Method for processing data packet, and communication apparatus

Abstract

Provided in the present application is a method for processing a data packet, which method can be applied in the transmission of uplink data packets in a wireless communication system. In the solution, when an uplink data transmission network is congested, a terminal device performs rational packet dropping on uplink data packets according to a packet drop ratio, so that the loss of valid information in the uplink data packets can be avoided while the network congestion is alleviated. The reliability of uplink data transmission can be improved, and the user experience can further be ensured. The method comprises: after acquiring a packet drop ratio and determining a packet drop policy, a terminal device dropping data packets in an uplink data packet set on the basis of the packet drop ratio and the packet drop policy.

Description

Method for processing data packet and communication device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on December 19, 2023, with application number 202311758063.9, and priority to the Chinese patent application entitled “Method and Communication Device for Processing Data Packets”, all contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communications, and more particularly, to a method for processing data packets and a communication device. Background Art

[0003] The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) defines that a quality of service (QoS) flow for an extended reality (XR) service can contain sets of protocol data units (PDUs) of varying importance, identified by PDU set importance (PSI). When network congestion occurs, priority should be given to the transmission of high-importance data. Therefore, 3GPP proposes that when network congestion occurs, the transmission of low-importance data packets can be given priority. For example, in uplink data transmission, the terminal device can proactively discard all low-importance data after network congestion to alleviate the pressure on transmission resources.

[0004] However, this discarding is not lossless. This is because even less important data still carries useful content information. If this data is discarded, the receiving end will not be able to properly restore the corresponding content, which may cause video freezes, black edges, blurring, and other problems. Therefore, how to prevent the loss of valid information during network congestion and ensure user experience is a problem that needs to be solved. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The present application provides a method for processing data packets and a communication device, which can improve the reliability of uplink data transmission and user experience. In the first aspect, the embodiment of the present application provides a method for processing data packets, which can be executed by a terminal device or by a component of the terminal device (such as a chip or circuit). This application is not limited to this. For the sake of ease of description, the following is an example of execution by a terminal device. The method includes: the terminal device obtains a packet loss ratio; the terminal device determines a packet loss strategy; the terminal device discards data packets in a data packet set according to the packet loss ratio and the packet loss strategy.

[0006] Based on the above solution, terminal devices can manage uplink packet loss according to the packet loss ratio and packet loss strategy when network congestion occurs. Compared to the existing solution that discards all packets in a set of low-importance packets, the solution of this application can adopt different packet loss ratios and packet loss strategies to achieve more reasonable packet loss management. The solution of this application improves the stability of uplink data transmission during network congestion, thereby improving the user experience.

[0007] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the packet loss strategy is: discarding the data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in the data packet set of low importance; or discarding the data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in the data packet set of high importance; or discarding the data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in the data packet set of high importance and all data packets in the data packet set of low importance; or discarding the data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in each data packet set; or discarding the data packets corresponding to the first packet loss ratio in the data packet set of high importance and the data packets corresponding to the second packet loss ratio in the data packet set of low importance, and the first packet loss ratio and the second packet loss ratio belong to the packet loss ratio.

[0008] Compared with the prior art of discarding all data packets in a set of low-importance data packets, the packet loss strategy provided by the present application solution refines the packet loss behavior of terminal devices in different scenarios. For example, different packet loss strategies are selected according to the different congestion levels of the network, thereby improving the flexibility and rationality of packet loss management.

[0009] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the terminal device obtains the packet loss ratio, including: the terminal device receives packet loss ratio information from a network device, the packet loss ratio information indicates the packet loss ratio, and the packet loss ratio information configures the terminal device to discard data packets according to the packet loss ratio.

[0010] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the terminal device obtains the packet loss ratio, including: the terminal device receives configuration information from a network device, the configuration information configures the terminal device to discard data packets based on the redundancy of the data packet set; the terminal device obtains the redundancy; the terminal device determines the packet loss ratio based on the redundancy. Optionally, in a CU-DU separation architecture, the network device is a central unit-user plane function CU-UP network element, or a central unit-control plane function CU-CP network element, or a distributed unit DU network element.

[0011] Based on the above solution, the terminal device can obtain the packet loss ratio through the above two methods, which improves the reliability of the implementation of the solution of this application.

[0012] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the terminal device obtains the redundancy, including: the terminal device receives redundancy information from the application layer, the redundancy information indicates the redundancy; the terminal device determines the redundancy based on the redundancy information.

[0013] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the packet loss ratio is less than or equal to the redundancy.

[0014] When the packet loss ratio is less than or equal to the redundancy of the data packets, the integrity of the information transmitted in the non-discarded data packets can be further guaranteed, and the loss of valid information can be avoided, thereby improving the reliability of the method of the present application.

[0015] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal device reporting capability information to the network device, the capability information indicating whether the terminal device has the ability to identify the redundancy information. Optionally, in a CU-DU separation architecture, the network device is a central unit-control plane function CU-CP network element.

[0016] Through capability information, network devices can determine whether to configure terminal devices to drop packets based on the packet loss ratio according to the capabilities of the terminal devices, avoiding invalid instructions and configurations of network devices and improving system reliability.

[0017] In conjunction with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal device receiving first indication information from a network device, the first indication information indicating that the terminal device starts to lose packets. The network device is a CU-CP or a DU.

[0018] By instructing the terminal device to initiate packet loss through the first indication information, the terminal device can obtain packet loss ratio information from the network device in advance when network congestion is not occurring, or be informed in advance that packets need to be dropped based on the redundancy of the packet set. This allows the terminal device to quickly respond to the first indication information and drop packets when network congestion occurs, thereby improving the reliability of network management packets. In addition, by initiating packet loss through the first indication information, the terminal device can receive different first indication information schemes at different times, allowing the terminal device to further adjust the packet loss strategy based on the degree of network congestion at different times, thereby improving the flexibility of packet loss management.

[0019] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first indication information further indicates the packet loss strategy, and the terminal device determines the packet loss strategy, including: the terminal device determines the packet loss strategy according to the first indication information.

[0020] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal device receives identification information corresponding to the data packet set sent from the network device, the identification information being at least one of an identification of the terminal device receiving the data packet set, a session identification of a protocol data unit (PDU) session corresponding to the data packet set, a flow identification of a quality of service (QoS) flow corresponding to the data packet set, and an identification of a data radio bearer (DRB) corresponding to the data packet set. Optionally, in a CU-DU separation architecture, the network device is a CU-UP, or a CU-CP, or a DU.

[0021] In conjunction with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: the terminal device receiving third indication information from the network device, the third indication information instructing the terminal device to stop discarding data packets. Optionally, in a CU-DU separation architecture, the network device is a CU-CP or a DU.

[0022] The third indication information can avoid the behavior of continuing packet loss after the network congestion disappears, thereby further achieving the purpose of improving the reliability of packet loss management.

[0023] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for processing data packets, which can be executed by a network device or by a component of the network device (such as a chip or circuit). This application does not limit this. For ease of description, the following is an example of an example of a network device executing the method. The method includes: the network device obtains the redundancy of a set of data packets; the network device determines a packet loss ratio based on the redundancy, and the packet loss ratio is used to discard data packets;

[0024] The network device sends packet loss ratio information to the terminal device, the packet loss ratio information indicating the packet loss ratio, and the packet loss ratio information configures the terminal device to discard data packets according to the packet loss ratio. Optionally, in a CU-DU separation architecture, the network device is a central unit-control plane function CU-CP network element.

[0025] Based on the above scheme, the redundancy of the data packet set is used to determine the packet loss ratio, so that the scheme provided by this application can avoid the loss of valid information when packets are lost, which is more reasonable and reliable than the existing technology.

[0026] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the packet loss ratio is less than or equal to the redundancy.

[0027] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: the network device sends first indication information to the terminal device, and the first indication information indicates that the terminal device starts to lose packets.

[0028] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first indication information further indicates a packet loss strategy.

[0029] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the packet loss strategy is: discarding the data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in the data packet set of low importance; or discarding the data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in the data packet set of high importance; or discarding the data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in the data packet set of high importance and all data packets in the data packet set of low importance; or discarding the data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in each data packet set; or discarding the data packets corresponding to the first packet loss ratio in the data packet set of high importance and the data packets corresponding to the second packet loss ratio in the data packet set of low importance, and the first packet loss ratio and the second packet loss ratio belong to the packet loss ratio.

[0030] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: the network device sends identification information corresponding to the data packet set to the terminal device, the identification information being at least one of the session identifier of the protocol data unit PDU session corresponding to the data packet set, the flow identifier of the quality of service QoS flow corresponding to the data packet set, and the identifier of the data radio bearer DRB corresponding to the data packet set.

[0031] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: the network device sending third indication information to the terminal device, and the third indication information instructs the terminal device to stop discarding data packets.

[0032] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for processing data packets, which can be executed by a network device or by a component of the network device (such as a chip or circuit). This application is not limited to this. For ease of description, the following is an example of execution by a network device. The method includes: the network device determines that there is redundancy in a data packet set; the network device sends configuration information to a terminal device, and the configuration information configures the terminal device to discard data packets according to the redundancy of the data packet set, the redundancy is used to determine the packet loss ratio, and the packet loss ratio is used to discard data packets.

[0033] In combination with the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the packet loss ratio is less than or equal to the redundancy.

[0034] In combination with the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the method further includes: the network device receiving capability information from the terminal device, the capability information indicating whether the terminal device has the capability to identify the redundancy information.

[0035] In combination with the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the method further includes: the network device sending first indication information to the terminal device, wherein the first indication information indicates that the terminal device starts to lose packets.

[0036] In combination with the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the first indication information further indicates a packet loss strategy.

[0037] In combination with the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the packet loss strategy is: discarding the data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in the data packet set of low importance; or discarding the data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in the data packet set of high importance; or discarding the data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in the data packet set of high importance and all data packets in the data packet set of low importance; or discarding the data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in each data packet set; or discarding the data packets corresponding to the first packet loss ratio in the data packet set of high importance and the data packets corresponding to the second packet loss ratio in the data packet set of low importance, and the first packet loss ratio and the second packet loss ratio belong to the packet loss ratio.

[0038] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the method further includes: the network device sends identification information corresponding to the data packet set to the terminal device, the identification information being at least one of the session identifier of the protocol data unit PDU session corresponding to the data packet set, the flow identifier of the quality of service QoS flow corresponding to the data packet set, and the identifier of the data radio bearer DRB corresponding to the data packet set.

[0039] In combination with the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the method further includes: the network device sends third indication information to the terminal device, and the third indication information instructs the terminal device to stop discarding data packets.

[0040] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a first communication device. The first communication device is configured to perform the first aspect and any one of its embodiments. Specifically, the first communication device includes a processor and a memory, the memory being configured to store a computer program; the processor being configured to retrieve and execute the computer program from the memory, so that the first communication device performs the first aspect and any one of its embodiments.

[0041] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a second communication device. The second communication device is configured to execute the second aspect and any one of its implementation modes, or to execute the third aspect and any one of its implementation modes. Specifically, the second communication device includes a processor and a memory, the memory being configured to store a computer program; the processor being configured to call and execute the computer program from the memory, causing the second communication device to execute the second aspect and any one of its implementation modes, or causing the second communication device to execute the third aspect and any one of its implementation modes.

[0042] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device. The communication device is used to perform the method provided in the first aspect and any one of its embodiments. Specifically, the communication device may include units and / or modules (e.g., processing units, transceiver units) for performing the method provided in the first aspect and any one of its embodiments.

[0043] In one implementation, the communication device is a terminal device. When the communication device is a terminal device, the transceiver unit may be a transceiver or an input / output interface. The processing unit may be at least one processor. Alternatively, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit. Alternatively, the input / output interface may be an input / output circuit.

[0044] In another implementation, the communication device may be a chip, chip system, or circuit in a terminal device. In this case, the transceiver unit may be an input / output interface, interface circuit, output circuit, input circuit, pin, or related circuit on the chip, chip system, or circuit; and the processing unit may be at least one processor, processing circuit, or logic circuit.

[0045] In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device. The communication device is used to execute the method provided in the second aspect and any one of its embodiments, or the communication device is used to execute the method provided in the third aspect and any one of its embodiments. Specifically, the communication device may include a unit and / or module (such as a processing unit, a transceiver unit) for executing the method provided in the second aspect and any one of its embodiments, or the communication device may include a unit and / or module (such as a processing unit, a transceiver unit) for executing the method provided in the third aspect and any one of its embodiments.

[0046] In one implementation, the communication device is a network device. When the communication device is a network device, the transceiver unit may be a transceiver or an input / output interface. The processing unit may be at least one processor. Alternatively, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit. Alternatively, the input / output interface may be an input / output circuit.

[0047] In another implementation, the communication device may be a chip, chip system, or circuit in a network device. In this case, the transceiver unit may be an input / output interface, interface circuit, output circuit, input circuit, pin, or related circuit on the chip, chip system, or circuit; and the processing unit may be at least one processor, processing circuit, or logic circuit.

[0048] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a processor for executing the method provided by at least one of the first, second and third aspects above.

[0049] For the operations such as sending and acquiring / receiving involved in the processor, unless otherwise specified, or if they do not conflict with their actual functions or internal logic in the relevant descriptions, they can be understood as processor output, reception, input and other operations, and can also be understood as sending and receiving operations performed by the radio frequency circuit and antenna. This application does not limit this.

[0050] In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions. When the computer program product is executed on a computer, the computer is caused to execute at least one of the first, second, and third aspects, and the method provided by any implementation of each of the above aspects.

[0051] In the tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, comprising the first communication device of the fourth aspect and the second communication device of the fifth aspect.

[0052] In the eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, comprising the first communication device of the fourth aspect and the second communication device of the sixth aspect.

[0053] In the twelfth aspect, a chip is provided, which includes a processor and a communication interface. The processor reads instructions through the communication interface and executes at least one of the above-mentioned first, second and third aspects, as well as the method provided by any implementation method of each aspect.

[0054] Optionally, as an implementation, the chip also includes a memory, the memory stores a computer program or instructions, and the processor is used to execute the computer program or instructions stored in the memory. When the computer program or instructions are executed, the processor is used to execute at least one of the above-mentioned first, second and third aspects, as well as the method provided by any implementation of each aspect.

[0055] In a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, which, when executed on a communication device, causes the communication device to perform at least one of the first, second, and third aspects, and any implementation method of each aspect.

[0056] The technical effects of the above second to thirteenth aspects can refer to the technical effects of the first aspect and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0057] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication architecture applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

[0058] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a base station CU-DU separation architecture applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

[0059] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a 5G XR communication architecture applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

[0060] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of an XR downlink service model provided by 3GPP to which an embodiment of the present application is applicable.

[0061] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of a video coding model applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

[0062] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of a network coding applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

[0063] FIG7 is a schematic flow chart of a first method 700 for processing a packet provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0064] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of a bitmap applicable to an embodiment of the present application.

[0065] FIG9 is a schematic flowchart of a second method 900 for processing a packet provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0066] FIG10 is a schematic flow chart of a third method 1000 for processing a packet provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0067] FIG11 is a schematic flowchart of a fourth method 1100 for processing a packet provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0068] FIG12 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 1200 provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0069] FIG13 is a schematic block diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0070] The technical solution in this application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0071] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as satellite communication systems, high altitude platform station (HAPS) communications, non-terrestrial network (NTN) systems such as drones, integrated communication and navigation (ICAN) systems, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) and ultra-dense low-orbit satellite communication systems, long term evolution (LTE) systems, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, LTE time division duplex (TDD) systems, universal mobile telecommunication systems (UMTS), 5G systems or communication systems evolved after 5G, such as 6G communication systems, and vehicle-to-everything (V2X), where V2X may include vehicle to network (V2N), vehicle to vehicle (V2V), vehicle to infrastructure (V2I), and vehicle to pedestrian (V2P). pedestrian (V2P), long term evolution-vehicle (LTE-V), Internet of Vehicles, machine type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IoT), long term evolution-machine (LTE-M), machine to machine (M2M), etc.

[0072] The terminal device in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as user equipment (UE), access terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device.

[0073] As an example, some terminals are exemplified as: virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, terminal devices in the fifth generation (5G) network, or terminal devices in the future evolved public land mobile communication network (PLMN), etc., which are not limited to the embodiments of the present application.

[0074] 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.

[0075] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the function of the terminal device can be the terminal device, or it can be a device that can support the terminal device to implement the function, such as a chip system or chip, which can be installed in the terminal device. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip system can be composed of a chip, or it can include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0076] The network device in the embodiment of the present application can be any communication device with wireless transceiver function for communicating with a terminal device, and can be an access network (RAN) device deployed on a satellite, or an access network device deployed on the ground. The access network equipment includes but is not limited to: evolved Node B (eNB), radio network controller (RNC), Node B (NB), base station controller (BSC), base transceiver station (BTS), home evolved NodeB (HeNB, or home Node B, HNB), baseband unit (BBU), access point (AP) in wireless fidelity (WIFI) system, wireless relay node, wireless backhaul node, transmission point (TP) or transmission and reception point (TRP), etc., and can also be 5G, such as gNB in ​​NR system, one or a group of (including multiple antenna panels) antenna panels of a base station in 5G system, or it can also be a network node constituting a gNB or transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU) or a distributed unit (DU), etc.

[0077] It should be noted that in this application, the embodiments of the present application are described using a 5G base station as an example, as shown in Figure 1. In a 5G system, a base station is called a gNB / ng-eNB, which primarily includes radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), radio link control (RLC), media access control (MAC), and the physical layer (PHY), which can be collectively represented by gNB. gNBs are connected via the Xn interface. The gNB and the 5G core network are connected via the NG interface. In some deployments, the gNB can be composed of a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU). This means that the functions of the base station in the original access network are split, with some base station functions deployed in a CU and the remaining functions deployed in a DU. Multiple DUs share a CU, which can save costs and facilitate network expansion. The CU and DU can be split based on the protocol stack. One possible approach is to deploy the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP layers in the CU, and the remaining RLC, MAC, and PHY layers in the DU. The CU and DU are connected via the F1 interface. The CU represents the gNB, connecting to the core network via the NG interface. The CU represents the gNB, connecting to other gNBs via the Xn interface. The CU can also represent the gNB, connecting to other eNBs via the X2 interface, for dual connectivity.

[0078] Furthermore, as shown in Figure 2, the CU can be divided into the control plane (CU-CP) and the user plane (CU-UP). The CU-CP is responsible for control plane functions, primarily including RRC and the control plane counterpart, PDCP (PDCP-C). PDCP-C is responsible for control plane data encryption, integrity protection, and data transmission. The CU-UP is responsible for user plane functions, primarily including SDAP and the user plane counterpart, PDCP (PDCP-U). SDAP is responsible for processing core network data and mapping flows to bearers. PDCP-U is responsible for data plane encryption, integrity protection, header compression, sequence number maintenance, and data transmission. The CU-CP and CU-UP are connected via the E1 interface. They are connected to the core network via the NG interface. The control plane, F1-C, connects to the DU. The CU-UP connects to the DU via the F1 user plane, F1-U. Alternatively, the PDCP-C may also reside in the CU-UP.

[0079] The solution of the present application can be applied to the communication system shown in Figure 3. For example, in Figure 3, for a service, the following behavior is taken as an example: data is generated by the application server, forwarded through the data network (DN), and sent to the core network via the N6 interface. The core network then passes the data to the base station via the N3 interface, and the base station sends it to the UE via the Uu air interface. In addition, for sidelink communication (SL), it is carried out between user communication devices (e.g., XR devices) and user communication devices (e.g., XR devices).

[0080] It will be understood that Figure 3 is only an example and not a limitation of the application scenarios of this application. Among them, the core network device refers to the device in the core network (CN) that provides service support for the terminal. At present, some examples of core network devices are: 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 AMF entity can be responsible for terminal access management and mobility management; the SMF entity can be responsible for session management, such as user session establishment, etc.; the 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.

[0081] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, first, a brief introduction to the concepts and technologies involved in the embodiments of the application is given.

[0082] 1. XR

[0083] XR refers to a hybrid environment of real and virtual reality, generated by computing technologies and wearable devices, as well as human-machine interactions. It includes the following typical forms: VR, AR, and MR. XR is one of the 5G multimedia applications currently under consideration in the industrial sector. 3GPP Release 17 modeled and analyzed XR service characteristics. Typically, XR services generate data frames periodically at a certain frame rate. For example, an AR service with a frame rate of 60 fps generates 60 frames of video per second, with one frame appearing approximately every 16.66 ms. A video frame may be transmitted by multiple data packets, which may be divided into one or more PDU sets. The size of a data frame is not fixed and typically follows a truncated Gaussian distribution. The mean can be expressed as mean = R / F, where F is the frame rate and R is the data rate. For example, taking F = 60 fps and R = 20 Mbps, mean = 41.67 Kbytes. The typical data frame size ranges from 0.5*mean to 1.5*mean. Figure 4 illustrates the XR downlink service model outlined by 3GPP. As can be seen from the diagram, the size of XR service data packets follows a certain probability distribution and arrives at the base station side at an average period of 1 / fps.

[0084] 2. Importance of PDU set

[0085] XR services can generate data periodically. For example, uplink AR services periodically generate data frames. Data frames can be transmitted by multiple data packets at the access layer. These data packets can be composed of one or more PDU sets. A PDU set can correspond to one or more data packets. A PDU set contains the data corresponding to an application layer information unit. An application layer information unit is the minimum granularity of application layer encoding and decoding, such as a video frame, a video coding strip, or a video coding block. If a PDU set corresponds to multiple data packets, the multiple data packets can be transmitted sequentially at the access layer with data packets as the granularity.

[0086] In XR services, data of varying importance may appear in the same data stream. This is due to the application's encoding method. For example, in XR video services, applications can use inter-frame predictive coding when encoding data to compress the amount of data to be transmitted. Simply put, this encoding method takes advantage of the fact that most of the content in adjacent video frames remains unchanged. Only the data for the changed parts of the frame is transmitted, while the unchanged parts directly use the previous data. For example, in a live broadcast, the background usually does not change, so only the complete data needs to be transmitted for the first frame of video. Subsequent video frames only transmit data related to changes in foreground characters. Background data does not need to be transmitted. The receiving player can directly use the background data of the first frame to generate the images of subsequent video frames.

[0087] One classic encoding method is group of picture (GOP)-based coding. In this encoding method, a GOP contains several consecutive video frames. The first frame is called an intra-coded picture (I) frame, which uses intra-frame coding, contains complete image information, and can be independently encoded and decoded. The remaining frames are called predictive-coded picture (P) frames, which use predictive coding, contain only partial image information, and require the help of previous frames for encoding and decoding. In another similar encoding method, a video frame is divided into multiple video slices (I-slices) with some slices using intra-frame coding and others using predictive coding. These slices are called I-slices and P-slices, respectively. The encoding and decoding of the P-slice of the subsequent frame depends on the corresponding I-slice in the previous frame. Specifically, the dependency relationship between the encoding and decoding of these two video frames is shown in Figure 5.

[0088] It should be noted that a frame or slice may correspond to one or more PDU sets when transmitted over a wireless network. The XR video encoding model reflects the unequal importance of data. Because the correct decoding of P frames / P-slices depends on the correct decoding of I frames / I-slices, I-frame / I-slice data is more important during data transmission. In times of network congestion, the reliable transmission of I frames / I-slices should be prioritized to ensure a good service experience.

[0089] In order to distinguish the different importance of different data in the same data stream, 3GPP proposed the concept of PDU set importance (PSI). According to the provisions of 3GPP protocol 23.700, the QoS flow of an XR service can contain PDU sets of different importance, which are identified by PSI. For example, in an XR video stream, the PSI of the PDU set corresponding to the I frame / I-slice may be stronger than the PSI of the PDU set corresponding to the P frame / P-slice. This is because the encoding and decoding of the P frame / P-slice needs to rely on the I frame / I-slice. Therefore, the I frame / I-slice data has higher importance. For downlink data transmission, the PSI corresponding to each PDU set is provided to the RAN by the CN. For uplink data transmission, the PSI corresponding to each PDU set is identified by the terminal device itself.

[0090] 3. Network Coding

[0091] To improve the reliability of XR service transmission, application servers may use network coding to transmit XR service data, as shown in Figure 6. Network coding can be simply understood as increasing data redundancy through coding techniques. In Figure 6, K original data packets are encoded into N data packets through network coding. As long as the receiver receives M of the N data packets, it can recover the complete content of the K original data packets. Where N is greater than K, (NK) / N or (NM) / N is called the network coding redundancy. Depending on the algorithm implementation, the M data packets can be any M of the N data packets, or they may be required to be M consecutive data packets. Typically, M is greater than or equal to K. In some implementations, the redundancy is fixed during the service, while in other implementations, the redundancy changes dynamically during the service.

[0092] Currently, for uplink data transmission, terminal devices can discard low-importance data packets after network congestion to alleviate the pressure on transmission resources and enable more resources to be used to transmit high-importance data, thereby striving to ensure user experience.

[0093] However, this discarding is not lossless and can still degrade the user experience. This is because even less important data, such as P frames or P slices, still carries useful content information. After this data is discarded, the receiving device may not be able to properly restore the corresponding content, resulting in video freezes, black edges, blurring, and other issues.

[0094] In view of this, the present application provides a data packet processing method and communication device, which can enable the terminal device to discard redundant data packets in a reasonable proportion when network congestion occurs during the transmission of uplink data packets, thereby alleviating network congestion while ensuring that data is not lost, thereby ensuring the user experience.

[0095] Figure 7 is a schematic flow chart of a first method 700 for processing packets provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 7, the schematic flow chart is illustrated using the interaction between a network device and a terminal device in a 5G base station as an example. The steps performed by the network device and / or the terminal device may be performed by a module or unit in the network device and / or the terminal device, for example, by a chip in the network device and / or the terminal device. Specifically, the method includes the following steps.

[0096] S701: A network device obtains redundancy of a data packet set.

[0097] Optionally, the network device obtains the redundancy of the data packet set by receiving redundancy information from the core network device, for example, by receiving redundancy information carried in a PDU SESSION SETUP / MODIFICATION REQUEST message from the SMF.

[0098] In some embodiments, the redundancy information may be at the UE level or the PDU session level or the QoS flow level or the data radio bearer (DRB) level. Specifically, when the redundancy information is at the UE level, the redundancy information is applicable to all uplink data packet sets of a specific UE; when the redundancy information is at the PDU session level or the QoS flow level or the DRB level, the redundancy information is applicable to the uplink data packet sets transmitted in a specific PDU session or a specific QoS flow or a specific DRB. Alternatively, in other embodiments, the redundancy information may also have different redundancy information for different PSI values ​​or different PSI gears (ranges) or high and low importance, which is not limited in this application.

[0099] Specifically, the redundancy information indicates the redundancy of the data packet set. In one implementation, the redundancy information sent by the core network device may be one or more of the number K of original data packets, the number N of encoded data packets, and the number M of data packets required to recover the complete data. In this case, the network device may determine the redundancy of the data packet set based on one or more of the received K, N, and M. In another implementation, the redundancy information sent by the core network device may directly be the redundancy of the data packet set. In this case, the network device may directly determine the redundancy of the data packet set based on the received redundancy information. In yet another implementation, the redundancy information sent by the core network device may be a range of redundancies for the data packet set, for example, the redundancy information may indicate a redundancy between 10% and 30%. In this case, the network device may arbitrarily determine a redundancy within the redundancy range. In yet another implementation, the redundancy information sent by the core network device may indicate that network coding is used in the data packet set. For example, the redundancy information sent by the core network device may indicate that FEC technology is applied to the data packet set. In this case, the network device may determine an empirical redundancy based on past experience.

[0100] It should be noted that a data packet set includes data packets generated after a network coding. Exemplarily, a data packet set corresponds to a PDU set. In this case, a data packet set includes all data packets of a PDU set. Alternatively, a data packet set corresponds to multiple PDU sets. In this case, a data packet set includes part or all of the data packets of multiple PDU sets. Alternatively, a data packet set corresponds to part of the data packets in a PDU set. In this case, a data packet set includes part of the data packets of a PDU set. That is, this application does not limit the relationship between a data packet set and a PDU set.

[0101] Exemplarily, the data packet set may also be referred to as an FEC data set or a network coding data set or an FEC data group or a network coding data group, which is not limited in this application.

[0102] It should be noted that, in the present application scheme, different data packet sets may have different importances. Exemplarily, when a data packet set corresponds to a PDU set, the importance of a data packet set may depend on the importance of one or more PDU sets corresponding to the data packet set. Specifically, when a data packet set corresponds to a PDU set, the importance of this data packet set depends on the importance of this PDU set. When a data packet set corresponds to multiple PDU sets, the importance of this data packet set depends on the importance of multiple PDU sets. When a data packet set corresponds to part of the data packets in a PDU set, the importance of this data packet set depends on the importance of this PDU set. Exemplarily, the importance of a data packet set may also depend on the redundancy of the data packet set. Specifically, when the redundancy of a data packet set is high, the importance of this data packet set is low. When the redundancy of a data packet set is low, the importance of this data packet set is high.

[0103] It should also be noted that the present application does not limit the determination of the importance of a data packet set. For example, when the importance of a data packet set depends on the importance of one or more PDU sets corresponding to the data packet set, the value of the PSI representing the importance of the PDU set can continue to be used to characterize the importance of the data packet set. Specifically, if the data packet set corresponds to a PDU set with a PSI value of 5, the importance of the data packet set is PSI equal to 5. If the data packet set corresponds to multiple PDU sets, the minimum value, median value, average value, etc. of the multiple PSI values ​​corresponding to the multiple PDU sets can be used as the importance of the data packet set.

[0104] In addition, the importance of a data packet set can be determined autonomously by a terminal device, or the importance of a data packet set can be determined autonomously by a network device or the protocol is preset in the network device and sent to the terminal device. This application does not limit the subject that determines the importance of a data packet set.

[0105] S702: The network device determines a packet loss ratio according to redundancy.

[0106] Specifically, the packet loss ratio is the proportion of data packets discarded by the terminal device in the data packet set. Optionally, the packet loss ratio can be equal to or less than the redundancy provided by the core network device.

[0107] It should be noted that, in the present application solution, the number of packet loss ratios determined by the network device according to redundancy is not limited, and the number of packet loss ratios can be one or more.

[0108] In some embodiments, when the packet loss ratio is one, in one achievable manner, the one packet loss ratio can correspond to all data packet sets, that is, the same packet loss ratio is used for both high-importance and low-importance data packet sets. In this case, for any data packet set, the one packet loss ratio is the proportion of discarded data packets among all data packets in the any data packet set. For example, for a DRB level (i.e., DRB-level packet loss behavior), such as DRB#1, including data packet set#1, data packet set#2, and data packet set#3, if the packet loss ratio is 30%, 30% of the data packets in data packet set#1 will be discarded, 30% of the data packets in data packet set#2 will be discarded, and at the same time, 30% of the data packets in data packet set#3 will be discarded. In another achievable manner, the one packet loss ratio corresponds to a data packet set of a specific importance. In this case, for the data packet set of the specific importance, the one packet loss ratio is the proportion of discarded data packets among all data packets in the any data packet set of the specific importance. Specifically, if the packet loss ratio corresponds to a set of data packets of low importance, the packet loss ratio of each set of data packets of low importance is the packet loss ratio. For example, for the DRB level, such as DRB#1, including data packet set #1, data packet set #2 and data packet set #3, data packet set #1 and data packet set #3 are low-importance data packet sets. If the packet loss ratio is 30%, 30% of the data packets in data packet set #1 will be discarded, and 30% of the data packets in data packet set #3 will be discarded.

[0109] In some embodiments, when there are multiple packet loss ratios, the multiple packet loss ratios correspond to data packet sets of different importance. In this case, one of the multiple packet loss ratios can correspond to at least one data packet set of importance. For example, for a DRB level, such as DRB #1, including data packet set #1, data packet set #2, and data packet set #3, data packet set #1 and data packet set #3 are low-importance data packet sets, and data packet set #2 is a high-importance data packet set. If the packet loss ratio is 30% low-importance and 20% high-importance, then 30% of the data packets in data packet set #1 and data packet set #3 will be discarded, and 20% of the data packets in data packet set #2 will be discarded. Exemplarily, for the DRB level, such as DRB#1, including data packet set #1, data packet set #2, data packet set #3 and data packet set #4, the importance value of data packet set #1 is 5, the importance value of data packet set #2 is 8, the importance value of data packet set #3 is 2, and the importance value of data packet set #4 is 15. If the packet loss ratio is 30% of low importance and 20% of high importance, if data packet set #1, data packet set #2 and data packet set #3 are high importance data packets, and data packet set #2 is a low importance data packet (the judgment of importance is not limited in this application), then 20% of the data packets in data packet set #1, data packet set #2 and data packet set #3 will be discarded, and 30% of the data packets in data packet set #4 will be discarded.

[0110] S703: The network device sends packet loss ratio information to the terminal device, where the packet loss ratio information indicates the packet loss ratio.

[0111] Optionally, the network device may send the packet loss ratio information to the terminal device in the form of RRC signaling, PDCP control PDU, or medium access control layer control element (MAC CE).

[0112] Optionally, the packet loss ratio information carries a specific packet loss ratio. For example, if the packet loss ratio information carries 20%, the packet loss ratio information indicates that the packet loss ratio is 20%. Optionally, the packet loss ratio information is an index value corresponding to the packet loss ratio. For example, if the mapping relationship between the packet loss ratio and the index value is as shown in Table 1, if the packet loss ratio information carries 1, the packet loss ratio information indicates that the packet loss ratio is 20%.

[0113] Table 1

[0114] It is understandable that Table 1 is only an example provided for the embodiment of the present application and does not limit the scope of protection of the present application. That is, the packet loss ratio and the index value may also have other corresponding relationships, which are not limited by the present application.

[0115] In an embodiment of the present application, the packet loss ratio information can be at the UE level, that is, the packet loss ratio applies to all uplink data sent by the UE; the packet loss ratio information can also be at the PDU session level or DRB level or QoS flow level, that is, the packet loss ratio only applies to the data of the specified PDU session or DRB or QoS flow.

[0116] Optionally, when the packet loss ratio is indicated according to the PDU session or DRB or QoS flow level, the packet loss ratio information may also carry corresponding identification information, for example, at least one of the PDU session ID, DRB ID and QoS flow ID, to identify the PDU session, DRB or QoS flow for which the packet loss ratio information is targeted. Alternatively, the network device uses a bitmap to indicate the correspondence between the packet loss ratio information and the PDU session or DRB or QoS flow, so that the terminal device can know for which PDU sessions or DRBs or QoS flows the network device has configured the packet loss ratio information according to the bitmap. When the correspondence between the packet loss ratio information and the PDU session or DRB or QoS flow is indicated according to the bitmap, the packet loss ratio information received by the terminal device may be sent in sequence by the network device, so that after receiving the bitmap, the terminal device can determine the PDU session or DRB or QoS flow corresponding to the packet loss ratio information according to the order of the bitmap and the received packet loss ratio information. For example, as shown in FIG8 , for the eight DRBs DRB#0-DRB#7, the network device uses a bitmap of 00010001 to indicate that packet loss ratio information is configured for DRB#0 and DRB#4, and the subsequent packet loss ratio information #1 and packet loss ratio information #2 are the packet loss ratio information corresponding to DRB#0 and DRB#4, respectively.

[0117] It can be understood that the packet loss ratio information provided for a UE or PDU session or DRB or QoS flow can indicate one or more packet loss ratios. For example, the packet loss ratio information carries one or more packet loss ratios, or carries one or more index values. When only one packet loss ratio is indicated, it means that the packet loss ratio is the same for each data packet set; if multiple packet loss ratios are indicated, the multiple packet loss ratios can respectively correspond to data packet sets of different importance. For example, when the importance of a data packet set continues to be represented by the value of the PSI representing the importance of the PDU set, multiple packet loss ratios can correspond to different PSI values ​​or different PSI gears (or ranges).

[0118] It is understandable that when the network device sends packet loss ratio information to the terminal device, the terminal device can determine based on the packet loss ratio information that the network device expects the terminal device to drop packets according to the packet loss ratio. In other words, the packet loss ratio is also used to configure the terminal device to drop packets according to the packet loss ratio.

[0119] S704: The terminal device determines a packet loss strategy.

[0120] Specifically, after the terminal device receives the packet loss ratio information, the terminal device determines the packet loss strategy.

[0121] In one achievable method, the terminal device determines a packet loss policy to discard packets with a corresponding packet loss ratio in all packet sets. In this case, the packet loss policy determined by the terminal device applies to all packet sets, meaning that under this policy, the terminal device does not consider the importance of the packet sets. For example, when the packet loss ratio information received by the terminal device is at the DRB level, the terminal device determines to discard packets with a corresponding packet loss ratio in each packet set within the DRB.

[0122] In another achievable manner, the terminal device determines the packet loss policy as discarding packets with a corresponding packet loss ratio in a low-importance packet set. In this case, the packet loss policy determined by the terminal device is for a low-importance packet set. That is, under this policy, the terminal device only selects packets to be discarded in a low-importance packet set. For example, when the packet loss ratio information received by the terminal device is at the DRB level, the terminal device determines to discard packets with a corresponding packet loss ratio in each low-importance packet set in the DRB.

[0123] In another achievable manner, the terminal device determines the packet loss policy as discarding packets with a corresponding packet loss ratio in a set of high-importance packets. In this case, the packet loss policy determined by the terminal device is for a set of high-importance packets. That is, under this policy, the terminal device only selects packets to be discarded in a set of high-importance packets. For example, when the packet loss ratio information received by the terminal device is at the DRB level, the terminal device determines to discard packets with a corresponding packet loss ratio in each set of high-importance packets in the DRB.

[0124] In another achievable manner, the terminal device determines the packet loss strategy to discard the data packets with the corresponding packet loss ratio in the high-importance data packet set and all data packets in the low-importance data packet set. In this case, the packet loss strategy determined by the terminal device is for the high-importance data packet set and the low-importance data packet set. That is, under this strategy, the terminal device not only selects data packets to be discarded in the high-importance data packet set, but also discards all low-importance data packet sets at the same time. Exemplarily, when the packet loss ratio information received by the terminal device is at the DRB level, the terminal device determines to discard the data packets with the corresponding packet loss ratio in each high-importance data packet set in the DRB, and simultaneously determines to discard the data packets in all low-importance data packet sets in the DRB.

[0125] In another achievable manner, the terminal device determines the packet loss strategy to discard the data packets corresponding to the first packet loss ratio in the high-importance data packet set and the data packets corresponding to the second packet loss ratio in the low-importance data packet set. At this time, the packet loss strategy determined by the terminal device is for the high-importance data packet set and the low-importance data packet set. That is, under this strategy, the terminal device not only chooses to discard data packets in the high-importance data packet set, but also chooses to discard data packets in the low-importance data packet set. Exemplarily, when the packet loss ratio information received by the terminal device is at the DRB level, the terminal device determines to discard the data packets corresponding to the first packet loss ratio in each high-importance data packet set in the DRB, and simultaneously determines to discard the data packets corresponding to the second packet loss ratio in each low-importance data packet set in the DRB.

[0126] It should be noted that, in the two scenarios where the packet loss strategy determined by the above-mentioned terminal device is for a set of high-importance data packets and a set of low-importance data packets, the packet loss ratio information indicated by the network device may be one or more, and this application does not limit this. For example, if the packet loss strategy determined by the terminal device is to discard the data packets corresponding to the first packet loss ratio information in the set of high-importance data packets, and to discard the data packets corresponding to the second packet loss ratio information in the set of low-importance data packets, the packet loss ratio information indicated by the network device may be one or more. In particular, when the packet loss ratio information is one, that is, when the first packet loss ratio and the second packet loss ratio are the same, it is equivalent to a scenario where all data packet sets correspond to the same packet loss ratio. If the packet loss strategy determined by the terminal device is to discard the data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in the set of high-importance data packets and all data packets in the set of low-importance data packets, the packet loss ratio information indicated by the network device may be one or more. In particular, when there are multiple packet loss ratio information, it can be considered that the first packet loss ratio corresponding to the high-importance data packet set is one of the multiple packet loss ratio information, and at the same time, the second packet loss ratio corresponding to the low-importance data packet set is 100%.

[0127] In another achievable manner, the terminal device determines that the packet loss policy is to discard all data packets in a low-importance data packet set. In this case, the packet loss policy determined by the terminal device is for a low-importance data packet set. That is, under this policy, the terminal device discards all data packets in a low-importance data packet set. It is understandable that this scenario can be considered to be a 100% packet loss ratio corresponding to a low-importance data packet set. In other words, in this scenario, even if the packet loss ratio indicated by the packet loss ratio information received by the terminal device is not 100%, since the terminal device determines that each low-importance data packet set discards all data packets, the terminal device will not use the packet loss ratio indicated by the network device for packet loss.

[0128] Optionally, the terminal device autonomously determines the packet loss strategy, or the network device sends the packet loss strategy to the terminal device, for example, sending the packet loss strategy information at the same time as sending the packet loss ratio information, or the network device indicates the packet loss strategy to the terminal device in the first indication information in the following description, so that the terminal device can determine the packet loss strategy based on the first indication information. This application does not limit this.

[0129] S705: The terminal device discards data packets in the data packet set according to the packet loss ratio and the packet loss policy.

[0130] Specifically, after the terminal device obtains the packet loss ratio and determines the packet loss strategy, it discards the data packets in the data packet set according to the packet loss ratio and the packet loss strategy.

[0131] According to the above S703, the packet loss ratio indicated by the network device to the terminal device can be one or more, and according to the above S704, the packet loss ratio required by the packet loss strategy determined by the terminal device can also be one or more. It can be understood that under different packet loss strategies, even if the packet loss ratio indicated by the network device to the terminal device is the same, the data packets discarded by the terminal device will also be different. Exemplarily, the packet loss ratio indicated by the network device to the terminal device is: 10% for the high-importance data packet set and 30% for the low-importance data packet set (for example, the first indication information below indicates different ratios corresponding to different data packet sets). At this time, if the packet loss strategy is to discard the data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in the low-importance data packet set, the terminal device discards 30% of the data packets in each low-importance data packet set, and the data packets in the high-importance set are not discarded. If the packet loss strategy is to discard the data packets in all low-importance data packet sets and the data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio of the high-importance data packet set, the terminal device will discard all low-importance data packet sets and discard 10% of the data packets in each high-importance data packet set.

[0132] It should be noted that the terminal device may only drop packets in proportion to the set of data packets currently in the cache, and not drop packets for the subsequently newly arrived set of data packets; or, the terminal device may not drop packets for the currently cached set of data packets, and drop packets in proportion to the subsequently newly arrived set of data packets; or, the terminal device may drop packets in proportion to both the set of data packets currently in the cache and the subsequently newly arrived set of data packets, and this application does not impose any restrictions on this.

[0133] In one achievable manner, the terminal device can directly clear the data packet from the cache. For example, when the terminal device determines to discard data packet #1 (the data packet determined to be discarded by the packet loss policy), the terminal device selects at least one of the following implementations: discarding the SDAP service data unit (SDU) and SDAP PDU corresponding to data packet #1 at the SDAP layer; discarding the PDCP SDU and PDCP PDU corresponding to data packet #1 at the PDCP layer; instructing the RLC layer to discard one or more of the RLC SDU, RLC SDU segment, and RLC PDU corresponding to data packet #1. It is understandable that data packet #1 can be a data packet that arrived at the cache before the packet loss started, or a data packet that newly arrived at the cache after the packet loss started.

[0134] In another achievable manner, the terminal device may utilize a packet loss timer to clear data packets from a cache. For example, when the terminal device determines to discard data packet #1, the terminal device may adjust the PDCP discard timer corresponding to the data packet #1 to a shorter value (e.g., adjusting it to 0 for immediate discard). When the packet loss timer expires, the terminal device discards the PDCP SDU and PDCP PDU corresponding to the data packet #1 at the PDCP layer; if the PDCP PDU corresponding to the data packet #1 has been delivered to a lower layer (e.g., an RLC layer), the terminal device instructs the RLC layer to discard one or more of the RLC SDU, RLC SDU segment, and RLC PDU corresponding to the data packet #1. Exemplarily, when the terminal device determines to discard data packet #1, the terminal device may also start a new discard timer for the data packet #1. The discard timer may also be at the PDCP layer. When the newly configured timer expires, the terminal device discards the PDCP SDU and PDCP PDU corresponding to the data packet #1 at the PDCP layer. If the PDCP PDU corresponding to the data packet #1 has been delivered to the lower layer (such as the RLC layer), the RLC layer is instructed to discard one or more of the RLC SDU, RLC SDU segment, and RLC PDU corresponding to the data packet #1. Optionally, the duration of the new discard timer may be provided to the terminal device by the network device. It is understandable that data packet #1 may be a data packet that arrived at the cache before the packet loss started, or a data packet that newly arrived at the cache after the packet loss started.

[0135] It should also be noted that this application does not limit the data packets that a terminal device chooses to discard based on the packet loss ratio. For example, when the packet loss ratio is 30%, the 30% of data packets discarded by the terminal device may be the last 30% of data packets in the data packet set; or, when the terminal device determines that 70% of the data packets in the data packet set have been successfully transmitted, it discards the remaining 30% of data packets.

[0136] It is understood that for a data packet set, the number of data packets discarded by the terminal device is the product of the total number of data packets in the data packet set and the packet loss ratio. Optionally, when the product of the total number of data packets in the data packet set and the packet loss ratio is a non-integer value, the terminal device may determine the number of data packets to discard in the data packet set by rounding down. For example, if there are 50 data packets in the data packet set and the packet loss ratio is 25%, 12 of them will be discarded.

[0137] It should be noted that in the above-described process from S701 to S705, once the terminal device obtains the packet loss ratio and determines the packet loss policy, it will begin to discard data packets. In other words, when the terminal device discards data packets in the packet set based on the packet loss ratio and the packet loss policy, it can be considered that the packet loss ratio information received by the terminal device, while indicating the packet loss ratio, not only configures the terminal device to discard data packets based on the packet loss ratio, but also instructs the terminal device to begin discarding packets.

[0138] It is understandable that in some scenarios, the packet loss ratio information received by the terminal device may be sent to the terminal device by the network device when network congestion occurs. In this case, the terminal device can perform proportional packet loss based on the packet loss ratio information. In other scenarios, the packet loss ratio information is pre-configured by the network device to the terminal device. In this case, the terminal device will not immediately perform packet loss after receiving the packet loss ratio information. Only when network congestion occurs will the terminal device perform proportional packet loss. Therefore, in order to ensure the stability of system performance, the terminal device can be instructed to start packet loss through the first indication information. In this case, the method 700 for processing data packets provided in this application can also include the following multiple steps.

[0139] S706: The network device sends first indication information to the terminal device, instructing the terminal device to start dropping packets.

[0140] Optionally, the network device may send the first indication information to the terminal device in the form of RRC signaling, PDCP control PDU, MAC CE, etc.

[0141] In one achievable manner, when the first indication information only indicates that the terminal device starts to lose packets, the terminal device executes S705 after receiving the first indication information.

[0142] In another achievable manner, the first indication information may also simultaneously indicate the packet loss policy of the terminal device. In this case, the first indication information includes an indication field indicating the packet loss policy. After receiving the first indication information, the terminal device executes S704 and S705 according to the packet loss policy indicated in the packet loss policy indication field. Specifically, the packet loss policy indication field may include one or more bits. Exemplarily, the indication field indicating the packet loss policy in the first indication information is 1 bit, wherein 0 indicates discarding all packets in the low-importance packet set, and 1 indicates discarding all packets in the low-importance packet set and packets with a corresponding packet loss ratio in the high-importance packet set. Exemplarily, the indication field indicating the packet loss policy in the first indication information is 2 bits, wherein 00 indicates discarding packets with a corresponding packet loss ratio in the low-importance packet set; 01 indicates discarding packets with a corresponding packet loss ratio in all packet sets; 10 indicates discarding all packets in the low-importance packet set; and 11 indicates discarding all packets in the low-importance packet set and packets with a corresponding packet loss ratio in the high-importance packet set. Exemplarily, the indication field indicating the packet loss policy in the first indication information is 3 bits, wherein any two adjacent bits of the 3 bits indicate the packet loss policy for the low-importance data packet set, and the other bit indicates the packet loss policy for the high-importance data packet set. Among them, the two adjacent bits 00 indicate that the low-importance data packet set is not discarded; 01 indicates that the data packets with a corresponding packet loss ratio in the low-importance data packet set are discarded, and 10 indicates that all data packets in the low-importance data packet set are discarded. The remaining bit 0 indicates that the high-importance data packet set is not discarded, and 1 indicates that the data packets with a corresponding packet loss ratio in the high-importance data packet set are discarded. Exemplarily, the indication field indicating the packet loss policy in the first indication information is 8 bits, wherein the 4 consecutive high-order bits are used to indicate the packet loss ratio of the high-importance data packet set, and the remaining 4 consecutive bits are used to indicate the packet loss ratio of the low-importance data packet set. In this case, the indication field indicating the packet loss policy indicates that both the high-importance data packet set and the low-importance data packet set are lost by carrying the two packet loss ratios. The values ​​of the four consecutive high-order bits in the packet loss indication field can indicate a packet loss ratio of 0%-100%. For example, 0000 indicates that 0% of the packets in the high-importance packet set are discarded, and 0011 indicates that 30% of the packets in the high-importance packet set are discarded. Similarly, the values ​​of the remaining four bits in the packet loss indication field can indicate a packet loss ratio of 0%-100%. For example, 1010 indicates that 100% of the packets in the low-importance packet set are discarded. For example, when the importance of a packet set is represented by a PSI value of 0-15, the indication field indicating the packet loss policy in the first indication information can also be 16 bits, wherein each of the 16 bits indicates whether the packet set corresponding to the importance value of 0-15 is lost according to the packet loss ratio.For example, 0000000010101111 indicates that the set of data packets with PSI values ​​of 0-3, PSI value of 5, and PSI value of 7 are lost. Exemplarily, when the importance of the data packet set is represented by PSI values ​​of 0-15, and 8 PSI values ​​form a PSI gear, the indication field indicating the packet loss policy in the first indication information may also be 2 bits, wherein one bit is used to indicate whether the set of data packets with PSI values ​​of 0-7 are lost according to the packet loss ratio, and the other bit is used to indicate whether the set of data packets with PSI values ​​of 8-15 are lost according to the packet loss ratio. For example, 01 indicates that the set of data packets with PSI values ​​of 0-7 are lost according to the packet loss ratio, while the set of data packets with PSI values ​​of 8-15 are not lost.

[0143] It should be noted that the first indication information indicating the packet loss policy of the terminal device may be one or more, that is, the network device may send the first indication information only once or send different first indication information at different times. Specifically, when the network device sends the first indication information only once, the terminal device discards the data packet according to the packet loss policy indicated by the first indication information. When the network device sends the first indication information multiple times, different packet loss policies may be indicated in the first indication information at different times. For example, when the network congestion is relatively light, the terminal device is instructed to discard only part of the data packets in the low-importance data packet set; when the network congestion is severe, the terminal device is instructed to discard all the data packets in the low-importance data packet set and part of the data packets in the high-importance data packet set. It can be understood that when different packet loss policies of the terminal device are indicated by multiple first indication messages, the flexibility of the terminal device in packet loss can be improved, so that the system can be suitable for different application scenarios.

[0144] Optionally, the first indication information may also carry identification information corresponding to the data packet set, for example, at least one of the PDU session ID, DRB ID and QoS flow ID, to identify the PDU session, DRB or QoS flow to which the first indication information targets.

[0145] It is understandable that the first indication information and the packet loss ratio information can be carried in the same message sent by the network device to the terminal device. Alternatively, the network device can also carry the packet loss ratio information and the first indication information in different messages. For example, the network device first configures the packet loss ratio information for the terminal device through an RRC message. After the terminal device receives the packet loss ratio information, it does not drop packets first. When congestion is detected, the network device then sends a PDCP control PDU or MAC CE to instruct the terminal device to drop packets according to the ratio. In other words, this application does not limit the order of S703 and S706.

[0146] It should be noted that the first indication information can also be called proportional packet loss-based activation information, packet loss activation information, etc., which is not limited in this application.

[0147] Optionally, before the network device sends one or more first indication information to the terminal device, the terminal device may further send second indication information to the network device, where the second indication information is used to notify the network device to provide the first auxiliary information. After receiving the second indication information, the network device monitors network congestion. When congestion occurs, the network device sends the first indication information or the first indication information and the first auxiliary information to the terminal device. When the network device also sends the first auxiliary information, the terminal device may determine whether to discard data packets according to the packet loss ratio through the first auxiliary information. The process includes the following steps:

[0148] S707, the terminal device sends second indication information to the network device, where the second indication information instructs the network device to provide first auxiliary information, wherein the first auxiliary information is used by the terminal device to determine whether to discard data packets according to the packet loss ratio.

[0149] Specifically, the terminal device sends the second indication information to the network device, and correspondingly, the network device receives the second indication information.

[0150] S708, the network device sends first auxiliary information to the terminal device, where the first auxiliary information is used to determine whether the terminal device discards data packets according to the packet loss ratio.

[0151] Optionally, the first auxiliary information includes one or more of congestion level information, air interface quality information, packet loss activation suggestion information, and packet loss strategy suggestion information. The congestion level information indicates the link congestion level between the network device and the terminal device, the air interface quality information indicates the air interface quality between the network device and the terminal device, the packet loss activation suggestion information indicates whether the network device recommends that the terminal device discard data packets according to the packet loss ratio, and the packet loss strategy suggestion information indicates that the terminal device discards data packets according to the packet loss strategy suggested by the network device. Specifically, the terminal device can determine whether to discard packets according to the packet loss ratio based on one or more of the congestion level information, air interface quality information, packet loss activation suggestion information, and packet loss strategy suggestion information. The terminal device determines to discard packets according to the packet loss ratio when the first auxiliary information indicates at least one of the following: the link congestion level between the network device and the terminal device is large, the air interface quality between the network device and the terminal device is poor, the network device recommends that the terminal device discard data packets according to the packet loss ratio, and the packet loss strategy suggested by the network device.

[0152] It should be noted that when the network device sends the first auxiliary information and the first indication information to the terminal device, the order of S707 and S708 is not limited in this application. For example, when the first auxiliary information carries a packet loss policy (other information in the first auxiliary information may or may not be carried), the network device may first indicate the start of packet loss and then send the recommended packet loss policy to the terminal device through the first auxiliary information; or, after sending the recommended packet loss policy to the terminal device through the first auxiliary information, the first indication information indicating the start of packet loss is sent; or, the recommended packet loss policy and the first indication information are sent to the terminal device at the same time, and in this case, the first auxiliary information and the first indication information may be carried in the same message or in two separate messages.

[0153] It is understood that in the above S706-S708, the network device sends the first auxiliary information and the first indication information to the terminal device. In some embodiments, the network device may send only the first auxiliary information or only the first indication information to the terminal device, which is not limited in this application. Specifically, when the network device sends only the first auxiliary information to the terminal device, method 700 includes S707 and S708; when the network device sends only the first indication information to the terminal device, method 700 includes S706.

[0154] It is also understandable that the above S706-S708 are scenarios in which the terminal device determines to drop packets according to the packet loss ratio. The terminal device does not drop packets when the first auxiliary information sent by the network device to the terminal device indicates at least one of the following: the link congestion between the network device and the terminal device is low, the air interface quality between the network device and the terminal device is good, and the network device does not recommend that the terminal device drop data packets according to the packet loss ratio.

[0155] When the packet loss indication is also effective for a set of subsequently arriving data packets, the network device may optionally instruct the terminal device to stop dropping packets, for example, instructing to stop dropping packets when it detects that congestion disappears. In this case, the method 700 may further include S709.

[0156] S709, the network device sends third instruction information to the terminal device, and the third instruction information instructs the terminal device to stop dropping packets.

[0157] It should be noted that the third indication information can also be called proportional packet loss-based deactivation information, etc., which is not limited in this application.

[0158] In some embodiments, when the network device is a base station and adopts a CU / DU separation architecture or a CU-CP / CU-UP separation architecture, Figure 9 is a schematic flowchart of a second method 900 for processing packets provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 9, the schematic flowchart is an example of the interaction between the network device CU-CP and DU, wherein the steps performed by the CU-CP and / or DU can be performed by a module or unit in the CU-CP and / or DU, for example, by a chip in the CU-CP and / or DU. Specifically, the method includes the following multiple steps.

[0159] S901: CU-CP obtains the redundancy of a data packet set.

[0160] Specifically, the CU-CP or CU-UP may obtain the redundancy of the data packet set by receiving redundancy information from the core network device. For example, the redundancy may be obtained by receiving redundancy information carried in a PDU SESSION SETUP / MODIFICATION REQUEST message from the SMF. For the redundancy information, reference may be made to the relevant description in S701 above. For the relevant description of the data packet set, reference may also be made to S701 above, and will not be repeated here.

[0161] It should be noted that Figure 9 is only an embodiment of a network device under a separation architecture provided by this application and does not limit the scope of protection of this application. In other embodiments, the CU-UP may obtain redundancy information of a data packet set from the core network and obtain redundancy based on the redundancy information, or the DU may obtain redundancy information of a data packet set from the CU-CP or CU-UP and obtain redundancy based on the redundancy information.

[0162] S902: The CU-CP determines a packet loss ratio according to redundancy.

[0163] For details, please refer to the relevant description in S702 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0164] It should be noted that, for some other embodiments, after the CU-UP or DU obtains the redundancy information, the CU-UP or DU may determine the packet loss ratio according to the redundancy.

[0165] S903: The CU-CP sends packet loss ratio information to the terminal device, where the packet loss ratio information indicates the packet loss ratio.

[0166] Optionally, the CU-CP sends packet loss ratio information to the terminal device via RRC signaling. For details about the packet loss ratio information, refer to S703 above and will not be repeated here. It is understood that the packet loss ratio information can also be used to configure the terminal device to perform packet loss according to the packet loss ratio.

[0167] It should be noted that in some other embodiments, the CU-UP or DU may also send packet loss ratio information to the terminal device. For example, when the CU-UP sends packet loss ratio information to the terminal device, the packet loss ratio information may be carried in a PDCP-controlled PDU. When the DU sends packet loss ratio information to the terminal device, the packet loss ratio information may be carried in a MAC CE.

[0168] S904: The terminal device determines a packet loss strategy.

[0169] For details, please refer to the relevant description in S704 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0170] S905: The terminal device discards data packets in the data packet set according to the packet loss ratio and the packet loss policy.

[0171] For details, please refer to the relevant description in S705 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0172] Optionally, method 900 may further include the following steps:

[0173] S906, the CU-CP sends first indication information to the terminal device, instructing the terminal device to start dropping packets.

[0174] Optionally, the CU-CP sends a first indication message to the terminal device via RRC signaling. The first indication message may only indicate that the terminal device has started packet loss, or may also indicate the packet loss policy of the terminal device. In addition, the first indication message may be one or more, and may also carry identification information corresponding to the data packet set. Specifically, the description of this step can refer to the above S706 and will not be repeated here.

[0175] Optionally, before the CU-CP sends one or more first indication messages to the terminal device, the CU-CP may also send a fourth indication message to the DU, where the fourth indication message is used to notify the DU that the terminal device has been configured for proportional packet loss and / or to notify the DU to provide second auxiliary information. After receiving the fourth indication message, the DU monitors the network congestion. When congestion occurs, the DU sends the second auxiliary information to the CU-CP, so that the CU-CP is informed of the network congestion and then sends the first indication message to the terminal device. The process consists of the following steps:

[0176] S907, CU-CP sends fourth indication information to DU, the fourth indication information instructs DU to report second auxiliary information and / or indicates CU-CP to configure the terminal device to discard data packets based on a ratio, wherein the second auxiliary information is used by CU-CP to determine whether to send the first indication information.

[0177] Specifically, the CU-CP sends the fourth indication information to the DU, and correspondingly, the DU receives the fourth indication information.

[0178] S908: The DU sends second auxiliary information to the CU-CP.

[0179] Specifically, after the DU receives the fourth indication information, the DU sends the second auxiliary information to the CU-CP. Optionally, the second auxiliary information includes one or more of congestion level information, air interface quality information, packet loss activation recommendation information, and packet loss strategy recommendation information. Among them, the congestion level information indicates the link congestion level between the CU-CP and the terminal device. The air interface quality information indicates the air interface quality between the CU-CP and the terminal device. The packet loss activation recommendation information indicates whether the DU recommends that the terminal device discard data packets according to the packet loss ratio. The packet loss strategy recommendation information instructs the terminal device to discard data packets according to the packet loss strategy recommended by the DU.

[0180] S909: The CU-CP determines to send the first indication information.

[0181] Specifically, the CU-CP determines to send the first indication information based on one or more of the congestion level information, the air interface quality information, the packet loss activation recommendation information, and the packet loss strategy recommendation information. Specifically, the CU-CP determines to send the first indication information when the second auxiliary information indicates at least one of the following: the link congestion level between the CU-CP and the terminal device is large, the air interface quality between the CU-CP and the terminal device is poor, the DU recommends that the terminal device discard data packets according to the packet loss ratio, and the packet loss strategy recommended by the DU.

[0182] It can be understood that when the second auxiliary information includes packet loss strategy recommendation information (the second auxiliary information may include other information or not), the CU-CP can carry the recommended packet loss strategy in the first indication information, so that after the terminal device receives the first indication information, it can perform packet loss according to the recommended packet loss strategy.

[0183] It can also be understood that the above S906-S909 are scenarios in which CU-CP determines to send the first indication information, or in other words, the above S906-S909 are scenarios in which the terminal device loses packets in proportion. When the second auxiliary information reported by DU to CU-CP indicates at least one of the following, CU-CP does not send the first indication information: the link congestion between CU-CP and the terminal device is small, the air interface quality between CU-CP and the terminal device is good, and DU recommends that the terminal device not discard data packets according to the packet loss ratio. At this time, the terminal device may not perform proportional packet loss.

[0184] It should be noted that, in some other embodiments, it is also possible for CU-UP or DU to send the first indication information to the terminal device. Exemplarily, when CU-UP sends the first indication information to the terminal device, the first indication information may be carried in the PDU controlled by PDCP. When DU sends the first indication information to the terminal device, the first indication information may be carried in the MAC CE. Optionally, when the above-mentioned packet loss ratio information is sent by CU-CP or CU-UP, the first indication information is sent by DU. When the first indication information is sent by DU, CU-CP or CU-UP may also send fifth indication information to DU, the fifth indication information instructs DU to send first auxiliary information to the terminal device and / or instructs CU-CP to configure the terminal device to drop data packets according to the ratio, wherein the first auxiliary information is used by the terminal device to determine whether to drop data packets according to the packet loss ratio. Through the fifth indication information, DU learns that the terminal device has obtained the packet loss ratio and can drop packets, so that when DU detects network congestion, it sends the first indication information to the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to start dropping packets. In addition, in some other embodiments, after the CU-CP or CU-UP sends the fifth indication information to the DU, the DU may also send the first indication information and the first auxiliary information to the terminal device, or only send the first auxiliary information.

[0185] When the packet loss indication is also effective for a set of subsequently arriving data packets, optionally, the CU-CP may also instruct the terminal device to stop dropping packets, for example, instructing to stop dropping packets when it detects that congestion disappears. At this time, the method 900 may also include S910.

[0186] S910, the CU-CP sends third indication information to the terminal device, where the third indication information instructs the terminal device to stop dropping packets.

[0187] It should be noted that the third indication information can also be called proportional packet loss-based deactivation information, etc., which is not limited in this application.

[0188] It should also be noted that, in some other embodiments, the CU-UP or DU may also send the third indication information to the terminal device, which is not limited in this application.

[0189] Figure 10 is a schematic flow chart of a third method 1000 for processing packets provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 10, the schematic flow chart is illustrated using the interaction between a network device and a terminal device in a 5G base station as an example. The steps performed by the network device and / or terminal device may be performed by a module or unit in the network device and / or terminal device, for example, by a chip in the network device and / or terminal device. Specifically, the method includes the following steps.

[0190] S1001: A network device determines that a data packet set has redundancy.

[0191] Optionally, the network device may obtain application information of network coding from the core network. Specifically, the network device receives notification information from the core network device, which indicates whether the data packet set uses network coding (such as FEC coding) and / or indicates whether the data packet set has redundancy. Exemplarily, the network device receives a PDU SESSION SETUP / MODIFICATION REQUEST message from the SMF, in which there is a 1-bit indication field for carrying notification information indicating whether the data packet set uses network coding or whether there is redundancy, wherein 0 indicates that network coding is not used or there is no redundancy, and 1 indicates that network coding is used or there is redundancy. Alternatively, there is a 2-bit indication field in the message for carrying notification information indicating whether the data packet set uses network coding and whether there is redundancy, wherein 00 indicates that network coding is not used and there is no redundancy, and 01 indicates that network coding is not used but there is redundancy. 10 indicates that network coding is used but there is no redundancy. 11 indicates that network coding is used and there is redundancy. Optionally, the notification information is at the UE level, or the PDU session level, or the QoS flow level, or the DRB level.

[0192] Similarly, the data packets included in the data packet set may be some or all of the data packets in one or more PDU sets generated by the PDU set grouping, and this application does not limit this. It is understood that other relevant descriptions of the data packet set, such as the importance of the data packet set, the determination of importance, and the subject of determining the importance of the data packet set, can all be referred to S701 in Figure 7 above, and will not be repeated here.

[0193] S1002: The network device sends configuration information to the terminal device, configuring the terminal device to discard data packets according to the redundancy of the data packet set.

[0194] Specifically, after receiving the configuration information, the terminal device may learn, based on the configuration information, that it needs to discard data packets based on the redundancy of the data packet set.

[0195] Optionally, the configuration information may also carry identification information corresponding to the data packet set, for example, at least one of the PDU session ID, DRB ID and QoS flow ID, to identify the PDU session, DRB or QoS flow to which the configuration information targets.

[0196] S1003, the terminal device obtains the redundancy of the data packet set.

[0197] In one achievable method, a terminal device receives redundancy information from an application layer (e.g., a mobile phone application) to obtain the redundancy of a data packet set. For example, the application layer may add network-coded redundancy information to the header of an uplink data packet, such as using a number of bits in a real-time transport protocol (RTP) extension header of the data packet to carry a redundancy information. The terminal device identifies the redundancy information in the data packet header and then determines the redundancy of the data packet set corresponding to the data packet. Optionally, for a data packet set, the redundancy information may be carried in any or all data packets within the data packet set. Optionally, if there are no redundant packets in a data packet set, the redundancy information may not be carried.

[0198] Specifically, the redundancy information indicates the redundancy of the data packet set. In one implementation, the redundancy information may be one or more of the number K of original data packets, the number N of encoded data packets, and the number M of data packets required to recover the complete data. In this case, the terminal device can determine the redundancy of the data packet set based on one or more of the received K, N, and M. In another implementation, the redundancy information may directly be the redundancy of the data packet set. In this case, the terminal device can directly determine the redundancy of the data packet set based on the received redundancy information. In yet another implementation, the redundancy information may be a range of redundancy for the data packet set, for example, the redundancy information indicates a redundancy between 10% and 30%. In this case, the terminal device can determine any redundancy within the redundancy range. In yet another implementation, the redundancy information may indicate that network coding is used in the data packet set, for example, the redundancy information indicates that FEC technology is applied to the data packet set. In this case, the terminal device can determine an empirical redundancy based on past experience. Furthermore, the redundancy information may be a specific value, such as 0, indicating that the corresponding data packet set has no redundancy.

[0199] In another achievable manner, the terminal device autonomously determines the redundancy of each data packet set in the data packet set. For example, the terminal device identifies the data size of each data packet set, wherein a data packet set with a larger data size is considered to contain more redundant data packets, i.e., has a greater redundancy.

[0200] S1004: The terminal device determines the packet loss ratio according to the redundancy.

[0201] Specifically, the packet loss ratio is the proportion of data packets discarded by the terminal device in the data packet set. Optionally, when the terminal device determines the packet loss ratio based on the redundancy, the packet loss ratio is set to be equal to or less than the redundancy.

[0202] It should be noted that, unlike method 700 shown in FIG7 , in the embodiment shown in FIG10 , the packet loss ratio determined by the terminal device based on redundancy corresponds to a single data packet set. This is because different data packet sets may carry different redundancy information corresponding to the data packet sets themselves. Therefore, in FIG10 , the terminal device determines the packet loss ratio of each data packet set based on the redundancy of that data packet set.

[0203] S1005: The terminal device determines a packet loss strategy.

[0204] Specifically, after the terminal device receives the configuration information, the terminal device learns that it needs to drop packets according to the redundancy of the data packet set, and thus the terminal device determines a packet dropping strategy.

[0205] In one achievable manner, the terminal device determines the packet loss strategy to discard the data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in each data packet set. It is understandable that, at this time, the packet loss strategy determined by the terminal device is for all data packet sets, that is, under this strategy, the terminal device does not consider the importance of the data packet set, and the terminal device discards the data packets in the corresponding data packet set according to the packet loss ratio determined for each data packet set. Exemplarily, for a DRB level, such as DRB#1, including data packet set#1, data packet set#2, and data packet set#3, if the packet loss ratio determined by the terminal device according to data packet set#1 is 20%, the packet loss ratio determined according to data packet set#2 is 0%, and the packet loss ratio determined according to data packet set#3 is 100%, the terminal device discards 20% of the data packets in data packet set#1, does not discard the data packets in data packet set#2, and discards all the data packets in data packet set#3.

[0206] In another achievable manner, the terminal device determines the packet loss strategy as discarding the data packets with the corresponding packet loss ratio in the low-importance data packet set. At this time, the packet loss strategy determined by the terminal device is for the low-importance data packet set. That is, under this strategy, the terminal device only selects data packets to be discarded in the low-importance data packet set. Exemplarily, for a DRB level, such as DRB#1, it includes data packet set#1, data packet set#2 and data packet set#3, wherein data packet set#1 and data packet set#2 are low-importance data packets, and data packet set#3 is a high-importance data packet. At the same time, the terminal device determines that the packet loss ratio determined according to data packet set#1 is 20%, the packet loss ratio determined according to data packet set#2 is 30%, and the packet loss ratio determined according to data packet set#3 is 10%. At this time, the terminal device discards packets for all low-importance data packet sets, that is, the terminal device discards 20% of the data packets in data packet set#1, discards 30% of the data packets in data packet set#2, and does not discard the data packets in data packet set#3.

[0207] In another achievable manner, the terminal device determines the packet loss strategy to discard the data packets with the corresponding packet loss ratio in the high-importance data packet set. At this time, the packet loss strategy determined by the terminal device is for the high-importance data packet set. That is, under this strategy, the terminal device only selects data packets to be discarded in the high-importance data packet set. Exemplarily, for the DRB level, such as DRB#1, including data packet set #1, data packet set #2 and data packet set #3, wherein data packet set #1 and data packet set #2 are low-importance data packets, and data packet set #3 is a high-importance data packet. At the same time, the terminal device determines that the packet loss ratio according to data packet set #1 is 20%, the packet loss ratio determined according to data packet set #2 is 30%, and the packet loss ratio determined according to data packet set #3 is 10%. At this time, the terminal device discards packets for all high-importance data packet sets, that is, the terminal device does not discard the data packets in data packet set #1 and data packet set #2, and only discards 10% of the data packets in data packet set #3.

[0208] In another achievable method, the terminal device determines the packet loss strategy to discard the data packets with the corresponding packet loss ratio in the high-importance data packet set and all data packets in the low-importance data packet set. In this case, the packet loss strategy determined by the terminal device is for the high-importance data packet set and the low-importance data packet set. That is, under this strategy, the terminal device not only selects data packets to discard in the high-importance data packet set, but also discards all low-importance data packet sets at the same time. For example, for the DRB level, such as DRB#1, including data packet set#1, data packet set#2 and data packet set#3, wherein data packet set#1 and data packet set#2 are low-importance data packets, and data packet set#3 is a high-importance data packet. At the same time, the terminal device determines that the packet loss ratio determined according to data packet set#1 is 20%, the packet loss ratio determined according to data packet set#2 is 30%, and the packet loss ratio determined according to data packet set#3 is 10%. At this time, the terminal device discards all data packets in data packet set#1 and data packet set#2, and discards 10% of the data packets in data packet set#3.

[0209] In another achievable manner, the terminal device determines that the packet loss policy is to discard all data packets in a low-importance data packet set. In this case, the packet loss policy determined by the terminal device is for a low-importance data packet set. That is, under this policy, the terminal device discards all data packets in a low-importance data packet set. It is understandable that this scenario can be considered to be a 100% packet loss ratio corresponding to a low-importance data packet set. In other words, in this scenario, even if the packet loss ratio indicated by the packet loss ratio information determined by the terminal device is not 100%, since the terminal device determines that each low-importance data packet set discards all data packets, the terminal device will not discard packets according to the determined packet loss ratio. Exemplarily, for a DRB level, such as DRB#1, it includes data packet set #1, data packet set #2 and data packet set #3, wherein data packet set #1 and data packet set #2 are low-importance data packets, and data packet set #3 is a high-importance data packet. At the same time, the terminal device determines that the packet loss ratio based on data packet set #1 is 20%, the packet loss ratio based on data packet set #2 is 30%, and the packet loss ratio based on data packet set #3 is 10%. At this time, the terminal device causes 100% packet loss for all low-importance data packet sets, that is, the terminal device discards all data packets in data packet set #1 and data packet set #2, and does not discard data packets in data packet set #3.

[0210] Optionally, the terminal device determines the packet loss strategy autonomously, or the terminal device determines the packet loss strategy according to the first indication information in the following description, which is not limited in this application.

[0211] S1006: The terminal device discards data packets in the data packet set according to the packet loss ratio and the packet loss policy.

[0212] Specifically, after the terminal device obtains the packet loss ratio and determines the packet loss strategy, it discards the data packets in the data packet set according to the packet loss ratio and the packet loss strategy.

[0213] According to the above S1005, under different packet loss strategies, for the same set of multiple data packets at the same level (such as UE level, PDU session level, DRB level or QoS flow level), the packet loss behavior of the terminal device may be different.

[0214] It should be noted that the terminal device may only drop packets in proportion to the set of data packets currently in the cache, and not drop packets for the subsequently newly arrived set of data packets; or, the terminal device may not drop packets for the currently cached set of data packets, and drop packets in proportion to the subsequently newly arrived set of data packets; or, the terminal device may drop packets in proportion to both the set of data packets currently in the cache and the subsequently newly arrived set of data packets, and this application does not impose any restrictions on this.

[0215] In one achievable manner, the terminal device can directly clear the data packet from the cache. For example, when the terminal device determines to discard data packet #1 (the data packet determined to be discarded by the packet loss policy), the terminal device selects at least one of the following implementations: discarding the SDAP service data unit (SDU) and SDAP PDU corresponding to data packet #1 at the SDAP layer; discarding the PDCP SDU and PDCP PDU corresponding to data packet #1 at the PDCP layer; instructing the RLC layer to discard one or more of the RLC SDU, RLC SDU segment, and RLC PDU corresponding to data packet #1. It is understandable that data packet #1 can be a data packet that arrived at the cache before the packet loss started, or a data packet that newly arrived at the cache after the packet loss started.

[0216] In another achievable manner, the terminal device may utilize a packet loss timer to clear data packets from a cache. For example, when the terminal device determines to discard data packet #1, the terminal device may adjust the PDCP discard timer corresponding to the data packet #1 to a shorter value (e.g., adjusting it to 0 for immediate discard). When the packet loss timer expires, the terminal device discards the PDCP SDU and PDCP PDU corresponding to the data packet #1 at the PDCP layer; if the PDCP PDU corresponding to the data packet #1 has been delivered to a lower layer (e.g., an RLC layer), the terminal device instructs the RLC layer to discard one or more of the RLC SDU, RLC SDU segment, and RLC PDU corresponding to the data packet #1. Exemplarily, when the terminal device determines to discard data packet #1, the terminal device may also start a new discard timer for the data packet #1. The discard timer may also be at the PDCP layer. When the newly configured timer expires, the terminal device discards the PDCP SDU and PDCP PDU corresponding to the data packet #1 at the PDCP layer. If the PDCP PDU corresponding to the data packet #1 has been delivered to the lower layer (such as the RLC layer), the RLC layer is instructed to discard one or more of the RLC SDU, RLC SDU segment, and RLC PDU corresponding to the data packet #1. Optionally, the duration of the new discard timer may be provided to the terminal device by the network device. It is understandable that data packet #1 may be a data packet that arrived at the cache before the packet loss started, or a data packet that newly arrived at the cache after the packet loss started.

[0217] Similarly, there are no restrictions on the data packets that a terminal device chooses to discard. For example, when the packet loss ratio is 30%, the 30% of data packets discarded by the terminal device can be the last 30% of data packets in the data packet set; or, when the terminal device determines that 70% of the data packets in the data packet set have been successfully sent, it discards the remaining 30% of data packets.

[0218] It is understood that for a data packet set, the number of data packets discarded by the terminal device is the product of the total number of data packets in the data packet set and the packet loss ratio. Optionally, when the product of the total number of data packets in the data packet set and the packet loss ratio is a non-integer value, the terminal device may determine the number of data packets to discard in the data packet set by rounding down. For example, if there are 50 data packets in the data packet set and the packet loss ratio is 25%, 12 of them will be discarded.

[0219] It should be noted that in the above-described process from S1001 to S1006, once the terminal device determines the packet loss ratio and packet loss policy, it begins to discard data packets. In other words, when the terminal device discards data packets from the packet set based on the packet loss ratio and packet loss policy, it can be considered that the configuration information received by the terminal device not only instructs the terminal device to discard packets based on their redundancy, but also instructs the terminal device to begin discarding packets.

[0220] It is understandable that in some scenarios, the configuration information received by the terminal device may be sent to the terminal device by the network device when network congestion occurs. In this case, the terminal device can perform proportional packet loss. In other scenarios, the configuration information is configured in advance by the network device to the terminal device. In this case, the terminal device will not immediately perform packet loss after receiving the configuration information. Only when network congestion occurs will the terminal device perform proportional packet loss. Therefore, in order to ensure the stability of system performance, the terminal device can be instructed to start packet loss through the first indication information. At this time, the method 1000 for processing data packets provided in this application may also include the following multiple steps.

[0221] S1007, the network device sends a first indication message to the terminal device, instructing the terminal device to start dropping packets.

[0222] Optionally, the network device may send the first indication information to the terminal device in the form of RRC signaling, PDCP control PDU, MAC CE, etc.

[0223] In one achievable manner, when the first indication information only indicates that the terminal device starts to lose packets, the terminal device executes S1006 after receiving the first indication information.

[0224] In another achievable manner, the first indication information may also simultaneously indicate the packet loss policy of the terminal device. In this case, the first indication information includes an indication field indicating the packet loss policy. After receiving the first indication information, the terminal device executes S1005 and S1006 according to the packet loss policy indicated in the packet loss policy indication field. Specifically, the packet loss policy indication field may include one or more bits. Exemplarily, the indication field indicating the packet loss policy in the first indication information is 1 bit, wherein 0 indicates discarding all packets in the low-importance packet set, and 1 indicates discarding all packets in the low-importance packet set and packets with a corresponding packet loss ratio in the high-importance packet set. Exemplarily, the indication field indicating the packet loss policy in the first indication information is 2 bits, wherein 00 indicates discarding packets with a corresponding packet loss ratio in the low-importance packet set; 01 indicates discarding packets with a corresponding packet loss ratio in all packet sets; 10 indicates discarding all packets in the low-importance packet set; and 11 indicates discarding all packets in the low-importance packet set and packets with a corresponding packet loss ratio in the high-importance packet set. Exemplarily, the indication field indicating the packet loss policy in the first indication information is 3 bits. Any two adjacent bits of these 3 bits indicate the packet loss policy for the low-importance data packet set, and the other bit indicates the packet loss policy for the high-importance data packet set. Two adjacent bits (00) indicate that the low-importance data packet set is not discarded; 01 indicates that the data packets in the low-importance data packet set with a corresponding packet loss ratio are discarded; and 10 indicates that all data packets in the low-importance data packet set are discarded. The remaining bit (0) indicates that the high-importance data packet set is not discarded; and 1 indicates that the data packets in the high-importance data packet set with a corresponding packet loss ratio are discarded. Exemplarily, when the importance of a data packet set is represented by a PSI value of 0-15, the indication field indicating the packet loss policy in the first indication information can also be 16 bits, wherein each bit of these 16 bits indicates whether the data packet set corresponding to the importance value of 0-15 is discarded according to the packet loss ratio. For example, 0000000010101111 indicates that the data packet set with PSI values ​​of 0-3, PSI value of 5, and PSI value of 7 is discarded. For example, when the importance of a data packet set is represented by a PSI value of 0-15, and 8 PSI values ​​constitute one PSI gear, the indication field indicating the packet loss policy in the first indication information may also be 2 bits, wherein one bit is used to indicate whether the data packet set with PSI values ​​0-7 is lost according to the packet loss ratio, and the other bit is used to indicate whether the data packet set with PSI values ​​8-15 is lost according to the packet loss ratio. For example, 01 indicates that the data packet set with PSI values ​​0-7 is lost according to the packet loss ratio, while the data packet set with PSI values ​​8-15 is not lost.

[0225] It should be noted that the first indication information indicating the packet loss policy of the terminal device may be one or more, that is, the network device may send the first indication information only once or send different first indication information at different times. Specifically, when the network device sends the first indication information only once, the terminal device discards the data packet according to the packet loss policy indicated by the first indication information. When the network device sends the first indication information multiple times, different packet loss policies may be indicated in the first indication information at different times. For example, when the network congestion is relatively light, the terminal device is instructed to discard only part of the data packets in the low-importance data packet set; when the network congestion is severe, the terminal device is instructed to discard all the data packets in the low-importance data packet set and part of the data packets in the high-importance data packet set. It can be understood that when different packet loss policies of the terminal device are indicated by multiple first indication messages, the flexibility of the terminal device in packet loss can be improved, so that the system can be suitable for different application scenarios.

[0226] Optionally, the first indication information may also carry identification information corresponding to the data packet set, for example, at least one of the PDU session ID, DRB ID and QoS flow ID, to identify the PDU session, DRB or QoS flow to which the first indication information targets.

[0227] It is understandable that the first indication information and the configuration information can be carried in the same message sent by the network device to the terminal device. Alternatively, the network device can also carry the configuration information and the first indication information in different messages. For example, the network device first sends the configuration information to the terminal device via an RRC message. After the terminal device receives the configuration information, it does not drop packets. When congestion is detected, the network device then sends a PDCP control PDU or MAC CE to indicate the packet loss ratio of the terminal device to drop packets. In other words, this application does not limit the order of S1002 and S1007.

[0228] It should be noted that the first indication information can also be called proportional packet loss-based activation information, packet loss activation information, etc., which is not limited in this application.

[0229] Optionally, before the network device sends the configuration information and / or the first indication information, the network device may also obtain capability information from the terminal device, so that the network device can determine, based on the capability information, whether the terminal device has the ability to identify redundant information (which can also be understood as whether it can dynamically determine a packet loss ratio for the current service), for example, whether it can identify redundancy information in the RTP header. Once the network device determines that the terminal device has the ability to identify redundant information, it instructs the terminal device to drop packets, thereby avoiding invalid instructions from the network device and improving system performance.

[0230] S1008, the terminal device reports capability information to the network device, where the capability information indicates whether the terminal device has the capability to identify redundancy information.

[0231] Specifically, when the capability information indicates that the terminal device has the ability to identify redundancy information, the capability information can notify the network device, allowing the terminal device to dynamically determine the packet loss ratio for the current service. The capability information can also be at the UE / PDU session / DRB / QoS flow level. Optionally, the capability information can be sent to the network device via an RRC message.

[0232] Optionally, before the network device sends one or more first indication information to the terminal device, the terminal device may further send second indication information to the network device, where the second indication information is used to notify the network device to provide the first auxiliary information. After receiving the second indication information, the network device monitors network congestion. When congestion occurs, the network device sends the first indication information or the first indication information and the first auxiliary information to the terminal device. When the network device also sends the first auxiliary information, the terminal device may determine whether to discard data packets according to the packet loss ratio through the first auxiliary information. The process includes the following steps:

[0233] S1009, the terminal device sends second indication information to the network device, where the second indication information instructs the network device to provide first auxiliary information, wherein the first auxiliary information is used by the terminal device to determine whether to discard data packets according to the packet loss ratio.

[0234] Specifically, the terminal device sends the second indication information to the network device, and correspondingly, the network device receives the second indication information.

[0235] S1010, the network device sends first auxiliary information to the terminal device.

[0236] Optionally, the first auxiliary information includes one or more of congestion level information, air interface quality information, packet loss activation suggestion information, and packet loss strategy suggestion information. The congestion level information indicates the link congestion level between the network device and the terminal device, the air interface quality information indicates the air interface quality between the network device and the terminal device, the packet loss activation suggestion information indicates whether the network device recommends that the terminal device discard data packets according to the packet loss ratio, and the packet loss strategy suggestion information indicates that the terminal device discards data packets according to the packet loss strategy suggested by the network device. Specifically, the terminal device can determine whether to discard packets according to the packet loss ratio based on one or more of the congestion level information, air interface quality information, packet loss activation suggestion information, and packet loss strategy suggestion information. The terminal device determines to discard packets according to the packet loss ratio when the first auxiliary information indicates at least one of the following: the link congestion level between the network device and the terminal device is large, the air interface quality between the network device and the terminal device is poor, the network device recommends that the terminal device discard data packets according to the packet loss ratio, and the packet loss strategy suggested by the network device.

[0237] It should be noted that when the network device sends the first auxiliary information and the first indication information to the terminal device, the order of S1007 and S1010 is not limited in this application. For example, when the first auxiliary information carries a packet loss policy (other information in the first auxiliary information may or may not be carried), the network device may first indicate the start of packet loss and then send the recommended packet loss policy to the terminal device through the first auxiliary information; or, after sending the recommended packet loss policy to the terminal device through the first auxiliary information, the first indication information indicating the start of packet loss is sent; or, the recommended packet loss policy and the first indication information are sent to the terminal device at the same time, and in this case, the first auxiliary information and the first indication information may be carried in the same message or in two separate messages.

[0238] It is understood that in the above S1007-S1010, the network device sends the first auxiliary information and the first indication information to the terminal device. In some embodiments, the network device may send only the first auxiliary information or only the first indication information to the terminal device, which is not limited in this application. Specifically, when the network device sends only the first auxiliary information to the terminal device, method 1000 only includes S1009 and S1010; when the network device sends only the first indication information to the terminal device, method 1000 includes S1006.

[0239] It is also understood that S1007-S1010 above are scenarios where the terminal device determines to drop packets based on the packet loss ratio. The terminal device does not drop packets when the auxiliary information sent by the network device to the terminal device indicates at least one of the following: the link congestion between the network device and the terminal device is low, the air interface quality between the network device and the terminal device is good, and the network device does not recommend that the terminal device drop data packets based on the packet loss ratio.

[0240] When the packet loss indication is also effective for a set of subsequently arriving data packets, the network device may optionally instruct the terminal device to stop dropping packets, for example, instructing to stop dropping packets when it detects that congestion disappears. At this time, the method 1000 may further include S1011.

[0241] S1011, the network device sends a third indication message to the terminal device, where the third indication message instructs the terminal device to stop dropping packets.

[0242] It should be noted that the third indication information can also be called proportional packet loss-based deactivation information, etc., which is not limited in this application.

[0243] In some embodiments, when the network device is a base station and adopts a CU / DU separation architecture or CU-CP / CU-UP, Figure 11 is a schematic flowchart of a fourth method 1100 for processing packets provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 11, the schematic flowchart is an example of the interaction between the network device CU-CP and DU, wherein the steps performed by the CU-CP and / or DU can be performed by a module or unit in the CU-CP and / or DU, for example, by a chip in the CU-CP and / or DU. Specifically, the method includes the following multiple steps.

[0244] S1101: The CU-CP determines that a data packet set has redundancy.

[0245] Optionally, the CU-CP may obtain application information of network coding from the core network. Specifically, the CU-CP receives notification information from the core network device, which indicates whether the data packet set uses network coding (such as FEC coding) and / or whether the data packet set has redundancy. Exemplarily, the CU-CP receives a PDU SESSION SETUP / MODIFICATION REQUEST message from the SMF, in which there is a 1-bit indication field for carrying notification information indicating whether the data packet set uses network coding or whether there is redundancy, wherein 0 indicates that network coding is not used or there is no redundancy, and 1 indicates that network coding is used or there is redundancy. Alternatively, there is a 2-bit indication field in the message for carrying notification information indicating whether the data packet set uses network coding and whether there is redundancy, wherein 00 indicates that network coding is not used and there is no redundancy, and 01 indicates that network coding is not used but there is redundancy. 10 indicates that network coding is used but there is no redundancy. 11 indicates that network coding is used and there is redundancy. Optionally, the notification information is at the UE level, or the PDU session level, or the QoS flow level, or the DRB level.

[0246] Similarly, the data packets included in the data packet set may be part or all of the data packets in one or more PDU sets generated by the PDU set grouping, and this application does not limit this. It is understood that other relevant descriptions of the data packet set, such as the importance of the data packet set, the determination of importance, and the subject of determining the importance of the data packet set, can all be referred to S701 in Figure 7 or S1001 in Figure 10 above, and will not be repeated here.

[0247] It should be noted that Figure 11 is only an embodiment of a network device under a separation architecture provided by this application and does not limit the scope of protection of this application. In some other embodiments, the CU-UP may receive notification information from the core network and determine the redundancy of the data packet set based on the notification information.

[0248] S1102: The CU-CP sends configuration information to the terminal device, configuring the terminal device to discard data packets according to the redundancy of the data packet set.

[0249] Specifically, after receiving the configuration information, the terminal device may learn, based on the configuration information, that it needs to discard data packets based on the redundancy of the data packet set.

[0250] S1103, the terminal device obtains the redundancy of the data packet set.

[0251] S1104: The terminal device determines the packet loss ratio according to the redundancy.

[0252] S1105: The terminal device determines a packet loss strategy.

[0253] S1106: The terminal device discards the data packets in the data packet set according to the packet loss ratio and the packet loss policy.

[0254] Specifically, S1103 - S1106 may refer to S1003 - S1006 in FIG10 , which will not be described in detail here.

[0255] It should be noted that in the above-described process from S1101 to S1106, once the terminal device determines the packet loss ratio and packet loss policy, it begins to drop packets. In other words, when the terminal device drops packets from the packet set based on the packet loss ratio and packet loss policy, it can be considered that the configuration information received by the terminal device not only instructs the terminal device to drop packets based on their redundancy, but also instructs the terminal device to begin dropping packets.

[0256] It is understandable that in some scenarios, the configuration information received by the terminal device may be sent to the terminal device by the CU-CP when network congestion occurs. At this time, the terminal device can perform proportional packet loss. In other scenarios, the configuration information is configured to the terminal device in advance by the CU-CP. At this time, the terminal device will not immediately perform packet loss after receiving the configuration information. Only when network congestion occurs will the terminal device perform proportional packet loss. Therefore, in order to ensure the stability of system performance, the terminal device can be instructed to start packet loss through the first indication information. At this time, the method 1100 also includes the following multiple steps.

[0257] S1107, CU-CP sends first indication information to the terminal device, instructing the terminal device to start dropping packets.

[0258] Optionally, the CU-CP sends a first indication message to the terminal device via RRC signaling. The first indication message may only indicate that the terminal device has started packet loss, or may also indicate the packet loss policy of the terminal device. In addition, the first indication message may be one or more messages, and may also carry identification information corresponding to the data packet set. Specifically, the description of this step can refer to the above S1007 and will not be repeated here.

[0259] Optionally, before the CU-CP sends the first indication information and / or configuration information, the CU-CP may also obtain capability information from the terminal device, so that the CU-CP can learn whether the terminal device has the ability to identify redundant information (which can also be understood as whether it can determine a dynamic packet loss ratio for the current service) based on the capability information, for example, whether it can identify redundancy information in the RTP header. When the CU-CP determines that the terminal device has the ability to identify redundant information, it instructs the terminal device to drop packets, avoiding invalid instructions from the CU-CP, thereby improving system performance.

[0260] S1008: The terminal device reports capability information to the CU-CP. The capability information indicates whether the terminal device has the capability to identify redundancy information.

[0261] Specifically, when the capability information indicates that the terminal device has the ability to identify redundancy information, the capability information can notify the CU-CP, allowing the terminal device to dynamically determine the packet loss ratio for the current service. The capability information can also be at the UE / PDU session / DRB / QoS flow level. Optionally, the capability information can be sent to the CU-CP via an RRC message.

[0262] Optionally, before the CU-CP sends one or more first indication messages to the terminal device, the CU-CP may also send a fourth indication message to the DU, where the fourth indication message is used to notify the DU that proportional packet loss has been configured and / or to notify the DU to provide second auxiliary information. After receiving the fourth indication message, the DU monitors network congestion. When congestion occurs, the DU sends the second auxiliary information to the CU-CP, so that the CU-CP is informed of the network congestion and then sends the first indication message to the terminal device. The process consists of the following steps:

[0263] S1109: The CU-CP sends fourth indication information to the DU. The fourth indication information instructs the DU to report the second auxiliary information and / or indicates that the CU-CP has configured the terminal device to drop packets based on a ratio. The second auxiliary information is used by the CU-CP to determine whether to send the first indication information. Specifically, the CU-CP sends the fourth indication information to the DU, and the DU receives the fourth indication information accordingly.

[0264] S1110 : The DU sends second auxiliary information to the CU-CP.

[0265] Specifically, after the DU receives the fourth indication information, the DU sends the second auxiliary information to the CU-CP. Optionally, the second auxiliary information includes one or more of congestion level information, air interface quality information, packet loss activation recommendation information, and packet loss strategy recommendation information. Among them, the congestion level information indicates the link congestion level between the CU-CP and the terminal device. The air interface quality information indicates the air interface quality between the CU-CP and the terminal device. The packet loss activation recommendation information indicates whether the DU recommends that the terminal device discard data packets according to the packet loss ratio. The packet loss strategy recommendation information instructs the terminal device to discard data packets according to the packet loss strategy recommended by the DU.

[0266] S1111. The CU-CP determines to send first indication information.

[0267] Specifically, the CU-CP determines to send the first indication information based on one or more of the congestion level information, the air interface quality information, the packet loss activation recommendation information, and the packet loss strategy recommendation information. Specifically, the CU-CP determines to send the first indication information when the second auxiliary information indicates at least one of the following: the link congestion level between the CU-CP and the terminal device is large, the air interface quality between the CU-CP and the terminal device is poor, the DU recommends that the terminal device discard data packets according to the packet loss ratio, and the packet loss strategy recommended by the DU.

[0268] It can be understood that when the second auxiliary information includes packet loss strategy recommendation information (the second auxiliary information may include other information or not), the CU-CP can carry the recommended packet loss strategy in the first indication information, so that after the terminal device receives the first indication information, it can perform packet loss according to the recommended packet loss strategy.

[0269] It can also be understood that the above S1107-S1111 is a scenario in which the CU-CP determines to send the first indication information, or in other words, the above S1107-S1111 is a scenario in which the terminal device loses packets in proportion. When the second auxiliary information reported by the DU to the CU-CP indicates at least one of the following, the CU-CP does not send the first indication information: the link congestion between the CU-CP and the terminal device is small, the air interface quality between the CU-CP and the terminal device is good, and the DU recommends that the terminal device not discard data packets according to the packet loss ratio. At this time, the terminal device may not perform proportional packet loss.

[0270] It should be noted that, in some other embodiments, it is also possible for CU-UP or DU to send the first indication information to the terminal device. Exemplarily, when CU-UP sends the first indication information to the terminal device, the first indication information may be carried in the PDU controlled by PDCP. When DU sends the first indication information to the terminal device, the first indication information may be carried in the MAC CE. Optionally, when the above-mentioned packet loss ratio information is sent by CU-CP or CU-UP, the first indication information is sent by DU. When the first indication information is sent by DU, CU-CP or CU-UP may also send fifth indication information to DU, the fifth indication information instructs DU to send first auxiliary information to the terminal device and / or instructs CU-CP to configure the terminal device to drop data packets according to the ratio, wherein the first auxiliary information is used by the terminal device to determine whether to drop data packets according to the packet loss ratio. Through the fifth indication information, DU learns that the terminal device has obtained the packet loss ratio and can drop packets, so that when DU detects network congestion, it sends the first indication information to the terminal device to instruct the terminal device to start dropping packets. In addition, in some other embodiments, after the CU-CP or CU-UP sends the fifth indication information to the DU, the DU may also send the first indication information and the first auxiliary information to the terminal device, or only send the first auxiliary information.

[0271] When the packet loss indication is also effective for a set of subsequently arriving data packets, optionally, the CU-CP or DU may also instruct the CU-UP to stop packet loss, for example, instructing to stop packet loss when it is detected that congestion disappears. At this time, the method 1100 may also include S1112.

[0272] S1112, the CU-CP sends third indication information to the terminal device, where the third indication information instructs the terminal device to stop dropping packets.

[0273] It should be noted that the first indication information indicating the start of packet loss can also be called proportional packet loss activation information, etc., and the third indication information indicating the end of packet loss can also be called proportional packet loss deactivation information, etc., which is not limited in this application.

[0274] It should also be noted that the third indication information can also be called proportional packet loss-based deactivation information, etc., which is not limited in this application.

[0275] It should also be noted that, in some other embodiments, the CU-UP or DU may also send the third indication information to the terminal device, which is not limited in this application.

[0276] It should be understood that the embodiments in Figures 7, 9 to 11 of the embodiments of the present application are only described by way of example, and the diagrams in the figures do not limit the order of execution. Based on the examples in the figures, those skilled in the art can flexibly adjust the order of execution between the various steps. In addition, the size of the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution, and the order of execution of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic. In addition, the above-mentioned steps are not mandatory steps. When one or more steps are missing, the problem to be solved in this application can be solved, and the corresponding technical solutions are also within the scope disclosed in this application. The various digital numbers or sequence numbers involved in the above-mentioned processes are only used to facilitate the distinction, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

[0277] It is understandable that some optional features in the embodiments of the present application may, in certain scenarios, be implemented independently of other features, such as the solution on which they are currently based, to solve corresponding technical problems and achieve corresponding effects. They may also be combined with other features in certain scenarios as needed. Accordingly, the devices provided in the embodiments of the present application may also implement these features or functions accordingly, which will not be described in detail here.

[0278] In addition, the various schemes of the embodiments of the present application can be reasonably combined and used, and the explanations or descriptions of the various terms appearing in the embodiments can be mutually referenced or explained in the various embodiments, without limitation.

[0279] In the embodiments provided in the present application above, each scheme of the communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application is introduced from the perspective of each device / network element itself and from the perspective of the interaction between each device / network element. It can be understood that in order to implement the above functions, each network element and device includes a hardware structure and / or software module corresponding to the execution of each function. It should be easily appreciated by those skilled in the art that, in combination with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware 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 to be beyond the scope of the present application.

[0280] Figure 12 shows a schematic block diagram of a communication device 1200 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The device 1200 includes an acquisition module 1201, which can be used to implement corresponding acquisition functions. The acquisition module 1201 can also be called an acquisition unit.

[0281] The apparatus 1200 further includes a processing module 1202 , which can be used to implement corresponding processing functions.

[0282] The device 1200 further includes a sending module 1203 , which can be used to implement a corresponding sending function. The sending module 1203 can also be referred to as a sending unit.

[0283] Optionally, the device 1200 also includes a storage unit, which can be used to store instructions and / or data. The processing module 1202 can read the instructions and / or data in the storage unit so that the device can implement the actions of the relevant devices in the aforementioned method embodiments.

[0284] The device 1200 can be used to execute the actions performed by the terminal device or network device in the above method embodiments. In this case, the device 1200 can be a component of the terminal device or network device, the acquisition module 1201 is used to execute the acquisition-related operations of the terminal device or network device in the above method embodiments, the processing module 1202 is used to execute the processing-related operations of the terminal device or network device in the above method embodiments, and the sending module 1203 is used to execute the sending-related operations of the terminal device or network device in the above method embodiments.

[0285] As a design, the apparatus 1200 is used to perform the actions performed by any network element or any device in the above method embodiments. In one embodiment, the communication apparatus can be used to perform the operations of the terminal device in Figures 7, 9 to 11 above. For example:

[0286] The acquisition module 1201 is used to obtain the packet loss ratio.

[0287] The processing module 1202 is configured to determine a packet loss strategy and discard data packets in the data packet set according to the packet loss ratio and the packet loss strategy.

[0288] The sending module 1203 is configured to send capability information to the network device, where the capability information indicates whether the terminal device has the capability to identify redundancy information.

[0289] It should be understood that the specific process of each module executing the above corresponding steps has been described in detail in the above method embodiment, and for the sake of brevity, it will not be repeated here.

[0290] In addition, the acquisition module 1201, the processing module 1202 and the sending module 1203 in the communication device can also implement other operations or functions of the terminal device in the above method, which will not be repeated here.

[0291] In another embodiment, the communication device can be used to perform the operations of the network devices in Figures 7, 9 to 11 above. For example:

[0292] The acquisition module 1201 is configured to acquire the redundancy of a data packet set.

[0293] The processing module 1202 is configured to determine a packet loss ratio according to the redundancy, and the packet loss ratio is used to discard data packets.

[0294] The sending module 1203 is used to send packet loss ratio information to the terminal device, where the packet loss ratio information indicates the packet loss ratio and configures the terminal device to discard data packets according to the packet loss ratio.

[0295] The acquisition module 1201, the processing module 1202 and the sending module 1203 in the communication device can also implement other operations or functions of the network device in the above method, which will not be repeated here.

[0296] It should be understood that the specific process of each module executing the above corresponding steps has been described in detail in the above method embodiment, and for the sake of brevity, it will not be repeated here.

[0297] Figure 13 shows another possible structural diagram of the communication device involved in the above-mentioned embodiment. The communication device includes a processor 1301. As shown in Figure 13, the communication device may also include at least one memory 1302 for storing program instructions and / or data. The memory 1302 is coupled to the processor 1301. The coupling in the embodiment of the present application is an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units or modules, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms for information exchange between devices, units or modules. The processor 1301 may operate in conjunction with the memory 1302. The processor 1301 may execute program instructions stored in the memory 1302. At least one of the at least one memory may be included in the processor.

[0298] The communication device may also include a transceiver 1303 for communicating with other devices via a transmission medium, thereby enabling the device to communicate with other devices. Optionally, the transceiver 1303 may be an interface, a bus, a circuit, or a device capable of performing transceiver functions. Optionally, the transceiver 1303 may include a receiver and a transmitter.

[0299] The specific connection medium between the processor 1301, memory 1302, and transceiver 1303 is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. In Figure 13, the processor 1301, memory 1302, and transceiver 1303 are connected via bus 1304. The bus is represented by a bold line in Figure 13. The connection between other components is only for illustrative purposes and is not intended to be limiting. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of illustration, Figure 13 only uses a single bold line, but this does not mean that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0300] For example, in one embodiment, the processor 1301 is configured to perform other operations or functions of the terminal device. The transceiver 1303 is used to implement communication between the communication device and other network elements / devices (eg, network devices).

[0301] In another embodiment, the processor 1301 is configured to perform other operations or functions of the network device. The transceiver 1303 is used to implement communication between the communication device and other network elements / devices (eg, terminal devices).

[0302] One or more of the above modules or units can be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination of the two. When any of the above modules or units is implemented in software, the software exists in the form of computer program instructions and is stored in a memory, and a processor can be used to execute the program instructions and implement the above method flow. The processor may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a microcontroller unit (MCU), or an artificial intelligence processor, etc., various types of computing devices that run software, each of which may include one or more cores for executing software instructions to perform operations or processing. The processor may be built into a system-on-a-chip (SoC) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or it may be an independent semiconductor chip. In addition to the core for executing software instructions to perform operations or processing within the processor, it may further include necessary hardware accelerators, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), or a logic circuit that implements dedicated logic operations.

[0303] When the above modules or units are implemented in hardware, the hardware can be any one or any combination of a CPU, a microprocessor, a DSP, an MCU, an artificial intelligence processor, an ASIC, a SoC, an FPGA, a PLD, a dedicated digital circuit, a hardware accelerator or a non-integrated discrete device, which can run the necessary software or not rely on the software to execute the above method flow.

[0304] When the above modules or units are implemented using software, they can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server or data center to another website, computer, server or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media integrated. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a tape), an optical medium (e.g., a digital video disc (DVD)), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a solid state drive (SSD)).

[0305] The specific implementation methods described above further illustrate the purpose, technical solutions and beneficial effects of this application. It should be understood that the above description is only the specific implementation methods of this application and is not intended to limit the scope of protection of this application. Any modifications, equivalent replacements, improvements, etc. made on the basis of the technical solutions of this application should be included in the scope of protection of this application.

[0306] According to the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the present application also provides a computer program product, which includes: computer program code, when the computer program code runs on a computer, it enables the computer to execute the method on the terminal device side in the aforementioned method embodiment.

[0307] According to the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the present application also provides a computer program product, which includes: computer program code, which, when running on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method on the network device side in the aforementioned method embodiment.

[0308] According to the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the present application also provides a computer-readable medium, which stores program code. When the program code runs on a computer, the computer executes the method on the terminal device side in the aforementioned method embodiment.

[0309] According to the method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the present application also provides a computer-readable medium, which stores program code. When the program code runs on a computer, the computer executes the method on the network device side in the aforementioned method embodiment.

[0310] An embodiment of the present application further provides a processing device, including a processor and an interface; the processor is used to execute the communication method in any of the above method embodiments.

[0311] 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.

[0312] 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.

[0313] 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.

[0314] 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.

[0315] 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.

[0316] 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 is essentially or the contributing part or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including 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 method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

[0317] 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 the present application. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for processing a data packet, characterized in that: The method is performed by a terminal device or a component of a terminal device, and the method includes: Get the packet loss ratio; Determine the packet loss strategy; The data packets in the data packet set are discarded according to the packet loss ratio and the packet loss strategy.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The packet loss strategy is: discarding data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in the set of data packets of low importance; or, Discarding data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in the set of data packets of high importance; or, discarding the data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in the data packet set of high importance and all data packets in the data packet set of low importance; or, Discarding data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in each of the data packet sets; or, Data packets corresponding to a first packet loss ratio in the data packet set of high importance and data packets corresponding to a second packet loss ratio in the data packet set of low importance are discarded, and the first packet loss ratio and the second packet loss ratio belong to the packet loss ratio.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: Get the packet loss ratio, including: Packet loss ratio information is received from a network device, where the packet loss ratio information indicates the packet loss ratio.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: Get the packet loss ratio, including: receiving configuration information from a network device, wherein the configuration information configures the terminal device or a component of the terminal device to discard data packets according to the redundancy of the data packet set; obtaining the redundancy; The packet loss ratio is determined according to the redundancy.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that Acquiring the redundancy includes: receiving redundancy information from an application layer, the redundancy information indicating the redundancy; The redundancy is determined according to the redundancy information.

6. The method according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that: The packet loss ratio is less than or equal to the redundancy.

7. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, characterized in that The method further comprises: Report capability information to the network device, where the capability information indicates whether the terminal device or a component of the terminal device has the capability to identify the redundancy information.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receive first indication information from a network device, where the first indication information indicates that the terminal device or a component of the terminal device begins to lose packets.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that The first indication information further indicates the packet loss strategy, and determining the packet loss strategy includes: Determine a packet loss strategy according to the first indication information.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that The method further comprises: Receive identification information corresponding to the data packet set sent from the network device, the identification information being at least one of a session identifier of a protocol data unit (PDU) session corresponding to the data packet set, a flow identifier of a quality of service (QoS) flow corresponding to the data packet set, and an identifier of a data radio bearer (DRB) corresponding to the data packet set.

11. A method for processing a data packet, characterized in that: include: The network device obtains the redundancy of the data packet set; The network device determines a packet loss ratio according to the redundancy, and the packet loss ratio is used to discard data packets; The network device sends packet loss ratio information to the terminal device, the packet loss ratio information indicates the packet loss ratio, and the packet loss ratio information configures the terminal device to discard data packets according to the packet loss ratio.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that The packet loss ratio is less than or equal to the redundancy.

13. The method according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that: The method further comprises: The network device sends first indication information to the terminal device, where the first indication information indicates that the terminal device starts to lose packets.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that The first indication information also indicates a packet loss strategy.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The packet loss strategy is: discarding data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in the set of data packets of low importance; or, Discarding data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in the set of data packets of high importance; or, discarding the data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in the data packet set of high importance and all data packets in the data packet set of low importance; or, Discarding data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in each of the data packet sets; or, Data packets corresponding to a first packet loss ratio in the data packet set of high importance and data packets corresponding to a second packet loss ratio in the data packet set of low importance are discarded, and the first packet loss ratio and the second packet loss ratio belong to the packet loss ratio.

16. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 15, characterized in that The method further comprises: The network device sends identification information corresponding to the data packet set to the terminal device, and the identification information is at least one of the session identifier of the protocol data unit PDU session corresponding to the data packet set, the flow identifier of the quality of service QoS flow corresponding to the data packet set, and the identifier of the data radio bearer DRB corresponding to the data packet set.

17. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 16, characterized in that The method further comprises: The network device sends third indication information to the terminal device, and the third indication information instructs the terminal device to stop discarding data packets.

18. A method for processing a data packet, characterized in that: include: The network device determines that redundancy exists in a collection of data packets; The network device sends configuration information to the terminal device, wherein the configuration information configures the terminal device to discard data packets according to the redundancy of the data packet set, wherein the redundancy is used to determine a packet loss ratio, and the packet loss ratio is used to discard data packets.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that The packet loss ratio is less than or equal to the redundancy.

20. The method according to claim 18 or 19, characterized in that The method further comprises: The network device receives capability information from the terminal device, where the capability information indicates whether the terminal device has the capability to identify redundancy information.

21. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 20, characterized in that The method further comprises: The network device sends first indication information to the terminal device, and the first indication information indicates that the terminal device starts to lose packets.

22. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that The first indication information also indicates a packet loss strategy.

23. The method according to claim 22, characterized in that The packet loss strategy is: discarding data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in the set of data packets of low importance; or, Discarding data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in the set of data packets of high importance; or, discarding the data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in the data packet set of high importance and all data packets in the data packet set of low importance; or, Discarding data packets corresponding to the packet loss ratio in each of the data packet sets; or, Data packets corresponding to a first packet loss ratio in the data packet set of high importance and data packets corresponding to a second packet loss ratio in the data packet set of low importance are discarded, and the first packet loss ratio and the second packet loss ratio belong to the packet loss ratio.

24. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 23, characterized in that The method further comprises: The network device sends identification information corresponding to the data packet set to the terminal device, and the identification information is at least one of the session identifier of the protocol data unit PDU session corresponding to the data packet set, the flow identifier of the quality of service QoS flow corresponding to the data packet set, and the identifier of the data radio bearer DRB corresponding to the data packet set.

25. The method according to any one of claims 18 to 24, characterized in that The method further comprises: The network device sends third indication information to the terminal device, and the third indication information instructs the terminal device to stop discarding data packets.

26. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A unit or module for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, or, A unit or module for implementing the method according to any one of claims 11 to 17, or, A unit or module for implementing the method according to any one of claims 18 to 25.

27. A communication system, characterized in that: include: a first communication device and a second communication device; The first communication device is used to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10; The second communication device is used to implement the method according to any one of claims 11 to 17, or to implement the method according to any one of claims 18 to 25.

28. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores computer instructions, and when the computer instructions are executed on a first communication device, the first communication device executes the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 10; or, when the computer instructions are executed on a second communication device, the second communication device executes the method as described in any one of claims 11 to 17, or, the second communication device executes the method as described in any one of claims 18 to 25.

29. A chip system, characterized in that: include: The chip includes a processor and a communication interface, and the processor reads instructions and runs through the communication interface. When the chip is installed in a first communication device, the first communication device executes the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 10; or, when the chip is installed in a second communication device, the second communication device executes the method as described in any one of claims 11 to 17, or, the second communication device executes the method as described in any one of claims 18 to 25.

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