Communication method and communication apparatus

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communications, and provide a communication method and a communication apparatus, which can be applied to a policy control entity. The method comprises: when acquiring first stream information, i.e., stream information corresponding to a data stream of a service transmitted between a server and a relay entity, a policy control entity can acquire, on the basis of the first stream information, corresponding second stream information, i.e., stream information corresponding to a data stream of a service transmitted between a terminal and the relay entity. In this way, the quality of service of a data stream between a terminal and a relay entity can be guaranteed on the basis of second stream information.

Description

Communication method and communication apparatus

[0001] The present application claims priority to the Chinese Patent Application No. 202510061474.5, filed on January 13, 2025, entitled "Communication method and communication apparatus", and the Chinese Patent Application No. 202411393536.4, filed on October 01, 2024, entitled "Communication method and communication apparatus", the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

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

[0003] Currently, the data transmission between a terminal and an application server (AS) can support relaying, that is, a relaying entity in a mobile communication network can forward the data sent by the terminal to the server, and the data sent by the server can be forwarded to the terminal through the relaying entity. However, how the mobile communication network guarantees the quality of service (QoS) of the data transmission between the relaying entity and the terminal is a problem to be studied at present. SUMMARY

[0004] The communication method and the communication apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application can guarantee the quality of service of the data flow between the terminal and the relaying entity.

[0005] To achieve the above object, the embodiments of the present application adopt the following technical solutions:

[0006] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, applied to a policy control entity, and the method comprises: receiving a first message, and obtaining second flow information of a service according to the first message. The first message comprises first flow information of the service, a data flow of the service is transmitted through a relaying entity, and the first flow information corresponds to a data flow of the service transmitted between a server and the relaying entity; and the second flow information corresponds to a data flow of the service transmitted between a terminal and the relaying entity.

[0007] Therefore, when the policy control entity obtains the first flow information, that is, the flow information corresponding to the data flow of the service transmitted between the server and the relaying entity, the policy control entity can obtain the corresponding second flow information, that is, the flow information corresponding to the data flow of the service transmitted between the terminal and the relaying entity, according to the first flow information, so as to guarantee the quality of service of the data flow between the terminal and the relaying entity according to the second flow information.

[0008] In a possible design, the second flow information of the service is acquired according to the first message, including: sending a second message to the session management entity according to the first message, and receiving the second flow information from the session management entity. The second message includes the first flow information.

[0009] Optionally, the second message is sent to the session management entity according to the first message, including: determining the flow information of the data flow of the service transmitted between the terminal and the relay entity according to the first message, and sending the second message to the session management entity. That is, different from the prior art in which the policy control entity acquires the flow information only for configuring the PCC rule, since the first flow information is the flow information between the server and the relay entity, the policy control entity can also determine that the data flow of the service needs to continue to be transmitted through the relay entity, and thus determine to acquire the flow information of the data flow of the service transmitted between the terminal and the relay entity, so as to trigger the acquisition of the second flow information from the session management entity.

[0010] Further, the first message includes first indication information, the flow information of the data flow of the service transmitted between the terminal and the relay entity is determined according to the first message, including: according to the indication of the first indication information that the relay transmission or the transmission protocol is a protocol supporting the relay transmission, determining that the data flow of the service is transmitted through the relay entity, and thus determining to acquire the flow information of the data flow of the service transmitted between the terminal and the relay entity according to the transmission of the data flow of the service through the relay entity. The transmission protocol is a protocol used for transmitting the data flow of the service. That is, the transmission of the data flow of the service through the relay entity can be indicated by the first indication information explicitly or implicitly, so as to avoid that the policy control entity cannot trigger the acquisition of the second flow information due to the unawareness of the transmission of the data flow of the service through the relay entity.

[0011] Optionally, the second message includes the first policy and charging (PCC) rule corresponding to the service, and the first PCC rule includes the first flow information, so as to take into account the existing standard, and also acquire the second flow information corresponding to the first flow information by sending the first PCC rule.

[0012] Optionally, the second message includes second indication information, and the second indication information indicates the detection of the flow information of the service, that is, triggers the session management entity to instruct the user plane entity to detect and report the flow information, such as the second flow information. Optionally, the second indication information can be carried in the first PCC rule.

[0013] Optionally, the method further comprises: sending third indication information to the session management entity, the third indication information indicating a detection rule of the flow information; receiving second flow information from the session management entity, comprising: receiving the second flow information returned by the session management entity according to the detection rule. For example, the detection rule is used to indicate that the flow information is fed back to the policy control network element in the case of detecting the flow information. In this way, the indication of triggering the session management entity to instruct the user plane entity to detect and report the flow information can be decoupled from the delivery of the PCC rule, and the flow implementation can be more flexible.

[0014] Optionally, the third indication information is a policy control request trigger (PCRT), that is, a multiplexing existing mechanism is implemented, for example, the third indication information can be a PCRT set to start detecting the application service, so as to take into account the existing standard.

[0015] In a possible design scheme, the method further comprises: determining a second PCC rule corresponding to the service, and sending the second PCC rule to the session management entity. The second PCC rule includes second flow information, so that the session management entity can send a new N4 rule to the user plane entity according to the second PCC rule, to realize that the user plane entity guarantees the transmission of the data flow of the service between the terminal and the relay entity

[0016] Optionally, the second PCC rule includes fourth indication information, the fourth indication information indicating to stop detecting the flow information of the service, to avoid unnecessary overhead.

[0017] In a possible design scheme, the second flow information includes at least one of the following corresponding to the terminal and the relay entity: address information, port information, or protocol information.

[0018] In a possible design scheme, the method further comprises: receiving third information from the session management entity, and sending second flow information of the service to the session management entity according to the third information. The third information includes first flow information of the service, the data flow of the service is transmitted through the relay entity, the first flow information is flow information corresponding to the data flow of the service transmitted between the server and the relay entity, and the second flow information is flow information corresponding to the data flow of the service transmitted between the terminal and the relay entity.

[0019] In a possible design scheme, the method further comprises: receiving third information from the session management entity, and sending second flow information of the service to the session management entity according to the third information. The third information includes first flow information of the service, the data flow of the service is transmitted through the relay entity, the first flow information is flow information corresponding to the data flow of the service transmitted between the server and the relay entity, and the second flow information is flow information corresponding to the data flow of the service transmitted between the terminal and the relay entity.

[0020] Optionally, the third message comprises a packet detection rule corresponding to the service flow, and the obtaining the second flow information corresponding to the first flow information according to the third message comprises: obtaining the first flow information from the packet detection rule, and obtaining the second flow information corresponding to the first flow information according to the first flow information. The first flow information comprises at least one of address information, port information, or protocol information corresponding to the server and the relay entity.

[0021] It can be seen that, if the existing processing logic is followed, the user plane entity will use the flow information in the packet detection rule, such as the address information, port information, etc. described above, to perform QoS guarantee, but since the first flow information in the present application is flow information corresponding to the server and the relay entity, the user plane entity will not perform QoS guarantee after obtaining the packet detection rule, but will match the flow information corresponding to the first flow information according to the first flow information carried by the packet detection rule, i.e. the user plane entity can obtain the second flow information corresponding to the first flow information according to the first flow information.

[0022] Optionally, the method further comprises: determining the correspondence between the first flow information and the second flow information, so that the corresponding second flow information can be found from the correspondence in the future.

[0023] Optionally, the connection between the terminal and the relay entity can also be understood as the connection between the client of the terminal and the relay entity, and the client corresponds to the service, such as the client that initiates / executes the service.

[0024] In a possible design, the method further comprises: receiving indication information from the session management entity, the indication information indicating the flow information of the detected service. The sending the second flow information to the session management entity according to the third message comprises: in response to the indication information, sending the second flow information to the session management entity according to the third message, so as to avoid the failure of reporting the second flow information due to the fact that the user plane entity does not know to perform flow information detection.

[0025] In a possible design, the second flow information comprises at least one of address information, port information, or protocol information corresponding to the terminal and the relay entity.

[0026] In a possible design, the user plane entity supports the function of the relay entity, so as to simplify the network structure.

[0027] It should be understood that other benefits of the second aspect can be referred to the related description of the first aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0028] In a third aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be applied to a user plane entity supporting forwarding data between a terminal and a server through a relay entity, and the method comprises: obtaining a rule corresponding to the terminal, the rule comprising first flow information of a data stream sent by the server and a first quality of service (QoS) parameter corresponding to the first flow information; determining that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity; and determining a second QoS parameter according to the QoS parameter corresponding to the first flow information, the second QoS parameter being used for transmitting the data stream through a second connection between the relay entity and the terminal.

[0029] In the embodiments of the present application, when the user plane entity determines that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity, the user plane entity can determine the second QoS parameter corresponding to the data stream (i.e., the data stream sent by the server) sent to the terminal through the second connection between the relay entity and the terminal according to the first QoS parameter of the data stream sent by the server included in the rule corresponding to the terminal, and then the user plane entity can perform QoS processing on the data stream between the relay entity and the terminal according to the second QoS parameter, so as to guarantee the QoS requirement of the data stream sent through the connection between the relay entity and the terminal.

[0030] In a possible implementation, the rule further comprises indication information used for indicating a transmission protocol used by the data stream sent by the server; and the determination that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity comprises: determining, according to the indication information, that the transmission protocol is a protocol supporting relay transmission, and determining that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity. That is, when the user plane entity obtains the rule corresponding to the terminal before the first connection is established between the relay entity and the server, the user plane entity can determine, according to the indication information included in the rule corresponding to the terminal, that the transmission protocol used by the data stream sent by the server is a protocol supporting relay transmission, and then determine that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity.

[0031] In a possible implementation, determining that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity includes: determining that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity according to the information of the server and the information of the relay entity included in the stream information. It can be understood that after the relay entity establishes a connection with the server, the server can obtain the address (optionally, the port number is also included) of the relay entity, and then can send the information of the relay entity to the application entity, so that the first stream information can include the information of the server and the information of the relay entity. That is, in the case where the first stream information also includes the information of the relay entity, the user plane entity can directly determine that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity according to the first stream information. Compared with the case where the user plane entity needs to further determine that the transmission protocol used by the data stream sent by the server supports relay transmission in order to determine that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity, the user plane entity directly determines that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity according to the first stream information, which can improve the processing efficiency of the user plane.

[0032] It should be understood that the above determining that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity can be understood as that the data stream sent by the server is expected to pass through the relay entity, that is, the user plane entity determines that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity, and the server can not have sent the data stream or the server can not have established a connection with the relay entity. In this scenario, the preconfigured QoS parameter can be used immediately when the data stream sent by the server arrives, which improves the processing efficiency and response speed.

[0033] In a possible implementation, before determining the second QoS parameter according to the first QoS parameter, the method provided in the third aspect further includes: receiving a first data packet corresponding to the data stream sent by the server, and the address information of the first data packet includes the information of the relay entity. That is, the user plane entity performs the operation of determining the second QoS parameter for sending the data stream sent by the server to the terminal through the second connection between the relay entity and the terminal according to the first QoS parameter corresponding to the first stream information according to the received first data packet corresponding to the data stream sent by the server, and then the operation of determining the second QoS parameter can be avoided in the case where the first data packet corresponding to the data stream sent by the server is not received, so that resource waste can be avoided.

[0034] In a possible implementation, the method provided by the third aspect further includes: receiving a second data packet on a connection between the relay entity and the terminal, the destination address of the second data packet being the address of the terminal; performing processing on the second data packet according to the QoS flow identifier corresponding to the second QoS parameter, to obtain a third data packet; and sending the third data packet to the service access network device of the terminal. That is, after the user plane entity determines the second QoS parameter, the second data packet received on the second connection between the relay entity and the terminal can be associated to the QoS flow corresponding to the second QoS parameter according to the second QoS parameter, to implement QoS processing and guarantee the QoS requirement of the data flow between the relay entity and the terminal.

[0035] In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be applied to a network entity, and the method includes: receiving first information, the first information including flow information of a server-associated data flow and indication information used to indicate a transmission protocol used by the server-associated data flow, the server-associated data flow including a data flow sent by a server and / or a data flow sent to the server; and in a case where it is determined according to the indication information that the transmission protocol is a protocol supporting relay transmission, replacing information of the server in the flow information with information of a relay entity to obtain a rule corresponding to a terminal, the relay entity being used to forward data between the terminal and the server.

[0036] In the embodiments of the present application, in a case where it is determined by the network entity according to the indication information in the first information that the transmission protocol used by the data flow sent by the server supports relay transmission, the network entity generates a rule corresponding to the terminal by replacing the information of the server in the flow information with the information of the relay entity, and then can transform a control parameter (for example, including a QoS parameter, a policy parameter, or a charging parameter, etc.) of the data flow between the server and the relay entity into a control parameter of the data flow between the relay entity and the terminal, so as to guarantee the control requirement (for example, a QoS requirement, a policy requirement, or a charging requirement, etc.) of the data flow between the relay entity and the terminal.

[0037] In a possible implementation, the network entity is a user plane entity, the first information is a user plane control rule, and the user plane control rule includes flow information of a server-sent data flow and a quality of service (QoS) parameter of the server-sent data flow; the method provided in the fourth aspect further includes: receiving a fourth data packet on a connection between the relay entity and the terminal, the fourth data packet having a destination address of the terminal; processing the fourth data packet according to the QoS parameter of the server-sent data flow to obtain a fifth data packet; and sending the fifth data packet to a service access network device of the terminal. That is, the user plane entity can process a data packet corresponding to the server-sent data flow sent on the connection between the relay entity and the terminal according to the QoS parameter of the server-sent data flow in the user plane control rule, and thus the QoS requirement of the data flow between the relay entity and the terminal can be guaranteed. For example, the user plane entity determines a QFI of a QoS flow corresponding to the QoS parameter using the QoS parameter of the server-sent data flow, encapsulates the fourth data packet using a general packet radio service tunneling protocol (GTP)-U header including the QFI, and thus obtains the fifth data packet, and sends the fifth data packet to the service access network device of the terminal.

[0038] In a possible implementation, the network entity is a session management entity, the first information is a policy and charging control (PCC) rule, and the rule corresponding to the terminal is a user plane control rule; the method provided in the fourth aspect further includes: in a case where it is determined according to the indication information that the transmission protocol is a relay-enabled transmission protocol, replacing information of a server in the flow information with information of the relay entity to obtain a QoS rule; and sending the QoS rule to the terminal. That is, the network entity replaces the information of the server in the flow information of the data flow sent to the server with the information of the relay entity, and thus can replace the QoS parameter of the data flow sent by the relay entity to the server with the QoS parameter of the data flow sent by the terminal to the relay entity and send it to the terminal, and thus the terminal can perform QoS processing on a data packet on a second connection between the terminal and the relay entity, thereby guaranteeing the QoS requirement of the data flow between the terminal and the relay entity.

[0039] In a possible implementation, the method provided in the fourth aspect further includes: in a case where it is determined according to the indication information that the transmission protocol is a relay-enabled transmission protocol, obtaining information of the relay entity from a user plane entity, the user plane entity being a user plane entity that supports forwarding data between the terminal and the server through the relay entity. That is, when the network entity is a session management entity, the session management entity can obtain the information of the relay entity from the user plane entity in response to the transmission protocol used by the data flow supporting relay transmission, so as to obtain the information of the relay entity in a case where the information of the relay entity is not cached by the session management entity or the information of the relay entity is lost.

[0040] In a possible implementation, the network entity is a policy management entity, the first information is included in a QoS request message, and the rule corresponding to the terminal is a PCC rule; the method provided in the fourth aspect further includes: obtaining the information of the relay entity from a session management entity or a user plane entity, and the user plane entity is a user plane entity supporting forwarding of data between the terminal and the server through the relay entity. That is, when the network entity is a policy management entity, the policy management entity can obtain the information of the relay entity from the session management entity or the user plane entity, so as to improve the flexibility of the policy management entity in obtaining the information of the relay entity. For example, the policy management entity can obtain the information of the relay entity in a session establishment process or a session modification process of the terminal, or can obtain the information of the relay entity from the user plane entity according to indication information indicating that the transmission protocol supports relay transmission.

[0041] In a possible implementation, the information of the relay entity is obtained from the session management entity, including: obtaining the information of the relay entity from the session management entity in a session establishment process of the terminal, and the session of the terminal is a session supporting forwarding of data between the terminal and the server through the relay entity. That is, in the session establishment process of the terminal, the policy management entity can obtain the information of the relay entity from the session management entity in advance, so as to improve the processing efficiency when the information of the server in the flow information is replaced by the information of the relay entity in subsequent execution.

[0042] In a possible implementation, the information of the relay entity is obtained from the session management entity, including: obtaining the information of the relay entity from the session management entity in a session establishment process of the terminal, and the session of the terminal is a session supporting forwarding of data between the terminal and the server through the relay entity. That is, in the session establishment process of the terminal, the policy management entity can obtain the information of the relay entity from the session management entity in advance, so as to improve the processing efficiency when the information of the server in the flow information is replaced by the information of the relay entity in subsequent execution.

[0043] In a possible implementation, the information of the relay entity is obtained from the user plane entity, including: obtaining the information of the relay entity from the user plane entity in a case where it is determined according to indication information that the transmission protocol is a protocol supporting relay transmission. That is, when the network entity is a policy management entity, if the policy management entity does not store the information of the relay entity, the network entity can obtain the information of the relay entity from the user plane entity in response to the transmission protocol supporting relay transmission according to the indication information.

[0044] In a fifth aspect, a communication method is provided. The method is applied to a network exposure entity, and includes: receiving a first request from an application entity, the first request being used to request address information of a relay entity providing relay service for a terminal; obtaining the address information of the relay entity according to the first request; and sending a response of the first request to the application entity, the response of the first request including the address information of the relay entity.

[0045] In the embodiments of the present application, in the case that the address information of the terminal is obtained by the application entity and the service accessed by the terminal supports relay transmission, the application entity sends a request to the network exposure entity to obtain the address information of the relay entity providing relay service for the terminal.

[0046] In a possible implementation, the process of obtaining the address information of the relay entity includes: sending a second request to a network storage entity, the second request being used to request information of a user plane entity serving the terminal and supporting the terminal to forward data through the relay entity; and receiving a response of the second request from the network storage entity, the response of the second request including the address information of the user plane entity and the address information of the relay entity. That is, the network exposure entity can send a second request to the network storage entity according to the first request to discover the user plane entity serving the terminal and supporting the terminal to forward data through the relay entity, and obtain the address information of the user plane entity and the information of the relay entity by receiving the response of the second request. Thus, the network exposure entity does not need to obtain the information of the relay entity through interaction with the user plane entity, thereby simplifying the interaction in the process of obtaining the address information of the relay entity by the network exposure entity, improving the efficiency of obtaining the address information of the relay entity, and saving resources.

[0047] In a possible implementation, the process of obtaining the address information of the relay entity includes: sending a second request to a network storage entity, the second request being used to request information of a user plane entity serving the terminal and supporting the terminal to forward data through the relay entity; and receiving a response of the second request from the network storage entity, the response of the second request including the address information of the user plane entity and the address information of the relay entity. That is, the network exposure entity can send a second request to the network storage entity according to the first request to discover the user plane entity serving the terminal and supporting the terminal to forward data through the relay entity, and obtain the address information of the user plane entity and the information of the relay entity by receiving the response of the second request. Thus, the network exposure entity does not need to obtain the information of the relay entity through interaction with the user plane entity, thereby simplifying the interaction in the process of obtaining the address information of the relay entity by the network exposure entity, improving the efficiency of obtaining the address information of the relay entity, and saving resources.

[0048] In a sixth aspect, a communication method is provided. The method is applied to an application entity. The method comprises: obtaining address information of a terminal;

[0049] According to the address information of the terminal, a first request is sent to a network exposure entity. The first request is used to request address information of a relay entity providing relay service for the terminal. A response to the first request is received from the network exposure entity. The response to the first request comprises the address information of the relay entity.

[0050] It should be understood that the beneficial effects of the sixth aspect can be referred to the related description of the fifth aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0051] In a seventh aspect, a communication apparatus is provided for implementing the methods described above. The communication apparatus can be the network entity in any of the aspects or implementation forms described above, or a device containing the network entity, or a device contained in the network entity, such as a chip. The communication apparatus comprises modules, units, or means for implementing the methods described above, which can be implemented by hardware, software, or by executing corresponding software by hardware. The hardware or software comprises one or more modules or units corresponding to the functions described above.

[0052] In some possible designs, the communication apparatus can comprise a processing module and a transceiver module. The transceiver module, which can also be referred to as a transceiver unit, is configured to implement the functions of transmitting and / or receiving in any of the aspects and any possible implementation forms described above. The transceiver module can be constituted by a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver, or a communication interface. The processing module can be configured to implement the processing functions in any of the aspects and any possible implementation forms described above.

[0053] In some possible designs, the transceiver module comprises a transmitting module and a receiving module, which are configured to implement the functions of transmitting and receiving in any of the aspects and any possible implementation forms described above.

[0054] In an eighth aspect, a communication apparatus is provided. The communication apparatus comprises at least one processor. The processor is configured to execute computer programs or instructions to cause the communication apparatus to perform the method of any of the aspects described above.

[0055] In a possible implementation, the communication apparatus further comprises the memory. Optionally, the memory is coupled to the processor. The memory can be integrated with the processor, or the memory can be independent of the processor. Optionally, the processor is configured to execute the computer programs or instructions stored in the memory.

[0056] In a possible implementation, the memory is independent of the communication apparatus.

[0057] In a possible implementation, the communication apparatus further includes a communication interface configured to communicate with a module outside the communication apparatus.

[0058] The communication apparatus can be a network entity in any of the above aspects or any implementation thereof, or an apparatus containing the network entity, or an apparatus contained in the network entity, such as a chip.

[0059] In a ninth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program or instructions, and when the computer program or instructions are executed on a communication apparatus, the communication apparatus is enabled to perform the method in any of the above aspects or any implementation thereof.

[0060] In a tenth aspect, a computer program product is provided, which contains instructions, and when the computer program product is executed on a communication apparatus, the communication apparatus is enabled to perform the method in any of the above aspects or any implementation thereof.

[0061] In an eleventh aspect, a communication apparatus (for example, the communication apparatus can be a chip or a chip system) is provided, which includes a processor configured to implement the functions in any of the above aspects or any implementation thereof.

[0062] In some possible designs, the communication apparatus includes a memory configured to store necessary program instructions and data.

[0063] In some possible designs, when the apparatus is a chip system, the apparatus can be composed of a chip, or can contain a chip and other discrete devices.

[0064] It can be understood that, when the communication apparatus in any of the seventh aspect to the eleventh aspect is a chip, the sending action / functionality can be understood as output, and the receiving action / functionality can be understood as input.

[0065] The technical effects brought by the different design manners in the seventh aspect to the eleventh aspect can refer to the technical effects brought by the different design manners in the first aspect to the fifth aspect, which will not be repeated here.

[0066] In a twelfth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the policy control entity in the first aspect and any implementation thereof.

[0067] In a thirteenth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the user plane entity in the first aspect and any implementation thereof.

[0068] In a fourteenth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the network entity in the second aspect and any implementation thereof.

[0069] In some possible design, the communication system further includes the network exposure entity of the fifth aspect and any implementation thereof, and / or the application entity of the sixth aspect.

[0070] In the fifteenth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes the network exposure entity of the fifth aspect and any implementation thereof, and the application entity of the sixth aspect.

[0071] In some possible design, the communication system further includes the network entity of the second aspect and any implementation thereof. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0072] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0073] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a 5G network according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0074] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a PDU session according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0075] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a MoQ protocol according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0076] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of data flow transmission between a UE, a UPF, a MoQ relay entity, and an AS according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0077] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of a system according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0078] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a flow of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0079] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a relationship between data flow from an AS to a MoQ relay entity and data flow from the MoQ relay entity to a UE according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0080] FIG. 9-FIG. 17 are schematic diagrams of flows of a communication method according to embodiments of the present application;

[0081] FIG. 18-FIG. 19 are schematic diagrams of structures of a communication apparatus according to embodiments of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0082] In order to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, before the embodiments of the present application are introduced, the following points are explained.

[0083] 1. In the embodiments of the present application, the indication can include direct indication and indirect indication, and can also include explicit indication and implicit indication. The information indicated by certain information is referred to as to-be-indicated information. In the implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the to-be-indicated information, for example, but not limited to, the to-be-indicated information can be directly indicated, such as the to-be-indicated information itself or an index of the to-be-indicated information. The to-be-indicated information can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, where the other information and the to-be-indicated information have an association relationship. The to-be-indicated information can also be indicated only by a part of the to-be-indicated information, and the other part of the to-be-indicated information is known or agreed in advance. For example, the indication of a specific information can also be achieved by means of the arrangement order of each information agreed in advance (for example, a protocol), thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent. Meanwhile, the common part of each information can be identified and indicated uniformly, so as to reduce the indication overhead caused by separately indicating the same information.

[0084] In addition, the specific indication manner can also be various existing indication manners, for example, but not limited to, the above-mentioned indication manners and various combinations thereof. The specific details of various indication manners can refer to the prior art, and will not be described herein. As known from the above, for example, when multiple information of the same type needs to be indicated, the indication manners of different information can be different. In the implementation process, the required indication manner can be selected according to the specific needs, and the selected indication manner is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. In this way, the indication manner involved in the embodiments of the present application should be understood as covering various methods that can enable the to-be-indicated party to know the to-be-indicated information.

[0085] It should be understood that the to-be-indicated information can be sent as a whole, or can be sent separately into multiple sub-information, and the sending period and / or sending occasion of the sub-information can be the same or different. The specific sending method is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. The sending period and / or sending occasion of the sub-information can be predefined, for example, predefined according to a protocol, or can be configured by the sending end by sending configuration information to the receiving end.

[0086] 2. In the present application, the "sending information" can be understood as that a device (or entity) sends information to another device (or entity), or can also be understood as that a logical module in a device sends information to another logical module. For example, "the user plane entity sends information" can be understood as that a device containing the user plane entity sends information to another device, or can be understood as that a logical module 1 in a device containing the user plane entity sends information to a logical module 2.

[0087] In the present application, "receiving information" can be understood as a device (or entity) receiving information from another device (or entity), or can also be understood as a logical module inside a device receiving information from another logical module. For example, "a user plane entity receiving information" can be understood as the user plane entity receiving information from another device, or can be understood as logical module 1 in a device containing the user plane entity receiving information from logical module 2.

[0088] In the present application, "sending information to (for example, a session management entity)" or related illustrations in the drawings can be understood as the destination of the information being the session management entity. It can include directly or indirectly sending information to the session management entity. "Receiving information from (for example, a session management entity)" or "receiving information from (for example, a session management entity)" or "receiving information sent by (for example, a session management entity)", or related illustrations in the drawings can be understood as the source of the information being the session management entity, which can include directly or indirectly receiving information from the session management entity. The information between the source and the destination of the information sending can be processed as necessary, such as format change, etc., but the destination can understand the valid information from the source. Similar expressions in the present application can be similarly understood, and will not be repeated here.

[0089] "Predefined" or "preconfigured" can be implemented by pre-saving corresponding codes, tables or other means that can be used to indicate related information in a device, and the specific implementation manner is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. Wherein, "saving" can mean saving in one or more memories. The one or more memories can be separately arranged, or can be integrated in the encoder or decoder, processor, or communication device. The one or more memories can be part of the separately arranged, and part of the integrated in the decoder, processor, or communication device. The type of memory can be any form of storage medium, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0090] The "protocol" involved in the embodiments of the present application can refer to a protocol family in the communication field, a standard protocol similar to the protocol family frame structure, or a related protocol applied to a future communication system, and the embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations.

[0091] In the embodiments of the present application, "when", "in the case of", "if", and "if" and other descriptions all refer to the device making corresponding processing under certain objective circumstances, and are not limited by time, and do not require the device to have a judgment action when implemented, nor does it mean that there are other limitations.

[0092] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified, " / " represents that the objects before and after the " / " are in an "or" relationship, for example, A / B can represent A or B; "and / or" in the embodiments of the present application is only a description of the association relationship of the associated objects, which means that there can be three relationships, for example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. And, in the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified, "multiple" means two or more than two. "At least one of the following" or the like means any combination of the items, including any combination of single item or multiple items. For example, at least one of a, b or c can represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, where a, b, and c can be single or multiple. In addition, in order to clearly describe the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, "first", "second", and the like are used to distinguish the same items or similar items with basically the same function and role. The skilled in the art can understand that "first", "second", and the like do not limit the quantity and execution order, and "first", "second", and the like do not necessarily mean different. At the same time, in the embodiments of the present application, "exemplary" or "for example" means to serve as an example, illustration or description. Any embodiment or design scheme described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of the present application should not be interpreted as more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or design schemes. Rather, "exemplary" or "for example" is used to present the relevant concept in a specific manner, for understanding.

[0093] In order to facilitate understanding of the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application, first, the system applicable to the present application is given.

[0094] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application can be applied to various communication systems, for example, a vehicle to everything (V2X) communication system, a device-to-device (D2D) communication system, a vehicle networking communication system, a 4th generation (4G) mobile communication system (such as a long term evolution (LTE) system), a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, a 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system (such as a new radio (NR) system), a future communication system, or a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) system.

[0095] First, system architecture:

[0096] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 1, the system can include a terminal, a mobile communication network, and a data network (DN). The terminal can be capable of registering or accessing the mobile communication network, and accessing the DN outside the mobile communication network through the mobile communication network.

[0097] The DN can refer to a network that provides data transmission services for the terminal. The network can be an operator-controlled network, such as an internet protocol (IP) multi-media service (IMS) network, which can be used to provide IMS services to the terminal. Alternatively, the network can also be a network outside the operator, such as the Internet, which can be used to provide third-party services to the terminal, such as extended reality (XR) or haptic Internet services.

[0098] The terminal can be a terminal with transceiver function, or a chip or chip system that can be arranged in the terminal. The terminal can also be referred to as a user equipment (UE), an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a user station, a mobile station (MS), a mobile station, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent, or a user device. The terminal in the embodiments of the present application can be a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a tablet computer (Pad), a wireless data card, a personal digital assistant computer (PDA), a wireless modem, a handset, a laptop computer, a machine type communication (MTC) terminal, a computer with wireless transceiver function, a virtual reality (VR) terminal, an augmented reality (AR) terminal, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical treatment, a wireless terminal in smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in smart city, a wireless terminal in smart home, a vehicle-mounted terminal, a road side unit (RSU) with terminal function, etc. The terminal in the present application can also be a vehicle-mounted module, a vehicle-mounted module, a vehicle-mounted component, a vehicle-mounted chip or a vehicle-mounted unit built into a vehicle as one or more components or units.

[0099] The mobile communication network can be used to provide services for the terminal, for example, the mobile communication network can include a 4G network and / or a 5G network, and the mobile communication network can also include a future communication network. The mobile communication network is exemplarily illustrated below taking the 5G network as an example.

[0100] As shown in FIG. 2, the 5G network can include an access network (AN) and a core network (CN).

[0101] The AN is configured to implement access-related functions, to provide access for authorized users, and to determine transmission links of different qualities for transmitting user data according to levels of the users and requirements of services. The AN forwards control signals and user data between terminals and the CN. The AN can include an access network device or an access network apparatus, which can also be referred to as a radio access network (RAN) apparatus or a RAN device.

[0102] For example, the RAN can include an access network device in a future communication network, or a base station; or in the future communication network, the RAN can also have other naming manners, which are all included in the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application, and the present application does not make any limitation on this. Alternatively, the RAN can also include a gNB in a 5G (such as new radio (NR)), or one or a group (including multiple antenna panels) of antenna panels of a base station in the 5G, or can also be a network node constituting the gNB, a transmission and reception point (transmission and reception point, TRP or transmission point, TP), or a transmission measurement function (transmission measurement function, TMF), such as a building base band unit (building base band unit, BBU), or a centralized unit (centralized unit, CU) or a distributed unit (distributed unit, DU), an RSU with a base station function, or a wired access gateway, or a core network of the 5G. Alternatively, the RAN can also include an access point (access point, AP) in a wireless fidelity (wireless fidelity, Wi-Fi) system, a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, various forms of macro base stations, micro base stations (also referred to as small stations), relay stations, access points, wearable devices, or vehicle-mounted devices, and the like.

[0103] The CN is mainly responsible for maintaining the subscription information of the mobile network, providing session management, mobility management, policy management, security authentication and other functions for the terminal. The CN mainly includes all or part of the following functions (or network functions (network function, NF)): user plane function (user plane function, UPF), authentication server function (authentication server function, AUSF), access and mobility management function (access and mobility management function, AMF), session management function (session management function, SMF), network slice selection function (network slice selection function, NSSF), network exposure function (network exposure function, NEF), network repository function (network repository function, NRF), policy control function (policy control function, PCF), unified data management (unified data management, UDM), unified data repository (unified data repository, UDR), or application function (application function, AF).

[0104] It can be understood that the 5G network introduces a service based architecture (SBA), and other NFs in the CN can implement a service interface in addition to the UPF, and thus the 5G network can achieve flexible supply of services through function splitting and enhancement of service interfaces. For example, the RAN communicates with the AMF through an N2 interface (referred to as N2); the RAN communicates with the UPF through an N3 interface (referred to as N3); the SMF communicates with the UPF through an N4 interface (referred to as N4); and the UPF accesses a data network (DN) through an N6 interface (referred to as N6). In addition, the AUSF, AMF, SMF, NSSF, NEF, NRF, PCF, UDM, UDR, or AF shown in FIG. 2 interact with each other using a service interface. For example, the service interface provided by the AUSF to the outside is Nausf; the service interface provided by the AMF to the outside is Namf; the service interface provided by the SMF to the outside is Nsmf; the service interface provided by the NSSF to the outside is Nnssf; the service interface provided by the NEF to the outside is Nnef; the service interface provided by the NRF to the outside is Nnrf; the service interface provided by the PCF to the outside is Npcf; the service interface provided by the UDM to the outside is Nudm; the service interface provided by the UDR to the outside is Nudr; and the service interface provided by the AF to the outside is Naf.

[0105] It can be understood that the functions involved in the embodiments of the present application can also be expressed as entities, network elements, or functional entities, for example, the AMF can be expressed as an AMF network element, an AMF function, an AMF entity, or an AMF functional entity, and other NFs can be expressed in a similar manner. The embodiments of the present application do not limit this.

[0106] In addition, the business and the service can be mixed below, and the meanings of the two are the same when the meanings of the two are not explicitly indicated. The same is explained here, and the following will not be repeated.

[0107] It can be understood that, as shown in FIG. 1, the system can also include an application. The application can be an application program (application) deployed on a terminal or a DN side, or an application program (application) deployed on an application server (AS). For example, the application can be a location service (LCS) client running or installed on a terminal, or an over the top (OTT) client. For another example, the application can be an LCS server program running or installed on an AS, or an OTT server program.

[0108] It should be understood that, in order to enable the AS to provide the terminal with the service corresponding to the application program, a data transmission channel should be established between the terminal and the AS. For example, the terminal can establish a connection channel between the terminal and the DN in a manner of 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) access (i.e., through a mobile communication network), or in a manner of non-3GPP access (e.g., Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth, etc.), so as to enable the terminal and the AS to transmit service data.

[0109] In addition, the mobile communication network can establish a data connection session (such as a protocol data unit (PDU) session, or other sessions such as an IP connectivity access network (IP-CAN) session) for the terminal. By establishing a data connection session for the terminal, a connection channel can be established between the terminal and the DN to transmit service data.

[0110] It should be understood that, for the purpose of description, a PDU session is taken as an example for description of the method.

[0111] Second, the PDU session:

[0112] The terminal can trigger a PDU session establishment procedure by sending a PDU session establishment request. The PDU session establishment procedure mainly includes: the AMF selects a suitable SMF in response to the session establishment request of the terminal; the SMF obtains session management (SM) related subscription data (e.g., including data network name (DNN), single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI)), and policies, and then establishes an SM context; the SMF selects a suitable UPF according to the SM related subscription data and the policies; the SMF can establish a user plane (UP) connection by performing a N4 session establishment procedure or a modification procedure with the UPF; and the SMF sends an N1N2 message to the AMF, which includes information sent to the terminal (e.g., sending an IP address allocated to the terminal to the terminal through an N1 interface), and information sent to the RAN (e.g., information for triggering the RAN to perform radio resource allocation, and information for establishing an uplink).

[0113] It can be understood that after the SMF receives the response from the AMF that the RAN completes the wireless resource allocation, the SMF can update the information of the downlink to the UPF, and then establish a transmission channel between the terminal-RAN-UPF (i.e., a connection channel between the terminal and the DN).

[0114] It should be understood that in order to guarantee the quality of service (QoS) of the PDU session transmission service data, the PDU session is designed for QoS, which will be described in detail below.

[0115] Third, QoS:

[0116] For a PDU session, the QoS flow is the minimum granularity to distinguish QoS. The QoS flow can be a QoS flow supporting guaranteed bit rate (GBR) QoS, or a QoS flow supporting non-GBR QoS. A PDU session can include one or more QoS flows (e.g., 64 QoS flows). Each QoS flow has a corresponding QoS flow identifier (QoS flow ID, QFI) to distinguish different QoS flows. Traffic flows (or data flows) with the same QFI can be mapped to the same QoS flow to use the same traffic forwarding processing (such as scheduling) for processing.

[0117] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a PDU session according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 3, one PDU session can correspond to multiple radio bearers (RBs) on the air interface, such as radio bearer #1 and radio bearer #2 in FIG. 3. One radio bearer can contain one or more QoS flows, or carry one or more QoS flows. For example, radio bearer #1 can carry QoS flow #1 and QoS flow #2, and radio bearer #2 can carry QoS flow #3.

[0118] It can be understood that the characteristics of a QoS flow can be represented by some parameters, and the SMF can configure these parameters to implement pre-configuration, establishment or modification of the corresponding QoS flow. For example, for a QoS flow, these QoS parameters are included in the following rules or configurations: QoS profile on the RAN side, QoS rule on the terminal side, and N4 rule on the UPF side.

[0119] The QoS configuration on the RAN side includes uplink and / or downlink QoS configurations, which are configured by the SMF to the RAN through an N2 interface or pre-configured by the RAN. In an example, the QoS configuration can include a 5G quality identifier (5G quality identity, 5QI), assign and retain priorities (ARP), a guaranteed flow bit rate (GFBR), a maximum flow bit rate (MFBR), a maximum packet loss rate (MPLR), and a reflective QoS attribute (RQA). In addition, the 5QI, ARP, GFBR, MPLR, and RQA, etc. can be referred to the related protocols of 3GPP, which will not be described herein.

[0120] The QoS rules on the terminal side include uplink QoS rules and downlink QoS rules. The uplink QoS rules are mainly used for the terminal to perform classification and marking of uplink data packets, for example, to associate the uplink data packets to the corresponding QoS flows according to the uplink QoS rules. For example, the uplink QoS rules can include the QFI of the QoS flow associated with the uplink QoS rules and a packet filter set corresponding to the QoS flow.

[0121] In addition, the QoS rules on the terminal side can be configured by the SMF to the terminal through an N1 interface or derived by the terminal through a reflective QoS mechanism, such as configuring downlink QoS rules, and the terminal derives uplink QoS rules according to the downlink QoS rules. In addition, one QoS flow can have multiple QoS rules. Each PDU session is configured with a default QoS rule, and the default QoS rule is associated with a QoS flow.

[0122] The N4 rules on the UPF side include packet detection rules (PDRs) and QoS parameters corresponding to the PDRs. The PDRs can include uplink PDRs and downlink PDRs. The downlink PDRs are used for the UPF to perform classification and marking of downlink data packets. For example, the UPF associates the downlink data packets to the corresponding QoS flows according to the downlink PDRs. In addition, the uplink PDRs and the downlink PDRs are both configured by the SMF to the UPF through an N4 interface.

[0123] It should be understood that similar to the uplink QoS rules, the downlink PDRs can include a QFI of a QoS flow associated with the downlink PDRs, and a set of packet filters corresponding to the QoS flow. The set of packet filters corresponding to the QoS flow can be used to determine whether a received or to-be-sent packet is associated with the QFI of the QoS flow. For example, a data flow is an IP flow at an IP layer, and an IP flow can be generally identified by a three-tuple (e.g., including a source IP address, a destination IP address, and a transport layer protocol). If information (e.g., including a source IP address) of an IP flow used to detect a packet in the set of packet filters matches a three-tuple of the to-be-sent packet, the terminal or the UPF can determine that the QFI of the QoS flow associated with the packet is the QFI of the QoS flow corresponding to the set of packet filters. It should be understood that the flow information used to identify the IP flow can also be a four-tuple or a five-tuple, which is not limited herein.

[0124] In addition, the four-tuple or the five-tuple adds a port number relative to the three-tuple. The port number is used to identify different services or applications.

[0125] It should be understood that if a packet does not match any QoS rule, the terminal discards the packet. Similarly, if a packet does not match any PDR, the UPF discards the packet.

[0126] It should be understood that the uplink PDRs can be used to verify the QoS flow mapping, for example, to verify whether the QFI of the QoS flow associated with an uplink packet by the terminal using the uplink QoS rules is consistent with the QFI associated with the downlink PDRs. In addition, the downlink QoS rules can also be used to verify whether the QFI of the QoS flow associated with a downlink packet by the UPF using the downlink PDRs is consistent with the QFI associated with the uplink QoS rules, which is not described herein again.

[0127] It should be understood that the mapping relationship between the QoS flow and the data flow (e.g., an IP flow) on the service can be achieved by a mapping mechanism. The data flow on the service is defined in a (policy control and charging, PCC) rule by a service data flow (SDF) model. The mapping mechanism includes the following steps:

[0128] Step 1, session mapping, that is, one-to-one correspondence between an AF session and a PDU session.

[0129] It can be understood that the session between the AF and the NEF can be an AF session with required QoS, through which the QoS requirement corresponding to the service attempted to be accessed by the terminal can be sent to the PCF in the corresponding PDU session. For example, the AF can send an AF session with QoS generation request message to the NEF (such as by invoking the Nnef_AFsessionWithQoS_Create request service operation provided by the NEF to send the AF session with QoS generation request message to the NEF), the NEF authenticates in response to the request message, and after the authentication is passed, sends the information in the request message to the corresponding PCF (the PCF serving the PDU session corresponding to the AF session), and the PCF generates the PCC rule according to the information in the request message.

[0130] For example, the AF session with QoS generation request message includes: the address of the terminal, the identifier of the AF (such as the AF identifier (AF ID)), the flow description, the QoS information of the server-associated data flow, the DNN, and the S-NSSAI. The server-associated data flow includes: the data flow sent by the server, and / or the data flow sent to the server.

[0131] Optionally, the AF session with QoS generation request message can also include: a protocol description, the protocol description being used to indicate the transmission protocol used by the flow (such as the data flow) associated with the flow description, for example, the quick user datagram protocol internet connection (QUIC). In addition, the flow description information, the QoS requirement, and / or the protocol description contained in the above-mentioned AF session generation request message can be configured by the AS corresponding to the service attempted to be accessed by the terminal to the AF.

[0132] Step 2, PCC rule authorization, that is, the PCF authorizes the PCC rule and allocates the QoS parameter.

[0133] It can be understood that the PCF can generate the PCC rule according to the flow description information in step 1, the QoS information of the server-associated data flow, and the protocol description. For example, the PCC rule includes an SDF template, a QoS parameter, and / or the protocol description in step 1, etc. The SDF template is determined according to the flow description information in step 1. For example, the flow description information in step 1 includes the IP address of the AS, and the service data flow module includes the IP address of the AS. The QoS parameter is generated according to the QoS information of the server-associated data flow in step 1.

[0134] In addition, the above PCC rule can be sent by the PCF to the SMF in the SMC policy association modification procedure of the PDU session.

[0135] Step 3, QoS flow mapping, i.e. the association of the PCC rule with the QoS flow in the PDU session. For example, the QoS flow mapping is performed using the following mapping parameters: 5QI, ARP, QoS notification control (QNC) (if available in the PCC rule), priority (if available in the PCC rule), average window (if available in the PCC rule), and maximum data burst volume (MDBV) (if available in the PCC rule).

[0136] For example, when the PCF provides the PCC rule, the SMF can determine whether there is a QoS flow whose QoS parameter is the same as the mapping parameter in the above step 3. If there is no such QoS flow, the SMF determines a new QoS parameter using the parameter in the PCC rule, and establishes a new QoS flow according to the new QoS parameter. At this time, the PCC rule is mapped to the new QoS flow. If there is a QoS flow whose QoS parameter is the same as the mapping parameter, the SMF maps the PCC rule to the existing QoS flow. In addition, if the PCF requests to map the PCC rule to the QoS flow associated with the default QoS rule, the SMF can not perform the above determination.

[0137] It can be understood that the SMF generates corresponding PDR and QoS rules according to the PCC rule. The PDR can be sent by the SMF to the UPF in the N4 session establishment / modification procedure. The QoS rule can be sent by the SMF to the terminal through the N1N2 message.

[0138] It should be understood that the packet filter set in the above PDR and QoS rules is determined according to the SDF template. In addition, the above PDR and QoS rules also include the protocol description in the PCC rule.

[0139] In addition, "mapping" is only an exemplary description, which can also be replaced by any other possible description such as "binding", "corresponding", etc., and no specific limitation is made.

[0140] Fourth, the media over QUIC (MoQ) protocol:

[0141] For media services such as XR, the MoQ protocol can be used for transmission. The MoQ protocol can provide end-to-end encryption support and relay support, thereby realizing large-scale secure transmission.

[0142] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of the MoQ protocol according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 4, the architecture includes a client, a MoQ relay entity, and a server. After the client and the MoQ relay entity establish a MoQ connection, and the MoQ relay entity and the server establish a MoQ connection, a data transmission channel between the client and the server is successfully established. For example, for downlink services, the server can send data packets to the MoQ relay entity, and the MoQ relay entity forwards the data packets to the client according to the metadata of the objects in object granularity. For example, for downlink video playback services, the object can be a video frame (e.g., 60 frames per second (FPS), i.e., one frame is generated every 16.67 milliseconds (ms)), and the metadata can include the sequence number, priority, and other information of the video frame. Similarly, for uplink services, the client can send data packets to the MoQ relay entity, and the MoQ relay entity forwards the data packets to the server according to the metadata of the objects in object granularity.

[0143] In addition, in the process of establishing the MoQ connection between the client and the MoQ relay entity, the port number used for accessing services and the MoQ connection context information (e.g., including security key information) can be configured through the fast handshake feature of the QUIC protocol. Similarly, the MoQ relay entity and the server can also configure the port number and the MoQ connection context when establishing the MoQ connection.

[0144] It should be understood that, in order to establish the MoQ connection, the party initiating the MoQ connection should first obtain the IP address of the opposite side. For example, the client initiating the MoQ connection should first obtain the IP address of the MoQ relay entity. For another example, the MoQ relay entity initiating the MoQ connection to the server should first obtain the IP address of the server.

[0145] It can be understood that the data flow between the client and the server is actually two segments: the data flow between the client and the MoQ relay entity, and the data flow between the MoQ relay entity and the server, that is, the MoQ relay entity is the terminal point of the data flow transmission between the client and the server. That is, in the scenario of MoQ relay transmission, the UPF is actually responsible for the transmission of the data flow between the MoQ relay entity and the UE.

[0146] According to the above description of the MoQ relay transmission, there are the following two problems.

[0147] Problem 1: According to the above description of the mapping relationship between the flow description information and the PDR in steps 1-3, the UPF actually transmits the data flow between the MoQ relay entity and the UE, and the QoS parameter in the PDR is the QoS parameter of the data flow sent by the AS. According to the PDR, the QoS parameter cannot be associated with the data flow between the MoQ relay entity and the UE, so the QoS requirement of the data flow sent through the connection between the MoQ relay entity and the UE cannot be guaranteed.

[0148] Problem 2: In the scenario of supporting transmission of service data through the MoQ relay entity between the UE and the AS, the related art does not consider that the AF obtains the address of the MoQ relay entity from an entity within the CN.

[0149] The following takes the client as the UE, the server as the AS, and the relay entity as the MoQ relay entity as an example, and describes problem 1 in combination with FIG. 5.

[0150] For problem 1:

[0151] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of data flow transmission between a UE, a UPF, a MoQ relay entity, and an AS according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 5, in the downlink direction, the AS sends a data flow #1 to the MoQ relay entity. Correspondingly, after receiving the data flow #1, the MoQ relay entity performs forwarding processing on the data flow #1 according to the four-tuple of the data flow #1 and the MoQ protocol, and sends a data flow #2 to the UE. It can be understood that the MoQ relay entity sends the data flow #2 to the UE through the UPF for forwarding processing. In other words, the data flow #2 sent by the MoQ relay entity to the UE passes through the UPF, and the UPF can determine that the data flow #2 is sent to the UE according to the four-tuple of the data flow #2.

[0152] It should be understood that the four-tuple of the above data stream #1 is [source IP address (i.e. the IP address of the AS), source port number (i.e. port #1 of the AS), destination IP address (i.e. the IP address of the MoQ relay entity), destination port number (i.e. port #1 of the MoQ relay entity)]. The four-tuple of the data stream #2 is [source IP address (i.e. the IP address of the MoQ relay entity), source port number (i.e. port #1 of the MoQ relay entity), destination IP address (i.e. the IP address of the UE), destination port number (i.e. port #1 of the UE)].

[0153] That is, for the AS, the AS sends the data stream #1, i.e. the data stream from the AS to the MoQ relay entity. For the UPF, the UPF actually processes the data stream #2, i.e. the data stream from the MoQ relay entity to the UE.

[0154] In addition, according to the above description of steps 1-3 about the AS issuing the QoS requirement to generate the PDR, the PDR rule at the UPF is determined according to the flow description information provided by the AS, and the flow description information provided by the AS is for the data stream sent by the AS. In other words, the QoS parameters corresponding to the set of packet filters included in the PDR are the QoS parameters of the data stream from the AS to the MoQ relay entity.

[0155] However, the UPF actually processes the data stream from the MoQ relay entity to the UE, which does not match the set of packet filters in the above PDR, so the QoS processing cannot be performed on the data stream from the MoQ relay entity to the UE, i.e. the QoS requirement of the data stream from the MoQ relay entity to the UE cannot be guaranteed.

[0156] For problem 2:

[0157] It should be understood that the current scenario of supporting MoQ relay transmission of service data between the UE and the AS does not consider the problem of the AF obtaining the address of the MoQ relay entity. It can be understood that the AF obtaining the IP address of the relay entity can be used to guarantee the QoS requirement between the MoQ relay entity and the UE. For example, in the case where the AS does not establish the first connection with the MoQ relay entity, the AF can obtain the IP address of the MoQ relay entity, and carry the IP address and / or indication information of the MoQ relay entity in the AF session generation request message with QoS sent by the AF to indicate that the data stream sent by the AS is forwarded through the MoQ relay entity, so as to facilitate the generation of the QoS parameter of the data stream transmitted through the second connection between the MoQ relay entity and the UE. For the above problem, the embodiments of the present application provide the following technical solutions. The technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0158] For the convenience of understanding the embodiments of the present application, first, the network architecture applicable to the embodiments of the present application is described in detail taking the communication system shown in FIG. 6 as an example. It should be understood that the network architecture and service scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are for more clearly illustrating the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application. Those skilled in the art can know that the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems as the network architecture evolves and new service scenarios appear.

[0159] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of architecture of a system provided by the embodiments of the present application. As shown in FIG. 6, the main difference between the architecture shown in FIG. 6 and the architecture shown in FIG. 2 is that the user plane entity (for example, UPF) supports a relay function, and the architecture shown in FIG. 6 further includes a relay entity used for forwarding data between a terminal (for example, UE) and a server (for example, AS). The user plane entity supporting the relay function can be understood as that the user plane entity supports forwarding data between the terminal and the server through the relay entity, or the user plane entity supports transmitting data between the terminal and the server through the relay entity.

[0160] In addition, the relay entity is used for forwarding data between the terminal and the server, which can also be understood as that the relay entity is used for transmitting data between the terminal and the server.

[0161] It can be understood that the user plane entity and the relay entity can be deployed in the same device or system environment, or the relay entity is deployed in the user plane entity, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0162] It should be understood that the user plane entity and the relay entity can also be deployed separately, and the user plane entity can interact with the relay entity through an interface to obtain the connection conditions between the relay entity and the terminal and the server, respectively. For example, after the terminal establishes a connection with the relay entity, the user plane entity can obtain the connection information between the terminal and the relay entity, such as the port number negotiated between the terminal and the relay entity. For another example, in the case that the relay entity establishes a connection with the server, the user plane entity can obtain the port number negotiated between the relay entity and the server.

[0163] For problem 1, the system shown in FIG. 6 provides the following two solutions:

[0164] Solution 1: The user plane entity obtains a rule corresponding to the terminal, the rule including first flow information of a data stream sent by the server and a first QoS parameter corresponding to the first flow information; the user plane entity determines that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity; and the user plane entity determines a second QoS parameter according to the first QoS parameter corresponding to the first flow information. The second QoS parameter is used for transmitting the data stream through a second connection between the relay entity and the terminal.

[0165] That is, in a case where the user plane entity determines that the server-sent data stream passes through the relay entity, the user plane entity can determine, according to the first QoS parameter of the server-sent data stream included in the rule corresponding to the terminal, the second QoS parameter corresponding to the data stream (i.e., the server-sent data stream) sent to the terminal through the second connection between the relay entity and the terminal, and then the user plane entity can perform QoS processing on the data stream between the relay entity and the terminal according to the second QoS parameter, so as to guarantee the QoS requirement of sending the data stream through the connection between the relay entity and the terminal.

[0166] For example, the QoS processing of the user plane entity on the data stream between the relay entity and the terminal includes: the user plane entity performs QFI binding processing on the second data packet (the destination address of the second data packet is the terminal) received on the second connection using the QFI of the QoS flow corresponding to the second QoS parameter to obtain a third data packet, and sends the third data packet to the service access network device of the terminal.

[0167] Option 2, the network entity receives first information, the first information includes flow information of a server-associated data stream, and indication information used for indicating a transmission protocol used by the server-associated data stream; in a case where it is determined according to the indication information that the transmission protocol is a protocol supporting relay transmission, the network entity replaces the information of the server in the flow information with information of a relay entity to obtain a rule corresponding to a terminal. The relay entity is used for forwarding data between the terminal and the server.

[0168] That is, in a case where the network entity determines, according to the indication information in the first information, that the transmission protocol used by the server-sent data stream supports relay transmission, the network entity generates a rule corresponding to a terminal by replacing the information of the server in the flow information with information of a relay entity, and then can transform the control parameter (for example, including a QoS parameter, a policy parameter, or a charging parameter, etc.) of the data stream between the server and the relay entity into the control parameter of the data stream between the relay entity and the terminal, so as to guarantee the control requirement (for example, a QoS requirement, a policy requirement, or a charging requirement, etc.) of the data stream between the relay entity and the terminal.

[0169] For problem 2, the system shown in FIG. 6 provides the following solution:

[0170] Scheme 3, the network exposure entity receives a first request from the application entity, the first request is used to request to obtain address information of a relay entity providing relay service for the terminal; the network exposure entity performs a process of obtaining the address information of the relay entity according to the first request, and obtains the address information of the relay entity; the network exposure entity sends a response of the first request to the application entity, and the response of the first request includes the address information of the relay entity. That is, the network exposure entity can obtain the address information of the relay entity providing relay service for the terminal in response to the first request of the application entity, and feed back to the application entity, so that the application entity can obtain the address information of the relay entity providing relay service for the terminal.

[0171] The interaction process between the network elements / devices in the system shown in FIG. 6 will be specifically introduced below by combining FIGS. 7-17. The communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application can be applied to the above system and specifically applied to various scenarios / processes mentioned in the above system.

[0172] It should be understood that the names of messages or data between various devices or apparatuses or network elements, parameters in the messages or data, or the names of information carried by the messages or data in the following embodiments of the present application are only examples, and other names can also be used in specific implementation, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0173] In addition, the network entities in the mobile communication network (for example, user plane entities, session management entities, or policy management entities in the core network) are taken as examples for illustration of the execution subject of the interaction diagram in the embodiments of the present application, but the embodiments of the present application are not limited to the execution subject of the interaction diagram. For example, the method executed by the network entity in the embodiments of the present application can also be implemented by a module (for example, a circuit, a chip or a chip system, etc.) in the network entity, or a logic node, a logic module or software capable of realizing all or part of the functions of the network entity.

[0174] In addition, for the sake of brevity, the mobile communication network is used for brief description in the following, and the meanings of the two are the same when they are not emphasized to be different, which are uniformly described here, and will not be described again below.

[0175] It should also be understood that, in order to facilitate the understanding of the above schemes provided by the system shown in FIG. 6, the PDU session of the terminal, the second connection between the terminal and the relay entity, the first connection between the relay entity and the server, and the QoS requirement of the server involved in the above schemes 1-3 are first described.

[0176] A, the PDU session of the terminal supports forwarding data between the terminal and the server through the relay entity.

[0177] It should be understood that the PDU session of the terminal supports forwarding data between the terminal and the server through the relay entity, which can be understood as: the user plane entity in the PDU session of the terminal supports forwarding data between the terminal and the server through the relay entity.

[0178] In addition, in the PDU session, selecting the user plane entity supporting forwarding data between the terminal and the server through the relay entity can include various implementation manners, which are exemplarily illustrated below in implementation manners 1 and 2.

[0179] Implementation manner 1: The subscription data (for example, DNN and / or S-NSSAI) of the terminal indicates which network uses the relay transmission to which the terminal subscribes, and then in the establishment process of the PDU session, the session management entity can select the user plane entity supporting the relay entity according to the subscription data of the terminal.

[0180] In addition, in the implementation manner 1, the session management entity can send the address information of the relay entity, for example, the IP address of the relay entity, to the terminal through the N1N2 message. In this scenario, since the terminal can perceive the relay entity, the terminal can perceive that the service data between the terminal and the server is forwarded through the relay entity.

[0181] Implementation manner 2: The session management entity is configured with a list of full qualified domain names (FQDNs) using the relay for transmission, and then in the process of the terminal requesting to obtain the IP address of the server, the session management entity can determine whether the transmission needs to pass through the relay entity according to the FQDN requested by the terminal, so as to insert the user plane entity supporting forwarding data between the terminal and the server through the relay entity for the PDU session in the case of determining that the FQDN needs to pass through the relay entity for transmission.

[0182] For example, the terminal can access a service on an application to obtain a uniform resource locator (URL), and then the terminal can send a DNS query to a domain name system (DNS) server according to a full qualified domain name (FQDN) in the URL to obtain an IP address of a server corresponding to the URL. The terminal sends the DNS query to the DNS server through an edge application service discovery function (EASDF). The EASDF can match according to a DNS message template to send the FQDN requested by the terminal for query to a session management entity, and then the session management entity can determine whether the FQDN requested by the terminal for query needs to be relayed according to a preconfigured list of FQDNs for which relay transmission is used. If the FQDN requested by the terminal for query needs to use relay transmission, the session management entity inserts a user plane entity supporting forwarding of data between the terminal and the server through a relay entity into a PDU session.

[0183] In addition, after inserting the user plane entity supporting the relay entity, the session management entity can obtain an IP address of the relay entity from the user plane entity and send the IP address of the relay entity to the EASDF, and then the EASDF sends a response to the DNS query to the terminal, including the IP address of the relay entity.

[0184] It should be understood that in mode 2, the FQDN actually queried by the terminal through the DNS query corresponds to an IP address of a server, but the DNS server feedback is not the IP address of the server, but the IP address of the relay entity, and then the IP address of the server corresponding to the FQDN in the terminal is the IP address of the relay entity, that is, the terminal does not perceive that the service data between the terminal and the server is forwarded through the relay entity.

[0185] B, a second connection between the terminal and the relay entity.

[0186] It should be understood that the establishment of the second connection between the terminal and the relay entity can be that the terminal initiates a connection establishment process with the relay entity.

[0187] For example, in implementation mode 1, after the terminal receives the address information of the relay entity from the session management entity, the terminal can initiate a connection establishment process with the relay entity. For another example, in implementation mode 2, after the terminal obtains the address information of the relay entity by querying the FQDN, the terminal can initiate a connection establishment process with the relay entity.

[0188] It can be understood that the relay entity can also actively initiate the connection establishment procedure with the terminal, for example, the relay entity can obtain the address information (such as IP address) of the terminal from the user plane entity, and then the user plane entity can actively initiate the establishment procedure with the relay entity, and the embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitation.

[0189] C. First connection of the relay entity to the server.

[0190] It should be understood that the establishment of the first connection between the relay entity and the server can be that the relay entity actively initiates the connection establishment procedure with the server.

[0191] For example, in mode 2, after the terminal obtains the address information (i.e. the address information of the relay entity) corresponding to the FQDN in the URL according to the DNS query, the terminal establishes a connection with the relay entity according to the address information of the relay entity, and after the connection is established, the terminal sends a service request to the relay entity based on the URL to request the service data corresponding to the URL. In this scenario, the relay entity can obtain the IP address of the server according to the URL (for example, by querying the IP address of the server through the DNS server); in addition, the terminal can also send a subscription message to the relay entity after the connection between the terminal and the relay entity is established, and the subscription message contains the track information (such as track name) defined by the terminal, such as audio track or video track. In this scenario, the relay entity can obtain the address of the server according to the audio track or video track information (for example, the relay can realize the correspondence between the preconfigured audio track or video track (track) information and the address of the server), and then the relay entity establishes a connection with the server according to the address of the server, so that the service request can be sent to the server. Correspondingly, the server can send the service data to the relay entity in response to the service request, and the relay entity forwards the service data to the terminal.

[0192] It can be understood that the server can also actively initiate the connection establishment procedure with the relay entity. For example, in the case where the server is preconfigured to provide services using a transmission protocol supporting relay transmission, or it is determined through negotiation with the terminal to use a transmission protocol supporting relay transmission to transmit service data, the server can also obtain the address information of the relay entity (for example, in the implementation mode 1, the terminal sends the address information of the relay entity to the server after obtaining it), and then actively initiates the connection establishment procedure with the relay entity.

[0193] D. QoS requirement of the data flow associated with the server.

[0194] It can be understood that, as the relevant description of the aforementioned step 1, in the establishment process of the application entity (e.g., AF) session with QoS requirement, the AF can obtain the QoS requirement of the server-associated data stream, which can include: the stream description information of the server-associated data stream, the protocol description of the transmission protocol used by the data stream, and the QoS information of the data stream. For example, the stream description information of the server-associated data stream includes the IP address of the server. For another example, the transmission protocol indicated by the protocol description is a transmission protocol supporting relaying, such as the MoQ protocol.

[0195] It should be understood that, in this application, the data stream sent by the server can be understood as: the data stream sent by the server to the relay entity, or the data stream sent by the server to the relay entity and then sent by the relay entity to the terminal.

[0196] In addition, the application entity can obtain the QoS requirement of the server-associated data stream before or after the establishment of the first connection between the relay entity and the server, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0197] That is, before the establishment of the first connection between the relay entity and the server, the stream description information of the data stream sent by the server obtained by the application entity can include the address information of the server, such as the IP address of the server. Alternatively, the stream description information can also include the port number of the server.

[0198] It can be understood that, after the establishment of the first connection between the relay entity and the server, the server determines to transmit the service data through the relay entity, and then the QoS requirement sent by the server to the application entity can carry the related information of the relay entity. For example, the stream description information of the data stream sent by the server can also include the address information of the relay entity. For example, the address information of the relay entity can include the IP address of the relay entity. Alternatively, the stream description information can also include the port number of the relay entity.

[0199] It can be understood that, before the establishment of the first connection between the relay entity and the server, the transmission protocol supporting relaying transmission indicated by the protocol description in the QoS requirement can include the following cases:

[0200] Case 1: The server is pre-configured to provide services using a transmission protocol supporting relaying transmission;

[0201] Case 2: The server and the terminal negotiate in advance that the service data between the server and the terminal is transmitted by a transmission protocol supporting relaying transmission before transmitting the service data;

[0202] Case 3, the terminal is pre-configured to use the relay transmission. For example, as described above in the related description of the implementation manner 1, the subscription data (e.g., DNN and / or S-NSSAI) of the terminal indicates that the terminal subscribes to the network using the relay transmission protocol, the server or application entity can determine from the network which terminals support the relay transmission, and then the protocol description in the QoS requirement indicates that the transmission protocol supports the relay transmission.

[0203] It should be understood that the above is only an example, and the actual configuration of the server and the network depends on the actual configuration of the server and the network, and the embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations.

[0204] In addition, the QoS requirement of the data flow associated with the server described above also includes the address of the terminal, such as the IP address of the terminal. It can be understood that, as described above in the related description of the implementation manner 2, the terminal can log in an account on the application program, and after the login is successful, the terminal can obtain a URL (such as a video URL) from the application program, and then the server can obtain the IP address used by the terminal when logging in.

[0205] The following describes scheme 1.

[0206] For ease of understanding, first, scheme 1 is described by way of example of the method flow shown in FIG. 7, and then scheme 1 is described in detail based on the method flow shown in FIG. 9.

[0207] FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 7, FIG. 7 illustrates scheme 1 by taking a terminal as UE, a user plane entity as UPF, a relay entity as MoQ relay entity, a session management entity as SMF, a policy management entity as PCF, a network exposure entity as NEF, an application entity as AF, and a server as AS.

[0208] As shown in FIG. 7, the method includes steps S701-S709.

[0209] S701, establishing a PDU session.

[0210] The PDU session supports forwarding data between the UE and the AS through the MoQ relay entity.

[0211] S702, the UE establishes a second connection with the MoQ relay entity.

[0212] It can be understood that the UE establishes a second connection with the MoQ relay entity, and details can be referred to the related description in the implementation manner 2 described above, which will not be described here.

[0213] S703, the MoQ relay entity establishes a first connection with the AS.

[0214] It can be understood that the MoQ relay entity establishes a first connection with the AS, and details can be referred to the related description in the foregoing implementation manner 2, which will not be described here.

[0215] In addition, step S703 can be performed before or after step S702, or simultaneously, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0216] S704, the AF sends an AF session generation request message with QoS to the NEF. Correspondingly, the NEF receives the AF session generation request message with QoS from the AF.

[0217] It can be understood that according to the related description of the foregoing step 1, the AF session generation request message with QoS includes the QoS requirement of the AS. For example, the AF session generation request message with QoS requirement includes the flow description information of the data flow sent by the AS, the protocol description, and / or the QoS information of the data flow sent by the server. The flow description of the data flow sent by the AS includes the IP address of the AS. The protocol description indicates the MoQ protocol.

[0218] In addition, the AF session request message with QoS requirement also includes the address of the UE, the ID of the AF, etc., so as to facilitate the NEF to perform authentication and determine which PDU session of the terminal the AF session corresponds to.

[0219] It can be understood that the flow description information of the data flow sent by the AS, the protocol description, and the QoS information of the data flow sent by the server in step S704 can be referred to the related description in the foregoing “D, QoS requirement of the data flow associated with the server”, which will not be described here.

[0220] In addition, the AF can generate the QoS requirement of the AS according to the preconfigured information of the AS (for example, supporting the MoQ protocol, for example, which can be referred to the related description of case 1), or obtain the QoS requirement of the AS from the AS (for example, which can be referred to the related description of case 2 and case 3).

[0221] It can be understood that the NEF corresponds the AF session to the PDU session associated with the address of the UE in the case that the AF session request message with QoS requirement is authenticated, and sends a policy authorization request message to the PCF serving the UE.

[0222] S705, the NEF sends a policy authorization request message to the PCF. Correspondingly, the PCF receives the policy authorization request message from the NEF. The policy authorization request message includes the flow description information of the data flow sent by the AS, the protocol description, and the QoS information of the data flow sent by the server in step S705.

[0223] For example, the NEF can send a policy authorization request message through a policy authorization request (e.g., NpcfPolicyAuthorization_request) service operation provided by the PCF. The PCF can generate a PCC rule according to the policy authorization request message, and a SDF template in the PCC rule is determined according to the flow description information of the data stream sent by the AS. For example, the SDF template includes the same content as the flow description information of the data stream sent by the AS in the foregoing step S702. In addition, the PCC rule further includes a protocol description and a QoS parameter corresponding to the QoS information of the data stream sent by the server.

[0224] S706, the PCF sends the PCC rule to the SMF. Correspondingly, the SMF receives the PCC rule from the PCF.

[0225] It can be understood that the SMF can generate a user plane control rule according to the PCC rule. The user plane control rule includes data packet detection information and a QoS parameter corresponding to the data packet detection information. For example, the user plane control rule can include a PDR and a QoS parameter corresponding to the PDR (or referred to as a QoS parameter corresponding to a data packet filter set), and the PDR can include a data packet filter set and a protocol description. In addition, the data packet filter set can include the related information of the SDF template in the foregoing step S705, i.e., the flow description information of the data stream sent by the AS, such as the IP address of the AS.

[0226] S707, the SMF sends the user plane control rule to the UPF. Correspondingly, the UPF receives the user plane control rule from the SMF.

[0227] S708, in the case where the transmission protocol indicated by the protocol description is the MoQ protocol, the UPF determines that the data stream sent by the AS passes through the MoQ relay entity.

[0228] It can be understood that the data stream sent by the AS passing through the MoQ relay entity can mean that the data stream sent by the AS is transmitted through a first connection between the AS and the MoQ relay entity.

[0229] It can be understood that since the UPF supports forwarding data between the UE and the AS through the MoQ relay entity, the UPF can determine that the data stream sent by the AS is transmitted through a connection between the MoQ relay entity and the UE, so that the UPF can maintain the relationship between the data stream between the AS and the MoQ relay entity and the data stream between the MoQ relay entity and the UE.

[0230] For example, assuming that only one MoQ connection is established between the UE and the MoQ relay entity for transmitting the service data provided by the AS, the flow description information of the data stream sent by the AS (i.e., the first data stream) is: [IP address of the AS, IP address of the MoQ relay entity, MoQ protocol], and the flow description information of the data stream sent by the MoQ relay entity to the UE (i.e., the second data stream) is: [IP address of the MoQ relay entity, IP address of the UE, MoQ protocol].

[0231] For another example, assuming that two MoQ connections are established between the UE and the MoQ relay entity for serving the first service provided by AS#1 (assuming that AS#1 is the AS in FIG. 7) and the second service provided by AS#2, as shown in FIG. 8, the second data streams between the UE and the MoQ relay entity include two second data streams, i.e., the second data stream #1 and the second data stream #2. The second data stream #1 corresponds to the first data stream (i.e., the data stream sent by AS#1 to the MoQ relay entity in FIG. 8). The second data stream #2 corresponds to the third data stream (i.e., the data stream sent by AS#2 to the MoQ relay entity in FIG. 8).

[0232] In addition, the second data stream #1 can be understood as: transmitting the data stream sent by AS#1 (i.e., transmitting the first data stream) through the second connection between the MoQ relay entity and the UE. Similarly, the above-mentioned second data stream #2 can be understood as: transmitting the data stream sent by AS#2 (i.e., transmitting the third data stream) through the second connection between the MoQ relay entity and the UE.

[0233] As shown in FIG. 8, the MoQ relay entity can maintain the corresponding relationship between the above-mentioned several data streams. For example, for the first data stream corresponding to the second data stream #1, the corresponding relationship between the first data stream and the second data stream #1 can be maintained by establishing the corresponding relationship between the flow description information of the two.

[0234] For example, the flow description information of the second data stream #1 is: [IP address of the MoQ relay entity, port number #1 of the MoQ, IP address of the UE, port number #1 of the UE]. The flow description information of the first data stream is: [IP address of AS#1, port number #1 of AS#1, IP address of the MoQ relay entity, port number #1 of the MoQ].

[0235] Similarly, the flow description information of the second data stream #2 is: [IP address of the MoQ relay entity, port number #2 of the MoQ, IP address of the UE, port number #2 of the UE]. The flow description information of the third data stream is: [IP address of AS#2, port number #1 of AS#2, IP address of the MoQ relay entity, port number #2 of the MoQ].

[0236] S709, the UPF determines a second QoS parameter according to the first QoS parameter corresponding to the set of packet filters. The second QoS parameter is used for transmitting the data stream sent by the AS to the UE through the second connection between the MoQ relay entity and the UE.

[0237] It can be understood that the UPF determining the second QoS parameter corresponding to the data stream sent by the AS to the UE through the second connection between the MoQ relay entity and the UE according to the first QoS parameter corresponding to the set of packet filters can mean that the first QoS parameter corresponding to the set of packet filters is the same as the QoS parameter corresponding to the data stream sent by the AS through the second connection, or can mean that the QoS parameters of the two can be mapped to the same QoS flow or QFI.

[0238] In addition, the set of packet filters can be understood as the first flow information of the data stream sent by the AS. Similarly, the first QoS parameter corresponding to the set of packet filters can be understood as the first QoS parameter corresponding to the first flow information.

[0239] That is, the UPF determines the second QoS parameter corresponding to the data stream sent by the AS through the second connection between the MoQ relay entity and the UE according to the first QoS parameter corresponding to the first flow information, and then the UPF can perform QoS processing on the data stream between the UE and the MoQ relay entity according to the second QoS parameter, so as to guarantee the QoS requirement of the data stream sent through the connection between the UE and the MoQ relay entity.

[0240] For example, as shown in FIG. 8, assuming that the set of packet filters in the PDR matches the first data stream, the UPF can determine the QoS parameter of the second data stream #1 according to the QoS parameter corresponding to the set of packet filters, and then perform QoS processing on the second data stream #1. It can be understood that, as previously described in relation to FIG. 8, the MoQ relay entity can maintain a correspondence relationship between the first data stream and the second data stream #1, and then according to the first flow information of the data stream sent by the server and the above-mentioned correspondence relationship, it can be determined that the first data stream corresponds to the second data stream #1.

[0241] In addition, the QoS processing on the second data stream #1, for example, includes:

[0242] The UPF processes the data packet (or referred to as IP packet) corresponding to the second data stream #1 using the QFI corresponding to the QoS parameter of the second data stream #1, to obtain a data packet bound with the QFI, and then sends the data packet bound with the QFI to the serving RAN of the UE through a tunnel. For example, the UPF can use a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol for user data (GTP-U) protocol to encapsulate a GTP-U header including the QFI on the data packet corresponding to the second data stream #1, to obtain a GTP-U data packet, and send the GTP-U data packet to the serving RAN of the UE. Here, the data packet bound with the QFI can also be referred to as a data packet carrying the QFI.

[0243] Similarly, as shown in FIG. 8, assuming that the data packet filter set in the PDR matches the third data stream, the UPF can determine the second QoS parameter corresponding to the second data stream #2 according to the first QoS parameter corresponding to the data packet filter set, and then perform QoS processing on the second data stream #2. For details, refer to the above QoS processing process of the data packet corresponding to the second data stream #1, which will not be described here.

[0244] In addition, as previously described in relation to FIG. 8, the MoQ relay entity can maintain a correspondence relationship between the third data stream and the second data stream #1, and then determine that the third data stream corresponds to the second data stream #1 according to the first flow information of the server sending the data stream and the above correspondence relationship.

[0245] It should be understood that the method flow shown in FIG. 7 above is for the QoS processing process of the user plane entity side on the downlink data packet. Considering that the UE can determine to transmit service data through the MoQ relay entity (for example, in the implementation manner 1, the terminal obtains the address information of the relay entity in the PDU session establishment process), the UE can also use the above-mentioned manner shown in FIG. 7 to perform QoS processing on the uplink data packet.

[0246] For example, in the downlink PDR, the packet filter set includes a source address as an IP address of the AS. In the uplink QoS rule, the packet filter set includes a destination address as the IP address of the AS. In addition, the SMF can send a protocol description (i.e., indicating a transmission protocol used by the data flow sent to the AS) associated with the uplink QoS rule to the UE, and then the UE determines the MoQ protocol according to the protocol description, determines that the data flow sent to the AS passes through the MoQ relay entity, and determines the fourth QoS parameter according to the third QoS parameter corresponding to the packet filter set in the uplink QoS rule. The fourth QoS parameter is used to transmit the data flow sent to the AS to the MoQ relay entity through the second connection between the UE and the MoQ relay entity.

[0247] In addition, as described in the foregoing “D, QoS requirement of data flow associated with the server”, in the case where the MoQ relay entity establishes the MoQ connection (i.e., the first connection) with the AS, the flow description information of the data flow sent by the AS further includes address information of the MoQ relay entity. In other words, the packet filter set in the uplink QoS rule can detect the data flow sent by the MoQ relay entity to the AS, and then the UE can determine that the data flow sent to the AS passes through the MoQ relay entity, so that the UE can determine the fourth QoS parameter according to the third QoS parameter corresponding to the packet filter set in the uplink QoS rule. The fourth QoS parameter is used to transmit the data flow sent to the AS through the second connection between the UE and the MoQ relay entity.

[0248] That is, in the case where the UE determines that the data flow sent to the AS passes through the relay entity, the UE can determine the fourth QoS parameter corresponding to the transmission of the data flow sent to the AS through the second connection between the UE and the MoQ relay entity according to the third QoS parameter corresponding to the packet filter set included in the uplink QoS rule, and then guarantee the QoS requirement corresponding to the transmission of the data flow sent to the AS through the connection between the UE and the MoQ relay entity.

[0249] It should be understood that the present application also achieves the above effects by modifying the network side.

[0250] Optionally, the method shown in FIG. 7 further includes steps S710-S712.

[0251] S710, the SMF sends indication information to the UPF. Correspondingly, the UPF receives the indication information from the SMF. The indication information is used to indicate the reporting of the flow information of the data flow between the UE and the MoQ relay entity.

[0252] It should be understood that the data flow between the UE and the MoQ relay entity can refer to the flow information of the data flow sent by the UE to the MoQ relay entity (for example, represented by a triple, a quadruple, or a quintuple, etc.), and / or the flow information of the data flow sent by the MoQ relay entity to the UE.

[0253] In addition, as described in the related description of the foregoing implementation manner 1 and implementation manner 2, the SMF can send the indication information to the UPF after selecting the UPF, that is, step S710 is performed. In addition, step S710 can also be performed after step S706, and the embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations thereto.

[0254] S711, in the case where the UPF determines that the data flow sent by the AS passes through the MoQ relay entity, the UPF sends the flow information of the data flow between the UE and the MoQ relay entity to the SMF. Correspondingly, the SMF receives the flow information of the data flow between the UE and the MoQ relay entity from the UPF.

[0255] S712, the SMF sends the QoS rule to the UE. Correspondingly, the UE receives the QoS rule from the SMF.

[0256] The QoS rule includes second flow information of the data flow between the UE and the MoQ relay entity, and a QoS parameter corresponding to the second flow information.

[0257] It can be understood that the QoS parameter corresponding to the second flow information included in the QoS rule in step S712 can be understood as the fourth QoS parameter described above.

[0258] That is, the SMF can obtain the second flow information of the data flow between the UE and the MoQ relay entity by sending the indication information to the UPF, and then generate the QoS parameter corresponding to the data flow, so as to guarantee the QoS requirement of the data flow between the UE and the MoQ relay entity.

[0259] FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 9, the flow includes the following steps S901-S903.

[0260] S901, the user plane entity obtains a rule corresponding to a terminal.

[0261] The rule corresponding to the terminal includes first flow information of a data flow sent by a server, and first QoS parameter corresponding to the first flow information. It can be understood that the first flow information of the data flow sent by the server can be used for the user plane entity to detect the data flow sent by the server.

[0262] For example, the first stream information of the data stream sent by the server comprises address information of the server. The address information of the server may be, for example, an IP address of the server.

[0263] It can be understood that the IP address of the server is all information of the IP address of the server, or the IP address of the server is a prefix of the IP address of the server, which is not limited.

[0264] In addition, the IP address of the server may be, for example, a public IP address or a private IP address of the server, which is not limited.

[0265] Optionally, the first stream information further comprises a port number of the server. It can be understood that the port number is used to identify different services or application programs.

[0266] It can be understood that the first QoS parameter corresponding to the first stream information may be a QoS parameter generated according to the QoS information of the data stream sent by the server, and the QoS parameter is used for QoS processing of the data stream sent by the server, for example, associating the data stream sent by the server with a QoS stream corresponding to the QoS parameter.

[0267] It should be understood that the rule corresponding to the terminal may be a rule for a session of the terminal, and the rule may be used for the user plane entity to process (for example, QoS processing) the data stream sent by the server to the terminal.

[0268] For example, taking a PDU session of the terminal as an example, the rule corresponding to the terminal may be a user plane control rule (for example, comprising a PDR) in the foregoing step S706. In addition, the user plane control rule is only an exemplary name, and as the network evolves, the user plane control rule may also be other names, which are not limited.

[0269] It can be understood that the PDU session of the terminal may be the PDU session in the foregoing implementation mode 1 and implementation mode 2, which is not described here again.

[0270] Optionally, the user plane entity obtains the rule corresponding to the terminal from a session management entity.

[0271] For example, the user plane entity sends a request A to the session management entity to request the rule corresponding to the terminal; the session management entity sends the rule corresponding to the terminal to the user plane entity in response to the request A. For another example, the session management entity may directly send the rule corresponding to the terminal to the user plane entity.

[0272] Exemplarily, in the N4 session establishment procedure, the session management entity sends an N4 session establishment request to the user plane entity, the N4 session establishment request comprising the rule corresponding to the terminal, i.e., the session management entity can directly send the rule corresponding to the terminal to the user plane entity. In addition, in the N4 session modification procedure, the session management entity sends an N4 session modification request to the user plane entity, the N4 session modification request comprising the rule corresponding to the terminal.

[0273] It should be understood that the user plane entity can also obtain the rule corresponding to the terminal from other NF entities, for example, the user plane entity can obtain the rule corresponding to the terminal from the policy management entity, and the embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitation.

[0274] S902, the user plane entity determines that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity.

[0275] It can be understood that the user plane entity determining that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity can include various determination manners, which are described below respectively.

[0276] Determination manner 1: The user plane entity determines that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity according to the protocol description included in the rule corresponding to the terminal.

[0277] In a possible implementation, the rule corresponding to the terminal further comprises indication information for indicating a transmission protocol used by the data stream sent by the server; and the user plane entity determining that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity (i.e., step S902) comprises: the user plane entity determining, according to the indication information, that the transmission protocol is a protocol supporting relay transmission, and determining that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity.

[0278] It can be understood that according to the foregoing description of the protocol in step 1 and the description of the PDR in step 3, the PDR can comprise the indication information of the transmission protocol used by the data stream sent by the server, i.e., the protocol description. In addition, according to the protocol description, the user plane entity can determine whether the transmission protocol used by the data stream sent by the server supports relay transmission.

[0279] For example, taking the above indication information indicating the MoQ protocol as an example, the user plane entity can determine that the transmission protocol used by the data stream sent by the server supports relay transmission according to the MoQ protocol.

[0280] It should be understood that the above MoQ protocol is only an example, and the transmission protocol indicated by the above indication information can also be other protocols supporting relay transmission, and the embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitation.

[0281] It can be understood that, as described in the foregoing "C, the first connection of the relay entity to the server" and step S704 in FIG. 7, before the relay entity establishes a connection with the server, the AF can send, according to pre-configuration of the AS, an AF session generation request message with QoS to the NEF, at this time, the flow description information (i.e., the first flow information) of the data flow sent by the server only includes information of the server (for example, address information of the server), and then the first flow information in step S901 only includes address information of the server and does not include information of the relay entity (for example, address information of the relay entity), so that it is impossible to determine whether the data flow sent by the server passes through the relay entity based on the first flow information. In this case, the user plane entity can also determine, according to the indication information included in the rule corresponding to the terminal, that the transmission protocol used by the data flow sent by the server supports relay transmission, and then determine that the data flow sent by the server will pass through the relay entity, that is, the case shown in FIGS. 5 and 8.

[0282] That is, in the case where the user plane entity acquires the rule corresponding to the terminal before the relay entity establishes the first connection with the server, the user plane entity can determine, according to the indication information included in the rule corresponding to the terminal, that the transmission protocol used by the data flow sent by the server supports relay transmission, and then determine that the data flow sent by the server passes through the relay entity.

[0283] Determination mode 2: The user plane entity determines, according to the first flow information, that the data flow sent by the server passes through the relay entity.

[0284] In a possible implementation, the determination that the data flow sent by the server passes through the relay entity includes: determining, according to the first flow information including information of the server and information of the relay entity, that the data flow sent by the server passes through the relay entity.

[0285] It can be understood that, according to the related description of step S704, after the relay entity establishes the first connection with the server, the server can send information of the relay entity to the application entity, and then the first flow information can include information of the server and information of the relay entity, so that the user plane entity can determine, according to the first flow information, that the data flow sent by the server passes through the relay entity.

[0286] That is, in the case where the first flow information also includes information of the relay entity, the user plane entity can directly determine, according to the first flow information, that the data flow sent by the server passes through the relay entity. Compared with the case where the user plane entity also needs to determine that the transmission protocol used by the data flow sent by the server supports relay transmission, in order to determine that the data flow sent by the server passes through the relay entity, the user plane entity directly determines, according to the first flow information, that the data flow sent by the server passes through the relay entity, which can improve the processing efficiency of the user plane.

[0287] It should be understood that the address information of the relay entity may be, for example, an IP address of the relay entity. The IP address of the relay entity is similar to the description of the IP address of the server, for example, the IP address of the relay entity may be all information of the IP address of the relay entity, or may be a prefix of the IP address of the relay entity, and details are not repeated here.

[0288] Optionally, the information of the relay entity further includes a port number of the relay entity.

[0289] It can be understood that the port number of the relay entity can be used to determine the data stream sent by the server to the terminal on the second connection between the terminal and the relay entity. For example, referring to FIG. 8, on the second connection between the MoQ relay entity and the UE, according to the port number of the MoQ relay entity, it can be determined that the second data stream #1 is a data stream corresponding to the first data stream, and the second data stream #2 is a data stream corresponding to the third data stream.

[0290] In addition, in the case where the user plane entity determines that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity, the first QoS parameter corresponding to the first flow information can be understood as the QoS parameter of the data stream sent by the server to the relay entity.

[0291] It should be understood that the determination in step S902 that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity can be understood as: the data stream sent by the server is expected to pass through the relay entity, that is, the server may not have sent the data stream when step S902 is performed, or the server may not have established a connection with the relay entity.

[0292] S903, the user plane entity determines a second QoS parameter according to the first QoS parameter corresponding to the first flow information. The second QoS parameter is used to transmit the data stream sent by the server through the second connection between the relay entity and the terminal.

[0293] It can be understood that the above transmission of the data stream through the second connection between the relay entity and the terminal can be: the data stream sent by the server sent by the relay entity to the terminal; or the data stream sent by the relay entity to the user plane entity and forwarded to the terminal by the user plane entity.

[0294] In addition, the determination of the second QoS parameter according to the first QoS parameter corresponding to the first flow information can mean that the first QoS parameter is the same as the second QoS parameter, or both can be mapped to the same QoS flow, and the embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations.

[0295] It should be understood that based on the related description of steps S901-S903, the rule corresponding to the terminal can also include other control parameters in addition to the QoS parameter, such as a policy parameter or a charging parameter, and further, the QoS parameter in step S903 can be replaced by a policy parameter or a charging parameter, and the like, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0296] It can be understood that according to steps S902 and S903, after the user plane entity determines that the data stream sent by the server will pass through the relay entity, step S903 can not be executed immediately.

[0297] For example, before the user plane entity determines the second QoS parameter according to the first QoS parameter corresponding to the first flow information (i.e., step S903), it further includes that the user plane entity receives a first data packet corresponding to the data stream sent by the server, and the address information of the first data packet includes information of the relay entity.

[0298] It can be understood that, as described in the foregoing step S902, the information of the relay entity can include address information of the relay entity (such as an IP address of the relay entity). Alternatively, the information of the relay entity also includes a port number of the relay entity.

[0299] In addition, the address information of the first data packet including the information of the relay entity can mean that the source address in the packet header of the first data packet is the IP address of the relay entity, or the IP address prefix of the relay entity. Alternatively, the source port number in the packet header of the first data packet is the port number of the relay entity.

[0300] For example, the address information of the first data packet can mean that the source address information includes the information of the relay entity, and the destination address is the information of the terminal. The source address information including the information of the relay entity can mean that the source address is the IP address of the relay entity. Alternatively, the source address information also includes a source port number, and the source port number is the port number of the relay entity.

[0301] It should be understood that the first data packet corresponding to the data stream sent by the server can also mean the first data packet received on the connection between the relay entity and the terminal. As described in the foregoing with respect to the MoQ relay entity maintaining the correspondence between the data stream of the AS to the MoQ relay entity and the data stream of the MoQ relay entity in FIG. 8, the user plane entity can also receive the first data packet corresponding to the data stream sent by the server on the second connection between the relay entity and the terminal according to the correspondence.

[0302] That is, the source address information of the first data packet can also be the information of the relay entity, and further, according to the source address information including the information of the relay entity, it is determined that the first data packet corresponding to the data stream sent by the server is received.

[0303] It should be understood that, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the relay entity can also be deployed in the user plane entity, and the first data packet corresponding to the data stream sent by the server can be understood as a first data packet received on a first connection between the server and the relay entity, and the destination address in the first data packet is the IP address of the relay entity.

[0304] For example, the address information of the first data packet includes information of the relay entity, which can refer to that the source address in the header of the first data packet is the IP address of the relay entity, or the IP address prefix of the relay entity. Alternatively, the source port number in the header of the first data packet is the port number of the relay entity.

[0305] In addition, the destination address in the header of the first data packet is the IP address of the terminal. Alternatively, the destination port number in the header of the first data packet is the port number of the terminal.

[0306] That is, the user plane entity performs the operation of determining the second QoS parameter corresponding to the data stream sent by the server to be sent to the terminal through the second connection between the relay entity and the terminal according to the first QoS parameter corresponding to the first stream information according to the first data packet corresponding to the data stream sent by the server (i.e., step S903 is performed), thereby avoiding the execution of the above step S903 in the case where the first data packet corresponding to the data stream sent by the server is not received, and thereby avoiding resource waste.

[0307] It should be understood that the above is only an example, for example, the user plane entity can also perform step S903 in the case where a data packet corresponding to a data stream sent by the terminal is received (for example, the address information of the data packet corresponding to the data stream sent by the terminal includes the address of the relay entity); for another example, the user plane entity performs step S903 in the case where the relay entity establishes a connection with the server, and / or the terminal establishes a connection with the relay entity, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0308] In addition, as described in the above step S902, the user plane entity can configure the QoS parameter (i.e., pre-configure the parameter of the QoS) for sending the data stream sent by the server to the terminal through the connection between the relay entity and the terminal in advance according to step S903 without actually receiving the data stream sent by the server, so that the pre-configured QoS parameter can be used immediately when the data stream sent by the server arrives, thereby improving the processing efficiency and response speed.

[0309] Hereinafter, taking QFI as an example of the QoS parameter, the QoS processing procedure of the user plane entity for sending the data stream sent by the server to the terminal is introduced.

[0310] Optionally, the method shown in FIG. 9 further includes steps A-C.

[0311] Step A, the user plane entity receives the second data packet on the connection between the relay entity and the terminal.

[0312] Wherein, the destination address of the second data packet is the address of the terminal.

[0313] For example, the second data packet is sent by the relay entity to the terminal. The source address of the second data packet is the IP address of the relay entity, and the destination address is the IP address of the terminal. The user plane entity can receive the second data packet from the relay entity and forward it to the terminal.

[0314] In addition, the user plane entity receives the second data packet on the connection between the relay entity and the terminal, which can be understood as that the user plane entity receives the second data packet transmitted between the relay entity and the terminal.

[0315] Step B, the user plane entity processes the second data packet using the QoS flow identifier (i.e. QFI) corresponding to the second QoS parameter according to the destination address of the second data packet being the address of the terminal, to obtain a third data packet. For example, the user plane entity encapsulates the second data packet using the GTP-U header (which includes the QFI corresponding to the second QoS parameter) to obtain the third data packet.

[0316] It can be understood that the implementation of step B is similar to the description of processing the data packet in Figure 8 in step S709, which will not be repeated here.

[0317] Step C, the user plane entity sends the third data packet to the service access network device of the terminal. Correspondingly, the access network device receives the third data packet from the user plane entity.

[0318] It can be understood that assuming the QFI is the QFI of QoS flow #2 in Figure 3, the user plane entity can send the third data packet through the tunnel (such as GTP-U tunnel) between the user plane entity and the access network device, so that the access network device associates the third data packet to the QoS flow corresponding to the QFI in the GTP-U header, i.e. QoS flow #2.

[0319] That is, after the user plane entity determines the second QoS parameter, the second data packet received on the second connection between the relay entity and the terminal can be associated to the QoS flow corresponding to the second QoS parameter according to the second QoS parameter, to realize QoS processing and guarantee the QoS requirement of the data flow between the relay entity and the terminal.

[0320] In addition, the QoS parameter is QFI, which is only an example, and can also be a resource type, a priority, a packet delay budget (PDB), a packet error rate (PER), an average window, or a maximum data burst (MDB), etc., which is not limited.

[0321] In the embodiment of the application, when the user plane entity determines that the data stream sent by the server passes through the relay entity, the user plane entity can determine the second QoS parameter corresponding to the data stream (i.e., the data stream sent by the server) sent to the terminal through the second connection between the relay entity and the terminal according to the first QoS parameter of the data stream sent by the server included in the rule corresponding to the terminal, and then the user plane entity can perform QoS processing on the data stream between the relay entity and the terminal according to the second QoS parameter, so as to guarantee the QoS requirement of the data stream sent through the connection between the relay entity and the terminal.

[0322] The following describes the scheme 2.

[0323] It can be understood that the main difference between the scheme 2 and the scheme 1 is that in the scheme 2, the information of the server in the flow information of the data stream sent by the server is replaced by the information of the relay entity, so that the rule corresponding to the terminal obtained can transform the control parameter (for example, including a QoS parameter, a policy parameter, or a charging parameter, etc.) of the data stream between the server and the relay entity in the rule corresponding to the terminal into the control parameter of the data stream between the relay entity and the terminal, so as to guarantee the control requirement of the data stream between the relay entity and the terminal.

[0324] In addition, the scheme 2 is not limited to the replacement processing of the control parameter corresponding to the data stream sent by the server (for downlink), but is also applicable to the control parameter corresponding to the data stream sent to the server (for uplink).

[0325] For the convenience of understanding, first, the scheme 2 is exemplarily described by taking the method flow shown in FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 as an example, and then the scheme 2 is described in detail according to the method flow shown in FIG. 12.

[0326] FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the application. As shown in FIG. 10, FIG. 10 takes the session management entity as the execution subject of the scheme 2, and takes the terminal as UE, the user plane entity as UPF, the relay entity as MoQ relay entity, the session management entity as SMF, the policy management entity as PCF, the network exposure entity as NEF, the application entity as AF, and the server as AS as an example to describe the scheme 2.

[0327] As shown in FIG. 10, the method includes steps S1001-S1011, S1001-S1006 are the same as steps S701-S706, and details are not repeated here.

[0328] S1007, in the case where the protocol description indicates the MoQ protocol, the SMF replaces the IP address of the AS included in the SDF template with the IP address of the MoQ relay entity to obtain the user plane control rule.

[0329] Optionally, the port number of the AS in the SDF template is replaced with the port number of the MoQ relay entity.

[0330] It should be understood that the SMF can first replace the IP address of the AS in the SDF template with the address of the MoQ relay entity, and then obtain the user plane control rule according to the replaced SDF template, or the SMF can first generate the user plane control rule according to the PCC rule, and then replace the IP address of the AS included in the data packet filter set in the user plane control rule with the IP address of the MoQ relay entity, and this is not limited.

[0331] It can be understood that, as described in the foregoing implementation manner 1 and implementation manner 2, the SMF can select a UPF supporting forwarding data between the UE and the AS through the MoQ relay entity in the PDU session establishment process, and then the SMF can obtain the information of the MoQ relay entity, such as the IP address of the MoQ relay entity, from the UPF. In other words, before step S1007, the SMF has already obtained the information of the MoQ relay entity.

[0332] In addition, in the foregoing implementation manner 1 or implementation manner 2, after the SMF obtains the information of the MoQ relay entity, the SMF can also send a request to the UPF to obtain the information of the MoQ relay entity in the case where the protocol description indicates the MoQ protocol.

[0333] Optionally, the foregoing step S1007 can be replaced by the following steps: steps S1008-S1010.

[0334] S1008, in the case where the protocol description indicates the MoQ protocol, the SMF sends a MoQ relay request message to the UPF. Correspondingly, the UPF receives the MoQ relay request message from the SMF. The MoQ relay request message is used to request the information of the MoQ relay entity.

[0335] S1009, the UPF sends a response of the MoQ relay request message to the SMF. Correspondingly, the SMF receives the response of the MoQ relay request message from the UPF. The response of the MoQ relay request message includes the information of the MoQ relay entity.

[0336] S1010, the SMF replaces the IP address of the AS included in the SDF template with the IP address of the MoQ relay entity to obtain a user plane control rule.

[0337] S1011, the SMF sends the user plane control rule to the UPF. Correspondingly, the UPF receives the user plane control rule from the SMF.

[0338] That is to say, for the set of packet filters in the user plane control rule received by the UPF, since the IP address of the AS included in the set of packet filters is actually the IP address of the MoQ relay entity, and then for the UPF, the control parameters of the data flow sent by the AS to the MoQ relay entity included in the user plane control rule are actually the control parameters of the data flow sent by the MoQ relay entity to the UE, so that the control requirements (such as QoS requirements, policy requirements, or charging requirements, etc.) of the data flow between the relay entity and the terminal can be guaranteed.

[0339] It should be understood that, for the above-mentioned replacement of the IP address of the AS in the SDF template with the IP address of the MoQ relay entity by the SMF, it can also be performed in the PCF, and the implementation scheme 2 in the PCF will be described below in conjunction with FIG. 11.

[0340] FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 11, FIG. 11 illustrates the implementation scheme 2 with the policy management entity as the implementation subject, and with the terminal as the UE, the user plane entity as the UPF, the relay entity as the MoQ relay entity, the session management entity as the SMF, the policy management entity as the PCF, the network exposure entity as the NEF, the application entity as the AF, and the server as the AS.

[0341] As shown in FIG. 11, the method includes steps S1101-S1108, and S1101-S1105 are the same as steps S701-S705, which will not be described herein again.

[0342] S1106, in the case that the protocol description indicates the MoQ protocol, the PCF replaces the IP address of the AS included in the flow description information with the IP address of the MoQ relay entity to obtain a PCC rule.

[0343] Optionally, the port number of the AS in the flow description information is replaced with the port number of the MoQ relay entity.

[0344] It should be understood that the PCF can first replace the IP address of the AS in the flow description information with the IP address of the MoQ relay entity, and then obtain the PCC rule according to the replaced flow description information; or the PCF can first generate the PCC rule according to the policy authorization request message, and then replace the IP address of the AS included in the SDF template in the PCC rule with the IP address of the MoQ relay entity, which is not limited.

[0345] It can be understood that, as the foregoing relevant description about step S1007, based on implementation 1 and implementation 2, the SMF can obtain the information of the MoQ relay entity from the UPF in the PDU session establishment procedure or the modification procedure. That is, after the SMF obtains the information of the MoQ relay entity, the SMF can trigger the SM policy association establishment or modification procedure, and then send the information of the MoQ relay entity to the PCF.

[0346] Next, the procedure in which the PCF obtains the MoQ relay entity in the PDU session establishment procedure is described by taking steps S1101a-S1101b as examples.

[0347] S1101a. In the PDU session establishment procedure, the SMF obtains the information of the MoQ relay entity from the UPF.

[0348] It can be understood that, according to the foregoing relevant description about implementation 1, after the SMF selects the UPF that supports forwarding data between the UE and the AS through the MoQ relay entity according to the subscription data (for example, DNN and / or S-NSSAI) of the UE, the SMF can obtain the information of the MoQ relay entity through the N4 session establishment procedure.

[0349] S1101b. In the SM policy association establishment procedure triggered by the SMF, the SMF sends the information of the MoQ relay entity to the PCF.

[0350] For example, in the SM policy association establishment procedure triggered by the SMF, the SMF can send a policy control generation request message to the PCF, and the policy control generation request message includes the information of the MoQ relay entity.

[0351] Next, the procedure in which the PCF obtains the MoQ relay entity in the PDU session establishment procedure is described by taking steps S1101a-S1101b as examples.

[0352] S1101c. In the procedure of inserting the UPF that supports forwarding data between the UE and the AS through the MoQ relay entity into the PDU session, the SMF obtains the information of the MoQ relay entity from the UPF.

[0353] It can be understood that, according to the foregoing relevant description about implementation 2, in the procedure in which the UE obtains the IP address of the server corresponding to the FQDN through the DNS procedure, the modification procedure of the PDU session will be triggered, that is, the UPF that supports forwarding data between the UE and the AS through the MoQ relay entity is inserted into the PDU session. In addition, the SMF can obtain the information of the MoQ relay entity through the N4 session establishment procedure between the inserted UPF.

[0354] S1101d. In the SMF triggered SM policy association modification procedure, the SMF sends information of the MoQ relay entity to the PCF.

[0355] For example, in the SMF triggered SM policy association modification procedure, the SMF can send a policy control update message to the PCF, and the policy control update request includes information of the MoQ relay entity.

[0356] That is, before step S1106, the SMF has already obtained the information of the MoQ relay entity.

[0357] In addition, in the above-mentioned implementation manner 1 or implementation manner 2, the SMF can not send the information of the MoQ relay entity to the PCF, and then the PCF can also send a request to the UPF to obtain the information of the MoQ relay entity in the case that the protocol description indicates the MoQ protocol, and the implementation can refer to the description of scheme 3, which is not described here.

[0358] S1107. The PCF sends the PCC rule to the SMF. Correspondingly, the SMF receives the PCC rule from the PCF.

[0359] It can be understood that the PCC rule in step S1107 is different from the PCC rule in the aforementioned step S706 in that the IP address of the AS in the SDF template is actually the IP address of the MoQ relay entity.

[0360] S1108. The SMF sends the user plane control rule to the UPF. Correspondingly, the UPF receives the user plane control rule from the SMF.

[0361] It can be understood that, since the IP address of the AS in the SDF template is actually the IP address of the MoQ relay entity, the IP address of the AS included in the packet filter set (included in the PDR) in the user plane control rule is actually the IP address of the MoQ relay entity.

[0362] That is, for the packet filter set in the user plane control rule received by the UPF, since the IP address of the AS included in the packet filter set is actually the IP address of the MoQ relay entity, for the UPF, the control parameter of the data flow sent to the MoQ relay entity by the AS included in the user plane control rule is actually the control parameter of the data flow sent to the UE by the MoQ relay entity, so that the control requirement (such as QoS requirement, policy requirement, or charging requirement, etc.) of the data flow between the relay entity and the terminal can be guaranteed.

[0363] FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 12, the flow is described by taking an example of interaction between a network entity and other entities, and the flow includes the following steps S1201-S1202.

[0364] S1201, the network entity receives first information.

[0365] The first information includes flow information of a server-associated data flow, and indication information indicating a transmission protocol used by the server-associated data flow. The server-associated data flow includes a data flow sent by the server, and / or a data flow sent to the server.

[0366] S1202, in a case where the network entity determines, according to the indication information, that the transmission protocol is a protocol supporting relay transmission, the network entity replaces, in the flow information, information of the server with information of a relay entity, to obtain a rule corresponding to the terminal.

[0367] The relay entity is configured to forward data between the terminal and the server.

[0368] It should be understood that, in step S1202, the network entity can first replace, in the flow information included in the first information, the information of the server with the information of the relay entity, and then generate the rule corresponding to the terminal based on the first information after the replacement; or the network entity can first generate the rule corresponding to the terminal based on the first information, and then replace, in the rule corresponding to the terminal, the information of the server in the flow information with the information of the relay entity, to obtain the rule corresponding to the terminal after the replacement. The present application does not make a specific limitation on this.

[0369] It should be understood that the network entity described above can be a user plane entity, or a session management entity, or a policy management entity, which will be described below.

[0370] For the case where the network entity is a user plane entity.

[0371] In a possible implementation, the network entity is a user plane entity, and the first information is a user plane control rule, the user plane control rule including flow information of a data flow sent by a server, and a QoS parameter of the data flow sent by the server; the method shown in FIG. 12 further includes steps E-G.

[0372] Step E, the network entity receives a fourth data packet on a connection between the relay entity and the terminal. The fourth data packet has a destination address of the terminal.

[0373] It can be understood that the flow information of the server-sent data flow in the user plane control rule can refer to the flow information used for detecting the server-sent data flow. In addition, since the information of the server in the flow information is replaced by the information of the relay entity, the entity can use the QoS parameter of the server-sent data flow to perform QoS processing on the data flow sent by the relay entity to the terminal, that is, to process the data packets received on the connection between the relay entity and the terminal

[0374] It can also be understood that the implementation of step E can refer to step A, which will not be repeated here.

[0375] Step F, the network entity processes the fourth data packet according to the QoS parameter of the server-sent data flow to obtain a fifth data packet.

[0376] It can be understood that the implementation of step F can refer to step B, which will not be repeated here.

[0377] Step G, the network entity sends the fifth data packet to the service access network device of the terminal.

[0378] It can be understood that the implementation of step G can refer to step C, which will not be repeated here.

[0379] That is, the user plane entity can process the data packets corresponding to the server-sent data flow sent on the connection between the relay entity and the terminal according to the QoS parameter of the server-sent data flow in the user plane control rule, thereby guaranteeing the QoS requirement of the data flow between the relay entity and the terminal.

[0380] The network entity is a session management entity.

[0381] It should be understood that when the corresponding entity is a session management entity, the entity can obtain a user plane control rule by replacing the server information in the flow information of the server-sent data flow with the information of the relay entity, and send it to the user plane entity, so that the user plane entity can process the downlink data packet according to the user plane control rule (for example, refer to steps A-G)

[0382] It can be understood that considering that the first information can include the data flow sent to the server, the server information can also be replaced by the information of the relay entity in the process of processing the uplink data packet, so as to perform QoS processing on the data flow sent by the terminal to the relay entity.

[0383] In a possible implementation, the network entity is a session management entity, the first information is a PCC rule, and the rule corresponding to the terminal is a user plane control rule. The method provided in FIG. 12 further includes steps S1203 and S1204.

[0384] S1203, in a case where the network entity determines, according to the indication information, that the transmission protocol is the relay transmission protocol, the network entity replaces the information of the server in the flow information with the information of the relay entity, to obtain the QoS rule.

[0385] For example, the SDF template in the PCC rule can include the control requirement (e.g., the QoS requirement) of the uplink data flow of the same service data flow, that is, the SDF template can include the flow information of the data flow sent to the server. In addition, the flow information of the data flow sent to the server can be, for example, the address of the relay entity as the destination address. For another example, the address of the relay entity as the destination address and the address of the relay entity as the source address.

[0386] S1204, the network entity sends the QoS rule to the terminal. Correspondingly, the terminal receives the QoS rule from the network entity.

[0387] It can be understood that the network entity can send the QoS rule to the terminal through the N1N2 message. In addition, the network entity can also send the QoS rule to the terminal in other manners, which are not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0388] That is, the network entity can replace the QoS parameter of the data flow sent by the relay entity to the server with the QoS parameter of the data flow sent by the terminal to the relay entity by replacing the server information in the flow information of the data flow sent to the server with the information of the relay entity, and then sends the QoS parameter to the terminal, so that the terminal can perform QoS processing on the data packet on the second connection between the terminal and the relay entity, thereby guaranteeing the QoS requirement of the data flow between the terminal and the relay entity.

[0389] It can be understood that, compared with the terminal performing QoS processing on the data flow between the terminal and the relay entity according to the PDR (optionally, also including the protocol description) in the foregoing solution 1, the solutions of steps S1203 and S1204 can replace the information of the server in the QoS rule through the network side to instruct the terminal to perform QoS processing on the data flow between the terminal and the relay entity, which can reduce the processing flow on the terminal side and improve the processing efficiency.

[0390] It can be understood that, in a case where the network entity is a session management entity and the session management entity currently does not store the information of the relay entity, the session management entity should first obtain the information of the relay entity.

[0391] For example, before the network entity replaces the server information in the flow information with the information of the relay entity, it further includes: in a case where the network entity determines, according to the indication information, that the transmission protocol is the relay transmission protocol, the network entity obtains the information of the relay entity from a user plane entity. The user plane entity is a user plane entity supporting forwarding data between the terminal and the server through the relay entity.

[0392] It can be understood that the related implementation of the above step can refer to steps S1008-S1009, and details are not described herein again.

[0393] That is, when the network entity is a session management entity, the session management entity can obtain the information of the relay entity from the user plane entity in response to the transmission protocol used by the data flow supporting relay transmission, so as to obtain the information of the relay entity in the case that the session management entity does not cache the information of the relay entity or the information of the relay entity is lost.

[0394] For the network entity being a policy management entity.

[0395] It can be understood that, in the case that the network entity is a policy management entity, the network entity should first obtain the information of the relay entity to replace the information of the server with the information of the relay entity. The following describes several ways of obtaining the information of the relay entity.

[0396] In a possible implementation, the network entity is a policy management entity, the second entity is a network exposure entity, the first information is contained in a QoS request message, and the rule corresponding to the terminal is a PCC rule. The method shown in FIG. 12 further includes: the network entity obtaining the information of the relay entity from a session management entity or a user plane entity. The user plane entity is a user plane entity supporting forwarding of data between the terminal and the server through the relay entity.

[0397] That is, when the network entity is a policy management entity, the policy management entity can obtain the information of the relay entity from a session management entity or a user plane entity, so as to improve the flexibility of the policy management entity in obtaining the information of the relay entity. For example, the policy management entity can obtain the information of the relay entity in a session establishment process or a session modification process of the terminal, or can obtain the information of the relay entity from the user plane entity according to indication that the transmission protocol is relay transmission supported.

[0398] For example, the network entity obtains the information of the relay entity from a session management entity, including: in a session establishment process of the terminal, the network entity obtains the information of the relay entity from the session management entity. The session of the terminal is a session supporting forwarding of data between the terminal and the server through the relay entity.

[0399] It can be understood that the information of the relay entity obtained in the session establishment process of the terminal can refer to the foregoing steps S1101a-S1101b, and details are not described herein again.

[0400] That is, in the session establishment process of the terminal, the policy management entity can obtain the information of the relay entity from the session management entity in advance, so as to improve the processing efficiency when subsequently replacing the information of the server in the flow information with the information of the relay entity. That is, in the session establishment process of the terminal, the policy management entity can obtain the information of the relay entity from the session management entity in advance, so as to improve the processing efficiency when subsequently replacing the information of the server in the flow information with the information of the relay entity.

[0401] For example, the network entity obtains the information of the relay entity from the session management entity, including:

[0402] In the modification procedure of the session insertion user plane entity of the terminal, the information of the relay entity is obtained from the session management entity, and the session insertion user plane entity of the terminal supports forwarding data between the terminal and the server through the relay entity.

[0403] It can be understood that the information of the relay entity is obtained in the modification procedure of the session of the terminal, which can be referred to the foregoing steps S1101c-S1101d, and will not be described here again.

[0404] That is, in the modification procedure of the session insertion user plane entity of the terminal, the policy management entity can obtain the information of the relay entity from the session management entity in advance, and then improve the processing efficiency when subsequently performing the replacement of the information of the server in the flow information with the information of the relay entity.

[0405] For another example, the network entity obtains the information of the relay entity from the user plane entity, including:

[0406] In the case where the network entity determines, according to the indication information, that the transmission protocol is a protocol supporting relay transmission, the network entity obtains the information of the relay entity from the user plane entity.

[0407] It can be understood that the related implementation of the network entity directly obtaining the information of the relay entity from the user plane entity can be referred to scheme 3, which will not be described here again.

[0408] That is, when the network entity is a policy management entity, if the policy management entity does not store the information of the relay entity, the network entity can obtain the information of the relay entity from the user plane entity in response to the transmission protocol being a relay transmission supporting protocol according to the indication information.

[0409] In the embodiment of the present application, in the case where the network entity determines, according to the indication information in the first information, that the transmission protocol used by the data flow sent by the server supports relay transmission, the network entity generates the corresponding rule of the terminal by replacing the information of the server in the flow information with the information of the relay entity, and then can transform the control parameter (for example, including QoS parameter, policy parameter, or charging parameter, etc.) of the data flow between the server and the relay entity into the control parameter of the data flow between the relay entity and the terminal, so as to guarantee the control requirement (for example, QoS requirement, policy requirement, or charging requirement, etc.) of the data flow between the relay entity and the terminal.

[0410] The scheme 3 will be introduced below.

[0411] For the convenience of understanding, first, the entity in the core network obtains the MoQ relay entity process is exemplarily illustrated by the method flow shown in FIG. 13, and on this basis, the scheme 3 is illustrated in detail according to the method flow shown in FIG. 14.

[0412] FIG. 13 is a flow diagram of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 13, FIG. 13 is described by taking the interaction between the UPF, the NRF, and the PCF as an example.

[0413] As shown in FIG. 13, the scheme includes the following steps.

[0414] S1301, the UPF configuration stored by the NRF includes the address information of the UE.

[0415] Optionally, the address information of the UE can be the public network IP address range of the UE supported by the UPF, and / or the private IP address range of the UE.

[0416] Optionally, the UPF configuration further includes the address information of the MoQ relay entity supported by the UPF.

[0417] It can be understood that the address information of the MoQ relay entity, for example, can be the IP address of the MoQ relay entity.

[0418] In addition, the NRF can maintain the correspondence between the UE and the UPF, that is, the NRF can maintain the address information of the UE supported by the UPF.

[0419] S1302, the PCF sends an NF discovery request to the NRF. Correspondingly, the NRF receives the NF discovery request from the PCF.

[0420] The NF discovery request is used to request the information of the UPF serving the UE#1, and the UPF is the UPF supporting forwarding data between the UE and the AS through the MoQ relay entity. The NF discovery request includes the IP address information of the UE#1. The UE#1 is the PDU session served by the PCF, and the UE transmits traffic data between the AS through the MoQ relay entity. The IP address information of the UE#1, for example, can be the public IP or the private IP of the UE#1, which is not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

[0421] For example, according to the description of the PCF receiving the QoS request message from the NEF in the foregoing step S1106, in the case that the protocol description is the MoQ protocol according to the QoS request message, the PCF can send the NF discovery request to the NRF.

[0422] It should be understood that the above is only an example, and the PCF can also carry the IP address information of the UE#1 in the NF request message sent to the NRF in other cases, which is not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

[0423] It can be understood that the step S1302 can send the NF discovery request by invoking an NF discovery request service operation (for example, Nnrf_NFDiscovery_Request) provided by the NRF.

[0424] S1303, the NRF sends an NF discovery response to the PCF. Accordingly, the PCF receives the NF discovery response from the NRF.

[0425] The NF discovery response includes address information of the UPF. The address information of the UPF can be an interface address inside the core network for interacting with the UPF, or identification information for identifying the UPF, etc., which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0426] It can be understood that the step S1303 can send the NF discovery response by invoking an NF discovery response service operation (for example, Nnrf_NFDiscovery_Reponse) provided by the NRF.

[0427] S1304, the PCF sends a MoQ relay request to the UPF according to the address information of the UPF. Accordingly, the UPF receives the MoQ relay request from the PCF.

[0428] The MoQ relay request is used to request address information of a MoQ relay entity.

[0429] Optionally, the MoQ relay request includes IP address information of the UE#1.

[0430] For example, the PCF can send the MoQ relay request by invoking a get MoQ relay entity address request (for example, Nupf_RetrieveMoQRelayAddrRequest) service operation provided by the UPF.

[0431] S1305, the UPF sends address information of the MoQ relay entity to the PCF. Accordingly, the PCF receives the address information of the MoQ relay entity from the UPF.

[0432] It can be understood that the UPF can retrieve the MoQ relay entity providing the MoQ relay service for the UE#1 according to the IP address information of the UE#1, and then send the address information of the MoQ relay entity to the PCF.

[0433] For example, the UPF can send the address information of the MoQ relay entity by invoking a get MoQ relay entity address response (for example, Nupf_RetrieveMoQRelayAddrResponse) service operation provided by the UPF.

[0434] That is, in the case that the PCF acquires the address information of the UE, the address information of the MoQ relay entity providing the MoQ relay service for the UE can be acquired by sending a request to the NRF to acquire the address information of the UPF serving the UE, and sending a request to the UPF according to the address information of the UPF.

[0435] It should be understood that in the UPF configuration in the NRF, the address information of the MoQ relay entity supported by the UPF can also be included, so that the address information of the MoQ relay entity providing the relay service for UE#1 can be included in the NF discovery response sent by the NRF to the PCF. That is, in the above step flow, the PCF can acquire the address information of the MoQ relay entity in step S1303, and thus does not need to perform subsequent steps S1304 and S1305.

[0436] Alternatively, the above steps S1301-S1305 can be replaced by steps S1306-S1308.

[0437] S1306, the UPF configuration in the NRF stores the address information of the UE and the address information of the MoQ relay entity supported by the UPF.

[0438] S1307, the PCF sends an NF discovery request to the NRF. Correspondingly, the NRF receives the NF discovery request from the PCF.

[0439] It can be understood that the implementation of step S1307 can be combined with step S1302, which will not be described here.

[0440] S1308, the NRF sends an NF discovery response to the PCF. Correspondingly, the PCF receives the NF discovery response from the NRF.

[0441] The NF discovery response includes the address information of the MoQ relay entity providing the relay service for UE#1 in addition to the address information of the UPF.

[0442] That is, in the case that the PCF acquires the address information of the UE, the address information of the MoQ relay entity providing the MoQ relay service for the UE can be acquired by sending a request to the NRF to acquire the address information of the UPF serving the UE, and sending a request to the UPF according to the address information of the UPF. Compared with the flow of steps S1301-S1305, the interaction between the PCF and the UPF can be simplified, the efficiency of acquiring the address information of the MoQ relay entity can be improved, and resources can be saved.

[0443] It can be understood that the method flow shown in the above figure 13 is only an example of the PCF, and the entity in the core network can also be other entities in addition to the PCF, such as SMF, or NEF, etc., which is not limited by the embodiments of the present application.

[0444] FIG. 14 is a flow diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 14, FIG. 14 illustrates scheme 3, taking a terminal as UE, a user plane entity as UPF, a relay entity as MoQ relay entity, a session management entity as SMF, a policy management entity as PCF, an application entity as AF, and a server as AS as an example.

[0445] As shown in FIG. 14, the scheme includes the following steps.

[0446] S1401, establish a PDU session of UE#1.

[0447] S1402, the AF sends a MoQ relay address acquisition request to the NEF. Correspondingly, the NEF receives the MoQ relay address acquisition request from the NEF.

[0448] It can be understood that, as previously described in relation to case 1, the AF can determine whether the service provided by the AS supports transmission using the MoQ relay protocol according to the pre-configuration information of the AS. If the service provided by the AS supports the MoQ protocol, the AF performs step S1402.

[0449] In addition, the AF can also obtain the information about whether the service provided by the AS is the MoQ protocol and / or whether UE#1 supports the MoQ protocol from the AS. For example, as described in relation to case 2 and case 3, the AS can provide the AF with the above information, which will not be described here.

[0450] It can also be understood that the AF can send the MoQ relay address acquisition request by invoking the MoQ relay address acquisition request (for example, Nnef_GetMoQRelayAddrRequest) service operation provided by the NEF.

[0451] S1403, the NEF performs a process of acquiring address information of the MoQ relay entity, and obtains the address information of the MoQ relay entity.

[0452] It can be understood that the process of acquiring address information of the MoQ relay entity can be specifically referred to steps S1301-S1308, which will not be described here.

[0453] S1404, the NEF sends a MoQ relay address acquisition response to the AF. Correspondingly, the AF receives the MoQ relay address acquisition response from the NEF. The MoQ relay address acquisition response includes the address information of the MoQ relay entity.

[0454] That is, in the case that the AF acquires the address information of the UE and determines that the UE supports the MoQ relay service, the AF can send a request to the NEF to acquire the address information of the MoQ relay entity providing the MoQ relay service for the UE, and then the AF can carry the address information of the MoQ relay entity when sending information about the service data flow to the network side in the future, so that the network side can configure the data flow between the UE and the MoQ relay entity.

[0455] For example, for problem 1 of the present application, when the AF initiates a service flow initiation QoS request for the AS, the AF can first acquire the address information of the MoQ relay entity and carry the address information of the MoQ relay entity in the QoS request, so that the network side can configure the QoS of the data flow between the UE and the MoQ relay entity.

[0456] Optionally, the flow shown in Figure 14 further includes:

[0457] S1405, the flow of establishing an AF session with QoS requirement. Wherein, the AF sends an AF session generation request message with QoS to the NEFF in the flow includes: indication information for indicating that the data is forwarded between the UE and the AS through the MoQ relay entity, and the address information of the MoQ relay entity.

[0458] It can be understood that the AF session with QoS requirement can be specifically referred to the description of step 1, which will not be repeated here.

[0459] That is, since the AF can provide the network side with indication information indicating that the data is forwarded between the UE and the AS through the MoQ relay entity and the address information of the MoQ relay entity in the process of establishing the AF session with QoS requirement, the network side can acquire the relevant information of the MoQ relay entity in the case that the AS does not establish a connection with the MoQ relay entity, so that the network side can configure the QoS of the data flow between the UE and the MoQ relay entity, thereby guaranteeing the QoS requirement between the UE and the MoQ relay entity.

[0460] Figure 15 is a flow diagram of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in Figure 15, the flow is illustrated by taking the interaction between an application entity and a network exposure entity as an example, and the flow includes the following steps S1501-S1504.

[0461] S1501, the application entity acquires the address information of the terminal.

[0462] It can be understood that the address information of the terminal can be the IP address of the terminal, such as public IP address or private IP address, which is not limited.

[0463] In addition, the application entity can obtain the IP address of the UE from the core network, or can obtain the IP address of the UE from the server, and embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations.

[0464] S1502, the application entity sends a first request to the network exposure entity according to the address information of the terminal. Correspondingly, the network exposure entity receives the first request from the application entity. The first request is used to request the address information of the relay entity providing relay service for the terminal.

[0465] It can be understood that the implementation of step S1502 can refer to step S1402, which will not be repeated here.

[0466] S1503, the network exposure entity obtains the address information of the relay entity according to the first request.

[0467] It can be understood that according to whether the network storage entity stores the information of the relay entity supported by the user plane entity, the following two obtaining methods are included.

[0468] In one possible implementation, the network exposure entity obtaining the address information of the relay entity includes steps S1503a and S1503b.

[0469] S1503a, the network exposure entity sends a second request to the network storage entity. Correspondingly, the network storage entity receives the second request from the network exposure entity.

[0470] The second request is used to request the information of the user plane entity serving the terminal, and the user plane entity supports the terminal forwarding data through the relay entity.

[0471] It can be understood that the network storage entity may, for example, be the NRF in FIG. 13, or other entities with the function of the NRF, and embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations.

[0472] In addition, the related implementation of step S1503a can refer to step S1302, which will not be repeated here,

[0473] S1503b, the network storage entity sends a response to the second request to the network exposure entity. The network exposure entity receives the response to the second request from the network storage entity.

[0474] The response to the second request includes the address information of the user plane entity and the address information of the relay entity.

[0475] It can be understood that in the case where the information stored by the network storage entity includes the address information of the relay entity, the network storage entity will also feed back the address information of the relay entity to the network exposure entity.

[0476] In addition, the related implementation of step S1305b can refer to step S1303, and details are not described herein.

[0477] That is, the network exposure entity can send a second request to the network storage entity according to the first request to discover the user plane entity serving the terminal and supporting the terminal to forward data through the relay entity, and obtain the address information of the user plane entity and the information of the relay entity through receiving the response of the second request, and then the network exposure entity does not need to obtain the information of the relay entity through interaction with the user plane entity, thereby simplifying the interaction in the process of the network exposure entity obtaining the address information of the relay entity, improving the efficiency of obtaining the address information of the relay entity, and saving resources.

[0478] In another possible implementation, the network exposure entity obtaining the address information of the relay entity includes: S1503a, S1503b1, S1503c, and S1503d. The difference between S1503b1 and S1503b is that the response of the second request includes the address information of the user plane entity, but does not include the address information of the relay entity.

[0479] S1503c, the network exposure entity sends a third request to the user plane entity according to the address information of the user plane entity. Correspondingly, the user plane entity receives the third request from the network exposure entity.

[0480] The third request is used to request the address information of the relay entity providing relay service for the terminal.

[0481] It can be understood that the related implementation of step S1503c can refer to step S1304, and details are not described herein.

[0482] S1503d, the network storage entity sends a response of the third request to the network exposure entity. Correspondingly, the network exposure entity receives the response of the third request from the user plane entity, and the response of the third request includes the address information of the relay entity.

[0483] It can be understood that the related implementation of step S1503d can refer to step S1305, and details are not described herein.

[0484] That is, after the network exposure entity obtains the address information of the user plane entity serving the terminal and supporting the terminal to forward data through the relay entity, the network exposure entity can request the address information of the relay entity from the user plane entity according to the address information of the user plane entity, thereby increasing the flexibility of the network exposure entity obtaining the address information of the relay entity.

[0485] S1504, the network exposure entity sends a response of the first request to the application entity. Correspondingly, the application entity receives the response of the first request from the network exposure entity.

[0486] The response of the first request comprises address information of the relay entity.

[0487] In the embodiment, the application entity sends a request to the network exposure entity to obtain the address information of the relay entity providing relay service for the terminal.

[0488] FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 16, the communication method is mainly applicable to communication between a policy control entity and a user plane entity.

[0489] The policy control network element can be the PCF network element described above, or in future communication systems, any entity / network element capable of implementing the functions of the policy control entity in the embodiments of the present application is applicable, without limitation in specific naming.

[0490] The user plane entity can be the UPF network element described above, or in future communication systems, any entity / network element capable of implementing the functions of the user plane entity in the embodiments of the present application is applicable, without limitation in specific naming. The user plane entity can support the functions of the relay entity, such as being co-located with the relay entity or being connected to the relay entity to support the functions of the relay entity by communicating with the relay entity to simplify the network structure.

[0491] The relay entity can be the MoQ relay entity described above, or can also be a relay entity in other application scenarios, without specific limitation. The relay entity can be referred to as a relay, or can also be expressed as a proxy, such as a proxy entity / network element, or in future communication systems, any entity / network element capable of implementing the functions of the user plane entity in the embodiments of the present application is applicable, without limitation in specific naming.

[0492] As shown in FIG. 16, the flow of the communication method is as follows:

[0493] S1601, the policy control entity receives a first message.

[0494] The first message comprises first flow information of a service, such as an identifier of the service and the first flow information.

[0495] The service is a service between a terminal and a server, such as the service described above, or can also be another type of service, any service applicable to the terminal and the server can be used, without limitation in specific type. The data flow of the service is transmitted through the relay entity. That is, the data flow of the service sent by the server can be forwarded to the terminal through the relay entity, and correspondingly, the data flow of the service sent by the terminal can also be forwarded to the server through the relay entity.

[0496] The first flow information is flow information corresponding to a data flow of the service transmitted between the server and the relay entity, i.e., can be used for the data flow of the service transmitted between the server and the relay entity.

[0497] For example, the first flow information includes at least one of address information, port information, or protocol information corresponding to the server and the relay entity. The address information can include an IP address of the server and / or an IP address of the relay entity. The port information can include a port number of the server and / or a port number of the relay entity. The protocol information can indicate a transmission protocol, such as a protocol number of the transmission protocol. The transmission protocol can be a protocol used for transmitting the data flow of the service, such as the MoQ protocol described above, or any other possible protocol without limitation.

[0498] The address information, the port information, and the protocol information in the first flow information can be expressed in a five-tuple, a four-tuple, or a three-tuple.

[0499] For example, for the server and the relay entity, the five-tuple can include a source IP address, a destination IP address, a source port number, a destination port number, and a protocol number. For the data flow of the service transmitted by the server, the source IP address included can be an IP address of the server, the destination IP address can be an IP address of the relay entity, the source port number can be a port number of the server, and the destination port number can be a port number of the relay entity. For the data flow of the service received by the server, the source IP address included can be an IP address of the relay entity, the destination IP address can be an IP address of the server, the source port number can be a port number of the relay entity, and the destination port number can be a port number of the server. The four-tuple can include a source IP address, a destination IP address, a source port number / destination port number, and a protocol number, which can be referred to the relevant description above and will not be described here. The three-tuple can include a source IP address, a source port number, and a protocol number, or a destination IP address, a destination port number, and a protocol number, which can also be referred to the relevant description above and will not be described here.

[0500] It should be understood that the flow information described above is an example of naming, which can also be replaced by service flow information, flow description, or flow description information, or any other possible expression. The flow information described below is also the same, and will not be described here. In addition, the data flow described above can also be replaced by service flow, or any other possible expression. The data flow described below is also the same, and will not be described here.

[0501] The first message can further include first indication information.

[0502] The first indication information can indicate relay transmission. For example, the first indication information can be a newly defined / included information element in the first message, used to show / directly indicate relay transmission. Alternatively, the first indication information can also indicate that the transmission protocol is a protocol supporting relay transmission. For example, an existing information element in the first message, such as protocol description information, can be set to a protocol supporting relay transmission, used to implicitly indicate relay transmission. For example, in the case of MoQ, it can be set to MoQ transmission (media over QUIC transport), to indicate that the data flow of the service is transmitted through MoQ, i.e., to implicitly indicate that the service flow will use MoQ relay for transmission.

[0503] The policy control entity can receive the first message sent by the application (such as AF / AS) through a network exposure entity (such as a NEF network element). The message type of the first message received by the policy control entity from the network exposure entity can be the same as or different from the message type of the first message received by the network exposure entity from the application, i.e., the network exposure entity can pass the first message sent by the application to the policy control entity transparently; or the network exposure entity processes (such as replaces the message type) the received first message before sending it to the policy control entity, such as the first message sent by the application is an AF session generation request message, which is replaced by the network exposure entity into a policy authorization request message before being sent to the policy control entity, i.e., the first message received by the policy control entity can be a policy authorization request message.

[0504] S1602, the policy control entity obtains second flow information of the service according to the first message.

[0505] The second flow information is flow information corresponding to the data flow of the service transmitted between the terminal and the relay entity, i.e., can be used for the data flow of the service transmitted between the terminal and the relay entity.

[0506] For example, the second flow information includes at least one of the following corresponding to the terminal and the relay entity: address information, port information, or protocol information. The address information can include the IP address of the terminal and / or the IP address of the relay entity. The port information can include the port number of the terminal and / or the port number of the relay entity. The protocol information can indicate a transmission protocol, such as a protocol number of the transmission protocol. For details, refer to the above description, which will not be repeated here.

[0507] The address information, port information, and protocol information in the second flow information can also be represented by a five-tuple, a four-tuple, or a three-tuple.

[0508] For example, for the terminal and the relay entity, the five-tuple can include a source IP address, a destination IP address, a source port number, a destination port number, and a protocol number. For a data flow of the service sent by the terminal, the source IP address contained can be the IP address of the terminal, the destination IP address can be the IP address of the relay entity, the source port number can be the port number of the terminal, and the destination port number can be the port number of the relay entity. For a data flow of the service received by the terminal, the source IP address contained can be the IP address of the relay entity, the destination IP address can be the IP address of the terminal, the source port number can be the port number of the relay entity, and the destination port number can be the port number of the terminal. The four-tuple can include the source IP address, the destination IP address, the source port number / destination port number, and the protocol number, which can be specifically understood with reference to the above description, and will not be described herein again. The three-tuple can include the source IP address, the source port number, and the protocol number, or the destination IP address, the destination port number, and the protocol number, which can also be specifically understood with reference to the above description, and will not be described herein again.

[0509] It can be understood that S1602 can be implemented through the following steps, which will be specifically introduced below.

[0510] Step Sa, the policy control entity sends a second message to the session management entity according to the first message.

[0511] The session management entity can be the SMF network element described above, or any entity / network element capable of implementing the functions of the session management entity in the embodiments of the present application in future communication systems.

[0512] The second message can include first flow information of the service.

[0513] For example, the second message can include a first PCC rule corresponding to the service, and the first PCC rule includes the first flow information. For example, the first PCC rule includes an identifier of the service, and the SDF module of the first PCC rule contains the first flow information. That is, the policy control entity can generate the first PCC rule according to the first message, so as to take into account the existing standards and also obtain the second flow information corresponding to the first flow information by issuing the first PCC rule.

[0514] It should be understood that the second message can be any possible message capable of carrying a PCC rule, without specific limitation. For example, the second message can be an SM policy control service (Npcf_SMPolicyControl service) message, and specifically can be an SM policy control creation response (Npcf_SMPolicyControl_Create response) message.

[0515] The policy control entity can determine the flow information of the data flow of the service transmitted between the terminal and the relay entity according to the first message, and send the second message to the session management entity. That is, unlike the prior art in which the policy control entity obtains the flow information only for configuring the PCC rule, since the first flow information is the flow information between the server and the relay entity, the policy control entity can also determine that the data flow of the service also needs to continue to be transmitted through the relay entity, and thus determine to obtain the flow information of the data flow of the service transmitted between the terminal and the relay entity, so as to trigger the obtaining of the second flow information from the session management entity.

[0516] For example, the policy control entity can determine that the data flow of the service is transmitted through the relay entity according to the first indication information indicating relay transmission or a transmission protocol being a protocol supporting relay transmission, and determine to obtain the flow information of the data flow of the service transmitted between the terminal and the relay entity according to the data flow of the service being transmitted through the relay entity, so as to send the second message to the session management entity serving the terminal. That is, the data flow of the service being transmitted through the relay entity can be explicitly or implicitly indicated by the first indication information, so as to avoid the policy control entity from being unable to trigger the obtaining of the second flow information due to the unawareness of the data flow of the service being transmitted through the relay entity.

[0517] The policy control entity can also trigger the user plane entity to detect and report the flow information, such as the second flow information, by issuing indication information, which is introduced below in two ways.

[0518] Way 1:

[0519] The second message can also include second indication information.

[0520] The second indication information can indicate the detection of the flow information of the service, that is, trigger the session management entity to instruct the user plane entity to detect and report the flow information, such as the second flow information. For example, the second indication information can include a separately defined / additional information element indicating the detection of the flow information, and jointly indicate the detection of the flow information of the service with the identity of the service. Alternatively, the second indication information can also be used to notify the start of the transmission of the service, so as to implicitly indicate the detection of the flow information of the service. Alternatively, the second indication information can also indicate relay transmission or a transmission protocol being a protocol supporting relay transmission, and jointly implicitly indicate the detection of the flow information of the service with the identity of the service. At this time, the second indication information can be the same information as the first indication information, or can be different information with the same function. The specific implementation is similar to the first indication information, and can be understood by reference, and will not be described here. Alternatively, the second indication information can be carried in the first PCC rule, such as an existing information element of the first PCC rule, such as a mute for notification. By setting the value of the information element to false, the detection of the flow information of the service is indicated.

[0521] Method 2:

[0522] The policy control entity can also send third indication information to the session management entity, and the specific sending occasion can be before or after step Sa, without limitation.

[0523] The third indication information can indicate a detection rule of the flow information.

[0524] The detection rule can be used to indicate that the flow information is fed back to the policy control network element in the case of detecting the flow information. For example, the third indication information can be a policy control request trigger (PCRT), that is, the existing mechanism is multiplexed to take into account the existing standard. For example, the PCRT can be set to the existing mechanism, such as the PCRT set to the start of application traffic detection, to indicate that the flow information is fed back to the policy control network element in the case of detecting the flow information. For another example, the PCRT can also be set to a newly defined mechanism, such as service flow information detection, service relay information detection, etc., without limitation of specific naming, as long as it can indicate that the flow information is fed back to the policy control network element in the case of detecting the flow information.

[0525] The third indication information can be carried in the second message, or can be carried in other messages other than the second message, that is, in any possible message between the policy control entity and the session management entity, to realize decoupling of the indication of the session management entity to instruct the user plane entity to detect and report the flow information and the PCC rule, and the flow process can be more flexible.

[0526] Step Sb, the user plane entity receives a third message from the session management entity.

[0527] The third message can include the first flow information of the service.

[0528] For example, the third message can include the N4 rule corresponding to the service, and the N4 rule includes the first flow information, such as the N4 rule including the identifier of the service, and the first flow information being included in the PDR of the N4 rule. That is, the session management entity can generate the N4 rule according to the first PCC rule, to obtain the second flow information corresponding to the first flow information by issuing the N4 rule.

[0529] It should be understood that the third message can be a message capable of carrying the N4 rule, such as an N4 message, or any possible message, without limitation.

[0530] Step Sc, the user plane entity sends the second flow information of the service to the session management entity according to the third message.

[0531] In step Sc, the user plane entity can perform step Sc based on the trigger of the indication information.

[0532] For example, the user plane entity can further receive the indication information from the session management entity (e.g., denoted as detection indication information).

[0533] The detection indication information can indicate the flow information of the detected service. For example, the detection indication information can indicate a usage reporting rule (URR), which can be a newly defined / additional rule, to indicate the detection and reporting of the flow information of the service. Alternatively, the detection indication information can also indicate an event of starting to detect the flow information of the service, such as an event of starting to detect the flow information of the application service, that is, for the user plane entity, the event can trigger the user plane entity to detect the flow information of the service, and when the flow information of the service is detected, the event is reported to the session management entity, i.e., the second flow information is reported. Alternatively, the detection indication information can also indicate a relay transmission or a transmission protocol that supports relay transmission, which, in combination with the identification of the service, implicitly indicates the detection and reporting of the flow information of the service. The specific implementation is similar to the first indication information, which can be understood with reference, and will not be described here.

[0534] The session management entity can determine, according to the second indication information / third indication information, that the user plane entity needs to detect the flow information of the service, and thus send the detection indication information to the user plane entity. In this way, in response to the detection indication information, the user plane entity can send the second flow information to the session management entity according to the third message, i.e., perform step Sc, to avoid the failure to report the second flow information due to the user plane entity not knowing to perform flow information detection.

[0535] Alternatively, in step Sc, the user plane entity can also perform step Sc based on the trigger of the message type / naming. For example, the third message can be a new type / named message, the session management entity can determine, according to the second indication information / third indication information, that the user plane entity needs to detect the flow information of the service, and thus select to send a new type / named fourth message to the user plane entity, and accordingly, the user plane entity can determine to perform step Sc according to the new type / named fourth message.

[0536] The performance of step Sc by the user plane entity will be described in detail below.

[0537] The user plane entity can obtain the second flow information corresponding to the first flow information according to the third message.

[0538] For example, the user plane entity can obtain the first flow information from the packet detection rule corresponding to the service flow comprised in the third message, and obtain the second flow information corresponding to the first flow information according to the first flow information. As can be seen, if the existing processing logic is followed, the user plane entity will use the flow information in the packet detection rule, such as the address information and the port information mentioned above, to perform QoS guarantee, but since the first flow information in this application is the flow information corresponding to the server and the relay entity, the user plane entity will not perform QoS guarantee after obtaining the packet detection rule, but will match the flow information corresponding to the first flow information according to the first flow information carried by the packet detection rule, that is, the user plane entity can obtain the second flow information corresponding to the first flow information according to the first flow information. The user plane entity can pre-store the correspondence between the first flow information and the second flow information. For example, in the case of establishing a connection between the terminal and the relay entity (such as the second connection mentioned above) and a connection between the relay entity and the server (such as the first connection mentioned above), the user plane entity can determine the correspondence between the first flow information and the second flow information, such as obtaining the first flow information and the second flow information from the relay entity and storing the correspondence between the first flow information and the second flow information, so that the corresponding second flow information can be found from the correspondence in the future.

[0539] In this way, the user plane entity can send the second flow information to the session management entity. Correspondingly, the session management entity can receive the second flow information from the user plane entity. The second flow information can be carried in any possible message exchanged between the user plane entity and the session management entity, and the specific implementation is not limited.

[0540] It can be understood that the connection between the terminal and the relay entity can also be understood as the connection between the client of the terminal and the relay entity, and the client can correspond to the service, such as the client that initiates / executes the service.

[0541] In step Sd, the policy control entity receives the second flow information from the session management entity.

[0542] For the above-mentioned method 1, the session management entity can determine that the second flow information obtained needs to be fed back to the policy control entity according to the second indication information indicating the flow information of the detected service, so as to send the second flow information to the policy control entity. For the above-mentioned method 2, the session management entity can determine that the second flow information obtained satisfies the reporting condition of the detection rule according to the third indication information indicating the detection rule, so as to send the second flow information to the policy control entity. Correspondingly, the policy control entity receives the second flow information returned by the session management entity according to the detection rule.

[0543] The policy control entity can determine the second PCC rule corresponding to the service.

[0544] For example, the second PCC rule can include the second flow information, such as the second flow information can be included in the SDF module of the second PCC rule. The policy control entity can update the first PCC rule, such as replacing the first flow information included in the SDF module of the first PCC rule with the second flow information, to obtain the second PCC rule. Alternatively, the policy control entity can also directly generate a new PCC rule according to the second flow information, that is, the second PCC rule.

[0545] Optionally, the second PCC rule can further include fourth indication information, and the fourth indication information can indicate to stop detecting the flow information of the service, for example, the fourth indication information can be an information element of the second PCC rule, such as a notification of muting, by setting the value of the information element to valid / true, to indicate to stop detecting the flow information of the service, to avoid unnecessary overhead.

[0546] Subsequently, the session management entity can send a new N4 rule to the user plane entity according to the second PCC rule, to enable the user plane entity to guarantee the transmission of the data flow of the service between the terminal and the relay entity, and details can be referred to the related description of the above embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0547] It can be understood that, in the embodiments of the present application, for the data flow of the service, if the data flow is transmitted between the terminal and the relay entity, it can be understood as the first data flow, and if the data flow is transmitted between the server and the relay entity, it can be understood as the second data flow.

[0548] In summary, when the policy control entity obtains the first flow information, that is, the flow information corresponding to the data flow of the service transmitted between the server and the relay entity, the policy control entity can obtain the corresponding second flow information, that is, the flow information corresponding to the data flow of the service transmitted between the terminal and the relay entity, according to the first flow information, so as to guarantee the quality of service of the data flow between the terminal and the relay entity according to the second flow information.

[0549] FIG. 17 is a flow diagram of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 17, FIG. 17 is a specific description of the flow of the method shown in FIG. 16, taking the terminal as UE, the user plane entity as UPF, the relay entity, the session management entity as SMF, the policy management entity as PCF, the network exposure entity as NEF, the application entity as AF, and the server as AS.

[0550] As shown in FIG. 17, the method includes steps S1701-S1714.

[0551] S1701, establishing a PDU session.

[0552] Among them, the PDU session supports forwarding data between the UE and the AS through the relay entity.

[0553] S1702, the UE establishes a second connection with the relay entity.

[0554] It can be understood that the UE establishes a second connection with the relay entity, and details can be referred to the related description in the foregoing implementation manner 2, which will not be described here again.

[0555] S1703, the relay entity establishes a first connection with the AS.

[0556] It can be understood that the relay entity establishes a first connection with the AS, and details can be referred to the related description in the foregoing implementation manner 2, which will not be described here again.

[0557] In addition, step S1703 can be performed before or after step S1702, or simultaneously, and the embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations thereto.

[0558] S1704, the AF sends an AF session generation request message to the NEF. Correspondingly, the NEF receives the AF session generation request message from the AF.

[0559] The AF session generation request message includes flow information (such as first flow information) of the service, first indication information, etc., and details can be referred to the related description of the first message above, which will not be described here again.

[0560] S1705, the NEF sends a policy authorization request message to the PCF. Correspondingly, the PCF receives the policy authorization request message from the NEF.

[0561] The policy authorization request message in S1705 includes the information carried by the AF session generation request message in S1704, and details can also be referred to the related description of the first message above, which will not be described here again.

[0562] S1706, the PCF determines to obtain flow information of a data flow of the service transmitted between the UE and the relay entity.

[0563] S1706 can refer to the related description of step Sa above, which will not be described here again.

[0564] S1707, the PCF sends a first PCC rule to the SMF. Correspondingly, the SMF receives the first PCC rule from the PCF.

[0565] The first PCC rule can contain the first flow information, and optionally, the first PCC rule can also contain second indication information, and details can also be referred to the related description of the first message in step Sa above, which will not be described here again.

[0566] S1708, the PCF sends an SM policy control update notification request (Nsmf_SMPolicyComtrol_Upadte Notify request) message to the SMF. Correspondingly, the SMF receives the SM policy control update notification request message from the PCF.

[0567] The SM policy control update notification request message in S1708 is denoted as SM policy control update notification request message #1, which can carry the third indication information, such as PCRT set to application traffic flow start detection. For details, reference can be made to the related description of the manner 2 in step Sa above, which will not be repeated here.

[0568] It can be understood that the execution order of S1707 and S1708 is not limited, and in addition, S1708 is an optional step.

[0569] S1709, the SMF sends an N4 rule to the UPF. Correspondingly, the UPF receives the N4 rule from the SMF.

[0570] The N4 rule can include a PDR, and the PDR can include the first flow information. Optionally, the N4 rule can also include indication information to indicate that the UPF detects and reports the flow information of the traffic.

[0571] Wherein, S1709 can also refer to the related description of step Sa above, which will not be repeated here.

[0572] S1710, the UPF obtains the second flow information corresponding to the first flow information.

[0573] S1711, the UPF sends the second flow information to the SMF.

[0574] Wherein, S1710-S1711 can also refer to the related description of steps Sb-Sc above, which will not be repeated here.

[0575] S1712, the SMF sends an SM policy control update notification request (Npcf_SMPolicyComtrol_Upadte Notify request) message to the PCF. Correspondingly, the PCF receives the SM policy control update notification request message from the SMF.

[0576] The SM policy control update notification request message in S1712 is denoted as SM policy control update notification request message #2, which can carry the second flow information. For details, reference can be made to the related description of step Sd above, which will not be repeated here.

[0577] S1713, the PCF generates a second PCC rule.

[0578] Optionally, the second PCC rule in S1713 can also contain fourth indication information to indicate to stop detecting the flow information of the service.

[0579] S1714, the PCF sends the second PCC rule to the SMF.

[0580] Wherein, S1713-S1714 can also refer to the related description of the above step Sd, which will not be repeated here.

[0581] The above mainly introduces the scheme provided by the embodiments of the application from the perspective of interaction between various network elements. Correspondingly, the embodiments of the application also provide a communication device for implementing the above various methods. The communication device can be a user plane entity, a session management entity, a policy management entity, a network exposure entity, or an application entity in the above method embodiments, or a device containing the above user plane entity, session management entity, policy management entity, network exposure entity, or application entity, or a component that can be used for the user plane entity, session management entity, policy management entity, network exposure entity, or application entity. It can be understood that the communication device contains the corresponding hardware structure and / or software module for implementing each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that the units and algorithm steps of the examples described in combination with the embodiments disclosed in the present application can be realized in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a certain function is driven by hardware or computer software to drive hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional technicians can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the present application.

[0582] The embodiments of the present application can divide the function modules of the communication device according to the above method embodiments, for example, each function module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in the form of hardware or software function module. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiments of the present application is illustrative, and is only a logical function division. There can be another division way when actually implemented.

[0583] Taking the communication apparatus as the user plane entity, the session management entity, the policy management entity, the network exposure entity, or the application entity in the method embodiments, FIG. 18 is a structural schematic diagram of a communication apparatus provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 18, the communication apparatus 1600 includes a processing module 1601 and a transceiver module 1602. The processing module 1601 is configured to perform the processing functions of the user plane entity, the session management entity, the policy management entity, the network exposure entity, or the application entity in the method embodiments. The transceiver module 1602 is configured to perform the transceiving functions of the user plane entity, the session management entity, the policy management entity, the network exposure entity, or the application entity in the method embodiments.

[0584] All the related contents of the steps involved in the method embodiments can be referred to the function description of the corresponding functional modules, which will not be repeated here.

[0585] Since the communication apparatus 1600 provided in the embodiment can perform the above communication method, the technical effects that can be obtained thereby can be referred to the method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

[0586] In a possible design, the transceiver module 1602 can include a receiving module and a sending module (not shown in FIG. 18). The transceiver module is configured to implement the sending function and the receiving function of the communication apparatus 1600.

[0587] In a possible design, the communication apparatus 1600 can further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 18), which stores programs or instructions. When the processing module 1601 executes the programs or instructions, the communication apparatus 1600 can perform the functions of the user plane entity, the session management entity, the policy management entity, the network exposure entity, or the application entity in any of the methods shown in FIGS. 7-17.

[0588] It should be understood that the processing module 1601 involved in the communication apparatus 1600 can be implemented by a processor or a processor-related circuit component, and can be a processor or a processing unit. The transceiver module 1602 can be implemented by a transceiver or a transceiver-related circuit component, and can be a transceiver or a transceiving unit.

[0589] Exemplarily, FIG. 19 is a structural schematic diagram of another communication apparatus provided by the embodiments of the present application. The communication apparatus can be a user plane entity, a session management entity, a policy management entity, a network exposure entity, or an application entity, or a chip (system) or other components or assemblies that can be arranged in the user plane entity, the session management entity, the policy management entity, the network exposure entity, or the application entity. As shown in FIG. 19, the communication apparatus 1700 can include a processor 1701. In a possible design, the communication apparatus 1700 can further include a memory 1702 and / or a transceiver 1703. The processor 1701 is coupled with the memory 1702 and the transceiver 1703, for example, through a communication bus.

[0590] The various constituent components of the communication apparatus 1700 will be specifically introduced below in combination with FIG. 19.

[0591] The processor 1701 is the control center of the communication apparatus 1700, and can be one processor or collectively refer to multiple processing elements. For example, the processor 1701 is one or more central processing units (CPUs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the embodiments of the present application, such as one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), or one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).

[0592] In a possible design, the processor 1701 can perform various functions of the communication apparatus 1700 by running or executing software programs stored in the memory 1702, and calling data stored in the memory 1702.

[0593] In a specific implementation, as an example, the processor 1701 can include one or more CPUs, for example, CPU0 and CPU1 shown in FIG. 19.

[0594] In a specific implementation, as an example, the communication apparatus 1700 can also include multiple processors, for example, the processor 1701 and the processor 1704 shown in FIG. 19. Each of the processors can be a single-CPU or a multi-CPU. The processor herein can refer to one or more devices, circuits, and / or processing cores for processing data (for example, computer program instructions).

[0595] The memory 1702 is configured to store a software program for implementing the solutions of the present application, and the processor 1701 is configured to control the execution of the software program. For details, refer to the methods described above, which will not be repeated here.

[0596] In a possible design, the memory 1702 can be a read-only memory (ROM) or other type of static storage device that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM) or other type of dynamic storage device that can store information and instructions, and can also be an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, an optical disc storage (including a compact disc, a laser disc, an optical disc, a digital versatile disc, a Blu-ray disc, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer, but the present application is not limited thereto. The memory 1702 can be integrated with the processor 1701, or can exist independently and be coupled to the processor 1701, and the embodiments of the present application do not make a specific limitation in this regard.

[0597] The transceiver 1703 is configured to communicate with other communication devices. For example, the communication device 1700 is a network exposure network element, and the transceiver 1703 can be configured to communicate with a first analysis network element or a first application network element. For another example, the communication device 1700 is a first analysis network element, and the transceiver 1703 can be configured to communicate with a network exposure network element.

[0598] In a possible design, the transceiver 1703 can include a receiver and a transmitter (not shown separately in FIG. 19). The receiver is configured to implement the receiving function, and the transmitter is configured to implement the transmitting function.

[0599] In a possible design, the transceiver 1703 can be an input / output interface or an interface circuit, configured to input and / or output a signal.

[0600] In a possible design, the transceiver 1703 can be integrated with the processor 1701, or can exist independently and be coupled to the processor 1701, and the embodiments of the present application do not make a specific limitation in this regard.

[0601] It should be noted that the structure of the communication apparatus 1700 shown in FIG. 19 does not constitute a limitation on the communication apparatus, and an actual communication apparatus can include more or fewer components than those shown, or combine some components, or arrange different components.

[0602] In addition, the communication apparatus 1700 can perform the above-mentioned communication method, and the technical effects that can be obtained thereby can refer to the above-mentioned method embodiments, which will not be described here again.

[0603] In a possible implementation, the embodiment of the present application further provides a computer readable storage medium, which stores a computer program or instructions, and the computer program or instructions are executed by a computer to realize the functions of the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0604] In a possible implementation, the embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product, which is executed by a computer to realize the functions of the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0605] In a possible implementation, the embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, which includes the user plane entity of the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0606] Optionally, the communication system further includes a network exposure entity and an application entity.

[0607] In a possible implementation, the embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, which includes the user plane entity and the policy management entity of the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0608] Optionally, the communication system further includes a network exposure entity and an application entity.

[0609] In a possible implementation, the embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, which includes the application entity and the network exposure entity of the above-mentioned method embodiments.

[0610] Optionally, the communication system further includes any of the following: a policy management entity, a session management entity, and a user plane entity.

[0611] In a possible implementation, the embodiment of the present application further provides a communication method, which includes the method of any of the above-mentioned method embodiments or any implementation thereof.

[0612] The embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, which includes a policy control entity for executing the method of the above-mentioned FIG. 16-FIG. 17, and a user plane entity for executing the method of the above-mentioned FIG. 16-FIG. 17.

[0613] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions according to the embodiments of the present application are generated. The computer can be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a computer network or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another computer readable storage medium, for example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server or data center to another website, computer, server or data center through wired (such as coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (such as infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) mode. The computer readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or include one or more data storage devices such as servers, data centers, etc. that can be integrated with the medium. The available medium can be magnetic medium (such as floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), optical medium or semiconductor medium (such as solid state drive (SSD)) and the like.

[0614] Those skilled in the art can realize that the units and algorithm steps of each example described in combination with the embodiments disclosed herein can be realized in electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether the functions are realized in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to realize the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the present application.

[0615] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of the description, the specific working processes of the above-described system, device and unit can refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be described here.

[0616] In several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, device and method can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division, and actual implementation can have another division manner. For example, multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. In addition, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between the units shown or discussed can be indirect coupling or communication connection through some interface, device or unit, and can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0617] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, i.e., may be located in one place, or may be distributed to multiple network units. Part or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the embodiment scheme.

[0618] In addition, the functional units in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit can be physically present alone, or two or more units can be integrated into one unit.

[0619] If the functions are realized in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions of the present application or the parts that essentially contribute to the prior art or the parts of the technical solutions can be embodied in the form of software products. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes a plurality of instructions for causing a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: a U disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and various program code storage media.

[0620] Although the present application is described herein in conjunction with various embodiments, those skilled in the art can understand and implement other changes to the disclosed embodiments by referring to the accompanying drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims during the implementation of the claimed present application. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other components or steps, and "a" or "one" does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit can implement several functions listed in the claims. Some measures are recorded in mutually different dependent claims, but this does not mean that these measures cannot be combined to produce good results.

[0621] Although the present application has been described in connection with specific embodiments thereof, it will be evident that many modifications and changes can be made thereto without departing from the scope of the application. Accordingly, it is intended to cover all modifications, alterations, combinations, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the application. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present application without departing from the scope or spirit of the application. Thus, it is intended that the present application cover the modifications and variations of this application provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

A communication method characterized by comprising: The method is applied to a policy control entity, and the method comprises: receiving a first message, wherein the first message comprises first flow information of a service, and a data flow of the service is transmitted through a relay entity, and the first flow information is flow information corresponding to a data flow of the service transmitted between a server and the relay entity; obtaining, according to the first message, second flow information of the service, wherein the second flow information is flow information corresponding to a data flow of the service transmitted between a terminal and the relay entity; The description explains that the service is a service between the terminal and the server. The method of claim 1, wherein The obtaining, according to the first message, of the second flow information of the service comprises: sending, according to the first message, a second message to a session management entity, wherein the second message comprises the first flow information; receiving the second flow information from the session management entity. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that The sending, according to the first message, of the second message to the session management entity comprises: determining, according to the first message, to obtain flow information of a data flow of the service transmitted between the terminal and the relay entity, and sending the second message to the session management entity. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The first message comprises first indication information, and the determining, according to the first message, to obtain flow information of a data flow of the service transmitted between the terminal and the relay entity comprises: determining, according to the first indication information, that the data flow of the service is transmitted through the relay entity, wherein the first indication information indicates relay transmission or a transmission protocol that supports relay transmission, and the transmission protocol is a protocol used for transmitting the data flow of the service; determining, according to the data flow of the service being transmitted through the relay entity, to obtain flow information of a data flow of the service transmitted between the terminal and the relay entity. The method according to any one of claims 2-4, characterized in that The second message comprises first policy and charging (PCC) rules corresponding to the service, and the first PCC rules comprise the first flow information. The method according to any one of claims 2-5, characterized in that The second message comprises second indication information, and the second indication information indicates detection of flow information of the service. The method according to any one of claims 2-5, characterized in that The method further comprises: sending, to the session management entity, third indication information, wherein the third indication information indicates a detection rule of flow information; The receiving of the second flow information from the session management entity comprises: receiving the second flow information returned by the session management entity according to the detection rule. The method of claim 7, wherein The detection rule is used to indicate that flow information is fed back to the policy control network element in a case where flow information is detected. The method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that The third indication information is a policy control request trigger (PCRT). The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that The method further comprises: determining second PCC rules corresponding to the service, wherein the second PCC rules comprise the second flow information; sending, to the session management entity, the second PCC rules. The method of claim 10, wherein The second PCC rules comprise fourth indication information, and the fourth indication information indicates that detection of flow information of the service is stopped. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that The second flow information comprises at least one of the following: address information, port information, or protocol information, corresponding to the terminal and the relay entity. A communication method characterized by comprising: The method is applied to a user plane entity, and the method comprises: receiving a third message from the session management entity, the third message comprising first flow information of a service, a data flow of the service being transmitted through a relay entity, the first flow information being flow information corresponding to a data flow of the service transmitted between a server and the relay entity; sending, to the session management entity, second flow information of the service according to the third message, the second flow information being flow information corresponding to a data flow of the service transmitted between a terminal and the relay entity. The method of claim 13, wherein The sending, to the session management entity, second flow information of the service according to the third message comprises: obtaining the second flow information corresponding to the first flow information according to the third message; sending the second flow information to the session management entity. The method of claim 14, wherein The third message comprises a packet detection rule corresponding to a flow of the service, and the obtaining the second flow information corresponding to the first flow information according to the third message comprises: obtaining the first flow information from the packet detection rule; obtaining the second flow information corresponding to the first flow information according to the first flow information. The method of claim 15, wherein The first flow information comprises at least one of address information, port information, or protocol information corresponding to the server and the relay entity. The method according to claim 15 or 16, characterized in that The method further comprises: determining a correspondence between the first flow information and the second flow information in a case that a connection between the terminal and the relay entity and a connection between the relay entity and the server are established for the service. The method according to any one of claims 13-17, characterized in that The method further comprises: receiving indication information from the session management entity, the indication information indicating to detect flow information of the service; The sending, to the session management entity, second flow information according to the third message comprises: in response to the indication information, sending the second flow information to the session management entity according to the third message. The method according to any one of claims 13-18, characterized in that The second flow information comprises at least one of address information, port information, or protocol information corresponding to the terminal and the relay entity. The method according to any one of claims 13-19, characterized in that The user plane entity supports a function of the relay entity. A communication device, characterized by The communication apparatus comprises modules or units for performing the method of any of claims 1-20. A communication device, characterized by The communication apparatus comprises a processor configured to cause the communication apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 1-20 by logic circuitry and / or executing instructions. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized by The computer-readable storage medium comprises instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the method of any of claims 1-20 to be implemented. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product comprises instructions that, when executed on a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any of claims 1-20.

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