Communication method and apparatus, communication node, and storage medium

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application disclose a communication method and apparatus, a communication node, and a storage medium. The method comprises: a first node sends second information to a second node on the basis of at least one of ephemeris information, a location of a user, a communication behavior of the user, a mobility trajectory of the user, first information from a user equipment, and user subscription information, and / or sends third information to the user equipment.

Description

A communication method, apparatus, communication node and storage medium

[0001] Cross-reference to Related Applications

[0002] The present application is based on and claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202411088604.6, filed on August 8, 2024, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present application relates to the technical field of communication, in particular to a communication method, apparatus, communication node and storage medium. BACKGROUND

[0004] In a conventional Internet of Things (IoT) scenario, a user equipment (UE) can be in a sleep state for the purpose of energy saving, resulting in unreachability. However, for an IoT-Non Terrestrial Network (NTN), an island scenario can occur due to satellite discontinuous coverage, and a user plane link can not be connected at all, thus causing frequent updating of the user plane link. SUMMARY

[0005] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, apparatus, communication node and storage medium.

[0006] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application are implemented as follows:

[0007] In a first aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, which is applied to a first node; the method comprises: the first node sends second information to a second node and / or third information to a user equipment based on at least one of ephemeris information, a location of the user, a communication behavior of the user, a mobility trajectory of the user, first information from the user equipment and user subscription information.

[0008] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first information comprises session discontinuous information and / or information supporting store-and-forward; and / or the second information and / or the third information comprises session discontinuous information and / or store-and-forward information.

[0009] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first information further comprises at least one of: a monitoring satellite indication; a store-and-forward indication; satellite mode information; service information; and / or

[0010] The second information further comprises at least one of: service information; session suspension time; and / or

[0011] The third information also includes at least one of the following: store-and-forward mode indication; store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list; request failure indication; next request time; and the amount of data supported for store-and-forward.

[0012] In some optional embodiments of this application, the store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list is used to indicate satellites that support store-and-forward, or to indicate relevant information supporting store-and-forward services, or to indicate the satellites that the user will request next; and / or, the store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list includes at least one of the following: satellite identifier (ID); network element / network function ID; network element / network function address information; satellite availability time.

[0013] In some optional embodiments of this application, the store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list is determined based on at least one of the following: first information, user equipment location, user communication behavior, user equipment mobility trajectory, and ephemeris information.

[0014] In some alternative embodiments of this application, the user subscription information is obtained by the first node from a fourth node deployed on a satellite, or by the first node from a fifth node deployed on the ground.

[0015] In some optional embodiments of this application, the method further includes:

[0016] The first node sends fourth information to a fourth node deployed on a satellite, and / or sends fourth information to a fifth node deployed on the ground, the fourth information being used to query user subscription information;

[0017] The first node receives user subscription information sent by the fourth node, and / or receives user subscription information sent by the fifth node.

[0018] In some optional embodiments of this application, the fourth information includes at least one of the following: user identifier; user location; first node identifier; first node security information.

[0019] In some optional embodiments of this application, the first node sends second information to the second node and / or sends third information to the user equipment based on at least one of the following: ephemeris information, user location, user communication behavior, and user mobility trajectory. This includes: the first node determining the ground station based on at least one of the following: user location, user communication behavior, and user mobility trajectory; determining, based on ephemeris information, that the satellite to which the first node belongs will soon be unreachable from the ground station at a first time; and / or sending third information to the user equipment.

[0020] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the service information includes: service priority and / or data cache time.

[0021] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further includes: determining, by the first node, the session suspension time based on the ephemeris information and / or data cache time.

[0022] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further includes: receiving, by the first node, a first request sent by a second node, the first request including at least one of the following information: service information, service requirement information, satellite mode information; selecting, by the first node, one or more nodes as candidate sixth nodes based on ephemeris information and / or satellite mode information; sending, by the first node, a first response to the second node, the first response including information of the one or more nodes.

[0023] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the satellite mode information is used to indicate one or more of the following: satellite monitoring mode, satellite service mode, user-requested satellite node selection strategy; and / or, the satellite mode information includes one or more of the following: the fastest available single or group or all satellite nodes, the longest available time single or group or all satellite nodes.

[0024] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further includes: receiving, by the first node, fifth information sent by the second node, the fifth information being used to subscribe to reachability notification of a sixth node.

[0025] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further includes: sending, by the first node, notification information indicating reachability of the sixth node to the second node when the first node detects the reachability of the sixth node.

[0026] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further includes: sending, by the first node, sixth information to the user equipment, the sixth information including one or more of the following: session suspension identifier, session suspension time, bandwidth, request failure indication; store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list; next request time.

[0027] In a second aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication method, the method being applied to a second node, and the method includes: receiving, by the second node, second information sent by a first node; sending, by the second node, seventh information to a third node based on the second information and / or ephemeris information, the seventh information being used to instruct the third node to perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward, and / or, performing, by the second node, session suspension and / or store-and-forward.

[0028] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the second information comprises information indicating session discontinuity and / or store-and-forward information.

[0029] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the second information further comprises one or more of the following: service information, session suspension time.

[0030] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the service information comprises service priority and / or data cache time.

[0031] In some optional embodiments of the present application, before the second node sends the seventh information to the third node based on the second information and / or ephemeris information, the method further comprises: the second node selecting a sixth node.

[0032] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the second node selecting a sixth node comprises: the second node selecting a sixth node according to ephemeris information and network topology information; or,

[0033] The second node sends a first request to the first node, the first request comprising at least one of the following information: service information, service requirement information, satellite mode information; receives a first response sent by the first node, the first response comprising information of one or more nodes selected by the first node based on ephemeris information and / or satellite mode information; and selects a sixth node from the one or more nodes.

[0034] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the satellite mode information is used to indicate one or more of the following: satellite monitoring mode, satellite service mode, user-requested satellite node selection strategy; and / or, the satellite mode information comprises one or more of the following: the fastest available single or group or all satellite nodes, the single or group or all satellite nodes with the longest available time.

[0035] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the seventh information further comprises information of the selected sixth node.

[0036] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the second node sending the seventh information to the third node based on ephemeris information, and / or the second node performing session suspension and / or store-and-forward, comprises: the second node sending the seventh information to the third node, and / or performing session suspension and / or store-and-forward, based on ephemeris information when the satellite to which the second node belongs is about to become unreachable to the ground station at a second time.

[0037] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further comprises: the second node sending fifth information to the first node, the fifth information being used to subscribe to reachability notification of the sixth node.

[0038] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further comprises: receiving, by the second node, the notification information indicating that the sixth node is reachable, which is sent by the first node.

[0039] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further comprises: performing, by the second node, session resumption and / or data transmission resumption, and / or,

[0040] sending, by the second node, eighth information to the third node, the eighth information being used to instruct the third node to perform session resumption and / or data transmission resumption, and / or, the eighth information comprising a session resumption time.

[0041] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further comprises: receiving, by the second node, connection information sent by the third node; and / or, sending, by the second node, the connection information to the sixth node; wherein the connection information is used to establish a connection between the sixth node and the third node after session resumption and / or data transmission resumption.

[0042] In a third aspect, embodiments of the present application further provide a communication method, the method being applied to a third node, and the method comprising: receiving, by the third node, seventh information sent by a second node, the seventh information being used to instruct the third node to perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward.

[0043] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the seventh information further comprises information of a selected sixth node.

[0044] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further comprises: receiving, by the third node, eighth information sent by the second node, the eighth information being used to instruct the third node to perform session resumption and / or data transmission resumption, and / or, the eighth information comprising a session resumption time; and performing, by the third node, session resumption and / or data transmission resumption based on the eighth information.

[0045] In some optional embodiments of the present application, performing, by the third node, data transmission resumption based on the eighth information comprises: determining, by the third node, that the amount of stored data exceeds the amount of data that can be transmitted according to the eighth information, and performing data transmission according to a service priority.

[0046] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further comprises: allocating, by the third node, connection information for a tunnel between the third node and the sixth node, and sending the connection information to the second node, the connection information being used to establish a connection with the sixth node after session resumption and / or data transmission resumption.

[0047] In a fourth aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication method, which is applied to a fourth node, and the method comprises the following steps: the fourth node sends ninth information to a fifth node, wherein the ninth information is used for querying user subscription information; and the fourth node receives user subscription information sent by the fifth node.

[0048] In some optional embodiments of the present application, before the fourth node sends the ninth information to the fifth node, the method further comprises the following steps: the fourth node receives fourth information sent by a first node, wherein the fourth information is used for querying user subscription information; and the fourth node sends user subscription information to the first node.

[0049] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the fourth information comprises at least one of the following: user identity; user location; first node identity; first node security information; and / or the ninth information comprises at least one of the following: user identity; user location; fourth node identity; fourth node security information.

[0050] In a fifth aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication method, which is applied to a seventh node, and the method comprises the following steps: the seventh node performs session suspension and / or store-and-forward based on a first policy.

[0051] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further comprises the following steps: the seventh node performs session recovery and / or recovery transmission of stored data based on the first policy.

[0052] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first policy comprises one or more of the following: service flow description information, time of policy use, session available time, session suspension time, applicable area information, session routing information, and applicable user information.

[0053] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further comprises the following step: the seventh node receives the first policy sent by an eighth node.

[0054] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further comprises the following step: after session recovery and / or recovery transmission of stored data, the seventh node receives an updated first policy sent by an eighth node.

[0055] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further comprises the following step: the seventh node sends tenth information to an access network, wherein the tenth information comprises at least a data amount supported by the seventh node for buffering.

[0056] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the seventh node resumes transmission of the buffered data based on the first policy, comprising: the seventh node determining, according to the session resume time, that the amount of stored data exceeds the amount of data that can be transmitted, and performing data transmission according to the service priority.

[0057] In a sixth aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication device, the device being applied to a first node, the device comprising: a first communication unit configured to send second information to a second node and / or send third information to a user equipment based on at least one of ephemeris information, a location of the user, a communication behavior of the user, a mobility trajectory of the user, first information from the user equipment, and user subscription information.

[0058] In a seventh aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication device, the device being applied to a second node, the device comprising: a second communication unit and a second processing unit; wherein,

[0059] the second communication unit is configured to receive the second information sent by the first node;

[0060] the second processing unit is configured to send seventh information to a third node via the second communication unit based on the second information and / or ephemeris information, the seventh information being used to instruct the third node to perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward, and / or perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward.

[0061] In an eighth aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication device, the device being applied to a third node, the device comprising: a third communication unit configured to receive seventh information sent by a second node, the seventh information being used to instruct to perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward.

[0062] In a ninth aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication device, the device being applied to a fourth node, the device comprising: a fourth communication unit configured to send ninth information to a fifth node, the ninth information being used to query user subscription information; and further configured to receive user subscription information sent by the fifth node.

[0063] In a tenth aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication device, the device being applied to a seventh node, the device comprising: a fourth processing unit configured to perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward based on a first policy.

[0064] In an eleventh aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a computer readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program, which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the communication method of any one of the preceding aspects of the embodiments of the present application.

[0065] In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication node, comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the processor implements the steps of the communication method of any one of the aspects of the embodiments of the present application when executing the program.

[0066] In a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, comprising computer program instructions, which cause a computer to execute the steps of the communication method of any one of the aspects of the embodiments of the present application.

[0067] The communication method, device, communication node and storage medium provided by the embodiments of the present application, in a first aspect, a first node deployed on a satellite sends second information to a second node and / or third information to a user equipment based on at least one of ephemeris information, a location of the user, a communication behavior of the user, a mobility trajectory of the user, first information from the user equipment and user subscription information; the second node sends seventh information to a third node based on the second information and / or ephemeris information, the seventh information being used to instruct the third node to perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward, or the second node performs session suspension and / or store-and-forward. In a second aspect, a seventh node deployed on a satellite performs session suspension and / or stores data from a user equipment based on a first policy. In this way, the problem of frequent updating of user plane links in the space-ground integrated scenario is solved by store-and-forward (i.e., storing data or signaling to be forwarded first). BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0068] FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0069] FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a communication method according to another embodiment of the present application;

[0070] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a communication method according to another embodiment of the present application;

[0071] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a communication method according to another embodiment of the present application;

[0072] FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a communication method according to another embodiment of the present application;

[0073] FIG. 6 is an interaction flow diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0074] FIG. 7 is an interaction flow diagram of a communication method according to another embodiment of the present application;

[0075] FIG. 8 is a structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0076] FIG. 9 is a structural diagram of a communication device according to another embodiment of the present application;

[0077] Fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of a fourth constituent structure of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0078] Fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of a fifth constituent structure of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0079] Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram of a fifth constituent structure of a communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0080] Fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of a hardware constituent structure of a communication node according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0081] The present application will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0082] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, for example, a Global System of Mobile communication (GSM) system, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, or a 5th Generation Mobile Communication Technology (5G) system, etc. Optionally, the 5G system or 5G network can also be referred to as a New Radio (NR) system or NR network.

[0083] For example, the communication system to which the embodiments of the present application are applied can include a network device and a terminal device (also referred to as a terminal, a communication terminal, etc.); the network device can be a device that communicates with the terminal device. The network device can provide communication coverage for a certain area and can communicate with terminals located in the area. Optionally, the network device can be a base station in each communication system, for example, an evolutional Node B (eNB) in an LTE system, or a next generation Node B (gNB) in a 5G system or an NR system.

[0084] It should be understood that the devices with communication functions in the network / system in the embodiments of the present application can be referred to as communication devices. The communication devices can include network devices and terminals with communication functions, and the network devices and terminal devices can be the specific devices described above, which will not be described here again; the communication devices can also include other devices in the communication system, such as network controllers, mobile management entities, and other network entities, which are not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0085] It should be understood that the terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably herein. The term "and / or", used in the present document, merely describes an associated relationship, which means that there can be three 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. In addition, the character " / " in the present document generally represents an "or" relationship between the front and rear associated objects.

[0086] The terms "first", "second", and the like in the specification and claims of the present application are used to distinguish similar objects, and do not necessarily indicate a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the data used in this way can be interchanged under appropriate circumstances, so that the embodiments of the present application described herein can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein. In addition, the terms "include" and "have" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, for example, a process, method, system, product or device including a series of steps or units does not necessarily limit to those steps or units clearly listed, but can include other steps or units not clearly listed or inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

[0087] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method. Fig. 1 is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in Fig. 1, the method comprises:

[0088] Step 101: The first node sends second information to the second node and / or third information to the user equipment based on at least one of the ephemeris information, the user's location, the user's communication behavior, the user's mobility trajectory, the first information from the user equipment, and the user subscription information.

[0089] In the embodiments, the first node is a network node deployed on a satellite. For example, in a 5G or NR system, the first node can be an access and mobility management function (AMF) deployed on a satellite; in a 4th generation mobile communication technology (4G) system, the first node can be a mobility management entity (MME) deployed on a satellite. In other optional examples, the first node can also be an endpoint proxy deployed on a satellite, or can also be an NTN gateway deployed on a satellite, etc.

[0090] In this embodiment, the second node is a network node deployed on a satellite. For example, in a 5G or NR system, the second node can be a session management function (SMF) deployed on a satellite; in a 4G system, the second node can be a serving gateway (SGW) deployed on a satellite.

[0091] In some optional embodiments, the first node and the second node can be network nodes or network functions deployed on the same satellite.

[0092] In this embodiment, taking a 5G or NR system as an example, the interface between the radio access network (RAN) and the user plane function (UPF) is the N3 interface, the N3 interface uses the general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol for user plane (GTP-U) for tunnel transmission of user data. The interface between the UPF and the data network (DN) is the N6 interface, which requires support for a dedicated line or layer 2 (L2) / layer 3 (L3) tunnel in certain scenarios, and can communicate with the DN network based on the Internet protocol (IP). The interface between the UPFs is the N9 interface; in a mobile scenario, an intermediate UPF (I-UPF) is inserted between the UE and the PDU session anchor (PSA) UPF for traffic forwarding, and the GTP-U protocol is used for transmission of user plane messages between the two UPFs.

[0093] In an NTN or satellite network, the N3 tunnel and / or the N6 / N9 tunnel can not be connected all the time, and in the case of interruption of the N3 tunnel and / or the N6 / N9 tunnel, data transmission will also be interrupted. Therefore, in this embodiment, the first node determines that a session discontinuity will occur based on at least one of ephemeris information, a location of a user, a communication behavior of the user, a mobility trajectory of the user, first information from a user equipment, and user subscription information, and sends third information to the user equipment and / or sends second information to the second node to indicate the session discontinuity and / or to indicate store-and-forward.

[0094] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further comprises: the first node receiving first information from a user equipment (UE) through a RAN.

[0095] In some embodiments, the first node can receive at least one of an attach request, a service request, a session establishment request, and a session update request from the user equipment via the RAN, the at least one of the attach request, the service request, the session establishment request, and the session update request including the first information.

[0096] In some embodiments, the ephemeris information can be satellite ephemeris information or satellite ephemeris table, which is used to describe the position and speed of a satellite or a space flight body, and can include time, coordinates, direction, speed, and other parameters. The first node can be preconfigured with the ephemeris information or obtain the ephemeris information from other network nodes.

[0097] In some embodiments, the user's communication behavior, which can also be referred to as the user's communication mode, can be behavior information of the user's communication, such as the user generating a communication behavior in a certain time range, or regular information formed by the user's communication behavior, such as the user usually communicating in a certain time range every day, and the like. In some embodiments, the user's communication behavior can be obtained by the first node after being counted, or generated by other network nodes and then sent to the first node, which is not limited in the embodiments.

[0098] In some embodiments, the user's location and / or the user's mobility trajectory can be obtained from the user equipment, such as being sent to the first node via the RAN. In other embodiments, the user's location and / or the user's mobility trajectory can also be obtained or generated by other network nodes, such as nodes in a positioning system, and then sent to the first node, which is not limited in the embodiments.

[0099] In some embodiments, the user's subscription information can include the subscription and credentials.

[0100] In some embodiments, the second information can be notification information triggered based on the first information, that is, the first node can send the second information representing the notification to the user equipment after receiving the first information. The third information can be request result or notification information based on the first information. In other embodiments, the first node can also send the second information to the second node and / or the third information to the user equipment based on other information, such as at least one of the ephemeris information, the user's location, the user's communication behavior, the user's mobility trajectory, and the user's subscription information, without receiving the first information.

[0101] In the embodiments of the present application, the store-and-forward can specifically include an operation mode of providing a terminal with a communication service (storing and forwarding information) in a time period and / or a geographical area in which a service-providing satellite is not simultaneously connected to a ground network through a feeder link or an inter-satellite link (ISL). For uplink (UL), "storing" refers to storing UL information from a UE, and "forwarding" refers to forwarding the stored UL information to the ground network. For downlink (DL), "storing" refers to storing DL information from the ground network, and "forwarding" refers to forwarding the stored DL information to the UE.

[0102] In some optional embodiments, the first information includes session discontinuity information and / or store-and-forward support information; and / or, the second information and / or the third information includes session discontinuity information and / or store-and-forward information.

[0103] In the embodiments, the user equipment can also obtain ephemeris information, and then determine a session suspension or session discontinuity time according to the obtained ephemeris information, so as to carry the session discontinuity information in the first information. The store-and-forward support information indicates that the user equipment supports a store-and-forward operation or a store-and-forward service.

[0104] In the embodiments, the session discontinuity information included in the second information and / or the third information can be determined by the first node according to ephemeris information, or can be determined by the first node according to session discontinuity information carried in the first information. The session discontinuity indicates that a session or data transmission is discontinuous, interrupted or suspended in a future time or time range. The session discontinuity information specifically can include a session discontinuity identifier or a session suspension identifier.

[0105] In the embodiments, the store-and-forward information in the second information can be specifically store-and-forward indication information, used to instruct the second node to perform a store-and-forward operation or a store-and-forward service. For example, the store-and-forward information in the second information can be specifically a store-and-forward indication identifier or a session suspension indication identifier. The store-and-forward information in the third information can be specifically store-and-forward notification information, used to notify a user equipment network side to start performing a store-and-forward operation or a store-and-forward service. For example, the store-and-forward information in the third information can be specifically a store-and-forward identifier or a session suspension identifier.

[0106] In some optional embodiments, the session discontinuity information included in the second information and / or the third information can be equivalent to a Suspend Indicator, an N6 and / or an N9 Suspend Indicator, etc.

[0107] In some optional embodiments, the first node sends the second information to the second node and / or the third information to the user equipment based on at least one of the ephemeris information, the location of the user, the communication behavior of the user, and the mobility trajectory of the user, including: the first node determines the ground station based on at least one of the location of the user, the communication behavior of the user, and the mobility trajectory of the user, and sends the second information to the second node and / or the third information to the user equipment when the satellite to which the first node belongs is about to be unreachable to the ground station at the first time based on the ephemeris information.

[0108] In this embodiment, the trigger event or trigger condition for the first node to send the second information to the second node and / or the third information to the user equipment is that the first node monitors that the satellite to which the first node belongs is about to be unreachable to the ground station at the first time. The ground station can also be referred to as a ground network node. In this embodiment, the ground station is specifically a ground network node related to the user, for example, a ground network node having a connection link with the user equipment, and / or a ground network node to which the user equipment is about to connect, and the like. The first node can determine the ground station based on at least one of the location of the user, the communication behavior of the user, and the mobility trajectory of the user, for example, the first node can determine the ground station connected with the user equipment based on the location of the user, and / or the first node can determine the ground station to which the user equipment is about to connect based on the communication behavior of the user in combination with the location of the user, and / or the first node can determine the ground station connected and / or about to be connected by the user based on the mobility trajectory of the user, and the like. Then, based on the geographical location where the determined ground station is located, in combination with the ephemeris information, the location of the satellite to which the first node belongs and the coverage range of the satellite are determined, and whether the satellite to which the first node belongs is reachable to the ground station is determined. In this embodiment, “reachable” specifically refers to communication or communication connection. It can be understood that the satellite to which the first node belongs is reachable to the ground station, which means that the satellite to which the first node belongs can communicate with or has a communication connection with the ground station. Correspondingly, the satellite to which the first node belongs is unreachable to the ground station, which means that the satellite to which the first node belongs cannot communicate with or does not have a communication connection with the ground station. The ground station refers to a ground device set on the earth and communicating with the satellite.

[0109] In this embodiment, when the first node determines that the satellite to which the first node belongs is about to be unreachable to the ground station at the first time based on the ephemeris information, the first node sends the second information to the second node to indicate that session discontinuity will occur at the first time and / or to indicate store-and-forward, and / or sends the third information to the user equipment to notify that session discontinuity will occur at the first time and / or store-and-forward.

[0110] In some optional embodiments, the first information further comprises at least one of: a monitoring satellite indication; a store-and-forward indication; satellite mode information; service information.

[0111] In some embodiments, the monitoring satellite indication is used to indicate that the user needs the network to provide a list of satellites supporting store-and-forward.

[0112] In some embodiments, the store-and-forward indication can specifically indicate that a store-and-forward operation or a store-and-forward service can be adopted.

[0113] In some embodiments, the satellite mode information is used to indicate one or more of: a satellite monitoring mode, a satellite service mode, a user-requested satellite node selection strategy; and / or, the satellite mode information comprises one or more of: a fastest available single or group or all satellite nodes, a longest available time single or group or all satellite nodes. The fastest available satellite node means a satellite node that can establish a connection with the ground station at the shortest time from the current time. The longest available time satellite node can reflect the coverage range of the satellite node, and can specifically refer to a satellite node with the largest coverage range.

[0114] In some optional embodiments, the service information comprises: service priority and / or data caching time. The data caching time can also be referred to as caching time, and can specifically refer to the storage or caching time of data or signaling on the network side, or can also reflect the session suspension or session discontinuity time of the user equipment. For example, the user equipment can also obtain ephemeris information, and can determine the session suspension or session discontinuity time according to the obtained ephemeris information, so as to carry the data caching time in the first information.

[0115] In some optional embodiments, the second information further comprises at least one of: service information; session suspension time; and / or, the third information further comprises at least one of: a store-and-forward mode indication; a store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list; a request failure indication; a next request time; a data volume supporting store-and-forward.

[0116] In some embodiments, "suspension" can also be referred to as suspension, interruption, suspension or Suspend.

[0117] In some embodiments, the session suspension time refers to the session discontinuity time, or the session suspension time, or the session interruption time, or the data caching time, etc. The session suspension time can comprise the start time and the end time of the session suspension, or the start time and the duration of the session suspension.

[0118] In the embodiment, the store-and-forward mode indication indicates that the request or data allowed to be sent is processed in a store-and-forward manner; the request or data is not limited to a specific type, and the request may be an attach request, a session request, or the like.

[0119] In the embodiment, the next request time is specifically a time at which a request can be initiated next time, for example, a time at which a satellite is available or reachable next time.

[0120] In some optional embodiments, the service information includes a service priority and / or a data caching time.

[0121] In some optional embodiments, the store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list is used to indicate a satellite supporting store-and-forward, or is used to indicate related information supporting a store-and-forward service; and / or the store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list includes at least one of the following: a satellite ID; a network element / network function ID; network element / network function address information; a satellite available time.

[0122] Optionally, the store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list can be related to a user equipment, and is used to indicate a satellite supporting store-and-forward, or is used to indicate related information supporting a store-and-forward service.

[0123] In some optional embodiments, the store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list is determined based on at least one of the following: first information, a user equipment location, a user communication behavior, a user equipment mobility trajectory, ephemeris information.

[0124] In the embodiment, the first node can determine a current location of the user equipment and / or a location of the user equipment at a future time based on at least one of the following: first information, a user equipment location, a user communication behavior, and a user mobility trajectory, and then determine the store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list by querying ephemeris information according to the current location of the user equipment and / or the location of the user equipment at the future time.

[0125] In some optional embodiments, the user subscription information can be obtained by the first node from a fourth node deployed on a satellite, or obtained by the first node from a fifth node deployed on the ground.

[0126] As an example, in a 5G or NR system, the fourth node and the fifth node can be a Unified Data Management (UDM), and the difference is that the fourth node is a UDM deployed on a satellite, and the fifth node is a UDM deployed on the ground. In other examples, in a 4G system, the fourth node and the fifth node can be a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), and the difference is that the fourth node is an HSS deployed on a satellite, and the fifth node is an HSS deployed on the ground.

[0127] As an example, the first node can obtain the user subscription information from the fourth node when the first node is reachable to the fourth node. As another example, the first node can obtain the user subscription information from the fifth node when the first node is reachable to the fifth node. As yet another example, the first node can obtain the user subscription information from the fourth node and the fifth node respectively when the first node is reachable to the fourth node and the fifth node.

[0128] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further comprises: the first node sending fourth information to the fourth node deployed on a satellite, and / or sending the fourth information to the fifth node deployed on the ground, the fourth information being used to query the user subscription information; and the first node receiving the user subscription information sent by the fourth node, and / or receiving the user subscription information sent by the fifth node.

[0129] In some optional embodiments, the fourth information comprises at least one of the following: a user identifier; a user location; a first node identifier; and first node security information.

[0130] In the present embodiment, the first node can query the user subscription information by sending the fourth information to the fourth node and / or the fifth node. The user identifier is an identifier uniquely representing a user or a user equipment. The identifier of the first node is an identifier uniquely representing the first node. The first node security information is security information used for identity authentication, such as a key, a certificate, a token, and the like used for identity authentication.

[0131] In some optional embodiments, the method further comprises: the first node determining a session suspension time based on the ephemeris information and / or a data caching time.

[0132] As an example, the first node can determine, according to the ephemeris information of the satellite, a time (which can include a start time and an end time) during which the satellite in which the first node is located is unreachable to the ground station, and further determine the session suspension time according to the time during which the satellite is unreachable. As another example, the first node can further determine the session suspension time according to the data buffering time carried in the first information. As still another example, the first node can further determine the session suspension time according to the ephemeris information in combination with the data buffering time carried in the first information. The session suspension time can also be referred to as a session discontinuous time, a session suspension time, a data buffering time, and the like.

[0133] In some optional embodiments, the method further includes: the first node receiving a first request sent by a second node, the first request including at least one of the following information: service information, service requirement information, satellite mode information; the first node selecting one or more nodes as candidate sixth nodes based on the ephemeris information and / or the satellite mode information, and sending a first response to the second node, the first response including information of the one or more nodes.

[0134] In this embodiment, the first node sends second information to the second node, and the second node performs a store-and-forward or session suspension operation or a store-and-forward service. Before the second node triggers the store-and-forward or session suspension, the second node can decide whether it needs to update a subsequent user plane path, and thus select one or more preferred sixth nodes for subsequent user plane path establishment.

[0135] In some optional embodiments, the sixth node can be a ground node, which can also be referred to as a ground target node or a ground station, and specifically can be a ground node related to a user or a user equipment.

[0136] In this embodiment, when the second node does not have ephemeris information, the second node can send a first request to the first node, the first node selects one or more nodes as candidate sixth nodes based on the ephemeris information and / or the satellite mode information according to the first request, and feeds back information of the one or more nodes to the second node.

[0137] In some optional embodiments, the satellite mode information is used to indicate one or more of the following: a satellite monitoring mode, a satellite service mode, a satellite node selection strategy requested by a user; and / or, the satellite mode information includes one or more of the following: a fastest available single or group or all satellite node, a single or group or all satellite node with the longest available time.

[0138] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further includes: the first node receiving fifth information sent by the second node, the fifth information being used to subscribe to reachability notification of the sixth node.

[0139] In some optional embodiments, the method further comprises: when the first node detects that the sixth node is reachable, sending, to the second node, notification information indicating that the sixth node is reachable.

[0140] In this embodiment, the second node can subscribe to the reachability notification of the sixth node through the fifth information; after receiving the notification information sent by the first node and indicating that the satellite and the ground station (the sixth node) are in a reachable state, the second node can control to perform session recovery or resume data transmission, or instruct the third node to perform session recovery or resume data transmission.

[0141] In this embodiment, the first node can determine whether it is reachable with the sixth node through ephemeris information combined with the location of the sixth node. Alternatively, when the satellite to which the first node belongs moves to the vicinity of the sixth node, the first node can determine that it is reachable with the sixth node through signal detection.

[0142] In some optional embodiments, the method further comprises: the first node sending sixth information to the user equipment, the sixth information comprising one or more of the following: session suspension identifier, session suspension time, bandwidth, request failure indication; store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list; next request time.

[0143] In this embodiment, after the first node determines that the satellite to which the first node belongs will be unreachable with the ground station at the first time, the sixth information can be sent to the user equipment through the RAN, the session suspension identifier can be, for example, a Resume ID; the session suspension time can comprise, for example, the start time and the end time of the session suspension, or can comprise the start time and the duration of the session suspension. The request failure indication is used to indicate that at least one of the above-mentioned attach (ATTACH) request, service request, session establishment request and session update request fails. The next request time specifically refers to the time when the next request can be initiated, which can be, for example, the time when the next satellite is available or reachable.

[0144] In other optional embodiments, the sixth information can further comprise traffic information. By sending the sixth information to the user equipment, the user equipment can select which information to send.

[0145] In some optional embodiments, the first node can send a response to the user equipment through the RAN, the response specifically being the response corresponding to at least one of the above-mentioned attach (ATTACH) request, service request, session establishment request and session update request, the response comprising the sixth information.

[0146] Based on the above embodiments, the application further provides a communication method. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the application; as shown in FIG. 2, the method comprises the following steps.

[0147] Step 201: receiving, by a second node, second information sent by a first node;

[0148] Step 202: sending, by the second node, seventh information to a third node based on the second information and / or ephemeris information, the seventh information being used to instruct the third node to perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward, and / or the second node performs session suspension and / or store-and-forward.

[0149] In the embodiment, the second node is a network node deployed on a satellite. For example, in a 5G or NR system, the second node can be an SMF deployed on a satellite; in a 4G system, the second node can be an SGW deployed on a satellite.

[0150] In the embodiment, the third node is a network node deployed on a satellite. For example, in a 5G or NR system, the third node can be a UPF deployed on a satellite. In other systems, the third node can also be other network nodes that perform user plane processing or data transmission, which are not limited in the embodiment.

[0151] In some optional embodiments, the second node and the third node can be network nodes or network functions deployed on the same satellite.

[0152] In the embodiment, the second node can send the seventh information to the third node based on the second information and / or ephemeris information, so that the third node performs session suspension and / or store-and-forward, i.e., the third node temporarily stores the received messages, signaling or data. In addition, when the storage capacity of the third node is limited or for other reasons, the second node can also perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward according to the second information and / or ephemeris information.

[0153] In some optional embodiments, the second information comprises information indicating session discontinuity and / or store-and-forward information.

[0154] In the embodiment, the information indicating session discontinuity included in the second information can be determined by the first node according to ephemeris information, or can be determined by the first node according to the session discontinuity information carried in the first information. The session discontinuity indicates that the session or data transmission is discontinuous, interrupted or suspended in the future time or time range. The information indicating session discontinuity can specifically comprise an identifier of session discontinuity or session suspension.

[0155] In the embodiment, the store-and-forward information can be store-and-forward indication information, which is used to instruct the second node to perform a store-and-forward operation or a store-and-forward service. For example, the store-and-forward information can be a store-and-forward indication identifier or a session suspension indication identifier.

[0156] In some optional embodiments, the session discontinuity information included in the second information can be equivalent to a Suspend Indicator, an N6 and / or an N9 Suspend Indicator, etc.

[0157] In some optional embodiments, after receiving the second information, the second node can send seventh information to the third node according to the indication of the second information and the content carried in the second information, or the second node performs session suspension and / or store-and-forward. In another optional embodiment, when the second node itself has ephemeris information, the second node can also determine the time in the future when it will be unreachable to the ground station according to the ephemeris information, and then send the seventh information to the third node, or the second node performs session suspension and / or store-and-forward according to the time. In yet another optional embodiment, the second node can also make a decision in combination with the content of the second information and the ephemeris information, and then send the seventh information to the third node, or the second node performs session suspension and / or store-and-forward.

[0158] In some optional embodiments, the second information further includes one or more of the following: service information, session suspension time. Optionally, the service information includes service priority and / or data caching time.

[0159] In the embodiment, the service information is from the user equipment and is sent by the user equipment to the first node through the first information. The data caching time can also be referred to as caching time, which can be the storage or caching time of the network side for data or signaling, or can also reflect the session suspension or session discontinuity time of the user equipment. For example, the user equipment can also obtain ephemeris information, and then determine the session suspension or session discontinuity time according to the obtained ephemeris information, so as to carry the data caching time in the first information.

[0160] In the embodiment, the session suspension time refers to the session discontinuity time, or the session suspension time, or the session interruption time, or the data temporary storage time. For example, the session suspension time can include the start time and the end time of the session suspension, or the start time and the duration of the session suspension.

[0161] In some optional embodiments, the session suspension time can be determined by the first node based on the ephemeris information and / or the data caching time.

[0162] In some optional embodiments of the present application, before the second node sends the seventh information to the third node based on the second information and / or ephemeris information, the method further comprises: the second node selecting a sixth node.

[0163] In the present embodiment, the first node sends the second information to the second node, and the second node performs a store-and-forward or session suspension operation or a store-and-forward service. Before the second node triggers the store-and-forward or session suspension, the second node decides whether to update a subsequent user plane path, and selects or adds one or more target nodes, which are the sixth nodes. For example, in a 5G system or a NR system, the sixth nodes can be UPFs. In this way, after subsequent session recovery or data transmission recovery, the third node can establish a connection with the sixth nodes for data transmission.

[0164] In some optional embodiments, the sixth nodes can be ground nodes, also referred to as ground target nodes or ground stations, and can be ground nodes related to users or user equipment.

[0165] In some optional embodiments, the second node selecting the sixth nodes comprises: the second node selecting the sixth nodes according to ephemeris information and network topology information; or the second node sending a first request to the first node, the first request comprising at least one of the following information: service information, service requirement information, satellite mode information; receiving a first response sent by the first node, the first response comprising information of one or more nodes selected by the first node based on ephemeris information and / or satellite mode information; and selecting the sixth nodes from the one or more nodes.

[0166] As an implementation, when the second node has ephemeris information, the second node can select the sixth nodes according to the ephemeris information stored by itself and network topology information, and according to service requested by a user, service requirement, satellite mode information and the like. The ephemeris information in the second node can come from the first node or an operation administration and maintenance (OAM). As another implementation, when the second node does not have ephemeris information, the second node can send a first request to the first node to request the first node to find one or more nodes as candidate sixth nodes; the first node selects one or more nodes as candidate sixth nodes based on ephemeris information and / or satellite mode information according to the first request, and feeds back information of the one or more nodes to the second node; and the second node selects one or more sixth nodes from the one or more nodes.

[0167] In some optional embodiments, the satellite mode information is used to indicate one or more of: a satellite monitoring mode, a satellite service mode, a user requested satellite node selection policy; and / or, the satellite mode information comprises one or more of: a fastest available single or group or all satellite nodes, a longest available time single or group or all satellite nodes.

[0168] In some optional embodiments, the seventh information further comprises information of the selected sixth node.

[0169] In this embodiment, the second node carries the information of the sixth node in the seventh information, so that the third node allocates corresponding connection information for the tunnel or link between the sixth node.

[0170] In some optional embodiments, the second node sends the seventh information to the third node based on ephemeris information, and / or the second node performs session suspension and / or store-and-forward, comprising: the second node sends the seventh information to the third node based on ephemeris information when the satellite to which the second node belongs is about to be unreachable to the ground station at the second time, and / or the second node performs session suspension and / or store-and-forward.

[0171] In this embodiment, when the second node itself has ephemeris information, the second node can determine the location of the satellite to which the second node belongs based on the ephemeris information, and then determine whether the satellite to which the second node belongs is reachable to the ground station according to the coverage of the satellite and the location of the ground station. The second node can send the seventh information to the third node based on ephemeris information when the satellite to which the second node belongs is about to be unreachable to the ground station at the second time, and / or the second node performs session suspension and / or store-and-forward.

[0172] In some optional embodiments, the second node can determine the ground station based on at least one of the user's location, the user's communication behavior, and the user's mobility trajectory, send the seventh information to the third node based on ephemeris information when the satellite to which the second node belongs is about to be unreachable to the ground station at the first time, and / or the second node performs session suspension and / or store-and-forward.

[0173] In this embodiment, the second node sends seventh information to the third node, and / or the second node performs a triggering event or triggering condition of session suspension and / or store-and-forward. Specifically, the second node can monitor that the satellite to which the second node belongs will be unreachable to the ground station at the second time. The ground station can also be referred to as a ground network node. In this embodiment, the ground station is specifically a ground network node related to the user, for example, a ground network node having a connection link with the user equipment, and / or a ground network node to which the user equipment is about to connect, and the like. Then, the second node can determine the ground station based on at least one of the position of the user, the communication behavior of the user, and the mobility trajectory of the user. For example, the second node can determine the ground station connected to the user equipment based on the position of the user, and / or the second node can determine the ground station to which the user equipment is about to connect based on the communication behavior of the user in combination with the position of the user, and / or the second node can determine the ground station connected to and / or about to be connected to the user based on the mobility trajectory of the user, and the like. Further, based on the geographical position of the determined ground station, in combination with the ephemeris information, the position of the satellite to which the second node belongs and the coverage range of the satellite are determined, and whether the satellite to which the second node belongs is reachable to the ground station is determined. The at least one of the position of the user, the communication behavior of the user, and the mobility trajectory of the user can be obtained from other nodes.

[0174] In some optional embodiments, the satellite to which the second node belongs is the same satellite as the satellite to which the first node belongs. In the above embodiment, the first time at which the satellite to which the first node belongs will be unreachable to the ground station can be the same as the second time in this embodiment.

[0175] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further includes: the second node sends fifth information to the first node, and the fifth information is used to subscribe to reachability notification between the sixth node.

[0176] In some optional embodiments, the method further includes: the second node receives notification information sent by the first node, indicating that the sixth node is reachable.

[0177] In this embodiment, the second node can subscribe to the reachability notification between the first node and the sixth node. When the second node receives the notification information sent by the first node, indicating that the sixth node is reachable, it means that the first node deployed on the satellite can communicate with the sixth node, and the second node can control the session recovery and / or data transmission recovery in the future.

[0178] In some optional embodiments, the method further comprises: the second node performing session recovery and / or data transmission recovery, and / or, the second node sending eighth information to the third node; the eighth information is used to instruct the third node to perform session recovery and / or data transmission recovery, and / or, the eighth information comprises a session recovery time.

[0179] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further comprises: the second node receiving the connection information sent by the third node; and / or, the second node sending the connection information to the sixth node; wherein, the connection information is used to establish a connection between the sixth node and the third node after session recovery and / or data transmission recovery.

[0180] In the present embodiment, the second node sends the information of the sixth node to the third node, so that the third node allocates corresponding connection information for the tunnel or connection between the sixth nodes, thereby the second node receives the connection information allocated by the third node for the sixth node. The second node sends the connection information to the sixth node, so that the third node and the sixth node establish a connection or tunnel for data transmission. Exemplarily, the connection information can comprise at least one of the following: IP address, connection ID, port number, etc.

[0181] Based on the above embodiments, the present application further provides a communication method. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in FIG. 3, the method comprises:

[0182] Step 301: the third node receives the seventh information sent by the second node, wherein the seventh information is used to instruct the third node to perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward.

[0183] In the present embodiment, the third node is a network node deployed on a satellite. Exemplarily, in a 5G or NR system, the third node can be a UPF deployed on a satellite. In other systems, the third node can also be other network nodes for user plane processing or data transmission, which are not limited in the present embodiment.

[0184] In the present embodiment, the third node performs session suspension and / or store-and-forward based on the seventh information.

[0185] In some optional embodiments, the seventh information can further comprise at least one of the following: service information, session suspension time. Optionally, the service information comprises service priority and / or data cache time.

[0186] In the embodiment, the session suspension time refers to a time of session discontinuity, or a session suspension time, or a session interruption time, or a data storage time, etc. The session suspension time can include a start time and an end time of session suspension, or a start time and a duration of session suspension.

[0187] In some optional embodiments, the seventh information further includes information of the selected sixth node.

[0188] In the embodiment, before the second node triggers the store-and-forward or session suspension, the second node decides whether to update a subsequent user plane path, and selects or adds one or more target nodes, which are the sixth nodes. The sixth nodes can be UPFs, for example. In this way, after subsequent session recovery or data transmission recovery, the third node can establish a connection with the sixth node for data transmission.

[0189] In some optional embodiments, the sixth node can be a ground node, also referred to as a ground target node or a ground station, and can be a ground node related to a user or a user equipment.

[0190] In some optional embodiments of the application, the method further includes: the third node receives eighth information sent by the second node, the eighth information being used to instruct the third node to perform session recovery and / or data transmission recovery, and / or the eighth information including a session recovery time; and the third node performs session recovery and / or data transmission recovery based on the eighth information.

[0191] In the embodiment, the session recovery time can represent an available time of a satellite.

[0192] In some optional embodiments, the third node performs data transmission recovery based on the eighth information includes: the third node determines, according to the eighth information, that the amount of stored data exceeds the amount of data that can be transmitted, and performs data transmission according to the service priority.

[0193] In the embodiment, if the third node determines, according to the amount of stored data and the data transmission capability, that the amount of stored data exceeds the amount of data that can be transmitted during the session recovery, it means that the amount of stored data cannot be completely transmitted during the session recovery, that is, the third node performs data transmission according to the service priority from high to low, first transmits data with high service priority, and finally transmits data with the lowest service priority, so as to ensure that data with high service priority can be transmitted preferentially.

[0194] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further comprises: the third node allocating connection information for a tunnel between the sixth node, sending the connection information to the second node, and the connection information being used to establish a connection with the sixth node after session recovery and / or data transmission recovery.

[0195] In the embodiment, the second node sends the information of the sixth node to the third node, so that the third node allocates corresponding connection information for the tunnel or connection between the sixth node. Thus, the third node sends the connection information allocated for the tunnel between the sixth node to the second node, and the second node sends the connection information to the sixth node, so that the third node and the sixth node establish a connection or tunnel for data transmission. Exemplarily, the connection information can include at least one of the following: an IP address, a connection ID, a port number, etc.

[0196] Based on the above-mentioned embodiments, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication method. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in FIG. 4, the method comprises:

[0197] Step 401: the fourth node sends ninth information to the fifth node, and the ninth information is used to query user subscription information.

[0198] Step 402: the fourth node receives user subscription information sent by the fifth node.

[0199] In the embodiment, the fourth node is a network node deployed on a satellite. As an example, in a 5G or NR system, the fourth node can be a UDM deployed on a satellite; in other examples, in a 4G system, the fourth node can be an HSS deployed on a satellite.

[0200] As an example, in a 5G or NR system, the fifth node can be a UDM deployed on the ground; in other examples, in a 4G system, the fifth node can be an HSS deployed on the ground.

[0201] In the embodiment, when the fourth node and the fifth node located on the ground are communicatively reachable, the fourth node can query user subscription information by sending the ninth information to the fifth node through an interface between the fourth node and the fifth node; and the fifth node queries user subscription information according to the ninth information. As an example, the ninth information can be used to query user subscription information of all users, or to query user subscription information that the fourth node does not have. As another example, the ninth information can also be used to query user subscription information of a specific user.

[0202] In some embodiments, the ninth information comprises at least one of: a user identifier; a user location; a fourth node identifier; and fourth node security information.

[0203] Here, the user identifier is an identifier uniquely representing a user or a user equipment. The first node identifier is an identifier uniquely representing the first node. The fourth node security information is security information used for identity authentication between the fourth node and the fifth node, such as a key, a certificate, a token, or the like used for identity authentication.

[0204] In some embodiments, before the fourth node sends the ninth information to the fifth node, the method further comprises: receiving, by the fourth node, fourth information sent by the first node, the fourth information being used to query user subscription information; and sending, by the fourth node, the user subscription information to the first node.

[0205] In this embodiment, the first node can query the user subscription information by sending the fourth information to the fourth node. The fourth node queries the user subscription information according to the fourth information and sends the queried user subscription information to the first node.

[0206] In this embodiment, the fourth node can find the user subscription information stored by itself. If the fourth node stores the user subscription information of the user, the fourth node directly sends the user subscription information to the first node. If the fourth node does not store the user subscription information of the user, the fourth node can send the ninth information to the fifth node to find the user subscription information through the fifth node, so that the fourth node obtains the user subscription information fed back by the fifth node and sends the user subscription information to the first node.

[0207] In some embodiments, the fourth information comprises at least one of: a user identifier; a user location; a first node identifier; and first node security information.

[0208] Here, the user identifier is an identifier uniquely representing a user or a user equipment. The first node identifier is an identifier uniquely representing the first node. The first node security information is security information used for identity authentication between the first node and the fourth node, such as a key, a certificate, a token, or the like used for identity authentication.

[0209] The embodiments of the present application further provide a communication method, which is applied to a seventh node deployed on a satellite. FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the communication method of the embodiments of the present application; as shown in FIG. 5, the method comprises:

[0210] In step 501, the seventh node performs session suspension and / or store-and-forward based on a first policy.

[0211] In this embodiment, the seventh node is a network node deployed on a satellite. For example, in a 5G or NR system, the seventh node can be a UPF deployed on a satellite. In other systems, the seventh node can also be other network nodes that perform user plane processing or data transmission, which is not limited in this embodiment.

[0212] In this embodiment, the first policy is used to instruct the seventh node to perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward, and / or to instruct the seventh node to perform session recovery and / or data transmission recovery, etc. For example, the first policy can also be referred to as a first rule, information, etc.

[0213] In various embodiments of the present application, the store-and-forward can specifically refer to: in a time period and / or geographical area in which the satellite providing the service is not simultaneously connected to the ground network through the feeder link or the inter-satellite link (ISL, Inter-Satellite Link), the operation mode of providing communication services (storing and forwarding information) to the terminal. For the uplink (UL), "storing" refers to storing the UL information from the UE, and "forwarding" refers to forwarding the stored UL information to the ground network. For the downlink (DL), "storing" refers to storing the DL information from the ground network, and "forwarding" refers to forwarding the stored DL information to the UE.

[0214] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further comprises: the seventh node performing session recovery and / or resuming transmission of stored data based on the first policy.

[0215] In some optional embodiments, the method further comprises: the seventh node receiving the first policy sent by the eighth node.

[0216] In this embodiment, the eighth node is a network node deployed on the ground. For example, in a 5G or NR system, the eighth node can be an SMF deployed on the ground; in a 4G system, the eighth node can be an SGW deployed on the ground.

[0217] In this embodiment, the seventh node obtains the first policy from the eighth node during the reachability with the eighth node for policy configuration. In some optional embodiments, the N4 Association procedure can be reused, or the seventh node receives the first policy sent by the eighth node through a new service.

[0218] In some optional embodiments, the first policy includes one or more of the following: traffic flow description information, time of policy use, session available time, session suspension time, applicable area information, session routing information, and applicable user information.

[0219] In this embodiment, the service flow description information can be specifically the description information of a flow or data flow related to a service. The time of use of the policy indicates the validity period of the first policy, for example, including a start time and an end time, before the start time or after the end time, the first policy is invalid.

[0220] In this embodiment, the session suspension time refers to the time of session discontinuity, or session suspension time, or session interruption time, or data storage time. It can include the start time and end time of session suspension, or include the start time and duration of session suspension. The available session time refers to the time of session continuity, or can also reflect the available time of the satellite. Optionally, the session can also correspond to the N4 interface and the N6 interface, and / or the N4 interface and the N9 interface, that is, the session suspension time can correspond to the suspension time of the N4 interface and the N6 interface, and / or the suspension time of the N4 interface and the N9 interface, and the available session time can correspond to the available time of the N4 interface and the N6 interface, and / or the available time of the N4 interface and the N9 interface.

[0221] In this embodiment, the applicable area information can be specifically the geographical area information corresponding to the ground, that is, it indicates which areas on the earth the first policy is applicable to. The user information used can be specifically valid for which users or user equipment.

[0222] In this embodiment, the session routing information can also be referred to as routing information. Optionally, the session can also correspond to the N4 interface and the N6 interface, and / or the N4 interface and the N9 interface, that is, the session routing information can correspond to the routing information of the N4 interface and the N6 interface, and / or the routing information of the N4 interface and the N9 interface.

[0223] As an implementation manner, the seventh node can determine, according to the ephemeris information, that when the ground station is unreachable at a future time, the session suspension and / or store-and-forward are performed at the future time. As another implementation manner, the seventh node can also perform the session suspension and / or store-and-forward according to the information in the first policy, for example, according to the session suspension time.

[0224] In some optional embodiments, the method further includes: after the session is recovered and / or the transmission of the stored data is resumed, the seventh node receives an updated first policy sent by the eighth node.

[0225] In the embodiment, the seventh node is capable of communicating with the network node on the ground, and in this case, if the first policy of the seventh node needs to be updated, the eighth node can send the updated first policy, and the seventh node can receive the updated first policy from the eighth node.

[0226] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the method further comprises: the seventh node sending tenth information to the access network, wherein the tenth information comprises at least the amount of data that the seventh node supports to cache.

[0227] In the embodiment, the seventh node can send the amount of data that the seventh node supports to cache to the user equipment through the access network, and after the user equipment receives the amount of data that the seventh node supports to cache, the user equipment can perform data transmission according to the service priority. In this case, the user equipment can preferentially transmit data with high service priority.

[0228] In some optional embodiments, the seventh node resumes transmission of the cached data based on the first policy, comprising: the seventh node determining, according to the session resumption time, that the amount of stored data exceeds the amount of data that can be transmitted, and performing data transmission according to the service priority.

[0229] In the embodiment, if the seventh node determines, according to the amount of data that has been stored and the data transmission capability, that the amount of stored data exceeds the amount of data that can be transmitted during the session resumption, it indicates that the amount of stored data cannot be completely transmitted during the session resumption, that is, the seventh node performs data transmission according to the service priority from high to low, first transmits data with high service priority, and finally transmits data with the lowest service priority, so as to ensure that data with high service priority can be preferentially transmitted.

[0230] The embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below in conjunction with specific examples.

[0231] FIG. 6 is an interaction flow diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. In this example, the first node is AMF, the second node is SMF, and the third node is UPF. In this example, the AMF, the SMF, the UPF, and the RAN can be deployed on a satellite. As shown in FIG. 6, the method comprises:

[0232] Step 601: The UE sends a request to the AMF through the RAN, and the request can carry first information.

[0233] Here, the request can be at least one of an attach (ATTACH) request, a service request, a protocol data unit (PDU) session request, a session establishment request, and a session update request.

[0234] Here, the first information can include one or more of the following: information of session discontinuity, information of supporting store-and-forward, a monitoring satellite indication, a satellite mode, and service information. The service information can include service priority and / or buffer time.

[0235] In other optional embodiments, the first information can further include authentication information. The AMF has information configured to check the authentication information, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0236] Step 602: The AMF can send second information to the SMF based on at least one of the ephemeris information, the first information from the UE, and user subscription information.

[0237] Here, for example, the AMF can calculate based on the ephemeris information that the satellite at the location will soon be in an area that is unreachable by the ground station, and then send the second information to the SMF.

[0238] Here, the second information can include one or more of the following: indication information indicating session discontinuity, store-and-forward indication information, service information, and session suspension time. In other optional embodiments, the second information can further include relevant information received from the UE, such as PDU session ID, reason, operation type (specifically, user plane suspension or suspension (UP Suspend")), user location information, N2 session management (SM) information, buffer time, and the like.

[0239] For example, the session suspension time can be obtained by the AMF based on the ephemeris information.

[0240] In some optional embodiments, after the AMF can calculate based on the ephemeris information that the satellite at the location will soon be in an area that is unreachable by the ground station, the AMF can also send third information to the UE to inform the UE of the request result in step 601. The third information includes information indicating session discontinuity and / or store-and-forward information. Optionally, the third information can further include at least one of the following: store-and-forward mode indication; store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list; request failure indication; next request time; and data volume supporting store-and-forward.

[0241] Step 603: The SMF receives the second information and decides to trigger user plane suspension or suspension (UP suspend trigger).

[0242] Here, as an example, the SMF can determine to trigger a user plane suspend or abort (UP suspend trigger) based on the indication information in the second information indicating session discontinuity and / or the store-and-forward indication information. As another example, the SMF can determine to trigger a user plane suspend or abort (UP suspend trigger) based on the ephemeris information indicating that the current satellite will soon be in a region where the ground station is not reachable.

[0243] Step 604: The SMF selects a ground target node.

[0244] Here, the ground target node may, for example, be a UPF.

[0245] Here, the SMF determines that the user plane path needs to be updated, and then selects or adds a ground target node. As an example, the SMF itself has ephemeris information (from OAM or AMF, etc.), and the SMF selects a ground target node based on the ephemeris information, the requested service, the requested service requirements, and the network topology information and location information of the UPF and other nodes. Optionally, in the process of selecting the ground target node, satellite mode information can also be combined, the satellite mode information being used to indicate the satellite node selection strategy requested by the user; and / or the satellite mode information including one or more of the following: the fastest available satellite node, the longest available time satellite node, the fastest group of available satellite nodes, the longest available time group of satellite nodes, all the fastest available satellite nodes, and all the longest available time satellite nodes.

[0246] As another example, the AMF has ephemeris information. Then the method further includes: step 604a: the SMF sends a first request to the AMF, the first request including at least one of the following information: service information, service requirement information, satellite mode information; step 604b: the AMF selects one or more nodes based on the ephemeris information and / or the satellite mode information, and sends a first response to the SMF, the first response including information of the one or more nodes. Further, the SMF selects a ground target node from the one or more nodes based on the requested service, the requested service requirements, and the locally preconfigured network topology information and location information of the UPF and other nodes.

[0247] Step 605: The SMF sends seventh information to the UPF, the seventh information being used to instruct the UPF to perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward.

[0248] Here, the seventh information can include at least one of the following: an indication information (such as N6 / N9 Suspend indicator) of performing session suspension and / or store-and-forward, a related parameter (such as N6 / N9 suspend related parameter) of user plane suspension or session suspension, and information (such as ID, IP address, etc. of the ground target node) of the selected ground target node.

[0249] Here, the related parameter (N6 / N9 suspend related parameter) of user plane suspension or session suspension can include a session suspension time (such as N6 / N9 suspend timer) (which can include a start time and an end time, or a start time and a duration, etc.).

[0250] Here, the SMF can send the seventh information to the UPF according to traffic information, storage capacity information of the on-satellite UPF, and satellite transmission capacity information. For example, the SMF can send the seventh information to the UPF through an N4 session modification request (N4 Session Modification Request).

[0251] In other optional embodiments, when the storage capacity of the UPF is limited or for other reasons, the SMF can perform data storage. In this case, the SMF and the UPF are deployed on one satellite and do not share storage space.

[0252] Up to this step, the feeder link is available (feeder link available).

[0253] Optionally, when the traffic exceeds the storage capacity of the UPF / SMF, the user's request can be rejected. When the traffic exceeds the feeder link capacity of the gateway station, the UPF can determine the transmission order according to the traffic priority, or the UPF performs traffic detection to determine the traffic priority / transmission order by itself.

[0254] Step 606: The UPF performs session suspension and / or store-and-forward according to the seventh information.

[0255] Optionally, when the seventh information includes information of the selected ground target node, the UPF allocates connection information for the tunnel between the ground target node and returns it to the SMF. For example, the UPF can send the above connection information to the SMF through an N4 session modification response information (N4 Session Modification Response). The connection information can include AN connection information (AN Tunnel Info) and CN connection information (CN Tunnel Info).

[0256] Step 607: The SMF subscribes to the reachability notification of the ground target node to the AMF.

[0257] Here, the SMF can send the Nsmf_PDUSession_UpdateSMContext response message to the AMF, and the message can further include the subscription information for subscribing to the reachability notification of the ground target node to the AMF.

[0258] Step 608: The AMF sends a response to the UE through the RAN.

[0259] Here, the response can be at least one of an ATTACH response, a service response, a PDU session request response, a session establishment response, and a session update response, which corresponds to the request in step 601.

[0260] Here, the response can include at least one of the following information: a session suspension identifier (such as N6 / N9Resume ID), a session suspension time, a bandwidth, and the like. In other optional embodiments, the response can further include traffic for the UE to select which information to send.

[0261] So far, the signaling related to the session suspension is completed.

[0262] Step 609: The UE starts data transmission between the UE and the RAN, and the UPF performs session suspension and / or store-and-forward (N6 / N9 suspend procedure), and continues to transmit data based on the established link.

[0263] It should be noted that in this example, the UPF starts to perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward for a period of time, and the UE and the RAN can still be in a connected state, that is, the UE can still transmit data through the connection between the UE and the RAN; after a period of time, the UE is in a satellite-unreachable area of the RAN, at which time the connection between the UE and the RAN is interrupted.

[0264] Step 610: Based on the foregoing step 607, the AMF sends a reachability notification of the ground target node to the SMF.

[0265] Here, the SMF subscribes to the notification event of the reachability of the ground target node to the AMF. When the satellite moves to the upper end of the ground target node, or the AMF can detect the reachability of the ground target node based on the preconfigured ephemeris information, the AMF can send a notification to the SMF through the Namf_MT_EnableUPFReachability message.

[0266] Step 611: The SMF sends eighth information to the UPF, the eighth information is used to instruct the UPF to perform session recovery and / or data transmission recovery, and / or the eighth information includes a session recovery time.

[0267] Here, the SMF can inform the UPF to recover the transmission of the N6 interface / N9 interface through the eighth information to deliver the buffered data to the ground core network / data network.

[0268] Here, the eighth information can carry at least one of the allocation and retention priority (ARP) of the quality of service (QoS) flow corresponding to the PDU session identifier, the 5G QoS identifier (5QI), and the QoS flow identifier (QFI) (the ARP and the 5QI, and / or QFI of the QoS Flow of the PDU Session ID); optionally, the eighth information can also carry the N6 / N9 available duration, that is, the N6 / N9 available duration.

[0269] Step 612: The SMF informs the ground target node to issue connection information for tunnel configuration, and after the configuration is completed, the SMF informs the UPF and the ground target node to establish a connection.

[0270] Step 613: The UPF performs data transmission with the ground target node.

[0271] Here, the UPF judges whether the amount of stored data exceeds the amount of transmittable data (transmittable data amount = available duration * bandwidth) according to the N6 / N9 available duration, and if the amount of stored data exceeds the amount of transmittable data, data transmission needs to be performed based on the service priority.

[0272] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of the interaction flow of the communication method according to an embodiment of the present application; in this example, the seventh node is taken as the UPF and the access network is taken as the RAN. In this example, the UPF and the RAN are both deployed on a satellite; the other nodes are all deployed on the ground. As shown in FIG. 7, the method includes:

[0273] Steps 701 and 702 are pre-configuration processes. Specifically, in step 701, when the UPF deployed on the satellite is reachable with the SMF on the ground, the SMF configures the UPF, specifically, the SMF deploys a first policy to the UPF.

[0274] Here, the first policy includes at least one of the following: service flow description information, time of policy usage, session available time, session suspension time, applicable area information, session routing information, and applicable user information.

[0275] Here, the session can correspond to a specified interface, such as an N4 interface and an N6 interface, or an N4 interface and an N9 interface. That is, the session available time can correspond to N4 interface and N6 interface available time, or N4 interface and N9 interface available time; the session suspension time can correspond to N4 interface and N6 interface suspension time (or suspension time, hang time), or N4 interface and N9 interface suspension time (or suspension time, hang time); and the session routing information can correspond to N4 interface and N6 interface routing information, or N4 interface and N6 interface routing information.

[0276] In step 702, the AMF configures the RAN during the AMF reachability of the RAN deployed on the satellite, specifically, the AMF sends a second policy to the RAN.

[0277] Here, the second policy includes at least one of the following: 5QI description information, time of policy usage, session available time, session suspension time, applicable area information, and session routing information.

[0278] Here, the session corresponds to a specified interface, such as an N2 interface. Then, the session available time can correspond to N2 interface available time; the session suspension time can correspond to N2 interface suspension time (or suspension time, hang time); and the session routing information can correspond to N2 routing information.

[0279] In step 703, the UE initiates a request to the RAN, and the request can carry service information.

[0280] Here, the request can be at least one of an ATTACH request, a service request, a PDU session request, a session establishment request, and a session update request.

[0281] Here, the request can also carry authentication information. In this example, the RAN and the UPF do not process the authentication information, but only forward it.

[0282] Here, the service information can include service priority and / or buffer time, etc.

[0283] Step 704: The RAN is configured with a connection suspend procedure; all requests are not buffered to the RAN, but sent to the UPF.

[0284] Step 705: The UPF buffers the received flow (including the flow request of step 703), and performs session suspension (suspension or hang of N4 and N6, or suspension hang of N4 and N9) based on the first policy.

[0285] Optionally, the UPF can send the amount of cacheable data to the RAN through a response.

[0286] Step 706: The RAN sends a response to the UE, indicating that the request is suspended.

[0287] Optionally, the response can include the amount of cache data for the UE.

[0288] Step 707: The UE performs data transfer through the service link until the link is unavailable.

[0289] Here, the UE can select data to be transmitted preferentially based on the received amount of cache data and based on the service priority.

[0290] Step 708: Based on the ephemeris information, or based on the second policy (N2 available time) configured by the AMF, when the ground 5GC is expected to be available, the RAN establishes a connection with the ground AMF, forwards the authentication information to the AMF, and completes the subsequent authentication process to establish / resume the N2 session.

[0291] Steps 709-710: Based on the first policy, when the ground 5GC is expected to be available, the on-board UPF establishes a connection with the ground SMF and UPF, respectively, to establish / resume the N4 interface and N6 interface sessions, or to establish / resume the N4 interface and N9 interface sessions.

[0292] Optionally, if the SMF wants to update the first policy, it sends the updated first policy to the on-board UPF.

[0293] Step 711: Complete the other flow of the request (such as complete service request / PDU session request), and establish the feeder link.

[0294] Step 712: The UPF performs data transfer based on the feeder link, as well as the session available time and the service priority.

[0295] Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication device, which is applied to a first node deployed on a satellite. Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a constituent structure of the communication device according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in Fig. 8, the device comprises: a first communication unit 11 configured to send second information to a second node and / or send third information to a user equipment based on at least one of ephemeris information, a position of the user, a communication behavior of the user, a mobility trajectory of the user, first information from the user equipment, and user subscription information.

[0296] In some optional embodiments, the first information comprises information of session discontinuity and / or information of supporting store-and-forward; and / or, the second information and / or the third information comprises information representing session discontinuity and / or store-and-forward information.

[0297] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first information further comprises at least one of the following: a monitoring satellite indication; a store-and-forward indication; satellite mode information; service information.

[0298] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the second information further comprises at least one of the following: service information; session suspension time; and / or, the third information further comprises at least one of the following: a store-and-forward mode indication; a store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list; a request failure indication; a next request time; a data volume supporting store-and-forward.

[0299] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list is used to indicate a satellite supporting store-and-forward, or used to indicate related information supporting store-and-forward service, or used to indicate a satellite requested by the user next time; and / or, the store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list comprises at least one of the following: a satellite ID; a network element / network function ID; network element / network function address information; satellite available time.

[0300] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list is determined based on at least one of the following: the first information, the position of the user equipment, the communication behavior of the user, the mobility trajectory of the user equipment, and the ephemeris information.

[0301] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first communication unit 11 is further configured to obtain the user subscription information from a fourth node deployed on a satellite, or obtain the user subscription information from a fifth node deployed on the ground.

[0302] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first communication unit 11 is configured to send fourth information to a fourth node deployed on a satellite and / or to a fifth node deployed on the ground, the fourth information being used to query user subscription information; and is further configured to receive user subscription information sent by the fourth node and / or user subscription information sent by the fifth node.

[0303] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the fourth information includes at least one of the following:

[0304] User identity, user location, first node identity, and first node security information.

[0305] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the apparatus further includes a first processing unit 12 configured to determine a ground station based on at least one of the following: user location, user communication behavior, and user mobility trajectory; and the first communication unit 11 is configured to send second information to a second node and / or third information to the user equipment when it is determined based on ephemeris information that the satellite to which the first node belongs will soon become unreachable from the ground station at a first time.

[0306] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the service information includes service priority and / or data cache time.

[0307] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the apparatus further includes a first processing unit 12 configured to determine a session suspension time based on the ephemeris information and / or data cache time.

[0308] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the apparatus further includes a first processing unit 12;

[0309] The first communication unit 11 is further configured to receive a first request sent by a second node, the first request including at least one of the following: service information, service requirement information, and satellite mode information.

[0310] The first processing unit 12 is configured to select one or more sixth nodes based on ephemeris information and / or satellite mode information.

[0311] The first communication unit 11 is further configured to send a first response to the second node, the first response including information of the one or more sixth nodes.

[0312] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the satellite mode information is used to indicate one or more of the following: a satellite monitoring mode, a satellite service mode, a user-requested satellite node selection strategy; and / or the satellite mode information comprises one or more of the following: a fastest available single or group or all satellite nodes, a longest available time single or group or all satellite nodes.

[0313] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first communication unit 11 is further configured to receive fifth information sent by the second node, the fifth information being used to subscribe to reachability notification of a sixth node.

[0314] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first communication unit 11 is further configured to, when detecting that the sixth node is reachable, send notification information indicating that the sixth node is reachable to the second node.

[0315] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first communication unit 11 is further configured to send sixth information to the user equipment, the sixth information comprising one or more of the following: a session suspension identifier, a session suspension time, a bandwidth, a request failure indication; a store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list; a next request time.

[0316] In the embodiments of the present application, the first processing unit 12 in the device can be implemented by a central processing unit (CPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), a microcontroller unit (MCU), or a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) in actual application; and the first communication unit 11 in the device can be implemented by a communication module (including a basic communication suite, an operating system, a communication module, a standardized interface and protocol, etc.) and a transceiving antenna in actual application.

[0317] The embodiments of the present application also provide a communication device, which is applied to a second node deployed on a satellite. Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in Fig. 9, the device comprises a second communication unit 21 and a second processing unit 22; wherein,

[0318] The second communication unit 21 is configured to receive second information sent by a first node;

[0319] The second processing unit 22 is configured to send, through the second communication unit 21, seventh information to a third node based on the second information and / or ephemeris information, the seventh information being used to instruct the third node to perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward, and / or perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward.

[0320] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the second information includes information indicating session discontinuity and / or store-and-forward information.

[0321] In some optional embodiments, the second information further includes one or more of the following: service information, session suspension time.

[0322] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the service information includes service priority and / or data cache time.

[0323] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the apparatus further includes a second processing unit 22 configured to select a sixth node before the second communication unit 21 sends the seventh information to the third node based on the second information and / or ephemeris information.

[0324] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the second processing unit 22 is configured to select a sixth node according to ephemeris information and network topology information; or,

[0325] The second communication unit 21 is further configured to send a first request to the first node, the first request including at least one of the following information: service information, service requirement information, satellite mode information; and receive a first response sent by the first node, the first response including one or more sixth nodes selected by the first node based on ephemeris information and / or satellite mode information.

[0326] The second processing unit 22 is configured to select a sixth node from the one or more fourth nodes.

[0327] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the satellite mode information is used to indicate one or more of the following: satellite monitoring mode, satellite service mode, user-requested satellite node selection strategy; and / or,

[0328] The satellite mode information includes one or more of the following: the fastest available single or group or all satellite nodes, the longest available time single or group or all satellite nodes.

[0329] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the seventh information further includes information of the selected sixth node.

[0330] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the second processing unit 22 is configured to, when it is determined based on the ephemeris information that the satellite to which the second node belongs will be unreachable to the ground station at a second time, send, through the second communication unit 21, seventh information to a third node, and / or perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward.

[0331] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the second communication unit 21 is further configured to send fifth information to the first node, where the fifth information is used to subscribe to reachability notification of a sixth node.

[0332] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the second communication unit 21 is further configured to receive notification information sent by the first node, where the notification information indicates that the sixth node is reachable.

[0333] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the second processing unit 22 is further configured to perform session resumption and / or data transmission resumption, and / or,

[0334] The second communication unit 21 is further configured to send eighth information to the third node, where the eighth information is used to instruct the third node to perform session resumption and / or data transmission resumption, and / or the eighth information includes a session resumption time.

[0335] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the second communication unit 21 is further configured to receive connection information sent by the third node, and / or send the connection information to the sixth node.

[0336] The connection information is used to establish a connection between the sixth node and the third node after session resumption and / or data transmission resumption.

[0337] In the embodiments of the present application, the second processing unit 22 in the device can be implemented by a CPU, a DSP, an MCU or an FPGA in actual application; and the second communication unit 21 in the device can be implemented by a communication module (including a basic communication suite, an operating system, a communication module, a standardized interface and a protocol, etc.) and a transceiving antenna in actual application.

[0338] The embodiments of the present application further provide a communication device, which is applied to a third node deployed on a satellite. FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram III of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in FIG. 10, the device comprises a third communication unit 31 configured to receive seventh information sent by a second node, where the seventh information is used to instruct to perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward.

[0339] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the seventh information further includes information of a selected sixth node.

[0340] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the apparatus further comprises a third processing unit 32;

[0341] The third communication unit 31 is configured to receive eighth information sent by the second node, the eighth information being used to instruct the third node to perform session recovery and / or data transmission recovery, and / or the eighth information comprising a session recovery time.

[0342] The third processing unit 32 is configured to perform session recovery and / or data transmission recovery based on the eighth information.

[0343] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the third processing unit 32 is configured to, according to the eighth information, determine that the amount of stored data exceeds the amount of data that can be transmitted, and perform data transmission according to service priority.

[0344] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the apparatus further comprises a third processing unit 32 configured to allocate connection information for a tunnel between the apparatus and a sixth node; the connection information being used to establish a connection with the sixth node after session recovery and / or data transmission recovery.

[0345] The third communication unit 31 is further configured to send the connection information to the second node.

[0346] In the embodiments of the present application, the third processing unit 32 in the apparatus can be implemented by a CPU, a DSP, an MCU or an FPGA in actual application; and the third communication unit 31 in the apparatus can be implemented by a communication module (including a basic communication suite, an operating system, a communication module, a standardized interface and a protocol, etc.) and a transceiving antenna in actual application.

[0347] The embodiments of the present application further provide a communication apparatus, which is applied to a fourth node deployed on a satellite. Fig. 11 is a structural schematic diagram of the communication apparatus according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in Fig. 11, the apparatus comprises a fourth communication unit 41 configured to send ninth information to a fifth node, the ninth information being used to query user subscription information; and further configured to receive user subscription information sent by the fifth node.

[0348] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the fourth communication unit 41 is further configured to, before sending the ninth information to the fifth node, receive fourth information sent by a first node, the fourth information being used to query user subscription information; and further configured to send the user subscription information to the first node.

[0349] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the fourth information comprises at least one of the following: a user identifier; a user location; a first node identifier; first node security information; and / or the ninth information comprises at least one of the following: a user identifier; a user location; a fourth node identifier; fourth node security information.

[0350] In the embodiments of the present application, the fourth communication unit 41 in the device can be implemented by a communication module (including a basic communication suite, an operating system, a communication module, a standardized interface and a protocol, etc.) and a transceiving antenna in actual application.

[0351] The embodiments of the present application further provide a communication device, which is applied to a seventh node deployed on a satellite. Fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of the communication device according to the embodiments of the present application; as shown in Fig. 12, the device comprises a fourth processing unit 51 configured to perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward based on a first policy.

[0352] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the fourth processing unit 51 is further configured to perform session recovery and / or resume transmission of stored data based on the first policy.

[0353] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the first policy comprises one or more of the following: service flow description information, time of policy use, session available time, session suspension time, applicable area information, session routing information, and applicable user information.

[0354] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the device further comprises a fifth communication unit 52 configured to receive the first policy sent by an eighth node.

[0355] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the device further comprises a fifth communication unit 52 configured to receive an updated first policy sent by the eighth node after session recovery and / or resume transmission of stored data.

[0356] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the device further comprises a fifth communication unit 52 configured to send tenth information to an access network, wherein the tenth information comprises at least a data amount supported by the seventh node for buffering.

[0357] In some optional embodiments of the present application, the fourth processing unit 51 is configured to determine, according to the session recovery time, that the amount of stored data exceeds the amount of data that can be transmitted, and perform data transmission according to service priority.

[0358] In the embodiments of the present application, the fourth processing unit 51 in the device can be implemented by a CPU, a DSP, an MCU or an FPGA in actual application; and the fifth communication unit 52 in the device can be implemented by a communication module (including a basic communication suite, an operating system, a communication module, a standardized interface and a protocol, etc.) and a transceiving antenna in actual application.

[0359] It should be noted that the communication device provided by the above embodiments is only taken as an example for the division of the above program modules when performing communication, and in actual application, the above processing can be completed by different program modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the device is divided into different program modules to complete all or part of the above-described processing. In addition, the communication device and the communication method provided by the above embodiments belong to the same concept, and the specific implementation process is detailed in the method embodiments, which will not be described here.

[0360] The embodiments of the present application further provide a communication node, which is a first node, a second node, a third node, a fourth node or a seventh node. Fig. 13 is a schematic diagram of the hardware composition structure of the communication node according to the embodiments of the present application. As shown in Fig. 13, the communication node comprises a memory 62, a processor 61 and a computer program stored in the memory 62 and executable on the processor 61, and the processor 61 implements the steps of the communication method applied to the first node, the second node, the third node, the fourth node or the seventh node of the embodiments of the present application when executing the program.

[0361] Optionally, the communication node can further comprise at least one network interface 63. Each component in the communication node is coupled together through a bus system 64. It can be understood that the bus system 64 is used to realize the connection communication between the components. The bus system 64 comprises a data bus, a power supply bus, a control bus and a state signal bus. However, in order to clearly illustrate, various buses are marked as the bus system 64 in Fig. 13.

[0362] It can be understood that the memory 62 can be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, and can also 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 erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a ferromagnetic random access memory (FRAM), a flash memory, a magnetic surface memory, an optical disc, or a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM). The magnetic surface memory can be a disk memory or a tape memory. The volatile memory can be a random access memory (RAM) used as an external cache. By way of example but not limitation, many forms of RAM can be used, such as static random access memory (SRAM), synchronous static random access memory (SSRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (SLDRAM), and direct rambus random access memory (DRRAM).The memory 62 described in the embodiments of the present application is intended to include, but not limited to, these and any other suitable type of memory.

[0363] The method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application can be applied in the processor 61 or implemented by the processor 61. The processor 61 can be an integrated circuit chip having a processing capability of signals. In the implementation process, each step of the above method can be completed by the integrated logic circuit of hardware in the processor 61 or the instruction in the form of software. The processor 61 described above can be a general processor, a DSP, or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware component, etc. The processor 61 can implement or execute the disclosed methods, steps and logic block diagrams in the embodiments of the present application. The general processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc. In combination with the steps of the method disclosed in the embodiments of the present application, the execution can be directly completed by the hardware decoding processor or by the combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The software module can be located in the storage medium, which is located in the memory 62. The processor 61 reads the information in the memory 62 and combines the hardware to complete the steps of the above method.

[0364] In the exemplary embodiments, the communication node can be implemented by one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), DSP, Programmable Logic Device (PLD), Complex Programmable Logic Device (CPLD), FPGA, general-purpose processor, controller, MCU, microprocessor (Microprocessor), or other electronic elements, for executing the above method.

[0365] In the exemplary embodiments, the embodiments of the present application also provide a computer readable storage medium, for example, the memory 62 including a computer program, which can be executed by the processor 61 of the communication node to complete the steps of the above method. The computer readable storage medium can be FRAM, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash Memory, magnetic surface memory, optical disc, or CD-ROM, etc. The computer readable storage medium can also be various devices including one or any combination of the above storage medium.

[0366] The computer readable storage medium provided by the embodiments of the present application has a computer program stored thereon, which is executed by the processor to implement the steps of the communication method applied to the first node, the second node, the third node, the fourth node or the seventh node in the embodiments of the present application.

[0367] The embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product comprising a computer program, which can be executed by a communication node (e.g., the processor 61 of the communication node) to complete the steps of the aforementioned communication method.

[0368] The methods disclosed in the several method embodiments provided by the present application can be combined arbitrarily without conflict to obtain new method embodiments.

[0369] The features disclosed in the several product embodiments provided by the present application can be combined arbitrarily without conflict to obtain new product embodiments.

[0370] The features disclosed in the several method or device embodiments provided by the present application can be combined arbitrarily without conflict to obtain new method embodiments or device embodiments.

[0371] In the several embodiments provided by the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed device and method can be implemented in other ways. The device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. There can be another division manner for the actual implementation, 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 displayed or discussed coupling, or direct coupling or communication connection between the components can be indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0372] The units described as separate components can or can not be physically separate, and the components displayed as units can or can not be physical units, that is, they can be located in one place, or distributed on a plurality of network units; some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the embodiments.

[0373] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can be a separate unit, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit; the integrated unit can be realized in the form of hardware, or in the form of hardware plus software function unit.

[0374] Those skilled in the art can understand that all or part of the steps of the above-mentioned method embodiments can be completed by program instruction related hardware, and the aforementioned program can be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and the program is executed to perform the steps of the above-mentioned method embodiments; and the aforementioned storage medium includes mobile storage equipment, ROM, RAM, magnetic disc or optical disc and various storage program codes.

[0375] Alternatively, the above-mentioned integrated units of the present application, if implemented in the form of software functional modules and sold or used as independent products, can also be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes a number of instructions for causing a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: mobile storage devices, ROM, RAM, magnetic disks or optical disks, and various other media that can store program codes.

[0376] The above is merely specific embodiments of the present application, but the protection scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or replacements within the technical scope disclosed by 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, the method is applied to a first node; the method comprises: The first node sends second information to a second node and / or third information to a user equipment based on at least one of the following: ephemeris information, user location, user communication behavior, user mobility trajectory, first information from the user equipment, and user subscription information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The first information comprises session discontinuity information and / or store-and-forward support information; and / or, The second information and / or the third information comprises session discontinuity information and / or store-and-forward information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein, The first information further comprises at least one of the following: a monitoring satellite indication; a store-and-forward indication; satellite mode information; service information; and / or, The second information further comprises at least one of the following: service information; session suspension time; and / or, The third information further comprises at least one of the following: a store-and-forward mode indication; a store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list; a request failure indication; a next request time; a data volume supporting store-and-forward.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein, The store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list is used to indicate a satellite supporting store-and-forward, or to indicate related information supporting store-and-forward service, or to indicate a satellite for the next request of the user; And / or, the store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list comprises at least one of the following: a satellite ID; a network element / network function ID; Network element / network function address information; Satellite available time.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein, The store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list is determined based on at least one of the following: First information, user equipment location, user communication behavior, user equipment mobility trajectory, ephemeris information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein, The user subscription information is obtained by the first node from a fourth node deployed on a satellite, or obtained by the first node from a fifth node deployed on the ground.

7. The method of claim 1 or 6, wherein, The method further comprises: The first node sends fourth information to the fourth node deployed on the satellite and / or to the fifth node deployed on the ground, the fourth information being used to query user subscription information; The first node receives user subscription information sent by the fourth node and / or user subscription information sent by the fifth node.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein, The fourth information comprises at least one of the following: user identity; user location; first node identity; first node security information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein, The first node sends second information to a second node and / or third information to a user equipment based on at least one of the following: ephemeris information, user location, user communication behavior, user mobility trajectory, first information from the user equipment, and user subscription information, comprising: The first node determines a ground station based on at least one of the following: user location, user communication behavior, user mobility trajectory, and determines a satellite to which the first node belongs will be unreachable with the ground station at a first time based on ephemeris information, and sends second information to a second node and / or third information to the user equipment when the satellite is unreachable with the ground station at the first time.

10. The method of claim 3, wherein, The service information comprises service priority and / or data cache time.

11. The method of claim 3, wherein, The method further comprises: The first node determines session suspension time based on the ephemeris information and / or data cache time.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein, The method further comprises: The first node receives a first request sent by a second node, and the first request comprises at least one of the following information: service information, service requirement information, satellite mode information; The first node selects one or more nodes as candidate sixth nodes based on ephemeris information and / or satellite mode information, and sends a first response to the second node, wherein the first response comprises information of the one or more nodes.

13. The method of claim 3 or 12, wherein, The satellite mode information is used to indicate one or more of the following: satellite monitoring mode, satellite service mode, and user-requested satellite node selection strategy; and / or, The satellite mode information comprises one or more of the following: the fastest available single or group or all satellite nodes, the longest available time single or group or all satellite nodes.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein, The method further comprises: The first node receives fifth information sent by the second node, and the fifth information is used to subscribe to reachability notification of a sixth node.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein, The method further comprises: When the first node detects that the sixth node is reachable, the first node sends notification information indicating that the sixth node is reachable to the second node.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein, The method further comprises: The first node sends sixth information to the user equipment, and the sixth information comprises one or more of the following: session suspension identifier, session suspension time, bandwidth, request failure indication; store-and-forward monitoring list / available satellite list; next request time.

17. A communication method, the method is applied to a second node, and the method comprises: The second node receives second information sent by a first node; The second node sends seventh information to a third node based on the second information and / or ephemeris information, and the seventh information is used to instruct the third node to perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward, and / or the second node performs session suspension and / or store-and-forward.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein, The second information comprises information indicating session discontinuity and / or store-and-forward information.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein, The second information further comprises one or more of the following: service information, session suspension time.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein, The service information comprises service priority and / or data cache time.

21. The method of any one of claims 17 to 20, wherein, Before the second node sends the seventh information to the third node based on the second information and / or ephemeris information, the method further comprises: The second node selects a sixth node.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein, The second node selects a sixth node, which comprises: The second node selects a sixth node according to ephemeris information and network topology information; or, The second node sends a first request to the first node, and the first request comprises at least one of the following information: service information, service requirement information, satellite mode information; receives a first response sent by the first node, and the first response comprises information of one or more nodes selected by the first node based on ephemeris information and / or satellite mode information; and selects a sixth node from the one or more nodes.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein, The satellite mode information is used to indicate one or more of the following: satellite monitoring mode, satellite service mode, and user-requested satellite node selection strategy; and / or, The satellite mode information includes one or more of the following: the fastest available single or group or all satellite nodes, the longest available time of single or group or all satellite nodes.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein, The seventh information further includes information of a selected sixth node.

25. The method of claim 17, wherein, The second node sends seventh information to a third node based on ephemeris information, and / or, the second node performs session suspension and / or store-and-forward, including: The second node sends seventh information to a third node based on ephemeris information when the satellite to which the second node belongs will be unreachable to a ground station at a second time, and / or, the second node performs session suspension and / or store-and-forward.

26. The method of claim 17, wherein, The method further includes: The second node sends fifth information to the first node, the fifth information being used for subscribing to reachability notification of the sixth node.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein, The method further includes: The second node receives notification information sent by the first node, the notification information indicating reachability of the sixth node.

28. The method of claim 17 or 27, wherein, The method further includes: The second node performs session resumption and / or data transmission resumption, and / or, The second node sends eighth information to the third node, the eighth information being used for instructing the third node to perform session resumption and / or data transmission resumption, and / or, the eighth information including a session resumption time.

29. The method of any one of claims 22 to 24, wherein, The method further includes: The second node receives connection information sent by the third node; and / or, The second node sends the connection information to the sixth node; The connection information is used for establishing connection between the sixth node and the third node after session resumption and / or data transmission resumption. 30.A communication method, the method being applied to a third node, the method including: The third node receives seventh information sent by a second node, the seventh information being used for instructing the third node to perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein, The seventh information further includes information of a selected sixth node.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein, The method further includes: The third node receives eighth information sent by the second node, the eighth information being used for instructing the third node to perform session resumption and / or data transmission resumption, and / or, the eighth information including a session resumption time; The third node performs session resumption and / or data transmission resumption based on the eighth information.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein, The third node performs data transmission resumption based on the eighth information, including: When the third node determines, according to the eighth information, that the amount of stored data exceeds the amount of data that can be transmitted, the third node performs data transmission according to service priority.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein, The method further includes: The third node allocates connection information for a tunnel between the third node and a sixth node, and sends the connection information to the second node, the connection information being used for establishing connection with the sixth node after session resumption and / or data transmission resumption. 35.A communication method, the method being applied to a fourth node; the method including: The fourth node sends ninth information to a fifth node, the ninth information being used for querying user subscription information; The fourth node receives user subscription information sent by the fifth node.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein, Before the fourth node sends the ninth information to the fifth node, the method further includes: The fourth node receives fourth information sent by the first node, the fourth information being used for querying user subscription information; The fourth node sends user subscription information to the first node.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein, The fourth information comprises at least one of the following: user identity; user location; first node identity; first node security information; and / or, The ninth information comprises at least one of the following: user identity; user location; fourth node identity; fourth node security information.

38. A communication method, the method being applied to a seventh node, the method comprising: The seventh node performs session suspension and / or store-and-forward based on a first policy.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein, The method further comprises: The seventh node performs session resumption and / or resumed transmission of stored data based on the first policy.

40. The method of claim 38 or 39, wherein, The first policy comprises one or more of the following: service flow description information, time of policy usage, session available time, session suspension time, applicable area information, session routing information, applicable user information.

41. The method of claim 38, wherein, The method further comprises: The seventh node receives the first policy sent by an eighth node.

42. The method of claim 39, wherein, The method further comprises: The seventh node receives an updated first policy sent by an eighth node after session resumption and / or resumed transmission of stored data.

43. The method of claim 38, wherein, The method further comprises: The seventh node sends tenth information to an access network, the tenth information comprising at least an amount of data that the seventh node supports to buffer.

44. The method of claim 39, wherein, The seventh node resumes transmission of buffered data based on the first policy, comprising: The seventh node determines, according to the session resumption time, that the amount of stored data exceeds the amount of data that can be transmitted, and performs data transmission according to service priority.

45. A communications apparatus, the apparatus being applied to a first node, the apparatus comprising: A first communication unit configured to send second information to a second node and / or third information to a user equipment based on at least one of the following: ephemeris information, user location, user communication behavior, user mobility trajectory, first information from the user equipment, and user subscription information.

46. A communications apparatus, the apparatus being applied to a second node, the apparatus comprising: A second communication unit and a second processing unit; wherein The second communication unit is configured to receive second information sent by a first node; The second processing unit is configured to send seventh information to a third node via the second communication unit based on the second information and / or ephemeris information, the seventh information being used for instructing the third node to perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward, and / or performing session suspension and / or store-and-forward.

47. A communications apparatus, the apparatus being applied to a third node, the apparatus comprising: A third communication unit configured to receive seventh information sent by a second node, the seventh information being used for instructing to perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward.

48. A communication device, the device being applied to a fourth node, the device comprising: A fourth communication unit configured to send ninth information to a fifth node, the ninth information being used for querying user subscription information; Further configured to receive user subscription information sent by the fifth node.

49. A communications apparatus, the apparatus being applied to a seventh node, the apparatus comprising: A fourth processing unit configured to perform session suspension and / or store-and-forward based on a first policy.

50. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the steps of the method of any one of claims 1 to 44.

51. A communication node comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored on the memory and executable on the processor, the processor implementing the steps of the method of any one of claims 1 to 44 when executing the program.

52. A computer program product comprising computer program instructions to cause a computer to perform the steps of the method of any one of claims 1 to 44.

Images