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 "Root Cause Fault Determination Method and Apparatus," filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China 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 root cause failure determination method and apparatus. [Background technology]

[0003] In wireless communication networks, for example, mobile communication networks, networks must support an increasing variety of services and therefore meet an increasing number of requirements. For example, networks must be able to support ultra-high speed connections, ultra-low latency connections, and / or large-scale connections. This functionality increases the complexity of network planning, network configuration, and / or resource scheduling. These new requirements, scenarios, and capabilities pose 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, there is provided a root cause failure determination method, which is executed by a first network element, and the first network element may be a CU, DU, RU, SMOF, etc., or may be a component (such as a processor or chip) 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 1; 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 among the N objects, and 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 multiple objects, and then report only the alarm information corresponding to the root cause failure to the carrier's network management system and issue a service ticket. To reduce operation and maintenance costs, service tickets will not be issued for alarm information other than the root cause failure.

[0007] In one design, determining the root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects based on the object association relationship includes determining the 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 correlation between objects is considered, but also the generation time of each alarm information. Even if there is a correlation between some alarm information objects, the generation time difference between 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 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 alarm information of the objects included in the relationship set; determining a root cause failure of the alarm information of the L objects when a generation time difference of the alarm information of the L objects is less than (or equal to or less than) a threshold; and determining a root cause failure of the alarm information of the L objects, wherein the root cause failure is alarm information of at least one of the L objects, and X and L are both positive integers.

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

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

[0012] According to the above-mentioned method, when determining the correlation set, factors such as correlations between objects and the generation time of alarm information are also taken into consideration. The determined correlation set includes at least one object having a correlation, and the generation time of alarm information of the objects included in the set satisfies a condition. To ensure the accuracy of the determined root cause failure, for each correlation set, 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. Root cause failures of the alarm information of the N1 objects and the alarm information of the N2 objects are determined. A service ticket can be sent only for the root cause failure, and no service ticket is sent for 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, where the alarm information of the N1 objects includes alarm information of objects of the CU, and the alarm information of the N2 objects includes at least one of alarm information of objects of the DU, alarm information of objects of a radio unit RU, alarm information of objects of cloud resources corresponding to the RU, or alarm information of objects of cloud resources corresponding to the DU.

[0016] According to the above 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 for N2 objects. The CU detects alarm information for N1 objects. The CU performs root cause analysis on the alarm information for the N1 objects and the alarm information for the N2 objects to determine the root cause of the failure, thereby reducing operation and maintenance costs.

[0017] In one design, the first network element is a DU, the second network element is an RU, 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 an RU, and the RU collects alarm information of N2 objects and reports the alarm information to the DU, and 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, and 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. Taking the first network element as an RU as an example, if an object in a cloud resource corresponding to the RU generates alarm information, the cloud resource may report the alarm information to the RU. Upon detecting alarm information for N1 objects in the RU and alarm information for N2 objects corresponding to the RU reported by the cloud resource, the RU may perform root cause analysis to determine the root cause of the failure and reduce 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 the corresponding management network element or to a corresponding network element. However, in this design, alarm information generated or collected by an RU is reported to the management DU or to a corresponding DU, and alarm information generated or collected by a DU is reported to a corresponding CU. Alarm information generated by a cloud resource (Cloud) can be reported to the network element corresponding to the alarm information. In this disclosure, a CU, DU, RU, etc. perform root cause analysis to determine the root cause of a failure, reducing operation and maintenance costs. In addition, for managed or lower-layer network elements with corresponding relationships, the alarm information reported to higher-layer network elements, i.e., the first type of alarm information described above, is further improved compared to the alarm information. The alarm information no longer includes the cause of the failure or the failure identifier, but may include an object identifier, the identifier of the corresponding network element, or the relationship between each network element. For network elements that perform root cause analysis, the relationship between each network element can be easily obtained based on the relationship between each network element contained in the alarm information, thereby improving the efficiency of the root cause analysis.

[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 above method, the third network element may be a SMOF, etc., and the first network element may be a CU, DU, RU, etc. The CU, DU, or RU may report the determined root cause failure to the SMOF. 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 an SMOF, and the SMOF may configure inter-object association relationships for the CU, DU, RU, etc. Optionally, the SMOF may update inter-object association relationships 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 root cause failures.

[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, the values ​​of N1, N2, and N3 are all positive integers, the sum of N1, N2, and N3 is equal to N, and the alarm information of the N objects is determined as follows:

[0029] Alarm information is received from a first network element, the alarm information including alarm information for N1 objects; alarm information is received from a second network element, the alarm information including alarm information for N2 objects; and alarm information is received 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 separately from the first network element, the second network element, and the third network element. 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 issued. To reduce operation and maintenance costs, no service ticket can be issued for other alarm information.

[0031] In one design, the alarm information is second type alarm information, and the second type 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, there is provided a root cause failure determination method, which is performed by a second network element, and the second network element is a cloud resource (Cloud), a RU, a DU, etc., or a component (processor, chip, etc.) within 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 alarm information of a first type, and for the N2 objects, the alarm information of the first type 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, there is provided a root cause failure determination method, which is executed by a third network element, and the third network element is a SMOF or the like, or a component (processor, chip, etc.) within the third network element, and includes the steps of: receiving first indication information, the first indication information indicating root cause failure of alarm information of N objects, and the root cause failure is 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.

[0035] According to the foregoing design, the first network element may report indication information of the analyzed root cause failure to a 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 a network management system of the carrier 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 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 to the first network element indicating the object association relationship.

[0037] In one design, sending a configuration file or a configuration message indicating an object-related 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-related relationship, and 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-related 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 equals 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 the CU, an object of the DU, or an object of the 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, and 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, see 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, DU, RU, 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 greater than or equal to 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 among the N objects, where M is a positive integer less than or equal to N. The transceiver unit is configured to receive corresponding information from another network element.

[0043] For the specific execution processes of the processing unit and the transceiver unit, please refer to the description of the first aspect, 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, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2, and determine root cause failures of the alarm information of the N objects based on object association relationships, the root cause failures being alarm information of M objects among the N objects, where M is a positive integer less than or equal to 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, see 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 N2 objects to the first network element, the alarm information being alarm information of a first type, and for the N2 objects, the alarm information of the first type 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, and N2 is a positive integer.

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

[0050] For the specific execution processes of the transceiver unit and the processing unit, please refer to the description of the second aspect, 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 communication interface configured to transmit alarm information of N2 objects to a first network element, the alarm information being alarm information of a first type, and for the N2 objects, the alarm information of the first type 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, wherein 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 aspect, and the details will not be described again here.

[0053] According to a sixth aspect, an apparatus is provided. For beneficial effects, see 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 that perform the methods / tasks / steps / operations described in the third 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 third aspect. Specifically,

[0055] The transceiver unit is configured to receive first indication information, the first indication information indicating a root cause failure of alarm information of N objects, the root cause failure being alarm information of M objects among the N objects, N being a positive integer greater than or equal to 2, and M being 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 processes of the transceiver unit and the processing unit, please refer to the description of the third aspect, 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 communication interface configured to receive first indication information, the first indication information indicating a root cause failure of alarm information of N objects, the root cause failure being alarm information of M objects among the N objects, N being a positive integer greater than or equal to 2, and M being a positive integer less than or equal to 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 aspect, and the details will not be described again here.

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

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

[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, second or third aspect.

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

[0064] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram of an architecture of an O-RAN according to the present disclosure. [Figure 3] 1 is a flowchart 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. [Figure 5] 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an apparatus according to the present disclosure. [Figure 6] 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an apparatus according to the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0065] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system 1000 to which the present disclosure can 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 the 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 wirelessly, and the access network device is connected to the core network wirelessly or by a wired connection. The core network device and the access network device may be separate, separate physical devices, or the core network device's functionality and the access network device's logical functionality may be integrated into the same physical device, or some of the core network device's functionality and some of the access network device's functionality 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 wirelessly or by a wired connection. 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 fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system, an access network device of an open radio access network (O-RAN), a next generation NodeB of a sixth 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, such as 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 capable of assisting 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 conjunction 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 will use an example in which the 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 solutions provided in the present disclosure.

[0068] (1) Protocol layer structure 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 protocol layer functions 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 protocol layer functions 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 layering 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) An access network device may include a CU and a DU. Multiple DUs may be centrally controlled by one CU. For example, the interface between a CU and a DU may be called an F1 interface. A control plane (CP) interface may be F1-C, and a user plane (UP) interface may be F1-U. The specific names of the interfaces are not limited by this disclosure. The CU and the DU may be classified based on the protocol layer of the wireless network. For example, the functions of the PDCP layer and protocol layers above the PDCP layer are configured in the CU, and the functions of the protocol layers below 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 above the PDCP layer are configured in the CU, and the functions of the PDCP layer and protocol layers below the PDCP layer are configured in the DU. This is not a limitation.

[0071] The above-described division of processing functions in the CU and DU based on protocol layers is merely an example, and other divisions may be used. 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 some of the protocol layer processing functions. In one design, some of the RLC layer functions and functions of protocol layers above the RLC layer are configured in the CU, and the remaining RLC layer functions and functions of protocol layers below the RLC layer are configured in the DU. In another design, the CU or DU functions may be further divided based on service type or other system requirements, for example, based on latency. Functions whose processing time must meet latency requirements are configured in the DU, and functions whose processing time does not need to meet latency requirements are configured in the CU. In another design, the CU may instead have one or more core network functions. For example, the CU may be located on the network side to facilitate centralized management. In another design, the DU's radio unit (RU) is remotely located. Optionally, the RU may have radio frequency functionality.

[0072] Optionally, the DU and RU may be separated by a physical layer (PHY). For example, the DU may perform upper 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 upper layer functions of the PHY layer may include a portion of the PHY layer functions. 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 PHY layer functions. 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, while 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, while 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, while 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, while 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 scope of protection of the present disclosure.

[0075] In one possible implementation, the access network device includes a CU-CP, a CU-UP, a DU, and an RU. For example, the implementation of the present disclosure may include a DU, or a DU and an RU, or a CU-CP, a DU, and an RU, or a CU-UP, a DU, and an RU. This is not limited. The methods performed by each module also fall within the scope of protection 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. Terminal devices 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. Terminal devices may be mobile phones, tablet computers, computers with wireless transceiver capabilities, wearable devices, vehicles, drones, helicopters, aircraft, ships, robots, robotic arms, smart home devices, etc. The specific technologies used by terminal devices and specific device forms 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 conjunction with the terminal device. For ease of explanation, the following describes the technical solutions provided in the present disclosure using 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.

[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 indoors or outdoors, 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, both the base station and the terminal device may be deployed on land, or the base station may be deployed on land and the terminal device may be deployed on water. Examples are not provided one by one.

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

[0080] In one design, as shown in Figure 2, in an 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 these 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 a software-defined network (SDN) and implements intelligent scheduling and separates policy and execution. RICs are configured to implement artificial intelligence. RICs are classified as near real-time (Near-RT) RICs and non-real-time (None-RT) RICs. Near-real-time RICs are O-RAN near-real-time RAN intelligent controllers that perform near-real-time control and optimization of O-RAN elements and resources through granular data collection and E2 interface operations. Non-real-time RICs are O-RAN non-real-time RAN intelligent controllers that perform the logical functions of non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) workflows including model training and updating, and policy-based enforcement and functional guidance for near-real-time RICs. Optionally, in the example shown in Figure 2, the non-real-time RIC is located in the SMOF.

[0083] Cloud Resources Cloud: The O-RAN Alliance defines a 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 explained again. Optionally, in the O-RAN architecture, RU, DU, and Cloud may be referred to as 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 base station component reports alarm information to the carrier's network management system when it identifies a fault, for example, using software. The carrier's network management system may be a network management system (NMS). The carrier's monitors review and analyze the alarm information and assign fault correction tasks through service tickets. In an O-RAN architecture, because components have interrelationships, a single component failure may result in multiple components reporting alarm information. Sending a service ticket for each alarm significantly increases the workload of monitoring and maintenance personnel and increases operation and maintenance costs. Therefore, how to determine the root cause of multiple alarms is a worthy challenge.

[0086] The present disclosure provides a root cause failure determination method. In this method, when multiple alarm information items are determined, a root cause failure can be determined from the multiple alarm information items, where the root cause failure is one or more alarm information items among the multiple alarm information items. 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: The first network element determines the root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects according to the object association relationship.

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

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

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

[0092] In the present disclosure, the association relationship between at least two of an RU, a DU, and a CU may include the following: 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 of an RU, a DU, and a CU. In the present disclosure, the association relationship may be between three or more items. For example, the association relationship may be between an RU, a DU, and a CU. Similar to the above description, if a target CU manages a target DU and the target DU manages a target RU, the target CU, the target DU, and the target RU are considered to have an association relationship. For example, if CU1 manages DU11 to DU13 and DU11 manages RU111 to RU113, then CU1, DU11, and RU11 1 It is considered that there is an association relationship between the RU, DU, and CU that report alarm information. For example, at a certain point in time or during a certain period, CU1, DU11, and RU111 separately report alarm information to SMOF. Because there is an association relationship between the RU, DU, and CU that report alarm information, the alarm information of RU111 is considered to be the root cause failure of the alarm information of DU11 and CU1. For example, the alarm information reported by the RU may be an RU function exception alarm, the alarm information reported by the DU may be a DU cell unavailable alarm, and the alarm information reported by the 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, various objects may be obtained by division based on various functions implemented in a CU, DU, or RU. For example, in a DU, an object managing a cell function may be called a DU object. In a CU, an object managing a cell function may be called a CU object. Each object has a different identifier. The identifier may be assigned to the object by an SMOF, assigned by another network element, pre-configured, specified by a protocol, or the like. This is not limited to this. 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 corresponding to a different identifier. The storage resource pool includes multiple storage objects, each also having 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 a 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 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 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 computing objects of the RU. In this 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 can be determined based on the association relationship between 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, the alarm information of the computing object of the RU is determined to be the root cause failure of the other alarm information. To reduce operation and maintenance costs, the SMOF then reports only the alarm information of the computing objects of the RU to the carrier's network management system. 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 will be continued in which the objects are objects of the corresponding network elements.

[0095] Optionally, in addition to the object relationship, the root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects can further be 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 relationship and the generation time of the alarm information of the N objects. The alarm information of each object may have 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 related relationship sets may be determined based on the object related relationships. Each related relationship set includes at least one object having a related relationship. The number of objects having a related relationship included in each of the X related 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 related 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 related relationship sets is less than or equal to M.

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

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

[0099] In another design, P related relationship sets may be determined based on object related relationships and generation times of alarm information of the N objects. Each related relationship set of the P related relationship sets may include the same or different number of objects. This is not limited. P is an integer greater than or equal to 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] Unlike the previous design, the previous design first determines a correlation set based on object correlation relationships. Then, based on the generation time of each piece of alarm information, L objects whose alarm information generation time satisfies the condition are determined in the correlation set. In this design, the generation time of the alarm information of each object is taken into consideration when determining the correlation set. In other words, in this design, the generation times of the alarm information corresponding to the objects included in the correlation set all satisfy the condition. Continuing with the previous example, the CU object, the DU object, the RU object, and the cloud resource Cloud object corresponding to the CU all report alarm information. The object correlation relationship includes the correlation relationship between the CU, the DU, and the RU, as well as the correlation relationship between the CU and the cloud resource Cloud corresponding to the CU. Therefore, in the present disclosure, the CU object, the DU object, and the RU object are grouped into one set, and the CU object and the cloud resource Cloud object corresponding to the CU are grouped into another set. For the sets formed by the CU object, the DU object, and the RU object, the generation times of the alarm information corresponding to the CU object, the DU object, and the RU object are separately obtained. It is determined whether the generation times of the alarm information of these three objects satisfy a condition (e.g., the difference in the generation times 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 an associated relationship set. For example, if the difference in generation time 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 reported directly to the carrier's network management system, and the carrier's network management system sends a corresponding service ticket.

[0101] For any one of the P association relationship sets, a root cause failure of alarm information of Q objects included in the association relationship set is determined, where 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 association relationship, and the generation time difference of the alarm information of the Q objects having the association 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 a CU object, a DU object, and an RU object. The CU, DU, and RU have an association relationship, and the CU manages the DU and the DU manages the RU, so the alarm information corresponding to the RU can be considered to be the 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 the RU, alarm information of an object in a cloud resource Cloud corresponding to the DU, or alarm information of an object in 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 an 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 in a cloud resource Cloud corresponding to the RU. Alternatively, the first network element is a CU, a DU, or an RU, and the second network element is an object in a cloud resource Cloud corresponding to the first network element, etc. For example, the first network element is a CU, and the alarm information of the N1 objects detected by the first network element includes the alarm information of the N1 objects detected by the CU, and the cloud resource Cloud sends the 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, and 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, may be generated. The DU may collect alarm information of the N2 objects, where the alarm information of the N2 objects includes at least one of alarm information of the DU's objects detected by the DU, alarm information of the RU's objects collected from the RU, alarm information of the RU's objects corresponding to the RU collected from the RU, and alarm information of the DU's objects corresponding to the DU collected from the cloud resource Cloud. 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 first type alarm information. The first type alarm information of the DU's objects reported by the DU includes at least one of a CU identifier, a DU identifier, or an object identifier associated with the DU. For example, the first type alarm information of the DU's objects 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 an identifier of a CU associated with the DU, a DU identifier, an RU identifier, or an 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 should be understood that the alarm information of the object of the RU is reported by the RU to the DU. This will be discussed in the following two cases.

[0107] In a 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. 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 a 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, 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 relationships stored in the CU are the CU identifier and DU identifier, and the DU identifier and RU identifier. When the CU determines a root cause failure based on the object association relationships, it performs association processing twice based on the CU identifier and DU identifier, and the DU identifier and RU identifier as keys for association. For example, the association relationship between an RU and a DU is determined based on the DU identifier and the RU identifier. Then, the association relationship between a DU and a CU is determined based on the CU identifier and the DU identifier. The association relationship between a CU, a DU, and an RU, i.e., the CU identifier, the DU identifier, and the RU identifier, is finally determined. Alternatively, if the object association relationship stored in a CU is the CU identifier, the DU identifier, and the RU identifier, the CU performs an association process once based on the CU identifier, the DU identifier, and the RU identifier as keys for association, and directly determines the association relationship between a CU, a DU, and an 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 first type alarm information.

[0109] Optionally, in the aforementioned procedure shown in Figure 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, where the first indication information indicates a root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects. For example, the first network element is a CU, DU, or RU. After determining a root cause failure using the method in the aforementioned procedure shown in Figure 3, the CU, DU, or RU may send indication information indicating the root cause failure to a third network element, where 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 for N1 objects; the first network element receives alarm information from a third network element, where the alarm information includes alarm information for N2 objects; and the first network element receives alarm information from a fourth network element, where the alarm information includes alarm information for 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 second-type alarm information. The second-type alarm information includes at least one of an object identifier, an identifier of the corresponding network element, a fault identifier, or a fault 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 an RU, etc.

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

[0112] For example, a specific process will be described using an example in which the first network element is a SMOF, and the second, third, and fourth network elements are a CU, a DU, and a RU, respectively. When detecting failures of N1 objects in the CU, the CU may report alarm information of the N1 objects to the SMOF. This alarm information may be referred to as second-type alarm information, and the second-type alarm information includes at least one of an object identifier, a CU identifier, a failure identifier, and a failure cause. For example, the CU reports the alarm information of the N1 objects to the SMOF, and the alarm information of each of the N1 objects includes an object identifier, a CU identifier, and a failure identifier. The failure identifier may implicitly indicate the cause of the failure. Similarly, when detecting failures of N2 objects in the DU, the DU may report the alarm information of the 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 cause of the failure. The process by which an RU reports alarm information for N3 objects to the SMOF is similar to the process by which a CU or DU reports 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 a CU, a DU, and an RU based on the object relationship, for example, based on the relationship between the CU, the DU, and the RU. In the present disclosure, one CU may centrally control multiple DUs. There is a relationship between the CU and the DUs centrally controlled by the CU, but there is no relationship between the CU and any DUs other than the DUs centrally controlled. One DU may centrally control multiple RUs. There is a relationship between the DU and the RUs centrally controlled by the DU, but there is no relationship between the DU and any RUs other than the RUs centrally controlled. For example, if CU1 centrally controls DUs 11 to 13 and DU 11 centrally controls RUs 111 to 113, there is a relationship between CU1 and DUs 111 to 113, and DU 11 and RUs 111 to 113 are centrally controlled.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 objects of CU1.

[0113] It should be understood that the above description uses an example in which a CU, DU, or RU reports alarm information to SMOF, and SMOF determines the root cause of the failure. In addition, the cloud resource cloud may also report alarm information to SMOF, and SMOF may determine the root cause of the failure of the alarm information of the CU, DU, RU, or cloud resource cloud based on the association relationship. Continuing with the above example, CU1, DU11, RU113, and the cloud resource cloud separately report alarm information to SMOF. Based on the above analysis, CU1, DU11, and RU113 have an association relationship, and the alarm information reported by the cloud resource cloud is designed to be the alarm information of the object of RU113. SMOF may determine that the alarm information of the cloud resource cloud is the root cause of the 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, alarm information is reported to the SMOF using the O1 interface. Alternatively, an interface may be added between the SMOF and the CU, DU, RU, or cloud resource Cloud, and alarm information may be reported to the SMOF using the newly added interface. Alternatively, part of the alarm information content may be reported using an existing standard interface, and another part of the content may be reported using a newly added interface. This is not a limitation.

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

[0116] Upon 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, which is referred to as first-type alarm information, and which 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 CU identifier, etc. The RU detects the internal alarm information and determines, based on the association relationship between the RU and the object of the cloud resource Cloud corresponding to the RU, that the alarm information of the cloud resource Cloud is a root cause failure of the alarm information of the RU. The RU reports the above-mentioned correlation analysis of the root cause failure to the SMOF using the O1 interface.

[0117] The RU may send alarm information to the DU, which includes alarm information of the RU and alarm information of the cloud resource cloud. For the content of the alarm information of the cloud resource cloud, see the above description. The alarm information reported by the RU may be a first type of alarm information, which includes the object identifier of the RU and the DU identifier corresponding to the RU. Optionally, if the RU can recognize the CU, the alarm information reported by the RU may further include the 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, which includes alarm information of the DU, alarm information of the RU, and 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 the identifier of the CU associated with the DU, the DU identifier, and the 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, alarm information received by the DU, alarm information of the RU, and alarm information of the cloud resource cloud. By performing correlation analysis on the alarm information, it is found 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, DU, and RU. The CU reports the above 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 may 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 separately detected by the cloud resource Cloud, RU, DU, or CU to the SMOF, where this alarm information is referred to as second type alarm information, and the second type alarm information includes at least one of an object identifier, an identifier of the 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 the 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 the object identifier of the RU, an RU identifier, a failure identifier, etc. The alarm information reported by the DU to the SMOF includes the object identifier of the DU, a DU identifier, a failure identifier, etc. The alarm information reported by the CU to the SMOF includes the object identifier of the CU, a CU identifier, a failure identifier, etc. The failure identifier may implicitly indicate the cause of the failure. Upon receiving alarm information reported separately by the cloud resource Cloud, RU, DU, and CU, the SMOF may obtain an object identifier of the cloud resource Cloud from the alarm information of the cloud resource Cloud, an RU identifier from the alarm information of the RU, a DU identifier from the alarm information of the DU, and a CU identifier from the alarm information of the CU. Based on the object association relationships, 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 a root cause failure of the alarm information of the RU, DU, and CU. The SMOF can report the alarm information of the cloud resource Cloud as a root cause failure to the carrier's network management system, and the carrier's network management system can send 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, taking an example in which 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 failure determined by the SMOF to determine whether the root cause failure reported by the network element is the same as the root cause failure determined by the SMOF. If the root cause failure reported by the network element and the root cause failure determined by the SMOF are the same, the same root cause failure is reported to the SMOF. If the root cause failure reported by the network element and the root cause failure determined by the SMOF are different, the root cause failure reported by the network element and the root cause failure determined by the SMOF are all reported to the carrier's network management system. Alternatively, the SMOF may report the root cause failure determined by the SMOF to the carrier's network management system, taking into account the high determination accuracy of the SMOF. Obviously, if the root cause failure determined by the network element is highly accurate, the SMOF may also report the root cause failure of the network element to the carrier's network management system. This is not a limitation.

[0122] In one design, SMOF can learn and update object relationships through methods such as big data and AI. Therefore, the accuracy of root cause failures determined by SMOF is high. The relationship of some alarm information is CU, DU, RUetc. In this case, an aggregation and consolidation process may be performed by SMOF to accurately determine the root cause failure. Optionally, SMOF may also synchronously send updated object association relationships to CUs, DUs, RUs, etc.

[0123] As can be seen from the above, in the present disclosure, the RU, DU, CU, etc. may report their respective root cause failure analyses to the SMOF. Optionally, the SMOF may determine the root cause failure based on alarm information reported by the cloud resource Cloud, the RU, DU, CU, etc. To improve the accuracy of determining the root cause failure, the root cause failure determination process of the SMOF may be used as a supplement to the root cause failure determination of the 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 their respective functions. Those skilled in the art will easily realize that the units and method steps in the examples described with reference to the present disclosure can be implemented in the form of hardware or a 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 solutions.

[0125] 5 and 6 are schematic diagrams of possible device structures according to the present disclosure, which may be configured to perform the functions of the first network element, the second network element, or the third network element in the aforementioned method, and thus may 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 may perform the functions of a first network element, a second network element, or a 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 N objects, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 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 among the N objects, where M is a positive integer less than or equal to N. The transceiver unit 520 is configured to receive corresponding information from another network element.

[0128] For example, when communications device 500 is configured to perform the functionality of a second network element in the aforementioned manner, processing unit 510 is configured to determine alarm information of N objects, and transceiver unit 520 is configured to transmit the alarm information of the N objects to the first network element, where this alarm information is referred to as first type alarm information. For the N objects, the first type 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 N is a positive integer.

[0129] For example, when the communication apparatus 500 is configured to perform the function of the third network element in the above-described 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 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. 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 will be 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, 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, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a 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 may be 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 components 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] All or part of the methods of the present disclosure may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When software is used for implementation, all or part of the methods 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 processes or functions of the present disclosure are performed. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, a network device, user equipment, a core network device, an OAM, or other programmable device. The computer program or instructions may be stored on 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, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via a wired or wireless method. 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 media may be magnetic media such as floppy disks, hard disks, or magnetic tapes, optical media such as digital video disks, or semiconductor media such as solid-state drives. The computer-readable storage medium may be a volatile or non-volatile storage medium, or may include both volatile and non-volatile storage media.

[0138] In this disclosure, unless otherwise specified or unless there is a logical contradiction, the terminology and / or description of each example is 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 a relationship between related objects and indicates that a three-way relationship may exist; 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 written description of the present disclosure, the character " / " generally indicates that the related objects are in an "or" relationship. In the formulas of the present disclosure, the character " / " indicates that the related objects are in a "divide by" relationship. "Comprising 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 explanation, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. The sequence numbers of the above processes do not imply an 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 and a generation time of the alarm information of the N objects, wherein the root cause failure is a root cause failure of the alarm information of M objects among the N objects, where M is a positive integer less than N; Including, The step of determining a root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects based on an object association relationship and a generation time of the alarm information of the N objects includes: determining X sets of association relationships based on the object association relationships; For each association relationship set, determining L objects in the association relationship set based on the generation times of alarm information of objects included in the association relationship set, wherein 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, wherein the root cause failure is a root cause failure of alarm information of at least one of the L objects, and X and L are both positive integers; A root cause failure determination method, including:

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

3. 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; 2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

4. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first network element is a central unit CU and the second network element is a distributed unit DU, 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.

5. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first network element is a DU and the second network element is an 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.

6. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first network element is an RU, DU, or 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.

7. 4. The method of claim 3, 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.

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

9. obtaining the object association relationships, wherein the object association relationships are indicated by a configuration file or a configuration message from a third network element; The method of claim 1 further comprising:

10. 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 relationship based on the first object relationship and the second object relationship; 10. The method of claim 9, comprising:

11. 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 for the N2 objects; receiving alarm information from a third network element, the alarm information including alarm information for the N3 objects; 2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

12. 12. The method of claim 11, 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.

13. sending alarm information of the N2 objects to a first network element, wherein the alarm information is alarm information of a first type; for the N2 objects, the first type 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; Including, 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 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 root cause failure determination method, wherein 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.

14. receiving first indication information, the first indication information indicating a root cause failure of the alarm information of the N objects; The root cause failures are root cause failures of 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 less than N. Including, 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 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; 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 A root cause failure determination method, wherein 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.

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

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

16. The step of sending a configuration file or a configuration message indicating an object association relationship to a first network element comprises: 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; 16. The method of claim 15, comprising:

17. the N objects further include 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 CU objects, the N2 objects include DU objects, and the N3 objects include RU objects; The method of claim 14.

18. A communication device comprising a unit configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

19. A communications device comprising a processor and a memory, the processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 12.

20. A communication device comprising a unit configured to perform the method according to claim 13.

21. A communications device comprising a processor and a memory, the processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to perform the method of claim 13.

22. A communication device comprising a unit configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 14 to 17.

23. A communications device comprising a processor and a memory, the processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to perform the method of any one of claims 14 to 17.

24. A communication system comprising an apparatus comprising a unit configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 12, an apparatus comprising a unit configured to perform the method of claim 13, and an apparatus comprising a unit configured to perform the method of any one of claims 14 to 17.

25. 19. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 12, the method of claim 13, or the method of any one of claims 14 to 17.

26. 19. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to carry out the method of any one of claims 1 to 12, the method of claim 13 or the method of any one of claims 14 to 17.

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