Communication method and communication apparatus

Abstract

The present application relates to the field of communications. Provided are a communication method and a communication apparatus. The method provided in the present application facilitates the association of an application-layer measurement result with a wireless-side measurement result, and facilitates the collection of measurement information and the maintenance of network quality on a network side. The method comprises: a first access network device determining first information and second information, wherein the first information is used for instructing to perform application-layer measurement on a first service, and the second information is used for instructing to report an identifier of the first service; the first access network device sending the first information and the second information to a terminal device; the terminal device receiving the first information and the second information from the first access network device; and the terminal device sending a first application-layer measurement result of the first service and the identifier of the first service.

Description

Communication method and communication device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on October 31, 2023, with application number 202311441602.6 and application name “Communication Method and Communication Device”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

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

[0003] Wireless-side measurements are an important means of monitoring network quality. Operators can use these measurements to collect network signal strength, quality, coverage, and other information measured by terminal devices and / or access network equipment. Based on these measurements, operators can optimize wireless network issues and faults to provide users with better network quality. Application-layer measurements measure the performance of certain services, such as streaming or voice services, to which terminal devices subscribe. This allows operators to better understand users' service experience and optimize the network quality corresponding to these services, meeting users' more refined quality experience requirements when using these services and ultimately improving the user experience more precisely.

[0004] However, wireless-side measurements alone cannot reveal the user-side quality of experience for a particular service, while application-layer measurements alone cannot reveal the user's overall network quality. This hinders problem location when service quality is poor, and creates difficulties for operators' maintenance and management. Therefore, this problem can be solved by correlating wireless-side measurement results with application-layer measurement results.

[0005] However, currently, it is difficult to associate wireless-side measurement results with application-layer measurement results, which is not conducive to the collection of network-side measurement information and the maintenance of network quality, making it difficult to provide users with more refined network services.

[0006] Summary of the Invention

[0007] The present application provides a communication method and a communication device, which are conducive to the association of application layer measurement results with wireless side measurement results, facilitate the collection of measurement information and network quality maintenance on the network side, and enable the network side to provide users with more refined network services.

[0008] In the first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, including: a first access network device determines first information and second information, the first information is used to indicate application layer measurement of a first service, and the second information is used to indicate an identifier for reporting the first service; the first access network device sends the first information and the second information to a terminal device.

[0009] In an embodiment of the present application, the first access network device obtains an identifier of the first service for associating application layer measurement results with wireless side measurement results by sending second information to the terminal device. This is not limited by whether the access network device can instruct the terminal device to report application layer measurement results visible to the access network device, nor is it limited by whether the terminal device can support reporting application layer measurement results visible to the access network device. That is, the terminal device does not need to carry the identifier of the first service through the application layer measurement results visible to the access network device to obtain the identifier. This is conducive to decoupling the necessary connection between "the terminal device reporting application layer measurement results visible to the access network device" and "achieving association between application layer measurement results and wireless side measurement results". When it is necessary to associate application layer measurement results with wireless side measurement results, there is no need to rely on the capabilities of the access network device and / or the terminal device. This is conducive to achieving association between application layer measurement results and wireless side measurement results, and is more convenient for the network side to collect measurement information and maintain network quality, making it possible for the network side to provide users with more refined network services.

[0010] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first access network device receives a first application layer measurement result of a first service from a terminal device; the first access network device receives a wireless side measurement identifier from a second access network device, where the wireless side measurement identifier is an identifier corresponding to a wireless side measurement associated with the access network device carrying the first service and the terminal device; and the first access network device sends the wireless side measurement identifier and the first application layer measurement result to a server.

[0011] It should be understood that the first access network device and the second access network device are access network devices that form a dual connection with the terminal device.

[0012] In an embodiment of the present application, the first access network device that receives the first application layer measurement result can obtain an identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the access network device and the terminal device that carry the first service from another access network device in the dual connection scenario, and send the wireless side measurement identifier and the first application layer measurement result to the server, which is conducive to the server using the wireless side measurement identifier to associate the first application layer measurement result with the wireless side measurement result.

[0013] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the first access network device receives an identifier of the first service from the terminal device; the first access network device sends a wireless side measurement identifier to the second access network device based on the identifier of the first service, and the wireless side measurement identifier is an identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the access network device carrying the first service and the terminal device.

[0014] In an embodiment of the present application, the access network device that receives the identifier of the first service can determine the identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the access network device and the terminal device that carry the first service based on the identifier of the first service, and send the identifier to the access network device that receives the application layer measurement result. This is conducive to reporting the corresponding wireless side measurement identifier at the same time as reporting the first application layer measurement result, which is conducive to the network side analyzing the measurement results and optimizing the network quality.

[0015] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the first access network device receives the first application layer measurement result of the first service and the identifier of the first service from the terminal device; the first access network device sends the wireless side measurement identifier and the first application layer measurement result to the server based on the identifier of the first service, and the wireless side measurement identifier is an identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the access network device carrying the first service and the terminal device.

[0016] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is only processed by the radio link control RLC entity and the media intervention control MAC entity of the first access network device, then the wireless side measurement identifier is the first identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the first access network device and the terminal device.

[0017] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is only processed by the RLC entity and MAC entity of the second access network device, and the wireless side measurement identifier is a second identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the second access network device and the terminal device.

[0018] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is processed by the RLC entity of the first access network device, the MAC entity of the first access network device, the RLC entity of the second access network device, and the MAC entity of the second access network device, then the wireless side measurement identifier includes a first identifier and a second identifier, the first identifier corresponds to the wireless side measurement associated with the first access network device and the terminal device, and the second identifier corresponds to the wireless side measurement associated with the second access network device and the terminal device.

[0019] In an embodiment of the present application, a method is provided for determining a bearer node of a first service based on an identifier of the first service, so that when an access network device obtains an identifier of the first service corresponding to an application layer measurement, the access network device can determine the access network device that carries the first service based on the identifier of the first service, and obtain a wireless side measurement identifier from the access network device that carries the first service, which is conducive to achieving the association between the application layer measurement results and the wireless side measurement results.

[0020] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, before sending the wireless side measurement identifier, the method also includes: the first access network device sends a first request to the second access network device, the first request being used to request the second identifier; and the first access network device receives the second identifier from the second access network device.

[0021] In an embodiment of the present application, when the first access network device determines that the access network device carrying the first service includes a second access network device, a second identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the second access network device and the terminal device is obtained from the second access network device through a second request, which is conducive to obtaining all wireless side measurement identifiers corresponding to the application layer measurement results of this time, and is conducive to improving the accuracy and credibility of subsequent analysis results.

[0022] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the first access network device sends a second request to the second access network device, the second request being used to request that the reporting node of the application layer measurement result be changed to the second access network device, and the second request carries the wireless side measurement identifier.

[0023] In an embodiment of the present application, when the reporting node of the application layer measurement result changes and the changed node does not store the wireless side measurement identifier, during the process of interactive change requests between the first access network device and the second access network device or after the change is successful, the access network device that obtained the wireless side measurement identifier in the previous round of reporting sends the identifier to the other access network device that forms a dual connection with the terminal device, thereby avoiding the two access network devices from repeatedly executing the process of obtaining the wireless side measurement identifier, saving the computing power of the access network device, and improving the efficiency of associating the application layer measurement results with the wireless side measurement results.

[0024] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the identifier of the first service includes a protocol data unit PDU session identifier, or a PDU session identifier and a quality of service QoS flow identifier.

[0025] It should be understood that there is a protocol data unit (PDU) session connection between the terminal device and the core network to provide data transmission services. The PDU session identifier can uniquely identify a PDU session. When there is only a QoS flow of the first service in a PDU session, the access network device carrying the first service can be determined by the PDU session identifier corresponding to the first service.

[0026] Furthermore, when there are multiple QoS flows of services in a PDU session, the IP data flow of the first service can be uniquely determined through the first service PDU session identifier and QoS flow identifier, which is conducive to accurately determining the access network device carrying the first service.

[0027] In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which includes: a terminal device receives first information and second information from a first access network device, the first information is used to indicate application layer measurement of a first service, and the second information is used to indicate an identifier for reporting the first service; the terminal device sends a first application layer measurement result of the first service and an identifier of the first service.

[0028] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the sending of the first application layer measurement result of the first service and the identifier of the first service includes: the terminal device sending the first application layer measurement result of the first service and the identifier of the first service to the first access network device, or sending the first application layer measurement result of the first service to the first access network device and sending the identifier of the first service to the second access network device.

[0029] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the identifier of the first service includes a protocol data unit PDU session identifier, or a PDU session identifier and a quality of service QoS flow identifier.

[0030] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication method, comprising: a second access network device receives a second request from a first access network device, the second request is used to request a second identifier, the second identifier corresponds to a wireless side measurement associated with the second access network device and the terminal device; the second access network device sends the second identifier to the first access network device.

[0031] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the method further includes: receiving a second request from the first access network device, the second request being used to request that the reporting node of the application layer measurement results of the first service be changed to the second access network device, and the second request carries the wireless side measurement identifier.

[0032] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication device, comprising a transceiver module and a processing module, wherein the processing module is used to: determine first information and second information, the first information is used to indicate application layer measurement of a first service, and the second information is used to indicate an identifier for reporting the first service; the transceiver module is used to: send the first information and the second information to a terminal device.

[0033] Optionally, the transceiver module is also used to: receive a first application layer measurement result of a first service from a terminal device; receive a wireless side measurement identifier from a second access network device, wherein the wireless side measurement identifier is an identifier corresponding to a wireless side measurement associated with the access network device carrying the first service and the terminal device; and send the wireless side measurement identifier and the first application layer measurement result to a server.

[0034] Optionally, the transceiver module is also used to: receive the identifier of the first service from the terminal device; the processing module is also used to: send a wireless side measurement identifier to the second access network device based on the identifier of the first service, and the wireless side measurement identifier is an identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the access network device carrying the first service and the terminal device.

[0035] Optionally, the transceiver module is also used to: receive the first application layer measurement result of the first service and the identifier of the first service from the terminal device; and, based on the identifier of the first service, send the wireless side measurement identifier and the first application layer measurement result to the server, where the wireless side measurement identifier is an identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the access network device carrying the first service and the terminal device.

[0036] Optionally, the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is only processed by the radio link control RLC entity and the media intervention control MAC entity of the first access network device, and the wireless side measurement identifier is the first identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the first access network device and the terminal device.

[0037] Optionally, the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is only processed by the RLC entity and MAC entity of the second access network device, and the wireless side measurement identifier is a second identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the second access network device and the terminal device.

[0038] Optionally, the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is processed by the RLC entity of the first access network device, the MAC entity of the first access network device, the RLC entity of the second access network device, and the MAC entity of the second access network device, then the wireless side measurement identifier includes a first identifier and a second identifier, the first identifier corresponds to the wireless side measurement associated with the first access network device and the terminal device, and the second identifier corresponds to the wireless side measurement associated with the second access network device and the terminal device.

[0039] Optionally, the transceiver module is further used to: send a first request to the second access network device, where the first request is used to request the second identifier; and receive the second identifier from the second access network device.

[0040] Optionally, the transceiver module is further used to: send a second request to the second access network device, where the second request is used to request that the reporting node of the application layer measurement result be changed to the second access network device, and the second request carries the wireless side measurement identifier.

[0041] Optionally, the identifier of the first service includes a protocol data unit (PDU) session identifier, or a PDU session identifier and a quality of service (QoS) flow identifier.

[0042] In the fifth aspect, the present application further provides a communication device, including a transceiver module and a processing module, wherein the transceiver module is used to: receive first information and second information from a first access network device, the first information is used to indicate application layer measurement of a first service, and the second information is used to indicate an identifier for reporting the first service; the transceiver module is also used to: send the first application layer measurement result of the first service and the identifier of the first service.

[0043] Optionally, the transceiver module is also used to: send the first application layer measurement result of the first service and the identifier of the first service to the first access network device, or send the first application layer measurement result of the first service to the first access network device and send the identifier of the first service to the second access network device.

[0044] Optionally, the identifier of the first service includes a protocol data unit (PDU) session identifier, or a PDU session identifier and a quality of service (QoS) flow identifier.

[0045] In the sixth aspect, the present application also provides a communication device, including a transceiver module and a processing module, wherein the transceiver module is used to: receive a second request from a first access network device, the second request is used to request a second identifier, and the second identifier corresponds to the wireless side measurement associated with the second access network device and the terminal device; and, send the second identifier to the first access network device.

[0046] Optionally, the transceiver module is further used to: receive a second request from the first access network device, the second request is used to request that the reporting node of the application layer measurement result of the first service be changed to the second access network device, and the second request carries the wireless side measurement identifier.

[0047] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides another communication device, comprising a processor coupled to a memory and configured to execute instructions in the memory to implement the method of any possible implementation of any of the above aspects, the second aspect, or the third aspect. Optionally, the device further comprises a memory. Optionally, the device further comprises a communication interface, the processor coupled to the communication interface.

[0048] In an eighth aspect, a processor is provided, comprising: an input circuit, an output circuit, and a processing circuit. The processing circuit is configured to receive a signal through the input circuit and transmit a signal through the output circuit, so that the processor executes the method of any possible implementation of the first, second, or third aspects.

[0049] In a specific implementation, the processor may be a chip, the input circuit may be an input pin, the output circuit may be an output pin, and the processing circuit may be a transistor, a gate circuit, a trigger, or various logic circuits. The input signal received by the input circuit may be, for example, but not limited to, received and input by a receiver, and the signal output by the output circuit may be, for example, but not limited to, output to and transmitted by a transmitter. The input circuit and the output circuit may be the same circuit, which functions as an input circuit and an output circuit at different times. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific implementation of the processor and various circuits.

[0050] In a ninth aspect, a processing device is provided, comprising a processor and a memory. The processor is configured to read instructions stored in the memory and receive signals via a receiver and transmit signals via a transmitter to execute the method of any possible implementation of the first aspect.

[0051] Optionally, there are one or more processors and one or more memories.

[0052] Optionally, the memory may be integrated with the processor, or the memory may be provided separately from the processor.

[0053] In the specific implementation process, the memory can be a non-transitory memory, such as a read-only memory (ROM), which can be integrated with the processor on the same chip or can be set on different chips. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the type of memory and the setting method of the memory and the processor.

[0054] It should be understood that related data interaction processes, such as sending indication information, can be the process of outputting indication information from the processor, and receiving capability information can be the process of receiving input capability information from the processor. Specifically, the output data of the processing can be output to the transmitter, and the input data received by the processor can come from the receiver. The transmitter and receiver can be collectively referred to as a transceiver.

[0055] The processing device in the above-mentioned ninth aspect can be a chip. The processor can be implemented by hardware or by software. When implemented by hardware, the processor can be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, etc.; when implemented by software, the processor can be a general-purpose processor, which is implemented by reading the software code stored in the memory. The memory can be integrated in the processor or can be located outside the processor and exist independently.

[0056] In the tenth aspect, a computer program product is provided, which includes: a computer program (also referred to as code, or instructions), which, when run, enables the computer to execute the method in any possible implementation of the first, second or third aspects above.

[0057] In the eleventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program (also referred to as code, or instructions) which, when run on a computer, enables the computer to execute a method in any possible implementation of the first, second or third aspects above. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0058] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application;

[0059] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a protocol stack provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0060] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of another protocol stack provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0061] FIG4 is a schematic flow chart of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0062] FIG5 is a schematic flow chart of another communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0063] FIG6 is a schematic flow chart of another communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0064] FIG7 is a schematic flow chart of another communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0065] FIG8 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0066] FIG9 is a schematic block diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0067] The technical solution in this application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0068] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as: long term evolution (LTE) system, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, LTE time division duplex (TDD), universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), fifth generation (5G) system or new radio (NR) or other evolved communication systems.

[0069] The terminal device in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as: user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication equipment, user agent or user device, etc.

[0070] The terminal device may be a device that provides voice / data connectivity to users, such as a handheld device or vehicle-mounted device with wireless connection function. At present, some examples of terminals are: mobile phones, tablet computers, laptop computers, PDAs, mobile internet devices (MIDs), wearable devices, virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self-driving, wireless terminals in remote medical surgery, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, cellular phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDAs), handheld devices with wireless communication capabilities, computing devices or other processing devices connected to wireless modems, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, terminal devices in 5G networks or future evolved public land mobile communication networks (PLMNs). The terminal equipment in the network (PLMN), etc., is not limited to this in the embodiments of the present application.

[0071] As an example and not a limitation, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device may also be a wearable device. Wearable devices may also be called wearable smart devices, which are a general term for wearable devices that are intelligently designed and developed using wearable technology for daily wear, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. A wearable device is a portable device that is worn directly on the body or integrated into the user's clothes or accessories. Wearable devices are not only hardware devices, but also achieve powerful functions through software support, data interaction, and cloud interaction. Broadly speaking, wearable smart devices include those that are fully functional, large in size, and can achieve complete or partial functions without relying on smartphones, such as smart watches or smart glasses, as well as those that only 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.

[0072] In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device can also be a terminal device in the Internet of Things (IoT) system. IoT is an important part of the future development of information technology. Its main technical feature is to connect objects to the network through communication technology, thereby realizing an intelligent network of human-machine interconnection and object-to-object interconnection. The terminal device of the present application can also be an on-board unit, on-board module, on-board component, on-board chip or on-board unit built into the vehicle as one or more components or units. The vehicle can implement the method of the present application through the built-in on-board unit, on-board module, on-board component, on-board chip or on-board unit. Therefore, the embodiment of the present application can be applied to the Internet of Vehicles, such as vehicle to everything (V2X), long-term evolution-vehicle (LTE-V), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), etc.

[0073] In addition, the access network device in the embodiment of the present application can also be referred to as a wireless access network device, which can be a transmission reception point (TRP), an evolved NodeB (eNB or eNodeB) in an LTE system, a home base station (for example, home evolved NodeB, or home Node B, HNB), a base band unit (BBU), or a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario, or the access network device can be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, and an access network device in a 5G network or an access network device in a future evolved PLMN network, etc., can be an access point (AP) in a WLAN, can be a gNB in ​​a new radio (NR) system, can be a satellite base station in a satellite communication system, etc., and the embodiment of the present application is not limited.

[0074] The access network device in the embodiment of the present application may include a centralized unit (CU) node, a distributed unit (DU) node, or an access network device including a CU node and a DU node, or an access network device including a control plane CU node (CU-CP node) and a user plane CU node (CU-UP node) and a DU node. The access network device including the CU node and the DU node can split the protocol layer of the access network device, put the functions of some protocol layers in the CU centralized control, and distribute the functions of the remaining part or all of the protocol layers in the DU, which is centrally controlled by the CU. As an implementation method, the CU deployment protocol stack includes a radio resource control (RRC) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, and a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer. The DU deployment protocol stack includes a radio link control (RLC) layer, a media access control (MAC) layer, and a physical (PHY) layer. Thus, the CU has the processing capabilities of RRC, PDCP, and SDAP. DU has the processing capabilities of RLC, MAC and PHY. The above-mentioned functional division is only an example and does not constitute a limitation on CU and DU. That is to say, there may be other ways of functional division between CU and DU, which will not be described in detail in the embodiments of the present application. The functions of CU can be implemented by one entity or by different entities. For example, the functions of CU can be further divided, for example, the control plane (CP) and the user plane (UP) are separated, that is, the control plane of CU (CU-CP) and the user plane of CU (CU-UP). For example, CU-CP and CU-UP can be implemented by different functional entities, and CU-CP and CU-UP can be coupled with DU to jointly complete the functions of access network equipment. In one possible way, CU-CP is responsible for control plane functions, mainly including RRC and PDCP-C, where PDCP-C is mainly responsible for encryption and decryption, integrity protection, data transmission, etc. of control plane data. CU-UP is responsible for user plane functions, mainly including SDAP and PDCP-U, where SDAP is mainly responsible for processing data of core network devices and mapping data flows to bearers. The PDCP-U is responsible for data plane encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, sequence number maintenance, and data transmission. The CU-CP and CU-UP are connected via the E1 interface. The CU-CP represents access network equipment and connects to core network equipment via the interface between the core network and access network equipment.The DU is connected via F1-C (control plane). The CU-UP is connected via F1-U (user plane). In addition, another possible implementation is that the PDCP-C is also in the CU-UP, which is not limited in this application.

[0075] The core network device in the embodiment of the present application refers to the device in the core network (CN) that provides service support for the terminal device. At present, the above-mentioned core network device can be: access and mobility management function (AMF) entity, session management function (SMF) entity, user plane function (UPF) entity, etc., which are not listed here one by one. Among them, the above-mentioned AMF entity can be responsible for access management and mobility management of terminal devices; the above-mentioned SMF entity can be responsible for session management, such as user session establishment, etc.; the above-mentioned UPF entity can be a functional entity of the user plane, mainly responsible for connecting to the external network. It should be noted that the entity in this application can also be referred to as a network element or a functional entity. For example, the AMF entity can also be referred to as an AMF network element or an AMF functional entity. For another example, the SMF entity can also be referred to as an SMF network element or an SMF functional entity, etc. This application does not limit this.

[0076] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable. As shown in FIG1 , the communication system 100 includes a core network device 101, a terminal device 102, an access network device 103, and an access network device 104. The core network device 101 may be a core network that provides service support for the terminal device 102. The core network may provide connectivity to the terminal device 102, manage the terminal device 102, and carry services, thereby providing an interface to an external network as a bearer network. The terminal device 101 may communicate with the access network device 103 and the access network device 104, i.e., dual connectivity (DC). The terminal device 102 can receive transmission resources (for example, frequency domain resources, or spectrum resources) through the access network device 103 or the access network device 104 to communicate with the cell. The cell can belong to a macro base station (for example, a macro eNB or a macro gNB, etc.), or it can belong to a base station corresponding to a small cell. The small cells here may include: metro cells, micro cells, pico cells, femto cells, etc. These small cells have the characteristics of small coverage and low transmission power, and are suitable for providing high-speed data transmission services.

[0077] It should be understood that the access network device 103 and the access network device 104 communicating with the terminal device 101 can be base stations belonging to the same radio access technology (RAT) (for example, the access network device 103 and the access network device 104 are both 4G base stations or both are 5G base stations), and the access network device 103 and the access network device 104 can also be base stations belonging to different RATs (for example, the access network device 103 and the access network device 104 are one 4G base station and the other is a 5G base station), so the DC is also called dual connectivity (multi-RAT dual connectivity, MR-DC) under multiple radio access technologies.

[0078] In one possible implementation, one of the two access network devices in an MR-DC scenario is called a master node (MN), and the other is called a secondary node (SN). It should be noted that MR-DC refers to a specific terminal device. The master node can provide a control plane connection between the terminal device and the core network, while the secondary node may not provide a control plane connection between the terminal device and the core network. For example, access network device 103 can be the master node in a dual-connectivity scenario, and access network device 104 can be the secondary node in a dual-connectivity scenario.

[0079] Below, the access network device is taken as a base station and the terminal device is taken as a UE to explain in detail the form of MR-DC and the network side protocol stack.

[0080] Depending on the radio carrier communication standard used by the primary base station and the secondary base station, MR-DC may include: Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network and New Radio Technology Dual Connectivity (E-UTRAN new radio dual connectivity, EN-DC), Next Generation Access Network and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network New Radio Dual Connectivity (next generation RAN E-UTRA new radio-dual connectivity, NGEN-DC), New Radio and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network Dual Connectivity (new radio E-UTRAN dual connectivity, NE-DC), and New Radio Dual Connectivity (new radio dual connectivity, NR-DC). Among them: in EN-DC, the main base station is an LTE base station (such as eNB) connected to the 4G core network EPC, and the secondary base station is a NR base station (such as gNB); in NGEN-DC, the main base station is an LTE base station connected to the 5G core network 5GC, and the secondary base station is an NR base station; in NE-DC, the main base station is an NR base station connected to the 5G core network, and the secondary base station is an LTE base station; in NR-DC, the main base station is an NR base station connected to the 5G core network, and the secondary base station is an LTE base station; in NR-DC, the main base station is an NR base station connected to the 5G core network, and the secondary base station is an LTE base station; in NR-DC, the main base station is an NR base station connected to the 5G core network, and the secondary base station is an NR base station.

[0081] It is worth noting that both the main base station and the secondary base station in MR-DC have RRC entities, can generate RRC messages (i.e., control messages, such as measurement messages, etc.), and can send RRC messages to the UE. Among them, the secondary base station can directly send the RRC message generated by the secondary base station to the UE (in this case, the RRC message sent by the UE to the secondary base station is also directly sent to the secondary base station. For example, the RRC message between the secondary base station and the UE is called SRB3), and the secondary base station can also notify the main base station of the generated RRC message, and the main base station sends the RRC message to the UE (in this case, the UE transfers the RRC message to the secondary base station through the main base station, that is, the UE sends these RRC messages to the main base station, and the main base station transfers the message to the secondary base station). There is a primary cell in the main base station and a primary and secondary cell in the secondary base station. The primary cell refers to a cell deployed at the main frequency point, and the terminal device initiates the initial connection establishment process, initiates the connection reconstruction process, or indicates as the primary cell during the switching process. The primary and secondary cells refer to the cells where the terminal device initiates a random access process, or the cells where the terminal device skips the random access process to initiate data transmission during the secondary base station change process, or the cells of the secondary base stations that initiate random access during the synchronous reconfiguration process. The service cells under the secondary base station are called secondary cell groups (SCGs), and the cells under the primary base station are called master cell groups (MCGs). It should be noted that the primary base station and the secondary base station in MR-DC can be various forms and structures of the access network devices mentioned above. Optionally, the primary base station and the secondary base station may use the same CU but different DUs, or use the same DU but different CUs.

[0082] Optionally, the two access network devices in the MR-DC may provide different RLC entities and MAC entities for the terminal device. In one possible implementation, the service data under the MR-DC architecture may have different bearer types, which may include MCG bearer, SCG bearer and split bearer. Among them, MCG bearer refers to a bearer that transmits data only through the RLC entity and MAC entity of the MN, SCG bearer refers to a bearer that transmits data only through the RLC entity and MAC entity of the SN, and split bearer refers to a bearer that transmits data through the RLC entity and MAC entity of both the MN and the SN.

[0083] Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of the network-side protocol stack for MCG bearers, SCG bearers, and split bearers in EN-DC. As shown in Figure 2, for bearers whose PDCP terminates at the mobile node (referred to as MN-terminated bearers), different transmission paths are used on the network side depending on the service data bearer type. In the case of an MCG bearer, downlink (DL) service data arrives directly from the core network to the mobile node, and is processed sequentially by the MN's PDCP, RLC, and MAC before being sent to the UE. In the case of an SCG bearer, DL service data arrives directly from the core network to the mobile node, and is processed sequentially by the MN's PDCP, the SN's RLC, and MAC before being sent to the UE. In the case of a split bearer, DL service data arrives directly from the core network to the mobile node, and is split at the MN's PDCP. Part of the split data is processed by the SN's RLC and MAC before being sent to the UE, while the other part is processed by the MN's RLC and MAC before being sent to the UE. Data split from the MN's PDCP and required to be transmitted to the SN and processed by the SN's RLC and MAC is transmitted over the X2 interface. It should be understood that in the case of a MN terminated bearer, uplink (UL) data from the UE is processed by the PDCP of the MN and then sent to the core network.

[0084] For bearers whose PDCP terminates on the SN (called SN terminated bearers), there are different transmission paths on the network side depending on the service data bearer type. When the service data bearer type is SCG bearer, DL service data reaches the SN directly from the core network, and is processed by the SN's PDCP, RLC, and MAC in sequence before being sent to the UE; when the service data bearer type is MCG bearer, DL service data reaches the SN directly from the core network, and is processed by the SN's PDCP, the MN's RLC, and MAC in sequence before being sent to the UE; when the service data bearer type is split bearer, DL service data reaches the SN directly from the core network, and is split by the SN's PDCP. Part of the separated data is sent to the UE after being processed by the SN's RLC and MAC, and the other part is sent to the UE after being processed by the MN's RLC and MAC. It should be understood that in the case of SN terminated bearer, all UL data from the UE is processed by the SN's PDCP and then sent to the core network.

[0085] It should be understood that the main base station MN in EN-DC is an LTE base station connected to the 4G core network EPC, and PDCP can adopt evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) technology or NR technology, which is limited in this application.

[0086] Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram of the protocol stack for the MCG bearer, SCG, and split bearer on the network side in NGEN-DC / NE-DC / NR-DC. The primary base stations in NGEN-DC / NE-DC / NR-DC are all base stations connected to the 5G Core Network (5G Core Network). The 5G Core Network uses a Quality of Service (QoS) flow-based data transmission method. A QoS flow refers to a service flow with the same service processing characteristics (such as scheduling strategy, queue management strategy, etc.). The minimum granularity for service classification in 5GC is the QoS flow. A protocol data unit (PDU) session connection exists between the terminal device and the core network to provide data transmission services. The corresponding PDU session data packets are differentiated according to the QoS flow granularity (i.e., a PDU session may include multiple QoS flows). To adapt to the QoS architecture in 5GC, a new wireless protocol layer, the Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer, is introduced on the base station side. The SDAP layer is used to map each QoS flow from the 5GC to the data radio bearer (DRB) of the wireless access layer, that is, according to the service attributes corresponding to the QoS flow, the data packet corresponding to the QoS flow is placed on the corresponding DRB for transmission. In other words, the relationship between the PDU session, QoS flow, and DRB is: a PDU session can include multiple QoS flows, and these multiple QoS flows under the PDU session can be mapped to multiple DRBs (that is, at least one QoS flow can be mapped under one DRB). The QoS flows in different PDU sessions are mapped to different DRBs (that is, the QoS flows under different PDU sessions cannot be mapped to the same DRB). In addition, different services have different QoS characteristics (the QoS characteristics in the standard are called 5QI), and one QoS flow may correspond to at least one QoS characteristic.

[0087] As shown in Figure 3, for a bearer terminated by PDCP on the MN, after the QoS flow from the core network is mapped to the DRB via SDAP, if the bearer type of the service data corresponding to the QoS flow is an MCG bearer, the service data is subsequently processed sequentially by the MN's PDCP, RLC, and MAC before being sent to the UE. If the bearer type of the service data is an SCG bearer, the data after SDAP processing is then processed sequentially by the MN's PDCP, the SN's RLC, and MAC before being sent to the UE. If the bearer type of the service data is a split bearer, the data after SDAP processing is split by the MN's PDCP, with part of the split data being processed by the SN's RLC and MAC before being sent to the UE, while the other part is processed by the MN's RLC and MAC before being sent to the UE. The data separated from the MN's PDCP and required to be transmitted to the SN and processed by the SN's RLC and MAC is transmitted via the Xn interface. It should be understood that in this case, all UL data from the UE is processed by the MN's SDAP / PDCP before being sent to the core network.

[0088] For bearers whose PDCP terminates on the SN, after the QoS flow from the core network is mapped to the DRB via SDAP, if the bearer type of the service data corresponding to the QoS flow is an SCG bearer, the service data is then processed sequentially by the SN's PDCP, RLC, and MAC before being sent to the UE. If the bearer type of the service data is an MCG bearer, the data after SDAP processing is then processed sequentially by the SN's PDCP, RLC, and MAC before being sent to the UE. If the bearer type of the service data is a split bearer, the data after SDAP processing is split by the SN's PDCP, and part of the split data is sent to the UE after being processed by the SN's RLC and MAC, while the other part is sent to the UE after being processed by the MN's RLC and MAC. It should be understood that in this case, all UL data from the UE is processed by the SN's SDAP / PDCP before being sent to the core network.

[0089] To facilitate understanding of this application, a brief introduction to wireless side measurements and application layer measurements is given below.

[0090] 1. Wireless side measurement

[0091] Radio-side measurements are an important means of monitoring wireless network quality. Operators can use them to collect data from terminal devices and / or access network equipment, such as network signal strength, quality, and coverage. Based on these measurements, operators can optimize wireless network issues and faults to provide users with better network quality. For example, radio-side measurements can be performed using minimization of drive-tests (MDT) measurements and Layer 2 (L2) measurements.

[0092] MDT measurements include logged MDT and immediate MDT. Immediate MDT is mainly used to measure terminals in the radio resource control (RRC) connected state, while logged MDT is mainly used to measure terminals in the idle state. Immediate MDT can measure at least one of the following: terminal data volume measurement, throughput measurement, packet transmission delay measurement, packet loss rate measurement, processing delay measurement, etc. Logged MDT can measure one or more of the following: random access channel (RACH) failure measurement, signal strength measurement, connection establishment failure measurement, and radio link failure (RLF) failure measurement.

[0093] L2 measurements are used on the network side to collect statistics on network performance for functions such as radio link management, radio resource management, and network maintenance. Some L2 measurements are performed on a terminal, such as service throughput, service traffic, terminal processing latency, and terminal air interface latency.

[0094] Currently, operators typically conduct monthly network coverage drive tests, or call quality drive tests in specific areas in response to user complaints. To automatically collect terminal measurement data and improve network optimization efficiency, these drive tests can be replaced with MDT measurements. The basic concept of this technology is that operators use commercial terminal equipment from contracted users to perform measurements and transmit the measurement results, partially replacing traditional drive testing.

[0095] Existing MDT technology measurement types can be categorized into signal level measurement, quality of service (QoS) measurement, and accessibility measurement. Signal level measurement involves the terminal device measuring the wireless signal level and sending the measurement results to the access network device. QoS measurement typically involves the access network device performing QoS measurements, such as service flow, throughput, and latency. Alternatively, the terminal device can measure uplink processing latency, or the access network device and terminal device can jointly measure air interface latency, measuring the time it takes for a data packet to pass through the SDAP / PDCP layer of the access network device and reach the SDAP / PDCP layer of the terminal device. Accessibility measurement involves the terminal device recording RRC connection establishment failure information and sending it to the access network device.

[0096] Currently, the basic process of wireless-side measurement based on MDT is as follows: the access network device obtains MDT measurement configuration information from the core network device or management device, and the access network device performs MDT measurement or sends the MDT measurement configuration information to the terminal device. The terminal device performs measurement based on the configuration information and sends the MDT measurement result to the access network device. The access network device sends the MDT measurement result to the trace collector entity (TCE).

[0097] There are two methods of MDT measurement: signaling-based MDT and management-based MDT. Signaling-based MDT refers to MDT for a specific UE. After receiving the MDT measurement configuration message from the core network, the base station instructs the specific UE to perform MDT measurements, or the base station directly performs MDT measurements on the UE. Only when the user has agreed to perform MDT will the CN initiate signaling MDT for the UE. The CN will notify the base station of some MDT configuration information and the IP address of the TCE or MCE. The MDT configuration information includes: MDT activation type (such as immediate MDT only, logged MDT only, immediate MDT and trace, etc.), MDT area range, MDT mode and configuration parameters of the corresponding mode (such as measurement events for immediate MDT, logging interval and duration for logged MDT, etc.), and the PLMN list based on signaling MDT. Management-based MDT, on the other hand, is not UE-specific. After receiving an MDT measurement configuration message from a management device (e.g., operation, administration, and maintenance (OAM) or element manager (EM), the base station selects a UE from the UEs under the base station for MDT measurement. When selecting a UE, the base station may also consider whether the UE agrees to perform MDT. In one implementation, the base station only selects UEs that have agreed to perform MDT for MDT measurement (for example, the core network notifies the base station whether a UE agrees to perform MDT, such as when the CN notifies the base station of a user indication that management-based MDT is allowed). Furthermore, the base station also notifies the base station of a list of PLMNs that support management-based MDT.

[0098] 2. Application layer measurement

[0099] For some streaming services or voice services, such as streaming services and multimedia telephony services for IMS (MTSI), simple wireless-side measurements and optimizations cannot meet the user experience requirements when using these services. To enable operators to better understand users' service experience and thus optimize the network to more accurately improve the user experience, Quality of Experience (QoE) measurements can be used. These measurements are also called application-layer measurements.

[0100] Currently, the basic process of application layer measurement based on QoE measurement is as follows: the access network device obtains application layer measurement configuration information from the core network device or management device, and sends the application layer measurement configuration information to the access layer of the terminal device. The access layer of the terminal device sends the application layer measurement configuration information to the upper layer of the access layer of the terminal device. The upper layer of the access layer of the terminal device receives the application layer measurement configuration information, performs measurement based on the configuration information, and sends the application layer measurement result to the access layer of the terminal device. The access layer of the terminal device sends the application layer measurement result to the access network device, and the access network device sends the application layer measurement result to the measurement collector entity (MCE) device.

[0101] The above-mentioned application layer measurement configuration information (taking QoE measurement as an example) may include one or more of the following: QoE reference, service type, selection area scope of QoE measurement collection (QMC), tracking area (TA) based, tracking area identifier (TAI) based, PLMN area based, measurement collection entity IP address, application layer measurement configuration container, slice support list for QMC, choice MDT alignment information, available RAN visible QoE measurement quantities or measurement indicators, and the like.Among them, the selection area range for QoE measurement collection can further be a cell-based range (Cell based), and further can be a cell ID list for QoE measurement collection (cell ID list for QMC), and further includes a 5G radio access network global cell identifier (NG-RAN CGI); the tracking-based area range can further be a tracking area list for QoE measurement collection (tracking area list for QMC), and further can be a tracking area code (TAC); the tracking area identifier range can further be a tracking area identifier list for QoE measurement collection (TAI list for QMC), and further can be a tracking area identifier (TAI); the public land mobile network-based range can further be a public land mobile network list for QoE measurement collection (PLMN list for QMC), and further can be a public land mobile network identity (PLMN identity); the supported slice list can further be a slice supporting QoE measurement collection items (slice support QMC item), and further can be a single network slice selection assistance information (single network slice selection assistance information). information, S-NSSAI); the MDT alignment information may further be signaling-based MDT measurement (s-based MDT), and further may be a 5G radio access network trace identifier (NG-RAN trace ID).

[0102] The above-mentioned application layer measurement results may include one or more of the following measurement indicators: average throughput indicator (this indicator indicates the total number of bits received by the UE application layer (such as for streaming media services) within a measurement interval), initial playback delay indicator (this indicator indicates the initial playback delay at the beginning of streaming media presentation. For example, it can be specifically defined as the time from the moment the first segment of the media is acquired to the moment the streaming media is extracted from the client buffer), buffer level indicator (this indicator indicates the duration of time that the media data can be played starting from the current playback moment), playback delay indicator (this indicator indicates the playback delay of streaming media startup. For example, it can be specifically defined as the delay from the dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP (DASH) player receiving a play / rewind / start trigger to the media playback), deterioration duration indicator (this indicator indicates the interval between the Nepal time (NPT) corresponding to the last good quality frame before the deterioration and the Nepal time corresponding to the first subsequent good quality frame), continuous packet loss indicator (this indicator indicates the number of consecutive lost real-time transport protocols (RTTPs) The following metrics are used: number of RTP (RTP) packets), jitter duration (jitter refers to the difference between the actual playback time and the expected playback time of a frame exceeding a threshold. The expected playback time of a frame is the playback time of the previous playback frame plus the difference between the Nepali time of the current frame and the Nepali time of the previous playback frame)), desynchronization duration (desynchronization refers to the absolute time difference between a value A and a value B exceeding a certain threshold. Here, value A refers to the difference between the playback time of the previous playback frame of a video stream and the playback time of the previous playback frame of the voice stream. Here, value B refers to the difference between the expected playback time of the previous playback frame of the video stream and the expected playback time of the previous playback frame of the voice stream), round-trip delay (this metric indicates the round-trip time at the RTP level, plus the additional two-way delay caused by buffering and other processing in the client (RTP level -> speaker -> microphone -> RTP level)), average bitrate (this metric indicates the bitrate of the effective media information encoded during the measurement period), and comparable quality viewport switching delay. latency) (This metric reports the delay and quality-related factors when the viewing angle moves and the quality degrades. Quality-related factors include quality ranking value and resolution), or the stuttering indicator (This metric indicates whether stuttering occurs during video streaming, or the length of time it occurs).

[0103] Optionally, the value of the measurement indicator can be a specific numerical value or a range (such as one of good, medium, and poor). The definitions of these indicators can refer to the definitions in the 3GPP protocol. The measurement indicator can also be a comprehensive measurement indicator of multiple indicators such as the above average throughput indicator, initial playback delay indicator, buffer level indicator, playback delay indicator, deterioration duration indicator, continuous packet loss number indicator, jitter duration indicator, out-of-step duration indicator, round-trip delay indicator, average bit rate indicator, analog quality perspective switching delay indicator, or jamming situation indicator, etc. For example, a comprehensive indicator is obtained by combining the above multiple indicators according to a certain rule. The value of the comprehensive measurement indicator can be a specific numerical value or a range (such as one of good, medium, and poor).

[0104] For the same UE, if application layer measurements are performed for the first service in the first time period, and if the wireless side measurement results of the network carrying the first service in the first time period can be obtained at the same time, then when a certain indicator in the application layer measurement results corresponding to the first service of the UE is not ideal, it is possible to quickly locate whether the unsatisfactory indicator is related to the wireless side measurement results of the first service in the first time period, which is beneficial to the maintenance and management of the first service and the timely optimization of the UE. In other words, if the application layer measurement results of a UE in a certain time period are associated with the wireless side measurement results of the service corresponding to the application layer measurement results, between the UE and the access network equipment, in the same time period, it will be beneficial to the optimization of the service quality of the first service and the UE network quality.

[0105] However, the association between the application layer measurement results and the wireless side measurement results depends on the application layer measurement process, that is, the access network device is required to report the wireless side measurement result identifier corresponding to the current application layer measurement result at the same time as reporting the application layer measurement result to the MCE, but the wireless side measurement result identifier is maintained by the access network device that carries the service corresponding to the application layer measurement result. In other words, the access network device that reports the application layer measurement result to the MCE needs to know which access network device carries the service corresponding to the application layer measurement result in order to obtain the wireless side measurement result identifier corresponding to the current application layer measurement result, and further realize the association between the application layer measurement result and the wireless side measurement result based on the MCE / TCE.

[0106] Currently, if one wants to associate wireless-side measurement results with application-layer measurement results, the access network device that reports the application-layer measurement results to the MCE needs to obtain information about the access network device that carries the service corresponding to the application-layer measurement results based on the service information included in the measurement results reported by the terminal device and visible to the access network device, and based on the service information. However, the access network device that reports the application-layer measurement results to the MCE may not support instructing the terminal device to report measurement results visible to the access network device, and / or the access network device does not want to report application-layer measurements visible to the access network device for the terminal device, and / or the terminal device may not support reporting measurement results visible to the access network device, which brings inconvenience to the association of application-layer measurement results with wireless-side measurement results and is not conducive to network-side optimization.

[0107] In view of this, the present application provides an application layer measurement method, which decouples the two functions of obtaining measurement results visible to the access network device and associating the wireless side measurement results with the application layer measurement results by sending an indication message to the terminal device, instructing it to report the identifier of the service corresponding to the application layer measurement. This makes the association between the wireless side measurement results and the application layer measurement results no longer dependent on the capabilities of the access network device and / or the terminal device, facilitates information collection and network optimization on the network side, and helps the network side provide users with refined services based on the association results.

[0108] In order to make the purpose and technical solution of this application clearer and more intuitive, the network optimization method and communication device adopted in the embodiments of this application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain this application and are not intended to limit this application.

[0109] Before introducing the methods and devices provided in the embodiments of the present application, the following points are explained.

[0110] First, in the embodiments described below, various terms and abbreviations, such as baseline data and differential data, are provided for ease of description and should not be construed as limiting this application. This application does not exclude the possibility of defining other terms in existing or future protocols that can achieve the same or similar functions.

[0111] Second, the first, second and various numerical numbers in the embodiments shown below are only used for the convenience of description and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

[0112] Third, "at least one" means one or more, and "more" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "At least one of the following items" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single items or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b and c can mean: a, or b, or c, or a and b, or a and c, or b and c, or a, b and c, where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

[0113] FIG4 shows a schematic flow chart of a communication method 400 provided in an embodiment of the present application. This method 400 can be applied to the system architecture 100 shown in FIG1 above, and can also be applied to other architectures. The first access network device in the embodiment of the present application can be equivalent to the access network device 103 or the access network device 104 in FIG1 , and this embodiment of the present application does not limit this. As shown in FIG4 , this method 400 includes the following steps:

[0114] S401. A first access network device determines first information and second information, where the first information is used to indicate application layer measurement of a first service, and the second information is used to indicate an identifier for reporting the first service.

[0115] S402: The first access network device sends first information and second information to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the first information and the second information.

[0116] S403. The terminal device sends a first application layer measurement result of the first service and an identifier of the first service.

[0117] It should be understood that the first information includes at least one item of the service type, application layer measurement configuration, application layer measurement identifier, etc. of the first service. The first information may be information determined by the first access network device, or may be all or part of the measurement configuration information sent to the first access network device by the core network CN device or the OAM device. This application is not limited to this. The terminal device performs application layer measurement on the first service based on the application layer measurement configuration in the first information to obtain a first application layer measurement result (the first application layer measurement result may include at least one measurement result of the measurement indicator described above). The first service is one or more services corresponding to the service type indicated in the first information. The first service may be some streaming services or voice services, such as streaming services, multimedia telephony services for IP multimedia subsystem services (MTSI) of Internet Protocol Multimedia Systems, etc. It should be noted that the first information does not specify which service the first service is, but only specifies the service type corresponding to the first service.

[0118] Optionally, when the first access network device determines that the application layer measurement of the first service needs to be associated with the wireless side measurement or determines that the application layer measurement result of the first service needs to be associated with the wireless side measurement result, the first access network device determines that the second information needs to be sent to the terminal device.

[0119] Optionally, the application layer measurement configuration in the first information can be sent to the terminal device in the form of a container (for example, in the form of a byte string) or a non-container (such as a cell). The access layer of the terminal device cannot perceive the information in the container for the application layer measurement configuration sent in the form of a container, or the information in the container is not visible to the access layer of the terminal device. The application layer measurement configuration sent in the form of a non-container is in a form that can be perceived or seen by the access layer of the terminal device. This application does not specifically limit the form of the application layer measurement configuration.

[0120] It should also be understood that the second information can be explicit indication information. For example, the second information sent by the first access network device to the terminal device explicitly requires the terminal device to report the service information corresponding to this application layer measurement, or report the service information used to associate the application layer measurement results with the wireless side measurement results, and the service information includes the identifier of the first service. The second information can also be implicit indication information. For example, the second information instructs the terminal device to report the application layer measurement start information, and the protocol stipulates that the terminal device needs to report the identifier of the first service corresponding to this application layer measurement at the same time as reporting the application layer measurement start information. It is worth noting that the "second information is used to indicate the reporting of the identifier of the first service" described in this application expresses the fundamental purpose of the first access network device sending the information to the terminal device, and does not constitute a specific limitation on the form of achieving this purpose.

[0121] Optionally, the first access network device may send the first information and the second information through one RRC message, or may send the first information and the second information separately through two RRC messages. The terminal device may also send the first application layer measurement result and the identifier of the first service through one RRC message, or may send the first application layer measurement result and the identifier of the first service separately through two RRC messages. This application does not limit this.

[0122] Optionally, the application layer measurement may be a QoE measurement, and the wireless side measurement may be an MDT measurement or an L2 measurement, which is not specifically limited in this application.

[0123] In an embodiment of the present application, the first access network device obtains an identifier of the first service for associating application layer measurement results with wireless side measurement results by sending a second information to the terminal device. This is not limited by whether the access network device can instruct the terminal device to report the application layer measurement results visible to the access network device, nor is it limited by whether the terminal device can support reporting the application layer measurement results visible to the access network device. That is, the terminal device does not need to carry the identifier of the first service through the application layer measurement results visible to the access network device to obtain the identifier. This is conducive to releasing the binding relationship between "the terminal device reporting the application layer measurement results visible to the access network device" and "achieving association between the application layer measurement results and the wireless side measurement results". When it is necessary to associate the application layer measurement results with the wireless side measurement results, there is no need to rely on the capabilities of the access network device and / or the terminal device. This is conducive to achieving association between the application layer measurement results and the wireless side measurement results, and facilitates the network side to collect measurement information and maintain network quality.

[0124] If the terminal device establishes connections with both the first access network device and the second access network device, that is, the terminal device is in the MR-DC scenario, then in the above S403, the terminal device sends the first application layer measurement result of the first service and the identifier of the first service. There are two possible implementation methods: (1) the terminal device sends the first application layer measurement result to the first access network device (or the second access network device) and sends the identifier of the first service to the second access network device (or the first access network device); (2) the terminal device sends the first application layer measurement result and the identifier of the first service to the first access network device (or the second access network device). This application does not limit the order in which the terminal device reports the first application layer measurement result and the identifier of the first service.

[0125] It should be noted that the first access network device involved in S401 and S402 may be different from the first access network device that receives the first application layer measurement result and / or the identifier of the first service in S403. For example, due to the mobility of the terminal device, the terminal device switches from the first access network device involved in S401 and S402 to the first access network device involved in S403.

[0126] Optionally, the node that receives the application layer measurement results can be specified by the access network device (the first access network device or the second access network device) (for example, the access network device sends an indication message to the terminal device, indicating which access network device to report the application layer measurement results to), or it can be decided by the terminal device itself. The node that receives the first service identifier can be specified by the access network device (the first access network device or the second access network device) (for example, specified by the second information), or it can be decided by the terminal device itself. This application does not limit this.

[0127] The following describes in detail two implementations of S403 in conjunction with FIG5 and FIG6 .

[0128] Figure 5 is an execution flow of a communication method provided by the present application, which can be shown in Figure 5. This method 500 can be applied to the system architecture 100 shown in Figure 1 above, and can also be applied to other architectures. The first access network device in the embodiment of the present application can be equivalent to the access network device 103 (or access network device 104) in Figure 1, and the second access network device is equivalent to the access network device 104 (or access network device 103) in Figure 2. This embodiment of the present application does not limit this. In the method 500 corresponding to Figure 5, the terminal device sends the first application layer measurement result to the second access network device and sends the identifier of the first service to the first access network device.

[0129] The method 500 includes the following steps:

[0130] S501 to S502 are the same as S401 to S402 in the above method 400 and are not described again here.

[0131] S503: The terminal device sends the first application layer measurement result to the second access network device. Correspondingly, the second access network device receives the first application layer measurement result.

[0132] S504: The terminal device sends an identifier of the first service to the first access network device. Correspondingly, the first access network device receives the identifier of the first service.

[0133] S505: The first access network device obtains a wireless side measurement identifier based on the identifier of the first service. The wireless side measurement identifier is an identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the access network device and the terminal device carrying the first service.

[0134] S506. The first access network device sends a wireless measurement identifier to the second access network device.

[0135] S507: The second access network device sends the first application layer measurement result and the radio side measurement identifier to the server. Correspondingly, the server receives the first application layer measurement result and the radio side measurement identifier.

[0136] It should be understood that the terminal device has a certain degree of mobility, that is, the terminal device can move out of the network coverage of one access network device and enter the network coverage of another access network device. Therefore, the access network device that determines and sends the first information and the second information in the above S401 and S402 and the access network device that receives the identification of the first service in S503 may not be the same access network device. In the embodiment of the present application, only the access network device is described as the first access network device, and the first access network device and the second access network device both refer to two access network devices that establish communication with the terminal device at a certain moment or a certain period of time, and do not specifically refer to which two access network devices, and do not constitute a specific limitation on the access network device to which the terminal device is connected.

[0137] It should be understood that the present application does not limit the execution order of S503 and S504.

[0138] Optionally, the server may be an MCE and / or a TCE, which is not specifically limited in this application. In some examples, the second access network device sends the first application layer measurement result and the wireless side measurement identifier to the MCE, and the TCE receives the wireless side measurement result corresponding to the wireless side measurement identifier.

[0139] In the above S505, after receiving the first service identifier, the first access network device needs to first determine which access network device carries the first service, and then obtain the identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the device and the terminal device from the access network device carrying the first service. The embodiment of the present application provides the following two possible implementation methods of S505.

[0140] In a first possible implementation, the first access network device determines which access network device carries the first service based on which access network device's RLC entity and MAC entity process the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service. Accordingly, there are the following possible scenarios:

[0141] Case 1: The data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is only processed by the RLC entity and the MAC entity of the second access network device, and the first service is only carried by the second access network device.

[0142] Referring to Figure 2 or Figure 3, exemplarily, if the second access network device is an MN, the bearer type of the first service in the above situation 1 may be an MN terminated MCG bearer or an SN terminated MCG bearer; if the second access network device is an SN, the bearer type of the first service may be an SN terminated SCG bearer or an MN terminated SCG bearer. Regardless of whether the first access network device is an SN or an MN, and regardless of whether the PDCP of the first access network device processes the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service, when the first access network device determines that the RLC entity and the MAC entity of the first access network device have not processed the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service, it can be determined that the first service is only carried by the second access network device.

[0143] Case 2: The data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is only processed by the RLC entity and the MAC entity of the first access network device, and the first service is only carried by the first access network device.

[0144] Exemplarily, if the second access network device is MN, the bearer type of the first service in the above situation 2 can be SN terminated SCG bearer or MN terminated SCG bearer; if the second access network device is SN, the bearer type of the first service can be MN terminated MCG bearer or SN terminated MCG bearer.

[0145] If the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service has not been processed by the PDCP entity of the first access network device (i.e., the PDCP terminates at the second access network device), then the first access network device needs to send a first query request to the second access network device after determining that the RLC entity and MAC entity of the device have processed the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service. The first query request is used to query whether the RLC entity and MAC entity of the second access network device have processed the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service. The first query request should carry the identifier of the first service. Only when the first access network device receives a response to the first query request from the second access network device and determines based on the response that the RLC entity and MAC entity of the second access network device have not processed the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service, can it be determined that the first service is only carried by the first access network device.

[0146] If the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is processed by the PDCP entity of the first access network device (i.e., the PDCP terminates at the first access network device), since the data packet is diverted or merged from the PDCP of the first access network device in this case, the PDCP entity of the first access network device stores the transmission path of the data packet or has learned the transmission path of the data packet. The first access network device can determine whether the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service flowing out (or flowing into) the PDCP is only processed by the RLC entity and MAC entity of the first access network device based on the PDCP entity. In the case where the first access network device determines through the PDCP entity that the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is only processed by the RLC entity and MAC entity of the first access network device, the first service is only carried by the first access network device.

[0147] Case 3: The data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is processed by the RLC entity of the second access network device, the MAC entity of the second access network device, the RLC entity of the first access network device and the MAC entity of the first access network device, then the first service is jointly carried by the second access network device and the first access network device.

[0148] Referring to Figure 2 or Figure 3, it can be seen that when the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is processed by the RLC entity of the second access network device, the MAC entity of the second access network device, the RLC entity of the first access network device and the MAC entity of the first access network device, the bearer type of the first service includes MN terminated split bearer or SN terminated split bearer.

[0149] If the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service has not been processed by the PDCP entity of the first access network device, but the first access network device determines that the RLC entity and MAC entity of the device have processed the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service, then when the response to the above-mentioned first query request shows that the RLC entity and MAC entity of the second access network device have also processed the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service, the first access network device determines that the first service is jointly carried by the second access network device and the first access network device.

[0150] If the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is processed by the PDCP entity of the first access network device, the first access network device can determine the transmission path of the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service through the PDCP entity. When its transmission path includes the RLC entity of the second access network device, the MAC entity of the second access network device, the RLC entity of the first access network device and the MAC entity of the first access network device, the first access network device determines that the first service is jointly carried by the second access network device and the first access network device.

[0151] It should be understood that wireless side measurement is a wireless network quality monitoring performed on access network equipment and terminal equipment. By configuring wireless side measurement for the terminal equipment through the access network equipment carrying the first service (which can be understood as measuring the wireless network quality between the access network equipment and the terminal equipment), the wireless network quality of the access network equipment carrying the first service can be known, which is conducive to problem analysis and quality maintenance of the service quality of the first service in combination with the application layer measurement results of the first service.

[0152] It should also be understood that the results of the application layer measurements performed on the first service should be associated with the wireless side measurements performed on the terminal device by the access network device that carries the first service. Since the wireless side measurement identifier is included in the wireless side measurement configuration information sent by the core network or management device to the access network device, and the identifier is maintained by the access network device, the identifier should be obtained from the access network device that carries the first service.

[0153] In one possible implementation, when the first access network device determines that the second access network device carries the first service (corresponding to the above-mentioned situation 1 and situation 3), the first access network device sends a first request to the second access network device, and the first request is used to request the second identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the second access network device and the terminal device; and receives the second identifier from the second access network device, or obtains indication information from the second access network device, indicating that the wireless side measurement cannot be configured for the terminal device or the second identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the second access network device and the terminal device cannot be obtained.

[0154] In one possible implementation, or when the first access network device determines that the second access network device may be carrying the first service (corresponding to the above-mentioned cases 1 and 3), the first access network device sends a first request to the second access network device, where the first request is used to request a second identifier corresponding to the radio-side measurement associated with the second access network device and the terminal device; and receives the second identifier from the second access network device or obtains indication information from the second access network device, indicating that the radio-side measurement cannot be configured for the terminal device or that the second identifier corresponding to the radio-side measurement associated with the second access network device and the terminal device cannot be obtained. In this implementation, the first access network device does not need to send the first query request to the second access network device. In the case corresponding to the above-mentioned case 1, the radio-side measurement identifier obtained by the first access network device includes the second identifier; in the case corresponding to the above-mentioned case 2, the radio-side measurement identifier obtained by the first access network device includes the first identifier, which corresponds to the radio-side measurement associated with the first access network device and the terminal device and is maintained by the first access network device itself; in the case corresponding to the above-mentioned case 3, the radio-side measurement identifier obtained by the first access network device includes the first identifier and the second identifier.

[0155] Exemplarily, the first identifier may be an MDT measurement identifier configured by the core network or OAM or EM for the first access network device, for example, a trace ID; the second identifier may be an MDT measurement identifier configured by the core network or OAM or EM for the second access network device.

[0156] Optionally, the first identifier and the second identifier may be the same identifier or different identifiers, depending on whether the core network or the management device uses the same identifier for the wireless side measurement configuration configured for the MN and the SN. This application does not limit this. In the case where the first identifier and the second identifier are the same identifier, illustratively, the wireless side measurement identifier may also include the identifiers of the access network devices corresponding to the first identifier and the second identifier, respectively.

[0157] In a second possible implementation, the first access network device determines which access network device carries the first service based on the fact that a data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is processed by a PDCP entity and / or an RLC / MAC entity in the access network device. Accordingly, there are the following possible implementations:

[0158] Implementation method 1: The data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is only processed by the PDCP entity, the RLC entity and the MAC entity of the second access network device, and the first service is only carried by the second access network device.

[0159] Referring to Figure 2 or Figure 3, in this case, if the second access network device is an MN, the bearer type of the first service is an MN terminated MCG bearer; if the second access network device is an SN, the bearer type of the first service is an SN terminated SCG bearer. When the first access network device determines that the PDCP entity, RLC entity, and MAC entity of the first access network device have not processed the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service, it can be determined that the first service is only carried by the second access network device.

[0160] Implementation method 2: The data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is only processed by the PDCP entity of the first access network device, the RLC entity of the first access network device and the MAC entity of the first access network device, and the first service is only carried by the first access network device.

[0161] In this case, if the first access network device is MN, the bearer type of the first service is MN terminated MCG bearer; if the first access network device is SN, the bearer type of the first service is SN terminated SCG bearer. When the first access network device determines, based on the identifier of the first service, that the PDCP entity of the device has processed the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service, and further determines, based on PDCP, that only the RLC entity and MAC entity of the device have processed the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service, it can be determined that the first service is carried only by the first access network device.

[0162] Implementation method three: The data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is processed by the RLC entity of the second access network device, the MAC entity of the second access network device, the RLC entity of the first access network device and the MAC entity of the first access network device, or the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is processed by the PDCP entity of the second access network device, the RLC entity of the first access network device and the MAC entity of the first access network device, or the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is processed by the PDCP entity of the first access network device, the RLC entity of the second access network device and the MAC entity of the second access network device, then the first service is jointly carried by the second access network device and the first access network device.

[0163] Referring to Figure 2 or Figure 3, in this case, if the second access network device is MN, the bearer type of the first service may be MN terminated split bearer or MN terminated SCG bearer; if the second access network device is SN, the bearer type of the first service may be SN terminated split bearer or SN terminated MCG bearer. When the first access network device determines that the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service has not been processed by the PDCP entity of the first access network device, but the first access network device determines that the RLC entity and MAC entity of the device have processed the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service, or the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service has been processed by the PDCP entity of the first access network device but is not MN terminated MCG bearer or SN terminated SCG bearer, it can be determined that the first service is jointly carried by the second access network device and the first access network device.

[0164] It should be understood that after the first access network device determines the access network device carrying the first service, the manner of obtaining the wireless side measurement identifier is the same as the first possible implementation manner described above, which is not repeated here.

[0165] In one possible implementation, the first access network device sends a wireless side measurement identifier to the second access network device, and the second access network device that receives the first application layer measurement result from the terminal device sends the first application layer measurement result and the wireless side measurement identifier to the server.

[0166] Optionally, the server may be an MCE and / or a TCE, which is not limited in this application. The second access network device sends the first application layer measurement result and the wireless side measurement identifier to the server, i.e., instructs the server to associate the first application layer measurement result with the wireless side measurement result corresponding to the wireless side measurement identifier.

[0167] It should be understood that the wireless side measurement result corresponding to the wireless side measurement identifier includes the wireless side measurement result corresponding to the first access network device and / or the wireless side measurement result corresponding to the second access network device. Therefore, there are three situations in which the first application layer measurement result is associated with the wireless side measurement result: (1) the first application layer measurement result needs to be associated with the wireless side measurement result corresponding to the first access network device; (2) the first application layer measurement result needs to be associated with the wireless side measurement result corresponding to the second access network device; (3) the first application layer measurement result needs to be associated with the wireless side measurement result corresponding to the first access network device and the wireless side measurement result corresponding to the second access network device. Among them, one of the first access network device and the second access network device is MN and the other is SN. This application does not specifically limit which access network device of the first access network device and the second access network device is MN / SN.

[0168] It should also be understood that during the execution of step S505 above, if the core network or the management device or the network element manager does not send the wireless side measurement configuration information to the first access network device (or the second access network device), the first access network device cannot obtain the first identifier (or the second identifier). In this case, in one possible implementation, the content sent by the second access network device to the server corresponding to step S507 may be the first application layer measurement result and the indication information that the wireless side measurement of the terminal device on a certain access network device cannot be obtained. Exemplarily, the content sent by the second access network device to the server may be: the first application layer measurement result, the first identifier, and the identifier of the second access network device, which is used to indicate that the second access network device cannot perform wireless side measurement for the terminal device. In this way, when the server obtains the first application layer measurement result, it can be known that the first application layer measurement result cannot be associated with all wireless side measurement results, and can avoid using this set of data to analyze the application layer measurement results, which is conducive to improving the accuracy of subsequent analysis results.

[0169] In one possible implementation, the first access network device may instruct the first access network device (or the second access network device) to start wireless side measurement for the terminal device at the same time as obtaining the first identifier (or the second identifier) ​​from the local (or the second access network device) or within a preset time period, so as to ensure the temporal synchronization of the application layer measurement results and the wireless side measurement results, which is conducive to improving the credibility of the analysis results based on the application layer measurement results and the wireless side measurement results.

[0170] As an optional embodiment, the identifier of the first service includes a protocol data unit PDU session identifier, or a PDU session identifier and a quality of service QoS flow identifier.

[0171] It should be understood that there is a protocol data unit (PDU) session connection between the terminal device and the core network to provide data transmission services. The PDU session identifier can uniquely identify a PDU session. When there is only a QoS flow of the first service in a PDU session, the access network device carrying the first service can be determined by the PDU session identifier corresponding to the first service.

[0172] Furthermore, when there are QoS flows of multiple services in a PDU session, the data flow of the first service can be uniquely determined through the first service PDU session identifier and the QoS flow identifier, which is conducive to accurately determining the access network device carrying the first service.

[0173] In one embodiment, after receiving the identifier of the first service, the first access network device sends the identifier of the first service to the second access network device. Based on the identifier of the first service, the second access network device obtains a radio-side measurement identifier. The radio-side measurement identifier is an identifier corresponding to the radio-side measurement associated with the access network device and terminal device carrying the first service. In this case, the first access network device does not need to perform steps S505 and S506. Based on the identifier of the first service, the second access network device first determines which access network device carries the first service, and then obtains an identifier corresponding to the radio-side measurement associated with the access network device carrying the first service and the terminal device from the access network device carrying the first service. For a specific determination method, refer to the description of the first possible implementation and the second possible implementation in S505 above. Replace the first access network device described in the first possible implementation and the second possible implementation in S505 above with the second access network device, and replace the second access network device with the first access network device. This description will not be repeated here. If the core network or management device or network element manager does not send the wireless side measurement configuration information to the first access network device (or the second access network device), the second access network device cannot obtain the first identifier (or the second identifier). In this case, in a possible implementation method, the content sent by the second access network device corresponding to step S507 to the server may be the first application layer measurement result and the indication information that the wireless side measurement of the terminal device on a certain access network device cannot be obtained. Exemplarily, the content sent by the second access network device to the server may be: the first application layer measurement result, the first identifier, and the identifier of the second access network device, which is used to indicate that the second access network device cannot perform wireless side measurement for the terminal device. In this way, when the server obtains the first application layer measurement result, it can be known that the first application layer measurement result cannot be associated with all wireless side measurement results, and it can avoid using this set of data to analyze the application layer measurement results, which is conducive to improving the accuracy of subsequent analysis results.

[0174] In one embodiment, after the first access network device receives the identifier of the first service, the PDCP termination device of the radio bearer corresponding to the first service obtains the radio side measurement identifier based on the identifier of the first service. That is, if the PDCP of the radio bearer corresponding to the first service terminates at the first access network device, the first access network device obtains the radio side measurement identifier based on the identifier of the first service. If the PDCP of the radio bearer corresponding to the first service terminates at the second access network device, the second access network device obtains the radio side measurement identifier based on the identifier of the first service. In this case, the first access network device sends the identifier of the first service to the second access network device.

[0175] Figure 6 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. This method 600 can be applied to the system architecture 100 shown in Figure 1 above, and can also be applied to other architectures. The first access network device in the embodiment of the present application can be equivalent to the access network device 103 (or access network device 104) in Figure 1, and the second access network device is equivalent to the access network device 104 (or access network device 103) in Figure 2. This embodiment of the present application does not limit this. In the method 600 corresponding to Figure 6, the terminal device sends the first application layer measurement result and the identifier of the first service to the first access network device.

[0176] The method 600 includes the following steps:

[0177] S601 to S602 in method 600 are the same as S401 to S402 in method 400 and are not described again here.

[0178] S603: The terminal device sends the first application layer measurement result to the first access network device. Correspondingly, the first access network device receives the first application layer measurement result.

[0179] S604: The terminal device sends the identifier of the first service to the first access network device. Correspondingly, the first access network device receives the identifier of the first service.

[0180] S605: The first access network device obtains a wireless side measurement identifier based on the identifier of the first service. The wireless side measurement identifier is an identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the access network device and the terminal device carrying the first service.

[0181] S606: The first access network device sends the first application layer measurement result and the radio side measurement identifier to the server. Correspondingly, the server receives the first application layer measurement result and the radio side measurement identifier.

[0182] It should be understood that the difference between the two implementation methods corresponding to the above S403 is only that the access network devices that receive the identifier of the first service are different, and the method of "obtaining the wireless side measurement identifier based on the identifier of the first service" of the access network devices is the same (that is, S605 can be executed using the method corresponding to S505), which will not be repeated here.

[0183] In a possible implementation, the terminal device may perform periodic measurements according to the application layer measurement configuration included in the first information, obtain application layer measurement results, and periodically send the results.

[0184] As an optional embodiment, the method 600 further includes:

[0185] S607: The first access network device sends a second request to the second access network device, the second request being used to request that the reporting node for the application layer measurement result be changed to the second access network device, and the second request carries the radio side measurement identifier.

[0186] S608: The second access network device sends a successful response to the second request to the first access network device. Correspondingly, the first access network device receives the response.

[0187] S609: The first access network device sends third information to the terminal device, where the third information is used to instruct the application layer measurement result of the first service to be reported to the second access network device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the third information.

[0188] S610: The terminal device sends a second application layer measurement result to the second access network device. Correspondingly, the second access network device receives the second application layer measurement result.

[0189] S611: The second access network device sends a second application layer measurement result and a radio side measurement identifier to the server. Correspondingly, the server receives the second application layer measurement result and the radio side measurement identifier.

[0190] Optionally, the second request in the above S607 may be initiated by the first access network device or the second access network device;

[0191] Optionally, the radio side measurement identifier may be carried in the second request, or may be sent through a separate message after S608 , which is not limited in this application.

[0192] Optionally, the second request may further carry an application layer measurement identifier (for example, a QoE reference) to indicate the application layer measurement corresponding to the radio side measurement identifier.

[0193] In an embodiment of the present application, when the reporting node of the application layer measurement result changes and the changed node does not store the radio side measurement identifier, during the process of interactive change requests between the first access network device and the second access network device or after the change is successful, the access network device that obtained the radio side measurement identifier during the previous round of reporting sends the identifier to the other access network device that forms a dual connection with the terminal device, thereby avoiding the two access network devices from repeatedly executing the process of obtaining the radio side measurement identifier, saving the computing power of the access network device, and improving the efficiency of associating the application layer measurement result with the radio side measurement result.

[0194] Figure 7 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. This method 700 can be applied to the system architecture 100 shown in Figure 1 above, and can also be applied to other architectures. The first access network device in the embodiment of the present application can be equivalent to the access network device 103 (or access network device 104) in Figure 1, and the second access network device is equivalent to the access network device 104 (or access network device 103) in Figure 2. This embodiment of the present application does not limit this. In the method 700 corresponding to Figure 7, the terminal device sends the first application layer measurement result and the identifier of the first service to the first access network device.

[0195] The method 700 includes the following steps:

[0196] S701 to S706 are the same as S601 to S606 in the above method 600 and are not described again here.

[0197] S707: The second access network device sends a third request to the first access network device, where the third request is used to request a change in the bearer type of the first service and to instruct an update of a radio-side measurement identifier. Correspondingly, the first access network device receives the third request.

[0198] S708: The first access network device sends a successful response to the third request to the second access network device. Correspondingly, the second access network device receives the response.

[0199] S709. The first access network device obtains an updated wireless side measurement identifier based on the identifier of the first service. The updated wireless side measurement identifier is an identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the access network device and the terminal device carrying the first service after the bearer type of the first service changes.

[0200] S710: The terminal device sends a third application layer measurement result to the first access network device. Correspondingly, the first access network device receives the third application layer measurement result.

[0201] S711. The first access network device sends the third application layer measurement result and the updated radio side measurement identifier to the server.

[0202] It should be understood that the change of the first service bearer type may cause the access network device carrying the first service to change accordingly, so the update of the radio side measurement identifier may be synchronously indicated in the bearer type change request.

[0203] In a possible implementation, the first access network device may re-determine the updated radio side measurement identifier based on the identifier of the first service in the manner described above (for example, the implementation of S505 may be adopted).

[0204] In another possible implementation, the third request carries the target bearer type of the first service (which can be understood as the bearer type of the first service after the change is completed), and the first access network device can re-determine the updated wireless side measurement identifier based on the target bearer type.

[0205] Optionally, the indication information for indicating the update of the radio side measurement identifier may be sent by the second access network device to the first access network device after the bearer type is successfully changed, which is not limited in this application.

[0206] Optionally, the bearer type change request can also be initiated by the first access network device. In this case, the first access network device can receive the indication information for indicating the update of the wireless side measurement identifier through a successful response to the third request, or receive the indication information separately. This application does not make specific limitations on this.

[0207] In an embodiment of the present application, by instructing the access network device that has received the identifier of the first service to update the wireless measurement identifier during or after the bearer type of the first service changes, it is beneficial to carry the corresponding wireless side measurement identifier when subsequently reporting the application layer measurement results, which is beneficial to improving the accuracy of the association between the application layer measurement results and the wireless side measurement results, and improving the reliability of subsequent analysis results.

[0208] Optionally, the step of changing the bearer type of the above-mentioned first service (S707 to S711) can also occur after S611 of method 600 shown in Figure 6, but it is worth noting that because the node for the terminal device to report the application layer measurement result in method 600 has changed, after S709, the following should also be executed: S712, the first access network device sends the updated wireless side measurement identifier to the second access network device. Correspondingly, the second access network device receives the updated wireless side measurement identifier. In this case, the step corresponding to S710 should be replaced by: the terminal device sends the third application layer measurement result to the second access network device, and correspondingly, the second access network device receives the third application layer measurement result; and the step corresponding to S711 should be replaced by: the second access network device sends the third application layer measurement result and the updated wireless side measurement identifier to the server.

[0209] Optionally, S607 to S611 of the method 600 corresponding to the embodiment of FIG6 may also be executed after S711 corresponding to the method 700 shown in FIG7 , and this application does not make any specific limitation to this.

[0210] Optionally, the step of changing the bearer type of the first service (S707 to S711) may also occur after S507 corresponding to the method 500 shown in FIG5 , and this application does not limit this. The fundamental purpose of changing the bearer type of the first service is to instruct the access network device that receives the identifier of the first service to update the wireless side measurement identifier at the same time as the bearer type is changed or after the bearer type is successfully changed. If the node that receives the application layer measurement result is also the access network device, then after receiving the latest application layer measurement result, the access network device sends the latest application layer measurement result and the updated wireless side measurement identifier to the server; if the node that receives the application layer measurement result is not the access network device that receives the identifier of the first service, then the access network device that receives the identifier of the first service sends the updated wireless side measurement identifier to the node that receives the application layer measurement result.

[0211] It should be understood that the steps of the above embodiments may be coupled to each other, and this application does not limit this. Furthermore, the order of the sequence numbers of the above processes does not imply a specific order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of this application.

[0212] The communication method of the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above in conjunction with Figures 4 to 7. The communication device of the embodiment of the present application will be described in detail below in conjunction with Figures 8 to 9.

[0213] FIG8 shows a communication device 800 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 800 includes a transceiver module 801 and a processing module 802 .

[0214] In a first possible implementation manner, the above-mentioned communication device 800 is used to execute the steps and processes corresponding to the above-mentioned first access network device.

[0215] Among them, the processing module 802 is used to: determine the first information and the second information, the first information is used to indicate the application layer measurement of the first service, and the second information is used to indicate the identifier of reporting the first service; the transceiver module 801 is used to: send the first information and the second information to the terminal device.

[0216] Optionally, the transceiver module 801 is also used to: receive a first application layer measurement result of a first service from a terminal device; receive a wireless side measurement identifier from a second access network device, where the wireless side measurement identifier is an identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the access network device and the terminal device carrying the first service; and send the wireless side measurement identifier and the first application layer measurement result to the server.

[0217] Optionally, the transceiver module 801 is also used to: receive an identifier of the first service from the terminal device; the processing module is also used to: send a wireless side measurement identifier to the second access network device based on the identifier of the first service, and the wireless side measurement identifier is an identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the access network device and the terminal device carrying the first service.

[0218] Optionally, the transceiver module 801 is also used to: receive the first application layer measurement result of the first service and the identifier of the first service from the terminal device; and, based on the identifier of the first service, send the wireless side measurement identifier and the first application layer measurement result to the server, where the wireless side measurement identifier is an identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the access network device and the terminal device carrying the first service.

[0219] Optionally, the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is only processed by the radio link control RLC entity and the media intervention control MAC entity of the first access network device, and the wireless side measurement identifier is the first identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the first access network device and the terminal device.

[0220] Optionally, the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is only processed by the RLC entity and MAC entity of the second access network device, and the wireless side measurement identifier is a second identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the second access network device and the terminal device.

[0221] Optionally, the data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is processed by the RLC entity of the first access network device, the MAC entity of the first access network device, the RLC entity of the second access network device, and the MAC entity of the second access network device, then the wireless side measurement identifier includes a first identifier and a second identifier, the first identifier corresponds to the wireless side measurement associated with the first access network device and the terminal device, and the second identifier corresponds to the wireless side measurement associated with the second access network device and the terminal device.

[0222] Optionally, the transceiver module 801 is further used to: send a first request to the second access network device, where the first request is used to request a second identifier; and receive the second identifier from the second access network device.

[0223] Optionally, the transceiver module 801 is further configured to: send a second request to the second access network device, where the second request is used to request that the reporting node of the application layer measurement result be changed to the second access network device, and the second request carries a radio side measurement identifier.

[0224] Optionally, the identifier of the first service includes a protocol data unit (PDU) session identifier, or a PDU session identifier and a quality of service (QoS) flow identifier.

[0225] In a second possible implementation manner, the above-mentioned communication device 800 is used to execute steps and processes corresponding to the above-mentioned terminal device.

[0226] Among them, the transceiver module 801 is used to: receive first information and second information from the first access network device, the first information is used to indicate application layer measurement of the first service, and the second information is used to indicate the identification of reporting the first service; the transceiver module is also used to: send the first application layer measurement result of the first service and the identification of the first service.

[0227] Optionally, the transceiver module 801 is also used to: send the first application layer measurement result of the first service and the identifier of the first service to the first access network device, or send the first application layer measurement result of the first service to the first access network device and send the identifier of the first service to the second access network device.

[0228] Optionally, the identifier of the first service includes a protocol data unit (PDU) session identifier, or a PDU session identifier and a quality of service (QoS) flow identifier.

[0229] In a third possible implementation, the communication device 800 is configured to execute the steps and processes corresponding to the second access network device.

[0230] Among them, the transceiver module 801 is used to: receive a second request from the first access network device, the second request is used to request a second identifier, the second identifier corresponds to the wireless side measurement associated with the second access network device and the terminal device; and, send the second identifier to the first access network device.

[0231] Optionally, the transceiver module 801 is further used to: receive a second request from the first access network device, the second request is used to request to change the reporting node of the application layer measurement result of the first service to the second access network device, and the second request carries a wireless side measurement identifier.

[0232] It should be understood that the device 800 here is embodied in the form of a functional module. The term "module" here may refer to an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (such as a shared processor, a dedicated processor or a group processor, etc.) and a memory for executing one or more software or firmware programs, a combined logic circuit and / or other suitable components that support the described functions. In an optional example, those skilled in the art will understand that the device 800 may be specifically the first access network device, the second access network device or the terminal device in the above embodiment, or the functions of the terminal device in the above embodiment may be integrated into the device 800, and the device 800 may be used to execute the various processes and / or steps corresponding to the first access network device, the second access network device or the terminal device in the above method embodiment. To avoid repetition, they will not be described here.

[0233] The apparatus 800 has the function of implementing the corresponding steps performed by the terminal device in the above method; the above functions can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions.

[0234] In an embodiment of the present application, the device 800 in FIG8 may also be a chip or a chip system, such as a system on chip (SoC).

[0235] Figure 9 shows a schematic block diagram of a channel access device 900 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The device 900 includes a processor 901, a transceiver 902, and a memory 903. The processor 901, the transceiver 902, and the memory 903 communicate with each other via an internal connection path. The memory 903 is used to store instructions, and the processor 901 is used to execute the instructions stored in the memory 903 to control the transceiver 902 to send and / or receive signals.

[0236] It should be understood that the apparatus 900 can be specifically the first access network device, the second access network device, or the terminal device in the above-described embodiments, and can be used to execute the various steps and / or processes corresponding to the first access network device, the second access network device, or the terminal device in the above-described method embodiments. Optionally, the memory 903 may include read-only memory and random access memory, and provide instructions and data to the processor. A portion of the memory may also include non-volatile random access memory. For example, the memory may also store device type information. The processor 901 can be used to execute instructions stored in the memory, and when the processor 901 executes the instructions stored in the memory, the processor 901 is used to execute the various steps and / or processes of the above-described method embodiments. The transceiver 902 may include a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter can be used to implement the various steps and / or processes corresponding to the above-described transceiver for performing a sending action, and the receiver can be used to implement the various steps and / or processes corresponding to the above-described transceiver for performing a receiving action.

[0237] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, the processor may be a central processing unit (CPU), or may be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc.

[0238] During implementation, each step of the above method can be completed by an integrated logic circuit of hardware in a processor or by instructions in the form of software. The steps of the method disclosed in conjunction with the embodiments of the present application can be directly embodied as being executed by a hardware processor, or can be executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor. The software module can be located in a storage medium mature in the art, such as a random access memory, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a programmable read-only memory, or an electrically erasable programmable memory, a register, etc. The storage medium is located in a memory, and the processor executes the instructions in the memory, and completes the steps of the above method in conjunction with its hardware. To avoid repetition, it will not be described in detail here.

[0239] The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which is used to store a computer program, and the computer program is used to implement the method shown in the above method embodiment.

[0240] The present application also provides a computer program product, which includes a computer program (also referred to as code or instructions). When the computer program runs on a computer, the computer can execute the method shown in the above method embodiment.

[0241] 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.

[0242] 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.

[0243] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the units is merely a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0244] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of these units may be selected to achieve the purpose of this embodiment according to actual needs.

[0245] 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.

[0246] If the functions are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application can be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes a number of 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 the methods described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

[0247] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included in the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: include: The first access network device determines first information and second information, where the first information is used to indicate application layer measurement of a first service, and the second information is used to indicate an identifier for reporting the first service; The first access network device sends the first information and the second information to the terminal device.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: The first access network device receives a first application layer measurement result of a first service from a terminal device; The first access network device receives a wireless side measurement identifier from a second access network device, where the wireless side measurement identifier is an identifier corresponding to a wireless side measurement associated with the access network device carrying the first service and the terminal device; The first access network device sends a wireless side measurement identifier and the first application layer measurement result to a server.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: The first access network device receives an identifier of the first service from the terminal device; The first access network device sends a wireless side measurement identifier to the second access network device based on the identifier of the first service, where the wireless side measurement identifier is an identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the access network device carrying the first service and the terminal device.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The method further comprises: The first access network device receives, from the terminal device, a first application layer measurement result of the first service and an identifier of the first service; The first access network device sends a wireless side measurement identifier and the first application layer measurement result to a server based on the identifier of the first service, wherein the wireless side measurement identifier is an identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the access network device carrying the first service and the terminal device.

5. The method according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that: The data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is only processed by the radio link control RLC entity and the media intervention control MAC entity of the first access network device, then the wireless side measurement identifier is the first identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the first access network device and the terminal device.

6. The method according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that: The data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is only processed by the RLC entity and the MAC entity of the second access network device, then the wireless side measurement identifier is the second identifier corresponding to the wireless side measurement associated with the second access network device and the terminal device.

7. The method according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that: The data packet corresponding to the identifier of the first service is processed by the RLC entity of the first access network device, the MAC entity of the first access network device, the RLC entity of the second access network device and the MAC entity of the second access network device, then the wireless side measurement identifier includes a first identifier and a second identifier, the first identifier corresponds to the wireless side measurement associated with the first access network device and the terminal device, and the second identifier corresponds to the wireless side measurement associated with the second access network device and the terminal device.

8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that: Before sending the wireless side measurement identifier, the method further includes: The first access network device sends a first request to the second access network device, where the first request is used to request the second identifier; The first access network device receives the second identifier from the second access network device.

9. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The method further comprises: The first access network device sends a second request to the second access network device, where the second request is used to request that a reporting node for application layer measurement results be changed to the second access network device, and the second request carries the wireless side measurement identifier.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that The identifier of the first service includes a protocol data unit PDU session identifier, or a PDU session identifier and a quality of service QoS flow identifier.

11. A communication method, characterized in that: The method comprises: The terminal device receives first information and second information from the first access network device, the first information is used to indicate application layer measurement of the first service, and the second information is used to indicate an identifier for reporting the first service; The terminal device sends a first application layer measurement result of the first service and an identifier of the first service.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The sending of the first application layer measurement result of the first service and the identifier of the first service includes: The terminal device sends a first application layer measurement result of the first service and an identifier of the first service to the first access network device, Alternatively, a first application layer measurement result of the first service is sent to the first access network device, and an identifier of the first service is sent to the second access network device.

13. The method according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that: The identifier of the first service includes a protocol data unit PDU session identifier, or a PDU session identifier and a quality of service QoS flow identifier.

14. A communication device, characterized in that: The method comprises a module for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, or comprises a module for implementing the method according to any one of claims 11 to 13.

15. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A processor, wherein the processor is coupled to a memory, the memory stores computer-executable instructions, and the processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory, so that the processor executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, or executes the method according to any one of claims 11 to 13.

16. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: Used to store a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, or instructions for executing the method according to any one of claims 11 to 13.

17. A computer program product, comprising computer program code, characterized in that: When the computer program code runs on a computer, the computer is enabled to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10 or to execute the method according to any one of claims 11 to 13.

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