Communication method and related apparatus

Abstract

Provided are a communication method and a related apparatus, capable of more effectively ensuring the QoS of a service. The method comprises: a network side device determines a target PDB of a first data packet, wherein the target PDB is determined on the basis of an RTT requirement, the target PDB comprises a target uplink PDB or a target downlink PDB, and the RTT requirement is an RTT requirement of the first data packet between a terminal device and a server; and the network side device transmits the first data packet on the basis of the target PDB.

Description

Communication method and related apparatus

[0001] The present application claims priority to the Chinese patent application No. 202410870010.4, filed on June 29, 2024, and entitled "Communication method and related 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, and in particular, to a communication method and related apparatus. BACKGROUND

[0003] A packet delay budget (PDB) defines an upper limit of time delay of a data packet between a terminal device and a user plane function (UPF) N6 interface termination point. In a radio access network (RAN), the PDB can be used to support scheduling configuration and configuration of link layer functions (for example, setting scheduling priority) to enable the data packet to meet the delay requirement of transmission. The PDB can be divided into uplink (UL) PDB and downlink (DL) PDB.

[0004] The UL PDB is used to guarantee the quality of service (QoS) of uplink services, and the DL PDB is used to guarantee the QoS of downlink services, so the appropriate DL PDB and DL PDB are particularly important for guaranteeing the QoS of services. SUMMARY

[0005] The present application provides a communication method and related apparatus to better guarantee the QoS of services.

[0006] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to a network side device. For example, the network side device can be an access network device or a UPF network element, or can be a component (such as a chip, a chip system, etc.) configured in the access network device or the UPF network element, or can be a logic module or software capable of realizing all or part of the functions of the access network device or the UPF network element, and the present application does not limit this. In the following, for the convenience of understanding and description, the method is described by taking the access network device as an example of the network side device.

[0007] Exemplarily, the method comprises: determining a target PDB of the first data packet, the target PDB being determined based on a round trip time (RTT) requirement, the target PDB comprising a target uplink PDB or a target downlink PDB, the RTT requirement being a requirement for an RTT between the terminal device and the server; and transmitting the first data packet based on the target PDB.

[0008] Optionally, the target PDB comprises an uplink PDB, and the first data packet comprises one or more uplink data packets; or the target PDB comprises a downlink PDB, and the first data packet comprises one or more downlink data packets.

[0009] Alternatively, the RTT requirement is a requirement for a transmission time length of the first data packet from the terminal device to the server, and then from the server to the terminal device after processing. Alternatively, the RTT requirement comprises a total latency requirement of a 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) system and a total latency requirement of a non-3GPP system, wherein the total latency requirement of the 3GPP system is an upper limit of a time delay between the terminal device and an N6 interface endpoint of a UPF, and the total latency requirement of the non-3GPP system is an upper limit of a time delay between the UPF and the server.

[0010] Optionally, the RTT requirement can be a predefined time length, or the RTT requirement can be determined by the server and indicated to the network side device.

[0011] Based on the technical solution, the network side device determines the target PDB of the first data packet based on the RTT requirement, and the RTT requirement comprises not only the total latency of the 3GPP system but also the total latency requirement of the non-3GPP system, that is, the target PDB of the first data packet determined by the network side device not only considers the total latency of the 3GPP system but also considers the total latency requirement of the non-3GPP system. For end-to-end services (such as extended reality (XR) and robot services), the total latency requirement of the non-3GPP system can also affect the transmission latency of the data packet. Therefore, the application adjusts the target PDB based on the RTT requirement, which can more effectively guarantee the QoS of such services. In addition, the network side device adjusts the PDB in a data packet granularity, which can dynamically adjust the PDB according to the actual transmission of the data packet, and thus can better guarantee the QoS of the services.

[0012] In some implementations of the first aspect, the target PDB is a target downlink PDB; and the determining the target PDB of the first data packet comprises determining the target downlink PDB of the first data packet based on the RTT requirement, a first time and a second time.

[0013] The first time is a time when the first data packet arrives at the network-side device, and the second time is a time when the terminal device generates a second data packet.

[0014] The difference between the first time and the second time can determine a transmission delay of the first data packet from the terminal device to the RAN, to the server, after processing by the server, and then from the server to the RAN, and thus the target PDB of the first data packet can be obtained based on the RTT requirement and the difference.

[0015] For example, the target PDB of the first data packet = the RTT requirement - (the first time - the second time).

[0016] Optionally, the method further comprises recording the second time when the first data packet arrives at the first communication device.

[0017] In some implementations of the first aspect, the target PDB is a target downlink PDB; and the determining the target PDB of the first data packet comprises determining the target downlink PDB of the first data packet based on an application layer processing deadline and a first time.

[0018] The application layer processing deadline is a sum of the RTT requirement and the second time.

[0019] For example, the application layer processing deadline = the RTT requirement + the second time, and the target PDB of the first data packet = the application layer processing deadline - the first time.

[0020] In some implementations of the first aspect, the method further comprises receiving first information, the first information being used to indicate a mapping relationship between a generation time of at least one uplink data packet and an identifier of at least one downlink data packet, and being used to indicate a cycle of uplink service, the at least one uplink data packet and the first data packet belonging to the uplink service; and determining the second time when the terminal device generates the second data packet based on the mapping relationship, the identifier of the first data packet, and the cycle of the uplink service.

[0021] The generation time of the at least one uplink data packet is a time when the terminal device generates the at least one uplink data packet.

[0022] Optionally, the identifier of the at least one downlink data packet can be an SN of the at least one downlink data packet or other identifier information, which is not limited in the present application. It can be understood that the SNs between each two downlink data packets in the at least one downlink data packet can be different.

[0023] Optionally, the first information is further used to indicate one or more of the following: a first parameter, a burst arrival time (BAT), an application layer processing deadline corresponding to the at least one uplink data packet, or the RTT requirement; the first parameter is used to determine a quantity of uplink data packets corresponding to the first data packet, and the uplink data packets include the second data packet.

[0024] Optionally, the application layer processing deadline corresponding to the at least one uplink data packet can be understood as a sum of a generation time of each uplink data packet in the at least one uplink data packet and the RTT requirement, and the generation time of each uplink data packet is a time at which the terminal device generates each uplink data packet.

[0025] Optionally, the first parameter can be a ratio of a quantity of the at least one uplink data packet to a quantity of at least one downlink data packet corresponding to the at least one uplink data packet. For example, the at least one downlink data packet corresponding to the at least one uplink data packet refers to at least one data packet obtained by processing the at least one uplink data packet by a server.

[0026] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the target PDB is a target uplink PDB; and the determining of the target PDB of the first data packet comprises: receiving second information from the server, the second information being used to indicate an adjustment value of an uplink PDB of the first data packet, the adjustment value being related to the RTT requirement; and adjusting a first uplink PDB to the target uplink PDB based on the adjustment value, the first uplink PDB being a current uplink PDB of the first data packet.

[0027] Optionally, the receiving of the second information from the server comprises: receiving the second information from the server by an application function (AF).

[0028] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further comprises: determining to increase or decrease the first uplink PDB; and sending third information to the server, the third information being used to indicate the increase or decrease of the first uplink PDB.

[0029] Optionally, the sending of the third information to the server comprises: sending the third information to the server by an AF.

[0030] It can be understood that, in the case that the RTT requirement does not change, the first uplink PDB is increased, and the downlink PDB of the first data packet is reduced; or in the case that the RTT requirement does not change, the first uplink PDB is reduced, and the downlink PDB of the first data packet is increased.

[0031] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the determining of the increase or decrease of the first uplink PDB comprises: determining the decrease of the first uplink PDB based on one or more of the following conditions: the downlink PDB in a preset time period is less than a first preset value, the downlink data volume is greater than a second preset value, the downlink channel state is less than a third preset value, or the latency requirement of the downlink data packet in a future time period is greater than a first downlink PDB, the first downlink PDB being a current downlink PDB of the first data packet; or determining the increase of the first uplink PDB based on one or more of the following conditions: the downlink PDB in a preset time period is greater than or equal to a first preset value; the downlink data volume is less than or equal to a second preset value; the downlink channel state is greater than or equal to a third preset value; or the latency requirement of the downlink data packet in a future time period is less than or equal to the first downlink PDB.

[0032] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further comprises: sending, to the server, fourth information, the fourth information being used to indicate an adjustment range of the first uplink PDB, the adjustment value belonging to the adjustment range, and the adjustment range of the uplink PDB being related to the RTT requirement.

[0033] Optionally, the sending of the fourth information to the server comprises: sending, by the AF, the fourth information to the server.

[0034] Optionally, the adjustment range of the first uplink PDB is determined based on the RTT requirement, the current downlink PDB, and one or more of the following difference values: a difference value between the downlink PDB in a preset time period and a first preset value, a difference value between the downlink data volume and a second preset value, a difference value between a parameter value of the downlink channel state and a third preset value, or a difference value between the latency requirement of the downlink data packet in a future time period and a first downlink PDB.

[0035] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the RTT requirement is in the granularity of a data packet set.

[0036] Alternatively, the RTT requirement is an RTT requirement between the terminal device and the server for a data packet set. In this way, the data packet in the present application can be replaced by a data packet set, for example, the first data packet is replaced by a first data packet set.

[0037] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes: establishing a user protocol data unit (PDU) session and a quality of service (QoS) flow, wherein a QoS parameter of the QoS flow includes the RTT requirement.

[0038] In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to a terminal device, or can also be applied to a component (such as a chip, a chip system, etc.) configured in the terminal device, or can also be applied to a logic module or software capable of realizing all or part of the functions of the terminal device, and the present application does not limit this.

[0039] Exemplarily, the method includes: determining a mapping relationship between a generation time of at least one uplink data packet and an identifier of at least one downlink data packet; and sending first information to a network side device, wherein the first information is used to indicate the mapping relationship and indicate a cycle of uplink service.

[0040] The generation time of the at least one uplink data packet is a time at which the terminal device generates the at least one uplink data packet.

[0041] Based on this technical solution, the terminal device sends the determined mapping relationship between the generation time of the uplink data packet and the identifier of the downlink data packet and the cycle of the uplink service to the network side device, so that the network side device can determine the generation time of the uplink data packet (i.e., the second data packet in the foregoing) corresponding to the currently received downlink data packet (i.e., the first data packet in the foregoing) based on the mapping relationship and the service cycle, and then the network side device determines the target PDB of the first data packet based on the RTT requirement and the generation time and the reception time of the currently received downlink data packet. The RTT requirement includes not only the total delay of the 3GPP system, but also the total delay requirement of the non-3GPP system, that is, the target PDB of the first data packet determined by the network side device not only considers the total delay of the 3GPP system, but also considers the total delay requirement of the non-3GPP system. For end-to-end services (such as extended reality (XR) and robot services), the total delay requirement of the non-3GPP system can also affect the transmission delay of the data packet, so the method of adjusting the target PDB based on the RTT requirement can more effectively guarantee the QoS of such services. In addition, the network side device adjusts the PDB in a data packet granularity, and this way of adjusting the PDB can dynamically adjust the PDB according to the actual transmission of the data packet, so as to better guarantee the QoS of the service.

[0042] With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes: recording a generation time corresponding to the at least one uplink data packet; and recording an identifier of the at least one downlink data packet.

[0043] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which can be applied to a communication device. For example, the communication device can be a server, or a component (such as a chip, a chip system, etc.) configured in the server, or a logic module or software capable of implementing all or part of the functions of the server, and the present application does not limit the same. Hereinafter, for the convenience of understanding and description, the method is described by taking the server as an example of the communication device.

[0044] For example, the method includes: receiving third information, the third information being used to indicate to increase or decrease the first uplink PDB, the first uplink PDB being a current uplink PDB of the first data packet; determining an adjustment value of the uplink PDB of the first data packet based on the third information; and sending second information, the second information being used to indicate the adjustment value of the uplink PDB of the first data packet.

[0045] Based on this technical solution, the server sends the adjustment value of the uplink PDB determined based on the third information to the network side device, so that the network side device can consider the processing time of the server side when adjusting the current uplink PDB, and the adjustment is not limited to the adjustment of the PDB between the RAN and the terminal device. This adjustment manner can prevent the uplink data packet from reaching the server too early when the terminal device and the server perform uplink transmission, and can also ensure that the uplink data packet does not miss the server processing time. Therefore, the method provided by the present application can better guarantee the QoS of the service.

[0046] Optionally, the determining the adjustment value of the uplink PDB of the first data packet based on the third information includes: adjusting the processing time of the server based on the third information, and determining the adjustment value of the uplink PDB of the first data packet based on the adjusted processing time.

[0047] The processing time of the server can be a fixed time at which the server processes the data packet, and the processing duration of the server can be a duration required by the server from starting to process the data packet to obtaining the processed data packet.

[0048] Since the processing time of the server is adjusted, the transmission delay of the data packet between the network side device and the server can be changed. Therefore, in the case where the RTT requirement does not change, the change of the transmission delay of the data packet between the network side device and the server will affect the transmission delay budget of the data packet between the terminal device and the network side device. In this way, the server can adjust the uplink PDB and the downlink PDB by adjusting the processing time.

[0049] In some implementations of the third aspect, the method further includes receiving fourth information, the fourth information being used to indicate an adjustment range of an uplink PDB corresponding to the first uplink PDB, the adjustment value belonging to the adjustment range, the adjustment range of the uplink PDB being related to the RTT requirement.

[0050] The description of the adjustment range can refer to the description of the second aspect.

[0051] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, including modules or units for implementing the method in any of the aspects and / or possible implementation manners of the aspects.

[0052] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication apparatus, including a processor for performing the method in any of the aspects and / or possible implementation manners of the aspects.

[0053] The apparatus can further include a memory for storing instructions and data. The memory is coupled to the processor, and the processor, when executing the instructions stored in the memory, can implement the method described in the aspects.

[0054] The apparatus can further include a communication interface for the apparatus to communicate with other devices. Exemplarily, the communication interface can be a transceiver, a circuit, a bus, a module, or other types of communication interfaces.

[0055] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a chip system, including at least one processor for supporting the implementation of the functions involved in any of the aspects and / or possible implementation manners of the aspects, such as receiving or processing the data and / or information involved in the above method.

[0056] In a possible design, the chip system further includes a memory for storing program instructions and data, the memory being located in or outside the processor.

[0057] The chip system can be composed of a chip, or include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0058] In a seventh aspect, the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, including a computer program, when running on a computer, causing the computer to implement the method in any of the aspects and / or possible implementation manners of the aspects.

[0059] In an eighth aspect, the present application provides a computer program product, which comprises a computer program (also referred to as code or instructions), which, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform the method in any one of the above aspects and any possible implementation manner of the aspect.

[0060] In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a communication system, comprising the terminal device and the network side device described above. The network side device is configured to perform the method in the first aspect and any possible implementation manner of the aspect; and the terminal device is configured to perform the method in the second aspect and any possible implementation manner of the aspect.

[0061] Optionally, the communication system further comprises the server described above, which is configured to perform the method in the third aspect and any possible implementation manner of the aspect.

[0062] It should be understood that the fourth aspect to the ninth aspect of the present application correspond to the technical solutions of the first aspect, the second aspect or the third aspect of the present application, and the beneficial effects achieved by each aspect and the corresponding possible implementation manner are similar, which will not be described herein again. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0063] FIG. 1 is a structural schematic diagram of a network architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0064] FIG. 2 is a 5th generation (5G) quality of service (QoS) model based on a quality of service flow;

[0065] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a QoS architecture;

[0066] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a PDB;

[0067] FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0068] FIG. 6 is another schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0069] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a server processing process provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0070] FIG. 8 is still another schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0071] FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0072] FIG. 10 is another schematic block diagram of an apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0073] The technical solutions in the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0074] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, the following points will be explained first:

[0075] First, in the embodiments of the present application, the use of prefixes such as "first", "second", etc. is only for the convenience of distinguishing and describing different things belonging to the same name category, and does not constrain the order, size or quantity of the things. For example, "first information" and "second information" are only different information, and there is no time sequence, size relationship or priority relationship between them.

[0076] Second, "sending" and "receiving" in the embodiments of the present application represent the direction of signal transmission. For example, "sending a target uplink PDB to a terminal device" can be understood as the destination of the target uplink PDB being the terminal device, which can include direct transmission through the air interface, or indirect transmission through the air interface by other units or modules. "Receiving first information from a terminal device" can be understood as the source of the first information being the terminal device, which can include direct reception from the terminal device through the air interface, or indirect reception from the terminal device through the air interface from other units or modules. "Sending" can also be understood as the "output" of the chip interface, and "receiving" can also be understood as the "input" of the chip interface.

[0077] In other words, sending and receiving can be between devices, such as between a terminal device and a network side device; or within a device, such as between components, modules, chips, software modules or hardware modules within a device through a bus, wire or interface.

[0078] It can be understood that before the information is sent from the source to the destination, it may be necessary to process, such as encoding, modulation, etc. After the destination receives the information from the source, it can also perform corresponding processing, such as decoding, demodulation, etc., so as to interpret the effective information from the source. Similar expressions in the present application can be similarly understood, and will not be repeated.

[0079] Third, in the embodiments of the present application, "at least one" means one or more, and "multiple" means two or more. The association relationship between the associated objects is described by "and / or", which means that there can be three kinds of relationships, for example, A and / or B, which can represent the following three cases: A exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character " / " generally represents an "or" relationship between the associated objects before and after it, but does not rule out the case where the associated objects before and after it represent an "and" relationship. The specific meaning represented can be understood in conjunction with the context. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions means any combination of these items, including any combination of single item or multiple items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c; a and b; a and c; b and c; or a and b and c. Where a, b, and c can be single or multiple.

[0080] Fourth, in the embodiments of the present application, "indication" can include direct indication and indirect indication, and can also include explicit indication and implicit indication. The information indicated by a certain information (the first information, the second information, etc. described below) is referred to as the to-be-indicated information. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the to-be-indicated information, for example, but not limited to, the to-be-indicated information can be directly indicated, such as the to-be-indicated information itself or the index of the to-be-indicated information. The to-be-indicated information can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, where the other information and the to-be-indicated information have an association relationship. The to-be-indicated information can also be indicated only by a part of the to-be-indicated information, and the other part of the to-be-indicated information is known or agreed in advance. For example, the indication of a specific information can be achieved by means of the arrangement order of each information agreed in advance (for example, protocol predefined), thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent. The specific manner of indication is not limited in the present application.

[0081] It can be understood that, for the sender of the indication information, the indication information can be used to indicate the to-be-indicated information, and for the receiver of the indication information, the indication information can be used to determine the to-be-indicated information.

[0082] Fifth, the tables in the embodiments of the present application are only examples. The values of the information in the tables are only examples, and other values can be configured, and the present application is not limited. The tables do not limit the protection scope of the present application. For example, the tables can be appropriately deformed and adjusted, such as splitting, merging, and the like. For another example, the parameter names shown in the titles of the tables can also use other names understandable by the communication device, and the values or representations of the parameters can also use other values or representations understandable by the communication device. For another example, the tables can also use other data structures when implemented, such as arrays, queues, containers, stacks, linear tables, pointers, linked lists, trees, graphs, structures, classes, heaps, hash tables, and the like.

[0083] Sixth, in the embodiments of the present application, the descriptions such as “when”, “in the case of”, “if”, and the like all refer to that the device (such as a network side device or a terminal device) will make corresponding processing under certain objective conditions, and are not limited to time, and do not require the device (such as a network side device or a terminal device) to have a judgment action when implemented, and also do not mean that there are other limitations.

[0084] Seventh, the predefinition in the present application can be understood as: definition, predefinition, storage, pre-storage, pre-negotiation, pre-configuration, solidification, or pre-burning.

[0085] Eighth, the saving in the present application can refer to saving in one or more memories. The one or more memories can be separately set, or can be integrated in the encoder or decoder, processor, or communication device. The one or more memories can also be partially separately set and partially integrated in the decoder, processor, or communication device. The type of the memory can be any form of storage medium, and the present application is not limited.

[0086] The technical solutions provided in the present application can be applied to various communication systems, for example: a long term evolution (LTE) system, an LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, an LTE time division duplex (TDD), a sidelink (SL) communication system, a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, a 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system or a new radio access technology (NR), a satellite communication system, and the like. The 5G mobile communication system can include non-standalone (NSA) and / or standalone (SA).

[0087] The technical solutions provided in the present application can also be applied to future communication systems.

[0088] FIG. 1 is a structural schematic diagram of a network architecture 100 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The network architecture 100 is a (5th generation, 5G) network architecture. Network elements in the 5G network architecture include a user equipment (UE) 101, an access network (AN) 102, a core network (CN) user data plane user plane function (UPF) 103, a data network (DN) 104, a server 105, and a core network control plane 106.

[0089] The UE 101 has a carrier signal transmission capability, and the UE can also be referred to as a terminal device, an access terminal, a user unit, a user station, a mobile station, a mobile station, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user apparatus. The following is an aspect description, which is collectively referred to as a terminal device.

[0090] The terminal device can be a device providing voice / data connectivity to a user, for example, a handheld device with wireless connection function, a vehicle-mounted device, etc. Currently, some examples of terminal devices can be: a mobile phone, a pad, a computer (such as a notebook computer, a palm computer, etc.) with wireless transceiver function, a mobile internet device (MID), a virtual reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (AR) device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self driving, a drone, a wireless terminal in remote medical, a wireless terminal in smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in smart city, a wireless terminal in smart home, a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a 5G network, or a terminal device in a future evolved public land mobile network (PLMN), etc.

[0091] Among them, the wearable device can also be called a wearable smart device, which is a general term for devices that are designed and developed by applying wearable technology to daily wear, such as glasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes. The wearable device is a portable device that is directly worn on the body or integrated into the user's clothes or accessories. The wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also a powerful function realized through software support and data interaction, cloud interaction. The general wearable smart device includes a full function, large size, and can realize complete or partial functions without relying on a smart phone, such as a smart watch or smart glasses, and focuses on a certain application function and needs to cooperate with other devices such as a smart phone, such as various smart wristbands, smart jewelry, etc. for monitoring vital signs.

[0092] The terminal device can also be a terminal device in an IoT system. IoT is an important part of future information technology development, and its main technical feature is to connect objects through communication technology and network, so as to realize the intelligent network of man-machine interconnection and object-object interconnection. IoT technology can achieve mass connection, deep coverage and terminal power saving through, for example, narrow band (NB) technology.

[0093] The terminal device can also include intelligent printers, train detectors, gas station sensors, and the like, and the main functions include collecting data (part of the terminal device), receiving control information and downlink data from the access network device, and transmitting electromagnetic waves to transmit uplink data to the access network device.

[0094] In addition, the terminal device in the present application can also be a virtualized device, for example, implemented through general hardware and instantiated virtualization functions, or special hardware and instantiated virtualization functions. Among them, the general hardware can be a server, such as a cloud server.

[0095] It should be understood that the specific form of the terminal device in the present application is not limited.

[0096] The AN 102 is a device with wireless transceiving function, for example, can be a radio access network (RAN) device, used to provide wireless communication function service, and can access the terminal device to the wireless network. The radio access network device can be a node in the radio access network, referred to as RAN node.

[0097] In a possible scenario, the RAN node can be a base station (BS), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), a transmission reception point (TRP), a home evolved NodeB, or a home Node B (HNB), a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) access point (AP), a mobile switching center, or a base station in a future mobile communication system, etc. The RAN node can also be a device assuming a base station function in a device to device (D2D) communication system, a vehicle to everything (V2X) communication system, a machine to machine (M2M) communication system, and an internet to things (IoT) communication system, etc. The RAN node can also be a RAN node in a non terrestrial network (NTN), i.e., the RAN node can be deployed on a high altitude platform or a satellite. The RAN node can be a macro base station, or a micro base station or an indoor station, or a relay node or a donor node, etc., or a radio controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario, or a node in an open radio access network (O-RAN or ORAN) scenario, etc.

[0098] In another possible scenario, a terminal is assisted by multiple RAN nodes to implement wireless access, and different RAN nodes respectively implement part of the functions of a base station. For example, the RAN node can be a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU), etc. The CU and the DU can be separately arranged, or can be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or a radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna processing unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0099] It can be understood that the RU is a unit for transmitting, receiving, amplifying and digitizing radio frequency signals, and the RU is located near the antenna or integrated into the antenna; the DU and the CU are computing modules of the base station, which send digitized radio signals into the network, and the DU is physically located at or near the RU, while the CU can be located closer to the core. It should be understood that in future systems, the functions provided by the CU, DU and RU can be re-sliced.

[0100] Among them, the CU provides support for higher layers of the protocol stack, such as the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, and the radio resource control (RRC), while the DU provides support for lower layers of the protocol stack, such as the radio link control (RLC) layer, the medium access control (MAC) layer, and the physical (PHY) layer.

[0101] In different systems, the CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU can also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in the ORAN system, the CU can also be referred to as an open CU (O-CU), the DU can also be referred to as an open DU (O-DU), the CU-CP can also be referred to as an open CU-CP (O-CU-CP), the CU-UP can also be referred to as an open CU-UP (O-CU-UP), and the RU can also be referred to as an open RU (O-RU).

[0102] Among them, any of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU can be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module. That is, the wireless access network device in this application can be a virtualized device, such as being implemented by a general-purpose hardware and instantiated virtualized functions, or a special-purpose hardware and instantiated virtualized functions. Among them, the general-purpose hardware can be a server, such as a cloud server.

[0103] It should be understood that the specific form of the wireless access network device is not limited in this application.

[0104] It should also be understood that the UE 101 and the AN 102 can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on the water surface; can also be deployed on aircraft, balloons and artificial satellites in the air. The application embodiments do not limit the application scenarios of the AN 102 and the UE 101.

[0105] AN 102 and UE 101 can communicate through a licensed spectrum, can communicate through an unlicensed spectrum, or can communicate through both the licensed spectrum and the unlicensed spectrum; can communicate through a spectrum below 6 gigahertz (GHz), can communicate through a spectrum above 6 GHz, or can communicate through both the spectrum below 6 GHz and the spectrum above 6 GHz. Embodiments of the present application do not limit the spectrum resources used for wireless communication.

[0106] UPF 103 is a functional unit of a user plane, and is mainly responsible for forwarding of packet data, quality of service (QoS) control, charging information statistics, and connection to an external network.

[0107] DN 104 is a network responsible for providing services for UE 101, for example, some DN provides UE 101 with an online function, and some other DN provides UE 101 with an SMS function, and the like.

[0108] Server 105 is a device that communicates with UE 101, and can send service data, for example, data of a video service or data of a voice service, to UE 101. Embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0109] The core network control plane 106 is mainly responsible for service process interaction, issuing data packet forwarding strategy to the user plane, QoS control strategy, etc. As shown in FIG. 1, the control plane network element in the core network control plane 106 can include: an access and mobility function (AMF), a session management function (SMF), a policy control function (PCF), an application function (AF), a network exposure function (NEF), etc. Among them, the AMF is mainly responsible for the access and mobility management of the UE 101. The SMF is mainly responsible for managing the creation, deletion, etc. of user protocol data unit (PDU) sessions, maintaining PDU session context and user plane forwarding pipe information. The PCF is mainly responsible for performing policy control, similar to the policy and charging rules function (PCRF) network element in the long term evolution (LTE), including generating, managing user, session, quality of service (QoS) flow processing strategy, service quality, and generating charging rules, and issuing the corresponding rules to the UPF network element through the SMF. The AF is mainly responsible for providing various service functions, which can interact with the core network through the NEF network element, and can interact with the policy management framework for policy management. The NEF is used to provide a framework for network capability exposure related authentication and interface, and to transfer information between 5G system network functions and other network functions.

[0110] In the network architecture shown in FIG. 1, the UE 101 communicates with the AMF through an N1 interface, which is used for transmitting non access stratum (NAS) signaling. The AN 102 communicates with the AMF through an N2 interface; the AN 102 communicates with the UPF 103 through an N3 interface, which uses a GPRS tunnelling protocol for the user plane (GTP-U) protocol to tunnel user data; the UPF 103 communicates with the SMF through an N4 interface, which is used for policy configuration of the UPF 103 and the like. The UPF 103 communicates with the external DN 104 through an N6 interface, which requires support of a leased line or an L2 / L3 layer tunnel in certain scenarios, and can communicate with the DN network based on an internet protocol (IP).

[0111] It is explained herein that the network side device in the embodiments of the present application can be an access network device or a core network element; each network element involved in the embodiments of the present application can be the network element mentioned in FIG. 1 above, or a network element having the same function as the network element mentioned above in a future communication system. For example, the user plane function network element can be a UPF network element, or a network element having the same function as the UPF network element in a future communication system; the application function network element can be an AF network element, or a network element having the same function as the AF network element; the policy management network element can be a PCF network element, or a network element having the same function as the PCF network element.

[0112] For the communication system shown in FIG. 1, the server 105 can communicate with the UE 101 through the DN 104, the UPF 103, the core network control plane 106, and the AN 102. Exemplarily, a certain video streaming service on the server 105 is transmitted to the UE 101 through the DN 104, the UPF 103, the core network control plane 106, and the AN 102.

[0113] In a mobile communication system, when a terminal device communicates with an external network, a path called a protocol data unit (PDU) session needs to be established through a mobile communication network. Data of the communication is transmitted in the form of a QoS flow in the PDU session to realize control and management of QoS. There can be one or more QoS flows in a PDU session (or multiple QoS flows can share the same PDU session), and user services in the same QoS flow have the same QoS service level, such as scheduling, admission control, and the like.

[0114] Figure 2 is a 5G QoS model based on a quality of service flow. Node B (NB) can be the above-mentioned RAN node, and UPF refers to a function in the 5G core network (5GC) for processing user data plane data. As shown in Figure 2, a radio bearer (RB) is a data link established between the NB and the UE, and the RB and the QoS flow are not one-to-one corresponding; the NG-U tunnel is a user plane data tunnel established between the 5GC and the NG-RAN.

[0115] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a QoS architecture. As shown in Figure 3, for downlink data, when the application layer data packet arrives at the UPF, the UPF identifies the data packet corresponding to which QoS flow according to the packet detection rule (PDR), and marks the QoS flow identifier (QFI), and reaches the AN through the PDU session; the RAN maps the QoS flow to the AN resource according to the mapping relationship between the QoS flow and the RB, and sends the data packet to the UE through the AN resource.

[0116] Correspondingly, for uplink data, when the application layer data packet of the terminal device is generated, the terminal device identifies the data packet corresponding to which QoS flow according to the QoS rules, and marks the QFI, and sends it to the AN through the corresponding AN resource according to the mapping relationship between the QoS flow and the RB; the AN sends the data packet to the UPF, and then forwards it to the application server.

[0117] It can be understood that each QoS flow in a PDU session has a corresponding QoS profile, and the profile includes a set of parameters of the QoS flow, and the parameter includes a PDB used to guarantee the transmission delay of the service. The PDB defines an upper limit of the time delay of a data packet between the UE and the N6 interface endpoint of the UPF (i.e., the transmission part of the 3GPP system). Taking the 5G network architecture shown in Figure 1 as an example, when a certain data packet arrives at the UPF 103, the UPF 103 needs to transmit the data packet to the UE 101 within the PDB. More specifically, as shown in Figure 4, the PDB is composed of the packet delay budget from the core network device to the access network device and the packet delay budget from the access network device to the terminal device. Among them, the packet delay budget from the core network device to the access network device can be referred to as CN PDB, and the packet delay budget from the access network device to the terminal device can be referred to as AN PDB. That is, the AN PDB is determined by subtracting the static value of the CN PDB from the PDB.

[0118] In the RAN, the PDB can be used to support scheduling configuration, priority scheduling weight, and other link layer related functions to ensure that the data packet can meet the delay requirement of transmission. If the delay of a data packet exceeds the PDB, the sending end can select to actively discard the data packet and consider the data packet lost or continue transmission according to the type of the QoS flow. Further, the policy control function (PCF) can divide the PDB into UL PDB and DL PDB according to the round trip delay requirement of the data flow between the terminal device and the UPF N6 interface, and the two can be equal or different. Among them, the UL PDB indicates the PDB of the uplink data packet of the data flow, and the UL PDB indicates the PDB of the downlink data packet of the data flow.

[0119] Currently, the adjustment of the value of the UL PDB or the DL PDB needs to be initiated by the session management function (SMF), and the SMF determines the adjustment of the UL PDB and / or the DL PDB according to the average value of the delay of multiple data packets measured by the UPF between the UE and the UPF N6 interface within a period of time. The PDB determined in this way may have the problem that the value of the DL PDB or the UL PDB is too large or too small for some data packets; secondly, for end-to-end services such as extended reality (XR) and robots, i.e., the uplink data generated by the terminal device is processed by triggering the server and generates downlink data feedback to the terminal device, the transmission delay of such services may be affected by the uplink and downlink PDB and server processing. If the UL PDB and / or the DL PDB is adjusted in the existing manner, i.e., only the transmission delay within the 3GPP network is concerned, and the transmission delay between the terminal device and the external network is not concerned, it may be difficult to better guarantee the QoS of such services.

[0120] Therefore, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and related apparatus, which dynamically adjusts the DLPDB or the UL PDB by the RTT requirement of the service between the terminal device and the server and the actual transmission of the uplink data packet and / or the downlink data packet, effectively guarantees the transmission delay of the uplink and downlink data packets, and further guarantees the QoS of the service.

[0121] The communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the method provided by the present application can be applied to the network architecture shown in FIG. 1, but the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

[0122] The communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the method provided by the present application can be applied to the network architecture shown in FIG. 1, but the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

[0122] The communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the method provided by the present application can be applied to the network architecture shown in FIG. 1, but the embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

[0123] FIG. 5 is a schematic flow chart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 5, the method 500 can include S501-S510. The steps shown in method 500 are described in detail below. It should be understood that the terminal device in FIG. 5 can be the UE 101 in FIG. 1, the server in FIG. 5 can be the server 105 in FIG. 1, and the RAN in FIG. 5 can be the AN 102 in FIG. 1.

[0124] S501, a PDU session and a QoS flow are established between the terminal device and the server.

[0125] For the description of establishing the PDU session and the QoS flow, please refer to the related description of the prior art, which will not be described here.

[0126] Optionally, the QoS parameter of the QoS flow can include an RTT requirement, which is used to ensure the end-to-end transmission delay.

[0127] The RTT requirement is the RTT requirement of the data packet in the QoS flow between the terminal device and the server, or in other words, the transmission delay requirement of the data packet in the QoS flow from the terminal device to the server, processed by the server, and then transmitted from the server to the terminal device. That is, the RTT requirement includes the PDB mentioned above and the round-trip transmission delay requirement from the UPF to the server.

[0128] Optionally, the RTT requirement can be a predefined period of time, or the RTT requirement can be determined by the server and indicated to other network elements participating in establishing the PDU session and / or the QoS flow. For example, the server indicates the RTT requirement to the terminal device, the RAN, or the UPF.

[0129] It can be understood that the RTT requirement can be related to the service, or in other words, different services can define different RTT requirements.

[0130] It can also be understood that the RTT requirement can also be referred to as a round trip PDB (RT-PDB) or other names, which are not limited in the present application.

[0131] S502, the terminal device records N time instants of generating N uplink data packets.

[0132] Wherein, N is a positive integer. The record can also be understood as saving, storing, etc.

[0133] The N uplink data packets can include a first packet and / or one or more packets in a subsequent period of a service (e.g., an XR service).

[0134] It can be understood that the N moments at which the terminal device generates the N uplink data packets can be referred to as N generation moments of the N uplink data packets (hereinafter collectively referred to as N generation moments for ease of description).

[0135] S503, the terminal device sends the N uplink data packets to the server. Correspondingly, the server receives the N uplink data packets from the terminal device.

[0136] It can be understood that the terminal device sending the N uplink data packets to the server can be forwarded through multiple network elements. For example, the terminal device can send the N uplink data packets to the server through a RAN and a core network element.

[0137] S504, the server processes the N uplink data packets to obtain M downlink data packets.

[0138] M is a positive integer, and M and N are the same or different.

[0139] Example one, M is equal to N, indicating that each of the N uplink data packets can obtain one downlink data packet after being processed by the server. That is, the number of uplink data packets and the number of downlink data packets satisfy a 1:1 relationship.

[0140] Example two, M is not equal to N, and N is equal to 1, indicating that one uplink data packet can obtain M downlink data packets after being processed by the server. That is, the number of uplink data packets and the number of downlink data packets satisfy a 1:M relationship.

[0141] Example three, M is not equal to N, and M is equal to 1, indicating that the N uplink data packets can obtain one downlink data packet after being processed by the server. That is, the number of uplink data packets and the number of downlink data packets satisfy an N:1 relationship.

[0142] Example four, M is not equal to N, and both N and M are greater than 1, indicating that the N uplink data packets can obtain M downlink data packets after being processed by the server. That is, the number of uplink data packets and the number of downlink data packets satisfy an N:M relationship.

[0143] In combination with examples one to four, it can be obtained that the number of uplink data packets and the number of corresponding downlink data packets satisfy a certain proportional relationship, which is defined as a first parameter in the present application. That is, the first parameter is used to determine the number of downlink data packets corresponding to one or more uplink data packets. That is, the number of downlink data packets obtained after each uplink data packet is processed by the server can be determined through the first parameter.

[0144] For example, the first parameter is 1:3, and in the case that one uplink data packet is obtained, the first parameter (1:3) can be used to determine that the uplink data packet has obtained three downlink data packets after being processed by the server.

[0145] Optionally, each of the M downlink data packets obtained by the server can correspond to an identification information, which is used to distinguish different downlink data packets. For example, the identification information can be the SN of the downlink data packet, which can be carried in the header part of the downlink data packet. For example, the SN of the data packet can be carried in the header encapsulated by the internet protocol (IP) / transmission control protocol (TCP) / user datagram protocol (UDP) / real-time transport protocol (RTP).

[0146] S505, the server sends the M downlink data packets to the terminal device. Correspondingly, the terminal device receives the M downlink data packets from the server.

[0147] It can be understood that the server sends the M downlink data packets to the terminal device, which can be forwarded through multiple network elements. For example, the server sends the M downlink data packets to the terminal device through the core network element and the RAN.

[0148] S506, the terminal device identifies that there is a corresponding relationship between the N uplink data packets and the M downlink data packets.

[0149] Since the terminal device can determine that the downlink data packets from the server are respectively obtained by the server processing which uplink data packet or which uplink data packets, the terminal device can identify that each of the M downlink data packets is respectively obtained by the server processing which uplink data packet or which uplink data packets in the N uplink data packets after receiving the M downlink data packets, and further obtain the corresponding relationship between the N uplink data packets and the M downlink data packets.

[0150] For example, the terminal device can start timing from the moment when the uplink data packet #1 is generated as the starting moment, and determine the downlink data packets received within the preset time period after the starting moment as the downlink data packets corresponding to the uplink data packet #1. For example, the terminal device generates the data packet #1 at t1, and receives the downlink data packet #1 at t1 to (t1+Δt), and then the terminal device determines that there is a corresponding relationship between the uplink data packet #1 and the downlink data packet #1. Wherein, Δt is a preset time period.

[0151] Table 1 shows a corresponding relationship between an uplink data packet and a downlink data packet.

[0152] Table 1

[0153] As shown in Table 1, each uplink data packet, after being processed by the server, obtains a downlink data packet, and the downlink data packet obtained by the uplink data packet with SN = 1 after being processed by the server has SN = 1, the downlink data packet obtained by the uplink data packet with SN = 2 after being processed by the server has SN = 2, and so on, and the downlink data packet obtained by the uplink data packet with SN = N after being processed by the server has SN = N.

[0154] Optionally, the terminal device can determine the first parameter based on the above corresponding relationship.

[0155] For example, if the terminal device identifies that each of the M downlink data packets is obtained by processing one uplink data packet, the terminal device can determine that the first parameter is 1:1, and determine the corresponding relationship between the identifier of each downlink data packet and the identifier of each uplink data packet; if the terminal device identifies that each of the M downlink data packets is obtained by processing the same uplink data packet, the terminal device can determine that the first parameter is 1:M; if the terminal device identifies that one downlink data packet is obtained by processing N uplink data packets, the terminal device can determine that the first parameter is N:1; if the terminal device identifies that M uplink data packets are obtained by processing N uplink data packets, the terminal device can determine that the first parameter is N:M.

[0156] For example, the terminal device can determine that the first parameter is 1:1 based on the corresponding relationship shown in Table 1.

[0157] In S507, the terminal device determines a mapping relationship between N generation times and identifiers of M downlink data packets.

[0158] For example, the terminal device can determine the downlink data packet corresponding to each of the N generation times based on the identified corresponding relationship between the N uplink data packets and the M downlink data packets, and the N generation times corresponding to the N uplink data packets, and thus obtain the mapping relationship between the N generation times and the identifiers of the M downlink data packets.

[0159] The generation time of each uplink data packet can be recorded by the terminal device. This is because the uplink data packet is generated by the terminal device, and thus the terminal device can directly obtain the generation time of the N uplink data packets.

[0160] Table 2 shows a corresponding relationship between an uplink data packet and a generation time of the uplink data packet.

[0161] Table 2

[0162] As shown in Table 2, the UL data packet with SN = 1 is generated at time t1, the UL data packet with SN = 2 is generated at time t2, the UL data packet with SN = 1 is generated at time t1, and so on, the UL data packet with SN = N is generated at time tN.

[0163] It can be understood that, since one uplink data packet can correspond to one or more downlink data packets, or multiple uplink data packets can correspond to one or more downlink data packets, the mapping relationship can include one generation time corresponding to one or more downlink data packets, or multiple generation times corresponding to one or more downlink data packets.

[0164] In combination with Table 1 and Table 2, a mapping relationship shown in Table 3 can be obtained.

[0165] Table 3

[0166] As shown in Table 3, the SN of the downlink data packet corresponding to the uplink data packet generated at time t1 is 1, the SN of the downlink data packet corresponding to the uplink data packet generated at time t2 is 2, and so on, the SN of the downlink data packet corresponding to the uplink data packet generated at time tN is N = M.

[0167] If the N uplink data packets belong to periodic uplink services, tN can be expressed by t1 and the uplink service period: tN = t1 + (N-1) p, where p is the uplink service period, and N is the SN of the downlink data packet. For example, t2 = t1 + p, t3 = t2 + p = t1 + 2p.

[0168] Exemplarily, in the case of N ≠ M and N = 1, the identification of the downlink data packet corresponding to the generation time of each uplink data packet can be the identification of the last downlink data packet arriving at the RAN among the M downlink data packets.

[0169] Exemplarily, in the case of N ≠ M and M = 1, the generation time of the multiple uplink data packets corresponding to the identification of each downlink data packet can be the generation time of the last uplink data packet arriving at the RAN among the N uplink data packets.

[0170] Exemplarily, in the case of N ≠ M and N = M ≠ 1, the generation time of the uplink data packet in a group of mapping relationships (for example, a row in Table 3) can be the generation time of the last uplink data packet arriving at the RAN among the N uplink data packets, and the identification of the downlink data packet can be the identification of the last downlink data packet arriving at the RAN among the M downlink data packets.

[0171] S508, the terminal device sends first information to the RAN.

[0172] The first information is used to indicate the mapping relationship and a cycle of the uplink service. Correspondingly, the RAN receives the first information from the terminal device.

[0173] The cycle of the uplink service can be understood as a time difference between two adjacent uplink data packets generated by the terminal device belonging to the uplink service. For example, for an XR service, an uplink data packet is generated every 5 milliseconds (ms), and the cycle of the XR service is 5 ms.

[0174] Optionally, the first information is also used to indicate one or more of the following: a first parameter, a burst arrival time (BAT), or an RTT requirement. For a description of the first parameter, refer to the related description in S506 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0175] Optionally, the first information can also be used to indicate an application layer processing deadline for each of the N uplink data packets, which is the sum of the time when the terminal device generates the uplink data packet and the RTT requirement.

[0176] S509, the RAN determines, based on the mapping relationship, the identifier of the first data packet, and the cycle of the uplink service, a second time when the terminal device generates a second data packet.

[0177] Wherein, the second data packet and the first data packet satisfy the following relationship: the first data packet is a downlink data packet obtained after the server processes the second data packet. It can be understood that the second data packet can be one or more data packets generated by the terminal device.

[0178] The first data packet here can be one or more downlink data packets from the server, and the first data packet and the downlink data packet included in the mapping relationship belong to the same service; or in other words, the second data packet and the uplink data packet corresponding to the generation time included in the mapping relationship belong to the same service.

[0179] Optionally, the RAN derives the time when the terminal device generates the second data packet according to the identifier of the first data packet, the mapping relationship indicated by the first information, and the cycle of the uplink service.

[0180] Taking the mapping relationship shown in Table Three as an example, the SN of the downlink data packet is N, and the generation time of the corresponding uplink data packet is tN, and tN=t1+(N-1)p. Therefore, if the RAN obtains the SN of the first data packet is n, the RAN can determine the time when the terminal device generates the second data packet is tn=t1+(n-1)p. For example, n=7, t7=t1+6p.

[0181] Optionally, the RAN records a first time instant at which the first data packet from the server arrives at the RAN.

[0182] At S510, the RAN determines a target downlink PDB of the first data packet according to the RTT requirement, the first time instant, and the second time instant.

[0183] Based on the definition of the first time instant and the second time instant, the RAN can determine, according to the first time instant and the second time instant, a time length from when the terminal device generates the second data packet and sends the second data packet to the server, to when the RAN receives the first data packet processed by the server from the second data packet. Therefore, based on the definition of the RTT requirement, and the definition of the first time instant and the second time instant, the RAN can determine a target downlink AN PDB of the first data packet from the RAN to the terminal device.

[0184] Based on the mapping relationship shown in Table 3, a relationship between a downlink PDB and a generation time, and an identifier of a downlink data packet is shown in Table 4.

[0185] Table 4

[0186] t1' in Table 4 is a time instant at which a downlink data packet with SN = 1 arrives at the RAN, t2' is a time instant at which a downlink data packet with SN = 2 arrives at the RAN, and so on, and tN' is a time instant at which a downlink data packet with SN = N arrives at the RAN. From Table 4, it can be obtained that a DL PDB of the downlink data packet with SN = 1 = RT-PDB-(t1'-t1), a DL PDB of the downlink data packet with SN = 2 = RT-PDB-(t2'-t2), and so on, and a DL PDB of the downlink data packet with SN = M = N = RT-PDB-(tN'-tN).

[0187] Exemplarily, in a case where the RAN is divided into logical entities such as a CU (which can be further divided into a CU-CP / CU-UP) and a DU, S510 mainly occurs between the CU-CP and the CU-UP, and between the CU-CP and the DU. The CU-CP and the CU-UP are connected through an E1 interface, the CU-CP and the DU are connected through an F1-C interface, and the CU-UP and the DU are connected through an F1-U interface.

[0188] In the embodiments of the present application, the RAN determines the target downlink PDB of the first data packet based on the RTT requirement, and the RTT requirement includes not only the total latency of the 3GPP system but also the total latency requirement of the non-3GPP system. That is, the target downlink PDB of the first data packet determined by the RAN takes into account not only the total latency of the 3GPP system but also the total latency requirement of the non-3GPP system. Since the total latency requirement of the non-3GPP system may also affect the transmission latency of the data packet for end-to-end services (such as extended reality (XR) and robot services), the method of adjusting the target PDB based on the RTT requirement can more effectively guarantee the QoS of such services. In addition, the RAN adjusts the PDB at the granularity of the data packet. This way of adjusting the PDB can dynamically adjust the PDB according to the actual transmission of the data packet, and thus can better guarantee the QoS of the services.

[0189] It should be noted that the steps performed by the RAN in the method 500 can be replaced by the UPF. For example, the RAN in S508 to S510 can be replaced by the UPF. However, it should be noted that when the RAN in S508 to S510 is replaced by the UPF, the downlink PDB (including the target downlink PDB) described in the method 500 is no longer the downlink PDB of the first data packet from the RAN to the terminal device, but the downlink PDB of the first data packet from the UPF to the terminal device.

[0190] Optionally, the data packet (including the N uplink data packets, the M downlink data packets, the first data packet, the second data packet, etc.) described in the above method 500 can be replaced by a data packet set. The data packet set can be understood as a complete data packet required by the application layer to complete a service once. For example, the left eye video data packet and the right eye video data packet required by a virtual reality (VR) device to play at a certain moment can be packaged into a data packet set, which can also be referred to as a PDU set.

[0191] It can be understood that if the data packet is replaced by the data packet set, the identification of the data packet can be replaced by the identification of the data packet set. For example, each data packet set is identified by an identification (that is, the identification is at the granularity of the data packet set), or the data packets with the same identification form a data packet set (that is, the identification is at the granularity of the data packet). When the data packet is replaced by the data packet set, the above RTT requirement also needs to be at the granularity of the data packet set, that is, the RTT requirement is the RTT requirement between the terminal device and the server for each data packet set.

[0192] Optionally, the time (including N generation times, the generation time of the second data packet, etc.) at which the terminal device generates the uplink data packet in the method 500 described above can be replaced by: an application layer processing deadline of the uplink data packet on the terminal device side, which is the sum of the time at which the terminal device generates the second data packet and the RTT requirement.

[0193] For example, S507 described above can be replaced by: the terminal device determining a mapping relationship between N application layer processing deadlines and the identifiers of M downlink data packets; S509 described above can be replaced by: the RAN determining, based on the mapping relationship, the identifier of the first data packet, and the period of the uplink service, the application layer processing deadline of the second data packet on the terminal device side; and S510 described above can be replaced by: the RAN determining the downlink PDB of the first data packet according to the application layer processing deadline and the first time.

[0194] The communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application is described in detail below by taking adjusting the uplink PDB of the uplink data packet as an example in combination with FIG. 6.

[0195] Before introducing the method 600, the processing procedure on the server side is briefly introduced in combination with FIG. 7. For a periodic service, the server generally has a fixed processing time. As shown in FIG. 7, the server buffer deadline occurs periodically (the periodically occurring server buffer deadline can be regarded as the fixed processing time of the server). For an uplink scenario, uplink data packets P1, P2, and P3 arrive at the server in sequence. After the uplink data packet P1 arrives, the server buffer deadline has not arrived, and the server does not process the uplink data packet P2. Similarly, after the uplink data packet P2 arrives, the server buffer deadline has not arrived, and the server does not process the uplink data packet P2. But after the uplink data packet P3 arrives, the server buffer deadline also arrives, and the server starts processing the uplink data packets P1, P2, and P3, obtaining one downlink data packet.

[0196] As shown in the time relationship between the uplink data packets P1, P2, and P3 and the server buffer deadline in FIG. 7, it can be seen that the processing delay of the uplink data packet P1 is greater than that of the uplink data packet P2, and the processing delay of the uplink data packet P2 is greater than that of the uplink data packet P3. Among the uplink data packets P1, P2, and P3, the uplink PDB of the uplink data packet P1 can be greater than that of the uplink data packet P2, and the uplink PDB of the uplink data packet P2 can be greater than that of the uplink data packet P3. This ensures that the three uplink data packets neither arrive at the server too early nor miss the processing time of the server.

[0197] Thus, even if the uplink data packet arrives at the server in advance, the server will first put it into the cache and process the data packet at the processing time (for example, the server buffer deadline described above). In this case, if it is desired to reserve more time budget margin for the downlink by tightening the transmission time of the uplink data packet (or reducing the uplink PDB), only adjusting the uplink PDB at the RAN side may not work, because although adjusting the uplink PDB at the RAN side can make the uplink data packet arrive at the server earlier, the server still needs to wait for the processing time before processing it, so after considering the total latency of the non-3GPP, it may be difficult to reserve more time budget margin for the downlink data packet by tightening the transmission time of the uplink data packet, and the server needs to be adjusted synchronously to adjust its processing time; similarly, if the RAN relaxes the uplink transmission time (or increases the uplink PDB), it may cause the uplink data packet to miss the server processing time, affecting the service experience, so the server processing time also needs to be adjusted synchronously. In summary, in the case where the RAN determines to reduce the first uplink PDB to reserve more time budget margin for the downlink, or the RAN determines to increase the first uplink PDB to reserve less time budget margin for the downlink, the server needs to adjust the processing time of the local end synchronously to achieve the adjustment of the uplink PDB and the downlink PDB at the RAN side.

[0198] FIG. 6 is another schematic flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 6, the method 600 can include S601 to S607. The steps shown in method 600 are described in detail below.

[0199] S601, a PDU session and a QoS flow are established between a terminal device and a server.

[0200] The process is the same as S501, so it will not be described here.

[0201] S602, the RAN determines to increase or decrease the first uplink PDB.

[0202] The first uplink PDB is the current uplink PDB of the first data packet, the first data packet includes one or more uplink data packets, and the first uplink PDB is the uplink AN PDB of the first data packet from the terminal device to the RAN.

[0203] When the following conditions occur, to ensure the QoS of the service, the first uplink PDB can be adjusted by the RAN based on one or more of the following conditions: the downlink PDB in the preset time period is less than the first preset value; the downlink data volume is greater than the second preset value; the parameter value of the downlink channel state is less than the third preset value; or the delay requirement of the downlink data packet in the future time period is greater than the first downlink PDB.

[0204] The parameter value of the downlink channel state in the present application can include one or more of the following: channel state information (CSI), reference signal received power (RSRP), received signal strength indication (RSSI), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), and the like.

[0205] Further, the RAN can also determine the adjustment range of the first uplink PDB based on one or more of the above conditions.

[0206] Exemplarily, the RAN can determine the range in which the current downlink PDB can be adjusted based on one or more of the following: the difference between the downlink PDB in the preset time period and the first preset value, the difference between the downlink data volume and the second preset value, the difference between the parameter value of the downlink channel state and the third preset value, or the difference between the delay requirement of the downlink data packet in the future time period and the first downlink PDB, and then determine the adjustment range of the first uplink PDB based on the RTT requirement and the range in which the current downlink PDB can be adjusted.

[0207] Conversely, when the following conditions occur, to ensure the QoS of the service, the first uplink PDB can be adjusted by the RAN based on one or more of the following conditions: the downlink PDB in the preset time period is greater than or equal to the first preset value; the downlink data volume is less than or equal to the second preset value; the parameter value of the downlink channel state is greater than or equal to the third preset value; or the delay requirement of the downlink data packet in the future time period is less than or equal to the first downlink PDB.

[0208] Similarly, the RAN can determine a range in which the current downlink PDB can be reduced based on one or more of the following difference and the current downlink PDB, and then determine the adjustment range of the first uplink PDB based on the RTT requirement and the range in which the current downlink PDB can be reduced: a difference between the downlink PDB in a preset time period and a first preset value, a difference between the downlink data volume and a second preset value, a difference between a parameter value of the downlink channel state and a third preset value, or a difference between the latency requirement of the downlink data packet in a future time period and the first downlink PDB.

[0209] The description of the RTT requirement can refer to the description in the method 500, which will not be repeated here.

[0210] It can be understood that the first preset value to the third preset value can be predetermined or determined according to the requirement of the quality of service for the service.

[0211] S603, the RAN sends third information to the server, the third information being used to indicate increasing or reducing the first uplink PDB. Correspondingly, the server receives the third information from the RAN.

[0212] Optionally, the method 600 further includes that the RAN sends fourth information to the server, the fourth information being used to indicate the adjustment range of the first uplink PDB.

[0213] It can be understood that the third information and the fourth information can be sent simultaneously or separately, which is not limited in the present application.

[0214] S604, the server determines the adjustment value of the uplink PDB of the first data packet based on the third information.

[0215] It can be understood that if the RAN sends the fourth information to the server, the server can determine the adjustment value of the uplink PDB of the first data packet from the adjustment range indicated by the fourth information. Or, in the case that the RAN sends the fourth information to the server, the adjustment value of the uplink PDB determined by the server can belong to the adjustment range.

[0216] Optionally, the server determines the adjustment value of the uplink PDB of the first data packet based on the third information, including: the server adjusts the processing time of the server based on the third information; and determines the adjustment value of the uplink PDB of the first data packet based on the adjusted processing time.

[0217] The processing time of the server can be a fixed time for the server to process a data packet, for example, the server processes a data packet every 5 ms, if the first processing time of the data packet is 1 ms, the second processing time of the data packet is (1+5=6) ms, and so on, and the mth (m is an integer greater than 2) processing time of the data packet is (1+5(m-1)) ms.

[0218] By adjusting the processing time of the server, the transmission delay of the data packet between the network side device and the server can be changed. Therefore, in the case where the RTT requirement does not change, the change of the transmission delay of the data packet between the network side device and the server will affect the transmission delay budget of the data packet between the terminal device and the network side device. In this way, the server can adjust the uplink PDB and the downlink PDB by adjusting the processing delay.

[0219] In example one, in the case where the RTT requirement does not change, if it is necessary to increase the downlink PDB (or vice versa, i.e., to decrease the uplink PDB), the server can decrease the processing time of the server at each time (for example, it can be achieved by moving the server cache deadline to the right as shown in FIG. 7) without changing the processing duration.

[0220] It can be understood that in the case where the processing time of the server at each time is decreased, or the inherent processing time of the server is advanced, in order to ensure that the uplink data packet does not miss the processing time of the server, the uplink PDB can be decreased so that the uplink data packet reaches the server earlier.

[0221] In example two, in the case where the RTT requirement does not change, if it is necessary to decrease the uplink PDB (or vice versa, i.e., to increase the uplink PDB), the server can increase the processing delay of the server at each time (for example, it can be achieved by moving the server cache deadline to the left as shown in FIG. 7) without changing the processing duration.

[0222] Similarly, in the case where the processing time of the server at each time is increased, or the inherent processing time of the server is delayed, in order to avoid that the uplink data packet reaches the server too early, the uplink PDB can be increased to reduce the waiting duration of the data packet at the server, or in other words, to reduce the processing delay of the data packet at the server, which is the duration from when the server receives the data packet to when the server starts processing the data packet.

[0223] In S605, the server sends second information to the RAN, where the second information is used to indicate an adjustment value of the uplink PDB of the first data packet. Correspondingly, the RAN receives the second information from the server.

[0224] S606, the RAN adjusts the first uplink PDB to the target uplink PDB based on the adjustment value.

[0225] Exemplarily, in a case that the RAN determines to increase the first uplink PDB and the adjustment value is greater than 0, the target uplink PDB can be a sum of the first uplink PDB and the adjustment value; or in a case that the RAN determines to decrease the first uplink PDB and the adjustment value is greater than 0, the target uplink PDB can be a difference between the first uplink PDB and the adjustment value.

[0226] S607, the RAN sends the target uplink PDB to the terminal device.

[0227] Optionally, the RAN can send the target PDB to the terminal device through a radio resource control (RRC) configuration message, or in other words, the target uplink PDB can be carried in the RRC configuration message.

[0228] In the embodiments of the present application, the RAN dynamically adjusts the current uplink PDB according to the actual communication state and RTT requirement between the RAN and the terminal device, and considers the processing time of the server side when adjusting the current uplink PDB, which is not limited to the adjustment of the PDB between the RAN and the terminal device. This adjustment method can make the uplink data packet not arrive at the server too early when the terminal device and the server perform uplink transmission, and can also ensure that the uplink data packet does not miss the server processing time. Therefore, the method provided by the present application can better guarantee the QoS of the service.

[0229] It should be noted that the steps performed by the RAN in the method 600 can be replaced by the UPF. For example, the RAN in S602, S603 and S605 to S607 can be replaced by the UPF. However, it should be noted that when replaced by the UPF, the uplink PDB (including the first uplink PDB and the target uplink PDB) described in the method 600 is no longer the uplink PDB of the first data packet from the terminal device to the RAN, but the uplink PDB of the first data packet from the terminal device to the UPF.

[0230] Similar to the method 500, the data packet (including the first data packet) described in the method 600 can be replaced by a data packet set. The description of the data packet set can refer to the related description in the foregoing, which will not be described here.

[0231] It can be understood that the embodiments shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 can be combined with each other or independently implemented. When FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 are independently implemented, more or fewer steps than those shown in FIG. 5 or FIG. 6 can be performed; when the embodiments shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 are combined, the communication method provided by the present application can include: establishing a PDU session and a QoS flow between a terminal device and a server; determining a downlink PDB of a first data packet by a RAN according to an RTT requirement; and determining to increase or decrease a first uplink PDB by the RAN, and other more detailed processes can be referred to the description of the embodiments shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6. That is, the method 600 can be executed after the method 500.

[0232] Based on the embodiments shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the method provided by the present application will be introduced in combination with FIG. 8, and the content already introduced in the embodiments shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 will not be repeated.

[0233] FIG. 8 is another schematic flowchart of a communication method 800 provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method 800 can be executed by a network side device, can also be executed by a chip, a chip system, or a processor supporting the implementation of the network side device, or can also be executed by a logic module or software capable of realizing all or part of the functions of the network side device. It should be understood that when the communication method shown in FIG. 8 is applied to the communication system shown in FIG. 1, the network side device can be an access network device or a UPF. It should be noted that if the network side device is an access network device, the target PDB described below is an AN PDB, specifically, the target uplink PDB is an uplink AN PDB, and the target downlink PDB is a downlink AN PDB; if the network side device is a UPF, the target PDB described below is an upper limit of the time delay of the data packet between the terminal device and the N6 interface endpoint of the UPF.

[0234] As shown in FIG. 8, the method 800 can include S801 and S802. The steps in the method 800 will be described in detail below.

[0235] S801, determining a target PDB of a first data packet, the target PDB being determined based on an RTT requirement.

[0236] The target PDB includes a target uplink PDB or a target downlink PDB.

[0237] It can be understood that the target PDB includes an uplink PDB, and the first data packet includes one or more uplink data packets; or the target PDB includes a downlink PDB, and the first data packet includes one or more downlink data packets.

[0238] The description of the RTT requirement can be referred to the description in the method 500, which will not be repeated here.

[0239] S802, transmitting the first data packet based on the target PDB.

[0240] Exemplarily, the target PDB includes a target downlink PDB, and the network-side device transmits the first data packet to the terminal device within a transmission duration defined by the target downlink PDB.

[0241] Exemplarily, the target PDB includes a target uplink PDB, and the terminal device notifies the network-side device of scheduling a corresponding resource within a transmission duration defined by the target uplink PDB, so as to transmit the first data packet to the network-side device within the defined transmission duration.

[0242] In the embodiments of the present application, the network-side device determines the target PDB of the first data packet based on the RTT requirement, and the RTT requirement includes not only the total delay of the 3GPP system but also the total delay requirement of the non-3GPP system, that is, the target PDB of the first data packet determined by the network-side device not only considers the total delay of the 3GPP system but also considers the total delay requirement of the non-3GPP system. For end-to-end services (such as extended reality (XR) and robot services), the total delay requirement of the non-3GPP system may also affect the transmission delay of the data packet. Therefore, the method of adjusting the target PDB based on the RTT requirement can more effectively guarantee the QoS of such services. In addition, the network-side device adjusts the PDB at the granularity of the data packet. This way of adjusting the PDB can dynamically adjust the PDB according to the actual transmission situation of the data packet, so as to better guarantee the QoS of the service.

[0243] In a first possible implementation, the target PDB is a target downlink PDB, and the above-mentioned determining the target PDB of the first data packet can be replaced by determining the target downlink PDB of the first data packet.

[0244] Optionally, the above-mentioned determining the target PDB of the first data packet includes: determining the target downlink PDB of the first data packet based on the RTT requirement, the first time and the second time; or determining the target downlink PDB of the first data packet based on the application layer processing deadline and the first time.

[0245] The first time is the time when the first data packet arrives at the network-side device, the second time is the time when the terminal device generates a second data packet, the application layer processing deadline is the sum of the time when the terminal device generates the second data packet and the RTT requirement, and the first data packet is a data packet after the second data packet is processed by a server.

[0246] Exemplarily, the target downlink PDB of the first data packet = RTT requirement - (first time - second time). For example, the RTT requirement is 70 ms, the first time is 65 ms different from the second time, and the target downlink PDB of the first data packet is (70-65=5) ms.

[0247] Exemplarily, the target downlink PDB of the first data packet = application layer processing deadline - the second time.

[0248] Optionally, the method 800 further includes: the terminal device sending, to the network side device, the first information, the first information being used to indicate a mapping relationship between the generation time of the at least one uplink data packet and the identifier of the at least one downlink data packet, and being used to indicate a period of the uplink service. Correspondingly, the network side device receives the first information from the terminal device; and determines the second time at which the terminal device generates the second data packet based on the mapping relationship, the identifier of the first data packet and the period of the uplink service.

[0249] The at least one uplink data packet and the first data packet belong to the uplink service.

[0250] The process can refer to the description in S508 and S509 in the foregoing method 500, and details are not described herein.

[0251] Optionally, the first information is further used to indicate one or more of the following: a first parameter, a BAT, an application layer processing deadline of the at least one uplink data packet, or an RTT requirement; the first parameter being used to determine a number of uplink data packets corresponding to the first data packet, the uplink data packets including the second data packet.

[0252] Optionally, the method 800 further includes: the terminal device determining a mapping relationship between the generation time of the at least one uplink data packet and the identifier of the at least one downlink data packet.

[0253] The process can refer to the description in S506 and S507 in the foregoing method 500, and details are not described herein.

[0254] In a second possible implementation, the target PDB is a target uplink PDB. Then the determination of the target PDB of the first data packet can be replaced by the determination of the target uplink PDB of the first data packet.

[0255] Optionally, the determination of the target PDB of the first data packet includes: the server sending, to the network side device, second information, the second information being used to indicate an adjustment value of the uplink PDB of the first data packet, the adjustment value being related to the RTT requirement. Correspondingly, the network side device receives the second information from the AF or the server; and adjusts the first uplink PDB to the target uplink PDB based on the adjustment value.

[0256] The first uplink PDB is a current uplink PDB of the first data packet.

[0257] Optionally, the server sends the second information to the network side device through the AF.

[0258] The process can refer to S605 and S606 in method 600, which will not be described here.

[0259] Optionally, the method 800 further includes: determining, by the network-side device, to increase or decrease the first uplink PDB; and sending, by the network-side device, third information to the server, the third information being used to indicate the increase or decrease of the first uplink PDB. Correspondingly, the AF or the server receives the third information, and determines the adjustment value of the uplink PDB of the first data packet based on the third information.

[0260] Optionally, the network-side device can send the third information to the server through the AF.

[0261] The process can refer to the description in S602 to S604 in method 600, which will not be described here.

[0262] Optionally, the network-side device determines to increase or decrease the first uplink PDB, including: determining to decrease the first uplink PDB based on one or more conditions, including: the downlink PDB in a preset time period is less than a first preset value, the downlink data volume is greater than a second preset value, a parameter value of a downlink channel state is less than a third preset value, or a delay requirement of a downlink data packet in a future time period is greater than the first downlink PDB, and the first downlink PDB is a current downlink PDB of the first data packet.

[0263] Or, determining to increase the first uplink PDB based on one or more conditions, including: the downlink PDB in a preset time period is greater than or equal to a first preset value; the downlink data volume is less than or equal to a second preset value; a parameter value of a downlink channel state is greater than or equal to a third preset value; or a delay requirement of a downlink data packet in a future time period is less than or equal to the first downlink PDB.

[0264] Optionally, the method 800 further includes: sending, by the network-side device, fourth information to the server, the fourth information being used to indicate an adjustment range of the first uplink PDB, the adjustment value belonging to the adjustment range, and the adjustment range of the uplink PDB being related to the RTT requirement. Correspondingly, the AF or the server receives the fourth information from the network-side device.

[0265] Optionally, the network-side device can send the fourth information to the server through the AF.

[0266] From the description in S602 in method 600, it can be obtained that the adjustment range of the uplink PDB is determined according to the RTT requirement, the current downlink PDB, and one or more differences, including: a difference between the downlink PDB in a preset time period and a first preset value, a difference between the downlink data volume and a second preset value, a difference between a parameter value of a downlink channel state and a third preset value, or a difference between a delay requirement of a downlink data packet in a future time period and the first downlink PDB. Therefore, it can be said that the adjustment range of the uplink PDB is related to the RTT requirement.

[0267] Optionally, the method 800 further includes: establishing a protocol data unit (PDU) session and a quality of service (QoS) flow, wherein the RTT requirement is included in a QoS parameter of the QoS flow.

[0268] It can be understood that, when the RTT requirement is carried in the QoS parameter of the QoS flow, the RTT parameter can not be carried in the first information; and when the RTT requirement is not carried in the QoS parameter of the QoS flow, the RTT parameter is carried in the first information.

[0269] The establishment of the PDU session and the QoS flow can refer to the prior art, and details are not described herein.

[0270] The method provided by the embodiments of the present application is described in detail above in combination with FIGS. 1 to 8, and the apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application is described in detail below in combination with FIGS. 9 and 10.

[0271] FIGS. 9 and 10 are schematic diagrams of possible apparatuses provided by the embodiments of the present application. The apparatuses can be used to implement the functions of the terminal device, the network side device or the server in the method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects of the method embodiments.

[0272] FIG. 9 is a schematic block diagram of an apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 9, the apparatus 900 includes a processing module 910 and a transceiver module 920.

[0273] A possible design is that the apparatus 900 is used to implement the functions of the network side device in the method embodiments shown in FIGS. 5, 6 and 8.

[0274] Exemplarily, the processing module 910 is configured to: determine a target packet delay budget (PDB) of a first data packet, wherein the target PDB is determined based on a round trip time (RTT) requirement, the target PDB includes a target uplink PDB or a target downlink PDB, and the RTT requirement is an RTT requirement between a terminal device and a server for the first data packet; and the transceiver module 920 is configured to: transmit the first data packet based on the target PDB.

[0275] Optionally, the processing module 910 is specifically configured to: determine the target downlink PDB of the first data packet based on the RTT requirement, a first time and a second time.

[0276] Optionally, the processing module 910 is specifically configured to: determine the target downlink PDB of the first data packet based on a first application layer processing deadline and the first time.

[0277] Optionally, the transceiver 920 is further configured to receive first information, the first information being used to indicate a correspondence between a generation time of at least one uplink data packet and an identifier of at least one downlink data packet, and indicate a period of uplink service; and the processing module 910 is further configured to determine the second time at which the terminal device generates the second data packet based on the correspondence, the identifier of the first data packet, and the period of uplink service.

[0278] Optionally, the transceiver 920 is further configured to receive second information from an application function (AF) or a server, the second information being used to indicate an adjustment value of uplink PDB of the first data packet, the adjustment value being related to the RTT requirement; and the processing module 910 is further configured to adjust a first uplink PDB to the target uplink PDB based on the adjustment value, the first uplink PDB being a current uplink PDB of the first data packet.

[0279] Optionally, the processing module 910 is further configured to determine to increase or decrease the first uplink PDB; and the transceiver 920 is further configured to send third information to the server, the third information being used to indicate to increase or decrease the first uplink PDB.

[0280] Optionally, the transceiver 920 is further configured to send fourth information to the AF or the server, the fourth information being used to indicate an adjustment range of the first uplink PDB, the adjustment value belonging to the adjustment range, and the adjustment range of the uplink PDB being related to the RTT requirement.

[0281] Optionally, the processing module 910 is specifically configured to determine to decrease the first uplink PDB based on one or more conditions, the one or more conditions including that a downlink PDB is less than a first preset value within a preset time period, a downlink data volume is greater than a second preset value, a downlink channel state is less than a third preset value, or a delay requirement of a downlink data packet in a future time period is greater than a first downlink PDB, the first downlink PDB being a current downlink PDB of the first data packet; or determine to increase the first uplink PDB based on one or more conditions, the one or more conditions including that the downlink PDB is greater than or equal to the first preset value within the preset time period, the downlink data volume is less than or equal to the second preset value, the downlink channel state is greater than or equal to the third preset value, or the delay requirement of the downlink data packet in the future time period is less than or equal to the first downlink PDB.

[0282] Optionally, the processing module 910 is specifically configured to establish a protocol data unit (PDU) session and a quality of service (QoS) flow, and a QoS parameter of the QoS flow includes the RTT requirement.

[0283] More details of the processing module 910 and the transceiver module 920 can be referred to the descriptions of the embodiments shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 6 and FIG. 8, and will not be repeated here.

[0284] Another possible design is that the apparatus 900 is configured to implement the functions of the server in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 6 and FIG. 8.

[0285] For example, the processing module 910 is configured to determine a correspondence between a generation time corresponding to the at least one uplink data packet and a sequence number of the at least one downlink data packet, and the transceiver module 920 is configured to send the first information to the network side device, where the first information is used to indicate the correspondence and indicate a cycle of uplink service.

[0286] Optionally, the processing module 910 is further configured to record the generation time corresponding to the at least one uplink data packet, and record the identifier of the at least one downlink data packet.

[0287] More details of the processing module 910 and the transceiver module 920 can be referred to the descriptions of the embodiments shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 6 and FIG. 8, and will not be repeated here.

[0288] Another possible design is that the apparatus 900 is configured to implement the functions of the server in the method embodiments shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 6 and FIG. 8.

[0289] For example, the transceiver module 920 is configured to receive third information, where the third information is used to indicate to increase or decrease the first uplink PDB, and the first uplink PDB is a current uplink PDB of the first data packet, and the processing module 910 is configured to determine an adjustment value of the uplink PDB of the first data packet, and the transceiver module 920 is further configured to send the second information, where the second information is used to indicate the adjustment value of the uplink PDB of the first data packet.

[0290] Optionally, the transceiver module 920 is further configured to receive fourth information, where the fourth information is used to indicate an adjustment range of the uplink PDB corresponding to the first uplink PDB, and the adjustment value belongs to the adjustment range, and the adjustment range of the uplink PDB is related to the RTT requirement.

[0291] More details of the processing module 910 and the transceiver module 920 can be referred to the descriptions of the embodiments shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 6 and FIG. 8, and will not be repeated here.

[0292] It should be noted that the apparatus 900 can include a transmitting module but not a receiving module. Alternatively, the apparatus 900 can include a receiving module but not a transmitting module. Whether the apparatus 900 includes a transmitting module or a receiving module can depend on whether the apparatus 900 performs the above-mentioned scheme and includes a transmitting action and a receiving action. It can be understood that the apparatus 900 can also be referred to as a communication apparatus because the apparatus 900 has a communication function.

[0293] FIG. 10 is another schematic block diagram of an apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 10, the apparatus 1000 includes one or more processors 1010. The processor 1010 can be a general processor or a special-purpose processor, etc. For example, the processor 1010 can be a baseband processor or a central processing unit (CPU). The baseband processor can be configured to process a communication protocol and communication data, and the CPU can be configured to control the apparatus (e.g., a terminal device, a network-side device, or a chip), execute a software program, and process data of the software program.

[0294] Optionally, in one design, the processor 1010 can include a program (which can also be referred to as code or instructions) that can be run on the processor 1010, so that the apparatus 1000 performs a method performed by a terminal device or a network-side device in the above-mentioned method embodiments. In another possible design, the apparatus 1000 includes a circuit (not shown in FIG. 10) for implementing the functions of a terminal device or a network-side device in the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0295] For example, the processor 1010 can be configured to execute a computer program or instructions stored in a memory, to implement the steps performed by a terminal device or a network-side device in the method embodiments shown in any one of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 5, 6, and 8.

[0296] Optionally, the apparatus 1000 can include one or more memories 1020 having a program (which can also be referred to as code or instructions) stored thereon, and the program can be run on the processor 1010, so that the apparatus 1000 performs a method performed by a terminal device or a network-side device in the above-mentioned embodiments.

[0297] Optionally, the processor 1010 and / or the memory 1020 can also store data. The processor and the memory can be separately arranged or integrated together.

[0298] Optionally, the apparatus 1000 can further include a communication interface 1030. The processor 1010 can also be referred to as a processing unit, and can control the apparatus (e.g., a terminal device or a network-side device). The communication interface 1030 can also be referred to as a transceiving unit, a transceiver, a transceiving circuit, or a transceiver, etc., and can implement the transceiving function of the apparatus.

[0299] Optionally, the apparatus 1000 further includes a communication interface 1030. The processor 1010 and the communication interface 1030 are coupled to each other. It can be understood that the communication interface 1030 can be a transceiver or an input / output interface.

[0300] It can be understood that the apparatus 1000 can also be referred to as a communication apparatus because it has a communication function.

[0301] When the apparatus 1000 is used to implement the methods in FIG. 5, FIG. 6 and FIG. 8, the processor 1010 is configured to perform the functions of the processing units described above, and the communication interface 1030 is configured to perform the functions of the transceiver modules described above. Whether the communication interface 1030 is configured to transmit or receive depends on whether the apparatus 1000 is configured to perform a transmitting action or a receiving action in the scheme it implements.

[0302] When the apparatus 1000 described above is a chip for a terminal device, the chip implements the functions of the terminal device in the method embodiments described above. The chip of the terminal device receives a signal from other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal device, and the signal can be transmitted by a network side device to the terminal device. Alternatively, the chip of the terminal device transmits a signal to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the terminal device, and the signal can be transmitted by the terminal device to the network side device.

[0303] When the apparatus 1000 described above is a chip for a network side device, the chip implements the functions of the network side device in the method embodiments described above. The chip of the network side device receives a signal from other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the network side device, and the signal can be transmitted by a terminal device to the network side device. Alternatively, the chip of the network side device transmits a signal to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the network side device, and the signal can be transmitted by the network side device to the terminal device.

[0304] It can be understood that when the apparatus 1000 is a terminal device or a network side device, the communication interface 1030 can be a transceiver, which can specifically include a transmitter and a receiver, the transmitter being configured to transmit a signal, and the receiver being configured to receive a signal. When the apparatus 1000 is a chip for a terminal device or a network side device, the communication interface 1030 can be an input / output circuit, wherein the input circuit can be configured to receive, and the output interface can be configured to transmit.

[0305] It should be noted that the method embodiments described above can be applied to a processor or implemented by a processor. The processor can be an integrated circuit chip with a signal processing capability. In the implementation process, the steps of the method embodiments described above can be completed by hardware integrated logic circuits in the processor or by instructions in the form of software.

[0306] The above processor can be a general processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof. The general processor can be a microprocessor, or any conventional processor, etc.

[0307] The steps of the method disclosed in combination with the embodiments of the present application can be directly embodied as hardware code processing executed by a processor, or executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the code processing processor. The software module can be located in a storage medium such as random access memory, flash memory, read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable memory, register, etc. mature in the art. The storage medium is located in the storage, and the processor reads the information in the storage, and combines the hardware to complete the steps of the above method.

[0308] The memory in the embodiments of the present application can be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or can include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, the non-volatile memory can be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically EPROM (EEPROM) or a flash memory. The volatile memory can be a random access memory (RAM) used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM can be used, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM), enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM), synchlink DRAM (SLDRAM) and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM). It should be noted that the memory of the system and method described herein is intended to include, but not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0309] The present application also provides a computer program product, which, when running on a processor, can implement the method shown in the above method embodiment.

[0310] The present application also provides a computer readable storage medium, which contains computer instructions, which, when running on a processor, can implement the method shown in the above method embodiment.

[0311] The present application also provides a communication system, which includes the network side device and the terminal device described above. Optionally, the communication system can also include the server described above.

[0312] The method provided by the above embodiments can be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof, in whole or in part. When implemented by software, the method can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product can include one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed by a computer, the computer instructions can generate the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application in whole or in part. 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 a wired (such as coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber (DSL)) or wireless (such as infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) manner. 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. containing one or more available media. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic disk), an optical medium (such as a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (such as a solid state disk (SSD)), etc.

[0313] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the units and algorithm steps of the examples described in combination with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented by electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether the functions are implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the present application.

[0314] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of the description, the specific working processes of the above-described system, device and unit can refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be described here.

[0315] In several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, device and method can be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described device embodiments are only schematic, for example, the division of the units is only a logical function division, and actual implementation can have another division manner, for example, a plurality of units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between the units shown or discussed can be indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0316] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, i.e. may be located in one place, or may be distributed to multiple network units. Part or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the embodiment scheme.

[0317] In addition, the functional units in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit can be physically present separately, or two or more units can be integrated in one unit.

[0318] If the functions are realized in the form of software function units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions of the present application or the part of the present application which essentially contributes to the prior art or the part of the technical solutions can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes a plurality of instructions for causing a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network side device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory, random access memory, magnetic disk or optical disk and various program code storage media.

[0319] The above is only 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 scope 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.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, include: The target packet delay budget (PDB) of the first data packet is determined. The target PDB is determined based on the round-trip time (RTT) requirement. The target PDB includes the target uplink PDB or the target downlink PDB. The RTT requirement is the RTT requirement of the first data packet between the terminal device and the server. The first data packet is transmitted based on the target PDB.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The target PDB is the target downlink PDB; Determining the target PDB of the first data packet includes: Based on the RTT requirement, the first time point, and the second time point, the target downlink PDB of the first data packet is determined; Wherein, the first time is the time when the first data packet arrives at the network-side device, the second time is the time when the terminal device generates the second data packet, and the first data packet is the data packet after the second data packet has been processed by the server.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The target PDB is the target downlink PDB; Determining the target PDB of the first data packet includes: Based on the application layer processing deadline and the first time, the target downlink PDB of the first data packet is determined; Wherein, the first time is the time when the first data packet arrives at the network-side device, the application layer processing deadline is the sum of the time when the terminal device generates the second data packet and the RTT requirement, and the first data packet is the data packet after the second data packet has been processed by the server.

4. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive first information, the first information being used to indicate the mapping relationship between the generation time of at least one uplink data packet and the identifier of at least one downlink data packet, and to indicate the period of the uplink service, wherein the at least one uplink data packet and the first data packet belong to the uplink service; Based on the mapping relationship, the identifier of the first data packet, and the period of the uplink service, the second time when the terminal device generates the second data packet is determined.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The first information is also used to indicate one or more of the following: a first parameter, a burst arrival time (BAT), an application layer processing deadline corresponding to the at least one uplink data packet, or the RTT requirement; the first parameter is used to determine the number of uplink data packets corresponding to the first data packet, the uplink data packets including the second data packet.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The target PDB is the target uplink PDB; Determining the target PDB of the first data packet includes: Receive second information from the server, the second information being used to indicate the adjustment value of the uplink PDB of the first data packet, the adjustment value being related to the RTT requirement; Based on the adjustment value, the first uplink PDB is adjusted to the target uplink PDB, where the first uplink PDB is the current uplink PDB of the first data packet.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that, The method further includes: Determine whether to increase or decrease the first uplink PDB; A third message is sent to the server, the third message being used to instruct whether the first uplink PDB is increased or decreased.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that, The method further includes: A fourth message is sent to the server, the fourth message indicating the adjustment range of the first uplink PDB, the adjustment value being within the adjustment range, and the adjustment range of the uplink PDB being related to the RTT requirement.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that, The step of determining whether to increase or decrease the first uplink PDB includes: The first uplink PDB is determined to be reduced based on one or more of the following conditions: the downlink PDB within a preset time period is less than a first preset value, the downlink data volume is greater than a second preset value, the parameter value of the downlink channel state is less than a third preset value, or the latency requirement of the downlink data packet in the future time period is greater than the first downlink PDB, and the first downlink PDB is the current downlink PDB of the first data packet. Alternatively, the first uplink PDB may be increased based on one or more of the following conditions: the downlink PDB within a preset duration is greater than or equal to a first preset value; the downlink data volume is less than or equal to a second preset value; the parameter value of the downlink channel state is greater than or equal to a third preset value; or, the latency requirement of downlink data packets in a future period is less than or equal to the first downlink PDB.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that, The RTT requirement is defined at the granularity of the first data packet set.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that, The method further includes: Establish a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session and a Quality of Service (QoS) stream, wherein the QoS parameters of the QoS stream include the RTT requirement.

12. A communication method, characterized in that, include: Determine the mapping relationship between the generation time of at least one uplink data packet and the identifier of at least one downlink data packet; Send first information to the network-side device, the first information being used to indicate the mapping relationship and the period of the uplink service.

13. A communication device, characterized in that, Includes modules for implementing the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 12.

14. A communication device, characterized in that, Includes a processor for causing the communication device to implement the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 12 by executing a computer program and / or by logic circuitry.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14, characterized in that, It also includes a memory for storing computer programs and / or configuration files for the logic circuitry.

16. The apparatus according to claim 14 or 15, characterized in that, It also includes a communication interface for inputting and / or outputting signals.

17. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that, When the computer program is executed by a processor, the method of any one of claims 1 to 12 is performed.

18. A computer program product, characterized in that, Includes a computer program, and when the computer program is run, the method of any one of claims 1 to 12 is performed.

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