Terminal communication method, network element device, terminal and related device

Abstract

Provided in the present disclosure are a terminal communication method, a network element device, a terminal, an electronic device, a computer-readable storage medium and a computer program product. The method comprises: receiving a registration request message initiated by a terminal when communicating with a non-terrestrial network, the registration request message carrying available duration; according to the available duration, configuring an available duration timer; and, when the available duration timer overruns, releasing the connection between a network access control network element and the terminal. The present invention prevents a large number of terminals from simultaneously initiating signaling interactions to a network access control network element when being about to disconnect from a non-geostationary transmission device, thus solving the problem of signaling storms. In addition, the present disclosure controls the release of connections to the terminals by means of the available duration timer, so as to further improve the ability of a network side to control the availability of the terminals, thus avoiding the loss of terminal context due to discontinuous coverage.

Description

Terminal communication method, network element equipment, terminal and related equipment

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This disclosure claims priority to Chinese patent application number 202310861974.8, filed on July 13, 2023, entitled “Terminal communication method, network element equipment, terminal, electronic device and storage medium”, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communication technologies, and in particular to a terminal communication method, a network element device, a terminal, an electronic device, a computer-readable storage medium, and a computer program product. Background Art

[0004] Non-terrestrial network communications utilize high-altitude transmission equipment, such as satellites or high-altitude platforms, as relays for wireless signal transmission, thereby extending the coverage range of base stations. High-altitude transmission equipment includes geostationary and non-geostationary transmission equipment. The sparse availability of non-geostationary transmission equipment results in patchy network coverage. For example, satellites can be categorized as high-orbit satellites (HEO) and low-orbit satellites (LEO). High-orbit satellites are relatively stationary relative to the Earth, while low-orbit satellites are non-geostationary. The sparse availability of non-geostationary satellites results in patchy network coverage.

[0005] When non-geostationary transmission equipment cannot provide coverage, a large number of terminals will simultaneously initiate mobility registration updates to the network to indicate the duration of their unavailability (hereinafter referred to as the unavailable duration), causing a signaling storm. How to improve the security of wireless transmission is an urgent problem to be solved.

[0006] It should be noted that the information disclosed in the above background technology section is only used to enhance the understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and therefore may include information that does not constitute prior art known to ordinary technicians in the field.

[0007] Summary of the Invention

[0008] The present disclosure provides a terminal communication method, a network element device, a terminal, an electronic device, a computer-readable storage medium, and a computer program product, which at least to some extent solve the problem of signaling storms caused by the inability of non-geostationary transmission equipment to provide network coverage to the terminal.

[0009] Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description, or may be learned in part by practice of the present disclosure.

[0010] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a terminal communication method is provided, which is applied to a network access control network element, including: receiving a registration request message initiated by a terminal when communicating with a non-terrestrial network, the registration request message carrying an available duration, the available duration being used to characterize the available duration for the terminal to access the network via a satellite; configuring an available duration timer based on the available duration; and releasing the connection between the network access control network element and the terminal when the available duration timer times out.

[0011] In some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, before configuring the available duration timer according to the available duration, the method further includes: verifying whether the available duration satisfies a trusted condition, wherein the trusted condition is that the available duration is less than or equal to the coverage time of the satellite; if the available duration is less than or equal to the coverage time of the satellite, determining that the available duration satisfies the trusted condition, and returning a registration response message to the terminal, the registration response message including: available duration support indication information, wherein the available duration support indication information is used to indicate that the network access control network element supports the available duration of the terminal.

[0012] In some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, configuring an available duration timer according to the available duration includes: obtaining a signaling transmission time; obtaining a verification time for the network access control network element to verify the available duration; configuring the available duration timer according to the available duration, the signaling transmission time and the verification time, wherein the timing duration of the available duration timer is equal to the available duration minus the signaling transmission time and the verification time.

[0013] In some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the registration request message further carries an unavailable duration, where the unavailable duration is used to represent a duration during which the terminal cannot access a network via a satellite.

[0014] In some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the registration request message includes an initial registration request message and / or a registration update request message, wherein the initial registration request message is a message requesting establishment of an initial registration process between the network access control network element and the terminal, and the registration update request message is a message requesting establishment of a registration update process between the network access control network element and the terminal when the available duration changes.

[0015] In some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the method further includes: obtaining the unavailable duration carried by the terminal through any one of the following request messages: an initial registration request message, a periodic registration request message, and a registration update request message, wherein the initial registration request message is a message requesting the establishment of an initial registration process between the network access control network element and the terminal, the registration update request message is a message requesting the establishment of a registration update process between the network access control network element and the terminal when the available duration changes, and the periodic registration request message is a message requesting the establishment of a periodic registration process between the network access control network element and the terminal.

[0016] In some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the registration request message also carries the unavailable duration of the terminal, and / or the unavailable duration is stored on the network access control network element, and the unavailable duration is used to characterize the duration during which the terminal cannot access the network via a satellite; after releasing the connection between the network access control network element and the terminal, the method further includes: starting a periodic registration timer, wherein the timing duration of the periodic registration timer is configured according to the unavailable duration of the terminal.

[0017] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a terminal communication method is provided, which is applied to a terminal, including: when the terminal communicates with a non-terrestrial network, sending a registration request message to a network access control network element, the registration request message carrying an available duration, so that the network access control network element configures an available duration timer according to the available duration, and releases the connection between the network access control network element and the terminal when the available duration timer times out, wherein the available duration is used to characterize the available duration of the terminal accessing the network via a satellite; receiving a registration response message returned by the network access control network element, the registration response message including: available duration support indication information, the available duration support indication information being used to indicate that the network access control network element supports the available duration of the terminal.

[0018] In some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, after receiving the registration response message returned by the network access control network element, the method further includes: sending a registration completion message to the network access control network element, where the registration completion message is used to indicate that the terminal has completed registration.

[0019] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a network element device is provided, including: a first receiving module, configured to receive a registration request message initiated by a terminal when communicating with a non-terrestrial network, the registration request message carrying an available duration, and the available duration is used to characterize the available duration of the terminal accessing the network via a satellite; a configuration module, configured to configure an available duration timer according to the available duration; and a release module, configured to release the connection between the network access control network element and the terminal when the available duration timer times out.

[0020] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a terminal is provided, comprising: a sending module, configured to send a registration request message to a network access control network element when the terminal communicates with a non-terrestrial network, the registration request message carrying an available duration, so that the network access control network element configures an available duration timer according to the available duration, and releases the connection between the network access control network element and the terminal when the available duration timer times out, wherein the available duration is used to characterize the available duration of the terminal accessing the network via a satellite; a second receiving module, configured to receive a registration response message returned by the network access control network element, the registration response message comprising: available duration support indication information, the available duration support indication information being used to indicate that the network access control network element supports the available duration of the terminal.

[0021] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, an electronic device is provided, comprising: a processor; and a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; wherein the processor is configured to execute any of the above-mentioned terminal communication methods by executing the executable instructions.

[0022] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a processor, any of the above-mentioned terminal communication methods is implemented.

[0023] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program product is provided, which includes a computer program or computer instructions, and the computer program or the computer instructions are loaded and executed by a processor to enable a computer to implement any of the terminal communication methods described above.

[0024] The terminal communication method, network element device, terminal, electronic device, computer-readable storage medium, and computer program product provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure include: a network access control element receiving a registration request message initiated by a terminal when communicating with a non-terrestrial network, the registration request message carrying an available duration, which is used to represent the available duration of the terminal's access to the network via a satellite; configuring an available duration timer based on the available duration; and releasing the connection between the network access control element and the terminal when the available duration timer expires. In the present disclosure, when the terminal is communicating with a non-terrestrial network, the terminal can provide or update its available duration to the network access control element at any time, effectively enhancing the network side's ability to control the terminal's available duration and preventing a large number of terminals from simultaneously initiating signaling interactions with the network access control element when they are about to disconnect from non-geostationary transmission equipment (such as satellites), thereby resolving the problem of signaling storms. Furthermore, the present disclosure uses an available duration timer to control the release of the signaling connection with the terminal, further enhancing the network side's (e.g., network access control element) ability to control whether the terminal is available and avoiding the loss of terminal context due to discontinuous coverage.

[0025] It is to be understood that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] The accompanying drawings are incorporated into and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure, and together with the specification, are used to explain the principles of the present disclosure. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present disclosure, and those skilled in the art can derive other drawings based on these drawings without inventive effort.

[0027] FIG1 shows a schematic diagram of multiple terminals initiating mobile registration updates in a discontinuous coverage scenario in the related art;

[0028] FIG2 is a schematic diagram showing a terminal communication system architecture according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0029] FIG3 shows a flow chart of a terminal communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0030] FIG4 shows a flow chart of a terminal communication method in another embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0031] FIG5 shows a signaling diagram of a terminal communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0032] FIG6 shows a schematic diagram of a network element device in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0033] FIG7 shows a schematic diagram of a terminal in another embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0034] FIG8 shows a structural block diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0035] FIG9 shows a schematic diagram of a computer-readable storage medium provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0036] Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, example embodiments can be embodied in many forms and should not be construed as limited to the examples set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete and will fully convey the concepts of the example embodiments to those skilled in the art. The described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

[0037] In addition, the accompanying drawings are merely schematic illustrations of the present disclosure and are not necessarily drawn to scale. Identical reference numerals in the figures denote identical or similar parts, and thus repetitive descriptions thereof will be omitted. Some of the block diagrams shown in the accompanying drawings are functional entities that do not necessarily correspond to physically or logically separate entities. These functional entities may be implemented in software, in one or more hardware modules or integrated circuits, or in different networks and / or processor devices and / or microcontroller devices.

[0038] It should be understood that the various steps described in the method embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed in different orders and / or in parallel. In addition, the method embodiments may include additional steps and / or omit the steps shown. The scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this respect.

[0039] It should be noted that the concepts of "first" and "second" mentioned in this disclosure are only used to distinguish different devices, modules or units, and are not used to limit the order or interdependence of the functions performed by these devices, modules or units.

[0040] It should be noted that the modifications of "one" and "multiple" mentioned in the present disclosure are illustrative rather than restrictive, and those skilled in the art should understand that unless otherwise clearly indicated in the context, they should be understood as "one or more".

[0041] For ease of understanding, several terms involved in this disclosure are explained below:

[0042] A satellite is a natural or artificial celestial body that orbits a planet. The satellite in the embodiment of the present disclosure is a satellite that can be used as a transmission relay for wireless signals.

[0043] Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF): The AMF network element is responsible for user equipment (UE) identity authentication, authorization, registration, mobility management, and connection management.

[0044] Radio Access Network (RAN) refers to the wireless access of all or part of the terminals to the switch.

[0045] Unavailability Period Duration: It is used to indicate the duration during which the terminal cannot access the network via satellite.

[0046] Availability Period Duration: It is used to indicate the duration of time during which a terminal can access a network via a satellite.

[0047] Operation Administration and Maintenance (OAM) mainly completes the analysis, forecasting, planning and configuration of daily network and business operations; and maintains daily operational activities such as testing and fault management of the network and its services.

[0048] An Application Function (AF) is a network element that acts like an application server, interacting with other core network network functions (NFs) to provide services. AF network elements can exist for different application services and can be owned by the operator or a trusted third party.

[0049] Non-terrestrial network communications utilize high-altitude transmission equipment, such as satellites or high-altitude platforms, as relays for wireless signal transmission, thereby extending the coverage range of base stations. High-altitude transmission equipment includes geostationary and non-geostationary transmission equipment. The sparse availability of non-geostationary transmission equipment results in patchy network coverage. For example, satellites can be categorized as high-orbit satellites (HEO) and low-orbit satellites (LEO). High-orbit satellites are relatively stationary relative to the Earth, while low-orbit satellites are non-geostationary. The sparse availability of non-geostationary satellites results in patchy network coverage.

[0050] The inventors discovered that in the SA2 (a system architecture group) R18 (also known as Rel-18, an architecture) non-geostationary transmission equipment (such as satellite) access phase project, research was conducted on the discontinuous coverage problem caused by the sparseness of non-geostationary transmission equipment. The following is an example of satellites. As shown in Figure 1, although the mobility management mechanism has been enhanced to prevent the network from frequently paging satellite-accessed terminals when there is no satellite coverage, and a waiting timer has been added to prevent a large number of terminals from simultaneously initiating mobility registration updates to the network when satellite coverage is available again, causing a signaling storm problem. However, when non-geostationary satellites cannot provide coverage (out of coverage), a large number of terminals (UEs) will simultaneously initiate a mobility registration update process to the network to indicate the duration of their unavailability, thereby causing a signaling storm problem.

[0051] The inventors also found that the terminal initiates a mobile registration update and provides an unavailable duration before releasing the signaling connection. This will cause a large number of terminals to initiate signaling requests to the network at the same time for the discontinuous coverage scenario caused by satellite movement, and it is very easy to cause mobile registration failure, which in turn causes the network side to be unable to correctly configure the periodic registration timer, mobile reachable timer and implicit deregistration timer for it, resulting in the loss of the terminal context.

[0052] Based on this, the present disclosure provides a terminal communication method, which can enable the terminal to provide or update its available duration to the network access control network element at any time when communicating with a non-terrestrial network, effectively enhancing the network side's control over the available duration of the terminal, and preventing a large number of terminals from initiating signaling interaction to the network access control network element at the same time when they are about to be disconnected from the non-geostationary transmission equipment, thereby solving the problem of signaling storm. In addition, the present disclosure uses an available duration timer to control the release of the signaling connection with the terminal, further increasing the network side's (for example, the network access control network element) ability to control whether the terminal is available, and improving the success rate of registration, so that the network side device correctly configures the periodic registration timer, the mobile reachable timer and the implicit deregistration timer for the terminal, avoiding the loss of the terminal context due to discontinuous coverage. The present disclosure can be applied in the field of communication technology, specifically, it can be applied in scenarios with low requirements for the number of low-orbit satellites, for example, in scenarios of discontinuous coverage caused by sparse satellites. For another example, the present disclosure is not limited to the application in the early stage of air-ground integration.

[0053] The specific implementation of the embodiment of the present disclosure is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0054] FIG2 shows a schematic diagram of a terminal communication system structure in an embodiment of the present disclosure, and the system can apply the terminal communication method or terminal communication device in various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0055] As shown in Figure 2, the system architecture may include a terminal 201, a base station 202, a satellite 203, and a network-side device 204. Terminal 201 may communicate with satellite 203 via a network device such as base station 202, or directly communicate with satellite 203. Network-side device 204 may be an onboard network device (network-side device 204 is disposed on satellite 203). Network-side device 204 may also communicate with satellite 203 via a terrestrial bearer network, although the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Terminal 201 accesses network-side device 204 via the network covered by satellite 203.

[0056] The network-side device 204 includes various network entities of the access network or core network, including but not limited to a network access control element and a RAN element. The network access control element is connected to the RAN element, and the network access control element includes but is not limited to an AMF element. It should be noted that the specific type of network-side device is not limited in the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0057] The terminal 201 and the base station 202 as well as the satellite 203 and the network-side device 204 can be connected to each other via a network, which can be a wired network or a wireless network.

[0058] In some embodiments, the wireless network or wired network described above uses standard communication technologies and / or protocols. The network is typically the Internet, but may also be any network, including but not limited to a local area network (LAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network (WAN), a mobile, wired or wireless network, a private network or any combination of a virtual private network). In some embodiments, technologies and / or formats including Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), etc. are used to represent data exchanged over the network. In addition, conventional encryption technologies such as Secure Socket Layer (SSL), Transport Layer Security (TLS), Virtual Private Network (VPN), and Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) may be used to encrypt all or some links. In other embodiments, customized and / or dedicated data communication technologies may be used to replace or supplement the above-mentioned data communication technologies.

[0059] The terminal 201 may be any electronic device, including but not limited to a smart phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a wearable device, an augmented reality device, a virtual reality device, etc.

[0060] In some embodiments, the client of the application installed in different terminals 201 is the same, or is a client of the same type of application based on different operating systems. Based on the different terminal platforms, the specific form of the client of the application can also be different, for example, the application client can be a mobile phone client, a PC client, etc.

[0061] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the number of terminals, base stations, satellites, and network-side devices in FIG2 is merely illustrative, and any number of terminals, base stations, satellites, and network-side devices may be provided as needed, which is not limited in the present disclosure.

[0062] This exemplary implementation is described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples.

[0063] First, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a terminal communication method, which can be executed by any electronic device with computing and processing capabilities.

[0064] FIG3 shows a flow chart of a terminal communication method in an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG3 , the terminal communication method provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure, applied to a network access control network element, may include the following S301 to S303 .

[0065] S301: Receive a registration request message initiated by a terminal when communicating with a non-terrestrial network. The registration request message carries an available duration, which is used to represent an available duration for the terminal to access the network via a satellite.

[0066] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, non-terrestrial network communications include, but are not limited to, communications between a terminal and high-altitude transmission equipment such as satellites and high-altitude platforms, wherein the high-altitude platforms may be backbone network nodes of a mobile mesh network, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0067] A registration request message is a message requesting the establishment of a registration process between a network access control network element and a terminal. The registration request message may include an initial registration request message and / or a registration update request message. The initial registration request message is a message requesting the establishment of an initial registration process between a network access control network element and a terminal. The registration update request message is a message requesting the establishment of a registration update process between a network access control network element and a terminal when the available duration changes. The present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0068] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the registration request message may further carry an unavailable duration, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The unavailable duration is used to represent the duration during which the terminal cannot access the network via the satellite.

[0069] S302: Configure an available duration timer according to the available duration.

[0070] In an exemplary embodiment, before configuring the available duration timer according to the available duration, the terminal communication method may further include the following steps A1 and A2.

[0071] Step A1: Verify whether the available duration meets a trustworthy condition, wherein the trustworthy condition is that the available duration is less than or equal to the satellite's coverage time.

[0072] The present disclosure does not limit how to obtain the satellite's coverage time. For example, the coverage time can be obtained through an OAM network element or an AF network element.

[0073] Step A2: If the available duration is less than or equal to the satellite's coverage time, it is determined that the available duration meets the trust condition, and a registration response message is returned to the terminal. The registration response message includes: available duration support indication information, which is used to indicate that the network access control network element supports the available duration of the terminal.

[0074] The available duration support indication information may be an available duration support (Availability Period Supported) parameter, which is used to indicate that the available duration provided by the terminal has been successfully received. It should be noted that if the available duration verification is successful, the registration reception response will carry the available duration support parameter, and if the available duration verification fails, the registration reception response will not carry the available duration support parameter. The available duration support parameter is used to inform the terminal whether the network access control network element uses the available duration to time the available duration timer. If the network access control network element uses the available duration, the terminal may send a registration request message to the network access control network element when the available duration changes. If the network access control network element does not use the available duration, the network access control network element may send a registration request message when the satellite covers again, but the present disclosure is not limited to this.

[0075] It should be noted that, when the available duration meets the trust condition, the available duration timer is configured according to the available duration.

[0076] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, by verifying the available duration, the reliability of the available duration can be guaranteed, and the timing accuracy of the available duration timer can be improved, thereby enabling more terminals to complete mobile registration.

[0077] In another exemplary embodiment, before configuring the available duration timer according to the available duration, the terminal communication method may further include the following steps B1 and B2.

[0078] Step B1: Verify whether the available duration meets a trust condition, where the trust condition is that the available duration is less than or equal to an available duration threshold.

[0079] In step B2, if the available duration is less than or equal to the available duration threshold, it is determined that the available duration meets the trust condition, and a registration response message is returned to the terminal. The registration response message includes: available duration support indication information, and the available duration support indication information is used to indicate that the network access control network element supports the available duration of the terminal.

[0080] The embodiments of the present disclosure do not limit the method used for verification. For example, verification is performed by determining the size relationship between the available duration and the available duration threshold, and the trust condition is that the available duration is less than or equal to the available duration threshold. If the available duration is less than or equal to the available duration threshold, the verification is successful, that is, the available duration meets the trust condition. If the available duration is greater than the available duration threshold, the verification fails, that is, the available duration does not meet the trust condition. The available duration threshold can be set according to the actual application scenario and specific application needs. Satellite coverage availability information can also be obtained through the OAM network element or the AF network element. The satellite coverage availability information includes but is not limited to the available duration threshold.

[0081] It should be noted that the available duration threshold may be the satellite coverage time provided by the OAM network element and the AF network element. If the available duration provided by the terminal is greater than the satellite coverage time, the network access control network element deems the available duration provided by the terminal unreliable. Conversely, if the available duration provided by the terminal is less than or equal to the satellite coverage time, the network access control network element deems the available duration provided by the terminal credible.

[0082] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the available duration is verified to ensure the reliability of the available duration and improve the timing accuracy of the available duration timer, thereby enabling more terminals to complete mobile registration.

[0083] The following describes how to configure the available duration timer.

[0084] The present disclosure does not limit how to configure the available duration timer based on the available duration. For example, the following steps are performed: obtaining a signaling transmission time; obtaining a verification time for the network access control element to verify the available duration; and configuring the available duration timer based on the available duration, the signaling transmission time, and the verification time. The duration of the available duration timer is equal to the available duration minus the signaling transmission time and the verification time.

[0085] The verification time may be the time taken by the network access control element to verify whether the available duration meets the trust condition. The signaling transmission time may be the time taken to transmit the registration request message. The timing length of the available duration timer may be obtained by the following formula 1. T=T c -T t -T y (1)

[0086] Where T is the timing duration of the available duration timer; T c is the available duration; T y T is the verification time. t is the signaling transmission time.

[0087] The available duration timer is calculated as the difference between the available duration and the signaling transmission time, minus the verification time, ensuring accurate timing. The network access control element uses the available duration timer to determine the terminal's network coverage status and decide whether to release the signaling connection with the terminal. This eliminates the need for the terminal to send a signaling request when it is about to lose connection with the satellite, thus resolving the signaling storm issue.

[0088] S303: When the available duration timer times out, release the connection between the network access control element and the terminal.

[0089] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, regardless of whether the terminal sends a registration completion message to the network access control network element, the signaling connection with the terminal will be released only when the available duration timer times out.

[0090] The present disclosure is applicable to the discontinuous coverage scenario caused by sparse satellites, which has low requirements on the number of low-orbit satellites. It is suitable for the early stage of space-ground integration applications, and is also applicable to the communication field of concern in the research of mobile network communication standards.

[0091] Related technologies require that a terminal initiate a registration request message (such as a mobile registration update) and provide an unavailable duration only before releasing a signaling connection. This will cause a large number of terminals to initiate registration requests to the network simultaneously in discontinuous coverage scenarios caused by satellite movement, and can easily cause mobile registration failures. However, the present disclosure supports terminals providing available continuous time to the network access control element at any time when there is satellite coverage, and designs a new mechanism to obtain the moment when the terminal needs to release the signaling connection. Specifically, during the registration process, the terminal can provide the network access control element with the available duration of its satellite access. The network access control element can verify, add, delete, query, modify, and store the available duration timer, and immediately start the available duration timer for the terminal after verification. When the available duration timer expires, the network access control element will release the signaling connection.

[0092] The terminal communication method disclosed in this disclosure enhances the network's ability to determine terminal availability, preventing terminal context loss due to discontinuous coverage. It also prevents a large number of terminals from simultaneously initiating signaling interactions with the network access control element when about to disconnect from the satellite, thereby resolving the signaling storm problem.

[0093] In an exemplary embodiment, the terminal communication method may further include: obtaining the unavailable duration carried by the terminal through any one of the following request messages: an initial registration request message, a periodic registration request message, and a registration update request message, wherein the initial registration request message is a message requesting the establishment of an initial registration process between the network access control network element and the terminal, the registration update request message is a message requesting the establishment of a registration update process between the network access control network element and the terminal when the available duration changes, and the periodic registration request message is a message requesting the establishment of a periodic registration process between the network access control network element and the terminal.

[0094] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the registration update process may be a mobile update registration process, or may be a registration update process initiated when the available duration changes, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0095] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, regardless of whether the request message carries the unavailable duration, the signaling connection with the terminal will be released only when the available duration timer expires. The present disclosure can also support providing the unavailable duration in the initial registration process, periodic registration process, and registration update process.

[0096] In another exemplary embodiment, the registration request message may also carry the unavailable duration of the terminal, and / or the unavailable duration is stored on the network access control network element, and the unavailable duration is used to characterize the duration during which the terminal cannot access the network via the satellite; after releasing the connection between the network access control network element and the terminal, the method may further include: starting a periodic registration timer, wherein the timing duration of the periodic registration timer is configured according to the unavailable duration of the terminal.

[0097] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, regardless of whether the registration request message carries the unavailable duration, the signaling connection with the terminal will be released only when the available duration timer expires. The present disclosure can also support providing the unavailable duration in the initial registration process, periodic registration process, and registration update process.

[0098] Furthermore, embodiments of the present disclosure enable a terminal to provide or update its availability duration and unavailability duration to a network access control element at any time when communicating with a non-terrestrial network. This effectively enhances the network's ability to control the availability and unavailability durations of the terminal, preventing a large number of terminals from simultaneously initiating signaling interactions with the network access control element at the moment of being about to disconnect from the satellite, thereby resolving the signaling storm issue. Furthermore, the present disclosure uses an availability duration timer to control the release of signaling connections with the terminal, further enhancing the network access control element's ability to control the terminal's availability and preventing the loss of terminal context due to discontinuous coverage.

[0099] The following describes a situation where the terminal communicates with a non-terrestrial network and the network access control element does not receive a registration request message.

[0100] In an exemplary embodiment, the terminal communication method may further include: when the terminal communicates with a non-terrestrial network and the network access control network element does not receive a registration request message, obtaining a stored unavailable duration; determining a time point when the satellite signal does not cover the terminal based on the unavailable duration; and releasing a signaling connection with the terminal at the time point when the satellite signal does not cover the terminal.

[0101] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, if the terminal does not provide a registration request during the period when there is satellite coverage and can communicate with a non-terrestrial network, but the unavailable duration is stored in the network access control network element, the network access control network element can directly release the signaling connection with the terminal when the satellite coverage is unavailable, and configure the relevant timers (periodic registration timer, mobile reachable timer and implicit deregistration timer) according to the method described in the current standard.

[0102] It should be noted that the unavailable duration stored in the network access control network element can be obtained through the OAM network element and the AF network element, or it can be the unavailable duration stored during the previous registration, or it can be the unavailable duration preset in the network access control network element. The present disclosure is not limited to this.

[0103] The embodiment of the present disclosure releases the signaling connection with the terminal according to the unavailable duration, thereby ensuring that the terminal can still work normally when no registration request message is received, thereby increasing the applicability of the method of the present disclosure.

[0104] Based on the same inventive concept, the present disclosure also provides a terminal communication method, as described in the following embodiments. Since the principle of solving the problem in this method embodiment is similar to that in the above method embodiment, the implementation of this method embodiment can refer to the implementation of the above method embodiment, and the repeated parts will not be repeated.

[0105] FIG4 shows a flow chart of a terminal communication method in another embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG4 , the terminal communication method provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure, when applied to a terminal, may include the following S401 to S402 .

[0106] S401, when the terminal communicates with a non-terrestrial network, sends a registration request message to a network access control network element, where the registration request message carries an available duration, so that the network access control network element configures an available duration timer according to the available duration, and releases the connection between the network access control network element and the terminal when the available duration timer times out, where the available duration is used to represent the available duration for the terminal to access the network via a satellite.

[0107] S402: Receive a registration response message returned by the network access control network element. The registration response message includes: available duration support indication information. The available duration support indication information is used to indicate that the network access control network element supports the available duration of the terminal.

[0108] In an exemplary embodiment, after receiving the registration response message returned by the network access control network element, the terminal communication method may further include: sending a registration completion message to the network access control network element, where the registration completion message is used to indicate that the terminal has completed registration.

[0109] The disclosed embodiments enable a terminal to provide or update its availability duration to a network access control element at any time when communicating with a non-terrestrial network. This effectively enhances the network's ability to control the terminal's availability duration and prevents a large number of terminals from simultaneously initiating signaling interactions with the network access control element at the moment of being disconnected from the satellite, thereby resolving the signaling storm issue. Furthermore, the disclosed embodiments utilize an availability duration timer to control the release of signaling connections with terminals, further enhancing the network access control element's ability to control terminal availability and preventing terminal context loss due to discontinuous coverage.

[0110] FIG5 shows a signaling diagram of a terminal communication method in an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG5 , the method may include S501 to S505 .

[0111] S501: Receive a registration request message initiated by a terminal when communicating with a non-terrestrial network. The registration request message carries an available duration.

[0112] S502: When the available duration satisfies a trustworthy condition, configure an available duration timer according to the available duration.

[0113] S503: Send a registration response message to the terminal. The registration response message may include available duration support indication information.

[0114] S504: Send a registration completion message to the network access control element. The registration completion message indicates that the terminal has completed registration. Whether or not the terminal sends the registration completion message to the network access control element does not affect the execution of S505 by the network access control element.

[0115] S505 : When the available duration timer times out, the network access control element releases the connection between the network access control element and the terminal.

[0116] The present disclosure is further illustrated below with reference to examples.

[0117] When a terminal initiates an initial registration request message to the network, the message may include an unavailable duration. Assume the unavailable duration is 10 hours. The network access control element stores the unavailable duration and completes the initial registration. After registration is complete, the signaling connection with the terminal is not released.

[0118] When the terminal initiates a registration update request message to the network access control network element, the registration update request message may include an availability period duration (Availability Period Duration), where the availability period duration is used to represent the availability duration of the terminal accessing the network via the satellite, and the availability period duration is 13 minutes.

[0119] The network access control network element verifies the available duration provided by the terminal. The network access control network element requests the OAM network element or AF network element to obtain satellite coverage availability information (for example, the satellite's coverage time) according to the standard process, which is 20 minutes. Since the available duration is less than the satellite's coverage time, the available duration provided by the terminal is successfully verified.

[0120] The network access control element stores the unavailable duration provided by the terminal. The network access control element may also store the available duration provided by the terminal and immediately start an available duration timer for the terminal. The available duration timer is set to the available duration provided by the terminal - signaling transmission time - verification time = 12 minutes and 30 seconds. It should be noted that the sum of the signaling transmission time and the verification time is 30 seconds.

[0121] When the registration process is completed, the network access control network element sends a registration response message to the terminal. The registration response message is a signaling message used to indicate that the registration is successful. It carries available duration support indication information. The value is set to 1, indicating that the network access control network element supports the available duration of the terminal.

[0122] The network access control network element will release the connection with the terminal immediately after the available duration timer expires and start the periodic registration timer. The value of the periodic registration timer is set to 10 hours and 3 minutes.

[0123] Based on the same inventive concept, the present disclosure also provides a network element device, as described in the following embodiments. Since the principle of solving the problem in the device embodiment is similar to that in the above method embodiment, the implementation of the device embodiment can refer to the implementation of the above method embodiment, and the repeated parts will not be repeated.

[0124] FIG6 shows a schematic diagram of a network element device in an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG6 , the network element device may include a first receiving module 61 , a configuration module 62 and a release module 63 .

[0125] The first receiving module 61 is configured to receive a registration request message initiated by the terminal when communicating with a non-terrestrial network. The registration request message carries an available duration, which is used to characterize the available duration for the terminal to access the network via a satellite; the configuration module 62 is configured to configure an available duration timer based on the available duration; the release module 63 is configured to release the connection between the network access control network element and the terminal when the available duration timer times out.

[0126] In one embodiment, before configuring the available duration timer according to the available duration, the first receiving module 61 is further configured to verify whether the available duration satisfies a trustworthy condition, wherein the trustworthy condition is that the available duration is less than or equal to the coverage time of the satellite; if the available duration is less than or equal to the coverage time of the satellite, it is determined that the available duration satisfies the trustworthy condition, and a registration response message is returned to the terminal, the registration response message including: available duration support indication information, the available duration support indication information being used to indicate that the network access control network element supports the available duration of the terminal.

[0127] In one embodiment, the configuration module 62 is further configured to obtain the signaling transmission time; obtain the verification time of the network access control network element to verify the available duration; and configure the available duration timer according to the available duration, the signaling transmission time and the verification time, wherein the timing duration of the available duration timer is equal to the available duration minus the signaling transmission time and the verification time.

[0128] In one embodiment, the registration request message further carries an unavailable duration, where the unavailable duration is used to represent a duration during which the terminal cannot access the network via the satellite.

[0129] In one embodiment, the registration request message includes an initial registration request message and / or a registration update request message, wherein the initial registration request message is a message requesting establishment of an initial registration process between a network access control network element and a terminal, and the registration update request message is a message requesting establishment of a registration update process between a network access control network element and a terminal when an available duration changes.

[0130] In one embodiment, the first receiving module 61 is also configured to obtain the unavailable duration carried by the terminal through any one of the following request messages: an initial registration request message, a periodic registration request message, and a registration update request message, wherein the initial registration request message is a message requesting the establishment of an initial registration process between the network access control network element and the terminal, the registration update request message is a message requesting the establishment of a registration update process between the network access control network element and the terminal when the available duration changes, and the periodic registration request message is a message requesting the establishment of a periodic registration process between the network access control network element and the terminal.

[0131] In one embodiment, the registration request message further carries the unavailable duration of the terminal, and / or the network access control network element stores the unavailable duration, where the unavailable duration is used to characterize the duration during which the terminal cannot access the network via the satellite; after releasing the connection between the network access control network element and the terminal, the configuration module 62 is further configured to start a periodic registration timer, where the timing duration of the periodic registration timer is configured according to the unavailable duration of the terminal.

[0132] It should be noted that the first receiving module 61, configuration module 62, and release module 63 described above correspond to S301 to S303 in the method embodiment. The examples and application scenarios implemented by the above modules and corresponding steps are the same, but are not limited to the contents disclosed in the above method embodiment. It should be noted that the above modules, as part of the network element device, can be executed in a computer system, such as a set of computer-executable instructions.

[0133] The network element device provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure enables a terminal to provide or update its available duration and unavailable duration to the network access control element at any time when it has satellite coverage and can communicate with non-terrestrial networks. This effectively enhances the network's ability to control the available and unavailable durations of the terminal, preventing a large number of terminals from simultaneously initiating signaling interactions with the network access control element at the moment of being disconnected from the satellite, thereby resolving the signaling storm problem. Furthermore, the available duration timer can be used to control the release of the signaling connection with the terminal, further enhancing the network access control element's ability to control the terminal's availability and preventing the loss of terminal context due to discontinuous coverage.

[0134] Based on the same inventive concept, the present disclosure also provides a terminal, such as the following embodiment. Since the principle of solving the problem in the terminal embodiment is similar to that in the above method embodiment, the implementation of the terminal embodiment can refer to the implementation of the above method embodiment, and the repeated parts will not be repeated.

[0135] FIG7 shows a schematic diagram of a terminal in another embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG7 , the terminal may include a sending module 71 and a second receiving module 72. The sending module 71 is configured to, when the terminal is communicating with a non-terrestrial network, send a registration request message to a network access control network element. The registration request message carries an available duration, so that the network access control network element configures an available duration timer based on the available duration and releases the connection between the network access control network element and the terminal when the available duration timer expires. The available duration is used to represent the available duration for the terminal to access the network via a satellite. The second receiving module 72 is configured to receive a registration response message returned by the network access control network element. The registration response message includes: available duration support indication information, which is used to indicate that the network access control network element supports the available duration of the terminal.

[0136] In one embodiment, after receiving the registration response message returned by the network access control network element, the second receiving module 72 is further configured to send a registration completion message to the network access control network element. The registration completion message is used to indicate that the terminal has completed registration.

[0137] It should be noted that the sending module 71 and the second receiving module 72 correspond to S401 and S402 in the method embodiment. The examples and application scenarios implemented by the modules and the corresponding steps are the same, but are not limited to the contents disclosed in the method embodiment. It should be noted that the modules, as part of the terminal, can be executed in a computer system, such as a set of computer-executable instructions.

[0138] The terminal provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure can provide or update its available duration to the network access control network element at any time when communicating with a non-terrestrial network, effectively enhancing the network side's control over the available duration of the terminal, preventing a large number of terminals from simultaneously initiating signaling interactions to the network access control network element when they are about to be disconnected from the satellite, thereby solving the problem of signaling storms.

[0139] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented as systems, methods, or program products. Therefore, various aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented in the following forms: a complete hardware implementation, a complete software implementation (including firmware, microcode, etc.), or a combination of hardware and software implementations, which may be collectively referred to herein as "circuits," "modules," or "systems."

[0140] The electronic device 800 according to this embodiment of the present disclosure is described below with reference to Figure 8. The electronic device 800 shown in Figure 8 is merely an example and should not limit the functions and scope of use of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0141] As shown in Figure 8, electronic device 800 is implemented as a general-purpose computing device. Components of electronic device 800 may include, but are not limited to, the aforementioned at least one processing unit 810, the aforementioned at least one storage unit 820, and a bus 830 connecting various system components (including storage unit 820 and processing unit 810).

[0142] The storage unit stores program code, which can be executed by the processing unit 810, so that the processing unit 810 performs the steps described in the "Exemplary Method" section of this specification according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the processing unit 810 can perform the following steps of the above-mentioned method embodiment: receiving a registration request message initiated by a terminal when communicating with a non-terrestrial network, the registration request message carrying an available duration, which is used to represent the available duration of the terminal's access to the network via a satellite; configuring an available duration timer based on the available duration; and releasing the connection between the network access control network element and the terminal when the available duration timer expires.

[0143] The processing unit 810 can also perform the following steps of the above-mentioned method embodiment: when the terminal communicates with a non-terrestrial network, sending a registration request message to the network access control network element, the registration request message carries an available duration, so that the network access control network element configures an available duration timer according to the available duration, and releases the connection between the network access control network element and the terminal when the available duration timer expires, wherein the available duration is used to characterize the available duration of the terminal accessing the network via a satellite; receiving a registration response message returned by the network access control network element, the registration response message including: available duration support indication information, the available duration support indication information is used to indicate that the network access control network element supports the available duration of the terminal.

[0144] The storage unit 820 may include a readable medium in the form of a volatile storage unit, such as a random access memory unit (RAM) 8201 and / or a cache memory unit 8202 , and may further include a read-only memory unit (ROM) 8203 .

[0145] The storage unit 820 may also include a program / utility 8204 having a set (at least one) of program modules 8205, such program modules 8205 including but not limited to: an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data, each of which or some combination may include an implementation of a network environment.

[0146] Bus 830 may represent one or more of several types of bus structures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, a processing unit, or a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures.

[0147] The electronic device 800 can also communicate with one or more external devices 840 (e.g., a keyboard, a pointing device, a Bluetooth device, etc.), one or more devices that enable a user to interact with the electronic device 800, and / or any device that enables the electronic device 800 to communicate with one or more other computing devices (e.g., a router, a modem, etc.). Such communication can occur via an input / output (I / O) interface 850. Furthermore, the electronic device 800 can also communicate with one or more networks (e.g., a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), and / or a public network such as the Internet) via a network adapter 860. As shown, the network adapter 860 communicates with other modules of the electronic device 800 via a bus 830. It should be understood that, although not shown in the figure, other hardware and / or software modules can be used in conjunction with the electronic device 800, including but not limited to microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data backup storage systems.

[0148] Through the description of the above embodiments, it is easy for those skilled in the art to understand that the example embodiments described herein can be implemented by software or by combining software with necessary hardware. Therefore, the technical solution according to the embodiments of the present disclosure can be embodied in the form of a software product, which can be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (which can be a CD-ROM, a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, etc.) or on a network, and includes several instructions to enable a computing device (which can be a personal computer, a server, a terminal device, or a network device, etc.) to execute the method according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0149] In the disclosed exemplary embodiments, a computer-readable storage medium is also provided. This computer-readable storage medium may be a readable signal medium or a readable storage medium. FIG9 shows a schematic diagram of a computer-readable storage medium in an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG9 , the computer-readable storage medium 900 stores a program product capable of implementing the above-described method of the present disclosure.

[0150] In some possible implementations, various aspects of the present disclosure may also be implemented in the form of a program product, which includes program code. When the program product is run on a terminal device, the program code is used to enable the terminal device to execute the steps of various exemplary implementations of the present disclosure described in the above "Specific Implementation Methods" section of this specification.

[0151] More specific examples of computer-readable storage media in the present disclosure may include, but are not limited to, an electrical connection having one or more conductors, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), optical fibers, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0152] In the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium may include a data signal propagated in baseband or as part of a carrier wave, which carries readable program code. Such propagated data signals may take various forms, including but not limited to electromagnetic signals, optical signals, or any suitable combination thereof. A readable signal medium may also be any readable medium other than a readable storage medium that can transmit, propagate, or transfer a program for use by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0153] In some embodiments, the program code contained on the computer-readable storage medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0154] In a specific implementation, the program code for performing the operations of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Java, C++, and the like, as well as conventional procedural programming languages ​​such as "C" or similar programming languages. The program code may be executed entirely on the user computing device, partially on the user device, as a standalone software package, partially on the user computing device and partially on a remote computing device, or entirely on a remote computing device or server. In the case of a remote computing device, the remote computing device may be connected to the user computing device via any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or may be connected to an external computing device (e.g., via the Internet using an Internet service provider).

[0155] The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a computer program product or computer program, which includes computer instructions stored in a computer-readable storage medium. A processor of a computer device reads the computer instructions from the computer-readable storage medium and executes the computer instructions, causing the computer device to perform the terminal communication method provided in any of the various optional embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0156] It should be noted that although several modules or units of the device for action execution are mentioned in the detailed description above, this division is not mandatory. In fact, according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the features and functions of two or more modules or units described above can be concretized in one module or unit. Conversely, the features and functions of one module or unit described above can be further divided into multiple modules or units to be concretized.

[0157] Furthermore, although the steps of the method of the present disclosure are described in a particular order in the accompanying drawings, this does not require or imply that the steps must be performed in this particular order, or that all steps shown must be performed to achieve the desired results. Additionally or alternatively, some steps may be omitted, multiple steps may be combined into one step, and / or one step may be decomposed into multiple steps.

[0158] Through the description of the above embodiments, it is easy for those skilled in the art to understand that the example embodiments described herein can be implemented by software or by combining software with necessary hardware. Therefore, the technical solution according to the embodiments of the present disclosure can be embodied in the form of a software product, which can be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (which can be a CD-ROM, a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, etc.) or on a network, and includes several instructions to enable a computing device (which can be a personal computer, a server, a mobile terminal, or a network device, etc.) to execute the method according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0159] Other embodiments of the present disclosure will readily occur to those skilled in the art after considering the specification and practicing the invention disclosed herein. This disclosure is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the present disclosure that follow the general principles of the present disclosure and include common knowledge or customary techniques in the art not disclosed herein. The description and examples are to be considered as exemplary only, with the true scope of the present disclosure being indicated by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A terminal communication method, applied to a network access control network element, comprising: receiving a registration request message initiated by a terminal when communicating with a non-terrestrial network, the registration request message carrying an available duration, where the available duration is used to represent an available duration for the terminal to access the network through a satellite; According to the available duration, configuring an available duration timer; When the available duration timer times out, the connection between the network access control element and the terminal is released.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: Before configuring an available duration timer according to the available duration, the method further includes: Verifying whether the available duration satisfies a trustworthy condition, wherein the trustworthy condition is that the available duration is less than or equal to the coverage time of the satellite; If the available duration is less than or equal to the coverage time of the satellite, it is determined that the available duration meets the trust condition, and a registration response message is returned to the terminal, wherein the registration response message includes: available duration support indication information, and the available duration support indication information is used to indicate that the network access control network element supports the available duration of the terminal.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein: Configuring an available duration timer according to the available duration includes: Get signaling transmission time; Obtaining a verification time for the network access control network element to verify the available duration; The available duration timer is configured according to the available duration, the signaling transmission time and the verification time, wherein the timing duration of the available duration timer is equal to the available duration minus the signaling transmission time and the verification time.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The registration request message also carries an unavailable duration, where the unavailable duration is used to indicate a duration during which the terminal cannot access a network via a satellite.

5. The method according to claim 1 or 4, wherein: The registration request message includes an initial registration request message and / or a registration update request message, wherein the initial registration request message is a message requesting to establish an initial registration process between the network access control network element and the terminal, and the registration update request message is a message requesting to establish a registration update process between the network access control network element and the terminal when the available duration changes.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The method also includes: obtaining the unavailable duration carried by the terminal through any one of the following request messages: an initial registration request message, a periodic registration request message, and a registration update request message, wherein the initial registration request message is a message requesting to establish an initial registration process between the network access control network element and the terminal, the registration update request message is a message requesting to establish a registration update process between the network access control network element and the terminal when the available duration changes, and the periodic registration request message is a message requesting to establish a periodic registration process between the network access control network element and the terminal.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The registration request message further carries the unavailable duration of the terminal, and / or the network access control network element stores the unavailable duration, where the unavailable duration is used to characterize the duration during which the terminal cannot access the network via the satellite; After releasing the connection between the network access control network element and the terminal, the method further includes: A periodic registration timer is started, wherein the timing duration of the periodic registration timer is configured according to the unavailable duration of the terminal.

8. A terminal communication method, applied to a terminal, comprising: In the case where the terminal communicates with a non-terrestrial network, sending a registration request message to a network access control network element, the registration request message carrying an available duration, so that the network access control network element configures an available duration timer according to the available duration, and releases the connection between the network access control network element and the terminal when the available duration timer times out, wherein the available duration is used to characterize an available duration for the terminal to access a network via a satellite; A registration response message returned by the network access control network element is received, wherein the registration response message includes: available duration support indication information, wherein the available duration support indication information is used to indicate that the network access control network element supports the available duration of the terminal.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein: After receiving the registration response message returned by the network access control network element, the method further includes: A registration completion message is sent to the network access control network element, where the registration completion message is used to indicate that the terminal has completed registration.

10. A network element device, comprising: A first receiving module is used to receive a registration request message initiated by a terminal when communicating with a non-terrestrial network, where the registration request message carries an available duration, where the available duration is used to represent an available duration for the terminal to access the network via a satellite; A configuration module, configured to configure an available duration timer according to the available duration; A release module is used to release the connection between the network access control network element and the terminal when the available duration timer times out.

11. A terminal, comprising: a sending module, configured to send a registration request message to a network access control network element when the terminal communicates with a non-terrestrial network, the registration request message carrying an available duration, so that the network access control network element configures an available duration timer according to the available duration, and releases the connection between the network access control network element and the terminal when the available duration timer times out, wherein the available duration is used to characterize an available duration for the terminal to access a network via a satellite; The second receiving module is used to receive a registration response message returned by the network access control network element, wherein the registration response message includes: available duration support indication information, and the available duration support indication information is used to indicate that the network access control network element supports the available duration of the terminal.

12. An electronic device comprising: processor; as well as A memory, configured to store executable instructions of the processor; The processor is configured to execute the terminal communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 by executing the executable instructions.

13. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the terminal communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

14. A computer program product, wherein: The invention comprises a computer program, which, when executed by a processor, implements the terminal communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

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