Communication method and apparatus

Abstract

The present application relates to the technical field of communications, and provides a communication method and apparatus, for use in enabling a terminal to simultaneously establish 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access-type connections with multiple cells respectively, so as to adapt to more flexible communication needs in future. The method comprises: a data management network element acquires related information of multiple connections and sends the related information to a terminal, wherein the related information comprises indication information and / or policy information, the indication information is used for indicating that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, the policy information is used for indicating a policy for establishing multiple connections, and the multiple connections refer to simultaneously establishing 3GPP access-type connections with multiple cells respectively.

Description

Communication method and device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on January 5, 2024, with application number 202410024032.9 and application name “Communication Method and Device”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

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

[0003] In the current UE cell selection process defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), while a UE is camped on a cell, it periodically performs a cell reselection evaluation process. If a cell with better signal quality becomes available, the UE can reselect a cell to camp on. At this point, the newly selected cell replaces the current cell, and the UE cannot maintain connections to two cells simultaneously. In other words, the UE cannot access two cells simultaneously, making it unsuitable for future, more flexible communication needs. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus to enable a terminal to simultaneously establish 3GPP access type connections with multiple cells, so as to meet more flexible communication needs in the future.

[0005] To achieve the above objectives, this application adopts the following technical solutions:

[0006] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, applied to a data management network element, comprising: the data management network element obtaining information related to multiple connections and sending the relevant information to a terminal. The relevant information includes indication information and / or policy information, the indication information being used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, and the policy information being used to indicate a policy for establishing multiple connections. Multiple connections refer to establishing 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access-type connections with multiple cells simultaneously.

[0007] Based on the method described in the first aspect, it can be seen that since the network side, that is, the data management network element, can send relevant information of multiple connections, such as instructions and policies required to establish multiple connections, to the terminal, the terminal can establish 3GPP access type connections with multiple cells at the same time based on the relevant information, that is, maintain connections with multiple cells at the same time to meet more and more flexible communication needs in the future.

[0008] It can be understood that multi-connection can also be replaced by the following expressions: support for dual (or multiple) radio capabilities (dual / Multiple radio capability), support for dual (or multiple) 3GPP access technology (Dual / Multiple 3GPP RAT), support for dual (or multiple) offloading capability (Dual / Multiple steer), support for dual (or multiple) 3GPP access (Dual / Multiple 3GPP), support for dual (or multiple) 3GPP access type (Dual / Multiple 3GPP access type), support for dual (or multiple) registration (Dual / Multiple Registration), support for the same access type (same access type), support for the same access technology (same RAT), support for the same access network (same access network), etc. In other words, supporting one or more of the above can be understood as the ability to establish multiple connections.

[0009] In a possible design scheme, the policy information may include at least one item: business policy, access type policy, location policy, or time policy. Among them, the business policy means that multiple connections need to be established when the network cannot meet the business needs, that is, to achieve establishment according to business needs and avoid redundancy. The access type policy refers to the access type combination required to establish multiple connections, such as terrestrial network TN + non-terrestrial network NTN or 5G + 6G, to achieve decoupling of access resources and avoid resource shortages caused by the use of the same access type. The location policy means that multiple connections need to be established within a preset area, such as a low-signal area that requires communication signal enhancement, to ensure the communication quality of users in the area. The time policy means that multiple connections need to be established within a preset time period, such as a time period with high business demand, to ensure the business experience within that time period.

[0010] In one possible design, the data management network element obtains information related to multiple connections, including: the data management network element obtains capability information of a terminal, and obtains relevant information based on the capability information of the terminal. The capability information of the terminal is used to indicate that the terminal supports simultaneous establishment of 3GPP access type connections with multiple cells, thereby avoiding wasting communication resources by instructing the terminal to establish multiple connections due to the terminal not supporting multiple connections.

[0011] Optionally, the data management network element obtains the terminal capability information, including: during the terminal registration process, the data management network element receives a context registration request message from the access and mobility management network element. The context registration request message includes the terminal capability information. That is, the existing registration process is reused to realize the multi-connection capability of the terminal. Alternatively, it can be realized through a newly defined process, which is decoupled from the existing process and can make the information element transmission more flexible.

[0012] In one possible design, the data management network element obtains information related to multiple connections, including: the data management network element obtains slice information requested by the terminal, and obtains relevant information based on the network slice corresponding to the multi-connection service. The slice information requested by the terminal is used to indicate the network slice requested by the terminal. In this case, the network slice requested by the terminal requires the network to provide multiple connections to ensure the service needs of the terminal.

[0013] Optionally, the data management network element obtains the slice information requested by the terminal, including: during the terminal registration process, the data management network element receives a context registration request message from the access and mobility management network element. The context registration request message includes the slice information requested by the terminal. That is, the existing registration process is reused to realize the perception of the terminal's multi-connection requirements. Alternatively, it can be realized through a newly defined process, which is decoupled from the existing process and can make the information element transmission more flexible.

[0014] In one possible design, the data management network element obtains information related to multiple connections, including: the data management network element obtains subscription data of the terminal, and obtains relevant information based on the subscription data of the terminal. The subscription data of the terminal includes information indicating that the network can provide multiple connection services for the terminal, that is, indicating that the terminal is a user who has subscribed to multiple connections, thereby avoiding communication redundancy caused by sending information related to multiple connections to non-subscribed users.

[0015] Optionally, the data management network element obtains the terminal's subscription data, including: during the terminal registration process, the data management network element receives a subscription data acquisition request message from the access and mobility management network element, and obtains the terminal's subscription data based on the subscription data acquisition request message. The subscription data acquisition request message is used to request data related to the terminal's subscription with the network. That is, the existing registration process is reused to achieve perception of the terminal's subscription data. Alternatively, it can be achieved through a newly defined process, decoupled from the existing process, and more flexible information element transmission.

[0016] In one possible design, the data management network element obtains information related to multiple connections, including: the data management network element receives service information from the access and mobility management network element, and obtains relevant information based on the service information. The service information indicates that the network cannot meet the service needs of the terminal, and in this case, the network needs to provide additional network resources through multiple connections to meet the service needs of the terminal.

[0017] Optionally, the network cannot meet the business needs of the terminal, including: the bandwidth provided by the network to the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth requirements of the terminal's business, and / or the signal quality of the network cannot meet the signal quality requirements of the terminal's business, or there may be any other possible situations, which are not limited to this.

[0018] Optionally, when the bandwidth provided by the network to the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth requirements of the terminal's business, the business information is also used to indicate the network needs to provide additional bandwidth to the terminal, so that the network can determine how much bandwidth the terminal ultimately needs, so that the multiple connections established subsequently can provide these bandwidths to ensure that the terminal's business needs can be met.

[0019] In one possible design, the data management network element obtains information related to multiple connections, including: the data management network element obtains the relevant information based on preset conditions. The preset conditions include at least one of the following: the terminal is currently within a time period where multiple connections need to be established, or the terminal is located within an area where multiple connections need to be established. That is, the data management network element can independently decide to trigger the establishment of multiple connections based on the current time and the current location of the terminal, thereby avoiding additional overhead caused by interacting with other network elements.

[0020] Optionally, the data management network element obtains the terminal location from the terminal-related access and mobility management network element through a subscription service, or the terminal location can be obtained through other means, such as the access network device reporting to the data management network element through the access and mobility management network element. The specific selection can be made according to actual needs and there is no specific restriction on this.

[0021] In one possible design, the data management network element obtains information related to multiple connections, including: obtaining S-NSSAI single network slice selection auxiliary information and the DNN data network name corresponding to the terminal's session, and obtaining relevant information based on whether the terminal's service requires multiple connections. The S-NSSAI and DNN correspond to the terminal's service, which means that multiple connections can be established based on the terminal's service needs to avoid redundancy.

[0022] Optionally, the data management network element obtains the S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the terminal session, including: during the terminal session establishment process, the data management network element receives a context registration request message from the session management network element, wherein the context registration request message includes the S-NSSAI and DNN.

[0023] In one possible design, the data management network element obtains information related to multiple connections, including: the data management network element receives a request message from a terminal and obtains relevant information based on the request message. The request message indicates that the terminal requests to establish multiple connections. That is, the establishment of multiple connections can be triggered by the terminal itself, making interaction between the terminal and the network simpler and reducing communication overhead.

[0024] Optionally, the data management network element receives request information from the terminal, including: the data management network element receives a subscription data management acquisition request message from the access and mobility management network element. The subscription data management acquisition request message includes request information. That is, it is implemented by reusing existing signaling, or it can also be implemented through a newly defined process, which is decoupled from the existing process and can make information element transmission more flexible.

[0025] According to a second aspect, a communication method is provided for use with an access and mobility management network element, comprising: the access and mobility management network element sending service information to a data management network element, receiving information related to multiple connections returned by the data management network element based on the service information, and sending the relevant information to a terminal. The service information indicates that the network cannot meet the service needs of the terminal. The relevant information includes indication information and / or policy information, the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, and the policy information is used to indicate a policy for establishing multiple connections. Multiple connections refer to establishing connections of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access type with multiple cells simultaneously.

[0026] In a possible design scheme, the method described in the second aspect may also include: the access and mobility management network element receives an N2 message from the access network device, the N2 message includes service information, and the service information is specifically used to indicate that the bandwidth provided by the network to the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth requirements of the terminal's service.

[0027] Optionally, the service information is also used to indicate the additional bandwidth that the network needs to provide to the terminal.

[0028] In one possible design, the method of the second aspect may further include: the access and mobility management network element obtaining service information based on the terminal being located in a low signal area, wherein the service information is specifically used to indicate that the network signal quality cannot meet the signal quality requirements of the terminal's service.

[0029] It can be understood that the technical effects of the method described in the second aspect can also refer to the relevant introduction of the method described in the first aspect above, and will not be repeated here.

[0030] On the third aspect, a communication method is provided, which is applied to a policy control network element, including: the policy control network element obtains the S-NSSAI single network slice selection auxiliary information and the DNN data network name corresponding to the terminal's session, and the policy control network element sends relevant information about multiple connections to the terminal based on whether the terminal's service requires the establishment of multiple connections. Among them, S-NSSAI and DNN correspond to the terminal's service. The relevant information includes indication information and / or policy information, the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, and the policy information is used to indicate the strategy for establishing multiple connections. Multi-connection refers to establishing a 3rd Generation Partnership Project 3GPP access type connection with multiple cells at the same time.

[0031] In one possible design scheme, the policy control network element obtains the S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the terminal session, including: during the process of establishing or modifying the terminal session policy, the policy control network element receives the S-NSSAI and DNN from the session management network element.

[0032] Optionally, the policy information includes at least one item: business policy, access type policy, location policy, or time policy; wherein, the business policy means that multiple connections need to be established when the network cannot meet the business needs; the access type policy refers to the access type combination required to establish multiple connections; the location policy means that multiple connections need to be established within a preset area; the time policy means that multiple connections need to be established within a preset time period.

[0033] That is to say, the corresponding functions implemented by the data management network element described in the first aspect can also be replaced by the policy control network element described in the third aspect. For details, please refer to the relevant introduction of the method described in the first aspect and will not be repeated here.

[0034] In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a terminal, or by a module applied to the terminal (such as a processor, chip, or chip system, etc.), and can also be implemented by a logical node, logic module or software that can realize all or part of the terminal functions. For the convenience of expression, the following introduction is taken as an example of the method being executed by the terminal. The method includes: receiving relevant information of multiple connections from the network, and establishing multiple connections with the network based on the relevant information. The relevant information includes indication information and / or policy information, the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, and the policy information is used to indicate a strategy for establishing multiple connections. Multi-connection refers to establishing a connection of the Third Generation Partnership Project 3GPP access type with multiple cells at the same time.

[0035] In one possible design scheme, the policy information includes at least one item: business policy, access type policy, location policy, or time policy; among them, the business policy means that multiple connections need to be established when the network cannot meet the business needs; the access type policy refers to the access type combination required to establish multiple connections; the location policy means that multiple connections need to be established within a preset area; the time policy means that multiple connections need to be established within a preset time period.

[0036] In one possible design, the method described in the fourth aspect may further include: sending capability information of the terminal to the network, wherein the capability information of the terminal is used to indicate that the terminal supports establishing 3GPP access type connections with multiple cells simultaneously.

[0037] In a possible design scheme, the method described in the fourth aspect may also include: sending S-NSSAI single network slice selection auxiliary information and DNN data network name corresponding to the terminal's session to the network, wherein the S-NSSAI and DNN correspond to the terminal's service, and the terminal's service is a service that requires establishing multiple connections.

[0038] In a possible design scheme, the method described in the fourth aspect may also include: when the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, sending request information to the network, wherein the request information is used to indicate that the terminal requests to establish multiple connections.

[0039] Optionally, the method described in the fourth aspect may further include: in response to a user's operation to enable multiple connections, determining that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, that is, establishing multiple connections on demand based on user needs to ensure the user's user experience. Alternatively, when a service of the terminal needs to be executed, obtaining a routing selection policy (URSP) rule that matches the terminal's service; when the URSP rule indicates that multiple connections need to be established, determining that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, so that the multiple connections can match the service needs to ensure the user's user experience.

[0040] Of course, the embodiment of the present application takes URSP rules as an example, but is not limited to URSP rules. Any strategy and / or rule similar to URSP rules, or capable of implementing routing functions, can be used to implement the solution in the present application.

[0041] It can be understood that the technical effects of the method described in the fourth aspect can also refer to the relevant introduction of the method described in the first aspect above, and no further details will be given.

[0042] In a fifth aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a terminal, or by a module applied to the terminal (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or by a logical node, a logical module, or software that can implement all or part of the terminal functions. For the convenience of expression, the following is an introduction to the method being executed by the terminal. The method includes: when the terminal's service needs to be executed, obtaining a routing selection strategy URSP rule that matches the terminal's service; if the URSP rule indicates that multiple connections need to be established, establishing multiple connections with the network, wherein multiple connections refer to establishing a third generation partnership project 3GPP access type connection with multiple cells of the network at the same time.

[0043] Based on the method described in the fifth aspect, it can be seen that the terminal can match URSP rules and trigger the establishment of multiple connections with the network side when the service matches the URSP rule that requires establishing multiple connections, so as to ensure that the multiple connections can meet the needs of the service and ensure the user experience.

[0044] In one possible design, the URSP rule further indicates a combination of access types required to establish multiple connections.

[0045] In a possible design solution, the method described in the fifth aspect may further include: the terminal receiving URSP rules from the network.

[0046] It can be understood that the technical effects of the method described in the fifth aspect can also refer to the relevant introduction of the method described in the first aspect above, and will not be repeated here.

[0047] In a sixth aspect, a communication method is provided for use with a policy control network element, comprising: when a terminal's routing policy URSP rule needs to be updated, the policy control network element obtains the terminal's new URSP rule and sends the new URSP rule to the terminal. The new URSP rule indicates the need to establish multiple connections, where multiple connections refer to establishing 3GPP access-type connections with multiple cells simultaneously. That is, by updating the URSP rule, the terminal is enabled to establish multiple connections.

[0048] In one possible design, the new URSP rule further indicates the access type combination required to establish multiple connections.

[0049] Of course, the embodiment of the present application takes URSP rules as an example, but is not limited to URSP rules. Any strategy and / or rule similar to URSP rules, or capable of implementing routing functions, can be used to implement the solution in the present application.

[0050] It can be understood that the technical effects of the method described in the sixth aspect can also refer to the relevant introduction of the method described in the first aspect above, and will not be repeated here.

[0051] In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, which includes a module for executing the method described in any one of the first to sixth aspects.

[0052] In one possible design solution, the communication device described in the seventh aspect may further include a transceiver. The transceiver may be a transceiver circuit or an interface circuit. The transceiver may be used for the communication device described in the seventh aspect to communicate with other communication devices.

[0053] In one possible design, the communication device described in aspect 7 may further include a memory. The memory may be integrated with the processor or provided separately. The memory may be used to store instructions related to the method of any one of aspects 1 to 6.

[0054] In an embodiment of the present application, the communication device described in the seventh aspect may be a network device, or a chip (system) or other parts or components that can be set in the network device, or a device that includes the network device.

[0055] It can be understood that the technical effects of the device described in the seventh aspect can also refer to the relevant introduction of the method in any of the first to sixth aspects above, and will not be repeated here.

[0056] In an eighth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor coupled to a memory, the processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory, so that the communication device executes the method described in any one of the first to sixth aspects.

[0057] In one possible design solution, the communication device described in the eighth aspect may further include a transceiver. The transceiver may be a transceiver circuit or an interface circuit. The transceiver may be used for the communication device described in the eighth aspect to communicate with other communication devices.

[0058] In an embodiment of the present application, the communication device described in aspect 8 may be the network device described in any one of aspects 1 to 6, or a chip (system) or other parts or components that may be set in the network device, or a device that includes the network device.

[0059] In addition, the technical effects of the communication device described in the eighth aspect can refer to the technical effects of the methods described in any one of the first to sixth aspects, and will not be repeated here.

[0060] In a ninth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor and a memory; the memory is used to store instructions, and when the processor executes the instructions, the communication device executes the method described in any one of the first to sixth aspects.

[0061] In one possible design solution, the communication device described in the ninth aspect may further include a transceiver. The transceiver may be a transceiver circuit or an interface circuit. The transceiver may be used for the communication device described in the sixth aspect to communicate with other communication devices.

[0062] In an embodiment of the present application, the communication device described in aspect 9 may be the network device described in any one of aspects 1 to 6, or a chip (system) or other parts or components that may be set in the network device, or a device that includes the network device.

[0063] In addition, the technical effects of the communication device described in the ninth aspect can refer to the technical effects of the methods described in any one of the first to sixth aspects, and will not be repeated here.

[0064] In a tenth aspect, a chip is provided, comprising: a controller and an interface circuit, wherein the controller is used to interact with other devices through the interface circuit to execute the method described in any one of the first to sixth aspects.

[0065] In an eleventh aspect, a communication system is provided. The communication system includes a data management network element for executing the method described in the first aspect and a terminal for executing the method described in the fourth aspect. Alternatively, the communication system includes a terminal for executing the method described in the fifth aspect and a policy control network element for executing the method described in the sixth aspect.

[0066] In a twelfth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which includes a computer program or instruction stored therein, and when the computer program or instruction is run, the method described in any one of the first to sixth aspects is executed.

[0067] In a thirteenth aspect, a computer program product is provided, comprising a computer program or instructions, which, when executed, enables the method described in any one of the first to sixth aspects to be executed. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0068] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the 5GS architecture;

[0069] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the SOR process in registration;

[0070] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the SOR process after registration;

[0071] FIG4 is a schematic diagram of a session establishment process;

[0072] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of a dual-connection architecture;

[0073] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of cell selection;

[0074] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0075] FIG8 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0076] FIG9 is a second flow chart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0077] FIG10 is a third flow chart of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0078] FIG11 is a fourth flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0079] FIG12 is a fifth flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0080] FIG13 is a sixth flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0081] FIG14 is a first structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0082] FIG15 is a second structural diagram of the communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0083] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, such as wireless network (Wi-Fi) systems, vehicle to everything (V2X) communication systems, device-to-device (D2D) communication systems, Internet of Vehicles communication systems, fourth-generation (4G) mobile communication systems, such as long-term evolution (LTE) systems, world-wide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication systems, fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication systems, such as new radio (NR) systems, and future communication systems, such as 5.5G and sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication systems.

[0084] For ease of understanding, the technical terms involved in this application are first introduced below.

[0085] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the 5GS architecture. As shown in Figure 1, the 5GS includes an access network (AN) and a core network (CN), and may also include terminals.

[0086] The terminal may be a terminal with transceiver functions, or a chip or chip system that can be provided in the terminal. The terminal may also be referred to as user equipment (UE), access terminal, subscriber unit, user station, mobile station (MS), mobile station, remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, user agent, or user device. The terminal in the embodiments of the present application can be a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a wireless data card, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a handset, a laptop computer, a machine type communication (MTC) terminal, a computer with wireless transceiver function, a virtual reality (VR) terminal, an augmented reality (AR) terminal, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self-driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical, a wireless terminal in smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in smart city, a wireless terminal in smart home, a vehicle-mounted terminal, a road side unit (RSU) with terminal function, etc. The terminal of the present application may also be an on-board module, on-board module, on-board component, on-board chip or on-board unit built into the vehicle as one or more components or units.

[0087] The AN implements access-related functions, providing network access for authorized users and determining transmission links of varying quality for user data based on user level and service requirements. The AN forwards control signals and user data between terminals and the CN. The AN may include access network equipment, also known as radio access network (RAN) equipment.

[0088] The CN is primarily responsible for maintaining mobile network subscription data and providing terminal functions such as session management, mobility management, policy management, and security authentication. The CN primarily includes all or part of the following functions: user plane function (UPF), authentication server function (AUSF), access and mobility management function (AMF), session management function (SMF), network slice selection function (NSSF), network exposure function (NEF), network repository function (NRF), policy control function (PCF), unified data management (UDM), unified data repository (UDR), and application function (AF).

[0089] As shown in Figure 1, the UE accesses the 5G network through the RAN equipment. The UE communicates with the AMF through the N1 interface (referred to as N1); the RAN communicates with the AMF through the N2 interface (referred to as N2); the RAN communicates with the UPF through the N3 interface (referred to as N3); the SMF communicates with the UPF through the N4 interface (referred to as N4), and the UPF accesses the data network (DN) through the N6 interface (referred to as N6). In addition, the control plane functions such as AUSF, AMF, SMF, NSSF, NEF, NRF, PCF, UDM, UDR or AF shown in Figure 1 interact using service-based interfaces. For example, the service interface provided by AUSF to the outside world is Nausf; the service interface provided by AMF to the outside world is Namf; the service interface provided by SMF to the outside world is Nsmf; the service interface provided by NSSF to the outside world is Nnssf; the service interface provided by NEF to the outside world is Nnef; the service interface provided by NRF to the outside world is Nnrf; the service interface provided by PCF to the outside world is Npcf; the service interface provided by UDM to the outside world is Nudm; the service interface provided by UDR to the outside world is Nudr; and the service interface provided by AF to the outside world is Naf.

[0090] The RAN device may be a device that provides access to the terminal. For example, the RAN device may include: a next-generation mobile communication system, such as an access network device of 6G, such as a 6G base station, or in the next-generation mobile communication system, the network device may also have other naming methods, which are all included in the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application, and the present application does not impose any restrictions on this. Alternatively, the RAN device may also include 5G, such as a gNB in ​​a new radio (NR) system, or one or a group of (including multiple antenna panels) antenna panels of a base station in 5G, or a network node constituting a gNB, a transmission point (TRP or transmission point, TP) or a transmission measurement function (TMF), such as a baseband unit (BBU), or a centralized unit (CU) or a distributed unit (DU), an RSU with base station function, or a wired access gateway, or a 5G core network. Alternatively, RAN devices may also include access points (APs) in wireless fidelity (WiFi) systems, wireless relay nodes, wireless backhaul nodes, various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations (also known as small stations), relay stations, access points, wearable devices, vehicle-mounted devices, and the like.

[0091] UPF is mainly responsible for user data processing (forwarding, receiving, billing, etc.). For example, UPF can receive user data from the data network (DN) and forward the user data to the terminal through the access network equipment. UPF can also receive user data from the terminal through the access network equipment and forward the user data to the DN. DN refers to the operator network that provides data transmission services to users. For example, the Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Service (IMS), the Internet, etc. DN can be an operator's external network or a network controlled by the operator, used to provide business services to the terminal. In the protocol data unit (PDU) session, the UPF directly connected to the DN through N6 is also called the protocol data unit session anchor (PSA).

[0092] AUSF is mainly used to perform terminal security authentication.

[0093] AMF is mainly used for mobility management in mobile networks, such as user location update, user network registration, and user handover.

[0094] The SMF is primarily used for session management in mobile networks, such as session establishment, modification, and release. Specific functions include allocating Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to users and selecting the UPF that provides packet forwarding capabilities.

[0095] PCF primarily supports providing a unified policy framework to control network behavior, providing policy rules to the control layer network functions, and is responsible for obtaining user subscription information related to policy decisions. PCF can provide policies to AMF and SMF, such as quality of service (QoS) policies and slice selection policies.

[0096] NSSF is mainly used to select network slices for terminals.

[0097] NEF is mainly used to support the opening of capabilities and events.

[0098] UDM is mainly used to store user data, such as contract data, authentication / authorization data, etc.

[0099] UDR is mainly used to store structured data, including contract data and policy data, externally exposed structured data, and application-related data.

[0100] AF mainly supports interaction with CN to provide services, such as influencing data routing decisions, policy control functions, or providing some third-party services to the network side.

[0101] It can be understood that the functions mentioned in the embodiments of the present application can also be expressed as functional network elements or functional entities. For example, UPF can be expressed as UPF network element, AMF can be expressed as AMF network element, SMF can be expressed as SMF network element, PCF can be expressed as PCF network element, and so on, without limitation.

[0102] 2. UE route selection policy (URSP):

[0103] URSP rules are policy information sent by the PCF network element to the UE. Whenever a new application needs to establish a session to obtain services, the UE will evaluate the URSP rules and select the most appropriate URSP rule to match the application. When the UE establishes a session for the application, it will establish the session according to the requirements of the selected URSP rule.

[0104] URSP rules specifically include the following:

[0105] 1) Traffic descriptor:

[0106] Traffic descriptors contain parameters for matching applications, such as application descriptors (OS ID and APP ID), IP descriptors, domain name descriptors, and data network names (DNNs). When a UE initiates a new service, it matches the service characteristics with the traffic descriptors and selects the best-matching URSP rule to serve the UE. For example, if a user wants to use social media, and the URSP rule contains a traffic descriptor for the social media app with an APP ID, the UE should match the URSP rule and establish a session to obtain the service according to the URSP rule.

[0107] 2) Route selection descriptors (RSD):

[0108] A URSP rule can contain one or more routing descriptors. Different routing descriptors have different priorities. When the UE establishes a session, it needs to establish the session according to the requirements of the routing descriptor RSD. Specifically, it can be divided into the following two parts:

[0109] a) Route selection components:

[0110] The routing component includes session and service continuity mode (SSC mode), slice information, DNN information, etc. When the UE establishes a session, the UE needs to establish a corresponding session according to the requirements of the routing component. Optionally, the routing component may include an access type preference. This parameter currently has three values, indicating 3GPP, Non-3GPP and Multi-Access. When 3GPP is indicated, it means that the session needs to be established through the 3GPP access type. When Non-3GPP is indicated, it means that the session needs to be established through the non-3GPP access type. When multi-access is indicated, it means that the session needs to be established through both the 3GPP access type and the non-3GPP access type.

[0111] b) Route selection validation criteria:

[0112] The routing verification criterion is an optional parameter that can include time window information and geographic location information. These two parameters are used to verify whether the RSD containing the routing verification criterion is currently available. Only when the UE's current time meets the time window information requirements and the geographic location meets the geographic location information requirements, the UE can establish a corresponding session according to the RSD. When the RSD does not contain the corresponding conditional information, it can be considered that the RSD has no such restrictions, and the UE can establish a session at any time and / or any place.

[0113] 3. Steering of roaming (SOR):

[0114] The SOR process can be used to update the UE's configuration, such as updating the UE's network selection list, so that the UE can select the public land mobile network (PLMN) indicated in the network selection list for access. There are two types of SOR processes: the SOR process initiated during the registration process and the SOR process triggered after the registration process. These are described below.

[0115] As shown in Figure 2, the specific process of the SOR process initiated during the registration process is as follows:

[0116] S201, the UE sends a registration request message to the AMF.

[0117] The registration request message carries the registration type and the identification information of the UE.

[0118] There are several types of registration:

[0119] 1) Initial registration: A registration process initiated when the UE is in the deregistered state.

[0120] 2) Mobility registration update: A registration process initiated when the UE moves.

[0121] 3) Periodic registration update: When the UE is in the registered state, the registration process is initiated due to the expiration of the periodic registration update timer.

[0122] 4) Emergency registration: A registration procedure initiated when the UE is in a service-restricted state.

[0123] The UE's identification information can be a subscription concealed identifier (SUCI), a 5G globally unique temporary identifier (5G-GUTI), which is assigned by the AMF serving the UE, or a permanent equipment identifier (PEI). If the UE can provide a valid 5G-GUTI, the 5G-GUTI is carried in the registration request. If the UE cannot provide a valid 5G-GUTI, the SUCI is carried in the registration request. In emergency registration, if the UE cannot provide a valid 5G-GUTI and cannot provide SUPI (i.e., no SUCI, SUCI is an encrypted SUPI), the PEI is carried in the registration request.

[0124] S202: After the AMF receives the registration request message from the UE, it needs to authenticate the UE.

[0125] S203: AMF sends a Nudm_UECM_Registration request message to UDM.

[0126] S204, UDM sends a registration UE context response (Nudm_UECM_Registration response) message to AMF.

[0127] After the UE is authenticated, the AMF registers the UE context with the UDM, executing S203-S204.

[0128] S205, AMF sends a subscription data acquisition request (Nudm_SDM_Get request) message to UDM.

[0129] If the AMF does not have the UE's subscription data, the AMF also needs to obtain the UE's subscription data from the UDM.

[0130] Optionally, in S206a, the UDM decides to trigger the SOR process.

[0131] If the UE's subscription information indicates that the SOR procedure can be triggered based on the UE's initial registration in the visited public land mobile network (VPLMN), when the UE performs initial registration in the VPLMN (that is, the AMF is the AMF in the VPLMN, or V-AMF), the UDM (that is, the UDM in the home public land mobile network (HPLMN), or H-UDM) shall trigger the SOR procedure to the UE. Alternatively, the UDM may also trigger the SOR procedure based on operator policy.

[0132] It can be understood that the UDM mentioned in the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified, can be understood as the UDM in the HPLMN. The AMF mentioned in the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified, can be understood as the AMF in the VPLMN, and can also be understood as the AMF in the HPLMN. For example, if the UE is registered with the HPLMN, the AMF is the AMF of the HPLMN, and if the UE is registered with the VPLMN, the AMF is the AMF of the VPLMN.

[0133] Optionally, in S206b, the UDM sends a SOR get request (Nsoraf_SoR_Get request) message to a steering of roaming application function (SOR-AF).

[0134] Optionally, in S206c, the SOR-AF sends a SOR get response (Nsoraf_SoR_Get response) message to the UDM.

[0135] Optionally, in S206d, the UDM performs security verification on the information.

[0136] If the UDM is to provide the UE with a SOR when registering in a VPLMN and no HPLMN policy exists for SOR-AF invocation, S206b-S206c are not executed. The UDM obtains the saved network selection list from the UDR. If the UDM is to provide the UE with a SOR when registering in a VPLMN and no HPLMN policy exists for SOR-AF invocation, the UDM obtains the network selection list from the SOR-AF through S206b-S206c. After obtaining the UE's network selection list from the SOR-AF, the UDM may also execute S206d to perform security verification on the network selection list.

[0137] S207, UDM sends a contract data acquisition response (Nudm_SDM_Get response) message to AMF.

[0138] When UDM determines the SOR information (such as the UE's network selection list), UDM can send a subscription data acquisition response message to AMF, carrying the UE subscription data and the network selection list.

[0139] Optionally, in S208, the AMF sends a Nudm_SDM_Subscribe request message to the UDM.

[0140] The subscription data subscription request message is used to indicate that if the UDM has any changes to the UE's subscription data, the UDM needs to send the UE's latest subscription data to the AMF according to the requirements of the subscription data subscription request message.

[0141] S209: AMF sends a registration accept message to the UE.

[0142] The AMF includes the network selection list of the UE received by the AMF in the registration accept message.

[0143] S210, the UE sends a registration complete message to the AMF.

[0144] The UE performs security verification on the received network selection list. If the security verification is successful and the UDM does not require a feedback message to be sent, the UE sends a Registration Complete message to the AMF, which does not include a SOR Confirmation message. If the security verification fails, or the UE is configured to receive SOR information, such as a network selection list, but does not receive the corresponding network selection list in the Registration Accept message, the UE sends a Registration Complete message to the AMF, which does not include a SOR Confirmation message. If the security verification is successful and the UDM requires a feedback message to be sent, the UE sends a Registration Complete message to the AMF, which includes a SOR Confirmation message.

[0145] Optionally, in S211, the AMF sends a SOR confirmation message to the UDM.

[0146] If the AMF receives the SOR confirmation message, the AMF shall provide the SOR confirmation message to the UDM. After the UDM receives the SOR confirmation message, the UDM may determine whether it needs to feedback to the SOR-AF based on the operator policy or the requirements in the UE's subscription data. If the UDM needs to feedback to the SOR-AF, the UDM shall feedback the SOR confirmation message to the SOR-AF.

[0147] Optionally, in S212, the UE re-selects a network according to the received network selection list and selects a network with a high priority for access.

[0148] As shown in Figure 3, the specific process of the SOR process triggered after the registration process is as follows:

[0149] Optionally, in S301 , the SOR-AF sends a parameter provision update request (Nudm_ParameterProvision_Update request) message to the UDM.

[0150] If the UDM supports obtaining a list of preferred PLMN / access technology combinations, ie, a network selection list, from the SOR-AF, the SOR-AF may send a parameter provision update request to the HPLMN UDM to carry the network selection list.

[0151] S302, UDM sends a subscription data notification (Nudm_SDM_Notification) message to AMF.

[0152] The subscription data notification message may include an updated network selection list. The UDM may obtain the updated network selection list (as sent by the SOR-AF in S300 or obtained from the UDR). The UDM notifies the AMF of the user profile update. Optionally, the updated network selection list information may be included in the steering of roaming information. At this time, the UDM may send a subscription data notification message to the AMF to carry the updated network selection list.

[0153] S303: The AMF sends a downlink NAS transport (DL NAS Transport) message to the UE.

[0154] The downlink NAS transport message may include the information obtained by the AMF from the UDM. That is, the AMF transparently transmits the information obtained from the UDM to the UE. In other words, if the UDM sends an updated network selection list to the AMF, the downlink NAS message includes the network selection list. If the UDM sends roaming handover information to the AMF, and the roaming handover information includes the updated network selection list, the downlink NAS transport message also includes the roaming handover information.

[0155] S304: The UE performs a security check.

[0156] If the UE receives the roaming handover information or updated network selection list, it will perform a security check to confirm that the information is provided by the HPLMN. If the security check is successful, the UE will upload the information to the User Service Identity Module (USIM) card or replace the information previously stored by the UE.

[0157] S305: The UE sends an uplink NAS transport (UL NAS Transport) message to the AMF.

[0158] If the UDM requests the UE to feedback a response message, the UE may include the response message in the uplink NAS transmission message. Optionally, the response message may be a message included in a SOR transparent container in the uplink NAS transmission message, specifically a Nudm_SDM_Info request message.

[0159] S306: The AMF sends a subscription data information request message to the UDM. The UDM verifies that the subscription data information request message is sent by the UE.

[0160] Optionally, in S307, the UDM sends a subscription data information request (Nsoraf_SoR_Info request) message to the SOR-AF.

[0161] If the updated network selection list is provided by the SOR-AF, the UDM may execute S307 to indicate that the network selection list has been successfully transmitted to the UE.

[0162] 4. Session establishment process:

[0163] As shown in Figure 4, 3GPP defines the session establishment process as follows:

[0164] S401, the UE sends a PDU Session Establishment Request message to the AMF. The PDU Session Establishment Request message is a NAS message that carries parameters such as the PDU session ID, request type, UE requested DNN, and slice information (S-NSSAI).

[0165] S402, AMF selects a suitable SMF.

[0166] S403: The AMF sends a PDU session creation context request (Nsmf_PDUSession_CreateSMContext Request) message to the SMF. The PDU session creation context request message carries parameters such as the UE's SUPI.

[0167] Optionally, at S404, the SMF obtains session management subscription data from the UDM. The subscription data may include information on whether to allow the session to be established.

[0168] S405, SMF sends a PDU session create session context response (Nsmf_PDUSession_CreateSMContext Response) message to AMF.

[0169] Optionally, in S406 , the network performs a PDU session authentication or authorization process.

[0170] S407: The SMF selects the PCF. If dynamic PCC rules are required, the SMF selects the PCF and establishes a session policy association with the PCF. For example, the SMF sends a Policy Association Establishment Request message to the PCF, and the PCF sends a Policy Association Establishment Response message to the SMF.

[0171] S408, SMF selects a suitable UPF.

[0172] Optionally, in step S409, the SMF sends a session policy modification (SMF initiated SM Policy Association Modification) message to the PCF. For example, if the PCF has subscribed to events from the SMF in advance, such as a UE time zone change or location change, the SMF may report the change information to the PCF via the session policy modification message.

[0173] At step S410, the SMF establishes an N4 connection with the UPF. Specifically, as in step S410a, the SMF sends an N4 Session Establishment / Modification Request message to the UPF. This message includes N4 rules, such as packet detection rules (PDRs) and forwarding action rules (FARs). Furthermore, as in step S410b, the UPF sends an N4 Session Establishment / Modification Response message to the SMF.

[0174] S411: The SMF sends an N1N2 message transfer (Namf_Communication_N1N2MessageTransfer) message to the AMF. This message contains information such as the session identifier, N2 interface session management information (N2 SM information), and an N1 interface session management container (N1 SM Container). The N2 interface session management information is a message sent by the SMF to the RAN via the AMF. The N2 interface session management information also contains information such as the tunnel endpoint identifier of the UPF, which is used to inform the RAN where the uplink data should be sent (which can be understood as the destination address of the uplink data). The information in the N1 interface session management container is information sent by the SMF to the UE via the AMF. For example, the AMF will subsequently send this information to the UE via a NAS message.

[0175] S412: The AMF sends an N2 PDU Session Request message to the RAN. The message carries the N2 interface session management information and the NAS message to be sent to the UE. The NAS message includes the session identifier and the N1 interface session management container.

[0176] S413: The RAN establishes air interface resources with the UE. For example, the RAN sends the above-mentioned NAS message to the UE. The NAS message may also carry a PDU session establishment accept message.

[0177] S414: RAN sends an N2 PDU Session Response message to AMF, which carries the tunnel endpoint identifier on the RAN side, that is, the AN tunnel endpoint identifier information.

[0178] S415, AMF sends a PDU session update session context request (Nsmf_PDUSession_UpdateSMContext Request) message to SMF, which carries the AN tunnel endpoint identification information.

[0179] At step S416, the SMF sends the AN tunnel endpoint identifier to the UPF through the N4 session modification process. For example, at step S416a, the SMF sends an N4 session modification request message to the UPF, which includes the AN tunnel endpoint identifier to inform the UPF where the downlink data should be sent. Furthermore, at step S416b, the UPF sends an N4 session modification response message to the SMF.

[0180] S417, SMF sends a PDU session update session context response (Nsmf_PDUSession_UpdateSMContext Response) message to AMF.

[0181] 5. Connection architecture of 3GPP architecture:

[0182] As shown in Figure 5, the existing 3GPP architecture supports UEs to access the network through both 3GPP access types (3GPP access type) and non-3GPP access types (N3GPP access type). The so-called 3GPP access type means that the access type of the access network is a 3GPP access type. 3GPP access types can include the following access technologies: LTE (corresponding to 4G cellular network), NR (corresponding to 5G cellular network), or satellite access methods defined by 3GPP, including low-orbit satellites, medium-orbit satellites, synchronous satellites, etc. Non-3GPP access types include untrusted non-3GPP access technologies (untrusted non-3GPP access), for example, accessing the core network through wireless access nodes purchased by individuals, trusted non-3GPP access technologies (trusted non-3GPP access), for example, accessing the core network through wireless access nodes deployed by operators, and wired access technologies (wireline access). Non-3GPP access types can be wireless fidelity (WiFi), Bluetooth, ZigBee, etc.

[0183] 6. Cell selection:

[0184] Currently, 3GPP defines cell selection as follows:

[0185] After the UE selects a network, it enters state 1. At this time, if the cell information has been saved in the UE (previously measured and saved), the selection is made according to the stored cell information. If not, the initial cell selection is initiated. When selecting according to the information stored in the cell, if there is a suitable cell (such as the cell with the best signal quality in this network), the suitable cell is selected to reside. If there is no suitable cell, the initial cell selection is performed. When performing the initial cell selection, if a suitable cell is found, the cell is selected to reside. If there is no suitable cell (such as the signal strength of the cell is lower than the threshold), the arbitrary cell selection state is entered (the arbitrary cell selection state means that a cell other than this network can be selected. If there is an emergency service later, it can be executed through this cell).

[0186] When the UE is normally camped in a cell, if the UE has business and needs to actively send information to the network, or the UE receives a paging message, it will trigger the UE to restore the connection with the network, and the UE will leave the idle state (IDLE) or inactive state (INACTIVE) and enter the connected state (CONNECTED). When the UE returns to the idle state from the connected state, it will reselect a cell to camp on. If there is a suitable cell, it will directly camp on the cell. If there is no suitable cell, the UE will select a cell according to the saved cell information.

[0187] When the UE resides in a cell, it will periodically perform a cell reselection evaluation process. If a cell with better signal quality appears, the UE can reselect the cell to reside in. If the measurement finds that there are no available cells around, the UE enters the random cell selection state.

[0188] When the UE camps on a cell and receives a NAS message indicating that the UE's registration message has been rejected, the UE will also enter the Any Cell Selection state. The UE will also enter Any Cell Selection if it does not have a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card inserted or does not have a stand-alone non-public network (SNPN) subscription data. At this point, if the UE inserts a SIM card or obtains SNPN subscription data, the UE can reselect a network and return to state 1.

[0189] When the UE is in the Any Cell Selection state, if a suitable cell appears, it selects the appropriate cell and returns to state 2. If an acceptable cell is found (such as a cell on another network), it selects a cell on the other network and enters the Idle state. If a suitable cell appears at this time, the UE selects the appropriate cell and enters state 2. Similarly, the UE will also periodically perform the cell reselection evaluation process. If a cell with better signal quality appears, it will reselect. If there are no nearby cells to choose from, the UE enters the Any Cell Selection state.

[0190] When the UE needs to perform emergency services, the UE recovers from the idle state to the connected state. When the UE returns to the idle state from the connected state, the UE performs cell selection. If an acceptable cell is found, the UE selects the acceptable cell to reside in. If no acceptable cell is found, the UE returns to the any cell selection state.

[0191] It can be seen that in the existing cell selection technology, the UE reselects a cell based on the cell signal quality measurement results. If a cell with better signal quality appears, the UE will be triggered to select a new cell to replace the current cell. However, according to the existing technology, the newly selected cell will replace the current cell, and the UE cannot maintain connections with two cells at the same time. In other words, the UE cannot access two cells at the same time, which cannot meet more flexible communication needs in the future.

[0192] In response to the above technical problems, the embodiments of the present application propose the following technical solutions.

[0193] The technical solution in this application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0194] In the embodiment of the present application, "indication" may include direct indication and indirect indication, and may also include explicit indication and implicit indication. The information indicated by a certain information is called information to be indicated. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the information to be indicated, such as but not limited to, the information to be indicated can be directly indicated, such as the information to be indicated itself or the index of the information to be indicated. The information to be indicated can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, wherein there is an association relationship between the other information and the information to be indicated. It is also possible to indicate only a part of the information to be indicated, while the other parts of the information to be indicated are known or agreed in advance. For example, the indication of specific information can also be achieved by means of the arrangement order of each piece of information agreed in advance (such as specified in the protocol), thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent. At the same time, the common parts of each piece of information can also be identified and indicated uniformly to reduce the indication overhead caused by indicating the same information separately.

[0195] In addition, the specific indication method can also be various existing indication methods, such as but not limited to the above-mentioned indication methods and various combinations thereof. The specific details of the various indication methods can be referred to the prior art and will not be repeated herein. As can be seen from the above, for example, when it is necessary to indicate multiple information of the same type, there may be a situation where the indication methods for different information are different. In the specific implementation process, the required indication method can be selected according to specific needs. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the selected indication method. In this way, the indication method involved in the embodiment of the present application should be understood to cover various methods that can enable the party to be indicated to obtain the information to be indicated.

[0196] It should be understood that the information to be indicated can be sent as a whole or divided into multiple sub-information and sent separately, and the sending period and / or sending time of these sub-information can be the same or different. The specific sending method is not limited in the embodiments of this application. The sending period and / or sending time of these sub-information can be predefined, for example, predefined according to a protocol, or can be configured by the transmitting device by sending configuration information to the receiving device.

[0197] In this application, "sending information" can be understood as one device sending information to another device, or as one logic module within a device sending information to another logic module. For example, "a network device sending information" can be understood as a network device sending information to another device (such as a terminal or other network device), or as logic module 1 within a network device sending information to logic module 2 within the network device.

[0198] In this application, "receiving information" can be understood as one device receiving information from another device, or it can also be understood as a logic module within a device receiving information from another logic module. For example, "a network device receiving information" can be understood as the network device receiving information from another device (such as a terminal or other network device), or it can be understood as logic module 1 in the network device receiving information from logic module 2 in the network device.

[0199] In this application, "sending information to... (e.g., a terminal)" or the related illustrations in the accompanying drawings can be understood as the destination end of the information being the terminal. This can include sending information to the terminal directly or indirectly. "Receiving information from... (e.g., a terminal)" or "receiving information from... (e.g., a terminal)" or "receiving information sent by (e.g., a terminal)", or the related illustrations in the accompanying drawings can be understood as the source end of the information being the terminal, which can include receiving information from the terminal directly or indirectly. The information may be processed as necessary between the source end and the destination end of the information transmission, such as format changes, etc., but the destination end can understand the valid information from the source end. Similar expressions in this application can be understood similarly and will not be repeated here.

[0200] "Pre-definition" or "pre-configuration" can be implemented by pre-saving corresponding codes, tables or other methods that can be used to indicate relevant information in the device, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific implementation method. Among them, "saving" can mean saving in one or more memories. The one or more memories can be set separately or integrated in an encoder or decoder, a processor, or a communication device. The one or more memories can also be partially set separately and partially integrated in a decoder, a processor, or a communication device. The type of memory can be any form of storage medium, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0201] The "protocol" involved in the embodiments of the present application may refer to a protocol family in the communication field, a standard protocol with a similar protocol family frame structure, or a related protocol used in future communication systems. The embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations on this.

[0202] In the embodiments of the present application, descriptions such as "when...", "in the case of...", "if" and "if" all mean that the device will perform corresponding processing under certain objective circumstances. It does not limit the time, nor does it require the device to perform judgment actions when implemented, nor does it mean that there are other limitations.

[0203] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified, " / " indicates that the objects associated with each other are in an "or" relationship. For example, A / B can represent A or B. "And / or" in the embodiments of the present application is only a description of the association relationship of the associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone. A and B can be singular or plural. In addition, in the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified, "multiple" refers to two or more than two. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple. In addition, in order to facilitate the clear description of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish between identical or similar items with basically the same functions and effects. Those skilled in the art will understand that words such as "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity and execution order, and words such as "first" and "second" do not necessarily limit differences. At the same time, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or explanations. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of the present application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or design. Specifically, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete way for easy understanding.

[0204] The network architecture and business scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application. Ordinary technicians in this field will know that with the evolution of network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0205] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, a communication system applicable to the embodiments of the present application is first described in detail using a communication system as an example.

[0206] FIG6 and FIG7 are schematic diagrams of the architecture of the communication system. As shown in FIG6 and FIG7 , the communication system mainly includes: network equipment and terminals.

[0207] The communication system 10 includes a radio access network (RAN) 100 and a core network (CN) 200. The network device may specifically be a network element in the core network 200. The network device may be a data management network element, such as the UDM in 5G, or in future communication systems, may be any network element / function / entity used to implement data management or storage and other related functions, without specific limitation. The network device may also be a policy control network element, such as a PCF, or in future communication systems, may be any network element / function / entity used to implement policy management or control and other related functions, without specific limitation. Alternatively, the network device may also be an access and mobility management network element, such as an AMF, or in future communication systems, may be any network element / function / entity used to implement access and mobility management and other related functions, without specific limitation.

[0208] A terminal may also be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. Terminals can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, etc. A terminal may be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver function, wearable device, vehicle, drone, helicopter, airplane, ship, robot, robotic arm, smart home device, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the device form of the terminal.

[0209] A terminal can also be understood as a terminal device with multiple subscriptions. This terminal device can have multiple SIM card modules, each of which corresponds to a subscription. The subscriptions can be associated with each other; for example, two subscriptions can be associated with the same user. A terminal can be a user device with multiple SIM cards, or a system that integrates multiple user devices, each of which has a SIM card module and a communication module to establish a connection with the network.

[0210] In a communication system, multiple connections can be established between a terminal and a network. Multiple connections require the terminal to access the network through one subscription data and two 3GPP access type connections at the same time, that is, to establish 3GPP access type connections with multiple cells at the same time. Taking dual connection as an example, in the future network evolution process, due to further demands for bandwidth or coverage, the terminal may need to access the network through two 3GPP access type connections at the same time. At this time, there may be a combination of multiple access types in the dual connection, for example, terrestrial network (TN) + TN, or NR + NR, or TN + non-terrestrial network (NTN), or NR + satellite, or after the application of 6G network in the future, the dual connection can also be a combination of networks of different standards, such as 5G + 6G or 6G + satellite, etc. For two 3GPP access type connections, they can be connected to the same network or different networks.

[0211] It can be understood that multi-connection can also be replaced by the following expressions: support for dual (or multiple) radio capabilities (dual / Multiple radio capability), support for dual (or multiple) 3GPP access technology (Dual / Multiple 3GPP RAT), support for dual (or multiple) offloading capability (Dual / Multiple steer), support for dual (or multiple) 3GPP access (Dual / Multiple 3GPP), support for dual (or multiple) 3GPP access type (Dual / Multiple 3GPP access type), support for dual (or multiple) registration (Dual / Multiple Registration), support for the same access type (same access type), support for the same access technology (same RAT), support for the same access network (same access network), etc. In other words, supporting one or more of the above can be understood as the ability to establish multiple connections.

[0212] Establishing multiple connections between the terminal and the cell can also be understood as the terminal device establishing connections with the cell respectively through the multiple contract data it has. Taking multi-connection as dual connection as an example, a terminal device has two SIM card modules, each SIM card module corresponds to one contract data, and the terminal device establishes connections with the cell respectively through the two SIM card modules, or a terminal device has two contract data (for example, two SUPIs), and the terminal device accesses the cell (or establishes a connection with the cell) respectively through the two contract data, or two sets of user equipment are integrated in a terminal device, each set of user equipment has one contract data, and each set of user equipment is connected to the cell. At this time, the terminal device as a whole establishes two connections with the cell, and it can be considered that the terminal device has established a dual connection with the cell.

[0213] In a communication system, there are many ways to trigger the establishment of multiple connections, as follows.

[0214] 1) Triggered by registration:

[0215] During the terminal registration process, the terminal can proactively report its capabilities, such as whether it supports multiple connections. Alternatively, during the terminal registration process, the data management network element can determine whether the network can provide multiple connections for the terminal based on the terminal's subscription data, that is, whether the terminal has subscribed to the multiple connections service. Alternatively, during the terminal registration process, the data management network element can determine whether the network slice requested by the terminal requires the multiple connections service. Based on this, if at least one of the following conditions is met: the terminal supports multiple connections, the terminal has subscribed to the multiple connections service, or the network slice requested by the terminal supports the multiple connections service, the data management network element can instruct the terminal to establish multiple connections through the registration process. Optionally, the data management network element can also inform the terminal of the policy for establishing multiple connections through the registration process, such as the access type combination for multiple connections, the time and / or area where multiple connections are allowed to be established, etc. If the data management network element does not inform the terminal of the policy for establishing multiple connections, this indicates that the network has no policy restrictions on the terminal establishing multiple connections, and the terminal can make its own decision to establish multiple connections.

[0216] 2) Triggered by business:

[0217] When a terminal uses services that require a large amount of network bandwidth, it may be necessary to use multiple connections to expand the bandwidth. Therefore, multiple connections can be established by the terminal or the network based on the service trigger.

[0218] For example, a terminal can trigger the establishment of multiple connections based on a URSP rule. The URSP rule can be enhanced to include instructions for establishing multiple connections and a policy for establishing multiple connections. When the terminal determines that a session needs to be established for a service, if the service matches the URSP rule, the terminal establishes the multiple connections according to the URSP rule.

[0219] For example, if the access network device finds that it cannot guarantee the terminal's service, such as if the bandwidth it can provide cannot meet the service's bandwidth requirements, the access network device can report this to the data management network element through the access and mobility management network element. Alternatively, if the access and mobility management network element finds that it cannot guarantee the terminal's service, such as if the terminal is currently moving to a low-signal area and its signal quality cannot guarantee the service, the access and mobility management network element can report this to the data management network element. In this way, the data management network element can instruct the terminal to establish multiple connections. Optionally, the data management network element can also inform the terminal of the strategy for establishing multiple connections.

[0220] For example, during the process of establishing a session, the terminal may report the S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the terminal's session to the data management network element or the policy control network element. If the service corresponding to the S-NSSAI and DNN requires the establishment of multiple connections, the data management network element or the policy control network element may instruct the terminal to establish multiple connections. Optionally, the data management network element or the policy control network element may also inform the terminal of the policy for establishing multiple connections.

[0221] 3) Triggered by the user:

[0222] The terminal can provide the user with the ability to enable or disable multiple connections. If the user enables multiple connections, the terminal can respond to the user's operation and trigger the establishment of multiple connections. Subsequently, if the user disables multiple connections, the terminal can respond to the user's operation and trigger the release of multiple connections, reverting to a single connection with the network, i.e., establishing a connection with the network using either a 3GPP access type or a non-3GPP access type.

[0223] The communication method and device of the embodiment of the present application are further introduced below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It can be understood that the present application uses the network device and the terminal as the execution subject of the interactive schematic as an example for illustration, but the present application does not limit the execution subject of the interactive schematic. For example, the method executed by the network device in the present application can also be executed by a module (such as a chip, a chip system, or a processor) applied to the network device, and can also be implemented by a logical node, a logical module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the network device; the method executed by the terminal in the present application can also be executed by a module (such as a chip, a chip system, or a processor) applied to the terminal, and can also be implemented by a logical node, a logical module or software that can realize all or part of the functions of the terminal.

[0224] The following method embodiments will specifically introduce the interaction process between the network elements / devices in the above communication system. The communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to the above communication system and specifically applied to various scenarios mentioned in the above communication system, which will be described in detail below.

[0225] Figure 8 is a flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication method is applicable to the above-mentioned communication system and mainly involves interaction between a data management network element and a terminal.

[0226] S801: A data management network element obtains relevant information of multiple connections.

[0227] Multi-connectivity can refer to establishing 3GPP access type connections with multiple cells simultaneously, or using multiple 3GPP access types to access the network, such as multiple cells in a network. Multiple cells can be in the same network, such as cells within the same PLMN, or in different networks, without limitation.

[0228] The multi-connection related information may include indication information and / or policy information.

[0229] The indication information can be used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections. The indication information can be a 1-bit information element. A value of 1 indicates that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections. A value of 0 indicates that the information element is empty, which can be understood as the absence of indication information at this time, or the indication information indicates that the terminal does not need to establish multiple connections.

[0230] The policy information is used to indicate the policy for establishing multiple connections. For example, the policy information may include at least one of: service policy, access type policy, location policy, or time policy.

[0231] The service policy may refer to the need to establish multiple connections when the network cannot meet the service requirements, that is, to achieve establishment according to the service requirements and avoid redundancy. For example, the service policy may be a threshold value for the service. If the threshold value is exceeded, it is considered that the network cannot meet the service requirements and it is necessary to trigger the establishment of multiple connections. For example, the threshold value for the service may be a delay threshold value. At this time, if the transmission delay of the service (such as the air interface transmission delay or the transmission delay from the user plane anchor point to the terminal) exceeds the delay threshold value, it is considered that the current network cannot meet the service requirements, such as when network congestion occurs. For another example, the threshold value for the service may also be the threshold value of parameters such as bandwidth and packet loss rate. At this time, if the bandwidth that the network can provide for the service is less than the bandwidth threshold value, and / or the packet loss rate of the service is greater than the packet loss rate threshold value, it is considered that the current network cannot meet the service requirements. Of course, the above-mentioned specific implementations of the threshold values ​​for services are only some examples and do not serve as limitations on the embodiments of the present application. Any parameters that may be used to evaluate whether the network can meet the needs of the service can be considered as the threshold values ​​of the embodiments of the present application, such as the queuing waiting time of the service data packets, the number of data packet retransmissions of the service, etc.

[0232] The access type strategy refers to the access type combination required to establish multiple connections. For example, in the case where the multiple connections are dual connections, the access type combination can be TN+TN, or TN+NTN, or after the 6G network is applied in the future, the dual connection can also be a combination of networks of different standards, such as 5G+6G or 6G+satellite, etc. Of course, in the case where the multiple connections are 3 or more 3GPP access type connections, the access type combination can be a combination of more 3GPP access types, such as TN+TN+TN, or TN+TN+NTN, or NTN+NTN+NTN, or 4G+5G+6G, or 5G+6G+satellite, etc., which can be arbitrarily combined according to actual needs, and so on, which will not be repeated here. In this way, the decoupling of access resources can be achieved, that is, connections of different 3GPP access types use different network resources, avoiding the use of the same access type and causing network resource shortages.

[0233] A location strategy means that multiple connections need to be established within a predefined area, such as a low-signal area that requires communication signal boosting, to ensure communication quality for users within that area. For example, a location strategy may include information indicating the location of the predefined area, such as network-recognizable information like a cell identifier, or any other possible location information, such as latitude and longitude.

[0234] A time policy means that multiple connections need to be established within a preset time period, such as a time period with high service demand, to ensure the service experience within that time period. For example, a time policy may include information indicating the preset time period. For example, if the preset time period is a periodic time period, the information indicating the preset time period may include information about the interval length between adjacent periods, and information about the time period within each period during which multiple connections need to be established, such as the time period from t1 to t2 after the start time of each period, or the time period from t1 to t2 before the end time of each period.

[0235] It can be understood that for the above-mentioned indication information and policy information, if the relevant information of multiple connections contains indication information, the policy information can be optional information. If the relevant information of multiple connections carries policy information, it means that the subsequent terminal needs to establish multiple connections when necessary in accordance with the instructions of the policy information. If the relevant information of multiple connections does not carry policy information, it means that the network has no policy restrictions on the terminal establishing multiple connections, and the terminal can decide to establish multiple connections on its own. If the relevant information of multiple connections contains policy information, the indication information can be optional information. If the relevant information of multiple connections carries indication information, the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections. If the relevant information of multiple connections does not carry indication information, the policy information can be used to implicitly indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections.

[0236] S802: The data management network element sends the relevant information of multiple connections to the terminal. Correspondingly, the terminal receives the relevant information of multiple connections from the network.

[0237] S803: The terminal establishes multiple connections with the network according to the related information of the multiple connections.

[0238] In summary, since the network side, that is, the data management network element, can send relevant information of multiple connections, such as the instructions and policies required to establish multiple connections, to the terminal, the terminal can establish 3GPP access type connections with multiple cells at the same time based on the relevant information, that is, maintain connections with multiple cells at the same time to meet more and more flexible communication needs in the future.

[0239] Each step is introduced below.

[0240] S801:

[0241] There are many ways for the data management network element to obtain relevant information about multiple connections, such as triggering acquisition based on terminal reports, triggering acquisition based on reports from other network elements on the network side, or triggering acquisition by the data management network element itself, which are introduced below.

[0242] Method 1: The terminal can send its capability information to the network. Accordingly, the data management network element can obtain the capability information of the terminal and obtain relevant information about multiple connections based on the capability information of the terminal.

[0243] The terminal's capability information (or the terminal's multi-connection capability) can be used to indicate whether the terminal supports simultaneous establishment of 3GPP access type connections with multiple cells, thereby avoiding wasting communication resources by instructing the terminal to establish multiple connections when the terminal does not support multiple connections. For example, the terminal's capability information can be a 1-bit information element, where the values ​​of 0 / 1 indicate whether the terminal supports simultaneous establishment of 3GPP access type connections with multiple cells, that is, whether the terminal supports multiple connections.

[0244] The capability information of the terminal can be reported to the network through the registration process. For example, during the terminal registration process, the terminal can send a registration request message to the access and mobility management network element. At this time, the capability information of the terminal can be carried in the registration request message as an independent information element, or can also be carried in the registration request message as an information element in the terminal's wireless capability report. After receiving the capability information of the terminal, the access and mobility management network element can report the capability information of the terminal to the data management network element when registering the context of the terminal with the data management network element. In other words, during the terminal registration process, the data management network element can receive a context registration request message from the access and mobility management network element, and the context registration request message includes the capability information of the terminal, that is, the existing registration process can be reused to realize the perception of the terminal's multi-connection capability, or it can be realized through a newly defined process, decoupled from the existing process, and the information element transmission can be more flexible.

[0245] When the data management network element determines that the terminal supports multiple connections based on the terminal's capability information, it obtains relevant information about multiple connections. For example, the data management network element can obtain pre-configured relevant information about multiple connections locally, or it can also obtain relevant information about multiple connections from other network elements, such as from a data storage network element, without limitation. Of course, if the terminal's capability information indicates that the terminal does not support multiple connections, the data management network element does not need to obtain relevant information about multiple connections for the terminal, or the data management network element can still obtain relevant information about multiple connections (such as it can be obtained in advance by issuing it to other terminals that support multiple connections), but there is no need to subsequently issue the relevant information to the terminal that does not support multiple connections.

[0246] Method 2: The terminal can send the terminal's slice information to the network. Correspondingly, the data management network element can obtain the slice information requested by the terminal and obtain relevant information about multiple connections based on whether the network slice corresponds to a multi-connection service.

[0247] The slice information requested by the terminal can be used to indicate the network slice requested by the terminal, such as one or more network slices. For example, the terminal can indicate a request to use S-NSSAI#1 and / or S-NSSAI#2 in the registration request message.

[0248] The slice information requested by the terminal can also be reported to the network through the registration process. For example, during the terminal registration process, the terminal can send a registration request message carrying the slice information requested by the terminal to the access and mobility management network element. After receiving the slice information requested by the terminal, the access and mobility management network element can report the terminal's capability information to the data management network element when registering the context of the terminal with the data management network element. In other words, during the terminal registration process, the data management network element can receive a context registration request message from the access and mobility management network element, and the context registration request message includes the slice information requested by the terminal, that is, the existing registration process is reused to realize the perception of the terminal's multi-connection needs, or it can be realized through a newly defined process, decoupled from the existing process, and the information element transmission can be more flexible.

[0249] The data management network element can determine whether there is a network slice corresponding to a service that needs to establish multiple connections (or a service with multiple connections) in the network slice requested by the terminal based on the correspondence between the network slice and the service. For example, the service that needs to establish multiple connections is the extended reality media service (XRM). The bandwidth requirement for the XRM service is relatively high, so it is necessary to establish multiple connections to ensure a large bandwidth to meet the bandwidth requirement for the XRM service. In this case, the XRM service can also be understood as a service with multiple connections. Of course, the XRM service is only an example and is not intended to be limiting. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific service form of the service with multiple connections. If there is a network slice corresponding to a service with multiple connections in the network slice requested by the terminal, the data management network element can obtain relevant information about the multiple connections. The specific acquisition method can refer to the relevant introduction of the above method 1, which will not be repeated here.

[0250] Method 3: The data management network element may obtain the contract data of the terminal and obtain relevant information of the multiple connections based on the contract data.

[0251] The contract data of the terminal refers to the relevant data when the terminal signs a contract for a service with the network in advance, and can be pre-stored in the data management network element. If the contract data of the terminal contains information for indicating that the network can provide multi-connection services for the terminal, that is, it means that the terminal is a user who has signed a contract for multiple connections, or the terminal has signed a contract for multi-connection services, so as to avoid communication redundancy caused by sending multi-connection related information to unsigned users. If the contract data of the terminal does not contain information for indicating that the network can provide multi-connection services for the terminal, it means that the terminal has not signed a contract for multi-connection services. Of course, this information can also be a 1-bit information element, and the contract data of the terminal contains this information by default. At this time, the two values ​​0 / 1 of this information can be used to indicate whether the terminal has signed a contract for multi-connection services. Alternatively, if the contract data of the terminal contains a service that requires the establishment of multiple connections, such as an XRM service, it can also be considered that the terminal has signed a contract for a multi-connection service.

[0252] The data management network element can obtain the terminal's subscription data during the terminal's registration process. For example, during the terminal registration process, the access and mobility management network element can send a subscription data acquisition request message to the data management network element to request data related to the terminal's subscription with the network. Accordingly, the data management network element can receive the subscription data acquisition request message from the access and mobility management network element and, based on the subscription data acquisition request message, obtain the terminal's subscription data. In this way, the data management network element can determine whether the terminal's subscription data contains information indicating that the network can provide multi-connection services for the terminal, or determine the value of this information. This allows the perception of the terminal's subscription data to be achieved by reusing the existing registration process, or by implementing a newly defined process that is decoupled from the existing process and provides more flexible information transfer. If the terminal's subscription data contains information indicating that the network can provide multi-connection services for the terminal, or if the value of this information indicates that the terminal has subscribed to multi-connection services, the data management network element can obtain multi-connection related information. The specific acquisition method can refer to the description of Method 1 above and will not be further elaborated here.

[0253] It can be understood that the above-mentioned methods 1 to 3 all obtain the relevant information of multiple connections in the registration process of the terminal, that is, it can be understood that the relevant information of multiple connections is obtained by multiplexing the registration process of the terminal.

[0254] Mode 4: The data management network element may receive service information from the access and mobility management network elements, and obtain relevant information of multiple connections based on the service information.

[0255] The service information is used to indicate that the network cannot meet the service needs of the terminal, such as the bandwidth provided by the network to the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth requirements of the terminal's service, and / or the signal quality of the network cannot meet the signal quality requirements of the terminal's service, or there may be any other possible situations, which are not limited to this. In this case, the network needs to provide additional network resources through multiple connections to meet the service needs of the terminal. For example, the service information can be a bitmap of multiple bits, which indicates various situations in which the network cannot meet the service needs of the terminal through different value combinations of the bitmap. For example, the bitmap is 2 bits, 00 indicates that the bandwidth provided by the network to the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth requirements of the terminal's service, 01 indicates that the signal quality of the network cannot meet the signal quality requirements of the terminal's service, 10 indicates that the bandwidth provided by the network to the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth requirements of the terminal's service, and the signal quality of the network cannot meet the signal quality requirements of the terminal's service, and 11 is reserved. For another example, the service information can be an enumerated multiple bits, and the value of each bit corresponds to a situation indicating whether the network meets the service needs of the terminal.

[0256] Optionally, when the bandwidth provided by the network to the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth requirements of the terminal's business, the business information is also used to indicate the network needs to provide additional bandwidth to the terminal. If the information of the bandwidth is included, the network can determine how much bandwidth the terminal ultimately needs, so that the multiple connections established subsequently can provide these bandwidths to ensure that the terminal's business needs can be met.

[0257] The service information may be reported by the access network device to the data management network element through the access and mobility management network element, or may be reported directly by the access and mobility management network element to the data management network element.

[0258] For example, if an access network device determines that the bandwidth it can provide to a terminal cannot meet the bandwidth requirement of the terminal's service, the access network device may send an N2 message to the access and mobility management network element. The N2 message includes service information, indicating that the bandwidth provided by the network to the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth requirement of the terminal's service. Optionally, the service information also indicates that the network needs to provide additional bandwidth to the terminal. For example, if the access network device determines that the bandwidth it can currently provide to the terminal is 40 megabytes per second (Mbps), and the service configuration information of the access network device indicates that the bandwidth requirement of the terminal's service is 60 Mbps, indicating that the bandwidth provided by the network to the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth requirement of the terminal's service, the service information also indicates that the network needs to provide an additional 20 Mbps of bandwidth to the terminal. Accordingly, the access and mobility management network element may receive the N2 message from the access network device and send the service information to the data management network element. In this case, the service information may be carried in any possible message exchanged between the access and mobility management network element and the data management network element. Alternatively, the access network device may not be aware of the total bandwidth demand of the terminal. When the bandwidth of the service request exceeds the bandwidth that the access network device itself can provide, the access network device can report the bandwidth that the current access network device itself can provide to the access and mobility management network element. The access and mobility management network element can calculate the difference between the total bandwidth demand of the terminal and the bandwidth that can be currently met, which is the additional bandwidth provided to the terminal.

[0259] For another example, the access and mobility management network element can perform mobility management on the terminal to determine whether the terminal has moved to a low signal area. The low signal area can be pre-configured in the access and mobility management network element. The low signal area can be an area with cell granularity, such as one or more cells, which can be represented by the cell identifier, or the low signal area can also be an area defined by longitude and latitude information, which is not limited. If the terminal currently moves to a low signal area, the access and mobility management network element can obtain service information based on the terminal being located in the low signal area, such as obtaining pre-configured service information locally or generating service information locally, and send the service information to the data management network element. At this time, the service information can be carried in any possible message exchanged between the access and mobility management network element and the data management network element to indicate that the signal quality of the network cannot meet the signal quality requirements of the terminal's service.

[0260] It can be understood that the access and mobility management network element can also combine the service information reported by the access network device when obtaining service information. For example, the service information reported by the access network device indicates that the bandwidth provided by the network to the terminal cannot meet the terminal's service requirements for bandwidth, and at this time the access and mobility management network element also determines that the terminal has moved to a low signal area. The access and mobility management network element can generate service information indicating that the bandwidth provided by the network to the terminal cannot meet the terminal's service requirements for bandwidth, and the signal quality of the network cannot meet the terminal's service requirements for signal quality.

[0261] When the data management network element obtains service information, it can obtain relevant information about multiple connections based on the service information. For the specific acquisition method, please refer to the relevant description of Method 1 above and will not be repeated here. In addition, if the service information indicates that the network needs to provide additional bandwidth for the terminal, the relevant information about the multiple connections may also include a multi-connection split ratio, or a bandwidth split ratio. The split ratio can be determined by the data management network element based on the bandwidth that the network needs to provide additionally to the terminal. For example, taking the multiple connections as dual connections, the network needs to provide an additional 20 Mbps bandwidth to the terminal, and the terminal's session context local to the data management network element indicates that the terminal's service bandwidth requirement is 60 Mbps. The data management network element can determine that the split ratio should be greater than 20 Mbps / 60 Mbps = 1 / 3, such as 0.4, so that the original access network device only needs to provide less than 40 Mbps bandwidth for the terminal's service, thereby alleviating the resource shortage of the access network device, and the new access network device needs to provide more than 20 Mbps bandwidth to ensure that the overall bandwidth of the dual connections can meet the bandwidth requirements of the terminal's service.

[0262] Alternatively, the access network device can simply report the bandwidth it can currently provide to the terminal. This bandwidth can be sent to the data management network element via the access and mobility management network element. In this case, the data management network element can determine the additional bandwidth the network needs to provide to the terminal based on the bandwidth requirements of the terminal's service indicated in the terminal's session context and the bandwidth currently available to the terminal from the access network device, and determine the traffic diversion ratio.

[0263] It can also be understood that the above is an introduction to whether the network can meet the business needs using bandwidth and / or location as an example, which is not a limitation. Whether the network can meet the business needs can also be realized in other ways, such as whether the transmission delay of the business on the network side meets the business transmission delay requirements, whether the data packet queuing waiting time of the business meets the data packet queuing waiting time requirements of the business, etc. In other words, any parameter that can be used to characterize whether the business needs can be met by the network can be applied to the embodiments of the present application.

[0264] Method 5: The data management network element can obtain relevant information of multiple connections according to preset conditions.

[0265] The preset conditions can be pre-configured locally in the data management network element, and may specifically include at least one of the following: the terminal is currently within the time period where multiple connections need to be established, or the terminal is located in the area where the terminal needs to establish multiple connections. That is, the data management network element can decide on its own to trigger the terminal to establish multiple connections based on the current time and the current location of the terminal, thereby avoiding the additional overhead caused by interacting with other network elements.

[0266] The time period during which the terminal needs to establish multiple connections is similar to the preset time period indicated by the above-mentioned time policy, and can be understood by reference thereto. Therefore, when the current time is the start time of the preset time period, the data management network element can obtain relevant information about the multiple connections. The specific acquisition method can refer to the relevant introduction of the above-mentioned method 1, which will not be repeated here. For example, the preset time period is the time period from t1 to t2 after the start time of each cycle, such as 18:00-22:00 every day, that is, the time period frequently used by users. When the current time is 18:00, the data management network element can obtain relevant information about the multiple connections, and execute the subsequent process of the embodiment of the present application to trigger the terminal to establish multiple connections to ensure the user's service experience within the time period. Afterwards, when the current time is 22:00, the data management network element can instruct the terminal to release multiple connections to reduce communication overhead and facilitate energy saving of the terminal.

[0267] The area where the terminal needs to establish multiple connections is similar to the preset area indicated by the above-mentioned location strategy. If it is the above-mentioned low-signal area, you can refer to it for understanding. The data management network element obtains the location of the terminal from the terminal-related access and mobility management network element (or the access and mobility management network element serving the terminal) through subscription services, or the terminal location can be obtained through other methods, such as the access network device reporting to the data management network element through the access and mobility management network element. The specific selection can be based on actual needs, and there is no specific restriction on this. In this way, when the terminal currently moves to the preset area, the data management network element can obtain relevant information of multiple connections. The specific acquisition method can refer to the relevant introduction of the above-mentioned method 1, which will not be repeated here.

[0268] Method 6: The terminal sends the S-NSSAI and / or DNN corresponding to the terminal's session to the network. Accordingly, the data management network element can obtain the S-NSSAI and / or DNN corresponding to the terminal's session and, if the terminal's service requires multiple connections, obtain relevant information about the multiple connections.

[0269] The S-NSSAI and / or DNN may correspond to a service of the terminal, for example, the service of the corresponding terminal may be a multi-connection service.

[0270] The S-NSSAI and / or DNN corresponding to the terminal's session can be reported to the network through the session establishment process. For example, during the process of establishing a session of the terminal, the terminal can send a PDU session establishment request message carrying the S-NSSAI and / or DNN to the access and mobility management network element. The access and mobility management network element can select a session management network element and send the S-NSSAI and / or DNN to the session management network element through a PDU session creation session context request message. After receiving the S-NSSAI and / or DNN, the session management network element can report the S-NSSAI and / or DNN to the data management network element when registering the terminal's session context with the data management network element. In other words, during the terminal registration process, during the session establishment process of the terminal, the data management network element receives a context registration request message from the session management network element, and the context registration request message may include the S-NSSAI and / or DNN.

[0271] The data management network element can determine whether the service corresponding to the S-NSSAI and / or DNN in the context registration request message is a multi-connection service, such as an XRM service, or any other possible service, based on the correspondence between the S-NSSAI or DNN and the service, without limitation. If the service corresponding to the S-NSSAI and / or DNN in the context registration request message is a multi-connection service, the data management network element can obtain relevant information about the multi-connection. The specific acquisition method can refer to the relevant introduction of the above method 1, which will not be repeated here.

[0272] Method 7: When a terminal needs to establish multiple connections, the terminal may send a request message to the network. Correspondingly, the data management network element may receive the request message from the terminal and obtain relevant information about the multiple connections based on the request message.

[0273] The request information is used to instruct the terminal to request the establishment of multiple connections, that is, the establishment of multiple connections can be triggered by the terminal at its own discretion, making the interaction between the terminal and the network side simpler and the communication overhead smaller. For example, the terminal can provide the user with the function of turning on or off multiple connections. For example, the terminal provides a user interaction interface for multiple connections, and the user interaction interface is provided with a button to turn on or off multiple connections. The user can choose to turn on or off the function of multiple connections by clicking the button. For another example, the terminal can provide an interface for selecting a network mode. On this interface, if the user selects the network model as multiple connections of a single network, it means turning on the function of multiple connections. If the user selects the network model as a single connection of a single network, it means turning off the function of multiple connections. At this time, it is necessary to release the multiple connections and establish a single connection. Alternatively, there may be other implementations for the user to turn on or off the function of multiple connections, which is not limited by this application.

[0274] If the user operation turns on multiple connections, the terminal can respond to the user operation and send request information to the network, such as sending a UL NAS message carrying the request information to the access and mobility management network element. After obtaining the request information, the access and mobility management network element can send request information to the data management network element, such as sending a subscription data acquisition request message carrying the request information. Correspondingly, the data management network element can receive request information from the terminal, such as receiving a subscription data acquisition request message carrying the request information, that is, by reusing existing signaling, or it can also be implemented through a newly defined process, decoupling from the existing process, and the information element transmission can be more flexible. The data management network element can obtain relevant information of multiple connections based on the request information. For the specific acquisition method, please refer to the relevant introduction of the above method 1, which will not be repeated here.

[0275] It can be understood that since method 7 is that the terminal actively requests to establish multiple connections, the network does not need to additionally instruct the terminal to establish multiple connections. In other words, the relevant information of multiple connections obtained by the data management network element in method 7 may not include the above-mentioned instruction information.

[0276] It should be pointed out that the above-mentioned methods 1 to 7 can also be implemented in combination. For example, method 1 is implemented in combination with method 2, and the data management network element can obtain relevant information about multiple connections when the terminal supports multiple connections and the network slice requested by the terminal is the network slice corresponding to the service of multiple connections. For another example, method 1 is implemented in combination with method 3, and the data management network element can obtain relevant information about multiple connections when the terminal supports multiple connections and the terminal has signed a contract for a service of multiple connections. For another example, method 1, method 3 and method 3 are implemented in combination, and the data management network element can obtain relevant information about multiple connections when the terminal supports multiple connections and the network slice requested by the terminal is the network slice corresponding to the service of multiple connections and the terminal has signed a contract for a service of multiple connections. Of course, there are other combinations, such as the combination of method 1 and method 4, the combination of method 1 and method 5, etc., which can be understood by reference, and the embodiments of this application will not be repeated.

[0277] S802:

[0278] The data management network element sends relevant information about multiple connections to the access and mobility management network element, such as sending a subscription data acquisition response message carrying relevant information about multiple connections in the registration process, or sending a session management notification (Nudm_SDM_Notification notify) message carrying relevant information about multiple connections in the session establishment process, or it can also be carried in any possible message exchanged between the data management network element and the access and mobility management network element, and there is no limitation on this. Correspondingly, the access and mobility management network element receives relevant information about multiple connections returned by the data management network element based on the service information. The access and mobility management network element can send relevant information about multiple connections to the terminal, such as sending a registration accept message carrying relevant information about multiple connections in the registration process, or sending a DL NAS message carrying relevant information about multiple connections, such as a DL NAS transport container, in the session establishment process, or it can also be carried in any possible NAS message exchanged between the access and mobility management network element and the terminal, and there is no limitation on this.

[0279] S803:

[0280] Since S801-S803 are executed when the terminal has already accessed a cell, such as the first cell, after receiving the relevant information about multiple connections, the terminal can continue to select one or more second cells based on the relevant information about the multiple connections (for the selection method, please refer to the relevant introduction in "6. Cell Selection" above) and access these second cells, that is, establish 3GPP access type connections with these second cells. In other words, the terminal establishing multiple connections can also be understood as the terminal selecting a second cell, or the terminal selecting multiple cells, etc.

[0281] Among them, if the relevant information of multiple connections indicates policy information, the terminal can trigger the establishment of multiple connections with the network according to the policy information. For example, the terminal triggers the establishment of multiple connections with the network within a preset time period, or within a preset area, or when the network cannot meet the terminal's business needs.

[0282] It can be understood that the above is an example of the interaction between the data management network element and the terminal, which is not a limitation. The data management network element can also be replaced by other network elements, such as the policy control network element. For example, the policy control network element can obtain the S-NSSAI and / or DNN corresponding to the terminal's session, and the S-NSSAI and / or DNN corresponds to the terminal's service. In this way, the policy control network element can send relevant information about multiple connections to the terminal based on whether the terminal's service requires the establishment of multiple connections. The specific implementation principle is similar to the above S801-S803, which can be understood by reference and will not be repeated here.

[0283] The above describes the arrangement process of the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application in conjunction with Figure 8. The following describes in detail the specific process of the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present application in a specific scenario in conjunction with Figures 9 to 12.

[0284] Scenario 1:

[0285] Figure 9 is a second flow chart of the communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. In scenario 1, the UDM (the aforementioned data management network element) can send the multi-connection related information to the UE (the aforementioned terminal) through the UE's registration process.

[0286] Specifically, as shown in FIG9 , the process of the communication method is as follows:

[0287] S901, the UE sends an AN message to the RAN (the above-mentioned access network device).

[0288] The AN message may include a NAS message, such as a registration request message. Optionally, the registration request message may carry UE capability information (such as the above-mentioned terminal capability information) to indicate whether the UE supports multiple connections.

[0289] S902: RAN selects AMF (the above-mentioned access and mobility management network element).

[0290] The specific implementation principle of S902 can be referred to the relevant introduction in the registration process defined by 3GPP, which will not be repeated here.

[0291] S903: RAN sends a registration request message to AMF.

[0292] S904, AMF selects AUSF.

[0293] S905: The network performs the UE authentication process.

[0294] The specific implementation principles of S903-S805 can be referred to the relevant introduction in the registration process defined by 3GPP, which will not be repeated here.

[0295] S906a: The AMF sends a register UE context request message to the UDM.

[0296] In the case where the UE provides the UE capability information, the UE context request message may carry the UE capability information.

[0297] S906b, UDM sends a register UE context response message to AMF.

[0298] S907: AMF sends a subscription data acquisition request message to UDM.

[0299] The specific implementation principles of S906a-S907 may refer to the relevant introduction in the registration process defined by 3GPP, which will not be repeated here.

[0300] S908: UDM obtains relevant information of multiple connections.

[0301] UDM can adopt a combination of one or more of the above methods 1 to 3, and method 5 to obtain relevant information of multiple connections. The specific implementation principle can be referred to the relevant introduction in the above S801 and will not be repeated here.

[0302] S909, UDM sends a contract data acquisition response message to AMF.

[0303] The contract data acquisition response message may carry information related to multiple connections. For the specific implementation principle, please refer to the relevant introduction in the above S802 and will not be repeated here.

[0304] S910, AMF sends a registration accept message to the UE.

[0305] The registration accept message may carry information related to multiple connections. For the specific implementation principle, please refer to the relevant introduction in the above S802 and will not be repeated here.

[0306] S911: The UE establishes multiple connections with the network.

[0307] The specific implementation principle of S911 can also refer to the relevant introduction in the above S803, which will not be repeated here.

[0308] Scenario 2:

[0309] Figure 10 is a flow chart of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application. In scenario 2, the UDM (the above-mentioned data management network element) can trigger the sending of multi-connection related information to the UE based on the information reported by the AMF (the above-mentioned access and mobility management network element).

[0310] Specifically, as shown in FIG10 , the process of the communication method is as follows:

[0311] S1001, UE sends an AN message to RAN (such as the access network device mentioned above).

[0312] The AN message may include a NAS message, such as a registration request message. Optionally, the registration request message may carry UE capability information (such as the above-mentioned terminal capability information) to indicate whether the UE supports multiple connections.

[0313] S1002: RAN selects AMF (such as the access and mobility management network element mentioned above).

[0314] The specific implementation principle of S1002 can be referred to the relevant introduction in the registration process defined by 3GPP, which will not be repeated here.

[0315] S1003: RAN sends a registration request message to AMF.

[0316] S1004, AMF selects AUSF.

[0317] S1005, AUSF triggers the execution of the UE authentication process.

[0318] The specific implementation principles of S903-S805 can be referred to the relevant introduction in the registration process defined by 3GPP, which will not be repeated here.

[0319] S1006a: The AMF sends a register UE context request message to the UDM.

[0320] In the case where the UE provides the UE capability information, the UE context request message may carry the UE capability information.

[0321] S1006b, UDM sends a register UE context response message to AMF.

[0322] S1007: AMF sends a contract data acquisition request message to UDM.

[0323] S1008, UDM sends a contract data acquisition response message to AMF.

[0324] S1009: AMF sends a registration accept message to the UE.

[0325] Among them, the specific implementation principles of S1006a-S1009 can be referred to the relevant introduction in the registration process defined by 3GPP, and will not be repeated here.

[0326] S1010: RAN sends an N2 message to AMF.

[0327] The N2 message may carry service information to indicate that the network cannot meet the service requirements of the UE.

[0328] S1011, AMF sends business information to UDM.

[0329] S1012: UDM obtains relevant information of multiple connections.

[0330] Among them, the specific implementation principles of S1010-S1012 can refer to the relevant introduction of method 4 in the above S801, and will not be repeated here.

[0331] S1013, UDM sends relevant information of multiple connections to AMF.

[0332] S1014: AMF sends a DL NAS message to the UE.

[0333] The DL NAS message carries information related to multiple connections.

[0334] The specific implementation principles of S1013-S1014 can be referred to the relevant introduction in the above S802, which will not be repeated here.

[0335] S1015: The UE establishes multiple connections with the network.

[0336] The specific implementation principle of S1015 can also refer to the relevant introduction in the above S803, which will not be repeated here.

[0337] Scenario 3:

[0338] Figure 11 is a fourth flow chart of the communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. In scenario 3, the UDM (the aforementioned data management network element) can send the multi-connection related information to the UE (the aforementioned terminal) through the session establishment process of the UE.

[0339] Specifically, as shown in FIG11 , the process of the communication method is as follows:

[0340] S1101, session establishment process.

[0341] The session establishment process may be performed by executing S401 - S416b shown in FIG. 4 . For details, please refer to the relevant introduction of FIG. 4 , which will not be described again here.

[0342] S1102, SMF sends a UE session context registration request (Nudm_UECM_Registration request) message to UDM.

[0343] The UE session context registration request may carry the UE's S-NSSAI / DNN (the S-NSSAI / DNN of the above-mentioned terminal).

[0344] S1103, UDM obtains relevant information of multiple connections.

[0345] The specific implementation principles of S1102-S1103 can be referred to the relevant introduction of method 6 in the above S801, which will not be repeated here.

[0346] S1104: UDM sends a session management notification message to AMF.

[0347] S1105: AMF sends a DL NAS message to the UE.

[0348] The DL NAS message carries information related to multiple connections.

[0349] The specific implementation principles of S1104-S1105 can be referred to the relevant introduction in the above S802, which will not be repeated here.

[0350] S1106: The UE establishes multiple connections with the network.

[0351] The specific implementation principle of S1106 can also refer to the relevant introduction in the above S803, which will not be repeated here.

[0352] It can be understood that the UDM shown in Figure 11 can also be replaced by PCF. At this time, the difference from the UDM execution is as follows: PCF can obtain session-related information from the SM policy association, such as obtaining the UE's S-NSSAI / DNN from the policy association establishment request message of S407 above, and then obtain relevant information about multiple connections. PCF can use the same method as UDM to send relevant information about multiple connections to the UE. Alternatively, PCF can also carry the relevant information about multiple connections in the SM policy through the policy association establishment response message of S407 above, and send it to SMF first, and then the SMF sends it to the UE through AMF, as shown in the process of S411-S413 above.

[0353] Scenario 4:

[0354] Figure 12 is a flow chart 5 of the communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application. In scenario 4, the UDM (the above-mentioned data management network element) can trigger the sending of multi-connection related information to the UE (the above-mentioned terminal) based on the UE's request to establish multi-connections.

[0355] Specifically, as shown in FIG12 , the process of the communication method is as follows:

[0356] S1201: The UE enables the multi-connection function.

[0357] S1202: The UE completes registration in the network.

[0358] The specific implementation principle of S1201 can refer to the relevant introduction of method 7 in the above S801, which will not be repeated here. The specific implementation principle of S1202 can refer to the relevant introduction of the registration process defined in 3GPP, which will not be repeated here. In addition, the execution order of S1201 and S1202 is not limited.

[0359] S1203: The UE sends a UL NAS message to the AMF.

[0360] S1204: AMF sends a subscription data acquisition request message to UDM.

[0361] The UL NAS message and the subscription data acquisition request message carry the UE's request information. For the specific implementation principle, please refer to the relevant introduction of the method 7 in the above S801, which will not be repeated here.

[0362] S1205, UDM sends a contract data acquisition response message to AMF.

[0363] S1206: AMF sends a DL NAS message to the UE.

[0364] The DL NAS message carries information related to multiple connections.

[0365] The specific implementation principles of S1205-S1206 can be referred to the relevant introduction in the above S802, which will not be repeated here.

[0366] S1207: The UE establishes multiple connections with the network.

[0367] The specific implementation principle of S1207 can also refer to the relevant introduction in the above S803, which will not be repeated here.

[0368] Figure 13 is a sixth flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. This communication method is applicable to the above-mentioned communication system, and mainly involves interaction between a terminal and a network.

[0369] S1301: When a service of a terminal needs to be executed, the terminal obtains a URSP rule that matches the service of the terminal.

[0370] The URSP rule may be an enhanced URSP rule, which may indicate multiple connections, such as defining that the terminal needs to simultaneously establish 3GPP access type connections with multiple cells of the network. That is, similar to the meaning of the above-mentioned indication information, the specific meaning may also be understood with reference to it, and no further description is given. Optionally, the URSP rule may also indicate policy information for multiple connections, such as a combination of access types required to establish multiple connections, or other policies. For details, reference may also be made to the relevant introduction to the above-mentioned policy information, which will not be described here.

[0371] When a terminal needs to execute a service, for example, when the terminal responds to a user operation to launch an application, such as an XRM application or any other possible application, the terminal needs to execute the service corresponding to the application, such as the XRM service or any other possible service. At this time, the terminal can determine a URSP rule based on the service volume descriptor, such as matching a URSP rule with a service characteristic indicated by the service volume descriptor, thereby determining a URSP rule that matches the service.

[0372] S1302: If the URSP rule indicates that multiple connections need to be established, the terminal establishes multiple connections with the network.

[0373] If the URSP rule matching the service is the enhanced URSP rule mentioned above, the terminal can establish multiple connections with the network according to the instructions of the URSP rule (such as according to policy information or the terminal's own decision). The specific implementation principle is similar to that of S803 above, and can be understood by reference, so it will not be repeated here.

[0374] It can be understood that the embodiment of the present application takes URSP rules as an example, but is not limited to URSP rules. Any strategy and / or rule similar to URSP rules, or capable of implementing routing functions, can be used to implement the solution in the present application.

[0375] In summary, the terminal can match URSP rules and trigger the establishment of multiple connections with the network side when the service matches the URSP rule that requires establishing multiple connections, so as to ensure that the multiple connections can meet the needs of the service and guarantee the user experience.

[0376] In one possible design, in conjunction with S1301-S1302 above, before S1301, the method may further include: when the terminal's URSP rules need to be updated, the policy control network element may obtain the terminal's new URSP rules and send the new URSP rules to the terminal. Accordingly, the terminal may also receive the URSP rules from the network and configure them locally. In this case, the new URSP rules may be the enhanced URSP rules described above. The policy control network element may obtain the new URSP rules from the application function, or the new URSP rules may be manually configured for the PCF, without limitation.

[0377] The communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail above in conjunction with Figures 8 to 13. The communication device for executing the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described in detail below in conjunction with Figures 14 and 15.

[0378] Figure 14 is a structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 14 , the communication device 1400 includes a transceiver module 1401 and a processing module 1402. For ease of illustration, Figure 14 only shows the main components of the communication device.

[0379] In a first possible embodiment, the communication device 1400 can be applied to the data management network element in the above communication method to implement the functions of the data management network element, as follows.

[0380] The processing module 1402 is configured to obtain information related to multiple connections, and the transceiver module 1401 is configured to send the relevant information to the terminal. The relevant information includes indication information and / or policy information, the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, and the policy information is used to indicate a policy for establishing multiple connections. Multiple connections refer to establishing 3GPP access-type connections with multiple cells simultaneously.

[0381] In one possible design, the policy information may include at least one of the following: a service policy, an access type policy, a location policy, or a time policy. A service policy refers to the need to establish multiple connections when the network cannot meet service requirements. An access type policy refers to the combination of access types required to establish multiple connections. A location policy refers to the need to establish multiple connections within a preset area. A time policy refers to the need to establish multiple connections within a preset time period.

[0382] In one possible design, processing module 1402 is configured to obtain capability information of a terminal and obtain relevant information based on the capability information of the terminal, wherein the capability information of the terminal is used to indicate that the terminal supports establishing 3GPP access type connections with multiple cells simultaneously.

[0383] Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 is configured to receive a context registration request message from an access and mobility management network element during terminal registration, wherein the context registration request message includes capability information of the terminal.

[0384] In one possible design, processing module 1402 is configured to obtain slice information requested by the terminal and obtain relevant information based on whether the network slice corresponds to a multi-connected service. The slice information requested by the terminal is used to indicate the network slice requested by the terminal.

[0385] Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 is configured to receive, by the data management network element, a context registration request message from the access and mobility management network element during the terminal registration process, wherein the context registration request message includes the slice information requested by the terminal.

[0386] In one possible design, processing module 1402 is configured to obtain subscription data of the terminal and obtain relevant information based on the subscription data of the terminal, wherein the subscription data of the terminal includes information indicating that the network can provide a multi-connection service for the terminal.

[0387] Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 is configured to receive a subscription data acquisition request message from an access and mobility management network element during terminal registration, and acquire the terminal's subscription data according to the subscription data acquisition request message. The subscription data acquisition request message is used to request data on the subscription between the terminal and the network.

[0388] In one possible design, the transceiver module 1401 is configured to receive service information from an access and mobility management network element, and the processing module 1402 is configured to obtain relevant information based on the service information. The service information indicates that the network cannot meet the service requirements of the terminal.

[0389] Optionally, the network cannot meet the business needs of the terminal, including: the bandwidth provided by the network to the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth requirements of the terminal's business, and / or the signal quality of the network cannot meet the signal quality requirements of the terminal's business, or there may be any other possible situations, which are not limited to this.

[0390] Optionally, when the bandwidth provided by the network to the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth demand of the terminal's service, the service information is further used to indicate that the network needs to provide additional bandwidth to the terminal.

[0391] In one possible design, processing module 1402 is configured to obtain relevant information based on a preset condition, wherein the preset condition includes at least one of the following: the terminal is currently within a time period where multiple connections need to be established, or the terminal is located within an area where multiple connections need to be established.

[0392] Optionally, the processing module 1402 is configured to obtain the location of the terminal from an access and mobility management network element related to the terminal through a subscription service, or may also obtain the location of the terminal through other means.

[0393] In one possible design, processing module 1402 is configured to obtain S-NSSAI single network slice selection auxiliary information and a DNN data network name corresponding to a terminal session, and obtain relevant information based on whether a service of the terminal requires establishing multiple connections. The S-NSSAI and DNN correspond to the service of the terminal.

[0394] Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 is configured to receive, by the data management network element, a context registration request message from the session management network element during the session establishment process of the terminal, wherein the context registration request message includes the S-NSSAI and the DNN.

[0395] In a possible design, the transceiver module 1401 is configured to receive request information from a terminal, and the processing module 1402 is configured to obtain relevant information according to the request information, wherein the request information is used to indicate that the terminal requests to establish multiple connections.

[0396] Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 is configured to receive a subscription data management acquisition request message from an access and mobility management network element, wherein the subscription data management acquisition request message includes request information.

[0397] Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 may include a sending module (not shown in FIG14 ) and a receiving module (not shown in FIG14 ). The sending module is used to implement the sending function of the communication device 1400 , and the receiving module is used to implement the receiving function of the communication device 1400 .

[0398] Optionally, the communication device 1400 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 14 ) storing a program or instruction. When the processing module 1402 executes the program or instruction, the communication device 1400 may perform the functions of the method shown in FIG. 6 to FIG. 8 .

[0399] It can be understood that the communication device 1400 can be a network device, a chip (system) or other parts or components that can be set in the network device, or a device that includes a network device. This application does not limit this.

[0400] In addition, the technical effects of the communication device 1400 can refer to the technical effects of the above-mentioned communication method, which will not be repeated here.

[0401] In a second possible embodiment, the communication device 1400 may be applied to the access and mobility management network element in the above communication method to implement the functions of the access and mobility management network element, as follows.

[0402] Transceiver module 1401 is configured to send service information to a data management network element, receive information related to multiple connections returned by the data management network element based on the service information, and send the relevant information to the terminal. The service information indicates that the network cannot meet the terminal's service needs. The relevant information includes indication information and / or policy information. The indication information indicates that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, and the policy information indicates the strategy for establishing multiple connections. Multiple connections refer to establishing 3GPP access-type connections with multiple cells simultaneously.

[0403] In one possible design, the transceiver module 1401 is configured to receive an N2 message from an access network device. The N2 message includes service information. The service information is specifically used to indicate that the bandwidth provided by the network to the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth requirements of the terminal's service.

[0404] Optionally, the service information is also used to indicate the additional bandwidth that the network needs to provide to the terminal.

[0405] In one possible design, processing module 1402 is configured to obtain service information based on the terminal being located in a low signal area, wherein the service information is specifically used to indicate that the network signal quality cannot meet the signal quality requirements of the terminal's service.

[0406] Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 may include a sending module (not shown in FIG14 ) and a receiving module (not shown in FIG14 ). The sending module is used to implement the sending function of the communication device 1400 , and the receiving module is used to implement the receiving function of the communication device 1400 .

[0407] Optionally, the communication device 1400 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 14 ) storing a program or instruction. When the processing module 1402 executes the program or instruction, the communication device 1400 may perform the functions of the method shown in FIG. 6 to FIG. 8 .

[0408] It can be understood that the communication device 1400 can be a network device, a chip (system) or other parts or components that can be set in the network device, or a device that includes a network device. This application does not limit this.

[0409] In addition, the technical effects of the communication device 1400 can refer to the technical effects of the above-mentioned communication method, which will not be repeated here.

[0410] In a third possible embodiment, the communication device 1400 may be applied to the policy control network element in the above communication method to implement the functions of the policy control network element, as follows.

[0411] Processing module 1402 is used to obtain the S-NSSAI single network slice selection auxiliary information and DNN data network name corresponding to the terminal's session. Processing module 1402 is used to control the transceiver module 1401 to send relevant information of multiple connections to the terminal based on whether the terminal's service requires the establishment of multiple connections. Among them, S-NSSAI and DNN correspond to the terminal's service. The relevant information includes indication information and / or policy information. The indication information is used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections. The policy information is used to indicate the strategy for establishing multiple connections. Multi-connection refers to establishing a connection of the Third Generation Partnership Project 3GPP access type with multiple cells at the same time.

[0412] In one possible design, the transceiver module 1401 is configured to enable the policy control network element to receive the S-NSSAI and DNN from the session management network element during the process of establishing or modifying the session policy of the terminal.

[0413] Optionally, the policy information includes at least one item: business policy, access type policy, location policy, or time policy; wherein, the business policy means that multiple connections need to be established when the network cannot meet the business needs; the access type policy refers to the access type combination required to establish multiple connections; the location policy means that multiple connections need to be established within a preset area; the time policy means that multiple connections need to be established within a preset time period.

[0414] Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 may include a sending module (not shown in FIG14 ) and a receiving module (not shown in FIG14 ). The sending module is used to implement the sending function of the communication device 1400 , and the receiving module is used to implement the receiving function of the communication device 1400 .

[0415] Optionally, the communication device 1400 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 14 ) storing a program or instruction. When the processing module 1402 executes the program or instruction, the communication device 1400 may perform the functions of the method shown in FIG. 6 to FIG. 8 .

[0416] It can be understood that the communication device 1400 can be a network device, a chip (system) or other parts or components that can be set in the network device, or a device that includes a network device. This application does not limit this.

[0417] In addition, the technical effects of the communication device 1400 can refer to the technical effects of the above-mentioned communication method, which will not be repeated here.

[0418] In a fourth possible embodiment, communication device 1400 may be implemented by a terminal module (e.g., a processor, chip, or chip system) in the aforementioned communication method. Alternatively, it may be implemented by a logical node, logic module, or software that implements all or part of the terminal's functions. For ease of description, the following description uses the method executed by a terminal as an example.

[0419] The transceiver module 1401 is configured to receive information related to multiple connections from the network, and the processing module 1402 is configured to establish multiple connections with the network based on the relevant information. The relevant information includes indication information and / or policy information. The indication information is used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, and the policy information is used to indicate the policy for establishing multiple connections. Multiple connections refer to establishing 3GPP access-type connections with multiple cells simultaneously.

[0420] In one possible design scheme, the policy information includes at least one item: business policy, access type policy, location policy, or time policy; among them, the business policy means that multiple connections need to be established when the network cannot meet the business needs; the access type policy refers to the access type combination required to establish multiple connections; the location policy means that multiple connections need to be established within a preset area; the time policy means that multiple connections need to be established within a preset time period.

[0421] In one possible design, the transceiver module 1401 is configured to send capability information of the terminal to the network, wherein the capability information of the terminal is used to indicate that the terminal supports establishing 3GPP access type connections with multiple cells simultaneously.

[0422] In one possible design scheme, the transceiver module 1401 is used to send the S-NSSAI single network slice selection auxiliary information and DNN data network name corresponding to the terminal's session to the network, where the S-NSSAI and DNN correspond to the terminal's service, and the terminal's service is a service that requires establishing multiple connections.

[0423] In one possible design, the transceiver module 1401 is configured to send request information to the network when the terminal needs to establish multiple connections, where the request information is used to indicate that the terminal requests to establish multiple connections.

[0424] Optionally, processing module 1402 is configured to determine, in response to a user's operation to enable multiple connections, that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections. Alternatively, processing module 1402 is configured to, when a service of the terminal needs to be executed, obtain a routing policy (URSP) rule that matches the service of the terminal, and determine, when the URSP rule indicates that multiple connections need to be established, that the terminal needs to establish multiple connections.

[0425] Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 may include a sending module (not shown in FIG14 ) and a receiving module (not shown in FIG14 ). The sending module is used to implement the sending function of the communication device 1400 , and the receiving module is used to implement the receiving function of the communication device 1400 .

[0426] Optionally, the communication device 1400 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 14 ) storing a program or instruction. When the processing module 1402 executes the program or instruction, the communication device 1400 may perform the functions of the method shown in FIG. 6 to FIG. 8 .

[0427] It can be understood that the communication device 1400 can be a terminal, or a chip (system) or other parts or components that can be set in the terminal, or a device including a terminal, which is not limited in this application.

[0428] In addition, the technical effects of the communication device 1400 can refer to the technical effects of the above-mentioned communication method, which will not be repeated here.

[0429] In a fifth possible embodiment, communication device 1400 may be implemented by a terminal module (e.g., a processor, chip, or chip system) in the above-described communication method. Alternatively, it may be implemented by a logical node, logic module, or software that implements all or part of the terminal's functions. For ease of description, the following description uses the method executed by a terminal as an example.

[0430] Processing module 1402 is used to obtain a routing selection strategy URSP rule that matches the terminal's service when the terminal's service needs to be executed; processing module 1402 is used to establish multiple connections with the network if the URSP rule indicates that multiple connections need to be established, where multiple connections refer to establishing third-generation partnership project 3GPP access type connections with multiple cells of the network at the same time.

[0431] In one possible design, the URSP rule further indicates a combination of access types required to establish multiple connections.

[0432] In one possible design, transceiver module 1401 is configured to receive URSP rules from a network.

[0433] Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 may include a sending module (not shown in FIG14 ) and a receiving module (not shown in FIG14 ). The sending module is used to implement the sending function of the communication device 1400 , and the receiving module is used to implement the receiving function of the communication device 1400 .

[0434] Optionally, the communication device 1400 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 14 ) storing a program or instruction. When the processing module 1402 executes the program or instruction, the communication device 1400 may perform the functions of the method shown in FIG. 6 to FIG. 8 .

[0435] It can be understood that the communication device 1400 can be a terminal, or a chip (system) or other parts or components that can be set in the terminal, or a device including a terminal, which is not limited in this application.

[0436] In addition, the technical effects of the communication device 1400 can refer to the technical effects of the above-mentioned communication method, which will not be repeated here.

[0437] In a sixth possible embodiment, the communication device 1400 may be applied to the policy control network element in the above communication method to implement the functions of the policy control network element, as follows.

[0438] Processing module 1402 is configured to obtain a new URSP rule for the terminal when the terminal's routing policy URSP rule needs to be updated. Transceiver module 1401 is configured to send the new URSP rule to the terminal. The new URSP rule indicates the need to establish multiple connections. Multiple connections refer to establishing 3GPP access-type connections with multiple cells simultaneously. In other words, by updating the URSP rule, the terminal is enabled to establish multiple connections.

[0439] In one possible design, the new URSP rule further indicates the access type combination required to establish multiple connections.

[0440] Optionally, the transceiver module 1401 may include a sending module (not shown in FIG14 ) and a receiving module (not shown in FIG14 ). The sending module is used to implement the sending function of the communication device 1400 , and the receiving module is used to implement the receiving function of the communication device 1400 .

[0441] Optionally, the communication device 1400 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 14 ) storing a program or instruction. When the processing module 1402 executes the program or instruction, the communication device 1400 may perform the functions of the method shown in FIG. 6 to FIG. 8 .

[0442] It can be understood that the communication device 1400 can be a network device, a chip (system) or other parts or components that can be set in the network device, or a device that includes a network device. This application does not limit this.

[0443] In addition, the technical effects of the communication device 1400 can refer to the technical effects of the above-mentioned communication method, which will not be repeated here.

[0444] Figure 15 is a second structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. Exemplarily, the communication device may be a terminal, or a chip (system) or other component or assembly that can be provided in a terminal. As shown in Figure 15, the communication device 1500 may include a processor 1501. Optionally, the communication device 1500 may further include a memory 1502 and / or a transceiver 1503. The processor 1501 is coupled to the memory 1502 and the transceiver 1503, such as by a communication bus.

[0445] The following is a detailed introduction to the various components of the communication device 1500 with reference to FIG15 :

[0446] The processor 1501 is the control center of the communication device 1500 and can be a single processor or a collective term for multiple processing elements. For example, the processor 1501 can be one or more central processing units (CPUs), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the embodiments of the present application, such as one or more digital signal processors (DSPs) or one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

[0447] Optionally, the processor 1501 can execute various functions of the communication device 1500 by running or executing software programs stored in the memory 1502 and calling data stored in the memory 1502, such as executing the communication methods shown in Figures 8 to 13 above.

[0448] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the processor 1501 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 shown in FIG15 .

[0449] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication device 1500 may also include multiple processors, such as the processor 1501 and the processor 1504 shown in FIG15 . Each of these processors may be a single-core processor (single-CPU) or a multi-core processor (multi-CPU). The processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and / or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

[0450] The memory 1502 is used to store the software program for executing the solution of the present application, and the execution is controlled by the processor 1501. The specific implementation method can refer to the above method embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0451] Alternatively, the memory 1502 may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, an optical disc storage (including a compact disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, Blu-ray disc, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto. The memory 1502 may be integrated with the processor 1501 or exist independently and be coupled to the processor 1501 via an interface circuit (not shown in FIG. 15 ) of the communication device 1500. This embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit this.

[0452] Transceiver 1503 is used for communication with other communication devices. For example, if communication device 1500 is a terminal, transceiver 1503 can be used to communicate with a network device or another terminal device. For another example, if communication device 1500 is a network device, transceiver 1503 can be used to communicate with a terminal or another network device.

[0453] Optionally, the transceiver 1503 may include a receiver and a transmitter (not shown separately in FIG15 ), wherein the receiver is used to implement a receiving function, and the transmitter is used to implement a sending function.

[0454] Optionally, the transceiver 1503 can be integrated with the processor 1501, or can exist independently and be coupled to the processor 1501 through the interface circuit of the communication device 1500 (not shown in Figure 15). This embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit this.

[0455] It is understandable that the structure of the communication device 1500 shown in FIG15 does not constitute a limitation on the communication device, and the actual communication device may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine certain components, or arrange the components differently.

[0456] In addition, the technical effects of the communication device 1500 can refer to the technical effects of the methods described in the above method embodiments, and will not be repeated here.

[0457] It should be understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), and the processor may also 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.

[0458] It should also be understood that the memory in the embodiments of the present application may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. 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), which is used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of random access memory (RAM) are available, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchronous link DRAM (SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

[0459] The above embodiments can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware (such as circuits), firmware or any other combination. When implemented using software, the above embodiments can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions or computer programs. When the computer instructions or computer program are loaded or executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server or data center to another website, computer, server or data center via a wired (such as infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that contains one or more available media sets. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a tape), an optical medium (for example, a DVD), or a semiconductor medium. The semiconductor medium can be a solid-state drive.

[0460] It should be understood that the term "and / or" as used herein simply describes a relationship between associated objects, indicating that three possible relationships exist. For example, "A and / or B" can represent: A alone, A and B together, or B alone. A and B can be singular or plural. Furthermore, the character " / " as used herein generally indicates an "or" relationship between the associated objects, but it may also indicate an "and / or" relationship. For specific understanding, please refer to the context.

[0461] In this application, "at least one" means one or more, and "plurality" means two or more. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can mean: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, and c can be single or plural.

[0462] It should be understood that in the various embodiments of the present application, the size of the serial numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

[0463] 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.

[0464] 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.

[0465] 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.

[0466] 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.

[0467] 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.

[0468] 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, a server, or a 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.

[0469] 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 Applied to a data management network element, including: The data management network element obtains multi-connection related information, where the related information includes indication information and / or policy information. The indication information is used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish a multi-connection, and the policy information is used to indicate the policy for establishing a multi-connection. A multi-connection means establishing connections of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access type with multiple cells simultaneously; The data management network element sends the related information to the terminal.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The policy information includes at least one of: a service policy, an access type policy, a location policy, or a time policy; where the service policy means that a multi-connection needs to be established when the network cannot meet the service requirements; the access type policy means the combination of access types required to establish a multi-connection; the location policy means that a multi-connection needs to be established within a preset area; the time policy means that a multi-connection needs to be established within a preset time period.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The data management network element obtains multi-connection related information, including: The data management network element obtains the capability information of the terminal, where the capability information of the terminal is used to indicate that the terminal supports establishing connections of the 3GPP access type with multiple cells simultaneously; The data management network element obtains the related information according to the capability information of the terminal.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The data management network element obtains multi-connection related information, including: The data management network element obtains the slice information requested by the terminal, where the slice information requested by the terminal is used to indicate the network slice requested by the terminal; The data management network element obtains the related information according to the network slice being the slice corresponding to the multi-connection service.

5. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The data management network element obtains multi-connection related information, including: The data management network element obtains the subscription data of the terminal, where the subscription data of the terminal includes information indicating that the network can provide multi-connection services for the terminal; The data management network element obtains the related information according to the subscription data of the terminal.

6. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The data management network element obtains multi-connection related information, including: The data management network element receives service information from an access and mobility management network element, where the service information is used to indicate that the network cannot meet the service requirements of the terminal; The data management network element obtains the related information according to the service information.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that: The network not being able to meet the service requirements of the terminal includes: the bandwidth provided by the network for the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth requirements of the terminal's service, and / or, the signal quality of the network cannot meet the signal quality requirements of the terminal's service.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that: When the bandwidth provided by the network for the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth requirements of the terminal's service, the service information is further used to indicate the additional bandwidth that the network needs to provide for the terminal.

9. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein The data management network element obtains multi-connection related information, including: The data management network element obtains relevant information according to preset conditions, where the preset conditions include at least one of the following: during the time period when the terminal needs to establish multi-connections currently, or the location of the terminal is within the area where the terminal needs to establish multi-connections.

10. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The data management network element obtains relevant information about multi-connections, including: The data management network element obtains the S-NSSAI single network slice selection assistance information and DNN data network name corresponding to the session of the terminal, where the S-NSSAI and the DNN correspond to the service of the terminal; The data management network element obtains the relevant information according to the service of the terminal being a service that needs to establish multi-connections.

11. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The data management network element obtains relevant information about multi-connections, including: The data management network element receives request information from the terminal, where the request information is used to indicate that the terminal requests to establish multi-connections; The data management network element obtains the relevant information according to the request information.

12. A communication method, characterized in that, Applied to the access and mobility management network element, including: The access and mobility management network element sends service information to the data management network element, where the service information indicates that the network cannot meet the service requirements of the terminal; The access and mobility management network element receives the relevant information about multi-connections returned by the data management network element according to the service information, where the relevant information includes indication information and / or policy information, the indication information is used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multi-connections, and the policy information is used to indicate the policy for establishing multi-connections. Multi-connections refer to establishing connections of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access type with multiple cells simultaneously; The access and mobility management network element sends the relevant information to the terminal.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein The method further includes: The access and mobility management network element receives an N2 message from the access network device, where the N2 message includes the service information, and the service information is specifically used to indicate that the bandwidth provided by the network for the terminal cannot meet the bandwidth requirement of the service of the terminal.

14. According to the method described in claim 13, it is characterized in that: The service information is further used to indicate the additional bandwidth that the network needs to provide for the terminal.

15. The method according to claim 12, wherein The method further includes: The access and mobility management network element obtains the service information according to the terminal being in a low signal area, where the service information is specifically used to indicate that the signal quality of the network cannot meet the signal quality requirement of the service of the terminal.

16. A communication method, characterized in that, Applied to the policy control network element, including: The policy control network element obtains the S-NSSAI single network slice selection assistance information and DNN data network name corresponding to the session of the terminal, where the S-NSSAI and the DNN correspond to the service of the terminal; The policy control network element sends multi-connection related information to the terminal according to the service of the terminal that requires establishing multi-connections, where the related information includes indication information and / or policy information. The indication information is used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multi-connections, and the policy information is used to indicate the policy for establishing multi-connections. Multi-connections mean establishing connections of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access type with multiple cells respectively at the same time.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein The policy control network element obtains the S-NSSAI and DNN corresponding to the session of the terminal, including: During the establishment or modification of the session policy of the terminal, the policy control network element receives the S-NSSAI and the DNN from the session management network element.

18. The method according to claim 16 or 17, wherein: The policy information includes at least one of: service policy, access type policy, location policy, or time policy; where the service policy means that multi-connections need to be established when the network cannot meet the service requirements; the access type policy means the combination of access types required for establishing multi-connections; the location policy means that multi-connections need to be established within a preset area; the time policy means that multi-connections need to be established within a preset time period.

19. A communication method, characterized in that, including: Receiving multi-connection related information from the network, where the related information includes indication information and / or policy information. The indication information is used to indicate that the terminal needs to establish multi-connections, and the policy information is used to indicate the policy for establishing multi-connections. Multi-connections mean establishing connections of the 3GPP access type with multiple cells respectively at the same time; Establishing multi-connections with the network according to the related information.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein: The policy information includes at least one of: service policy, access type policy, location policy, or time policy; where the service policy means that multi-connections need to be established when the network cannot meet the service requirements; the access type policy means the combination of access types required for establishing multi-connections; the location policy means that multi-connections need to be established within a preset area; the time policy means that multi-connections need to be established within a preset time period.

21. The method according to claim 19 or 20, characterized in that The method further includes: Sending the capability information of the terminal to the network, where the capability information of the terminal is used to indicate that the terminal supports establishing connections of the 3GPP access type with multiple cells respectively at the same time.

22. The method according to claim 19 or 20, characterized in that, The method further includes: Sending the single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) and the data network name (DNN) corresponding to the session of the terminal to the network, where the S-NSSAI and the DNN correspond to the service of the terminal, and the service of the terminal is a service that requires establishing multi-connections.

23. The method according to claim 19 or 20, characterized in that The method further includes: When the terminal needs to establish multi-connections, sending a request information to the network, where the request information is used to indicate that the terminal requests to establish multi-connections.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein The method further includes: In response to the user's operation of enabling multi-connections, determining that the terminal needs to establish multi-connections; Or; When the service of the terminal needs to be executed, obtain a routing selection policy URSP rule that matches the service of the terminal; When the URSP rule indicates that a multi-connection needs to be established, determine that the terminal needs to establish a multi-connection.

25. A communication device, characterized in that, The device includes: a module for executing the method according to any one of claims 1-24.

26. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes: a processor and a memory; the memory is used to store computer instructions, and when the processor executes the instructions, the communication device is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 1-24.

27. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium includes a computer program or instruction, and when the computer program or instruction runs on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 1-24.

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