Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

The present application provides a communication method and an apparatus, and relates to the technical field of communications. In the method, a first terminal accessed by means of 3GPP can be reused to obtain from a network an identifier of a user plane network element for a second terminal, so that the second terminal can directly communicate with the user plane network element by means of non-3GPP access side connection, that is, bypassing an N3G access gateway and directly establishing a user plane connection. In this way, the network does not need to deploy an N3G access gateway, and the terminal does not need to support the transmission of NAS messages via N3G, thereby enabling establishment of user plane connections for non-3GPP access at reduced costs.

Description

Communication method and device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on July 31, 2023, with application number 202310953301.5 and application name “Communication Method and Device,” the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular to a communication method and device. Background Art

[0003] Currently, the core network (CN) of fifth-generation (5G) mobile communications, also known as 5GC, supports non-3GPP (non-3GPP) access, referred to as N3G access, such as untrusted non-3GPP access and trusted non-3GPP access. Specifically, untrusted non-3GPP access includes untrusted wireless local area network (WLAN) access, trusted non-3GPP access includes trusted WLAN access, and wired network access includes fixed home network access. Regardless of the type of non-3GPP access, the network needs to deploy an N3G access gateway for non-3GPP access, such as the non-3GPP interworking function (N3IWF). This allows user equipment (UE) to access the network through the N3G access gateway, which then establishes the UE's user plane connection.

[0004] However, establishing user-plane connections via an N3G access gateway is relatively expensive. This means the network must deploy an N3G access gateway, and the UE must support the transmission of non-access-stratum (NAS) messages over N3G. Therefore, establishing user-plane connections for non-3GPP access at a lower cost is an urgent issue.

[0005] Summary of the Invention

[0006] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus for establishing a user plane connection for non-3GPP access at a lower cost.

[0007] To achieve the above objectives, this application adopts the following technical solutions:

[0008] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, applied to a first terminal, the method comprising: when the first terminal accesses a network through a third generation partnership (3GPP), the first terminal sending an identifier of a second terminal to the network, and receiving, from the network, an identifier of a user plane network element that supports non-3GPP access, wherein the second terminal has non-3GPP access capability, and the identifier of the user plane network element is identification information of the user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected through the non-3GPP access side. The third generation partnership (3GPP) access is Long Term Evolution (LTE) access, 5G access, or New Radio (NR) access.

[0009] As can be seen from this, the first terminal accessed via 3GPP can be reused to obtain the identifier of the user plane network element for the second terminal from the network, so that the second terminal can communicate directly with the user plane network element via the non-3GPP access side connection, that is, bypassing the N3G access gateway and directly establishing a user plane connection. In this way, the network does not need to deploy an N3G access gateway, and the terminal does not need to support the transmission of non-access stratum NAS messages on N3G, thereby achieving user plane connection establishment for non-3GPP access at a lower cost.

[0010] In one possible design, the first terminal sends the identifier of the second terminal to the network, including: the first terminal sends a first NAS message to the access and mobility management network element, wherein the first NAS message is used by the first terminal to request session establishment, and the first NAS message carries the identifier of the second terminal. Optionally, the first terminal receives the identifier of the user plane network element returned by the network for the identifier of the second terminal, including: the first terminal receives a second NAS message returned by the access and mobility management network element, wherein the second NAS message is used to indicate successful session establishment, and the second NAS message carries the identifier of the user plane network element.

[0011] It is understandable that since the session establishment process already involves the selection of a user plane network element, the first terminal can reuse the existing session establishment process to select a user plane network element for non-3GPP access and obtain the identifier of the user plane network element in the case of 3GPP access. Compared with implementing it through a newly defined process, this is simpler to implement and reduces communication overhead. Of course, it can also be implemented through a newly defined process to achieve decoupling from the existing process and more flexible information element transmission.

[0012] In another possible design, the first terminal sending the identifier of the second terminal to the network includes: the first terminal sending a first user plane message to the user plane network element, wherein the first message carries the identifier of the second terminal. Optionally, the first terminal receiving the identifier of the user plane network element returned by the network in response to the identifier of the second terminal includes: the first terminal receiving a second user plane message returned by the user plane network element, wherein the second message carries the identifier of the user plane network element.

[0013] It is understandable that if the first terminal has accessed and established a user plane connection through 3GPP, the first terminal can reuse user plane messages, such as the first and second messages described above, to directly obtain the identifier of the user plane network element from the user plane network element. That is, reusing the user plane tunnel established by 3GPP to obtain the identifier of the user plane network element for non-3GPP access. Compared with implementing it through a newly defined process, its implementation is simpler and has less communication overhead. Of course, it can also be implemented through a newly defined process to achieve decoupling from the existing process and more flexible information element delivery.

[0014] In a possible design scheme, when the first terminal and the second terminal are different terminals, the method described in the first aspect may also include: the first terminal obtains the identifier of the second terminal from the second terminal, that is, it can be obtained on demand, and there is no need to always retain the identifier of the second terminal, which can save storage overhead. For example, the first terminal establishes a connection with the second terminal and obtains the identifier of the second terminal through the above connection. For example, the first terminal can request information for identifying the second terminal from the second terminal through the connection, so that the first terminal can receive the identifier of the second terminal returned by the second terminal through the connection. Alternatively, the second terminal may also respond to establishing a connection with the first terminal and actively send the identifier of the second terminal to the first terminal through the connection. Alternatively, the first terminal scans the identification information of the second terminal (such as a QR code identifier) ​​to obtain the identifier of the second terminal.

[0015] In one possible design scheme, when the first terminal and the second terminal are different terminals, the method described in the first aspect may also include: the first terminal sends an identifier of the user plane network element and at least one of the security vectors corresponding to the second terminal to the second terminal, wherein the security vector is information used by the second terminal when establishing a secure connection for the user plane through a non-3GPP access side connection, so that the second terminal can directly establish a secure connection with the user plane network element through a non-3GPP access side connection.

[0016] Optionally, the security vector is carried in a NAS message or user plane message sent by the network to the first terminal. That is, the security vector can be obtained by reusing session establishment or user plane tunneling. This is simpler to implement and reduces communication overhead compared to implementing it through a newly defined process. Of course, it can also be implemented through a newly defined process to achieve decoupling from existing processes and more flexible cell delivery.

[0017] In one possible design scheme, when the first terminal and the second terminal are the same terminal, the method described in the first aspect may also include: when the first terminal accesses the network through a non-3GPP method, the first terminal establishes a secure connection with the user plane network element based on the identifier of the user plane network element, that is, bypassing the N3G access gateway and directly establishing a user plane connection, thereby achieving user plane connection establishment for non-3GPP access at a lower cost.

[0018] Optionally, the first terminal establishes a connection with the user plane network element based on the identifier of the user plane network element, including: the first terminal establishes a secure connection with the user plane network element based on the identifier of the user plane network element using the security vector corresponding to the first terminal to ensure communication security and avoid security risks.

[0019] Optionally, the security vector is pre-configured locally on the first terminal, i.e., it does not need to be obtained from other network elements to save communication overhead. Alternatively, the security vector is carried in a NAS message or a user plane message sent by the network to the first terminal to enable flexible configuration through signaling.

[0020] In a possible design solution, the identifier of the user plane network element is the Internet Protocol IP address of the user plane network element, so that the second terminal can directly access the user plane network element.

[0021] In one possible design solution, the identifier of the second terminal is used to select a user plane network element for the second terminal.

[0022] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, applied to a second terminal, the method comprising: the second terminal receiving an identifier of a user plane network element supporting non-3GPP access, wherein the identifier of the user plane network element is identification information of a user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected via a non-3GPP access side; and when the second terminal accesses a network via the non-3GPP access side, the second terminal establishing a connection with the user plane network element based on the identifier of the user plane network element. The non-3GPP access may be wireless local area network (WLAN) access, fixed network access, or wired access.

[0023] In one possible design scheme, the second terminal receives the identifier of the user plane network element, including: the second terminal receives the identifier of the user plane network element from the application function or the first terminal. The specific selection can be flexible according to actual circumstances and is not specifically limited.

[0024] Optionally, the method described in the second aspect may further include: the second terminal sending the identifier of the second terminal to the first terminal, so as to obtain the identifier of the user plane network element by sending the identifier of the second terminal to the network through the first terminal.

[0025] In one possible design scheme, the second terminal establishes a connection with the user plane network element based on the identifier of the user plane network element, including: the second terminal establishes a secure connection with the user plane network element based on the identifier of the user plane network element using the security vector corresponding to the second terminal.

[0026] Optionally, the security vector is preconfigured locally in the second terminal, or the security vector is carried in a message from the application function or the first terminal. The specific selection can be flexible according to actual circumstances and is not specifically limited.

[0027] In one possible design solution, the identifier of the second terminal is used to select a user plane network element for the second terminal.

[0028] It can be understood that the relevant technical effects of the method described in the second aspect can also refer to the relevant introductions of the above other aspects, and will not be repeated here.

[0029] According to a third aspect, a communication method is provided for use with a user plane network element supporting non-3GPP access, the method comprising: the user plane network element receiving an identifier of a second terminal and sending an identifier of a user plane network element allocated to the second terminal. The second terminal has non-3GPP access capability, and the identifier of the user plane network element is identifier information of a user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected via a non-3GPP access side.

[0030] In one possible design, the user plane network element receives the identifier of the second terminal, including: the user plane network element receives a Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) session establishment request message from a session management network element, wherein the PFCP session establishment request message carries the identifier of the second terminal. Accordingly, the user plane network element sends the identifier of the user plane network element allocated to the second terminal, including: the user plane network element sends a PFCP session establishment response message to the session management network element, wherein the PFCP session establishment response message carries the identifier of the user plane network element.

[0031] Optionally, the PFCP session establishment request message also carries the security vector corresponding to the second terminal. That is, the security vector required for establishing the user plane connection is pre-configured to the user plane network element, eliminating the need for the user plane network element to derive it independently, thereby reducing the user plane network element's overhead. Of course, the user plane network element can also derive it independently, and this is not limited to this.

[0032] In one possible design, the user plane network element receives the identifier of the second terminal, including: the user plane network element receives a first user plane message from the first terminal, wherein the first message carries the identifier of the second terminal. Correspondingly, the user plane network element sends the identifier of the user plane network element allocated to the second terminal, including: the user plane network element sends a second user plane message to the first terminal, wherein the second message carries the identifier of the user plane network element.

[0033] Optionally, the method described in the third aspect may further include: the user plane network element sending a PFCP request message to the session management network element, and the user plane network element receiving a PFCP response message from the session management network element, wherein the PFCP request message carries an identifier of the second terminal, and the PFCP response message carries a security vector corresponding to the second terminal. In other words, the user plane network element may proactively request the session management network element to provide the security vector corresponding to the second terminal, thereby achieving on-demand provision and avoiding redundancy.

[0034] Furthermore, the second message also carries the security vector corresponding to the second terminal. That is, the security vector required for establishing the user plane connection is pre-configured to the second terminal by the first terminal, eliminating the need for the second terminal to derive the security vector independently. This reduces the second terminal's overhead and facilitates energy conservation. Of course, the second terminal can also derive the security vector independently, and this is not limited to this.

[0035] In a possible design scheme, the method described in the third aspect may also include: the user plane network element establishes a connection with the second terminal accessed through non-3GPP.

[0036] Optionally, the user plane network element establishes a connection with a second terminal accessed through non-3GPP, including: the user plane network element receives a request for establishing a secure connection sent by the second terminal through non-3GPP access; the user plane network element uses the security vector corresponding to the second terminal to establish a secure connection with the second terminal.

[0037] In one possible design solution, the first terminal and the second terminal are different terminals, or the first terminal and the second terminal are the same terminal.

[0038] In a possible design solution, the identifier of the user plane network element is the Internet Protocol IP address of the user plane network element.

[0039] In one possible design solution, the identifier of the second terminal is used to select a user plane network element for the second terminal.

[0040] It can be understood that the relevant technical effects of the method described in the third aspect can also refer to the relevant introductions of the other aspects mentioned above, and will not be repeated here.

[0041] In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided, applied to a session management network element, the method comprising: the session management network element receiving an identifier of a second terminal, obtaining an identifier of a user plane network element supporting non-3GPP access based on the identifier of the second terminal, and sending the identifier of the user plane network element. The second terminal has non-3GPP access capability, and the identifier of the user plane network element is identifier information of a user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected via a non-3GPP access side.

[0042] In one possible design, the session management network element obtains the identifier of the user plane network element based on the identifier of the second terminal, including: the session management network element selecting the user plane network element based on the identifier of the second terminal; the session management network element determining the identifier of the user plane network element; or the session management network element obtaining the identifier of the user plane network element from the user plane network element. For example, the session management network element obtaining the identifier of the user plane network element from the user plane network element includes: the session management network element sending a Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) session establishment request message to the user plane network element, and receiving a PFCP session establishment response message returned by the user plane network element. The PFCP session establishment request message carries the identifier of the second terminal, and the PFCP session establishment response message carries the identifier of the user plane network element.

[0043] It is understandable that existing PFCP session establishment request messages typically also carry the identifier of the second terminal. However, unlike the prior art, the embodiments of the present application, while reusing the identifier of the second terminal, can enhance the capabilities of the identifier of the second terminal. For example, the embodiment of the present application can also implicitly indicate that the second terminal supports non-3GPP access, so that the user plane network element can allocate the identifier of the user plane network element to the second terminal based on the second terminal's support for non-3GPP access. In other words, this is achieved by reusing existing information elements, thereby saving overhead. Of course, this can also be achieved through newly defined information elements, thereby achieving decoupling from existing information elements and more flexible transmission.

[0044] Optionally, the PFCP session establishment request message further carries a security vector corresponding to the second terminal, where the security vector is information used by the second terminal when establishing a secure connection on the user plane through a non-3GPP access side connection.

[0045] In one possible design, the session management network element receives the identifier of the second terminal, including: the session management network element receives a session establishment request message from an access and mobility management network element, where the access and mobility management network element is the access and mobility management network element accessed by the first terminal, and the session establishment request message carries the identifier of the second terminal. The session management network element sends the identifier of the user plane network element, including: the session management network element sends a session establishment response message to the access and mobility management network element, where the session establishment response message carries the identifier of the user plane network element.

[0046] Optionally, the session establishment response message carries a security vector corresponding to the second terminal, where the security vector is information used by the second terminal when establishing a secure connection on the user plane through a non-3GPP access side connection.

[0047] Optionally, the first terminal and the second terminal are different terminals, or the first terminal and the second terminal are the same terminal. The specific selection can be flexibly made according to actual conditions and is not limited thereto.

[0048] In one possible design, the session management network element receives the identifier of the second terminal, including: the session management network element receives the identifier of the second terminal from an application function, where the application function is an application function to which the second terminal is connected. The session management network element sends the identifier of the user plane network element, including: the session management network element sends the identifier of the user plane network element to the application function. In this case, the user plane network element identifier may be directly transmitted to the second terminal by the application function without network forwarding, thereby improving communication efficiency.

[0049] Optionally, the method described in the fourth aspect may further include: the session management network element obtains the above-mentioned security vector from the data management network element, the access and mobility management network element, or the application function. The specific selection can be flexibly made according to actual conditions and is not limited to this.

[0050] In a possible design solution, the identifier of the user plane network element is the Internet Protocol IP address of the user plane network element.

[0051] In one possible design solution, the identifier of the second terminal is used to select a user plane network element for the second terminal.

[0052] It can be understood that the relevant technical effects of the method described in the fourth aspect can also refer to the relevant introductions of the above other aspects, and will not be repeated here.

[0053] According to a fifth aspect, a communication method is provided, which is applied to a session management network element. The method includes: the session management network element receiving an identifier of a second terminal from a user plane network element supporting non-3GPP access, and the session management network element sending a security vector corresponding to the second terminal to the user plane network element based on the identifier of the second terminal. The second terminal has non-3GPP access capability, the security vector is information used by the second terminal when establishing a secure user plane connection via a non-3GPP access side connection, and the user plane network element is a user plane network element to which a first terminal is connected, and the first terminal is a terminal accessing the network via a 3GPP access side connection.

[0054] In one possible design, the session management network element receives an identifier of a second terminal from a user plane network element, including: the session management network element receives a Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) request message from the user plane network element, wherein the PFCP request message carries the identifier of the second terminal. In response, the session management network element sends a security vector corresponding to the second terminal to the user plane network element based on the identifier of the second terminal, including: the session management network element sends a PFCP response message to the user plane network element based on the identifier of the second terminal, wherein the PFCP response message carries the security vector corresponding to the second terminal.

[0055] In one possible design solution, the first terminal and the second terminal are different terminals, or the first terminal and the second terminal are the same terminal.

[0056] In one possible design solution, the identifier of the second terminal is used to select a user plane network element for the second terminal.

[0057] It can be understood that the relevant technical effects of the method described in the fifth aspect can also refer to the relevant introductions of the above other aspects, and will not be repeated here.

[0058] In a sixth aspect, a communication method is provided, the method comprising: an access and mobility management network element receiving an identifier of a second terminal from a first terminal; the access and mobility management network element sending the identifier of the second terminal to a session management network element; the session management network element sending the identifier of the second terminal to a user plane network element supporting non-3GPP access corresponding to the first terminal; the user plane network element sending the identifier of the user plane network element allocated for the second terminal to the session management network element; the session management network element sending the identifier of the user plane network element to the access and mobility management network element; and the access and mobility management network element sending the identifier of the user plane network element to the first terminal. The first terminal is a terminal that accesses a network through a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the second terminal has non-3GPP access capabilities, and the identifier of the user plane network element is identifier information of the user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected through the non-3GPP access side.

[0059] In one possible design, the access and mobility management network element receives an identifier of a second terminal from a first terminal, including: the access and mobility management network element receives a first non-access stratum (NAS) message from the first terminal, wherein the first NAS message carries the identifier of the second terminal;

[0060] In one possible design scheme, the access and mobility management network element sends the identifier of the second terminal to the session management network element, including: the access and mobility management network element sends a session establishment request message to the session management network element, wherein the session establishment request message carries the identifier of the second terminal.

[0061] Optionally, the session establishment request message further carries a security vector corresponding to the second terminal, where the security vector is information used by the second terminal when establishing a secure connection on the user plane through a non-3GPP access side connection.

[0062] Optionally, the method described in the sixth aspect may also include: the session management network element obtains the above-mentioned security vector from the data management network element, the access and mobility management network element, or the application function, where the security vector is the information used by the second terminal when establishing a secure connection on the user plane through a non-3GPP access side connection.

[0063] In one possible design scheme, the session management network element sends the identifier of the second terminal to the user plane network element corresponding to the first terminal, including: the session management network element sends a packet forwarding control protocol PFCP session establishment request message to the user plane network element, wherein the PFCP session establishment request message carries the identifier of the second terminal.

[0064] In one possible design scheme, the user plane network element sends the identifier of the user plane network element allocated to the second terminal to the session management network element, including: the user plane network element sends a PFCP session establishment response message to the session management network element, wherein the PFCP session establishment response message carries the identifier of the user plane network element.

[0065] In one possible design scheme, the session management network element sends the identifier of the user plane network element to the access and mobility management network element, including: the session management network element sends a session establishment response message to the access and mobility management network element, wherein the session establishment response message carries the identifier of the user plane network element.

[0066] Optionally, the session establishment response message further carries a security vector corresponding to the second terminal, where the security vector is information used by the second terminal when establishing a secure connection on the user plane through a non-3GPP access side connection.

[0067] In a possible design scheme, the access and mobility management network element sends the identifier of the user plane network element to the first terminal, including: the access and mobility management network element sends a second NAS message to the first terminal, wherein the second NAS message carries the identifier of the user plane network element.

[0068] In a possible design scheme, the method described in the fifth aspect may also include: the user plane network element establishes a connection with the second terminal accessed through non-3GPP.

[0069] Optionally, the user plane network element establishes a connection with a second terminal accessed through non-3GPP, including: the user plane network element receives a request for establishing a secure connection sent by the second terminal through non-3GPP access, and the user plane network element uses the security vector corresponding to the second terminal to establish a secure connection with the second terminal.

[0070] In a possible design solution, the identifier of the user plane network element is the Internet Protocol IP address of the user plane network element.

[0071] In one possible design solution, the first terminal and the second terminal are different terminals, or the first terminal and the second terminal are the same terminal.

[0072] In one possible design solution, the identifier of the second terminal is used to select a user plane network element for the second terminal.

[0073] It can be understood that the relevant technical effects of the method described in the sixth aspect can also refer to the relevant introductions of the above other aspects, and will not be repeated here.

[0074] In a seventh aspect, a communication method is provided, the method comprising: receiving, by a user plane network element supporting non-3GPP access, an identifier of a second terminal; the user plane network element sending the identifier of the second terminal to a session management network element; the session management network element receiving the identifier of the second terminal from the user plane network element; the session management network element sending, based on the identifier of the second terminal, a security vector corresponding to the second terminal to the user plane network element; and the user plane network element receiving the security vector corresponding to the second terminal from the session management network element. The second terminal has non-3GPP access capability, and the security vector is information used by the second terminal when establishing a secure user plane connection via a non-3GPP access-side connection.

[0075] In one possible design scheme, the user plane network element receives the identifier of the second terminal, including: the user plane network element receives a first message from the user plane of the first terminal, wherein the first terminal is a terminal that accesses the network through 3GPP, and the first message carries the identifier of the second terminal.

[0076] Optionally, the method described in the seventh aspect may also include: the user plane network element sends a second user plane message to the first terminal, wherein the second message carries an identifier of the user plane network element, and the identifier of the user plane network element is the identification information of the user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected through the non-3GPP access side.

[0077] Optionally, the second message is a message sent by the user plane network element when receiving a security vector corresponding to the second terminal.

[0078] Optionally, the second message further carries a security vector corresponding to the second terminal.

[0079] In one possible design, the user plane network element sends the identifier of the second terminal to the session management network element, including: the user plane network element sends a Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) request message to the session management network element, where the PFCP request message carries the identifier of the second terminal. Correspondingly, the session management network element receives the identifier of the second terminal from the user plane network element, including: the session management network element receives the PFCP request message from the user plane network element.

[0080] In one possible design, the session management network element sends a security vector corresponding to the second terminal to the user plane network element based on the identifier of the second terminal, including: the session management network element sends a PFCP response message to the user plane network element based on the identifier of the second terminal, wherein the PFCP response message carries the security vector corresponding to the second terminal. Correspondingly, the user plane network element receives the security vector corresponding to the second terminal from the session management network element, including: the user plane network element receives the PFCP response message from the session management network element.

[0081] In one possible design scheme, the method described in the seventh aspect may also include: the user plane network element establishes a connection with the second terminal accessed through non-3GPP.

[0082] Optionally, the user plane network element establishes a connection with a second terminal accessed through non-3GPP, including: the user plane network element receives a request for establishing a secure connection sent by the second terminal through non-3GPP access, and the user plane network element uses the security vector corresponding to the second terminal to establish a secure connection with the second terminal.

[0083] In a possible design solution, the identifier of the user plane network element is the Internet Protocol IP address of the user plane network element.

[0084] In one possible design solution, the first terminal and the second terminal are different terminals, or the first terminal and the second terminal are the same terminal.

[0085] In one possible design solution, the identifier of the second terminal is used to select a user plane network element for the second terminal.

[0086] It can be understood that the relevant technical effects of the method described in the seventh aspect can also refer to the relevant introductions of the other aspects mentioned above, and will not be repeated here.

[0087] In an eighth aspect, a communication method is provided, applied to a network, the method comprising: the network receiving an identifier of a second terminal from a first terminal, obtaining an identifier of a user plane network element supporting non-3GPP access based on the identifier of the second terminal, and sending the identifier of the user plane network element to the first terminal. The second terminal has non-3GPP access capability, and the identifier of the user plane network element is identification information of a user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected via a non-3GPP access side.

[0088] In a possible design scheme, the identifier of the second terminal is carried in any one of the following items: a first non-access stratum NAS message, a first user plane message, a create session request message, or a packet forwarding control protocol PFCP request message.

[0089] In one possible design scheme, the identifier of the user plane network element is carried in any one of the following items: a second NAS message, a second message of the user plane, a create session response message, or a PFCP response message.

[0090] In a possible design solution, the identifier of the user plane network element is the Internet Protocol IP address of the user plane network element.

[0091] In one possible design solution, the first terminal and the second terminal are different terminals, or the first terminal and the second terminal are the same terminal.

[0092] In one possible design solution, the identifier of the second terminal is used to select a user plane network element for the second terminal.

[0093] It can be understood that the relevant technical effects of the method described in the eighth aspect can also refer to the relevant introductions of the above other aspects, and will not be repeated here.

[0094] In a ninth aspect, a communication method is provided, applied to an application function, the method comprising: the application function obtaining an identifier of a second terminal, obtaining an identifier of a user plane network element supporting non-3GPP access from a network based on the identifier of the second terminal, and sending the identifier of the user plane network element to the second terminal. The second terminal has non-3GPP access capability, and the identifier of the user plane network element is identifier information of a user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected via a non-3GPP access side.

[0095] As can be seen from this, the application function can proactively obtain the identifier of the user plane network element from the network (such as the session management network element in the network) and provide it to the terminal, so that the terminal can communicate directly with the user plane network element through the non-3GPP access side connection, that is, bypassing the N3G access gateway and directly establishing a user plane connection. In this way, the network does not need to deploy an N3G access gateway, and the user equipment UE does not need to support the transmission of non-access layer NAS messages on N3G, thereby achieving non-3GPP access user plane connection establishment at a lower cost.

[0096] In one possible design, the application function obtains the identifier of the user plane network element from the network based on the identifier of the second terminal. This includes: the application function determines the service information of the second terminal based on the identifier of the second terminal, sends the second terminal information to the network, and receives the identifier of the user plane network element returned by the network in response to the second terminal information. The second terminal information includes the identifier of the second terminal and the service information of the second terminal. In other words, the application function can provide the network with information related to the service of the second terminal, so that the network can determine the user plane network element related to the service and assign the identifier of the user plane network element. In this way, service failures caused by mismatches between the service and the user plane bearer can be avoided.

[0097] Optionally, the service information of the second terminal is service information related to the personal identification code PIN of the second terminal, or may be any other possible service, which can be selected according to actual conditions and is not limited thereto.

[0098] Optionally, the service information of the second terminal includes: a PIN identifier, a data network name DNN, slice information, a security vector of the second terminal, and at least one of the location information of the second terminal, so that the user plane network element determined by the network is a user plane network element that matches the security requirements and location of the terminal, thereby ensuring that the user-facing service bearer is safe and reliable.

[0099] Optionally, the method further includes: the application function sending the second terminal's security vector to the second terminal. Specifically, the security vector required for establishing the user plane connection is pre-configured for the terminal, eliminating the need for the terminal to derive the security vector independently. This reduces terminal overhead and facilitates energy conservation. Of course, the terminal may also derive the security vector independently, and this is not limited to this.

[0100] Optionally, the information of the second terminal also includes user plane identity request indication information, which is used to request the network to allocate a user plane network element identity. The user plane network element identity is the identification information of the user plane network element to which the terminal is connected through the non-3GPP access side. That is, the user plane identity request indication information is used to explicitly instruct the network to allocate a user plane network element identity for the second terminal. That is, if the user plane identity request indication information is not provided to the network, the network does not allocate a user plane network element identity to achieve on-demand allocation and avoid redundancy. Of course, the user plane identity request indication information is an optional information element. For example, the network may also allocate a user plane network element identity by default when receiving the information of the second terminal.

[0101] Optionally, the application function obtaining the identifier of the second terminal includes: the application function receiving the identifier of the second terminal from the first terminal. In other words, if the second terminal is unable to communicate directly with the application function, the first terminal may communicate with the application function on behalf of the second terminal, so that the second terminal's request can ultimately be transmitted to the application function.

[0102] Furthermore, when the application function sends the second terminal's information to the network, the method further includes: the application function sending the first terminal's identifier to the network. The first terminal's identifier is used to identify the network element serving the first terminal, and / or to indicate to the network that the second terminal's information needs to be stored in the network element serving the first terminal. That is, since the second terminal may not be able to communicate with the network, the network will not have a network service for the second terminal. Therefore, the second terminal's information can be stored in the network element corresponding to the proxy for the second terminal's communication (e.g., the first terminal), thereby preventing loss of the second terminal's information.

[0103] In a possible design solution, the identifier of the user plane network element is the Internet Protocol IP address of the user plane network element, so that the second terminal can directly access the user plane network element.

[0104] In one possible design solution, the identifier of the second terminal is used to select a user plane network element for the second terminal.

[0105] In the tenth aspect, a communication method is provided, which is applied to a capability-exposed network element, the method comprising: the capability-exposed network element receives information from a second terminal of an application function and an identifier of a first terminal; the capability-exposed network element determines the network element serving the first terminal based on the identifier of the first terminal, and saves the information of the second terminal to the network element serving the first terminal.

[0106] In a possible design solution, the information of the second terminal includes an identifier of the second terminal and service information of the second terminal.

[0107] Optionally, the service information of the second terminal is service information related to the second terminal and a personal identity identification code PIN.

[0108] Optionally, the service information of the second terminal includes: a PIN identifier, a data network name DNN, slice information, a security vector of the second terminal, and at least one of the location information of the second terminal.

[0109] Optionally, the second terminal has non-3GPP access capability, and the information of the second terminal also includes user plane identification request indication information, which is used to request the network to allocate a user plane network element identification. The user plane network element identification is the identification information of the user plane network element to which the terminal is connected through the non-3GPP access side of the third generation partner.

[0110] In one possible design solution, the identifier of the second terminal is used to select a user plane network element for the second terminal.

[0111] It can be understood that the relevant technical effects of the method described in the tenth aspect can also refer to the relevant introductions of the other aspects mentioned above, and will not be repeated here.

[0112] In an eleventh aspect, a communication method is provided, applied to a session management network element, the method comprising: the session management network element obtaining information of a second terminal, obtaining, based on the information of the second terminal, an identifier of a user plane network element supporting non-3GPP access corresponding to the second terminal, and sending the identifier of the user plane network element. The second terminal has non-3GPP access capability, and the identifier of the user plane network element is identifier information of a user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected via a non-3GPP access side.

[0113] In a possible design solution, the information of the second terminal includes an identifier of the second terminal and service information of the second terminal.

[0114] Optionally, the service information of the second terminal is service information related to the second terminal and a personal identity identification code PIN.

[0115] Optionally, the service information of the second terminal includes: a PIN identifier, a data network name DNN, slice information, a security vector of the second terminal, and at least one of the location information of the second terminal.

[0116] Optionally, the information of the second terminal also includes user plane identity request indication information, where the user plane identity request indication information is used to request the network to allocate a user plane network element identity, where the user plane network element identity is the identification information of the user plane network element to which the terminal is connected through the non-3GPP access side.

[0117] Optionally, the session management network element obtains the identifier of the user plane network element corresponding to the second terminal based on the information of the second terminal, including: the session management network element selects the user plane network element based on the information of the second terminal. The session management network element sends a Packet Forwarding Control Protocol PFCP session establishment request message to the user plane network element, and receives a PFCP session establishment response message returned by the user plane network element in response to the PFCP session establishment request message. The identifier of the second terminal carried in the PFCP session establishment request message is used to request that identification information of the user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected through the non-3GPP access side be allocated to the second terminal. The PFCP session establishment response message carries the identifier of the user plane network element.

[0118] Optionally, the PFCP session establishment request message further carries a security vector of the second terminal, where the security vector is information used by the second terminal when establishing a secure connection of the user plane through a non-3GPP access side connection.

[0119] In one possible design, the session management network element obtains information about the second terminal, including: the session management network element receives service information from the first terminal, and based on the service information (such as at least one of a PIN identifier, a DNN, and slice information), obtains information about the second terminal from the network element serving the first terminal. The service information is information about a service related to the second terminal. It is understood that since the first terminal acts as a proxy for communication with the second terminal, the information about the second terminal can be stored in the network element serving the first terminal, so that the session management network element can obtain the information about the second terminal from the network element when needed.

[0120] Optionally, the session management network element sending the identifier of the user plane network element includes: the session management network element sending the identifier of the second terminal and the identifier of the user plane network element to the network element serving the first terminal. Accordingly, the network element serving the first terminal may return the identifier of the second terminal and the identifier of the user plane network element to the application function, which ultimately sends them to the second terminal, ensuring that the second terminal can obtain the identifier of the user plane network element.

[0121] In a possible design solution, the identifier of the user plane network element is the Internet Protocol IP address of the user plane network element.

[0122] In one possible design solution, the identifier of the second terminal is used to select a user plane network element for the second terminal.

[0123] It can be understood that the relevant technical effects of the method described in the above-mentioned eleventh aspect can also refer to the relevant introductions of the above-mentioned other aspects, and will not be repeated here.

[0124] According to a twelfth aspect, a communication method is provided for use with a user plane network element supporting non-3GPP access, the method comprising: the user plane network element receiving an identifier of a second terminal from a session management network element, and allocating an identifier of the user plane network element to the second terminal based on the identifier of the second terminal. The second terminal has non-3GPP access capability, and the identifier of the user plane network element is identifier information of a user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected via a non-3GPP access side.

[0125] In one possible design scheme, the user plane network element receives the identifier of the second terminal from the session management network element, including: the user plane network element receives a Packet Forwarding Control Protocol PFCP session establishment request message from the session management network element, wherein the PFCP session establishment request message carries the identifier of the second terminal.

[0126] Optionally, the PFCP session establishment request message further carries a security vector of the second terminal.

[0127] In one possible design scheme, the user plane network element allocates the identifier of the user plane network element to the second terminal based on the identifier of the second terminal, including: the user plane network element sends a PFCP session establishment response message to the session management network element based on the identifier of the second terminal, wherein the PFCP session establishment response message carries the identifier of the user plane network element.

[0128] In one possible design scheme, the method also includes: the user plane network element establishes a connection with the second terminal accessed through non-3GPP.

[0129] Optionally, the user plane network element establishes a connection with a second terminal accessed through non-3GPP, including: the user plane network element receives a request for establishing a secure connection sent by the second terminal through non-3GPP access; the user plane network element uses the security vector of the second terminal to establish a secure connection with the second terminal.

[0130] In a possible design solution, the identifier of the user plane network element is the Internet Protocol IP address of the user plane network element.

[0131] In one possible design solution, the identifier of the second terminal is used to select a user plane network element for the second terminal.

[0132] It can be understood that the relevant technical effects of the method described in the above-mentioned twelfth aspect can also refer to the relevant introduction of the above-mentioned other aspects, and will not be repeated here.

[0133] In a thirteenth aspect, a communication method is provided, the method comprising: a session management network element obtaining information of a second terminal, the session management network element determining, based on the information of the second terminal, a user plane network element corresponding to the second terminal that supports non-3GPP access, the session management network element sending an identifier of the second terminal to a user plane network element, the user plane network element assigning the identifier of the user plane network element to the second terminal, the user plane network element sending the identifier of the user plane network element to the session management network element, and the session management network element sending the identifier of the user plane network element. The second terminal has non-3GPP access capability, and the identifier of the user plane network element is identifier information of a user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected via a non-3GPP access side.

[0134] In one possible design, the information of the second terminal includes an identifier of the second terminal and service information of the second terminal.

[0135] Optionally, the service information of the second terminal is service information related to the second terminal and a personal identity identification code PIN.

[0136] Optionally, the service information of the second terminal includes: a PIN identifier, a data network name DNN, slice information, a security vector of the second terminal, and at least one of the location information of the second terminal.

[0137] Optionally, the information of the second terminal also includes user plane identity request indication information, where the user plane identity request indication information is used to request the network to allocate a user plane network element identity, where the user plane network element identity is the identification information of the user plane network element to which the terminal is connected through the non-3GPP access side.

[0138] In one possible design, the session management network element obtains information about the second terminal, including: the session management network element receives service information from the first terminal, and obtains information about the second terminal from a network element serving the first terminal based on the service information. The service information is information about a service related to the second terminal.

[0139] Optionally, the session management network element sending the identifier of the user plane network element includes: the session management network element sending the identifier of the second terminal and the identifier of the user plane network element to the network element serving the first terminal.

[0140] In one possible design scheme, the session management network element sends the identifier of the second terminal to the user plane network element, including: the session management network element sends a PFCP session establishment request message to the user plane network element, wherein the identifier of the second terminal carried in the PFCP session establishment request message is used to request that the second terminal be allocated identification information for identifying the user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected through the non-3GPP access side.

[0141] Optionally, the PFCP session establishment request message further carries a security vector of the second terminal, where the security vector is information used by the second terminal when establishing a secure connection of the user plane through a non-3GPP access side connection.

[0142] Optionally, the user plane network element sends the identifier of the user plane network element to the session management network element, including: the user plane network element sends an FCP session response message to the session management network element, wherein the PFCP session establishment response message carries the identifier of the user plane network element.

[0143] In one possible design scheme, the method also includes: the user plane network element establishes a secure connection with the second terminal accessed through non-3GPP.

[0144] Optionally, the user plane network element establishes a secure connection with a second terminal accessed through non-3GPP, including: the user plane network element receives a request for establishing a secure connection sent by the second terminal through non-3GPP access; in response to the request of the second terminal, the user plane network element uses the security vector of the second terminal to establish a secure connection with the second terminal.

[0145] In a possible design solution, the identifier of the user plane network element is the IP address of the user plane network element.

[0146] In one possible design solution, the identifier of the second terminal is used to select a user plane network element for the second terminal.

[0147] It can be understood that the relevant technical effects of the method described in the above-mentioned aspect 13 can also refer to the relevant introductions of the above-mentioned other aspects, and will not be repeated here.

[0148] In a fourteenth aspect, a communication method is provided, applied to a network, the method comprising: the network obtaining information of a second terminal, obtaining, based on the information of the second terminal, an identifier of a user plane network element corresponding to the second terminal that supports non-3GPP access, and transmitting the identifier of the user plane network element. The second terminal has non-3GPP access capability, and the identifier of the user plane network element is identifier information of a user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected via a non-3GPP access side.

[0149] In one possible design, the information of the second terminal includes an identifier of the second terminal and service information of the second terminal.

[0150] Optionally, the service information of the second terminal is service information related to the second terminal and a personal identity identification code PIN.

[0151] Optionally, the service information of the second terminal includes: a PIN identifier, a data network name DNN, slice information, a security vector of the second terminal, and at least one of the location information of the second terminal.

[0152] Optionally, the information of the second terminal also includes user plane identity request indication information, where the user plane identity request indication information is used to request the network to allocate a user plane network element identity, where the user plane network element identity is the identification information of the user plane network element to which the terminal is connected through the non-3GPP access side.

[0153] In one possible design, the network obtains the information of the second terminal, including: the network obtains the information of the second terminal from an application function corresponding to the second terminal.

[0154] Optionally, the network sending the identifier of the user plane network element includes: the network sending the identifier of the user plane network element to the application function.

[0155] In one possible design, the method further includes: the network receiving service information from the first terminal, wherein the service information is information about a service related to the second terminal. Accordingly, the network obtaining, based on the information about the second terminal, an identifier of a user plane network element of the network corresponding to the second terminal, including: in response to the service information, the network obtaining, based on the information about the second terminal, the identifier of the user plane network element.

[0156] In a possible design solution, the identifier of the user plane network element is the IP address of the user plane network element.

[0157] In one possible design solution, the identifier of the second terminal is used to select a user plane network element for the second terminal.

[0158] It can be understood that the relevant technical effects of the method described in the above-mentioned fourteenth aspect can also refer to the relevant introductions of the above-mentioned other aspects, and will not be repeated here.

[0159] In a fifteenth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device includes: a module for executing the method described in any one of aspects 1 to 14, such as a transceiver module and a processing module. For example, the transceiver module is configured to indicate the transceiver function of the communication device, and the processing module is configured to perform functions of the communication device other than the transceiver function.

[0160] Optionally, the transceiver module may include a sending module and a receiving module, wherein the sending module is used to implement the sending function of the communication device described in the fifteenth aspect, and the receiving module is used to implement the receiving function of the communication device described in the fifteenth aspect.

[0161] Optionally, the communication device described in aspect 15 may further include a storage module, wherein the storage module stores a program or instruction. When the processing module executes the program or instruction, the communication device may execute the method described in any one of aspects 1 to 14.

[0162] It can be understood that the communication device described in the fifteenth aspect can be a terminal or a network device, or a chip (system) or other parts or components that can be set in a terminal or a network device, or a device that includes a terminal or a network device. This application does not limit this.

[0163] In addition, the technical effects of the communication device described in the fifteenth aspect can refer to the technical effects of the other aspects mentioned above and will not be repeated here.

[0164] In a sixteenth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor configured to execute the method described in any one of the first to fourteenth aspects.

[0165] In one possible design solution, the communication device described in aspect 16 may further include a transceiver. The transceiver may be a transceiver circuit or an interface circuit. The transceiver may be used for the communication device described in aspect 16 to communicate with other communication devices.

[0166] In one possible design, the communication device described in aspect 16 may further include a memory. The memory may be integrated with the processor or provided separately. The memory may be used to store the computer program and / or data involved in the method described in any one of aspects 1 to 14.

[0167] In an embodiment of the present application, the communication device described in aspect 16 may be the terminal or network device described in any one of aspects 1 to 14, or a chip (system) or other parts or components that can be set in the terminal or network device, or a device that includes the terminal or network device.

[0168] In addition, the technical effects of the communication device described in the sixteenth aspect can refer to the technical effects of the methods described in any one of the first to fourteenth aspects, and will not be repeated here.

[0169] In a seventeenth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor coupled to a memory, the processor configured to execute a computer program stored in the memory, so that the communication device performs the method described in any one of the first to fourteenth aspects.

[0170] In one possible design solution, the communication device described in aspect 17 may further include a transceiver. The transceiver may be a transceiver circuit or an interface circuit. The transceiver may be used for the communication device described in aspect 17 to communicate with other communication devices.

[0171] In an embodiment of the present application, the communication device described in aspect 17 may be the terminal or network device described in any one of aspects 1 to 14, or a chip (system) or other parts or components that can be set in the terminal or network device, or a device that includes the terminal or network device.

[0172] In addition, the technical effects of the communication device described in aspect 17 can refer to the technical effects of the methods described in any one of aspects 1 to 14, and will not be repeated here.

[0173] In the eighteenth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor and a memory; the memory is used to store a computer program, and when the processor executes the computer program, the communication device executes the method described in any one of the first to fourteenth aspects.

[0174] In one possible design solution, the communication device described in aspect 18 may further include a transceiver. The transceiver may be a transceiver circuit or an interface circuit. The transceiver may be used for the communication device described in aspect 18 to communicate with other communication devices.

[0175] In an embodiment of the present application, the communication device described in aspect 18 may be the terminal or network device described in any one of aspects 1 to 14, or a chip (system) or other parts or components that can be set in the terminal or network device, or a device that includes the terminal or network device.

[0176] In addition, the technical effects of the communication device described in aspect 18 can refer to the technical effects of the methods described in any one of aspects 1 to 14, and will not be repeated here.

[0177] In a nineteenth aspect, a communication system is provided. The communication system includes: the device / network element of the method described in at least two of the first to fifth aspects above. Alternatively, the communication system includes: the device / network element of the method described in at least two of the eighth to twelfth aspects above.

[0178] In the twentieth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, comprising: a computer program or instructions; when the computer program or instructions are run on a computer, the computer executes the method described in any one of the first to fourteenth aspects.

[0179] In the twenty-first aspect, a computer program product is provided, comprising a computer program or instructions, which, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to execute the method described in any one of aspects one to fourteen. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0180] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the 5GS architecture;

[0181] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of non-3GPP access and 3GPP access;

[0182] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a multi-access PDU session;

[0183] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0184] FIG5 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0185] FIG6 is a second flow chart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0186] FIG7 is a third flow chart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0187] FIG8 is a fourth flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0188] FIG9 is a fifth flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0189] FIG10 is a sixth flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0190] FIG11 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0191] FIG12 is a first structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0192] FIG13 is a second structural diagram of the communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0193] For ease of understanding, the technical terms involved in the embodiments of this application are first introduced below.

[0194] 1. 5G mobile communication system (abbreviated as 5G system (5G system, 5GS)):

[0195] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the 5GS architecture. As shown in Figure 1, the 5GS includes an access network (AN) and a CN, and may also include terminals.

[0196] The terminal may be one or more, such as a first terminal, a second terminal, a third terminal, etc. A terminal may be a terminal with transceiver functions, or may be a chip or chip system provided in the terminal. The terminal may also be referred to as a UE, an access terminal, a subscriber unit (subscriber unit), a user station, a mobile station (MS), a mobile station, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user device. The terminal in the embodiments of the present application can be a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a wireless data card, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a handheld device (handset), a laptop computer, a machine type communication (MTC) terminal, a computer with wireless transceiver function, a virtual reality (VR) terminal, an augmented reality (AR) terminal, a smart home device (for example, a refrigerator, a television, an air conditioner, an electric meter, etc.), an intelligent robot, a robotic arm, a workshop equipment, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self-driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical care, a wireless terminal in a smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in a smart city, a wireless terminal in a smart home, a vehicle-mounted terminal, a roadside unit with terminal function, or a wireless terminal in a smart city. The terminal device of the present application may also be an onboard module, onboard module, onboard component, onboard chip or onboard unit built into a vehicle as one or more components or units. The terminal device may also be other devices with terminal functions, for example, the terminal device may also be a device that functions as a terminal in D2D communication.

[0197] The embodiments of this application do not limit the device form factor of the terminal. The device used to implement the functions of the terminal device can be the terminal device; it can also be a device that supports the terminal device to implement the functions, such as a chip system. The device can be installed in the terminal device or used in conjunction with the terminal device. In the embodiments of this application, the chip system can be composed of chips or include chips and other discrete devices.

[0198] The AN is used to implement access-related functions. It can provide network access for authorized users in a specific area and determine transmission links of varying quality to transmit user data based on user level and service requirements. The AN forwards control signals and user data between terminals and the CN. The AN may include access network equipment, also known as radio access network (RAN) equipment. The CN is primarily responsible for maintaining mobile network subscription data and providing terminal functions such as session management, mobility management, policy management, and security authentication. CN mainly includes the following network elements: user plane function (UPF) network element, authentication service function (AUSF) network element, access and mobility management function (AMF) network element, session management function (SMF) network element, network slice selection function (NSSF) network element, network exposure function (NEF) network element, network function repository function (NRF) network element, policy control function (PCF) network element, unified data management (UDM) network element, unified data repository (UDR), and application function (AF).

[0199] RAN equipment, that is, access network devices can be one or more. The access network device can be a device with wireless transceiver functions, or it can be a chip or chip system provided on the device, located in the access network (AN) of the communication system, to provide access services for the terminal. For example, the access network device can be called a radio access network device (RAN) device, which can specifically be a next-generation mobile communication system, such as a 6G access network device, such as a 6G base station, or in the next-generation mobile communication system, the access network device can also have other naming methods, which are all covered within the scope of protection of the embodiments of this application, and this application does not impose any limitations on this. Alternatively, the access network device may include 5G, such as a gNB in ​​a new radio (NR) system, or one or a group of antenna panels (including multiple antenna panels) of a base station in 5G, or a network node constituting a gNB, a transmission and reception point (TRP or TP), or a transmission measurement function (TMF), such as a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), a radio unit (RU), an RSU with base station functions, a wired access gateway, or a 5G core network element. Alternatively, the access network device may include an access point (AP) in a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system, a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, various types of macro base stations, micro base stations (also known as small cells), relay stations, access points, wearable devices, vehicle-mounted devices, and the like.

[0200] Among them, the CU and DU can be set separately, or can also be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU) or a remote radio head (RRH). It can be understood that the network device can be a CU node, a DU node, or a device including a CU node and a DU node. In addition, the CU can be divided into a network device in the access network RAN, or the CU can be divided into a network device in the core network CN, and there is no limitation here.

[0201] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, CU may also be called O-CU (Open CU), DU may also be called O-DU, CU-CP may also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be called O-CU-UP, and RU may also be called O-RU. For the convenience of description, this application uses CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU as examples for description. Any unit of CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0202] The UPF network element is mainly responsible for user data processing (forwarding, receiving, billing, etc.). For example, the UPF network element can receive user data from the data network (DN) and forward the user data to the terminal through the access network equipment. The UPF network element can also receive user data from the terminal through the access network equipment and forward the user data to the DN. The DN network element refers to the operator network that provides data transmission services to users. For example, the Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Service (IMS), the Internet, etc. The DN can be an operator's external network or a network controlled by the operator, which is used to provide business services to terminal devices.

[0203] The AUSF network element is mainly used to perform terminal security authentication.

[0204] The AMF network element is mainly used for mobility management in mobile networks, such as user location update, user network registration, and user handover.

[0205] The SMF network element is primarily used for session management in mobile networks, such as session establishment, modification, and release. Specific functions include allocating Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to users and selecting UPF network elements that provide packet forwarding capabilities.

[0206] The PCF network element mainly supports providing a unified policy framework to control network behavior, provides policy rules to the control layer network function, and is responsible for obtaining user subscription information related to policy decisions. The PCF network element can provide policies such as quality of service (QoS) policy and slice selection policy to the AMF network element and SMF network element.

[0207] The NSSF network element is mainly used to select network slices for terminals.

[0208] NEF network elements are mainly used to support the opening of capabilities and events.

[0209] UDM network elements are mainly used to store user data, such as subscription data, authentication / authorization data, etc.

[0210] The UDR network element is mainly used to store structured data, including contract data and policy data, externally exposed structured data, and application-related data.

[0211] The AF mainly supports interaction with the CN to provide services, such as influencing data routing decisions, policy control functions, or providing some third-party services to the network side. Optionally, the AF can provide a personal identification number (PIN) service, also known as a PIN-AF.

[0212] When 5GC (5G core network) supports non-trusted non-3GPP (N3G for short) access, the architecture of 5GS is shown in Figure 2, where N3IWF is also called non-trusted non-3GPP access gateway, such as non-trusted WLAN access gateway, to support non-trusted WLAN access technology.

[0213] In addition, 5GC can also support trusted non-3GPP access and / or wired network access. Among them, trusted non-3GPP networks include trusted WLAN networks, and wired networks include fixed home network access, etc. The network side architecture is similar to the non-trusted non-3GPP access architecture. For example, N3IWF can be replaced with a trusted WLAN access gateway (trusted non-3GPP gateway function, TNGF), or replaced with a wired network access gateway (wireline access gateway function, W-AGF). The access network equipment between the UE and the above-mentioned access gateway (such as TNGF or W-AGF) includes WLAN AP, wired network access network equipment (fixed access network, FAN), switches, routers, etc.

[0214] In summary, N3G access technologies include WLAN access technology and wired access technology. WLAN access technology corresponds to WLAN APs deployed in campuses or WLAN AP hotspots deployed in public places, while wired access technology corresponds to wired access deployed in home networks. In addition, WLAN access technology can be further divided into trusted WLAN and untrusted WLAN. In summary, non-3GPP access technologies include trusted non-3GPP access, untrusted non-3GPP access, trusted WLAN access, untrusted WLAN access, wired access or fixed-line access. Whether it is trusted non-3GPP access or untrusted non-3GPP access, the core network side can support the point-to-point interface protocol shown in Figure 2, or support the service-based interface consistently adopted by the 3GPP access core network architecture shown in Figure 1.

[0215] 2. Protocol Data Unit (PDU) Session:

[0216] Currently, 3GPP supports the establishment of single access PDU sessions or multiple access (MA) PDU sessions. As shown in Figure 3, a single access PDU session is a PDU session that only supports one access technology, such as 3GPP access or non-3GPP access, that is, the PDU can only transmit data of UEs that access the network through this access technology. A multiple access PDU session is a PDU session that can support multiple access technologies. For example, PDU session A can transmit data of UEs that access the network through the first access technology, and can also transmit data of UEs that access the network through the second access technology. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the first / second access technology, which can be the above-mentioned 3GPP access, non-3GPP access (trusted non-3GPP access or non-trusted non-3GPP access), LTE access, 5G RAN access, WLAN access, fixed-line access, etc.

[0217] It can be seen that both single-access PDU sessions and multi-access PDU sessions require the UE to support access on the N3G side. In the N3G scenario, the UE must support access to 5GC via the N3G side. This requires the network to deploy an N3G access gateway, and the UE must also support the transmission of NAS messages on the N3G access side. This increases network deployment costs (such as deploying N3IWF) and UE implementation costs (supporting NAS transmission on N3G), thus affecting the commercial use of non-3GPP access to 5GC features in existing networks.

[0218] In response to the above technical problems, the embodiments of the present application propose the following technical solutions.

[0219] The technical solution in this application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0220] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as wireless network (Wi-Fi) systems, vehicle to everything (V2X) communication systems, device-to-device (D2D) communication systems, Internet of Vehicles communication systems, fourth generation (4G) mobile communication systems, such as long term evolution (LTE) systems, world-wide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication systems, 5G, such as NR systems, and future communication systems.

[0221] In the embodiment of the present application, "indication" may include direct indication and indirect indication, and may also include explicit indication and implicit indication. The information indicated by a certain information (such as the first indication information, the second indication information, or the third indication information below) is called information to be indicated. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the information to be indicated, such as but not limited to, the information to be indicated can be directly indicated, such as the information to be indicated itself or the index of the information to be indicated. The information to be indicated can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, wherein the other information and the information to be indicated have an association relationship. It is also possible to indicate only a part of the information to be indicated, while the other parts of the information to be indicated are known or agreed in advance. For example, the indication of specific information can be achieved by means of the arrangement order of each information agreed in advance (such as specified in the protocol), thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent. At the same time, the common parts of each information can be identified and indicated uniformly to reduce the indication overhead caused by indicating the same information separately.

[0222] In addition, the specific indication method can also be various existing indication methods, such as but not limited to the above-mentioned indication methods and various combinations thereof. The specific details of the various indication methods can be referred to the prior art and will not be repeated herein. As can be seen from the above, for example, when it is necessary to indicate multiple information of the same type, there may be a situation where the indication methods for different information are different. In the specific implementation process, the required indication method can be selected according to specific needs. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the selected indication method. In this way, the indication method involved in the embodiment of the present application should be understood to cover various methods that can enable the party to be indicated to obtain the information to be indicated.

[0223] It should be understood that the information to be indicated can be sent as a whole or divided into multiple sub-information and sent separately, and the sending period and / or sending time of these sub-information can be the same or different. The specific sending method is not limited in the embodiments of this application. The sending period and / or sending time of these sub-information can be predefined, for example, predefined according to a protocol, or can be configured by the transmitting device by sending configuration information to the receiving device.

[0224] "Pre-definition" or "pre-configuration" can be implemented by pre-saving corresponding codes, tables or other methods that can be used to indicate relevant information in the device, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific implementation method. Among them, "saving" can mean saving in one or more memories. The one or more memories can be set separately or integrated in an encoder or decoder, a processor, or a communication device. The one or more memories can also be partially set separately and partially integrated in a decoder, a processor, or a communication device. The type of memory can be any form of storage medium, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0225] The "protocol" involved in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a protocol family in the communication field, a standard protocol with a similar protocol family frame structure, or a related protocol used in future communication systems. The embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations on this.

[0226] In the embodiments of the present application, descriptions such as "when...", "in the case of...", "if" and "if" all mean that the device will perform corresponding processing under certain objective circumstances. It does not limit the time, nor does it require the device to perform judgment actions when implemented, nor does it mean that there are other limitations.

[0227] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified, " / " indicates that the objects associated with each other are in an "or" relationship. For example, A / B can represent A or B. "And / or" in the embodiments of the present application is only a description of the association relationship of the associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. A and B can be singular or plural. In addition, in the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified, "multiple" refers to two or more than two. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple. In addition, in order to facilitate the clear description of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish between identical or similar items with basically the same functions and effects. Those skilled in the art will understand that words such as "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity and execution order, and words such as "first" and "second" do not necessarily limit differences. At the same time, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or explanations. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of the present application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or design. Specifically, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete way for easy understanding.

[0228] The network architecture and business scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application. Ordinary technicians in this field will know that with the evolution of network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0229] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, a communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application is first described in detail using the communication system shown in Figure 4 as an example. For example, Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system applicable to the communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application.

[0230] As shown in Figure 4, the communication system can be applied to the above-mentioned 5GS, and mainly includes: terminals, user plane network elements, access and mobility management network elements, session management network elements, data management network elements, policy control network elements and application functions.

[0231] The terminal may be a terminal that supports access through non-3GPP. For ease of understanding, the terminal that supports access through non-3GPP is defined as an xDevice, or it may be replaced by other possible expressions, without limitation. The identifier of the xDevice, or the xDevice ID, may be used to select a network element (such as a UPF network element) for the user plane for the xDevice. Specifically, it may be a user equipment identifier used when the xDevice accesses through non-3GPP, or used to identify a device that supports (or uses) non-3GPP access, such as a subscription permanent identifier (SUPI), a subscription concealed identifier (SUCI), or a 5G temporary identifier (5G-globally unique temporary UE identity, 5G-GUTI), or a user equipment identifier in the format of a network access identifier (NAI). NAI may be based on an existing defined format, such as a user equipment identifier or a domain name. The user equipment identifier may also be the above-mentioned SUPI, SUCI or 5G-GUTI, or other types of user equipment identifiers, without limitation.

[0232] It is understood that if the x-device supports both non-3GPP access and 3GPP access, then the x-device can be understood as a terminal in the conventional sense (i.e., a terminal that supports 3GPP access), or the x-device and the terminal are the same device, and the x-device identifier is the terminal identifier, such as the UE ID. If the x-device only supports non-3GPP access, then the x-device cannot generally be understood as a terminal in the conventional sense, or the x-device and the terminal are different devices, and the x-device identifier and the terminal identifier may also be different identifiers.

[0233] In addition, the device form of the terminal can refer to the relevant introduction in the above 5GS, which will not be repeated here.

[0234] The user plane network element can be the UPF network element in the above-mentioned 5GS. For details, please refer to the above-mentioned relevant introduction, or it can be a network element used to implement the corresponding functions of the user plane in the future communication system. There is no limitation on this.

[0235] The access and mobility management network element can be the AMF network element in the above-mentioned 5GS. For details, please refer to the above-mentioned relevant introduction, or it can be a network element used to implement the corresponding functions of access and mobility management in future communication systems. There is no limitation on this.

[0236] The session management network element can be the SMF network element in the above-mentioned 5GS, for details, please refer to the above-mentioned relevant introduction, or it can be a network element used to implement the corresponding function of session management in the future communication system, which is not limited to this.

[0237] The data management network element can be the UDM network element in the above-mentioned 5GS, for details, please refer to the above-mentioned relevant introduction, or it can be a network element used to implement the corresponding function of data management in the future communication system, which is not limited to this.

[0238] The policy control network element can be the PCF network element in the above-mentioned 5GS, for details, please refer to the above-mentioned relevant introduction, or it can be a network element used to implement the corresponding function of policy control in the future communication system, which is not limited to this.

[0239] The application function may be the AF in the above-mentioned 5GS, for which reference may be made to the above-mentioned related introduction, or it may be a network element in a future communication system for realizing the corresponding function of the application, which is not limited.

[0240] In this communication system, the terminal can reuse 3GPP access and obtain the identifier of the user plane network element from the network, or the application function can proactively obtain the identifier of the user plane network element from the network (such as the session management network element in the network) and provide it to the terminal. In this way, the terminal can communicate directly with the user plane network element through the non-3GPP access side connection, that is, bypassing the N3G access gateway and directly establishing a user plane connection. In this way, the network does not need to deploy an N3G access gateway, and the UE does not need to support the transmission of NAS messages over N3G, thereby achieving user plane connection establishment for non-3GPP access at a lower cost.

[0241] The following will specifically describe the interaction process between each network element / device in the above communication system through a method embodiment in conjunction with Figures 5 to 11. The communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to the above communication system and specifically applied to various scenarios mentioned in the above communication system, which will be described in detail below.

[0242] Scenario 1:

[0243] Figure 5 is a flow chart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication method is applicable to the above-mentioned communication system, and mainly involves the interaction between UE, UPF network element, AMF network element, SMF network element, etc.

[0244] In scenario 1, the UE can act as the x device, or the UE and the x device are the same device. After the UE accesses the 5GC through 3GPP, it can obtain the UPF network element identifier from the 5GC, such as the IP address of the UPF network element. In this way, when the UE accesses the 5GC through non-3GPP, it does not need to interact with NAS and can directly use the IP address of the UPF network element to establish a user plane connection with the UPF network element. This not only reduces network deployment costs, that is, the network side does not need to deploy an access gateway for non-3GPP access, but also reduces the implementation cost of the UE, that is, the UE does not need to support NAS transmission in N3G, which facilitates the commercial use of non-3GPP access 5GC features in existing networks.

[0245] As shown in Figure 5, the process of the communication method is as follows:

[0246] S501: UE accesses the network through 3GPP and completes registration.

[0247] The implementation of S501 may reuse the existing access process and registration process. For details, please refer to the introduction of the relevant chapters of 3GPP, which will not be described here.

[0248] When the UE completes registration, method 1): the UE can obtain the identifier of the UPF network element from the network during the session establishment process, such as S502-S511 below. Alternatively, method 2): the UE can also obtain the identifier of the UPF network element from the UPF network element by reusing the user plane connection of the session after the session is established, such as S512-S518 below, which are described separately below.

[0249] Method 1:

[0250] S502: The UE sends an uplink (UL) NAS transport message to the AMF network element. The AMF network element receives the UL NAS transport message from the UE.

[0251] The UL NAS transmission message can be understood as a normal NAS message, or a first NAS message. The information it carries is mainly used for the UE to request the establishment of a PDU session, or to trigger the PDU session establishment process. The UL NAS transmission message includes at least one of the following: x device identifier (i.e., UE identifier), PDU session identifier (PDU session ID), UE data network name (data network name, DNN), or PDU session establishment request (PDU session establishment request) message, optionally, it may also include an MA PDU request (MA PDU request) indication.

[0252] The MA PDU request indication can be used to request the establishment of a multi-access PDU session, or to indicate that the PDU session requested to be established needs to be a PDU session that supports multi-access. Alternatively, the UL NAS transmission message may not carry the MA PDU request indication, and the default request is to establish a multi-access PDU session. It can be understood that since the UE (x device) is a device that supports both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access, the x device identifier can also be used to implicitly indicate that a UPF identifier needs to be assigned to the UE. The UPF identifier is the identification information of the UPF network element to which the UE is connected through the non-3GPP access side. In addition, the x device identifier can also refer to the relevant introduction of Figure 3 above, and the PDU session identifier, UE's DNN, PDU session establishment request, etc. can also refer to the introduction of the relevant 3GPP chapters, which will not be repeated here.

[0253] It can be seen that if the UE wants to trigger the network to establish a PDU session for it, the UE can encapsulate the above information into a UL NAS transmission message, and then send a UL NAS transmission message to the AMF network element to trigger the PDU session establishment process.

[0254] It can be understood that since the UE and the x device in scenario 1 are the same device, the UE and the x device mentioned in scenario 1 can be understood interchangeably.

[0255] S503, the AMF network element obtains the UE's subscription data from the UDM network element.

[0256] Among them, the UE's subscription data may include: a security vector corresponding to the UE (such as the UE's security certificate, public key, or private key, etc.), an identifier of the SMF network element corresponding to the UE, or may also include other information, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. The AMF network element can obtain the x device identifier from the UL NAS transmission message and send the x device identifier to the UDM network element. Accordingly, the UDM network element can provide the UE's subscription data to the AMF network element based on the x device identifier.

[0257] S504: The AMF network element sends a create session request message to the SMF network element. The SMF network element receives the create session request message from the AMF network element.

[0258] The SMF network element can be determined by the AMF network element based on the subscription data of the x device. For example, if the subscription data of the x device contains the identifier of the SMF network element, then the AMF network element selects the SMF network element and sends a create session request message to it. The create session request message can be used to request the SMF network element to create a PDU session for the UE. The create session request message may include at least one of the following: the UE's DNN, the PDU session identifier, the PDU session establishment request message, the MA PDU request indication (optional) or a container. Among them, the container may include the above-mentioned x device identifier and the security vector corresponding to the UE. That is, the AMF network element can encapsulate the information in the UE's subscription data and the information in the UL NAS transmission into the create session request message, and then send the create session request message to the SMF network element.

[0259] S505, the SMF network element obtains the session management (SM) session related subscription data from the UDM network element.

[0260] The SMF network element can obtain the SM session-related contract data related to the x-device identity from the UDM network element based on the x-device identity, such as the service identity (DNN of the service), service QoS parameters, etc. For example, the SMF network element can send the x-device identity to the UDM network element, and the UDM network element can return the SM session-related contract data related to the x-device identity to the SMF network element based on the x-device identity.

[0261] S506, the SMF network element obtains the strategy of UE-related services from the PCF network element.

[0262] UE-related service policies may include QoS policies, charging policies, etc., for services implemented via non-3GPP access. For example, the SMF network element may send the x-device identifier and SM session-related subscription data to the PCF network element, so that the PCF network element can generate UE-related service policies based on them and return the UE-related service policies to the SMF network element.

[0263] S507, the SMF network element selects the UPF network element.

[0264] The SMF network element can select the UPF network element based on the UE's DNN to initiate the following packet forwarding control protocol (PFCP) session establishment process.

[0265] S508: The SMF network element sends a PFCP session establishment request message to the UPF network element. The UPF network element receives the PFCP session establishment request message from the SMF network element.

[0266] The PFCP Session Establishment Request message can be used to request the establishment of a connection between an SMF network element and a UPF network element. The PFCP Session Establishment Request message can include an x-device identifier. For example, the x-device identifier can be encapsulated and carried in the PFCP Session Establishment Request message. The PFCP Session Establishment Request message carrying the x-device identifier can be used to request that identification information for the UPF network element to which the UE is connected via the non-3GPP access side be allocated to the UE.

[0267] It can be understood that the existing PFCP session establishment request message usually also carries the UE identifier, but the difference from the prior art is that although the embodiment of the present application reuses the UE identifier, the capability of the UE identifier can be enhanced, such as implicitly indicating that the terminal supports non-3GPP access, so that the UPF network element can allocate the UPF network element identifier to the terminal based on the terminal's support for non-3GPP access (see S509 below for details), that is, reuse existing information elements to achieve, thereby saving overhead. Of course, it can also be implemented through newly defined information elements to achieve decoupling from existing information elements and more flexible transmission.

[0268] Optionally, the PFCP session establishment request message may further include a security vector corresponding to the UE. For example, the security vector corresponding to the UE may be encapsulated together with the aforementioned x-device identifier in the same container. Of course, the PFCP session establishment request message may not carry the security vector corresponding to the UE. In this case, the security vector corresponding to the UE may be independently deduced by the UPF network element, or pre-configured or pre-defined locally in the UPF network element by a protocol.

[0269] S509: The UPF network element sends a PFCP session establishment response message to the SMF network element. The SMF network element receives the PFCP session establishment response message from the UPF network element.

[0270] The PFCP session establishment response message may be used to respond to the PFCP session establishment request message to indicate the success / failure of the PFCP session establishment. The PFCP session establishment response message may include the identifier of the UPF network element.

[0271] The identifier of the UPF network element is the identification information of the UPF network element to which the UE is connected through the non-3GPP access side, such as the IP address of the UPF network element, such as the IP address, which can also be called xUPF IP, which can specifically be a public network IP, used to establish an IP connection between the UPF and the x device accessing the network through the non-3GPP. Of course, the IP address of the UPF network element is not limited to the IP address implementation, such as a fully qualified domain name (FQDN). The IP address of the UPF network element can be the address assigned by the UPF network element to the x device (i.e., UE) based on the x device identifier. In other words, the UPF network element can know that it needs to assign the identifier of the UPF network element to the x device based on the x device identifier, that is, assign the IP address of the UPF network element, and reuse the PFCP session establishment request message to return the IP address of the UPF network element to the SMF network element.

[0272] In addition, the UPF network element can also store the x-device identifier. If the UPF network element receives the security vector corresponding to the UE, it also stores the security vector corresponding to the x-device. The x-device identifier and the security vector corresponding to the UE can also be considered as the UE context.

[0273] S510, the SMF network element sends a create session response message to the AMF network element. The AMF network element receives the create session response message from the SMF network element.

[0274] The create session response message may be used to respond to the create session request message. The create session response message may also carry a PDU session establishment accept message, which may be used to respond to the PDU session establishment request message.

[0275] The PDU Session Establishment Accept message may include the UPF network element identifier and, optionally, the x-device identifier, to indicate that the UPF network element identifier is the UPF network element identifier assigned to the x-device. Of course, if the PDU Session Establishment Accept message does not include the x-device identifier, the UPF network element identifier is assumed to be the UPF network element identifier assigned to the x-device.

[0276] Optionally, the PDU Session Establishment Accept message may also include a security vector corresponding to the UE. In this way, the UE does not need to derive the security vector corresponding to the UE itself, thereby reducing the UE's overhead. Of course, if the PDU Session Establishment Accept message does not include the security vector corresponding to the UE, the security vector corresponding to the UE may be derived by the UE itself, or pre-configured or pre-defined locally in the UE by a protocol.

[0277] S511: The AMF network element sends a downlink (DL) NAS transmission message to the UE. The UE receives the DL NAS transmission message from the AMF network element.

[0278] The DL NAS transmission message may be used to respond to the aforementioned UL NAS transmission message, and may also be referred to as a NAS message, such as a second NAS message. It may include the aforementioned PDU session establishment accept message. The DL NAS transmission message includes the identifier of the UPF network element and, optionally, the security vector corresponding to the UE. In this way, the UE may obtain the identifier of the UPF network element and, optionally, the security vector corresponding to the UE.

[0279] Method 2:

[0280] S512: The UE establishes an MA PDU session with the network.

[0281] The implementation of S512 may reuse the existing MA PDU session establishment process. For details, please refer to the introduction of the relevant chapters of 3GPP, which will not be described here.

[0282] S513: The UE sends a first performance measurement function (PMF) message to the UPF network element. The UPF network element receives the first PMF message from the UE.

[0283] When the UE has successfully established an MA PDU session, the UPF network element is the user plane port of the MA PDU session, that is, it can be considered that after access through 3GPP, the UE and the UPF network element have established a user plane tunnel. The first PMF message is carried in this user plane tunnel. Therefore, the first PMF message is a user plane message. Currently, it can also be replaced by any possible user plane message, or the first message of the user plane, without limitation. The x device identifier carried by the first PMF message can be used to request that the UE be allocated identification information for identifying the UPF network element to which the UE is connected through the non-3GPP access side.

[0284] It is understood that when the UPF network element receives the first PMF message, it can allocate the UPF network element identifier to the UE based on the x device identifier carried in the first PMF message. Alternatively, the UPF network element can also trigger the allocation of the UPF network element identifier to the UE in the following S517 based on the received security vector corresponding to the UE. For details, please refer to the following related introduction.

[0285] It can also be understood that the user plane tunnel between the UE and the UPF network element mentioned in S513 is established in a segmented manner, that is, tunnels are established between the UE and the RAN device, and between the RAN device and the UPF network element. In this case, the RAN device acts as a transit device, and the UE is unaware of the existence of the UPF network element. In other words, the UE cannot communicate directly with the UPF network element, or directly send data / signaling to the UPF network element using the UPF network element's IP address as the destination address.

[0286] S514: The UPF network element sends a PFCP request message to the SMF network element. The SMF network element receives the PFCP request message from the UPF network element.

[0287] As above, the SMF network element is the SMF network element corresponding to the MA PDU session. PFCP request message x device identifier.

[0288] S515, the SMF network element obtains the SM session related contract data from the UDM network element.

[0289] The specific implementation of S515 is similar to that of the above-mentioned S505 and can be understood by reference thereto. The difference is that the SM session-related subscription data may further include a security vector corresponding to the x device.

[0290] S516, the SMF network element obtains the strategy of UE-related services from the PCF network element.

[0291] Among them, the specific implementation of S516 is similar to that of the above S506, which can be understood by reference and will not be repeated here.

[0292] It can be understood that for the PCF network element, it knows through the x device identifier that the UE is a device that supports non-3GPP access, and therefore triggers the acquisition of non-3GPP access-related information of the UE, such as the security vector corresponding to the UE, and the QoS policy and billing policy used for services implemented through non-3GPP access. For details, you can also refer to the above-mentioned related introduction and will not repeat them here.

[0293] S517, the SMF network element sends a PFCP response message to the UPF network element. The UPF network element receives the PFCP response message from the SMF network element.

[0294] The PFCP response message can be used to respond to the above-mentioned PFCP request message. The PFCP response message can carry the x-device identifier and the security vector to jointly indicate that the security vector is the security vector corresponding to the UE. Of course, if the PFCP response message does not include the security vector corresponding to the UE, the security vector corresponding to the UE can be independently derived by the UPF network element, or pre-configured or pre-defined locally in the UPF network element by protocol.

[0295] Similarly, the UPF network element can also store the x-device identifier. If the UPF network element receives the security vector corresponding to the UE, it also stores the security vector corresponding to the UE. The x-device identifier and the security vector corresponding to the UE can also be considered as the UE context.

[0296] S518: The UPF network element sends a second PMF message to the UE. The UPF network element receives the second PMF message from the UE.

[0297] As above, the second PMF message is also a user plane message. Currently, it can also be replaced by any possible user plane message, or the second message of the user plane, without limitation. The second PMF message can carry the identifier of the UPF network element and, optionally, the security vector corresponding to the UE. Of course, if the second PMF message does not include the security vector corresponding to the UE, the security vector corresponding to the UE can be deduced by the UE itself, or pre-configured or pre-defined locally in the UE by protocol. In this way, the UE obtains the identifier of the UPF network element and, optionally, the security vector corresponding to the UE.

[0298] It can be seen that the above-mentioned method 1 and method 2 are parallel. After S511 or S518, when the UE accesses the network through a non-3GPP network, the UE establishes a secure connection with the UPF network element according to the identifier of the UPF network element, that is, bypassing the N3G access gateway and directly establishing a user plane connection, thereby achieving user plane connection establishment for non-3GPP access at a lower cost, as shown in S519-S522 below.

[0299] S519, the UE triggers the IP security association (IPsec) establishment process from the UE to the UPF network element.

[0300] For example, if N3G is WLAN, the UE is within the coverage of the WLAN AP and establishes an L2 connection with the WLAN AP, i.e., accessing the network through the non-3GPP (WLAN AP), or accessing the non-3GPP access side. In this way, the UE can trigger the IPSec establishment process from the UE to the UPF network element through the WLAN AP, and continue to execute S520.

[0301] S520: The UE sends an IK_AUTH request message to the UPF network element. The UPF network element receives the IK_AUTH request message from the UE.

[0302] The IK_Authentication Request message may be used to request the UPF network element to establish an IPsec connection. For example, the IK_Authentication Request message may include the x-device identifier, the UE's IP address, and the like.

[0303] The UE can send an IK_Authentication Request message to the UPF network element based on the previously acquired UPF network element identifier, i.e., the UPF network element's IP address. If the UPF network element's IP address is the UPF network element's IP address, the UE can send an IK_Authentication Request message to that IP address, i.e., initiate an IPSec establishment process to the UPF's IP address. If the UPF network element's IP address is an FQDN, the UE can determine the IP address corresponding to this FQDN, i.e., the UPF network element's IP address, through a Domain Name System (DNS) query, and then initiate an IPSec establishment process to that IP address.

[0304] S521, the UPF network element authenticates the UE.

[0305] The UPF network element can authenticate the UE based on the x-device identifier in the IK_Authentication Request message, such as determining whether a corresponding UE context exists. For example, if the UPF network element does not find the same x-device identifier in the local UE context based on the x-device identifier in the IK_Authentication Request message, the UPF network element determines that there is no UE context corresponding to the x-device identifier. In other words, the UPF network element determines that authentication of the UE has failed and refuses to establish the IPSec connection. If the UPF network element finds the same x-device identifier in the local UE context based on the x-device identifier in the IK_Authentication Request message, the UPF network element determines that there is a UE context corresponding to the x-device identifier. In other words, the UPF network element determines that authentication of the UE has succeeded and allows the establishment of the IPSec connection.

[0306] S522: The UPF network element sends an IK_AUTH response message to the UE. The UE receives the IK_AUTH response message from the UPF network element.

[0307] The IK_Authorization Response message indicates whether the UPF network element allows the UE to establish an IPSec connection. If the IPSec connection is denied, the process ends. If the IPSec connection is allowed, both the UE and the UPF network element can derive security keys, such as encryption and integrity protection keys, based on the UE's corresponding security vector. This allows both the UE and the UPF network element to communicate using security keys, and the IPSec connection is successfully established.

[0308] It will be understood that the above takes IPSec connection as an example, but it is not intended to be limiting. For example, it can also be replaced by transport layer security (TLS) connection, quick user datagram protocol (UDP) network connection (quick UDP internet connections, QUIC) connection, multi-path (MP) connection, etc., without limitation.

[0309] It can be understood that the above is to realize the allocation of the UPF network element identifier by multiplexing the x device identifier, but it is not limited to this. For example, it can also be realized by additionally introducing a newly defined information element, such as the identifier allocation indication of the UPF network element, or other naming methods can be used without limitation. In this case, the UE can also report the identifier allocation indication of the UPF network element. The identifier allocation indication of the UPF network element can be forwarded together with the x device identifier through the AMF network element and the SMF network element in sequence, and finally passed to the UPF network element, so that the UPF network element can allocate the identifier of the UPF network element to the x device accordingly.

[0310] Scenario 2:

[0311] Figure 6 is a flow chart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication method is applicable to the above-mentioned communication system, mainly involving the interaction between UE, x device, UPF network element, AMF network element, SMF, PIN-AF, etc.

[0312] In scenario 2, the UE and the x device are different devices. The UE can be understood as the first terminal and the x device can be understood as the second terminal. Before the x device accesses the 5GC through non-3GPP, the UE can trigger the AF corresponding to the x device and send the UPF network element identifier, such as the IP address of the UPF network element, to the x device through 5GC. When the x device accesses the 5GC through non-3GPP, it does not need to interact with NAS and can directly use the IP address of the UPF network element to establish a connection with the UPF network element. This not only reduces the cost of network deployment, that is, the network side does not need to deploy an access gateway for non-3GPP access, but also reduces the implementation cost of the x device, that is, the x device does not need to support NAS transmission in N3G, which facilitates the commercial use of the non-3GPP access 5GC feature in existing networks.

[0313] As shown in Figure 6, the process of the communication method is as follows:

[0314] S601: UE accesses the network through 3GPP and completes registration.

[0315] The implementation of S601 may reuse the existing access process and registration process. For details, please refer to the introduction of the relevant chapters of 3GPP, which will not be described here.

[0316] S602: The UE sends an application (APP) message to the PIN-AF. The PIN-AF receives the APP message from the UE.

[0317] The PIN-AF can be an AF serving the x device and the UE, and can support the PIN service. The PIN service can be a special service, such as a group service, and the PIN can represent a corresponding group. If the UE supports the PIN service, the UE can be considered a member of the group.

[0318] The APP message can be used to request the PIN-AF to provide information about the x device (or, information about the first terminal) for non-3GPP access. For example, the APP message may include at least one of the following: a UE device identifier (or, an identifier of the second terminal), such as a generic public subscription identifier (GPSI), a group identifier, such as a PIN ID, or an x ​​device identifier (or, an identifier of the first terminal). The x device identifier can be referred to in the above-mentioned related introduction and will not be repeated here.

[0319] It is understood that the embodiments of the present application do not restrict how the UE obtains the PIN-AF address, such as by pre-configuration. Furthermore, the embodiments of the present application do not restrict how the UE obtains the x-device identifier. If the x-device identifier is a QR code of the x-device, the UE can obtain the x-device identifier by scanning the device QR code.

[0320] S603, PIN-AF sends the information of device x to the NEF network element.

[0321] The information of the x device may include: an x ​​device identifier and service information of the x device (or service information of the first terminal). The service information of the x device may be pre-configured in the PIN-AF and may specifically include at least one of the following: a security vector corresponding to the x device (or a security vector corresponding to the first terminal), a service identifier of the x device, such as a DNN, QoS parameters of the x device, or location information of the x device (or location information of the first terminal). Optionally, it may also include an xUPF request indication (or user plane identifier request indication information) for the network (such as 5GC) to allocate a UPF network element identifier (or a user plane network element identifier). The UPF network element identifier is the identifier information of the UPF network element to which the x device is connected via the non-3GPP access side. That is, the xUPF request indication explicitly instructs the network to allocate a UPF network element identifier for the x device. For details, please refer to the relevant description below. It can be understood that the xUPF request indication is an optional information element. That is, if there is no xUPF request indication, the 5GC will allocate the UPF network element identifier by default when receiving the information of the x device.

[0322] It is understood that the information of device x can be carried through existing signaling or through new signaling, and this is not specifically limited. In addition, the PIN-AF can also send the UE device identifier to the NEF network element. This identifier and the information of device x can be carried in the same signaling or in different signaling, and this is not specifically limited.

[0323] S604: The NEF network element stores the information of the x device in the network element corresponding to the UE.

[0324] The NEF network element can search for the network element corresponding to the UE based on the UE's device identifier, such as the network element serving the UE, which can be a UDM network element, UDR network element, or PCF network element. The NEF then stores the information of device x in the UDM network element, UDR network element, or PCF network element. For ease of understanding, the following takes storing the information in the UDM network element as an example.

[0325] S605: The UE sends a UL NAS transfer message to the AMF. The AMF receives the UL NAS transfer message from the UE.

[0326] The information carried by the UL NAS transmission message (or NAS message) is mainly used by the UE to request the establishment of a PDU session, such as the PDU session corresponding to the above-mentioned PIN ID. For example, the UL NAS transmission message may include at least one of the following: UE identifier, such as SUPI, PDU session identifier, UE DNN, PDU session establishment request message, and optionally, an MA PDU request indication. The PDU session establishment request message may also carry service information, such as service information related to the x device, which may specifically be the above-mentioned PIN ID, or at least one of the DNN and / or slice information corresponding to the PIN, to determine the PIN corresponding to the PDU session.

[0327] It is understood that, since the UE learns during S602 that the PIN is sent to the PIN-AF so that the x device can ultimately obtain the UPF network element identifier, after S602 is completed, the UE proceeds to S605 to trigger the PDU session establishment process so that the x device can ultimately obtain the UPF network element identifier. Alternatively, the x device can ultimately obtain the UPF network element identifier by reusing the PDU session establishment process. For details, please refer to the relevant description below. Furthermore, the execution order of S605 and S603-S604 is not limited.

[0328] S606: The AMF network element sends a create session request message to the SMF network element. The SMF network element receives the create session request message from the AMF network element.

[0329] The SMF network element is determined by the AMF network element based on the UE's subscription data obtained from the UDM network element. For details, please refer to the introduction of the relevant chapters of 3GPP, which will not be repeated here.

[0330] The create session request message may include at least one of the following: UE identifier, PDU session identifier, UE DNN, PDU session establishment request message, or MA PDU request indication (optional), that is, the AMF network element may encapsulate the information in the UL NAS transmission message into the create session request message, and then send the create session request message to the SMF network element.

[0331] S607, the SMF network element obtains the policy corresponding to the PIN from the PCF network element.

[0332] The SMF network element can determine the PIN corresponding to the PDU session based on the PIN ID in the PDU session establishment request message, or at least one of the DNN and / or slice information corresponding to the PIN, thereby obtaining the policy corresponding to the PIN from the PCF network element. For example, the SMF network element sends the above-mentioned PIN ID, or at least one of the DNN and / or slice information corresponding to the PIN to the PCF network element, so that the PCF network element can determine the PIN corresponding to the at least one information. The PCF network element can obtain the policy corresponding to the PIN from the UDM network element. For example, the PCF network element sends the PIN ID to the UDM network element, so that the UDM network element returns the information corresponding to the PIN ID to the PCF network element, that is, the information of the x device. The PCF network element can return the information of the x device to the SMF network element by carrying the policy corresponding to the PIN.

[0333] S608, the SMF network element selects the UPF network element.

[0334] The SMF network element can obtain the location information of the x device and / or the DNN of the x device from the information of the x device, and select the corresponding UPF network element accordingly.

[0335] S609: The SMF network element sends a PFCP session establishment request message to the UPF network element. The UPF network element receives the PFCP session establishment request message from the SMF network element.

[0336] S610: The UPF network element sends a PFCP session establishment response message to the SMF network element. The SMF network element receives the PFCP session establishment response message from the UPF network element.

[0337] The specific implementation of S609-S610 can also refer to the relevant introduction of S508-S509 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0338] S611, the SMF network element sends the x device identifier and the UPF network element identifier to the PCF network element.

[0339] Among them, the identifier of the UPF network element is also the IP address of the UPF network element. That is to say, when the SMF network element obtains the identifier of the UPF network element, the SMF network element can return the x device identifier and the identifier of the UPF network element to the PCF network element according to the xUPF request indication obtained in advance from the PCF network element. Of course, if there is no xUPF request indication, the SMF network element can also send the x device identifier and the identifier of the UPF network element to the PCF network element by default.

[0340] It is understandable that the information of the x device may be carried in existing signaling or in new signaling, and this is not limited.

[0341] S612: The PCF network element sends the x device identifier and the UPF network element identifier through the NEF network element. The PIN-AF receives the x device identifier and the UPF network element identifier through the NEF network element.

[0342] Similarly, if the PCF network element obtains the UPF network element's identifier, it can also return the x device identifier and the UPF network element's identifier to the NEF network element based on the xUPF request indication previously received from the NEF network element. Of course, if there is no xUPF request indication, the PCF network element can default to sending the x device identifier and the UPF network element's identifier to the NEF network element. Simultaneously, the PCF network element can also send the aforementioned UE device identifier, such as the GPSI, and the aforementioned group identifier, such as the PIN ID, to the NEF network element. Accordingly, the NEF network element can retransmit the information received from the PCF network element to the PIN-AF. At this point, the PIN-AF obtains and stores the identifier of the UPF network element corresponding to the x device identifier.

[0343] S613: PIN-AF sends an APP notification message to device x. Device x receives the APP notification message from PIN-AF.

[0344] The APP notification message includes the UPF network element identifier and, optionally, at least one of the following: the x device identifier and the security vector corresponding to the x device. Thus, the x device obtains the UPF network element identifier and, optionally, the security vector corresponding to the x device.

[0345] S614, the x device triggers the IPsec establishment process from the x device to the UPF network element.

[0346] S615: The x device sends an IK_Authentication Request message to the UPF network element. The UPF network element receives the IK_Authentication Request message from the x device.

[0347] S616: The UPF network element determines to authenticate the x device.

[0348] S617: The UPF network element sends an IK_authentication response message to the x device. The x device receives the IK_authentication response message from the UPF network element.

[0349] Among them, the specific implementation of S614-S617 can also refer to the relevant introduction of the above S519-S522, which will not be repeated here.

[0350] Scenario 3:

[0351] Figure 7 is a third flow diagram of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. This communication method is applicable to the aforementioned communication system and primarily involves interactions between the UE, the x-device, the UPF network element, the AMF network element, the SMF, the PIN-AF, and the like. In scenario 3, the UE and the x-device are different devices; the UE can be considered the first terminal, and the x-device can be considered the second terminal. The UE can first obtain the x-device identifier from the x-device. After the UE accesses the 5GC via 3GPP, it can obtain the identifier of the x-device's UPF network element from the 5GC, such as the UPF network element's IP address, and send it to the x-device. When the x-device accesses the 5GC via a non-3GPP protocol, it does not require NAS interaction and can directly establish a connection with the UPF network element using the UPF network element's IP address. This not only reduces network deployment costs, meaning the network side does not need to deploy an access gateway for non-3GPP access, but also reduces the implementation costs of the x-device, meaning the x-device does not need to support NAS transmission over N3G, facilitating the commercial use of non-3GPP access to 5GC in existing networks.

[0352] As shown in Figure 7, the process of the communication method is as follows:

[0353] S701: UE accesses the network through 3GPP and completes registration.

[0354] The implementation of S701 may reuse the existing access process and registration process. For details, please refer to the introduction of the relevant chapters of 3GPP, which will not be described here.

[0355] S702: The UE obtains an x-device identifier from the x-device.

[0356] The UE may establish a connection with the x device, such as a Bluetooth connection or a WLAN connection.

[0357] S703, the UE obtains the identifier of the UPF network element from the network.

[0358] The specific implementation of S703 may refer to the related introduction of S502 to S518 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0359] S704, the UE sends the identifier of the UPF network element to the x device.

[0360] The UE sends the identifier of the UPF network element to the x device through the connection between the UE and the x device.

[0361] S705, the x device establishes a connection with the UPF network element.

[0362] The specific implementation of S705 can also refer to the relevant introduction of S519-S522 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0363] The above respectively introduces the specific processes of Scenario 1 to Scenario 3 in conjunction with Figures 5 to 7. The following summarizes the processes of Scenario 1 to Scenario 3 in conjunction with Figures 8 to 11.

[0364] Figure 8 is a fourth flow diagram of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. This communication method is applicable to the aforementioned communication system and primarily involves interactions between terminals, such as a first terminal and a second terminal, and networks, such as user plane network elements (UPF network elements), access and mobility management network elements (AMF network elements), and session management network elements (SMF network elements). For example, the first terminal can obtain the identifier of the user plane network element by sending the identifier of the second terminal to the network, as described in detail below.

[0365] S801: When a first terminal accesses a network through the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the first terminal sends an identifier of a second terminal to the network.

[0366] The first terminal may be the aforementioned UE, the second terminal may be the aforementioned x device, and the second terminal may have non-3GPP access capability. The first terminal and the second terminal may be different devices, or may be the same device.

[0367] If the first terminal and the second terminal are different devices, the identifier of the second terminal can be the above-mentioned x-device identifier, that is, the identifier of the UE, which is used to select the network element of the user plane for the second terminal. The first terminal can obtain the identifier of the second terminal from the second terminal, that is, it can be obtained on demand, and there is no need to always retain the identifier of the second terminal, which can save storage overhead. For example, the first terminal establishes a connection with the second terminal and obtains the identifier of the second terminal through the above-mentioned connection. For example, the first terminal can request information used to identify the second terminal from the second terminal through the connection, so that the first terminal can receive the identifier of the second terminal returned by the second terminal through the connection; or, the second terminal can also respond to establishing a connection with the first terminal and actively send the identifier of the second terminal to the first terminal through the connection; or, the first terminal scans the identification information of the second terminal (such as a QR code identifier) ​​to obtain the identifier of the second terminal. For details, please refer to the relevant introduction of S702-S703 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0368] If the first terminal and the second terminal are the same device, the identifier of the second terminal is the identifier of the first terminal, which can be pre-configured locally in the first terminal. For details, please refer to the relevant introduction of S702-S703 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0369] The first terminal may send the identifier of the second terminal to the network during the session establishment process, or may send the identifier of the second terminal through a user plane tunnel after the session is established, which will be described separately below.

[0370] Mode 1: The first terminal sends the second terminal's identifier to the network during session establishment.

[0371] The first terminal may send a first NAS message to the access and mobility management network element. The first NAS message may be used by the first terminal to request the establishment of a session, i.e., to trigger the session establishment process, and may also carry the identifier of the second terminal. Specifically, it may be a session establishment request message, or a PDU session establishment request message. You may also refer to the relevant introduction of S501-S502 above, which will not be repeated here. Alternatively, the first NAS message may be a NAS message containing a PDU session establishment request message. In this case, the identifier of the second terminal may be carried in the first NAS message, or the identifier of the second terminal may also be carried in the PDU session establishment request message. There is no restriction on this.

[0372] The access and mobility management network element can receive the identifier of the second terminal from the first terminal, such as receiving the first NAS message from the first terminal, and send the identifier of the second terminal to the session management network element, such as sending a session establishment request message carrying the identifier of the second terminal. At this time, the session establishment request message may include the PDU session establishment request message sent by the previous terminal. The identifier of the second terminal can be carried in the session establishment request message, or carried in the PDU session establishment request message. For details, please refer to the relevant introduction of S503-S504 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0373] Optionally, the session establishment request message may also carry a security vector corresponding to the second terminal, which is used by the second terminal when establishing a secure connection to the user plane through a non-3GPP access side connection. That is, the session management network element can reuse the session establishment process and obtain the security vector corresponding to the second terminal from the access and mobility management network element to reduce the difficulty and complexity of implementation. Of course, the session management network element can also obtain it from other network elements. For example, the session management network element can also obtain the security vector corresponding to the second terminal from the data management network element or application function to achieve decoupling from the session establishment process and make the process more flexible. In addition, the above can also refer to the relevant introduction of S503-S504 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0374] It can be understood that when the first terminal and the second terminal are the same device, the security vector corresponding to the second terminal can also be called the security vector corresponding to the first terminal, and the embodiment of the present application does not limit the expression.

[0375] The session management network element may receive the identifier of the second terminal, such as by receiving a session establishment request message from the access and mobility management network element. In this way, the session management network element may obtain the identifier of the user plane network element based on the identifier of the second terminal. For example, the session management network element may select a user plane network element that supports non-3GPP access based on the identifier of the second terminal, thereby determining the identifier of the user plane network element (either determined independently or pre-configured locally by the session management network element), or obtain the identifier of the user plane network element from the user plane network element. For details, please refer to the relevant description of S802-S803 below.

[0376] Mode 2: After the session is established, the first terminal sends the identifier of the second terminal through the user plane tunnel:

[0377] The first terminal may send a first user-plane message to a user-plane network element in the network. For example, the first terminal may first send the first message to the access network device through a user-plane tunnel, and the access network device may then forward the first message to the user-plane network element through the user-plane tunnel. In this case, the first terminal cannot directly perceive the existence of the user-plane network element. The first message may carry the identifier of the second terminal, so as to request that the second terminal be allocated identifier information for identifying the user-plane network element to which the second terminal is connected via the non-3GPP access side. For details, please refer to the relevant introduction of S512-S513 above, which will not be repeated here. Afterwards, continue to execute S802-S803 below.

[0378] S802: The user plane network element receives an identifier of the second terminal.

[0379] As in method A above:

[0380] The session management network element can select a user plane network element based on the identifier of the second terminal and send a PFCP session establishment request message to the user plane network element. Accordingly, the user plane network element can receive the PFCP session establishment request message from the session management network element. The PFCP session establishment request message can carry the identifier of the second terminal to request that the identification information of the user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected through the non-3GPP access side be allocated to the second terminal. For details, please refer to the relevant introduction of S505-S508 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0381] It can be understood that when the first terminal and the second terminal are the same device, that is, the identifier of the second terminal is the identifier of the first terminal, the existing PFCP session establishment request message usually also carries the identifier of the second terminal. However, the difference from the prior art is that although the embodiment of the present application reuses the identifier of the second terminal, the capability of the identifier of the second terminal can be enhanced, such as implicitly indicating that the second terminal supports non-3GPP access, so that the user plane network element can allocate the identifier of the user plane network element to the second terminal based on the second terminal's support for non-3GPP access, that is, reuse existing information elements to achieve this, thereby saving overhead. Of course, it can also be achieved through newly defined information elements to achieve decoupling from existing information elements and more flexible transmission.

[0382] Optionally, the PFCP session establishment request message may also carry a security vector corresponding to the second terminal. That is, the session management network element may pre-configure the security vector required for establishing the user plane connection to the user plane network element, eliminating the need for the user plane network element to derive the security vector independently, thereby reducing the user plane network element's overhead. Of course, the user plane network element may also derive the security vector independently, and this is not limited to this. Furthermore, reference may be made to the above description of S505-S508, which will not be repeated here.

[0383] As in method B above:

[0384] The user plane network element may receive a first message from the user plane of the first terminal. The first message may carry an identifier of the second terminal. For details, please refer to the relevant introduction of S512-S513 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0385] Optionally, the user plane network element can also obtain the security vector corresponding to the second terminal. For example, the user plane network element can send the identifier of the second terminal to the session management network element, and the session management network element receives the identifier of the second terminal from the user plane network element, such as sending a PFCP request message carrying the identifier of the second terminal. In this way, the session management network element can send the security vector corresponding to the second terminal to the user plane network element based on the identifier of the second terminal, and send a PFCP response message carrying the security vector corresponding to the second terminal. That is, the user plane network element can actively request the session management network element to provide the security vector corresponding to the second terminal, so as to achieve on-demand provision and avoid redundancy. In addition, reference can also be made to the relevant introduction of S514-S517 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0386] S803: The user plane network element sends an identifier of the user plane network element allocated to the second terminal.

[0387] The identifier of the user plane network element, such as the identifier of the above-mentioned UPF network element, is the identification information of the user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected through the non-3GPP access side. Specifically, it can be the IP address of the user plane network element, such as the IP address of the above-mentioned UPF network element. For details, please refer to the relevant introduction of S509 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0388] As in method A above:

[0389] The user plane network element may allocate the identifier of the user plane network element to the second terminal based on the identifier of the second terminal, or the user plane network element may also allocate the identifier of the user plane network element based on a request message (such as a PFCP session establishment request message), or the user plane network element may also allocate the identifier of the user plane network element based on the indication information sent by other SMFs. The specific implementation method is not limited in the embodiments of this application. The user plane network element may send a PFCP session establishment response message carrying the identifier of the user plane network element to the session management network element. Correspondingly, the session management network element may also send a session establishment response message carrying the identifier of the user plane network element to the access and mobility management network element. The session establishment response message includes the following PDU session establishment success message sent to the terminal, and the identifier of the user plane network element is carried in the session establishment response message, or carried in the PDU session establishment success message sent to the UE. The specific implementation method is not limited in the embodiments of this application.

[0390] Optionally, the session establishment response message also carries the security vector corresponding to the second terminal. That is, the security vector required for establishing the user plane connection is pre-configured to the second terminal by the first terminal, eliminating the need for the second terminal to derive the security vector independently. This reduces the second terminal's overhead and facilitates energy conservation. Of course, the second terminal may also derive the security vector independently, and this is not limited to this. Furthermore, the above description can also be referred to the relevant description of S509-S510 above, and will not be repeated here.

[0391] As in method B above:

[0392] The user plane network element may send a second user plane message to the first terminal. This second message may carry an identifier of the user plane network element. For details, please refer to the relevant description of S518 above and will not be repeated here. Optionally, the second message may also carry a security vector corresponding to the second terminal. Of course, the first terminal may also independently deduce this, and this is not limited to this. In addition, please refer to the relevant description of S518 above and will not be repeated here.

[0393] S804: The first terminal receives the identifier of the user plane network element returned by the network.

[0394] As in method A above:

[0395] The first terminal may receive a second NAS message returned by the access and mobility management network element, where the second NAS message is used to indicate that the session establishment is successful, such as a session establishment success message, or a PDU session establishment success message, and the PDU session establishment success message carries an identifier of the user plane network element. For details, please refer to the relevant introduction of S511 above, which will not be repeated here. Alternatively, the second NAS message may also be a NAS message containing a PDU session establishment success message. In this case, the identifier of the user plane network element may be carried in the second NAS message, or the identifier of the user plane network element may also be carried in the PDU session establishment success message.

[0396] It is understandable that since the session establishment process already involves the selection of a user plane network element, the first terminal can reuse the existing session establishment process to select a user plane network element for non-3GPP access and obtain the identifier of the user plane network element in the case of 3GPP access. Compared with implementing it through a newly defined process, this is simpler to implement and reduces communication overhead. Of course, it can also be implemented through a newly defined process to achieve decoupling from the existing process and more flexible information element transmission.

[0397] As in method B above:

[0398] The first terminal may receive a second user plane message returned by the user plane network element. The second message carries an identifier of the user plane network element. For details, please refer to the relevant introduction of S518 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0399] It is understandable that if the first terminal has accessed and established a user plane connection through 3GPP, the first terminal can reuse user plane messages, such as the first and second messages described above, to directly obtain the identifier of the user plane network element from the user plane network element. That is, reusing the user plane tunnel established by 3GPP to obtain the identifier of the user plane network element for non-3GPP access. Compared with implementing it through a newly defined process, its implementation is simpler and has less communication overhead. Of course, it can also be implemented through a newly defined process to achieve decoupling from the existing process and more flexible information element delivery.

[0400] It can be understood that, according to the above, the security vector corresponding to the second terminal can be carried in the NAS message or user plane message sent by the network to the first terminal, that is, the session establishment or user plane tunnel can be reused to obtain the security vector, which is simpler to implement and has less communication overhead than that achieved through a newly defined process. Of course, it can also be implemented through a newly defined process to achieve decoupling from the existing process and more flexible information element transmission. Then, in the case where the first terminal and the second terminal are different devices, the first terminal sends the identifier of the user plane network element and at least one of the security vectors corresponding to the second terminal to the second terminal, so that the second terminal can directly establish a secure connection with the user plane network element through a non-3GPP access side connection. For details, please refer to the relevant introduction below and will not be repeated here. Of course, the security vector corresponding to the second terminal is pre-configured locally in the second terminal, that is, it does not need to be provided by other network elements or devices to save communication overhead.

[0401] In summary, the first terminal accessed via 3GPP can be reused to obtain the identifier of the user plane network element for the second terminal from the network. This identifier allows the second terminal to communicate directly with the user plane network element via a non-3GPP access side connection, bypassing the N3G access gateway and directly establishing a user plane connection. In this way, the network does not need to deploy an N3G access gateway, and the terminal does not need to support the transmission of NAS messages over N3G, thereby achieving user plane connection establishment for non-3GPP access at a lower cost.

[0402] Optionally, in combination with the method shown in FIG8 above, the method further includes: when the first terminal and the second terminal are the same terminal, when the first terminal accesses the network through a non-3GPP, the first terminal establishes a secure connection with the user plane network element based on the identifier of the user plane network element, that is, bypassing the N3G access gateway and directly establishing a user plane connection, thereby achieving user plane connection establishment for non-3GPP access at a lower cost. For example, the first terminal can establish a secure connection with the user plane network element based on the identifier of the user plane network element using the security vector corresponding to the first terminal to ensure communication security and avoid security risks. For details, please refer to the relevant introduction of S519-S522 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0403] Optionally, in combination with the method shown in FIG8 above, if the first terminal and the second terminal are the same terminal, the method further includes: when the first terminal accesses the network through a non-3GPP network, the first terminal establishes a secure connection with the user plane network element based on the identifier of the user plane network element, that is, bypassing the N3G access gateway and directly establishing a user plane connection, thereby achieving user plane connection establishment for non-3GPP access at a lower cost. For example, the first terminal can establish a secure connection with the user plane network element based on the identifier of the user plane network element using the security vector corresponding to the first terminal to ensure communication security and avoid security risks. For details, please refer to the relevant introduction of S519-S522 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0404] Optionally, in conjunction with the method shown in FIG8 above, if the first terminal and the second terminal are different terminals, the method further includes: the second terminal receiving an identifier of a user plane network element, and when the second terminal accesses the network via a non-3GPP method, the second terminal establishing a secure connection with the user plane network element based on the identifier of the user plane network element. For example, the second terminal may establish a secure connection with the user plane network element based on the identifier of the user plane network element using a security vector corresponding to the second terminal to ensure communication security and avoid security risks. For details, please refer to the relevant introduction of S705 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0405] Figure 8 above mainly introduces the interaction between the terminal and various network elements, such as the user plane network element, session management network element, and access and mobility management network element. The following describes the interaction between the terminal and the network by considering the network in which the various network elements are located as a whole.

[0406] Figure 9 is a flow chart 5 of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. This communication method is applicable to the above-mentioned communication system, and mainly involves the interaction between the terminal and the network.

[0407] As shown in Figure 9, the specific process is as follows:

[0408] S901: A first terminal sends an identifier of a second terminal to a network, and the network receives the identifier of the second terminal from the first terminal.

[0409] The identifier of the second terminal may be carried in any one of the following: a first NAS message, a first message on the user plane, a create session request message, or a PFCP request message.

[0410] S902: The network obtains the identifier of the user plane network element according to the identifier of the second terminal.

[0411] The identifier of the user plane network element may be identification information of the user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected through the non-3GPP access side, and specifically may be the IP address of the user plane network element.

[0412] S903: The network sends an identifier of the user plane network element to the first terminal, and the first terminal receives the identifier of the user plane network element returned by the network.

[0413] The identifier of the user plane network element may be carried in any one of the following: a second NAS message, a second message of the user plane, a create session response message, or a PFCP response message.

[0414] It can be understood that the specific implementation of the above S901-S903 can also be described in the relevant introduction of Figure 5, Figure 7 or Figure 8, and will not be repeated here.

[0415] Figure 10 is a sixth flow diagram of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. This communication method is applicable to the aforementioned communication system and primarily involves interactions between terminals, such as a first terminal and a second terminal, and a network, such as a user plane network element (UPF network element), an access and mobility management network element (AMF network element), a session management network element (SMF network element), and an application function (PIN-AF). For example, the first terminal can trigger the network to return the identifier of the user plane network element by sending the identifier of the second terminal to the application function, as described in detail below.

[0416] S1001: The application function obtains the identifier of the second terminal.

[0417] The second terminal has non-3GPP access capability, and the identifier of the second terminal can be understood as an x-device identifier, which is used to indicate that the second terminal supports non-3GPP access. The application function can receive the identifier of the second terminal from the first terminal, that is, the terminal identifier carried by the NAS message sent by the first terminal is the identifier of the second terminal. In other words, since the second terminal usually does not have the ability to discover the network, that is, before the application function actively communicates with the second terminal, the second terminal may not be able to discover the application function or perceive the existence of the application function. Therefore, the second terminal can be represented by other devices that can communicate with the application function (such as the first terminal) to communicate with the application function, so that the needs of the second terminal can eventually be passed to the application function.

[0418] S1002: The application function obtains the identifier of the user plane network element from the network according to the identifier of the second terminal.

[0419] The application function can determine the service information of the second terminal based on the identifier of the second terminal, and send the information of the second terminal to the network (such as the capability exposure network element). In this way, the application function can receive the identifier of the user plane network element that supports non-3GPP access returned by the network for the information of the second terminal. In other words, the application function can provide the network with information related to the service of the second terminal, so that the network can determine the user plane network element related to the service and assign the identifier of the user plane network element. In this way, service failure caused by mismatch between the service and the user plane can be avoided. The identifier of the user plane network element is the IP address of the user plane network element, so that the second terminal can directly access the user plane network element. The following is a detailed introduction.

[0420] First, the information of the second terminal may include the identifier of the second terminal and the service information of the second terminal. The service information of the second terminal is the service information of the second terminal related to the PIN, or it may be any other possible service, which can be selected according to actual conditions and is not limited to this. The service information of the second terminal may include: PIN identifier, DNN, slice information, security vector corresponding to the second terminal and at least one of the location information of the second terminal, so that the user plane network element determined by the network is a user plane network element that matches the security requirements and location of the terminal, thereby ensuring that the user-facing service is safe and reliable. In addition, the specific implementation of the service information of the second terminal can also refer to the above-mentioned S801-S803, which will not be repeated here.

[0421] Optionally, the information of the second terminal may further include: user plane identity request indication information, the user plane identity request indication information is used to request the network to allocate a user plane network element identity, the user plane network element identity being the identification information of the user plane network element to which the terminal is connected through the non-3GPP access side, that is, the user plane identity request indication information is used to explicitly instruct the network to allocate a user plane network element identity for the second terminal, that is, if the user plane identity request indication information is not provided to the network, the network does not allocate a user plane network element identity, so as to achieve on-demand allocation and avoid redundancy. Of course, the user plane identity request indication information is an optional information element, and the network may also allocate a user plane network element identity by default when receiving the information of the second terminal.

[0422] Optionally, the application function may also send the identifier of the first terminal to the network (e.g., a capability exposure network element). The identifier of the first terminal may be used to determine the network element serving the first terminal, and / or to indicate to the network that the second terminal's information needs to be stored in the network element serving the first terminal. In other words, since the second terminal may not be able to communicate with the network, the network may not have a network service for the second terminal. Therefore, the second terminal's information may be stored in the network element corresponding to the second terminal's communication agent (e.g., the first terminal), thereby preventing loss of the second terminal's information.

[0423] Then, the capability-opening network element can receive information from the second terminal of the application function, as well as the identifier of the first terminal (optional). The capability-opening network element can determine the network element serving the first terminal based on the identifier of the first terminal, and save the information of the second terminal to the network element serving the first terminal (such as the data management network element, the policy control network element, etc.). For details, please refer to the relevant introduction of S604 above, which will not be repeated here. Of course, if the capability-opening network element does not receive the identifier of the first terminal, then the capability-opening network element can save the information of the second terminal to the network element serving the first terminal by default. For example, the capability-opening network element is pre-configured with a correspondence between the second terminal and the first terminal, so that when the information of the second terminal is received, the information of the second terminal is saved to the network element corresponding to its corresponding first terminal by default.

[0424] Afterwards, the session management network element can obtain the information of the second terminal. For example, the session management network element can receive information about the service from the first terminal. The information about the service can be information about the service related to the second terminal, such as at least one of the PIN identifier, DNN, and slice information. For details, please refer to the relevant introduction of S605-S606 above, which will not be repeated here. The session management network element can obtain the information of the second terminal from the network element serving the first terminal based on the service information. For details, please refer to the relevant introduction of S607 above. It can be understood that since the first terminal acts as an agent for the communication of the second terminal, the information of the second terminal can be stored in the network element serving the first terminal, so that when needed, the session management network element can obtain the information of the second terminal from the network element.

[0425] Furthermore, the session management network element can obtain the identifier of the user plane network element corresponding to the second terminal based on the information of the second terminal. The identifier of the user plane network element is the identifier information of the user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected through the non-3GPP access side, such as the IP address of the user plane network element. For details, please refer to the above-mentioned related introduction and will not be repeated here. For example, the session management network element can select the user plane network element based on the information of the second terminal. The session management network element sends the identifier of the second terminal to the user plane network element, such as sending a PFCP session establishment request message carrying the identifier of the second terminal. Correspondingly, the user plane network element can receive the identifier of the second terminal from the session management network element, such as receiving a PFCP session establishment request message carrying the identifier of the second terminal. For details, please refer to the above-mentioned S608-S609. The user plane network element can allocate the identifier of the user plane network element to the second terminal based on the identifier of the second terminal. For example, based on the identifier of the second terminal, the user plane network element can send a PFCP session establishment response message to the session management network element. Accordingly, the session management network element can receive the PFCP session establishment response message returned by the user plane network element in response to the PFCP session establishment request message. The PFCP session establishment response message can carry the identifier of the user plane network element. For details, please refer to the above S608-S610.

[0426] Optionally, the PFCP session establishment request message may also carry a security vector corresponding to the second terminal. This security vector may be information used by the second terminal when establishing a secure user plane connection via a non-3GPP access side connection. That is, the session management network element sends the security vector corresponding to the second terminal to the user plane network element in advance. Of course, the session management network element may not send the security vector corresponding to the second terminal; it may be preconfigured on the user plane network element or derived independently by the user plane network element.

[0427] Finally, the session management network element may send the identifier of the user plane network element. For example, the session management network element may send the identifier of the second terminal and the identifier of the user plane network element to the network element serving the first terminal. In response, the network element serving the first terminal may return the identifier of the second terminal and the identifier of the user plane network element to the application function. In this way, the application function obtains the identifier of the user plane network element. For details, please refer to the relevant description of S610-S611 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0428] S1003: The application function sends the identifier of the user plane network element to the second terminal.

[0429] The application function can send an APP notification message carrying the identifier of the user plane network element to the second terminal. Accordingly, the second terminal receives the APP notification message carrying the identifier of the user plane network element. Optionally, the application function can also send the security vector corresponding to the second terminal to the second terminal, or in other words, the security vector corresponding to the second terminal is included in the message from the application function. In other words, the application function can pre-configure the security vector required to establish the user plane connection to the terminal, eliminating the need for the terminal to deduce it independently, thereby reducing terminal overhead and facilitating energy conservation. Of course, the terminal can also deduce it independently, and this is not limited to this.

[0430] In addition, the specific implementation of S1003 can also refer to the relevant introduction of S612 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0431] In addition, the above implementation of S1001-S1003 is only an example and is not intended to be limiting. For example, the second terminal may also send its identifier to the first terminal and receive the identifier of the user plane network element from the first terminal. For details, please refer to the relevant description of FIG. 9 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0432] S1004: When the second terminal accesses the network through a non-3GPP network, the second terminal establishes a connection with the user plane network element according to the identifier of the user plane network element.

[0433] The second terminal may request to establish a connection with the user plane network element based on the identifier of the user plane network element. Accordingly, the user plane network element may receive a request for establishing a secure connection sent by the second terminal via non-3GPP access, and the user plane network element establishes a connection with the second terminal. For example, both the user plane network element and the second terminal use the security vector corresponding to the second terminal to establish a secure connection with the user plane network element.

[0434] In addition, the specific implementation of S1004 can also refer to the relevant introduction of S613-S616 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0435] In summary, the application function can proactively obtain the user plane network element identifier from the network (such as the session management network element in the network) and provide it to the terminal, allowing the terminal to communicate directly with the user plane network element via the non-3GPP access side connection, that is, bypassing the N3G access gateway and directly establishing a user plane connection. In this way, the network does not need to deploy an N3G access gateway, and the UE does not need to support the transmission of NAS messages over N3G, thereby achieving user plane connection establishment for non-3GPP access at a lower cost.

[0436] The above Figure 10 mainly introduces the interaction between the second terminal, the first terminal and various network elements, such as the user plane network element, the session management network element, and the access and mobility management network element. The network where each network element is located is regarded as a whole, and the interaction between the terminal and the network is introduced as a whole.

[0437] Figure 11 is a flow chart of the seventh embodiment of the communication method provided in the present application. The communication method is applicable to the above-mentioned communication system, and mainly involves the interaction between the terminal and the network.

[0438] As shown in Figure 11, the specific process is as follows:

[0439] S1101: The network obtains information of the second terminal.

[0440] The network may obtain the information of the second terminal from an application function corresponding to the second terminal.

[0441] S1102: The network obtains an identifier of a user plane network element corresponding to the second terminal based on the information of the second terminal.

[0442] The identifier of the user plane network element is the identifier information of the user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected via the non-3GPP access side. For example, the network may receive service information from the first terminal. The service information may include service information related to the second terminal, such as at least one of a PIN identifier, a DNN, and slice information. In this way, in response to the service information, the network may obtain the identifier of the user plane network element based on the information of the second terminal.

[0443] S1103: The network sends the identifier of the user plane network element.

[0444] The network may send the identifier of the user plane network element to the application function.

[0445] It can be understood that the specific implementation of the above S1101-S1103 can also be described in the relevant introduction of Figure 6 or Figure 10 above, and will not be repeated here.

[0446] The communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above in conjunction with Figures 5 to 11. The communication device for executing the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below in conjunction with Figures 12 and 13.

[0447] Figure 12 is a structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 12, the communication device 1200 includes a transceiver module 1201 and a processing module 1202. For ease of illustration, Figure 12 only shows the main components of the communication device.

[0448] The transceiver module 1201 is used to perform the transceiver function of the method shown in FIG. 5 to FIG. 11 , and the processing module 1202 is used to perform other functions of the method shown in FIG. 5 to FIG. 11 except the transceiver function.

[0449] Optionally, the transceiver module 1201 may include a sending module (not shown in FIG12 ) and a receiving module (not shown in FIG12 ). The sending module is used to implement the sending function of the communication device 1200 , and the receiving module is used to implement the receiving function of the communication device 1200 .

[0450] Optionally, the communication device 1200 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 12 ) storing a program or instruction. When the processing module 1202 executes the program or instruction, the communication device 1200 may perform the functions of the remote UE or remote device in the methods shown in FIG. 5 to FIG. 11 in the above-mentioned method.

[0451] It can be understood that the communication device 1200 can be a terminal or a network device, or a chip (system) or other parts or components that can be set in a terminal or a network device, or a device that includes a terminal or a network device. This application does not limit this.

[0452] In addition, the technical effects of the communication device 1200 can refer to the technical effects of the communication method shown in Figures 5 to 11, and will not be repeated here.

[0453] Figure 13 is a second structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. Exemplarily, the communication device may be a terminal, or a chip (system) or other component or assembly that can be provided in a terminal. As shown in Figure 13, the communication device 1300 may include a processor 1301. Optionally, the communication device 1300 may further include a memory 1302 and / or a transceiver 1303. The processor 1301 is coupled to the memory 1302 and the transceiver 1303, such as by a communication bus.

[0454] The following is a detailed introduction to the various components of the communication device 1300 with reference to FIG13:

[0455] The processor 1301 is the control center of the communication device 1300 and can be a single processor or a collective term for multiple processing elements. For example, the processor 1301 can be one or more central processing units (CPUs), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the embodiments of the present application, such as one or more digital signal processors (DSPs) or one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

[0456] Optionally, the processor 1301 can execute various functions of the communication device 1300 by running or executing software programs stored in the memory 1302 and calling data stored in the memory 1302, such as executing the communication method shown in Figures 5 to 11 above.

[0457] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the processor 1301 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 shown in FIG13 .

[0458] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication device 1300 may also include multiple processors, such as the processor 1301 and the processor 1304 shown in FIG13 . Each of these processors may be a single-core processor (single-CPU) or a multi-core processor (multi-CPU). The processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and / or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

[0459] Among them, the memory 1302 is used to store the software program for executing the solution of this application, and the execution is controlled by the processor 1301. The specific implementation method can refer to the above method embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0460] Alternatively, the memory 1302 may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, an optical disc storage (including a compact disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, Blu-ray disc, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto. The memory 1302 may be integrated with the processor 1301 or exist independently and be coupled to the processor 1301 via an interface circuit (not shown in FIG. 13 ) of the communication device 1300. This embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit this.

[0461] Transceiver 1303 is used for communication with other communication devices. For example, if communication device 1300 is a terminal, transceiver 1303 can be used to communicate with a network device or another terminal device. For another example, if communication device 1300 is a network device, transceiver 1303 can be used to communicate with a terminal or another network device.

[0462] Optionally, the transceiver 1303 may include a receiver and a transmitter (not shown separately in FIG13 ), wherein the receiver is used to implement a receiving function, and the transmitter is used to implement a sending function.

[0463] Optionally, the transceiver 1303 can be integrated with the processor 1301, or can exist independently and be coupled to the processor 1301 through the interface circuit of the communication device 1300 (not shown in Figure 13). This embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit this.

[0464] It is understandable that the structure of the communication device 1300 shown in FIG13 does not constitute a limitation on the communication device, and an actual communication device may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine certain components, or arrange the components differently.

[0465] In addition, the technical effects of the communication device 1300 can refer to the technical effects of the methods described in the above method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0466] It should be understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), and the processor may also be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc.

[0467] It should also be understood that the memory in the embodiments of the present application may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of random access memory (RAM) are available, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

[0468] The above embodiments can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware (such as circuits), firmware or any other combination. When implemented using software, the above embodiments can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions or computer programs. When the computer instructions or computer program are loaded or executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server or data center to another website, computer, server or data center via a wired (such as infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that contains one or more available media sets. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a tape), an optical medium (for example, a DVD), or a semiconductor medium. The semiconductor medium can be a solid-state drive.

[0469] It should be understood that the term "and / or" as used herein simply describes a relationship between associated objects, indicating that three possible relationships exist. For example, "A and / or B" can represent: A alone, A and B together, or B alone. A and B can be singular or plural. Furthermore, the character " / " as used herein generally indicates an "or" relationship between the associated objects, but it may also indicate an "and / or" relationship. For specific understanding, please refer to the context.

[0470] In this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "plurality" means two or more. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, and c can be single or plural.

[0471] It should be understood that in the various embodiments of the present application, the size of the serial numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

[0472] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0473] Those skilled in the art will clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and units described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0474] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the units is merely a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0475] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of these units may be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0476] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

[0477] If the functions are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or the part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

[0478] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included in the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: Applied to a first terminal, the method includes: In the case where the first terminal accesses a network through the third generation partnership 3GPP, the first terminal sends an identifier of the second terminal to the network; the second terminal has a non-3GPP access capability; The first terminal receives an identifier of a user plane network element supporting non-3GPP access returned by the network, wherein the identifier of the user plane network element is identification information of the user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected through the non-3GPP access side.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first terminal sending the identifier of the second terminal to the network includes: The first terminal sends a first non-access layer NAS message to the access and mobility management network element, wherein the first NAS message is used by the first terminal to request to establish a session, and the first NAS message carries an identifier of the second terminal.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The first terminal receiving the identifier of the user plane network element returned by the network for the identifier of the second terminal includes: The first terminal receives a second NAS message returned by the access and mobility management network element, wherein the second NAS message is used to indicate that the session is successfully established, and the second NAS message carries an identifier of the user plane network element.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The first terminal sending an identifier of the second terminal to the network includes: The first terminal sends a first user plane message to the user plane network element, wherein the first message carries an identifier of the second terminal.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The first terminal receiving the identifier of the user plane network element returned by the network for the identifier of the second terminal includes: The first terminal receives a second user plane message returned by the user plane network element, wherein the second message carries an identifier of the user plane network element.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that When the first terminal and the second terminal are different terminals, the method further includes: The first terminal obtains the identifier of the second terminal from the second terminal.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The first terminal acquiring the identifier of the second terminal from the second terminal includes: The first terminal establishes a connection with the second terminal; The first terminal requests, from the second terminal through the connection, information used to identify the second terminal; The first terminal receives the identifier of the second terminal returned by the second terminal through the connection.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that When the first terminal and the second terminal are different terminals, the method further includes: The first terminal sends at least one of an identifier of the user plane network element and a security vector corresponding to the second terminal to the second terminal, wherein the security vector is information used by the second terminal when establishing a secure connection of the user plane through a non-3GPP access side connection.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The security vector is carried in a NAS message or a user plane message sent by the network to the first terminal.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that When the first terminal and the second terminal are the same terminal, the method further includes: In a case where the first terminal accesses the network through non-3GPP, the first terminal establishes a connection with the user plane network element according to the identifier of the user plane network element.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that The first terminal establishing a connection with the user plane network element according to the identifier of the user plane network element includes: The first terminal establishes a secure connection with the user plane network element according to the identifier of the user plane network element and using the security vector corresponding to the first terminal.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The security vector is preconfigured locally in the first terminal, or the security vector is carried in a NAS message or a user plane message sent by the network to the first terminal.

13. A communication method, characterized in that: Applied to the second terminal, the method includes: The second terminal receives an identifier of a user plane network element supporting non-3GPP access, wherein the identifier of the user plane network element is identification information of a user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected through a non-3GPP access side; In the case where the second terminal accesses the network through a non-3GPP network, the second terminal establishes a connection with the user plane network element according to the identifier of the user plane network element.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that The second terminal receives the identifier of the user plane network element, including: The second terminal receives the identifier of the user plane network element from an application function or the first terminal.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The method further comprises: The second terminal sends an identifier of the second terminal to the first terminal.

16. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 15, characterized in that The second terminal establishes a connection with the user plane network element according to the identifier of the user plane network element, including: The second terminal establishes a secure connection with the user plane network element according to the identifier of the user plane network element and using the security vector corresponding to the second terminal.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that The security vector is preconfigured locally in the second terminal, or the security vector is carried in a message from an application function or the first terminal.

18. A communication method, characterized in that: Applied to a user plane network element supporting non-3GPP access, the method comprises: The user plane network element receives an identifier of a second terminal, where the second terminal has a non-3GPP access capability; The user plane network element sends an identifier of the user plane network element allocated to the second terminal, wherein the identifier of the user plane network element is identification information of the user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected through a non-3GPP access side.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that The user plane network element receiving the identifier of the second terminal includes: The user plane network element receives a Packet Forwarding Control Protocol PFCP session establishment request message from the session management network element, wherein the PFCP session establishment request message carries an identifier of the second terminal.

20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that The user plane network element sending an identifier of the user plane network element allocated to the second terminal includes: The user plane network element sends a PFCP session establishment response message to the session management network element, wherein the PFCP session establishment response message carries an identifier of the user plane network element.

21. The method according to claim 19 or 20, characterized in that The PFCP session establishment request message also carries a security vector corresponding to the second terminal.

22. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that The user plane network element receiving the identifier of the second terminal includes: The user plane network element receives a first message from the user plane of the first terminal, wherein the first message carries an identifier of the second terminal.

23. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that The user plane network element sending an identifier of the user plane network element allocated to the second terminal includes: The user plane network element sends a second user plane message to the first terminal, wherein the second message carries an identifier of the user plane network element.

24. The method according to claim 22 or 23, characterized in that The method further comprises: The user plane network element sends a PFCP request message to the session management network element, wherein the PFCP request message carries an identifier of the second terminal; The user plane network element receives a PFCP response message from the session management network element, wherein the PFCP response message carries a security vector corresponding to the second terminal.

25. The method according to claim 24, characterized in that The second message also carries the security vector.

26. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 25, characterized in that The method further comprises: The user plane network element establishes a connection with the second terminal accessed through non-3GPP.

27. The method according to claim 26, characterized in that The user plane network element establishes a connection with the second terminal accessed through non-3GPP, including: The user plane network element receives a request for establishing a secure connection sent by the second terminal through non-3GPP access; The user plane network element establishes a secure connection with the second terminal using the security vector corresponding to the second terminal.

28. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 27, characterized in that The first terminal and the second terminal are different terminals, or the first terminal and the second terminal are the same terminal.

29. A communication method, characterized in that: Applied to a session management network element, the method comprises: The session management network element receives an identifier of a second terminal, where the second terminal has a non-3GPP access capability; The session management network element obtains, according to the identifier of the second terminal, an identifier of a user plane network element supporting non-3GPP access, wherein the identifier of the user plane network element is identification information of the user plane network element to which the second terminal is connected through the non-3GPP access side; The session management network element sends the identifier of the user plane network element.

30. The method according to claim 29, characterized in that The session management network element obtains the identifier of the user plane network element according to the identifier of the second terminal, including: The session management network element selects a user plane network element according to the identifier of the second terminal; The session management network element determines the identifier of the user plane network element, or the session management network element obtains the identifier of the user plane network element from the user plane network element.

31. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 30, characterized in that The identifier of the second terminal is used to select a network element of a user plane for the second terminal.

32. A communication device, characterized in that: The apparatus comprises: a module for executing the method as claimed in any one of claims 1-31.

33. A communication device, characterized in that: The communication device comprises: a processor and a memory; the memory is used to store computer instructions, and when the processor executes the instructions, the communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 1-31.

34. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium comprises a computer program or instructions, and when the computer program or instructions are executed on a computer, the computer is caused to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 31.

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