the classification field and the classification label; and labeling the forward message with the classification label S152.

[0037] In this disclosure, a Redefine ID can be used to label a forward message, and the values ​​of the Redefine ID for different service types are different.

[0038] In order to recover the service information carried by the service data of the multiple forward messages, in addition to processing the service in the currently received forward message, it is necessary to determine the order of the received forward message in the multiple forward messages that are periodically sent. Correspondingly, as shown in FIG. 8, the forward message processing method includes: determining a position within the forward message of a sequence field based on the type of the forward message; The method may further include step S170 of extracting and determining information carried by the sequence field based on the position of the sequence field in the forward message, and determining an order for transmitting the forward message based on the information carried by the sequence field.

[0039] For a communication device corresponding to the forward interface of the receiving end, after receiving a plurality of encapsulated forward messages, it is necessary to extract the service data in each forward message, and then recover the service data in sequence to obtain corresponding service information.

[0040] In the case of a forward message based on the eCPRI protocol, the sequence field is SEQ_ID, and in the case of a forward message based on the RoE protocol, the sequence field is orderinginfo.

[0041] The sequence field has two representation formats, the first is a timing identifier associated with a time scale with a fixed timing period (e.g., 10 ms), and the second is a packet increment number within a fixed timing period (e.g., 10 ms). Since messages in the forward interface are sent at fixed intervals, the above two representation formats can be converted to each other. The specific conversion formula is as follows:

[0042] Serial number of each packet * packet transmission period = timing scale per packet. In the present disclosure, the order of the currently received forward message may be calculated based on the specific information of the sequence field.

[0043] As a second aspect of the present disclosure, a forward message processing device is provided. As shown in FIG. 9, the forward message processing device includes: a type keyword determination module 910 configured to determine a type keyword of the forward message based on a type of a transmission layer that transmits the forward message; a message type determination module 920 configured to determine a type of the forward message based on the type keyword; a location determination module 930 configured to determine a location within the forward message of service data carried by the forward message based on a type of the forward message; and a service data processing module 940 configured to extract and process the service data based on the location of the service data.

[0044] The forward message processing device is used to execute the forward message processing method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure. The specific operation principle and beneficial effects of the forward message processing method have been described in detail above, so they will not be described here.

[0045] As a third aspect of the present disclosure, a forward interface is provided. As shown in FIG. 10, the forward interface includes: One or more processors 101; a memory 102 having stored therein one or more computer programs that, when executed by said one or more processors 101, cause said one or more processors 101 to implement a forward message processing method according to a first aspect of the present disclosure; and one or more input / output (I / O) interfaces 103 connected between the processor 101 and the memory 102 and configured to realize information exchange between the processor 101 and the memory 102.

[0046] The processor 101 is a device having data processing capabilities, including, but not limited to, a central processing unit (CPU). The memory 102 is a device having data storage capabilities, including, but not limited to, a random access memory (RAM, more specifically, SDRAM, DDR, etc.), a read-only memory (ROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), and a flash memory (FLASH). The I / O interface (i.e., a read / write interface) 103 is connected between the processor 101 and the memory 102, and can realize information exchange between the processor 101 and the memory 102, including, but not limited to, a data bus (Bus).

[0047] In some embodiments, the processor 101, memory 102, and I / O interface 103 are coupled to each other and to other components of the computing device via a bus 104.

[0048] As a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication device including a forward interface according to the third aspect of the present disclosure.

[0049] In some embodiments, the communication device is one of a baseband processing unit BBU, an active antenna processing unit AAU, and a radio frequency extension unit RRU.

[0050] In some embodiments, the BBU, the AAU, and the RRU are each provided with the above-mentioned forward interface. In this way, when any of the BBU, the AAU, and the RRU is used as a receiver, it can process the forward message according to the forward message processing method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0051] As a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements a forward message processing method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG. 11 .

[0052] Those skilled in the art will understand that all or some of the steps of the methods, the functional modules / units of the systems, the apparatuses disclosed above may be implemented as software, firmware, hardware, and appropriate combinations thereof. In hardware embodiments, the division between the functional modules / units mentioned in the above description does not necessarily correspond to the division of physical components. For example, one physical component may have multiple functions, or one function or step may be performed cooperatively by several physical components. Some or all of the physical components may be implemented as software executed by a processor, such as a central processor, a digital signal processor, or a microprocessor, or may be implemented as hardware, or may be implemented as an integrated circuit, such as a dedicated integrated circuit. Such software may be disposed on a computer-readable medium, which may include computer storage media (or non-transitory media) and communication media (or transitory media). As is well known to those skilled in the art, the term computer storage media includes volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storing information, such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVDs), magnetic cassettes, magnetic tapes, magnetic disks, or any other medium that can be used to store desired information and that can be accessed by a computer. Additionally, those skilled in the art will know that communication media generally include computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and may include any information delivery media.

[0053] Although exemplary embodiments are disclosed herein and specific terms are used, they are used and should be construed in a general illustrative sense only and not for purposes of limitation. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that in some instances, features, characteristics, and / or elements described in connection with a particular embodiment may be used alone or in combination with features, characteristics, and / or elements described in connection with other embodiments, unless otherwise specified. Thus, those skilled in the art will appreciate that changes in various forms and details may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as set forth in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A step of determining a type keyword of a forward message based on a type of transmission layer that transmits the forward message, the forward message being a message based on an Ethernet protocol; determining a type of the forward message based on the type keyword, the type being an Ethernet protocol type for encapsulating the forward message; determining a location within the forward message of service data carried by the forward message based on a type of the forward message; and extracting and processing the service data based on the location of the service data. Forward message processing method.

2. The step of determining a location of service data carried by the forward message based on a type of the forward message comprises: determining, based on a type of the forward message, a location within the forward message of a classification field for each level of the forward message and a location within the forward message of a length field of the forward message; extracting and determining information conveyed by the classification field of each level of the forward message and information conveyed by the length field of the forward message based on the position of the classification field of each level of the forward message in the forward message and the position of the length field of the forward message in the forward message; determining a location of the service data based on information carried by a classification field of each level of the forward message and information carried by a length field of the forward message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the forward message is forwarded to a destination.

3. The method further includes the step of: classifying the forward message into a service based on the classification field.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the forward message is processed by a forwarding device.

4. The step of classifying the forward message based on the classification field includes: determining a classification label corresponding to the classification field based on a predefined mapping relationship characterizing a mapping relationship between the classification field and the classification label; and labeling the forward message with the classification label.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the forward message is processed by a forwarding device.

5. When the type of the transmission layer for transmitting the forward message is a MAC layer, in the step of determining a type keyword of the forward message based on the type of the transmission layer of the forward message, an Ethernet type (ETHtype) field of the forward message is determined as a type keyword of the forward message; If the type of the transmission layer for transmitting the forward message is an IPV4 layer, in the step of determining a type keyword of the forward message based on the type of the transmission layer of the forward message, a Protocol field of the forward message is determined as a type keyword of the forward message. A method for processing a forward message according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. determining a position within the forward message of a sequence field based on a type of the forward message; extracting and determining information carried by the sequence field based on a position of the sequence field within the forward message; and determining an order for transmitting the forward message based on the information carried by the sequence field. A method for processing a forward message according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

7. A method for determining a type keyword of a forward message, the forward message being a message based on an Ethernet protocol, comprising: a message type determination module configured to determine a type of the forward message, the type being a type of an Ethernet protocol for encapsulating the forward message, based on the type keyword; a location determination module configured to determine a location within the forward message of service data carried by the forward message based on a type of the forward message; a service data processing module configured to extract and process the service data based on a location of the service data. Forward message processing unit.

8. one or more processors; a memory having stored therein one or more computer programs which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement a method for processing a forward message according to any one of claims 1 to 6; one or more input / output (I / O) interfaces coupled between the processor and the memory and configured to facilitate communication between the processor and the memory. Forward interface.

9. A communication device comprising the forward interface of claim 8.

10. A computer program is stored which, when executed by a processor, performs the method for processing a forward message according to any one of claims 1 to 6. A computer-readable storage medium.

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