Data transmission method, device, and computer-readable storage medium

Abstract

Provided in the embodiments of the present description are a data transmission method, an electronic device, and a computer-readable storage medium. The method comprises: determining the current estimated downlink transmission rates of a first carrier and a second carrier, wherein the first carrier is a carrier mounted on a master node (MN), and the second carrier is a carrier mounted on a secondary node (SN); on the basis of the current estimated downlink transmission rates of the first carrier and the second carrier, determining a sending path for the current data packet to be sent; and sending said data packet to a target radio link control (RLC) entity, wherein the target RLC entity sends, by means of the sending path, the current data to be sent.

Description

Data transmission method, device and computer-readable storage medium

[0001] Cross-references

[0002] This application claims priority to a Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on July 31, 2023, with application number 202310960320.0 and titled “Data transmission method, device and computer-readable storage medium”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure relates to the field of mobile communication technologies, and in particular to a data transmission method, device, and computer-readable storage medium. Background Art

[0004] Starting with the fifth generation mobile communication technology (5G), mobile communication systems support multiple radio access technologies and have introduced dual connectivity. In this technology, a user equipment (UE) with multiple RX / TX configurations can utilize radio resources scheduled by two base stations. These two base stations are connected via the Xn / X2 interface, with one base station acting as a master node (MN) and the other as a secondary node (SN).

[0005] Dual connectivity technology allows the UE to connect to multiple carriers at the same time, and allows the same bearer to be transmitted simultaneously on multiple carriers, that is, split bearer. There are many forms of split bearers under dual connectivity, including MN-terminated split bearers and SN-terminated split bearers. In the MN-terminated split bearer, the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) entity is located on the MN side, and multiple Radio Link Control Protocol (RLC) entities are distributed on different carriers and associated with the corresponding carriers. In the SN-terminated split bearer, the PDCP layer is located on the SN side, and multiple RLC layer entities are distributed on different carriers and associated with the corresponding carriers.

[0006] When the data streams to be split and carried reach the PDCP layer, if too little data is allocated to a particular carrier, the carrier's resources cannot be fully utilized, resulting in a slow increase in traffic. If too much data is allocated to a carrier, the link will be congested, increasing the round-trip delay of the data packets and affecting the overall traffic flow. Therefore, how to properly allocate the data streams arriving at the PDCP layer to each carrier is a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently.

[0007] Summary of the Invention

[0008] In a first aspect, a data transmission method is provided, comprising: determining a current estimated downlink transmission rate of a first carrier and a second carrier, wherein the first carrier is a carrier mounted on a master node MN, and the second carrier is a carrier mounted on a slave node SN; based on the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier and the second carrier, determining a sending path of a currently to-be-sent data packet; sending the currently to-be-sent data packet to a target radio link layer control protocol RLC entity, wherein the target RLC entity sends the currently to-be-sent data packet through the sending path.

[0009] In a second aspect, a data transmission method is provided, comprising: determining a current estimated downlink transmission rate of a carrier mounted on a node where a radio link layer control protocol RLC entity is located based on preset parameters of the carrier, wherein the node comprises a master node MN or a slave node SN; reporting the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier to a packet data convergence protocol PDCP entity, wherein the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is used by the PDCP entity to determine a sending path for a data packet currently to be sent at the PDCP entity.

[0010] According to a third aspect, a data transmission device is provided, comprising: a rate determination module for determining a current estimated downlink transmission rate of a first carrier and a second carrier, wherein the first carrier is a carrier mounted on a master node MN, and the second carrier is a carrier mounted on a slave node SN; a path determination module for determining a sending path of a currently to-be-sent data packet based on the currently estimated downlink transmission rates of the first carrier and the second carrier; and a data sending module for sending the currently to-be-sent data packet to a target radio link layer control protocol RLC entity, wherein the target RLC entity sends the currently to-be-sent data packet through the sending path.

[0011] In a fourth aspect, a data transmission device is provided, including: a rate perception module, used to determine the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier based on the preset parameters of the carrier mounted on the node where the radio link layer control protocol RLC entity is located, wherein the node includes a master node MN or a secondary node SN; a rate reporting module, used to report the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier to the packet data convergence protocol PDCP entity, wherein the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is used by the PDCP entity to determine the sending path of the data packet currently to be sent at the PDCP entity.

[0012] In a fifth aspect, an electronic device is provided, comprising: a processor; and a memory for storing instructions executable by the processor; wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions to implement the method described in the first aspect.

[0013] In a sixth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which, when the instructions in the storage medium are executed by a processor of an electronic device, enables the electronic device to execute the method described in the first aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of this specification or the technical solutions in the prior art, the following briefly introduces the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments recorded in this specification. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying any creative labor.

[0015] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a dual-connection network provided by an embodiment of this specification.

[0016] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of split bearer termination of a dual connectivity master node (DC MN) of an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) provided by an embodiment of this specification.

[0017] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of split bearer termination on a dual connectivity secondary node (DC SN) connected to an EPC provided by an embodiment of this specification.

[0018] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of split bearer termination of a DC MN connected to a 5G core network (Fifth Generation Core, 5GC) provided by an embodiment of this specification.

[0019] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of split bearer termination of a DC SN connected to a 5GC provided by an embodiment of this specification.

[0020] FIG6 is a flow chart of a data transmission method provided by an embodiment of this specification.

[0021] FIG7 is a flow chart of a data transmission method provided by another embodiment of this specification.

[0022] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of an implementation architecture of a data transmission method provided by an embodiment of this specification.

[0023] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of a split bearer architecture of a data transmission method provided by an embodiment of this specification.

[0024] FIG10 is a schematic structural diagram of a data transmission device provided by an embodiment of this specification.

[0025] FIG11 is a schematic structural diagram of a data transmission device provided by another embodiment of this specification. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] In order to help those skilled in the art better understand the technical solutions in the embodiments of this specification, the technical solutions in the embodiments of this specification will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in one or more embodiments of this specification. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of this specification, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in this specification, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative efforts should fall within the scope of protection of this disclosure.

[0027] The terms "first," "second," and the like in this specification and claims are used to distinguish similar objects and are not intended to describe a particular order or precedence. It should be understood that such terms are interchangeable where appropriate, so that the embodiments of this specification can be implemented in orders other than those illustrated or described herein. Furthermore, the term "and / or" in this specification and claims refers to at least one of the connected objects, and the character " / " generally indicates that the connected objects are in an "or" relationship.

[0028] In order to solve the problem of how to reasonably distribute data arriving at the PDCP entity to each carrier mounted by the RLC entity, an embodiment of this specification proposes a data transmission method. This data transmission method can be applied to split bearer data offload in dual connectivity (DC) scenarios in wireless mobile communication networks. These dual connectivity scenarios may include but are not limited to dual connectivity between fourth generation mobile communication technology (4G) base stations and 4G base stations, dual connectivity between 4G base stations and 5G base stations, dual connectivity between 5G base stations and 5G base stations, and multi-connectivity.

[0029] There are multiple forms of split bearer under dual connectivity, including MN-terminated split bearer and SN-terminated split bearer. In MN-terminated split bearer, the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) entity is located on the MN side, and multiple Radio Link Control Protocol (RLC) entities are distributed on different carriers and associated with the corresponding carriers. In SN-terminated split bearer, the PDCP layer is located on the SN side, and multiple RLC layer entities are distributed on different carriers and associated with the corresponding carriers.

[0030] The following briefly describes a dual-connectivity networking structure and split bearer conditions in different dual-connectivity scenarios.

[0031] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a dual-connection network of a 5G core network (Fifth Generation Core, 5GC) and an evolved packet core network (Evolved Packet Core, EPC) provided by an embodiment of this specification. In Figure 1, the left figure is a schematic diagram of a network in which the control plane of 5GC / EPC is connected to the master node (MN) through NG-C / S1-C, the user plane is connected to the MN through NG-U / S1-U, the MN and the secondary node (SN) are connected through the Xn / X2 port, and the UE is connected to the MN and SN through the air interface at the same time; the right figure is a schematic diagram of a network in which the control plane of 5GC / EPC is connected to the MN through NG-C / S1-C, the user plane is connected to the SN through NG-U / S1-U, the MN and the SN are connected through the Xn / X2 port, and the UE is connected to the MN and the SN through the air interface at the same time. Among them, 5GC is a 5G core network node, and EPC is a 4G core network node; the control plane is used to transmit control information, and the user plane is used to transmit service data.

[0032] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a split bearer terminated by a dual connectivity master node (DC MN) connected to the EPC, provided by an embodiment of this specification. In Figure 2, NR stands for New Radio, PDCP stands for Packet Data Convergence Protocol, RLC stands for Radio Link Control, MAC stands for Media Access Control, and E-UTRA stands for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access, the same below. As shown in Figure 2, the carried data stream is converged at the NR PDCP of the MN, and the NR PDCP is connected to the RLC of the MN and the SN respectively.

[0033] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a split bearer terminated by a dual connectivity secondary node (DC SN) connected to an EPC, according to one embodiment of this specification. As shown in Figure 3, the bearer data streams converge at the NR PDCP of the SN, which connects to the RLC of the mobile node and the SN respectively.

[0034] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a split bearer terminated by a DC MN connected to a 5GC, according to one embodiment of this specification. As shown in Figure 4, the bearer data streams converge at the MN's NR PDCP, which connects to the RLCs of the MN and SN, respectively. SDAP (Service Data Adaptation Protocol) is a newly introduced protocol layer in the 5G protocol, used to map wireless-side data streams to bearers, the same below.

[0035] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of a split bearer terminated by a DC SN connected to a 5GC, provided by an embodiment of this specification. As shown in Figure 5, the bearer data flow is converged at the SN's NR PDCP, which is connected to the RLC of the MN and SN respectively.

[0036] A data transmission method provided in an embodiment of this specification can be applied to, but not limited to, the dual-connection networking scenario shown in FIG1 , and any split bearer scenario shown in FIG2 , FIG3 , FIG4 , or FIG5 .

[0037] The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of this specification are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0038] Figure 6 is a flowchart of a data transmission method provided by an embodiment of this specification. The method can be applied to the PDCP entity in the split bearer scenario of Figures 2, 3, 4 or 5. As shown in Figure 6, the method may include the following steps 601 to 603.

[0039] In step 601, current estimated downlink transmission rates of a first carrier and a second carrier are determined, wherein the first carrier is a carrier mounted on a master node MN and the second carrier is a carrier mounted on a secondary node SN.

[0040] Regarding determining the current estimated downlink transmission rates of the first carrier and the second carrier, there are the following two implementation methods.

[0041] Implementation method 1: determined and reported by the RLC entity.

[0042] Specifically, determining the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier and the second carrier may include: receiving the current estimated downlink transmission rate estimated and reported by the first RLC entity for the first carrier, wherein the first RLC entity is located in the MN, and the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier is estimated by the first RLC entity based on the preset parameters of the first carrier; receiving the current estimated downlink transmission rate estimated and reported by the second RLC entity for the second carrier, wherein the second RLC entity is located in the SN, and the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the second carrier is estimated by the second RLC entity based on the preset parameters of the second carrier.

[0043] Implementation method 2: determined by the PDCP entity.

[0044] Specifically, determining the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier and the second carrier may include: estimating the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier based on the preset parameters of the first carrier; estimating the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the second carrier based on the preset parameters of the second carrier.

[0045] The preset parameters may include but are not limited to at least one of the following: downlink channel quality, downlink physical resource block (PRB) load, radio frame structure, number of users and service priority.

[0046] Determining the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier according to preset parameters of the carrier may include: determining the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier based on a predetermined rate estimation model and the preset parameters of the carrier, wherein the rate estimation model is a function of the preset parameters.

[0047] The rate estimation model can be expressed as:

[0048] v(i)=f(downlink channel quality, downlink physical resource block (PRB) load, radio frame structure, number of users, service priority, etc.), where i represents different carrier numbers.

[0049] In the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is positively correlated or negatively correlated with a preset parameter of the carrier.

[0050] Specifically:

[0051] 1) If the preset parameters of the carrier include downlink channel quality, then in the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is positively correlated with the downlink channel quality of the carrier. The better the downlink channel quality, the greater the current estimated downlink transmission rate.

[0052] 2) If the preset parameters of the carrier include the load of the downlink physical resource block PRB, then in the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is negatively correlated with the load of the downlink PRB of the carrier. The smaller the load of the downlink PRB, the greater the current estimated downlink transmission rate.

[0053] 3) If the preset parameters of the carrier include a wireless frame structure, then in the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is positively correlated with the proportion of downlink subframes in the wireless frame structure of the carrier. The greater the proportion of downlink subframes in the wireless frame structure of the carrier, the greater the current estimated downlink transmission rate.

[0054] 4) If the preset parameters of the carrier include the number of users, then in the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is negatively correlated with the number of users of the carrier. The fewer the number of users of the carrier, the greater the current estimated downlink transmission rate.

[0055] 5) If the preset parameters of the carrier include service priority, then in the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is positively correlated with the service priority. The higher the service priority, the greater the current estimated downlink transmission rate.

[0056] In step 602, a transmission path for a data packet to be sent is determined based on the currently estimated downlink transmission rates of the first carrier and the second carrier.

[0057] The data packet currently to be sent mentioned in step 602 refers to the data packet currently to be sent that needs to be split and carried at the PDCP entity.

[0058] The PDCP entity may be located in the MN or the SN. For a split bearer terminated by the MN, the PDCP entity is located in the MN; for a split bearer terminated by the SN, the PDCP entity is located in the SN.

[0059] As an example, step 602 may include: comparing the currently estimated downlink transmission rates of the first carrier and the second carrier to determine the carrier with the highest currently estimated downlink transmission rate between the first carrier and the second carrier; determining the carrier with the highest currently estimated downlink transmission rate as the primary downlink path for carrying the data packet currently to be sent; and determining the primary downlink path as the transmission path for the data packet currently to be sent. That is, the carrier with the highest currently estimated downlink transmission rate between the first carrier and the second carrier is directly used as the transmission path for the data packet currently to be sent.

[0060] As another example, the estimated time required to transmit the remaining historical data packets to be transmitted on the first carrier and the second carrier may be determined respectively. Then, based on the estimated time and current estimated downlink transmission rate corresponding to each of the first carrier and the second carrier, a transmission path for the currently transmitted data packet may be determined. That is, step 602 may include determining the transmission path for the currently transmitted data packet based on the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the second carrier, the estimated time corresponding to the first carrier, and the estimated time corresponding to the second carrier.

[0061] The estimated time required to send the currently remaining historical data packets to be sent on the first carrier and the second carrier (i.e., the currently remaining historical data packets to be sent at the RLC entity) is also used as a reference for determining the sending path of the currently remaining data packets to be sent at the PDCP entity. This can make the sending path determined for the currently remaining data packets to be sent at the PDCP entity more reasonable and will not cause traffic congestion on the first carrier or the second carrier.

[0062] Among them, the respectively determining of the estimated time required to send the currently remaining historical data packets to be sent on the first carrier and the second carrier may include: receiving the amount of first data reported by a first RLC entity, wherein the first RLC entity is located at the MN, and the first data includes the currently remaining historical data packets to be sent on the first carrier; receiving the amount of second data reported by a second RLC entity, wherein the second RLC entity is located at the SN, and the second data includes the currently remaining historical data packets to be sent on the second carrier; based on the amount of the first data and the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier, determining the estimated time required to send the currently remaining historical data packets to be sent on the first carrier; based on the amount of the second data and the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the second carrier, determining the estimated time required to send the currently remaining historical data packets to be sent on the second carrier.

[0063] The estimated time required to transmit the remaining historical data packets on a carrier is generally calculated as: the number of historical data packets currently remaining on the carrier divided by the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier. In other words, t(i) = the number of historical data packets currently remaining on the carrier to be transmitted / v(i), where t(i) represents the estimated time and v(i) represents the current estimated downlink transmission rate.

[0064] Among them, the determining of the sending path of the current data packet to be sent based on the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the second carrier, the estimated time consumption corresponding to the first carrier, and the estimated time consumption corresponding to the second carrier may include: comparing the current estimated downlink transmission rates of the first carrier and the second carrier to determine the carrier with the largest current estimated downlink transmission rate among the first carrier and the second carrier; determining the carrier with the largest current estimated downlink transmission rate as the downlink main path carrying the data to be sent; and determining the sending path of the current data packet to be sent based on the estimated time consumption corresponding to the downlink main path and the estimated time consumption corresponding to the remaining carriers among the first carrier and the second carrier.

[0065] In an optional embodiment, the determining of the sending path of the current data packet to be sent based on the estimated time consumption corresponding to the downlink main path and the estimated time consumption corresponding to the remaining carriers in the first carrier and the second carrier includes: 1) when the estimated time consumption corresponding to the downlink main path meets a first preset condition, determining the downlink main path as the sending path of the current data packet to be sent; 2) when the estimated time consumption corresponding to the downlink main path meets a second preset condition, determining the carrier with the smallest estimated time consumption among the first carrier and the second carrier as the sending path of the current data packet to be sent; 3) when the estimated time consumption corresponding to the first carrier or the second carrier meets a third preset condition, not using the carrier as the sending path of the current data packet to be sent.

[0066] The first preset condition includes: the estimated time is less than a first threshold; the second preset condition includes: the estimated time is greater than or equal to the first threshold and less than a second threshold; and the third preset condition includes: the estimated time is greater than the second threshold. The first threshold is a preset minimum buffering delay of data to be sent in the RLC entity; the second threshold is a preset maximum buffering delay of data to be sent in the RLC entity.

[0067] Specifically, assuming that the first threshold is Tmin, the second threshold is Tmax, t(i) represents the estimated time consumption, and v(i) represents the current estimated downlink transmission rate, then the above-mentioned rules for determining the sending path of the current data packet to be sent at the PDCP entity (diversion rules) can be specifically expressed as follows: 1) When the t(i) corresponding to the downlink main path is less than Tmin, the downlink main path is determined as the sending path of the current data packet to be sent; 2) When the t(i) corresponding to the downlink main path is greater than or equal to Tmin, the carrier with the smallest t(i) among the first carrier and the second carrier is determined as the sending path of the current data packet to be sent; 3) When the t(i) corresponding to any carrier among the first carrier and the second carrier is greater than Tmax, data is not sent on that carrier.

[0068] It should be noted that in the embodiment of this specification, the first carrier or the second carrier may be a single carrier or an aggregated carrier. Accordingly, the sending path of the current data packet to be sent at the PDCP entity may also be a single carrier or an aggregated carrier, which is specifically divided into the following cases:

[0069] 1) If both the first carrier and the second carrier are single carriers, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier is its own current estimated downlink transmission rate, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the second carrier is its own current estimated downlink transmission rate, and the transmission path is a single carrier among the first carrier and the second carrier.

[0070] In the case where the RLC entity mounts a single carrier (the first carrier or the second carrier is a single carrier), traffic is split in carrier units, that is, traffic is split in RLC units.

[0071] 2) If the first carrier is a first aggregated carrier including multiple first component carriers, and the second carrier is a second aggregated carrier including multiple second component carriers, then the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier is the sum of the current estimated downlink transmission rates of the multiple first component carriers, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the second carrier is the sum of the current estimated downlink transmission rates of the multiple second component carriers, and the transmission path is the first aggregated carrier or the second aggregated carrier.

[0072] When the RLC entity mounts multiple carriers (the first carrier or the second carrier is an aggregated carrier), the current estimated downlink transmission rates of the component carriers are aggregated and reported (summed up), and traffic is split based on the aggregated carrier, that is, based on the RLC.

[0073] 3) If the first carrier includes multiple first component carriers and the second carrier includes multiple second component carriers, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier includes the current estimated downlink transmission rate of each of the multiple first component carriers, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the second carrier includes the current estimated downlink transmission rate of each of the multiple second component carriers, and the transmission path is a single carrier among the multiple first component carriers and the multiple second component carriers.

[0074] When the RLC entity carries multiple carriers (the first carrier or the second carrier includes multiple component carriers), the current estimated downlink transmission rates of the component carriers are reported separately (without aggregation), and traffic is split on a carrier basis.

[0075] It should be noted that at the PDCP entity, the diversion of the current data packet to be sent is dynamic. Generally, when a data packet to be sent comes, t(i) corresponding to the first carrier and the second carrier is calculated once, and the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier and the second carrier is combined to determine which carrier to distribute the data packet to.

[0076] In step 603, the data packet currently to be sent is sent to a target radio link layer control protocol RLC entity, wherein the target RLC entity sends the data packet currently to be sent through the sending path.

[0077] The target RLC entity is the first RLC entity or the second RLC entity.

[0078] Through step 603, the data packet currently to be sent at the PDCP entity may be sent to the target RLC entity corresponding to the transmission path, so that the target RLC entity sends the data packet currently to be sent through the transmission path.

[0079] The embodiments of this specification provide a data transmission method that determines the transmission path of the current data packet to be sent based on the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier mounted on the master node MN and the second carrier mounted on the slave node SN. In other words, the perceived rate of the first carrier and the second carrier - the current estimated downlink transmission rate - is used as a reference basis for downlink splitting. This can fully utilize the capabilities of each carrier, reduce the waste of scheduling resources caused by unclear air interface capabilities of different carriers or the decline in user traffic caused by congestion, and reasonably distribute data arriving at the PDCP layer to each carrier, thereby improving data transmission efficiency.

[0080] Figure 7 is a flowchart illustrating a data transmission method provided by another embodiment of this specification. This method can be applied to an RLC entity in a split bearer scenario such as Figures 2, 3, 4, or 5. The RLC entity can be located in either the mobile node or the network node. As shown in Figure 7, the method may include steps 701 and 702.

[0081] In step 701, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of a carrier mounted on a node where a radio link layer control protocol RLC entity is located is determined based on preset parameters of the carrier, wherein the node includes a master node MN or a secondary node SN.

[0082] As an example, step 701 may include determining a current estimated downlink transmission rate of a carrier mounted on a node where the RLC entity is located based on a predetermined rate estimation model and preset parameters of the carrier, wherein the rate estimation model is a function of the preset parameters.

[0083] The preset parameters include at least one of downlink channel quality, downlink physical resource block (PRB) load, radio frame structure, number of users and service priority.

[0084] The rate estimation model can be expressed as:

[0085] v(i)=f(downlink channel quality, downlink physical resource block (PRB) load, radio frame structure, number of users, service priority, etc.), where i represents different carrier numbers.

[0086] In the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is positively correlated or negatively correlated with a preset parameter of the carrier.

[0087] Specifically:

[0088] 1) If the preset parameters of the carrier include downlink channel quality, then in the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is positively correlated with the downlink channel quality of the carrier. The better the downlink channel quality, the greater the current estimated downlink transmission rate.

[0089] 2) If the preset parameters of the carrier include the load of the downlink physical resource block PRB, then in the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is negatively correlated with the load of the downlink PRB of the carrier. The smaller the load of the downlink PRB, the greater the current estimated downlink transmission rate.

[0090] 3) If the preset parameters of the carrier include a wireless frame structure, then in the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is positively correlated with the proportion of downlink subframes in the wireless frame structure of the carrier. The greater the proportion of downlink subframes in the wireless frame structure of the carrier, the greater the current estimated downlink transmission rate.

[0091] 4) If the preset parameters of the carrier include the number of users, then in the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is negatively correlated with the number of users of the carrier. The fewer the number of users of the carrier, the greater the current estimated downlink transmission rate.

[0092] 5) If the preset parameters of the carrier include service priority, then in the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is positively correlated with the service priority. The higher the service priority, the greater the current estimated downlink transmission rate.

[0093] In step 702, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is reported to a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) entity, wherein the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is used by the PDCP entity to determine a transmission path for a data packet to be currently sent at the PDCP entity.

[0094] It should be noted that, in the embodiment of this specification, the carrier mounted by the RLC entity may be a single carrier or an aggregated carrier. Accordingly, step 702 may include: if the carrier is a single carrier, reporting the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier separately to the PDCP entity; if the carrier is a component carrier in an aggregated carrier, adding the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier and the current estimated downlink transmission rate of other component carriers and reporting the sum to the PDCP entity.

[0095] More specifically, it can be divided into the following three situations: 1) If the carrier mounted on the node where the RLC entity is located is a single carrier, then reporting the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier to the PDCP entity includes: reporting the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the single carrier to the PDCP entity; 2) If the carrier mounted on the node where the RLC entity is located is an aggregated carrier including multiple component carriers, then reporting the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier to the PDCP entity includes: summing up the current estimated downlink transmission rates of the multiple component carriers and reporting it to the PDCP entity; 3) If the carrier mounted on the node where the RLC entity is located includes multiple component carriers, then reporting the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier to the PDCP entity includes: reporting the current estimated downlink transmission rates of the multiple component carriers to the PDCP entity respectively.

[0096] A data transmission method provided in an embodiment of the present specification comprises the following steps: an RLC entity determines the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier mounted on itself and reports it to the PDCP entity, so that the PDCP entity determines the sending path of the current data packet to be sent based on the current estimated downlink transmission rate of each carrier, that is, the carrier's perceived rate - the current estimated downlink transmission rate, is used as a reference basis for downlink splitting of the bearer. This can fully utilize the capabilities of each carrier, reduce the waste of scheduling resources due to unclear air interface capabilities of different carriers or reduce user traffic caused by congestion, and reasonably distribute the data reaching the PDCP layer to each carrier, thereby improving data transmission efficiency.

[0097] In an optional embodiment, the method shown in Figure 7 may further include: reporting to the PDCP entity the amount of data of the historical data packets currently remaining on the carrier to be sent, wherein the data amount is used to determine the estimated time required to send the historical data packets currently remaining on the carrier to be sent, and the estimated time is used by the PDCP entity to determine the sending path of the data packets currently to be sent at the PDCP entity.

[0098] It can be understood that the estimated time required to send the currently remaining historical data packets to be sent on the corresponding carrier (i.e., the currently remaining historical data packets to be sent at the RLC entity) can also be used as a reference for determining the sending path of the currently remaining data packets to be sent at the PDCP entity. This can make the sending path determined for the currently remaining data packets to be sent at the PDCP entity more reasonable and will not cause traffic congestion on the corresponding carrier.

[0099] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of the implementation architecture of a data transmission method provided by an embodiment of this specification. In Figure 8, CU refers to a central unit (Centralized Unit) and DU refers to a distributed unit (Distributed Unit). The 5G base station divides the baseband unit (BBU) into CU and DU, and connects it to the active antenna unit (AAU) through optical fiber. Among them, the CU is responsible for hosting the radio resource control layer (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) and PDCP sublayer of the 5G base station, which centrally controls one or more DU units.

[0100] In FIG8 , a diversion decision module is provided in the PDCP entity, and a perception estimation module and an information reporting module are provided in the RLC entity.

[0101] The perception and estimation module is used to obtain preset parameters of a carrier attached to the RLC entity, and determine a current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier according to the estimated parameters of the carrier.

[0102] The information reporting module is used to report the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier to the offload decision module in the PDCP entity. Optionally, it can also report the amount of historical data packets remaining to be sent on the carrier to the offload decision module in the PDCP entity.

[0103] The offload decision module is used to receive the current estimated downlink transmission rate of each carrier reported by the RLC entity, and determine the transmission path of the current data packet to be sent at the PDCP entity based on the current estimated downlink transmission rate of each carrier.

[0104] For detailed functions that can be achieved by the perception estimation module, the information reporting module, and the diversion decision module, please refer to the data transmission method described above, which will not be repeated here.

[0105] It should be noted that FIG8 is only a possible architecture for implementing a data transmission method provided in this specification, and does not mean that a data transmission method provided in this specification can only be implemented through the architecture shown in FIG8.

[0106] The foregoing description of this specification describes specific embodiments. Other embodiments are within the scope of the appended claims. In some cases, the actions or steps recited in the claims can be performed in an order different from that described in the embodiments and still achieve the desired results. Furthermore, the processes depicted in the accompanying drawings do not necessarily require the specific order shown or the sequential order to achieve the desired results. In certain embodiments, multitasking and parallel processing are also possible or may be advantageous.

[0107] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present specification. Referring to FIG9 , at the hardware level, the electronic device includes a processor, and optionally also includes an internal bus, a network interface, and a memory. The memory may include internal memory, such as high-speed random access memory (RAM), and may also include non-volatile memory, such as at least one disk storage device. Of course, the electronic device may also include hardware required for other services.

[0108] The processor, network interface, and memory can be interconnected via an internal bus, which can be an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus. These buses can be classified as address buses, data buses, control buses, and the like. For ease of illustration, FIG9 shows only one bidirectional arrow, but this does not imply that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0109] The memory is used to store programs. Specifically, the program may include program code, which includes computer operating instructions. The memory may include internal memory and non-volatile memory, and provides instructions and data to the processor.

[0110] The processor reads the corresponding computer program from the non-volatile memory into the internal memory and then runs it, forming a data transmission device at the logical level. The processor executes the program stored in the memory and is specifically used to perform the following operations:

[0111] Determine the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier and the second carrier, wherein the first carrier is a carrier mounted on the master node MN, and the second carrier is a carrier mounted on the secondary node SN; based on the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier and the second carrier, determine the sending path of the current data packet to be sent; send the current data packet to be sent to the target radio link layer control protocol RLC entity, wherein the target RLC entity sends the current data packet to be sent through the sending path.

[0112] Alternatively, the processor executes a program stored in the memory and is specifically used to perform the following operations: determine the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier mounted on the node where the radio link layer control protocol RLC entity is located based on preset parameters of the carrier, wherein the node includes a master node MN or a slave node SN; report the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier to the packet data convergence protocol PDCP entity, wherein the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is used by the PDCP entity to determine the sending path of the data packet currently to be sent at the PDCP entity.

[0113] The method performed by the data transmission device disclosed in the embodiment shown in FIG. 9 of this specification can be applied to a processor or implemented by a processor. The processor may be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. During implementation, each step of the above method can be completed by hardware integrated logic circuits in the processor or by software instructions. The above processor can be a general-purpose processor, including a central processing unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), etc.; it can also be a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, or discrete hardware components. The processor can implement or execute the various methods, steps, and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiments of this specification. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor. The steps of the method disclosed in conjunction with the embodiments of this specification can be directly implemented as being executed by a hardware decoding processor, or can be executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module can be located in a storage medium well-known in the art, such as random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, etc. The storage medium is located in the memory, and the processor reads the information in the memory and, in conjunction with its hardware, completes the steps of the above method.

[0114] The electronic device can also execute the method shown in FIG. 6 or FIG. 7 and realize the functions of the data transmission device in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 or FIG. 7 , which will not be described in detail in this specification.

[0115] Of course, in addition to software implementation, the electronic device in this specification does not exclude other implementation methods, such as logic devices or a combination of software and hardware, etc. That is to say, the execution subject of the following processing flow is not limited to each logic unit, but can also be hardware or logic devices.

[0116] The embodiments of this specification also propose a computer-readable storage medium, which stores one or more programs, and the one or more programs include instructions. When the instructions are executed by a portable electronic device including multiple applications, the portable electronic device can execute the method of the embodiment shown in Figure 6 or Figure 7, and is specifically used to perform the following operations: determine the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier and the second carrier, wherein the first carrier is a carrier mounted on the master node MN, and the second carrier is a carrier mounted on the secondary node SN; based on the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier and the second carrier, determine the sending path of the current data packet to be sent; send the current data packet to be sent to the target radio link layer control protocol RLC entity, wherein the target RLC entity sends the current data packet to be sent through the sending path.

[0117] Alternatively, it is specifically used to perform the following operations: determine the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier mounted on the node where the radio link layer control protocol RLC entity is located based on the preset parameters of the carrier, wherein the node includes a master node MN or a secondary node SN; report the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier to the packet data convergence protocol PDCP entity, wherein the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is used by the PDCP entity to determine the sending path of the data packet currently to be sent at the PDCP entity.

[0118] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a data transmission device 1000 provided in accordance with one embodiment of this specification. This device 1000 can be applied to a PDCP entity in a split bearer scenario such as those described in Figures 2, 3, 4, or 5. Referring to Figure 10 , in a software implementation, the data transmission device 1000 may include a rate determination module 1001, a path determination module 1002, and a data transmission module 1003.

[0119] The rate determination module 1001 is configured to determine the current estimated downlink transmission rates of a first carrier and a second carrier, wherein the first carrier is a carrier mounted on the master node MN and the second carrier is a carrier mounted on the slave node SN.

[0120] Regarding determining the current estimated downlink transmission rates of the first carrier and the second carrier, there are the following two implementation methods.

[0121] Implementation method 1: determined and reported by the RLC entity.

[0122] Specifically, the rate determination module 1001 can be used to: receive the current estimated downlink transmission rate estimated and reported by the first RLC entity for the first carrier, wherein the first RLC entity is located in the MN, and the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier is estimated by the first RLC entity based on the preset parameters of the first carrier; receive the current estimated downlink transmission rate estimated and reported by the second RLC entity for the second carrier, wherein the second RLC entity is located in the SN, and the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the second carrier is estimated by the second RLC entity based on the preset parameters of the second carrier.

[0123] Implementation method 2: determined by the PDCP entity.

[0124] Specifically, the rate determination module 1001 can be used to: estimate the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier according to the preset parameters of the first carrier; and estimate the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the second carrier according to the preset parameters of the second carrier.

[0125] The preset parameters may include but are not limited to at least one of the following: downlink channel quality, downlink physical resource block (PRB) load, radio frame structure, number of users and service priority.

[0126] Determining the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier according to preset parameters of the carrier may include: determining the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier based on a predetermined rate estimation model and the preset parameters of the carrier, wherein the rate estimation model is a function of the preset parameters.

[0127] The rate estimation model can be expressed as:

[0128] v(i)=f(downlink channel quality, downlink physical resource block (PRB) load, radio frame structure, number of users, service priority, etc.), where i represents different carrier numbers.

[0129] In the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is positively correlated or negatively correlated with a preset parameter of the carrier.

[0130] Specifically:

[0131] 1) If the preset parameters of the carrier include downlink channel quality, then in the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is positively correlated with the downlink channel quality of the carrier. The better the downlink channel quality, the greater the current estimated downlink transmission rate.

[0132] 2) If the preset parameters of the carrier include the load of the downlink physical resource block PRB, then in the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is negatively correlated with the load of the downlink PRB of the carrier. The smaller the load of the downlink PRB, the greater the current estimated downlink transmission rate.

[0133] 3) If the preset parameters of the carrier include a wireless frame structure, then in the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is positively correlated with the proportion of downlink subframes in the wireless frame structure of the carrier. The greater the proportion of downlink subframes in the wireless frame structure of the carrier, the greater the current estimated downlink transmission rate.

[0134] 4) If the preset parameters of the carrier include the number of users, then in the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is negatively correlated with the number of users of the carrier. The fewer the number of users of the carrier, the greater the current estimated downlink transmission rate.

[0135] 5) If the preset parameters of the carrier include service priority, then in the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is positively correlated with the service priority. The higher the service priority, the greater the current estimated downlink transmission rate.

[0136] The path determination module 1002 is configured to determine a sending path for a data packet to be sent based on currently estimated downlink transmission rates of the first carrier and the second carrier.

[0137] As an example, the path determination module 1002 may be configured to: compare the currently estimated downlink transmission rates of the first carrier and the second carrier to determine the carrier with the highest currently estimated downlink transmission rate between the first carrier and the second carrier; determine the carrier with the highest currently estimated downlink transmission rate as the primary downlink path for carrying the data packet currently to be transmitted; and determine the primary downlink path as the transmission path for the data packet currently to be transmitted. That is, the carrier with the highest currently estimated downlink transmission rate between the first carrier and the second carrier is directly used as the transmission path for the data packet currently to be transmitted.

[0138] As another example, the estimated time required to transmit the remaining historical data packets to be transmitted on the first carrier and the second carrier may be determined respectively. Then, based on the estimated time and current estimated downlink transmission rate corresponding to each of the first and second carriers, a transmission path for the currently transmitted data packet may be determined. That is, the path determination module 1002 may be configured to determine the transmission path for the currently transmitted data packet based on the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the second carrier, the estimated time corresponding to the first carrier, and the estimated time corresponding to the second carrier.

[0139] It can be understood that the estimated time required to send the currently remaining historical data packets to be sent on the first carrier and the second carrier (i.e., the currently remaining historical data packets to be sent at the RLC entity) is also used as a reference for determining the sending path of the currently remaining data packets to be sent at the PDCP entity. This can make the sending path determined for the currently remaining data packets to be sent at the PDCP entity more reasonable and will not cause traffic congestion on the first carrier or the second carrier.

[0140] Among them, the respectively determining of the estimated time required to send the currently remaining historical data packets to be sent on the first carrier and the second carrier may include: receiving the amount of first data reported by a first RLC entity, wherein the first RLC entity is located at the MN, and the first data includes the currently remaining historical data packets to be sent on the first carrier; receiving the amount of second data reported by a second RLC entity, wherein the second RLC entity is located at the SN, and the second data includes the currently remaining historical data packets to be sent on the second carrier; based on the amount of the first data and the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier, determining the estimated time required to send the currently remaining historical data packets to be sent on the first carrier; based on the amount of the second data and the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the second carrier, determining the estimated time required to send the currently remaining historical data packets to be sent on the second carrier.

[0141] It can be understood that the estimated time required to transmit the remaining historical data packets on a carrier is generally calculated as: the number of historical data packets currently remaining on the carrier divided by the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier. In other words, t(i) = the number of historical data packets currently remaining on the carrier to be transmitted / v(i), where t(i) represents the estimated time and v(i) represents the current estimated downlink transmission rate.

[0142] Among them, the determining of the sending path of the current data packet to be sent based on the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the second carrier, the estimated time consumption corresponding to the first carrier, and the estimated time consumption corresponding to the second carrier may include: comparing the current estimated downlink transmission rates of the first carrier and the second carrier to determine the carrier with the largest current estimated downlink transmission rate among the first carrier and the second carrier; determining the carrier with the largest current estimated downlink transmission rate as the downlink main path carrying the data to be sent; and determining the sending path of the current data packet to be sent based on the estimated time consumption corresponding to the downlink main path and the estimated time consumption corresponding to the remaining carriers among the first carrier and the second carrier.

[0143] In an optional embodiment, the determining of the sending path of the current data packet to be sent based on the estimated time consumption corresponding to the downlink main path and the estimated time consumption corresponding to the remaining carriers in the first carrier and the second carrier includes: 1) when the estimated time consumption corresponding to the downlink main path meets a first preset condition, determining the downlink main path as the sending path of the current data packet to be sent; 2) when the estimated time consumption corresponding to the downlink main path meets a second preset condition, determining the carrier with the smallest estimated time consumption among the first carrier and the second carrier as the sending path of the current data packet to be sent; 3) when the estimated time consumption corresponding to the first carrier or the second carrier meets a third preset condition, not using the carrier as the sending path of the current data packet to be sent.

[0144] The first preset condition includes: the estimated time is less than a first threshold; the second preset condition includes: the estimated time is greater than or equal to the first threshold and less than a second threshold; and the third preset condition includes: the estimated time is greater than the second threshold. The first threshold is a preset minimum buffering delay of data to be sent in the RLC entity; the second threshold is a preset maximum buffering delay of data to be sent in the RLC entity.

[0145] The data sending module 1003 is configured to send the data packet currently to be sent to a target radio link layer control protocol RLC entity, wherein the target RLC entity sends the data packet currently to be sent through the sending path.

[0146] The target RLC entity is the first RLC entity or the second RLC entity.

[0147] The data packet currently to be sent at the PDCP entity may be sent to the target RLC entity corresponding to the sending path through the data sending module 1003, so that the target RLC entity sends the data packet currently to be sent through the sending path.

[0148] A data transmission device 1000 provided in an embodiment of the present specification determines, for a first carrier mounted on a master node MN and a second carrier mounted on a slave node SN, a sending path for a currently to-be-sent data packet based on the currently estimated downlink transmission rates of the two, that is, the perceived rates of the first carrier and the second carrier - the currently estimated downlink transmission rates, are used as a reference basis for downlink splitting of the bearer. This can fully utilize the capabilities of each carrier, reduce the waste of scheduling resources due to unclear air interface capabilities of different carriers or reduce user traffic due to congestion, and reasonably distribute the data arriving at the PDCP layer to each carrier, thereby improving data transmission efficiency.

[0149] A data transmission device 1000 provided in an embodiment of this specification can also execute the method of Figure 6 and realize the functions of the data transmission device 1000 in the embodiment shown in Figure 6, which will not be repeated in this embodiment of this specification.

[0150] FIG11 is a schematic diagram of a data transmission device 1100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG11 , in a software implementation, the data transmission device 1100 may include: a rate sensing module 1101 and a rate reporting module 1102 .

[0151] The rate sensing module 1101 is used to determine the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier based on the preset parameters of the carrier mounted on the node where the radio link layer control protocol RLC entity is located, wherein the node includes the master node MN or the secondary node SN.

[0152] The rate reporting module 1102 is used to report the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier to the Packet Data Convergence Protocol PDCP entity, wherein the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is used by the PDCP entity to determine the sending path of the data packet currently to be sent at the PDCP entity.

[0153] In an optional embodiment, the device 1100 may also include: a data volume reporting module, used to report the data volume of the historical data packets currently remaining on the carrier to be sent to the PDCP entity, wherein the data volume is used to determine the estimated time required to send the historical data packets currently remaining on the carrier to be sent, and the estimated time is used by the PDCP entity to determine the sending path of the current data packets to be sent at the PDCP entity.

[0154] The data transmission device 1100 provided in the embodiment of this specification can also execute the method of Figure 7 and achieve the same technical effect, which will not be described in detail in the embodiment of this specification.

[0155] In short, the above description is only part of the embodiments of this specification and is not intended to limit the scope of protection of this specification. Any modifications, equivalent replacements, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of this specification shall be included in the scope of protection of this specification.

[0156] The systems, devices, modules, or units described in the above embodiments may be implemented by computer chips or entities, or by products having certain functions. A typical implementation device is a computer. Specifically, the computer may be, for example, a personal computer, a laptop computer, a cellular phone, a camera phone, a smartphone, a personal digital assistant, a media player, a navigation device, an email device, a game console, a tablet computer, a wearable device, or a combination of any of these devices.

[0157] Computer-readable media include permanent and non-permanent, removable and non-removable media, and can be implemented by any method or technology to store information. Information can be computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Examples of computer storage media include, but are not limited to, phase-change random access memory (PRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), other types of random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disc (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other non-transmission medium that can be used to store information that can be accessed by a computing device. It should also be noted that the terms "comprises," "includes," or any other variations thereof are intended to encompass non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, commodity, or apparatus that includes a series of elements includes not only those elements but also other elements not explicitly listed, or includes elements inherent to such process, method, commodity, or apparatus. In the absence of further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprises a ..." does not exclude the presence of other identical elements in the process, method, commodity, or apparatus that includes the element.

[0158] The various embodiments in this specification are described in a progressive manner. Similar parts between the various embodiments can be referred to in conjunction with each other. Each embodiment focuses on the differences between the other embodiments. In particular, the system embodiments are generally similar to the method embodiments, so the description is relatively simple. For relevant parts, refer to the description of the method embodiments.

Claims

1. A data transmission method, the method comprising: Determine a current estimated downlink transmission rate of a first carrier and a second carrier, wherein the first carrier is a carrier mounted on a master node MN, and the second carrier is a carrier mounted on a secondary node SN; Determine a sending path of a data packet to be sent based on current estimated downlink transmission rates of the first carrier and the second carrier; The current data packet to be sent is sent to a target radio link layer control protocol RLC entity, wherein the target RLC entity sends the current data packet to be sent through the sending path.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier and the second carrier comprises: receiving a current estimated downlink transmission rate for a first carrier estimated and reported by a first RLC entity, wherein the first RLC entity is located in the MN, and the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier is estimated by the first RLC entity according to a preset parameter of the first carrier; receiving a current estimated downlink transmission rate estimated and reported by a second RLC entity for a second carrier, wherein the second RLC entity is located at the SN, and the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the second carrier is estimated by the second RLC entity according to a preset parameter of the second carrier; The target RLC entity is the first RLC entity or the second RLC entity.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the current estimated downlink transmission rates of the first carrier and the second carrier comprises: estimating a current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier according to a preset parameter of the first carrier; According to the preset parameters of the second carrier, a current estimated downlink transmission rate of the second carrier is estimated.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, The preset parameters include at least one of downlink channel quality, downlink physical resource block PRB load, radio frame structure, number of users and service priority.

5. The method according to claim 1, before determining the sending path of the current data packet to be sent based on the current estimated downlink transmission rates of the first carrier and the second carrier, the method further comprises: The estimated time required to send the historical data packets to be sent currently remaining on the first carrier and the second carrier is determined respectively.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the determining the estimated time required to send the currently remaining historical data packets to be sent on the first carrier and the second carrier respectively comprises: receiving an amount of first data reported by a first RLC entity, wherein the first RLC entity is located in the MN, and the first data includes historical data packets to be sent currently remaining on the first carrier; receiving an amount of second data reported by a second RLC entity, wherein the second RLC entity is located at the SN, and the second data includes historical data packets to be sent currently remaining on the second carrier; Determine, based on the amount of the first data and the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier, an estimated time required to send the historical data packets to be sent currently remaining on the first carrier; Based on the amount of the second data and the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the second carrier, an estimated time required to send the historical data packets to be sent currently remaining on the second carrier.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein determining a sending path of a current data packet to be sent based on current estimated downlink transmission rates of the first carrier and the second carrier comprises: Based on the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the second carrier, the estimated time consumption corresponding to the first carrier, and the estimated time consumption corresponding to the second carrier, a sending path of the current data packet to be sent is determined.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein determining the sending path of the current data packet to be sent based on the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the first carrier, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the second carrier, the estimated time consumption corresponding to the first carrier, and the estimated time consumption corresponding to the second carrier comprises: Comparing currently estimated downlink transmission rates of the first carrier and the second carrier, and determining a carrier having a maximum currently estimated downlink transmission rate between the first carrier and the second carrier; Determine a carrier with the maximum currently estimated downlink transmission rate as a downlink main path for carrying the currently to-be-sent data; Based on the estimated time consumption corresponding to the downlink main path and the estimated time consumption corresponding to the remaining carriers in the first carrier and the second carrier, a sending path for the current data packet to be sent is determined.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein determining the sending path of the current data packet to be sent based on the estimated time consumption corresponding to the downlink main path and the estimated time consumption corresponding to the remaining carriers in the first carrier and the second carrier comprises: When the estimated time consumption corresponding to the downlink main path meets the first preset condition, the downlink main path is determined as the sending path of the current data packet to be sent; When the estimated time consumption corresponding to the downlink main path meets the second preset condition, determining the carrier with the smallest estimated time consumption between the first carrier and the second carrier as the sending path of the current data packet to be sent; When the estimated time consumption corresponding to the first carrier or the second carrier satisfies a third preset condition, the carrier is not used as a sending path for the current data packet to be sent.

10. The method according to claim 9, The first preset condition includes: The estimated time consumption is less than the first threshold; The second preset condition includes: the estimated time consumption is greater than or equal to the first threshold and less than the second threshold; The third preset condition includes: the estimated time consumption is greater than the second threshold.

11. The method according to claim 10, The first threshold is a preset minimum buffer delay of the data to be sent in the RLC entity; The second threshold is a preset maximum buffer delay of the data to be sent in the RLC entity.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, The transmission path is a single carrier or an aggregated carrier.

13. A data transmission method, the method comprising: Determine the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier based on preset parameters of the carrier mounted on the node where the radio link layer control protocol RLC entity is located, wherein the node includes a master node MN or a secondary node SN; The current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is reported to a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) entity, wherein the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is used by the PDCP entity to determine a transmission path of a data packet to be currently sent at the PDCP entity.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein determining the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier based on preset parameters of the carrier mounted on the node where the RLC entity is located comprises: Based on a predetermined rate estimation model and preset parameters of a carrier mounted on a node where an RLC entity is located, a current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is determined, wherein the rate estimation model is a function of the preset parameters.

15. According to the method of claim 14, the preset parameters include at least one of downlink channel quality, downlink physical resource block (PRB) load, wireless frame structure, number of users and service priority.

16. The method according to claim 15, In the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is positively correlated or negatively correlated with a preset parameter of the carrier.

17. The method according to claim 16, If the preset parameters of the carrier include downlink channel quality, then in the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is positively correlated with the downlink channel quality of the carrier; If the preset parameters of the carrier include a load of a downlink physical resource block (PRB), then in the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is negatively correlated with the load of the downlink PRB of the carrier; If the preset parameters of the carrier include a radio frame structure, then in the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is positively correlated with the proportion of downlink subframes in the radio frame structure of the carrier; If the preset parameter of the carrier includes the number of users, then in the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is negatively correlated with the number of users of the carrier; If the preset parameters of the carrier include service priority, then in the rate estimation model, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier is positively correlated with the service priority.

18. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 17, wherein reporting the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier to the PDCP entity comprises: If the carrier is a single carrier, reporting the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier separately to the PDCP entity; If the carrier is a component carrier in an aggregated carrier, the current estimated downlink transmission rate of the carrier and the current estimated downlink transmission rates of other component carriers are added together and reported to the PDCP entity.

19. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 17, further comprising: Report the amount of data of the historical data packets to be sent currently remaining on the carrier to the PDCP entity, wherein the amount of data is used to determine the estimated time required to send the historical data packets to be sent currently remaining on the carrier, and the estimated time is used by the PDCP entity to determine the sending path of the current data packets to be sent at the PDCP entity.

20. An electronic device, comprising: processor; a memory for storing instructions executable by the processor; The processor is configured to execute the instructions to implement the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 19.

21. A computer-readable storage medium, when instructions in the storage medium are executed by a processor of an electronic device, the electronic device is enabled to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 19.

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