Service transmission method and apparatus

Abstract

A service transmission method and apparatus. The service transmission method comprises: an application function network element indicating N QoS flows or N PDU sets to an access network device; the access network device being capable of selecting M QoS flows or M PDU sets capable of ensuring the current service transmission delay from among the N QoS flows or N PDU sets on the basis of various factors such as the current network condition and the current channel state, and indicating the M QoS flows or M PDU sets to the application function network element; and the application function network element selecting a certain QoS flow or a certain PDU set for service transmission from among the M QoS flows or M PDU sets. By means of the service transmission method provided by the embodiments of the present application, service transmission delay can be ensured.

Description

Service transmission method and device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on August 7, 2023, with application number 202310993298.X and application name “Business Transmission 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 communication technology, and more specifically, to a service transmission method and device. Background Art

[0003] In recent years, with the continuous development of 5G communication systems, data transmission capacity has increased and data transmission latency has become increasingly low. This rapid increase in data transmission rates has made real-time video transmission a core service in today's networks. For example, current real-time video transmission services include cloud gaming (CG) and extended reality (XR).

[0004] To leverage high-speed, stable networks and meet the needs of lightweight and mobile terminal devices, real-time video transmission services are hosted in the cloud. Terminal devices connect to the network through access network equipment and retrieve service content from the cloud. The time it takes to process services in the cloud varies depending on the number of tasks. Therefore, excessive latency may occur in the cloud due to the large number of tasks being processed, making it impossible to guarantee service transmission latency.

[0005] Summary of the Invention

[0006] The present application provides a method and apparatus for service transmission, which can ensure the delay of service transmission.

[0007] In the first aspect, a method for service transmission is provided, which can be executed by an application function network element, or by a module (such as a chip or circuit) in the application function network element, or by a logical node, logical module or software that can realize all or part of the application function network element function. This application does not limit this.

[0008] The method includes: sending first information to an access network device; and receiving second information from the access network device. The first information indicates N quality of service (QoS) flows, and the second information indicates M QoS flows, wherein the M QoS flows belong to the N QoS flows, and at least two of the N QoS flows have different packet delay budgets (PDBs), and / or at least two of the N QoS flows have different bit rates. Service transmission is performed based on a first QoS flow, and the first QoS flow belongs to the M QoS flows.

[0009] Alternatively, the method includes: sending first information to an access network device; and receiving second information from the access network device. The first information indicates N protocol data unit (PDU) sets, and the second information indicates M PDU sets, wherein the M PDU sets belong to the N PDU sets, and at least two of the N PDU sets have different PDU set delay budgets (PSDBs). Service transmission is performed based on the first PDU set, and the first PDU set belongs to the M PDU sets.

[0010] Wherein, the above-mentioned M is greater than or equal to 1, N is greater than or equal to M, and M and N are positive integers.

[0011] Through the above method, the application function network element can provide the N QoS flows or N PDU sets it supports to the access network device, and the access network device determines at least one QoS flow or PDU set that can guarantee the delay of the current service transmission based on the current network status, etc. Using this at least one QoS flow or PDU set for service transmission can effectively guarantee the delay of service transmission and improve user experience.

[0012] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving fourth information from the access network device, where the fourth information indicates the effective time of the first QoS flow or the first PDU set.

[0013] Exemplarily, the above-mentioned “effective time” may be the start time of service transmission.

[0014] Through the above method, the application function network element can know when to use the first QoS flow or the first PDU set to transmit the service, so that the delay of the service transmission is guaranteed on time.

[0015] In conjunction with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, when M is greater than 1, the method further includes: receiving third information from an access network device, the third information indicating a usage order of the M QoS flows or PDU sets. The transmitting a service based on the first QoS flow or the first PDU set includes: determining to transmit the service based on the first QoS flow or the first PDU set based on the usage order.

[0016] Specifically, the usage order of the above-mentioned M QoS flows or M PDU sets indicated by the above-mentioned third information can be understood as the priority order of the above-mentioned M QoS flows or M PDU sets recommended by the above-mentioned access network device to the application function network element. Exemplarily, the usage order of the above-mentioned M QoS flows is QoS flow #1, QoS flow #2, ..., QoS flow #M. When the application function network element identifies that QoS flow #1 cannot be used for service transmission, it will select QoS flow #2 for service transmission. At this time, QoS flow #2 can be considered as the above-mentioned first QoS flow. Alternatively, when the application function network element identifies that QoS flow #1 can be used for service transmission, it will select QoS flow #1 for service transmission. At this time, QoS flow #1 can be considered as the above-mentioned first QoS flow. This application does not limit which QoS flow among the M QoS flows is selected by the application function network element for service transmission.

[0017] Alternatively, when M=1, the first QoS flow is the M QoS flows indicated by the second information, and the first PDU set is the M PDU sets indicated by the second information.

[0018] Through the above method, the application function network element comprehensively considers various factors and selects the QoS flow or PDU set that can complete the service transmission at the effective time as much as possible, thereby ensuring the delay and stability of service transmission.

[0019] Each of the above QoS flows includes at least one PDU set, and each PDU set in the at least one PDU set corresponds to at least one of the following information:

[0020] PSDB of PDU set, importance of PDU set.

[0021] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, when the difference between the PDB corresponding to the above-mentioned first QoS flow and the PDB corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a first threshold, and / or when the difference between the bit rate corresponding to the above-mentioned first QoS flow and the bit rate corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a second threshold, the importance of at least one PDU set in the above-mentioned first QoS flow is greater than the importance of the PDU set in the above-mentioned second QoS flow, and the second QoS flow is a QoS flow used for service transmission before the above-mentioned first QoS flow.

[0022] Specifically, the importance of a PDU set included in the first QoS flow may be greater than the importance of a PDU set in the second QoS flow, or the importance of a partial PDU set included in the first QoS flow may be greater than the importance of a PDU set in the second QoS flow, or the importance of all PDU sets included in the first QoS flow may be greater than the importance of a PDU set in the second QoS flow, and this application does not limit this. Among them, the PDU set included in the first QoS flow may be a PDU set carrying an instantaneous decoder refresh (IDR) frame.

[0023] Specifically, the second QoS flow may be a QoS flow for service transmission preceding the first QoS flow, or may be p QoS flows for service transmission preceding the first QoS flow, which is not limited in this application. Wherein, p is a positive integer greater than 1.

[0024] Specifically, the second QoS flow may be a QoS flow or multiple QoS flows used for service transmission before the first QoS flow. When the second QoS flow is a plurality of QoS flows used for service transmission before the first QoS flow, the PDB corresponding to the second QoS flow may be an average value of the PDBs corresponding to the plurality of QoS flows, or may be a maximum value of the PDBs corresponding to the plurality of QoS flows, or may be a minimum value of the PDBs corresponding to the plurality of QoS flows, etc., and this application does not limit this.

[0025] By using the above method, when the difference between the PDB of the first QoS flow and the PDB of the second QoS flow previously transmitting services is large, the reliability of service transmission can be guaranteed by increasing the importance of the PDU set of the first QoS flow.

[0026] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, when the difference between the PSDB corresponding to the first PDU set and the PSDB corresponding to the second PDU set is greater than a third threshold, the importance of the first PDU set is greater than the importance of the second PDU set, and the second PDU set is actually a PDU set that transmits services before the first PDU set.

[0027] Specifically, the first PDU set may be a PDU set carrying an IDR frame.

[0028] Specifically, the second PDU set may be a PDU set for service transmission preceding the first PDU set, or may be a PDU set for service transmission preceding the first PDU set, which is not limited in this application.

[0029] Specifically, the second PDU set may be a PDU set or multiple PDU sets used for service transmission before the first PDU set. When the second PDU set is a plurality of PDU sets used for service transmission before the first PDU set, the PSDB corresponding to the second PDU set may be the average value of the PSDBs corresponding to the multiple PDU sets, or may be the maximum value of the PSDBs corresponding to the multiple PDU sets, or may be the minimum value of the PSDBs corresponding to the multiple PDU sets, etc., and this application does not limit this.

[0030] Through the above method, when the difference between the PSDB of the first PDU set and the PSDB of the second PDU set previously used for service transmission is large, the reliability of service transmission can be guaranteed by increasing the importance of the first PDU set.

[0031] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving seventh information from the access network device, where the seventh information is used to indicate at least one of the first threshold, the second threshold, and the third threshold.

[0032] On the second aspect, a method for service transmission is provided, which can be executed by an access network device, or by a module (such as a chip or circuit) in the access network device, or by a logical node, logical module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the access network device. This application does not limit this.

[0033] The method includes: receiving first information from an application function network element; and sending second information to the application function network element. The first information indicates N QoS flows, and the second information indicates M QoS flows, wherein the M QoS flows belong to the N QoS flows, at least two of the N QoS flows correspond to different PDBs, and / or at least two of the N QoS flows correspond to different bit rates. Service transmission is performed based on a first QoS flow, and the first QoS flow belongs to the M QoS flows.

[0034] Alternatively, the method includes: receiving first information from an application function network element; and sending second information to the application function network element. The first information indicates N PDU sets, and the second information indicates M PDU sets, wherein the M PDU sets belong to the N PDU sets, and at least two of the N PDU sets correspond to different PSDBs. Service transmission is performed based on the first PDU set, and the first PDU set belongs to the M PDU sets.

[0035] Wherein, the above-mentioned M is greater than or equal to 1, N is greater than or equal to M, and M and N are positive integers.

[0036] Through the above method, the application function network element can provide the N QoS flows or N PDU sets it supports to the access network device, and the access network device determines at least one QoS flow or PDU set that can guarantee the delay of the current service transmission based on the current network status, etc. Using this at least one QoS flow or PDU set for service transmission can effectively guarantee the delay of service transmission and improve user experience.

[0037] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: sending fourth information to the application function network element, where the fourth information indicates the effective time of the first QoS flow or the first PDU set.

[0038] Exemplarily, the above-mentioned “effective time” may be the start time of service transmission.

[0039] Through the above method, the application function network element can know when to use the first QoS flow or the first PDU set to transmit the service, so that the delay of the service transmission is guaranteed on time.

[0040] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, when M is greater than 1, the method further includes: sending third information to the application function network element, where the third information indicates the order of use of the M QoS flows or PDU sets.

[0041] Specifically, the usage order of the above-mentioned M QoS flows or M PDU sets indicated by the above-mentioned third information can be understood as the priority order of the above-mentioned M QoS flows or M PDU sets recommended by the above-mentioned access network device to the application function network element. Exemplarily, the usage order of the above-mentioned M QoS flows is QoS flow #1, QoS flow #2, ..., QoS flow #M. When the application function network element identifies that QoS flow #1 cannot be used for service transmission, it will select QoS flow #2 for service transmission. At this time, QoS flow #2 can be considered as the above-mentioned first QoS flow. Alternatively, when the application function network element identifies that QoS flow #1 can be used for service transmission, it will select QoS flow #1 for service transmission. At this time, QoS flow #1 can be considered as the above-mentioned first QoS flow. This application does not limit which QoS flow among the M QoS flows is selected by the application function network element for service transmission.

[0042] Alternatively, when M=1, the first QoS flow is the M QoS flows indicated by the second information, and the first PDU set is the M PDU sets indicated by the second information.

[0043] Through the above method, the application function network element comprehensively considers various factors and selects the QoS flow or PDU set that can complete the service transmission at the effective time as much as possible, thereby ensuring the delay and stability of service transmission.

[0044] Each of the above QoS flows includes at least one PDU set, and each PDU set in the at least one PDU set corresponds to at least one of the following information:

[0045] PSDB of PDU set, importance of PDU set.

[0046] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, when the difference between the PDB corresponding to the above-mentioned first QoS flow and the PDB corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a first threshold, and / or when the difference between the bit rate corresponding to the above-mentioned first QoS flow and the bit rate corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a second threshold, the above-mentioned method also includes: sending fifth information to the core network network element, the fifth information indicating the increase in the importance of at least one PDU set in the above-mentioned first QoS flow relative to the importance of the PDU set of the above-mentioned second QoS flow, and the second QoS flow is a QoS flow that performs service transmission before the above-mentioned first QoS flow.

[0047] Specifically, the second QoS flow may be a QoS flow for service transmission preceding the first QoS flow, or may be p QoS flows for service transmission preceding the first QoS flow, which is not limited in this application. Wherein, p is a positive integer greater than 1.

[0048] Specifically, the second QoS flow may be a QoS flow or multiple QoS flows used for service transmission before the first QoS flow. When the second QoS flow is a plurality of QoS flows used for service transmission before the first QoS flow, the PDB corresponding to the second QoS flow may be an average value of the PDBs corresponding to the plurality of QoS flows, or may be a maximum value of the PDBs corresponding to the plurality of QoS flows, or may be a minimum value of the PDBs corresponding to the plurality of QoS flows, etc., and this application does not limit this.

[0049] Through the above method, when the difference between the PDB of the first QoS flow and the PDB of the second QoS flow previously used for service transmission is large, the reliability of service transmission can be guaranteed by indicating to the core network element the importance of improving the PDU set of the first QoS flow.

[0050] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, when the difference between the PDB corresponding to the above-mentioned first QoS flow and the PDB corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a first threshold, and / or when the difference between the bit rate corresponding to the above-mentioned first QoS flow and the bit rate corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a second threshold, the importance of at least one PDU set in the above-mentioned first QoS flow is greater than the importance of the PDU set in the above-mentioned second QoS flow, and the second QoS flow is a QoS flow used for service transmission before the above-mentioned first QoS flow.

[0051] Specifically, the importance of a PDU set included in the first QoS flow may be greater than the importance of a PDU set in the second QoS flow, or the importance of a partial PDU set included in the first QoS flow may be greater than the importance of a PDU set in the second QoS flow, or the importance of all PDU sets included in the first QoS flow may be greater than the importance of a PDU set in the second QoS flow, and this application does not limit this. Among them, the PDU set included in the first QoS flow may be a PDU set carrying an IDR frame.

[0052] By using the above method, when the difference between the PDB of the first QoS flow and the PDB of the second QoS flow previously transmitting services is large, the reliability of service transmission can be guaranteed by increasing the importance of the PDU set of the first QoS flow.

[0053] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, when the difference between the PSDB corresponding to the above-mentioned first PDU set and the PSDB corresponding to the second PDU set is greater than a third threshold, the above-mentioned method also includes: sending sixth information to the core network network element, the sixth information indicating the increase in the importance of the first PDU set relative to the importance of the above-mentioned second PDU set, and the second PDU set is a PDU set that transmits services before the first PDU set.

[0054] Specifically, the second PDU set may be a PDU set for service transmission preceding the first PDU set, or may be a PDU set for service transmission preceding the first PDU set, which is not limited in this application.

[0055] Specifically, the second PDU set may be a PDU set or multiple PDU sets used for service transmission before the first PDU set. When the second PDU set is a plurality of PDU sets used for service transmission before the first PDU set, the PSDB corresponding to the second PDU set may be the average value of the PSDBs corresponding to the multiple PDU sets, or may be the maximum value of the PSDBs corresponding to the multiple PDU sets, or may be the minimum value of the PSDBs corresponding to the multiple PDU sets, etc., and this application does not limit this.

[0056] Through the above method, when the difference between the PSDB of the first PDU set and the PSDB of the second PDU set previously used for service transmission is large, the reliability of service transmission can be guaranteed by instructing the core network element to enhance the importance of the first PDU set.

[0057] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, when the difference between the PSDB corresponding to the above-mentioned first PDU set and the PSDB corresponding to the second PDU set is greater than a third threshold, the importance of the above-mentioned first PDU set is greater than the importance of the above-mentioned second PDU set, and the second PDU set is actually a PDU set that transmits services before the above-mentioned first PDU set.

[0058] Specifically, the first PDU set may be a PDU set carrying an IDR frame.

[0059] Through the above method, when the difference between the PSDB of the first PDU set and the PSDB of the second PDU set previously used for service transmission is large, the reliability of service transmission can be guaranteed by increasing the importance of the first PDU set.

[0060] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: sending seventh information to the application function network element, where the seventh information is used to indicate at least one of the first threshold, the second threshold, and the third threshold.

[0061] On the third aspect, a method for service transmission is provided, which can be executed by core network network elements and access network equipment, or by modules (such as chips or circuits) in the core network network elements and access network equipment, or by logical nodes, logical modules or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the core network network elements and access network equipment. This application does not limit this.

[0062] The method includes: an access network device receiving first information from an application function network element; and the access network device sending second information to the application function network element. The first information indicates N QoS flows, and the second information indicates M QoS flows, wherein the M QoS flows belong to the N QoS flows, and at least two of the N QoS flows have different PDBs, and / or at least two of the N QoS flows have different bit rates. The access network device transmits a service based on the first QoS flow, which belongs to the M QoS flows.

[0063] Alternatively, the method includes: an access network device receiving first information from an application function network element; and the access network device sending second information to the application function network element. The first information indicates N PDU sets, and the second information indicates M PDU sets, wherein the M PDU sets belong to the N PDU sets, and at least two of the N PDU sets correspond to different PSDBs. The access network device transmits a service based on the first PDU set, wherein the first PDU set belongs to the M PDU sets.

[0064] Each of the above QoS flows includes at least one PDU set, and each PDU set in the at least one PDU set corresponds to at least one of the following information:

[0065] PSDB of PDU set, importance of PDU set.

[0066] When the difference between the PDB corresponding to the first QoS flow and the PDB corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a first threshold, and / or when the difference between the bit rate corresponding to the first QoS flow and the bit rate corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a second threshold, the access network device sends fifth information to the core network network element, where the fifth information indicates an increase in the importance of at least one PDU set in the first QoS flow relative to the importance of the PDU set in the second QoS flow, where the second QoS flow is a QoS flow that performs service transmission before the first QoS flow. The core network network element receives the fifth information from the access network device and adjusts the importance of at least one PDU set in the first QoS flow to be greater than the importance of the PDU set in the second QoS flow based on the fifth information.

[0067] Wherein, the above-mentioned M is greater than or equal to 1, N is greater than or equal to M, and M and N are positive integers.

[0068] The explanation and beneficial effects of the relevant contents of the service transmission method provided in the third aspect can be referred to the service transmission method shown in the second aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0069] In the fourth aspect, a method for service transmission is provided, which can be executed by core network network elements and access network equipment, or by modules (such as chips or circuits) in the core network network elements and access network equipment, or by logical nodes, logical modules or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the core network network elements and access network equipment. This application does not limit this.

[0070] The method includes: an access network device receiving first information from an application function network element; and the access network device sending second information to the application function network element. The first information indicates N QoS flows, and the second information indicates M QoS flows, wherein the M QoS flows belong to the N QoS flows, and at least two of the N QoS flows have different PDBs, and / or at least two of the N QoS flows have different bit rates. The access network device transmits a service based on the first QoS flow, which belongs to the M QoS flows.

[0071] Alternatively, the method includes: an access network device receiving first information from an application function network element; and the access network device sending second information to the application function network element. The first information indicates N PDU sets, and the second information indicates M PDU sets, wherein the M PDU sets belong to the N PDU sets, and at least two of the N PDU sets correspond to different PSDBs. The access network device transmits a service based on the first PDU set, wherein the first PDU set belongs to the M PDU sets.

[0072] Each of the above QoS flows includes at least one PDU set, and each PDU set in the at least one PDU set corresponds to at least one of the following information:

[0073] PSDB of PDU set, importance of PDU set.

[0074] When the difference between the PSDB corresponding to the first PDU set and the PSDB corresponding to the second PDU set is greater than a third threshold, the access network device sends sixth information to the core network network element, where the sixth information indicates an increase in the importance of the first PDU set relative to the importance of the second PDU set, where the second PDU set is a PDU set that performs service transmission before the first PDU set. The core network network element receives the sixth information from the access network device and adjusts the importance of the first PDU set to be greater than the importance of the second PDU set based on the sixth information.

[0075] Wherein, the above-mentioned M is greater than or equal to 1, N is greater than or equal to M, and M and N are positive integers.

[0076] The explanation and beneficial effects of the relevant contents of the method for business transmission provided in the fourth aspect can be referred to the method for business transmission shown in the second aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0077] In a fifth aspect, a device for service transmission is provided, which may be an application function network element, or a module (such as a chip or circuit) in an application function network element, or a logical node, logical module or software that can implement all or part of the application function network element functions. The device includes: an interface unit for sending first information to an access network device; the interface unit is also used to receive second information from the access network device. The first information indicates N quality of service (QoS) flows, the second information indicates M QoS flows, the M QoS flows belong to the above-mentioned N QoS flows, the packet delay budgets (PDBs) corresponding to at least two QoS flows of the N QoS flows are different, and / or the bit rates corresponding to at least two QoS flows of the N QoS flows are different. The above-mentioned device also includes a processing unit for performing service transmission based on the first QoS flow, and the first QoS flow belongs to the above-mentioned M QoS flows.

[0078] Alternatively, the device includes: an interface unit for sending first information to an access network device; the interface unit is also used to receive second information from the access network device. The first information indicates N protocol data unit (PDU) sets, the second information indicates M PDU sets, the M PDU sets belong to the above-mentioned N PDU sets, and the PDU set delay budgets (PDU set delay budget, PSDB) corresponding to at least two PDU sets in the N PDU sets are different. The above-mentioned device also includes: a processing unit for performing service transmission based on the first PDU set, and the first PDU set belongs to the above-mentioned M PDU sets.

[0079] Wherein, the above-mentioned M is greater than or equal to 1, N is greater than or equal to M, and M and N are positive integers.

[0080] In combination with the fifth aspect, in certain implementations of the fifth aspect, the above-mentioned interface unit is further used to receive fourth information from the access network device, and the fourth information indicates the effective time of the above-mentioned first QoS flow or the above-mentioned first PDU set.

[0081] In conjunction with the fifth aspect, in certain implementations of the fifth aspect, when M is greater than 1, the interface unit is further configured to receive third information from the access network device, where the third information indicates an order of use of the M QoS flows or PDU sets. The processing unit is configured to perform service transmission based on the first QoS flow or the first PDU set, including: the processing unit is further configured to determine, based on the order of use, whether to perform service transmission based on the first QoS flow or the first PDU set.

[0082] Each of the above QoS flows includes at least one PDU set, and each PDU set in the at least one PDU set corresponds to at least one of the following information:

[0083] PSDB of PDU set, importance of PDU set.

[0084] In combination with the fifth aspect, in certain implementations of the fifth aspect, when the difference between the PDB corresponding to the above-mentioned first QoS flow and the PDB corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a first threshold, and / or when the difference between the bit rate corresponding to the above-mentioned first QoS flow and the bit rate corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a second threshold, the importance of at least one PDU set in the above-mentioned first QoS flow is greater than the importance of the PDU set in the above-mentioned second QoS flow, and the second QoS flow is a QoS flow used for service transmission before the above-mentioned first QoS flow.

[0085] In combination with the fifth aspect, in certain implementations of the fifth aspect, when the difference between the PSDB corresponding to the first PDU set and the PSDB corresponding to the second PDU set is greater than a third threshold, the importance of the first PDU set is greater than the importance of the second PDU set, and the second PDU set is actually a PDU set that transmits services before the first PDU set.

[0086] In combination with the fifth aspect, in certain implementations of the fifth aspect, the above-mentioned interface unit is also used to receive seventh information from the access network device, and the seventh information is used to indicate at least one of the above-mentioned first threshold, the above-mentioned second threshold, and the above-mentioned third threshold.

[0087] The explanation of the relevant contents and beneficial effects of the device for business transmission provided in the fifth aspect can be referred to the method for business transmission shown in the first aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0088] In the sixth aspect, a device for service transmission is provided, which may be an access network device, or a module (such as a chip or circuit) in the access network device, or a logical node, logical module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the access network device. The device includes: an interface unit for receiving first information from an application function network element; the interface unit is also used to send second information to the application function network element. The first information indicates N QoS flows, the second information indicates M QoS flows, the M QoS flows belong to the above-mentioned N QoS flows, the PDBs corresponding to at least two of the N QoS flows are different, and / or the bit rates corresponding to at least two of the N QoS flows are different. The above-mentioned device also includes: a processing unit for performing service transmission based on the first QoS flow, and the first QoS flow belongs to the above-mentioned M QoS flows.

[0089] Alternatively, the apparatus includes: an interface unit configured to receive first information from an application function network element; the interface unit further configured to send second information to the application function network element. The first information indicates N PDU sets, and the second information indicates M PDU sets, wherein the M PDU sets belong to the aforementioned N PDU sets, and at least two of the N PDU sets correspond to different PSDBs. The apparatus further includes: a processing unit configured to perform service transmission based on the first PDU set, wherein the first PDU set belongs to the aforementioned M PDU sets.

[0090] Wherein, the above-mentioned M is greater than or equal to 1, N is greater than or equal to M, and M and N are positive integers.

[0091] In combination with the sixth aspect, in certain implementations of the sixth aspect, the above-mentioned interface unit is further used to send fourth information to the application function network element, and the fourth information indicates the effective time of the above-mentioned first QoS flow or the above-mentioned first PDU set.

[0092] In combination with the sixth aspect, in certain implementations of the sixth aspect, when M is greater than 1, the above-mentioned interface unit is also used to send third information to the application function network element, and the third information indicates the usage order of the above-mentioned M QoS flows or PDU sets.

[0093] Each of the above QoS flows includes at least one PDU set, and each PDU set in the at least one PDU set corresponds to at least one of the following information:

[0094] PSDB of PDU set, importance of PDU set.

[0095] In combination with the sixth aspect, in certain implementations of the sixth aspect, when the difference between the PDB corresponding to the above-mentioned first QoS flow and the PDB corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a first threshold, and / or when the difference between the bit rate corresponding to the above-mentioned first QoS flow and the bit rate corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a second threshold, the above-mentioned interface unit is also used to send fifth information to the core network network element, and the fifth information indicates the increase in the importance of at least one PDU set in the above-mentioned first QoS flow relative to the importance of the PDU set of the above-mentioned second QoS flow, and the second QoS flow is a QoS flow that transmits services before the above-mentioned first QoS flow.

[0096] In combination with the sixth aspect, in certain implementations of the sixth aspect, when the difference between the PDB corresponding to the above-mentioned first QoS flow and the PDB corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a first threshold, and / or when the difference between the bit rate corresponding to the above-mentioned first QoS flow and the bit rate corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a second threshold, the importance of at least one PDU set in the above-mentioned first QoS flow is greater than the importance of the PDU set in the above-mentioned second QoS flow, and the second QoS flow is a QoS flow used for service transmission before the above-mentioned first QoS flow.

[0097] In combination with the sixth aspect, in certain implementations of the sixth aspect, when the difference between the PSDB corresponding to the above-mentioned first PDU set and the PSDB corresponding to the second PDU set is greater than a third threshold, the above-mentioned interface unit is also used to send sixth information to the core network network element, and the sixth information indicates the increase in the importance of the first PDU set relative to the importance of the above-mentioned second PDU set, and the second PDU set is a PDU set that transmits services before the first PDU set.

[0098] In combination with the sixth aspect, in certain implementations of the sixth aspect, when the difference between the PSDB corresponding to the above-mentioned first PDU set and the PSDB corresponding to the second PDU set is greater than a third threshold, the importance of the above-mentioned first PDU set is greater than the importance of the above-mentioned second PDU set, and the second PDU set is actually a PDU set that transmits services before the above-mentioned first PDU set.

[0099] In combination with the sixth aspect, in certain implementations of the sixth aspect, the above-mentioned interface unit is also used to send seventh information to the application function network element, and the seventh information is used to indicate at least one of the above-mentioned first threshold, the above-mentioned second threshold, and the above-mentioned third threshold.

[0100] The explanation of the relevant contents and beneficial effects of the device for business transmission provided in the sixth aspect can be referred to the method for business transmission shown in the second aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0101] In the seventh aspect, a device for service transmission is provided, which can be a core network element and an access network device, or a module (such as a chip or circuit) in the core network element and the access network device, or a logical node, logical module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the core network element and the access network device. The device includes: an interface unit for receiving first information from an application function network element; the interface unit is also used to send second information to the application function network element. The first information indicates N QoS flows, the second information indicates M QoS flows, the M QoS flows belong to the above-mentioned N QoS flows, the PDBs corresponding to at least two of the N QoS flows are different, and / or the bit rates corresponding to at least two of the N QoS flows are different. The above-mentioned device also includes: a processing unit for performing service transmission based on the first QoS flow, and the first QoS flow belongs to the above-mentioned M QoS flows.

[0102] Alternatively, the apparatus includes: an interface unit configured to receive first information from an application function network element; the interface unit further configured to send second information to the application function network element. The first information indicates N PDU sets, and the second information indicates M PDU sets, wherein the M PDU sets belong to the aforementioned N PDU sets, and at least two of the N PDU sets correspond to different PSDBs. The apparatus further includes: a processing unit configured to perform service transmission based on the first PDU set, wherein the first PDU set belongs to the aforementioned M PDU sets.

[0103] Each of the above QoS flows includes at least one PDU set, and each PDU set in the at least one PDU set corresponds to at least one of the following information:

[0104] PSDB of PDU set, importance of PDU set.

[0105] When the difference between the PDB corresponding to the above-mentioned first QoS flow and the PDB corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a first threshold, and / or when the difference between the bit rate corresponding to the above-mentioned first QoS flow and the bit rate corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a second threshold, the above-mentioned interface unit is further used to send fifth information to the core network network element, and the fifth information indicates the improvement in the importance of at least one PDU set in the above-mentioned first QoS flow relative to the importance of the PDU set in the above-mentioned second QoS flow, and the second QoS flow is a QoS flow that performs service transmission before the above-mentioned first QoS flow. The above-mentioned interface unit is also used to receive fifth information from the access network device, and adjust the importance of at least one PDU set in the above-mentioned first QoS flow to be greater than the importance of the PDU set in the above-mentioned second QoS flow according to the fifth information.

[0106] Wherein, the above-mentioned M is greater than or equal to 1, N is greater than or equal to M, and M and N are positive integers.

[0107] The explanation and beneficial effects of the relevant contents of the method for business transmission provided in the seventh aspect can be referred to the method for business transmission shown in the second aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0108] In an eighth aspect, a device for service transmission is provided, which may be a core network element and an access network device, or a module (such as a chip or circuit) in the core network element and the access network device, or a logical node, a logical module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the core network element and the access network device. The device includes: an interface unit for receiving first information from an application function network element; the interface unit is also used to send second information to the application function network element. The first information indicates N QoS flows, the second information indicates M QoS flows, the M QoS flows belong to the above-mentioned N QoS flows, the PDBs corresponding to at least two of the N QoS flows are different, and / or the bit rates corresponding to at least two of the N QoS flows are different. The above-mentioned device also includes: a processing unit for performing service transmission based on the first QoS flow, and the first QoS flow belongs to the above-mentioned M QoS flows.

[0109] Alternatively, the apparatus includes: an interface unit configured to receive first information from an application function network element; the interface unit further configured to send second information to the application function network element. The first information indicates N PDU sets, and the second information indicates M PDU sets, wherein the M PDU sets belong to the aforementioned N PDU sets, and at least two of the N PDU sets correspond to different PSDBs. The apparatus further includes: a processing unit configured to perform service transmission based on the first PDU set, wherein the first PDU set belongs to the aforementioned M PDU sets.

[0110] Each of the above QoS flows includes at least one PDU set, and each PDU set in the at least one PDU set corresponds to at least one of the following information:

[0111] PSDB of PDU set, importance of PDU set.

[0112] When the difference between the PSDB corresponding to the first PDU set and the PSDB corresponding to the second PDU set is greater than a third threshold, the interface unit is further configured to send sixth information to the core network element, the sixth information indicating an increase in the importance of the first PDU set relative to the importance of the second PDU set, the second PDU set being a PDU set that performs service transmission before the first PDU set. The interface unit is further configured to receive sixth information from an access network device and adjust the importance of the first PDU set to be greater than the importance of the second PDU set based on the sixth information.

[0113] Wherein, the above-mentioned M is greater than or equal to 1, N is greater than or equal to M, and M and N are positive integers.

[0114] The explanation and beneficial effects of the relevant contents of the service transmission method provided in the eighth aspect can be referred to the service transmission method shown in the second aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0115] In the ninth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a processor, wherein the processor is used to, by executing a computer program or instruction or through a logic circuit, enable the communication device to perform the method described in the first aspect and any possible embodiment of the first aspect; or enable the communication device to perform the method described in the second aspect and any possible embodiment of the second aspect; enable the communication device to perform the method described in the third aspect and any possible embodiment of the third aspect; or enable the communication device to perform the method described in the fourth aspect and any possible embodiment of the fourth aspect.

[0116] In a possible implementation, the communication device further includes a memory for storing the computer program or instruction.

[0117] In a possible implementation, the communication device further includes a communication interface, which is used to input and / or output signals.

[0118] In the tenth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising a logic circuit and an input / output interface, the input / output interface being used to input and / or output signals, the logic circuit being used to execute the method described in the first aspect and any possible embodiment of the first aspect; or, the logic circuit being used to execute the method described in the second aspect and any possible embodiment of the second aspect; the logic circuit being used to execute the method described in the third aspect and any possible embodiment of the third aspect; or, the logic circuit being used to execute the method described in the fourth aspect and any possible embodiment of the fourth aspect.

[0119] In the eleventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which a computer program or instruction is stored. When the computer program or the instruction is run on a computer, the method described in the first aspect and any possibility of the first aspect is executed; or, the method described in the second aspect and any possibility of the second aspect is executed; the method described in the third aspect and any possibility of the third aspect is executed; or, the method described in the fourth aspect and any possibility of the fourth aspect is executed.

[0120] In the twelfth aspect, a computer program product is provided, comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, cause the method described in the first aspect and any possible embodiment of the first aspect to be executed; or, cause the method described in the second aspect and any possible embodiment of the second aspect to be executed; cause the method described in the third aspect and any possible embodiment of the third aspect to be executed; or, cause the method described in the fourth aspect and any possible embodiment of the fourth aspect to be executed.

[0121] In the thirteenth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the above-mentioned application function network element and the above-mentioned access network equipment, the application function network element is used to execute the method described in the above-mentioned first aspect and any possible method of the first aspect, and the access network equipment is used to execute the above-mentioned second aspect and any possible method of the second aspect.

[0122] For the description of the beneficial effects of the fifth to thirteenth aspects, reference can be made to the description of the first to fourth aspects. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0123] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

[0124] FIG2 is a diagram of an application scenario 200 applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

[0125] FIG3 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method 300 applicable to the present application.

[0126] FIG4 is a schematic flow chart of another communication method 400 applicable to the present application.

[0127] FIG5 is a schematic flow chart of another communication method 500 applicable to the present application.

[0128] FIG6 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 600 applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

[0129] FIG7 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 700 applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

[0130] FIG8 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 800 applicable to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0131] The technical solution in this application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0132] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: global system for mobile communications (GSM) system, code division multiple access (CDMA) system, wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, general packet radio service (GPRS), long term evolution (LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (TDD), universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, fifth generation (5G) system or new radio (NR), and future communication systems.

[0133] To meet the challenges of wireless broadband technology and maintain the leading edge of 3GPP networks, the 3GPP standards group has developed a next-generation mobile communications network architecture, known as the 5G network architecture. This architecture not only supports 3GPP-defined wireless technologies (such as LTE) accessing the 5G core network (5GC), but also supports non-3GPP access technologies accessing the 5GC through the non-3GPP interworking function (N3IWF), the trusted non-3GPP gateway function (TNGF), the trusted WLAN interworking function (TWIF), or the next-generation packet data gateway (NG-PDG). The core network functions are divided into user plane functions (UPF) and control plane functions (CPF). The UPF is primarily responsible for packet forwarding, quality of service (QoS) control, and billing information statistics. CPF is mainly responsible for user registration and authentication, mobility management, and issuing data packet forwarding policies and QoS control policies to UPF. It can be further divided into access and mobility management function (AMF) and session management function (SMF).

[0134] Core network equipment includes, for example, a mobility management entity (MME), a broadcast multicast service center (BMSC), etc., or may also include corresponding functional entities in the 5G system, such as core network control plane (CP) or user plane (UP) network functions, such as SMF, AMF, etc. The core network control plane can also be understood as a core network control plane function (CPF) entity.

[0135] FIG1 is an example of a communication system architecture applicable to an embodiment of the present application, wherein the functions of the user equipment and each network entity are as described below.

[0136] Terminal device: can be called terminal, subscriber unit, terminal station, terminal agent, terminal device device, access terminal, terminal in V2X communication, subscriber unit, user equipment (UE), subscriber station, mobile station, mobile station (MS), remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device.

[0137] The terminal device in the embodiments of the present application may also be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver function, a holographic projector, a video player, a virtual reality (VR) terminal, an augmented reality (AR) terminal, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a tactile terminal device, a vehicle-mounted terminal device, a wireless terminal in self-driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical, a wireless terminal in a smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in a smart city, a wireless terminal in a smart home, a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal in a 5G network or a terminal in a future evolution network, etc.

[0138] Among them, wearable devices can also be called wearable smart devices. It is a general term for wearable devices that use wearable technology to intelligently design and develop wearable devices for daily wear, such as head-mounted XR glasses, gloves, watches, clothing and shoes. Wearable devices are portable devices that are worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothes or accessories. Wearable devices are not just hardware devices, but also achieve powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Broadly speaking, wearable smart devices include those with full functions, large sizes, and can achieve complete or partial functions without relying on smartphones, such as smart watches or smart glasses, as well as those that focus on a certain type of application function and need to be used in conjunction with other devices such as smartphones, such as various smart bracelets and smart jewelry for vital sign monitoring.

[0139] (Radio) Access Network (R)AN): Also known as access network equipment, RAN entity, access node, etc. A RAN is a network consisting of multiple RAN nodes that implements radio physical layer functions, resource scheduling and radio resource management, radio access control, and mobility management. The 5G-RAN connects to the UPF via the user plane interface (N3) for data transmission between terminal devices. The 5G-RAN establishes a control plane signaling connection with the AMF via the control plane interface (N2) for functions such as radio access bearer control. A RAN can be any device with wireless transceiver capabilities, including but not limited to a 5G base station (gNB), an evolved base station (eNB), a wireless fidelity access point (WiFi AP), a world interoperability for microwave access base station (WiMAX BS), a transmission receiving point (TRP), a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, an open access network (ORAN), and a cloud radio access network (CRAN). The RAN in the communication system 100 shown in FIG1 may be a plurality of RAN nodes, and the plurality of RAN nodes may be nodes of the same type or nodes of different types.

[0140] The access network device in the embodiment of the present application may also be a device for communicating with a terminal device. The access network device may be a base transceiver station (BTS) in a global system of mobile communication (GSM) system or a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, or a base station (nodeB, NB) in a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, or an evolutionary node base (eNB) in an LTE system, or a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario, or the access network device may be a relay station, an access point, an on-board device, a wearable device, an access network device in a future 5G network, or an access network device in a future evolved PLMN network, etc., and the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto. The RAN in the present application may also be a logical node, a logical module, or software that can implement all or part of the RAN functions.

[0141] In some possible scenarios, the RAN may include multiple RAN nodes that collaborate to assist terminal devices in achieving wireless access, with different RAN nodes implementing part of the RAN's functions. For example, a RAN node may be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU control plane (CU-CP), a CU user plane (CU-UP), or a radio unit (RU). The CU and DU may be set up separately or included in the same baseband unit (BBU). The RU may be included in a radio frequency device or radio frequency unit. For example, the RU may be included in a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0142] In different communication systems, CU (including CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, CU may also be called open CU (open CU, O-CU), DU may also be called open DU (open CU, O-CU), CU-CP may also be called open CU-CP (open CU-CP, O-CU-CP), CU-UP may also be called open CU-UP (openCU-UP, O-CU-UP), and RU may also be called open RU (open RU, O-RU). Any unit of CU, DU, and RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of software and hardware modules.

[0143] Among them, the above-mentioned base stations can be macro base stations, micro base stations, pico base stations, small stations, relay stations, balloon stations, etc.

[0144] AMF: Mainly responsible for terminal device authentication, terminal device mobility management, network slice selection, and SMF selection. In addition, it is also responsible for transmitting user policies between terminal devices and policy control function (PCF).

[0145] SMF: Mainly responsible for the control plane functions of terminal device session management, including the selection and control of UPF, Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation, session QoS management, and obtaining policy and charging control (PCC) policies (from PCF).

[0146] UPF: As the anchor point for protocol data unit (PDU) session connections, it is responsible for filtering data packets for terminal devices, data transmission / forwarding, rate control, generating billing information, etc., and providing connections to the data network (DN).

[0147] DN: Refers to a specific data service network accessed by a terminal device. A DN provides carrier services, internet access, or third-party services. A DN includes a server that performs tasks such as video source encoding and rendering. Typical DNs include the Internet and IP Multimedia Service (IMS) networks. In 5G networks, a DN is identified by a data network name (DNN).

[0148] Network exposure function (NEF): exposes the services and capabilities of 3GPP network functions to application functions (AF), and also allows AF to provide information to 3GPP network functions.

[0149] AF: interacts with core network elements to provide some services, for example, interacts with PCF to perform service policy control, interacts with NEF to obtain some network capability information or provide some application information to the network, and provides some data network access point information to PCF to generate routing information for corresponding data services.

[0150] PCF: Provides configuration policy information for terminal devices and policy information for controlling terminal devices for network control plane elements (e.g., AMF, SMF); generates terminal device access policies and QoS flow control policies.

[0151] In the embodiments of this application, the terminal device is wirelessly connected to the RAN, and the RAN is wirelessly or wiredly connected to the 5GC device. The 5GC device and the RAN can be independent and distinct physical devices, or the functions of the 5GC device and the logical functions of the RAN device can be integrated into the same physical device, or a single physical device can integrate some of the functions of the 5GC device and some of the functions of the RAN device. The terminal device can be fixed or mobile.

[0152] 5GC equipment mainly includes the above-mentioned NEF network elements, PCF network elements, AF network elements, AMF network elements, SMF network elements and UPF network elements.

[0153] It should be noted that the aforementioned "network element" may also be referred to as an entity, device, apparatus, or module, etc., and this application does not specifically limit this. Furthermore, in this application, for ease of understanding and explanation, the term "network element" is omitted in some descriptions. For example, the UPF network element is referred to as UPF. In this case, the "UPF" should be understood as the UPF network element or UPF entity. The following descriptions of identical or similar situations are omitted.

[0154] It should be noted that the naming of each network element included in Figure 1 is only a name, and the name does not limit the function of the network element itself. In 5G networks and other future networks, the above-mentioned network elements may also have other names, and the embodiments of this application do not specifically limit this. For example, in a 6G network, some or all of the above-mentioned network elements may continue to use the terminology used in 5G, or may have other names, etc., which are uniformly explained here and will not be repeated below.

[0155] It should be noted that the network elements in Figure 1 do not have to exist simultaneously, and the network elements required can be determined according to needs. The connection relationship between the network elements in Figure 1 is not unique and can be adjusted according to needs.

[0156] It is understandable that the above-mentioned network elements or functions can be network elements in hardware devices, software functions running on dedicated hardware, or virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (for example, a cloud platform).

[0157] In recent years, with the continuous development of 5G communication systems, data transmission capacity has increased and data transmission latency has become increasingly lower. This rapid increase in data transmission rates has made real-time video transmission a core service in today's networks. For example, current real-time video transmission services include cloud gaming (CG) and extended reality (XR). XR services include VR and AR.

[0158] FIG2 takes the VR service scenario applicable to this application as an example to describe in detail the implementation process of the VR service.

[0159] Specifically, the terminal captures the motion and transmits the captured motion instructions to the cloud via uplink. The cloud processes the received instructions, renders the rendering task, encodes the rendered data, and waits for the encoded data to be sent. The cloud sends the encoded data to the terminal via downlink. The terminal device waits to receive the frame buffer, decodes the buffered frame, and finally displays it on the terminal.

[0160] During this process, the terminal side will generate a waiting delay for receiving the frame buffer when waiting to receive the frame buffer, and the terminal side will generate a decoding delay when decoding; the communication pipeline will generate an uplink pipeline transmission delay during uplink transmission, and the communication pipeline will generate a downlink pipeline transmission delay during downlink transmission; the cloud side will generate an instruction processing delay when processing the received instructions, the cloud side will generate a rendering delay when rendering the action, the cloud side will generate an encoding delay when encoding the rendered data, and the cloud side will generate a sending waiting delay when waiting to send the encoded data.

[0161] For example, in order to ensure user experience, the end-to-end (E2E) average delay is 70 milliseconds (ms). Generally speaking, the capabilities of the terminal side are fixed. The decoding delay of the terminal using 90 frames per second (FPS) decoding is about 12ms, and the terminal's waiting for receiving frame buffer delay is about 8ms. Then the delay allocated to the terminal side is up to 20ms; the uplink pipeline transmission delay and the downlink pipeline transmission delay are up to 20ms. At this time, the remaining delay in the cloud is up to 30ms. However, the rendering time of the cloud is determined by the number of rendering tasks of the cloud application server. When the number of rendering tasks of the cloud application server is large, the rendering time is long; when the number of rendering tasks of the cloud application server is small, the rendering time is short. Therefore, the cloud may have problems with excessive rendering delays due to too many rendering tasks, affecting the user experience.

[0162] The present application provides a communication method 300 that can ensure the delay and reliability of service transmission. Figure 3 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method 300 provided by the present application.

[0163] It should be noted that in Figure 3, the application function network element and access network device are used as the execution subjects of the interactive schematic to illustrate the method, but this application does not limit the execution subjects of the interactive schematic. For example, the application function network element and access network device in Figure 3 can also be chips, chip systems, or processors that support the implementation of the method, or can also be logical nodes, logical modules, or software that implement all or part of its functions.

[0164] It should be noted that the application function network element of the present application may be an application server (sever).

[0165] In step S310, the application function network element sends first information to the access network device, where the first information is used to indicate N QoS flows or N PDU sets. Accordingly, the access network device receives the first information from the application function network element.

[0166] Specifically, to implement QoS management of services, end-to-end QoS flows are used to transmit services, with different QoS flows transmitting services with at least one parameter being different.

[0167] Each QoS flow corresponds to at least one of the following parameters of the service transmission:

[0168] Average transmission bandwidth, peak transmission bandwidth, average delay, peak delay, delay jitter, first packet response delay, packet delay budget (PDB), packet error rate (PER), packet loss rate (PLR), packet error loss rate (PELR), bit rate, guaranteed bit rate (GBR), maximum bit rate (MBR), etc.

[0169] The PDBs corresponding to at least two of the N QoS flows are different, and / or the bit rates corresponding to at least two of the N QoS flows are different.

[0170] Specifically, each QoS flow includes at least one PDU set, and each PDU set in the at least one PDU set includes at least one PDU. Each PDU set corresponds to at least one of the following information:

[0171] The size of the PDU set (PDU set size), the sequence number of the PDU set (PDU set sequence number), the PDU set delay budget (PDU set delay budget, PSDB), the importance of the PDU set (PDU set importance), etc., among which the importance of the PDU set is used to indicate the importance of the PDU set compared with other PDU sets included in the QoS flow.

[0172] Among them, the PSDBs corresponding to at least two PDU sets among the above-mentioned N PDU sets are different.

[0173] Exemplarily, the first information may use a QoS flow identifier (QFI) or a 5G quality of service identifier (5QI) to identify N QoS flows, and a QoS flow is identified by a unique QFI or 5QI. The first information may use a PDU set sequence number (PDU set sequence number) to identify N PDU sets, and a PDU set is identified by a unique sequence number.

[0174] Exemplarily, the above-mentioned N QoS flows or N PDU sets may be considered as N QoS flows or N PDU sets supported by the application function network element for service transmission.

[0175] Step S312: The access network device sends second information to the application function network element, where the second information is used to indicate M QoS flows or M PDU sets. Correspondingly, the application function network element receives the second information from the access network device.

[0176] Specifically, the M QoS flows belong to the N QoS flows, and the M PDU sets belong to the N PDU sets, where M≥1, N≥M and N is greater than 2, and M and N are positive integers.

[0177] For example, the second information may use QFI or 5QI to identify M QoS flows, and a QoS flow is identified by a unique QFI or 5QI. The second information may use the sequence number of the PDU set (PDU set sequence number) to identify M PDU sets, and a PDU set is identified by a unique sequence number.

[0178] Exemplarily, the access network device may determine M QoS flows based on the current channel state. For example, if the current channel state is poor, the access network device may determine M QoS flows with higher PDBs and / or lower bit rates for service transmission; if the current channel state is good, the access network device may determine M QoS flows with lower PDBs and / or higher bit rates for service transmission.

[0179] Exemplarily, the access network device may determine M PDU sets based on the current channel state. For example, if the current channel state is poor, the access network device may determine M PDU sets with higher PSDBs for service transmission; if the current channel state is good, the access network device may determine M PDU sets with lower PSDBs for service transmission.

[0180] Alternatively, the access network device may also determine the above-mentioned M QoS flows or M PDU sets based on the bandwidth, delay jitter, packet loss, etc. of the current service transmission, which is not limited in this application.

[0181] Step S314: The application function network element performs service transmission based on the first QoS flow or the first PDU set.

[0182] The first QoS flow belongs to the M QoS flows, and the first PDU set belongs to the M PDU sets.

[0183] Specifically, if the access network device indicates to the application function network element M QoS flows with higher PDB and / or slower bit rate for service transmission, then the application function network element can adjust the rendering task and reduce the rendering delay to ensure the reliability and delay of service transmission; if the access network device indicates to the application function network element M QoS flows with lower PDB and / or faster bit rate for service transmission, then the application function network element can adjust the rendering task and appropriately increase the rendering delay to ensure the reliability and delay of service transmission.

[0184] Specifically, if the access network device indicates to the application function network element a set of M PDUs with a higher PSDB for service transmission, the application function network element can adjust the rendering task and reduce the rendering delay to ensure the reliability and delay of service transmission; if the access network device indicates to the application function network element a set of M PDUs with a lower PSDB for service transmission, the application function network element can adjust the rendering task and appropriately increase the rendering delay, which can also ensure the reliability and delay of service transmission and improve user experience.

[0185] Through the above-mentioned communication method 300, the application function network element can obtain the air interface information of the service transmission, adjust the service processing time in time, and ensure the reliability of the service transmission.

[0186] Next, as an example but not a limitation, FIG4 and FIG5 respectively describe in detail the technical solution of the present application by taking AF as an example of an application function network element and RAN as an example of an access network device.

[0187] It should be noted that in Figures 4 and 5, AF, core network element, RAN and UE are used as the execution entities of the interactive illustration to illustrate communication method 400 and communication method 500 respectively, but this application does not limit the execution entities of the interactive illustration.

[0188] For example, the AF, core network element, RAN and UE in Figures 4 and 5 may also be chips, chip systems or processors that support the implementation of the method, or may be logical nodes, logical modules or software that implement all or part of their functions.

[0189] The communication method 400 shown in FIG4 includes:

[0190] In step S410, the AF sends first information to a core network element, where the first information is used to indicate N QoS flows. Correspondingly, the core network element receives the first information from the AF.

[0191] In step S412, the core network element forwards the first information to the RAN. Accordingly, the RAN receives the first information from the core network element.

[0192] It should be noted that the first information can be transmitted to the RAN through the control plane of the core network, and can also be transmitted to the RAN through the user plane of the core network, which is not limited in this application.

[0193] The PDBs corresponding to at least two of the N QoS flows are different, and / or the bit rates corresponding to at least two of the N QoS flows are different.

[0194] In step S414, the RAN sends second information to the core network element, where the second information is used to indicate the M QoS flows. Correspondingly, the core network element receives the second information from the RAN.

[0195] Specifically, the RAN may carry the second information in a general packet radio system tunneling protocol for the user (GTP-U) header, and send the header to the core network element through the N3 interface.

[0196] In step S416, the core network element forwards the second information to the AF. Correspondingly, the AF receives the second information from the core network element.

[0197] Specifically, the core network element may send the information to the AF through the QoS Monitoring interface.

[0198] Specifically, the RAN may determine the M QoS flows based on the current channel status, bandwidth of current service transmission, delay jitter, packet loss, and the like.

[0199] The PDBs corresponding to at least two of the M QoS flows are different, and / or the bit rates corresponding to at least two of the M QoS flows are different.

[0200] Specifically, the RAN may indicate one or more QoS flows through the second information, that is, M is equal to or greater than 1.

[0201] When M>1, the following steps S418 and S420 are also included:

[0202] In step S418, the RAN sends third information to the core network element, where the third information is used to indicate the order in which the M QoS flows are used. Correspondingly, the core network element receives the third information from the RAN.

[0203] In step S420, the core network element forwards the third information to the AF. Accordingly, the AF receives the third information from the core network element.

[0204] Exemplarily, M=5, which are identified by QFI#1, QFI#2, QFI#3, QFI#4, and QFI#5 respectively. The third information may indicate the usage order of the M QoS flows through the following Table 1.

[0205] Table 1

[0206] As can be seen from Table 1, the usage order of the five QoS flows indicated by the third information is QFI#4, QFI#2, QFI#1, QFI#3, and QFI#5.

[0207] It should be understood that the order in which the five QoS flows are used, as indicated by the third information, may also be the priority order in which the RAN recommends the AF select these five QoS flows. Even if the RAN recommends QFI#4 as the first priority, the AF does not necessarily transmit services based on QFI#4. For example, if the AF recognizes that QFI#4 is currently unavailable for service transmission, it may select QFI#2, which is the second highest priority, for service transmission.

[0208] In step S422, the RAN sends fourth information to the core network element. This fourth information indicates an effective time, which is the start time of service transmission based on the M QoS flows. Accordingly, the core network element receives the fourth information from the RAN. Furthermore, the effective time is based on the start time of service transmission based on the first QoS flow.

[0209] In step S424, the core network element forwards the fourth information to the AF. Correspondingly, the AF receives the fourth information from the core network element.

[0210] Exemplarily, the fourth information may indicate the effective time by an absolute time, or may indicate the effective time by a time interval between the effective time and the current time, which is not limited in this application.

[0211] It should be noted that the third information can be transmitted independently of the second information, or the third information can be carried in the same message as the second information for transmission, and this application does not limit this. The fourth information can be transmitted independently of the second information, or the fourth information can be carried in the same message as the second information for transmission, and this application does not limit this.

[0212] Step S426: The AF performs service transmission based on the first QoS flow at the effective time.

[0213] Specifically, when M=1, the first QoS flow is a QoS flow indicated by the second information; when M>1, the first QoS flow is in the first order among the M QoS flows, for example, the first QoS flow is QFI#4 in Table 1 above. Alternatively, the first QoS flow is in the second order among the M QoS flows, for example, the first QoS flow is QFI#2 in Table 1 above. This application is not limited to this.

[0214] Through the above communication method 400, the AF can obtain the air interface information of the service transmission at the QoS flow granularity, adjust the service processing time in time, and ensure the reliability and delay of the service transmission.

[0215] When transmitting video services, a large amount of repeated information is generated. To facilitate video transmission, a solution has emerged to remove the repeated information at the transmitter and restore it at the receiver. For example, the functions of intra-frame (I-frame), predictive (P-frame), and instantaneous decoder refresh (IDR) frames in the current H.264 video compression standard are as follows:

[0216] (1) I-frame: A frame that carries all the information and can be decoded independently without reference to other images. Generally speaking, the first frame in a video sequence is always an I-frame.

[0217] (2) P-frames: Also known as inter-frame prediction coded frames, these frames require a reference to the previous I-frame for encoding or decoding. They represent the difference between the current frame and the previous frame (which could be an I-frame or a P-frame). Compared to I-frames, P-frames typically occupy fewer data bits, but they are highly dependent on the previous I-frame and P-frame, making them very sensitive to transmission errors.

[0218] (3) IDR frame: Both I-frames and IDP frames use intra-frame prediction. To facilitate the encoding and decoding process, it is necessary to distinguish the first I-frame from other I-frames. Therefore, the first I-frame is called an IDR frame. The function of an IDR frame is to refresh the frame immediately to prevent errors from propagating. It is important to note that an IDR frame is always an I-frame, but an I-frame is not always an IDR frame.

[0219] The above-mentioned I frame and IDR frame are key frames in the encoding or decoding process. Generally speaking, the importance of I frame and IDR frame is greater than that of P frame.

[0220] As described above, a QoS flow includes at least one PDU set, and each PDU set includes at least one PDU.

[0221] For example, each PDU set can carry the load of an information unit generated by the AF or application server. For example, each PDU set can carry a video frame or a video slice in a video service such as a VR service, an AR service, or a cloud gaming service.

[0222] To further implement QoS management for services based on PDU sets, the UPF identifies each PDU set and sends information about each PDU set to the RAN. The RAN ensures service delivery based on the PDU set information.

[0223] The information of each PDU set (PDU set information) corresponds to at least one of the following:

[0224] The PDU set size, PDU set sequence number, PDU set delay budget (PSDB), and PDU set importance are all included. The importance of a PDU set indicates its importance compared to other PDU sets included in the QoS flow. For example, when network congestion occurs, the RAN can discard some data packets based on the importance of the PDU set.

[0225] Generally speaking, the UPF can identify the information of each PDU set (PDU set information) based on the real time transport protocol (RTP) or secure real time transport protocol (SRTP) extension header received from the AF. However, when the UPF cannot obtain the information of each PDU set (PDU set information) from the AF (for example, the AF does not use RTP / SRTP, or the AF encrypts the RTP / SRTP extension header), the UPF implements the configuration of the information of each PDU set (PDU set information). Currently, there is no implementation method for how the UPF configures the information of each PDU set (PDU set information).

[0226] This application provides a method for configuring information of a PDU set, as described below:

[0227] When the difference between the PDB corresponding to the first QoS flow and the PDB corresponding to the second QoS flow for AF service transmission is greater than a first threshold, it means that the rendering task on the AF side has changed significantly, and AF will use the PDU set in the first QoS flow to send the first frame. Since subsequent P frames need to rely on the first frame for decoding, the UPF increases the importance of the PDU set carrying the first frame. The second QoS flow is the QoS flow that transmits services before the first QoS flow.

[0228] Specifically, the UPF raising the importance of the PDU set carrying the first frame may be: the UPF configures the importance of the PDU set carrying the first frame in the first QoS flow to be greater than the importance of the PDU set in the second QoS flow.

[0229] Specifically, the first frame may be a frame corresponding to the effective time, or may be the first frame after the effective time. The first frame may be an I frame or an IDR frame, which is not limited in this application.

[0230] Exemplarily, the method 400 may further include step S428: upon determining that the difference between the PDB corresponding to the first QoS flow transmitting the service and the PDB corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a first threshold, the RAN transmits fifth information to the UPF, indicating a higher importance of at least one PDU set in the first QoS flow relative to the PDU set in the second QoS flow. The at least one PDU set in the first QoS flow may be the PDU set carrying the first frame. Accordingly, the UPF receives the fifth information from the RAN.

[0231] Exemplarily, the RAN may send the first threshold to the AF, and the AF may also determine that the difference between the PDB corresponding to the first QoS flow performing service transmission and the PDB corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than the first threshold.

[0232] Alternatively, when the difference between the bit rate corresponding to the first QoS flow and the bit rate corresponding to the second QoS flow for AF service transmission is greater than the second threshold, it means that the rendering task on the AF side has changed significantly, and AF will use the PDU set in the first QoS flow to send the above-mentioned first frame. Since subsequent P frames need to rely on the first frame for decoding, the importance of the PDU set carrying the first frame is increased. The above-mentioned second QoS flow is a QoS flow that performs service transmission before the above-mentioned first QoS flow.

[0233] Exemplarily, the method 400 may further include step S428: upon determining that the difference between the bit rate corresponding to the first QoS flow transmitting the service and the bit rate corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a second threshold, the RAN transmits fifth information to the UPF, indicating a higher importance of at least one PDU set in the first QoS flow relative to the PDU set in the second QoS flow. The at least one PDU set in the first QoS flow may be the PDU set carrying the first frame. Accordingly, the UPF receives the fifth information from the RAN.

[0234] Exemplarily, the RAN may send the second threshold to the AF, and the AF may also determine that the difference between the bit rate corresponding to the first QoS flow for service transmission and the bit rate corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than the second threshold.

[0235] The above-mentioned first threshold and second threshold may be specified by the protocol or preset, and this application does not limit this.

[0236] Through the above method, the core network element can configure the importance of the PDU set in the PDU set information, thereby improving the reliability of frame transmission and enhancing user experience.

[0237] The communication method 400 described in FIG4 above obtains air interface information of service transmission at the granularity of QoS flow, which can ensure the reliability of service transmission. To obtain more detailed air interface information of service transmission, FIG5 provides a communication method at the granularity of PDU set (PDU set), as shown in the schematic flow chart of the communication method 500 described in FIG5.

[0238] In step S510, the AF sends first information to a core network element, where the first information is used to indicate N PDU sets. Correspondingly, the core network element receives the first information from the AF.

[0239] In step S512, the core network element forwards the first information to the RAN. Accordingly, the RAN receives the first information from the core network element.

[0240] It should be noted that the first information can be transmitted to the RAN through the control plane of the core network, and can also be transmitted to the RAN through the user plane of the core network, which is not limited in this application.

[0241] Among them, the PSDBs corresponding to at least two PDU sets among the above-mentioned N PDU sets are different.

[0242] In step S514, the RAN sends second information to the core network element, where the second information is used to indicate the M PDU sets. Correspondingly, the core network element receives the second information from the RAN.

[0243] Specifically, the RAN may carry the second information in a GTP-U header and send it to the core network element through the N3 interface.

[0244] In step S516, the core network element forwards the second information to the AF. Accordingly, the AF receives the second information from the core network element.

[0245] Specifically, the core network element may send the information to the AF through the QoS Monitoring interface.

[0246] Specifically, the RAN may determine the M PDU sets based on the current channel status, bandwidth of the current service transmission, delay jitter, packet loss, and the like.

[0247] Among them, the PSDBs corresponding to at least two PDU sets among the above-mentioned M PDU sets are different.

[0248] Specifically, the RAN may indicate one or more PDU sets through the second information, that is, M is equal to or greater than 1.

[0249] When M>1, the following steps S518 and S520 are also included:

[0250] In step S518, the RAN sends third information to the core network element, where the third information is used to indicate the order in which the M PDU sets are used. Correspondingly, the core network element receives the third information from the RAN.

[0251] In step S520, the core network element forwards the third information to the AF. Accordingly, the AF receives the third information from the core network element.

[0252] Exemplarily, M=5, identified by PDU set sequence number#1, PDU set sequence number#2, PDU set sequence number#3, PDU set sequence number#4, and PDU set sequence number#5 respectively. The third information can indicate the usage order of the M PDU sets through Table 2 below.

[0253] Table 2

[0254] As can be seen from Table 2, the usage order of the five PDU sets indicated by the third information is PDU set sequence number#4, PDU set sequence number#2, PDU set sequence number#1, PDU set sequence number#3, and PDU set sequence number#5.

[0255] It should be understood that the order in which the five PDU sets indicated by the third information may also be the priority order in which the RAN recommends the AF select those five PDU sets. Even if the RAN recommends PDU set sequence number #4 as the first priority, the AF does not necessarily transmit services based on PDU set sequence number #4. For example, if the AF recognizes that the current PDU set sequence number #4 cannot be used for service transmission, the AF will select PDU set sequence number #2, which is the second priority, for service transmission.

[0256] In step S522, the RAN sends fourth information to the core network element. The fourth information indicates an effective time, which is the start time for service transmission based on the M PDU sets. Accordingly, the core network element receives the fourth information from the RAN. Furthermore, the effective time is the start time for service transmission based on the first PDU set.

[0257] In step S524, the core network element forwards the fourth information to the AF. Accordingly, the AF receives the fourth information from the core network element.

[0258] Exemplarily, the fourth information may indicate the effective time by an absolute time, or may indicate the effective time by a time interval between the effective time and the current time, which is not limited in this application.

[0259] It should be noted that the third information can be transmitted independently of the second information, or the third information can be carried in the same message as the second information for transmission, and this application does not limit this. The fourth information can be transmitted independently of the second information, or the fourth information can be carried in the same message as the second information for transmission, and this application does not limit this.

[0260] Step S526: The AF performs service transmission based on the first PDU set at the effective time.

[0261] Specifically, when M=1, the first PDU set is a PDU set indicated by the second information; when M>1, the first PDU set is in the first order among the M PDU sets, for example, the first PDU set is PDU set sequence number #4 in Table 2 above. Alternatively, the first PDU set is in the second order among the M PDU sets, for example, the first PDU set is PDU set sequence number #2 in Table 2 above. This application is not limited to this.

[0262] Through the above-mentioned communication method 500, the AF can obtain the air interface information of the service transmission at the PDU set granularity, adjust the service processing time in time, and ensure the reliability and delay of the service transmission.

[0263] When the difference between the PSDB corresponding to the first PDU set transmitted by the AF and the PSDB corresponding to the second PDU set is greater than a third threshold, it means that the rendering task on the AF side has changed significantly, and the AF will use the first PDU set to send the first frame. Since subsequent P frames need to rely on this first frame for decoding, the UPF increases the importance of the first PDU set carrying the first frame. The second PDU set is the PDU set that was transmitted before the first PDU set.

[0264] Specifically, the UPF raising the importance of the first PDU set carrying the first frame may specifically be: the UPF configures the importance of the first PDU set carrying the first frame to be greater than the importance of the second PDU set.

[0265] Specifically, the first frame sent by the AF may be a frame corresponding to the effective time, or may be the first frame after the effective time.

[0266] Optionally, the first frame may be an I frame or an IDR frame, which is not limited in this application.

[0267] Exemplarily, the method 500 may further include step S528: when the RAN determines that a difference between the PSDB corresponding to the first PDU set for service transmission and the PSDB corresponding to the second PDU set is greater than a third threshold, the RAN sends sixth information to the UPF, where the sixth information indicates an increase in the importance of the first PDU set relative to the second PDU set. Accordingly, the UPF receives the sixth information from the RAN.

[0268] Exemplarily, the RAN may send the third threshold to the AF, and the AF may also determine that the difference between the PSDB corresponding to the first PDU set for service transmission and the PSDB corresponding to the second PDU set is greater than the third threshold.

[0269] The third threshold may be specified in the protocol or preset, and this application does not impose any limitation on this.

[0270] Through the above method, the core network element can configure the importance of the PDU set in the PDU set information, thereby improving the reliability of frame transmission and enhancing user experience.

[0271] It should be noted that the "application function network element sends the first information to the access network device" in this application can be understood as the destination end of the first information is the access network device. Specifically, it can include sending the first information to the access network device directly or indirectly. The "access network device receives the first information from the application function network element" in this application can be understood as the source end of the first information is the application function network element. Specifically, it can include receiving the first information from the application function network element directly or indirectly. The first information of this application may be subjected to necessary processing between the source end and the destination end of the information transmission, such as format changes, etc., but the destination end can understand the valid information from the source end. Similar descriptions in this application can be understood similarly, and will not be repeated here.

[0272] Finally, the device embodiment of the embodiment of the present application is introduced.

[0273] To implement the various functions of the method provided herein, access network devices and application function network elements may include hardware structures and / or software modules, with the aforementioned functions implemented in the form of hardware structures, software modules, or a combination of hardware structures and software modules. Whether a particular function is implemented in the form of hardware structures, software modules, or a combination of hardware structures and software modules depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0274] Figure 6 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 600 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 600 includes a processor 610 and a communication interface 620, which may be interconnected via a bus 630. The communication device 600 may be an access network device or an application function network element.

[0275] Optionally, the communication device 600 may further include a memory 640. The memory 640 includes, but is not limited to, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), or compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), and is used to store relevant instructions and data.

[0276] The processor 610 may be one or more central processing units (CPUs). In the case where the processor 610 is a CPU, the CPU may be a single-core CPU or a multi-core CPU.

[0277] When the communication device 600 is an application function network element, illustratively, the communication device 600 is used to perform the following operations: sending first information to an access network device, etc.

[0278] When the communication device 700 is an access network device, illustratively, the communication device 600 is used to perform the following operations: sending the second information to the application function network element, etc.

[0279] The above contents are merely exemplary descriptions. When the communication device 600 is an application function network element / access network device, it will be responsible for executing the methods or steps related to the application function network element / access network device in the above method embodiments.

[0280] The above description is merely exemplary. For details, please refer to the contents of the above method embodiments. The implementation of each operation in FIG6 may also correspond to the corresponding description of the method embodiments shown in FIG3 to FIG5.

[0281] Figure 7 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 700 according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 700 may be an application function network element or access network device, or a module (e.g., a chip) within the application function network element or access network device. It may also be a logical node, logical module, or software that implements all or part of the functions of the application function network element or access network device, and is used to implement the methods described in the above embodiments. The communication device 700 includes an interface unit 710. The interface unit 710 and processing unit 720 are described below as examples.

[0282] The interface unit 710 may include a transmitting unit and a receiving unit. The transmitting unit is used to execute the transmitting action of the communication device 700, and the receiving unit is used to execute the receiving action of the communication device 700. For ease of description, this embodiment of the application combines the transmitting unit and the receiving unit into a single interface unit. This is described here as a unified description and will not be repeated later.

[0283] When the communication device 700 is an application function network element, illustratively, the interface unit 710 is used to send first information to the access network device, and the processing unit 720 is used to use the first QoS flow or the first PDU set to perform service transmission.

[0284] When the communication apparatus 700 is an access network device, illustratively, the interface unit 710 is configured to receive first information from an application function network element, and the processing unit 720 uses the first QoS flow or the first PDU set to perform service transmission.

[0285] The above contents are merely exemplary descriptions. When the communication device 700 is an access network device or an application function network element, it will be responsible for executing the methods or steps related to the access network device or application function network element in the above method embodiments.

[0286] Optionally, the communication device 700 further includes a storage unit 730, which is used to store a program or code for executing the aforementioned method.

[0287] The device embodiments shown in Figures 6 and 7 are used to implement the contents described in Figures 3 to 5. The specific execution steps and methods of the devices shown in Figures 6 and 7 can refer to the contents described in the above method embodiments.

[0288] Figure 8 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 800 according to an embodiment of the present application. Communication device 800 is used to implement the functions of an access network device / application function network element. Communication device 800 can be an access network device / application function network element, a module within the access network device / application function network element, such as a chip, or a logical node, logical module, or software that implements all or part of the functions of the access network device / application function network element.

[0289] Communication device 800 includes an input / output interface 820 and a processor 810. The input / output interface 820 may be an input / output circuit. The processor 810 may be a signal processor, a chip, or other integrated circuit capable of implementing the method of the present application. The input / output interface 820 is used for inputting or outputting signals or data.

[0290] For example, when the communication device 800 is an application function network element, the input and output interface 820 is configured to send the first information to the access network device. The processor 810 is configured to use the first QoS flow or the first PDU set to perform service transmission.

[0291] For example, when the communication apparatus 800 is an access network device, the input / output interface 820 is configured to receive first information from an application function network element. The processor 810 is configured to use a first QoS flow or a first PDU set to transmit a service.

[0292] In one possible implementation, the processor 810 executes instructions stored in the memory to implement the functions implemented by the application function network element or the access network device.

[0293] Optionally, the communication device 800 further includes a memory.

[0294] Optionally, the processor and memory are integrated together.

[0295] Optionally, the memory is outside the communication device 800 .

[0296] In one possible implementation, the processor 810 may be a logic circuit that inputs / outputs messages or signals through the input / output interface 820. The logic circuit may be a signal processor, a chip, or other integrated circuit that can implement the method of the embodiment of the present application.

[0297] The above description of the communication device 800 is only an exemplary description. The communication device 800 can be used to execute the method described in the above embodiment. For specific content, please refer to the description of the above method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

[0298] The present application also provides a chip, including a processor, for calling and executing instructions stored in a memory from the memory, so that a communication device equipped with the chip executes the methods in the above examples.

[0299] The present application also provides a chip, comprising: an input interface, an output interface, and a processor, wherein the input interface, the output interface, and the processor are connected via an internal connection path, and the processor is configured to execute code in a memory. When the code is executed, the processor is configured to execute the methods in the above examples. Optionally, the chip also includes a memory, which is configured to store computer programs or code.

[0300] The present application also provides a processor for coupling with a memory, and for executing the methods and functions involving a network device or a terminal device in any of the above embodiments.

[0301] The present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions. When the computer program product is run on a computer, the method of the aforementioned embodiment is implemented.

[0302] The present application also provides a computer program. When the computer program is executed in a computer, the method of the aforementioned embodiment is implemented.

[0303] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a computer program. When the computer program is executed by a computer, the method described in the above embodiment is implemented.

[0304] 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.

[0305] 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.

[0306] In the several embodiments provided in this application, the disclosed systems, devices, and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of units is only 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.

[0307] 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 the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

[0308] 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.

[0309] If the function is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the embodiment 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, server, or network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of each method 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 ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

[0310] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of the embodiments 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 the embodiments of the present application should be included in the scope of protection of the embodiments of the present application. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Sending first information to the access network device; receiving second information from the access network device; The first information indicates N quality of service QoS flows, the second information indicates M QoS flows, the M QoS flows belong to the N QoS flows, at least two of the N QoS flows correspond to different packet delay budgets PDB, and / or at least two of the N QoS flows correspond to different bit rates; service transmission is performed based on the first QoS flow, and the first QoS flow belongs to the M QoS flows; or The first information indicates N protocol data unit PDU sets, the second information indicates M PDU sets, the M PDU sets belong to the N PDU sets, and at least two PDU sets in the N PDU sets correspond to different PDU set delay budgets PSDB; service transmission is performed based on the first PDU set, and the first PDU set belongs to the M PDU sets; Wherein, M is greater than or equal to 1, N is greater than or equal to M, and M and N are positive integers.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that When M is greater than 1, the method further comprises: receiving third information from the access network device, wherein the third information indicates a usage order of the M QoS flows or the M PDU sets; The performing service transmission based on the first QoS flow includes: determining the performing service transmission based on the first QoS flow according to the usage order, or, The performing service transmission based on the first PDU set includes: determining the performing service transmission based on the first PDU set according to the usage order.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Receive fourth information from the access network device, where the fourth information indicates an effective time of the first QoS flow or the first PDU set.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that Each QoS flow includes at least one PDU set, and each PDU set in the at least one PDU set corresponds to at least one of the following information: PSDB of PDU set, importance of PDU set.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that When the difference between the PDB corresponding to the first QoS flow and the PDB corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a first threshold, and / or when the difference between the bit rate corresponding to the first QoS flow and the bit rate corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a second threshold, The importance of at least one PDU set in the first QoS flow is greater than the importance of a PDU set in the second QoS flow, and the second QoS flow is a QoS flow used for service transmission before the first QoS flow.

6. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that When the difference between the PSDB corresponding to the first PDU set and the PSDB corresponding to the second PDU set is greater than a third threshold, The importance of the first PDU set is greater than that of the second PDU set, and the second PDU set is a PDU set used for service transmission before the first PDU set.

7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Receive seventh information from the access network device, where the seventh information is used to indicate at least one of the first threshold, the second threshold, and the third threshold.

8. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: Receiving first information from an application function network element; Sending second information to the application function network element; The first information indicates N quality of service QoS flows, the second information indicates M QoS flows, the M QoS flows belong to the N QoS flows, at least two of the N QoS flows correspond to different packet delay budgets PDB, and / or at least two of the N QoS flows correspond to different bit rates; service transmission is performed based on the first QoS flow, and the first QoS flow belongs to the M QoS flows; or The first information indicates N protocol data unit PDU sets, the second information is used to indicate M PDU sets, the M PDU sets belong to the N PDU sets, and at least two PDU sets in the N PDU sets correspond to different PDU set delay budgets PSDB; service transmission is performed based on the first PDU set, and the first PDU set belongs to the M PDU sets; Wherein, M is greater than or equal to 1, N is greater than or equal to M, and M and N are positive integers.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that When M is greater than 1, the method further comprises: Sending third information to the application function network element, where the third information indicates a usage order of the M QoS flows or the M PDU sets.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Send fourth information to the application function network element, where the fourth information indicates the effective time of the first QoS flow or the first PDU set.

11. The method according to any one of claims 8 to 10, characterized in that Each QoS flow includes at least one PDU set, and each PDU set in the at least one PDU set corresponds to at least one of the following information: PSDB of PDU set, importance of PDU set.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that When a difference between a PDB corresponding to the first QoS flow and a PDB corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a first threshold, and / or when a difference between a bit rate corresponding to the first QoS flow and a bit rate corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a second threshold, the method further includes: Send fifth information to the core network element, wherein the fifth information indicates an increase in the importance of at least one PDU set in the first QoS flow relative to the importance of the PDU set in the second QoS flow, where the second QoS flow is a QoS flow that transmits services before the first QoS flow.

13. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that When the difference between the PDB corresponding to the first QoS flow and the PDB corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a first threshold, and / or when the difference between the bit rate corresponding to the first QoS flow and the bit rate corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a second threshold, The importance of at least one PDU set in the first QoS flow is greater than the importance of a PDU set in the second QoS flow, and the second QoS flow is a QoS flow that performs service transmission before the first QoS flow.

14. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that When a difference between the PSDB corresponding to the first PDU set and the PSDB corresponding to the second PDU set is greater than a third threshold, the method further includes: Send sixth information to the core network element, where the sixth information indicates an increase in the importance of the first PDU set relative to the importance of the second PDU set, where the second PDU set is a PDU set that performs service transmission before the first PDU set.

15. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that When the difference between the PSDB corresponding to the first PDU set and the PSDB corresponding to the second PDU set is greater than a third threshold, The importance of the first PDU set is greater than that of the second PDU set, and the second PDU set is a PDU set for performing service transmission before the first PDU set.

16. A communication device, characterized in that: The device comprises: an interface unit, configured to send first information to an access network device; the interface unit is also configured to receive second information from the access network device; The first information indicates N quality of service QoS flows, the second information indicates M QoS flows, the M QoS flows belong to the N QoS flows, at least two of the N QoS flows correspond to different packet delay budgets PDB, and / or at least two of the N QoS flows correspond to different bit rates; the device further includes: a processing unit, configured to perform service transmission based on a first QoS flow, the first QoS flow belongs to the M QoS flows; or The first information indicates N protocol data unit PDU sets, the second information indicates M PDU sets, the M PDU sets belong to the N PDU sets, and the PDU set delay budgets PSDB corresponding to at least two PDU sets in the N PDU sets are different; the device also includes: a processing unit, configured to perform service transmission based on the first PDU set, the first PDU set belongs to the M PDU sets; Wherein, M is greater than or equal to 1, N is greater than or equal to M, and M and N are positive integers.

17. The device according to claim 16, characterized in that When M is greater than 1, the interface unit is further used to receive third information from the access network device, where the third information indicates a usage order of the M QoS flows or the M PDU sets; The processing unit is used to perform service transmission based on the first QoS flow, including: the processing unit is used to determine the service transmission based on the first QoS flow according to the usage order, or, The processing unit is used to perform service transmission based on the first PDU set, including: the processing unit is used to determine the service transmission based on the first PDU set according to the usage order.

18. The device according to claim 16 or 17, characterized in that The interface unit is further configured to receive fourth information from the access network device, where the fourth information indicates an effective time of the first QoS flow or the first PDU set.

19. The device according to any one of claims 16 to 18, characterized in that Each QoS flow includes at least one PDU set, and each PDU set in the at least one PDU set corresponds to at least one of the following information: PSDB of PDU set, importance of PDU set.

20. The device according to claim 19, characterized in that When the difference between the PDB corresponding to the first QoS flow and the PDB corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a first threshold, and / or when the difference between the bit rate corresponding to the first QoS flow and the bit rate corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a second threshold, The importance of at least one PDU set in the first QoS flow is greater than the importance of a PDU set in the second QoS flow, and the second QoS flow is a QoS flow used for service transmission before the first QoS flow.

21. The device according to claim 19, characterized in that When the difference between the PSDB corresponding to the first PDU set and the PSDB corresponding to the second PDU set is greater than a third threshold, The importance of the first PDU set is greater than that of the second PDU set, and the second PDU set is a PDU set used for service transmission before the first PDU set.

22. The device according to claim 20 or 21, characterized in that The interface unit is further used to receive seventh information from the access network device, where the seventh information is used to indicate at least one of the first threshold, the second threshold, and the third threshold.

23. A communication device, characterized in that: The device comprises: an interface unit, configured to receive first information from an application function network element; the interface unit is also configured to send second information to the application function network element; The first information indicates N quality of service QoS flows, the second information indicates M QoS flows, the M QoS flows belong to the N QoS flows, at least two of the N QoS flows correspond to different packet delay budgets PDB, and / or at least two of the N QoS flows correspond to different bit rates; the device further includes: a processing unit, configured to perform service transmission based on a first QoS flow, the first QoS flow belongs to the M QoS flows; or The first information indicates N protocol data unit PDU sets, the second information is used to indicate M PDU sets, the M PDU sets belong to the N PDU sets, and the PDU set delay budgets PSDB corresponding to at least two PDU sets in the N PDU sets are different; the device also includes: a processing unit, configured to perform service transmission based on the first PDU set, the first PDU set belongs to the M PDU sets; Wherein, M is greater than or equal to 1, N is greater than or equal to M, and M and N are positive integers.

24. The device according to claim 23, characterized in that When M is greater than 1, the interface unit is further used to send third information to the application function network element, where the third information indicates the usage order of the M QoS flows or the M PDU sets.

25. The device according to claim 23 or 24, characterized in that The interface unit is further used to send fourth information to the application function network element, where the fourth information indicates the effective time of the first QoS flow or the first PDU set.

26. The device according to any one of claims 23 to 25, characterized in that Each QoS flow includes at least one PDU set, and each PDU set in the at least one PDU set corresponds to at least one of the following information: PSDB of PDU set, importance of PDU set.

27. The device according to claim 26, characterized in that When the difference between the PDB corresponding to the first QoS flow and the PDB corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a first threshold, and / or when the difference between the bit rate corresponding to the first QoS flow and the bit rate corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a second threshold, the interface unit is also used to send fifth information to the core network network element, and the fifth information indicates the increase in the importance of at least one PDU set in the first QoS flow relative to the importance of the PDU set of the second QoS flow, and the second QoS flow is a QoS flow that transmits services before the first QoS flow.

28. The device according to claim 26, characterized in that When the difference between the PDB corresponding to the first QoS flow and the PDB corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a first threshold, and / or when the difference between the bit rate corresponding to the first QoS flow and the bit rate corresponding to the second QoS flow is greater than a second threshold, The importance of at least one PDU set in the first QoS flow is greater than the importance of a PDU set in the second QoS flow, and the second QoS flow is a QoS flow that performs service transmission before the first QoS flow.

29. The device according to claim 26, characterized in that When the difference between the PSDB corresponding to the first PDU set and the PSDB corresponding to the second PDU set is greater than a third threshold, the interface unit is also used to send sixth information to the core network network element, and the sixth information indicates the increase in the importance of the first PDU set relative to the importance of the second PDU set, and the second PDU set is a PDU set for service transmission before the first PDU set.

30. The device according to claim 26, characterized in that When the difference between the PSDB corresponding to the first PDU set and the PSDB corresponding to the second PDU set is greater than a third threshold, The importance of the first PDU set is greater than that of the second PDU set, and the second PDU set is a PDU set for performing service transmission before the first PDU set.

31. A communication device, characterized in that: comprising at least one processor configured to, by executing computer programs or instructions, The communication device is enabled to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

32. A communication device, characterized in that: comprising at least one processor configured to, by executing computer programs or instructions, The communication device is enabled to execute the method according to any one of claims 8 to 15.

33. The communication device according to claim 31 or 32, characterized in that: The communication device further comprises a memory for storing the computer program or instructions.

34. The communication device according to claim 31 or 32, characterized in that: The communication device further comprises a communication interface, and the communication interface is used for inputting and / or outputting signals.

35. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer readable storage medium stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed on a computer, so that the method of any one of claims 1 to 7 is performed; or, The method according to any one of claims 8 to 15 is performed.

36. A computer program product, characterized in that Contains instructions that, when executed on a computer, so that the method of any one of claims 1 to 7 is performed; or, The method according to any one of claims 8 to 15 is performed.

37. A communication system, characterized in that: The communication system includes an application function network element and / or an access network device, the application function network element is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, and the access network device is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 8 to 15.

Images