Communication method, and apparatus

Abstract

A communication method and an apparatus. In the method, a session management function network element determines a first deterministic Internet Protocol instance bound to a service flow and an address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, and sends first information to an access network device and / or a user plane function network element, the first information comprising tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow, and the tunnel endpoint address information belonging to the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, or, the first information comprising the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, such that the access network device or the user plane function network element may allocate tunnel endpoint address information to the service flow within the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance. Hence, the method helps to enable a deterministic Internet Protocol transport network to use the deterministic Internet Protocol instance bound to a service flow for transmitting the service flow upon receiving the service flow.

Description

Communication method and apparatus

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese Patent Application No. 202410842562.4, filed on June 26, 2024, entitled “Communication method and apparatus”, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, in particular to a communication method and apparatus. BACKGROUND

[0003] Deterministic Internet Protocol (DIP) is a Layer 3 network technology architecture. Deterministic Internet Protocol technology introduces a periodic scheduling mechanism for forwarding on the data plane, and proposes an efficient path planning and resource allocation algorithm on the control plane, aiming to realize a large-scale scalable end-to-end deterministic low-latency network system.

[0004] Deterministic Internet Protocol can be applied in a communication system, such as a 5th Generation Mobile Communication Technology System (5GS). In this scenario, the deterministic Internet Protocol transport network can be used as a transport network in the communication system to carry traffic flows between radio access network (RAN) and user plane function (UPF) network elements. In the scenario where deterministic Internet Protocol is applied in the communication system, how to realize the transmission of traffic flows between RAN and UPF network elements needs to be studied. SUMMARY

[0005] Embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus, which can be applied in a scenario where a communication system transport network (for example, a 5GS transport network) supports deterministic Internet Protocol, and realizes transmission of traffic flows that need to perform deterministic Internet Protocol transmission in the deterministic Internet Protocol instance bound to the traffic flows.

[0006] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied in a session management function network element, can also be applied in a chip in the session management function network element, and can further be applied in a logical module or software capable of realizing all or part of the functions of the session management function network element. Hereinafter, the session management function network element is taken as an example for description. The method comprises: determining, by the session management function network element, a first deterministic Internet Protocol instance bound to a traffic flow and an address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance. The session management function network element sends first information to an access network device and / or a user plane function network element.

[0007] The first information includes tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, and the tunnel endpoint address information belongs to an address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance. Alternatively, the first information includes an address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, which can facilitate the access network device or the user plane function network element to allocate tunnel endpoint address information for the service flow in the address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance.

[0008] It can be seen that, in the communication method, the deterministic Internet protocol instance is bound to the address range, which can allocate tunnel endpoint address information for the service flow in the address range corresponding to the deterministic Internet protocol instance bound to the service flow (i.e., the first deterministic Internet protocol instance), so that after the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network receives the service flow from the access network device or the user plane function network element, it can identify that the service flow is bound to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance based on the tunnel endpoint address information corresponding to the service flow, and thus uses the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, i.e., the deterministic Internet protocol instance bound to the service flow, to transmit the service flow. It can be seen that, the method is beneficial to realize flow identification of the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network and to place the service flow requiring deterministic Internet protocol transmission in the deterministic Internet protocol instance bound to the service flow.

[0009] In an optional embodiment, the session management function network element determines the first deterministic Internet protocol instance bound to the service flow and the address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, including: the session management function network element acquires one or more address ranges corresponding to the deterministic Internet protocol instances, and the address ranges corresponding to different deterministic Internet protocol instances are different. The session management function network element determines the first deterministic Internet protocol instance bound to the service flow from the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances. The session management function network element determines the address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance from the one or more address ranges corresponding to the deterministic Internet protocol instances.

[0010] It can be seen that, different deterministic Internet protocol instances correspond to different address ranges. In this way, the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network can identify different deterministic Internet protocol instances according to the different address ranges, which can enable the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network to identify which deterministic Internet protocol instance the service flow is bound to based on the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, and thus place the service flow requiring deterministic Internet protocol transmission in the deterministic Internet protocol instance bound to the service flow for transmission.

[0011] In an optional implementation, the session management function network element acquires the address interval corresponding to the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances, including: the session management function network element allocates the address interval for the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances, and different deterministic Internet protocol instances are allocated with different address intervals.

[0012] In an optional implementation, the session management function network element acquires the address interval corresponding to the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances, including: the session management function network element receives the address interval allocated for the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances from the operation and maintenance management network element, and different deterministic Internet protocol instances are allocated with different address intervals.

[0013] In an optional implementation, the session management function network element acquires the address interval corresponding to the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances, including: the session management function network element receives the address interval allocated for the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances from the access network device, and different deterministic Internet protocol instances are allocated with different address intervals; and / or, the session management function network element receives the address interval allocated for the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances from the user plane function network element, and different deterministic Internet protocol instances are allocated with different address intervals. The session management function network element determines the address interval corresponding to the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances based on the address interval allocated for the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances by the access network device and / or the address interval allocated for the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances by the user plane function network element.

[0014] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: the session management function network element sends the address interval corresponding to the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances to a storage network element, the storage network element is configured to store the deterministic Internet protocol instance information corresponding to the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances respectively, the deterministic Internet protocol instance information includes the address interval corresponding to the deterministic Internet protocol instance, and the storage network element is further configured to provide the deterministic Internet protocol instance information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance. It can be seen that the storage network element is configured to store the address interval corresponding to the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances, which can save the storage space of the session management function network element.

[0015] In an optional implementation, the session management function network element determines the first deterministic Internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound and the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, including: the session management function network element determines the first deterministic Internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound. The session management function network element allocates an address interval for the first deterministic Internet protocol instance. It can be seen that the session management function network element allocates an address interval for the deterministic Internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound temporarily, and it is not necessary to allocate an address interval for each of the multiple deterministic Internet protocol instances in advance, which can avoid wasting the address interval corresponding to the unused deterministic Internet protocol instance among the multiple deterministic Internet protocol instances, and can also save power consumption.

[0016] In an optional implementation, the session management function network element determines the first deterministic Internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound and the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, including: the session management function network element determines the first deterministic Internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound. The session management function network element sends second information to the operation and maintenance management network element, the second information being used for requesting to allocate an address interval for the first deterministic Internet protocol instance. The session management function network element receives the address interval allocated for the first deterministic Internet protocol instance from the operation and maintenance management network element. It can be seen that the operation and maintenance management network element allocates an address interval for the deterministic Internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound temporarily, and it is not necessary to allocate an address interval for each of the multiple deterministic Internet protocol instances in advance, which can avoid wasting the address interval corresponding to the unused deterministic Internet protocol instance among the multiple deterministic Internet protocol instances, and can also save power consumption.

[0017] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: the session management function network element sends the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance to a storage network element, the storage network element being used for storing deterministic Internet protocol instance information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, the deterministic Internet protocol instance information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance including the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance. It can be seen that the storage network element is used to store the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, which can save the storage space of the session management function network element.

[0018] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: the session management function network element sending, to the access network device and / or the user plane function network element, requirement information of the service flow and identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance, the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance being used for determining a transmission strategy for the service flow transmitted based on the first deterministic internet protocol instance. This manner facilitates determining the transmission strategy of the service flow, so that the deterministic internet protocol transmission network transmits the service flow by using the determined transmission strategy.

[0019] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: the session management function network element sending, to the deterministic network controller, requirement information of the service flow and identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance, the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance being used for determining a transmission strategy for the service flow transmitted based on the first deterministic internet protocol instance. This manner facilitates determining the transmission strategy of the service flow, so that the deterministic internet protocol transmission network transmits the service flow by using the determined transmission strategy.

[0020] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: the session management function network element performing parameter mapping on the requirement information of the service flow. The session management function network element sends, to the deterministic network controller, the requirement information of the service flow after parameter mapping and the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance, the requirement information of the service flow after parameter mapping and the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance being used for determining a transmission strategy for the service flow transmitted based on the first deterministic internet protocol instance. This manner facilitates determining the transmission strategy of the service flow, so that the deterministic internet protocol transmission network transmits the service flow by using the determined transmission strategy.

[0021] In an optional implementation, the service flow is a plurality of un-aggregated service flows. Tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the plurality of un-aggregated service flows within the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance is different.

[0022] In an optional implementation, the service flow is a plurality of aggregated service flows. Tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the plurality of aggregated service flows within the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance is the same; or, the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance is divided into different address segments, and tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the plurality of aggregated service flows within the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance belongs to the same address segment in the different address segments.

[0023] In an optional implementation, when the first information comprises the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, the first information further comprises a correspondence between an address range corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance and the first deterministic internet protocol instance.

[0024] In an optional implementation, the first information comprises the address range corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance, specifically, the first information comprises a correspondence between the address range of the first deterministic internet protocol instance and the first deterministic internet protocol instance.

[0025] In an optional implementation, the address range is an internet protocol (IP) address range, and the tunnel endpoint address information is a tunnel endpoint IP address. Alternatively, the address range comprises an IP address range and a port range, and the tunnel endpoint address information comprises a tunnel endpoint IP address and tunnel endpoint port information.

[0026] In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to an access network device, can be applied to a chip in the access network device, can be applied to a logic module or software capable of realizing all or part of the function of the access network device, or can be applied to a user plane function network element, can be applied to a chip in the user plane function network element, can be applied to a logic module or software capable of realizing all or part of the function of the user plane function network element. Hereinafter, the first device is taken as an example for description, and the first device is an access network device or a user plane function network element. The method comprises: receiving, by the first device, first information from a session management function network element; and determining, by the first device, tunnel endpoint address information allocated for a service flow based on the first information.

[0027] In an optional implementation, when the first information comprises the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, the first information further comprises a correspondence between an address range corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance and the first deterministic internet protocol instance.

[0028] It can be seen that in the communication method, the deterministic Internet protocol instance is bound to the address interval, and the address interval corresponding to the deterministic Internet protocol instance bound to the service flow (i.e., the first deterministic Internet protocol instance) is determined, so that the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network can identify, based on the tunnel endpoint address information corresponding to the service flow, that the service flow is the service flow bound to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance after receiving the service flow from the access network device or the user plane function network element, and thus the service flow is transmitted by using the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, i.e., the deterministic Internet protocol instance bound to the service flow. It can be seen that the method is beneficial to realizing flow identification of the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network and placing the service flow requiring deterministic Internet protocol transmission in the deterministic Internet protocol instance bound to the service flow for transmission.

[0029] In an optional implementation, the first deterministic Internet protocol instance is a deterministic Internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound among one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances, and different deterministic Internet protocol instances correspond to different address intervals. It can be seen that different deterministic Internet protocol instances correspond to different address intervals. In this way, the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network can identify different deterministic Internet protocol instances according to the different address intervals, and can identify, based on the tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow, which deterministic Internet protocol instance the service flow is bound to, so as to place the service flow requiring deterministic Internet protocol transmission in the deterministic Internet protocol instance bound to the service flow for transmission.

[0030] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: the first device allocates address intervals for one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances, and different deterministic Internet protocol instances are allocated different address intervals. The first device sends, to the session management function network element, the address intervals allocated for the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances.

[0031] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: the first device receives, from the session management function network element, demand information of the service flow and identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance. The first device sends, to the deterministic Internet protocol edge node, the demand information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, and the demand information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance are used to determine a transmission strategy for the service flow transmitted based on the first deterministic Internet protocol instance. This way is beneficial to determining the transmission strategy of the service flow, so that the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network transmits the service flow by using the determined transmission strategy.

[0032] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: the first device receiving, from the session management function network element, service flow demand information and identity information of the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance. The first device performs parameter mapping on the service flow demand information. The first device sends, to the deterministic internetworking protocol edge node, the parameter-mapped service flow demand information and the identity information of the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance, which are used to determine a transmission strategy for the service flow transmitted based on the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance. This manner facilitates determination of the transmission strategy of the service flow, so that the deterministic internetworking protocol transmission network adopts a determined transmission strategy to transmit the service flow.

[0033] In an optional implementation, the service flow is a plurality of unaggregated service flows. Tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the plurality of unaggregated service flows within the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance is different.

[0034] In an optional implementation, the service flow is a plurality of aggregated service flows. Tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the plurality of aggregated service flows within the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance is the same; or, the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance is divided into different address segments, and tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the plurality of aggregated service flows within the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance belongs to the same address segment in the different address segments.

[0035] In an optional implementation, when the first information includes tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow, the first information further includes a correspondence between the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance and the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance.

[0036] In an optional implementation, the first information includes the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance, specifically, the first information includes a correspondence between the address interval of the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance and the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance.

[0037] In an optional implementation, the address interval is an IP address interval, and the tunnel endpoint address information is a tunnel endpoint IP address. Alternatively, the address interval includes an IP address interval and a port interval, and the tunnel endpoint address information includes a tunnel endpoint IP address and tunnel endpoint port information.

[0038] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to a deterministic network controller, can be applied to a chip in the deterministic network controller, can be applied to a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the function of the deterministic network controller, can be applied to a deterministic internetworking protocol edge node, can be applied to a chip in the deterministic internetworking protocol edge node, can be applied to a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the function of the deterministic internetworking protocol edge node. The method is described below taking the second device as an example, which is a deterministic network controller or a deterministic internetworking protocol edge node. The method comprises: the second device receiving one or more tunnel endpoint address information from an access network device. The second device receiving one or more tunnel endpoint address information from a user plane function network element. The second device configuring the one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the access network device and the one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the user plane function network element as path endpoint address information corresponding to one or more deterministic internetworking protocol instances respectively.

[0039] It can be seen that in the communication method, the deterministic network controller or the deterministic internetworking protocol edge node configures the tunnel endpoint address information of the access network device and the tunnel endpoint address information of the user plane function network element as the path endpoint address information corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance when configuring the deterministic internetworking protocol instance. It can be understood that the deterministic internetworking protocol instance is bound to the corresponding tunnel when it is configured, so that the path endpoint address information corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance to which the service flow is bound (i.e., the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance) can be used as the tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow. This enables the deterministic internetworking protocol transmission network to identify, based on the tunnel endpoint address information corresponding to the service flow, that the service flow is bound to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance after receiving the service flow from the access network device or the user plane function network element, so as to use the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance, i.e., the deterministic internetworking protocol instance to which the service flow is bound, to transmit the service flow. It can be seen that the method is beneficial to realizing flow identification of the deterministic internetworking protocol transmission network and placing the service flow that needs to perform deterministic internetworking protocol transmission in the deterministic internetworking protocol instance to which the service flow is bound for transmission.

[0040] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: the second device sending, to a storage network element, path endpoint address information corresponding to each of the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances, the storage network element being configured to store deterministic Internet protocol instance information corresponding to each of the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances, the deterministic Internet protocol instance information including the path endpoint address information corresponding to each of the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances, and the storage network element further being configured to provide, to the session management network element, the deterministic Internet protocol instance information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, the first deterministic Internet protocol instance being the deterministic Internet protocol instance to which the traffic flow is bound among the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances. It can be seen that the storage network element is configured to store the path endpoint address information corresponding to each of the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances, thereby saving storage space of the deterministic network controller or the deterministic Internet protocol edge node.

[0041] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: the second device receiving, from the session management network element or the access network device or the user plane function network element, demand information of the parameter-mapped traffic flow and identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, the first deterministic Internet protocol instance being the deterministic Internet protocol instance to which the traffic flow is bound among the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances. The second device determines a transmission strategy for the traffic flow transmitted based on the first deterministic Internet protocol instance based on the demand information of the parameter-mapped traffic flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance. This manner can determine the transmission strategy of the traffic flow, so that the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network transmits the traffic flow by using the determined transmission strategy.

[0042] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: the second device receiving demand information of the traffic flow and identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, the first deterministic Internet protocol instance being the deterministic Internet protocol instance to which the traffic flow is bound among the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances. The second device performs parameter mapping on the demand information of the traffic flow. The second device determines a transmission strategy for the traffic flow transmitted based on the first deterministic Internet protocol instance based on the demand information of the parameter-mapped traffic flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance. This manner can determine the transmission strategy of the traffic flow, so that the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network transmits the traffic flow by using the determined transmission strategy.

[0043] In an optional implementation, the tunnel endpoint address information is a tunnel endpoint IP address, and the path endpoint address information is a path endpoint IP address. Alternatively, the tunnel endpoint address information includes a tunnel endpoint IP address and tunnel endpoint port information, and the path endpoint address information includes a path endpoint IP address and path endpoint port information.

[0044] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to a session management function network element, can be applied to a chip in the session management function network element, can be applied to a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the function of the session management function network element. The following is described by taking the session management function network element as an example. The method comprises: determining, by the session management function network element, a first deterministic internet protocol instance to which a service flow is bound. The session management function network element sends third information to an access network device and a user plane function network element, wherein the third information comprises path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance, and the third information is used to indicate that the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance is used as tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow.

[0045] It can be seen that, in the communication method, the session management function network element instructs the access network device and the user plane function network element to use the path endpoint address information corresponding to the deterministic internet protocol instance (i.e. the first deterministic internet protocol instance) to which the service flow is bound as the tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow. In this way, after the deterministic internet protocol transmission network receives the service flow from the access network device or the user plane function network element, the deterministic internet protocol transmission network can identify that the service flow is the service flow bound to the first deterministic internet protocol instance based on the tunnel endpoint address information corresponding to the service flow, and thus uses the first deterministic internet protocol instance, i.e. the deterministic internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound, to transmit the service flow. It can be seen that the method is beneficial to realizing flow identification of the deterministic internet protocol transmission network and placing the service flow requiring deterministic internet protocol transmission in the deterministic internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound for transmission.

[0046] In an optional implementation, the method further comprises: obtaining, by the session management function network element, the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance from a storage network element, wherein the storage network element is used to store deterministic internet protocol instance information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance, and the deterministic internet protocol instance information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance comprises the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance.

[0047] In an optional implementation, the method further comprises: sending, by the session management function network element, demand information of the service flow and identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance to the access network device and / or the user plane function network element, wherein the demand information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance are used to determine a transmission strategy for the service flow transmitted based on the first deterministic internet protocol instance. This way is beneficial to determining the transmission strategy of the service flow, so that the deterministic internet protocol transmission network uses the determined transmission strategy to transmit the service flow.

[0048] In an optional implementation, the method further comprises: the session management function network element sending, to the deterministic network controller, the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance, the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance being used for determining a transmission strategy for the service flow transmitted based on the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance. This manner facilitates determining the transmission strategy of the service flow, so that the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol transmission network transmits the service flow by using the determined transmission strategy.

[0049] In an optional implementation, the method further comprises: the session management function network element performing parameter mapping on the requirement information of the service flow. The session management function network element sends, to the deterministic network controller, the requirement information of the service flow after parameter mapping and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance, the requirement information of the service flow after parameter mapping and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance being used for determining a transmission strategy for the service flow transmitted based on the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance. This manner facilitates determining the transmission strategy of the service flow, so that the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol transmission network transmits the service flow by using the determined transmission strategy.

[0050] In an optional implementation, the tunnel endpoint address information is a tunnel endpoint IP address, and the path endpoint address information is a path endpoint IP address. Alternatively, the tunnel endpoint address information comprises a tunnel endpoint IP address and tunnel endpoint port information, and the path endpoint address information comprises a path endpoint IP address and path endpoint port information.

[0051] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to an access network device, can be applied to a chip in the access network device, can be applied to a logic module or software capable of realizing all or part of the function of the access network device, or can be applied to a user plane function network element, can be applied to a chip in the user plane function network element, or can be applied to a logic module or software capable of realizing all or part of the function of the user plane function network element. The method is described below by taking a first device as an example, where the first device is an access network device or a user plane function network element. The method comprises the following steps: the first device sends one or more tunnel endpoint address information to a deterministic network controller, where the one or more tunnel endpoint address information is used to configure path endpoint address information corresponding to one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances respectively; the first device receives third information from a session management function network element, where the third information comprises path endpoint address information corresponding to a first deterministic Internet protocol instance, and the third information is used to indicate that the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance is used as tunnel endpoint address information allocated for a service flow, and the first deterministic Internet protocol instance is a deterministic Internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound among the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances; and the first device determines, based on the third information, that the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow is the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance.

[0052] It can be seen that the communication method is beneficial to enabling the deterministic network controller to configure, when configuring the deterministic Internet protocol instance, the tunnel endpoint address information of the access network device and the tunnel endpoint address information of the user plane function network element as the path endpoint address information corresponding to the deterministic Internet protocol instance. Understandably, the deterministic Internet protocol instance is bound to the corresponding tunnel when being configured, so that the path endpoint address information corresponding to the deterministic Internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound (i.e., the first deterministic Internet protocol instance) can be used as the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow subsequently. This enables the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network to identify, after receiving the service flow from the access network device or the user plane function network element, that the service flow is the service flow bound to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance based on the tunnel endpoint address information corresponding to the service flow, so that the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, i.e., the deterministic Internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound, is used to transmit the service flow. It can be seen that the method is beneficial to realizing flow identification of the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network and placing the service flow that needs to perform deterministic Internet protocol transmission in the deterministic Internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound for transmission.

[0053] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: the first device receiving requirement information of the service flow and identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance from the session management function network element. The first device sending the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance to the deterministic Internet Protocol edge node, the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance being used to determine a transmission strategy for the service flow transmitted based on the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance. This way facilitates determining the transmission strategy of the service flow, so that the deterministic Internet Protocol transmission network transmits the service flow by using the determined transmission strategy.

[0054] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: the first device receiving requirement information of the service flow and identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance from the session management function network element. The first device performing parameter mapping on the requirement information of the service flow. The first device sending the parameter-mapped requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance to the deterministic Internet Protocol edge node, the parameter-mapped requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance being used to determine a transmission strategy for the service flow transmitted based on the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance. This way facilitates determining the transmission strategy of the service flow, so that the deterministic Internet Protocol transmission network transmits the service flow by using the determined transmission strategy.

[0055] In an optional implementation, the tunnel endpoint address information is a tunnel endpoint IP address, and the path endpoint address information is a path endpoint IP address. Alternatively, the tunnel endpoint address information includes a tunnel endpoint IP address and tunnel endpoint port information, and the path endpoint address information includes a path endpoint IP address and path endpoint port information.

[0056] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to a session management function network element, a chip in the session management function network element, a logic module or software capable of realizing all or part of the functions of the session management function network element. Hereinafter, the session management function network element is taken as an example for description. The method includes: the session management function network element determining a first deterministic Internet Protocol instance to which a service flow is bound. The session management function network element sending identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance to an access network device and / or a user plane function network element, the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance being used by the access network device and / or the user plane function network element to add the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance in the service flow.

[0057] It can be seen that the communication method can enable the access network device or the user plane function network element to send a service flow to the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network after adding identity information of the service flow binding deterministic Internet protocol instance (i.e., the first deterministic Internet protocol instance) to the service flow, so that the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network can identify the service flow as the service flow binding the first deterministic Internet protocol instance based on the identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance carried in the service flow, and thus transmit the service flow by using the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, i.e., the service flow binding deterministic Internet protocol instance. It can be seen that the method is beneficial to realizing flow identification of the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network and placing the service flow requiring deterministic Internet protocol transmission in the service flow binding deterministic Internet protocol instance for transmission.

[0058] In an optional implementation, the method further includes: determining, by the session management function network element, a transmission strategy corresponding to the service flow based on the requirement information of the service flow. The session management function network element sends an identifier of the transmission strategy to the access network device and / or the user plane function network element, and the identifier of the transmission strategy is used by the access network device and / or the user plane function network element to add the identifier of the transmission strategy in the service flow. This manner is beneficial to determining the transmission strategy of the service flow, so that the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network transmits the service flow by using the determined transmission strategy.

[0059] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to an access network device, can be applied to a chip in the access network device, and can be applied to a logic module or software capable of realizing all or part of the function of the access network device. Alternatively, the method can be applied to a user plane function network element, can be applied to a chip in the user plane function network element, and can be applied to a logic module or software capable of realizing all or part of the function of the user plane function network element. Hereinafter, the first device is taken as an example for description, and the first device is an access network device or a user plane function network element. The method includes: receiving, by the first device, identity information of a first deterministic Internet protocol instance from a session management function network element, the first deterministic Internet protocol instance being a service flow binding deterministic Internet protocol instance. The first device sends a service flow after adding the identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance.

[0060] It can be seen that the communication method can enable the access network device or the user plane function network element to send a service flow added with identity information of the service flow binding deterministic Internet protocol instance (i.e., the first deterministic Internet protocol instance) to the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network, so that the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network can identify, based on the identity information of the deterministic Internet protocol instance carried in the service flow, that the service flow is the service flow bound by the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, and thus transmit the service flow by using the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, i.e., the service flow binding deterministic Internet protocol instance. It can be seen that the method is beneficial to realizing flow identification of the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network and placing the service flow that needs to perform deterministic Internet protocol transmission in the service flow binding deterministic Internet protocol instance for transmission.

[0061] In an optional implementation, the method further includes that the first device receives an identification of the transmission policy from the session management function network element. The first device sending the service flow added with the identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance includes that the first device sends the service flow added with the identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance and the identification of the transmission policy. This manner is beneficial to determining the transmission policy of the service flow, so that the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network transmits the service flow by using the determined transmission policy.

[0062] In an eighth aspect, the present application further provides a communication apparatus. The communication apparatus has the function of implementing part or all of the embodiments of any one of the above-mentioned first aspect to seventh aspect. The function can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more units or modules corresponding to the above-mentioned functions.

[0063] In a possible design, the structure of the communication apparatus can include a processing unit configured to support the communication apparatus to perform the corresponding functions in the above-mentioned method. Optionally, the communication apparatus further includes a communication unit for supporting communication between the communication apparatus and other communication apparatuses. Optionally, the communication apparatus can further include a storage unit for coupling with the processing unit and the communication unit, which saves necessary program instructions and data of the communication apparatus. In addition, the processing unit can be used to control the communication unit to perform data / signaling transceiving.

[0064] In an implementation, the processing unit is configured to determine a first deterministic Internet protocol instance to which a service flow is bound, and an address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance. The communication unit is configured to send first information to an access network device and / or a user plane function network element. The first information includes tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow, the tunnel endpoint address information belonging to the address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance; or the first information includes the address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance.

[0065] In addition, in this approach, other optional embodiments of the communication device can refer to the related content of the first aspect described above, which will not be described in detail here.

[0066] In another implementation, the communication unit is configured to receive first information from a session management function network element. The processing unit is configured to determine, based on the first information, tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow. The first information includes the tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow, the tunnel endpoint address information belonging to an address range corresponding to a first deterministic Internet protocol instance; or the first information includes the address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance.

[0067] In addition, in this approach, other optional embodiments of the communication device can refer to the related content of the second aspect described above, which will not be described in detail here.

[0068] In another implementation, the communication unit is configured to receive one or more tunnel endpoint address information from an access network device. The communication unit is also configured to receive one or more tunnel endpoint address information from a user plane function network element. The processing unit is configured to configure the one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the access network device and the one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the user plane function network element as path endpoint address information corresponding to one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances, respectively.

[0069] In addition, in this approach, other optional embodiments of the communication device can refer to the related content of the third aspect described above, which will not be described in detail here.

[0070] In another implementation, the processing unit is configured to determine a first deterministic Internet protocol instance to which a service flow is bound. The communication unit is configured to send third information to an access network device and a user plane function network element, the third information including path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, the third information being used to indicate that the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance is used as tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow.

[0071] In addition, in this approach, other optional embodiments of the communication device can refer to the related content of the fourth aspect described above, which will not be described in detail here.

[0072] In another implementation, the communication unit is configured to send one or more tunnel endpoint address information to the deterministic network controller, the one or more tunnel endpoint address information is used to configure path endpoint address information corresponding to one or more deterministic internet protocol instance respectively. The communication unit is further configured to receive third information from the session management function network element, the third information comprises path endpoint address information corresponding to a first deterministic internet protocol instance, the third information is used to indicate that the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance is used as tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, the first deterministic internet protocol instance is a deterministic internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound among the one or more deterministic internet protocol instances. The processing unit is configured to determine, based on the third information, that the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow is the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance.

[0073] In addition, in this mode, other optional embodiments of the communication device can refer to the related content of the above-mentioned fifth aspect, which will not be described in detail here.

[0074] In another implementation, the processing unit is configured to determine a first deterministic internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound. The communication unit is configured to send identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance to the access network device and / or the user plane function network element, the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance is used by the access network device and / or the user plane function network element to add the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance in the service flow.

[0075] In addition, in this mode, other optional embodiments of the communication device can refer to the related content of the above-mentioned sixth aspect, which will not be described in detail here.

[0076] In another implementation, the communication unit is configured to receive identity information of a first deterministic internet protocol instance from the session management function network element, the first deterministic internet protocol instance is a deterministic internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound. The communication unit is further configured to send the service flow after adding the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance.

[0077] In addition, in this mode, other optional embodiments of the communication device can refer to the related content of the above-mentioned seventh aspect, which will not be described in detail here.

[0078] For example, the communication unit can be a transceiver or a communication interface, the storage unit can be a memory, and the processing unit can be a processor. The processor is coupled to the memory, the memory is used to store programs or instructions of the processor, the processor can be used to cause the communication device to execute the method described in any one of the above-mentioned first aspect to the seventh aspect when the programs or instructions are executed by the processor, and the transceiver or the communication interface can be used to transceive signals and / or data.

[0079] In another implementation, the communication device is a chip or chip system. The processing unit can also be implemented as a processing circuit or a logic circuit; the transceiving unit can be an input / output interface, an interface circuit, an output circuit, an input circuit, a pin, or related circuit on the chip or chip system, etc.

[0080] In implementation, the processor can be configured to perform, for example but not limited to, baseband related processing, and the transceiver or communication interface can be configured to perform, for example but not limited to, radio frequency transceiving. The above-mentioned devices can be respectively arranged on independent chips, or at least partially or entirely arranged on the same chip. For example, the processor can be further divided into an analog baseband processor and a digital baseband processor. The analog baseband processor can be integrated on the same chip as the transceiver (or communication interface), and the digital baseband processor can be arranged on an independent chip. With the continuous development of integrated circuit technology, more and more devices can be integrated on the same chip. For example, the digital baseband processor can be integrated on the same chip as various application processors (such as but not limited to a graphics processor, a multimedia processor, etc.). Such a chip can be referred to as a system on a chip (SoC). Whether to arrange the devices independently on different chips or to integrate them on one or more chips often depends on the needs of product design. The implementation form of the above-mentioned devices is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0081] In a ninth aspect, the present application further provides a processor for executing the above-mentioned various methods. In the process of executing these methods, the processes of transmitting and receiving the above-mentioned information in the above-mentioned methods can be understood as the processes of outputting the above-mentioned information by the processor and the processes of inputting the above-mentioned information by the processor. When outputting the above-mentioned information, the processor outputs the above-mentioned information to the transceiver, so as to be transmitted by the transceiver (or communication interface). After being outputted by the processor, the above-mentioned information can need to be processed further, and then reaches the transceiver (or communication interface). Similarly, when the processor receives the inputted above-mentioned information, the transceiver (or communication interface) receives the above-mentioned information and inputs it to the processor. Furthermore, after the transceiver (or communication interface) receives the above-mentioned information, the above-mentioned information can need to be processed further, and then be inputted to the processor.

[0082] For the transmission and reception operations of the processor, if there is no special description, or if it does not contradict the actual role or inherent logic in the related description, it can be more generally understood as the output and reception, input operations of the processor, rather than the transmission and reception operations directly performed by the radio frequency circuit and the antenna.

[0083] In the implementation process, the processor can be a processor specially used for executing the methods, or a processor executing computer instructions in a memory to execute the methods, such as a general-purpose processor. The memory can be a non-transitory memory, such as a read only memory (ROM), which can be integrated on the same chip as the processor, or can be separately arranged on different chips. The type of the memory and the arrangement mode of the memory and the processor are not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0084] In a tenth aspect, the present application further provides a communication system, which includes an apparatus for executing the method of the first aspect and an apparatus for executing the method of the second aspect. In another possible design, the system can further include other devices interacting with the apparatus for executing the method of the first aspect, and / or other devices interacting with the apparatus for executing the method of the second aspect.

[0085] In an eleventh aspect, the present application further provides a communication system, which includes an apparatus for executing the method of the third aspect, an apparatus for executing the method of the fourth aspect, and an apparatus for executing the method of the fifth aspect. In another possible design, the system can further include other devices interacting with the apparatus for executing the method of the third aspect, and / or other devices interacting with the apparatus for executing the method of the fourth aspect, and / or other devices interacting with the apparatus for executing the method of the fifth aspect.

[0086] In a twelfth aspect, the present application further provides a communication system, which includes an apparatus for executing the method of the sixth aspect and an apparatus for executing the method of the seventh aspect. In another possible design, the system can further include other devices interacting with the apparatus for executing the method of the sixth aspect, and / or other devices interacting with the apparatus for executing the method of the seventh aspect.

[0087] In a thirteenth aspect, the present application provides a computer readable storage medium, which stores a computer program. When the computer program is run, the method in any one of the first aspect to the seventh aspect is executed.

[0088] In a fourteenth aspect, the present application further provides a computer program product including instructions, which includes computer program codes. When the computer program codes are run, the method in any one of the first aspect to the seventh aspect is executed.

[0089] In a fifteenth aspect, the present application provides a chip or a chip system, which comprises a processor and an interface, the interface being configured to acquire a program or an instruction, and the processor being configured to invoke the program or the instruction to implement the functions involved in any one of the first aspect to the seventh aspect. In a possible design, the chip or the chip system further comprises a memory, and the memory is configured to store necessary program instructions and data of the terminal. The chip system can be composed of the chip, or can comprise the chip and other discrete devices. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0090] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a 5G system architecture according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0091] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a deterministic Internet protocol according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0092] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a distributed architecture of a 5GS TN supporting a deterministic Internet protocol according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0093] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a centralized architecture of a 5GS TN supporting a deterministic Internet protocol according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0094] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a 5GS TN supporting a TSN according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0095] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a communication method 100 according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0096] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a communication method 200 according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0097] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0098] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a communication method 300 according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0099] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0100] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0101] FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0102] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0103] FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of another communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0104] FIG. 15 is a structural schematic diagram of a communication apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0105] FIG. 16 is a structural schematic diagram of another communication apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0106] The embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0107] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems. For example, the global system for mobile communications, the long term evolution (LTE) system, the universal mobile telecommunications system, the 4th generation (4G) mobile communication technology system, the 5th generation (5G) mobile communication technology system, and as the communication technology continues to develop, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to subsequent evolved communication systems, such as the 6th generation (6G) mobile communication technology system, the 7th generation (7G) mobile communication technology system, and the like. The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to deterministic scenarios of subsequent evolved communication systems, for example, can also be applied to 6G deterministic scenarios.

[0108] Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a 5G system architecture. The 5G system architecture shown in FIG. 1 includes a terminal device, an access network, a core network (CN), and a data network (DN). Among them, the access network is used to implement the functions related to wireless access, and the access network can be a (radio) access network ((R)AN). The core network is used to manage the terminal device and provide network elements for communication with the DN, and the core network includes one or more of the following logical network elements: a user plane function (UPF) network element, an access and mobility management function (AMF) network element, a session management function (SMF) network element, a policy control function (PCF) network element, an application function (AF) network element, a network slice selection function (NSSF) network element, an authentication server function (AUSF) network element, a unified data management (UDM) network element, a network slice admission control function (NSACF) network element, a network slice-specific authentication and authorization function (NSSAAF) network element, and the like.

[0109] In FIG. 1, the (R)AN communicates with the UPF network element through the N3 interface. Different UPF network elements communicate through the N9 interface. The UPF network element communicates with the DN through the N6 interface. The AMF network element communicates with the terminal device through the N1 interface. The AMF network element communicates with the (R)AN through the N2 interface. Different AMF network elements communicate through the N14 interface. The AMF network element communicates with the SMF network element through the N11 interface. The AMF network element communicates with the PCF network element through the N15 interface. The AMF network element communicates with the NSSF network element through the N22 interface. The AMF network element communicates with the AUSF network element through the N12 interface. The AMF network element communicates with the NSSAAF network element through the N58 interface. The AMF network element communicates with the UDM network element through the N8 interface. The AMF network element communicates with the NSACF network element through the N80 interface. The SMF network element communicates with the UPF network element through the N4 interface. The SMF network element communicates with the PCF network element through the N7 interface. The SMF network element communicates with the UDM network element through the N10 interface. The SMF network element communicates with the NSACF network element through the N81 interface. The PCF network element communicates with the AF network element through the N5 interface. The UDM network element communicates with the AUSF network element through the N13 interface. The UDM network element communicates with the NSSAAF network element through the N59 interface.

[0110] In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device can also be referred to as a user equipment (UE), a terminal, an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a subscriber station, a mobile station, a mobile, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a user agent, or a user device, which can be applied to 4G, 5G, and even 6G systems. The terminal device in the embodiments of the present application can be a network terminal device, and can also be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver function, a head mounted display (HMD), a virtual reality (VR) terminal device (such as VR glasses), an augmented reality (AR) terminal device (such as AR glasses), a mixed reality (MR) terminal device, an Internet of Things terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a processing device connected to a wireless modem, a haptic terminal device, a vehicle-mounted terminal device, a wireless terminal in self driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical treatment, a wireless terminal in a smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in a smart city, a wireless terminal in a smart home, a road side unit (RSU) of the foregoing wireless terminal types, a wearable terminal device, and the like.

[0111] The access network device in the (R)AN can be used to provide wireless access for the terminal device, including but not limited to: a base station (BS), a radio network controller (RNC), a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a home network device (for example, a home evolved Node B, or a home Node B, HNB), a baseband unit (BBU), a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, a transmission and reception point (TRP; or, a transmission point, TP), a wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point (AP) (i.e., a WiFi AP), a BS of world interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) (i.e., a WiMAX BS). Among them, the base station is a device deployed in a wireless access network that can provide wireless communication functions, which can also be referred to as a base station device, for example, an evolved Node B (eNB or e-NodeB) in an LTE system, a Node B (Node B), a base station (gNodeB or gNB) in a 5G system, a base station in a 6G system, etc. The base station can contain a BBU and a remote radio unit (RRU). The BBU and the RRU can be placed in different places, for example: RRU pull, placed in a high traffic area, BBU placed in a central machine room. The BBU and the RRU can also be placed in the same machine room. The BBU and the RRU can also be different components under one rack. The base station can be in the following forms: a macro base station, a micro base station (also known as a small station), a pico base station, a relay station, an access point, a balloon station, etc.

[0112] Optionally, in some deployments of the access network device, the access network device can include a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU), etc. As part of the protocol layers of the access network device are placed in the CU for centralized control, and the remaining part or all of the protocol layers are distributed in the DU and controlled by the CU. In some other deployments of the access network device, the CU can also be divided into a CU-control plane (CP) and a CU-user plane (UP), etc. In some other deployments of the access network device, the network device can also be an open radio access network (ORAN / O-RAN) architecture. When the access network device is an ORAN architecture, the access network device can be a functional entity or a module in the ORAN, etc. For example, the access network device can be a combination of one or more of the CU, the DU, or the RU. In the ORAN system, the CU can also be referred to as an open (O)-CU, the DU can also be referred to as an O-DU, the CU-CP can also be referred to as an O-CU-CP, the CU-UP can also be referred to as an O-CU-UP, etc. The deployment modes of the access network device listed herein are only examples, and as the standard technology evolves, there can be other deployment forms of the access network device, which are not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

[0113] The AMF network element is mainly responsible for mobility management in the mobile network, for example, including user location update, user registration network, user handover, etc.

[0114] The SMF network element is mainly responsible for session management in the mobile network, such as session establishment, modification, and release. The specific functions of the SMF network element include, for example, allocating IP addresses for users, selecting UPFs providing message forwarding functions, etc.

[0115] The PCF network element is responsible for providing policies to the AMF network element and the SMF network element, such as slice selection policies and quality of service (QoS) policies.

[0116] The UDM network element is used to store user data, such as subscription information and authentication / authorization information.

[0117] The UDR network element is used to provide storage capabilities for subscription data, policy data, and capability exposure related data.

[0118] The AF network element is responsible for providing services to the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) network, such as influencing service routing and interacting with the PCF network element for policy control.

[0119] The UPF network element is mainly responsible for processing user messages, such as forwarding, charging, and the like.

[0120] The DN refers to an operator network providing data transmission services for users, such as an IP multi-media service (IMS), the Internet, and the like. A terminal device accesses the DN by establishing a session between the terminal device, the RAN, the UPF, and the DN, which can be a protocol data unit session (PDU session).

[0121] It can be understood that the embodiments of the present application take the 5G mobile communication technology system as an example for illustration. When the scheme of the embodiments of the present application is applied to a 6G mobile communication technology system or other communication systems, the corresponding network element name, network element deployment mode, and interface can change, and the present application does not limit this.

[0122] The related concepts involved in the embodiments of the present application are described below.

[0123] 1. Deterministic Internet Protocol

[0124] The deterministic Internet Protocol is a deterministic networking (DetNet) technology architecture, which introduces a periodic scheduling mechanism for forwarding on the data plane, and proposes an efficient path planning and resource allocation algorithm on the control plane, striving to realize a large-scale scalable end-to-end deterministic low-latency network system.

[0125] Exemplarily, in combination with FIG. 2, the deterministic network includes an ingress edge node, an intermediate node, and an egress edge node. The ingress edge node can be an ingress provider edge (PE) node (the PE node can also be referred to as a service provider edge device). The intermediate node can be a provider (P) node (the P node can also be referred to as a service provider device). The egress edge node can be an egress PE node. In addition, the edge node mentioned in the embodiments of the present application can also be referred to as a deterministic Internet interconnection protocol edge node. The deterministic Internet interconnection protocol adopts edge shaping, cycle mapping, segment routing over Internet Protocol Version 6 (SRv6) explicit path planning. The edge shaping is mainly to perform shaping processing on the message by the ingress edge node, so as to shape the message with irregular arrival time into different T cycles divided by time. The cycle mapping is mainly responsible for the delay control of hop-by-hop forwarding of the message on the intermediate node or the egress edge node. As shown in FIG. 2, the message is shaped into T0 cycle and T1 cycle at the ingress PE node, the P1 node sends the message in T2 cycle and T3 cycle, the P2 node sends the message in T5 cycle and T0 cycle, and the egress PE node sends the message in T1 cycle and T2 cycle. In addition, the nodes in the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol can not need accurate time synchronization between nodes, and a certain clock offset is allowed between nodes. For example, in FIG. 2, there is an offset between the time cycle of the egress PE node and the time cycles of the ingress PE node, the P1 node, and the P2 node. The SRv6 explicit path planning is mainly responsible for forwarding path planning control and hop-by-hop forwarding resource reservation.

[0126] The deterministic Internet interconnection protocol has the following characteristics:

[0127] (1) The data packet is not allowed to be sent (or received) at will, and a specific sending (or receiving) time cycle is allocated for each data packet, so as to avoid burst, control the internal queuing delay of the node, and eliminate the long tail effect.

[0128] (2) The periodic shaping and scheduling mechanism is adopted, so as to form the isolation between cycles and avoid micro-burst and hop-by-hop accumulation.

[0129] (3) The upper bound of the end-to-end delay of the system is determined, and the upper limit of the jitter is determined.

[0130] Specifically, the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol has the following main functions:

[0131] (1) Perform admission control in control plane: the control plane of ingress edge node can record the resource reservation state of each flow, and the ingress edge node can determine whether the deterministic flow is allowed to enter the network for deterministic forwarding through the resource reservation result. The resource reservation state of data flow can be dynamically refreshed to realize resource reservation renewal.

[0132] (2) Perform path planning and resource reservation in control plane: deterministic path planning for data flow transmission can be realized, and distributed routing algorithm or centralized path calculation can be used to plan the transmission path for data flow and support necessary deterministic resource reservation along the way in advance.

[0133] (3) Perform path binding in data plane: the resource reservation of deterministic internetworking protocol transmission is reflected on the nodes of data forwarding path, and the subsequent data packet transmission needs to bind the path; the path binding technology can be coupled with label carrying technology.

[0134] (4) Perform deterministic periodic forwarding in data plane: the ingress edge node embeds the time period number into the packet according to the time when the data packet is sent. The intermediate node performs deterministic periodic forwarding according to the period mapping after receiving the packet, so that the data packet carries the local time period number when it is sent, until the data packet is delivered to the egress edge node.

[0135] In addition, the specific implementation mechanisms of deterministic internetworking protocol include tagged cyclic queuing and forwarding (TCQF), cycle specified queuing and forwarding (CSQF) and the like.

[0136] Among them, TCQF supports more than 2 cycles, and the cycle number is indicated by an existing or new data packet header field called tag to replace the cycle mapping in the cyclic queuing and forwarding (CQF) in the time sensitive networking (TSN) purely based on the synchronization receiving clock (the cycle mapping is calculated by the controller plane, considering the link, node internal forwarding delay and cycle clock offset). The TCQF option helps the receiving port to identify the time cycle of the data packet sent from the upstream router, which can be used to determine the output port cycle buffer for queuing the packet. The target advantages of TCQF include low end-to-end jitter, easy high-speed hardware implementation, optional ability to support a large number of flows in a large network by applying TCQF to DetNet aggregation instead of each DetNet flow (DiffServ-style aggregation), and support for wide-area DetNet networks with arbitrary link delays and delay variations, low-precision clock synchronization.

[0137] CSQF improves CQF by explicitly specifying the sending cycle of each node on the path, which can achieve end-to-end bounded delay. Among them, CSQF can use segment routing (SR) segment identifier (SID) (i.e. SR SID) to specify the sending cycle of each node on the path. SR is a source routing technology that does not maintain per-flow state at intermediate and egress nodes, and SR-based CSQF supports flow aggregation, which is beneficial for expansion to macro networks. CSQF defines a new field called Cycle Segment to identify the cycle period. Cycle Segment can identify the interface / link and the cycle of the interface / link, and if you want to specify which interface and cycle the packet should be transmitted to, you only need to attach a cycle segment to the packet. By attaching a cycle segment list to a packet, not only can the explicit routing of the packet be realized, but also the sending cycle of each node along the path can be specified without the need for per-flow state at intermediate and egress nodes.

[0138] 2. Deterministic Internet Protocol instance

[0139] A deterministic internet protocol instance is configured by a deterministic internet protocol control plane or network management, which can be a deterministic internet protocol subnetwork. The deterministic internet protocol control plane or network management can assign a corresponding identifier to the deterministic internet protocol instance to distinguish different deterministic internet protocol instances. The identifier assigned by the deterministic internet protocol control plane or network management to the deterministic internet protocol instance can also be referred to as a deterministic internet protocol instance identifier (e.g., DIP Instance ID). The deterministic internet protocol control plane can be, for example, a deterministic network controller or a deterministic internet protocol edge node.

[0140] Each deterministic internet protocol instance has corresponding deterministic internet protocol configurations such as deterministic internet protocol transmission paths, periodic forwarding, edge shaping, etc. Deterministic internet protocol instance information includes various configuration information corresponding to the deterministic internet protocol instance, such as deterministic internet protocol instance identity information, deterministic internet protocol transmission path information, deterministic internet protocol forwarding configuration, QoS information of the deterministic internet protocol instance, remaining resources currently available to the deterministic internet protocol instance, flow identification information, etc., as shown in Table 1.

[0141] Table 1

[0142] NOTE 1: Deterministic internet protocol can implement explicit routing through SRv6, and the SID can be used to identify the node-level planned deterministic internet protocol transmission path. Specifically, a SID is used to indicate in which cycle and to which output interface that a packet is specified to transmit, and an SR SID list is used to carry the specified cycles along a path.

[0143] NOTE 2: Cycle time refers to the time length of a deterministic internet protocol forwarding cycle. Cycle number refers to the maximum number of cycle periods supported by the deterministic internet protocol instance, such as 3 or more cycle period alternations supported by TCQF.

[0144] NOTE3: The ingress edge node of the deterministic Internet Protocol can perform edge shaping on the traffic flow, and assign the data packets to be sent in different deterministic Internet Protocol cycles. Taking TCQD as an example, the ingress edge node needs to perform per-DetNet-flow per-packet "shaping" or "regulating" of each data packet to assign each packet of a flow to a particular TCQF cycle.

[0145] NOTE4: The deterministic Internet Protocol instance can provide deterministic QoS guarantees such as latency, jitter for the traffic flow. The maximum end-to-end delay in QoS, Link Delay, and Max-P-Delay satisfy: maximum end-to-end delay = Link Delay + N x (Max-P-Delay + 2T). The maximum end-to-end jitter is equal to 2T. Where N is the number of hops, and T is the duration of a cycle.

[0146] NOTE5: The link speed is the link speed that the deterministic Internet Protocol instance can provide for the transmission of traffic flow data packets, which generally corresponds to the interface speed of the interface of the deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

[0147] In addition, the deterministic Internet Protocol instance also has a deterministic Internet Protocol static feature. The deterministic Internet Protocol static feature is static feature information that does not need to be frequently updated by the deterministic Internet Protocol instance. The deterministic Internet Protocol static feature includes, for example, the identifier of the deterministic Internet Protocol instance, and the corresponding or connection relationship of the deterministic Internet Protocol instance with the RAN and the UPF (optional). For example, the gNB ID can be used to indicate the RAN corresponding to or connected to the deterministic Internet Protocol instance, and the UPF ID can be used to indicate the UPF corresponding to or connected to the deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

[0148] 3.5GS transport network (TN) supports deterministic Internet Protocol

[0149] The deterministic Internet Protocol can be applied in a mobile communication technology system, for example, in a 5GS. The following is described taking the 5GS as an example.

[0150] In the 5GS, a deterministic internetworking protocol transport network can be used as a transport network in the 5GS for carrying traffic flows between RAN and UPF network elements. The 5GS TN supporting deterministic internetworking protocol architecture includes a distributed architecture and a centralized architecture. Please refer to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a distributed architecture of the 5GS TN supporting deterministic internetworking protocol according to an embodiment of the present application, and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a centralized architecture of the 5GS TN supporting deterministic internetworking protocol according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0151] In combination with FIG. 3, in the distributed architecture of the 5GS TN supporting deterministic internetworking protocol, the RAN (for example, an access network device) at both ends of the 5GS TN, the UPF network element, and the corresponding edge node in the deterministic internetworking protocol are connected or co-located, and the edge node in the deterministic internetworking protocol has a controller plane function (CPF). As shown in FIG. 3, the mapping module in the RAN is connected with one or more edge nodes, and the RAN and the one or more edge nodes can be deployed separately or can also be co-located. Similarly, the mapping module in the UPF network element is connected with one or more edge nodes, and the UPF network element and the one or more edge nodes can be deployed separately or can also be co-located. In addition, the core node in FIG. 3 is the intermediate node described in the foregoing “deterministic internetworking protocol” related description. In FIG. 3, three deterministic internetworking protocol instances are taken as an example for illustration, the path corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance 1 is shown as a black thick solid line in FIG. 3, the path corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance 2 is shown as a light gray thick solid line in FIG. 3, and the path corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance 3 is shown as a dark gray thick solid line in FIG. 3. It can be seen that the deterministic internetworking protocol instance 1 and the deterministic internetworking protocol instance 2 correspond to the same UPF network element, that is, the UPF network element 1, and the deterministic internetworking protocol instance 3 corresponds to another UPF network element different from the UPF network element 1, that is, the UPF network element 2.

[0152] In combination with FIG. 4, the difference between the centralized architecture and the distributed architecture of the 5GS TN supporting deterministic internetworking protocol is that, in the centralized architecture of the 5GS TN supporting deterministic internetworking protocol, the CPF is placed in the deterministic network controller (DetNet Controller) of the centralized control plane, the deterministic network controller is connected with the mapping module in the SMF network element, and the deterministic network controller can be deployed separately from the SMF network element or can also be co-located with the SMF network element. The deterministic network controller is also connected with each edge node. In the embodiments of the present application, the deterministic network controller can include or be replaced by a network management entity (NME).

[0153] The mapping module in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 can be used to implement parameter mapping, for example, parameter mapping of the requirement information of the service flow. The requirement information of the service flow and the parameter mapping can be referred to the description in the related concept below.

[0154] In addition, in the architecture of the 5GS supporting deterministic internetworking protocol (including distributed architecture and centralized architecture), node-level planning and flow-level admission are also performed. The node-level planning is that the deterministic internetworking protocol transport network is pre-configured with deterministic internetworking protocol instances on the transport network nodes by the control plane (CPF) or network management before the arrival of the 5GS service flow, and the deterministic internetworking protocol instance information is stored in the storage network element. The flow-level admission is that the related network element performing the admission control function decides whether the deterministic internetworking protocol transport network admits the 5GS service flow and the admitted deterministic internetworking protocol instance according to the service flow requirement and the deterministic internetworking protocol instance information stored in the storage network element.

[0155] 4. Requirement information of the service flow and parameter mapping

[0156] The requirement information of the service flow is used to represent the requirement of the service flow. Optionally, the requirement information of the service flow needs to be parameter mapped before being used by the systems or devices under two protocols that are not originally interconnected. For example, when the deterministic internetworking protocol is applied to the 5GS, the deterministic internetworking protocol transport network uses the IETF protocol, and the 5GS uses the 3GPP protocol. In order to realize the interconnection of the deterministic internetworking protocol and the 5GS, the parameters in the 5GS need to be mapped to the corresponding parameters in the deterministic internetworking protocol so as to be understood and used by the deterministic internetworking protocol. Therefore, the requirement information of the service flow exchanged between the 5GS and the deterministic internetworking protocol transport network needs to be parameter mapped. Table 2 shows the parameters included in the requirement information of the service flow in the deterministic internetworking protocol and the meanings of the parameters. Table 3 shows the mapping relationship of each parameter included in the requirement information of the service flow in the deterministic internetworking protocol in the 5GS.

[0157] Table 2

[0158] Table 3

[0159] As shown in Table 3, Interval in Deterministic Internet Protocol is mapped to Interval (from Periodicity) in 5GS. MaxPacketsPerInterval in Deterministic Internet Protocol is mapped to MaxFramesPerinterval in 5GS. MaxPayloadSize in Deterministic Internet Protocol is mapped to MaxFrameSize (from MDBV) in 5GS. MinBandwidth in Deterministic Internet Protocol is mapped to GFBR in 5GS. MaxLoss in Deterministic Internet Protocol is mapped to PER in 5GS. MaxLatency in Deterministic Internet Protocol is mapped to CN PDB in 5GS. MaxConsecutiveLossTolerance in Deterministic Internet Protocol is mapped to Survival time in 5GS. Information related to traffic flow identification or characteristics is FlowIdentification (and Specification) Information in both Deterministic Internet Protocol and 5GS.

[0160] In addition, the parameter mapping manner depends on the specific implementation: some parameters can be equal in value, for example, Interval = Interval (from Periodicity), MaxPacketsPerInterval = MaxFramesPerinterval, etc. Some parameters, although representing the same requirement in nature, need to be converted or calculated in value, for example, MaxLatency = CN PDB - UPF Residence Time, while similar conversion in unit is needed between GFBR and MinBandwidth.

[0161] 5. Storage network element

[0162] Deterministic Internet Protocol instance information can be stored in a storage network element, and the storage network element storing the Deterministic Internet Protocol instance information can have the following feasible manners:

[0163] (1) The storage network element is a Deterministic Internet Protocol edge node, that is, the Deterministic Internet Protocol edge node stores the Deterministic Internet Protocol instance information. This manner is suitable for the distributed architecture shown in FIG. 3, for example.

[0164] (2) The storage network element is a DetNet Controller, that is, the DetNet Controller stores the DetNet instance information. This mode is suitable for the centralized architecture as shown in FIG. 4.

[0165] As can be seen, in (1) and (2), the DetNet instance information is stored in the DetNet transport network side, and this mode has the following advantages: the storage resources of the network elements in the 5GS are saved; subsequent changes in the DetNet transport network mechanism, perfection or modification of the DetNet instance information will not have a great impact on the 5GS; and the update process of the DetNet instance information depends on the internal implementation of the DetNet, and there is no need for frequent interaction between the DetNet transport network and the 5GS.

[0166] (3) The storage network element is the RAN (such as an access network device) and the UPF network element. The RAN and the UPF network element store the DetNet instance information accessed by themselves. This mode is suitable for the distributed architecture as shown in FIG. 3.

[0167] (4) The storage network element is the UDR network element, that is, the UDR network element stores the DetNet instance information. This mode is suitable for the distributed architecture as shown in FIG. 3, and also suitable for the centralized architecture as shown in FIG. 4.

[0168] As can be seen, in (3) and (4), the DetNet instance information is stored in the 5GS side, which is convenient for performing functions such as access of service flows and generation of flow identification information in the 5GS side, without frequent interaction between the 5GS and the DetNet transport network. In addition, the DetNet instance information stored in the RAN and the UPF network element needs to consider the synchronization of the DetNet instance information. For example, in the scenario where multiple RANs share the same DetNet instance, when the DetNet instance information needs to be updated, multiple RANs connected to the DetNet instance need to update the DetNet instance information synchronously. Similarly, in the scenario where multiple UPF network elements share the same DetNet instance, when the DetNet instance information needs to be updated, multiple UPF network elements connected to the DetNet instance need to update the DetNet instance information synchronously. The DetNet instance information stored in the UDR network element does not need to consider the synchronization of the DetNet instance information.

[0169] 6.5GS TN supports TSN

[0170] Referring to FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a 5GS TN supporting TSN provided by an embodiment of the present application. In FIG. 5, the RAN supports access network-talker&listener (AN-TL) functions, and the UPF network element supports core network-talker&listener (CN-TL) functions. In combination with FIG. 5, in order to support the determinism of the 5GS transport network, the RAN (for example, an access network device) and the UPF network element can be respectively regarded as end users in the deterministic protocol, that is, the talker and the listener defined by the institute of electrical and electronics engineers (IEEE) 802.1Q TSN. For example, the RAN is the talker and the UPF network element is the listener, or the UPF network element is the talker and the RAN is the listener. The SMF network element acts as a centralized user controller (CUC) (or the CUC function is collocated with the SMF), and the SMF network element provides user configuration information or network configuration information (that is, Talker Group&Listener Group, which is also referred to as a merged flow requirement) to a central network controller (CNC) in the TN, and the CNC provides the SMF network element with state group information containing end station communication configurations.

[0171] Two parameters are defined in 3GPP TS 23.501 to help the TSN-enabled 5GS TN to identify streams, which are DataFrameSpecification and Mask-and-match stream identification parameters. The SMF network element can send any of the two parameters to the RAN and the UPF network element to assist the TSN-enabled 5GS TN to identify streams. Among them, the DataFrameSpecification or the Mask-and-match stream identification parameters sent by the SMF network element to the UPF network element can be carried in an N4 Session Modification message, and the DataFrameSpecification or the Mask-and-match stream identification parameters sent by the SMF network element to the RAN can be carried in an N2 session management (SM) message. The two parameters are described below respectively.

[0172] (1) Data Frame Specification: It is used to specify how the TN uses the Ethernet, IP and transport protocol header fields to identify the data packets of a TN flow in order to apply the required TSN configuration. The SMF / CUC can derive the Data Frame Specification from the N3 tunnel endpoint addresses, specifically: The SMF / CUC can instruct the UPF network element and the NG-RAN to allocate a separate N3 tunnel endpoint address for each QoS Flow of a possible time sensitive communication (TSC) flow in order for the TN to distinguish the QoS Flow based on the N3 tunnel destination IP address. In this way, it is possible to use IPv6 to guarantee that the address space is sufficient.

[0173] (2) Mask-and-match stream identification parameters: The SMF / CUC can indicate to the TN CNC the configuration of mask-and-match based on the tunnel endpoint identifier (TEID) of the QoS Flow, the QoS flow ID (QFI) and the destination IP address. In the transport network, the mask-match stream identification function is configured so that the QoS Flow can be identified by reading the Mask-and-match stream identification parameters information.

[0174] It can be seen that the SMF / CUC can provide the Data Frame Specification or the Mask-and-match stream identification parameters to the AN-TL and the CN-TL to configure the stream identification. When the RAN does not support the AN-TL and the UPF network element does not support the CN-TL, the TN CNC will configure the edge bridge to perform the stream conversion according to the provided Data Frame Specification or Mask-and-match stream identification parameters (if applicable).

[0175] The above manner of using the data frame specification, the mask, and the matching flow identification parameter to assist the 5GS TN in flow identification is applicable to a scenario in which the 5GS TN enables TSN, which is a Layer 2 technology. However, the deterministic internetworking protocol is a new Layer 3 DetNet technology, and the manner of using the data frame specification, the mask, and the matching flow identification parameter is not applicable to a scenario in which the 5GS TN enables the deterministic internetworking protocol. The communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application can enable flow identification of the deterministic internetworking protocol transport network in a scenario in which the 5GS TN supports the deterministic internetworking protocol, and place a service flow that needs to perform deterministic internetworking protocol transmission in a service flow bound deterministic internetworking protocol instance for transmission.

[0176] The embodiments of the present application are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments of the present application take a session management function network element, an access network device, and a user plane function network element as an example to illustrate the corresponding method, wherein the session management function network element may, for example, be an SMF network element, the access network device may, for example, be a device in a (R)AN, and the user plane function network element may, for example, be a UPF network element. However, the present application does not limit the execution subject of the method. For example, the device in the method may also be a chip, a chip system, or a processor supporting device implementation of the corresponding method, and may also be a logical module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the device.

[0177] Please refer to FIG. 6, which is a flowchart of a communication method 100 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The communication method 100 may be applicable to a scenario in which an access network device and a deterministic internetworking protocol edge node are collocated or separated, and a user plane function network element and a deterministic internetworking protocol edge node are collocated or separated. The communication method 100 includes the following steps.

[0178] S101, a session management function network element determines a first deterministic internetworking protocol instance bound by a service flow and an address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance.

[0179] Optionally, the address interval is an IP address interval. Alternatively, the address interval includes an IP address interval and a port interval. In the embodiments of the present application, the IP address may, for example, be an IP address in the internet protocol version 4 (IPv4), or may also be an IP address in IPv6, which will not be described hereafter. In addition, in the communication method 100, the “address interval” may also be replaced by the expression “address segment”. For the sake of description, the “address interval” will be taken as an example for description hereafter.

[0180] The specific implementation mode of step S101 is exemplarily described as follows according to the following optional implementation mode 1.1 to implementation mode 1.3.

[0181] Embodiment 1.1, the session management function network element acquires one or more address intervals corresponding to the one or more deterministic internet protocol instances, the address intervals corresponding to different deterministic internet protocol instances are different. The session management function network element determines a first deterministic internet protocol instance for service flow binding from the one or more deterministic internet protocol instances, and determines an address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance from the address intervals corresponding to the one or more deterministic internet protocol instances.

[0182] For example, the session management function network element acquires address intervals corresponding to deterministic internet protocol instance 1 to deterministic internet protocol instance 3 respectively, the address interval corresponding to deterministic internet protocol instance 1 is address interval 1, the address interval corresponding to deterministic internet protocol instance 2 is address interval 2, and the address interval corresponding to deterministic internet protocol instance 3 is address interval 3. The session management function network element determines that the first deterministic internet protocol instance for service flow binding is deterministic internet protocol instance 2, and then the session management function network element can determine that the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance is address interval 2.

[0183] In the embodiments of the present application, different deterministic internet protocol instances have different identity information, and the configuration information corresponding to different deterministic internet protocol instances is partially different or completely different. The configuration information corresponding to the deterministic internet protocol instance can be referred to the description in the foregoing related concept, and will not be described again. In addition, the "different address intervals" can be understood as address intervals that do not overlap with each other, or can be understood as the intersection of different address intervals being empty.

[0184] The specific implementation modes of "the session management function network element acquires one or more address intervals corresponding to the one or more deterministic internet protocol instances" in embodiment 1.1 will be exemplarily described as follows, which can be described as the following optional mode A to mode E.

[0185] Mode A: The session management function network element allocates address intervals for one or more deterministic internet protocol instances, and different deterministic internet protocol instances are allocated different address intervals. It can be seen that the session management function network element can allocate address intervals for the deterministic internet protocol instances, so that each deterministic internet protocol instance is bound to a certain address interval, and different deterministic internet protocol instances are bound to different address intervals.

[0186] In a manner B, the operation, administration and maintenance network element allocates address intervals for one or more deterministic internetworking protocol instances, different deterministic internetworking protocol instances are allocated different address intervals. The operation, administration and maintenance network element sends the address intervals allocated for the one or more deterministic internetworking protocol instances to the session management function network element; correspondingly, the session management function network element receives the address intervals allocated for the one or more deterministic internetworking protocol instances from the operation, administration and maintenance network element. The operation, administration and maintenance network element can be an OAM network element, or can also be a network management in a mobile communication system (for example, a 5G network management), or can also be a control plane device in the deterministic internetworking protocol (for example, a deterministic network controller or a network management in the deterministic internetworking protocol). It can be seen that the operation, administration and maintenance network element allocates address intervals for the deterministic internetworking protocol instances, so that each deterministic internetworking protocol instance is bound to a certain address interval, and different deterministic internetworking protocol instances are bound to different address intervals. In this manner, the address intervals allocated by the operation, administration and maintenance network element for the one or more deterministic internetworking protocol instances can be used as the address intervals corresponding to the one or more deterministic internetworking protocol instances.

[0187] In a manner C, the access network device allocates address intervals for one or more deterministic internetworking protocol instances, different deterministic internetworking protocol instances are allocated different address intervals. The access network device sends the address intervals allocated for the one or more deterministic internetworking protocol instances to the session management function network element; correspondingly, the session management function network element receives the address intervals allocated for the one or more deterministic internetworking protocol instances from the access network device. It can be seen that the access network device allocates address intervals for the deterministic internetworking protocol instances, so that each deterministic internetworking protocol instance is bound to a certain address interval, and different deterministic internetworking protocol instances are bound to different address intervals. In this manner, the address intervals allocated by the access network device for the one or more deterministic internetworking protocol instances can be used as the address intervals corresponding to the one or more deterministic internetworking protocol instances.

[0188] For example, the manner C can be applied to a scenario where the access network device and the deterministic internetworking protocol edge node are combined in a distributed architecture (for example, as shown in FIG. 3). The access network device can report one or more deterministic internetworking protocol instances and the address intervals allocated for the one or more deterministic internetworking protocol instances to the session management function network element in the process of session establishment.

[0189] In an example, the user plane function network element allocates the address interval for the one or more deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instances, and different deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instances are allocated with different address intervals. The user plane function network element sends the address interval allocated for the one or more deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instances to the session management function network element; correspondingly, the session management function network element receives the address interval allocated for the one or more deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instances from the user plane function network element. It can be seen that the user plane function network element allocates the address interval for the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance, so that each deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance is bound to a certain address interval, and different deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instances are bound to different address intervals. In this way, the address interval allocated by the user plane function network element for the one or more deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instances can be used as the address interval corresponding to the one or more deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instances.

[0190] In an example, the mode D can be applied to a scenario where the user plane function network element and the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol edge node are collocated in a distributed architecture (for example, as shown in FIG. 3). The user plane function network element can report the one or more deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instances and the address interval allocated for the one or more deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instances to the session management function network element in the process of session establishment.

[0191] In an example, the access network device allocates the address interval for the one or more deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instances, and different deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instances are allocated with different address intervals. The access network device sends the address interval allocated for the one or more deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instances to the session management function network element; correspondingly, the session management function network element receives the address interval allocated for the one or more deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instances from the access network device. The user plane function network element allocates the address interval for the one or more deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instances, and different deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instances are allocated with different address intervals. The user plane function network element sends the address interval allocated for the one or more deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instances to the session management function network element; correspondingly, the session management function network element receives the address interval allocated for the one or more deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instances from the user plane function network element. The session management function network element determines the address interval corresponding to the one or more deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instances based on the address interval allocated for the one or more deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instances by the access network device and the address interval allocated for the one or more deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instances by the user plane function network element.

[0192] Optionally, the session management function network element can aggregate the address range allocated by the access network device for the one or more deterministic internet protocol instances and the address range allocated by the user plane function network element for the one or more deterministic internet protocol instances to determine the address range corresponding to the one or more deterministic internet protocol instances. For example, for the same deterministic internet protocol instance, the session management function network element can determine the intersection of the address range allocated by the access network device for the deterministic internet protocol instance and the address range allocated by the user plane function network element for the deterministic internet protocol instance as the address range corresponding to the deterministic internet protocol instance.

[0193] In addition, for example, the mode E can be applied to the scenario where the access network device and the deterministic internet protocol edge node are co-located, and the user plane function network element and the deterministic internet protocol edge node are co-located in a distributed architecture (for example, as shown in FIG. 3). In this scenario, the access network device and the user plane function network element can report one or more deterministic internet protocol instances and the address range allocated by themselves for the one or more deterministic internet protocol instances to the session management function network element during session establishment.

[0194] As can be seen, in the embodiment 1.1, different deterministic internet protocol instances correspond to different address ranges. In this way, the user plane can identify different deterministic internet protocol instances according to different address ranges. Moreover, the tunnel endpoint address information of the service flow located in different address ranges can be forwarded to different deterministic internet protocol instances for transmission, and the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for different service flows in the same range can be used to place different service flows in the same deterministic internet protocol instance for transmission.

[0195] In an optional embodiment, for the mode described in the embodiment 1.1, the method further includes: the session management function network element sending the address range corresponding to the one or more deterministic internet protocol instances to the storage network element; and correspondingly, the storage network element receiving the address range corresponding to the one or more deterministic internet protocol instances from the session management function network element. The storage network element stores the address range corresponding to the one or more deterministic internet protocol instances. Optionally, the storage network element is configured to store the deterministic internet protocol instance information, and the address range corresponding to the deterministic internet protocol instance can be stored in the storage network element as part of the deterministic internet protocol instance information corresponding to the deterministic internet protocol instance. For the deterministic internet protocol instance information, please refer to the description in the foregoing related concepts, which will not be repeated here.

[0196] It can be understood that the embodiment can facilitate the session management function network element to obtain the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance of the service flow binding from the storage network element after determining the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance of the service flow binding. For example, after the session management function network element determines the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance of the service flow binding, the session management function network element can send a query request to the storage network element to query the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, and the storage network element provides the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance to the session management function network element after receiving the query request.

[0197] Embodiment 1.2, the session management function network element determines the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance of the service flow binding, and allocates an address interval for the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance. It can be understood that the session management function network element can temporarily allocate an address interval for the deterministic Internet Protocol instance of the service flow binding after determining the deterministic Internet Protocol instance of the service flow binding.

[0198] Embodiment 1.3, the session management function network element determines the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance of the service flow binding, and sends second information to the operation maintenance management network element, the second information is used to request to allocate an address interval for the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance. Correspondingly, the operation maintenance management network element receives the second information from the session management function network element, the operation maintenance management network element allocates an address interval for the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, and sends the address interval allocated for the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance to the session management function network element. Correspondingly, the session management function network element receives the address interval allocated for the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance from the operation maintenance management network element. It can be understood that the session management function network element can request the operation maintenance management network element to allocate an address interval for the deterministic Internet Protocol instance of the service flow binding after determining the deterministic Internet Protocol instance of the service flow binding, and the operation maintenance management network element temporarily allocates an address interval for the deterministic Internet Protocol instance of the service flow binding.

[0199] In an optional implementation, for the manner described in Embodiment 1.2 or Embodiment 1.3, the method further comprises: the session management function network element sending, to the storage network element, an address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance; correspondingly, the storage network element receiving the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance from the session management function network element. The storage network element stores the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance. Optionally, the storage network element is configured to store deterministic Internet protocol instance information, and the address interval corresponding to the deterministic Internet protocol instance can be stored in the storage network element as part of the deterministic Internet protocol instance information corresponding to the deterministic Internet protocol instance. Therefore, the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance can be stored in the storage network element as part of the deterministic Internet protocol instance information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance.

[0200] In addition, in addition to the address interval allocated to the deterministic Internet protocol instance temporarily bound to the service flow by the session management function network element described in Embodiment 1.2, and the address interval allocated to the deterministic Internet protocol instance temporarily bound to the service flow by the operation and maintenance management network element described in Embodiment 1.3, the address interval allocated to the deterministic Internet protocol instance temporarily bound to the service flow by other suitable devices or network elements can also be used, without limitation.

[0201] In an optional implementation, the address interval corresponding to the deterministic Internet protocol instance includes a first address interval and a second address interval. The first address interval can be understood as a user plane function network element side address interval, and the first address interval can be used to allocate user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information to the service flow in the first address interval. The second address interval can be understood as an access network device side address interval, and the second address interval can be used to allocate access network device side tunnel endpoint address information to the service flow in the second address interval.

[0202] Alternatively, the address interval corresponding to the deterministic Internet protocol instance serves as both the first address interval corresponding to the deterministic Internet protocol instance and the second address interval corresponding to the deterministic Internet protocol instance. That is, the first address interval corresponding to the deterministic Internet protocol instance is the same as the second address interval corresponding to the deterministic Internet protocol instance, that is, the user plane function network element side address interval corresponding to the deterministic Internet protocol instance is the same as the access network device side address interval.

[0203] S102a, the session management function network element sends first information to the user plane function network element; correspondingly, the user plane function network element receives the first information from the session management function network element.

[0204] S102b, the session management function network element sends the first information to the access network device; correspondingly, the access network device receives the first information from the session management function network element.

[0205] The first information includes tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, and the tunnel endpoint address information belongs to an address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance; or the first information includes an address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

[0206] Specifically, in step S102a, the first information sent by the session management function network element to the user plane function network element is denoted as first information #1. The first information #1 includes first tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, and the first tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow belongs to a first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance. Or, the first information #1 includes a first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance. The first tunnel endpoint address information can be understood as user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information. The first address interval can be understood as user plane function network element side address interval. For specific description, reference can be made to the foregoing description, and details are not described herein.

[0207] In step S102b, the first information sent by the session management function network element to the access network device is denoted as first information #2. The first information #2 includes second tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, and the second tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow belongs to a second address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance. Or, the first information #2 includes a second address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance. The second tunnel endpoint address information can be understood as access network device side tunnel endpoint address information. The second address interval can be understood as access network device side address interval. For specific description, reference can be made to the foregoing description, and details are not described herein.

[0208] In addition, the first tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow is different from the second tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow. The second address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance can be the same as or different from the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

[0209] Optionally, in the case where the first information #1 includes the first tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, the first information #1 can also include the second tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, so that the user plane function network element can perform routing based on the second tunnel endpoint address information.

[0210] Optionally, in the case that the first information #2 comprises the second tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the traffic flow, the first information #2 can further comprise the first tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the traffic flow, so that the access network device can route based on the first tunnel endpoint address information.

[0211] In addition, the first information #1 sent by the session management function network element to the user plane function network element can be carried in, for example, an N4 Session Modification message. The first information #2 sent by the session management function network element to the access network device can be carried in, for example, an N2 SM information.

[0212] In addition, at least one of the step S102a and the step S102b is performed. That is, the session management function network element sends the first information to the user plane function network element and / or the access network device.

[0213] S103a, the user plane function network element determines the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the traffic flow based on the first information.

[0214] S103b, the access network device determines the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the traffic flow based on the first information.

[0215] It can be understood that if the user plane function network element receives the first information #1 from the session management function network element, the user plane function network element can determine the first tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the traffic flow based on the first information #1. If the access network device receives the first information #2 from the session management function network element, the access network device can determine the second tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the traffic flow based on the first information #2. The first tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the traffic flow is different from the second tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the traffic flow.

[0216] The following exemplary descriptions are given for the two cases of “the first information #1 comprises the first tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the traffic flow, and the first information #2 comprises the second tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the traffic flow”, and “the first information #1 comprises a first address interval corresponding to a first deterministic internet protocol instance, and the first information #2 comprises a second address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance”. The following optional embodiments 2.1 and 2.2 are described.

[0217] Embodiment 2.1, for the case of “the first information #1 comprises the first tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the traffic flow, and the first information #2 comprises the second tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the traffic flow”.

[0218] The method further comprises: the session management function network element allocating tunnel endpoint address information for the service flow within the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance. Specifically, the session management function network element allocates first tunnel endpoint address information for the service flow within the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance, and allocates second tunnel endpoint address information for the service flow within the second address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance. Then, in step S102a, the first information sent by the session management function network element to the user plane function network element is denoted as first information #1, and the first information #1 includes the first tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow. In step S102b, the first information sent by the session management function network element to the access network device is denoted as first information #2, and the first information #2 includes the second tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow.

[0219] Correspondingly, after receiving the first information #1, the user plane function network element can directly determine the first tunnel endpoint address information included in the first information #1 as the first tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow. After receiving the first information #2, the access network device can directly determine the second tunnel endpoint address information included in the first information #2 as the second tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow.

[0220] Optionally, in the case described in embodiment 2.1, the first information #1 further includes the correspondence between the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance and the first deterministic internet protocol instance, and the first information #2 further includes the correspondence between the second address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance and the first deterministic internet protocol instance.

[0221] Optionally, the first information #1 further includes the correspondence between the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance and the first deterministic internet protocol instance, which can specifically be that the first information #1 further includes the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance and identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance. Similarly, the first information #2 further includes the correspondence between the second address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance and the first deterministic internet protocol instance, which can specifically be that the first information #2 further includes the second address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance and identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance.

[0222] Embodiment 2.2, for the case that the first information #1 includes the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance, and the first information #2 includes the second address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance.

[0223] In this case, in step S103a, the user plane function network element can allocate first tunnel endpoint address information for the service flow within the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance. In step S103b, the access network device can allocate second tunnel endpoint address information for the service flow within the second address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance.

[0224] Optionally, the first information #1 includes the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance, and can specifically include a correspondence between the first address interval of the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance and the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance. Optionally, the first information #1 includes the correspondence between the first address interval of the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance and the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance, and can specifically include the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance and identity information of the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance. Optionally, in the case where the first information #1 includes the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance, the first information #1 can also be used to indicate that tunnel endpoint address information is allocated for the service flow within the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance.

[0225] Optionally, the first information #2 includes the second address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance, and can specifically include a correspondence between the second address interval of the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance and the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance. Optionally, the first information #2 includes the correspondence between the second address interval of the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance and the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance, and can specifically include the second address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance and identity information of the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance. Optionally, in the case where the first information #2 includes the second address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance, the first information #2 can also be used to indicate that tunnel endpoint address information is allocated for the service flow within the second address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance.

[0226] It can be seen that in the embodiment 2.1, the session management function network element can allocate the tunnel endpoint address information for the service flow in the address interval corresponding to the deterministic Internet Protocol instance of the service flow binding. This mode can be applied to the case where the session management function network element supports the function of allocating the tunnel endpoint address information for the service flow. In the embodiment 2.2, the access network device and / or the user plane function network element can allocate the tunnel endpoint address information for the service flow in the address interval corresponding to the deterministic Internet Protocol instance of the service flow binding. This mode can be applied to the case where the session management function network element does not support the function of allocating the tunnel endpoint address information for the service flow.

[0227] For example, after determining the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance of the service flow binding and the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, if the session management function network element supports the function of allocating the tunnel endpoint address information for the service flow, the session management function network element allocates the first tunnel endpoint address information for the service flow in the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, and allocates the second tunnel endpoint address information for the service flow in the second address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance. The session management function network element sends the first information #1 to the user plane function network element, and the first information #1 includes the first tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow. In addition, the session management function network element sends the first information #2 to the access network device, and the first information #2 includes the second tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow.

[0228] If the session management function network element does not support the function of allocating the tunnel endpoint address information for the service flow, the session management function network element sends the first information #1 to the user plane function network element, and the first information #1 includes the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, so that the user plane function network element allocates the first tunnel endpoint address information for the service flow in the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance. In addition, the session management function network element sends the first information #2 to the access network device, and the first information #2 includes the second address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, so that the access network device allocates the second tunnel endpoint address information for the service flow in the second address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

[0229] The first tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow in the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance is exemplarily described as follows, which is similar to the second tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow in the second address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, and will not be described herein again.

[0230] Embodiment 3.1, for the case that the service flow is a plurality of un-aggregated service flows. In this case, the first tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the plurality of un-aggregated service flows within the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance is different. It can be understood that if the plurality of un-aggregated service flows are all bound to the same deterministic internet protocol instance, different user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information can be allocated for the plurality of un-aggregated service flows within the user plane function network element side address interval corresponding to the deterministic internet protocol instance, so as to distinguish the plurality of un-aggregated service flows.

[0231] Optionally, the first address interval corresponding to the deterministic internet protocol instance is divided into different address segments. The first tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the plurality of un-aggregated service flows within the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance belongs to different address segments within the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance.

[0232] For example, service flow 1 and service flow 2 are un-aggregated service flows and are both bound to deterministic internet protocol instance 1. The user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information allocated for service flow 1 within the user plane function network element side address interval corresponding to deterministic internet protocol instance 1 is different from the user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information allocated for service flow 2. Optionally, the user plane function network element side address interval corresponding to deterministic internet protocol instance 1 is further divided into address segment 1 and address segment 2, which are different. The user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information allocated for service flow 1 within the user plane function network element side address interval corresponding to deterministic internet protocol instance 1 belongs to address segment 1, and the user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information allocated for service flow 2 belongs to address segment 2.

[0233] Embodiment 3.2, for the case that the service flow is a plurality of aggregated service flows. In this case, the first tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the plurality of aggregated service flows within the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance is the same. Alternatively, the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance is divided into different address segments; the first tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the plurality of aggregated service flows within the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance belongs to the same address segment of the address segments into which the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance is divided; that is, the user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information can be allocated by further dividing the user plane function network element side address interval corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance into smaller and different address segments to support flow aggregation. This embodiment can support aggregation of different service flows in the same session, or can support aggregation of service flows from different sessions. In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, the plurality of aggregated service flows can also be referred to as aggregated flows, which can be aggregated by service flows with the same QoS requirement (such as delay requirement), the same source node and the same target node. Wherein, the source node is an access network device, and the target node is a user plane function network element; or the source node is a user plane function network element, and the target node is an access network device.

[0234] For example, service flow 1 and service flow 2 are aggregated service flows and are bound to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance, and the user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information allocated for service flow 1 within the user plane function network element side address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance is the same as the user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information allocated for service flow 2. Alternatively, the user plane function network element side address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance is further divided into address segment 1 and address segment 2, which are different, and the user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information allocated for service flow 1 within the user plane function network element side address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance and the user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information allocated for service flow 2 both belong to address segment 1 or both belong to address segment 2.

[0235] Optionally, in the case that the first address interval corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance is divided into different address segments, if a plurality of aggregated flows are bound to the same deterministic internetworking protocol instance, the first tunnel endpoint address information allocated for different aggregated flows within the first address interval corresponding to the bound deterministic internetworking protocol instance belongs to different address segments of the address segments into which the first address interval corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance is divided.

[0236] For example, service flow 1 and service flow 2 constitute an aggregated flow 1, and service flow 3 and service flow 4 constitute an aggregated flow 2, both of which are bound to deterministic internetworking protocol instance 1, and the user plane function network element side address interval corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance 1 is divided into address segment 1 and address segment 2. The user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the aggregated flow 1 within the user plane function network element side address interval corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance 1 belongs to address segment 1, and the user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the aggregated flow 2 belongs to address segment 2. That is, the user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information allocated to service flow 1 and the user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information allocated to service flow 2 within the user plane function network element side address interval corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance 1 belong to address segment 1, and the user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information allocated to service flow 3 and the user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information allocated to service flow 4 belong to address segment 2.

[0237] Embodiment 3.3, in addition to the case mentioned in Embodiment 3.1 that the service flow is a plurality of un-aggregated service flows and the case mentioned in Embodiment 3.2 that the service flow is a plurality of aggregated service flows, the service flow can also be a certain service flow, in which case, the first tunnel endpoint address information is allocated to the service flow within the first address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance.

[0238] In an optional embodiment, in the case where the address interval is an IP address interval, the tunnel endpoint address information is a tunnel endpoint IP address. In this case, the tunnel endpoint IP address allocated to the service flow belongs to the IP address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance to which the service flow is bound.

[0239] In another optional embodiment, in the case where the address interval includes an IP address interval and a port interval, the tunnel endpoint address information includes a tunnel endpoint IP address and tunnel endpoint port information. In this case, the tunnel endpoint IP address allocated to the service flow belongs to the IP address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance to which the service flow is bound, and the tunnel endpoint port information allocated to the service flow belongs to the port interval corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance to which the service flow is bound.

[0240] In addition, in the embodiments of the present application, the tunnel endpoint address information may, for example, be N3 tunnel endpoint address information, and the tunnel endpoint IP address may be N3 tunnel endpoint IP address, which will not be described again hereinafter. In addition, in the communication method 100, since the deterministic internetworking protocol instance corresponds to an address interval, the address interval covers a plurality of IP addresses, or the address interval covers a plurality of IP addresses and a plurality of ports, therefore, one deterministic internetworking protocol instance can bind one or more N3 tunnels.

[0241] In summary, in the communication method 100, the deterministic Internet protocol instance is bound with the address interval, and the address interval corresponding to the deterministic Internet protocol instance bound with the service flow (i.e., the first deterministic Internet protocol instance) is configured to the service flow, so that after the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network receives the service flow from the access network device or the user plane function network element, the service flow can be identified as the service flow bound with the first deterministic Internet protocol instance based on the feature that the tunnel endpoint address information corresponding to the service flow belongs to the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, and the service flow is transmitted by using the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, i.e., the deterministic Internet protocol instance bound with the service flow. It can be seen that the method is beneficial to realizing the flow identification of the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network and placing the service flow requiring deterministic Internet protocol transmission in the deterministic Internet protocol instance bound with the service flow for transmission.

[0242] Referring to FIG. 7, FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a communication method 200 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The communication method 200 can be applied to the scenario that the access network device and the deterministic Internet protocol edge node are combined or separated, and the user plane function network element and the deterministic Internet protocol edge node are combined or separated. The communication method 200 includes the following steps.

[0243] S201, the access network device sends one or more tunnel endpoint address information to the deterministic network controller. Correspondingly, the deterministic network controller receives the one or more tunnel endpoint address information from the access network device.

[0244] S202, the user plane function network element sends one or more tunnel endpoint address information to the deterministic network controller. Correspondingly, the deterministic network controller receives the one or more tunnel endpoint address information from the user plane function network element.

[0245] S203, the deterministic network controller configures the one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the access network device and the one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the user plane function network element as the path endpoint address information corresponding to one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances, respectively.

[0246] It can be understood that the access network device and the user plane function network element inform the deterministic network controller of the tunnel endpoint address information of itself, so that the deterministic network controller configures the received tunnel endpoint address information as the path endpoint address information of the deterministic internetworking protocol instance. For example, when configuring the deterministic internetworking protocol instance, the deterministic network controller can take the tunnel endpoint address information of the access network device and the tunnel endpoint address information of the user plane function network element as the path configuration related parameters corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance.

[0247] For example, the access network device sends the deterministic network controller tunnel endpoint address information 1 and tunnel endpoint address information 2, and the user plane function network element sends the deterministic network controller tunnel endpoint address information 3 and tunnel endpoint address information 4. The deterministic network controller configures the tunnel endpoint address information 1 and the tunnel endpoint address information 3 as the path endpoint address information corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance 1, and configures the tunnel endpoint address information 2 and the tunnel endpoint address information 4 as the path endpoint address information corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance 2.

[0248] In addition, in the communication method 200, the deterministic network controller can also be replaced by any control plane device in the deterministic internetworking protocol transmission network of the centralized distributed architecture, for example, the deterministic network controller can also be replaced by a network management device in the deterministic internetworking protocol transmission network. For the convenience of description, the deterministic network controller is taken as an example for description.

[0249] In an optional implementation, the path endpoint address information corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance includes first path endpoint address information and second path endpoint address information, and the deterministic network controller configures the tunnel endpoint address information of the user plane function network element as the first path endpoint address information corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance, and configures the tunnel endpoint address information of the access network device as the second path endpoint address information corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance. In addition, the first path endpoint address information can also be understood as the deterministic internetworking protocol path user plane function network element side endpoint address information, and the second path endpoint address information can also be understood as the deterministic internetworking protocol path access network device side endpoint address information. The first path endpoint address information is different from the second path endpoint address information.

[0250] For example, the deterministic network controller configures the tunnel endpoint address information 1 of the access network device as the deterministic internetworking protocol path access network device side endpoint address information corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance 1, and configures the tunnel endpoint address information 3 of the user plane function network element as the deterministic internetworking protocol path user plane function network element side endpoint address information corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance 1.

[0251] In an alternative implementation, the tunnel endpoint address information is a tunnel endpoint IP address, and the path endpoint address information is a path endpoint IP address. In this case, the deterministic network controller configures the tunnel endpoint IP address of the access network device and the tunnel endpoint IP address of the user plane function network element as the path endpoint IP address corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance.

[0252] In another alternative implementation, the tunnel endpoint address information includes a tunnel endpoint IP address and tunnel endpoint port information, and the path endpoint address information includes a path endpoint IP address and path endpoint port information. In this case, the deterministic network controller configures the tunnel endpoint IP address of the access network device and the tunnel endpoint IP address of the user plane function network element as the path endpoint IP address corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance; and configures the tunnel endpoint port information of the access network device and the tunnel endpoint port information of the user plane function network element as the path endpoint port information corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance.

[0253] In an alternative implementation, the method further includes: the deterministic network controller sending, to the storage network element, the path endpoint address information corresponding to the one or more deterministic internetworking protocol instances respectively; and correspondingly, the storage network element receiving, from the deterministic network controller, the path endpoint address information corresponding to the one or more deterministic internetworking protocol instances respectively. The storage network element stores the path endpoint address information corresponding to the one or more deterministic internetworking protocol instances respectively. Optionally, the storage network element is configured to store deterministic internetworking protocol instance information corresponding to the one or more deterministic internetworking protocol instances respectively, and the path endpoint address information corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance can be stored in the storage network element as part of the deterministic internetworking protocol instance information corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance. For the deterministic internetworking protocol instance information, refer to the description in the foregoing related concepts, which will not be repeated here.

[0254] It can be seen that, through steps S201 to S203, the deterministic network controller configures the path endpoint address information corresponding to the one or more deterministic internetworking protocol instances respectively, so that the subsequent session management function network element can further determine the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance after determining the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance to which the service flow is bound, and then instruct the access network device and the user plane function network element to take the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance as the tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow. This can be specifically described as follows in steps S204 to S207.

[0255] S204, the session management function network element determines the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance to which the service flow is bound.

[0256] Exemplarily, the session management function network element can determine the first deterministic internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound after completing the service flow admission and the like, and further determine the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance. The present embodiment does not limit the specific manner in which the session management function network element determines the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance, which may, for example, be determined in the following manner:

[0257] In an optional embodiment, the method further includes: the session management function network element acquiring the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance from the storage network element. This manner can be applied to the scenario in which the storage network element stores the path endpoint address information corresponding to one or more deterministic internet protocol instances respectively. Exemplarily, after the session management function network element determines the first deterministic internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound, the session management function network element can send a query request to the storage network element to query the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance, and the storage network element provides the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance to the session management function network element after receiving the query request.

[0258] S205, the session management function network element sends third information to the user plane function network element and the access network device; correspondingly, the user plane function network element receives the third information from the session management function network element, and the access network device receives the third information from the session management function network element.

[0259] The third information includes the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance, and the third information is used to indicate that the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance is taken as the tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow. In addition, the third information sent by the session management function network element to the user plane function network element may, for example, be carried in an N4 Session Modification message. The third information sent by the session management function network element to the access network device may, for example, be carried in an N2 SM information.

[0260] Specifically, the third information sent by the session management function network element to the user plane function network element is denoted as third information #1, and the third information #1 includes the first path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance. Optionally, the third information #1 sent by the session management function network element to the user plane function network element is specifically used to instruct the user plane function network element to take the first path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance as the user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow.

[0261] The third information sent by the session management function network element to the access network device is denoted as third information #2, and the third information #2 includes the second path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance. Optionally, the third information #2 sent by the session management function network to the access network device is specifically used to instruct the access network device to take the second path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance as the access network device side tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow.

[0262] Optionally, the third information #1 further includes the second path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance, so that the user plane function network element can perform routing based on the second path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance.

[0263] Optionally, the third information #2 further includes the first path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance, so that the access network device can perform routing based on the first path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance.

[0264] For example, the user plane function network element sends tunnel endpoint address information 1 to the deterministic network controller, and the access network device sends tunnel endpoint address information 2 to the deterministic network controller. The deterministic network controller configures the tunnel endpoint address information 1 as the first path endpoint address information corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance 1, and configures the tunnel endpoint address information 2 as the second path endpoint address information corresponding to the deterministic internetworking protocol instance 1. If the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance bound by the service flow is the deterministic internetworking protocol instance 1, the third information sent by the session management function network element to the access network device and the user plane function network element both includes the tunnel endpoint address information 1 and the tunnel endpoint address information 2. Optionally, the third information sent by the session management function network element to the user plane function network element is further used to instruct the user plane function network element to take the tunnel endpoint address information 1 as the user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow, and the third information sent to the access network device is further used to instruct the access network device to take the tunnel endpoint address information 2 as the access network device side tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow.

[0265] S206、The access network device determines, based on the received third information, that the tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow is the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance.

[0266] It can be understood that, after receiving the third information #1, the access network device includes the second path endpoint address information included in the third information #1 as the access network device side tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the current service flow. For example, in a case where the third information #1 received by the access network device includes the first path endpoint address information and the second path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance, the access network device includes the second path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance in the third information #1 as the access network device side tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the current service flow, and the access network device routes based on the first path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance in the third information #1.

[0267] In S207, the user plane function network element determines, based on the received third information, that the tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow is the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance.

[0268] It can be understood that, after receiving the third information #1, the user plane function network element includes the first path endpoint address information included in the third information #1 as the user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the current service flow. For example, in a case where the third information #1 received by the user plane function network element includes the first path endpoint address information and the second path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance, the user plane function network element includes the first path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance in the third information #1 as the user plane function network element side tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the current service flow, and the user plane function network element routes based on the second path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance in the third information #1.

[0269] In summary, in the communication method 200, the deterministic network controller receives one or more tunnel endpoint address information from the access network device and receives one or more tunnel endpoint address information from the user plane function network element. The deterministic network controller configures the one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the access network device and the one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the user plane function network element as path endpoint address information corresponding to one or more deterministic internetworking protocol instances respectively. The session management function network element determines the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance to which the service flow is bound, and sends third information to the access network device and the user plane function network element. The third information includes the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance, and the third information is used to indicate that the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance is used as the tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow.

[0270] It can be seen that in the method, the access network device and the user plane function network element provide the tunnel endpoint address information to assist the pre-configuration of the deterministic Internet Protocol instance of the deterministic Internet Protocol transmission network, so that the tunnel endpoint address information of the access network device and the tunnel endpoint address information of the user plane function network element are configured as the path endpoint address information corresponding to the deterministic Internet Protocol instance when the deterministic Internet Protocol instance is configured. It can be understood that the deterministic Internet Protocol instance is bound to the corresponding tunnel when it is configured (one deterministic Internet Protocol instance is pre-bound to only one tunnel), so that the path endpoint address information corresponding to the deterministic Internet Protocol instance bound to the service flow (i.e., the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance) can be used as the tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow. After the deterministic Internet Protocol transmission network receives the service flow from the access network device or the user plane function network element, it can be identified that the service flow is bound to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance based on the fact that the tunnel endpoint address information corresponding to the service flow is the same as the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, so that the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, i.e., the deterministic Internet Protocol instance bound to the service flow, is used to transmit the service flow. It can be seen that the method is beneficial to realizing the flow identification of the deterministic Internet Protocol transmission network and placing the service flow that needs to perform deterministic Internet Protocol transmission in the deterministic Internet Protocol instance bound to the service flow for transmission.

[0271] In addition, the foregoing steps S201 to S207 can be applied in, for example, the centralized architecture shown in FIG. 4. In another embodiment, steps S201 to S203 in the communication method 200 can be replaced by the following steps a to c, as shown in FIG. 8. The communication method shown in FIG. 8 can be applied in, for example, the distributed architecture shown in FIG. 3.

[0272] Step a, the access network device sends one or more tunnel endpoint address information to the first deterministic Internet Protocol edge node. Correspondingly, the first deterministic Internet Protocol edge node receives the one or more tunnel endpoint address information from the access network device.

[0273] Step b, the user plane function network element sends one or more tunnel endpoint address information to the second deterministic Internet Protocol edge node. Correspondingly, the first deterministic Internet Protocol edge node receives the one or more tunnel endpoint address information from the user plane function network element.

[0274] Step c, the first deterministic internet protocol edge node and the second deterministic internet protocol edge node configure the one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the access network device and the one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the user plane function network element as the path endpoint address information corresponding to the one or more deterministic internet protocol instances respectively. The first deterministic internet protocol edge node is a deterministic internet protocol edge node connected with or co-located with the access network device, and the second deterministic internet protocol edge node is a deterministic internet protocol edge node connected with or co-located with the user plane function network element. In the embodiment of the application, the first deterministic internet protocol edge node and the second deterministic internet protocol edge node can directly or indirectly interact information, so that the first deterministic internet protocol edge node and the second deterministic internet protocol edge node can cooperatively implement: configuring the one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the access network device and the one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the user plane function network element as the path endpoint address information corresponding to the one or more deterministic internet protocol instances respectively. Moreover, the embodiment of the application does not limit the specific way how the first deterministic internet protocol edge node and the second deterministic internet protocol edge node cooperatively implement the configuration of the path endpoint address information corresponding to the one or more deterministic internet protocol instances respectively.

[0275] In addition, step a is similar to step S201, step b is similar to step S202, and step c is similar to step S203. For details, reference can be made to the foregoing description of steps S201 to S203, which will not be repeated here.

[0276] Referring to FIG. 9, FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of a communication method 300 provided by an embodiment of the application. The communication method 300 includes the following steps.

[0277] S301, the session management function network element determines a first deterministic internet protocol instance bound by a service flow.

[0278] S302, the session management function network element sends identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance to the access network device and / or the user plane function network element. Correspondingly, the access network device and / or the user plane function network element receive the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance from the session management function network element.

[0279] The identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance can be referred to the description in the foregoing related concept, and will not be repeated. In addition, the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance sent by the session management function network element to the user plane function network element can be carried in the N4Session Modification message, for example. The identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance sent by the session management function network element to the access network device can be carried in the N2 SM information, for example.

[0280] S303a, the access network device adds the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance in the service flow. In this way, the access network device sends the service flow to which the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance is added.

[0281] S303b, the user plane function network element adds the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance in the service flow. In this way, the user plane function network element sends the service flow to which the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance is added.

[0282] In an optional manner, if the service flow is uplink transmission (i.e., the service flow is sent by the access device and received by the user plane function network element), in step S302, the session management function network element sends the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance to the access network device, and the access network device performs step S303a. If the service flow is downlink transmission (i.e., the service flow is sent by the user plane function network element and received by the access device), in step S302, the session management function network element sends the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance to the user plane function network element, and the user plane function network element performs step S303b.

[0283] In another optional manner, the session management function network element sends the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance to the access network device and the user plane function network element, regardless of whether the service flow is uplink transmission or downlink transmission. In this way, if the access network device needs to perform uplink transmission on the service flow, the access network device performs step S303a; if the user plane function network element needs to perform downlink transmission on the service flow, the user plane function network element performs step S303b. For example, the access network device can determine that the service flow needs to be transmitted uplink when the access network device receives the service flow from the terminal device. The user plane function network element can determine that the service flow needs to be transmitted downlink when the user plane function network element receives the service flow from the data network.

[0284] In an optional implementation, the access network device or the user plane function network element adds the identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance in the service flow, specifically, the identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance can be attached in a user plane packet of the service flow, and the identity information of the deterministic Internet protocol instance bound by the service flow is carried in the user plane packet to help the service flow to be placed in the bound deterministic Internet protocol instance for transmission. For example, the identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance can be attached in an IPv6 extension header, or attached in an IPv4 optional field, or attached in a GPRS tunneling protocol-user plane (GTP-U) extension header. The GPRS is general packet radio service.

[0285] In summary, in the communication method 300, the session management function network element determines the first deterministic Internet protocol instance bound by the service flow, and sends the identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance to the access network device and / or the user plane function network element. The access network device or the user plane function network element adds the identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance in the service flow. This method can enable the access network device or the user plane function network element to send the service flow with the identity information of the deterministic Internet protocol instance (i.e., the first deterministic Internet protocol instance) bound by the service flow to the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network, so that the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network can identify that the service flow is the service flow bound by the first deterministic Internet protocol instance based on the identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance carried in the service flow, and thus transmit the service flow by using the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, i.e., the deterministic Internet protocol instance bound by the service flow. It can be seen that this method is beneficial to realizing flow identification of the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network and placing the service flow requiring deterministic Internet protocol transmission in the deterministic Internet protocol instance bound by the service flow for transmission.

[0286] In the scenario where the 5GS TN supports deterministic Internet protocols, a transmission strategy is also determined for the service flow transmitted based on the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, which is the deterministic Internet protocol instance bound by the service flow. The embodiments 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 provided by the present application can all realize the determination of the transmission strategy for the service flow transmitted based on the first deterministic Internet protocol instance.

[0287] In an embodiment, the session management function network element sends the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance to the access network device and / or the user plane function network element. Correspondingly, the access network device and / or the user plane function network element receives the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance from the session management function network element. The requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance sent by the session management function network element to the user plane function network element can be carried in an N4 Session Modification message, for example. The requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance sent by the session management function network element to the access network device can be carried in an N2 SM information, for example.

[0288] In an optional manner, if the service flow is an uplink transmission (i.e., the service flow is sent by the access device and received by the user plane function network element), the session management function network element sends the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance to the access network device. After the access network device receives the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance from the session management function network element, the following operation A or operation B can be performed.

[0289] Operation A: The access network device sends the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance to the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol edge node, which is a deterministic Internet interconnection protocol edge node connected to or co-located with the access network device. The first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol edge node performs parameter mapping on the requirement information of the service flow, determines the transmission strategy of the service flow based on the parameter-mapped requirement information of the service flow, and determines, based on the identity information of the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance, that the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance to which the service flow is bound is the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance. Then, the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol edge node transmits the service flow by using the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance and the determined transmission strategy of the service flow.

[0290] In a manner B, the access network device performs parameter mapping on the requirement information of the service flow, and sends the parameter-mapped requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance to a first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol edge node, which is a connected or co-located edge node of the access network device. The first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol edge node determines the transmission strategy of the service flow based on the received parameter-mapped requirement information of the service flow, and determines that the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance to which the service flow is bound is the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance based on the identity information of the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance, and then transmits the service flow by using the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance and the determined transmission strategy of the service flow.

[0291] If the service flow is transmitted in a downlink direction (i.e., the service flow is sent by a user plane function network element and received by the access network device), the session management function network element sends the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance to the user plane function network element. After receiving the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance from the session management function network element, the user plane function network element can perform operations described in a manner C or a manner D.

[0292] In a manner C, the user plane function network element sends the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance to a second deterministic Internet interconnection protocol edge node, which is a connected or co-located deterministic Internet interconnection protocol edge node of the user plane function network element. The second deterministic Internet interconnection protocol edge node performs parameter mapping on the requirement information of the service flow, determines the transmission strategy of the service flow based on the parameter-mapped requirement information of the service flow, and determines that the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance to which the service flow is bound is the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance based on the identity information of the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance, and then transmits the service flow by using the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance and the determined transmission strategy of the service flow.

[0293] In a manner D, the user plane function network element performs parameter mapping on the requirement information of the service flow, and sends the parameter-mapped requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance to a second deterministic Internet interconnection protocol edge node, which is a connected or co-located edge node of the user plane function network element. The second deterministic Internet interconnection protocol edge node determines the transmission strategy of the service flow based on the received parameter-mapped requirement information of the service flow, and determines that the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance to which the service flow is bound is the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance based on the identity information of the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance, and then transmits the service flow by using the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance and the determined transmission strategy of the service flow.

[0294] In another alternative, the session management function network element sends the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance to the access network device and the user plane function network element, regardless of whether the service flow is uplink transmission or downlink transmission. In this way, if the access network device needs to perform uplink transmission on the service flow, the access network device performs the aforementioned mode A or mode B. If the user plane function network element needs to perform downlink transmission on the service flow, the user plane function network element performs the aforementioned mode C or mode D. For example, the access network device can determine that uplink transmission of the service flow is needed when the access network device receives the service flow from the terminal device. The user plane function network element can determine that downlink transmission of the service flow is needed when the user plane function network element receives the service flow from the data network.

[0295] In an embodiment 4.2, the session management function network element sends the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance to the deterministic network controller. Correspondingly, the deterministic network controller receives the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance from the session management function network element. The deterministic network controller performs parameter mapping on the requirement information of the service flow, and determines the transmission strategy of the service flow based on the parameter-mapped requirement information of the service flow. The deterministic network controller can also determine, based on the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance, that the deterministic internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound is the first deterministic internet protocol instance. In this way, the deterministic network controller can configure the deterministic internet protocol transmission network to use the first deterministic internet protocol instance and the determined transmission strategy of the service flow to transmit the service flow.

[0296] Alternatively, the session management function network element performs parameter mapping on the requirement information of the service flow, and sends the parameter-mapped requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance to the deterministic network controller. Correspondingly, the deterministic network controller receives the parameter-mapped requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance from the session management function network element. The deterministic network controller determines the transmission strategy of the service flow based on the parameter-mapped requirement information of the service flow. The deterministic network controller can also determine, based on the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance, that the deterministic internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound is the first deterministic internet protocol instance. In this way, the deterministic network controller can configure the deterministic internet protocol transmission network to use the first deterministic internet protocol instance and the determined transmission strategy of the service flow to transmit the service flow.

[0297] In addition, the mapping of the requirement information and parameters of the service flow in Embodiment 4.1 and Embodiment 4.2 can refer to the description in the foregoing related concepts, and will not be described herein. For example, the requirement of the CN PDB is mapped to the requirement of the MaxLatency, and the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol edge node or the deterministic network controller adjusts the period configuration of the edge shaping of the service flow according to the requirement of the MaxLatency. For another example, the requirement of the GFBR is mapped to the requirement of the MinBandwidth, and the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol edge node or the deterministic network controller adjusts the parameter setting of the scheduling mechanism such as the SP, the allocation of the period transmission window resource of the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol, and the like according to the requirement of the MinBandwidth.

[0298] In addition, it should be noted that the mapping of the requirement information and parameters of the service flow in Embodiment 4.1 and Embodiment 4.2 is an optional operation. For example, if the access network device, the user plane function network element, the session management function network element, and the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol transmission network use the same protocol for interworking, the operation of mapping the requirement information and parameters of the service flow in Embodiment 4.1 and Embodiment 4.2 can be omitted. For example, in Embodiment 4.1, if the access network device is collocated with the first deterministic Internet interconnection protocol edge node, and the user plane function network element is collocated with the second deterministic Internet interconnection protocol edge node, the operation of mapping the requirement information and parameters of the service flow can be omitted. For another example, in Embodiment 4.2, if the session management function network element is collocated with the deterministic network controller, the operation of mapping the requirement information and parameters of the service flow can be omitted.

[0299] It can be seen that in Embodiment 4.1 and Embodiment 4.2, the access network device / user plane function network element / session management function network element sends the requirement information and the identity information of the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance to which the service flow is bound to the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol transmission network, which can assist the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol transmission network to determine the transmission strategy for the service flow. In addition, the identity information of the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance to which the service flow is bound can also be used to indicate which deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance should be adjusted / configured by the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol transmission network, so that the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol transmission network can adjust / configure the transmission strategy of the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol instance to which the service flow is bound based on the requirement of the service flow. In addition, the requirement information of the service flow also includes the identity information of the service flow (for example, the identifier of the service flow), so that the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol transmission network can identify which service flow based on the identity information of the service flow in the received requirement information of the service flow.

[0300] Optionally, in an embodiment 4.1, the service flow includes an uplink service flow and a downlink service flow, and the corresponding tunnel endpoint address information of the uplink service flow and the downlink service flow can be the same, and the uplink service flow and the downlink service flow can be bound to the same deterministic Internet protocol instance. In this case, the requirement information of the service flow mentioned in the embodiment 4.1 includes the requirement information of the uplink service flow and the requirement information of the downlink service flow. In addition, in the embodiment 4.1, the session management function network element needs to send the requirement information of the uplink service flow, the requirement information of the downlink service flow, and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance to both the access network device and the user plane function network element.

[0301] In an embodiment 4.3, the session management function network element determines the transmission strategy corresponding to the service flow based on the requirement information of the service flow. The session management function network element sends the identity of the transmission strategy to the access network device and / or the user plane function network element; correspondingly, the access network device and / or the user plane function network element receives the identity of the transmission strategy from the session management function network element. The access network device or the user plane function network element adds the identity of the transmission strategy in the service flow. The addition of the identity of the transmission strategy in the service flow is similar to the addition of the identity of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance in the service flow in the communication method 300, and the related description of the addition of the identity of the transmission strategy in the service flow in the communication method 300 can be referred to, and will not be repeated here. In addition, the identity of the transmission strategy sent by the session management function network element to the user plane function network element can be carried in the N4 Session Modification message, for example. The identity of the transmission strategy sent by the session management function network element to the access network device can be carried in the N2 SM information, for example.

[0302] The embodiment 4.3 can be applied to the case where the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network has known the transmission strategy corresponding to different identities and the configuration mode of the transmission strategy in advance, so that the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network can read the identity of the transmission strategy carried in the service flow and determine the transmission strategy corresponding thereto, and then transmit the service flow based on the configuration mode of the transmission strategy.

[0303] In addition, the embodiment 4.1 and the embodiment 4.3 can be applied to the distributed architecture shown in FIG. 3, for example. The embodiment 4.2 can be applied to the centralized architecture shown in FIG. 4, for example. In the embodiment 4.2, the deterministic network controller can also be replaced by any control plane device in the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network of the centralized distributed architecture, for example, the deterministic network controller can also be replaced by a network management device in the deterministic Internet protocol transmission network.

[0304] In an alternative implementation, the implementation 4.1, the implementation 4.2 and the implementation 4.3 can be applied to the aforementioned communication method 100, the communication method 200 and the communication method 300, as described in the following example 1 to example 5.

[0305] Example 1, an exemplary way of applying the implementation 4.1 to the communication method 100, as shown in FIG. 10.

[0306] In combination with FIG. 10, the session management function network element determines the first deterministic internet protocol instance of the service flow binding and the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance. The session management function network element sends the first information, the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance to the user plane function network element and / or the access network device. The first information includes the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, or the first information includes the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance.

[0307] Wherein, if the first information has already included the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance, the session management function network element sends the first information and the requirement information of the service flow to the user plane function network element and / or the access network device, without repeating the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance, reducing the overhead. FIG. 10 and the following are described taking the session management function network element sending the first information, the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance to the user plane function network element and / or the access network device as an example.

[0308] If the user plane function network element receives the first information, the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance, the user plane function network element determines the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow based on the first information. The user plane function network element and the second deterministic internet protocol edge node also perform the way C or the way D in the aforementioned implementation 4.1.

[0309] If the access network device receives the first information, the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance, the access network device determines the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow based on the first information. The access network device and the first deterministic internet protocol edge node also perform the way A or the way B in the aforementioned implementation 4.1.

[0310] For the steps in FIG. 10, please refer to the relevant descriptions of the aforementioned communication method 100 and the implementation 4.1, which will not be repeated here.

[0311] Example 2, an exemplary way of applying the implementation 4.2 to the communication method 100, as shown in FIG. 11.

[0312] In combination with FIG. 11, the session management function network element determines the first deterministic internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound and the address range corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance. The session management function network element sends first information to the user plane function network element and / or the access network device, the first information comprising the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, or the first information comprising the address range corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance. The user plane function network element and / or the access network device determines the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow based on the first information. The session management function network element and the deterministic network controller further perform the embodiment 4.2.

[0313] In this example 2, the embodiment 4.2 is performed in the case that the session management function network element determines the first deterministic internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound. In addition, the present application does not limit the order of the embodiment 4.2 and the “session management function network element sends first information to the user plane function network element and / or the access network device”.

[0314] For the steps in FIG. 11, refer to the foregoing description of the communication method 100 and the embodiment 4.2, which will not be repeated here.

[0315] In example 3, the embodiment 4.1 is applied in an exemplary manner in the communication method 200, as shown in FIG. 12.

[0316] In combination with FIG. 12, the access network device sends one or more tunnel endpoint address information to the first deterministic internet protocol edge node. The user plane function network element sends one or more tunnel endpoint address information to the second deterministic internet protocol edge node. The first deterministic internet protocol edge node and the second deterministic internet protocol edge node configure the one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the access network device and the one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the user plane function network element as the path endpoint address information corresponding to the one or more deterministic internet protocol instances respectively.

[0317] The session management function network element determines the first deterministic internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound. The session management function network element sends third information, requirement information of the service flow and identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance to the access network device and the user plane function network element, the third information comprising the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance. The access network device determines, based on the received third information, that the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow is the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance. The user plane function network element determines, based on the received third information, that the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow is the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance.

[0318] In addition, after the access network device receives the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, the access network device and the first deterministic Internet Protocol edge node further perform the manner A or the manner B in the foregoing embodiment 4.1.

[0319] In addition, after the user plane function network element receives the requirement information of the service flow and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, the user plane function network element and the second deterministic Internet Protocol edge node further perform the manner C or the manner D in the foregoing embodiment 4.1.

[0320] For the steps in FIG. 12, refer to the related description of the communication method in the foregoing embodiment 4.2 of the communication method 200, which will not be repeated here.

[0321] In example 4, the embodiment 4.2 is applied in an exemplary manner in the communication method 200, as shown in FIG. 13.

[0322] In combination with FIG. 13, the access network device sends one or more tunnel endpoint address information to the deterministic network controller. The user plane function network element sends one or more tunnel endpoint address information to the deterministic network controller. The deterministic network controller configures the one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the access network device and the one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the user plane function network element as the path endpoint address information corresponding to one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances respectively. The session management function network element determines the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance to which the service flow is bound.

[0323] The session management function network element sends third information to the access network device and the user plane function network element, the third information including the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance. The access network device determines, based on the received third information, that the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow is the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance. The user plane function network element determines, based on the received third information, that the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow is the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance. The session management function network element and the deterministic network controller further perform the embodiment 4.2.

[0324] In this example 4, the embodiment 4.2 is performed in a case where the session management function network element determines the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance to which the service flow is bound. In addition, the present application does not limit the sequence of the embodiment 4.2 and “the session management function network element sends third information to the user plane function network element and the access network device”.

[0325] For the steps in FIG. 13, refer to the related description of the communication method 200, the embodiment 4.2, which will not be repeated here.

[0326] Example 5, embodiment 4.3 is applied to an exemplary manner in the communication method 300, as shown in FIG. 14.

[0327] In combination with FIG. 14, after the session management function network element determines the first deterministic internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound, the session management function network element sends the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance and the identification of the transmission policy to the access network device and / or the user plane function network element, the transmission policy being determined based on the requirement information of the service flow.

[0328] If the access network device needs to transmit the service flow upwards, the access network device adds the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance and the identification of the transmission policy in the service flow to be transmitted. If the user plane function network element needs to transmit the service flow downwards, the user plane function network element adds the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance and the identification of the transmission policy in the service flow to be transmitted. In this way, the deterministic internet protocol transmission network can identify the service flow to which the deterministic internet protocol instance is bound by reading the deterministic internet protocol instance identification in the service flow, so as to transmit the service flow in the deterministic internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound, and the deterministic internet protocol transmission network can execute the corresponding transmission policy on the service flow by reading the identification of the transmission policy carried in the service flow.

[0329] For the steps in FIG. 14, refer to the foregoing related descriptions of the communication method 300 and embodiment 4.3, and will not be repeated here.

[0330] In addition, in an optional embodiment, if only one deterministic internet protocol instance is configured between the access network device and the user plane function network element, the admitted service flow can be transmitted in the only deterministic internet protocol instance. If multiple deterministic internet protocol instances exist between the access network device and the user plane function network element, any of the communication method 100, the communication method 200 or the communication method 300 can be used to realize the flow identification of the deterministic internet protocol transmission network and the transmission of the service flow in the deterministic internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound.

[0331] Further, if the deterministic service flows bound to the same deterministic internet protocol instance need to be differentiated in transmission policy, any of embodiment 4.1, embodiment 4.2 or embodiment 4.3 is executed to assist the deterministic internet protocol transmission network to execute different transmission policies on different service flows. If the deterministic service flows bound to the same deterministic internet protocol instance do not need to be differentiated in transmission policy, any of embodiment 4.1, embodiment 4.2 or embodiment 4.3 can not be executed.

[0332] To implement the functions in the methods provided in the embodiments of the present application, the network element / device can include hardware structures and / or software modules to implement the above functions in the form of hardware structure, software module, or hardware structure and software module. Whether a certain function is implemented in the form of hardware structure, software module, or hardware structure and software module depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution.

[0333] As shown in FIG. 15, the communication apparatus 1500 is provided in the embodiments of the present application. The communication apparatus 1500 can be a session management function network element, and can also be a component (for example, an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.) of the session management function network element. Alternatively, the communication apparatus 1500 can be an access network device, and can also be a component (for example, an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.) of the access network device. Alternatively, the communication apparatus 1500 can be a user plane function network element, and can also be a component (for example, an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.) of the user plane function network element. Alternatively, the communication apparatus 1500 can be a deterministic network controller, and can also be a component (for example, an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.) of the deterministic network controller. Alternatively, the communication apparatus 1500 can be a deterministic internetworking protocol edge node, and can also be a component (for example, an integrated circuit, a chip, etc.) of the deterministic internetworking protocol edge node.

[0334] The communication apparatus 1500 can also be other communication units for implementing the methods in the method embodiments of the present application. The communication apparatus 1500 can include a processing unit 1501. Optionally, the communication apparatus 1500 can also include a communication unit 1502, and the processing unit 1501 is configured to control the communication unit 1502 to perform data / signaling transceiving. The communication unit 1502 can also be referred to as a transceiving unit. Optionally, the communication unit 1502 can include a sending unit and a receiving unit, the sending unit can be used to send data / signaling, and the receiving unit can be used to receive data / signaling. Optionally, the communication apparatus 1500 can also include a storage unit 1503, which can be used to store information and / or data and / or instructions, etc., and can interact with the processing unit 1501 and / or the communication unit 1502.

[0335] In a possible design, for the case that the communication apparatus 1500 is used to implement the functions of the session management function network element in the above method embodiments:

[0336] The processing unit 1501 is configured to determine a first deterministic internetworking protocol instance of a service flow binding and an address range corresponding to the first deterministic internetworking protocol instance.

[0337] The communication unit 1502 is configured to send first information to an access network device and / or a user plane function network element.

[0338] The first information includes tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, and the tunnel endpoint address information belongs to an address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance; or the first information includes an address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

[0339] In another possible design, the communication apparatus 1500 is configured to implement the function of an access network device or a user plane function network element in the method embodiments.

[0340] The communication unit 1502 is configured to receive first information from a session management function network element.

[0341] The processing unit 1501 is configured to determine tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow based on the first information.

[0342] The first information includes tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, and the tunnel endpoint address information belongs to an address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance; or the first information includes an address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

[0343] In another possible design, the communication apparatus 1500 is configured to implement the function of a deterministic network controller or a deterministic Internet Protocol edge node in the method embodiments.

[0344] The communication unit 1502 is configured to receive one or more tunnel endpoint address information from an access network device.

[0345] The communication unit 1502 is further configured to receive one or more tunnel endpoint address information from a user plane function network element.

[0346] The processing unit 1501 is configured to configure the one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the access network device and the one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the user plane function network element as path endpoint address information corresponding to one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances respectively.

[0347] In another possible design, the communication apparatus 1500 is configured to implement the function of a session management function network element in the method embodiments.

[0348] The processing unit 1501 is configured to determine a first deterministic Internet Protocol instance to which a service flow is bound.

[0349] The communication unit 1502 is configured to send third information to an access network device and a user plane function network element, where the third information includes path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, and the third information is used to instruct that the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance is used as tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow.

[0350] In another possible design of the communication device 1500, the communication device 1500 is configured to implement the function of the session management function network element in the method embodiments described above.

[0351] The communication unit 1502 is configured to send, to the deterministic network controller, one or more tunnel endpoint address information, the one or more tunnel endpoint address information being used to configure path endpoint address information corresponding to one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances respectively.

[0352] The communication unit 1502 is further configured to receive third information from the session management function network element, the third information including path endpoint address information corresponding to a first deterministic Internet protocol instance, the third information being used to indicate that the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance is used as tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, the first deterministic Internet protocol instance being a deterministic Internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound among the one or more deterministic Internet protocol instances.

[0353] The processing unit 1501 is configured to determine, based on the third information, that the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow is the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance.

[0354] In another possible design of the communication device 1500, the communication device 1500 is configured to implement the function of the session management function network element in the method embodiments described above.

[0355] The processing unit 1501 is configured to determine a first deterministic Internet protocol instance to which a service flow is bound.

[0356] The communication unit 1502 is configured to send, to the access network device and / or the user plane function network element, identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance, the identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance being used by the access network device and / or the user plane function network element to add the identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance in the service flow.

[0357] In another possible design of the communication device 1500, the communication device 1500 is configured to implement the function of the session management function network element in the method embodiments described above.

[0358] The communication unit 1502 is configured to receive, from the session management function network element, identity information of a first deterministic Internet protocol instance, the first deterministic Internet protocol instance being a deterministic Internet protocol instance to which a service flow is bound.

[0359] The communication unit 1502 is further configured to send the service flow after the identity information of the first deterministic Internet protocol instance is added.

[0360] The embodiments of the present application and the method embodiments described above are based on the same concept, and the technical effects brought by them are the same. For specific principles, refer to the description of the above-described embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0361] The embodiments of the present application also provide a communication apparatus 1600, as shown in FIG. 16. The communication apparatus 1600 can be a session management function network element, and can also be a chip, chip system, or processor supporting the implementation of the above-mentioned method by the session management function network element. Alternatively, the communication apparatus 1600 can be an access network device, and can also be a chip, chip system, or processor supporting the implementation of the above-mentioned method by the access network device. Alternatively, the communication apparatus 1600 can be a user plane function network element, and can also be a chip, chip system, or processor supporting the implementation of the above-mentioned method by the user plane function network element. Alternatively, the communication apparatus 1600 can be a deterministic network controller, and can also be a chip, chip system, or processor supporting the implementation of the above-mentioned method by the deterministic network controller. Alternatively, the communication apparatus 1600 can be a deterministic Internet interconnection protocol edge node, and can also be a chip, chip system, or processor supporting the implementation of the above-mentioned method by the deterministic Internet interconnection protocol edge node. The apparatus can be used to implement the method described in the above method embodiments, and specific reference can be made to the description in the above method embodiments.

[0362] The communication apparatus 1600 can include one or more processors 1601. The processor 1601 can be used to implement part or all of the functions of the network device through logic circuits or by running computer programs. The processor 1601 can be a general-purpose processor or a special-purpose processor, etc. For example, it can be a baseband processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component, or a CPU. The baseband processor can be used to process communication protocols and communication data, and the central processing unit can be used to control the communication apparatus, execute software programs, and process data of software programs, wherein the communication apparatus is, for example, a base station, a baseband chip, a terminal, a terminal chip, a DU, or a CU, etc.

[0363] Optionally, the communication apparatus 1600 can include one or more memories 1602, which can have instructions 1604 stored thereon. The instructions can be run on the processor 1601, so that the communication apparatus 1600 executes the method described in the above method embodiments. Optionally, the memory 1602 can also store data. The processor 1601 and the memory 1602 can be separately arranged, or integrated together.

[0364] The memory 1602 can include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), a random access memory (RAM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), a ROM, a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), and the like.

[0365] Optionally, the communication apparatus 1600 can further include a transceiver 1605, an antenna 1606. The transceiver 1605 can be referred to as a transceiving unit, a transceiver, or a transceiving circuit, etc., for implementing a transceiving function. The transceiver 1605 can include a receiver and a transmitter. The receiver can be referred to as a receiver or a receiving circuit, etc., for implementing a receiving function; the transmitter can be referred to as a transmitter or a transmitting circuit, etc., for implementing a transmitting function.

[0366] In a possible design, for a case where the communication apparatus 1600 is configured to implement the function of the session management function network element in the method embodiments described above:

[0367] The processor 1601 is configured to determine a first deterministic Internet protocol instance to which a service flow is bound, and an address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance.

[0368] The transceiver 1605 is configured to send first information to an access network device and / or a user plane function network element.

[0369] The first information includes tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, and the tunnel endpoint address information belongs to the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance; or the first information includes the address interval corresponding to the first deterministic Internet protocol instance.

[0370] In another possible design, for a case where the communication apparatus 1600 is configured to implement the function of the access network device or the user plane function network element in the method embodiments described above:

[0371] The transceiver 1605 is configured to receive first information from a session management function network element.

[0372] The processor 1601 is configured to determine, based on the first information, tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow.

[0373] The first information includes tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, and the tunnel endpoint address information belongs to an address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance; or the first information includes an address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

[0374] In another possible design, for a case where the communication apparatus 1600 is configured to implement the function of the access network device or the user plane function network element in the method embodiments described above:

[0375] The transceiver 1605 is configured to receive one or more tunnel endpoint address information from the access network device.

[0376] The transceiver 1605 is further configured to receive one or more tunnel endpoint address information from the user plane function network element.

[0377] The processor 1601 is configured to configure the one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the access network device and the one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the user plane function network element as path endpoint address information corresponding to one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances respectively.

[0378] In another possible design, for a case where the communication apparatus 1600 is configured to implement the function of the session management function network element in the method embodiments described above:

[0379] The processor 1601 is configured to determine a first deterministic Internet Protocol instance to which the service flow is bound.

[0380] The transceiver 1605 is configured to send, to the access network device and the user plane function network element, third information including path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, and the third information is used to indicate that the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance is used as tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow.

[0381] In another possible design, for a case where the communication apparatus 1600 is configured to implement the function of the access network device or the user plane function network element in the method embodiments described above:

[0382] The transceiver 1605 is configured to send, to the deterministic network controller, one or more tunnel endpoint address information, and the one or more tunnel endpoint address information is used to configure path endpoint address information corresponding to one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances respectively.

[0383] The transceiver 1605 is further configured to receive third information from the session management function network element, the third information comprising the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance, and the third information being used to indicate that the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance is used as the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, the first deterministic internet protocol instance being the deterministic internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound among the one or more deterministic internet protocol instances.

[0384] The processor 1601 is configured to determine, based on the third information, that the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow is the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic internet protocol instance.

[0385] In another possible design, the communication apparatus 1600 is configured to implement the function of the session management function network element in the method embodiments described above.

[0386] The processor 1601 is configured to determine the first deterministic internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound.

[0387] The transceiver 1605 is configured to send, to the access network device and / or the user plane function network element, identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance, the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance being used by the access network device and / or the user plane function network element to add the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance in the service flow.

[0388] In another possible design, the communication apparatus 1600 is configured to implement the function of the access network device or the user plane function network element in the method embodiments described above.

[0389] The transceiver 1605 is configured to receive, from the session management function network element, identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance, the first deterministic internet protocol instance being the deterministic internet protocol instance to which the service flow is bound.

[0390] The transceiver 1605 is further configured to send the service flow after the identity information of the first deterministic internet protocol instance is added.

[0391] In another possible design, the processor 1601 can include a transceiver configured to implement the receiving and sending functions. For example, the transceiver can be a transceiver circuit, or an interface, or an interface circuit. The transceiver circuit, the interface, or the interface circuit configured to implement the receiving and sending functions can be separate or integrated together. The transceiver circuit, the interface, or the interface circuit described above can be configured to read and write code / data, or the transceiver circuit, the interface, or the interface circuit described above can be configured to transmit or transfer signals.

[0392] In yet another possible design, the processor 1601 can optionally store instructions 1603 that, when executed on the processor 1601, can cause the communication device 1600 to perform the methods described in the above method embodiments. The instructions 1603 can be embedded in the processor 1601, in which case the processor 1601 can be implemented in hardware.

[0393] In yet another possible design, the communication device 1600 can include circuitry that can implement the functions of transmitting or receiving or communicating in the above method embodiments. The processor and the transceiver described in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented on an integrated circuit (IC), an analog IC, a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), a mixed-signal IC, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a printed circuit board (PCB), an electronic device, etc. The processor and the transceiver can also be manufactured using various IC technologies, such as complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), N-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS), positive channel metal oxide semiconductor (PMOS), bipolar junction transistor (BJT), bipolar CMOS (BiCMOS), silicon germanium (SiGe), gallium arsenide (GaAs), etc.

[0394] Those skilled in the art can also understand that the various illustrative logical blocks and steps listed in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented by electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. Whether the functions are implemented by hardware or software depends on the specific application and design requirements of the overall system. Those skilled in the art can implement the functions described in various ways for a specific application, but such implementation should not be construed as beyond the scope of the embodiments of the present application.

[0395] The embodiments of the present application and the above-described method embodiments are based on the same concept and have the same technical effects. For specific principles, please refer to the description in the above method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0396] The application further provides a computer readable storage medium for storing computer software instructions, which, when executed by a communication device, implement the functions of any of the method embodiments described above.

[0397] The application further provides a computer program product for storing computer software instructions, which, when executed by a communication device, implement the functions of any of the method embodiments described above.

[0398] The application further provides a computer program, which, when executed on a computer, implements the functions of any of the method embodiments described above.

[0399] The application further provides a chip, which includes a processor. The processor is configured to execute codes or instructions to implement the functions of any of the method embodiments described above. Optionally, the chip further includes an interface, and the processor is coupled to the interface. The interface is configured to receive or output signals.

[0400] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the application are generated. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable devices. 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 through wired (such as coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (such as infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) mode. The computer readable storage medium can be any available medium accessible by a computer or a data storage device such as a server, data center, etc. integrated with one or more available media. The available media can be magnetic media (such as floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), optical media (such as high-density digital video disc (digital video disc, DVD)), or semiconductor media (such as SSD), etc.

[0401] The above description is merely a specific implementation of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or replacements within the technical range disclosed in the present application, which should be covered within the protection scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application should be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

[0402] In addition, reference herein to "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the application. The appearances of the phrase in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are they necessarily mutually exclusive of other embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate from the present disclosure that the embodiments described herein are not all inclusive of the application.

[0403] The terms and / or descriptions used in different embodiments are consistent and can be mutually referred to, if not specifically stated and not in conflict with logic, and the technical features in different embodiments can be combined to form new embodiments according to their inherent logical relationship.

[0404] It can be understood that some optional features in the embodiments of the application can be independent of other features in some scenarios, or can be combined with other features in some scenarios, without limitation.

[0405] It can be understood that the solutions in the embodiments of the application can be used in combination, and the explanations or descriptions of various terms appearing in the embodiments, similar operations or steps can be mutually referred to or explained in various embodiments, which are not limited by the application.

[0406] In the present application, "at least one" refers to one or more, "a plurality of" refers to two or more, "at least two" refers to two or three and more, and "and / or" is used to describe the association relationship of the associated objects, which means that there can be three relationships, for example, "A and / or B" can mean that there are three cases of only A, only B, and A and B at the same time, where A and B can be singular or plural. "Or" means that there can be two relationships, such as only A, only B; when A and B are not mutually exclusive, it can also mean that there are three relationships, such as only A, only B, and A and B at the same time. The character " / " generally represents an "or" relationship between the associated objects before and after it. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions means any combination of these items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can mean a, b, c, "a and b", "a and c", "b and c", or "a and b and c".

[0407] In the present application, "first", "second", and various numerical designations indicate differentiation for the sake of description, and are not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments of the application. For example, to distinguish different messages, rather than to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the objects thus described can be interchanged under appropriate circumstances in order to describe solutions other than the embodiments of the application.

[0408] In this application, the terms "include", "has" and their derivatives, mean, when used in this application, the term "comprises", "comprising" or "including" or any variant thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or units are not necessarily limited to those steps or units, but can include other steps or units not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

[0409] In this application, "corresponding" can be replaced by "binding", "related", "relevant" and the like.

[0410] In this application, "for indicating" can include "for directly indicating" and "for indirectly indicating". When describing that certain indication information is used to indicate A, it can include that the indication information directly indicates A or indirectly indicates A, and it does not mean that A must be carried in the indication information.

[0411] In this application, "sending" and "receiving" represent the direction of signal transmission. For example, "sending information to XX" can be understood as that the destination of the information is XX, which can include direct sending through the air interface, and also includes indirect sending through the air interface by other units or modules. "Receiving information from YY" can be understood as that the source of the information is YY, which can include direct receiving from YY through the air interface, and also can include indirect receiving from YY through the air interface by other units or modules. "Sending" can also be understood as "output" of chip interface, and "receiving" can also be understood as "input" of chip interface. In other words, sending and receiving can be carried out between devices, such as between network devices and terminal devices, or can be carried out within a device, such as between components, modules, chips, software modules or hardware modules in the device through bus, wire or interface. The information between the source and the destination of the information transmission can be processed as necessary, such as format change, but the destination can understand the valid information from the source.

[0412] In this application, the words "exemplary" or "for example" are used to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment or design scheme described in this application as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be construed as being more preferred or advantageous than other embodiments or design schemes. In fact, the use of the words "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present related concepts in a specific manner, which is convenient for understanding.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: Determine the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance bound to the service flow and the address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance; Send the first information to the access network equipment and / or user plane function network elements; Wherein, the first information includes tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, and the tunnel endpoint address information belongs to the address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance; or, The first information includes the address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The determination of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance bound to the service flow and the address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance include: Obtain the address range corresponding to one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances. The address ranges corresponding to different deterministic Internet Protocol instances are different. The first deterministic Internet Protocol instance to which the service flow is bound is determined from the one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances; The address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance is determined from the address ranges corresponding to one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, Obtain the address range corresponding to one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances, including: Address ranges are assigned to the one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances, with different address ranges assigned to different deterministic Internet Protocol instances.

4. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, Obtain the address range corresponding to one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances, including: The system receives address ranges allocated to the one or more deterministic Internet of Things (IIoT) instances from the operation and maintenance management network element. Different IIoT instances are allocated different address ranges.

5. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, Obtain the address range corresponding to one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances, including: Receive address ranges allocated from access network devices for the one or more deterministic Internet of Things (IoT) instances, wherein different deterministic IoT instances are allocated different address ranges; and / or, receive address ranges allocated from user plane function network elements for the one or more deterministic IoT instances, wherein different deterministic IoT instances are allocated different address ranges. Based on the address ranges allocated by the access network device to the one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances and / or the address ranges allocated by the user plane function network element to the one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances, the address ranges corresponding to the one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances are determined.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The determination of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance bound to the service flow and the address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance include: Determine the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance bound to the service flow; Assign an address range to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The determination of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance bound to the service flow and the address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance include: Determine the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance bound to the service flow; Send a second message to the operation and maintenance management network element, the second message being used to request the allocation of an address range for the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance; Receive the address range allocated for the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance from the operation and maintenance management network element.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, The method further includes: The service flow demand information and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance are sent to the access network device and / or the user plane function network element. The service flow demand information and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance are used to determine the transmission strategy for the service flow transmitted based on the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that, The method further includes: The service flow demand information and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance are sent to the deterministic network controller. The service flow demand information and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance are used to determine the transmission strategy for the service flow transmitted based on the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

10. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: Receive the first information from the session management function network element; Based on the first information, the tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow is determined; Wherein, the first information includes tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, the tunnel endpoint address information belonging to the address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance; or, The first information includes the address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The first deterministic Internet Protocol instance is a deterministic Internet Protocol instance to which the service flow is bound in one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances, and the address ranges corresponding to different deterministic Internet Protocol instances are different.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that, The method further includes: Address ranges are assigned to the one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances, and different address ranges are assigned to different deterministic Internet Protocol instances; Send the address range allocated for the one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances to the session management function network element.

13. The method according to any one of claims 10 to 12, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive the service flow demand information and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance from the session management function network element; The service flow demand information and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance are sent to the deterministic Internet Protocol edge node. The service flow demand information and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance are used to determine the transmission strategy for the service flow transmitted based on the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

14. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that, The business flow consists of multiple unaggregated business flows; Within the address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, the tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the multiple unaggregated service flows is different.

15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that, The business flow is an aggregation of multiple business flows; Within the address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, the tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the aggregated multiple service flows is the same; or, The address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance is divided into multiple different address segments. The tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the aggregated multiple service flows within the address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance belongs to the same address segment among the multiple address segments.

16. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that, If the first information includes tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, the first information also includes the correspondence between the address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance and the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

17. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that, The first information includes the address range corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, specifically: The first information includes the correspondence between the address range of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance and the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

18. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 17, characterized in that, The address range is an Internet Protocol (IP) address range, and the tunnel endpoint address information is the tunnel endpoint IP address; or... The address range includes an IP address range and a port range, and the tunnel endpoint address information includes the tunnel endpoint IP address and the tunnel endpoint port information.

19. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: Receive one or more tunnel endpoint address information from the access network device; Receive one or more tunnel endpoint address information from the user plane function network element; Configure one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the access network device and one or more tunnel endpoint address information of the user plane function network element as path endpoint address information corresponding to one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances.

20. The method according to claim 19, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive service flow demand information and identity information of a first deterministic Internet Protocol instance from a session management network element, the access network device, or the user plane function network element. The first deterministic Internet Protocol instance is the deterministic Internet Protocol instance to which the service flow is bound in one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances. Based on the service flow demand information and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, a transmission strategy is determined for the service flow transmitted based on the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

21. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: Determine the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance for business flow binding; Send third information to access network equipment and user plane function network elements. The third information includes path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance. The third information is used to indicate that the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance is used as the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow.

22. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that, The method further includes: The path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance is obtained from the storage network element. The storage network element is used to store the deterministic Internet Protocol instance information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance. The deterministic Internet Protocol instance information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance includes the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

23. The method according to claim 21 or 22, characterized in that, The method further includes: The service flow demand information and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance are sent to the access network device and / or the user plane function network element. The service flow demand information and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance are used to determine the transmission strategy for the service flow transmitted based on the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

24. The method according to claim 21 or 22, characterized in that, The method further includes: The service flow demand information and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance are sent to the deterministic network controller. The service flow demand information and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance are used to determine the transmission strategy for the service flow transmitted based on the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

25. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: Send one or more tunnel endpoint address information to the deterministic network controller, wherein the one or more tunnel endpoint address information is used to configure the path endpoint address information corresponding to one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances respectively; Receive third information from the session management function network element, the third information including path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance, the third information being used to indicate that the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance is used as the tunnel endpoint address information allocated for the service flow, the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance being the deterministic Internet Protocol instance to which the service flow is bound in one or more deterministic Internet Protocol instances; Based on the third information, the tunnel endpoint address information allocated to the service flow is determined to be the path endpoint address information corresponding to the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

26. The method according to claim 25, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive the service flow demand information and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance from the session management function network element; The service flow demand information and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance are sent to the deterministic Internet Protocol edge node. The service flow demand information and the identity information of the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance are used to determine the transmission strategy for the service flow transmitted based on the first deterministic Internet Protocol instance.

27. The method according to any one of claims 19 to 26, characterized in that, The tunnel endpoint address information is the tunnel endpoint Internet Protocol (IP) address, and the path endpoint address information is the path endpoint IP address; or... The tunnel endpoint address information includes the tunnel endpoint IP address and the tunnel endpoint port information, and the path endpoint address information includes the path endpoint IP address and the path endpoint port information.

28. A communication device, characterized in that, The apparatus includes modules or units for implementing the method of any one of claims 1 to 9, 14 to 18, or includes modules or units for implementing the method of any one of claims 10 to 18, or includes modules or units for implementing the method of any one of claims 19, 20, 27, or includes modules or units for implementing the method of any one of claims 21 to 24, 27, or includes modules or units for implementing the method of any one of claims 25 to 27.

29. A communication device, characterized in that, Including the processor; The processor is configured to execute a computer program or instructions to cause the communication device to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, 14 to 18, or the method according to any one of claims 10 to 18, or the method according to any one of claims 19, 20, 27, or the method according to any one of claims 21 to 24, 27, or the method according to any one of claims 25 to 27.

30. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program that, when the computer program is run, implements the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, 14 to 18, or the method according to any one of claims 10 to 18, or the method according to any one of claims 19, 20, and 27, or the method according to any one of claims 21 to 24 and 27, or the method according to any one of claims 25 to 27.

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