Communication method, apparatus and system

Abstract

A communication method, apparatus and system, which can be applied to the technical field of communications. The method comprises: an access-communication-computing node acquiring computing task information, wherein the computing task information comprises performance requirements of a first computing task; the access-communication-computing node determining a first computing resource on the basis of a first communication resource and the performance requirements of the first computing task, wherein the first communication resource is a communication resource for the first computing task, and the first computing resource is used for executing the first computing task; and the access-communication-computing node determining a target node on the basis of the first computing resource, wherein the target node is used for executing the first computing task. The target node comprises the access-communication-computing node and / or one or more neighbor nodes of the access-communication-computing node. In the technical solution of the present application, a network device (e.g. an access-communication-computing node) can determine, on the basis of a communication resource for a computing task, a computing resource required by the computing task, so as to determine a node for providing the computing resource, thereby helping to ensure the performance of the computing task, for example, shortening the execution delay of the computing task.

Description

Communication method, device and system

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on December 27, 2023, with application number 202311830074.3 and application name “Communication Methods, Devices and Systems”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and more specifically, to a communication method, device, and system. Background Art

[0003] When an application client on a terminal device calls software code on a cloud server to perform computing tasks, this can be achieved by developing its own services (over the top, or OTT) based on the operator's broadband network. In this scenario, the network device only provides the Internet Protocol (IP) packet forwarding required for the software code call process and does not manage or schedule the computing resources of the compute nodes.

[0004] With the standardization of hardware computing devices and algorithm models, and the maturation of software technologies such as artificial intelligence and cloud computing, data volumes have exploded, and the demand for computing power has also increased. This has also led to the problem of uneven distribution of computing resources. To address this uneven distribution of computing resources, utilizing networks to schedule and allocate computing resources has become a current development trend. In the current technological context, computing-first networking (CFN) can be used to schedule and / or allocate computing resources. Through computing power routing, computing tasks of terminal devices are routed to the most suitable computing power location (or computing node).

[0005] However, when selecting computing nodes for terminal devices' computing tasks, routing devices in CFNs generally only consider whether each computing node has the software programs corresponding to the computing functions required by the terminal device, as well as the single-hop network transmission performance from the current node to the next hop node in the routing network. Routing devices in CFNs cannot obtain the status of the wireless bearer between the terminal device and the computing node, resulting in the routing device being unable to consider the overall communication performance from the terminal device to different computing nodes when selecting computing nodes. Taking latency performance as an example, if the communication delay from the terminal to each computing node is too long, the delay in the terminal receiving the output results of the computing task will not meet business requirements.

[0006] In view of this, a communication solution that can guarantee the performance of computing tasks (such as shorter latency) and meet the business needs of computing tasks is urgently needed to be developed. Summary of the Invention

[0007] The present application provides a communication method, device and system that can determine the computing resources required for a computing task based on the communication resources authorized for the computing task, and then determine the nodes that provide the computing resources, which helps to ensure the performance of the computing task.

[0008] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be executed by a network device with computing capabilities or a component (such as a chip or module) of a network device with computing capabilities. For example, the network device can be an access network device, or an access computing node. Alternatively, the method can be executed by a computing device with communication capabilities or a component (such as a chip or module) of a computing device with communication capabilities. The following description uses the access computing node as an example. In actual implementation, the method can be executed by other names.

[0009] The method includes: obtaining computing task information, which includes performance requirements of a first computing task; determining a first computing resource based on a first communication resource and the performance requirements of the first computing task, wherein the first communication resource is a communication resource used for the first computing task and the first computing resource is used to execute the first computing task; and determining a target node based on the first computing resource, wherein the target node is used to execute the first computing task.

[0010] The communication resources used for the first computing task can be understood as: communication resources pre-allocated to the first computing task by the access intermediary computing node, or communication resources pre-reserved for the first computing task by the access intermediary computing node. When the first computing task is actually executed, the pre-allocated or pre-reserved communication resources can be used to receive function calls and / or data of the first computing task, as well as to transmit the execution results of the first computing task. The communication resources used for the first computing task can also be referred to as: communication resources authorized for the first computing task.

[0011] In some implementations, the computing task information further includes first characteristic information of the first computing task, where the first characteristic information indicates the computational complexity and / or computational amount of the first computing task.

[0012] In the above technical solution, the access computing node can determine the communication performance (such as delay, data rate, etc.) between the terminal device and the access computing node based on the wireless communication resources authorized by itself for the first computing task, and then determine a more suitable target node for executing the first computing task to ensure the execution performance of the first computing task and meet the performance requirements of the first computing task, such as ensuring that the total delay in executing the first computing task is within the business demand range, or that the data processing speed matches the source data transmission rate of the data processing.

[0013] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first computing task includes at least one sub-computing task, and determining the target node based on the first computing resource includes: sending a first request message to the core network, the first request message is used to request the use of a second computing resource to execute at least one sub-computing task, and the first computing resource includes the second computing resource; receiving a first response message from the core network, the first response message indicates the first node, and the first node provides the second computing resource for the first computing task; and determining that the target node includes the first node based on the first response message.

[0014] In some implementations, the core network stores node resource information and function deployment information, the node resource information indicates the communication relationship or connection relationship between the access communication node and the neighboring nodes of the access communication node, and the function deployment information indicates the available computing resources of the neighboring nodes of the access communication node.

[0015] In the above technical solution, the core network has a relatively comprehensive grasp of the communication relationship between each node and the information on the available computing resources of each node, and can relatively quickly determine the collaborative node to perform the first computing task, which helps to save the communication overhead of accessing the general computing node to determine the target node.

[0016] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first computing task includes at least one sub-computing task, and determining the target node based on the first computing resource includes: sending a first request message to the second node, the first request message is used to request the use of the second computing resource to execute at least one sub-computing task, and the first computing resource includes the second computing resource; receiving a first response message from the second node, the first response message instructs the second node to determine to execute the first computing task, and the second node provides the second computing resource for the first computing task; and determining that the target node includes the second node based on the first response message.

[0017] In the above technical solution, the access computing node can determine the collaborative node that performs the first computing task without relying on the information stored in the core network, which helps to reduce the communication complexity in the process of determining the target node.

[0018] It should be noted that the first computing resource includes the second computing resource, which can be understood as: the second computing resource is the same as the first computing resource, that is, the second computing resource can be all the computing resources required for the first computing task; or, the second computing resource can also be a part of the first computing resource, that is, the second computing resource is part of the computing resources required for the first computing task.

[0019] In some implementations, the first request information may include information about the second computing resource, that is, directly indicating to the first node or the second node the second computing resource required for the first computing task.

[0020] In some implementations, if the second computing resource is a computing resource still required by the first computing task, in addition to the computing resource that the access communication node can provide for the first computing task, the first request information may include information about the first communication resource, information about the computing resource already provided by the access communication node for the first computing task, and at least one of the following: an identifier of the first computing task, first characteristic information of the first computing task, and performance requirements of the first computing task. In this way, the core network or the second node can determine the remaining computing resources required for the first computing task based on the first request information.

[0021] In some implementations, the first request information may include at least one of the following: an identifier of at least one sub-computing task, characteristic information of at least one sub-computing task, and performance requirements of at least one sub-computing task. The characteristic information of at least one sub-computing task indicates the computational complexity and / or computational effort of each sub-computing task within the at least one sub-computing task, or the characteristic information of at least one sub-computing task indicates the computational complexity and / or computational effort of the at least one sub-computing task as a whole. In this way, the core network or the second node can determine the second computing resources required for the at least one computing task based on the first request information.

[0022] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first request information includes: information about the first communication resource, and at least one of the following: an identifier of the first computing task, first characteristic information of the first computing task, and performance requirements of the first computing task; wherein the first characteristic information indicates the computational complexity and / or computational amount of the first computing task.

[0023] The first request information may include information about the first communication resource and an identifier of the first computing task, so that the core network or the second node determines the performance requirements and / or first characteristic information of the first computing task from the function deployment information based on the identifier of the first computing task, and then determines the second computing resource based on the first communication resource and the performance requirements of the first computing task; or determines the second computing resource based on the first communication resource and the first characteristic information. In this technical solution, the first request information only needs to carry information about the first communication resource and the identifier of the first computing task. Compared with the first request information carrying the performance requirements and / or first characteristic information of the first computing task, it can save the signaling overhead of the first request information.

[0024] The first request information may also include the performance requirements and / or first characteristic information of the first computing task, as well as information about the first communication resource. In this way, the core network or the second node can directly determine the second computing resource based on the performance requirements of the first computing task and the first communication resource. Alternatively, the second computing resource can be determined based on the first characteristic information and the first communication resource. This eliminates the need for the core network or the second node to query storage resources for the first characteristic information or the performance requirements of the first computing resource, thereby reducing processing complexity within the core network.

[0025] The first request information may also include the performance requirements and / or first feature information of the first computing task, as well as information about the first communication resource. This allows the core network or the second node to quickly determine the second computing resource and whether it can provide it, thereby improving the efficiency of requesting the collaborative node to process the first computing task.

[0026] It should be noted that when the first request information includes both the first feature information and the performance requirements of the first computing task, it helps to improve the accuracy of the second computing resource determined by the core network or the second node.

[0027] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving a second request message from a terminal device, the second request message being used to request a call to a function for executing the first computing task; and sending the second request message to a target node.

[0028] Exemplarily, the second request information may include a function call of the first computing task.

[0029] In the above technical solution, when the target node includes the first node or the second node, the second request information is sent to the cooperation node, so that the cooperation node performs the first computing task.

[0030] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving first data from a terminal device, the first data including data requested to be processed by the first computing task; and sending the first data to a target node.

[0031] In the above technical solution, when the target node includes the first node or the second node, the first data is sent to the cooperation node so that the cooperation node executes the first computing task to process the relevant data.

[0032] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: updating or creating a communication connection, where the communication connection is used to carry function calls and / or data transmission of the first computing task.

[0033] In some implementations, the function call of the first computing task carried by the communication connection may include the above-mentioned second request information, and the data of the first computing task carried by the communication connection may include the above-mentioned first data.

[0034] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first computing task includes at least one sub-computing task, and the method further includes: selecting at least one function instance from multiple function instances, or triggering the deployment of at least one function instance; at least one function instance is associated with a third computing resource, the third computing resource is used to execute at least one sub-computing task, and the first computing resource includes the third computing resource.

[0035] Among them, at least one function instance is associated with the third computing resource, which can be understood as: calling the third computing resource through at least one function instance; for example, the access common computing node calls the third computing resource in the virtual machine through at least one function instance.

[0036] It should be noted that the first computing resource includes the third computing resource, which can be understood as: the third computing resource is the same as the first computing resource, that is, the third computing resource can be all the computing resources required for the first computing task; or, the third computing resource can also be a part of the first computing resource, that is, the third computing resource is part of the computing resources required for the first computing task.

[0037] In the above technical solution, the access computing node provides part or all of the computing resources for the first computing task based on its own available computing resources, which helps to improve the completion speed of the first computing task and reduce the impact of the communication delay introduced by requesting computing resources from neighboring nodes on the performance of the first computing task.

[0038] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method also includes: receiving a first message from a third node, the first message indicating switching of at least one computing task, wherein the at least one computing task includes the first computing task, the at least one computing task is provided with communication resources by a fourth node, and the third node includes the fourth node; and sending a response message to the first message to the third node.

[0039] In some implementations, the fourth node is a source access node, and the third node may also be a core network.

[0040] In some implementations, the first computing task is a computing task being executed when the switching occurs, and the above-mentioned obtaining computing task information may also include: obtaining the computing task information through a first message.

[0041] In the above technical solution, when switching occurs, the first message can be used to determine which computing tasks may need to provide communication resources in the future, which helps the access computing node to plan communication resources in advance.

[0042] In some implementations, the method further includes: sending a second message to the target access computing node, the second message indicating switching of at least one computing task, wherein the at least one computing task includes the first computing task; and receiving a response message to the second message from the target access computing node.

[0043] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first message includes at least one of the following: performance requirements for each computing task in at least one computing task; characteristic information of each computing task, the characteristic information indicating the computational complexity and / or computational amount of each computing task; information of the node that provides computing resources for each computing task; or information of the available computing resources of the node that provides computing resources for each computing task.

[0044] In some implementations, the first message may also include information about the computing task being executed, such as an identifier of the computing task being executed, a collaborative node that provides computing resources for the computing task being executed, and other information.

[0045] In the above technical solution, receiving computing task-related information from the source access computing node via a first message eliminates the need for the terminal device to notify the access computing node of computing task-related information via the core network, thereby reducing the processing complexity of the terminal device requesting the computing task. Furthermore, if a computing task is already executing when a handover occurs, receiving computing task-related information from the source access computing node via a first message helps ensure the continuity of the ongoing computing task, thereby reducing the impact of the handover on the computing task's performance.

[0046] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the response message of the first message includes at least one of the following: function call information, the function call information includes the address of the terminal device remotely calling at least one computing task; or, node information, the node information indicates a newly added node relative to the fourth node for providing computing resources for at least one computing task.

[0047] In some implementations, the address of the terminal device remotely calling at least one computing task may include: the IP address of the target access computing node and / or the port number of the target access node.

[0048] In some implementations, the function call information also includes computing task call identification information, which may include: the function name of the computing power function required to execute the computing task, the application programming interface (API) name or universal identifier of the computing power function required to execute the computing task, and a temporary identifier assigned to the computing task, etc.

[0049] In the above technical solution, the function call and / or the information of the newly added collaborative node is sent to the source access computing node through the response message of the first message, so that the source access computing node can determine that it can continue to provide the address for remote call of at least one computing task during the switching process.

[0050] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method also includes: receiving first indication information from the core network, the first indication information being used to indicate at least one of the following: providing communication resources to at least one computing task; providing communication resources and computing resources to at least one computing task; or, at least one computing task is a computing task authorized by the core network; at least one computing task includes the first computing task.

[0051] In the above technical solution, through the first indication information, the access computing node can determine for which computing tasks communication resources need to be provided.

[0052] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the first indication information also includes characteristic information and / or performance requirements of each computing task in at least one computing task; wherein the characteristic information indicates the computational complexity and / or computational amount of each computing task.

[0053] In some implementations, the obtaining of computing task information may include: obtaining computing task information according to first indication information.

[0054] For example, the first indication information further instructs the access computing node to provide computing resources for the first computing task, and the access computing node obtains the computing task information from the first indication information.

[0055] For another example, the access computing node stores the content included in the first indication information. Further, the access computing node receives a call request for a first computing task from a terminal device, the call request including an identifier of the first computing task. The access computing node then obtains the computing task information from the stored content included in the first indication information based on the identifier of the first computing task.

[0056] In the above technical solution, through the first indication information, the access computing node can obtain the characteristic information and / or performance requirements of each computing task in at least one computing task, which facilitates the access computing node to subsequently determine the computing resources required for a certain computing task, and / or determine the target node for the computing task.

[0057] In combination with the first aspect, in certain implementations of the first aspect, the method also includes: receiving a third request information from a terminal device, the third request information being used to request calling the first computing task, the third request information including an identifier of the first computing task; obtaining computing task information, including: obtaining computing task information according to the identifier of the first computing task.

[0058] In some implementations, the third request information is primarily used to initiate a first computing task, where initiating the first computing task includes providing or allocating communication resources and computing resources for the first computing task. The third request information may also be used to request execution of a first portion of subtasks within the first computing task, i.e., requesting the invocation of certain functions to execute the first portion of subtasks. The second request information may be used to request execution of a second portion of subtasks within the first computing task, i.e., requesting the invocation of certain functions to execute the second portion of subtasks. The first portion of subtasks and the second portion of subtasks may or may not overlap.

[0059] That is, the third request information may include one or more function calls of the first computing task, that is, the third request information may include the second request information; or, the third request information may not include the second request information.

[0060] In the above technical solution, the access computing node can determine the target node that provides computing resources for the first computing task based on the request of the terminal device.

[0061] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the performance requirement of the first computing task indicates the computing delay of executing the first computing task, or the total delay of executing the first computing task, where the total delay includes communication delay and computing delay.

[0062] When the performance requirement of the first computing task indicates the total delay of the first computing task, the above technical solution helps to reduce the end-to-end delay during the execution of the first computing task, that is, the total delay from the terminal device issuing a call request for the computing task to the terminal device receiving the execution result of the computing task.

[0063] In combination with the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: receiving a network access request from a terminal device, where the network access request is used to request access to a current node.

[0064] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a network device having computing task control capabilities, or by a component of a network device having computing task control capabilities. For example, the network device can be a core network.

[0065] The method includes: receiving a fourth request message from a terminal device, the fourth request message including information about at least one computing task requested to be called by the terminal device; sending a second response message to the terminal device according to the fourth request message, the second response message including function call information of an access computing node, the function call information including an address of at least one computing task remotely called by the terminal device and / or computing task call identification information.

[0066] Exemplarily, the computing task identification information is some identification information used to identify the computing task, such as the function name of the computing power function required to execute the computing task, the API name or universal identifier of the computing power function required to execute the computing task, and a temporary identifier assigned to the current computing task. In the above technical solution, the core network can determine the function call information of the access common computing node for the computing task requested by the terminal device to ensure the smooth invocation of the computing task.

[0067] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method also includes: sending first indication information to the fifth node, the first indication information being used to indicate at least one of the following: the fifth node provides communication resources to at least one computing task; the fifth node provides communication resources and computing resources to at least one computing task; or, at least one computing task is a computing task authorized by the core network.

[0068] Exemplarily, the fifth node may be a device that executes the method in any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

[0069] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the first indication information includes characteristic information and / or performance requirements of each computing task in at least one computing task; wherein the characteristic information indicates the computational complexity and / or computational amount of each computing task.

[0070] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, at least one computing task includes a second computing task, and the method further includes: determining that a sixth node provides computing resources for the second computing task based on second characteristic information of the second computing task and at least one of the performance requirements of the second computing task, the available computing resources of the fifth node, and the available computing resources of each node in at least one node, the second characteristic information indicates the computational complexity and / or computational amount of the second computing task, and the at least one node includes the sixth node; and sending first information to the sixth node, the first information including information of the second computing task.

[0071] In the above technical solution, the core network directly (or actively) determines the collaborative node that performs the second computing task, which helps to reduce the computing load and processing complexity of the access computing node.

[0072] In some implementations, the first information includes information about computing resources required for the second computing task, wherein the computing resources required for the second computing task can be determined by the core network based on the second feature information and / or performance requirements of the second computing task.

[0073] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first information includes at least one of the second feature information and the performance requirement of the second computing task, and an identifier of the second computing task.

[0074] In some implementations, the performance requirement of the second computing task indicates a computing delay required by the second computing task. Alternatively, the second computing task may indicate a total delay required by the second computing task, where the total delay includes a communication delay and a computing delay.

[0075] In the above technical solution, notifying the sixth node of the identifier of the second computing task through the first information helps the sixth node prepare a function instance for the second computing task; notifying the sixth node of the performance requirements and / or second characteristic information of the second computing task through the first information helps the sixth node determine the computing resources required for the second computing task.

[0076] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the first indication information also includes information that the sixth node provides computing resources for the second computing task.

[0077] In the above technical solution, the first indication information carries information that the sixth node provides computing resources for the second computing task, which helps the access computing node to forward the function call and / or data of the second computing task to the sixth node in a timely manner when receiving the function call and / or data of the second computing task, thereby helping to ensure the performance of the second computing task.

[0078] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: obtaining node resource information, the node resource information indicating a connection relationship between the fifth node and at least one node; and determining the sixth node from at least one node based on the node resource information.

[0079] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: obtaining function deployment information, the function deployment information indicating the available computing resources of the fifth node and the available computing resources of each node.

[0080] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, at least one computing task includes a first computing task, the first computing task includes at least one sub-computing task, and the method further includes: receiving a first request message from a fifth node, the first request message being used to request execution of at least one sub-computing task using a second computing resource; determining the second computing resource based on the first request message; determining the first node based on the available computing resources of each node in at least one node and the second computing resource, wherein at least one node includes the first node; and sending a first response message to the fifth node, the first response message instructing the first node to provide the second computing resource for the first computing task.

[0081] In combination with the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: sending second information to the first node, where the second information instructs the first node to provide a second computing resource for the first computing task.

[0082] In some implementations, the second information may include information of the second computing resource, so that the first node determines a function instance associated with the second computing resource for the first computing task based on the second information.

[0083] In yet other implementations, the second information may include information about the first communication resource and at least one of the following: an identifier of the first computing task, first characteristic information of the first computing task, and performance requirements of the first computing task. This enables the first node to determine the second computing resource required by the first computing task and, further, to determine a function instance associated with the second computing resource for the first computing task.

[0084] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the first request information includes: information about the first communication resource, and at least one of the following: an identifier of the first computing task, first characteristic information of the first computing task, and performance requirements of the first computing task; wherein the first communication resource is the communication resource used by the fifth node for the first computing task, and the first characteristic information indicates the computational complexity and / or computational amount of the first computing task.

[0085] In combination with the second aspect, in certain implementations of the second aspect, the performance requirement of the first computing task indicates the computing delay of executing the first computing task, or the total delay of executing the first computing task, where the total delay includes communication delay and computing delay.

[0086] The beneficial effects not described in detail in the second aspect can be referred to the description in the first aspect and will not be repeated here.

[0087] In a third aspect, a communication method is provided. This method can be performed by a network device with computing capabilities, or a component (such as a chip or module) of a network device with computing capabilities. For example, the network device can be a network device adjacent to the network device performing the method in any implementation of the first aspect, such as a neighboring node of an access node. Alternatively, the method can be performed by a computing device with communication capabilities, or a component (such as a chip or module) of a computing device with communication capabilities.

[0088] The method includes: receiving third information from a seventh node, the third information including information for determining computing resources, the computing resources being used to execute a first computing task; determining computing resources based on the third information; and determining whether to provide computing resources for the first computing task or not to provide computing resources for the first computing task based on the computing resources and the available computing resources of the current node.

[0089] In some implementations, the seventh node may be an access and computing node, or may be a core network. When the seventh node is an access and computing node, the third information is the first request information in the first aspect or the second aspect. When the seventh node is a core network, the third information is the first information or the second information in the second aspect.

[0090] Exemplarily, the current node is a collaboration node.

[0091] In the above technical solution, the collaboration node may determine whether to provide computing resources for the first computing task based on the third information and its own available computing resources.

[0092] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the third information includes: information of the first communication resource, and at least one of the following: an identifier of the first computing task, first characteristic information of the first computing task, and performance requirements of the first computing task; wherein, the first communication resource is the communication resource used by the fifth node for the first computing task, and the first characteristic information indicates the computational complexity and / or computational amount of the first computing task.

[0093] Exemplarily, the third information is the first request information or the first information.

[0094] In some implementations, the third information may also include information about computing resources required for the first computing task. In this case, the third information is the first information or the second information.

[0095] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the method further includes: when the current node provides computing resources for the first computing task, determining one or more function instances, at least one of the one or more function instances is associated with the first computing task.

[0096] In the above technical solution, the collaborative node can prepare multiple function instances for the first computing task. When actually executing the first computing task, it selects at least one from the multiple function instances to execute the computing task. This helps to provide sufficient computing resources for the first computing task when actually executing the first computing task, thereby ensuring the performance of the first computing task.

[0097] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the method also includes: receiving a second request message from a fifth node, the second request message being used to request a call to a function for executing the first computing task; and executing the first computing task according to the second request message and at least one of the one or more function instances.

[0098] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the method further includes: receiving first data from a fifth node, the first data being data requested to be processed by a first computing task; and processing the first data using at least one of the one or more function instances.

[0099] In combination with the third aspect, in certain implementations of the third aspect, the method further includes: sending a third response message to the seventh node, the third response message indicating that the current node provides computing resources for the first computing task, or that the current node does not provide computing resources for the first computing task.

[0100] In the above technical solution, a third response message is sent to the seventh node to enable the seventh node to determine whether to redetermine a cooperating node. If the third response message indicates that the current cooperating node does not provide computing resources for the first computing task, the seventh node redetermines a cooperating node, thereby helping to ensure the smooth execution of the first computing task. If the third response message indicates that the current cooperating node provides computing resources for the first computing task, the seventh node no longer redetermines a cooperating node, thereby helping to reduce the processing complexity of the seventh node.

[0101] The beneficial effects not described in detail in the third aspect can be referred to the description in the first aspect or the second aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0102] In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a terminal device or by a component (such as a chip or module) of the terminal device.

[0103] The method includes: sending a fourth request message to the core network, the fourth request message including information of at least one computing task requested to be called by the terminal device; receiving a second response message from the core network, the second response message including function call information of the fifth node, the function call information including the address of remotely calling at least one computing task and / or computing task call identification information.

[0104] In the above technical solution, the terminal device determines the destination address of the access node based on the second response information, and the destination address is used to receive a remote call request for at least one computing task; further, the terminal device can send function calls and / or data of the computing task to the destination address.

[0105] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, the method further includes: sending a network access request to a fifth node, where the network access request is used to request access to the current node.

[0106] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, at least one computing task includes a first computing task, and the method further includes: sending a second request message to the fifth node, where the second request message is used to request a call to a function that executes the first computing task.

[0107] In combination with the fourth aspect, in certain implementations of the fourth aspect, at least one computing task includes a first computing task, and the method further includes: sending first data to the fifth node, where the first data is data requested to be processed by the first computing task.

[0108] In some implementations, the at least one computing task includes a first computing task, and the method further includes: sending a third request message to the fifth node, where the third request message is used to request calling the first computing task, and the third request message includes an identifier of the first computing task.

[0109] In some implementations, the method further includes: receiving a switching command from a current access computing node, the switching command including function call information of a target access computing node, the function call information indicating an address of the terminal device to remotely call at least one computing task.

[0110] In some implementations, the first computing task is a computing task currently being executed by the access computing node, and the method further includes: sending the function call and / or data of the first computing task to the address of the target access computing node indicated by the function call information according to the switching command.

[0111] The beneficial effects not described in detail in the fourth aspect can be referred to the description in the first aspect, the second aspect or the third aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0112] In the fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device. The communication device may be a device or apparatus with a chip, or a device or apparatus integrated with a circuit, or a chip, chip system, module or control unit in the aforementioned device or apparatus, and this application does not limit it. It should be noted that, in this application, when referring to a communication device, it may refer to the communication device itself, or to a chip, functional module or integrated circuit in the communication device that completes the method provided in this application, and this application does not limit it. The device is used to execute the method provided in any one of the first to fourth aspects above. Specifically, the device may include units and / or modules for executing the method provided in any one of the implementation modes of the first to fourth aspects.

[0113] When the device is used to perform the method provided in any one of the implementations of the first aspect, the device may include an acquisition unit (or acquisition module) and a processing unit (or processing module). Optionally, the device may also include a transceiver unit (or transceiver module). In some implementations, the transceiver unit includes an acquisition unit, and the acquisition unit may be a receiving unit in the transceiver unit.

[0114] When the device is used to execute the method provided in any one of the implementations of the second aspect to the fourth aspect, the device may include a transceiver unit and a processing unit.

[0115] In some implementations, the processing unit may be at least one processor. The transceiver unit may be a transceiver or an input / output interface. Alternatively, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit. Alternatively, the input / output interface may be an input / output circuit.

[0116] In some implementations, the communication device is a chip, chip system, or circuit in a terminal device or network device (such as an access node, core network, or collaboration node). The transceiver unit can be an input / output interface, interface circuit, output circuit, input circuit, pin, or related circuit on the chip, chip system, or circuit. The processing unit can be at least one processor, processing circuit, or logic circuit.

[0117] In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a processor for executing the methods provided in the above aspects. For operations such as sending and receiving involved in the processor, unless otherwise specified, or unless otherwise inconsistent with its actual function or inherent logic in the relevant description, it can be understood as operations such as processor output, reception, and input, and can also be understood as sending and receiving operations performed by the radio frequency circuit and antenna, and this application does not limit this.

[0118] In combination with the sixth aspect, in certain implementations of the sixth aspect, the processor is arranged in a communication device, and the communication device is any one of a terminal device, an access node, a core network or a collaborative node.

[0119] In the seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which includes a terminal device, an access computing node and a core network. The access computing node can execute the method provided by any one of the implementation methods in the above-mentioned first aspect; the core network can execute the method provided by any one of the implementation methods in the above-mentioned second aspect; the terminal device can execute the method provided by any one of the implementation methods in the above-mentioned fourth aspect.

[0120] In combination with the seventh aspect, in some implementations of the seventh aspect, the communication system further includes a cooperation node, which can execute the method provided in any implementation of the third aspect.

[0121] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium stores instructions or program codes, which, when executed by a processor, can implement the method provided in any one of the implementations of the first to fourth aspects above.

[0122] In a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions. When the computer program product is run on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method provided in any one of the implementations of the first to fourth aspects above.

[0123] In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip. The chip includes a processor and a communication interface, and the processor reads instructions stored in a memory through the communication interface to execute the method provided in any one of the implementation modes of the first to fourth aspects above.

[0124] Optionally, as an implementation method, the chip also includes a memory, in which a computer program or instruction is stored, and the processor is used to execute the computer program or instruction stored in the memory. When the computer program or instruction is executed, the processor is used to execute the method provided in any one of the implementation methods of the first to fourth aspects above.

[0125] The beneficial effects brought about by the above-mentioned fifth to tenth aspects can be specifically referred to the description of the beneficial effects in the first to fourth aspects, and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0126] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system used in an embodiment of the present application.

[0127] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of another communication system applied in an embodiment of the present application.

[0128] FIG3 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0129] FIG4 is another exemplary flowchart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0130] FIG5 is another exemplary flowchart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0131] FIG6 is another exemplary flowchart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0132] FIG7 is another exemplary flowchart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0133] FIG8 is another exemplary flowchart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0134] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0135] FIG10 is another schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0136] FIG11 is another schematic diagram of the communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

[0137] FIG12 is a schematic diagram of a chip system provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0138] The technical solution in this application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0139] In order to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the following points are first explained.

[0140] 1. Unless otherwise specified, “plurality” means two or more.

[0141] 2. Unless otherwise specified or there is no logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between different embodiments of this application are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments based on their internal logical relationships.

[0142] 3. The various numerical numbers involved in this application are only used for the convenience of description and are not used to limit the scope of protection of this application. The size of the serial numbers involved in this application does not mean the order of execution. The order of execution of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic. For example, the terms "first", "second", "third", "fourth" and other various terminology labels (if any) in the specification and claims and drawings of this application are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. Among them, the data used in this way can be interchangeable where appropriate, so that the embodiments described here can be implemented in an order other than what is illustrated or described here.

[0143] At the same time, any embodiment or design described in this application as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or designs. Specifically, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete manner to facilitate understanding.

[0144] 4. The terms "comprise" and "have" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, product or apparatus that includes a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units explicitly listed, but may include other steps or units not explicitly listed or inherent to such process, method, product or apparatus.

[0145] 5. In this application, "used to indicate" can be understood as "enabling," and "enabling" can include direct enabling and indirect enabling. When describing that certain information is used to enable A, it can include that the information directly enables A or indirectly enables A, and does not necessarily mean that the information contains A.

[0146] The information enabled by the information is called information to be enabled. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to enable the enabled information, such as but not limited to, directly enabling the information to be enabled, such as the information to be enabled itself or the index of the information to be enabled. The information to be enabled can also be indirectly enabled by enabling other information, wherein there is an association between the other information and the information to be enabled. It is also possible to enable only a part of the information to be enabled, while the other parts of the information to be enabled are known or agreed in advance. For example, it is also possible to enable specific information with the help of the arrangement order of each piece of information agreed in advance (such as specified in the protocol), thereby reducing the enabling overhead to a certain extent. At the same time, it is also possible to identify the common parts of each piece of information and enable them uniformly to reduce the enabling overhead caused by enabling the same information separately.

[0147] 6. In this application, "pre-configuration" may include pre-definition, such as protocol definition. "Pre-definition" may be implemented by pre-storing corresponding codes, tables, or other methods that can be used to indicate relevant information in a device (e.g., including each network element). This application does not limit the specific implementation method.

[0148] 7. "Storage" or "saving" as used in this application may refer to storage in one or more memories. The one or more memories may be provided separately or integrated into an encoder or decoder, a processor, or a communication device. The one or more memories may also be provided in part separately and in part integrated into a decoder, processor, or communication device. The type of memory may be any form of storage medium and is not limited thereto.

[0149] 8. The “protocol” referred to in this application may refer to a standard protocol in the field of communications, such as the fourth generation (4G) th generation, 4G) network, fifth generation (5 th This application does not limit the present invention to the 5G generation (5G) network protocol, the new radio (NR) protocol, the 5.5G network protocol, and related protocols used in future communication systems.

[0150] 9. The arrows or boxes indicated by dotted lines in the schematic diagrams in the accompanying drawings of this application specification represent optional steps or optional modules.

[0151] 10. Unless otherwise specified, “ / ” indicates that the objects associated with each other are in an “or” relationship. For example, A / B can mean A or B. “And / or” in this application is only a description of the association relationship between the associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. A and B can be singular or plural.

[0152] For ease of understanding, the communication system shown in FIG1 is used as an example to describe the communication system applicable to various embodiments of the present application.

[0153] As shown in Figure 1 , the communications system includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network (CN) 200. RAN 100 includes at least one RAN node (e.g., 110a and 110b in Figure 1 , collectively referred to as 110) and at least one terminal device (e.g., 120a-120j in Figure 1 , collectively referred to as 120). The RAN may also include other RAN nodes, such as wireless relay devices and / or wireless backhaul devices (not shown in Figure 1 ). Terminal device 120 is wirelessly connected to RAN node 110. RAN node 110 is wirelessly or wiredly connected to core network 200. The core network devices in core network 200 and RAN node 110 in RAN 100 may be separate physical devices, or they may be a single physical device that integrates core network logical functions and radio access network logical functions.

[0154] The RAN 100 may be a cellular system related to the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as a 4G, 5G, non-terrestrial network (NTN) system, or a future-oriented evolutionary system. The RAN 100 may also be an open access network (O-RAN or ORAN), a cloud radio access network (CRAN), or a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) system, or a communication system that integrates two or more of the above systems.

[0155] In a communication system, a device can send signals to or receive signals from another device. Signals can include information, signaling, or data. Devices can also be replaced by entities, network entities, communication devices, communication modules, nodes, communication nodes, etc. The embodiments of this application are described using devices as an example.

[0156] In an embodiment of the present application, the terminal device 120 is a device with wireless transceiver functions, which may refer to user equipment (UE), access terminal, subscriber unit, user station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, wireless communication device, user agent or user device.

[0157] In the embodiment of the present application, the terminal device 120 may also be a satellite phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a wireless data card, a wireless modem, a machine type communication device, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a customer-premises equipment (CPE), a smart point of sale (POS) machine, a handheld device with wireless communication capabilities, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, an on-board device, a communication device carried on a high-altitude aircraft, a wearable device, a drone, a robot, a terminal in device-to-device (D2D) communication, a terminal in vehicle-to-everything (V2X), a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self-driving, a remote medical device, or a similar device. In the embodiments of the present application, the device for realizing the function of the terminal device may be a terminal device, or a device capable of supporting the terminal device to realize the function, such as a chip system or a chip, which may be installed in the terminal device. In the embodiments of the present application, the chip system may be composed of chips, or may include chips and other discrete devices.

[0158] In the embodiments of the present application, the RAN node 110 may also be referred to as an access network device, an access node, or a RAN entity, and is used to help terminal devices achieve wireless access. Multiple RAN nodes 110 may be nodes of the same type or different types. In some scenarios, the roles of the RAN node 110 and the terminal device 120 are relative. For example, the network element 120i in Figure 1 may be a helicopter or a drone, which may be configured as a mobile base station. For terminal devices 120j that access the RAN 100 through the network element 120i, the network element 120i is a base station; but for the base station 110a, the network element 120i is a terminal device. The RAN node 110 and the terminal device 120 are sometimes referred to as communication devices. For example, 110a and 110b in Figure 1 may be understood as communication devices with base station functions, and the network elements 120a-120j may be understood as communication devices with terminal functions.

[0159] In one possible scenario, the RAN node 110 may be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), an access point (AP), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next generation NodeB (gNB), a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a WiFi system. The RAN node may be a macro base station (such as 110a in FIG1 ), a micro base station or an indoor station (such as 110b in FIG1 ), a relay node or a donor node, or a wireless controller in a CRAN scenario. Optionally, the RAN node may also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle, or an onboard device. For example, the access network device in V2X technology may be a road side unit (RSU).

[0160] In another possible scenario, multiple RAN nodes collaborate to assist terminals in achieving wireless access, with different RAN nodes implementing portions of the base station's functionality. For example, a RAN node can be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU). The CU and DU can be separate or included in the same network element, such as the baseband unit (BBU). The CU and DU nodes split the gNB's protocol layers, centrally controlling some protocol layer functions within the CU and distributing some or all of the remaining protocol layer functions within the DU, which is then centrally controlled by the CU. As an implementation method, the CU is deployed with the radio resource control (RRC) layer, the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, and the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer in the protocol stack; the DU is deployed with the radio link control (RLC) layer, the media access control (MAC) layer, and the physical layer (PHY) in the protocol stack. Thus, the CU has the processing capabilities of RRC, PDCP, and SDAP. The DU has the processing capabilities of RLC, MAC, and PHY. It will be understood that the above functional division is only an example and does not constitute a limitation on the CU and DU. The RU may be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, for example, in a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0161] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, CU may also be called O-CU (Open CU), DU may also be called O-DU, CU-CP may also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be called O-CU-UP, and RU may also be called O-RU. For the convenience of description, this application uses CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU as examples for description. Any unit of CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in this application can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0162] In the embodiment of the present application, the core network 200 refers to the equipment in the core network (CN) that provides service support for the terminal device 120. At present, some examples of core network equipment 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 access management and mobility management of terminal devices; 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 entities in this application can also be referred to as network elements or functional entities. For example, the AMF entity can also be referred to as AMF network element or AMF functional entity. For another example, the SMF entity can also be referred to as SMF network element or SMF functional entity, etc.

[0163] In the embodiments of the present application, the device for implementing the functions of the network device can be a network device; it can also be a device that can support the network device to implement the functions, such as a chip system, a hardware circuit, a software module, or a hardware circuit and a software module. The device can be installed in the network device or used in conjunction with the network device. In the embodiments of the present application, only the device for implementing the functions of the network device is used as an example to illustrate, and does not constitute a limitation on the solutions of the embodiments of the present application.

[0164] It should be noted that the embodiments of the present application do not limit the scenarios in which the network device is located. In addition, the network device can be a hardware device, or a software function running on dedicated hardware, or a software function running on general-purpose hardware, for example, an entity including dedicated or general-purpose hardware devices and software functions. The present application does not limit the specific form of the network device.

[0165] As mentioned above, under the current technical background, when network devices select computing nodes to perform computing tasks, they only consider the balance of network load or the distance of communication paths, so that the selected computing nodes may not be nodes with better computing resources, resulting in a large delay in the execution of computing tasks.

[0166] In view of this, the present application provides a communication method, apparatus, and system. A network device (hereinafter referred to as an access computing node) or core network with computing capabilities that can provide access services to terminal devices can determine whether an access communication node or a neighboring node of the access communication node can provide computing resources for a computing task requested by the terminal device, based on the performance requirements of the computing task and the wireless communication resources provided by the access computing node for the computing task. Furthermore, a node whose available computing resources can support the performance requirements of the computing task is selected to provide computing resources for the computing task, thereby ensuring the performance of the computing task.

[0167] In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solution of this application, the relevant terms involved in this application are introduced below.

[0168] 1. Communication computing node: also known as communication computing node, a network device with computing functions and capable of providing communication functions.

[0169] 2. Computing Function: Software program code written to support computing and processing specified data according to a specified algorithm. For example, this computing and processing may include: video stream transcoding, image rendering, image detection, artificial intelligence (AI) calculations, etc.

[0170] 3. Computing function instance: The computing function code is installed on the computing node, and the application after the function startup operation is completed, hereinafter referred to as the function instance.

[0171] 4. Deploying a computing function: This process, also known as launching a computing function instance, involves deploying the function code to a compute node, starting or activating the function, and generating a function instance. It should be noted that after a function is launched, the function instance can perform the computing and processing functions of the computing function. This is referred to as "deploying a function" or "deploying a function instance" hereafter.

[0172] 5. Computing function call: Use a deployed function instance to perform calculations on specified data, hereinafter referred to as function call.

[0173] 6. Computing task: also known as computing power task, refers to the task that the caller of the computing power function proposes to the service system that provides the computing power function to perform a certain calculation to complete a certain computing processing function through a function call, such as performing video transcoding operations on specified data to realize the video transcoding function, or performing rendering calculations on specified images to realize rendering effects, etc. The execution of a computing task includes one or more function calls. The above-mentioned multiple function calls can be multiple function calls within a continuous period of time; or, multiple function calls can also be multiple calls to a type of function instance within a non-continuous period of time, such as calls to function instances that are all used for image rendering, or calls to function instances used for image detection (such as foreign body detection).

[0174] 7. Computing service: also known as computing service, refers to a cloud computing service signed between an operator or cloud service provider and a third-party customer, which can provide the caller of the computing function with resources to perform one or more computing tasks. An operator or cloud service provider and a third-party customer may contract for computing services, such as cloud rendering services, in the form of functional descriptions. Alternatively, an operator or cloud service provider and a third-party customer may contract for computing services by specifying the online operation of a specific computing function, such as the amount of computing resources required for a computing function and the computing resource sharing model between function instances. Alternatively, an operator or cloud service provider and a third-party customer may further agree on service level agreement (SLA) requirements for one or more cloud computing services in the service contract. The SLA requirements for a cloud computing service may indicate the computing performance required to be provided by the cloud computing service. For example, the SLA requirements may indicate the latency required for a function instance to execute a computing task. If the computing task is an image rendering task, the latency required to execute the computing task may be the time required to render a frame of image. Alternatively, the SLA requirements for a cloud computing service may also indicate the computing performance and communication performance required to be provided by the cloud computing service. For example, the SLA requirements may indicate the total latency from the time a terminal device issues a computing task request to the time the terminal device receives the computing task execution result. If the computing task is an image rendering task, the total latency may be the total time from the time a terminal device issues an image rendering request to the time the terminal device receives the image rendering result.

[0175] In the embodiments of the present application, a computing service identifier may be used to identify a computing service, and a computing task identifier may be used to identify a computing task. It should be noted that in some implementations, a strict distinction between computing services and computing tasks is not made, nor is a strict distinction between computing service identifiers and computing task identifiers. For example, a computing service identifier may also be referred to by a computing task identifier.

[0176] Figure 2 shows another schematic block diagram of a communication system provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 2, the communication system may include a terminal device 10, a service access computing node 20, and a core network 30. Optionally, the communication system may also include at least one collaborative access computing node (such as collaborative access computing nodes 21 to 2n, n is a positive integer); the communication system may also include at least one collaborative core computing node (such as collaborative core computing nodes 31 to 3n, n is a positive integer). Among them, the terminal device 10 may include any one of the terminal devices 120 shown in Figure 1; the service access computing node 20 may include the RAN node 110 in Figure 1; at least one collaborative access computing node may also include the RAN node 110 in Figure 1; at least one collaborative core computing node may include the core network 200 in Figure 1; the core network 30 may communicate with each computing node through the control plane, and the above-mentioned control plane may include one or more control plane functional entities in the core network 200.

[0177] In actual implementation, the above-mentioned inter-computing nodes (such as service access inter-computing nodes, collaborative access inter-computing nodes, and collaborative core inter-computing nodes) may have, in addition to the communication function, some or all of the following functions:

[0178] 1) Computing task decision-making function, that is, determining whether its own computing resources are sufficient to perform local computing tasks. The above local computing tasks can be computing tasks requested by terminal devices or other general computing nodes, or they can also be computing tasks assigned by the core network.

[0179] 2) Control functions of function instances, including deploying function instances to virtualized hardware platforms and / or managing virtualized resources.

[0180] 3) Provide the virtualized resources required to run the computing function. These virtualized resources include communication resources, computing resources, and storage resources. More specifically, computing resources include virtualized central processing unit (CPU) resources and memory resources.

[0181] 4) Provide call processing for the terminal device 10 to call the computing power function API, or, it can also provide forwarding the call request of the terminal device 10 to call the computing power function to other general computing nodes (such as the general computing node that provides the function instance); or, it can also forward the data file that the terminal device needs to process to other general computing nodes (such as the general computing node that provides the function instance).

[0182] In particular, the service access computing node 20 is further configured to establish a communication connection with the terminal device 10 according to a computing task call request from the terminal device 10. The communication connection is used to carry function calls or computing task data.

[0183] It should be noted that the communication delay between at least one collaborative access computing node and at least one collaborative core computing node and the service access computing node 20 meets the delay requirement. For example, the communication delay between at least one collaborative access computing node or at least one collaborative core computing node and the service access computing node 20 is less than or equal to the delay threshold. The delay threshold can be 1 millisecond, 2 milliseconds, 5 milliseconds, or other values.

[0184] It should also be noted that the functions of each of the above computing nodes can be implemented or completed by a logical network element or a group of co-deployed logical network elements. For example, a service access computing node or a collaborative access computing node can be composed of a traditional base station plus a group of edge computing servers. The embodiments of this application do not specifically limit the functional division of traditional base stations and edge computing servers.

[0185] The core network 30 is used to perform one or more of the following: processing computing task call requests from the terminal device 10 to implement identity authentication and authorization; deploying overall management and control strategies on each computing node for computing tasks; determining collaborative computing nodes based on computing tasks, for example, selecting one or more collaborative access computing nodes and / or at least one collaborative core computing node as collaborative computing nodes.

[0186] The following describes a communication method performed based on the communication system shown in FIG2 with reference to FIG3 to FIG8.

[0187] Figure 3 shows a schematic flow chart of the communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method 300 shown in Figure 3 can be executed by a terminal device, an access computing node and a core network. In some scenarios, the method 300 also requires the participation of a collaborative node. Among them, the terminal device may include the terminal device 10 in Figure 2, the access computing node may include the service access computing node 20 in Figure 2, the core network may include the core network 30 in Figure 2, and the collaborative node may include at least one collaborative access computing node and / or at least one collaborative core computing node in Figure 2. The method 300 may include some or all of the following steps.

[0188] It should be noted that the core network can pre-configure or pre-store computing node resource information, computing power function deployment strategy and computing power service contract information. Among them, the computing node resource information can indicate the connection relationship and / or communication relationship between each computing node (including access computing nodes and collaborative nodes) in the network, as well as the computing resources possessed by each computing node. The computing power function deployment information indicates which computing nodes need to be deployed for a certain computing task, the type and / or number of function instances that need to be deployed, and the computing resources that should be reserved for each function instance. The computing power function deployment information includes function deployment strategy and / or function deployment status, wherein the function deployment strategy indicates the deployment method of some function instances that have not yet been deployed, that is, for some function instances that have not yet been deployed, each computing node can deploy the function instance according to the function deployment strategy; the function deployment status indicates the function instances that have been deployed on each computing node. The computing power service contract information indicates the information of the computing power services that the current network has signed (or can provide).

[0189] S301, computing power service request information is included in processes such as terminal device network registration or protocol data unit (PDU) session creation.

[0190] Among them, the computing power service request information indicates that the terminal device expects one or more computing power services that the computing node can provide. The computing power service request information may include a computing power service identifier or a computing task identifier associated with the computing power service, or may also include a computing power function identifier mapped to the computing power service.

[0191] It should be understood that a computing power service can be associated with one or more computing tasks. The above "association" can be understood as: when the computing power service is available at the general computing node, the terminal device can request the general computing node to execute one or more computing tasks.

[0192] For example, a third party / user may have signed a contract with a carrier for a computing service that uses a specific algorithm to render images. A terminal device may request activation of this computing service at step S301. The computing node can then complete one or more image rendering computations for the image rendering algorithm based on the terminal device's API call request for the computing function associated with this computing service.

[0193] It should be noted that in some implementations, the computing power service identifier and the computing task identifier are not strictly distinguished. For example, the computing power service identifier can also be referred to by the computing task identifier.

[0194] S302: The core network authorizes the computing power service indicated by the computing power service request information based on the computing power service contract information.

[0195] For example, when it is determined based on the computing power service contract information that a computing power service indicated by the computing power service request information has not been contracted, the computing power service is not authorized; if a computing power service indicated by the computing power service request information has been contracted, the computing power service is authorized.

[0196] The above authorization of a computing power service can be understood as: the general computing node (such as the access general computing node and / or the collaborative node) subsequently provides computing resources and / or communication resources for one or more computing tasks associated with the computing power service.

[0197] In some implementations, the core network can obtain SLA requirement information of the authorized computing power service and / or characteristic information of the computing tasks associated with the authorized computing power service, which indicates the computational complexity, computational amount, and other information of the computing tasks.

[0198] S303: The core network sends the authorized computing power service information to the access computing node.

[0199] The authorized computing power service information indicates the authorized computing power service. For example, the authorized computing power service information may include an identifier of the authorized computing power service and / or an identifier of a computing task associated with the authorized computing power service. Alternatively, the authorized computing power service information may further include one or more of priority information of the computing task associated with the authorized computing power service, SLA requirement information of the authorized computing power service, and feature information of the computing task associated with the authorized computing power service.

[0200] S304, the core network sends an authorization response to the terminal device.

[0201] The authorization response sent to the terminal may include authorized computing power service information; or, the authorization response may also include function call information allocated to the terminal device for the authorized computing power service, and the above function call information may include the target address used by the terminal device when remotely calling the computing power function corresponding to the computing task, for example, the IP address and / or port number of the access node. Among them, the function call information may indicate information of one or more call addresses, each authorized computing power service may correspond to a call address, or all computing tasks may correspond to a call address. The function call is used to request to call one or more function instances to complete the computing task. The above function call information may also include other identification information used by the computing node to identify the computing task, such as the function name of the computing power function required to execute the computing task, the API name or universal identifier of the computing power function required to execute the computing task, and a temporary identifier assigned to the computing task being executed, etc.

[0202] It should be noted that the specific implementation method of the function call involved in this application can be an explicit API call, such as a remote procedure call (RPC) or a HyperText transfer protocol (HTTP) RESTful call (where REST refers to representational state transfer); or, the specific implementation method of the function call involved in this application can also be some implicit triggering method to trigger the function to go online, such as sending data such as videos or pictures to the data storage unit associated with the computing power function to trigger the function to go online, or other function triggering events can also be sent.

[0203] In actual implementation, the authorized computing power service information can be carried by N2 messages or other control plane protocol messages for communication between the core network and the access computing node, and the authorization response can be carried by non-access stratum (NAS) messages or other communication protocol messages used between the core network and the terminal device.

[0204] It should be noted that the authorized computing power service information sent to the access computing node and the authorization response sent to the terminal can also be executed together. That is, the core network sends the authorized computing power service information and the authorization response to the access computing node in a single message. Further, the access computing node forwards the authorization response to the terminal device. In other words, S304 and S305 can be executed simultaneously, or S305 can be executed before S304.

[0205] S305, access the general computing node to store the information of the authorized computing service and prepare to execute the computing task.

[0206] Exemplarily, information about the authorized computing power service is obtained and stored based on the authorized computing power service information.

[0207] Exemplarily, the preparation work for executing the computing task may include at least one of the following:

[0208] 1) If the accessed general computing node does not have a function instance required by a computing task associated with an online computing service, the accessed general computing node triggers the online launch of the function required by the computing task and completes the startup or activation of the function instance;

[0209] 2) Download or obtain the code of the computing function required for the computing task in advance; or,

[0210] 3) Obtain and store characteristic information of the computing task and / or performance requirements of the computing task.

[0211] In some implementations, the performance requirements of a computing task may include performance requirements for the computing task, such as quality of service. For example, the performance requirements of a computing task may include information about the quality of service (QoS) expected by the computing task. Specifically, the performance requirement of a computing task may be the computational latency required for the computing task, or the total latency required from the terminal device sending the computing task request to receiving the computing task execution result (the total latency requirement includes both communication latency and computation latency).

[0212] In actual implementation, the SLA requirement information of the authorized computing power service may include the performance requirements of the computing task.

[0213] S306: The terminal device sends a call request for computing task 1 to the access computing node.

[0214] Exemplarily, upon or after receiving the authorization response, the terminal device sends a call request for computing task 1 to the access computing node. Exemplarily, the call request may carry the identifier of computing task 1 and / or function call information to facilitate the access computing node to identify the computing task requested by the terminal device.

[0215] S307: When the access computing node determines that the terminal device's call to computing task 1 has been authorized, it allocates communication resources required for computing task 1.

[0216] The call to computing task 1 may be understood as: requesting the access inter-computing node to execute computing task 1, or requesting the access inter-computing node to provide computing resources and communication resources required for the execution of computing task 1.

[0217] Exemplarily, the access computing node determines, based on the authorized computing power service information, that the terminal device's call for computing task 1 has been authorized. Furthermore, the access computing node allocates communication resources for the call of computing task 1. The resources required for communication may include communication bearer resources required for the transmission of information and / or data associated with computing task 1. Exemplarily, communication bearer resources may include, but are not limited to, the QoS that can be satisfied by the communication connection, the transmission rate / bandwidth of information and / or data, or the latency bounds for information and / or data transmission.

[0218] The resources required for communication may also include function call information allocated to computing task 1, such as the destination address of information and / or data associated with computing task 1 (such as the IP address and / or port number of the access node).

[0219] The information associated with computing task 1 may include information required to execute computing task 1, such as function calls, etc.; the data associated with computing task 1 may include: data that needs to be processed by computing task 1. For example, if computing task 1 is video stream decoding, the data associated with computing task 1 may be video stream data to be decoded.

[0220] In some implementations, S307 may be executed before S306. For example, the information on the resources required for communication may be sent to the terminal device in S305. In the above scenario, S308 may be skipped and S309 may be executed directly.

[0221] S308, the access computing node creates or updates a communication connection for the terminal device that carries computing task 1.

[0222] Exemplarily, the access computing node creates or updates the communication connection that carries computing task 1 based on the resources required for communication, for example, creates or updates the channel used to transmit information and / or data of computing task 1.

[0223] S309: The access general computing node determines whether it can provide all computing resources for computing task 1.

[0224] In some implementations, the access computing node determines the computing resource 1 required for computing task 1 based on at least one of the performance requirements of computing task 1 and the characteristic information of computing task 1, as well as its own communication capabilities (such as the communication resources provided for computing task 1). Exemplarily, the performance requirements of computing task 1 and / or the characteristic information of computing task 1 may be obtained by the access computing node from the authorized computing power service information in S303; alternatively, the performance requirements of computing task 1 and / or the characteristic information of computing task 1 may also be pre-acquired and stored in the access computing node (for example, before the terminal device accesses, the access computing node proactively downloads / passively configures potential computing task related information in advance).

[0225] Furthermore, the access general computing node determines whether to provide all computing resources for computing task 1 based on its own available computing resources and computing resource 1.

[0226] For example, if the available computing resources of the access computing node cannot meet the computing resources 1 required by computing task 1, the access computing node can determine not to provide all computing resources for computing task 1; otherwise, the access computing node can determine to provide all computing resources for computing task 1.

[0227] In some implementations, S309 may also be executed before S308; or, S308 and S309 may be executed simultaneously.

[0228] Based on the decision result of the access general computing node, the subsequent execution steps can be divided into the following three cases. If the access general computing node determines in S309 to provide all computing resources for computing task 1, then S310 is executed (i.e., case 1):

[0229] S310 , the access general computing node allocates a function instance to computing task 1 .

[0230] Exemplarily, the access computing node may select one or more function instances from at least one function instance that has already been launched as candidate function instances; alternatively, the access computing node may trigger the deployment of one or more function instances and use the newly deployed function instances as candidate function instances for computing task 1. Furthermore, when the access computing node actually executes computing task 1, one or more of the candidate function instances may be selected to execute computing task 1, so that the access computing node invokes some or all of the computing resources required for computing task 1 through the selected one or more function instances.

[0231] If the access general computing node determines in S309 that it does not provide all computing resources for computing task 1, the subsequent steps can be divided into case 2 and case 3. The following describes them respectively:

[0232] Case 2 (including S311a to S311f):

[0233] S311a: The access computing node sends a collaborative node allocation request to the core network.

[0234] Illustratively, the collaborative node allocation request may indicate the computing resources required for computing task 1. For example, the collaborative node allocation request may include the following information: the air interface resources that the access computing node can allocate for computing task 1, the identifier of computing task 1, characteristic information of computing task 1, performance requirements of computing task 1, and at least one of the computing resources 1 required for computing task 1. The air interface resources indicate the communication performance (e.g., communication latency) that can be met by communication between the terminal device and the access computing node.

[0235] It should be noted that the computing resources required for computing task 1 indicated by the collaborative node allocation request may be computing resource 1, or may be the remaining computing resources in computing resource 1 excluding the computing resources that the access intermediary computing node can provide for computing task 1 (hereinafter referred to as computing resource 2). For example, if the access intermediary computing node does not provide any computing resources for computing task 1, then the computing resources required for computing task 1 indicated by the collaborative node allocation request may be computing resource 1; if the access intermediary computing node provides some computing resources for computing task 1, then the computing resources required for computing task 1 indicated by the collaborative node allocation request may be computing resource 2.

[0236] In some implementations, the core network may directly or indirectly obtain the computing resources required for computing task 1. For example, the core network may directly obtain the computing resources required for computing task 1 from the coordination node allocation request; or the core network may determine the computing resources required for computing task 1 based on information carried in the coordination node allocation request, such as determining the computing resources required for computing task 1 based on at least one of characteristic information of computing task 1 and performance requirements of computing task 1, as well as the air interface resources that can be allocated to computing task 1 by the access common computing node.

[0237] S311b: The core network determines the collaborative node based on the neighboring node status information of the access computing node and the computing resources required for computing task 1.

[0238] The neighboring nodes of the access computing node may include computing nodes directly connected to the access computing node. The neighboring nodes of the access computing node may be connected to the access computing node via a virtual dedicated line interface. Alternatively, the neighboring nodes of the access computing node may be computing nodes whose communication delay with the access computing node is less than or equal to a delay threshold, where the delay threshold may be 1 millisecond, 5 milliseconds, or other values. The neighboring nodes of the access computing node include at least one access computing node and / or at least one core computing node.

[0239] Exemplarily, the core network can determine the collaborative nodes (collaborative core computing nodes and / or collaborative access computing nodes) that execute computing tasks of the access computing node based on the information of the access computing node and the neighboring nodes of the access computing node. For example, the core network can determine the status information (such as information on available computing resources) of the neighboring nodes of the access computing node based on the function deployment strategy and / or function deployment status.

[0240] Furthermore, the core network selects one or more nodes from the neighboring nodes of the accessed inter-computing node as collaborative nodes based on the status information of the neighboring nodes of the accessed inter-computing node and the computing resources required for computing task 1. The available computing resources of each of the one or more nodes can meet the computing resources required for computing task 1 indicated by the collaborative node allocation request; or the sum of the available computing resources of the one or more nodes can meet the computing resources required for computing task 1 indicated by the collaborative node allocation request. In other words, the core network can select one or more collaborative nodes.

[0241] In some implementations, if the available computing resources of multiple nodes among the neighboring nodes of the access-through computing node can all satisfy the computing resources required for computing task 1 indicated by the collaborative node allocation request, the core network may determine one of the multiple nodes as the collaborative node based on the communication latency between the collaborative node and the access-through computing node. For example, the core network determines the node with the lowest communication latency with the access-through computing node as the collaborative node.

[0242] S311c: The core network sends computing task allocation information 1 to the collaboration node.

[0243] Exemplarily, the cooperation node includes the one or more cooperation nodes mentioned above. The computing task allocation information 1 may also indicate the computing resources that the cooperation node needs to provide for the computing task 1 .

[0244] S311d: The core network sends a collaborative node allocation response to the access computing node.

[0245] Exemplarily, the coordination node allocation response indicates the coordination node allocation result. For example, the coordination node allocation response may carry at least one of the identifier of the coordination node allocated for computing task 1, the IP address of the coordination node, and the port number of the coordination node. Alternatively, the coordination node allocation response may also include information about computing resources that the coordination node can provide for computing task 1. For example, when the core network determines multiple coordination nodes for computing task 1, the coordination node allocation response may carry the identifier of each coordination node and information about the computing resources that each coordination node can provide for the computing task.

[0246] In some implementations, S311c and S311d may be executed simultaneously, or S311c may be executed after S311d.

[0247] S311e, the collaboration node provides a function instance for computing task 1.

[0248] Exemplarily, the collaborative node can select one or more function instances from the function instances that have been online as candidate function instances to serve the function call request of the terminal device; or, the collaborative node can also trigger the deployment of one or more function instances and use the newly deployed function instance as a potential function instance to be assigned to computing task 1.

[0249] It should be noted that this step primarily reserves a function instance for computing task 1. If there are multiple function instances, it is not necessary to specify which function instance will execute computing task 1. Instead, after S311f, when the actual function call arrives, one of the multiple function instances is selected to execute computing task 1.

[0250] S311f, the access general computing node forwards the function call and / or data of computing task 1 to the collaborative node.

[0251] For some computing tasks, the data to be processed needs to be sent from the terminal device to the intermediary computing node for processing. In this case, when the intermediary computing node receives the data to be processed for the computing task, it forwards the data to the collaborative node, allowing the collaborative node to execute computing task 1.

[0252] In some implementations, the access computing node forwards all or part of the function calls and / or data of computing task 1 to the collaboration node. For example, if the access computing node does not provide any computing resources for computing task 1, the access computing node forwards all function calls and / or data of computing task 1 to the collaboration node; if the access computing node provides part of the computing resources for computing task 1, the access computing node forwards the remaining function calls and / or data of computing task 1 to the collaboration node, where the remaining portion refers to function calls and / or data other than the computing resources that the access computing node can provide for computing task 1.

[0253] In some implementations, all function calls of computing task 1 are included in the call request of computing task 1; or, part of the function calls of computing task 1 are included in the call request of computing task 1, and the remaining function calls of computing task 1 are sent by the terminal device to the access computing node after sending the call request of computing task 1.

[0254] Case 3 (including S312a to S312f):

[0255] S312a: The access computing node sends a computing task collaboration request to the collaboration node.

[0256] Exemplarily, an access computing node may designate one or more of its neighboring nodes as collaborative nodes. In some implementations, the access computing node may broadcast a computing task collaboration request to its neighboring nodes. In one example, the access computing node broadcasts or multicasts a computing task collaboration request to all neighboring nodes, i.e., designates all neighboring nodes as collaborative nodes. In another example, the access computing node broadcasts or multicasts a computing task collaboration request to neighboring nodes that meet the communication delay requirements, i.e., designates neighboring nodes that meet the communication delay requirements as collaborative nodes. The communication delay requirements may include: the communication delay between the neighboring node and the access computing node is less than or equal to a certain threshold, which may be 2 milliseconds, 3 milliseconds, or other values.

[0257] In some implementations, the access computing node may send a computing task collaboration request to the neighboring node with the shortest communication delay to the access computing node based on the communication delay between the node and the neighboring node. Specifically, the neighboring node with the shortest communication delay to the access computing node is designated as the collaboration node. Furthermore, if the neighboring node with the shortest communication delay to the access computing node is unable to provide computing resources for computing task 1, the access computing node will then send a computing task collaboration request to the neighboring node with the second shortest communication delay to the access computing node, and so on.

[0258] Illustratively, the computing task collaboration request may indicate the computing resources required for computing task 1. For example, the computing task collaboration request may include the following information: air interface resources that the access computing node can allocate to computing task 1, an identifier of computing task 1, characteristic information of computing task 1, performance requirements of computing task 1, and at least one of the computing resources 1 required for computing task 1. The air interface resources indicate the communication performance between the terminal device and the access computing node.

[0259] The computing resources required for the computing task 1 may be the computing resource 1 mentioned above, or may be the computing resource 2 mentioned above, or may be the computing resource 3. The computing resource 3 may be a part of the computing resource 1 or a part of the computing resource 2.

[0260] S312b: The collaboration node determines whether to participate in the computing task collaboration.

[0261] For example, the cooperating node determines whether to participate in computing task collaboration based on its own available computing resources and the computing resources required for computing task 1. If the cooperating node cannot support the computing resources required for computing task 1 based on its own available computing resources, the cooperating node may determine not to participate in computing task collaboration; otherwise, the cooperating node may determine to participate in computing task collaboration.

[0262] S312c: The collaboration node sends a computing task collaboration response to the accessed general computing node.

[0263] For example, the computing task cooperation response may indicate whether the cooperation node participates in the computing task cooperation.

[0264] S312d: The access computing node sends a computing task allocation confirmation to the collaboration node.

[0265] Exemplarily, the access common computing node sends a computing task allocation confirmation to the collaborative nodes determined to participate in the computing task collaboration.

[0266] S312e: The collaboration node provides a function instance for computing task 1.

[0267] S312f: The access general computing node forwards the function call and / or data of computing task 1 to the collaborative node.

[0268] For the specific implementation of S312e and S312f, please refer to the description in S311e and S311f, which will not be repeated here.

[0269] It is understood that Case 1 and Case 2 can occur simultaneously, i.e., S310 and S311a to S311f can be executed synchronously; alternatively, Case 1 and Case 3 can occur simultaneously, i.e., S310 and S312a to S312f can be executed synchronously. In other words, the access general computing node and at least one collaborative node can simultaneously provide computing resources for computing task 1. For example, if computing task 1 includes multiple subtasks, the access general computing node can provide computing resources for some of the multiple subtasks, and at least one collaborative node can provide computing resources for the remaining multiple subtasks.

[0270] In the communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application, the core network can, based on the computing power service information of the terminal device, pre-deploy relevant information of the computing task associated with the contracted computing power service indicated by the computing power service information in the access computing node, such as the characteristic information of the computing task and the SLA requirement information of the computing power service. In this way, when the access computing node receives a call request for a computing task from the terminal device, it can make a timely decision on whether to provide all computing resources for the computing task.

[0271] Figure 4 shows another schematic flow chart of the communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method 400 shown in Figure 4 can be executed by a terminal device, an access computing node and a core network. In some scenarios, the method 400 also requires the participation of a collaborative node. Among them, the terminal device may include the terminal device 10 in Figure 2, the access computing node may include the service access computing node 20 in Figure 2, the core network may include the core network 30 in Figure 2, and the collaborative node may include at least one collaborative access computing node and / or at least one collaborative core computing node in Figure 2. The core network can pre-configure or pre-store computing node resource information, computing power function deployment information and computing power service contract information. The method 400 may include some or all of the following steps.

[0272] S401, the terminal device sends a call request for computing task 1 to the core network.

[0273] Exemplarily, the above call request may carry the identifier of computing task 1.

[0274] It should be noted that before executing S401, the terminal device has been connected to the access computing node. Further, the terminal device sends a call request for computing task 1 to the core network through the access computing node, that is, the access computing node transparently transmits the call request for computing task 1 to the core network.

[0275] S402: The core network authorizes the computing task 1 requested by the terminal device.

[0276] If the core network determines that computing task 1 is included in the contracted computing service based on the computing power service contract information, the core network authorizes the terminal device to call computing task 1.

[0277] In some implementations, the core network may also obtain performance requirements of computing task 1 and / or characteristic information of computing task 1, where the characteristic information indicates information such as the computational complexity and computational amount of computing task 1.

[0278] S403: The core network sends computing task allocation information 2 to the access computing node.

[0279] Exemplarily, the computing task allocation information 2 may include an identifier of the computing task 1. Alternatively, the computing task allocation information 2 may also include performance requirements of the computing task 1 and / or feature information of the computing task 1.

[0280] S404, the core network sends an authorization response to the terminal device.

[0281] Exemplarily, the authorization response may include function call information assigned to computing task 1, such as the destination address of information and / or data associated with computing task 1 (such as the IP address and / or port number of the access node).

[0282] In actual implementation, the computing task allocation notification can be carried by N2 messages or other control plane protocol messages for communication between the core network and the access computing node, and the authorization response can be carried by NAS messages or other communication protocol messages used between the core network and the terminal device.

[0283] It should be noted that the computing task allocation notification sent to the access computing node and the authorization response sent to the terminal can also be executed together. That is, the core network sends the computing task allocation notification and the authorization response to the access computing node in a single message. The access computing node then forwards the authorization response to the terminal device. In other words, S403 and S404 can be executed simultaneously, or S404 can be executed before S403.

[0284] S405: The access computing node creates or updates a communication connection for the terminal device that carries the computing task.

[0285] Exemplarily, the access computing node creates or updates a communication connection that carries computing task 1, for example, creates or updates a channel for transmitting information and / or data of computing task 1.

[0286] S406: The access general computing node determines whether to provide all computing resources for computing task 1.

[0287] The specific implementation of the access general computing node determining whether to provide all computing resources for computing task 1 can be referred to the description in S309 and will not be repeated here.

[0288] Exemplarily, S405 and S406 may be executed simultaneously or in combination, or may be executed in other orders, for example, S406 is executed before S405.

[0289] Depending on the decision of the access node, subsequent execution steps can be divided into the following three cases. If the access node determines in S406 that it will provide all computing resources for computing task 1, then S407 is executed (i.e., case 1). If the access node determines in S406 that it will not provide all computing resources for computing task 1, then subsequent execution steps can be divided into case 2 (including S408a to S408f) and case 3 (including S409a to S409f).

[0290] Among them, the specific implementation of Case 1 to Case 3 can refer to the description of Case 1 to Case 3 in method 300, and will not be repeated here.

[0291] In the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the core network can authorize a single computing task call requested by the terminal device based on the computing task call request of the terminal device and notify the access intermediary computing node, so that the access intermediary computing node provides communication resources and computing resource support for the execution of the single computing task. It should be noted that, in the present application, a certain intermediary computing node provides computing resource support for a certain computing task, including: the intermediary computing node provides computing resources for the computing task, or the intermediary computing node forwards the function call and / or data of the computing task to the intermediary computing node that can provide computing resources for the computing task.

[0292] Figure 5 shows another schematic flow chart of the communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method 500 shown in Figure 5 can be executed by a terminal device, an access computing node and a core network. In some scenarios, the method 500 also requires the participation of a collaborative node. Among them, the terminal device may include the terminal device 10 in Figure 2, the access computing node may include the service access computing node 20 in Figure 2, the core network may include the core network 30 in Figure 2, and the collaborative node may include at least one collaborative access computing node and / or at least one collaborative core computing node in Figure 2. The core network can pre-configure or pre-store computing node resource information, computing power function deployment information and computing power service contract information. The method 500 may include some or all of the following steps.

[0293] S501, the terminal device sends a call request for computing task 1 to the core network.

[0294] Exemplarily, the above call request may carry the identifier of computing task 1.

[0295] It should be noted that before executing S501, the terminal device has been connected to the access computing node. Further, the terminal device sends a call request for computing task 1 to the core network through the access computing node, that is, the access computing node transparently transmits the call request for computing task 1 to the core network.

[0296] S502: The core network authorizes the computing task 1 requested by the terminal device, and further determines whether the computing task 1 meets the criteria for accessing the common computing node to execute computing tasks.

[0297] If the core network determines that computing task 1 is included in the contracted computing service based on the computing power service contract information, the core network authorizes the terminal device to call computing task 1.

[0298] In some implementations, the core network may also obtain performance requirements for computing task 1 and / or characteristic information of computing task 1, which indicates information such as the computational complexity and computational effort of computing task 1. Furthermore, based on the performance requirements for computing task 1 and / or the characteristic information of computing task 1, the core network determines whether computing task 1 meets the criteria for accessing a common computing node to execute computing tasks.

[0299] For example, if the computational complexity of computing task 1 is high, or the required computational amount is high, and the performance requirement of computing task 1 indicated by the computing power service contract information is low, or the priority is low, then it can be determined that computing task 1 does not meet the standards for accessing the common computing node to perform computing tasks.

[0300] Further, when it is determined that computing task 1 meets the criteria for accessing a common computing node to execute computing tasks, computing task 1 may be executed through one or more of S403 to S406 in method 400 and cases 1 to 3 in method 400. When it is determined that computing task 1 does not meet the criteria for accessing a common computing node to execute computing tasks, S503 to S510 may continue to be executed.

[0301] S503: When it is determined that the computing task 1 does not meet the criteria for accessing the general computing node to execute the computing task, determine a collaborative node.

[0302] For example, the computing resources required for computing task 1 can be determined based on the performance requirements of computing task 1 and / or the characteristic information of computing task 1, and then one or more nodes can be selected as collaborative nodes from the neighboring nodes connected to the common computing node based on the common computing node resource information and the computing resources required for computing task 1.

[0303] The specific implementation of selecting one or more nodes from the neighboring nodes of the access computing node as cooperative nodes can refer to the description in S311b and will not be repeated here.

[0304] S504: The core network sends computing task allocation information 3 to the cooperation node.

[0305] Illustratively, computing task allocation information 3 may indicate computing resources required for computing task 1. For example, computing task allocation information 3 includes information about computing resources required for computing task 1. For another example, computing task allocation information 3 may include at least one of performance requirements of computing task 1 and characteristic information of computing task 1, as well as an identifier of computing task 1.

[0306] S505 , the collaboration node provides a function instance for computing task 1 .

[0307] The specific implementation of the collaborative node providing the function instance for the computing task 1 can be referred to the description in S311e and will not be repeated here.

[0308] S506: The core network sends computing task node allocation information to the access computing node.

[0309] For example, the computing task node allocation information may indicate the collaborative node allocated to computing task 1. The computing task node allocation information may carry at least one of an identifier of the collaborative node allocated to computing task 1, an IP address of the collaborative node, and a port number of the collaborative node; the computing task node allocation information may also include information about computing resources that the collaborative node can provide for computing task 1.

[0310] S507: The core network sends an authorization response to the terminal device.

[0311] The content of the authorization response can be referred to the description in method 300 and method 400, which will not be repeated here.

[0312] In actual implementation, computing task node allocation information can be carried by N2 messages or other control plane protocol messages for communication between the core network and the access computing node, and the authorization response can be carried by NAS messages or other communication protocol messages used between the core network and the terminal device.

[0313] It should be noted that the computing task node assignment information sent to the access computing node and the authorization response sent to the terminal can also be executed together. That is, the core network sends the computing task node assignment information and the authorization response to the access computing node in a single message. Further, the access computing node forwards the authorization response to the terminal device. In other words, S506 and S507 can be executed simultaneously, or S507 can be executed before S506.

[0314] It should also be noted that S506 and S507 may be executed before S504, or S506 and S507 may be executed synchronously with S504.

[0315] S508: The access computing node allocates communication resources required for computing task 1.

[0316] The resources required for communication may include communication bearer resources corresponding to computing task 1, which are used to carry information and / or data transmission associated with computing task 1; the resources required for communication may also include function call information allocated to computing task 1, such as the destination address of information and / or data associated with computing task 1 (such as the IP address and / or port number of the access computing node, etc.).

[0317] S509: Access the general computing node to create or update the communication connection that carries computing task 1.

[0318] The specific implementation of creating or updating the communication connection can refer to the description in S405 and will not be repeated here.

[0319] S510: The access computing node forwards the function call and / or data of computing task 1 to the collaboration node.

[0320] In the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the core network can determine whether the computing task requested by the terminal device meets the standards for the access computing node to execute the computing task based on the computing task call request of the terminal device. If it does not meet the standards, a collaborative node is selected for the computing task requested by the terminal device, so that the access computing node provides communication resources for the execution of the computing task and the collaborative node provides computing resources for the execution of the computing task.

[0321] It should be noted that, in some scenarios, method 400 or method 500 may be executed after S301 to S305 in method 300 .

[0322] Figure 6 shows another schematic flow chart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. The method 600 shown in Figure 6 can be performed by a terminal device, a current access computing node, and a target access computing node. The terminal device may include the terminal device 10 in Figure 2, and the current access computing node and the target access computing node may include the serving access computing node 20 in Figure 2. In some implementations, method 600 may be performed before method 300, method 400, or method 500, or after method 300, method 400, or method 500. When method 600 is performed before method 300, method 400, or method 500, the target access computing node is the access computing node in method 300, method 400, or method 500; when method 600 is performed after method 300, method 400, or method 500, the current access computing node is the access computing node in method 300, method 400, or method 500. Method 600 may include some or all of the following steps.

[0323] S601: A switching event occurs.

[0324] Exemplarily, when the access computing node of the terminal device needs to be switched from the current access computing node to the target access computing node, subsequent steps are executed.

[0325] Exemplarily, the conditions for triggering the handover include one or more of the following:

[0326] 1) The terminal device moves from the serving cell of the current access node to the serving cell of the target access node;

[0327] 2) Preventive switching, that is, the target access node can provide a better quality communication link;

[0328] 3) Rescue switching: For example, if the quality of the communication link of the current access computing node is lower than the threshold value, switching to the target access computing node is performed to improve communication quality. For another example, if the receiving level of the target access computing node is higher than the receiving level of the current access computing node by a certain value (for example, the certain value is the rescue level switching tolerance), switching to the target access computing node is performed to avoid frequent switching. For another example, if the timing advance (TA) of the current access computing node is greater than the threshold value, switching to the target access computing node is performed to control the coverage range of network equipment and reduce system interference.

[0329] It should be understood that the above conditions for triggering switching are only exemplary. In actual implementation, switching may also be performed when situations other than the above conditions occur.

[0330] S602: The current access computing node sends a handover message to the target access computing node.

[0331] Exemplarily, the switching message indicates that the terminal device has been served by a computing task (hereinafter referred to as a served computing task) that is currently accessed by the computing node, wherein the served computing task includes the computing task that the terminal device requests to call and is currently executing on the computing node. The switching message may include the identifier of the computing task that has been served, the performance requirements and / or characteristic information of each computing task in the computing task that has been served, and the characteristic information indicates the computational complexity, computational amount, and other information of the computing task. Optionally, the switching message may also include information about the computing node that provides computing resources for each computing task in the computing task that has been served (such as the identifier, IP address, port number, etc. of the computing node that provides computing resources for the computing task), and information about the computing resources or available computing resources that can be provided by the computing node that provides computing resources for the computing task.

[0332] Optionally, the switching message may further include other relevant information of the authorized computing task (such as performance requirements and / or feature information).

[0333] Optionally, the current access computing node sending a handover message to the target access computing node may include: the current access computing node sending a handover message to the core network, and then the core network sending the handover message to the target access computing node.

[0334] S603: The target access computing node determines whether it can undertake all the computing tasks that have been served.

[0335] If the available computing resources of the target access computing node cannot meet the computing resources required by the computing tasks that have been served, then the target access computing node can be determined to be unable to undertake all the computing tasks that have been served by the terminal device; if the available computing resources of the target access computing node can meet the computing resources required by the computing tasks that have been served, then the target access computing node can be determined to be able to undertake all the computing tasks that have been served by the terminal device.

[0336] In some implementations, the target access computing node can determine whether its available computing resources can meet the computing resources required by the computing task being served based on its own communication capabilities (for example, the communication resources that can be provided to the terminal device).

[0337] Exemplarily, when the target access computing node determines that it cannot undertake all the computing tasks that have been served by the terminal device, S604 may be executed; otherwise, S605 may be directly executed.

[0338] S604: The target access computing node determines whether to request the collaborative node to provide computing resources for the computing task according to the specific computing task.

[0339] For example, the target access computing node requests the cooperative node to provide computing resources for a computing task. For the specific implementation, please refer to the description of Case 2 and / or Case 3 in method 300, which will not be repeated here.

[0340] S605: The target access computing node sends a handover message response to the current access computing node.

[0341] Exemplarily, the handover message response is used to indicate that the target access computing node is ready to receive a computing task request from the terminal device.

[0342] In some implementations, the handover message response may include function call information of the target access computing node, where the function call information includes the address of the terminal device for remotely calling at least one computing task and / or computing task call identification information. Exemplarily, the address of the terminal device for remotely calling at least one computing task may include one or more of the identifier, IP address, and port number of the target access computing node; the computing task call identification information may include the function name of the computing power function required to execute the computing task, the API name or universal identifier of the computing power function required to execute the computing task, and one or more of the temporary identifiers assigned to the computing task being executed.

[0343] In some further implementations, the handover message response may further include information that the target access computing node is a newly confirmed collaborative node for the computing task of the terminal device.

[0344] Optionally, the target access computing node sending a handover message response to the current access computing node may include: the target access computing node sending a handover message response to the core network, and then the core network sending a handover message response to the current access computing node.

[0345] S606: The currently connected computing node sends a switching command to the terminal device.

[0346] Exemplarily, the switching command is used to instruct the terminal device to send subsequent computing task call requests to the target access computing node.

[0347] In some implementations, the handover command may include function call information of the target access computing node.

[0348] S607: The terminal device sends new computing task related information to the target access computing node.

[0349] Exemplarily, the new computing task-related information includes a call request for other authorized computing tasks, or may also include information about other computing tasks that the terminal device wants to request the target access computing node to call, and the other computing tasks are not included in the computing tasks that have been served and other authorized computing tasks.

[0350] S608: The target access computing node determines communication resources and computing resources for the new computing task, and triggers the corresponding node to complete the allocation of communication resources and computing resources.

[0351] For example, after the target access computing node receives information related to the new computing task, it determines the communication resources and computing resources for the new computing task, and triggers the corresponding node to complete the specific implementation of the allocation of communication resources and computing resources. Please refer to the description in method 300 (for example, S306 to S312f) and will not be repeated here.

[0352] In the communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application, when a terminal device's location changes, for example, and the need to replace an access computing node arises, the target access computing node can determine, based on its available computing resources, whether it can provide computing resources for all already served computing tasks of the terminal device. If it cannot provide computing resources for all already served computing tasks, it can request support from a collaborative node. Furthermore, the target access computing node can also provide communication resources and computing resource support for computing tasks subsequently requested by the terminal device.

[0353] Figure 7 shows another schematic flow chart of the communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method 700 shown in Figure 7 can be executed by an access communication node and can be executed after method 300, method 400, or method 500. The method 700 can include the following seven steps.

[0354] S701 : When the access general computing node provides computing resources to execute computing task 1 , it is determined that the access general computing node is not suitable for continuing to provide computing resources for computing task 1 .

[0355] It should be noted that the following situations may cause computing task 1 to no longer be suitable for the access node to continue to provide computing resources:

[0356] The first case: when or after the access computing node receives a request or instruction to execute computing task 2 from the core network or terminal device (refer to S301 to S304 in method 300, or S401 to S403 in method 400), it is determined that the computing resources of the access computing node cannot meet the performance requirements of computing task 1 and computing task 2, and the performance requirements of computing task 2 need to be prioritized (for example, computing task 2 has a higher priority or the performance requirements are more stringent).

[0357] The second situation: the communication connection performance that the access node can provide for computing task 1 deteriorates (for example, the communication delay of the computing task increases), resulting in an increase in the computing resources required for computing task 1, while the available computing resources of the access node cannot meet the newly increased computing resource requirements.

[0358] The third scenario: The communication demand of the terminal devices served by the access computing node increases. Since the access computing node consumes computing resources when scheduling communication resources, when the communication demand of the terminal devices served by the access computing node increases, the computing resources used to schedule communication resources to ensure communication connections will consume a large amount of the access computing node's available computing resources, resulting in the access computing node's remaining computing resources being insufficient to meet the computing demand of Computing Task 1.

[0359] It should be understood that the above-mentioned situations are merely exemplary. In actual implementation, there may be other situations where computing task 1 is no longer suitable for the access node to continue to provide computing resources. The embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations on this.

[0360] S702 , the access computing node communicates with the core network or a neighboring node to determine a collaborative node that continues to execute computing task 1 , and forwards the function call and / or data of computing task 1 to the collaborative node.

[0361] Among them, the specific implementation of the access common computing node determining the collaborative node that continues to execute computing task 1 can refer to the description in S311a to S311f in method 300, or refer to the description in S312a to S312f, which will not be repeated here.

[0362] The communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application provides a method for determining a collaborative node for a computing task being executed. When the computing task has not been completed and the access node cannot continue to provide computing resources for the computing task, the above method can reduce the probability of failure of the computing task execution.

[0363] Figure 8 shows another exemplary flow chart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application, in which method 800 is performed by a terminal device, a fifth node, and a core network. The terminal device may include the terminal device in any of methods 300 to 700 or a component (such as a chip or module) in the terminal device, the fifth node may include the access computing node in any of methods 300 to 700 or a component (such as a chip or module) in the access computing node, and the core network may include the core network in any of methods 300 to 700 or a component (such as a chip or module) in the core network. In some scenarios, method 800 also requires the participation of a collaborative node (such as a first node or a second node), and the collaborative node may include the collaborative node in any of methods 300 to 700 or a component (such as a chip or module) in the collaborative node. The method may include S810 to S830, specifically:

[0364] S810: The fifth node obtains computing task information, where the computing task information includes a performance requirement of a first computing task.

[0365] Exemplarily, the first computing task may include computing task 1 in the above embodiment.

[0366] In some implementations, the computing task information may include the information of the authorized computing power service in method 300, or the authorized computing power service information; or, the computing task information may also include the computing task allocation information 2 in method 400.

[0367] In some implementations, the performance requirement of the first computing task indicates a computing delay for executing the first computing task, or a total latency for executing the first computing task, where the total latency includes a communication latency and a computing latency.

[0368] S820: The fifth node determines the first computing resource according to the first communication resource and the performance requirement of the first computing task.

[0369] The first communication resource is a communication resource used by the fifth node for the first computing task, and the first computing resource is used to execute the first computing task.

[0370] Exemplarily, the first communication resource may include the communication resources allocated by the access computing node for the computing task in the above embodiment. The first computing resource may be computing resource 1 in the above embodiment.

[0371] S830: The fifth node determines a target node according to the first computing resource, where the target node is used to execute the first computing task.

[0372] The fifth node may determine the target node in one of the following ways:

[0373] Method 1 includes:

[0374] S831: The fifth node sends first request information to the core network.

[0375] In some implementations, the first computing task includes at least one sub-computing task, and the first request information is used to request execution of the at least one sub-computing task using the second computing resource.

[0376] Illustratively, before executing S831, the fifth node determines not to provide all computing resources for the first computing task. For a specific implementation method, reference may be made to the description in S309 and details will not be repeated here.

[0377] Exemplarily, the first request information may include the cooperation node allocation request in S311a (or S408a).

[0378] S832. The core network determines the first node according to the first request information.

[0379] The core network determines the second computing resource based on the first request information. Further, the core network determines the first node based on the available computing resources of each of the at least one cooperating node and the second computing resource, wherein the at least one cooperating node includes the first node.

[0380] Exemplarily, at least one cooperating node is a neighboring node of the fifth node. For specific implementations of the core network determining at least one cooperating node and determining the first node, reference may be made to the description in S311b and will not be repeated here.

[0381] S833: The core network sends second information to the first node.

[0382] The second information instructs the first node to provide the second computing resource for the first computing task. Exemplarily, the second information may include computing task allocation information 1 in S311c.

[0383] S834: The core network sends a first response message to the fifth node.

[0384] The first response information indicates that the first node provides the second computing resource for the first computing task. Exemplarily, the first response information may include the cooperative node allocation response in S311d (or S408d).

[0385] Further, the fifth node determines, based on the first response information, that the target nodes include the first node.

[0386] It should be noted that S833 and S834 can be executed simultaneously, or S834 can be executed before S833.

[0387] It should also be noted that the first node may include one collaboration node, or may include multiple collaboration nodes.

[0388] In some implementations, when the first node receives the second information and determines that the second computing resource can be provided for the first computing task, it sends response information to the core network, where the response information indicates that the first node can provide the computing resource for the first computing task. Further, when the core network receives the response information from the first node indicating that the first node can provide the computing resource for the first computing task, S834 is executed.

[0389] In other implementations, when the first node receives the second information and determines that it cannot provide the second computing resource for the first computing task (for example, the available computing resource is less than the second computing resource), the first node sends response information to the core network, indicating that the first node cannot provide the computing resource for the first computing task. Further, when the core network receives the response information from the first node indicating that the first node cannot provide the computing resource for the first computing task, the core network re-determines other collaborative nodes for the first computing task.

[0390] Method 2 includes:

[0391] S831′: The fifth node sends first request information to the second node.

[0392] Illustratively, before executing S831', the fifth node determines not to provide all computing resources for the first computing task. For a specific implementation, reference may be made to the description in S309, which will not be repeated here.

[0393] In some implementations, the first computing task includes at least one sub-computing task, and the first request information is used to request execution of the at least one sub-computing task using the second computing resource.

[0394] Exemplarily, the first request information may include the computing task cooperation request in S312a (or S409a).

[0395] S832': The second node determines whether to provide computing resources for the first computing task according to the first request information.

[0396] Exemplarily, the second node determines the second computing resource based on the first request information; further, the second node determines whether to provide the second computing resource for the first computing task based on its own available computing resources and the second computing resource.

[0397] S833': the second node sends first response information to the fifth node.

[0398] In some implementations, the first response information indicates that the second node determines to execute the first computing task, and the second node provides the second computing resource for the first computing task. Exemplarily, the first response information may include the computing task collaboration response in S312d (or S409d).

[0399] Further, the fifth node determines, based on the first response information, that the target node includes the second node.

[0400] Exemplarily, the second computing resource may be all the computing resources required for the first computing task, such as computing resource 1 in the above embodiment; or the second computing resource may be part of the computing resources required for the first computing task, such as computing resource 2 or computing resource 3 in the above embodiment.

[0401] In some implementations, the first request information in Method 1 and Method 2 includes information about the second computing resource.

[0402] In some other implementations, when the second computing resources are all the computing resources required for the first computing task, the first request information in Method 1 and Method 2 includes: information about the first communication resource, and at least one of the following: an identifier of the first computing task, first characteristic information of the first computing task, and performance requirements of the first computing task; wherein the first characteristic information indicates the computational complexity and / or computational amount of the first computing task.

[0403] In one example, in method 1, the first request information may include information about the first communication resource and an identifier for the first computing task. The core network determines the performance requirements of the first computing task based on the identifier of the first computing task and pre-stored or pre-configured computing service contract information. Furthermore, based on the first communication resource and the performance requirements of the first computing task, the core network determines a second computing resource. When the second computing resource is used to execute at least one subtask of the first computing task, the performance requirements of the first computing task can be met.

[0404] In another example, the first request information may include information about the first communication resource and the performance requirements of the first computing task. The core network or the second node determines the second computing resource based on the first communication resource and the performance requirements of the first computing task. When the second computing resource is used to execute at least one subtask of the first computing task, the performance requirements of the first computing task can be met.

[0405] In another example, the first request information may include information about the first communication resource and the first characteristic information of the first computing task. The core network or the second node determines the second computing resource based on the first communication resource and the first characteristic information. For example, if the computational complexity or computational amount of the first computing task indicated by the first characteristic information is higher than the first value, and the communication delay between the terminal device and the access communication device caused by the first communication resource is greater than the second value, then the second computing resource allocated to the first computing task is resource 1. If the first characteristic information indicates that the computational complexity or computational amount of the first computing task is higher than the first value, and the communication delay between the terminal device and the access communication device caused by the first communication resource is less than or equal to the second value, then the second computing resource allocated to the first computing task is resource 2. Among them, resource 1 is greater than resource 2.

[0406] It should be noted that the second node may include one collaboration node, or may include multiple collaboration nodes.

[0407] In some implementations, when the second node receives the first request information and determines that it cannot provide the second computing resource for the first computing task (e.g., the available computing resource is less than the second computing resource), it sends a response message to the fifth node, indicating that the second node cannot provide the second computing resource for the first computing task. Further, when the receiving intermediary computing node receives the response information from the second node indicating that the second node cannot provide the computing resource for the first computing task, it re-determines other collaborative nodes for the first computing task.

[0408] In some other implementations, when the second computing resource is part of the computing resources required for the first computing task, the first request information in Method 1 and Method 2 includes at least one of the following: an identifier of the first computing task, characteristic information of at least one sub-computing task of the first computing task, and performance requirements of at least one sub-computing task; wherein the characteristic information of at least one sub-computing task indicates the computational complexity and / or computational amount of at least one sub-computing task.

[0409] Method 3 includes:

[0410] S831”, the fifth node provides computing resources for the first computing task based on its own available computing resources.

[0411] It should be understood that when the fifth node provides computing resources for the first computing task, the target node includes the fifth node.

[0412] In some implementations, if the first computing task includes at least one sub-computing task, then the receiving general computing node providing computing resources for the first computing task includes: the fifth node selecting at least one function instance from the function instances of the fifth node, or triggering deployment of the at least one function instance. The at least one function instance is associated with a third computing resource, and the third computing resource is used to execute the at least one sub-computing task.

[0413] The third computing resource may be all computing resources required for the first computing task; or, the third computing resource may be part of the computing resources required for the first computing task.

[0414] In actual implementation, the fifth node can determine the target node through one of method 1, method 2, and method 3, that is, the target node is one of the first node, the second node, or the fifth node; or, the target node can be determined through a combination of method 1 and method 3, that is, the target node includes the first node and the fifth node; or, the target node can be determined through a combination of method 2 and method 3, that is, the target node includes the second node and the fifth node.

[0415] When mode 1 is combined with mode 3, S831" can be executed before S831; or, when mode 2 is combined with mode 3, S831" can be executed before S831'. In the above scenario, the second computing resource may be part of the computing resources required for the first computing task. Furthermore, the first request information may include information for determining the first computing resource, and information about the computing resources (i.e., the third computing resource) that the fifth node can provide for the first computing task, so that the core network or the second node determines the second computing resource. The information for determining the first computing resource includes the first computing resource; or, the information for determining the first computing resource includes the performance requirement of the first computing task and at least one of the first performance requirements, and information about the first communication resource.

[0416] When the target node includes the first node or the second node, the method further includes: the fifth node receives a second request message from the terminal device, the second request message being used to request calling a function for executing the first computing task; and the fifth node sends the second request message to the target node.

[0417] Exemplarily, the second request information may include the function call in the above embodiment.

[0418] When the target node includes the first node or the second node, the method further includes: a fifth node receiving first data from a terminal device, the first data including data requested to be processed by the first computing task; and the fifth node sending the first data to the target node.

[0419] Exemplarily, the specific implementation of the fifth node sending the second request information and / or the first data to the target node can refer to the description in S311f, which is not repeated here.

[0420] In some implementations, before the fifth node receives the second request information and / or the first data, the fifth node updates or establishes a communication connection, where the communication connection is used to carry the function call and / or data transmission of the first computing task. For example, the fifth node receives the second request information and / or the first data from the terminal device via the communication connection. The specific implementation of the fifth node updating or establishing the communication connection can be referenced to the description in S308 and is not further described here.

[0421] It can be understood that method 1 and method 2 can be summarized as follows: the collaborative node receives third information from the seventh node, and the third information includes information for determining computing resources, which are used to perform the first computing task; the collaborative node determines the computing resources based on the third information, and determines whether to provide computing resources for the first computing task or not to provide computing resources for the first computing task based on the computing resources and the available computing resources of the current node.

[0422] In some implementations, the method further includes: the cooperative node sending third response information to the seventh node, the third response information indicating that the current node provides computing resources for the first computing task, or that the current node does not provide computing resources for the first computing task.

[0423] When the seventh node is an access node, the third information includes the first request information; when the seventh node is a core network, the third information includes the second information. The above-mentioned current node refers to a collaborative node.

[0424] When the collaboration node determines to provide computing resources for the first computing task, the method further includes: the collaboration node determining one or more function instances, and invoking the computing resources required by the first computing task through at least one of the one or more function instances. The specific implementation of the collaboration node determining the one or more function instances can be found in the description of S311e and is not further described here.

[0425] Furthermore, when the collaboration node receives the second request information, the collaboration node executes the first computing task according to the second request information and at least one of the one or more function instances. When the collaboration node receives the first data, the collaboration node processes the first data using at least one of the one or more function instances.

[0426] In some implementations, before executing S810 to S830, the method further includes S810' to S830'. Specifically:

[0427] S810', the terminal device sends a fourth request message to the core network.

[0428] The fourth request information includes information about at least one computing task requested to be called by the terminal device.

[0429] In some implementations, the fourth request information includes information about the computing tasks that the terminal device expects to call. Further, the core network determines at least one computing task from the computing tasks that the terminal device expects to call based on the computing task contract information. The computing task contract information indicates the computing tasks that the current network can provide services for. Exemplarily, the fourth request information is the computing power service request information in method 300; the computing tasks that the terminal device expects to call include the computing tasks requested by the computing power service request information. That is, the computing tasks that the terminal device expects to call include computing tasks that the core network has signed (or computing tasks that the current network can provide services for), or may also include unsigned computing tasks (or computing tasks that the current network cannot provide services for). The computing task contract information includes the computing power service contract information in the above embodiment.

[0430] It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present application, calling a computing task is not equivalent to executing a computing task. Calling a computing task may include providing or allocating computing resources and communication resources for the computing task. Calling a computing task may also include running one or more computing power functions associated with the computing task; and executing a computing task refers to running one or more computing power functions called by calling the function associated with the computing task.

[0431] It should also be noted that before executing S810', the terminal device sends a network access request to the fifth node, where the network access request is used to request access to the fifth node. After the terminal device accesses the fifth node, the terminal device can transparently transmit the fourth request information to the core network through the fifth node.

[0432] S820', the core network sends a second response message to the terminal device.

[0433] The second response information indicates the function call information of the fifth node, and the function call information may include the address of the terminal device remotely calling at least one computing task and / or computing task call identification information.

[0434] It should be noted that after the terminal device receives the computing task call identification information, the computing task call identification can be carried in the computing task call request when the computing task is subsequently called, so that the fifth node can quickly identify the computing task called by the terminal device.

[0435] In actual implementation, the core network may transparently transmit the second response information to the terminal device through the fifth node; or, the core network may send the second response information to the fifth node, which forwards it to the terminal device.

[0436] Exemplarily, the second response information may include the authorization response in the above embodiment.

[0437] S830': The core network sends first indication information to the fifth node.

[0438] The first indication information is at least one of the following: the fifth node provides communication resources to at least one computing task; the fifth node provides communication resources and computing resources to at least one computing task; or, at least one computing task is a computing task authorized by the core network.

[0439] Before executing S830', the method further includes: the core network authorizing at least one computing task. The specific implementation of the core network authorizing at least one computing task can refer to the description in S302 and will not be repeated here.

[0440] In some implementations, the first indication information includes characteristic information and / or performance requirements of each computing task in at least one computing task; wherein the characteristic information indicates the computational complexity and / or computational amount of each computing task.

[0441] In some implementations, the computing task information in S810 may be obtained based on the first indication information. Specifically, there are two implementations:

[0442] In one implementation, the fifth node stores the information included in the first indication information, for example, the fifth node stores the characteristic information and / or performance requirements of each computing task in at least one computing task. Furthermore, the fifth node receives a third request information from the terminal device, and the third request information is used to request the call of the first computing task, and the third request information includes the identifier of the first computing task. Then, obtaining the computing task information in S810 may include: according to the identifier of the first computing task, obtaining the computing task information from the characteristic information and / or performance requirements of each computing task in the stored at least one computing task. For example, if the first computing task is computing task 1 in method 300, then the first indication information is the authorized computing power service information in method 300, and the third request information is the call request in S306. It should be noted that the third request information may include the above-mentioned second request information.

[0443] In another implementation, the at least one computing task includes a first computing task, and the fourth request information indicates that the terminal device requests to call the first computing task. Then, obtaining the computing task information in S810 may include: obtaining the computing task information from the first indication information. If the first computing task is computing task 1 in method 400, the fourth request information is the call request in S401, and the first indication information is computing task allocation information 2 in method 400.

[0444] In some implementations, at least one computing task includes a second computing task, and the fifth node is not the node determined to provide computing resources for the second computing task, but is instead the node determined by the core network to provide computing resources for the second computing task. For example, taking computing task 1 as the second computing task, the specific implementation of the node determined by the core network to provide computing resources for the second computing task can refer to the description of method 500.

[0445] Exemplarily, when the core network determines a node to provide computing resources for a second computing task, the method further includes: the core network determining, based on at least one of the second characteristic information of the second computing task and the performance requirements of the second computing task, the available computing resources of the fifth node, and the available computing resources of each of at least one collaborative node, that a sixth node provides computing resources for the second computing task, wherein the second characteristic information indicates the computational complexity and / or computational amount of the second computing task, and the at least one collaborative node includes the sixth node. Furthermore, the core network sends first information to the sixth node, the first information including information about the second computing task. The first information instructs the sixth node to provide computing resources for the second computing task.

[0446] In some implementations, the first information includes an identifier of the second computing task, and the second characteristic information and / or performance requirements of the second computing task. For example, the first information may include computing task allocation information 3 in S504.

[0447] In the above scenario, the first indication information may further include information about the computing resources provided by the sixth node for the second computing task. For example, the first indication information includes an identifier of the sixth node, and the first indication information may further include information about the computing resources provided by the sixth node for the second computing task.

[0448] That is to say, when the core network determines the node that provides computing resources for the second computing task, taking the second computing task as computing task 1 as an example, the fourth request information in S810' may include the call request in S501, and the first indication information may include the computing task node allocation information in S506.

[0449] In actual implementation, the first indication information and the second response information may be sent to the fifth node via the same signaling, and then the fifth node sends the second response information to the terminal device, as described in S303, S403, or S506.

[0450] When the core network determines the node that provides computing resources for the second computing task, the method further includes: the core network obtaining node resource information indicating a connection relationship between the fifth node and at least one node; and the core network determining a sixth node from the at least one node based on the node resource information. The node resource information may be the general computing node resource information in the above-mentioned embodiment. For the specific implementation of the core network determining at least one collaborative node based on the node resource information, refer to the description in S503.

[0451] When the core network determines a node to provide computing resources for the second computing task, the method may further include: the core network obtaining function deployment information, the function deployment information indicating available computing resources of the fifth node and available computing resources of each of the at least one collaborative node. The function deployment information may include the function deployment policy and / or function deployment status in the above-mentioned embodiment.

[0452] In some implementations, prior to executing S810 to S830, the terminal device may reside in the service cell of the fourth node, i.e., the computing task of the terminal device is supported by communication resources and computing resources provided by the fourth node. Subsequently, due to the occurrence of a handover event, the terminal device is supported by communication resources and computing resources provided by the fifth node. The method further includes: the fifth node receives a first message from the third node, the first message instructing to handover at least one computing task, wherein the at least one computing task includes a first computing task, the at least one computing task is provided with communication resources by the fourth node, and the third node includes the fourth node. The fifth node sends a response message to the first message to the third node.

[0453] In some implementations, the fourth node is a source access node, and the third node is a core network. The first message may include the handover message in method 600 , and the response message to the first message may include the handover message response in method 600 .

[0454] The first message includes at least one of the following: performance requirements of each computing task in at least one computing task; characteristic information of each computing task, the characteristic information indicating the computational complexity and / or computational amount of each computing task; information of the collaborative node that provides computing resources for each computing task; or information of the available computing resources of the collaborative node that provides computing resources for each computing task.

[0455] The response message of the first message includes at least one of the following: function call information, which includes the address of the terminal device remotely calling at least one computing task; or node information, which indicates a node newly added relative to the fourth node for providing computing resources for at least one computing task.

[0456] For example, the at least one computing task may include a computing task that has been served in method 600. The specific implementation of the fifth node determining the newly added collaboration node may refer to the description in S604 and will not be repeated here.

[0457] Furthermore, the fifth node may store information of at least one computing task included in the first message. Acquiring computing task information in S810 may include: acquiring computing task information from information of at least one computing task.

[0458] In some implementations, before the terminal device switches from the fourth node to the fifth node, the fourth node is executing the first computing task. After the terminal device switches to the access node, the terminal device sends the function call and / or data of the first computing task to the fifth node, and the fifth node provides communication resources and computing resource support for the first computing task.

[0459] In some implementations, after executing S810 to S830 to allocate communication resources and computing resources to the first computing task, and when the fifth node provides all or part of the computing resources for the first computing task, the method may further include the following S810″ and S820″:

[0460] S810 ”, the fifth node determines that the fifth node is no longer suitable for providing computing resources for the first computing task.

[0461] Exemplarily, for a specific implementation of the fifth node determining that the fifth node is no longer suitable for providing computing resources for the first computing task, reference may be made to the description in S701 and will not be repeated here.

[0462] S820", the fifth node re-executes steps S820 and S830, and selects a cooperative node for the first computing task, and the cooperative node continues to provide computing resources for the first computing task.

[0463] It should be understood that the reselected collaborative node provides the computing resources previously provided by the fifth node for the first computing task. For example, if before S810", the fifth node provided computing resources for some sub-computing tasks of the first computing task, then the reselected collaborative node continues to provide computing resources for these sub-computing tasks; if before S810", the fifth node provided computing resources for all sub-computing tasks of the first computing task, then the reselected collaborative node continues to provide computing resources for all sub-computing tasks.

[0464] In the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the access computing node or core network of the terminal device can determine the computing resources required for the computing task based on the communication resources authorized by the access computing node for the computing task, and then determine the node that provides the computing resources, which helps to reduce the execution delay of the computing task to meet the performance requirements of the computing task.

[0465] The above, in combination with Figures 1 to 8, illustrates the communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application. In the various embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified or there is a logical conflict, the terms and / or descriptions between the various embodiments are consistent and can be referenced by each other. The technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their internal logical relationships.

[0466] The communication device provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below with reference to Figures 9 to 12. It should be understood that the description of the device embodiment corresponds to the description of the method embodiment. Therefore, for matters not described in detail, reference can be made to the method embodiment above. For the sake of brevity, they will not be repeated here.

[0467] Figure 9 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 2000 provided in an embodiment of the present application. Communication device 2000 may be an access computing node, or a chip or module within an access computing node, configured to implement the actions performed by the access computing node in the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 8. For details, please refer to the relevant descriptions in the above method embodiments.

[0468] The communication device 2000 includes an acquisition unit 2010 (or acquisition module) and a processing unit 2020 (or processing module). The acquisition unit 2010 and the processing unit 2020 are described below by way of example.

[0469] The acquisition unit 2010 can be used to implement corresponding information receiving or information acquisition functions, such as obtaining computing task information, and the processing unit 2020 can be used to implement corresponding processing functions, such as determining the target node based on the first computing resource required by the first computing task.

[0470] In some implementations, the communication device 2000 may further include a transceiver unit (or transceiver module), and the transceiver unit may include a sending unit and a receiving unit. The sending unit is used to perform the sending action of the communication device, and the receiving unit is used to perform the receiving action of the communication device. For ease of description, the embodiment of the present application combines the sending unit and the receiving unit into one transceiver unit. A unified explanation is given here and will not be repeated later. The transceiver unit can implement corresponding communication functions, such as executing the information receiving and / or information sending actions performed by the access computing node in the above-mentioned embodiment. Exemplarily, the transceiver unit can be used to: send a first request information to the core network or the second node, etc. In some implementations, the transceiver unit includes the above-mentioned acquisition unit.

[0471] Optionally, the communication device 2000 also includes a storage unit, which can be used to store instructions and / or data, and the processing unit 2020 can read the instructions and / or data in the storage unit so that the device implements the relevant actions performed by the access computing node in the aforementioned various method embodiments.

[0472] Exemplarily, when the communication device is applied to the method shown in FIG8 , the acquisition unit 2010 is configured to: acquire computing task information, where the computing task information includes performance requirements for a first computing task. The processing unit 2020 is configured to: determine a first computing resource based on the first communication resource and the performance requirements for the first computing task, where the first communication resource is a communication resource authorized for the first computing task, and the first computing resource is used to execute the first computing task. The processing unit 2020 is further configured to: determine a target node based on the first computing resource, where the target node is used to execute the first computing task.

[0473] For other implementations, please refer to the detailed description of the embodiment shown in Figure 8 above, which will not be repeated here. It should be understood that the specific process of each component performing the above corresponding process has been described in detail in the above method embodiment, and for the sake of brevity, it will not be repeated here.

[0474] Figure 10 is a schematic block diagram of a communication device 2000' provided in an embodiment of the present application. Communication device 2000' may be a core network, a cooperating node, or a terminal device, or may be a component (e.g., a chip or module) within the core network, a cooperating node, or a terminal device, configured to implement the methods described in the embodiments of Figures 3 through 8. For details, please refer to the relevant descriptions in the aforementioned method embodiments. The chip may be, for example, a system on chip (SoC).

[0475] The communication device 2000' includes a transceiver unit 2010'. The transceiver unit 2010' is described below by way of example.

[0476] The transceiver unit 2010' may include a transmitting unit and a receiving unit. The transmitting unit is used to perform the transmitting operation of the communication device, and the receiving unit is used to perform the receiving operation of the communication device. For ease of description, the embodiment of the present application combines the transmitting unit and the receiving unit into a single transceiver unit. This is described here as a unified description and will not be repeated later. The transceiver unit 2010' can implement corresponding communication functions. The transceiver unit 2010' may also be referred to as a communication interface or communication module.

[0477] It should be noted that the communication device 2000' may include a sending unit but not a receiving unit. Alternatively, the communication device 2000' may include a receiving unit but not a sending unit. The specific details may depend on whether the above solution executed by the communication device 2000' includes sending and receiving actions.

[0478] If the communication apparatus 2000 ′ is a core network or a component in the core network, illustratively, the transceiver unit 2010 ′ may be configured to receive first request information from a terminal device, send second response information to the terminal device, and so on.

[0479] Optionally, the communication device 2000' may further include a processing unit 2020', which is configured to execute steps such as processing and coordination involved in the core network.

[0480] If the communication device 2000 ′ is a coordination node or a component in a coordination node, illustratively, the transceiver unit 2010 ′ is configured to receive first request information from a core network or an access communication node.

[0481] Optionally, the communication device 2000' may further include a processing unit 2020', which is configured to execute steps such as processing and coordination related to the cooperation node.

[0482] If the communication apparatus 2000 ′ is a terminal device or a component in the terminal device, illustratively, the transceiver unit 2010 ′ is configured to send fourth request information, etc. to the core network.

[0483] Optionally, the communication apparatus 2000' may further include a processing unit 2020', which is configured to execute the contents of steps involving processing, coordination, etc. of the terminal device.

[0484] When the communication device 2000' is a core network, a coordinating node, or a terminal device, or a component in the core network, a coordinating node, or a terminal device, it will be responsible for executing the methods or steps related to the first network device, the second network device, or the third network device in the aforementioned method embodiments.

[0485] Optionally, the communication device 2000' further includes a storage unit configured to store a program or code for executing the aforementioned method. Alternatively, the storage unit may be configured to store instructions and / or data, and the processing unit 2020' may read the instructions and / or data from the storage unit to enable the communication device 2000' to implement the aforementioned method embodiment. For example, the communication device 2000' may be configured to execute the solution illustrated in FIG8 .

[0486] When the communication device 2000' is a core network or a component in the core network: the transceiver unit 2010' is used to: receive a fourth request information from the terminal device, the fourth request information includes information about at least one computing task requested to be called by the terminal device, and the transceiver unit 2010' is also used to: send a second response information to the terminal device according to the fourth request information, the second response information includes function call information of the fifth node, and the function call information includes the address of the terminal device remotely calling at least one computing task.

[0487] Optionally, the transceiver unit 2010' may further be configured to receive a first request message from a fifth node, the first request message being used to request the use of a second computing resource to execute at least one sub-computing task. The processing unit 2020' may be configured to determine the second computing resource based on the first request message, and to determine the first node based on the available computing resources of each of the at least one node and the second computing resource. The transceiver unit 2010' may also be configured to send a first response message to the fifth node, the first response message instructing the first node to provide the second computing resource for the first computing task.

[0488] When communication device 2000' is a cooperating node or a component in a cooperating node, transceiver unit 2010' is configured to receive third information from a seventh node, the third information including information for determining computing resources for performing a first computing task. Processing unit 2020' is configured to determine the computing resources based on the third information, and to determine whether to provide the computing resources for the first computing task or not based on the computing resources and available computing resources of the current node.

[0489] When communication apparatus 2000' is a terminal device or a component in a terminal device, transceiver unit 2010' is configured to send fourth request information to the core network, the fourth request information including information about at least one computing task requested by the terminal device. Transceiver unit 2010' is further configured to receive second response information from the core network, the second response information including function call information of a fifth node, the function call information including an address for remotely calling the at least one computing task.

[0490] It should be understood that the specific process of each unit 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.

[0491] It should also be understood that the above-mentioned device 2000 and device 2000' are embodied in the form of functional units. The term "unit" here may refer to an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (such as a shared processor, a dedicated processor or a group processor, etc.) and a memory for executing one or more software or firmware programs, a combined logic circuit and / or other suitable components that support the described functions. In an optional example, those skilled in the art will understand that the device 2000 or the device 2000' can be specifically the communication device in the above-mentioned embodiment, and can be used to execute the various processes and / or steps corresponding to the communication device in the above-mentioned method embodiments. In order to avoid repetition, they will not be described here.

[0492] The device 2000 or device 2000' of the above-mentioned solution has the function of implementing the corresponding steps performed by the communication device (such as a terminal device, an access node, a collaboration node or a core network) in the above-mentioned method. The functions can be implemented by hardware, or the corresponding software can be implemented by hardware. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above-mentioned functions; for example, the transceiver unit can be replaced by a transceiver (for example, the sending unit in the transceiver unit can be replaced by a transmitter, and the receiving unit in the transceiver unit can be replaced by a receiver), and other units, such as the processing unit, can be replaced by a processor to respectively perform the sending and receiving operations and related processing operations in each method embodiment.

[0493] In addition, the above-mentioned transceiver unit may also be a transceiver circuit (for example, may include a transmitting circuit, or may also include a receiving circuit), and the processing unit may be a processing circuit.

[0494] FIG11 is a schematic diagram of another communication device 2100 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The device 2100 includes a processor 2110, which is coupled to a memory 2120. The memory 2120 is configured to store computer programs or instructions and / or data. The processor 2110 is configured to execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory 2120, or read data stored in the memory 2120, to perform the methods described in the above method embodiments.

[0495] Optionally, there are one or more processors 2110 .

[0496] Optionally, the memory 2120 is one or more.

[0497] Optionally, the memory 2120 may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device. The memory 2120 may be integrated with the processor 2110 or may be separately provided.

[0498] Optionally, as shown in Figure 11, the apparatus 2100 further includes a transceiver 2130, which is configured to receive and / or transmit signals. For example, the processor 2110 is configured to control the transceiver 2130 to receive and / or transmit signals.

[0499] As an example, the processor 2110 may have the function of the processing unit 2020 shown in Figure 9, or the processing unit 2020' shown in Figure 10, the memory 2120 may have the function of a storage unit, and the transceiver 2130 may have the function of the acquisition unit 2010 shown in Figure 9, or the transceiver unit 2010' shown in Figure 10.

[0500] As a solution, the device 2100 is used to implement the operations performed by the communication device (such as terminal equipment, access node, collaboration node or core network) in the above various method embodiments.

[0501] For example, the processor 2110 is configured to execute computer programs or instructions stored in the memory 2120 to implement relevant operations of the communication device in the above various method embodiments.

[0502] In some implementations, when the apparatus 2100 is a terminal device, the transceiver 2130 may include a transmitter, a receiver, a radio frequency circuit, an antenna, and input / output devices. The processor 2110 is primarily used to process communication protocols and communication data, control the terminal device, execute software programs, and process data in software programs. The memory 2120 is primarily used to store software programs and data. Specifically:

[0503] Radio frequency circuits are mainly used for conversion between baseband signals and radio frequency signals and for processing radio frequency signals.

[0504] Antennas are mainly used to send and receive radio frequency signals in the form of electromagnetic waves.

[0505] Input and output devices (eg, touch screen, display screen, keyboard, etc.) are mainly used to receive data input by the user and output data to the user.

[0506] It should be noted that some types of terminal devices may not have input and output devices.

[0507] When data needs to be sent, the processor performs baseband processing on the data to be transmitted and outputs the baseband signal to the RF circuit. The RF circuit then performs RF processing on the baseband signal and transmits it via the antenna in the form of electromagnetic waves. When data is sent to a terminal device, the RF circuit receives the RF signal via the antenna, converts it into a baseband signal, and outputs the baseband signal to the processor, which converts the baseband signal into data and processes it.

[0508] In other implementations, when the apparatus 2100 is a network device (such as an access node, a core network, or a collaborative node), the processor 2110 is mainly used for baseband processing, controlling the network device, etc.; the processor 2110 is usually the control center of the network device, used to control the network device to perform the processing operations on the network device side in the above method embodiment, such as determining the computing resources required for the computing task, determining the node that provides computing resources for the computing task, etc. The memory 2120 is mainly used to store computer program code and data. The transceiver 2130 is mainly used for transmitting and receiving radio frequency signals and converting radio frequency signals into baseband signals; the transceiver 2130 may include an antenna and a radio frequency circuit (not shown in the figure), wherein the radio frequency circuit is mainly used for radio frequency processing.

[0509] The processor 2110 and the memory 2120 may include one or more boards, each of which may include one or more processors and one or more memories. The processor is used to read and execute programs in the memory to implement baseband processing functions and control the device 2100. If multiple boards are present, the boards may be interconnected to enhance processing capabilities. As an optional embodiment, multiple boards may share one or more processors, multiple boards may share one or more memories, or multiple boards may simultaneously share one or more processors.

[0510] In the embodiment of the present application, the antenna and radio frequency circuit with transceiver functions can be regarded as the transceiver module of the terminal device or network device, and the processor with processing function can be regarded as the processing module of the terminal device or network device.

[0511] In some implementations, the processor 2110 may also be referred to as a processing unit, a processing board, a processing module, a processing device, etc. The transceiver 2130 may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, a transceiver, a transceiver device, etc.

[0512] When the device 2100 is a chip, the chip includes a processor, memory, and a transceiver. The transceiver can be an input / output circuit or a communication interface; the processor can be a processing module, microprocessor, or integrated circuit integrated on the chip. The sending operation of the terminal device in the above method embodiment can be understood as the chip's output, and the receiving operation of the terminal device in the above method embodiment can be understood as the chip's input.

[0513] It should be understood that the processor mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), or may be other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc.

[0514] It should also be understood that the memory mentioned in the embodiments of the present application may be a volatile memory and / or a non-volatile memory. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM). For example, RAM can be used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, RAM includes the following forms: static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

[0515] It should be noted that when the processor is a general-purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware component, the memory (storage module) can be integrated into the processor.

[0516] It should also be noted that the memory described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0517] 12 is a schematic diagram of a chip system 2200 provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present application. The chip system 2200 (or also referred to as a processing system) includes a logic circuit 2210 and an input / output interface 2220 .

[0518] Logic circuit 2210 may be a processing circuit within chip system 2200. Logic circuit 2210 may be coupled to a storage unit and invoke instructions within the storage unit, enabling chip system 2200 to implement the methods and functions of various embodiments of the present application. Input / output interface 2220 may be an input / output circuit within chip system 2200, outputting information processed by chip system 2200 or inputting data or signaling information to be processed into chip system 2200 for processing.

[0519] As a solution, the chip system 2200 is used to implement the operations performed by a communication device (such as a terminal device, an access node, a collaboration node or a core network) in each of the above method embodiments.

[0520] For example, the logic circuit 2210 is used to implement the processing-related operations performed by the communication device (such as a terminal device, an access communication node, a collaborative node or a core network) in the above method embodiments; the input / output interface 2220 is used to implement the sending and / or receiving-related operations performed by the communication device (such as a terminal device, an access communication node, a collaborative node or a core network) in the above method embodiments.

[0521] The present application also provides a processor for coupling with a memory, and for executing the methods and functions involving a terminal device, an access node, a collaborative node or a core network in any of the above embodiments.

[0522] In another embodiment of the present application, a computer program product including a computer program or instructions is provided. When the computer program product is run on a computer, the method of the aforementioned embodiment is implemented.

[0523] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium on which computer instructions are stored for implementing the methods executed by a communication device (such as a terminal device, an access node, a collaborative node or a core network) in the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0524] For example, when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer can implement the methods performed by a communication device (such as a terminal device, an access node, a collaborative node or a core network) in each embodiment of the above method.

[0525] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed by a computer, implement the methods performed by a communication device (such as a terminal device, an access node, a collaborative node, or a core network) in the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0526] An embodiment of the present application also provides a communication system, which includes the terminal device, access communication node, and core network in the above embodiment, and the terminal device, access communication node, and core network are used to execute the method in any one of the embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 8.

[0527] In some implementations, the communication system may further include a cooperation node, which is configured to perform the actions performed by the cooperation node in any one of the embodiments shown in FIG. 3 to FIG. 8 .

[0528] 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.

[0529] 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.

[0530] 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.

[0531] 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.

[0532] 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.

[0533] If the functions are implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or the part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, 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.

[0534] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of the present application is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included in the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, Including: Obtain computing task information, where the computing task information includes the performance requirements of a first computing task; Determine first computing resources according to first communication resources and the performance requirements of the first computing task, where the first communication resources are communication resources for the first computing task, and the first computing resources are used to execute the first computing task; Determine a target node according to the first computing resources, where the target node is used to execute the first computing task.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The first computing task includes at least one sub-computing task. Determining the target node according to the first computing resources includes: Send first request information to the core network, where the first request information is used to request to execute the at least one sub-computing task with second computing resources, and the first computing resources include the second computing resources; Receive first response information from the core network, where the first response information indicates a first node, and the first node provides the second computing resources for the first computing task; Determine that the target node includes the first node according to the first response information.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein The first computing task includes at least one sub-computing task. Determining the target node according to the first computing resources includes: Send first request information to a second node, where the first request information is used to request to execute the at least one sub-computing task with second computing resources, and the first computing resources include the second computing resources; Receive first response information from the second node, where the first response information indicates that the second node determines to execute the first computing task, and the second node provides the second computing resources for the first computing task; Determine that the target node includes the second node according to the first response information.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that, The first request information includes: information of the first communication resources, and at least one of the following: an identifier of the first computing task, first feature information of the first computing task, and performance requirements of the first computing task; where the first feature information indicates the computing complexity and / or computing amount of the first computing task.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive second request information from a terminal device, where the second request information is used to request to call a function for executing the first computing task; Send the second request information to the target node.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that The method further includes: Receive first data from a terminal device, where the first data includes data for which the first computing task requests processing; Send the first data to the target node.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that The method further includes: Update or create a communication connection, where the communication connection is used to carry function calls and / or data transmission of the first computing task.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, The first computing task includes at least one sub-computing task. The method further includes: Select at least one function instance from multiple function instances, or trigger the deployment of at least one function instance; the at least one function instance is associated with third computing resources, and the third computing resources are used to execute the at least one sub-computing task, and the first computing resources include the third computing resources.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that The method further includes: Receive a first message from a third node, the first message indicating to switch at least one computing task, where the at least one computing task includes the first computing task, the at least one computing task is provided with communication resources by a fourth node, and the third node includes the fourth node; Send a response message to the first message of the third node.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein The first message includes at least one of the following: The performance requirements of each computing task in the at least one computing task; The characteristic information of each computing task, the characteristic information indicating the computing complexity and / or the amount of computation of each computing task; The information of the node providing computing resources for each computing task; Or The information of the available computing resources of the node providing computing resources for each computing task.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that, The response message of the first message includes at least one of the following: Function call information, the function call information including the address for remotely calling the at least one computing task for the terminal device; or, Node information, the node information indicating a node newly added relative to the fourth node and used to provide computing resources for the at least one computing task.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive first indication information from the core network, the first indication information being used to indicate at least one of the following: providing communication resources for at least one computing task; providing communication resources and computing resources for the at least one computing task; or, the at least one computing task is a computing task authorized by the core network; the at least one computing task includes the first computing task.

13. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that, The first indication information further includes the characteristic information and / or the performance requirements of each computing task in the at least one computing task; where the characteristic information indicates the computing complexity and / or the amount of computation of each computing task.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive third request information from the terminal device, the third request information being used to request to call the first computing task, and the third request information including the identifier of the first computing task; The obtaining of the computing task information includes: Obtain the computing task information according to the identifier of the first computing task.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that, The performance requirements of the first computing task indicate the computing delay for executing the first computing task, or the total delay for executing the first computing task, and the total delay includes the communication delay and the computing delay.

16. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive a network access request from the terminal device, the network access request being used to request to access the current node.

17. A communication method, characterized in that, Includes: Receive fourth request information from the terminal device, the fourth request information including the information of at least one computing task requested to be called by the terminal device; Send a second response information to the terminal device according to the fourth request information, the second response information including function call information of a fifth node, the function call information including the address for remotely calling the at least one computing task for the terminal device and / or computing task call identification information.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein The method further includes: Send first indication information to the fifth node, where the first indication information indicates at least one of the following: the fifth node provides communication resources for the at least one computing task; the fifth node provides communication resources and computing resources for the at least one computing task; or, the at least one computing task is a computing task authorized by the core network.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein The first indication information includes feature information and / or performance requirements of each computing task in the at least one computing task; wherein, the feature information indicates the computing complexity and / or computing amount of each computing task.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein The at least one computing task includes a second computing task, and the method further includes: Determine that the sixth node provides computing resources for the second computing task according to at least one of the second feature information of the second computing task and the performance requirements of the second computing task, the available computing resources of the fifth node, and the available computing resources of each node in the at least one node, where the second feature information indicates the computing complexity and / or computing amount of the second computing task, and the at least one node includes the sixth node; Send first information to the sixth node, where the first information includes information about the second computing task.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein The first information includes at least one of the second feature information and the performance requirements of the second computing task, and an identifier of the second computing task.

22. The method according to claim 20 or 21, characterized in that The first indication information further includes information that the sixth node provides computing resources for the second computing task.

23. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 22, characterized in that, The method further includes: Obtain node resource information, where the node resource information indicates the connection relationship between the fifth node and the at least one node; Determine the sixth node from the at least one node according to the node resource information.

24. The method according to any one of claims 20 to 23, characterized in that, The method further includes: Obtain function deployment information, where the function deployment information indicates the available computing resources of the fifth node and the available computing resources of each node.

25. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 24, characterized in that The at least one computing task includes a first computing task, and the first computing task includes at least one sub-computing task, and the method further includes: Receive first request information from the fifth node, where the first request information is used to request to execute the at least one sub-computing task with second computing resources; Determine the second computing resources according to the first request information; Determine a first node according to the available computing resources of each node in the at least one node and the second computing resources, where the at least one node includes the first node; Send first response information to the fifth node, where the first response information indicates that the first node provides second computing resources for the first computing task.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein The method further includes: Send second information to the first node, where the second information indicates that the first node provides the second computing resources for the first computing task.

27. The method according to claim 25 or 26, characterized in that, The first request information includes: information about the first communication resource, and at least one of the following: an identifier of the first computing task, first characteristic information of the first computing task, and performance requirements of the first computing task; wherein, the first communication resource is a communication resource used by a fifth node for the first computing task, and the first characteristic information indicates the computing complexity and / or computing amount of the first computing task.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein The performance requirements of the first computing task indicate the computing delay for executing the first computing task, or the total delay for executing the first computing task, where the total delay includes communication delay and computing delay.

29. The method according to any one of claims 17 to 28, characterized in that, The fourth request information includes information about the computing tasks that the terminal device expects to invoke, and the method further includes: Determining the at least one computing task from the computing tasks that the terminal device expects to invoke according to computing task subscription information; wherein, the computing task subscription information indicates the computing tasks that the current network can provide services for.

30. A communication method, characterized in that, including: Receiving third information from a seventh node, where the third information is used to request to execute a first computing task using computing resources; Determining the computing resources according to the third information; Determining to provide the computing resources for the first computing task, or not to provide the computing resources for the first computing task according to the computing resources and the available computing resources of the current node.

31. The method according to claim 30, wherein The third information includes: information about the first communication resource, and at least one of the following: an identifier of the first computing task, first characteristic information of the first computing task, and performance requirements of the first computing task; wherein, the first communication resource is a communication resource used by a fifth node for the first computing task, and the first characteristic information indicates the computing complexity and / or computing amount of the first computing task.

32. The method according to claim 31, wherein The method further includes: When the current node provides computing resources for the first computing task, determining one or more function instances, where at least one of the one or more function instances is associated with the first computing task.

33. The method according to claim 32, wherein The method further includes: Receiving second request information from the fifth node, where the second request information is used to request to invoke a function for executing the first computing task; Executing the first computing task according to the second request information and at least one of the one or more function instances.

34. The method according to claim 32 or 33, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receiving first data from the fifth node, where the first data is data requested to be processed by the first computing task; Processing the first data using at least one of the one or more function instances.

35. The method according to any one of claims 30 to 34, characterized in that, The method further includes: Sending third response information to the seventh node, where the third response information indicates that the current node provides the computing resources for the first computing task, or the current node does not provide the computing resources for the first computing task.

36. A communication method, characterized in that, including: Sending fourth request information to the core network, where the fourth request information includes information about at least one computing task that the terminal device requests to invoke; Receive second response information from the core network, where the second response information includes function call information of a fifth node, and the function call information includes an address for remotely calling the at least one computing task and / or computing task call identification information.

37. The method according to claim 36, wherein The method further includes: Send a network access request to the fifth node, where the network access request is used to request access to the current node.

38. The method according to claim 36 or 37, characterized in that, The at least one computing task includes a first computing task, and the method further includes: Send second request information to the fifth node, where the second request information is used to request to call a function for executing the first computing task.

39. The method according to any one of claims 36 to 38, characterized in that, The at least one computing task includes a first computing task, and the method further includes: Send first data to the fifth node, where the first data is data requested to be processed by the first computing task.

40. A communication device, characterized in that, Includes a module for executing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, or for executing the method according to any one of claims 17 to 29, or for executing the method according to any one of claims 30 to 35, or for executing the method according to any one of claims 36 to 39.

41. A communication device, characterized in that, Includes at least one processor, where the at least one processor is coupled to at least one memory, and the at least one processor is used to execute a computer program or instruction stored in the at least one memory, so that the communication device executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, or executes the method according to any one of claims 17 to 29, or executes the method according to any one of claims 30 to 35, or executes the method according to any one of claims 36 to 39.

42. A communication system, characterized in that, Includes a terminal device, a fifth node, and a core network; Wherein, the fifth node is used to execute the communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 16; The core network is used to execute the communication method according to any one of claims 17 to 29; The terminal device is used to execute the communication method according to any one of claims 36 to 39.

43. The system according to claim 42, wherein Includes at least one cooperation node, and each cooperation node in the at least one cooperation node is used to execute the communication method according to any one of claims 30 to 35.

44. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, Stores instructions or program codes thereon, and when the instructions or program codes are executed by a processor, the processor is caused to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, or the method according to any one of claims 17 to 29, or the method according to any one of claims 30 to 35, or the method according to any one of claims 36 to 39.

45. A chip, characterized in that, The chip includes a processor and a communication interface, where the communication interface is used to send information to other communication devices outside the communication device including the chip and / or receive information from the other communication devices, and the processor is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 16, or is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 17 to 29, or is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 30 to 35, or is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 36 to 39.

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