Network node, network architecture, information transmission method, medium, and program product

Abstract

The present application provides a network node, a network architecture, an information transmission method, a medium and a program product. A first network node, comprising: a first preset function, wherein the first preset function comprises a preset control plane function; the first network node is respectively connected to one or more first communication nodes and a network element in a second network node, and the second network node comprises a core network node.

Description

Network node, network architecture, information transmission method, medium and program product TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, in particular to a network node, a network architecture, an information transmission method, a medium and a program product. BACKGROUND

[0002] Service-based Architecture (SBA) is an important feature of the 5th Generation Mobile Communication Technology (5G), which divides network functions into several reusable "services" in combination with the network characteristics and technology development trends of the mobile core network. The "services" communicate with each other using lightweight interfaces, aiming to achieve high efficiency, softwareization and openness of the 5G system.

[0003] To adapt to the development of 5G networks, the radio access network (RAN) proposes a centralized unit (CU) / distributed unit (DU) based distributed architecture base station. The NG interface is the interface between the NG-RAN and the core network, used to transfer control signaling and user data between the NG-RAN and the core network, and the NG interface can be divided into a control plane interface (NG Control Plane Interface, NG-C) and a user plane interface (NG User Plane Interface, NG-U).

[0004] With the evolution of standards and the development of technology, more and more researches on the vision, demand and key technology of the 6th Generation Mobile Communication System (6G) have been proposed. Therefore, how the network evolves to meet the 6G demand and realize the 6G vision has become a problem to be solved. SUMMARY

[0005] The present application provides a network node, a network architecture, an information transmission method, a medium and a program product to propose a network architecture and node that meets the intelligent demand of the 6G network, and a way of information transmission between nodes in the architecture, to realize the 6G vision.

[0006] The embodiment of the present application provides a first network node, comprising: a first preset function, the first preset function comprising a preset control plane (Control Plane, CP) function; wherein the first network node is connected with one or more first communication nodes and network elements in a second network node respectively, and the second network node comprises a core network node.

[0007] The embodiment of the present application further provides a network architecture, comprising the first network node, the first communication node and the second network node provided by any of the above embodiments.

[0008] The embodiment of the present application further provides an information transmission method, applied to the second communication node, comprising: sending a radio resource control (RRC) establishment request to the first network node provided by any of the above embodiments in the idle state; and switching the connection state according to the received RRC establishment feedback information.

[0009] The embodiment of the present application further provides an information transmission method, applied to the first network node provided by any of the above embodiments, comprising: receiving an RRC establishment request; and sending RRC establishment feedback information to the second communication node.

[0010] The embodiment of the present application further provides an information transmission method, applied to the first communication node, comprising: receiving an RRC establishment request sent by the second communication node, and sending the RRC establishment request to the first network node provided by any of the above embodiments; receiving RRC establishment feedback information fed back by the first network node, and feeding back corresponding RRC establishment information to the second communication node.

[0011] The embodiment of the present application further provides an information transmission method, applied to the first network node provided by any of the above embodiments, comprising: sending cell switching request information, and receiving corresponding cell switching request response information.

[0012] The embodiment of the present application further provides an information transmission method, applied to the first network node provided by any of the above embodiments, comprising: receiving an RRC re-establishment request forwarded by a target communication node; sending RRC re-establishment information to the target communication node; receiving RRC re-establishment feedback information fed back by the target communication node; sending a path switching request to a network element of the second network node, and receiving a path switching request response.

[0013] The embodiment of the present application further provides an information transmission method, applied to the first network node provided in any one of the above embodiments, the first network node including a target first network node and a source first network node, comprising: the source first network node sends a first network node switching request message to the target first network node, and receives a first network node switching request response message fed back by the target first network node; the source first network node sends RRC reestablishment information to a second communication node through a source communication node; the target first network node receives RRC reestablishment feedback information sent by the second communication node through a target communication node, and sends a path switching request to a network element of a second network node; the target first network node sends a first network node switching completion message to the source first network node in the case of receiving a path switching request response sent by the network element of the second network node.

[0014] The embodiment of the present application further provides a storage medium for computer readable storage, the storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more programs being executable by one or more processors to implement the information transmission method of any one of the embodiments of the present application.

[0015] The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, comprising a computer program, the computer program being executed by a processor to implement the information transmission method of any one of the embodiments of the present application.

[0016] The network node, network architecture, information transmission method, medium and program product provided by the embodiment of the present application, the first network node includes a first preset function, the first preset function includes a preset control plane function; the first network node is connected with one or more first communication nodes and a network element in a second network node respectively, and the second network node includes a core network node. By adopting the above technical solution, the network node for realizing the preset CP function is proposed after the CP function is divided to meet the intelligent demand of the 6G network, and the network architecture and information transmission method based on the newly proposed network node can better realize the 6G vision targeting network intelligence. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0017] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a control plane protocol stack structure in the related art;

[0018] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a user plane protocol stack structure in the related art;

[0019] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a network node provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0020] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a network architecture provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0021] FIG. 5 is a structure example diagram of a protocol stack of a first network node provided by the embodiment of the present application;

[0022] FIG. 6 is an example diagram of a protocol stack structure of another first network node according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0023] FIG. 7 is an example diagram of a network architecture structure according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0024] FIG. 8 is an example diagram of a network architecture structure according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0025] FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of a method for information transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0026] FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of another method for information transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0027] FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of another method for information transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0028] FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of another method for information transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0029] FIG. 13 is a flow diagram of another method for information transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0030] FIG. 14 is a flow diagram of another method for information transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0031] FIG. 15 is an implementation diagram of another method for information transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0032] FIG. 16 is an implementation diagram of another method for information transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0033] FIG. 17 is an implementation diagram of another method for information transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0034] FIG. 18 is an implementation diagram of another method for information transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0035] FIG. 19 is an implementation diagram of another method for information transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0036] FIG. 20 is an implementation diagram of another method for information transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0037] FIG. 21 is an implementation diagram of another method for information transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0038] FIG. 22 is an implementation diagram of another method for information transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0039] FIG. 23 is an implementation diagram of another method for information transmission according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0040] FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram of another information transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0041] FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram of another information transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0042] FIG. 26 is a schematic diagram of another information transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0043] FIG. 27 is a schematic diagram of a structure of an information transmission apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0044] FIG. 28 is a schematic diagram of a structure of another information transmission apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0045] FIG. 29 is a schematic diagram of a structure of another information transmission apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0046] FIG. 30 is a schematic diagram of a structure of another information transmission apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0047] FIG. 31 is a schematic diagram of a structure of another information transmission apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0048] FIG. 32 is a schematic diagram of a structure of another information transmission apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0049] The embodiments in the present application and the features in the embodiments can be combined with each other in the case of no conflict. The operations shown in the flowcharts of the drawings can be executed in a computer system such as a group of computer executable instructions. Moreover, although the logical order is shown in the flowcharts, the operations shown or described herein can be executed in a different order from that shown in some cases.

[0050] The functional nodes of the 5G core network include an Access and Mobility management Function (AMF), a Session Management Function (SMF), a User Plane Function (UPF), a Unified Data Management (UDM), a Network Repository Function (NRF), a Network Exposure Function (NEF), and the like, among which the AMF, the SMF, and the UPF network elements are related to the access network.

[0051] AMF supports terminals (User Equipment, UE) with different mobility management requirements. Main tasks: Non-Access Stratum (NAS) signaling terminal, NAS signaling security, access layer security control, core network node inter-signaling for mobility between 3GPP access networks, idle mode UE reachability (including control and execution of paging retransmission), registration area management, support for intra- and inter-system mobility, access authentication, access authorization (including roaming permission check), mobility management control (subscription and policy), support network slicing, SMF selection.

[0052] SMF can support customized mobile management solutions with AMF, such as "Mobile Initiated Connection Only" (MICO) or Radio Access Network (RAN) enhanced functions such as "RRC Inactive" state (i.e. RRC inactive state). Main tasks: session management, UE Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management, UPF selection and control, traffic control configuration at UPF, routing traffic to the appropriate destination, policy enforcement and Quality of Service (QoS) control part, downlink data notification.

[0053] UPF performs main tasks: anchor point for intra- and inter-system mobility, external Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session point connected to data network, packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection and user plane policy rule enforcement part, traffic usage reporting, uplink classifier (to support routing traffic flows to data networks), branch point to support multi-homed PDU session, QoS handling for user plane (e.g. packet filtering, gating, uplink / downlink rate enforcement), uplink traffic verification (SDF to QoS flow mapping), downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification trigger; wherein SDF represents Standard Delay Format.

[0054] Other main network functions include:

[0055] NRF: NRF provides support for network function (Network Function, NF) service management, including registration, deregistration, authorization and discovery.

[0056] NEF: provides external exposure of network function capabilities. External exposure can be divided into monitoring capabilities, provisioning capabilities, application influence on traffic routing, and policy / charging capabilities.

[0057] UDM: 5G Core Network (5GC) supports a data storage architecture for separation of computation and storage. The unified data repository (UDR: Unified Data Repository) is the master database. The unstructured data storage function (UDSF: Unstructured Data Storage Function) is introduced to store dynamic data.

[0058] The access network supports a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU) separated deployment mode. The CU mainly includes non-real-time wireless high-layer protocol stack functions, and also supports partial core network function (UPF) sinking and deployment of mobile edge computing (MEC) services. The DU is mainly responsible for processing physical layer functions and air interface protocol layer functions with high real-time requirements.

[0059] The air interface high-layer protocol is divided into two categories: user plane protocol and control plane protocol. The user plane protocol is used to implement resource allocation and functions related to data transmission, and the control plane protocol is used to implement control functions related to UE communication. Various control commands generated by the control function are transmitted through the user plane protocol. The protocol mainly includes radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), radio link control protocol (RLC), medium access control protocol (MAC), and physical layer protocol (PHY).

[0060] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a control plane protocol stack structure in the related art, and FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a user plane protocol stack structure in the related art. The gNB represents a base station.

[0061] As shown in FIG. 1, the control plane is mainly responsible for processing system signaling data. The 5G new radio (NR) control plane protocol stack includes the following levels:

[0062] 1) NAS layer: responsible for processing access network independent signaling, such as mobility management, session management, etc.

[0063] 2) RRC layer: responsible for the allocation and management of wireless resources, including cell selection, reselection, connection establishment and maintenance, etc.

[0064] 3) PDCP layer: responsible for header compression and decompression, reordering, data encryption and integrity protection, etc.

[0065] 4) RLC layer: provides segmentation and reassembly of data, Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) mechanism for error correction.

[0066] 5) MAC layer: responsible for mapping between logical channels and transport channels, reporting of scheduling information, error correction (through HARQ mechanism).

[0067] 6) PHY layer: handles physical layer functions such as encoding, modulation, forward error correction coding, multi-antenna processing, etc.

[0068] As shown in Figure 2, the user plane is mainly responsible for processing the transmission of user data, and the 5G NR user plane protocol stack includes the following levels:

[0069] 1) SDAP layer: responsible for mapping service data flow and QoS flow to radio bearer, and identifying QoS Flow ID in data packets.

[0070] 2) PDCP layer: same as CP, provides header compression and decompression, reordering, data encryption and integrity protection, etc.

[0071] 3) RLC layer: same as CP, provides segmentation and reassembly of data, ARQ mechanism for error correction.

[0072] 4) MAC layer: same as CP, responsible for mapping between logical channels and transport channels, reporting of scheduling information, error correction (through HARQ mechanism).

[0073] 5) PHY layer: same as CP, handles basic functions of the physical layer.

[0074] User-centric design is one of the key directions of 6G network research, which aims to meet the diverse needs of users and provide more personalized services through a more flexible and intelligent network architecture. The network architecture design of 6G will change from the traditional base station-centric to user-centric, which means that the allocation and optimization of network resources will depend more on the real-time needs and location of users. This architecture will support higher spectral efficiency, energy efficiency and cost efficiency. However, due to the RRC of UE in 5G network being bound to the cell, it leads to the UE constantly performing RRC handover and re-establishment during cell movement, which affects user experience and increases data transmission latency.

[0075] In an example embodiment, FIG. 3 is a structural schematic diagram of a network node provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 3, the first network node provided by the embodiment includes a first preset function, and the first preset function includes a preset CP function. The first network node is connected with one or more first communication nodes and network elements in a second network node, and the second network node includes a core network node.

[0076] In the embodiment, the first preset function can be understood as part of the network function included in the CP, that is, the CP is functionally divided, the divided part of the CP function is implemented through the first network node, and the first network node is taken as a new network node in the network architecture. Here, the first network node is not limited to which type of network node, as long as the first network node can implement the preset CP function. For example, the first network node can be a core network node or an access network node.

[0077] In the embodiment, the first network node can be connected with the network elements in the second network node as a network node independent of the second network node, or as a network node in the second network node for implementing part of the network element function.

[0078] In the embodiment, the first communication node can be understood as a base station (gNB) or an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node or a relay, or a RAN node, wherein the base station or the RAN node has part of the CP (or virtual CP) and UP functions. The second network node includes a core network node. In some embodiments, the first communication node is represented as a base station.

[0079] In some examples, the CP can be divided into a cell specific control plane (CCP) and a UE specific control plane (UCP). The CCP includes one or more of a cell specific service configuration and management (CSCM) responsible for a master information block (MIB), a system information block (SIB), and inter-cell specific information interaction, cell specific awareness, cell specific computing power, a cell specific artificial intelligence (AI) model, and paging. The UCP can manage multiple cells, thereby avoiding the complexity and overhead of cell switching for a UE in a certain area. Since the UCP can manage multiple cells, the UCP can directly perform multi-cell joint configuration when the UE is at the edge of a cell, thereby improving cell edge transmission efficiency. In addition, the UCP can implement UE-centric mobility management and AI model and lifecycle management, and multi-node joint awareness for UE awareness scenarios. The first preset function of the first network node in the embodiment of the application can be understood as a function of the UCP, that is, the first network node can be understood as a network element with a UCP network function.

[0080] The embodiment of the application divides the CP function and proposes a network node dedicated to implementing a preset CP function, thereby achieving UE-specific control and multi-cell management, reducing the complexity and overhead of cell switching for a UE in a certain area, implementing UE-centric control management, and better realizing the 6G vision of network intelligentization.

[0081] In an embodiment, the preset CP function includes at least one of RRC configuration, UE mobility management, inter-cell specific information interaction, UE specific awareness configuration and processing, UE specific computing power management and configuration, and UE specific AI model and lifecycle management and configuration.

[0082] In an embodiment, the network element in the second network node includes at least one of an AMF network element, a UPF network element, a computing power network element, an AI network element, and an awareness management network element.

[0083] In an embodiment, the connection mode of the first network node and the network element in the second network node includes connecting through a defined specific interface or connecting through a defined service interface.

[0084] In one example embodiment, FIG. 4 is a structural schematic diagram of a network architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application, as shown in FIG. 4, the network architecture provided by the embodiment includes the first network node, the first communication node and the second network node provided by any of the above embodiments.

[0085] In one embodiment, the protocol stack of the first network node includes any of the following: a UE specific service configuration and management protocol; the UE specific service configuration and management protocol and a first PDCP; the UE specific service configuration and management protocol and a second PDCP; wherein the UE specific service configuration and management protocol includes an RRC protocol or an extension of the RRC protocol; the first PDCP includes a complete PDCP or an enhancement of the PDCP (including compression, extension, modification, etc. of the PDCP); and the second PDCP is a PDCP containing partial functions after splitting.

[0086] In one specific example, FIG. 5 is a structural example diagram of a protocol stack of a first network node provided by an embodiment of the present application, relative to the control plane protocol stack shown in FIG. 1, the RRC protocol layer in the gNB and the UE is deleted and replaced by a corresponding UE specific service configuration and management protocol (USCM) layer between the UE and the first network node, and the PDCP, RLC, MAC and PHY layers in the gNB and the UE remain unchanged. Wherein the USCM can be regarded as an RRC protocol in 5G NR or an enhancement of the RRC protocol (including splitting, compression, extension, modification, etc. of the RRC protocol).

[0087] In one specific example, FIG. 6 is another structural example diagram of a protocol stack of a first network node provided by an embodiment of the present application, relative to the control plane protocol stack shown in FIG. 1, the RRC protocol layer and the PDCP protocol layer in the gNB and the UE are deleted and replaced by a corresponding USCM protocol layer and PDCP protocol layer between the UE and the first network node, and the RLC, MAC and PHY layers in the gNB and the UE remain unchanged. Wherein in the protocol stack of the first network node, the PDCP protocol layer can include a first PDCP or a second PDCP, wherein the first PDCP includes a complete PDCP or an enhancement of the PDCP; and the second PDCP is a PDCP containing partial functions after splitting. When the PDCP protocol layer contained in the protocol stack of the first network node is the second PDCP, the functions not contained in the second PDCP will be combined with the RLC protocol layer and placed in the protocol stack of the gNB.

[0088] In an embodiment, in the case that the first network node is a network element of the RAN, a dedicated interface or a service-based interface is defined between each first communication node, between the first communication node and the first network node, between each first network node, between the first network node and the network element of the second network node, and between the first communication node and the network element of the second network node, respectively. FIG. 7 is an example diagram of the structure of another network architecture provided by the embodiments of the present application. In the figure, 6GC represents the second network node, UCP represents the first network node, and gNB represents the first communication node.

[0089] In an embodiment, in the case that the first network node is a network element of the second network node, a dedicated interface or a service-based interface is defined between each first communication node, between the first communication node and the first network node, and between the first communication node and the network element of the second network node, respectively. FIG. 8 is an example diagram of the structure of another network architecture provided by the embodiments of the present application. In the figure, 6GC represents the second network node, AMF and UPF represent the network elements of the second network node, UCP represents the first network node, and gNB represents the first communication node.

[0090] In 5G NR, connection state management is a key part of ensuring efficient communication and resource allocation. Several different connection states are introduced in 5G NR to accommodate different use cases and device requirements. The following are the main connection states in 5G NR:

[0091] RRC_IDLE (Idle State): This is the initial state of the UE and the state it is in most of the time. In RRC_IDLE state, the UE performs Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) selection, receives broadcast system information, performs cell reselection, etc. At this time, the UE's connection with the core network (5GC) is released, and the UE performs cell selection and reselection and receives paging messages.

[0092] RRC_INACTIVE (Inactive State): This is a new state introduced in 5G NR, mainly to reduce terminal energy consumption and reduce latency. In RRC_INACTIVE state, the UE's connection with the gNB is suspended, but the connection with the 5GC is still maintained. In this state, the UE can quickly resume to RRC_CONNECTED state, reducing signaling overhead and latency of re-establishing connection.

[0093] RRC_CONNECTED (Connected State): In RRC_CONNECTED state, the UE establishes a connection with both the gNB and the 5GC. This is the active state for data transmission, where the network can control the UE's mobility and perform measurement reporting. In this state, the UE can perform data transmission, mobility management, etc.

[0094] State transition is usually triggered by the behavior of the UE or the instruction of the network. For example, when the UE has data to send or receive, it can move from the RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE state to the RRC_CONNECTED state. Conversely, if the UE has no data transmission for a long time, it can move from the RRC_CONNECTED state to the RRC_INACTIVE or RRC_IDLE state to save energy and network resources.

[0095] With the introduction of the UCP, i.e., the first network node in the present application, the UE mobility management and state switching process will change. Among them, the UE state is at least divided into connected state and idle state. In the connected state, the UE establishes an RRC connection with the UCP, and in the idle state, the UE is disconnected with the UCP, and the RRC is in a released state.

[0096] In one example embodiment, FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of an information transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method can be applied to the case where the UE switches from the idle state to the connected state in the network architecture with the introduction of the first network node. The method can be executed by an information transmission device, which can be executed by software and / or hardware and integrated on a communication node. The method can be applied to a second communication node, which can be a UE.

[0097] As shown in FIG. 9, the information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the present application specifically includes:

[0098] S101, in the case of being in the idle state, sending an RRC establishment request to the first network node.

[0099] S102, performing connection state switching according to the received RRC establishment feedback information.

[0100] The first network node is the first network node provided in any of the above embodiments.

[0101] In an embodiment, the RRC establishment feedback information includes at least one of the following: RRC establishment information; downlink message; security mode command; RRC reconfiguration command; RRC establishment rejection information.

[0102] In an embodiment, the connection state switching according to the received RRC setup feedback information comprises one of the following: receiving RRC setup information fed back by the first network node, feeding back RRC setup completion information to the first network node; receiving RRC setup information fed back by the first network node, feeding back RRC setup completion information to the first network node; receiving a security mode command, feeding back security mode completion information to the first communication node after activating the security mode; receiving an RRC reconfiguration command, feeding back RRC reconfiguration completion information to the first communication node after completing the RRC reconfiguration; receiving RRC setup information fed back by the first network node, feeding back RRC setup completion information to the first network node; receiving an RRC reconfiguration command, feeding back RRC reconfiguration completion information to the first communication node after completing the RRC reconfiguration.

[0103] In a specific example, the security mode command can be a command containing one or more of UE security capability, security key, UE radio capability and Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session context, so as to make the UE enter the security mode.

[0104] In a specific example, when the second communication node needs to switch from the idle state to the connected state, it will send an RRC setup request to the first network node, and after receiving the RRC setup information fed back by the first network node, it will complete the RRC setup according to the RRC setup information and feed back the RRC setup completion information, thus realizing the switching of the second communication node from the idle state to the connected state. On the basis of completing the switching, the second communication node can also receive the security mode command and the RRC reconfiguration command sent by the first network node, so as to realize the opening of the security mode and the reconfiguration of the RRC.

[0105] In an embodiment, after receiving the RRC setup information fed back by the first network node and feeding back the RRC setup completion information to the first network node, it further comprises: receiving a downlink message sent by the first network node; sending an uplink message to the first network node.

[0106] In a specific example, the downlink message and the uplink message are NAS messages exchanged additionally between the UE and the network element of the second network node.

[0107] In an embodiment, the connection state switching according to the received RRC setup feedback information comprises: receiving RRC setup rejection information, keeping the idle state unchanged.

[0108] In one specific example, when the second communication node receives the RRC setup rejection information fed back by the first network node or the first communication node, it can be considered that the current network state cannot support the RRC setup of the second communication node, i.e., the handover from the idle state to the connected state cannot be completed, and thus the second communication node will remain in the idle state.

[0109] In one embodiment, the RRC setup rejection information comprises at least one of the following: information generated by the first network node based on the network state; information generated by the RRC layer or the MAC layer of the first communication node based on the network state.

[0110] In one embodiment, the RRC setup request, the RRC setup information, the RRC setup completion information, the downlink message and the uplink message are transparent or not transparent to the first communication node.

[0111] In one example embodiment, FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of another information transmission method provided by the embodiments of the present application, which can be applied to the case of switching the UE from the idle state to the connected state in the network architecture in which the first network node is introduced, and the method can be executed by an information transmission device which can be executed by software and / or hardware and integrated on the network node. The method can be applied to the first network node provided in any of the above embodiments.

[0112] As shown in FIG. 10, the information transmission method provided by the embodiments of the present application specifically comprises:

[0113] S201, receiving an RRC setup request.

[0114] S202, sending RRC setup feedback information to the second communication node.

[0115] In one embodiment, the RRC setup feedback information comprises at least one of the following: RRC setup information; a downlink message; a security mode command; an RRC reconfiguration command; and RRC setup rejection information.

[0116] In an embodiment, the sending the RRC setup feedback information to the second communication node comprises one of: sending the RRC setup information to the second communication node, receiving the RRC setup complete information fed back by the second communication node; sending the RRC setup information to the second communication node; receiving the RRC setup complete information fed back by the second communication node; receiving the initial setup request sent by the second network node, sending the security mode command to the first communication node; receiving the security mode complete information sent by the first communication node, sending the RRC reconfiguration command to the first communication node; receiving the RRC reconfiguration complete information fed back by the first communication node, sending the initial setup complete information to the second network node; sending the RRC setup information to the second communication node; receiving the RRC setup complete information fed back by the second communication node; sending the RRC reconfiguration command to the first communication node; receiving the RRC reconfiguration complete information fed back by the first communication node, sending the initial setup complete information to the second network node.

[0117] In a specific example, the initial setup request is UE context data prepared by the second network node, including UE security capability, security key, UE radio capability and PDU session context, and needs to be sent to the first communication node by the first network node.

[0118] In an embodiment, after receiving the RRC setup complete information fed back by the second communication node, the method further comprises: in the case that the first NAS message from the second communication node is contained in the RRC setup complete information, sending the initial UE message to the second network node; receiving the downlink NAS message sent by the second network node, sending the generated downlink message to the second communication node; receiving the uplink message sent by the second communication node, sending the generated uplink NAS message to the second network node.

[0119] In an embodiment, the sending the RRC setup feedback information to the second communication node comprises: in the case that the network state when receiving the RRC setup request does not meet the preset RRC setup condition, generating the RRC setup rejection information; sending the RRC setup rejection information to the second communication node.

[0120] In a specific embodiment, the preset RRC setup condition can be a condition for determining that the RRC setup cannot be performed at the first network node, which is set in advance according to actual conditions. For example, the preset RRC setup condition can be network congestion.

[0121] In an embodiment, the RRC setup request, the RRC setup information, the RRC setup complete information, the downlink message and the uplink message are transparent or not transparent to the first communication node.

[0122] In an example embodiment, FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of another information transmission method provided by embodiments of the present application, which can be applied to the case where the UE is switched from the idle state to the connected state in the network architecture where the first network node is introduced, and the method can be executed by an information transmission apparatus which can be executed by software and / or hardware and integrated on a communication node. The method can be applied to the first communication node which can be a gNB.

[0123] As shown in FIG. 11, the information transmission method provided by embodiments of the present application specifically includes the following steps.

[0124] S301, receiving the RRC setup request sent by the second communication node and sending the RRC setup request to the first network node.

[0125] S302, receiving the RRC setup feedback information fed back by the first network node and feeding back the corresponding RRC setup information to the second communication node.

[0126] In an embodiment, the RRC setup feedback information includes at least one of the following: RRC setup information; downlink message; security mode command; RRC reconfiguration command; RRC setup rejection information.

[0127] In an embodiment, receiving the RRC setup feedback information fed back by the first network node and feeding back the corresponding RRC setup information to the second communication node includes one of the following: receiving the RRC setup information sent by the first network node and forwarding the RRC setup information to the second communication node; receiving the RRC setup completion information fed back by the second communication node and forwarding the RRC setup completion information to the first network node; receiving the RRC setup information sent by the first network node and forwarding the RRC setup information to the second communication node; receiving the RRC setup completion information fed back by the second communication node and forwarding the RRC setup completion information to the first network node; receiving the RRC reconfiguration command sent by the first network node and forwarding the RRC reconfiguration command to the second communication node; receiving the RRC reconfiguration completion information fed back by the second communication node and forwarding the RRC reconfiguration completion information to the first network node; receiving the RRC setup information sent by the first network node and forwarding the RRC setup information to the second communication node; receiving the RRC setup completion information fed back by the second communication node and forwarding the RRC setup completion information to the first network node; receiving the security mode command sent by the first network node and forwarding the security mode command to the second communication node; receiving the security mode completion information fed back by the second communication node and forwarding the security mode completion information to the first network node; receiving the RRC reconfiguration command sent by the first network node and forwarding the RRC reconfiguration command to the second communication node; and receiving the RRC reconfiguration completion information fed back by the second communication node and forwarding the RRC reconfiguration completion information to the first network node.

[0128] In an embodiment, after forwarding the RRC setup complete information to the first network node, the method further comprises: receiving a downlink message sent by the first network node, and forwarding the downlink message to the second communication node; receiving an uplink message sent by the second communication node, and forwarding the uplink message to the first network node.

[0129] In an embodiment, after receiving the RRC setup request sent by the second communication node, the method further comprises: generating RRC setup rejection information in a case that a network state at the time of receiving the RRC setup request does not meet a preset RRC setup condition; and sending the RRC setup rejection information to the second communication node.

[0130] In a specific example, after receiving the RRC setup request sent by the second communication node, the first communication node can determine the network state at the time of receiving the RRC setup request through a virtual RRC layer or a MAC layer of the first communication node, and in a case that the network state is in a state such as congestion that cannot meet the RRC setup requirement, generate RRC setup rejection information, and send the RRC setup rejection information to the second communication node, so that the second communication node remains in the idle state unchanged. The virtual RRC at least includes one or more of RRC setup rejection, RRC setup permission, and forwarding of RRC information.

[0131] Network-controlled mobility is applicable to a case that the second communication node is in a connected state, and cell-level mobility requires triggering explicit RRC signaling, i.e., handover. For inter-gNB handover, for the network architecture with the first network node proposed in the present application, various different solutions are proposed.

[0132] In an example embodiment, FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of another information transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present application, which can be applied to a case that a UE performs cell handover in a network architecture in which a first network node is introduced, and the method can be executed by an information transmission apparatus which can be executed by software and / or hardware and integrated on a network node. The method can be applied to the first network node provided in any of the above embodiments.

[0133] As shown in FIG. 12, the information transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present application specifically includes:

[0134] S401, sending cell handover request information and receiving corresponding cell handover request response information.

[0135] In an embodiment, the cell handover request information includes at least one of the following: RAN handover request; RRC reconfiguration information; and path handover request.

[0136] In one specific example, the RAN handover request is sent by the first network node to the target communication node, containing RRC reconfiguration signaling of the second communication node that needs to be handed over and information of the second communication node.

[0137] In one embodiment, the RAN handover request includes at least one of the following: target cell identity (ID); cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) of the UE in the source communication node; radio resource management (RRM) configuration; key information; antenna information; downlink carrier frequency; current QoS flow of data radio bearer (DRB) mapping rule applied to the UE; system information block SIB1 information from the source communication node; UE capability for different radio access technologies (RAT); PDU session related information; and measurement information reported by the UE.

[0138] The measurement information reported by the UE includes beam-related information; and the PDU session related information includes slice information and QoS flow level QoS configuration.

[0139] In one embodiment, the RRC reconfiguration information includes: cell ID and access information of the target cell.

[0140] In one specific example, the RRC reconfiguration information should at least include the cell ID and the information required to access the target cell, so that the second communication node can access the target cell without reading the system information. For some cases, the information required for contention-based and contention-free random access can be included in the RRC reconfiguration information. If there is beam-specific information, it can be included in the access information of the target cell.

[0141] In one embodiment, the corresponding cell handover request response information includes at least one of the following: RAN handover request response; RRC reconfiguration completion information; and path switching request response.

[0142] In one specific example, the RAN handover request response includes at least one of the following: handover confirmation; and all information required to access the target cell.

[0143] In an embodiment, the sending of the cell handover request information and the receiving of the corresponding cell handover request response information comprises at least one of the following: sending a path switch request to a network element of the second network node and receiving a path switch request response; sending a RAN handover request to the target communication node and sending RRC reconfiguration information to the source communication node; receiving RRC reconfiguration complete information fed back by the target communication node and sending a handover complete information to the network element of the second network node; and receiving a handover complete acknowledgement information sent by the network element of the second network node.

[0144] In a specific example, the target communication node, upon receiving the RAN handover request sent by the first network node, explicitly determines the information of the second communication node to be connected therewith and the RRC reconfiguration information, and feeds back RRC reconfiguration complete information to the first network node when the second communication node performs RRC reconfiguration to connect to the target communication node.

[0145] In a specific example, the source communication node, upon receiving the RRC reconfiguration information sent by the first network node, forwards the RRC reconfiguration information to the second communication node to be handed over, so that the second communication node can complete cell handover and RRC reconfiguration according to the received RRC reconfiguration information.

[0146] In a specific example, the network element of the second network node, upon receiving the path switch request sent by the first network node, determines whether to allow this handover, and gives a corresponding path switch request response to the first network node.

[0147] In an embodiment, the sending of the cell handover request information and the receiving of the corresponding cell handover request response information comprises at least one of the following: sending a RAN handover request to the target communication node and receiving a RAN handover request response fed back by the target communication node; sending RRC reconfiguration information to the source communication node and receiving RRC reconfiguration complete information and / or a path switch request fed back by the target communication node; sending a path switch request to a network element of the second network node and receiving a path switch request response; and sending a path switch complete information to the target communication node.

[0148] In an embodiment, the sending of the cell handover request information and the receiving of the corresponding cell handover request response information comprises at least one of the following: sending a RAN handover request to the target communication node and receiving a RAN handover request response fed back by the target communication node; sending RRC reconfiguration information to the source communication node and receiving RRC reconfiguration complete information and / or a path switch request fed back by the target communication node; sending a path switch request to a network element of the second network node and receiving a path switch request response; and sending a path switch complete information to the target communication node.

[0149] In an embodiment, after sending the path switching completion information to the target communication node, further comprising: sending UE resource release information to the source communication node, and receiving UE resource release completion information fed back by the source communication node.

[0150] In an embodiment, the sending of the cell switching request information and the receiving of the corresponding cell switching request response information comprises at least one of: sending a RAN switching request to the target communication node, and receiving a RAN switching request response fed back by the target communication node; sending RRC reconfiguration information to a corresponding second communication node through the source communication node, and receiving RRC reconfiguration completion information fed back by the second communication node through the target communication node; and sending a path switching request to a network element of the second network node, and receiving a path switching request response.

[0151] In an embodiment, after receiving the path switching request response, further comprising: sending UE resource release information to the source communication node, and receiving UE resource release completion information fed back by the source communication node.

[0152] In some examples, the source communication node can be a source gNB to which the second communication node needs to perform RRC connection before cell switching; and the target communication node can be a target gNB to which the second communication node needs to perform RRC connection after the cell switching is completed.

[0153] In one example embodiment, FIG. 13 is a flow diagram of another information transmission method provided by the embodiments of the present application, which can be applied to the case where the UE performs RRC reestablishment in the connected state in the network architecture in which the first network node is introduced. The information transmission method can be executed by an information transmission apparatus, which can be executed by software and / or hardware and integrated on the network node. The method can be applied to the first network node provided in any of the above embodiments.

[0154] As shown in FIG. 13, the information transmission method provided by the embodiments of the present application specifically comprises:

[0155] S501, receiving an RRC reestablishment request forwarded by a target communication node.

[0156] S502, sending RRC reestablishment information to the target communication node.

[0157] S503, receiving RRC reestablishment feedback information fed back by the target communication node.

[0158] S504, sending a path switching request to a network element of a second network node, and receiving a path switching request response.

[0159] In an embodiment, the RRC reestablishment request at least comprises a UE identifier.

[0160] The UE identity comprises a physical cell identity (PCI) and a C-RNTI.

[0161] In an embodiment, the RRC reestablishment information comprises an RRC reestablishment instruction and an RRC reconfiguration instruction, and the RRC reestablishment instruction and / or the RRC reconfiguration instruction carries the context information of the UE.

[0162] In an embodiment, after receiving the RRC reestablishment feedback information fed back by the target communication node, the method further comprises: sending a forwarding address indication to the source communication node, so that the source communication node provides a serial number (SN) to the target communication node.

[0163] In an embodiment, after receiving the path switching request response, the method further comprises: sending UE resource release information to the source communication node, and receiving UE resource release completion information fed back by the source communication node.

[0164] In a specific example, the target communication node is a second communication node which needs to perform RRC connection reestablishment. When the target communication node receives an RRC reestablishment request sent by the second communication node, the target communication node forwards the RRC reestablishment request to the first network node. The target communication node receives an RRC reestablishment instruction sent by the first network node, and forwards the RRC reestablishment instruction to the second communication node. The target communication node receives an RRC reconfiguration instruction sent by the first network node, and forwards the RRC reconfiguration instruction to the second communication node. After the second communication node completes the RRC reestablishment with the target communication node according to the RRC reestablishment instruction and the RRC reconfiguration instruction, the target communication node forwards the received RRC reestablishment completion information and RRC reconfiguration completion information to the first network node as RRC reestablishment feedback information.

[0165] In a specific example, in order to prevent the loss of user data buffered in the source communication node to which the second communication node is connected before RRC reestablishment, after the target communication node feeds back the RRC reestablishment feedback information to the first network node, the first network node can provide a forwarding address indication to the source communication node, so as to instruct the source communication node to provide an SN status to the target communication node.

[0166] In an example embodiment, FIG. 14 is a flow diagram of another information transmission method provided by the embodiments of the present application. The method can be applied to the case where the UE performs handover between cells belonging to different first network nodes managed by the first network node, and can be executed by an information transmission apparatus which can be executed by software and / or hardware and integrated in the network node. The method can be applied to the first network node provided in any of the above embodiments. The first network node includes a target first network node and a source first network node. The target first network node can be understood as the first network node to which the second communication node needs to be handed over. The source first network node can be understood as the first network node corresponding to the cell where the second communication node is located before handover.

[0167] As shown in FIG. 14, the information transmission method provided by the embodiments of the present application specifically includes the following steps.

[0168] S601, the source first network node sends a first network node handover request message to the target first network node, and receives a first network node handover request response message fed back by the target first network node.

[0169] S602, the source first network node sends RRC re-establishment information to the second communication node through the source communication node.

[0170] S603, the target first network node receives RRC re-establishment feedback information sent by the second communication node through the target communication node, and sends a path switching request to the network element of the second network node.

[0171] S604, the target first network node sends a first network node handover completion message to the source first network node when receiving a path switching request response sent by the network element of the second network node.

[0172] In an embodiment, after the source first network node sends the first network node handover request message to the target first network node, the method further includes: the target first network node sends a RAN handover request message to the target communication node, and receives a RAN handover request response message fed back by the target communication node.

[0173] In an embodiment, the first network node handover request response message includes at least one of the following: RRC configuration signaling; access resource; signal integrity (SI) information; SN; and key.

[0174] In an embodiment, the RAN handover request response message includes at least one of the following: RRC configuration signaling; access resource; signal integrity (SI) information; SN; and key.

[0175] In an embodiment, after the source first network node receives the first network node handover completion message, the method further comprises: the source first network node sending UE resource release information to the source communication node, and receiving UE resource release completion information fed back by the source communication node.

[0176] In an embodiment, after the source first network node receives the first network node handover completion message, the method further comprises: the source first network node sending a first network node handover completion response message to the target first network node; wherein the sending time of the first network node handover completion response message is before the source first network node sends UE resource release information to the source communication node, or after the source first network node receives UE resource release completion information fed back by the source communication node.

[0177] The request confirmation message in each of the above embodiments can also be a request completion message or a request response message, for example, the path switching request confirmation message can also use a path switching request completion message or a path switching request response message instead, and the naming of other similar messages in the embodiments of the present application will not be described in detail.

[0178] The information transmission method of the present application is exemplarily described below through some exemplary schemes. In the following schemes, the first communication node is exemplified by gNB, the target communication node is exemplified by target gNB, the source communication node is exemplified by source gNB, the network element of the second network node is exemplified by AMF / UPF, the first network node is exemplified by UCP, the target first network node is exemplified by target UCP, and the source first network node is exemplified by source UCP.

[0179] Each of the exemplary schemes is specifically described below in the form of embodiments:

[0180] Embodiment 1

[0181] FIG. 15 is an implementation schematic diagram of another information transmission method provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 15, the operations in the process of successfully converting the UE from the idle state to the connected state are explained as follows:

[0182] Operation 1: The UE requests to establish a new connection from RRC_IDLE, and sends an RRC establishment request to the UCP.

[0183] Operation 2: The UCP sends RRC establishment information to the UE.

[0184] Operation 2a: The UE switches from the idle state to the connected state according to the RRC establishment information, and feeds back RRC establishment completion information to the UCP.

[0185] Operation 2 / 2a in combination enables the UCP to complete the RRC setting process.

[0186] Operation 3: The first NAS message from the UE, carried in the RRC setup complete information, is received by the UCP, which in turn writes the initial UE information to the AMF.

[0187] Operation 4: The AMF sends a downlink NAS message to the UCP.

[0188] Operation 4a: The UCP sends the downlink message to the UE.

[0189] Operation 5: The UE sends an uplink message to the UCP.

[0190] Operation 5a: The UCP sends the uplink NAS message to the AMF.

[0191] Operations 4 / 4a / 5 / 5a are used to exchange additional NAS messages between the UE and the AMF.

[0192] Operation 6: The AMF prepares the UE context data (including PDU session context, security keys, UE radio capabilities, and UE security capabilities, etc.) and sends it to the gNB.

[0193] Operation 7: The UCP sends a security mode command to the gNB.

[0194] Operation 7a: The gNB sends a security mode command to the UE.

[0195] Operation 7b: The UE feeds back security mode complete to the gNB.

[0196] Operation 7c: The gNB feeds back security mode complete to the UCP.

[0197] Operations 7 / 7a / 7b / 7c implement the activation of AS security for the UE via the gNB.

[0198] Operation 8: The UCP sends an RRC reconfiguration command to the gNB.

[0199] Operation 8a: The gNB sends an RRC reconfiguration command to the UE.

[0200] Operation 8b: The UE sends an RRC reconfiguration complete information to the gNB.

[0201] Operation 8c: The gNB sends an RRC reconfiguration complete information to the UCP.

[0202] Operations 8 / 8a / 8b / 8c implement the execution of reconfiguration by the gNB.

[0203] Operation 9: The gNB sends an initial setup complete information to the AMF to inform the AMF that the setup procedure has been completed.

[0204] In the USCM corresponding to the UCP, a URB dedicated for carrying signaling can be defined, where the URB can include one or more URBs such as URB0, URB1, etc. In operation 8 / 8a / 8b / 8c, URB2 and DRB can be set for the UE.

[0205] The RRC message in operations 1 and 2 uses URB0, and all subsequent messages use URB1. The message in operation 7 / 7a / 7b / 7c is integrity protected. From operation 8, all messages are integrity protected and encrypted.

[0206] For a signal-only connection, since SRB2 and DRB are not set, operation 8 can be skipped.

[0207] Any one or more of the above operations 1 / 2 / 2a / 4a / 5 can be transparent to the gNB or not transparent to the gNB. FIG. 15 shows a case where all the above operations are transparent.

[0208] FIG. 16 is an implementation schematic diagram of another information transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 16, it also implements a successful conversion process of the UE from an idle state to a connected state, and it shows a case where all the above operations 1 / 2 / 2a / 4a / 5 are not transparent to the gNB. Other cases can be any combination of the operations in FIG. 15 and FIG. 16.

[0209] FIG. 17 is an implementation schematic diagram of another information transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 17, it implements a rejected process when the UE converts from an idle state to a connected state, where the functions of each operation are explained as follows:

[0210] Operation 1: The UE attempts to establish a new connection from RRC_IDLE, and sends an RRC setup request to the gNB.

[0211] Operation 1a: The gNB sends the RRC setup request to the UCP.

[0212] Operation 2: The UCP is unable to process due to congestion or other reasons.

[0213] Operation 3: The UCP sends RRC setup rejection information (with a waiting time) to the gNB.

[0214] Operation 3a: The gNB sends the RRC setup rejection information to the UE, so that the UE remains in RRC_IDLE.

[0215] Operations 1 / 1a and operations 3 / 3a can be transparent to the gNB, and FIG. 17 only takes a case where they are not transparent.

[0216] Figure 18 is an implementation schematic of another information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application. As shown in Figure 18, a process of being rejected when the UE is converted from the idle state to the connected state is implemented, and each operation function is explained as follows:

[0217] Operation 1: The UE attempts to establish a new connection from RRC_IDLE, and sends an RRC establishment request to the gNB by the UE.

[0218] Operation 2: The gNB cannot handle due to congestion and the like, that is, the gNB has no RRC layer, but can have an RRC rejection function, and the operation can be implemented by a virtual RRC layer or a MAC layer of the gNB.

[0219] Operation 3: The gNB sends RRC establishment rejection information (with a waiting time) to the UE, so that the UE remains in RRC_IDLE.

[0220] Embodiment 2

[0221] Figure 19 is an implementation schematic of another information transmission method provided by the embodiment of the application. As shown in Figure 19, a process of cell switching between two gNBs managed by a single UCP is implemented, and each operation function is explained as follows:

[0222] Operation 1: The UCP initiates a path switching request to the AMF or the UPF.

[0223] Operation 2: The AMF or the UPF sends a path switching request response to the UCP.

[0224] Operation 3: The UCP sends an RAN switching request containing RRC reconfiguration signaling of the UE and information of the UE to the target gNB, and the RAN switching request at least includes one of the target cell ID, the C-RNTI of the UE in the source gNB, the RRM configuration (including the UE inactivity time), the key information, the antenna information and the basic AS configuration of the downlink carrier frequency, the current QoS flow of the DRB mapping rule applied to the UE, the SIB1 information from the source gNB, the capability of the UE to different RATs, the PDU session related information, and the measurement information (including the beam related information) reported by the UE. The PDU session related information includes slice information and Qos flow level Qos configuration text.

[0225] Operation 3a: The UCP sends RRC reconfiguration information to the source gNB.

[0226] Operation 3b: The source gNB forwards the received RRC reconfiguration information to the UE. The RRC reconfiguration information contains at least the cell ID and all information needed for the UE to access the target cell without reading system information. For some cases, the information needed for contention-based and contention-free random access can be included in the RRC reconfiguration message. The access information of the target cell can include beam-specific information (if any).

[0227] Operation 4: The UE moves the RRC connection to the target gNB, implements cell handover, and sends RRC reconfiguration complete information to the target gNB.

[0228] Operation 4a: The target gNB forwards the RRC reconfiguration complete information to the UCP.

[0229] Operation 5: The UCP sends handover complete information to the AMF or UPF.

[0230] Operation 6: The AMF or UPF sends handover complete confirmation information to the UCP.

[0231] If allowed, user data can also be sent in operation 4.

[0232] FIG. 20 is an implementation schematic diagram of another information transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 20, a process of cell handover between two gNBs managed by a single UCP is implemented, and the functions of each operation are explained as follows:

[0233] Operation 1: The UCP determines to initiate handover and the target gNB to which handover is needed, and sends a RAN handover request to the target gNB.

[0234] Operation 1a: The UCP sends RRC reconfiguration information to the source gNB.

[0235] Operation 1b: The source gNB forwards the received RRC reconfiguration information to the UE.

[0236] Operation 2: The UE moves the RRC connection to the target gNB, implements cell handover, and sends RRC reconfiguration complete information to the target gNB.

[0237] Operation 2a: The target gNB forwards the RRC reconfiguration complete information and / or path switch request before the target gNB to the UCP.

[0238] Operation 3: The UCP sends a path switch request to the AMF or UPF.

[0239] Operation 4: The AMF or UPF sends a path switch request response to the UCP.

[0240] Wireless resource allocation (such as C-DRX, CG resource, and C-RNTI) is performed in the UCP.

[0241] Optionally, operation 4 can be followed by operation 5: the UCP sends a path switch request response to the target gNB.

[0242] FIG. 21 is an implementation schematic diagram of another information transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 21, a process of cell switching between two gNBs managed by a single UCP is implemented, and the functions of each operation are explained as follows:

[0243] Operation 1: The UCP determines to initiate switching and the target gNB to which switching is needed, and sends a RAN switching request to the target gNB.

[0244] Operation 2: After the target gNB confirms that switching can be performed or switching preparation is completed, the target gNB transmits a RAN switching request response to the UCP, and the RAN switching request response can include at least one of switching confirmation and all information required for accessing the target cell.

[0245] Operation 3: The UCP sends RRC reconfiguration information to the source gNB.

[0246] Operation 3a: The source gNB forwards the received RRC reconfiguration information to the UE.

[0247] Operation 4: The UE moves the RRC connection to the target gNB, implements cell switching, and sends RRC reconfiguration completion information to the target gNB.

[0248] Operation 4a: The target gNB forwards the RRC reconfiguration completion information and / or path switch request before to the UCP.

[0249] Operation 5: The UCP sends a path switch request to the AMF or UPF.

[0250] Operation 6: The AMF or UPF sends a path switch request response to the UCP.

[0251] Operation 7: The UCP sends path switch completion information to the target gNB.

[0252] Operation 8: The UCP sends UE resource release information to the source gNB.

[0253] Operation 9: After the source gNB releases the UE resource, the source gNB sends UE resource release completion information to the UCP.

[0254] FIG. 22 is an implementation schematic diagram of another information transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 22, a process of cell switching between two gNBs managed by a single UCP is implemented, and the functions of each operation are explained as follows:

[0255] Operation 1: The UCP determines to initiate handover and the target gNB to which the handover is needed, and sends a RAN handover request to the target gNB.

[0256] Operation 2: After the target gNB confirms that the handover can be performed or the handover preparation is completed, the target gNB transmits a RAN handover request response to the UCP.

[0257] Operation 3: The UCP sends RRC reconfiguration information to the UE through the source gNB.

[0258] Operation 4: The UE moves the RRC connection to the target gNB, implements cell handover, and sends RRC reconfiguration completion information to the UCP through the target gNB.

[0259] Operation 5: The UCP sends a path switching request to the AMF or UPF.

[0260] Operation 6: The AMF or UPF sends a path switching request response to the UCP.

[0261] Operation 7: The UCP sends UE resource release information to the source gNB.

[0262] Operation 8: After the source gNB releases the UE resource, the source gNB sends UE resource release completion information to the UCP.

[0263] FIG. 23 is an implementation schematic diagram of another information transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 23, a detailed process of cell handover between two gNBs managed by a single UCP is implemented, wherein the UE context in the source gNB contains information about roaming and access restriction provided at connection establishment or last tracking area update, and wherein the functions of each operation are explained as follows:

[0264] Operation 1: The source gNB configures a user measurement process, the UE reports measurement results to the source gNB according to the measurement configuration, and the source gNB forwards the information to the UCP.

[0265] Operation 2: The UCP decides handover according to the measurement report and RRM information.

[0266] Operation 3: The UCP initiates a RAN handover request to the source gNB.

[0267] Operation 3a: The UCP sends a RAN handover request to the target gNB, carrying necessary information, and prepares the target side for handover.

[0268] After the RAN handover request is sent, the source gNB should not reconfigure the UE, and should not perform reflection of QoS flow to DRB mapping.

[0269] The order of operations 3 and 3a can be interchanged.

[0270] Operation 4: The source gNB triggers the handover by sending the RRC reconfiguration information to the UE, which contains the information required to access the target cell: at least the target cell identity, the new C-RNTI, the target gNB security algorithm identity of the selected security algorithm. It can also include a set of dedicated RACH resources, the association of RACH resources and SSBs, the association of RACH resources and UE-specific CSI-RS configuration, the common RACH resources, and the system information of the target cell, etc.

[0271] The source gNB can stop transmitting downlink packets until it receives the handover success message from the target gNB in operation 6a. It can also start to stop transmitting downlink packets after confirming that the UE has received the RRC reconfiguration message.

[0272] Operation 5: For the DRB configured with Dual Active Protocol Stack (DAPS), the source gNB sends the early status transfer message. The downlink COUNT value transferred in the early status transfer message indicates the PDCP SN and Hyper Frame Number (HFN) of the first PDCP Service Data Unit (SDU) forwarded by the source gNB to the target gNB. In operation 6b, the source gNB stops assigning SN to downlink PDCP SDUs until it sends the SN status transfer message to the target gNB.

[0273] Operation 5a: For the DRB without DAPS configuration, the source gNB sends the SN status transfer message to the target gNB, indicating the uplink PDCP SN reception status and the downlink PDCP SN transmission status (for RLC-AM) of the PDCP status saved DRB. The uplink PDCP SN reception status includes at least the PDCP SN of the first missing uplink PDCP SDU, and can include the bit map of the out-of-sequence reception status of the UL PDCP SDUs that need to be retransmitted by the UE in the target cell (if any). The downlink PDCP SN transmission status indicates the next PDCP SN that the target gNB should assign to the new PDCP SDU, and there is no PDCP SN yet.

[0274] In the case of DAPS handover, for the DRB without DAPS configuration and with RLC-AM, the SN status transfer message in operation 6b can transmit the uplink PDCP SN reception status and the downlink PDCP SN transmission status, instead of operation 7,

[0275] For DAPS-configured DRBs, the source gNB can also send an early status transfer message between operation 5 and operation 6b to inform to discard the forwarded PDCP SDUs. The target gNB does not send the forwarded downlink PDCP SDUs to the UEs whose COUNT values are less than the delivered downlink COUNT values, and discards these downlink PDCP SDUs if not already attempted to send.

[0276] Operation 6: The UE synchronizes to the target cell, sends RRC reconfiguration complete information to the target gNB, and completes the RRC handover procedure.

[0277] In the case of DAPS handover, the UE does not attach to the source cell after receiving the RRC reconfiguration information. The UE releases the source resources and configurations, and stops downlink / uplink reception / transmission with the source gNB upon receiving an explicit release from the target node.

[0278] For operation 5a, from the RAN perspective, DAPS handover is only considered complete after the UE explicitly releases the source cell upon the target node's explicit request. RRC suspended, and initiates handover or inter-system handover after the source cell is released.

[0279] When DAPS handover occurs, the target gNB sends a handover success message to the source gNB, notifying the UE that it has successfully accessed the target cell; in return, the source gNB sends an SN status transfer message to the DAPS-configured DRB, as described in operation 6.

[0280] For DAPS-configured DRBs, if the SN status transfer message in operation 6b carries RLC-UM, the uplink PDCP SN reception status and downlink PDCP SN transmission status are also transmitted if DAPS is configured.

[0281] For DAPS-configured DRBs, the source gNB does not stop sending uplink QoS flows to the UPF before sending the SN status transfer message in operation 6b. The target gNB does not sequentially forward the successfully received uplink PDCP SDUs to the UPF before receiving the SN status transfer message. The target gNB does not issue any uplink PDCP SDUs with UL COUNT lower than the provided UL COUNT.

[0282] Operation 7: The target gNB sends a path switch request message or a handover complete message to the UCP.

[0283] Operation 7a: After receiving the path switch request message or the handover complete message sent by the target gNB, the UCP sends a path switch request message to the AMF, triggering the 5GC to switch the downlink data path to the target gNB and establish an NG-C interface instance to the target gNB.

[0284] 5GC switches the downlink data path to the target gNB. The UPF sends one or more Endmarker packets on the old path to the source gNB (per PDU session / tunnel) and the UPF can release any U-plane / TNL resources to the source gNB.

[0285] Operation 8: The AMF sends a path switch request acknowledge message to the UCP.

[0286] Operation 8a: The UCP sends a path switch request acknowledge message to the target gNB.

[0287] Operation 9: The AMF sends a UE context release message to the source gNB informing of the successful handover, or the target gNB sends a UE context release request to the source gNB informing of the successful handover after receiving the path switch request acknowledge message from the UCP. The source gNB can then release the radio and C-plane related resources associated with the UE context. Any ongoing data forwarding can continue.

[0288] Embodiment 3

[0289] FIG. 24 is an implementation schematic of another information transmission method provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 24, a process of UE proposing RRC reestablishment to the UCP in a connected state is implemented, and the functions of each operation are explained as follows:

[0290] Operation 1: The UE reestablishes the connection and sends a reestablishment request message to the target gNB where the reestablishment occurs, and the message at least includes a UE identifier (PCI+C-RNTI).

[0291] Operation 1a: The target gNB forwards the RRC reestablishment request sent by the UE to the UCP.

[0292] Operation 2: The UCP initiates RRC reestablishment to the target gNB and carries context information of the UE.

[0293] Operation 2a: The target gNB forwards the RRC reestablishment to the UE and carries the context information of the UE.

[0294] Operation 3: The UCP initiates RRC reconfiguration to the target base station and carries the context information of the UE.

[0295] Operation 3a: The target gNB forwards the RRC reconfiguration to the UE and carries the context information of the UE.

[0296] Operation 4: The UE sends an RRC reestablishment completion to the target gNB.

[0297] Operation 4a: The UE sends an RRC reconfiguration completion to the target gNB.

[0298] Operation 5: The target gNB forwards the RRC reestablishment completion to the UCP.

[0299] Operation 5a: The target gNB forwards the RRC reconfiguration complete to the UCP.

[0300] Operation 6 / 6a: If the user data loss of the source gNB cache needs to be placed, the UCP provides a forwarding address to the source gNB, and the source gNB provides the SN status to the target gNB.

[0301] Operation 7: The UCP sends a path switching request to the AMF or UPF.

[0302] Operation 8: The AMF or UPF feeds back a path switching request response.

[0303] Operation 9: The UCP triggers the source gNB to release the UE resource.

[0304] Further, the source gNB can further include sending a UE resource release completion message to the UCP.

[0305] Embodiment 4

[0306] FIG. 25 is an implementation schematic diagram of another information transmission method provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 25, a process of inter-UCP cell switching of a UE in a connected state is implemented, and the functions of each operation are explained as follows:

[0307] Operation 1: The source UCP sends a UCP switching request message to the target UCP.

[0308] Operation 2: The target UCP sends a UCP switching request response message to the source UCP, which carries at least one of the following information required by the UE: RRC configuration signaling, access resource, SI related information, SN, and secret key.

[0309] Operation 3: The source UCP sends an RRC reconfiguration message or an RRC reestablishment message to the UE through the source gNB, which carries the information required by the UE to access the target gNB.

[0310] Operation 4: After receiving the RRC reconfiguration message or the RRC reestablishment message sent by the source gNB, the UE switches to the target gNB and sends an RRC reconfiguration complete message or an RRC reestablishment complete message to the target UCP through the target gNB (corresponding to operation 3).

[0311] Operation 5: After receiving the RRC reconfiguration complete message or the RRC reestablishment complete message sent by the UE, the target UCP sends a path switching request to the AMF / UPF.

[0312] Operation 6: After completing the path switching, the AMF / UPF transmits a path switching completion message to the target UCP.

[0313] Operation 7: The target UCP sends a UCP handover completion message to the source UCP.

[0314] Operation 8: After receiving the UCP handover completion message sent by the target UCP, the source UCP sends a UE resource release message (carrying at least a UE ID) to the source gNB.

[0315] Operation 9: After receiving the UE resource release message, the source gNB releases the resource of the UE, and sends a UE resource release completion message to the source UCP.

[0316] Operation 10: After receiving the UE resource release completion message sent by the source gNB, the source UCP sends a UCP handover completion response to the target UCP; (this message can also not be sent, or be sent before operation 8 or operation 9).

[0317] FIG. 26 is an implementation schematic diagram of another information transmission method provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 26, a process of UE inter-UCP cell switching in a connected state is implemented, and the functions of each operation are explained as follows:

[0318] Operation 1: The source UCP sends a UCP handover request message to the target UCP, and the message carries at least an ID of the target gNB.

[0319] Operation 2: The target UCP sends a RAN handover request message to the target gNB.

[0320] Operation 3: The target gNB sends a RAN handover request response message to the target UCP, and the message carries at least one of the following information required for the UE to access the target gNB: RRC configuration signaling, access resource, SI related information, SN, and secret key.

[0321] Operation 4: The target UCP sends a UCP handover request response message to the source UCP, and the message carries the information required for the UE to access the target gNB.

[0322] Operation 5: The source UCP sends an RRC reconfiguration message or an RRC reestablishment message to the UE through the source gNB, and the message carries the information required for the UE to access the target gNB.

[0323] Operation 6: After receiving the RRC reconfiguration message or the RRC reestablishment message sent by the source gNB, the UE switches to the target gNB, and sends an RRC reconfiguration completion message or an RRC reestablishment completion message to the target UCP through the target gNB (corresponding to operation 5).

[0324] Operation 7: After receiving the RRC reconfiguration completion message or the RRC reestablishment completion message sent by the UE, the target UCP sends a path switching request to the AMF / UPF.

[0325] Operation 8: After the UPF completes the path switching, the AMF / UPF transmits a path switching completion message to the target UCP.

[0326] Operation 9: The target UCP sends a UCP switching completion message to the source UCP.

[0327] Operation 10: After the source UCP receives the UCP switching completion message sent by the target UCP, the source UCP sends a UE resource release message (carrying at least a UE ID) to the source gNB.

[0328] Operation 11: After the source gNB receives the UE resource release message, the source gNB releases the resources of the UE, and sends a UE resource release completion message to the source UCP.

[0329] Operation 12: After the source UCP receives the UE resource release completion message sent by the source gNB, the source UCP sends a UCP switching completion response to the target UCP; (this message can also not be sent).

[0330] In one example described above, FIG. 27 is a structural schematic diagram of an information transmission apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present application, and the information transmission apparatus can be applied to a second communication node, which can be a UE. As shown in FIG. 27, the apparatus includes: a request sending module 110 configured to send an RRC establishment request to a first network node in an idle state. A connection switching module 120 is configured to switch a connection state according to received RRC establishment feedback information. The first network node is any of the first network nodes provided in the above embodiments.

[0331] In an embodiment, the RRC establishment feedback information includes at least one of the following: RRC establishment information; a downlink message; a security mode command; an RRC reconfiguration command; and RRC establishment rejection information.

[0332] In an embodiment, the connection state is switched according to the received RRC establishment feedback information, including one of the following: receiving the RRC establishment information fed back by the first network node, and feeding back RRC establishment completion information to the first network node; receiving the RRC establishment information fed back by the first network node, and feeding back RRC establishment completion information to the first network node; receiving a security mode command, and feeding back security mode completion information to the first communication node after activating the security mode; receiving an RRC reconfiguration command, and feeding back RRC reconfiguration completion information to the first communication node after completing the RRC reconfiguration; receiving the RRC establishment information fed back by the first network node, and feeding back RRC establishment completion information to the first network node; and receiving the RRC reconfiguration command, and feeding back RRC reconfiguration completion information to the first communication node after completing the RRC reconfiguration.

[0333] In an embodiment, after receiving the RRC setup information from the first network node and feeding back the RRC setup completion information to the first network node, the method further comprises: receiving a downlink message sent by the first network node; and sending an uplink message to the first network node.

[0334] In an embodiment, the connection state switching according to the received RRC setup feedback information comprises: receiving RRC setup rejection information, and keeping the idle state unchanged.

[0335] In an embodiment, the RRC setup rejection information comprises at least one of the following: information generated by the first network node based on network state; information generated by the RRC layer or the MAC layer of the first communication node based on network state.

[0336] In an embodiment, the RRC setup request, the RRC setup information, the RRC setup completion information, the downlink message and the uplink message are transparent or not transparent to the first communication node.

[0337] The information transmission device provided in the embodiment belongs to the same concept as the information transmission method provided in the above-described embodiments, and the technical details not described in the embodiment can be referred to the above-described any embodiment, and the embodiment has the same effect as performing the information transmission method.

[0338] In one example described manner, FIG. 28 is a structural schematic diagram of another information transmission device provided by the embodiment of the application, which can be applied to the first network node, which is the first network node provided in any of the above-described embodiments. As shown in FIG. 28, the device comprises: a request receiving module 210, configured to receive an RRC setup request; and an information sending module 220, configured to send RRC setup feedback information to a second communication node.

[0339] In an embodiment, the RRC setup feedback information comprises at least one of the following: RRC setup information; a downlink message; a security mode command; an RRC reconfiguration command; and RRC setup rejection information.

[0340] In an embodiment, the sending the RRC setup feedback information to the second communication node comprises one of: sending the RRC setup information to the second communication node, receiving the RRC setup complete information fed back by the second communication node; sending the RRC setup information to the second communication node; receiving the RRC setup complete information fed back by the second communication node; receiving the initial setup request sent by the second network node, sending the security mode command to the first communication node; receiving the security mode complete information sent by the first communication node, sending the RRC reconfiguration command to the first communication node; receiving the RRC reconfiguration complete information fed back by the first communication node, sending the initial setup complete information to the second network node; sending the RRC setup information to the second communication node; receiving the RRC setup complete information fed back by the second communication node; sending the RRC reconfiguration command to the first communication node; receiving the RRC reconfiguration complete information fed back by the first communication node, sending the initial setup complete information to the second network node.

[0341] In an embodiment, after receiving the RRC setup complete information fed back by the second communication node, the method further comprises: in the case that the first NAS message from the second communication node is contained in the RRC setup complete information, sending the initial UE message to the second network node; receiving the downlink NAS message sent by the second network node, sending the generated downlink message to the second communication node; receiving the uplink message sent by the second communication node, sending the generated uplink NAS message to the second network node.

[0342] In an embodiment, the sending the RRC setup feedback information to the second communication node comprises: in the case that the network state when receiving the RRC setup request does not satisfy the preset RRC setup condition, generating the RRC setup rejection information; sending the RRC setup rejection information to the second communication node.

[0343] In an embodiment, the RRC setup request, the RRC setup information, the RRC setup complete information, the downlink message and the uplink message are transparent or not transparent to the first communication node.

[0344] The information transmission device proposed in the embodiment belongs to the same concept as the information transmission method proposed in the above embodiments, and the technical details not described in detail in the embodiment can be referred to any of the above embodiments, and the embodiment has the same effect as performing the information transmission method.

[0345] In an example, FIG. 29 is a structural diagram of another information transmission device provided by the embodiments of the present application, which can be applied to a first communication node, which can be a gNB. As shown in FIG. 29, the device includes: a request information transmission module 310, configured to receive an RRC establishment request sent by a second communication node, and send the RRC establishment request to a first network node. A feedback information transmission module 320, configured to receive RRC establishment feedback information fed back by the first network node, and feed back corresponding RRC establishment information to the second communication node.

[0346] In an embodiment, the RRC establishment feedback information includes at least one of the following: RRC establishment information; a downlink message; a security mode command; an RRC reconfiguration command; RRC establishment rejection information.

[0347] In an embodiment, receiving the RRC establishment feedback information fed back by the first network node, and feeding back corresponding RRC establishment information to the second communication node includes one of the following: receiving RRC establishment information sent by the first network node, and forwarding the RRC establishment information to the second communication node; receiving RRC establishment completion information fed back by the second communication node, and forwarding the RRC establishment completion information to the first network node; receiving RRC establishment information sent by the first network node, and forwarding the RRC establishment information to the second communication node; receiving RRC establishment completion information fed back by the second communication node, and forwarding the RRC establishment completion information to the first network node; receiving an RRC reconfiguration command sent by the first network node, and forwarding the RRC reconfiguration command to the second communication node; receiving RRC reconfiguration completion information fed back by the second communication node, and forwarding the RRC reconfiguration completion information to the first network node; receiving RRC establishment information sent by the first network node, and forwarding the RRC establishment information to the second communication node; receiving RRC establishment completion information fed back by the second communication node, and forwarding the RRC establishment completion information to the first network node; receiving a security mode command sent by the first network node, and forwarding the security mode command to the second communication node; receiving security mode completion information fed back by the second communication node, and forwarding the security mode completion information to the first network node; receiving an RRC reconfiguration command sent by the first network node, and forwarding the RRC reconfiguration command to the second communication node; receiving RRC reconfiguration completion information fed back by the second communication node, and forwarding the RRC reconfiguration completion information to the first network node.

[0348] In an embodiment, after receiving the RRC establishment completion information fed back by the second communication node, and forwarding the RRC establishment completion information to the first network node, the method further includes: receiving a downlink message sent by the first network node, and forwarding the downlink message to the second communication node; receiving an uplink message sent by the second communication node, and forwarding the uplink message to the first network node.

[0349] In an embodiment, after receiving the RRC setup request sent by the second communication node, further comprising: generating an RRC setup rejection information in a case that the network state at the time of receiving the RRC setup request does not satisfy the preset RRC setup condition; and sending the RRC setup rejection information to the second communication node.

[0350] The information transmission device provided in the embodiment belongs to the same concept as the information transmission method provided in the above-described embodiments, and the technical details not described in detail in the embodiment can be referred to any of the above-described embodiments, and the embodiment has the same effect as performing the information transmission method.

[0351] In one example described manner, FIG. 30 is a structural schematic diagram of another information transmission device provided by the embodiment of the application, which can be applied to a first network node, which is the first network node provided in any of the above-described embodiments. As shown in FIG. 30, the device comprises: a handover request information transmission module 410, configured to send cell handover request information and receive corresponding cell handover request response information.

[0352] In an embodiment, the cell handover request information comprises at least one of: a RAN handover request; RRC reconfiguration information; and a path switching request.

[0353] In an embodiment, the RAN handover request comprises at least one of: a target cell identity (ID); a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) of a UE in a source communication node; radio resource management (RRM) configuration; key information; antenna information; a downlink carrier frequency; a current QoS flow of a data radio bearer (DRB) mapping rule applied to the UE; system information block SIB1 information from the source communication node; UE capability for different radio access technologies (RATs); PDU session related information; and measurement information reported by the UE.

[0354] In an embodiment, the RRC reconfiguration information comprises: a cell ID and access information of a target cell.

[0355] In an embodiment, the corresponding cell handover request response information comprises at least one of: a RAN handover request response; RRC reconfiguration completion information; and a path switching request response.

[0356] In an embodiment, the sending the cell handover request information and receiving the corresponding cell handover request response information comprises at least one of: sending a RAN handover request to the target communication node, sending RRC reconfiguration information to the source communication node; receiving RRC reconfiguration complete information and / or path switch request fed back by the target communication node, sending a path switch request to a network element of the second network node; receiving a path switch request response, sending a path switch request acknowledgement information to the target communication node.

[0357] In an embodiment, the sending the cell handover request information and receiving the corresponding cell handover request response information comprises at least one of: sending a RAN handover request to the target communication node, sending RRC reconfiguration information to the source communication node; receiving RRC reconfiguration complete information and / or path switch request fed back by the target communication node, sending a path switch request to a network element of the second network node; receiving a path switch request response, sending a path switch request acknowledgement information to the target communication node.

[0358] In an embodiment, the sending the cell handover request information and receiving the corresponding cell handover request response information comprises at least one of: sending a RAN handover request to the target communication node, sending RRC reconfiguration information to the source communication node; receiving RRC reconfiguration complete information and / or path switch request fed back by the target communication node, sending a path switch request to a network element of the second network node; receiving a path switch request response, sending a path switch request acknowledgement information to the target communication node.

[0359] In an embodiment, after sending the path switch complete information to the target communication node, the method further comprises: sending UE resource release information to the source communication node, and receiving UE resource release complete information fed back by the source communication node.

[0360] In an embodiment, the sending the cell handover request information and receiving the corresponding cell handover request response information comprises at least one of: sending a RAN handover request to the target communication node, sending RRC reconfiguration information to the source communication node; receiving RRC reconfiguration complete information and / or path switch request fed back by the target communication node, sending a path switch request to a network element of the second network node; receiving a path switch request response, sending a path switch request acknowledgement information to the target communication node.

[0361] In an embodiment, after receiving the path switch request response, the method further comprises: sending UE resource release information to the source communication node, and receiving UE resource release complete information fed back by the source communication node.

[0362] The information transmission device provided in the embodiment belongs to the same concept as the information transmission method provided in the above-described embodiments, and the technical details not described in detail in the embodiment can be referred to the above-described any embodiment, and the embodiment has the same effect as performing the information transmission method.

[0363] In one exemplary mode, Fig. 31 is a structural schematic diagram of another information transmission device provided by the embodiment of the application, which can be applied to a first network node, which is the first network node provided in any of the above-described embodiments. As shown in Fig. 31, the device comprises: a request receiving module 510, configured to receive an RRC re-establishment request forwarded by a target communication node; an information sending module 520, configured to send RRC re-establishment information to the target communication node; a feedback information receiving module 530, configured to receive RRC re-establishment feedback information fed back by the target communication node; a handover request sending module 540, configured to send a path switching request to a network element of a second network node, and receive a path switching request response.

[0364] In an embodiment, the RRC re-establishment request at least comprises a UE identifier.

[0365] The UE identifier comprises a physical cell identifier (Physical Cell Identity, PCI) and a C-RNTI.

[0366] In an embodiment, the RRC re-establishment information comprises an RRC re-establishment instruction and an RRC reconfiguration instruction, and the RRC re-establishment instruction and / or the RRC reconfiguration instruction carries context information of the UE.

[0367] In an embodiment, after receiving the RRC re-establishment feedback information fed back by the target communication node, the device further comprises: sending a forwarding address indication to a source communication node, so that the source communication node provides a serial number (Serial Number, SN) to the target communication node.

[0368] In an embodiment, after receiving the path switching request response, the device further comprises: sending UE resource release information to a source communication node, and receiving UE resource release completion information fed back by the source communication node.

[0369] The information transmission device provided in the embodiment belongs to the same concept as the information transmission method provided in the above-described embodiments, and the technical details not described in detail in the embodiment can be referred to the above-described any embodiment, and the embodiment has the same effect as performing the information transmission method.

[0370] In one example, FIG. 32 is a structural schematic diagram of another information transmission device provided by the embodiments of the present application, which can be applied to the first network node provided in any of the above embodiments. As shown in FIG. 32, the device includes: a first message transmission module 610, configured to send, by a source first network node, a first network node switching request message to a target first network node, and receive a first network node switching request response message fed back by the target first network node; a reconstruction information sending module 620, configured to send, by the source first network node, RRC reestablishment information to a second communication node through a source communication node; a second message transmission module 630, configured to receive, by the target first network node, RRC reestablishment feedback information sent by the second communication node through a target communication node, and send a path switching request to a network element of a second network node; and a third message transmission module 640, configured to send, by the target first network node, a first network node switching completion message to the source first network node in a case where the path switching request response sent by the network element of the second network node is received.

[0371] In one embodiment, after the source first network node sends the first network node switching request message to the target first network node, the device further includes: sending, by the target first network node, a RAN switching request message to the target communication node, and receiving a RAN switching request response message fed back by the target communication node.

[0372] In one embodiment, the first network node switching request response message includes at least one of the following: RRC configuration signaling; access resource; signal integrity (SI) information; SN; and key.

[0373] In one embodiment, the RAN switching request response message includes at least one of the following: RRC configuration signaling; access resource; signal integrity (SI) information; SN; and key.

[0374] In one embodiment, after the source first network node receives the first network node switching completion message, the device further includes: sending, by the source first network node, UE resource release information to the source communication node, and receiving UE resource release completion information fed back by the source communication node.

[0375] In one embodiment, after the source first network node receives the first network node switching completion message, the device further includes: sending, by the source first network node, a first network node switching completion response message to the target first network node; and wherein the sending time of the first network node switching completion response message is before the source first network node sends the UE resource release information to the source communication node, or after the source first network node receives the UE resource release completion information fed back by the source communication node.

[0376] The information transmission device provided in the embodiment belongs to the same concept as the information transmission method provided in the above-described embodiments, and technical details not described in the embodiment can be found in any of the above-described embodiments, and the embodiment has the same effects as the information transmission method.

[0377] The application further provides a storage medium storing a computer program, and the computer program is executed by a processor to implement the information transmission method in any of the embodiments of the application.

[0378] The computer storage medium of the embodiments of the application can adopt any combination of one or more computer readable media. The computer readable medium can be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable storage medium may, for example, be, but is not limited to, an electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, device or apparatus, or any combination thereof. More specific examples (non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, an optical fiber, a portable CD-ROM, an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination thereof. The computer readable storage medium can be any tangible medium containing or storing a program that can be used by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, device or apparatus.

[0379] The computer readable signal medium can include a data signal propagated in a baseband or as a part of a carrier wave, in which a computer readable program code is carried. Such a propagated data signal can take various forms, including but not limited to an electromagnetic signal, an optical signal or any suitable combination thereof. The computer readable signal medium can also be any computer readable medium other than the computer readable storage medium, which can send, propagate or transmit a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, device or apparatus.

[0380] The program code contained on the computer readable medium can be transmitted by any suitable medium, including but not limited to wireless, wire, optical cable, radio frequency (RF), etc., or any suitable combination thereof.

[0381] Computer program code for carrying out operations of the present application can be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like, and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages. The program code can execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer can be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection can be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).

[0382] Optionally, the embodiments of the present application further provide a computer program product, comprising a computer program, which, when executed by a processor, implements the information transmission method provided by any of the embodiments of the present application.

[0383] The above merely provides exemplary embodiments of the present application, but is not intended to limit the protection scope of the present application.

[0384] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the term user terminal encompasses any appropriate type of wireless user device, such as a mobile phone, a portable data processing apparatus, a portable web browser, or a vehicle-mounted mobile station.

[0385] Generally, the various embodiments of the present application can be implemented in hardware or special-purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. For example, some aspects can be implemented in hardware, while other aspects can be implemented in firmware or software which can be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device, although the present application is not limited thereto.

[0386] Embodiments of the present application can be implemented by a data processor of a mobile device executing computer program instructions, for example in a processor entity, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. Computer program instructions can be in assemblies, Instruction Set Architecture (ISA), machine, machine-related, microcode, firmware, state setting data, or source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages.

[0387] The block diagrams of any logical flow of the present application in the drawings can represent program operations, or can represent interconnecting logical circuits, modules and functions, or can represent a combination of program operations and logical circuits, modules and functions. The computer program can be stored on a memory. The memory can be of any type suitable for the local technical environment and can be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as, but not limited to, read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), optical storage devices, and systems, such as digital video disc (DVD) or compact disc (CD), and the like. The computer readable media can include non-transitory storage media. The data processor can be of any type suitable for the local technical environment, and can include, but is not limited to, general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and processors based on multi-core processor architectures, as examples.

Claims

1. A first network node, comprising: The first preset function includes a preset control plane (CP) function. The first network node is connected with at least one first communication node and a network element in a second network node respectively, and the second network node includes a core network node.

2. The first network node of claim 1, wherein, The preset CP function includes at least one of radio resource control (RRC) configuration, user equipment (UE) mobility management, inter-cell specific information interaction, UE specific perception configuration and processing, UE specific computing power management and configuration, and UE specific artificial intelligence (AI) model and life cycle management and configuration.

3. The first network node of claim 1, wherein, The network element in the second network node includes at least one of an access and mobility management function (AMF) network element, a user plane function (UPF) network element, a computing power network element, an AI network element, and a perception management network element.

4. The first network node of claim 3, wherein, The connection mode of the first network node and the network element in the second network node includes: connecting through a specific interface or connecting through a service interface.

5. A network architecture comprising: The first network node, the first communication node, and the second network node according to any one of claims 1-4.

6. The network architecture of claim 5, wherein, In the case where the first network node is a network element of a radio access network (RAN), a specific interface or a service interface is defined between the first communication nodes, between the first communication nodes and the first network node, between the first network nodes, between the first network node and the network element of the second network node, and between the first communication nodes and the network element of the second network node.

7. The network architecture of claim 5, wherein, The protocol stack of the first network node includes one of: a user equipment (UE) specific service configuration and management protocol; a UE specific service configuration and management protocol and a first packet data convergence protocol (PDCP); a UE specific service configuration and management protocol and a second PDCP; The UE specific service configuration and management protocol includes a radio resource control (RRC) protocol or an extension of the RRC protocol, the first PDCP includes a complete PDCP or an enhancement of the PDCP, and the second PDCP is a PDCP containing partial functions after splitting.

8. The network architecture of claim 5, wherein, In the case where the first network node is a network element of the second network node, a specific interface or a service interface is defined between the first communication nodes, between the first communication nodes and the first network node, and between the first communication nodes and the network element of the second network node.

9. An information transmission method applied to a second communication node, comprising: sending a radio resource control (RRC) setup request to the first network node according to any one of claims 1-4 in an idle state; performing connection state switching according to received RRC setup feedback information.

10. The information transmission method according to claim 9, wherein The RRC setup feedback information includes at least one of RRC setup information, downlink messages, a security mode command, an RRC reconfiguration command, and RRC setup rejection information.

11. The information transmission method according to claim 9, wherein The connection state switching according to the received RRC setup feedback information includes one of: receiving RRC setup information fed back by the first network node and feeding back RRC setup completion information to the first network node; receiving the RRC setup information fed back by the first network node, and feeding back RRC setup completion information to the first network node; receiving a security mode command, and feeding back security mode completion information to the first communication node after activating the security mode; receiving an RRC reconfiguration command, and feeding back RRC reconfiguration completion information to the first communication node after completing the RRC reconfiguration; receiving the RRC setup information fed back by the first network node, and feeding back RRC setup completion information to the first network node; receiving an RRC reconfiguration command, and feeding back RRC reconfiguration completion information to the first communication node after completing the RRC reconfiguration.

12. The information transmission method according to claim 11, after the receiving the RRC setup information fed back by the first network node, and feeding back RRC setup completion information to the first network node, further comprising: receiving a downlink message sent by the first network node; sending an uplink message to the first network node.

13. The information transmission method according to claim 9, wherein The connection state switching according to the received RRC setup feedback information comprises: receiving RRC setup rejection information, and keeping the idle state unchanged.

14. The information transmission method according to claim 13, wherein The RRC setup rejection information comprises at least one of the following: information generated by the first network node based on network state; information generated by a virtual RRC layer or a medium access control (MAC) layer of the first communication node based on network state.

15. The information transmission method according to any one of claims 9-14, wherein, The RRC setup request, the RRC setup information, the RRC setup completion information, the downlink message and the uplink message are transparent or non-transparent to the first communication node.

16. An information transmission method applied to the first network node according to any one of claims 1-4, comprising: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) setup request; sending RRC setup feedback information to a second communication node.

17. The information transmission method of claim 16, wherein, The RRC setup feedback information comprises at least one of the following: RRC setup information; a downlink message; a security mode command; an RRC reconfiguration command; and RRC setup rejection information.

18. The information transmission method of claim 16, wherein, The sending of the RRC setup feedback information to the second communication node comprises one of the following: sending RRC setup information to the second communication node, and receiving RRC setup completion information fed back by the second communication node; sending RRC setup information to the second communication node, and receiving RRC setup completion information fed back by the second communication node; receiving an initial setup request sent by the second network node, sending a security mode command to the first communication node, receiving security mode completion information sent by the first communication node, sending an RRC reconfiguration command to the first communication node, receiving RRC reconfiguration completion information fed back by the first communication node, and sending initial setup completion information to the second network node; sending RRC setup information to the second communication node, receiving RRC setup completion information fed back by the second communication node, sending an RRC reconfiguration command to the first communication node, receiving RRC reconfiguration completion information fed back by the first communication node, and sending initial setup completion information to the second network node.

19. The information transmission method of claim 18, further comprising, after receiving the RRC setup complete information fed back by the second communication node: sending an initialization user equipment (UE) message to the second network node in the case that the first non-access stratum (NAS) message from the second communication node is contained in the RRC setup complete information; receiving a downlink NAS message sent by the second network node and sending a generated downlink message to the second communication node; receiving an uplink message sent by the second communication node and sending a generated uplink NAS message to the second network node.

20. The information transmission method of claim 16, wherein, The sending of the RRC setup feedback information to the second communication node comprises: generating RRC setup rejection information in the case that the network state at the time of receiving the RRC setup request does not satisfy preset RRC setup conditions; sending the RRC setup rejection information to the second communication node.

21. The information transmission method according to any one of claims 16-20, wherein, The RRC setup request, RRC setup information, RRC setup complete information, downlink message and uplink message are transparent or not transparent to the first communication node.

22. An information transmission method applied to a first communication node, comprising: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) setup request sent by a second communication node and sending the RRC setup request to the first network node according to any one of claims 1-4; receiving RRC setup feedback information fed back by the first network node and feeding back corresponding RRC setup information to the second communication node.

23. The information transmission method of claim 22, wherein, The RRC setup feedback information comprises at least one of the following: RRC setup information; a downlink message; a security mode command; an RRC reconfiguration command; and RRC setup rejection information.

24. The information transmission method of claim 22, wherein, The receiving of the RRC setup feedback information fed back by the first network node and the feeding back of corresponding RRC setup information to the second communication node comprises one of the following: receiving RRC setup information sent by the first network node and forwarding the RRC setup information to the second communication node; and receiving RRC setup complete information fed back by the second communication node and forwarding the RRC setup complete information to the first network node; receiving RRC setup information sent by the first network node and forwarding the RRC setup information to the second communication node; receiving RRC setup complete information fed back by the second communication node and forwarding the RRC setup complete information to the first network node; and receiving an RRC reconfiguration command sent by the first network node and forwarding the RRC reconfiguration command to the second communication node; receiving RRC reconfiguration complete information fed back by the second communication node and forwarding the RRC reconfiguration complete information to the first network node; receiving RRC setup information sent by the first network node and forwarding the RRC setup information to the second communication node; receiving RRC setup complete information fed back by the second communication node and forwarding the RRC setup complete information to the first network node; and receiving a security mode command sent by the first network node and forwarding the security mode command to the second communication node; receiving the security mode complete information fed back by the second communication node, and forwarding the security mode complete information to the first network node; receiving the RRC reconfiguration complete information fed back by the second communication node, and forwarding the RRC reconfiguration complete information to the first network node.

25. The information transmission method according to claim 24, after the receiving the RRC setup complete information fed back by the second communication node, and forwarding the RRC setup complete information to the first network node, further comprising: receiving a downlink message sent by the first network node, and forwarding the downlink message to the second communication node; receiving an uplink message sent by the second communication node, and forwarding the uplink message to the first network node.

26. The information transmission method according to claim 22, after the receiving the RRC setup request sent by the second communication node, further comprising: generating RRC setup rejection information in a case that a network state at the time of receiving the RRC setup request does not satisfy a preset RRC setup condition; sending the RRC setup rejection information to the second communication node.

27. An information transmission method applied to the first network node in any one of claims 1-4, comprising: sending cell switching request information, and receiving corresponding cell switching request response information.

28. The information transmission method of claim 27, wherein, The cell switching request information comprises at least one of the following: a radio access network (RAN) switching request; radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration information; and a path switching request.

29. The information transmission method according to claim 27, wherein The RAN switching request comprises at least one of the following: a target cell identification number (ID); a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) of a user equipment (UE) in a source communication node; radio resource management (RRM) configuration; key information; antenna information; a downlink carrier frequency; a current quality of service (QoS) flow of a data radio bearer (DRB) mapping rule applied to the UE; system information block (SIB1) information from the source communication node; a capability of the UE on different radio access technologies (RATs); protocol data unit (PDU) session related information; and measurement information reported by the UE. The RRC reconfiguration information comprises: a cell ID and access information of a target cell. The corresponding cell switching request response information comprises at least one of the following: a RAN switching request response; RRC reconfiguration complete information; and a path switching request response.

30. The information transmission method of claim 28, wherein, The sending of the cell switching request information and the receiving of the corresponding cell switching request response information comprise at least one of the following:

31. The information transmission method of claim 28, wherein, sending the path switching request to a network element of a second network node, and receiving the path switching request response; 32. The information transmission method of claim 31, wherein, sending the RAN switching request to a target communication node, and sending the RRC reconfiguration information to a source communication node; receiving the RRC reconfiguration complete information fed back by the target communication node, and sending switching complete information to the network element of the second network node; receiving switching complete confirmation information sent by the network element of the second network node. ​ ​ 33. The information transmission method of claim 31, wherein, The sending cell switching request information and the receiving corresponding cell switching request response information comprise at least one of the following: sending the RAN switching request to the target communication node and receiving the RAN switching request response fed back by the target communication node; sending the RRC reconfiguration information to the source communication node and receiving at least one of the RRC reconfiguration completion information and the path switching request fed back by the target communication node; sending the path switching request to the network element of the second network node and receiving the path switching request response; 34. The information transmission method of claim 31, wherein sending the path switching completion information to the target communication node.

35. The information transmission method of claim 34, after the sending the path switching completion information to the target communication node, further comprising: sending UE resource release information to the source communication node and receiving UE resource release completion information fed back by the source communication node. The sending cell switching request information and the receiving corresponding cell switching request response information comprise at least one of the following: sending the RAN switching request to the target communication node and receiving the RAN switching request response fed back by the target communication node; sending the RRC reconfiguration information to the corresponding second communication node through the source communication node and receiving the RRC reconfiguration completion information fed back by the second communication node through the target communication node; sending the path switching request to the network element of the second network node and receiving the path switching request response.

36. The information transmission method of claim 31, wherein 37. The information transmission method of claim 36, after the receiving the path switching request response, further comprising: sending UE resource release information to the source communication node and receiving UE resource release completion information fed back by the source communication node.

38. An information transmission method applied to the first network node of any one of claims 1-4, comprising: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) reestablishment request forwarded by a target communication node; sending RRC reestablishment information to the target communication node; receiving RRC reestablishment feedback information fed back by the target communication node; sending a path switching request to a network element of a second network node and receiving a path switching request response. The RRC reestablishment request comprises a user equipment (UE) identifier. The RRC reestablishment information comprises RRC reestablishment instructions and RRC reconfiguration instructions, and at least one of the RRC reestablishment instructions and the RRC reconfiguration instructions carries context information of the UE. After the receiving the RRC reestablishment feedback information fed back by the target communication node, further comprising: ​ 39. The information transmission method of claim 38, wherein, ​ 40. The information transmission method of claim 38, wherein, ​ 41. The information transmission method of claim 38, wherein, ​ sending a forwarding address indication to a source communication node to cause the source communication node to provide a sequence number (SN) to the target communication node.

42. The information transmission method of claim 38, further comprising, after the receiving the path switch request response: sending UE resource release information to a source communication node, and receiving UE resource release complete information fed back by the source communication node.

43. An information transmission method applied to a first network node of any one of claims 1-4, the first network node comprising a target first network node and a source first network node, the method comprising: sending, by the source first network node, a first network node handover request message to the target first network node, and receiving a first network node handover request response message fed back by the target first network node; sending, by the source first network node, radio resource control (RRC) reestablishment information to a second communication node through a source communication node; receiving, by the target first network node, RRC reestablishment feedback information sent by the second communication node through a target communication node, and sending a path switch request to a network element of a second network node; sending, by the target first network node, a first network node handover complete message to the source first network node in a case where a path switch request response is received from the network element of the second network node.

44. The information transmission method of claim 43, further comprising, after the sending, by the source first network node, the first network node handover request message to the target first network node: sending, by the target first network node, a radio access network (RAN) handover request message to the target communication node, and receiving a RAN handover request response message fed back by the target communication node.

45. The information transmission method of claim 43, wherein, The first network node handover request response message comprises at least one of: RRC configuration signaling; access resource; signal integrity (SI) information; sequence number (SN); and key.

46. The information transmission method of claim 44, wherein, The RAN handover request response message comprises at least one of: RRC configuration signaling; access resource; SI information; SN; and key.

47. The information transmission method of claim 43 or 44, further comprising, after the receiving, by the source first network node, the first network node handover complete message: sending, by the source first network node, user equipment (UE) resource release information to the source communication node, and receiving UE resource release complete information fed back by the source communication node.

48. The information transmission method of claim 47, further comprising, after the receiving, by the source first network node, the first network node handover complete message: sending, by the source first network node, a first network node handover complete response message to the target first network node; wherein a sending time of the first network node handover complete response message is before the sending, by the source first network node, the UE resource release information to the source communication node, or after the receiving the UE resource release complete information fed back by the source communication node. 49.A storage medium for computer-readable storage, the storage medium having stored thereon at least one program executable by at least one processor to implement the information transmission method according to any one of claims 9-48. 50.A computer program product, comprising a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the information transmission method according to any one of claims 9-48.

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